Survivors

A little while later they were all sat in silence in the main living room waiting for Bretnel to arrive. When he came in he was carrying his customary tea tray and presented each of them with a steaming mug of hot sweet tea.

“It will help with the shock” he told them. “Right let me explain what it is you’ve just seen. You will no doubt remember that I am by all known measures absolutely brilliant, if that’s not too small a word for my genius”

“And modest too” sniggered Joe.

“Quite, quite” said Bretnel “I am, or that is I was, before the Aliens arrived, working for the government on a genetic enhancement project when I was taken ill. Since being defrosted, and having nothing else to do I began my research again using myself as a human guinea pig. Being alone and not having many of the normal red tape to work through when dealing with this kind of research I have made some astounding discoveries.

My old programme director would never have allowed the experiments I have completed. I of course recognise that there was an element of risk in what I was doing, but before each test I calculated all the possible permutations, mitigated for the most hazardous probabilities and created failsafe protocols to make my survival statistically likely”.

“You took a punt!” Said Joe

“That would be one way of looking at it certainly, a vulgar and inaccurate way but there is some truth in what you say. Now to continue, my research is at the atomic level. Atoms are the building blocks that create everything that we see around us. They are infinitesimally small, in fact” he said, reaching over and plucking a hair from Joe’s head.

“There are millions of atoms across the width of just this one hair. However even within these atoms you will find a number of different structures and materials. For example you will find electrons whizzing around inside the atom in what we call the quantum vacuum and inside that you will find the atomic nucleus. If you imagine the inside of the atom as the longest hole of the longest golf course, the electrons would be like the golf balls that have been hit by particularly inept golfers and the nucleus would be like the hole they were aiming at”.

“What’s golf” whispered Holly to Joe, who just shrugged.

“Now inside the nucleus are things called protons and neutrons that work in pairs to create what we call virtual particles, they come together and then split apart over and over again ceaselessly. All this activity takes a vast amount of energy. When I say vast I do of course mean vast at the atomic level. But what I’ve learned to do is to harness that energy to enable me to change cells at the atomic level. By controlling each atom I can effectively re-sequence DNA to any creature I have a blueprint for. And as we share vast amounts of DNA with every other living thing on the planet this is not as complicated as you might think. So now I can change my cells into practically any organic substance, shape or size you can think of.

Of course I’ve had to massively boost the speed of my brain synapse transfers to control these changes and instruct the cells in what they need to be. A bit like putting a massively upgraded graphics card into a computer” Bretnel stopped and looked at each of them in turn. “Does that make any sense?”

“None at all” said Joe “You lost me at the hair bit”

“I’d still like to know what golf is” said Holly

Bretnel sighed “And master Luke?”

“I think I understand, obviously I don’t know what it all means but I think I understand what it is you’ve done”

“Excellent”

“So what were you doing to us?” demanded Luke “All those injections” he went on getting more angry, “What were we then? Just something for you to carry out your tests on? Just more experiments”

Bretnel looked ashamed and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“That is the next part of my story” he said “If you would like me to continue?”

“Like you to!” Shouted Luke “Of course we’d bloody like you to”

“Very well” said Bretnel “The unfortunate side effect of speeding up my brain is that it’s deterioration has also been accelerated. I have experienced an inability to maintain focus, loss of certain emotions etcetera. The most obvious manifestation of the side effects being the extension and increased frequency of the blackouts. When I consider my actions in making you part of the... programme without your knowledge I agree that it would appear reprehensible. But I can only do that on a logical level. I still have no emotional connection to my lack of judgement. This psychopathic response to the needs of others that leads me to conclude that my ability to emotionally connect and effectively empathise with others has been greatly reduced”

“You mean you didn’t give a toss what happened to us” snapped Luke.

“No!” Said Bretnel firmly “I knew you were in no danger, as I’ve already explained, I would never have hurt you or put you at risk in any way” at this point he paused and gazed long and hard into Luke’s eyes. “I just didn’t think you would have any objections to being involved”

“And yet you did it secretly, you never told us, you never gave us a choice” said Holly.

“No I didn’t” said Bretnel

“Why didn’t you! If you didn’t think you were doing anything wrong”

“It’s a form of scientific rigour” said Bretnel “You were my blind study, you were to all get a different mixture of the drugs and then I would observe and record the diversity of the outcomes”.

“So that’s why you did what you did. Now tell us what you did!”

Bretnel sighed and ran his hand through his tangled hair. “Each night I gave you a cocktail of drugs mixed into the coco. First there was a mild sedative that would ensure you slept soundly while I administered the injections. Also mixed into the coco was the drug I have created that will speed up your brain’s synapse capacity”

“Does that mean I’m going to get smarter?” Said Joe

“No my dear Joe, I am a scientist, not a miracle worker!” replied Bretnel. Holly and Luke sniggered in spite of themselves. “All it will do is allow your brain to cope with controlling and directing the cellular changes that happen in your bodies when you transform.

You have to remember that all life on this planet evolved from the same source. What that source is nobody really knows, some talk about chemical reactions in the primeval soup and some talk about space dust that seeded life on the planet, and some talk about a god creator, in truth to me it doesn’t really matter. What is important is that every cell has a memory of that first form of life and therefore every cell has the potential to evolve into any cell there’s ever been since, because that’s what they’ve already done! It just needs to be told how. DNA is nothing more than the plans that tell each and every cell what it supposed to be.”

“Go back to the drugs” said Luke.

“Ahh yes, the drugs” said Bretnel “As I said the ones in the coco are brain stimulants mixed in with a mélange of enzymes, hormones, lymphatic messengers and nano level stimulants that will help you make use of the proton and neutron energy in every one of your cells. The injections I gave you later were simply the DNA codes of various animals, birds and insects so you have the structural plans available to your brain”

“I still don’t get it” said Joe “How can I think myself into being a bird or a slug or anything other than what I am. I don’t know how to read these DNA plans”

“You don’t need to know, the cells know!” Said Bretnel excitedly “You don’t think about breathing, your heart beating, and you don’t think about growing. Nails, hair, teeth, skin it all grows and changes with no help from us. All I’ve done is to put one active step into the process, one moment of choice. To actively direct those cells and exponentially speed up the growth process”

“If all that’s true” sneered Luke “How come we haven’t turned into anything before now, how come I didn’t transform into something at the camp when the Aliens turned up?”

“Two reasons” said Bretnel somewhat smugly, as if pleased at his own cleverness. “First I put a enzyme blocker into your drug cocktail to stop the cells transforming until you were completely ready and knew what was happening”.

“And second”

“The thoughts you need to use to spark and direct the transformation are subtle and specific. If they weren’t like that I’d be turning into all sorts of things all the time. If I saw a fly on the wall, and just because I’d seen it and thought about it, I turned into one, that would be most trying and not a little embarrassing” Bretnel chuckled at the thought of this. “No I maintain my human form as a default state and only change when I actively and expressly choose to do so”.

“Let me get this straight” said Luke, who had been deep in thought. “This blocker, this thing that stops us changing, that lasts forever, yeah?”

“Absolutely” said Bretnel

“So I don’t need to become a freak, I don’t need to be a monster like you I can stay just the way I am if I want to, we all can”

“If that’s what you want to do” said Bretnel a little shocked “But why would you not want to experience the joy I have felt through these transformations. I can help you be so much more than you are now. All you need is a few more days of ...treatment, and you’ll be ready to start learning how to control the changes. I don’t understand why would you want to deny yourself this gift?”

“Some gift, to become a freak, a monster” snarled Luke “I don’t know if you even really count as human anymore!”

Bretnel looked at Luke and then said quietly “I think you all have a lot to talk about and then make an educated and informed decision about your choices”

“And do our choices include being allowed to leave and never have to see your ugly face ever again?” demanded Luke.

“Luke!” Said Holly

“No, it’s all right” said Bretnel raising his hand. “I fully understand the mistrust and misgivings my inexcusable behaviour may have engendered” he paused “So I will now take my leave” and with that he got up and left them.

“Well” said Joe after quite a pause “Looks like we’ve got some talking to do”.