A Wish the Heart Makes: Fornever in Blue Genes

by Tigger

Chapter 6:  How?

The two men simply sat there, watching their friend.  "Okay,"
Matt sighed.  "Let's take it from the top so at least I
understand what happened before we figure out how . . . and
the why.  By the way?  Where's Cat?  Not that I don't trust
you guys, but this *is* a major security problem."

"She got a lead on a couple of the people we believe are
deeply involved with what has happened to you and took off
this morning to run them down.  She briefed us, very
thoroughly, before she left."

"All right, but I want a full report from her as soon as she
gets back," Matt ordered firmly.  "Whoever is behind this has
to be damned good at what they do because my electronic
security and Cat's physical security arrangements are a great
deal better than merely state-of-the-art.  That these people
were able to get past all Cat's and my setups and do something
like this," his hand swept down his slender female form,
"means they are also very advanced technologically and very,
VERY dangerous.  So, why did they choose to come out of hiding
now?  What were they after?"

Matt missed the amused look that darted between her two long
time friends at her interruption.  It was so "pure-Matt" that
it relieved just a bit of the anxiety Bob and Adam had felt
since discovering that Matt's wish file was a fake.  "Well,
Matthew," Adam hesitated, "I think the 'why' is fairly well
established.  What happened after your incident on the moon
was a very carefully orchestrated plot to seize control of the
company and THE Project."

Matt noticed how Adam stumbled over the strong, masculine
name, but for the moment, said nothing about that.  She was
too stunned by the implications of Adam's revelation.  "Damn,
Adam, that makes no sense.  Hell, it's all but impossible.  I
was unconscious up there for what, . . . 10 hours before I
contacted Bob?  Robert, how long did it take you to open the
wish-file?"

Robert thought for a moment.  "About six hours, Matt.  I had
to review the medical data Castleton sent me first to make
sure we had whatever might be needed to keep you alive when
you arrived at the spaceport.  I called your secretary to
stand by and went to talk with the medical technologists. 
That took longer than I expected, and by the time that meeting
broke up, it was after midnight.  I . . . ah . . . had to wake
Adam up to get him here to open the wish-file."

"So," Matt said, "that means whoever did this had a maximum of
what . . . sixteen hours to set this up?  That's awfully fast
to set up something this complex, let alone get it to work. 
How does that correlate to a plot to take over the company,
Adam?"

"I agree, but from what we know now, they had the assets in
place to pull it off.  Shortly after you arrived here at the
compound, just after the treatment had been administered, in
fact, all of the original documentation that showed your
approval and cooperation with the transformation simply
disappeared."

"Disappeared?  But those records were under high security
lockdown, and were redundantly backed up throughout our secure
system."

Adam nodded.  "Not all that secure, in hindsight, my friend. 
Digital records that had been put in place to legally change
your gender self-erased.  Plasfilm that was guaranteed to be
non-degradeable disintegrated down to the molecular level. 
Protected data files were erased and replaced by new ones that
indicated your intent to transfer controlling interest in the
company to an off-shore consortium fronted for by one of the
big corporate law firms.  If Robert had not brought me into
this as quickly as he did?"  Adam shook his head.  "If I
hadn't been able to set up an independent, ironclad document
trail, you might have had a bitch of time proving your claim
to Matthew Sorenson's life once you woke up."

"So who was behind it?  Who showed up trying to take over?"

Adam frowned over his tea.  "That's a big part of our current
problem.  No one showed up.  They were clearly ready to move,
but they were tipped off that their falsified record trail had
been circumvented.  Unfortunately, none of their own records
on the off-shore consortium survived once their takeover
attempt failed.  Same trick on those as for the primary
records that fooled us.  When we arrived back at the compound
after picking you up at the spaceport, I went directly to your
office to take up the emergency powers our partnership
agreement grants me.  I had all the documents that you
insisted I keep hard copies of in my safe and the documents
Robert and I had prepared to protect your chain of identity. 
Your secretary was rather . . . surprised to see me."

That was unexpected.  Martha Jenkins had been Matthew
Sorenson's executive assistant for ten years and should have
known that Adam acted for the president in an emergency.  Matt
said as much.  

"Yes, well, I think there is a pretty clear answer to that
question, Matt.  Martha was part of whatever group hatched
this conspiracy.  She challenged my right to be there, saying
that I had no legal authority to take charge."  Matt's
disbelief was obvious.  Adam merely smiled grimly and
continued.  "Surprised the hell out of me, too.  What
surprised me the most, however, was the shock - I can't
describe it any other way - on her face when I showed her the
authorizing documents and the chain of evidence.  But then she
apologized, and settled to her work.  I thought nothing more
of it until she left for lunch.  She has not been seen since."

Dazed, Matt simply stared at him.  "Martha?  She was in on
this?"

Robert answered.  "She must have been, Matthew.  Who else
could have somehow gotten past your personal security codes
and changed not only the wish-file, but inserted all the other
supporting documentation we found in there.  Over the years,
she must have found a way to access your signature seals on
the computer.  No one else could have done it.  In fact,
Martha is the person Cat had a lead on this morning, otherwise
she'd have been here for this meeting.  Cat was afraid that
one of the private companies she hired to help with this
investigation might not be above pumping Martha to find out
just why BioCybernetics is so interested in catching her.  She
wanted to be in on the capture to preclude some  less-than-
scrupulous individual from getting a few of our secrets in
return for letting Martha escape again."

For a moment, the mysterious thin cereal she had been eating
threatened queasily to make a reappearance, but then the image
of Cat tickled at her mind.  *Isn't that just like my Cat,*
she mused with a sad half smile.  "Nicely paranoid as always." 
She swallowed hard against the disappointment of Martha's
evident betrayal and gestured for Adam to continue.

"Martha evidently set up the entire false document trail,
Matt, because they were carefully filed with your doctored
wish-file under that bio-lock.  So we thought you made those
decisions in full appreciation of the facts.  Those secured
sealed responses were also confirmed by the psychologist's
reports on your mental and emotional readiness for
transition."  Robert reached down into an attache and produced
a personal datapad which he passed to Matt.

With nerveless fingers, she accessed the files contained on
the device and rapidly scanned them.  Some she recognized and
knew that she had seen them or that she had originated them. 
The rest, some from Bob, some from Adam, some from a Dr.
Hannah Angstrom and some with his old signature on them, she
had never seen before in his or her life.  

Clearing his throat, Robert continued.  "I still couldn't just
"do it" to you, though.  I had . . . uhmmm . . . obtained a
tissue sample from you during your last physical and used it
in culture testing.  Fortunately, your cells made successful
transition 94.5% of the time, so I was able to proceed without
feeling like I was killing my best friend."

"Were those results in THE Project databanks, Robert," she
asked, "the specific ones about my chance of survivability?" 
She thought she already knew the answers, but decided to ask
anyway.

Startled and a little confused at the question, Robert used a
napkin to wipe his brow.  "Why, no.  Those tests were . . .
personal, not project-related.  I saw no need to enter that
data into THE Project database, at least not until we
completed your transition and it was successful.  As of this
moment, those results are stored only in that datapad."

As she had expected.  She badly wanted something to drink, but
knew she would not be able hold a glass steady.  "I would say
it's pretty obvious that the security of our entire computer
complex has been compromised - not just my personal system. 
They did not know I had a high probability of surviving when
they put the takeover plan in place, then.  They only knew
that all the random tests indicated that I would have a better
than 3 to 1 probability of dying."  Her eyes focused in on an
unfamiliar name on the final authorization table, the one that
gave permission to Robert to take away Matthew Sorenson's
whole idea of self and give him one that *she* did not know. 
"And who the hell is this Angstrom woman?"

Adam nodded.  "Purportedly, and as a matter of record, she was
your transition psychologist.  You'll recall that you directed
that we could follow all procedures established for non-
genetic sexual reassignment before we ever attempted such a 
transition genetically?"  Matthew nodded, feeling dazed. 
"Well, part of that is a psychological review.  Part of the
documentation in your file was her approval for transition
based upon more than a year of consultation with you.  We
checked her out, by the way.  She had gold plated credentials
in the field."

"Then were the hell is she?"

"She is also among the missing.  Literally no record of her
exists anywhere that we can find since the moment Martha
disappeared.  Very, very good job of disappearing.   As to the
subject of our security, that was my conclusion, too. 
Especially given your response to waking up this morning.  As
Acting President, I ordered the main project computers
isolated from all outside connections, and have disconnected
it from all internal networks until further notice.  Only two
passwords currently work and any attempt to access or use the
central core will be recorded and will set off alarms in
security."

"Who has the new passwords?"  Adam pointed to himself and to
Robert.  Matt nodded his agreement.  "So, for the sake of
hypothesis, someone, or someones, decided to get me out of the
way in order to take over the company?"

"I think we can be relatively sure that you were not intended
to survive the transition.  If you somehow survived that,
their backup plan was to destroy your identity, and thus tie
up the company in litigation muddied by your 'sex-change'
claims.  In the chaos that followed, they would have time to
strip the technology plans from the central computers and
probably then gone underground with it.  We've learned the
hard way that they are very good at disappearing off the face
of the earth."

"So, on top of everything else, we are dealing with attempted
murder, not just industrial espionage and dirty tricks."  For
the first time, an emotion other than stunned disbelief
started to bubble up inside Matt.  Anger - raw and hot -
stiffened her spine as nothing else this day had.  "Hell, they
DID murder me.  The Matthew Sorenson that I spent a half
century being is gone forever.  Their misfortune is that they
did not take it all.  They will regret that.  I swear that
they will regret that mistake with their last rational
thought."

Robert looked at Adam, concern written on his round face. 
Adam simply grinned.  "I would not say you were all the way
gone, my friend.  I would recognize that response anywhere. 
Welcome back, Matthew," he said.

"Thank you, I guess."  Then, another thought surfaced.  "Adam,
you said that every person who can be linked to the
particulars of my situation has disappeared?"

Adam gave an affirmative grunt.  "Yes.  Your secretary, the
psychologist and the stock broker who fronted for the hidden
consortium and their legal firm.  All of them are no where to
be found.  And with all our resources, that's more than just a
little amazing."

"Then, it is wise to assume that I still may be a target? 
That I still might be at risk from them?" Adam's face darkened
angrily.  He had not thought of that one.  "I can see that you
agree.  For now, I need to be protected and I need to learn to
protect myself.  What's Cat doing about all this?  You said
she briefed you."

Adam shook his head.  "Obviously, we needed her to get into
the locked file, and she knew you had to have a THE Project
treatment to have any chance at all of a normal life again. 
However, as we told you earlier, we didn't tell her about the
female thing because the false records in your wish-file asked
us not to, and she never asked.  Nor did she ever go into the
lab while you were actually in transition."  

"No surprise in that," Bob interjected with a wicked smile. 
"You know how squeamish she became when she saw the live
animal tests in their transitional states.  A woman who can
and has killed in the line of duty, but show her a little
basic protoplasm and she heads for the nearest restroom at a
trot."

"Not that you ever dared to tease her about it, West," Matt
said with a grin.  *Lord, that was Cat down to the ground,*
Matt thought. *Just when you think you have her all figured
out, she throws you a curve. HA!  And what curves she had to
throw!*

Matt thought back to when he'd first met the Big Cat.  She'd
seemed the consummate professional woman when she'd walked
into the company conference room for her job interview wearing
that tight-skirted power suit.  Tall, slender, but definitely
not skinny.  Hair in a severe braid and just enough cosmetics
to make her dark eyes arrestingly luminous and her lips lushly
full.  In her combat suit, as part of her skills testing, he'd
seen the sinuous flow of muscular power that would have named
her "Cat" regardless of her given name.  And all those curves,
Matt mused again.  That skin-tight combat suit hadn't hidden
anything, not that Cat had anything that needed hiding.

But it had been the first time Matt had seen her in her "off-
duty" plumage that had knocked all his preconceptions about
Cat Donovan into orbit.  They'd run into each other at the
local theater and he'd damned near not recognized her.  Her
dark hair had hung soft and loose down around her shoulders -
not really long, but not what Matt had expected from the
combat tight cap or braids she wore at work.  The gown she'd
worn to that performance was sleek, and left not the slightest
doubt of her womanly figure, but the delicate lace at her
throat, the soft billows of the sheer sleeves and the
glittering earrings that unnecessarily called attention to the
beauty of her face were unexpected, intensely feminine
touches. Touches which proclaimed loudly that Cat was as
sensual as a woman as she was effective as a killer.  Matt
Sorenson had fallen in love with Cat Donovan that evening, in
the short few minutes they had spoken before taking their
seats.

She was so . . . strong - hell, Matt had always thought she
was almost invincible, and yet, parts of her were so . . . so
soft, too.  He fondly remembered her reaction to finding a
dozen roses from a "secret admirer" (spelled M-A-T-T) on her
desk.  She'd tried to be suspicious, like any good
professional security officer would be, but womanly
appreciation of the flowers' color and scent had quickly
elbowed her suspicions out of the way. 

So many hidden facets - so many lovely little surprises and
mysteries all combined together making up the tall, powerful
and sometimes intimidating package that was Cat Donovan.
*Gorgeous,* Matt smiled inwardly, *just gorgeous.  The woman
would have made a perfect model for a statue of Venus, Goddess
of Beauty.*  Then Matt thought to amend, *When she wasn't
working as Diana, Goddess of the Hunt in her job, of course.*

"Do I look crazy?" Robert retorted, calling Matt's attention
back to his two friends.

Adam interrupted to bring them back to the topic at hand. 
"Anyway, for whatever reason, Cat does not actually know the
full scope of your . . . changes.  She knew where you were and
personally headed up the security detail that protected you
during transition, and she mobilized the cops and about a
dozen private security companies to try and track down the
people behind the moon attack.  She's been one very busy
lady."

"But she does know about me, now, right?  I mean, what
happened to me?  What I became?  errr . . . Am?"  Matthew
asked.

Adam shook his head.  "She knows that your wish file was
tampered with, and that you are not what you wanted to become. 
Of course we had to tell her about all that this morning when
you first woke up and it became painfully obvious what had
happened.  She would have come charging right in here
immediately, but Bob had just sedated you.  Besides, that was
when the lead on our disappearing secretary came in," he
chuckled.  "She was *not* pleased, to put it mildly.  She is
going to make someone pay for this, and I almost feel sorry
for them when Cat Donovan catches up with them."

"I don't feel sorry for them in the least," Matt growled. 
"Brief Cat in - completely," she directed.  "We need to take
the offensive in this mess and Cat can't do that if she
doesn't know all the facts about what we are up against and
why.  I want her covering my back and I want her to know that
the back she is covering is mine.  She is also probably the
best person to teach me how to defend this body.  How soon can
I start working on that, Bob?" she slanted a look at Robert.

"Physically?  As soon as you have had a half hour or so to
digest that bowl of mush you inhaled at breakfast."  She
sniffed petulantly in response to his gentle jibe.  It had
tasted strangely wonderful and besides, she'd been *very*
hungry.  "Anytime you are ready, old friend.  The exercise
will probably do you good.  I will insist that the restraint
bands and the emotion blocks stay on until you are more
settled, though."

"I agree to that, Robert."  But without warning, fatigue
enfolded her and she reeled drunkenly.  "I guess I am still
recovering from the transition."

"It will take a while, Matt.  That transition put a hell of a
strain on your body's resources.  Take a short nap.  Cat will
be here when you wake up."

He really had no choice.  Teri helped him out of the robe and
into bed.  Her last thought as sleep enfolded him was that the
silky nightgown felt marvelous on her skin.  Sensations like
that would not be all *that* hard to get used to.

Interlude:

She looked around her apartment living room at the three
dimensional projections of her fellow conspirators.  She did
not know where their bodies actually were, and she did not
want to know.  The less she knew the better.  The better for
her, the better for the Cause.

She had opened the meeting with a concise account of the
latest repercussions of their abortive attempt to gain control
of BioCybernetics.  While the entire organization was "there"
in the room, only a select few, the leaders and the forward
contingent, would have anything to contribute to this meeting.

A faceless shape moved to the center of the throng.   All
other conversation in the room ceased as the person known to
the group only as the Leader spoke.  "We have heard Florence's
report.  Sorenson is alive and apparently well, having beaten
the overwhelming odds that he should have died in the
transition."

"Died?" the conspiracy's second in command spoke up.  Only she
would dare, Florence thought, and then wondered if even she
knew what the Leader really looked like.  "Hell, Leader,
that's the least of our problems.  Florence reports that he is
now nearly super human from both a physical and a mental
perspective.  Matthew Sorenson was a formidable, driven man
before this transition - a man possessed of incredible
determination and force of will.  I shudder to think of how
that focus will be directed now.  He poses an unacceptably
great risk to us and to our Cause."

The faceless holograph turned to acknowledge the speaker.  "I
agree, Freuda.  Your psychiatric analysis of him was one
reason we originally decided to eliminate him when this
opportunity presented itself.  It would appear we may have
tried to be too subtle in our approach to that goal.  Admin,
you worked for and with him for years, what is your
assessment?"

The projection of Matthew's former secretary shuddered
visibly.  "He and his staff will know all about Freuda's and
my roles in this operation.  The law offices that fronted for
our abortive takeover attempt will be rolled over fairly
easily when they are really pressed by the company's security
people.  Although I did follow our contingency plans to the
letter, those plans assumed that Sorenson wouldn't survive the
sex change."

"What has that to do with anything?" snapped Freuda.

"Simply this, Freuda.  The reason that Sorenson was called in
to consult on the moon is that he is a genius at computers and
data systems.  I cannot guarantee that the manipulation of the
BioCybernetics' computer systems did not leave some evidence
behind someone as brilliant as Sorenson cannot find and
exploit.  He won't rest until he knows who we are and why we
did it.  He has nearly unlimited resources and some very
formidable people at his disposal.  Exactly what he will do
once he finds those things out is unpredictable, other than
the obvious fact that it is unlikely to be good for us."

The Leader's holo turned back to the first speaker. 
"Florence, you said you had to restrain him at one point
today.  You did not indicate the circumstances.  Why?"

"He had a bad emotional reaction to finding out he is likely
to be very responsive, sexually, with men as well as women,
and that he is also fertile.  Apparently human physical
perfection includes a high degree of sexual sensitivity. 
After the patient fell asleep, the Doctor told me to expect
that she would regularly become sexually aroused in the course
of her therapy."

The Leader became silent for a few moments, considering that.
"So, Ms. Sorenson is potentially an easy lay, eh?  That may
work to our advantage.  As a minimum, using her sexuality to
distract her may provide us with needed breathing space while
we implement our contingency plans.  Freuda?"

"She did not actually undergo any preparatory therapy or
training prior to the transition.  Case in point,  look at how
difficult simply moving about was for her.  Her body is alien
to her.  The implications of a drastically altered hormonal
chemistry balance are issues we can safely assume that he, I
mean she, is totally unprepared to deal with."

"Very well."  The Leader turned back to Florence.  "Florence,
you said she responded to you, became aroused by you when you
dressed her?"

"Yes, she did.  Quite strongly, in fact.  Part of that was her
reaction to being dressed in very silky, overtly feminine
attire.  Still, I know that she was at least moderately
aroused by close proximity to me.  Her body language is still
masculine and I got definite signals of masculine attraction." 


"Excellent.  Use your position to encourage her sexual
development.  See if you can light the fuse of that sex bomb
she is so worried about.  I want her so enthralled with her
new sexuality that her mind is on nothing else."

"Yes, Leader," she responded.

"Very well."  The Leader turned to face the rest of the
assembled group.  "This has been a very disappointing period
for our movement.  The test of the computer bio-virus on the
moon installation has been defeated and is a failure since
even now, less dangerous methods to isolate the biological
infection are being tested at several companies.  The attack
on Sorenson and the attempt to take over his company has also
failed, costing us two intelligence assets of inestimable
value when both Admin and Freuda had to be pulled out of their
deep cover identities.  If we are to succeed in stopping the
masculine resurgence on this planet, we must not fail again. 
The rest of you, continue with Contingency Plan A.  Freuda, I
need a new psych profile on our adversary.  Work with Florence
to get the data you need.  We will meet here again in one
week."

Therese Richards RN, code named Florence (for Nightingale),
watched the holographic images dissolve.  Well, she mused to
herself, at least this time her subject was cute.  She would
enjoy breaking in a virgin.  With that thought, she switched
off the lights, and headed for her bed.  Tomorrow was going to
be a very interesting day.