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“I asked you to stand down, solider,” stated Mendez. “Will you comply?”

The tranquilizers were starting to take effect. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. The pain, which had been so visceral, so intense, was now receding into the background. He took a step, found his legs threatening to go out from under him. He started to turn back to the door, stumbled. The hallway lurched, righted itself. He turned back and found now, just behind the line of marines, an out-of-breath Dr. Halsey.

“Don’t hurt him!” she was shouting. “Please!”

“Dr. Halsey!” he cried when he saw her. “What have you done to me?” Arms outstretched, he took a single step toward her and collapsed.

FIVE

___________

When he woke up he was in the brig, his wrists now in titanium wristlets, each of them hooked firmly by a titanium chain to a ring in the wall. He tested them. They were too strong for him to break out of easily.

When he stood, he realized there was something wrong with his legs. They were strong, the muscles differentiated and much larger than before, but the muscles had done something to the bone, twisting them, curving them in the odd directions. One leg was more or less normal, just a little bit bowed and twisted. The other, though, was gnarled and a good six inches shorter, and seemed more comfortable when folded up. That leg’s ankle was rubbery and left the foot flopping. He could still stand but only at an angle, leaning far to the side, and he was more comfortable, he realized, if he used a hand for balance as well.

His arms, too, were rippling with muscle and seemed almost impossibly strong. They were for the most part fine: They were hardly deformed, relatively straight. But the fingers of one hand had become twisted and bowed, functioning now less like individual articulated digits and more like a single pincer or claw. I’ve become a monster, he thought.

HE WAS still trying to take in his new body when the door opened and Dr. Halsey entered, an armed Marine to either side of her.

“Hello, Soren,” she said.

He stood motionless, watching her. She in turn looked him over, both of them waiting out the other.

Finally, she turned to one of the Marines and said, “I don’t think I’ll need you.”

“According to CPO Mendez—” the Marine started.

“This is a science facility and here, I outrank Chief Petty Officer Mendez,” she said. “I want you to leave.” She turned to the other Marine. “Both of you,” she said.

“Is that an order, ma’am?” asked the second Marine, his voice calm.

“Yes, it is,” she said.

The second Marine quickly saluted and went out. The other, after a moment’s hesitation, followed.

“There,” said Dr. Halsey. “That’s a little bit better. I’m sorry about the restraints. They weren’t my idea, but even I was overruled on that point. I’m afraid I don’t have any means to remove them.” She came closer and sat down on the cell floor, deliberately within easy reach of him. If he’d wanted to, he could reach out and break her neck. “Let’s just do our best to pretend they’re not there,” she said.

Soren stared at her a long moment, then slowly sat back down, gathering his body awkwardly under him.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. His tongue felt awkward in his mouth, as if he was using it for the first time. “Not very good. I’m having a hard time thinking.”

“That’s probably the medication,” she said. “They had to give you something for the pain.”

He closed his eyes, remembering how his body had felt like it was being torn apart from the inside. “Is that normal?” he asked.

She shrugged. “We’re still figuring out what normal is. Some people seem to have pain. For some of them it goes away. For others, it’s always there.”

He nodded.

“We thought you were going to die,” she said, and reached out to touch his arm. He let her touch him for a moment then slowly pulled the arm back and out of reach. “You’ve been comatose for nearly three months. Again and again they thought you were going to die. It