The tainted water rushed toward the edge of the falls, the tiny virus particles rushing into
the orifices of the unsuspecting otters who had lived for centuries above the rapids near
the fall line. Little by little, the virus began to take effect. The lithe bodies of these small
creatures became more stocky by the hour, more suited for walking upright. By the
dozens, the affected otters became slowly more aware of their surroundings, their playful
chittering slowly taking the form of actual words. Soon, the cries of the young playing in
the rapidly flowing waters of the river sounded just like the joyful shouts of the children
on any playground in America. Had Jason the scientist not lost his humanity, he probably
would have been proud to see a million years of evolution take place in only half a day as
the otters of Otter Town began their transformation into otter-men and otter-women.
Finally, consciousness took hold and the oldest of the otterfolk, his fur streaked with grey,
stood up for the first time on his new legs, gazed over the falls at the roofs of the quiet
town downstream, and with shining eyes decided that his people must find out what lay
beyond the falls. He felt driven by a primitive human desire of exploration, one that
overcame even his animalistic instict to stay close to an area with abundant food and
shelter. Yet, even as the elder odder was making his plans to move his colony
beyond the falls, the water, as it always had, was carrying the small stray clumps of otter
fur which caught on the various logs and branches around the riverbank downstream.
However, the virus in the water latched on to the minute particles of otter DNA in these
few stray hairs, ensuring that any human who took a sip of the contaminated water would
have a surprise in store for him or her. As the rapid current swept the last traces of the
virus particles downstream, fate continued to play her hand. Here, a hawk feather drifted
down out of the sky and landed in the rapids, ensuring that at least a few citizens would
soon learn the meaning of molting. There, the infected water rushed in and out of the
mouth of a young doe taking a sip at the top of the falls. As the water tumbled over the
falls and into the calmer pools below, the virus particles spread, latching on to anything
and everything that their amino acids could find. A few strands of fur from a beaver, a
skin cell from a passing fox, and even the stray hair of a young quarterhorse in a pasture
next to the river. All of this accumulated in the tiny lakes around the town that served as
its reservoirs of drinking water.