The Exchange,

Chapter 14
The exchange part 14

Chapter Description: Will Sandy be rescued or will she be mentally regressed back into oblivion?

Chapter 14

With the door firmly closed and her daddy gone, Sandra just stared at the closed door in disbelief. She had trusted him, expected him to keep her safe. She’d only known him for a couple of days but the sense of betrayal was absolute. Her eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t bawl her eyes out, she was too confused by what had just happened. To much in shock to allow grief to overwhelm her. She felt the woman’s grip tighten around her as the scientist gave Sandy a playful little squeeze.

"Lets put you some place safe until we’re ready for you huh sweetie." Sandras attention was drawn to the woman, Sandras heart felt like it was about to break. Her mummy called her sweetie, no-one else was allowed to call her sweetie, it sounded like a vile word in the mouth of this scientist. The woman gathered up Sandras changing bag and dragon and was carrying Sandra to a side room. Sandra struggled. The woman almost dropped her but managed to get a stronger hold on the little baby preventing Sandra from escaping. By the time the woman had entered the next room, Sandra had not achieved anything and had only managed to exhaust herself, she hung limp in the womans arms, feeling defeated and scared.

The room they had entered had a number of clinical looking cribs of various sizes, although the larger more adult ones looked more like cages than cribs for they had a top panel to prevent people from climbing to freedom. Monitors were attached to each crib, along with a computer consol. Still there were a few cribs for children nested together and Sandra found herself placed in one of these. She was so small she didnt need a top panel to keep her in, she had no hope of climbing to safety. Her dragon, Pea, was lowered in afterwards and the woman draped herself over the high bars looking lovingly at Sandra.

"We’ve been looking forward to having you here Sandy, you’re going to teach us so much. For such a small thing, you’ve already managed to advance our research ahead of time. Its all so very exciting."

The woman produced Sandras pacifier and dangled it above Sandys head. Sandy didn’t want it, but equally she didnt want the woman having it either so she reached up and tried to take it. The woman whisked the pacifier out of Sandras reach and chuckled, a sadistic grin played upon her lips.

"I do hope you’ll be a co-operative little girl, the more you help us out the less damage we’ll do and the quicker you can go home to your mommy, although by the time we’re through, you wont remember any of it anyway."

Sandra fought back the tears, Sandra was a scientist as well so she knew the score to some extent but she got the impression that this woman, was more of a monster than a scientist.

"Well I better get the equipment ready. It’s going to be a long night." The woman walked back towards the door, and turned at the doorway, blowing a kiss towards the cot.

"Sleep well sweetie, you’re going to need the rest, i’ll be back for you in a bit"

The woman left, still holding the pacifier. There was something about taking the pacifier that felt unnecessarily cruel to Sandy and now that she was alone, she let the tears fall freely, she tried to keep her sobbing quiet, she didn’t want the woman to know that she was crying. She pulled Pea close to her, his big smiley face tried to consol her, she slipped his ear into her mouth and sucked noisily on it as she tried to calm herself down.

"Theres no use crying, just grin and bear it and it’ll be over before you know it."

The voice had been so unexpected that Sandra not only jumped almost out of her skin, but she wet herself too. She was quickly getting used to that sensation She pulled her dragon out of her mouth she didn’t want to look like a baby if someone else was in here with her.

"H..H..hello?" She called out into the room trying to work out where the voice had come from.

"Over here!" Came the reply, closer than Sandra had anticipated, it was actually from the next cot over. Staring across and through the bars Sandra saw the girl staring back. Brown hair, brown eyes. Sandra recognised the face and she tried to think where she’d seen the girl. It came to her quickly. Sandra shuffled over to the side of her Cot closest to the other one.

"Hey, you were in the clearing the....err...other day..." Sandra had to remind herself that she’d been out for the count for over 2 days.

"...you were splashing in the river. I saw you playing"

The girl in the other cot nodded. Sandy noticed that the girl had chunks of her hair missing where it looked as if someone had shaved pieces of her hair out.

"Yeah, that’s where my problems all started really, that day, and...you. I knew I should have kept quiet. You have to play them at their own game in some aspects. My name’s Andrea." The girl matched Sandras positioning, then she threaded one leg and another leg through two different bars so that her legs hung through the bars and over the side of the cot. Sandra could see that the girl was wearing nappies, was it because she needed them or because the scientists had put them on her because the girl was confined to the cot. The question wasn’t important right at the moment.

"I’m Sandy, I ..."

Andrea cut her off. "Yeah I know who you are, the whole freaking ship knows who you are, the news reports of your little stunt have been on a nearly continuous loop. The wardens call, they called it. Had everyone in a tizz. I felt it too, was like someone screamed into my ear. Really sent my head buzzing. It was a pretty stupid thing to do you know and now you’re stuck in here, like me."

"I didn’t do it on purpose. I don’t even know how I did it. I just...didn’t want my friend to die."

"You mean that dog bird thing? It looked well freaky, well freakier with half its guts on the outside.."

Sandra let out an involuntary sob and clasped her hands to her mouth, or at least thats what she wanted to do, instead she simply stuck her hand in her mouth and sucked on her fingers as she began to cry. Andrea stopped talking, she realised she had just said something really insensitive.

"I’m sorry." She whispered as Sandra continued to cry. "I didn’t mean to be mean. I’ve...just been in here for two days being poked and prodded and made to do stupid things and i’m tired and I just want to go home. I don’t mean home to my carer I mean home home, you know, back to my family, back...to earth. I think they’re almost finished with me. I overheard one of them saying they were going to get my carer to pick me up. I’d try to escape but theres no place to escape to. I really should have been more clever. it was stupid of me to slip up."

Sandra had stopped crying and was trembling slightly but curious.

"What exactly did you do to end up in here?"

Andrea pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"I’m too clever for my own good, the people here they all have this sort of collective connection, we’re not supposed to be aware of it yet, only, I can tap into it already. I saw so many confused and scared people after your little stunt that, not thinking, I started contacting people via the telepathic link and trying to calm them down, you know, do my bit for society, try and help out. Unfortunately for me, one of the people in the clearing that day happened to be one of the scientists here. I didn’t know that until later that night back at our quarters the same scientist appeared with some sort of official looking letter stating I was to be taken into protective custody until they had determined why I was the way I am."

Andrea sighed and rested her head on one of the bars, feeling exhausted.

"Trust me Sandy, just do what they say okay. The doctors don’t care about anything other than getting results. Just play along and you’ll be free before you know it"

Sandra shook her head. "They said they’re going to neutralise me, I think that means using that pink syrup stuff. It wipes your memories, your personality. I don’t tend to co-operate if they’re going to do that. I’d rather die first. I wont be a drooling infant. I wont."

The irony was not lost on Sandra that she was currently sat in a sodden diaper in a baby sized cot wearing nothing else other than a pink t-shirt. But just because she was baby sized and looked like one and had the occasional bout of childish feelings, that was not the same as being simple minded and completely helpless. She wasn’t completely helpless if she still had her mind, She could reason her way out of this, she just had to figure out how.

The door to the room swished open again and the woman entered. She looked a little different and Sandra noticed she wore a small microphone and ear peice.

"okay sweetie, time to play" The woman smiled as she walked over to the cot. Sandra grabbed hold of one of the cot bars and wrapped her arms and legs around it, hugging it for dear life.

"Don’t call me sweetie, bitch" Sandra grumbled.

The scientist simply chuckled and tickled Sandra under the arms. Sandra squealed in ticklish delight and instantly her grip loosened. Quick as a flash the woman had whisked Sandra up into her arms.

"little girls shouldn’t use language like that. its not becoming, what would your mummy and daddy say"

Sandra was shocked. The scientist had understood her? Seeing the shocked look on the baby’s face the woman tapped her earpiece.

"You don’t think we’d be doing all this without the ability to communicate do you? tisk tisk now, give us some credit."

The woman headed for the door, turned and looked at the other cot.

"Your carer will be here soon to come collect you, you’ve been most helpful in our research Andrea. Thank you"

With that said the woman left the quarters and entered the main lab area. Some new equipment had been set up and swiftly the woman walked over to a plain white high chair and began threading Sandra into it. Sandra kicked and wriggled and it did take some effort for the scientist to finally get Sandra in and strapped to the chair.

"My Name is Dr Stewart, you can call me Jean, or nanny if you prefer" Jean chuckled at her own little joke

"If you co-operate we’ll be as gentle as we can.."

"Go to hell" Sandra shouted, she was glad she could be understood, although she realised most of what she would be communicating would be swear words.

"Whats the point of co-operating when you’re just going to obliterate my mind anyway, you sick assholes. Let me out. I want Anya! I want my mummy!"

"oh dear, are we going to have a fussy baby? Tell you what, heres the deal. You co-operate and whats say we DONT feed you some syrup. Hows that for a compromise?"

Sandras heart leapt into her chest, could it be that simple, could her salvation be that easily obtained. She quietened down instantly. A large triumphant smile snaked across Dr Stewarts face.

"There see, we’re not all sick assholes and you would so crudely put it." Jean walked over to the high chair and pulled Sandras pacifier out of her pocket. She held it up to Sandras face and Sandra quietly accepted it, it felt almost like an act of submission, and Sandra blushed slightly as she sucked quietly on her binkie.

Sandys tongue tingled and in fear she spat the dummy out, something didn’t taste right about her pacifier and suddenly she felt light headed, happy, almost as if she had been drinking heavily.

"Don’t worry little baby, that wasn’t any of that nasty syrupy stuff, just a little mix of things to make you more readily accepting of what’s going on. Can you say my name for me?"

Dr Stewart spoke with a sing songy tone to her voice, reserved for small children and Sandra broke out into a large grin.

"Nana." Sandra said without hesitation. Sandra shook her head, no that wasn’t right, this doctor wasnt her nanny. But Dr Stewart clapped her hands in glee. Sandra mimicked the clapping, feeling proud of herself

"Thats right cutie, Do you want to make nanny proud of you?"

Sandra wanted to shake her head but instead she enthusiastically nodded.

Nanny beamed happily at her small, trapped, charge. "Okay sweetie, Nanny is going to give you some things and you just have to play with them and tell me what you see."

Sandra felt confused, a large part of her wanted to spit at the scientist, another part of her adult self wanted to co-operate in hopes that the promise of not using the syrup would be true, then there was this overwhelming urge to simply suck on her fingers and giggle. She clumsily picked up her pacifier off the high chair table and stuck it back in her mouth. Inside she was screaming not to touch the pacifier in case what ever was on the dummy would effect her even more. The baby side seemed to be winning though and she happily sucked on her dummy as her nanny put something fluffy on the high chair table. Instantly Sandras hands reached out to touch it. It looked so soft and fluffy. She wondered what it would taste like. Her fingers played on the fur.

She was in the ocean, diving amongst the waves, large webbed feet pulled her through the water as she searched out flish to kill and take back to her young. She had complete 360 degree vision, useful when you weren’t exactly queen of the ocean, there were certainly bigger, hungrier things out there. She took a deep breath and dived down looking for those shimmering aquatic creatures known as flish.

Sandra blinked, suddenly back to her present state of mind after letting go of the fur. She spoke through her binkie.

"I was wet in da see, and I was lookin’ fer food" This sentence pleased nanny greatly and she ruffled Sandras hair as she whipped the fur away and put a small tooth on the table. Sandra liked this game, she liked making nanny proud of her. She eagerly took a grab at the tooth, missed by a mile then grabbed at it again. Missed again. Nanny picked the tooth up carefully and placed it into Sandras hand.

Rows upon rows of sharp jagged teeth, several rows in fact. She was one of the most feared carnivores on the planet, She ploughed through the sand tunnels she had created, her giant bulbous maggot form pushing through the tunnel lined with slime from her secretions. She couldn’t see for she had no eyes but she could feel every single movement of every creature around her. Subtle vibrations in the ground. She closed in on her unsuspecting prey, she could already anticipate the taste of its flesh. Once she had chosen a victim it seldom ever escaped.

Sandra dropped the tooth and shivered, she hadn’t liked feeling like that and she began to snivvel. She rubbed at her eyes suddenly feeling tired.

"What did you see sweetie?"

Sandra looked up at nanny, suddenly not wanting to play any more, she wanted to sleep.

"nana, nap time peese?"

Dr Stewart shook her head, keeping the smile fixed but a slightly annoyed flicker crossed her face.

"No sweetie, not yet, tell nanny what you saw, you want to be a good girl dont you?"

Sandra nodded sleepily, she wanted to be soo good, but she was terribly tired, she shifted uncomfortably in her cold wet nappy, .

"I saw nuffin, it was too dark. I was all tingly all ova, it tick-cooled"

Dr Stewarts genuine smile returned and she nodded over to a camera set up in one corner.

Nanny walked over to a large table set up with several bits of doctors equipment. She walked over to Sandra with a syringe and several bottles of liquid and some small empty vials.

"Nanny wont fib to you Sandy, this is going to hurt. but if you’re brave then I will make all the pain go away okay."

Sandy looked up fearfully at her nanny. Nanny wouldn’t hurt her. Nanny was smiling. Smiley people didnt hurt people. Sandra shook her head trying to clear her thoughts. She pushed against the high chair table, wanting out.

"Mummee?" She whined, she was beginning to get hungry and something kept making her feel agitated. Nanny chuckled as she filled the first syringe with a half and half mix of two of the liquid bottles.

"Your mummy will be here to collect you soon, you want to be a good girl for your mummy. Your mummy will be so proud of you when she comes to get you. You’re such a helpful little girl" Sandra sucked on her dummy letting the praise wash over her and fill her back up with happiness she smiled her eyes sparkling with childish glee. Then Nanny held Sandras left arm firmly and stuck her with the needle. Sandra yelped in surprise and her binkie fell to the floor, instantly some of the childish fog lifted from her mind but not completely. Sandra looked down as the syringe full of liquid pumped into her body and she whimpered as she wet herself once more. Her nappy was already filled to capacity and the plastic pants could only do so much, Her wet nappy began to leak. Nanny ignored it for the time being but made a mental note that it would need to be sorted sooner rather than later.

"Sandy, we are going to separate some of your cells so we can take a good look. It’s very important okay. I’m sorry you wont like this but I’ll give you a big hug afterwards" Again Dr Stewart spoke with that happy sing songy way that appealed to younger children. But Sandra could feel herself becoming more of herself now that the dummy was on the floor and she scowled at the woman, or at least tried to, she would have scowled had her body not been betraying her and doing what it wanted. Which at this present moment in time seemed to be soiling herself. With a loud wet fart she felt the mushy poop push itself into the seat of her nappy. Instantly she began to cry as she felt the smelly mess moving around, she cried in humiliation at the fact that it had happened so easily and so quickly and that she hadn’t even had the slightest inclination of what had been about to happen. This moment had been the defining moment to finally hammer home that she truly was un-potty trained.

Dr Stewart mistook the baby’s crying for fear of the pain that Sandra was about to endure. That was, until the smell hit her. The scientist brought her hand up to her mouth as her gag reflex kicked in. Sandra noticed this and she stopped crying, suddenly feeling a little satisfaction at causing this woman some discomfort albeit a small discomfort.

Tutting in a way that suggested she was being inconvenienced, Dr Stewart lifted Sandy from the baby high chair and quickly carried her back to the holding room, laying the baby down on the changing table she stripped Sandra of her wet and messy nappy and cleaned her up. Sandra still unable to control her movements very well didn’t help the doctor, but didn’t really hinder her either, and far too quickly for Sandras liking she was strapped into a fresh clean disposable diaper. Dr Stewart had looked thoroughly revolted during the entire changing process.

"Right, Okay Sandy. On with the show yes?" Dr Stewart propped sandy up over her shoulder and walking over to the cot Sandy had been kept in earlier grabbed her dragon toy. Sandra was feeling quite queasy, her vision was becoming blurry and she wondered if this was what that injection had done to her. She lay there limp and lifeless, suddenly unable to move, fear thrilled through her, her eyes remained open but they seemed unable to focus. She felt totally alert like her body was being electrified. She managed to mumble, but nothing coherant, was she actually losing her mind, had she been injected with syrup? The stuff hadn’t looked pink. She whimpered quietly and Dr Stewart noticed her lack of resistance.

"Ah, A1 seems to have kicked in. Good good, but we all know your resistance to our drugs don’t we little one, so nanny should act fast or this could all go horribly wrong horribly quickly."

She carried Sandy back into the main lab and put her back into the highchair. Sandy flopped in it helplessly. Dr stewart disappeared from view momentarily and came back with a couple of straps. she threaded some into the headrest of the high chair and strapped sandys head back, she then did the same with her feet and hands. Sandra was now properly restrained in the high chair. She wanted to cry, her vision so bad she could barely see, her body refused to move unless it was moved by Dr Stewart. She felt like she was being strapped into an electric chair ready for execution, unknown to Sandy this was closer to the truth than she would have liked.

Dr stewart held out a small palm device and pressed a button, looking sympathetically towards Sandy. Sandra screamed in pain as pure unrelenting heat poured through every vein in her body, the pain so intense that within seconds she blacked out.

**************

Sandras eyes fluttered open sleepily, expecting to see her pink cot bars. There were indeed bars, but they were a clinical white colour. Sandra pushed herself up into a sitting position, groaning from the pain she was in, she lifted one hand to her head and stopped in horror as she saw the bruises on her arms, where multiple needles had been and gone. She hugged her knees, ignoring the fact that she was once again in a wet nappy, she could feel the onset of nappy rash as her butt itched, but that was the least of her worries right now.

Had they used Syrup on her? How would she know if they had? If she was missing memories then she wouldnt know because she wouldnt realise she had had them. Quickly she tried to think of things from her past, her first day at primary school, her parents, her first tooth falling out. She recalled these memories with clarity. Then she tried to picture her new mummy, a vision of Anya swam into her mind. She breathed a sigh of relief. She guessed she was still intact mentally even if her body had taken quite a bashing, she rubbed at her chest, it really hurt the most.

She wondered how long she had been out for? Was it day time? Was it night time? The labs artifcial lighting made it impossible to tell. Her dragon smiled at her and she smiled weakly back. She looked over at Andrea’s cot and saw that it was empty. Had something happened to her, or had she simply been rescued from this hell? She wished her mummy was here.

"mummy." She said sadly to the empty room.

The door swished open and dr Stewart bustled in breeziily, a large content smile on her face.

"Good morning sweetie, and what a good little girl you’ve been, we still have quite some work to do, but we’re making so much progress our team of scientists can barely keep up with the data you provided last night." Dr Stewart was carrying a bottle, the bottle had pink liquid in it.

"But its time for breakfast first and then we can get on with everything that’s set out for you to do today"

Sandra was hungry but she took one look at the colour of the bottle and shook her head violently.

"YOO PROMISED" She shouted angrily, feeling betrayed once again by the people on this ship. That must surely be that syrup stuff she’d seen becky drinking. There wasnt a chance in hell Sandra was going to drink that stuff. Dr Stewart shrugged.

"I’m sure you’ll be such a happy little thing afterwards. Theres nothing to be scared of, you’re mummy will love you even more if she thinks your an innocent untainted little girl. the tests we need to do today need for you to be in an infantile state, your resistance to our drugs last night caused quite a few hiccups, truth be told you died on us twice, we needed to resuscitate you." Dr Stewart chuckled. "Your mummy would not have been pleased with us one bit, nor the council if you had properly died on us.. So if we wipe the adult side of you out, we’ve ascertained that there will be less resistance to our drugs, your sheer force of will, your stubbornness shall we say, seems to be a large factor in your ability to recover from the drugs. So its simply a case of erasing that stubbornness. It wont hurt, if anything i’ve heard its quite a pleasant experience letting your cares simply drift off into oblivion." Sandra was visibly shaking. She had been sure she would have been rescued by now. Where was Anya? Didn’t her mummy love her?

Dr Stewart gently picked Sandra up and propped her into the crook of her arm descending with the bottle of pink formula. Sandra clamped her mouth tightly shut, scrunching up her eyes. tears leaked out the corners of her eyes and rolled down her face. She ignored the rumbling in her tummy, she ignored the base desire to feed. She would not drink this, if she did it would all be over. With utter dread Sandra realised that she had opened her mouth and her eyes widened in fear as she latched on. NO NO NO!

It was then that to door opened and Anya appeared, looking like she had been through hell and back. Two strides across the room and she was at Sandras side. Snatching the bottle from her lips before Sandra could take a suck and throwing the offending article across the room so that it clattered against the far wall. Her face was of livid anger. She looked like she was either going to vomit or hit Dr Stewart, or possibly a combination of the two. But she simply stood there, her face white with rage, her lips set in a thin line.

"What the HELL do you think you’re doing." Anya screamed, trembling, trying to control her emotions. "You have no jurisdiction over Sandra, she is in MY care."

Sandras relief was absolute and she simply burst into tears, thankful for her retained intellegence and humanity. At the last possible second she had been saved. It had all happened so fast.

Dr Stewart took a moment to compose herself.

"Anya...the other scientists and I made the decision for Sandras own protection that she be neutralised...The council..."

Anya cut the doctor short as she thrust a piece of paper in the scientists face.

"I think you’ll find everything is in order, i’ve just come from the exchange council and after an extended meeting they’ve agreed to my terms, so BACK OFF"

Anya was livid, absolutely seething with how her child had been taken from her without her consent. She felt so angry, so betrayed, when she had woken up from an incredibly refreshing sleep to find her baby gone, and a note left by her partner asking her to forgive him. His stuff was missing from her apartment. His note had confessed everything, from drugging Anya to taking Sandra to the Lab, to even leaving her there knowing she was going to be neutralised. That last part had sent Anya into panicked hysterics. They surly wouldn’t neutralise her without the carers consent, it was against Exchange policy. It had been that last part that had spurred her into action, swiftly descending onto the Exchange council and then onto the lab itself.

Dr Stewart read the letter, which indeed consigned Sandra back into Anyas care, She dropped the note onto a nearby table and sighed, handing Sandra back to her carer. They had gained a lot of information from Sandra, the whole exercise had not been a complete loss, but Dr Stewart still felt cheated from having the holy grail of experiments snatched away from her at the last moment.

Anya took Sandra and held her so close. Anyas nose resting on the top of Sandras head as she cradled her baby and breathed in that adorable baby smell, She felt that Sandra was soggy, and from the coldness of the nappy realised she had been wet for some time. She could feel her child trembling and looking closer at her saw all the bruises and cuts. Anya couldn’t cry, not right now. now she was too angry to cry, now she just felt utterly emotionless Now she had to be strong, for her little girl Picking up the changing bag and dragon toy she didn’t even look at Dr Stewart as she walked out of the room, before she left she called back.

"oh by the way. I quit. I dont think I feel comfortable working here any more"

This wasn’t a trivial thing to say. Every member on board the ship had a specific job to do, Anya leaving her marked profession would put an incredible strain on her, but she just knew she would never be able to step through the lab doors without feeling nauseous again

Together mother and child left the lab, Sandra still with her head buried in her mummy, trembling and broken. And Anya so troubled she could barely comprehend what had just happened.