The sounds of the waking chimes brought me out of my dreams into the world of ethereal thoughts.  My bunk was hard, like all the others at AGTF, but because I was a ranking officer I had a room all to myself and my sister, the little thing stretching and yawning as I was.

“Well, Isabell, you ready to take a shower and head off to the labs?” I said, roughing the grey wolf’s fur, and the puppy snapped at my hand, tail wagging and her throat producing a cute puppy-growl.  I smiled.  

I took a short, luke-warm shower, and slipped on my uniform.  It was a deep midnight blue, and had the bars of my rank and the patch on my shoulder stating that I was a soldier/scientist for the Gen An soldiers and AGTF.  The buttons on the jacket were bright silver, and looked like stars against the uniform.  I had put my dark brown hair into a tight bun low on my head, like I always did for important occasion that required me to be in the uniform.  The only makeup that I put on was foundation, and that was only sparsely.  I looked at myself in the mirror, appraising the way I looked.  Today the AGTF building number 1469, Station S’Lous was having its biannual inspection.  Reaching down, I put a thick collar matching my uniform on Isabell.  The wolf puppy even had a rank- and had the bars on her collar to show it.

“You ready?” I asked the canine.  The dog nodded, then made a little squeaking sound that wasn’t exactly a bark.  Smiling, we entered the hall, and walked through the housing complex towards the lift shafts that would take us even further below ground to the lab areas.

The lifts were recent technology that had made life so much easier for all living on Terra.  It had something to do with antigravity and force fields, but I was not the kind of scientist that understood what it was that made them work.  I was a DNA Recombination specialist, and my job was to tamper with things.  I had been interested in the makeup of creatures as soon as I learned about the existence of DNA, RNA, and everything else that made up the complex systems of living creatures.  That was how the little grey wolf walking beside me had come to be.  

It was one of the current experiments that the AGTF was working on- combining animal and human DNA together to create a super soldier, one that had both the human intelligence and opposing thumbs, but an animal’s instincts, senses, and other abilities.  This puppy was really 5 months old, so she was really a young adult compared to the rest of her species.  However, in comparison to the rest of the genetically engineered wolves that lived at the complex, she really was young.  She had my genetic material residing within her mind, giving her a quick intelligence that was rather unexpected.  Isabell couldn’t talk, but she had her own sign language that she used to communicate with the other scientists.  If she had something complex to say, they had created a very large version of the old-world keyboards.  The pup had learned the English language, and the letters, and used the keys and her paws to type out what she was trying to say.  She was such a smart creature…I was proud to call her my sister, my daughter, my shadow.

The lifts released us form their protective fields a moment after we stopped at the appropriate level in the labs.  My level.  It was sublevel 17, and I can still relate to you all the details of every room, even if most of my time was spent in the main lab, where the psudo-wombs were kept where we were growing the canines, felines, avians, even marine life that had the experimental genetic manipulations residing within their cells.

“ATTEN-TION!” was the call of Gracia, my second in command, as I walked thought the double doors that made up the exit to the lift room.  All of my 25 subordinates were there, making the customary salute of their right fist over their heart, arm making a right angle with the body at the armpit, and their other arm straight at their side, hands making tight fists.  “At ease,” I said, walking down the ranks of my scientists…my people…my friends.  I had never thought that my abilities would lead to me being enlisted into the military against the Anti-perfectionists, but they had.  They had actually approached me at the university that I was attending, and said that they would give me a salary to finish my schooling if, after that schooling was complete, I would join the military’s science division and help with genetic testing.  They said that my paper that I had written on my findings about the relationship between animal and human nucleoli was exactly the thing that they were looking for.  In that paper, I had described a theory that I had on our ability to successfully merge human and animal DNA into one strand for a superhuman.  It had never been published, so I was surprised, but the next day my professor of Genetic Manipulation told me that he had shown my paper to a friend who was a scientist in the military, and that friend had brought my abilities to his superiors.  

I was thinking this as I rehearsed a speech that I had prepared for them, something about how we needed perfection in everything, especially today.  How, if we had any breakthroughs, let them be today, let the inspectors see that we had been making progress.  I don’t remember everything, but I do remember the slightly hopeless feeling deep in my gut.  At that time, we hadn’t had any breakthroughs at all.  I was worried, as any other ranking scientist would’ve been in my position, but that wasn’t the only problem.  They were going to pull funding to the project if it didn’t show any signs of fruit in the two months since the last inspection.  We had minor revolutions, but not enough to impress the Governors, the ruling body of the Military, and politicians all of them.  As I finished the speech, it was greeted with shouts of aggressive determination.  They had to figure something out today.  Had to.

“OK.  Go to your stations and at least pretend to be working if you aren’t going to be doing anything useful today.”  I gave a meaningful look to Falon, a man with a hawkish face but very playful eyes.  He liked to flirt around with the female scientists at the stations, and he usually got away with it because he got his work done like he was supposed to in about half the time it took everyone else to do it.  The man was a demigod on the computers and holoscreens, and could figure out so much with a simple touch to the flickering image above the display.  He was also a Human Genetics whiz, even better that what they said I was, so I trusted him.  He was also only a rank below my second in command, so he almost had the run of the place.

Sighing, I turned back towards Gracia, and motioned with my head.  We were to wait at the lifts for the Governor’s inspectors.  She nodded, understanding my twitch, and walked towards the lifts to wait for me.  I looked down at Isabell.  “Now, remember who we are dealing with here, OK?  If these people wanted to, they could terminate the project—which means terminating you.  So please be on your best behavior, OK?”  The wolf nodded, and trotted off to where I was usually working, and read the holo report that was at her level.

I walked over to the lifts.  I was so nervous, wishing that the inspectors would hurry and come, and get the damned thing over with.  As the double-doors opened, I remembered what my mother had always told me: be careful what you wish for.

The first man to come through the door was a bodyguard, and then another.  The third man was someone dressed in uniform, and had enough decorations on his jacket to brace the fallen Tower of Piza and have enough left over to support it for the next 1000 years.  Oh, I knew him, of course—he was usually one of the two who came and did the inspections.  He wasn’t the one that surprised me, and reminded me of my mother’s little idiom.  It was the sixth person out of the lift, after two more soldier bodyguards, that made me turn pale, made me reel with shock.

The General, the head of the Governors because of his military experience, had emerged out of that shaft.  His name then was merely General Hans, and his face was not scarred with surgery, but he was still an imposing figure without any titles or ranks.  Heavily built, he looked as if he could take on a Kodiak bear, and survive unscathed.  Black skinned, black haired, brown-eyed.  He was one of the last of the pure Africans, and was proud of his heritage, or so I had heard.  It certainly looked like that to me, because he wore earrings.  Not just one metal post, but gauged earrings made of wood.  It made him look all the more vicious.

He looked around the hallway before actually taking a look at me.  Now, for a woman, I’m considered of average height, but compared to the General, I was an ant.  I stood 5’5”.  He had to be at least 6’9”.  I wouldn’t have openly admitted it then, but now I’m not afraid to.  I was scared of him.  Totally, pants-wetting scared of him.  And his eyes…they were hard, they showed no mercy for anyone or anything.  So, needless to say, the deep voice that he had seemed to convey the personality that the body had fairly well.  “Commander First Rank Blaire Woln, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name.  I am First General Zachary Hans, and I will be conducting the inspection today because of the meager reports that we have received from this station.  You know the repercussions if you fail, do you not?”

I was shaking mentally, but I didn’t let it get into my body or limbs.  At least, I tried not to.  In a voice that was slightly higher than my usually tone, I saluted and said, “Yes, Sir!  I know what the repercussions will be if the inspection fails, and am ready to take the fall for all of the others in the rooms behind me.”  I saluted again, and Hans made the return, letting me stand at ease.

Hans seemed to relax after that was said, but I sure as hell didn’t.  “OK, then, Commander Woln.  Feel free to show me around, starting with what you find boring.  I would prefer to liven up the end of the inspection instead of being confused with all of your science talk.”

Startled by the relaxed nature in which he talked to me, I relaxed a little, too.  “OK then, General.  Right this way.”





We were almost done with the inspection.  So close…we just had to look at the preparation rooms where we embedded the human genetic information into the animal’s brains, and where we were testing other combination procedures out on other creatures.  “And this, Gentlemen, is the Main Laboratory where the bulk of our research takes place every day.  We are still trying to develop a quick and easy way to turn adults into the engineered warriors that we hoped to create.  Right now, the only way that we still see it being possible is if we inject fetuses with the chemical mixture that we use with the other animals.  However, we are working on an inhalation combination, and are using those prisoner volunteers that you sent us a while back.  Right now we are using the gentile creatures, such as small birds and bunnies and such, for the experimentation, as we don’t want to infuse a Siberian Tiger with one of the stronger males.”

I pointed to a tall chamber setting in a corner of the room.  A table with straps was visible through the tinted clear glass.  “This is the inhalation chamber where we put the convicts on the tables, strap them down, and seal the door.  Closing and sealing the door activates the mechanism that operates the vapor compressor, which shoots the chemicals into the room.  You can’t see it usually, though it sometimes looks like steam is in the room.  We have a test that we were going to run today in order to show you our latest process.”  Hans nodded, looking around the disinfected room.  It was rather plain—white walls, black tiles, white ceiling.  The lab stations were also black and white, the projectors alternating with every other one.  I had been responsible for that, to take away the rooms ability to make its occupants go insane from the lack of personality.  White walls were know to do that, as I found out in a study done a long time ago that was re-published in one of the science magazines that I received every month.

Falon came over then, saluting the General then turning to me.  “Everything is set for the experiment.  Should we bring out the first one to answer our call, or assign someone to this?”  He was, of course, talking about the prisoners.  I had gained all of their trust, all 40 of them, but saying that if they didn’t want to be used immediately, that I would understand.  However, if no one volunteered unbruised and unhurt, I would find the one that did the hurting and bruising and would use them with our experiments.  When the first person came back to the cells, totally unscathed, they saw that there wasn’t anything deadly that would happen to them, and I treated them with respect.  And they answered that respect by not fighting, not trying to break out, and becoming well known to all of my colleagues.  

So I answered, “Let them do it by volunteer.  I was hoping that Kayn wouldn’t mind coming up today, but let them choose.  Give them 5 minutes.”  Falon nodded, saluted the general again, and left for the keeping area.

The First General looked at me with respect, and I blushed.  “You let them volunteer?  I would’ve never thought of using a system like that.  I’m guessing that’s the reason why your prisoners have so few complaints.  You actually treat them like humans, which would mean a world to a convict meant to spend life in a prison complex.”  He nodded, and rubbed his hand against his face in thought.  I was still blushing, but I knew that I needed to finish the rest of the room up before they could witness the inhalation chamber in use, and witness our experiment.  

“Right this way First General.  I will show you the condition of the packets that hold the liquids that are the fumes in the chamber.”  I walked over to a coldroom door, and punched in my number/letter combination, and let it scan my hand and eye.  The computer voice said, “Access Approved,” and the door unlocked, letting me pull it open with little effort.  “We clean this area out every day, for each of the cylinders in here has different combinations of chemicals and DNA, and we wouldn’t want the DNA of a mold to infect one.  The person would probably just disappear for a long time, and then suddenly grow again.  But, as I said before, we just don’t want to risk anything in here.”  He nodded, so I continued on, explaining the animals that we used in each batch, and which ones showed promise, and which ones were just garbage.  “Today, we will be using a Raven’s DNA in a catalyst mixture that Falon, my Third, mixed up.  He is the Human Gene whiz here, and I think that he may be even smarter than me at times.  He had read my reports that I had done in college, and was actually the one that brought me to the attention of the Governors.”  I picked up the pouch that was labeled Corvus cryptoleucus, or the Chihuahuan Raven.  They were quite remarkable little birds, and if Kayn did come up today, that would’ve been perfect for her.

A few minutes later, it was Kayn that came up in front of Falon.  Her black hair and dark brown skin was beautiful, even against her prison clothes.  Kayn saw me, and smiled.  I quickly walked over to her, and gave her a pat on the back.  Usually, I would’ve hugged her, but with a quick look over my shoulder she understood, seeing the inspectors.  In her crackly voice that did not match her very feminine physique, she said, “So what exactly am I supposed to turn into today?  Maybe a parrot, or what about a Jackrabbit?”  She smiled, letting me know she was kidding.

I smiled in turn, and said, “Neither.  I think that you would approve of what we have picked out for you today.  We have a Chihuahuan Raven, quite clever little birds, and very black.  It’ll match your hair, my dear.”  Her eyes were as mischievous as mine as I led her over to a small curtained off area, and helped her change out of the confining prison clothes.  She came out wearing tight cycling shorts, and a sports top that barely held in her rather impressive bust.  

I took a deep breath while we were still behind the curtain, and she patted my shoulder.  “I know what will happen today if you don’t succeed, Blaire.  For what ever it’s worth, even if I somehow turn entirely into a bird, I hope that something good happens today.  Because through the last two years that I have known you, you are the best person mentally and morally that I have ever known.”  She turned to leave the curtained area and said, “And if something good does happen, but I am really hurt, let me live, OK?  I want to see what you did to my pathetic body before it’s disposed of.”  She smiled her reckless smile, and left the curtain, walking towards the inhalation chamber.

Following closely behind her, I punched in my ID again, and the table came out of the door.  Kayn lay down on it, waiting for me and two other scientists to strap her in.  We did it with a quick proficiency, and I retyped in my codes and the table slid back in as I connected the packet, the cylinder, to its receptacle.  As the doors locked and sealed, the mist entered the room.  I saw her lips moving in what I knew was a silent prayer to one god or another, and felt my spirit wishing the same thing that I read on her lips.  Let this work, and let her not be hurt.

I could tell when the mist finally hit her in the small room.  Her eyes became wide for a moment, and she started coughing.  After a moment, she went unconscious.  “All is going as planned,” Falon said behind me, making me jump.  I had been so intent on Kayn that I hadn’t heard him come up behind me.  He looked at me and smiled because he made me jump.  “I added a sedative to the mix so that the people wouldn’t feel what was happening to their bodies.  If all goes right, some of her cells will start breaking down to be rebuilt by the animal’s genes that are now being sucked into her bloodstream.  After that-“  He was gut off by a gut-wrenching scream, and we both stared at Kayn.

Her skin on her arms had started to simply dissolve, quickly becoming replaced by black things.  The same happened to her face, and some of her hair started to fall out.  It took me a moment to realize what was growing at a quick pace under her skin.  Feathers.  The poor woman was asleep, but even then her mind knew that something painful was happening to her body.

And there was nothing that we could do until the mist cleared out of the room, and we could go in to look at her.  Around her was a bloody mass of sloughed skin and hair.  But when we looked at her, even I thought that this is what a fallen angel must look like.  When we rolled her off the table, we saw two rather large knots on her back between her shoulders.  I looked at Falon, who looked at me.  “Wings?”  I asked, and he shrugged.  It would make sense, wings taking more time to grow.  They had a totally separate structure of bones and muscles and blood vessels that a sudden growing of wings would be even more traumatic to the body.  I hear cheering outside the chamber, but I wasn’t.  Yes, we had finally created the Gen An soldier that the military was looking for, but I still believed that the best way to create these beings was in a psudo-womb.  People shouldn’t have to go through that much pain.

First General Hans came into the chamber behind me, and looked at Kayn.  “What were her crimes?” he asked me in a quiet voice, seeing my face.  I guess that I had started to cry while watching her scream.

“She was the driver for a very rich man who owned the Holovision TV Company.  He had abused her sexually, and one night while driving him and his family home, she drove the limo into the reservoir.  Killed the man, his wife, and his two children, and she barely survived.  She didn’t want to.  Because she did not have any evidence that she had been assaulted, all that they saw was that she killed a very important man and his family, and sentenced her to life for murder in the first degree.”  I brushed what was left of her hair away from her sweaty face.  ‘Oh, Kayn,’ I thought.  

Hans watched me and Kayn intently for a few minutes.  Then he said something very quietly into his radio that was part of his collar’s rank pins, and a few minutes later, someone from outfitting came into the lab and into the chamber, and set down a new uniform with a sergeant’s badge on the chest.  “When she wakes up, show her this, and tell her that her name will be cleared of all charges whether or not she decides to join us.”  With that, he left the chamber, and took his entourage out of the labs to reenter the world above.

Falon came in then with a medical team, and we all gently lifted Kayn’s prone body out from the straps and onto a stretcher.  Before they left, I said, “Make sure that she is still strapped down with locks on her feet.  If everything goes well, her animal instincts won’t kick in until after she gets used to her body, but we don’t know.  Leave her hands free, so that all she really is when she wakes is a bird tethered to the bed.”

The medics nodded, and I sighed again, calling for Isabell and telling Gracia that I was going back to my rooms.  I didn’t feel too well.