Yes, Yes They Did!

They are undoing the straps holding you down, now that they knew you were not a threat, when you suddenly remembered one of the barrage of questions they asked: ~What did they mean 'How many Children were with you on the ship?'?!?~ You wondered in sudden panic.

"My Kids! Where are River, Alex, and Easter?!?" You demanded sitting up.

"If what I think is going on is correct, your children are relatively OK, but you will need to have a talk with them about lying to federal authorities." The same nurse, who seems to be in charge here said, passing you in a sterilized set of nylon underwear, then once you were dressed guiding you through a hastily erected tunnel to another pod, where you saw three smaller versions of your new appearance. You shortly recognized them as your children, somehow mutated like you, but each with a certain posture and attitude that was unmistakable. They were watching cartoons through a plastic window in the isolation tent, and you looked at them crossly.

"River, Alex, Easter, what have I told you about lying?" You demanded making them all jump, even your voice having changed from a slightly nasal whine to a lovely contralto, but which from cadence and word choice they recognized as their father.

"Sorry Papa!" They chorused softly, turning to look at you sheepishly. They were all dressed in sterilized white nylon gym shorts and t-shirts, and you could see their long swishing tails that ended in a tuft of black hair like a lion poking out of holes that had been hastily cut into the fabric. You had noticed your own tail when you put on the underwear, which are not so modified and ride low on your ass, but that was not important, you had bigger fish to fry. "What have you three been telling the emergency workers and how did you get transformed?" You demanded, looking at them sternly.

"We used the secret language because we didn't know if they were bad people at first, and they assumed we were aliens, so we played along." River stated, ever the leader of your little gang of hooligans. The 'Secret Language' she referred to is actually Northern Sandawe, an obscure African language which you learned with help from the National Guard and a native speaker during the two years you were on active duty. You taught it to your wife and kids just so you would have people to talk to who weren't on the internet, and because being bi-lingual increases intelligence in children, even if they later lose command of the language. Furthermore it taught them to use the 'sliding click' vowel, which is very hard to do (almost impossible before 3D computer imaging) once you become an adult.

"You still haven't answered the other part of the question..." You stated, still holding them in a stern glare.

"You got hit by a piece of the cockpit's glass, and Alex tried to pull it out and cut his hand! I got the medical kit to dress the cut but when I got back Easter was doubled over and crying, Alex was passed out, and the alien was gone! When I went to find out what was wrong with Easter I found a broken glass syringe in her stomach and as I tried to remove it it nicked my finger! I don't know what happened after that because I started feeling woozy a few seconds later and I passed out too! When we all woke up we were in here, and there were all these doctors and nurses poking and prodding us, so we started talking in the Secret Language: that's when they decided for sure we were aliens and put us in here watching cartoons on PBS..." Your elder daughter explained, faltering only at the end as she realized you were still angry.

"So, you deliberately misled a group of government scientists?" You asked with deceptive calm, which all of your children saw through right away...

"But Papa-!" They started in together, before you cut them off.

"No Buts! No chocolate rations for a month and you all are grounded till I say otherwise!" You barked, then turned to the nurse standing outside. "Turn the TV off, 'grounded' among other things means no TV." You stated and she hastened to oblige.

There was a general wail of outrage, as they, being children and always considering themselves to have been in the right, found your punishment unfair, but you road out the storm and let them be brats if they wanted, and thus wear themselves out.

The next two days you all were subjected to more tests, and more tests, by which you discovered that you had not only been mutated, but developed super powers!