Jen fell asleep quickly, she had no idea what time it was but was exhausted from the whole experience. When she awoke she found herself lying in a warm comfortable bed, Downing was sitting in a chair across the room from her reading a book and the sun was just rising… or setting.
“What time is it?” she said groggily.
“About half 6,” he paused, “in the evening”
“You mean I slept all day?!” Jen became aware of the fact she was still naked, and ensured she held the cover to protect her modesty as she sat up. There was silence as neither said anything; Downing put his book on the dresser as Jen noticed that she was still wearing the shoes.
“Actually I’d like to get out of these shoes…”
“Of course” Downing responded, handing her a pair of scissors, which she used to cut the straps with some difficulty. When they were off she gave a victorious sigh and threw them across the room, flexing her toes experimentally.
“You must be wondering what’s going on” Downing started. Jen nodded enthusiastically, for some reason she trusted Downing, he’d both kidnapped and saved her.
“Well I went over the case that started all of this, looking for any flaw, any legal mistake that would mean the ruling would be invalid. At first I couldn’t find any, there weren’t any incorrect procedures or mistakes, both you and the court were very thorough.” Jen’s face fell a little, but he continued and she listened intently.
“So I looked at the ruling itself, when B-W-S applied for a rights change you were classified ‘office equipment’ not ‘industrial machinery’, now that’s not interesting in itself, but when you look at cases involving the theft of office equipment a precedent was set that means the defendant can only be chased for the stolen items or equivalent funds. In your case the company acquired you for nothing, and to my knowledge have never had you valued, which means that unless they find you there are no legal repercussions of me stealing you.”
Jen squealed and jumped out of the bed to hug the man, he’d saved her from a nightmare. During the embrace she remembered her nudity and awkwardly returned to the bed.
“But Jen I need to ask you a question, and this is very important, because if the answers yes then this may not be good enough, did B-W-S at any point get you valued as a company asset?”
Jen sat in shock, she didn’t know, she’d only been living this life for a day and had no idea why in this reality everything was the way it was. “I…I can’t remember” she said honestly.
Suddenly there was a knock on the front door, it echoed ominously through the house.
“That’s probably the police, they’ve figured out it was me; don’t worry they won’t have a warrant so they won’t find you if you stay here, I’ll go and get rid of them.” With that Downing left the room, Jen lay in the bed for several minutes, terrified, as she heard the door open…