Dr. Anderson suggests that the likeliest way to cause a buffer overflow in the DNA modification code is to use an injection encoded for a similar but not identical genetic sequence, like a different subspecies. With your merely average computer know-how, the explanation flies right over your head, but you gather it has something to do with the number of comparisons going up exponentially with increasing similarity, or something like that. At any rate, the doctor has already designed several Velociraptor sub-species, mostly with minor visual alterations, so you grab an appropriate IV bag and prepare another syringe of the cure. "Now listen," Alex says. "I've got the computer monitoring network traffic between her nanobots. I'll tell you when they go down. When they do, I want you to stick her with the cure. Okay, let's do this."
Dr. Anderson sighs, probably wishing she weren't the guinea pig for her own experiments, but she swabs down an area on her arm, and you stick the IV in.
As usual, nothing happens for several minutes. Then Alex lets out a yelp. "Oh no!" she yells. "Oh shit shit SHIT!"
A glance at the computer screen reveals nothing you can understand, but when you look back to the doctor, you see that she's changing, and not in the way you're expecting. "Do I give her the cure?" you ask.
"NO!" Alex snaps. "God knows what'll happen if we introduce more of those things into her system!"
You watch as Dr. Anderson changes. Her breasts sink back into her chest, and the feminine curves of her body disappear, leaving her with a much straighter body shape - but not the kind you saw on Alex when she was a full Velociraptor. The doctor's still as humanoid as before, just less curvy. Her face becomes less refined and womanly as well, but it doesn't change into a muzzle; instead, it becomes softer and rounder. As you wonder what could be happening to her, she emits an alarming gurgling noise, spasms, and faints, her changes apparently over.
A brief examination reveals that she's essentially the same as before; an anthropomorphic female Velociraptor, seemingly reptile but with mammalian sexual characteristics; it's just that her secondary sex characteristics (her curves and bust) are gone; you figure that the injected nanobots must have only changed her that far into a full Velociraptor before being stopped.
"What happened?" you ask Alex, double-checking to make sure that the doctor's breathing okay.
"I'm not entirely sure," she says. "The buffer overflow didn't go the way I hoped; it worked on a technical level, but instead of crashing it overwrote some data and wound up back in legitimate code space, which caused the nanobots to go haywire. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell they did, aside from disabling the injection nanobots before they got a chance to act; all I can tell you is that there was some major activity from the nanobots in her brain. Luckily, your nanobots appear to have formed their own separate network a while ago, or you'd probably have suffered the same fate."
But if the injection nanobots were neutralized, you reason, then the changes must have been made by the nanobots already in the doctor's body. You begin to wonder if they were really trying to make her a full Velociraptor, or whether they were doing something else.
You look at Dr. Anderson, who yawns and sits up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Her voice is higher than it was before, and you suddenly understand: she's not an adult anthropomorphic Velociraptor who happens to be the same size as a real Velociraptor, she's a young anthropomorphic Velociraptor! She's been age-regressed into a little girl! That's why she didn't return to normal size; she has to grow up all over again!
She blinks and looks around, first at herself and then at you. "Are you my mommy?" she asks, her voice conveying nothing but sincerity.
"Um, no," you say, surprised. "No, I'm not." Does she really not remember who you are? Does she remember who she is? You think about that burst of nanobot activity in her brain that Alex mentioned; when it age-regressed her, did it wipe her memories as well?
"Don't be silly," she says, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm a little girl, and you're a lady, and you look like me and you smell like me, so I think you must be my mommy."
She's got a point; the two of you do look quite similar, since you were each given one half of the same injection. And now that she mentions it, your newly-enhanced sense of smell tells you that she's right; she does smell like you, you just never noticed it before. People probably would mistake you for mother and daughter; in fact, given how you got this way, it's not inconceivable that you might come up related on a blood test. This certainly complicates things.
"Mommy?" she asks. "What's my name? I can't remember."
This is just too complicated. If she really doesn't remember who she is, what do you do? Do you give up Dr. Anderson for lost, and let this little girl live? Or do you ignore her plight, in hopes of restoring the mind of the man who might be able to return you all to normal?
"Listen, honey," you say. "Do you remember anything about who you are? Do you remember Dr. Anderson at all?"
The little Velociraptor-girl shakes her head, tears beginning to form in her cat-like eyes. "No," she sniffs. "All I know is that I'm a little girl, and you must be my mommy, and that means you'll take care of me. Please, mommy, won't you tell me my name?"
"Go ahead," Alex chimes in. "I don't think we'll ever get the doctor back; it seems like the nanobots did a total memory wipe except for her basic functional knowledge."
You sigh. Dr. Anderson was probably your best hope of returning to normal, but it looks like she's completely gone, and you probably couldn't bring yourself to erase this innocent little girl to bring back such a scuzzball, anyway. "Lillian," you say, resigning yourself to whatever hope Alex has to offer. "Your name is Lily."
Lily rushes into your arms and hugs you tight. You sigh again, a little contentment mixed in with the melancholy. It didn't happen the way you'd expect, and you're not really sure what kind of a parent you'll make, but it looks like you've just gained yourself a daughter.
Alex simply looks on until your embrace is over, then speaks. "I'm glad that's taken care of," she says, "but we need to figure out how to get ourselves back to normal. Given how disastrously the hacking attempt went, I'm thinking we should try the electromagnet technique."
"All right," you say. "But according to the doctor's records, there have been other human victims. I think we should get them to anthropomorphic level first, just in case."
Alex considers it. "I suppose we could," she says. "But I'd rather restore them completely, right from the get-go."