Mallory Gibbs was out of luck when the advert in the newspaper caught her
eye:
Female candidate needed, 20-30 years old, for one year experiment testing
revolutionary new drug.
This ground breaking research is meant to increase human milk production.
Contact Doctor Hughes Clarke for details. Payment: $50,000, disbursed
quarterly for each stage of completion.
The eye popping pay was more than twice what she had earned all of last
year as a temp, working in run down offices where the bosses had high
demands and little forgiveness. She chewed the pencil she was using to
work the puzzle next to the classifieds.
Mallory had always liked science. Now, she kicked herself for not pursuing
the hard disciplines earlier, when she had the fire and the student loans to
pursue a degree. She had opted for Anthropology instead of Organic Chemistry. It was the biggest mistake of her life, one she continued to pay
for nearly five years after graduating.
The idea of serving as a human experiment only caused a tiny sting of
apprehension. Contrary to most people, Mallory understood that the
researchers took enormous precautions to ensure the safety of their patients.
"Fifty thousand dollars." She said it out loud, letting the ghostly numbers
dance through her head.
"That's enough to cover months of rent and get rid of the student loans.
Maybe enough to go back to school."
She bit the eraser tip again, a nasty habit she just couldn't seem to shake.
With her eyes gleaming, she circled the ad and tore it from the paper.
The initial screening over the phone only took ten minutes – much easier
than she thought. The mousy voiced woman on the other end of the line
scheduled her for a physical and an interview with the lead researcher,
Doctor Hughes Clarke.
The autumn wind tore at her back as she arrived on campus the following
morning. As she watched a
new crop of students bustling to and fro between buildings, a note of sadness struck her heart.
It wasn't so long ago that she was one of them, her heart brimming with
passion and possibilities. Then it all ended as she took her degree in hand.
The struggle for solid jobs, late bills, scrimping and saving for holiday trips
back to see her family...all of it had worn her down.
"Enjoy the freedom while it lasts, kiddos," she whispered to the swarming
masses. "It only gets harder from here, and you can't remake yourself by
changing your major."
A short walk toward the towering concrete medical center brought her to
the right place. A young
receptionist gave her some paperwork to fill out. When she had finished,
there was another short wait, and at last a summons to go up to the fourth
floor, where the lead researcher waited.
"My, what a wonderful specimen!" Hughes Clarke rose as soon as she
entered his office. He was
several years older than her, touching his mid-thirties. Beneath his thin
spectacles, he had a handsome face with a harsh jawline coated in stubble,
capping a lean body that looked more like a mountain
climber than an office bound scientist.
Mallory stood in place, shuffling her feet back and forth. He can't mean
me? Not with these love handles and hair that's been rinsed by the cheapest shampoo I could find...
"Completely kidding, my dear," the Doctor said as he clapped her shoulder
with his strong hand.
"About the specimen part, that is. Let me show you my research."
Hughes gestured toward an empty chair. She sat down and rolled toward his
computer screen, which
displayed a slide show Hughes had pulled up. The first few slides showed
equations that looked like some alien language, complete with molecular
diagrams Mallory couldn't even begin to decipher.
"Sir, I'm fascinated by science, just like I said in the phone interview. But I
think all of this is a little beyond me..." Mallory said, blushing with
embarrassment.
They don't call them hard sciences for nothing, she told herself.
Hughes only laughed. "Of course, of course. I sometimes forget who my
audience is. I haven't taught at all for several semesters, outside of advising
a few grad students. The school has allowed me to work with my baby full
time – especially since the drug company funding it is giving them lucrative
dollars for other areas too."
He flipped across several slides, until he reached a set of cartoonish
drawings. They showed a woman with her head tilted back, holding her
arms up as her naked breasts hung like massive eggs, swollen and leaking
whitish fluid. The figure was smiling.
"This could be you in a few weeks," he said. This time, his cold tone said
that he wasn't joking. "That's the aim of this experiment. I'm not going to
lie: the amount of milk you'll produce may vary. It could become uncomfortable at times. Rest assured that none of our subjects in the animal
trials were
harmed."
Mallory's heartbeat picked up. The sudden reality of what she was close to
opting into hit her hard, making her hair stand, like ice cubes beating down
her back.
"Does this trial really last a year?" She asked, uneasy about what that meant
for pursuing other career opportunities, let alone maintaining her small
apartment.
"Yes." Hughes sat up straight, his hand once again reaching to her shoulder.
"Don't be alarmed if you're worried about other expenses. The company has
given us a handsome per diem that we can pay...not to mention stipends for
rent, food, and entertainment. The fifty thousand is all yours, not counting
our support of your living expenses."
Her mouth fell open. That was far more than she expected. There had to be
a catch somewhere, but it hardly mattered. There was something oddly
reassuring about the way Hughes touched her, his warm
fingers delicately massaging her flesh.
"You'll have to stay on site the entire time. That's the only drawback," he
said, gauging her reaction carefully as he looked up from his glasses.
Mallory's face darkened, but she didn't reject the idea out of hand. The
melancholy details of her life heaved to mind at once, like monsters
screaming out of the closet.
Fifty thousand and no expenses...just for staying here? That's a damned
good deal. Besides, how else do you think you're going to do better just by
going back to that ratty apartment and looking for another data entry job
that pays nine bucks an hour?
She had no answer for herself. Her mouth, on the other hand, didn't stop to
check with her brain before it started speaking to Hughes.
"I'll do it. When is this project supposed to start?"
The Doctor's eyes lit with surprise and he flashed her a wide grin. "I like
your attitude. Is there anything holding you back from beginning
immediately?"
Mallory thought for a long minute. At last, she shook her head in the
negative.
"Excellent!" He clapped his hands. "I'll show you to your room shortly.
There's another small mountain of paperwork for you to look through andsign for liability reasons, but other than that, there's no reason I can't set you
up today."
A few hours later, he led her down the hall to a larger room, just a fewdoors away from his office. The place was actually a bit bigger than her
apartment. It was a set of faculty offices, carefully refashioned to support
comfortable living, with an attached bathroom and a bedroom.
The place had all of the amenities she could want. Much of the furniture
and appliances were a good deal better than the ones she had at home.
Despite the living upgrade, there were a few anomalies.
The mattress in her bedroom, for instance, was on the ground, without a
frame to support it. There were no plates either, just enormous, low shaped
bowls that looked more suitable for a pet to eat from than a person. The
refrigerator had no food, but its shelves were completely filled with thick
glass bottles, all of them empty.
She was still contemplating the weirdness when Hughes returned a couple
hours later with a small
prescription bottle in his hands. He looked at her with excitement and shook
the large round tablets inside his package.
"Please take two of these twice per day. Morning and evening should work
best. It may take a little while for the changes to assert themselves...but it
could come along pretty fast too." He sat across the small living room from
her, waiting until she nodded to show her understanding. "Have you ever
been pregnant before, Mallory?"
"No...is there any reason I should be?" His question stung more than itshould have. She knew Hughes meant no harm, but it was one morereminder of what she had failed to accomplish in her youth. Now, she was
nearing peak fertility, and motherhood was so far away that she worried it would never arrive.
"Not at all. Not yet, anyway. Look, the sensation of your breasts growing large with milk may surprise you at first. I hope you won't find it too unpleasant. We'll do everything to remove the build up promptly for storage and study," he said.
"Remove it? How?" She crossed her arms, instinctively protecting her curves, not certain she wanted to find out.
"Nothing painful, I promise. Some women actually find being milked quite pleasurable. I can't make any promises, but I think you'll fit into the lattercategory." Hughes winked.
He left a short time later, leaving her to settle into her new surroundings.
She was allowed to order take out from a pre-approved list of restaurants that served the campus several times per day.
Mallory chose the largest steak she could find, and a huge organic salad to go with it. If they want me to max out my nutrition on their dime, then I'mgoing to get the best.
After dinner, she watched a little television until her eyes grew tired. In the bathroom that night, she stared down at the pills. They were roughly the size of a dimes, coated in chalky dust that flaked away in her hands. She
didn't know why, but her heart thumped wildly as she eyed them.
Do it, her brain clamored. This is what you're here for, after all.
"Bottoms up," she told herself with a shrug. Her eyes closed as she tossed them down her throat, chasing the little tablets into her stomach with a big gulp of water.
Yawning, she retired. It felt as though she had just made a positive decision
for the first time in years.