"Okay, let's not panic," Alex says. "I mean, he had to have made his own backups, right? Anybody with any kind of serious work does that."
Jeanette nods. "Right. Guess there's nothing to do but search for them. Come on, everybody, take a look around."
You search for about half an hour before locating a safe kept near what looks like the server for a small home network - apparently Dr. Anderson liked to be able to work on his research from other places than the lab. The server is just as blank as the workstation you've been using, but the safe probably has what you're looking for. Fortunately, Jeanette's training must've included safecracking, because he's able to figure out the combination fairly quickly.
Inside the safe is something that makes your spirits soar - a full set of backup DVDs. Alex sighs happily. "Good," she says. "Look's like we're in luck; the last backup was just a month ago. Guess I'll get this restoring, and then we can figure out what to do from there."
She sets the backup restoring. You set Lily up with some approved (i.e. unimportant) odds and ends to play with, and the rest of you sit down, waiting for the backup. "Now, Ashley and James," Jeanette says, "I don't think you or Alex have heard this yet, but I'm with the FBI. I was sent here to investigate your disappearance. Could you tell me what happened to you two? It'd make my job a lot easier to have a first-hand account."
James shrugs. "Sure," she says. "It's pretty simple, really. Ash and I were on a camping trip in the state park, and we had our tent set up not too far from what I assume was the doctor's property line. You probably found that much out already."
Jeanette nods, and she continues. "Anyway, we were taking a stroll along the riverbank when we hit a chain-link fence. That was the north end of the doctor's enclosure for his experiments, as we later found out. We decided to walk the perimeter, just to see where it went, when all of a sudden there was a freakin' Triceratops on the other side of the fence. We nearly lost it, but it wasn't hostile; I don't know if it even noticed us. So we stopped to watch it do its thing. We watched it eat for about fifteen minutes when all of a sudden there was a 'zip!' and Ashley dropped to the ground. I just managed to turn around and see the doctor aiming his dart-gun at me before I got tranqed too. When the drugs finally wore off, we were sabertooth tigers, locked in the enclosure."
Ashley chuckles. "It actually took a whole day to notice the sex switch," he notes. "I mean, I knew my breasts were gone because I was an animal, so I didn't figure it out, and James didn't notice his missing junk because he couldn't see his tail end. Wasn't until we had to relieve ourselves that we figured out what had happened."
James smiles slightly, although it's a little hard to notice behind her enormous fangs. "Yeah. That was awkward. Anyway, we were out there for three weeks, as you know, just doing our best to survive. We couldn't figure a way out; we could climb the fence okay, we're cats after all, but it's topped with razor wire, which the doctor told us was also electrified. The gate was too heavy-duty to break through, and our attempts to dig under always ended with us hitting concrete. I don't know if there even is a way out of there. Alex, you escaped, right?"
Alex laughs. "Nah, not from the enclosure. The doctor had me out for a check-up and I escaped from the lab, that's all. I think he gave me a defective tranquilizer. You're right; if there is a way out, it's damn hard to find."
James shrugs. "At any rate," she says, "we were out there eating small animals and trying to figure out how to get out until Alex showed up with those IVs today. Sorry for the lack of derring-do, but neither of us are escape artists."
Jeanette nods. "That's all right, I'm not looking for an adventure story. I just want the facts for my report, and you did fine in that regard."
James grins. "No problem. Now you," she says, gesturing to you, "what about you and Lily? I don't think we've heard your story yet."
You shrug. "There's not much to tell," you say. "I was taking a walk in the park and stumbled onto Alex during her escape attempt. I figured she was going to attack me, but the doctor dropped her with a tranquilizer. We took her back to the lab and he put her in one of the holding cages, then started to explain to me how he supposedly made his creatures. As it turned out, there was a needle in the seat of my chair and he was just stalling me with a fake explanation until the tranquilizers kicked in. I was lucky enough to still be able to move a bit, so I slammed him with a tranquilizer. I only got a little under half the IV he stuck me with, so I wound up as this. I gave him the rest to give him an incentive to help me change back. We got Alex changed partly back to what she is now, and tried to figure out how to change back all the way. Long story short, a bunch of stuff went wrong in the attempt, and the doctor had her memories wiped and got age-regressed into a certain member of our party who isn't terribly careful with backup discs."
Ashley stares at you in surprise. "Then Lily is-"
"Er," you cut him off, "I'd prefer we don't reveal that until she's old enough to handle it. She's a happy, normal little girl, and I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not sacrifice that, particularily not for the memory of someone like Dr. Anderson."
Ashley nods. "I guess I can understand that. But won't she still be legally responsible for Dr. Anderson's actions?"
You grit your teeth. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Jeanette sighs. "We'll see. I agree that there's nothing left of the doctor in her; if she were faking amnesia, she would've known better than to destroy that backup. If we can prove total amnesia, she'll probably be absolved of responsibility. I really don't know, though; this whole thing has so many questions for which there are no legal precedents."
"I don't know if I made myself clear," you say. "I don't care what the legal outcome is; I'm not letting her be held responsible."
"Take it easy," Jeanette says. "Let's not get confrontational about this if we don't have to. I understand where you're coming from, and I agree, but with any luck it won't even be an issue. Honestly, I'm kind of half-considering trying to get the boys over at the CIA to fake the doctor's death so we can set up a whole new legal identity for Lily. That way the public can be satisfied that justice has been done, the court can award damages out of the 'late' doctor's estate, and Lily can have as normal a childhood as an amnesiac dinosaur-girl can without anybody in the general public knowing about her past."
"Do you think you can do that?" you ask. "That sounds like some pretty high-level string-pulling, at least to the layman. Er, laywoman, I guess."
He shrugs. "I don't know, but it'd sure make the legal proceedings a lot simpler, which I think will be the strongest argument for it. The less over-complication of the legal system that comes out of this, the better it is for everybody. Things will get crazy enough just with the prospect of sentient non-humans."
"Well, it better work out that way," you say. You don't know if it's just a basic sense of justice making you want to protect Lily, or if this mother thing is growing on you, but you're not about to let her suffer for the crimes of a man who doesn't exist anymore.
Jeanette's about to try to reassure you again when Alex lets loose with a loud yell of frustrated despair. "What is it?" you ask, as everyone turns to stare at her.
"The damn backup isn't what we need," she fumes. "According to his research journal, a month ago, all he had were primitive nanobots that killed half the subjects he tested them on and sent the rest into some kind of hyper-aging state."
"Hyper-aging?" James asks. Alex nods. "All those creatures out there in the enclosure were babies, created around a month ago from common animals of similar size to the infants of their new species. They've been growing at a highly accelerated rate ever since. They're adults now, as you've seen, and at this rate they'll probably be dead in another month or two. Whatever breakthrough the doctor accomplished that allowed us to be transformed without experiencing any of that, it was made after this backup."
"Do you think you can figure out how to get them working?" Jeanette asks.
"Me?" Alex scoffs. "Hell no. I'm a programmer, not an engineer, and certainly not a biologist. All I actually know about these things was from the documentation on the new model, and all we have left of that is what's in my head, so there's not much basis for comparison. Again, I think our best bet is to take this to someone in the field and see what they have to offer. Given the prospect of getting in on a discovery like this, I think they'd be more than happy to help us change back."
"So we're still stuck like this for the forseeable future," you sigh.
"That's right," she says. "But hey, at least we still have something to-"
She stops short as all of you notice a rustling noise outside the lab. "Get down," Jeanette hisses, and everyone drops to the floor.
A few seconds later, a group of armed men burst into the lab. "DON'T SHOOT!" Jeanette yells, as they stop to stare, amazed, at the creatures before them.
Fortunately, they don't shoot, and none of you move. "Who's there?" the leader asks, not seeming to realize that the voice came from one of the creatures on the floor.
"I'm right here," Jeanette replies. "It's me, Agent Sanders, although I suppose you'll have a hard time believing it."
The men stare as they realize that the dinosaur-creature on the floor is speaking. Finally, the leader seems to collect his wits. "St-stand up," he stutters. "Keep your hands where I can see them."
Jeanette stands up; the rest of you remain on the floor. "Relax," he says. "I'm not armed-" He cuts off as he remembers his claws and fangs. "Well, I don't have a weapon, at any rate. And I'm not hostile. Like I said, it's Agent Sanders."
The leader stares at him, particularily at his clearly male privates. "Right. Sure you are."
Jeanette shrugs. "I can understand you not believing me, but at any rate, I'll tell you that the others are the Kentons, two other people who got caught up in the suspect's experiments unawares, and the little girl, whom I really need to talk to the higher-ups about."
The leader shakes his head. "Well, this is crazy enough to where I guess I can accept that you might be Sanders, at least until we find her corpse. But I'm going to have to take you all into custody until we get things sorted out."