Tifany's father, Mr Saunders was... nervous.
He knew he was supposed to sleep, indeed this weekend was the best time to sleep. He was struggling with the new schedule. It wasn't just the getting up at night, it was the total lack of any sunlight. He never considered himself a sunny person before, but...
... or maybe, it was something more then that. He felt like he was a prisoner, trapped in both night and day. He couldn't leave his house in the day, and at night... his daughter was around. It was like she never slept...
... he was deeply afraid of her her. Even now he was quietly trying to keep tabs on her movements. She seemed to be in her room, but he wasn't completely sure. There was one time he turned and she was right there.
God what what she! It was not like any transformation any of the other families had to deal with. Indeed she 'looked' human... at least, at first. But it was like she wore the human skin as a costume, creating a very unsettling effect.
HE laid there in bed, counting the hours, trying to wait for his daughter to leave the house... but hours into the afternoon, and he did not hear the familiar sound of the door opening. She had not left her room... what was she doing there all day?
... hunger made him get up in the end. Maybe a hot pot of coffee will ease his troubled mind. What was he supposed to do? He put on a simple dressing gown and did his best to very quietly tip toe past his daughter's room. One of the floor boards creaked slightly and he cringed.
... it didn't look like Tiffany had reacted. He thanked his fortune and quietly as he could made his way to the kitchen.
He glanced at the shades, thankful they were all closed. He put some bread in a toaster, and started brewing a cup of coffee.
Andy was starting to get distracted again. The bunny girl... was trying to concentrate on the various jobs on offer, but there was that.. itch. it was making her fidget. She knew it was just herself and her mate in the house at the moment... and ... that excited her.
But... in this body? As she was?
She tried to ignore those feelings, turning the page on the newspaper. She was vaguely aware of it feeling very warm now. Tell tell signs on her chest were also quite visible.. Still, she ignored it.
Her rabbit ears moved, tracking the position of her mate... how easy it would be to pounce on her- "No.." She whimpered, in a rather.. husky voice. She gritted her teeth. God this was horrible...
Was it wrong? They were a married couple...but... She wanted to earn his love again. She didn't deserve... affection.
Maybe a cold shower will help.
Mr Gordon looked at the mail, and started recording the results on the computer in his room. The genetic results... were very strange.
What was perhaps the strangest thing of all, was just how 'similar' it all was. Despite the huge variety of phenotype changes being brought out by the sunlight, actual genetic change was minimal. There were 'additions' and 'subtractions'... but nothing that suggested a completely different species. There were still thirty two pairs of chromosomes in all the subjects so far. This indicated a very strong possibility that everyone was still capable of forming offspring... even if they were completely different from each other. But then they only looked at a few so far.
What was going on here?
He paced himself back and forth in a hallway. On a bookshelf, he saw one of his favourite books. The Origin of species, by Charles Darwin. A great man, in his mind... what would he think, of what was going on? The situation here went completely against Darwin's theory- no fact of evolution... species do not simply 'form' as they have here...
... that got him thinking. The species clearly 'could' evolve in some other world. Perhaps in places where physical laws were different. If one accepted infinite universes, every possibility and every physical law could play out in a multi-verse.
Is that what was going on? Were humans being merged with species from other Earths? Or other concepts of Earth even? There was a theory a long time ago, which explained the wave-particle duality of a photon by invoking parallel Earths... A paradoxical experiment where a photon will interfere with itself despite not being able to split. Any school boy worth his salt knew the test. The multi-universe theory suggested a photon was interfering with another photon in another universe.
a crackpot theory to be sure, but what if something like that was going on?
Could the light... be in some way, evoking a quantum change to human matter of this world? But this caused another problem... why only human matter? Why not other animals? And why... only direct contact with the sunlight?
He made a note for the physics lab to try creating an interference pattern with the sunlight. Maybe they will discover something.
Mr Gordon needed more genetic samples...
He sat on the table, when his keen eyes noticed... something. A long string of white hair, that could only have belonged to Jenny... An instinct took hold of him, as he held it, noting it had follicles in it that might help their genetic studies.
Jenny was as close to human as he had ever seen anyone under the sunlight.. a miracle of minimal change. Could he... should he... he already put the hair in a piece of cling-film to prevent contamination. He stared at it for a long time trying to decide the ethical and moral implications of taking a sample he found... from an innocent child no less, that had not provided any consent.
... but it could help them find a cure! Think of the millions of people out there unhappy with their change... if there was only minimal genetic changes, then a retrovirus to remove the changed genes was feasible. This sample could provide the mapping they needed...
... he had no choice. For his children, and that of the human race, he had to take it. It would be unethical to do otherwise. Wouldn't it? He Put the bag inside a container. At first night, he would deliver it personally... this had to be top priority.
"I brought you some snacks," Said Mrs Gordon as she entered Billy's room with a tray. It had Orange juice, and biscuits.
"Thanks Mom," said Billy.
"You're welcome dear," She said.
Jenny looked at the two in silence. She could tell they loved each other very much. But didn't all moms? It made her so glad to have Muriel. She... she hoped her real mom wouldn't get mad at her. She just.. couldn't remember her. As much as she wanted and tried to...
"Mom? Does... dad hate me?" Billy asked.
"Of course not dear. Why do you ask?"
"C-Cause... I'm a.. a... g-girl.." she sniffled slightly at that.
Mrs Gordon hugged the squirrel girl. "Sweetie, of course not. He still thinks of you as his son... how could he hate you? Stacy is still his daughter in his mind too. He didn't mean anything by it..."
Billy looked consoled by that. "I feel like I forgot.. stuff.." she said quietly.
"You are just younger now Billy... that means you are also adaptable to new ways of thinking. You can reach what you were before... or you can take yourself on a different path. You are full of potential... that is a valuable trait." Mrs Gordon explained.
Jenny smiled. "I think she could be really smart too!"
Billy blushed a bit. "T-Thanks..."
Mrs Gordon left the two girls be. She had to check on Stacy. In all the commotion in sorting out Billy, she was concerned they were neglecting Stacy who, might have a far more difficult time with his transformation. It couldn't be easy being a male dinosaur...
Billy decided to change her shirt. From all the playing, it had got quite dirty. Her pants were completely destroyed, and she didn't even consider wearing the jeans anyway indoors. She went to her wardrobe, to select what to wear... finding it very difficult. The fact that most of her clothes were oversized to her body was a mixed blessing. (Probably more disturbing was that her sister's clothes actually fit her.)
Jenny quietly noticed the pattern of the squirrel girls fur. It looked vaguely.. heart shaped? She thought it looked quite neat.
Billy didn't have much that would fit her, so took another overly long T-shirt. It was a white one, and the back was caught by her long tails. She tried to fix it, with a slit cut into the shirt making it easier to let the shirt fall down its full length.
Jenny looked to Billy. The effect.. did look a lot like a dress on her friend. She thought it was pretty. She had been thinking on a new name for her too. "I think I can call you Lilly." she said with a bright smile. She hoped she liked it.
"Huh? Lilly?" Asked the squirrel girl confused.
"Cause.. it's pretty."
The squirrel girl blushed again, her tails twirling to each of her sides a little.
Jenny giggled once more. She thought her new friend was very cute, even if she wasn't a human.
