Set Escape On

Jenna had barely slept, despite how exhausted she was. This was not normal, something was very wrong. Sure, in fantasies, in stories, in holos, this kind of unrealistic growth would have been not just acceptable, but downright appealing. This wasn't fantasy, though; her ass exploding out of her pants wasn't supposed to happen for real, even in the 'Dream. It hadn't gotten any bigger during the three hours or so that she'd collapsed, exhausted and worried, into bed, but that didn't mean nothing had happened; based on where countertops seemed to be now, she was about an inch taller. Her underwear had held on somehow, but it was stretched into looking far more thong-like than it was supposed to be, it was not particularly comfortable any more, and she wasn't sure she could get it off. Not without cutting it, anyway.

"Okay, Jen, think rationally." Her real image was being modded in some manner. That meant making an appointment with a data surgeon; she'd send a request as soon as they started taking appointments. The growth had started in one place, but it wasn't staying there, and she was already having trouble with clothing. Luckily, she knew someone who could help with that, and they would be happy to hear from her even at this time of morning.

Miri answered the call with a yawn, her white-furred ears and six-ringed reddish-brown tail looking like they needed to be brushed, but her eyes were bright and happy and her bosom looked...particularly plump, especially this early. "Oh, Jenna! It's been way too long, how are you? I haven't heard from you in ages. Is the big project going well?"

"Hey there Miri, sorry I haven't kept up with you lately. Yeah, the project is going great, I think we're getting a lot closer, probably going to do some focused alphas soon. You?"

"Oh, I'm, well I'm doing splendidly. Relationship matters have gotten somewhat...interesting in my life lately, but I've never been happier. I'd love to tell you all about it, but I get the feeling this isn't exactly a social call."

"You always were perceptive, Miri. Yeah, I was hoping you could help me out."

"You know me, anything for a friend, sweetie! What's the problem?"

"Well, let me show you." She panned the camera down to her prodigious posterior. "Some kind of glitch, I don't know what yet, is expanding me in rather unpredictable ways."

"I see, and since having that happen is kind of my deal, you wanted some advice? It looks really good on you, by the way."

"Thanks, I guess. It is attractive, I'll admit, but I'm not particularly thrilled. I don't need advice so much as I need to stay decent."

"Ohhh, right. The clothes! Oh, Jen, I'll have some couriered over to you right away, just a couple of outfits, full unbreakable stretch on every item. Bras, panties, blouses, pants, the lot."

"You're a lifesaver, Miri. Or at least a dignity saver. When I get this nonsense squared away, I promise I'll stop over and we'll catch up."

"I can't wait! We can do an anime marathon! I'll get your care package put together right now, hun. Love you!"

"Love you back, Miri."

At least that was sorted. She and Miri both had generous curves, and had gone shopping together often enough that she knew they were close to the same size. Besides, once the clothes started stretching, it wouldn't matter if Miri's baseline was a little bigger than hers. Nothing to do now but wait for the package to arrive and the doctor's office to open. Jenna was wiped out, and a little less worried than she had been, so a nap was in order. As she dozed off, she imagined how frightening it would be if growth like Miri's could happen to just anyone.

Athena hurried home from her self defense class, her ears low and her cat-tail a little puffed out with fright; she almost never stayed past the half-session mark, the whole experience of being in class with so many people training for violence made her too nervous, but today there was just an ominous feeling in the air and she wanted to get somewhere she felt safe. It was awful, because she'd decided to take the class so she could feel safer, more confident, but now she was almost running away from it. As she turned a corner, she walked right into someone and leapt back in surprise, which made her tail run into someone else. "Oh, sorry, I'm so sorry!" she stammered, and quickly pulled her tail to herself and scurried away. Holding her tail to her chest, she realized she felt...bigger?

She stopped to look down her t-shirt; her breasts were definitely more plump than normal. What was going on? While she was standing there, a young man on a bicycle rode past; she was so distracted she hadn't seen him until he was almost on top of her, and she jumped aside with a yelp. This time she felt it; when she'd gotten surprised, her shirt had suddenly tightened around her. Looking at her reflection in a shop window, her mouth fell open in shock; her boobs were half again as large as usual, and she had a little bit of a tummy, too!

She took off towards home faster than before, pushing past people in her hurry. Not quite looking where she was going, she stepped into a crosswalk only to hear the blare of a car horn. She stumbled backwards onto the sidewalk, falling onto her behind, as the vehicle sped past; in an instant, her shirt was straining to hold tits the size of basketballs and a quite noticeable swell beneath them. Oh dear, this wasn't good.

"Miss, can I help you up?" A hand fell on her shoulder, and she squeaked in skittish surprise. It was just a kind, handsome young man trying to be helpful, but she hadn't been expecting it, and him making her jump also made her pop several stitches as her boobs and belly gained a few more inches.

"O-oh, t-thank you. You're very kind." She took his hand, stood up, and paid close attention to carefully cross the street when the light changed. She was more nervous than ever, but she made it into her house. Closing and locking the door gratefully behind her, she sank into her favorite chair with a sigh, the fur of her tail finally starting to flatten back down. Why was she growing every time she got scared or surprised? She was a nervous girl, this could get out of hand quickly. Then her datapad rang unexpectedly loudly with an incoming call. She jerked, yelped, and her shirt ripped in two, unable to hold back the sudden appearance of a pair of watermelon-sized breasts and a belly that looked several months pregnant.

As is typical for outbreaks of this type, it was chance encounters and a failure to isolate that initiated spread into the general population. Of course, nobody was really to blame; there was no way for them to know that there was a problem until it was too late, and even once the effects had begun, they couldn't know that the routines from the incident spread by touch. The code had now begun to propagate in earnest, and it would soon draw plenty of attention.

Jenna's head bumped into her headboard, waking her from a surprisingly deep slumber. How long had she slept? She checked the time on her pad. Afternoon?! Well now she'd never get in for a good appointment. She sent the request to the doctor's office anyway, knowing it would probably be a couple of days until they could see her. The datapad was noticeably smaller in her hands, which was...concerning. Her top was feeling uncomfortably tight; looking down, her admittedly generous proportions were no more excessive than usual, but the fabric of her shirt was starting to tear. She stood, and her red hair brushed the ceiling. Shit. That explained it, but pushing ten feet tall was not an explanation she was happy about. A message pinged on her datapad; a delivery, oh thank goodness, that would be from Miri.

Jen opened the door, and shook her head in mild exasperation. Generous to a fault, that red panda girl. At least the huge garment boxes were easy to move by herself. She unpacked them (a couple of outfits, right, this was a week's worth), selected some comfortable pants, a replacement t-shirt, and some practical undergarments, and got changed. Wow, they did stretch, and didn't show it in the least. She should get the name of Miri's designer, this kind of code would be perfect for the project. Which, now that she thought of it, she should probably stay away from until...whatever was happening got resolved. She fired off a quick note to the project leads, letting them know she had some potential health issues she needed to take care of, and was going to be less active for the time being.

That got her thinking, what was she going to do with her time? Her holo art was her job, and if she was trying to avoid using the holo system, there was only so much she could do from a workstation. Time off wasn't usually a scheduled event for her; making art was how she relaxed, and getting sick didn't typically happen in the 'Dream. She couldn't have friends over, not like...this. Miri was the only person she knew who lived the expansion life outside of fantasy, and it was one thing to ask for clothes and entirely another to ask for a visit from several states away. She could read; there were always plenty of good expansion stories being published by the day in the community, maybe she could get some inspiration for what to do when this was over. Or, you know, she could find a novel like a normal person. Maybe she was spending too much time on the project. She needed to lose herself in someone else's drama for a little while.

Maria smiled as she opened the door to her mother's house. This was going to be the most satisfying visit home she'd ever made. Finally, she was going to win. Her mother Brenda was kind and caring, and Maria loved her, of course, but she was slim and pretty and had huge boobs, and she hadn't quite passed down her genetic blessings to her daughter. Oh, nobody would ever say Maria wasn't attractive; she was a bit more robust than her mother, wore her black hair a little longer, and had plenty of curves of her own. Her mother was just bustier, no matter what Maria did. Until today, anyway, when she'd been getting a coffee on the way into town and for some reason her breasts just started growing. They'd plumped and swelled rapidly, overflowing her bra and stretching her top; she had to take the bra off, it was just too tight, and she could see that she was quite a bit bigger than Brenda. She'd almost doubled in size, and going braless was incredibly lewd with melons like these, but she didn't care. Oh, this was going to be glorious. "Mom, I'm here! And I have a surprise!"

"Oh sweetie, I'm so glad you're, oh! Maria, dear, you look lovely! I'm so happy for you, when did you have that done? I hope you didn't spend too much, but they look great!" Brenda wrapped her daughter in a tight, motherly hug, one that featured considerably more squish than usual.

What? She was happy? "I didn't get them 'done', Mom. It was a surprise to me, too, it just happened. Maybe the universe is trying to balance things out."

Brenda stepped back, holding Maria's shoulders. "Sweetheart, you've always been beautiful. It was never a competition!"

"Tell that to the boyfriends you stole."

"Maria, please, you know I didn't ooooh. Oh my." Brenda had the oddest look on her face; she looked down, and Maria followed her eyes.

No. No! Her mom's tits were getting bigger! Still unaccountably perky, they billowed out almost like balloons, gaining inch after inch until, frustratingly, she was quite a bit larger than Maria. She looked her mom in the eye when it was over, a fire burning deep in her gut. "Not a competition, huh? And yet you have to beat me. Oh, I'm not done, Mom."

"No, Maria, I didn't do this, it just happened, just like you said! Sweetheart, what are you doing?"

Maria stripped off her top, baring her huge, jiggling mounds. She squeezed them together, lifted them up and kissed them, and spoke sweetly to her tits. "Come on, girls. You gave me so much today, but look! She's bigger than you, just like before! You can do it again, right? You can grow. We can be so much bigger than her." She didn't know what had caused it, but maybe, if there was some justice, yes! It worked, it fucking worked! Her boobs swelled out, rising like dough, getting harder to hold as they pushed her hands back and filling her arms. She looked triumphantly at Brenda, who was now the smaller one again...and was growing again. Maria massaged her boobs as she implored them, "Oh, she's trying to beat us, she wants to be better than you. You can do it, babies. Grow for me. Bigger. Bigger! We're g-gonna win! Oh fuck yes!"

"Maria, s-sweetie, you have to s-s-stop, please! This is crazy, I'm nnnnot doing this on purpose, please, stoooooop!"

"You first."

Structural damage to a home in Boston was the first case with a high enough profile to draw the attention of the admins. The two women involved weren't hurt, thankfully, and the damage their breasts did to the walls was repaired without much trouble. The emergency measures applied to lock down the alterations to their real images were only partially effective; both mother and daughter stopped growing, but it would be some time before an analysis could be conducted that would help return them to their original state.

Jenna had spent two or three hours reading a classic space opera novel she'd almost forgotten she enjoyed, when two extremely concerning events happened at about the same time. First, she had to lift her datapad to see the bottom of the screen, when she knew she'd been holding it so she could see the whole pad over...her...oh no. No. No no no. Her data pad had stayed the same relative size, so she had hoped the growth spurts were starting to calm down. Apparently, there was no calming her tits.

She had suspected this would happen, there was no way she was going to start mysteriously expanding and have her boobs not get bigger. For that matter, it wasn't as though she was opposed to the idea, at least in the abstract, and Miri's clothes could handle it. It was just, well, this wasn't supposed to be real. The fact that it was actually happening to her, and she didn't know why, made it...not bad exactly, but it made her apprehensive. But there they were, piling up atop her chest, spreading wider and weighing her down.

Second, her datapad switched over to her nightly news feed. Jen watched in growing horror as the top story ran, and she saw the half enticing, half terrifying video of windows shattering and walls starting to buckle around two pairs of enormous, growing hooters. It wasn't just her, other people were experiencing unexplained growth. Worse, it could get extreme, like hyper extreme. Panicked thoughts rushed through Jen's mind: Ohhhhhh shit. Did she have an appointment? Please oh please say she had an appointment. Response, yes, good, "we apologize, but due to an influx of requests", three days? Three days until a doc could take a look at her, and she could almost see her boobs expanding. Don't panic, she told herself, stay calm, the other growth spurts stopped relatively quickly, maybe this one would too. She glanced at the news. It could be worse, she wasn't growing that fast. At the moment. Shit.

36 hours after the incident began, there were indeed many more people contacting doctors than usual in Boston. Most cases were mild; without mods or growth fantasies to direct their output, the transformation routines merely picked up on stray thoughts and caused...minor swelling. However, this presented a problem of its own. While many people were understandably concerned about having a few inches added to their busts, hips, or genitals in a matter of hours, a fair number were not bothered in the least, which meant they didn't report it, and continued spreading the routines. In addition, the more likely an individual was to experience extreme effects, the less likely they were to be bothered by them. Epidemiological models weren't equipped to handle the spread of an infectious agent that a significant fraction of the population wanted to be infected by. The appropriate authorities were, however, taking the incident seriously, and the hunt for a solution was on.

By the next morning, Jenna was less confident that this embiggening was going to stop. Granted, her butt was still bigger than her bust, but that was only because of how much it had grown, and her boobs were getting ever more insistent. They were a challenge to wrap her arms around, heavy and full, not as round as they'd be if they were inflated but still with the kind of firmness you usually only saw in size kink art. She could feel them growing now, if she focused on it, the clothes that she would be eternally grateful to Miri for rubbing against her skin ever so slightly as they stretched. If the growth was accelerating, then she was potentially in for some extraordinary boobage. Maybe the docs made house calls? Oh jeez, she hoped she wouldn't have a good reason to check.

Jen picked up her datapad to go through the morning news, and saw that she'd gotten a couple of messages from the project leads. FoxOne had found a problem during a code review, an improperly handled debugging command that had made some odd ripples downstream and which he thought might affect her art. He was hoping she could check it out when she got back, make sure there weren't any side effects. It was the mail from ElkFlame that got her worried, though; apparently, she wasn't the only member of the project having issues. She didn't recognize most of the names or handles he gave her, but one stood out: Redforge. Jen decided she should chat with ElkFlame to get some more details.

"Hey EF, got your message, so what's going on?"

"Oh hi Jen. Yeah, weird stuff. A bunch of testers taking some time for medical issues, like you. BTW, you alright?"

Jen hesitated before replying. "I'm fine, just being cautious. What's up with Redforge?"

"You didn't see? Hang on."

A few moments later, he sent her a link to a news article from the UK. Oh no. That was, no, really? Her? An honest to goodness giantess? "Um, EF? I'm seeing the docs in a couple days, but do you think you could, like, help?"

"Jen, what's wrong?"

She didn't want to tell anyone, but if it wasn't just her, and it could get that bad, and it was hitting people from the project, she had to. Who else had she come in contact with, who else that she knew was affected? "I'm getting bigger, EF. Like, a lot."

HotFloof had never been happier in his life. The change that had happened to him, the unexpected transformation that had given him this perfect body, was an unexpected blessing that, even more unexpectedly, he could share. He'd spent the past two days doing just that, and the two-tailed cat girl he'd just pumped full of cum was the latest to receive the gift. He'd been right, lots of women did want him. Almost all of the women he knew in the local furry community wanted him, and oh did he have plenty to give them. Most didn't change as much as he had, it seemed as though the degree of change had to do with whether or not they already had mods, but he had been able to free dozens of people from their real images. He was cuddling with the rather stuffed kitty when the doorbell rang.

"Central Autonomous Security, we'd like to speak with you, sir."

He had been worried that this visit was coming. Good things couldn't last forever. He hoped they'd at least let him keep the new body. "One minute, I'm not decent." He pulled on one of the kilts he'd ordered (not much else worked with rabbit legs and an endowment like he had now) and answered the door. "How can I help you, officer?"

"Sir, we believe that you've been affected by, and are currently spreading, a novel form of malicious code. You're not in trouble, but we would like to have you examined by a data surgeon for your own safety and in the interests of public health."

"That explains a lot, actually. Can you give me a few minutes to gather my belongings?"