McMilllan Tech Industries, former office of Marketing Executive Martin Stragey
Dr. Anissa Fairlane next spoke with MTI's Chief Financial Officer Nicholson Quarterson, now in the form of a young woman dressed as a 1920s flapper. "Despite my current appearance, I'm Nicolson Quarterson, 57. I'm married, and have two children. I helped Mr. McMillan found this company many years ago. I think we can safely say none of us saw anything like this coming."
Anissa nodded. "How do you feel?"
"I feel ... all right, actually. This body's younger. No physical aches and pains, though I do have the urge to drink sometimes. But that's nothing unusual. I've always been up for a drink now and then when I'm not on the job." Quarterson said. "But I do sometimes feel the urge to sing and dance at what they used to call speakeasies."
"How deep is this urge? Are there any other thoughts and feelings you did not have before?" Anissa asked.
"Plenty." Quarterson replied. "First off, I know what it's like to be a young woman in her mid-20s now, though I didn't several hours ago. Secondly, I know all these things about the 1920's I didn't know before. Prohibition and speakeasies and the Gilded Era ... that's no longer just in the history books for me -- I feel like all that happened yesterday. Even though the 1920s ended decades before I was born."
"But you know that the 1920s is by now a century ago, correct?" Anissa asked.
"I do now." Quarterson replied. "But when I woke up after the ... explosion ... I was confused. I wasn't sure who I was. I was fairly sure I was a young woman and it was 1923 or was it 1924 or 25? Some time in the 20s. I saw these people in the waiting area carrying things I didn't recognize. When Dr. McLewis said that rectangle she took out of her pocket was a 'phone', it didn't make sense. Phones were things with dials and cords that sit on tables, not small boxes people not only talked into but read and sent text messages on."
"It was only later that I remembered who I was, and then everything that was happening around me made more sense." Quarterson continued. "I don't know what happened, or why, but my original self was in charge again. And it looked like everyone else ... recovered ... at the same time."
"That matches what I have heard so far." Anissa noted. "Now, can you tell me what happened at the meeting?"
"You mean when Stragey barged in?" Quarterson asked. "Well, he came in all mad that we gave the Marketing Department Head position to Mr. Adaway and not him. So he used that thing that Dr. McLewis called the 'Random Gun' to change us all. He thought that would make us change our minds and give him the position or some nonsense like that."
"Do you remember what you changed into?" Anissa asked.
"I changed into an old woman. In her 80s I think. A sort of stereotypical kindly old grandmother. I even offered Stragey some tea in an attempt to calm him down. I still remembered who I was, though."
"And what happened afterward?" Anissa asked.
"Well, you probably know already. Mr. Dankworth got in a fight with Stragey, got zapped with that thing, and turned into a crazy person. Then he kept changing us over and over again seemingly just for kicks. He was screaming and laughing the whole time. God, that horrible laugh..."
"Do you remember what you were changed into?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"I think so. Let's see. A samurai warrior, then a black woman, then a man from ancient Rome. And then ... a nun? A cowboy? A cowgirl? A cheerleader? A Goth metal musician? I can't remember which order they came in. All these new thoughts. New personalities. They came and went ... so quickly."
Anissa detected sadness in Quarterson's tone. She listened as her patient continued.
"It's so strange. New personalities came and went. They went before I really got a chance to get to know them. And yet ... they were me. Sort of. I don't know how to feel..."
"Anyway, we kept getting changed over and over again until that Random Gun or whatever it's called blew up, and then we lost consciousness. Next thing I knew, I was in the waiting area, being looked after by the people Dr. McLewis brought in. The rest you know."
The next person Dr. Anissa Fairlane spoke with in the office was Elinor Stallsworth. "I'm Elinor Stallsworth. Until a few hours ago, I was a woman, 47 years old, divorced. I'm head of the Accounting Department." Sitting on the couch, however, was what appeared to be a twenty-nine year old man dressed in a baseball uniform.
"And how are you feeling?" Anissa asked.
"Weirded out." Stallsworth said. "This is so strange. I feel a little too natural in this body. And I have these weird thoughts. I was never into baseball before, but now I'm thinking in baseball metaphors some times."
"Is this accompanied by urges to play a game?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"Sometimes. But it hasn't taken over completely, like it did when I woke up."
"Woke up? Do you mean after the incident in the board room?" Anissa asked.
"Yes. I remember passing out after the last transformation, and waking up on a couch in the waiting area. I didn't know what was going on, what inning it was, who was at bat. I looked around for a coach, but all I saw was Dr. McLewis ... not a medical doctor, but a scientist, and that Dr. Elaine ... not really a doctor, just another person zapped with the Random Gun, and a few others."
"And you thought you were the male baseball player you appear to be now?" Dr. Fairlane asked.
"Yes. I didn't know what was happening or what I was doing there. And then suddenly everything came back, and I remembered I was Elinor Stallsworth. I remembered everything."
"What do you remember about the incident in the meeting room?" Anissa asked.
Stallsworth paused. "We were arguing over what to do about the Transformation Gun situation. We knew somehow something had happened in Research and Development to start all of this, and we needed to get in touch with people from that department. It was then that Stragey showed up, angry about not getting the position of Department Head of Marketing. He didn't care at all about what the Transformation Gun situation was doing to the company - all it was for him was an opportunity."
Stallsworth continued. "He had one of those Transformation Guns himself, which we later found out was the Random Gun. He zapped all of us with it, apparently because he thought it would change us into people who would give him the promotion and new position he wanted. Or something like that. Screw him."
"And you were changed? In what way?" Anissa asked.
"I turned into a boy. A nerdy boy, about eighteen. High school, ready for college. I was confused. I ended up trying to nicely tell Stragey this wasn't the right way to get us to change our decision." Stallsworth said.
"What can I say? I was confused and disoriented. And then Dankworth attacked Stragey. I never liked Dankworth before - he was so manipulative. Gaslighting, lies, intimidation. His trying to take over was the only non-surprising thing that happened there."
"Anyway, in the fight, Dankworth got zapped by the Random Gun and got turned into a raving lunatic. He then grabbed the Random Gun from Stragey and kept zapping us over and over again, laughing and screaming like the madman he'd become the whole time. I turned into an old woman, a fat man, a female lounge singer, a ... I'm not sure I remember them all. I don't remember which order they came in."
Anissa waited as Stallsworth paused.
"I was, at different points, a male ninja, an Asian woman, a Tudor nobleman, a boxer, a medieval knight. A female 70s rock star. All these new thoughts and feelings coming in, and then being replaced by new ones in ... seconds? It's ... how do I describe it?"
Stallsworth paused for a moment. "I don't think I've ever seriously believed in reincarnation, but that was what it was like. Being reincarnated without dying first and having to be born and grow up again. Only it happened nineteen or twenty times in three minutes or less."
Anissa nodded as she took notes. "What else do you remember?"
"I remember the madman Dankworth became screaming 'CHANGE! CHANGE!' over and over again. It's like he'd become someone obsessed with transformation, the way a pyromaniac is obsessed with fire." Stallsworth said. "If he'd lived, you'd have had to send him to the rubber room."
Anissa made no comment, and just let Stallsworth continue.
"Anyway, there was this explosion, then blood and guts splattering everywhere, and we all changed one more time. Next thing I knew, I woke up on a couch in the waiting area near the meeting room. I already told you that part, didn't I?"
"Yes." Anissa said gently.
"Good. I'd rather we not go into extra innings." Stallsworth said. "See? There it was. I still get these baseball thoughts sometimes."
"Do you believe you have these thoughts under control?" Anissa asked.
"Maybe." Stallsworth said. "I'm conscious of them. Like just now. Maybe it's for the best. I'm a bit worried about these Restoration Guns."
"Worried?" Anissa asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"We still don't know how our original selves regained control." Stallsworth said. "I heard Rachel McLewis. She said we'd have to be zapped about 20 times to be restored to our original forms. But what happens to us in the process? What about the other ... personalities?"
"The way I understand it, they're not trying to force the Restoration Guns on anyone." Dr. Fairlane replied. "You don't have to go through with it if you don't want to. But I am told you have thirty days to decide. Ryan Leeson told me they only work on transformations that are thirty days old or less, though since they've only actually existed for less than 24 hours, this hasn't been put to the test."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Dr. Fairlane." Stallsworth said.
Dr. Anissa Fairlane now only had two more people to interview. She was fairly certain the session with Roman Coakley would go fairly smoothly, though she wondered if Stragey would be as cooperative and open as the others had been.
