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After an incredible weekend that Luke still couldn't believe was real, he finally headed home and soon settled back into his normal routine. He went back to work at the research center and after a couple weeks, had basically forgot his weekend (except for the occasional uncomfortable daydream or messy wet dream.)

---

"It had to have been genetic engineering!" one of the new interns mumbled.

_'Ugh... not this again'_Luke thought to himself.

"Why do you think that?" asked one of Luke's coworkers, a male human in his fifties, in a gruff and slightly condescending tone.

"Well..." started the intern, a young female meerkat morph, "I mean..."

'Oh God, this one can't even defend herself' Luke mused internally. 'She won't make it through the day.'

"It just seems like humans would have tried mixing their DNA with certain animals to get ideal traits. A Cheetah so they could run faster, a rhino to be stronger-" she continued.

"A horse for the genital girth!" shouted a lab assistant, looking up from some papers he was collating. His comment was met with a snicker from a few colleagues, and made the intern blush.

"It isn't the cheetahs DNA that gives him speed, it's the way his body is built. Being a feline morph does not give you super speed. I think you have read far too many comic books." The scientist started in on the intern. "Hey Luke, you aren't the real-life Underdog are you?"

"First off, Mike" Luke replied "there is no way she is old enough to know who Underdog is. Secondly, don't drag me into this. This is your argument."

"Well I didn't mean-" the intern started.

"Secondly" the scientist interrupted, clearly used to this discussion, "even if the DNA splicing that you suggested was the cause behind a few of the morphs. What traits would be the benefit of making morphs of every mammal? Almost every mammal on the planet has a humanoid counterpart and I don't see the evolutionary benefit of combining the DNA of a human with that of a pig, or a sloth, or a meerkat." He narrowed his eyes and exaggerated that last word. He was being a bit cruel, but he had disputed this theory for as long as he'd been in the field because it had no evidence backing it and made no real sense.

As the intern predictably started crying and ran out of the room, Luke turned to him and said "you know, if you scare them all off in their first week, we'll never get any new help around here and you'll never retire."

"Don't wanna get stuck with me, pup?" Mike retorted. "And you, Peters" the scientist shouted to the lab assistant that interjected his quip earlier "I'm sure your equine boyfriend is great and all, but feel free not to add to conversations that don't actually involve you."

Luke, and most of the other people present in the room, laughed as the assistant got flustered as he tried to come back with a defense and a rebuttal but came up with nothing. Luke had seen the man with a rather fetching woman last year when a company outing involving alcohol led to a few awkward moments for a few employees (a couple of whom were asked not to return to work the following day) and knew he was not gay, but his lack of a defense or even a denial was not currently helping his case.

"Well, Mike. Unfortunately no theory sounds any good right now, because no matter how much we try and how many scraps of old data or books we stumble across, nothing explains how it all happened. Sometimes I think we need to give up trying to figure it out."

"Sure. Maybe we can then just say that God put the morphs here. Or maybe how an ancient Greek woman had sex with a wolf one night. Actually, isn't that the story of your great great grandmother?"

"Sometimes, Mike, you're an ass!" Luke said, and started to walk out of the room to try and find the intern that ran off. 'Even though she's probably halfway home by now' he thought to himself.

"No, Howard in HR is an ass." He said, in reference to the man being a donkey morph. "And is there anything you want to add about his genitals, Peters?" Mike said, looking again at the assistant, met with another round of laughter.

Luke shook his head and left the room, closing the door behind him. A lot of the humans that worked here were a bit edgy, like Mike, because they usually got a lot of crap for working to help explain the morphs. Most humans, although they did finally accept the morphs as equal citizens, still felt, even if only subconsciously, that they were at best, weird, and at worst, unnatural. So the morphs in the company tended to outnumber the humans by quite a bit.

One of the few other humans, Doug Yeltz - who worked alongside the donkey in HR, came up to Luke as he was wandering the halls.

"Hey Doug, I don't think the new intern is gonna last long." Luke stated.

"Yeah, I guessed that when she threw her badge at me earlier, sobbing and running toward the front door. It was her first day, Luke. That man is making my job very difficult."

"Yeah, but he's a smart guy and he's been here forever. I think he might be older than the data we're trying to dig up." Luke joked.

"Well, his brilliance aside, I was actually looking for you. It turns out that a girl from California is transferring here from a genealogy lab, and is also rumored to be quite brilliant."

"Great" Luke replied "it'll good to have her onboard, assuming she can survive his wrath."

"Well, I actually have another worry."

"What's that?"

"She's never met a morph."

"What?" Luke asked in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"She apparently grew up in a very close-minded and closed-gated community. And the lab she now works at just happens to be close by where she grew up and doesn't have any morphs employed there. She knows the job and knows that she will working with you all, but I thought it would be best to ease her into it."

"I guess that's fair. The hyena in security would be a nightmare for someone not used to us." Luke muttered aloud, remember the scare he got seeing the guard for the first time. Whether you're a morph or not, some things are just creepy and a nearly 7-foot tall hyena with jet black fur and a jagged scar across the middle of his face is one of those things. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Well, for one, go pick her up from the airport. She comes in in a few hours so I figured you could drive her to the hotel she booked instead of letting her take a cab. And maybe talk to her a bit and kind of warn her or something before she starts."

"OK, so babysitting duty, excellent!" Luke said sarcastically.

"Just remember, you can't sleep with your coworkers, Luke!" Doug said with a knowing look.

"Don't project what you did with your babysitters onto me." Luke said and turned to end the conversation.

"My babysitter was a 30-year old male otter." Doug replied before starting to walk back to his office.

"Did not need those mental images, Doug!" Luke shouted and the smirked to himself. 'At least I can leave early for the day.'

---

Luke pulled up to the airport and went inside to look for his new coworker. Unfortunately, Doug didn't give him much of a description. She was a human girl, in her early twenties, and should be coming in at gate 9. Luckily, once the people starting coming off the plane, it was easy to spot the one that was very nervous and awkward around the morphs.

Luke walked up to her and introduced himself "Hi, Ellen Swan, I'm Luke. Doug sent me to help you find your way around the city. I work at the lab." He instinctively held out his had to shake hers.

She looked at him and hesitated for a moment, looking a bit unsure, but then lightly shook his hand, wincing slightly as he closed his grip on hers. "It's Swain, actually."

"Huh?" Luke asked, trying to ignore the way she was acting.

"My last name is Swain."

"Oh, Doug must have written it down wrong. Sorry about that. Do you have any bags to grab?"

"Just my carry-on here, I mailed most of my stuff and it should come in tomorrow."

"OK, well then follow me and I can take you to your hotel." He said and then turned to start walking out of the airport.

"Alright..." she started as if to say something else and Luke turned around, but she quickly looked up, presumably from the floor, and said nothing so he continued heading out toward the car.

As they started driving, Luke decided to try and have a real conversation and hopefully break the ice. "Now, I have to ask, why take this job?"

"What?" she asked, surprised at the question.

"I mean, it's pretty clear, and also a little insulting, how uncomfortable you are around us morphs so why come work with us, and for us, for that matter?"

She sat stunned, for a moment, but then blushed and looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

Luke waited for the rest of her answer without saying anything.

After a few seconds of silence, as it became obvious that he was waiting for more, she continued "The job pays really well and I did want to get out and see more than my small town. I never had a TV at home when I grew up so I've never even seen one of you before. I guess it's just a bit strange and I don't know what to say or do. I'm really sorry!" she said, sounding sincere in her apology.

"Well, despite the fur and somewhat different features, we're still pretty much the same as you, so just talk to us like you would anyone from your old town."

"Can I ask you a question?" she said sheepishly.

"Sure." Luke replied, not sure what to expect.

"Umm..." she started and then hesitated. She glanced at Luke but then looked back down at her feet as she asked "what is it like having a tail?"

Luke fought hard not to laugh and then answered with "I don't know; what's it like not having a tail? I've always had it so it feels normal to me."

"Can I touch it?" she asked, looking up at Luke again.

He was taken aback by the question and without thinking responded quickly with "What?!"

His voice came out a bit more like a bark than a response and she flinched, immediately looking back to the floor. "I'm so sorry!" she started "I didn't mean to be rude."

"No, no, I'm sorry. It wasn't rude, you just surprised me." He looked over and smiled at her. "I mean it, it's Ok."

She looked up at him and smiled weakly but didn't say anything else. 'Great job; bark at the girl who's already scared' Luke mentally scorned himself.

Before he could be any more upset with himself, he turned into the parking lot for the hotel. Actually, Luke noticed, it was more of a motel. It was a two-story building that seemed a bit low budget and was most likely not the cleanest or safest place to stay.

"You're staying here?" Luke asked.

"I didn't make a whole lot of money back home."

"I thought Doug said you were considered to be great at what you did?"

"Oh?" she seemed surprised. "I mean, I guess so, but the job just didn't pay well. And I lived in a small town so there just wasn't a lot of money in anything you could do there." She went to open her door when a loud noise came from outside in the parking lot. She closed her door quickly and Luke looked over to see two men fighting drunkenly about three spaces away in the parking lot. Surprisingly, they were both human, but they were being very loud and violent and several of the other guests at the motel were now standing outside their rooms and watching.

"OK, change of plans. You can stay at my place tonight." Luke said and without waiting for her to agree, he drove away from the fight and out of the parking lot. Ellen didn't say anything but nodded slightly.

The drive back to his house was mostly silent, with no real conversation between them, but a couple times Luke noticed Ellen staring at him and he began to wonder if this was the best idea. 'Well, I guess I'll find out...' he thought as he pulled into the driveway and parked the car.