THE REVERSION - PART I (Chapter 8)

THE REVERSION INDEX 

The Reversion

by Planet

Chapter 8

Text version:

Chapter 8

December 24 – 11:21 pm.

I’ve written down today’s events for future history. They’re already set on proper scientific records, so I suppose the personal diary of one of its participants is of no real relevance, but here it is.

We arrived to the campus very early in the morning, and we were conducted to the facility that houses the radiation machine. It features a large crystal chamber that isolates the patient who’s being radiated, and the energy comes from a rather large replica of the devices we found in the sky. They weren’t able to make them as small as the originals.

At first, I assumed my role as one of the head researchers, but when everything was almost ready, I had to be constantly reminded that I was also a tester. It was around that time that my 10 years old counterpart also arrived. She was an adorable girl named Juliet Mullan, and thought nervous, she was reasonably calm.

She was up first. I personally injected her the serum and she hardly flinched. She was clearly the perfect choice. Once the liquid was in her bloodstream, we had to rush, for she had to be radiated before a minute passed. She was closed inside the chamber and the device was activated. It sounded like an exploding bomb and she was engulfed by blinding blue lights. Then it was over and now we just had to wait.

We knew that the original Reversion could take up to ten minutes to affect some people, so we reckoned it would be the same with this. It took her four and a half minutes.

I think I was the first one to notice something, or at least the most emotional one, for I squealed excitedly when I saw her body was lengthening a little. Not long after, she started to develop her womanly curves and quickly approached adulthood. Juliet had originally been a 54 years old woman, but being a replica of The Reversion, we knew our procedure would not age her past 25. Indeed, she stopped there, now a perky young woman.

We opened the chamber and let her out. She was very excited, for not only was she back to a more desirable age, but she told us she was much more attractive this time than when she had originally been 25. Another expected side effect of using The Reversion energy.

We monitored Juliet. She was in a perfectly healthy condition, and had become a fully functional adult again. Four hours later, they were ready for me.

I was conducted inside the chamber by a fetching redhead intern from the university, and a colleague of mine injected me. Then they radiated me.

Last time, I had been the first in the family to be affected, starting to change just about 30 seconds after it hit. This time it took me a little longer. Just a bit under two minutes before I could notice it. It was about 20 seconds later that something actually visible happened. I was getting a tad shorter, and I could feel my breasts getting smaller. I was becoming a child again. The experiment was working!

I had originally been 11, and I knew this would make me 10, but it was close enough so that I didn’t really care. It had been a fun ride, being an independent adult, but this would help the world get back to the way it was. While I transformed, I thought how much I would miss being fully grown. Jane would take care of me until she and our parents could get their own cures.

But while I thought all that, something happened. It felt as if my regression stopped, and it was far from its goal.

From what I could see in the highly reflective walls of the chamber, I thought I was about 14, maybe 13, but certainly not 10.

And that wasn’t all. A minute later, I could feel my chest tightening as my breasts grew again. This time it happened much quicker. My legs lengthened so fast I actually felt vertigo. And I was back to 25.

I could see the disappointed looks on my colleagues’ faces. I stepped out of the machine, feeling a little dizzy, just like after my first transformation.

Nobody was saying a word. We were all too frustrated. The silence was only broken by Juliet’s scream, who said her hips had suddenly become smaller. So that was it. It didn’t work permanently on children either. The effects just lasted a little longer in them.

In minutes, she looked like a teenager. We checked the exact time. She was back to her 10 years old body five hours, twelve minutes after her transformation into an adult.

Despite our low disposition, we had to go back to the Research Center at Washington almost immediately, because we needed to report the results to President Hopkins and the others.

I wanted to relieve some stress, so I personally drove my mustang from our private hangar in the airport to the Center. I’ve discovered driving relaxes me.

Once I arrived, I barely had time to take a bath and prepare myself before the President arrived. The reunion was short and direct. The failure had hit us hard. The research will continue of course, but I don’t think we’ll find much more.

The team made a final report, were we admitted our inability to finding out how the changes were caused, and who was responsible. In the final paragraphs, we established our belief that the best possible action humankind can take is to accept our fates and try to adapt. It seems this will be our new reality from now on, and there’s no way of changing it. That realization, as hard as it was, actually made me feel positive about the whole thing.

Still, surprises were not over for the day. When the reunion was over, the President said he wanted to talk privately with me. He was nervous, unlike I’d ever seen him, and though his stammers didn’t make a lot of sense, I understood he wanted me to have dinner with him the day after Christmas.

I’m not sure why, because I’ve turned everybody else down, but I’ve grown to respect him a lot. So I accepted. I intend to take things slowly, anyway.

Someone is ringing at the front door. I’m not expecting visitors, so I don’t have any clue of who can be, specially so late at night.

December 25 – 1:33 pm.

It was Malcolm. He was very apologetic at coming so late, but he was so full of excitement he couldn’t wait. He took something from his pocket. It was an engagement ring.

He had bought it earlier and wanted to show it to me. He intends to propose to Jane tomorrow during the Christmas dinner, and he wants me to be there. He is very thankful for my part in Jane’s divorce, but I only pushed her a little, to be frank. She’s an adult woman now, and she has to make her own decisions, even if I strongly think they were the right ones. And I’m pretty sure her next decision will be to accept Malcom’s proposal. I gave him my blessing.

So, it has been over five months since The Reversion hit and transformed all our lives for ever. I think it’s time for all of us to embrace whatever changes happened to us and try to make our new lives even better than the old ones. I think it’s important to look back at the past and who we were, but I think our minds should be set on who we are in the present and who we want to be in the future. And today, more than ever, I’m glad I’ve become a strong adult woman.

That said, maybe it’s time for me to end this diary. I know I’ve tried to do it twice before, but I think I’m ready now.

Barbara Morton