Cloned Ch. 03

"Don't worry, that is just an instinctive response. Your body thinks it is drowning. As it gets used to the fact that the air flow is not inhibited you will stop that gulping."

Ellie gave him a dirty look. "You never said all this before I made my decision." He smiled as he looked at her. It was that winning smile of his that made you melt inside and forgive him anything. He was like a little boy with a brand new train-set. And yes, the scientist in her was also excited, even if that was something she could never admit to him.

The mask was a very tight fit and everywhere it suckered on to her, all around her lips, even over the top of them. He told her that it would affect the taste of her food, but not completely mask it. Then he laughed at his unintentional pun. Finally he stepped round behind her and pulled and yanked at some laces drawing in the fabric as tight as he could. She wondered whether this is what it was like having a corset laced up around you in medieval days. Yet this corset was encasing her head. After a while Zak appeared round the front, Ellie's head had been buffeted by his attempts to lace her mask on. He took a small silver padlock from the table.

"Hey what's that for?"

Zak reappeared. "It is vital the mask doesn't move while you're wearing it as otherwise the data won't be calibrated right."

"So? There is no need to padlock it shut on me!" A thrill ran down her spine as she heard the words she had just spoken. Funny, she thought, I never thought I was kinky that way.

"It's just for the laces. They have a metal eye on the end and I have to secure them so there is no play in them over the period you are wearing this. It's ok, I will be here if they need to be removed for any reason."

With that he disappeared and she felt his fingers tugging and trying to get under the laces to hook them in position. She felt like a doll being pulled and pushed around by him. Finally she heard a loud click as the steel jaw of the padlock snapped around the long prong that he had sunk into its deepest recess. She was now sealed.

And so it had been. Ellie had walked around in what looked to everyone like a fetish latex mask and no matter how often she had explained, she could see the leering look of the guys, and the disgusted recoil of other women to her appearance. Taped to the back of her neck was a small hard plastic, black disk that recorded all her data. Those that didn't want to believe she was into some fetishistic submissive game with Zak soon changed their mind when they saw the padlock at the back of her head. No matter how many times she explained about the calibration of the data, they looked sceptically at her.

Every single movement, every little grimace, every laugh, every sneeze and every word was dutifully recorded to be fed to her clone so that it could mimic her exactly. Everything that made her an individual, a unique human being was being recorded and reproduced. She felt her uniqueness being taken from her and stored away in this little black box at the back of her neck.

Finally her ordeal came to an end and Zak pulled her free of the mask. Suddenly she could feel fresh air brush against her cheeks again, she could take a lungful of air and feel human again. She felt dirty, she felt invaded, she felt like she one of those mannequins that stood so motionless in the lab, waiting to be told what to do, absent of any intelligence. That was only the beginning.