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"Bovine Parents"

CHAPTER 3

Carl leaned back against the hood of his car and let our a deep, tired sigh. "This day has gone on way, way too long..." he groaned as he stretched. Right now Ms. Cain was giving her legal spiel to the Reimonds, and all he could do was wait 'till the deed was done.

As he'd mentioned several times before to his boss: they were late in travelling to this remote abode, and her very one-sided negotiations would mean he would only be leaving for home after nightfall. Carl glanced at his watch. Six o'clock, and the day's light was dimming.Cold dinner tonight.

It wasn't Lacey's fault this whole process took so long, they were legally taking ownership of people after all! That stuff took a lot of lawyer-speak and permanently-binding clauses. She'd had practice enough with their previous recruiting trips, so on the upside every time it became a little less gruelling a wait.

Nothing to do but stare up at the stars, he thought to himself. Momentarily shifting his gaze upwards Carl drank in the darkening sky, then returned to the small house in front of him. The Reimond's home stood alone in a lightly-wooded area. Their nearest neighbours were a fifty-something retiree cop and a shy Qinese lady with broken Inglish. Both of these potential witnesses to their activities lived at least ten miles down the road either way, making the Reimond house a likely candidate for creating their new test farm. Lacey had agreed with his observation as she'd left the car. He could already begin to see ways of securing the land from prying eyes.

It wasn't going to be easy with their current resources. Ms. Cain spent her time tearing her hair out for good reason. Upper management pulled most of their employees from the project, a sure sign that they no longer had much faith in Lacey's endeavours. The lab assistants and most of the security team were gone. That left Frank (their lead -- now only -- scientist) and a few office monkeys doubling as lab assistants on the payroll. They both hoped it would be enough.

* * *

Eric and Sandra had so far signed eight legal documents, stripping away their right to reveal any information on Bovinex's programme and ensuring that ownership and responsibility for their debts was passed to the company. It felt like the more they signed, the more Lacey seemed to pull new contracts out of thin air.

"Now that we have the transfer of your debt settled, we can discuss remuneration." Lacey handed the married couple a pink-coloured sheet of payment options. Tommy -- still at the table-side -- leaned in closer to see his parents' choices better. The knot in his stomach persisted. He could only imagine how much worse a feeling was going through his parents' minds at this moment.

"As you can see," she explained, "we are not some heartless corporation when it comes to our test subj--ahem...participants," she corrected herself before it sounded too much like they were dehumanising the Reimonds. She chuckled internally at the irony: wasn't that what they_were_doing, when all is said and done?

"There will be significant investment in the land you currently own, and before you ask: no, we won't be taking that from you. You'll still have nominal control over your personal assets and banking. Just conducted through the company. Namely through myself, as intermediary. Back to the investments...the land surrounding yours will be acquired, up to a few dozen acres. I can already see how suitable a location this is to work with, under my supervision we can create an entire farmland for you to inhabit."

Tommy's parents exchanged looks, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as they thought? Lacey continued: "we'll be working on land acquisition and redevelopment while the two of you are with our science team. As such we can provide an assistant to help take care of your son during the time you are away from here. In addition, your son's tutelage and any living expenses will be subsidised as long as he remains a resident of your home."

Lacey looked over at Tommy.Poor kid, she thought. The boy didn't need to hear any more details of his family's predicament, he'll be finding out all about their future on his own soon. She asked him to kindly give his mother and father some privacy with her.

"You can go and wait with Carl, my driver. He's just outside."

"Okay Miss Lacey." Tommy said politely.

Once their son had departed, Sandra spoke up: "you've said a lot about what Bovinex is offering us. But what they want in return, that's why you're here. So please, while my boy isn't around. Give us the bad news!"

"I'll pull no punches. When you undergo the treatment your DNA will be spliced with that of cattle.Bos taurus. Our primary interest is you, Mrs. Reimond. Bovinex wishes to explore new methods of dairy production involving the genetic modification of the human female to product high-quality, vitamin-rich milk. The fact your husband is being modified along with you is a kindness we offer so you can share in your new lives together."

"You want your livestock to be happy, that's what you mean isn't it?" Sandra asked, offended at the notion of her becoming nothing but a cow for milking.That's what I've signed up for, can't back out now! she scolded herself.

"Well...you could put it like that."

"And these...changes we'll endure. What are they exactly?" Eric quizzed Lacey on the finer details.

"You will retain human, or at least humanoid form. The exact attributes you will receive from your hybridised DNA is unknown. This is the first trial of a much more comprehensive suite of modifications, but I can hazard a guess at a worst-case scenario: your physical appearance will be more_beastly_. You could be lucky -- however -- and have almost no visible indicators of gene therapy, besides some extra body hair, or...erm...not so lucky, and...well...let's say easy to pick out of a crowd." She didn't need to spell it out further, the pair knew how to the connect the dots.

"Long story short: it's going to hurt like hell."

The couple steeled themselves for one last decision as she passed them the final set of contracts.

"Ready honey?"

"I am, let's do this."

Eric and Sandra signed on the dotted line for the last time. From this moment onward they were the property of the Bovinex corporation. Their old lives over forever.

* * *

"So eh...you like baseball kid?" Carl was failing miserably at keeping the boy's mind off of what his parents were going through. "That's a no I take it. What about football, soccer, any sports?"

"Not really," Tommy meekly answered, "not big on sports."

"Ah, well I'm all out of small talk," Carl took a deep breath and adopted his best therapist voice, "I know you feel like absolute shit right now. But trust me, things really will get better. They won't ever be the same as before, but you'll all be happy again."

"I guess. It's just I never thought this was a real thing. Experimenting on people. My parents."

"I feel ya kid, I really do. We're all in this together now. Not because Ms. Cain and I want to make a tonne of money at the expense of people's lives, but because...we all want this to succeed. Us as well as your mom and dad."

"What is it you do for Bovinex?"

"Me? Well once upon a time I was just Ms. Cain's driver. Now I'm a jack-of-all-trades, doing a bit of everything. So you can trust me when I'm talking to you about this whole operation. I've seen how all of it's put together. A hand in all stages of the project if you will."

The door of the house flung open. Out of the porch burst a beaming Lacey Cain.

"I have the paperwork!" she called over him. Finally, it was done. Carl was hoping to put in for a few vacation days once the Reimonds were processed. Those plans quickly fell apart however, as Lacey strolling up to the car, gestured at the young man he'd been chatting with.

"Carl, for the next two weeks you're babysitting young Tommy here."

"Aw, shit."There goes my time off...