Jenny sat quietly as Emily turned on the television in the break room where they were all eating their lunch. A lot of their conversation had been part of the reason why she hadn't fully made any decision. She knew about what had happened to Clemens prior to his promotion, about the things that his own co-workers had done to him. And she was not naive enough to think that a lot of the hatred of Animal People had really gone away. She'd seen the news reports on the trial of Pierre Beauregard which highlighted the group "RAM." She'd seen the news reports on the man or teen who had turned into a horse person and was killed by a mob in Texas. She'd seen a handful of reports that indicated that groups like the KKK and some Neo-Nazi groups stated they hated Animal People too. She couldn't expect everyone to like Animal People.
And she knew that Emily, Jason, and Jacob were not particularly supportive of the idea of anyone taking the serum. Emily was relatively tolerable in that she generally kept her opinion to herself, unless one asked for it, but there were times that Jenny honestly feared that Jason or Jacob might decide to attack her if she decided to take the serum. She didn't want to tell Clemens about this, for a couple reasons. Primarily because she was certain that while he would be okay with whatever decision she would make, he would be happy if she decided to join him, but the other was a self reprimand that it was her decision and if her co-workers didn't like it that was their problem. There were plenty of other reasons she had to think over that didn't relate to her co-workers.
The screen came on and the six IRS employees turned to the small television held in the air by a steel beam that came out of the wall. It pictured a lone conference room with a pair of businessmen standing with a large male Lion Person. The Lion Person wore a white lab coat with black dockers and a gray button down shirt with a dark blue tie. His great mane seemed to sort off poof out and bunch where it met the collar of his clothing.
"Heh... heh... that can't be comfortable," Jacob chuckled.
"You do realize that Leon/Leona Washburn didn't create the serum to turn into a lion," Jenny told him.
"Doesn't change the fact that freaks flocked to it," Jason defended Jacob's taunt.
"Keep your tongue silent if you can't be polite," Emily scowled.
They all watched quietly as one of the businessmen came forward. Jenny assumed the man was a PR man for the company that produced and sold the Animatrix Serum, Gen-U-Tech, and would open the announcement.
"Hello and good afternoon," the man opened, "I am William Stulpze public relations officer for Gen-U-Tech and would like to complement our costumers for their loyalty with regard to prescription pills and to within the restrictions of the law give those who wish to be "different" the chance to be happy and closer to how they see themselves. The success of the Animatrix Serum holds many great possible future developments, not just related those wishing to be Animal People... or those who feel they are transgendered... In time we feel we may be able to find a way to provide something that will cure cancer and other debilitating diseases. And with continued support... we will succeed..."
The six of them sat quietly as the PR man continued to go through his announcement to introduce Leon Washburn and whatever development they had made with the Animatrix Serum.
"And presently our success relates to the work in correcting the greatest handicap the Animatrix Serum presently has," William Stulpze continued, "and I hand over the floor to Leon Washburn, our leading scientist and parent of what is changing the world."
William Stulpze then stepped aside and let Leon Washburn step forward on the screen. Jenny watched as the Animal Person fumbled with the microphone, playing with its switches as if to turn the volume down. It to him a few moments, and seemed like he was struggling to keep from breaking the entire system. After a few moments he managed to accomplish what he set out to do and looked up toward the cameras.
"You'll forgive me if I do not need the microphone to be turned up as high to be heard," Leon stated, "and I will state that we have made progress, and I will do my best to make sure this infectious issue is ended. The key to this is to get the retrovirus that runs the serum to work on a sort of delayed action... that it will either wear out or end its active life, and thus once the retrovirus is "dead" it will no longer be able to infect new cells."
"And this "cure" is ready?" a reporter asked a question almost immediately.
"No, it is not," Leon said slowly, "at present we have a theoretical idea to accomplish this "cure" to allow the serum to transform someone and then have the retrovirus die once the person taking the serum has fully become an Animal Person."
The other man then came up and Jenny noticed that he had a large sort of placard which he held up. On it was a diagram of the retrovirus that was the heart of the Animatrix Serum. Leon then began to gesture to the pictures on the diagram.
"The theory as it is now is that the retrovirus, carrying the animal DNA is then bonded with human cells and injects the animal DNA, resulting in the rewriting of the DNA in the cell structure to include the animal DNA," Leon explained, "normal cell division then helps further the transformation in propagating the retrovirus and multiplying the animal DNA with it. But once the transformation is complete, there is nothing left for the retrovirus to alter and it essentially waits to "infect" a new host... thankfully the retrovirus has proven to be rather weak when exposed to the air and thus it is not easy to create more Animal People without buying the serum... only sex or blood transfusions do it... our present theory is to edit a redundant programming into the retrovirus that once all cells are altered, the retrovirus then dies and dismembers itself, leaving behind the animal/human hybridized cell..."
They watched as Leon pointed to the progression of the images to show what was planned.
"And this would cure the post transformation infectiousness?" a reporter asked.
"We believe it will... but it will still take time to make sure it will work correctly," Leon answered, "the easiest thing we could do is to set up a set time of a few hours of the retrovirus to live once it's made contact with human cells, but even with that, the work will take time to make it work... BUT with with this progress towards a better version of the Animatrix Serum."
"What about a vaccination for those who already serum in their veins and need to have the infectiousness ended in them?" another reporter asked.
"That will require more research as we'd need to find a way to engineer a retrovirus that will attack the retrovirus and won't attack the Animal Person's cells," Leon admitted, "but as I said, we are making great progress. More information will be posted on my office's webpage to explain the theory that we are working toward."
With that conference ended and Emily turned the television off.
"Well... that would make things better, if it works," John commented.
"They're only just developing it," Emily countered, "all they did is say "we an idea." It isn't much."
"It is a step towards alleviating a lot of people's fears and will make race relations better," Jenny commented, her eyes on the screen, even though it was now blacked out. "Especially if they figure out a working version of this new serum..."
"The thing you'll have to wait for though is a vaccine," Jason commented, sounding a little more tactful, but his tone still sounded antagonistic.
And with that the clock began to reach the end of their lunch break and they all began throw away their trash and pack up their lunch boxes, if they'd brought lunch boxes. Jenny tossed her last piece of trash away and was about to head back to her desk when a hand gently touched her shoulder. She turned to see that it was Kevin, the man who had generally been the most curious about and interested in whether or not she'd decide to become an Animal Person.
"Don't let Jason and Jacob get to you if you are ultimately leaning toward joining your fiancee," Kevin said softly, "Never figured they'd be so antagonistic towards Animal People. It's new and odd... but it's not like they're monsters..."
Jenny gave a smile back, "Thanks, Kevin. I will. When I make my decision, I will make my decision on what I want. Not what they think."
Kevin nodded, "And Jen..."
"Yes...?" Jenny responded.
"Do what will make you happy," Kevin told her, "even if it means having scales."