home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- bluebox/6
-
-
- Chapter 31
- Cheryl walked over to Kevin and patted him on the shoulder.
- Jeffrey had changed her again, this time in ways not quite yet
- visible. "Kevin, it's not THAT bad... Really. Half the people in
- the world are female, right?"
- Kevin's face was still red. He was crying a bit. "No...
- <snif>... It's not possible. I'm dreaming. I CAN'T BE THIS WAY FOR
- THE REST OF MY LIFE!"
- Jeffrey fired off a mental communication to Cheryl. "He has to
- stay convinced that this is real. Otherwise we'll lose him."
- Cheryl put her hand on Kevin's forehead. "You're burning up.
- It's the virus. It always does this. We have to get some water and
- food into you. Many of your cells are being replaced with new ones--
- that's why you're so hot."
- "I am really hungry. I've got lunch in my drawer. But I have to
- use the bathroom first."
- Cheryl whispered loudly enough to Jeffrey that Kevin could hear.
- "She's got to get rid of all the stuff her body doesn't need any more.
- She'll be alright afterwards."
- Cheryl took a towel that she had brought with her, and wrapped it
- around Kevin's shivering body. They helped him through the quiet
- hallways to the ladies' room. He cried out again when he realized
- where he was. Sue took him inside and waited for him while Cheryl,
- outside, was supposedly at the cafeteria getting something for him to
- eat. She was, in fact, just waiting outside the door, holding the
- lunch that Jeffrey had materialized.
- They all returned to Kevin's office a few minutes later, and fed
- Kevin the mean that Cheryl had "bought". He'd be very hungry for a
- while and would eat his own lunch later. Kevin, though still upset,
- felt better. "I still can't believe it. You've ruined my life. How
- am I going to live like this? I can't face my friends."
- It was time for the final act to start. Cheryl spoke. "Kevin,
- you're not alone here. You'll make lots of new friends. You're very
- pretty. Isn't she, Susan?"
- Jeffrey nodded.
- "I mean, just look at the way you've developed. You'll have
- everyone here after you. Except the women, but that was the idea,
- right?"
- Kevin nodded silently.
- "Look at all you get to do now. You can have children. You get
- to see life from both sides, where the rest of us won't. Not until
- the virus goes into full production, and even then it only works once.
- Besides, there's one very good benefit... The REAL reason you're a
- woman now..."
- Kevin was almost cheerful. "Why?"
- Cheryl, all of a sudden, had a masculine voice. "Because you
- wanted to make love with me, and now you can. I can't believe you, of
- all people, didn't know."
- "You're a... man? But how?"
- "I can't believe I had you fooled all this time. I was a victim
- of the test of a reversible virus a long time ago, and it didn't work.
- Only changed me enough to sound female and look it from a distance.
- They're supposed to change me back eventually, though. For now they
- gave me a new identity and lots of money."
- "And... you're STILL working here?"
- "Of course. Lets me monitor the progress and help out with my
- own cure." She unzipped her pants, and pulled her penis from it.
- "See?"
- Kevin's towel fell away. "You ARE male..."
- Cheryl advanced towards him. "Good thing, huh? Come on..."
- ...her penis grew hard, and she started to undress. Kevin backed
- away.
- Cheryl had breasts, but they were extremely underdeveloped. Her
- clothing was padded to make her look female. She disrobed. Kevin
- shook his head. Seconds later she was on top of him. Kevin was too
- weak now, Cheryl overpowered him, rolling him on his front, climbing
- on his back, and recklessly plunging her penis into him. It was
- difficult at first. Kevin wasn't ready. He hadn't asked for this.
- He struggled for a minute. Cheryl clasped Kevin's breasts, and worked
- her penis inside from behind him. Her other hand went to the front of
- Kevin's pussy, and her touch excited him. Jeffrey sat on the desk and
- watched with interest. Cheryl slid her cock into his cunt easily now.
- Kevin couldn't say a word. It was over quickly, Cheryl squirting her
- come inside, and pulling herself from him before he could learn what a
- female orgasm felt like. She got off of him, and got dressed before
- he could recover, stuffing her penis back into her pants and tucking
- it in so it wouldn't show. She and Jeffrey helped Kevin to his feet,
- and into his chair.
- "Sorry to be in a hurry," Cheryl said, "but we haven't eaten yet
- and there's only a few minutes left to lunch." Kevin looked at the
- clock. "Sue here brought some clothes for you, and I even think we
- got the right size."
- Jeffrey took, from Cheryl's bag, some clothes. "Now here's your
- panties, and I think this bra should be about right..." He handed the
- bra to Cheryl, who started putting in on Jeffrey. Kevin grabbed it
- and angrily threw it down. "I can't wear girl's clothes."
- "Now now, Kevin, it's only appropriate. You're a girl." She
- took the clothes and put them in the drawer. "You'll have to start
- learning a lot of new things. Clothes are one of them. You can't
- just sit here naked. Put the stuff on when you're ready, it's right
- here in your drawer."
- Kevin didn't look up. Cheryl and Jeffrey headed for the door.
- Jeffrey looked at the clock once more on the way out.
- The door clicked shut. Jeffrey and Cheryl ran back to the
- maintenance room, changing to their original forms on the way. They
- sat down where they were before, leaning against each other. The
- Device, red, reappeared in Jeffrey's lap. He looked at the timer.
- "Almost perfect. There's about ten minutes left before everyone gets
- back, like the clock said. Here goes." He pressed the STOP button,
- and suddenly they were sitting a slightly different way, eyes closed.
- They opened their eyes. The box was blue. They hurried out of the
- closet. The halls were still empty, thank goodness. They went back
- to Jeffrey's lab.
-
- Chapter 32
- Kevin opened his eyes. He sat in his chair for all of five
- minutes pondering his fate; worrying about whether or not he was
- really pregnant, how he would learn all the things he now needed to
- know, and so on. It wasn't until he looked at his feet, trying to
- decide what kind of shoes he would have to buy, that he realized that
- his own shoes were still on his feet. In fact, he was still dressed.
- He checked himself-- no breasts, and the cock that he was so proud of
- was still there. What a realistic dream! He was overjoyed that none
- of the events he had just imagined had happened.
- Meanwhile, Cheryl was hugging Jeffrey. "We did it!", they both
- told each other.
- Kevin's bubble had just burst. He was hungry, and opened his
- drawer to get lunch. Sitting there, in the drawer, were the bra and
- panties that Sue had given him. They were EXACTLY the same as the
- ones they were about to outfit him with just minutes ago. He never
- had put anything into that drawer except lunch. He sank back into his
- chair, having lost his appetite.
- The Boss walked into the Lab. An imposing man in his 40's, he
- was officially called the inter-department coordinator, but was
- responsible for most everything, and thus everyone called him The
- Boss. He was friendly, but very firm about people doing the work
- they were being paid for. Cheryl started slinking towards the
- doorway, then realized that the Boss had brought two sandwiches.
- "Missed you at lunch, Jeffrey. I figured you had to be doing
- something important." He handed one sandwich to Jeffrey and the other
- to Cheryl. Jeffrey looked at his sandwich, and set it down. The boss
- had forgotten that he didn't like ham sandwiches. Well, he MIGHT eat
- it if he was hungry, but later. Cheryl bit into hers. "Thanks," she
- mumbled with a mouthful.
- The Boss hadn't left, so Jeffrey decided it was time to show him
- some of the latest developments he'd been working on. He had almost
- finished a sort of recording machine that could record everything in
- an enclosed area at once. There was a camera under development in a
- different department. Together, you could record a place for a while,
- and then, at any time in the future, you could use another system to
- play back any view at any angle. By manipulating controls, you could
- move a "virtual camera" to any point in the area. It would produce
- perfect 3-D images. Of course, Jeffrey's dream at that time was to
- hook the recorder up to the Device-- HIS device. IDT's version didn't
- have the interface for the recorder, but his did. That's why he made
- sure he was involved with the recorder project, so he could build his
- own.
- Jeffrey showed the boss an optical cartridge. "It DOES have some
- recordings on it now," he claimed, "but we can't play them back quite
- yet. That's why we don't know if the bugs in the original camera
- affected it or not."
- Suddenly, the doors to the lab burst open. It was Kevin, who
- stormed in. He was mad. "You're out of here, Landers. You and your
- girlfriend here set me up with the Device. That's the only
- explanation."
- Cheryl, to Jeffrey's surprise, was the one to answer. "But
- Kevin, YOU said I HAD to have sex with you."
- "Yes, but with you as a girl..." It was the wrong thing to say.
- The Boss' eyebrows were raised. Cheryl baited the trap, and in his
- anger, Keven fell right into it. The Boss had heard occasional
- allegations of Kevin's wrongdoing, but even with the influence he had
- with the CEO, refrained from testing that relationship over hearsay.
- The Boss now sounded much less friendly.
- "Is this true, Kevin?"
- Kevin remained silent.
- "Kevin, if you've anything to say about this, I'd say it right
- now. I wouldn't want any unfriendly legal actions going on."
- Kevin still didn't say anything. The Boss excused himself from
- Jeffrey and Cheryl, and took Kevin out of the Lab. Kevin would quit
- the next day. Jeffrey walked to Cheryl and shook her hand vigorously.
- "Fantastic. You knew he was still frazzled."
- "Thank you. Wouldn't you have been frazzled if you were him?"
- "No," Jeffrey replied, "not any more. I'd be savoring the
- experience."
- "But he thought it was for REAL."
- "As you said before, Cheryl... What's the difference?"
-
- Chapter 33
- It had been three weeks now, that they had been together. The
- only magic that had faded was Jeffrey's lovesick feeling. That queasy
- feeling, he had decided, was beneficial ONLY in that it heralded the
- love that followed, much like one's first dive into a swimming pool.
- He was comfortable with Cheryl; she was comfortable with him. Each
- cared more about the other than anything else. They were quite an
- item at work, and a lot of people were surprised when, after only a
- week, Cheryl had invited him to move in, which he did after a few days
- of discussion. Jeffrey's parents didn't like the idea at first.
- Cheryl's parents were happy that she had found a mate. Deirdre had
- given them their privacy, for the most part, but they had seen that
- she never felt left out. Anyway, it looked like she was getting
- serious about a friend of hers that she'd known for a while.
- They hadn't used the Device that much. Cheryl and Jeffrey were
- too busy getting to know each other, and fooling around in real life.
- They had let Deirdre run it once with her boyfriend-- she seemed to be
- proficient with it-- after all, her boyfriend enjoyed the experience.
- She hadn't even rushed sex on him-- he seemed to appreciate that.
- He'd get enough once Deirdre was familiar with him.
- The one thing that Cheryl and Jeffrey had done with the Device
- was prompted by Cheryl's experience as a golden retriever. On the
- weekends, Jeffrey would take a few hours with his computer and program
- the Device with the characteristics of a number of animals; then over
- a few nights they'd spend ten or fifteen minutes as a pair of animals,
- in the environment that was most fitting, experiencing sex each way.
- The least exciting were birds and fishes. Although birds mated in
- mid-air, the transfer of sperm happened without much contact. They'd
- press belly against belly, and Jeffrey would squirt semen from an
- opening near his tail into the same opening on Cheryl. That was it.
- Fishes had no contact at all, though Cheryl found it intriguing to be
- able to lay hundreds of eggs in one spot in a few minutes. She could
- feel each egg leave her body through the opening that neurologically
- corresponded to her vagina. Jeffrey would then swim up to the eggs,
- and seconds later would disappear in a white cloud of semen. He
- didn't think it was exciting to him at all.
- Insects weren't terrific either. They had looked forward to the
- praying mantis, which copulates for half a day at a time. Cheryl
- promised not to devour Jeffrey afterwards. But, once they got into
- position and started the sperm transfer, it became boring after only
- one or two hours. They didn't try most of the others.
- The reptiles and amphibians were better, but it wasn't
- comfortable. The sex was alright, but everything not directly related
- to intercourse wasn't as much fun. There were no soft curves, no
- quiet giggles, and no moans.
- The mammals had it the best, they decided. Dogs (which they
- tried first, golden-retriever style) were fun; because they locked
- together in real life, just like Cheryl had locked Jeffrey's penis
- inside the first time they made love using the Device. His penis
- would grow, and her vagina would shrink, and they couldn't pull apart
- until Cheryl came.
- The best part of the experience was that neither could talk until
- it was all over. They compared all the things they had done. The
- best, of course, was as humans. THEY could stimulate desire with
- their voices and the images those voices could create. Over the three
- weeks, they had made love in real life many more times than they had
- with the Device, animals included. Deirdre had gotten quite used to
- them being together. And Cheryl and Jeffrey had gotten very
- proficient together. They could make love in any position-- as
- Deirdre found when they were watching television in the Living room.
- Cheryl just quietly unzipped Jeffrey's fly, lifted her skirt and sat
- in his lap. Deirdre wasn't sure anything had happened until she heard
- the distinctive sound of Cheryl and Jeffrey coming; they always seemed
- to come together.
- The day after Deirdre finally made it with her boyfriend, Cheryl
- demonstrated a new invention of her own. She liked the idea that men
- could have sex without even taking off their pants. But she didn't
- like wearing a skirt just for that purpose-- sex without undressing.
- Even with men's-style, front-zippered jeans on, Jeffrey's cock
- couldn't reach her pussy. Cheryl held up a pair of jeans identical to
- the ones she had on. They were clearly women's jeans, with no fly,
- and two zippers on the side that held them snugly over Cheryl's
- shapely hips. "They can be any slacks, not just jeans", she said.
- The crotch of the jeans had been modified-- with some elastic added,
- and plastic eyelets with a cord weaving through where the original
- stitching was in the crotch. The original stitching in part of the
- crotch area was gone. The cord and the elastic together held the
- crotch shut.
- She held them up to Deirdre, inside out. She pulled the cord
- out, and showed her how only the elastic now held the opening shut.
- The opening had a plastic-film liner so the rough denim wouldn't be
- uncomfortable to Jeffrey-- he had suggested that part. She threw them
- to Deirdre, who took a closer look.
- Cheryl walked to Jeffrey, and lifted one leg. Jeffrey tapped the
- fabric around the opening as Cheryl stretched. The cord held it
- closed.
-
- "See, Deirdre, the cord goes into one pocket. There's a cotton
- liner that I didn't put in that pair you're holding, yet. You can't
- pee through it, but it is good for something..."
- Cheryl reached into her pocket and pulled the cord from it. She
- unzipped Jeffrey's fly; pulling his penis from it. She rubbed it, and
- even licked it. It grew quickly. She kissed him once, deeply, with
- her hands still on his cock, and his hands on her tits.
- She turned around. Deirdre was watching. "Oh, yes, you have to
- wear crotchless panties," she said. Deirdre nodded.
- Cheryl lowered herself carefully onto Jeffrey's lap. The tip of
- his rock-hard penis touched her pants. As he pushed against them, the
- elastic opening yielded, and his cock sank into her pants. It slid
- through her panties, past her already-most pussylips, and into her
- warm wetness. Her buttocks settled down onto him. He held her
- tightly, and bounced her slightly with his knees. The real action
- wasn't visible to Deirdre. The design was working. He was deep
- inside Cheryl, and both had their clothes on. They came, with the
- usual noises, and Cheryl got up, the opening in her jeans closing
- tightly just as the opening in her body did. The plastic liner kept
- her fluids from leaking to where they were visible, though some had
- leaked onto Jeffrey's jeans.
-
- Chapter 34
- Cheryl promised to make a pair of the jeans for Deirdre, who said
- she'd use them to pleasantly surprise her boyfriend one afternoon in
- the park.
- Jeffrey took Cheryl down to the drugstore after the jeans
- demonstration, for it was now time to renew the SBC between them. It
- went normally. On the way home, Cheryl remembered something she had
- promised to talk about a long time ago.
- "Jeffrey, I want to know if you've been feeling something
- lately..."
- "Like what?"
- "Well, all the times we've made love, as humans, men, women,
- animals... What's been in common?"
- Jeffrey didn't know what she meant. "A lot of things. What do
- you mean?"
- "Well... Let me put it this way. What have you STILL wanted,
- even at the peak of our passion, no matter which way we've done it?
- That you want all the time and isn't satisfied just by sex?"
- "Well, I want to be even closer to you than I am..."
- Cheryl was pleased. "Exactly. You want to be ONE with me, more
- than you can just by having sex. Right?"
- "Yes, very much. You know, we SHOULD probably talk about
- marraige sooner or later."
- "Well..." Cheryl said, "Yes, we should... But that's not what
- I'm talking about. I'm talking about leaving this body and sharing
- yours. Or the other way around. Fill the empty hole inside me."
- "Well..." Jeffrey scratched his head. "YES! I COULD program
- the Device to do that. Let's do it!"
- "Alright!" yelled Cheryl.
- Jeffrey spent the rest of the afternoon working on the computer
- attached to the Device; programming the Device to tie together neural
- lines (he called them "ports"). She'd join him in his body; he'd hold
- the box. For once, they'd share the exact same experiences, and would
- be able to mentally communicate. Either would be able to control all
- of the muscular actions; and both would feel the results. It was
- actually quite a simple program, since the same basic pattern of
- combination was repeated over and over.
- Finally the time was here. He got Cheryl, went with her to the
- bathroom where they both relieved themselves, and sat her down next to
- him on the couch. "If there's problems, tell me. I'll stop it."
- Cheryl nodded. "Here goes!" Deirdre looked over at them, then
- returned her attention to the dinner that was cooking. Jeffrey, with
- the device in his lap, pressed the start button.
- What happened was not what either expected. After the last beep
- of the Device, they were together. They were one. Jeffrey's mind
- started wandering through Cheryl's. She started wandering through
- his, examining the memories that were stored there. Neither was
- conscious of the outside world, or tried to open Jeffrey's eyes or
- even move. She met, in his mind, his first love, and the awkward
- activites of his first sexual encounter. Jeffrey looked at her own
- memories of him. He suddenly was aware, without thinking about it,
- how lonely Cheryl had been before she approached Jeffrey on that
- Friday afternoon. She met his parents, his brother, knowing instantly
- all that Jeffrey thought about them. Jeffrey reviewed Cheryl's
- childhood; her first training bra, the anxiety as her classmates
- developed ahead of her; frustration and success at school, and HER
- first sex partner and the awful events that followed. He didn't have
- to think about them; as long as he let his mind wander inside
- Cheryl's, he KNEW.
- Something was definitely wrong. He didn't know what; the
- experience was fantastic. He was going through years in seconds. The
- frustration while she waited for her first period; the bother that she
- put up with now, knowing that her next period would start tommorrow or
- the next day. It was all too much to put into words.
- But, something in his mind told him he had to stop this. Now.
- He summoned all his willpower to get out of Cheryl's mind. He
- concentrated on the word STOP. His eyes flashed open, catching
- Cheryl's attention while she was exploring his experience with her.
- She watched as her own hand, or Jeffrey's, reached for the STOP
- button. She didn't stop it. The button was pressed.
-
- Chapter 35
- Deirdre was startled by the sudden irregular breathing coming
- from her roommates. She rushed over; their eyes were open, but they
- weren't saying anything. The display on the box read "IMAGE STOP
- 00:01:13", nothing wrong with that. They weren't talking, though.
- Deirdre started to panic. She grabbed Cheryl's hand.
- "Cheryl! What happened??"
- Jeffrey now realized what was wrong. He had made a programming
- mistake, somehow connecting EVERYTHING, not just the nerves leading to
- and from the brain to the rest of the body. He had connected them
- together mentally. It wasn't supposed to be possible. He had to get
- the words out to Deirdre. Reality seemed a bit foggy. He was having
- trouble speaking.
- "Deirdre..." he said in a raspy voice. Cheryl parroted him, word
- for word, at the same instant; though not as clearly.
- "I connected... us... together inside. We've been in each...
- other's... minds." He knew very well the textbook theory, which was
- what he realized gave him the will to stop the Device. Cheryl was
- still speaking along with him, missing a word here or there. "We
- have... to sort ourselves out from each other. We don't know who I
- are... we are... no..."
- Deirdre looked Jeffrey right in the eyes. "Jeffrey. You're
- Jeffrey." He told Cheryl of her identity, and returned to Jeffrey.
- "What happened?"
- Jeffrey shook himself. He seemed better now. Cheryl wasn't
- repeating after him anymore, but she didn't say anything at all, now.
- Jeffrey turned to Cheryl, hugging her tightly. After a brief
- delay, Cheryl hugged him back. "Oh Cheryl," he said, looking into her
- eyes... "You're perfect. I can't believe what I saw inside you.
- Everything I've always wanted. No wonder I love you so much."
- Cheryl, still silent, squeezed him tightly and they went into a long
- kiss. Deirdre, who had seen enough of this sort of activity over the
- last few days, was getting impatient.
- "What happened?" she repeated.
- "Imagine," Jeffrey said with suddenly perfect clarity, "that your
- mind is a deck of cards. We just got shuffled together. I've got
- lots... not all... but lots of Cheryl inside me. It's fantastic. You
- wouldn't believe it. I'm so different! It feels kind of like she's
- right here inside. I don't know if... No, I'll be okay. I can handle
- it. I CAN handle it. Cheryl..."
- He turned to her. "Cheryl?" she answered. "Jeffrey? What am I
- doing here? In this body?"
- "Cheryl... You're Cheryl. You'll be alright."
- Jeffrey turned back to Deirdre. "I think she got a bigger dose
- than I did. She absorbed more of my mind than I..." He looked at
- himself, reassuring who he was; "...than I did. She'll be better with
- time."
- Cheryl echoed again. "Better with time." Then she added, in a
- purely ethereal voice, "Yes, Jeffrey. We're one now. What can we
- do?"
- Jeffrey's eyes pleaded to Deirdre for help. "It's a disaster...
- What can we do like this? We're in two bodies... Apart but together!"
- "Together...", Cheryl whined.
- Deirdre had good advice. "Nothing now. You're tired. Sleep."
- She helped them into Cheryl's room, where they disrobed. They got
- into bed at the same instant. Jeffrey curled up around Cheryl. They
- slept.
- Deirdre was right; the morning did make things a little better.
- Some things seemed clearer now. Cheryl and Jeffrey both knew who they
- were; they even said "good morning" to each other, and kissed as they
- always did. They got up. But it hadn't been a dream. Jeffrey and
- Cheryl both realized that when Jeffrey told Cheryl that her period
- would be starting today, probably.
- "I know, Jeffrey. Today, probably. I have some pads in the top
- drawer there. Darn nuisance sometimes. Get them for me, OK?"
- Jeffrey got them from the drawer. It seemed familiar, somehow,
- and he didn't like the feeling that it would get worse over a few
- days...
- No. It wasn't him. It wouldn't happen to him. Just Cheryl. He
- had gotten more of a share of her than he realized.
- Cheryl dressed herself while Jeffrey did, and sat him down on the
- bed. She was fully rational now. "Tell me, once more, what
- happened."
- "Dreamsharing, they call it. It was only a theory about what
- would happen if two people's minds are linked directly. We each could
- recall each other's memories as if they were our own. Like sharing
- dreams together. Problem is, after a while, we lose our own
- identities. I stopped it before that happened."
- "That's right," Cheryl said. "It wasn't supposed to be possible.
- You gave the Device commands to link your ports with mine, using a
- repeat command. It took longer to set up than it should have, because
- somehow it set itself up to link everything, not just ports."
- "There's almost no use talking with you," Jeffrey said. They
- finished the rest of the sentence together. "...because you know
- everything that I know."
- Cheryl added to that. "Well, almost everything. You didn't
- explore me fully. Let's see... you learned about my puberty, my first
- period, dating, parent, school. But you took yourself away before you
- could learn it all."
- Cheryl was right, of course. She kept talking. "It was
- incredible. All this time I've WANTED YOU so much-- and, for a minute
- and a half, I HAD YOU. Inside me. Inside you. One. Together. And
- now we're apart. I'm empty inside, again. I NEED you, Jeffrey.
- Let's do it again."
- Jeffrey sounded sad. "We can't. We can't ever do it again.
- We'd never recover. We'd lose ourselves in each other."
- Cheryl looked him straight in the eyes. Jeffrey knew what his
- eyes looked like through Cheryl's... he knew exactly how she felt with
- him. He wanted to be one with her, too.
- "Think of it, Jeffrey. Together. In the world. Twice the
- experience. Your technical knowledge. My business experience. Every
- bit shared between us. We'd be unstoppable. And we'd be together."
-
- Chapter 36
- The idea that Cheryl had was, indeed, very tempting. Their lives
- could never be the same now. In one minute and thirteen seconds, they
- had learned things about each other that they couldn't have done in a
- lifetime without the Device. If Jeffrey hadn't stopped the Device, it
- would have gone on to completion. They would have been mentally
- identical in just few more minutes. They were becoming different,
- now, because they were apart, and were having slightly different
- physical experiences.
- The idea was still inviting. But, they had a problem NOW, after
- only 01:13. Jeffrey explained the root of it. "Cheryl, no matter
- WHAT we do we can't really be together. I want it more than anything
- else. But we have separate physical bodies. Making our hearts-- our
- minds-- one, will just make us want it more, and we can't have it."
- "Jeffrey--- I've seen too much of you. I know your feelings,
- your thoughts, and most everything else. You didn't explore me as
- well. You're perfect for me. Nobody else can take your place in my
- life, Jeffrey... YOU'VE GOT TO BE A PART OF ME!"
- Cheryl searched through the technical knowledge she had absorbed.
- She found what she was looking for. She held Jeffrey by the
- shoulders.
- "Jeffrey... There IS an answer. You know it. The GenMod Lab."
- The Genetic Modification Lab was developed primarily as a
- possible cure for cancer. Using a computer modeling program, the gene
- structure of an individual was reproduced externally and modified to
- exclude the genetic code for cancer. A "carrier" virus was produced,
- which would, much like the "virus" Cheryl had made up to scare Kevin
- with. She didn't know, before she read Jeffrey's mind, that it
- really existed. Jeffrey had learned of the secret project
- accidentally, before they involved him in the development of one of
- the electronic modules. The "carrier" virus carried its own code plus
- the corrected DNA for the subject. It would invade a body much like
- any other virus, but instead of replacing human DNA with it's own, it
- would replace it with the "carried" genetic code. For that reason,
- the virus wouldn't reproduce itself; that had to be done outside the
- body by a machine. The genetic changes resulted in many entire cells
- dying as others grew to replace them. That was too much for any
- animal to withstand. All but one test animal had died in the
- experiments-- even the control experiments where no real cancer was
- involved.
- Cheryl was still talking. "We can do it. We could create a new
- body for us."
- "The test animals died, Cheryl. There's no hope for us."
- "Jeffrey-- you're WRONG. The answer's in your mind. What
- happened? Think of WHY the animals died..."
- "Not enough matter. Protein. Other stuff. You know. Half of
- the animal's body was destroyed in the process. Even with the
- nutrient solution, there wasn't enough left for the body to rebuild.
- The other half was excreted as waste, or decomposed." The previous
- results really were quite grisly. Without enough cells remaining for
- the body to continue functioning, it died. The cancer WAS
- eliminated, but nobody was going to be recommending THAT therapy for a
- while.
- "Wait a minute." Jeffrey found what Cheryl was talking about.
- "There's two of us. Twice the matter to build a body out of. That's
- what you mean, isn't it?"
- Cheryl smiled proudly. "I know I can't go on THIS way. We can
- melt ourselves together." This raised a new question.
- "Into what?" asked Jeffrey. "If we used my body, or yours, it
- wouldn't be fair. You could be part of me, or I of you, but after a
- while, we'd be either Cheryl or Jeffrey again, depending on whose body
- we were in. Of course, we'd still be together. That would be worth
- it either way."
- "Yes," said Cheryl. "Either way. Flip a coin. Let's just do
- it."
- "We should wait a day. We wouldn't rush into marraige. Cheryl,
- this one is INFINITELY more permanent. Wait forty-eight hours."
-
- "Okay. Two days. We have to try to explain this to our parents,
- and Deirdre." Cheryl pulled a quarter from her pocket. "Okay. Tails
- and I move into you, heads and we're female for the rest of our life."
-