Lt. Jameson watched the agent warily. He was standing patiently by the box that contained the device; there wasn't any obvious indication that he was up to anything, but still...she didn't really trust the Feds. Oh, most of them were probably okay, even if they did seem to show a bit more ego than she liked towards local law enforcement agencies...
But she'd done plenty of reading on some of the things that the CIA had got up to over the past sixty years - some of it was pretty astonishing. And while she'd heard nothing to that effect about this new agency, that was mostly because she hadn't heard much about it at all; she wasn't even sure there had been any official announcement or policies on inter-agency cooperation...
Of course, she knew she wasn't supposed to allow her personal biases to keep her from performing her duties, but that didn't mean she had to go beyond normal protocol for someone she didn't know from an agency she'd barely even heard of. She twiddled her wingtips, wondering if he was the sort of person who got bored easily.
Thankfully, her boss showed up before the silent waiting got really awkward. The bear-man was obviously a bit miffed, as he had been about to head for home, but he did his best to smile pleasantly.
"Hello," he said. "Agent Hawkins, was it?" The strange figure nodded. "Sorry for the trouble," the grizzly said. "We're not trying to be obstinate about this, but...well, I'm sure you can understand - someone shows up claiming to be from an agency only a couple of my officers have even heard of...you can see where that would look a little suspicious."
"Yes...I suppose I can," the man said. "I'm afraid that's part of the problem with being a new agency...we're barely even established yet. About the bomb..."
The sergeant nodded. "Yeah, about that...we're still finishing up our investigation into this; we can't hand it off just yet. I can let you examine it under supervision, but if you need to take it away, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for more than just a verbal assurance that it's okay."
Hawkins sighed. "I suppose that will do, for a start...do you mind if I begin now?"
The sergeant shook his head. "Not at all - go ahead. Jameson, would you please keep an eye on things?"
The harpy smirked - he wasn't doing a very good job of hiding how much he just wanted to get home. "Sure thing," she said.
Jon was sitting on her bed, doing a little reading before bed, when Mikey came in. By now Jon had gotten almost completely used to the robot-girl's appearance - she knew, of course, what her little brother-turned-sister had looked like five weeks ago, but it didn't strike as all that strange anymore to see the satiny artificial skin, the iris-less lens eyes, or the white plastic antennae in place of ears.
"Hey, Mikey," she said. "Is something up?" Her little sister looked...troubled.
The robot-girl sat down on the bed. "Yeah..." she said. "I, um...Jon? Can I tell you a secret?"
The slug-girl smiled. "Sure. What is it?"
"I, uh, I have people that live...inside my head, kind of."
Jon wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "How do you mean?" she asked.
"Well," Mikey said, "it's...they're people who have become a specific kind of artificial intelligence...we call 'em digital fairies. A lot of them need homes with people like...like me, because there's not much hardware power for them on ordinary computers..."
"Huh," Jon said. "So you have some in your...uh, your brain? Is that what's bothering you?"
Mikey shook her head. "No! Nope, the two who live with me...they're nice, and they're only with me 'cause I let them be, anyway. But...they went exploring online this morning, and...they haven't come back."
"Oh." This was a bit odd - not so much that these things existed, but that Mikey had gone and invited some in to live in her head...she had always seemed so quiet. Maybe she was just more...open on the Internet?
Right now, though, she was obviously worried. Jon slid over next to her and put her arm around her little sister. "I'm sure they're okay," she said. "The Internet's a big place - they probably just got caught up in things..."
Mikey wasn't really sure she believed that - she ought at least to be getting some feedback information from them if they were connected to her...but it was nice to have someone comforting her. "Thanks," she said, hugging her big sister.
The fairies looked around, frightened. The workshop appeared to be intact, and they seemed fine, but...where were they? They seemed to have been transferred somewhere in the attack...and that wasn't a good sign.
"Wh-where are we?" Dennis asked. "Who was doing that...?"
Janus frowned. "I dunno," he said. "Some cracker with a lot of horsepower, obviously...and at least enough brains to figure out what our backup server was and block it. Beyond that...I have no idea. Maybe another would-be god looking for subjects...maybe not..."
Effie cringed, thinking of that first terrifying encounter...without realizing it, she clutched at Dennis's arm. She couldn't face that again...there had to be a way out of this! There had to!
She sighed, briefly comforted, as Dennis laid his other hand on hers. They sank to the floor, sitting down to think about the situation...
There had to be a way out of here. There had been a way in, after all. This machine was connected to the Internet, obviously - and since their attacker hadn't shown up to gloat yet, maybe the attack was still in progress, and the connection couldn't be closed just yet. If they could just figure out how to get back out...
But if they were running on their attacker's machine now, how could they make it to a safer place without being intercepted? Even if they could get through to the Internet, they'd still be running at their captor's mercy until they made it to another machine that would host them...
Effie drummed her fingers on the frame of her editor nervously - they had to think of something! Who knew how much time they had left? If only they could...She gasped softly as she felt her fingers on the editor, remembering something.
Looking down at it, she saw the emergency programs they'd brought with...programs that provided a nigh-instant transport effect. There was one that would take them straight back to Mikey, if they could get a direct connection to her, and there was a backup, too, that would try for one of a list of safe servers or just a random "not-here" destination - and surely anywhere would be better than here - or at least a lateral move.
She had a copy, Dennis had a copy...and data being flawlessly replicable, it should be simple enough to give Janus a copy...but it would only work if they could get through to the Internet...
"Dennis!" she said. "The recall programs - this thing's gotta have its connection open right now, can you get us through?"
He frowned. "I dunno...I'm sure they've taken steps to block it, so no promises, but I'll do everything I can."
Effie smiled warmly. "I know you can do it..." she said. Dennis's frown melted away and he smiled back, then went to work.
Janus looked a little concerned, but hopeful. "I see you two came prepared - good thinking. Wish I'd had my net-travel editor and not my programmer's editor with me..."
Effie frowned. "You can have two?"
He nodded. "Well, really it's just another instance of my editor loaded up with different utilities, but close enough. It's back with Virtigo, though...think you can give me a copy of that?"
She nodded. "Sure...uh, how do I do that?"
"What? It's just a quick Ctrl-oh dammit, I'm still used to keyboard navigation. Um, I think you can sort of shift-drag it if you keep a finger in place on yours and drag it over to mine..." He pulled out his editor - like Dennis's, it was a no-frills affair, simple text on a black background, though it did have colored text and some gradient patterns around the border.
Effie tried his suggestion, and it worked - the program appeared in his editor without disappearing from hers. Now, were they ready? They'd have to be ready to jump on whatever short window of opportunity Dennis could give them...
Janus and Effie both turned to look at the daemon, who was standing politely off in one corner of the room. "Oh..." Effie said. "Um, do you think it's possible for us to get him to...?"
The Linux fairy frowned. "I don't know," he said. "He is...or he was a fairy, so I presume he's got an editor we can copy it into...but as to whether we can get him to use it...I dunno."
Steve and his...her mother had been in the waiting room for nearly half an hour. By this point it was quite apparent that she was emitting a floral scent. It was kind of like lilac, sweet and strong, but not overpowering. Of course, to Steve it meant that she now had built-in perfume...it wasn't a comfort.
Especially not considering that this apparently meant her changes still weren't over. What would happen next time she stepped out into the cool post-rain mist? What would she have become when this was all done with?
"Mr. Daguerre?" the receptionist said. "The doctor will see you now..."
Steve trailed behind her mother as they followed the receptionist, feeling afraid of what the doctor would tell her. What hope did she have of returning to normal?
The doctor turned out to be a woman with the legs and tail of a mare (though on a biped model rather than the standard centaur,) and pointed, fuzzy ears. "Hello," she said, smiling, a bit bleary. "Steven, right? Sorry for the delay."
"Oh, I hope we didn't get you up...?" Mrs. Daguerre said. The doctor smiled. "Don't worry, ma'am - I've had worse calls at later hours than this. Just part of the job. Now, Steven, if you would undress, please?"
Steve hesitated, still not wanting to admit to herself that this was really happening...but there was no way around it. She removed her sweatpants, gently easing them around the petals on her waist, then lifted off her shirt.
The doctor nodded sagely - how many people like this had she seen, Steve wondered? She gently lifted up the front petal for a peek at Steve's changed nethers. "Hmm," she said. "How long have you been like this?"
"Um...two weeks," Steve said. "I, uh, I only had the flowers on my chest...they were buds, and my, uh...my privates were...they weren't petals, they were human...the rest of this was all today..."
She saw surprise in the doctor's face - oh, that couldn't be good...!
"Hmm," the mare-woman said. "So you've experience further changes since the initial change? That's unusual."
"Is this something new?" Steve's mother asked. The doctor shook her head. "Not exactly - it's been reported in a few cases - but it is quite unusual. Steven, have you noticed any triggers for this?"
"Um, rain, I think..."
The doctor nodded as she gently probed Steve's cut. "I see. That would make sense...it's likely the more plant-like changes have been laying dormant until there are what would be perceived to be more appropriate conditions for them to manifest..."
Steven couldn't believe how the doctor could just discuss this so calmly - didn't she realize how important this was? "Wh-what's going to h-happen to me!?" she blurted.
The doctor sighed. "Just a moment, please." She went to the supply cabinet and rummaged around until she found a sponge and some bandages. She knelt down in front of the flower-girl and began to gently rub away the dried "blood" on the cut.
"It's difficult to say for sure," she said. "Transformations can vary pretty widely even within a particular category, and since these changes didn't manifest right off the bat, we don't really have any way to know what else is in store for you." She held the two edges of the cut together firmly while she applied the bandage.
"What I can tell you," she said, "is that many plant-based transformees have green skin, somewhat mossy hair, and often some assorted leaves and flowers across their body. But that's not always the case - some do maintain a more human appearance." Steve frowned - this wasn't what she wanted to hear! What about changing back?
"The floral transformees recorded," the doctor said, "also have quite a sizable 'flower' area relative to their total body size - so I'd expect these petals around your waist to get a bit larger than this - down to your knees, maybe. Beyond that...the only real way to know is to wait and see - or to try and induce it to finish."
"I've, uh, I've heard about people getting rooted to the ground...?" Steve's mother said. "Is that...?"
The doctor nodded. "That does happen, yes. But in all such cases so far, the transformee has taken root immediately upon changing - I don't think Steven has anything to worry about there." Both the flower-girl and her mother breathed a sigh of relief.
"And, well...I think that's about all I can really tell you," the doctor said. "As far as care for that cut, it was already clotting up fine when you got here, so the petal can take care of itself - but keep pressure off it."
Steve frowned. "Does that mean...?"
She nodded. "Don't wear pants on top of the petals, yes - at least not until the cut is healed."
"But...but...I don't want this!" Steve stammered. "Any of it! Can't you just, you know...take them off? And the flowers, too...?"
The doctor's manner suddenly turned more serious. "Steven, listen to me," she said. "First off, there's no medical need for procedures like those - they'd be cosmetic surgery, and I am not a cosmetic surgeon. But more importantly, they're part of your body now. You need to take care of them just like any other part of you."
Steve gaped. "But...I can't live as a...!"
The doctor sighed. "I'm afraid you're going to have to," she said. "This isn't something that's just going to go away."
Steve reeled. She couldn't be hearing this! She couldn't be stuck...stuck as a flower-girl!?
