[chapter 2] - The Stratford Machine
As usual, it was a sunny morning in southern Florida. The three men stayed in their suite after a long night of drinking and laughter. They gathered once again for breakfast at one of the resort's numerous restaurants.
In spite of the fact that the resort is open to the public, it is one of the most expensive in Florida. On the north shore of the Atlantic coast, it is located outside of Miami. Even though the hotel is expensive, it always fills to capacity. The Stratford Resort has been open since the early 1960s and is well known in the highly wealthy community. Parking is located in the center of the main building, which is flanked by two wing buildings with fifteen-floor rooms. On the other side of the pink facade resort is a large pool surrounded by other amenities. The resort has its own private beach along the Atlantic Ocean coast.
There is a secret area on the top of the main building that is not accessible to the general public. Officially, there are three levels in the main building, but there is also a fourth and fifth level. From the outside, it appears to be a decorative faΓ§ade since there are no windows indicating that it is that high. A classy steakhouse dining area is located on the third floor. There is an elevator in the kitchen that has a card access reader. The secret levels cannot be accessed in any other way. There is an emergency exit on both levels, but it is a steep slide that leads down to the laundry room on the first floor. Stratford Members Club meets in this secret location.
There is a suite on the tenth floor of the North wing of the resort for the three men. The group had breakfast at the restaurant on the first floor of the main center building, then ascended to the third floor to reach the steakhouse. As the dining room has not yet been opened, they find their way to the kitchen. As they approached the elevator, they stopped.
Taking an access card from his pocket, Dr. Peterson swiped it at the elevator access panel. A green light appeared on the panel and an unlocking sound was heard as the elevator door opened. Once the three men entered the elevator, Dr. Peterson pressed a button and the door immediately closed. Due to the lack of labels on the buttons, Ethan was unable to determine what each button meant, but he knew that Doctor Ronny had pressed the topmost button. Within a short period of time, the elevator ascended and stopped, and the doors opened.
Upon exiting the elevator, a long corridor can be found on both sides. There is nothing unusual about the corridor; it appears to be just another hotel hallway. James Stratford, the host, was waiting for the three men.
He was much older than Dr. Peterson and had graying hair, but he was in very good health for his age. The suit he was wearing was very expensive.
"Good morning, gentleman. Welcome to my special members only area of the resort."
The three men greeted and shook hands with the older man.
"Great, follow me."
James led the way down a corridor on the left side that eventually bent to the right. The corridor ended about 10 yards from a door as they turned. James opened the door to reveal a small room with a darkly lit passageway leading to another door. When that door was opened, the room was revealed to be metal lined with a glass window leading into the next room. The room was completely dark, and nothing could be seen.
Upon flipping the switch on the control panel next to the door, the room was illuminated.
"I would like to introduce the Stratford Machine, gentleman."
White tiles covered the walls and floors of the room, and a large metallic machine stood in the center. There was a large metal machine with a central conveyor belt system leading to a rectangular door on the back wall. In addition to the belt, there are tall, thick metal pillars on either side.
Ethan asked, "What is it?"
"It's called a Body Modification Machine, or BMM-3, since it's the third version of the system."
Ethan and Robert seem still puzzled by this.
"Thanks to your gentleman's engineering of both software and hardware, along with Dr. Peterson's bio-engineering staff, we can create a machine that will revolutionize what women look like!"
Robert asked, "What do you mean?"
"This machine can transform a plain-Jane-looking woman into whatever you want! It can body contour the subject, create larger breasts or asses, or modify the waist of the subject. It can change hair style and color, and it can even grow longer hair at the click of a button. Since this machine can also pierce a subject and tattoo them, I have modified it slightly myself. It also can grow the fingernails as well as toenails as well as color them. Hell, it even can do makeup on them!"
When Ethan and Robert's jaws hit the floor, they do not know what to say as this was not what they expected.
Dr. Peterson told them, "Sorry boys, I knew what James was doing, but wanted to wait until it was successful before letting you guys know."
James showed them a tablet, "This tablet controls the machine and the app, thanks to Ethan for that by the way, gives you all the options to modify the subject."
Robert asked, "James, is it just for woman?"
"It is only for modification for woman, however, I never thought about trying it on men. I'm sure it could work, if for some reason you want to have a female body, yes, I don't see why not."
"Who wants to be the first to try it out?"
When Alicia wakes up, she finds herself in a dark room. Upon a cold metal bed, she is sprawled eagle-footed. As well as her wrists, her ankles are also cuffed to the bed. The woman attempted to look at her feet, but the collar on her neck was also attached to the metal bed. As she felt numb and not panicked at all, she concluded that she had been drugged up. Similar to the effects of heroin, she became addicted.
Suddenly, the bed began to move forward. A feeling of panic has now taken hold of her.
As the men viewed the opening of the door on the back wall, a large metal bed was revealed, which was occupied by a naked woman. Upon reaching the large pillars, the bed is raised so that the woman is eye to eye with them. After attaching the wrist attachments to the pillars, the bed slides away, leaving the subject attached to the pillars by the ankles and wrists.
It was Robert who asked James, since he was the one who took the tablet, "Does the machine change people's minds, such as attitudes and such? Like mind control?"