It's best to read DNA I and II before this to understand who the hell everyone is, and you can find these two stories at www.sapphireplace.com where all my stories are hosted. Thanks, Sapphire!

However, here's a quick run down of what has happened before.

THE STORY SO FAR:

Dr Anne Chamberlain has developed a method to completely rewrite a person's DNA. She tests this on her assistant, Jim, turning him into a copy of Anne's niece, Julie. Anne is unable to change him back, so she ropes Julie into helping Jim. Jim meets Anne's womanizing boyfriend, Paul, and ends up in bed with him.

To Paul's horror, he catches Jim's DNA virus and starts to turn into another Julie clone. Anne manages to stop the process, but not before Paul has become female from the waist up. Julie takes a DNA virus based on Jim's DNA and becomes a copy of his male body. While Jim and Julie become closer, Paul runs away, convinced Anne is punishing him.

In panic Paul goes to a former client of his, the disgraced researcher Dr Michael Kingston, unaware that he is working for the drug- smuggler, Quince.

Quince uses the DNA Virus to infiltrate the local police and to turn an undercover cop, Jeff Stockwell, into a buxom, black woman. Paul is tricked by Quince and ends up in a duplicate of Jeff's new form. Paul rescues Jeff from virtual slavery at the hands of one of Quince's men, but a failed attempt to inform the police leaves Mandy (Paul's new roommate) and Jeff in Quince's clutches.

Michael and Paul go to rescue them and in the ensuing shoot-out, Paul is shot and Quince and his second-in-command Simmonds get away, only to suffer unexpected transformations at the hand of the DNA Virus.

As soon as Anne finds out where Paul is she goes to him and together they start to rebuild their relationship. This isn't helped by the fact that Jim is pregnant from his one sexual encounter with Paul.

Confused? You will be, after tonight's installment of DNA III !

My website is at http://www.geocities.com/westhollywood/2525. From there you can find links to all my other stories. If you want to add your stories to the list of stories that can be posted by other people on alt.sex.stories.tg please send me an e-mail.

As always, this is an adult story and it should not be read if you are under the age of eighteen.

DNA III

by Stephanie

Part One

The sultry, black woman slinked into the laboratory. She watched a tanned, good-looking man wearing a lab coat working at his experiments. Her gaze wandered up and down his well-built body.

The man looked up from his microscope. He smiled as he recognized the woman by the door. "Paula, I didn't hear you come in." His eyes drifted over the tight short skirt and revealing top she was wearing.

"I was just passing, Rob," she replied," and I saw you were working late." She walked over to him, her lust self-evident.

Rob noticed the look on Paula's face and he took a step backwards. She reached out and touched his arm and he stopped. "We shouldn't..." he said.

"Look, Rob. We both know what's going on between us. I felt it from the moment you arrived here to help solve my medical problem. I want you just as much as you want me. We can't fight it!"

"But we must!" responded Rob desperately. "It's not right! You used to be a man and what about your girlfriend, Dr Charmerlain?"

"I don't care," Paula responded in a voice thick with lust, "She means nothing to me now. Kiss me!"

Rob gave into his desires and pulled Paula to him. They kissed passionately, their hands wandering over each other's bodies.

They had started to pull at each other's clothes, when the door to the lab opened and in walked Dr Charmerlain! Her mouth opened in shock and horror as she saw what Paula and Rob was doing. "Paul!" she cried, "how could you!" She turned and ran from the room in tears.

The two lovers looked at each other in shock - their secret discovered! The music swelled to a crescendo and then the soap cut to an ad break.

Paul switched the TV off and threw the remote control into the far corner of the room in frustration. "How can they do that?!" he exclaimed.

Anne looked at the enraged black woman sitting next to her. She decided not to point out that it was Paul who had explained exactly how the TV company had gotten away it, before the show had started. They had changed the names and stories just enough to avoid legal action. Instead of pointing all that out, though, Anne decided to have a little fun. "I don't blame her. Dr Rob IS very attractive."

"It's not funny." Paul retorted hotly. "It's been two whole months since we went public about the DNA virus and there's still nothing else in the news."

"Are you surprised? This is one of the most important scientific discoveries of the age, even if I do say so myself. The virus has the potential to affect everyone's life at the most fundamental level. Eventually they'll get bored or another war in Eastern Europe will start. You have to give it time."

"If anything it's getting worse! Every soap worth its name has a DNA transformed character in it. Then there are the movies of the week and TV specials. Next year you'll see all the major films doing it. It'll never end!"

Anne had to hide her smile as she watched the angry young woman. Paul's body was almost the complete opposite of the one he had originally had. Where he had once been a fit forty-year-old white man, he was now a buxom, black woman with a physical age of barely twenty.

At times like these, Anne was struck by how recognizable Paul was. While his body was still strange to her, his mannerisms and speech patterns were clearly the same.

If someone had told Anne a year before that she would be sharing her bed and life with another woman she would have reacted with laughter and some shock. In many ways she had changed almost as much as Paul had. "There's no point in letting this get to you. Try and relax."

"Yeah, I know." Paul replied tiredly. He got up from the couch and walked over to the window.

Anne watched his hips sway as he moved. Paul wasn't walking in a particularly feminine manner, but his body was female and that meant it moved in certain ways. And the wider hips certainly added a sexy swing to his walk.

He peeked through the blinds. There was not nearly the same amount of camera crews and reporters outside as there had been, but it was still a significant amount. He turned back to Anne. "I just wish there was something I could _do_. I don't think I've left this building in two months and it's been four months at least since I was last at work." He crossed his arms under his breasts and sighed.

Anne put down the papers she had been reading. "You need a backrub," she told him as she patted a space on the couch next to her.

Paul acquiesced and sat with his back to her where she had indicated. Anne had always given him backrubs and she was quite good at it. Under her expect hands the knots quickly started to evaporate from his muscles.

Then a hand slipped around his side, over the curve of his breast and down towards the buttons of his blouse. He started to help Anne undoing his blouse but she just told him to relax and let her do all the work.

Quickly she had undone the top three buttons and then she reached in to cup his left breast. Her fingers glided over the slippery fabric of Paul's virginal white bra. Anne knew that Paul really liked the white bra and panty set he was wearing; especially the way the color contrasted with his dark skin. She also knew that he would never admit to liking the feel of female lingerie or worrying about which outfit looked best on him. It was only natural to want to look good, but Paul's male psyche still felt embarrassed at admitting those feelings even with Anne.

Her questing fingers rubbed his nipple, which was already enlarged and aroused. Paul gave a low contented sigh.

Anne stretched her legs back on either side of Paul and gently pulled him backward onto her body. He looks so small and young, she thought. She remembered the first few times they had made love with him in his new body; she had felt like she was cradle snatching.

Paul leaned his head back until they rested on Anne's breasts. In return she undid the last few buttons of his blouse and pulled it open. She ran her hands up his smooth body to his abundant breasts. She did miss his hairy chest, but what had replaced it brought new and exciting sensations to both of them.

His bra opened at the front - as did most of the bras he owned - and Anne had soon revealed his magnificent bosom. She kneaded his breasts together and pulled on his nipples. Paul's nipples seemed extraordinarily sensitive and Anne had been able to send him to orgasms just by sucking on them. The soft intakes of breath Paul was making now just caused Anne's own arousal to grow.

She couldn't easily reach her own crotch now, but that didn't bother her too much. She knew it would be her turn to be on the receiving end in a few minutes.

Her hand left Paul's breast and moved down to his crotch. Roughly she undid the belt of Paul's pants and then slid inside. He was already slick with his own juices. Pushing aside his panties, her fingers penetrated the aroused vagina they found there. Her lover arched his back as she started to massage his clit.

Anne had never had to work too hard to bring Paul to orgasm and it had never been a chore. The technique now that Paul was a woman was different. What had previously only been foreplay had become the whole act, though it was far more intense than before Paul's change. After some initial difficulty Anne had come to accept and love Paul's new form, but she still missed full male/female intercourse. She dearly wished that Paul was still male and could still fill her up with that fantastic hot length he had had.

She could still get that from a vibrator she had at home, but she didn't want to use that. This was partly because it wasn't as good as the real thing, but mostly because she dreaded what Paul would think if he ever saw her with it. Despite all that, their lovemaking was still fulfilling. Sometimes it was frantic and rough, and sometimes it was slow and languid like at that moment.

Anne slowed her caresses, but slowly and surely she was bringing Paul to the edge. Paul was squirming with unsuppressed passion. He loved the long slow build-up, as it made the inevitable climax that much stronger. He started to buck his hips to try and force Anne's hand deeper inside him.

He gave a few strangled gasps as his orgasm neared and Anne pushed all her fingers inside Paul.

"Oh God!" Paul screamed behind gritted teeth as his orgasm exploded in his crotch and then rushed through every cell of his body.

After the fire had receded slightly, Paul turned over and kissed Anne deeply.

Anne smiled and hugged Paul tightly. "Now, doesn't that feel better?"

"Mmmm," Paul agreed as he nuzzled her neck.

His kisses slowly started to descend between her breasts. Anne fumbled with the buttons of her blouse. Paul waited while she undid her blouse by playing with her nipple with her tongue. Then when the way was clear he inched slowly down over her stomach.

Anne was still wearing her skirt and Paul didn't bother removing it. He just dived under it and resumed his trail of kisses. She closed her eyes as she felt slender fingers pulling her panties down.

As Paul's expert tongue got to work she wondered if being a woman had made Paul even better at it than he had been before the change. Paul's skill soon pushed all thoughts from her head as Paul teased her into ecstasy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Good Morning, Myra." Paul said to the young woman. "What do you have for me today?"

"Twelve death threats; four marriage proposals; another hundred or so assorted fan letters and this." Paul's secretary handed over a letter.

Paul marveled at the amount of mail he was still receiving. It had quickly become clear that he needed someone to deal with the mountain of mail he was getting. Myra was in her mid twenties and slightly overweight and her resume of important people she had worked for showed she was capable of doing the job and not talk to the press afterwards. Each morning she would list the types of mail Paul had received and she dealt with most of them herself. Death threats were routinely passed to the police. Most were groundless, but Paul refused to take chances. Paul knew he wouldn't be able to keep ahead of the mountain of mail. She was simply indispensable.

He read the letter she had handed him and then read it again to see if his eyes had deceived him the first time. "This is serious?" he asked.

"I double checked with them," Myra replied. "it's one hundred percent genuine."

"What is?" Anne asked as she entered. She was still wearing her dressing gown and had just finished washing her hair.

"This letter," Paul replied. "It's from Playboy."

"You're joking!"

Myra laughed, "I'm surprised they waited as long as they did to make an offer."

"It would be a huge coup for them," Anne agreed. "So, Paul, how much do they think it'll cost them to make you get your tits out."

"Three hundred thousand," Paul replied. "Is that all I'm worth? I'm offended!"

"That's not small change you know," Anne pointed out.

"It's probably only an opening offer," Myra said. "I know an agent who could probably get it up to three-quarters of a million easy."

"Thanks, Myra," Paul said, "but no thanks. Let them know that I'm not interested and that that isn't a negotiating position."

"Okay," Myra replied, "Somehow, I didn't think you'd go for that one."

Paul and Anne left Myra to her work and walked across the corridor to their private apartment. He hated the fact that both he and Anne had been virtually driven from their homes. Since then, the only privacy available to them had been in a converted lab in the Institute where Anne had first developed the DNA virus.

Anne got out her hairdryer and switched it on. In a few hours the Institute would be paying host to several important government official and she wanted to look her best. "Are you being a bit quick to give up the idea?"

"Be serious," he replied. "The idea of thousands of men drooling over semi-naked pictures of me is not one I want to think about."

"True, but it is a good body. They weren't offering all that money based on simply who you are, but on what you look like as well."

Paul stopped and looked at her suspiciously. "I can never tell when you're serious and when you're joking."

"Good. Otherwise you wouldn't be so easy to wind up." She smiled. "It's about time you started getting ready."

"Yeah, I suppose."

Paul took a quick shower. The meeting today was very important. When the DNA story had first broken it had taken everybody by surprise, not least the government. Even though certain sections had been aware of what was going on two months before the general public, no-one had been able to decide what to do with it. Now, several months later, officials were going to meet with Anne and the Institute to try and forge a coherent policy.

He stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. As he did so he saw his image in the full-length mirror. He stopped and looked at himself. Ever since his change he had unconsciously spent as little time as possible in front of mirrors.

He knew Anne was right about his body; it could be considered very sexy. Despite the months he had spent in it, Paul still had a mental image of himself as a forty-year-old, white man. But every time he looked into a mirror a twenty-year-old, black woman stared back at him.

He turned his head from side to side and felt his hair brushing on his shoulders. He hadn't had hair that long since he was a student back in the seventies. Almost unconsciously he had decided that he looked better with longer hair. He didn't feel any more feminine, despite the body and clothes he wore and he certainly hadn't embraced his new life to the extent Anne's lab assistant, Jim, had.

Paul practiced some playboy pinup poses, but collapsed in laughter. "Perhaps I should stick to the day job," he told his image.

Since he was trying to look smart, he picked the best of his new suits. He had had to rebuild his wardrobe from scratch after his transformation and he had felt rather lost in the world of feminine fashions. Almost all of his outfits had pants rather than skirts, but Anne had insisted that he at least try a few skirts and dresses.

He'd very rarely worn skirts in public and still felt very uncomfortable in them. So he chose his favorite new suit. It reminded him of an outfit the lead actress in 'Jackie Brown' had worn, but he had nothing like the height she did so the resemblance was slight.

Anne had chosen a red suit and it made her look very authoritative, though Paul could tell she was worried. Paul gave her a hug and told her not to worry. She smiled back, but she was far from convinced that everything would be okay.

The government officials had already entered the building and Anne met them as they reached the top floor. These men weren't scientists so she didn't bother giving them a tour of her labs. they had probably already read the extensive reports from the Government scientists that Anne had met several weeks before.

The team consisted of one portly, high-ranking, DEA official by the name of Byron Zajac; a severe-looking woman in her fifties called Veronica Carlson from the Surgeon General's office; and a vaguely recognizable advisor to the President himself called John Krysanivich.

After the introductions they got straight down to business. John Krysanivich started the ball rolling. "As you can probably expect, there has been a great deal of intense discussion about your discovery, doctor."

"Many people feel," continued Byron, "that the possibilities of misuse far outweigh any benefits the DNA virus could bring. A prime example is the use Mr. Quince used to infiltrate the local police when he extracted the virus from Mr. Paul Roberts' bloodstream."

"I don't agree," Anne replied vehemently. "This area of science has only just begun to be explored and already we have the possibility of reversing all forms of terminal disease. Life-spans could be doubled or even trebled with the virus at just this primitive form!"

Now the woman from the Surgeon's General office leaned forward, "Also, we have no idea what risk the population at large is running if the virus starts to mutate. It's difficult to pass from one person to another at the moment, but what if it gained the ability to spread like the common cold? We'd have a country - or perhaps a planet - of clones inside of a year."

Anne shook her head, "All the research that I've done - and all the research you've done, I might add - has shown no likelihood of this happening." Anne decided to go on the offensive. "We can't put the genie back in the bottle, even if we wanted to. Every country on Earth knows that this technology is possible. At the moment America has a substantial lead. Research has to continue - if only to develop protection and detection systems. However, I feel that we should continue investigating all avenues. We can't afford not too."

John Krysanivich nodded. "We've come to much the same conclusions and we agree that research should be continued. An area of concern has become apparent."

"And that is?" Paul prompted.

"Security. This is a civilian establishment and it really is not designed to deal with the great deal of attention it has been receiving since you went public."

Anne shrugged, "We have had the occasional intruder, but they have always been stopped before they could do anything."

"What I'm saying is that while you may be able to deal with the random intrusion into this establishment, you wouldn't be able to deal with a terrorist incident or infiltration by a foreign government."

"Do you think either of those is likely to happen?" Paul asked incredulously.

"No government likes it when another country develops something new and potentially dangerous and espionage goes on even between allied countries. Also, we all know what one lone madman with a home made bomb can do."

"Even so," Paul countered, "This building is as secure as it can be and it is also only temporary."

"I've seen the plans for the new research institute Dr Chamberlain will be heading. But that building won't be ready for four months or more. We can't justify the risk for that time. So, we've come up with a solution for the immediate future." John Krysanivich produced a folder and handed it to Anne.

She opened it and studied the photographs of a very well guarded instillation. "What is this?"

"It's an army research center just sixty miles from here. We've already determined that its facilities are of a high enough quality to allow you to continue your research in the short term."

"Have you?" Anne replied skeptically. She looked up at John Krysanivich. He was a smug bastard, but she had to concede he was right. They were too vulnerable here for her liking and this facility would do well until the new building was ready. "Alright, give me a few days to get ready and then we'll move."

"Good, we'll start sorting all the details." John K replied with a smile.

"One thing, Mr. Krysanivich. We're not staying there for more than four months and I will retain full control over my work."

"Of course," Krysanivich replied.

With that, the meeting was over and the three officials quickly filed out.

Anne and Paul headed back to her labs. "Do you think we can trust them?" Paul asked.

"We have to." Anne replied. "They've realized they can't suppress this discovery, however much they may be afraid of it." She put an arm around Paul and held him lovingly. "Our days are excitement and danger are over."

Part Two

"So, how have you've been since we last met?"

"Not good. I haven't been able to sleep."

"No? Why is that?"

"I'm starting to have this same dream over and over. Sometimes even two or three times a night."

"I see. And what happens in these dreams?"

"Well...uh...I'm walking into the precinct house where I was stationed and I'm still in my old, male body. I walk through to the locker room, saying hi to my colleagues. Then I go to change into my uniform..."

"Go on, Jeff."

"Okay...I unbutton my shirt and look down...and I have a pair of tits. I...really don't want to talk about the next bit. I don't feel easy thinking about it, let alone telling a psychiatrist!"

"It's okay, Jeff. I'm only here to be a friendly ear and help point you in the right direction. Please, tell me the rest of the dream.

"Alright. I look up in shock after seeing my breasts and then I see every man in the locker room staring at me. I can tell, just by the looks on their faces, that they want me...sexually. Then they walk over and they... and they..."

"It's okay, Jeff, just relax. Returning to your dream they have sex with you?"

"Yes, but that isn't the worst of it. In the dream I'm...willing. Despite the fact that I'm really a man I still willingly have sex with them. I even encourage them and demand that they...well... fuck me.

"I just wish that this was one big nightmare, that I'd wake up and still be a man! There's nothing wrong with being a woman, but I'm not supposed to be one!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"There you are, Paul. I've been looking all over for you."

Paul blinked and turned away from the window. Standing behind him was a beautiful eighteen-year-old woman. Paul found his eyes drawn to her pregnancy; it seemed an age ago that he had had sex with her.

"I was just daydreaming, Ji-- I mean Julie. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," 'Julie' replied, "even after all this time I still can't get used to the new name either.

'Julie' had once been called Jim, and been Anne's lab assistant. According to Anne, Jim had accidentally been infected with a DNA virus based on Anne's niece, Julie.

Julie had later deliberately taken a DNA virus based on Jim's body so to cover up the accident and protect Anne. The two transformed people had fallen in love with each other and had wisely decided to keep the whole incident secret. Paul rather envied them; at least they could avoid the direct gaze of the media that way. Even though they'd taken on the names of the bodies they now wore several months ago, they, Anne and Paul often made slip-ups and called them by their original names.

"I heard about the move," Julie said. "I don't much fancy the idea of spending time in an army camp."

"Neither do I, but it won't be for long." He paused before asking, "How are you doing with the baby and everything?"

She rested a hand on her bulge and smiled. "I freaked out at first, but now I wouldn't give it up for the world."

"Do you know whether it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"It's a girl, but we knew that before I got myself tested. The DNA virus will have made it a clone of this body." She noticed the downcast look on Paul's face. "What's up?"

"Well... it's silly really. I thought that was the last piece of the real me in there, but it's been changed just like everything else. I've always assumed - without thinking about it really - that I'd be a father one day. This is perhaps my one and only chance."

Julie took one of Paul's slim, dark hands and held it over the baby in her womb. "Jim and me have been talking it over. When the baby is born we'll register him as the father."

"I understand," Paul sighed.

"No, you don't." Julie replied quickly. "It's not because we don't want you involved, it's because any child of yours will become the center of attention for that huge media circus out there. You are the father and our child will grow up knowing who you really are and who me and Jim really are."

"Thank you," Paul said simply and had to wipe his eyes.

"Don't thank me yet," Julie said as she turned and headed for the door, "I expect you to do a fair share of the diaper changing."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Michael Kingston finished setting up the cultures and retreated from the clean room. He updated his notes and then sat back in his chair. Looking around at the state-of-the-art lab he could only marvel at the way his luck had changed.

Not that many weeks ago, his career had been in tatters and his boss had been an odious drug-smuggler by the name of Quince. He had had no-one else to blame for ending up there than himself. An idiotic attempt to steal a colleague's work and pass it off as his own had put him there working for a criminal. Paul had defended him in court - and won - but Michael's reputation was shattered.

It was still virtually impossible to believe that he had gone from that to working for one of the foremost scientists - certainly the most well known - on the planet. Anne had made him prove his competency before she let him in her lab, but since he was the only other scientist to have examined the DNA virus he did have a natural advantage. He had undergone an extensive debriefing session from the DEA and even now he was sure they didn't trust him.

At that moment, Anne arrived and slumped into a chair.

"That bad?" he asked her worriedly.

"No. Actually, the meeting with those officials went quite well. They're only interested in its use as a weapon or in espionage, though."

"What else did you expect from them?"

"True," Anne replied. "The good news is that you're still on the project. They had some objections, but they didn't seem to be that worried by your presence."

"The bad news?" he asked.

"We're moving to a military facility until the new buildings are ready."

"What's wrong with that? Security is good here, but it isn't good enough."

He shivered as he remembered the events of just the previous week. Somehow, a religious lunatic had gotten inside the building. He had obviously recognized Michael and had immediately attacked him, screaming something about an 'insult against God'.

Security had arrived almost immediately and hauled Michael's attacker away, but it left him worried. The next time someone broke in any of them could pay with their lives.

"Perhaps," Anne replied, "but I don't want my research becoming just another military project."

She quickly suited up and entered the clean room. Michael watched nervously as she checked the cultures he had just set up, only letting his breath out when she seemed happy with them. That was his other major worry: Was he up to working with Anne Chamberlain?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So, has superdoc found a cure yet?" asked the voice on the other end of the phone line.

"Give her a chance, Mandy," Paul replied, laughing. "Between all the meetings and press briefings she's been forced to do I'm surprised she finds any chance for research. Anyway, she's warned me a cure could be years away."

"You sound more cheerful these days; how are you coping being an African-American beauty queen?"

Paul laughed again, "It's weird. More than once I've woken up and had the shock of my life when I felt my new body. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it. How are you holding up?"

"Fine, considering. I still get reporters knocking on the door or phoning me up at all hours and I lost my job at the burger bar."

"Oh no, what happened?"

"It wasn't the manager's fault. The place couldn't operate while under siege from the press. I might head back to my parents for a while. I haven't spoken to them since this all started; I worry what they make of it all."

"You can always come here, if you want to hide out from the storm."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we're moving to a military base soon, but I can get them to send you a pass and the address."

"Will it be alright, with Anne I mean."

"Yeah, it'll be fine. It took us some time, but we've both adjusted to the new situation."

"I might just take you up on that offer, Paul." Mandy said. "It'll be good to find some peace and quiet. Never thought I'd get that in an army base."

After Mandy had hung up, Paul belatedly worried about Anne's reaction. She knew about the intimacy that he and Mandy had shared after he had run away from Anne.

Anne had forgiven him for that, but he wasn't sure how she would react to having Mandy under the same roof as them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was unforgivably early in the morning when the transfer began. Paul stifled a yawn as he watched the last packages being loaded onto the three trucks. Anne was scurrying between the trucks making sure all of her precious equipment and samples were secure.

Beyond the institute's gates he could see the massed ranks of the press and several groups of demonstrators. It had been intended to keep the move a secret until it had happened, but the news had quickly leaked out.

"Everything ready?" Paul asked her as she approached.

"Just about," she replied. "Hopefully, not too much will get broken."

"They're not total incompetents, Anne."

"Hmmm," she replied, unconvinced.

Paul turned to see Jim, Julie and Michael arrive.

"So what are the seating arrangements then?" Michael asked.

"You'll ride in the first truck, I'll follow in the second and Jim will be in the third. Paul and Julie will have to follow in one of the cars."

They each went to their assigned vehicles. "I should be up in that truck, you know." Julie said.

"You're not Anne's lab assistant anymore," Paul pointed out. "You're her niece. And anyway, you'll probably be better off in a car in your condition."

"What condition?" Julie responded sharply.

"Well... your pregnancy." Paul replied, slightly taken aback.

"Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm made of glass. At least Jim doesn't try to wrap me in cotton wool; he understands what a pregnant woman is capable of."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm not at my best in the mornings at the moment." They climbed in the car and waited for the convoy to get under way. "Do you have any idea what the human body goes through during pregnancy."

"Not any more than I was taught at school."

"I've been reading up on it. It's an amazing balancing act the way the body produces just the right of this hormone or that hormone. Just a slight imbalance somewhere along the line and the whole thing comes crashing down. And I'll tell you this, I was horrified when I first realized I could be pregnant, but now the idea of life being created inside me is just the best feeling in the world."

Paul watched Julie's enlarged belly in awe. "I never really thought about it," he said quietly.

"Maybe you'll get to experience it one day."

"No thank you. I'm not interested in men."

"You don't need a man to get pregnant, just a sperm bank." Julie replied with a grin. "And the feelings for men are there, aren't they?"

"No. Well... maybe just a little."

Julie patted his hand. "Don't feel embarrassed about it." She looked at the driver and then lowered her voice. "I faced the same thing too, remember?"

Paul did remember. Julie had become a woman only a few days before he did. Unlike Paul, however, Julie had embraced her newfound femininity. He had changed mentally himself, he knew. Not to a great extent, but he had become much more aware how attractive men could be. Those thoughts frankly disturbed him and the knowledge that it was the effect of his new body did little to calm him.

"Here we go," Julie remarked.

Paul looked on ahead. The gates were opening and the first of the trucks was moving out. The car they were in was sandwiched between the second and third truck and it took them several minutes to clear the gate.

Outside a veritable wall of reporters met them.

"Wow!" Julie remarked in disbelief, "Now I know what the Queen of England feels like. Should I give them a royal wave?"

"Do what you like," Paul replied sourly, "they won't be able to see you through the darkened glass."

Several reporters broke through the cordon and rushed up to the car, putting their cameras against the glass and taking as many photos as they could before they were dragged off. Finally they made it to the open road and met their escort to the army base.

"And I thought it was bad for me," Julie remarked as she looked back.

"The attention will die off," he replied, "in a few years or so." I hope, he added silently.

Behind and above the mass of reporters on a gantry were the cameras for the larger news companies. The camera from CNN watched the convoy disappear into the distance before turning to focus on its reporter. Arnold Lester was in his early fifties, but had managed to retain his looks - something that was becoming more and more important in his job.

"From here, Dr Chamberlain and her team will proceed to McDaniels Base sixty miles from here which used to be a premier military research facility. In recent times it has been empty due to budget cuts. For the next six months however it will be used by Dr. Chamberlain for her research into the DNA virus."

It was hard to hear the voice of the news anchor in his earphone over the noise of the various demonstrations still going on.

"Is this a permanent move, Arnold?" Asked Lynn Hong. She already knew the answer, of course, and was just asking it so he could give more information.

"Dr. Chamberlain has categorically denied that this move is permanent, Lynn. She has stated that she fully expects to move into civilian laboratories as soon as they are available."

"Arnold Lester at the Nomura Institute, thank you."

Arnold nodded and then stood frozen in the same position.

"And we're clear," said a young woman at the miniature control desk.

Arnold got up and stretched. "Any sign of trouble?" he asked the cameraman.

"None, the demonstrators are starting to pack up and go home."

"Total fucking waste of time us being here," Arnold added sourly. He watched the protestors leaving. They should have at least had the decency to riot, he thought. Then he would have gone away from the Institute with something worthwhile.

"Thanks for working the board, Tanya," he told the woman at the control desk. I thought I'd be managing that one myself when Tony fell ill."

"Well," she replied, "when I saw how many other photographers were here I knew I'd never be able to sell anything I took to anyone. I'm new to the game and I don't have any contacts yet."

"And you're looking for a leg-up to network news already?" Arnold said, amused.

Tanya Carter shrugged, "If you don't ask, you don't get."

"We're finished here for the day. Let's go get something to eat." He turned to the cameraman, "I'll leave you to clear up, Mike. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure," the cameraman replied. Leave me to do all the work while you try and get her panties down, he thought.

"I know this place in town," Arnold said to Tanya as they walked to his car. "It took me some time to find it, but I've been stuck here covering this story ever since it broke, so I've had plenty of time. If you're not doing anything else, that is."

"I'd be delighted," Tanya replied. "I haven't had a chance to eat this morning."

Tanya had to admit he had excellent tastes and the meal proved to be delicious. All through breakfast he told stories of his various assignments over the years, right back to when he had first made a name for himself in Vietnam.

Arnold noted how closely she was paying attention to his stories. She seemed genuinely interested. He had known from the first moment she had approached him that she was trying to use him to get into television news, but he didn't mind. That was what all good reporters did - used their initiative.

Tanya was very good-looking, with long blonde hair shaping a luscious heart-shaped face. She was well stacked and curved in all the right places. What the hell, he thought, if she doesn't work out I can always drop her. "I actually have a vacancy going at the moment. It's only a temporary spot and it's unofficial as hell, but..."

"...it gives me a chance to show what I can do." it wasn't lost on Tanya that Arnold hadn't asked many questions about her career up to now, but she had come to expect that from men. "So, is it true that you've landed an interview with Chamberlain?"

Arnold laughed, "And there I thought you were interested in me because of my looks! Yeah, it's true, though it's supposed to be top secret."

"It is. Well, as much as anything is in this business."

"Here's to our new relationship then." Arnold said, raising his glass.

"To our relationship," Tanya repeated and clinked her glass against his.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The trucks didn't have that far to go, but the going was slow and they didn't arrive at the military base until noon.

Paul was rather intimidated by the size of the base's defenses. A tall wire fence topped with razorwire surrounded the base, and there were several dog patrols around the grounds.

"You can say this about the military," said Julie wryly, "they don't do things by half."

"It looks more like a maximum security prison," Paul muttered darkly.

"As long as it keeps the press and psychopaths out."

"There's a difference?"

The convoy pulled into a roofed loading bay, which was something that pleased Paul. The fleet of helicopters above wouldn't have a good view at all.

Anne, Jim and Michael set about checking the equipment while Paul and Julie got out and stretched their legs.

Two large doors leading into the base opened and a swarm of soldiers emerged to help with the unloading. With them was a man in his forties who was clearly a ranking officer. He strode over to Paul and stuck out his hand. "Mr Roberts? I'm Colonel Rigdon, welcome to McDaniels Research Facility."

"Thanks, colonel. This is Julie Chamberlain, Anne's niece."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," the colonel responded. "Is Dr. Chamberlain around?"

"Ah, she's in one of the trucks. Just making sure everything is intact."

"If you'll excuse me then, I'll just go introduce myself."

Julie watched him walk off before remarking, "He's cute."

"Cute?" Paul looked at Julie to try and work out if she was joking or not. "Grizzled, is more the word that came to my mind."

"Rugged, then. Shall we settle on that?"

"You can if you want to," Paul responded with an exasperated sigh.

Colonel Rigdon walked over to the nearest truck and peered inside where two men were being supervised by a woman. He instantly recognized the woman as the one whose face had been a near-permanent fixture in the media in recent months. He climbed in and introduced himself. "Are your equipment and samples secure, doctor?"

"Yes, everything seems to have survived the transit intact."

Rigdon nodded, "Good, if you'll just double-check the integrity of your samples and then we'll begin the unloading."

"You needn't worry, Colonel," Anne replied. "It's all perfectly safe."

"Doctor, I don't need to remind you what your DNA virus is capable of. As their commanding officer it's my responsibility to look after my men. So, please, double check."

Anne scowled at him, but did as she was told.

After the colonel had left, Jim walked over to her. "Try not to annoy the army, auntie. He's only doing his job."

"Hmmm," Anne replied, unconvinced. Perhaps moving to the base had been a mistake. "I'll try to be gentle with him. You two finish up here. I'm going to see what the labs we have been given are like."

Part Three

"It's still swarming with reporters," the very nervous, black woman sitting next to Mandy said.

"Relax," Mandy replied. "They're not expecting us and they're all just sitting around. We'll be in and through the gates before they know what's happening."

Mandy steadied herself at the wheel. Paul had loaned her the money to hire the expensive car and she was extremely cautious when driving it. It wouldn't look good if she dented it and Paul lost his deposit, though she thought it might just be worth it if the dent was caused by running over a few of the hordes of press outside the base. "Right," she said to her passenger, "here we go."

She turned off the road and quickly down to the gate. The guard was ready for them and admitted them inside the base. The gates were closing before the press had truly woken up to who was in the car.

The car and its occupants were thoroughly checked out once through the outer gate before they were allowed to approach the main complex.

"See, that wasn't too bad was it?"

"I really hate those parasitic scumbags!" Jeff said with some venom.

"They can't get in here, so we won't have to worry about them," Mandy replied reassuringly.

Paul was waiting for them at the entrance to the building. "Did you have any trouble getting here?" he asked them after an enthusiastic greeting.

"No," Mandy replied, "we were past the press before they knew what was going on."

"Good." Paul walked over to the small, black woman who was now his exact twin. "How are you holding up?" he asked Jeff.

"It's been rough," the former policeman replied quietly. "I'm just surviving day to day, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand perfectly." Paul replied and hugged her on impulse. He realized that might not have been the best thing to do, but Jeff didn't seem to take any offence from it.

Despite what he had said, Paul knew he didn't understand the enormity of what Jeff had been through. Jeff had originally been a large, heavily muscled, male, undercover cop. Then immediately after her transformation she had been imprisoned by one of Quince's sadistic goons. The experience and the drugs used had clearly left their mark on her.

Jeff's hair was cut much shorter than Paul's and she was clearly wearing male clothing which didn't fit her as well as proper female clothes would have. Paul had long since resigned himself to wearing female clothes - albeit still retaining a masculine style - but Jeff clearly did not want to make such a compromise.

"Where's Anne?" Mandy asked, breaking the silence.

"She's supervising the set up of the labs. I think she was expecting something far more basic than what is actually here. I'll show you to your rooms. I'm afraid you'll be sharing a dorm room together. They aren't exactly luxurious."

The accommodation area was spartan, but wasn't cramped. Paul showed them to the bedroom opposite his and Anne's.

"It's not that bad," Mandy remarked. "Where's the bathroom? I'm bursting."

"Turn right and it's the last door on your left." Paul told her.

"Thanks!" she called behind her as she left.

Paul walked over to one of the beds where Jeff had quietly sat down. He still found it very odd that Jeff had a body that was an absolute twin of his. He was starting to accept the strange new face he saw in the mirror, but seeing Jeff made him wonder how other people saw him. Had their expectations changed about him even though they knew who he really was?

"I didn't expect to see you," he told Jeff.

"Things were getting bad, you know?" Jeff replied softly. "I was a virtual prisoner in my own home and I nearly never saw anyone else."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that going public would drag you into the media spotlight."

Jeff shrugged. "It would have happened eventually. Your press conference allowed me to get back in contact with my buddies in the police, but that didn't work out either."

Paul wanted to know what had happened, but couldn't work out how to ask Jeff.

After a few moments Jeff continued, "Not all of my friends did visit, but evertime those that did there was a tension - a strangeness. It took me ages to work out what it was." She sighed, "Then it hit me. It was sexual tension. They were attracted to my female body and I... I was..."

Paul put an arm around the distraught girl. "It's alright, I understand." He saw her about to protest. "No, I _do_ understand. We have female brains in female bodies. Much as we hate it, we're going to have female thoughts from time to time."

"C-can I stay here until I get back on my feet?" Jeff asked softly.

"Of course, we're practically family anyway!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I must say, colonel, I'm impressed," Anne said as she inspected the labs. "It's good to see my tax dollars were put to good use."

"I'm glad you approve, doctor. I know your stay is only a temporary one, but I hope you can manage some constructive research here."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Anne replied.

"Good. If you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to set things up."

"Of course."

Colonel Rigdon passed Paul, Mandy and Jeff as he left the labs. He nodded at them as he passed and then continued on.

Paul and his two friends walked over to Anne. "I see I have a rival for my affections," he told her.

"They have got top of the line equipment in here," Anne admitted. She turned and saw Jeff and Mandy for the first time. She was momentarily disorientated by seeing Paul standing in two places at once before she realized one of them was Jeff.

"Jeff! It's good to see you again. How are you?"

"Better than I was," Jeff replied.

"You have my word I won't rest until I've discovered a safe way to reverse the process."

"I know, thank you," the transformed man said quietly.

Anne turned to the other person in the room. "Mandy," she said with a nod of her head.

"Hiya Anne. I'm sorry to intrude like this, but there aren't many places we can go at a time like this and avoid the mayhem going on out there."

"It's not a problem," Anne told her. Despite herself, she did feel wary about Mandy's presence. Paul had been unfaithful to Anne with Mandy during the time he had run off to Michael. Mandy had told Anne what had happened when Paul had been in hospital after he had been shot and she knew it wouldn't happen again. But that didn't calm her fears, however irrational she knew them to be.

At that moment the first box from the trucks arrived and the three sat back and watched as Anne directed the installation of her equipment. Michael and Jim did most of the assembly, but a younger dark-haired man also wearing a white coat aided them.

"Who's that?" Mandy asked Paul.

"Marcus Belmont. He works for the government, but he asked for a transfer here when he heard we were moving in."

"Mmmm, cute."

"He'll be far too busy for any of that, Mandy." Paul replied with a smile.

"Nobody is that busy," she confidently stated.

"Well, he will be for hours yet with the rest of them. Do you want to get something to eat?"

Jeff nodded and Mandy said, "Yeah, though I don't know what army food is like."

"You'll be surprised. It's quite good actually."

Marcus looked up as the three women left the room. At the door one of the dark-skinned twins looked back at him, but quickly lowered her gaze when she saw he was watching her.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tanya closed her eyes and tried to snatch a few more minutes of sleep as Arnold got dressed. It was quite late in the morning, but they hadn't got much sleep until the early hours of the morning.

"C'mon, wake up." Arnold said.

She cracked open one eye and looked at him. "Just a few more minutes."

"We're late enough as it is. Unless you don't want to go to interview Anne Chamberlain with me?"

"Alright already!" Wearily she got out of bed and stretched. She still ached a little from the previous night as Arnold had been rough in his lovemaking. She found her suitcase by the hotel room door where she had left it the previous evening. Quickly she selected an outfit and went into the bathroom to get ready.

She hated the long process of make-up she had to go through, but people expected it. At this moment it was vital to make the right impression. If she had her way, though, she would have worn as little as possible.

Finally, she stepped back and surveyed her features. Her long dark hair was still wrapped in the towel after she had showered and she decided she'd tie it back severely that day; it would help to make her look more businesslike. Tanya had never been able to shake the idea that her face looked like that of a dumb bimbo and she always took care to diminish any possibility of giving that impression. As quickly as possible she dried her hair and dressed.

Arnold banged on the door, "We late! Get a move on!"

Tanya gave herself the final once over and then emerged. Arnold had already loaded the bags into their rented car and it was only a matter of a few minutes before they were on their way.

She could tell how keyed up Arnold was. It was no wonder as this was a major scoop. Dr Anne Chamberlain had not done a proper interview with anyone since the DNA virus had been invented. If Arnold did well it could really boost his career. It would do Tanya's no harm either, though she realized that her journalistic skills were not the main reason she was accompanying him. She didn't really care, she knew he was using her just as she was using him.

The media circus that had been following the DNA story had moved to the military base and was in the process of setting itself up outside the gates. Tanya was aware of the cameras following the car as they drove up to the gates. She and Arnold were going to be a small part of the news that evening. She didn't like the idea of having her face plastered over the papers as part of a news story, but in the end it didn't really matter.

Once through the first set of gates the car was searched from top to bottom to make sure nothing was there that shouldn't be. Finally satisfied that the car and the occupants were clean it was escorted up to the main buildings. There Colonel Rigdon and Dr Anne Chamberlain met them.

Tanya held back and let Arnold take the lead. It was he who had landed the interview after all and it was very important to her that she didn't annoy him.

Arnold shook hands with Anne and the colonel. "And this is Tanya Carter. She'll be assisting me with the interviews."

Tanya shook hands with the doctor and the colonel doing her level best to keep the smile on her face sincere looking.

The formalities dealt with, the colonel excused himself. Anne led the two reporters into the base. "We only arrived yesterday ourselves, as you know, so everything is still being set up."

"I fully understand, doctor, but I'm interested to see what sort of set-up you have here."

The labs themselves were full of packing boxes. Michael and Jim were still working on the unpacking. The lab space was dominated by a clean room, separated from the rest of the room by an airlock and a thick sheet of toughened glass. Sitting by the window looking into the clean room was a very familiar small figure.

There he was, Paul Roberts. He was the one who had started it all. Tanya felt her heart thudding in her chest as she was introduced to him.

"If you look over there," Anne said, "you can see the sample case of the DNA virus."

"And whose DNA do they carry?" Arnold asked.

"About half of them are primed with DNA from me, or my assistants, as well as Paul of course."

"What about the rest of them?" Tanya asked.

"They're still in their 'pure' state," Anne replied. "That means they haven't been primed with anyone's DNA."

Tanya moved closer to the window and looked at the sample case. "How do you prime the DNA virus?"

"You just expose it to the required DNA. Just putting a drop of blood in it will do the job."

"Incredible!" Arnold remarked. "I'm really looking forward to learning more about this."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time over the next few days to find out all you need." Anne gestured at the crates. "We've got a lot to do now, so you'll have to excuse me for now."

"Sure, no problem," Arnold replied with a smile.

"Okay," Paul said trying to ignore the strange look he was getting from Tanya, "if you'll follow me, I'll show you your rooms."

They set off for the accommodation block and Paul put the odd reaction from the female reporter out of his mind. Ever since his transformation he had almost gotten used to the different ways people would react to him. If Tanya followed the usual pattern, she would soon settle down when she realized he was basically a normal person.

"There are two other civilians here that we haven't met yet, isn't there?" Arnold asked.

"Yeah, there are," Paul admitted. "I doubt they'll want to talk to you, though."

Arnold nodded. He naturally knew full well who was there and who wasn't. Mandy had lost her job through intense pressure from the press and Jeff had never fully recovered from the failed undercover job investigating the drug-smuggler Quince. They were small fry compared to Anne and Paul, but he still wanted to interview them. Perhaps, he ought to get Tanya to work on those two. Tanya would have a better chance at reaching them as they'd be less threatened by her because she was a woman. Also it would give Tanya something to do, leaving Anne and Paul all to himself.

All in all, he was feeling glad he had decided to listen to his libido and bring Tanya along.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You can't stay in here until they're gone, you know." Mandy pointed out.

"Oh, I can," Jeff replied. "Why should I do them any favors?" She sat down on the bed and slumped backwards.

"No-one says you have to do an interview with them - I won't. But there's no reason why you should hide yourself away here." Mandy sat down beside Jeff. "You need something to take your mind off them," she said, dropping a small package on Jeff's stomach.

"What's that?" Jeff lifted it up. It was a small cosmetics kit, specifically designed for African-American skin. "Where did you get this, and why?"

"In a shop, and because we need cheering up." She picked up the kit and began opening it.

"Mandy, please don't," Jeff told her wearily.

"Nonsense. Look, if you don't like it you can wash it off. Do it for me, please!"

Jeff sighed and sat up. She didn't have the energy to turn Mandy down.

"Great!" Mandy said and starting searching through the kit. "There's not much here, but I'm sure it'll do."

Jeff let her get on with it. Recently, it had seemed easier simply to let other people decide what to do and not argue with them. She hadn't always been that way. Up until her transformation into a woman she had been a normal man unwilling to be led by others. Her change in attitude hadn't come with the new female form, but with the brutal time she had spent at the hands of one of Quince's thugs. He had used a drug on her that made her very open to suggestion and then he had turned her into his own personal sex slave.

The endless hours in therapy had restored some of the old Jeff, but she privately doubted she would ever be her old self again even if she got her old body back.

Mandy had to tell Jeff to stop blinking several times while she applied the mascara, but for the most part the transformed man sat quietly. Mandy wondered what Jeff was like before her ordeal. Both Jeff and Paul had cut their hair short, but Jeff's was so short it was almost shaved. Mandy wished it were longer so she had something to work with. Never mind, the make-up was enough for a first step. "There, what do you think?"

Jeff got up rather uncertainly and peered into the mirror. She was regretting having let Mandy work on her face, convinced it would reawaken the memories of her ordeal. Memories she had worked so hard to forget. But another feeling welled up inside her. Her new face had a natural beauty that Mandy's work had only enhanced. She felt a strange exhilaration as he stared at his feminine face. It had only been in the previous couple of weeks that she had been able to look at her own reflection without flinching.

"I think I overdid it a bit," Mandy mused out loud.

"No... no, this is fine."

"Really?"

"Feels weird though," Jeff remarked.

"That's understandable, but you should embrace new experiences not run away from them. It's a pity we're not the same size as you should try a dress on."

Jeff looked at Mandy, "We're about the same height, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but you're much wider in the hips and the bust than I am." She thought for a moment. "Maybe Paul has some stuff. He is exactly the same size as you now, after all."

"Paul wouldn't have anything like that, surely?"

"You never know," Mandy replied, "We could always get some mail- order catalogues in. We have to get something good for when you next see Marcus again."

Jeff looked at her in shock. "Was I that obvious?"

"No, I just saw you looking back at him as we left. I don't think anyone else noticed."

Jeff sat down on the bed. "I couldn't help it. For the first time I'm starting to see men as attractive. I understand why I'm having these feelings, but it doesn't make it any easier. It could be years before Dr Chamberlain finds a way to safely reverse this. What do I do until then?"

"You keep on living your life," Mandy replied. "As you said, it could be years and you can't put your life on hold until then."

"Yeah," Jeff replied quietly. But just how she would live her life she couldn't see.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was well into the evening before Anne was finally satisfied everything had been stored safely. She rubbed her neck to remove the stiffness and looked around at the lab. She wouldn't be there long enough to get into very involved long-term test runs, but she had enough short-term research to keep her going until the new labs were ready.

After she had first deliberately infected her lab assistant she had worked all around the clock looking for a cure. Now, months later, she knew a true, safe cure was much further away than she had first thought and while Jim and Julie were no longer interested in a cure, she still had Paul and Jeff to think about.

She left the lab and locked the door behind her. Outside a solitary guard was on duty. She nodded to him and headed back towards the accommodation block.

"Dr Chamberlain," a voice called from down the corridor behind her.

She turned to see the colonel approaching. "I'm glad to see you're still awake," he said.

"I'm going to be putting in a lot of late nights," she replied. "I'm not going to be here long, but I want to get some meaningful research done."

"There I may be able to help you out, doctor."

"How so?"

"An ambulance is on its way here right now. On board is a critically injured private."

"You had better not be about to suggest what I think you're going to," Anne said coolly.

"Believe me, I wouldn't be following this option if there was a chance of saving him by conventional methods. He suffered massive internal injuries when a container fell on him the day before last. It's a miracle he's survived the operation to patch him together. Even then, his life is numbered in days, if that."

"Do you know what you're asking? The DNA virus has so far only been used on healthy people. No one knows what it'll do with an injury. It could repair him, leave him the same state or kill him!"

"All very true, but there is nothing more conventional medicine can do for him. The DNA virus might kill him, but if you don't use it he'll be just as dead."

Anne sighed heavily. "Okay, does he have any relatives?"

"His parents should arrive at the same time he does."

"Good. When they arrive I'll take them through the entire procedure and explain the risks. All three must know the risks the process entails."

"Of course," the colonel agreed. "I'll have our medical center set up ready for his arrival. Thank you, Dr Chamberlain."

Anne watched him stride off down the corridor with a feeling of unease.

Part Four

Tanya found the military base to be rather bleak and uninviting. The cold, morning light did little to improve the view from the window.

"Stop giving the soldiers a thrill and come back to bed," Arnold told her.

Tanya looked down almost as if she hadn't realized her breasts were bare before returning to the bed. She had been given her own room, but Arnold, with some rather unsubtle hints, told her to spend the night with him. There were easier and more reputable ways to get into journalism than this, she knew, but none were as quick.

She slipped back into the just-too-small bed. "So what's our plan of attack today?"

"Do we have to talk business?" Arnold asked.

"Yes, we do. We can move onto... other matters once we've worked out what we'll be doing today. I mean, there is little point in me tailing you around all day."

"You _are_ ambitious," he said in mock-surprise. "Well, there is something you can do that I can't. I have interviews with Anne Chamberlain and Paul Roberts, and I'll probably be able to get Michael Kingston by the end of the day. But, there is no way in hell I'll be able to get to Mandy Stenger and Jeff Stockwell."

"But I can?" Tanya replied skeptically.

"Yeah, it's a longshot, but you do have a chance. You know, talk to Mandy, woman-to-woman. Paul spent some time on the run, after the accident with the DNA, living in a flat with her. Maybe she'll tell you what it was like, or how she dealt with him changing from a white half- man/half-woman to a black woman. Maybe you could find out if the rumors are true and they did sleep together."

"Even if baseless gossip like that was true, do you think she'd tell a reporter that?"

Arnold shrugged, "You never know. Anyway, I'll get Mike to lend you a spare camera. It's not difficult to set it up for a static interview." He smiled. "That's business out of the way, now... has my little girl been naughty?"

Tanya plastered a fake smile on her face. Best to get this over with so she get on with her real job. "Yes, daddy. I've been very naughty." she replied in a high, girlish voice.

Arnold tutted. "Then I'm going to have to teach you a lesson. Bend over me."

Tanya slipped out of bed and laid face down across Arnold's lap. Arnold ran his hand over her bare bottom and then smacked it hard. Despite knowing what was coming, Tanya couldn't stop a yelp escaping her lips. "Please don't hurt me, daddy!"

"You've been very naughty, girl." he replied and started smacking her harder. In between every third and fourth smack he'd send his hand between her legs to feel her sex.

Tanya gritted her teeth and did her best to pretend she was enjoying it. Arnold clearly was, as she could feel the hot bar of his erect penis pressing against her leg.

Finally, Arnold grabbed her by the hair and gently, but firmly, pulled her around until she was facing his penis.

It was nearly midday before they emerged from their rooms. Tanya's behind felt very sore, but she hid the discomfort as best she could. Arnold's cameraman, Mike, had arrived and had been waiting for over an hour for them to appear.

Arnold quickly explained that Tanya needed a camera and why she had to be alone to have a chance of reaching Mandy and Jeff. Mike quickly showed her the basics before picking up his own camera and following Arnold. Tanya got the impression that Mike didn't care that much for her beyond her obvious physical attributes.

They walked over to Anne's lab and were surprised to find it empty. "I'd have thought she would have wanted to get to work." Arnold declared testily.

"Do you know where Dr Chamberlain has gone?" Tanya asked the soldier on guard.

"They've gone to the medical center, ma'am." he answered crisply.

As they approached the medical center they could see a great deal of activity going on. Without having to be told Mike started filming. The three were reluctantly admitted into the center, but were stopped from actually going on to the ward. Through the doors Tanya could see Anne and several doctors she hadn't seen before bustling around an occupied bed.

She stepped out of the way to allow the cameraman to get some shots. "What do you think is going on?" she asked Arnold.

"I don't know," he replied, "but it's going to be fun finding out."

Their presence was finally noted by those in the ward and a screen was pulled around the patient.

"I think we're going to be kept waiting for a while," Arnold remarked. "Tanya, go try and find Stenger and Stockwell. See if you can get that interview."

"I'd rather stick around and see what's going on," she replied.

"I know, but we have limited time here, so it's best to start working on those two now."

"Okay," Tanya reluctantly agreed. She picked up the camera and headed out of the center.

In the ward, Anne saw the female reporter leave and then turned back to the patient. She had never seen someone so obviously close to death.

One of the doctors around the patient walked over to her. "The transfer here doesn't seemed to have seriously impacted on his condition. No offence, doctor, but I still don't like exposing him to your DNA virus."

"I'm far from happy about it either, Dr Stracken. Give me an alternative and I'll gladly take it."

She watched the young soldier as he lay in the bed. When she had first developed the DNA virus she had illegally tested it on her lab assistant without a second thought. The near-disasters that had followed had taught her patience. Now she was more than aware of the risks, not only to the patient, but her entire career.

"Doctor?" Anne turned to see Colonel Rigdon. "The family are here."

Anne took a deep breath and then followed the colonel to a small office. Waiting inside were a couple in their late forties, he was ashen- faced and she was on the verge of breaking down. Anne thought they looked like their world had fallen apart.

Anne introduced herself and sat down. Mrs Petrucci looked up for the first time and asked straight out, "Are you going to save our son?"

"I'm going to do the best I can, but I do have to tell you that this procedure has never been attempted before. We don't know what effect it will have on the damaged organs in Robert's body. The trauma of the change itself may prove fatal."

"We understand," Mr Petrucci said, "but what else can we do?"

There was no answer to that.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tanya lugged the camera into the accommodation block. She had taken the long route around the base to get there and the camera was growing increasingly heavy. She had been surprised by the small number of soldiers she had encountered. The complement at the base was clearly very small and most of them were tied up at the perimeter fence keeping watch on the inevitable crowds outside.

The doors to both Mandy and Jeff's rooms were closed and locked. Tanya knocked on both of them, but received no reply. After several minutes she gave up and decided to head over back over to Arnold.

She turned just in time to see Mandy stroll round the corner and head towards her. Mandy's face hardened as she saw the reporter. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk." Tanya replied in the best conciliatory terms she could muster.

"I'll bet," Mandy remarked as she reached the door to her room.

"I understand your distrust," Tanya replied, "but I'm not from gossip rag like the National Inquirer, I'm working for CNN. Anything Arnold and me report on will appear there and just there. Look, I know what Jeff has been through. I'll be as careful as I can, and if you don't like the results I won't let them be broadcast."

Mandy thought about it for a moment. "Let me talk it over with Jeff for a minute. Wait there." She shut the door in Tanya's face.

There followed a half-whispered conversation. Tanya couldn't make out what was being said. Finally, the door re-opened. "You can come in," Mandy said tersely, "but the camera stays out there."

Tanya could tell that there would be no negotiation on that point. Tanya shrugged. It didn't really matter in the long run. "Alright," she agreed. She quickly dumped the camera by the door.

Mandy stepped back to allow Tanya into the small room. Sitting on one of the two beds was a slightly nervous-looking, black girl. Of course, she was a total clone of Paul, but differences were obvious, even beyond the shorter hair. There was none of the self-confidence that Paul exhibited.

Tanya sat down on the bed. She suddenly realized she didn't have any questions prepared. "How are you holding up?"

Jeff gave a little, wan smile. "It's been hell. My life is on hold until all the press attention dies away. Then I'll have to put my life back together. That is not going to be easy."

"I can imagine," Tanya said softly. Jeff seemed so lost, so different from the self-assured man she had been just a few months before.

Jeff looked up at her sharply, "Can you?"

Tanya dropped her eyes to the floor. "Well, not really, I suppose. What will you do when all the fuss has died down?"

"I don't know. I'm beginning to doubt the press will ever leave me alone."

"I've seen them operating from the inside. I know how they work. One day they'll just pack up and move onto the next story."

"You sound like you're not one of them," Mandy said.

"I'm not, really. I've only just stepped up from local reporting. National TV is very different. It can be a very cutthroat world."

"Having second thoughts?" Jeff asked.

Tanya laughed. "No, its not too bad, but there are parts of it I could do without."

"Everything's like that," Jeff replied, "It's one reason why I volunteered for undercover work. Not one of my brightest ideas, though."

"We heard you with your boss last night," Mandy said bluntly. "Is that what landed you this gig?"

Tanya blushed; she had obviously overestimated the soundproofing in the building. "Well... I did get in here because I was sleeping with him rather than on my journalistic record, but I didn't sleep with him to get in here. Anyway, who is interviewing who?"

Mandy finally cracked a smile, "Perhaps I should have become an investigative journalist." She reached under the bed and pulled out a bottle of whisky. "Want a drink?"

"Do I?" Tanya replied. "Just try and stop me!"

Tanya watched the other two closely as she sipped her drink. It was so odd to finally meet them after all the reams and reams of copy that had been written about them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mandy flicked from one channel to another in a search for something interesting to watch. She doubted she would find anything. As soon as her role in the DNA story had become apparent she had reluctantly given up her habit of going out every night. She was beginning to think she was going stir crazy.

The image paused on a televangelist whipping his congregation into a frenzy. "It's the Devil's venom! And that so-called scientist Chamberlain is his handmaiden!" The crowd roared it's approval and the televangelist mopped his brow.

"What are you watching?" Paul said from the doorway.

"I was just channel surfing," Mandy replied. "I'll turn it off."

"Don't worry, I've seen worse." He walked over and sat down beside her. "How's Jeff?"

"She's doing well."

"She?" Paul asked, surprised.

"Jeff prefers to be referred to as she. Perhaps it's part of her recovery from what happened. In the few months I've known her, she's changed from a mindless zombie to shy, young woman. She's getting her confidence back, whether she'll ever get back to her old self is anyone's guess."

Paul nodded, "I remember when we first met. I was trying to reach Michael in Quince's labs. Jeff was posing as a security guard, of course, and he...uh, she just picked me up and carried me out into the street as easily as if I weighed nothing at all. It's hard to believe that they are the same person, and I've been through the process twice."

"Give it time, the old Jeff is in there."

They watched the televangelist rant for a few more minutes before Mandy said, "I bet Clinton's glad. This whole business has pushed his own problems off the front page."

"Yeah," Paul agreed, "if it wasn't for us he'd have been long out of office by now!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Anne checked the results carefully, "They look good."

Michael looked at the sheet of paper with the latest DNA breakdown on. "No, it looks perfect. That's the fourth test you've done and the virus has performed perfectly every time."

"We have to make sure this goes perfectly," Anne replied, "for Petrucci's sake at least."

"Anne, if we do anymore testing we won't have any left."

She nodded and checked the vials in the storage case one last time. Then she shut it and together they left the lab. She turned and checked that the indicator above the keypad had switched to 'locked'.

Anne had chosen to work with just Michael in preparing the sample. It wasn't that she didn't trust the other scientists, but they weren't trained in using the DNA virus. With Petrucci's life hanging in the balance, now wasn't the time to start.

As they walked back, Anne felt depressed. The media pressure was getting to her in just the same way as it was affecting everyone. Also, with Petrucci she saw herself in a no-win situation. If it went wrong and he died she would be condemned, if it succeeded she would have every terminally ill patient in the world clamoring her for the virus.

If you wanted the quiet life, she told herself, you shouldn't have made such a groundbreaking discovery.

Paul was already asleep when she got back to her room, making Anne realize how late it was. Carefully, she slipped into bed and despite her worries she was soon fast asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Anne clasped her hands behind her in an effort to stop them shaking. She was standing in the base's own operating theatre. It had been chosen as much for the viewing gallery above it as the medical equipment in it.

With her were several nurses prepping the equipment, all dressed like her in surgical gear. Hopefully, none of it would be needed, but Anne was very relieved it was there just in case.

She stopped herself from looking up at the gallery. The critically injured soldier's family was up there along with Arnold Lester, his cameraman and Colonel Rigdon. On the far side of the operating theatre, Michael was checking that the vials of DNA virus were all present and correct. Anne had already done that six or seven times, but a second opinion was always reassuring. Once Michael was finished he left the operating theatre.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the door to the theatre opened and Robert Petrucci was carefully wheeled into the room. Anne looked over to Michael who nodded, and then walked over to Robert. "How is he doing?" she asked Dr Stracken.

"He's stable for now, but he could go at any time."

Anne sighed, "Okay, let's get this over with."

Michael carefully handed her the vial of virus. She checked it was the correct one before handing it on to Dr Stracken. He expertly drew off a small amount into a syringe. Anne walked over to Robert. Despite the pain he was still conscious. "We're about to start," she told him.

Robert gave the slightest nod of his head and she could see even that took a great effort. Dr Stracken proceeded to inject the contents into Robert's arm. Both she and Stracken watched the arm closely. Almost immediately, the skin rippled and startled to change.

The virus started to spread up and down his arm, reaching his hand within seconds. They had no time to examine the arm as the virus swept on into Robert's torso.

Anne was entranced despite the worry she had felt moments before. This was only the third time she had seen the DNA virus at work on a human. Even after all the problems it had caused the people she loved she still understood how magnificent the whole process was.

"Dr Chamberlain!" Dr Stracken said urgently, but she had already seen the problem. A portion of Robert's chest was swelling. She pulled back the surgical gown Robert was wearing and swore loudly when she saw what was happening. As she watched the young man's breast continued to grow, the nipple also increasing in size. Before the first breast had finished growing another had started to sprout alongside it.

"How is this possible?" Stracken demanded.

"It's not," Anne replied weakly.

The virus continued, now spreading up through the soldier's neck and down through his body. Anne watched in horror as his Adam's apple melted away.

Robert's stubble melted away as his chin became less prominent. The young soldier was still conscious, but Anne hoped the drugs he had been given for the pain prevented him from realizing what his body had become.

His nose shrank slightly as the virus swept over it. The soldier's face had a far more oriental cast to it now. His eyes turned from green to brown in an instant. Then the virus reached the top of his head and his scalp rustled as his hair spilled over the side of the operating table as it grew, turning from red to a luxuriant black as it did so.

The intercom clicked on and Anne heard a frantic female voice. "Robbie! Robbie! What have they done to you!"

Anne looked up to see the Colonel gently leading Robert's distraught mother away from the intercom and out of the gallery. Lester's camera was clearly still running.

She turned back to see that the changes in Robert's body were nearly completed. Under the thin sheet she could see he now had the wide hips of a woman. Robert's feminine face looked puzzled. She moved over to Dr Stracken. "You better sedate him before he works out what is going on."

"Is that safe in his condition? We don't even know whether the virus has healed the damage."

Robert slowly lifted his right arm. For the first time in days he didn't feel any pain, but he felt... wrong somehow. On his back he had clearly been able to see his mom led from the gallery in great distress. He felt a weight on his chest as if something was resting on it. He moved his hand down to find out what the obstruction was.

There were two of them and they were soft and warm to the touch. If it weren't for their position he would have sworn they were female breasts. Then it dawned on him that he could actually feel his hand resting on the two mounds. They were a part of him!

His befuddled mind tried to work out how this was possible. He had been given that virus thing and it should have given him his old body back. But hadn't that lawyer guy been turned into a woman by it?

"Oh no," he cried out in fear, "Oh God, no!" But it wasn't his voice. It was too high in pitch to his voice. If he had the voice and tits of a woman, then what had happened lower down? "NO!" he shrieked and tried to sit up.

Strong hands held him down and he felt a needle slide into his arm. Except it wasn't his arm, was it, it was a girl's arm! He struggled to get free, but the tranquilizer soon pulled him under.

Anne stood back from the sleeping soldier and tried to work out how this could possibly have happened. Then she walked over to the case holding the DNA viruses. She made sure it was secure and then turned to Dr Stracken.

"How is he?" she asked, "Apart from the gender change, that is."

"You saw the way we had to stop him from getting up. I'll have to run some extensive tests, but he looks like he's going to be fine. It's a shame about the side-effects, though."

"The virus can't have this side effect," Anne insisted. "It's simply not possible. The virus can only hold one genetic pattern." She thought for a moment. "I need to look into this. Let me know if Petrucci's condition changes."

The colonel was waiting outside the operating theatre, clearly furious. "What in God's name happened in there?!"

"I don't know," Anne replied as she took off her scrubs, "I'm as angry as you are, but we need to know what happened. I'm taking these cases back to the labs to retest."

Anne and Colonel Rigdon headed quickly over to her labs. Michael looked up from the experiment he was preparing as they entered. He could tell immediately something had gone wrong. "The soldier? Is he...?"

"Alive," The colonel said angrily, "but he is now a she, thanks to the DNA virus."

"I'm telling you that isn't possible," Anne said as she carefully opened the case. "The DNA virus can't hold more than one DNA sample and I've double and triple checked every one of these vials. The only other person to have had contact with them is Michael."

"So what now?" asked the colonel.

"First," replied Anne, "I'm going to retest these, perhaps they got contaminated somehow. Michael, you did observe all the sterile lab protocols, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course I did!" he replied hotly.

"Well, someone didn't, or we wouldn't be in this mess now. Only you and me have been involved in preparing these samples and I followed all the protocols to the letter."

"I don't believe this," Michael remarked in disgust. "You're already looking for a scapegoat!"

"No, I am not!" Anne retorted. "I'm just trying to find out how this disaster happened!"

"I'm not taking the fall for this, doctor!" Michael declared before storming out of the laboratory.

Anne stared at the door and then sighed. "That was dumb."

"Perhaps," Rigdon said slowly, "but maybe accurate. Dr Kingston hardly has an unblemished record."

"True, but I've had no problems with him at all since we started working together."

"But only you and Michael have worked on these samples, and I've seen how much work you've put into getting this right. Kingston took a shortcut. He tried to pass other people's work as his own. You can see how behavior like that can lead to trouble."

Anne was silent for a moment. She couldn't believe that Michael had caused this disaster, but only she and him had had access to the samples. Even if he had made a mistake why hadn't she picked it up. Surely she had tested the samples thoroughly enough? But what other answer could there be? "As soon as I have the results back from these tests I'll let you know." she told the colonel.

"Okay, I better go and see how the parents are holding up."

Anne set up the tests on the suspect samples and then sat back. She had been an idiot to trust Michael. Yes, he had helped Paul stop Quince, but if it hadn't been for him then her lover wouldn't now have the body of a young, black woman. In retrospect, it was obvious that something bad was going to happen. If only she had realized what a risk he was earlier!

Part Five

Robert Petrucci slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling tiles. They seemed to be moving subtly, but he couldn't catch them in the act. Then two heads moved into his vision, one from the left and one from the right.

The one on the right was a man in his late forties with sandy colored hair. Rob's attention was drawn to the head on his left. That one belonged to a black woman who couldn't be more than twenty. She had short hair cut in a boyish style. Both heads emerged from bodies dressed in white doctors' coats.

"How is he?" asked the woman. Rob thought her voice sounded as nice as she looked. He wondered idly what she was like in bed.

"Everything seems fine," the other head replied. "He's drugged to the eyeballs so go slowly with him."

Rob looked over at the woman again. She looked slightly anxious, but it only made her look even more sexy. He heard a door click shut and only then noticed that the other head had gone.

The woman looked down at him and smiled nervously, "Hi, do you know how you got here?"

Rob frowned at that. He didn't even know where 'here' was. Slowly, he kicked his brain into gear and sorted back through his memory. Vaguely, he could remember helping to unload a cargo plane, the way he had looked up to see a large steel drum bearing down on him.

He couldn't remember the moment of impact, but he could recall the moments immediately after the accident. He knew straight away that his body had been badly injured. He had felt himself twisted at impossible angles. Then the pain had hit and he had quickly lost consciousness.

The next day had been a jumble of pain and unconsciousness. Most of it involved being transferred to an army research facility where they were going to use the DNA Virus to save his life. The DNA Virus! That's right, he had already been treated with it. For the first time he realized that the pain was gone.

The woman was waiting for an answer. It took Rob some moments to remember what the question had been, then he nodded slowly.

"Good," the woman said. "Now, I don't know how much of this you remember, but the operation was successful, but there was a side-effect we weren't expecting."

Several confused images flashed through Rob's mind. He was in some sort of operating theatre and he was really frightened by something. It could have been a dream as he was sure he heard his mom's voice in the background.

"The good news," the woman said, "is that the DNA Virus totally repaired the injuries your body suffered. In short, you're going to live." She paused as if trying to work out what to say next.

Rob was getting a little better at fighting off the drugs now. Something had gone wrong, but what? He tried to speak, but his mouth was dry and all he could manage was a croak. He coughed and tried again. "Bad news?" he whispered, but his voice still sounded oddly distorted.

"We used the DNA virus loaded with your own DNA. So, you should have been turned into yourself, but without the injuries. Something went wrong. We don't know exactly what yet, but it isn't life-threatening."

"What...happened?" Rob whispered.

"Do you know who I am?" the black woman asked.

Rob studied her face. Something was tickling the back of his mind, but he couldn't put a name to her. He shook his head.

The woman gave a small laugh. "You're probably one of only a dozen people who doesn't. My name is Paul Roberts."

Rob frowned, that was a man's name and she was clearly a woman. Then the clouds of confusion cleared. Now he knew who she was. She was that lawyer boyfriend of the woman who had invented the virus. The lawyer who had become a woman himself. He wondered why Paul wanted him to know who he was dealing with rather than tell him what had gone wrong. Unless it had something to do with what had gone wrong.

Then another memory from the operating theatre surfaced, of him grasping the breasts that were growing from his own chest. He struggled to sit up, but he couldn't co-ordinate his own movements.

"It's okay," Paul said worriedly. "Be calm, I know how bad this feels, but it isn't the end of the world."

Rob looked up at Paul. "Let me see," he said. Now he was listening for it, the feminine pitch of his voice was obvious.

Paul hesitated for a moment, but then helped the soldier to sit up. Rob felt his head pulled back as he sat up and then realized his hair was caught on something. Paul lifted him up slightly and the pressure eased. Robert felt very odd as he realized he had been sitting on his own hair.

He reached behind himself and grabbed a handful of it. It was more than long enough to pull around in front of himself and see it. His buzzcut ginger hair was gone and it had been replaced by a luxuriant mass of silky black hair. This was now his!

His attention switched from the hair to the hand that was holding it. It was very different from the broad, callused hand he had been familiar with, and it was a different color. The pale white skin that had always burned and never tanned under the sun now had a yellowish hue to it. The freckles on his arm had also vanished and left his skin unblemished.

Rob shivered as it finally dawned on him that his old body was gone, perhaps irrevocably. He felt a strange movement on his chest and froze. He knew what was there, but didn't want to face them. They were the penultimate truth that he was no longer a man.

Despite himself, his eyes were drawn downwards to the abundant bosom he now possessed. He stared at them for several long minutes, watching them rise and fall with every breath he took. They were damn good tits, large, but not saggy. It was just a pity they were on his chest instead of some girlfriend of his. He laughed and it caused his breasts to jostle.

But they weren't the worst of it he knew. He knew that his problems ran far deeper than breasts. They were easy, he could have them cut off. But no plastic surgeon could ever fully give him back his dick. He pressed his thighs together and felt nothing. "I-I'm totally a chick?" he asked in a small, high voice.

Paul nodded, "Yes, but as soon as you're checked out okay and we work out what went wrong we can try again. We can use a stronger form of the virus, but that will carry some risks. There's a fair chance that you wouldn't survive it."

"Anything's better than this," Robert replied.

"Okay, but just remember, this isn't permanent. The choice is yours."

Robert looked up from his breasts. "Do you have a mirror?"

"Yeah," Paul replied holding up a small rectangular mirror. He had clearly been expecting Rob to ask for one.

Rob held it in his trembling, female hands. He gasped when he saw a stranger looking back. He had been expecting it, but that wasn't the same as being literally faced with the truth. There was no doubt about it, the girl in the mirror was Asian. She was attractive and alluring. "Well, at least I'm good looking." he heard himself remark.

"Not necessarily a good thing," Paul said, "but better than the alternative."

Rob felt his head start to spin and he carefully laid down again, trying to avoid pulling his long hair as he did so. "Who is she? Whose face and body do I have?"

"To be honest, we don't know. If we do find out, I'll let you know."

Rob's eyes slowly drooped closed and he was soon asleep.

Paul sat there for a few minutes, absentmindedly stroking Rob's head. Then he got to his feet and walked from the room. As he left a nurse entered to keep an eye on the sleeping soldier.

Paul crossed the hall and entered a room on the other side. In it, Anne, Dr Stracken and the Colonel were watching Rob's room on a closed-circuit TV.

"I think he took that rather calmly," the colonel remarked.

"With that amount of drugs in him, I'm not surprised." Dr Stracken replied. "Are you okay with helping him adjust, Paul?"

"Sure," Paul replied, "I'm no counsellor, but I have had to calm my clients before they went to court." He shrugged. "And I do know exactly what he's going through."

"Hopefully, it will only be temporary," the colonel said. "Did you have to tell him about the risks of the stronger virus?"

"He has a right to know," Paul said. "It's not an easy choice to make. I don't know what I'd do in his shoes. I've already had a dose of the stronger virus so I'm stuck this way until Anne makes another breakthrough."

"Talking of which," Colonel Rigdon said turning to Anne. "Are the results on the samples in yet?"

"They should be," Anne said. "I'll go and check."

"I'll come with you," the colonel said and he followed her from the room.

Dr Stracken turned back to the TV. "Poor kid," he said sadly.

"Yeah," replied Paul.

The colonel had to keep up with Anne as she marched to the labs. It was easy to tell she was at least as angry about what had happened as he was. Where they differed was in apportioning blame. Rigdon was already certain where the problem lay, but Anne refused to jump to conclusions.

"Research scientists," Anne told him when he mentioned it again, "learn not to jump to conclusions. We have to wait for enough evidence."

"As far as I'm concerned, there already is enough evidence," retorted Rigdon. "His past speaks for itself."

"But I've had no problems with him since he started working for me." Anne pointed out. "No-one else apart from me had so much experience of the virus. He'd know to be doubly sure to avoid making a mistake."

"Perhaps," the colonel replied, "but I'm not surprised that the problem showed up only when you had a real problem to deal with."

"I'm responsible for this, even if he did cause the error. Though I can't see how it could possibly happen. I checked those samples again and again."

"It isn't possible the samples were contaminated with another one?"

"Technically, I suppose it is possible for a virus with one DNA pattern to be mixed in with a virus with another pattern; they wouldn't be able to effect each other though."

They reached the doors to Anne's lab. She was surprised to see a guard had been assigned to the door. She thought it was a pointless measure; no-one could break into the base and get as far as the door without being detected. She punched in the code on the keypad and the door clicked open.

"Also," she continued as she entered the lab, "if there were two samples in there then Petrucci would be a mixture of himself and that girl. Another point against that theory is that we don't know where that donor DNA came from. The girl Petrucci became is not in my list of DNA donors."

"So, you don't have any answers?"

"Not yet," Anne replied irritably. She walked over to her samples and frowned. "This isn't right."

The colonel walked over to her. "What is it?"

"The samples I used in the experiment all contain the foreign DNA, even my back-ups, but the ones I kept here in a separate compartment in the lab still have his original DNA."

Rigdon looked worried. "And why is that?"

"There's no reason for it. Both sets of samples underwent exactly the same processes and treatments, but there's more. Over here are where I keep the pure viruses."

"The virus that haven't been given a DNA imprint yet?"

"That's right," Anne said nodding, "I have twelve vials of it here, but my test only revealed ten with active viruses in them."

"What happened to the other two?"

"Perhaps they died?" Anne mused out loud. "They shouldn't have done; at low temperature they go dormant and can last for years. She took the two suspect vials over to another bench and ran a few quick tests. "Shit!"

"How bad is it?" The colonel asked. "Has it mutated?" This was his worst fear. If the virus became airborne, or start killing people, it'd be his duty to try and contain it.

"It hasn't mutated," Anne said, "because there's no virus in here to mutate. It's just tap water."

"This is deliberate?" The colonel asked.

"Oh there's no doubt about it," Anne said, clearly very angry. "Someone, who knew the working of the virus very well, has got in here, dumped my original samples, replaced them with a virus based on God knows who, and replaced the pure virus used with tap water!"

"How long would they have needed to do this?"

"Just minutes, if they knew what they were doing."

"And there are only two people who would know how to do it that quickly and they had easy access to the lab."

Anne gripped the sides of the bench to stop her throwing equipment around the lab. She had worked side by side with Michael for months and all the time he had been about to stab her in the back! He had betrayed her and he had betrayed Paul's trust for the second time. She fought to bring herself under control. "Where is he?"

"Last I heard he was in his room. I have given orders not to let him out of the base."

Anne felt slightly uneasy at that statement. The colonel had given that order before it had become apparent Michael's actions was more malicious than accidental. She shook off the sensation and walked over to the accommodation. She felt like running, but deliberately restrained herself.

As she entered the block she was met by a concerned-looking Jim. "What's going on Anne? Have you and Michael had a row?"

"Not now, Jim," Anne said tiredly. She kept on walking. "I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I find out myself!"

She hammered on Michael's door. After a few moments the door opened and Michael looked out warily. He could tell from the look of thunder on Anne's face that she wasn't there to apologize about the argument earlier. The colonel's presence just behind her didn't go unnoticed either. With a sigh he backed into his room closely followed by Anne and Rigdon.

"Why did you do it?" Anne asked. "What possible reason can you have for doing what you did to that poor, young man?"

"What? You think I did it deliberately now?"

"Dr Chamberlain checked the vials," the colonel said softly. "She discovered the missing 'pure' viruses."

"I don't know anything about that," Michael said angrily.

"Why did you do it?" Anne repeated. "Does someone still have something on you from your days with Quince? Whatever it is, you have to tell us."

"You already know everything there is to know!" Michael almost shouted. "That bastard didn't need anything else to keep me under control."

"Did you use all the missing pure viruses making the new samples for Petrucci?" Anne asked.

"I didn't do it, Anne!" Michael protested.

"You think this was just a diversion?" the colonel asked Anne.

"It has to be," Anne replied. "Petrucci's just a kid, who would want to do that to him?"

"I'll get the base locked down," Rigdon said simply. He turned and left the room. Anne blasted Michael with a withering gaze before following the colonel.

Outside, the colonel summoned a private and told him to place Michael under arrest. "Is that necessary?" Anne asked.

Rigdon nodded, "He may not have passed on the pure virus. Whatever the case, we can't have a risk like that loose in the base."

"Colonel! Doctor!" Anne turned to see Arnold and his cameraman walking towards them. "Do you have any comment on what happened today?"

Rigdon saw the look on her face and said. "Don't worry, I'll get rid of them." He turned and moved towards the two men, holding his arms out to move them back down the corridor. "We have no statement to make at this time," he said, overriding Arnold's objections.

Anne rubbed her forehead. It felt like she was getting another migraine.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rob slowly drifted back to consciousness. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was. Everything still had the edge of unreality, but his mind was clearer as the drugs lost their effects. Paul was asleep in the chair next to the bed, his arms crossed under his breasts.

He was gripped by the desire to see his new body. He had to know the extent of what had been done to him. Slowly, he sat up, taking care not to pull on his long hair as he did so. His body felt different and wrong. He could tell that the muscled firmness had gone, to be replaced by soft roundness that jiggled disconcertingly.

Rob pulled back the covers of the bed. He glanced down, but couldn't see between his legs because of the large breasts he now possessed. Slowly, he slid his legs over the side of the bed and rested them on the floor. His feet looked smaller, but otherwise felt the same. Carefully, he put his weight on them and stood up. His balance was far from perfect, but he managed to keep upright by leaning on the bedside table.

Once he was certain he wasn't going to fall flat on his face, he let go of the table and stood upright. Even though he was just standing motionless he could feel a thousand strange sensations in his new body; there was the pulling on his chest where he now had two weighty breasts, the silky soft feel of his long dark hair, the hips that had rearranged themselves into a better shape for giving birth.

Next to the chair where Paul was softly snoring was a cheap wardrobe with a full-length mirror screwed to the side of it. Taking slow, careful steps Rob walked over to it. He was acutely aware of the way his breasts shifted and his hips swivelled with each step.

Then, for the first time, he was faced with the full enormity of what had happened to him. He couldn't recognize his own reflection and it was difficult not to think of the mirror as a doorway where he had surprised a naked Asian girl.

She certainly looked startled; her face still held its beauty even though she was obviously scared. Rob's eyes travelled down over the reflection, past her abundant and inviting bosom, past the soft womanly curves of her belly and down to the dark triangle of hair between her legs.

Rob's hand moved of its own volition towards that unknown territory. The girl in the mirror duplicated the movement perfectly and it brought home to Rob the fact that he was her. Part of him was still hoping that this was some strange nightmare he was having in his hospital bed. Soon he would wake up and find himself back to his proper self with just a broken leg and concussion. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't believe that. He was a woman. He had breasts. His dick had been stolen from him and in its place he had been given a... a...

He couldn't bring himself to even think the words. Instead he just let his hand confirm what he already knew. His fingers slipped through the mat of pubic hair and gently touched the soft mound he now had. He had been with a good few girls in his time and it felt just like theirs did, but he had never experienced what it felt like for them. He had become like them. He had a pussy! He started to hyperventilate as the full enormity of what had happened dawned on him.

"No!" he screamed suddenly and punched the mirror. It cracked, but didn't shatter, dividing the image into a thousand screaming women. "Turn me back! I'm a man!"

Arms folded around him and held him tightly. "It'll be alright." A voice whispered in his ear.

It was Paul, realized Rob. He made a few half-hearted attempts to fight clear from Paul, but his heart wasn't in it. He didn't even really care that Paul had used to be a man. The fight quickly bled from him and he allowed Paul to guide him back to the bed.

"What am I going to do?" he asked quietly as Paul got him back into bed. He did his best to hide the surprise of his new voice. It was so high in pitch it sounded like it belonged to a little girl.

"Just hang on in there, okay?" Paul replied. "The best brains in the world are working on cracking the problems with the DNA virus."

Rob nodded and tried to look like he believed Paul, but he felt an awful fear knawing at his stomach as he thought of the future. What sort of career could he have as a woman in the army? Especially with a body as overendowed as his. More importantly, what sort of future could he have as a woman? Men would lust after his body, he knew he would have if had ever met the woman he had now become.

He lay down and turned his back on Paul as he didn't want anyone to see the tears that were starting to well up. It was the first time he had cried since he was a little kid and they were as much tears of anger and frustration as of fear. Through no fault of his own he had lost his body and his future in just one day.

TO BE CONTINUED...