A Trust Machines Story

by grapehyacinth

 “Nathan! Hurry up! The whole support group is waiting for you!”

Marsha, Nathan's ex-assistant, woke the retired magician from his slumber. He had fallen asleep on the broken-down couch in the community center's back office.

“Well,” he retorted, “they'll have to wait a bit longer. An ex-magician needs his rest.”

Marsha frowned. “Don't give me your usual crap now, Nathan. You're already late! I told my boss you're going to be awesome, not late.”

“So?” he stumbled off the couch and ran his hands through his graying hair. “Hell, what I'd do for some whiskey right now...”

The harried woman grabbed his arm and shook it. “I can't afford to be fired! It took a lot to get a job with Support Services after being a magician's assistant!”

“Hey, cut it out!” Nathan pulled his arm away in annoyance. “Damn, I don't know why I took this job.”

“Because you said you needed a new career. Also because you think the Venn Machines destroyed your livelihood and you're waging a war against them.”

“Hardly a war. But anyone who gets hooked on turning into forks and...turkeys definitely needs help. And I'm the one to snap them out of it.”

Marsha studied him with worry. “Just make sure you stick to the guidelines. Don't be nasty. These people are just looking for help.”

“Those guidelines are ridiculous.”

“Then why'd you take the courses to do this?”

“Because you suggested it, and I need to make a living, and, well, hell, I had nothing better to do!”

Sighing, Marsha guided the surly magician into a large room. It was circled with chairs, most of which were inhabited by relatively ordinary-looking people of all ages. Two empty chairs sat at the head of the circle, where Marsha and Nathan sat down.

After several moments, Marsha stood back up. “I think it's time we start. Welcome, everyone!” She clasped her hands together. “Good to see you all today. I'd like to introduce one of our new leaders.” She placed her hand on the magician's shoulder, making him cringe very slightly.

“This is Nathan. Let's give him a warm welcome!”

“Hello, Nathan!” the group responded woodenly.

“Scintillating group,” Nathan mumbled under his breath.

Marsha continued as if he hadn't spoken. “Nathan is new to our whole organization. He's a retired magician who dislikes Venn Machines immensely, so he's the perfect man for this job. Nathan?”

Marsha sat down, and Nathan pulled his chair forward. He cleared his throat. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi!”

Nathan looked to Marsha for reassurance, and she smiled at him. He tapped his foot on the floor, then looked back up. “So I'm here to help you all. No judgments, all transformations are fair game. You can tell me, well, the group, everything.” He glanced over the crowd, his eyebrows furrowing. “Now I hear we have some real hard nuts to crack here.”

“Nathan...” Marsha said through clenched teeth. “We're all accepting of–”

Somewhere to Nathan's right, a small voice protested, “But I like being nuts.”

A general titter rose up from the group, which was soon stifled by Marsha's hard glare. “We all know the rules here,” she stressed. “We're not here to judge. Now Jason, please continue.”

A short man with frizzy red hair made a half-wave at Nathan. “So I like to be nuts. Well, not that kind of nut, um, not crazy-nuts either, just...”

Nathan shook his head. “Uh, just spit it out, Mr. ...”

“His name is Jason!” Marsha hissed. “I just told you!”

“Yes, Jason. What are you talking about?”

“Well,” the man gulped. “I like to be nuts. Walnuts are my favorite.”

Nathan coughed as Marsha nudged him to continue. “What is so exciting about turning yourself into a nut? I mean, seriously, you just sit there.”

“Do you like to be eaten?” piped up one woman. “I'm Mona, by the way,” she said towards Nathan. “And this is my husband Rob.”

“Hi Rob,” Nathan said without taking his eyes off of Jason.

“Do I like being eaten? Well,” Jason reddened, “it's not just why I do it. It's the whole experience. I mean, first, you're reduced to this small, hard, round object, but you know you're soft and tasty on the inside.”

Several members nodded their heads, murmuring their agreement.

Jason was encouraged by this, and he continued more animatedly. “It's so nice to be something everyone loves. Someone picks up that nutcracker, and the excitement of knowing they're going to snap you open...”

Nathan cut in, “Sounds kind of gruesome.”

“Oh! It's not! It's like a burst of...” He blushed. “Ah, that 'crack' is great. Your whole shell radiates open.”

“Radiates? Mm-mm,” Nathan said with hardly-concealed derision.

“Then there are you are, all exposed and helpless, your tasty insides displayed to the world... They start to scoop you out, there's that first crunch as they sink their teeth into your softness... Everyone says I'm delicious as a nut. Plus, nuts are full of healthy omega-3s. I love it. I just love it.”

“When you turn back, whoever ate you loses those healthy omega-3s,” Nathan pointed out.

“Still.”

“Ever go to the VennCafe?” asked Mona.

“Nope.”

“That's the restaurant where all the food is people.”

“I've heard of it.”

“I do it all the time with Rob.” She smiled at the man beaming beside her, and he made a small wave. “They could cook you into banana nut bread, or whip you into nut butter...”

“Nut butter! I'd love that! They could spread me on toast...”

Nathan cleared his throat. “Who's next?”

A tall, very thin woman stood up. “My name is Wanda, and I like to be meat.”

“Hi Wanda.”

“Meat?” Nathan's mouth fell open. “Like, beef or chicken?”

“God, usually beef. It makes me feel so...beefy.”

Silence.

“For the love of God, why?” Nathan finally burst out.

“Why? Do you know what it's like to stew in your own juices? It's amazing!”

“That's disgusting!”

“Ever try it?”

“Well...no,” Nathan said in a small voice.

“Then don't judge,” she said, nodding at Marsha, who smiled encouragingly.

“Do they...kill you?” Nathan ventured.

“Na, I tried the whole cow to table thing. Didn't enjoy the slaughter part. I just turn into a side of beef and someone cooks me up. But the feeling of being cooked, my juices bubbling all around me, soaking into me and making me soft and moist... It's such a joy to know that I'm becoming more and more delicious with every moment.”

“Yes,” Nathan stuttered. “Yes, okay...next?”

“I'm Patricia, and I like to be birds.”

Nathan folded his arms across his chest and sat back in his chair. “Well that's the first thing today that I can understand!”

“...of prey.”

Nathan gulped, looking to Marsha for help.

“Tell us why, Patricia.”

The woman gazed at her feet. “It started simply enough. I turned into harmless birds. I just went through my bird book. Then one day I turned into a hawk for a month. It all went downhill from there.”

“Why?”

“Well, you know what hawks eat!”

“Yes.”

“They kill stuff and eat it.”

“You eat meat as a human, don't you?”

“Yes.”

“So?”

“Well...” Her mouth fell open. “But I love to do it! I love the kill! Those poor little mice have no chance against me when I'm a raptor.”

“Perfect!” Nathan exclaimed. “Come to my house. I have a huge problem with voles. They're all yours.”

“What's your address?” The woman cried in excitement. “I'm going to be an eagle tomorrow night.”

“Focus on my perennials by the side door. Whole nest of the little buggers there.”

The group blinked at each other for a moment. “Poor babies,” one woman said sadly.

“Marsha, is it appropriate for a leader to encourage something like that?” asked another group member.

Before Marsha could respond, Nathan asked, “Whether she eats a cow as a human or a vole as a bird, is it really different? It's not like she's killing for sport.”

“What if the vole is a person?”

“You can't die if you're venned.”

“But it's still horrible.”

“Don't be a vole in her neighborhood, that's all.”

“I'm Joe. I like being objects for my wife.”

“Well, that's very romantic,” Nathan responded, beginning to appear bored.

“Sometimes they're pointless.”

“Like?” A spark of interest took hold.

“I turned into a hangar last week.”

“Well, that's actually useful. She can hang up clothes on you.”

“Um, I was a barbeque brush last month.”

“Also useful. Probably feels good too.”

“Sure did. Um, I was a hose nozzle.”

“Still useful. What's so bad about all of this? I'm sure it's pretty common.”

The man now was starting to look desperate. “I was a bird feeder when the squirrels broke the old one.”

“Hmm...well, still helpful. I bet Patricia over there would eat from you.”

“She's a raptor. Not a seed-eater,” Mona called out.

Nathan rolled his eyes. “What's the problem with this, Joe? You're not saying.”

“My wife misses me when I'm other stuff.”

“Then turn into stuff together.”

“But I like her using me.”

Marsha jumped in. “Then you need to take turns. That's often the answer in many of these Venn issues.”

“She only likes to be natural things. Rocks, trees, plants – things outside in nature. Then I miss her.”

“Plan things out ahead of time. She needs time to be stuff, but perhaps she can do it inside so she's still with you. Have her try being a houseplant, a potted tree, or, heck, she can turn into a boulder and sit in your bedroom with you. Or, devise things to do together. I change with my husband – like last night we became ice cream and milk and were blended together to be a shake. Then sometimes we alternate – he gets a change, then I get a change. I often like being some kind of container and having him become something inside me. Like, a can of food, or...oh, any kind of food that's filled. Like I was a donut and he was the jelly filling...stuff like that. Let me tell you, they take a bite of me, some of him squirts out...”

“Damn, Marsha,” Nathan groaned.

She blushed. “Okay, too much info.”

But everyone else only looked intrigued. “Go on! Please!”

“Oh, you guys should really try that one. Or, VennCafe makes you into these amazing cream puffs...”

“I thought you were supposed to discourage Venn Machines,” Nathan said icily.

“No, hardly! I just want people to know that there's nothing wrong with using them, and no change is bad if you enjoy it.”

“Then why'd you ask me to do this? I want them abolished!”

“Oh, please, Nathan. You've used them too. And they are so beneficial. I had a college professor come to me who wanted to be turned into a log and left to rot. He said it would be for a study, but he wanted someone to tell him it wasn't weird. I said it was a great idea, and he did it for a whole year. And he loved it. He said 'decaying was the most restful thing I've done in my life' and he published a whole research paper on it. The machines are totally beneficial!”

“Beneficial? How can these things be beneficial?” Nathan stood up, flabbergasted. “Do you know why I'm here? I hate the damned Venn Machines and everything they stand for.”

Joe stood up, looking confused. “What do they stand for?”

“That's the whole point. Who the hell knows? Doesn't it scare any of you that we know nothing about them?”

There was a long silence.

“Yes,” one woman said in the back.

“But they're safe.”

“The Surgeon General doesn't condone them,” Nathan snapped.

“Oh, Nathan, it's fine. Trust Machines make people happy. They provide experiences that we could only dream of in the past. They're great relaxation, fun, and everything in between. They have changed the world!”

“They made me lose my job!”

“And they gave you a whole new one! Damn it, I'm sick of hearing your stupid rants about Venn Machines, Nathan!”

The magician stared at her, shocked. Marsha had always made her thoughts known to him, but saying this in front of the whole group hurt. He did need this job, after all.

“This session is finished,” he muttered, and walked out.

Marsha watched after him, as did the other members. “Sorry we ended that a bit early. I can take over, if you guys want. I apologize for his nastiness.”

“He wasn't that bad,” said Wanda.

“Actually, I think he was really good,” Patricia chimed in.

“I agree,” said Jason, standing up. “He really helped me. Explaining myself opened me up to him and made me understand my desires. I understand why I like to be nuts, and he made me realize that it's okay.”

Marsha took this in, nodding slowly. “So you all feel this way? He really helped?”

“I never had to explain myself before,” said one man who hadn't actually spoken up at the meeting. “But when I heard him make everyone else discuss what they do, I was able to make sense of my own desires. With me, it was always, 'I like to be a German Shepard. My wife likes to walk me.' I would tell myself it was okay, but I never really accepted it, because I never went into the reasons why it was okay.”

“Yeah, this guy is good,” said Joe. “I hope he comes back.”

“I'll talk to him.”

When Nathan's phone rang, he let out a string of curses as he picked up. “Damn it, Marsha. You're bothering me already?”

“They really liked you, Nathan.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Cut it out. Are you coming back?”

“I don't know. Are you going to be a bitch to me again?”

“I'll try not to.”

“Hm. Well, I'll let you know. Right now I'm busy.” He hung up and finished reading Professor Aston's story of being a log for a year. “Stages of My Decay” was fascinating, and the idea of decomposing was morbidly appealing to him.

“Tonight, I think I'm gonna turn into a peach,” he decided.