# No Chance, Ch 3 Author: comidacomida Tags: Character Development, Dog, Ferret, Human, Modern, Plot Development, Sci-Fi, Story Progression, Transformation 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. Source: https://sofurry.com/view/110798 Previous: https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/110563-no-chance-ch-2.md