Chapter 4

The alien stood back and narrowed his eyes. --Now, picture my form again, and let the changes begin. It won't hurt, but you might feel that you are thinking differently when it is complete.--

I took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. I felt like I was about to go into surgery, where a strange doctor would perform some unknown operation on me.

"What's going to happen?" I asked.

--I don't have time to explain it all now; I will give you as much information as I can once we are safe. You just need to concentrate on morphing my form.--

I had no idea what to expect. Part of me still couldn't believe it. Another part of me wanted to laugh out loud at the madness of it all. But another part of me, a small bit usually at the back of my mind usually reserved for times of great stress, or danger, was telling me I had to deal with it. This was reality. This was what your have to do. Otherwise you could die.

I concentrated again on the image of the alien, and braced myself for a flash, or bang, or some kind of strange wormhole opening up in front of me. But nothing happened. I snorted. This was all just a dream. But, as I caught the eye of the Cockney girl, her expression changed. Her eyes widened, and she let out a series of short, sharp breaths. "Jeez!" she cried. "Your skin, sista! It's turning blue!"

I looked down at my hand. A wave of blue was spreading up my hand, deep, rich sapphire, just like the aliens'. "Whoa!" I let out a cry of surprise and disbelief. The blueness stopped abruptly, making my arm look as if it has been dipped in blue paint. --You need to hold the concentration,-- said the alien. --Morphing can only occur when the image of the creature is held in one's head.--

I did as the alien said and resumed concentration. The blueness started again, spreading further and further up my arms. The clothes I was wearing also turned blue. I looked at the others. Their faces were showing various expressions: disbelief, confusion, and horror.

"My god…" whispered Ferdie.

As I realised that the process of morphing was literally changing the very shape of my body, I guess I assumed the whole thing would be smooth and gradual – like you see in Hollywood films. But I guess I assumed wrong, because, without warning, a long, muscular tail shot from my behind! Popped out – like a snake poking out of a hole! The tail was already covered in fur – the same bluish-tan fur that was rapidly appearing all over my body.

"This is, actually, rather insane," said Ferdie conversationally. I grinned at him, with a mouth in which I could feel my teeth and tongue dissolving, my lips fusing together. It was a bizarre feeling. Very bizarre. Like my mouth was full of rapidly melting butter.

Then, the major changes started to happen. The blue fur and tail had just been a warm up! My insides began to squelch and squash together, feeling like I had eaten a huge, live spider. Organs shifted and changed, new ones appearing, others melting into nothing. Bones dissolved – for a second, I couldn't stand! My legs were like jelly! I tried not to panic. I caught sight of Ferdie's face as I fell. He was as white as a sheet, whispering, "No, no, no" over and over. The girl was screaming, her hands clenched into fists and her knuckles as white as Ferdie's face.

"Stop it! It's awful!" she cried, as two stalks jumped out of my head. Eyes popped out of the ends. I could see out of them! In all directions! Unfortunately, this only let me see the other sickening changes that were happening to my body. My legs were growing thick, strong bones, and I was able to stand again. But, and I looked behind me with my new eyes to check, I had four! My original right leg seemed to be splitting in two – with both parts slowing becoming more deer-like. One my left side, however, the leg remained as one, although it too was becoming more deer-like. I watched in repulsion and fascination as three dainty hooves formed out of the end of my three legs replacing my toes, like a fungus growing in time-lapse photography. All of a sudden, a forth leg shot out behind my right leg! It was fully alien-like – blue furred, sharp hoofed. It didn't hurt, but it felt as if it should. Like a dentist giving you a pain killer before yanking out a tooth. I could feel the changes happening, but somehow the pain wasn't reaching my brain.

The changes were coming faster now. My bum was growing, stretching out my spine to accommodate my new legs and tail. My clothes dissolved and disappeared into my skin. Burns and injuries healed as they formed healthy, new skin. The pain in my hand disappeared as the red-raw skin became blue and intact. My ears stretched outwards and slid up the side of my head. My hearing suddenly improved. I could hear Ferdie retching as he crouched behind a fallen plank.

The morph was almost complete now. My eyes twisted inside their sockets, reforming into almond shapes. My brown irises turned an emerald green. Eyelashes and brows were sucked into my head, along with my dark brown hair, like a person sucking up spaghetti. Extra fingers popped from my hands, my nostrils stretched into the strange alien nose. And finally, a wickedly sharp blade appeared at the end of my tail. The morph was complete. I was a human girl in the body of an alien.