Change of Body-Pt5

Story by Iamabudgie on SoFurry

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#5 of Change of Body-Series

We're getting into the true guts of the story now, and I hope it's still an interesting read! :P

Enjoy. [Edit]: Think I managed to get a folder thingie working, so all parts can be seen now.


--- ??:??:?? XX (hh/mm/ss) --- - [Haringale Facility of Biological Research & Genetic Modification / (???)] -

...

...

Thumping, low drones, disembodied voices flittering around occasionally. Nothing to be seen, nothing to be thought. For about thirty minutes Garrin felt absolutely nothing happen. Actually, he couldn't feel his body either. It was if he was a floating brain, unable to do anything to the ocasional garbled nonsense that quietly fluffed around, echoing about his head.

Then, things began heating up. A new beat picked up over the drone, beeping on and off low vibrations. It was constant a "bbrrr bbrrr bbrrr bbrrr", seemingly lasting forever. Instinctively, Garrin jerked his hand to the side to swat at the alarm, but he fell short. In fact, his arm didn't move. Trying harder to fumble his hand over to the clock on his desk, it seemed as though his limb was asleep.

Opening his eyes, he tried to curse as he wriggled his arm lazily. Something funny was in his mouth. Trying to spit it out, he tried rubbing his eyes, but everything moved slowly- like he was submerged in gel. Blinking his eyes, he could barely see anything, just a field of blue. Nor could he see his alarm clock, but it still sounded out through to him wherever it was.

Little whirling gears in his head were trying to process what was around him, but it didn't make sense. Where was his room? The ceiling was grey. What's this blue stuff? His sense of touch started returning to his body, the numbness he never realised existed over him diminishing mostly. Realising he was upright, he tried to turn around, but his legs didn't seem to cooperate.

The low buzzing sound continued, much to Garrin's annoyance. Something definitely wasn't right about where he was at the moment. He tried spitting the thing in his mouth out again, but it was clamped down tight around his face like a mask. His tounge felt too large and couldn't taste anything either, he couldn't say a word. That's when the gurgling started, bubbles flying up, tickling over his skin.

Bubbles... liquid....

Mask...

A cog threw itself into Garrin's little bedroom hallucination. This wasn't his house- he was in Cryostasis! It began to flood back to him randomly in bits and pieces, out of order and upside down. Memories of the people he met that day, the facility, Mrs Stanley handing him the glass of infected water...

The gel-like-fluid reached his head, sinking lower and lower down his face. His skull started to ache in the lower pressure, and his neck gave as the fluid reached his shoulders, rolling forward over his torso loosely. As the supporting gel slipped away, Garrin too, slipped around, gravity shifting from under him to somewhere on the side. Random blues and greys all he could see, the "Bbrrr brrr" noise shifting into a full warning siren.

Blinking into the air, it was hard to see anything, Garrin's eyes started watering in the dryness of the gas pumped into the chamber. He could feel cold metal against the side of his body, having fallen over against the grating. Unable to see, he focused on his ears, listening to what was around him. He could hear people, distorted and smudged, but almost certainly men and woman, and things rolling over the solid lino floor that covered most of the facility.

All around him, a sliding sounded echoed in the chamber, before his hearing was suddenly uncovered. He could make out the unfamiliar voices yelling around him clearly, the sound of trolleys rolling around as well. One slipped up close to him, and a few squishy footsteps landed near his head.

"Alright, let's get this one, someone take a leg each, I'll go with an arm.... We need them in the Recovery Rooms, pronto!"

Pairs of smooth, plastic hands took hold under his back and arms, and lifted Garrin slowly off the floor. He tried to help by standing, but he couldn't even move to help. In a few seconds, he was hovering through the air, before landing on a spoongy bed. The rattling of wheels joined the warning drone, grey and white zooming overhead as he was shifted through rooms.

Tired from the ordeal, he drifted asleep on the cart, waiting for a better time to wake up.

--- 06:15:31 PM (hh/mm/ss) --- - [Haringale Facility of Biological Research & Genetic Modification / Subject R&R Ward] -

Flicking his eyes open again, he was stunned by the halogen lamps overhead, turning his head to the side. The light had drilled a hole through his brain for a while, causing him to try and regather his thoughts. He could feel his body again. It was all there on the bed, he could feel it all.

Still without sight, he listened as he breathed in slowly through his mouth. The mask was gone, allowing his lungs to rattle and wheeze to their own accord. A heart, his heart, thumped skittishly, as if it were scared it might kill itself. He tried to move his arms either side of him, but they merely twitched. Garrin tried harder, but the effort burned, causing him to give up. With that, he tried focusing his eyes once more.

The picture in front of him slowly resolved, turning clearer after so long in the dark. He was staring at a bedside table, with something small, white and metal... a reading lamp?, sitting on it. The wall had a poster of some sort, swirly browns and reds, but he couldn't make it out. Some objects lay in neat piles along the wall, perhaps stacks of books. It was hard to guess anything else.

The strain was hurting, his brain beginning to pound as it tried to take in all the detail around him. He prepared himself to slip back into a rest when footsteps went along the other side of the room.

"..his heartrate just jumped up, he might be awake now. Could you go get the items for me again? I'll try talking. Mr Fitch, can you hear me? Mr Fitch? It's Mrs Stanley, Fione. Can you hear me."

Jerking his eyes back open, he twisted his head up slightly to see the outline of the person that had walked up beside him. She was hard to make out against the white walls in her labcoat. He tried to greet her, forcing his mouth up and down around his mushy tongue, but no more than a gurgle was issued.

"Alright, so you're awake? Answer me again."

He tried to talk again, but nothing came out this time. She held something red out over his face, out of focus and blurred.

"Try follow this with your eyes, I need to know if you can hear or see well."

The red thing shifted to the left, so did his gaze. It shifted right, so he followed it around, the object focusing into what could be the blulb end of a thermometer. She drew it around over his face carefully, up down and around, and Garrin did his best against the ever sharpening pain between the bridge of his nose to follow it.

"That's enough, you're responding well. I can see you're able to blink too, could you blink twice for me Mr Fitch?"

The world went dark twice in sucession. The person in front of him shifting a little, the voicer a bit higher than before.

"That's great! I don't want to tire you, but I have a few questions to ask you. I want you to blink once if you agree, or twice if you disagree. If you want to stop early, just shut your eyes, and we can do the test again later. First question: "Is your name Garrin Fitch"?

Darkness once.

"Have you heard my voice before?"

Darkness once again. A pen scirbbled quickly on paper.

"Are you in any physical pain right now?"

He thought for a second. Darkness twice.

"Alright, that's fine. How about mentally? Headaches, sores, numbness?"

Darkness once... his eyes were getting harder to move however, drooping slowly down even as he held them open.

"I can see you are tired. I have one more test to do however, we need to see if you can feel all your limbs. Can you feel my hand right now? Try moving your fingers."

He could feel something tiny settle on his left hand, so he twitched it a tad. She kept holding his left hand while applying points of pressure over his chest, and he twitched his finger everytime she asked if he felt it. Moving lower, she felt over near his thigh, resulting in him clenching her hand. She flinched a bit, then appologised, before the hand lifted off.

"Ok, how about here? Can you feel here Garrin?"

There was nothing. He tried looking over where she was, but he could barely see beyond three feet. She asked again, and he didn't move his hand.

"... hmmm..right.. Ok, thanks for holding with me Garrin, I can tell you're rather tired right now. Just before I leave, I'll say that it's been four months since you were put into Cryostasis. You've progressed steadily since then, as have the others. Rest now, I have to check on Cassandra. We'll wake you up when it's time for more tests."

Laying back into the pillow, Garrin let himself go limp again. This was much grimer than he had expected, but then again, FOUR MONTHS had passed, just like that. He wondered what he looked like now, if he looked anything like a human, or had the form of a dragon yet...

...concern gripped him when he remembered Fione found someplace he couldn't feel. He tried twitching, shifting his body a bit, making his heart strain a little louder from the effort, moving first his hands, arms, flexing his chest weakly...

...his feet wouldn't move. Nor his legs. They were rather numb, he could feel them there, but they simply wouldn't move. Fear roamed in around like the echoing rumble of thunder. He could be paralysed. He tried to rest, to fall back into slumber. He would have been crying if tears would even form from the corners of his eyes.

--- 01:43:55 PM (hh/mm/ss) --- - [Haringale Facility of Biological Research & Genetic Modification / Subject R&R Ward] -

When Garrin awoke once more, a doctor was already sitting, waiting in a chair by his bedside. He remembered the face, albeit vaguely - it was Dr James, the guy who he stumbled upon once by mistake on his first visit. He had a trustworthy complexion and great grey beard over his lower face. When he noticed the subject was awake, he stood up, hands behind his back.

"Ah, Nice to see you're awake. I'm Dr James, I'll be checking on your progress for as long as you're in recovery. Now, I bet you will be starving - so I'd like for you to try sit up, and we'll get you a meal."

He assisted Garrin in sitting up in the bed, but the Dr. didn't seem to be able to help much. He was seemingly too small in stature to really push Garrin anywhere, nor could Garrin raise himself high. The doctor compromised by stuffing a bunch of pillows under Garrin, positioning him up somewhat diagonally. Garrin blinked, the fog clearing up in the background. He could see properly, the blurring almost gone- and the first thing he noticed was the un-focused snout sticking under his vision.

It surprised Garrin that he didn't notice it before. The bridge of his nose was gone entirely, and a muzzle poked out about an inch and a half from where his mouth used to be. It was a weird yellow colour, with a bit of red on the front, but it was hard to look at without going cross-eyed. With some effort, he lifted a hand to rub his new snout.

"Woah woah, careful Mr Fitch. Your skin is still very delicate, so do be cautious."

Garrin stopped short of his snout, and instead viewed his hand. It was.. Big. No wonder he had effort raising it - he had five claws big and black, each about as thick and long as the head of a fork. They made up most of what used to be his fingers, with only a single joint before his palm. He had a thumb, but it wasn't nearly as dexterious as a human hand.

His skin, both on his arm and palm, was a disfigured and unhealthy yellow. It wasn't all skin however, there were grey lumps of what could be bone or scale were speckled into the palm of his hand. Down his arm, these lumps turned a more redish colour, and clustered together like parasites. Turning all the way around to see his shoulder, he noticed they became a dense, rough field of lumps. Natural body armour. He wasn't actually wearing anything in bed besides the blanket.

The Doctor leaned onto the bed, smiling calmly.

"It's all fine Garrin, those are 'Scutes'. They will form over all of your skin, as they would on other reptiles. If they itch at all, I would advise not touching them, as they are still fragile and growing."

It was now, Garrin realised, that he was a little higher than the doctor while he was speaking. His own bed wasn't exactly raised up high. With a question in mind, he tried opening his mouth, to find himself unable to do more than grunt from his throat.

"Ahh that's right, hungry. I'll just quickly get your pack, it should be ready now."

He left the room, Garrin snorting loudly in annoyence. He wanted to ask how much he weighed now - Maybe the doctor wasn't small because, perhaps, he had grown a lot instead. The snort, did pique his interest however, finding his nostrils were at the end of his muzzle after tapping lightly with a claw. It felt like breathing through a tube, but he could feel the tube.

Tracing around his chest, past a sensor pad placed over his heart, he began discovering himself - he had smooth, overlapping black plates down his front instead of the lumps on his arms, shoulders and back. They flexed easily, and curved outwards and over his rather large ribcage and down beneath the blankets. Throwing them off, he could feel his stomach withdrew a lot after the ribs, but he couldn't see immediately around his torso without craning his head over.

His legs were splayed out awkwardly either side of his body, flopped over the bed somewhat. He could lift his huge thighs around a bit, despite how heavy they were, but the calves beyond his knee refused to move. His feet were very much elongated, with short curving claws at the end of each toe - yet none responded to his motions. Both feet refused to make any movement. It was then he noticed the stiff lump of black leather lying over his groin, as it had blended rather well into the black scales of his body. It was probably a sheath for his manhood, which he twitched and saw move in front of him. A sigh of relief that parts of him still did work.

He wondered about his wings, but he could neither feel or see them from where he was. The doctor returned before he had to wait any longer.

"Now Mr Fitch... Oh. I'd advise you keep the blanket on whenever possible. As a reptile, you may have lost the ability to control your inner body heat as well, so here, let me tuck you back in."

He set down what looked like a large translucent bag of yellow fluid against the bed, and pulled the sheet back over Garrin. Admittedly, he couldn't tell if he were warm or not, so he let the Dr. do as he would. Afterwards, Dr James lifted the giant plastic bag up, and set it down next to the subject's head. He pulled what looked like a large plastic straw, and twisted it onto a top fitting on the bag.

"This here is nutritious fluid containing basic carbohydrates, salts and fats. It's a synthetic version of chicken soup more or less. You should have no problems drinking this."

He lead the straw up to Garrin's muzzle, who tried to clamp his mouth over the end. It wouldn't fit next to his tongue in the end, so he settled for just pressing the straw up to his lips. Sipping silently, the lukewarm fluid apparently tasted of nothing, making it's way around his swollen tongue and down his throat.

The Dr. read one of the books to the side while Garrin drained the fluid. Once he finished, the Dr. took the bag away, before wiping his lips with a cloth. Strangely, Garrin felt no more or less hungry after the meal.

"Enjoy, Mr Fitch? I can see you are doing well, much better than some of the other subjects. I can tell you are alert, so I better give you a run through of what has happened, and what will happen over the next few months.

You, Mr Cougar, Mr Tamarilin and Analiese Clarra are all awake and fine. All of you will be going through intensive speech therepy in order to regain your ability to talk, although Mr Tamarilin has surprisingly been able to talk immediately after his second waking. Mrs Berklie and Bella Clarra are also awake, but under stress. We believe Mrs Clarra may be unable to see, while Mrs Berklie is lashing out at the staff."

The doctor lowered his head solemnly, before continuing.

"Most concern is however, for the young Valery Dwinkley and Mr Teakle. Both have not awoken since the chambers have opened, and are in intensive care. It may take more than a week to revive them from their condition.

Ragardless however, tomorrow will be your first day of training. Specifically, you'll be learning to both talk and walk. As soon as you can stand, walk, sit, sleep and speak, you will be allowed to navigate the R&R Ward, where you will stay with your fellow subjects for the following two months. Gaining srength, biotic resistence and endurance are the prime goals here, until you are put under for another four months. In that time, your transformation will be completed.

If you want someone at any time, there is a sensitive pad beside the bed which will summon a nurse. That's for emergancies only, or if something feels wrong. Now, if that's all there is for me to say, I guess you can get some more rest. A nurse will feed you again in six hours time for dinner. I'll see you tomorrow for speech training."

With that, the Dr. left the room, carrying the empty bag. Garrin still had a lot of questions, but at least things were more or less fine on his end. It worried him that some of the others hadn't woken - especially since it was both of the shy ones. There wasn't much he could do for them however. Flexing a hand... no.... paw?, he held it in front of his face, staring at the dull tips of the claws. He was halfway done, physically. Now he had to met his body with his mind, mentally preparing himself for what was to come.