Trust Machines - Ice Breaker

Diana sighed, her breath misting in front of her face in a puff of air, brushing her golden locks out of her face for the billionth time in the last hour she focused on her work. As a ice sculptor for a very expensive catering and party company she knew her numb fingers and blocked nose were a small price to pay to know that high society enjoyed her artistry, plus the money wasn't bad. A petite but curvy woman, Diana was the type of girl guys called "cute" and "pixieish" rather than "stunning" or "gorgeous".
After finishing her art degree she realised there was very few fields open to her where she could use her talents and make enough to still afford rent in the city. She had eagerly taken the job as ice sculptor for Maxsi catering, at the time a struggling small company. Her skill at sculpting had gotten people's attention and now the company was thriving, all the big expensive events had to have her sculptures. Her boss Tony had offered her three raises in one year to make sure no other company bought her out for themselves, not that Diana would have gone. She was in it for the freedom of expression, not the money.

She did however envy her sculptures, they got to go to the nicest of places and be touched by celebrities, while she was usually in the large chilled Ice storage area sculpting something new for the next party. Today was different though, there were no big projects planned for two weeks, she would finally get a bit of time off. As much as she loved her job, she was looking forward to spending time in the warm sunshine. She scraped away at the ice to give the impression of ripples in the fabric of the dress, sculpting a beautiful woman dressed like a Disney style princess, one arm raised, she had to make two identical mirroring sculptures while her co-worker Joan just had to sculpt a large love heart for the princesses to hold aloft between them. A special valentines day ball was being held in the fancy and expensive Grandia Hotel downtown, Diana would love to go. She looked at the serenely smiling gleaming face of the sculpture and tapped its nose gently with her sculpting tool "lucky princess gets to go to the ball while the peasants stay home and watch trashy tv" she said in a scolding voice.
Joan looked over and chuckled "don't tell me your jealous of frozen water now Di" she said teasingly, her wild Curley red hair sticking out under a thick rainbow striped wooly hat. Since Diana had started at Maxsi Joan had been her closest friend, keeping her company in the cold and telling her about her wild adventures using those strange Venn machines. Diana had never had the guts to go near one, but Joan seemed to spend every weekend as something not herself, even a squirrel if she was to be believed. She was practically a foot taller than Diana and had no trouble getting guys no notice her with her body, red hair and Irish accent.
Diana smirked at her friend "oh it's alright for you, your going on holiday to Peru tomorrow, I'm just going to be sat at home catching up on tv shows. While the beautiful ice queen here gets to party it up with A-listers." Joan just smiled and shook her head before pausing and a mischievous grin formed on her perfect though currently slightly blue from the cold lips. She turned back to her friend and grinned like a Cheshire Cat "what if you could go to the party...and half your work load?"

That caught Diana's attention, she looked over at her friend with a quizzical look on her face "and how would I pull that off exactly? I wouldn't be able to sneak past the doormen." Joan grinned wider seeing she had Diana's curiosity hooked. "Well...actually you could. There is a Venn machine nearby and..." "Venn machine? Oh no I'm not going in one of those crazy things" Diana protested quickly but Joan just continued "we get you in, I change you into the second ice princess, you get delivered to the party and get to see all the celebs, no one will know!" She said eagerly, she was dying to get Diana to finally try the Venn machines, despite her reluctance she could see Diana thinking it over in her mind. Her petite friend squirmed for a few minutes before saying "well...I guess if they don't know I'm venned...it might work"

Before she knew it Diana found herself inside a Venn machine staring at her friend through the separator, Joan had practically yanked her arm off to get her here and pushed her into the machine, the doors already open as if waiting for them. They had brought a wheeled cart with them, how no one noticed them take it Diana didn't know. She played with the controls a bit, giving her friend a light tan for her pale skin and emerald green eyes just for fun, Joan's hands were a blur picking options and making sure the change would be perfect. She pushed the green button and the timer counted down, Diana gulped and blushed, figiting nervously "maybe this wasn't..." Her second thoughts were cut off as the timer ran down and the doors opened. Joan stepped out noticing her new tan with a smile though she didn't know her eyes were new and quickly moved to the other side, a gleaming ice sculpture of a princess stood in the other booth silently. "Wow you turned out beautiful Di" Joan said before quickly but carefully loading her friend onto the cart, she didn't want her to melt after all.

The moment the change happened Diana panicked as she went blind, she had thought she would be able to see but of course ice had no eyes, she heard Joan compliment her and load her onto the cart, rattling along the pavement. The noise was weird, it was as if she wasn't actually listening but could feel the sound vibrate into her crystal like icy body. She wanted to call this off, she couldn't see so what was the point, but she couldn't voice her opinion to Joan as she was stored by her friend in the freezer next to her twin, the large love heart delicately placed resting on her hand and her twins between them both. Hours passed and Diana calmed down a bit, ok she couldn't see but this wasn't bad, and she would still hear who was nearby at the party...sort of. The girls loaded her into the chilled truck, unaware she was anything more than a masterpiece of icy art, though she heard Joan whisper "enjoy the party, see you when I get back" before the clicking of heels faded and the sound of doors being shut as they locked the back of the truck. She soon felt its rumble as the engine started and off she went to the ball.

The party had been a huge hit, everyone loved the ice sculptures as always, she heard some of her TV heart throbs talking nearby and wished she could leap down off display for their autographs, as the party wound on she felt like she was sweating, quickly realising it was her ice slowly melting despite the A/C and chilled pedestal under her. Unable to do anything about it she tried to ignore it and kept her focus on the party, after all when it was over she would turn back and...with a sudden icy chill that had nothing to do with her current form she realised, she hadn't set a time frame for the change, nor had she looked to see it inside the machine, too nervous to think. She was also pretty sure Joan hadn't looked at the time set in her haste to get her into the machine. Besides, wern't the doors meant to be sealed until a time was set and money paid, oh no had they used an already active and waiting machine? How long had it been set for, she had only planned on this for the night! She spent the rest of the party more focused on her panic than the sounds bouncing through her in overlapping vibrations.

By morning she and the other sculptures were in the heated melting room with the big drain in the middle back at Maxsi catering, getting rid of the now unneeded sculptures she heard fragments of conversation from the other girls who worked here, but none of those voices were Joan's, she was probably on her way to Peru by now, unaware that her friend was very scared as she was melting and draining away bit by bit silently calling for help behind her serene smile. Diane noticed it was getting harder to focus on sounds as she melted, the vibrations through your solid ice mixing with the vibrations through the liquid pouring across the floor was very disorientating. Within the hour everything was melted and the remaining water was mopped up and poured down the drain, Diana gushing down a network of pipes, forced to go with the flow, she felt so spread out as she mixed with untold gallons of water as it rushed through the sewers silently screaming as she rushed along the pipes blind and the churning water messing up any sounds she might have heard, ending in the water treatment plant where she was purified and sent back through the pipes of the city.


Diana found herself being poured out of a tight tube and landing in something, she could hear again though it felt like she was listening through ear plugs. She sloshed about as she was moved and realised she had been poured out of a tap into a container. Little did she know she was in a crystal jug in a five star restaurant being taken to a table. As she was placed down it became easier to hear, the vibrations through the table helping. Unable to speak or move in her current form she listened to the sound of a table of women chatting about gossip. Apparently one of them was having an affair and the others found it shocking and intriguing. She was poured into a glass pint by pint as the women chatted their throats dry. She was worried about being split up even more, but you know, women who dine together, also visit the ladies room together. It wasn’t long before she was rushing back through the piped under the city, swirling with the mass of water once more.

At some point later she found herself spraying up in a beautiful fountain of water in the middle of the park. She could hear the distorted sounds of people laughing and dogs barking, people and animals enjoying their simple ability to move and make sounds. Now Diana was the inanimate object envying the people, she made a vow not to ever envy her sculptures again. She spent the day floating in the fountain, being sucked back into the pipes to spray up over and over. A dog took a drink of her at one point. Not a pleasant experience. She could feel when people threw coins into her to make a wish, feeling the penny float to the bottom as it drifted through her, at the end of the day the fountain was drained and she once more continued her travels of the sewer system.

After many more experiences as water about the city, she came to find herself filling a swimming pool somewhere. She was kept heated so it had to be somewhere nice and expensive. She felt a womans shape glide through her from time to time. She could hear her talking as she stood in the pool to someone, eventually Diana knew her as “Miss Whitmore” the woman who currently owned the bulk of her watery body and swam in her. Diana wondered if she would ever get to swim herself again.

Two months had passed since the valentines party and everyone wondered where Diana had gone. Her sculptures were wanted by all the rich of the city for their parties but no one had seen her since she left work before the party. When Joan had come back to find her friend missing she realised something must have happened, but she knew the Venn machines had a time limit, so she decided to stay quiet in case she lost her job over this. She wondered how long the time limit had been set, after her holiday she really couldnt remember what she had set in her haste...she had set a time...she must have...

Tina Whitmore, a rather wealthy heiress who owned the house where Diana now resided in the pool also wondered about Diana's location. She adored those ice sculptures and had wanted that Diana to make some for her upcoming party, though no one had seen her so it looked less and less likely. She stepped outside in a pink bikini and leapt into her heated pool, unaware she was in fact swimming in the woman she wanted for her art skills, she lounged about in the warm water lazily as it became noon. suddenly she heard a splash and a surprised gasp before she collided with something in the water. Surfacing she came face to face with a soaking wet woman. A woman who's face had been in all the papers, Tina's shocked look turned into a sly grin as Diana, blushing quickly apologized and explained how she came to be in her pool fully clothed. Perhaps Tina would be getting those ice sculptures after all...