McMillan Tech Industries, former office of Marketing Executive Martin Stragey
Dr. Fairlane listened patiently as the CEO in the form of a cheerleader spoke. "This is ridiculous. It's absurd. It's insane." McMillan said. "I'm a man! I'm over 50 years old! I have a wife and daughter, and I'm the head of a successful company! This... this is impossible!"
Anissa nodded. "Impossible?"
"Yes! Impossible!" McMillan replied. "Suddenly finding myself in the body of a girl my daughter's age ... wearing a cheerleader's outfit ... just because of some weird ray gun. That doesn't happen in the real world! And yet..."
"This is a very strange day for all of us." Anissa said. "The whole world is trying to come to grips with traditional firearms suddenly and instantly being replaced with devices out of science fiction and fantasy. What I want to know is how you feel about this. I've heard accounts from Dr. McLewis and other witnesses. But I'd like to hear first hand from you. What happened, and what you experienced."
"I ... I don't know where to begin." McMillan said hesitantly.
"Perhaps you begin at the incident itself." Anissa Fairlane said gently. "From what I have heard, you were in an impromptu meeting with four other people on the Board of Directors when Mr. Stragey barged in. Can you tell me what happened?"
"We were all holed up in the meeting room. We were ... well, debating ... okay, arguing over the PR nightmare that's sure to come once the press finds out our company was involved in ... whatever happened. But really we were hiding in there waiting for the whole Transformation Gun crisis in the building to run its course. I thought locking the door with a combination would work, but then..."
"Mr. Stragey showed up. Is that correct?" Anissa asked. When McMillan nodded, Anissa signaled for her patient to continue.
"I don't know how he got in. Ms. McLewis ... Dr. McLewis ... said I chose a too obvious combination. She said he held her at gunpoint with that ... whatever it was. The Transformation Gun."
"And what happened when Mr. Stragey arrived?" Anissa asked.
"Stragey was demanding that the Board make him the head of the Marketing Department. We'd already given that position to Mr. Adaway. But he was crazy. He said he was going to use that ray gun of his to make us change our minds. Or something. I forget exactly what he said."
Anissa nodded. "Understandable, given the circumstances. What happened next?"
"He fired that weird ray gun at us. I ... changed." McMillan said.
"How did you change?" Anissa asked.
"I turned into a woman. A Pacific Island woman." McMillan said. "All this knowledge of Pacific Island indigenous culture I didn't know anything about before or cared about was in my head. I felt like ... God, I felt like I was a woman from the Pacific. And yet I remembered who I was. Who I'd been before."
"I suppose we all did. You'd have to ask them, though." McMillan continued. "I felt very different. But I remembered I was supposed to be in charge. When Stragey asked if we were going to make him Department Head, I said something like 'Who do you think you are?'. I was confused, but not so confused I didn't know a delusional fool when I saw one."
"The others were changed, but they felt the same way. One said this wasn't the right way to go about it. But Clay ... Clay was different. I turned to the woman Clay had become, and I saw the evil grin on her face. She said, in a whisper 'This is my time now'."
"I knew right away what she meant. I knew Clay was still in there, and all his worst qualities had somehow been amplified." McMillan said.
"Worst qualities?" Anissa asked. She had heard a lot about the late COO of McMillan Tech Industries, Clay Dankworth, but she wanted to hear what McMillan had to say about him.
"Clay was an ambitious man, no question about it. And he wasn't above a little manipulation, maybe some blackmail, to make things go his way. I don't know why, but I'm ashamed to say he did some of that on my behalf. He was all in favor of my promoting Denise Brewster and putting her in charge of the Pittsburgh branch, so that the more easily intimidated Doug Sallow could be put in charge of Research and Development. Ms. Brewster warned me that some day Clay might turn against me. So did Sarah ... my daughter. So did a lot of people, actually."
"Do you think he would have turned against you even without the influence of the Transformation Gun?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"I don't know. Maybe he would have, at some later time. We'll never really know." McMillan replied. "But that woman he turned into was still Clay, only combined with that of some scheming female villain from one of those old TV shows. And with this totally evil grin ... wait, did I just say that? Never mind. Anyway, Clay then tried to take the Transformation Gun away from Stragey. And that's when things REALLY went crazy."
McMillan paused for a moment, as Anissa waited patiently for the CEO in the form of a cheerleader to continue.
"The Random Gun. That was what Dr. McLewis told us it was, afterward. But none of us knew what it was then. Nothing could have prepared us for what happened next." McMillan said.
"Stragey and Clay fought over the Random Gun, and Clay changed again. He turned into ... dear God, into some crazy escaped mental patient out of a horror movie. He then grabbed the Random Gun, and turned Stragey into a scared girl. And then ... he laughed and said 'There's gonna be some changes round here!' in this insane madman's growling squeal. And then... I ... I..."
"Sir?" Anissa asked.
"I ... I don't want to think about it." McMillan said, after a pause.
"Do you remember what happened next?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"I... I think so. I think I do." McMillan said. "It all happened so fast. He spun around, zapping each of us over and over. Everyone kept changing. I kept changing. I... it hurts just to think about it."
Anissa patiently waited, and McMillan continued.
"I became ... so many different people. Different thoughts, feelings, desires. I think I became a tall black basketball player at some point, but I didn't have time to focus on it before I changed again. Into ... a 1930s newsboy? An old Asian man? A librarian woman? I can't remember which order they came in. It all happened so fast. Each new set of thoughts and feelings didn't last a minute before the next change. Some might have ... blurred together."
"What changes do you remember?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"I kept changing. Different ages, races, sexes. I was some anime fangirl at some point, an 80s hair metal rock star at another, a knight straight out of some medeival fantasy, a female French aristocrat... I don't even remember much about them. It came too fast. Please, don't ask me to think harder. My head ... it's hurting just from trying to remember this much."
"It's all right." Dr. Fairlane said. "Tell me what you do recall."
"I couldn't focus. Too many changes at once. But I remember the laughter. God, the horrible, maniacal laughter. No human should laugh like that. It was Clay. He was screaming 'CHANGE! CHANGE' over and over again. I don't think he cared anymore. He was too far gone."
McMillan paused for a second. "And then ... boom! There was this explosion. Clay blew up, and the rest of us changed one more time. I ... don't remember what happened next. Next thing I knew, I was lying on a couch in the waiting area, thinking about cheerleading practice and the next big game. I'm not sure I knew who I was at that point."
"Cheerleading practice?" Anissa asked.
"I think ... I thought I really was a cheerleader at that point. An eighteen year old girl. I remembered being other people, but ... God, I was so lost. I think I remembered being me, but it didn't feel real then. It felt like ... one of those dreams you have where you dream you're someone else and then you wake up. I didn't know what was going on or where I was, only that I hoped I recovered in time for cheerleading practice."
"How long did you feel this way?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"For a while." McMillan said. "No one could tell me who I really was, because they didn't know either. Not even Dr. McLewis. She didn't see what happened because she was hiding behind a couch in the waiting area, and didn't see most of the transformations. Or so she told me later."
"And then, suddenly... I remembered who I really was. So did everyone else. I realized that I really was Richard McMillan, CEO of McMillan Tech Industries, Susan's husband and Sarah's father."
Dr. Fairlane paused. "Do you know how your original personality reasserted itself as the real ... or at least the dominant one?"
"No. I don't know how it happened." McMillan said. "One minute, I was convinced I really was a cheerleader, the next, my real self was in charge. I'm still stuck in this body, though."
"And the cheerleader persona still intrudes every now and then?" Anissa asked.
"Yes. Sometimes these weird thoughts come to me when I'm trying to talk." McMillan said. "I get the urge to go twirl a baton or do gymnastics, or say some chant. But I think I might be able to control it."
Dr. Fairlane nodded. She had only really seen the signs of it once during this discussion, during McMillan's description of the 'totally evil grin'. "So, do you think you can control it?"
"If I try hard enough." McMillan said. "But I don't want to be in this body any more than I have to. If Nolan Mousse hears about this, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Aside from the mockery of rival tech company leaders, what are your fears associated with being in your current form?"
"You're right. It's not just them. It's what the rest of the Board will think. And my wife. And my daughter." McMillan groaned.
"By 'rest of the Board', you are referring to those who were not present during that meeting, correct?"
McMillan nodded. "Yes. That includes the heads of the Legal Department and the PR Department, Ms. Brewster, and several outside directors. I'd like to be back to myself before the next meeting if at all possible."
"I understand." Anissa said. "However, I need to interview the other transformed people from the meeting. We'll need to compare situations and notes. And then we'll see what can be done. Thank you for your time, Mr. McMillan."
She then headed outside the office, to speak with Larry and Carrie, telling them to escort McMillan back to the waiting/rest area, and return with one of the other transformees.
