No Chance, Ch 8
No Chance
Chapter 8
copyright 2010 comidacomida
Daryl tried hard to maintain a grip on his dreams, fighting with all of his will to remain asleep and at peace. In the end, however, he lost the fight and consciousness shattered his perfect world. Hearing the quiet, hypnotizing sound of Courtney's breathing and feeling her soft, warm form in his arms, however, was the next best thing.
The panther remained on the sofa, his nose buried into the back of her neck. He kept his eyes closed, breathing steadily and letting her scent completely envelop him. He treasured her; he worshiped her; he never wanted to let her go. Unfortunately, he also realized that he really really really had to go to the bathroom.
~Damn you, bladder.~ he cursed his own anatomy, moving with surreal agility as he used all of his feline grace to gently extract himself, letting Courtney remain on the sofa so she could continue sleeping. He slipped up and over the back of the couch, moving with fluid motion, his body bending over the backrest, spine curving into a perfect arch as his toes touched the floor even as his ears were still brushing past Courtney's head. He only had to transfer his weight onto his feet as he pulled himself into a standing position.
His room was one of the few offices in the installation that had its own bathroom. In fact, his was the ONLY office whose bathroom also had a private shower. He wasn't exactly sure how he managed to wiggle his way into the prime spot, but he always tried to avoid looking a gift horse in the mouth. As far as he could figure it, Fred spent all of his time in their makeshift mechanics bay, and David... well... Daryl never was very good at figuring out David.
The ferret had elected to take an office near the other side of the installation closer to the laboratories and, unlike the one the panther had chosen, it didn't even have its own bathroom. Daryl long since decided to shrug it off-- after all, David had always been business first and personal needs second; why should choosing a place as a bedroom be any different? Throwing the mystery out of his mind, Daryl quietly closed the door to the bathroom behind himself.
One part of him felt funny for bothering to close it since he and Courtney had an intimate enough relationship that body functions weren't anything that secret. He blushed beneath his fur as he remembered one time when his fiancee had snuck into the bathroom and slid her arms around his waist, holding it for him while he went. Once his bladder was drained she did even more with it. The panther shuddered at the memory, looking down at the toilet, then to what lay beneath his withdrawn loincloth. Gazing at the non-human furred flesh, the present caught up with him all too quickly and he realized just why he felt the need to close the door. Daryl let out a long, slow breath as he urinated, fighting to keep a new wave of melancholy at bay.
The changes had done many things to him, not the least of which being his appearance. David had sat down with him and with Fred weeks ago and discussed the ramifications of their new forms. It wasn't that the ferret had any more knowledge about their situation, but, as the agent in charge, he did have a way with direction planning and there were few better at situational assessment. While Daryl considered himself fortunate that he was not as feral in appearance as Fred, it was not much of a relief when he considered what his new body meant for him.
Daryl flushed the toilet before opening the door, hoping the sound wouldn't awaken Courtney. He fought the urge to lick his paws, electing instead to wash them in the sink. It was strange how there seemed to be two different personalities within him at times-- who he knew himself to be and a more feral presence electing to do things in ways he would otherwise be opposed. He pointedly dried his paws with several paper towels and slowly opened the door.
His fiancee (at least he hoped he was still able to call her that) was still asleep on the couch. Contemplating whether it would be better to try to slip into sleep with her again, or leave her be and avoid waking her, Daryl crossed the room back to the sofa. In the end, he trailed a single claw through her hair, sliding her bangs away from her face. He gently touched his muzzle to her forehead, enveloping his nose in her wonderful scent one more time as he did so. Daryl pulled himself away from Courtney, fighting back the rumbling purr that threatened to escape him and, with no more hesitation, the panther forced himself out of the room.
While Daryl knew he should be going over the mountains of paperwork David had given him to review, he found it impossible to see himself pouring over sheet after sheet of purchase invoices, expense reports, lab cleaning schedules, and other various inane bits of drivel while his mind was in such a chaotic state. He realized that even those thoughts shouldn't be in his brain since inane bookkeeping and record review was exactly why he was working for the FDA. Growling to himself, Daryl passed by the room where he spent his time with the reports and continued onward to the stairway leading down to the fourth sub-surface level of the base.
Daryl didn't find himself down in Level Four very often, mostly because it was where everything went wrong. None of their team had bothered with any place lower than Level Four for almost a week... at least, not until David noted that it would be safe to proceed. They were all surprised to see that some of the animals had survived-- some like Rex were able to be helped... others, like a house cat Daryl tried not to think about, did not. Some of the humans had survived as well, forever changed into new forms by the strange mutagen that had altered them. Any surviving Division Six personnel were rounded up and locked into the research rooms in level four. Those kinds of memories helped to dissuade Daryl from venturing down the stairs.
Most of the time it was David that bothered traveling to the labs. The few times Daryl focused on anything other than the paperwork was when he needed a distraction... or when he wanted to talk to Abe. The two often went hand in hand. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the black panther pushed open the fire door and entered the main science bay. It had come a long way since the day of the catastrophe. Abe had been pivotal in helping the agents rearrange the equipment and restore the science center's ability to run experiments. Even as Daryl entered into the science bay, he saw Abe busy at work with a microscope and several test slides.
Abe was one of the few non-FDA agents still given free run of the base. Unlike the other scientists at the Division Six installation, Abe was not actually an employee-- he was just an intern; he was a sixteen year old genius intern... one who had apparently been completely oblivious to the tests and projects going on around him. Since the incident, Abe had adapted to his new form incredibly well, almost as if he preferred it. Daryl stopped to observe the young man... or... snow fox... or husky... or white German shepherd-- Daryl wasn't really sure which; he had never been all that great at identifying animals.
"Hey Daryl." Abe called, ears back in concentration as he gazed into the microscope, "You can sit over here if you want." he motioned in the general direction of a padded stool not far from him. Daryl padded over quietly and glanced down at the stool, not missing the errant white fur that clung to it. The panther glanced to the young intern; since becoming part animal, Abe had also decided that he was going to be a nudist; David thought it was humorous, but Daryl didn't quite share that same outlook.
"Did you hear my fiancee is here?" Daryl asked.
"Oh!... Yea!" Abe noted, sitting up from the microscope and looking to him, "I remember David saying something about her. How is she? Kinda freaked out, I bet." his tail swished back and forth behind him as he remained on his stool, "I can't wait to meet her."
"You can wait long enough to put on some clothes." Daryl countered.
"Geez, Daryl... relax." Abe noted, hopping up off of his stool and scratching his groin, "We're practically fully clothed anyway."
"I don't want things to get weird for her." the panther stated.
"I think it's a bit late for that." the young intern noted, "She's probably plenty weirded out already."
"All the more reason to KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS." Daryl growled, the words coming out as a half roar with the final portion of the sentence. Abe let out a yelp and took a step back as the panther rested the palm of his paw on a nearby metal table, taking a deep breath as he tried to cool himself off in much the same way as the cold table did to his paw pads. "Sorry... Abe... sorry." he apologized, slumping down next to the wall. His tail still twitched agitatedly, but he ignored it.
"Hey, Daryl... it's okay... relax, man." the intern noted, still keeping his distance. He grabbed a long white lab coat from the chair beside him and slid it over his arms. Once it was closed at his waist he tied off the cloth belt to keep it in place. Once Abe was dressed in the robe, he sat down a few feet from the panther, "The rages again, huh?"
Daryl nodded, "I can control them when I'm thinking about it... but when I'm distracted..." he just let the sentence trail off. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his muzzle, "What are you working on?"
"Oh... just trying to figure it out." the intern replied.
"It?" Daryl questioned.
"Yea... and I did."
"Good for you," the panther noted, "What did you figure out?"
"I'm a fox." Abe announced proudly.
"Oh? Congratulations, I guess." Daryl offered.
"Thanks... but is that for figuring it out, or for being a fox?" the intern grinned.
"Both?" the panther shook his head, "I don't know." he let out another breath and slowly got to his feet, "How did you find out?"
Abe stood up as well and moved over to the microscope, "I checked chromosomes."
"What... you drew blood or something?" Daryl asked, moving over to take a look at the scope.
"The 'or something'." the fox smirked.
"What?" the panther paused, giving him a second glance.
"Semen."
Daryl took a step back from the microscope, "Semen?"
Abe nodded, "Chromosomes in the blood take too long to split and filter. Sperm cells are half of a pair of chromosomes, so you can pretty much do half the work.. it's a little complicated to explain, but you get the same result in less time." his grin grew wider, "plus it's a lot more fun to collect the specimens too."
The panther rolled his eyes, "I keep forgetting you're a teenager."
"Well, it's a better reason than MOST people find to rub one out." Abe challenged, "besides, it's good to know that everything still works, ya know?"
Daryl huffed and rolled his eyes again.
"Come on... do you mean to tell me that you haven't even taken a few minutes to consider how your new body works in the several weeks you've been in it?" the fox challenged.
The panther shook his head, "I don't plan on staying in it any longer than I have to," and looked down at the scribbled notes next to the microscope, "So how did that little distraction help you figure out you were a fox?"
"Dogs have 78 chromosomes, but I have 66." Abe grinned proudly, moving to stand beside him.
"Sixty six?" Daryl questioned, "I know what chromosomes are, but... wait..." he paused, "How many do humans have?"
"Forty six. Crazy, huh?" the fox grinned even wider, "I mean... somehow, whatever happened to me either replicate or grow entirely new chromosomes!"
"You mean what happened to all of us." the panther noted.
"Well... assuming that it affected us all in the same ways, yea. I mean... if you're all panther-y then you'll only have 38 chromosome... which means... well... you'd have to have lost some. I checked Rex already, and... get this... he has 46!"
"You 'checked' Rex?" Daryl asked, "Did you test his blood, or--"
"Well... he needed to learn how to do it some time... right?" the fox grinned.
"I thought you said dogs have 78." Daryl noted, quickly changing the subject, rubbing his temples with his fingers.
"Right... I started as human and became part fox... but Rex started as a dog and he became part human! So that tells us that whatever caused the changed altered our chromosomes to match whichever animal we were joined to."
A cold chill ran up the back of the panther's spine, making his fur stand on end, "I remember a little bit of biology from college, Abe... but..." he swallowed a knot that was developing in his throat, "Chromosomes... they're important in reproduction, right?"
Daryl hardly heard any of what the fox had to say about gametes, chromosome pairs, and any other number of scientific terms as his mind continued churning away at the developing concern that gnawed at his brain. "Can we undo whatever happened with the chromosomes?" he interrupted the fox's lecture.
"Well... I... maybe we.... if there was... I suppose if..." Abe floundered.
"Are we going to be sterile?" the panther pressed further, interrupted the mumbling.
"Sterile?" Abe paused with a shrug, "No... I don't think so. I mean... we should be able to reproduce with a species close enough to our own."
"I mean once we're human again, Abe!" Daryl spoke through clenched teeth, his voice vibrating in the back of his throat with the beginning of a growl. He didn't know why it was so hard for the teenager to realize what he was getting at. He paused at the thought, and took a moment to collect his mind; that was not the normal way he dealt with Abe. He took a breath and rephrased, "When all this is over, will Courtney and I be able to have kids?"
"It..." the fox took a hesitant step back, "I think it really depends on how bad the chromosome damage is... if... well... WHEN we figure out how to undo this." Abe waited for a moment, then took a step closer, "Daryl... you know... if we even CAN undo this, it might be awhile..."
"Just do what you can."
"We'll see." Abe offered honestly.
The panther took a deep breath once more to steady himself. He closed his eyes and repeated the breath, smoothing out his fur, "Okay, Abe... go back to whatever you're doing... I'm heading upstairs."
The fox nodded somberly, adding, "When do I get to meet Courtney?" he offered a reassuring smile, tugging at his lab coat, "I'm all ready."
"We'll see." Daryl answered, the weariness in his voice matched by his feet as he trudged back up the stairs, "We'll see..."