Dr. Sook's cell phone rang. "Hello, I'm in the middle - no I understand. Just a minute," he looked up from
the phone and said, "Gentlemen, I need to take this call. It's all pretty straight forward, my assistant Ricky
Chee can supervise your flattening. Please line up and we'll get started." He walked to the door, "Mr. Chee,
come in here please. You know how this works. Flatten and stack these test subjects and put them into the
transport tube. I have to talk to the Regents. Ah, Sheriff, Mr. Chee will handle the processing of the test
subjects. I'll be back shortly." He turned back into the room, and introduced Mr. Chee, a young short Chinese
grad student with glasses. "This is Mr. Chee, do what he tells you."
"Mind if I supervise?" asked the sheriff pushing his way into the room.
"Not at all, sheriff, but I really must take this call," Sook said stepping out of the room. He could be
heard in a trailing voice say, "Yes, Mr. Carsden, I would be happy to explain - no I am sorry to keep you
waiting, I was in the middle-"
"Okay, you're closest to the machine, uh?" he looked at the clipboard, "Name?"
"Muldoon, Reggie Muldoon," the bearded guy answered, "I'm kind of curious to see what it's like to get paper
thin, so I'll go first."
"Right then, hop into the machine," Ricky said.
He proceeded to flatten and stack 3 men.
"Uh, Ricky, this is taking quite a while. Wouldn't it be simpler if you put 2 or 3 guys in the machine and
flattened them at once?"
"I'm not sure. Doctor Sook never said anything about doing more than one at a time," Ricky said, "But I don't
see why not."
He checked off Tony Capone pushing him into the machine. The Italian American from New Jersey almost decked
Chee, but looked at the sheriff, and simply gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Steve was shoved in
naked with Tony. He bumped into Tony, and said, "Sorry." Which seemed to save him from Tony's fists.
"Now we'll just..." Chee started to say.
"There's room for one more. Come on Griggs!" the sheriff said grabbing a big hairy prisoner who had sat in the
corner and was playing with his hard cock.
Steve yelped, as he felt the guy's erect dick hit his butt cheek, but the hairy guy pulled the sheriff in with
him. The door chamber sealed.
"Get me out!" shouted the clothed sheriff as sparks leapt from his shield, gun, belt buckle and zipper.
"Sorry, I had already started it with the two in there, and once started it cannot be interrupted. Uh,you
really shouldn't have metal in there. The machine is compensating for the additional mass, and the metal. I
need to get Dr. Sook."
He ran out of the room.
"Damn, I'll just shoot the lock off!" shouted the sheriff as he pulled his gun. His reaction time was already
slowing down.
He pulled the trigger with his last volition. The gun went off. The machine exploded with a surge of energy.
Steve gasped as Tony and the prisoner called Griggs flattened bodies slammed against his. Presumably the
sheriff was also flattened against Griggs backside. Steve's entire body tingled. He could feel himself being
hefted up.
"What happened?" Dr. Sook demanded. The fire alarm was ringing and the sprinklers were spraying.
"The sheriff got in the machine with 3 other test subjects," Chee explained looking confused at the
devastation.
"The sheriff tried to shoot his way out and the machine blew up," explained Clyde one of the non-prisoner
volunteers. "And I'm quitting this experiment. It's not worth it. Those 4 guys are fused together."
"What you took them out of the machine!" Dr Sook was furious. "As long as they were in the machine it was
reversible."
"Look, if they were still in there, they'd be ashes. Now you're the brilliant scientist, figure out how to
reverse it."
"Is that them? Stop playing with them!" the doctor shouted.
Four of the remaining test subjects had taken the flattened foursome and had stretched them out like a
blanket. The sheriff's twisted flattened gun was visible along with his bent gold shield. They stuck out ever
so slightly from the flattened flesh.
"Alright, they're still alive, that's what counts. Maybe if we let them go back to normal, they will separate
on their own," said Dr. Sook wiping his forehead. "At least I hope they do."
They set the foursome across a row of seats. The doctor paced a bit. Then he looked up and said, "Say I
thought there were at least six unprocessed test subjects left?"
"There were. Four of the prisoners must have decided to escape," Clyde said.
"Chee, call the sheri- uh, wait."
"Don't you see this let's you off the hook. The prisoners tried to escape. The sheriff fired his gun. The
machine blew up and they were flattened," Chee suggested.
"Works for me, as long as I get paid for the study what you promised me," said Clyde.
The doctor shook his head. He sat down and put his head in his hands, and sighed.
"Dr. Sook?"
"Now what, Chee?"
"Well, the four won't change back if something is on them right?"
"That's right?"
"Then do you really think you should be sitting on them, sir?"
"What! Oh! Get out of here, Chee, call the sheriff's office tell them the sheriff is incapacitated and 4
prisoners have escaped. Tell them the names if you know them. We'll sort out the details of how it happened
later."
Chee left.
Sook sat down again. Then he jumped with a start, and looked at his butt imprint on the sheriff's mid section.
"Sorry, gentlemen, I forgot." He sighed, "Oh, what will I tell the regents."