Chapter 2: The Mad Machinist (Introduction)

"This place is even bigger than Miss Lisa's!" Lucy exclaims, admiring the massive building with huge fences that stands in front of the girls.

This is the workshop of the machinist, the man Miss Lisa told the girls about after their session. He had supposedly been working on something he was keeping very quiet, but the girls fit the description of his needs for his experiment perfectly. Five girls, all ticklish, and all naive in the ways of the tickling community in the small town.

The girls approach the door and Anna timidly pushes the button she assumes is the doorbell not sure what to expect the machinist to look like nor what he wanted from them besides to tickle them mercilessly. A loud church bell rings out around them, coming from the doorbell, they assume.

"What a strange place. Look at that weird metal wall surrounding this area here!" Lucy exclaims, still starstruck by the size of the place.

"After what Miss Lisa paid us, maybe this guy is even more loaded and generous," Anna suggests, eyeing the wall to her right. Not that she didn't enjoy the tickling. But the money did help her get her new bikini she planned on using if they kept landing these fun tickle-based gigs.

A man wearing funny, crooked glasses and a white lab coat opens the door and offers, "Come in! I've been expecting you!"

The man's hair is wild and gray and his nose looks slightly crooked on his face. He is a goofy looking guy, for sure, but he seems harmless and kind.

"My name is... well, it doesn't matter. Most people call me the Mad Machinist! I think it sounds rather menacing, so I dislike it, but it stuck anyway. So, who do we have here?" the machinist inquires cheerfully.

The girls all introduce themselves and shake his hand, not nearly as nervous as when they met Miss Lisa. But they already had a good experience with her, so if she trusts this guy, they could as well.

"Ah, yes, yes. You will all do marvelously!" the machinist remarks happily. "I have been keeping my little project under wraps until I could work the bugs out. I believe they are all gone, so I wanted to have a few girls to test it out! Do you have any questions?"

"Umm... what exactly will we be doing here?" Emily asks quietly.

"Oh, yes! Good question! I almost forgot. Well, see, you can't tell anyone in order to continue in this process. So, first, I must swear you to secrecy. Do you all agree?"

All the girls nod their heads in agreement.

"Good! Now, what I have been working on all this time is actually a sort of course filled with ticklish situations that members of our specific... erm...  community can come together and compete in."

"You mean like one of those inflatable obstacle courses?" Heather asks, remembering her time in summer camps playing in those.

"Yes, precisely!" the machinist exclaims. "You are a quick one, aren't you? Yes, like an obstacle course. There are a lot of moving parts as it is mostly robotic, although not necessarily entirely."

"So, what you're saying is, you have built a giant tickling machine?" Kristen asks excitedly, ready to begin the tickling. She looks at Lucy and she is as excited as Kristen is.

"I guess you could call it that, yes. Well, you've seen the outside of the thing already!" the machinist exclaims, gesturing toward the door they came from.

"You mean the giant wall?? That thing was huge! That whole thing is a tickling machine??" Lucy can barely contain her excitement. She has come to love being tickled since their session with Miss Lisa only a couple of days ago.

"Yes, that's it. There are a few ways you'll be tickled and some areas will require you to escape while others are set to tickle for a period of time before letting you go. The tolerances on the first kinds of areas are tricky, since robots are naturally stronger than humans, but I believe they are all set correctly. But the tolerances of the restraining mechanisms are exactly what you're here to test! All the tickling elements and machinery works perfectly aside from those few restraints I just can't seem to dial in accurately."

"Ok, ok! When can we start??" Lucy begs, really wanting to see this machine that will be tickling her to death.

"Oh, you can begin right here, my dear," the machinist chuckles, happy to see the girls are all so excited to test out his machine. He gestures towards a door that he opens and instructs the girls, "Just go forward and try to reach the end! Go ahead and get into your bikinis or what have you and line up behind the starting line before we begin. I'll be watching from the control room to make sure everything works as planned and I can stop it if you need me to. I can hear you and speak to you through the intercom system. Any questions, girls?"

All the girls excitedly shake their heads no and begin stripping down to their bikinis immediately.

"Good luck then!" the machinist closes the door and locks it. Everything is so quiet and serene, it's hard to believe there are any machines nearby.

Each girl is now wearing a different solid-colored bikini. Lucy wears a pink bikini, Heather wears a blue bikini, Emily wears a green bikini, Kristen sports a burnt orange bikini, and Anna is wearing her favorite lavender bikini. They all line up behind the starting line and wait for the machinist's signal.

Suddenly, an air horn sounds, and they are off!