Matthew Jones is the only son of Randy Jones, honored deacon of the Church of Genetic Purity. He and his girlfriend, Amy Cox, have been taught from birth that MORFS is a symptom of moral depravity. While they had quietly questioned that doctrine, they were not prepared for the opportunity to find out for themselves.

sex: 1/10
violence: 7/10
profanity: 3/10

Categories: Male to Female, PSI

Timeline: 2060

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Chapter Fifteen: More changeling introductions

After breakfast, everyone showered and dressed. There were enough showers in the house that everyone could take their time without causing a long wait.

We all did the 'dressy casual' thing for church. We would all be caravaning there and entering together, so we might as well look like we just got back from a slumber party.

We got there just a couple minutes before the service started. Mom and the Martins were already seated near the front, so we all joined them. We pretty much took up that section of the church. Larry and his crew, meanwhile, were seated across the aisle and took up a good portion of that section.

*Good morning Larry! Have fun burping and grunting and shooting things?*

*Good morning to you, too!* he replied. *We had a good time, but I missed you.*

*I missed you too, sweetie.*

I can't believe I said that!

*We had a good time. Carol and I played a knock-down drag-out game of Antares Mercenary until the rest of the girls discovered us and ambushed us. We proceeded to kick their butts until your darling sister figured out my secret and started wiping us out.*

*What was your secret?* he asked.

*That's for me to know and for you to maybe figure out. Meanwhile, I challenge you to a game of Antares Mercenary when we get home.*

*Why do I feel like you're about to wipe the floor with me?* he asked with a smirk.

*Only because I am, sweetie. By the way, once Carol and I figured out what Cindy was up to, we got her back. But you'll find out all about that.* I favored him with my best telepathic rendition of an evil villain's laugh.

One of the elders went to the front and read the announcements. It was pretty much the same as last week. He called Kim to the front.

"It would appear that I've just been elected the official changeling and new member announcer," she quipped.

Carol walked up and stood next to Kim.

"A couple weeks ago, Mike Stinnett got worked over by MORFS. Waking up as a girl threw Carol for a loop, but she recovered quickly, and has even been initiated into the world of teenage femininity by the wild group that you see in front of you." Kim pointed at us. We giggled.

"So, please welcome Carol Stinnett to our flock.

We all applauded.

Carol asked for the microphone. "When I woke up as a girl, I thought that my life was over. I'm afraid that I put my family through a rather rough time. I would like to thank them for their love and patience."

We applauded.

Carol continued, "What finally dragged me out of my deep blue funk is my true blue-haired girlfriend. I'm ashamed to say that I snipped at her at first. She patiently and lovingly helped me to realize that life is not over -- that, in fact, it can be better than before. This is a lesson that all new changelings can take home, and all future changelings will do well to remember."

Everyone applauded.

"Finally, I would like to thank Doctor Myra Winters for helping me sort through the rubble and build a new me out of the pieces."

More applause.

Carol handed the microphone back to Kim.

*Come on up,* she sent to me and Mom.

"Last week, we introduced Sue and her daughter Cara, who had just gone through MORFS. Since then, several things have happened.

We walked up and stood next to Kim.

"As you can see, we have sisters -- except that they're not."

She put her hand on Mom's shoulder.

"In the third case of adult MORFS I have ever seen, Sue has managed to get the same changes as her daughter Cara. Please welcome the new Sue to our family."

There was applause.

"Last week, when we introduced Cara, she had quite a story to tell. When she was Matthew, he had been forced to watch as the pures stoned his girlfriend Amy."

There was silence.

Kim continued, "On the way home from district court, the pures kidnapped Sue and Cara and stoned them. To make a long and very gruesome story short, Cara managed to deflect most of the rocks and telepathically call for help. Unfortunately, she and Sue did sustain some nasty injuries. Right after the police rounded up the perpetrators, Cara heard a call for help." Kim looked at me proudly. "Ignoring her own injuries, she ran through the forest to the source of the call. With some help from her friends, she dug the dirt off of a grave where the pures had buried their victim alive." She had to wipe a tear from her eye. "In one of the most dramatic rescues, and one of the most profound demonstrations of love I have ever seen, Cara infused her own strength into Amy and used all her talents and resources to bring her back from the brink of death."

Amy walked up and stood next to me. I pulled her in for a quick hug.

"Amy is now living with us, and has been a wonderful addition to our household. Please welcome her to our church family."

There was more applause. Kim led us back to our seats.

The elder came back to the lectern to finish the announcements. "I know we just had a pot luck last week, but it is our policy to celebrate all victories. Besides, we'll take any excuse to have a party. The grub committee has outdone itself. With just a couple days' notice, they managed to contact enough people to pull this together. If you didn't bring anything, you have to eat twice as much to make up for it." He smiled and continued. "Pulling Amy back literally from the brink of death is definitely reason to celebrate. I have it on good authority that Amy and Cara have declared themselves sisters. The entire Martin household wants to thank everyone for their prayers." Then, he said, "Please stand and greet one another."

It was another free-for-all, just like last week. People came and congratulated us. Amy had tears in her eyes.

*A little culture shock, sis?* I asked her.

*I can't believe it! These people are so genuine! When you told me that we were going to church, I expected something like our old church.*

I smiled at her. *When they call this our church family, they aren't kidding. Also, you'll find that their teachings have little in common with that 'study guide' that was foisted upon us.*

*It feels strange to be able to throw it away without a guilty conscience.*

We suddenly felt ourselves enfolded in a big bear hug as Pastor Dan wrapped his arms around us. Amy was startled at first, but soon read the welcome from my mind.

"Hello Pastor Dan," I said as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello Cara," he said. "You certainly look a lot happier than you did last week." He turned to Amy. "Welcome to our church family! We're really happy that you can join us."

He gave us another squeeze, then excused himself and circulated among his flock.

*He's genuine! He really means it!* Amy said in wonder.

The elder wandered back to the lectern and asked that everyone take their seats. Larry ran up to me, gave me a quick hug, then went to his seat. It looked like he was taking some kidding from his friends.

*Buddies giving you a rough time?* I sent to him.

*They're just envious,* he replied with a snicker. I smiled and settled back into my seat.

The elder introduced Pastor Dan. Pastor Dan's message was about forgiveness. Forgiveness is something that was never mentioned in my old church, and it certainly wasn't something I really wanted to think about at the time.

He made some good points, but I somehow missed most of them. How can I forgive the people who all but killed Amy, and tried to kill Mom and me? Every time I thought of them, I could hear that final crack as a rock hit Amy in the head. I could see her slump. I could see her naked and filthy body laying in the grave with her open and caved-in eyes, and her mouth full of dirt. I could feel the rocks impact my own body. I could feel my mother's pain and despair as she tried to protect me.

As the nails pierced his body, Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

But he's God. He knew the plan from the beginning, and went through with it because he chose to. He could have saved himself, but he had a bigger purpose. He knew from the beginning that he was going to do it, and that he was going to come back to life.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. *He did it for me. He did it for you.*

I looked up into Sara's green eyes. *I know that I'm supposed to forgive them, but... it's just so hard.*

People were filing out of the sanctuary, leaving Sara and me pretty much to ourselves.

*You can't do it alone,* she agreed. *Still, the pain that you are feeling will continue to come back and haunt you until you do.*

I closed my eyes against the tears that threatened to well up.

*Have any of them asked you for forgiveness?*

*No. They probably never will.*

*Don't worry about it yet, then. You can push it aside for now, and deal with it once time has dulled the pain.*

She put her hands on my head, and I could sense that she was praying. Then, she took my hand and led me to the fellowship hall. By the time I got to our table, I was feeling better.

We have won. They have lost. We have our lives ahead of us, and it really looks like those lives will be rich and full.

As we approached the table, Amy looked at me with concern. I smiled back. *I'm doing better now.* Larry got up and gave me a hug, then led me to a seat between him and Amy. Cindy stuck her tongue out at him and smirked.

*What?* I asked her.

*I didn't say anything.*

I stuck my tongue out at her.

We were in the front of the serving line again. This time, Amy and Mom were the guests of honor.

I had to use my TK to eat because I was holding hands with Larry. If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything.

After a while, people started to come over and welcome Amy. A couple people congratulated me on my rescue effort.

Myra retired to her makeshift treatment room in the basement for a while. There were no big therapy sessions, but she checked up on a number of people -- including Amy and me.

After a while, there was nobody left but the teens and a few adult leaders. Since everyone was already at the church, we decided to leave early. The youth pastor called the canoe rental place and verified that they had canoes ready for us. While he was doing that, we all changed out of our church clothes. I put a long t-shirt on over my favorite aquamarine bikini, and stepped into a pair of flops. It felt funny being in church attired like that. Soon, we were caravaning to the Hobart bridge. Sure enough, there was a baker's dozen canoes waiting for us, along with some paddles and life jackets. The drivers dropped us off and went to the pick-up point, and then all came back in one car.

I hadn't been in a canoe since I was very young. Once father had gotten deeply involved in the Genetic Purity Church, recreational activities had fallen to the wayside. Fortunately, Larry didn't have that problem. He sat in the back and did a very good job of guiding the canoe through all the rocks and fallen logs.

It's the job of the person in the back to plot the path and steer the canoe. It's the job of the person in the front to provide power and act as a look-out -- 'because I can't see through you'. Of course, at least one smarty-pants said it's 'because he's busy looking at you.' I guess I have to believe the second, because he perfectly well can see through me.

I was actually rather impressed with the Larry's skill. There were many times that I was sure that he was pointing the canoe way upstream of where we wanted to go, only to find that the current took us precisely to the clearest path. A quick flick of his paddle, and we would glide smoothly through the opening.

A couple times, we beached the canoe and sat on the bank near a particularly difficult section of the river. Watching the other canoeists hit something and flip was always good for a bit of amusement.

It's common for the canoeists to eschew their life vests because the river is shallow in most places, and it is narrow enough to swim across easily. Unfortunately, one young lady who decided to go without her vest ended up dumping in one of the rare deep areas and panicked. It really looked like she was joking around, but I could feel the panic coming from her. Fortunately for her, Larry and I lifted her out and deposited her on the bank. Once her partner righted the canoe and retrieved all the floating items, including her discarded life vest, she decided to put it back on. Of course, the fact that the water is quite cold this time of the year (any time of the year, for that matter) might have convinced her that extra insulation is a good thing. That, and the life vest covered the evidence that she found the water to be cold.

After a while, we got back into our canoe and continued down the river. By then, I was getting pretty good at reading the river and judging the current.

Up ahead, the river curved to the right. The water to the left was deep, as expected. The outside of a curve is almost always deeper. There seemed to be some obstructions there, though.

Of course, the real tip-off was the fact that the bank was lined with spectators.

As we got closer, we saw a tree that had fallen into the river years ago. It had been undermined by the eroding left bank. There was a nice cut just to the right of the tree. Carefully compensating for the cross current, Larry lined us up so that we could glide effortlessly through the narrow space between the limbs of the tree (which had been cut) and the rocks to the right.

As we approached, we saw a kid swimming exactly where we needed to go. Larry dodged to the left, avoiding the swimmer. He tried to get us back into the groove, but there was no time to do it in the swift current.

"Duck under the branch," he instructed me. The branch passed over, barely clearing the top of the canoe. Larry didn't have room to duck and maintain control at the same time, so he grabbed the branch as it came up to his chest. While he held the canoe steady, I climbed back into my seat. I could feel the current rushing underneath us.

Larry leaned backwards, doing the limbo under the limb. He had to push up on the limb, which pushed the back end of the canoe down into the water. It was a very unstable position, and we had to fight to keep our balance. He held on to the limb as it passed over his face and past his head, then released it. The canoe rocked quite a bit, but we managed to keep the dry side dry and the wet side wet. He picked up his paddle and we continued nonchalantly as if nothing unusual had happened. I had been prepared to use TK to right the canoe, but it wasn't necessary. I thought I heard some applause coming from the spectator section, but I wasn't sure (and I didn't feel like 'reading' them.)

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. As we approached the livery, we were complimented by a couple people on our excellent save. I think some of the girls particularly enjoyed Larry's acrobatics. I have to admit that leaning over backwards while holding that branch did show off the definition of his pectorals. (Not that I would notice something like that.)

Within a half an hour or so, the group was back together. A few of the people were shivering.

"How did you manage to stay dry?" asked one of them.

"She cheated!"

"That's right. I cheated." I hooked my arm around Larry and pulled him to me. "I got a partner who knows how to handle a canoe."

"I have to agree," said Amy. "You should have seen the acrobatics he did to keep them from dumping."

"It was something to see," said one of the girls.

Larry blushed.

*Some of those people are starting to get borderline hypothermic.* Amy told me. She sent me a mental image of the worst ones. It was easy to tell because they were shivering pretty hard.

I walked up to one and used TK to dry her off. "Thank you," she said. I quickly dried everyone else off. That cheered up the group considerably.

"How do you get the water off right next to the skin?" someone asked.

"It's kind of a reflex. I have practiced the ability to tell the difference between 'person' and 'not person', and just push the water away without affecting your skin. I do the same thing with the clothes -- push the water through and out while leaving the fabric alone."

"But how do you do it under our clothes? How can you tell where the skin starts?"

I smirked. "My senses aren't stopped by something as simple as clothing."

One of the boys blushed and put his hands in front of his crotch.

"I can see through your hands, too," I said. "But don't fret about it. It's nothing I haven't seen before. I used to have the same equipment, after all."

While we were waiting around, two people drove up to the Hobart Bridge and brought back the one car that had been left there. Soon, we were all headed home. Some people went back to the church to pick up their cars, but most were dropped off right at home. We got back just in time for dinner.

After dinner, I showered off, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, and went downstairs. Sneaky and Sassy, the Martins' seal point Siamese kitties, came to see me. Sneaky jumped up on my lap first, so Sassy pretended that she didn't want to see me anyhow. She hopped up on Amy.

Sneaky lifted his back as I stroked it. I scratched him behind his right ear, then followed his jaw line down and gave him scritchies under the chin. He leaned into it.

"You sure know how to charm a cat," Amy observed.

"I have always loved kitties," I replied. "I kind of miss the one Mom and I used to have."

Cindy giggled and gave me a smirk.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Hmmm... I wonder if Jim enjoys the charms of the feline world. I'll bet he particularly likes seal points," I mused mischievously. This time, it was Cindy's turn to blush.

"We ought to get him into the youth group," said Amy. "He would probably have enjoyed canoing today."

"I'm sure Cindy will be able to talk him into coming," I commented.

Soon enough, it was time for bed. I went upstairs and caught up with my email, did a little web research, and made sure that my homework was all finished properly and ready to go. I packed my backpack, laid out my clothes, and got ready for bed. As I was laying back and idly sensing my surroundings, I realized that I could read the data going through the network cables. How did that happen?

Chapter Sixteen: Court again, more learning, more questions

The next morning, it was time to go to court again. This is getting old.

The defense lawyer tried to intimidate Larry and me -- mostly me. He intimated that they were merely defending themselves against my vicious verbal attack.

"Since when it it proper to use sticks and stones against a verbal attack? Besides, I was just using my first amendment rights to tell them that their current course of action would land them in jail. Some listened and left. Those who didn't wise up are in jail."

This group was denied bail, too.

This time, we got to school in time for advanced gym. Mom passed the tests with flying colors, and is now working out with us.

When we got home, I discussed my ability to read network data with the professors. As near as we can figure, I managed to incorporate Carol's ability to process the data. As an experiment, I tried giving Kim the ability to interpret my TE and TK vision. She managed to pick up most of it. With some practice, she learned to see everything that I could see. Apparently, a lot of the acuity of vision is due to processing.

Later, we passed the skill on to everyone else. Amy couldn't get all of the TK vision, but she got some -- presumably that which overlaps with regular TE vision. None of us managed to gain her ability to read bio fields. We learned to use each other's powers. I could just sit and relax and let one of my trusted loved-ones into my head, and she (or he) could use my fine control of telekinesis. It was kind of fun using Amy's bio elemental powers to change the color of my skin and stuff like that.

Kim and Sara were working hard on their research. They tried to figure out how to induce MORFS in adults, but were getting nowhere. There was little similarity between the suite of bugs in their own transformation and that of Mom's transformation. Despite their earlier assumptions, there was nothing to indicate that the transformations had anything to do with each other.

"It must be a coincidence," said Kim.

"I don't believe in coincidences," said Sara.

"I agree that it is statistically highly unlikely that the only recorded cases of adult MORFS have nothing to do with each other, and yet they occurred in the same household," agreed Kim.

One really confusing part is that Mom seems to have picked up some DNA from me, or maybe father. She now has some DNA that didn't appear in the analysis that they did on some skin flakes and hair that came from before her transformation. That DNA is identical to some of the DNA that I inherited from father.

The fact that I carry that man's genes makes me faintly ill.

Meanwhile, Amy has been inducing MORFS changes of her choosing in adolescent lab animals. She started doing it here in the basement lab. The Martins decided to take her to the college and let her work there as a lab assistant. It isn't uncommon at all for young MORFS survivors to use their powers to help researchers.

Interestingly enough, the MORFS that Amy induces in animals doesn't follow the standard MORFS pattern. A suite of virii induces a genetic alteration, then forces the body to implement those changes.

All four of us have been working and learning a lot in the Martins' basement labs. Kim and Sara are hoping that they can help us earn an academic scholarship.

Amy made things even more confusing by inducing changes in adult animals. To muddy the waters more, those changes had little to do with either the Martins' or Mom's changes.

I was expressing sympathy to Kim when she said, "We're not upset. Frustrated, perhaps, but not upset." She paused a bit, then added, "If everything we scientists did went as planned, we would never learn anything. It's when the unexpected happens that breakthroughs are made." She gave me some examples, like the time Flemming found that the bacteria died near a mold colony that had contaminated his petri dish -- leading to the discovery of penicillin.

The school year slipped by and ended. We all joined the summer advanced gym class so that we could keep practicing. We talked Mom and the professors Martin into getting skateboards. After a while, we overheard some people talking about 'the kitties and elves.' Of course, Jim doesn't fall into either category.

One day, when I was lounging out by the pool, Amy came back from the university carrying a strange looking cat. It looked like a seal point, but its back looked strange, and its tail reminded me of a kangaroo rat. It seemed to have a wider section on the end.

Amy gently laid the critter in my lap, and it was love at first sight. I could feel in his mind a kind of happiness that comes from finally being home. It's as if he was made for me.

"He was made for you," Amy told me. "I morfed him in such a way that he would immediately connect to you. He's psi-linked to you. Go ahead and read it in his mind."

Sure enough, this cat was sure that he was my cat. He stood on my lap and spread his wings, begging me to stroke the soft fur underneath.

Amy had given me a one-of-a-kind winged cat. I was touched. I gave her a hug and thanked her while the cat sat on my shoulders.

He carefully launched himself from my shoulder without using his claws. He circled around a few times, then landed in my arms. "I think I'll call you Markus."

For the most part, he is an ordinary seal point Siamese. The only external differences are his wings and his tail. At the very tip of his tail, he has sprouted some tail feathers. Since they are at the end of his tail, they provide the leverage he needs to be very maneuverable. He's pure death on the bird population, so I asked him to avoid killing the more desirable species.

Seal points are among the most intelligent of cats, but Markus has them all beat. He isn't as smart as a human, but he is remarkably well adapted and can understand what I send to him. He spends the nights either curled up at the foot of my bed, in the crook of my arm, or up near my head. I taught him to use the toilet, so we don't have to mess with kitty litter. He prefers to go outside, though. Larry made a cat door for him that's kind of complicated to operate. Markus had to press three buttons in sequence to get in. That's a trick that a coon or possum won't learn.

Markus turned out to be the best pet I've ever had. People have often commented that their pets could read their mind, but Markus really could. If I was sad or upset, he would quietly come to me and comfort me. He seems to like skateboarding almost as much as we do. When we get our boards out, he gets excited. As we're going down the street, he flies overhead and keeps a good lookout. He really does, since we all can read his mind and see what he's seeing.

We had a nice summer, but most of our attackers didn't. Several of the youth that were involved in the stoning of Mom and me volunteered to be read by telepaths. Some got off scott-free because they were coerced and did everything they could to avoid participating. Others got probation and counseling if they agreed to testify against their former mentors.

I greeted them all warmly after they were let out. I assured them that I know how they feel -- I was forced to participate in Amy's stoning. Some of them were happy to see Amy and me, but some weren't. Some still hold to their old beliefs, and think that Amy and I are nothing but filthy gene scum.

The saddest part of the affair is that some are going back to single parent homes, while others are going to foster homes. Some are going to a home that is newly without a father, and others are going to the home of a parent who had earlier divorced.

I gave them all my email and voice contact information, and invited them to my new church. "If you need anything, feel free to give me a call," I told them.

That was just the first of many court appearances.

The plea bargaining went well.

Father agreed to pay restitution to me as a part of his bargain. In return for that and his guilty plea, he got life without parole -- except nowadays, life without parole really means that he can get paroled if he proves, with the help of a telepath, that he is extremely unlikely to repeat his crime, that the beliefs and attitudes that caused the crime are gone, and that he will be a productive member of society.

While it wasn't an official part of the plea bargaining, it was hinted to father that things would go better for him if he released the remaining part of his estate to Mom as a divorce settlement. He also relinquished all parental rights over me, not that it matters much. After he signed everything, he was escorted back to the jail by a police officer. He looked at me wistfully, but didn't say anything. I wasn't in the mood to try to read his mind.

Amy's parents did the same. They released their estate to Amy, and relinquished parental rights. It didn't take much to get the court to assign Mom as her official guardian. We squealed, jumped up, and hugged each other. "Now we're really sisters!" The judge banged his gavel, but smiled none the less. We looked suitably chastened and sat down.

The rest of the perpetrators got a similar deal. Only the preacher, Brother Taylor, and a couple other deacons ended up standing trial. In the end, they got the death penalty.

Apparently, Mom, Amy, and I were the only three people who survived stoning. At least, no other survivors or family came forward. Mom had intended to relinquish her share if Amy and I agreed to put our shares into separate trust accounts that would be used for college. We talked her into going with the original three way split, and setting up three college trust funds. After all, we reasoned, there is no reason Mom can't go to college.

The liquid assets were immediately divided, and the church building was put on the market. It took a while, but it was eventually sold for a good price.

Once Mom received her divorce settlement, we had a decision to make. We considered moving back into our old house, but there were too many bad memories there.

Kim and Sara suggested that we sell everything and stay right where we are. "You have become like family to us, and we really want you to stay with us," they told us.

Mom insisted that we won't feel right if we don't contribute. They pointed out that we had already been contributing -- not just with the food that Mom insisted on purchasing and stocking into the pantry, but with all the assistance we give in the lab and in the home.

So that settled it. We will all stay here until it's time to go to college. Then, we'll figure things out from there.

And yes, there was lots of research to do. We couldn't follow all of the complicated biochemical and genetic stuff, but we could, and did, help run the experiments and take care of the animals.

Doctor Kim was looking at a large map on the computer. There were several shaded areas and spots on it. One group of spots, I noticed, was at Sun City. There were a few smaller concentrations, a powerful blip south of Sun City, and a really minor one here.

"This research program uses a combination of artificial intelligence, expert systems, and statistical analysis to look for anomalies in the pattern of MORFS cases. Kim zoomed in on our location. "For instance, what we see here is a household that has seven MORFS survivors, all of whom have desirable powers. Four are feline hybrids, and three are elf-like. Also, three of the MORFS cases occurred in adults, which is another rarity. Finally, all four felines are remarkably similar, and two of the elves are almost identical."

She smiled at me. "This household is way off the charts statistically. Of course, the number of people involved is way short of being a statistically valid sample."

"Oh Doctor Martin," Sara said as she entered.

"Yes, Doctor Martin?"

"Are you in lecture mode again, Doctor Martin?"

"It's a difficult habit to break, Doctor Martin."

I was trying not to laugh. Sara tried to look stern, then giggled.

"What Doctor Martin is trying to say is that our family here is an anomaly, but it is pretty much buried in a sea of statistically uninteresting families."

Sara zoomed in on Sun City. "Here, we have a lot more interesting stuff. More of the households have a high concentration of interesting MORFS survivors."

I zoomed in on the intense blip nestled in the mountains to the south of Sun City. "What is this?"

"That," Kim said, "is the Pentwater Compound. About the time Sun City started out as a resort, Marvin Pentwater got together with some friends to create a refuge for themselves. They now live in a climate-controlled area similar to Sun City. They actively recruit people with powers. They live there in luxury and anyone who wants their services goes to them. On the surface, they sound like snobby recluses. For the most part, though, they are very nice people."

"I'll bet they don't have any problems with the pures," I said.

"The pures have enough trouble with the likes of us. I'm sure that they would be in way over their heads if they tried to tackle the people over at Pentwater," Sarah commented.

Kim said, "Anyhow, we know the story behind our own family here. We also know that Sun City and Pentwater attract MORFS survivors like honey attracts flies, and that receiving interesting or favorable results from MORFS runs in the family. Therefore, it is expected that they will look like this."

"What are we looking for?" I asked.

"Clues, mainly. If we see an anomaly that we can't explain, we'll study it. It may be nothing, or it might lead us to something big."

After I finished my work in the lab, I went upstairs to get ready for bed. It didn't matter much in the summer, but the next day was Saturday. We planned on heading out to the bigger skating park to meet some friends.

(end of part 07)

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