Chapter 8: Heidi
Sandra's vision scanned down to the floor and she discovered that her body had a rough, green texture. Her two lower limbs were no longer jointed at the knees, or anywhere else for that matter. Instead, they formed a continuous line that broke into a tightly wrapped, beige platform constructed out of what seemed to her like long, thin tendrils. These tendrils (her feet?) writhed within their tight configuration, making the set of them at the end of each of her...legs?...look like a clump of worms that were trying to break free from the rest of their group. The limbs they supported were lined with a network of what Sandra could only describe as green veins, like those that line the surface of leaves.
Spirally wrapped around each limb were about three or four cords that Sandra thought resembled vines like the ones that Tarzan uses to swing about the jungle. Sticking straight out from along the length of the cords at frequent, regular intervals, were small, thin green flaps. In other words, there were some bizarre things going on below Sandra's waist, not the least of which was the length of these lower limbs. They were at least four feet longer than the ones Sandra had left behind in Canada. Higher up on Sandra's new body, the two limbs came together. There was no sign of anything like human genitals at the point of intersect between the two limbs. The combination of the limbs simply generated a larger green, veiny, vine-wrapped component that Sandra decided to think of as a "trunk".
Sandra intended to take in more of this new form that she had taken, but none of this body would obey her mental commands. It seemed to move according to the will of some other mind. Eventually, whoever it was that was in control lifted four upper limbs (arms?) and brought them up close to whatever body part it was using for vision. (Sandra was beginning to lose confidence that she was in a being that had parts that were analogous to human ones). Though narrower, the construction of these four limbs was much the same as the lower ones. As with the lower limbs, these limbs appeared wildly flexible, like rubber. They didn't have an elbow joint like human arms and there was no possibility that their flexible movements would have been possible if they had a stiff, human-like skeletal structure. The limbs each had the same tendril-like grouping at the end, but these endings were clumped together more loosely than they were at the end of the lower limbs, allowing the separate bits to writhe around more freely. As for length, these limbs were about two feet longer than Sandra's human arms.
These upper limbs fell down out of view and Sandra noted that she could feel the position in space of the various parts of this body, but it was very difficult for her to put together and make sense out of it. She reflected that SHE almost felt like she was made out of a pile of writhing worms from all of the confusion of these different flexible pieces that constructed the body she had found herself trapped in. Just then, a creature that was evidently the same type as the one that was hosting Sandra sauntered into view from the far left corner of the room, using its long flexible green lower limbs to generate long, deliberate strides.
Now, Sandra could see what the other parts of this being looked like, discovering that it had a part which was clearly in the head category, only it was much larger and flatter from the front to back than a human head. Also, it had a mix of large, thin white and red flaps, that extended out from around the narrow part of its circumference. There didn't appear to be anything like a nose or a mouth. Instead, the being's saucer-shaped face only had two large round eyes, with strikingly bright green irises. The eyes were surrounded by long, green lashes, and Sandra witnessed the eyes occasionally disappear behind blinks from upper and lower green eyelids. The rest of the face was a dark, brown-black colour, and fuzzy-looking. She thought the head looked like a big flower. It was decidedly not even remotely human, but very pretty, in any case. Sandra felt as though the being she was inside had much confidence in this other one.
The creature stopped to turn and face Sandra inside her glass tube and proceeded to engage in a series of fluid, rhythmic movements. It looked to Sandra like a beautiful dance that seemed to have symbolic meaning for the mind of her host. Sandra was able to comprehend the gist of these meanings through the perceptions of her host. The basic idea was that a process was about to begin that might be painful, but that the pain wouldn't last very long. Her host was not afraid, but intensely excited about what was about to occur. Sandra experienced the body she was inside wiggling around in complicated ways and knew, through spill over messages she received from her hosts mind, that these movements conveyed a signal of readiness and enthusiasm to the other being.
Terminating their exchange of dances, the creature on the other side of the tube walked around behind a tall, white podium at the far right corner of the room, about 10 feet away from where Sandra-but-not-Sandra was standing. Other than the podium and the tube, the room was empty. The room's floor and domed ceiling were white, making the it seem much like movie depictions of Heaven, if the creator of the movie thought that Heaven probably had rooms that were shaped like igloos. The room was lit brightly, and seemingly continuously, from the inner surfaces of the dome and the floor. It was as though these inner surfaces uniformly generated light by their very composition. With all four of its upper tendrils participating, the creature behind the podium performed some incomprehensible actions on a display. Sandra's host looked down to observe the appearance of a red light that encircled the base of the tube. The creature behind the podium made some dancing gesture that Sandra somehow knew meant something like, "Straighten up and stay still." Her host obeyed the command and the red light filled the bottom inch of tube and started slowly growing upward, gaining momentum as it grew.
As the red light spread throughout the little chamber, Sandra experienced a hot pain that started from her lower tendrils and quickly spread along the length of her lower limbs and up her trunk until her whole body was surrounded by the light and consumed by an indescribably hot agony. Sandra thought that the creature was being both roasted and stretched to death. It was as though she had found herself inside an absurdly sadistic torture device. But, it was only a few moments before the light and the pain vanished. Her host looked down at a very healthy pair of female human legs that joined with hips to either side of a vagina covered by a subtle layer of fine blonde pubic hair. The instant reaction of her host was fascination mixed with relief, which transformed almost immediately into panic as the legs wobbled and she collapsed into a heap at the bottom of the tube. Two additional creatures that were clearly the same species as the one behind the podium emerged from the left of the tube. They were essentially identical to the creature that had initiated Sandra's host's transformation, except that they possessed different colored flaps (petals?) around their large heads (one had a combination of blue and yellow ones, whereas the other had a combination of white and purple).
Looking up from the bottom, Sandra's host watched one of these new beings press a button on a control panel attached to the tube's surface. The entire length of the tube then lifted up toward the ceiling of the dome, freeing Sandra's host from its confines. Each of these creatures took hold of one of the host's arms with their lower limbs and lifted her up such that her legs dangled about two feet from the ground. The host hung there limply and Sandra could sense a despair and helplessness. It, ummm, or she, clearly did not know how to begin generating actions from this weird new body. The creatures carried her to an area of the dome behind the tube and gently worked together to place her on a white, cushioned platform that appeared to be floating a few inches above the dome's floor.
One of these creatures positioned itself behind the platform on the end that supported the host's head and guided it toward a large curved tunnel. The creature that wasn't pushing walked along beside to the right of the platform. They moved slowly toward what looked like a dead end to Sandra, but the creature to the right of the platform reached an upper limb over to press something on the side of the tunnel and the obstacle that blocked their way split into two halves and quickly disappeared, apparently absorbed into the surrounding dome.
Proceeding along, the creatures guided the platform through a bewildering network of tunnels. Eventually, they halted the platform and pressed a panel on the left side of the tunnel. A door split open and the creatures guided the platform inside. Sandra's host had her head turned limply to the right, allowing her to observe a row of five other platforms along the right-hand wall. Each of these platforms supported a nude human; three females and two males. Surprisingly, all five of them were familiar to Sandra. Starting from the platform nearest to the door, the humans in the room consisted of Carly, Andy, Trixie, Joe, and another woman that Sandra had met during her introduction session at the resort. She tried, but failed to remember the last woman's name. Each of the humans had a large, metallic silver cap attached to their scalp, which was connected to wires that bundled and exited the room at a hole in the surface of the dome behind them. They all appeared to be unconscious.
This sight was not a comforting one for Sandra's host. Her host appeared aware that she wouldn't be able to use her new body, having had no prior experience with being inside one like it before. Nevertheless, it was also clear to Sandra that her host possessed a fair amount of theoretical knowledge about her human body. She sensed a frustration from her host that she couldn't control her gaze enough to explore it more, visually. As they had made the trip to this new room, her host had tried to direct her attention to difficult-to-understand touch sensations, but eventually gave up trying to make sense of them. In the end, all she could conclude was that there was something so much stiffer and blockier about this body than the one she was used to.
The two creatures manoeuvred her platform beside the last one in the row. Now, to the host's right was a silver cart that supported the same headgear that was attached to each of the other humans in the room. The creatures worked together to attached the helmet to the host's scalp and then connected a portion of the bundle of wires originating from the wall to the helmet. The helmet didn't cause Sandra or her host to experience any pain. Instead, they felt a warm sensation spread along the surface of their scalp and a sense of extreme relaxation. Soon, Sandra and her host passed into a blissful, dreamless unconsciousness.
Sandra's host awoke and opened her eyes, feeling groggy and muddled. She turned her head to the right and Sandra observed a naked Carly through her host's eyes. Seated at the edge of her platform, facing Sandra's host and with her feet dangling a foot or so off of the floor, Carly cheerfully exclaimed, "Hi! Finally, you're awake!"
Carly patiently sat waiting for a response, understanding first-hand how confusing waking up human can be. Sandra's host blinked to clear some of the blur from her eyes and reflected on what she had learned about human communication. She mentally recited her textbook knowledge about human speech and hearing. It was a curious way to communicate, thought Sandra's host, but she was pleased to infer that the skills programming part of her transformation succeeded well enough for her to understand the sounds coming from her neighbour.
Remaining silent, Sandra's host lifted her neck and scanned the room, revealing to Sandra that they were in a smaller room than the one they entered just prior to losing consciousness. Carly was the only other person in this new space, which appeared to be designed to accommodate only two of the platforms that supported Sandra's host and Carly. Looking over, Sandra's host discovered a dull ache in her left hand, thanks to the IV drip that was attached.
