Jaye Michael

PART ONE: EVOLUTION

Chapter Five: Cossets and Cossacks

Half the work that is done in this world
is to make things appear what they are not.
– Ails Root Beadle

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 5:45 P.M., 1661 112TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Dr. Herbert Harriman stood on the stoop of his brownstone slowly shaking his head while examining at the demolished door to his house. Wondering what was left inside, he trudged through the shattered door and into the darkened hallway. Just as he was about to flick on the hall lights a voice called out, “Please, don’t.” It sounded like a man’s voice–but a vaguely familiar one.

“Who’s there?”

“Don’t be frightened. Please. I’m unarmed.”

“Who’s frightened? Come out where I can see you or I’ll call the police.”

“Please,” the voice sounded scared and desperate. “Don’t do that. I need your help. Kay?”

“Then answer my question. Who are you?”

“Please. I promise you I’ll tell you, but first come into the kitchen and sit down. Kay?” A dark shape moved through the kitchen door. Curiosity peaked; Dr. Harriman cautiously followed the shape into the kitchen. After all, if the man had any intention of harming him, it probably would have happened already.

“Thank you. Please sit down. I need to tell you a story. Kay?” The shape stood in the shadows of the dining room and spoke through the open door. It gave the voice a slightly hollow, echoing sound.

“It started with an accident in Dr. Sternlicht’s lab. Your daughter and Sternlicht’s lab assistant managed to drop a sample and then cut themselves picking up the mess. Shortly thereafter they were both sick for several days. It seems they had failed to follow approved procedures for handling blood born pathogens. It also seems that they were contaminated by the sample. The result was difficult to believe. They were changed. There must have been a transfer of genetic material along with the blood; at least that’s what Lyle thought happened.” The shadowy shape paused for a moment.

“Here’s the remarkable part, the transferred material apparently expanded with amazing rapidity and replaced the existing genetic material. In effect, they became each other.” The shape moved into the light, “Hello Daddy. I told you I needed your help.”

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 8:00 P.M., UNDERGROUND RESEARCH FACILITY, LOCATION DELETED CONSISTENT WITH PROVISIONS OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT

The dream was a familiar one. Lyle was standing at the podium smiling and receiving the Nobel Prize for research in biogenetics. He raised his hand for the crowd to quiet, but it just kept getting louder and louder.

Lyle awoke in a daze. She was lying in bed, a small bed, maybe a cot. There was a loud buzzing sounding not too far away. Opening her eyes Lyle looked around and sleepily focused upon a ringing alarm clock. Slowly, after several misses, Lyle found and turned off the alarm, knocking the clock to the floor in the process.

She was still in the same room they had left her in after questioning her. The same light green walls, tile floor, and the same spartan appointments, the bed he was lying on, a desk and two chairs, a boarded up window, and two doors. One door led to a bathroom and the other to a hallway where a large, well muscled soldier was always standing at guard to follow her wherever she went and keep her from talking to any “unauthorized” individuals like friends, family, lawyers, reporters, clergy, or other scientists. There was also a large stand-alone wardrobe where several plain outfits designed to fit her new body had been stored. Unsurprisingly, there was no telephone.

“It wasn’t a dream,” she groaned to herself.

Still not completely awake, Lyle lay on her back and rubbed absently at the sore on her left shoulder where she had been shot with an anesthetic dart the previous day. Her arm rubbed across her breasts as she absently rubbed the bruise. As her hand fell away from the bruise, they stopped to lightly brush one of her plump, rounded breasts. Soon the areola was protruding as Lyle began rubbing a bit more vigorously. Without thinking, her hand moved lower, continuing to rub. The areola hardened as she rubbed it, producing a pleasurable tingle. She began making gentle circles on her stomach with her other hand, gradually moving lower. Soon her fingers were brushing gently through the pubic hair. Reaching lower her rubbing seemed to be making her fingers moist and slippery. The tingling grew stronger, more insistent. She didn’t want to stop and then she couldn’t.

Suddenly the pleasurable feeling increased manifold, causing her to scream as she snapped awake.

Panting from the exertion and realizing with embarrassment what she had been doing, she stopped immediately but wave after wave of intense pleasure continued to wash over her entire body.

Finally clear-headed, she felt stupid for thinking of sexual gratification instead of escape. “Got to keep it together. Can’t give up,” she muttered to herself.

For hours they had subjected her to various forms of physical examination and questioned her late into the night while she insisted that she was Eunice Branca. She repeatedly demanded to be released or to be permitted to talk to her father, even crying to make her point while trying as hard as possible not to answer any of their questions. Lyle began to sniffle in reaction as she thought about it.

They had tried bright lights, strapping her to a chair bolted to the floor and made of hard, rough, thick wood where they left her for hours on end. She’d even had sodium pentathol or some other “truth drug” injected into her. Lyle briefly paused to wonder why they used the same injection point as the dart.

Feeling the need to do something–anything–Lyle got out of bed and went to the bathroom to shower and complete morning ablutions. She then dressed as quickly as she could, only briefly fumbling on the bra and the blouse buttons. While combing her hair into what was now her usual ponytail, she wandered about the room checking it out, since she’d had little time when first locked in as sleep was her paramount goal at that time. She checked, the door, the heating vent and the boarded up window for a sign of a way out. In the bathroom, there was nothing sharp or pointed that could be used as a weapon. Finally, she moved back to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Lyle began pounding on the door and yelling for attention.

The door opened to show a muscular young man with a blonde crew cut sitting by a desk with several monitors on it, partially hidden by a second, even larger soldier standing in the doorway and holding a tray of food. “Ready for breakfast, Miss?”

Lyle jumped even though she was expecting the soldier. She slammed the door closed and sat down on the bed to think. She was trapped as a human guinea pig, a lab specimen for some branch of the armed forces. They think I’m a man in a woman’s body, and they’re right. I can admit it, work with them, and hope for the best from a group of people that have kidnapped me at gun point and are jailing me incommunicado with no idea of when, if ever, I might be let free. The other option is to continue the charade Eunice and I agreed upon before being caught with each of us pretending to be the other and denying anything out of the ordinary has happened. At this point, having had my alleged civil rights trampled as they have, I can’t seriously expect to be just let free at some time with an apology and a handshake, but it may confuse things enough to keep Eunice safe and free...and she’s really my only hope isn’t she?

Lyle continued to review the situation as she slowly dropped her head to the pillow and began to cry quietly. Occasional sobs racked her body.

The next time the guard glanced at the room monitor he saw a pretty girl lying in a fetal position on her bed shivering.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 10:25 A.M., BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES BUILDING, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

“You may go in now,” Mrs. MacInerney waved Dr. Sternlicht into Dr. Harriman’s office. Dr. Harriman was waiting at the door, but his greeting was cut off by Dr. Sternlicht.

“What is the meaning of this? You have just caused me to cancel my office hours. This had better be...” He broke off seeing Eunice standing behind Dr. Harriman.

“Come in. Come in Maximilian. We need to discuss current occurrences in your laboratory.” Dr. Harriman led Dr. Sternlicht to a chair, but at the last second, Dr. Sternlicht frowned, waved off the chair and pulled away from the Dean’s loosely guiding hand. Instead, he stood beside one of the soft chairs, one hand on the chair and the other on his hip as he affected an air of nonchalance.

“What is...ah...he doing here?” Dr. Sternlicht tried to sound firm and in command, but the stutter gave him away. “Why is my lab assistant here?”

“As I said, we need to talk.” Dr. Harriman moved behind his desk and sat down. Reaching for a humidor, he began tamping tobacco into a large intricately engraved Meerschaum pipe. Eunice moved to stand behind and to the left of him.

“Where to begin, where to begin…

“I guess we should probably start with the discussion we had about three weeks ago where I noted some concerns regarding your current research.” Dr. Sternlicht merely stared at Eunice and said nothing so Dr. Harriman continued.

“As I recall, I was concerned about misuse of your research findings. It seems I was correct in my concerns, wasn’t I?” Dr. Sternlicht continued to stare at Eunice.

“It seems I should also have been a bit more concerned about accidental biohazard situations, Maximilian.”

Dr. Sternlicht forced himself to look at Dr. Harriman. “Get to the point Herbert. What do you want?”

“Want? What do I want? I want to retire, I want a class that actually listens, I want a department budget without a battle. What I’ll accept is for my daughter, “he glanced back at Eunice, “And your ex research assistant to have their proper bodies back, an assurance that nothing more will happen to either of them including further research against their wills and an assurance that no one else will be victimized by the effects of this research. Oh, and I think you need to take a leave of absence after which you too may wish to think of the joys of retirement. By the way, I’m sure that you’ll want to write a glowing reference for Mr. Abbot.”

“No charge. Kay?” Eunice quickly added.

“I will not insult you with chicanery. I will, however, use that classic movie cliché, ‘What’s in it for me?’”

“Well, I would prefer treating this as a minor contretemps that can be resolved amongst men of good virtue; however, if necessary we can talk about inadequate level three biohazard procedures and illegal human testing. Shall I continue?” Dr. Harriman leaned back in his chair with a remarkably bland expression on his face considering what he had just threatened, while Eunice positively reveled in Sternlicht’s discomfort.

“You would not dare!” Dr. Sternlicht blustered while thinking to himself that such a threat was meaningless with the government behind him. More people could simply be made to vanish. How dare they…

The other two just smiled back at him as his face slowly turned a beautiful shade of crimson and the small vein just below his hairline began to throb visibly. They thought the threat of exposure was having an impact rather than the affront to his ego.

“Mrs. MacInerney has several simple documents you’ll need to sign. Nothing obfuscatory I assure you: a retirement option selection form, a resignation form, the standard form for assignment of rights for your research to the university, and a contract committing you to produce my daughter’s body and your lab assistant’s mind.”

Dr. Harriman paused for a moment to glance up at his daughter before continuing, “Both intact and functional and in the original body. You also agree not to discuss this research with anyone or demean or defile the University or any of the players in this small tragedy,” the corners of his mouth curled up in a humorless smile, “while my daughter and I promise no further reprisals of any type.”

Eunice nodded grudgingly; that last stipulation had been a hard one to swallow.

Dr. Harriman gave Dr. Sternlicht a cold stare, and then glanced down at his unlit pipe. He lit the pipe as he concluded. “Retire in peace with an outstanding career in research and academics or watch it go up in smoke.”

Wisps of smoke rose in graceful curlicues from Dr. Harriman’s pipe while the color of Dr. Sternlicht’s face moved past crimson into the magentas. Suddenly he slumped into the chair beside him and sighed. “Give me the papers.”

Dr. Harriman removed his pipe from his mouth and reached to pick up the telephone but Eunice placed his hand over his. “Don’t bother, I’ll get them. Kay?”

With a satisfied smile towards Dr. Sternlicht, he left the room. The only sounds were the squeaking of Eunice’s sneakers as he left, the click of the door as it closed, and the breathing of the remaining two men. Eunice was back almost immediately to spread the papers on the edge of the desk by Dr. Sternlicht who began signing.

“Aren’t you going to read them?” Eunice asked.

“No Lyle...Eunice...whoever you are now, I’ve known your father a very long time. He would not dishonor himself by violating his word, let alone the rules of engagement. Besides all but one are standardized forms and the one that is not will never be seen by others or stand up to legal scrutiny, will it Herbert?”

Dr. Harriman solemnly nodded his agreement.

Dr. Sternlicht continued signing.

“You’ll provide me copies as appropriate, Herbert?”

“Of course, Maximilian.” Dr. Harriman gathered the papers and placed them in a folder. The folder then went into the mahogany outbox on the corner of his desk.

“Oh, by the way, Maximilian, my daughter’s body and your research assistant’s mind are the final components of this arrangement and from my perspective ‘if t’were done, t’were best done quickly.’”

Now it was Dr. Sternlicht’s turn to sit back and smile albeit a tired one. His criticism of Herbert’s quote did not have the usual fire to it, “It’s ‘If it were done when ‘tis done, then t’were well it were done quickly,’ Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, Act One, Scene Four, and as to the other, that will require taking a bit of a drive. Have you ever visited the Adirondacks?”