Ten Days Naked in the Lab, Part 3

by Pulsar

The next morning after that night we got to watch a movie, me lying naked on the floor near Jessica, we were awaken as usual. I guess I never got used to getting out of bed completely naked and NOT putting on clothes. The only thing that greets you in the morning in that windowless room is nineteen other naked girls. They lined us up and took us to the bathroom, all of us anxious to go. But since there were only eight stalls, we had to wait our turn standing barefoot out in the hallway on the cold tile. Well, the bathroom had rubber mats down on the floor and at least they were very clean and smelled like pine and lemon cleaner.

But then they filed us in for breakfast. We had waffles and sausage, which were pretty good. I'm not sure if the GA's themselves did the cooking for if someone else was back there making the food for us, but we never saw any kitchen staff behind the closed doors. But after breakfast, they marched us naked back into the big carpeted lounge room. However, I didn't get to stay because a GA called out my name with the first group.

And like before, she took me down the hallway to the rows of small rooms. Once inside, I was just standing their next to the spanking bench while she bent down to examine my bottom. "Does your bottom still hurt from yesterday?" she asked as I felt her fingertips gently moving over my butt cheeks.

"Nuh-uh," I assured her.

"How long did it hurt after your last spanking was over with?" she asked.

"Mmmm, I dunno," I mumbled. "Maybe five… ten minutes." And so she put some fresh paper down and had me straddle the bench again. She told me it was going to be a little different this time. She asked me if I were willing to try to take it harder to see if I could 'wet' and cry at the same time. She told me I didn't have to, but if I tried, I'd get put in a 'special' test group. She wouldn't tell me what that would mean or what'd I'd get to do, but I said 'Okay,' hoping I wouldn't regret it later on.

And for the first part, it was like the other times. She would spank with the paddle a few times, and then tickle my crack and hole. And as the spanks got harder, her tickling made me keep humping the bench, keeping my swollen privates wet and tingly!

"Now, this is gonna hurt more!" she finally warned after a while, even though my bottom already had a warm sting to it. Yet before she swung the paddle, I felt her finger really caress and tease me back there! I then felt a few hard swats, as if I were getting punished! "Ooooow!" I whined with each one, humping the bench furiously. But after four spanks, she teased and tickled my little butt hole again.

"Do you feel like crying?" she asked.

"M… maybe," I wheezed as I struggled to hold back tears.

But she only tickled the inside of my hole. "Does this make you want to wet?" she then asked.

"Oh yeah," I replied with a grunt as I gave the bench one hard hump. "It feels really good!" I confessed.

"Okay, but I also need you to take it hard enough to cry," she said, "and then I'll need you to wet the bench for me!"

"Do it a little harder," I dared to mumble. "Make it hurt a little more!"

And so I felt a few more wiggles of her finger before she pulled out and rubbed my burning buns with the paddle. And then, 'WHAP!' It took half a second before the burning sting from the swat soaked in, but soon my eyes were tearing up. 'WHAP!' I felt another. The hot searing sting sent my humping the bench, causing me to whine as I was starting to cry. Yet she gave my crack and hole another tickle, before I felt another 'WHACK!' on my bottom. "Eeeee!" I whined as I began to cry.

This went on a few times, her giving me two hard spanks and then teasing me. Although it really hurt, her caressing fingers kept my privates throbbing so much that in spite of my sore bottom, I felt the warm flush within building up again. Soon, each hard swat from the paddle would send the shockwaves through my wet cunny and throbbing clit. Finally, after one last touch from her finger, I burst! Although I was crying and my eyes soaked with tears, I felt myself explode again into pulses of that wonderful feeling. As I had the second burst, I felt the paddle slap my bottom right at the same time, which only seemed to make it more pleasurable. But after that, the spanking stopped.

After a few moments, I calmed down again, yet had left the paper quite soaked. But soon she removed the wire from my wrist and looked at the long paper strip of the wiggly lines for a few seconds, before writing more notes down on her clipboard.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Mmmm, okay, I guess," I mumbled as I wiped the remaining tears from my eyes. But she grabbed a tissue and wiped them for me.

"How bad would you say your bottom hurts right now?" she asked.

"Oh… a lot right now… kinda like a bunch of needles jumping up and down!"

And so she leaned down and started rubbing my bottom, which I imagined was pretty red by now. "And how did it feel when you wet?" she asked.

"Mmm, good," I mumbled. "It felt kinda better, sorta… I dunno? Like the more the spanking hurts, the better the wetting feels!"

"I see," replied the GA, pausing to write more notes on her clipboard.

But… y'know…" I said, and then stopped.

"Yes, hon?"

"Well… I don't think you ladies should spank that girl Jessica that hard. She's only eight and it would really hurt her and make her cry a lot and she'd be… well… scared and all that."

"Oh, I see," replied the GA with interest as she scribbled more notes! "Well… I'll definitely let them know how you feel. I'm glad you're worried about little Jessica, but you can be assured that we're not gonna do anything bad to her! She'll be okay! " And so she wrote a few more notes down before helping me off the bench. She wadded up the paper where sat my slippery puddle. "You did very well!" she did say with a smile. And so she added a red plastic band around my wrist, next to the blue one and took me back to the lounge.

There I sat on the soft carpet on my sore tingly bottom in front of the TV for a while. But as rubbed my hot buns against the floor, the pain seemed to fade into a pleasant warmth. After a short while, I heard the door open and in walked little naked Jessica. I didn't want to stare, but I kept my eyes on her long enough to see the color of her bottom. When she went past, I saw two hot-pink ovals on her little round butt cheeks! I felt bad for her, but at the same time, I felt a drop leak onto the rug from my crotch. Her freshly spanked bottom looked so darling! And on her wrist, she wore a red bracelet as well. Oh, poor Jess! Why'd they paddle her so hard?. I figured she must have been bawling! Yet she looked okay now, as if she'd simply come in off the playground. I was just wishing she needed me to hug and console her, yet she showed not particular interest in anyone. However, she did sit down on the floor almost in front of me to watch the TV. I could just barely see the redness on her bottom, yet I did notice her squirming about on the carpet, just like I had done. So I knew exactly how she felt and what she was doing!

After a few moments, I dared to scoot a little closer to her. "Did you cry?" I whispered as loud as a dared, hoping she would hear me.

"None of your beeswax!" she whispered back.

"Brat!" I softly mumbled. "Did you wet all over the paper?"

"None o' yer beeswax!" she mumbled again.

"I bet you did," I whispered. "I bet it didn't take long, either!" But she only glanced back at me and stuck out her tongue. "And you probably wish someone would rub the sting out of your red bare bottom right now… maybe tickle your hole, too!"

"Go 'way!" she whispered. "Don't get us in trouble!" And with that, she leaned forward and covered her ears with her hands as she sat in front of the TV. Gee, what a brat! Why do I bother… but still, she is so cute and has such an angelic naked body! And to think I took up for her and told the GA that she shouldn't be spanked hard. Well, at least now I knew she deserved it.

But the time passed by in the lounge, how much I don't know. Other naked kids came and went. But to my surprise, two scrub-clad GA's appeared at the door with clipboards and called out five names. "Paula, Jessica, Amber, Angie, and Shannon!" Yes, that was my name in the bunch. What did they want with five of us together? However, four other naked girls began to gather around so I stood up from the carpet and gathered around them. "Hi!" said the Asian GA. "We need you five girls to come with us, preeze!"

And so the five of use walked naked down the hall, barefoot over the cold tile again. One thing I noticed is that we all had both blue and red bracelets on our wrists. None of us said a word as we followed the two GA's around the corner, past an open set of double-doors and into another room. There sat five small plastic 'kiddie' chairs like you see in a school library, only each one had that paper on the seats. In front of them sat a spanking bench. However, there were those machines all over the place. "Have a seat girls," said the Asian GA. Wordlessly, we all sat down, rather curious as to what they were gonna do. But the blonde GA went behind us, rolling the machines around, before coming around to the front.

"Hi girls," said the blonde GA as she glanced down at her clipboard. "I see we have one eleven-year-old, a ten-year-old (me), two nine-year-olds, and an eight-year-old (that was Jessica!)," she said as she made a few marks. "Okay, girls, we're gonna do five at a time this morning before lunch. What we're gonna do first is to show you one of these." With that, she opened up the drawer of the small cabinet in the room and took out a plastic thingy-ma-bob that kinda looked like a 'T' with a small ball at the end of the long part. "You kids haven't seen one of these, and you really shouldn't have either… I hope! This this called a 'rectal plug!' It goes in your bottom, just like a thermometer, but as you can see, it's a little bigger." Suddenly, I heard a faint round of gasps among us girls, just loud enough to hear. "This little ball part on the end keeps it from falling out," she explained as she pointed. "This other end here like a 'T' is a safety stop, which keeps it from going in too far. We're going to put one in each of you to see how long you can wear them. They're not gonna hurt, so just try to relax. And, we have different sizes to keep it from hurting the smaller girls, while the bigger girls might need one a little bigger."

With that, the Asian GA produced a jar of lubricant from the drawer and popped the lid off with a noisy 'ploop!' She picked up the clipboard and pointed to something to the blonde GA. "Okay, Paula! Why don't you get on the bench first because you're the oldest one here and probably the bravest!"

"Okay," she mumbled without much hesitation. And so I watched as Paula stood up and approached the spanking bench rather relaxed. Not only was she the oldest, but also the tallest of all the girls who were test subjects. She was even a little tall for an eleven-year-old with a wiry body. Her legs were long and skinny and even her bare bottom looked like two small melons squished together. Yet she mounted the bench quickly and grabbed onto the handles with out a word. Next, the blonde GA hooked the machine to her wrist and turned in on, so the paper would start slowly coming out with the squiggly lines on it.

But then the Asian GA came around and hooked our wrists up too. But we couldn't see the machines because the were behind us. Then, she walked over to stand next to Paula and the blonde GA. I could see Paula then twisting her head around to look back to see what they were going to do to her.

"Just relax, hon," said the Asian GA as she patted her on the shoulder.

"Take a deep breath, dear," added the blonde GA as her hand gently caressed over her skinny bottom. "C'mon, relax," she coaxed as she patted and rubbed those bare pale butt cheeks. I could see Paula tighten her bottom up for a second, and then relax. But then the Asian GA dipped the plug into the greasy lube and handed it to the blonde. "Relax, hon," coaxed the blonde again as she poked the plug at that small pink puckered opening.

"Oooooh," moaned Paula as her eyes clenched tightly shut and her mouth fell open, revealing her shiny silvery braces.

"Relax and it won't hurt!" assured the GA. "It just might feel a little cold at first!" And with that, I watched that round part slowly vanish into her pucker. I could see Paula's toes curl up as the blonde pushed it in very slowly . We could all hear the squishing sound of the lube as it went deeper.

"Mmmmph!" moaned Paula as it went in further, yet she held very still.

"Does that hurt, Paula?" asked the blonde.

"No! But it's cold!" she said. "It's tickling me!"

"Is it hurting you in any way?" asked the Asian.

"No," moaned Paula with a heavy breath. "It's… it's making me get the paper wet!"

"Don't worry about that. Just relax," assured the blonde as she pushed it all the way in, and then gave that skinny bare bottom a few pats. "There we go! Now just take a few deep breaths!"

"Oooh!" cooed Paula as I saw her give the bench a hump! And she really went down hard against the paper. "Ooooh! Aaaah!" she grunted with eyes tightly shut. "It feels kinda weird!" Yes! In that short amount of time, I could see her skinny little cunny lips go from a shade of pale to cherry-red as they began to swell and puff out.

"Well, let us know if it starts to hurt," said the blonde GA.

"Mmmm, it sorta tickles!" she said as she squirmed all over the bench, shamelessly forcing her clit to rub hard into it. "Oooh! Uugh! It makes… (-grunt-) It makes me kinda want a hard spankin'!"

"Well, we'll test that shortly," replied the blonde GA as she gave her bottom another pat. But then, she tapped on the end of the plug with her fingernail, a pattern like a 'tap-tap-tap.'

"Oooo!" cried Paula as she gave the bench another hump and a hug. I quickly glanced over at the other girls, all who sat bare naked in the chairs with legs tightly crossed! I too found a slight comfort in tightly crossing my legs and squeezing hard with my inner thighs!

But soon the blonde GA was teasing her bare bottom with the thin but hard wooden paddle. She would lightly rub it around those skinny buttcheeks and then give a few light taps, before rubbing again. Occasionally, she would tap the plug with the side of the paddle, causing her to squirm a lot. But then, she gave a few taps and a rub on the left buttcheek in preparation to swat her for real. 'POP!' went the paddle, leaving a hot pink splotch on that otherwise pale buttock. "Ssssss!" hissed Paula, biting her lower lip. 'POP!' The paddle struck her right side, now leaving two pink ovals on her bottom. Smack! Smack! Whack! Crack! The paddle struck her four more times, alternating sides, reddening her bottom very quickly. But after that, the GA tapped the plug a few times and rubbed her red bottom with the flat of the wood, before spanking her some more. "Ooowww! Ooooh! Eeeee! (-gasp!-)" she cried as she took her spanking. "Oooow! Aaayeee!" she continued, until the GA paused to rub her bottom again and tap on the end of the pink plug in her bottom. By now, I noticed that girlish scent lingering in the room and couldn't help but wonder if the others had noticed it too.

"How's your bottom feel?" she asked as she rubbed her bottom in small circles. "How bad would you say this hurts!"

"It stings a lot!" confessed Paula as she squirmed about. "But it should be harder! It's not gonna make me cry!"

"Okay, relax the best you can," said the GA, before swinging the paddle again.

"Oooow! Aaayeee! Oooh!" cried Paula as she madly humped the bench. She was throwing her head back, nearly looking up at the ceiling. Her humps were so strong she was nearly forcing herself up from the bench. "Ooooh! Aaaah!" she panted and grunted. "It's gonna make me wet! It's gonna make me wet!"

"Don't worry about wetting, Paula. Just relax the best you can and try to take the spanking!" And with that, she swung the paddle again.

And it didn't take long before Paula was crying out and nearly forcing her crotch of the bench with each hump! "Ooooh! Oooh! I'm gonna wet! I'm gonna wet!" she shrieked in a high voice as she humped the bench for dear life. And only a few moments later, she cried out in a peculiar moan and threw her head way back. Suddenly her body jolted as she gasped for air. "Aaaaagh!" she cried out before suddenly making a gurgling sound. Her eyes nearly rolled back into her head as she nearly humped the bench in a standing position. It was pretty obvious she was having a big 'wetting!' And even the lines on the machine she was hooked up to went way high! "Ooooh!" she cried once she could breath again. "I've soaked the paper!" she confessed.

It must have taken her another minute to finally calm down. But then the two GA's removed the wrist strap that hooked her to the machine and helped her off the bench. Poor Paula wobbled on her long thin (but pretty) legs, still not quite back to normal after her huge explosive wetting. "Oooh, it feels weird when I walk," she said with a breathy voice as she staggered back to her chair with the plug still in her. But she sat down as if she wanted to sleep. However, there were four more of us sitting there, just waiting to see who'd be called next, kinda like prisoners in a dungeon waiting for the hangman to call their names. The next five seconds seemed like five years as the Asian GA read her clipboard. "Okay… Jessica! Why don't you get on the bench please!"

YES! Just the thought of her going next made my nether regions tingle. Finally, I'd get to see that mysterious part of her, and what she was really like! And so she stood up. However,the paper from he chair stuck to he bottom! She reached back to peel it off. But when she set it back on her seat, I saw a little wet spot right where her little cunny would have been! But Jessica didn't notice and only approached the bench nervously with her hands over her private parts. But at this point, I saw her from behind. There she stood with those two round bare buns facing us, looking up into the GA's eyes. "Me?" she said with a little apprehension, yet with a little longing as well.

And to our amazement, the Asian GA held up a small rectal plug right in front of her and began to lube it up. "Yes, Jessica. On the bench please. This part won't hurt!" And after watching with wide eyes as the GA spread gel over the very plug that was about to go into her, she turned and climbed up onto the bench and grabbed the handles. As the blonde GA strapped the cord to her wrist, Jessica too turned around to see what was going on behind her. As the GA leaned town to place her hands on that small but rounded bare butt, those two buttocks clenched up tight to half their size. Oh, what a shapely bottom she had!

"Relax, honey!" said the Asian GA as she gave those pale globes a few pats, followed by a couple of rubs and then a squeeze. "Just relax and take a deep breath."

Jessica took a breath and bit her lip, still looking back over her shoulder. But once the tip of the plug touched her puckering pink hole, she flinched again with an "mmmph!"

"Relax dear!" coaxed the GA again, before slowly pushing it in.

"Ooooh!" cried Jessica as she humped the bench, her toes curling up in reaction.

But soon her little hole swallowed up the ball-shaped tip. Once again, we could hear the squishy sound of the gel as it slowly slid into place. "Aaaah! Oooh! That tickles!" she cried. "It feels weird!"

"Does it hurt?" asked the GA.

"No, it doesn't hurt! Feels kinda nice in my bottom," she mumbled in a high childish voice.

And of course, the blonde GA was writing like crazy on the clipboard. Seems like that is all they ever did was write down everything we said or did. "Okay good. Just try to relax and take a few deep breaths." And with that, she rubbed and squeezed Jessica's little buttocks.

"Mmmmm! Ooooh!" she moaned as she slowly thrust against the bench. Whenever her butt-cheeks would tighten up, they would all but hide the tip of her plug. "Ooooh! Oooh, this is gonna make me wet!" she whined.

"Oh? Do you like wetting?" asked the GA.

"Mmm, I guess. Feels real good when I do!"

"Well, you know by now that it's okay if you do," assured the GA.

By now, she started humping the bench rhythmically. "Ooooh! Aaaah! G'me the spankin' before I wet!" she begged.

And with that, the Asian GA picked up the paddle as the blonde one kept writing notes on her clipboard. She rested the paddle against her flexing buns and gave a few light taps. "So, how hard do you think you can take it now, Jessica?" asked the GA.

"Oooh! Uhhh!" grunted Jessica as she humped. "Uh… kinda hard, I guess!"

Suddenly, she tapped on the plug with the paddle. "Okay, are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," mumbled Jessica nervously.

And so the GA gave her a few rubs and taps before really swinging the paddle. POP! "Eeeee! POP! "Oooow! SMACK! "Aaaaah!" And in spite of her small size and young age, she took each swat without a lot of fuss. She simply hung onto the handles and humped away at the bench very rapidly, crying out with each swat. And soon her pale bottom sat covered with red splotches. Her spanking didn't last long before her moans grew louder and she rocked her head back. "Ooooh! Ooooh! I'm gonna wet! I'm gonna wet!" she cried out. And after a few more slaps from the paddle on her red bottom, and then a few taps on her plug, she squealed out loud. Her whole body trembled as her mouth fell wide open. Suddenly, her little body jolted as she cried out. Her breaths were short and heavy with each pulse. Once again, the room smelt like 'girl' and we could her a slight squishing as she humped the wet paper on the bench. And the squiggly lines on the machine went way up high. "Ooooh gaaawwd! I'm squirtiiinnng!" she cried out. "This feels really good!" And so she humped the bench as hard and fast as her little body could until it all got out of her system. Then, she collapsed as if having run a mile and tried to catch her breath. Once again, it took both GA's to help her up. She wobbled back to her chair and fell into it with a heavy sigh.

At that point, the blonde picked up the clipboard again. "Okay then… who's brave enough to go next?!"

I shyly began to raise my had, but the other two girls' hands shot up right away, waving them around as if saying, 'Me! Me!' But somehow, I was chosen, which probably was good because by now, I was so hard and tingly from watching the first two, especially Jessica, that I desperately needed relief anyway. And it only made the tingling more intense when she started to lube up that plug right in front of me as I approached her. And so I mounted the bench and I too turned back to watch the GA lube up the plug. I moaned as well once I felt the gel-coated tip tickling the outside of my bottom hole. I grit my teeth as it went in, but soon, I felt full up with that plug in my rear after it slowly slid in! "Ooooh gaawwd," I moaned with a gasp. "I feel it deep inside me! Gi'me a really hard spanking before I wet!" I begged.

"Are you saying you don't want to wet?" asked the GA.

"Not yet!" I said with a gasp. But…I'm about to already!"

"Well… okay," replied the GA. "This is gonna leave a really hot sting!"

And soon I felt the paddle lightly tapping and rubbing my bottom in preparation. A few seconds later I felt a hard 'SMACK!' on my left cheek. "Oooow!" I cried as shockwaves traveled up my spine and through my tingling crotch, and all around the plug. It took a second for the sting to soak in completely. It burned like fire, but the plug inside me kept me hot and wet! 'SMACK!' went the paddle again, this time on my right side. To shake the sting out, I had to hump hard and fast. But after only a few more of these, I felt that warm glow building up inside my tummy again as my crotch began to feel really good! And then, I felt a few quick taps on the plug which tickled inside me. "Ooooh! Aaaah!" I cried out as I thrust hard on the bench, humping it furiously. It only took a few more swats before I could not stop from wetting if I wanted to! The warm tingly flush was all over my body and I could feel the explosion just about to happen. "Aaaah! Oooh! Ooooh-gaawwd!" I screeched out loud, expecting to burst any minute. But it took about two more seconds before it finally came. I felt my body jolt on the bench! The first explosion was so strong it hurt my stomach a little. I could feel the electric shock go up my back. But it came in spurts as it felt like I was gushing on the paper. Perhaps it was just a few drops, but I could feel my little bald pussy lips pulsating as if they were trying to eat the paper itself.

Once I calmed down, I finally realized how hot and sore my bottom was. It felt like a zillion needles were bouncing on my buns like a trampoline. But the GA's hand began to slowly rub it away as I tried to catch my breath. "Ooooh! Ooooh!" I moaned as I desperately tried to suck in air. "Ooooh, what a spankin'!" I mumbled. I think I might have been slobbering a little. But soon they helped me off the bench.

I guess I was too worn out pay too close attention to Shannon's ride on the bench, but see was the same as us as far as the moaning. She seemed to wet very quickly because she wasn't on there very long. And so Amber went last. I guess after watching for other girls get the treatment she was gonna eventually get herself, she too wet very quickly. But her session left her with a glowing red bottom like everyone else's.

And soon the unhooked us again from the machines. They made their notes on the clipboards and took those long strips of paper that came out of those machines and made some notes on them as well, before folding them up and putting them in folders. "Okay girls, you all did very well!" said the Asian GA. "It now lunch time! Preeze do not try to take the plugs out! If you need bathroom, ask any of us GA's and we will help you. Okay?"

And so we all nodded in agreement. And so they took us back down the hallway of cold floor tile. Walking with that plug stuck in my rear was quite a weird feeling, yet it seemed to massage my butt as we went. Soon, we were in the cafeteria to the smell of corn dogs and fries cooking. As the other kids began to gather, I dared to peek to get a look at their bottoms. Some of them had plugs too, but not all of them. But we grabbed our plates as the GA's served us and sat down on the girls' side of the room. By now, I realized just how strange it felt to sit in a chair with that thing deep inside me. I kept squirming about in order to make it rub against my insides. I noticed just how much the other girls from our session were twitching too… especially Jessica who sat right across the table from me. I waited until she took a bite before I mumbled, "I saw you wet the bench!"

"So?" she said with a mouthful. "I saw you too!"

Brat! I knew she'd say that. But still, it was fun to tease her about it. Anyway, we all ate quietly with hardly any talking. The lunch room was mainly full of the occasionally whispering and mumbling. But after we finished, they took us back into the lounge. Some kids were called back right away, but there were about twenty of us left in the lounge to wait. Jessica soon laid down on the carpeting to watch the TV again. She was on her tummy now, which left the pink tip of her plug showing rather well. I picked up a book for a few moments, before daring to approach her. I grabbed a wooden ruler from a table and sat down just within arm's reach of her. Taking a deep breath, I reached out and tapped her plug with it.

"Mmmfph!" she mumbled as she flinched. "Quit it!" But without a word, I did it again. She flinched again and humped the carpet once. "Stop!" she protested, just above a whisper. But I did it yet again, this time tickling her crack with the ruler tip after tapping on her plug. She not only flinched and humped, but kicked her feet a few times against the floor. "Mmmmph!" she mumbled again. "Don't!" she said with a breathy whisper, just barely loud enough for me to hear. I looked up once so see if the other kids were paying attention, and if the GA who sat at the desk in the room was looking at me. But seeing that everyone was looking elsewhere, I tapped her plug again, this time a little harder. I quickly tickled her crack with the ruler and then gave two pats on her bottom, right where a fading red spot still remained. "Aaaah!" she whispered as she squirmed about on the carpet, her butt-cheeks clenching up tight with a hard thrust. But this time, she didn't protest or tell me to stop or anything. However, I didn't want to be seen doing this to her so I scooted away and began to watch the TV. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jessica looking at me, perhaps wondering why I had stopped!