textfiles/sex/EROTICA/B/bluebox6.txt

Archive-name: Changes/bluebox6.txt
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Archive-title: Bluebox, The - 6


                                Chapter 31
     Cheryl walked  over to  Kevin and  patted him  on  the  shoulder.
Jeffrey had  changed her  again, this  time  in  ways  not  quite  yet
visible.   "Kevin, it's  not THAT  bad...  Really.  Half the people in
the world are female, right?"
     Kevin's face  was still  red.   He was  crying  a  bit.    "No...
<snif>... It's  not possible.  I'm dreaming.   I CAN'T BE THIS WAY FOR
THE REST OF MY LIFE!"
     Jeffrey fired  off a  mental communication to Cheryl.  "He has to
stay convinced that this is real.  Otherwise we'll lose him."
     Cheryl put  her hand  on Kevin's  forehead.   "You're burning up.
It's the  virus.  It always does this.   We have to get some water and
food into  you.  Many of your cells are being replaced with new ones--
that's why you're so hot."
     "I am really hungry.  I've got lunch in my drawer.  But I have to
use the bathroom first."
     Cheryl whispered  loudly enough to Jeffrey that Kevin could hear.
"She's got to get rid of all the stuff her body doesn't need any more.
She'll be alright afterwards."
     Cheryl took a towel that she had brought with her, and wrapped it
around Kevin's  shivering body.   They  helped him  through the  quiet
hallways to  the ladies'  room.   He cried  out again when he realized
where he  was.   Sue took  him inside and waited for him while Cheryl,
outside, was  supposedly at the cafeteria getting something for him to
eat.   She was,  in fact,  just waiting  outside the door, holding the
lunch that Jeffrey had materialized.
     They all  returned to Kevin's office a few minutes later, and fed
Kevin the  mean that  Cheryl had  "bought".  He'd be very hungry for a
while and  would eat  his own lunch later.  Kevin, though still upset,
felt better.   "I still can't believe it.  You've ruined my life.  How
am I going to live like this?   I can't face my friends."
     It was  time for  the final act to start.  Cheryl spoke.  "Kevin,
you're not  alone here.  You'll make lots of new friends.  You're very
pretty.  Isn't she, Susan?"
     Jeffrey nodded.
     "I mean,  just look  at the  way you've  developed.   You'll have
everyone here  after you.   Except  the women,  but that was the idea,
right?"
     Kevin nodded silently.
     "Look at  all you get to do now.  You can have children.  You get
to see  life from  both sides,  where the rest of us won't.  Not until
the virus goes into full production, and even then it only works once.
Besides, there's  one very  good benefit...  The REAL  reason you're a
woman now..."
     Kevin was almost cheerful.  "Why?"
     Cheryl, all  of a  sudden, had  a masculine  voice.  "Because you
wanted to make love with me, and now you can.  I can't believe you, of
all people, didn't know."
     "You're a... man?  But how?"
     "I can't  believe I had you fooled all this time.  I was a victim
of the test of a reversible virus a long time ago, and it didn't work.
Only changed  me enough  to sound  female and look it from a distance.
They're supposed  to change  me back eventually, though.  For now they
gave me a new identity and lots of money."
     "And... you're STILL working here?"
     "Of course.   Lets  me monitor  the progress and help out with my
own cure."   She  unzipped her  pants, and  pulled her  penis from it.
"See?"
     Kevin's towel fell away.  "You ARE male..."
     Cheryl advanced  towards him.   "Good  thing, huh?   Come  on..."
...her penis  grew hard,  and she  started to  undress.   Kevin backed
away.
     Cheryl had  breasts, but they were extremely underdeveloped.  Her
clothing was  padded to  make her  look female.   She disrobed.  Kevin
shook his  head.   Seconds later she was on top of him.  Kevin was too
weak now,  Cheryl overpowered  him, rolling him on his front, climbing
on his  back, and  recklessly plunging  her penis  into him.   It  was
difficult at  first.   Kevin wasn't  ready.  He hadn't asked for this.
He struggled for a minute.  Cheryl clasped Kevin's breasts, and worked
her penis inside from behind him.  Her other hand went to the front of
Kevin's pussy, and her touch excited him.  Jeffrey sat on the desk and
watched with interest.  Cheryl slid her cock into his cunt easily now.
Kevin couldn't  say a word.  It was over quickly, Cheryl squirting her
come inside, and pulling herself from him before he could learn what a
female orgasm  felt like.   She got off of him, and got dressed before
he could  recover, stuffing  her penis back into her pants and tucking
it in  so it wouldn't show.  She and Jeffrey helped Kevin to his feet,
and into his chair.
     "Sorry to  be in a hurry," Cheryl said, "but we haven't eaten yet
and there's  only a  few minutes  left to lunch."  Kevin looked at the
clock.   "Sue here  brought some  clothes for you, and I even think we
got the right size."
     Jeffrey took,  from Cheryl's bag, some clothes.  "Now here's your
panties, and I think this bra should be about right..."  He handed the
bra to  Cheryl, who  started putting  in on Jeffrey.  Kevin grabbed it
and angrily threw it down.  "I can't wear girl's clothes."
     "Now now,  Kevin, it's  only appropriate.   You're  a girl."  She
took the  clothes and  put them  in the drawer.  "You'll have to start
learning a  lot of  new things.   Clothes  are one of them.  You can't
just sit  here naked.   Put the stuff on when you're ready, it's right
here in your drawer."
     Kevin didn't  look up.   Cheryl  and Jeffrey headed for the door.
Jeffrey looked at the clock once more on the way out.
     The door  clicked shut.   Jeffrey  and Cheryl  ran  back  to  the
maintenance room,  changing to  their original forms on the way.  They
sat down  where they  were before,  leaning against  each other.   The
Device, red,  reappeared in  Jeffrey's lap.   He  looked at the timer.
"Almost perfect.   There's about ten minutes left before everyone gets
back, like  the clock  said.  Here goes."  He pressed the STOP button,
and suddenly  they were sitting a slightly different way, eyes closed.
They opened  their eyes.   The  box was blue.  They hurried out of the
closet.   The halls  were still empty, thank goodness.  They went back
to Jeffrey's lab.

                                Chapter 32
     Kevin opened  his eyes.   He  sat in  his chair  for all  of five
minutes pondering  his fate;  worrying about  whether or  not  he  was
really pregnant,  how he  would learn  all the things he now needed to
know, and  so on.   It  wasn't until  he looked at his feet, trying to
decide what  kind of shoes he would have to buy, that he realized that
his own  shoes were still on his feet.  In fact, he was still dressed.
He checked  himself-- no breasts, and the cock that he was so proud of
was still  there.  What a realistic dream!  He was overjoyed that none
of the events he had just imagined had happened.
     Meanwhile, Cheryl  was hugging Jeffrey.   "We did it!", they both
told each other.
     Kevin's bubble  had just  burst.   He was  hungry, and opened his
drawer to  get lunch.   Sitting there, in the drawer, were the bra and
panties that  Sue had  given him.   They  were EXACTLY the same as the
ones they  were about  to outfit  him with just minutes ago.  He never
had put anything into that drawer except lunch.  He sank back into his
chair, having lost his appetite.
     The Boss  walked into  the Lab.   An imposing man in his 40's, he
was  officially  called  the  inter-department  coordinator,  but  was
responsible for  most everything,  and thus  everyone called  him  The
Boss.   He   was friendly,  but very  firm about people doing the work
they were  being paid  for.    Cheryl  started  slinking  towards  the
doorway, then  realized that  the Boss  had  brought  two  sandwiches.
"Missed you  at lunch,  Jeffrey.   I  figured  you  had  to  be  doing
something important."  He handed one sandwich to Jeffrey and the other
to Cheryl.  Jeffrey looked at his sandwich, and set it down.  The boss
had forgotten  that he didn't like ham sandwiches.  Well, he MIGHT eat
it if  he was hungry, but later.  Cheryl bit into hers.  "Thanks," she
mumbled with a mouthful.
     The Boss  hadn't left, so Jeffrey decided it was time to show him
some of  the latest  developments he'd been working on.  He had almost
finished a  sort of  recording machine that could record everything in
an enclosed  area at  once.  There was a camera under development in a
different department.  Together, you could record a place for a while,
and then,  at any  time in the future, you could use another system to
play back  any view at any angle.  By manipulating controls, you could
move a  "virtual camera"  to any  point in the area.  It would produce
perfect 3-D  images.   Of course,  Jeffrey's dream at that time was to
hook the recorder up to the Device-- HIS device.  IDT's version didn't
have the  interface for the recorder, but his did.  That's why he made
sure he  was involved with the recorder project, so he could build his
own.
     Jeffrey showed the boss an optical cartridge.  "It DOES have some
recordings on  it now," he claimed, "but we can't play them back quite
yet.   That's why  we don't  know if  the bugs  in the original camera
affected it or not."
     Suddenly, the  doors to  the lab  burst open.   It was Kevin, who
stormed in.   He was mad.  "You're out of here, Landers.  You and your
girlfriend  here  set  me  up  with  the  Device.    That's  the  only
explanation."
     Cheryl, to  Jeffrey's surprise,  was the  one to  answer.    "But
Kevin, YOU said I HAD to have sex with you."
     "Yes, but  with you as a girl..."  It was the wrong thing to say.
The Boss'  eyebrows were  raised.   Cheryl baited the trap, and in his
anger, Keven  fell right  into it.   The  Boss  had  heard  occasional
allegations of  Kevin's wrongdoing, but even with the influence he had
with the  CEO, refrained  from testing that relationship over hearsay.
The Boss now sounded much less friendly.
     "Is this true, Kevin?"
     Kevin remained silent.
     "Kevin, if  you've anything  to say  about this, I'd say it right
now.  I wouldn't want any unfriendly legal actions going on."
     Kevin still  didn't say  anything.  The Boss excused himself from
Jeffrey and  Cheryl, and  took Kevin out of the Lab.  Kevin would quit
the next day.  Jeffrey walked to Cheryl and shook her hand vigorously.
"Fantastic.  You knew he was still frazzled."
     "Thank you.  Wouldn't you have been frazzled if you were him?"
     "No," Jeffrey  replied, "not  any more.    I'd  be  savoring  the
experience."
     "But he thought it was for REAL."
     "As you said before, Cheryl... What's the difference?"

                                 Chapter 33
     It had  been three  weeks now,  that they had been together.  The
only magic that had faded was Jeffrey's lovesick feeling.  That queasy
feeling, he  had decided,  was beneficial ONLY in that it heralded the
love that  followed, much  like one's first dive into a swimming pool.
He was  comfortable with  Cheryl; she  was comfortable with him.  Each
cared more  about the  other than  anything else.   They were quite an
item at  work, and  a lot  of people were surprised when, after only a
week, Cheryl had invited him to move in, which he did after a few days
of discussion.   Jeffrey's  parents didn't  like the  idea  at  first.
Cheryl's parents  were happy  that she  had found a mate.  Deirdre had
given them  their privacy,  for the  most part, but they had seen that
she never  felt left  out.   Anyway, it  looked like  she was  getting
serious about a friend of hers that she'd known for a while.
     They hadn't  used the  Device that much.  Cheryl and Jeffrey were
too busy  getting to know each other, and fooling around in real life.
They had let Deirdre run it once with her boyfriend-- she seemed to be
proficient with  it-- after all, her boyfriend enjoyed the experience.
She hadn't  even rushed  sex on  him-- he  seemed to  appreciate that.
He'd get enough once Deirdre was familiar with him.
     The one  thing that  Cheryl and  Jeffrey had done with the Device
was prompted  by Cheryl's  experience as  a golden  retriever.  On the
weekends, Jeffrey would take a few hours with his computer and program
the Device  with the characteristics of a number of animals; then over
a few nights they'd spend ten or fifteen minutes as a pair of animals,
in the  environment that  was most fitting, experiencing sex each way.
The least  exciting were  birds and  fishes.   Although birds mated in
mid-air, the  transfer of sperm happened without much contact.  They'd
press belly  against belly,  and Jeffrey  would squirt  semen from  an
opening near  his tail  into the same opening on Cheryl.  That was it.
Fishes had  no contact at all, though Cheryl found it intriguing to be
able to  lay hundreds of eggs in one spot in a few minutes.  She could
feel each  egg leave  her body through the opening that neurologically
corresponded to  her vagina.   Jeffrey would then swim up to the eggs,
and seconds  later would  disappear in  a white  cloud of  semen.   He
didn't think it was exciting to him at all.
     Insects weren't  terrific either.  They had looked forward to the
praying mantis,  which copulates  for half  a day  at a  time.  Cheryl
promised not  to devour  Jeffrey afterwards.   But, once they got into
position and  started the  sperm transfer, it became boring after only
one or two hours.  They didn't try most of the others.
     The  reptiles   and  amphibians   were  better,   but  it  wasn't
comfortable.  The sex was alright, but everything not directly related
to intercourse  wasn't as  much fun.   There  were no  soft curves, no
quiet giggles, and no moans.
     The mammals  had it  the best,  they decided.   Dogs  (which they
tried first,  golden-retriever style)  were fun;  because they  locked
together in  real life,  just like  Cheryl had  locked Jeffrey's penis
inside the  first time  they made  love using  the Device.   His penis
would grow,  and her vagina would shrink, and they couldn't pull apart
until Cheryl came.
     The best part of the experience was that neither could talk until
it was  all over.   They  compared all  the things they had done.  The
best, of  course, was  as humans.   THEY  could stimulate  desire with
their voices and the images those voices could create.  Over the three
weeks, they  had made  love in real life many more times than they had
with the  Device, animals  included.  Deirdre had gotten quite used to
them  being  together.    And  Cheryl  and  Jeffrey  had  gotten  very
proficient together.   They  could make  love  in  any  position--  as
Deirdre found  when they  were watching television in the Living room.
Cheryl just  quietly unzipped  Jeffrey's fly, lifted her skirt and sat
in his lap.  Deirdre wasn't sure anything had happened until she heard
the distinctive sound of Cheryl and Jeffrey coming; they always seemed
to come together.
      The day after Deirdre finally made it with her boyfriend, Cheryl
demonstrated a  new invention of her own.  She liked the idea that men
could have  sex without  even taking  off their pants.  But she didn't
like wearing  a skirt  just for that purpose-- sex without undressing.
Even  with   men's-style,  front-zippered  jeans  on,  Jeffrey's  cock
couldn't reach her pussy.  Cheryl held up a pair of jeans identical to
the ones  she had  on.   They were clearly women's jeans, with no fly,
and two  zippers on  the side  that held  them  snugly  over  Cheryl's
shapely hips.   "They  can be  any slacks,  not just jeans", she said.
The crotch  of the  jeans had been modified-- with some elastic added,
and plastic  eyelets with  a cord  weaving through  where the original
stitching was  in the  crotch.   The original stitching in part of the
crotch area  was gone.   The  cord and  the elastic  together held the
crotch shut.
     She held  them up  to Deirdre,  inside out.   She pulled the cord
out, and  showed her  how only  the elastic now held the opening shut.
The opening  had a  plastic-film liner  so the rough denim wouldn't be
uncomfortable to Jeffrey-- he had suggested that part.  She threw them
to Deirdre, who took a closer look.
     Cheryl walked to Jeffrey, and lifted one leg.  Jeffrey tapped the
fabric around  the opening  as Cheryl  stretched.   The cord  held  it
closed.

     "See, Deirdre,  the cord  goes into one pocket.  There's a cotton
liner that  I didn't  put in that pair you're holding, yet.  You can't
pee through it, but it is good for something..."
     Cheryl reached  into her pocket and pulled the cord from it.  She
unzipped Jeffrey's fly; pulling his penis from it.  She rubbed it, and
even licked  it.   It grew quickly.  She kissed him once, deeply, with
her hands still on his cock, and his hands on her tits.
     She turned  around.  Deirdre was watching.  "Oh, yes, you have to
wear crotchless panties," she said.  Deirdre nodded.
     Cheryl lowered  herself carefully onto Jeffrey's lap.  The tip of
his rock-hard penis touched her pants.  As he pushed against them, the
elastic opening  yielded, and  his cock  sank into her pants.  It slid
through her  panties, past  her already-most  pussylips, and  into her
warm wetness.   Her  buttocks settled  down onto  him.   He  held  her
tightly, and  bounced her  slightly with  his knees.   The real action
wasn't visible  to Deirdre.   The  design was  working.   He was  deep
inside Cheryl,  and both  had their  clothes on.   They came, with the
usual noises,  and Cheryl  got up,  the opening  in her  jeans closing
tightly just  as the  opening in her body did.  The plastic liner kept
her fluids  from leaking  to where  they were visible, though some had
leaked onto Jeffrey's jeans.

                                Chapter 34
     Cheryl promised to make a pair of the jeans for Deirdre, who said
she'd use  them to  pleasantly surprise her boyfriend one afternoon in
the park.
     Jeffrey took  Cheryl  down  to  the  drugstore  after  the  jeans
demonstration, for  it was now time to renew the SBC between them.  It
went normally.   On  the way home, Cheryl remembered something she had
promised to talk about a long time ago.
     "Jeffrey, I  want  to  know  if  you've  been  feeling  something
lately..."
     "Like what?"
     "Well, all  the times  we've made  love, as  humans, men,  women,
animals...  What's been in common?"
     Jeffrey didn't  know what  she meant.  "A lot of things.  What do
you mean?"
     "Well...   Let me  put it  this way.  What have you STILL wanted,
even at  the peak  of our  passion, no matter which way we've done it?
That you want all the time and isn't satisfied just by sex?"
     "Well, I want to be even closer to you than I am..."
     Cheryl was  pleased.  "Exactly.  You want to be ONE with me, more
than you can just by having sex.  Right?"
     "Yes, very  much.   You  know,  we  SHOULD  probably  talk  about
marraige sooner or later."
     "Well..." Cheryl  said, "Yes,  we should...   But that's not what
I'm talking  about.   I'm talking  about leaving this body and sharing
yours.  Or the other way around.  Fill the empty hole inside me."
     "Well..."   Jeffrey scratched  his head.   "YES!  I COULD program
the Device to do that.   Let's do it!"
     "Alright!" yelled Cheryl.
     Jeffrey spent  the rest  of the afternoon working on the computer
attached to  the Device; programming the Device to tie together neural
lines (he called them "ports").  She'd join him in his body; he'd hold
the box.  For once, they'd share the exact same experiences, and would
be able  to mentally communicate.  Either would be able to control all
of the  muscular actions;  and both  would feel  the results.   It was
actually quite  a simple  program, since  the same  basic  pattern  of
combination was repeated over and over.
     Finally the  time was  here.  He got Cheryl, went with her to the
bathroom where they both relieved themselves, and sat her down next to
him on  the couch.   "If  there's problems,  tell me.   I'll stop it."
Cheryl nodded.   "Here  goes!"   Deirdre looked  over  at  them,  then
returned her  attention to the dinner that was cooking.  Jeffrey, with
the device in his lap, pressed the start button.
     What happened  was not what either expected.  After the last beep
of the  Device, they  were together.   They  were one.  Jeffrey's mind
started wandering  through Cheryl's.   She  started wandering  through
his, examining  the memories  that were  stored there.    Neither  was
conscious of  the outside  world, or  tried to  open Jeffrey's eyes or
even move.   She  met, in  his mind,  his first  love, and the awkward
activites of  his first  sexual encounter.   Jeffrey looked at her own
memories of  him.   He suddenly  was aware, without thinking about it,
how lonely  Cheryl had  been before  she approached  Jeffrey  on  that
Friday afternoon.  She met his parents, his brother, knowing instantly
all that  Jeffrey thought  about  them.    Jeffrey  reviewed  Cheryl's
childhood; her  first training  bra, the  anxiety  as  her  classmates
developed ahead  of her;  frustration and  success at  school, and HER
first sex  partner and the awful events that followed.  He didn't have
to think  about them;  as long  as  he  let  his  mind  wander  inside
Cheryl's, he KNEW.
     Something was  definitely  wrong.    He  didn't  know  what;  the
experience was fantastic.  He was going through years in seconds.  The
frustration while she waited for her first period; the bother that she
put up with now, knowing that her next period would start tommorrow or
the next day.  It was all too much to put into words.
     But, something  in his  mind told  him he had to stop this.  Now.
He summoned  all his  willpower to  get out  of  Cheryl's  mind.    He
concentrated on  the word  STOP.   His  eyes  flashed  open,  catching
Cheryl's attention  while she  was exploring  his experience with her.
She watched  as her  own hand,  or Jeffrey's,  reached  for  the  STOP
button.  She didn't stop it.  The button was pressed.

                                Chapter 35
     Deirdre was  startled by  the sudden  irregular breathing  coming
from her  roommates.   She rushed over; their eyes were open, but they
weren't saying  anything.   The display  on the  box read  "IMAGE STOP
00:01:13", nothing  wrong with  that.   They weren't  talking, though.
Deirdre started to panic.  She grabbed Cheryl's hand.
     "Cheryl!  What happened??"
     Jeffrey now  realized what  was wrong.  He had made a programming
mistake, somehow connecting EVERYTHING, not just the nerves leading to
and from  the brain  to the  rest of  the body.  He had connected them
together mentally.   It wasn't supposed to be possible.  He had to get
the words  out to Deirdre.  Reality seemed a bit foggy.  He was having
trouble speaking.
     "Deirdre..." he said in a raspy voice.  Cheryl parroted him, word
for word, at the same instant; though not as clearly.
     "I connected...  us... together  inside.   We've been  in each...
other's... minds."   He  knew very well the textbook theory, which was
what he  realized gave  him the  will to  stop the Device.  Cheryl was
still speaking  along with  him, missing  a word  here or  there.  "We
have... to  sort ourselves  out from  each other.  We don't know who I
are... we are... no..."
     Deirdre looked  Jeffrey right  in the  eyes.   "Jeffrey.   You're
Jeffrey."   He told  Cheryl of  her identity, and returned to Jeffrey.
"What happened?"
     Jeffrey shook  himself.   He seemed  better now.   Cheryl  wasn't
repeating after him anymore, but she didn't say anything at all, now.
     Jeffrey turned  to Cheryl,  hugging her  tightly.   After a brief
delay, Cheryl hugged him back.  "Oh Cheryl," he said, looking into her
eyes... "You're  perfect.   I can't  believe what  I saw  inside  you.
Everything I've  always wanted.   No  wonder  I  love  you  so  much."
Cheryl, still  silent, squeezed  him tightly and they went into a long
kiss.   Deirdre, who had seen enough of this sort of activity over the
last few days, was getting impatient.
     "What happened?" she repeated.
     "Imagine," Jeffrey said with suddenly perfect clarity, "that your
mind is  a deck  of cards.   We  just got shuffled together.  I've got
lots... not all... but lots of Cheryl inside me.  It's fantastic.  You
wouldn't believe  it.   I'm so different!  It feels kind of like she's
right here inside.  I don't know if... No, I'll be okay.  I can handle
it.  I CAN handle it.  Cheryl..."
     He turned to her.  "Cheryl?" she answered.  "Jeffrey?   What am I
doing here?  In this body?"
     "Cheryl...  You're Cheryl.  You'll be alright."
     Jeffrey turned  back to  Deirdre.  "I think she got a bigger dose
than I  did.   She absorbed  more of  my mind than I..."  He looked at
himself, reassuring who he was; "...than I did.  She'll be better with
time."
     Cheryl echoed  again.   "Better with time."  Then she added, in a
purely ethereal  voice, "Yes,  Jeffrey.   We're one  now.  What can we
do?"
     Jeffrey's eyes  pleaded to Deirdre for help.  "It's a disaster...
What can we do like this?  We're in two bodies... Apart but together!"
     "Together...", Cheryl whined.
     Deirdre had  good advice.   "Nothing now.  You're tired.  Sleep."
She helped  them into  Cheryl's room,  where they  disrobed.  They got
into bed  at the same instant.  Jeffrey curled up around Cheryl.  They
slept.
     Deirdre was  right; the  morning did make things a little better.
Some things seemed clearer now.  Cheryl and Jeffrey both knew who they
were; they  even said "good morning" to each other, and kissed as they
always did.   They  got up.   But it hadn't been a dream.  Jeffrey and
Cheryl both  realized that  when Jeffrey  told Cheryl  that her period
would be starting today, probably.
     "I know,  Jeffrey.  Today, probably.  I have some pads in the top
drawer there.  Darn nuisance sometimes.  Get them for me, OK?"
     Jeffrey got  them from  the drawer.  It seemed familiar, somehow,
and he  didn't like  the feeling  that it  would get  worse over a few
days...
     No.  It wasn't him.  It wouldn't happen to him.  Just Cheryl.  He
had gotten more of a share of her than he realized.
     Cheryl dressed herself while Jeffrey did, and sat him down on the
bed.   She was  fully  rational  now.    "Tell  me,  once  more,  what
happened."
     "Dreamsharing, they  call it.   It  was only  a theory about what
would happen if two people's minds are linked directly.  We each could
recall each  other's memories  as if  they were our own.  Like sharing
dreams together.    Problem  is,  after  a  while,  we  lose  our  own
identities.  I stopped it before that happened."
     "That's right,"  Cheryl said. "It wasn't supposed to be possible.
You gave  the Device  commands to  link your  ports with mine, using a
repeat command.  It took longer to set up than it should have, because
somehow it set itself up to link everything, not just ports."
     "There's almost  no use  talking with  you," Jeffrey  said.  They
finished the  rest of  the sentence  together.   "...because you  know
everything that I know."
     Cheryl added  to that.   "Well,  almost everything.   You  didn't
explore me fully.  Let's see... you learned about my puberty, my first
period, dating, parent, school.  But you took yourself away before you
could learn it all."
     Cheryl was  right, of  course.    She  kept  talking.    "It  was
incredible.  All this time I've WANTED YOU so much-- and, for a minute
and a  half, I HAD YOU.  Inside me.  Inside you.  One.  Together.  And
now we're  apart.   I'm empty  inside, again.   I  NEED you,  Jeffrey.
Let's do it again."
     Jeffrey sounded  sad.   "We can't.   We  can't ever  do it again.
We'd never recover.  We'd lose ourselves in each other."
     Cheryl looked  him straight  in the  eyes.  Jeffrey knew what his
eyes looked like through Cheryl's... he knew exactly how she felt with
him.  He wanted to be one with her, too.
     "Think of  it, Jeffrey.   Together.   In  the world.   Twice  the
experience.  Your technical knowledge.  My business experience.  Every
bit shared between us.  We'd be unstoppable.  And we'd be together."

                                Chapter 36
     The idea that Cheryl had was, indeed, very tempting.  Their lives
could never be the same now.  In one minute and thirteen seconds, they
had learned  things about each other that they couldn't have done in a
lifetime without the Device.  If Jeffrey hadn't stopped the Device, it
would have  gone on  to completion.   They  would have  been  mentally
identical in  just few  more minutes.   They  were becoming different,
now, because  they were  apart, and  were  having  slightly  different
physical experiences.
     The idea  was still inviting.  But, they had a problem NOW, after
only 01:13.   Jeffrey  explained the  root of  it.  "Cheryl, no matter
WHAT we  do we can't really be together.  I want it more than anything
else.   But we have separate physical bodies.  Making our hearts-- our
minds-- one, will just make us want it more, and we can't have it."
     "Jeffrey--- I've  seen too  much of  you.   I know your feelings,
your thoughts,  and most  everything else.   You  didn't explore me as
well.   You're perfect  for me.  Nobody else can take your place in my
life, Jeffrey... YOU'VE GOT TO BE A PART OF ME!"
     Cheryl searched through the technical knowledge she had absorbed.
She found  what she  was  looking  for.    She  held  Jeffrey  by  the
shoulders.
     "Jeffrey... There IS an answer.  You know it.  The GenMod Lab."
     The  Genetic  Modification  Lab  was  developed  primarily  as  a
possible cure for cancer.  Using a computer modeling program, the gene
structure of  an individual  was reproduced externally and modified to
exclude the  genetic code for cancer.  A "carrier" virus was produced,
which would,  much like  the "virus" Cheryl had made up to scare Kevin
with.   She didn't  know, before  she read  Jeffrey's mind,  that   it
really  existed.     Jeffrey   had  learned   of  the  secret  project
accidentally, before  they involved  him in  the development of one of
the electronic modules.  The "carrier" virus carried its own code plus
the corrected  DNA for  the subject.  It would invade a body much like
any other  virus, but instead of replacing human DNA with it's own, it
would replace  it with  the "carried"  genetic code.  For that reason,
the virus  wouldn't reproduce  itself; that had to be done outside the
body by  a machine.  The genetic changes resulted in many entire cells
dying as  others grew  to replace  them.   That was  too much  for any
animal to  withstand.   All but  one  test  animal  had  died  in  the
experiments-- even  the control  experiments where  no real cancer was
involved.
     Cheryl was  still talking.  "We can do it.  We could create a new
body for us."
     "The test animals died, Cheryl.  There's no hope for us."
     "Jeffrey-- you're  WRONG.   The answer's  in  your  mind.    What
happened?  Think of WHY the animals died..."
     "Not enough  matter.   Protein.  Other stuff.  You know.  Half of
the animal's  body was  destroyed in  the  process.    Even  with  the
nutrient solution,  there wasn't  enough left for the body to rebuild.
The other  half was  excreted as  waste, or decomposed."  The previous
results really  were quite grisly.  Without enough cells remaining for
the  body  to  continue  functioning,  it  died.      The  cancer  WAS
eliminated, but nobody was going to be recommending THAT therapy for a
while.
     "Wait a  minute."   Jeffrey found  what Cheryl was talking about.
"There's two  of us.  Twice the matter to build a body out of.  That's
what you mean, isn't it?"
     Cheryl smiled  proudly.   "I know I can't go on THIS way.  We can
melt ourselves together."  This raised a new question.
     "Into what?"  asked Jeffrey.   "If  we used my body, or yours, it
wouldn't be  fair.   You could be part of me, or I of you, but after a
while, we'd be either Cheryl or Jeffrey again, depending on whose body
we were  in.   Of course, we'd still be together.  That would be worth
it either way."
     "Yes," said  Cheryl.   "Either way.   Flip a coin.  Let's just do
it."
     "We should  wait a day.  We wouldn't rush into marraige.  Cheryl,
this one is INFINITELY more permanent.  Wait forty-eight hours."

     "Okay.  Two days.  We have to try to explain this to our parents,
and Deirdre."  Cheryl pulled a quarter from her pocket.  "Okay.  Tails
and I move into you, heads and we're female for the rest of our life."

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