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Acidalia I
By Amanda D.
“Laura! Come quickly!” Sam yelled across the room.
“What is it Sam?” the beautiful young blonde asked her frail, crippled lab partner.
“It’s Emma!” he exclaimed. “She seems to be having a reaction to the formula.”
Laura ran over to his side a gazed down at the Plexiglas enclosed cage containing the sickly old mother rat. The cage was completely sealed to prevent any contamination from outside. It even had its own piped in air supply. It had been days since the poor thing had moved so much as an inch from it bedding, but now she was up and wandering around her enclosure.
Two hours earlier they had injected the rat with their latest version of their formula. Their excitement was palpable. This was their 57th attempt, and this was the first time they had met with any kind of success. Sam smiled at Laura as they watched the rat move towards the water bowl and take its first drink in two days.
“We’re going to need to keep an eye on her for the next few days, but this certainly looks promising,” Sam said to her.
“Yes it does,.” she agreed.
They had been working together for the last two years, trying to find away to reverse the effects of aging and disease. As many before them, they had met with failure after failure and were close to giving up hope. But in just the last month they had come up with a radically different approach. Instead of a chemical or hormonal approach, Laura suggested trying to create a retrovirus using fetal stem cells.
Last week they had completed they had finally finished the gene sequencing and identified the protein string that would hold the chromosomes they were looking for. After they were separated from the rest, Sam and Laura injected them into the viral shell.
The two of them had picked the sickest rat that they could find. Laura studied the rat for several days, determining its habits. Once they felt that they knew the rat’s schedule, which came down to more or less when it slept and when it was awake, they injected it with the retrovirus.
In theory, the retrovirus should have taken several days to get a toe hold on Emma’s system. Sam had thought that if they saw any changes within two weeks that the experiment would be considered a success. Now seeing improvement after only a couple of hours, he was elated.
The two of them kept up a constant vigil on Emma for the next several hours. The rat’s health seemed to improve minute by minute. In the space of just four hours she had gone from barely moving, to running around the cage and eating anything she could get her teeth into. Even her once almost completely white snout was changing back to its natural brown color.
By 10pm that evening Emma looked like a whole new animal. Laura, who looked as if she might fall asleep where she stood, told Sam that she was going to head home for the evening. As was his habit when working on a particularly exciting experiment, Sam told her he was going to stay and observe for a while more. To Laura, this meant that she would most likely find him sleeping in his wheel chair, parked by one of the work stations in the morning.
“Goodnight, Sam,” she said as she walked out the lab’s door.
“Goodnight,” he grunted to her as he typed away at his computer.
After she was gone Sam went back over to the cage. To him, seeing Emma react the way she had to the retrovirus was nothing short of a miracle. In all honesty, he knew that the reason for his interest in this line of work was purely selfish.
He had once been not only brilliant, but also the captain of the high school football team. He had been tall, well built, with long brown hair and green eyes that made all the girls in school just melt. He had been offered several scholarships by several colleges to play the game there, but had opted to go to MIT instead. In just 5years he earned a doctorate in molecular biology. He then transferred right down the road to Harvard, where he earned a business degree and got to play football for the Ivy League.
Once he’d graduated, he moved back to California, where he’d grown up, and got a job working for a cutting edge biotech firm. It was there that tragedy struck. One day, while taking a walk to clear his head, he found himself down by the labs loading dock. The facility was receiving a shipment of lab animals, mainly monkeys.
While carrying a pallet of cages, the forklift bumped a pole, sending several of them crashing to the floor. A couple broke open, freeing the animals. One monkey in particular, who looked to be especially upset with his incarceration, leapt at Sam. The enraged animal grabbed Sam’s head, and in a fit of rage, bit Sam’s nose.
Had that been the only injury Sam had incurred, he would have been thankful and moved on with his life. However the lacerations on his snout were the least of his problems. Within two days of the attack, Sam began to feel a great deal of discomfort in his back.
As time passed the pain grew more persistent and intense. Eventually, he went to see a doctor who ran him through a battery of tests. By the time the diagnosis arrived ten days later, it was too late. He had lost the use of his legs and was becoming a wasted shadow of his former self.
The culprit, he was later told, was a virus carried in the monkey’s salvia. The virus had attacked his spinal column and destroyed the nerves that controlled his legs. His body was so ravaged by the virus; it left him looking twice as old as his thirty five years. His one act of defiance to the disease was to keep his long hair.
At around 2am the cleaning crew arrived at Sam’s lab. The supervisor asked Sam if it was okay to clean the lab now or should they wait until tomorrow. As the supervisor talked to Sam, the rest of the crew milled around, emptying the trash and such. Sam informed him that he was in the middle of a delicate experiment and they should wait until tomorrow to do the floors. The supervisor turned to tell his crew to head to the next room. On the way out, unbeknownst to Sam, one of the cleaners bumped into Emma’s enclosure, knocking one of the air hoses slightly ajar.
After a couple of hours of sharing the air with Emma, exhaustion finally claimed him. Sam slumped over his computer and slept. As his head came to rest on the keyboard, he accidentally uploaded all the days’ files on the labs main server.
Promptly at 7am Laura arrived at the lab and found him asleep on the terminal. She pushed at his frighteningly thin shoulder and said “Wakey, wakey, Sammy. Time to rise and shine.”
He lifted his head and could barely make her out from all the hair in his face. I have to get a haircut on of these day’s.
Sam pulled the hair away from his face and looked at her quizzically. “Wha? What time is it?” he asked groggily.
“It’s a little after seven,” she replied. Looking him over she scolded him by saying “You didn’t stay here all night again, did you? You know that your doctor told you not to sleep in the chair. Even though you can’t feel it, sleeping like that causes you to loose the circulation in you legs.”
As she spoke, Sam became aware of a strange sensation in his feet. They were stinging, like pins and needles. At first, he just counted it up to what Laura had said about falling asleep in the chair. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He could feel his feet tingling! It had been more than ten years since he had felt anything at all below his waist.
So shocked was he by this development, he barely registered Laura’s voice. He looked up at her dully and said, “I’m sorry. … Can you repeat yourself?”
“I said did you know that one of Emma’s air tubes is ajar?” she repeated pushing the hose back into place.
She peered into the cage and noticed something amiss. Emma seemed to be smaller this morning that she was yesterday. “Sam, does Emma look smaller to you today?” she asked him.
When he failed to respond again, Laura looked over at him and saw one of his feet move. “Sam did your foot just move?” she asked.
“Yes …” he said in a stunned voice. “I believe it did. What’s more, is I can feel both my legs, and my bladder’s telling me that I have to go.”
“Sam what did you do?” she asked angrily. You didn’t inject yourself, did you?”
“No! I swear I didn’t even consider it,” he answered defensively.
She looked at him skeptically. “Then how do you explain this?” she asked.
He had no answers for her so he made no reply. She walked over to the cabinet on the back wall and pulled out a syringe. She turned back towards him.
“What’s that for?” he asked.
“I’m going to take a sample of your blood to see if you’re lying to me or not,” she replied as she swiped his arm with alcohol. She stuck the needle in his arm, feeling a certain satisfaction at the pained grimace on his face, and drew a small amount of blood.
“Laura!” Sam pleaded. “Why don’t you just look in the refrigerator and check the dosage count. I didn’t take any, so all the doses we had left from yesterday should still be there.”
She shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the fridge. She bent down and counted the doses. When she was finished she counted them again, just to be sure. To her surprise they were all there.
While that was good news, it still left the question of what had happened to Sam. Standing back up she told him the count was correct. As she talked to him she noticed that he was now able to move his entire leg. His movement had her so astounded that she almost failed to register that his hair had turned completely brown again, instead of its normal salt and pepper color
More confused than ever she picked up the vial of blood and walked over to the work bench. She began to prepare the blood for inspection under a microscope when Sam spoke again.
“Umm Laura? Could you help me try to stand up?” he asked.
She turned to him and said “Sure, Sam, let’s give it a try.”
It took several tries, but eventually he managed to get to his feet. He leaned heavily on her, more from wonder than any need of support. After a minute. he was able to stand by himself. Laura took a step back and looked him over. Something wasn’t right.
“Sam, how tall did you say you were?” she asked.
“I’m about 6’1”. Why?” he replied.
“Well you’re not that tall any more,” she told him. She grabbed a measuring tape out of a drawer and walked over to him. “Do you think you can walk?” she asked.
He looked at her uncertainly. Tentatively, he took her arm and tried a step forward. At first, nothing happened. He tried again and got slight movement. Steeling himself, he put everything he could into moving his leg. Finally it moved.
Once the first one moved, it was simplicity itself to move the other. Once again he leaned hard on her shoulder. Half way across the room he let go and managed to make the last few steps on his own.
Her wonder at his walking was only slightly superseded by her curiosity over his reduced stature. She had him stand against the only bare piece of wall in the place and marked where the top of his head was. She had him step away still marveling at him and measured from the floor to the mark.
“Well, what’s the verdict?” he asked.
“It says that you’re 5’ 7”. That’s a reduction of half a foot. How can that be?” It was at that moment that she remembered that Emma had seemed smaller, too. She went back to the rat’s enclosure and using the rubber gloves attached to it, picked Emma up and held her up against the side.
“Sam come here and try to get a measurement on her!” she told him.
Sam walked over and did his best to measure the rat’s length . “That can’t be right.”
“What is it?”
“Obviously this isn’t exact, but it looks like she’s two and a half inches smaller now that she was when we put her in there,” he replied, turning to the computer to confirm what he already knew. He had to tug his pants up as he turned. “Hmm. Looks like height isn’t all I’ve lost,” he commented.
He brought up the record of all of Emma’s physical measurements. Sure enough the rat was now considerable smaller. He did the math quickly in his head. “Looks like she’s lost about 10% of her body mass.” He looked over at Laura. “Give her a good look over. See if there are any other differences.”
Laura turned Emma this way and, that looking at everything she could see from outside the cage. She found something else particular. “Sam come look at this!” she called to him.
Sam stepped over, still marveling at the joy of no longer needing the chair, and looked into the cage.
“Do you see it?” Laura asked.
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to show me.’ He admitted.
“Her sexual organs.” She stated, pointing as best she could at the appropriate area. “Look how small they are.”
Sam squinted, but couldn’t see what she was pointing at. When he took his glasses off to clean them, suddenly the world got much clearer. “What the hell…?” he squealed.
Laura dropped the rat and turned to see what the problem was. “What’s the matter?” she asked.
“My eyes!” he stated in astonishment. “I…I don’t need my glasses anymore.”
Laura shook her head in disbelief. She looked at him again. “Sam…you look different.” She said stepping towards him. She put her hand on his chest and felt something that didn’t belong on any man.
“Sam, open your shirt up,” She directed.
“Why? What’s wrong?” he asked agitatedly.
“Just open it!” she told him again.
He did as instructed. After it was off he looked down at his chest and noticed what Laura had felt. He had developed two small, but easily identifiable breasts. “What the hell’s happening to me?” he screeched.
Laura, having no answers at all, just stood there gaping at him. With his shirt off, other changes were apparent also. His shoulders, while never big, were now much narrower than they should have been. His face was different, too. His cheeks seemed to be higher, and his ears were smaller.
“Sam, why don’t you go into the bathroom and strip down. Give your body a good once over in the mirror. See if anything else has changed. While you do, that I’m going to take a look at the blood sample I took from you.” She said to him.
Sam shuffled off to the men’s room, his happiness at being able to walk, now replaced with dread.
With him out of the room for a minute Laura headed over to the blood sample. She put a drop on a slide so she could see it under the microscope. She then took a bit more and put it in a sealed test tube. She put the tube in a centrifuge and turned it on.
As the centrifuge did its thing, she turned back to the microscope. She slid the slide under it and sat down to take a look. She adjusted the magnification until she could see the cells clearly.
What she saw astonished her. Sam’s cells were dividing and dying off at an incredibly rapid rate, almost as if they were being replaced. The pace of division looked eerily like what they had seen the day before when they tested Emma’s blood . She looked back at the sample and tried to count the number of divisions over a 20 second period. She counted twenty five. She repeated the count two more times, just to be sure and came up with approximately the same number.
She then stepped over to the computer and entered in the number, Sam’s approximate weight and height. She then asked the machine to extrapolate the cell division over a twenty four hour period.
While she was waiting for the answer she heard a scream coming from the direction of the men’s room. She ran out of the lab and burst into the bathroom, finding. Sam standing in the middle of the room groping at his crotch. “Sam! Are you alright? I heard you screaming from the lab.” She asked.
He turned to look at her. “M…My…look!” he said pointing between his legs.
She looked to where he indicated and saw that his penis was very small. “I take it that it was bigger before?” she asked, trying not to sound like she was making fun of him.
His face was beet red as he confirmed her observation with a nod. The longer she looked at him, the way he was mostly disrobed, the more she could see he looked more like a she. Not an overly developed one or anything. More like an adolescent. His waist was thinner than a man’s should have been, and his hips seemed a bit wider than normal.
She walked over to him and pulled his pants back up. “Laura! What’s happening to me?” he asked, horrified.
“I…I don’t know, Sam. I don’t know. But I can guarantee you that we will find out. Now why don’t you get yourself together and meet me back in the lab. I’ve begun to analyze your blood sample.” She was trying to calm him down. The truth of the situation, if not the reason, seemed to be that he was somehow changing into at her.
As soon as she got back to the lab, Laura went right over to the computer. The results of the computation were waiting for her on the screen. The computer had extrapolated that half of the cells in Sam’s body would be replaced within 24hours, with total replacement being finished in 48. The number seemed too incredible to be real. She reentered the information and had the computer do the problem over again. Seconds later the same answer waited for her on the screen.
Sam arrived back in the room just as the results were coming up on the screen. “He stepped over and read them over her shoulder. “What’s that?”
When she told him, in a strangely calm voice he asked “Have you done a DNA comparison yet?”
“I had just put the sample in the centrifuge before I heard you scream.” She said as she looked over at it. “Looks like it’s finished. I want to get a sample of Emma’s blood, too. Can you prep the broken down sample for DNA extraction?” she asked him.
“Sure,” he replied. “Why do you want Emma’s blood?” he asked.
“While I can’t be sure until I analyze hers, I think some how you were exposed to the serum that we gave her. Don’t ask me how, but your blood test shows the same replication rate as hers did yesterday.”
The look on his face revealed that the he was coming to the same conclusion. “But what about these other changes I’m going through? Emma hasn’t changed sex, she’s still a female,” he said in a voice that sounded a little higher than usual.
“Sam I don’t have any answers for you. Let’s just get these tests run and see what the results tell us. Okay?” she said.
Without another word Sam walked over to the work station and began the task of preparing the blood for DNA analysis.
The two of them worked for hours without taking a break. The computer chugged along, breaking down and analyzing Sam’s and Emma’s DNA. As the time passed Sam’s body continued to change. His once barely noticeable breasts were starting to bulge out under his shirt. His voice grew higher, his hands smaller, and his face continued to look more and more feminine.
Finally, the computer’s display came alive with streams of data. The two of them sat in front of it and began to read the results. The first conclusion that they could make was the most obvious. Sam’s Y, or male, chromosomes were being deleted by the cell division and replace with by X, or female, chromosomes. It was the Y bearing cells that were dissolving away, obviously.
The next set of results showed that Sam had indeed been infected with the same retrovirus with which Emma had been injected. Like the rat’s, Sam’s physical age seemed to be regressing.
The way Sam had become infected became obvious when the computer spit out the results of the viral comparison it had done. According to the results, somewhere along the way of restructuring Emma’s genes the virus had mutated slightly. It had developed a thick enough protein coat to survive in the air for a short amount of time. The air hose that Laura had found ajar must have been how Sam was exposed. He had fallen asleep only a few feet away from her cage.
This last find had dire implications. If a retrovirus capable of changing a person as radically as it had Sam ever escaped the lab, the results would be disastrous to the population. They arrived at the same conclusion of how to go about containing the possible problem simultaneously.
There were two things that needed to be done immediately. Emma needed to be euthanized before she could infect anyone else and they both needed to be checked to see if the mutated strain was active in their bodies.
Over the next couple of hours they took care of both jobs. Emma’s body was placed in a biohazard bag and frozen, in case they needed it later.
The results of the viral comparison showed very interesting results. First off, Laura showed no sign of infection whatsoever. Secondly, the viral samples taken from Sam were exactly the same as the original strain, capable of surviving only in fluids. Apparently after infecting Sam, it had reverted to its original form.
With the threat of mass infection put to rest, Sam’s changes, and how to reverse them became the priority. He was looking quiet female by this point. He had grown a rather nice set of breasts; Laura estimated they were about a 32C. His penis had completely disappeared and the rest of his body had curves in all the right places. He was certainly going to turn some heads once the transformation was finished.
The next two days were a series of surprises and a lot of pain for Sam, as his body completed its transformation. Being the owner of the company, Sam had no one he needed to report to. And being something of a recluse, there was no reason to worry about anyone else at work finding out about Sam’s changes for the moment.
He wound up becoming an absolutely beautiful petite 5’4” woman with his trade mark long brown hair and green eyes. His hair, which had been shoulder length on his old form now hung to the middle of his back and he now looked to be about 22 years old.
While he was somewhat grateful at not being an ugly girl, Sam wasn’t exactly what you would call excited at the prospect of living life on the other side of the fence. He complained about his fate constantly over the next few days as they searched for a way to reverse his transformation. Laura finally was forced to ask him, “Would you be happier if you were still stuck in your wheelchair?”
That seemed to change his attitude a little. At least he stopped complaining about his fate. ’It’s amazing what a little perspective will do for a person.’ Laura thought to herself as she began to train Sam in the fine art of womanhood.
“But I don’t want to learn.” he protested.
“Sam, we have no idea if we’re ever going to be able to return you to your original form.” She told him/her. “If we can’t, there are some things you’re going to need to know about how your body works.”
“Fine!” he pouted.
Laura showed Sam how to shave his legs and arm pits without cutting them to shreds. She taught her about all manner of feminine hygiene products and their appropriate uses.
She warned about the dangers of pregnancy. When he said the last thing he wanted was to have sex with anyone, she said “You never know what the future will bring. Pregnancy is something a woman needs to be aware of at all times.”
He embarrassedly thanked her for the advice and quickly tried to change the subject. “I do have one little problem that I need your help with.” Sam confessed.
“”What would that be?” she inquired.
“All my clothes are too big for me now, and I have no clue what size I would need now. Never mind what kind of other things I would need.” Samantha said, unable to look Laura in the face.
Laura, understanding how hard it must have been for Sam to ask her for help with a new wardrobe, repressed a smile and told her that she would gladly help out.
They left work early that day and spent the afternoon shopping. The first stop they made was the lingerie department to get Sam some proper under garments. As Laura expected, Sam looked only at the frumpiest underwear in the store. Knowing what felt good against female skin, she coaxed Sam over to where the more feminine garments were displayed.
“Do you like these?” Laura asked, showing Sam a dark blue silk bra and panty set.
She walked over to Laura and inspected what she was holding. “They feel so soft. Do you think they’d be comfortable?” Sam asked.
Laura smiled. “Yes, Sam, they are very comfortable,” she replied.
She helped Sam find a set in her size. Laura then sent her into the dressing room to try them on. When she was finished trying the underwear on, Sam came out of the dressing room with a big smile on her face.
“How did you like them?” Laura asked.
Sam pulled the collar of her shirt a side enough to show the bra’s strap. “Yes. They feel very nice.”
“Sam!” Laura whispered. “What are you doing with those still on? I’m not going to let you steal them!”
Sam gave her a confused look. “Steal them?” she repeated. “Oh. No I wasn’t going to steal them.” She reassured Laura with a laugh. “I had some trouble with the bra and asked the attendant for some help. When she was in the room with me she saw the tighty whities I was wearing and told me that if I promised to pay for the new set, I could keep them on.”
“Oh.” Laura said. “I’m sorry for …”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sam told her as she headed for the cash register to pay for the underwear.
Once that was taken care of, Laura tried to guide Sam through the art of shopping as a woman. She helped her find out what styles Sam liked, and which looked right on her. Laura tried to show her how to accessorize with shoes and other such things, doing her best to teach Sam everything she could about how to dress like a woman. Some of the advice Sam took. Other things she let go, either because of lack of understanding, or lack of interest.
The one think Sam absolutely refused to even look at was makeup. Laura tried her best to explain that it was pretty much expected of a woman but Sam wouldn’t budge on the subject. “I don’t care what I look like on the outside, I just can’t wrap myself around the thought of wearing makeup,” Sam explained.
After four hours of shopping, and more money than either of them wanted to contemplate, Sam was all done. Her feet hurt and she was exhausted. Laura drove her back to Sam’s apartment and helped her carry the bags of clothing inside.
Once inside, Laura looked around the place. She was taken aback at the way the apartment, which was designed to be convenient for someone in a wheelchair, was so hard to get comfortable in. All the counters, the sink, even the dining room table were all so low to the ground they were almost impossible for a non-handicapped person to use.
Deciding to take a chance Laura said “Sam…I know this has been your home for a long time…”
“Yes it has,” Sam replied. “What of it?”
“Well…you have to admit that it’s kind of hard to get around here on your feet.”
Sam looked around and said, “Well, it is a bit hard sometimes, but I manage.”
“I have an extra room at my place and could use some help with the rent …so if you were interested …” Laura said.
“You mean you want me to move in with you?”
“Well, not that way. But yes. I’d love to have you as a roommate. And it would be good for you, too. I could help you get accustomed to your situation. And if you has questions or needed advice, I’d be right there for you to ask,” Laura blurted out.
Sam took another look around the apartment. He had to admit that Laura was right the place was a bit hard to deal with now. But on the other hand this had been his …err…her home for the last ten years. Ten years he had spent in a wheel chair. That last thought made the decision for her. While it had been his home, it wasn’t really hers now. While the thought of living the rest of her life as a female still didn’t sit well with her, she would rather have this body than go back to the chair. That would be a death sentence. For if it did happen she would have to kill herself. “I think I just may take you up on that offer.”
Once Laura left for the night, Sam looked through the clothing she’d bought. She’d wound up buying jeans, a few tee shirts, some dress slacks and some nice blouses to go with them. She now also had shoes that fit her feet, sneakers mainly. Laura had insisted on Sam purchasing several pairs of dress shoes and couple of purses to match the dressier outfits she was now the somewhat proud owner of. The last two things that came out of the bag were the two dresses that Laura had insisted the Sam buy.
She had tried to protest but it was to no avail. “Every woman needs to have at least a couple.” She had told him, and would take no more argument on the matter.
Several days later at the lab Sam came across what she thought might be a possible explanation for her transformation, and called Laura over. “I think I may have found something here.”
“What do you have?” Laura asked.
“I did a DNA sequence on the stem cells we used as the basis of our formula. I found a minute amount of female DNA in it.” Sam explained.
“But I thought stem cells weren’t supposed to have any secondary sex chromosomes.” Laura retorted.
“That’s what my experience has always been when using them. But this one does, for some reason.” Sam replied.
“Where do you think it can from?” Laura asked.
“I don’t know.” Sam thought the options over for a moment. “I think the first thing we need to do is check one of the vials of formula and see if we pick up the same traces in it. If we do, then we have a possible explanation. If we don’t find it there, then our stem cell sample got contaminated here in the lab somehow.”
“Okay. I’ll test the formula.” Laura volunteered.
They worked diligently for the next few hours testing and retesting until the conclusion was irrefutable. The serum and the base cells both had female DNA in them. It wasn’t possible, but there it was. “What do you want to do now?” Laura asked, looking up from the microscope.
“Two things. First, I want to compare the DNA in the serum to ours. Just to make sure it wasn’t something we did in this lab. Secondly, we need to repeat the test on the serum in one of the other labs to confirm that it wasn’t compromised by anything in here.” Sam told her.
“Which one do you want to do?” Laura asked.
Sam walked over to the refrigerator containing the serum. “I’ll retest the serum.” She answered as she walked out of the lab.
Sam walked down the hallway and went into what she thought was a deserted lab. As she strolled in, she heard a woman say, “Can I help you?”
Sam looked up to see Carla Ryson standing at one of the work stations. Carla, a tall exotic looking black woman was the head of genetic research. Her position in the lab was second only to Sam’s. Without even thinking she said “Oh, Hi, Carla. I didn’t know you were back yet. I was just going to do some tests on this sample.” She held up the vial for Carla to see.
“Excuse me? Do I know you?” Carla asked.
“Carla! It’s me,…uh,…I mean,…Hi nice to meet you. My name is Sam …antha. I am doing some research work for Dr. Grayson and Dr. Wayne.” Sam stuttered as she realized that there was no way Carla was going to recognize him the way she looked now. Carla seemed edgy, but Sam chalked it up her new appearance.
“You’re working with Sam and Laura?” she asked. “When did you start? I don’t remember Sam saying anything about hiring a new girl.” She looked Sam over. “Where is your ID badge?”
Unable to admit that she knew Carla had been away for several days, Sam stuttered “I ...uh…haven’t got one yet. I just started last week.” She hoped Carla would buy her story.
Carla walked over to her and grabbed Sam arm. “Come with me.” she said as she dragged Sam out into the hallway.
“Let go!” Sam yelled as she pulled her arm free.
Carla gave her a stern look. “Would you please come with me?” she said condescendingly.
Sam grumbled under her breath and then started to follow Carla again. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“We are going to go see Dr. Grayson, so he can vouch for you.” Carla replied.
“But he’s not here today.” Sam hollered to her as Carla went into the lab where Laura was working.
Surprised by Carla’s sudden entrance, Laura squeaked, “Carla!” Jeeze you scared the hell out of me. When did you get back?” She saw Sam standing next to Carla. “Is there something I can help you with?” she asked.
“Yes there is.” Carla said with an attitude. “Do you know this woman?”
“Yeah. Sure I do that’s Sam …” Laura stopped herself short realizing what she was about to say. “Why?” she asked meekly, trying to figure out how to cover Sam’s butt without screwing up whatever story Sam had already told Carla.
“Well she burst into the lab I was working in, without an ID badge. Claiming that she was just hired By Dr. Grayson. Sam never mentioned hiring a new assistant to me.” Carla said snidely.
Sam looked helplessly at Laura, wishing her transformation had included telepathy.
“Yeah. Sam and I were working on something that we needed a number cruncher on, so he hired Samantha last week. Since you were away, there was no way to tell you.” Laura said, hoping she got the name right.
Carla wrinkled her nose at the sound of Laura using Sam’s first name and said “Well you need to make sure Miss…?” She looked over at Sam for a last name.
“Um…Kent.” Sam injected.
“Kent, then. Miss Kent gets a badge today.” Carla demanded. “By the way where is Dr. Grayson today?”
“He called in sick.” Laura told her. “Now unless you have some more questions, I need to get back to what I was doing, and Samantha needs to get going herself.” Laura said dismissivly. To Sam she said “If Carla’s using lab two, why don’t you try four?”
“Okay.” Sam said as she slipped out the door.
After Sam left Carla said “Dr Wayne, may I remind you that I am in charge when Dr. Grayson isn’t here? So I would appreciate it if you would show me at least that much respect in front of the hourly employees. Also, could you remind Miss Kent that we have a dress code for our employees, and blue jeans are not part of it.”
With a dismissive waive of her hand Laura said “Sure, Carla. Anything you want.”
Laura smiled as Carla stormed out of the room in a huff. The two of them had never gotten along. Laura hated Carla’s snobby attitude, especially towards the people that worked under her.
Carla, for her part, knew there was nothing she could do about Laura, because she had been hand picked by Sam as his assistant, and she hated Laura for that. Laura showed her none of the respect she thought she deserved, and that bothered her even more. Now, she was outraged because Sam had hired another one without consulting her.
Sam slipped into lab four, grateful to see it was deserted. ’That was close.’ She thought to herself. She wondered about Carla’s behavior. Did she treat everyone the way she had treated Sam? Sam was going to have to ask Laura about it later.
Then Sam looked at the vial in her hand. With everything that had just happened, she had almost forgotten what she needed another lab for in the first place. Deciding to split the sample up and do one test in an isolated atmosphere she walked over and put the vial into the air lock of the sealed testing chamber. She opened it up and started the laborious task of checking it for genetic material.
A couple of hours later Laura came into the lab where Sam was working. “Any answers yet?”
Sam looked over at the computer monitor. “Nope, nothing yet.” Turning to look at Laura she said, “I wanted to ask you about Carla. Is that the way she usually acts around the rest of you here?”
“Yep.” Laura replied.
“Hmm. I’ll have to talk to her about that.” Sam said more to herself than to Laura.
“Sam.” Laura said putting her hand on Sam’s shoulder “How are you going to do that? Carla will never buy that you’re really who you are. We just told her that you were a new employee. Until, if, we can change you back, she’s essentially your boss. As a matter of fact, she wants you to dress more appropriately around here from now on. That means no more jeans.”
Sam frowned at her and let out a loud sigh. Laura was right, and there was nothing that could be done. “Oh well, looks like it’ll be another trip to the mall this weekend.”
Laura smiled, but before she could say anything, the monitor came to life and began displaying the results. Reading over Sam’s shoulder Laura said “Sam, something must have gone wrong. The computer has doubled up the results.”
As she continued to read Sam replied “I ran the test in the isolation chamber too. She pointed at the second column to indicate which one had been done in isolation.”
“Oh. Okay. Good thinking,” She said, ruffling Sam’s hair with her hand.
As they studied the results a worrisome conclusion began to appear. The isolated serum showed no contamination, but the one that was done in the open air did.
“Sam, if these results are correct …” Laura began.
“I know,” Sam replied.
Laura grabbed Sam’s arm “Come here.” She said as she dragged Sam across the room. She pointed to a machine that looked a lot like a breathalyzer that the police use. “Breath into the tube,” she ordered.
Sam did as she was told, scared to death of what she believed the results would be. Laura made a couple of adjustments on the analyzer and then they both held their breath as they waited for the results.
It took only a minute for the machine to confirm what they already feared. The retrovirus in Sam’s system was capable of surviving in the air again.
“Sam. We’ve got to get you into isolation.” Laura said with a distinct edge of fear in her voice. She started to pull on Sam’s arm again.
“Laura! Wait a minute. You’ve been with me almost constantly since my transformation and nothing has happened to you, yet. Perhaps…”
“SAM!! How can you even think like that? We need to get you isolated right now! If the tests we run afterward show that you pose no danger to anyone, then you can get out. But for now …” Laura yelled, nearing the edge of panic.
Sam looked at her, the fear on her face there for all to see. “Y…yes…of course you’re right. Isolation is the only way to go.” She took a deep breath and let it out trying to get a hold of herself.
They hurried down the hallway to the level four biocontainment labs. The lab was completely self-contained. It had its own air supply and filters designed to prevent the escape of even the smallest biological material.
Laura hit the button that activated the labs airlock. The outer door cycled open and Sam reluctantly stepped inside. Laura pressed the button again, closing the outer door while opening the inner. Sam then stepped through that one and closed it from the inside. She then activated the labs decontamination system which sprayed a fine mist of bleach over everything in the room between the two doors.
Once that was taken care of, Sam activated the communications system to the outside. “Laura, you need to get a hold of all the hospitals in the area. See if there have been any reports of people transforming like I did.”
“I will, Sam.” She said sullenly.
“You’re going to need to get Carla in the loop on this too. Tell her the truth. Show her everything you need to. Just get her to believe!” Sam ordered.
“Is there anything else?” Laura asked.
“Pray.” Sam replied. “Pray that we’re wrong.”
A few hours later Laura returned. She looked as if someone had shot her dog. They both put the headphone/ microphone set that allowed private communication from the lab to the observation room.
“What wrong?” Sam asked worriedly.
Laura let out a disgusted sigh. “Carla wouldn’t see me, and now she’s gone. I tried to call her cell phone, but I got no answer.”
“How did you make out with the hospitals?” Sam inquired hoping the news would be good.
“I called eight different ones in the area we discussed and two of them reported having patients with symptoms similar to what you experienced during the initial stages of your transformation,” she admitted glumly. “County Memorial wouldn’t give me any specific information on the patient, other than to confirm that it was a man that was infected. City Hospital on the other hand, because of your relationship with Director Batson, was much more cooperative and faxed me over everything they had on the male patient they had.”
“Only two men? No women? Hmm. Well it’s better than it might have been. What places have they visited in the last few days? Will they allow you to let some of our people to look them over?”
“Once again, County wouldn’t give us any information. When I talked to Director Batson, he said that he was going to call director Prince over there and see if he could help us get a look. In the meantime, I’m heading over to City, with Donna Troy, as soon as we’re done here.”
“Well don’t let me hold you up,” Sam urged.
“I have these for you.” Laura said, holding up a folder. “This is all the information City had on their patient. Look it over and call my cell phone if you get any ideas.”
“Okay.” Sam said. Laura put the folder in the slide tray and sent it into Sam. Sam picked it up and started to thumb through it as Laura headed towards the door. Sam stopped her by yelling into the intercom “Laura!” She turned back and looked at Sam. “Be careful.” Sam said nervously.
With a wan smile Laura said “I will, Sam, I will.”
After Laura was gone, Sam began looking through the data from the hospital. She became so involved in reading that she lost track of time. When the phone in the lab rang, Sam jumped. She walked over and answered it.
“Sam, it’s Laura.” She heard. “The problem is much worse than we were led to believe. After calling County, Director Batson made calls to several other area hospitals. Though his connections we now know that there are at least fifteen confirmed cases of infected men. No women however, which may only mean that there is a longer gestation period in females.”
Sam was speechless. ’Fifteen cases? What have I done’” she thought to herself.
“Sam, are you there?” Laura asked, her voice once again edged with panic.
“Yes Laura, I’m here.” Sam replied flatly.
“What do you want to do?” Laura asked.
“Are all the cases in isolation?” Sam asked her.
“All the ones here are being moved as we speak, and Bill,…I mean Director Batson is calling the others and asking them to do the same.” Laura responded.
“How much have you told him?” Sam asked.
“I told him that we were aware of the problem, and have been asked to look into finding a cure. I don’t think he really believed me, but he hasn’t brought it up since. Do you want me to give him everything?” she asked.
“No. Not yet anyhow. Just get every scrap of information you can and get back here. Make sure you get blood samples from everyone that’s been infected. See if you can get samples from any women that came in contact, too. I don’t like the idea there aren’t infected females. And find out where all the cases were over the last few days.” Sam ordered.
“Yes Sam.” Laura replied as she finished writing down everything she needed to do.
“And Laura? … We need this yesterday,” Sam added.
“Okay.” Laura said, hanging up the phone. She looked over the list. It was going to take a lot more people than just her to get this done quickly. She picked the phone back and tried to get a hold of Carla again. Once again she got Carla’s voicemail. “Carla, where the hell are you?” Laura wondered to herself as she got up to start gathering the information Sam needed.
Sam was scared shitless. She knew this situation could get beyond their ability to control very quickly, if it hadn’t already. She needed some answers. She paced around the lab, trying to decide what to do next. The information Laura was gathering was going to take hours to collect. The more time that passed, the harder the truth of the situation hit home. It was becoming hard to not succumb to guilt.
Finally Laura called back. “Sam, I’m going to be sending you all the records we’ve got from the various hospitals. I’ve got everyone I could get my hands on doing recent history interviews. You need to go through all the reports and see if there’s any common denominator.”
“How many cases do you have?” Sam asked.
Laura was silent for a moment. Sam could hear her counting. It seemed to be taking a lot longer to come to a total than it should have. “Okay, I got a number. Are you sitting down?” Laura said without so much of a hint of humor in her voice.
“Laura!” Sam exclaimed impatiently.
Ignoring her Laura continued “We’ve now got thirty confirmed cases.”
“Wait a minute, did you say thirty?” Sam interrupted.
“Yes Sam … thirty.” Laura snarled. “The more we investigate, the more cases we find.”
“Oh. Lord …” was all Sam could think to say. After a moment she asked “Still all male?”
“All male. Or at least that’s how they started out. We’ve got at least three that are more than half way through their transformations. I gotta tell you Sam; this is starting to scare the hell out of me.” as she said it, Laura started to cry.
“Me too,” Sam confessed.
Getting a hold of herself, Laura said, “Anyhow, the records should be there within a half hour.”
“Okay. I’ll be waiting. By the way have you heard from Carla yet?” Sam asked.
“No. Not yet.” Laura said distractedly. “Sam, I have to go,” she said after a moment and hung up the phone.
Laura stepped into Director Batson’s office. “What’s up Bill?” she asked.
“I just heard back from Dr. Rockland over at Hollis memorial. He said that he just got another six confirmed cases, three from the same family this time.”
“Three from the same …How can that be? Are all their symptoms at the same stage?” she asked in disbelief.
“I don’t know yet. I sent him everything we have on the disease so far. Once he gets a look at it, Dr. Rockland said he’d call me back.” Bill said gloomily. “Now what I need from you is the truth. How is it your lab knew about this problem before anyone else did? Who called you people in on this? For that matter, why are ‘you’ here? Where are Sam and Carla? Why aren’t they here?”
Laura looked down at her feet for a minute trying to figure out whether to tell him everything or not.
“I’m waiting .” he reminded her.
“I don’t know where Dr. Ryson is. I’ve been trying to get hold of her all night. As for Sam …I think you’d better sit down. This is going to take a lot of explaining, and I can guarantee that you’re not going to believe most of it.” Laura then proceeded to tell him the entire story.
For his part, and to his credit, Director Batson listened to the entire tale before he said a word. When Laura finished, he took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose, then leaned his head back and let out a long sigh.
“I’ll tell you, Dr. Wayne, if I hadn’t seen these transformations with my own eyes, I’d be calling the guy’s with the straight jackets to come get you. But unfortunately, I have seen them and you say it all started with Sam. How could the two of you been so irresponsible? You knew the retrovirus had become airborne and yet you made no attempt to isolate Sam after he became infected,” he said incredulously.
Laura couldn’t think of any way to defend their actions. Bill was right. Meekly she said, “When we tested him initially, there was no sign of the airborne strain in Sam’s system. It makes no sense that she would suddenly become a latter day Typhoid Mary. It took her transformation about 48hrs to complete after the initial infection.”
She stopped and thought for a moment before she continued. “We were at the mall five days ago. How many infectees did you say had completed their transformations?”
Bill looked through the files. “Let’s see …it says there are three.”
“And when were they completed?” Laura asked.
“Let me take a look here.” Bill said as he read through the case files. “Okay. We got one that isn’t quiet done yet. That’s the one we know was at the mall on the 15th. The other two have been fully female for at least twenty four hours now.”
“Twenty four hours? How can that be? Were either of them at the mall that night?” She asked.
“This one here doesn’t say, but this other one says he …or should I say she …was in San Francisco that day? How can that be?” Bill asked.
“I don’t know. But we need to get a blood sample from that patient as soon as possible. We also need to find out how far along she was when she was admitted. Then we need to find out who else she came in contact with since then. Which hospital is she in?”
“County Memorial. It says here that her blood has already been drawn and it was sent to your lab with the last shipment.”
“Do you have a name?” she asked.
“Says here the name is …Gordon. Brian Gordon. According to what it says here, he is from Oakland.”
“Oakland? How’d he wind up at County?” she asked.
“Visiting an aunt that lives in the city, according to what it says here,” He replied
“I’ll call Sam and have her test his first.”
“Laura, we also need to look at the possibility that this virus affects different people at different rates of speed. I mean, we’re making assumptions based on what happened to one person. That’s not exactly a large percentage of the population,” Bill explained.
“I know. But it’s all we have right now…and Emma, the rat took about the same amount of time to finish her physical regression.” Laura told him. “It’s kind of strange, don’t you think.” Laura said.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Those only men seem to be affected? Not a single woman has been admitted for infection,” she replied.
“It sure is. But we’ll have to worry about that later.”
Sam was amazed at the amount of data Laura had managed to gather in such a small amount of time. She sifted through it, dividing it into separate piles, based on which hospital each patient was in.
After that was finished, she divided the piles further by estimated date of infection. Finally, she pulled the ones with accompanying blood samples out and looked them over in greater detail.
The first thing that struck her was that several of the infectees, were less far along than could be explained if they had been at the mall on the 15th. As she was puzzling that over, the phone rang.
She picked it up. “Sam? Laura again. Have the samples arrived yet?”
“Yes, they have I was just going through them, actually, and found something doesn’t make any sense. “There seem to be a lot of these cases that aren’t far enough along to have been infected by me.
“We’re finding the same thing here, too,’ she informed Sam. “There’s one case in particular we wanted you to look at before the others.”
“Okay, what’s the name?” Sam asked.
“Brian Gordon. He …err …she’s from Oakland, and was in San Francesco on the 15th. We got him because he was in town visiting relatives,” Laura told him.
“What did you say that name was again?” Laura repeated it to her as Sam sifted through the files. After a moment, she found the one she was looking for. “Is there a blood sample with this one?”
“There should be.” Laura said.
Sam was looking through the file as Laura replied her blood going cold as she asked, “Laura, have you seen this file?”
“No. I haven’t had the chance to take more than a cursory look. Why?” she replied.
“This patient’s local address, the one for his aunt, it’s … Carla’s.”
“Carla’s? This is Carla’s nephew? That explains why she hasn’t been answering her phone. She must be at County with him.”
“Laura! This boy was infected prior to the 15th. Carla was off last week. She told me she was going to visit her nephew in Oakland.” Sam explained.
“Okay,” Laura said, not really understanding what Sam was getting at.
“Carla was going to visit him because he was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer!” Sam explained.
Stunned Laura couldn’t speak for several seconds. When she found her voice again Laura asked “Sam, are thinking what I am?”
“Laura, I need you to come back here and check our serum supply. Make sure it’s all there,” Sam said, hoping that she was wrong.
Laura grabbed her coat as she said, “I’m on my way.”
“Laura! Where are you going?” Bill shouted as she flew past him in the hallway.
“I need to get over to the lab. Sam thinks she might know how Brian got infected,” She yelled over her shoulder. Stopping, she walked back towards Bill. “Bill, I need you to get hold of someone over at County. Have them check around, and see if Carla’s there.”
“Sure. You want them to have her call you if she’s there?” he asked.
“No. If she’s there, just have them make sure that she doesn’t leave,” Laura replied.
Confused, Bill pulled her into an unused office. “I think you better tell me what’s going on here,” he demanded.
“The Gordon boy. He’s Carla’s nephew. Until a few days ago, he was sick with cancer. Sam thinks that Carla may have given him some of the serum,” she told him.
“Holy … ”
“Yep. Now I need to get out of here and over to the lab to check our inventory. Bill, just remember there is no proof she did anything, at least not until I can confirm that we’re missing some serum.”
“I understand. If she’s there, I’ll make sure that they don’t let her leave until you tell me to.”
An hour later, Laura came into the observation room. Sam activated the com system. “What we got?” she asked impatiently.
Laura’s face told the story before she said a word.
“Oh, shit. How much is missing?” she asked.
“We’re down three vials over what we’ve already used.” Laura said grimly.
“Three?” Sam repeated.
“Bill called while I was checking the inventory. Carla’s at County.” Laura relayed. “He’s having her brought back here.”
“Good,” Sam whispered.
“When I told him what we suspected, Bill made a few calls to the Oakland/ San Francesco area hospitals.” She said with tears forming in her eyes. She took a deep breath, let it out and then took another.
“Laura, what is it? What’s happened?” Sam asked.
“It’s an epidemic, Sam.” She cried. “There are over a hundred confirmed cases in the Bay Area. Bill has called the CDC. He said we should expect federal agents to be arriving here within the hour.”
