Bare New World - Ch 1 (Commission)

Enjoy a new reality-bending series commissioned by Jazper Hemsath.

The lab was as cluttered as the young woman’s mind seemed. Jax followed her in, taking care not to catch an elbow on exposed wires or the sharp edges of electronic equipment. The whole room seemed to be wired together into one large machine.

“You built all of this?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” Andi admitted, proudly. “It’s been two years of constant work, but it should be ready for a full test soon.”

Jax looked her over, trying to decide if she were 18 yet or not. He knew that she had been admitted to the college after graduating high school early. She was supposed to be a genius, which intrigued him and also disturbed him. Still, he was curious about what she had told him about her machine.

“So,” he asked her. “How does it work?”

Andi sat down at a computer terminal and started booting everything up. “It sort of pokes reality and makes it jump in a particular direction. I mean, that’s the simple explanation. The complex explanation would take a doctorate in quantum mechanics to understand.”

“What can you do with it?”

She smiled and said, “Watch this.” After a few button clicks, the machine groaned to life. He felt the ground rumble beneath him and then things quieted down again. “There,” she said. “How about that?”

“How about what?” Jax asked, confused.

“Your shirt,” she said.

He looked down. The blue shirt he had been wearing had turned red. “What?” he said. “How did you change my shirt?”

“You see,” she said, grinning. “I altered reality so that you had put on a red shirt this morning instead of a blue one. I didn’t change your shirt. I changed the world so that you had on a different shirt all along. Cool, right?”

Jax felt a chill run up his spine. “I see,” he said. “But, if reality changed, then why do I remember putting on a different shirt? Why do both of us remember?”

“By default,” she explained, “I have excepted my memories from changes. I’ll always remember the world as it has been. That allows me to fix things if they get too warped by accident. I made an exception for your memories as well while we’re testing.”

“Uh,” Jax said, still feeling overwhelmed by it all. “Thanks, I guess.”

“In theory,” she said. “I could make some dramatic changes, global changes. I just need to be careful to take it slow.”

“Aside from clothing changes, what else can it change?”

“Anything, really,” she said. “If you can imagine it and type it into the machine here, then it should be able to make it happen.”

Jax had ideas.

Andi’s phone rang, and she answered it, taking  a step away for a quick conversation. “Shoot,” she said, turning back to him. “I need to leave for a few minutes to take care of something. You can just wait for me here until I get back.”

“Sure,” he said, staring at the machine.

She stood up and walked to the door, but before she left, she warned him, “Don’t touch anything while I’m away. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, lying.

She left him alone with the reality changing machine, and he sat down to prepare to change reality.

“What do I do?” he asked himself.

Jax thought back to seeing his older sister this week just before his 18th birthday party. Her 18-month-old son was running around naked before his bath, and Jax found himself enving the toddler. The boy seemed so free, so unconcerned. He had no modesty about being nude, no worries about adulthood or college grades or relationships. To go back to that freedom and security, how wonderful that would be.

Knowing that he would talk himself out of it if he gave himself a minute to reconsider what he was doing, Jax typed what he wanted into the computer:

“I want to be a baby, so that I can be naked and free.”

As soon as he pressed enter, the machine groaned to life again. The room rumbled, and his vision blurred from the vibrations. He lost all track of where he was and suddenly found himself standing naked in a bathroom.

Jax looked around and recognized where he was. This was the bathroom in his parents’ house. How had he gotten here? Their house was hours away from the college where he had just been. It took a moment for him to realize that the door was open, and he was visible to anyone who might walk by. Reflexively, he realized that he should cover himself up. However, he was feeling no noticeable shame or modesty about being nude. It just felt… natural.

“I’m ready, dear,” said his mother as she walked over, carrying towels.

He waited to see how she would react to his nudity, but she said nothing. Instead, she set down the towels beside the sink and started the tap running in the bath, checking the water temperature and adjusting it.

“H-hi, mom,” Jax said.

“You ready for your bath, honey?” she asked him.

“My bath?” he said, realizing then why he was naked. “Um, yeah, I guess.”

He stepped into the tub and sat down, feeling the warm water fill up around him. It felt nice, but he was too confused by what was happening to fully enjoy it. He wanted some answers.

“Mom?”

“Yes, dear?” she replied as she gathered soaps and shampoo.

“Why are you giving me a bath?”

“Too keep you from getting stinky, of course,” she said, playfully.

“No,” he said. “I mean, why are you giving me a bath?”

“You’re my baby,” she said. “Mommies have to bathe their babies.”

“Baby?” he said, looking down at himself. He still appeared to be 18-years-old, even if she was treating him like a baby, although he was noticing some changes. His body seemed much less muscular and more pudgy, and his skin had become hairless and baby-smooth again.

Looking more closely at his mother, he realized that he was not the only one to have changed. He had been so concerned about what she might think of seeing him naked that he had overlooked some significant changes to her body. She appeared somewhat more youthful than he remembered, maybe a whole decade younger, and her chest appeared much larger than it had been before, at least double its normal size.

Before he could say anything else, she started to shampoo his hair with a special brand meant for babies that would not sting in his eyes. The washing made him aware that the hair on his head had become much wispier, matching the other babish changes that had occured with his otherwise adult body. As weird as it was to have his mother bathe him as a grown man, he felt comforted by the situation. All he needed to do was sit there, letting her take care of everything for him, similar to visiting a nice spa but with no bill to worry about. This was all free. His mother was caring for him out of her love. He relaxed and started to enjoy the whole situation.

The only bad part was that it was over too soon. Just as he was getting fully comfortable, his mother pulled the plug from the drain and started to towel him off.

“Mom?” he asked.

“Yes?” she said as she dried his back.

“How old am I?”

“You just had your 18th birthday, sweetie,” she said. “You remember the party a few days ago, don’t you?”

Outside of the comfort of the bath, Jax was feeling his confusion returning. “If I’m 18, then why are you treating me like a baby?”

“Oh,” she said, as if she had just figured something out. “I see. Now that you’re 18, you want to be treated more like a toddler. Am I right?”

“Uh,” he said. “I guess.”

“Well,” she said. “First, you’ll need to start practicing on the potty. Once you can stay dry most of the time, then we might graduate you to pull ups.”

When he was dry, she walked him over to his old bedroom, which had been redecorated to suit an oversized baby. There were cartoon characters on the walls and large baby toys. On one side of the room was an enormous crib, and next to it was a large changing table. His mother led him to the table and waited for him to climb up on it. He lay there and watched as she pulled out a huge diaper. Then, he cooperated with her to allow her to slide it beneath his butt and wrap it into place between his legs and over his crotch. As she finished putting the diaper on, he felt the soft comfort of it calm down his concerns.

“Now,” she said, stepping aside to let him climb down from the table. “It’s bedtime for babies.”

Jax looked out the window to see that it was only just after sunset. He was about to protest, but he yawned instead, feeling surprisingly sleepy all of a sudden. She pulled down the near wall of his crib and led him by the hand over to it. He lay down and she draped a blanket over him before putting up the wall again, securing him inside.

“Sleep well, my darling,” she said, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.

“Love you,” he said.

“Love you,” she replied and walked to the door, shutting off the room lights, but leaving a night light on.

Lying there alone in his crib, Jax was uncertain about just how he felt about the situation. On one hand, he felt quite at ease to be so pampered and cared for by his mother again. There was something wonderful about being treated like a baby again. On the other hand, he realized that he had warped reality in some dramatic way here. He worried about the implications of how he had altered humanity by changing things this way.

He noticed a growing discomfort as he lay there. Although his diaper was the most comfortable thing he could imagine wearing, he felt an inexplicable impulse to escape from it. After some wriggling and pulling at fasteners, he managed to peel it open and slip out of the padded underwear. Naked again, he felt free. It was such a relief to be unclothed. Still, he could not escape the sense that there was so much wrong with reality now, so much that may need to be fixed.

Fortunately, for the moment, there was nothing he could do about any of it. He yawned and felt his eyelids droop as his drowsiness caught up with him. “Tomorrow,” he told himself. “I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

***

Jax woke up to a chilly sensation around his crotch. He had the remnants of a dream still drifting in his mind, something about being a baby again. He squinted open his eyes and saw walls of bars around him. Looking beyond the wooden bars, he saw his bedroom as it had been in the dream, redecorated for a baby 18-year-old.

“It was real?” he asked himself, as he confirmed that he was naked and lying in a crib.

A wet crib.

“M-mom?” he called, as he touched the yellow puddle he had made. “Are you awake?”

Part of him wanted to clean up the mess he had made by himself, but some other part of him told him he should wait for his mommy to do it. He felt strangely helpless.

“Coming, dear,” his mother said as he heard her footsteps approach his room.

Even in the bright light of the morning, the room seemed to light up more when she entered.

“My diaper,” he said, “It must have…”

She looked at the situation in the crib and nodded.

Again, she led him from his crib to the changing table, and he lay on it, letting her wipe him clean and dry. Then, she set to work soaking up the puddle and cleaning up enough so she could leave it for now to focus on him. After she returned to him, a fresh diaper was slid into place and fastened on him. While he resented the sensation of being clothed again, he thanked her and sat up.

“Now,” she said. “My baby must be hungry.”

He nodded. “What’s for breakfast today?” he inquired.

She unbuttoned her shirt.

“Oh?” he said, surprised.

“Let’s go to the couch downstairs where we can get comfortable.”

He nodded, and wondered why he was not feeling at all disturbed by what they were about to do. It should have bothered him a little, he knew, but like his nudity yesterday, he was feeling no shame or modesty about it. Babies get breastfed, after all. He was a baby, or at least, he was a baby now. That seemed “right” somehow, even though his memories told him that he was a college student yesterday on a date with a student scientist. This morning, he was a baby, and he needed breast milk. It was natural.

They descended the stairs together and walked over to the couch, which was lit in the welcoming light of the morning sun. She sat down, and he lay down beside her, resting his head on her lap. She revealed her enormous breasts to him and angled his mouth up to her waiting nipple.

As soon as his lips touched her skin, the wetness of her milk was waiting for him. After a tentative suck, the taste of it was on his tongue. He swallowed down the warm, rich liquid, and began sucking in earnest.

“Gently,” she cautioned him. “No need to rush.”

Jax controlled his frenzy a little, slowing to a steady pace, while savoring every gulp he sucked from her tit.

He gazed up at her face, smiling benevolently down at him, and felt the warmth of her affection mixed with the already belly-warming milk that was filling him up. Had there been no memories of his old life to remind him of the wrongness of this situation, he might have felt completely at ease as an 18-year-old suckling at his mother’s tit. However, he did remember the world as it had been, which made him conscious of how perverted this all was. He felt a nagging trace of guilt in his mind, telling him that he had twisted things to his advantage in an unfair way. His mother, who had just shepherded him into adulthood, was now pulled back into giving him full-time care. And yet, her smile told him that she was enjoying the experience as much as he was. Maybe she had wanted to keep him here with her all along. Maybe, if given the choice, she might have chosen this as well.

She switched him to her other breast after the milk became thick and the flow slowed. He continued feeding on her other nipple, greedily sucking down every drop he could pull from it. At last, when he felt filled up to his limit, he stopped.

She sat him up, calling him a “Good boy,” and giving his back a pat.

Jax let out an enormous burp in response, relieving some of the overfilled sensation in his belly.

They chuckled together at the loudness of his belch, and she stood up. “Let’s put you in your playpen, so Mommy can finish cleaning up your crib,” she said, leading him by the hand over to a fenced off area in the corner of the room. Various brightly colored toys were scattered in the pen, waiting for him. He stepped over the flimsy wall with ease, sensing that it was a suggestion more than an actual barrier. Then, he sat down in front of some blocks as she left him alone to play.

Just when Jax had built up a satisfactory tower of blocks, a mild tremor shook the house, toppling the blocks over.

“What was that?” his mother called down to him.

“I don’t know,” he yelled back up at her.

“Did a car pull up in the driveway?” she yelled back to him as she descended the stairs and looked out the window on the front door. “Your little friend Maximus should be here soon.”

“Max?” he replied, recalling his close friend from his childhood. Over the years, they had drifted apart, but they had been almost inseparable as small kids. It would appear that in this reality they would be as close again as they had been before.

“The babysitter should be here soon as well,” his mother added, checking her watch.

Sure enough, moments later, a car pulled up in their driveway. Jax peeked out the window and was shocked to see Andi step out of the car. Before he had a chance to wonder how the young woman had found him here or how she had become his babysitter in this new reality, she had reached the front door of the house.

His mother greeted Andi warmly and let her in the house. As the two women made small talk, Andi cast a knowing glance at Jax. Then, she was led into the kitchen to be given instructions for caring for the boys.

After the formalities were out of the way, Andi and his mother approached his playpen.

“Sweetie,” his mother said. “This is Andi, your new babysitter.”

“Hi, Andi,” he said, feeling surprisingly nervous. He noticed that Andi’s breasts appeared to have grown as well, but he tried not to stare.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jax,” Andi replied. “I’m looking forward to spending some time together today.”

It was then that another car pulled up in the driveway.

“There they are,” his mother said, and walked to the door.

“This is really something,” Andi whispered quietly so that his mother would not hear. She sounded more impressed than angry, which set him at ease. “I can hardly believe it worked this well.”

“Are you mad?” he whispered back, but before Andi could respond, they were interrupted by his mother opening the front door and greeting Maximus and his mother.

Jax saw his old friend standing there beside their mothers. Maximus looked as though he had been affected by the changes to reality in the same way that Jax had been. He appeared to be 18 years old in stature, but his body had the same baby-like features: wispy hair on his head, hairless below the neck, and pudgy soft skin all over. Like Jax, he was naked except for his diaper.

When Maximus was led over to the playpen, he approached Jax, nervously. Jax looked carefully at his friend’s face, trying to spot any sign of recognition about the strangeness of the situation. Maximus’s eyes had a lack of focus in them that indicated very little thinking was going on in his head.

“Okay, boys,” Jax’s mother said. “You two behave for Andi while we’re out. We’ll see you again tonight.” Their mothers gave them kisses and hugs and left them alone with Andi.