Chapter 4

The skirt was was a great idea. Even if Kevin COULD have seen anything other than "Sue's" private parts at this instant, which he couldn't, the skirt would keep him from seeing the other things that were happening. He would never be allowed to actually see Cheryl's naked body. She didn't want that to happen, ever.

Cheryl straddled him. In a well-rehearsed move, she quickly took his cock between her legs. Kevin made some noise, which was muffled by Jeffrey's cunt. Jeffrey closed his eyes for a second, remembering the second image they had discussed. When he opened them again, he patted Cheryl on the head. She panted a bit, and licked his hand with her huge tongue. Cheryl was now a golden retriever. Without speaking, he asked her: "You okay in there?"

She replied almost instantly. "Fine! How do I look?"

"Beautiful, well, as beautiful as a dog can be, I guess. How does it feel? We've never tried THIS before."

"Fur is definitely warm. I'll tell you later. Let me screw him and get it over with, ok?"

Cheryl, who was in a sitting position, held her tail still, and enjoyed the ride as Kevin plunged inside her, and out again. He was really into it, as Cheryl and Jeffrey both were.

Jeffrey came first. Remembering what Cheryl had told him, he made Kevin drink a lot of come. Jeffrey's body shuddered, and his legs squeezed Kevin tight, preventing him from breathing, for the moment. There was no chance that he'd miss "Sue's" orgasm.

When it was over, Jeffrey didn't get up. He rocked forward a bit so Kevin could breathe again, but wouldn't get up. He waited until Kevin started coming, then lifted up just a bit so Cheryl could hear Kevin: "Oh, Cheryl, you're REALLY good..."

Cheryl wagged her tail a bit, brushing the inside of Kevin's legs. Finally, Jeffrey got up. Kevin's mouth fell open. The dog had obviously had a good time. Kevin turned quite red. He pushed Jeffrey out of the way. Jeffrey stumbled, but managed to regain his balance just in time to teleport Cheryl so that she, in her original form, was standing next to the door, leaving the image of the dog under his control. Cheryl opened the door, and Jeffrey had the dog, who was about to get smacked by Kevin, run outside. Cheryl closed the door. She had a devilish grin on her face.

"You've called me a bitch enough," she said, still smiling, "that I thought you might like to make love to a one. By the way, if there are any puppies, you can keep some of them..."

Kevin was on his feet, advancing toward Cheryl, threatening her. Jeffrey was worried; if he tried to hurt her, he'd have to do something that would ruin the show.

Cheryl kept on talking, still smiling. "So, Sue, did he drink it?"

"Every bit of it," Jeffrey answered. "I could feel him swallowing." Kevin knew it was true. He turned his attention to Sue, wondering what had happened. Cheryl continued, still grinning.

"They have some neat stuff in genetics now. A viral-acting modifier, I think they call it. It invades your cells one at a time and changes one specific gene to another. It can't have any effect on Sue, but it was in her fluid..."

Kevin turned towards Cheryl again. Jeffrey started the changes working on him. It made him suddenly weak. He took one more step and fell to the floor, his legs no longer able to hold him. Jeffrey rushed over with the foam pad and helped him onto it, placing a pillow beneath his head as if he cared for him.

Kevin's voice wasn't working right anymore. With effort he managed to ask: "What... have you done... to me..."

Cheryl was happy to answer. "Well, dearest Kevin, you'll be fine. There's just a temporary delay while your body repairs itself. You see, the women here have put up with you long enough. We felt that this was the best thing to do. I mean -- you can chase after the men now, but I don't think that will be like it was before." She started giggling.

Kevin's voice was clearer now, but higher. He was feeling better. "Cheryl, WHAT DID YOU DO? Undo it or you'll be waiting on line for unemployment tommorrrow."

With effort, Cheryl stopped laughing. "Sorry Kevin... I can't! There just isn't a way yet to replace X chromosomes with Y... And besides, even that wouldn't work if you've had the other virus..."

Kevin's mouth fell open again. "You mean... I'm..."

Jeffrey, still kneeling next to Kevin, brushed the hair from Kevin's chest. Kevin's figure was changing, and he hadn't noticed it.

"That's right, Kevin!"

"Impossible!" he yelled. "If we could do that I'd know about it. It's a trick."

"You better tell THESE that, Kevin!," Jeffrey said, pointing to the elevated, dark circles on Kevin's chest. Jeffrey poked one with a finger. They were swelling a bit, but the breasts themselves hadn't started yet. Jeffrey wanted to make it slow, and thus harder on Kevin.

"Shit!" Kevin jumped to his feet. He was shorter, and smaller. He ran to his mirror, and looked at himself. Breasts were in fact growing now. He pressed them with his hands, as if he was trying to hold them back. He couldn't.

Cheryl pointed violently to her crotch, and then to Kevin. Jeffrey had forgotten to start the important changes. He nodded back at her, at which time Kevin's apparatus started to disappear into his body, folding inside out. The sensation took his attention away from his partially-mature mammary glands. He grabbed at his penis, trying to hold on to it. It slipped out of his fingers, and disappeared entirely into the vagina that had formed there. Another expletive came from his mouth.

He looked back up to see that the breasts were now complete and final. All of the other changes had happened. He screamed once, and it came out as a very female scream, which made him scream again. Cheryl and Jeffrey smiled at each other. Kevin now looked up at them, with water in his eyes, and gave them the sorriest expression they'd ever seen on him. They would have rather seen Kevin's face with that expression, but just knowing that it was Kevin who was inside was enough.

Cheryl walked over to Kevin and patted him on the shoulder. Jeffrey had changed her again, this time in ways not quite yet visible. "Kevin, it's not THAT bad... Really. Half the people in the world are female, right?"

Kevin's face was still red. He was crying a bit. "No... <snif>... It's not possible. I'm dreaming. I CAN'T BE THIS WAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!"

Jeffrey fired off a mental communication to Cheryl. "He has to stay convinced that this is real. Otherwise we'll lose him."

Cheryl put her hand on Kevin's forehead. "You're burning up. It's the virus. It always does this. We have to get some water and food into you. Many of your cells are being replaced with new ones -- that's why you're so hot."

"I am really hungry. I've got lunch in my drawer. But I have to use the bathroom first."

Cheryl whispered loudly enough to Jeffrey that Kevin could hear. "She's got to get rid of all the stuff her body doesn't need any more. She'll be alright afterwards."

Cheryl took a towel that she had brought with her, and wrapped it around Kevin's shivering body. They helped him through the quiet hallways to the ladies' room. He cried out again when he realized where he was. Sue took him inside and waited for him while Cheryl, outside, was supposedly at the cafeteria getting something for him to eat. She was, in fact, just waiting outside the door, holding the lunch that Jeffrey had materialized.

They all returned to Kevin's office a few minutes later, and fed Kevin the mean that Cheryl had "bought." He'd be very hungry for a while and would eat his own lunch later. Kevin, though still upset, felt better. "I still can't believe it. You've ruined my life. How am I going to live like this? I can't face my friends."

It was time for the final act to start. Cheryl spoke. "Kevin, you're not alone here. You'll make lots of new friends. You're very pretty. Isn't she, Susan?"

Jeffrey nodded.

"I mean, just look at the way you've developed. You'll have everyone here after you. Except the women, but that was the idea, right?"

Kevin nodded silently.

"Look at all you get to do now. You can have children. You get to see life from both sides, where the rest of us won't. Not until the virus goes into full production, and even then it only works once. Besides, there's one very good benefit... The REAL reason you're a woman now..."

Kevin was almost cheerful. "Why?"

Cheryl, all of a sudden, had a masculine voice. "Because you wanted to make love with me, and now you can. I can't believe you, of all people, didn't know."

"You're a... man? But how?"

"I can't believe I had you fooled all this time. I was a victim of the test of a reversible virus a long time ago, and it didn't work. Only changed me enough to sound female and look it from a distance. They're supposed to change me back eventually, though. For now they gave me a new identity and lots of money."

"And... you're STILL working here?"

"Of course. Lets me monitor the progress and help out with my own cure." She unzipped her pants, and pulled her penis from it. "See?"

Kevin's towel fell away. "You ARE male..."

Cheryl advanced towards him. "Good thing, huh? Come on..."... her penis grew hard, and she started to undress. Kevin backed away.

Cheryl had breasts, but they were extremely underdeveloped. Her clothing was padded to make her look female. She disrobed. Kevin shook his head. Seconds later she was on top of him. Kevin was too weak now, Cheryl overpowered him, rolling him on his front, climbing on his back, and recklessly plunging her penis into him. It was difficult at first. Kevin wasn't ready. He hadn't asked for this. He struggled for a minute. Cheryl clasped Kevin's breasts, and worked her penis inside from behind him. Her other hand went to the front of Kevin's pussy, and her touch excited him. Jeffrey sat on the desk and watched with interest. Cheryl slid her cock into his cunt easily now. Kevin couldn't say a word. It was over quickly, Cheryl squirting her come inside, and pulling herself from him before he could learn what a female orgasm felt like. She got off of him, and got dressed before he could recover, stuffing her penis back into her pants and tucking it in so it wouldn't show. She and Jeffrey helped Kevin to his feet, and into his chair.

"Sorry to be in a hurry," Cheryl said, "but we haven't eaten yet and there's only a few minutes left to lunch." Kevin looked at the clock. "Sue here brought some clothes for you, and I even think we got the right size."

Jeffrey took, from Cheryl's bag, some clothes. "Now here's your panties, and I think this bra should be about right..." He handed the bra to Cheryl, who started putting in on Jeffrey. Kevin grabbed it and angrily threw it down. "I can't wear girl's clothes."

"Now now, Kevin, it's only appropriate. You're a girl." She took the clothes and put them in the drawer. "You'll have to start learning a lot of new things. Clothes are one of them. You can't just sit here naked. Put the stuff on when you're ready, it's right here in your drawer."

Kevin didn't look up. Cheryl and Jeffrey headed for the door. Jeffrey looked at the clock once more on the way out.

The door clicked shut. Jeffrey and Cheryl ran back to the maintenance room, changing to their original forms on the way. They sat down where they were before, leaning against each other. The Device, red, reappeared in Jeffrey's lap. He looked at the timer. "Almost perfect. There's about ten minutes left before everyone gets back, like the clock said. Here goes." He pressed the STOP button, and suddenly they were sitting a slightly different way, eyes closed. They opened their eyes. The box was blue. They hurried out of the closet. The halls were still empty, thank goodness. They went back to Jeffrey's lab.

Kevin opened his eyes. He sat in his chair for all of five minutes pondering his fate; worrying about whether or not he was really pregnant, how he would learn all the things he now needed to know, and so on. It wasn't until he looked at his feet, trying to decide what kind of shoes he would have to buy, that he realized that his own shoes were still on his feet. In fact, he was still dressed. He checked himself -- no breasts, and the cock that he was so proud of was still there. What a realistic dream! He was overjoyed that none of the events he had just imagined had happened.

Meanwhile, Cheryl was hugging Jeffrey. "We did it!," they both told each other.

Kevin's bubble had just burst. He was hungry, and opened his drawer to get lunch. Sitting there, in the drawer, were the bra and panties that Sue had given him. They were EXACTLY the same as the ones they were about to outfit him with just minutes ago. He never had put anything into that drawer except lunch. He sank back into his chair, having lost his appetite.

The Boss walked into the Lab. An imposing man in his 40's, he was officially called the inter-department coordinator, but was responsible for most everything, and thus everyone called him The Boss. He was friendly, but very firm about people doing the work they were being paid for. Cheryl started slinking towards the doorway, then realized that the Boss had brought two sandwiches. "Missed you at lunch, Jeffrey. I figured you had to be doing something important." He handed one sandwich to Jeffrey and the other to Cheryl. Jeffrey looked at his sandwich, and set it down. The boss had forgotten that he didn't like ham sandwiches. Well, he MIGHT eat it if he was hungry, but later. Cheryl bit into hers. "Thanks," she mumbled with a mouthful.

The Boss hadn't left, so Jeffrey decided it was time to show him some of the latest developments he'd been working on. He had almost finished a sort of recording machine that could record everything in an enclosed area at once. There was a camera under development in a different department. Together, you could record a place for a while, and then, at any time in the future, you could use another system to play back any view at any angle. By manipulating controls, you could move a "virtual camera" to any point in the area. It would produce perfect 3-D images. Of course, Jeffrey's dream at that time was to hook the recorder up to the Device -- HIS device. IDT's version didn't have the interface for the recorder, but his did. That's why he made sure he was involved with the recorder project, so he could build his own.

Jeffrey showed the boss an optical cartridge. "It DOES have some recordings on it now," he claimed, "but we can't play them back quite yet. That's why we don't know if the bugs in the original camera affected it or not."

Suddenly, the doors to the lab burst open. It was Kevin, who stormed in. He was mad. "You're out of here, Landers. You and your girlfriend here set me up with the Device. That's the only explanation."

Cheryl, to Jeffrey's surprise, was the one to answer. "But Kevin, YOU said I HAD to have sex with you."

"Yes, but with you as a girl..." It was the wrong thing to say. The Boss' eyebrows were raised. Cheryl baited the trap, and in his anger, Keven fell right into it. The Boss had heard occasional allegations of Kevin's wrongdoing, but even with the influence he had with the CEO, refrained from testing that relationship over hearsay. The Boss now sounded much less friendly.

"Is this true, Kevin?"

Kevin remained silent.

"Kevin, if you've anything to say about this, I'd say it right now. I wouldn't want any unfriendly legal actions going on."

Kevin still didn't say anything. The Boss excused himself from Jeffrey and Cheryl, and took Kevin out of the Lab. Kevin would quit the next day. Jeffrey walked to Cheryl and shook her hand vigorously. "Fantastic. You knew he was still frazzled."

"Thank you. Wouldn't you have been frazzled if you were him?"

"No," Jeffrey replied, "not any more. I'd be savoring the experience."

"But he thought it was for REAL."

"As you said before, Cheryl... What's the difference?"

It had been three weeks now, that they had been together. The only magic that had faded was Jeffrey's lovesick feeling. That queasy feeling, he had decided, was beneficial ONLY in that it heralded the love that followed, much like one's first dive into a swimming pool. He was comfortable with Cheryl; she was comfortable with him. Each cared more about the other than anything else. They were quite an item at work, and a lot of people were surprised when, after only a week, Cheryl had invited him to move in, which he did after a few days of discussion. Jeffrey's parents didn't like the idea at first. Cheryl's parents were happy that she had found a mate. Deirdre had given them their privacy, for the most part, but they had seen that she never felt left out. Anyway, it looked like she was getting serious about a friend of hers that she'd known for a while.

They hadn't used the Device that much. Cheryl and Jeffrey were too busy getting to know each other, and fooling around in real life. They had let Deirdre run it once with her boyfriend -- she seemed to be proficient with it -- after all, her boyfriend enjoyed the experience. She hadn't even rushed sex on him -- he seemed to appreciate that. He'd get enough once Deirdre was familiar with him.

The one thing that Cheryl and Jeffrey had done with the Device was prompted by Cheryl's experience as a golden retriever. On the weekends, Jeffrey would take a few hours with his computer and program the Device with the characteristics of a number of animals; then over a few nights they'd spend ten or fifteen minutes as a pair of animals, in the environment that was most fitting, experiencing sex each way. The least exciting were birds and fishes. Although birds mated in mid-air, the transfer of sperm happened without much contact. They'd press belly against belly, and Jeffrey would squirt semen from an opening near his tail into the same opening on Cheryl. That was it. Fishes had no contact at all, though Cheryl found it intriguing to be able to lay hundreds of eggs in one spot in a few minutes. She could feel each egg leave her body through the opening that neurologically corresponded to her vagina. Jeffrey would then swim up to the eggs, and seconds later would disappear in a white cloud of semen. He didn't think it was exciting to him at all.

Insects weren't terrific either. They had looked forward to the praying mantis, which copulates for half a day at a time. Cheryl promised not to devour Jeffrey afterwards. But, once they got into position and started the sperm transfer, it became boring after only one or two hours. They didn't try most of the others.

The reptiles and amphibians were better, but it wasn't comfortable. The sex was alright, but everything not directly related to intercourse wasn't as much fun. There were no soft curves, no quiet giggles, and no moans.

The mammals had it the best, they decided. Dogs (which they tried first, golden-retriever style) were fun; because they locked together in real life, just like Cheryl had locked Jeffrey's penis inside the first time they made love using the Device. His penis would grow, and her vagina would shrink, and they couldn't pull apart until Cheryl came.

The best part of the experience was that neither could talk until it was all over. They compared all the things they had done. The best, of course, was as humans. THEY could stimulate desire with their voices and the images those voices could create. Over the three weeks, they had made love in real life many more times than they had with the Device, animals included. Deirdre had gotten quite used to them being together. And Cheryl and Jeffrey had gotten very proficient together. They could make love in any position -- as Deirdre found when they were watching television in the Living room. Cheryl just quietly unzipped Jeffrey's fly, lifted her skirt and sat in his lap. Deirdre wasn't sure anything had happened until she heard the distinctive sound of Cheryl and Jeffrey coming; they always seemed to come together.

The day after Deirdre finally made it with her boyfriend, Cheryl demonstrated a new invention of her own. She liked the idea that men could have sex without even taking off their pants. But she didn't like wearing a skirt just for that purpose -- sex without undressing. Even with men's-style, front-zippered jeans on, Jeffrey's cock couldn't reach her pussy. Cheryl held up a pair of jeans identical to the ones she had on. They were clearly women's jeans, with no fly, and two zippers on the side that held them snugly over Cheryl's shapely hips. "They can be any slacks, not just jeans," she said. The crotch of the jeans had been modified -- with some elastic added, and plastic eyelets with a cord weaving through where the original stitching was in the crotch. The original stitching in part of the crotch area was gone. The cord and the elastic together held the crotch shut.

She held them up to Deirdre, inside out. She pulled the cord out, and showed her how only the elastic now held the opening shut. The opening had a plastic-film liner so the rough denim wouldn't be uncomfortable to Jeffrey -- he had suggested that part. She threw them to Deirdre, who took a closer look.

Cheryl walked to Jeffrey, and lifted one leg. Jeffrey tapped the fabric around the opening as Cheryl stretched. The cord held it closed.

"See, Deirdre, the cord goes into one pocket. There's a cotton liner that I didn't put in that pair you're holding, yet. You can't pee through it, but it is good for something..."

Cheryl reached into her pocket and pulled the cord from it. She unzipped Jeffrey's fly; pulling his penis from it. She rubbed it, and even licked it. It grew quickly. She kissed him once, deeply, with her hands still on his cock, and his hands on her tits.

She turned around. Deirdre was watching. "Oh, yes, you have to wear crotchless panties," she said. Deirdre nodded.

Cheryl lowered herself carefully onto Jeffrey's lap. The tip of his rock-hard penis touched her pants. As he pushed against them, the elastic opening yielded, and his cock sank into her pants. It slid through her panties, past her already-most pussylips, and into her warm wetness. Her buttocks settled down onto him. He held her tightly, and bounced her slightly with his knees. The real action wasn't visible to Deirdre. The design was working. He was deep inside Cheryl, and both had their clothes on. They came, with the usual noises, and Cheryl got up, the opening in her jeans closing tightly just as the opening in her body did. The plastic liner kept her fluids from leaking to where they were visible, though some had leaked onto Jeffrey's jeans.

Cheryl promised to make a pair of the jeans for Deirdre, who said she'd use them to pleasantly surprise her boyfriend one afternoon in the park.

Jeffrey took Cheryl down to the drugstore after the jeans demonstration, for it was now time to renew the SBC between them. It went normally. On the way home, Cheryl remembered something she had promised to talk about a long time ago.

"Jeffrey, I want to know if you've been feeling something lately..."

"Like what?"

"Well, all the times we've made love, as humans, men, women, animals... What's been in common?"

Jeffrey didn't know what she meant. "A lot of things. What do you mean?"

"Well... Let me put it this way. What have you STILL wanted, even at the peak of our passion, no matter which way we've done it? That you want all the time and isn't satisfied just by sex?"

"Well, I want to be even closer to you than I am..."

Cheryl was pleased. "Exactly. You want to be ONE with me, more than you can just by having sex. Right?"

"Yes, very much. You know, we SHOULD probably talk about marraige sooner or later."

"Well..." Cheryl said, "Yes, we should... But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about leaving this body and sharing yours. Or the other way around. Fill the empty hole inside me."

"Well..." Jeffrey scratched his head. "YES! I COULD program the Device to do that. Let's do it!"

"Alright!" yelled Cheryl.

Jeffrey spent the rest of the afternoon working on the computer attached to the Device; programming the Device to tie together neural lines (he called them "ports"). She'd join him in his body; he'd hold the box. For once, they'd share the exact same experiences, and would be able to mentally communicate. Either would be able to control all of the muscular actions; and both would feel the results. It was actually quite a simple program, since the same basic pattern of combination was repeated over and over.

Finally the time was here. He got Cheryl, went with her to the bathroom where they both relieved themselves, and sat her down next to him on the couch. "If there's problems, tell me. I'll stop it." Cheryl nodded. "Here goes!" Deirdre looked over at them, then returned her attention to the dinner that was cooking. Jeffrey, with the device in his lap, pressed the start button.

What happened was not what either expected. After the last beep of the Device, they were together. They were one. Jeffrey's mind started wandering through Cheryl's. She started wandering through his, examining the memories that were stored there. Neither was conscious of the outside world, or tried to open Jeffrey's eyes or even move. She met, in his mind, his first love, and the awkward activites of his first sexual encounter. Jeffrey looked at her own memories of him. He suddenly was aware, without thinking about it, how lonely Cheryl had been before she approached Jeffrey on that Friday afternoon. She met his parents, his brother, knowing instantly all that Jeffrey thought about them. Jeffrey reviewed Cheryl's childhood; her first training bra, the anxiety as her classmates developed ahead of her; frustration and success at school, and HER first sex partner and the awful events that followed. He didn't have to think about them; as long as he let his mind wander inside Cheryl's, he KNEW.

Something was definitely wrong. He didn't know what; the experience was fantastic. He was going through years in seconds. The frustration while she waited for her first period; the bother that she put up with now, knowing that her next period would start tommorrow or the next day. It was all too much to put into words.

But, something in his mind told him he had to stop this. Now. He summoned all his willpower to get out of Cheryl's mind. He concentrated on the word STOP. His eyes flashed open, catching Cheryl's attention while she was exploring his experience with her. She watched as her own hand, or Jeffrey's, reached for the STOP button. She didn't stop it. The button was pressed.

Deirdre was startled by the sudden irregular breathing coming from her roommates. She rushed over; their eyes were open, but they weren't saying anything. The display on the box read "IMAGE STOP 00:01:13," nothing wrong with that. They weren't talking, though. Deirdre started to panic. She grabbed Cheryl's hand.

"Cheryl! What happened??"

Jeffrey now realized what was wrong. He had made a programming mistake, somehow connecting EVERYTHING, not just the nerves leading to and from the brain to the rest of the body. He had connected them together mentally. It wasn't supposed to be possible. He had to get the words out to Deirdre. Reality seemed a bit foggy. He was having trouble speaking.

"Deirdre..." he said in a raspy voice. Cheryl parroted him, word for word, at the same instant; though not as clearly.

"I connected... us... together inside. We've been in each... other's... minds." He knew very well the textbook theory, which was what he realized gave him the will to stop the Device. Cheryl was still speaking along with him, missing a word here or there. "We have... to sort ourselves out from each other. We don't know who I are... we are... no..."

Deirdre looked Jeffrey right in the eyes. "Jeffrey. You're Jeffrey." He told Cheryl of her identity, and returned to Jeffrey. "What happened?"

Jeffrey shook himself. He seemed better now. Cheryl wasn't repeating after him anymore, but she didn't say anything at all, now.

Jeffrey turned to Cheryl, hugging her tightly. After a brief delay, Cheryl hugged him back. "Oh Cheryl," he said, looking into her eyes... "You're perfect. I can't believe what I saw inside you. Everything I've always wanted. No wonder I love you so much." Cheryl, still silent, squeezed him tightly and they went into a long kiss. Deirdre, who had seen enough of this sort of activity over the last few days, was getting impatient.

"What happened?" she repeated.

"Imagine," Jeffrey said with suddenly perfect clarity, "that your mind is a deck of cards. We just got shuffled together. I've got lots... not all... but lots of Cheryl inside me. It's fantastic. You wouldn't believe it. I'm so different! It feels kind of like she's right here inside. I don't know if... No, I'll be okay. I can handle it. I CAN handle it. Cheryl..."

He turned to her. "Cheryl?" she answered. "Jeffrey? What am I doing here? In this body?"

"Cheryl... You're Cheryl. You'll be alright."

Jeffrey turned back to Deirdre. "I think she got a bigger dose than I did. She absorbed more of my mind than I..." He looked at himself, reassuring who he was; "... than I did. She'll be better with time."