ALL S WELL .......
Wilson, Daphne and Tilda spent an uncomfortable night tied to the chairs. Campus security found them in the morning. The officer took down a statement from them. They told the officer that it was just they were surprised by thieves looking to take valuable equipment, but after tying them up, the thieves must have panicked and left without taking anything or bothering them.
As soon as the officer was gone, Tilda burst into laughter, " I wish I could have been when Kirk and his gang realized what was happening to them."
"Shouldn't we go and find them?" Wilson asked. "I guess they ve learned their lesson by now."
"The only thing I want to do is get something to eat. Let's go get some breakfast. I'm starved!" Tilda said. "Besides, a few hours as babies won t hurt that group. They pretty much acted like brats before, let 'em BE brats for a little while. Let's let them sweat it for a few hours."
They had breakfast at the campus pub, and all the talk was all about the eight babies found in a bedroom at Sigma lota Phi Sorority after the big pajama party. Preliminary investigations seemed to indicate that somehow, four members of the University's football team and four sorority girls had been reduced to infants.
The television showed pictures of Kirk and the other three team members and then cut to county social workers carrying out eight screaming babies from the House.
"Those kids needed to start over again. They'll be better off, believe me!" Tilda said.
"But suppose find a way to tell the police who did this to them. I was nine and I remembered everything." Daphne remind.
"You're forgetting dear that 90% of our learning happens while were infants, up to three of four. Our brains are still growing. I suspect that they've got a week more or less before they forget what they know and who they are." Tilda called for the check and they all went back to the lab.
First Tilda, then Daphne entered the TTDA and were returned to their appropriate ages. Wilson smiled wanly when the now very tall Daphne re-emerged from the chamber. There was now a more than a foot in height and twelve years between them. After her trip through the TTDA, Tilda groaned, "I like being 30 a lot more than 70 -- I didn't ache as much at 30!"
The three went to the hospital where they found Dr. Morrison awake, but weak from his stroke. He smiled bravely when he saw his two young friends enter, and his eyes widened when Tilda followed them into the room.
"It worked!" Daphne and Wilson exclaimed happily. "We got the TTDA to work!" When Morrison cocked his head to the side Tilda took his right hand and said, "It's true Phil, your theory works. At it has a side benefit. I spent the last 24 hours as a 30 year old woman. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"She's right, Dr. Morrison," Daphne added. "It's more of an age reducing machine than a time machine. It got me, too. Before we figured it out, I was five and then 14 years old. We think we can make you young again -- rejuvenate you to before your stroke, but we have to get you out of here."
Morrison nodded vigorously.
"Good," Tilda said. "I'm going to talk to the doctors."
While she was in the hallway, one of the doctors called to her.
"Tilda -- Dr. Fornel! Am I glad to see you! Can you look at a patient for me? This one's got me stumped." Taking her into an examining room, Tilda saw a small child approximately one year old, lying on it's back on an examining table.
"This is one of those kids from the college. Would you believe it, but all my test indicate that this baby was a twenty year old woman yesterday."
"Really?" Tilda said. "How did you arrive at that conclusion?"
"Fingerprints, of all things. We don't know how or why -- whether it was biological, chemical or some other spontaneous event -- but eight of the kids from that party simultaneously regressed into infancy. We'll be studying them for years!" the Doctor said with a grin. "You interested?"
"You know I've retired, but this is intriguing. If you don't mind, I d like to come back later and examine the children, maybe run a few tests. I'll look into it in my spare time."
"Sure Tilda, sure, just knowing you're helping will be a big relief for the parents. I guess you know it came as quite a shock when we called these kids parents and told them what happened."
"Which one is this?" Tilda asked, picking up the squirming infant.
"Her name's Murning .... Rachel Murning."
"Hello Rachel," Tilda whispered to the babe. "Remember me? Did you enjoy your beauty enhancement?" The infant's eyes glared at Tilda as she recognized her.
"You really did this to yourself. If you hadn't taken part in that episode with Wilson and the towel, you might not be here. Now you're the one in diapers -- and you'll be in them for the next year at least. I hope you'll remember that." Tilda handed the baby back to the nurse.
"I'll be back this afternoon to run a few tests. Let me have this child ... and the football boy, the something-back ..... Kirk I think his name is .... yes, bring him. Oh, yes, and draw me blood samples from both of them, I want to look at it!" After saying good-bye to Dr. Morrison, the three went back to the Fornel house. Tilda invited them to the basement, which Wilson had never visited. Not surprisingly, it was a very sophisticated lab.
"I know you ve both had a busy night and day, but I was wondering if you'd indulge me for one more favor?" Tilda asked. "I think we all know that's there's no way to reverse what we ve done to Kirk and his friends. I believe it would be a terrible mistake if the wrong people found out that a eternal youth was available through the TTDA, so we ve got to keep it quiet. I'm going over to the hospital this afternoon and run a few tests on our young friends. The hospital thinks I'm looking for a way to reverse the process, but all I want to do is determine, if I can, whether their minds will regress to the same state as their bodies, and if so, how soon." Tilda went on, "I would like to take a blood sample from each of you -- Daphne, since you ve been through the TTDA -- I want to see if I can determine any cellular or genetic changes or aberrations. Wilson -- since you ve been untouched, you'll serve as my test benchmark." The two young people agreed and Tilda drew her samples. Both Wilson and Daphne were exhausted, so Tilda suggested they go lie down for a few hours. Daphne used Marie's room and soon both were asleep. Tilda spent the next few hours working in her lab, using the samples she had drawn from Daphne and Wilson. After a few hours, she had produced to vials of a clear viscous fluid. One she labeled Kirk, and the other Rachel. Without waking her friends, Tilda went back to the hospital. She asked and received blood samples from Kirk and Rachel. Then she asked the nurses to bring the infants to her for an examination. Kirk had spent a very confusing day. He was trying desperately to understand exactly what had happened to him. He was in a crib. He looked like a baby. He couldn't stand. And worst of all, the only sounds he could make were baby sounds. He could form a single word. Worse still, it was getting harder and harder to think straight.
"Ma .... ma.....ma ...teen."
"Oh, look he trying to talk, isn t that cute. I think he said mama," one of the pediatric nurses said as she pick him up and shoved a bottle in his mouth. He overheard them talking.
"I heard Dr. Sturnburg say that these children are starting to exhibit more and more infantile behavior. That earlier this morning, it was still possible to communicate with them on a very primitive level, but they were self aware and cognizant. But now two of the girls and one of the boys have regressed mentally as well as physically into one year olds."
"What about the one you ve got?" the nurse holding Kirk was asked.
"He fades in and out, poor darling. He called me mama a few minutes ago, so I guess he's slipping away, too. Anyway, I need to get him fed and cleaned up, Dr. Fornel wants him and the Murning baby brought to her as soon as we re finished," she said, putting Kirk up to her shoulder and burping him. A few minutes later, Kirk was placed in a rolling crib with another baby. The two were wheeled down the hall and left in a room with an oldish woman in a lab coat. Without a word, the doctor began a full and thorough examination of the two infants.
"That's all for now nurse, I was wondering if you could get me the med charts on the other six children?" When she was alone with the two infants, Tilda went to her medical bag and removed two vials and two syringes. Turning to the two babies, Tilda said, "Well look at the two of you! I don't think either of you will make graduation this spring. I know both of you understand me, so I'm going to make this brief. As far as I'm concerned, both of you had everything in life -- wealth, privilege, intelligence, good looks, everything -- and both of you wound up as little more than bullies.
"You, Kirk, used your talents and abilities to make other people feel small. And you, Rachel, used your body like a weapon. Well, no more. I guess you both have figured out that I'm going to leave you two as you are. You both turned out bad, so I'm going to let you both start over again." Taking Rachel, Tilda injected one of the syringes into the infant's bottom. She repeated the procedure with Kirk.
"Yes, Kirk and Rachel, I'm afraid that you're going to have to do it all over again ..... learn to walk, talk, potty training, the whole nine yards. You'll have to go back to school and grow up all over again. But it won t be too bad, because you won t remember any of this life. But I'm afraid that if I don't make a few adjustments, there's no guarantee that you won t turn out as rotten next time as you did this go around.
"Kirk, you ve been injected with a solution of, for want of a better term, a genetic overlay. Right now certain parts of your genetic makeup is being rewritten to make a few adjustments to how you'll turn out. You see, I used Wilson Honeysworth as my template, so this time, you'll grow up with your face on Wilson's body.
"And you, Rachel, I don't think you'll turn out as the prom queen this time around. I substituted your essential physical characteristics with those of my friend Daphne Shellworth. You're going to grow up tall and awkward, and I hope that by the time you're a teenager, that kids aren't treating "outsiders" as badly as they do today. I'll tell you two something else, now that we have the secret of the TTDA, I promise to check back on you two, to see how you turned out. If you don't run true to form and turn out to be big stinkers, I might see what I can do to alter your circumstances." The nurse reentered the room and asked Tilda if she had completed her examination. Tilda nodded yes and the nurse smiles and said, "It's a good thing, Dr. Fornel. We need to get these two ready for beddy-bye, and I think one of them has made a stinky."
ALL THINGS COME
The next few months passed quickly for the trio. They spent much of their waking time trying to get Dr. Morrison strong enough to bring home. Daphne and Wilson, almost by unspoken consent, never mentioned their mutual attraction. But both noticed how much closer Tilda and Dr. Morrison had grown over the months. By mutual planning they arranged for Dr. Morrison's permanent retirement and subsequent move from the cosy confines of the university campus. Almost unnoticed, Tilda Fornel sold her property and quietly left town. With some arm twisting from Morrison and Fornel. Wilson was permitted to test out of most of his classes and was now, within a year, finishing two doctoral programs [^] quantum physics and metaphysics. He was, in fact, he wound up teaching most of the classes he found time to attend. Hardly anyone noticed the disappearance of Dr. Daphne Shellworth. Even among the faculty and staff, there were probably less than 10 people who would have known Daphne if they saw her. On their last night at the university, Tilda wheeled Morrison into the TTDA lab and while the three friends watched, their mentor entered the machine a broken man in his seventies and emerged 22 minutes later a vigorous man of 30. Within a few minutes, Tilda was rejuvenated into a 30-year-old woman.
"It's all decided then," Phil said. "Tilda and I are going on ahead and setting up our lab facility in Northern Idaho. Daphne will come with us, and Wilson will come at the end of next term." Now it's important that you cover your tracks and not leave any loose ends, Wilson," Tilda said laughing. "Remember Philbert Morrison and Tilda Fornel are two retired old professors living in a retirement community in Florida. As far as the world is concerned, we're Allen and Grace Cullen. The next eight months will go by in a flash, you'll see."
"So you two are going to pose as man and wife?" Daphne asked.
"Who's posing!" Tilda/Grace laughed.
"He finally made an honest woman of me! We were married this morning at City Hall. Twenty-two years of sleeping together and I finally got him to the altar," Tilda said, punching the much red-faced Phil/Allen in the arm playfully. Wilson looked at his watch and jumped, he was lecturing in 15 minutes. He took Morrison's hand, shook it and turned to hug Tilda. Finally he looked at Daphne. Both awkwardly started to offer hands, stop, try to hug, and finally stopped, looked at each other, and laughed. Bending over and stooping at the same time, Daphne kissed Wilson on the cheek. Wilson held her tight, and whispered something in her ear. Daphne stiffened and turned away. Without another word, Wilson bolted from the room. Daphne was softly crying. Morrison looked at his wife who motioned him to go on.
"What's the matter honey?" Tilda asked.
"He told me he loves me. And, Tilda, I love him, too. He's the first man I ever really liked and who liked me back. But look at us. We're like Mutt and Jeff. And if that's not enough, I'm 12 years older than he is."
"Well, Daphne, that is one problem we can fix."
"Yes, that's true, but in a couple of years, I'd just be a giantess again [^] a freak! I'm sick of my life and I'm sick of myself. It's even an accident I'm here at all. My mother didn't want me, she dumped me as soon as I was born, and God only knows who my father was."
"There, there, honey, cry it out," Tilda said, as Daphne sobbed loudly on her shoulder.
IDAHO
The first week in June found Dr. Wilson Honeysworth approaching the Cullen Research Foundation in Fort Bason, Idaho. The past months had gone almost as quickly as Grace had promised. The only disappointment that Wilson felt was his estrangement from Daphne. She had never called him, or returned his calls in the past six months. Just an occasional letter. He pulled into the compound and up to the lab. Before he'd gotten out of the cab, Allen and Grace had rushed up to the car, alternately hugging him and pounding him heartedly on the back.
"Welcome home, son!" Allen shouted. "C'mon in. C'mon in. Lots to show you!" he added. The next hour was taken up with a thorough tour of the facilities. The Cullens hadn't wasted much time. It was an impressive facility. We're and independent research firm and think tank." One or two minor government contracts, but mostly business and industry work. That's where the money is, boy," Allen said. They took great delight in showing Wilson his new office and research lab. But all the time Wilson felt an empty hurt in his heart that Daphne wasn't here to see him. He passed her office, at least he supposed it was hers, it had a few items he recognized, but she wasn't there. Finally, he could stand it no longer.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"She's up at the house waiting for you," Grace said softly. "She's changed over the past year, Wilson. You need to know that." Wilson nodded, and started to walk toward the house in the distance. Grace started to follow, but Allen grabbed he arm and stopped her, nodding his head "no". Wilson reached the house, stopped, squared his shoulders and opened the door. Entering, he was greeted by a servant. He asked for Daphne. The servant nodded, took him into a large study and closed the door. Wilson paced nervously by the fireplace. He looked up as the door open. In the doorway was a young girl, no more than 14, dark-haired, well built for a juvenile. She had dark brown doe-eyes. She crossed the room and stood in front of Wilson, staring in his eyes. Without warning she reached out and kissed him fully on the mouth. Sputtering Wilson, broke away and backed up, eventually falling over an ottoman. Laughing with a soft pleasant voice, the girl said, "Why is it every time I kiss you, you fall over."
"Daphne???"
"Duh! Who'd you think it was, or do strange girls always come up and kiss you?" Taking his hand, she led him to the couch.
"What happened to you?" Wilson stammered.
"It's a long story, but here's what happened. I guess you know I felt as much for you as you did for me, but I felt like such a freak. Grace told me about what she did with Kirk and Rachel. She injected them with genetic material from us. Kirk's going to grow up with your body, and Rachel, poor thing, is going to be a beanpole by 15."
"Tilda offered me Rachel genetic background. And, tempting as it was, I turned it down. I remember saying to her, I wished she was my mother. She stopped, left the room for a few minutes and returned with a vial that said Marie. It was all she had left of her daughter. The upshot was, to make the genetic transfer work, I'd have to be a kid [^] an infant, in fact. And I'd have to stay one for almost a fortnight."
"We knew from what happened to the other kids that I'd never survive with my intellect intact. So we spent the better part of three months adjusting the TTDA until we were able to turn on and off mental regression as well as physical regression." I entered the machine and found myself reduced to a six-month old baby. I was injected with the Marie material and spent the next two weeks as an infant. Then they slowly aged me. First to a two-year-old, then 4, 6, and so on. We stopped the process when I hit fourteen."
"Why'd you stop there?" Wilson asked.
"Why do you think, silly?" she answered, kissing him again. "I don't want to ever be apart from you again. And best of all, I now have a mother and father - the Cullens have formally adopted me. I'm Daphne Cullen. Neat, huh?" Wilson looked down, deep in thought.
"What's the matter, Wilson? I thought you'd be happy?"
"I was just thinking that I wish I was a better prospect for you, that's all."
"Well, I was going to save it for later, but we have a surprise for you, if you want it. We saved a sample from Kirk that we planned on offering you."
"I don't know," Wilson said. "Two weeks in diapers, for Kirk's body, I don't know if it's worth it."
"Well, I'm telling you that nobody will look after you but me. And don't go and get embarrassed about me seeing you naked, I plan to see you naked the rest of our lives. Now kiss me before I hit you."
The End