Chapter 1

Life is good when your parents are rich, powerful, or both. Well my parents had a lot of power. Mom was the most powerful person in the USA. She is the first black female president of the US. President Iris Janice Pratt. Sure we have had black presidents and female presidents before, but none that were both, before my Mom. Now the only kind of people missing as a president was a Morfed one. In fact there had never been any hybrid staying inside the white house.

Lobbyists had been trying their best to prevent that happening. Some were sponsored by the dwindling purist movement. Their motto being: 'A freak president? Never!' The movement was rapidly diminishing though, with restrictions on their actions. My parents were fortunate never to have been afflicted with MORFS.

Mom and her advisors had their thoughts about these things as well. The white house and other residences were heavily shielded against telepaths and empaths. They had even installed disruption field to keep teleporters from teleporting in or out. Teleporting was only authorized to and from an adjacent building, with full security in place connecting it to the white house.

Some people in the government didn't like being dependent on teleporters, feeling they couldn't always be trusted or might be too honest for some black ops. So they were supporting the development of matter transportation portals, where theoretically, you would step into a black field and almost directly step out of a similar field in a completely different location.

No one had ever seen one in action yet, though prototypes were rumored to exist and the power to run one, and other costs were astronomical ... One such rumor was that there was a portal in existence inside the white house.

Well believe me I hadn't seen it. And as the 'first son' I had seen almost every spot inside the building. The chief of staff, my father and Mom had sometimes talked about the danger of a telepath, empath or someone with powers similar like those as president. He or she might be able to assume all the power and become a dictator without any interference. And the people would have chosen him or her. So now a lobby was busy that would bar certain people with powers from becoming president or vice-president. It would be an amendment similar to the part of the constitution barring non-US born people from becoming president.

Well enough said about this government. At the moment I was at school. With me, I mean me being Orrin Pratt, a senior in a military style high school. You know, the type of school with drilling, marching, and all the other stuff. We were close to graduation too. After graduating I was destined to go to Yale or Harvard and then enter the politics. My parents had intended that for their oldest son, my older brother Scott. But he died about 3 years ago because of MORFS. Not many people die from MORFS, but he did. He was so much disfigured during the change, I heard that they even had to cut of parts of the body so he could fit in a casket. Of course it was a closed casket funeral.

So now it all fell to me to fulfill the ambition of my parents. I don't know yet if that was what I wanted to do with my life. You could say that my life had already been pretty much lined out for me. However as I read somewhere in a translated foreign saying, 'Don't worry about things. It will turn out quite different.' Well the saying would be proven right, though nobody knew it yet.

People wondered why I went to a military school. Well one main reason is Protocol. In a normal high school, the secret service agents protecting me would have a nightmarish, if not impossible job to do. Not only would they have to look out for bombs, guns, knives and kidnappers or snipers. But they would also have to protect me from supers and purists.

One of the points in Mom's campaign was that a law should be passed to prevent super powered MORFS running around unchecked, and that more research should be done to prevent or guide the MORFS changes. Since it hadn't been passed yet, some of the purists wanted to skin her for not pushing such a law through already, while the pro MORFS lobby opposed my Mom for being against changes.

The military protocol at the school made the job easier for the secret service. There were no loose boys and girls running around, and everyone at school could be checked with their credentials. Another plus was the rigid structure. Anything out of the ordinary immediately attracted attention. This made me look at the school both favorably and with regret.

Now it is pretty much a given that if your parents are popular or influential, then you are popular. So everyone wanted to be my friend. Mind you, I'm not sure I had a real true friend amongst them. The same was true for the girls. All of them wanted to be seen with me as the girlfriend. Protocol, however, forced them to be politely introduced and obey strict rules of conduct. That was fortunate for me, if this hadn't been the case, I would probably have had dozens of girls following me around, trying to be seen with me. The drawback on this, was that it put a serious damper on my social life. I didn't have a real girlfriend as well. Only two times I managed to sneak away from the security detail and the protocol and smooched for a while with Wendy Bromington.

At school I was in a special position. Though I hadn't gone through MORFS myself, the supers and other survivors befriended me because of my Mom's job, hoping I could influence her. The normals and purists similarly didn't want me pissed at them, so they kept a low profile against the MORFS survivors, as they hoped I would join their camp. This made me the perfect go between. I was made a leader and peacekeeper at school just because Mom had managed to become president. I didn't complain about it however, and did my best to keep the peace, and everybody as happy as possible. Sometimes it wasn't easy. Diplomacy is hard work. It made me appreciate Mom a lot more for doing her job.

Finally the last day at school before spring break arrived, not a moment too soon, either. At least a third of the students were sick with the flu. I wanted to be gone before I caught it. My bags were already packed and loaded. Right after the last lesson I stormed to the waiting cars with the secret service on my heels. Normally I would have teased them and asked them if I could drive. My request got refused every time, however. But I didn't ask today. Today I just sat quietly in the back. I didn't feel a 100%. 'I didn't catch the flu on the last day did I?'

With our normal high speed drive we raced through the city towards the transport center. There I got coupled with an official teleporter to the white house and moments later arrived home. Well, home for another 3 years that is. Mom had won re-election last year, so this would be her second term as president. I got home just in time to see her about to leave. She was on her way for an official visit to Europe on a global conference. Since Mom had become president, America had a much better understanding of the European community, realizing they were a force to be reckoned, with and Mom seriously talked with them.

I met Mom on her way out. She did stop for a moment to say a proper goodbye and got a little worried about me getting sick. I reassured her that I would visit the doctor soon. Then she was off to the hover vehicles. The president wasn't allowed to use a transporter for fear of treason. All the official transporters were well screened of course, but only less important persons were allowed to travel by using them. This was another reason for the research into matter transport portals. But I digress again.

The evening was uneventful, just a boring dinner alone. My father had other pressing business to do, and I didn't feel like eating with the secret service men. The thing was, I was very hungry. Normally I don't eat that much. But now I couldn't stop. I still felt hungry after my first helping. Even the cook was surprised that I asked again and again. Finally I felt stuffed and full. I watched a little Holo-TV and went to bed early.

That night I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamt that Mom had ordered the military to kill me. I was put against the wall and soldiers were aiming their weapons at me. Dad stood next to them and said, "Ready? Aim! Fire!" Just as the soldiers were about to shoot me, I woke up in a sweat. 'What was that all about? I never had a dream like that before.' I couldn't sleep anymore, so I played a video game and got ready and dressed early. I was free from school, but being the president's son, I often got asked to do other things, like opening malls or events and things like that. Today I had been asked to open a bird center that functioned as a shelter for wounded and confiscated birds.

Before I went anywhere, I needed some more food. I was so hungry again, what was wrong with me? I helped myself to a plate full of waffles, and cereal. But I was still not satisfied after I ate it all to the last crumb. So I liberated a piece of cold chicken from the fridge before the cook could stop me. She was muttering "Those youngsters, always stealing my food from under me. I'll call the secret service on you, young man."

I knew she didn't mean it, but I was more than a bit worried about my eating frenzy. Well, I didn't have more time to deliberate, as my ride was ready to take me to the bird center.

"I hereby declare this center opened." 'Well that was easy enough. Now I just have to get through the tour.' They gave me the tour of the place and though it was interesting, I was more interested in having something to eat. There wasn't anything there though, so I had to wait till I could order something or get home again. It took long enough for things to end, but finally I was on my way home again. I had the hover car stop at a Mac, and had some burgers with fries. I was still hungry when I got home, but when I started my dinner, I had to stop in the middle of eating, because I got some cramps in my stomach. In hind-sight I should have consulted the doctor then, but young people always think they cannot get sick, so I just went to my room to lie down for a while.

I must have fallen asleep I guess, as it was already night when I woke up from my nap. I just wanted to continue to lie down, but my bowels had a different agenda. I suddenly really needed to go to the toilet. Fortunately, I reached it in time, but it still was messy. I stayed there for quite some time, and cleaned it up. Then I wanted to go to bed again, but found myself needing to throw up violently.

I was still in the bathroom and that is where one of the secret service men on his rounds found me. I was feeling so very sick now that I didn't even notice him, and just continued hunching over the bowl. Doctor Kesten was on duty and came over to examine me quickly, after I had been found sick in the bathroom. He had me describe all my symptoms and I also mentioned my eating frenzy during the day. He took some blood from me, gave me a sedative and some hydration salts. I fell into a slumber, while the doctor got busy analyzing my blood sample.

I was barely conscious when he came back with the results. Dad had been waked up and was sitting next to my bed when he delivered the news. "I'm afraid that your son has been infected with MORFS. But he'll be fine, I'm sure of that. Now I've already asked for energy packs and some stronger sedatives, so don't worry too much about it."

--Dad wasn't so sure about me being fine, I could tell. He'd already lost his oldest son Scott to MORFS and now he might lose his only remaining son as well? He said, "Get me ... no never mind, I'll do it myself." With that he got up in a hurry and quickly walked out of my room.

Chief of staff Ellis Pratt, father to Orrin and the president's husband, walked briskly to his office, thinking intensely about what he could do. He didn't want to lose another son to that enigmatic disease, MORFS. His oldest son hadn't survived the change, even though the medicines were already perfected years before. Scott's body had got so twisted and messed up during the change that his heart couldn't take it anymore, and gave up. When Ellis reached his office and sat down at his desk, he activated his video conference and selected a secret secure channel. A man appeared in the screen.

Ellis curtly told him, "Get me Doctor Balmond on the line." The screen went black for a little while before it lit again to show a skinny man in a white lab coat.

"Yes Mr. Pratt, what can I do for you at this hour?"

"Doctor Balmond, how far along are you with that experimental anti-MORFS serum?"

The doctor squinted his eyes, "Still in the early testing phase. Why do you ask now? I was going to give you a full report next week."

Ellis leaned a bit more to the screen. "My second and only son left to me just caught MORFS. I don't want to lose him as I did my other son. Can you get here fast with some of the antiserum?"

The doctor looked to someone of screen, "Yes Mr. Pratt. I can be there within 15 minutes."

"Good, and bring as much equipment with you as you think you'll need. I'll see you soon then." With that, he shut down the connection and leaned back in his chair. He hoped he was doing the right thing. Well, only time would tell. He just hoped that it would save his son from the horrors of MORFS. It was too bad that Iris had just left for that global conference. He would have liked her opinion on what to do. She had always been clearer on what to do in these matters.

From the depths of the white house an elevator rose to the top levels. It came from deep levels that were inaccessible to almost everyone. Only very few people had knowledge of, and a key for those levels. The elevator carried Dr. Balmond, MD up to the habited levels of the white house. As he reached his floor, he was met by Chief of staff Ellis Pratt, the husband of the president. They shook hands briefly before going towards Orrin's bedroom. An assistant followed them with several cases containing instruments and supplies. Dr. Balmond sat down by the young Orrin and asked for the syringe from the small black case. The assistant gave the syringe to Dr. Balmond, who checked the contents and then injected Orrin with it.

Ellis Pratt, Dr. Balmond and his assistant looked after Orrin waiting for the serum to activate. Orrin was completely out and slept while starting to change. His features became a little softer and he started to get smaller. On his back something started to grow with grayish looking feathers. After a few minutes the changes halted and even reversed a little, it seemed. But then Orrin had violent convulsions and Dr. Balmond went to him in a panic. Some secret service men were called in to hold Orrin down, while the doctor tried to examine Orrin. Orrin convulsed for a few minutes more, and then lay eerily still again. Ellis became very frightened, wondering if he was going to lose his second son to MORFS as well?

Dr. Balmond searched his cases for some instruments and frantically tried his best to see what had gone wrong with Orrin and the serum that he had administered. After a few minutes he turned to Ellis and said, "I don't know what happened, but it isn't good. Your son isn't dead yet, but without my lab, I cannot say exactly what is happening. It is more than likely that he will die though, sorry."

Ellis Pratt was mortified. He did not want to lose his only remaining son to MORFS as well. "Take him to the lab if you need to. I don't want to see that abomination anymore. Take it and destroy it after you have finished with it." Ellis was a Pure sympathizer, though his wife was more MORFS accepting.

A gurney was brought in and Orrin was quite rudely dumped on it. He was still unconscious, and didn't even notice where he was being taken. Dr. Balmond, his assistant, and two secret service men went with Orrin went down the elevator to the depths of the white house and by access with a very special key, went deeper than almost anybody could go.

In a bare room were only a huge electrical generator and an oval shaped ring. As the men approached the ring, the huge generator started working at full power and the ring glowed, till a black surface appeared inside the ring. All the men stepped into the black surface and emerged almost simultaneously from another similar contraption in another room.

While being transported, the changes to Orrin's body accelerated, and his initial grey wing feathers turned totally black and hardened. The wings started to grow at an alarming rate and Orrin's body kept getting smaller. His skin changed in color and texture, and his skin went from what is called black, to more of a coffee color. The texture kept getting softer but would later be found to be more durable.

His gurney was taken into a large bare room with only a cot in the middle. The men that took him there hauled him over to the cot like a bag of sand and dumped him on the cot. One man wasn't careful enough and while going past Orrin's growing wings cut himself on a black feather. He managed a few more steps before starting to shiver and convulse. He fell down and twitched a little before dying. Immediately people rushed in and took the dead man away, being careful not to touch the still changing Orrin.

Dr. Balmond got very busy now, examining the dead secret service man and maintaining a watchful eye over Orrin. Together with a medical examiner he found out that the man had died from a very fast acting deadly neuro-toxin. Apparently whatever Orrin was turning into was extremely dangerous. Balmond ordered quarantine and special measures to be taken for handling Orrin. All the while, Orrin slept restlessly through his changes.

I woke up slowly feeling uncomfortable. I was lying on my stomach and something was poking me in my chest area. It was quite uncomfortable, so I moved my arms into position and pushed myself up. Something was hanging on my chest, making it feel strange and different.

When I opened my eyes, for a moment I had trouble adjusting to the light, and focusing my eyes, but then I saw something I had never expected. I had breasts hanging from my chest. Then I saw the long black hair hanging from my head. 'I never had hair this long. What happened?'

I went up to hands and knees and saw past those huge looking breasts. Actually, they weren't that large, but to me at that point, they looked huge. The sight past my breasts was even more astounding. Apparently I was fully female now. And what was that attached to my calves? Then it hit me, there was something heavy on my back, and in my peripheral vision I could see something dangling on the sides. I used some muscles that I didn't know I had and those things moved. Now I really had it, I got up from the hard bed and looked around. I was in a room with only a bed, nothing else was there. Well, not entirely true, there was a standard with a bag holding up an intravenous line going into my arm. I yanked the needle out quickly and looked at myself.

My skin was a lot lighter shade of brown, and my body felt a lot lighter. The things on my back appeared to be wings, and they were dragging me backwards so I had to lean a forward little.

Before I could examine myself any further, a door opened and some people that I had never seen before entered. They were wearing rather thick clothes, as if they were cold or something. I didn't understand why. I didn't feel cold at all. I started, "What the hell is going on? Where am I? I'm..."

Then one man said, "Shut up MORF! Sit down and do as you're told!."

This got me mad. I might have complied if they had asked me nicely, but now? Forget it. I snarled back, "I'll have you fired for that. I'm the son of the president of the United States of America."

The man just laughed, "You don't look like it, girlie. Nice bod, by the way."

Only now did it seep through my mind. 'Eep, I was totally naked and probably looked good enough to be in some magazines.' I managed to keep my hands from trying to cover my breasts and nether region. But it did take quite an effort. Instead I put my hands on my sides. 'Hey my waist is so much smaller too, and my hips are so wide.' I decided not to let them see how much it bothered me, and focused my anger on them. I took on a pose and said, "Well? Like what you see?"

The man took in the view of my naked body, "Yeah sure. You're a hot chick. But that's not why we're here. Now shut up, sit down and do as you're told."

I got angrier, 'How dare they treat me like an animal or worse, a slave!' I guess my emotions showed as my wings started quivering. Before I could say more, the man decided that I hadn't complied fast enough and signaled to another man, who took out a strange looking gun and took a shot at me.

Instead of a bullet or other projectile, a kind of gooey netting flew towards me and soon I was trapped in it. I couldn't move a muscle or wing anymore and fell back on the bed. The people came closer, holding up syringes and other devices that I didn't recognize.

The man who spoke to me was standing by just watching. He probably was the leader who gave the orders. He warned the others, "Be careful of those wings. The feathers are laced with poison."

I was shocked. 'I am poisonous? My feathers are dangerous? Thank you for that piece of information.' I made a great effort to move my wings. I really wanted to cut one of them, just to see if the warning was true, and how fast acting it was. However I couldn't move anything more than a tenth of an inch. The people around me, some were women I noticed, worked quickly on me. They stuck needles in me, drawing blood, injecting me with stuff and scanned my body with sophisticated scanning devices. They were done after about 15 minutes and quickly withdrew from the room. The leader was the last one to leave the room, leaving me immobile on the bed.

I yelled after him, "Hey what about me then, are you just going to leave me helpless like this?"

I didn't get an answer though. I kept lying on my back and wings for a while, just being helplessly trapped in the net. Then the stuff hardened a bit and one of the feathers could cut through it. Soon I cut enough strands to get some freedom around me and was able to cut myself free entirely. I scraped the rest of the stuff from me and stood up.

There were no mirrors or anything other than the bed inside the room, but the door was a little shiny, so I might be able to use that for a mirror. I walked over, becoming painfully aware of my new curves. My chest jiggled just slightly and my butt stuck out. It even wiggled when I put one foot in front of the other. The wings behind my back were another thing to get used to. They still wanted to drag me backwards, so I had to continually lean forward while standing or walking. This made my Achilles tendons stretch a bit. I decided I might need high heels for walking and standing.