sruwizard
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#1 | Posted: 20 Jun 2009 09:37 | Edited by: sruwizard
The Stepford Files 174
The sudden flaring of lights in the room surprised Matt. He was sure he'd been more careful. But now that he'd been caught, what was he going to do?
"I'm surprised to see you here tonight, Mr. Carson," said the school's headmaster. "On the other hand, I had been told to expect someone." As he looked Matt over carefully, the headmaster shook his head. "You certainly don't look like a company man, Mr. Carson. But then, I suppose that's part of what makes you a good spy."
"A spy? What are you talking about? I'm no spy, Headmaster Wilson!" Although Matt had no idea what he'd gotten himself into you, he knew he was in serious trouble. "I just had some questions about the school. My daughter Diane has been enrolled here for the next quarter."
"I must admit you were given an excellent cover. Having a daughter enrolling here was a great touch. I never thought the company was that clever. I'm not one who is easily deceived. Are your wife and daughter really your wife and daughter, Mr. Carson? Or are they just more spies like you?"
Matt couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I don't what the hell you're talking about! I'm no spy!" he insisted. What had he gotten himself into? "I told you I had some questions about the school."
"In the middle of the night? Please don't insult my intelligence, Mr. Carson. I and the Town of Stepford have friends in the highest places," replied the headmaster smugly. "If you really had questions about the school, you should have brought them up at the orientation both you and your wife attended. Answering questions is why there's an orientation meeting."
"I didn't think about them at the time."
"How very convenient for you!" replied the headmaster. "You must not have been listening very carefully that night, Mr. Carson. You've broken the rules. You were warned, but here you are anyway," he grinned. "You should have never come here! You were told at the orientation the school was off-limits!" His widening grin was joined by a wicked gleam in his eyes. "We have ways of dealing with rule-breakers here."
"What are you going to do? Shoot me?" asked Matt. In his mind, that suddenly seemed a distinct possibility. He hadn't known Ned Wilson very long, but he was beginning to think the headmaster was playing with less than a full deck.
"Oh no. Nothing so mundane, Mr. Carson. That would be very messy. There'd be so many questions asked," muttered Ned. "Even worse than all those questions, unwanted attention might be focused on the school and the Town of Stepford. We certainly wouldn't want that; would we?" Another wicked grin spread swiftly across his face. "Fortunately, there is another - far better, more humane - way for dealing with rule-breakers like you."
"What are you going to do to me?"
"Something so incredibly simple it may likely boggle your mind." Ned slowly raised something he held in his hand that looked like a pocket pager. "Activate nanites, coded controller 200-805-1714. Subject, Matthew Allan Carson, age 38, parent, male. Mode, makeover."
Matt suddenly felt an odd tingling over his entire body. "What have you done?" he asked nervously
"I've just activated your nanites, Matthew. I can call you Matthew; can't I?" grinned the headmaster. "Everyone living in the Town of Stepford has nanites coursing throughout their bodies. The controller was introduced into your system when you took your required medical exam. The rest come in the food you eat and the water you drink. Our Stepford nanites are so far past the current state of the art outside as to be laughable. We can remold your body into however we want you to look. We can also make you think only those thoughts we want you thinking."
"You're crazy."
"I'm perfectly sane," replied Ned. "You should be very glad I caught you, Matthew. Most of my colleagues tend to have odd ideas and tastes when it comes to punishing rule-breakers. Personally, I think we already have far more than enough busty beautiful bimbos of assorted hair colors waiting tables at that little diner just outside the Stepford town limits. I've also heard all of them make more money whoring than then they do waiting tables. Whores aren't allowed in the Town of Stepford, you know."
Matt, still feeling peculiar, just stood there shaking his head. He didn't believe what was going on. "I still think you're nuts, Ned."
"To each his own. I think you're just worried I'm going to make you another busty oversexed whore," replied Ned. "Nothing could be farther from the truth. I can tell you agree with me that's a bit extreme in your case. There's only one logical place for a rule-breaker like you to be. Since you clearly need to learn how to follow rules, you need to be placed somewhere that will properly teach you how to follow the rules. As your punishment, Matthew, you will join our student body."
"What? But I can't..."
"Of course you can; it's very easy. I'll also make sure you learn to listen better while you're here." Ned's odd smile made Matt nervous, but not nearly as much as seeing him raise that pocket pager to his lips again. "Nanite controller 200-805-1714, initiate makeover program SSFG, procedures F17S-BE-BH-C36-XSA-HTH, authorization code headmaster."
As peculiar as he'd been feeling up until then, Matt was surprised when he began feeling even stranger. He simply felt totally out of sorts. Had he considered it possible, Matt might have thought his body was covered by countless wiggly icky things crawling over his body.
Why was Ned getting taller?
What had just slid down over his shoulders?
Why did his whole body feel so odd?
What was causing that sudden inexplicable feeling of weight on his chest?
Absently, Matt swept away several strands of long blonde hair from in front of his face. Discovering the cause for that weight on his chest made Matt's face pale. Abruptly, it dawned on him that Ned hadn't had a growth spurt; he'd shrunk and become shorter. "What are you doing to me, Headmaster Wilson?" At the sound of his altered voice, Matt cringed, then clutched at his throat.
"Just some necessary modifications, Matthew," replied the headmaster. "Don't you remember? You're being punished. And your punishment for being a rule-breaker is becoming a member of our student body. You could have never been a student here as you were."
"This is impossible! You won't get away with this!" exclaimed Matt defiantly.
But Ned simply smiled back at him. "Look into my eyes, my dear!" he commanded.
"Up yours, asshole!" snapped Matt.
The headmaster's smile simply widened further. "Looking into my eyes isn't really necessary, you know. I've just always wanted to say it. It has this really mysterious ring to it." He lifted the pocket pager to his lips again. "Until I decide you've learned your lesson, Matthew, your name will be... Megan Carlisle! You're a girl, Megan... a very pretty girl. And as long as your name is Megan, you will think and act like any other 17-year-old girl!"
Matt glared angrily at the Headmaster. Whatever he'd tried doing this time had clearly failed. He still knew who he was. However, looking as he did right now, Matt doubted he'd ever convince anyone he was really Matt Carson or male or 38 years old. He wondered what that crazy fool would do once he discovered his failure.
"What's your name, sweetie?" asked Ned as if he'd been successful.
Matt definitely didn't like the idea of some nutcase calling him sweetie. He wasn't that kind of guy. "You know my name, asshole," he replied.
"Then just humor me, dear."
He stared at Ned. He didn't like being called dear either. And yet, Matt saw no reason not to answer him. Unless the man was a complete idiot, something Matt hadn't ruled out, sooner or later, Ned would figure out he'd failed. "My name's Megan Carlisle," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Ned's total lack of reaction was somewhat of a surprise.
"Are you male or female, Megan?"
Megan continued glaring at Ned in disbelief. "I'm female, sir," she replied. As she kept staring contemptuously at him, she wondered why he was asking her such dumb questions. In addition, Megan wondered how someone so incredibly stupid could have ever become this school's Headmaster.
"And your age, young lady?"
"Seventeen," was Megan's swift reply.
When Headmaster Wilson turned his attention away from her, Megan was surprised the man hadn't been angry with his failure as she'd expected he would be. After all, his mind games had failed. She had just told him she was still 17-year-old Megan Carlisle. Nothing had changed. She was still the girl she'd been born. However, as she continued watching the headmaster, she began wondering what he was doing. She also felt somewhat surprised at her own failure in noticing just how totally cute Headmaster Wilson was before now. But then, there was no way she'd ever be interested in someone like him. No matter how cute he might be, the man was still an old fart.
"Welcome to the Stepford School for Girls, Megan!"
"Whatever!" replied Megan unimpressed. She wasn't too thrilled about attending some stupid girls' school. There wouldn't be any boys.
"Since the nanites still need additional time to make everything just right, you should take a little nap, Megan."
"A nap? Are you kidding? I'm not..." was all she managed before swooning, only to be caught in the Headmaster's arms.
"How delightfully soft and rounded you've become, my dear," he mused, sweeping Megan up into his arms. "Perhaps seventeen wasn't the right age for you. Do you think I should have made you a bit older, young lady? But then, that wouldn't have been right; now would it? You'd have been too old to be a student here. How would you have ever learned to follow rules then?"
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