"I still wouldn't think that joining the military is something Animalians should do," Gabriel spoke, "I mean... that was REALLY why you became a Bald Eagle Animalian?"
"It never hurts to be patriotic," Henry spoke, "particularly in cases with a country that would give beings that were born mundane animals equal legal rights as those born as Humans. Not every country would do that."
"I can understand the concerns of tyranny," Gabriel commented, "but militarism... that doesn't make us any better. Thus people end up trading one master for another."
"Perhaps... but that's also part of the world we live in, sadly," Henry spoke, "there are threats that must be countered and contained before they become bigger or come to our shores, particularly when a great many nations can't. The hope... would be that one day things will get better and things can step down..."
Gabriel shrugged at that and figured that was about the best he was going to get from the active Air Force Officer who happened to be an Animalian. It wasn't much, but at least it was something.
"So what have you been doing as an Animalian?" Gabriel then wondered, "actually tackling missiles..."
"Heh," Henry laughed, "they actually found that my vision is probably good enough that I probably could respond to missiles, assuming they've been fired at a great distance, but I wouldn't be able to fly high enough or fast enough to deal with jets or drones or be able to deal with missiles not fired at me. And when the Air Force was able to look over what would be needed to alter the planes the US has to make it possible for me to use them with my wings and tail feathers... the existing planes would need MASSIVE reworks, which would be expensive and would likely hurt other systems and new planes would be too costly to develop for what is right now ONE Animalian. So after my conversion... most of last year was just recruitment type work. Go around the country and urge people to join the Air Force and occasionally serve as a color guard for MLB and NFL games. And I expect for the the next few years, I'll probably still be doing a lot of that sort of thing. But I've had leave right now and thus my Beatrice and I are here."
They sat silently for a few moments before Henry then asked a question, "so... what did you convert to be an Albatross for?"
"A Northern Royal Albatross to be precise," Gabriel answered, "and as I said... I was originally thinking Clownfish, but went against that. And one of the Horizon workers here suggested a sea bird, since most of those that have come here have chosen to become either Fish Animalians or Marine Mammals. No sea birds... and there are some species of mundane Albatross that do fly over Mieni on occasion so I've heard."
"There's more than one species?" Beatrice asked, looking more curious.
"Around the world, yes," Gabriel nodded, "the Albatross is quite the traveler as a bird and there are various species the world over. My species is primarily from the the areas around Australia and New Guinea, but there are some species that come this far north and some further, like the Layson Albatross, the Black Footed Albatross, and the Short Tailed Albatross. I chose the Northern Royal Albatross for the balance in the wing and body color. A white head and body and black wings on the dorsal side... that just looked better to me that some of the other species."
"Nothing wrong with a white head," Beatrice answered with Henry nodding beside her. Gabriel laughed at that and thought back on his own transformation for a moment...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The arrival in the lab area was fairly calm and it actually took a little while for Horizon to get the DNA samples for the Northern Royal Albatross, which was an endangered species and didn't range into the northern pacific areas. It took some time, but Gabriel was happy to wait while handling other issues that related to moving from the US to Mieni. At the same time there was also the fact that he would have to wait for a Bird Animalian to come out for flight lessons, which would take some time, and from what Gabriel had been told it would be a Duck Animalian since much of their flights would go out over the ocean and there was the need to have an instructor who could deal with water better than most other flying Animalians. The instructor hadn't arrived yet, but Horizon had gotten the DNA needed for the Northern Royal Albatross. As he made his way into the Horizon lab offices on Mieni he was soon met by a familiar Sea Krait Animalian.
"Well... hello Gabriel," Harold said calmly, "are you ready?"
"Yeah," Gabriel nodded, "It'll be interesting to fly... I'll have to wait a while more for my instructor to arrive, but I can wait. I've waited for you guys to get the DNA for the Northern Royal Albatross."
"Yeah... were expecting the Layson, Short Tailed, or Black Footed Albatross, which do come by here," Harold answered, "and you went and chose one from the southern hemisphere and one that's also endangered in the wild."
"Yeah... but I like it's color scheme," Gabriel answered, "and from what I've found, all Albatross species fly in the same way. Thus all would be pretty good at distance flying and that'll help with that distance flight challenge in the summer with that Quetzal bird..."
"Quetzalcoatlus Dinotopian," Harold corrected, "and so far as I know... her training may be different as they're trying to see if she could actually engage in the long range flight needed for an around the world tour. Though I can't say on her progress."
"It'll be alright," Gabriel answered, "It might make for things to be interesting in taking the long flight one way or the other..."
Harold nodded and lead Gabriel along to the conversion room. It was smaller than the conversion rooms in Lyre/Animalia, but that was a given since Mieni's main lab area for Horizon was smaller than the main corporate offices in Lyre/Animalia. And since most of those conversions and uplifting on Mieni had been either with those that had fallen for an Animalian or done at sea as part of the uplifting process. Thus prior to Gabriel, it was more that Mieni hadn't had too many Humans come to convert, be it to stay on Mieni or move to other islands through the Pacific. Gabriel and the hippies that had come with him seemed to be the first to do this. Harold knew it would make converting the others a bit time consuming, but some of them were also content to explore and learn more as they made up their minds.
But with Gabriel ready, Harold focused on the task at hand and that was to deliver the necessary shots. Gabriel also went along with it and sat down while Harold readied the shots. As Harold finished, Gabriel took off his shirt with the memory that bird Animalians would have wings on their backs. From there the shots were administered and Gabriel could feel the various changes begin. It didn't hurt, but it was awkward at first as his lips hardened and pushed forward into a long and relatively narrow pinkish-white bill with a small but distinctive hook on the end. White feathers began to grow across the rest of his face and contrasted with his hair, which stayed unchanged and on his head even grew back.
Gabriel also found himself wiggling his toes a bit and lifting each up to undo his shoes and socks. As he did so, he noted white feathers growing down his arms until about halfway down his forearms. This his skin seemed to be an almost pure light pink. It was a bit darker than his beak but not by much. He looked down to see a small fold of skin actually forming between his fingers. It ultimately wasn't enough to give him completely webbed hands, but the webbing was there. As he got his shoes off, he found that his feet were completely webbed, much like ducks and seagulls had webbed feet. Which made sense given that ducks, geese, swans, gulls, and the albatross all evolved to work around water, and thus webbed feet would help them swim on the surface of the water. Gabriel half chuckled and causing his bill click as he did so as he watched his webbed toes wiggle.
The final growth was with a series of short tail feathers growing out from just above where his pants were. He had to pull the back down a bit, but it worked out well and fit. The feathers ran out across the width of his waist and didn't really radiate out from a narrow point. The last of this was as his wings grew out from behind him and with its feathers growing out rapidly with them. As they flared out, Gabriel could see on how they worked out. The wingspan was impressive, given his height hadn't changed by much but the wing was rather narrow. Thus he could reach his wings across a good portion of the room but they weren't as thick from front to back. The underside of the wing had white coloration with a gray edge at the bottom edge of the wing. As Gabriel turned in the room, he could then catch a sight on the dorsal side of his wings, and there the coloration was black until it got to where his wings met his back. There white feathers were there between his wings.
"I can't wait to fly," Gabriel thought to himself.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So have you gotten to fly, yet?" Beatrice asked.
"A bit," Gabriel answered, "it's been a bit more complicated that what new flying Animalians have had in Lyre/Animalia, I'd imagine. Some of it because my instructor... a Duck Animalian... would fly in a way different from the way all albatross species fly. I can fly in the same way... but it isn't the most effective for me, and adjusting to that has taken some more research into all Albatross species and some practice out over the water."
"Crash landings hand to hurt..." Henry commented.
"That didn't happen too much," Gabriel answered, "and there it wasn't too far of a crash, so it was like diving into a pool. The bigger thing was that I've also had to have some of the swimming Animalians come along to make sure no sharks or predatory whales get interested in me occasionally going swimming."