The Bullpen Ch. 01

Natalie saw the difficulty Erica was having, and saw the apprehension and embarrassment in the girl's face. She made eye contact for the first time in a few minutes, and placed her hands gently on the girl's naked shoulders.

"Calm down," the older woman assured her protégé quietly. "Take a deep breath. Don't worry about me, or Colin, or Noah. Take your time."

Stepping just to one side of the girl, Natalie reached around the Erica's back with her right hand, and skillfully released the clasp that held the pink bra on. It was a bit too intimate, and a quite few steps beyond their normal personal boundaries, but the blonde could tell that the younger woman was struggling with her nerves.

Erica's pink cups were still in place over her breasts, and Natalie stepped back and away, saying, "Look, I'm just going to go over and sit up with Colin and Noah. Just take a deep breath, take your time, and finish up when you're ready."

The girl nodded. Natalie was nearly twenty-five-years Erica's senior, and in this situation, she suddenly had taken on a very motherly feeling. She was right - Erica needed to calm herself down and complete the task at-hand, or she was going to give herself an aneurysm. It was going to be tough at first. It was going to be awkward. But she had five weeks in front of her, and she would adjust. She just needed to take the first few steps.

Erica let the bra fall forward and off her body, revealing large brown areoles and a pair of nipples that sat higher on her breasts than on most other women's breasts. In fact, in college, Erica's roommate Julie had even accused her of having implants, as she possibly could have revealed quite a bit of each mammary below the nipple without actually exposing the nipple itself. Though they seemed to fit her body perfectly, Erica had always thought of her breasts as just a bit smaller than she would have liked. In just a few weeks' time, however, that wouldn't be a problem.

She savored the last few seconds in her panties, but then hooked her thumbs under the waistline and slid the underwear down her legs, slithering out gracefully. Her long, luscious limbs did, indeed, have a terminal point, flowing nearly flawlessly into two shapely buttocks at the top. The only slight imperfection on Erica's entire body, the only thing that marred her silken skin, was a single café-au-lait mark just below her right buttock. It was a discoloration, hardly bigger than a nickel, and slightly brown in color. But, if anything, Erica's single flaw made her backside that much more bewitching.

Her whole body was slightly tan, completely uniform, with no tan lines. Hannah had suggested Erica go lie in a tanning bed for a bit that weekend. She'd be indoors for five whole weeks, and the tan itself would dissipate over the course of the experiment. But if Erica was going to parade around naked for thirty-five days, she might as well not look like a pasty-skinned corpse at the outset.

Presentation, apparently, had carried over from the tan to Erica's pubic area. She was meticulous about every other part of her life, and the hair growing just above her nether regions was no different. She was nearly shaved, aside from a neat little triangle just above the top of her slit. Leg hair would grow, her tan would fade, and ever her pubic hair would grow out, but Erica had fully intended to step into the Bullpen looking her best. If she was going to be seen nude by all her friends and co-workers, she was going to make the right impression.

Erica cursed herself five minutes later. Instead of tucking the pink lace neatly under her skirt and blouse, she absentmindedly left her bra and panties sitting atop her other clothing. Anyone who walked into the Observation Room, past the cubby, and to the ops desk, would be able to glance inside and see the bright pink lingerie within. But Erica had been nervous about the three people just a few yards away, nervous about presenting herself in the Bullpen, and nervous about what the next five weeks would hold for her.

Her glasses were the last article to be deposited into the cubby - she wouldn't need them to read the large print of the projection screen. But as took them off, Erica couldn't help but feel that much more naked, that much more uncomfortable.

Without looking in the direction of the ops desk, Erica took a deep breath and walked to door of the Bullpen. Like the automatic glass doors at the supermarket, the door to the Bullpen slid open to one side at the command of the ops desk – though, it had been open ever since Erica, Natalie, and Noah had first arrived. But Erica had taken only one step into the room when a screeching alarm had begun to wail.

Erica's whole body jumped at the sound of the claxon, terrified that it was some sort of fire alarm and she'd be forced to evacuate in just her birthday suit.

"You've got something metal with you," Colin shouted across the Observation room, as Erica stepped back from inside the Bullpen. "Rings? Earrings?"

"Shit," the brunette cursed herself. She'd forgotten to take out her earrings. Her heart racing from the alarm, she removed her jewelry, looking up to see that Colin had joined her down on the floor of Observation Room. She was suddenly conscious of the way her breasts were dangling in front of her, acutely aware that her nipples were as hard as diamonds. The man's proximity to her naked body sent a shiver down Erica's spine.

She handed the earrings to Colin glumly, apologizing for the mistake, and turned back around to enter the Bullpen.

Colin winced, not wanting to call the girl back. But he had to. "Um, Erica?"

"Yes?" she replied, partially turning. She just wanted to get this over with, get into the Bullpen, and get on with the experiment.

"I need the elastic, or the scrunchy, or whatever that is in your hair, as well."

Erica was already blushing all over, but the absentmindedness first of the earrings, and now of the hair elastic, embarrassed her a bit more. "Sorry," she offered again, letting her ebony tresses down, and loose, out of the ponytail.

"It's alright," Colin answered. "No big deal." Taking the girl's hair elastic and earrings, the technician made his way back towards the operations desk, while the girl herself stepped through the door and into her prison.

***

Erica had been inside the Bullpen before, but never facing the prospects of remaining inside for such a long period of time. An orangutan named Yogi currently held the longest record for time spent in the Bullpen - four months and nine days. A random college student who had volunteered for a project held the human record - five days, three hours. Erica might not have been in danger of breaking Yogi's record, but she was going to pass by that second record by a comfortable margin.

She was surprised, however, how clean and clinical it smelled inside the Bullpen. She had been expecting the stench of monkeys and feces, but was pleasantly surprised when she smelled absolutely nothing at all. Obviously, the Bullpen staff had done a good job of preparing the room for her.

"I'm going to close the door now," Colin announced over the intercom and into the Bullpen. "Okay?"

"Okay," Erica replied, turning to face the mirror wall behind her, glancing out into the Observation Room for what she guessed would be the last time in a while. Behind her, the doors mechanically slid into place, covering the gap in the wall that she had entered through. It was disconcerting - knowing that Colin, Noah, and Natalie had no problem seeing her through the walls of the Bullpen, while she herself saw only her own naked reflection in the walls.

She looked around the room, finding it completely barren. There was a small door on the far side, from which the toilet rolled out of. Erica was none too keen on the idea that she'd have to ask the technician to provide her with the toilet, or ask the technician to flush it when she was through with it. But she had decided that neither of those things compared with actually USING the toilet while someone else watched. Just considering that eventuality made Erica shudder. She had made sure to use the bathroom in the Human Hormone Lab one last time, right before coming down to the Bullpen.

Below the empty space where the toilet would emerge was a drain, located at the nadir of a gradual decline around it. Directly above the drain, mounted in the ceiling, was a showerhead. Erica would be able to shower and clean herself each morning. Though she'd have no one to meet and no real reason to shower each day, the girl looked forward to getting into some sort of routine.

The Bullpen had diagnostics built into the toilet, and the shower drain, as well, for urinalysis and various other tests. The systems were temperamental, though, and the most commonly failing tools that the room had to offer.

Facing the toilet-drawer while standing atop the drain, there was a thin, horizontal indent into the wall, the only imperfection in a perfectly cubical room. That shelf was where Erica would keep shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush.

"Erica?" Colin called to her over the intercom.

"Yes?" she replied, unsure of where to look. She knew where the ops desk was located, in relationship to the Bullpen. But she couldn't see the man that she was addressing - only herself, staring awkwardly back at her.

"We're getting some of the initial readings, but your hair is fouling things up a little," the technician explained. None of the previous human test subjects had had long hair, as they were all men with close-cropped hair-dos. "So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to spend a couple of hours playing with and modifying the emitters a little, and maybe adjust some of the system's algorithms."

He paused for a moment, before continuing, "If I can't get some sort of baseline, some sort of equilibrium, without too much interference and fluctuation, we may have to cut your hair."

It had been a possibility, but Erica had hoped that she'd be able to keep her long black hair. How would she explain herself to Tom when she finally saw him again?

The thought of her boyfriend produced a pang of guilt. She had lied to him, about where she was going to be and what she was going to be doing. She was in Arizona, running her experiments in a government-provided facility in the middle of the desert, not being poked and prodded, gawked at in the nude, only a few miles away in Avon, Connecticut. Though she hated being dishonest, Erica hadn't been able to tell him the truth – it was too embarrassing, too awkward, and too intimate.

And she didn't want to cut her hair. But then, she also certainly didn't want to be spending five weeks locked naked inside a box. She'd already sacrificed herself for her science - she could sacrifice some more.

"Okay," she heard herself respond, looking up towards where the intercom projected Colin's voice. He was standing less than ten feet away, but was unseen through the mirror glass.

"Is there a way that I can see you guys? Like, through the projector?" Erica knew full well that she'd be able to see Colin, Noah, and Natalie on the outside, through a camera feed that could be projected from the ops desk into the Bullpen. At least then she'd have a frame of reference, somewhere to look.

"That's a negative," Colin quickly and succinctly replied. "Any sort of projection fouls up the baseline readings and requires a little extra energy. Let's just see if we can combat the problem with your hair before we flip on the projector. Okay?"

"Okay," Erica repeated.

Standing in the center of big, cubical box, the girl was unsure of exactly what to do with herself. The room was lit from above, a soft glow emanating from the ceiling. She could see her own reflection as she looked towards the mirror, which only served to remind her of how naked she really was. Her skin was exposed for everyone to see. Her pubic hair was exposed for everyone to see. Her tits, smallish now, but set to balloon over the next few weeks, were exposed for everyone to see. And it all began to sink in - she wouldn't be able to cover herself again for five more weeks.

***

For three hours, Erica sat in the Bullpen, bored out of her mind. Colin had gone completely incommunicado, not even updating her as to his progress on reworking the emitters. And, after standing in the center of the room and staring uncomfortably at her own naked body for a few minutes, Erica had opted to sit down against the far wall, bored and gazing blankly towards where she guessed the ops desk to be.

There wasn't any less humiliating way to stand, and there certainly wasn't any less humiliating way to sit. Erica had originally just plopped herself down in the center of the room, but didn't think about her level of exposure while sitting Indian-style on the floor until she had done so. After realizing her exhibition, the brunette had repositioned herself with her back against the far wall, her bare ass cheeks on the bare floor, her legs crossed out in front of her to hide her pussy, and her arms folded across her chest in an obvious attempt to shield her nipples.

It was in this position that Erica found herself when the intercom came to life once again. "Erica?"

"Yes?" she answered the sound of Colin's voice.

"Um, I've got some bad news."

"My hair?"

"Yeah," Colin sighed.

"I'm not going to have to take a razor to my scalp, am I?" Erica asked, half-joking. She assumed that she'd have to have her hair cut to the same length as the men who had inhabited the Bullpen before her.

"No, no. In fact, I think if we can just bring it down to somewhere manageable, like somewhere just above your chin, that might work."

Well, at least she wouldn't have to go boys' length, Erica consoled herself.

Colin continued, "Or, at least, I think we can get away with that. The calculations I've made, and the models that I've run, seem to work well enough with your hair just a few inches shorter."

"So what's the plan?" the brunette asked.

"Well, we've got two options, I guess. Number one is that we make you a hair appointment for later this evening, you go home tonight, and come back to get a fresh start in the Bullpen tomorrow."

The appeal of putting her clothes back on was undeniable. But having already stripped once, Erica was not sure she'd be able to do it again the following day.

"Number two," Colin continued, "is that we do it ourselves, just you and me."

Despite her meticulous nature, and despite the fact that each and every one of Erica's hairs was in place each and every morning, Erica chose this second option. She had five weeks for whatever sort of chop-job she was about to receive to grow out. And it'd be over with now - quickly and painlessly - without forcing her to put clothes back on, and then take them off again. The sooner the baseline readings began, the sooner the experiment itself would begin, the sooner it would be over, and the sooner Erica could put clothes back on and go home.

"I'm just going to grab you a towel," the technician said after he had heard the girl's reply. "We can do it right out here in the Observation Room."

"Okay," Erica heard herself meekly reply. A towel? To wrap around her body? One of the selling points of Plan Number Two had been that she'd avoid having to dress and then undress again. Colin had been seated just a few feet away, staring at her naked body for over three hours at that point. Did she really need to cover herself up again?

But, despite all this, Erica couldn't bring herself to voice these concerns out loud. If she had said anything against the towel, it might have seemed that she was enjoying this, that she was an exhibitionist unwilling to cover her own nudity. And so, she swallowed hard, and waited for the door to the Bullpen to slide open once again.

She didn't see Colin right away, but rather a strong-looking forearm extending a simple red bath towel. Erica had no idea where Colin had found the towel, but she half-heartedly thanked him for it as she reached out to grab it. The way Colin had positioned himself was somewhat ridiculous, Erica thought to herself. Yes, she understood that he was hiding around the corner of the open door to give her a sense of privacy, some sort of peace of mind. But he was also directly in front of her, staring through the mirror-glass of the Bullpen at Erica's naked body.

The towel wasn't a large one, and after Erica had wrapped it around her upper body and tucked it in on itself, she noticed that it fell only slightly past the bottom of her ass. She'd have to be careful stepping from the Bullpen, and she'd have to make sure to cross her legs while Colin gave her the haircut. Erica laughed at herself as she realized the false logic of these thoughts - Colin had been looking at her for the past three hours as he tooled and retooled the Bullpen. Clearly, she shouldn't have been quite so concerned about accidentally flashing him over the next few minutes.

She stepped out from the Bullpen, and back into the Observation Room. Natalie and Noah had long since left, isolating the girl with just this one other man. But Colin, despite the fact that he was still wearing all of his clothes, seemed as ill-at-ease with the situation as the Erica herself.

The technician hadn't provided her with a chair or a place to sit, as Erica had been expecting. Instead, he had simply dragged a large trash barrel out from behind the ops desk and placed it in the center of the room. She wasn't going to be seated, or receive a shampoo, or be provided with idle chatter and gossip. This haircut was going to be quick and utilitarian.

"Do you want a place to sit?" Colin asked, after seeing the hesitant look on Erica's face. "I just figured I'd have you lean over the trash, and avoid the clean-up."

"Yeah, that's fine," Erica replied, shaking her head. "I can stand. It's not a big deal."

And so, wrapped in a towel that rose up her thighs to a point of near indecency, Erica leaned forward at the waist, bracing herself on the edge of the trash barrel. Colin already had the scissors in hand, though uncertainty over what he was about to do left him frozen a few feet away.

He shook off the doubt, however, and explained, "I'm going to bring it a bit higher than we actually need, just a few inches above your chin. That way, we can let it grow out a bit, and we're not going to have to worry about doing this again."

Erica nodded.

Colin took a step closer, and raised the scissors to the girl's long, beautiful black hair. Before she knew it, Erica heard the first snip, and watched as a length of hair tumbled downwards into the trash. It was quickly joined by quite a bit more.

"The girls," Colin began. "Jamie would never let me do this to the twins."

"That's reassuring," Erica joked, watching inch after inch of her ebony hair fall into the trash below her.

After a few minutes of cutting, Colin brushed the loose hairs off of Erica head with his fingers. The girl couldn't help shivering because of the contact, though she hoped that Colin hadn't noticed. She herself shook her head and ran her hands through her hair, shocked by exactly how short it was.

Colin took a step back to admire his work, giving the towel-clad girl a thumbs-up. "Not bad," he offered. "It's really not bad at all."

Erica was doubtful. But what was done was done, and it wasn't as if she had to go out in public with this particular haircut anytime in near future. After she had discarded all the loose hairs, she looked back up at the technician, asking, "So you think it'll work?"

"It should only take about five or ten minutes before we know. And then we can get started with all the baseline readings in earnest."

"And Noah gave you all the information and settings were looking for?"