by: Prudence Walker
Chapter Two
An unoccupied black car sat in a hospital car park. The men that had been following Keith were nowhere to be seen, he had watched from a first story window as the men had entered the hospital. Feeling strangely vulnerable despite his excellent disguise, Keith couldn’t wait to get out of here and start work on trying to find the cause of his change.
Suddenly, he jumped as a doctor grabbed his, well Anne’s arm saying, "Didn’t you hear the call, all available nurse’s to go to emergency, there’s been a bus crash and they are bringing in the injured."
Keith followed reluctantly, knowing that to refuse would cause more problems. Finally entering a crowded room the doctors and nurses rushing round a room full of stretchers containing the injured. Keith found himself drafted into looking after an injured girl that was bleeding from numerous wounds. In the process of applying dressings Keith ended up with blood over his ungloved hands. He felt somewhat useless as the girl moaned. She was only about 16 years old, a honey blonde with a cute shape Keith managed to get her to give her name and address, Genni Smith, which he wrote on one of the standard forms.
As they wheeled her away, he took the opportunity to slip away to the meeting place he’d organised with Anne. He had just arrived there when a red headed woman walked nervously up to him.
"Anne?" Keith whispered in surprise.
"Ohmygod, it’s true. Keith, you’re me."
"We’ll I did tell you," he said, trying not to stare at this woman in front of him.
"When I said disguise I was thinking of something not …"lost for words, he gestured at her ensemble.
"Blatant?" Anne supplied with a grin. "I figured a woman in a dark coat and glasses would be rather more obvious, especially as its warm out."
"But I can’t wear that out of here," muttered Keith. "It’s so…so.."
"Tight," Anne smirked, enjoying herself.
"Yes you can, I’ll help and its such a great outfit nobody will recognise me…um you."
"Did you bring the can?"
"Yes it’s in the handbag," Anne answered.
"Look lets swap clothes then I’ll take you and the spray down to Joan where we can get a blood test done as well," Anne continued.
"Joan?"
"She’s the lab assistant I told you about," Anne answered.
Anne took Keith into a nearby room containing spare towels, it was unoccupied, and they hurriedly undressed and donned the other’s clothes. Keith was even more aware of his new attributes as his breasts threatened to spill out of the snug top that allowed his cleavage to be fully appreciated. The tight mini was pressing tight against his fuller hips and had he still had the sexual equipment he was born with, it would have been straining to get out of the panties he was now wearing.
Anne adjusted the wig making sure it wouldn’t come free then applied the same makeup that she had been wearing when she had entered the hospital.
Keith looked at the heels on his feet an attempted to walk in them; fortunately, the mini restricted his stride to a minimum and the shorter steps allowed him to stumble along without falling over
Anne encouraged him and after walking up and down the corridor a few times, managed to adapt enough so he didn’t look too clumsy.
Anne led him down stairs telling him it was good practice as he negotiated the descent. Eventually, they came to a door and entered.
"Hi Anne," came a bright voice from behind a desk.
"Joan, I need a big favour," answered Anne, in a serious tone.
"Oh, oh…what now, not a needle prick is it?"
"No, its Keith, there’s been some sort of cellular change, to his whole body," she added.
"Oh," Joan said in a puzzled voice, "what sort of change?"
"Joan, brace yourself. Meet Keith," indicating towards Keith.
"You must be kidding, that’s not Keith. No way…" she trailed off. Then walking closer, scrutinizing Keith closely, she gasped, as she took off the wig. She stumbled back in shock as she tried to find words.
"She’s you…I mean… identical twins?"
"No, I’m an only child, you know that," Anne replied soberly.
"But… what’s this about Keith? You’re trying to tell me this is Keith?" Joan giggled.
"Unfortunately yes, last night, Keith was normal then woke like this. We suspect it has something thing to do with this can he found in a factory that was destroyed," Anne said, looking at Keith.
Keith had said nothing, preferring to remain silent while Anne gave her account, but at her glance, he reached into the handbag and retrieved the can, speaking for the first time.
"I opened this can and sprayed it on my hand, not a wise decision in light of the results."
"Lets look at it then."
"Careful," Keith warned.
Joan took the can and using a special airtight examination booth, manipulated the can with a pair of mechanical arms until she got a sample on a slide. Placing it on a microscope that had its eyepiece out side the chamber.
"Hmm," murmured Joan, as she studied the sample.
"Can you see something?" Keith said, worriedly.
"Yes, but I can’t help you," replied Joan as she turned from the eyepiece and faced them.
"Why not?" Anne interjected.
"Because it’s a nanite of some sort, not my field of speciality," sighed Joan.
"Nanite? What’s that?" both Keith and Anne said together.
"Well from what I’ve heard, there’s a company that sells this sort of thing. Hang on, I’m sure I have a note on this somewhere." Joan went though a set of files looking for the information, coming up with an address.
"I haven’t heard of this… HuggleBugs?" Anne said.
"Nor me either," Keith added.
"They will be the people to ask, I’m sorry I can’t help you."
Keith looked at Anne and shrugged.
"At least we are getting closer to finding out what’s happened to me," he said resignedly.
I think the best thing to do is for you to go alone, I’ll catch up soon, after I change," Anne said. "You’d better take my car, I’ll catch a taxi."
"You sure you’ll be okay?" asked Keith.
"I’ll go to chemo they have loads of wigs there I’ll borrow one," Anne replied confidently.
Joan was looking at them both in puzzlement and was about to say something, when Anne turned and hugged her.
"I’ll explain later, okay, we never were here, understand?"
Shaking her head, Joan quipped,
"Who are you people?" and grinned.
"Thanks Jo, I owe you."
"Who owes me?" was the reply.
~OOOo~
Keith walked nervously out the front entrance, half expecting a heavy hand to land on his shoulder. He walked over to Anne’s car hearing the delicate tapping from his high heels. He winced inwardly at the very feminine sounds he was making and was glad when he reached the car and got in, he had seen the black car still sitting in the car park. Trying not to stare, he adjusted the mirror as he had seen Anne do a million times, and under the pretence of checking his hair and makeup, checked out the black sedan.
He could just make out that there was only one occupant in the car that meant there was still one inside the hospital. He hoped Anne found as good a disguise as she had for him. He started the car and slowly drove out, passing the car in question. Good, no reaction, that meant he passed. Feeling more confident, he drove carefully to the address of the HuggleBugs Company, checking to see if any one was following.
Arriving he entered the nondescript building and walked up to the counter, then explained that ‘she’ wanted to see someone about a problem ‘she’ had, but explained that ‘she’ was waiting for another person to arrive.
Keith was shown into a waiting/interview room and given a cup of coffee while ‘she’ waited. He thought it sounded odd being referred to in the feminine, but thought it best to pretend that he was Anne for the moment.
His musings were cut short as the door opened and a woman entered, looking up, it took a few seconds before he realised it was Anne. She had a grey haired wig on and her face was disguised by makeup to look 30 years older. Her shapeless smock doing an excellent job of disguising her body.
"My, you look beautifully ugly," Keith, laughed. "Where’s the warts and pointed hat?"
"Don’t knock it, it worked didn’t it? But I have to agree it’s not pretty."
"It may pay to keep up these appearances for now, no telling how trust worthy theses people are," Keith said as he saw Anne about to remove the wig.
"All very well for you," she grumbled. "You don’t have to look like a hag." She retorted testily.
"No i’m just done up like a hooker," he returned, pulling at his skirt.
"Point taken."
Just then they were interrupted by the arrival of a fresh-faced girl of eighteen.
"How can I help you," she asked brightly.
"How about getting someone in charge to answer a big problem of ours," Keith snapped.
"Whoa, don’t get so uppity, appearances can be deceiving," she grinned.
"That’s true," Keith mumbled.
"I’m actually much older, and I used to be male, unlike you."
"Huh? Okay then, we are at the right place. I was male too till a few hours ago," said an embarrassed Keith.
"Nice job, was it done here? I wouldn’t mind looking like that, hmm, maybe my next change I’ll design one similar," the girl continued musingly.
Looking at Anne she said, "I can see why you’re here.... oh god where’s my manners. I’m Stephanie, well its what i’m doing by now. I’m the assistant director, please forgive my rudeness in not introducing myself."
"This is Anne and I’m, well... my name is Keith and there’s a serious problem. Somehow I’ve been transformed into Anne's exact double."
Stephanie looked closely at Keith then looked at Anne, and then she touched Anne’s face gently with a finger and looked at it.
"My apologies again, I see I’ve really been rude, I can see its makeup. I take it there’s a good reason for the disguise?"
"Yes, but we’ll get to that soon," Keith said, cautiously.
Keith and Anne related the story to Stephanie the events leading up to this point, getting worried at the startled expression on Stephanie’s face, finally she interrupted saying.
"Hold on a sec. I’m going upstairs for this one. Come follow me to my office."
Walking to her office, thy sat down in two leather seats while Stephanie fired up a tele-conferencing monitor. After a short delay a face came on the screen.
"What’s the problem Stephanie came a sweet sounding voice.
"Prue, we have a big problem here our security might be at risk."
"What?" came a shocked response. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, it looks if a sample of our nanites has been tampered with, it could result in major repercussions," Stephanie replied soberly.
"Right, then I’m flying out from New Zealand immediately, expect me soon, I’ll ring when i’m getting in okay? Hold the fort for now and get me some results, I’ll bring the team along too."
"See you soon Prue, I’ll handle it till you get here," replied Stephanie, as she ended the conference.
"Okay, lets have that canister, we’ll need to do some tests to verify my suspicions, she added.
Keith hedged, saying that whatever was in the can may be the difference between his regaining his male body and he might need it as a bargaining tool,
Stephanie scoffed, saying it was more like a threat to his life if it was known he had it. She conceded one point that he could keep the can after the tests maybe substituting another nanite in its place.
Anne urged Keith to agree, which he did after gaining assurances that he could watch the tests and be privy to the information resulting from them.
~OOOo~
Stephanie had handed the canister to the chief engineer, after explaining the problem. She was shocked at first, then shock turned to anger as she realised the implications this meant.
"We are going to have to do more screening of our customers now, we can’t let this technology get into the wrong hands."
As she took the canister and removed the nozzle, she inserted it into a box like apparatus that allowed the contents to be analysed, with out the contents being exposed.
"Oh crap!" she cried, when she read off the display.
"Pam, what’s wrong?" Stephanie said, worriedly.
"This is bad, we need to destroy this now before it gets loose," was her only reply.
"Tell me what’s wrong."
Pam ignored her while she pressed some buttons then removed the can, sighing in relief.
"There, it’s destroyed. Then turning to Stephanie and Keith, she started to talk, her voice edged with both fear and relief.
"Someone, somewhere has altered one of our nanites. I know this because of the genetic marker we put on it. This was to protect us in case someone tried to pass one off as ours. Anyway some has taken our breakthrough in genetic reprogramming to a new height, and given the nanite the power to copy anyone’s code they come in contact with." Pam continued.
"You me I’m contagious?" Keith said looking worried.
"You have been exposed to… this"
"Yes, I’m afraid so," Stephanie said, interrupting Pam.
"Oh my, you poor girl, i’m so sorry..."
"I’m not a girl... well I am now he corrected, but I was a man, Keith raged.
"So it has started already," sighed Pam. "I was hoping for more time. No you’re not contagious as in normal contact and we can’t get it off you, but any DNA samples the nanites touch will be recorded. Either though sex and kissing to any blood that you may come in contact with. It seems as if they have given the nanites a type of E.S.P. that enables them to trigger the changes."
"Then that’s how I became Anne, I kissed her," Keith mused.
"Oh god, No! Keith exclaimed.
"What?" everyone chorused.
"The blood, the blood from the girl," he repeated.
"What blood? And what girl," asked Anne, getting apprehensive.
Keith explained about substituting for Anne at the emergency room, when he got the girls blood on his skin. Thinking about the girl and visualizing her face, the nanites containing her DNA activated, triggering the changes.
Suddenly, Keith started feeling strange as if he was melting, his skin felt like it was tightening and his bones seemed to altering as well. Startled gasps made him realise that he wasn’t imagining things, and as he felt himself shrinking, he knew with a sinking heart what was happening to him.
"I’m turning into her, i’m becoming Genni Smith." He noticed his voice seemed even higher *I bet I could sing as a soprano* came the incongruous thought. As he shrank his clothes loosened, and he struggled to keep his new form covered. In a few minutes more, the changes slowed as the nanites completed their programming.
To be continued…
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