Regenerating Rations Ch. 01

Cradling her swollen gut, she hopped up and down slowly using gravity to dislodge food and force it further down in her stomach, availing the upper half to accept just a little more. After three to four hops, she felt her center of gravity shift again, her lower stomach somehow distending deeper into her bowels, stretching painfully under the weight of food, her muffin top disappearing as her skin was forced to stretched tighter then ever around her bloated internal organs, the waistband of her pants digging into her crotch, and the urge to retch briefly subsided.

Sitting back down at the table she crammed the last half of the eighth bar into her mouth and rinsed it down with another two chugs from the water pitcher which she had almost emptied of the full quart and a half of water inside. Holding the last contents of food and water in her mouth, Gia felt a sharp twinge in her upper stomach as her abdomen tried to contract around the viscous slurry of food and water.

"Mmm...MMM...Gullp," Gia swallowed hard, ignoring her body's command to "Stop!" and felt pressure building to a fever pitch inside her stomach, twinges in different parts of her belly hitting her brain erratically, her hand couldn't move fast enough to massage out the kinks knotting in her swollen gut. "RRgghh!" Gia grunted triumphantly to herself as she slouched back in her chair in relief, only to then be assaulted with more of the effects and consequences of her twenty-minute binge session.

"Well done. Just in time, and quite well paced for the first set," Dr. Ruskin said emphatically as she continued typing up notes on her laptop and Gia sat across from her pensively trying not to indulge in massaging her swollen gut both out of respect for the scientific staff that would inevitably be watching the camera footage of her research-ordained stuffing session and also because she felt like if she disturbed the over-taxed gut she'd be belching up a storm in front of the doc, despite the reassurance earlier.

Her stomach stuck out at least three inches more than it had before she had started the meal and was swollen across the entire vertical length of her abdomen making it look like she had swallowed a small football. Gia used a napkin to wipe the crumbs off her face and nervously fidgeted about as the doc continued typing, smoothing out her hair and trying in vain to pull her sweater back down over her stomach and tuck it into her pants.

"Please make yourself comfortable while I log data, the first half hour after administration of the sample is important to get a good baseline," the doc glanced at Gia who put on her best "that was a piece of cake" smile to disguise the intense discomfort she was feeling as her stomach juices tried to attack and subdue the swelling mass of fiber and protein that was still bloating her stomach outward. More and more tan skin was becoming visible as her sweater tightened and slipped up over her expanding midsection.

"GLORPP...RUMBLE...GROOOANN!" her belly's protests were embarrassingly audible, and Gia could do nothing but sit and endure it, trying to somehow get used to the weird feeling of being stuffed with a half gallon's worth of food that almost felt ...alive.

Gia had already decided that she didn't want to be the type of test subject continually engaging the doctor with questions and small talk. She was there to do a job and she wanted to do it to the best of her ability. To that end, in her mind that meant giving the doctors and researchers enough space and distance to do their job as well. She wasn't the overly boisterous type anyway, so the doc's apparent charming, inwardly focused yet friendly personality was a big relief.

Besides, her stomach was doing enough talking for them both, erupting in a flurry of baritone grumbles arrayed by high pitched squeals and squeaks as gas and fluid moved back and forth. It was an orchestral symphony broadcasting her gut ferocious attempts to digest and pass some of the regenerative mass into her eagerly waiting intestines. Glancing down at her smart band Gia noted that her body temperature had risen a half degree, solely from the heat of her digestive system.

She suddenly realized her forehead was damp from perspiration and marveled at just how intense things had gotten. Readjusting herself in the chair she felt her eyes get droopy as she felt her body trying to slip into a much-needed food coma, but she knew there was still work to do so she pushed back the chair and stood up to walk a couple of laps back and forth.

She walked gingerly, trying not to disturb her taut stomach, the movement helping her get relief as the food settled and her organs shifted around to find better resting places in her engorged abdomen, her lungs finding more space again while her bowels started to take on more of the load and her pants began to feel tighter despite how low they were around her waist.

The resulting tectonic shift unleashed a stealthy gas rift that she felt began to ascend quickly through her stomach and up her esophagus where it suddenly stopped. The urge to burp was there but there wasn't enough pressure.

"Umff!" Gia gurgled; her throat was so stretched it was content to just let the gas collect at the halfway point to its eventual exit, causing unbelievable pressure on her esophagus. More and more bubbles joined the party and Gia tucked her chin and wriggled trying to find a position to trigger the release of gas so she could breathe properly again. Her eyes crossed and she grit her teeth but couldn't find a point of release.

Finally giving up, Gia stood and leaned over the medical bed, hopping up and down on her toes to try and tip the balance of power in her overly taxed digestive system. It worked, her esophagus opened completely, and the air bypassed her esophageal sphincter and found storage in the back of her throat, filling her mouth, and some pushing past her petite nostrils. No longer a burp, Gia pursed her lips and blew out the gas as her cheeks ballooned outward and she unloaded the air like the bellows of a bag pipe.

"OOOoooooooouu...ooooooouuu...oufff!" Gia sputtered, one hand resting on her chest and the other bracing on the medical bed as the gas continued to pile up and force its way out of her in stages, her throat contracting to provide a brief respite before opening back up to evacuate more gases from her churning overtaxed midsection.

"You're doing great, don't fight it, let your body do what comes naturally," Dr. Ruskin's soothing voice was a welcome distraction from the all-out war raging in Gia's belly.

"Please bear with me for a bit longer, I need to take some measurements off you and then we can head to your quarters," Dr. Ruskin said as she shut her laptop and got up to approach Gia.

Gia turned to face the doc, her face blushing seeing her own stomach in comparison to the doc's slim and trim frame, making her realize just how swollen she had become in such a brief period.

"May I lift your shirt?" Dr. Ruskin asked politely, to which Gia responded in between stifled burps.

"Ulp...mmf...Yes," the hair on the back of Gia's neck tingled as the doc lifter her sweater with two hands up and over her belly pulling the shirt band back around her so that the remains of the sweater were tucked between the overhang of her breasts and the outwardly expanding curve of her stomach.

"We'll do the final inspection standing up as I assume that would be more comfortable. Please tell me if you feel any sharp pains, and apologies for the cold hands," the doc carefully rested the fingers from both hands on either the football-sized bulge in Gia's stomach, then moved outward applying light pressure until her palms contacted Gia's skin and she moved her hands in small circles, massaging the turgid mass sending Gia's neural pathways on fire as her stomach fought against the pressure form outside.

The doc then moved to applying pressure with both two and three fingers at various parts on Gia's stomach. Gia turned her head periodically to burp as politely as possible, although the doc seemed to pay no mind. After a thorough inspection, the doc lowered Gia's shirt and gave her an encouraging smile.

"Thank you for your patience, everything looks to be in order. Now I can show you to your quarters, please follow me." Dr. Ruskin led Gia out of the room, holding the door for her as they exited, and Gia gave thanks inwardly for the doc's charming professionalism.

"Outside of your appointed checkups, scheduled mealtimes, and nine o'clock evening curfew, you are given the freedom to set your own schedule and move around the facility. Be sure you check out with an attendant if you need to step outside, and don't enter other classified buildings on base without an escort. Your sleep schedule will be monitored utilizing sensors on your bed mattress. Your Smart Band is calibrated to track your caloric processing rate and will draw a blood sample daily to evaluate your nutritional status." Dr. Ruskin continued elucidating various experimental parameters as the pair made their way through the snaking halls of the facility.

Walking past a set of windows Gia turned to notice that the building had a central courtyard with a beautiful array of flowers, trees, and shrubs with a glass roof letting the sunlight stream through.

"We expect you to hit a certain threshold of steps and standing time per day to maintain proper levels of exercise. This requirement will be adjusted based on your condition throughout the trial of course." Gia took note of a slight inflecting in the doctor's voice but pushed it aside as they moved into a hallway with many doors, housing dorm style rooms.

"To be up front with you, I suspect the research team will ask if you'd like to continue your trial a little longer than the other subjects, you present a unique opportunity to establish baselines and guidelines for the upper limits of consumption and incubation of regen samples."

The word "upper limits" sent a slight chill down Gia's spine as she tried to comprehend what the research team's definition of that was, or would be, but she shook it off as something to address when the time comes. Walking around had already helped her digestive process stabilize a bit, and she was surprised to find she even felt a little hungry.

"The rations are designed to regenerate on a cycle, so they can mimic as closely as possible various normal meal schedules such as a standard three-square meals or more periodic snacking throughout the day. We can tailor the timing and intensity of the regenerative cycle using an assortment of ingestible pills to "teach" the rations to increase or decrease intensity during certain times of day, for instance when you are trying to sleep at night."