~o~O~o~

 

 

Insert standard disclaimer here: The one that reminds everyone that this is a work of fiction. No one is real and any resemblance to someone who is real is just the reader's imagination. This is also a Fan Fiction set in the Whately Story Universe. No Canon characters were permanently harmed in the making of this story. I hope. :)

 

Notes: Decided to revise and post another two chapters in an attempt to placate the cliffhanger haters. :) Thanks to djkauf for correcting my many grammar mistakes! Laying/Lay/Lie...OMG! Enjoy, Please.

 

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** Chapter 18 **

 

Something has changed...

 

I’m awake.

 

I’m lying on my bed, but that realization makes me doubt that observation. I’m lying down on what feels like a bed, which means that, by default, it should be my bed.

 

My eyes are closed, but I can tell that there is light for me to see with again. I’m not sure that I am ready to try opening my eyes yet.  I’m feeling comfortable just laying here and realizing that I’m alive. It is the complete absence of noise that slowly gains my attention. I can hear my heart beat and my breathing, but nothing else.  No background noise from the house. No sounds from the street outside my window.  No crappy sugar pop girl music blaring from Lindsay’s stereo.

 

As that realization hits me, I notice that I’m not wearing my favorite Spider-Man pajamas.  Actually, I’m not wearing anything, nor do I have any blankets or covers, but I’m completely comfortable. Not too hot, not too cold, just right...as Goldilocks said just before the bears ate her. I smile at the recollection of that memory. Lindsay didn’t like that version very much when I read her that for her bedtime story.  Hmmm, neither did Mom and it cost me my cartoon privileges for a week. I decide that maybe I should cautiously open my eyes now.

 

I move my hands to cover my eyes so that when I open them; I won’t be blinded if the light is too bright.  As my arms rise from my side, I feel my chest move in an unsettling manner. It doesn’t hurt, but two distinct weights attached to my chest shift in a way that I have never felt.

 

“What in the heck is that?” I decide that waiting until my hands can complete their journey to my eyes would be too long of a wait.  I open my eyes and bolt upright into a sitting position with my hands resting behind me. The alien weights on my chest move again.  As my gaze travels down to see what has been attached to my chest, I see what looks like girl feet attached to some nice and smooth girl legs. I forget about the aliens on my chest when I realize that those girl legs are my legs and even more importantly, that my junk is not visible at the junction of those two legs.

 

“Okay, don’t panic!”  He’s probably just resting right now and the light is playing a trick on my eyes.  Okay, but that doesn’t explain why my legs look so smooth.  I know that I can be a heavy sleeper at times, but there is no way that Lindsay could have pulled off this much of a practical joke on me!  Just reach down there with a...oh crap!...feminine hand too?

 

“Ignore that, not important!”

 

What is important right now is the state of my junk. Okay, nice and slow. Just reach down there and gently touch the offending empty area and I am sure that my junk will be found.  My traitor hand feels what my traitor eyes are reporting.  Nothing and something else instead.

 

“Ahhhhhhh!” I scream in a very girl like voice which makes me scream a second time. I’m sort of stuck in a feedback loop. I hear a girl scream, realize that it is me and that makes me scream some more.  I begin to realize that all that screaming is hard on the throat and it’s not really accomplishing anything.

 

I decide that I should take it one step at a time by taking a fast touch based inventory.

 

 ·         Okay, breasts...check!

 ·         Don’t forget those nipple things that I’ve admired on girls for so long. “Oooah!” Damn, these things are sensitive...check!

 ·         Baby smooth and soft skin all over...check!

 ·         Legs, girl’s one pair...check!

 ·         Face, smooth but that part isn’t really new.  Lips, softer and fuller. The shape feels different too...check!

 ·         Ears, yes, I decide to check those too and they are pointed...check!

 ·         Hair, longer and very black...check!

 ·         Hands and Arms, smooth and feminine...check!

 

I jump down from the bed and the aliens on my chest bounce. I instinctively reach up to hold them and as I realize what I’m holding in my hands, I snatch my hands away in an effort to not get slapped by the girl that I am accidentally feeling up.  Then, I realize that I need to slap myself and a nervous laugh escapes my mouth.

 

I decide to try and confirm the status of my butt by turning my head and shoulders as much as I can to look at my butt. Very shapely and attractive, for a girl...check!

 

Okay...inventory complete.

 

Analysis, I must be having a very lucid dream about being Whisper.

 

I scream some more before I run out of steam and I sink to the floor. Crying, like a girl...check!

 

“Why is this happening to me?” I say with a whiny crying, but cute sounding girl voice.  Did I really die while playing GEO or am I just dreaming about being Whisper because I play too much GEO?  I decide that I should probably stop worrying about being a girl right now and figure out if I am dead or just dreaming.  Okay first thing that I need to do is find out where I am.  The start of a plan helps to calm me and I manage to stop my post freak out sniffles with a deep breath.  The deep breath disturbs the aliens on my chest.  That reminds me that I need some more quality freak-out time, but “The Plan” helps override that idea, for now.

 

I nervously look around, half expecting someone to burst into the room, but glad that no one has. I find that I’m sitting next to the bed that I woke up laying on.  The mattress is above my head now, so I decide to stand and take a closer look at it. Standing up takes me a little by surprise.  I just seem to flow into a standing position instead of the usual effort that it would take for me to go from sitting on the floor to standing.

 

The thing that I thought was a bed is more of a pedestal with a soft top than a mattress.  This pedestal is in the dead center of the room, but I’m thinking that I shouldn’t use the word ‘dead’, so make that ‘exact’ instead. The floor is pure white without any stains.  The walls are also pure white and as I follow them up, I cannot detect a ceiling.  This must be the room that I floated down earlier when I saw Whisper sleeping on the bed.

 

Turning a full 360, I do not spot any doors, but the feeling of my hair brushing against my chin as I turn my head from side to side is a little distracting. It just feels weird to go from having very short hair to now feeling my hair gently brushing against the sides of my face. I mean Whisper’s face.  I don’t think that I will be keeping her face and I certainly hope I don’t keep her body.  This lucid dream thing is just too freaky!

 

I wish I had a mirror so that I could see what I look like.  I catch something out of the corner of my vision.  Turning, I spot a nice full length mirror on the wall now.  I know that it wasn’t there earlier, so what in the hell is going on here?  This dream is so weird.  I hope that I can remember this when I wake up, but at the same time, I’m not sure that I really want too.

 

I take a hesitant step forward and instantly regret it.  The aliens on my chest move and my hips don’t work right.  Before I take another step, I decide to try crossing my arms across my chest to hold down the aliens.  I then take another step while looking down to make sure that I’m not going to step on something, but the arms crossed over my chest and the looking down just seems to make my hips work even worse, so I stop.

 

Looking back up, I can see myself as Whisper in the mirror ten or fifteen feet in front of me. I’m captivated by how I look. I see a very beautiful and lithe teenage girl with slightly large almond shaped green eyes and short raven black hair that perfectly frames her face staring back at me. I decide to uncross my arms and rest them against my sides.  I know that I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am when the girl in the mirror copies my movements and exposes her breasts to me.  That part would be so cool, if that girl wasn’t me in the mirror right now.

 

Still looking at the girl in the mirror, I take another step forward and this time, my hips seem to work better.  I guess that if I don’t try so hard and let my body do what it needs to do, then things will go much better.  Holding onto that thought,  I walk the rest of the way to the mirror and I am rewarded by the sight of the girl’s smooth gait as her hips swing gently from side to side.  I try my hardest to ignore the strange sensations that my body is reporting to me.  The feelings of the wonderful looking aliens moving on my chest and the empty feeling between my legs are the major issues. I stop about two feet from the mirror.

 

I look down as I reach with my hands to feel the new girl parts in my groin. The view from my perspective in the mirror certainly looks like what I might have seen in one of those dirty magazines that I, as the mature and respectful boy that I am, would never have illegally purchased or even looked at while at a friend’s house. No sir! Not me!

 

I feel a very different sensation from down there when my fingers explore a bit too much.  I think that I might have accidentally touched one of those sensitive girl parts that I have heard about in sex education classes.  Surprised and embarrassed, I quickly remove my hands from down there and cross my arms across my chest again.  The feeling of my breasts being hugged against my body remind me of those additional sensitive and embarrassing girl parts, so I quickly uncross my arms and decide to explore my new face a bit more instead.

 

I lean forward and smile at the girl in the mirror. Perfect white and straight teeth smile back at me.  Her eyes are a brilliant green with silver traces.  Her eyebrows are shaped perfectly with the bottom of her bangs just touching the top of her eyebrows before dropping to perfect points at the sides that end at her lower jaw line to accent her heart shaped face.

 

I switch from a smile to an air kiss and I am transfixed as I watch her lips form into the perfect kiss as her cheeks form the cutest dimples I have ever seen.  Oh my god! If she wasn’t me, I think that I would be head over heels in love right now.  Actually, I think I am in love with her.  The sight of one of her delicate elvish ears as I brush her hair back with my hand just seals the deal for me.

 

I end up spending at least another ten minutes just looking over and touching every inch of her body in the mirror.  Sometimes, I even touch it more than twice!  Once aroused, my nipples are pleasantly sensitive. I make a mental note to remember that little detail. If I am dead, then I will never get another chance to look at or touch a naked girl ever again. If I’m not dead, then all the exploration can’t hurt my understanding of the fairer sex.  It’s a win/win for me either way!

 

Okay, now I need to get back to work on the whole dead or alive question.

 

I pinch my arm to test if I am awake or not. “Ouch!”

 

Hmm, I am still here.  The pinch results are inconclusive.

 

So, how do I get out of this room?

 

The mirror changes into one of those industrial metal building doors complete with lighted exit sign and a push bar.

 

<file system is in an inconsistent state>

<fsck required>

<Press any key to Continue>

 

Hmm, fsck?  What is a Linux disk checking command doing here?  Did Saint Pete decide to switch from Windows to Linux? Since when did my dreams run on Linux?  My PC is a Windows machine, so I have no idea where I could have got this crazy Linux thing from. I don’t see any ‘keys’, but maybe the door’s push bar is a metaphor for something?  I push on the bar to open the door. I am pleasantly surprised when it opens for me to reveal...a long dark hallway with a light at the end.

 

“Oh shit!” I say before I realize that swearing probably isn’t a good idea if this is what I think it is.

 

Oops, sorry God.  It slipped.

 

I start to cry some more as I step into the hallway.  Sights, sounds, smells and sensations begin to flood into me as I feel myself now being pulled deeper into the hallway.  I’m looking out of my eyes, Brian’s eyes, as I am being born. I see my Mom and I feel her touch. It feels so good and I feel so happy. I start to cry some more as I begin to realize what is happening.  My life is starting to flash before my eyes...literally.  It is going a little slower then I was led to believe, but I am being shown my life.  This part is a little boring though, but thankfully things start to speed up some.

 

The first two years seems to only take an hour.  Hey!  I did a lot of sleeping you know? That’s what good babies like me did back then.  I did learn that my Mom really did drop me on my head once too.  It’s not just a joke like I thought it was.

 

The pace starts to slow down as I get older.  I guess that I have more stuff to review now.  I sure hope that it misses that time I tried flushed my sister’s favorite teddy bear down the toilet when I was four.  Nope, it doesn’t miss that part.  It also doesn’t miss the part about the toilet over-flowing.  Well, maybe that is the worst thing I did?  Ummm, nope.

 

It doesn’t miss the part where when I was six and I broke the VCR by stuffing my peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the tape slot. I also tried to blame my sister for that. My bad.

 

Thankfully, this life in review also captures my better moments.

 

Like the time when I was five and comforted Lindsay until she fell back to sleep after she woke up screaming from a nightmare.

 

When I was seven and played dollhouse with Lindsay, even though I hated it and wanted to play with my trucks instead.  I smile as I see Lindsay’s smile.

 

The review is really starting to slow down now and I can’t seem to stop crying.  I hope that by the time I reach the end of this tunnel that I will have managed to get the water works stopped.  It’s going to be bad enough that I will have to face my judgment as a female elf, but to do so while sniffling like the girl I appear to be is just wrong on so many levels.

 

“Hey!  Why are you crying?” I am startled as I hear a girl’s voice from in front of me. Looking up, I notice a stunningly beautiful red headed angel standing next to a stunningly beautiful demon girl.  I’m pretty sure that she is a demon due to the blood red hair, red slitted eyes, goth style makeup and the delicate looking claws that she has instead of finger nails. Oh crap!

 

I sniff and wipe my eyes. “Umm, because I’m dead?” I say, hoping that the angel will help correct that obvious error.

 

I’m not sure if I should feel reassured or scared when the demon girl smiles at me. “Why would you think that you’re dead?”

 

I think it’s pretty obvious and since they are here, they should know the answer to that question. Maybe the demon girl is just playing with me? “Well, lemme see.  Besides the two of you, I must be dead because I was playing Whisper when I somehow got sucked into the game for real, got into a fight against some asshole assassin and even though I won the fight; I was dying from the jerk’s poison.  Then, this really bright light hit me and everything went dark.” I notice the demon girl’s confused expression. “Sorry, Whisper is my GEO character”

 

The expression on her face turns from confused to shocked. “Holy crap!  There really is a Whisper and you’re her?”

 

“Sara...” The angled named Nikki says reprovingly.

 

“Oh yeah...sorry Nikki. I just didn’t think that she really existed!  My spy’s reports were always inconclusive on the issue. If she really does exist, then she has cost me and my allies so much...” The demon called Sara ends with slight note of anger in her voice.

 

Nikki looks at Sara with a fond smile. “Sara, we are here to try and help her...”

 

“I know, I know. Sorry.” Sara says with a petulant expression.

 

“Umm...sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad, ummm, Sara?” I say with what I hope is a suitably conciliatory expression.

 

Sara’s face brightens up with smile. “That’s okay, I’m not really mad at you.  I play GEO too, but on the evil side.”

 

Of course she plays on the evil side, she’s a demon.  That’s what demons do.  I am so screwed right now.

 

“Umm, Whisper?  What’s your name?” I hear Sara ask.

 

“What?” I ask feeling a little confused. Her question wasn’t what I expected hear.  Doesn’t she already know? I kind of forgot where I was there for a moment. Oh yeah...Heaven, Hell, Dead, Tunnel of Light...got it.

 

“Brian. Why?” I ask.  Shouldn’t she know that already?

 

“We kind of lost you there. So, why again is it that you think you’re dead?” The tricky nice sounding demon named Sara asks me with a smile that jump starts my thought processes again.

 

“Oh yeah, well, then I woke up in an all white room without any clothes...”

 

Nikki stops me. “Speaking of that...Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”

 

“Umm,  because I couldn’t find any to wear?” I say before I remember that I never did try all that hard to find clothes.  I hope that she misses that little detail in her angelic evaluation of my life.

 

She considers my answer for a second or two. “Hmmm, why don’t you try imagining yourself with some clothes on?”

 

“But...only if you really want to Brian, because I must admit, you are pretty hot” Sara says with an evil smirk.

 

That remark completely ruins my concentration with the clothes imagination thing. Yep, she’s evil.

 

“Okay, now I know that I’m really dead.  Nikki is the angel and Sara is the devil or demon or whatever they call you guys.  That bright light up ahead is heaven and before I can get there, Sara here is going to grab me for that time when I was four and tried to flush my sister’s teddy bear down the toilet!” I say just before I break down in tears.

 

I flinch a little when I feel both of them wrap their arms around me in a deviled girl sandwich.  “I’m sorry. It’s my nature and I just couldn’t resist, but I can tell you that you definitely are not dead.”  Sara says softly into my ear.

 

I try to stop my tears as I look first to Sara, and then to Nikki for confirmation. Nikki nods her head in agreement. “It’s true Brian.  You’re not dead.  Right now you are lying in a hospital bed and your Mom is right next to you.”

 

“I’m not dead?” I say, incredulously with another sniffle as hope begins to fill me.

 

Nikki smiles at me and it is the most glorious smile I have ever seen. “Nope, but before we continue, could you try that clothes thing again?  I know that Sara doesn’t have a problem with it, but I think that we might both do better if you had something on.”

 

Sara pouts as she leans back and crosses her arms in mock anger. “Oh pooh Nikki, you are no fun sometimes!”

 

“Are you sure that you’re not really a demon?” I ask her with a laugh that is part laugh and part sniffle.

 

Sara looks serious once again. “That’s kind of complicated, kiddo.”

 

I try to ignore her last statement. I get the feeling that if I really knew the answer, that I might freak out and I don’t know if I could handle that right now.  I’m a girl, or at least I am in this dream. So, I need girl clothes. Okay, I close my eyes and think girl clothes.

 

I hear someone whistle. “Nice. I’m surprised that you would pick something like that on your first try.”  Sara says.

 

“What?” I open my eyes and look down at myself to discover that I am wearing the same short skirt, heels and top that my sister wore to school last year that caused me to have my friendly chat with Billy’s fists.

 

I manage a strangled, “Eeep!” at the unexpected sight of my new cleavage popping out up there before I close my eyes and rethink my outfit to something a bit more comfortable for my fragile male ego.

 

“Oh pooh. Brian that skirt looked so cute on you” Sara says with disappointment.

 

This time, I hesitantly open my eyes and look down to find that I am wearing a simple pair of jeans with a girl styled t-shirt and some tennis shoes.  Exactly the kind of outfit that Lindsay wears around the house or outside to play.  Okay, this I can handle.

 

“Okay, clothes taken care of” Nikki smiles at me. “Now, where were we on this thinking that you’re dead issue?”

 

I decide to skip the part about the mirror. I don’t think that is really relevant to the story and well, it’s kind of embarrassing. “Oh yeah, so I decided that I needed to get out of the room and a door appeared.  When I tried to open it, I got a message about my file system being in an inconsistent state and that I needed to run ‘fsck’.  I wasn’t sure why I would need to do that, but it wouldn’t let me enter the door until I told it to continue.  Then this hallway with the light at the end of it appeared and I started to have my life flash before my eyes.  Finally, you two showed up to take me to heaven or hell or something.  Are you sure that I’m not really dead?”

 

“No Brian, you’re really not dead.” Nikki says with a warm smile that really lights up her face.  My heart, or what is left of it skips a beat. I think that I’m in love.

 

Sara giggles. “Careful with that, Nikki, I think the poor girl is starting to crush on you there and I might get jealous.”

 

That draws my attention back to her.  Wow, she’s very beautiful too. I wonder where I might have seen the two of them to have them show up in my dream like this.  They seem so real.  The Nikki angel girl looks familiar though.  I’m positive that I’ve seen her somewhere recently.

 

“You were saying?” Nikki says, laughing as she notices my star struck look.

 

Sara grins mischievously at both Nikki and I before getting back on track. “Okay, this is a dream and you have people waiting for you out there, so why don’t you just wake yourself up?”

 

“I don’t know how and I think that I’m stuck until I get done with this ‘fsck’ thing.” I say with a frustrated sigh.

 

“When you were dying in Seramis’ room, you said that you couldn’t log out because ‘it’ wouldn’t let you.  What did that mean?” Nikki asks. 

 

That question causes me to step back mentally and look at her again. How could she have known that unless she was there? “You’re Seramis, aren’t you?”

 

Nikki looks a little surprised. “Yes and no, but we can talk about that later.  What the doctors and I really want to know is why you couldn’t log off.”

 

I’m not sure how she can be Seramis, but not be.  I decide to let it go for now. “I was somehow downloading Whisper’s file and when I tried to disconnect it said, ‘Critical Operating System Download in Progress.  Disconnect not allowed.’”.

 

“Hmmm” Nikki says as she briefly ponders something before reaching a decision. “Okay, here’s what has been going on while you’ve been stuck here.  One, you are in the labs that you visited the other day with your science class. Two, you somehow managed to activate and get infected with the nanites that were in that sample jar you held.”

 

Oh crap.  Now I remember how funny I felt right after I held that jar. “Is that what is causing all this weird computer in my head stuff?”

 

Nikki nods her head affirmatively. “Yes, and based on what the scientists have told me, I think that is what has caused your current situation, but there is one more thing that I think you need to know and this is probably going to freak you out some more...” She pauses as she grabs both of my hands and looks me in the eyes.

 

I can’t help but feel like I could drown in her brilliant purple eyes.  She looks so concerned.  I’m starting to get a little worried. Whatever this thing that I need to know is, it must be pretty bad.  And, here I was just getting over the whole dead thing.

 

“What?” I ask, afraid to hear her answer.

 

“Brian, you’re really a girl now.” She says with a gentle tone as she continues to hold my hands and look into my eyes. I start to process what she just told me with one part of my brain while the other part is still amazed at how pretty she is.

 

“I am?” I cleverly reply while the two conflicted sets of stimulus fight it out cage match style.  The girl thing wins.

 

“I am?!?!” I yell with shock, before I collapse to my knees as the implications begin to sink in and I start to cry again. “Oh no! What am I going to do? What will I tell my parents?  Will I still have my parents?  How will I go to school? Why am I crying so damn much?”

 

That last part earns me a chuckle from Sara as they both kneel down and hug me again. A part of my brain decides that if getting hugs by hot girls comes with being a girl, I think that I could get used to this. Maybe, but the demon girl is still a concern to me.

 

“You’re taking this better than I expected” Nikki says with another one of those smiles that would make my knees weak if I was standing up.

 

I pause and consider her observation before replying. “Well, I have had what feels like a day or two to kind of get used to being a girl and having you two here to hug me is definitely helping,” I smile at both of them. “But I’m not sure that I am going to be able to handle the sudden change all that well when I get out of here.”

 

Sara surprises me. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Brian.  You have a family that loves you very much and now you have two new friends that you can talk to about how to handle this sudden change in perspective.”

 

I turn and look at her with a new appreciation.  She may look like a demon, but her eyes are full of compassion. “Thanks, but...” I start with a small sniffle. “You were both born girls.  I think that I’m going to have a hard time getting used to this.” I say as I point to myself.

 

Nikki sighs and I turn to look back at her. “Umm, no we weren’t Brian. This time last year I was a boy, just like you.  I never wanted to be a girl and it wasn’t until very recently that I have started to get used to the changes myself.”

 

“What?” I ask as her revelation shocks me to the core. I stifle my sniffles as I look at Nikki and then to Sara for confirmation.  She doesn’t look like she finds Nikki’s admission funny.  She looks very serious.  There is absolutely no way that Nikki could have ever been a boy!

 

Sara nods at me. “It’s true, Brian. Nikki here was a high school freshman boy and I was a twenty seven year old male author until a year ago.”

 

I think that my jaw drops to the floor with Sara’s admission. I look at both of them and I just can’t believe that they could have even been guys, but then again, looking at myself, I guess it could be hard to believe that I was ever a guy either. I’m still pretty shocked by all these sudden changes in reality and I’m having a hard time forming words much less coherent thoughts.

 

Nikki’s expression turns a little sad as it looks like she is remembering something.  Her eyes look pained and I wonder what she’s thinking about. “In some ways, I’m a little jealous of you right now, Brian.”  She says, softly.

 

My confusion must be pretty obvious to her.  She focuses her attention on me and I think that she looks a little sad. “I didn’t suddenly wake up one day looking like this.  My change took almost a year.  A year of going to bed and wondering what part of me wouldn’t be there when I woke up the next morning. Always wondering when I would finish changing and wanting it to stop, but worried that it would stop.” I feel the sudden urge to comfort her, but I’m not sure how.  I end up touching her hand.  “That part was the worst.  I never wanted to be a girl, but I was more worried that the changes might stop and I would end up stuck halfway.  Never really a boy anymore and never really a girl, more of an it.”  She says as tears well up in her eyes. 

 

I forget all about my problems and instinctively hug her and then feel Sara hug us both in her warm embrace. I don’t know how long we all sit there hugging each other, but it certainly feels nice and I’m a little disappointed when Sara coughs and reminds us that we have other issues to still work out.

 

Nikki smiles appreciatively at me. “I’m sorry Brian; I didn’t mean to unload on you like that.”

 

“That’s okay. I think we both might have needed it.” I say feeling a little forlorn. That long hug we just ended was really nice.

 

“Yeah, it was nice to talk to someone about that and I hope it helps you in some small way.” Nikki says with a hopeful smile.

 

“Oh, I think just knowing that I’m not alone is going to help, but now I’m getting anxious to finish this ‘fsck’ thing so that I can wake up.”

 

“Yeah, and I think I need to get out and let everyone know that you’re okay and what is going on in here.” She says taps my head with her finger while she looks around the hallway that I’m currently stuck in. “Sara? Thanks for your help Sis.  Can I call on you again tomorrow if I need to come back to check on Brian?”

 

Sara smiles happily at both of us. “Sure thing, Nikki!  I like Brian. I think that she’s a keeper.  Do you think that I should adopt her into the family?” Sara asks with a grin that suddenly makes me a little nervous.

 

Nikki pauses for a second. “Ummm, I don’t think that would be a good idea right now Sara.  How about we put that idea off for a few months or at least until she gets to Whateley?”

 

“Party pooper.” Sara says with a playful grin before she gives me a quick hug and a light kiss on my cheek that somehow manages to make the aliens on my chest tingle.

 

“Sara...you better not have...” Nikki says reprovingly.

 

“I didn’t. I just gave her a friendly kiss...nothing else...honest!” Sara says with a mischievous smile.

 

“Okay, let’s get out of here so I can report to the doctors, my dad and her family. Brian, when you do wake up, please don’t mention Sara when they ask you about what happened in here. Okay?” Nikki asks.

 

“Umm, sure?” I say, feeling confused.

 

Nikki smiles and suddenly adds. “Oh yeah.  My dad is DARPA Deputy Director Nick Reilly.  We are trying to keep that sorta secret, so please just call me Fey when you get outta here.”

 

“Oh. Okay, umm, Fey?” I say as they both smile at me before they fade away, leaving me in this now lonely hallway.  Sighing, I take a step forward and the movie of my life starts up again.

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** Chapter 19 **

 

I’m moving closer to the end of this memory lane thing.  I wish Nikki and Sara would come back.  This is kind of lonely and boring.  Not that I’m really counting down the time, but just wondering how long it has been since Nikki and Sara left me produces a floating holographic digital clock that tells me that it has been 10 hours 22 minutes and 39 seconds ago. I can’t stop myself from sighing with frustration.

 

I am definitely getting bored, but I’ve managed to find a few features that make this ‘fsck’ thing a little less boring for me.  I figured out how to multi-task and increase the task priority on the ‘fsck’ process that is apparently organizing my memories.  I also realized that the depressing light at the end of the tunnel thing was really just a progress indicator.

 

I didn’t really have to do the walk down the tunnel at all.  I just thought of my house and how much better this process would be if I could just relax in my own living room and I found my living room complete with furniture and TV materialize around me. I upgraded the TV to one of those new LCD HDTV things that I’ve always wanted and told it to display my life review.  I added a simple progress bar with percentage indicator and completion time estimate below the TV. Now, it is telling me that I am 87% complete and that I have an estimated 2 hours 4 minutes and 57 seconds until this process is complete.

 

Sitting on my living room couch is definitely an improvement over slowly walking down the long and depressing hallway. The biggest benefit to figuring out how to increase the ‘fsck’ task priority was the huge reduction in the estimated completion time. As soon as I told it to switch from ‘Normal Priority’ to ‘Above Normal’, the time dropped from 22 hours to 17 hours.  So I increased it to ‘High’ and the time dropped even more. It went from the 17 hour estimate down to 10 hours.

 

With the review process priority set to ‘High’, I could tell that my perceptions and movements were pretty logy.  Every movement I made felt jerky and slow. I did find a priority setting that is even higher than ‘High’, but if the ‘High’ setting is causing me this much lag, I am afraid what the ‘Real Time’ setting would’ve done to me. However, since I no longer had to actively watch my memories playing back I could just relax and read a book. I have found that when I am just sitting still and reading a book, I hardly even notice my own lag.

 

During this entire time, I have never felt even a little bit tired at all. That is a bummer, because if I had been able to take a nap I am sure that the time would’ve gone by faster for me.  Instead, I discovered that I could pull up anything that I’ve read, watched or done prior to the point in my life that is displaying on the big screen.  If I wanted to re-read a book that I had already read, the book would appear in my hand or anywhere else that I wanted it to appear.  Same for any movie or TV show that I had watched; if I wanted to watch it again, I could make it play on another big screen TV or even a small flat piece of glass.  I re-watched the first three Star Wars movies and they were pretty cool to see again.  I even played around a little bit after the movies.

 

First, I tried to imagine myself as Luke dressed in his famous karate gi costume with the light saber.  I got the costume and the light saber, but not the Luke part.  I thought that sucked. Why couldn’t I even pretend to be a guy in my own head? I pulled up another mirror and struck some poses with the light saber.  I’m sorry manhood; I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of how hot and dangerous I looked with the way the costume fit my curves and the V cut front hinted at my new assets.  That reminded me of the Princess Leia slave costume.  I flushed a bright pink from my head to my toes when I suddenly found myself in that very revealing geek boy fantasy costume. I quickly concentrated on getting back the Luke costume and let out a relieved breath as I found myself once again more modestly covered.  But still, I have to admit...okay; no I don’t...la la la la la...

 

To regain my guy geek cred, I started to play around with the light saber and pretend fight with it.  The sound effects with my martial arts moves were pretty cool until I noticed that the estimated time to completion timer slowed to a crawl as I automatically started to take more resources.  Crap.

 

So, now I am sitting on the couch with my legs folded up beside me.  I could  never have sat like this and felt comfortable as a guy, but I have to admit that it does feel pretty cozy.  I can see why Lindsay sits on the couch like this most of the time.  I am re-reading my favorite Wolverine vs. Spider-Man comic book when I hear a chipmunk voice.

 

“HeyBrianwhatareyoudoing?” The high pitched voice asks me.  I look up from my comic and see Nikki and Sara standing in the middle of my virtual living room.

 

I am a little confused when I hear Nikki speak in super fast chipmunk speak. “Brian? What’s wrong? Why are you moving so slowly?”

 

I start to reply, but realize that with the fsck in high priority mode, I’m going slower than normal.  I start to say, “S          o   r    r        y...”, as I drop the priority on fsck to normal, “...I had the ‘fsck’ task on high priority and it was making me logy.” I watch the time estimate clock slow down.  I frown at that, but the slow down is worth it with the two of them here again.

 

“What’s the matter, Brian?  Why the frown?” Nikki asks.

 

“Oh, it’s nothing.  I just noticed the completion timer slow down to a crawl now that I dropped its priority level.” I point to the timer behind them. They both turn and spot the TV that is still displaying my life in fast forward mode, but at an almost watchable pace now.

 

Nikki jumps with excitement. “Wow!  Only 2 hours left?  Dr. Edmundson didn’t think that you would be done for another 10 hours or so.”

 

“Yeah, well, I have learned a few things since you were last in my head,” I say with a smile. I feel pretty darn satisfied with myself for that.

 

“I like what you’ve done with the place Brian. Nice costume too.” Sara says.

 

I blush when I realize that I still have on Luke’s costume. She somehow deepens her voice, adds a scary reverberation effect and clutches her hand like she’s trying to grab something. “Brian...I am your father...”

 

I’m sorry, but a giggle escapes me when she does that. If I was still a guy it would officially be called a chuckle, but I’m kinda stuck with chuckles that sound like giggles. We all laugh as Sara walks over and sits beside me on the couch.

 

Embarrassed by my geekdom, I switch back to the jeans and t-shirt outfit.

 

Nikki watches me and smiles as Sara makes herself comfortable next to me. “I dunno, Brian.” She pauses for a second as if she is thinking seriously about something, but her grin gives her away. “I thought the costume was pretty cute on you.  We could all pick a costume and play dress-up while we go over what has happened in the outside world since yesterday evening.”

 

“Umm, that’s okay.” I say as I look at Sara to see what she might be thinking about that idea.  She’s wearing the Princess Leia slave costume.  I feel my face flush and I must be blushing a bright shade of red, because Sara laughs and puts her hand on my knee.  Even through my jeans, her hand feels very warm.

 

“What?  Don’t you think that I look good in this, Brian?” Sara asks with a mock pout as she stands and poses to display her costume to me better. 

 

I force myself to look away.  She’s really hot wearing it and unlike me, she knows how to wear it.  Her expression becomes thoughtful as she taps her chin with her finger as she purses her lips. “Hmmm...I think that Brian is more embarrassed than she should be...I wonderrr? Model it for us Brian! Pleeaasse.”

 

My brain locks up from cuteness overload, the desire to follow her request and the knowledge of how embarrassed I would feel if I did so.

 

Nikki sighs. “Sara, you’re killing the poor girl.” She turns to me, looking apologetic. “Sorry Brian, she’s my sister and I love her dearly, but she has her own unique brand of shock therapy.”

 

Sara huffs and I feel her sit back in the couch, “Fine, I’ll just sit here and pout while you two talk. I hope you’re happy Nikki!” 

 

I force myself to not look at Sara.  I doubt that I’d be able to maintain a straight face if I saw her now.  I suspect that we would all end up dissolving into uncontrollable giggles that would end up with Sara convincing me to model the Princess Leia costume. Not. Going. To. Happen.

 

Nikki smiles at Sara. “Thanks Sara. I know that you’re only trying to help, but I need to brief Brian on what’s going on so that we can leave and she can finish up with her memory re-org thing.”

 

Nikki takes a deep breath before she continues. “Okay, here is what we know: Some of the genetic tests have come back and you have definitely changed species, sort of.  You are now an elf like me. Sidhe elf to be more precise.”

 

I feel a little confused. “Sort of? What does that mean?”

 

“They found out that your male 46th chromosome has been over-written by a female chromosome.  They are still trying to sequence your new 46th chromosome, but they think that where the Sidhe DNA matches up to human DNA, the Sidhe DNA is telling the human DNA that their version is corrupted and to use the Sidhe DNA instructions instead.”

 

“Hmm, that sounds complicated.  What exactly is a Sidhe elf?”

 

Nikki sits up straighter and I think that she looks a little proud. “A Sidhe elf is this world’s true elf.  All that Tolkien and D&D stuff is all fantasy.  You are now a member of a very proud, ancient and magical race.  As such, you will probably develop some magical powers.  You will want to find a magical trainer as soon as you can.  Otherwise, you could end up causing all kinds of chaos without even knowing it.”

 

I feel kind of excited about that part. “Okay...that sounds kind of cool and all, but why did I change?”

 

“In addition to the nanites in your head, your body is full of medical nanites. Based on all blood tests they have been running on you, most of medical nanites in your bloodstream are repair nanites that are helping your body heal.  Your body is currently flushing out a large quantity of genetic repair nanites.  Dr. Edmundson and his team are trying to analyze those nanites, but are having problems because they are so damaged.”

 

“Damaged?  How?”

 

“Burnt out.  They were all pushed past their breaking point and Dr. Edmundson hasn’t been able to extract any useful data from them that might tell him what they did.  He doesn’t understand how magic could help, but based on the condition of the nanites, he is positive that if I hadn’t healed you; you would be dead right now.  Alone, the nanites wouldn’t have been able to fix the massive amount of genetic damage that they caused when they started the splicing of the Sidhe DNA with your own.”

 

“Oh.” That is all I can say to that.  Dead.  That’s a little scary.

 

“He also doesn’t think that the Sidhe DNA came from you.  He doesn’t know how it could happen, but the Whisper download that you mentioned has got Dr. Edmundson and his team very curious. They are wondering if you can find that file.”  Nikki pauses for a second.  She sighs. “Okay, if you really think that you need to speak to her.”

 

I’m not sure if she is talking to me or Sara. I look to Sara and she is looking at Nikki with renewed interest.  Nikki begins to speak again, but she sounds older and regal somehow. “Greetings, child. I am Queen Aunghadhail, Daughter of the Burning Oak, and Paramount Queen of the West in the Five-Fold Court and the other half of Nichole.”

 

Wow, now that is a name.  I’m impressed, but I’m not sure what it all means. 

 

While I’m trying to wrap my head around her name, Nikki/Aunghad-something or another continues. “The Sidhe race is not large in number and I felt it important to introduce myself to you while we have a measure of privacy.  First of all, I welcome you, Daughter of the West.”  She fondly smiles at me and gives me a hug, but it’s not like a hug from Nikki or Sara. It’s more like a hug from an Aunt or Grandma.  It feels more formal. 

 

Daughter?

 

She lets me go and stands back. “While it is rewarding to see our race grow, I find myself deeply concerned about how GEO was able to pass on the Sidhe genome to you and where it got the genome in the first place.  If not for my timely intervention, you would not be among us right now, and for that, I cannot forgive GEO.”

 

She actually looks pretty pissed about that and now that she mentions it, I’m not too happy with GEO either.  Nikki relaxes as Queen Aunghadhail, ummm, too many titles to repeat, seems to fade.  She shakes her head. “Wow, Aung is really upset about how close you came to dying.”

 

I fell more than a little confused. “Umm, Nikki?  What or who was that?”

 

“Oh, sorry.  That was my, ummm, it’s kind of complicated.  I guess the easiest way to explain it is that she is my avatar spirit, but that’s not really accurate either.” I must look confused. “An avatar spirit is like a powerful soul or ghost of someone or something that joins with a host to sort of live again.  They grant their powers to their host.”

 

I’m still pretty confused about what she is trying to explain to me.  She looks to Sara for help.

 

Sara ponders the problem for a second. “It’s kind of like Obi-Wan and how he died, but was able to help Luke later as a spirit.  You will learn much more when you are able to start working with a magical trainer or search the Internet.”

 

“Oh, okay. I guess that makes a little more sense now. That’s kind of cool actually. Will I get one of those?”

 

Nikki shrugs. “Maybe?  No one really knows why a spirit joins or doesn’t join with a host.” She pauses and looks back to me. “Where were we?  Oh yeah, the GEO file.  Do you know if you still have it?”

 

“Hmm, I dunno.  Lemme check” I say as I close my eyes and concentrate on finding a file named “Whisper”.  I feel myself something inside of me shift.  I’m not sure what, but when I open my eyes I find myself floating above what looks like a stadium sized colored disk filled  with blocks of every color imaginable that is rapidly being built from the inside out, block by block as it slowly spins with a clockwise rotation.  The blocks are coming from all over the huge disk.  Many individual blocks will combine into one block and slot into an open slot in the disk and the blocks that were there before, will move to somewhere else on the disk.

 

This must be what my fsck rebuild process is really doing.

 

If this Whisper file is going to be any place, it will probably be near the center.  I zoom into the center and as I place my hand on the surface of the disk, my hand sinks into it and a directory listing flashes past my eyes too fast for me to read.  I halt the listing and this time I think “find *whisper*”.  This time the listing returns:

 

>-rw-------  1 root root  2621440 2007-02-12 22:14 whisper.obj

 

Holy cow, the file is 2,621,440 kilobytes!  That’s 2.5 gigs!  What in the hell is in that thing?  I found it, but what the heck can I do with it?  I think I can make a copy of it, but how would I give it to Nikki?

 

I close my eyes and will myself to return to Nikki and Sara.  I feel myself shift and I open my eyes to see the two of them looking at me with relief mixed with concern. “What? Is everything okay?” I ask them.  Sara is still wearing the Princess Leia costume and I can’t help myself when I admire how good she looks in it as she walks back to sit on the couch again.

 

“We were starting to get worried there Brian.  Your eyes turned silver and you became as still as a statue for five minutes.” Nikki says.

 

That startles me because I didn’t realize that I stayed there with them. “Oh. Well, I think that I found the file and I think I can make a copy of it, but it is two and a half gigs and I have no idea how I could give it to you.”

 

“Hmmm, I’ll let Dr. Edmundson know. Maybe he will have some ideas.” Nikki says.

 

“Okay.  How is my family?” I ask.

 

Nikki warmly smiles at me. “Your mom is great.  She’s been by your side the whole time.  Sorry, I don’t know much about your dad and sister.  Do you want me to let your mom know that you asked about them?”

 

“Yes, Please!” I feel so grateful that Nikki and Sara can visit me here.  If they hadn’t come along, I’m sure that I’d be a total wreck by now.  I feel my eyes start to tear up as I struggle to hold back my emotions.

 

“Oh Brian...” Nikki says as she hugs me. “It’s okay.  I’m glad that I can be here for you.”

 

That ends it for me.  The water works start to flow.  I’ve only known Nikki and Sara for maybe an hour, but I feel so close to them.  I don’t understand it, but I don’t really want to either.

 

“I’m sorry.” I say while I wipe my tears with my shirt sleeve. “I think that I have cried more in the last two days than in the previous entire year or two.  I’m really beginning to feel like a wuss here.”

 

I hear Sara’s snort of amusement from her place on the couch while Nikki smiles at me. “Oh Brian, I’m sorry, but I think that you will find that it comes with the package.” She steps back and looks me up and down to indicate my body.  “Until you get used to all the hormones zipping around inside of you now, you will probably experience some mood swings.”

 

I don’t find her revelation very comforting. “Damn! The hugs, those I can handle, but I just want the water works problem to go away.”

 

Sara laughs. “Come over here and snuggle up with me, I think that I know of a fun way or two help you get rid of those tears.” I turn to look at her and she is lying across the couch on her side, with her head propped up with one arm and the other arm resting on her hip.  She arches her eyebrow and smirks as I struggle to take it all in.  I feel a warmth form in my belly and my chest feels tight and tingly.  My mouth must be hanging open because my tongue feels dry and I can’t stop myself from trying to swallow in an attempt to get the saliva in mouth flowing again.

 

Thankfully, Nikki recaptures part of my attention. “Sara! You are impossible sometimes!”

 

“Oh pooh, I’m just trying to help the poor girl learn to relax.” Sara says with a mischievous pout that does nothing for my current confused feelings.

 

Nikki helps distract me from Sara. “I’ll let Dr. Edmundson and your Mom know that you think it will only take another hour before you are done.”

 

“Thanks.” I turn to face her again and block Sara’s devious input.

 

“Oh yeah, remember, when you see me.  Please call me Fey.  Only my dad and Sir Wallace know me as Nikki and we are trying to keep me undercover.  And remember, Sara wasn’t here either.” Nikki says as she waves her hands like she is casting some fake hypnotic spell.

 

I manage to stifle my laugh with a smirk instead. “Ookaay, I wish you all could stay, but I know that you have to go.” The thought that they will be leaving me again makes me pout.

 

Sara giggles. “Don’t worry kiddo. You’ll be outta here in no time. Then all the fun will really start!” Sara says with a smirk just before Nikki waves good-bye to me as she and Sara fade away.

 

After they leave, I just stand there for a few minutes before I take a deep breath and realize that I’m missing them already, but with the clock at 1 hour 15 minutes 18 seconds to go; I am anxious to be getting out of this place. Sara did look pretty nice in the Princess Leia costume. Feeling curious, I stand up and as I walk over to the mirror, I switch to the costume.  I stop a few feet in front of the mirror and look myself over.  I turn a few times and look at myself from different angles.  After seeing Sara really wear the costume like it was meant to be worn, I can’t find it in myself to feel ashamed by the fact that I like what I see.

 

“Sara, you are so evil...” I whisper to the mirror with a tentative smile before I boost up the fsck process priority and walk back to sit on the couch.  I switch to some loose fitting sweat pants with a t-shirt as I snuggle back into the couch so I can finish reading a few more comic books while I wait.

 

Snuggle?

 

Did I just think that?

 

Oh crap, I am so screwed!