Welcome to the Machine

Chapter 8
Chapter 8

Mark looked up to see the older woman yelling for him. Her stringy grey hair was disheveled and she was bent over tryng to get her breath.

’Is that your Grandma?’ one of the boys asked.

’Nahhh I don’t know who it is....maybe she’s a basketball fan?’ Mark replied with a laugh.

’~Time out~’ he said as he went to meet the woman.

-- The basement:

Glo had found a robe to wear and had also retrieved a stuffed animal from one of the girls’ beds. Her body had again regressed to her 20’s but her mind stayed lock at 5. She played with the animal and giggled at the antics of the babies. Being a ’babysitter’ made her feel like a ’big girl’!

Annie, the mystery woman, was flying through the computer. She almost had all the pieces to find out what Stan had discovered in order to stabilize the process. She had set an alarm clock with a note attached to warn her when she was getting too young to continue the work. She knew from experience that the process was almost undetectable to the person experiencing it. She figured by her early teens she should again use the machine to reverse her de-aging...if she hadn’t figured out Stan’s stabilization process by then. Stan hadn’t stored all his notes on paper. Some were in the computer... but they were stored randomly.

---

The Park:

’Mark...Thank goodness!’

’Do I know you?’ he asked as he looked over the strangely dressed matronly figure in front of him. She was wearing a dress that few women over 30 would wear and it was fitting her sagging body poorly at that!

’Yes...It’s ME!... Suzi!’

’Suzi?’

’Yes...SUZI! Don’t you recognize me? we just talked here a few hours ago!’

’But the only Suzi I talked to was.....’ his voice faded.

’Yes..ME! It’s me... ’

Mark recognized the dress but the older woman wearing it was 40 years older than the Suzi he knew.

’Is this a trick?’ he asked as he looked around as if to see a film crew ready to jump out at any moment.

’No... Let me explain...’Suzi said as she started explaining what had happened.

Mark was skeptical until he noticed that Suzi was still getting older. The lines on her face had deepened in the time that had been talking. Finally, he agreed to try and help her. They headed back to the house. He had to slow down in order to allow Suzi to keep up. Her pain ridden knees were not helped by the heels of her pumps. Once back at the house they crept up to a back window to see what was happening in the basement.

Mark looked and saw two young women. The youger of the two was at the computer. She appeared to be around 20. The other young woman didn’t look much older. She was watching over the babies and didn’t seem concerned with the woman at the computer.

’I thought you said that your mother was being held hostage?’ Mark whispered.

’She ~is~’ Suzi answered while looking in herself. ’I don’t know what is going on.... But look how much younger they’ve gotten!’

Mark had to agree that no one in the room could possibly be old enough to be the mother of a couple of teenagers. He also could see that Suzi was approaching 60! The two continued watching and listening. -- The basement: ’I’ll be..... HERE IT IS!!!!’ Annie exclaimed. ’The subroutine was already built into the program.... Why didn’t Stan want us to have this? He added a scan to record the subject’s pattern and then a ’restore’ to actually cause the body to reset everything! A simple reversal didn’t work so he did a reset.... DAMN! That was too simple, Glo!’

Glo had been listening to Annie but had to correct her ’You said ... ’bad word’!’

’I’m sorry, I got excited.’ Annie replied ’Just one lose end...Finding Suzi... and then this whole thing will be taken care of! I wonder how old she is? Suzi’s too old to be too much trouble.... And no one for her to turn to!’

’Suzi? Who’s Suzi Aunt Annie?’ Glo asked

Annie laughed. ’An ~old~ bothersome woman!’

Glo giggled at that and then asked. ’Will I be pretty like you when I grow up Aunt Annie?’

Annie glanced in the mirror. She looked about 16. She hadn’t realized how young that she had gotten even though she could tell Glo’s body had been regressing. Glo had regressed to around 18.

--Outside of the house-

’What’s she done to mother?’ Suzi asked worriedly.

’Maybe she’s hypnotized or something?’ Mark said after thinking about it. ’I’ve seen hypnotists make people think were kids and stuff!’

’They’re getting so young.....’ Suzi said.

’And you’re getting like ~really~ old’ Mark told her.

For a few moments Suzi’s greatest fear was Mark seeing her grow old, but then she realized their were others to worry about rather than just herself. ’We have to do something, Mark!’

’Just chill, Suzi! We’ll think of something.’

----

Basement:

’Glo? Aunt Annie needs to do a little test. Why don’t you step up there?’ She said motioning to the machine. ’Can I take, Pooh Bear?’ Glo asked holding up a stuffed animal.

’Sure.... Just hop up there!’

Glo stepped into the machine and hugged Pooh Bear ’Ready, Aunt Annie’

Annie knew she didn’t have too much time. She wanted to test the ’restore’ function of the machine before she tried it on herself. According to Stan’s notes it worked in a way much like the mental part did. Glo was 16 now and Annie knew that she was even younger than Glo! Both girls’ voices were growing higher.

’I’ll just use the ’restore’ function to restore you to your proper age. How old are you, Glo?’ Annie asked with a sly grin.

’Five’ Glo answered innocently.

’Five, it is!’ Annie replied as she started the machine.

--

Outside:

’Hey, we gotta stop ’em!’ Mark said as he started to run.

’No... Not while mother is in the machine. She could do worse to her! ...and us too....!’ Suzi said stopping him ’Besides.... She’s got a gun. ......I’ve got an idea....’

----

Basement:

14 year old Annie watched as 16 year old Glo’s hands slid completely inside the sleeves of her robe. The bottom of the robe grew closer to the floor....and then even closer! Freckles sprouted on Glo’s cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Her hair grew straighter and lighter. 10-9-8-7-6-5. The machine shut down. Glo stood in her huge robe. It was pooled at her feet.

’My wobe’s too big.....?’ Glo said as she kicked at the excess material.

13 year old Annie wasn’t listening. She was busy finishing instructions for herself in case she forgot how to operate the machine. She hoped that the ’restore’ process was stable....she was getting bored being around all these kids! She just wanted to restore herself to 35... no, 25 she thought... and gather up her machine!

’You gonna shut off that ’larm clock?’ Glo asked.