Dr Covart still in his runt?" Ash asked as Monica approached him in the lab ready to start. "will you ever call him uncle. I mean he genuinely is-" Monica started. "I do outside of here of course but here at work it's 'Dr' as you must know" Ash insisted.
Ash Lowmick was indeed Dr Colin Covart's nephew as his mother was the doctor's sister, something Monica had inadvertently uncovered the month before the discovery where Dr Covant had been pestering Ash over his well being after his father had died. that said it was Ash who endlessly insisted to refer to Dr Covant by title as opposed to uncle even though it showed they were related as hair colour aside from Ash's red to Dr Covant's graying black Ash could very easily pass as his uncle at half his age.
"well anyhow, have all medical tests been finished?" Monica then asked while looking at the newest four subjects;
Lucy Vernon, 19 year old swimming star of african heritage currently dressed in her green one-piece swimsuit under an open summer hoddie of red colour and blue jeans shorts and white sandals.
Luke Davis, 27 expelled medical student of Caucasian decent, explosion being the result of a legal battle of his aunt's taking away his student funding but still he had a vast collection of medical knowledge, currently wearing a red polo-shirt with black trousers and white shoes.
Akiko Taksumi, 22 of Asian Japanese decent, actually average built but early tests indicated inherit immunity to various illnesses, was wearing a knee-length green skirt with black leggings and green shoes with a orange sweeper jumper.
Andrew Potts, 24 mixed African/Asian lad well acquainted with exercising and displayed it with his red and black workout sleeveless top and black sweet-trousers and red trainers.
"you all signed the papers before being brought here did you not?" Monica asked in defence over the project. "indeed, after reading it to the letter like the non-disclose before" Luke assured. "can't personal stand you also doing revert testing. better that didn't succeed like becoming mermaids" Lucy insisted. "I'm here to prove mermaids are truly not inherited evil. regardless of what my parents say" Akiko admitted. "so long as I'm paid or insured a CV great addition I'll do and sign anything you need" Andrew finished. "good... you especially Akiko with your genes in conjunction with both current and original aspects of the project" Ash welcomed. "ummm... thanks" Akiko accepted in confusion.
after assuring the legal aspects were dealt with Ash and Monica escorted the four volunteers to these wired pods that were the central point of the transformations. "I have a question" Luke then called out "what was this original goal that links Akiko's genes?". "Ah... that we were just about to go over" Ash started.
"you see originally this research project was based on strengthening human immunity to illness that verdant from slightly problematic to lethal using aquatic cells from various aquatic fish" Ash continued "the results however after a few weeks unleashed a very interesting side effect that altered the subjects genetic code". "from furthering tests hoping to stop serious spreading and control it, it resulted in reshaping the subject from humans into merfolk... able to breathe both air and water. water endurance advanced to surviving to 1000 meters below the water line. the immune improvements the original-" Monica started listing. "yeah whatever... just give me my tail" Lucy interrupted. "the process is not immediate which is where the pods come in" Monica insisted.
"your to enter these pods and attach the IV tubes designed like pressure testers to your arms alongside the breathing apparatus... the process is to take about 4 to 6 days while being monitored to assure the DNA baseline is arranged correctly" Ash then explained. "...fair enough" Lucy accepted as she started stripping with the others following suit. "why are there 5 pos though?" Akiko suddenly asked. "I'm number 5 in this run" Monica answered. "is that allowed?" Andrew questioned. "Monica's been involved since the start and like some of you has dreamed of being a mermaid... plus you guys are a special quality test" Ash assured before getting to that point "Akiko especially but you were scouted over your backgrounds and medically clean history for testing such individuals alongside the various ethnic backgrounds as before now our volunteer subjects were solely African or Caucasian and also testing the development of those in high IQ in four of today's five volunteers in underwater living".
soon once the first four had gotten into their pods with both IVs attached and breathing apparatuses applied "you sure about this Monica?" Ash asked as Monica got ready. "we need to have one of our own undergo this for moral reasons Ash... better I, someone of interests in the outcome than a random shuffle from the entire department, volunteer for the role" Monica assured Ash as she entered her pod and placed her IVs in. "alright... but I promise i'll take responsibility from dr Covart if things go wrong" Ash assured as he got ready on his end. Monica then sealing her pod while Ash got to work on the consoles handling the process: