Something Feels Strange…

I look over at mom for answers. I see that she is smiling.

"You look beautiful sweetheart." She says. "Too bad it is time to give you to someone else for a season."

It is time for answers. I just hope that the answers don't lead to more questions!

Chapter 6: Explanations & Decisions

It is 3:30am, Sunday morning. My mother and I are sitting in a room at a Hampton Inn in the next valley east of my home town. I have just heard a tale that is beyond the imagination. I now have a decision to make.

After we left Sam's beauty salon, mom began the tale as we headed east on the Interstate, past our town and over the hills into the next valley. It took only half an hour to reach the hotel. We only got half way, at best, through the story in that time.

The driver, introduced simply as Joe, appears to be some kind of body guard. He helped carry up two suitcases and a large book pack to the room. The suitcases are the two we purchased last week. Surprise! -- Not! -- They must be mine. Mom carries her own overnight bag.

After Joe helped us into the hotel, he went back to the parking lot. He parked the car in a far corner where he had a good view of the lot.

In the hotel room, the story continued. Any thoughts of sleep were banished from my mind and body as the story unfolded. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And I only have about half an hour left before I have to make some kind of decision.

So what is the story? It would take too long to recount the entire conversation. You wouldn't understand the details anyway without knowing the players. I will give you the summary version. It is long enough on its own.

Where do I begin? We'll start with the big picture.

First of all, there is some kind of espionage thing going on out at the Laboratory that is the major employer in our town. Important information about scientific advances that can be used for weapons development has been finding its way from the Lab to the Middle East and Afghanistan. It has been going on for some time but no one has been able to figure out who is obtaining the information or how the information is getting out. The Lab's security group has tried all sorts of electronic surveillance, analysis of computer network traffic, background checks, and placing undercover agents in the Lab to try and observe anyone around the people who are developing the information being stolen. The results have been very unsatisfactory. The agents were able to identify quite a few people who could be considered suspects, but never could they get close enough to any of them to tell if they were the ones. All sorts of new security procedures have been put into place, but they have done little more than slow down the traffic.

Frustration at the lack of progress in the investigation has forced the Lab’s security team to think outside the box. In a brain storming session last summer it was decided that what was needed was a new set of undercover agents to supplement the other detection methods.  The new agents would be people who would be overlooked by the spies who are orchestrating the espionage. The idea was hatched to use high school and college summer interns as undercover agents. The thought being that these people would not be considered a threat by those stealing the information and, as a result, would not be closely watched by the bad guys.

As the plan was discussed, a couple of obstacles became readily apparent.

First, college students could be suspected very easily of being agents as they are of a similar age to some of the agents sent in previously. Interns from appropriate scientific fields would be of great benefit. The advantage of college students is that they have a greater depth of knowledge and maturity than the high school students.  They also have much more technical knowledge than the agents used to date.  The down side of using college students is that whoever is stealing information might be wary of them as happened with the previous agents.

High school interns, on the other hand would be more likely to be overlooked as a threat because of their lack of knowledge and life experience. The spy may let his or her guard down around teenagers. The problem was to find a teenager who is brighter than average, but has a track record that would indicate otherwise, while still being completely trustworthy and committed to the project.  It is a given that high school students will be a lacking in the technical knowledge, particularly at the level seen at the Lab.

As discussions progressed, profiles for an ideal intern/agent were developed. Essential criteria included:

• A record of mediocre or average performance that hides a keen intellect.
• A strong work ethic.
• Demonstrated commitment to principles of integrity.

Secondary criteria, characteristics that would be highly valued but are not essential include:

• Very knowledgeable in the technical areas of concern.
• An ability to work with and observe people.

On the high school level, an additional, non-essential, criterion was added: That of being a distance runner. This was done because three of the people on the current suspect list have children who run on the local high school's cross country and track teams. One boy and two girls. It was felt that a fellow runner might make a good connection with these families.

There are a number of people who fit most of the criteria, but it proved to be difficult to find someone who meets all the criteria, particularly since the first criterion is in conflict with the rest. It is easy to find bright kids who are under achievers, but they can't be counted on to achieve in an assignment like this because they can never be counted on to achieve anything.

The high school aged agents, it was felt, needed to be recruited locally, since it is not common to bring in high school age interns from far away. The problem with using local kids is that everyone local is pretty well known and had established community connections with people in the Lab.

The more the security team wrestled with the problem, the more hopeless it became: until someone hatched the idea that a person meeting all the intellectual and work ethic criteria could be disguised to appear as someone with a mediocre record. This new person needs to come from out of town so that they are a fresh face without a local track record. The best approach seemed to be an out of town relative of a local family. The final problem was transforming someone who met most the criteria into the new person that met all the criteria.   The transformation has to be very complete.  A simple disguise will be too risky.

The means for doing the transformation was found in very small and very secret research group at the Lab.

A group of scientists at the Lab are working with people purported to be in possession of magic.  The goal of the group is to find scientific explanations for magical phenomena. The hope is to develop means for allowing 'non-magical' people to accomplish tasks limited previously to those born with the power. This group - unofficially known as 'the Wizards' by those who are aware of their project - is making headway on a number of fronts, including the area of transformations. While the magic folk are able to do some amazing things, this group has agreed to stay with procedures that had been verified and/or replicated scientifically.  They have to be administered by non-magic folk. The current state of the art for the Wizards includes, among other things, complete physical transformations based on DNA models.

Their transformation methods are interesting in that only the body is changed. The intellectual and psychological characteristics are not changed. Neither is the age of the transformed person. The result is that the 'person' does not change, just their bodies. Essentially, the Wizards can concoct a DNA ‘potion’ - for lack of a better word - that will quickly change a person's physical system to match that specified by the DNA potion. This process involves some, as yet, unexplained violations of the scientific principles of conservation of mass and energy. The good news is that the process was completely reversible without physical harm to the individual.

The mental and emotional picture, however, is different. Experiments by the Wizards have shown that people often have a changed view of life after literally walking in someone else's shoes for a time. As Jim Croce once said in the song One less Set of Footsteps, "It is what we've done that makes us what we are". The experiences that a person has, regardless of the body that they are in, combine with their basic personality traits to make them what they are. It doesn't matter if some of those experiences were as a different person. They still get added to the basic character mix for the individual.

The details of the transformation process are sketchy. The security team, however, isn't interested in the process, just the results. They need to take a very highly qualified candidate and physically change them into another person who, to the rest of the world, does not appear to be all that capable or extraordinary. A perfect disguise for the desired intern/agent.

I hope you are following this. All this cloak and dagger stuff gets quite complicated. Very quickly.

The solution at which the security team arrived was to have someone visiting family for the summer to get the job. Someone who no one locally knows - someone like Kristina Jeffers.

Actually, Kristina Jeffers doesn't really exist, but she could be created to be the visiting relative of a Lab employee. Kristina could apply for a summer intern position at the Lab in order to stay busy during her visit.

Once the plan was agreed upon, a list of possible recruits was developed after gaining access to the local high school's records and those of several universities where there were people in place to evaluate the potential recruits.  (There are enough geeks at the Lab to hack into any information system.) The idea of the search being that the best fit individuals would be investigated and one or more chosen to be changed and hired on as a summer intern.

This is where the story gets personal for me.

Apparently, I met the high school criteria perfectly in every way, except in the mediocre performance department. My high grades, success as a Boy Scout, and dedication to running were all in my favor. Apparently there were three other people at our school that were considered good candidates as well. The problem was to find a way to look at each candidate in depth without them knowing. This is where Laurie enters the picture.

Mrs. Mercer, a part of the security team leadership, works undercover as an administrative assistant for one of the Lab's management team–as anyone in any organization will tell you, the administrative assistants know everything that is going on.  She is also part of the inner circle of the group putting this investigation together. With the approval of the team, she enlisted the aid of her daughter in checking out the potential recruits at our high school. Laurie's job was to get close to the final candidates and feed her assessments back to the security team via her mother. Laurie was not told why she was observing these people. She was just told that it was very important to national security. Her job was to gather information about the finalists that the security team could use to evaluate the suitability each candidate. She was also given some compensation for accomplishing her task.

Hence the reason why she was enrolled in the electronics and math courses. Neither of these were topics that she was particularly interested in, but it would allow her to observe me and at least one other candidate.

Apparently, it was decided in the first month of school that I was the best fit for the job. And I never even knew that I was interviewing for the job. Laurie was directed to do what she could to develop a relationship with me with the intent of making sure that I was really the type of person the team was looking for. As she did not have a boyfriend at the time, she agreed to give it a go.

Ouch! That revelation hurt and I felt very much the fool. She did her job well. I now need to spend some time reevaluating our relationship knowing its origins, but right now I have bigger things to consider.

Apparently, after dating me for several months, Laurie was able to give the security team enough information about me to make them absolutely convinced that I was ‘the man for the job’. Apparently, the team was thrilled that I was not a macho jerk or overly driven by my hormones to the point of distraction from my bigger goals. This unexpected bonus proved to be the deal clincher and made further decisions easier for the security team.

I should point out that similar searches at the college level proved fruitless. The end result is that the security team has pinned almost all of its hopes and plans on me. Mom tells me that there is another candidate that might fit the bill, but this person is a distant second choice.

Once I was identified as the best candidate, the team began ‘creating’ Kristina Jeffers.

It was decided, first of all, this new person would be visiting with the Mercers and that a girl was preferable to a boy. Depending on who the bad guys are, they might discount a mere girl as a threat. Also, a girl would more easily work into the Mercer household. My emotional attachment to Laurie would be a complication, particularly if I was there as a boy. It was felt that it would be easier for both Laurie and me if we took the boy/girl thing out of the picture.

Laurie, it turns out, is also getting an internship position this summer, but not with an intent to be an agent. She doesn't know about the espionage thing. Laurie would be the ticket to introductions that a girl from out of town would need. In the final analysis, being girl cousins made the most sense.

By happy coincidence–happy for the security team that is–Mrs. Mercer's sister is married to an Army officer whose unit is stationed at Fort Richardson in Alaska. Due to careful controls in the intelligence community, it turns out that the Lab's security team did not know until recently, that Major William (Bill) Jeffers was in military intelligence. In fact, Major Jeffers was one the people who originally discovered the information leak from the Lab during a raid conducted while he was deployed in Afghanistan. He and his lovely wife Polly have one teenage son, Tom–age seventeen going on eighteen. The family lives off post in Anchorage, Alaska.

Once all these coincidences were discovered, it was decided by the security team that Kristina would be the second child of Bill and Polly Jeffers. A birth certificate in the name of Kristina Marie Jeffers was created at the Martin Army Community Hospital at Ft. Benning, Georgia where Lt. Jeffers was stationed when Kristina would have been born. In addition, an academic record for this new young lady was created in at the local high school. She just finished her sophomore year with good, but not great, grades taking courses of moderate difficulty. She was on the cross country running team as well as the track team, but with mediocre results so that she did not stand out. There was some thought to adding her to the cross country ski team, but it was felt that it would be too difficult to train the new Kristina in this skill at the beginning of summer. They also filed a job application with the Lab on Kris's behalf.

Meanwhile, the Wizards collected DNA samples from the Mercers, myself, and the Jeffers to start concocting their potion. They also obtained some DNA from their backup candidate and worked up a potion for that person as well.

While the plans were being developed, I–on my own–had applied for work at the Boy Scout camp. This solved another problem for the security team. They were wondering how to make me disappear for the summer. My parents, while great supporters of Scouting, had originally wanted me to apply for an regular internship at the Lab thinking that it would be better experience for me than the camp. In early March, my father was brought into the loop by the security team to see if permission and assistance could be gained from my parents for their recruitment plan. At first neither parent was overly thrilled by the proposal of losing me to this project, but dear old Dad finally realized that his work was in jeopardy and that this experience would not only help his project but at the same time give me some experience more valuable than anyone could possibly imagine. Also, if the Lab were to lose the information that the spies were looking for, many innocent people might be hurt. Mom agreed with the value of the experience and the need for action. She also confided in me, that she felt that experience in the female world could only help me be a better man. In the end, they agreed to help. That was about the time that they began supporting my summer plans with more enthusiasm.

The original timetable had the security team contacting me to explain the situation and enlist my help when Dad took me to camp. They arranged for all my camp correspondence to show an arrival date one week before the camp was actually set to begin. The team, including my parents, were fully confident of my willing participation after the essentials were communicated to me. The week before camp started would give them time to convince me to join them, do the transformation, and get me appropriately outfitted and ready to work.  They felt that it was important to not bring me in the loop until the very last minute–something about keeping things quiet.  If they were unsuccessful in recruiting me, then I could continue on to camp and they could move to plan B.

During the recruitment phase, they had no intention of going into the depth of detail that I am getting tonight. I am getting the full story now because, like all good plans, something had gone awry and they needed to gain my cooperation quickly.  That something wrong occurred half a world away in Afghanistan.

In another raid, Army Rangers found evidence that the insurgents are desperate for more specific information to be obtained from the Lab and are putting extreme pressure on their agents to get it. Quickly.

This development caused panic with the security team leader. The leader wanted to get Kristina in place faster. The 'accident' in Alaska was staged two days after the Ranger's raid in Afghanistan to give urgent reason for Kristina to be sent away to stay with her aunt and cousin in California. In fact they felt the need to get her to California that same weekend. Someone in the decision tree was very panicky. This created an infinite number of problems for the planning arm of the security team as they had no good plan for my disappearance at the start of finals week. While they tried to sort that out, the team (including my parents) decided that they would at least outfit me so that I would be in position if things really got out of hand. After all, everything was reversible and it was guaranteed that I would have the final say in my participation before being fully committed to the project. After all, they had high confidence in my cooperation after doing personality profiles on me all winter.

Yet again things happened differently than had been planned. The original plan called for me to be recruited and go through the transition in a facility in another town. I would have had a staff of people to assist with obtaining clothes and learning the basics of girlhood for a whole week. – "Like they think that would be enough time? Must have been a man that dreamed that up!" my mom remarked. - I could do the transformation and training away from the eyes of the world.

Laurie did not show up at school that Friday because she became part of the planning on how to move this project along. She provided information about my personality to the staff psyche people who affirmed that I probably wouldn't flip out if helped by people who I knew and trusted.

The Wizard group had had their work done for weeks so they were brought in to do their deed. No one knew for sure what size I would be when transformed so they needed me there for the shopping. It all had to be done in one night so that I could get transported to Alaska on Saturday so that I could catch a flight back to California as if I was coming from there, with the normal luggage of a teen girl. They suspected that the spies would do at least a mild background check on anyone new showing up at the Lab, so they wanted a verifiable trail of events leading up to Kristina's arrival.

There being no time to take me to a neighboring town for the shopping experience and knowing that I would be totally disoriented, it was decided that a big box store in town was just the ticket. All they needed was to get me some private time in the store. Marla's employment at one such store made things easier, since it allowed the outfitters to all be people who I know. The security team contacted the store manager to make the arrangements, citing national security needs without revealing the details. The result was totally free access to the store for the night. I later discovered that there were several Lab security people protecting the store while we were there, hence the lack of concern about security that night by the women.

Details of the actual transformation are pretty sketchy. Mom wasn't totally up on it, but she knew that it was important that I be asleep when they administered the potion. As they knew I was an early-to-bed kind of guy, everyone waited until I went to sleep and then somehow administered the potion. Mom didn't see how it was done. It is all top secret you know. The actual transformation process took about an hour.

When done, I was in a trance-like state that allowed them to move me more or less under my own power to the store. Laurie and a security guard took me over to the store while the two mothers enlisted Marla's help without giving her too much detail. Laurie and a Lab security person had taken me to the Junior's section and left me there while Laurie went back to see the security guard out and to prop the door open for the rest of my helpers. I snapped out of the trance while she was gone. You know what happened in the store. The potion that I was given was of short duration. It was known to last only six hours at the most. I reverted back into the trance-like state about half an hour before my body started to return to its normal state. They found it best to get me home before the change initiated. The good news is that the shopping trip was at the Lab's expense.

Oh... and the pajama thing at the end of the evening: the assembled group had felt more comfortable changing me into my pajamas while I was still female and semi able to help. Hence the rush. After I went into the trance, they were able to lead me out to a waiting car behind the building. The security staff got me tucked into bed where the transformation was monitored by a team from the Wizards group.

While we were having our fun in the store that night, cooler heads prevailed in the security agencies and it was decided stick to the original time schedule, with some modifications.  The urgent need to bring Kristina to town was abandoned.

Analysis of my responses during the shopping excursion showed a 90% probability that I would go along with the plan once I understood the scope of the details. They also felt that I did not need to know of the plan yet as there was still hope that they could catch the culprit on their own without my help and could then pull the plug on the operation. They hoped that the spy or spies would make some kind of a slip since they are under increased pressure to produce results. That did not happen.

Laurie and her mother went to Alaska yesterday to get ready to introduce me, or my backup, to the life of Kristina Marie Jeffers in Alaska in preparation for her debut in California. The powers that be decided that the physical transformation needed to be completed tonight so that I could get to Alaska as soon as possible as Kristina. Hence, the beauty shop. As far as getting ready goes, I had a basic set of clothes, I just needed the polishing. They couldn’t arrange a 3am appointment, so the hair came before the explanation.  They had great faith in my positive response to their recruitment.

After tonight's transformation process was complete, Mom and Marla managed to get me in the new girl clothes. Mom and Joe quickly got me to the salon while I was still in the trance. Samantha mistook the trance for abuse of a chemical substance–in a way, she was right.

Actually, the week’s wait was probably good for the security team’s cause. My brain had had time to digest the short experience of being female. This new experience became a part of me, like it or not. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had missed an opportunity. It was rather like eating one potato chip–it is hard to eat just one. That first one makes you want to continue the experience until you are satisfied. I am not satisfied. My curiosity about experiencing a girl's life, temporarily, has grown as I have reflected more about the experience. In the back of my mind, I had resolved to focus more on the feelings and sensations if it were to ever happen again.

Did you get all that? No wonder they didn't want to describe all this in the store! The summary took too long to get out. The whole story had taken a couple of hours of discussion with mother dear.

So. Here I sit in a hotel room with my mother. There is a team of people waiting out there in the parking lot for me to accept the job. I only have a little time left before I revert to the trance-like state which leads to the return to Christopher Quinn. With smooth legs and shapely eye brows. I need to decide which way to go before that happens.

If I join the team, specialists from the Wizard group will come in and work some kind of magic that will set me in this body until they release me. That will be either until the spies are caught or the second week of August when Scout camp gets out–whichever comes first.

If I choose not to join the team, I get an all expense paid vacation at a mountain lodge where I can spend the rest of the week running, hiking and fishing until I have to report to Scout camp, with smooth legs and arched eye brows.

Even though the job sounds like fun, I feel as if I've been set up–manipulated. That does not go down very well. Even though mother has painted a fairly reasonable picture for justifying the manipulation, it still bothers me. A lot. Particularly Laurie's role in the matter. I really need to spend some time thinking about that.

On second thought, one definition of 'manipulated' as found on the web is "exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage." If the story is to be believed, I think that manipulation only occurred the two times I found myself female. Leading up to that, I was deceived by Laurie all year, but the security people were only assessing me up to that point, not influencing me. In a way, I should feel honored that I was evaluated and found to match such high criteria. If it wasn't for the imposed gender change, I would have been flattered to have been selected for this job.

As far as the forced gender changes go, I can almost see why they did it, given the circumstances.  I might even have done the same thing if put in the same situation.  I do think that the head of security needs to learn how to avoid panicked responses.

At least they got parental permission. And parents are universally known for forcing their kids into all sorts of character building experiences.  No one (except for the child) really sees that as a gross violation of personal rights. Maybe I should view this event as such a situation. After all, Mom tells me that I can bail out now if I want to. Apparently the team knows that if I don't go into this willingly, then the project will fail.

Well... let me look at the situation objectively, ignoring the unapproved gender change.

Here is my analysis of the pros and cons:

Pros:

• This job sounds pretty exciting. A lot more exciting than teaching knots to twelve year-old Boy Scouts.
• The compensation, which I forgot to mention above, is very attractive.
• I get to help save the world (well maybe not completely, but innocent people may benefit from my employment.)
• I don't have to go too far from home this summer.
• I get to live with my (soon to be former, maybe) girlfriend for the summer, unfortunately, not in the manner that I would have liked. This has both a positive and a negative connotation.  That is why you will find this entry in the cons section.
• I get to munch on more potato chips (metaphorically speaking). That is, I'll be able to satisfy my growing curiosity about life as a girl.
• This is only a temporary arrangement.
• I still get to run. Did I mention that, to me, running is life? I know that I forgot to mention that the Wizards managed to mix in some running genes from some accomplished female runners into the DNA mix. Sounds sort of like an unfair advantage for me, but I'll take it as part of the compensation package.

Cons:

• I'll have to spend the summer working indoors.
• I'll have to live with my former girlfriend. We will have to resolve a few issues for that to work.
• I don't get a chance to be totally on my own for the summer. Mom and Dad will still be there looking over my shoulder, so to speak. As you can tell, I have mixed feelings about being away from home.
• I'm not sure that I trust the group that is controlling this charade. It is obvious that they only feed what they feel is need-to-know information to the participants. And I am low on the need-to-know list. I am sure that there are things that they are not telling me that I will wish that I had known later.

When I consider the list, the pros look like they far outweigh the cons. But then you have to consider the recruiting methods. I get a bit unhappy with the whole thing when I think in that direction.

I wonder how I would have responded if their original recruitment plan had been followed? That is an interesting question. I think that I might have gone with it. The adventure sounds exciting. The chance to make a difference is enticing. So is the compensation. As they discovered during the assessment phase, I am not a macho jerk so even the female stuff would be an interesting adventure, although I doubt that I will advertise having had the experience once it is over. The fact that I qualified for a great opportunity would have been flattering. Yes, I would probably have accepted the job.

Still, I find it hard to accept the deception and manipulation of the last week and a half. But is that enough to keep me from this adventure–and the money?

As I contemplate the issues, I feel a weary feeling welling up from the depths of my soul. I know that time is short.

"Mom?" I ask, "will you watch out for me?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I will. I and a lot of other people will be watching out for you." She replies. "All you need to do is call and help will be there."

I lie down on the double bed that I have been sitting on throughout our long chat. I feel convinced that I am about to do the right thing. People are depending on me. I want to see if I can pull this off.

"Okay Mom. Call in the Wizards. I'll do it." I manage to get out before fading into a comfortable sleep.

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Thanks again for Gabi's wonderful assistance in cleaning up this work.  As I did not implement all her suggestions, don't blame her for mistakes missed!