Synergy Part 2

by:

Shrike

View Story Details

Rating: G	Add Review	Added: 05/20/2007
Complete: no
Synopsis:	It's 2041, people, especially teens are now faced with the possibility of many strange changes induced by the MORFS virus. A boy is changed to a hybrid girl and has a power.
Categories:	Britney McMaster's MORFS Universe  SciFi
Keywords:	Cheerleader  School Girl

Synergy (A MORFS Universe Story) by: Shrike


Part 2

Mom dragged me from store to store in the mall. The first one we visited was a lingerie shop. She had the assistant measure me, which was a bit embarrassing to me. 'I know that I'm a girl now but still, showing myself almost naked to another girl?' Then, after she bought me some bras and panties, she picked out some very revealing nightgowns and such. 'Why can't I just wear some PJs?' She did come up with a valid reason, though. I would have to make a hole for my tail in the pants, and that wouldn't be a problem with the gowns. Fortunately the panties we bought came with a hole. Apparently they had a stock now for people with tails. 'Why don't they have that yet for other clothes?' Maybe we hadn't shopped in the right shops, I don't know.

After some more stores with endless trying on ensembles, Mom picked out several outfits for me. But then she asked the saleswoman something that I didn't hear as I was looking for some pants.

The sales woman came back with some boxes and Mom came over with them for me to try on. "Mom, can we stop? I already have lots of clothes now."

Actually I really wanted some more pants, so that I didn't have to wear the dresses and skirts. But Mom had other ideas about that. "You have to try these clothes on honey. The school requires you to wear these on Monday through Thursday. On Friday you can wear your own clothes, as long as they are tasteful and feminine."

"What? What do I have to wear?" I looked into the box And my heart sank. The box contained a girl's uniform, a white blouse and light blue gray skirt. The other box held some stockings that reminded me of some pictures I saw on the internet on some schoolgirl pin up. 'Am I supposed to wear that?'

Mom nudged me into the dressing room to put it on. I stepped out a little later, disgusted. 'Damn, what kind of school is this? This getup makes me look so hot and sexy. I don't want to be caught dead in this.'

Mom made me twirl around to show the uniform to her and the saleswoman. They approved apparently and Mom ordered four more sets like it, to have a spare, "Just in case," she said.

Before we went out she made me wear one of the new outfits, consisting of a pale blue blouse and a white skirt.

By then, I was quite fed up with shopping. Mom wasn't, however .She took me to a shoe store and had me try on high heels, flats, boots, and lots of all of them. We bought too many for my taste again, but Mom said I needed them.

Finally we were finished shopping. Mom said, "I'm sorry we didn't have any more time, but next time we will also visit the beauty shop, and we'll get your nails and hair done."

I thought to myself, 'I don't think I needed to hear that.' During the drive home I counted in my mind the costs of all the things we had just bought. The amount was staggering. How could we afford all that? I mean, Dad wasn't around any more to bring home the money and I didn't think Mom had that kind of money stashed also.

"Mom, I just roughly calculated our expenses ..."

"I know, it is quite a lot of money," Mom interrupted my question. "But you needed the clothes and I did get quite a bit of money from Lars."

"Still, Mom, why do I need so many clothes?" 'Jeez, I've never whined like a little girl before.'

"A girl needs clothes, Honey. Better get used to it. Later you'll see why," Mom said as a closing argument.

I kept quiet after that. When we got home I took all the clothes to my room and placed them on the bed before putting them away. I wasn't in a good mood, because wearing the skirt made me feel so exposed. And I still hadn't mastered keeping my tail out of the way. I tried to keep it wrapped around a leg or my waist. But neither option seemed to work out. So lots of times it tented my skirt in the back or worse, flipped my skirt up.

I looked at all the new clothes, all dresses, skirts and other feminine clothing. Not a single pair of pants between them or was there? Then I spotted something between two skirts, and YES, Mom did buy me some pants. Actually they were slacks, but I was already glad it was some kind of pants. Then my mood dropped again, only two pair of pants with this whole heap of girl things. That reminded me about something else, I needed a new name. I was a girl now and would likely be that for the rest of my life. As if things weren't bad enough already, my tail seemed to get its own mind again and swished my skirt up and I caught a brief view of my pantied bottom in the mirror. 'Oh no, what if this happens in the street, or worse, at school?'

Full of fear, I ran up the stairs to the roof and clambered up on the ledge. As I looked out over the new sights of this city, I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I looked down from the ledge into the street below. The people just rushed by, not seeing anyone up here. If I jumped, I would have to be careful not to hit anyone.

'What am I thinking, why should I jump.' I trembled and felt weak in my knees.

"Brent? Why are you up there on that ledge?"

'What is Mom doing here?' I turned towards her and almost fell down the wrong side. I just managed to grab a hold with one arm and my tail. 'So the thing is useful for something. Wait a minute, how do I know how to use it like that?'

Mom rushed over and guided me back all the way onto the roof. "Honey, why did you climb up on that ledge, you could have fallen off."

"Maybe I wanted to fall, Mom. I don't know if I deserve to live."

Mom replied angrily, "DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN!! Of course you deserve to live."

"Look at me Mom! I'm a freak just like Dad always said. And I caused the break up between you TWO." I started crying and sagged down at the wall surrounding the roof edge feeling miserable. "To top it off, I make you spend lots of money on me."

Mom sat down next to me. "I was happy shopping and spending money for you today." She put her arm around me, "Now about the rest, your father always went to far with his purist shit."

Mom pulled me closer and turned my head to make me look at her. "Our relationship wasn't that good anymore already, Honey. I didn't conform well enough to his ideas, and we began to grow apart several years ago. Your morfing just expedited matters."

I looked down as she continued, "As for you, you don't look like a freak. Just a nice girl with a few extra's."

I sniffed. "But I have a tail, Mom! And look at my eyes!"

"You have nice eyes, and a very nice tail as well. I wish I had a tail like that."

I leaned into her and cried, "But I didn't want to be a girl Mom. And now I'm one with all the extras."

"Honey, I know that you didn't want to become a girl. But it happened. Nothing can change that. I just want you to be happy as yourself. Girl or Boy doesn't matter for me. And look on the bright side. You've been cured from the Cystic Fibrosis."

I looked up a bit more brightly. "You're right, that is a plus, Mom. I guess I have to start being a girl now."

"That's my girl. Now, have you been thinking about a new name for yourself already?"

Meekly I said, "Maybe I should call myself Mara, like in those old Star Wars books. It means bitter."

"Is that how you feel, Honey?"

I nodded.

"Maybe later you won't feel so bitter anymore, so how about Maren?"

I tried the name in my mind. It did have a nice ring to it. I liked it. And as I would be stuck with it for the rest of my life, it wouldn't be such a bad name.

"I like the name Mom. So are we going to register me with that name tomorrow?"

"Yes Honey, from tomorrow you'll be Maren. Or maybe you would like two names. Before you were born I wanted my children to have two names, but your father never wanted that. If you like, you could wear the name of one of my grandmothers as well. Her name was Zoë."

I debated in my mind about that name. I didn't like or dislike it.

"And there is another thing. I changed my name back to my maiden name, partly so your father can't find me so easily. But you can either choose to take my name, Landers, or keep Johns as your last name."

"Which do you suggest Mom."

Mom kissed my forehead, "Don't ask me. This is totally up to you. Do keep in mind that your father will be looking for a single mom and her child with the same name."

I thought over it for a little while. "Mom, my new name will be Maren Zoë Johns." Then I added, "It will also make things a little easier at school if I don't have your name. So the others won't easily connect me being your son ... eh, I mean, daughter."

Mom just laughed, and together we started back down to our apartment for the evening. She had another surprise for me later. She had ordered Pizza. Due to my disease, I had never tasted pizza, so this was another treat for me. With a few cups of Mom's favorite herb tea, I managed to eat almost half the pizza before I felt so full that I thought I might explode. Now I knew what Mom meant with being careful about keeping my figure. A few more evenings like this, and I would become a fat girl.

Later I got ready for bed, brushed my teeth and put on a silky nightgown. As I turned off the light, I thought I saw a flash from the room's electrical socket. It didn't hurt me, and I didn't smell smoke, so I didn't think anything of it. However as I walked towards my bed I noticed that it was still light in the room. At first I thought that it was my new sensitive cat eyes. However, when I looked at my arms they seemed to be glowing a little. Wow, now this was weird. I was tempted to call Mom, but I didn't want to disturb her. I lay down on my bed and looked at my hands more closely. They emitted a faint glow all over my skin. When I thought about the intensity of it, the light seemed to grow brighter. Trying harder it became more and more bright. Then I started to feel a bit weak and sleepy as if my energy was being drained from me. 'Oh oh, so this is my power. I can make light, maybe other energies as well? Can I synthesize energy?' Here, a word I'd read somewhere, 'Synergy, came to mind. Wouldn't that make a great codename for myself?'

I doused the glow from my hands till it was dark again, not that it mattered a great deal. I could still see quite well with my light sensitive cat eyes. I was so sleepy from expending the energy that I soon fell into a deep sleep.

Early in the morning my battery-operated alarm clock started beeping. I woke up startled , still feeling weak and tired. As I touched the clock to turn it off, it completely shut down. I mean, not only the beep went dead, but the display and everything. I did feel a bit more energetic, but didn't connect the facts yet. I went over to my desk, took out the batteries and checked them with my multimeter. I found that they were completely drained, 'But they were brand new'

Then my mind caught up. 'My power! I was so weak from emitting the light, that I ate all the power from the batteries. Shoot, I really need to learn to control this!. If not, I will always be going around emitting some kind of energy or absorbing it.'

Feeling a bit dirty, I took a shower and wrestled for sometime getting my tail dry. Then the new task of blow drying my hair and brushing it at the same time kept me busy for quite a while. Finally, I finished it and put on clean underwear. I put a bathrobe over it and sort of tied it with my tail. That worked out quite well. I had to guide it through the loops, but once it was wrapped around my waist, I could hold it in place without difficulty. This also kept my tail from developing a mind of its own. I kind of kept that idea in the back of my thoughts.

As I came out of the bathroom, I smelled breakfast.

Mom came from the small kitchen, "Finally you're done." She was smiling, so I knew she was just kidding.

I quipped back, "Better get used to having to wait long time for the bathroom now, Mom."

"I know Honey. Say why are you wearing a black belt around your robe?"

I looked down. "Um, this isn't exactly a belt, Mom. It's my tail."

"Well it looks very fashionable. Can I borrow it?"

'Huh, what is she talking about.' "Uh, Mom, You do know that it is kind of attached to me?"

Mom kissed me on my cheek. "Sure Honey, just teasing. But it does look good on you." With those words she disappeared into bathroom, leaving me to myself.

I helped myself to the food and dug in, clearing the plate in less time than it took my Mom in the bathroom, and she was out quite fast. 'I need to practice that. Why does it take me twice that long?' Then it hit me, 'You just said it, dummy. She's been a girl all her life, so she has had years of practice. And she doesn't have to dry out a tail, either.'

After her breakfast Mom helped me pick out the clothes to wear that day, a sundress no less. I wanted to complain, but one look at Mom's face convinced me otherwise. She told me that I had the morning to myself, as she would be busy looking for a place to set up shop as a dancing school. Mom had worked in the past as a part time dancing instructor and wanted to continue it here, to complement her work at my new school. In the afternoon, I would have another appointment at the MORF center and Mom would take me there.

After Mom went out, I debated what to do. I could of course stay inside and just surf on the Internet or experiment with my power. The first option would be the safest way for me. I could not embarrass myself in public and feel humiliated if something happened like my tail doing embarrassing things. But experimenting with my powers, without having someone around, might be very dangerous, with these powers. Then again having someone around might be dangerous for that someone also.

Sometimes you have to risk taking a chance, so I went out to see the sights in this new city. The weather was good, and with the sun shining, it was pleasant walking outside. As I walked through the streets towards a small park I soaked up the sunshine and felt so energetic. Than I dawned on me, 'I'm an energy converter! I am collecting the energy of the sunshine. Now don't panic, this is an opportunity to practice my self- control without any danger.'

I needed to shed the extra energy without attracting attention and try to block the absorption of more sunrays. First the blocking. There would no need to get rid of the extra energy if I could keep it from being replenished. So I focused my attention on blocking absorption of the sunrays, and though it took some experimenting and practice, I got it to work.

'Now how to shed all that extra energy I already have.' I couldn't very well emit light out here into the open. I did radiate some extra heat, and experimented with other forms of radiation. Not the harmful ones though. I didn't know yet the extent of my abilities, but I could imagine giving off alpha, beta or gamma radiation. If I were to do that and someone found out, I would get locked up as a danger to society and never see daylight again.

Finally I was satisfied with the amount of energy I had left and just enjoyed the morning in the park again. One thing I didn't like was all the attention I got from the boys in the park. 'Haven't they ever seen a girl before? What am I thinking. Of course they have. They are just looking at a good looking girl, namely me. I would look at such a girl myself still if I was still a boy, but I'm not a boy anymore. Great, now I am making myself depressed again.'

I quickly went back home, and out of frustration started to unpack the last of my moving boxes. These contained my science experiments, including the failing attempts at making a hover board. The problem had always been the power. I could never get enough electrical power from a battery to make it work.

'He maybe now it could work, Maybe I can give enough power myself to make the repulsors work. (I borrowed that from the Star Wars books).'

I started tinkering with the devices until I heard Mom get home.

I went to greet her and she said, "You didn't even prepare us lunch? What did you do all morning?"

My face fell, 'Am I suppose to prepare the food now all the time too?'

Then Mom couldn't hold her poker face anymore and started snickering. "You should have seen your face Honey. I was just kidding."

"Ha, ha, very funny, Mom. As a matter of fact, I went out for a walk this morning."

"Good for you Honey, how was it?"

"I didn't entirely like it, especially when the boys started paying way too much attention to me."

"Well get used to it, Honey. Soon you will have to beat them away with a stick."

'Great, as if I didn't have enough on my plate already.'

"Now seriously, I'll just make us some sandwiches and then we have to go to your meeting at the MORF center. I hope they clear you for school and other activities."

'Clear me? If I'm not cleared, could they hold me prisoner? ' "Mom, what if I'm not cleared for school? What will they do?"

"I don't know Honey. I've never heard about anyone that wasn't cleared."

After a quick snack we went for the short drive to the MORF center. A short wait later I was called in to see the same telepath again. This time he didn't start poking around inside my head, but was very nice and introduced himself first.

"Hi, I'm Gavin, I see that you have decided on your new name, Maren. So how are you doing?"

I was a bit surprised, and told him what I did today.

"Though gender changes are not the rule with MORFS, it is quite common." Then he asked, "How are you handling switching over to the other side of the human race?"

I was unsure what to answer. 'Why did he ask me that?'

"Maybe he was scanning my thoughts again, because he added, "Besides being a telepath, I'm also a psychologist."

"I'm not thrilled about some things, but decided yesterday that I prefer my female body over my former male body with the sickness that I had. Other than that, I think it is too soon to tell." I hoped that it would be a correct answer.

Gavin smiled, "You don't have to hold back,, Everything we talk here is confidential, just between us unless I think it is necessary for security reasons to talk to someone else. Even then, I will discuss things with you first. Also I haven't started trying to read your mind yet, because I just want to talk to you first. And of course your mind is not that easy to read. You seem to be able to block most telepathic probes."

My technical mind started to think about that, "Could it be that because a mind works with electrical impulses? My power can manipulate energy, so maybe also bio-electrical energy?"

"That is a very interesting thought. Have you always been so technical minded?"

Now we were getting on my turf. I really started to cut loose on all the things that I liked. "Yes, I am always tinkering with electric devices and such. In the past it drove my parents crazy. Nowadays I'm not taking apart the household appliances anymore, but only work in my room."

Without noticing it, I'd lost his attention and he grew bored with my explanations. Of course he hid his expression well. "Thank you for giving me your background. Now, how much have you learned about your power. You said that you manipulate energy?"

"Well, I think I am an energy converter. I read the flier about that. I should be able to draw heat, electrical power or light into me. And I can also emit the power as light or heat. At first I emitted light accidentally when I was charged after getting a jolt of electricity from a power socket. This morning I felt weak, and sort of drank all the energy from a battery."

I looked down for a moment, then looked up at him, not sure how to proceed.

He just looked back, so I continued. "I knew then that I will have to learn to control my abilities, or else I will have too many accidents happening. So this morning when I was walking in the sunshine, I felt myself getting charged with light. I practiced blocking it and succeeded in a short while. I also emitted the excess energy as heat and electromagnetic radiation."

Gavin was about to say something, but I added fast, "I know that I have to be careful not to emit anything harmful to the public. I will constraint myself with the sorts of energy that I emit."

He smiled, "I'm grateful that you already thought of that. During our earlier session I noticed that you are quite an ethical person. But I do want to scan you again, if I may?"

I gave my consent, although a bit reluctantly. Gavin closed his eyes and I felt the pressure inside my head again. This time he was gentler than the last time and was out of my head quite quickly.

He didn't tell me what he found directly, but asked, "Do you know what the extents of your powers are?"

I was a bit confused, I hadn't thought of that. "Do you mean the power, or what kind? I don't know what kind of energy I can convert, or how good the conversion is. And I have no clue to what the limits are on the raw power I can handle."

"I think you should be careful, and not experiment too much yet. My guess is the only limit on the kinds of energy you can convert is your imagination. Don't try to figure out the maximum of raw power you can handle just yet. First, don't try it yet, because you are still new to all this. Second, because you are still a growing young girl. We can help you later to determine things like that at a special facility, where we can measure it and contain it if things go wrong."

'Go wrong? What could go wrong?' Now I got into thinking all the horrid scenarios that would have me blast away at everyone and all. I started crying. and Gavin sat down next to me hugging me closely.

"Don't go off thinking bad things yet. It will be just a formality. From what I can see in your head, you are a level headed girl that thinks things through and will do her best not to hurt others."

I calmed down a bit again and accepted his hanky to clear my sinuses.

"Now I will clear you for school and such, but under the provision that you come see me again in 3 months. You have a big potential and I do want to keep an eye on you."

I looked up to him a bit scared, "Are you doing that so I can be drafted into the government as a lab rat or something?"

He just laughed, "Of course not. If you do want to work in a government job later, you might find it useful that we can give you a recommendation. But what I mean, is that I want to make sure that you are going to be all right. I am here not only for the government. I'm here also for the people themselves."

Shortly after that I he dismissed me. I found Mom waiting for me in the waiting room reading a magazine.

I think Mom could see that I had crying, because she didn't ask anything, she just accepted the folder from the assistant and took me out to the car. Even there we didn't say much and kept the conversation to a minimum. Back home she shooed me into my room so she could prepare dinner. I hadn't even realized it was that late already.

I still felt a little depressed and lonely, so I went online with my "Tanpa" login, as usual, and did some other things. One of the things was starting a new email address for me.

At the free email service I started synergy@cutey.com.

Someone asked for attention in the chat site, it was Snake, I mean Martin Iverson. He said that he still wanted to thank me in person for my help with his project. I told him that I couldn't anymore. After my parents divorce, I'd moved to Savannah with my Mom.

Snake got back, even more enthusiastic. He'd moved to the same city with his family. "Now we definitely have to meet. It is destined to be so. Why don't you come to 'Everyone's Place'."

I wrote back, "I'm sorry, but I don't know where that is. I haven't been here that long yet."

Right away Snake sent me a detailed map, with directions how to get to the place and invited me to have an ice cream with him.

I tried to excuse myself, but he insisted, and finally I gave in. "Ok, I'll be there tomorrow at say 2 pm."

'Great, now I've got a date with Snake and he isn't aware that Brent and I are the same person, or that I'm a girl now.' I wasn't that happy looking forward to the date, but I'd made a commitment, so I had to go. If only I wouldn't slip up and reveal who I used to be.

When Mom called for dinner, it came as a welcome relief so I wouldn't dwell to long on the subject anymore. Later that night I started worrying about it again, but sleep soon overtook me.

End of part two

To be continued...

(Note from Author, the email address is real, valid and in use by the author of this story.)



The entire MORFS Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/