Lighter than Hydrogen

The dream of being lighter than air was not an easy one to accomplish. True, everyone knew of dirigibles and hot-air balloons and other things of the sort, but it just was nothing compared to an individual’s joy of taking flight and soaring among the birds. If only humanity could become lighter than air, they’d achieve this dream easily. Yet no one had much of a choice; it would have taken someone far more helium or even hydrogen than they could readily gather to take flight, and ever since Hindenburg people knew of the dangers of the latter gas. At least, they knew it didn’t take much to provoke an explosion when it intermingled with regular air. Yet all over the earth, men and women dream of the day that they make a gas light enough to be feasible for personal use.

Yoshiko Fukui, the nano-mechanical “daughter” of the brilliant scientist Dr. Fukui, was one such dreamer. She had spent months perfecting a gas that was lighter than any one known to man. It was hard work making sure it wouldn’t be volatile or toxic. Eventually, however, she had managed to perfect her formula based on the already lighter-than-air hydrogen. Who’d have thought that altering the nuclear composition of the gas could have made it even lighter, and docile as a soft pillow at that?

She entered her lab and assessed the materials she gathered for the demonstration. One camera for recording a video, one computer to receive it, one highly-elastic form-fitting bodysuit guaranteed to sustain any potential strain, and of course one medium-sized AI tank that held 3,000 liters of her creation, HydroSafe. It was for all intents and purposes hydrogen, yet the nuclear composition was altered so that the total mass of a single mole of the element was far less than normal. It was a good thing, then, the tank was heavy enough to hold down the HydroSafe until it was ready to be pumped. Perfect. Everything is here, she affirmed to herself.

Having gathered all the materials necessary for the demonstration, she collected them and went to the scale room. Inside was a wide circular space in which she could set up, and the floor was connected to a scale that could read the weight of anything within it...up to a certain limit, of course. She placed the camera and computer at the far end of the wall opposite the scale’s readout, then put the tank near the center of the room. With that, she stepped outside and re-calibrated the scale to a new zero point. Finally, she took her bodysuit and went to change.

***

“Hello! My name is Yoshiko Fukui, and I am here to show you the fruits of my labor for the past few months.”

As she recorded the video, her bodysuit clung onto her bare skin as tightly as possible, defining her curves and leaving little room for any air to enter within. She specifically prepared herself so that the experiment would go off without a hitch. After all, it would sit badly with the community if something went wrong after all the time she prepared for this moment.

“For a long time, man has dreamed of the possibility of flight and made several attempts to do so on an individual basis. You know those kinds of attempts: planes, hot-air balloons, jetpacks, those sorts of stuff. But what about something more convenient? What if all you needed was a lighter-than-air gas and something to wear that would contain it? But of course such a thing is impractical. It would take far more helium or hydrogen than one could easily gather to lift themselves up into the air, and of course hydrogen is quite volatile. So should we give up on our quest?”

She smirked, knowing the answer. “Quite the contrary, in fact! Because now, I’ve made a gas that is lighter than even hydrogen yet still inert like helium. Thus, I’ve decided to call it HydroSafe. Yes, it is quite incredible and rather suspect, but this video will serve as concrete proof of my claim. As you can see, there are no invisible strings to pull me up or any other trickery, so I assure you that this is 100% pure scientific progress!”

As she finished speaking, she grabbed the hose attached to the tank and held it to the crotch of her bodysuit. “Now then, to attach this hose...” She searched around, found the valve sitting just over her pelvis and quickly inserted the hose. The valve clicked and pulled the hose deep into her. With that, she continued. “There we go! Yes, the valve is over my crotch, but I assure you that it can work just as well on your bellybutton or around your neck. I simply chose to use this entryway to keep my core safe. Now then, take a look at the scale readout behind me.” She gestured to the readout, which showed a steady 136 pounds—her personal weight. “I am going to fill myself up with HydroSafe until the scale counts down to zero. At that moment, I will become light enough to float off the ground and prove the lifting power of HydroSafe. I may become huge in the process, but hopefully not so huge as to be inconvenient. And so, let the demonstration begin!”

With the hose in place and the bodysuit snug against her skin, she gave the command to the tank. “Tank, new command—fill me up with all you have.”

“ROGER,” the tank affirmed. With that, a click and a hissing noise followed as the tank began to pump the HydroSafe into her pelvic entry.

“As you can see,” she continued while hiding her nervousness, “the tank is currently pumping HydroSafe into my body at a steady rate of 20 liters per second. And as it usually takes around 686,000 liters of hydrogen to lift someone who weighs as much as me up, it’s hardly worth that much to even do so. However, I’ve managed to reverse-engineer the gas so that it can lift me up with only around 3,000 liters. Now let’s see...”

She checked status of her body and was pleasantly surprised to find that even as she spoke her body showed obvious signs of expansion. Her breasts had already started pushing outward beyond normal cup definitions and showed nary a sign of slowing their progress. Meanwhile, her belly had started to round outward, pushing the breasts aside. As Fukui felt the gas course through her body, she continued her talk, barely restraining her excitement. “Haha, wow! My body’s starting to get bigger! Hopefully it’s becoming lighter as well...”

She turned around to read the display. Already, her 136 pounds shrank to a mere 100, and even as she read the numbers they started to fall further. “Yes, indeed it is! Soon, I’ll be floating in the air with little to weigh me down.” She giggled, blushing with slight nervousness at the thought of becoming a balloon girl. It almost made her feel dizzy just thinking of the scientific achievements possible. “Oh, can you imagine how much this will revolutionize our lifestyles? No more need to use ladders to reach high places or anything. Just swell up and get the job done!”

Her body continued to balloon, her belly now fully rounded by the HydroSafe and growing. Fukui started to feel aroused by the flow of gas through her entryway. “Mmm, yeah,” she moaned, “this is getting pretty sensual now that I think about it...” She squeezed her billowing breasts as they stretched within her equally elastic bodysuit. Even then, both body and suit had stretched so far that they’ve become translucent. Somehow, she could feel her breath deepen with each passing second. Perhaps she was being turned on by the air expanding her? “You’ll have to bear with me just a little longer. Sorry if I sound so...euphoric about this.” Another chuckle as she checked the scale once again. Sure enough, she had lost 50 more pounds in the interim.

As the scale counted down, she could also feel her thighs and hips start to widen as if to catch up with the rest of her body. But it was too late for them; her belly and breasts had already started to nearly block her view. Her hair was also starting to get in on the action, growing in response to each litre of HydroSafe entering her body. Soon, it had begun to descend below the hips on their way to the floor. Most curiously of all, her feet also began swelling. However, as she still needed stable footing she immediately let the air out of her feet and into the boots of her bodysuit, puffing them up so that they looked like bubbles resting upon the surface of water.

 “Mmm, mmm! Yes...” she moaned further, squeezing and hugging her ever-expanding body. The sensation of gas coursing through her body was so satisfying, she simply could not feel worried anymore. She just barely kept track of the declining weight, which soon approached a mere 10 pounds.

She grunted pleasurably as her belly had begun to touch the floor if only momentarily. Her body was simply massive. Her breasts now sat comfortably to each side of her mountainous belly, each one enormous as far as breasts could go. Her thighs, while not as massive, were still impressively wide. And her hair had become far longer than she was tall and just as voluminous. Beholding such a beautiful sight, her cheeks flushed with joy.

Just a little longer, she anticipated, her excitement just barely peeking out. I know I've made enough of the gas for this... As if to confirm her hopes, the scale ticked off the final pounds.

Three...two...

One...

...zero.

As soon as the scale’s countdown ended, Fukui could feel her feet finally losing touch with the ground, the HydroSafe working its magic to lift her up. Soon, she was a foot off the ground, exulting in her body’s resilience as the gas continued to swell her to dreamlike proportions.

“Oh, yes, yes, YES!” She squealed, squeezing her breasts like they were soft playthings. It was hard to believe that it would only take a minute and a half, but there she was, lighter than even the lightest of gases. She wanted to hug her massive body, squeeze it as hard as possible just so that she could feel pure bliss pour into her head. And, as she could feel the surplus gas rushing through her feet into the boots of the bodysuit, she felt that she could inspire legions of her fellow scientists and dreamers to take flight like she did.

Then, just as suddenly as the powerful emotions filled her head, the tank beeped. “ALL HYDROSAFE HAS BEEN USED UP. DISCONNECT HOSE?”

Fukui snapped back to reality, though it looked less different from her most wonderful dreams at the moment. She remembered she was making a video for the scientific community, not for her private pleasure. Emotions, majestic as they may be, simply could not get in the way of good conduct. Thus, as she bobbed her body around to face the tank, she cleared her throat and resumed her clear and concise voice. “Oh, yes, please.”

“ROGER. DISCONNECTING...” Sure enough, she felt the valve seal off her body from the outside, preventing any of the gas from escaping. Finally, the hose popped off and fell limply to the floor, its purpose spent for the moment. Now that she had been fully inflated, she turned back around to the camera.

“Ah, sorry about that,” she explained to her future audience. “I was getting into the moment just now. But as you can see, the HydroSafe has expanded my body to a pleasantly round shape and—more importantly—lifted me up to complete weightlessness in only one-and-a-half minutes. That’s not bad for only 3,000 liters.

“Now then, I’m sure you’re wondering what to make of this experiment. As it turns out, being weightless makes for some fun experiences, just like being in the International Space Station but without the hassle of everything else being gravity-free or the danger of a spaceship decompressing. Here, let me show you what I mean!”

With that, she began to demonstrate the joys of being lighter than air. She arched her back and made a motion to swim backward from the camera. Because she was free from the bonds of gravity, however, the end result was her spinning in the air. She kicked her feet around and laughed, amused at the wonder of it all. Then, she pushed herself forward to stop spinning and face the camera. “Yes, you can indeed create your own zero-G room without the need for expensive simulators! Just fill up a bodysuit with HydroSafe and you are ready to go. HydroSafe also has additional applications beyond personal flight. For example...”

And so she spent the rest of the recording time demonstrating the potential uses her gas could have, such as making huge breasts weightless and bras obsolete. In the process, she also showed herself floating around the room, demonstrating more weightless maneuvers that were once possible only in space. Finally, she re-centered herself in front of the camera. “So, to conclude, HydroSafe is just as its name claims—a safe and even lighter alternative to hydrogen. It can grant humanity their long-cherished dream of flight without the hassle of more technically-intensive products. And it has plenty of fun uses besides that! I hope you all appreciated this wonderful demonstration. This is Yoshiko Fukui, signing off!”

***

Having fully deflated herself and emptied the HydroSafe back into the tank, Fukui sat down and checked the forums her fellow scientists usually communicated through. As she made a new thread to post the footage, she thought back to the session she just recorded. The experiment was an overwhelming success; not only did she become lighter-than-air, but she also did so without her body becoming too massive. She even got to show off the fancy maneuvers that astronauts could do in space. Yet, the best experience she had somehow wasn’t in either. Rather, it was in the act of inflating herself in the first place. The gas rushing into her body, the pulsing of her nether regions as she filled up, the joyous softness of her breasts and belly as they simply ballooned to translucent perfection...somehow, that was far better than even fulfilling the promise of individual flight.

She smiled to herself as she finished writing up the post. If such a pleasure were possible by inflating herself, she could easily imagine other people feeling the same way. I'll need to remember to make another video of myself ballooning up. Perhaps with two tanks’ worth of gas that time...