Mad Science

"Sarah, do you trust me?" asked Dr. Mark Jackson. He was dressed in a white lab coat, and he stood beside the table holding a needle filled with a darkish blue fluid.

         Sarah looked at Mark with wide-open green eyes. Her beloved eighteen-year-old cat lay fast asleep in her arms. The cat was fast slipping away and she knew it. This was her cat Rosies' last chance. She nodded but was shaking and nervous. She loved Rosie.

         "Then hold her tight. It does not really matter where I inject her."

         Sarah touched the top of Rosie's leg and her eyes met Mark's again.

         He pushed the needle in quickly and efficiently and drained the syringe. The cat struggled, clearly in some pain, desperate to break free, claws out. Then as the fluid started to have its effect she calmed suddenly and seemed to pass out.

         Sarah screamed. Then noticing that Rosie was still breathing she relaxed continuing to cuddle her kitty.

         Mark spoke to her in a reassuring tone, "She will be alright now watch carefully."

         Sarah noticed a bare patch in Rosie's fur from a wound that she continually scratched open. The wound healed and the fur-covered the gap. Rosie was fast asleep so Sarah put her on the table to observe more carefully. A broken claw was fixed. She opened her mouth to see lost teeth growing back before her eyes. Then Rosie opened her eyes, yawned, and jumped off the table. She moved instantly towards a cage in the corner where the lab rats were housed.

         "Wow she has not been on a hunt like that for years and that jump, she did it without any hesitation. This is fantastic," Sarah said. Then as it sunk in further a big smile spread over her face and she let out a whoop of delight.

         "So how long will she live?"

         "None of my patients have died except for one rat that got eaten by one of the whippets."

         "So if I take the treatment I will basically look like I did at twenty-one."

         "Potentially slightly better actually, You would be surprised at the damage even a twenty-one-year-old body carries. Everything from tiny scars, chipped teeth, fatty deposits," said Mark.

         "OK, OK I will do it," said Sarah. She offered her arm for Mark to inject her, but he shook his head.

         "For people, I use a pill, I find it more effective as it journeys to the center of a person's body before being released inside their core."

         "Good then let's do it now."

         "Give me twenty-four hours to get everything ready then come back here with Rosie. I will do a check-up on Rosie and then I will give you your pill, OK? Oh, and please tell no one about this treatment as if everyone knew about it they would all want it and we are not yet ready to go to market."

         Sarah nodded and moved around the table and kissed Mark on the lips.

         "It will be our secret," she said.

         She felt the strength in his arms as he drew her to him. He paused a moment looking deep into her eyes and she felt her heart flutter, then smiling he said,

         "I think you look gorgeous now, I cannot imagine how much more beautiful you could get. Now leave me alone to get this right and come back tomorrow at about 10 am then we will see what young Sarah looks like."

Sarah could hardly sleep that night she was so excited. Also, Rosie was no longer the docile kitty that just slept quietly in the corner. She went hunting in the night clambering off the bed where she slept with Sarah to go and do so. That would have been fine except that around 3 am Rosie actually caught a mouse and brought it back as a present for Sarah.

         Sarah woke as she was pawed by Rosie. She opened her eyes dimly seeing a mouse in Rosie's mouth, still alive and struggling.
She sat up suddenly with a shock and exclaimed, "Oh Rosie!"

         Rosie played with the mouse for a while longer before swallowing it whole and moving off the bed to look for another one. Sarah wondered at how mice had gotten into the house at all and where they had been hiding.

         Sarah smiled to herself, Well maybe my days of modeling and stardom are not over after all. Maybe when Mark sees the new me he will marry me. Hey if I look as hot as I did then it would not matter even if he did not, I could have any man I wanted. Yes, this is definitely the right thing to do.

The next morning Sarah was there fifteen minutes early waiting for Mark to open the door for his laboratory. She even knocked a few times and rang the bell. But there was no answer. In fact, she was annoyed to see that he only opened the door at precisely the time he had set and not a moment before. She forgave him all this however the moment he spoke.

         "Hello, Sarah, did you sleep well?"

         "Not so well, as I was excited and this cat brought me a mouse at 3 am last night."

         "How is Rosie?"

         "She is back to her young hunter-killer days, full of energy and with a new vitality to her."

         She watched as Mark picked Rosie up and examined her carefully. He then took a blood sample, a swab from her mouth, and a small sample of her fur. He put these into plastic bags, sealing them and placing them in his fridge for later analysis.

         "Did you speak to anyone about this?"

         "No, as you said I understand your worries about crowds hammering down your door for this treatment."

         She noticed Mark study her a moment.

         "OK, I have some paperwork for you to fill out. Sorry but I have to keep the bureaucrats off my back. It's consent forms; forms about having no allergies; and a form where you say you understand all the potential risks."

         "Risks?"

         "Nothing to worry about. You saw what happened with Rosie. It is a legal requirement I am afraid, you know bureaucrats and all that."

         "Yeh that is fine, I trust you." Sarah went through the pile of papers signing where Mark pointed.

         He then took those and filed them away before turning back to her with the pill in a tray carried in his right hand. He offered it to her.

         "I am going to need you to describe precisely what you are feeling at every stage of the process so that I can monitor the stages effectively. Can you do that?"

         "Yes, of course, is this the pill?"

         Mark nodded and passed a glass of water to her with his left hand which she could use. She swallowed the pill and took a sip of the water gulping it down. A tiny cat hair from Rosie had fallen in the glass and she gulped that down also without noticing what she had done. Nothing happened for a few seconds but she could see Mark continued to study her carefully and that he switched on a camera with his remote control. He started to dictate:

         "Experiment on Sarah Jacobs, thirty-eight-year-old female, Time is 10:03 am May 31st, 2021. Subject has swallowed the pill."

         Sarah suddenly clutched her stomach as she felt the pill start to have an effect.

         "It hurts, in my stomach, like a fire spreading through my body." She screamed, in great pain and writhed around for a few minutes and then the world went black.

Mark hoisted her onto the table where the camera had a good view of her and quickly cut off her clothes with a very sharp knife he had to hand so that he could observe the effects of the pill. He nodded approvingly as cellulite disappeared and her waist reverted to that of a younger woman and her breasts firmed up. The skin quality improved markedly and now had a new youthful shine to it.

         "Time 10:07 am. Experiment proceeding as planned. The subject looks good and full regeneration appears to have occurred. No, wait..."

         He noticed fur was growing around Sarah's breasts and that her fingernails were taking on the appearance of claws.

         "Oh no, it is happening again!"

         A full five minutes later there were two cats in the room Rosie and Sarah.

         Mark spoke to the camera one last time a few minutes after that.

         "10:21 am experiment complete. The experiment failed, Sarah has turned into a cat. The quest for human immortality continues. This experiment succeeded only in creating two immortal cats. Now I will have to start again. I wonder where I can find myself another aging model desperate for a makeover!"

W/C 1477