Lauren didn’t touch the Doll for the rest of the weekend. It remained sitting in the box undisturbed until Monday. Lauren didn’t really feel keen on testing it further after her first experience and she didn’t want to work on the weekend.



Ben’s thoughts and feelings hadn’t subsided by the time Monday came around. Every time he went upstairs he looked towards the closed office door and imagined the Doll sitting there. He even noticed himself hyper fixating on Lauren’s appearance and movements. She seemed to notice the extra attention but not why he was giving it.



The door to Lauren’s office opened, causing Ben to jump. As she walked out with her laptop bag and case with a folder. He then looked at her and noticed that she was in her body and not the Doll.



“I’m heading to work,” Lauren said, not noticing she had startled him.



“I thought you were trialing the Doll, so you’re not taking that?” Ben was confused. He also had a mental image of how Lauren used to look with her hair tied up in a bun before she had it cut short.



“It’s for personal use,” Lauren was a little hurt that Ben was expecting the Doll but reassured herself that he wasn’t fully aware of its purpose. “Besides, no one has tested long range Dolls without signal boosters before. It’ll work here and at work but on the drive there, it’s either going to cut out or have latency issues.”



“Oh, okay. I’ll see you after work then. Normal time?” He asked as he gave her a light hug and kiss on the cheek.



“I might be home earlier, there’s still a few things I need to test out with the Doll,” Lauren returned the embrace as best she could while leaning into the kiss. “See you after work.” She then went downstairs and left.



Ben watched Lauren leave then turned back to her office. He looked around as if he was somehow going to get caught and opened the door. He had never entered without permission before but the temptation was too great.



As Ben entered the room it looked no different that Friday, except the neurolink had been put in its place on the neurochair. Ben sat on the chair and laid back, it was extremely comfortable and he could lay in it all day, which was the intended purpose. He grabbed the neurolink and looked at it, it had adjustable straps and he could easily make it fit. He placed it on his head and laid back, closing his eyes.



Ben’s heart raced as he felt excitement stir him. He imagined himself looking in front of a mirror with Lauren’s face looking back at him, though he wasn't wearing glasses and her hair was long and vibrant red. He just sat there in the chair for the longest time, with the word on the tip of his tongue, all he had to do was say the word and he’d be her, at least a version of her.



Before Ben said the words though he opened his eyes and looked over at the Doll, who was still sitting in her box unmoved. If he tried it now Lauren would notice, and he wouldn’t know how to explain why he did it. He wasn’t sure himself, he’d never thought about being a woman besides the hypothetical what would you do. Though this was artificial and temporary, so why not try it?



Ben sighed as he took off the neurolink and got off the chair, he wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there contemplating activating the Doll. He wasn’t even sure if it would recognize his command. He walked over to the Doll and bent down beside it and gave it a hard look. It looked so life-like that it was unnerving that it had kept its eyes open when Lauren had been ejected for security reasons.



The Doll also felt real when Ben touched it. He was careful not to move it but he wanted to know what it felt like. It was like touching skin, if it was on a cold winter day. The Doll’s hair felt soft and silky as he ran his fingers through it. He wasn’t sure what it’d feel like piloting it but on the outside he liked how it looked and felt.



Ben spent all day obsessing over the Doll only taking a break for lunch. He had only just finished when he went back upstairs, when he heard Lauren come in. He looked at her office and realized he had left the door open, so he quickly shut it and entered the bathroom, only to step out as Lauren got upstairs.



“You’re home earlier than expected,” Ben greeted Lauren as she came upstairs and entered her office.



“Yeah they sent me home for lunch to test some more things with the Doll,” Lauren explained as she walked past him and opened the door to her office. She was still in work mode so didn’t engage with Ben.



Lauren climbed in the chair, and put on the neurolink. Ben was glad that the the straps on the neurolink were elastic and that he had gotten out of the chair a lot earlier, otherwise Lauren might’ve noticed that he had been on it. “Activate.”



The Doll blinked rapidly, as Lauren began piloting it, to clean out her eyes. She had received a lecture about leaving it in emergency ejection mode instead of shutting it down properly. Though even after one session, the data was promising. She gave herself another quick inspection, finding the Doll as uncomfortable as the day before. She tried not to focus on that as she stood up and took her first steps in the Doll.



Lauren felt extremely out of sorts as she walked, to familiarize herself with the Doll’s body. Her body felt stiff at first but quickly adjusted. She was still naked as she forgot to bring in some clothes for the Doll, so it was easy to tell that she wasn’t quite human. She looked down at her belly, which was flatter, as the Doll was made to be the perfect weight. All she had was her belly button, her birthmark and scars were all gone.



Everything about this body reminded Lauren that it wasn’t her, especially when she was asleep on the neurochair. She stood up and wiped the hair out of her face, she didn’t miss having it this long. She took a few steps towards her body and felt even weirder, watching herself from an outside perspective. She carefully reached to touch her hand but recoiled when she felt the shock of the security system.



Lauren wanted out of the Doll as soon as possible but she had a job to do and needed to test a few more features. Fortunately for her, that’s why she came home sooner than expected as she could feel her hunger as well as the need to go to the toilet.



“Lauren Smith, ID299935, standby” She said as she froze, closing her eyes.



Going into standby was way more pleasant than the emergency ejection. It was still disorientating though, as Lauren found herself going from one part of the room to the other and found herself laying down rather than standing. The experience left herself without her appetite but she still needed to go to the bathroom. She didn’t even give the Doll a second thought as she got up and left the room.



Even though Ben was curious about the stuff Lauren was doing, he still made himself scarce and so was downstairs catching up on a few shows. He was surprised to see Lauren come down, half way through the second episode he was watching as herself instead of the Doll.



“I thought you were working,” Ben asked.



“I am, the Doll can’t eat for me, so I’m testing going into standby mode for short breaks,” Lauren said as she joined Ben on the couch and cuddled up to him.



“But you’re not doing anything?” He was confused but embraced her anyway.



“Not hungry…” Lauren stated as she rested against him.



Ben decided not to ruin the moment and just sat there as Lauren laid against him. This was out of character for her to ignore work, but it wasn’t his place to say and it felt rather nice. Instead he let her lay there in peace and figured he’d address whatever was going on later.