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From: "Jeff Rose" <jsrose@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories.tg
Subject: RP: TG New U ch.6

Obviously, the characters and situations presented are fiction and any
resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.  Please
feel free to post or archive with notification. Otherwise, this work
should be considered copyright 1997 Jeffrey S. Rose and no part should
be published in printed form except for review/critical analysis, or
offered for sale without consent of the author.

--

Jeffrey S Rose (jsrose@ix.netcom.com) "Lineage, social status; why
should these things matter so much? That's how grown-ups are. If
that's so, I'd be happier as a child, never growing up."
- Washuu (Tenchi-Muyo!, OAV#8, Hello Baby)

"All humans, without exception, want love. No organic or emotional, or
psychological damage can remove that need. Humans can survive, albeit
in pain, without being loved - but lock a man in a dungeon and he will
find an ant to love, or try to. The sociopath, who feels no emotions,
wishes he could love, and is driven mad by his impotence."
- Michael Finn "Callahan's Secret


New U Ch.6: Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day By Jeff Rose 1997

"We have met the enemy and he is us."
- Walt Kelly s Pogo


"Jamie?", Anne bent down to touch his/her shoulder. It had been
midnight before Jamie s body slowed its transformation. Anne handled
cleaning him up while Chris and Beth got fresh sheets out of his/her
chest. She marveled at how easily Jamie s new form could be lifted
from the bed. When they were done and Jamie was placed between the
clean cotton sheets, she d watched as the pitifully small body
arranged itself in a fetal position and began snoring softly.

"Jamie, can you hear me?" Rude vibrations rocked Jamie. Turquoise eyes
flickered open briefly then shut and reported a nasty loud brightness
outside. His brain mulled this over a bit and decided to send some
test signals out.  "Fleebe aclone", Jamie mumbled and turned slightly.
Shifting the extremities about produced reports of stiffness and mild
discomfort. The ears confirmed that the voice was back on line, but
the pitch was cranked too high and the tongue and lips were having
problems with coordination. The lack of "Witch s Promise"playing in
the background meant actually getting up was optional. Then the bowels
and bladder walked up and said they had something to bring out for
discussion. They got priority in these situations so the brain kicked
the conscious mind out of the storage bin it was screwing around in
with the subconscious and powered up the rest of the system.  Jamie
had discovered early in life that getting out bed and into a standing
position quickly was imperative if he was actually going to wake up.
It started in high school when he began noticing a tendency to overuse
the snooze button. So he placed the alarm clock on the opposite end of
the room and left the volume high. Later, rooming with others who
frequently did not appreciate rising as early forced him to learn to
reach that alarm as quickly as possible.  Anne was just about to sit
down again when Jamie s turquoise eyes flew open as he simultaneously
threw the sheet off and rolled onto his back.  Normally this would be
followed by heaving his legs out onto the floor while using the
momentum to bounce himself into a vertical position.  What Anne saw
however, was Jamie s calves striking the edge of the mattress followed
by a startled "Eeep!" as said mattress flung Jamie heels over head
backwards to the floor with an loud thwup.

* * *

The drive to the airport was made in deafening silence. Rick Angstrom
had seen Dani put up with myriad pains over the past five years. The
loss of her hair, dental problems as the enamel was slowly stripped
from her teeth, even the loss of continence during the bone marrow
transplant , didn t faze her. But this latest round of changes was
tearing her apart. He promised himself he would do the same thing to
Harry Selznick when he got hold of the little worm.  He looked into
the rearview mirror and said, "We ll be there shortly Dani."

Dani just sat there, staring out the windshield with those odd
turquoise eyes of hers and continued to crunch away on some peanut
brittle that would ve shattered her teeth two weeks ago. The clinic
said she d grown almost a full inch since her last visit. No wonder,
the way she d been packing it away.  For her part Dani was upset to
say the least. The past week had been nothing but disappointments. Yes
she was almost back to her old height, but her waist and shoulders had
gained at least that much and her breasts had shrunk up to the point
that she had stuffed socks into the A-Cups she was wearing now. .. And
they itched. She gave up on shaving her legs and pits two days ago
when hair started to spread up from her crotch and that itched worse.
Hiding her case of "fuzzies" caused her to wear the oversized
sweatshirt and jeans that were threatening to broil her whenever she
stepped into the late August sun. She was scared to show Mom what was
happening and Dad either didn t or refused to understand how
frightened she was. Just to add insult to injury she was getting a
mild case of the cramps.


Saturday mornings are supposed to be fun. It had been a long time
since Jaime had stopped perusing the networks s morning offerings with
a bowel of Cap n Crunch or Coca Puffs in hand, but getting up early
and running some "Ranma ", "Tenchi-Muyo!", or "Patlabor" while setting
up for the day was still a Saturday morning ritual he had enjoyed. But
not today.  After Anne helped him get up off the floor while
explaining that everything would be all right and Chris was going to
the White Marsh to pick some things up for him, Three things hit him
simultaneously: 1) You re Naked!  2) You re staring into Anne s left
nostril.  3) Now that you ve bounced yourself off the floor you
_really_ have to go to the bathroom!

Jamie chased Anne out of the room and rushed to the can. Getting the
necessities out of the way didn t take too long. Just refuse to look
at yourself, but remember to sit. It was almost fun having enough hair
to need to use a blow dryer. .. But it made it necessary to violate
the aforementioned rule. You couldn t help but notice that your hazel
eyes had shifted to an unnatural blue/green. Looking more like those
the stones in those rings your sister liked years ago. The blonde
eyebrows were nothing new, but their customary light tone that faded
to nothing halfway across, now seemed to emphasize the smaller, more
vaguely feminine contours of your new, chubbier face. Your formerly
thin lips have taken on a more pouty look as well. Good thing the loss
of 4 " in height mean you can t really see anything below your chin in
the bathroom mirror unless you want to. Maybe getting dressed (hold
that pun) and just losing yourself in a game would help.

The 3D controller for the Saturn felt too big in Jamie s much smaller
hands. But then, everything was too big. The extra large Ranma t-shirt
that he wore to cover his pubescent breasts was now long enough to
cover the pink and black swim trunks Anne got him for his birthday.
Thank god for draw strings or those would ve been on the floor. Nights
twirled and spun ac ross the landscape of the Soft Museum stage and
the music played as Jamie tried to reach the Zen state that (he hoped
) would let him forget the grumbling for food in his gut (Look what
happened the last time you got hungry No, strike that. Don t look.)
and disquieting feeling of movement down below as his plumbing
continued to rearrange itself. The timer got to zero during the third
run and Nights reverted to Claris. Jamie reached over and shut off the
game. Looking over at the clock, he noted it was only 10:30 in the
morning. Jamie checked his scheduler and began picking up the room.

"Chris should be back from the mall in a couple of hours.", Beth said,
sitting down net to Anne at the kitchen table. "Are you sure Chris was
the best choice to pick up some clothes and basics? You know her sense
of humor." "She follows the fashions more closely than either of us.",
Anne responded looking at the somewhat matronly fashions she
preferred. "She knows better than I do what the kids are wearing
today." "That s what I m talking about. Have you seen what kids are
wearing this summer? I don t think Jamie s going to respond well to a
middie tee and low slung hip huggers, eh?" Anne started to look
worried. "You don t think she d go that far, do you?" Beth shrugged,
"I wouldn t be surprised to see a couple of mini-skirts in the mix,
but. ..", Changing the subject, she pointed to the baby monitor on the
table and asked , "How long has it been that quiet." "Couple of
minutes", Anne rose and smoothed out the floral print skirt she
changed into after Jamie chased her out of the room, "Think I ll try
talking to her. She s got to be very confused." Beth Grabbed Anne s
arm. "Better let me handle the first round. This is the same 12 year
old that chased you out of her room, remember?", She pushed up the
existent sleeves of her tank top. "I think Jamie may need someone less
prone to bolt than you. Listen in on the monitor and come in when I
call."

The door to Jamie s room swung and Beth watched as Jamie returned to
her che st and began piling jeans and sweat pants onto his bed.  "You
know if I d known about my guinea pig status, I d have asked for a
better salary." Beth was amazed. The little girl in front of her was a
little tall for her (biological) age, but the immense tee shirt and
oversized trunks, made her look even younger. The high voice further
emphasized the matter. Jamie turned her head and Beth watched as her
shoulder length wavy blonde hair shifted and a tomboyish face peered
out from under ragged golden bangs. "So you think I should just put em
in storage for the next hundred years or donate them to Goodwill and
try to convince the Infernal Revenue Service I can still claim the
deduction?" "Hold onto them.", Beth said, glad that Jamie had at least
realized the change wasn t really permanent. " What s old is new again
and all that." Jamie sniggered at the pun, but when it came out as a
giggle, the control he was striving for broke and the giggle rapidly
changed to sobs and tears.  Jamie tried to turn away from Beth when a
strong hand gripped his shoulder and spun him about. The hard slap
that followed cut the ears short and for the first time in years Jamie
lost control.  Beth was surprised by the fury with which Jamie
commenced attacking her.  Beth was a now taller and out massed Jamie
which put him at the disadvantage. Jamie obviously never trained to
fight as she did and was used to simply wading in and throwing his
opponent around. Typical for a kid who d grown up big for his age .
Jamie was too close for Beth to do more than try to restrain her
though. Beth had just about managed to pin Jamie to the bed when a
hand freed itself and shot out, grabbing her collarbone and squeezing.
"Urrgh! Nice try missy!" Beth grimaced, and was thankful Jamie s
strength had been diminished by the transformation. This hurt, but if
Jamie had been able to apply her former strength, Beth knew she d have
a broken collarbone. "If you d been a real girl you would have gone
with a titty twister though." She leaned forward, forcing Jamie to
bend her elbow and ease her grip.  "James Everett McGowan! Stop that
this minute! Anne s voice boomed through the room and Jamie stopped
struggling immediately. Beth almost reluctantly moved aside to reveal
Anne standing behind her. Anne had her fists planted on her hips. Her
face was a mixture of horror at the scene and irritation that things
got this far. She panted from running full speed to Jamie s room as
she tuned to Beth. "And you.. "She started.  Jamie burst out laughing.
This time it was a full throated belly laugh.  "You used the Mother
Voice !", tears were steaming again and the laughter died down to
giggles. "Oh, Jeeze," Jamie managed in between fits, "I haven t cut
loose on anyone like that in years. Not since I was .." Noticing that
Beth was massaging her shoulder Jamie asked, "Beth, are you ok? I, uh
..  never well." "Nah, not bad for your first cat fight. The bruise
should be gone in an hour. See? There are good things about having
nanites running around your system.  Jamie soured at that. "You mean
other than being stuck in a teenage girl s body for the next hundred
years? Or watching my family all die before I become an adult again?
My social life might ve been garbage before, but I don t even want to
think about what kind of creep might be interested in me now. That is,
of course, assuming I don t become the first thirty year old Kiddie
Porn star in history! Or do I just go on Geraldo and sing the blues
for cash and prizes?" "Scum puppies! Now I want to kill something
again. Anne, hand me that notebook." "I will not." She said pulling
the chair from Jamie s desk and motioning Beth to find a seat on the
bed next to Jamie. "And you are most certainly not stuck in an 12 year
old s body. Beth has been going over the changes Harry made to your
treatment and once the changes to your genitalia finalize, you ll age
very quickly til you hit what. ..?  "Somewhere between 17 and 21
biologically."Beth supplied.  "I m not going to lie to you Jamie, this
is going to be hard for you to deal with. We ll help however we can
and your basic job will stay the same.  We ll help with your family if
you want us to, but for all extents and purposes you are now a young
woman and the sooner you get used to the fact the better." "Jamie,",
Anne said, taking Jamie s reduced hands into her own. "You once told
me the reason you loved your job here was the broad range of things
that needed to be done. Never a chance to get bored when you can
switch from landscaping one day to wiring the next or working on the
design for some workbench or addition we need. , I think you said.
That hasn t changed. If anything, we need you more than ever. You, the
essential you, has not changed. Jamie McGowan still has the mind of a
30 year old dilettante whose interest in everything from Anime to
Zoology has kept him a poking his nose into anything that struck his
fancy." She was doing it again Jamie thought, looking into the cobalt
orbs pleading with him/her to accept her gentle authority. Jamie
gathered her strength of will together for an assault of her own.
"Alright, I know I m still me. I also know I m pissed off. Anne, you
said I had cancer, but you could ve told me and proscribed the Chemo
Delivery System nanites a whole hell of lot easier than setting me up
for a full treatment the way you did. You knew I didn t want a full
treatment. What the hell were you thinking? " Anne lowered her eyes
and had the courtesy to look embarrassed. Jamie felt Beth tensing on
the bed beside her.  "It had to be your decision Anne." Jamie pressed.
She (Get used to that pronoun Kid) felt Anne s shame at what had
happened, but needed to get at the root of the cause before she felt
too sorry for her. "At best, Chris tends to think of me as a little
brother or someone to tease. Beth, no offense hun, but this is the
first time since before I introduced you to what I like in anime that
you haven t looked at me like I was a potential rapist. Some day you
ll have to tell me why guys put you off." Feeling her oats now, Jamie
gently squeezed Anne s hands, which were still clasping her own. "But
you Anne, have always treated me like a child who needs protection."
Jamie grinned as those words passed her lips. "So you convinced Beth
and Chris to knock me out, and turn me into Lazarus Long.  Except
something went wrong and now I look more like an immature Deety
Burroughs." Anne looked confused. "Who?" "I ll see if I can t find my
copies of Time Enough For Love and Number of the Beast later." Jamie
sighed. "You re avoiding the subject though. Why force me into a full
treatment you knew I wouldn t want?" "That s my cue to leave.", Beth
said, standing, "I m going to start lunch.  You two have a lot to talk
about and Chris ll be back in an hour or so any way." Jamie closed the
door after Beth and hearing her stomach growl, threw caution to the
wind, and grabbed a couple of birch beers out of the mini-fridge she
used as a night stand. Passing one to Anne, she sat jumped back onto
the bed. "Well?"

"Remember back when you hired on us and Chris talked about where the
idea to apply create the broad based treatment that de-aged us came
from?"

"Sure, one of your technicians died of AIDS."

Anne seemed to fall into herself and her eyes looked through Jamie.
"At that time some people were still calling it GRIDS. When my
brother-in-law s son heard what his son had, he disowned him and I
allowed him to stay with me on the west coast." Anne s gaze sharpened
a bit. "You reminded me of him. His manner and style I mean. Shy, yet
valiantly attempting to hide behind puns and banter.  Purposefully
exposing yourself so no one else would have a chance to." "He hid the
fact he d caught a cold and Beth, Chris and I were off on a money run.
Those were busy days for us, when we weren t in the lab, we were
constantly being introduced to potential investors and demonstrating
the possibilities of nanotechnology. Most of which were for naught.
You want to know why Beth is put off by men? Wait til you have to put
up some of what we went through to get New U established with our
skins intact." "Three days later, I opened the door to my apartment to
find Scott unconscious. He d just given up. I rushed him to the
hospital, but his lungs had already filled with fluid from pneumonia
by then. Anne s eye s clouded again as the sight of the 20 year old
swam in front of her. I was the only one in the family willing to care
for him and I ignored the obvious symptoms. I let him die so I could
chase money." "I couldn t just .. stand by with partial methods when I
knew I could save your life and keep you safe! You d never have
figured out what had been done for years. By then I didn t think it
would matter. Instead .. " Jamie did her best to gather Anne into her
arms and pressed her small face into Anne s hair. "Instead your QC man
re-rigged the treatment and tipped your hand, eh?" "You re not ..?"
"Like I said before, I m throughly pissed; at you for not trusting me
and at Harry for fucking with my life. There s another person to be
pissed at though and he isn t as available for kicking in the ass as
he used to be.  Anne, I ve lived the last 12 years without becoming
romantically involved with anyone. Do you know why?" Anne pulled and
Jamie found herself firmly in Anne s lap. Anne brushed some hair out
of Jamie s eyes. "I always thought you were just too shy." Jamie found
herself even more firmly in the grips of Anne s magic than ever
before. She resisted the urge to rest her head on Anne s shoulder,
looked her dead in the eye and continued.  "I went through all the
normal dating experiences as a kid. From boyhood crush to having
someone who throughly disgusts you chasing you around. I m even
participated in a few of those relationships from the other side as
well. Even fell into the secret admirer bit in Jr. high. Had a few
steadies and when we broke up it hurt the way such things always do I
guess.  Looking back, I knew none of them were ever going to be
permanent relationships.  Then in college I met Rose." Jamie was now
feeling quite uncomfortable and got out of Anne s lap. "She was my
first .. everything I guess. The first girl I ever seriously
considered marrying. The only girl I ever proposed to. The first woman
I ever made love to. I was so scared when I gave her the ring I told
her to stop crying, the diamond wasn t that small." Jamie smiled at
Anne, "We were the jesters for the local SCA group. She was the Rude
Jester and I was the Crude Jester," Jamie flipped the bird, "This one
to be exact." "Anyway, I knew her home life was kinda screwed up, but
I wasn t aware of how badly she wanted out. After I proposed, she
wanted to move in with me, but I was raised fairly conservatively and
wouldn t hear of it. When I offered to help her find an apartment of
her own, she declined saying that as an Airforce brat, she didn t know
how to function off base. Then she wanted to push our wedding date
forward." "I was a student working part-time and hustling flea markets
and comic conventions, trying to make a grubstake. I couldn t support
a family then, no matter how much I might ve wanted to." Jamie picked
up the only stuffed doll in the room. A small Fox-squirrel that Rose
had given Jamie years ago. "So she found someone who could. I knew she
was mad when she left for the summer to see her grandmother in Philly.
Wouldn t tell me how to get there or what her phone number was." "She
called me in August and told me she was transferring out there and
about Patrick. She was sending my ring back. I told her to cash it in
as a wedding present. Two months later she called to tell me how happy
she was to be married and pregnant." "Y know how you hear about how
utterly stupid some guys can be? I still have dreams about her. I even
dream about Crystal. That s what they named the baby, did I mention
that? Never even seen her, but I know who she doesn t look like. Rose
likes to call whenever she s having problems. She called me just to
catch up on old times after divorcing her second husband a month
before I moved in here and I thought I was going to die. I couldn t
bring myself to tell her where to get off. I just made conversation as
merrily as you please.  The point being that I don t date because I
know that if she walked through that door right now, with Crystal in
tow and asked me to take her back, I d do it." "Do you know how scary
it is to be that stupid and know it? How can a person, knowing he s
that messed up, trust any of his feelings about people? I resigned
myself to being alone for the rest of my life and you just extended
that sentence by a hundred plus years! THAT S why I m pissed at you."
"But I can t stop there and still be a good, honest to myself cynic. I
m where I am because I made sure no one knew why I didn t want to be
immortal. Not even the one woman I ve known since Rose that I
instinctively trusted from the moment I met her.", Jamie banged her
head against a bookshelf. "And THAT S why I m pissed at myself!"Jamie
knew she was indulging in self pity now but the leaden feeling in her
heart was increasing anyway. Spreading from the center of her chest
and just hanging there. She couldn t stop the tears when she felt Anne
s arms encircling her and felt her kiss the back of her head.  "You
were wrong about some things that s all."Anne said quietly, "We all
are sometimes." Jamie sniffled a bit, knowing she d just told this
woman the one thing she d never told anyone. Not her family, not Matt
or Ron...  "Cushlamochree! What ll I tell everyone about this! Younger
and shorter, people ignore or attribute to a rug or maybe Grecian
Formula. Younger, shorter and breasts get flat denials!" "How about,
Matt, there s something I ve been meaning to tell you for years. ",
Chris offered as she entered the room carrying more bags than Jamie
would ve given her credit for. "Seriously, don t we have enough
bridges to cross tonight without bringing even more people into this?"
She dropped the bags onto Jamie s already crowded bed and after
tossing the collected jeans, pants and underwear to the floor, she dug
through them till she came up with a Rite-Aid bag.  "Into the bathroom
Missy, Anne start sorting through this stuff and find Jamie some real
shorts, panties and a bra. Beth should be bringing lunch up and I want
to have Jamie here presentable before tonight." Glancing at Jamie s
trunks, she added, "Bet you re thanking God for drawstrings." Chris
whipped Jamie out of Anne s grasp and pushed her into the bathroom.
Before she was quite aware of what was happening, Chris had stripped
her down and placed her in the shower.  "Yes I can see we have some
work ahead little miss hairball." Chris began by showing Jamie how to
shave properly. It really wasn t that different from before, Jamie
reflected, there was just a LOT more surface area to cover and some of
the positions required to get there were, well awkward to put it
mildly. A thorough shower followed with Chris detailing how best to
keep the new equipment Jamie had properly clean. When she protested
about how detailed Chris was becoming with her descriptions and
instructions, she then began describing the consequences of not
knowing what she was explaining. Jamie suppressed a gag and washed on.
When Jamie tried to use the shampoo in the shower Chris slapped her
hand and threw it out. "You want people to think you have dandruff or
something?" "It was on sale." "For a very good reason. It smells like
a the back end of a mule with dysentery. Use this.", Chris countered
passing a bottle through the curtain.  Jaime had to admit, it did
smell a lot better than the other stuff and she barely missed the
tingling scalp. "Besides washing one s hair is much more pleasant when
there s hair to wash", she thought. "Conditioner though, she decided,
is just plain boring.  "Towel!", Chris shouted tossing one over the
curtain rod once Jamie shut the water off. Jamie patted herself off
and then fumbled a bit, realizing she was going to have to buy some
larger towels if she was going try wrapping herself in them.  "I m
well aware my bottom is hanging out Chris.", Jamie said while stepping
out of the shower. "Humming the theme to the Jack Benny show is not
necessary." Chris made her sit on the toilet while she evened Jamie s
hair and applied some evil smelling goo to the ends. "Your hair is
darker at the ends that at the roots. This ll help even that out,
unless you want a really short style. I have to admit though, I didn t
realize it was down to your shoulder blades." "Are you kidding?",
Jamie shot back. "The hair s the only part of this I like." "Fine,
then let that set for a few minutes." Anne poked her head in the door
and handed Chris some clothes. "Lunch is ready when you two are."
"Give us ten minutes.", then to Jamie, "Ok Kiddo, stick your head in
the sink. Time to rinse." A minimum of time was spent drying." You ve
got enough natural wave in your hair to get away with just letting it
hang for now, but I can t wait to get you into the salon." Chris said.
"Oh.. goody."Jamie said, pouring as much sarcasm as she could muster
into it.  "Hey you said you wanted the hair. It s the price of
admission. TANSTAAFL, yes? Oh, I almost forgot!", Chris exclaimed and
began powdering Jamie.  "Keeps you smelling fresh all day and helps
keep that new skin you ve got nice and soft." Jamie sighed and began
pulling on the clothes Anne dropped off. "Chris, I m impressed, you
didn t go for the silkies." Jamie said slipping on the cotton panties,
followed by a pair of beige shorts.  "You re a little young yet and we
expect you ll be growing out everything I just bought within the year.
That ll give you a chance to grow into your new proportions like any
girl." "Great.",Jamie said encountering problems with the bra til she
turned it backwards to clasp. "This however is too much." She said
dropping the kawaii lace trimmed tank top and picking up the white tee
shirt with both Ranma Saotomaes on it. "Much more appropriate, don t
you think?" "No one else in the house will get joke." Chris said as
Jamie tucked the shirt in.  "As long as I do, who cares? Let s eat."

Lunch went without incident as they all ate. Jamie put her new clothes
away, surprised at just how much Chris had picked up. There were even
three pairs of shoes. Basic flats, a pair of two inch heels, finally,
some trainers. Jamie opened the box ankle socks were livable but
these? "I knew you had to have them the moment I saw them." Chris said
grinning as Jamie pulled the hot pink cross trainers out of the box.
She grimaced a bit, then smiled at the joke and slipped them on and
laced them up. "I guess they do fit my new image." So saying, Jamie
stepped over to her desk an rustled through one of the drawers til she
found what she was looking for.  Gripping the prize in her fist she
rummaged in the closet.  Jamie normally didn t wear hats (His hair
loss had not begun to become noticeable til after he d been forced to
wear them continuously in the military.) but this Baseball cap was
purchased during the height of his obsession with Ranma and matched
the shirt perfectly. With the closet door hiding her from the others,
Jamie pulled her hair back the way she remembered her sister doing and
used the rubber band clenched in her fist to make a ponytail. Tucking
it through the back of the cap, She spun out from behind the closet
door. She stopped in a slightly undignified manner.  The small weights
on her chest and her changing center of gravity causing her to bobble
a little. "Well, what cha think?" The three women applauded and Jamie
felt a mild blush. "As long as I can put my own spin on this, I guess
I can survive." She thought and acknowledged their applause with an
exaggerated curtsy.  Rooms were prepared for Mr. Angstrom and Dani and
round about 6:30 Anne and Beth got ready to pick up the pair at the
airport.  "But why can t I go too?"Jamie asked in what sounded even to
her, suspiciously like a little girl whining. "Gotta work on the
delivery", Jamie thought, but she really was curious to see her other
half.  "The car will be crowded enough as it is, with the two of them
and their luggage. I also want to make sure Dani is prepared to meet
you. I don t know just how much Richard has told her about what s
happening to the two of you and she may not even be aware of you yet.
Given the importance of the your role in helping her through this, I d
like to make sure she s prepared. Beth will be going along to keep
everyone in line." Anne had explained her buddy system to Jamie during
lunch. Jamie was to help Dani get used to being Danny while Jamie was
learning to be a girl from her. "It shouldn t be too hard to teach
Dani to make rude body noises and remember to occasionally scratch her
balls." Beth smirked and Jamie stuck her tongue out at the slight on
her former sex.  Once they left, Jamie began preparing a light dinner
and Chris checked to make sure the lab was prepared for tomorrow. It
gave Jamie time to think about the changes that were continuing in her
body. Nibbling on a carrot; there was something new. Jamie had always
hated raw vegetables but it seemed her taste buds and sense of smell
had even changed. Not altogether surprising as her new body was a
combination of the best aspects of both Jamie and Dani Angstrom. She
wondered again what Dani looked like. How much Jamie was peeking
through her and how was she dealing with that?  The smell of meat and
spices was filling the kitchen and Jamie turned to get some lettuce
for the taco salad when she saw her distorted reflection in the
refrigerator, "Not much Jamie left on this end.", Jamie said.  "About
half you, half Dani Angstrom to be exact." Chris said, walking in, "
You might not believe this, but I think we all went through that to an
extent. At least I did." Chris sniffed cautiously. "Not bad." "When we
tried the treatment on ourselves," Chris said, "I was amazed at how
much of a difference 30 years made. Colors were brighter, clearer, and
smells! I didn t realize how much the olfactory senses faded over
time.  Flavors became richer and more vibrant than they had in years."
"I know what you mean about that. " Jamie agreed and started shredding
the lettuce..  "For a while, It was intoxicating." Chris went on and
began washing her hands. I had to try everything again. But in the end
I was still me and .." "Don t push. The fact is, I m not really the
girl I see in the mirror. She looks like she belongs on an old after
school special. She doesn t legally exist. She can t drive, I
certainly wouldn t trust her with a drink. She s 5'6" if she s an
inch! One Sam Adams and she d likely be on the floor.  Worse, I think
she s a little slut." Chris did a beautiful double-take. "Wha ...
Where d that come from?" Jamie blushed, but in for a penny. .."I have
never felt .. not without meaning to, anyway. When you were telling me
how to wash .." "Oh that was just good clean fun." Chris giggled."Don
t tell me you really believed you were supposed to massage your
nipples with the soap?"

* * *

"Dad, what does she mean?",Dani cried. "The techs at the clinic said
they were sending me here so Dr. Howe can fix what s wrong!" Anne bit
her tongue and looked in the rearview mirror. She and Beth had flown
to the clinic to supervise Dani s treatment while Jamie was at the
convention. Paula at the clinic had been sending information and
photos constantly. They didn t do the "girl" justice. The treatment
they designed for Dani had her regressing to her pre-diagnosis age of
twelve, followed by an accelerated growth period til she would be
physically 17 again. Within 12 months, she would stabilize and the
nanites would lock her in time.  Unfortunately, Harry s alteration to
the program had mixed Jamie s traits into Dani s. While girls usually
hit their growth spurt about a year earlier than boys as a rule, Jamie
had gone from being tall for an 11 year old at 5'7" to 5'10" when he
started 7th grade at age 12. Dani s regression program had been left
virtually untouched though and the nanites in her system were now
fighting a two front war.  Trying to both accelerate her growth from
5'4", to 5'10" and expanding her dimensions to male proportions
explained her current eating habits. Even as Anne was watching,
Danielle was methodically working her way through the largest bag of
Fritos they could find in the gift shop and the way she was going, she
could complete two more before finishing the 45 minute trip back home.
First order of business when they got back would be starting Dani on
TCP IV, before she ended up with a serious eating disorder on top of
everything else.  Angstrom cranked his head around to face his
daughter. "Dani, I think you were reading things in to what the
personnel at the clinic said.  Now hush while Anne finishes explaining
what's planed for you. Doctor, what do you have planned?" Anne sighed
inwardly. Apparently, Angstrom had not told Danielle anything, leaving
that for the "experts". "Dani, remember our interview a month ago? The
treatent you were given involved installing an immense number of
tinymachines into your body. Some those machines have taken over for
the biological systems in your body that identify and destroy foreign
bodies and prevent any new cancers from growing in you. Those machines
will also act to prevent new machines from being introduced to correct
any difficulties you are having. There are others that were supposed
to rebuild your body after getting rid of the cancer that was already
there." "You said I would grow back to the person I was, just without
cancer. But I never looked like this! I've got 38" shoulders already
and my hips have gotten slimmer if anything!" "Danielle!",Angstrom
snapped, "Control yourself. The Doctor has given you a new lease on
life. There are always problems in any new process." Paying the toll
for the Ft. Mc Henry Tunnel, Anne rolled the window up and continued.
"Problems is an interesting way to describe what's been done to your
daughter. Dani, as your father told you about Harry Selznick?" "I
thought you could explain that better than I." Angstrom said, shifting
uncomfortably for the first time.  "Selznick altered the treatment you
and another of our patients were supposed to receive. Beth said,
scowling at the back of Angstrom's head.  "Instead of rebuilding you
as you, per say, he combined genetic information from the both of you.
Now, the thing to remember is even if we can't get around the nanites
already in your system, we can still put you back to rights when they
shut down naturally." "Combined...?", Dani said quietly, looking at a
chip filled hand. "With






whom?"

* * *

Claiming the hat was getting on her nerves, Jamie went up stairs to
take it off. Chris' mentioning of how the girls had already used the
treatment on themselves had reminded her that the women she was living
with and working for were all in their sixties. She tended to forget
how long and hard they had to have worked to build New U. There were
questions running round her head that she had ignored previously.  For
instance: Promptly upon getting New U on it's feet the three people
responsible for making the company a name in both the science and the
industrial communities all but changed their identities and move to
the east coast. Even going so far as to disguise themselves on the few
occasions they'd needed to return to the home office.  Ron and Matt
didn't know where their money came from. Jamie had been given very
specific instructions to evade any such questions. Even checks that
were being signed out to suppliers and the few contractors she'd used
so far, were drawn on a joint account, not a corporate account.  The
explanation that they wanted to retire and enjoy the fruits of their
labor made some sense, but if that was so, why spend 3-4 days a week
overseeing operations and teleconferencing (Again, Jamie had been told
specifically not to include video capability in that system.) with
suppliers and clients? The facilities at the home office on the west
coast should be much better equipped to handle the problem she and
Danielle were encountering.  Yet they were bringing Danielle here
instead of closing up shop and hauling Jamie (a much less important
client) to Silicon Valley. That was flattering, but hardly
professional. More to the point, considering their dependance on the
mini-cray, it would make sense to keep it under as close a scrutiny as
possible.  Since she had never been interested in pursuing the New U
treatment herself, she'd never let the thought about the girls actions
as the job was enjoyable and they were good company. Besides which,
she felt that by the time it would be "safe" to tell the world about
the life extension capabilities of the full treatment, she would be
dead.  She was pretty certain that in terms of actual time and
materials, a full treatment only cost about $10,000. The price could
only go down in time.  Unless, one wished to start riots of people
demanding free treatments. Or, like as not some group would demand
legislation banning the procedure since only those who could afford it
were receiving it. That would just drive clinics underground. Visions
of rich people living under a masquerade similar to something out of
Heinlein's future histories danced around Jamie's head.  In either
case, cheap space travel, or some other form of pressure valve would
have to exist as well, or the world's overpopulation problems would
become truly unbearable even in countries like the United States that
still had some fairly large expanses of arable land.  Now it looked as
if Jamie had the Chinese curse of living in interesting times to look
forward to. Of course, Harry being loose somewhere had probably
accelerated that timetable anyway.  How did Harry manage to get past
the same screening process she'd been put through anyway? Too many
questions and some did not bode well for any of them. "Time to do a
little hunting before throwing questions into the air.", Jamie said to
herself, "Never know where it'll land." Sitting down at her computer,
Jamie logged onto the LAN (pleasingly, none of her passwords had been
changed.) and began doing some cruising thorough the sever's
directories. She had just found the phone logs when the security
system reported an entry in the front drive. She saved copy of the
logs to her hard drive, logged off the system and headed downstairs.

"It's been a while since I took an active interest in my world. Feels
good.  Jamie thought to herself as she met up with Chris at the front
door.  "Excited?" "Let's say I feel I have a vested interest to
pursue.", Jamie said grinning, and opened the door.

End ch.6 Jeff Rose copyright 1997









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