Phase 1 of the procedure is like something from a dream... or a nightmare!

Doctor Tolstoy couldn't think of a single good thing that could happen after her colleague, Dotford, pulled that odd switch, which looked something like the electric breaker from an old mad scientist movie. Had she really designed something that looked like that? Why would it be placed on the wall opposite the console? The disturbing feeling that something was "off" pervaded her thoughts, every bit as unpleasant as the old thudding she'd felt when Zauber was around, if not quite as physically disorienting. It was as if she'd been pit against some new kind of opponent. She was genius enough to tell something was wrong, but not supernaturally gifted in any way that would let her know the exact source of her problems: she was in a nightmare!

An alarm began to buzz inside the clean room, just loud enough to be annoying without hurting the ears, necessarily. What would she be greeted with next? Was the whole box-shaped area of the room about to be flash-fried, like they used to resort to when they were ready to dispose of test material? Would she be cut apart by a grid of lasers? Would she simply be blasted with cleaning solution?

As it turned out, the answer was none of the above. Several hands on metallic tubes sprung from where the flame-throwers in the room ought to be. Doctor Tolstoy had just enough time to dodge the grasp of one, kick another, and question who would have installed such an absurd mechanism. There was no reason to have something like this to hold a person in place inside a room that allowed no exit to begin with...!

One of the hands she hadn't seen behind her caught hold of her slender ankle as she lifted her leg to perform a martial arts kick on the one that was visible. As that one hand held her leg lifted up, she hopped on one foot indignantly for a moment, then found herself seized by more of them, pulling at her arms and legs. Finally, after struggling for a while and complaining loudly to her subordinate, she was left spread eagle and suspended mid-air by a series of six hands, grasping her wrists, ankles, and shoulders. Irritably, the doctor thrashed, looking down her nose and past the significant hill of her breasts to watch her amazingly aloof colleague manipulate switches behind the glass. "You absolute bastard, Dotford!" Janet's face reddened as she noted the position of her legs... it turned out that it was a pretty good thing she'd chosen not to wear mini-skirts after all. "Do I really look like I'm contaminated by Zauber?!" Her boobs swung alluringly in her turtleneck as she twisted her torso left and right, trying to find some weakness in the machine.

"I'm not so careless I'd trust a visual inspection at this point, Doctor Tolstoy. I'll leave nothing to chance. You have to recognize that Zauber followed you off the planet earth... if that wasn't enough, don't forget that you were on an alien planet for an indeterminate amount of time and even interacted with living creatures there. The fact that you're not willingly submitting to the cleaning procedure... I've got to say: it's a little suspicious." The man adjusted his glasses once again, staring into the chamber with an unreadable expression.

"I told you I don't need the damn cleaning procedure! I didn't come into contact with Zauber or any aliens! The atmosphere was exactly the same as Earth's! I-!" the doctor managed to howl in rage, before her words were cut off by a gasp of surprise. The hands holding her suspended midair had twisted, holding her now so that her body was sideways; her glasses immediately fell from her face and hit upon the floor of the chamber. "If those are broken, I swear, Dotford...!" While her exposed eyes squinted angrily, she watched another set of gloved, robotic hands hesitantly pick up the spectacles... then a flamethrower head extended itself from the wall. It quickly doused the item in flames, until it fell into a molten pile. Doctor Tolstoy's eyes widened in terror and recognition. "Dotford, wait! This isn't the traditional cleaning procedure, right?! What routine is this?!"

"No, ma'am. Really, it wouldn't make a lot of sense if Tolstoy Sciences continued doing everything by the book, after the mess you got us all into, would it?" For the first time, the man allowed a tone of accusation to enter his voice. "We're going to do things differently."

"This is too different!" As she shouted that, the hands suddenly jumped, pulling her feet into the air and letting her messy blond hair hang beneath her, trailing against the floor of the chamber. Wordlessly, the machine pulled her free of her boots, shaking her legs until her black stocking feet popped out. They weren't sexy socks; they were the thick socks of a workman headed to another planet. Next, the hands alternated holding her arms and pulling on her gloves. Despite her attempt to make a fist with each hand, the mechanical appendages ultimately got those off too. Those boots and gloves were like trusty companions that had survived a zombie apocalypse and a trip to outer space! Mere moments later, they were reduced to ash and cinders.

As one pair of hands began to wiggle her free of her labcoat, and another pulled free the loop of her belt, she realized they were inching closer to dangerous territory. With her cheek resting against the floor now and her legs kicking the air uselessly, the CEO of Tolstoy Sciences appealed to her scientist colleague one more time. "This is ridiculous! Look at this stupid position the machine's got me in! It's really been programmed to do this?! Why are you still watching, anyway?! Wait, what the hell are all of you people doing here, anyway?!" The more she complained, the worse the situation seemed to become. Several other scientists she recognized had joined Dotford Lang at some point and now watched the chamber in interest, as the doctor's slender shoulders were pulled free from her coat and her belt was whipped off her waist. The flamethrowers went to work burning their newly claimed items; the coat took a lot of burning, seeing as it was designed to resist flames. The doctor had expected the smell of smoke and the fumes of burnt plastics were going to start making her light-headed, but oddly, found that sensation strangely missing. Come to think of it, against all odds, the machine hadn't hurt her spinning her around yet, either.

But that was small comfort with a room full of her colleagues watching this happen!

"We think, given the circumstances, it's best to assign as many observers to this cleaning as possible."

"As your boss, the CEO, I'm telling you, this shouldn't be happening and it most certainly does not require a viewing party! I- eeek!" While the boss was busy protesting, the hands had moved on to items that couldn't be removed while maintaining a professional appearance. One set busily hoisted her red sweater over her sweater-puppies, revealing first a surprisingly toned, bare abdomen, then her amazing bosom, clad in a red, lace bra. The sweater ended up wrapped around her face, while, at the same time, two more had shrugged her slim-fitting pants down past her hips so that they rested at her thighs, revealing a matching, low-rise set of panties that hugged the doctor's impressive derriere.

It was no secret that despite being a prickly, impersonal woman, the boss had always been the kind of CEO who liked to dress to impress, even down to the parts that she didn't show to people. This lingerie showed off far too much of the body she'd managed to keep honed by responding to the dangers of a zombie apocalypse. The doctor kicked her legs and flailed her fists, but despite all the resistance, both the sweater and pants came off soon enough, leaving her only her underwear. "N-N-Nonsense! Ridiculous! None of you should be watching this! I-I'm going to fire every one of you if you don't leave! You all are being insufferable perverts!" In spite of her attempts to remain dignified, the woman ended up giving them all a fantastic show, twisting her captive body this way and that so that the sides and back of her panties were displayed and her breasts flailed with impressive gravity.

Doctor Lang sighed, then placed his hand on the shoulder of an especially large, black gentleman to his right, who was watching with a similar, unfeeling frown. Frankly, it was hard to make out his face without her glasses, but she'd recognize that huge body of his anywhere. After all, it was the favorite host body that Zauber had picked out after first raiding their laboratory. "You remember this man, right? This is Doctor Bennet. How many times did you see his naked body when you confronted Zauber, Doctor?"

"Th-That's... Entirely different!" Janet's lips trembled as she felt the hands reaching for her last remaining garments, pinching the back of her ruby red bra and the sides of her panties. She had sworn that she'd never forget the debt that she owed humanity... but this was way too embarrassing of a way to repay humanity! If this went any further, she was going to be out of clothes to burn!

"Hmm... Fine. Don't worry. We aren't going to see every part of you, Doctor Tolstoy. I think it's significantly too early in the dream for that, anyways."

Janet raised an eyebrow again. She was happy to hear she was off the hook somehow, but Doctor Lang had said something strange just now, hadn't he? The doctor's chest rose and fell with her panicked breaths as she shook loose strands of her bright, blond hair from her face.

"We're going to move on to phase two; it's the final step of the cleaning before we can release you."