Kelly shivered with cold as she staggered into her office building on the morning of December 27. She kicked the snow off her worn-out boots, wiped the fog off her glasses, and looked around. The office seemed eerily silent, and many of the lights were still off. Most of the employees who could were taking vacation; others had called off to avoid the snow and ice. Kelly didn't have enough seniority to get out of work either way, so she trudged the empty aisles to her cubicle.

Sitting down in her chair, Kelly pulled off her wet boots and put them aside. Slush had gotten inside, so she also pulled off her wet socks and lay them over a vent to dry. Then, tucking her bare feet under her to keep them warm, she fired up her computer and girded herself for a lonely day at the office.

It was going to be a slow day; Kelly knew that going in. Not just her coworkers but most of the clients were also on holiday vacation. So she hadn't bothered to sleep well and hazily looked through her email and task checklist. She browsed the business news for information about the latest tax code changes would affect the clients and started drawing up a list of recommendations tailored by their investment and risk preferences--basic stuff. She yawned and checked her email again. "COMPLIANCE 2017", read the subject line. Oh, right, this must have slipped her mind. To get technically in line with the innumerable regulations, each employee had to go through a series of trainings and sign off that they promised not to insider trade or embezzle or bribe the wrong people. This one must have slipped her mind. Stretching, she clicked the MANDATORY - ACTION REQUIRED link in the email.

The link brought up on her computer a familiar training interface, a slide deck with talking-head video interspersed. Boredom overwhelmed her, her eyes glazing over, as soon as she saw it. She put her headphones on and began clicking through the videos and quizzes. Regulatory compliance, legal compliance, international compliance. It was as boring as ever and Kelly found her attention drifting away to hazy dreamlike thoughts. Eventually hunger roused Kelly slightly. This one is longer than usual, she thought. _At least it's keeping me busy through this slow day._ She often went out for lunch, but had packed today to avoid having to drive through the snow; so she pulled out her lunch and ate it at her desk. Her usual work friends weren't online to chat with; only a few co-workers walked quietly by. So after a short break of eating and checking the news, she shrugged and clicked back to the compliance training materials.

The afternoon was more of the same. Every so often the compliance training broke off into a mini quiz, ostensibly to make sure the information had gotten through. Kelly smiled faintly to herself. She aced the quizzes despite having no specific recall of the material; these trainings were a joke, the questions were easy, it was the simplest thing to figure out what the compliance people wanted. She thought the end was coming soon when she noticed the sky begin to darken. Too early to go home in the dead of winter, but it meant the day was drawing to a close.

A few minutes later an email arrived--the first one all day. To her surprise the sender was Kenneth Stayley--the company's CFO. The message was short and cryptic. "Kelly - you have been selected for an important special assignment. Please report to conference room 202 immediately for more information." The email was a shock; Kenneth was #2 at the company and had never even spoken to Kelly. Still, he didn't seem upset or angry, and his corner office was just down a couple of hallways from her desk Rousing from her chair in what seemed to be the first time all day, Kelly reached for her socks. To her dismay, they were stiff, crusted in crystallized salt from the roads. Grimacing, she headed down the hallway in her bare feet. Nobody seemed to be still around to notice.

Kelly arrived at room 202 to find the door open and the man waiting--lean, middle-aged in a sharp, dark wool suit. He beckoned her into his office, and she stepped inside. He regarded her clinically for a moment and smiled faintly. "Yes, you'll do nicely. Thank you for coming, Kelly." He was standing up, and he was tall enough that she had to raise her head to meet his eyes. At a small conference table, a middle-aged woman sat working on a laptop--some kind of technician, from the look of her smock and gloves. She nodded at Kelly then went back to her computer, while Kenneth continued. "Kelly, would you say that you understand the importance of _compliance_?" He emphasized the word.

"Yes, of course," she responded. "I'm just finishing up the last training before I head home today, it's going smooth."

"So you understand your responsibility in doing what's necessary for the success of the company?"

"Yes," Kelly responded immediately.

"Very good," Kenneth continued, nodding at the technician. Let me explain your assignment to you. We have an opportunity to attract a major investor, one whose funds could fund our operations and growth for a decade." His voice grew excited. "If we can demonstrate the loyalty and dedication of our staff--their willingness to go to any means necessary--we can get both more money and better terms. Your job, Kelly, is to demonstrate how willing you are to help the company succeed."

He paused a moment, then proceeded with well-rehearsed confidence. "To this end, you will allow yourself to be transformed into a statue and placed on display. This will provide a vivid, immediate demonstration of our ability to get employees to go to any length."

Kelly wiggled her toes nervously, but otherwise seemed to take the news in stride. "Transformed? What do you mean?"

"Susan here" -- he indicated the technician in the room -- "will handle the transformation. She'll using a nanotech molecular conversion device." The woman unlatched a large pelican case and removed a heavy, squat electronic box with a conspicuous emitter on one end. She plugged it in and it began to hum almost inaudibly. "By the way, you'll be paid your full salary while transformed. The state Department of Labor has been very clear on this point." Kenneth rolled his eyes.

Kelly nodded acceptingly. "Okay, I see, that machine's going to turn me into a statue. How long will I stay that way?"

"As long as necessary, of course, but we expect the investor to have made their decision by the end of January. Unless they have a special request, that probably means four or five weeks."

"Okay--well, I guess I'm ready to become a barefoot statue for display. Can you keep my stuff safe while I'm transformed?"

"Of course. We'll put your things in my personal safe." He indicated a large, heavy steel safe in the corner. "We'll also secure your desk and car. Oh, and one more thing. For the biggest demonstration of your willingness to comply, we also need you to be nude. Susan, can you please close the door to give us some privacy?"

Susan stood to close the door. Once she did, Kelly obediently pulled off her still-slightly-damp jeans. She then squirmed out of her sweater, and pulled off the T-shirt underneath it as well, revealing purple-and-black underwear. She walked with those clothes over to the safe, dropping them along with her phone and keys. Then, with only the faintest hesitation, she unfastened and dropped her bra, revealing petite but shapely breasts she was proud of, and stepped out of her panties. Kelly reached up to her hair, but Susan spoke for the first time, in the clinical tones of a nurse. "You can leave your hair tie, glasses, earrings. Those become part of the statue. Now step up there on this box." Susan took a corrugated plastic box from the corner and placed it in the middle of the floor.

Shivering slightly from the room-temperature air on her naked body, Kelly stood on the box Susan had indicated--around six inches high and several feet square, it resembled a low pedestal. Kenneth regarded Kelly again. "Very good. Completely open and willing to be on display, and they'll appreciate our aesthetic choices as well. We don't want to seem prurient, though, so can you please hand Kelly a cloth?" Susan produced a long piece of thin white fabric from a bag. She handed it to Kelly, motioning for her to position the fabric so it mostly covered her breasts, then draped down to block the view of her crotch. "Excellent, and that gives us a very nice, classical pose as well."

"All right," said Kelly from up on the stand. "It's chilly being naked, so the sooner you can please turn me to stone, the less I'll be freezing."

Kenneth and Susan exchanged approving nodes; then Susan flipped a series of switches on the molecular conversion device. As Kelly stood perfectly still, it emitted a thin horizontal green line that scanned up and down her body. Soon Kelly's flesh began to glow softly, faint luminescent particles swirling in a cloud all around her. Kelly felt herself both warming up and becoming slightly numb, vision blurred by the light emanating from her own body. Experimentally, she tried to move her arms, but found her nerves already unresponsive. The light seemed to grow and grow, washing out all other sensation...

In the room, Kenneth and Susan saw the light dim. Kelly's bare flesh had been transformed into smooth gray stone; the plastic box and fabric sheet had been transformed as well, so Kelly was standing on a stone pedestal, modestly covering herself with a flimsy scrap of cloth-shaped stone that was part of the sculpture. Even her hair tie and jewelry were changed to part of the statue--only the lenses of her glasses were unaffected.

"This went really well", Kenneth remarked, "I'm glad she took so well to the compliance training. And the transformation proceeded without any hitches." He walked slowly around the statue of Kelly, examining it closely. He turned to address Susan. "Let's leave her here for tonight--we'll need a team to get her moved to the lobby for display. Help me collect her stuff and keep it safe. After being so willing to help the company" -- he gave a sly wink -- "she deserves to have that all ready to go when she's done being a statue. I'll get someone to wash these clothes for her, maybe buy her some new socks." As he and Susan left and closed the conference room door, he turned out the light, leaving the statue of Kelly standing all alone--naked, but for now, exposed only to the darkness.