Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 15:26:08 PDT
From: Bloodspell Moone <bloodspell@hotmail.com>
Subject: Daughters are made not born

DAUGHTERS ARE MADE NOT BORN

Part One: The project
	
Molecules floated in the soup of cytoplasm within the brain cell as things
began to get busy in preparation for cell division.  Base-pair Nucleotides
began to swarm in towards the masses of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The
large molecules began to unwind and break apart into two strands that left
exposed binding sites for the base-pair nucleotides to join up with, very
soon we would have two complete sets of all the DNA in this cell and the
next stage of cell division would be able to begin.

	A single unit of gamma radiation entered the cell easily where a
few others had collided with components within the bilipid layer of the
cell's membrane.  It traveled at the speed of light as energy does, thus a
collision would usually cause much havoc especially when it hit DNA.  Only
the nuclear membrane stood in its way to doing just that and being so
small, the gamma ray would easily penetrate this last membrane.  Like a
precision shot, it hit one of the DNA strands as it was reforming and an
explosion of nucleotides was the result as it cleaved the DNA molecule.
New base-pair nucleotides swarmed in to fix the damage, but it was
extensive, and the new DNA sequence was slightly different, just a few
base-pairs where out of sequence.

	Cell division continued and produced two new cells, the changed DNA
was in one of them and the other cell was normal.  The abnormal cell began
to behave as per this new DNA code and it began to divide again creating
two abnormal cells, then four, then eight and so on.  The new cluster of
cells began to grow within her brain, a tumor was born, though still a
little bit too small to detect.  This girl would be dead within a year, and
no medicine or surgery on Earth would be able to save her.

	Gerald Beck sat quietly behind his desk at Beck Biotech thinking
about his company and the advances that they were able to make to keep them
on the leading edge of the competitive biotech industry.  He was certainly
lucky in some areas of his research, not to say that all of his hard work
had not paid off too.  It was more like his hard work had made it possible
for luck to smile on him.

He built this company up from nothing after he received his PhD in
virological technology.  It was very hard going at first, most people
didn't even know what virological technology was and as such had a hard
time finding investors.  However, when he stumbled upon his first major
breakthrough, things began to change.  He had discovered a new technique
for extracting DNA by means of what he referred to as a homing virus.  This
was a virus that he could introduce to a sample and it would actually enter
the cells, isolate the DNA, encapsulate it as it introduced its own DNA
into the cell's nucleus.  Then, since this encapsulated DNA from the
original host cell was very dense, he could isolate it easily with a
centrifuge.  This made DNA extraction very easy and also made investors a
lot more plentyful.  Soon he had some real money and was able to build upon
this discovery and make many more wonderful discoveries.

	His viral research was the cornerstone of his company in its
infancy, but then he met Eugene Bryant, a very brilliant man who was a MD
as well as having a PhD in biotechnology.  Eugene was very interested in
Gerald's work and felt that it could be adapted to possibly perform many
tasks in cellular medicine.  Eugene felt that this virus could be adapted
to actually repair cell damage, rewrite faulty DNA sequences, and perhaps
even reverse aging.  Well, it was needless to say that the two of them
became partners and that with Eugene's help, Gerald's company became the
biggest in the world and as such was worth billions.

Now, Eugene may have been his partner in research, but Gerald owned the
company and his daughter Julia was set to inherit it.  Julia, was a great
girl, and Gerald really loved her so much.  He would, no doubt, have loved
for her to follow in his footsteps; however, Julia had a dream of becoming
a meteorologist.  He didn't particularly know why she was obsessed with
that branch of science, but at least it was a branch of science and not
something like fashion design.  Gerald was sure that once the company was
hers, she would probably sell it and use the money to help to maybe build a
weather research center or something like that.  However, if their research
did eventually find a way to reverse aging, maybe he wouldn't have to worry
about that.

He thought about his deceased wife, she had been lovely, it sometimes
seemed like she had died so long ago when it had only been a year.  Gerald
had really loved Nora, and now all he had left of her was the daughter that
they shared.  Nora had always been with him; they met when he was but an
undergraduate student getting his first degree in microbiology at the
University of Florida.  It was love at first sight the first time he saw
her just walking on University Avenue across from the stadium.  He must
have been staring as she stopped and smiled, there was no turning back
then.  They married while he was doing his masters at Florida State, and
bought a small house in Gainesville as he completed his PhD back at the
University of Florida.  Julia was born soon after, and was raised mostly in
Gainesville before they moved to Orlando where Beck Biochem was situated.

They had a dream life really, and when Nora died, he was never more taken
by surprise than he had ever been in his entire life.  She was only 40
years old, but lightning doesn't age discriminate.  Gerald was surprised
that with the death of her mother by lightning, Julia still was obsessed
with the weather and even more so as though this death fueled this
obsession some.  She came home for the funeral, but then returned to
Gainesville where she was then taking her first degree at the University of
Florida.  But then everything changed again as she got sick.

At first, it started out as headaches; Julia just always seemed to have
aches and pains in her head.  She being stubborn like her father was tried
to ignore them, but they got stronger and soon she went to see her doctor
to find out what was wrong with her.  Gerald's world fell out from
underneath him that day they discovered that Julia had a malignant brain
tumor.  The doctors also told them that it was inoperable and that due to
its location, they doubted that radiation or chemotherapy would be of much
use though they were willing to try.  Sadly, she was given six months to a
year to live.

Gerald refused to give up, there had to be something that he could do as
losing his daughter was completely unacceptable.  He had both himself and
Eugene working around the clock to try and discover a way to beat this
thing.  His viral research seemed to offer him hope, but what he would need
to do to eradicate the tumor was still years away.  He felt so lost as he
sat there, and then an excited Eugene burst into his office.

"I think I have a way to save her Gerald!"  Gerald's face lit up, as he
knew that if Eugene said that he had a way, then from his track record, it
would have to work.

"Please, tell me."

"Okay, at first I was trying to figure out a way to remove the tumor with
our viral technology.  It can be done, but by the time we have a working
prototype, it would be too late.  So I thought that perhaps we had to look
at this from another angle.  Her body is dying; no doubt the tumor has or
will metastasize.  Once she has cancer in almost every system, it is even
pointless to try and save her body.  As you know, one of my areas of
research is cloning."

"You want to clone her?"

"No, that would take 20 years to get her to the level that she is now.  I
do though want to create for her a new body, and then transfer her chemical
memories to it."

"Wait a minute Eugene, memory transfer and a new body, just how do you plan
to pull that off?"

"It will not be easy, first we need a host body that we can use our virus
to rewrite its DNA into Julia's sequences.  Next we have to change the new
body's chemical memory path to an exact copy of Julia's.  Voila, we have a
new Julia, and without the tumor."

"You can do that?  But will it be Julia?"

"Biologically yes, it will be Julia in every aspect.  Mentally, it will
also be Julia, but possibly not completely.  You see, we have no idea just
how much there is to memory storage and how it defines the person.  Maybe
some of it is stored in the soul, who knows, or if we are lucky, then it is
all chemically stored and we will have Julia One-hundred percent."

"Is this all we got?"

"Gerald, I love her as much as you do, if there were any other way, I would
do it, but this is it, it is her only chance."

"Well then, lets do it."

"Alright, our first step is going to be to find a donor."

"Eugene, I can imagine that the closer in genetic make-up to her, the
better."

"Yeah, you are right, also the donor needs to be the same age and have as
high of an IQ as she has.  Finding such a girl may be difficult, and we may
need to break a few laws to accomplish this."

"Eugene, you do whatever you have to, I just want a healthy daughter no
matter what the cost.  Todd Fillmore our head of security can be trusted,
he will help you find our donor."

'Okay, I will talk to him, we will move on this as fast as possible."

The water was very still, extremely calm; almost too calm as Dr. Arthur
walked up to the man that had been in every one of his nightmares since
this whole thing began.  He was not happy with what he had done, in fact,
he found it was almost hard to even live with himself.  The man simply
watched him approach with his cold eyes, the eyes of a killer as if there
were a specific genotype for that trait.

"Dr. Arthur, I can presume that the operation was successful as you are
here and I doubt you would have called me if you had failed."

"No, it is done.  The treatments I gave Julia Beck have given her brain
cancer as you had requested."  He looked down in shame at what he had done.

"Good, my boss will be pleased."

"I kept my end of the bargain, now give me the pictures as well as the
negatives and we will be done with it."

"Why Doc, in all good time.  Do not worry so much they are safe.  Though I
must admit that I have seen a lot in my life, and they actually shocked me.
The good doctor, a pillar of the community, involved in bestiality."

"I was drugged, I really thought they were women," the doctor said with his
shame evident.

"I know that, I drugged you myself, we had to be sure that you would
cooperate."

"You bastard, and now I am no better than you, I have given that poor girl
a death sentence.  I should just say the hell with those pictures and tell
the police about you and what I have done!"  The man just smiled knowing
that Dr. Arthur would never get that chance.  He removed a gun and aimed it
at Dr. Arthur's heart.

"Look at this lake here, the water is so serene, so calm, in a sense it is
a lot like life.  But you know, under the surface there lurks the perfect
predator: the alligator.  You know they have been around since the
dinosaurs, surviving because they are perfect, the dinosaurs went extinct,
but not the gator, it survived, it prevailed over all that nature could
throw at it.  We too as a race can do that, but not as we are, only through
my boss' plans.  You dear doctor, are a liability, you can upset the calm
of his lake."  The man opened a small vial of a green liquid and poured it
in the water.

"So, you are planning to kill me, I am just a loose canon in all this
madness."  He thought about running, but knew at this close range that the
man would not miss his heart if the gun were fired.

"I am not going to kill you Doc, Ah, look at the water, it is not so calm
anymore," he said gesturing to the lake.  First two scaly balls bobbed out
of the water, no not balls, but on closer inspection, they were eyes; gator
eyes.  Soon another set and another set appeared.  As they moved in closer
to the shore, their heads and parts of their backs became visible.

"Why are they here like this?  I thought you said that you are not going to
kill me," asked a very nervous Dr. Arthur.

"That green liquid I poured in the water is a very dilute pheromone that
attracts male gators.  It is actually the scent of a female gator all hot
and heavy ready to mate."  He then removed another vial; this one was blue.
He uncapped it and poured it on himself.

"Now this is a gator repellant, I could practically swim with them and be
perfectly safe with this on.  Now this one," he produced another vial, but
this time red, " is a very highly concentrated female gator pheromone.
Now, if I were to open this, they would even come out of that lake to get
at it.  Now if you don't know, gators are actually very fast on land they
can actually run up to 35 miles per hour, much faster than you can I am
afraid.  I said that I would not kill you, that is true from a perspective.
I am going to give you a chance to live, all you have to do is survive."
He then opened the red vial and poured the pheromone on Dr. Arthur.

"Good luck gator bitch," said the man as he moved away from Dr. Arthur
rather fast.

Almost instantly, the alligators got a whiff of the pheromones coming off
of Dr. Arthur.  Their brains only registered one thing and that was sex,
their primal sex drives kicked in and they all began to move steadily
forward, the front ones were pulling themselves out of the lake as the
doctor screamed and made a run for it.  The first gator burst in a run as
well; it was almost like a greenish-gray blur as it took off after him.
Dr. Arthur didn't even hear the gator coming, but felt it as it hit him in
the small of his back like a freight train.  He was knocked off of his feet
and fell face first into a small grouping of ferns.  The gator was on top
of him in an instant and was very nasty when it realized that this was not
a mate.

The man watched from a safe distance and saw the first gator take out the
good doctor.  The gator looked pissed and the good old doctor looked like
the embodiment of fear.  This was going to be good, he always loved
watching gators tear apart a human.  He had not had a chance to watch such
a good show since he did the same thing to that lightning research guy who
toasted Nora Beck.

Dr. Arthur tried to get up, but the gator was too strong, he never realized
just how powerful they were before, but he deserved this, he was a murderer
and this was his just desert.  He felt intense pain in his left shoulder as
the gator bit down.  Then there was a squeezing, and then he heard bones
breaking, the pain really burned, he felt wet, then there was pain in his
right leg, another gator had got him and they were playing a game of tug of
war with him as the rope.  More bones broke and he felt more pain even
worse than what he was feeling in his shoulder and leg as his side felt
like it was on fire and he felt feelings like he was moving, he glanced
down and saw why.  A gator had torn open his abdominal cavity and his
intestines were all caught around its snout and it was pulling them like a
dog with a link of sausages coated in bloody mucous.  He then heard a wet
slapping sound and the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a
gator heading back towards the lake carrying his arm in its snout.  It had
been torn off and left a trail of blood, he could see a white shape in the
middle of the jagged flesh; it was his shoulder bone.

As the gators carried what was left of Dr. Arthur into the lake, the man
opened up his cell phone and hit a button that scrambled the call to any
unauthorized listeners and then called his boss.  "The doctor is gator
bait, the Beck girl has cancer as planned.  We are free to proceed to the
next phase at your convenience."

William Smyth wiped the sweat from his forehead as he finished up from
soccer practice.  He had a swig of water as he walked away from the field
towards his bike.  He had lots to do that night, so he didn't waste any
time getting back to his apartment that bordered the campus near the place
that Gerald beck met his wife Nora for the first time.  William was not
looking for love though as he was a master's student in biochemistry, and
had a lot of work to do if he wanted to finish one of his electives in
neuropsychology in time to take the summer off.  All he had to do was one
more paper and that should take care of that course other than the fact
that everyone had to partake in at least one psychology study.  He had
meant to fill out some questionnaire or answer whatever questions were
necessary earlier in the year, but he had just never got around to it.  Oh
well, he would find one tomorrow and get that over with.  He figured that
partaking in a study was a waste of his time, and really felt that he
shouldn't have to, but his professor had been having troubles getting
subjects in the past and came up with this requirement to solve the
shortage of subjects.  Well, he did not sign up for any of his professors
as his stand against it and would have to find something else to do so that
he could get his credits; it would be foolish to get an incomplete over
such a trivial matter.

He was only home for about twenty minutes when his roommate Angela arrived
home.  She was a nice girl though and not really his type which is good as
it would have made sharing an apartment very uncomfortable.  She had a bath
and later in the evening came out for their nightly talk.  It was sort of a
custom, a way for both of them to relax before going to bed.  Well, it
helped her; he usually was up for a few more hours studying after she
headed off to bed.  This night, he figured that Angela being a psychology
major, would certainly know what studies were being done and that just
might save him some time if he hadn't had to figure out where to go.

"Angela, I still need to participate in a study of some sort to get my
credit in neuropsych."

"Professor Bean no doubt," she added.

"You got it, I completely forgot about it until now."

"Will, all the studies have been done, this late in the year not many
people are collecting data.  You just may be screwed here.  The only study
I know of is the Beck Biotech Gene Database study, and that is for women
only."

"Please do not tell me that, I am up shit creek if I don't get in a study
and soon."

"I am sorry, unless you want to show up in drag for the Beck study, I think
you are out of luck."

"Ha ha, I don't think so, I could never pass as a woman."

"Well, I don't know about that, you are of slight build for a guy and you
do have really great skin.  You know that may just be an idea.  Think about
it, it is an anonymous study, but if you bring along your study form, it
does not have your name on it, just your student number, and they merely
stamp it with the study stamp, it does not say what study you are partaking
in."

"Angela, you are not serious?"

"Sure I am, the test is easy, I did it today.  All they do is scrape some
cells out of your mouth, you wait for a few minutes as they make sure they
have a clear reading on your code, then they stamp your card and you are
off.  It is so easy, let me think of what I have that you can wear."

"You are serious, I do need that stamp, but why do I have a bad feeling
about this?"

Gerald paced back and forth in his office waiting for good news for a
change; it seemed like lately that only bad news tended to reach him.  He
was so sure that they would have found a donor by now, but no luck, they
were doing the screening at every university in Florida.  He was even
considering expanding the search to Georgia soon if they did not find
someone soon.  Eugene had assured him that holding out for the proper
genetic markers would really be worth it as to the results.  Well, if they
didn't find someone soon, they were going to have to start with any donor,
markers or not.

Eugene burst into the room very excited and managed to spat out, "We have a
match!"

"Where, when?"

"University of Florida, Gainesville.  She was just tested minutes ago; our
people are in place ready to move on her.  They are going to detain her
till we get there, the jet is ready to go."

William felt foolish sitting there dressed like a girl, but he really
didn't have a choice if he wanted that stamp.  So far, everything had gone
as easily as Angela had told him it would.  He just wished that they could
finish with his sample and give him the stamp so that he could get home and
get out of these clothes.  Angela was nice in that she didn't make him wear
a dress, but the bra and the water balloons where really weird, at least
she didn't fill them too full, if one where to break, he would just die.
She had dressed him in a tee shirt and a pair of shorts.  He wanted to wear
jeans, but she was right to point out that no girl would be caught dead in
jeans when it was 105 degrees out.  He was forced to shave his legs, a very
different experience for him.  His legs now felt so soft and cool, he was
rather amazed at how much of a difference hair made to how one's legs feel.
To finish his disguise, she used a little hairspray and some backcombing to
style his already longish hair into a girl's style.  She also put a little
bit of makeup on him to complete the illusion.  When she was done, he was
almost amazed at how much he looked like a girl.

"Excuse me miss, could you come back here for a minute," asked one of the
girls that had taken his sample.  Oh no, he wanted to panic, as surly it
meant that they were on to him.  What if they called the police, what if
everyone found out, he would be the laughing stock of the university.

"It is okay," she said, "we just need to do a couple more simple tests on
you.  Really, they won't hurt."  She smiled at him reassuringly.  He
whispered out an okay so that his voice wouldn't give him away.  She led
him from the testing booth they had set up to a classroom that they were
using to do their testing from.  He wished that Angela were there with him,
as she would know how to get him out of this as his bad feeling just kept
getting worse.

"Here, have a drink of ice tea," the girl offered him.  William accepted
the ice tea from her and began to nervously sip it as he waited for them to
start these other tests.  He figured that he would just have to play along
and hope he was not exposed.  He noticed that he seemed to be getting
tired, a yawn escaped from him.  He felt himself starting to fall asleep;
his mind tried to scream out that this would not be a good idea, but it was
no use as his ice tea had been drugged.

Gerald was sitting in his chair staring at the clouds below as the plane
began to descend towards his private runway.  They had a successful trip to
Gainesville and had the girl aboard, still drugged, but she was a match,
she was the donor body that they had been so desperately searching for.  He
felt a little sad that this girl had to lose her identity, but that could
not be helped, perhaps they could store her chemical memories and someday
recreate her, but that was unimportant right now, the only thing that
mattered was saving his daughter.  They were going to move the girl to his
mansion, only there was the security tight enough to protect what they were
doing, if word were to get out, it could ruin him, his company.  After
landing and settling the girl in, he would then meet with her and get her
cooperation, and Eugene could begin his initial examinations of her and
begin the process.

Karl Topski walked into his boss' office.  He was summoned almost as soon
as he arrived home from his fun with the gators.  He was hoping that
perhaps he had another really cool mission like the last two.  Whenever he
gets to kill, Karl is very happy.  He use to kill for a living as a
professional assassin in Europe, but the boss had offered him a steady
retainer and he has been here ever since at the man's beck and call.  His
boss had a plan that was a little scary, but what did he care if he got to
kill along the way, and not only that, got to kill with a little bit of
creativity.  He certainly never got to use gators in his work in Europe.

"Karl, something is troubling me," the boss said from behind his mask.
Karl had never seen the man, face to face, he always wore a mask to conceal
his identity.  Karl could understand that, though he usually just killed to
keep his own identity secret.  Today the boss was wearing a mask that
almost looked like spiderman, but it was black.  His masks were always
black.

"What is troubling you boss?"

"Gerald is up to something, did you know that he started genetically
screening at the universities and then as quickly as he started, he
stopped.  This is rather unusual and I have a bad feeling about it.  I want
you to find out what is going on, it is your top priority Karl.  Use any
means you want, just get this job done."

"Okay boss.  Do you have a clue at all as to what he is up to?"

"If I did I would tell you, now get on it, I want some answers within a
week.  You have never disappointed me yet, do not make this a first as I am
not a very forgiving man."

William slowly woke up finding himself in a very large bedroom.  He rubbed
his eyes to get his bearings, and almost screamed when his arms touched his
breasts.  He had to get a grip really fast as he remembered that they were
water balloons.  Where was he, how did he get here?  He tried the door, but
it was locked, the windows had bars on them.  He looked around the room and
found that the closet was full of clothes, girls clothes; the dresser
likewise.  This was like out of the twilight zone, he was really confused.
He remembered the ice tea thinking that it had to have been drugged.
Someone had to have kidnapped him, but who and why would they want him and
what would they do to him once they realized that he was a boy.

He heard someone at the door, he thought about rushing them, but that might
be stupid as he had no clue where he was, and for all he knew, there could
be fifty guards lurking around.  He sat down on the bed and a man wearing a
uniform that said Beck Biotech on it with a little badge under that that
read security entered the room.

"Hello there, my name is Todd Fillmore, I am head of security at Beck
Biotech.  You probably are very confused right now," William nodded, "and I
wouldn't blame you.  However, I think that all of you questions shall be
answered if you just follow me.  Mr. Beck would like to see you, by the
way, what is your name?"

"Umm, Will...Wilma," he managed to say in as soft of a voice as he could.
He just nodded and led William out of the room.  William found that the
room he was in was but one room of many in a very big house.  Heck, it was
a mansion, and he was beginning to get a little curious what this was all
about.  There were still lots of fear about discovery, and perhaps a little
bit of excitement about pulling it off for so long.  Angela was going to
freak when she heard about all of this he thought.

He was led to a room on what seemed like the other side of the house to
William.  It was a very big room, like a den, but with so much extra space,
William figured that twelve men could have fit easily into this room and
still it would not look crowded.  There were two men seated already in the
room, it was obvious that they were waiting for him.

"Gerald, Eugene, this is Wilma," said the guard.

"Come on in Wilma, have a seat, I am sure that you are wondering why we
brought you here.  First off my name is Gerald Beck and this is my friend
and business partner Eugene Bryant."

"Hi Wilma," Eugene said.

"Hello," he was able to say back in his soft voice.  He wanted to demand to
know what was going on, but that would have given away that he was a boy,
and not Wilma the girl they kidnapped.

"Wilma, you are here because we need your help.  By now, you might suspect
that the genetic testing we were doing at your university was not for a
database.  You see Wilma, we were looking for a very rare genetic marker
that perhaps one in a million people might have."

"It is probably closer to one in ten million," added Eugene.

"Well, it turns out Wilma that you have the marker we were looking for and
that makes you very special to us.  That is why we brought you here, so
that we can talk to you and work out a deal that will be beneficial to both
of us."

"A deal, what sort of deal," William said still a little confused.

"Well, we need a year of your life for our research.  What that means is a
full year, with absolutely no contact outside of here.  There will be a lot
of medical tests and such done to you, but I promise you that no harm will
befall you.  And well, after that year is up, you can leave and your bank
account will be ten million dollars richer."  William was almost floored,
ten million dollars, He would do it in a second, but he realized that there
was no way he could pull off living as a girl especially with medical
tests.

"I would agree, but I am not who I seem," he said as he reached into his
top and pulled out a water balloon.  The three men where speechless.

Angela couldn't wait to get home and find out how things went with Will and
the bid study.  She was planning on teasing him about going out in public
as a girl; she would maybe blackmail him into doing some of her chores
around the apartment.  When she got home, the apartment was empty; there
was no sign of William at all.  She checked the bedrooms and saw that the
clothes he had worn were not strewn on her floor as she had expected.  He
hadn't come home yet; he was still out and from the look of things, was
still dressed like a girl.  Perhaps he found out he liked it she said to
herself with a chuckle.  Oh well, Cinderella would surely be home soon,
before her carriage turned into a pumpkin.

Karl watched the perimeter of Beck Biotech, he was noting down security
details.  For instance, he had to know how long between each patrol, the
location of dogs, and even any bad habits any specific security detail had.
He was going to break in and hopefully find out what was up.  However, to
do so, he had to do it completely undetected or else tip off Beck that he
was being watched.  Karl got the impression that Beck had no idea that the
boss was his enemy or that he even had any enemies for that matter.  If he
knew, perhaps he would double his security.

"You're a boy," said Gerald in a quivering voice.  William could tell that
this revelation really floored him.

"Interesting, a boy and with the right markers.  He will still do, we will
just have to modify the program a little to compensate for this turn in
events," said Eugene.

"He is still acceptable then?"

"Oh yes, totally," replied Eugene.

"Very well then, Wilma, or whoever you are, the offer still stands, will
you accept?"

"My name is William, and yes I cannot turn down ten million dollars."

"Good, Todd, make sure our guest gets settled in, Eugene will be along in a
bit to explain to him the details."  Todd led William out of the room and
took him to another room that appeared to be an office.  There was a phone
sitting on the desk and Todd motioned to it.

"If there is anyone who will be worried about you, I think we need to deal
with that at the moment."

"Well, my roommate is probably worried stiff as she is the one who dressed
me like this."

"Please, you do not need to explain that to me, call her, let her know you
are alright.  Do not tell her where you are or anything about this deal.
Is that clear?"

"Yes, but why?"

"You can ask Mr. Beck that later."

"Okay. I won't say a thing."

Angela was really getting worried as it had already gotten dark and still
there was no sign of William.  She was even thinking about calling the
police, but she knew that would be senseless until at least after
twenty-four hours.  When the phone rang, she knew it was he; a sixth sense
told her so.

"Hello?"

"Angela, hi its me."

"Oh William, where are you, what is going on, I have been so worried."

"I am fine, I got recognized by a friend of mine that you don't know.  He
insisted that I should come over to his place to show it off.  Anyway, we
lost track of time and I will probably be staying here tonight.  He lent me
some clothes luckily."

"Will, are you sure that you are fine?"

"Absolutely, talk to you later."  As he hung up, Angela was now certain
that something was wrong.  He had been off somehow and she was sure that he
was lying to her.  There was nothing she could do about it except worry.

Eugene sat down on a chair that was put in William's room; he had brought
with him a black doctor's bag.  William sat on the bed still wearing
Angela's top and shorts though he had removed the bra.

"Well William, I want us to start out by telling you a little bit about
what I plan to do with you.  I don't want you to be surprised; I want you
to know ahead of time of the changes that are going to occur to you.  This
is going to be very interesting and I think educational for you as well as
us.  I must stress though that everything we are doing to you is completely
reversible."

"Just what are you planning to do to me?"

"We are using you as a test for a new viral technology that if successful
should be able to actually rewrite DNA.  It is going to cause some changes
in you, but have no fear; we will keep a record of your original DNA
pattern, and undo all the changes we make.  It will not be painful, and I
can not stress enough that it is completely reversible.  The only
difference in you at the end of this project will that you will be very
rich."

"You are sure that this is not dangerous," asked William.

"Absolutely!"

"Okay, lets get on with it then."  Eugene only smiled as he removed blood
samples from William, and administered an injection into his hip.  He felt
a little bad about lying to the boy, but that really could not be helped.
The injection contained a mixture of female hormones as well as the first
set of retroviruses.  The long road to transformation had begun.

The black mask hurt slightly as he eased it off his face to reveal what was
left of it after the accident so many years ago that had burned him when he
use to work for Beck Biotech.  Sure the fire was his fault he thought
noting that the burns almost made his face look like an old man's, however,
his dismissal was just plain cruel and he was going to see to it that
Gerald Beck paid in full for it.  Gerald Beck had already made a huge
mistake; he underestimated him and the importance of his research.  By
firing him, he actually facilitated the burned man's research in more ways
then one.  You see, he now had a benefactor, an investor that gave him
unlimited resources to carry out his plans, but more importantly, they gave
him a very special splinter of blood stained wood.

Julia was sitting on her bed thinking about how her life had just spiraled
lately ever since she found out that she had brain cancer.  Well, in ways,
her mother's death had not had such an effect on her, in fact, it only made
her more determined to be a great meteorologist.  However this tumor, and
being given six months to live maybe a little longer, was just not
something that she could recover from.  To make things worse, here she was
locked up practically in her father's mansion.  He tells her that it is for
a new radical treatment that will save her and give her her life back.  She
hopes that he is right, but the next little while being stuck on the
grounds of the mansion will be very testing.  Maybe if his treatment works,
she will be able to resume university for the Fall session.  Oh well, she
could only pray, and in the meantime, she had another mystery to contend
with.  There was a boy in the room down the hall, this was unusual, but at
least he was really cute and Julia figured getting to know him was going to
be fun.

Karl relaxes as he thinks of tomorrows planned break in at Beck Biotech.
His plan was brilliant as usual, and soon his boss would have all the
information he needed.  Karl was determined to find out what Gerald was up
to and maybe steal a few more secrets while he was there.  But he wasn't
going to go too overboard on his fact finding.  If he gave the boss
everything he wanted, what would he do when the boss had everything and no
longer needed Karl?  He knew the boss was ruthless and as such tried to
keep one step ahead of him, for his own protection.  He was also fully
aware that whatever the boss' goals were, they had nothing to do with
bettering mankind.  He suspected that the research goals of the boss were
entirely selfish, but what did he care as long as he remained useful in the
equation and the money kept rolling in.

Two men met in a deep cavern under the Holy Land, they greeted each other
with a secret hand gesture and then walked together towards a deeper part
of the gloomy cave.

"Everything is going as planned Master," said the shorter man known only as
Demur.

"I am pleased to hear that Demur.  Our pawn, how long until he is ready to
synthesize the required DNA?"

"Master, he is moving a little slower than expected, perhaps too much
energy is being expended on his vendetta against Gerald Beck."

"I agree, if we do not see results soon, perhaps we should then remove Beck
Biotech from the equation."

"Very well, Master."

Gerald was happy to hear that the whole process had started, Eugene had
informed him that in a few months, he would have a new daughter.  Gerald
was surprised that it was going to take so long, but Eugene assured him
that they were altering the entire genome, not something you can do all at
once without a great danger to the host.  So, they were transforming their
host a few hundred genes at a time.  Perhaps in time, they could perfect
the process some more so that full genetic rewrite could be done in a day
without any harm to the host; they just didn't have that time in this
situation to wait.  As for the rewriting of the host's memory, that would
begin in a week or so, he was hoping that would work as well as possible as
that in itself would be the final defining as to whether it was a success
or not.

Underneath his house, Gerald had designed a three-floor subbasement that he
had created a private lab for the slightly more unethical research he often
dived into.  Sometimes, ethics could easily hamper a scientist from saving
lives.  He tended to work around them when he had to and as long as the
ends would justify the means.  This whole daughter project of his was the
only one to date that he couldn't truly justify, but because it was his
daughter dying, he didn't care.  This lab would make sure that the project
went according to plan.  He was making sure that Eugene transferred all
data and samples that pertained to this project to this lab as he wanted
there to be absolutely no chance of anyone finding out what was happening
here.  All that was really left to come over here were the blood samples
that Julia had donated both treated and untreated.  They were essential to
the project, as they had been using the treated ones for the gene
extraction.  They could always retreat new samples, but that was risky as
if any of her cancerous cells got into the samples, then his new daughter
could end up dying too.

Karl couldn't believe that the boss had insisted on seeing him that very
morning before his trek into Beck Biotech.  However, the boss was the boss
and as such, he met with him briefly.  The boss gave him a blood sample to
take in with him to put through the treatment process.  The process only
took about 15 minutes as where it would take weeks for the boss to do it
without the Beck technology.  That was fine, he would have no problem with
that, besides, it meant a bonus; well the boss was good like that.  He was
a little curious as to why this blood had to be treated.  However, he
really didn't have time to think about it, the fun was about to begin.

They had no problems sneaking undetected through the bowels of Beck
Biotech, stopping every so often to place another bomb.  They were trained
for this sort of thing since they could walk, so it really was not a big
task at all, in fact, it was almost too easy.  There seemed to be
absolutely no security in the maintenance sub-level, which was sandwiched
between the first floor and the underground labs and supply levels.  It
would be too easy to destroy this place as these explosives where probably
as powerful as you could get without tampering with nuclear explosives.
Beck Biotech was going to go boom in a very big way.

Karl waited for his opportunity; he had to time things just right if he was
to have enough time to pull this off.  He walked briskly towards the
corner, holding out in front of him a soda pop, though it was not really
pop, but more of that gator pheromone.  Wham, he rounded the corner and
walked straight into a collision with the two security guards that were
rounding the same corner on their beat.  The pheromones soaked the pair as
well as a nearby woman who was outside smoking a cigarette.  He apologized
to them and very quickly headed off for the next step in his plan.  He
noted that a couple of gators were already emerging from the lake that sat
next to Beck Biotech.  The screaming and his distraction would be beginning
soon.

Eugene left the mansion and began his drive over to Beck Biotech as he had
to pick up the remaining blood samples.  He liked the labs better there,
and wished he could run this project out of there, but he did understand
Gerald's insistence for security.  If this ever got out, not only would
Gerald be ruined, but so would he, they could even go to jail, well could
have if William had not signed over those documents giving them permission
to perform this project on him.  Todd was smart on that front, Eugene would
never have thought of that angle in case something went wrong.

Karl found his next target, a lone security officer sneaking a smoke break
while his partner was using the bathroom.  These two did the same thing
every day like clockwork and it was nothing for Karl to sneak up on the man
and snap his neck from behind.  He dragged him behind some ferns and soon
emerged from the ferns in the dead man's uniform.  Karl then made his way
to the bathroom and threw a cyanide gas canister through the open window
above the door.  He then closed the window as he heard the screams begin
from out front of the building as well as from within the outdoor bathroom.
However, the bathroom screams died very quickly.  Using a passkey he was
inside and made his way to the lab.  He didn't run into anyone, as he was
sure the gators had everyone's attention.  He made his way up to the lab
and easily found the equipment that he had to use to treat his boss'
sample.  There was one snag; his test tube was a little too big to fit in
the holder with in the apparatus, so he transferred it to an empty one
labeled Julia-2.

All hell was breaking out in front of Biotech as Eugene pulled up.  He
heard screams and saw that people where running wildly as if in complete
chaos.  Then he saw why, there where alligators attacking people, this was
too weird, gators did not just come out of the lakes and attack like this.
Eugene pulled his handgun from out of his glove compartment and got out of
his car.  A large gator started to advance on him almost immediately; he
fired three shoots into its head before it fell over seemingly dead.
Eugene moved towards another gator and only had to shoot it twice before it
died with someone's leg still hanging from its snout.  How many more where
there, Eugene wondered as the first drop of rain fell.  Within seconds, the
heavens opened up and the rain fell down in the usual torrential onslaught
of water that was common in Florida.  The pheromones washed away with it,
and the gators stopped their attack and sluggishly headed back towards the
lake leaving a lot of gore and body parts strewn on the front lawn of Beck
Biotech.  Eugene was still in shock, but figured that he had to get to the
lab and do something or he was going to start screaming.

Karl almost freaked when he saw the rain start to fall knowing that it
would wash away the pheromone and end his distraction.  The treatment was
almost done, just a minute or so and he could get out of there.  During the
distraction, he had done everything sort of ransacking the place to find
out what Beck was up to, and only discovered that whatever it was, it was
called Project Daughter.  The boss would be very disappointed, but the
information just was not here.  The treatment was done and he quickly
grabbed his sample just before Eugene walked in on him.

"You had better get down stairs, I think they could use some help," Eugene
said blankly to Karl.  Karl thought about killing him, but thought better
of it, he just wanted to get the sample back to his boss, so he left.  In
the confusion, he easily got out of the building and headed off to meet
with his boss.

Eugene collected his remaining samples and then noticed that there was one
more in the treatment apparatus, he took that one two.  How odd he thought,
the standard blank solution was gone.  He headed out and was able to get to
his car fairly unmolested, though he did promise to go downtown later and
give a written statement to the police as to what he saw happen here.  He
drove away, and headed back towards the mansion.

60...the numbers on all the bombs in the maintenance sub-level all flashed
in perfect sync with each other...54.  53, 52, 51, 49...A lone janitor
opened the door to this level and maid his way towards the sprinkler
controls...41.  40, 39, 38...he had to turn them off so that they didn't
turn on as they usually did in the afternoon to water the lawn...30.  29,
28, 27...The police didn't want any evidence to wash away, though he was
sure that the rain had already done that...20.  19, 18, 17...Though, it was
sunny again, the rain was gone as fast as it had come...10.  9, 8, 7...he
happened to glance up for a minute and saw the countdown on one of the
bombs, he could not believe his eyes...3, 2, 1, BOOM!

Karl heard a huge explosion as he was driving away, he turned to see a huge
fireball billowing into the air, and he almost went off the road thinking
he was lucky to have left when he did.  He was also amazed at the size of
it; that was certainly one big explosion he thought.

Eugene had not gotten far, when he heard a huge roar and a loud clap like
thunder, not thunder, an explosion.  He pulled over and looked back at the
giant fireball.  His lab, everything gone, he did scream this time.

"Master, it is done, Beck Biotech has been destroyed," said Demur in the
cavern under the Holy Land.

"Good, now our pawn can get back to our goals.  I want that DNA within a
week, make sure that he makes it happen."

"Yes Master, it will be done."

"Good, soon we will have the DNA of the one true Messiah, then we can kill
our pawn unless he will prove useful in making our clone, soon the Lord
will walk the Earth again, ours goals will be realized."


Part two: Transformation.

	The virus moved easily through the blood avoiding the white blood
cells easily, as they were not able to detect this particular retrovirus as
an intruder.  Then up ahead, the virus found its target, a single cell that
had yet to be infected by this particular virus.  The virus was able to
rather simply attach itself to the cell membrane and then in one simple
pumping thrust, inject its DNA into the cell.  The DNA was then guided to
the nucleus and easily crossed its membrane.  Once inside, the genes that
this particular virus coded for, cleaved and replaced the original genes
which where then broken down to their base-pair nucleotides losing the
information they originally had.  The cell now had different instructions,
and began to synthesize different proteins as per the new code.

	Angela was beyond worried about William and his strange
disappearance, she knew that something really bad had happened, she had no
proof to the matter.  She was sure that he was in trouble, but there was
just no trace of him at all, it was as if he just disappeared off of the
face of the planet.  Other than the one strange call she had gotten from
him, there was no other contact.  She even filed a missing person's report
with the police, but nothing turned up.  They didn't seem to be trying very
hard to find him.  She thought that if he were not an orphan, if he had a
family to care for him, then maybe the police would try harder.  William
was alone in this life, even in his disappearance; he was not getting any
breaks.

	Angela was about to call it a night, she could have nightmares
about her friend as she had been having, when a glow began to fill her
living room.  She should have been afraid, but she wasn't.  A light formed
in the middle of the room and that soon turned into a human shape, and then
standing in her living room was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen
in her life; she knew that this was an angel.

	"Hello Angela, please do not fear me, I mean you no harm," she said
in a glorious voice that brought tears to Angela's eyes.

	"I am here to let you know that William is fine and that he is
alright.  You are a good friend to him, he cares for you enough that the
power of his love commanded me to set your mind at ease.  Please do not
worry about him, he will come to you when the time is right, till then, be
at peace child."  With that, the angel was gone and Angela's life was
changed forever.

	Julia knocked lightly on William's door, knowing that he was inside
and hoping that he wasn't busy.  She felt a little shy, she really was
looking forward to meeting him; she almost felt like a lovesick teenager.
She tried to shake that, she didn't even know his name yet.  He could end
up being a creep for all she knew.  She heard him moving around in the
room, yet he didn't open the door.  She knocked again, the noise of his
movements stopped.

	"Come in," he said through the closed door.  That was odd she
thought, he didn't open the door for her, and then she noticed that it was
locked from the outside.  Why was this boy being locked in?  She unlocked
the door and then opened it to get a little bit of a surprise.  The room
looked exactly like hers down to every detail.  He even had the same
posters on his wall.  This was definitely getting weird she thought.  The
boy himself seemed pretty normal, he was wearing a tee shirt and a pair of
sweat pants.  However, even so, he was still cute, and one look at his face
sent her tummy into a flip-flop.

	"Hi, I'm Julia?"  As she said it, she tried not to blush
unsuccessfully.

	"I am William, my friends call me Will.  So are you a test subject
here too?"

	"A test subject, I have no idea what you mean.  I live here, my dad
owns this house."  She was a little confused at his mention of a test.  Her
dad had mentioned something about a new treatment for her cancer.  Could
this boy be involved in that somehow?

	"Oh," he said, "I am sorry, I just have not had a lot of contact
with the outside world lately.  I am glad that you stopped by, I do get
quite bored in this room with Eugene being the only contact I really get.
And lately, he has been acting like there is a big dark cloud hanging over
his head or something."

	"Oh, there was an accident at the lab last week, an explosion or
something that killed quite a few of his friends.  Dad hasn't told me very
much about it.  I don't get out much either, I have been sick lately."
William felt a tinge of sadness as he was beginning to really like this
girl.

	"I am sorry to hear that, I hope it is not too bad."  Julia burst
into tears as he said that.  He stood up and hugged her close to him while
she just cried.  He decided that at that moment that he could very easily
fall in love with this girl.  He also felt a connection of some sort to
her.

	Karl sipped his coffee in the diner across from Eugene Bryant's
place.  He was watching the good doctor to try and find out a poetic way to
kill him.  This was not a hired assignment, this time it was personal,
thanks to Eugene, Karl had nearly lost his life.  The boss nearly freaked
when he returned that afternoon with the standard distilled water sample
instead of the treated blood sample.  It was a major mistake that would not
have happened if Eugene had not rushed him.  Well, the boss spared him only
because he had more of this blood sample and now had to treat it the slow
way since Beck Biotech was completely destroyed in the explosion.  He was
told to take a vacation, which to Karl was an insult.  Well, during this
vacation, Eugene was going to die, and maybe even Gerald Beck too.

	William stopped dead in his tracks as he was finishing up in the
bathroom and caught his reflection in the mirror over the sink.  Something
was different, at first he could not tell just what, but then it hit him.
His eyes were brown, but there in the reflection, a pair of green eyes
stared back at him.  It was rather creepy, but not too surprising as Eugene
had warned him that things were going to change.  He thought to himself for
a minute that perhaps he might have gotten himself in a little deep this
time.  However, ten million little reasons soon convinced him otherwise.
He then heard that familiar knock on his door that was trademark Julia.

	"Hi Will, can I come in," she asked as she let herself in knowing
that he was going to say yes.  She still felt like a lovesick teenager
while she was around him.  He felt the same about her.

	"Julia, look at my eyes, they are green."  She stared deeply into
his eyes and her green eyes widened as she recognized his eyes.

	"Your eyes, what happened to them?  I know they were brown
yesterday, they look like my eyes."  She was a little surprised that she
felt like something big was happening.  She thought that well, people's
eyes do not change color like that, and this was more than just changing
color, his eyes were hers, she was sure of it.

	"Eugene, he said that things about me would be changing as part of
the experiments.  Do you think my eyes look like yours?"

	"Will, those are my eyes, trust me I have looked at them my whole
life and I know my eyes."

	"Why would Eugene give me your eyes?  That really doesn't make any
sense."

	"I don't know, but I am going to find out," she had a slight tinge
of anger to her voice.  She also planned to find out why his room was an
exact duplicate of hers, and his closet was filled with duplicates of her
clothes.  She assumed his dressers were filled with her stuff too.  He was
still wearing the same sweats and top, where was the rest of his clothes?

	"How about a game of cards," said William changing the subject.  He
should have been more concerned with the whole eye issue, but he felt
great, he could even see better than he had seen with his own eyes.

	William and Julia spent the rest of the afternoon playing cards on
his bed.  Soon his eyes were forgotten as they gave into the good time they
were having and the feelings that continued to grow between them.  They
really hit it off well, almost behaved like they were two parts of the same
soul.

	The burned man looked intently at his newly treated sample thinking
that it was ready for the next phase.  His benefactors wanted results, they
had given him until today to produce the DNA for them.  He could do that,
but once he realized that this DNA was extremely extraordinary, he had
other plans.  He was going to use some of Beck's viruses to reincorporate
this DNA into his own.  He was going to become the new Messiah, he would
have the DNA of the son of man.  He would then teach all of his enemies the
true meaning of the wraith of God.  He combined his treated DNA with the
Virus and smiled as the virus would need only a few hours to absorb the DNA
and then it was time for him to become God, or Christ, it did not matter to
him.

	Julia entered her father's office and was relieved to see that
Eugene was there already.  She planned to confront them both and find out
what was happening with William.

	"Julia sweetheart, come on in," her father said to her.

	"Daddy, Eugene, I have to ask a question and I want the truth from
both of you."

	"Julia, what is on your mind?"

	"Well, I have met William, he is very nice.  However, why do you
have him locked up in a room that looks like mine, shit it is my room.  And
what are you doing to him?  Did you know that his eyes have changed, they
look like mine?"

	"Calm down Julia, there is an explanation for all of this."

	"Calm down, father I don't think so, I am sure that whatever your
explanation is, it won't make any difference.  I really have a bad feeling
about all of this."

	"We are saving your life Julia, William's DNA is being rewritten
into yours," Eugene said to an open mouthed Julia.

	"What!"  Julia was even more upset than she was when she first
entered the room.

	"We need to change him totally into you, so that he can be a donor
for a DNA project that will save your life.  He is a willing donor Julia,
and we can change him back after we have saved you," Gerald said hoping
that his daughter would buy the few white lies covered up in the truth.

	"This is crazy!  Why can't you just use my DNA, I have quite a bit
of it you know."

	"Maybe so, but some of it is damaged, if we used a damaged piece in
our process to save you, it would only kill you.  A healthy Julia is
absolutely necessary and William will be such in a few weeks," said Eugene.

	"Does he know?"  Julia asked still obviously mad.  She discovered
that afternoon that she loves William, and now she finds out that he is
being turned into her, a little creepy.

	"Not exactly," replied her father.

	"Well, lets go tell him right now and see if he still wants this,"
Julia said.

	"Okay, I will tell him," replied Eugene.  Gerald just nodded and
then Eugene and Julia headed off to tell William.  Gerald felt a slight
pang in his conscience as he knew they were misleading Julia, and it was
hard on him for the simple fact that he had always been totally truthful
with her up till now.  Their relationship had always been strongly built on
a great foundation of truth, but the truth now would kill her.  She would
never let him do what he was doing to William.  He had come too far now to
lose her, his plans for William had to go ahead.

	I was so happy looking up at mommy and daddy as I happily skipped
along in front of them.  We were going to see Mickey Mouse; I could hardly
wait.  I was very excited about it, it even took some effort to keep myself
from peeing myself.  I knew if I did that, they might let me see Mickey.

	"Julia dear, don't get too far ahead of us," said mommy.  She was
so beautiful, I wanted to grow up to be just like her.  Daddy looked happy
too, I was so happy having them both all to myself; well, Mickey too once
we got to Disney.  Disney, just thinking about made me feel so giddy and
happy, I wasn't paying much attention to the small soda can on the ground.
My little feet trampled onto the can and I fell forwards.  My knee, it hit
the ground and hurts, I began to cry.

	"Julia," daddy said, "you need to pay attention to where you are
going, it looks like you only scraped your knee."

	"Gerald, how about being a dad and not a scientist.  Come here
sweetie, let me kiss your boo boo and make it better."  I ran to my mommy
with tears in my eyes and she made me feel better.

	William snapped out of his memory, his memory, that was not his
memory, he had never been a little girl.  He tried to reason to himself
that it must have been a weird dream, but no it was a memory, he was sure
what a memory felt like.  Was he going insane, how could he have this
rather odd memory?  He didn't have time to dwell on it as Eugene and Julia
arrived outside his door requesting to talk to him.  He let them in and
then sat on his bed, Julia sat on his bed too; Eugene just stood.  William
liked having Julia this close though he felt a little odd with Eugene
there.

	"How are you doing today William?"

	"Okay I guess, I feel a little cooped up though."  He looked at
Julia and thought that as long as he was cooped up with her, he might not
mind it so much.

	"I'll see if we can give you a little more freedom.  William, I
think it is time though that we had a talk about what has been happening to
you," said Eugene as he stared into William's new green eyes.

	"Well, I know that you are giving me new genes and I have seen
quite a few changes already.  My eyes are green now, and I noticed that my
roots are growing in red.  I have noted too a few other minor changes too."

	"Like what," asked Julia before Eugene had a chance to.

	"Well, I think I am getting fat, I really could use a gym."

	"Fat?"  Julia seemed a little confused by this.

	"Well, I seem to have a little more tissue on me than I ever
remember having."

	"Is your chest sore at all," Eugene asked?

	"Well, a little, almost like an itch.  What is happing to me?"

	"Tell him Eugene, or I will," said Julia with a tone that stated
that she meant business.  William was surprised to hear that tone, but
smiled thinking that Julia was standing up for him.

	"As you know William, I am using you as a test subject to rewrite a
few of your genes, well that is but a small part of what is going on here.
I am afraid that we have not told you the entire truth."

	"What?  What is going on?" William was on the verge of becoming
agitated, but something inside of him seemed to be soothing him a little.

	"I am sorry William, if we had told you everything in the
beginning, we were afraid that you would not have allowed us to change you.
Let me start by giving you the why before we get to the what.  Julia as you
know, is Gerald's daughter and he loves her very much."

	"She is easy to love," interjected William that caused both him and
Julia to blush.

	"She is easy to love, and I guess love has a lot to do with what we
are doing to you.  Anyway William, Julia was found to have a brain tumor."
The color drained from his face.  William felt like his world just fell out
from under his feet.  It was at that moment that he truly realized just how
much he had fallen for Julia.
	
	"It is inoperable and she will die unless we create a radical
treatment to save her life and that is where you come in.  You see, the
only way to save her is to completely rewrite her DNA in such a way that we
can filter out the tumor.  Unfortunately, to do so, we need your help, we
can not use her DNA to rewrite her own code as her DNA is damaged and the
probability of us rewriting her into an even more damaged version of
herself is extremely high."

	"So, you are rewriting my DNA into her pattern," said William
surprising both Julia and Eugene.

	"Why yes, I must say that I am impressed that you were able to
figure that out."

	"I am a biochemistry major, but how do you plan to rewrite my code
without giving me the damaged code?"

	"We are using the code from samples that were taken from Julia
before she became sick."

	"Really, well why not just use those samples on her?"  William had
surprised Eugene again in that he picked up on the one weak spot in the
cover story he and Gerald came up with.  However, Eugene was a quick
thinker.

	"Well, To rewrite her structure, we would run into the problem that
our retroviruses would be confused since her structure is identical other
than the cancer.  This would mean that the cancer would not be recognized
as foreign and possibly would be missed by the virus.  Now, if we rewrite
you, we can than incorporate a marker into the new Julia code so that
problem will not exist and we can rewrite her DNA without any problem.
Also, with the DNA we have left, there certainly is enough to transform
you, but not enough to properly transform Julia.  Thus by transforming you,
we are also getting a huge reserve of Julia raw DNA to use in the whole
process."  Eugene smiled to himself, with his quick explanation, though if
he had more time and research, he could perhaps actually do that.

	"Okay, that is fascinating, I am a little shocked that you can
actually rewrite an entire genome.  And you are right, I would never have
agreed to this if you told me in the beginning, not even if you doubled my
price to twenty million.  I am a guy, I have no desire to become a girl for
any price.  However, I have fallen in love with Julia," he glanced at her
to see her shocked expression.

	"I love you too," she said with a tingling sensation exploring the
back of her neck.  She really did love him, and now he was being turned
into her twin.

	"Anyway," continued William, "I love her enough that I do not want
to lose her and if that means I have to become a girl to save her life,
well so be it."

	"You would do that for me?" She said with a twinkle in her eye.

	"Yes, I would," he replied as he leaned over to her and kissed her
on the lips.  The kiss was electric as they both felt tingling and warmth
from the charged kiss.  Eugene smiled and just walked out of the room, as
the simple kiss became much more passionate.  He was happy with this new
twist in things, perhaps if the two of them remained close, they could keep
this project on track and maybe William would not complain as he was about
to change radically with the next injection.

	Angela woke from her sleep feeling an intense desire to do
something, though she had no idea what.  As she pulled herself out of her
bed, she began to feel like she was supposed to be somewhere, yes she had
to leave Gainesville.  Orlando, she had to go to Orlando, her destiny
awaited her there.  Silently, Angela got dressed and packed a few things
and then headed out to her car.  She got in the car, started the ignition,
put the car in drive, and then pulled out onto the street to begin her
drive to Orlando.  It was a two-hour drive depending on the traffic; that
would get her there with time to spare for whatever it was that she had to
do.

	Karl really loved the last few kills with the help of the
alligators and figured that Eugene would deserve no less.  He still had
some of the pheromones left and a little bit of the repellant too.  The
boss may have practically suspended him, but Karl did not need the boss, he
was and always would be a loose cannon.  Maybe he would do the boss someday
and then get himself a new boss.  He would have to think about that later,
for now, he had business to attend to with Eugene, and would soon have
business with Gerald too.

	Eugene left the mansion still happy about their plans going so
well, he was a little guilty about lying to William, but he had no choice.
He was going to save William's original DNA pattern, though and his memory
matrix just in case he ever got the chance to undo the wrong he was doing
to the poor boy.  He would need another host body to save William, but you
never can tell what will come along.  Eugene was thinking so much about it
that he never noticed Karl walking up behind him until it was too late and
the chloroform soaked handkerchief was already placed over his mouth.  He
lost consciousness not quite grasping what was happening to him.  Karl
picked up Eugene and carried him over his shoulders back to his car where
he put Eugene in the trunk before he got in and drove off.

	Angela was pretty much in a daze as she drove to Orlando, she was
possessed with the knowledge that she was supposed to be doing something,
but just what that was eluded her.  It was there, but just out of grasp of
her consciousness.  She only knew that it was important and that time was
critical.  She had to be there at just the right time, or else something
would be lost; something that was not meant to be lost.

	Karl drove up to the same lake where he had watched his last
victim, the good doctor, got torn apart from his scaly friends.  He parked
a good distance away, as he didn't want the gators to scratch his paint or
even put a dent in the car.  He got out and went around to the trunk to get
Eugene.  Eugene was still unconscious though he seemed to be coming around
which was good as Karl didn't want to have to carry him down to the lake.

	Eugene stirred from his slumber with a slight headache.  Where was
he?  A trunk, he was in a trunk and there was a strange man standing over
him with a gun.  Eugene very quickly regained all of his senses thanks to
the adrenaline that seeing a man with a gun caused his system to release
into his bloodstream.

	"Well, well, glad to see you are awake Doc."  Another doctor, Karl
really enjoyed killing doctors and their I'm smarter than you attitude.

	"What is going on?  Who are you and what do you want with me?"

	"My name is Karl, and I think we need to go for a walk."

	"I am not in a walking mood," replied Eugene.

	"I am afraid that I must insist," Karl motioned with the gun to
punctuate his point.  Eugene got the point and walked towards the lake with
Karl.

	Angela was almost there, she had to get to a lake to help someone,
to save them from something.  It was close now, she could feel it, but why
did she have to do this?  Who was she going to save and what if she was too
late?  No, she would not be too late, much was depending on her; William
depended on her.  William, yes she would not let him down.

"Doc, you and Gerald have caused me a lot of aggravation.  My boss has all
but deserted me thanks to you."

	"I do not know you sir, and surely I would not have intentionally
done you any harm."  Eugene tried to hide his fear, as he had to find a way
to get the upper hand.

	"It would take me too long to explain it all to you at this stage
my good Doctor, however, I am sure God will be willing to brief you
shortly.  Do you know that the gator is one of the most successful
predators to have ever walked the earth?"

	"Alligators, wait a minute, the gator attack at Beck Biotech."

	"Yes, they were my pets.  You see, they were a diversion for me to
get into your lab."

	"The security guy in my lab, of my God that was you."

	"Yes it was me, I almost didn't escape before the explosion."

	"Why did you blow up Beck Biotech?"

	"My dear Doctor, I had nothing to do with that.  Anyway, let's end
the small talk, it is time to introduce you to my pets."  With that, he
pulled out his vial of pheromone and soaked Eugene with it.  As he laughed,
he failed to notice the car caroming straight for him.  Eugene backed away
as Angela's car hit Karl from behind.  Karl was pulled down under the wheel
and Eugene clearly heard the sound of Karl's skull crushing.

	Angela had seen the two men talking as she drove towards them, one
was a bad man, he threw something on the other man.  She floored her car
and aimed her left wheel straight at Karl.  The other man noticed her and
moved out of the way and then, thud as she hit Karl.  She saw he was pulled
under her tire, the car jumped up a little as the wheel went up on his
skull, but it then sunk as his skull crushed and his brains were no doubt
popped out onto her tire.  The car kept going and she managed to get it to
stop a good distance from the other man.

	Eugene saw what was left of Karl as the car passed him and stopped
almost a hundred yards away from him.  He then noticed movement, surely
Karl was dead, no one could survive that.  Wait not Karl, but alligators,
they were coming up out of the water and he was sure that he was to be
their main course.  He had to get to the car if he planned to live.  He
knew that to run straight there would be suicide as gators can run up to 35
miles an hour.  He began to run anyway, though he tried to put a zigzag
motion to his sprint.  The first gator darted after him followed by two
more.
	
	Angela sat in her car watching the running man try to avoid the
alligators, he had to make it to the car, she had to get him out of there.
She would drive over to him and maybe put her car in between the gators and
him.  She gave it a bit of gas, but only spun her tires, she was stuck.
She kept trying, flooring it to no avail, the man was on his own.

	Eugene noticed that she was stuck, however, did not dwell on it as
the first gator zipped past him just missing him thanks to one of his
zigzags.  He stopped running to get a bearing on the other two gators that
were closing.  He jumped out of their way at the last minute and they also
sailed past him.  He noticed that more where crawling out of the lake and
now the three that had past him were between him and the car and they were
beginning to charge him again.  He was done for, but why where they chasing
him, the liquid on him of course, it had to be a pheromone or something
like it.  He quickly undid his shirt as it had most of the liquid absorbed
into it.  He threw it off to the side hoping that it would distract the
gators from their present course.

	One of the gators stopped and went after his shirt while the other
two still advanced on him.  The first one hit with enough force to send him
and it tumbling.  He was able to keep its snout from grabbing him, but his
strength was waning fast, as the gators strength outmatched his.  Luckily
most of its snouts muscles were for closing its jaws and he was able to
hold its snout shut.  Alligator wrestling was not something he had ever
dreamed about doing.  The second gator though was a problem and it drew
first blood as it snapped at his leg tearing free a portion of his calf
muscle.  As it moved in again, Eugene let go of the other gator's snout and
was just able to push the gators head sideways so that when it snapped, it
came down on the second gator.  He then let go completely and rolled free
from the pair that started to fight each other.  He got up and started his
limp back towards the car before the other gators could get close enough to
him.  Angela let him in, but noticed that the gators were still advancing
on her car.

	"Floor it!" He screamed, never being this scared before in his
entire life.

	"I am, the car is stuck!"  Angela screamed back at him as the tires
spun in the mud.  The first gator reached the car and jumped up on the
front hood.  It started ramming its snout into the windshield as Angela
screamed and screamed.  Another one jumped at the car and hit on the
driver's side, the impact rocked the car.  The lurched forward a little as
the impact gave the wheels a little grip.  The windshield cracked as the
gator on the hood was intent on getting in.
	
	"Wait, try to time your next pump of the gas pedal with a gator
impact, that just might work."  Angela didn't acknowledge him though and
kept screaming, though she let off of the gas so he assumed that the
message got through.  Glass showered them both as the gator shattered the
windshield.  Eugene felt the gators jaws snap at his face, not missing by
more than an inch.  Another gator rammed the car and Angela floored it
again with success, the car thundered forward, and the gator on the hood
fell into the car with them.

	Eugene wrestled with the gator's head as he had before, he could
not get a grip on its snout and it kept snapping at him, coming to close.
Angela tried to drive though she was not doing very well.  The gator's tail
was swishing back and forth in front of her, she had no room to really
dodge it and with one very big lash of its tail, she felt the impact on her
head and then darkness.  The car continued to drive forward, only out of
control.

	Eugene didn't notice at first that Angela was unconscious as he had
a few problems of his own with the gator.  Another snap and he tasted blood
as well as felt something wet trickle down his chin.  The gator had just
nipped a part of his nose, he was losing this battle fast.

	The car flew along out of control heading away from the lake and
towards the interstate.  It was amazing actually that it did not hit a palm
tree or anything before it reached the highway; the busy highway.  The car
flew up over the embankment and sheared into a small compact car.  The car
behind the compact hit them next spinning the car and throwing the
alligator and Eugene free from the car.  The gator still tried to bite
Eugene as the two of them sailed through the air.  Eugene barely had enough
time to think, but he knew he had to use the gator as a cushion if he was
to survive the fall.  He stopped fighting the gator and tried to maneuver
it in front of him to take the full impact of the fall.  The gator sensing
its victory bit down into the soft tissues of Eugene's neck just as they
hit the pavement.  The strength of the impact killed the gator instantly
and freed Eugene from its bite, though its teeth tore at the tissues of his
throat and he landed ion the pavement unconscious and bleeding.

	The burned man held the syringe up and squirted just a little bit
out to ensure that there were not any air-bubbles in the solution.  It was
ready; he had the retrovirus with the DNA of Christ in it.  He was but a
single injection away from becoming a god.  He looked forward to it
immensely.  With the power of God, surely he would rule the world, there
would be no power on Earth to stop him.  He located a vein on his wrist,
and then with a slight jab, he penetrated the skin and then the vein
itself.  He depressed the plunger and smiled as he watched God's genes
enter his body.  He pulled out the empty syringe as all the contents were
now in his blood and already beginning his miraculous transformation.

	It started as a tingling within his wrist that moved as his blood
flowed back towards his heart.  As the blood seeped in to his tissues the
tingle broadened and with it, pleasure.  Soon, his entire body tingled, and
he fell to the floor in an onslaught of pleasure as his DNA was rewritten.
His skin pulsed and he felt changes within his structure.  His face, it
tingled, the healing it had to be healing.  Then the pleasure turned as
quickly as it came into pain.  He screamed as it felt like his entire body
was on fire, every cell in his body screamed out in agony.  What was
happening to him, he did not feel like God.  However, he was feeling much
stronger, the Christ DNA was delivering to him the power of the heavens.
He was now ready to make the world tremble, but first, he felt his face and
it was still burned.  He found his way to a nearby mirror and what stared
back at him surprised him.  Instead of the beautiful face of Christ he
expected to get, it was still his own face, yet it radiated power, every
burn was more powerful than the highest mountain, he was a beautiful demon.
And now he would play a little with the good people of Florida; he
concentrated on the ocean and air just off the coast of Africa.

	Demur waited for his master to meet him in their cavern under the
Holy Land.  He had much news for Zalpuk, he was not sure how the master
would react, but he had to deliver him the news of all that had happened in
Florida.  Zalpuk, appeared almost as if by magic out of the shadows.

	"Demur, you bring me a progress report."

	"Yes master, our agent has not given us the DNA as requested.
Steps are being taken to recover it."

	"Cancel those steps Demur, he is untouchable now."  Zaltar showed a
sad look full of helplessness and despair to Demur.

	"But master, what of our plan to resurrect the Lord?"

	"It is too late, our agent tainted the DNA, everything is over my
friend.  The lord shall not return and we have given the world over to the
beast.  We were foolish to trust him, perhaps we should have used someone
like Gerald Beck instead."

	"What has happened Master?"

	"Quasar injected the DNA into himself, he wanted to become God,
however, he did not know how the DNA of Christ works.  It amplifies what is
already there, Quasar was an evil man and now that evil is intensified a
thousand-fold.  Only the pure of heart could have become the next Messiah.
Now it is too late, God have mercy on all of our souls."

	"Look at this," said Frank Bonner as he pointed to his Doppler
radar.

	"A tropical depression, wow I didn't even realize that we had a
tropical wave already said his frothy eyed coworker.

	"That's just it, the tropical wave formed like a few minutes ago
and already it has turned into a tropical depression.  That is weird, and
not very common this early into the hurricane season."

	"You are right, could be another Hurricane Andrew."

	"I hope not, dear God, I hope not."

	Eugene tried to open his eyes, and sight slowly returned to him, a
little fuzzy at first, though his entire body was in complete pain.  He
tried to remember where he was, oh yes, the gators he remembered the
gators.  The doctor noticed that he was awake.

	"Well hello there.  I am glad to see you are awake, you gave us
quite a scare."

	"What happened?"

	"Well, you almost had your throat torn out by an alligator, you
also had broken ribs from an impact injury, you also had a piece of your
calf muscle bitten off.  All in all, your throat alone took 603 stitches,
you are very lucky to be alive."

	"The girl, how is she."

	"Well, she was not as lucky, she is still alive, but has extremely
severe injuries.  Her neck was broken and she also suffered some internal
injuries.  She is still in a coma, we do not expect her to ever regain
consciousness."

	"She saved my life."

	"I know, the police will want to talk to you later today, but you
do have a visitor if you are up to it."

	"If it is Gerald, I need to talk to him."

	"Well actually it is Gerald, I will tell him that you are conscious
and send him right in."  The doctor wrote something on Eugene's chart and
then left the room.  Almost immediately, Gerald entered the room.

	"Eugene, you look like hell."

	"Thanks Gerald, I can always count on you for the compliments.  How
is the project going?"

	"Eugene, you are all business.  Nothing has been done since you
left, I was thinking of injecting the next series into William today."

	"Listen, we need to accelerate this process.  The police will be
around after this and the bombing of Beck Biotech.  We need to get it
completed as soon as possible.  This man who tried to kill me today works
for someone, that someone I think may have blown up Beck Biotech.  We can't
chance any delays Gerald, too much is at stake."

	"Okay, I will give all of the remaining injections today.  What
about the memory reconfiguration?"

	"I have planted some of the reconfigurations into the serum, the
rest we can do later when Julia is closer to her end."

	"Okay, but in the meantime, you hold in here pal.  I want to see
you back at the mansion as soon as possible you gator wrestling human
cannonball," Gerald said with a big grin on his face.  Eugene chuckled
though laughing hurt him a lot.

	"I love you Julia Beck," said William as he smiled up at her.  The
two of them had sneaked out of their rooms and were enjoying each others
company in the indoor pool Gerald had built after Julia had taken up an
interest in swimming.  William was in the water and Julia was sitting with
her legs dangling in the water.

	"I love you too William Smyth," she purred back at him.  She slid
the rest of the way down into the water so that they could embrace and
kiss.

	"Will you still feel the same about me when I look like you?"

	"Well William, I am a bit of a narcissist already so I guess I
could get use to loving me."

	"Well, that will be weird, I will get to experience lesbian sex,
until they change me back that is."

	"Oh you really think so do you, I just might make you wait till we
are married," she joked back.  "And you know, in a way for me it won't be
sex, but a weird out of body masturbation," she continued to joke.  He
joined in with her laughter until he silenced it with a kiss.

	Frank shook his head in amazement as the radar now said he had a
tropical storm.  These things just didn't develop this fast.  They had to
get the plane up fast to do a fly through, something was just not right
here.  Tropical Storm Annie was certainly a reason for concern and had the
National Hurricane Center up and busy.  The hurricane season had come and
something nagged at him saying that this was going to be a hurricane season
to remember.

	Gerald had gathered the remaining injections and headed up to
William's empty room.  He was shocked to see the room empty, but as soon as
he saw that Julia's room was also empty, he had an idea where they were.
As he neared the pool, he heard the noises of lovemaking a noise he had not
heard since Nora died.  He was careful to be quiet and saw that William and
his daughter were making love next to the pool.  He was angry at first, but
after tonight, William would never be able to make love in the same way
again, so he left them be and waited for them to finish.

	"Hello you two," he said as they came out of the pool area arm in
arm.  They blushed as they thought that perhaps Gerald had seen something.

	"Oh hi Daddy," Julia said as she winced and put her hand to her
head to quell the headache.

	"How long have you been having headaches?" Gerald asked with a look
of worry on his face.

	"A couple of weeks, I really don't know."

	"The cancer it may be from the cancer.  Go get packed I am going to
take you into the hospital tonight so we can make sure you are alright."

	"Okay Daddy, can William come too?"

	"No, he will be going through some changes here tonight.  We are
going to finish the treatment tonight as we do not know how long you have."

	"But Daddy, I want him with me."

	"Julia," said William, "your Dad is right, I need to let this
happen so that I can save you.  The next time I see you I will be you."

	"Okay, but I will get back the real you soon after they cure me."

	"For sure my love, for sure."

	"I love you William Smyth!"

	"And I love you Julia Beck!"  Gerald took William back to his room
and then began the injections.  As soon as he was done, he apologized for
rushing off, but he had to rush Julia to the hospital.

	Still not too far off the coast of Africa, the water heated
underneath Tropical Storm Annie causing a very powerful updraft that was
supplying a lot of energy to the storm system.  Annie was growing stronger
by the second not only in strength, but also in size.  Her winds and energy
began the characteristic spiral motion that would produce an eye once her
energy grew just a little more.  Within her clouds, positive and negative
charges kept separating to create more potential within the storm cell.
Annie was not only going to be a very strong storm, she was going to be
packing a lot of electrical energy.

	"This is Hurricane Hunter One, we are about to enter the outermost
edge of Tropical Storm Annie," said the pilot of the research jet into his
headset.

	"Hurricane Hunter One, this is Frank Bonner back at the National
Hurricane Center.  We have just upgraded her to a hurricane category-one.
Please proceed with caution, Annie is a weird hurricane and to be honest,
we really are not sure what you are going to find in there.  Our satellite
is showing us that the water underneath her is abnormally warm, we suspect
possible volcanic activity or thermal venting.  Whatever the case, we
expect the updraft to be great as well as a lot of shearing winds."

	"Roger on that, we will proceed with extreme caution."  The jet
flew into Hurricane Annie and even being prepared for the worst, were still
taken off guard by the power of the updraft.

	"Steady us out, that updraft is incredible!"  The jet was rocked
and thrown about by the powerful winds.  It was almost like Annie knew they
were there and decided that she didn't like them.  Lightning leaped across
the clouds and hit the jet, even though it should have been able to handle
lightning, it shorted out the navigation systems as well as altitude
control.

	"What the hell, we have to get out of this storm now!"  Screamed
the pilot over the sound of buzzers and the howl of the storm that they
could actually hear even inside the plane.

	"This is Hurricane Hunter One, we have lost navigation and altitude
control.  We are going to abort this mission and try to get out of this
hurricane before we lose any more systems." Said the pilot hoping that
communications was still working.  There was no response as his receiver
was dead, however his transmitter was working and everyone sat on pins and
needles as they waited to discover what would be the fate of this jet and
the thirty people on board.

	"I think we are breaking out of the clouds, of shit!"  The plane
descended out of the clouds only 100 feet above the water surface.

	"Pull up, Pull up, c'mon you bitch. Pull up!"  Hauling on the
shift, he just managed to get the plane to level off and started to pick up
a little altitude.

	"Holy shit, that was close," said the pilot as he wiped some sweat
off his brow.

	"Oh man, we have a water spout at Three o'clock," screamed the
copilot.

	"Okay, this is not good, we need some altitude and fast, we have
got to get above that spout!"  The plane though only inched upwards as
Annie just wouldn't let them get away this time.

	"We are going to hit!"  Screamed the copilot as he peed himself.

	"All hands brace for impact!  Control, this is Hurricane Hunter
One, we declare a state of emergency!"  The spout and plane made contact
and the 250-mile-an-hour winds in this funnel. Grabbed the plane and threw
it into the ocean where it shattered on impact.  There were no survivors.
Annie was now a category-Two hurricane and continued to strengthen as she
made her way west across the Atlantic.

	Zolpuk rushes through the cavern mazes underneath the Holy Land.
He was trying to find Demur to tell him of his exciting news and that they
were both about to leave the cavern for a trip.  Zolpuk had never left the
cavern before, he was born and raised here, had spent every waking moment
of his life underground.  Demur had been out in the real world many times,
but now they would be out together.  There was Demur in an ancient room
where they had a few scrolls stored in small alcoves.

	"Demur, we must pack, we are going to Florida, the Lord has risen,
I have sensed Him!  He will need our help if he is to grow strong enough to
defeat our old agent, The Burned One!"

	Waves of tingles flooded through William's senses as his
transformation began.  They did not hurt, but rather were somewhat
pleasurable, and they seemed to reach every cell in his body.  He laid on
the bed soaking up the pleasure and keeping Julia in his mind and their
love, thinking of her actually seemed to make the pleasure even more
pleasurable.  The tingling continued and he could feel changes in his body,
small things at first, but then they escalated into larger changes.  He
could feel bones changing shape, shortening and losing mass, it was a
strange feeling, almost like the same sort of tension one feels when they
are stretching during a yawn.  He then felt the bones in his pelvis
rearrange themselves; his butt felt like it was expanding which would make
sense if he was turning into Julia.

	Then came an itching sensation in his chest, he could feel a
shrinking at first as his pectoral muscles shrank.  However, the shrinking
was replaced by a swelling as his breasts grew, at first just from the
development of the mammary glands themselves, but then continued as fat
deposits were added to fill out his breasts; the nipples also grew.  His
shoulders shrunk some more too as more muscle mass were lost.  Then the
change started to really work on his abdomen as he could feel changes
happening within his abdominal cavity.  At the same time, he could feel a
very strange pulling sensation in his penis, it was like an erection, but
yet it seemed to go in the opposite direction.  He reasoned that it was
merely the change giving him Julia's plumbing and he was right.  The change
was almost complete, William knew from the waning pleasure that it was
almost complete.

	Gerald sat patiently with Julia as they waited for the results of
her tests.  She tried to be strong for her father, but her headaches were
getting just too strong, she felt like it was bad and was beginning to get
very afraid as she could tell that death was not that far away.  She only
hoped that they would have enough time to rewrite her DNA, but an inner
voice told her that her time was all but up and that there would be no DNA
savior for her.  Then the doctor came in and confirmed her suspicions.

	"Hi, we got the results of Julia's CT scan and the magnetic
imaging.  I am sorry to say that the news is not good at all.  Your tumor
has reached an alarming size and to be honest I am afraid that you do not
have long left."

	"How long?" Asked Gerald with tears in his eyes.

	"Please tell us doctor, I am not going to live through the night
right?"

	"No, I don't think you will live through the night Julia, I am so
sorry."  She only smiled and then her heart stopped.

	The surf in combination with the white sands and the walkways made
Fort Lauderdale a very popular tourist attraction.  Brian Jones thought so
too and thus he was there on vacation with his beautiful wife Keli and
their seven-year old daughter Sandi.  The walkways were a little crowded
that day, but the beauty was still not lost on Brian and his family.  They
were there to have the best vacation ever.

	"Mommy, I'm bleeding." Said Sandi as she held her hand up to her
mother.  Keli screamed as she saw the blood dripping from two nail holes in
her daughter's hands.  Blood also began to seep through the toes of her
sneakers where she had similar holes and also through her tee shirt where
she had a wound on her left side just under her heart.  The walkway came to
a complete stop and people stared at the bleeding girl.  Brian tried to
grab his daughter, but an invisible force pushed him back from her.

	A dazed look came over the young child and she arched her body
almost like a giant muscle contraction as she began to levitate.  She
floated upwards to about ten feet off of the walkway, her blood continued
to drip.  One drop hit a blind woman who then began to stare like the rest
of the crowd as her eyesight returned to her.

	"The Lord has risen, the time is now!" she said over and over
again.

Part Three: The Daughter of Man

	"Are you sure?" Frank's boss asked him.

	"Yes, if current conditions remain, Annie is going to in all likely
hood hit southern Florida."

	"It is too early to tell Frank, you can't expect me to issue
warnings this early."

	"In all the years I have studied meteorology, I have never seen
such well defined highs and lows that appear to be very stable to the point
that they are creating almost a groove for this hurricane to follow and
that groove makes landfall at Ft. Lauderdale."

	"Maybe so, but it is still four or five days away from landfall, we
will wait and see what she does."

	"Listen, this is a category-five hurricane, we need all the time we
can get to evacuate, and I will also add that this storm has every
indication of getting even stronger."

	"Okay, if it is still headed where you think it is going this time
tomorrow, I will issue hurricane watches for southern Florida."

	"If this does what I think it will do, southern Florida will be a
total write off."

	"I hope to God then that you are wrong."

	"Me too, me too."

	William stared at the reflection of Julia staring back at him from
the full-length mirror.  He knew it was he, but it was just weird
nevertheless.  There also seemed to be something different about this
reflection as though he was a very close representation of Julia, but there
were subtle differences. He could have sworn that he appeared slightly more
beautiful than Julia, but that would make sense if his new body had not had
any of the wear and tear of time and life that hers had had.  He stared at
the pale skinned redhead for a bit longer and then realized something else
was wrong.

	He had more of her memories, he looked within and could see
different things about her past.  He could remember the day of the prom, he
loved the dress that mother had bought him, it was so form fitting and made
him look like a goddess.  He had lost his virginity that night to Brad,
what a hunk.  William shook himself free of these memories trying not to
get lost up in her past.  He tried to remember his own prom, it was gone,
only Julia's prom flashed to his mind.  He could also remember Julia's
first kiss, her graduation, and even her first period.  He wanted to
continue exploring these memories to determine just how extensive they went
however, he knew that he had to do something, he had to go to the hospital
and be by Julia, she needed him.

	He wasn't completely thrilled about going outside looking like a
girl, but he really didn't have a choice.  He drew on some of Julia's
memories to help him pick out some clothes to wear.  He decided on a simple
tee shirt and some shorts, not unlike the ones he wore on that day he went
to the Beck Biotech test booth.  He also put on a bra and was amazed how it
felt when he actually had some breasts to put into it.  Once he was
dressed, he ran out of the house not even realizing that the locked doors
were unlocking by themselves as he neared them.  He found a car parked just
outside the front archway and trying it, the door was unlocked.  He looked
around and found the keys tucked up under a visor.  He started the car and
began his drive to the hospital.  He never questioned that he had no idea
which hospital Julia was in, but only drove, his instincts were taking him
to the right place.

	"One, two, three, clear!"  The paddles delivered a jolt of
electricity to Julia's heart.  Her body arched on the table, but there
still was no rhythm.  Julia watched this happening as she floated near the
ceiling.  This was strange she thought, was she dead?

	William just parked the car right in front of emergency and walked
in oblivious to everyone screaming at him that he could not park her car
there.  He had to get to Julia; nothing else mattered.  He would take the
stairs up to her floor as they would be faster than the elevator.

	"One, two, three, clear!"  Another jolt and still there was no
rhythm.  The doctor bowed his head and then looked at his watch.

	"Time of death; 1828."

	"No!" Gerald screamed as he had lost his daughter; she was dead.

	Julia watched her father scream, she felt bad for him, but she was
dead though she could not understand why she was still there.  Then she
felt a presence, a wonderful good presence, she wanted to join the light
that was coming towards her.

	William walked down the corridor towards Julia's room, he was
almost there.  The doctor who had just pronounced her dead was the first to
see William coming towards the room.  He had had no idea that she had a
twin sister, he felt bad for her as she was about to find out about her
sister's death.  But, something was wrong here, she seemed like she was in
a trance.

	"Miss are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone.

	"I have come to save Julia," William responded and continued
towards the room.  The doctor was perplexed with the answer and followed
after William, not quite knowing why.  Gerald looked up as William opened
the door to Julia's room, he had a look of surprise on his face as did the
remaining nurses in the room.  William walked over to the bed and looked
down at Julia's body.

	"I will save you Julia," he said and then laid his hands on her
chest.  His hands started to glow and white energy seemed to seep out of
them.  Julia's astral body that was watching this from the ceiling, felt
her body tug at her and she descended back into it. Back into the flesh.
Julia moaned as life returned to her body.  Everybody just stood around
watching in complete and utter amazement.  One of the nurses fell to her
knees and started to pray.

	Since the incident at the walkway, people had been flooding to
Ft. Lauderdale to see the spot where the girl had bled.  The hotels where
full, people where even renting out rooms in the area as people kept
pouring into the city.  It was almost close to insanity as the city of
about 100 000 became closer to 150000 with all the extra tourists.  Police
where trying to control all the extra people, but it was a losing cause,
something had happened here and whatever it was, it was more powerful than
them.

	Frank stared at his new data in almost disbelief.  Annie had picked
up speed and more power, her maximum sustained winds where nearing 300
miles-per-hour.  That was unheard of, Annie was without a doubt, the most
powerful hurricane ever recorded.  What was even worse, she was still on a
path straight for Ft. Lauderdale and with this increase in speed, she was
going to make landfall in about twenty-four hours.  He showed the data to
his boss and watched the man's facial features drain of all color.

	"Shit Frank, this is beyond bad.  Fort Lauderdale of all places and
after what has been happening there, we will have a huge mess on our
hands."

	"What is happening there, I am afraid that I have not watched any
news since Annie formed."

	"Holy shit Frank, some child bled like Christ from the hands and
feet and levitated in front off a crowd of people telling them that Jesus
had returned.  Well, now religious nuts from everywhere are flocking to
Fort Lauderdale and now we will have to try and evacuate them.  This is
going to be a giant hornet's nest."

	Zalpuk was amazed at the outside world, he may have read about the
outside world and even watched television, but to be out in it was like
totally different.  He wanted to run around like a child and soak up
everything, but he knew that they had to find the Messiah, that was of up
most importance.  The plane ride was interesting, they had to take a small
detour to avoid Hurricane Annie, but other than that it was not too bad.
They had flew into Miami as they were then going to rent a car and head up
to Fort Lauderdale as that was where the Lord would go, that is where the
child was, the prophet kid with the bleeding hands.

	The Burned One smiled to himself as he left his house in the cover
of darkness.  He was not ready yet for people to see him, he merely wanted
to see what his creation was going to do to Florida.  He knew that Fort
Lauderdale and Miami would no doubt be destroyed and that thanks to that
stupid little bleeding kid, a lot of people would still be in Fort
Lauderdale when Annie arrived.  He decided that he had to see the
destruction for himself so under the cover of darkness, The Burned One
began his trek towards Fort Lauderdale.

	Julia opened her eyes to see herself standing over her, no it had
to be William, wow, her father's DNA rewriting virus actually worked.

	"I love you Julia Beck," said her double.

	"I love you too, what do I call you now, I can't be calling you
William while you look like that."

	"You do have a point, I will call myself Jennifer for the time
being I think."

	"I always liked that name, I had sort of wished it were mine when I
was a kid."

	"I know, I seem to have some of your memories."  Gerald just looked
on, still in shock as were the doctor and the two nurses.

	"What happened to me, I was dead wasn't I?"

	"Yes, you were dead, but now you are alive and the tumor is gone,
you have your life back Julia."

	"How did you do it Jen?"

	"I am not certain, I just could, I feel so strange, not just being
you, but something else.  I think I can heal again too."

	"Eugene, he is a mess," said Gerald finally breaking out of his
trance.

	"Lets go then and heal Eugene," Jennifer replied.

	"You can't leave here," said the doctor.

	"We are leaving doctor, Julia is fine now, you will not try to stop
us, we are free to go," Jennifer said to the doctor in a commanding tone.

	"You are free to go," said the doctor in an almost trance-like
state.  Julia quickly slipped on the clothes that she had come in to the
hospital wearing.

	"How did you do that?"  Julia asked as the trio headed out into the
hall with Gerald leading the way.

	"I have no idea, I just did."

	Eugene was sleeping when they entered his room.  Gerald was going
to wake him, but Jennifer motioned for him to back off and she then walked
over to him and placed one of her hands on his neck, the other one on to
his shin.  There was another whitish glow of energy that erupted from her
hands and when she pulled her hands back, the wounds were gone.  Eugene's
neck was perfectly healed as well as his shin.  Eugene woke up then feeling
for the first time since the gator attack, perfectly at peace, and not in
pain.

	"My wounds, the pain it is gone," said a confused Eugene.

	"You are healed Eugene, we must leave here now, we have work to
do," said Jennifer.

	"What work Jen?"  Julia was a little confused at her lovers
actions.

	"You healed me William, but how?"

	"My name is Jennifer now Eugene.  Yes I did heal you and I am still
uncertain as to how I did it, though I think that answers are slowly
entering my mind.  I can not explain any more to you, now we must go."

	"Not yet," said Eugene, "if you can heal people Will..er Jennifer,
you must help the girl who saved my life, she broke her neck saving me."

	"Okay, but then we must go, I have to get to Fort Lauderdale,"
Jennifer said with a strange expression on her face.

	"Fort Lauderdale, I may have been dead, but not long enough for
y'all to plan a vacation," said Julia.

	"Dead, I am confused," piped in Eugene.  They quickly briefed
Eugene on what had taken place as they made there way to Angela's room.  As
they entered the room, Jennifer recognized her old roommate immediately and
ran to her.  She placed her hands on Angela's neck and with a little bit of
a glow, her neck healed and Angela stirred from her coma to stare straight
into her transformed roommate's green eyes.

	"I know you," she said as she sat up.  Eugene was a little shocked
after witnessing Jennifer's healing powers.  Gerald and Julia were getting
use to them if you can ever get use to something like that.

	"How do you feel my old friend?"  Jennifer smiled as she posed this
query to Angela.

	"It is you, William, wow you are beautiful."

	"My name is Jennifer now."

	"Until Eugene turns you back that is," added Julia.

	Jennifer looked at her and smiled, "There is no going back Julia,
that was never their plan, I was not to be your DNA donor, I was made to
replace you."  Julia stood there with her mouth open and from the looks on
Eugene's face as well as her father's, she knew that Jennifer spoke the
truth.

	"Do not blame them though they loved you so much that they were
desperate to find any way so that you could go on living.  They may have
sinned horribly, but they did it for love.  Please forgive them Julia, I
have and I am going to need all of your strength in the next day, we can
not be split apart and divided, too much is at stake."

	"Forgiveness, I love you and now you will never be the man that I
fell in love with again, how do you expect me to not be a little bitter
over this!"

	"Remember the light, from when you were dead, remember the
tranquility of it, the pure love.  Well that is what pure love is Julia,
the love that we felt for each other, lets catch that light together and be
pure, we should cast aside our negative obstacles and embrace the pure love
that is between us."

	"It is hard, but you are right in that I still do love you and
whatever body you are in doesn't really matter.  I will try to forgive them
for you, for us."

	"Julia, I am sorry for what we did to William.  We were so wrong,
and things just got out of control.  I am very confused even now as to why
things have happened as they have, I feel like reality itself took a
vacation ever since your mother died. So many things have happened here
tonight that I just do not understand, and Jennifer, I thank you for your
forgiveness."  Gerald had tears in his eyes.

	"I thank you too," added in Eugene.

	"Jennifer, what is happening, an angel visited me a while back and
told me that you were okay."  Once again, everyone was shocked except for
Jennifer.

	"I know, I am not yet completely certain about what happened, but I
think that we should not be wasting any more time as I have work to do.
Let's get back to the mansion so that y'all can pack as we are all heading
to Fort Lauderdale tonight."  Jennifer seemed very confident about this as
the others wondered why?

	"Frank, you can not be serious, that is suicide!"

	"I have to go down there and try to get those people to leave.  I
also want to place a few instruments along the shore to give me some
readings on this monster.  Don't worry, I will get out of there before it
comes ashore."

	"You are one of the best meteorologists we have, you are too
valuable to lose.  I can pull rank on you and tell you to stay here,"
Frank's boss said.

	"That is true, but then I would quit and go anyway.  I have to be
there, I know it is dangerous, but I don't think anything on Earth can
prevent me from going to Fort Lauderdale."

	"Frank, God speed and please hurry back."

	As they arrived at the mansion, Jennifer led them all to a sitting
room where there sat a wide screen television as well as stereo equipment
and a movie library on the wall.  She turned on the television just in time
for CNN's top news stories.

	"The National Guard has been called into Fort Lauderdale to enforce
the mandatory evacuation order issued earlier today in anticipation of the
landfall of Hurricane Annie in now less than twenty-four hours.  So far,
the evacuation order has not been headed by the religious pilgrimage that
resulted from the as yet unexplained Sandi Miller incident.  If you recall,
Sandi was the little girl that suffered Christ wounds and levitated warning
of the second-coming."  They showed a video clip of the girl levitating
while bleeding from her hands feet and side.  Everyone stood transfixed by
the television as though the world was turned upside down too like their
personal world's had.

	"Hurricane Annie is a category-five storm and is packing sustained
winds close to 400 miles-per-hour.  Officials from the National Hurricane
Center have reported that it is almost twice as strong as the most powerful
hurricane ever recorded.  They also said that after it hits, it will not be
a matter of accessing damage to Fort Lauderdale, the damage will be total.
In spite of this, we are informed that people are still heading into Fort
Lauderdale to the extent that the police and National Guard are unable to
stop them.  A disaster is about to befall Florida unlike any disaster the
state has ever seen.  Our wishes here at CNN go out to the people of
Florida and to the people in Fort Lauderdale waiting for their miracle.
May God be kind and grant them that miracle."

	"Jennifer, you want us to go to Fort Lauderdale, are you crazy?"
Gerald seemed a little angry.

	"No, we are going," Jennifer replied.

	"I trust Jennifer, you can count me in," said Angela.

	"Me too, she raised me from the dead, I think that counts for
something," said Julia as she winked at Jennifer.

	"I am willing to go on blind faith, heck those gators would have
done me in if not for strange circumstances.  I have to see this through to
the end."

	"Well, I think you are all crazy, but if my daughter is going to
die again, I'm gonna be there with her.  I think that all this trip is
going to do is reunite us with Nora."

	"Okay, then let's go!"  Jennifer led them out Gerald's minivan and
then began the drive to Fort Lauderdale.

	The winds had picked up steadily all along the southern shores of
Florida as Annie neared the coast.  The surf had also picked up quite a bit
as the waves almost threatened to overtake the walkway that was still
packed with people waiting for their miracle.  The National Guard had tried
all they could to get people to leave, but there were just too many people
and not enough guardsmen.  They finally gave up and pulled their forces out
as southern Florida was not a place anyone would want to be once this storm
made landfall.

	The dark clouds had already began to move in.  Just south of Fort
Lauderdale, rotation began to pick up in a cloud mass and then with a
little tilt, a funnel cloud stretched out until it reached the ground.  A
whirling rumble quickly grew in intensity as the tornado began its path of
destruction through the town of Hollywood.  Power lines exploded, homes
where torn up as though they were only made of straw, as the destruction
mounted on this F5 monster.  By the end of its path of destruction,
Hollywood Florida was totaled and sixty people were dead, the foolish sixty
that had decided to stay in spite of the evacuation order.

	Frank had witnessed the tornado that destroyed Hollywood from a
safe distance.  He was in utter disbelief at its strength.  Hurricanes did
sometimes spawn tornadoes, but not usually ones that strong.  He thought
about fleeing the coastline, but he had a few more data recorders to post
and maybe attempt to convince the crowd just how dangerous Annie was.

Zalpuk and Demur watched the crowds on the walkways and the approaching
storm which didn't worry them as they knew that this was the place that the
Messiah would come to and that was more important than any danger posed by
Hurricane Annie.  It would not be long now reasoned Zalpuk, The Burned One
was already nearby, he could feel his evil.

	The Burned One smiled as he looked over the crowd waiting to die
when his storm blew in.  He had felt the sixty who had died in Hollywood
and that felt very good; he could not wait till these thousands died, he
would enjoy it immensely.  After this, he figured that he would perhaps
visit San Andreas fault and make the Big One happen, yes, that would be a
lot of fun too.

	Jennifer drove almost like a maniac, she seemed almost frantic to
get to Fort Lauderdale.  They had already passed Boca Raton, which meant
that they were almost there.  Jennifer was beginning to understand a little
more, she knew that she had to find two men named Zalpuk and Demur.  They
would help her recover more of what she was supposed to do.  Time was
running out, the hurricane would be here soon and a lot of people would be
dead.  Directly in front of them on the highway, a tornado touched down and
started growling as it headed straight for them.

	Frank placed his last recorder not too far from the crowds on the
boardwalk when he noticed a curious man.  He seemed to be observing the
crowd, but really caught his eyes was the fact that this man was horribly
burned.  The Burned One noticed frank and motioned for him to come over.
Frank didn't want to really get involved, he just wanted to get out before
Annie hit, but his body moved forward against his will.

	"What do you see when you look at me?"  The Burned One looked
straight into Frank's as he waited for an answer.

	"Umm, a man who has had a terrible accident."

	"Do you feel pity?"

	"No, I am sorry for whatever happened to you, but I do not feel
pity."

	"Good answer, it may have saved your life.  Now tell me Mr. Bonner,
what do you make of Annie?"

	"Annie is beautiful, she is a true work of God.  It is terrible
that these people must die and that destruction will occur, but it doesn't
dismiss the fact that this is a very beautiful hurricane."

	"Yes it is that.  Would you stop it?"

	"I can't stop it, no one can."

	"Perhaps, but if you could, would you stop it?"

	"Of course I would."

	"Honesty Frank, now tell me the truth, would you stop it?"

	"No, I would not.  This storm is the storm of a lifetime and I want
to study it, I thrive on storms."

	"Yes you do.  Now I think that I may be able to help you somewhat,
you know to get you to experience the storm."  The Burned One smiled.

	"It's coming straight for us!" screamed Julia who was sitting in
the front passenger seat next to the driving Jennifer.

	"Here we go again," chirped in Eugene from the back seat.  Jennifer
just ignored them and concentrated on the road and the tornado.

	"Hold on, this is going to get bumpy," she calmly said to the
group.  She then accelerated the van forward into the flying debris field.
A branch hit the front windshield and put a major crack in the glass.
Something fairly heavy bounced off the roof leaving a pronounced dent in
it.  Jennifer still remained cool as they almost had reached the tornado.
Julia began to pray and shut her eyes as the van began rocking from the
tornado's power.  It was almost too late, but at the last second, Jennifer
cut the wheel and arched the van up into the air as it left the road going
over the embankment and skimming around the tornado landing on the other
side of it.  She had used the tornado's own power and some centripetal
force to get around a tornado.  The van kept going on its way to Fort
Lauderdale.

	"How did you pull that off?"  Eugene asked, visibly shaken a little
from the experience.

	"I just did," replied Jennifer.

	"What happened is not possible, we should have been sucked in
Jennifer."

	"Not if the centripetal force was as great as the intake force of
the tornado's suction."

	"Jennifer, we would have had to have been going a lot faster than
this van is capable of to pull off such a force," added Gerald.

	"Faith is the greatest force of all," said Angela in Jennifer's
defense.

	"Well, I doubt that faith is going to stop Annie," Gerald said
glumly.

The rain started to come down hard along the beach as the crowd still
waited for their miracle.  The surf was now starting to overflow onto their
precious walkway, enough to soak their feet.

	"My head is tingling!" screamed one woman happily on the walkway!

	"It must be the power of the lord!" another screamed.  A step
leader made contact with the first woman's tingling head to complete a
circuit resulting in a lightning bolt.  The woman was fried from the inside
out leaving a stench of burnt human flesh mingling throughout the crowd.
At least twenty-three others were close enough to her to get electrical
burns.  Twelve others died instantly, while another eight were left
unconscious.  Another bolt hit another section of the crowd killing another
thirty people.  However, the crowd still held their ground waiting for
their miracle.

	Frank Bonner had just been offered a deal with the Devil, to be
able to watch all these storms and the destruction just as long as he
served The Burned One without question.  But, what of his soul, was it even
right to be considering such a thing.  He wanted to see the destruction, he
would make the deal.

	"Okay, I accept your offer."  The Burned Man only smiled and then
Frank felt a squeezing in his body like it was trying to displace his soul.
It grew more intense and then he was up and out of his body, he was dead.
However, before he left the world, he had one last glance at his body to
see another soul entering it.

	"Welcome back Karl, how was hell?"

	"Boss, I was dead, that bitch and the doctor they killed me!"

	"Yes, but I brought you back so that you can exact your revenge on
them.  They are coming here, in fact they are but minutes away my friend,"
The Burned Man smiled as he knew that Karl would distract them until it was
too late for them to stop him.  He was a little afraid that Beck might have
a way of neutralizing his new DNA.  He really doubted it, but he was not
about to gamble on it.

	Jennifer pulled up their battle worn van and started out towards
the crowd.

	"Stay here till I get back, I have to talk to Zalpuk alone," she
said.  Jennifer made her way towards where Zalpuk and Demur where standing
on the far side of the crowd.  As she left them, Karl watched a little
confused, as there now seemed to be two Julia Becks.  He let the one go he
was after Eugene and Angela, and the boss wanted Gerald spared so that he
could kill him himself.  He walked up to the group as they would not
recognize him in his new body.

	"Hi, I am Frank Bonner from the National Hurricane Center."

	Jennifer was able to walk right up to Zalpuk and Demur without them
paying her any attention.

	"Hello Zalpuk, I have come to see you," she said.  Zalpuk just
looked at her confused for a minute until her identity dawned on him and he
fell to his knees, Demur did likewise.

	"Oh Blessed Savior, you have come," he said

	"Please stand, I do not wish for people to bow down to me, that is
not who I am."

	"Lord, you are the Daughter of Man this time, you have come to save
us all and I am but your humble servant."

	"Get a grip, I have a major hurricane thundering towards this
shoreline, I do not have time for babbling.  I need you to tell me what to
do, how do i stop this?""

	"Your answers are within, you are the new Messiah, accept that role
as then and only then will you be able to save the world.  I must tell you
that there is another, The Burned One, he is here and Annie is his storm."

	"The Burned One, sounds like the Devil," Jennifer said with a
little chill of fear running her spine.

	"Well, probably the closest thing that this Earth has ever seen.
You must destroy him or he will destroy the world."

	"I see, so in other words these people are expecting a miracle and
I have to give them that and fight the Devil all at the same time."

	"Not completely accurate my Lord, but yes that is close enough."

	Angela felt like something was wrong with Frank Bonner, she could
not put her finger on it, but it was like his eyes betrayed a dark secret.
She was certainly not going to trust him and she was also going to find out
just what his secret was.

	"I'm here actually testing a new hurricane shelter, we think it
will be the only thing standing after Annie passes through.  I have room
for two more people, how about you and you."  Karl pointed at Eugene and
Angela.

	"I don't think so," said Angela rather fast.

	"I don't bite, I'm not a gator, I am perfectly harmless."  Angela
all of a sudden remembered the gators and the man she killed with her car,
Eugene had told her that his name was Karl.

	"Well Karl, I don't trust you."  Angela used Karl's name to see if
he would notice, and he had as he pulled a gun out and leveled at the
group.

	"I don't know how you recognized me bitch, but that is okay I am
going to kill you for what you did to me.  You too doc, I have no idea how
you survived the gators, but this time your luck has run out."

	"What about me?" Gerald asked sensing that this Karl was really
after him.

	"I would love to kill you too, but the boss plans to do that
personally.  He really does hate you very deeply though.  Hell, he hates
you so much that he hired me to take care of your sweet little wife and
your daughter too."

	"What did you say!"  Gerald was starting to tremble in anger.

	"Well, lets see first I killed your wife, we made it look like a
lightning strike and the doctor that examined her agreed with us, well he
had too or we would have ruined his life.  Once that was done though I fed
him to the gators just like Julia's doctor, the one that gave her the
tumor.  That was planned too, I am actually surprised that she is still
alive and kicking.  I was also surprised to find out she has a twin, the
boss will be pleased to get to kill both of them."

	"Argh..." Gerald charged Karl in absolute primal anger.  Karl only
looked at him and tried to shoot him, but his finger would not obey his
command, the boss was doing this he thought as Gerald smashed his fist into
Karl's new nose.  The bone broke and broke off into a splinter that was
then shoved back into tender brain tissue.  Karl died for a second time.

	"The great Doctor Beck, now a murderer," said The Burned One with a
chuckle.  He walked up to the group and smiled a very wicked smile.
Everyone could not but help to stare at his burnt face.

	"Who are you?"  Angela asked, fearing his answer.

	"I am called The Burned One now, though in the past I have been
known by other names.  Like when I worked at Beck Biotech, I was Desmond
Barker."

	"Desmond, I remember you, you were the one performing unauthorized
experiments at night." Gerald said in disbelief.

	"Yes that was me, I had an accident if you will remember and well,
I was burned rather badly.  Then what happened Gerald?"

	"You were fired for breaking the rules and under the circumstances,
our insurance did not cover you either."

	"So true, I was thrown out on my ass penny-less and horribly
disfigured all thanks to Beck Biotech."

	"You killed Nora and tried to kill Julia all over revenge for a
problem that you brought on yourself.  Why didn't you just take it out on
me, why go after my wife and daughter?"  Gerald was trying to contain his
anger, he wanted to smash in this man's face too, but something told him
that this was no longer a man that stood here before him.

	"You are right Gerald, to kill your wife and daughter over that
would have been a little crazy.  No, your sins run deeper than that I am
afraid.  I destroy you in the name of Janet Holms."  Gerald's face goes
white to a degree that it is visible even with the heavy rain falling on
them.

	"Janet Holms, what has this got to do with her?"

	"How about you enlighten the others on who Janet is," demanded The
Burned One.

	"Julia, please forgive me for what I am about to say.  I loved Nora
more than anything, but I had an affair early in our marriage with a woman
named Janet Holms."

	"Very good Gerald, you do remember her."

	"She was a mistake!"

	"Well dear father, she was my mother!"  Gerald almost fell to the
ground with this news.

	"She was pregnant?"

	"Yes she was, but do you think she got a break from you, no!  Your
precious Nora lived where she should have.  And once I was born, do you
think I could have a father, no! Precious little Julia had you instead.
Well, now you know why I went after them, they hurt me by taking what was
mine."

	"I didn't know."

	"Well, mother tried to contact you, you ignored her, would not
return her calls, you even had security throw her out one time when she
showed up to try and tell you in person.  You destroyed her, it was you
that drove her to suicide.  You took even my mother from me, and you wonder
why I am bitter at you?"

	"I don't know what to say to you, I am so sorry Desmond."

	"Well, my real name was Gerald Blake Jr. I was your son, I should
have been the heir to Beck Biotech, I really did want to follow in your
footsteps, but now, oh well the world is going to end and hey I am
responsible for it all.  I will destroy this planet in your name father.  I
can do it too, you see I used your invention to alter my DNA, I gave myself
the DNA of God."

	"How?"

	"Some religious order wanted me to isolate Christ's DNA from a
piece of the original cross, well I did and using you retrovirus I
introduced that DNA into me, now I am God, or the Devil if you would like.
I even lost a sample of Christ's blood at your precious company just before
it blew up."

	"Jennifer," said Eugene as a light bulb went off in his head.

	"Who is Jennifer?" The Burned One asked not really caring too much
about the answer as he realized that Gerald was not really a threat,
nothing could stop him.

Jennifer took off her shoes and socks and walked towards the swollen ocean.
If she had to be the Daughter of Man, there was no better way to get these
peoples attention other than to walk on water.  No one really paid any
attention until she took her first few steps out onto the surface of the
water.  She willed the winds to calm in the area she was in and just walked
on top of the water like it was nothing.  She couldn't believe it at first
that it worked, but it did and now he had to stop Annie somehow.

	"Look it is the Lord!" screamed someone from the crowd, their
miracle had arrived.  Jennifer walked out so that they could all see her,
and then she took a deep breath for what was to come next.

	"Do not be afraid," Jennifer bellowed so that everyone could hear
her, "I am the Daughter of Man and I brink a message of love and peace to
all.  My children, I am honored that you have all come out here to see me.
However, I must ask that you back away from here as the Devil and I must do
battle.  Please my children, I do not want to see any of you hurt, heed my
request, we shall all talk after I have defeated The Burned One and have
stopped Annie."

	The crowd obeyed reluctantly and started to move away from the
boardwalk.  The Burned One and the group noticed this happening as people
started to pass them as they retreated.

	"What is this!"  The Burned One was a little confused but was not
too worried as they really didn't have time to get far enough away.

	"I would say that that is Jennifer," said a smirking Angela.

	"I will deal with this Jennifer father, however, don't worry I will
be back for you in a few minutes."  With that, The Burned One stormed off
towards the beach.  As he got closer, he could feel her presence, there was
another god, good he though, this was going to be fun.

	Jennifer saw him coming, The Burned One, he certainly lived up to
his name she thought.  She walked back to the shore to meet him on the
boardwalk.  The storm picked up again as she released the winds she had
been holding while she was walking on the water.

	"You must be Jennifer," said The Burned One.

	"I am the Daughter of Man oh evil one."

	"Sure whatever you say.  If you are so powerful, stop my storm,
open up a tunnel to Hell and cast me inside.  I am waiting."

	"Only the Father can do that, I shall do His will, not your
bidding."

	"Cut the religious crap girl, shall we rumble?"

	"I would prefer to end this peacefully but I somehow doubt you
would be open to simply surrendering and calling off your storm."

	"You are a smart bitch!"  He said as he summoned a lightning bolt
to strike Jennifer, she screamed out in pain, but seemed unharmed.  She
then ran towards him and tried to throw a punch at him, he side stepped it
and laughed.  This Daughter of Man was nothing, and she had no idea how to
use her powers, this would be an easy victory.  Jennifer wondered to
herself just how she was going to win against a man who could control the
lightning.  Then she remembered something Zalpuk had said, the answers were
within her.  Jennifer sat down and began to meditate.

	"Excuse me, we are fighting here, not doing yoga!"  The Burned One
fired another lightning bolt from the heavens down to strike her, it had no
effect.

	Gerald ran towards the beach with the other close behind.  They saw
the lightning strike and heard Jennifer's cry.  They also saw her failed
attempt at a punch and then how she seemed to give up and just sit there
while Gerald Jr. hit her with another lightning bolt.  There had to be a
way to stop this madness, Gerald tried all he could to think of it but came
up shy.

	"Father, welcome, I am about to destroy this Jennifer, would you
like to watch?"

	"Son, I never meant to hurt you or your mother, please stop this,
you do not need to do this, if it is me you want to kill, then kill me,
leave the world alone."

	"It is not that easy anymore, I am pure evil now, and nothing is
stronger than pure evil, watch and see!"  Another lightning bolt hit
Jennifer, she did scream this time, and stood up.

	"You are wrong, there is a greater power than pure evil, right
Julia," Jennifer said with a smile on her face.

	"The light, of course, pure love, it is the strongest!" Julia said
realizing Jennifer's plan.

	"True love, it is a fairy tale!"

	"No it is not," said Jennifer as she walked over and hugged Julia.

	"Love is real," said Julia as she leaned in and started to kiss
Jennifer, rather passionately.  A small white glow formed around Jennifer
and then grew to encompass Julia.

	"I love my daughter," said Gerald and he leaned in and hugged the
kissing couple.  The white energy grew stronger and encompassed him too.

	"This is sickening!" The Burned One said as he summoned another
lightning bolt that deflected off the white light harmlessly.

	"I love my best friend," said Eugene as he entered into the group
hug causing the power to grow even stronger.

	"I love my roommate," said Angela as she entered into the hug.  The
energy grew even stronger.

"This is an interesting phenomena, but hardly a threat to me," he said once
more scoffing at love.  He paid no attention to the crowd of faithful who
had returned to watch their Savior defeat Satan.  They all joined hands
into a giant group hug and then a human chain marched up to the glowing
group and made contact with them.

"WE LOVE THE DAUGHTER OF MAN!" they all yelled together and the glow began
to grow and swell, encompassing everything.  The Burned One tried to escape
it, but it grew too big and too fast that he was unable to get away from
its power.  As the light enveloped him, he felt at peace for the first time
in his life, he had found the pure love and acceptance that he had longed
for his entire life.

"Gerald Jr.," said a familiar voice to him.

"Mother is that you?"

"Yes honey, I have come for you.  We can finally be together, your pain is
over little one."  Gerald Jr. cried as he saw his mom waiting for him and
he realized that it was indeed over.

"One minute mom, I want to do one last thing before I die."  He walked over
to his father and kissed him on the cheek.

"I love you father, I am sorry for all I did, but I have a gift for you to
make it up to you, you will see."  Gerald Jr. then walked towards the
tunnel turning his back on life to embrace the light and the last Earthly
thing he heard was his father's voice.

"I love you son and I do forgive you."  The light protected the crowd from
Hurricane Annie as she blew ashore.  However, she lost her strength very
fast thanks to Jennifer's mental concentration.  Fort Lauderdale was
destroyed, but Miami was spared.

"It is nice to be back home again," Gerald said as they pulled up to their
familiar mansion.  He really thought that he would not have seen his house
again, he had expected to die in Fort Lauderdale.  He hugged Julia close to
him, he was really blessed to have his daughter healthy and alive.  They
were going to have a life to live, a second chance to do it right.  Eugene
was a changed man, he was still going to work on the DNA projects, but it
was easy to see that Eugene's research was going to lean a little more
towards cancer research.  Angela was going to head back to Gainesville even
though she was welcome to stay in Orlando.  She wanted to finish her degree
and then decide what to do after that.

Jennifer talked to the crowd in the aftermath of the hurricane.  She talked
to them about love and respect for the Earth.  She fed them and healed the
sick and wounded before she headed off with us.  The media had a field day
with what happened in Fort Lauderdale.  The crowd had survived amazingly
and had little memory as to what happened though they kept speaking of
love.  The media wrote the whole incident off as a strange set of
circumstances.

The front door of the mansion was unlocked, Gerald was a little alarmed as
he knew that he had locked it when they left.  As they entered the house,
his sense of smell was overcome with a wonderful scent; pancakes.  Not just
any pancakes; Nora's pancakes.

"Nora!"  Gerald screamed hoping beyond all hopes.

"Hello Gerald," said Nora as she walked out from the kitchen with a big
smile on her face.

"Gerald Jr.'s gift," whispered Jennifer to the others.

"Oh my God Nora, I love you," said a weeping Gerald.  Julia also broke into
a run and was soon hugging her parents, tears running down her cheeks too.

Jennifer sat alone in her room thinking of what she was supposed to do with
her life.  Just a few days ago, she was a guy named William, and now she
was the Daughter of Man.  She thought of continuing as a teacher and living
the role up, but what life would that have been for her.  No, she figured
that in this time and age, a Savior could do more good behind the scenes
without getting crucified by the media.  Besides, she was madly in love
with Julia and the world was not ready for a lesbian Messiah.