Chapter 1
Sound Check
It had been a beautiful pre-Spring day outside when he had arrived to
help a friend do some homework. The birds had all been singing in
tress, even if they were manufactured birds; it was still pleasant to
listen to. Small buds were appearing on the trees and the tips of
flowers were beginning to emerge from the soil of curbside flower
boxes everywhere. The sun had been high in sky, warm and bright.
One of those bright days right after a hard cold spell that make you
want to just stand outside with your face up turned to soak it all in.
So how could he be dying?
His parents were rich and he was young, an athlete, good looking
popular with the women and nearly a straight A student, science
withstanding. He had everything in the world to live for. He had plans
to travel to the 'Safe Zones' in Europe this summer. He had wanted to
meet some of those pretty blonde headed Swedish girls. His life had
only now begun to take shape.
So how could he be dying?
All he had been doing was taking a bit of a catnap, sleeping off the
effects of a quick romp in the bag with that same friend.
So how in the hell could he be dying?
Because you can't breathe, that's how!
It was one cogent thought in a sea of rationalizations. Yes, the lungs
didn't much care about the state of the day or condition of one's wallet,
or even his travel plans. If there was no air around to process the lungs
couldn't give the brain what it wanted. It's pretty much over at that
point. You didn't have to be good in science to figure this one out.
He did take a second to acknowledge that he was amazed that he had
lived this long. It did not seem humanly possible that one's body could
withstand the pressures and tolerances he was under right now. It was
as if someone had tossed him in a hyperbolic chamber and threw the
switch on high. He was being crushed to death.
Thought came to him in short bursts, the only reason you haven't split
open yet is because you're packed into a sausage casing.
William collapsed in a heap on the floor, nearly doing a head dive to
the carpet on the way down. His forehead smashed into the carpet,
which had hard wood flooring underneath, installed when the building
had been built almost two hundred years before. Mixed with the other
agony, the bump on the head served only to startle him.
His body was completely limp now; consciousness was only a distant
memory. He lay on the floor trying to answer the last question he
would surely ever have. Why?
He struggled against the fabric of the thing to breath. Still he was
denied breath. So that was it then, he was going to die. Why?
She had thrown something over him and then tightened it. Why?
His head had to be bleeding.
Fresh pain, sharp and penetrating woke him from his unconscious
state. He was not dead yet but oh, how he wished he was. Now he felt
he was being ripped in half from between his legs. The pain was so
intense he managed to force his mouth open to try to scream but when
he did it was invaded by the ever-contracting sausage casing he was
locked in. He tried to force his mouth closed again but the stuff just
drove its way deep into in him. He tried to flail at his body he ripped at
his encasement but to no avail. He could find no loose segment or area
of slackness to grab on to. His skin felt as tight as a drum in this thing.
Soon, he had expended all his energy, he couldn't even move to help
himself, he started to black out
No more thoughts of 'Why?' just 'Thank you'. Let me die now... Just no
more pain please. That's all I ask, no more of that horrible pain.
I'm sorry Mom. I'm sorry Dad. I bet Erin claims all my stuff...
There was coolness in the black of his unconsciousness, the distinct
feeling that he was exposed to the air. He could feel goose flesh on his
arms. It was not cool; hell it was cold in here. I've gone to Hell and
Hell is cold. The Vikings were right. Then with a loud gasp breath
filled his lungs painfully. Out of relief, this time he did pass out.
-*-
From the corner of her room Carrie watched with bulging eyes. What
the hell have I done? She thought. The thing that had lurched off her
bed was not human. There was no way it could be. It fluxed in and out
between William's form, some shapeless fleshy blob, and the form it
would eventually take. Each time more and more of the final product
was left behind.
Carrie had tried to stop it, to turn it off or remove it or what ever it is
you did with these things to reverse the process but when she touched
it, the shapeless blob had tried to claim her hand. She was only able to
get it back after a brief struggle. Carrie retreated to the corner of her
room at that point but she felt she wasn't far enough away from the
thing she had created. One fret after another flooded her mind. This
was not how she had always assumed this process would work. She
saw now that it was a violent process, but what else was it? Could it be
interfered with while in flux? An old VID show came to mind about a
man that tried to invent a way to transport objects through space and
what happened when a simple house fly got in the machine when it
was tried on a human; Carrie didn't want to stick around to see the
final outcome. All she could think about was a fly landing where the
shoulder of that thing should be and becoming absorbed.
She tried but could not remove herself from her corner. She was
transfixed on the sight of the changing William Shipley. The face was
formless, only the slightest outline of what had once been William's
face could be seen in the depths of flesh there. The body was
becoming more and more decidedly female. Carrie could see the
nicely formed breasts. This thing still had a penis but the scrotum was
gone. As she was making this observation the creature's penis
withdrew into its 'body' leaving a flat firm belly in its place. The lower
half seemed to no longer be developing but the creature was pawing at
that place as if in severe pain.
The thing fell on the floor with a crash. It hit so hard that the Carrie
could feel the entire house shake. A moan came from deep within the
monster, her monster. The thing suddenly turned and looked at her and
she could see that it was trying to open a mouth that was either not
there or covered up. It looked as if the monster was trying to eat her.
A small squeak escaped Carrie and she finally found the strength to get
up and flee. She started down the hall and out of the house wanting
nothing more than to run from the house, screaming for help. She was
stopped only by the idea of the laws she had broken, laws of nature as
well as man. No one would help her but they would most certainly
arrest her, her and William and her father.
Now it was her turn to moan, and she did. She moaned with regret and
anguish. "Why... God damn it William. Why couldn't you just have
been a nice guy and loved me back?"
She turned back to her room but didn't move from her spot in the hall.
It was quite in there now. She took a step toward her room, then
another. Carrie crept down the hall inching her way back toward the
door to her room. She reached for the door's entry pad, praying that
William was not dead but fearing that he had strangled in that thing...
WHY? Screamed a girl from the other side of the door.
Startled, Carrie squeaked again and retreated to hide in her father's
closet.
-*-
"WHY?" William screamed, jerking to a sitting position. He seemed
frozen there, dazed and glassy-eyed, oblivious to his surroundings or
his condition. Gradually, almost mechanically he lay back down and
was still.
William lay on the floor as his vision cleared and his lungs accepted
oxygen that had (just moments before) been denied. What the hell had
just happened to him? Had it been some kind of seizure? Maybe be
had a brain tumor.
He was weak, but he felt strangely healthy. He knew one thing; he had
to get out of here! He felt strong enough to get up, so with the
intention of finding his clothes and getting dress he stood.
The feeling that his world had plunged out of control happened when
he felt and saw two fleshy orbs attached to his chest. William's upward
momentum continued, his hands were reaching for the things on his
chest, things that looked strangely like breasts when his attention was
distracted by the image of someone, a girl, a naked one at that,
reflected Carrie's dresser mirror.
Startled by presence of this girl, William gasped and stumbled
backwards and sat down hard on the nightstand on the opposite side of
the room. The girl that should have been behind him was not there.
That is, he had not backed into her as he stumbled back; but there she
was, sitting on the end table he himself was now sitting on.
Tight pains of fear pounded into his heart. He slowly surveyed the
room for the girl. He began to hyperventilate as he realized that he
could not find himself in the reflection or the girl in the room with
him. He shut is eyes against the growing fear, his hands clutched to lip
of the table. Slowly he opened his eyes again, now no longer
breathing. He held his breath and lifted his right hand to his face.
The girl did the same. A small grunt of disbelief came from him.
Slowly, he brought both hands to his face. Fingers pulled and
explored. The eyes of that face ever widening as the realization that he
was looking out of that face became increasingly evident.
His breath came in short wheezing, panicked bursts. His mind
struggled with the image in the mirror as he got up and advanced on it.
He lifted a leg, and so did the image. The face of the girl in the mirror
was streaked with red where he had pulled and tugged on the soft and
tender skin. He could feel the inflammation inflicted from the
manhandling of flesh. His mind turned from the alien face to the even
more alien body he seemed to have control over. The issue in
William's mind was not how he got into this body but more over, how
was he going to get back out.
Oh my God, Where is MY body?
The thought paralyzed him. He realized he couldn't just get out of this
body. When one left their body, one died. Had he switched bodies with
someone? Was this girl he was looking at walking around as him?
What the hell had happened to him?
"You're not making any sense." he said out loud and was horrified by
sound of it.
He leaned in close to the mirror, He winced at the pain and irritation
caused from all that pulling of skin and saw the girl do the same.
Under the girl's left eye, he could see and feel a small spasm, a
nervous tick. "Holy shit! It's real." He whispered.
"CAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!" he screamed in a
young girls voice. In the next room, hiding in the closet, Carried could
hear her creation scream out her name.
-*-
A mistake, oh God... it was all a mistake. The person in the other room
no longer sounded like William. It sounded... like a girl.
I'm sorry; I'm sorry... but make it stop screaming! She began to
understand how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt. Only understanding
after the deed was nonretractable what an evil he had unleashed on the
earth. To kill it was to consign him self a murderer. To let it live would
mean to forever be a part of the monster's murderous spree, a party in
the deaths of those he loved. She wanted out of the house, away from
this beast but she couldn't go out there. She knew she had screwed up.
William was on his own until her father got home and could figure out
how to turn it off.
"CAAAAAAAAAARRRRRIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE! Oh God, PLEASE!
WHERE ARE YOU?" Carrie pressed her palms to her ears to block
out the cries. She shut her eyes tight and Mumbled "Na Na Na Na Na
Na Na Na! Shush.... Make it stop! Make it stop!
"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!
HELP ME! Something... something's happened to me!"
The thing she had created was in the hall. She could hear fear in its
voice as it cried out for her, searched for its creator. It was clearly a
female, just as she had suspected from the labeling on the package.
What she hadn't expected was the pain in William's voice, the terror or
the vision of him forming, becoming a tangled mass of undefined flesh
and then reforming into something almost human. It had been too
much for her. She expected a quick transformation. She had only
wanted to scare William. To somehow make him understand, to
empathize with her and her pain at being screwed and then told she
was being tossed aside as if there was not supposed to be any feeling
between them. She only wanted him to understand her point of view.
Not this, not this wailing banshee in her house looking for her lost
body.
Outside in the hall, she could her the girl shuddering chants of, "Oh
God... Oh God... Someone please help me. Please." The fashion a
small child might through her tears of fear.
"STOP IT! STOP IT! JUST SHUP UP!" Carrie screamed. Her cries
were muffled because of the clothes in her father's closet. The same
closet where she had taken the SKIN from, and where she had
retreated to find some way to stop what she had started. She had found
nothing, no instructions, no pill; no control that she thought might turn
off the process. She realized that she had no way of removing or
reversing what she had done. In her jealousy, Carrie had acted rashly.
Now what else could she do but hide until her father got home to fix
this for her.
"Carrie?" cried an inquiring young feminine voice from the other side
of her father's locked bedroom door. She could hear the electronic
latch beeping inside the master bedroom as the creature tried to get in.
"Carrie? Oh thank God." The relief in the voice was clear. "Please, you
have to help me, I'm sick or something! Something's happened to me.
I'm... I'm... Oh God, Carrie please, I don't know what the fuck is going
on." William continued to try the door-latch as he pleaded and found it
to be fast. The door wouldn't open.
"Carrie? What's going on?" asked a sweet voice.
"Go away!" said Carrie. It was barely distinguishable through two-
locked doors and her Father's hanging clothes.
"What?" William asked.
"I SAID GO AWAY. I'M SORRY. I DIDN'T KNOW. I'M SO
SORRY, BUT I CAN'T HELP YOU!" she shouted.
"Carrie... OPEN THE DOOR!" the creature shouted pounding on the
door.
"Please.... Please, go away." Carrie whispered. "I'm sorry."
The pounding stopped! Then, William screamed, "CARRIE! YOU
HAVE TO HELP ME!" and started again pounding on the door again
Carrie could not stand it any longer. She rushed out of the closet,
intent on running past the thing crying for help, she had a crazy idea
that when she got past the creature in the hall she would be confronted
by female Egor, a thing with a sweet voice but a horribly distorted
body and twisted features. She slammed into the bedroom door
unlocked it and open it in one fluid motion.
There it was, crouched where the floor met the wall curled in a fetal
position, weeping. Its hands were over its head, which was covered
with what appeared to be golden blonde, chest length hair. This was
not a mangled creature, this was not some horrible Hell spawn but a
girl, a perfectly normal girl from the look of it. This sight sent Carrie
in to an even deeper panic. With mutilation she could have seen that
some great accident had occurred. Her mind might be able to reconcile
some terrible and evil event. But this sweet girl lying helplessly on the
floor was a normal human being. It contained all of William Shipley's
collective knowledge and had taken his place. William was entirely
gone, erased, and she had no idea of how to bring him back. She
started to turn to run down the hall and out of the house. She would
hide outside and wait for her father to come home and fix this mistake.
When she did however, a pitiful voice whispered from down on the
floor, so sad in its tone that Carrie was frozen to the spot where she
stood.
"Please, help me. I don't know what's happened to me." It said. The
tone was subdued and beaten. It was the sound of a child that had all
the fight taken out it and had been left to die. Carrie's heart broke. She
turned but could not go to it.
"I'm sorry. William, I'm so sorry."
"What's happened to me?" The girl looked at her hands and arms, she
seemed to be deliberately averting her eyes from her torso. She buried
her face in her hands and shook violently. She had the appearance of a
person in the throws of hypothermia. The least Carrie could do, having
turned William into the naked shivering girl was to cover her. Carrie
turned and stepped back into her father's room.
Carrie guessed that William must have heard her walking away.
"Where are you going?" cried the girl on the floor.
"You need to cover up." Carried shouted from within the room. She
pulled a yellow blanket from the foot of her Father's bed and returned
to the hall where the girl lay on the floor. "William, I'm sorry." Carrie
repeated. "I didn't know... I thought. Oh hell, I was mad. What did you
expect me to do?"
"Wha... Wha... what are you talking about? Sorry? What are you....", A
spark of enlightenment shown in her eyes and Carrie knew that
William understood that this was her fault. "You did this to me?" The
girl asked in shuddering breaths of fear, "How?"
Carrie could not answer, nor could she look into the eyes of her
prisoner. She bent and draped the yellow blanket over the nude figure
of a girl on the floor and turned away.
"Carrie? Did you do this to me?" Still no answer, "Answer me, please.
Because if you did this then you can undo it, you can get me out of
this, can't you?"
All William saw was the back of Carries head shaking the answer no.
"What's that mean?" William asked getting up; as he did he gathered
the blanket over his shoulder and around him. "No you didn't do this to
me or no you can't get me out?"
In a sobbing voice she said, "Yes I did that to you and no, I don't know
how to reverse it."
"Why? God Damn it! Look at me." When she did not turn around
William screamed, "LOOK AT ME!" Carrie spun as if she were a top.
"What did you do? Is this some kind of class three hologram?"
Carrie shook her head fearfully.
"What then? WHAT!"
Carrie whispered, "It's a SKIN."
The girl in the blanket dipped her head and craned her neck forward as
if to catch the words that came in below radar to avoid being seen. It
looked like she was waiting for Carrie to reiterate what she had just
said when Carrie saw the spark of recognition stir behind the girls
lovely, innocent face.
Suddenly William's legs would no longer support his weight. The girl
landed hard on her derriere. The girl's eyes winced in pain for a brief
and then sat in shocked disbelief. She sat and stared at her feet. "I'm a
girl. This is real. You ... you changed me... genetically?"
The girl on the floor all of a sudden appeared to be having a heart
attack. She had gone fitfully pale and was breathing in short raspy
little breaths of a person laboring to get any oxygen at all. She was still
seated on the floor where she had landed but was now bent over,
braced by one hand hidden under the blanket, as if she was about to
get sick. Carrie could see the girl's gag reflex working. But nothing
would come up.
In a short time she seemed to settle down a bit. William's breathing
returned to a more normal state and she stopped trying to retch on the
floor. But she still was clearly in distress. Carrie could only imagine
what William was going through, what his thoughts might be. She
knew men were proud about who they were, what they were more to
the fact. He was now in a very different world and no matter how you
sliced it; it was a man's world. It had been that way since man showed
up on the tiny little ball and it would be as long as men controlled the
majority of government and the military.
Men could be many things; good and bad, but what they really were
was the breed with the stomach for killing. They were the aggressors
and were mentally built for such aggression. Their levels of personal
competition were unparalleled by their female counter parts. Yes, there
were women competitors; many who could compete on the same level
as most men. Overall, through out the general population of women,
competitiveness of less importance than building a relationship, or
working or finding some level of security in their lives.
Men, on the other hand, quite often became violent in their
competitions. To Carrie, it was an amazing thing to watch; even if she
felt she would never understand. She would see sporting events where
the frustration of loss, a fair loss would often result in a challenge. A
baseball thrown at a batter, a check in a hockey game aimed at the
head, a player slung about by his facemask while the slinger screamed
at him face to face challenging a response. She had seen entire teams
in a virtual free-for-all where no one could break the combatants up.
But that never seemed to stop the coaches, referees and other men on
the sidelines. Carrie had always believed that they were only looking
for an excuse to join in the fun out there on the field. She had even
seen William hit his fair share of batters for a homerun hit by the
previous guy!
The overly feminine ladies rarely competed for anything other than the
most desirable men. Once secured, they would go about nesting,
setting up house and making the household their own. Now William
was this that side of the fence having been a member of the ruling
party for most of his life, he was now the ridden and not the rider. In
spite of the pain she felt for what she had done, she grinned just a little
bit at the idea that just maybe William would get a faint taste of his
own medicine.
The sweet face changed. Encompassed in it Carrie could see, pain,
frustration, fear and the one thing she never wanted to see, hate. "You
changed me into A FUCKING GIRL!" the girl that had been William
screamed at Carrie. It was more than she could bear. She loved
William, and now she might as well have killed him. What had she
been thinking when she did this? This is not the reaction she wanted.
What glimmer of satisfaction she may have just had was washed away
in the bitter taste of William's hate for her. Why had she thought this
had been a good idea?
William came over more and more since she had started to seduce
him. It was a promising sign, even though he had never said he loved
her, he never really given her any indication that he was committed to
her in any way, but she had hope. There had to be something there.
Why else would he keep coming back?
That answer to that was now painfully obvious, she had invited this
behavior as a person might unwittingly invite a vampire into one's own
house before the truth of what was done was known. Next thing you
know, you're dinner. Carrie had invited William to come in and feed
on her. She had never let him know about her feelings for him. The
justification, she wanted to give him time to tell her his feelings. As
she examined that juicy little justification closer she understood that
she felt William would run off. She knew, deep down inside, that
William didn't share her feelings. That he was coming back more and
more because the requirement for commitment was never stated but
the goodies were still dangled in front of his face just the same.
Today she had wondered about telling him. She was going to risk it.
The worst case would be that he bowed out, hat in hand and
apologized and never came back. She would get over that. It would
hurt but she could get over it. She had to have more. She couldn't stand
being this close to him and not having the emotional connection she
desired so much, the words and the show of feeling on his behalf. It
was worth the risk. She was no centerfold, no one's idea of a super
model, she knew that, but she was cute and just as worthy of William
as any other girl.
That's when William asked her if she had heard anything about Amy
Flag asking around about him. She thought at first it was a ploy to
make her jealous and it thrilled her that he was starting the game and
not her. But she soon realized that he was not gaming her, he was
serious.
"Why should I know about something like that?" she asked, fearful of
the answer he would give but unable to resist the temptation of the
knowledge.
"Well, I don't know. It's just that..." He paused, draping an arm around
her shoulders. She had the impulse to push him away but something in
her said to bide her time, to wait until this 'piece of the puzzle was in
place'.
"Derrick tells me she wants me to ask her to the senior prom. I thought
that if she was serious then I just might."
Carrie tried to keep her face from showing the pain he had just
inflicted with that particular sword. She knew she had been used. He
might as well have just beaten her with a baseball bat. The pain would
have been no different.
Vampire! Vampire! I'm being fed off of like a freaking cow!
"Don't you think she's just a bit too stuck up for you William?" She
said trying to play to his sense of masculine pride. "I mean, wasn't she
going out with Jimmy Powder? That guy's nearly more popular than
you, and she made a fool of the guy."
"Jimmy's a jerk." William said smugly.
Oh no... Jimmy's looking like a God compared to you right now. How
I would love to cut off your dick right now and mount it on my wall.
"Say, you don't look so well." William said yawning. Then recovering
from the drowsy feeling he said, "Need another injection of Doctor
Williams hot cream treatment?"
Gross! Oh God. Did you really feel anything for this guy?
"No." she said politely, "I just need to get fresh here. You relax, I'll be
right back." She uncovered and forced herself to walk to the bathroom.
Inside she locked the door and naked, leaned against it fighting back
the tears of betrayal. She had hoped so much that her long time friend
would be her lover. She had offered so much of herself and for what?
So he could get the inside scoop on if Amy Flag was sniffing around
like a bitch in heat for him.
What the hell have you been doing? Be careful with that bitch in heat
idea girl. The nut hasn't fallen too far from the tree here.
She sat and flushed out what William had deposited in her, she cleaned
up and then paced the bathroom. She wanted revenge. She wanted him
to feel as bad as she did. Why not? Hadn't William in effect raped her?
Simply taken from her what she offered with no intention of claiming
her as his. They say so much more about abuse of the planet; but most
of that damage can be undone. When it's a human woman, and her
emotions have been harvested and processed in the interest of sex as
long as it's consensual sex there is no crime. Even if the expectations
were not the same. Even if there had been a bill of goods not delivered.
If that kind of fraud had been perpetuated for monetary gain, someone
would have gone to jail. All we are talking about here are a woman's
feelings. In a man's world they held little or no value. No great loss
right?
Then something whispered in her ear. It was a real whisper too, not
imagined, not contrived, but there as if someone was in the room with
her. She spun around in fright but found no one there. It had been so
sudden she didn't' even clearly hear what had been said. Carrie was
just about to dismiss the entire event when it happened again.
"Your father's closet!" It was a fast statement. Gone as soon as it
started, but she knew that the instrument of her revenge was there. It
was crystal clear. She also knew that William was asleep. She knew
that as sure as she knew her own name. Still, she cracked the door and
peeked out. There he was, snoring even, deep in the throws of sleep.
She crept out of the bathroom, grabbed the clothes she had shed in a
moment of ill-conceived passion and dressed as she made her way
from her room to that of her Father. Once there she searched the
shelves of the closet and found nothing. She searched every nook and
cranny of that closet and found nothing. She slumped against the
doorjamb of the closet. It had all been an anger-induced delusion. The
voice had been a hopeful chance at revenge. What had she really
expected to find here, an F-Tazor? She had to muse, would she really
have used it one if she had found such a device?
Carrie forced her weight off the jamb and in doing so found a loose
board under the carpet of the closet. She had no idea that any such
thing had ever been wrong with the house. Her father had never
complained of any such defect. Her mother had been dead so long now
that she doubted that it would have been here when she was still alive.
Carrie felt about the section of floor and found that the carpet was cut
around the defect. She peeled back the carpet and removed the
floorboards that were underneath. There, was a small void, about one
foot by one foot. Stashed within it were a number of things, all packed
in boxes. Perhaps this is what she was looking for?
What in the hell do you mean looking for? Are you ready to admit
you're hearing voices now? The thought was almost enough to drive
her from this room. She was about to put one of the boxes she had
lifted out back into his hole when it slipped from her hands and spilled
out on to the floor. It had been packed with cash-chips, hundreds of
them. There was no telling how much money was here but one thing
was sure, every dollar of it was untraceable. Her father had been
hoarding money, money he didn't want anyone to know he had either.
She had to put this back before her father got home. She hurriedly
scooped the chips back into the box, noticing that several had fallen
down into the hole where the box had been hiding. She reached down
to retrieve them and felt something soft at the bottom of the hole.
Carrie dug deeper and pulled a poly-pack containing something, some
kind of fabric. On the poly-pack was a label in black lettering. It read
Genetic Transition Device.
Below that was stamped; Type: Human.
Below that; XX-178848-CFA16
Below that, Caution! This device to be used by compatible gender
She stroked it, caressing it like a baby. There was sudden
understanding where the money had come from. Her father was
dealing in contraband. This was it. She could make William
understand just how she felt.
The warning. Don't forget the warning girl!
"It's just a stinking costume. I'll help him get it off when he reaches
that point of understanding." She said out loud to herself
But now, now she could see that it was so much more than just a
'stinking costume'. She regretted her actions now, only after it was too
late. How could she have been so dimwitted? Jealousy! Some people
kill over it. He was fucking you and wanted Amy... The bastard got
better than he deserved.
"NO! Stop it! STOP IT" she turned and fled the sight before her.
"Stop WHAT?" shouted William. "Carrie? Where are you going?"
William cried.
"I can't stay here. I'm sorry but..."
"STOP SAYING THAT! You have to try to help me out of this."
"I ..." Carrie began, William cut her off.
"You put it on." He said trying to stay calm. "Tell me how you did it."
Carrie seemed about ready to fly apart. If she was going to be any use
to him at all he was going to have to be the one that remained steady.
To do this he convinced himself that he would be able to get it off in
short order. He would be free in a matter of minutes; all he had to do
was reverse what Carrie had done.
Carrie began to explain, William was amazed that he hadn't woken up
until the thing was activated. She must have had to literally roll him
about several times to fit his arms and legs into what she described as a
'body bag'.
"Then I connected it in back, at your neck and it started." She seemed
to choke on the words. "It was awful. You should have seen how bad it
was."
"I was there, remember?" he said flatly. He then continued with the
point of his investigation. "OK, then. All you have to do is unhook it
or turn it off there. You said two silver points... disconnect them."
Carrie nodded. It seemed reasonable. She didn't know why she hadn't
thought of it in the first place. William bent his head forward, gripping
the blanket that covered his new body. Carrie came forward, afraid to
touch his skin but unable to avoid it wanting only to help end the day
mare she had created here. On first inspection, she could see no sign of
the silver points, the connectors that had activated the SKIN in the first
place. They simply were not visible any longer, and why should they
be, she thought? The fabric that the SKIN had started out as was no
longer apparent either.
"I don't see them William." She said reaching out to touch the girl's
supple neck. The texture of her skin was amazing. So soft, with a
dream like quality that could only be described as ideal, it was the
texture that all women dreamed they're skin might attain but rarely
ever do. She had felt it only once or twice before in her short life. One
of those occasions had been shaking hands with William's mother
many years ago, back when her own mother had still been alive and
their family had still been friends.
"There's nothing here William, it's smooth. There is no opening."
"You're lying!" The girl declared. "You did this to me and now you're
trying to keep me like this."
"No William, I'm not."
"You're a liar!" The girl exclaimed. She began searching for herself
but her search was made awkward because she had to hold the blanket
in place with one hand. She searched and searched as much as she
could while Carrie looked on.
Then an idea occurred to Carrie. "Maybe some place else..." she
paused, "You know... I mean ... you have a couple of openings."
William turned to Carrie clearly frustrated. "What are you talking
about?" Carrie saw that slowly William began to understand. "I... I
can't look there." William was aghast that Carrie would even suggest
such a thing. "I won't touch that! I won't!"
"What's wrong with you? It's just a vagina. All girls have one
remember?"
"I don't have one."
Carried laughed. "I'm afraid you do. I could point it out to you if
you've forgotten where they're located."
"Don't make fun of me Carrie. I swear I'll..."
"What? Piss all over yourself? Or maybe you'll kill me! Would you
like to do that or beat me up? Have a cat fight here in the hall? I'm still
mad at you William. You used me, and I suspect that you knew how I
felt for you."
The two girls stared at each other and said nothing. One intent on
getting results from the former, the former intent on getting
satisfaction from the latter, when it dawned on Carrie she didn't owe
William anything any more. "You know something, I'm done with
you."
"What?" he said dumbfounded. "Done with me? No... Not yet you're
not. You have to get me back into my body?"
"Why?" she asked.
The blonde headed girl shook her head as if to make clear the word
that had just entered her ears. "What do you mean why? Because what
you did to me is wrong, that's why."
"Oh... I see, so what you did to me was OK?"
"Look I don't mean to be crude, but don't make more of that than there
was for me. What's wrong with coming over for a little snatch?"
Carrie's eye's popped open. "That's what I was to you, a little snatch?"
She considered this for a moment, and then nodded her head with
understanding. She leveled her eyes at William's bright blue orbs and
asked. "So what's a little pussy between friends right?"
Uncertain how to answer, he hedged, "Ah, I guess so..."
"Well then," Carrie said cheerfully. "That's just what I gave you, a
little pussy, and a couple of tits on the side. Hope you enjoy yours as
much as I have mine!" she beamed at him. She felt ill at ease, talking
about herself in such terms, like some sort of cheap and filthy
commodity or consumable thing.
"That's not what I meant!" cried the girl.
"OK, that's exactly what I meant however. So maybe you should get
dressed and wait until my dad gets home. At the risk of getting in
some deep trouble when he gets home, I think you need to cool your
jets as a girl for a while until you understand that you have to be
careful what you wish for, or at the very least how you wish for it."
"You'll be naked when Daddy gets home. We'll have to scrounge up
something for you to wear.
Carrie went to her room, "Dressed, yes I want to get dressed." Said the
girl. She tried to follow Carrie into the room but Carrie slammed and
locked the door in her face. "Hey! My clothes please." William
pounded on the door. That panicky feeling was back, that feeling that
he had lost control of the situation again.
He forced himself to calm down, taking a deep breath he searched his
heart and found something new there some sympathy for Carrie and a
nice hot helping of regret for him to feast upon. "I'm sorry there was
more here than I ever saw. I never meant to hurt you Carrie. I didn't
know how much you wanted. Fact is; I didn't bother to look."
"I know that. But you're not sorry. That's a lie. You're just glad and
relieved that this isn't going to go any further. You're happy that I don't
want you anymore. The only thing you're truly sorry about is the mess
I've gotten you into."
"No. I deserved to be taught a lesson. As soon as I get out of this body,
I'll be a changed man. That's a promise. Ah, your Dad can get me out
of this can't he?"
"Shut up William. It's too late to kiss my ass. All you had to do is
show one spark of human kindness without having to be asked or told
to do so and none of this would have happened."
"Well, I guess you just closed the door on me again. This isn't fair
Carrie; I have to be aware that a problem exists before I can react to it.
Now you're telling me you won't help me because anything I say after
this is because you had to tell me what was going on? I was right; you
are contriving to keep me like this just to punish me. Well, I've learned
my fucking lesson. Now I want my clothes and I want to put them on
my body!"
"Tough titty!" she said sweetly from the other side of the door. "I'll
give you a skirt, bra, a pair of my panties and T-shirt. You can wear
that for the next hour or so until my dad gets home and tells us how to
deactivate that thing.
"I won't wear it! You give me back my things."
"I can't hear you William, I'm dropping your things out the bedroom
window, hold on ... There, now that the window is closed, what did
you say dear girl?"
"Don't call me that! And I know that you didn't drop my clothes out
the window." William cajoled.
"Look out the dinning room window then if you don't believe me."
William, clutching the blanket which was more than just a garment,
but a shield that protected his eyes from the sight he had become,
looked around and quickly and found the entrance-way to the small
formal dinning area adjacent to Carrie's room. He raced to it and
pushed back curtains that had blocked light from that room for many
years past. There, on the cement of the alley was his shirt. Running
down the street was a homeless woman. William could see the legs of
his jeans flapping around the sides as she ran way. "CARRIE! God
Damn it! I can't wear your clothes. Now please!"
He went back to the hall. There at the end of the hall was a common
bathroom, accessible from both the hall and Carrie's room. The door
was open and William could see a small pile of clothes on the basin.
"I give Carrie. I'm sorry. I know I hurt you and you're right, I don't
know how badly because I didn't care. Yes, I care now only because
you've hurt me in return. I understand now. But is there really any
need to humiliate me any more? Aren't we even?" He waited. On the
other side of her locked door, Carrie's heart began to soften again. It
was not in her nature to inflict pain; men do that. It's a man's world and
they're welcome to it. Now it seemed she was doing it for the pure joy
of the sport.
She listened to his plea; fully ready to get some of her father's clothes
and offer them to him just try to break even on this thing. She was
about to speak when William, obviously feeling he hadn't prostrated
himself enough, started begging again.
"I see now how humiliated you must have been to offer so much of
yourself to me and I just blew you off like you didn't matter at all. I'm
sorry I didn't see more than our prior friendship and what seemed like,
stupidly, a very kind and generous offer."
The door of Carrie's bedroom opened a crack. "You can stop now."
"I'd like to shake and say 'still friends?' but that's probably hoping for
too much isn't it?" William asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Maybe later... much later." Carrie offered a weepy
laugh at her pun. "For now lets just gets some clothes on you that will
make you happier."
"Yeah! That would be great." The relief in William's eyes was almost
wild. "Man, you really had me going. I really thought you were going
to make me wear those ridiculous clothes."
"Huh?"
"You know, make do the whole submissive female thing. Play house
and all that."
"What are you talking about? Are you telling me that what you just
said back then wasn't sincere?"
"Well, yeah. It was sincere. But only because I sincerely don't want to
have to behave like a friggin' girl! I mean what if word got out that this
had happened to me, that you actually got me in one of your skirts? I
could never hold my head up again."
"You're ashamed to be a girl?"
"Well... I mean..."
"Because I'm not!" Carrie said proudly.
"It's just the whole..."
"Yes? I'm listening."
"Carrie, I'm a guy!"
"No. You're human first. I can't believe you. You played me again, like
an out of tune digital harp. What you don't understand is that I felt
what I felt not because I'm a girl but because you fucked with my
feelings! God I must have been an idiot to think that you would get it!"
Carrie paced the hall, arms folded tight under her breasts. Her face was
set stern and hard. William was concerned but silent. He had pissed
Carrie off again. She turned and quickly slammed her door and her
father bedroom door and locked each. She then snatched the blanket
off the blonde girl and ran toward the bathroom with it.
"Hey!" cried William. Carrie was down the hall and into the bathroom.
William was in hot pursuit. When Carrie turned left and dashed into
her bedroom and locked the door behind her it was clear to William
what she intended. She had left him no choice but to sink to that next
level, to put on Carrie's clothes.
"Why are you doing this?" he pulled a small towel down from the rack
and tried his best to cover his nude body.
"You suck!" cried Carrie from behind the door.
"I could always go to the police with this!" it was a risky idea but he
had to have control of the situation or he was going to go insane. There
was no way he could remain like this much longer and not. He felt
dirty. He felt subhuman. Girls and women were different from men.
They were silly and generally stupid and he was not going home like
this, NOT!
"Police huh?" she said. "And you're not afraid that maybe they'll take
you right along with me."
William responded, "It's not you they'll want. It'll be your dad."
Yet another consideration that had failed to make Carrie's Top Ten
reasons not to mess with the SKIN, she cursed herself for not thinking
this though. Then the issue of all that money came to mind. She had to
keep William out of that room all together. With the door locked she
could play ignorant and claim not to have the code for the outside
setting. She couldn't go into that room. She had been lucky so far that
William hadn't made a dash for her father's closet before she managed
to lock the door. Now she had to try to dissuade William from doing
some rash. 'Like you did Carrie?'
Carrie opened her door again. "That's right, he got this thing from
someplace. They'll take him for trafficking in contraband. But they'll
take you too; you are contraband, and what if they take you some place
where they won't have to worry about setting you free?"
William's eyes opened at that idea. "Not if I told them that I was a
victim here."
"You're just going to hope that they'll let you go with your first hand
knowledge of these thing." A chess game of threats and fears had
broken out. Who could break the other down first with a fabric of
unknown possibilities, second hand rumors and out and out lies?
"They would have to, wouldn't they?" William said doubtfully.
"Not if they wanted to ensure your silence. My dad might be gone, you
however, would almost certainly remain ... Candy, Susan or Pam... I
like Pam. You look a bit like a Pam, what do you think? Have any
special names you'd like to be known as?"
"SHIT!" Cried the girl, and Carrie thought to herself, Checkmate!
"How do I know your Dad will even bother to get me out?" William
whined.
"I don't think he wants any trouble. You promise to say nothing. I
won't tell everyone that you let me change you into a girl to try a little
lesbian sex. Wouldn't want it getting around you prefer panties to a
jock. How about a little fast-pitch instead of varsity baseball?"
"You wouldn't." William said in a low whisper.
"As long as you keep silent, I could keep that quiet."
"Fine, good. No Problem. I'll keep quite, everything gets back to
normal, right?"
"Sounds reasonable to me." Carrie agreed. It still remained to be seen
if this Jock-boy could keep his word without the incentive of being
stuck in that body but what it quieted his threats for now. That was the
best she could do.
Can we get some of your Dad's things and I'll try them on." William
said, confident he had been victorious.
Carrie however, turned and took the clothes off the basin and said, "I
locked his door, and I can't get back in from out here. You'll have to
put this stuff on until he gets home after all. It won't be that long. Here,
I'll help." She clinched
"No. Now you said..." he started
"We've both fucked up here. Some bigger than others, these will fit,
you look to be about the same size as me, maybe bigger up top than
me."
"Great." The girl said and surprised Carrie by violently snatching the
pile from Carrie's hand. William looked at the clothes but didn't seem
to want to get too close to them.
"They'll never get that on you that way." Carrie said, "It will be OK."
She took the bra from William and offered to help. "Here... slip your
arms in here."
"I don't want to." William whined.
"Fine, stand in front of Dad a naked woman." William's face fell. He
cast the towel away and stuck out his arms.
"It's going to be fine," Carrie assured William, "Girls are supposed to
wear this stuff. It's called underwear."
"I'm not a girl." William insisted in his whiny teenaged girls voice.
Carried examined the child, "Um... yes you are." She said and giggled.
She installed the bra, clasping it in the back and then adjusting it to
cup William's plentiful breasts. "This thing is tight!"
"You're bigger than me, by about a cup size. But this will do for now.
Remember, you shouldn't have to wear it long. So no whining, I have
to wear one of those things every day, remember that next time you
want to complain to me about something. Put the panties on." She
tossed the underwear at him and he examined it. "You know how that
goes on, you've taken that pair off of me more than once." He looked
at Carrie with flat eyes.
"Yeah, I know how they go on." He bent and slipped in one leg then
the other. He drew them up and over his waist. The clung to him
everywhere, he didn't like that feeling, but it was better being covered,
not great being covered this way but better.
"OK, T-shirt next. Then the skirt."
"Don't you have some pants?" William asked.
"All at the laundry. See, I can do that. I have skirts and dresses to
wear. I don't have to always have pants on hand." She said and stuck
her tongue out at him.
The shirt went on just like it was one of his own but it sure didn't look
like one of his once it was on. It looked more like the t-shirt of Susan
Justin the super model. "Here, step into this." Carrie had knelt by
William's feet and as holding the skirt open. He did as requested and
Carried pulled the skirt up while William held up his arms out of the
way. Carrie adjusted it in back, tucked in the T-shirt and zipped it up.
Carrie then turned William around to look in the mirror. "Well, what
do you think?"
What he thought he would never have said out loud. The girl that
stared back at him was unbelievably beautiful; she was wearing a
bright red T-shirt and a tight black short skirt. The site was unnerving.
That's not me is it, because it's not fair if it is? I want to meet this girl.
I want her to fall in love with me. Marry me.
A single thought came back to him. A though that was not his. We are
married dear. A shudder coursed down his back.
"What is it?" Asked Carrie, she still had hold of his arm; she had felt
the shudder.
"Nothing, it's just... nothing."
"You can tell me William. I would actually like to try to understand
what you're experiencing."
"She's beautiful." He whispered. William looked at Carrie. He noticed
for the first time that they were now eye to eye when before he had
towered over her. "Hey, how the weather down here?" he said
jokingly.
"You tell me! Shorty." Carrie said and laughed.
"What I'm experiencing ... I'm afraid of the eyes and face I'm looking
out of. But... It's amazing to me that this can happen at all. How can
such a technology exist? I wonder just how much a person is really
changed by these things."
"I suspect all the way." Carrie said.
"That's scary. I mean, damn, you know what that means." William said
fearfully.
"No tell me what you're thinking."
"That my insides have changed too." William shivered as the words
came out.
Carrie paused for a second, considering something and then looked
hard and fast into the eyes of the girl she created and said, "I want to
do something William."
"OK, what?" he asked with genuine curiosity
Carrie didn't tell him. Instead she leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
Instinct took over for William and he began to get lost in the moment,
he closed his eyes and began to kiss Carrie back. Without warning,
William began to feel self-conscious about who he was kissing. His
eyes opened and with unexplained horror he was repulsed to see he
was kissing a girl. He tried to back away but Carrie had hooked an arm
around him. He peeled it off his waist and backed into the toilet and
sat down hard on it, wiping his lips with his arm.
Carrie was smiling at him.
"What the hell just happened there?" he asked her.
"You didn't like that, did you?" She said.
"No I didn't; it was gross... Oh no..."
Carrie raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Heterosexual female."
"No." he stood and there in the mirror appeared the face that was
attached to the head he was stuck in. He ran a hand over the cheek of
that face. "You know, you could have gone all day without showing
me that."
"You've changed deeper than you could imagine. In time, you might
even fall for guys."
"You don't think?" William said desperately.
"You never know." She teased.
"Oh God I've got to get out of this piece of cra..." He paused and then
rephrased what he was trying to say, "this body has to go. I'm going to
go crazy if I stay in this much longer."
"I'm truly sorry for all of this William. If I had it to do over again, I
would just have kicked you out. I hope you can forgive me."
William, for the first time in his life expressed true remorse for his
actions. "I hurt a friend. That's what you are and you have been for so
long. I took for granted what that meant. I lead you to believe
something that was not true for my own benefit. I'm glad you didn't
shoot me with an F-Tazor."
"Hummmmm... Now there's a novel idea."
"You don't really have one, do you?" William asked nervously.
"I was only kidding." Carrie admitted.
The VID in the Fenton living room chirped in quite mode. "That's
probably Daddy. Stay back here. I'm going to soften the blow for him,
but I don't' want him to know what's happened until he gets here."
William said, "Hey, no problem. I'm just going to sit right here and be
good."
Carrie took William's hand and squeezed. "Real soon now, everything
is back to normal." William smiled the smile of relief. Carrie dashed
off to the living room to answer the VID.
In the distant room, he could hear his captor talking to the jailor. "Hi
Daddy!"
There was mumbling he knew to be Jason Fenton, but he could not
make out what he was saying. Then Carrie said. "Yes Daddy, I can
have something ready by the time you're ready to eat, but ... I need
your help with something first."
William heard, "Mumble mumble Princess." The word princess caused
him to tense for some reason. Before he had time to analyze why he
heard Carrie talking to her father again. "No Daddy, not on the phone.
"Mumble mumble mumble mumble."
"No Daddy, no one's dead. I guess no one has to be rushed to the
hospital. So no... you don't have to rush home."
Doh! Tell him to rush home Carrie, please!
"Mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble
mumble."
"Yes Daddy, I'm sure! I'm sorry I worried you. All I need is some help
when you get home."
"Mumble mumble mumble."
"No Daddy," an odd pause, then a "Mumble mumble." Then, "I have a
friend from school here with me." William could hear that she had
been caught not being careful from her tone. She was now in cover-up
mode.
"Mumble."
"No Daddy, she's new!"
William almost broke out in wild laughter. Hot off the press! New and
Improved! The fresh catch of the day! New? What a friggn'
understatement!
"Yes Daddy. See you in an hour or so." Carrie said and checked the
time in the VID display. 4:30. It would probably be closer to 6:00pm.
Before he got home.
She disconnected and returned to the hall. William was waiting there.
"Don't hurry home? Why?"
"I don't want him to worry. I got into something he had no intention of
me ever finding. You want out?" William nodded. "Then it would be
best if he got home safely. If he fly's off the HOVWay and has an
accident then you'll have to explain to your parents that they have a
new daughter."
"OK, OK! I'm sorry."
"You know, that body really suits you. You could consider..."
"Ah... You're funny! 'Suits Me.' Ha... That good. He he he! Do us all a
favor, don't grow up to be a comic." William snorted.
"Just an idea. No need to get so defensive." Carrie said and smiled.
-*-
Jason considered the attitude of his daughter. Something was more
wrong than she was letting on. He could not help but be on the edge of
panic. Just the remote chance of her finding the three SKINs he had
rescued from the incinerator scared him to death. He could explain the
money to some level of satisfaction he believed, but not the SKINs.
What frightened him even worse was the prospect of curiosity killed
the cat. If she were to ever try one on. If she were to ever try on the
wrong one." He shuddered. There was one SKIN there he could not
sell. No matter how low the price. It was tough getting rid of what was
known as a 'One-Way-Ticket'. It had no patch code Transmitter. It
could not be reprogrammed to accept information from one. He knew
one thing from the Ident; It had been programmed for one person,
never to be removed. As far as he could tell only three had ever been
made like that. One was in use; two were lost, officially of course. One
had been in a shipment of 60,000 that vanished in a Rouston harbor
side warehouse bound for Washington for destruction. One was slated
for destruction two years ago when it was discovered in storage here at
the facility. The one in use was classified. No further information had
been available.
Jason decided it was time to get rid of all of them, to take his money
and go. He would start making the plans now. In a month they would
make a very normal move. He had pressed his luck far enough. It was
time to get out.
He had risked more than just his freedom; more than having no one to
take care of Carrie if they caught him. He had been a horrible father to
put his own daughter in such an environment, to put her in possible
contact with such a dangerous technology.
Back when Becky had been alive, he had wanted her to have the things
she wanted. It had broken his heart each time he watched her shop or
stop in front of something she wanted to have but couldn't afford to
buy. It made him feel guilty. His wife could have picked any man in
Rouston as her mate. She amazingly chose a scraggly computer
programmer employed with a covert government agency. Jason had
been young, shy, and badly underpaid. But Becky loved him. She was
careful to never complain about the lack of money and Becky was a
wonder at making a home from his meager income.
The hurt in her eyes was more than he could handle. An opportunity
presented itself. It was all he needed. He met a fellow from New-
Richmond in a Water-ale bar one night before going home to Becky.
This man had been drunk. He seemed to have a lot of cash and his
freedom with it had loosened the caps of a few bottles of finer liquor
the bar keep had stashed for better paying customers.
Jason, a man with the gift of conversation, cut jokes with the man and
managed to make a friend of him. In return, James Hatcher bought
Jason a few drinks. Not used to the powerful alcohol, it had not taken
long for Jason to start talking about his own troubles. James listened as
though the two had been friends for years. When Jason was done,
James told him that he could help with his problems. Had Jason ever
heard of SKINs? He had asked.
Jason panicked; he felt it was a pinch. Shop Cops did this all the time.
Not only to catch people from the facility trying to steal the technology
but to see if facility employees would turn in people seeking
information on them as well.
Jason stayed and listed, intent on turning the man in to authorities. He
was convinced he was an SC. He didn't want to go to jail for not
turning him. If he wasn't however, he didn't want to feel guilty for
getting someone in trouble for just trying to get along.
Get a long; if this guy infiltrates government offices using these things
then who will be hurting?
As the evening wore on, Jason was told about James family and the
circumstances were very similar.
"What would I have to do, IF I did anything?" Jason had asked.
"Just make deliveries where I can't or when I can't."
"So you have connections to get these... " Jason had trailed off. He did
not want to say the word out loud here in the bar.
"No, I get them where I can; and then I have to mark them up high
because they are so expensive for me to get my hands on in the first
place."
Jason considered a moment of sheer greed and he took a risk, he could
always play it back on this guy, document it as though he were trying
to trap this guy in an encrypted VID file documenting dates. If it
looked like things were closing in, he could use the documentation to
turn him in and get himself off the hook.
"What if I could get them a lot cheaper."
James seemed to completely sober. "Huh? Cheaper? How much
cheaper?"
"Free!" Jason whispered.
"You're an SC! Fuck you!" the man said and started to get up to run
Jason grabbed his arm suddenly feeling sure of himself. "No... Just a
guy who would like to give his wife some of the nicer things in life."
"Free?"
"Yeah, how much would you split with me?"
"Fifty-percent profit on a free SKIN would be 100% more than I make
now. Could we go fifty-fifty? I could do fifty-fifty easily."
"And I don't do any drops?" Jason added.
"Sure! Hell yeah. Need to keep a low profile you do. I have no
problem with that." James said.
Jason nodded. "OK, now what's fifty percent of a ... you know?"
"Fifty thousand and up to almost five-hundred thousand for special
orders." James said.
Jason fell off his stool. He couldn't imagine ever having that much
money. He was nervous again. He was dealing in something that was
outside of his experience, the 'Black Market'.
James helped him back up, looking around the bar. "You should try to
keep things more subdued. You know, do try to attract attention like
that." James said nervously.
"Yeah, I'll try to remember that." Jason replied as he rolled his eyes.
The next day Jason went to the incinerator and personally disposed of
sixteen young male and female SKINs all under the age of twenty-
five; orders that would not be fulfilled were destroyed. These however
didn't make it into the oven. They were packed carefully in
compression pack, which looked like the empty sacks used for SKINs
marked for destruction, and walked right past the guards.
That night he met with James to deliver the prize. "Jesus! There are ...
fourteen, fifteen, sixteen... six Caucasian and ten exotic. Holy shit my
friend, it must be destiny we met." James turned to shake his hand. He
pumped it so hard that Jason felt it might just fall off.
"Ah, when can I get some payment? I'd kind of like to take my wife
out to dinner if I could."
"Oh hell yeah, I don't know what these will bring of course. You'll get
most of it when I actually sell these but that won't take long. But
here..." Hatcher dug into a bag on the front seat. "I have about thirty-
thousand I can part with right now."
Jason started to cough and choke as James Hatcher dropped this bag of
cash chips in his lap. "Thir... Thirty" *Cough* "Thirty-thousand!"
*Cough* Tears streamed from his eyes with the force of the coughs.
"God!" he said at last in a raspy voice. "You really want to part with
all of this?"
"You earned it and much more my friend. They can't trace these can
they?"
"Nope, they are no longer in the data base. They are officially
destroyed." Jason assured him.
"You take your lady out, treat her the way you want, say you got a
freakin' bonus or something. Don't be too obvious but have fun. That
won't attract too much attention. I'll get back with you in a couple of
days with say... two hundred and fifty plus to start with. How's that
sound?"
"You won't stand me up will you?"
"I want you to keep this stuff coming. I have to keep you happy. I don't
want to settle for just these. So no, I won't stand you up. I'll meet you
in the bar this Thursday, OK?"
"Thanks James."
"Thank you my new best friend."
Life had gotten much better for Becky. Jason was very happy with the
smiles she gave him as presents each day. She had never had the
luxury of knowing much of what he did since it was classified work to
begin with so keeping the secret was easy.
But Becky was gone now. He had gotten over it in the last six years.
Well, almost anyway. He still missed her horribly; but was now very
wealthy since he had no one to spend that money on. He had a massed
a fortune of almost seventeen million dollars in cash chips alone.
Yes, It was time to stop. It was time to get his daughter out of danger.
He could not escape the feeling that it was already too late for that
though. He was almost ready to bolt to his house and see what it was
his daughter was hiding from him when the Program Director,
Terrance Michaels came through his door.
"Jason my friend, could I see you about some special modifications I
would like made to the Houston Ave 'Black board' configuration."
"Terrance, you know that I shouldn't be doing this without approval
from upstairs."
The two had been on a first name basis since Becky had died. Jason
found out about a year after Becky ha