No Chance, Ch 3
No Chance
Chapter 3
copyright 2009 comidacomida
Courtney never considered herself a naturally curious person, and she
had little interest in exploring the cold, impersonal, official-looking
hallways of the research site. She wasn't officially "confined" to her
room, but there seemed to be little reason to be out in everyone's way.
Another day passed before Courtney saw anyone other than Rex, and that
was never for more than a short minute. When someone did come in to
speak with her, it was the ferret Daryl had called David.
"Good morning." David offered, a smile visible on his muzzle that
seemed more out of politeness rather than genuine emotion. He held in
his paws a metal plate which was normally brought to her by Rex.
Courtney realized that she had become used to seeing the dog each
morning with her breakfast and was surprised to feel a sense of loss
for not seeing him, even if it was for just a few moments-- she found
Rex's upbeat nature and kind spirit to be warming.
"Hi." Courtney responded after what she realized was a long pause on
her part. She observed the humanoid ferret as he made his way into her
room. His dark-brown 'mask' was a deeper shade of brown than the
tannish-gray that covered the rest of his face except for under his
chin and down his neck, which was more of a light creamy mocha.
"We haven't officially met." the ferret spoke, setting the plate down
on the small medicine table next to her cot. "My name is David
Graham." He offered her a paw, "I work with Daryl."
Courtney looked at the furry appendage for a moment. It was small by
human standards, but, then again, so was the ferret. He stood only
just five feet tall. The paw was petite, but looked as dexterous as a
human's. The claws on it were small but looked sharp, and Courtney
could see smooth pink pads on its palm.
David pulled his paw back, and Courtney felt herself flush with
embarrassment as it suddenly came to her attention that she was staring
at the paw rather than shaking it, "Oh... I..." she stuttered, "I'm
sorry."
The ferret shrugged off the response, "It's alright, Ms. Porter, it
took US numerous days to get used to these changes. No one could
expect you to come to grips with our condition in half a week."
Something about the way David said 'Ms. Porter' made her think back to
the man-- or was it men?-- that had tried to kidnap her. Thomas Grant,
if that was his/their real name. Daryl had said something about him
being a clone, which seemed hard for her to accept, but less
far-fetched than humanoid animals, or her fiance turning into one.
Either way, the 'Ms. Porter' struck an uncomfortable pang within
Courtney, and she tried to dismiss the feeling of not liking the
ferret. "Just call me Courtney, Mr. Graham... it's easier."
"It does save a syllable." the ferret acknowledged with a half-nod,
"And you can call me David for the same reason." he offered her a more
genuine smile.
"You said 'condition'," Courtney spoke up, latching onto his earlier
comment, "That makes it sound like some kind of disease or medical
issue... is that what's going on?"
"It's hard to say," David answered, picking up the bucket from the
corner of the room. He set it upside down in front of her and sat down
on it as if it were a stool, "While there are plenty of research notes
that document what Division Six was trying to do, there's no real
record of what happened when things went wrong." He curled his large,
fluffy tail around his side, resting it across his bare feet.
"What IS Division Six?" she inquired, "And how come I've never heard of
them?"
"There are some things you are probably better off knowing, and the way
you know that you're better off not knowing is BECAUSE you've never
heard of them." the ferret answered cryptically.
Still sitting on the bed, Courtney glanced for a moment to the plate on
the medicine table then back to David. She wasn't as hungry as she was
starved for information. While she had no interest in exploring the
site where she had spent the last few days, she did want to know more
about what was going on. Courtney focused her attention on the ferret,
"What do you know that you are willing to talk about? What do you know
about your 'condition'?"
"Not as much as we would like, I'm afraid." the ferret noted, "And what
we do know is probably best left for us alone-- there's no need to
involve you more in this than you already are."
"More than I already am? I'm not sure how that'd even be possible
seeing as I'm sitting in the middle of some secret research facility."
Courtney responded, "Maybe if I knew more I could help."
"Help with what?" David inquired of her.
She didn't respond to the comment at first, thinking the answer should
have been obvious. She observed the fur-masked face and the astute
eyes gazing at her. She blinked first, "Finding a cure... I guess."
Neither confirming nor denying her assessment, David stood, "I'm glad
you are so eager to be of help, Courtney, but at the moment, I think
you'll do the most good simply getting better. Daryl has been
preoccupied with your health, and--"
"I'm more worried about his." Courtney interrupted, standing, "Is he
alright?"
"He is perfectly healthy." David answered, eyes and ears focused on
her, as if searching for some hidden cue or looking to affirm a thought
rolling around in his head.
The woman paused, meeting the ferret's gaze for only a moment before
looking away. Something about his gaze unsettled her... as if he were
seeking an answer to a question without bothering to ask it. She
slowly sat back down, "Good." she offered in what she hoped came out in
a dismissing manner. She offered a shrug to accentuate it, but winced
at the sensitive twinge in her shoulder.
"The taser wound is still bothering you, isn't it?" David inquired,
taking a step closer to her. Courtney's first inclination was to back
away from the creature, and she winced inwardly at her consideration of
the man. ~He is a man,~ she reassured herself, ~not some monster.~
"Well... yea... I've never been tased before." she acknowledged at
length.
"May I?" David inquired, motioning to her shoulder. After a few
moments of apprehension, Courtney nodded, and unbuttoned her sweater.
She lowered the heavier cloth of the outer garment down her arm and
pulled up the light fabric of her blouse so the angry redness of her
skin was visible.
She watched the ferret as he reached into a pouch hanging from his
shoulder and drew out a pair of glasses. She tried not to laugh as he
got the clip-on nose to work on his muzzle. Attempting to be an
obedient patient, she was forced to look away to keep from giggling,
but held her breath as he gingerly poked and prodded at the flesh
around the wound.
"It should have healed better than that by now... it might be
infected." David noted.
"So..." Courtney continued attempting conversation as the ferret
inspected the wound, "If you're not ruling out disease, are you sure
it's smart for you to be touching me? I mean... what if I catch it?"
"It's more likely a mutation than a disease, Courtney." he offered,
reaching to his pouch to extract a small tube of some kind of gel,
"Even if it were possible to spread the specific strain of mutagen,
casual contact wouldn't be a likely way to do it... I doubt that a
sneeze or even a bite would suffice. Blood into an open wound,
perhaps, but I'm not bleeding, and that's what the antiseptic is for in
any case." the ferret squeezed a small amount onto a cotton swab and
gingerly applied it to the wound. Courtney had to admit that David was
very good with first aid, taking great care to complete the job without
causing her pain.
"Thank you." she offered as he put the cotton swab away and pulled out
a large, self-adhesive bandage. The ferret just nodded in response,
and quickly affixed the bandage. She stretched her shoulder, rolling
it gently to test the bandage; it held in each direction she could move
her arm without it hurting, "You know your stuff." she offered,
commenting on the information he provided her as well as his medical
skill.
David did not miss the double meaning. "You learn a lot of things
working for the CDC."
Courtney was caught off guard by the admission. "The Corporation of
Disease Control? I thought you work for the FDA."
"A man might live many lives in one." the ferret quoted
philosophically, "I worked for the CDC for a number of years before
coming to work for the Federal Drug Administration. The FDA found my
knowledge and understanding to be incredibly useful for some of the
more 'gray area' projects."
"Like the one that was happening here." Courtney ventured.
"Like the one that was happening here." David acknowledged, taking the
glasses off of the bridge of his muzzle and putting them away in his
shoulder pouch.
Numerous questions swam around in her head, but she could tell enough
from her discussion with the ferret that he would be hesitant to talk
about what she really wanted to know, so she kept it simple, "How many
people were in the building when things... went wrong?" Courtney asked,
pausing for a moment to find the right way to phrase her question.
"Numerous technicians, interns, and scientists. As far as survivors,
our best guess put the number at around two dozen." David answered,
seating himself back on the upturned pail as he addressed her, "The
main failure occurred in one of the labs downstairs. A tube
transferring several combined gasses ruptured over a vat of several
chemical compounds. They reacted and created a small explosion. There
wasn't much force to it, but it was more than enough to propel the
mixture out into the hallway. That section of the base has been closed
off, but I would assume that the compound has gone inert by now."
"Inert? You mean it won't do anything anymore?" Courtney questioned.
"Most likely... but it wouldn't be worth the risk to open up the lower
base. The more anyone was exposed to it, the more extreme the change."
the ferret responded, his whiskers twitching, as if to punctuate the
comment.
"You mean... the more animal-like they became?" she asked.
"Or more human-like, in the case of Rex. There were several other
animals downstairs and some were closer to the malfunction than
others."
"Oh... Rex... right... then..." she paused, considering her question,
"if about two dozen people survived in the compound, how many anima--"
she didn't get to finish her question.
"'About two dozen' is the estimate I gave you for survivors-- all
inclusive." David quickly interrupted. "Those of us who were
originally human and those of us who were originally animal. After the
'event' the only real difference is the percentage of human-to-animal
and animal-to-human."
"But, the animals that are human-like now aren't the same as the humans
who are animal-like." Courtney offered, "I mean, you, or David, or the
other agent on your team..."
"Fred." David offered.
"Right... Fred. The three of you were humans to begin with, so that
isn't exactly like what happened with Rex."
"Why would you say that?" the ferret inquired, ears focused on her,
something resembling a bemused smirk on his muzzle. To Courtney, it
looked almost condescending.
"Well.. because you had lives before this happened to you... and you
were human... and..."
"And the animals had lives before this happened to them. Whatever we
were before is not what we are now." David explained.
"You don't get what I'm trying to say." Courtney offered in
frustration, "It's like you're trying to make this harder to explain
than it is."
"Perhaps because you are looking at the situation with a different set
of morals." David offered in a completely calm, frustratingly patient
tone, "Regardless of our original forms, these are our forms now.
Despite the fact that Rex may have been 'just a dog', he is now an
advanced-reasoning, emotionally-mature being with as much complexity as
you or I." David offered her a critical look, "Assuming I am as much a
person as you are in your mind."
"Of course you are!" Courtney insisted, feeling put on the defensive by
the ferret, who was entirely too liberal in his assumptions of her view
of the situation.
"Where would you create a division between what he is and what David or
I or even Fred are?" David asked.
"You were all human once... so when you change back you'll be human...
and when he changes back, he'll be a dog." the woman insisted.
David let out a breath, slowly getting to his feet, "My dear... you
assume that we will be able to change back."
The comment made Courtney freeze on the spot. They would be able to
change back... wouldn't they? Any thoughts she had been forming in her
head fell into the eternal blackness of a stunned mind, "But..." she
managed to form.
"I am not saying it is impossible, but we have a lot to look into
before we can even attempt a reversal of the procedure." the ferret
added quickly, setting the pail right-side-up next to the wall, "But
one thing I know for certain: I consider lobotomies amoral."
"What does that have to do with--"
"If Rex wants to remain like he is, I am not going to force him into
his previous form." David clarified, "He has a choice... and as long as
he has that choice, I am content to consider him human, or close enough
to it that when we talk about survivors, I intend to include him. For
now at least, I consider him just as human as I."
The ferret walked out of the room, leaving Courtney confused at the
final exchange of comments; David's tail was slightly more fluffed up
than it had been when he entered. She realized, after a moment, that
she must have offended him. She slowly rebuttoned her sweater,
wondering after the strange mindset David had. ~There's a big
difference between the humans and animals that had been affected by the
accident. There had to be.~
"Isn't there?" she asked herself quietly.