Teasing the Test Subjects (Patreon)

This was an old WIP I stumbled upon recently. I forget where I was going with it (I just kind of wrapped it up quickly as the file I found left it hanging mid sentence), but you get the larger idea.

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Due to the very nature of the tests that were being conducted, the lab had placed very strict dietary restrictions on test subjects of Q Wing. Any caloric intake exceeding the tightly monitored regimen of nutrient-rich paste they received morning, noon, & night would not only skew test results, but could also potentially spell disaster, due to their highly-pressurized conditions. And not only for the subject, but anyone unlucky enough to be around them & possibly even the compound's superstructure itself.


Professor Von Bauschenbergh's daughter Dorothea knew this full well. While she was not part of the project in any sort of an official capacity, her father insisted she remain by his side. Even if that meant never seeing the light of day for months at a time. A precocious young woman, said to be quite brilliant in her own right, it was no secret among the other researchers of Q Wing that she seemed to harbor a bit of a sinister streak. Confined to a just a small portion of the massive research center, this wickedness only became more & more apparent with her growing boredom. As cabin fever really started to kick in, the devious young lady took it upon herself to find new ways to pass the time.


Everyday around 1400 hours, just after her morning collegiate teleconferences wrap up & lunch finishes, Dorothea begins her little ritual. The first step usually requires her to use father's security clearance to clear out the vending machines on levels 10, 11, 12, & sometimes, depending on the restocking schedule, 13. Typically, she goes for the candies & snack cakes, even though she'll readily tell anyone who will listen how the chocolate & pastries back home in Europe are "vastly superior to the processed crap" we have here. Still, they tend to do the trick. By about 1430, Dorothea starts to make her way back to Q Wing's main labortory & onto the catwalks with her bag of sweets in tow, stopping at the stall of each test subject. As a side effect of the hormonal imbalances brought on by their condition, the test subjects find themselves in a state of constant hunger, sometimes driven into an almost mindless fervor by it. And while each subject receives a sufficient amount of nurtient paste each day to meet their very specific dietary needs, the actual taste & consistency of the product is admittedly quite off-putting. After three servings a day, every day, one would quite readily welcome a change. So as the devilish Dorothea dangles little pieces of sweet over each test subject, they begin to rock with anticipation, bobbing whatever precious inches their massive frames are capable. As the young woman holds the sugary snacks the same distance from their face, the subjects attempt their best baby bird impressions, trying to stretch the swollen tissue that was once their neck in an attempt to get a bite of the sweet morsel. Dorothea slowly dips the snack ever closer, sometimes waving it right by their nose so they can catch a fleeting whiff the very instant before she cruelly snatches it back & places it on her own tongue.


She does this, eating two or three different items, leaving the subject a salivating mess before moving on to the next & repeating the process. There's always a bit of a sadism in the glee she takes in taunting her helpless victims; the gleam she gets in her eye each time she watches their heart sink with every bite she ultimately takes. The subjects themselves seem to know in their hearts that she has absolutely no intention of ever letting them get a taste, but their intense hunger overrides any sense of logic & they bobble in place excitedly every time she presents a new piece. And maybe that's why Dorothea never grows tired of it.


When she started this, some of the other researchers took issue with the practice, bringing it to the attention of her father. They told Q Wing's head of research that Dorothea's actions were not only cruel & mean-spirited, but could possibly jeopardize the entire operation. Dorothea, who had the professor wrapped around her little finger, painted a much rosier picture, saying she was doing it to break up the monotony of the test subjects' day to day. She said she expressed so much joy at eating the sweets in front of them not to torment them, but to try & have them forget about the bleak situation they found themselves in, & live vicariously through her. Blind to the obvious theatrics & somehow moved by this, Professor Von Bauschenbergh commended her actions & supported her continuing them.


Another thing the researchers on the floor have noticed is where exactly all those sugary snacks are going. While Dorothea was never really one to ever find her way to the compound's extensive gym all that often, the steady stream of sugary sweets have really started to take an effect on her own figure. While no mention has ever been made to or by her, it seems to be the one bit of ironic satisfaction the other members of the facility can take in Dorothea's cruel actions.