Double Helix over the Moon
Saturday October 23
"Mail" The mailman yelled as he dropped the mail through the slot at 8467 Lunette Street , home of the extraordinary, completely normal, scrawny, little, pathetic, Mr. Lavrin G. Arou.
Lavrin was just sitting down to his morning coffee when the mail came. He had been up late the night before working on a spread sheet of model parts for the boating business he worked for. He pulled him self away from his comfortable chair to retrieve the mail. He leaned over to pick up the mail. He had a large amount, most likely all bills, Lavrin thought to himself. Gloomily, he began shuffling through them while returning to his easy chair. The letters fell to the floor. Lavrin just stood there, petrified. He held a small yellow envelope. Printed across the front in big bold letters it read... Classified. Lavrin just stared at it. All he had done his entire life was try to be a normal, everyday person. Why was the United States Government sending him classified documents? Lavrin walked into his kitchen and sat down, still firmly grasping the letter. Reaching into one of the many kitchen drawers, he pulled forth a small brass letter opener and cut through the seal on the envelope. Lavrin was not prepared for what followed...
Dear Mr. Lavrin G. Arou,
We write you today with a proposition that you can not turn down. In light of a recent Genome
Screening that you received, we have concluded that you are the perfect match for a project that
we will be conducting, involving minor genetic recombination. The pay will be much to your liking.
An enclosed slip will state the amount you will be paid once the project is completed. Here are
the conditions for this experiment.
You will report to Grand Central Station at exactly 12:00 p.m. on the date of Tuesday October 26.
You will under go a simple test were your dietary and exercise habits will be observed
on a daily basis.
You will be expected to stay at the designated facility for the amounted time of two weeks. Pending results of the chromosomal alterations.
All information you have received is classified. Do not share it with anyone.
We hope you will be joining in on this project Mr. Lavrin G. Arou. We assure you will be rewarded handsomely. Please check the included slip for the amount of your payment on completion of this project. Thank you in advance. We know you will make the correct choice.
Lavrin stared in disbelief. How could one stupid little genome screening get him into something like this? Hell, he did not even know what a genome was, let alone half the things this letter was talking about. Lavrin reached inside and pulled out what resembled a fortune from inside of a fortune cookie. This fortune said he would be fifty thousand dollars richer if he went along with this thing, as if the odd words no longer mattered. Lavrin began to pack for his newly planned trip to Grand Central Station.
Tuesday October 26, 11:59
Lavrin stood in the middle of the station. The busy New Yorkers rushed past. He was sure he had been mugged at least five times already but it really did not matter. Nothing on him was of any value. Lavrin made a mental note not to return home this way once he had been paid. Lavrin looked down at his watched and heard the big bell inside of the station ringing out the notes for 12 o-clock. At the exact second the final chime stopped resonating, someone tapped him on the shoulder. The finger that had done the tapping belonged to a tall young man with blond hair and metallic gray eyes.
"Are you Lavrin?" the youth inquired.
"Yeah, you my agent or something?"
"Something like that," the youth retorted, in a voice as if he was alone, half paying attention.
" Lavrin, there is a car out in front that will take you to the facility. I will take you to it. Then you are on your own... follow me."
The young man began to lead Lavrin out to the car that supposably was waiting to take him to his new home for the next few weeks. Lavrin could not get over that man's eyes. They had no color, perfectly silver gray. Well, what did it matter, only a few weeks and he would never see any of these people, ever again. As the youth had said, the car was right outside the station and in no time, Lavrin was heading toward his destination point.
The car ride was long and tedious. The driver was completely stoic and would do nothing other than drive the car. After eleven painfully long hours, the car pulled into what appeared to be an old warehouse. The engine was shut of and immediately the driver got out and opened the door for Lavrin. Mere moments later, men in white coats came out to the car to meet the new "lab rat". They all congratulated him on coming and told him how grateful they were.
Lavrin was next led to his room and asked to shower and change into a set of clothing that would be ready as soon as he was finished showering. Lavrin was very grateful to be offered a shower after that long car ride. After showering Lavrin changed into the given cloths and to his dismay, found the clothing to be rather revealing. He was assured that this was so the test could be performed with less difficulty. Lavrin was then taken away to a blood testing lab where he was poked and prodded by an extensive allotment of needles. Lavrin had not ever been the biggest fan of needles. He asked one of the lab techs why all the shots and blood tests were needed.
" We just need to see if a non allelic gene will suppress the expression of your genes, just basic epistasis."
And before Lavrin could ask for a translation into English the tech had walked away. Lavrin was beginning to get a little worried. He really had no idea why he was here. But there was nothing he could do now, the decision had been made.
After the blood testing concluded, Lavrin was permitted to return back to his room where he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
A few rooms over, the scientist were holding a meeting.
" Do you really think his Genome will withstand the Re-insertion sequence? I mean, the last one that we tried ended up digesting itself from the inside out!"
" Oh give it a break. We have worked with this project a lot since that failure. Plus, with the genome test, we found the person having the closest resemblance in gene patterns to the subject, so the transformation should go smoothly especially with the new information on the co-dominance factor. And the physical traits should merge together, forming a perfect trangenic organism."
"Yes, I agree the procedure has been greatly refined since that idiot put himself through it."
" Then it is settled. We will put them through the machine tomorrow first thing."
October 27 7:45 am
Lavrin opened his eyes that had been the best sleep he had gotten in quite a long time. Almost immediately, someone was knocking at his door.
" Mr. Lavrin?"
' "Yeah"
"Please be dressed and ready in 5 minutes. The testing planned for tomorrow has been moved to today for reasons beyond our control. Please hurry yourself. You don't need to shower"
"Why has the time been shortened?"
"I am not at liberty to say sir, I am only a lab tech. Please hurry now."
Lavrin sat on the edge of his be. He still had no idea what they were going to do to him. But heck, if this would get him out faster, with his money, then great. Lavrin got up and put on the clothing that had been given to him the day before. He made his way towards the door and the last few minutes of life as he knew it.
Lavrin was led down a long metallic hallway. The silence seemed almost eerie, but soon that was ended. When he was brought into the hustle and bustle of the main laboratory, all he could see that looked like anything real were three black giant thin cans. At the other end of the room, there were a large number of cages with all sorts of ani....
"Hello, Mr. Arou. Did you have a nice sleep?" one of the men in the white coats asked in a warm friendly tone.
"Yeah, I guess other than the dread of why I am here looming over m.e"
"Oh, you don't need to worried about that. We have just created a screening device that can see a persons genome just by having them stand inside one of those Tele-pods."
"You mean the big black can?"
"Sure if that is what you would like to call them."
"So then why me? Why was I chosen to test your machine?"
"Well Mr. Arou, you have a relatively simple genome, the least complex of all the existing ones to date. So yours would be the easiest for the computer to build as a test run."
"And when do I get my money?"
"In about a week. We need you to stay here for a little while after the experiment to make sure there are no side effects of the machine. O.K., so you ready to try it out?"
" Sure lets make it quick."
" Ok Mr. Arou, please step into the pod. You must remove your clothing or it will interfere with the scanning."
"Wait! I have to strip in front of all these people."
"Please, Mr. Arou this could help children dying of cancer"
"Ok, fine, just don't stare at me, I hate that"
Striped down to his birthday suit, Lavrin crouched inside of the Tele-pod waiting for something to happen. The door closed and sealed shut and the outside world was muted......
"Do you have the animal loaded into the other pod" From on Lab tech to the next.
"Yeah all systems go" He resonded
Just like a bolt of lightning, fear shot through Lavrin, he suddenly could not breath, there was not air! He screamed out, and pounded on the glass door of the pod but no one could hear him, they just stared, stoic faces with no hope. Then light, white light flooded through the pod. His body screaming, burning, ripping apart on a molecular, then nothing empty darkness. Then yellow eyes pierced the darkness, fangs ripped his body, claws torn through his flesh, then his eyes opened the pupils readjusted, white smoke filled the pod, its smelled like death, but with a hint of rotting. The seal released in a ear piercing,screaming sound.
************* BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*************
Wolf Human
Recombinant Complete
***********************************************
Would you like a Genome print out Y/N
As the smoke cleared Lavrin stepped out of the pod, his head spun there was so much noise. He came out of the wrong pod, he was near all the cages with the animals on the other side of the room. Lavrin took three steps then fell forward and emptied his stomac all over the floor. The vomit was laced with blood, Lavrin could take no more and passed out face first into his own fluid.
"Did something go wrong?"
"I wan a complete print out of this levels now!"
"Sir! He had abnormal amount of activity with his and the lupines transposons, they may have cause an abnormal Mutant Phenotype, it wont just be his performance that will be affected but his whole body may change"
"Sir! The readouts confirm some sort of a Lethal Dominant has been inherited, but its not affecting the body"
"What the Hell is it affecting then?????"
"We're not sure yet, sir"
"Well find out, I don't want another one dying on us!"
"Get him to the Medical Wing stat!!!"
Oh Blessed Silence, Oh Blessed darkness, Lavrin's mind swam inside of itself. Suddenly, a bright like pierced his perfect world of darkness... Lavrin sat bolt upright in bed. His body hurt, nothin out of the ordinary, he usually woke up with back pain, was it all a dream? He looked over at the clock 12:29 am October 31. "Oh My God! What's going on? How is it four days later?" Oh my god my faces itches *scratch scratch* "OWWW!" how did my finger nails get so long wait?...
Lavrin looked down at his hands a light layer of hair seamed to cover them , this skin had peeled off under the long, sharp, black, claws. Lavrin jumped out of bed his legs wobbly from not being used in two day but his still maintained balance. In the dark, he glanced at the mirror, he seemed taller... Oh My GOD!!!! Lavrin frantically ran this hands over this body the same hair that cover his hands was all over this entire body not on inch was uncovered, save his face. WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME!!!!!!
Lavrin stared at himself in the mirror his eyes glowed the same yellow, his claws the same sharpness, this.... fangs....... What is going on here?, he thought to himself am I dreaming. His mind burned, his rear hurt like something was trying to rip out of his flesh. Lavrin screamed as something pieced through the skin at the base of his tail bone, his entire body burned. He scratched and ripped his remaining skin, it peeled of in chunks and fell to the floor in globs. The searing pain was to much Lavrin, he fell to the floor withering in white hot burning pain. His spine stretched, his legs bent, bent and cracked backwards, his tail!?! frantically swished the floor. His snout pushed out. The razor sharp fangs pierced hislower lip, blood spurted out, the long lupine tongue quickly lapped it up. Then suddenly nothing, he did not hurt anymore he could not feel, think. Lavrin stood up, and looked again in the mirror. There stood his one childhood fear, a full fledged were-wolf... the blood dripped from his lip. Suddenly his body was racked with a sudden seizure his pupils dialated. He was no longer a man, he was a wolf, his mind no longer Processed in human, instead simple things floated through it. But the last remaining human thought still surged through it.
KILL THE HUMANS, RIP THEM TO SHREDS, SPILL THEIR BLOOD
KILL THE HUMANS