Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 09:18:39 -0000 From: Beverly Taff Subject: Dog Day Afternoon Chapter 14 Two by Two Chapter 2 Victoria, or as everybody called her, Vicky, was overjoyed at her appointment to the vetinary chair. It meant complete independence financially but much more importantly; she would never again have to suffer the constant unwanted advances and attentions that had plagued her life. Vicky was confused and angered by men. She had been raped in high school and the scars still burned. Sex with men was forever after, associated with pain and terror. Vicky had never indulged in it again. She had tried sex with women but that had also sickened her. Despite her wounds, Victoria Williams was utterly heterosexual. She liked men, she liked their powerful shoulders and slender hips, and she liked their chiselled features. She appreciated their bodies like a sculptor or an artist would. She just couldn't bear being touched by one. For the first couple of weeks her life had been one hectic whirl of moving apartments across the country. From her last university in San Francisco to her new post on the East coast. She had travelled the distance twice by road and several times by air as she restructured her life and untangled the countless strands of her life only to reweave them on the east coast. It was not until after the inaugural ceremonies that she finally got settled into the university and eventually discovered that she shared the same laboratory block as the big scruffy doctor. She was walking down the corridor with a bundle of files when he emerged from his lab and collided with her for the second time in as many days. The second time however, he had the sense to help her gather the papers- and apologise belatedly but with the characteristic lack of grace. "Uh Sorry Miss Uuhm?" "Professor! Professor Victoria Williams!" Snapped Vicky, angered that he had shown such patronisation. "Don't you remember? We met at the inaugural ceremony. I was the one you sat next to, the one who you bumped into!" Steve's eyes flickered for the briefest instant but never dropped to the compressed cleavage behind the dishevelled files now bundled untidily in her arms. Instead, his eyes slid ever so slightly sideways to stare over her shoulder as he finally responded. "Oh! Yes! I uuhm remember now. Well- sorry. Sorry about the cakes, sorry about the files. Must dash. Byee!" Vicky watched him almost run down the corridor and wagged her head patronisingly. "What a pratt!" She thought. "What an utter weirdo. And was that fear I saw in those cold grey eyes Professor Steven Morgan?" She asked her self in the now empty corridor. Then she remembered that throughout the recovery of her files, when she was bent down and stooped forward revealing all her charms. Their heads had even touched momentarily, but his eyes had never once lingered. His gaze had never once stabbed were they would not have been welcome, - between her ripe breasts. 'Yes,' she told herself, 'a really rare bird, if still an odd one.' She stopped herself as she realised her opinion of him had changed from weird to odd. Then she realised something even more important. Even down there, in the gloom of the lonely empty corridor, she had not once felt threatened by him. The big scruffy doctor was one of the first men she had not felt uncomfortable with. 'Yes,' she surmised to herself as she fiddled to fit her key into the laboratory door. 'Perhaps I was wrong there. Weird implied something unsavoury, something threatening. Odd however, just hinted at farce or comedy. The man may have been sad and dysfunctional but not dangerous.' Victoria Williams did not realise it but her reaction had been exactly that of the intelligent high school girls during Steve's teen years. Thus were they thrown together in their work. Both Professors had been appointed to develop new ideas in organ donation. Steve was in charge of developing organ tissue that was more acceptable for transplanting into humans whilst Vicky department was working on developing animals with suitable tissue for donation. Their labs had been deliberately placed next to each other because of the close association of their research. Eventually, both professors had advanced to the point of testing their theories on live animals. Steve, ever the innovator, wanted to make the unorthodox step of creating animals with DNA compatible with man. To this end, he had bred some dogs in the labs whose embryos had been inoculated with human DNA shortly after their conception. The dogs were pure-bred Alsatians because they wanted as little scope for unexpected deviation as possible and Steve, always a stickler for probity and fair play, had inoculated the puppy embryos with volunteer DNA from his staff. He of course was the first to donate his DNA tissue. The puppies grew in the labs and eventually, in the privacy of his late night research Steve tried grafting a tiny sliver of the puppy's fur onto his own body. The experiment worked and from that day he had a tiny reminder of the dog's fur located deep down in his pubic hair were it remained un-noticed. Once the experiments were completed, the puppies were disposed of. As the dogs found homes, each was neutered to avoid any complications. Steve however, found that he could not bear to part with the dog that contained his own DNA. He took ownership of the dog himself and it grew to be a loyal and obedient pet. The dog remained entire for Steve was alert to any possible problems that may arise. A dog with human DNA might be used for all sorts of perverted research if it fell into the wrong hands. He called the dog Zac and it became a favourite around the campus.