Experiment

Many thanks to talented author/editor

HMAuthor

and to NorthernDancer for first editing and improving this story. And tremendous gratitude to author/editor

Ginger_Scent

, who writes quality erotica in both English and Italian, for work that made it much better.

"Don't forget to call me if you catch an earlier plane or you're delayed," Florence said. "I want to be ready."

"Why are you so obsessed with this vacation?"

"Your company owns you for the meetings, but the minute you get off the plane, you are mine exclusively for three full weeks."

"The vacation doesn't officially start until the morning after," Erwin said. "On the way home from the airport, I have to stop at the lab to check on the rats."

She laughed.

"How could I forget the rats? We owe them everything."

He joined in her laughter as they embraced. When he walked through the door to the garage to go to his car, he didn't notice her smile turn into a frown as the door closed behind him.

***************

For Florence and Erwin, rats were their life. Both had been fascinated by science as kids, and from high school on, they knew they wanted to be researchers.

Each had achieved success. Erwin headed a team that worked on new drugs for a large company. He made more money than she did, but she was more famous, because her research into human psychology (especially sexual pathology) was frequently quoted in the media, while Erwin's discoveries were known only to those who read peer-reviewed journals.

They met in college doing lab work for different courses. Surrounded by research rats, they fell in love, and late at night, when their homework was finished, their rats watched them collaborate in mutually satisfying experiments in human biology. Since they both graduated summa cum laude, they easily found jobs in the same city after their honeymoon.

Florence thought their marriage was as successful and rewarding as their careers, and Erwin seemed to concur. They had been talking about her taking a long break after she finished the two projects she was working on so they could start a family.

Because she was a scientist, she was used to changing her mind. She would often start a project on the basis of what she thought was a sound hypothesis, because it was validated by all the data available up to that point. Sometimes the results of her experiments clearly showed that her initial hypothesis had been wrong. When this happened, it was no problem for her to switch to a different hypothesis, even one the exact opposite of the first one.

A year ago, an earthquake had almost thrown her out of her bed, and she had called Erwin at one in the morning at the hotel where he was staying while presenting a paper at a conference. She was concerned that he might hear about the quake and worry about her, so she decided to wake him up.

When he picked up the phone, his voice sounded strange. Then she heard another voice in the background, a woman's voice, and the phone went dead. A minute later, he called back saying he had been cut off. He sounded more like himself and was concerned about her safety and the damage to the house. She told him to go back to sleep, but after she hung up, she didn't sleep much.

When he came home, he didn't mention the call, but she couldn't stop thinking about the woman's voice. It made her begin to question her assumptions about their marriage. She decided to collect fresh data and examine the foundations of her current working model to see if they were solid. Once she had concatenated the new data with the old and analyzed everything carefully, she concluded that their relationship was not what she had thought it was.

Until that phone call, the progression of her and Erwin's life together had been clear in her mind. Now it was uncertain.

She considered divorce for a while, then discarded that idea because introspection showed conclusively that she still loved him. Just as important to her, it seemed that he still loved her. For one thing, he had never varied in his behavior toward her. Also, his cheating was infrequent, and there was no pattern to it. She surmised it was spontaneous. He didn't plan it, but when the opportunity presented itself, he couldn't resist it.

After much thought, she decided to treat her discovery and its effect on their lives as a research project in human sexuality. She secretly began working on the new project whenever she had spare time.

As a scientist, she viewed love as a chemical reaction in the brain, whose state at any given time was the result of a combination of inherited genes and ever-changing stimuli that started with birth. She knew Erwin felt the same way.

Even though romantic, spiritual or supernatural love was unquantifiable and unscientific, her discoveries had provoked powerful emotions in her. She accepted them and examined the strong feelings of betrayal, anger, humiliation and thirst for revenge created by her neural chemical reactions. She noticed those feelings were sublimated whenever she was working on her side project. She felt less like a pitiable victim as she lost herself in the details of her research.

Her regular work kept her busy, so the personal project moved slowly. She was patient as she continued to collect new data, go through relevant findings from her rat experiments and research the literature.

She got to the point where the next step would be to form a hypothesis and devise an experiment to test it.

For a couple of weeks, she was stumped because of a deep-seated conviction that she shared with Erwin. One of the first things that bound them intellectually was their disdain for frivolous science. She never worked on anything that had little chance of producing useful results -- either to her or to humanity. Research was all about relevance. Otherwise, it was a waste of time and money.

Then it hit her. Cheating and adultery were hardly unique. Why not create a hypothetical solution to her situation and test that? If the solution worked, it could be helpful to her and others, too. Even if the research falsified her hypothesis, the failure would provide data that could lead to further experiments that might prove more fruitful.

Now came the hardest part. What would a solution to her problem with Erwin look like? Florence thought hard and came up with a rough idea. She took weeks to adjust it until she could state it clearly enough to begin working on the experiment. She realized it might not be the outcome most women would choose, but she was the one doing the work, and that justified it for her.

Two things concerned her: peer review and replication. Whether her experiment proved her hypothesis correct or false, the results might only be applicable to Erwin. In order to find out whether they could be applied universally, she would have to publish her experiment so that other scientists could replicate what she had done.

The problem was that some of her methodology didn't meet the ethical standards of reputable journals. She hesitated and considered abandoning the project, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. She realized her feelings of rage and humiliation were driving her obsession.

She decided to move forward and deal with issues of publication and replication when she had finished the experiment. Her decision troubled her slightly, but not for long. Once she resumed working on the experiment, she felt so happy that she didn't think about her qualms again.

****************

Erwin flew back from the conference, called Florence, stopped at his office to check on the rats and drove straight home. When he walked through the door, he felt a slight sting on his neck, like an ant bite. That's the last thing he remembered until he woke up. He was still inside the front door, but now he was on the floor, and he was naked.

He looked up and saw Florence dressed in her white lab coat sitting on a kitchen chair next to him. He felt dizzy and weak, and when he tried to talk, his tongue felt so swollen that it filled his mouth. He tried to form words, but only random sounds came out.

"The effects of the drug will wear off in half an hour," Florence said in a calm voice, "and you'll be able to talk. You're already able to comprehend what I'm saying, so I can explain what's going on.

"I injected you and then took off your clothes. I left you here because I wanted to show you some of the things I designed for my new experiment before your mind had to focus on other matters. You can already see one simple but vital piece of equipment.

"Look behind me to the end of the foyer. Do you see our new piece of furniture? It's a large, decorative Chinese screen. It's a precaution in the event of unexpected visitors.

"All our friends think we are gone for three weeks, so we won't see any of them. But if a delivery person comes to the door, and I open it, all he or she will see is the screen behind me. Before I put it up, you could see into part of the kitchen and living room, but now they are hidden.

"Crawl with me behind the screen. You can't stand up yet, but you can move in the direction I pull you."

He shook his groggy head as he felt something pulling his neck. He realized he had a collar on, and Florence was pulling on a leash attached to it. She spoke again.

"You're heavy enough to resist and might be capable of grabbing the leash to keep from choking. But you are still too weak to do anything else.

"See this rattan cane I'm lifting from the floor. I'm prepared to apply it vigorously to your butt until the pain is strong enough to stimulate you to crawl where I lead you. We need to get started right away, so I'll begin pulling the leash and give you thirty seconds to follow me.

"That was good. I really don't want to introduce an additional variable before the experiment begins. Let's go around the screen. I'm going to bend down and thread the leash through here and pull you forward like this into the holding pen.

"You're stopping. Probably you're confused, but I'll explain everything in a minute. For now, all you need to know is that you have to crawl a few more feet forward. I'm going to give you thirty seconds again.

"Okay, get ready for the cane, Erwin. Maybe you're thinking I won't use it. I don't want to, but I will because I can't let you ruin my experiment. It's going to hurt a lot if you don't move immediately. There you go! Thank you. I knew your ability to draw quick conclusions would overcome your reluctance to get into the cage."

Her voice had momentarily lost its even tone, and her words sounded facetious and bitter.

She reached down and fastened a strong lock on the cage and sat down next to it.

"As you see, it won't allow you to stand up, but it's big enough for you to lie down and stretch out, so why don't you get comfortable while I talk.

"The floor of the cage, and most of the downstairs of our house, is now covered in thick foam rubber padding, sealed with a hygienic waterproof latex mat on top of it. I can easily clean it by just hosing it down into the drains I installed while you were away. The drains go through the garage into the flower beds. Outside, they're camouflaged. I could invite the neighbors over for a barbecue on the patio, and no one would see the drains.

"The drains were the hardest part of the preparation for this experiment. I had to learn a lot about home construction so I wouldn't destroy our house. You know what's funny? When I got started, I found myself intuitively doing the work as if I had done it many times. A lot of it was familiar but on a different scale. I was constructing another rat experiment, except this time, the rat is larger.

"The impetus for this experiment was your cheating during some of your conference trips. We don't need to get into how I found out or how devastated and betrayed I felt. All I'll say is I considered divorce but decided to collect more information before I had you served.

"I found out that you weren't a serial cheater, because there was no pattern and not much frequency. I was sure you didn't take any chances that could affect your health and mine, and you were also protective of your good reputation. I considered the positive aspects of our marriage and decided not to call a lawyer.

"The next part wasn't as logical, but you know human brains frequently abandon logic. I assessed the situation. I wasn't going to be satisfied with accusations, apologies and promises that I could never be sure you would keep. I thought of revenge sex with other men, but then I'd be the same as you."

She paused.

"All right. I wasn't honest when I said that. I was striking out at you. The truth is, since I met you, I've never desired sex with another man, and I still don't.

"I'm not apologizing for that lie, or for thinking of ways to physically hurt you for revenge. The psychological tortures I thought up were even worse. I enjoyed imagining your suffering for a while.

"But you know that's not me. For me, the hardest parts of my experiments are watching some of the lab rats suffering, even mentally. I put a lot of effort into minimizing their trauma. To me, it's only justified when there's a good possibility that the experiment could benefit humankind.

"Thinking of my -- and your -- research with rats is what finally gave me the idea for this experiment. It felt appropriate. I worked long and hard on preparing for today. This phase will last for three weeks and coincide with our vacation. I never paid for the tickets or reservations, and as soon as you left town, I canceled all of them.

"The hypothesis for the experiment is this: In three weeks, I can condition you to be totally submissive to me in our personal intimate life without affecting the rest of your life in any way, especially your ability to perform intellectually demanding scientific research.

"At the beginning of the fourth week, you'll go back to work and we'll see how well the hypothesis holds up. Then I'll evaluate what I've learned from the experiment and decide what to do next.

"When I started working on the experiment, I realized how audacious my hypothesis was. I am trying to make you into what lay people call a split personality, so that you are one man whenever it comes to sex -- and a different person at all other times. If I can do this, maybe it will save our marriage and let us start a family without affecting our careers.

"You'll find this funny, but I did briefly think about moral and ethical implications of what I'm doing. Remember when we were in college and we had those deep discussions? Later, with more research experience, we both realized how naive we had been.

"Just like everybody, we go about our lives every day imagining we have free will and are making decisions for ourselves. But as scientists, we know the way our brains react to stimuli is out of our control. When I condition you to automatically obey my wishes, I won't be taking away your freedom. I'll just be rerouting some of your wiring.

"You've often reminded me, there's no right and wrong when it comes to power, whether it's the power some have over us or the power we have over others -- like our research teams and support personnel. As you like to put it, 'Sometimes you're the scientist, and sometimes you're the rat.'

"Up to now, I thought of our marriage as a collaboration of scientists, but now I'm changing the model. I'm the scientist, and you're the rat. Neither kind of relationship is better than the other. They're just different. And since I prefer the second one now and I'm running the experiment, there's no reason I shouldn't try to achieve it.

"As usual, the researcher will be working as hard as the rat. I won't get much sleep, because I'll be recording everything you do in the lab book.

"Sleep deprivation for you is a major part of the experiment. We've both read the literature that started appearing at the time of the first brainwashing discoveries, and we know that lack of REM sleep makes the brain more open to suggestions that can lead to changes in brain function.

"For the first two weeks, your days will be five hours long. You'll sleep one of those hours. I hope that in addition to making you more suggestible, the lack of sleep will keep you weak enough that I don't need to use drugs to manage you, but I've got them as backup in case they're needed.

"At first, you won't fall asleep right away, but in a short time, you'll be so exhausted all the time that you'll be sleeping whenever you're not being kept awake. I'll slowly increase the amount of sleep in the third week, so that you're close to normal by the time you go back to work.

"The other tools I'll be using will be pleasure and pain, both physical and psychological. To achieve maximum results in a short time, all body functions will be kept as simple as possible.

"All right, Erwin, I see that you're almost fully alert. You're probably analyzing what I just told you, but now you have to stop, because our work is beginning. I'm opening up one of the three gates leading from the holding pen, which is where you'll be sleeping. You need to crawl through the gate and down the narrow wire tunnel into the elimination room.

"You're beginning to speak with sounds I can understand, and that's good. Speak as much as you want, and feel free to yell and scream. I checked on how well our house is soundproofed, and no matter how loud you yell, nobody can hear you, not even with an ear against our front door. I'll be tuning you out, and I've got earplugs handy if the decibels get too high. I can't respond to anything you say or it might influence your responses and ruin the experiment.

"So please move through the tunnel to the elimination room, Erwin. Your cage is electrified, so if you aren't moving in thirty seconds I'll give you a slight shock. Then I'll wait thirty more seconds and increase the shock just a little. I'll keep doing that until you follow instructions.

"Good. Yes, keep talking, Erwin, as long as you keep crawling forward into the next cage. This cage is much smaller than the holding pen. You can barely fit into it, and you can't raise your head. That's because your body needs to be completely immobile to prevent accidents."

Erwin crawled into the small cage, and Florence shut the gate behind him. He felt her hand touch his butt and tried to turn his head, but the space was so small that he couldn't move any part of his body more than an inch or two. He was trapped on all fours and couldn't even lie down. Then he felt something enter his anus.

"Don't get upset," she said. "I just pushed some lubricant in there with my finger."

He squirmed as she pulled her finger out and inserted a tube that glided in through the lube. She pushed it deep inside him, and a moment later, he felt himself being filled with warm liquid.

"It's plain warm water, with no chemicals," she explained. "The chemicals would work faster, but I prefer to keep the test close to natural conditions. Your stomach is expanding as the water fills you up. It's not much different than you drinking a six-pack of beer, except you're drinking it from the other end."

When he was full, she carefully pulled the tube out and asked him to stop talking for a moment. She then pulled on a chain that raised the grill on top of him.

"Look up and in front of you, Erwin. Your elimination room is the former powder room. If I lift the grill above you all the way up, you have just enough room to crawl onto the toilet, although you'll have to stay bent over.

"You've come to your first choice of the experiment. If you don't want to crawl onto the toilet, there are two other options. Look below you and you'll see a large drain hole. You now have the room to squat over it if that's what you prefer.