Chapters 3 and 4 by Sofia Hammerstein

'Little Hope' continues the story of Stacy's journey from 'Exchanged.' Stacy is a young college student who chose to travel to a new dimension to study their advanced computing technology at a prestigious university as an exchange student. Stacy thought he knew what he was getting into when he traveled, having visited before with his family and pre-arranged a sort of Amazonian foster family to take him in. Shrinking more than he had on his previous visit, he finds himself the size of a tiny Amazonian baby instead of the near Betweener size he had hoped to be. A further misunderstanding on his gender due to his name resulted in the need for a radical change to make him match the gender the university believed him to be, to maintain his scholarship. Having survived the initial CARES exam, now she and her adopted parents work to make sure she's ready to begin orientation at Emerson University. Can Stacy survive this new world? (Story set in the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: Exchanged © 2017-2024 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 

My apologies for the delay in this chapter!
 
 

Chapter 3: Motherboards
 

“SOME MAY SEE you like that,” Amanda said honestly.

“Great…”

“Others, though, may actually become a bit envious. You’ve got a protector that’s allowing you to go to college still – most of them would kill for that.”

I nodded at that as I picked small bites carefully out of the miniature cheesesteak sandwich I had gotten.

“I know; I’m just worried that I won’t have any friends?” I said softly.

She laughed at me, “Stacy if I know anything about you after having you living with us so far, I know this – you will have many friends, both Little AND Big, I’m guessing.”

“Why do you think anyone would want to be friends with me?” I asked her honestly. “It looked like hanging out with me made them think they were on a one-way trip to the nursery themselves.”

“Well, aren’t they already?” she asked me honestly. “Sure, they made it past their CARE test to get here - and they look older than freshmen, so they’re probably at least on their second or third year of avoiding adoptions - but don’t kid yourself… Out of those ten Littles over there, at least nine of them will be adopted and messing their diapers within the next two years.”

I nodded, “And that’s just depressing,” I told her, “because they have so little hope and likely won’t find themselves a family like I have. Instead, they’ll probably get taken by a Chloe and have their brains turned to mush.”

Amanda smiled at me, “Well, at least you’re safe,” she reminded me, “we can’t save the entire world.”

I nodded at that before changing the topic. “So, I have a schedule, and I know I have different orientation events to go to next week… but what else is up today?”

“Well, we need to go to a store and pick up some things for you to have just in case something happens, and I want to go to a small supply store I heard about that sells Little sized school and office supplies.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“If you’re done with lunch, why don’t we find a bathroom to change you, and we’ll get going?”

I looked over at the table of Littles, who occasionally still glanced at me and sighed, “Can we do that wherever we’re going?”

She laughed at me, “It’s either in the bathroom here or in the car?”

“Car,” I told her.

She looked surprised but said, “Okay then, let’s go!”

She picked me up out of the booster seat and sat me on the ground. She then helped me put my backpack straps over my shoulder. I didn’t feel like an adult, but at least I did feel like more of one than the poor Little we passed on the way back to the car. The man wore a onesie that exposed his legs completely, with bits of his diaper showing out underneath. He was being led with one of those backpack leashes in the shape of a monkey. I sighed, knowing that that could very well be in my future on a non-school occasion!

I walked back alongside her to the car, where she opened the back of the vehicle up and promptly picked me up and laid me back on the floor. Mercifully the diaper change was quick, and the parking lot remained empty during it! “You really didn’t want those other Littles to see me changing your diaper, did you?” She said as she buckled me into my seat.

“Well… not really. I feel like it’s kind of like when you’re a little kid, and you want to hang out with the big kids?”

She laughed, “I’ll indulge you every now and then, but remember you are an adopted Little. That means I’m expected to embarrass you in front of your friends. That includes changing your diapee in front of them, from time to time.”

I blushed and said, “Sorry…”

She kissed me on the forehead, “It’s okay, Stacy, I think it’s pretty natural. But, you’re going to have a tough time fitting in at school – you do have to understand that the rules are different for you.”

I sighed as she closed the door and got in to drive us wherever we were off to. I looked in the mirror and out the window. It showed the passing scenery as we passed down the road. I hoped that moments like today would stop seeming like a big deal. When she stopped the car, I was surprised to see we were in front of an electronics store that reminded me of a Fry’s. The storefront read Motherboards, and I simultaneously wondered if ‘Mother’ meant it had baby stuff too… Amanda unbuckled me and then held my hand as we walked towards the store. I was shocked as she skipped the carts and walked straight to what reminded me of a standalone cell phone store just inside.

“Good afternoon Ma’am. How may I help you?” A polite gray-haired gentleman asked. He was shorter than her by quite a bit; I guessed he was only eight-and-a-half feet tall.

Amanda picked me up and sat me on top of the glass countertop. “My eighteen-year-old daughter is going to college next week, and I want her to have a new cell phone for me to call her, her to look up homework stuff, and I guess probably text her friends with. So I want to surprise her with it at her party this weekend.”

“I’m sure she’ll love that gift!” Then, the man said, “Anything, in particular, you’re looking for?”

“Well, she’s got a thing for wanting ridiculously tiny phones for some reason… What do you have in the compact sizes?”

“I’ve got just the thing for you! The Melon Corporation just put out this new CZ3 phone. It’s a tiny 4.6” screen that also seems to be popular for Littles. It’s kind of challenging for a bigger hand to text on, but the voice recognition software is so solid you don’t really need it. You can also get the optional earpiece that taps into cognitive waves to do neuro-to-text to get even more accurate.”

“Well, I’m not interested in the earpiece today, but show this phone to me.”

The man assumed I was the girl’s baby sister and didn’t matter at all, but Amanda was kind enough to hold the phone up for me to see. It looked something like an ultrathin iPhone with a modernized flexible display that bent all the way around if you wanted it to. It was more like a small phablet for my small hands, but I couldn’t see doing any better. Its specs handily beat my phone from back home!

“I like it; I’ll take it!” She said.

“Great, is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“Well, maybe…” she held my wrist up, “I’d like to get my daughter a wrist phone that can call me or I can locate her on?”

“Oh, Little protection? That’s over there on aisle seventeen. There’s a bunch of models to choose from there!”

“Thanks! Do I need to pay for the phone here, or can I take it with me and pay upfront?”

“Well, it might be best to go find your Little protection item over there, and then we can set up the plans at the same time?”

“Sounds good,” she said as she picked me up by the armpits and sat me on the ground, “we’ll be back!”

Amanda grabbed my hand and held it as she led me around the store. The position really was awkward for both of us, and I wasn’t sure why she didn’t just pick me up and carry me in the end. However, a part of me did appreciate her treating me a little more maturely even as my arm ached from the position…

We approached aisle seventeen, and I instantly froze as I looked down a row of shelves that looked like something from a high-tech torture store!

Immediately my eyes focused on signs advertising, ‘Shock collars for Little control,’ ‘Sound isolating earbuds – garble language recognition to condition your Little to speak simple baby words only,’ and the horrifying items went on, and on, and on. I found myself gripping Amanda’s hand tighter, and she actually instinctively picked me up and settled me on her hip, “It’s okay, baby.”

I found myself shaking as we walked down an aisle of things I could only have imagined in my nightmares. ‘Special punishment’ tools were organized in a section complete with items that I was sure Chloe probably used on her Littles for ‘release’ and punishment… I wanted to throw up at the sight of most of the items.

An employee in a bright orange polo spotted us and waved, “Can I help you, Ma’am?”

“Umm… I hope so. I’m looking for a tracking device for my little girl here.”

“Oh, well, have you seen our collars?” He said, motioning towards the side, “This latest model is GPS sensitive to punish her if she leaves an area that she’s supposed to be in. It can also put her to sleep by limiting air intake if you need to put her down to nap for a while during a tantrum.” I looked at a pink collar that looked like it belonged on a dog but was covered in lace on the edges. “Or we have…?”

“Umm,” Amanda said, interrupting, “my daughter is not a dog; I’m not a fan of collars.”

“Oh, well… That’s an unusual opinion as they are quite popular right now… but okay, we have these down here,” he said, bringing us to a section that included things that began to look like Fitbit devices back home. “These have most of the same functionality. So they’ll shock her if she misbehaves, leaves an area, and can be paired with some of our anal and vaginal…?”

“Umm… still not what I’m looking for.”

The man was flustered, “Well, what are you looking for?”

“Something she can wear on her wrist that can tell me where she is… maybe she can call me, or I can call her on it?”

“Oh… you’re one of those…” he said condescendingly with a sigh. “Why would you want that?”

“If you can’t help me, I’m sure I can find someone who can? Or maybe another store?” She suggested.

“No, I’ll help you, it’s just weird… It’s not like Littles are intelligent adults or anything…” he muttered the last part.

I bit my tongue and didn’t say anything even as she gave me a tight squeeze, “To each their own. Now, do you have something like I mentioned?”

“Yeah… come on down this way,” he said and led us all the way down the aisle to a small, almost forgotten-looking display.

I looked at a variety of colors of a few styles of devices called, LittleProtect+ that seemed much less intimidating.

I started to read the signs and boxes but was distracted as he began a sales pitch. “These are designed primarily to be a GPS locator for your Little. The bands,” he said as he grabbed a display model, “are made of a high-tech nano-carbon fiber and titanium mesh with silicon covering for comfort. The bands can only be unlocked if the correct password is provided by an authorized device. Attempting to cut the band off will be all but impossible without surgical methods.”

I gulped at that! I looked closer at the small display that reminded me of a cross between a narrow FitBit and an AppleWatch.

“What else does it do?”

“Well, it does more than most parents want, including letting your Little know the time by pressing on it. Of course, it’ll say it for her since Littles can’t read.” I fumed but didn’t say anything, “This one will also let the Little wearing it video call up to four pre-set numbers. It even has an emergency button that will send an emergency alert with the next minute of audio recorded and the location when pressed three times rapidly and then held. You can then determine if it’s a real emergency or just the fact she didn’t like the color of her new diaper.”

I really wanted to hit him then as she asked, “Can I call it if I need to?”

“Oh yes, you can call it and look in on her. You can look up her location at any time too… It even has an option like the better devices marked with GeoFencing and let you know if she goes out of bounds… Sadly it lacks the shock capability, or I think we’d sell a few more.”

“We’ll keep looking at it on our own, thanks,” she told him.

“You don’t need…?”

“No, we’ll be fine,” she said to him.

“Okay, I’ll be down the aisle if you need me.”

When he walked away, I said, “He’s a total ass!”

She smirked at me, “Yes, he is, but mind your manners and language.”

“Yes, Mommy…”

 
 

Chapter 4: Underground
 

AMANDA HUGGED ME, “It looks like this one also does fitness tracking… ooh, how cute! It also has a built-in Tamagotchi-style pet you can take care of. Seems like the best bet to me, and the cellular contract should work well, I hope.”

“It definitely seems to be the most humane …” I noted.

“Sweetie, this could potentially save you if you get kidnapped. We’ll put it on just tight enough you can’t get it off without cutting it off. It says it can last for six months on a charge, so we’ll be able to just leave it on to keep you safe.”

“Watching where I am all the time?” I grumbled.

“And just where do you think you would go?”

I sighed, “I know… just a little big brother’ish to me.”

“I get that…” she admitted, “but you have to admit you are too cute… someone will probably try something every day there at school.”

“Will this at least help make it clear I’m ‘adopted?’” I asked.

“Maybe… It’ll definitely make you safer, so we’re going to get one. What color do you want?”

I looked at the options and then looked down at my most definitely now feminine self. ‘I can give in to my favorite color now, actually,’ I thought to myself. “That purple one,” I said while pointing to the dark purple band.

“Are you sure? Might be hard to coordinate with some of your outfits, the pink might…?”

“Purple,” I told her.

“How about this lighter purple?”

I shook my head, “the dark purple, please.”

She sighed, “I guess I said you could choose.” I watched as she grabbed a box in her left hand and walked around the corner of the aisle and walked around. I figured she did that to avoid the man and the despicable aisle. She carried me back to the man at the counter and once again sat me down on it while he waited on us. The plans were set up for the cell phone and the watch with the carriers.

“Do you want to go ahead and put this on her now?” The man asked, far nicer than the ass in the aisle.

“Sure, what do I have to do with it?” Amanda asked.

I watched as she downloaded the app and connected to it before programming in a password that looked like the standard one around their house. “Hold out your hand, baby,” she told me.

She attached the watch on the opposite wrist from my charm bracelet with my wrist outstretched. The device really wasn’t too much bigger on me than my old AppleWatch was back home. Nevertheless, it felt comfortable, and I watched as some sort of relay on the band closed with the press of a button, and it cinched itself tight to my wrist. “Is that too tight?” She asked.

I felt it with my hand for a moment and realized there was a little bit of give, at least. “I think it’s okay,” I told Amanda.

“Great!” she told me and kissed me on my head. “Try calling me!”

I pressed the simple button to call contacts and depressed, ‘Mommy,’ while noting she had also quickly programmed ‘Daddy’ and ‘Megan’ into it. Instantly I could see her face on my watch, and she could see mine on her phone. We tested it for a second before she hung up on me and said, “Thank you!” to the guy at the counter.

“Any time, thanks for shopping at Motherboards!”

She carried me and the bag with my new phone out to the car, “Okay, one more stop, and then we’ll go home so I can get something going for dinner.”

“Okay,” I told her and began playing with my new watch.

The interface was kludgy and reminded me of something like a Chinese knock-off of a better product, but given the price she’d paid, I knew that couldn’t really be the case. So I pressed the time button and listened as it said that it was “Two-thirty in the afternoon,” in a vaguely Siri-like voice. It was a little motherlike and condescending, though, in its tone. I shrugged that off, though, and pressed the button for ‘Pet’ and a menu came up asking me what kind of pet I would like to raise. I clicked through and decided to raise a tiger-looking creature.

I was apparently pretty enthralled with naming it, feeding it, and a couple other minor parts of the silly game because I was startled when Amanda was suddenly unbuckling me.

“Having fun?” She asked with a smile.

I blushed, “For a little bit, I guess?”

She laughed, “Don’t be embarrassed; I thought it sounded like a cute idea myself.”

“Where are we?”

“Little Notes,” she told me, “it’s an office supply store for Littles. I’m hoping we can find your school supplies and such here.”

“Oh,” I said as she lifted me up and sat me on my own two feet again.

“Hopefully, I don’t bash my head too many times inside…” she grumbled.

“Huh?” I said as she motioned be forward without taking my hand.

She held the door open for me, but I could have reached up and grabbed the handle if I needed to! Instead, it made me look around, and I immediately realized it felt like we were actually back home in my dimension almost. I turned and watched her duck her head and laughed when I saw she had to hunch over to not hit the ceiling with her head.

“Uh-huh, laugh it up, little girl,” she told me while sticking my tongue out.

“Umm… Welcome to Little Notes…” a Little that was about a foot and a half taller than me said as she approached.

“Hi,” I said.

“Umm… not to be rude ma’am, but we don’t get many big folks in here… how can we help you all?”

Amanda nudged me forward, “Stacy needs some supplies for college, and I’m hoping you have some items that are a bit more her size than we can find in a big store.”

“You’re her…?” The girl asked nervously as a man a little taller than her joined her. But then realized the whole store felt much more mom and popish than a chain.

“Foster mother?” I suggested helpfully. “I’m boarding with her and her husband while I go to school in this dimension.”

“That just makes my head hurt,” the man said.

The lady smacked him on the shoulder, “Don’t be rude, you idiot…” she whispered.

For Amanda’s part, she just laughed, “You’re safe from me trying to adopt you. So I don’t wreck half your ceiling, can you help Stacy find the things she needs? I’ll just have a seat over here on the floor while you do so?”

I turned and looked again at Amanda, who looked like an adult who had just managed to squeeze into their child’s treehouse. I turned back at the lady, and she said, “Umm… sure. What school is she going to?”

“Doesn’t my uniform give that away?” I asked.

“It could mean pre-school or elementary school, in all honesty,” the man said kindly to me.

“I’m going to Emerson as a university student,” I told them and decided I was going to take the reins here if Amanda was going to let me. “Can you show me your pens?”

I ended up making a pretty hefty pile during a few trips around the store with the girl’s help. When we were down far from Amanda, though, she asked, “Do you want me to get someone to break you away from her? I have connections in the Littles railroad?”

I shook my head, “No, she really is as good as it’s going to get, and they’re letting me go to school. The deal is that they return me back home when I’m done.”

“Have you taken the CAREs text yet?” She asked nervously.

I looked at her closer and realized she was dressed mainly like an adult in my world with her hair in a low ponytail. She seemed genuinely concerned, “I did, I passed.”

“You passed?!?” she asked, “Only about one in a hundred do that… What did you do?”

“Well, I’m in diapers for the long haul here – it’s one of the things she does want, but her husband’s a doctor, and we used some laxatives and other things to clear me out completely before the test… It sucked, but I watched everyone else get carted, I assume to the nearest orphanage to become a drooling baby.”

She nodded sadly, “It’s a major risk anymore to try and get in. They launched those tests a decade ago, but only last year mandated the no breaks rule… Not many Littles have found out about that yet.”

That confirmed something I had thought about the books being really high on the shelves, “I kind of wondered,” I said as we brought back the fourth stack of notebooks and binders. “How are you still free?”

“I have a few friends that help out… but I wasn’t always free.” She whispered the last part to me, “Right out of high school, one of the Amazons in my class took me as soon as I walked across the stage right in front of my parents.”

My mouth opened, “Oh my God… how’d you get free?”

“It was right when the laws changed the first time to being freer for us… my parents went to court and helped me out since I hadn’t given the girl permission, or cause by wetting my pants or demonstrating any signs of ‘maturosis’ at the time. I still had to be her baby for six months while the case ran its course, lost all of my potty training, only ate baby food and her breast milk. The worst was the clothes she made me wear that didn’t let me so much as crawl… It sucked,” she told me with a lot of pain in her face.

“Sounds like Amanda’s sisters Littles… now there’s a monster. Her one sister has taken all of her girls’ teeth… and done something to them surgically so they can’t walk… one can’t even sit up; it’s scary!”

“Seems like you may have landed one of the few decent ones. Watch her, though… I’m going to give you a card with a number on it. If you get in a jam, send a text, and we can possibly get you in touch with some help.”

“Not sure how much good it’ll do me since the alarms ring the second that I get into the port,” I told her quietly as we finished grabbing the last few things I could think of.

“You’re chipped?” She asked nervously.

“Yeah…”

“Know where?”

“Yes.”

“They can probably help… but that won’t be easy.”

“I figured,” I said.

“Mommy, I think we have it all,” I said to Amanda a moment later, and she came over to use her credit card chip on the reader. The total made my eyes open, but I knew that getting ready for college was expensive.

Amanda grabbed six full bags from the counter, and I grabbed two and led me outside after I said, “Thanks for your help!”

“Thank you all, good luck at school!” she told me.

Amanda placed the bags in the back before settling me back into my car seat. “Thirsty?” she asked me.

I sighed and nodded, “Kind of.”

She dug around underneath me in the diaper bag and handed me a sippy cup. “Here you go.”

I was surprised it wasn’t a bottle but didn’t want to make her change her mind, so I took it and said, “Thanks,” to her. The apple juice inside did taste delicious, and I reflected that today had so far been a very odd day.

 

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