"So what is all this?" I asked curiously, "equipment obviously, but what does it do?"
"Most of it basic medical and scientific equipment," Leona answered as we set the equipment in the front passenger seat of my truck, "It will allow me to take blood samples and look at it under a microscope to get some analysis... though from what Jackson told me and from what I can see here, I already have an hypothesis on how this happened to you."
"You're a little bit further along then we are then," I commented.
"I'm sure your guesses are fairly close," Leona answered, "you simply don't want to admit it for fear of blaming Molly..."
I didn't know how to really answer that. I would never blame Molly. If anything I would blame Changes and his decision to turn people into animals for a profit making freak show.
"Okay..." I said slowly and nervously after a moment.
"What is your hypothesis?" Jacob asked.
"I'd prefer to explain that once everyone is able to meet with this town's police chief," Leona sighed, "it'll save on having to repeat anything... so, where is Molly?"
"Right now she's working as a teacher's aid in the town," I answered, "and because of some rather difficult circumstances, she won't be available until the weekend."
"What sort of circumstances?" Leona questioned, "am I to understand that the answers to the questions your transformation has raised are important?"
"They are important," I nodded slowly, "but some idiot has formed a hate group dedicated to getting Molly and I to leave Columbia Falls. And the school superintendent is a member of it. So while the answers needed are important, they are not important to the school, and the school superintendent will take it as an opportunity to fire Molly if she leaves to take care of anything he views as unimportant."
"Because of what Eugene did to her?" Leona questioned.
"Because she refused to mindlessly follow some idiot rancher," I said slowly, "how much of this is truly racism against two tiger people and how much of it is political favors to the rancher, I don't know."
"Wonderful," Leona grumbled, "just wonderful. Another one of these groups..."
"Another?" Jacob gasped before I could.
"I got a call from a contact on one of the other victims, Harry," Leona answered, "he had gone home to his family's ranch in Texas. From what was given to me, he contacted his old sweet heart and was seen by some members of the town. A few nights later, an armed mob stormed the ranch and shot him dead, while a separate mob beat the girl senseless... and both groups left a blatant message that "sex with animals is sin"..."
"They didn't..." I began.
"The girl has reported that they didn't do anything of that nature, but that doesn't change what the group did and claimed," Leona answered, "no definite leads have been made yet."
I gave a low growl, voicing my displeasure at the behavior, but a good part of me feared that eventually that if legal means failed, R.A.M. might go beyond the law to get what they wanted.
"We'd best get going," Jacob spoke, "the local chief will want you to get started right away."
"Of course," Leona nodded while I climbed into the backseat.
Leona then climbed in after me. I blinked in surprise, and tried to make myself smaller, but it didn't work all that well. She had to lay on the floor of the truck while I was on the seat, but we were still forced to squeeze together, and found that Leona's fur was much coarser then mine or Molly's was.
"Sorry," Leona said after a moment, as if she sensed my surprise and discomfort at this.
++++++++++++++++++
The ride down was cramped, but we managed to make it down to the police station without incident. The next big task was establishing a sort of mobile lab for Leona to set to work in, and my father and I were quick to help her carry her pieces of equipment in. The duty officers had little reaction to me, as if they were used to my form already. They were however startled by Leona's appearance.
"Who is this, Officer Wayne?" one of the duty officers asked me.
I was slightly startled by the respect this officer was showing me, but I let it go.
"This is the first "victim" of the freak show that got and transformed Molly," I answered, "Leona Washburn."
"She was the first person the guy grabbed?"
"In a sense," Leona answered, "I had been working on the "drug" before Changes came up with his freak show idea. I had hoped to use it to ultimately cure cancer, but he took my experiments beyond the parameters I had set for them to make a quick profit."
"Wow," the duty officer gasped.
"We're here to see Officer Howard," I told her.
"He's in his office, go on in," the duty officer replied.
I then slowly lead our short parade to Officer Howard's office. I set the piece of equipment I was carrying down and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Officer Howard answered.
"Hello, sir," I spoke as I entered, "Leona has arrived and is ready to begin the tests that are needed... at least those that can be done with me."
He stood up and came out and around his desk. He gave Leona only a passing glance and began to move into a different section of the station.
"Come with me," he said firmly.
We followed him into what was normally the interrogation room in the station.
"We normally do interrogations here, but it's the closest thing we have to a lab for you, Ms. ..."
"Washburn, Leona Washburn," Leona answered.
Officer Howard nodded while Leona began to set up her equipment.
"So how long will it take for you to get your answers?" Officer Howard questions.
"It shouldn't take too long to confirm what I suspect," Leona answered, "perhaps we could begin with an explanation of what you and Molly were doing right before you transformed."
"Well, we had just gotten married during the day and we were enjoying our wedding night," I told her, "I don't have to be graphic, do I?"
"No."
We continued to watch as Leona finished setting up her equipment. Once she was done, she motioned for me to come close to one end of the table.
"Okay, George, to start with, I'm going to need some blood samples, which I can take now," Leona spoke as she began shaving the fur on the inside of my elbow, "Once we're done with that, I will need a semen sample from you."
"Semen?" I asked
"Yes," Leona answered, "it'll be part of what I'll need to confirm what I suspect happened."
"Could you explain what you suspect to all of us?" Officer Howard asked.
"I'd prefer that this wait until we have everyone here, including the now Molly Wayne," Leona answered.
"Our City Council will expect you to explain this to them as well, and they will not accept a change in their schedule to explain it once," Officer Howard spoke, "they've made that clear. You will have to alter your schedule to suit them."
"I'm sure," Leona spoke and moved to begin drawing blood from the spot she had shaved on my arm.
+++++++++++++++++++++
The testing went by quietly over the next few days. Some of it was very embarrassing for me, but I managed. On a Saturday, Molly, Leona, and I walked in to the station and Leona ran similar tests on Molly. While she was busy with Molly, I talked with Officer Howard outside the room with my father, who looked worn out from the hike.
"I did get a call in, your new uniforms will be ready in a few days," Officer Howard said to me, "they should arrive shortly."
"Good to hear," I shrugged, "hopefully whatever answer Leona can give will also be satisfactory."
"So do I," Leona said from behind us, "So do I."
"Is the testing done?" Officer Howard asked.
"I have all the samples that I need," Leona answered, "the tests should be done in a couple of hours. However, I would prefer it that if I'm also to inform your City Council, I would prefer to wait until that meeting to voice my results and findings."
"Ma'am, they're attempting to meddle in Officer Wayne's career," Officer Howard answered, "and to get rid of his wife, for some reason or another... if they don't..."
"If they don't like the answer, I'm afraid it is too late for anything you could do ahead of time," Leona answered.
That left both Molly and I a nervous wreck for the rest of weekend and Monday morning.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the Monday evening after all the samples for the tests were completed, Molly and I both followed Leona and Officer Howard into the City Council meeting. Again the Mayor, the City Council members, and Pierre Beauregard were there.
"And you are?" the Mayor asked to Leona.
"Leona Washburn," Leona answered, "I am the one responsible for the formula used on Molly Wayne and on myself..."
"Why aren't you in jail?" Beauregard growled.
"If you followed my trial and the trial of Eugene Changes in any detail, sir, you would know that I did not WANT this to be done and that I did not approve of the Animatrix Fun House scheme that he had," Leona answered, "you would also know that he, quite literally, at gunpoint forced me to take my experiments beyond their intention. I plead guilty to the minor related charges and have been sentenced to a probationary period, presently supervised by Officer Jacob Wayne, Chief of Police Peoria, Illinois."
She then motioned to my father who was on one side of me. Molly stood on my other side.
"I see," the Mayor answered, motioning Beauregard to sit back down, "and Officer Jacob Wayne, what is your position on this issue?"
"I wouldn't take away the rights of my son or his wife because of what has happened," Jacob answered, "but then, you don't care about what I think, because I'm not urging the arrest of my son and his wife..."
"Now..." the Mayor began to speak.
"Let me ask you a different question, who has been the most vocal against my son and his wife?"
The Mayor didn't answer the question.
"Who has urged you to focus your legal attention on my son and his wife?"
Again the Mayor didn't answer.
"In my opinion, sir, this entire case is a case of small town corruption," Jacob answered, "My son and his wife decided not to obey a rich rancher, and he's since used all the influence and power he has to make a mountain out of a mole hill because he didn't get what he wanted. And if he tried anything like this in Peoria, he would find himself behind bars."
"But the problems of your son's transformation..."
"Is not worthy of firing him because of his physical form; it is not worthy of placing a special law that says he has to pay an outlandishly high price for a marriage license in cash only; it is not worthy of calling the entire school board together to fire my daughter-in-law," Jacob answered, "It warrants investigation, certainly. But it doesn't warrant what you've done so far. And that is all I have to say, as you don't care about any of it. As they say about talk radio... don't bother us with the facts. Rush has already told us what to believe."
The Mayor didn't answer immediately.
"Very well," the Mayor sighed, "Ms. Washburn, you may explain."
Leona nodded. She then wheeled a small projector to the center of the room and pulled down a projection screen that was on the wall.
"I will begin with a brief explanation of serum used in Eugene Changes scheme," Leona spoke and placed a transparency on the projector, "it works with a complex retro virus connected to the DNA sequence of the specific animal. In the original experiment, it was to be refined so that it would give a human one specific portion of that DNA sequence with the intention of improving the immune system. However, it was nowhere near ready for human testing when Changes hijacked it. When he did so, the retrovirus was powerful, but not refined..."
"Meaning..." a Council member asked.
"Meaning that the retrovirus would rewrite every DNA sequence in the test subject to adapt to the new DNA," Leona answered, "the result is what happened to myself and Molly Wayne, though my case was with the DNA of an African Lion, and specifically a male lion, and Molly's was with the DNA of a Bengal Tiger. The retrovirus was not strong enough remove all "human-like" traits, but it did lead to a drastic change in form."
"Drastic indeed," Beauregard sneered.
"How did this retrovirus affect George Wayne, ma'am?" a different Council member asked, "he wasn't injected with it directly."
"That I'm afraid is the second part of my presentation," Leona answered, "I suspected it when I was told what happened to George Wayne, but could not confirm it until I arrived here. It would appear that the retrovirus not only allows for the rewriting of the "host's" DNA but it also attaches itself to the individual cells of the "host". In this case the host was Molly Wayne. As her bodily cells divided and were formed within her body, the retrovirus was rebuilt in each new cell. When George and Molly had sexual intercourse on their wedding night, his system was exposed to the bodily fluids related to sexual reproduction, and much like the AIDS virus, the retrovirus and Bengal Tiger DNA was transfered into George Wayne resulting in his transformation, and it is entirely likely that any children they may have will carry the retrovirus."
"Then neuter the may and spay the female," Beauregard urged, "Problem solved."
"This retrovirus, it's in their DNA now?" a Council member asked.
"Yes."
"Would..."
"The only other successful means of transferring the retrovirus would be through a blood transfusion," Leona spoke, "I have confirmed that the retrovirus can not survive in "dead" cells, or anything on George and Molly... or myself, that would be exposed to the air, which includes our fur, pads, nose, breath, saliva, and skin underneath the fur."
"What about an open wound? What if you cut yourself and match the wound to the wound of another?" the first Council member asked.
"That would depend on whether you can keep air from touching the wounds," Leona answered, "which is unlikely."
"And how are we to keep our town from becoming tigers?" the Mayor asked.
"Ultimately you may not be able to," Leona answered, "given that the tiger is critically endangered, neutering George and spaying Molly would be illegal..."
"And if their children carry this retrovirus?" the Mayor demanded.
"If that is the case, sir," Officer Howard spoke, "perhaps a statue insuring that any future transformation of that nature be consensual and not forced or without information of what will happen as a result of such action. If someone WANTS to become a tiger... I'm not sure we could stop them."
"Simple touch won't cause a transformation?" a Council member asked.
"No," Leona answered, "it would actually be extremely difficult for Molly and George to transform others."
"That's a relief," the Council member answered.
"ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID! SHE SAID THEY CAN TRANSFORM HUMANS! HUMANS ARE THE HIGHEST FORM OF LIFE THERE IS! AS GOD INTENDED IT! THEY MUST BE NEUTERED AND SPAYED TO PROTECT OUR SUPERIORITY!" Beauregard roared.
The mayor sighed while two of the Council members nodded in agreement with Beauregard. The remaining Council members looked on in complete surprise.
"I propose we arrange for some statue along the lines of Officer Howard's idea," one of the Council members who looked surprise, "one of the cashiers down at the supermarket has voiced wanting to meet the "Tiger-lady" in a way that would indicate that if he knows he could become a tiger person as well, he might not stop at anything regardless of the consequences."
"And give up being human?!" Beauregard demanded.
"From what I've gathered, yes," the Council member replied, "best to insure that if it happens it's willing. If not... THEN we can throw the book at them."
At that Beauregard quieted down, but he didn't look remotely pleased.
"Officer Howard, please stay to discus this point of law," the Mayor spoke, "Officer Wayne of Columbia Falls, Molly Wayne, Chief Officer Wayne of Peoria, Illinois, Ms. Leona Washburn, we thank you for coming, but your presence is no longer necessary."
We nodded and slowly made our way out.
"Thank you for explaining everything, Leona," Molly spoke, "I don't think I got all of it, but it is good to know what transformed George... and to be honest, since that freak show, I've kinda had a fear of needles... and of course, the only person I'll be mating with is George."
"I did the best I could," Leona answered.
"You helped take Beauregard down a peg," I commented with a smile, "his little outburst likely will keep his idea of just getting rid of Molly and I."
"Your chief and the one council member did more of that," Leona responded, "but if I can insure that the two of you have a happily ever after, I will take it."