“We’re going to paint the town female,” Ricki said.
“What?” Greg said. “How do you plan on getting away with that?’
Ricki smirked. “As far as we can tell, it’s not illegal to change someone’s sex like this. And if someone did try to do something to us, they’d just get a face full of smoke. You’ve seen what that does.”
Greg looked down over his new body. “Indeed I have.” He looked back at Ricki. “But still. Why do you want to do that?”
“It’s simple, really,” Tabitha said, taking over the explanation. “The three of us have never felt this alive or this good. We’re getting along so well. It’s like we’ve been reborn. We want to share that with everyone else.”
“She’s right,” said Ricki. “We already discussed it, and we found that none of us want to do anything harmful or hurtful to anyone. Ever. Do you know what that means we could do? We could rid everywhere in the world of crime and corruption. Just by using this.”
Greg heard what they said. “So you want to play God?” he questioned.
“I don’t see it that way,” Ricki said. “I think it’s more like correcting the mistakes of mankind. If you call that playing God, then I guess it is.”
Greg took a moment to think. Ricki had a point. He, too, never felt this healthy, youthful, or alive. He wasn’t sure why that was the case, but he could not deny that it was how he felt. He also saw the point of helping the world. Once he had committed his life to doing just that. But that was before he learned of the many obstacles that stand in the way of progress. He felt like he was slowly losing his ideals over the last few years. He began to feel that nothing he did would ever matter to anyone. But now his ideals were dominating his thoughts again. Here he was, with a very trusted friend and colleague who had the means to change things for the better. He had to be a part of this.
“OK,” he said to them. “I’ll help you.”
“Alright,” Ricki said. “That’s just what we wanted to hear.”
Tabitha flung a dress at Greg. “Put that on,” she said, “unless you’d rather be arrested for indecent exposure.”
Greg laughed. “Considering your threat to change anyone who might stop you, that might be interesting.” He took the blue dress and put it on. It was the same style dress that Brenda wore. He needed Ricki to help him zip up the back.
“Next thing is a name,” Ricki said. “You’re not Greg anymore.”
“No, I’m not,” said Greg.
“How about ‘Greta?’” Brenda suggested.
Greg frowned. “No I don’t like the sound of that name.” They all thought of ideas. Finally Greg said, “I want to be called ‘Kelly.’”
“Kelly it is,” Ricki said. “Now here’s the plan. We have to sneak you past Ray at the front.”
“Why not just change him?” Brenda asked.
“Because,” Ricki said, “if we do, the cameras will see it, and that would cause problems. Also, if the security guard goes missing, people will think something is up and might come looking for us.”
“Shoot,” Kelly said. “I’d better clean up my work quickly then.”
“I’ll help,” Ricki said. The two of them cleaned everything that Greg had been working with, replaced the materials where they were kept, and took all of his notes with them.
“I can’t forget this,” Kelly said, picking up the recorder. “Important stuff on this.”
Tabitha cleared her throat in order to attract Ricki’s attention. “Did you notice that the smoke is still hanging around?” She pointed up at the cloud, which was still there and had not moved an inch.
“This is really weird,” Ricki said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Puzzling to say the least,” Kelly said. “And for obvious reasons.”
Ricki took the Flits can and opened it so that she could recollect the smoke that had been used. Just as she now expected, the smoke still inside the can made no move to escape. She recollected every last whisper of the smoke and closed the can. “OK, that’s done,” said Ricki. “Now here’s how we’re going to get you past Ray.”