Where Explorers Dare
A story about a guy in a futuristic barbie factory.
Where Explorers Dare
Johnathan is an urban explorer slipping into places thought to be abandoned to get photos and videos for all his fans. Today however he decided to try and sneak into a high tech factory to see how some of the new amazing toys are made. There was little security outside especially around the rear of the building where it adjoined the old factory. Knowing this after his last exploration when he snuck into the old building seeing all the old machines just shut down sitting in situ almost as if they were just no longer needed. Entering through a door in the shared wall of the two buildings he emerged into the bright white lit and clean factory floor of the new building. John felt like he should be wearing a white outfit and paper booties in the almost sterile environment.
Sneaking up a nearby catwalk staircase and taking out a camera John started to record. Below him appeared to be the end of one of the lines as what looked like barbie dolls in there boxes trundled out of a packing machine to be bundled into shipping crates. Reading the label on the boxes told him that they were some of the newest walking talking barbies so high tech no one could figure out how the company was able to make them for the price they sold them at. Not wanting to get spotted looking for cameras as he moved along the catwalk he figured he was fine moving deeper into the factory. John passed over a machine which through its flapped opening he saw a brilliant flash of light and the smell of ozone before one of the barbies slid out to join the rest on a conveyor to be packaged.
Finding a spot to drop down he seemed to have entered another section of the factory where they were making life sized robot frames. This intrigued John as he had not heard of that line of toys before. Snapping some more pics and video he turned a corner before quickly slipping back around spotting a worker inspecting a machine for faults. Peering around he saw the worker was wearing a clean suit as he figured with how clean this place was but with a bright fluro vest on over the top. Muttering something about a safety sensor he left to the back office to perhaps grab tools or pause production. John using that moment to slip past sees a large machine also smelling of ozone with bright flashing lights inside with the robot frames coming out. Wanting to get a look inside at the process he leaned over the conveyor as he felt a thunk and everything went black.
Amazingly his camera still recording landed on a flat surface with a good view of what was happening. A robotic arm descended from the ceiling having hit John in the back of his head had picked him up and placed him on the conveyor with the robot frames. Bathed in a green beam which sharply turned red another arm appeared with a blade slicing his clothes off. Now naked he trundled on through the next step below him the worker was busy fixing the malfunction oblivious of him passing by. The frame after him getting scanned by another green beam which blinked a happy green before allowing it through the worker looked up to see the safety scanner working again after John had passed mere seconds before. The next section where his unconscious body passed through was out of sight of the worker for now. It was where the delicate control circuitry was attached to the robot frame attaching via pins it was pressed into Johns back just below his neck.
The pain made him wake up, however he couldn't move something was preventing signals from his brain from reaching his limbs or vocal cords. Trying desperately to get off the conveyor as what looked like two moulds closed around his legs, however they were not moulds but life sized barbie legs being glued around the robot frames. The same thing happening to his arms as a plastic head slipped over his. The final piece which he couldn't see but could feel was the torso pressing in around him like a to tight corset in all the wrong places being sonically welded around him. Amazingly John could see through the eyes of the doll head once everything was fitted. Entering the next machine this one a dark tunnel with sudden flashes ahead and the smell of ozone. With a flash a tingle shot through his whole body everything seemingly shuddering around him.
Eventually it was over and blinded temporarily by the flashes he slipped through the flap at the end of the machine joining the other barbies of normal size. Each one getting the current outfit, a one piece swimsuit with its flowery pattern, a loose skirt tied around the waist and a pair of sandals on the doll feet. The dolls trundling into the packaging machine where they were joined by a large sun hat all strapped tightly inside the cardboard and sent off to be packed with the rest. John was sure he was going to die of dehydration or starvation as he sat in his box however he felt neither thirsty or hungry. Unbeknownst to him the shrinking process a highly kept secret of the company has strange side effects on living cells, mostly rendering them inert but still functional unable to die but with the the appropriate stimulus still able to work.
After what seemed like months of movement then stopping John was stating to think differently. At first he was scared and hoped for someone to find him and free him. Those thoughts slipping as he started to think of himself more and more as the doll she was now. A desire to be bought and played with starting to fill her head as her box was roughly handled by the delivery driver to the store. It would be another two weeks before Johns box ended up on a shelf. Behind another two in semi darkness she could read all her new play features her new owner was sure to enjoy. It would not be long before Johns box was picked up by a screaming girl "Mummy I want this, Mummy I want it" the girls mother snatching Barbies box and putting it on a random shelf before dragging the screaming child from the toy section. Joanne was excited for a second thinking she was about to have an owner her mind slipping more adjusting her name.
Eventually she would get sold to her excitement as she was bagged up and taken from the store. At the child's home a charging cable was inserted into the control board concealed behind a flap on her back as a battery she never knew she had was charged. Finally ready for play a switch was flicked on her back and she shuddered to life moving and talking for the amusement of her new owner. Now and forever Joanne was just a toy a barbie doll for a child's enjoyment. It would be a few months before Johns camera would be found sitting on top of a machine. The worker taking it home and discovering what it contained. Immediately he took it to a superior who after reviewing the recording brushed it under the carpet, making sure the back door was now locked at all times. There would be no way after all this time to track where one singular doll ended up.
The End