Altered Ch. 06

"So, this is what you meant by there being hope for me."

"Well, to tell you the truth this is what I was told both consciously and unconsciously, I haven't been able to verify that it's true. I mean what does one do in my situation? Walk up to a sick person and say 'can I have sex with you? I just want to see if I can cure you...'"

She sat there and was quiet for a few minutes then said, "I don't know why, maybe it was fate but I might be the reason why you are the way you are..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am the majority shareholder of Genentech Labs. I bought many such companies and tasked them with finding a cure... for me."

"Wait, you mean Genentech Labs, did all of this because of you?"

"I - I didn't know what they would do... I don't run the company but I did threaten to..."

"Cut and run if they didn't focus on the right areas?"

"Yes! I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's ok, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I was in your position. You weren't the one that made the decision to kidnap and kill hundreds... But if you knew it would work, would you?"

"No, of course not... I am horrified that they would do this and believe me I will do what I can to stop this. Maybe... I can help you. I am responsible for what they did even if I didn't make the decision."

"I don't know if it will be that easy. You might be the majority stock holder but these guys sound ruthless, I wouldn't put it past them to try to have you killed if their work was threatened."

"You let me worry about that, no? I have dealt with their kind before and my 'lawyers' work wonders. Besides, they don't even know who I am. I the face head of a corporation. All of my directives have been through my lawyers."

"Well if you could help me get my life back, yes, that would help. The other men that died - someone needs to pay for that!"

"I will make some calls tonight and 'get the ball rolling' as you Americans say."

"If you want... I am willing to - um - you know... cure you."

"I couldn't ask you to do that!"

"Nonsense, I would love to try. What would you have to lose? The worst that would happen is that you have the best sex of your life."

"Ha, ha, you think that much of yourself."

"It's not me... They did things to me to make me... how do you say a 'sexual dynamo'? They might have messed with my pheromones or something but women seem to have heightened sexual responses to me. I have these flashbacks of my time with women in the lab and they seemed to have become obsessed with me - when I have sex with them... I tell you this because it's possible it might happen to you too. But... I had sex recently and it didn't seem that bad. I think it was because I wasn't under the influence and I was able to control myself... I just don't know, I don't remember everything. Just flashes."

She contemplated my words and then gave me her answer, "I trust you. You seem to be honest and forthright. I am a stubborn woman. I have yet to be dominated by a man... I think sex with you, like you say would at least be fun, no?" she said, winking.

"You want to try it tonight?"

"As much as I want to be cured, tonight would not be good. I have phone calls to make, most of my lawyers are in different time zones soooo... how about tomorrow night?"

"I will look forward to it."

I left soon after that and head to the shop. I was close to four in the morning by the time I got in so I sat and meditated and thought about what could go wrong. With high powered wheels in motion, betrayals were likely to occur. I saw in Anna's eyes, no deceit. I just hoped I was a good judge of character because if she betrayed me I was screwed.

I had no money left so I was glad I got another meal from Anna's. Finally, I decided not to stress out too much. Without an ID or any resources, I had no recourse but to stay where I was. So, I got up and worked on the computer once more. I restored the backup, then repaired the operating system caused by the corrupted data from the bad sector. A couple of hours later I had the computer up and running once more.

Just in time too, because no sooner had I verified that the computer could connect to the internet and all of her accountancy software was working then Caterina arrived with a small flat looking box in hand.

"Buongiorno, Mike."

"Ciao Bella, Caterina," I said, kissing her on both cheeks, "What have you got there?"

She blushed and said, "I brought you breakfast."

She pulled open the lid of the box and in it were some fette biscottate and a latte.

"I hope you like Italian breakfast," she said.

"If it's even half as good as the food last night, it will be the best food I ever had for breakfast," I said, winking.

"You are a smooth one, aren't you?" she laughed. "I was thinking of having you work on the inventory today, maybe you can organize the back room?"

"Already done," I said. "Come see," and I escorted her to the back room showing her that everything was neatly organized. "All I have left to do is get some labels printed up and you should be good to go."

"Labels? You got the computer working too?" she said, surprised.

"Oh, yes ma'am. Come take a look," I said, showing her the computer. "All I have left to do now is to get your books into your computer. But... I'm a pretty fast typer and I think I can have that done by this afternoon. You have a pretty small business and there aren't that many transactions to transcribe."

"You are working your way out of a job, Mike!" she teased. "I guess I can always keep you around as a salesman, after all, you made more money for me yesterday than I made all month."

"Well, it's good to know I still have a job! I don't know if I'll always be as lucky as I was yesterday."

"I don't know about luck, I think you have a way with women..."

"You might be right," I said, with a mischievous grin. "Guess who I made friends with last night?"

"Last night? You weren't here all last night, did you sleep?"

"I slept for a couple of hours... It seems that's all I need."

"Hmmm, I don't know anyone you would know... I give up, who?"

"Anna... Anna Romano," I said.

"Anna? My mother? That makes no sense, how would you meet my mother last night?"

"Well, it must have been fate, because I went out for a drink last night and I happen to run into her... laying in a ditch."

"What? Really? Is she OK?" she asked worried.

"She's fine, at least when I left her last night she was fine. Part of her wheelchair ran into an open ditch and tipped over. She got some bumps and bruises is all. She isn't very well liked around here, is she?"

"You've seen how she acts around people..."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"She has had that sickness longer than I can remember. It's one of the reasons she married my father. He used to help her. He was quite the handyman and he helped build her ramps and other things... she was sooo in love with him. It was after he died that she started acting that way."

"If you want to take some time off today, I'll be here working on getting your books up to date and since it hasn't been too busy AND you are all caught up with your work... When is that last time you took some time off?"

"I don't know... I HAVE to work every day just to keep this place from going under."

"So, go take some time off... maybe you can come back here in the afternoon to give me a lunch break?" I convinced her.

"OK, you are right. It's been a while since I have taken any time off... I just don't know what I'll do with myself."

"You go figure that out, now shoo," I said, waving her off, until she left the shop a little fluster, but smiling.

I busied myself with the task of transferring her ledger into her accounting software. A few tourists came in the store and I smoozed them into buying a few baubles and even got one lady to purchase a beautiful dress. Not a bad morning I thought, comparing my few sales to the sales she had been recording on her ledger.

By eleven A.M. I got a visit from Brooke. She looked worried.

"Hey, Brooke, how are you?" I asked.

She brightened slightly by the fact that I remembered her name but she quickly darkened once more.

"Hi, Mike. I'm sorry to bother you, but both Victoria and Theresa are sick. No one can figure out what's wrong with them. I was wondering if you might know anything about it."

"No, I can't think of anything. Are they ok? They aren't dying are they." I lied, knowing they'd be alright.

"That's the thing, we don't know what's wrong. If it was just Victoria we probably wouldn't have thought anything of it, but Theresa seems to have come down with something too. What did you guys do last night?" she interrogated.

"After the club, we got a few drinks at a bar, then we went back to Victoria's room and -- well... we had a LOT of sex..." I said, and she blushed. "Maybe they are both 'recovering' and have hang-overs, it's not unusual for hang-overs to cause fevers. If you want, I can stop by during my lunch hour and check up on them."

"That would be great! Would it be ok if I waited here with you?"

"Only if you promise to look at the merchandise... The lady who owns this place could use the business. Otherwise, there is a cafe across the road you can hang out in until I get off."

Brooke decided to look around and asked me my opinion on a few outfits. And I told her what she wanted to hear. That the blue outfit brought out her eyes. The tan outfit really hugged her form and accentuated her curves. No matter the outfit, I always stuck to the positive effect that it had on her. The truth was that she was beautiful and she made everything look good. There was a time when I would have just told her that, but now I knew that's not what she wanted to hear. Somehow, I was in touch with my inner metro.

Brooke, ended up buying three outfits and was paying for them when Caterina arrived.

"Hey, Mike," she spoke in Italian. "I brought you a lunch, I thought you might be hungry."

"Thank you, Catalina, is it ok if I eat it later? I have to run an errand, I'll be back in an hour."

"Sure, sure... Did you make any sales?" she asked.

It was obvious that I had, I was finishing ringing up a customer right in front of her. I think she was stalling for some reason or maybe she wanted a summary of all the sales.

"Well, this young lady just bought three outfits, I sold a dress earlier and a few nick knacks... Umm it's all logged in your computer... By the way, I logged all of your transactions, so you should be caught up. I'll see you in an hour..."

"OK, see you then."

As I walked out the door with Brooke following me, I saw a glint of jealousy from Caterina through my peripherals. I didn't know what to make of it, but I didn't have time to sit down and talk to her right then.

Brooke escorted me to Victoria's room where Victoria and Theresa were both still laid up. Johanna was keeping vigil.

"Hey girls! How are you feeling?" I asked.

Victoria's eyes popped open suddenly, and she seemed to get really excited.

"Mikey! Where have you been, Baby?" she asked.

Baby? Really? I was confused.

"How are you feeling Victoria? Brooke says you've been sick."

"Yeah, I was feeling really bad a couple of hours ago but I feel GREAT right now, especially now that you're here."

She got out of bed naked, and rushed over to me, wrapping me in a hug. I wouldn't have minded except, it seemed really awkward for Brooke and Johanna.

"Hey, 'Baby', maybe you should put something on?"

"Oh, they've seen me naked before. We are all sisters after all. We do EVERYTHING together."

I looked over at Brooke and she nodded her head to confirm.

"Even still, I don't have a lot of time. I'm on my lunch hour and I have to get back soon... but maybe later, if you are feeling up for it, we can go out and have some fun?"

"I'd love to!" she said, and she pulled my head down and we kissed passionately.

"If you guys all do things together then I'm down for a little sharing..." I said waggling my brows, thinking I was joking.

"We'll see, I think Brooke definitely wants to join in..." she said seriously.

"Oh, OK, I was just joking, I would never presume..." I started and Brooke looked a little disappointed. "But I'm not opposed to it either. I can handle whatever you throw at me."

"I know you can, BIG boy," she said, rubbing my crotch playfully.

"Umm, I just have to get some better condoms this time..."

"What?" Brooke asked and Victoria giggled, holding her hands in parallel about a foot apart. "Really? Wow. I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"If Theresa can handle it, girl, you sure as hell can. He knows how to work it."

"Speaking of Theresa," I said looking over at the still sleeping Theresa. "How is she doing?"

"We don't know," Johanna said, surprising me because she was so quiet the whole time. "She was feverish this morning but her fever broke a few hours ago."

"Let's get her some ice water, she might be dehydrated," I suggested.

I went out into the hallway with an ice bucket and got some ice out of a machine down the hallway. When I came back the girls looked like they were having a serious conversation.

I put some ice in a cup and filled it with water from a water bottle then brought it to Theresa.

"Mike, if you had something to do with us getting sick you would tell us, wouldn't you?" Victoria asked.

"Shhhh!" Johanna exclaimed.

"No, it's ok Johanna... Yes, I would. And Yes, I did," I said.

"What?" the girls exclaimed shocked and horrified.

"Let me explain, please. It's not what you think..." I said calmly trying to assure them.

"OK, fine. This better be good," Johanna exclaimed.

"I wasn't planning on having sex with you without a condom on... I just want to get that out of the way right now."

They looked even more worried.

"No, you didn't get an infectious disease. You caught a kind of virus, a man-made virus that actually 'cures' diseases... even genetic disorders. That fever you were experiencing was your body adjusting to the new antibodies in your system. If you had anything wrong with you, at all, you probably are completely fine now."

"What? Bullshit!" Johanna yelled.

"I know what it sounds like. You ladies are all college educated, so do you think I would bullshit you?"

"I don't know you well enough, you could just be a really good liar," she responded.

"Fair enough, but are you at least willing to look at the evidence?"

"Umm... Fine, what evidence?" she asked skeptically.

"Wake her up," I said, handing the glass over to Johanna.

She shook Theresa awake. Theresa looked at Johanna and smiled, took the glass of water and gulped it down.

"Good morning!" Theresa said, after catching her breath.

"How do you feel?" Johanna asked?

"Great!" she said, "Actually, I don't ever remember feeling this good before in my life," she said happily. "Wow! I can see you so clearly! That's amazing, I took my contacts out last night, I shouldn't be able to see this well."

"That doesn't mean anything, people have clear eye days all the time!" Johanna said looking over at me.

"I wasn't talking about that, but that is interesting I didn't think it would affect eyesight."

"What are you guys talking about?" Theresa asked annoyed.

"Theresa - Johanna believes I might have drugged you last night or did something duplicitous. I want to show her the truth. First if you wouldn't mind..." I looked around for something to use and I saw a foot filer for scraping away calluses. "Perfect!" I said grabbing it and bringing it to Theresa. "Take this and use it on your scales... Trust me." I said pointing out an area on her arm that the night before was affected by eczema. "Atopic dermatitis is a condition that is long lasting and chronic and doesn't just disappear overnight, but look at how her skin is peeling..." I said pointing at the patch of skin in question.

There were other parts on her face and neck just as bad but I thought it would be rude to point at them.

"Scrape away the peeling skin," I said.

She did and underneath her skin was perfect, without blemish.

"If you go down to the spa and have them do a skin scraping, the remnants of your now 'cured' eczema will be gone."

Theresa was speechless, but excited and she started crying.

"How?"

"I'll let them explain that to you later if they believe me," I said.

"OK, say we believe you, why wouldn't you give us a choice about 'curing' us," Victoria asked.

"I did try, it's my ejaculate that has the antibodies..."

Victoria thought about it and said, "You did ask if we could get some proper condoms last night... and you did put one on last night..."

"I didn't know the condom would break or I wouldn't have even tried anything. Johanna was right about one thing though..."

"What was that?" Johanna asked.

"Well, here's the thing, my ejaculate is almost certain to get you pregnant... I told you that last night, although I could tell you didn't believe me, that's why I insisted we get condoms more than anything else."

"But, we are on the pill," Theresa exclaimed.

"Yes, I know but the assholes that made me this way didn't realize that a side effect of curing everything was that it would defeat all drugs in your system, including the pill."

"No! I can't get pregnant, my parents will be devastated, I have two more years of college yet!" Theresa cried.

"Don't worry, there might be a way around it..." I said, reassuringly. "You'll have to go down to the pharmacy and get an IUD in you right away it's the only contraceptive that works against... me! As long as you weren't ovulating last night you should be safe from pregnancy."

Theresa looked a little relieved, "Thank God!"

"You need to get it done today and leave it in for a month. My sperm are unusual in that they can survive that long."

"Is that it?" Johanna asked.

"Maybe not..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it might also tweak you a little bit, from what I understand it will alter your genes to make you look more 'ideal'. Some asshole added that to the project, but I don't know what it does. As far as I know it will make your breasts bigger and your ass rounder if they aren't already. If you are overweight it will make you thinner, that kind of thing. It looks to see if you have certain traits and adjusts them genetically... I have ever seen it work nor do I know specifically how it will change you."

"Wow," Brooke said, flabbergasted.

"I don't know if it helps at all but I'm sorry. I never meant to do this to you. If it's any consolation none of the changes are considered harmful."

"How did this happen in the first place?" Johanna asked.

"I was kidnapped along with hundreds of others and illegally experimented on for years... I was the only survivor. I just escaped yesterday..."

"What are you doing about it?"

"I found someone that could expose this company, Genentech Labs, for what they did. If she isn't full of shit ..." I said, sadly. "They stole my life, my id, my history and altered my DNA and fingerprints. I have no country that will claim me."

"I better get going. I hope you girls forgive me... I am sorry... I didn't intend to do anything bad to you."

"Forgive you? For what? If what you said is true you might have cured me!" Victoria said.

"What?"

"I was wondering why I felt so good this morning..." she began. "You see, I have Lupus. And have been fighting it for years. Lupus is an autoimmune disease and most people the get Lupus end up getting cancer. Unfortunately, I was one of them. I took chemo for a while and it helped at first, but then it didn't... So I stopped chemo a couple of months ago. I was tired of being sick all of the time and it wasn't helping. It's one of the reasons I booked us all on this trip... It was going to be my last hurrah... I wasn't worried about you getting me pregnant, the chemo made me infertile," she sobbed.