From jsrose@ix.netcom.com Thu Mar 13 10:42:05 1997
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From: "Jeffrey S. Rose" <jsrose@ix.netcom.com>
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Subject: TG: New U ch. 6 of? (NEW)
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And here I go again, at least I didn't quote Yes, again. ^_^;

Thanks to everyone who gave their thoughts on the last ch. and as always
I'm open to criticism or suggestions.

Obviously, the characters and situations presented are fiction and any
resemblence to anyone living or dead is purely coincedental.
Please feel free to post or archive with notification. Otherwise, this work
should be considered copyright 1997 Jeffrey S. Rose and no part should be
published in printed form except for review/critical analysis, or offered
for sale without consent of the author. "Time & tide melts the snowman!"


-- 
Jeffrey S Rose
(jeffrose@juno.com)
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of.
But do it in private, and wash your hands afterward."
                     - Woodrow W. Smith

"All humans, without exception, want love. No organic
or emotional, or psychological damage can remove 
that need. Humans can survive, albeit in pain, 
without being loved - but lock a man in a dungeon
and he will find an ant to love, or try to. The sociopath, 
who feels no emotions, wishes he could love, and 
is driven mad by his impotence."
                                                        - Michael Finn
                                               "Callahan's Secret"

New U
Ch.6: Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day
By Jeff Rose 1997
                   
	"We have met the enemy and he is us."
		- Walt Kelly's Pogo

	                    
	"Jamie?", Anne bent down to touch his/her shoulder. It had been midnight
before Jamie's body showed its transformation. Anne handled cleaning him up
while Chris and Beth got fresh sheets out of his/her chest. She marveled at
how easily Jamie's new form could be lifted from the bed. When they were
done and Jamie was placed between the clean cottonll body arranged itself
in a fetal position and began snoring softly.
                    
	"Jamie, can you hear me?"
	Rude vibrations rocked Jamie. Turquoise eyes flickered open briefly then
shut and reported a nasty loud brightness outside. His brain mulled this
over a bit and decided to send some test signals out.
	"Fleeceme aclone", Jamie mumbled and turned slightly.
	Shifting the extremities about produced reports of stiffness and mild
discomfort. The ears confirmed that the voice was back on line, but the
pitch was cranked too high and the tongue and lips were having problems
with coordination.
	The lack of "Witch's Promise"playing in the background meant actually
getting up was optional. Then the bowels and bladder walked up and said
they had something to bring out for discussion. They got priority so the
brain kicked the conscious mind out of the storage bin it was
screwing around in with the subconscious and powered up the rest of the
system.
	Jamie had discovered early in life that getting out bed and into a
standing position quickly was imperative if he was actually going to wake
up. It started in high school when he began noticing a tendency to overuse
the snooze button. So he placed the alarm clock on the opposite end of the
room and left the volume high.Later, rooming with others who frequently did
not appreciate rising asearly forced him to learn to reach that alarm as
quickly as possible. 
	Anne was just about to sit down again when Jamie's turquoise eyes flew
open as he simultaneously threw the sheet off and rolled onto his back.
Normally this would be followed by heaving his legs out onto the floor
while using the momentum to bounce himself into a vertical position. 
	What Anne saw however, was Jamie's calves striking the edge of the
mattress followed by a startled "Eeep!" as rebound from the mattress flung
Jamie heels over head backwards and onto the floor with an loud thwup.

				* * *
                                                
	The drive to the airport was made in deafening silence. Rick Angstrom had
seen Dani put up with myriad pains over the past five years. The loss of
her hair, dental problems as the enamel was slowly stripped from her teeth,
even the loss of continence during the bone marrow transplant , didn't faze
her. But this latest round of changes was tearing her apart. He promised
himself he would do the same thing to Harry Selznick when he got hold of
the little worm.
	He looked into the rearview mirror and said, "We'll be there shortly
Dani." Dani just sat there, staring out the windshield with those odd
turquoise eyes of hers and continued to crunch away on some peanut brittle
that would've shattered her teeth two weeks ago. The clinic said she'd
grown almost a full inch since her last visit. No wonder, the way she'd
been packing it away. 
	For her part Dani was upset to say the least. The past week had been
nothing but disappointments. Yes she was almost back to her old height, but
her waist and shoulders had gained at least that much and her breasts had
shrunk up to the point that she had stuffed socks into the A-Cups she was
wearing now. .. And they itched.
	She gave up on shaving her legs and pits two days ago when hair started to
spread up from her crotch and that itched worse. Hiding her case of
"fuzzies" caused her to wear the oversized sweatshirt and jeans that were
threatening to broil her whenever she stepped into the late August sun. She
was scared to show Mom what was happening and Dad either didn't or refused
to understand how frightened she was.
	Just to add insult to injury she was getting a mild case of the cramps. 
                      
				* * *
                                                
	Saturday mornings are supposed to be fun. It had been a long time since
Jaime had stopped perusing the networks's morning offerings with a bowel of
Cap'n Crunch or Coca Puffs in hand, but getting up early and running some
"Ranma 1/2, "Tenchi-Muyo!", or "Patlabor" while setting up for the day was
still a Saturday morning ritual he had enjoyed. But not today. 
	After Anne helped him get up off the floor while explaining that
everything would be all right and Chris was going to the White Marsh to
pick some things up for her, Three things hit him simultaneously:
		1) You're Naked!
		2) You're staring up into Anne's left nostril.
		3) Now that you've bounced yourself off the floor you 		_really_ have to
go to the bathroom!
                    
	Jamie chased Anne out of the room and rushed to the can. Getting the
necessities out of the way didn't take too long. Just refuse to look at
yourself, but remember to sit. It was almost fun having enough hair to need
to use a blow dryer. .. But it made it necessary to violate the
aforementioned rule. Also,it was difficult not to notice notice that your
hazel eyes had shifted to an unnatural blue/green. Looking more like those
the stones in those rings your sister liked years ago. The blonde eyebrows
were nothing new, but their customary light tone that faded to nothing
halfway across, now seemed to emphasize the smaller, more vaguely feminine
contours of your new, chubbier face. Your formerly thin lips have taken on
a more pouty look as well. Good thing the loss of 4" in height means you
really have a hard time seeing anything below your chin in the bathroom
mirror unless you want to.  Maybe getting dressed (hold that pun) and just
losing yourself in a game would help.
                     
	The 3D controller for the Saturn felt too big in Jamie's much smaller
hands. But then, everything was too big. The extra large Ranma 1/2 t-shirt
that she wore to cover her pubescent breasts was now long enough to cover
the pink and black swim trunks Anne got her for her birthday. Thank god for
draw strings or those would've been on the floor. Nights twirled and spun
across the landscape of the Soft Museum stage and the music played as Jamie
tried to reach the Zen state that (he hoped )would let him forget
thegrumbling for food in his gut (Look what happened the last time you got
hungry No, strike that. Don't look.) and disquieting feeling of movement
down below as his plumbing continued to rearrange itself. The timer got to
zero during the third run and Nights reverted to Claris. Jamie reached over
and shut off the game. Looking over at the clock, he noted it was only
10:30 in the morning. Jamie checked her scheduler idly and began picking up
the room.
                    
	"Chris should be back from the mall in a couple of hours.",  Beth said,
sitting down next to Anne at the kitchen table. "Are you sure Chris was the
best choice to pick up some clothes and basics? You know her sense of
humor."
	"She follows the fashions more closely than either of us.", Anne responded
looking at the somewhat matronly fashions she preferred. "She knows better
than I do what the kids are wearing today."
	"That's what I'm talking about. Have you seen what kids are wearing this
summer? I don't think Jamie's going to respond well to a middie tee and low
slung hip huggers, eh?"
	Anne started to look worried. "You don't think she'd go that far, do you?"
	Beth shrugged, "I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of mini-skirts in
the mix, but. ..", Changing the subject, she pointed to the baby monitor on
the table and asked , "How long has it been that quiet."
	"Couple of minutes", Anne rose and smoothed out the floral print skirt she
changed into after Jamie chased her out of the room, "Think I'll try
talking to her.She's got to be very confused."
	Beth Grabbed Anne's arm. "Better let me handle the first round. This is
the same 12 year old that chased you out of her room, remember?", She
pushed up the non-existent sleeves of her tank top. "I think Jamie may need
someone less prone to bolt than you. Listen in on the monitor and come in
when I call."
                    
	The door to Jamie's room swung and Beth watched as Jamie returned to her
chest and began piling jeans and sweat pants onto her bed. 
	"You know if I'd known about my guinea pig status, I'd have asked for a
better salary." Beth was amazed. The little girl in front of her was a
little tall for her(biological) age, but the immense tee shirt and
oversized trunks, made her look even younger. The high voice further
emphasized the matter. Jamie turned her head and Beth watched as her
shoulder length wavy blonde hair shifted and a tomboyish face peered out
from under ragged golden bangs. "So you think I should just put 'em in
storage for the next hundred years or donate them to Goodwill and try to
convince the Infernal Revenue Service I can still claim the deduction?"
	"Hold onto them.", Beth said, glad that Jamie had at least realized the
change wasn't really permanent. "'What's old is new again' and all that."
	Jamie sniggered at the joke, but when it came out as a giggle, the control
she was striving for broke and the giggle rapidly changed to sobs and
tears. Jamie tried to turn away from Beth when a strong hand gripped his
shoulder and spun him about.
	The hard slap that followed cut the tears short and for the first time in
years Jamie lost control.
	Beth was surprised by the fury with which Jamie commenced attacking her.
Beth was a now taller and out massed Jamie which put him at the
disadvantage. Jamie obviously never trained to fight as she did and was
used to simply wading in and throwing his opponent around. Typical for a
kid who'd grown up 'big for his age'.
	Jamie was too close for Beth to do more than try to restrain her though.
Beth had just about managed to pin Jamie to the bed when a hand freed
itself and shot out, grabbing her collarbone and squeezing. 
	"Urrgh! Nice try missy!" Beth grimaced, and was thankful Jamie's strength
had been diminished by the transformation. This hurt, but if Jamie had been
able to apply her former strength, Beth knew she'd have a broken
collarbone. "If you'd been a real girl you would have gone with a titty
twister though." She leaned forward, forcing Jamie to bend her elbow and
ease her grip.
	"James Everett McGowan! Stop that this minute! Anne's voice boomed through
the room and Jamie stopped struggling immediately. Beth almost reluctantly
moved aside to reveal Anne standing behind her. Anne had her fists planted
on her hips. Her face was a mixture of horror at the scene and irritation
that things got this far. She panted from running full speed to Jamie's
room as she tuned to Beth. "And you.. "She started.
	Jamie burst out laughing. This time it was a full throated belly laugh. 
	"You used the 'Mother Voice'!", tears were steaming again and the laughter
died down to giggles. "All three names! Oh, Jeeze," Jamie managed in
between fits, "I haven't cut loose on anyone like that in years. Not since
I was .." Jamie started to indicate a shorter height then remembering her
new size, raised the flattened palm to her current height. ".. Hmm. This
tall." 
	Noticing that Beth was massaging her shoulder Jamie asked, "Beth, are you
ok? I, uh .. never well."
	"Nah, not bad for your first cat fight. The bruise should be gone inside
an hour. See? There are good things about having nanites running around
your system.
	Jamie soured again. "You mean other than being stuck in a teenage girl's
body for the next hundred years? Or watching my family all die before I
become an adult again? My social life might've been garbage before, but I
don't even want to think about what kind of creep might be interested in me
now. That is, of course, assuming I don't become the first thirty year old
Kiddie Porn star in history! Or do I just go on Geraldo and sing the blues
for cash and prizes?"
	"Scum puppies! Now I want to kill something again. Anne, hand me that
notebook."
	"I will not." She said pulling the chair from Jamie's desk and motioning
Beth to find a seat on the bed next to Jamie. "And you are most certainly
not stuck in an 12 year old's body. Beth has been going over the changes
Harry made to your treatment and once your genitalia finalize, you'll age
very quickly til you hit what...?
	"Somewhere between 17 and 21 biologically."Beth supplied. 
	"I'm not going to lie to you Jamie, this is going to be hard for you to
deal with. We'll help however we can and your basic job will stay the same.
We'll help with your family if you want us to, but for all extents and
purposes you are now a young woman and the sooner you get used to the fact
the better." 
	"Jamie,", Anne said, taking Jamie's reduced hands into her own. "You once
told me the reason you loved your job here was the broad range of things
that needed to be done. 'Never a chance to get bored when you can switch
from landscaping one day to wiring the next or working on the design for
some workbench or addition we need.', I think you said. That hasn't
changed. If anything, we need you more than ever. You, the essential you,
has not changed. Jamie McGowan still has the mind of a 30 year old
dilettante whose interest in everything from Anime to Zoology has kept him
a poking his nose into anything that struck his fancy."
	She was doing it again Jamie thought, looking into the cobalt orbs
pleading with him/her to accept her gentle authority. Jamie gathered her
strength of will together for an assault of her own.
	"Alright, I know I'm still me. I also know I'm pissed off. Anne, you said
I had cancer, but you could've told me and proscribed the  Chemo Delivery
System nanites a whole hell of lot easier than setting me up for a full
treatment the way you did. You knew I didn't want a full treatment. What
the hell were you thinking? " 
	Anne lowered her eyes and had the courtesy to look embarrassed. Jamie felt
Beth tensing on the bed beside her. 
	"It had to be your decision Anne." Jamie pressed. She (Get used to that
pronoun Kid) felt Anne's shame at what had happened, but needed to get at
the root of the cause before she felt too sorry for her. "At best,
Christends to think of me as a little broth .. sister to tease. Beth, no
offense hun, but this is the first time since before I introduced you to
what I like in anime that you haven't looked at me like I was competing
with you in some contest of wills. Some day you'll have to tell me why guys
put you off."
	Feeling her oats now, Jamie gently squeezed Anne's hands, which were still
clasping her own. "But you Anne, have always treated me like a child who
needs protection." Jamie grinned as those words passed her lips. "So you
convinced Beth and Chris to knock me out, and turn me into Lazarus Long.
Except something went wrong and now I look more like an immature Deety
Burroughs." Anne looked confused. "Who?"
	"I'll see if I can't find my copies of 'Time Enough For Love' and 'Number
of the Beast' later." Jamie sighed. "You're avoiding the subject though.
Why force me into a full treatment you knew I wouldn't want?"
	"That's my cue to leave.", Beth said, standing, "I'm going to start lunch.
You two have a lot to talk about and Chris'll be back in an hour or so any
way."
	Jamie closed the door after Beth and hearing her stomach growl, threw
caution to the wind, and grabbed a couple of birch beers out of the
mini-fridge she used as a night stand. Passing one to Anne, she sat jumped
back onto the bed. 
	"Well?"
                      
	"Remember back when you hired on with us and Chris talked about where the
idea to apply create the broad based treatment that de-aged us came from?" 
                 
	"Sure, one of your technicians died of AIDS."     
	Anne seemed to fall into herself and her eyes looked through Jamie. "At
that time some people were still calling it GRIDS. When my brother-in-law's
son heard what his son had, he disowned him and I allowed him to stay with
me on the west coast."
	Anne's gaze sharpened a bit. "You reminded me of him. His manner and style
I mean. Shy, yet valiantly attempting to hide behind puns and banter.
Purposefully exposing yourself so no one else would have a chance to." 
	"He hid the fact he'd caught a cold and Beth, Chris and I were off on a
money run. Those were busy days for us, when we weren't in the lab, we were
constantly being introduced to potential investors and demonstrating the
possibilities of nanotechnology. Most of which were for naught. You want to
know why Beth is 'put off' by men? Wait til you have to put up some of what
we went through to get New U established with our skins intact."
	"Three days later, I opened the door to my apartment to find Scott
unconscious. He'd just given up. I rushed him to the hospital, but his
lungs had already filled with fluid from pneumonia by then. Anne's eye's
clouded again as the sight of the 20 year old swam in front of her. I was
the only one in the family willing to care for him and I ignored the
obvious symptoms. I let him die so I could chase money."
	"I couldn't just .. stand by with partial methods when I knew I could save
your life and keep you safe! You'd never have figured out what had been
done for years.By then I didn't think it would matter. Instead .. "
	Jamie did her best to gather Anne into her arms and pressed her small
forehead to Anne's. "Instead your QC man re-rigged the treatment and tipped
your hand, eh?"
	"You're not ..?"
	"Like I said before, I'm throughly pissed; at you for not trusting me and
at Harry for fucking with my life. There's another person to be pissed at
though and he isn't as available for kicking in the ass as he used to be.
Anne, I've lived the last 12 years without becoming romantically involved
with anyone. Do you know why?"
	Anne pulled and Jamie found herself firmly in Anne's lap. Anne brushed
some hair out of Jamie's eyes. "I always thought you were just too
shy."Jamie found herself even more firmly in the grips of Anne's magic than
ever before. She resisted the urge to rest her head on Anne's shoulder,
looked her dead in the eye and continued.
	"I went through all the normal dating experiences as a kid. From boyhood
crush to having someone who throughly disgusts you chasing you around. I'm
even participated in a few of those relationships from the other side as
well. Even fell into the 'secret admirer bit in Jr. high. Had a few
steadies and when we broke up it hurt the way such things always do I
guess. Looking back, I knew none of them were ever going to be permanent
relationships. Then in college I met Rose."
	Jamie was now feeling quite uncomfortable and got out of Anne's lap. "She
was my first .. everything I guess. The first girl I ever seriously
considered marrying.The only girl I ever proposed to. The first woman I
ever made love to. I was so scared when I gave her the ring I told her to
stop crying, the diamond wasn't that small."
	Jamie smiled at Anne, "We were the jesters for the local SCA group. She
was the Rude Jester and I was the Crude Jester," Jamie flipped the bird,
"This one to be exact." 
	"Anyway, I knew her home life was kinda screwed up, but I wasn't aware of
how badly she wanted out. After I proposed, she wanted to move in with me,
but I was raised fairly conservatively and wouldn't hear of it. When I
offered to help her find an apartment of her own, she declined saying that
as an Airforce brat, she didn't know how to function off base. Then she
wanted to push our wedding date forward."
	"I was a student working part-time and hustling flea markets and comic
conventions, trying to make a grubstake. I couldn't support a family then,
no matter how much I might've wanted to. And believe me, I wanted to."
	Jamie picked up the only stuffed doll in the room. A small Fox-squirrel
that Rose had given Jamie years ago. "So she found someone who could, or at
least would. I knew she was mad when she left for the summer to see her
grandmother in Philly. Wouldn't tell me how to get there or what her phone
number was." 
	"She called me in August and told me she was transferring out there and
about Patrick. She was sending my ring back. I told her to cash it in as a
wedding present. Two months later she called to tell me how happy she was
to be married and pregnant."
	"Y'know how you hear about how utterly stupid some guys can be? I still
have dreams about her. I even dream about Crystal. That's what they named
the baby, did I mention that? Never even seen her, but I know who she
doesn't look like. Rose made sure to call and tell me all about her. Rose
likes to call whenever she's having problems. Because I was so good to her,
she says. She called me just to catch up on old times after divorcing her
second husband a month before I moved in here and I thought I was going to
die. I couldn't bring myself to tell her where to get off. I just made
conversation as merrily as you please. The point being, that I don't date
because I know that if she walked through that door right now with Crystal
in tow and asked me to take her back, I'd do it."
	"Do you know how scary it is to be that stupid and know it? How can a
person, knowing he's that messed up, trust any of his feelings about
people? I decided I was too stupid to be allowed to breed and resigned
myself to being alone for the rest of my life and you just extended that
sentence by a hundred plus years! THAT'S why I'm pissed at you."
	"But I can't stop there and still be a good, honest to myself cynic. I'm
where I am because I was too ashamed to tell anyone why I didn't want to be
immortal. Not even the one woman I've known since Rose that I instinctively
trusted from the moment I met her.", Jamie banged her head against a
bookshelf. "And THAT'S why I'm pissed at myself!"Jamie knew she was
indulging in self pity now but the leaden feeling in her heart was
increasing anyway. Spreading from the center of her chest and just hanging
there. She couldn't stop the tears when she felt Anne's arms encircling her
and felt her kiss the back of her head. They just talked for a while like
that until Jamie's hurt and Anne's shame stepped into the background.
	"You were wrong about some things that's all."Anne said quietly, "We all
are sometimes."
	Jamie sniffled a bit, knowing she'd just told this woman the one thing
she'd never told anyone. Not her family, not Matt or Ron...
	"Cushlamochree! What'll I tell everyone about this! Younger and shorter,
people ignore or attribute to a rug or maybe Grecian Formula. Younger,
shorter and breasts get flat denials!"
	"How about, 'Matt, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for
years.'", Chris offered as she entered the room carrying more bags than
Jamie would've given her credit for. "Seriously, don't we have enough
bridges to cross tonight without bringing even more people into this?" She
dropped the bags onto
	Jamie's already crowded bed and after tossing the collected jeans, pants
and underwear to the floor, she dug through them till she came up with a
Rite-Aid bag. 
	"Into the bathroom Missy, Anne start sorting through this stuff and find
Jamie some real shorts, panties and a bra. Beth should be bringing lunch up
and I want to have Jamie here presentable before tonight." Glancing at
Jamie's trunks, she added,"Bet you're thanking God for drawstrings." 
	Chris whipped Jamie out of Anne's grasp and pushed her into the bathroom.
Before she was quite aware of what was happening, Chris had stripped her
down and placed her in the shower.
	"Yes I can see we have some work ahead little miss hairball." Chris began
by showing Jamie how to shave properly. It really wasn't that different
from before, Jamie reflected, there was just a LOT more surface area to
cover and some of the positions required to get there were, well awkward to
put it mildly. A thorough shower followed with Chris detailing how best to
keep the new equipment Jamie had properly clean. When she protested about
how detailed Chris was becoming with her descriptions and instructions, she
then began describing the consequences of not knowing what she was
explaining. Jamie suppressed a gag and washed on. 
	When Jamie tried to use the shampoo in the shower Chris slapped her hand
and threw it out. "You want people to think you have dandruff or
something?"
	"It was on sale."
	"For a very good reason. It smells like a the back end of a mule with
dysentery. Use this.", Chris countered passing a bottle through the
curtain.
	Jaime had to admit, it did smell a lot better than the other stuff and she
barely missed the tingling scalp. "Besides washing one's hair is much more
pleasant when there's hair to wash", she thought. "Conditioner though, she
decided while waiting, is just plain boring.
	"Towel!", Chris shouted tossing one over the curtain rod once Jamie shut
the water off. Jamie patted herself off and then fumbled a bit, realizing
she was going to have to buy some larger towels if she was going try
wrapping herself in them. 
	"I'm well aware my bottom is hanging out Chris.", Jamie said while
stepping out of the shower. "Whistling the theme to the Jack Benny show is
not necessary."
	 Chris made her sit on the toilet while she evened Jamie's hair and
applied some evil smelling goo to the ends. "Your hair is darker at the
ends that at the roots. This'll help even that out, unless you want a
really short style. I have to admit though,I didn't realize it was down to
your shoulder blades."
	"Are you kidding?", Jamie shot back. "The hair's the only part of this I
like."
	"Fine, then let that set for a few minutes."
	Anne poked her head in the door and handed Chris some clothes. "Lunch is
ready when you two are."
	"Give us ten minutes.", then to Jamie, "Ok Kiddo, stick your head in the
sink. Time to rinse."
	A minimum of time was spent drying." You've got enough natural wave in
your hair to get away with just letting it hang for now, but I can't wait
to get you into the salon." Chris said. 
	"Oh.. goody."Jamie said, pouring as much sarcasm as she could muster into
it.
	"Hey you said you wanted the hair. It's the price of admission. TANSTAAFL,
yes? Oh, I almost forgot!", Chris exclaimed and began powdering Jamie.
	"Keeps you smelling fresh all day and helps keep that new skin you've got
nice and soft."
	Jamie sighed and began pulling on the clothes Anne dropped off. "Chris,
I'm impressed, you didn't go for the silkies." Jamie said slipping on the
cotton panties,followed by a pair of beige shorts.
	"You're a little young for those yet and we expect you'll be growing out
everything I just bought within the year. That'll give you a chance to
change your wardrobe and  grow into your new proportion like any girl."
	"Great.",Jamie said encountering problems with the bra til she turned it
backwards to hook the clasps. "This however is too much." She said dropping
the kawaii lace trimmed  tank top and picking up the white tee shirt with
both Ranma Saotomes on it. "Much more appropriate, don't you think?"
	"Beth might get the joke, but it'll be lost on Anne." Chris said as Jamie
tucked the shirt in.
	"As long as I do, who cares? Let's eat."
                    
	Lunch went without incident and as they all ate, Jamie put her new clothes
away, surprised at just how much Chris had picked up. Finally, she got to
the shoes. Jamie opened the box and crossed her eyes. Ankle socks she could
live with, but these? 
	"I knew you had to have them the moment I saw them." Chris said grinning
as Jamie pulled the hot pink cross trainers out of the box. 
	Jamie grimaced a bit, then smiled at the joke and slipped them on and
laced them up. "I guess they do fit my new image."
	So saying, Jamie stepped over to her desk and rustled through one of the
drawers til she found what she was looking for. Gripping the prize in her
fist she rummaged in the closet. 
	Jamie normally didn't wear hats (His hair loss had not begun to become
noticeable til after he'd been forced to wear them continuously in the
military.) but this Baseball cap was purchased during the height of his/her
obsession with Ranma 1/2 and matched the shirt perfectly. With the closet
door hiding her from the others, Jamie pulled her hair back the way she
remembered her sister doing and used the rubber band clenched in her fist
to make a ponytail. Tucking it through the back of the cap, She spun
outfrom behind the closet door. She stopped in a slightly undignified
manner. The small weights on her chest and her changing center of gravity
causing her to bobble a little. "Well, what 'cha think?"
	The three women applauded and Jamie felt a mild blush. "As long as I can
put my own spin on this, I guess I can survive." She thought and
acknowledged their applause with an exaggerated curtsy.
	Anne insisted on running some tests after that. Then rooms had to be
prepared for Mr. Angstrom and Dani and round about 6:30 Anne and Beth got
ready to pick up the pair at the airport. 
	"But why can't I go too?"Jamie asked in what sounded even to her,
suspiciously like a little girl whining. "Gotta work on the delivery",
Jamie thought, but she really was curious to see her other half.
	"The car will be crowded enough as it is, with the two of them and their
luggage. I also want to make sure Dani is prepared to meet you. I don't
know just how much Richard has told her about what's happening to the two
of you and she may not even be aware of you yet. Given the importance of
your role in helping her through this, I'd like to make sure she's
prepared. Beth will be going along to keep everyone in line."
	Anne had explained her 'buddy' system to Jamie during lunch. Jamie was to
help Dani get used to being Danny while Jamie was learning to be a girl
from her. "It shouldn't be too hard to teach Dani to make rude body noises
and remember to occasionally scratch her balls." Beth smirked and Jamie
stuck her tongue out at the slight on her former sex. 
	Once they left, Jamie began preparing a light dinner and Chris checked to
make sure the lab was prepared for tomorrow. It gave Jamie time to think
about the changes that were continuing in her body. Nibbling on a carrot;
there was something new. Jamie had always hated raw vegetables but it
seemed her taste buds and sense of smell had even changed. Not altogether
surprising as, according to Beth, her new body seemed to be a combination
of the best aspects of both Jamie and Dani Angstrom. She wondered again
what Dani looked like. How much Jamie was peeking through her and how was
she dealing with that?
	The smell of ground beef and spices was filling the kitchen and Jamie
turned to get some lettuce for the taco salad when she saw her distorted
reflection in the refrigerator, "Not much Jamie left on this end.", Jamie
said. 	"About half you, half Dani Angstrom to be exact." Chris said,
walking in, " You  might not believe this, but I think we all went through
that to
an extent. At least I did." Chris sniffed cautiously. "Not bad."
	"When we tried the treatment on ourselves," Chris said, "I was amazed at
how much of a difference 30 years made. Colors were brighter, clearer, and
smells! I didn't realize how much the olfactory senses faded over time.
Flavors became richer and more vibrant than they had in years."
	"I know what you mean about that. " Jamie agreed and started shredding the
lettuce.
	"For a while, It was intoxicating." Chris went on and began washing her
hands. "I had to try everything again. But in the end I was still me and
...."
	"Don't push.  The fact is, I'm not really the girl I see in the mirror.
She looks like she belongs on an old after school special. She doesn't
legally exist. She can't drive, I certainly wouldn't trust her with a
drink. She's 5'6" if she's an inch and only 110 lbs! One Sam Adams and
she'd likely be on the floor.
Worse, I think she's a little slut."
	Chris did a beautiful double-take. "Wha ... Where'd that come from?"
	 Jamie blushed, but in for a penny. .."I have never
felt .. not without meaning to, anyway. When you were telling me how to
wash .."
	"Oh that was just good clean fun." Chris giggled."Don't tell me you really
 believed you were supposed to massage your nipples with the soap?"
                    
                                       * * * 
                                                 
	"Dad, what does she mean?",Dani cried. "The techs at the clinic said they
were sending me here so Dr. Howe can fix what's wrong!"                    
 	Anne bit her tongue and looked in the rearview mirror. She had flown back
to the clinic in disguise to supervise Dani's treatment while Jamie was at
the convention. Paula at the clinic, had been sending information and
photos constantly. They didn't do the "girl" justice. The treatment they
designed for Dani had her regressing to her pre-diagnosis age of twelve,
followed by an accelerated growth period til she would be physically 17
again. Within 12
months, she would stabilize and the nanites would lock her in time.
	Unfortunately, Harry's alteration to the program had mixed Jamie's traits
into Dani's. While girls usually hit their growth spurt about a year
earlier than boys as a rule, Jamie had gone from being tall for an 11 year
old at 5'7" to 5'10" when he started 7th grade at age 12. Dani's regression
program had been left virtually untouched though and the nanites in her
system were now fighting a two front war. 
	Trying to both accelerate her growth from 5'4", to 5'10" and expanding her
dimensions to male proportions explained her current eating habits. Even as
Anne was watching, Danielle was methodically working her way thorough the
largest bag of Fritos they could find in the gift shop and the way she was
going, she could complete two more before finishing the 45 minute trip back
home.
At least Jamie had more than enough mass to support his/her transformation
without needing to constantly eat. First order of business when they got
back would be starting Dani on some kind of diet supplement, before she
ended up with a serious eating disorder on top of everything else. 
	Angstrom cranked his head around to face his daughter. "Dani, I think you
were reading things in to what the personnel at the clinic said. Now hush
while Anne finishes explaining what's planed for you. Doctor, what do you
have planned?"
	Anne sighed inwardly. Apparently, Angstrom had not told Danielle anything,
leaving that for the "experts". "Dani, remember our interview a month ago?
The treatment you were given involved installing an immense number of tiny
machines into your body. Some those machines have taken over for the
biological systems in your body that identify and destroy foreign bodies
and prevent any new cancers from growing in you. Those machines will also
act
to prevent new machines from being introduced to correct any difficulties
you are having. There are others that were supposed to rebuild your body
after getting rid of the cancer that was already there."
	"You said I would grow back to the person I was, just without cancer. But
I never looked like this! I've got 38" shoulders already and my hips have
gotten slimmer if anything!"
	"Danielle!",Angstrom snapped, "Control yourself. The Doctor has given you
a new lease on life. There are always problems in any new process."
	Paying the toll for the Ft. Mc Henry Tunnel, Anne rolled the window up and
continued. "Problems is an interesting way to describe what's been done to
your daughter. Dani, as your father told you about Harry Selznick?"
	"I thought you could explain that better than I." Angstrom said, shifting
uncomfortably for the first time. 
	"Selznick altered the treatment you and another of our patients were
supposed to receive. Beth said, scowling at the back of Angstrom's head.
"Instead of rebuilding you as you, per say, he combined genetic information
from the both of you. Now, the thing to remember is even if we can't get
around the nanites already in your system, we can still put you back to
rights when they shut down naturally."
	"Combined...?", Dani said quietly, looking at a chip filled hand. "With
whom?"
                    
                                       * * *
                                                
	Claiming the hat was getting on her nerves, Jamie went up stairs to take
it off. Chris' mentioning of how the girls had already used the treatment
on themselves had reminded her that the women she was living with and
working for were all in their sixties. She tended to forget how long and
hard they had to have worked to build New U. There were questions running
round her head that she had ignored previously.  
	For instance: Promptly upon getting New U on it's feet the three people
responsible for making the company a name in both the science and the
industrial communities all but changed their identities and move to the
east coast. Even going so far as to disguise themselves on the few
occasions they'd needed to return to the home office. 
	Ron and Matt didn't know where their money came from. Jamie had been
given very specific instructions to evade any such questions. Even checks
that were being signed out to  suppliers and the few contractors she'd used
so far, were drawn on a joint account, not a corporate account. 
	The explanation that they wanted to retire and enjoy the fruits of their
labor made some sense, but if that was so, why spend 3-4 days a week
overseeing operations and teleconferencing (Again, Jamie had been told
specifically not to include video capability in that system.) with
suppliers and clients? The facilities at the home office on the west coast
should be much better equipped to handle the problem she and Danielle were
encountering. Yet they were bringing Danielle here instead of closing up
shop and hauling Jamie (a much less important client) to Silicon Valley.
That was
flattering, but hardly professional. More to the point, considering their
dependance on the mini-cray, it would make sense to keep it under as close
a scrutiny as possible.
	Since she had never been interested in pursuing the New U treatment
herself, she'd never let the thought about the girls actions as the job was
enjoyable and they were good company. Besides which, she felt that by the
time it would be "safe" to tell the world about the life extension
capabilities of the full treatment, she would be dead. 
	She was pretty certain that in terms of actual time and materials, a full
treatment only cost about $10,000. The price could only go down in time.
Unless, one wished to start riots of people demanding free treatments. Or,
like as
not some group would demand legislation banning the procedure since only
those who could afford it were receiving it. That would just drive clinics
underground. Visions of rich people living under a masquerade similar to
something out of Heinlein's future histories danced around Jamie's head.
	In either case, cheap space travel, or some other form of pressure valve
would have to exist as well, or the world's overpopulation problems would
become truly unbearable even in countries like the United States that still
had
some fairly large expanses of arable land. 
	Now it looked as if Jamie had the Chinese curse of living in interesting
times to look forward to. Of course, Harry being loose somewhere had
probably accelerated that timetable anyway. 
	How did Harry manage to get past the same screening process she'd been put
through anyway? Too many questions and some did not bode well for any of
them. "Time to do a little hunting before throwing questions into the
air.", Jamie said to herself, "Never know where it'll land."
                     
	Sitting down at her computer, Jamie logged onto the LAN (pleasingly, none
of her passwords had been changed.) and began doing some cruising thorough
the sever's directories.  She had just found the phone logs when security
system reported an entry in the front drive. She saved copy of the logs
to her hard drive, logged off the system and headed downstairs.
                      
	"It's been a while since I took an active interest in my world. Feels
good. Jamie thought to herself as she met up with Chris at the front door.
                      "Excited?"
                      "Let's say I feel I have a vested interest to
pursue.", Jamie said grinning, and opened the door.
                    
                    End ch.6 Jeff Rose 1997



