Andrea was a rich woman from an affluent neighbourhood. The problem was her money had not been able to find a cure for her ‘condition’.

She had a pathological hatred of anything dirty; she was almost continuously washing her hands, and she never went anywhere without gloves and a mask. She had no idea that the condition had a physiological basis; she was actually mildly allergic to just about everything.

One of her friends pulled the mask off, once, as a joke and she shrieked, hit them so hard she knocked them out, then ran off. She didn’t come out of her house again for a week.

She was totally unaware that someone had been watching her behaviour for some time…

“She’ll do perfectly”, Dr Lindsay Harris said. “She can be the first test subject of our new biosuit.”

She held a sample piece of the suit material in her hands, carefully. It looked like regular thin, clear plastic; however, it had a ‘feel’ to it, almost oily, slippery. Lindsay knew to keep it in motion; as soon as the material stopped moving, when held against skin, it would bind to it naturally; you could still move it, with difficulty, until it was sprayed with an ‘activator’. It would then seal itself to skin like it was superglued on and be totally irremovable.

“How are you going to get her to agree?”, asked her assistant. “You know she’s never going to be able to take it off.”

“All we have to do is frame the ‘opportunity’ the right way”, said Lindsay, a smile on her face…

The postcard dropped through Andrea’s door, like any other junk mail.

Andrea used a pair of tongs to pick it up, so she could keep it as far away from her as possible before binning it. Then she started reading it…

The more she read, the more interested she got.

Finally, she could contain her curiosity no more.

“Smart home, call Genesis Labs”, she said, showing one of the house cameras the QR Code on the card.

The phone rang twice.

“Genesis Labs, Dr Harris speaking. How can I help you?”

“Dr Harris, my name is Andrea Harcourt. I’m very interested in your new suit.”

“Well, it’s not really on public release yet…”

“I’m not just public!”, said Andrea, indignantly. “Have you any idea who I am?”

“Not really”, said Lindsay, just as annoyed. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Andrea, realising that she mustn’t annoy Lindsay any further, changed tack.

“You say not on public release. How about a beta tester? I could really do with one of your suits…!”

“Oh? Why?”

“I have, shall we say, some allergy problems that make it very difficult to live a normal life.”

“Have you tried all other solutions first?”, Lindsay asked. “I guarantee that our suit will solve your problem, if it’s of the nature you describe; however, it’s a bit of a ‘Hail Mary’, especially while the project is still at this stage. It should really only be used as a last resort.”

“I can’t keep going on like this!”, Andrea wailed. “Please, Doctor, you’ve got to help me.”

“Ok, but if we do this, there’s no going back. You’ll have to wear the suit for the rest of your life.”

“I don’t care!”, said Andrea. “Please!”

“Ok, come by our facility tomorrow morning, and we’ll run some tests…”

“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll be there.”

Next morning, Andrea did indeed turn up at Lindsay’s Lab, promptly at 9am, when the internet said they opened.

Lindsay led her into the lab, carefully as Andrea was afraid of everything because of her allergies, and they started the tests.

“At least it’s not psychosomatic”, Lindsay said. “You really are allergic to everything.”

The more tests she ran, the more it looked like the suit was the only answer.

Finally, she asked Andrea to join her, so she could present her findings.

“I really am so sorry”, she said. “As far as I can tell, anyone of these allergies on their own would be treatable. The whole lot together is almost life threatening…”

“Don’t you think I know that?”, cried Andrea. “It’s why I’m here. You’re my last hope. Please, Doctor, let me have one of your suits!”

“I’m still loathe to do it”, said Lindsay. “Once the suit is on you, it won’t come off.”

“Please, just do it!”, Andrea said; then she sealed her fate. “I’ll even sign something to say I put it on of my own free will.”

Lindsay took Andrea through to the lab.

“I’m going to have to sedate you to fit the suit”, she said. “It needs you to be absolutely still so it can set smoothly.”

“Ok…”, said Andrea. She was already dropping off to sleep, as Andrea had injected her with a sedative…

Lindsay took her time sealing Andrea into the suit, making sure that the filters were properly fitted in Andrea’s nose.

The rest of Andrea’s body was completely covered by the transparent suit; it made her skin look artificial, with a really strong sheen.

“I wonder if I should have told her we hadn’t finished the mouth filter yet”, said Lindsay, chuckling…

Andrea awoke. For the first time, she didn’t feel like scratching herself all over, or sneezing her head off.

Then she tried to open her mouth…

“Mmmmppph?” “Mmmmppphh!!”

Frantically, she looked round for Lindsay. She saw her at the end of the lab, got up and rushed over to her.

“Mmmmppphh!”, she wailed.

Lindsay turned round. She was chuckling…

“You couldn’t wait, could you, you stupid tart! You had to be cured now, this instant! Well, more fool you. We hadn’t designed the mouth filter yet, so we left the mouth sealed shut. We’ve done all the holes ‘down below’, so you can still relieve yourself and have sex; you just can’t talk any more. There’s a fitting now in your neck where liquid food and water can go in; just remember to keep the cap closed when you’re not eating or drinking.”

Andrea backhanded Lindsay, hard.

She then started frantically pulling at the suit, trying to take it off.

“It’s way too late for that”, said Lindsay, picking herself up off the floor. “You’ve been sprayed with the activator. The suit is all set, moulded to your skin. It’s never coming off.”

“MMmmmm!” wailed Andrea.

“Sad thing is, they’ve literally just come out with a cure for your condition”, Lindsay said. Made all my work obsolete overnight. I just had to know whether it would have worked or not, and you were the perfect test case…”

Screaming silently, Andrea lost it. She punched and kicked Lindsay, sending her flying across the lab. The police had to be called…

Lindsay ended up losing her operating licence as she hadn’t been cleared for human trials, despite everything she said.

Andrea eventually had her mouth cut open carefully in hospital; they then gave her the treatment to cure her allergies. The suit, however, was impossible to remove. It was moulded permanently to her skin.

She could still wear normal clothing over it, luckily, and the suit acted as skin so well she could still operate phones and tablets. The trouble was she didn’t feel human anymore; she felt like a glorified doll.

As part of having the suit fitted, Lindsay had shaved off all of her hair and treated her scalp to kill the follicles off. Andrea would never have real hair again.

She therefore decided that if she looked like doll, why not go all out…

When Andrea next walked down the street, all her friends gasped…

She was wearing a bright pink latex catsuit, and a bubblegum pink wig.

She was also wearing four-inch silver heels.

She was living the doll life to the max, and looked perfectly like a human barbie doll…

She waved at her friends and giggled.

To her amazement, they all came rushing over.

“Wow! Love the look! Actually, it really suits you!”, they said. “The skin is amazing! How did you do it? You look just like a real plastic doll…!”

“Just let me say you wouldn’t want to go through what I did…”, said Andrea.

Her friends didn’t care.

Their girl was back, and she was happy. That was all that mattered.

Andrea found herself being steered into the coffee shop down the road. Everyone wanted to buy her a drink, and chat.

Relieved that life could at least go on somehow, Andrea settled down with her friends…