Abby had the strangest dream that night.
She saw herself at school, in her old 5th grade classroom with all her classmates. They were facing a board full of math problems Abby couldn't quite read, while Abby scribbled things onto a math workbook with a pencil. Or was it a pen? It kept changing.
Abby remembered listening to her teacher's voice, reciting numbers and problems, when the room suddenly looked hazy.
Abby's best friend, Nora, suddenly got up from her seat, and began to make strange animal noises. Then, all Abby's other classmates did the same, leaving their seats and letting out barks, howls, yips and bellows. Some stood on their desks, randomly squatting, jumping and doing strange motions with their hips. Some got on their hands and feet, and scampered around.
And at some point, all of her classmates clothes suddenly vanished, leaving all her classmates fully naked as they play-acted like animals. Abby felt alarmed. She was the only one still sitting down, with all her clothes still on.
And then, they changed. Abby watched as her friends' bodies shifted: fur grew on their bodies, their limbs changed shape and size, tails sprouted from behind them. They looked like all kinds of animals, like dogs, cats, birds, squirrels...
But it wasn't just animals. No, the girls...Nora...they grew boobs! The boys dickies grew larger too, and their butts were big! A few boys Abby recognized went up to her and jiggled their furred butts right at Abby.
And then, her friend Nora hopped up to her table, now as a black furred bunny-rabbit thing, with big floppy ears, and big boobs squishing the table. She stared straight at Abby, wiggling her nose and smiling with her tongue out. Abby looked right into her eyes, very confused.
And then Abby noticed, looming right over them, was that creepy woman doctor from the farm, standing right over her with a wicked smile...
-----
"Abby?"
Abby blinked awake, as she turned to find Danny staring at her face, concerned. "Are you ok, Abby?"
Abby yawned. "Yeah..."
She glanced at herself. She was in her light-green pajamas, and everything seemed normal. Her hands and feet were still human. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
They were in the room of their 'vacation home'. Their room was pretty empty, with two beds for Abby and Danny, a wooden closet, and a large wall mirror. There was a window lit with sunlight, but it was filtered, so there was no way to look outside.
"Do you feel weird?", her little brother asked.
Abby shook her head. "Do you?"
"No" said Danny. "I just thought we were going to be different when we wake up."
Oh right, remembered Abby. The science experiment. She pulled herself out of bed, and headed out the bathroom. Thoughts of that weird dream still stuck in her mind. It was strange and a little disturbing, seeing all her classmates be weirdly naked like that.
I wonder if mom and dad had these dreams too?' Abby thought.
----------
Cole remembered his dream, but tried to put it off as he sipped his coffee.
"Morning, kids," he said, as Abby came into the room, sitting next to her mother. For breakfast, the scientists have given a basket of bread, along with a box with scrambled egg. The scientists had also left plenty of different drinks in the fridge, including orange juice.
As the kids got into their food, Cole's wife Stephanie busied herself with the day's newspaper, which the scientists kindly provided with their breakfast. She was mostly quiet, and didn't touch her food much.
"So, uh," said Cole, thinking of a way to put everyone at ease. "Anyone grow an extra pair of eyes last night?"
Danny giggled. "Yeah. On my belly button. Wanna see?"
The boy lifted his shirt up for Abby and Steph, showing off his ordinary bare belly while squeezing his navel like an eye. "See? It's looking at you!!"
Steph grinned. "Aww...Danny."
Cole looked relieved. That's two in the family feeling alright. Though Abby only smiled a little.
"I had a weird dream last night."
Cole and Steph both looked at their daughter, concerned. "A weird dream?"
Abby nodded. "Yeah. I was at school, and everyone started turning into naked animals."
Oh god, thought Cole. He looked around his family, as they all exchanged rather uncomfortable looks.
"Did, uh...did anyone else have weird dreams last night?"
They didn't answer. Steph looked down at her newspaper, silently. Cole recognized it as her usual worried look. Not good.
"I dreamed I was a car," said Danny, suddenly.
Cole's eyebrow raised. "What kind of car?"
"A Ferrari."
The man cracked a grin. "Ferrari? Really? I was expecting something cooler, like Dodge or something."
"Ferraris are cool!"
"Did you turn into the car?", Abby asked. "In your dream."
"Yeah. I was just on the road, as a person. And then suddenly I was a car! Like the wheels were like my hands and feet and stuff."
"Was there, um...anybody naked?"
Danny shrugged. "I don't know."
Cole and Steph looked at each other, both a little uncertain.
"I think this could be some kind of dream experiment," said Cole. "Put these chemicals in us, or energy waves, and then make us have these weird, freaky dreams. About people changing into stuff?"
Steph nodded, though her eyes didn't look too happy. "Yes. I think you're right."
"But why did they take pictures of us?", their daughter asked.
Cole shrugged. "Maybe they want to see if their 'dream chemicals' had any side effect on us. You know. In case they turned us into frogs."
Abby giggled at that idea. Now that got Cole breathing calmer. Danny laughed too, as he poked his sister's sides. "Imagine mom turning into a frog!"
"Alright, guys. Eat your food," said Steph, sighing. "We shouldn't worry about weird experiments when there's food in front of us, right?"
The children happily obliged, digging into their bread and eggs, as Cole ruffled their hair comfortingly. Still, new worries were filling his head.
Abby's dream. If they were anything like Cole's that night....they didn't seem too appropriate for young kids. And Steph must've had a dream of her own as well. He'll have to ask her later.
As Cole took another bite of his croissant, he thought of himself in his old office again. His co-worker, a man named Morgan, bent down to unzip Cole's pants, only to find a giant horse-cock flopping out. And Morgan's face grew long with fur, with breasts bursting out of his clothes, while Cole and Morgan's hands looked like hooves...
------
"It seems Merlin-5 is beginning to affect their mental states," said Dr Eberheardt, as she watched footage of the family's conversation.
The woman had come into the observation room, shortly after the Farlons finished breakfast. Observation of the family was a 24-hour event, with scientists taking turns for day and night shifts. Eberheardt had turned in late that night, but was eager to check in on the Farlons in their morning.
The Merlin-5 was having effects on the Farlon family's dreams, likely due to affecting their brain chemicals and hormones. The topics were unconnected to the specific changes Eberheardt planned for the Farlons. What was related, thought, was the idea of bodily transformation, and a sensual attraction towards it.
Currently, the Farlons seemed calm as they tidied up after their breakfast. Cole Farlon had already dressed himself, in a simple t-shirt and shorts, while the kids also switched to their day clothes. Stephanie was in her jeans and a simple frilly shirt.
It was important to note the Farlon's clothing choices, as they would indicate the further influence Merlin-5 had on their minds. At some point, it was possible they would find no need of them at all.
"The woman's dream. What was it?", asked Dr. Eberheardt.
"She dreamed she was at the supermarket, and that everything suddenly turned into a strip club," said Dr. Adam. "I wager this one's more fueled by personal history than the rest."
Dr Eberheardt had struck gold when Metamorph found Stephanie Farlon. The woman was by all appearances a normal house wife and mother. But according to her self-reported family history (and a private investigation), Stephanie had a short stint as a strip club dancer during her college years, as a way to make extra money. It stopped immediately after she graduated, and before she met Cole.
Dr. Eberheardt suspected some parts of that former sexuality stayed. After all, a woman doesn't suddenly dance nearly naked in front of men, or seductively rub oil on herself, without developing some love for it. It's likely Merlin-5 will awaken those feelings once again. Perhaps she'll share them with the rest of her family.
"Have you triggered the next stage?", asked Eberheardt.
"Yes, doc."
-----------
The rest of the morning seemed ordinary for the Farlons, all while the scientists kept observation from the house cameras.
After breakfast, Abby and Danny occupied themselves with more video games, while the parents cleaned themselves up. Both Steph and Cole took this time to discuss their unusual dreams in private, and both seemed disturbed, but agreed to keep strong for the kids.
At around 10am , the Farlon children played ball in the outdoor lawn, while the parents took their minds off things with fitness. Stephanie tried the dumbbells outdoors, while she watched her children play around. Cole, meanwhile, was on the treadmill.
At 10:50, Cole took a shower to clean himself off of sweat. There was one pinhole camera with view of the shower and bath, right at he corner of the ceiling. From footage and observation equipment, it seemed Cole found himself with a sudden erection, and had begun absentmindedly rubbing himself with his hand. Only to stop short, and quickly switched on cold water before finishing up.
Later on, Stephanie took her turn in the shower, and did similar. As she took her shower, she started absentmindedly rubbing her nipples, and bring a hand down her vagina. She, too, came to her senses before reaching any kind of climax, and quickly finished her wash.
As this happened, the children were still on the lawn, lounging on the play structure for a little before trying the see-saw. Both Abby and Danny found it slightly arousing as the seats pushed against their crotches and rears. They played for awhile, unable or unwilling to tell each other what they were feeling. This stopped, though, as the children returned indoors together.
Lunch came at 12:30pm. The family was provided with chicken sandwiches, crisps and lemonade, as they sat together at the dining table. Most of the lunch was spent chatting, as they talked of the things they could get with a million dollars. The children, of course, had some faciful ideas of what they could buy with that money, like a mansion or an entire cruise ship.
Throughout the meal, both Cole and Stephanie were shifting uncomfortably, with legs crossed as they tried to hide their arousal to the kids. Unknown to them, both Abby and Danny were feeling the same, though in more subdued ways. Abby secretly rubbed her knees together as she felt an oddness in her crotch (not knowing why she wanted to do so), and Danny felt a strangeness in his privates too.
Despite all this, the Farlons tried to maintain a sense of normalcy. And this normalcy continued after they cleaned their dishes, and the kids went back to watching TV.
At around 2:16pm, Cole and Steph decided to watch a movie together with Abby and Danny. They decided on 'The Last Unicorn'.
---------
"Tie him up!", exclaimed the animated bandit leader on the TV, as the family watched from the couch together.
Abby had never heard of the movie 'The Last Unicorn' before, but her mother said she remembered it being a great movie. It was an old fairy tale cartoon, about a unicorn on a quest to find out what happened to the rest of her kind.
They were now at the scene where the goofy wizard character (who wore a tall pointy hat, and had a weird funny name) was being tied up by the bandit chief. The wizard was tied front-first against the side of a tree, forced to look uncomfortably upwards.
Abby and Danny watched with rapt attention, sitting next to their parents on the couch. She noticed her parents were holding each other close, with her father's hands around her mother's shoulders. They were acting a little strange today. Was this to do with the experiment? Abby wondered. Or were they just afraid of things?
"Yes indeed! We'll kill him! We'll both be gentlemens of pleasure in a months time!", quipped the bandit character 'Captain Cully', as he laughed away with his comrade, leaving the wizard to his fate.
"Where's the unicorn?", Danny exclaimed. "Is she going to save him?"
"Shh!" Abby hushed, as they kept watching. There's a zoom out shot, as the screen focused on the wizard.
"I don't even care!",the wizard exclaimed angrily to no one. And then, he spoke what seemed like a magic spell, and suddenly, the tree started coming to life.
"Oh no...", uttered Abby's mother. Abby looked at her, confused.
"What?", asked her father.
"I forgot about this part." Abby didn't know what she meant, until she saw what the animated tree had become. Its bark turned purple, and grew a womanly cartoon face with a wrinkly bark-like mouth, along with a pair of.....plushy giant boobies?
"Ooh, I love you! I LOVE you, lovelovelovelovelovelovelove...."
The Farlon family's jaws dropped, as the magic woman-tree smothered the wizard face first with her giant breasts. As they watched, Abby felt a strange sensation in her lower body. A weird, pleasant tingling in her privates.
"Oh, what have I done...", the wizard quipped, deadpanly.
"Always...ALWAYSSSS...", the woman tree moaned, seductively. "Faithfulness beyond any man's deserving! I will keep the color in your eyes when no other in the world remembers your name.."
Abby couldn't look away. Stray, bizarre thoughts suddenly clouded her head without her noticing. What if she was the tree? Yes...what if she was a sexy grow up tree with big boobies? The tree seemed so happy like this. And the wizard pushing into her boobies like that, did they feel good?
There was zoom out shot, with the tree now swaying side to side, with her boobies and the trapped wizard with her. The shape of the woman-tree, long and tall, with a base with two big orbs....why does she look like-
"Okay, no."
The movie stopped. Abby's dad had clicked the remote, firmly, keeping the screen frozen to that one bizarre shot.
Danny didn't object. Abby turned, and saw that her little brother was staring at the paused screen in an awed daze. His hand was gripping the front of his pants, but he quickly pulled it back as Abby noticed.
"Well...I didn't expect that in a kids movie," quipped their father. "We, uh...we should get them to have parental controls on this thing."
"Y-yeah," her mother stammered, slightly. "Kids, how about you pick something else?"
They flicked through the choices, and ultimately decided to put up 'Despicable Me'. As it played on, however, Abby couldn't help but think about her feelings from watching that strange scene. And she wondered what it was like to be that tree...
-------
At around 4:50, the Farlons finished the movie. Cole and Steph have switched to a sports channel to watch football, while Abby decided to bring out some pencils and paper to draw and write at the dinner table.
Danny, on the other hand, went into his room with a comic book in hand. The children's room has three cameras: one behind the one-sided mirror on the wall, and two on different corners of the ceiling.
As visible in surveillane footage, Danny laid on his bed and pillow, with comic in hand. He flipped through its pages idly, glancing between the comic and the walls of the bedroom. It seems he was listening closely for sounds. Then, Danny glanced at the closed door, before pulling up his bed comforters. With one hand still on his book, while the other was underneath.
This wasn't enough to block observation from scientists, however. Aside from thermal sensors in the walls, the nanites in the Farlon's bodies also allowed for a digital reading of their body postures and overall shape, even when not observed by cameras. And all sensors in the habitat's observation room indicate that Danny was fondling his erect, prepubescent penis.
However, Danny's reproductive organs have yet to mature enough to allow for an orgasm. For now, Danny could only fondle and tickle himself with no climax gained.
Meanwhile, Cole and Steph were having trouble resisting their feelings as well. As they watched the sports game together (with only passive attention), the two explicitly found their hands reaching for each other's pants. Their hearts have been recorded beating at a higher rate at this moment.
Cole, however, resisted. He proceeded to leave the couch, and pick up a random book on the shelf; before heading out into the outdoor lawn. Cole proceeded to take a long, circling walk, before sitting down on one of the provided lawn chairs, and began to read.
Stephanie, a little upset and worried, was left alone, and she proceeded to switch channels to a daytime talk show. Her arousal was only slightly dampened, but the woman kept it held in. Even though she kept tapping fingers on the couch.
As for Abby, the girl continued making drawings on the dining room table. The closest camera to the dining table was enough to capture the drawings themselves. Though Abby's artistic skills were about on par for an average 10-year-old , the subjects of her drawings could still be identified by scientists.
The first drawings seemed to be of the Farlon family's old house, with elements similar to past images of Farlon's destroyed home. The second seemed to be Abby's elementary school, but this drawing was unfinished, and scribbled out.
The third drawing, however, was a depiction of the tree from 'The Last Unicorn', complete with its near-phallic shape. Though she began slowly and uncertainly, the girl proceeded to take time and care to draw the animated character. Unlike in the movie, Abby also drew on nipples onto the tree's large breasts. Abby's body has also gone sexually aroused.
Abby then proceeded to draw more subjects of a transfomative nature. Turning over the abandoned 'school page', she drew what's believed to be a scene from her dream, featuring unclothed children transforming into animals and creatures, while standing around school desks. Most oddly, Abby also drew a clothed, female human figure similar to Dr. Ebenheardt. (Dr Ebenheardt was reportedly quite amused at this, though she's made sure to limit her appearances to the family from here on forward.)
Then, Abby began drawing what's believed to be members of her family. From speculation, it appears one drawing was of Abby's father Cole. Rather than his actual figure, Abby's portrayal of her dad depicted him with bigger arms and chest muscles, along with a wider waistline. Abby had stopped short of drawing in a phallus.
Her mother Steph was next. Abby depicted her mother with larger buttocks and breasts (with no nipples). However, Abby also drew facial whiskers like a cat, along with ears, paws and a tail. Abby was noticably rubbing her pants with her pencil at this point, and crossing her legs.
And then, Abby started drawing a little girl character, which the observing scientists believed to be Abby herself.
-------
'I shouldn't draw this...', thought Abby, as she looked at the stickfigure-like scribble on the paper, with her freckles and her long brown hair. She was seated crossed-leg atop the dining room chair.
It wasn't a new thought. She thought the same thing over and over, as she made drawings of her family as animals. And of the woman-tree from that movie, and that weird dream with her classmates. Why in the world was she thinking all this stuff??
It felt good. That's what Abby was sure of. Every time she thought of these things, it made her feel tingly and nice. Like butterflies in her stomach. But maybe that was a bad thing?
It had to be something to do with the experiment. She looked at her mother, who watched TV alone on the couch. Maybe she should tell her, or her dad? Then again, they seemed to have all kinds of worried right now. Maybe they had these feelings too, and they were
'A million dollars', Abby remembered. No. This mattered to her parents, and they're trying to be brave about it. And this mattered to Danny, too. Maybe when things get really scary, but now? She was just....nervous.
Her attention came back to her drawing on the paper. Absentmindedly, Abby knew what to draw next. Picking up the peachy-pink colored pencil, and the brown pencil, Abby drew herself again. But this time, without clothes.
She glanced at her mother, wondering if they'd notice. Then at her dad, who was outside in the yard reading a book. Abby continued, drawing the first idea she could think of.
First, it was of herself as a cow-person, with pointy ears and splotchy skin, and a big udder with teats sticking out. Abby found herself grinning, as she drew herself with a fat belly, all while still having her freckled face and long hair. She remembered learning about how cow udders were just a cow's boobs, and that's where milk comes from. Abby always wondered: why they'd bother getting milk from cows, if grown-up girls could make milk too?
With that done, Abby scribbled her next transformed self: a cute pink pig, standing on fours with with a large nose and also a fat belly, but still her similar features. Next to that, she also drew herself as a chicken, with a big beak and the weird red thing chickens had underneath them. She even added an egg half-emerging from her chicken self's butt.
Then Abby drew herself as someone big and muscular, with horns on their head like a demon. Before she knew what she was drawing, her pencil scratched out the mark of a long 'thing' emerging from between her legs. It wasn't a tail.
Abby bit at her lips, as she glanced at her unnoticing parents again. She scribbled over the figure furiously, and focused on another empty spot on the paper.
'How about...'
Abby started again. This time, she drew herself as a combination of different animals; something with four legs with hard hooves, and big wings. She'd have a long crocodile mouth that's opened up in a smile, and a pair of big elephant or mouse ears. Her body would be patterned like a zebra, and she'd had the tail of a mermaid! As Abby drew more details in, like another cow's udder under her body, her legs clenched tighter together, as the pleasant tingling returned...
DEET DEET DEET!
Abby nearly broke her pencil as she sat up rigid. It was the speaker-thingy by the front door, where the scientists could talk to them. Her mother stood up, and walked over, while Abby quickly gathered her drawings.
"Good evening, Mrs. Farlon," buzzed a voice on the intercom. "Just to let you know, dinner will be served a little early tonight at 6pm. Will that be alright?"
"Y-yes," replied her mother.
"We'll be having steak for you and Mr. Farlon," How rare would you like it cooked?"
"What was that?", asked Abby's father, as he walked through the glass doorway. Frantically, Abby flipped her drawings over, while putting on the most innocent face she could. This got several pencils clattering on the floor, though her dad didn't notice.
"They're asking how rare you want our steak cooked," said Abby's mom.
"Medium Rare's fine," replied her father. As the scientist talked over a few other arrangements, Abby found a large 'Barbie' picture book on the shelf, and stuffed her drawings inside, before casually walking over to watch more TV.
-----
Dr. Eberheardt chuckled at Abby's antics on-screen. Goodness, the girl did remind her so much of herself. Clumsy, sneaky, with secret passions. Passions which Eberheardt fueled with Merlin-5, of course, but still.
"How is their physiology, Dr. Percival?"
"Still human, with no differences besides hormone levels," replied the only other woman scientist in the room.
"Should we change that?"
"No, not yet," said Dr. Eberheardt. "We're only testing the psychological effects of Merlin-5 today."
Eberheardt thought it over, however. "Hmm...a slight maturation to the children's genitals would be welcome. No size changes, just increase their hormones and reproductive capability."
"Yes, doctor."
Nearby, Dr. Adam was on his chair, watching the Farlon family's body readings. "I think they're just hours away from breaking into a damn orgy. Should we turn down their stress levels?"
"Yes, that would be prudent," replied Dr. Eberheardt. No use having test subjects emotionally break down, flee in panic, or be forced to be locked up as prisoners. It wouldn't be worth all of Metamorph Inc's efforts, if law enforcement could swoop in to shut everything down. Metamorph was a lawful company, after all. No, what this family needs is positive reinforcement. A bit of soothing, and convincing that these events were worth bearing through.
At worse, Metamorph does have ways of removing memories from test subjects. But Dr. Eberheardt preferred it if the test subjects were willing. Even better if they found their experience enjoyable.
"Turn up their libidos," said Dr. Eberheardt.