Re-engineering the ring

I had to get my mind off things. For the next few days, I redesigned the ring from scratch. I didn’t really expect it to be anything special. The market is already swamped with massagers and vibrators, so this was just for fun.

I 3D printed a new ring that would fit perfectly on my index and middle fingers together just like Mike’s design. I made several upgrades. I ordered a custom rechargeable battery that took up about half of the ring’s interior. It was rechargeable through two small recessed pins on the inside of the ring which sat on a custom dock I created for it. I used the same piezo/vibrator layout, but I used a brass inlay to transfer the electric shocks to the target area instead of the bare wires Mike used.

It turned on the first try when I inserted my fingers into it. It hummed to life with a very musical… calming tone. I programmed the vibration to slowly vary in intensity and frequency using a randomly generated algorithm. I was lucky to generate one that worked well, but I had no idea just how lucky.

I started up a timer to measure battery time and gave it a test. I tested on my arm first. Surprisingly, it felt really interesting. The shocks were subtle. They reminded me of a shock treatment I had in physical therapy one time. Coupled with the vibrations it was pretty nice. I moved it up to the back of my neck where it was sore from bad posture. It felt really really calming there.

“Earth to Clayton!” Caitlin yelled and startled me.

“Oh hey Caitlin, sorry I was testing this massager out,” I said surprised, “what can I do for you?”

“It apparently works pretty well,” she said laughing, “I hate to ask, but would you change the bandsaw blade for me”

“No, but I’ll help you do it whenever you want.”

She cut herself slightly last time she changed the blade herself, and she’d been frightened of it since then. Caitlin was very good at running most of the machinery, but she didn’t trust the bandsaw anymore. I can’t blame her, I don’t trust the lathe personally.

Caitlin was about average height, maybe 5’-5”I’d never seen her wearing anything but our company coveralls, but I bet she was hiding a really nice figure. I’d definitely have to pursue her after I got over Kelly someday.

I helped her change the blade and she asked me about the massager so I offered to show her. I started on her arm.

“Wow! That feels really good actually,” she said after shivering slightly, “you made this?”

“Yes I did, it was actually Mike’s project that he gave up on.” I said while moving the ring up her arm towards her shoulder, “I gave him a bunch of advice that he didn’t take. I figured I’d see if my advice was any good.” I moved it to the back of her neck. “What do you think?”

Caitlin didn’t respond, her eyes looked unfocused. I guessed she was really enjoying the ring. I thought to myself that I might need to actually sell these things.

Caitlin’s was very pretty I’d never noticed how big and deep green her eyes were, or how cute her nose was. Some girls had cute faces, some were sexy, some were just plain. Caitlin had an adorable, almost innocent look to her, but with a hint of mischievousness… if that makes any sense. Honestly, it was probably just my slight obsession with redheads talking.

I absentmindedly moved the ring up her neck to just behind her ear. Her mouth parted just a little and she looked almost hypnotized. It was kind of a turn-on, but I tried to ignore it.

“Caitlin, I’m glad you asked me for help with the bandsaw today,” I said nicely, “you should always feel comfortable with me helping you.”

I was cringing for a minute at how I said that when she suddenly said in a slightly monotone voice “I always feel comfortable with you helping me.”

Just then the battery died, her eyes regained focus, and I quickly moved my hand.

“That works really well Clayton, you should make more of these,” Caitlin said as she hopped up out of my office chair. “And thanks for helping me with the bandsaw. I don’t normally ask others for help, I’m very independent you know! But I think I’m actually comfortable with your help.” With that, she turned in went back to the machine shop to clean up.

“That was weird,” I thought to myself. First I dazed off when using it, then Caitlin did. And she parroted back what I said to her in monotone. Then after it died she immediately woke up like nothing happened.

“There’s no way this actually hypnotizes people,” I whispered to myself “I’ve got to test this out some more.”

First I checked the timer on my phone. The battery died after about 35 minutes. Which is pretty impressive for that small of a device. Next, I checked the security camera footage from when I was using it before Caitlin woke me up.

“No way!” I said in disbelief. I sat completely still for 5 minutes with the ring on my neck before Caitlin woke me. I didn’t remember more than 1 second of that time.