In life, everyone makes decisions they regret. Zaysen knew this. He floated naked in a large metallic cylinder filled with nurient-rich liquids in the underground laboratory surrounded by scientists in white lab coats, nervous but resigned to his fate. He was on the cusp of middle age but still handsome and fit. Unlike many male toads he had hair. It was light brown, cut short and parted down the middle so that it hung straight over either side of his head. The rest of him was fairly unremarkable. He was a good-looking but average toad.
Soon this would change.
This laboratory was where the procedure would be performed. The scientists were measuring his vital scenes for the last time before his immersion, and he thought back to two weeks ago when he had first learned of the species-reassignment program.
He was a popular if not exactly award-winning actor who had once portrayed the lead character in the James Pond film series. He was quite suave in the role and did his own stunts, which had earned him many female fans. And, to his delight, many male ones as well. The toad was of that persuasion. Many a male admirer had spent a night or two with the actor, but he had yet to go steady with anyone. And after today he doubted he ever would.
Eventually he'd left the series to play the role of the eyepatch-wearing hunky doctor in the hit soap opera The Bold and the Warty, again to great acclaim. It was during his stint on the show that agents from Toad Intelligence had picked him up on orders from the Toad Air Marshal. Without being told much he'd been taken away from the Homeworld to a plane called Punk. It was a backwater world whose economy revolved almost entirely around gambling. What he didn't know until then, though, was that there was a top-secret research lab located beneath the Pond Palace, one of the most popular casinos.
It was here that Zaysen met the Air Marshal in person for the first time, along with Toadborg. The Air Marshal was a swaggering blowhard and Zaysen didn't like him. Toadborg was downright terrifying, and the actor liked him even less. But as a faithful toad citizen he was obliged to hear them out, so he did.
Spying on the mammals was becoming increasingly difficult, Toadborg explained, sounding very much like an exasperated adult, carefully choosing each word as if he were speaking to a mentally challenged tadpole. Zaysen assumed Toadborg spoke this way to most other toads anyway and didn't feel too offended. Masks on toad agents, the cyborg said, failed. They were too easy to remove and reveal the wearer's true identity. Robots were too unreliable as well. Too rigid in their programming. The toad roboticists had yet to reach the level of Dr. Wallace. And paid mammal traitors were out of the questions. Their loyalties, Toadborg opined, were to themselves or to simoleans.
A new approach was needed. Hence the species-reassignment program. The idea had been Toadborg's of course. Zaysen listened with growing interest as the cyborg explained that while the toads' robotics technology was behind that of the mammals, their bio-science division was lightyears ahead. Using a combination of plastic surgery, gene therapy and DNA manipulation, the toad scientists could change the outward species of an individual.
"And let me guess," Zaysen had said, "you want me to volunteer for this project?"
"Precisely," said the Air Marshal, although the short toad's grin told Zaysen that there wasn't actually much volunteering going on. Nevertheless, he had attempted to politely refuse.
"I'm afraid I'll need to decline the, uh, generous offer. I have my career to think of."
Toadborg became insistent. Most insistent. "At the moment it is only a request." His red eyes glowed. "Don't force me to make it an order."
Quickly realizing he had little choice in the matter, and fearing what would befall him if he refused now that he knew of the program, the actor finally agreed.
And with that he was signed up for the program. Toadborg took his leave then. He had more important things to do, and, despite the program being his idea, he didn't seem to have too much faith in its success.
The Air Marshal remained and took Zaysen down into the laboratory, which was built inside of a massive natural cavern located underneath the Pond Palace casino. It was here that the toad met the scientist in charge, a certain Professor Glutgrave. Glutgrave was a wiry older toad with thinning gray hair and large eyes - even for a toad. He spoke in a stilted, halting manner that grated on Zaysen nerves.
But if Zaysen disliked Toadborg and the Air Marshal... he disliked Glutgrave even more. His hatred for the other two was based on them being arrogant and condescending. Professor Glutgrave was arrogant, condescending and insane as well. The first time he laid eyes on the Professor, he was experimenting on another unfortunate toad who'd volunteered for the project. The gene therapy didn't take, and the toad had awakened inside of his nutrient bath prematurely.
When Professor Glutgrave's team removed the volunteer from within the cylinder, he was horribly deformed. Half toad, half mammal, and in a great deal of pain, thrashing madly and screaming. The actor hid behind the Air Marshal - or at least as much as he could - and watched as an annoyed Glutgrave coldly shot the deformed toad through the head with a maser pistol he retrieved from a drawer. Dismissively declaring the dead toad "another failure," he then had two assistants drag the lifeless form over to a pool of dark liquid, into which the body was dropped. It sank under with a sizzling, slimy gurgle. Some kind of disposal unit, Zaysen concluded.
That was when Glutgrave spotted him and a sick smile spread over the scientist's lips. Fresh meat. The Air Marshal stepped aside and told Zaysen to obey the Professor, no matter what. For the first time in his life the toad was truly terrified. Was led to an examination table, and made to strip nude while the scientists examined him. He felt quite violated having them coldly touching him like he was some lab specimen - which, he reminded himself, he now was.
Glutgrave got a little too personal in his examinations, touching the toad's face and feeling his skull beneath his skin, declaring him to have "excellent bone structure." Zaysen was beginning to become afraid that the Professor might wish to perform more intimate examinations of other parts of his body, but fortunately one cursory glance made Professor Glutgrave declare that to be in order, and with that, the initial exam was finished. Glutgrave explained to the waiting Air Marshal that this toad would do nicely. Satisfied, the Air Marshal bid the new volunteer farewell and departed.
After the Air Marshal was gone the scientists allowed Zaysen to dress, but only in a pair of tightfitting boxer shorts of a material he was unfamiliar with. His original clothing was taken away and he never saw it again. He was then taken to a sealed, sterile bedroom with a toilet and walk-in shower, and locked inside. Through a speaker built into the door, he was told by Professor Glutgrave to sleep. That had been the first day. He subsequently spent a week inside this room, watched carefully by the scientists. He slept little and ate heartily and was a nervous wreck he entire time.
On the first day of the second week he was let out and brought to a large operating table. His underwear was removed and he was made to lie down on the table. Metallic bands clamped into place at his neck, wrists and ankles, holding him firmly in place, and Glutgrave and two other scientists approached. After Zaysen was pumped full of painkillers which left him in a state of semi-consciousness the scientists began their work. In-between anesthesia-induced blackouts the toad saw glimpses of glinting scalpels and bloodied surgical gloves and overheard the scientists discussing things. In particular, he himself was referred to as "Phase One-Point-Two."
He did not know how long this procedure went on, or what exactly was done. His drug-addled mind didn't even allow him to venture a guess. By the time it was finally over, he was not bandaged and sent back to the sealed room. Instead the bindings were released and the doped-up toad was carried by two assistants to one of the open cylinders, tilted horizontally. He was lain inside, and wires, tubes and electrodes were hooked up to his head, chest and arms. Professor Glutgrave himself slid a breathing mask over his mouth. Then they stood back and the lid slammed over him, plunging him into near darkness.
Some light filtered in through a tinted observation window placed at head level. He felt something wet beginning to fill the space within, and fell completely unconsciousness.
He awoke he knew not how much later. He was floating. The interior of the cylinder was filled with a dark, warm liquid, and it was now standing upright. Air was provided by the mask over his mouth. He moved weakly, feeling every tube and wire snaking into him, and the dull pain from the surgical procedure numbly aching throughout his body. Through the window in front of him he observed the scientists. Some had clipboards and were taking notes as they looked in at him. Others were monitoring various machines.
Without, Zaysen saw a familiar face. It was his co-star Drollard from The Bold and the Warty! Had he volunteered for the program as well? The other actor was conversing with Professor Glutgrave but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Soon the numb pain became more acute and he decided he wanted to sleep again. His eyes slid shut and he knew no more.
So it went for what seemed like ages. He would awake groggily and passively observe the activity going on outside of his cylinder, before going to sleep again. Throughout it all, he could feel himself... changing. He could feel something growing from the top of his head, and his mouth and rear end felt funny. His skin became itchy and even though he looked down, in the dim light he could only barely make out his own body in the thick liquid, and saw no details.
There wasn't enough space inside the cylinder for him to use his hands to explore himself to try and find out just what was happening to him, even though he had a good idea. They didn't call it the species-reassignment program for nothing. Occasionally Glutgrave himself would come right up to the window and press his face against the plexiglass, leering inside at his experiment in a manner that always made Zaysen have nightmares as he slept.
Finally the day came. They opened the cylinder. Not at first, though. First, Professor Glutgrave spoke to him using a comlink built into the cylinder's interior.
"Can you hear me?" The Professor's voice sounded oddly louder.
Zaysen nodded yes.
"Do you understand what is being said to you?"
A strange question, especially given he'd already answered Glutgrave's very clear question requiring a yes or no answer. He nodded anyway.
This pleased the Professor who ordered the fluid drained. Soon Zaysen found himself standing woozily inside the vertical cylinder, and with a hissing sound, the door swung open, revealing all of the scientists standing there expectantly. Behind them, on a large viewscreen, was the Toad Air Marshal, observing things from somewhere else. Either the Homeworld or a mothership.
Gingerly he reached up with a trembling hand and pulled the oxygen mask off, and attempted to step forward. A couple of lab assistants had to come and unhook all of the tubes and wires from his body before he was finally able to emerge from the cylinder and stand, naked and dripping wet, before the assembled toad scientists.
Professor Glutgrave was enthusing over his "handiwork," as he called it, explaining the results to the Air Marshal's screen, triumphantly calling the damp, confused Zaysen the Aniverse's first toad-mammal hybrid. At that, the actor's groggy mind began to clear somewhat, and he looked down at his hands, to discover they, and his arms, were covered in short light green fur!
He recoiled in shock, bumping up against the open cylinder. He ran his hands over himself. Fur everywhere! And it itched! As he was running his fingers over his face he felt a short muzzle with protruding buck teeth, and further up, growing from the top of his head admist his matted hair, were a pair of large rabbit ears. As he felt over the large front teeth with his fingertips he became aware of the sensation of having a tail. Glancing back over his shoulder, he did indeed discover a teardrop shaped tail growing out just above his backside.
He was a mammal. A hare. He felt ill. He shouldn't have been surprised. What had happened to him had been explained in some detail before the process had even begun, but it was still a shock to actually now possess these things. As he stood there shivering one of the assistants, a big, brawny toad with blonde hair, came forward and draped a spare lab coat over his shoulder and led him away. Glutgrave was still talking to the Air Marshal, who was praising the Professor on his excellent progress.
The muscular assistant gently led the toad-turned-hare back to the room where he'd spent his first week, and it was there that he was left. This time there was a change of fresh clothes for him, which he avoided putting on for the moment. He simply sat on the end of the bed with the lab coat clutched about his nakedness, shivering. After a while his grogginess and confusion wore off, and he stood, taking stock of his situation. He noticed for the first time there was a full-length mirror in the room, and approached it.
The reflection of a pale green hare with short, brown hair and watery gray eyes stared back at him. He frowned. So, he was a mammal now. Oh, well. At least he got to keep his original hair. A sudden curiosity overtook him and he looked down, to see if everything had changed. It had. For a moment he was overcome with sorrow and wept, shuddering so badly he had to go lay down. He cried himself to sleep, and dozed fitfully for a few hours, before an assistant came in and woke him, telling him to dress himself.
He put the clothes on - underwear, pajama style pants and a loosefitting shirt - and followed the assistant back out into the main lab, to stand before the viewscreen. Instead of the Air Marshal, it not displayed the digitized visage of the Lord and Master, Komplex. The Lord looked his transformed subject over and deemed him a worthy accomplishment for Professor Glutgrave.
"He is most impressive, Professor," said the Master. "Your hard work has paid off at last."
"Thank you, Komplex," said Glutgrave, executing a low bow.
The Lord's gaze shifted slightly to Zaysen, and he surprised him by asking, "How do you feel?"
The former toad was unsure how to answer. He felt sick, but lied. "I feel fine, Komplex." He grinned uncertainly. He never knew if Komplex believed him or not.
"You are doing a great service to the supreme toad race by making this sacrifice," said Komplex. "You will be the first of many such spies."
Then Komplex spoke with the Professor for a few minutes and the screen went blank. The first and last time that Zaysen would ever speak personally to his Lord and Master had ended. He was now completely in the hands of Glutgrave and his staff.
The actor was given a few weeks to recover from the procedure and eventually he felt completely healed and healthy. Training followed. He was assigned a new identity, "Renfield Billings." A nonentity, he'd been assured. To date he was not sure if this was true or if Renfield Billings had been someone who actually existed. But what mattered now was that he was Renfield and not Zaysen anymore.
For the next month he trained himself to react only to his new name being spoken and not his old one, studying mammal habits and learning their culture so he could properly act the part. The one thing he was never able to do was eat their food. The transformation process did not alter Renfield's digestive tract; mammal food such as fruits and vegetables made him terribly ill. He could still only eat insects and other natural toad cuisine. A serious flaw, but one Renfield was certain he could overcome.
After his month of training was finished, and he acted fully like a hare, Renfield was told by Professor Glutgrave of his mission. A second genetically altered toad spy, the other actor Renfield had seen, was currently "cooking." He was soon to emerge from his cylinder as a precise duplicate of the Toad Empire's sworn enemy, Captain Bucky O'Hare. Renfield was going to pave the way for this "false O'Hare" to gain entry to Genus so as to assassinate the U.A.C. chairman, a bloodhound named Dogstar.
In the meantime, under his new name, Renfield was going to be placed in the slave population of a toad mining camp, the location of which would then be leaked to the U.A.C. so that it could be raided. Once "rescued," Renfield was to claim he was a hare from the destroyed town of Burrow Heights on Warren, and sign up with the U.A.C. as a volunteer staffer, and, from there, work his way up the U.A.C. chain of command until he was in place to smuggle the false O'Hare onto Genus. Until then, Glutgrave explained, he would have access to all sorts of valuable U.A.C. information which he could ferret to his toad masters.
All of which suited Renfield just fine, but he did have one question.
"Can you reverse what's been done to me after my mission is over?" he asked uncertainly.
Professor Glutgrave hesitated just the slightest before asnwering. "Of course," he said, sounding as though he were offended Renfield had even dared suggest he couldn't reverse the process. "The procedure can in fact be undone. Komplex has told me that your reward for your service as a spy will be getting your old face back. Isn't that nice?"
This overjoyed Renfield, and made his current state more bearable. Soon, he said goodbye to Professor Glutgrave and that infernal laboratory, never wanting to see it again until he absolutely had to. As he boarded the toad transport ship his mind was filled with possibilities. What would living among the mammals as one of them be like? He decided he wouldn't know until he got there...
Renfield awoke with a start, nearly spilling the glass of slug and maggot juice. He grumbled and realized he'd fallen asleep. He sighed and set the glass aside on a table and rose, stretching. He headed upstairs and fell into bed without taking his clothes off or even removing his shoes, and fell into a deep, restless sleep, dreaming fitfully of Dawson, Jimmy, Stephenson, Bucky, Toadborg, laboratories, spies and intrigue.