The Bureau of Science Research had determined that the ideal work environment was one of isolation. Lab assistants, friends and families only served as distractions and delayed the final results. In the past, this might not have been possible. Science was too grueling a job for one lone man. Setting up experiments, monitoring them, adjusting them and recording them required a team of experts. However, the Bureau showed, through the use of the new positronic
robots and super computers, for one scientist could do it all by themselves.
As the Bureau controlled billions of dollars in grant money given out every year, they usually got to make the rules.
But not even the Bureau with its billions of dollars could alter human psychology. People, even scientists, needed companionship. After several unfortunate accidents from scientists forced to work completely devoid of human contact, and years of testimony from highly regarded psychologists the Bureau came up with a new concept. Let the scientists work in pairs.
Dr. Polly Andrews and Dr. Caroline Lee were one such pair. They worked together in a laboratory somewhere in the middle of Montana. For company, they had only themselves, half a dozen robots and a super computer named 'Mulitvac.' They did not work together. Their fields of study were too diverse for that. Dr. Andrews was a robotics engineer while Dr. Lee was a biologist and chemist. Dr. Andrews was working on the next positronic robotic brain while Dr. Lee was trying to synthesize some exotic compounds found in plants from the Xeon star system.
The Bureau kept their areas of study diverse for several reasons. For one, it would give them little chance work on a single project as a team. This would, to the Bureau, be a waste of time and expertise. They wanted two scientific breakthroughs, not one. Also, it would severely cut down on any feelings of competition and jealousy. How could their be when the scientists were working on such different projects? Finally, the Bureau thought that this
arrangement would bring about the most efficient use of Mulitvac. Two different projects would require the full range of the super computers abilities, not just one narrow segment of them.
No, the two doctors were brought together for companionship, nothing else. On paper, they were should have been excellent companions. Both were not quite thirty, from middle class families and had graduated from similar Universities. Both were single, though Polly had had one long term relationship that had almost ended in marriage. They had similar hobbies and goals.
Of course as any good scientists can tell you, their are many ideas that look great on paper that explode in the lab. Dr. Polly Andrews and Dr. Caroline Lee were two of those.
From the beginning, their had been a general animosity between them. Neither woman could explain it, but it was there nonetheless. The only time they saw each other was at dinner, and that only because it was Bureau policy.
"Damn that policy," thought Dr. Andrews as she stared blankly at her computer screen. She would have long ago said the hell with it if not for Mulitvac. It forced to go through that awful ritual, shutting down all laboratory equipment at the designated hour and refusing to dispense food until both woman were seated at the table. No order Polly could think of could force Mulitvac to do otherwise.
"Of course not," Dr. Andrews muttered, "First Law of Robotics. A robot may neither harm a human or through inaction allow a human to be harmed." The computer programmers at the Bureau had convinced Mulitvac that to allow the two scientists to miss that meal would do undermine their social well-being, doing them potentially great harm.
All the shouting and cursing at Multivac in the world only fell under the Second Law of Robotics. A robot must follow the orders of a human unless those orders would conflict with the First Law. Even Dr. Andrews, an expert in the field of robotics, could not find a way to phrase an order to get Mulitvac to cancel the joint dinners. And she had tried. Repeatedly.
The dinners had only gotten worse lately. Now Dr. Lee would sit there and smirk. Smirk like the cat that had eaten the canary. She had something Polly wanted, and Caroline was delighted to not give it too her.
A month ago, Polly had come to a dead end in her new robot design. Everything seemed perfect, except that the positronic pathways, used to transmit signals from the robot 'brain' to the rest of the construct since the very first robots, would not be strong enough in hers. Then she had an idea. Why not supplement the positronic pathways with a neural chemical transmitter, similar to the ones found in the human brain? It was, if Polly did say so herself, genius!
Except for one problem. All the neurotransmitters on file would not work >with the mechanical systems of the robot. She would need to find a chemical with a radically different structure and properties. Not being a chemist, Dr. Andrews contacted as many as she could, hoping someone might have a solution to her problem.
That person ended up being Dr. Caroline Lee. She had found an experimental neurotransmitter in the alien plants she was studying, one that could have been perfect for use in Polly's robots. It should have been that simple.
Now every night at dinner, Polly had to watch Caroline's mocking eyes, her smug smile, so full of the knowledge that she held Polly's career in her hands. And she was going to let that career crumble and fall apart, all out of spite.
"How do you force someone to tell you their secrets?" Polly said aloud, talking only to herself.
"Working..." Multivac's melodious voice surprised Dr. Andrews, "Searching historic records...l". Polly almost gave the order for Mulivac to stop searching, but something stopped her. She hadn't meant for Multivac to find a solution to her problem, but maybe the super computer could succeed where she had failed.
"List compiled." The feminine but artificial voice concluded several minutes later.
Looking down at her screen, Dr. Andrews saw hundreds of words streaming down. Most, she saw, named torture methods straight out of the Spanish Inquisition. Tempting, but Multivac would never allow her to actually hurt Dr. Lee, the First Law of Robotics again. Undoubtedly it would order the robots to stop any attempt.
"Mulitvac, remove all items from list that would cause harm to a human being," Polly ordered. The phrase 'cause harm' was a vague one to her, but she knew that Mulitvac would have a very well developed definition of it. She immediately saw everything that could cause even the slightest physical or psychological damage vanish from the list.
What was left? A few con-games that could supposedly trick someone into telling their secret. Dr. Caroline Lee was too smart, too cunning to fall for one of those. There were also some truth-forcing drugs still on the list. The problem with those was that, as a robotics, ordering any of them would be highly suspicious. Unless she could show proof why they were needed in her project, proof she couldn't fake, her request would be denied.
Dr. Andrews almost deleted the entire program before she noticed one oddball still on the list. It was only one word. 'Tickling'.
"Mulitvac," Polly asked confused, "Why is tickling on this list?"
"While tickling does no harm," Mulitvac's contralto voice replied, "And is in fact more strongly connected to the sensations of pleasure. Even so, recipients with a high level of sensitivity often find it irritating and will give much to have it stopped."
"Would it work on Dr. Lee," Polly mumbled to herself, lost in thought. Mulitvac's sensors picked up the barely audible comment, however, and again treated it as a question. This time, Dr. Caroline Lee file appeared on the screen.
There was a picture of her. She was wrapped as usual in a lab coat, any curve or feminine shape her body may have held hidden from view. Caroline's blonde hair was pulled back in a single, unflattering pony-tail. Thick, horn rimmed glasses obscured her eyes. Only her California tan skin showed Caroline might care about her appearance. It was as Dr. Lee looked every day at dinner.
"Almost genderless," Polly commented again, though she would have killed to have that long, yellow hair. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her own fiery red curls.
Polly pressed a key, and the picture vanished. In its place was Dr. Caroline Lee’s biography. It listed her height as 5'6", her weight as 125 pounds, and her eyes as blue. Below that it mentioned her family, educational background, medical history ad her list of accomplishments. It was one sentence in the medical history that stood out for Polly. It was a short one, one she'd never seen in a personnel report before.
"Sensitivity Rating: Very High."
“Maybe…maybe…” Polly whispered, “This could be just the thing I’ve been looking for. I could…”
She could what? Jump on Dr. Lee and wrestle her to the ground? Pin her down and tickle Caroline silly? She had a PhD in engineering for gods sake! They both had PhDs! It would be ridiculous. Besides, Caroline had six inches and fifteen pounds on her.
No, Polly thought, I won’t humiliate myself. Its bad enough that my career is stumbling. I won’t look like a fool on top of that.
But the doctor kept the thought in the back of her mind, as Multivac knew she would. And when she unexpectedly got a letter the next week from the Bureau of Science Research demanding she show progress on her project or lose all funding, those thoughts jumped to the front of Polly’s mind.
And as she discovered, there really was an engineering answer for every problem.
*****************************
Dr. Caroline Lee was in seventh heaven. She had thought the man she had met on her last vacation had forgotten all about her, but in the mail today his gift had arrived. Fred had sent her jewelry! Or was it Frank? Didn’t really matter. The bracelets were beautiful!
Beautiful, but definitely not comfortable. They were too small to slip over her hands. They had a clasp that had to be opened and closed for them to fit on her wrists, and even then they were a bit to tight. Caroline would probably never wear them again after today.
But today she would. She would make that horrible Polly Andrews eat her words! She’d show that redhead that Caroline Lee was no one night stand or *****! If anything it had been her using Frank (Phil?) not the other way around. Whatever that guys name was, he was undoubtedly madly in love with her. The bracelets proved that.
One thing Dr. Lee knew for sure was that after weeks of listening to Polly’s snide comments about being used and thrown aside, the gloating could not wait until dinner. It had to be now. To do that, she’d have to go to the part of the complex she’d rarely visited, Dr. Andrews laboratory.
Caroline entered to find Polly hunched over an inert pile of circuitry. She was so intent upon her rival, she didn’t notice the metal beam hanging from the ceiling only seven feet from the floor. Neither did she notice the pool of thick, grayish paint in front of the door.
“Oh Dr. Andrews,” Caroline said in a musical voice, “I hate to interrupt your work, but I thought you’d want to see the present my boyfriend sent me.” She accented the word ‘boyfriend’ just enough to make it a taunt. Dr. Lee held up her wrists so the bracelets were clearly visible.
“They’re not real gold,” Polly said with a sniff, as if what Dr. lee had just said was the most uninteresting thing in the world, “Probably a cheap copper that will make your wrists turn green. Come closer and I’ll show you.”
Outraged, Caroline stormed forward, oblivious to the pool of gray pain that she walked through. The only thought in her blonde head was to prove to Polly just how wrong she was.
When Caroline stood beneath the metal beam, Polly hit the switch hidden in the pile of circuitry. Immediately, a soft buzzing could be heard as the powerful electromagnet in the beam and the much smaller oppositely charged ones hidden in Dr Lee’s new bracelets kicked on.
Like a puppet whose strings have been pulled, Caroline’s arms flew up into the air, the bracelets hitting the metal beam with a resounding clang. While Caroline struggled to pull her arms down, Polly hit a second switch turning on the electromagnet in the floor. This one wasn’t as powerful, but it easily held the soles of Dr Lee’s boots, now covered with iron based paint.
“Andrews!” Dr Lee screamed as she struggled with the invisible forces that bound her wrists and feet, “You let me go now, or I’m filing charges! Mulitvac! Send a robot to release me!”
“No good calling for Mulitvac,” Polly said smoothly, an island of calm next to the enraged Dr Lee, walking closer to her prey, “It knows what I’m about to do to you and it doesn’t consider it harm. And I’ve ordered Mulitvac to leave us alone.” As a robotics engineer, Polly how to phrase orders, the type of logic that would work best, the correct words to use and the proper amount of emphasis to put on those words. There was no way a mere biologist could give a stronger order than the one Polly had.
“And what are you going to do to me,” Caroline said with a sneer. Even with her arms stuck above her head, she was not backing down in front of her hated rival.
“Nothing…if you give me the password to your protected files. Then I can download the schematics on that alien neurotransmitter of yours. That’s all I want really.” Polly stood only inches from Caroline‘s trapped body, so close she could hear Caroline‘s breath, “Give me that, and you can go.”
“I see, your just trying to frighten me,” Caroline said, still sneering, “There’s no way Mulitvac will let you do anything to me. This is just a bluff. I’d stick my head in a vat of sulfuric acid before I give you my neurotransmitter.” She was trying to appear calm now, keeping her voice even. She wasn’t even struggling to pull her arms down anymore.
Polly could see beneath Caroline’s calm demeanor, however. She could see Dr Lee’s fingers frantically trying release the clasps on the bracelets so she could slip her hands out. But Caroline couldn’t bend them far enough to reach it. She could almost slip a fingernail under the tiny hook, almost…
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Polly replied, knowing the good Dr Lee was hiding something, “Because I am really looking forward to this.” Polly reached down and unfastened the belt and opened Dr Lee’s lab coat. The redhead gasped. She hadn’t expected such a body!
Caroline was simply gorgeous. Her blouse was tight and stylish, the kind Polly would have worn to a club on Saturday night. It showed off her ample cleavage and a flat stomach. Her hips were curvy, and her legs impossibly long for a woman only 5’6”. Every inch of skin was just as tan as her face and arms. Polly felt the absurd desire to check and see if the parts still covered followed suit.
“I hope you’re enjoying the view,” Caroline kept up her calm facade, “It’s only going to cost you your job and a few months in prison.” Deeper, Dr Lee’s heart started to pound. If Polly were to figure out her weakness, if she somehow knew…She had to open that clasp!
“I’m sure you’ll enjoy this,” Polly said with a smile as she grabbed Caroline’s ribcage with both hands, giving a little squeeze. Caroline squealed like some exotic birdcall, high pitched and shrill.
“Uh oh,” Polly teased, her hands still squeezing Caroline’s sides, “I think someone’s ticklish!” Polly could feel the outline of each rib through Caroline’s thin blouse, though they were covered by enough flesh to be soft.
“He ehe gehehet ehehehe yououourr heehawed damn he eheheheheh hananads shahehehehe offffff eheheheh meehehehehehehehe!!!!” She had been so close to opening one of the clasps, but now the tickling robbed Caroline of the concentration needed for such a precise task. Instincts took over, and she couldn‘t stop herself from trying to rip her arms off the steel bar or wrench her feet out of her knotted boots.
“You are ticklish! You are!” Polly squealed, and began letting her hands slowly climb Caroline’s ribcage. Her fingers stroked the ribs, poking into the gaps between them. The higher Polly’s hands moved, the louder Caroline’s laughter got.
“HE ehehEHehe CRIMEEHEHEHE!!! This hehe eheh is against aheheh ehehehehe eh teethe lawwhehehehehe!!! I’ll eheheh e ehehe see hehehe eheh youououo heheheh in prissonheheheheheheh!!!!!!! You eheheheh cannnheheh Nawwtthehe ehehhh doo hohoho this heheh heheh to meheheheheh!!!” Dr. Lee protested, her bronzed face starting to turn red from the forced laughter.
“I can’t?” Polly asked playfully. She had found one a special spot just above Caroline’s fifth rib on both sides of her body. “If I can’t do this, who’s making you laugh? Who? Who? Who?” Every time Polly asked the question she poked a finger into that special place, forcing a loud squeak from Caroline’s lips.”
“You HEHEHEHE YOU EHEHEHEHEHEH YOU AREHEHEHEHEHHEH DOOINGGHEHEH EHEHEHEHEH YOUU HEHEHEHEHH ARE DOING TIS HEHEHEEH TO MEHEHEHEHEHEH STAWWPPP HEHEHEHEHEITHEHEHE STAWWWWPPP TICKKKKLLLLINGHEEHEH !!!”
“That’s right, I’m tickling you, and I’m going to keep on tickling you until you give me your password,” Polly licked her lips, enjoying this even more than she thought she would, “Did I ever tell you my mother made me take five years of piano lessons? I think those are about to become useful right now.”
Polly’s slender fingers went wild, moving up and down Dr. Lee’s ribs, poking and squeezing seemingly everywhere at once. She kept Caroline on edge, mixing in light touches and firmer ones.
“GO EHEHE EHEHEHE GOTOTOTOTOGGOGOTOTOTOTOTO HEHEHEH EHE EHE EHELLHHLELELELELELELLHEHE EHEHEHEEHEEHEHEH!!!” Caroline screamed though her laughter. She’d be damned if she’d give this red-haired little twerp anything, but gawd it tickled! It tickled so much!
“I’m tickling Katie’s ribs, just tickling Katie’s ribs,” Polly sand to the tune of ‘Singing in the Rain’, playing it with gusto on Katie’s ribs. How long could Dr Lee handle this? She seemed to have a lot of spirit, but the tickling had to be wearing her down. Polly was suddenly didn’t want this to end, not until she’d explored more of this luscious body.
Dr. Lee gasped for air, her heart pounding from the physical exertion. Already she could feel the muscles in her arms and legs burn from their futile efforts to wrench themselves free. But as the spots faded from her eyes, Caroline started thinking more clearly and again her fingers probed for the latch that would set her wrists free.
“Multivac may not think this is a crime,” Dr Lee said, staling for time, “but I doubt a judge and jury will agree. You’re going to go to jail for this little Polly. And if I remember right, unlawful imprisonment is a felony.” She had the latch! It was underneath her pinky. Damn…is was harder to move than she’d remembered. Maybe if she…
“Doesn’t matter. By then I’ll have your neurotransmitter and my new positronic brain will b revolutionizing the world we live in. I’ll be as famous s Edison or Bell.” Polly smiled evily. “And famous scientists don’t go to jail for something as petty as a little tickling. You could save yourself a lot more of that tickling if you gave me that password now. But you won’t. That’s what makes this so much fun!”
“I can’t give you the formula for neurotransmitter today,” Caroline said, stalling for time while her probing fingers fumbled for the clasp, “I haven’t published any papers on it or spoken at any conferences. If you make the neurotransmitter public now, anyone can steal it. I’ll lose all credit and never see dime one of royalties for my discovery! Just give me a few months to patent it and you can have the formula, I swear!”
“I suppose that’s better than ‘When hell freezes over’ which is what you told me the first time I asked,” Polly sighed, her hands creeping closer to Caroline’s body, “But its not good enough. Besides, I don’t believe you. I guess I’m not done persuading you yet.”
Polly smiled and slipped her hands underneath Caroline’s blouse. She felt an electric sensation the second her fingers hit her bare flesh. Caroline’s tan skin was soft but warm, her stomach was flat but tender. Polly’s fingers began to dance across it, gently skimming the surface. Caroline’s reaction was immediate.
“HEHEHEH EHEH EHEHEHE EH EHEHEHE EHE NAWWWOOOOOOOO HEHE EHE EHEHE EHEH EE EHEHEH STAWWWWPPPPPPP HEH EHEHEH EE E EHH PLEEHEHEHEHEHSSSEEE EHEHEHEHE EE EHEH STAWWWWPPPPP HEHEHHE E!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Look who remembered to say please,” Polly gloated. “A second ago you were telling me I was going to jail, now your Miss Manners! What a drastic change.” She pressed her fingers down slightly, digging them into the flesh that was below Caroline’s skin. That made the blonde laugh even harder, her face starting to turn bright red!
“Someone’s got a ticklish belly,” Polly chanted in a singsong voice, :I wonder who it could be…Is it Katie? It is, it is! Katie has a ticklish belly, don’t you Katie!” Polly could feel Dr Lee’s entire body quivering beneath her fingertips. That made Polly’s heart begin to beat faster too.
“YESSSSSSS HEH EHEHEHEHEHEH EHEHEHEH I I I HEHEHE EHEHEH I HAVVVE EHEHEHEHEHEHE EHEHEHE TICKLISH HEHE EHEHEH EHEHE BEHEHEHEHLLLLYYYYY HEHEHE EHEHEHEHHEH LEEEHEHEHVVVEEE ITTTTT ALLONNNEEE HEHEHE EHEHEHEHE!!!!!!!!!” Caroline’s voice rose several octaves, hitting a note seldom heard outside of a opera.
“Well Katie, if you’ve got a ticklish belly, then you’re going to love this. Polly stuck a finger into Dr Lee’s bellybutton and started vibrating it. The reaction was amazing! The shriek that passed through Caroline’s lips would have made a dog run for cover. Such a sound should have been impossible for a human throat to make! Also her body started to shake even harder, moving as far as the magnetic bonds would allow it.
Polly felt totally in control of Caroline’s body now. She was playing it like a musical instrument! She could get practically any reaction she wanted from the lovely blonde. A warmth started spreading through Polly’s body, one she had never felt before.
It was then that the unexpected happened. Dr Lee had managed to move the clasp on the right bracelet before the most recent tickle attack some, and her body’s shaking did the rest. Suddenly her right wrist came free! With the last bit of rationality left to her, Caroline hit the clasp to free her left arm.
Had Dr Lee launched a tickle attack of her own at that moment, she might have taken Polly by surprise and changed her fate. Her mind was too clouded by hysteria for that. Instead she clutched both hands to her belly in a desperate move to stop those two tickly hands of Dr Andrews. With Polly’s hands already underneath her shirt, however, all Caroline ended up doing was pressing the tormenting fingers more firmly against her warm belly!
Hope surged through Dr Lee. It was frustrating that she couldn’t pry Polly’s hands off of her belly because they were protected by her own shirt, but at least she could move her arms! Now she wasn’t quite so helpless. Now she could at least defend other, more vulnerable parts of her anatomy. Now, just maybe, she could fight back!
Polly felt the tide turning as well. Sure she could still tickle Caroline’s belly, but she no longer had the freedom to attack the more interesting parts of Dr Lee’s physique. And how long would Dr. Lee’s belly remain ticklish now that Polly’s hands were confined to such a small area? Unless Polly could reintroduce some variety to the tickling, surely Caroline’s resistance would grow.
Scanning the room, Dr Andrews quickly found a way to get the advantage once more. Mulitvac had sent a robot into the room. It was standing absolutely still in the corner, undoubtedly waiting to intervene if Polly did something that caused Dr. Lee harm as defined by the supercomputer. The First Law of Robotics would have required Multivac to take such a precaution.
“Robot,” Dr Andrews addressed the construct, her fingers still squirming against Caroline’s flesh, “Please take hold of Dr Lee’s wrists and pull her arms as high up as they can go and hold them there. This action is necessary to prevent her from harming herself during her current state of hysteria.”
“Heh e eheh noooo robot he ehehe ehehehe don’t he eheh eheh do that! Hehe ehe eehe ee ehehehehe I order ehehe eheh you not eh eheheh to touch me eheheh…” Caroline’s laughter had slowed as her stomach had become somewhat desensitized to the tickling. She was still giggling, however, and that made all the difference.
The robot paused for just a second as it weighed the two contradictory orders against each other. Its programming required it to follow the order given with the most intensity. Dr Andrews implication that refusal to follow her order could lead to harm for Dr Lee gave that order a high intensity. However, Dr Lee’s stream of giggles was interpreted as meaning her command was possibly not intended to be taken seriously. The robots positronic brain quickly decided which one to follow.
“HE eheh ehEH e e what what hehehe eh what are you DOING!” Caroline cried out as the robot came straight for her. “H e e e e e ehehehehe I said heheheh leave heheh me alone hehe e ehehehe!!!” She cried out, but again her laughter meant the robot automatically gave her order a low priority. Dr. Lee’s fear grew as she watched the construct coming ever closer. Soon the robot was standing behind her. It reached out, delicately grabbed both of her wrists and slowly pulled Caroline’s hands away from her stomach.
Now Caroline could only watch in horror as her arms were raised upwards until it looked like she was a referee signaling for a touchdown. She tried desperately to break the robots grip but had no chance against its metal fingers and inhuman strength. The robots grip was like a mother holding her child, gentle but firm and unbreakable.
“Now then,” Polly said, sliding her hands out from under Caroline’s shirt, “That was a nice try, but it looks like your stuck again.” Polly smiled and started reaching for Caroline’s neck.
“No, no please…” Caroline moved her head from side to side to avoid Polly’s hands. A true note of panic was in her voice. She giggled when Polly’s fingers slid up her neck with a feathery touch, then reaching farther back. The next thing Caroline knew, her ponytail was undone, and her thick, blonde hair was cascading across her shoulders.
“You are going to give me that password now,” Polly said in a sultry voice, “Before I decide its not the only thing I want.” Acting impulsively, she leaned down and kissed Caroline on her red lips, firmly but softly. The kiss lasted until both women were breathless.
“I…I can’t…” Caroline said at last, but her earlier rock hard determination was gone. Now, as Polly stared into her eyes, she saw a scared little girl, who knew she had no power to stop what was about to happen.
“That’s too bad,” Polly slipped her hands under Caroline’s shirt again, this time letting her fingers scurry up and down Dr Lee’s sides. By this time, Caroline’s smooth skin was glistening with moisture. Polly took advantage of that, slipping and sliding her fingers from Dr Lee’s waist to her ribcage.
This time Caroline didn’t erupt immediately. She was trying to hold back her laughter, to ‘keep the cork in the bottle’ to show the tickling wasn’t having any effect on her. She did a poor job of it. Caroline’s eyes squeezed themselves shut and her lips puckered as if she had just eaten something sour. Her hands had balled up into fists and the occasional tear rolled down her cheek.
Even without Caroline’s screams, Polly still immensely enjoyed torturing her fellow scientist. She could feel Dr Lee’s body, tight as a rubber band, writhe beneath her fingertips. Dr Andrews could hear the muffled squeaks and gasps that escaped from her victim’s mouth.
“Silly little Katie,” Polly taunted, “How can you order the robot to let you go if you don’t try and speak? Of course you’d have to be able to open your mouth without giggling like a schoolgirl, and I don’t think you can do it. Can you?” Polly was now playing Caroline’s ribs like they were a harp, strumming her fingers up and down, using slight pressure. Such a teasing touch let Caroline resist just a little bit longer, but also guaranteed her eventual eruption would be that much bigger.
Polly then leaned in close and began kissing Caroline’s neck. She knew the different sensation would make it harder for Caroline to concentrate on holding everything in. Polly licked her from shoulder to ear with long strokes of her tongue. Somehow Dr Lee did not break, but to Polly’s satisfaction she began making a buzzing sound like a lonely bee.
Caroline was in hell. It felt like her body was being torn apart as her nerve ending seemed to catch on fire. Bright lights kept exploding in front of her closed eyes. As if the tickling wasn’t bad enough, now feelings were coursing through her unknown since college. Caroline prayed Polly stopped before the redhead made her feel things she wasn’t prepared to feel. Her only hope of that was not to laugh!
It was a vain hope. Polly loved the feeling of Caroline’s trim body. Even without the laughter, juts getting to slide her hands up and down that firm physique was still a thrill. Besides, could Polly the effect her tickles were having even if she couldn’t hear them. Moisture was welling up in her victims eyes, and Caroline’s cheeks were getting flushed. Her freed blond curls were starting to fly through the air as Dr Lee’s head began shaking from side to side.
“Is little Katie still trying to hold back her giggles? How long does she think she can keep them bottled up? Because I know this tickles little Katie, doesn’t it?” Polly gave a quick squeeze, practically making Caroline jump out of her skin before letting her hands go back to making their light strokes up and down her ribs.
Caroline bit her lip, dug her toes into bottom of her boots, even pressed her own fingernails into the palm of her hand. Anything to hold out against that amazingly light touch. She could feel her will breaking, piece by piece, as if it were some kind of puzzle. She had to hang on. She had to!
As Polly’s hands slid higher and higher up Caroline’s bare sides, gliding over her slick skin and slightly protruding ribs, they eventually made it to Dr Lee’s breasts. It was here that Dr Andrews made first biggest discovery of the night. Caroline wasn’t wearing a bra! Her ample breasts were just hanging there, completely uncovered and defenseless!
Polly’s eyes got the same look the wolf has once it realizes its got the chicken cornered. She almost crowed with glee. Caroline’s was one of horrified shame. One of her most vulnerable, private spots was at the mercy of her foe. For one long moment neither woman moved, spoke or even breathed. The triumph/doom of the moment hung in the air thicker than fog.
Then Polly’s fingers moved. They started covering those supple breasts with short, quick flicks. She started at the sides of the breasts, then slowly worked around to the top. Then they slithered around to the top, pressing deeper into the pliable flesh.
Caroline hadn’t even known her boobs were ticklish until she felt Polly’s fingertips gliding over their curved surface. Her eyes flew open like she had just woken up from a bad dream. Embarrassment kept building in her brain at having such a private spot exploited, but that emotion was soon pushed out of Caroline’s brain by the sensations flooding in from her breasts. Her mouth began twitching at the corners and her head started shaking back and forth on its own.
“Uh oh, what do we have hear? Does somebody have ticklish titties? Does she?” Polly began digging her fingers into that supple flesh, wiggling them as fast as she could. For Caroline, having her breasts touched like that both tickled and was pleasurable. Her face broke out in a huge grin, while a husky sound built up in her throat.
Caroline held on for as long as she could, but then Polly attacked her nipples. She began running her thumbs around the areolas, pressing down ever so gently. Then she rubbed both nipples at the same time. A moan deeper than she had ever let out in her life pushed its way up Caroline’s throat and out her lips. It was quickly followed by a stream of laughter as Polly’s other fingers kept up there torturous caress.
OooOOOHHHHHHH UUHHHH he ehehe ehehehe ee e heheheheh HeH eHEee HEHEHE hehhee EHEHEHEHE EHEHEH EHEHEHEHEHEHEHE EEHEHEEE EE EHEHEHE EHEHEH!!!!!
“She does,” Polly exclaimed in mock surprise, “Katie does have ticklish titties! Goochie goochie goo Katie’s tittties.” Now that Caroline had been broken, her laughter quickly built up. Polly moved her hands and started tickling Caroline’s boobies undersides. They seemed even more ticklish then the sides had been.
“HAH AHAH AH A A AHAHAHAH NAWWWWTTT THERERER HAHWH AHAH AHAHA AHAHAHAHAH ANNNYYYWHERERERE HAHAHAHAH BUTT NAWWWTTT THEREERE HAHA AHA AHA A HAHAHHA I I I BEG YOU AHAH AH AHAH PLEAEEEEAASSEEE EHA AHAHAWW HAW HAW HAW!!!!”
“Anywhere else?” Polly said with a huge grin on her face, “How about the bottoms of your feet?”
OOOHO HOHO NAWWTT HAHW HAHWHA WHWH WHAAAWWH HAWWW THERERE EITHER HAW HAW HAAHAHW H WHWHWH TOOOO TICKLISH HA WH AHA AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA AHAHA WAHAHAHAA WWWWHAHA HAH!!!”
Caroline was wailing now like a baby needing to be fed. She was hysterical and out of control. She didn’t even realize she had revealed a major weakness to an enemy, one that could be easily exploited. Her face was now as red as a tomato, and tears were streaking down her cheeks. Caroline’s blond hair was whipping around her so fast it looked like a halo. Polly had the sensation that she was tickling an angel.
Fortunately for Caroline, Polly hadn’t planned on ticklish her feet. It would take to long to free them from her boots (which were still magnetically stuck to the floor) and find some new way to hold them down. But she did file the information away for future reference.
“How about between your legs,” Polly asked, punctuating her question by using her thumbs to caress Caroline’s nipples again.
“uuuUGGGHHHHohhh ehe ehe EHEHEH WUghhhghUuuWUUGGHHHOOOHHEEH” Caroline’s laughter was interrupted by a throaty, guttural groan that sounded like it came from a wild animal instead of a brilliant scientist.
“Hmmm, I’ll take that as a no,” Polly said, obviously tempted, “But what about your underarms?” Without waiting for a response, she slid her fingers into Caroline’s deep hollows. The skin there was softer than silk, as supple as a newborn babies. There wasn’t a trace of hair, not the slightest bit of stubble. Polly wanted to purr from the sheer pleasure of just touching it. Caroline’s reaction was much, much different.
She howled, so loud and with such intensity you would have thought she had just had a limb amputated. The laughter that came out of Caroline’s mouth as Polly began raking her fingernails across her armpits was hard to even describe. Hysterical didn’t even come close. It was fierce, even ferocious. It was so ferocious, she almost stopped tickling. Almost.
It didn’t last long. Every bit of air was quickly squeezed out of Caroline’s lungs, and she fell into a silent laughter. Her body was racked with every movement of Polly’s fingers, her mouth was wide open in an insane grin, but nothing could come out.
Not wanting her prey to pass out, Polly stopped scribbling with all her digits and just began drawing figure 8’s in Caroline’s underarms with both index fingers. This Dr Lee conscious but still in ticklish agony.
For Dr Lee, it was as if her entire body was on fire. The tickling shot from her underarms into every cell in her body. Caroline’s muscles, long exhausted, turned into wet noodles. The robot holding her wrists high above her head was the only thing that prevented Caroline’s body from collapsing into a ticklish heap on the ground. As it was, her knees started bending.
“Tell me,” Polly said simply, no teasing in her voice now, “Tell me your password or I’ll tickle you like this forever.”
Forever. Forever. The word kept echoing in Caroline’s fried brain. It tickles! She wanted to scream how much it tickled, but she couldn’t make a sound. It tickled! She shook her head no, rejecting Polly, rejecting the horrible tickling, but it had to end. No More Tickling!
“Tell me,” Polly said again, slowly, deliberately, “Tell me and all this can end. Tel me.”
End. The word was like a cool glass of water and Caroline was dying of thirst. She fought as long as she could. Polly kept tickling her armpits, those fingers twisting and turning. End. End. It had to end. Finally, Caroline had no idea if it was seconds, hours or a lifetime later, Caroline broke. It couldn’t be forever. It had to end. Nothing else mattered. The tickling had to end.
Polly noticed that Caroline’s right hand, which had been clenched into a fist through most of the tickling, started flailing wildly. Acting on instinct, Polly slowed the tickling, using the lightest scratching underneath Caroline’s arms. As the tickling eased, the flailing of the fingers slowed until Polly could tell what it was. Sign language. T…E…L…L. Over and over again.
“You want to tell me?” Polly said, stopping the tickling, “OK, but if your faking, I will tickle you for hours before you even get the chance to tell me.”
Caroline, her body still quivering from the unheard laughter, found the strength to open her eyes. They were bloodshot, exhausted and filled with terrible mirth. She nodded. Then, still unable to speak, her hand began signing again.
“P..a..u..l..l..y..s..h..o..r..e,” Polly said, amazed, “Paully Shore? The weasel?” Polly gasped. Triumph flowed through her body. There was no way Caroline, in her current state, could make up something so outlandish.
Then something alien swept through Polly. Looking at Caroline’s body, limp as a rag doll, just hanging from the robots grip, Polly wanted to free her, carry her to the bedroom. There, Polly wanted to explore Caroline’s sweet body, to purge herself of the heat building up inside of her.
“Are you crazy!” Polly’s conservative upbringing screamed, “Everything you’ve done has been for your career, because you had no choice if you wanted to keep being a scientist. Even when you kissed her, even when you…touched…touched her. It was just to break Caroline, to get the password. If you do something now, now that you’ve won, it will be because you WANT to. Because you’re a …les…le…”
The word wouldn’t even come to Polly’s brain. She couldn’t be one of those. Polly knew that she’d remember the feel of Caroline’s body for the rest of her life, the kiss, the sounds she’d made when Polly had touched her nipples or licked her neck. The images would haunt her in the middle of the night. But Polly would always be able to tell herself that she’d only done it to save her career. And at least part of her would believe it. If Polly took Caroline now, she’d never be able to deny what had happened today. She’d have to face the harsh truth.
Polly just wasn’t ready for that. Without a word, she walked away.
Caroline didn’t even notice Polly’s internal conflict. She just hung there, flooded with the relief of not having her armpits, breasts, sides or belly being tickled. Slowly her body recovered, muscles solidifying until she could stand again. Her brain took more time to recover than that.
When it did, Caroline remembered the robot holding her arms. It took a few minutes to calmly but forcefully order it to let her go. Even then she had to let her head clear even further before her fingers were deft enough to undo the knots keeping her feet trapped in her boots.
Caroline didn’t even try to free her boots from the magnetic floor. She ran in her stocking feet back to her lab, quickly logging into her computer. Sure enough, someone else had logged in only minutes ago and downloaded everything concerning the neurotransmitter.
What was she going to do now? She had worked a year on isolating the properties of the alien vegetation, tracing it down to one stray chemical. It had taken two more to figure out its formula and how to reproduce it. The formula was going to make her rich and famous. Now her dreams as well as three years of her life were gone.
Dr. Polly Andrews would pay. She’d pay.
robots and super computers, for one scientist could do it all by themselves.
As the Bureau controlled billions of dollars in grant money given out every year, they usually got to make the rules.
But not even the Bureau with its billions of dollars could alter human psychology. People, even scientists, needed companionship. After several unfortunate accidents from scientists forced to work completely devoid of human contact, and years of testimony from highly regarded psychologists the Bureau came up with a new concept. Let the scientists work in pairs.
Dr. Polly Andrews and Dr. Caroline Lee were one such pair. They worked together in a laboratory somewhere in the middle of Montana. For company, they had only themselves, half a dozen robots and a super computer named 'Mulitvac.' They did not work together. Their fields of study were too diverse for that. Dr. Andrews was a robotics engineer while Dr. Lee was a biologist and chemist. Dr. Andrews was working on the next positronic robotic brain while Dr. Lee was trying to synthesize some exotic compounds found in plants from the Xeon star system.
The Bureau kept their areas of study diverse for several reasons. For one, it would give them little chance work on a single project as a team. This would, to the Bureau, be a waste of time and expertise. They wanted two scientific breakthroughs, not one. Also, it would severely cut down on any feelings of competition and jealousy. How could their be when the scientists were working on such different projects? Finally, the Bureau thought that this
arrangement would bring about the most efficient use of Mulitvac. Two different projects would require the full range of the super computers abilities, not just one narrow segment of them.
No, the two doctors were brought together for companionship, nothing else. On paper, they were should have been excellent companions. Both were not quite thirty, from middle class families and had graduated from similar Universities. Both were single, though Polly had had one long term relationship that had almost ended in marriage. They had similar hobbies and goals.
Of course as any good scientists can tell you, their are many ideas that look great on paper that explode in the lab. Dr. Polly Andrews and Dr. Caroline Lee were two of those.
From the beginning, their had been a general animosity between them. Neither woman could explain it, but it was there nonetheless. The only time they saw each other was at dinner, and that only because it was Bureau policy.
"Damn that policy," thought Dr. Andrews as she stared blankly at her computer screen. She would have long ago said the hell with it if not for Mulitvac. It forced to go through that awful ritual, shutting down all laboratory equipment at the designated hour and refusing to dispense food until both woman were seated at the table. No order Polly could think of could force Mulitvac to do otherwise.
"Of course not," Dr. Andrews muttered, "First Law of Robotics. A robot may neither harm a human or through inaction allow a human to be harmed." The computer programmers at the Bureau had convinced Mulitvac that to allow the two scientists to miss that meal would do undermine their social well-being, doing them potentially great harm.
All the shouting and cursing at Multivac in the world only fell under the Second Law of Robotics. A robot must follow the orders of a human unless those orders would conflict with the First Law. Even Dr. Andrews, an expert in the field of robotics, could not find a way to phrase an order to get Mulitvac to cancel the joint dinners. And she had tried. Repeatedly.
The dinners had only gotten worse lately. Now Dr. Lee would sit there and smirk. Smirk like the cat that had eaten the canary. She had something Polly wanted, and Caroline was delighted to not give it too her.
A month ago, Polly had come to a dead end in her new robot design. Everything seemed perfect, except that the positronic pathways, used to transmit signals from the robot 'brain' to the rest of the construct since the very first robots, would not be strong enough in hers. Then she had an idea. Why not supplement the positronic pathways with a neural chemical transmitter, similar to the ones found in the human brain? It was, if Polly did say so herself, genius!
Except for one problem. All the neurotransmitters on file would not work >with the mechanical systems of the robot. She would need to find a chemical with a radically different structure and properties. Not being a chemist, Dr. Andrews contacted as many as she could, hoping someone might have a solution to her problem.
That person ended up being Dr. Caroline Lee. She had found an experimental neurotransmitter in the alien plants she was studying, one that could have been perfect for use in Polly's robots. It should have been that simple.
Now every night at dinner, Polly had to watch Caroline's mocking eyes, her smug smile, so full of the knowledge that she held Polly's career in her hands. And she was going to let that career crumble and fall apart, all out of spite.
"How do you force someone to tell you their secrets?" Polly said aloud, talking only to herself.
"Working..." Multivac's melodious voice surprised Dr. Andrews, "Searching historic records...l". Polly almost gave the order for Mulivac to stop searching, but something stopped her. She hadn't meant for Multivac to find a solution to her problem, but maybe the super computer could succeed where she had failed.
"List compiled." The feminine but artificial voice concluded several minutes later.
Looking down at her screen, Dr. Andrews saw hundreds of words streaming down. Most, she saw, named torture methods straight out of the Spanish Inquisition. Tempting, but Multivac would never allow her to actually hurt Dr. Lee, the First Law of Robotics again. Undoubtedly it would order the robots to stop any attempt.
"Mulitvac, remove all items from list that would cause harm to a human being," Polly ordered. The phrase 'cause harm' was a vague one to her, but she knew that Mulitvac would have a very well developed definition of it. She immediately saw everything that could cause even the slightest physical or psychological damage vanish from the list.
What was left? A few con-games that could supposedly trick someone into telling their secret. Dr. Caroline Lee was too smart, too cunning to fall for one of those. There were also some truth-forcing drugs still on the list. The problem with those was that, as a robotics, ordering any of them would be highly suspicious. Unless she could show proof why they were needed in her project, proof she couldn't fake, her request would be denied.
Dr. Andrews almost deleted the entire program before she noticed one oddball still on the list. It was only one word. 'Tickling'.
"Mulitvac," Polly asked confused, "Why is tickling on this list?"
"While tickling does no harm," Mulitvac's contralto voice replied, "And is in fact more strongly connected to the sensations of pleasure. Even so, recipients with a high level of sensitivity often find it irritating and will give much to have it stopped."
"Would it work on Dr. Lee," Polly mumbled to herself, lost in thought. Mulitvac's sensors picked up the barely audible comment, however, and again treated it as a question. This time, Dr. Caroline Lee file appeared on the screen.
There was a picture of her. She was wrapped as usual in a lab coat, any curve or feminine shape her body may have held hidden from view. Caroline's blonde hair was pulled back in a single, unflattering pony-tail. Thick, horn rimmed glasses obscured her eyes. Only her California tan skin showed Caroline might care about her appearance. It was as Dr. Lee looked every day at dinner.
"Almost genderless," Polly commented again, though she would have killed to have that long, yellow hair. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her own fiery red curls.
Polly pressed a key, and the picture vanished. In its place was Dr. Caroline Lee’s biography. It listed her height as 5'6", her weight as 125 pounds, and her eyes as blue. Below that it mentioned her family, educational background, medical history ad her list of accomplishments. It was one sentence in the medical history that stood out for Polly. It was a short one, one she'd never seen in a personnel report before.
"Sensitivity Rating: Very High."
“Maybe…maybe…” Polly whispered, “This could be just the thing I’ve been looking for. I could…”
She could what? Jump on Dr. Lee and wrestle her to the ground? Pin her down and tickle Caroline silly? She had a PhD in engineering for gods sake! They both had PhDs! It would be ridiculous. Besides, Caroline had six inches and fifteen pounds on her.
No, Polly thought, I won’t humiliate myself. Its bad enough that my career is stumbling. I won’t look like a fool on top of that.
But the doctor kept the thought in the back of her mind, as Multivac knew she would. And when she unexpectedly got a letter the next week from the Bureau of Science Research demanding she show progress on her project or lose all funding, those thoughts jumped to the front of Polly’s mind.
And as she discovered, there really was an engineering answer for every problem.
*****************************
Dr. Caroline Lee was in seventh heaven. She had thought the man she had met on her last vacation had forgotten all about her, but in the mail today his gift had arrived. Fred had sent her jewelry! Or was it Frank? Didn’t really matter. The bracelets were beautiful!
Beautiful, but definitely not comfortable. They were too small to slip over her hands. They had a clasp that had to be opened and closed for them to fit on her wrists, and even then they were a bit to tight. Caroline would probably never wear them again after today.
But today she would. She would make that horrible Polly Andrews eat her words! She’d show that redhead that Caroline Lee was no one night stand or *****! If anything it had been her using Frank (Phil?) not the other way around. Whatever that guys name was, he was undoubtedly madly in love with her. The bracelets proved that.
One thing Dr. Lee knew for sure was that after weeks of listening to Polly’s snide comments about being used and thrown aside, the gloating could not wait until dinner. It had to be now. To do that, she’d have to go to the part of the complex she’d rarely visited, Dr. Andrews laboratory.
Caroline entered to find Polly hunched over an inert pile of circuitry. She was so intent upon her rival, she didn’t notice the metal beam hanging from the ceiling only seven feet from the floor. Neither did she notice the pool of thick, grayish paint in front of the door.
“Oh Dr. Andrews,” Caroline said in a musical voice, “I hate to interrupt your work, but I thought you’d want to see the present my boyfriend sent me.” She accented the word ‘boyfriend’ just enough to make it a taunt. Dr. Lee held up her wrists so the bracelets were clearly visible.
“They’re not real gold,” Polly said with a sniff, as if what Dr. lee had just said was the most uninteresting thing in the world, “Probably a cheap copper that will make your wrists turn green. Come closer and I’ll show you.”
Outraged, Caroline stormed forward, oblivious to the pool of gray pain that she walked through. The only thought in her blonde head was to prove to Polly just how wrong she was.
When Caroline stood beneath the metal beam, Polly hit the switch hidden in the pile of circuitry. Immediately, a soft buzzing could be heard as the powerful electromagnet in the beam and the much smaller oppositely charged ones hidden in Dr Lee’s new bracelets kicked on.
Like a puppet whose strings have been pulled, Caroline’s arms flew up into the air, the bracelets hitting the metal beam with a resounding clang. While Caroline struggled to pull her arms down, Polly hit a second switch turning on the electromagnet in the floor. This one wasn’t as powerful, but it easily held the soles of Dr Lee’s boots, now covered with iron based paint.
“Andrews!” Dr Lee screamed as she struggled with the invisible forces that bound her wrists and feet, “You let me go now, or I’m filing charges! Mulitvac! Send a robot to release me!”
“No good calling for Mulitvac,” Polly said smoothly, an island of calm next to the enraged Dr Lee, walking closer to her prey, “It knows what I’m about to do to you and it doesn’t consider it harm. And I’ve ordered Mulitvac to leave us alone.” As a robotics engineer, Polly how to phrase orders, the type of logic that would work best, the correct words to use and the proper amount of emphasis to put on those words. There was no way a mere biologist could give a stronger order than the one Polly had.
“And what are you going to do to me,” Caroline said with a sneer. Even with her arms stuck above her head, she was not backing down in front of her hated rival.
“Nothing…if you give me the password to your protected files. Then I can download the schematics on that alien neurotransmitter of yours. That’s all I want really.” Polly stood only inches from Caroline‘s trapped body, so close she could hear Caroline‘s breath, “Give me that, and you can go.”
“I see, your just trying to frighten me,” Caroline said, still sneering, “There’s no way Mulitvac will let you do anything to me. This is just a bluff. I’d stick my head in a vat of sulfuric acid before I give you my neurotransmitter.” She was trying to appear calm now, keeping her voice even. She wasn’t even struggling to pull her arms down anymore.
Polly could see beneath Caroline’s calm demeanor, however. She could see Dr Lee’s fingers frantically trying release the clasps on the bracelets so she could slip her hands out. But Caroline couldn’t bend them far enough to reach it. She could almost slip a fingernail under the tiny hook, almost…
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Polly replied, knowing the good Dr Lee was hiding something, “Because I am really looking forward to this.” Polly reached down and unfastened the belt and opened Dr Lee’s lab coat. The redhead gasped. She hadn’t expected such a body!
Caroline was simply gorgeous. Her blouse was tight and stylish, the kind Polly would have worn to a club on Saturday night. It showed off her ample cleavage and a flat stomach. Her hips were curvy, and her legs impossibly long for a woman only 5’6”. Every inch of skin was just as tan as her face and arms. Polly felt the absurd desire to check and see if the parts still covered followed suit.
“I hope you’re enjoying the view,” Caroline kept up her calm facade, “It’s only going to cost you your job and a few months in prison.” Deeper, Dr Lee’s heart started to pound. If Polly were to figure out her weakness, if she somehow knew…She had to open that clasp!
“I’m sure you’ll enjoy this,” Polly said with a smile as she grabbed Caroline’s ribcage with both hands, giving a little squeeze. Caroline squealed like some exotic birdcall, high pitched and shrill.
“Uh oh,” Polly teased, her hands still squeezing Caroline’s sides, “I think someone’s ticklish!” Polly could feel the outline of each rib through Caroline’s thin blouse, though they were covered by enough flesh to be soft.
“He ehe gehehet ehehehe yououourr heehawed damn he eheheheheh hananads shahehehehe offffff eheheheh meehehehehehehehe!!!!” She had been so close to opening one of the clasps, but now the tickling robbed Caroline of the concentration needed for such a precise task. Instincts took over, and she couldn‘t stop herself from trying to rip her arms off the steel bar or wrench her feet out of her knotted boots.
“You are ticklish! You are!” Polly squealed, and began letting her hands slowly climb Caroline’s ribcage. Her fingers stroked the ribs, poking into the gaps between them. The higher Polly’s hands moved, the louder Caroline’s laughter got.
“HE ehehEHehe CRIMEEHEHEHE!!! This hehe eheh is against aheheh ehehehehe eh teethe lawwhehehehehe!!! I’ll eheheh e ehehe see hehehe eheh youououo heheheh in prissonheheheheheheh!!!!!!! You eheheheh cannnheheh Nawwtthehe ehehhh doo hohoho this heheh heheh to meheheheheh!!!” Dr. Lee protested, her bronzed face starting to turn red from the forced laughter.
“I can’t?” Polly asked playfully. She had found one a special spot just above Caroline’s fifth rib on both sides of her body. “If I can’t do this, who’s making you laugh? Who? Who? Who?” Every time Polly asked the question she poked a finger into that special place, forcing a loud squeak from Caroline’s lips.”
“You HEHEHEHE YOU EHEHEHEHEHEH YOU AREHEHEHEHEHHEH DOOINGGHEHEH EHEHEHEHEH YOUU HEHEHEHEHH ARE DOING TIS HEHEHEEH TO MEHEHEHEHEHEH STAWWPPP HEHEHEHEHEITHEHEHE STAWWWWPPP TICKKKKLLLLINGHEEHEH !!!”
“That’s right, I’m tickling you, and I’m going to keep on tickling you until you give me your password,” Polly licked her lips, enjoying this even more than she thought she would, “Did I ever tell you my mother made me take five years of piano lessons? I think those are about to become useful right now.”
Polly’s slender fingers went wild, moving up and down Dr. Lee’s ribs, poking and squeezing seemingly everywhere at once. She kept Caroline on edge, mixing in light touches and firmer ones.
“GO EHEHE EHEHEHE GOTOTOTOTOGGOGOTOTOTOTOTO HEHEHEH EHE EHE EHELLHHLELELELELELELLHEHE EHEHEHEEHEEHEHEH!!!” Caroline screamed though her laughter. She’d be damned if she’d give this red-haired little twerp anything, but gawd it tickled! It tickled so much!
“I’m tickling Katie’s ribs, just tickling Katie’s ribs,” Polly sand to the tune of ‘Singing in the Rain’, playing it with gusto on Katie’s ribs. How long could Dr Lee handle this? She seemed to have a lot of spirit, but the tickling had to be wearing her down. Polly was suddenly didn’t want this to end, not until she’d explored more of this luscious body.
Dr. Lee gasped for air, her heart pounding from the physical exertion. Already she could feel the muscles in her arms and legs burn from their futile efforts to wrench themselves free. But as the spots faded from her eyes, Caroline started thinking more clearly and again her fingers probed for the latch that would set her wrists free.
“Multivac may not think this is a crime,” Dr Lee said, staling for time, “but I doubt a judge and jury will agree. You’re going to go to jail for this little Polly. And if I remember right, unlawful imprisonment is a felony.” She had the latch! It was underneath her pinky. Damn…is was harder to move than she’d remembered. Maybe if she…
“Doesn’t matter. By then I’ll have your neurotransmitter and my new positronic brain will b revolutionizing the world we live in. I’ll be as famous s Edison or Bell.” Polly smiled evily. “And famous scientists don’t go to jail for something as petty as a little tickling. You could save yourself a lot more of that tickling if you gave me that password now. But you won’t. That’s what makes this so much fun!”
“I can’t give you the formula for neurotransmitter today,” Caroline said, stalling for time while her probing fingers fumbled for the clasp, “I haven’t published any papers on it or spoken at any conferences. If you make the neurotransmitter public now, anyone can steal it. I’ll lose all credit and never see dime one of royalties for my discovery! Just give me a few months to patent it and you can have the formula, I swear!”
“I suppose that’s better than ‘When hell freezes over’ which is what you told me the first time I asked,” Polly sighed, her hands creeping closer to Caroline’s body, “But its not good enough. Besides, I don’t believe you. I guess I’m not done persuading you yet.”
Polly smiled and slipped her hands underneath Caroline’s blouse. She felt an electric sensation the second her fingers hit her bare flesh. Caroline’s tan skin was soft but warm, her stomach was flat but tender. Polly’s fingers began to dance across it, gently skimming the surface. Caroline’s reaction was immediate.
“HEHEHEH EHEH EHEHEHE EH EHEHEHE EHE NAWWWOOOOOOOO HEHE EHE EHEHE EHEH EE EHEHEH STAWWWWPPPPPPP HEH EHEHEH EE E EHH PLEEHEHEHEHEHSSSEEE EHEHEHEHE EE EHEH STAWWWWPPPPP HEHEHHE E!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Look who remembered to say please,” Polly gloated. “A second ago you were telling me I was going to jail, now your Miss Manners! What a drastic change.” She pressed her fingers down slightly, digging them into the flesh that was below Caroline’s skin. That made the blonde laugh even harder, her face starting to turn bright red!
“Someone’s got a ticklish belly,” Polly chanted in a singsong voice, :I wonder who it could be…Is it Katie? It is, it is! Katie has a ticklish belly, don’t you Katie!” Polly could feel Dr Lee’s entire body quivering beneath her fingertips. That made Polly’s heart begin to beat faster too.
“YESSSSSSS HEH EHEHEHEHEHEH EHEHEHEH I I I HEHEHE EHEHEH I HAVVVE EHEHEHEHEHEHE EHEHEHE TICKLISH HEHE EHEHEH EHEHE BEHEHEHEHLLLLYYYYY HEHEHE EHEHEHEHHEH LEEEHEHEHVVVEEE ITTTTT ALLONNNEEE HEHEHE EHEHEHEHE!!!!!!!!!” Caroline’s voice rose several octaves, hitting a note seldom heard outside of a opera.
“Well Katie, if you’ve got a ticklish belly, then you’re going to love this. Polly stuck a finger into Dr Lee’s bellybutton and started vibrating it. The reaction was amazing! The shriek that passed through Caroline’s lips would have made a dog run for cover. Such a sound should have been impossible for a human throat to make! Also her body started to shake even harder, moving as far as the magnetic bonds would allow it.
Polly felt totally in control of Caroline’s body now. She was playing it like a musical instrument! She could get practically any reaction she wanted from the lovely blonde. A warmth started spreading through Polly’s body, one she had never felt before.
It was then that the unexpected happened. Dr Lee had managed to move the clasp on the right bracelet before the most recent tickle attack some, and her body’s shaking did the rest. Suddenly her right wrist came free! With the last bit of rationality left to her, Caroline hit the clasp to free her left arm.
Had Dr Lee launched a tickle attack of her own at that moment, she might have taken Polly by surprise and changed her fate. Her mind was too clouded by hysteria for that. Instead she clutched both hands to her belly in a desperate move to stop those two tickly hands of Dr Andrews. With Polly’s hands already underneath her shirt, however, all Caroline ended up doing was pressing the tormenting fingers more firmly against her warm belly!
Hope surged through Dr Lee. It was frustrating that she couldn’t pry Polly’s hands off of her belly because they were protected by her own shirt, but at least she could move her arms! Now she wasn’t quite so helpless. Now she could at least defend other, more vulnerable parts of her anatomy. Now, just maybe, she could fight back!
Polly felt the tide turning as well. Sure she could still tickle Caroline’s belly, but she no longer had the freedom to attack the more interesting parts of Dr Lee’s physique. And how long would Dr. Lee’s belly remain ticklish now that Polly’s hands were confined to such a small area? Unless Polly could reintroduce some variety to the tickling, surely Caroline’s resistance would grow.
Scanning the room, Dr Andrews quickly found a way to get the advantage once more. Mulitvac had sent a robot into the room. It was standing absolutely still in the corner, undoubtedly waiting to intervene if Polly did something that caused Dr. Lee harm as defined by the supercomputer. The First Law of Robotics would have required Multivac to take such a precaution.
“Robot,” Dr Andrews addressed the construct, her fingers still squirming against Caroline’s flesh, “Please take hold of Dr Lee’s wrists and pull her arms as high up as they can go and hold them there. This action is necessary to prevent her from harming herself during her current state of hysteria.”
“Heh e eheh noooo robot he ehehe ehehehe don’t he eheh eheh do that! Hehe ehe eehe ee ehehehehe I order ehehe eheh you not eh eheheh to touch me eheheh…” Caroline’s laughter had slowed as her stomach had become somewhat desensitized to the tickling. She was still giggling, however, and that made all the difference.
The robot paused for just a second as it weighed the two contradictory orders against each other. Its programming required it to follow the order given with the most intensity. Dr Andrews implication that refusal to follow her order could lead to harm for Dr Lee gave that order a high intensity. However, Dr Lee’s stream of giggles was interpreted as meaning her command was possibly not intended to be taken seriously. The robots positronic brain quickly decided which one to follow.
“HE eheh ehEH e e what what hehehe eh what are you DOING!” Caroline cried out as the robot came straight for her. “H e e e e e ehehehehe I said heheheh leave heheh me alone hehe e ehehehe!!!” She cried out, but again her laughter meant the robot automatically gave her order a low priority. Dr. Lee’s fear grew as she watched the construct coming ever closer. Soon the robot was standing behind her. It reached out, delicately grabbed both of her wrists and slowly pulled Caroline’s hands away from her stomach.
Now Caroline could only watch in horror as her arms were raised upwards until it looked like she was a referee signaling for a touchdown. She tried desperately to break the robots grip but had no chance against its metal fingers and inhuman strength. The robots grip was like a mother holding her child, gentle but firm and unbreakable.
“Now then,” Polly said, sliding her hands out from under Caroline’s shirt, “That was a nice try, but it looks like your stuck again.” Polly smiled and started reaching for Caroline’s neck.
“No, no please…” Caroline moved her head from side to side to avoid Polly’s hands. A true note of panic was in her voice. She giggled when Polly’s fingers slid up her neck with a feathery touch, then reaching farther back. The next thing Caroline knew, her ponytail was undone, and her thick, blonde hair was cascading across her shoulders.
“You are going to give me that password now,” Polly said in a sultry voice, “Before I decide its not the only thing I want.” Acting impulsively, she leaned down and kissed Caroline on her red lips, firmly but softly. The kiss lasted until both women were breathless.
“I…I can’t…” Caroline said at last, but her earlier rock hard determination was gone. Now, as Polly stared into her eyes, she saw a scared little girl, who knew she had no power to stop what was about to happen.
“That’s too bad,” Polly slipped her hands under Caroline’s shirt again, this time letting her fingers scurry up and down Dr Lee’s sides. By this time, Caroline’s smooth skin was glistening with moisture. Polly took advantage of that, slipping and sliding her fingers from Dr Lee’s waist to her ribcage.
This time Caroline didn’t erupt immediately. She was trying to hold back her laughter, to ‘keep the cork in the bottle’ to show the tickling wasn’t having any effect on her. She did a poor job of it. Caroline’s eyes squeezed themselves shut and her lips puckered as if she had just eaten something sour. Her hands had balled up into fists and the occasional tear rolled down her cheek.
Even without Caroline’s screams, Polly still immensely enjoyed torturing her fellow scientist. She could feel Dr Lee’s body, tight as a rubber band, writhe beneath her fingertips. Dr Andrews could hear the muffled squeaks and gasps that escaped from her victim’s mouth.
“Silly little Katie,” Polly taunted, “How can you order the robot to let you go if you don’t try and speak? Of course you’d have to be able to open your mouth without giggling like a schoolgirl, and I don’t think you can do it. Can you?” Polly was now playing Caroline’s ribs like they were a harp, strumming her fingers up and down, using slight pressure. Such a teasing touch let Caroline resist just a little bit longer, but also guaranteed her eventual eruption would be that much bigger.
Polly then leaned in close and began kissing Caroline’s neck. She knew the different sensation would make it harder for Caroline to concentrate on holding everything in. Polly licked her from shoulder to ear with long strokes of her tongue. Somehow Dr Lee did not break, but to Polly’s satisfaction she began making a buzzing sound like a lonely bee.
Caroline was in hell. It felt like her body was being torn apart as her nerve ending seemed to catch on fire. Bright lights kept exploding in front of her closed eyes. As if the tickling wasn’t bad enough, now feelings were coursing through her unknown since college. Caroline prayed Polly stopped before the redhead made her feel things she wasn’t prepared to feel. Her only hope of that was not to laugh!
It was a vain hope. Polly loved the feeling of Caroline’s trim body. Even without the laughter, juts getting to slide her hands up and down that firm physique was still a thrill. Besides, could Polly the effect her tickles were having even if she couldn’t hear them. Moisture was welling up in her victims eyes, and Caroline’s cheeks were getting flushed. Her freed blond curls were starting to fly through the air as Dr Lee’s head began shaking from side to side.
“Is little Katie still trying to hold back her giggles? How long does she think she can keep them bottled up? Because I know this tickles little Katie, doesn’t it?” Polly gave a quick squeeze, practically making Caroline jump out of her skin before letting her hands go back to making their light strokes up and down her ribs.
Caroline bit her lip, dug her toes into bottom of her boots, even pressed her own fingernails into the palm of her hand. Anything to hold out against that amazingly light touch. She could feel her will breaking, piece by piece, as if it were some kind of puzzle. She had to hang on. She had to!
As Polly’s hands slid higher and higher up Caroline’s bare sides, gliding over her slick skin and slightly protruding ribs, they eventually made it to Dr Lee’s breasts. It was here that Dr Andrews made first biggest discovery of the night. Caroline wasn’t wearing a bra! Her ample breasts were just hanging there, completely uncovered and defenseless!
Polly’s eyes got the same look the wolf has once it realizes its got the chicken cornered. She almost crowed with glee. Caroline’s was one of horrified shame. One of her most vulnerable, private spots was at the mercy of her foe. For one long moment neither woman moved, spoke or even breathed. The triumph/doom of the moment hung in the air thicker than fog.
Then Polly’s fingers moved. They started covering those supple breasts with short, quick flicks. She started at the sides of the breasts, then slowly worked around to the top. Then they slithered around to the top, pressing deeper into the pliable flesh.
Caroline hadn’t even known her boobs were ticklish until she felt Polly’s fingertips gliding over their curved surface. Her eyes flew open like she had just woken up from a bad dream. Embarrassment kept building in her brain at having such a private spot exploited, but that emotion was soon pushed out of Caroline’s brain by the sensations flooding in from her breasts. Her mouth began twitching at the corners and her head started shaking back and forth on its own.
“Uh oh, what do we have hear? Does somebody have ticklish titties? Does she?” Polly began digging her fingers into that supple flesh, wiggling them as fast as she could. For Caroline, having her breasts touched like that both tickled and was pleasurable. Her face broke out in a huge grin, while a husky sound built up in her throat.
Caroline held on for as long as she could, but then Polly attacked her nipples. She began running her thumbs around the areolas, pressing down ever so gently. Then she rubbed both nipples at the same time. A moan deeper than she had ever let out in her life pushed its way up Caroline’s throat and out her lips. It was quickly followed by a stream of laughter as Polly’s other fingers kept up there torturous caress.
OooOOOHHHHHHH UUHHHH he ehehe ehehehe ee e heheheheh HeH eHEee HEHEHE hehhee EHEHEHEHE EHEHEH EHEHEHEHEHEHEHE EEHEHEEE EE EHEHEHE EHEHEH!!!!!
“She does,” Polly exclaimed in mock surprise, “Katie does have ticklish titties! Goochie goochie goo Katie’s tittties.” Now that Caroline had been broken, her laughter quickly built up. Polly moved her hands and started tickling Caroline’s boobies undersides. They seemed even more ticklish then the sides had been.
“HAH AHAH AH A A AHAHAHAH NAWWWWTTT THERERER HAHWH AHAH AHAHA AHAHAHAHAH ANNNYYYWHERERERE HAHAHAHAH BUTT NAWWWTTT THEREERE HAHA AHA AHA A HAHAHHA I I I BEG YOU AHAH AH AHAH PLEAEEEEAASSEEE EHA AHAHAWW HAW HAW HAW!!!!”
“Anywhere else?” Polly said with a huge grin on her face, “How about the bottoms of your feet?”
OOOHO HOHO NAWWTT HAHW HAHWHA WHWH WHAAAWWH HAWWW THERERE EITHER HAW HAW HAAHAHW H WHWHWH TOOOO TICKLISH HA WH AHA AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA AHAHA WAHAHAHAA WWWWHAHA HAH!!!”
Caroline was wailing now like a baby needing to be fed. She was hysterical and out of control. She didn’t even realize she had revealed a major weakness to an enemy, one that could be easily exploited. Her face was now as red as a tomato, and tears were streaking down her cheeks. Caroline’s blond hair was whipping around her so fast it looked like a halo. Polly had the sensation that she was tickling an angel.
Fortunately for Caroline, Polly hadn’t planned on ticklish her feet. It would take to long to free them from her boots (which were still magnetically stuck to the floor) and find some new way to hold them down. But she did file the information away for future reference.
“How about between your legs,” Polly asked, punctuating her question by using her thumbs to caress Caroline’s nipples again.
“uuuUGGGHHHHohhh ehe ehe EHEHEH WUghhhghUuuWUUGGHHHOOOHHEEH” Caroline’s laughter was interrupted by a throaty, guttural groan that sounded like it came from a wild animal instead of a brilliant scientist.
“Hmmm, I’ll take that as a no,” Polly said, obviously tempted, “But what about your underarms?” Without waiting for a response, she slid her fingers into Caroline’s deep hollows. The skin there was softer than silk, as supple as a newborn babies. There wasn’t a trace of hair, not the slightest bit of stubble. Polly wanted to purr from the sheer pleasure of just touching it. Caroline’s reaction was much, much different.
She howled, so loud and with such intensity you would have thought she had just had a limb amputated. The laughter that came out of Caroline’s mouth as Polly began raking her fingernails across her armpits was hard to even describe. Hysterical didn’t even come close. It was fierce, even ferocious. It was so ferocious, she almost stopped tickling. Almost.
It didn’t last long. Every bit of air was quickly squeezed out of Caroline’s lungs, and she fell into a silent laughter. Her body was racked with every movement of Polly’s fingers, her mouth was wide open in an insane grin, but nothing could come out.
Not wanting her prey to pass out, Polly stopped scribbling with all her digits and just began drawing figure 8’s in Caroline’s underarms with both index fingers. This Dr Lee conscious but still in ticklish agony.
For Dr Lee, it was as if her entire body was on fire. The tickling shot from her underarms into every cell in her body. Caroline’s muscles, long exhausted, turned into wet noodles. The robot holding her wrists high above her head was the only thing that prevented Caroline’s body from collapsing into a ticklish heap on the ground. As it was, her knees started bending.
“Tell me,” Polly said simply, no teasing in her voice now, “Tell me your password or I’ll tickle you like this forever.”
Forever. Forever. The word kept echoing in Caroline’s fried brain. It tickles! She wanted to scream how much it tickled, but she couldn’t make a sound. It tickled! She shook her head no, rejecting Polly, rejecting the horrible tickling, but it had to end. No More Tickling!
“Tell me,” Polly said again, slowly, deliberately, “Tell me and all this can end. Tel me.”
End. The word was like a cool glass of water and Caroline was dying of thirst. She fought as long as she could. Polly kept tickling her armpits, those fingers twisting and turning. End. End. It had to end. Finally, Caroline had no idea if it was seconds, hours or a lifetime later, Caroline broke. It couldn’t be forever. It had to end. Nothing else mattered. The tickling had to end.
Polly noticed that Caroline’s right hand, which had been clenched into a fist through most of the tickling, started flailing wildly. Acting on instinct, Polly slowed the tickling, using the lightest scratching underneath Caroline’s arms. As the tickling eased, the flailing of the fingers slowed until Polly could tell what it was. Sign language. T…E…L…L. Over and over again.
“You want to tell me?” Polly said, stopping the tickling, “OK, but if your faking, I will tickle you for hours before you even get the chance to tell me.”
Caroline, her body still quivering from the unheard laughter, found the strength to open her eyes. They were bloodshot, exhausted and filled with terrible mirth. She nodded. Then, still unable to speak, her hand began signing again.
“P..a..u..l..l..y..s..h..o..r..e,” Polly said, amazed, “Paully Shore? The weasel?” Polly gasped. Triumph flowed through her body. There was no way Caroline, in her current state, could make up something so outlandish.
Then something alien swept through Polly. Looking at Caroline’s body, limp as a rag doll, just hanging from the robots grip, Polly wanted to free her, carry her to the bedroom. There, Polly wanted to explore Caroline’s sweet body, to purge herself of the heat building up inside of her.
“Are you crazy!” Polly’s conservative upbringing screamed, “Everything you’ve done has been for your career, because you had no choice if you wanted to keep being a scientist. Even when you kissed her, even when you…touched…touched her. It was just to break Caroline, to get the password. If you do something now, now that you’ve won, it will be because you WANT to. Because you’re a …les…le…”
The word wouldn’t even come to Polly’s brain. She couldn’t be one of those. Polly knew that she’d remember the feel of Caroline’s body for the rest of her life, the kiss, the sounds she’d made when Polly had touched her nipples or licked her neck. The images would haunt her in the middle of the night. But Polly would always be able to tell herself that she’d only done it to save her career. And at least part of her would believe it. If Polly took Caroline now, she’d never be able to deny what had happened today. She’d have to face the harsh truth.
Polly just wasn’t ready for that. Without a word, she walked away.
Caroline didn’t even notice Polly’s internal conflict. She just hung there, flooded with the relief of not having her armpits, breasts, sides or belly being tickled. Slowly her body recovered, muscles solidifying until she could stand again. Her brain took more time to recover than that.
When it did, Caroline remembered the robot holding her arms. It took a few minutes to calmly but forcefully order it to let her go. Even then she had to let her head clear even further before her fingers were deft enough to undo the knots keeping her feet trapped in her boots.
Caroline didn’t even try to free her boots from the magnetic floor. She ran in her stocking feet back to her lab, quickly logging into her computer. Sure enough, someone else had logged in only minutes ago and downloaded everything concerning the neurotransmitter.
What was she going to do now? She had worked a year on isolating the properties of the alien vegetation, tracing it down to one stray chemical. It had taken two more to figure out its formula and how to reproduce it. The formula was going to make her rich and famous. Now her dreams as well as three years of her life were gone.
Dr. Polly Andrews would pay. She’d pay.
