Genomorph

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

“This is really nice, Melissa,” Brandi said as they entered Melissa’s house. The house was a contemporary two story, long and narrow, as was the norm for the area. The back faced a street named Speedway, with a two car garage opening onto the street. The front looked out directly on Ocean Front Walk and the beach. They entered through the back door into a utility room and through that into a short hallway.

“That’s Karen’s room,” Melissa said, pointing to a door on the left. “It’s a full master suite. I’m afraid you’ll have the smallest bedroom, but like I said it has a full bath and a walk in closet and it’s fully furnished.”

The hallway opened into the dining room with the kitchen to the left. Beyond the dining room was a large family room with a fireplace. Melissa led her through the family room and out the front door. There was a large porch that looked out on the ocean, and Brandi took a deep breath, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the surf bringing back a flood of memories.

“It’s beautiful, Melissa,” Brandi said, her eyes closed as she let the sounds and scents wash over her. For a moment she could almost forget … almost.

“You really own this place?”

“It was my parents’,” Melissa said. “They died last year in a car accident.”

“Oh, Melissa I’m so sorry,” Brandi said. “I lost my parents too … a long time ago.”

“You must have been very young,” Melissa said. “Brandi, I don’t mean to pry but how old are you?”

“Twenty-one,” Brandi told her. “I know I look young …”

“Brandi, its cool,” Melissa assured her. “Just be prepared to get carded a lot, even with that figure of yours.”

Leading her upstairs, Melissa showed Brandi the room that would be hers. It may have been the smallest in the house but it was larger than the hotel room she had been staying in. It was definitely a girl’s room, with pink walls and a full sized canopy bed. There was a large dresser and a desk as well, and on the wall opposite the foot of the bed was a flat screen television. The walk in closet was very spacious, and the bathroom had a vanity and a large spa tub.

“This is very nice,” Brandi said, setting her duffel bag and computer satchel on the bed. “Is there internet access?”

“Yes,” Melissa said. “It’s wireless, so you can access it from anywhere in the house if your laptop has a wireless card.”

“It does,” Brandi said.

“Well I need to get out of these clothes,” Melissa sighed. “After you’re settled in, why don’t you come downstairs and we can talk if you like.”

Brandi smiled, “Thank you, Melissa, I’ll do that.”

Melissa left Brandi and walked across the hall to her own bedroom. When she was gone Brandi unpacked, a short task considering how little she had. She placed the box containing Brandon’s medals, along with the framed Medal of Honor citation, on a shelf in the closet. Her clothes she placed in the dresser…it did not take much room even though she had picked up a few items since she returned to LA. She set her laptop on the desk. Her meager collection of toiletries went into the bathroom and a few other items into the drawer of the night stand. Last of all she took the nearly nine thousand dollars in cash she had remaining and hid it in the space beneath one of the bottom drawers of the dresser and then placed her empty duffel bag on top of the medals and citation in the closet.

Once her belongings were put away, Brandi stripped off her clothes, sighing with relief as she removed her sports bra. It was designed to provide maximum compression and support for running and was not really intended to be worn all the time. She did not really need the support; her body was modified to carry the weight of her breasts but the bra was more of a security blanket, minimizing her bust somewhat.

She stood for several minutes, regarding her naked body in the mirror over the vanity. She tried to think what she would have thought had she seen a girl like her when she was Brandon. She wanted to believe he would have looked at her as a person, but she knew that if Brandon had seen her walking down the street it would be the body he noticed first. He was a good man, but he was still a man.

~ Can’t really fault him for that, this body was made to be noticed. ~

Deciding she had finished her introspection, she opened the top dresser drawer and removed her most recent clothing purchase, a knit pajama set. She had decided that the easiest way to go was to start dressing in attire appropriate to her gender in a non public setting. She slipped the lavender camisole top and matching long pants on, grabbed her cigarettes and lighter and headed downstairs.

Melissa was still in her room, so Brandi settled into a wicker chair on the porch and lit a cigarette. There was an ashtray on the table by the chair so she figured it would be all right to smoke. Closing her eyes, Brandi let the sound of the surf wash over her again. For the first time in days she felt that she could relax.

“Oh … hello.”

Brandi jumped, literally, up from the chair. That the voice had surprised her was obvious. That she had gotten so relaxed she could be surprised made it even worse. Fortunately she did not attack the young woman standing in the front doorway.

“Whoa there, sweetheart, take a breath,” the girl laughed. She was Brandi’s height, with shoulder length auburn hair, and was dressed in a pair of tight red shorts and a black t-shirt with the word Woofers across the front. She was very nicely built though not as large breasted as Brandi. With a sigh she kicked off her heels as she stepped onto the porch, a wine bottle and two glasses in her hand.

“Sorry, I thought you were Melissa,” she said as she dropped into the chair opposite the one Brandi had been sitting in.

“I’m Brandi,” Brandi said as she sat back down. “Melissa is changing.”

“Nice to meet you, Brandi,” the girl said. “I’m Karen, Melissa’s roommate.”

“Is that where you work?” Brandi asked, gesturing to Karen’s t-shirt.

“Only temporarily, I hope,” Melissa laughed. “Hooters was already taken. So are you going to be our new roomie?”

“I’m considering it,” Brandi said. “Listen, I should tell you Melissa had a pretty rough night.”

“That’s an understatement,” Melissa said from the doorway. She was dressed in a long green knit nightshirt and as she stepped out onto the porch Brandi winced; her face had swollen much more. Karen took one look at her and was instantly on her feet.

“What the fuck happened to you!”

“Calm down,” Melissa soothed. “I’ll tell you the whole story, but first you need to get another glass for Brandi and I’m gonna bum a smoke from our new roomie.”

Brandi smiled and passed the pack and lighter to Melissa as Karen went back into the house for another wine glass. She filled the three glasses, and after taking a deep drag of her cigarette and exhaling slowly, Melissa began telling Karen of her night’s ordeal. She also managed to lavish enough praise on Brandi to make her blush bright red.

“Brandi, I did have a question about the alley,” Melissa said after she finished the story. “Please don’t take this wrong, because God knows those assholes deserved it, but the last guy .…”

“Why did I hurt him?” Brandi asked.

“Well, yeah, I mean you already had him beat,” Melissa said.

“No, I had him controlled for the moment,” Brandi corrected. “If I had just let him go, he might have just run off, or he may have kept fighting. Then he might have hurt someone else, or tried something that forced me to really hurt him. I had the chance to end the fight there, so I did. I don’t, like, get off on fighting or hurting people, but when I have to fight, I fight to win.”

“Well, you get no argument from me,” Karen said angrily. “I wouldn’t care if you had killed the bastards.”

Brandi became quiet, wondering what these two young women would think if they knew she had killed before and in fact as recently as three days ago. She had thought a lot about the man she had killed in the garage. It was the first time she had taken a life outside of war, and yet it was the same as any of the others. There had simply been no choice and she had done what was necessary to save another’s life. She knew that it was part of the reason she was who she was now; part of the reason the Genomorph Protocol had been triggered.

“So, are you planning on going to school out here, Brandi?” Karen asked after taking a sip of wine.

“I don’t really have any firm plans,” Brandi said. “I have a lot of stuff about my life I have to figure out, kinda the whole ‘finding myself’ cliché. What about you two?”

“We’re both in the graduate program at UCLA,” Melissa told her. “I’m working on my masters in music and Karen in political science.”

Brandi smiled reflexively; Brandon had a masters in political science. She wondered if she could even carry on an intelligent conversation on the topic, or if her programming would make her words come out like a bimbo.

“Do you know what your thesis is going to be yet, Karen?” Brandi asked, deciding to give it a try.

“Yes,” Karen said, her eyebrows rising slightly. “It’s on the evolving role of the military in the post cold war era, and more specifically in the war on terrorism. It also stresses the importance of understanding the mindset behind groups like Al-Qaeda, in order to effectively counter them.”

Brandi smiled and said, “If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”

“Sun Tzu, I’m impressed,” Karen smiled. Her smile quickly faded as she realized how that sounded.

“Brandi, I didn’t mean …”

“It’s ok, Karen,” Brandi laughed. “I get that a lot. I’ve gotten used to being seen as, like, a bimbo. We all tend to see the surface first, and once you realize that, it can actually be kinda useful.”

The three talked for a while, getting to know one another. Brandi learned that Melissa had been born and raised in Los Angeles. She was an only child and her father had been with the LAPD for thirty years. After he retired he had done some writing, true crime stories, and even acted as technical consultant for some television movies and series. Her mother had sold real estate. They had been comfortable, though far from wealthy. Her parents’ unexpected death had left her with a house to maintain and a stack of student loans to pay off.

While she listened to Melissa talk about herself, Brandi was again struck by the feeling that she had met the girl before. If so it had to have been as Brandon, which she frankly doubted since he had never been to LA in his life.

She searched her memory, unable to shake the feeling, but came up blank. While her vastly improved memory allowed her to recall events from her past as clearly as though they had just happened, it often required the right trigger to access a particular memory if it was buried deeply.

“It would probably be a lot smarter to sell the house,” Melissa sighed. “But I’m just not ready to do that yet.”

“I was lucky in a way, I guess,” Brandi said and then stopped, her eyes widening for a second. She had been about to say that her education at Annapolis was paid for by the government.

“I mean, like, I have my trust fund so I haven’t had to worry about money,” she finished.

“I was just noticing that ring you’re wearing,” Melissa remarked, gesturing to the chain around Brandi’s neck. “Is that your boyfriend’s?”

“Um, no,” Brandi said, holding the ring up so they could see it better. “It’s a Naval Academy class ring. It belonged to…a friend. He died a few months ago.”

“Oh, Brandi, I’m sorry,” Melissa said. “Was he killed in the war?”

“Not directly,” Brandi said, her voice growing very quiet. “It was…complications…he was badly wounded.”

Melissa smiled in understanding and let the subject drop. It was obvious that it was making Brandi very uncomfortable.

Karen Meadows came to LA from Littleton, Colorado six years earlier. She and Melissa had met in their second year at UCLA and had been friends ever since. The two had similar personalities, both determined and spirited; but Melissa tended to be more outgoing and Karen more reserved.

Of course they wanted to know about Brandi as well, and she did her best to be truthful without being too truthful. Finally she had to put a stop to any further questions.

“Look, I’m sure you both know I’m holding stuff back,” she said. “I mean it’s, like, obvious I’m dodging your questions and it’s because the only other choice is to lie, and I don’t wanna do that. Please be patient with me. I promise if I decide to take you up on the offer to stay, I will tell you everything about me, and then it will be up to you guys if I stay or not.”

Melissa and Karen shared a look before either spoke.

“I understand Brandi,” Melissa said. “I hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to open up to us soon. We’d really like to help if we can.”

“Just tell us you’re not on the FBI’s ten most wanted list,” Karen added, her smile showing she meant it as a joke.

Brandi giggled, “I can say for sure that I am not,” she said. It was true; the people that were after her were powerful, but they did not want to attract any more attention to their activities than necessary.

“Well, I have the weekend off so tomorrow how about I show you around a bit, Brandi?” Melissa suggested.

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Brandi said. “I’m sure you must have a boyfriend you’d like to spend time with on your weekend off.”

Karen laughed heartily, and even Melissa giggled. Brandi looked at them, wondering what she had missed.

“Brandi, I probably should have mentioned this sooner. I’m a lesbian.” Melissa told her. “I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

Brandi did not answer immediately; she was too surprised by her reaction to Melissa’s words. She had been attracted to the pretty brunette from the start, but now her heart was racing and she felt her skin becoming flush and warm. To make matters worse, she could feel her nipples hardening, and knew they were plainly visible through the thin knit cami.

“No … that doesn’t bother me at all, really,” she managed to say.

Melissa and Karen both noticed her reaction; it would have been hard not to.

“Brandi, do you mind if I ask …” Melissa began.

“I don’t know,” Brandi answered, and her voice trembled slightly. “I’m … it’s complicated. Let’s just say that for now sex is something I am trying very hard to stay away from.”

Brandi rose from her seat with a nervous smile before they could ask any more questions and said, “I’m really kinda tired. I think I’ll, like, take a bath and then turn in.”

Melissa and Karen said goodnight and Brandi practically ran upstairs to her bedroom. She started the water for her bath and slipped off her pajamas, and was just about to climb into the tub when she stopped. She made her way back into the bedroom and opened the drawer on the nightstand. Slowly, she reached in and pulled out a waterproof vibrator. She looked at it for several seconds like it was a snake and could bite her at any moment. She had purchased it two days earlier and had yet to work up the nerve to use it. When Melissa had told her she preferred girls, the revelation had sent Brandi into overdrive, and the idea of using the vibrator no longer seemed that foreign. Returning to the bathroom, she slipped into the steaming water and set about relieving tension on multiple levels.

“That’s one very unusual girl,” Karen said after Brandi had left. “I like her.”

“Yeah, me too,” Melissa sighed.

Karen laughed, “That’s obvious. She certainly had a strange reaction there. I mean she was obviously turned on but she looked terrified. Do you think she’s in denial about her sexuality?”

“No, I think there’s more to it than that,” Melissa said. “I don’t think it bothered her that she was attracted to another girl … I think it bothered her that she was turned on, period. It’s like she’s afraid of the very idea sex.”

“Maybe that explains her fighting,” Karen theorized. “Maybe she was raped and took self defense classes.”

“You didn’t see her in that alley, Karen,” Melissa said. “Those moves were like something from a martial arts movie. I think if she had wanted to, she could have killed those guys with out breaking a sweat.”

Melissa drained her glass of wine and then rose from her chair. She said good night to Karen and then went back into the house. As soon as she entered she could hear Brandi, and as she made her way up the stairs the sounds of her moans and cries of pleasure grew increasingly louder.

“Well, maybe she’s not that afraid of sex,” Melissa giggled as she entered her bedroom. She had a strong feeling it was going to be very interesting getting to know Brandi.

After her bath, Brandi stared at herself in the mirror for a long time. She heard Melissa and then Karen drift off to sleep, and decided she would take a walk. She had a lot to think about.

The rest of the quote from Sun Tzu came to mind, ‘If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle’.

She wondered if she would ever know either. Worse, she wondered if they were one and the same