From jsrose@ix.netcom.com Thu Mar 13 10:42:26 1997
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From: "Jeffrey S. Rose" <jsrose@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.tg,alt.sex.stories
Subject: TG: New U chapters 3&4 of ?(repost)
Date: 13 Mar 1997 15:42:26 GMT
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The Beatles song referenced in ch.3 is "Bungalow Bill" off the White Album
for those interested.
Several songs by Yes and one Jethro Tull song are quoted and credited in
ch.4. Please dust off your old discs or buy new ones so ASCAP doesn't end
up chasing me around the net.
The story Jamie tells Beth and Chris is paraphrased from a story I read a
long time ago. I have no idea where it came from and I hope that noble bard
forgives me.
As before, no sex yet. Although, Jamie's "One-eyed Wonder Worm" does make
a brief (In time, you dirty minded thing!) appearance. I believe in long
courtships.
Hope Y'all like it!
If there is a more appropriate newsgroup, for this piece (even if you think
it's the trash can) let me know.
Obviously, the characters and situations presented are fiction and any
resemblence to anyone living or dead is purely coincedental.
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. "Time & tide melts the snowman!"
--
Jeffrey S Rose
(jeffrose1@juno.com)
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of.
But do it in private, and wash yourhands afterward."
- Woodrow W. Smith
"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.3: Related Themes
by Jeff Rose 1997
Chris tightened the bolt while Jamie and Beth held the 4x6 in place.
"Jamie," Beth started, "I was wondering .. if it's not too personal
that is .."
"Would his telling you it was make a difference?"
"Shut up Chris. Jamie, you know everything about what we can do and
after all the work
you've done on our computer I'm sure you have at least as much access to
our records as we do."
"True 'nuff."
"In all the time you've been with us, you've never asked about getting
the 'New U' treatment
for yourself."
"Nope.", Jamie looked up. Chris had finished tightening the beam in
place and was now
looking at him with curiosity in her eyes.
"Okay, it's like this right?", he said. "I'm only 30 right? You guys
took all the requisite samples anyone would need to clone me, or at least
to provide me with a little tax deduction." Now Chris and Beth looked
confused. Jamie sighed and went on, "Hell, assuming y'all are amenable, I
could wait til I'm 60, or older and still turn the clock back. I've come
this far; I might as well at least sample old age."
"Besides, by then any possible side effects would have cropped up,
yes?"
"OK troops, gather 'round for tea!", Anne called as she walked up from
the cellar entrance.
Jamie helped Chris down as the four met at the picnic table in the back
yard. "Jamie, remind me to look around for something to replace this . Now
what's the topic of conversation today?"
"Jamie just accused us of shoddy work.", Chris said and pulled Anne
upright. Handling her like a product, she hefted Anne's ample breast.
"Now does this look like a bad job?", she asked as Anne slapped her
hand away any looked at Chris in a way that reminded Jamie of an old
Beatles song. Lennon' s voice was still running round Jamie's head ("If
looks could kill it would'a been us instead'a himmmmm-AH!"), as he heard
himself say, "That's not what I was saying Chris. And don't fondle others
in public, it's rude." Jamie sipped his tea and thought for a moment.
"I was talking about the fact that no one has done what you've done to
yourselves. No one,
has any experience with this stuff. For instance, what ultimately does a
full 'New U' treatment do to the subject's immune system?"
"Jamie maybe I gave you too much credit. The S-1 through V, completely
takes over for the
body's immune system.", Beth stated.
"Exactly! Now let me tell you a story I read once."
"Once upon a time, there were two parents who loved their newborn very
much. They
wanted to protect their baby from all the evil and nastiness in the world.
So they enclosed their child in a bubble and carefully monitored every
thing that the child encountered there."
"No food was brought in that might sear his mouth or rot his teeth. No
entertainment,
neither book, nor music, nor video, was that might elicit an emotional
response was allowed into that pristine environment."
"And when the child was 18 and legally an adult, they acknowledged
that they had done all
they could do to protect him and quite a few parents groups applauded their
efforts....and the poor dumb kid took two steps outside the bubble before
dying of excitement."
"Cute, nice O. Henry twist. What's the point?"Beth asked.
"You just told me five separate series of nanites handle the same
responsibility as the immune system. Just what does that system do in the
meantime? You also told me that just after I was hired that you're guessing
that those nanites will shut down in about 100 years."
Jamie began to warm to his subject. "All of them will self destruct in
100 years?
Simultaneously? I doubt it. When I was reading through the overview of the
treatment, you noted
that because of the nature of those very same nanites, any attempts to
alter or introduce new nanites would result in their destruction as they
were identified as invaders."
"So lets say (God forbid), in 40 years you lose your S-III's. There is
now a hole in your
defenses and your natural immune system is defunct. I think I'd feel pretty
silly meeting St. Peter and having to admit that I died of terminal
Athlete's Foot."
Jamie finished his tea."I love you girls dearly," he said hugging
first Anne, then Chris, finally
taking Beth's hands, he tried to make eye contact with each saying,"but
until I absolutely have to have that kind of support, I'll do the best I
can without."
He winked at them and returned to the deck, humming. Beth strained for
a moment trying to
identify the tune. Then screwed her face up in disgust.
"Eheeuuww!"she groaned.
"What was that for?" Chris asked.
"Believe me you don't want to know."
Anne just stared at the man moving another piece of lumber into
position. "Break's over.",
she said.
* * *
"Just got the last of the tests faxed back from Hopkins."
Anne looked up at Beth from the batch of requests and orders on the
desk. "And..?"
"It's definite. Non-hodgekins Lymphoma.", Beth said as gently as she
could, placing the
damning folder in front of Anne and then massaging the older woman's
shoulders. "They want to
know when they can schedule him for an appointment."
Anne leafed through the pages looking for some discrepancy in the
tests and their results. All she could see was Scott and her cobalt orbs
went cold. "How Long to get a full treatment prepared?"
* * *
Analyzing other people's work had been Harry Selznick's job for five
years now. He was very
good at it and companies were willing to pay him a lot to do it well.
Unfortunately one company was willing to pay him even more to do it badly.
In a way, Harry's job was simple. He would be presented with a
proposed set of nanite
designs for production. Those plans would in turn be compared with the
subject's DNA for
compatibility purposes. Similarly, when the treatment had been manufactured
he would check that against the original production orders.
Harry had some help of course. The mini-cray in the basement had the
a complete set of
data from the recently completed Human Genome Project. Together, they could
describe anyone with just a single complete strand of the stuff. The FBI
was seriously looking at adopting the system he had developed for New U.
What Harry had been doing with that system to the two special orders handed
down from the three rejuvenated women in the Baltimore facility went well
out side the duties in his job description.
This morning, Ms. Anderson finished setting up the satellite link
between the mini-cray in the
basement and the Baltimore facility. This pleased Harry as he'd held up
final approval of the Angstrom and McGowan packages for as long as he
dared. As far as the computer here knew there had been no tampering with
designs submitted by his soon to be former employers. The computer in
Baltimore was another matter however. Since one of the treatments was going
there, he deftly told that computer to forget about what it had been told
before. This was what the Angstrom and McGowan treatments should be. The
computer took the data tentatively, examined the authorization codes, and
finding them to be good, accepted the update. Convincing the machine that
there had been no update and that this was the data it had always had took
a little longer, but after some whining, the machine allowed that it had
been in error.
Grinning at his cleverness, Harry opened his briefcase and looked over
the original orders for
McGowan and Angstrom. His new employer was playing him a lot of money to
disrupt the company. They'd said nothing about killing anyone (Although
they had implied it forcefully.), and what he had done would result in no
deaths. He and the mini-cray had been very careful on that point. After all
Harry Selznick might be an industrial spy and saboteur, but he was not a
murderer."Ah well", he thought aloud, closing the folders and
briefcase.'They could've been siblings anyway." Chuckling to himself, he
realized that now they would be.
Harry called his secretary in and passed the two release orders to
her with proper routing
instructions and left to start his vacation.
* * *
At 65, (The) Richard Angstrom was out of practice feeling grateful. Never
the less, he'd had to
consciously refrain from hugging and kissing the whole staff at the New U
clinic (His wife, Mary, had felt no such need for such restraint.) when he
and his daughter walked(!) out to his car. The money he'd invested to
accomplish this feat was meaningless. He'd started with less some 50 years
ago and he and mary still could live out their lives in comfort.
Five years of chemo, radiation and that god awful bone marrow transplant
had been erased
from her life. Just last week his little girl had been virtually bald,
weighed less than 90 lbs. soaking wet and was at death's door. Now she
stood tall (if somewhat shakily) on her re-fleshed legs. Her golden hair
was still short (Barely 3" long.), but just as thick as it had been before
five years ago. In fact, except for hair length, there was almost no way to
tell the the 12 year old student she was and the 17 year
old former cancer patient she now was. She had literally come full circle.
As he drove his family (His daughter would come into her trust fund
before he'd be able to afford a driver again.), he glanced periodically
into the rear view mirror at his little girl. Neither he nor Mary however
could see below Danielle's shoulders and so never noticed the way she was
absentmindedly scratching her arms and belly, although both were taken by
the thought that her pale green eyes seemed brighter somehow.
End ch.3 Jeff Rose 1997
New U: Chapter 4,
Happy Birthday Jamie
By Jeff Rose 1997
Sweet Dreams are born inside you
Sweet Dreams are made to last
Sweet thoughts within your make up
These thoughts will always last
-'Sweet Dreams'
Jon Anderson / David Foster
Cotillion Music & Yessongs Ltd.1970
Lend me your ear, while I call you a fool
You were kissed by a witch, one night in the wood
And later insisted your feelings were true
The Witch's Promise was coming ...
-'Witch's Promise'
Ian Anderson
Published by Rare Blood Music Inc. 1970
At eight Monday morning, Anne walked as calmly as she as she could to
Jamie's room. He
had spent the last three days at an Anime Convention, and had come home
flushed with excitement. In the six months he had been living with the
girls, she had rarely seen him so up. His friends, Matt and Ron, had helped
move his purchases and bags up to his room last night before wishing him a
happy birthday and leaving. Jamie had explained on his first day with them
that he always took the weekend of Otakon off for his birthday since the
two events were usually on the same week.
Two days before, the package Anne, Chris and Beth had been waiting for
arrived and today
they would give Jamie a real birthday party.
Jamie had been up since five this hazy August morning. It would be too
hot to work outside
by eleven so he made sure the weeding on the south plot was up to date. He
had planted tall grass and ground cover out there and once weeds became
established, it would be well nigh impossible to get them out. As Jamie
stepped out of his shower Jon Anderson was telling how, "..the Teacher
traveled, asking to be shown the same ..", to the gentle accompaniment of
Messrs. Howe, Wakeman,Squire and Bruford*. Toweling his hair dry, he padded
over to the computer to check his schedule for the day.
"All that's left is to finish hooking up the satellite feed to the
server and check alignment. I
should be done by lunch." Given the lightness of his day, he was surprised
to find he had no e-mail requesting the "one-more-things" that he usually
found in his in box. It had taken him a month to fix his schedule so as to
keep time open for all the little extra things Chris and Beth would think
of in the wee hours. Anne would usually ask in person and if she couldn't
find him, assume he was too busy.
Smart lass. Or at least very considerate.
Jamie was checking the girls' schedules (and was surprised to find he
was locked out), when
he heard his doorknob turning. He quickly transferred the towel on his head
to his waist and tried leap back to the bathroom as the door opened.
"Jamie we'd like see yo..whoopsie!"Anne pulled her head back and left
the door open a crack
Ah well, make that a considerate doctor who sometimes forgets to
knock. Jamie thought,
dragging a pair of BVD'S and Levis from his dresser he called,"Sorry, first
show's at two.", pulling the jeans on he added, "Come in Anne, the gun's
holstered and I think the safety's on." He began hunting through his bags
for one of the t-shirts he'd picked up at the con. "So what's up that
demands a full house meet without notice?"
"Something that needs to be taken care of today, but it'll take all of
us working together.",
Anne said evasively, looking over the room and it's occupant. As usual
Jamie was wearing full length jeans, murder during a Maryland summer where
the temp was hitting 110 with 70% humidity. Was he really that
self-conscious? She briefly recalled she'd never seen him in shorts before,
except when she gave him his physical. We'll take care of that today. "By
the way, Chris and Beth took care of the dish hookup the day you left."
"Great!, did anyone remember to do a complete system backup before
hooking into the
mainframe at the home office."Jamie asked, pulling on a t-shirt that seemed
about two sizes too big.She recognized a big Totoro featured on the front
and let her eyes continue scanning the room.
It was definitely a male's room. But there was a strange mix of mature
and immature. The
furniture and shelving were all in oak and matched the wood paneling
flawlessly. The bedspread,
curtain and shades were muted earth tones. The place would look downright
dark if it weren't for the huge number of posters, prints and dolls from
various anime shows plastered on the walls and stuffed on the shelves
between books that seemed ready to come squirting out the first time you
touched them. She stepped over to a 10" girl in an oddly retro flying suit.
"This doll's new, isn't it?", She asked.
"Yeah, I've been looking for a Nausicaa for a long time. The resin
kits are easy to get hold of,
but I don't really have time to work on them properly. Ready to go?"
As they walked out to the hall, Anne asked, "Don't you ever get male
dolls?"
Jamie blushed a bit on that one. "They don't make dolls like those
usually.", He felt he would
appear overly defensive to inform Anne they were called vinyl kits.
"Besides, the women are typically the most interesting characters in anime.
Then there's the fact I've never found men to be aesthetically pleasing
....uh, compared to women that is." Reviewing those last words Jamie felt a
blush creeping onto his cheeks that amused Anne. Crossing his eyes to make
light of the situation he asked, "Did that come out right?"
"Well, it seems to be just laying there gasping for air. Let's see if
we can't get it up and
moving.", Anne tried to quip. It broke the tension though, and she managed
to get Jamie so
engrossed in explaining his views on the contrasting merits of female
versus male forms that he
missed the crowd at the foot of the stairs until they yelled.
"SURPRISE!!"
Matt and his family, Ron (with current love in toe) along with Chris,
Beth all grabbed Jamie
and dragged him out to Ron's van. As Beth finished securing his seat belt,
Anne leaned over and
kissed him on the lips(!) briefly. "Thought I was going to let you get away
with that stunt you pulled two weeks ago, huh?" Chris and Beth broke out
with an explanation for those not involved.
Jamie had been drafted into making sure Anne wouldn't see Beth and
Chris prepare her
party. He had arranged several system crashes on the LAN (after making sure
the backups were up to date.) and reprogrammed All the TVs and VCRs to
play nothing but Disney and the Weather Channel before sending her to Glen
Burnie (on the opposite side of the beltway) to pick up a part he "needed"
to fix the LAN. Her other option being to shovel fresh fertilizer for the
garden out of the pickup and let him get the part. A call to Ron at the
shop meant she would spend at least an hour there while Ron tried to
figure out where "the guy who took the call" had put the part.
When Anne finally got back, Jamie was worried he'd taken the joke too
far. For the first time
since he'd known Anne, she looked like she would seriously like to reach
down some poor
schmuck's throat and pull his testicles up for him to see. Since Jamie was
the only eligible candidate for such treatment, he'd made sure Chris and
Beth were between he and Anne when she opened the door.
Ron's van took the party to the beach where Jamie got his first
present from Anne. When
Jamie ( with mock lament), mentioned his lack of swimwear while they set
up, Anne just reached into the sports bag she'd put down and tossed a pair
of trunks at him. They impacted squarely on his face.
"Gee, thanks.", Jamie intoned sarcastically as he tilted his face down
and let the trunks drop
into his hands. Then he got a good look at them. They were hot pink with a
black elastic waistband and black piping down the sides."Anne!?"
"Off with you get changed! No need to thank me. When you get home,
You'll find about ten
more pair of regular shorts. I got tired of worrying about you keeling over
from sunstroke every time you work outside.", Just as Jamie opened the door
to the changing room Anne added, " And hurry we've got a busy day planned!"
When Jamie got back, Matt started in on his friend's new clothes,
until his wife, in a very loud whisper asked Anne where she found such
darling trunks.
The rest of the day was something of a blur to Jamie as everyone
seemed to be determined
to hit the birthday boy in the face either with a present (The clothes
weren't so bad, but the CD case and that video tape had hurt, dammit!) or a
drink. Chris got him Valis! He thought they dropped Matt, Sue and the kids
off on the way back from the beach. He remembered little Jodie grimly
apologizing for getting sand in his cake. Ron and his girlfriend (what IS
her NAME?) departed after sampling some appetizers at TGI Friday's and then
.........
* * *
"Thanks Ron, we can take it from here."
Ron had his doubts, but Anne and the others seemed determined to take
care of Jamie
themselves. He close the front door quietly on his inebriated friend. Chris
and Beth began to lift Jamie from the couch and move him to the lab.
"Ack! Y'know I'm the first one to refuse inappropriate (Ugh!) displays
of chivalry Anne but..."
"Ron would've taken Jamie to his room and we'll need to monitor him in
(Humph!) the lab.
Chris, the scan lock, please."
Getting the nearly 200 lb. man on the table produced even more
grunting and not a few
explicatives from Beth. Once Jamie was on the table still snoozing away,
Anne began prepping the package they received on friday.
"You know, we never got around to telling Jamie about this last gift."
Chris mentioned while
pulling Jamie's t-shirt over his head. "Remember what he did when we were
chatting him up about virtual immortality?"
"Yeah, answered Beth,"the little warehouse of trivia here started
humming the theme to
"Highlander".
"We could try to wake him.", Chris suggested, after hanging a
collection bag of the bottom of
the table and preparing the catheter.
"No time now. The treatment's at temperature. We use it now or start
over.
"What about all the alcohol in his system?"
"S-1's will clean it out. Catheters in place?"
"Aye."
"Starting drip."
* * *
As usual, Jamie's computer woke up before him. It waited patiently
through five minutes (At
200 MHz, that's a long time indeed.) and started the CD in the tray. Jethro
Tull began to fill the room while the computer flashed "Wake up
sleepy-head! Time to start another adventure in the game of life!" on its
screen. Waiting the full 3.5 min. for "Witch's Promise" to end (Jamie
taught his computer not to be rude.), it then ran a WAV file of Jamie
screaming (He, on the other hand...) at himself to wake the fuck up.
Waiting another 10 min. the computer decided no one was in the room after
all and promptly shut itself down. While the assumption had been quite
correct for the past two days, it was patently false today and would be
again tomorrow.
* * *
The darkness was pierced by music and dreams of memory. Jamie was
bounced
unceremoniously through a tour of his life to date. He tried to grab hold
of the better memories. The birthdays. The first time a girl (Sarah Rogers)
slipped him the tongue. The surprise when he found out Stephanie Jackson
really was interested in him. Finding a pristine mint copy of the first
Ninja High School Yearbook. He skimmed by first time he met Rose, but
landed in the middle of the phone call where she told him she was returning
his ring. He was so close to suiciding that night, (That wasn't the reason
though, was it?)eight months later she called again and his dreams, both
then and now filled with the vision of a little girl (THAT'S the reason.)
who had Rose's pixy face and grace, but no trace of his...Red paint! How
the heck did he get red paint on his thumb? Some of the other kids were
finger painting, must've spilt some where he was putting away the big
building blocks. Teacher's so upset. It doesn't even feel... cold. God, the
barrel of that gun felt cold against the back of his ..."Head on back man.
She's been doing the horizontal bop with that guy the whole time you
were..."
"..gone! Get the fuck up you twit!", The computer blared in Jamie's
voice and fell silent.
"Aw Scum Puppies! It's late." Jamie couldn't bring himself to scramble
out of bed as normal so he settled for a slow crawl to the bathroom. Every
muscle in his body was stiff, his whole body itched like he hadn't bathed
in days, and his brain felt wrapped in muslin that was pressing gently
against the backs of his eyes. If he didn't know any better he'd have sworn
he was last stages of a hangover. But he never got hangovers. Not after
drinking. His trick metabolism usually started his hangovers while he was
drinking. Since it was hard to enjoy being drunk with a splitting headache,
he rarely drank to excess.
Except , the trick didn't work when he mixed beer and hard liquor. "Oh
shit." Jamie looked
around the floor for vomit, but none was there and his stomach was actually
reporting that it was a mite peckish. He told it to wait til after his
bath, then tell him about how hungry he was. In the
meantime, It would have to make do with coffee from the one cupper on the
bathroom sink.
It was only when he reached over for the little vacuum jar he kept in
the medicine cabinet
that he realized there was a lot more air around his balls than normal.
Looking down while humming the theme to the Jack Benny show, he noted with
a little irritation, the underwear he bought last week was being held up
solely through the heroic efforts of his morning woody. "Good job man. I
knew I kept you around for something.", Jamie mumbled as he lifted the
waistband of the BVDs and let them fall to his ankles.
He started the tub and turned to the bowl. Dropping his voice an
octave and a half to honor
the little trooper between his legs with his best Darth Vader. "You have
served your master well...."
* * *
"Beth, " Anne asked around her bagel, "who's on monitor duty?"
Beth sipped her tea. "I turned it down.", She grimaced mildly, "
Jethro Tull sucks.", Turning
the volume on the baby monitor back up both women were treated to the sound
of running water
and the voice of James Earl Jones intoning, ".. Now feel the full power of
the dork side of the farce!"
"Anne, you were right, he's definitely more comfortable waking up in
his own room."
* * *
The hot water of the bath was working its magic. The eerie feeling
from uneasy dreaming and
the tense muscles loosened in the warm cocoon of the water's embrace. The
steam was dissolving muslin that was interfering with his synapsis and his
brain quietly reminded him he was running late and should cut this short.
Jamie began scrubbing in earnest.
"Oh fer the.. Wasn't it enough that you guys decided to migrate from
my head?" Jamie
whined, as he looked from the washcloth (caked as it was with dead skin and
not quite brown hair), and back down to his very clean (But quite hairless)
chest. Picking himself up from the tub, he felt even more waterlogged and
doughy filth sloughed off his body. The water was turning a ruddy brown as
the stuff diffused into it. Then the steam rising from the water picked up
the smell and Jamie's empty stomach retched.
Pulling the stopper from the tub, he grabbed the shower wand began
furiously scrubbing the
remaining reside from his body. Jamie thought back to what Anne said in the
van. "Dipping me in depilatory, huh?, Didn't think Anne had it in her." He
smiled at the work that had to go into this joke."I wonder how long it took
Beth work out a formula that could stay on overnight without
burning the skin."
"Lets see, Anne comes up with the idea, Beth and Chris run with it.
Anne wouldn't have the
meanness to do it without the other two to egg her on." He decided. Then
Beth, the chemist works out the formula. But she really doesn't like to get
touchy with anyone; so that leaves Chris to apply the stuff. I wonder if I
enjoyed it? Jamie shook his head and chuckled at the naughty thought.
Examining himself more closely, he noted that not only wasn't his skin
irritated, but he was
having a hard time seeing the moles that dot everyone's skin. "Damn, a full
chemical peel, with a skin conditioner built in? Wonder why they left my
pits and crotch alone? Probably the skin's too sensitive there.", He
decided, absentmindedly scratching his chest.
Grabbing the shampoo, he looked at the bottle and poured some in his
hand. Then looked
at the little pool in his hand, sniffed and satisfied there was no danger,
slapped the stuff onto the top his ... hair! Not the fine wispy stuff
heredity had condemned him to, but the thick mat he
remembered from his youth. As soon as he got tired playing with this hair
weave, or whatever it was he had to find whatever listening device they had
set up ( At least he hoped there wasn't a video of this to worry about.),
and get a look at himself in the mirror before he got rid of the rug
currently attached to his scalp.
In the meantime... "God I wish this were real."
* * *
Chris was in the lab listening intently to "Blood Music".
Specifically, she was listening to the
musical interpretation of the mathematical algorithm that was Jamie's DNA
signature after his
treatment. She was comparing it to the version in the server from the time
she and Beth had
programed and prepped his treatment for production at the home office. She
glanced over at the
cooker she kept for on site experimentation. "Sorry Kiddo, you're fine for
instant prototype creation, but Harry's got much better with QC equipment
than I do."
Still, Chris prided herself on having a good ear and although Beth
cleared the final product as
matching the version in the server to 5 decimal places, She couldn't shake
the feeling the tune (in both cases) had changed subtlety. And there was
the fact that Jamie had been out for 96 hours instead of the projected 48.
She raised the headphones to her ears lost herself in the nuances of
Jamie's Blood Music
again. Then the computer cut in announcing a phone call being routed
through the home office.
* * *
Anne knocked quietly on the door to Jamie's room. Beth was standing
ready to break it in if
necessary. Both were mildly worried. They had been halfway up the stairs
when Jamie's voice came out of the baby monitor in Beth's hand.
"You'll forgive me, I need to be alone with my thoughts for a moment.
If you'd like to wait
outside my door, I'll be right with you." The monitor switched off then.
Jamie's voice had been calm and collected, although there was a slight edge
to it. Anne tried to run the last half of the stair, But Beth held her
back. "We'll get there soon enough."She said.
* * *
Jamie stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at himself. After
finding the baby monitor
by his lamp, He had pulled on a fresh set of clothes. But, he was in such a
hurry he failed to notice that the underwear was just as loose as the pair
he discarded earlier. Jamie similarly missed the fact that although he'd
pulled the belt as tight as it could go, his levis were riding low on his
hips. Or, for that matter, that his t-shirt was hanging somewhere below his
crotch and hung like a jersey length.
Jamie put his glasses back after one abortive try. He was seeing
clearly without his glasses.
The hair was real. It was short ;maybe two inches of growth and lighter.
But it was real. He
wondered if the eyes were as well. He continued staring after hearing the
girls knock.
"S'not locked." Jamie called. This cannot be reality, he thought to
himself.
"Must be video." The man in the mirror said.
* * *
Anne and Beth made their way to the bathroom, where the light was on.
"Jamie, you alright?"
Jamie's back was to the pair and he was blocking their view of the
mirror, but it was clear that the treatment was having an effect. They
hadn't noticed just how much the nanites had slimmed Jamiedown. If she
didn't know better, Anne would have guessed he was emulating the loose fit
style that the kids were currently wearing. Both of them were surprised at
the regrowth of hair however.
The bald spot on the back of Jamie's head had been replaced by a dense
growth of honey
blonde hair. The rest of his hair had grown out similarly. Anne reached out
to run her fingers through the dirty blonde hair that encompassed the rest
of his head. It now ran down to the base of his neck and the roots were the
same honey color as the top.
Jamie turned quickly and Anne found herself face to face with the man.
This also was odd.
Anne assumed that Jamie had been slightly hunched at the sink. Now there
was no doubt in her mind that Jamie was standing straight but his head had
to tilt up slightly to meet her gaze.
It was that gaze that caused Anne to gasp though. Before, Jamie had
deep hazel green eyes, with little flecks of gold embedded around the pupil
and a faint ring of brown around the outer edge of the iris. Now the iris
was turquoise with faint spokes of blue radiating out from the pupil.
"Yeah, they kinda look back at you." Jamie commented with a forced
smile. "Now would you
like to tell me what's going on, or should I guess."
"Happy 31st Birthday?" Beth offered.
End ch.4 Jeff Rose 1997
*"And You and I - Cord of life / Eclipse / The Preacher The Teacher /
Apocalypse" Jon Anderson, with themes by Bill Bruford, Steve Howe and
Chris Squire. Published by Cotillion Music & Yessongs Ltd.1972