This choice: Follow Claire to the toilets and absorb her • Go Back...Chapter #4A Conspiracy Remembered by: imaj   You eye the door that leads downstairs to the women's restroom for a moment unsure of what to do. You're curious to know what the conversation is between your girlfriend and the lieutenant is but at the same time you're still not quite sure on whether you could absorb Claire or not. Would you be able to? If so would you have to give up Summer? If you had to that might give Claire time to act before you can do anything. Even grabbing her might not be the best idea because as a soldier she's undoubtedly been trained in CQC and she might react in a manner that would put you in danger. Likewise say you try and grab her and it doesn't work? The last thing you need is a military officer pissed off and put on guard after being molested by a petite Vietnamese girl. That'd be real bad for the whole "laying low" thing.
You need an ‘innocent’ way to absorb her. Something that will not arouse her suspicions if it fails. As luck would have it, one pops into your head as you are making your way down the stairs to the restrooms.
As you enter the women’s restroom, Claire is standing by the sinks, examining herself in the mirror. Apparently preening is just as important for women in the military as it is for women elsewhere. You put your masterplan into action and fall to the floor.
“Ow” you say, as you trip over your feet and fall heavily on the tiled floor. And then again, just for the extra effect. “Ow.”
Ok, it doesn’t seem like the best plan in the world but you are sure it will work. It would take a heart of stone not to feel sorry for someone like Summer if they crashed to the floor in front of them, you’re pretty sure Claire will want to help. As you struggle to your knees, you see a uniformed arm reach down to help you back up. You grab it with a free hand and Claire hauls you back up to your feet.
“Thanks,” you say, starting to think about how much you want to take Claire’s shape and memories.
“You’re welcome,” she replies, trying to pull her hand back again. Your own hand goes with it.
Claire looks at her hand and yours in astonishment. You do the same. They look as if they have melded together and have an unhealthy bluish sheen to them.
Claire grabs you with her free hand, twisting your arm round, up and back as she forces you painfully to the floor face first. It’s a perfectly executed move that ends up with her pinning you to the floor by straddling your back.
“What the…” gasps Claire as she realises her mistake.
All that she has done is made contact with more of your body. You can’s see what’s happening (in fact all you can see is a close up of the floor tiles), but you know that everywhere she is touching you, flesh is melting together.
You feel it as her muscle control slackens and you are able to drag yourself to your knees. You catch a brief glimpse of what remains of Claire out of the corner of your eye and then she is gone, pulled inside your back with a glooping sound.
You pull yourself to your feet using the sinks as leverage. For a moment Summer’s face stares back at you from the mirror. Then your skin seems to crawl and stretch, you clothes fold on themselves and you are someone else.
You are Lieutenant Claire Briggs, United States Army and you are here on business. Colonel Lord, the commanding officer at Fort Suffolk has asked you, Claire, to contact your, her, friend Doctor Jillian Harding and ask for her help at Protean Industries. Sifting through your new memories, you now know that the Colonel suspects that Protean Industries intends to carry illicit research based on the SX series chemicals. The colonel, being a wily old fox, wants to secretly tap Jillian for information whilst having another officer, Captain Eric Sanchez, head up an ‘official’ investigation.
You dip into Claire’s memories, replaying parts of the conversation she had with Jillian moments before.
“How is the research going,” Claire had said.
“Great,” Jillian had replied. Claire had thought that Jillian had sounded nervous.
“SX-3?”
“I don’t think I can say.”
“Protean can’t research it without our permission,” Claire had explained. “Lord told me that’s what you’re working on.”
“Uh, yes,” Jillian had said, even more nervously. “Should we be talking about it here I mean.”
“We’ll be quiet,” Claire had continued, leaning in closer. “Look, what I’m about to say isn’t exactly official. We get reports from Protean about your work, but Lord doesn’t exactly trust Rosenstein.”
You snap out of your recollection for a second. Well, nobody trusts Levi Rosenstein, the director of research at Protean Industries. Sure, he sounds so smooth and confident, but every time you’ve ever talked to him, you’ve left with the feeling he would quite happily stab you in the back if it suited his purposes. You think back to the remainder of the conversation.
“Put it this way, do you remember the last project you worked on for us,” Claire had asked.
“I could hardly forget,” Jillian had responded.
“Lord thinks Rosenstein has filled in the gaps in the report we gave him. I told the Colonel you would have had nothing to do with that and he agreed, but Rosenstein has contacts elsewhere.” Claire had explained. She’d expected an angry response from Jillian but had been surprised when one hadn’t come. “Rosenstein knows about David Johnson and wants to repeat that ‘experiment’ in more controlled circumstances.”
At this point Jillian had spilled some of her coffee. Claire had assumed that Jillian was just shocked by the suggestion
“That’s monstrous,” Jillian had exclaimed. “Completely unethical. I would have nothing to do with anything like that.”
“I know,” Claire had said soothingly. “But Rosenstein, Lord knows Rosenstein from before somehow and he’s sure Rosenstein would. I know it’s a lot to ask but we need your help. We need someone to keep an eye on things for us.”
“Can’t you investigate yourself,” Jillian had interrupted.
“We can. We are. Eric is heading up the official investigation, but Rosenstein will have him chasing his own shadow. That’s why Lord wants someone on the inside to help.”
Claire had leaned back at that point. Both she and Jillian had sat quietly for a minute, giving Jillian time for the enormity of what she had been asked to do to sink in.
“Can you do it,” Claire had asked. “Can you help us?”
“I… I need time to think,” Jillian had stammered.
“Take your time,” Claire had replied, standing up. “But don’t take too long. Rosenstein is sure to start his experiments soon.”
And that was when Claire had gone to the rest rooms. What you’ve just learned has shaken you deeply. You want nothing more than to eject Claire out your body and pretend the whole thing never happened. You could hide out as Summer while the army investigates Protean Industries.
But sooner or later, the army is going to work out that you were exposed to SX-3. If you stayed as Claire, you could manipulate and redirect the investigation, ensuring that you or Jillian never come to any harm. It would be hellishly risky, however. You could even try to let the real Summer go free, she is an innocent in all this after all.
What if you could be both? Experimenting, you concentrate hard on Summer’s image and watch as your skin warps again. Within moments, the young student’s cheerful visage is staring back at you from the mirror. Another moment of concentration and you are Claire again. You could live a double life, at least for a while until you decide what you really want to do.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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