The Nudity Virus

The basic idea for this fantasy story came from a reader. The story's flaws are entirely my doing.

This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real person or entity is coincidental and unintended. Thank you very much for reading my stories. Please leave comments.

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Many people said that Hillcrest BioChem, LLC ("HBC") was a bad company. We thought HBC was wonderful: it got into trouble a lot. That made money for us as the Company's outside lawyers.

HBC's founder and ostensible owner was Rodney Koch. Rodney was a prodigy, having earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and an MBA by age 22. Rodney's two uncles were reputed to be among the wealthiest men in the world and were politically well-connected. Rodney was overweight, foul-mouthed, and slovenly. He had founded HBC a few years earlier and, when the current administration took office in Washington, HBC began earning millions, at least, on federal R & D contracts.

HBC's employees were predominantly women and most of them were physically attractive. Rodney viewed his employees as his servants, which led to many sexual harassment claims. Rodney believed that workplace safety and environmental protection laws were an unconstitutional deprivation of property rights of business owners. HBC made a lot of work and money for our firm.

I was in an HBC executive office on a warm day in early May for a new problem. A disgruntled employee, discharged we believed for refusing Rodney's demands for sex, had reported to DOJ that HBC was grossly overcharging the Government on a new, hyper-secret, R & D project.

Typically for HBC, I was meeting with two very beautiful women. One was HBC's Director of Risk Management, Audrey Barrett. Audrey was in her mid-thirties. She was tall with shoulder-length blonde hair and a face that reminded me of Daniella Bianchi in the old James Bond film "From Russia With Love." Audrey had long legs and, despite her almost dowdy way of dressing, an obviously superb body.

Audrey was relatively new at HBC. Rodney's antics had cost the Company enough money that his uncles, who were the capital behind the Company, installed a watchdog. Audrey's responsibilities included safety, regulatory compliance, and sexual harassment. Beyond her tremendous physical beauty, Audrey was very bright, perceptive, highly organized, dogged, and had a lot of backbone. Rodney's uncles had intervened more than once to back Audrey against Rodney and keep Audrey in her job.

The other woman was my very young partner Janet Lavois. Janet was only six years out of law school. Janet had brown hair and a face reminiscent of the actress Ashley Judd. Janet also had a voluptuous body. Unlike Audrey, Janet appreciated that her body was a business asset and dressed to display it as much as she could without being overtly slutty.

Janet met Rodney as a first-year associate working on an HBC project. Rodney was, apparently, smitten. He insisted that Janet be placed in charge of all our HBC work. The request was simply absurd but, rather than antagonize Rodney, we made Janet the HBC billing attorney. Not much later, Rodney demanded that we make Janet a partner. Once again, we knuckled under, making Janet the youngest partner in the firm history. To her credit, Janet realized she was in over her head and relied heavily on several more senior partners, including me.

Janet's relationship with Rodney darkened when Rodney cornered Janet in an alcove at a reception we gave for important clients. According to Janet, Rodney said he had done a lot for her career and it was time for her to do a lot for him. Janet tried to put Rodney off with something about the high-quality legal work at reasonable rates. Rodney replied that Janet wasn't getting his point. He said bluntly that he had made her career and would unmake it if she didn't fuck him that evening. Janet got pissed off and told Rodney that she'd likely fuck a wino living under the bridge before she fucked him.

The rest of the encounter I know first-hand. The reception was interrupted by a scream. Several of us ran into the alcove where Rodney had Janet pinned against the wall with a hand on her throat. Rodney's other hand was tearing at Janet's dress, but he hadn't exposed her by the time we pulled him away. Rodney was drunk. We sent him home in a cab. The incident wasn't mentioned again, and Janet continued to supervise HNC work in name. However, Rodney made it clear that he was resentful.

In the meeting, Audrey explained that the project's security classification had largely stymied in her effort to determine whether HBC was overcharging the Government. All three of us knew that Rodney would overcharge the Government if he thought he could get away with it. There was a knock at Audrey's office door and a very young, buxom redhead in a very tight dress entered the room.

"What Emily?" Audrey said. "I'm meeting with the lawyers."

The girl timidly held out a small steel box. "Uh, Mr. Koch just told me to give this to you immediately," Emily replied.

Less aggressively, Audrey said, "Ok, Emily, please set it down on the table."

"Mr. Koch said that I was to take out the test tube inside of the box and hand it to you," Emily said.

Audrey rolled her eyes but said, "Ok, go ahead."

Emily opened the box and took the stoppered test tube between her thumb and forefinger. As she drew it out, she started to wrap the rest of her hand around the tube. Suddenly, Emily squealed, "Ouch, that's really hot!" She dropped the test tube on the floor where it broke. There was a smell in the room, not unpleasant but unusual. Emily started to say, "I'm really sorry..."

Audrey cut her off. With an urgent tone, Audrey asked, "What was in that tube?"

"Uh," Emily said, "Mr. Koch told me it's the substance from that new government project we've got. He said that you needed it for this meeting."

I began feeling an odd sensation on my skin on the front of my body. In a few seconds, the fronts of my shirt, jacket, trousers, and underpants began to disintegrate. In less than a minute, my front was totally bare and what was left of my clothes had fallen from my back. Glancing around, I saw that Audrey, Janet, and Emily were also naked but for their shoes.

"What the fuck!" Janet exclaimed.

Emily began to cry. Audrey picked up her phone, punched some buttons, and said, "Page Dr. Martinez, urgent, we've got an emergency!"

I tried to be discreet, but I couldn't help looking at Audrey and Janet. Audrey had the pale skin of a blonde, very proportional breasts with upturned nipples, a flat stomach, and long elegant thighs framing a triangle of closely cropped pubic hair. Janet had visible tan lines, much larger breasts, and shorter legs. Both women looked very desirable naked.

When Audrey's phone rang, she hit the speaker button. "Carmella," Audrey said, "thanks for getting back to me so quickly."

"What's up?" a female voice asked.

"I'm meeting the lawyers about that 'NV' project," Audrey said. "Emily brought in a test tube of the NV substance that Rodney had told her to bring to us. The tube fell on the floor and broke."

Dr. Martinez said. "That material is never to be outside the secure lab both for safety and security reasons. What the fuck was Rodney thinking?"

"That's not the problem," Audrey said. "When the test tube broke, there was a strange smell in the room and our clothes disintegrated. I'm standing here naked with two naked lawyers."

Dr. Martinez replied, "Well, at least we know it works. Ok, we're in uncharted territory here. Meet me in conference room D."

"You want us to walk through the office naked?" Audrey asked.

"Well, I'm certainly not coming in there," Dr. Martinez replied.

"Ok," Audrey said, "give us a few minutes." Audrey punched some other buttons on her phone. Into the handset, she said, "Diane, we've had, uh, an accident. Would you please get four large towels from the shower room and bring them here?"

Moments later, there was a knock on the door. Audrey went to the door, giving me a view of her tight, perfectly shaped bar ass, and opened the door a crack. "Please give me the towels," Audrey said. She took the towels and swiftly closed the door. Audrey handed towels to the rest of us. "We can cover ourselves with these," she said. "Emily, you better come with us to talk to Dr, Martinez."

We wrapped ourselves in the towels. Before Audrey could open the door, the parts of the towels covering our fronts had disintegrated.

"Shit! What now?" Janet said.

Audrey took a deep breath. "I guess we just grin and bare it," she said. She opened the door and led us past her assistant's desk.

Four nude people walking through HBC's offices attracted stares. We got to the conference room as rapidly as we could without running. An attractive Hispanic woman in a white lab coat was waiting for us. "You can sit down," she said. "I don't think anything will happen. I'll explain why in a moment."

In a stressed voice, Janet asked "What in hell is going on here?"

Dr. Martinez said, "You've been exposed to the nudity virus. The Government wanted something which it could use on Islamic groups that would force them to be naked. The thought was, given how puritanical those groups are, forcing them to be naked will cause chaos and a break-down of their social structures."

"I've heard nothing about that," Audrey said.

"It is very highly classified," Dr. Martinez responded. "I'm breaching security by explaining it to you but, well, you have an obvious need to know. We developed a synthetic virus. It is dormant in an ambient temperature less than 98 degrees but becomes stronger the warmer it gets. That is why the test tube was hot. We store it at almost 200 degrees. As designed, it enters the body either by inhalation or by touching the skin of someone who's already infected. It alters your DNA. We secrete unique chemicals around our genitals. That's probably a holdover from earlier humanoids who attracted mates for reproduction by scent. Anyone using normal hygiene would never notice. The NV virus alters those secretions so that cloth, leather, plastic, vinyl, all of the things people clothe themselves with are disintegrated."

"But, only the fronts of our clothes vanished," Janet said. "What was left fell off our backs."

"You were exposed to a small sample and Audrey's office is air-conditioned," Dr. Martinez said. "A larger dose or a hotter space would have disintegrated all of your clothing down to your shoes." Dr. Martinez nodded at Audrey's and Janet's feet on which they still had their high-heeled shoes. "There's a lot we don't know about the virus. It's designed to only affect human DNA in the body, so we've haven't been able to do testing."

"How long do the effects last?" Janet asked. "Is there an antidote?"

Dr. Martinez took a breath. "If the nudity virus works as we intended, you can never wear clothes again once you're infected. We haven't worked on an antidote. We didn't know that the virus worked until today."

"Isn't there anything which we can wear?" Audrey asked.

"Lead plates," Dr. Martinez quipped. "That's probably the only thing that will stay on your fronts. As you can see, the cloth on the chairs hasn't disintegrated from contact with your buttocks. That means you are not as heavily infected or that this room isn't warm enough for the virus to be truly virulent."

"Can we transmit the virus to others?" Audrey asked.

"Yes, but only by skin-to-skin contact. The active chemical is in the oil in your skin, most strongly in your pubic regions. Otherwise, you are not a transmitter. You may exhale the virus but, unless you are in a very hot environment like a sauna, the virus will go dormant before anyone else could inhale enough to be infected."

"What do we do?" Janet asked. "I can't go around naked for the rest of my life!"

Dr. Martinez said, "You may have to. Be grateful that you are an attractive woman." Realizing that wasn't a good answer, she added "There are scientists at CDC whom we've worked with on this. I'll call them right away and get our staff working on remediation."

Rodney Koch barged into the conference room. "I just heard what happened," he said. "Is everyone all right?" Rodney blatantly stared at Audrey's, Janet's, and Emily's nude bodies.

"Nothing life-threatening," Dr. Martinez said. "Why did you have Emily give them the nudity virus?"

Rodney petulantly, said, "They were meeting about it. They needed to see what it is."

Dr. Martinez bit her lip. Rodney kept shifting his gaze between Audrey, Janet, and Emily. Audrey and Janet were not pleased. Audrey said, "Mr. Koch, we'll be fine."

Rodney stepped to Emily. He started to put an arm around her, but Dr. Martinez shouted, "DON'T! DON'T TOUCH HER! Mr. Koch, you know how the virus is transmitted. Unless you want to risk being nude for the rest of your life, do not touch her."

Pouting, Rodney said, "Emily is my assistant. I have to take care of her." He took one last look at Audrey and Janet, then said, "Come on Emily." A submissive, naked young woman followed Rodney out of the room.

"What do we do?" Janet asked Dr. Martinez.

"Go home," Dr. Martinez said. "I'll talk to the CDC, get our people working, and get back to you when I know something."

Once I got home, driving very carefully, I called my partner Hal Felson. Hal was a long-time friend and our managing partner. My story was so fantastic that it took time to convince Hal that I wasn't putting him on. Even then, I sensed that Hal would like visual confirmation of Janet's condition. Hal finally said, "Of course, we can't have you in the office naked. Stay home. Let me know what the scientists say."

Late the next day, I had an e-mail asking if I was available for a conference call at 1:00 p.m. the following day. Of course, I was. Where could I go?

Dr. Martinez ran the call. Audrey, Janet, and I were on. Dr. Martinez introduced Dr. Perry Swanson of the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Swanson had some knowledge of the "NV" project and was an expert on viruses.

"Usually," Dr. Swanson said, "when I'm discussing a new virus, I'm giving good news that it can be controlled or bad news that it is probably fatal. This is the reverse. The nudity virus is, almost certainly, not life-threatening and, subject to limitations, you should all live normal lives. The 'but' is that you'll never be able to wear clothes again. The virus does not 'wear off,' and we do not know how to counteract or mitigate its effects. In other words, you'll be healthy, but you'll be naked for the rest of your lives." What do you say to that news?

Hal Felson called about an hour after the conference call for an hour. Hal said, "We've been contacted by Janet's lawyer. I understand that the nudity is irreversible."

"That's what they told us," I confirmed.

"Janet's making noises about an ADA suit if we don't let her come back to work," Hal said. "The Executive Committee will meet tomorrow, but the employment guys say that we have to let her back. Otherwise, its disability and gender discrimination."

"Does that mean I can come back to work?" I asked.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Hal replied. "You know as well as I do that a naked 28-year-old woman, especially one as attractive as Janet, is entirely different than a naked 47-year-old man. If we must tolerate this, some of us think we can realize marketing benefits from Janet's condition."

I said, "In other words, Janet comes back because she's an attractive young woman and the old men who run our clients will enjoy seeing her nude body but that doesn't hold for me?"

After a second, Hal said, "Something like that Harry."

I supposed that I'd also need hire counsel. I knew who to call, my long-time friend and colleague at another firm, Amy Hogan.

Before I could call Amy, my phone rang again. When I answered, an enchanting voice said, "It's Audrey Barrett. I don't know what to do. I've been cooped up here since I left the office day before yesterday. I can't go out. I can't invite anyone in. I need to talk to someone. Harry, we're in the same boat. Would you come over? A friend is doing my grocery shopping. I'll fix you dinner."

No man would decline an invitation from Audrey Barrett, especially if he knew that she had to be completely nude for the entire evening. Audrey gave me directions to her condo. Understanding that I'd not want to be driving nude in rush hour, Audrey suggested that I come over about 4:00 p.m.

I drove to Audrey's carefully, not wishing to be stopped. I had some anxiety because I had to park several spaces away from Audrey's unit and walk naked through the parking lot to Audrey's door. Just as I pressed the doorbell, a short, heavier, clothed woman came out. She looked me up and down before she smiled and said, "You must be Audrey's friend. She's here and she's expecting you. Go on in."

I stepped aside to let the woman leave, and then went inside. Audrey stood the far end of her entry hallway. I Audrey was more beautiful than I remembered.

Audrey said, "You met Anna?"

"If that's who just left," I replied.

"Yes," Audrey said, "She's been good friend for a long time. She's doing my shopping." Audrey paused, then said, "I guess I'll have to get used to going out myself. I can't ask Anna to run all my errands for the rest of my life." Audrey took a deep breath. "This has all been too much too fast," she said. "Thanks for coming over. I have to talk to someone and you're the only other person who knows what I'm going through."

"There is Janet," I said. That produced a frown from Audrey.

Audrey frowned. "I know she's your partner," Audrey said, "but I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of hers. I think she relies too much on her looks and youth and not enough on her abilities. That makes it harder for all women to be taken seriously in the executive suite. I'm guessing she's already got a plan to profit from her nudity."

"I talked to our managing partner yesterday after our conference call," I said. "Janet is threatening a lawsuit if she's not allowed back in the office to work, and Hal said something about using her in firm marketing. I have to think that was her idea."

"You see why I didn't want to talk with her?" Audrey asked. "She'd suggest that I put my bare tits and pussy on TV!" Audrey paused again. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"It's still a bit early," I said, "but I'm not working. Do you have any wine?"

"Pinot grigio or merlot?" Audrey asked.

"Merlot," I said.

Audrey smiled. "I prefer red wine too."

I followed Audrey into her kitchen. I felt bad about it, but she looked so beautiful naked that I couldn't take my eyes off her. Audrey poured the wine, turned to hand me my glass, and caught me looking. I had a moment of anxiety that she'd be pissed off. She just smiled, handed me the glass, and said "Salut!"

We sipped our wine quietly for a moment. Softly, Audrey said, "Harry, may I say something that may seem inappropriate?"

I chuckled. "Given our situation, I'm not sure what is inappropriate," I said.

"You look very good naked," Audrey said. That was the last thing I expected. I felt a bit of heat in my face. Audrey laughed. "I'm sorry," she said, "I've made you blush."

"No," I said. "You're fine. I just don't get many compliments on my birthday suit."

"You should," Audrey said. "You wear it well."

"If we've crossed that line, "I said, "I have to tell you that you look exquisite naked."

Audrey didn't blush. "Are you just saying that to reciprocate the compliment?" she asked.

"No," I said. "I knew from working with you in the past that one of your attributes is that you are a very beautiful woman, but I didn't appreciate how beautiful until Emily dropped that damned test tube."

Audrey smiled. "So, you're saying that I look better naked than with my clothes on?" she asked.