Molly and I didn't know what to make of it when we were given an anonymous reservation to the most fancy restaurant you could get without it
having a dress code. There were no ominous conditions like 'come alone' or any sort of threat. It was simply a reservation that the restaurant
said was made in our names as guests.
"Guests of who exactly?" I asked over the phone.
I will never forget what I heard next as long as I live. It had to be the most absurd and glaringly alias in the history of the human language. In
other words, they wanted to know it wasn't their real name.
The reservation had been arranged for when I and Molly would both have time off from our work.
We didn't get nearly as many glares or looks as would have a year ago.
Peaceful violin music played in the background, the scent of flowers and soap and oiled wood was almost overpowering. A reservation at a
place like this wasn't easy to come by or cheap.
The man already sitting at the table when the waiter guided us to our table was practically draped over his chair. He wore semi-transparent
sunglasses, fine gloves, and a dark blue suit with tie. His lanky build made it hard for me to tell his age. He was also wearing a generous
amount of perfume, making it impossible for me to pick up his scent through it.
"Good Sir. Miss Molly. Please sit down." He said in a polite voice.
"And you are?" I asked remembering how friendly Beauregard had seemed at first.
"My name is of no significance. I'm just here as a mouth piece. I've been brought into service merely to speak on behalf of those I am speaking
for. Which I am under a agree of no confidence not to divulge."
"I'd still like to know who you are exactly."
"I'm just someone whose been very good at being nobody all their life."
"People who hide things aren't exactly to be trusted."
"For shame good sir. That is the excused used by the King of France to exterminate the Knight Templar and seize their assists, among their
other crimes at the time such as not slaughtering Muslims who surrendered."
"I doubt you'd have gone to all this trouble for a history lesson."
"Indeed. But please first sit down. It's best not talk about these things on an empty stomach."
"We're big eaters."
"Don't worry, I won't leave you with the bill."
"Says the man who won't give his name."
"That's mostly for the sake of 'don't shoot the messenger.' Let's the message stand on it's own. Besides, isn't this overtly complex for a
ambush or prank?"
"Also for a discussion."
"Granted. Now can we order before we starve to death please?"
Of course myself and Molly ordered steak, rare, repeatedly. Our host ordered steak well done.
"Now that we're all settled." Said our host sipping on red wine from a tall glass. "I came here by behalf of my higher authority if you please talk
with Miss Leona in allowing her creation to not remain hidden in a safe."
"Good-bye." We started to leave.
He didn't even flinch. "I can appreciated you not wanting to be used. But would you at least hear a man out?"
Molly and I looked at each other and sat back down.
"You're not part of the grass roots group that want the mistake of Leona's formula being let out, there's no way they could afford this." Molly
said simply.
"I won't say if I am or not. But I'm sure you can guess. And so we're all on the same page, please tell me in your own words precisely why you
don't want Miss Leona's formula to let loose on an unprepared civilization?"
"Because it's insane! Molly and I had our DNA altered and now there are people who want it done on PURPOSE?! They're idiots! They think it's
some kind of fantasy. They don't recognize the dangers or the risks of new instincts or the practical problems of a new body!"
He gestured at me, "And yet YOU stand before me. You and your wife. A perfectly rational, perfectly reasonable, productive, functional
responsible, up standing members of society. You've proven better than your instincts, for an animal that isn't even supposed to be greatly
social to begin with. You are as you've proven in court and to the community, that you are in full control of your instincts and have not lost your
ethnic or morality to your new brain. It is rather arrogant my good sir to assume that only you, someone who had no intention of being this
way, and was caught totally off guard being this way, can handle themselves while someone who has a somewhat vague idea of what's coming
and is openly seeking it will not."
I didn't know if he knew if I was the way I was due to Molly and not Changes but I wasn't about to let him know if he didn't.
"IF we could go back to being human we would." Molly injected.
"And that is not remotely the point." He sipped the wine, "The point is. Is that the two of you are the walking, breathing, living proof that even
in it's crude state Miss Leona's formula does not turn the person into a sociopath or leave them mentally retarded. If you truly believe that
these people who WANT to be transformed will, by default, or a significant percentage of them, would NOT be able to handle themselves due to
the law of averages, then you and your wife should have stayed isolated from the general public and not have not been let near others until vast
amounts of every possible mental and psychological test had been done on you and the rest of Changes victims. And yet you were let out
among your fellow people, and here you are now."
"What makes you think you know what you're talking about?"
"Forgive me the turn about, but what makes you? For you this state is a curse because it was FORCED on you. But for others who want to make
their own choice, whose to judge before the fact? I don't expect you for one moment to just change your point of view from what I've said. That
only happens in the movies. I merely hope that after you've emotionally responded to someone contradicting you on something you feel greatly
about, you'll -then- think about what I said and wonder if someone who thinks differently from you just -might- actually possible against all
odds have a point."
"You sound high and mighty."
He bowed his head, "I deeply apologize if I come across as so then. That's why I refuse to give my name. For you can judge what I say on what
I say rather than myself. 'Ad hominid' is not limited to the political arena after all."
"So you're being avatar for whoever just because you were paid?" I asked incredulous.
"Please. A man is nothing without his conscience. And for the record, I DO think the majority of people who want this don't know what they're
asking for. A new gender, a new body, a new species, a new suit of clothes, different colored hair, new colored eyes: none of these things lead
to happiness or fulfillment unto themselves."
"Then WHY?"
He leaned no closer, the light glaring off his sunglasses, "Ever read the short story about a man in ancient China who invented a flying machine
thousands of years ahead of it's time? The Emperor had him executed and his machine destroyed to keep what he saw as a dangerous
technology from spreading. And just give some real life comparison, the Pope at one point banned Crossbows due to them making it possible
for anyone to kill a knight."
"What point are you trying to make already?"
"I'm getting there. . . . When the atomic bomb first came into existence, the average American at first didn't think about the possibility of that
monopoly on atomic weapons would end."
"Get to your point!"
"No need to get revved up. And I apologize again. My point is this. Since you weren't hidden under a rug, that means every biologist in the
world knows you exist. Which means they know it's POSSIBLE! Super-instant-gene-therapy and customizing your species and body. Others
now that they know it's possible will be doing their best to reach that plateau as well. It's going to be years away, not decades, sorry, just
accept that. And here's something else. As long as it's forbidden and hidden away, it'll be the forbidden fruit, that which people will crave
BECAUSE it's forbidden!"
Your entire misadventure with the lunatic proved to every single person out there The White that your new forms are NOTHING to be afraid of
who didn't buy The Black of the lunatic's argument you're dangerous monsters. NOTHING! Do you understand? That means anything you say
now about them being dangerous or untrustworthy will just seem like you wanting to keep it for yourselves. Others WILL develop this
technology, and NOT lifetimes from now!" He calmed down caught his breath and collected himself.
"It's like a natural occurring forest fire. The longer you delay it, the more the dry underbrush will collect, and when that spark happens, it'll be
a firestorm. Unless you release it in a controlled, secure way, and establish a legal basis on the use of such technology, people will just keep
pushing for it until it breaks. And unless they can get it here, others WILL be ultimately able to provide it for them."
He leaned back at last. And took out money to pay for the dinner. "It's your choice now. You can say how much to yourselves or to me how
wrong or misguided or selfish I am. Or you can pretend this night never happened and go off down a completely different path. Or maybe, just
maybe, you can actually consider what I have to say says more than 'I contradict what you believe.' Good-night." He stood up, bowed with his
arms at his sides, and left.