"So, everyone is fine that Heather or Tyra didn't win?" Doctor Stein commented into the phone as he talked with Jeremy.
His office was calm and quiet outside of the phone conversation, but to a degree, Doctor Stein was generally fairly pleased to be able to talk with Jeremy from time to time. The two had worked as partners at Horizon for a fair amount of time, though, Stein had generally been the senior partner for most of it. But since Jeremy became a Syntixisaurus Dinotopian and married Heather, it made sense that he would take over the main operations for Horizon in Dino City. That all made sense to Doctor Stein, and he was happy to be able to talk with one who was now a partner and doing fairly well.
"I think there was a bit of disappointment," Jeremy answered, "but they seem to like Sophie and Roland... so if Tyra or Heather were to lose... Mason and Anna-Poly would probably prefer it being to Sophie... and Rex to Roland, obviously. And Heather and Tyra were more impressed by Sora and Yuki essentially sliding under Marjorie to pass them in the last race. A real daredevil stunt that ultimately worked."
"That was impressive to see," Doctor Stein commented, "I have to admit that. I'm sure some of that may keep you busy with conversions down there."
"Things there are always busy," Jeremy commented, "though with most Dinotopians... unless they're coming here or to Mesozoic Enclave, that could require a lot of work for the logistics..."
Doctor Stein nodded. What Jeremy had said was a big part of why places like Dino City and Mesozoic Enclave were set up, to build colonies where the larger Dinotopians wouldn't be as cramped as they were in Lyre/Animalia. They managed, but some things at first were still rather tight and when the Dinotopians first arrived, the prep work for that wasn't there, and that generally left few Dinotopians living still in Lyre/Animalia. Those that did tended to be those closer to the size of modern megafauna, which then had Triceratops or Stegosaurus Dinotopians among the largest that lived in Lyre/Animalia. One female Triceratops was in the Rhino Guard and partnered with a Wolly Rhinoceros Animalian. One male Stegosaurus was working out community service and with the state government's efforts to fight drug abuse. There was also the Maiasaura family with the father working in construction and the mother as a nurse. Though after the Year of the Dragon tournament, a pair of large Sauropod Dinotopians came into Lyre/Animalia and for a while were at the Luwrie and Albers residences before moving to some new homes built on Animalia's southern edge. They had to go through the logistics.
"In the meantime, enough about me, what about you?" Jeremy asked over the phone, "surely you've had some big things come up since 2024 started..."
"Well... there have," Doctor Stein commented and gave a small smile, "Did you see the report that Animalia Ambassadoria did on the women with "Lotus feet," right?"
"Yes, I think the first one became a Snake Animalian," Jeremy commented.
"Not just any snake, a White-Lipped Pit Viper, and one of an unusual color for the species," Doctor Stein commented, "let me tell you about it..."
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Doctor Stein was actually quite surprised by what had come in with Lady Zhen for her conversion. Of course, she didn't bring it in, herself, but a group of zoo officials from Thailand. They carried a large plastic box that had a wooden branch in it. Resting on that branch was a lone snake, and judging by its triangular head, it was likely a viper of some kind. The more striking thing was that the snake had a sort of pale blue... or pale bluish-green body, depending on the angle of the light hitting it. Its belly scales were a light and pale shade of yellow and the scales between the snake's eyes and the bottom of its jaw was a much lighter shade of blue or bluish green than the rest of it.
"This is the specific snake that I would wish used for my conversion," Miss Zhen spoke calmly to Doctor Stein.
"I could see why it would be intriguing," Doctor Stein commented, "though... I'm not sure on the species."
"It is a White-Lipped Pit Viper, sir," one of the zoo officials from Thailand spoke.
"A White-Lipped Pit Viper... aren't they largely a shade of green?" Doctor Stein asked to them.
"Normally they are," the zoo official spoke, "and when we were first contacted, we did report that that description sounded a bit... fantastical and that it might be easier to work with a species that actually DOES have a bluish coloration... or a shade of gray that in the right light would look blue. But Miss Zhen was quite insistent and had the money to pay for us to send teams into the jungle to find a snake of this description... which, much to our surprise, we found."
"We also did conduct some genetic tests, it IS a White-Lipped Pit Viper," the other zoo official spoke, "it would appear that this must simply be a rare color variation that is likely exceedingly rare. Though, once you have what you need for the conversion, we will be able to return this animal to Thailand... though it may be kept in our zoo for added study and see if it can be bred with the others we have on display for this species."
"If it is a recessive gene... or something that would represent an odd genetic condition, it'd be rare," Doctor Stein commented, "and you may not get more with this coloration. It's often been why so many breeding programs with animals with those rare traits are often inbred."
"Don't worry," the first zoo official spoke, "the zoo won't engage in anything like that."
"In the meantime," Miss Zhen spoke up from her seat, "how long will it take you to handle the creation of the necessary strain?"
"Well... in pure theory, we'd only need to mix some element of the snake's DNA with the Animalia virus itself and that combination would be automatic," Doctor Stein explained, "and that could be anything from the snake's blood to its venom. However, the use of the venom could cause some undue pain and the use of blood on its own may be... odd. Producing a standard serum that would contain the snake's DNA and the Animalia virus for standard distribution would take a little longer... And given the rarity of this color strain... we would like enough time to collect those samples."
"I'd have no problem with you taking samples," Miss Zhen spoke and then brushed her grey hairs away from her eyes, "though I would like to go as quickly as I could with the conversion. If you want to use a small dose of the venom... that's fine. Trust me, I'm not unfamiliar with pain and difficulty."
Doctor Stein looked down to see that this older woman was wearing shoes that looked like they would be too small for a woman of her height. It was this that jogged his memory from the filed paperwork, that Miss Zhen was among those in China that had been subjected to various foot binding practices in order to fit them into smaller shoes. The repeated breaking and deforming of bones was painful and often left those subjected to it with difficulty in mobility... all in the name of beauty. Of course, he also recognized that some would consider becoming an Animalian a similar sort of issue, but then, no Animalian that he'd ever men suffered from pains that came as a result of being an Animalian.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"I take it she chose venom mixed with the Animalia Virus?" Jeremy asked.
"In a sense, yes," Doctor Stein nodded, though Jeremy couldn't see that through the phone, "likely as some element of playing that it would represent the last of the pain that would relate to those sorts of things. So... I escorted her to a waiting room while the zoo technicians came with me to the lab. There I drew enough blood from the snake that it could take without risk of bleeding to death and we milked it of its venom. From there, a tiny does of the venom was mixed in with the Animalia virus for the two doses she received. Once I had the samples I needed, the two zoo officials left. Apparently, their sole purpose was more looking after the snake and not Ms. Zhen."
"Wouldn't she be Chinese though?" Jeremy asked, "you said the two zoo officials were from Thailand... So... would they really have responsibility for her."
"I suppose that's true... though I could have wished for some help," Doctor Stein commented.
"Huh?" Jeremy's voice came through the phone.
"That's more from comes next in the story," Doctor Stein answered...
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"I could deliver the shot if you would like, sir," a Horizon nurse said to Doctor Stein as he returned to the conversion room.
He had delivered Miss Zhen's shot a few minutes before and then moved to retrieve the vaccine so that Miss Zhen wouldn't be at risk of turning more people into White-Lipped Pit Vipers that happened to have a more bluish-green tint to their scales than the bright green the snake was typically known for. As he returned, one of the nursing staff was there with the next set of clothes that Miss Zhen may need, though given that the fact that the White-Lipped Pit Viper wasn't a huge snake, most pre-conversion clothing could probably still be worn. The one thing that would definitely need changing would be things related to skirts, since Snake Animalians didn't have legs.
"No, it's fine... I can wait," Doctor Stein replied politely as there then came a clicking sound from the door handle.
The two turned to it and saw it jiggle for a moment in an up and down fashion, likely as Miss Zhen tried to get out. But, because Horizon had made sure that the conversion rooms were secure in case someone had a bad reaction to the rush of "animal instincts" to the conversion, the locks were all on the hallway side of the door. This prevented newly converted Animalians from just leaving. From there, there was a knock on the door.
"I'm ready," came a soft hissing voice through the door, "I may need a ssssssssssssssssssssssssskirt."
The nurse turned to Doctor Stein, who nodded. From there nurse unlocked the door and opened it enough to pass the skirt through and saying that Doctor Stein would handle the vaccination shortly. Doctor Stein did wait and after a few moments there was a knock on the door again. He then moved to enter the room to find Miss Zhen seated on the bed, and having taken on the same sort of largely bluish green coloring on her scales, with the exception of her lips, which were a lighter shade. The belly scales were also the pale, almost whitish shade of yellow. She was also to figure out how to sit with her tail, as the normal way would essentially have her sitting on her spine, which wasn't how a snake's spine was designed to rest.
"Most converted Snake Animalians have found the need to coil their bodies when on the ground or in a chair, much like many ground dwelling snakes," Doctor Stein offered.
"I ssssssssssssssssssssssssssee," Miss Zhen spoke, her voice hissing a bit as she tried to adjust to her new tongue. Though as she looked to Doctor Stein as he lifted up the sleeve on her shirt, which was also stretched more than before by her new scaled chest, she noted the calm smile and warm strength about him. It made her feel bad about her present hissing while talking.
Doctor Stein went about his work and delivered the vaccination shot and then nodded to her as he prepared to make his way out.
"Thank you," Miss Zhen said to him.
"It's no problem, ma'am," Doctor Stein answered, "hopefully you'll enjoy a pain free life from no on."
"I do too... though... I'd like to thank you more," Miss Zhen said to him and managed to get up and slither toward him. "If you know what I mean..."
She placed her hands on Doctor Stein's chest, making him back away.
"For you are quite handsss... handssssss... good looking," Miss Zhen spoke, "and kind hearted to do all thisssssssssssssss of me and... otherssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssubjected to binding..."
"Well... I think you," Doctor Stein managed a weak smile and backed away, fearing this could be another major Regressive Hypersexuality Syndrome case, "though... I am afraid I am happily married."
That got Miss Zhen to stop, "Oh... ssssssssssssssssssorry... I..."
"It's alright," Doctor Stein commented, "your libido is going to be much higher as an Animalian. And there have been some cases where those that are older... are... well... a little more eager than other Animalians. It doesn't effect all, and we can't truly predict how often it will occur... but for the most part, it will be something that you can control."
Miss Zhen only looked down.
"And I'm sure you will find someone," Doctor Stein managed to finish.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So... this is like the fourth new Animalian that's made a pass at you after converting?" Jeremy gave a teasing laugh.
"Very funny," Doctor Stein answered, "though, thankfully, Miss Zhen wasn't the most aggressive at it... If she does have RHS, it's only a very mild case."