Chapter 17: Leslie

The main lab had much the same equipment as Donald's lab in Dos Alamos; at least it seemed that way to Alice.

The main difference was what looked like a walk-in cooler in the far corner. It was about twice the size of a phone booth. Its exterior looked like a white refrigerator, but with a large window on the two sides that were exposed. The door to the chamber had a silver handle. The latch was like that of a commercial cooler.

Leslie was sitting on a stool near the door Alice entered, showing her left profile. She had curly shoulder-length brown hair, blue eyes, a button nose, and full lips. Her eyes were blood-shot from crying, but seemed composed now.

"Ms. Goldsmith, my name is Alice."

Leslie fell to her knees, and then bowed her face to the ground. "Goddess, I'm so sorry about my behavior before. I mistook your sisters for... someone else."

Alice grabbed Leslie's hands and pulled her to her feet. "Please rise. I don't need your groveling..."

Leslie raised to her feet. It was then that Alice saw the right side of her face.

Alice knew about her burns. Still, it was one thing to be told, another to see.

The skin on Leslie's right side looked like it had been wadded up, then laid out flat. It reminded her of a movie she saw where Kevin Spacey had had similar burns.

"It's hideous, isn't it?" said Leslie.

Alice realized that she was staring, and blushed. "Oh no. Donald had told us all about your scars. They aren't as bad as I expected. From a distance, you wouldn't notice it."

"From a great distance."

"No, really. Your skin tone on both sides match. From a few feet, you look like everyone else."

"Thank you," said the geneticist. "Most people try to ignore my face. They look everywhere but at me. But the burns are there, like an unspoken family scandal."

Alice let go of her hands. "Undress, please."

Leslie blushed. "Do I have to?" she asked in small voice.

The young goddess put her hands on Leslie's shoulders. "You know you do. I am naked. You are going to be like me."

Tears ran down Leslie's face as she took off her white lab coat.

Alice noticed that there were scars on her right hand.

Under the lab coat, Leslie wore a light blue turtleneck top with long sleeves, and black slacks. With trembling hands, she pulled off her top.

"The bra too, Leslie."

She reached behind and unsnapped her plain white B-cup bra. It fell to the floor.

"Now your slacks and panties, too."

She complied. Naked and crying, she covered her breasts with her right arm. Her left arm covered the right.

"Spread your arms and legs," Alice instructed.

The older woman plead. "Please, goddess."

"You call me 'goddess, ' but don't follow unquestioningly. Do as I say, Leslie."

With effort, she did as instructed, leaving herself exposed. She trembled at the humiliation.

The burns ran down the right side of Leslie's neck and right arm. They covered her hand but not her fingers. Her right side was scarred down to the base of her ribs.

Mercifully, only the far right side of her breast was scarred. It slightly pulled the shape of that breast, but not enough for a casual observer to notice.

The worst scarring was on her back. It covered from the right side, all the way over to the left shoulder. The scars covered her whole back, down to the small. The scars there were more severe, having an angry red, mottled color.

Alice winced at the sight of Leslie's deformities. "Oh your poor back." The goddess gently kissed between her shoulder blades.

"I'm sorry," said the still-weeping geneticist.

Alice was taken aback. "Sorry? For what?"

"For-For exposing you to such ugliness."

"I insisted, remember?

"And they are not that ugly. There are many people who'd give anything to be so mildly scarred."

"I... I suppose."

Alice reached down into Leslie's lab coat, pulling out a set of stoppered vials. "We need to get you into the steam room."

"Me? Why?"

"Didn't Donald tell you? You're to be one of us. A goddess."

"Oh no! That's not possible. I'm too ugly."

"Our allure is hormonal, not due to our looks. Surely you know that."

"I... I know, but..."

Alice opened the door to the small chamber. "Come on. We need you, Leslie. We need you to be one of us." She grasped her hand, and almost pulled her in.

Alice pushed the vials into their designated slots, grabbed a small handbag, and then closed the door.

Inside, the chamber was cramped. The two seats, facing each other, could only hold one person each. When Alice and Leslie sat, their knees touched.

Steam filled the room a few seconds after the door closed.

Leslie looked panicked for a few seconds. But when she didn't feel any different after a few breaths, she relaxed a bit.

"It takes about three hours for it to take effect," said Alice.

"Oh, that's right."

Both leaned back, as much as they could in the cramped space.

Alice finally spoke. "Since we're not doing anything, why don't you tell me about yourself, and how you got burned."

Leslie sighed. "I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota."

Alice perked up. "I'm from that area too. Fishers, Indiana. A suburb of Indianapolis.

"Well, then you know what Great Lakes winters are like. But Minnesota gets the worst weather. Sometimes, the spring doesn't arrive until deep into April.

"When I was twelve, in late March, the nights were still getting down into the single digits.

"Like everyone in my family, I slept under an electric blanket.

"That night, mine shorted out and caught fire."

Alice gasped. "Oh no!"

"I was screaming before the smoke alarm went off. My dad grabbed the fire extinguisher, and put out the fire before it could spread."

"It must have been horrid."

"The pain was excruciating, and lasted for months. I don't like to think about it."

"I understand," said Alice.

"The next six months were spent in the hospital, getting skin grafts and taking pain meds by the handful.

It wasn't until November that the doctors said I could go back to school. I had been doing class work from my bed, so I was caught up.

"What I wasn't ready for, were my classmates. All my friends had moved to middle school. They had new friends who did not know me.

"In elementary school, I had been very popular; lots of friends. Now I was an outsider; a freak. The butt of countless jokes and humiliations."

"You mean, no one befriended you?" asked Alice.

"You remember what middle school was like," said Leslie.

"It was called junior high in Fishers."

"Being in, part of the 'in' group was everything. If your friend is dubbed 'out', you've got to go with the 'in' group, or get banished yourself.

"Some of my old friends, after some taunting or prank, would give me a glance of regret, or mouth the word 'sorry' after everyone else had left.

"When I saw your sister goddesses out there, for the first time, I had a flashback to that time. They were the beautiful popular girls, and I was at their mercy."

"So you had no friends?"

"Oh I didn't say that. I was befriended by the other 'out' people. The geeks and nerds. The brains.

"At first, I didn't really belong with them. They had their own slang, their own TV shows. I was a fish out of water. But seeing how I was one of the few girls in the group, the guys gave me a crash course on nerd-dom.

"I threw myself in the hard sciences. I learned to study effectively. I learned to love sci-fi.

"When I graduated from high school, I was class valedictorian. I had a free ride to Cal Tech. I got my Ph.D. in genetics from MIT. I was courted by a dozen companies to do whatever work I wanted for them.

"But the only person who really impressed me was Donald Moore of Moore Genetics. His ideas were along the same paths as mine, but about three steps ahead.

"I chose him, and his vision. I never looked back."

Alice took Leslie by the hands. "So you haven't had such a bad life."

Leslie pulled her hands away. "Are you kidding? It has been miserable. I am a twenty-eight year old virgin. Nobody has touched me with desire. No one has ever invited me out on a date. All my nerd friends were just friends. No lovers. One look at my face was like an instant cold shower."

"Your face doesn't look so bad."

"It doesn't look normal; and in middle and high school, it looked worse. I was still healing from the burns. My face looked like my back now: swollen, red, and blotchy. Really hideous.

"When I went to college, I had given up on love. I never really learned how to flirt. I had withdrawn into an academic shell."

"But you still fantasized," said Alice.

"God yes! Girl-friendly erotica is all over the Internet. Some of it's really good."

"I bet you masturbate a lot too."

She nodded ruefully. "You should see the number of sex toys I have."

"You may have the most, but Kay's collection is the best looking set up. You should see it."

Leslie suddenly realized that she had been rubbing between her legs. "Oh, sorry..." She pulled her hand away.

Alice smiled, "Don't be. With the changes you are going through, it'll be almost impossible to not do what you were doing. The teen started rubbing her pussy. She closed her eyes and shuddered. "As a matter of fact, I bet you can't keep your hand away for the next five minutes."

"You're on," said Leslie.

Within two minutes, sweat was pouring down her face. Her eyes were closed, hands clenched into trembling fists, on each thigh, and her breath was coming out in rapid shallow pants.

"Amazing, isn't it?" asked Alice.

"I've been horny before, but nothing like this!" gasped Leslie.

"It's like a magnet is drawing your hand to the pussy, isn't it?"

"God yes!"
"Think you can hold out for another two minutes?"

"I can try," Leslie moaned.

Alice clucked. "I free you of the bet. I don't want to see you in pain. Touch yourself, already."

A combination sigh and moan came out of Leslie as she stroked herself.

Alice's groans joined in. The musk of arousal filled the cramped chamber.

Leslie's pace quickened in pace and intensity. Her gasps and moans escalated to cries and screams. "It's no good," she panted. "I still ache. I need more."

"Let me see if I can help," said Alice. She got down on her knees, and managed to bury her face in Leslie's muff."

Leslie's whole body shook as Alice brought her to a series of rapid and intense orgasms.

The geneticist was soaked with sweat when Alice retook her seat.

"Feel better?"

"Much. You're incredible. But my clit still aches."

"It never completely goes away."

"How can you live with it?" Leslie asked.

"You get to used to it. You have as much sex as possible."

The mist that filled the chamber finally lifted.

"Looks like the three hours are up," said Alice.

"Great. I never thought I was claustrophobic, but this chamber is starting to bother me."

"Before we go out, I want to show you something." Alice reached into the handbag, and pulled out a large hand mirror. She showed the shiny surface to Leslie.

It took a few seconds to register, but when it did, Leslie was shocked like never before.

As she expected, her skin was now glittery and her eyes were a vivid emerald green. But what she did not expect was her burns were completely gone. Like they were never there.

"It's a miracle," whispered Leslie.

Alice shook her head. "Snap out of it. You're a scientist. What happened?"

Laura paused. "My burns were skin cells with damaged DNA." Her eyes popped open. "Donald's treatment re-sequenced my DNA."

"A few other things are different too. Your blue eyes are now green. And, you've lost all your body hair..."

"I'm no longer a freak."

"You're a new type of freak. Your new shiny skin is so sensitive, it won't tolerate clothes for extended periods."

"You don't understand. The way people looked at me; consciously avoiding looking at my face. The way kids pointed at me, and their mothers dragging them away, telling them 'it's rude to point.' It's all gone."