Anthony mostly let everyone get on with the work, dismantling the clinic. Of course he did have to put on another public appearance, though it looked like there were far less cameras this time. It was just as Alex said, once people knew the start of the story they tended to figure out the rest… it was generally not a good idea to insult their intelligence by suddenly making them ‘wrong’… so just a few confirmation statements, perhaps a little ‘fake humility’… it was all an act and he had it down to a tea.
“How many job losses?” asked a reporter.
Anthony looked at the paper though he had memorised most of it. “About a hundred will be made redundant… but we are bringing those that can work to other parts of the company so maybe that number will be brought down.”
“Will you be giving up on making a photonic water plant?”
Anthony groaned. If it were up to him, they never would have even ‘got’ to this stage! This was all starsparkles doing. He really didn’t want to have to deal with such a company anyway. What in the world was she thinking? “I believe… we can all agree that Photonic Water is a dangerous substance and should be handled with extreme care. Going slowly, building cautiously and safely are hallmarks of our company. We do not wish to create another Millenium Cloud.”*
*The Millenium cloud was created by an unknown country who were experimenting with the Metamorphic Photonic Water in a very large scale. There was an explosion, resulting in a massive cloud of material being ejected into the atmosphere. As a result, puddles of the water rained in random spots across the planet causing changes to anything it made contact with. Fortunately It changed into normal water after about a week…though changed many people.
The interview continued… just some minor questions but for the most part it was all done. Anthony glanced to Alex who was looking around with a clipboard. There were cranes removing vats of chemicals from the second floor, gently placing them down into specialised trucks.
Starsparkle looked at the situation tensely. “Anthony… photonic water can’t just be moved. We’ve been experimenting with it, to try and isolate the healing properties with the transformation. Transporting it now is a bad idea-“ The fairy fluttered close to him trying to make Anthony see reason. “Just give it a few months to cool down.”
The manager shook his head. “I’ve seen your work and I know all about the other studies. Nobody has been able to make photonic water do anything. It’s a hopeless endeavour that has put you into debt. I am very sorry, but those assets need to be seized.”
He glanced at the camera crews still doing their soundbites, watching the cranes go up and down… for a moment he thought of John… the man- er- harpy boy he had to fire. He would normally be working on those cranes now, if he were still here. It looked like they had to hire some other person rather quickly. He seemed to be doing okay with it… but it was clear he was very new to the job.
Anthony paid it no mind. Still he did hope John was doing okay in whatever he was doing.
Starsparkle continued to talk as they went across the side of the building fluttering her soft wings near his ear. “Photonic water has unstable mass. We can’t just remove them like this. Please we need time to make sure it’s settled down-”
“The drums are designed for photonic water. I’m not that stupid… It’s not like you’re the only one that needs to move this material around…” Anthony looked at one of the drums that had the photonic water inside. He gave it a sharp bang with his arm where it went ‘dong’. “See? Hard as steel… nothing is getting out of that.”
Starsparkle winced. “For Goodness sakes don’t tempt fate!” She squirmed. “This stuff goes through spontaneous phase changes! It sometimes just decides to be a gas, or a solid when it ‘feels’ like it. It changes size at random! We still don’t even know how it does this.”
“There’s plenty of room in there for it to grow-“
Then ‘it’ happened. A weird sound of a bang.
The crane operator made a … slight mistake. An elementary, rookie mistake. He was taking one of the vats from the top floor, and swung the arm a little too fast. Another mistake, the lid of the container was not quite ‘fixed’ into place properly. Suddenly the vat opened up, and both Starsparkle and Anthony heard to their shared horror, the clang of a metal lid falling to the ground, barely missing them as it rolled on its side.
“The Vat is open!” Bring it down!” Someone shouted.
“What the hell is going on-“ Anthony reacted suddenly caught off guard.
The crane operator seemed to panic again and started to bring it ‘down’ thinking they meant to ground level. He started the pulley system sharply, agitating the liquid more as it bubbled and turned into steam, forming into a weird cloud-like rainbow. “Crap!” the man cried out as rainbow liquid dripped down the crane and onto his windscreen. He stared at it with horror, but had not made contact with it.
The vat seemed to move back and forth, the agitated liquid suddenly ‘exploding’ upwards like a reverse waterfall. It looked like a beautiful rainbow shooting out of a barrel. There were horrified looks… The cemera’s were all still watching as the accident unfolded…
Exactly like a rainbow, the water bent itself in the air, until it began to fall… somehow missing just about everyone else- as the entire contents fell onto just one man…
Anthony cried out gasping as his black suit was suddenly a spectrum of rainbow coloured chaotic craziness. His hair was wet with the rainbow-water as he stared at his body and clothes knowing what this meant…
The horror... the sheer abject horror of ‘knowing’ what this stuff could do to people that had now made full contact to Anthony. He screamed- though nothing he did would really help.
“No- No!” He started to try taking off his blazer top, but the water was already changing back to ‘normal’ water as if often did when it made contact with anything organic or with sufficient salt… which meant it was now ‘inside’ him, and altering his biochemistry. He felt an odd shiver as his body template began to change…
Reaching for his jacket, for some reason his arm was…. Too short? His entire body was collapsing, falling into itself as he shrunk… smaller and smaller. He looked in a daze as his clothes just ‘crumpled’ underneath him, his shoulders barely holding onto his shirt and tie. “W-What’s hap-“ he tried to take a step and stumbled…
“Let’s get an ambulance here!” Starsparkle called.
Anthony fell forward… but was still struggling against the weight of… his own clothes? His shirt felt so heavy now and it didn’t feel like his legs were even ‘inside his trousers. Something felt like it was happening to his spine as it suddenly pushed itself outward… he felt… fur?! At this point he must have lost consciousness... he went into a strange state of denial, babbling inside his own head and just saying this ‘wasn’t so.. it was just a bad dream… yes… he would wake up right?. His body continued to change…
…the changes continued as the ambulance eventually arrived, and as was started practice put him into a stretcher.. being careful not to touch stray rainbow water.
