Chapter 3 - day 57 (1/3)

In the growth chamber observation room, Dr Winter massaged his forehead. Months of occupational stress caught up with him and he felt a different man from the eager doctor who'd signed up for all of this. Perhaps he’d jumped the gun in his enthusiasm to work towards a radical new chapter for medicine. I mean, how many opportunities presented themselves to work across planets at the dawn of medical interplanetary travel?

Admittedly it wasn't the work itself that was tiresome. His practice back on Earth had acclimatised him to long hours of labour, that was simply routine now. Plus, he unlike most, wasn't perturbed by the nature of the experimentation. After all, these people had consented to it.

No, it was the strangeness of working with and for Cephalopods. While marketed as an integrated facility at all levels, he always felt one step behind his alien counterparts. Perhaps it was the fact that the Cephalopodic practitioners weren't keen on asking nor answering the questions he was itching to know. They just seemed to operate under the principle that orders were meant to be followed unquestioningly. Or maybe it was the strange way the board and director carried themselves, that eerie glide and strange cadence with a look of smug detachment that always rubbed him the wrong way.

Deciding to deal with these thoughts later, he turned his attention back to the growth chamber specimen. Patient 0023X ‘Nadine’ had grown significantly in the months since her treatment. While she had been obviously obese at 450 pounds, her rapid expansion had him rather perplexed. Even in a controlled environment with a patient predisposed to gluttony, it was still bizarre how comfortable she had become with sitting back and scoffing down meal after meal.

Soundly asleep, he watched her enormous gut rise and fall. Her gown had long since reached its capacity for containing her body as small patches of stubborn chub pushed the blue fabric at its weakest points. It stretched tightly over her flabby belly and fit more like a glove than a garment.

His mouth went dry observing just how blubbery she’d become, never had he witness such a betrayal of the human form, not a bone or hard edge in sight. Instead this ballooning blimp’s rolls of fat were pushing into each other like dough fighting for space. The whole scene was a strange source of fascination for him. He just had to try not to pay it too much mind as the alarm sounded for her daily routine.

~~

Nadine woke from her slumber after another pleasant night’s sleep at the laboratory. Under normal circumstances she’d have despised her alarm, but she’d grown very fond of her new life here.

Well most of it, she thought, feeling a hint of irritation at her suffocating gown. She was tempted to rip the damn thing off, but she guessed she had to have some level of modesty before the doctor arrived. He’d been giving her strange looks lately and, if her treatment from doctors on Earth were any indication, he was probably gearing up to lecture her. She could only hope scales weren’t involved this time round as she had a sneaking suspicion she’d put on a few.

With a yawn, she stretched to ease the tension her blubbery gut was putting on her back. Shifting from left to right her gut sloshed with her. Only with the familiar click of her back she also felt a sudden dip on her right side. Blushing at the loud creaking sound that followed, she made a mental note to inform her doctor she required a reinforced bed… again. Surely, she hadn’t gotten that fat.

Building up momentum, with a grunt she rolled away from the broken side of the bed. Hearing another loud creak, she winced, shuffling as carefully as she could as to not do any further damage. However graceful movement wasn’t the butterball’s forte, and she huffed at the extra exertion required to shuffle and hold herself up. There was only so much control she could exert over her flabby rolls and she resigned herself to simply letting it slosh around until she caught her breath.

Even when her bed was fully functional the whole ordeal was becoming such a hassle. One of these days she knew she’d need assistance, but the prospect was strangely exciting for her. Not least because she’d been lucky enough to have rather attractive staff tending to her.

Noticing her doctor hadn’t arrived yet, she decided to take a quick break and reached for her feeding tube, slurping the sugary goodness. Sweet as ever her eyes rolled back, and she was swayed to stay there all day and guzzle mindlessly. Her loud slurps drowned out her heavy breathing along with any further creaking from her strained bed. The threads on Nadine’s gown were ripping wide open with every gulp, rip by rip revealing more of her cream coloured softness.

In her revelry she hadn’t noticed Dr. Winter standing at her door, slightly red in the face. The shock of his arrival made her jolt and that was the last straw her bed needed to completely cave in.

“Eeek” she shrieked as her gown snapped completely and she was forced off the bed and onto the floor. Gasping at the sudden movement she lay there in a blubbery heap, splayed on the floor and flustered.

“Uh, don’t suppose you could give me a hand doc?”