Union Shores Pt 4 Ch 3

Summer honked the horn twice outside the service door of the special invention lab before entering.  Inside, all passengers disembarked and were greeted by the doctors.  We were not joined by Belinda or Artur, however, who had headed to their own homes north of Los Angeles - Topanga, I think.
“Good eveving everyone,” Dr. Bennit said as he shook my hand.
“I’m surprised you both are working so late,” Summer said.
“Yes, I know we agreed to come here right after the flight-” I said.
“Mostly, we’re trying to get caught up on some of the studies we’ve been working on while attending your wedding,” Dr. Chase said as he emerged from his office.  “Nice to see you both again.”
“It feels like it’s been a month,” Shelly said as she hugged Dr. Chase.  “But now that we’re here, can we show Raine around a bit?”
“Right now?”  Dr. Chase sighed.  “I was all set to head home.  It’s past my bedtime.”
“What time is it, Greg?” Raine asked.
“Quarter to eleven,” I said.
“Actually, quarter to eight,” Dr. Bennit replied.  “You need to change the time zone on your watch, Greg.”
“Right.”  I got started on that right away.
“I was hoping to see Orchid and Crystal again.  Are they heading home to Florida soon?” Dr. Chase asked.
“Yes, very soon,” Raine replied.  “Orchid has to sign up with the Dolphin cheerleaders soon.”
“How soon?” I asked.
“About a week. She’ll have to have her fins back if she’s to stay on contract, though.”
“I meant to ask her, but ran out of time.  How come she doesn’t work for the Buccaneers?” Dr. Bennit asked.  “Aren’t Tampa Bay and Spring Hill close suburbs of each other?”
“Actually, we had a long discussion about that when she first was offered to sign up,” Raine answered.  “There was an NFL themed week at the spring, and both teams actually asked her to join up.”
“So what happened?” Ceylara asked.
“Shoot, I forgot you were here, forgive me,” Dr. Chase said, kissing her hand.  "Good to see you again."
Ceylara smiled.
“Raine?  What happened?” Emina asked.
“Yeah, I always wondered myself,” I said.  I wouldn’t have minded seeing Orchid in pirate garb.
“We had a long discussion, like I said,” Raine continued as she leaned onto Summer’s hood.  “In the end, Orchid said she has always hated pirates, and so signed up for the Dolphins.”
“There’s got to be more than just that,” Shelly said.
Raine nodded.  “Working for Miami also involved the use of a private jet, yes.  That might have been the kicker.”
“Which is certainly saying something for full time mermaids,” Emina said with a giggle.
“If you want to head home, doc, maybe we should wrap it up for tonight,” Summer said.  “Don’t you agree, Greg?”
“Yes, I think so,” I replied.
“Come with me, Greg.  When are you going to renew your vows?”  Dr. Chase asked.
“Tomorrow at sunset on Emerald Bay.  The hope is to go to that resort hotel afterwards, if it works out.”
I followed the doc into his office, just past Megan’s, which was his old front office.  Megan’s office was filled with all kinds of artwork, including a photo of Shelly, myself, Michelle and Megan on a pier that was photographed northwest of Diego City.
“I’ve got your reservations for tonight and then again for the following few days.  Also, you and Shelly are free to use the Bayliner for up to a week, if you so prefer you can come back this winter or sometime.”
“Is the boat ready now?” I asked.  "I mean, we've got a few days while we're here-"
“Yes, it can be ready if you like,” he replied before going into his office.  From a drawer, he removed a large manilia envelope.  “Here we are.  The accomidations tonight aren’t as nice as the resort in Laguna Beach.”
“That won’t be a problem.”  I took the folder when he handed it to me.  “It sounds like we might end up escorting Ceylara home, and if it’s all right, we can go after the second night.  Our flight home isn't until later next week.”
“How long are you off work?”
“I more or less asked for a month off, give or take.  I guess I wanted to be able to be there for my guests, even if it meant not making any money.  I sure tapped into my stockpile and Shelly’s money a lot more than I would’ve expected, that’s for certain.”
“You’re not going to be able to support her on that job of yours, are you?”
I gave him a nod.  “Is it obvious?”
“You’re a good writer, you should be able to find work as a technical writer or something.”
“Shelly and I have discussed it briefly, I’ll certainly keep the clerk job but yes, I will need more income, that’s a fact.”  I finally looked up around Dr. Chase’s office, finding that the walls were largely bare.  “Don’t you usually have more stuff in your office, doc?”
“I’ve been starting to go through these old images, cataloging and what not.  Plus we’re planning on painting the place.”
“Ah.”  I hesitated.  “Just paint?”
He grinned nervously.  “I think you caught me.  I’m beginning to think that I’ve done enough work in this place.”
“You wouldn’t retire, would you?”
He put his hand on the large executive style office chair.  “If it wasn’t for Project Turbo Teen, Project Siren, and keeping you kids in line-”
I nodded.
“I probably would’ve retired ten years ago if it wasn’t for all this extra work.  Project Matter Merge was to be my final experiment, and the culmination of everything I had worked on up to that point.”
“Matter Merge, was that the original name for Turbo Teen?”
Dr. Chase nodded.  “I’m getting close to 70, and there are other projects I’d love to be spending my time on.  I’ve been tending a garden in my cabin up in Big Sur, and I’ve been trying my hand at painting with oils.”
“Artisty?  I never knew you painted.”
He waved his hand in a way that oddly resembled stroking with a paintbrush.  “Mostly I’ve been trying to copy photographs.  Its messy work, but it’s rewarding.  Especially since Amy’s gotten sick.”
“Amy?” I asked.
“My wife.”
I had forgotten that Dr. Chase was even married.
“I guess I’ve forgotten.”
He held up the only picture still in the office, sitting on the desk.  It was of a silver haired woman, with soft skin and blue eyes.  “It’s been very difficult keeping my office job and private life seperate.”
“Has this Amy asked about us?”
He slowly shook his head.  “She has no knowledge of my work here, or any of you.  I’ve mentioned lab staff on occasion - she might think some of you are lab workers, as a matter of fact - but if she knew I was meeting with so many young women, and mermaids too, I don’t know what she’d think.”
“Does she ever visit this office?” I asked.
“No, though she does call on rare occasions.”  Dr. Chase folded his arms.  “She’s the real gardener.”
“But you said she was sick?” I asked.
He nodded.  “We’ve been sitting through cancer screening.  I’m hoping that it’s nothing.”
“Is there anything I can do?  I mean, you know my mother died of cancer, and my dad fought it also.”
He shook his head.  “Like I said, I’ve done a lot to keep my private and work lives seperate.  If it wasn’t for that confrence in Rochester, I might not have even made it to your wedding.  To have you all meet Amy would create too many questions, and though I owe it to her to reveal this stuff, she knows why I can’t always say what I’m doing at work.  Luckily, she is okay not knowing.”
“If you’re sure,” I said.  “I’d like to know if she does have cancer.”
He nodded.  “Yes, I can let you know.  Keep it between us, though.”
“I will.”
"Was there anything else we were supposed to talk about?"  I glanced toward the main room.  "About Summer?"
He shook his head.  "It's late.  It can wait.  But there is one more thing I'd like you to know, Greg, another personal matter."
"Sure."
"I have to admit I'm a little jealous of you.  You found your dream girl, went out there, and now have made her your wife."
"Okay."  It seemed so simple.  "I may not know how you and Amy met, sir, but-"
"We met at the state college.  She was an art major, I was a genetics major.  Though we would transfer to different schools later, we found ways to stay together."  He stared at Amy's picture before looking back to me.  "What I wanted to say is that I never would have imagined that there were mermaids in this world, or genies, or that I could create something to combine women and cars.  And after meeting Shelly's mother, well, I see a lot of myself in Ceylara.  A curiousity of the world that has a certain charm, an insatiable thirst for knowledge."
"She's been a lot of fun this past month, and it'll be tough to let her go home again," I confessed.  "But then, I have a part of her coming home with me too, and as far as I'm concerned, every day with Shelly from now on will better than the last.  Even if I can't tell if she caught me or I caught her."
"Yeah," the doc agreed.  "That's the question, isn't it?"  He chuckled.  "Guess we'd best call it a night."
With a nod, I made my way out.

Within another twenty minutes, we climbed back into Summer and headed to the hotel, the AmericInn on 8th Street that isn’t far from Summer’s house.  Though we were welcome to stay with John, all of us agreed that it didn’t seem fair to impose on her father, and this way we’d avoid any aquatic or automotive entanglements.  He wanted to join us at the beach, and decided that would be okay.  After so many years of avoiding him to keep everyone's secrets intact, it felt like the right thing to do.

The following morning, we met at the lab again.  Today would be a day filled with a tour, and Ceylara got to see the entire lab at last.  We toured the aquatics lab in the basement where Shelly and I met, the acceleration lab where the Turbo Thrust was created, and even the elusive second floor where Dr. Bennit had his office located.  
Finally, Dr. Chase brought us downstairs again and showed us through a large storage room, known as Auxilliary Lab #4, before stopping at a bookshelf in the far corner.
"I figured it was time I showed this to you all, considering Michelle might be allowed to use the technology within."
"Is it safe?" Ceylara asked.
"Yes," Dr. Chase replied, "Provided you don't touch anything."
"Of course," Raine said.
"I suppose we should be careful who we talk to about this, also?" Shelly asked.
Dr. Chase nodded.  "Indeed."  He pulled on a book labeled "Password" before pulling on five other books.  Each book seemed to have strings attached and had volume numbers on the spines, all reaching into a panel in the wall.
"Hope none of you were paying attention to that," Dr. Chase said.
"Not too closely," I answered.
A few clicking noises signaled the acceptance of the code, and the bookshelf slid into the east wall, revealling a narrow hallway beyond.  Dr. Chase went in first, followed by the rest of us.  I brought up the rear.
Inside this narrow hallway, flanked by concrete and steel reinforcements that defined the foundation of this entire building - which I assume was overbuilt to endure earthquakes and anything else that might be tested within - was a high tech security door with three different locks, all that appeared to be controlled with biosecurity measures.
Dr. Chase first looked into an eye scanner, which scanned both his retinas and their width at once.  He then put his hand inside a scanner, which scanned the pattern of his blood vessels.  Finally, there was a number panel which had an eight digit code.
Finally, into a small microphone, he spoke his name.
Green lights appeared on each scanner, and then he pulled the door open.  "Sorry about all the security."
"I suspect it was for a necessary reason," Ceylara said.
I tried to remember our encounter with the motorcycle and jet ski twins that we met in Nebraska, and how they had transformed without having to reach a certain temperature.  Perhaps they also used this technology?  If so, this kind of technology was best secured beyond uzis.
Inside the door was a short hallway.  Beyond a regular door north was Dr. Chase's most private lab in all of the complex.  A door to the south was for storage.  But the lab we had entered was called The Genome Lab.

"Genomes, I'm sure you all know, are the living particles of matter that define our shape and sizes.  I equate them to midicholorians of the Jedi order, except that genomes are real and pertain to life.  While I'm hardly the first scientist to experiment with genomes, I believe that I was the first to determine that certain types of genomes could be used to alter physical forms when certain conditions are met," Dr. Chase explained.
The room was surprisingly small, maybe thirty feet by twenty, and filled with several electron microscopes and two servers, with a computer terminal in between.  A chart on the wall showed a pattern of DNA, and a white board had equations on them that I didn't understand.  If Michelle got hot down here, she wouldn't have fit.  Nowhere in the room did there seem to be anything that might have been a genome.  Not that I knew what they looked like.
"I have isolated a type of genome that, when put in contact with an object and then injected into a living being, can cause that living being the ability to replicate that object exactly, as the genomes break down the matter of the object and transform the host object into the new form, combining the two into one in much the same way the Molecular Transfer Ray does."
"You're saying that these genomes, these small particles of life, can do the same thing that Michelle does, in how she transforms into a car?" Ceylara asked.
"Or your daughter into a human," Dr. Chase nodded.  "And I will show them to you all, but only one at a time, since it's a tight room.  Michelle, follow me."
Everyone took turns going into the south room, and my turn came last.  Inside, the room had a soft glow to it - but not from any lights in the room.  Instead, there were several sealed containers, all of them reinforced and sealed in a way I couldn't identify, containing particulate matter that glowed slightly in varying colors, mostly ranging in shades from blue to purple.  The containers were bolted to the shelf, and the shelf was bolted to the wall in several places.  The collection was impressive to say the least.
"The basic genome has no color, but ultimately adopts a color of red for normal, human construction," Dr. Chase began.  "But these have all been altered to accept two forms, and many of these are ready to adopt a vehicular form."  He pointed to one on the shelf that contained a substance that was sapphire blue in color.  "Those are unmodified, and ready to accept a new form.  I'm hoping to use that strain for Summer."
"So Michelle will be able to transform into Summer at will, without having to get hot?" I asked.
"That's the goal.  I mentioned to you Ghost Mountain, Greg, that's the facility where many of these genomes were used by a team associated with Secrelia and some joint chiefs of staff, one from each branch of the military."
"Air force?" I asked.  "Marines, army, and the navy?"
He nodded.  "They used some of my genomes to create a transformation-enhanced task squad, known as Morpheous Squadron.  Four young women, each enhanced with a military grade vehichle, trained to carry out specialized missions in locations away from US Government reach."
"What kind of vehicles?"
"An apache, a hummer, a supply vehicle and a submarine specifically.  The four women served several missions, but ultimately the project was shelved and cancelled.  I never heard if the four soliders were allowed to keep their alternate forms or not - last I heard, they were civillians before being selected for the program."
"Wow... that's something.  And these four women, they could transform at will, turning into vehicles that were fully armed and mission-capable?"
“It’s not much different than Kitsune or Collette transforming into a fully armed car, when you think about it.”
“Yeah, but they’re designed to look like normal cars-" I trailed off.  "I mean, an Apache is a little less subtle.”
“Yes,” Dr. Chase agreed.  “Perhaps that is why they shelved the initiative.  At any rate, the genome technology is now availble for anyone on Project Turbo Teen to use, assuming I get word from Dr. Archuleta or the military brass who are in charge.”
“Should we do this today?” I asked.
“Not allowed to yet.  The government hasn’t given the okay just yet.  They took a lot of risk on Morpheous Squadron, and when that technology was released, other genomes were taken.  You remember your encounter with the Dais Twins.”
Of course, that was their name.  The two blond bombshells that turned into a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a Yamaha personal watercraft.
“Michelle has no weapons,” I said.
“And yet, they’re being awfully hesitant.  Perhaps in a few more days.”
I nodded.  “I have one question.  Who else has access to this lab?”
“Just Dr. Archuleta and Dr. Bennit.  In fact, Dr. Archuleta was a young student in Arizona when she interned with me, and she got to work on it because the discovery of the transformational genome became her experimental thesis for her Ph.D project.”
“I ask because you have been talking about retiring.”
He chuckled.  “If anything, this would be my retirement project.  Finding a practical use for transforming.”
“Michelle might have something to say about that.”
He nodded.  “Plus, there’s the remaining question.”
“Which is?”
“If there’s any point to it all.  If we’re not perfect beings already, based on our own DNA and any established fate predestined within those genomes that we’re assigned to.”
Yeah, there’s that.  Reminds me of the Theory of Everything that Stephen Hawking was working on.  
“We all wonder what else there is to research, doc.  Sometimes there’s no more questions to ask, only acceptance that we will never know the truth.”
“Or if we see the truth, we’ll stop asking questions wether we accept it or not.  That’s the real question regarding science, I suppose.”
“I suppose.”

We spent the rest of the day with John Peyton, meeting at the house on Morningbrooke Lane, Michelle’s home.  He and Ceylara had a long talk, and we mostly told stories of our adventures underwater, in Europe, in Hawaii and wherever we happened to be.  We also talked about what kind of wedding presents we got, and what might have happened in the past few days.  
Around six thirty, just after rush hour, our crew made our way to Emerald Bay Beach.  Shelly wore a white dress, fancy but not as fancy as her wedding dress - though she wore the shoes - while I wore khaki pants and a black button-up shirt.  Raine had been wearing a blue dress, while Michelle wore a similar dress.  Ceylara had also dressed up, as did the rest of our dozen witnesses.
For the record, John drove.  The restored Chevy Chevelle that Michelle had bought for him a few years ago.  It had been fitted out in a cool electric blue with black stripes and a light blue interior with a black roof.  Sweet ride.  I didn't ask what it cost him to have restored.  I mean, the engine alone was a 454 Boss.  But I digress.
Megan and Drew arrived to witness the renewal of vows, as did Bret and Pattie and their folks.  John stood with a Hawaiian woman named Kalinka, who had traveled to the beach seperately, and of course Dr. Chase and Dr. Bennit were also present.
Lastly, Artur and Belinda, who were there as representatives of the underwater realm, lead the ceremony and performed the rites.  As the sun set at 7:39 pacific time, we renewed our vows, repeated from the ceremony we had performed a week prior.  As Megan played Marla’s accompainment disc on her boombox, Shelly sang 'Valentine' again, and I sang 'Beautiful.'  This time, however, Artur and Belinda sang our duet, giving Shelly and I the chance to listen.  Artur was a fine tenor, and Belinda sang a lovely soprano.  They did good.
Our vows renewed in the salty air of the sea and our bonded marriage official in the realm of the undersea world, we went out to a fancy place for dinner.  And I mean fancy - the entrees cost $30 minimum and were listed without change on the menu.  I have since lost the menu and the name of the place, but I swore I saw it on the travel channel at one time.  I was all set to order a seafood pasta dish - affordable at $27 - when Dr. Chase insisted that I ordered the 12 oz prime rib, a much less modest meal at $45.  Served with au gratin potatos, butter-steamed veggies and a rich au jous, he was onto something.  It was his treat, after all.  
I took down the entire thing.  It was worth it.