Sophie meant what she'd said to Diego about him attracting more attention to Project Cenozoic. When Animalia started, most of its former human members were like Abby and Sarah, the victims of accidents while the infectious nature of the Animalia Virus was still an unknown with regard to whether or not it could cross species barriers and before the present vaccine for the Animalia Virus had been developed. And while the recognition and protection of Animalia and Animalians under the 1964 Civil Rights Act would ultimately allow for Horizon to capitalize on the virus's ability to transform animals or humans into Animalians, the only ones who would be attracted to it at first would be those that had "identified" as "furries." There were some of them, but not many.
However, Animalia's support started to gain more support and willingness to be converted as more knowledge on the Animalia Virus's abilities grew. Particularly with the fact that it would have the capacity to make people younger and there were plenty who jumped at it. This soon brought in some minor celebrity type figures that wanted recovery from injury or a "do over" from what had hurt them in the past, and the success of the projects served to be great advertising for Animalia. In that sense it lead to greater acceptance of many of the things that related to Animalia. Though much of that had related to the conversion to more modern animals. Diego would be the first to convert to an "ice age" animal and could thus use his celebrity status would help with that. As in general that seemed to be how much of Animalia's progress had gone.
"You think it'd do that?" Diego asked to her with a slightly curious look.
"It's something that's gone on already, celebrity has actually done a lot to inspire people to actually WANT to become Animalians," Sophie answered while softly rubbing JC's head with her other hand, "and you wanting to go into Project Cenozoic would provide that project with some of the added attention."
"Makes sense..." Diego commented, "especially given on how cool the Saber Toothed Tiger is..."
"Smilodon," Jeremy spoke, drawing attention to him. Eventually he managed a chuckle, "being assigned to these various "de-extinction" projects has provided some interesting opportunities to learn. There have been several "saber toothed" cats in pre-history. However, none of them are considered evolutionary predecessors to any modern cats and that the cat we refer to as the Saber Toothed Tiger is actually Smilodon, of which there are three subspecies... Gracilis, the smallest and the one that has been recovered at La Brea... Populator, the largest and evolved in South America after Smilodon moved south into the continent when the isthmus of Panama was formed... and Fatalis which is the middle, and has also been found at La Brea."
"Yeah," Diego nodded, "but Saber Toothed Tiger sounds cooler, right?"
"Left," JC spoke from his perch Sophie's arm.
"Sorry..." Sophie spoke up, "JC's pretty smart and one of the things I've been able to do to keep him mentally sharp was to teach him the names for things and their opposites. Then from time to time I'd quiz him on seeing if he could identify the opposite. Left and Right was one of those games."
"Well he certainly was correct, left is the opposite of right," Diego chuckled, "is he here to be uplifted?"
"Not at present..." Sophie said slowly, "that could be for something in the future... but not at present."
And that was true. Sophie had seen how many Animalians that had been uplifted were quite happy to be Animalians. Those that had been well cared fore, like Malice, Samson, and others were quite fine with their past as Animals and could remember many things about their lives as Animals. It was that sort of thing that actually made Samson fall in love with Abby, as when "the gang" had been on the Brown farm before the outbreak, Samson was the horse that Abby rode and the only horse that she rode. It was that sort of thing that forged the sisterly bond between Malice and Sarah.
In that, Sophie knew that JC would remember his time as a mundane parrot, and while he might not have the cognitive abilities on par with a human at present, he was aware of Animalians. JC had met Sophie's friends again after their transformations, so it isn't like he was unaware that there were differences in the world. For Sophie that then represented her own moral dilemma to wonder on. On some level he had to know the world was different and could probably tell that Animalians were quite happy to be Animalians, even if he wasn't able to define what an Animalian was. Which then raised the concern that if he was uplifted and found how great it was... would he turn on Sophie in irritation that he'd missed out on the outbreak and wasn't deliberately uplifted later? She loved JC... not romantically, more like a big sister/parent type of love in that she wanted what was best for him.
With the knowledge that she and Roland would get their chance to join Animalia in the coming summer as Pterodactylus Dinotopians, Sophie had figured that she couldn't just keep JC as a mundane parrot for the same reasons that she was worried on if he would be mad over not becoming an Animalian sooner. He'd know that she was different from where she was and might have added irritation that he couldn't "join" her, which was partially why she'd brought him to Horizon that Saturday afternoon. He didn't want to be returned to his cage before Sophie left. It'd mean very much that at present he liked Sophie, but she still wondered and worried about how that would change when she became a Dinotopian. She also wondered slightly if JC even wanted to become an Animalian or not. Some of the uplifted parrots presently living in Animalia had visited with him, but were all South American or Australian species. She'd yet to find another uplifted African Grey Parrot.
Diego slowly reached forward and stroked JC's head in the way that Sophie had. JC responded with a tilt of his head and stretched his wings for a moment, but had no negative response.
"Well, if it's the future, I'm sure he seems nice enough," Diego commented, "and from what Animalia's web show has done in their PR campaign, if he's well treated, I'm sure things will be fine."
"I hope so," Sophie agreed.
"In the meantime," Jeremy spoke after clearing his through, "with the three Smilodon subspecies... which of the three were you looking at, Mr. Delgado?"
"You have bones for all three?" Diego asked.
Jeremy nodded, "with the success of Project Thylacine, many of the museums that were opposing Horizon's requests for fossil bones for the DNA extraction changed their tune, likely out of the fear that if the project didn't work, Horizon would destroy what they'd have for biologists to study... But since Thylacine had success, they feel more confident that the DNA will survive and persist in the new Animalian. It's given Horizon the room to move forward with Project Dinotopia and Project Cenozoic."
"Then I'd go with Fatalis," Diego answered, "It may not be the biggest... but it also had the most competition in the Short Faced Bear, the American Lion, and the Dire Wolf... along with OTHER saber toothed cats. In that... I'd say it was a very successful animal, until its prey went extinct or moved out of the territories it preferred..."
Jeremy nodded, "Okay then. Heather and Sophie, here can walk you to the changing room. I'll be by with a human member of the staff who will administer the shot."
"You can't...?" Diego wondered.
"Most syringes we have are designed to be operated by human hands," Jeremy answered with a small shrug and a toothy grin before holding up one hand with its large muscled digits ending in long claws, "and in my transformation... I've gained strength but lost some dexterity. And even once I get things in order again... I still won't be as dexterous as before. I'm sure in time we'll see new syringe designs come out that are more for the use of Animalians... but until then... we'll just have to make do."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It didn't take them long to get to a changing room, which Diego found more like a bedroom than some sort of elite scientific facility. It was explained that a lot of the transformations were kept private for personal reasons. There were monitors that would allow Horizon's scientists to view and monitor the transformation and provide help should their be a problem, but in most situations they weren't on, partially because they knew enough on standard Animalian transformations that they weren't needed. The recent tests for Project Dinotopia and the coming ones for Project Cenozoic might have more need for those tests in some areas, but that was more due to expected sizes that could come out of the project.
Dinotopia had some questions with regard to Sauropod sizes, and while Andrew as a Brachiosaurus Animalian was tall and easily the biggest of any present Animalian, there were larger Sauropods in the fossil record. This included of the Titanosaurs, but project Cenozoic wouldn't be without its own megafauna. Paraceratherium was a massive hornless relative of the rhinoceros that was easily of comparable size to some Sauropods. And working with any of those, because of their size might require greater monitoring and research. But given that Smilodon was comparable in size to most big cats of today, though more stocky in its build and having a weaker bite force there wasn't that much that Horizon really felt concerned on.
And so Diego sat down on the bed. He removed his shirt, but kept his pants on, though the pair he had worn into Horizon were a pair of wind-pants that were designed to have a great deal of give in them. He hoped they'd be able to stretch with him as he changed. The things he did remove were his shoes, socks, and the brace on his leg. It was the brace that he was most eager to remove, and just as he got it off was when Jeremy and a Horizon nurse came in. It was the nurse that held the syringe.
"Okay, since you chose Smilodon fatalis, I will let you know that you'll probably be about the same size as the Lion and Tiger Animalians," Jeremy spoke as the nurse wiped Diego's shoulder with an alcohol swab, "more muscular perhaps but there will be no guarantee. What I could find gave an indication that that subspecies for Smilodon was between 350 to 620 pounds."
"I'm not in this to be big," Diego answered as the nurse turned to pick up the syringe that was cradled in one of Jeremy's hands.
"I'm sure," Jeremy nodded, "though you'll also need to remember that once you're an Animalian there will be no "do-overs." You may be able to heal more quickly from minor injuries... but the saber teeth will be more brittle and a major injury like the spill that put you in that brace will be tough to recover from..."
"I'm well aware of that," Diego answered, "but you have to live big and there are risks in everything. I mean... before Thanksgiving toward the end of the fall hunting season there were many Animalian predators did go hunting and many in ways that mirrored how they hunted before being uplifted. Many predators risk major injury should they fail."
Jeremy nodded. His own transformation was too recent to actively consider hunting, and Heather couldn't due to her probation status, but he was well aware that predators risked injury when hunting, though he was fairly certain for predatory Animalians, particularly those that had been in the wild before their uplifting, felt that hunting was their extreme sport. And if Animalia succeeded in the long term and retained access to hunting permits, he had no problem with that.
"Just so long as you are aware," Jeremy nodded, "and welcome to Animalia. And the dosage is high enough to count as a double dose, as per the paperwork you signed. We will handle initial clothing and vaccination after your transformation."
With that the nurse then delivered the injection, depressing the plunger and removing the syringe once done. She gave a small smile to him and then left with Jeremy. As the door closed, Diego could all ready feel a rush of warmth go through his body. He looked down to his arms and could already see a brownish-yellow fur beginning to grow on his arms and chest. That made him smile. He raised up one hand and watched with some fascination as his fingers grew slightly in size and strength and as his fingernails began to lengthen into recurved claws.
There was some pain and discomfort, as he felt his chest barrel forward with layer on layer of new muscle, but in many ways it was well worth it. Diego could feel many of those muscles twitch and his body itched a bit as his new fur continued to cover him. Underneath his fingertips and hands, he could feel his skin toughening into pads, similar to those on the big cats of today and Diego watched it with a great deal of fascination. He soon figured out the tendons that controlled his claws and he flexed them, extending and retracting them before his eyes. It was interesting, though not the sole thing he was hoping for, though as he felt his muscles swell larger, more powerful, and more sculpted underneath is brownish-yellow fur, he felt some pain rise further down...
It centered down in his feet. He could feel his leg muscles swelling larger, and the wind-pants he was wearing were already starting to feel a bit tight on him, but they weren't destroyed yet and that was a sign of what he hoped fore. He lifted his pants up a little and even raised his leg to reveal a brownish-yellow furred foot that already looked like a lion's foot as it extended slightly longer. He could hear an odd cracking noise as the bones in his feet grew slightly longer, though not by much. Though he didn't expect that much. Smilodon actually had longer front legs than back legs, which reflected a build that was probably needed given its saber teeth, but the exact dimensions of his new legs and feet wasn't the thing that Diego was focused on. What drew his attention the most was the feelings of strength that he got in his feet and legs. He wiggled his toes and soon flexed them to extend and retract the claws on his toes. They responded quite well and that made him smile.
"Now for the main test," Diego said to himself and he stood up.
He stood up easily. He was a bit shaky at first as he moved to reorient himself as his new feet had put him in a digitigrade stance, but he adapted well. But what made him smile the most was that he could feel all the strength return to his legs and that he could stand on his own. Diego ignored the felling of his ears moving toward the top of his head and stretching to into something that were sort of a cross between the rounded ears of the big cats and the pointed ears of a lynx. His focus was on the strength in his legs and he took a pair of almost prancing steps as he came forward and came before a mirror in another corner of the room. He was pleased to have the strength in his legs, though his paints were now extremely tight and pinched a bit in the crotch... but he was more pleased at walking.
"Yessss....." Diego gave a pained groan as his face began to push forward.
His nose pushed out into a pink triangle at the end of his growing muzzle. It hurt a bit, but Diego kept his now gold colored eyes open just enough to look at his growing muzzle. He lifted his lips to reveal sharpening teeth and particularly lengthening upper canines. As they lengthened, he also noticed his lower jaw was narrowing a bit, particularly at the front of his mouth. And that was critical as his upper canines soon grew down rapidly. As his muzzle finished growing, Diego was able to recover enough to watch his new sabers grow to their full length. He soon smiled and threw a pose, flexing his well muscled body. He looked shorter than the Lion and Tiger Animalians, but he had enough muscle to make up for it.
"Oh... yeah," Diego smiled, "This puts the "smile" in Smilodon!"