Samus Aran picked up the transmission while her ship was on autopilot. She fed the coordinates into the navigation system, then fed herself as she went over the details.

The message seemed paradoxical. It originated from a civilian-class research vessel, but claimed the subject of the scientific endeavor was classified; no member contributing to their piece of the work knew the overall goal. It was a low grade signal, meaning no death or imminent threat to life, yet the narrative spoke of people exhibiting delusions after experiencing "clear physical alteration."

Samus performed a scan of the ship from a close distance. Yet another Schrodinger's fact emerged from the extracted data. There was a surplus of complex life on the spacecraft, numbering in the dozens, yet neurological activity returned a result of 3. She never had a scan that didn't match exactly.

"Research vessel DVI-422, can you read me? I received your distress signal. Over."

Her comms lit up in moments. A feminine voice emerged from her console. Her tone suggested she was grounded and focused. Her words soon made it clear that she must be disconnected from reality.

"Hello, visitor. We are glad you came. I'm Megan Crowley, and my colleagues and I could use support, but we can't agree on what we each need support with. I hope you can talk some sense into the other researchers."

"Are any of you in danger? Are the life support systems compromised?"

"The craft is operating at 100% efficiency. And no, no one is in danger. But the people here have been...changed. We need someone from the outside to set us straight on what these changes have been. I mean, Dr. Bradford is using his hands to crawl around the facility and screams at us when we tell him he used to walk like we do! Can you come aboard and help us?"

Samus felt danger here. Too many variables didn't add up. Alien planets, their lifeforms, and even the dreaded Space Pirates added up to a definable threat that she could assess and execute a plan of action around. This was different. She did not have enough answers, and the ones she did have produced too many questions.

"I'm on approach. Accept my craft's docking request."

Samus looked over her shoulder to her Varia suit and dismissed it. Not only would the full armor be overkill, it would actively hinder relating to other humans. They needed to see her as a person, not a bounty hunter. She left her zero suit helmet behind for the same reason, but still picked up her service pistol on her way to the airlock. If something was on board harming the crew, she needed to be prepared.

Her ship's autopilot guided itself to the vessel. She felt her craft shudder as the airlocks latched together. Her command console confirmed an airtight connection. "Alright, I'm heading in. Do you have map data of your vessel so I can reach your location?"

"Certainly. Give me a moment...to...ugh, send it." Samus heard something clatter. "Damn it, now I need to pick that up. Sorry, you can download it from the terminal at the airlock."

"Copy that. Is everything okay?" Samus was walking with her left hand to her ear. A communicator in her gloved hand relayed the transmission her ship recieved. She opened her ship's airlock door, stepped into the vessel's airlock, and shut the hull of her ship closed again. Air compressors fired to stabilize the pressure in the small box between spacecraft. "Megan, are you-"

"Fine, I'm fine! My console is hard to operate with my feet. I knocked a few things over, but you should have the map at the terminal now."

Samus furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes. "You...used your feet?"

The airlock door for the ship opened as slow as the jaw of a predator trying not to disturb its hapless prey. As Samus located the terminal in the well-lit short hallway, Megan responded.

"Well, I would use arms if I had any, but I don't have arms! Not all of us do you know! I only have this pair of gloved hands that I knocked on the floor a moment ago, not that they can do me any good curling up like they are. Useless!"

The bewildered bounty hunter downloaded the map while attempting to keep her voice even and her thoughts straight. "Ms. Crowley, did Dr. Bradford used to have legs?"

"Yes! He walked around the facility from place to place like the rest of us before these changes started happening. Then one day he went to change out of his sterile suit and came back without his lower half. He doesn't even think he changed!"

Samus opened the palm of her right hand in front of her. A 3D hologram map of the carrier lit up above it. Megan's location, research labs, living quarters, storage, and more were labeled. But her feet were frozen in place. She was certain she knew something about Megan that she didn't.

"The distress message I received, was that from you?"

"Of course! Communication is one of my major roles on the ship."

"The message wasn't a voice recording. Did you type it?"

Megan was silent for a few seconds. "I - yes, I did."

(She could barely send the map with her feet, there's a pair of living gloved hands that were on her console, she was in charge of communications, she doesn't know voice commands even without arms...)

Samus could feel her heart beating in her chest. Her brain was trying to pull apart from handling the details while keeping Megan from confronting her like Dr. Bradford lashed out at her. Megan didn't know those hands were hers, or that she recently had arms. However, attempting to prove those points to her would not just be useless; they would be actively destructive to her only source of information for this investigation.

"I would like to meet your crewmates and interview them. Where should I go?"

"Well, most of them are in their rooms, but they won't be too great at answering your questions. I'd try the research lab. Dr. Bradford or his assistant Delilah should be there."

Samus shuddered - a feeling she had all but forgotten. She studied the map, memorized the path to both the lab and Megan's location, and closed her hand. The hologram vanished. "Copy. I'm en route."

(The ones in their rooms can't answer questions...why is that? I'm not sure I want to know.)

She wouldn't have a choice in knowledge. After a shortcut through a storage room, Samus turned the last corner. She was twenty feet from the research lab door. But many answers - the neurological / life-scan mismatch, the inability of the many roomed crewmembers to answer questions, what changes were happening and where - those answers were revealed by one partial person standing between Samus and the door. One look was all it took.

From the bottom, everything was natural. Black flats, thick dark pantyhose, and a lengthy black skirt covered the woman's lower half. Her top half was mostly normal. A tight blue turtleneck sweater gripped her torso, defining the obvious size difference between her bust and her narrow waist. A lanyard hung around the neck of the turtleneck; the badge attached said "Delilah Frost" and had a picture of a stunning brunette woman.

Samus did eventually see these details. None of them were earlier than third of things she saw. The second detail was the ends of her arms; not only did she not have hands, but her sweater was sealed at the end of the sleeves over her stumps.

The first thing she noticed about Delilah was that she was headless. The shining face in the picture on Delilah's badge was nowhere in sight. Her turtleneck seemed like there was still a neck inside of it, but the top of the cylinder was a flat disk of cloth instead of a hole. Samus stood in utter shock for a full ten seconds while answers clicked into place.

Decapitated Delilah did not realize she was being watched as she used the wall to find a computer. She tried one last time to operate the console to open the door to the lab. She stabbed her arm stump into the button to activate the scanner, then stood with her back straight in front of it like she always did. After the usual couple of seconds (where the scanner sent a laser through the open air her lost head was missing from), she turned towards the door. She wavered a bit, wondering why she couldn't keep her balance today, wondering why the door still wasn't open, not realizing she didn't have retinas for the lock to scan anymore.

"Megan...I found Delilah."

Delilah stamped her foot. She turned fully around and crossed her arms under her chest. The tapping of her foot jiggling her breasts would be almost comical if not for the circumstances.

"Did she actually answer your questions or did Ms. Frost give you the cold shoulder?"

Samus wanted to laugh. Of course her shoulders are cold, she's got no head to keep them warm, ha ha ha. It was a manic, insane thought. She took a deep breath at the same unintentional time as Delilah.

"She answered my questions by being unable to say a word. She's right in front of me but-"

"Ah, she lost her head too? Good! She's the one person who deserved it if you ask me."

She looked over to see Delilah walking right at her with a full confident stride. Samus sidestepped her and watched her walk the short distance from the door to the hallway and smack right into the wall. Delilah staggered backwards. She turned the direction Samus had come from and continued walking at a brisk pace, arms still swaying at her sides. Samus stepped far enough to see her bump her shoulder against the side wall, lose her direction, and walk into the same wall again. This time she rotated as she fell down.

(This can't be real. What kind of place is this?)

Samus looked down at her hands and clenched them, then opened them again. She was here. This was happening. Then she noticed how her body was covered from the boots all the way to her neck in a full body suit. She looked up and made slow steps, closing the gap on Delilah as they got back to their feet.

(She has everything that's fully clothed. Pantyhose on her legs, long-sleeve sweater...)

"Megan, what are the people in their rooms typically wearing?"

"That's a bit of a private question that I don't really know the answer to."

"Its important. I think it's key to understanding this whole mess. The only parts of Delilah not covered in clothes..."

She trailed off. Delilah was back to bouncing off the walls. She lost her hands because she wasn't wearing gloves when...whatever it was happened to her. Her head had to be exposed as well, decapitating her in the process. Samus looked back down at herself and realized that her head was the only exposed part of her body.

"Hello? Visitor? You were saying something?"

(Megan lost her arms in her command center. Dr. Bradford had terrible timing and got hit midway through taking off his sterile suit pants-first. Who knows how many people each got affected while in their rooms, and Delilah even got struck in the hallway. So that means...)

"What happens throughout the whole ship?"

"...Im not sure I know what you mean."

Samus was running down the hallway. She turned the corner, leaving the overconfident Delilah behind to briskly strut the wrong direction down the hallway.

"What processes take place across the whole vessel? Is there anything you can think of that happens in every room and hallway of this spacecraft?"

Samus turned another corner and found herself in the storage room again. She had to get off of this ship to protect herself. She opened her hand to look at the map and plan the path to her ship.

"Well, there's the air ventilation system. There's also the artificial gravity mechanics. Those are common to all ships, though."

Samus made her way through the boxes to the door she needed to pass through. She pressed the button to open the door.

[PLEASE WAIT. SANITATION IN PROGRESS]

"Sanitation? Megan?"

"Oh, that's funny timing. That's happens to be a system in place in the whole spacecraft. It just cleans bacteria with some lasers. It ran in my command center about 15 minutes before you got here, and I'm still the same, so you don't have to worry about that."

(No no no that is exactly what to worry about it took your arms it took her HEAD I need to-)

Mechanical whirring riddled the air and stopped just as suddenly. Samus saw blue laser beams point down from the ceiling. She unholstered her sidearm as she pressed the door control again.

[PLEASE WAIT. SANITATION IN PROGRESS]

Samus, eyes wide, moved to aim her gun at the door control. As she did, the blue lasers instantly fanned and criss-crossed each other, canvassing the entirety of the storage room in a split second. By the time her arm was parallel with the floor, her head had been vaporized. The sanitation system effortlessly beheaded Samus Aran.

She stood still for a moment, certain she had wanted to escape the sanitation lasers now that she knew they were the cause of the deformities. But why? Samus thought she had to protect her head, but that was nonsense; she never had one of those! Her entire body was coated in her zero suit, from the bottom of her feet to the top of her shoulders. She raised her firearm and stepped back. She needed to communicate her findings to Megan.

Samus turned away from the door and walked. In two steps her leg smacked a box she couldn't see, causing her to fall. She lost her grip on her pistol; it banged on the ground and slid away.

"Visitor? What am I hearing? Hello?" The left glove speaker announced to no one.

Samus attempted to roll to her feet, something her morph ball capabilities had made easy for her, even outside of the Varia suit. Yet she couldn't quite tell when her body was balanced over the floor. Her leg went sideways as she waved her arms, eventually balancing on one foot and one knee.

(Sure must be easy for people with heads to do this every time. Not like I would know. I did have the hang of that, though...)

She raised her left hand above her shoulder, mimicking where it was when she was talking with Megan before losing her head. She remained there for several moments. Samus was sure she was doing everything right.

(Damn, why isn't this working? Did my communicator break in the fall? I was just using this!)

Samus put her hands on the ground and planted both feet flat. She gripped the back of her thighs to keep her balance, then leaned up until she was standing upright once more.

(Looks like I need to tell her the truth about the lasers in person. I just need to check my map again.)

She opened her right hand palm up, knowing that's how she accessed the map less than a minute ago. She remembered the communication room was close to the lab, but the hologram above her hand was as invisible as everything else to Samus now.

(Damn it all! Those lasers must have disabled my suit's electronics. That's fine. The craft is small, it can't possibly take me long to find it once I pass the research lab.)

The beheaded bounty hunter stumbled forward. Her arms wavered to keep her balance. Her intuition was correct but her timing was not; she walked directly into the shut doorway she had entered the room from.

(Ow! This is embarrassing! I've navigated entire worlds like this, but now I can't leave a room?)

Samus rubbed her chest where she slammed into the door. As the sanitation lasers stopped and receded, she cupped her breasts. They reminded her about Delilah.

(At least she had a head once. Must have been nice before her head got erased. Now she's headless like me.)

She felt for the door again. She found the switch to open it and pressed it. She didn't see or hear the door open for her. A quick reach told her the door was open. She dropped her hands to her sides, walked through the door with a turn right, and began brazenly walking blind back towards the lab.

Much like Delilah, she refused to raise her hands in front of her or use walls as a guide; she never had to before. Samus repeatedly bumped her shoulders, causing her to stumble sideways and wave her arms to stay upright. Her headless hunt for Megan had her bash into walls, fall over multiple times, and even lay on her back writhing on the ground in frustration.

(What the fuck is going on?! I've already been down these hallways without a single problem! Maybe if I could see like people with heads could, then-)

A sudden kick to her ribs snapped her out of her thoughts. It was followed by another foot hitting her side, a moment of nothingness, then a sudden weight slamming on Samus.

Delilah had been cruising down the same hallway, oblivious to the newly decapitated woman lying in her path. She struck her by accident, stumbled over her, managed to pinwheel her arms to lean back too far, and fell backwards. Her back landed squarely on Samus' chest.

Samus quickly grabbed whatever fell on her and felt cloth. It was someone moving on her. Her hands canvased the person, soon finding familiar features; two very large breasts and a headless neck stump, covered in a sealed cloth turtleneck sweater.

(God damn it Delilah, I don't have time for this.)

Samus tried to move out from under Delilah. Delilah rotated onto her stomach across Samus, pinning her belly to belly. Samus attempted to push her off, not realizing Delilah was attempting to get into a crawling position to get up. Delilah fell onto Samus' hips and got frustrated. She intentionally turned herself to straddle Samus, then smacked Samus' in the ribs and chest with her handless wrists.

(You dumb headless - ugh, no wonder Megan was glad you lost your head!)

Samus, essentially unhurt by the assault, still tried to push Delilah off. Her hands sunk fully into each of Delilah's breasts. She shoved continuously, but she was unable to lean up to put more force into it. Several seconds passed before she realized Delilah had stopped assaulting her. Her arm stumps were rubbing the back of Samus' hands as they were effectively massaging Delilah's chest.

(Oh no, that's-this isn't what-Im not trying to-)

But Samus didn't move her hands away. Delilah leaned forward into the pressure. Samus felt the end of Delilah's arm push between her thighs and-

(Oh wow that feels but I didn't want-the mission, Megan, I have to but this feels but)

Samus gripped harder and squirmed under Delilah. Both beheaded bombshells were unaware of how much more sensations of touch were influencing them, and how much harder those feelings would be to resist when touch is the only sense a headless person has.

--------------------

"Hey boss, come look at this."

"Is it that important?"

"Its DVI-422. That Delilah girl you had an eye on and some attempted rescuer are going at it."

"Really? Alright. Oh damn, both of 'em?"

"Yup. Looks like the lasers took both of their heads. Those things are exceeding expectations if you ask me."

"A perfect non-violent restraint technology. They don't even know there's something they should be fighting back against."

"Judging by how these girls are holding each other, there might be huge cash in this for the public sector, too. How many people you think would want a headless hottie like one of them, huh?"

"Its not permanent, you know."

"Exactly! Well, as long as you give them their stuff back, it isn't. But it would be kinda messed up to keep 'em that way forever. By the way, when are we resetting DVI-422?"

"That blue suit girl is an outside variable that accelerated the timetable. We weren't expecting them to send out a distress signal and lure someone else in. Let's get a crew down there, get everyone back in one piece, and get Megan into the office. If we want to run long term effect tests, we can't have communications calling for outside interference. We need her in the know moving forward."

"Gotcha. I'll assemble a crew in a minute. That Delilah girl sure knows how to use her stump, huh?"

"Stop being a perv and get your crew together."

"Alright boss, you got it. (I know you're just doing this to watch Delilah for yourself, but that's fine. You'll watch me handle her in person.)"