Balloon Tech

Shawn had awoken over six hours ago; enough time that she might have reconciled herself to the present circumstances. Not a chance. Rattling the ancient rolled iron cuffs that held her hands together, suspended nearly arm length above her head by the equally elderly chain that ran up the rock hewn wall, she growled softly at the back of her throat while her mind frantically ran over the events of the last few days.

It had all started when she had pressured her father into letting her go along on a 'business' trip. Considering she was in a family that ran more illegal contraband through the Fringe systems than many major corporations, the aforementioned business was necessarily of an illicit nature. At first the old dear had resisted, not wanting to take his youngest daughter along on an expedition that was essentially strong arming a new smuggling ring into order, but she insisted. Shawn could be very persuasive when she wanted something, as her long string of dropped significant others could attest to, and her father had finally caved in, if only to stop her from shrilling more demands at him. A wise man, her father.

Cornered by the more powerful syndicate, the smuggling ring finally agreed to meet at Sybaris 4, a huge space station in the Deneri system that was known for its lawlessness. A twelve kilometer spacegoing resort and casino, the only reason the place had not been shut down previously was due to the incredibly complex laws and jurisprudence of the Denerians. In another fifty years the police might be able to force through a warrant for someone's arrest, but by that time Sybaris would have been moved on.

Upon arrival Shawn had left her father to his business and went about abusing the graciousness of her hosts. Indulging herself of the multiple restricted availabilities of the station, she used her father's authority with ruthlessly gleeful delight. It was seldom she had been able to run this amok, and the entire procedure entertained her to no end. The image of a spoiled brat loose in the place did not bother her at all, since it gave a certain edge to her own minor dealings being made in shuttleport corners and dance floor rendezvous. After all, if she ever intended to get into the family business, she had to show she was capable and had her own initiative. Not to mention any money made was completely without taint of her father, something that could someday be quite handy.

Her looks did not hurt either. Tall, even among her own family, she towered over the working Deneri, who comprised the mainstay of the populace on the station. Styled blonde hair curled lightly to just below her ears, forming smooth spikes flowing in an intricate design. Her lanky form had just enough curves to please the eye, with strong muscle backing those up, well hidden until she needed it. She knew what she looked and came off as, and used it well.

Not well enough, apparently, she mused, looking around at her prison once again. While in transit to meet with her father for dinner at the SpaceFloor club she had been ambushed. All three of her guards, two human and one Thralin, professionals all, had been taken down with ruthless efficiency in the middle of a crowded corridor. While Shawn had seen and done a great deal, seeing someone who had been around her for ten of her 20 years have a chunk of his shoulder removed by a high powered grazer was a mind numbing sight. Much to her chagrin, she had been shaking uncontrollably when the assailants took her, one pressing a pad to her arm that caused blackout seconds later.

When she came to, she had found herself in a small room cut from the dreams of some epic fantasy reading ten year old. The walls consisted of seemingly hand cut stone, fitted together mortise and tenon style with no mortar to hold them. An imposing portal of iron reinforced wood with a tiny flip hatched window inset in the middle glowered back at her from across the perhaps thirty foot room. Rough hewn floor of smoothly fitted and polished blocks lay under her feet, the only concession to modern design being the plastine sheet underneath her.

As if this was not enough, two more shocks hit relatively quickly. The first was that she was entirely cut off from the subnet, all her dermal implants and cybernetic systems offline. To someone who had grown up with such modifications, it was akin to losing hearing, or perhaps touch. Easy enough to get along without for a moment or two, but dearly missed.

The second was that she was naked.

Certainly Shawn had been naked before, even going so far as to travel on shopping binges wearing nothing but a floater harness around her waist; the modern world was none too fastidious when it came to fashion mores in general. This was different. It was against her will, something that had not occurred before. Shawn found herself disliking the sensation of vulnerability intensely, and spent quite some time attempting to flip the sheet she was sitting on up and over herself. Unfortunately, what with her hands held uncomfortably above her head and the weighted edges of the fabric, she was unable to do so. Whoever had chained her was either unsure of her height or a sadist, since her hands were just high enough that if she sat, her arms were held just right to quickly chafe her wrists, while if she stood she could not travel more than five feet any direction. At least, she reflected somewhat bitterly, whoever had taken her had not deactivated her 'housecleaning' implant systems, sparing her the indignity of requiring a trip to the bathroom.

A rattling and banging at the door heralded visitors, her first in the unidentified length of time she had been in here. With no changing light to judge and her systems disengaged, she could only guess, but it appeared no more than three or four hours had passed, depending on how long she had been unconscious.

As the scrapings from the outside continued, she bemusedly realized the lock on there was a real mechanical device, not just a showpiece. Even on a station like this, that narrowed down the places she could be. Obviously it was part of some entertainment facility, catering to the perverted or the adventurous who wanted a place to role play out their fantasies. Not that this information did her any good, with no way to communicate to her father or family.

The creaking of the hinges as the door swung open echoed in unison with the rattling of the chain as Shawn drew herself upright, strategically covering with her hands as she brought her full hauteur to bear. Two figures came in, one garishly clad in the outrageously colored pressure skinsuits of an outrider. Short term emergency spacesuits and light armor rolled into one, the outfits were the norm for many groups that spent their time in confined low gee environments common aboard lower tech ships, since it both protected and did not catch where looser garments might. The wearer of this one had taken it a step further, an iridescent tattoo of some undefined venomous reptile curling across his bald scalp and touching one paw against an ear, the tail dipping down his forehead and twisting lightly across the bridge of a strong Romanesque nose. A carryall was cinched around his waist, but that was the only accessory either bore.

The other figure was wearing even less than Shawn, if that were possible. Swaying as she walked with an almost unconscious grace, the raven coifed individual approaching would be considered beautiful in any number of cultures. Well over the station norm in height, she approached Shawn's own lofty altitude, and her body showed definite signs of effort, firmly muscled hips pulling up to tight thighs, followed by a smooth stomach pointing out jaunty breasts that barely moved in time with her motions. It was not so much the figure that impressed Shawn; after all, that could be bought in almost any side street surgery on an outpatient basis. The air of command was what stood out, draped over this woman's shoulders like a particularily well crafted mantle. And there was something about the set of the nose, the pull of the high bones on the cheek that seemed so familiar...

Shawn broke the silence that had descended on the room like a wet mist. "Do you know who I am?" she asked, her voice quivering with tension and suppressed anger. "If I am not released immediately, and I mean i-mmediately, there is a good chance you will not live long enough to see the next moonrise."

Stopping, manicured hands on hips, the woman spoke in a clear contralto, cool counterpoint to Shawn's anger. She ignored the other's outburst. "Notice anything familiar? You seem to."

Shawn faltered in the face of this unconcern. The other obviously knew who she was, and the deactivation of her systems as well as her complete nudity rattled her more than she realized. And there was that ever present realization that she should know this person. The way she was standing, the stance. Suddenly it came to Shawn, a flash of insight connecting synapses all at once. "You look like Bessimer," she blurted out, reflexively snapping her fingers.

Ah, Bessimer. The name alone brought back memories of a few years ago. Shawn had been rather injudicious with a few of the ship pilots in her father's employ, fascinated by their illicit lifestyle and swaggering demeanor, much like the fighter jocks of olden pre-space days. She and one young fellow had enjoyed each other's presence too much for the tastes of her father, who had specific plans for the romantic attachments his daughter might form. Never one to directly interfere, he had simply made certain information available to the patrol, who had promptly captured and brainburned Bessimer into a productive member of society. Shawn had been devastated for weeks afterward, especially when her father hired the newly personalized fellow as a secretary, a pointed reminder to his daughter of what could happen when his authority was flouted a bit too often.

The young woman across from her nodded, a glint of something other than complacency in her eye. "I see you note the family resemblance between my twin brother and I. We used to be rather close personality wise as well, both being pilots. Of course that was before you managed to get his brain wiped and a new personality put in..." Her fists clenched at her sides for a moment, arms trembling as she blinked her way through an emotional state that looked to Shawn to be quite close to rage.

"I never knew he had a family..." Shawn trailed to a stop, realizing how inane that sounded. She had never asked, he had never volunteered, not that she cared. It had been primarily hormonal, she had later admitted to herself. "What is all this about then? You certainly cannot help him by kidnapping me, and my father is not known for his capitulating to demands, even if you have a family member."

"Shut up!" All the calmness was gone from the other's voice. She shoved her face to within inches of Shawn's, snarling out each word. "Just shut up!" So great was her anger that Shawn did not even take advantage of her opponent's closeness, pulling back to the limits of her chain, cowering slightly in surprised instinct before the outburst. "If it weren't for you he wouldn't have lost those two years of his life, before I managed to get his memories reconstructed. Even with that, there are still things he's missing, old thoughts, old experiences. Strangely enough, he was willing to forgive and forget, but not me..."

"You can't kill me, you know," Shawn remarked, back on familiar territory now that threats were being delivered. She smugly continued. "Even with all my implants off, anything that results in my death will set off a few fail safes that you can't remove or shut down without killing me anyway. They'll let my father know my location within moments. Besides, what happened to your brother wasn't my fault, it was my father's."

"Whoever said anything about killing you?" Her composure returned, the sibling of her one time lover stepped back out of reach of Shawn's chains. "You didn't kill my brother after all, just made sure he had his mind fried. And I've done plenty of research into the whole situation. If you hadn't defied your father and continued going out with Bessimer after you were told not to, it never would have happened. In the end, the guilt of the situation can be laid completely at your feet."

The man who had also entered into the room had silently stood by throughout this exchange. Raising one hand to his ear, a gesture followed since the days of earphones even though the cybernetics within had no need of it, he listened for a moment, then turned to his companion. "We do not have much time for this vendetta of yours, Cessimer. Do what you wish to do and be done with it. If we do not get to the ship before her family has the station sealed there could be... problems."

Shawn felt a serious twinge of apprehension at the look of disappointment that flickered across Cessimer's face. "And here I had such lovely plans. Unfortunately this whole meeting of your father's with that splinter smuggling ring was too good to pass up. He'll blame your disappearance on them, they'll claim the expected innocence, and we get cleanly away. You on the other hand..."

"I am going to be fine, if you know what's good for you," Shawn countered, glaring into Cessimer's face. "You're over your head here, girlie. Be careful or you could end up like your brother, or worse." Shawn grinned at Cessimer's expression of frustrated irritation. Here she had come, expecting a whining scared little girl, and instead had ended up with someone who refused to be intimidated. It did not occur to Shawn that a great deal of her bravado grew from the fact that she firmly believed no one would harm her due to her family's reputation. Right now she was too busy enjoying her captor's obvious discomfort.

So focused on Cessimer's strained and pale face was she that the approach of the man did not register until he reached out. A spark of energy danced between his thumb and forefinger just before he gently pinched her on the side. She might as well have been kicked by a mule. With a whoosh of surprise, Shawn collapsed to the floor, slumping backwards and dangling from the chain as her lower body suddenly and simply quit working. Legs flopped limply, exposing far more than she would have preferred.

"What... what have you done?" Shawn had a pretty good guess already. A quick neurostun had been applied, which seemed to have focused on her muscular control, especially below her waist. She was fortunate, it could have been a great deal worse, even going so far as to paralyze her ability to breath. As it was she could think clearly, and only suffered from a slight bruise spot on her backside. Very undignified.

Shawn let loose a stream of invective, learned from a lifetime of being around large determined men who occasionally forgot there was a lady present. This was short lived however, as Cessimer leaned forward and firmly tied several layers of cloth around her jaw. "Let's see if we can do something to fix that mouth of yours, shall we," she whispered into Shawn's ear as she withdrew. Shawn continued her fruitless struggling, a stab of fear running through her. This was even worse than before, with even her own body disobeying.

Handing Cessimer several items from his pack, the reptile scalped man stepped out of the room, looking down the hall and then vanishing, footsteps fading quickly as the door slowly creaked shut. Cessimer turned back to Shawn, who widened her eyes at what the other was carrying. In her hands lay a small canister of some sort, biohazard symbols on its side, several lengths of tubing, what looked to be a squeeze bulb, and something shaped like a large oblong plug with twin rubbery protuberances, like small horns.

"I'll bet you want to know what all this is," Cessimer almost purred with satisfaction as she set the canister down, shaking out the tubing and holding the plug in one hand. Swaying with exaggerated motions, she slowly curled down to a sitting position in front of Shawn, reaching out to run fingers down her one thigh and calf. At Shawn's muffled grunt, she continued, "This is a rather expensive little, oh 'sex toy', for lack of a better term. I'm sure you've experienced fancier ones, being the rich little bitch that you are, but nothing quite like this. "

Patting the canister, she grinned an evil little smirk. "This here is some real hard to find stuff. You should be proud I spent all this time digging it up for you! A whole bottle of genetech nanodrivers. Just. For. You."

Shawn paled, beads of sweat springing to her forehead. If she'd been able, she would have pulled away from that innocuous little bottle. If Cessimer was not lying what the container held was one of the most dangerous and illegal substances available. It was nanotechnology, microscopic machines, more advanced than anything man had been able to create so far, received from an alien culture that occasionally deigned to trade with humanity. In that canister was the ability to remake worlds, to design anything you wanted from the ground up, to have it all.

To reshape Shawn body and soul.

"Not so full of yourself now, are you!" Cessimer taunted, sharply jabbing Shawn in the thigh. With practiced ease she slid Shawn's legs apart, pushing her even further backward so everything was uncomfortably exposed. Shawn attempted to squirm furiously at this treatment, her body shivering slightly from the effort. "Just to let you know, I'm not enjoying this part at all." She stuffed the horned plug firmly against Shawn's crotch.

At first the cold rubbery press against Shawn did nothing at all, then there was an odd little twitch. Within seconds Shawn horrifiedly realized that whatever was being held against her was automated and power controlled. Moaning in dismay, she felt it penetrate inward, pulling the plug snugly against her sex as the nub of the horn swelled within, moving itself forward smoothly and tightly. She shrieked into the gag as she felt the other nub slide across her backside, insinuate itself between her smooth buttocks, then penetrate with a quick motion. Both probes dug in a bit deeper, then stopped, warming quickly inside of her, proving to be relatively comfortable outside of the metal stripe connecting them between her legs were the tubes joined. The mental aspect of being violated like this had her up in arms however. Growls and grunts began again around her gag as she cursed and railed at her tormentor.

"Is that any way to talk to someone who is going to make you feel so good?" Cessimer asked archly, picking up the sqeezebulb and tugging lightly. Shawn stared at her with pleading eyes, a remarkably useless gesture for all the good it did.

Cessimer palmed the bulb, squishing it lightly with one hand. Shawn gasped, nearly gagging on the rough material in her mouth before remembering to breath through her nose. Whatever had been placed in her was clearly inflatable, swelling in time to Cessimer's pumping. As she continued, the nubs grew within Shawn, expanding into balloons, soon filling her crotch to capacity, forcing her legs apart. She could swear the front could take no more, but the butt plug continued to increase, giving her vague thoughts of a rubber enema. To make matters worse, the smart material of the plugs was obviously designed to do more than just pump up. It moved on its own, seeking out and stimulating her most sensitive areas. Soon Shawn was rolling her head and shaking her arms, alternatively moaning and growling into her gag as she was agitated again and again to the brink of orgasm by the stroking and playing substance within her. Her traitorous legs rested quiescently, but sweat glistened on the rest of her as Cessimer carefully kept her on the frustrating brink, but refused to let her slide over. Shawn would have gladly begged for release had she been able, in more ways than one.

"And now, let's see what happens if I were to add a bit of this to the mixture..." Cessimer twisted the valve on top of the small canister, its tube twisting and squiggling as it filled. Shawn did not notice at first, too far gone in her own desires, until a tingling spread through her groin, overwhelming the warmth and wetness she herself was generating. The same tingle rose through her backside, seemingly filling her hips with an almost uncomfortable prickling that settled in her belly.

"Oh my," Cessimer murmured, staring at her victim. "Looks like someone has a stomachache."

Shawn leaned her head forward, weight coming down on her shoulders from the way the chains held them over her head. Looking down, her eyes widened in shock at what she was seeing. Formerly flat and lightly ridged with muscle, her abdomen now bulged out, looking for all the world like she was several months pregnant. As she watched in horrified fascination, it bulged out even larger, a slightly audible creak and pop coming to her ears. A deep heat spread through her, sign of the incredible nanomachines at work within. Instead of the pain such swelling ought to be causing, it was more of a light discomfort, the stretching skin seemingly on the edge of drum tightness, but giving, then giving some more, and even more beyond that.

Shawn wailed into her gag as Cessimer started pumping again, the sides of her stomach coming to rest on her thighs, rubbing gently against them. Everything was filled to impossible tightness and still the pressure increased, suffusing Shawn and driving her wild. Even her thighs grew, swelling from their normal sveltness to turgid rotundity, supporting her stomach, which now resembled a pink beanbag in front of her, breasts resting against its bulging top. Gasping, squirming desperately, Shawn cried out silently for it to stop, for the heavy gelid filling her and weighing her down to either release her or finish with the ongoing sensations.

Panting from her exertions, and perhaps a bit more, Cessimer finally finished pumping, wiping a bit of sweat from her own brow. Standing up, she stared down at her handiwork, laughing softly at the enormously bloated frame of the woman she blamed for her brother's lost memories. "So much for being tempting while looking like that, fattie!" Pulling the gag off and releasing the cuffs with a single swipe of a magnetic key, she contemptuously let her prisoner free while she herself was still in the cell. Scooping up the empty nanotech container, she tugged sharply, eliciting a gasp from Shawn, who was barely aware of what was going on. The tubes for the canister and the squeeze bulb popped loose with a hiss from the baseplate, now hidden under Shawn's immense belly and between her rounded thighs.

Dim awareness finally percolated through Shawn's brain, and she struggled to sit up, stomach blocking her way until she propped her form up with both arms behind her. Looking down at herself with dismay, she groaned out, "Now what? You gonna leave me like this or something? Seems a little weak for a revenge thing. Just making me fat, I mean."

"Sort of," Cessimer cheerily replied. "But fat's fixable, especially nowadays. Just a bit more, and I'll be out of your hair." Her demeanor became much more threatening. "After all, I can't have you talking and end up like my brother after your father gets through with me. You took his mind away for a while, so I figured I'd return the favor. But instead of taking your ability to recall away, I'm just going to trap it. Inside of a big unresponsive shell! Consider this a gift from my brother to thank you for what you did. After all, you two seemed to just be in it for the sex." With that she planted a solid kick into Shawn's stomach, her foot sinking in several inches to rebound with a drumlike noise.

Shawn yelped at the impact, then stared down at herself quizzically, a bead of sweat dripping off of her nose. There had been no pain from the strike, even though she was certain she was as taut as she could be. For a moment, all was silent, Cessimer with her head cocked to one side, a slight smile playing across her lips, Shawn with one hand on her paunch, the other holding her up. Then the silence was broken by a bubbling gurgle, originating from Shawn's midsection.

"What was... Oooooooooh!" Shawn gasped out, her hand fluttering on her stomach as her eyes blinked wide. A tremor ran through her jiggling belly, and she grunted softly, clenching her thighs down on the plate resting between them. "I think..." she shivered, running her hand up and down her stomach quickly. "I think I..." her hand was practically flying in a stroking pattern, her supporting elbow visibly trembling. "I think I'm..." slowly she sank backwards, mouth pursed in a surprised moue. "I think I'm ... gonna... cum!"

With that final remark Shawn flopped onto her back, shaking under the weight of her immense gut. A herculean convulsion nearly lifted her off the floor as she shrieked with delight, clutching at her sides. Unfortunately all that effort, all that drive was being directed at one point of her body, one that was presently stoppered up by a plug and technology beyond anything man understood.

There was a moment of silence as Shawn finished her first yowl, but as she drew breath for the next, seemingly feeling sparkles of light running from toes to neck, her body afire with pleasure, a deep pervading hiss filled the room. Incredibly, impossibly, everything seemed to be rebounding, circling back into her. For a split second she resisted, trying to fight off the orgasm, but gave it up as a bad job after only seconds. Besides, it felt so good!

Shawn's stomach, once jiggly, grew outward with a leap, assuming a rigid spherical shape within seconds, smoothing under her grasping fingers. With each gasping thrust of her swelling hips and ballooning thighs she grew. Helpless with desire, unknowing of what was happening, Shawn squirmed as she blimped out, torso beginning to creak wider, breasts suddenly standing upright. Her nipples and belly button popped out in amusing unison, assuming the same winecork style for a moment before spreading thin and flattening out, aureola smoothing out as her breasts began their own swelling into balls to counterpoint her immense stomach.

This was not the only outward sign of what was going on, however. Shawn's stomach and rounding torso slowly pulled upward, instead of spreading out. The noisy hissing clearly indicated something was filling her, something quite light. Within moments her breasts were tugging merrily towards the ceiling, the big belly doing the same. Slowly, she was pulled to her feet, still shuddering with release after release, crying out again and again as she massaged her rounding sides.

For a moment Shawn opened her eyes, staring in shock at her bosom mere inches in front of her nose as it rose. Her face ran the gamut from desire to fear to blush darkening lust as wave after wave crashed through her, body swelling with each. When her shoulders began to balloon, the skin taking on a light polished sheen as the muscle structure smoothed out, she managed to gasp out "Wait a minute! How big am I gonna... Ugh!" before falling back into the endlessly relentless orgasm.

Still she grew, rounding outward, her torso overwhelming her huge thighs and arms, starfishing her into a completely helpless straddled position. Slowly, like some ponderous parade float bereft of handlers, she left the floor, alternating between screams of dismay and delight. "This is... Oooh! Bigger! Keep going! It's... I... YES!"

Further she increased, even her cheeks rounding, her hands growing plump, fingers rounding like tiny balloons, feet following suit. As the huge form bumped into the ceiling the sheen deepened, extending at last to her hair, which seemed to swell and frisk about her head.

Finally at long last the hissing stopped, leaving in its wake a distorted impossibility of the human form. Eight or ten feet across, Shawn's nearly spherical shape, twin protuberances where the breasts had been, balloon-like hands and feet being the only other outcroppings outside of the rounded face, rested against the ceiling, nearly touching the floor in its immensity.

Whistling softly, Cessimer stepped forward, plinking her finger against the side of her victim. A soft spang echoed through the room. Slowly, she pushed and rolled Shawn's shape until her head was visible. Although all the swelling had reduced her head's mobility to nothing, Shawn's eyes still blinked, occasionally squinting shut as an almost imperceptible moan of delight was audible.

Lightly tapping Shawn's nose, Cessimer smiled, for the first time looking relaxed and at her ease. A ring of accomplishment danced in her words. "Yes, it's going to last and last. My brother got wiped out of your selfish desire for pleasure. Now you've got all you want, but now you're trapped, like he was, although it's your body that won't respond, not your memories. However I'm nice enough to let you remember it all. That orgasm is going to go on and on and on and on and on and on... Oh," she rubbed her hand through Shawn's hair at the mingled look of dismay and anticipatory lust from the ballooned lass, hand squeaking down across a pumped up cheek. "Don't fret! After all, the nanotech in you will keep you alive more than comfortably. Perhaps someday someone will figure out how to get you out of the loop you're in, but I wouldn't bet on it within a year or two. I'm sure after a while you'll want to be like this all the time anyway, considering how it feels."

Cessimer stepped back towards the door, prancing slightly with each step. "Never fear, daddy will find his little precious soon. Not that it'll make any difference, but he'll take good care of you I'm sure. Too bad he'll never figure out who did this to his darling!" She bowed deeply. "And now I bid you... adieu."

And with that she was gone, the door creaking slowly shut. Behind her Shawn settled down to the first few moments of a very long time, the only sound a zephyr like squeal of glee, or an occasional creak as she rocked against the ceiling.