"I can't say," I said to Christy.
"Why not?" she insisted.
I rolled my eyes, hoping this would not be a drawn-out debate, "It's an RET secret project, and I've been sworn to secrecy about it."
"Come on, you can tell me! If you're going to be gone for a month, at least tell me what they're gonna do with you!" She held my hands tight, thinking she could force an answer out of me.
"Well, I can't tell you everything, but..."
Her eyes widened, "What? What is it?"
"You know that the RET is talking about deep space colonization, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
I paused. I couldn't figure out what to say next before giving it all away. "Forget it," I said.
"Nick!"
"I'll be gone for a month, and that'll be it! And when I come back, you're gonna find out the wait was worth it!"
"What're you talking about, Nick?"
"I have to go, Christy. They were expecting me ten minutes ago."
I'm not big on goodbyes. But on the other hand, I was only going to be gone for a month. Listen to me, acting like it's no big deal! They're talking about big time genetic engineering, and I'm talking to Christy like I'm visiting the space colonies! And it is a big deal. When I am through, if I get through this at all, I'll be a completely different...thing! Talk about taking one for Earth.
So, there I was, at the RET Research Center. "Research Center." What a cold, neutral term. It said nothing of the experiments I knew that were going on in here. Not that they were inhumane, because they weren't. But if people knew for real, they'd flip. Still, as I sat in the waiting room I tried in vain to push out all fear and anxiety that I held inside. I shouldn't be scared, I said to myself. What they said over the videocom sounded pretty cool. Even my parents thought it was history in the making. What's to be scared about?
I looked at the posters that lined the wall of the waiting room. "Republic Earth Territories: See The Stars, And Beyond" one poster advertising the Fleet read. I could've been a pilot. I could've held the controls of my very own EX-210, dodging asteroids along the belt and blasting debris in my way. But what they were proposing...was heavy. It was unique, it was unheard of. Which was why I would go for something like this.
"Mr. Jeffries?" a man said to me.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"They're ready to see you now."
I examined the medi-vial they handed to me. Inside was a clear liquid that reflected the lights on the ceiling. Inside the vial was my future.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Nanorobots," one of the doctors at the opposite end of the table said with an emotionless tone.
"And...there are supposed to...?"
"That's right."
"I don't understand," I said, "How is this going to turn me into a wolf?"
"A wolf-hybrid, Mr. Jeffries," another doctor said.
"Fine. How does it work."
The labcoats shifted in their seats. "Uh," one said, "It's complicated, really."
"Try me."
"Well, each nanorobot in that vial serves a distinct function. Some will be rewriting your DNA, while others will actually be changing your physical makeup."
"But they will have to replicate in your bloodstream for the thing to work," another said.
"Exactly."
A cold chill shot up my body. The whole thing sounde...eerie. My hand...the one holding the medi-vial, trembled noticeably.
"Mr. Jeffries," the first doctor said, this time with a hint of compassion, "You can back out now. Before we begin."
All of a sudden, quitting before I started seemed attractive. I didn't have to go through it, they said over and over. But I had to convince myself that my mind was set. It wasn't, so I said, "I'm ready," before I could change my mind.
They took me to a separate room. A two-way mirror occupied one wall, while other decorations - a bed, a desk, a vid - took up the rest of the room.
They left me alone to administer the serum myself. My hands shook again. This...THIS was a one-way trip. There may very well be no turning back. But if it worked, if the damn thing worked it would be the greatest thing to hit the streets since curing cancer.
I looked at myself in the mirror. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Tan-skinned. Human. The doctors said I would still look like a human for the first week. Hell, for all intents and purposes I would still be human. They even took a picture of me before we got started. But I knew this would change everything.
All it took was for me to inject the damn thing into my arm. After that it would begin. So I sat down and put the contents medi-vial into the molecular spray that lay on the desk. Placing the spray onto my arm, I reluctantly but finally pressed the button to inject the nanorobots into my bloodstream. It was painless and quick, and actually had a tingling sensation that calmed my fear. When it was finished, the spray left a small mark on my arm. One mark, the first of many.
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