Fragrance Part 4 (Conclusion)
by Armond
 
Julia and Alcina have been hijacked by Amanda, GenTech's Security Chief Dick Styles, and his thugs. Sydney is hot on their scent, but they are armed and ruthless and she ...isn't. And if she can't stop them before they destroy Julia's mind, bye bye Project Y. And if Project Y fails, how much longer can humanity survive?

 
Author's note: for a cleaner pdf version of this story, please click here
 

~o~O~o~
 
 
Fragrance - Part 4 (Conclusion)
by Armond
 
 
 
 
THURSDAY 8:02 P.M. , GENTECH TOWERS HEADQUARTERS, BASEMENT STORAGE ROOM B101.
 

“Who did you sell out to, Amanda? A competitor? How much did they pay you to sell your soul?”

Emotion dripped from in her voice; I had never heard Julia so bitter.

“A single competitor? Think broader, Dr. Carter,” Styles answered. “Whole industries will vanish if your gene alteration procedure becomes available on a large scale. Think mega consortium - between the health care, insurance, and elements of the religious right. Gotta hand it to you, Carter, your work is nothing if not unifying.”

I managed not to blurt out the obvious 'shit!' when I heard of the odd bedfellows aligned against us; they had no idea I was hiding here, and I damn sure needed to keep it that way.

'Here' was in a basement storage room of the GenTech Tower. I followed Julia's scent to find this bizarre scene. Aside from the dickhead security chief and Amanda, I scented musky smells from three other men. Jules and Alcina lay on the floor, with their hands tied behind them.

“Idiots!” Julia said. “Whether GenTech has my gene alteration technology, or someone else, the effect will be the same.”

I crawled forward behind a row of boxes to get closer. Barefoot and in this small lithe body, I discovered I was ninja stealthy, though my little black dress was trashed. I wasn't sure how my new found skill translated into 'save the day' help, since Styles and his three goons had Berettas in their hands and I had …well, nothing. I had no idea what kind of guns they had, but since 'Beretta' was only gun name I knew, that's what I called 'em.

I craned my neck behind me, hoping to see Deirdre and the cavalry arriving, armed with techno-geeky weapons. Thank God Styles hadn't whisked Julia away to a secret rendition location, in Yemen or somewhere, but ...what the hell were they doing?

“You still don't get it. The great Nobel prize winner is clueless about what's going down,” Styles said, smacking his lips. “Steal your work? No, Dr. Carter, we want to destroy it. You cannot imagine how wealthy we will become for shutting you down.”

“This is why betrayed your sisters,” Julia said, looking at Amanda. “For money?”

“Money is irrelevant,” Amanda spat. “My true sisters and brothers have tracked you for years. You are a cancer that must be killed. To be put down. What right have you to redesign the human race, handmaiden of Lucifer? You pervert His perfect creation with your 'procedure.' ”

“Oh dearie me, you aren't right in the head, are you child?” Alcina said. “You set up sweet Lauren and Kara …and poor Sydney- to be attacked. Shame on you.”

Shame on you? God, I loved Alcina! The moment I set foot in the MASG lab, she took me under her wing like I was her granddaughter. Even through her fear scent she had her wits; Betty White had nothing on this gal.

“I- I didn't want to, but in the end, if they had to be sacrificed to stop this unholy work, then I could live with it. With Sydney I had no choice. When she walked out, alone, it was too good to pass up. So I called Carl.”

She did set me up! And ...Carl? He was the bastard who attacked me? I gnawed on my fist to keep from screaming. I suppose it was her guilty little conscience that made her warn me to leave? And ...had she overheard us talking about my ability to categorize people by their scent so she tried to mask hers? I sat next to this snake for two days and was clueless. Some super hero I am. I'm a super idiot!

“What is ...that,” Julia's voice cut through my anger, and for the first time, I sensed fear from her. From where I crouched, I saw Styles held something shiny in his hands, but couldn't see what.

“Plan A was a kinder gentler approach,” Styles said. “All it involved was downloading a computer virus to wipe your databases, once we trailed the police into Building 'A'. No muss no fuss. And Carl was only having a bit of fun. None of his conquests suffered real harm…”

A bit of fun? Conquests? That is how dickhead described what happened to Lauren and Kara …and me- ? Anger roiled my stomach.

“…but since your little gender switched friend neutralized our pheromone spray, we abandoned that strategy…

Assaulting women is a strategy? Pigs!

“...and are forced to employ a more invasive solution. The Founder's Ball was the only time you would be in the open, and so we offered up poor ol' Carl at the party to distract Dr. Rogers and her team. Why you ask? So we could try this…”

When he held the thing up, I got a better look. It was chrome colored and horseshoe shaped with blue ends resembling headphone pads.

“…I wish I understood the science behind this nifty gizmo. It was 'borrowed' by our benefactors from one of those agencies the government denies exists. I will read you the product description, but damned if I know what it means.” *Ahem* “Calcium ion efflux from brain tissue is extremely sensitive to irradiation with radiofrequency waves. If high intensity waves are calibrated to penetrate to the hippocampus in the brain...”

“…You would instantly and severely damage it,” Julia finished the sentence. “Which would …prevent the formation of new memories and … inhibit accessing long term memory. Causing ...permanent amnesia.”

“Excellent. I am so glad you understand; I lacked the capacity to explain it. Sadly, you will too, in just a moment.”

A chill rippled down my spine as I grasped the concept; they were going to scramble Julia's brain! The thought of doing this evil to her brilliant mind made me want to puke. Why would they do this?

Almost in answer, Styles continued. “Our employers believe, if we cannot destroy the external GAP project data, the only other way to halt it is to corrupt your amazing gray matter. At the end of the day, you are GAP, Dr. Carter. Killing you would produce the desired result, but it is an inelegant solution, and one that invites too much scrutiny. Now, suppose you have a ...lab accident ...in which you and your colleague are alive, but -ah, how best to put this- permenantly stupid? How tragic! OSHA arrives to investigate, GenTech's stock plummets, and GAP dies an instant death.”

“Please …you can't … you don't understand…” Julia's voice was begging now. “…more is at stake here than GAP! My team has uncovered a virus that threatens the future of humanity. We can fix it, but not if you destroy my mind. Amanda, you will be able to understand this-”

“A humanity killing virus? And only you can save us? You are delusional,” Amanda said. “You are the disease and we have the cure with us. Mr. Styles, will you please reformat her brain?”

“As you wish. I press this button like so, and thirty seconds later it is good to go. Five seconds on your head and bye bye GAP.”

Julia screamed and fought to pull away, but two of the goons held her down. When Alcina kicked at them, the third thug backhanded her.

25 seconds.

I smelled roses and turned.

Deirdre and her team were creeping into the storage room.

Thank God!

I started to wave. Then it hit me …aw fuck!

20 seconds left.

Julia's brain would be mush before they got here!

Stall! Stand up! Sing! Do jumping jacks!

No! These assholes must never put that thing on her.

15 seconds.

A nearby box was crammed with blue trophies etched with 'Safety First At GenTech.'

Think, Sydney, think!

10 seconds

In slow motion, Styles lifted the scrambler' to Julia's head.

Wait! I had a plan. It would delay long enough for Deirdre's team to engage...

5 seconds.

…and stop Styles cold.

Downside?

I was going to die.

I blew out a breath…

grabbed a trophy…

And ran.

~o~O~o~

It wasn't like I was brave. No no no …I was scared out of my brains.

I heard somewhere once, if you go into a knife fight thinking you wouldn't get cut, you usually ended up dead. The idea was when you are cut, you freeze from the unexpected shock, and that proves fatal. But if you expected it, you wouldn't freeze.

So, could the same work for me? Since I was sure to die, when it happened, I wouldn't be thrown off, right? No …that made no sense …because then I'm dead!

Time started acting funny; everything s-l-o-w-e-d:

Julia … thrashed and struggled to get away.

The thugs …gripped her arms.

Styles …lowered the halo to her head.

And I …

running at full speed…

grabbed it.

I ran four strides, hit the concrete floor, and dropped the pulsing thing. I raised the trophy over my head.

Shouts of “stop her!” and “shoot her!” echoed in my ears.

Hornet stings smacked my chest as my arms started their downward arc, but momentum carried me on. I hammered with everything I had.

Yeah, I know I'm a 'smell gal', but that crunch was the best sound I ever heard.

I scented ozone, fried circuitry, gunpowder ...and blood. That's when the pain exploded and I crumpled to the floor. When I did, rotten fish smell slammed me. Styles!

“You cunt!”

He yanked me up by my hair, and pain burned my chest.

“You're stunt has done nothing except ensure we kill them. But first, I will terminate Dr. Carter's experiment with you ...now.”

Something hard pressed against the base of my skull and I heard metal clicking.

“Good bye Ms. Edwards.”

I hated that his foul reek filled my last living moments, but we don't control these things, I guess.

Something weird happened next. Styles ...fell over, and face smacked the concrete. His eyes rolled back into his head and I saw a dart hanging from his neck.

“Sydney!” Deirdre's voice cut through my pain.

I raised as much as I could, and saw Amanda and Styles' men sprawled on the ground. Deirdre was running to me and Julia was struggling to crawl over too. The room decided to spin, so I closed my eyes.

Words danced in my ears, jumbling together.

“Why didn't you wait? We were right behind you!”

"She was doing it to save me.”

“He shot her three times.”

“Get the EMTs here STAT.”

Someone was crying.

After a moment, I realized it was me.

A new scent filled my mind.

I had been around terminally ill people before, and knew their odor of decay and rot was the scent of dying. But now, I caught a different aroma, one I can only describe as fierce and swift.

Ha! If I was back in the MASG lab, Alcina would be 'tsk'ing me, saying 'fierce and swift are not odor categories, dearie.' But those were the best words I had to describe Death's breath.

Blackness blanketed me; I was soooo tired and wanted to let go.

“Sydney! Stay with us! Look at me.”

I pried my eyes open and looked up at the terrified faces of Julia and Deirdre. Then I glanced over at my blinking watch: 16:43. How cruel; minutes ago, sixteen hours seemed too short, but now? I'd give anything for half the time.

“Don't think I gonna need my pumpkin count down watch anymore.” I tried to laugh but coughed blood instead.

“That's it? You're giving up?”

I wasn't sure who said it, but what the hell?

“What are you talking about?” I spluttered. “I did good here, right?”

“So you're a one hit wonder?”

“Hey! I'm ...dying and you're insulting me?”

It was hard to think through the pain, but this was just wrong.

“Yeah, because you are not dying, dammit, do you hear me? You. Will. Not Die!”

That was Julia speaking. Definitely her.

“If you weren't bitching about a few pinpricks, I'd throw you over my knee and spank you again.”

And Deirdre.

“What ...do you ...want from me?”

“To live Syd. We need you! We love you. Stay with us.”

“I'll ...try...”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

~o~O~o~
 

TUESDAY 11:25 A.M., GENTECH BUILDING 'A', INFIRMARY ROOM 1

bleach ...rubbing alcohol ...linen ...poppies ...metallic iron ...floral...

...and cinnamon.

My fuzzy brain tried to puzzle it together - disinfectant, sterilization, sheets, morphine, blood, flower bouquets and ...Julia?

So, I wasn't in heaven or hell, unless either place smelled like a hospital room.

I opened my eyes, to see Julia's head laying on my bed, a slight snore sawing from her mouth. To my right was an IV drip; whatever the bag held was the good shit, because I felt zippy.

“Hey, Jules.” I croaked more than spoke.

Her eyes popped open. “Syd?”

She reached for a hug, thought better of it, and opted to stroke my face.

“I thought I lost you. You almost died and-”

“-what …happened?”

“They ...tried to to microwave my brain and you took bullets to stop them. You saved me, Syd.”

Bullets? Good to know; I thought a flamenco dance troupe had done a number on my chest.

What day was it?

I tried to raise my wrist to look at my watch, but I was too weak.

“Mmm …time?”

“Your watch is gone. The conversion deadline came and went days ago. You were too injured to attempt the reversal.”

The drug wore off a bit at that news, and I tried to remember consequences.

So I'm ...stuck in this body? Unless you give me the DNA of some random guy?”

She shook her head. “I wasn't truthful with you. I know you, Syd. I created the doomsday scenario about you not being able to revert to your original male form so you would pay attention to the deadline. Though we cannot now use the reversal formula, there is no reason we can't overwrite with your original DNA. The real issue is nanite poisoning; you see, the second batch interacts with the first in a mutative way we don't understand …yet. But the beauty...”

The morphine made my brain think she was talking to me through a tin can, but I got the sense of her words. She tricked me to take this seriously? I truly needed to upgrade my credibility.

“...of the reversal serum was it used the nanites of the first serum to 'reverse' their actions. No waiting needed. The replicated X chromosome is deactivated, and the deactivated Y is reactivated. Now we must wait until your body flushes the first nanite batch away before we introduce a new batch.”

Flushes away? That didn't sound like it would take too long. Ya know, like a toilet flush, whoosh, bye bye little nanites. “Which means…?”

“It varies from person to person, but 2 to 3 years.”

“Oh.” Crap! That was a long whoosh.

“Unless…”

“Mmmm?”

“Plan B-”

“-From Outer Space?” I giggled. This IV bag stuff was amazing.

“It's Plan 9, dear.” Julia looked at the bag. “How much of this are you understanding?”

I yawned; I was sooo tired. “Enough, Jules. What's Plan 9 …er B?”

Julia's eyes narrowed. “You knew you'd be shot trying to stop them from frying my brain and you did it anyway. Why?”

“Dunno…I-”

“-did it because of Project Y, yes? To sacrifice yourself for the good of the many?”

I snorted. “Wish I was so noble. No, deep down I am supremely selfish. I don't want to live on an earth that doesn't have you in it.”

“Even though I'm an evil mad scientist?”

“Evil no, but mad scientist?” I tilted my head to the side. “My grand pappy used to say 'always dance with the mad scientist what brung ye.'”

“He never said any such thing and you know it.”

I shrugged, which sent a pain stab across my chest; gotta remember not to do that.

“He might have. He said things like 'you can't catch no possum if you ain't got no bait,' or 'this country's turning into a goat rodeo.' Once he saw me practicing a new dance, and said I looked like a monkey fucking a football. So he sure could have said it.”

“Monkey fucking a…” Julia burst into laughter. “Stop it, dammit, just stop! I'm trying to be serious and you are …well you're you. Here, let me show you the kind of mad scientist I am.”

She pulled a fancy looking phone from her lab coat pocket and held it up.
 

 
“He's cute.”

I can say things like cute and darling, right? Stranded as I am in this female form.

“Yes, she is. 'Carli' is one of our newest additions to the herd.”

So, why was she showing me this now? Unless …Carli …the name sounded familiar. Bits and pieces of conversations my stay at GenTech bubbled up. About body mass and what we would wish on our worst enemies…

“I'll give you another hint. Kara and Lauren helped with the procedure. It was a catharsis for them. I would have let you help too, if you weren't injured.”

“That's …Carl? The rapist?”

Julia nodded, and watched my reaction. “She, Mandy and Richarda joined the herd Sunday. Whatever else you think, Syd, I do believe in the sanctity of life. I will not kill my enemies, even though they would murder me and mine without a moment's hesitation. Their forms aren't permanent; when it's safe, when we complete Project Y, we'll convert them back.”

“How are they ...coping?”

“All indications are good. Our past experiments have shown their 'human intellect' is mostly dormant; they will dimly remember the experience. Also,” Julia's lips carved a crooked smile, “they are popular with the herd at the moment.”

“Popular? How so?”

“Oddly enough, all three are in heat and are …very busy.” Julia said. She leaned close. “How do you feel about me now?”

Oh, wow! I tried to digest this …development. Part of me recoiled at the idea of being turned into a dumb animal; it reminded me of those Greek myths where people transformed into all sorts of horror creatures.

Then, another part of my mind chimed: justice was served.

I took a deep breath …and smelled cinnamon.

Julia still registered clean by my instincts. Hell, maybe I'm evil. Because I knew I could live with what she had done, and would do again.

“It's not the best news I've heard, but …I'm on your team no matter what. You said it the other day; we are family, Jules. Heh! Family jewels, get it?”

She flashed a mischievous grin back. “I believe your 'family jewels' are still missing, Syd, which brings me to Plan B. Let's keep it that way; don't get changed back, ever. I need you here with me on a full time basis.”

I wasn't sure what she was offering…a job, maybe? “I'd be your personal assistant?”

“Worse, “she said, putting her hand on my face; stroking it. “I want to adopt you, officially. I want to be your mother. I've been thinking about it …well, I won't tell you for how long, or you will accuse me of orchestrating this whole thing.”

Jules wanted to be my mother?

Not just in a kidding around way, but in the legal, 'change last name to Carter' sense? I was two when my birth mother died, and though Dad was great, I always had a huge hole in me. My mouth must have flopped open, because she laughed.

“Why, Syd, you're speechless; I wish I had filmed it. It's a big decision; take time to think it over.”

Did I want her as a mother?

Hell yes.

Did I want to be a woman for the rest of my life? Well ...I wasn't sure. But I didn't need to cross -or burn- that bridge now.

See, in their quest to save humanity, these poor loveable brainiacs were clueless they had opened Pandora's Box. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday soon, my friends here would solve their nanite problem, lower the cost for the procedure, and gender changes would be available to all; an every day event. If we survived the degenerative Y crisis, it was going to be a vastly different society that soldiered into the future.

Maybe we'll choose to be male or female at different times in our lives; someone might be female in her twenties and male in his thirties.

Hell, for all I knew, someone could choose to be male during the week and female on the weekend.

I tried to imagine wedding ceremonies: Do you take this man and/or woman to be your lawfully wedded husband and/or wife?

The bedrock of sexuality was going to change.

And the implications of the ability to switch species? Don't even get me started on that one!

So, no, I didn't see the pressing need to commit to being a male or female human for the rest of my life. Since I'd been a man for 27 years and a woman for little over a week, I ought to give the XX life style a try for a while. It wasn't like I had a choice, for the next few years, anyway, so why not take advantage of the benefits?

I saw lots of benefits:

First, I would keep the amazing sense ability unique to this body. I would continue to be Nose Girl - able to smell tall buildings in a single sniff.

Then there was Deirdre.

And Julia.

“Yes.”

“Yes?!”

Score! It was her turn to look gobsmacked over my nanosecond decision.

“Oops. Sorry, I forgot to say the magic word. Yes, please.”

The humor drained from Julia's face. “I was serious, Sydney.”

“Me, too, Mommy.”

She threw her arms around me, and yeah, it hurt, but the meds still hummed away, so it wasn't too bad. Not when you consider the tradeoff - the Nobel prize winning savior of the world was balling all over me. Okay, fine. I was weepy too.

“It won't be easy; we've got a lot on our plate.” Julia rolled her eyes. “Okay, maybe 'a lot on our plate' isn't the best metaphor to describe saving humanity, but you get my drift. I'll give you a week to laze in the bed -we've developed an experimental treatment that will speed your recovery time and leave no scars- and then it's back to work for you. We have enemies out there, Amanda and Styles' mysterious employer, so the danger is not even close to over. I'm going to lean on you for support and-.”

A head full of pink hair thrust into the doorway.

“Good, you're alive. Deirdre made me swear to call her the instant you woke, so I'm gonna dial it in.”

“Love you too, Astra.”

“Aw, poor baby, I'm mad for you . Now get well soon, so we can play. Oh, someone else wants to say hello too.”

A dark suited and grinning man walked into the room. The man who shot me three times and almost put a fourth bullet in my brain.

“Julia? What's he doing here?” I growled, backing up against my headboard.

“Oh dearie, I wanted to thank you for saving my life, but instead I've given you a fright,” he said.

Something was off here. I was sure Julia said dickhead Styles was munching grass, but here he stood. Except …he no longer reeked of rotten fish.

“Mother? What. is going. on?”

“Don't tell her, Julia,” Astra said. “Let's see how good Nose Girl's superpower is.”

This was getting weird, but okay. I took a deep breath and smelled …brandied cherries. And he'd said dearie.

Oh. My. God!

“Al-cina?”

“Clever girl,” Julia said. “But call him Richard, in public, please. Alcina graciously volunteered. We solved two problems by overwriting her DNA with Styles'. First, we don't have to explain the disappearance of GenTech's Security Chief. And second, it gives us a chance to find out more about the shadow group that tried to shut us down.”

“I thought I would be used to the change but I still feel like a spring chicken,” the 'new' Styles said, flexing his arm.

“And what happened to those thugs with Styles and Mandy? Are they …did you…”

Julia cleared her throat. “They joined GenTech's growing ostrich pride…

Ostriches?

“…The remaining members of Alcina's bridge club offered to take their places,” Julia said.

“You rest up, missy” Styles said. “Once you are well, I want to thank you properly for saving me. I'm a widow ...er widower …er …whatever I am, my memories are precious to me. I am indebted to you.”

When I managed to mumble 'yeah sure', new Styles turned to Astra and smiled. “Are we still on for tonight, dearie?”

“Yup. 7:00 o'clock. What are we going to do,” Astra said, fiddling with one of her piercings.

“I thought we would dine together and then you would accompany me to a movie.”

Wait. Wait a goddamn minute! Astra and Alcina/Styles were old-fashioned dating? I reached over and thumped my IV bag.

“Why did you do that?” Julia asked.

“I needed a morphine hit; this is way too much weirdness to take in sober.”

Our laughter was interrupted by the scent of roses.

~o~O~o~

Deirdre burst into the room, breathing hard. Had she been running?

“Why don't we step outside,” Julia said to Astra and Styles. After the couple left, Julia leaned near me and whispered,

“Deirdre's been by your side as much as I have. She doesn't know you've already agreed to be my daughter. She's been working on a speech for days to convince you to stay 'Sydney.' I'd play it for all it's worth, daughter,” Julia said. She kissed my head and then left, closing the door behind her.

Deirdre moved next to my bed and her bright eyes were nervous. Hmmm.

“How are you feeling?”

“Okay...”

I looked down and tried to flutter my eyelashes; having never done this before, I didn't know if the effect worked.

“You've been shot ...nearly killed, and I know Julia told you how things are with your conversion. So, no, you are not okay, and don't pretend you are. Are you in pain?”

I shrugged, which of course did send pain burning across my chest, so hot it -literally- brought tears to my eyes. Dammit! When am I going to remember not to do that?

“So a big 'yes' to that one,” she said, stroking my cheek with her hand. “Brave thing you did, Syd.”

“Yeah ...brave.”

I tried to sound lost, which wasn't a stretch. You don't have something like this happen to you a bounce up all bright and happy.

“Hey ...it's going to be alright.” She ran a hand through my hair. “No ...it's going to be better.”

“Deirdre ...” I went for the doe-eyed look this time. “What am I going to do now?”

She pulled my head to her breasts and kissed the top of my head. Which would have been great, except for the -OUCH- pain it triggered.

“Give me a chance, love, ...give us a chance, and I'll show you a life worth living. I know you don't want to hear me say I'm glad you can't go back to your old body, but I am. I think I'm in love with you ...you are so bright and lovely. Funny too; I will even admit I like your twisted sense of humor, and....”

Let it never be said I am too sadistic and cruel. Oh, I let her drone on a little longer about my greatness, but then -pain be damned- I grabbed her face, pulled it to mine, and shut her up with a kiss.

When we broke for air, she said, “so that's a yes?”

Someday soon I would tell her my 'yes' moment came when she stuck her head in my room. Which will probably earn me some spanks. Hmm, sounds fun.

I could have answered 'yes' back, but Deirdre was a project I needed to get to work on immediately. My mensa girlfriend -or maybe my partner? We'd have to see where this went- spent way too much time analyzing in her head. Sure as Nose Girl, I would open her mind and body to the sensual and sensuous world of fragrance. But I mustn’t forget the other senses, at this moment ...touch and taste.

I pulled her to me for another kiss.

~o~O~o~

Epilogue

TUESDAY 12:00 P.M., GENTECH TOWER, CONFERENCE ROOM T802

'Spiffy' best describes how I looked in my Chef's hat and shirt.

I almost certainly violated state food handler's regulations by failing to wear a hairnet, but in less than three months after my conversion,'vanity' had become my middle name. No way would I imprison my beautiful hair.

“Lunch is served,” I announced, as I wheeled the cart into the conference room.

Big pow wow going on here, the room was filled with mighty chiefs.

From GenTech's side was Burt Thompson, the EVP of Product Development, Julia, Deirdre and Astra from Building A, and the GenTech CEO himself, Rob Pattison -no relation to the vamp playing actor-.

EarthShell LLC, was represented by their CEO, Jack somebody, and Tom Haskins, who headed up their marketing group.

Why the meeting? The joint venture papers had been signed a week ago, and this was a 'feel good' follow up.

GenTech and EarthShell had found the holy grail of the food container industry, by developing a compostable substitute for styrene and polystyrene food containers. In the rush to go green, MacDonalds and Walmart were lining up to order.

The secret, as the say, is in the sauce. Or rather, it's in the nanites.

I cleared my throat, “Gentlemen and Ladies, I have four kinds of paninis; the Napa Valley, the North Beach, the Rotisserie California Club, and the Santa Cruz. You'll find an assortment of gourmet chips, several colors of ice cold Jones Soda and a pile of obscenely large chocolate chunk cookies, still gooey and warm. Please help yourselves.”

I wouldn't call what happened next a stampede, but plates filled fast. Everyone dug in except Julia, who sat looking at me. I wandered over to her, took a deep sniff, and popped one of her chips in my mouth.

I noticed Mr. Haskins giving me a strange look; Julia noticed too, and smiled at him.

“I should explain Sydney's cheeky behavior. She's my daughter, you see.”

The 'ah-ha' light went on in Haskins' head and he grinned. “My daughter is a few years older, Dr. Carter, so I think I know what you are going through.”

Actually, he had no idea what Julia was going through. Her paranoia had worsened over the last months, but this wasn't an earth-shattering development. I mean, knowing a shadowy cabal actually is out there trying to devise gizmos to scramble your brains would turn the sanest person paranoid. I was helping her hold it together, though.

One way I gave her peace of mind, was to sniff her food for poison. I haven't found any yet, but when I detected e coli taint in two separate dishes from the 'GenTech Eats Healthy' cafe, I spent some 'quality time' with our chef. One thing led to another, and now I'm co-running it.

At least I got rid of the stupid name. Once I re-jigged the menu to serve more corporate functions like today's love-in, I knew 'GenTech Eats Healthy' had to go. I toyed with calling it Pastabilities, and Wok-N-Roll before settling on 'The Deli Lama.' Nearby companies have started ordering from us as well; we're on our way to becoming a profit center.

“You must be so proud of your mother. Are you following in her footsteps?” CEO Jack said.

He was a genial white haired fellow, whose eyes enjoyed roaming my face. I didn't mind; over the past months I've accepted it; I'm cute. From 'Jack', I received the scent of fresh cut sawdust, which I equated with honesty; don't ask me why.

I gave him an emphatic head bob and smiled at Jules.

“I'm trying, but Mother's got huge shoes to fill. Er …but by that I don't mean she has big feet.”

When the room erupted with laughter, I turned beet red. This wasn't a laugh I had been going for.

“I get your meaning, young lady. You are, what 18? 19? You obviously work here; do you plan to go to college someday?”

“I've started an undergrad course online. I'm getting a BS in Biology.” I glanced over at Julia. “We'll see what happens after that.”

“Excellent!” Jack said. “I'm an 'old schooler', and wonder if the lack of 'live' time with a teacher makes online courses harder.”

“Not in her case,” Julia answered. “She has a dozen 'tutors' here who prep her with tests of their own. The online exams are a cakewalk for Syd after that.”

Laughter filled the room again, but I didn't mind; it was true! Deirdre was the worst; she spanked me for each wrong answer. Which usually led to other things. Mmmmm.

When lunch ended, I gathered the plates and trash so the meeting could continue. If Jack and Tom thought the discussions were over my head, they'd be wrong. This whole idea of partnering with EarthShell? My brainchild.

Project Y was in full swing: Marge and the combined GAP/MASG teams devoured the data I generated in my MASG tests. When they combined the findings with their gene mapping work, they identified a stable gene to transfer the Y sex traits to. Julia figured if this project wasn't secret, Marge's work would have earned her a Noble for sure. Then Julia and Astra proved their brilliance by designing a virus to work the transfer.

But we still needed to find a vehicle to mass release our counter virus into the population. I got to thinking, could nanites be programed to deliver our virus? Could dormant nanites be blended with other compounds, oh, say, the components that go into a Big Mac container box, and further, could the nanites be activated by a substance like ...hot grease? Then, once activated, the nanites would migrate into the Bic Mac, which would in turn go into...

Well ...you see where this is headed; Deirdre built the nanites to do just that. We convinced EarthShell that only we -hint, 50% joint venture profit share = happy happy GenTech CEO- could provide the additives and catalysts needed to make the boxes biodegrade.

Once EarthShell pitched the product to the market, MacDonalds practically kicked down EarthShell's factory doors to place orders. To be shipped to every single MacDonalds on the globe.

This is my biggest Score! ever. Oh, the irony; if all goes well, we will be saving humanity through fast food!

We have other delivery methods too; Julia's genetically engineered rice will contain the counter virus, so we get third world coverage.

Project Y is greenlight to go and our counter virus hits earth in the coming months. We have high hopes, best guess is the fertility rate will continue to dip from degenerative Y for a while, but will rebound once our virus takes hold. And -bonus!- there is only a 7.28% chance our virus will mutate into something that could bring an zombie apocalypse. Inspires confidence, no?

As I wheeled the lunch cart out the conference room, I glanced over at Deirdre, mouthed later, and blew a kiss. When she mouthed oh yeah back, I saw Astra snicker. She's giving me and Deirdre shit? Right. Her affair with Alcina/Styles is so mind-numbing, Freud himself is clawing his way out of his grave to analyze them.

Thing is, our relationships are the tip of the iceberg. Just last week, one of our scientists petitioned Julia for her marine biologist sister. Seems her sister wanted to 'get closer to her work', and asked if the GAP team could convert her into a hybrid dolphin/human. To become a mermaid for God's sake! I have no idea whether Mother will agree, but one thing's certain - we are open for business, and nothing will be the same again.

How will we cope?

Kipling once said, 'smell is surer than sight or sound' and I know it's true. We can't rely on our eyes, because now, anyone could be anyone. And we can't trust our hearing, because the fabulous lies of men travel straight from their lips to our ears.

My advice?

Go outside. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.

You might smell something horrible; perhaps the neighbor's dog left you a darling gift in your lawn.

Or you'll breath something fabulous, like the intoxicating fragrance of rose petals that surrounds me when I'm with my love.

Or you may get nothing; smell is our most underdeveloped sense, after all.

But use it. Work it. Rely on it, because, if I’ve learned one thing, it is smell never lies.

Until next time, this is Nose Girl signing off, and reminding you to always stand down wind.

Dammit! No matter how much I dress it up, my superhero 'Nose Girl' name is, and will always be, stupid!

Sigh.

~o~O~o~