Notification Service
In every age, in every war, there have been casualties. And along with casualties, there are the loved ones left behind. In recent times, there has been a recognition that those families need help when the news is brought to them of the loss of the one they loved, and so each conflict had its own way to give the sad news, and help the families pick up the pieces afterwards, and have made a service to meet that need.
And now, with a new war waging, that service is needed again. The fact that the war is secret, that neither side is an official combatant, and that the casualties are mostly civilians is not a concern to that service. They are needed, and so they are on duty, for as long as the war lasts.....
The car driving up the street is not a remarkable one. Dark, four doors, mid-range in price. It would not attract any particular attention in this neighborhood, and that's the idea...
Three people got out, and they were a study in contrasts. Two woman, one man. Older, younger, and younger still. The man gives off the air of a soldier, even in civilian dress. The older of the two women is calm and professional. But the youngest person is a different story. Clearly agitated, with mood swings visible to the naked eye.
The older woman went to her, and said, “You okay with doing this?”
“I have to be, Karen.”
“All right. Let me know if it gets too much, okay?”
“Okay.”
“How about you, Colonel Griffin?”
“I have already stated my objections to Ann being here for this, but since she’s here, let’s get this over with.”
The three of them walked toward a particular house, and the man knocked on the door. A rather pretty young woman answered, and there was a small boy peeking out from between her legs.
“Mrs. Rachel Conner?” Karen said, “I’m with victims services. I’m afraid we have some bad news for you. May we come in?”
“Its about Tim, isnt it. I’ve been waiting for news since the word came he had been kidnapped.”
“Yes, mam. Come, lets sit down.”
They all went to the living room, and sat.
“Okay. Last I heard, my ex husband was kidnapped. They wouldn’t tell me any more because we aren’t family anymore, I guess.”
“Actually, they couldn’t tell you any more because it had to be kept from the public. But now that its over, we can let you know some of what happened.” The Colonel began.
“All right. I’m listening.”
“The person who was holding you husband was a woman named Dr. Laura Divine. She was a genius, but utterly mad.”
“I always thought the ‘mad scientist’ thing was a myth.”
“I’m afraid not. In any case, she took your ex-husband because he stopped her from attacking a physician at the hospital he was working at.”
“Why was she attacking the physician?”
“According to what we found out, she blamed him for losing her job at the hospital. He had reported her unlicensed human experiments.”
“So she went there to attack him. Then what?”
“She had a needle, and tried to stab the doctor. Somehow, your ex-husband got between her and the doctor, and took the needle in the arm.”
“Sounds just like him.”
“Once he was struck, she told the people around her that she was his only hope for survival, and they let her take your ex with her.”
“Why did they do that?”
“The doctor confirmed it. He said that if she claimed to be the only one who could cure him, that was the case.”
“And then?”
“She left and soon was out of sight. At was at that point that Colonel Griffin here was called in.”
“We had been trying to track her movements for a couple months, so when the report of the kidnapping came in, I mobilized our team, and tried to find out where she’ taken your husband. We found the site, but I’m sorry to say we were too late to save him. However we were able to rescue this young woman here, and she can tell you about his final hours, if you wish.” Colonel Griffin said.
“Please. I would like to know. And I don’t think I caught your name.”
“My name is Ann, and I was a prisoner there, just like your husband. I... got to hold him as he died, and he told me to tell you and his son he loved you both.”
Rachel wept, and Ann came over and held her.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Rachel.” she said.
The small boy crawled up onto his mother’s lap, and held her close. Ann put her hand on the boy’s head, and said, “I’m sorry for your loss too. But I know the two of you will make it, Pickle.”
The small boy looked at the girl, and said “Only daddy ever called me that.”
Colonel Griffin stood up and said, “I think we have taken up as much of your time as we should.”
Karen pulled out a card, and said, “Feel free to call me if you need to talk, okay?”
Rachel nodded, and the three of them left.
Once outside, Colonel Griffin said, “That’s exactly why I didn’t want you along, Ann. The fact that the substance Dr. Divine injected you with turned you into a young woman is not information that the world is ready for.”
“Sorry, Colonel. I.. I saw how much my son was hurting, and I just wanted to hold him so bad, the nickname slipped out.”
“Well, lets hope your ex is too grief-stricken to think about it.”
“Are you absolutely sure we need to keep the truth from her?”
“Some of Dr. Divine’s associates escaped our raid that rescued you. The woman we think was the second-in-command was one of them, and we’re pretty sure she has some of that formula left. Imagine the effect it would have if applied on a large scale, like put in the water supply. We could end up with a huge number of new women who don’t have a clue how to be women, and most of them will be a lot less happy about their sex-change than you are.”
“I know, I know. But I don’t think my ex would be running to the paper saying I had been turned into a girl. Come on, Colonel, have a heart. They are hurting over the loss of a husband and father in there.”
“They did lose their husband and father, Ann. The person you were is gone, whether you like it or not. Do you expect that your ex would want you back as a woman? That your son is going to be able to call a girl who looks like a teenager ‘Daddy’?”
Anne started to cry, and said, “Its not fair, Colonel.”
“No, its not. But it is what it is.”
Karen hugged Ann, and said, “I wont say that it will be okay, hon, because it may not be, at least not for a long time. But I’ll be with you and I’ll have professionals help your family, and they will be taken care of, that’s a promise. “
Ann wiped the tears from her eyes, and said, “Okay. Lets just get out of here.”
The three of them got back into the car, and carefully drove out of the neighborhood.
“So where to now, Colonel?” Ann asked.
“Back to the lab for more tests for you, I’m afraid.”
“You punishing me?”
“No, Ann. I think I would’ve done the same thing in your place. But we need to keep working on what happened to you, and we really need to prevent it from happening to any other man. Or there will be more visits like the one we just had.”
“And none of us want that.” Karen said.
So three lonely soldiers set off, to fight another day.
Fin
Notification Service 2 - M.C.E.
In every age, in every city, there has been the risk of disaster - fire, flood, or plague, there has always been a chance that many could be injured, killed, or have their lives changed forever. In recent times, there has been an attempt to make plans for such disasters, to cope with them, or even to prevent them if possible. So it is with a new disaster looming, a trio of experts from the group called notification service have been called in to prevent if they can a M.C.E. - a mass casualty event ......
Chapter 1
The three people in the gym were a study in contrasts. The man in the uniform of a colonel in the Canadian army sat with a detached air while occasionally looking at his watch. The older woman focused her attention on the center of the gym, and her expression flickered between concern and curiosity ....
Then there was the younger woman in the center of the gym dressed in a leotard, was trying to ignore her audience, and then she took a deep breath, and began a routine. Tumbles, rolls, poses, all done with grace, skill, and amazing strength. Once the mat routine was finished, she went to a set of uneven bars and began a routine that would challenge a gold-medal-winning athlete. No sooner did she land the dismount from the bars she ran to a pommel horse and began to spin and pose, and as soon as she finished there she ran to a set of rings and did the same thing. Once each apparatus was complete, she finally ran to the center of the gym and took a bow in the direction of her audience.
“Remarkable! And you dont even look tired, Ann.” The older woman said.
“I’m not tired at all, Karen. What did you think, Colonel Griffin?”
“It is impressive. If we could find the formula Dr. Divine used, I’m sure we could make super-soldiers with it.”
“Even if it also turned them into girls?”
“That could be a drawback, yes. But in any case, I have to get back to my office. We’re still looking for Dr. Divine’s second in command, and you know she has some of the formula with her. God only knows what she will do with it if we dont find her first.”
“I totally understand.. I .... just wanted to show you I can be useful.”
Colonel Griffin smiled, and said, “You will be. No worries about that. And speaking of being useful, I want you to sit in on the next debriefing. I want you to give a first-hand account of what happened to you. You up for it?”
“Let me shower and change, I’ll be there.”
“See you in ten minutes then.” The Colonel said, and then left the room.
“And once you’re done there, please come see me. You have adjusted well, but you still have work to do, and I have some news for you.” Karen said.
“Okay. I better run.”
Ann decided against a shower, and just toweled herself off quickly and changed into a peasant skirt and tie-dye blouse. She slipped on a pair of low heeled sandals, and tied her hair into a simple ponytail. She looked at her face and considered makeup, but then decided she was good enough as she was, and smiled at the pretty teen in the mirror, who of course smiled back at her.
“Hard to believe at this time last year I was pushing forty, and a guy.” She thought to herself, and then shook herself out of her memories, and went to the colonel’s office.
She met the colonel at his office, and he said, “Decided to hold the briefing next door, because everyone wanted an update. You dont mind sharing what happened to you to a larger group?”
“I’ll be fine, it might be easier than sharing with people one at a time.”
“There is that. “
The two of them went to the room next door, where Ann found a sizable group of people waiting. Some were dressed like soldiers, some like lab techs, and some were dressed in casual clothes, and the ratio of men to women was almost exactly two to one. Anne tried to organize her thoughts while the Colonel went over how his organization became aware of Dr. Divine, and how they were tracking her when Anne had been kidnapped by them.
At that point, he paused, and said, “But maybe Ann can tell you about that.”
Ann cleared her throat, and began to speak.
“I ... I was working as a security guard at the local hospital when Dr.Divine came in, looking for this doctor she blamed for not getting research grants. When she saw the doctor, she produced this hypodermic needle and went to stab him with it.
I ... got in the way and got poked instead.
Within moments of getting hit by whatever she had, I started feeling hot, and could barely stand. So when she said she was the only one who could save me, and the doctor agreed, I didnt fight going with her, not that I could have won a fight with a paper bag at that point. She pushed me into a van, and drove me around for a while. By the time we got to her destination, I was in rough shape, and she had to practically had to drag me into her hideout. She threw me in a room, and just was about to leave , when I managed to ask her about saving me, and she said, and I remember it perfectly, ‘I said I could save you, not that I would. Enjoy your last hours on earth.’
I fell back, and felt like crying. Then the pain started. Every part of my body hurt worse than anything I had ever felt before in my life. I screamed, and started hoping I would die soon, but instead I turned into .... this. Then her second-in-command, came in, said her name was Carolyn, and they treated me totally differently. They kept calling me ‘sister’, and seemed to expect me to just fall in with them because I was a girl now.I tried to act like I was seriously considering it, but wasnt sure how long I could fake it. Fortunately, Colonel Griffin here broke in with his team before I could find out. I ... I guess that’s it.”
Ann stood back, and Colonel Griffin stepped forward, and began speaking.
“We had a contact inside Dr. Divine’s organization, and they were lucky enough to get off a message with the location they were holding Anne. We were able to rescue Ann, and Dr. Divine herself was killed, but her second-in-command got away, and we’re pretty sure she has a stash of the formula that was used to change Ann here. Unfortunately, we lost our contact person, and so we have no clear leads as to what exactly she intends, except we’re reasonably sure they havent left the city limits, at least not yet. Its the opinion of our experts that they intend to use the formula here, but what form their attack will take is something we dont know.
But we better find out, before they use it. Or suffer the consequences.”
Ann stepped forward and said, “I was lucky. I ... wasnt really happy as a guy. Struggling with my gender cost me my marriage, and if someone had asked me if I could be turned into a girl if I would have taken it, I would have said yes. But its had consequences I was not prepared for, including being permanently separated from my ex and my child. But from the conversations I overheard after I transformed, they plan to use the formula in a way that would infect a large number of men at once. And most are not likely to be as good with becoming girls as I was. We .... we gotta stop them.”
Colonel Griffin put his hand on Ann’s shoulder, and said, “We will.”, and then he said to the room, “All right people. Lets get to work.”
The meeting broke up, and Anne went to Karen’s office.
It was time for another appointment ....
*******
Chapter 2
Anne knocked on the door of Karen’s office, and heard “come in”.
Once inside and the door closed behind her, Karen gestured to a comfortable chair, and Anne tried to relax in it.
“So, Anne. How are you today?” Karen asked as she handed Anne a cup of tea.
“A little bit shaky, to be honest. Having to recount my story to everyone brought all the memories back to the surface.”
“Well, maybe we can get those memories in order, and see what we can make of them.”’
“Well, I’ve told you I struggled with my gender most of my life. I tried to to the ‘manly’ thing, but it never felt right. I even got married, had a child, in the hope of making the struggle go away But it never did.”
“Then your wife found out.”
“And divorced me. I hadn't even tried doing anything, I just had some websites with information on trans people. It ... almost broke me totally.”
“And then you got transformed into a girl.”
A girl my family doesn't recognize. I’m ... a stranger to them. That part sucks.”
“Yes, it does, hon. I promised we would do all we could for your family, and that’s happening, but we cant take away the fact they lost a husband, a father. And they cant know that you survived in this changed form, at least not yet. The government has declared the whole thing a secret, so we’re stuck with it.”
“I understand it, I just dont have to like it.”
“Other than your family situation, how are you adapting to being a girl?”
“Its ... I feel so much BETTER like this than I felt as a man. Its like this huge weight has been taken away from me. And then there’s the fact I have practically superpowers. That’s pretty cool.”.
“I guess it would be. Anything else you’re feeling now?”
“Well, I told the Colonel and his team everything I could, but .... I wish I could do more to help. I mean, I got these awesome powers, and here I sit. I am on the sidelines.”
“I’m sure the Colonel will find a use for your abilities, hon. “
“I hope so.”
When Anne’s session ended, she headed back to the gym to work out some more. She had never imagined herself a “gym rat”, but since her transformation she had found herself spending more and more time testing her limits.
But she was fully aware that she had been doing it for the same reason she had used to haunt libraries.
She wanted a place to hide, something to keep her mind occupied.
“Better than just moping.” she thought, and got changed for a workout.
She tried pushing herself to her limits, but found it difficult. She as stronger, faster, and had much more endurance than she would have thought possible for a human being.
And all the time she was working out the image of her son looking at her with confusion after she had called him by his nickname Pickle when she went there to tell them that he was now minus a father ....
Finally, she couldnt take it anymore, and collapsed to the mat, and started weeping. She cried for a long time, until she reached a point where no more tears would come. She sighed, picked herself off the floor, and wiped the tears off her face. Then she showered, and changed, and made her way to the colonel’s office.
She knocked on his door, and heard him say, “Come in.”, and she entered
“I was wondering if you would come to see me, Anne.”
“I have to do something, Colonel. I can’t take sitting much longer.”
“It wont be much longer, Anne. As soon as my team has a lead on the remainder of Dr. Divine’s group, I want you with the team I will send to confront them. “
“Thank you, Colonel.”
“Dont thank me too hard. I expect you to follow orders, and be a good soldier out there.”
“Yes, sir!”
She left his office, and went back to her room to wait. She hoped it wouldnt be very long ...
*******
Chapter 3
As it turned out, her hopes were right.
It was less than an hour later that there was a buzz on her room phone, and once she answered she was told to go to the Colonel’s office.
When she got there, he was actually waiting outside, and he motioned me to follow him. They made their way to an exit of the compound that had been her home since she had been rescued from Dr.Divine, and soon she found myself facing a large helicarrier and a group of armed men getting ready to board it.
“You sure you’re up for this?” The Colonel asked.
“Better than sitting around.” she said.
The colonel smiled, and led her aboard the helicarrier. Once she was strapped in, she asked him, “Where are we going?”
“The Brazeau dam, about two-hundred and fifty kilometers away. If they succeed in putting the formula into the water there, it will infect every town in the north half of the province.”
“Let’s hope we get there first, then.”
Ann was dropped off a half-mile from the dam, and the Colonel told his men to wait.
“I want you to go first.” he said to her “See if you can talk them out of doing this. I would rather solve this situation peacefully, if we can. “
She nodded, and headed up the road.
It didnt take her long before she saw Carolyn Sparks, Dr. Divine’s second-in-command, and it looked like she had been waiting for her.
In her hand was a controller which Ann assumed would unleash the feminizing nanobots.
“Ms Sparks” Ann said as she approached.
“I hoped they would send you.”
“What will it take to make you not do this?” Ann asked.
“Why shouldn’t we? Clearly becoming a woman has helped you, just look at you.”
“It cost me my family, my life. And I was lucky because it could have been worse. At least I had thought about being a girl. I had even considered doing a transition. If I had been a regular guy I probably would have freaked out and never recovered. So don’t do this.”
“The time of men is over. Women need to rule, and the only way to do that is to tip the scales in our favour.”
“And if most of those women cant cope? Then what?”
“Its still a few less men in the world.”
“And their wives, girlfriends, daughters? You think they’re gonna be happy with you?”
“They will suffer only for a short time. Once they see the better world we make, they will thank us.”
Ann found myself feeling sorry for this woman. “How can you be so smart, and so self-deluded at the same time?” she thought to herself.
“You do this, I promise you, I will bring you in. You walk away right now, and I will let you go.”
“You’ll let me go? You should know I exposed myself to Dr. Divine’s process. I am now the ultimate woman!”
Ann prepared myself for a fight, but realized that she was larger and more-than-likely stronger than she was. She thought “ would lose a straight-up battle, I was sure of it. Unless I do something unexpected.” Then she thought of the old movie where this gymnast turned his floor routine into a fighting style, and made her move.
Ann ran toward her, and at the last possible instant she vaulted over top of her, landed behind her, and swept her feet out from under her with her leg.
As Ann had hoped, Carolyn had to drop the controller.
Ann got to her feet, and waited to see what Carolyn would do - go after the controller or go after her.
Carolyn chose Ann.
She rushed at Ann, and at the last possible instant Ann dropped to the ground letting her go over her.
Her momentum carried her right over the guardrail ...
Ann looked over the railing at her broken body, and sighed. “I hadn’t wanted that to happen.”
She went over and picked up the controller, and signaled the colonel.
When he came up, she handed him the controller, and said, “It’s over. Your team can disable the explosives that was supposed to release the formula.”
And then she started weeping.
*************
Epilog
It felt to Anne like things had gone full-circle. She sat in a car outside the home of her ex, looking at it with longing, and Colonel Griffin and Karen were in the car with her.
“It’s your call, Anne. I’ll find a way to clear it with my superiors.” The Colonel said.
Ann stepped out of the car, and Karen followed suit. Ann took a handful of steps toward the house, and then fled back to the cars sobbing.
“I can’t. They need a husband and a father, not me. I ...”
Karen gave her a hug, while the colonel looked uncomfortable.
“We’ll get you through this, Anne.” Karen said.
“You are needed, Anne. We stopped Ms Sparks, but there will be others out there. And you’re our best line of defence.” The colonel said.
“All ... all right. Back to base, I guess. “
“Back home, you mean.” Karen said.
“Yeah, home.” Ann said, and got in the car.
Moments later they were driving off, and Ann watched her ex’s house grow smaller in the back window.
“Home.” Anne repeated, and wept.
End