It was just before dinner when the Doc came in with good news. The test results were negative, and we were no longer considered contagious. However, as I was willing to share a room with Carla, they would bring in an armchair for me to sleep on. They had already reallocated my room. The hospital was full before the anomaly. Now, it is overflowing, and they are understaffed due to the holiday period.

I didn’t care. I was happy to sleep on the floor. An armchair was a significant improvement.

“Commander Lewis has requested a meeting with you both tomorrow at one to discuss where to go from here.” Dr Amanda Mohan said.

“Tomorrow, as in New Year's Day and a Public Holiday?” I queried.

“As you would expect, there are many people far too busy to be on holiday or wait for the holiday to be over. The Anomaly is only getting worse,” She replied.

“Fair enough. Sophia will need to be here, and we hope you will be part of the discussion as well, Doc,” Carla said.

“Yeah, we can’t make plans without having expert medical advice, and you have been involved the most,” I said, hoping I wasn’t laying on too thick.

“I will be involved going forward, and I can make time to attend if you want me to.” The Doc was keen to keep researching these mutations. There is a lot to research.

“I really wouldn’t be comfortable without you there,” I said, knowing it would be listened to.

“This room is too small, though? Is there somewhere else we can meet?” Carla said.

“The commander has booked a staff meeting room, but we will need to hide your mutations getting there. Otherwise, rumours will spread,” she replied.

“That sounds easily accomplished,” Carla said.

Sophia turned up in the morning. She had managed to score a black shoulder-length wig. She spent some time on Carla’s makeup, and she could pass as normal from a distance. A hoodie, pants, and shoes, and she was good to go.

Sophia was a very beautiful woman when she was not in a contamination suit. Long blonde hair framed a face that could have belonged to an international model. She was curvier than Carla’s hard-fit body, with larger breasts. Overall, she was softer than Carla. Not fat, just soft in a pleasing way. That was my impression. She was also pale, not just white-skinned, but looking like even stepping outside would give her sunburn. She was very stylishly dressed and was rocking a very professional executive look for this meeting. I don’t even know what she did for a living, but she certainly looks the part.

Somebody provided me with track pants and a T-shirt.

We obtained a wheelchair for Carla because you don’t recover from days of traumatic pain overnight. She wanted to walk, but Sophia demonstrated how she kept Carla from acting crazy, and we wheeled her to the meeting.

There was a large navy man standing guard at the door to the meeting room. I am guessing the Commander is already here. When we entered the room, Commander Lewis was seated at the head of the conference table. Next to him was the Doc, Amanda Mohan, and a navy flunky was on his other side with a pad ready to take notes. I kind of expected more Navy personnel.

We wheel Carla into place at the other end of the table, and Sophia sits beside her. If I sat on the other side of Carla, it would look like battle lines were drawn, and the Navy are certainly more experienced in battle than the rest of us. I move around and sit next to the Doc. She is one backup plan. This puts me across the table from the flunky, a very attractive woman in a naval uniform.

Lewis puts a recording device on the table and says, “Thank you for coming. Let’s not waste any time.”

“Just a minute, Commander,” Sophia said, placing a second recording device on the table. “We will also be recording this conversation.”

“There are privacy agreements you have signed,” Lewis said sternly.

“Yes, we know,” I said. “The agreement has nothing against us making recordings, only against us sharing them with unauthorised personnel.”

“You can’t keep such electronic information private,” he said.

“Let's be frank, Lewis. It is far, far more likely all this will leak from a large organisation like the Navy than it is from the three of us. If it leaks from us, you will enact the breach clauses. If it leaks from the Navy, you will undoubtedly court marshall the offender, but the result is that the information is out there, and that will be incredibly more harmful to us than the Navy. We will be hounded and ostracised and probably threatened by extremists. Believe me, we are far more invested in keeping this secret than you are. We are making our own recording.” My role in this meeting was to be the hardline asshole.

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Lewis did not look pleased but didn’t protest further. “Let's continue. For the record, present we have myself, Commander Lewis, Lieutenant Davis, Doctor Amanda Mohan, Robert Wilkinson, Carla Vaa’i and Sophia Hardcastle. Doctor Mohan, perhaps you could start with a current medical update and when Mr Wilkinson and Miss Vaa’i might be able to be discharged from hospital.”

“Mr Wilkinson is physically fine and could be discharged this afternoon. We would like to keep Miss Vaa’i under observation for another day, and then she could be released. She should have someone close by in the short term in case there are complications with her mutations, and she should not attempt to change her mutations without full medical support. The mutations are an added complication. We still don’t understand Mr Wilkinson's mutation, which requires further study. Miss Vaa’i’s mutations are potentially life-threatening and will require significant ongoing medical assessment.”

“Thank the fuck for that,” I said. “I am going home.”

“Mr Wilkinson, we have made accommodations available for you at the Auckland Naval Base where you can have ongoing assessments,” Lewis said.

“Fuck no, absolutely not. I am peopled out. I need space.”

“Mr Wilkinson, I am not sure you understand the time constraints we are under. The Navy is under a lot of pressure to destroy the anomaly as soon as possible. We have set a destruction date for seven days from now, but the pressure is mounting to bring that forward. This is our only opportunity to study the anomaly; you and Miss Vaa’i are the key to studying the effects of the anomaly on humans. We really need your full cooperation on this. We have had too many delays on this already.” His glance at the doc indicated she had been part of those delays.

“What would we get for this full cooperation?” I asked.

“There would be free ongoing medical support…”

“Becoming a lab rat is not something I consider beneficial to me,” I said bluntly.

Lewis sighed, “What is it that you want, and more importantly, what is it you can provide to us? I don’t have time to waste here. I have a city in crisis.”

I got a long pulse from Carla, which meant shut up and let her talk.

“Commander Lewis,” she said, grabbing his attention. “We can actually help a lot. Bob has done a lot of research on the anomalies, and we both have experienced it. What isn’t in the research is that once you have Mutated, you have a pool of it inside you. We have been calling it essence. This means you can go closer to the anomaly and resist mutating again. Bob couldn’t get next to it without being overwhelmed, but it seemed to be like building up resistance or something. Yes, we know this because this was not Bob’s first mutation.” Everybody was looking at me. I just shrugged.

Carla continued, “We know the anomalies are becoming more frequent worldwide and can’t be stopped. There are probably a number of anomalies in the Pacific that have been mutating whales for months, and we will never find them. This is getting worse. We think the resistance from the first mutation is the key to surviving.”

“At the risk of dying on the toss of a coin,” The commander said.

“The risk of dying is real,” Carla said. “I should have died from my mutation, and it is Bob here who saved me. However, we think there are ways to increase the odds of survival. These need to be tested, and medical intervention is certainly a significant factor. The Doc kept me alive until Bob finally woke up. What we want for this is not onerous.”

“Go on,” Lewis said.

“Wait,” the Doc said, “How many times have you mutated?” she asked me.

“That was my third.”

“Bloody hell, you have a death wish!” Lewis said.

“That is pretty hard to deny,” I replied.

“You know what your skin does, don’t you?” Dr Mohan said.

“Yes, and I will tell you everything,” I lied, “but one of our wants or conditions is for you to become our lead medical physician.”

“Yes. Done. Absolutely, and please call me Amanda.”

“Dr Mohan has an existing consultant contract with the navy, so she is an acceptable lead medical professional. What other conditions do you have?”

“I can’t work anymore,” Carla said, indicating her scales, “so we want to be paid. Generously. Perhaps one of those Consultant contracts would work.”

“That is a small matter,” Lewis said.

“Just to clarify,” Carla said, “we will be independent consultants. We will not be Navy. We will not join the Navy. We are civilians and will be free to come and go as we please.”

I got the impression Lewis was planning to tie us in with the contract. Sophia seemed to think the same, as she said, “My lawyers will be reviewing the contract carefully.”

“I don’t have time to fuck around with lawyers and legal departments,” Lewis was letting some of the pressure he was under show.

“We can let this recording be the initial agreement,” Sophia said. “Then we can proceed ASAP.”

“Bearing in mind, we expect to be paid at least half as much again above our Lead Medical Physician,” I said.

“Anything else,” he asked, showing more frustration.

“We want access to the anomaly,” I said.

“Why?”

“Two reasons. First, we believe the resistance to mutating can be strengthened by being in the Anomalies Essence Sphere. I got closer the second time than the first. Carla and I want to strengthen that as much as possible.”

“Mutated creatures could attack you, or if you go too close, you risk mutating again,” Amanda said. She looked at me, “You said you were overwhelmed.”

“There are risks, but they can be mitigated to some degree. We think the benefits are worth the risk.”

“You said there were two reasons,” Lewis said.

Carla said, “We want to get Sophia through her first mutation.”