Senator-In-The-Box

Senator Ally Nielsen walked back to her office with a huff. Honestly, if it wasn't one thing, it was another! These politicians could be some of the most irritating people she'd ever met in her life. Were it not for their Harvard degrees, she'd think that they were actually dense and not just intentionally obfuscatory.

They had just wasted another day discussing the merits of controlling TransFun and similar companies. While TransFun was almost entirely safe thanks to its security team, there were other companies like ChangeLovers, TFantastic, PlasticPlay... The list just went on and on.

It seemed like once transformation became a worldwide deal, it brought a lot of new crazy companies out to play. Sadly, TransFun was the only one with a modicum of responsibility. There were too many other transformations out there that were focused on the most real changes possible, and people didn't realize just how easily they could lose themselves.

Ally sighed, striding purposefully to her garage. She'd spent the past month drafting up a perfect solution to everyone's transformation problems: a contract that would give exclusive rights to TransFun, placing sanctions on the other companies to hold them liable.

But of course half of the Senate was full of people paid by Big Change. Ha! Big Change! It used to be Big Oil and now in just a year, people were focusing all about transformation. Who'd have thought a two-thirds vote could be such an impossibility to achieve?

Ally shook her head, finally reaching her destination: an empty garage. Right now, what she needed was a good transformation break, in the best way she knew how: an afternoon as a Jaguar.

Not the cat—the car. Ally was always a huge fan of inanimate transformations, and she loved the feeling of going fast. Being a top-of-the-line car was just an added bonus.

Plus it had the added benefit of losing the paparazzi every time she stepped out. Who'd suspect that such a high-profile senator was actually her ride? She turned as her aide, Jenna, approached with a happy smile.

Of course the woman was already TransFunned into a perfect copy of Ally—that was how they lost the cameras. She would become Ally's double and Ally would be driven to a racetrack; then back home to be changed in peace.

“You have the serum?” Ally asked her aide with a smile.

“Of course.” Jenna nodded, holding the vial out with a smile. “Just a quick change and I'll be all set to be you.”

Ally laughed, drinking the serum happily. It tasted a little different than usual, but she brushed that off to the cheap food they'd served at the hearing. “So, any last things to say while I can still respond?” She chuckled, their usual banter before Jenna left Ally to her new driver.

“Oh...” Jenna smiled to herself. “Just a few. 'Pop goes the Ally'.”

Ally blinked in confusion. That sounded like a ChangeLovers trigger, but she wasn't—oh! Her belly rumbled as the serum took hold of her body, and she looked up to her aide in shock.

“What? Why?” Ally shuddered, her eyelids fluttering as she felt her body lock up, just like with any other inanimate change. But this came with the sense of dread that came with helplessness. She wasn't in control of this one; there was no safety mechanism like there was with TransFun...

TransFun! Ally tried to reach the safety beacon around her neck, a special safeguard she'd received from the company in case she was ever in trouble. But her fingers were oddly numb, and she couldn't quite reach the device.

Instead, to her horror, her right arm lifted right up past her neck to freeze by her forehead, frozen in a salute. She shivered as she began to feel her muscles and bones become gears and springs.

The stricken woman looked to her duplicate; her betrayer. “Why?” She managed through stiffening lips. Her whole body was getting so hard and stiff; it was like she was becoming an inanimate object. Yet her body didn't feel like it was changing shape...

The trigger phrase clicked within her mind even as gears clacked in her head, and she stared at Jenna with wide eyes, eyes that soon hardened into reflective glass beads. She was being made into some sort of children's toy!

Much as Ally wanted to scream; to rail against the changes, the only thing her mouth did was close and quirk into a goofy smile. Her cheeks burned as a pair of rosy red circles appeared on her face, and she shuddered inwardly at the thought of becoming a toy.

“Oh, what's the matter, ma'am? Change got your tongue?” Jenna walked over to her and slipped the beacon from around Ally's neck, fastening it to her own. “I'll be needing this, by the way.”

Ally glared in mute hatred, wishing she could just raise her hands forward and choke the life from this traitor's neck. But the only thing her hands could do was ball up into thick mitten-like ovals, cementing her harmlessness.

Her head cramped more, and Ally squeaked inwardly as her face began to transform as well, her head rounding into a ball. She could feel her ears pulling back into her rounded scalp; see her nose round out into a peg.

Then, to her horror, the top of her head started to ache, growing a cute bun of hair at the back of her head. It wasn't left unaccompanied: soon a white cap formed atop her head, a hole in it for her bun to poke from.

She could feel a cloth sun protector form along its back, letting her know that it was something like a foreign legionnaire's cap. Her glass eyes stared onward, unblinking, as her peg nose extended a little from her face too; becoming something obscenely big to her.

“Don't worry. I'm told that this change comes with the full deal. Mental, too; you know? No worries, I've made sure nobody will ever speak your return phrase and accidentally change you back.”

Ally's beady eyes glared, and she quivered as her whole body began to cramp up, shrinking down within her suit. She felt a surge of vertigo and a wave of fear as she dropped below the collar of her jacket; feeling her huge clothes billowing around her.

Yet even this rapid descent wasn't nearly as terrifying as the prospect of losing her mind. Jenna wasn't serious, was she? What did Ally do to deserve this? She sank deeper into the dark cavern of her clothing, lost within the tangled fabric.

“Hey there, lemme get that for you.” A loud voice boomed, pulling the shirt off and letting blinding light fill Ally's glass eyes. Jenna smiled and waved down at her tiny boss, a smile clear on her lips. “Hey there, senator. Wanna know what the return phrase is?”

Ally dearly wished that their places were reversed, and that she could lock Jenna up in a closet, forgotten in some dusty toy box. But such wishes weren't to be, and Ally could only whimper mentally as her body continued to change, more gears forming in her chest. Ally could feel her heart being replaced with some clockwork mechanism, and it sent a pang of fear deep within her.

“It's the entirety of that bill you wrote!” Jenna clapped. “Oh, but it's such a pity they won't have C-SPAN at the children's home you're going to go to...” She grinned down to Ally with a wide grin. “And don't worry about your legacy. I'll be sure that bill gets passed. Just... With the added stipulation that ChangeLovers is included on the deal, of course.”

Ally glared up at Jenna, shuddering mentally as she felt her legs begin to cramp. If she was right, she wouldn't have long for this world now; soon her whole existence would be overwritten by some callous serum.

Sure enough, they merged together beneath her, her hips twisting and reforming into a large spring even as what was once her legs expanded into a vast box, one large enough to hold her whole body.

Ally felt a wave of dread wash across herself, feeling the void of the box below her; metal tines around a spoked drum that could only be her new noisemaker. It connected to a winch that formed in her box with a solid click, and Ally felt a tremor run through her as all of her gears aligned, the lot of them clicking in sync with one another.

The last thing to change was her chest, her plastic body molding into the outfit of a classic toy soldier. Yellow buttons pushed their way from her skin in neat rows, and she could feel a pair of crossed white straps racing across the vast red plains that were her body. With that, her transformation was complete... Physically, at least.

She looked up helplessly as her aide lifted a large hand, pressing down on the former senator's head, lowering her on her spring into her box. And with a loud and ominous click, the lid shut atop her.

There was only darkness around Ally's body, and she shivered with apprehension. Would she ever be released from this confinement? Did she want to be? Much as she yearned for freedom, she feared for the changes to her mind.

It was the only part of her that was still her, and she wasn't keen on losing it. Even though her body needed to be springing free, she couldn't just... Her thoughts trailed off as she felt warm fingers on her crank.

No, no. Not like this. Anything but becoming a dumb toy. Ally shivered, hearing the notes playing; filling her dark world. Then the speed of the crank slowed, and she shivered with the thought of what would come next.

Jenna was dialing her tantalizingly slowly, one note per second; each one hanging in the air. And much as Ally hated the thought of losing her mind, she could no longer stand living in this box; being confined to its darkness. She needed to be free; needed to leap out!

The last note played and a large click filled Ally's world. Just like that, she sprang out from the box, bobbing on her spring and her right arm ratcheting up to salute her head. Pop! Pop!

Her mind focused on the word, and Ally found herself giddily bouncing to and fro, her salute firm as she felt glee fill her mechanical heart. Yes! This was perfect! She could still bounce and be smart! Who were those dummies at the Sen... The... The talky place to tell her otherwise! She was a smart toy soldier!

Jenna smiled at her and Ally smiled back. Jenna thought she was such a smarty, but she had no idea that Ally was still herself! Ally had outsmarted that big, dumb meanie!

The toy bounced on her spring eagerly, her hand still frozen in a salute. That was what good toys did, and she... Wait, she wasn't a toy! That was close! That dumb meanie had almost won! Well, Ally would need to hold onto herself; hold onto—

Ally's thoughts silenced themselves as Jenna shoved her back into the box. The box was darkness; was sleep; was emptiness. She wasn't supposed to think until—music! Music playing!

Ally braced herself for what would come next, and sure enough, pop! Salute! She was a good toy! She was a good bouncing toy, bouncing! Bounce! Salute! Ally-toy bounced eagerly, smiling widely as Jenna-person laughed.

Yes, this was what a toy was supposed to—

Dark. Dark. Music!

Bounce! Salute! Toy saluted her owner and smiled! She was a good toy soldier, the best! She bounced and saluted and bounced and saluted and not-toy laughed so toy smiled and—

Dark. Dark. Music!

Bounce! Salute! Smile! Toy happy! Toy loves salute and smile! Toy—

Dark. Dark. Music!

Bounce! Salute! Smile! Bounce! Smile! B—

Dark. Dark. Music!

Bounce! Salute! Smile! Bounce! Smile! B—