When you get to your post, a naked woman sits on the floor in the center of the room. Around her stand a half-dozen women fully clothed.
"You. You're late," says one of them, above the waist wearing a suit and tie, with a short, tight, skirt below.
"I know!"
"It's your first day," she says.
"I know."
"You've kept this poor girl waiting," she says, gesturing at the naked girl, who waves. "Consider how much time she must have spent mentally preparing herself for this - do you think she wants to spend another minute human?"
"I'm sorry!"
"Say that to her," says the woman, gesturing to the naked girl. You turn to her.
"I'm sorry," you say. The girl shrugs. The woman you infer is your new boss turns to you.
"Hmmph," she says. "Well, now that you're here, we can get started. Watch and learn, new girl..." she chuckles to herself... "not that it'll help you much."
One of the other women holds something like a gun, aimed at the naked girl. The girl takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, smiling. A beam of light hits her and she begins to swell. Her curves, her face, all swell into an indistinguishable mass of pink - you can see her bones, her organs warping as they move to meet against her skin. Her eyelids seal over her eyes, closing them forever; her mouth seals together as the curve disappears. Her neck swells out over her chin, which itself comes to flatten as it expands outward. Soon all that remains is a woman-sized pink balloon, floating up to the ceiling.
You look around to find everyone looking at this with scholarly, quotidian disinterest. Of course - they grew up in this world, didn't they? A woman turning into a balloon must be... well, not quite an everyday sight, or there wouldn't be any
women left - but no stranger than, say, a woman starting a new job. Though perhaps for these folks it might be an everyday sight.
One of the women takes careful aim with a dart, sending it flying high... and misses, jabbing another worker in the boob. "Aagh! Dammit, Denise, you meant to do that!" "Maybe," says Denise, reaching for another dart. This one hits home, falling to the ground alongside scraps of rubber. You feel queasy - clearly she volunteered for this, but did she know...? Is she alive...? Was she even alive when she was first changed? If so, is she in pain?
Your thoughts are interrupted when Denise runs to retrieve the dart, the balloon already reforming the tears far from where the dart hit. The removal of the dart frees the balloon to reform totally, and as it does, it reinflates. The former human floats back up to the ceiling.
"Helium!" exclaims the boss. "Created from the human soul alone. Think of the medical implications... not to mention children's birthday parties." She walks over to you and whispers in your ear. "Incidentally, by being late on the first day, you've volunteered to be our next test subject."
"...y-you mean just for the workday, right?" you stammer. "You can't keep me longer than that..."
"Sure we can; read your contract. Depending on what we need, you might be turned back, but if you are, you'll be the volunteer after next as well."
The idea of permanently becoming a balloon lands on your shoulders like a heap of bricks. "So that girl...?"
"Some girl who was turned on by the idea. Very few workers have little enough common sense to show up late on their first day. Enjoy your remaining humanity, dear."
The thought hangs over your head the rest of the day, as you find yourself helping the lab techs to test the newly minted balloon on various metrics. As you leave, you find a familiar face standing by the door.
"Christy?"