Chapter 1: The Pleasant Procedure Begins
The air in the reception area hummed, a sterile sound that vibrated in Ellie’s molars. Soft blue light glowed from panels set into the walls, which were smooth, curved metal, cool to the touch when her fingers brushed one on her way in. It felt like the future, a clean, quiet future where everything was decided for you.
She hugged her bag to her chest, feeling the thump of her heart against it. The seating pod in the center of the room was a low, plush thing, upholstered in a muted gray fabric that looked both incredibly comfortable and strangely restraining. She didn’t sit.
Instead, she approached the reception desk, a seamless slab of frosted glass. A touchscreen terminal displayed a gentle, rotating slideshow. A woman with a soft smile and distant eyes lounged in a sunbeam. Another, her expression blankly content, had her head tilted back as skilled hands massaged her temples. They all looked peaceful. Empty. Happy.
“Name, please?” The receptionist didn’t look up from her screen. Her voice was polite, devoid of warmth.
“Ellie. Ellie Willis.” Her own voice sounded too high, too tight.
A tap. A scan. “Procedure M-A-Seven. You’re right on time. Take a seat in the pod, please. Dr. Reed will be with you shortly.”
Ellie’s knees felt weak as she turned. She lowered herself into the pod. It cradled her, the fabric sighing under her weight. It was designed for someone her shape, she realized, the sides curving to accommodate the broad sweep of her hips. She felt conspicuous, her slim frame and the pronounced swell of her breasts suddenly feeling less like parts of herself and more like… specifications. Correct ones.
She fidgeted, the nylon of her skirt whispering against the upholstery. Her friend Tasha’s words echoed in her head, slurred and giggling from last weekend’s pre-procedure drinks. “It’s like… the best head rush you’ve ever had, but it doesn’t stop. And thinking just… melts. Everything gets simple. And your body, oh my god, Ellie, it just feels everything so much…” Tasha had demonstrated, grinding lazily against a bar stool with a glazed smile, drawing stares. Ellie had been mortified. And shamefully, deeply excited.
A door hissed open. A man in a white coat stepped out, a tablet in his hand. He had a kind, forgettable face. “Ellie? I’m Dr. Reed. Come on through.”
She followed him, her heels clicking on the polished floor. The corridor was quieter, the hum deepening. Another door opened into a smaller room dominated by a reclining chair surrounded by gentle, articulated arms tipped with soft pads and slender nozzles. It looked like a dentist’s chair dreamed up by a sensualist.
“Just hop up here,” Dr. Reed said, his tone cheerful, routine. “Comfortable? We’ll get you situated.”
She lay back. The chair conformed to her. Gentle restraints secured her wrists and ankles with padded cuffs—a safety protocol, the brochure had said. Her pulse skyrocketed.
“Nervous is perfectly normal,” the doctor murmured, attaching small, cold sensors to her temples. “Most girls are. Right up until it starts. Then they just… relax.” His fingers brushed her hair aside. His touch was clinical. Efficient.
“My friends said it was… amazing.” The word sounded stupid coming out of her mouth.
“It’s a very positive experience. We’re just going to help your mind settle into its most natural, stress-free state. The world is very complicated, Ellie. We’re going to make it simple for you.” He moved to a console. A low whir filled the room as the arms above her began to move, positioning themselves. A nozzle hovered near her left ear. “You’ll feel a little gel, first. Then some warmth. Just count back from one hundred for me, okay?”
“Okay.” Her mouth was dry.
Something cool and viscous dripped into her ear canal. It tingled. The warmth followed, a deep, blooming heat that seemed to spread through her skull from the inside. It wasn’t unpleasant. It was… interesting.
“One hundred,” she whispered. “Ninety-nine… ninety-eight…”
The numbers started to blur in her mind. Ninety-seven… or was it ninety-six? The heat was spreading down her neck, into her shoulders, unknotting muscles she hadn’t known were tense. A profound heaviness settled into her limbs. The ceiling tiles softened, their edges bleeding into one another.
“That’s it,” Dr. Reed’s voice came from far away. “Just let go. It’s easier if you don’t fight.”
Seventy… something. The heat pooled in her stomach, a low, thick pulse. It felt good. Really good. Different from anything she’d ever felt. It was a physical warmth that dripped lower, stirring something deep in her core. A soft, involuntary sigh escaped her lips.
Tasha was right. Thinking was melting. A worry about her forgotten psychology essay surfaced—something about cognitive frameworks—but the thought itself dissolved before it could fully form, its pieces turning to warm syrup and sliding away. It was a relief. A massive, breathtaking relief. She didn’t have to hold onto that. She didn’t have to hold onto anything.
The arms of the chair began to move in slow, rhythmic motions. Pads applied gentle, firm pressure to her temples, her jawline. Another massaged her lower abdomen in a slow, clockwise circle, right over that spreading warmth. Her body arched slightly into the touch, a response so immediate and primal it bypassed what was left of her conscious thought.
A dopey smile stretched her lips. Her vision fuzzed at the edges, the blue light bleeding into a hazy halo. She felt… floaty. And her body felt… incredible. Every nerve ending was waking up, singing, but in a slow, lazy melody. The steady pulse between her legs was no longer just warmth; it was a demanding, pleasant throb, syncing with the rhythm of the machine.
“Good girl,” the doctor’s voice filtered through the haze. It sounded nice. Approval. She made a small, happy sound in response. Words were too hard.
The last coherent thread in her mind—a thin, gossamer strand of Ellie Willis who was moderately intelligent and articulate, who got nervous about exams and what people thought—snapped.
Her head lolled to the side. Drool trickled from the corner of her slack mouth. The world was sensation now. The deep, kneading pressure on her belly. The building, delicious tension coiling tighter and tighter low in her gut. Her hips gave a tiny, helpless jerk against the restraint, seeking friction, finding only the unyielding grip of the cuff. She whimpered, a sound of pure, frustrated need.
Bliss. That’s what Tasha had called it. This was bliss. A blank, beautiful, body-full bliss. She was so empty. And it was so, so good.
The machine hummed its steady note. The arms worked. Dr. Reed made a note on his tablet, his smile professional and satisfied. Another successful initialization. The readouts showed her cognitive activity smoothing into slow, compliant waves, her limbic system lighting up like a festival.
In the chair, Ellie shuddered, a long, continuous tremble of raw feedback. Her blue eyes, wide and unblinking, saw nothing of the room. They were filled with a dazzling, private nothing. A perfect, pleasurable void where a mind used to be. And her smile never faded.