Back to the lab

You winked at Kazumi, as you put your arm around her. "Come back to the lab with us. I think Zoe wants to get right to work on your DNA suggestion, the tools are all right there in the labs. We could use your help to set up the heater and synthesizer, but while the machines are running their processes, we could spend some time in the lounge."

"You got it, Em." Kazumi wrapped her arms around you, as you and Zoe shared her embrace. You actually really enjoyed the fact that you could share these little moments with Zoe, that she could experience your side of your friendship with Kazumi. Soon, with any luck, she could convince a new bodysuit of the same sort of experience with her...

It was a longshot. But you felt like with your and Zoe's help, you could make sure that another bodysuit at least gave Kazumi a chance. Having someone thrilled with the idea to wear a bodysuit was a big first step of course, your impression from everything Zoe's told you is that it's not easy to find long-term willing hosts, although to be fair, her candidate pool was really limited. There's no Tinder for bodysuits.

You drove back to Hideki Labs in separate cars, waiting outside for Kazumi to arrive to meet you around by the loading dock, one of Zoe's secret entrances to the lab that she'd been allowed to use from time to time. "Do you think this will work, Zoe?"

"It has to. Even if Kazumi isn't a good match, I've desperately wanted to know my family better. There's two others patterned after women, two after men. Revision Y is another woman like myself, and I think she's got the fewest genetic differences from me. None of them wanted to give up, Rev. Y tried to argue her case that she could hold herself together, but every time she split open, she found it harder and harder to close up again. She had better shapeshifting capabilities than me so she was able to hide the fact better than I could have, but at some point it was going to catch up to her. I saw her right at the end, I was young and didn't understand at the time what was happening, but maybe now I can make a difference."

"Okay, well... I know it's exciting, but we shouldn't rush this. We could technically do this overnight, but if we aren't totally sure that the gene therapy will take, then we shouldn't push it. If Rev. Y is still safe in stasis tonight, she'd be safe tomorrow. Okay?" You smiled a little, trying to reassure her.

"You're right, thank you... I'm usually the one to advocate patience, so thank you for doing the same for me. It does us no good if we just end up harming her. But also... it's going to keep me awake at night, so if we can make this work, let's also not wait."

You nodded, as Kazumi arrived around back, her backpack over her shoulder as she was ready for an overnight experience unlike anything she could remember. You hugged your friend before you opened the door to the shipping area, slipping through boxes of Hideki supplies. You and Kazumi headed first up to Zoe's lab, to get to work. Zoe wanted extra help, so she went over to Dr. Walker's lab, while you and Kazumi chatted on Zoe's couch. Before anyone did anything, Zoe wanted some other professional opinions, though you didn't realize Chloe was anything like Zoe until you and Kazumi nearly jumped out of your seat as a green, translucent women walked in with a blonde--who you recognized as Dr. Walker--right behind her.

"Emily, Kazumi, this is Dr. Chloe Walker, how she really is." She motioned to the green woman. "And she usually looks like her assistant, Amanda. I know you have a million questions, but I'd appreciate it if we could just get the machines operating. Emily and Amanda know how to operate the smaller-scale gene processor over on... the table in the back, see it? I'll provide a sample of my own tissue, we have a file of Revision Y's sequence. If you can identify the protein differences, I'll create the vehicle for the gene replacement, some 'smart slime' would actually be very helpful for that... Kazumi, can you study the manual for the cryogenic units to know how to safely stabilize a subject?"

This was a far more thrilling work project than you'd been a part of for some time, and now everyone had a role. You kept looking back at the slime woman working with Zoe, but you shook questions from your mind as everyone got to work.