The party was set for that evening, and 18 year old Polly Andrews had everything she needed for the party, the invitation, the date, everything a healthy girl needed for the biggest party of the season. Except, of course, for one little detail.
She didn't have an outfit!
It wasn't that her closet wasn't full of clothes, dresses and skirts and pantsuits and other outfits bought by her indulgent parents. But either none of them quite looked 'right', or else they had all been seen at other social occasions. She figured she'd probably end up wearing the red skirt and top, but somehow she wasn't quite satisfied. Then it occurred, to her, maybe she could borrow something from her older sister Kelli.
Kelli Andrews was 23 years old. A grad student in engineering and physics, she was also about Polly's size, and had good taste in clothes. Since she was home from the university on vacation, she might as well ask.
Polly knocked on Kelli's door, but nobody answered. The light was on under the door, and her nosy nature got the better of her. Polly pushed the door open a crack, to see Kelli bent over her desk, tinking with some bit of electronics. Polly heard the door squeak, and Kelli looked up, saw her little sister, and grinned. "Hi, squirt! Did you just knock?"
"Yeah, but you didn't say anything, and I thought maybe you were asleep!"
Kelli yawned and stretched, and twisted her head to massage her neck. "Pretty soon, I might have been," the older blond girl admitted, running a hand through her shoulder-length hair. "I'm about beat."
Polly sighed. She had always envied her older sister's golden blond locks, since she felt that her own red hair was garish. Her boyfriends and other friends and parents all insisted that it wasn't, but Polly still thought it unglamorous. "Well, what's so important that you were up all night working on it?" Polly asked, forgetting her own question in her nosy curiosity. The desktop of her sister's old oak desk was covered in chips, wires, and little devices that Polly thought might be some kind of batteries.
"How'd you know I was up all night?" Kelli asked, turning around in her chair to face her younger sister.
"Oh, come on! I heard you in here, and I heard the sound of your gizmos running! You've been actng all mysterious for days, ever since you came home for your vacation, and I'll bet it has something to do with whatever that is your building!"
"Well, I'm really just putting the finishing touches on it," Kelli said. "It's been ready in a crude form for weeks."
"But what is it?!" Polly demanded, knowing her big sister enjoyed teasing her, making her wait for the answer.
But Polly also knew that Kelli was dying to tell her, to show off whatever it was she had created. Thus, it didn't come as a huge shock when Kelli reached over to her desk, and picked up a tiny device, and held it up to the light. Polly Andrews blinked.
"A ring?!" Polly said dubiously, raising one eyebrow at her sister. "You've spend weeks perfecting a ring?"
It was indeed a ring. It was designed to fit on the ring finger (odd coincidence, that), and it looked like someone had crossed a diamond ring with a computer motherboard. There was a clear 'gem' in the center of the face, and a dial of sorts set around the gem.
"Yep," Kelli grinned, "a ring. But not just any ring. This device, squirt, can be used to transform a human being into any inanimate object the wearer wants!"
Polly stared at Kelli for a minute. Her big sister didn't seem feverish, and she looked as if she were in full possession of her faculties. On the other hand, that gleam in her eye...
"Ah, sis...you've not been getting much sleep lately, I know, so maybe if—"
"You don't believe me, do you squirt?"
"Well...no, of course I don't!"
"Well," Kelli grinned, "let me see if I can prove it to you!"
With that, Kelli put the ring on. She made a fist, and pointed the face of the ring at Polly, and the gem glowed suddenly, a brilliant, lovely blue. Polly has just enough time to realize that the gem was pretty, and then her viewpoint changed.
Suddenly, the room looked... funny. To her shock, Polly realized that she could see the entire room, a 360 degree sphere, and hear everything with perfect clarity, too!
Her perspective was funny, though! Kelli seemed to have grown somehow, and it was then that Polly saw her sister reach for her, and to her nervous horror, she saw that Kelli's hand was as big as she was!
She felt herself carried over to a mirror, and there, in the mirror, she saw Kelli holding a... Barbie doll?!
"Told ya!" Kelli said. "Squirt, how does it feel to be a toy doll?"
Polly was stunned. Kelli had been right, she could change a human being into an object!
"Don't worry, kid, it's not permanent," Kelli said reassuringly. She set the doll on the floor, pointed the ring at her again, and the blue glow shone for a moment. Then Polly found herself back to normal, her senses ordinary, sitting on the floor where a doll had been a moment before!
"Oh, wow!" Polly breathed, unsure of whether to be angry, scared, amazed, excited, or all of the above!
They talked for about an hour, and Kelli explained her new device.
"It can really turn anyone into... anything?" Polly asked in wonder.
"Well, not quite," Kelli admitted. "It has to be a single object, not a bunch of separate pieces, and it has to be simple. If I tried to turn you into, say, a calculator, it wouldn't work. I'd get an object that looked like a calculator, but it wouldn't function.
"And, too," Kelli continued, "the Transmoder can only adjust mass so far. I can make you a lot smaller, but only somewhat bigger. I couldn't turn you into a car, for example."
"Could you turn a person into an animal?"
"Nope, sorry. The Transmoder works by-" and Kelli went into a run of words like electron valences, phase shifts, and the like, that left Polly's head spinning. Realizing this, her sister broke off and said, "Sorry, I forgot not everyone is into this stuff the way I am."
Kelli sat down on her bed and continued, "There's a special kind of... energy that human beings generate, that let's me turn them into objects and back again. Only humans have it. Animals don't. And it has to be strong enough, too. The Transmoder won't work on kids, for example. Their energy hasn't grown strong enough yet. You'd have to be in your teens before it would work."
"What would happen if something happened to you as an object?" Polly breathed. "Suppose you had dropped me when I was a doll, and limb came off or something?!"
Kelli grinned. "A little side-effect of the process! A human in object form is absolutely indestructable!"
"You're joking!"
"You say that a lot, sis. Nope. For example, look at these!"
Kelli lifted her right leg, to reveal that she was wearing dark stockings under her dress.
"You don't mean—!" Polly exclaimed, as she realized what Kelli meant.
"Yep!" Kelli grinned wickedly. "My pantyhose are also my part-time roommate at college! I couldn't make these things run with a knife! I've not found anything that can hurt a human when he or she is in object-form!"
"How did you get her to agree?" Polly asked.
"Who asked?" Kelli grinned back. "I just did it on a whim! She'll be fine. I can adjust the Transmoder so that a victim is either conscious or not. I set my roommie up so she'd be totally mindless until I turn her to human again!"
"You are so nasty, Kelli!"
"Thanks, squirt!"
Polly fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Can I try it?" Kelli grinned again, and said, "Polly, do you think I don't know you're planning to use this on me the moment you get your hot little hands on it?"
Polly blushed at how easily her big sister had seen through her.
Kelli laughed. "You and me are two of a kind, kid. But I don't mind. In fact, I've been planning to let you use this on me since I got home."
"Huh?" Polly asked in surprise. Of all the things her big sister could have said, that was probably the last thing Polly had expected.
"I've been needing to get some data on the other end of it," the older blonde girl said. "On top of that, this thing needs a good workout, and I think you're the perfect choice to field test it. You've got an even nastier mind than I do, so I'm sure you'll think of lots of ways to test it."
A slow grin spread over Polly's face.
"When can we start?" the younger girl asked.
"No time like the present," Kelli said with a shrug. She took the ring off, and handed it to Polly, who slipped it onto her own ring finger, rather nervously.
"All you have to do," Kelli explained, "is point the ring's gem at whoever you want to transform, and imagine the result. The computer will read your thoughts and finish the job. Twist the knob on the face. Set it to A, and the subject will be like you were as a doll, awake and aware of his or her surroundings, but unable to move or act, since he or she will be inanimate.
"Set the dial to Z, and the target will be as mindless as any other object until you turn him or her back. It'll automatically store the clothes and other personal effects of the target in hyperspace until you turn him or her back."
"How long does it last?!" Polly asked eagerly, looking at her new toy in excitement.
"Until you turn them back!"
Polly made a fist, the way Kelli showed her, and pointed the ring at its creator.
"Hmmm," Polly mused aloud, "what should I turn you into?"
"Well, how about you turn me in—"
Kelli abruptly fell silent. Polly had not waited for her big sister's suggestion. Instead, she had decided to try something simple, and a blink of thought and a flash of blue light later, it was done.
The Transmoder had worked flawlessly, turning its creator into a perfect statue of solid chrome! The Transmoder had done as Kelli had said, zapping away Kelli's clothes, tools, and glasses into wherever, leaving a perfect nude metal statue of her big sister!
"Wow!" Polly breathed to herself softly in the ensuing silence.
Polly Andrews stood there for a long time, gazing at the metal statue that had been her older sister a few minutes earlier. Kelli had been standing in front of her at the moment the Transmoder worked its magic, and now she was poised there, one hand in the air, one on her hip, looking far more lifelike than any statue Polly had ever seen.
Unable to resist a closer look, Polly examined the statue from head to toe, giggling as she examined some bits her sister usually kept covered. Even her fingernails and toenails were perfectly formed, impossibly realistic.
"Wow," she said again. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"
She glanced at the Transmoder, and saw that it was set to Z. That meant that Kelli was mindless. Polly giggled at the thought. Her big sister's genius had created the tool to make her mindless!
Oh well, Polly mused, the question now was what to do with the ring first. Then she remembered why she had come to her sister's room in the first place: she needed an outfit for the party!
Well, she thought, a slow, nasty smile on her face, she had a houseful of family members, a Transmoder ring, and hours before the party. Her outfit problems might just be over!
She looked at Kelli, raised the Transmoder, and concentrated, and a moment later, the lovely nude statue was gone, replaced by a black dress, with an off-the-shoulder strap that left the other shoulder bare, and a hemline that would come just above her knee.
The dress appeared in mid-air and started to fall, but she caught the magical garment, and changed into it on the spot. She looked at herself in the mirror, and grinned. She looked good, the black dress going with with her complexion and hair.
"Even my copper mess looks good with this dress!" she said aloud. Knowing that she was literally wearing her big sister made it that much more exciting and fun!
She giggled. A nice outfit needed more than a dress, though! With that, she left her sister's room, and headed for the chamber where her dweeby brothers shared a room.
Polly entered her brothers' room through the open door, and saw that her 14 year old brother Alex was lying face down on the bed, reading one of his boring sports magazines.
Alex looked up as his sister entered the room, and blinked. She was dressed in a formal-looking off-shoulder black dress, but she was barefoot and had no jewelry or other accourtrements to go with the dress. For that matter, the teenager realized, he didn't remember ever seeing her in that dress before anyway.
"Hi, sis," Alex said, looking up in a bored way from his magazine, since he didn't really care about her dress or where she got it anyway. Still, he asked, "What's with the dress? You planning to go that dance tonight in just the dress?"
Polly giggled, and Alex noticed that she had had her hands clasped behind her back ever since she came into the room.
His curiosity piqued, Alex jumped to his feet, and asked, "OK, let's see what's behind your back!"
"You wanna see what I've got?" Polly asked teasingly.
Alex grabbed for her, but she was faster, and ducked aside. Alex was a couple of inches taller than Polly, but not yet a whole lot stronger. She dodged him a couple more times.
"Come on, sis, you're hiding something! Let me see!"
"You absolutely sure, dweeb-brain?"
"Just show me!" he snapped, making another failed attenpt to catch her arm.
"You asked for it!" she giggled, and suddenly her hands appeared from behind her back. He saw that she was wearing a weird-looking ring, kind of clunky looking with a white stone. She had made a fist of the hand the ring was on.
"How do you like my new ring?" she asked, holding her fist up.
"It's ugly," Alex said, and then he noticed that the ring had some kind of dial on the face of it.
"Actually," Polly giggled, "I think this ring is really beautiful! Especially when I do THIS!"
Alex caught the look in his sister's eye and knew he was about to be the victim of something, probably one of her big-sister style practical jokes, but instead, the gem on the ring glowed an icy-blue color, and an instant later, Alex Andrews was gone, replaced by... a belt.
Giggling with delight, Polly picked up the beautiful turquoise and silver dress-belt that had been her little brother a few seconds before.
Holding up the belt, she said, "You know, dweeb, you're almost pretty this way! Too bad I have to change you back eventually!"
Polly slipped the belt on, drawing the dress into a nice fit around her figure, and went to look in Alex's mirror.
"Hmmm," she mused. "Not bad. Not bad at all! How, let's see, what can I do about some pantyhose...?"
Polly left the room her brothers shared, since no other victims were at hand, and headed downstairs, still planning out her perfect outfit. She debated turning on the minds of her brother and sister, and decided against it.
Not just yet, she thought, enjoying the power. It was heady, knowing she could switch the very minds of her big sister and younger brother on and off, even as she literally wore them!
She rounded the corner of the stairs at the bottom, and came face to face with her 16 year old sister Lisa. Reacting fast, Polly pointed the ring, and before Lisa could so much as blink, she was gone. In her place on the floor was a pair of smoky pantyhose!
"Well, that'll teach you to watch where you're going, sis!" Polly laughed aloud. She reached down and picked up the pantyhose, and ducked into a closet for a moment to slip them on.
"Well," Polly mused, as she emerged from the closet to gaze down at herself, "my outfit is taking shape! Now, I can't go to the party in my stockinged feet, so I need a pair of new shoes."
Polly was still thinking about shoes, as she fixed herself a quick glass of lemonade. As she drank it, she looked down at the Transmuter on her finger and mentally thanked her mindlessly transformed sister for the invention.
She was sipping the lemonade, as she walked into the living room, and there, to her delight, she saw her shoe problem solved. Her parents were sitting on the sofa, and the TV was on some sappy old movie from the seventies. Some dude on the screen with an Afro the size of a sea sponge was talking, but her parents were not paying attention.
In fact, her parents were sound asleep!
Oh, she thought, this is too good to be true! I must have done something right in my life lately!
She walked around to the front of the sofa, and looked down at her Mom and Dad. Her father had copper-red hair, the same color as hers, and he was a handsome 44 years old. Her mother, on the other hand, had golden locks with just a few tiny strands of gray, and was still a stunner at 45.
Polly had never been able to decide whether she was more jealous of her older sister Kelli, with her brains and slender form and pretty face, or her mother, with her voluptuous figure and model-lovely features.
Either way, though, she had to admit that her parents looked almost cute on the sofa, her Mom's head on her Dad's shoulder, both sound asleep.
Moving softly so as not to awaken them, Polly stood in front of the sofa, her stockinged feet making almost no sound on the carpet, and she took in the cute sight for a moment, before making a fist, and pointing the Transmutor.
Decisions, she thought, decisions. What kind of shoes?
Then she grinned, and the ring glowed...
Polly Andrews pointed the Transmutor at her mother first, and concentrated. This was a bit tricky, since it was hard to picture it just right, but then the blue light blazed out, and her mother vanished.
Her father started to stir, almost awakened by the hum of the Transmutor and the glow of the beam, to say nothing of the fact that the weight of his wife was suddenly gone from his shoulder, but before he could get his eyes open, he too was gone.
Where before two middle-aged parents had dozed on a sofa, now two matched high-heeled leather formal dress shoes with gold trim sat side by side!
"Oh, wow!" Polly breathed! "They're gorgeous! They look even better than I thought they would!"
Polly reached out, and slipped her mother onto her left foot, and her father on her right. This was her little joke, since her mother was left handed.
She stood up, and wiggled her feet a bit. Mom and Dad were the most comfortable shoes she had ever worn! She broke into giggles again, at the sheer joy of power at the thought that her whole outfit was actually her transformed family. On top of that, she realized, they weren't going to change back until she decided it was good and time!
They didn't even know it! Unless she decided to permit it, none of them could even think!
When the fit of giggles died down, she sighed, and then thought about her remaining two family members. She had no intention of letting them off, but the question was: what to turn them into? Her outfit was mostly complete, but it could use a few accessories...
She grinned, and went in search of her brother Tom.
Polly Andrews was on cloud nine. With the use of her big sister's wonderful Transmutor, she had transformed most of her immediate family into a simply darling outfit for the party later that day.
Now, though, she still had two relatives left, her brothers Tom, 15, and Sean, 19. Sean, she knew, was out in the back yard changing the oil on his car, so since he was a known quantity, she decided she would be wise to track down Tom first.
It took her a bit to find him. In fact, it took long enough that she began to wonder if he knew what she was up to and was hiding out. But after a while, she did indeed find her redhead brother, busily absorbed in his favorite computer game.
She crept up behind him, but the click of her shoe heels on the hard floor of the game room caused him to realize she was there.
"Hi, sis!" Tom said, looking up at Polly. "Wanna join me for a round of Super Nuclear Bloodbath Mega Doom Death Rally 9000?"
In fact, Polly was an avid computer gamer, the only one in the family who could give Tom a run for his money, but just then, she had other games in mind.
"Maybe later, Tommy," she said. "For now, though, I need to know if you'd do me a favor if I asked."
"Sure," he shrugged. "What do you-"
A flash of blue light from the Transmutor, and her brother was instantly transformed from a 15-year old skinny teenager into... a bra! It was silky black lace, and she was sure it would feel wonderful under her dress.
"Well," Polly giggled, holding up the bra and speaking to it, "you did say you'd do me a favor if I asked, so why should I waste time asking?"
She still had the Transmutor set to mind-off, so there was no way her brother could understand her, but that was OK. It was the work of a moment to get the bra on, and then she had one member of her immediate family left to deal with. Grinning, she glanced down at the Transmutor ring, and began pondering possibilities.
And then there was one, Polly Andrews thought to herself with a delighted and just slightly wicked laugh. Her19 year old brother Sean was last on the list, but not least.
As she had suspected, she found him in the back yard, under his car. He had the car, a Thunderbird from the sixties, jacked up, and he was carefully changing the oil. That old antique car was definitely his baby.
"Hi, Sean," she called out cheerily, and he mumbled something from under the car. He tended to get that way when he was working on his baby, totally absorbed.
"Sean," Polly asked conversationally, as she sat down beside where his legs stuck out, "do you ever wonder what it would feel like to be something besides what you are?"
"Uh huh," Sean said absently, "sure."
Polly grinned. He wasn't paying the slightest attention to what she was saying.
"Really?" she asked. "Like what?"
"Oh, an eagle, maybe," Sean said, as he adjusted the pan to catch the draining oil from the crank case. "I always wondered what it would be like to be able to fly."
Oh, wow, an eagle, Polly thought. Big deal.
"How about something else?" she inquired sweetly. "Ever wonder what it would feel like to be, say, a hood ornament on a car?"
"Nope," Sean answered. Polly sighed. Of all her family, Sean was the most down to earth, but that also meant he had the least imagination.
"Sean," she said severely, "you're no fun!"
With that, she pointed the Transmutor at his legs, and concentrated, and the blue light from the ring swirled around her big brother, and he vanished into a blur of light.
A moment later, the blur of light was replaced by... a 14 carat gold ankle chain, complete with tiny heart-shaped diamond sets.
"Wow, my big, strong, manly brother sure makes a cute piece of jewelry!" Polly said aloud.
She picked up the chain, and snapped it neatly around her slender ankle, and her outfit was complete. It was smart-looking, extremely comfortable, and consisted entirely, from her shoes to her underwear to her dress, of her own transformed family!
Polly Andrews, dressed to the nines, strolled back into the house, taking her time. After all, she had the place to herself, and it wasn't as if there was anybody around to complain if she lazed around a bit.
She broke into giggles again, delighting in the sensation of absolute power. After all, she was wearing her family, having reduced them to nothing more than articles of clothing, and she liked the feeling immensely.
She strolled upstairs to her sister Kelli's room, and sat down at the desk, where a few hours earlier Kelli had put the last adjustments on the device before handing it over to Polly. Polly had wasted little time in using the device on its creator, but she had no doubt Kelli was expecting that anyway.
Glancing back at the desk, she saw a lot of notes and notebooks full of math she could barely understand, all probably relating to the Transmutor. Then she saw a sheet of paper with her name on it and a drawn arrow pointing to the words.
Sure enough, it was a note from Kelli to her!
The note read:
--"Dear Polly,
You little brat! (LOL!) If you're reading this note, that means you used the Transmutor on me before I could finish telling you everything, and you've got my mind turned off! I kind of figured you might do just that, so I left this for you, so you'd know what you need to know!
"Remember I told you how to turn people's minds on and off? Well, notice the inner dial? That let's you set a time, just in case you want to use the ring on yourself for some reason. If you don't set a time when you use in yourself, it'll automatically turn you back to normal in one day.
"By the way, when the target's mind is turned on, you can communicate telepathically with them while you're wearing the Transmutor! But it's entirely up to the wearer, and you can silence the target at any time whether his or her mind is on or off.
"You can also use the Transmutor on several people at once, but you have to turn them all into the same thing, and you have to be standing far enough back to get a good wide angle on them.
"So, have fun!
"Love, Kelli Ann. Talk to you when you turn me back on!"--
Well, that could be useful to know, Polly thought to herself with a really nasty grin. She thought about all her friends at the party, and started breathing a bit harder as she pondered all the things she could do!
On a whim, she reset the Transmutor mind-dial to A, and pointed it at her dress. The gem glowed soft red, and then she sensed a difference. She couldn't quite tell how she knew, but she knew, that Kelli was awake!
"Hi, sis," Polly said to her dress, feeling a bit silly.
--into a, ah, what...oh. Hi, Polly,-- her sister's telepathic voice came back, sounding amused. --I see you used my new invention!--
"Yes," Polly grinned. "How does it feel to be a dress, Kelli?"
--Weird, scary, and fun!-- Kelli said. --I notice you're wearing a lot of new clothes. I take it that our family is pretty well nothing but your fashion accessories now?--
"You take it right! But you're the only one who has her mind on. For the moment, at least," Polly added with a malicious smirk.
--How about-- but Polly cut Kelli off. She touched a button on the ring, the way the note had said, and Kelli lost the power to speak, though her mind was still on.
"Kelli, that is so much fun! It's like I've got you on my own little set of puppet strings!"
Then she turned her sister's voice back on.
--Very funny, brat!--
"Yeah, I thought so too! How does it feel to be completely at the mercy of your own invention, Kelli?"
--To tell you the truth, part of me is nervous, and part of me--
Kelli fell silent, as Polly turned her voice off again. Then, deciding to go further, she twisted the knob back and switched Kelli back off.
"WOW!" she squealed, shivering from the feeling of power, "I may not turn any of them back for a long, long time!"
Polly, hearing a car pull up outside, went to the front door to see her best friend Shawna parked in the driveway. Since she and Shawna were both currently 'between boyfriends' as they liked to put it, they had decided to go to the party together.
Polly ran downstairs, and out to the car, where the plump brunette was waiting.
"Hi, Polly!" Shawna enthused. Shawna was rarely in a down mood, and it was usually infectious.
"Hi, Shawnie," Polly answered, as she got into the car, a 1998 Grand Am, on the passenger side. "Ready for the big party?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Shawna said with a rueful grin. Both girls were a bit nervous, since their ex-boyfriends would be there with their new ladies. "Let's get going!"
As they pulled away from the curve, Polly studied her best friend out of the corner of her eye. A nice looking girl, a bit plump, with brown hair and color-contacts that changed her normally brown eyes to blue.
Polly suddenly realized that Shawna was saying something, and that she had missed it.
"What? Sorry, Shawnie, I wasn't listening!"
"Oh, that's flattering! What I said was, what did you parents say when you told them you were going to be out so late tonight, Polly?"
Polly laughed a little wickedly, glancing at the new shoes on her feet.
"Let's just say they won't be complaining," Polly giggled.
"What's up with you tonight, Polly?" Shawna asked, as they drove through downtown, past the Wal-Mart and up the road toward the high school they had both so recently graduated from.
"What do you mean?" Polly asked.
"There's something funny in the way you're acting," Shawna responded. "I don't know what, though!"
Polly was torn. Part of her wanted to tell Shawna, but she wasn't sure if she should.
Oh, well, she thought, might as well tell her, she's gonna find out anyway...
"Well, you're right, something is up," Polly confessed. "It all started when Kelli showed me something she's been working on..."
"Polly, that's insane!" Shawna exclaimed, after the redhead finished explaining, just as they pulled into the front drive of the home where the party was already going on.
"That's what I thought at first, too!" Polly grinned back, unbothered by her friend's worry and disbelief. "And here's what happened to me!"
Polly pointed the Transmutor at Shawna, and concentrated, and in a flash of blue light, the pretty brunette was transformed into a compact mirror!
"I needed to check my makeup anyway!" Polly explained to the mirror. Polly had set the Transmutor to leave Shawna's mind on, so she knew the girl could hear.
"Now don't panic, hon!" Polly urged. "This is just to prove my point, and as soon as I check out my warpaint, I'll change you back!"
Polly examined her face in the mirror, and was satisfied that she would pass inspection, even if Elroy was at the party!
Getting out of the car, she set the mirror on the ground, pointed the ring at it, and a flash of light restored Shawn Thompson to human, sitting sprawled awkwardly on the ground!
"YAHHAH!" Shawna yelped!
"Told ya!" Polly smirked at her startled friend.
"Yeah," Shawna admitted, after getting her breath, "and I'm sorry I didn't believe you! I can't believe that thing actually works!"
"It not only works," Polly said with a naughty grin, as she helped Shawna to her feet, "it works like a dream! This outfit I'm wearing?"
"What about it?" Shawna asked nervously, but with an interested gleam in her eye.
"It's all people!"
"You're kidding!"
"Nope. The shoes are Mom and Dad, the dress is Kelli, my bra and ankle-band are my brothers, and I turned Lisa into a pair of pantyhose!"
"Oh, that is so incredible!" Shawna breathed, her face flushed and her eyes bright.
"Can I touch it?" Shawna asked, pointing at the dress.
"Don't you mean, 'touch her'?" Polly giggled. Then she said, "Sure!"
Shawna reached out, and ran her fingers across the material of the transformed Kelli.
"So soft, so perfect!" Polly heard her friend breathe out in a near whisper.
"Yeah, it is! And you should feel good these shoes feel!" Polly said.
"Can I try it out?" Shawna asked.
Polly burst out laughing, remember her earlier conversation with Kelli. Unlike Kelli, though, Polly had no intention of letting the Transmutor go, or at least not yet!
"Yeah, right," Polly said. "I loan this to you for just one minute and I'll spend the rest of the night as your corsage! Forget it! No way! Nope! Not a chance!"
"I guess I should have known better," Shawna admitted with a grin. "But can we at least use it on some other people tonight?"
"Calm down, Shawnie! You're starting to worry me! Yeah, we'll use it, all right!"
The two girls went into the living room of the Monrow house, where more than thirty people were already present. The party had spread all over the house, and more people were arriving. The host and hostess were Todd and Nora Monrow, a pair of 19 year old college students whose parents had gone out of town for the weekend, leaving the house free for your basic college bash. Of course, Polly knew that Todd and Nora had not exactly bothered with the little detail of asking permission first!
As Shawnie and Polly entered the house, an enthusiastic girl ran up and threw her arms around them!
"Hi!" Nora Monrow, their tall, statuesque 19 year old hostess said, hugging each of her friends in turn! "So glad you could make it!"
"Are you kidding?!" Polly said with a wicked grin, "I wouldn't miss this party for anything!"
"Me either!" Shawna added.
The music was pumping, and Polly had fun for quite a while, dancing the evening away. It was fun knowing that there was no reason she had to hurry home, nobody to set a curfew or complain about the hours she was keeping.
After about an hour or so, though, a familiar itch began to nag at Polly, that old "you're being watched" feeling between her shoulder blades. Turning her head back over her shoulder for a quick look, she saw Elroy Johnson, the human male who until recently had passed for her boyfriend.
Elroy Johnson, handsome as ever, former high school football star and current second string for the college team, with a good chance of rising to quarterback again before his senior year. He was 6'3" of muscle and tan, and if his brain power was not quite up to the level of his muscle power, he still was fun to be with.
Unfortunately, Polly mused sourly, she wasn't the only girl who thought that way. One such was now hanging on Elroy's arm, a prissy little thing by the name of Charlotte, 5'3" of bouncy airhead with a chest size larger than her IQ.
About six months before, Polly had walked in on Elroy and Charlotte in a compromising position, and she had not been happy. In fact, she had been so not happy about that that she had dumped him, expecting him in turn to dump Charlotte and come crawling back.
Unfortunately, Elroy appeared to be too stupid to understand his assigned role in the scenario, Polly mused sourly. As she glared across the room at Elroy the Idiot and Giggles the Cheerleader, she became aware of the weight of a heavy ring on her finger, and a slow, nasty grin spread across her pretty face.
Cheat on me, will you? she mused. We'll see who gets the last laugh!
Polly retreated to the snack bar, to ponder how she could use her new toy in her well-earned revenge, and to quench her thirst. As she did, she dropped one of the glasses, which hit the floor and cracked the plastic.
"Oh, damn!" she said aloud.
"What's wrong?" Marcie Cordell, a friend of hers from school, asked. "You look like you're ready to blow a gasket, Polly!"
"Oh, nothing!" Polly snapped.
"Can I help?"
Polly grinned, and said, "Well, maybe. Want to?"
"Sure! What are friends for?"
"This?" Polly suggested with a grin, as she pointed the Transmoder and thought hard. The beam flashed out in a blue haze, and the pretty 20 year old vanished, replaced by a less destructable and more attractive glass, this one made of pure crystal set with tiny jewels. Polly was sure everyone would think them fake, but in fact the gems were real diamonds.
Picking up the drinking glass that had just been her friend, Polly whispered, "Thanks!" Then, with a grin, she pointed the ring and switched on Marcie's mind, and turned on the telepathic switch, so she could communicate.
What have you done to me?!!! came the silent voice of Marcie in Polly's head.
Turned you into a drinking glass, what else? Polly answered reasonably. "After all, I broke my other one.
But, but I- but this is...
Relax! Polly ordered. It's temporary, I'll turn you back later!
HOW DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!
Polly sighed, and once more went over the explanation of her sister's invention. By the time she finished, Marcie was calmer, not that she had any way to do anything about her situation anyway.
Here Polly offered. I'll let you speak with Kelli, while I focus on my useless ex boyfriend!
It took a moment to get the settings right, and then the voice of Kelli emerged into their minds, saying -wait a minute! I-You bitchy little brat! You did it again!
Yep Polly answered, getting the hand of answering with her mind, and there's not one single little thing you can do about it, so there!
This is your fault the voice of Marcie the glass came through, though she sounded less hysterical and more amused now. This is ALL your fault !
Well , Kelli said abashedly, maybe not ALL my fault. Mom helped too .
"Huh?" Polly said aloud, startled by her sister's mental words. A couple of people turned to see why Polly had spoken suddenly, but she smiled and waved them off.
What do you mean, Mom helped? Polly demanded.
Well, you know Mom is just as good if not better than I am at engineering .
Sure, but what does that have to do with it? YOU invented the Transmoder, didn't you?
Sure Kelli answered, sounding remarkably self-assured for a dress, but Mom knew I was working on the idea. I asked her to help me work the bugs out, and she agreed on the condition that I never use it on her.
And you didn't, Polly said, suddenly understanding another reason why her big sister had handed over the ring so peacefully. You let ME do it, so you kept your promise! You KNEW I couldn't resist using it on Mom and Dad!
You mean you used it on your parents too, Marcie broke in, amazed. I can't believe you had the nerve!
Oh, it was easy! Have a look at my folks! Polly said, stepping back and forth to give the drinking glass a good look at the shoes on her feet!
Oh, I wish I could use it on my Dad! Marcie exclaimed! He's got it coming big time!
Maybe, just maybe, Polly assured the glass. But not just yet.
Hmmm... Mom isn't dumb, Polly thought to herself, not to her sister and friend. She had to know Kelli would take that promise as a challenge, but she went ahead and helped build it anyway... I wonder...
Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw Elroy and Bubbles approaching.
Interesting to think about what could come next...