Chapter One, Part Two
Being strapped into the seat was a new sensation to say the least, Ashley tried to focus the nature show playing in front of her, but her situation was just too intense to allow for it. Her focus shifted again and again to the seat she was strapped into. She was held in place by what amounted to a spider's web of straps, the closest thing to this she had ever experienced was being strapped into a roller coaster, last summer one had broken down for nearly 45 min with her and her friends on it, they had been stuck hanging there for some time, she had found the experience strangely exciting and thought back to it occasionally. But this was something else, not only did the straps cross over her lap and run up over her shoulders but there was also a tight strap running horizontally around her upper body just below her armpits and her head was firmly strapped to the seat. There was also the strap between her legs, which was still firmly pressing up into her. She couldn't shift left or right; she couldn't slouch or shrug, the foam wedge between her thighs prevented her from crossing or even closing her legs, she couldn’t even look down at her body, as she couldn’t tilt her head. To top that off her biceps were strapped to the seat preventing her from doing anything more with her arms than flapping her forearms uselessly around. She kept trying to find a normal way of positioning her hands and just ended up moving them from her sides to her lap and back again aimlessly.
She was just in the midst of her most recent attempt to shift her body when the door to the room opened. A middle aged man in a suit walked in with a clipboard, Maria turned and stood up, Ashley would have but as it was she couldn’t even fully turn her head to look at him.
“Hello Mr. Warrick”
He smiled at her, and nodded “Maria, how are we doing?”
“Great so far, have you met Ashley yet?”
“I have not” He turned to the teen girl strapped into the seat and gave her a smile “How are you finding the job? Maria treating you ok?”
Ashley gave an awkward smile and raised her right forearm in as much a wave as the restraints allowed.
“Ahhh, good, I mean yes”
Warrick gave her another smile and turned back to Maria. “Want to run me through how we're doing?”
“Sure thing” Maria went and retrieved her notes from the desk and led Warrick back over to where Ashley was still securely strapped into the seat.
“Here are the stats so far” Maria handed him the clipboard and began going over a string of data and numbers that Ashley didn’t understand. After going over two or three of these Maria began tracing outlines on parts of Ashley’s body and relating figures to them. Again Ashley tried to shift in her seat but was unable to move even enough for Maria or Warrick to take notice of her shifting. They seemed to have forgotten her presence despite the fact that they were talking about her and Maria was physically touching her as Warrick took notes.
“Have you run anything with the leg restraints yet?” that was Warrick
“No, I was going to do the head and arms first then the legs.”
“Do them together for now, we can run specific tests later.”
“Ok sure thing, before the motion test?”
“No do those first, move to the leg stuff after.”
Just as Ashley was sure that they had forgotten she was actually a human and not a crash test dummy Warrick turned to her.
“How do you feel? Any discomfort?”
Ashley tried to shift as she answered, again forgetting she could not, she also couldn’t really turn her head to look directly at him.
“It’s pretty tight, but not really” was the best she could come up with
Warrick nodded, “yes that’s by design, it may be a be a bit less comfortable for you but the seat is designed to make the user feel safer and more protected, a bit like swaddling a baby”
Ashley wasn’t sure how she felt being compared to a swaddled baby but it definitely felt accurate.
“You may enjoy yourself more if you try to relax” Warrick said not unkindly. With that he smiled and handed the notes back to Maria
“It was nice to meet you Ashley” He turned back to Maia “I’ll be by again later to get the rest of your results”
As Warrick left Maia went back over to the computer and retrieved a small tablet device with a cable hanging from it.
“Ok so we're going to start doing some of the motion tests now, there might be a bit of a jolt when it starts up.” Maria plugged the cable into something Ashley couldn’t see, presumably on the frame the seat was suspended from.
“Ok ready?”
“Ya I guess-” The words were hardly out of her mouth when there was a violent upward lurch that caused a strange sensation in her lower stomach. She was now considerably higher off the ground than she had been, the seat began to jostle and bounce as though she were at the back of the bus on a bumpy road. Whereas before the straps had simply held her in place against her shifting, now they held her against somewhat violent jerks and jostles.
Ashley was now definitely now watching the nature show, instead she was fully preoccupied with keeping mainiatinging her composure as she was tossed about. Despite herself she let out the occasional grunt when hit by a particularly violent “bump”. She closed her eyes attempting to relax as Warrick had suggested but the sensation of being restrained was still too unusual for her to settle down. Every time she started to relax she would try to move something and got pulled back out of it.
This process went on for around 10 minutes with Maria at the desk taking notes. Every now and then the machine would jostle forward and then back as though it were trying to toss her out of the seat. If it were not for the straps wrapped tightly around her body she would have been flung violently out of seat to the ground each time. As it was she was hardly moved. All of a sudden Ashley was quite happy to be strapped into the seat so extensively, she had never really been one for rides...
“Ok we're going to do a couple acceleration tests now, so the seat is going to tilt a bit and move some more, you ready?”
Ashley felt anything but ready but she said yes. Maria walked back to the rig and entered something on the tablet, the rig stopped and slowly swung back so that Ashley was lying on her back looking up at the ceiling. She lay there for a moment before the machine swung her in a gentle but fast arc forward and tilted down so she was staring at the floor, there was tingling hollow sensation in the pit of her stomach, for a moment she was sure the machine was broken and she was going to be splattered all over the floor. Then the machine jerked to a sudden stop with a bang and she was bucked against the straps letting out an ummph, her legs swung forward as would her arms and head where they not restrained, she hung by the straps in the seat for a moment. Ashley grasped for something to hold onto with her forearms, unable to look down due to the head strap. She was unable to find anything to grab and was forced to trust the straps, the strap between her legs in particular was taking much of her weight now due to the slight angle of the seat, her legs were dangling freely and she could see her feet for the first time in nearly 45 min. Then the machine began to reset, lifting her back up and tilting her back. Her legs fell back down onto the slots formed by the wedge between her thighs and her weight shifted back to the seat and away from the straps, although they were still just as tight as they were when Maria had first done them up. The slots for her legs were tight enough that her thighs now lay on top of them, after a moment's unsure hesitation Ashley wriggled her legs back down into them. It felt a bit odd to move something other than her forearms or calves. The machine finished resetting and she was looking at the ceiling again. This process was repeated again and again rhythmically for about 15 minutes, Ashley being jerked to a stop each time, her legs flying up and her body and head held back by the restraints.
After what felt like an hour to Ashley Maria finally turned off the machine and lowered it back down to its original height.
“Ok so we're going to move on the leg restraints now”
Maria went back to the box the seat had come out of and extracted a pile of straps and metal bars.
“I’m going to have to get you out to install this, so you might as well take a 5 min break, then we will get back to it, sound ok?”
“Yup, I could definitely use a stretch right now” Ashley went to press the button on the buckle assuming it would release the straps but it remained still and didn’t move.
“Ok that’s fine, we'll have to run the next test for longer though, we need data for long term use of this seat.” Maria noticed Ashley fiddling with the buckle and laughed, “It's locked hun, I’ll have to let you out, just let me get this untangled and turn off the sensors first.
“Oh ok” The urge to shift around ran through her again, or at least move her head or upper arms. She strained against the straps for a moment and really tried to shift, to move anything, but the straps held strong and wouldn’t give at all. She considered pulling her legs up out of the slots but decided to be patient. It felt like it took Maria forever to get the tangle of straps sorted out and even when she did she took a few more minutes to start assembling them. Ashley really wished she would at least undo the stupid head strap When Maria had finished she went over to the computer and sat there typing for a few moments before finally coming over to Ashley and inserting a small round key into the buckle and twisting it. A few moments later Ashley was free and Maria was helping her out of the seat. She was remarkably un sore despite having been unable to move even her head for almost an hour. Maria enquired about this and took some notes before telling her to “hang out” for a bit while she set up the leg restraints.
She was just in the midst of her most recent attempt to shift her body when the door to the room opened. A middle aged man in a suit walked in with a clipboard, Maria turned and stood up, Ashley would have but as it was she couldn’t even fully turn her head to look at him.
“Hello Mr. Warrick”
He smiled at her, and nodded “Maria, how are we doing?”
“Great so far, have you met Ashley yet?”
“I have not” He turned to the teen girl strapped into the seat and gave her a smile “How are you finding the job? Maria treating you ok?”
Ashley gave an awkward smile and raised her right forearm in as much a wave as the restraints allowed.
“Ahhh, good, I mean yes”
Warrick gave her another smile and turned back to Maria. “Want to run me through how we're doing?”
“Sure thing” Maria went and retrieved her notes from the desk and led Warrick back over to where Ashley was still securely strapped into the seat.
“Here are the stats so far” Maria handed him the clipboard and began going over a string of data and numbers that Ashley didn’t understand. After going over two or three of these Maria began tracing outlines on parts of Ashley’s body and relating figures to them. Again Ashley tried to shift in her seat but was unable to move even enough for Maria or Warrick to take notice of her shifting. They seemed to have forgotten her presence despite the fact that they were talking about her and Maria was physically touching her as Warrick took notes.
“Have you run anything with the leg restraints yet?” that was Warrick
“No, I was going to do the head and arms first then the legs.”
“Do them together for now, we can run specific tests later.”
“Ok sure thing, before the motion test?”
“No do those first, move to the leg stuff after.”
Just as Ashley was sure that they had forgotten she was actually a human and not a crash test dummy Warrick turned to her.
“How do you feel? Any discomfort?”
Ashley tried to shift as she answered, again forgetting she could not, she also couldn’t really turn her head to look directly at him.
“It’s pretty tight, but not really” was the best she could come up with
Warrick nodded, “yes that’s by design, it may be a be a bit less comfortable for you but the seat is designed to make the user feel safer and more protected, a bit like swaddling a baby”
Ashley wasn’t sure how she felt being compared to a swaddled baby but it definitely felt accurate.
“You may enjoy yourself more if you try to relax” Warrick said not unkindly. With that he smiled and handed the notes back to Maria
“It was nice to meet you Ashley” He turned back to Maia “I’ll be by again later to get the rest of your results”
As Warrick left Maia went back over to the computer and retrieved a small tablet device with a cable hanging from it.
“Ok so we're going to start doing some of the motion tests now, there might be a bit of a jolt when it starts up.” Maria plugged the cable into something Ashley couldn’t see, presumably on the frame the seat was suspended from.
“Ok ready?”
“Ya I guess-” The words were hardly out of her mouth when there was a violent upward lurch that caused a strange sensation in her lower stomach. She was now considerably higher off the ground than she had been, the seat began to jostle and bounce as though she were at the back of the bus on a bumpy road. Whereas before the straps had simply held her in place against her shifting, now they held her against somewhat violent jerks and jostles.
Ashley was now definitely now watching the nature show, instead she was fully preoccupied with keeping mainiatinging her composure as she was tossed about. Despite herself she let out the occasional grunt when hit by a particularly violent “bump”. She closed her eyes attempting to relax as Warrick had suggested but the sensation of being restrained was still too unusual for her to settle down. Every time she started to relax she would try to move something and got pulled back out of it.
This process went on for around 10 minutes with Maria at the desk taking notes. Every now and then the machine would jostle forward and then back as though it were trying to toss her out of the seat. If it were not for the straps wrapped tightly around her body she would have been flung violently out of seat to the ground each time. As it was she was hardly moved. All of a sudden Ashley was quite happy to be strapped into the seat so extensively, she had never really been one for rides...
“Ok we're going to do a couple acceleration tests now, so the seat is going to tilt a bit and move some more, you ready?”
Ashley felt anything but ready but she said yes. Maria walked back to the rig and entered something on the tablet, the rig stopped and slowly swung back so that Ashley was lying on her back looking up at the ceiling. She lay there for a moment before the machine swung her in a gentle but fast arc forward and tilted down so she was staring at the floor, there was tingling hollow sensation in the pit of her stomach, for a moment she was sure the machine was broken and she was going to be splattered all over the floor. Then the machine jerked to a sudden stop with a bang and she was bucked against the straps letting out an ummph, her legs swung forward as would her arms and head where they not restrained, she hung by the straps in the seat for a moment. Ashley grasped for something to hold onto with her forearms, unable to look down due to the head strap. She was unable to find anything to grab and was forced to trust the straps, the strap between her legs in particular was taking much of her weight now due to the slight angle of the seat, her legs were dangling freely and she could see her feet for the first time in nearly 45 min. Then the machine began to reset, lifting her back up and tilting her back. Her legs fell back down onto the slots formed by the wedge between her thighs and her weight shifted back to the seat and away from the straps, although they were still just as tight as they were when Maria had first done them up. The slots for her legs were tight enough that her thighs now lay on top of them, after a moment's unsure hesitation Ashley wriggled her legs back down into them. It felt a bit odd to move something other than her forearms or calves. The machine finished resetting and she was looking at the ceiling again. This process was repeated again and again rhythmically for about 15 minutes, Ashley being jerked to a stop each time, her legs flying up and her body and head held back by the restraints.
After what felt like an hour to Ashley Maria finally turned off the machine and lowered it back down to its original height.
“Ok so we're going to move on the leg restraints now”
Maria went back to the box the seat had come out of and extracted a pile of straps and metal bars.
“I’m going to have to get you out to install this, so you might as well take a 5 min break, then we will get back to it, sound ok?”
“Yup, I could definitely use a stretch right now” Ashley went to press the button on the buckle assuming it would release the straps but it remained still and didn’t move.
“Ok that’s fine, we'll have to run the next test for longer though, we need data for long term use of this seat.” Maria noticed Ashley fiddling with the buckle and laughed, “It's locked hun, I’ll have to let you out, just let me get this untangled and turn off the sensors first.
“Oh ok” The urge to shift around ran through her again, or at least move her head or upper arms. She strained against the straps for a moment and really tried to shift, to move anything, but the straps held strong and wouldn’t give at all. She considered pulling her legs up out of the slots but decided to be patient. It felt like it took Maria forever to get the tangle of straps sorted out and even when she did she took a few more minutes to start assembling them. Ashley really wished she would at least undo the stupid head strap When Maria had finished she went over to the computer and sat there typing for a few moments before finally coming over to Ashley and inserting a small round key into the buckle and twisting it. A few moments later Ashley was free and Maria was helping her out of the seat. She was remarkably un sore despite having been unable to move even her head for almost an hour. Maria enquired about this and took some notes before telling her to “hang out” for a bit while she set up the leg restraints.
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