Harry

The laboratory was a massive complex with two aboveground floors. However, my sensors picked up that there were several more floors underground. The building was pure white with a few windows on the sides. I entered through the three-meter-tall double doors.

Once I was inside, I noticed several different aliens scurrying about. Many were carrying tablets of several kinds. Unlike the visitors to the island, the aliens here covered a wide breadth of lifeforms. Not only were there mammalians and avians, but there were also reptilians, insectoids, and even fungi-like ones. The last one was absolutely disgusting to look at, so I turned my attention to the strange bug-like alien that was at the reception desk.

I walked up to the desk and asked, “Where can I find the head of the biomechanical department? I need some assistance.”

“Fill out the form, and I’ll see when he’s available,” the bug-like alien buzzed as he slid a clipboard out to me. Seeing no other alternative, I quickly filled out the form and returned it. The receptionist disappeared for a few minutes before returning with something shocking. The scientist with the receptionist looked exactly like a human being.

“Hello Harry, I’m Doctor Zephyr. Would you kindly follow me?” the human-looking scientist said as he unlocked the door. I followed him through several winding halls and down several flights of stairs.

After a few minutes of walking, we reached his office. I sat down on the other side of his desk as he asked, “Now tell me, where are you from?”

“Birmingham,” I replied as I leaned back and looked at his accolades. Though none were written in English, they still looked like they were written by humans.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard of a planet called Birmingham,” Dr. Zephyr replied as he looked at me. He was scrutinizing my face.

“The United Kingdom,” I clarified as I thought he was acting American. Only Americans were stupid enough to warrant the clarification.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard of a planet or government called the United Kingdom,” the doctor replied again as he stared at me.

“Earth.”

He froze at my response. He seemed dazed for a moment. Slowly, he regained consciousness and said, “Earth. The ancient home planet of my people. You’re a human too?”

“I am,” I answered. “And two of my friends are too. Or only one of them. The other used to be.”

“That’s incredible!” he shouted as he typed notes into his computer. “Tell me, how did you manage to reach the stars?”

“I was abducted by the Qarri. That was how the former human got here too. I don’t know much about my completely human friend, but he was also abducted.”

“The Qarri?” he asked in horror. When I nodded, he forced a smile and said, “You and the former human are very lucky to be alive. My ancestors barely survived their encounter a thousand years ago.” He pondered for a while before asking, “Speaking of Earth, did the Roman Empire ever reconquer the west?”

“Unfortunately, no,” I replied. I didn’t know much about the topic, but I did know that I wouldn’t be speaking English if they did. I noticed the frown on his face and said, “Switching topics. I came here to see if you can return some biological parts to me. I don’t want to be a robot.”

“Why is that the case? You are functionally immortal as we speak. The only downside you have is the need to recharge, and that is very simple to fulfill,” the scientist said as he inspected me.

“That restricts me to only being able to survive on late industrial and later worlds. If I crash-land on a wild planet, I will become dormant indefinitely. I want to avoid that. Besides, I have a girlfriend and I don’t think machinery is compatible,” I explained as I pounded on my chest.

“I get it. You want to replace the mechanical parts of yourself with bionics. If you do that, you’ll need to eat, drink, and sleep again. Is that really what you want?” he replied as he tapped his fingers on the desk.

I nodded my head. “Absolutely.” He nodded back as he pushed himself up.

“Follow me.” He walked out the door and I followed. We walked down several hallways and stairs until we reached a large laboratory. The room was smaller than I expected. There were several cloning tubes with nothing in them. He pointed at them and said, “This is where we’re going to clone your body. We’ll make sure you’re deactivated during the merger. It’s a time-consuming process that will take half a day.”

“Then let’s get going!” I shouted as I laid down on a hospital bed and deactivated myself. It was something I was able to do on a whim, though I rarely used it since it left me vulnerable. Once this procedure was done, I wouldn’t be able to do it anymore, which was great.

I immediately woke up since my perception of time was nonexistent when deactivated. It took a second to realize that I woke up instead of booting up. I felt hungry, a feeling that I thought was lost forever. In fact, there was feeling everywhere, giving me sensory overload.

My HUD remained along with some of my cybernetic abilities. I felt filled with giddiness that was unbecoming of me. And then there was the fact that my manhood was restored. No more should I be deprived of fulfilling my every whim. The pleasantries of life returned to me. There was only one question I had. “Where’s my gatling gun arm?”

“It’s in your left arm. You can switch to it at will along with accessing your SAD,” Dr. Zephyr explained before handing a pamphlet to me. Its title was Biomechanical Bodies and You. I opened it up and recognized that it was an instruction manual. The doctor smiled at me and said, “We took the money out of your account before we operated, so there’s no need to linger around here.”

I put away the manual and thought about a question for an acquaintance. “Dr. Zephyr, is there something you can do about my friend, Scarlett? She was mutated by the Qarri and I want to see if it’s possible for you to do with her what you did with me.”

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“Show her to me. I’ll see what we can do,” he said as he leaned against a wall. “By the way, you may want to get some clothes. The only thing you’re wearing is the hospital gown we got you.”

“I’m confident enough in my body to not care,” I replied before calling Scarlett on my SAD. When the call was answered, I could see she was mud covered and soaked. “What happened to you?” I asked with confusion.

The fox freak wiped the mud off her face and explained, “Quentin and I got into a sand fight before it rained us out. I was just heading back to the ship to take a shower before you called.”

“Could you please come to my location? I think I found the cure you wanted.”

A massive smile grew on her muzzle. “Thank you! I’m heading over right now!” The call ended, leaving me alone with the doctor.

I didn’t have to wait too long before she showed up in the room. She was only wearing a bikini, exposing her soaked fur that was dripping water. Fortunately for the doctor, the mud was gone. She looked at him as she wrung the water out of her hair into the rubbish bin. “I heard you were meaning to see me.”

Doctor Zephyr looked at Scarlett with a shocked face. He examined her body, making her attempt to cover herself with her arms and tail. “Fascinating,” he said before plucking a strand of fur and a strand of hair from her. He held the two strands and compared them. “You have both humanlike hair and foxlike fur. Despite the contradiction, they exist separately with hints that they came from the same specimen. I must say, those Qarri are geniuses when it comes to biological engineering.” He looked at Scarlett in the face. “Why do you want to lose this form? Surely, you’re more capable than you were as a human, assuming you were one.”

“I intend to return home. Back to Earth,” she replied before pulling up a picture of Quentin. “I also want to be human for him. If we ever want to further our relationship, the fact that people would accuse him of something horrible would stop it.” She shrugged. “And then there’s the minor issue of becoming a test subject in some government laboratory. But being prodded with needles and vivisected is nothing compared to relationship drama.” Her sentence was tinged with sarcasm that wasn’t hidden in the slightest.

“I see. I’ll do a DNA analysis on them to try to find a human genetic base,” Dr. Zephyr said as he an analyzer. He placed the strands into the machine and got his results back quickly. He whistled. “Impressive. They managed to give you massive physical changes while changing the underlying DNA as little as possible. In fact, if we’re being technical, you’re still a member of the human species, even if a different subspecies. It should be possible to make a normal human clone.”

Scarlett’s tail wagged rapidly as she dropped her arms. A smile crossed her muzzle as she walked up to the machine, forgetting how exposed she was. She placed a hand on the DNA analyzer as she mused, “A return to humanity. It’s within my grasp. My story can be resolved here just like Harry’s.”

Dr. Zephyr’s smile fell to a frown as he explained, “However, there are a few caveats to be aware of. These are caused by the mutated DNA pieces messing with creating a baseline human version of yourself. Firstly, you’ll be susceptible to genetic disorders as a result of replacing the mutated genes. You’ll need regular gene therapy to stay healthy and avoid cancer. Secondly, there’s the fact that you’ll become infertile. No chromosome is untouched, including your 23rd pair. Changes to that pair tend to lead to infertility. Thirdly, there’ll still be a chance we miss some features. You may need to regularly shave your chest, for example.”

Scarlett’s eyes shot open as her ears pinned against her head and her tail fled between her legs. Her happy mood was immediately shattered as tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them away. She sighed. “Thank you for the offer, but I’d have to decline. The sacrifice would be too great. I intend to return to Earth, where gene therapy wouldn’t be available. And then there’s the infertility. While I have no intention of having children right now, I’m willing to change that position once I got my share of adventures and have settled down. Because of those aforementioned reasons, I’m kindly rejecting the offer.” She looked at me and said, “Come on, Harry, let’s go show Gruma how her boyfriend is.” She quickly looked away. “And please put some clothes on.”

“You’re just jealous I’m more of a man than your scrawny boyfriend,” I bragged as I flexed my muscles. Unlike before, I was able to dismiss the HUD and automatic analysis, giving myself the ability to relax without being bombarded with information. It was liberating to finally have all the deficiencies that normal people lived with.

The walk back to the ship was uneventful. Scarlett kept feeling the need to cover herself up despite us being on a beach resort planet. There were more scantily clad aliens in the lab itself, and she was covered in fur, so I couldn’t understand why she was being such a prude. But I assumed that her being from a backwater did a decent job explaining it.

We walked into the spaceship to see Quentin waiting by the entrance. As I walked back, I noticed him hugging his girlfriend. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the sight, and I didn’t want to. Instead, I walked up to Gruma, who had the most astonished look on her face. She pointed at me and shouted, “You’re a human! Your skin is no longer gray!”

“That’s true. But I’m still the Harry you love. I haven’t lost any strength, and my new stomach processes caloric intake into electrical power, ensuring that I no longer need to recharge,” I said. Gruma’s dazed face made me reword it. “I can survive on your planet now.”

Her face changed to the widest smile she had as she gave me a big bear hug. “I’m so glad you can go home with me! You’ll make a great king!”

Meanwhile, I could hear the conversation the other two were having. “I understand. I would’ve made the same decision if I was in your shoes,” Quentin said to the fox woman.

“If this next opportunity fizzles out, I don’t know what I’d do,” she replied as she placed her head on Quentin’s shoulder. Then he did something strange. He scratched behind her ears. She didn’t look disturbed by it. In fact, she enjoyed it. I guessed it counted as an affectionate gesture, but it seemed too bizarre for me.

Quentin sighed. He looked her in the eyes and said, “Scarlett, if you’re stuck like this, remember that I’m always there for you. You’re beautiful the way you are.”

“Well, you’ve always said that you’re a dog lover,” Scarlett replied with a smirk. A blush came to Quentin’s face as he looked away. She broke off the hug and giggled as she slapped his shoulder playfully. “I’m just joking, silly.”

“Sorry. I’m just easily embarrassed. It’s something I’ll have overcome for you,” he said as looked at her. I could see the two of them smiling at each other before walking to their rooms. Once they were gone I turned back to Gruma and kissed her on the lips.

The Taraxian smiled and shouted, “I’m so glad you can finally kiss me back! I hope you’re able to be my husband on Besmen.”

I looked back and knew that it would be a great sacrifice. My bounty hunting days were already over, but living on that planet meant giving up the chance of ever going back to space. However, I didn’t truly care to return anyways. It was the fear of loss that held me back. More than that, though, was the commitment. I was used to hopping from woman to woman. Gruma was gorgeous and a princess. She was the greatest catch I could get, but her condition of commitment was too much. I would have to think about that.

I walked past my girlfriend and into the cockpit. She followed me in and strapped into a seat. I did the same. It was time that Quentin experienced the same feeling we have in those times he was too inconsiderate to warn us. “Chart a course for the closest neutral country. It’s time we ditch some deadweight and upgrade our ship,” I told the ship’s AI. It took a while to process, which I assumed as it getting used to my unmodulated voice.

“Yes, sir,” the ship replied before blasting off. I could hear screaming from the two closest bedrooms, which made me laugh. Quentin and Scarlett finally felt what Gruma and I have had to bear since we joined them.

The ship shot off the planet and past the binary suns.