“Are you shitting me?”

Rose could not see Sara’s expression, but she heard the telltale intonation that always accompanied her most exaggerated eyerolls.

Rose sighed. She shook the water from her hands and used her wrist to turn the sink off. She was not surprised by Sara’s reaction, but could not help but deflate at the resistance.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” she said, but the words didn’t even sound truthful to her. She sighed again and turned to face her assistant.

Sara’s arms were crossed tight over her front, her eyes wide and brow high, demanding further explanation.

Rose slumped her shoulders and after a moment shrugged with yet another sigh. “His insurance won’t cover the procedure and there aren’t any other tests that would cover all the possible diagnoses.”

“Oh, no, I get that, I do. But what he is asking is for you to go in the pod off book. That is insane!”

Rose licked her lips. She could not really argue that it wasn’t. “I know.”

“And yet you promised him you would?” Sara’s voice was beginning to crack as the pitch got higher, her disbelief written plainly on her face.

“No. I said I would consider it.” She shifted her weight under Sara’s scrutinizing gaze. “He’s desperate.”

“Bullshit,” there was a note of venom that touched Sara’s words. Rose knew she shouldn’t have used him in her pitch. “He’s not above exaggerating, and has forced your hand on more than a few occasions, Rose. Wake the fuck up.”

Rose closed her eyes, unable to face the blaze in Sara’s. The fire was always so hungry, willing to burn her in its effort to reach James. “You didn’t see it.”

“No shit! But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand anatomy. There is nothing he could have that won’t pass, unless it’s some sort of rapid onset of cancer that has never been recorded in any medical journal. It reeks of bullshit.”

“Sara, come on. Please.” She was pleading and that wasn’t what she meant to do. She knew Sara would not deny her if she took that tactic and she hated herself for always stooping so low. A blush rose in Sara’s cheeks, confirming the sway Rose had.

“Don’t do that,” Sara shook her head and diverted her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Rose swallowed the sour taste of her withering pride. “Just hear me out.” It was too late to take back the manipulation, but she would offer the chance for further discussion. That was the point, anyway, for Sara to be her counsel.

“Fine.” Sara worried her lip, still unwilling to meet Rose’s gaze. “But if you can’t cover all of our bases, we can’t move forward with this. You hear me?”

“Of course,” Rose agreed.

“What’s the plan?”

The plan was simple, in terms of being in line with their typical work. Rose would be in the pod. Sara would act as her guardian. That was how things always went.

The logistics were easy enough to arrange, even on short notice. They would do it during a routine maintenance check--when the pod needed to be activated anyway. They were lucky one was scheduled for the next morning. The anesthetic would come from an operation the day before, that would be deemed damaged before use and “disposed of”--it happened all the time, and never followed up on, so long as numbers were within the normal margin. The lab would be booked for the maintenance, and Rose would place an extra sanitation code, to discourage physical interruption. James would be present as an “observer”. It was not uncommon for family members to be present for non-patient operations, should there be a need. No one would question it, beyond the fact that Rose had never been the type to bring people in. Everyone would just assume he was being supportive.

In that way, it was straightforward.

Rose grew more anxious as she watched Sara think, her posture stiff and the incessant tap of her foot an outlet for her agitation and discomfort.

“It’s routine, as procedures go,” Rose reiterated. “It’s invasive, but won’t require injection. Extraction will be simple.”

“But it does require me to handle your boyfriend’s genitals, and that is asking a whole fucking lot.”

“It does, I know,” Rose acknowledged, “and I’ll owe you.”

“Big time,” Sara agreed. “I swear, if you don’t put everything you have into your recommendation for my raise--”

“I do that anyway--”

“And I had better get some prime vacation hours--”

“That’s not really my call--”

“And you’re taking me out drinking,” Sara added, “cause I’ll need to forget all this, pronto.”

“Okay! Yes, whatever you need,” Rose chuckled, her nerves buzzing as it looked like they were going to move forward with the plan. “You’re amazing, and I’ll tell you that as many times as you need to hear.”

“Better than your dick of a boyfriend, that’s for sure,” Sara huffed, but smiled softly to herself. As soon as it appeared, the smile fell away and Sara groaned. “Fuck, I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Rose couldn’t believe it either. She thought the fact that it was James would make it impossible. She let the animosity slide.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Yeah yeah, let’s get back to work. I need to think about something else.”

Rose nodded and they returned to the task at hand.

-----

The following morning had them all standing in the lab, Sara busying herself with preparations while Rose walked James through the details.

James was hunched over himself in a chair, periodically groaning, and nodding stiffly when affirmation of his understanding was required.

“Cool, babe,” he grunted, interrupting Rose’s explanation of the insertion tool, “I trust you know what you’re doing. Can you just get to knocking me out so I can stop feeling like my balls are gonna burst?”

“Yeah, sorry, it’s habit to explain everything. Procedure and all,” Rose offered a sympathetic smile. “Let’s get you on the table. Just, uh, strip and put on the gown,” she nodded toward the table. “Once you’re under, it’ll go pretty quick. I’d guess an hour, maybe less.”

“Perfect,” James was on his feet surprisingly quick. Despite being familiar with his body, Rose looked away. She was keenly aware of how quiet Sara was being with her checks, and she could feel the tension, even without her receiver being active.

The rustle of fabric and James’s strained breathing were the only noises in the lab, as Rose waited. “Do I really need the gown? You’re messing with my junk anyway.”

“It makes the post-op easier,” Rose explained, over her shoulder.

With an acknowledging grunt, James donned the gown and shifted up onto the table. When Rose turned about, she noted how James’ t-shirt and sweatpants were haphazardly abandoned on the chair, while he sat, waiting and watching, his posture more relaxed than moments earlier.

Rose joined him at the table and assumed her professional demeanor. “May I?” She gestured at his lap.

“Peek all you like, Doc,” James chuckled, his grin easy.

“I need to establish a baseline status, prior to you being under,” she explained.

“Mhmm, of course,” James said, his voice low and smooth.

Rose felt the warmth in her cheeks, but ignored it. She lifted the bottom of the gown up, exposing his crotch. Even through the thick curls, she could see how angry his testicles were, red and swollen. He winced as he spread his legs, but then relaxed once he ceased moving.

“Full redness. Moderate swelling. Sensitivity to motion,” Rose reported, and she heard an affirmative note from Sara.

“I love it when you talk that way,” James chuckled, and Rose rolled her eyes and settled the gown lightly back into his lap.

“Lie back,” she instructed. James did, settled comfortably in the cushioning of the table. She took his arm. She placed an anesthetic disc on the inside of his elbow and pressed to suction it into place, triggering the mechanism to release once she removed her finger. “When you feel the pinch, count back from twenty.”

When he nodded, she let go, and he counted until he faded and was out.

“Ugh, I don’t know why you put up with him.” It was the first comment Sara had made since being in the room with James.

“I was really enjoying your silence,” Rose quipped.

“I’m sure you were, but you are going to have to listen to all my thoughts on how this is the worst fucking way to get both of us fired.” Sara smiled primly as they walked over to the darkened glass wall attached to the lab.

“If you spend less time thinking about it, we are more likely to get it all done before anyone notices,” Rose reminded, but they both knew it meant little when in came to unconscious thoughts and the receivers were not tuned well enough to discern the difference between conscious and unconscious.

With the punch of a code, the glass wall illuminated to reveal a chamber with a spherical vehicle docked within. The glass lifted and Rose entered the chamber. Sara keyed the glass to close once more and waited for Rose to suit up in the gear hanging on the wall. They were practiced in this routine, smoothly reporting each progress marker and status, until sure that all systems were operating in the green. Each woman fastened a receiver to the patch of skin just behind their ear and activated them together.

It was always a little disorienting to hear thoughts that weren’t her own, but Rose and Sara were compatible in how they compartmentalized and organized their thoughts, and what held priority in their minds. You are fucking dumb.

“Really? That’s the overwhelming thought you have right now?”

“Frankly, yeah. I love you, but it’s true.”

Rose sighed. She knew Sara’s thoughts about James. She knew Sara’s thoughts about her. She knew the feelings Sara harbored. Just as Sara knew how much she loved James, and how explained each of his behaviors, and the way that she was afraid to lose him. It was all shared over the receivers.

“Then let’s get this over with,” she rallied and Sara nodded.

Rose lifted herself up into the vehicle and settled into the seat. There was a hydraulic release as the hatch descended to seal her in. Once she was secured, Sara darkened the glass wall and initiated the vehicle’s primary function.

Rose preferred to close her eyes for that part, the shift sometimes being too unsettling to witness. Instead, when Sara gave the signal, she opened her eyes to see the walls of the chamber look like they were kilometers away and kilometers tall. The fact was that Rose was inhabiting a vehicle that was barely three centimeters in diameter. The world around her remained untouched.

As Rose adjusted to the change in perspective, the chamber outside her vehicle slowly stabilized in atmosphere and pressure.

How’re you doing?

Whatever the state of Sara’s mood, she never failed to check in.

I’m grand.

And still making that joke.

Rose could feel the mental eyeroll, could feel the urge to roll her own eyes.

Ready for transport.

The glass lifted, expanding her world to the lab beyond, and revealing the towering form of Sara, rising well above her. Sara entered, slowly by her own standards, but to Rose the movement was unfathomable. She covered kilometers in a matter of moments, and as she stooped, her body threw Rose entirely into shadow. Gloved fingers took hold of her casing, careful and steady, assisted by the vehicle’s mechanism for stabilization of the interior, which kept Rose always properly oriented.

Sara lifted Rose up until she was level with Sara’s eyes, and Rose watched those eyes--that were larger than she was--sweep over her in a cursory inspection. It was mesmerizing and horrifying to see every tendril of color in grey-blue irises, and every vein inflamed from irritation and lack of sleep, and the dust that floated on the wet surface, and the ever-shifting size of the cavernous pupils. Sara blinked, her eyelids crashing together, and Rose was jarred out of staring.

Looking good.

Rose recognized that Sara was smiling from the more prominent creasing at the corners of her eyes and the wave of amusement she felt. Sara was always tickled by the way Rose could not help but stare. There was no way to get used to the view, and the heightened definition it granted. It left Rose feeling at a loss for air, chest tight and heart racing.

Carry on.

They grinned as one, both endlessly amused by the way they fit double meaning into much of their communication.

Sara turned, and Rose with her. There was only so much the vehicle could do to account for the perceived speed at which they traveled, and Rose was pressed back firmly into her seat until Sara slowed to a stop. They had learned with practice that there was no speed Sara could travel that made a significant difference in the impact, and it was better to just make it a short moment of discomfort.

At the side table, Sara placed Rose on a smaller docking station. A second shrinking chamber was placed over her and the process was repeated, reducing her vehicle to less than a millimeter in diameter. Sara’s hand alone was too large to really comprehend and Rose didn’t bother to track its movement, instead relying on the mental picture Sara provided to orient herself.

Sara retrieved a long, thin instrument, tipped with a bulb about twice a large as Rose’s pod. In the bulb was a cavity that Rose just fit into and as Sara placed the cavity above her, a magnet drew Rose up into the mouth.

Brace yourself.

The instrument, and Rose, were then moved to a tray by James’s body, the trip a nightmarish mess of color and pressure. The stillness was a mercy, but only temporary.

As Rose adjusted, she felt the hesitation that seeped into Sara like a chill, the spread locking up her joints, as her heart hammered heavy in her chest.

It’s okay. This is just another operation. All you have to do is get me in and I’ll hand the rest.

There was steel in her, dredged up from deep within, as disgust was shoved down in its place. Rose doubled down on her encouragement, urged Sara to just get it over with.

A quick glimpse of Sara’s perspective showed her throwing back the cloth that separated them from James’s genitals. Rose sighed as Sara took stock of all the features that offended her. Sara’s fingers rubbed together, an unconscious reminder that her hands were gloved, protected from direct contact.

Whenever you are ready. Take your time.

And stare at this prick longer than I have to?

Funny.

I thought so.

The humor helped. It calmed otherwise screaming nerves. Sara reached for James’s penis, lifted it carefully and held it erect. She sighed and took hold of the instrument Rose was attached to. When the head was fit into the slit of James’s urethra and the pole of the instrument was properly angled, Rose was slowly pushed down the length of the inside of James’s penis. With her vehicle illuminating her journey and the progress slow enough to not strain her vision, she watched kilometers of flesh move passed.

Finally she reached the base of the shaft. On her signal, Sara cut the power to the magnet, and Rose dropped. She rolled, following the curve as it led deeper into his body. She was aware of Sara pulling the inserter out of the penis, somewhere above, but she was focused on her surroundings, noting the general condition as she travelled. The affected area definitely included the testicles, so that was her ultimate destination, but she wanted to be sure the symptoms were contained.

How’re things looking?

The question signaled Sara being through with her tasks, and in that moment of focus, Rose saw that James had been covered once again.

Everything seems normal at this point. I should be approaching the fork in tubes.

Would be easier to know with the X-ray machine.

And that was certainly true, but they were not supposed to be checking the X-ray.

Her travel slowed as the curve began to climb and she was forced to use the pod’s motors to propel her. With Sara’s aid, she navigated up around the bladder, the horizontal stretch happening at a slow crawl. The vehicle moved most naturally at a roll, but it was capable of micro-movements along its exterior, like hundreds of tiny legs, as it expanded its diameter to force contact with the walls.

Sara spent the passing minutes using the available database to generate avenues of thought for Rose to investigate. Each new idea seemed to lead to a dead end, nothing matching known ailments. Rose held out hope that reaching the testicles would be more insightful, but swelling seemed be only visible symptom.

It looked like he’d experienced physical trauma, but he had not mentioned anything of the sort. And it was her understanding that it’s not something you just miss.

Rose could feel Sara’s mind wander, seeking out the less straightforward explanations.

What if it’s self inflicted?

The was a sharp pull from Sara’s mind and it was clear that the thought was not meant to be shared. There was shame laced in with the sorrow, but no apology came.

Sara, come on.

It wasn’t meant to be an actual suggestion, but now that I think about it…

The thought split into a number of lines, and Rose decidedly ignored them all. She was not looking to defend James while inside him.

Okay, I get that you want him to be innocent, but there is actually a drug on the market called “kick in the balls”. It is designed to induce inflammation, and in high doses, ruptures.

Stop. No, he is not a masochist.

But he is manipulative. Listen to this. The drug is metabolized within an hour or two, and the swelling recedes as soon as the drug is gone.

Please, I don’t want to-

No! You have to consider the possibility.

He wouldn’t!

Okay, if you’re so sure, let’s wait out the drug’s duration. If the swelling doesn’t go down, I’m wrong. Nothing lost for having waited.

Rose had ceased moving, frozen by what Sara dared to imply. It didn’t make sense.

Why would he even-

Come on, Rose, you’re not that dense! You are literally in his balls. You don’t think people get off on that?

James wouldn’t-

Oh, bullshit. If anyone would get off on having their girlfriend be a speck compared to their precious fucking cock, it would be your jackass of a boyfriend.

Sara!

Rose, you have to wake up! He doesn’t see you as an equal. You’re a walking fuckhole to him, and nothing more.

Sara…

The heat of Sara’s emotions was suffocating. It was dense as it wrapped around her mind, squeezing her mercilessly.

And then suddenly it cooled, and withdrew.

I don’t want it to be true.

It felt like a lie, and even Sara questioned her statement, but she stood firmly behind it.

Quiet crept into the space between their minds, a hollow expanse that ate at the bond they shared. Time lost meaning in the silence. It was numb and cold, and Rose considered it worse than the burn of Sara’s anger.

The cold pressed deeper, like a knife in her back, when without knowing it, time had slipped away and the recession came. Rose has just arrived at the site and the tissue already looked healthier.

She was desperate, clawing for any purchase she could find on a better reality. She needed a different explanation.

Please, Rose, I know this isn’t what you want to find out.

It’s not true.

She pushed back. She had to. She couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t. It wasn’t true.

Rose…

No. I refuse to just accept that. I will talk to him. Maybe he doesn’t know what he was taking.

Rose, no, he’s just going to twist the truth. That’s what manipulative people do.

Stop saying that!

There was a low simmering thought that Rose could not quite make out. She was struck by the surge of determination, and also a desperation that was different from her own.

If you won’t listen to me, maybe hearing it from him will convince you.

Sara… Sara, what are you doing?

Sara didn’t need to say anything. Rose watched the plan form, thrown together in a dark corner of Sara’s mind. It was not thought out. It was an urge born of hatred of James, mangled and misshapen.

And Sara saw it done, before Rose could protest properly. The anesthetic disc was removed from James’s arm and the wheel was set in motion.