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Aspen

Chapter 1.1

I heard a click, followed by a soft hiss, as the loudspeakers turned on. There was a brief pause, and a man spoke.

"Okay. Testing, testing... seems good." He cleared his throat and continued, in a very official-sounding tone. "Begin official logs: Project Aspen, day 44, log 12. The date is July 6th, 2062. Director: Sean Fuller, administrator of Project Aspen at the United States Special Research Laboratories. Primary technicians..."

My mind began to wander as Fuller started listing the scientists, lab techs, and other assorted people in the room. I couldn't see all of them from where I was restrained, but I could almost feel them; the atmosphere in the room was unmistakable. Excitement, but also nervousness; that day would probably be the biggest moment of many of their careers. They all had a whole lot riding on this. On me.

Officially, the US Special Research labs (known commonly as "Spec-Res") had only begun Project Aspen a month and a half earlier, but almost everyone involved had been working on it for years. Fuller himself had been working with nanotechnology for decades. It was practically his life's work. I, on the other hand, was a relatively recent addition to the team; I had only been there for about two months.

"...And finally, our subject, codename 'Aspen One'. Real name: Alan Taylor." Hearing my name brought my attention back to Fuller. He was standing up against the glass chamber I was in - a tall cylinder, only about two meters in diameter. Fuller and I stared at each other for a moment, and I couldn't decipher the look on his face; anxiety? Determination?

He turned to one of the technicians sitting at a bank of computers behind him. "Are we ready?"

"All systems are fully operational, Director Fuller."

"And everyone here is prepared for this?" Fuller looked around the room, and there was a general murmur of agreement. His gaze paused on a group of people wearing military uniforms. By my guess, these were his superiors; Spec-Res worked exclusively for the US military, and it seemed like they had sent some people to watch the procedure.

Fuller turned back to me. "And you, Alan? How are you holding up?"

I managed to give him a nod, despite the restraints I was in.

"Good. Let me go over the procedure just one last time..."

I rolled my eyes; I had learned all about the procedure over the course of the last few weeks. Still, Fuller had an audience; this wasn't just for my benefit.

"Almost a month ago, we began Phase 1, which was seeding 'Aspen One' with colonies of nanomachines. They've been mostly dormant, making minor internal changes to prepare for Phase 2, which is now ready to begin.

"For Phase 2, which is what you will all be seeing today, we are going to be performing all of the major external alterations. The subject's body and mind will be completely transformed.

"Now, I know you're probably wondering: Haven't these kinds of hybridizations been possible for decades? What is so special about this one? Well, I am pleased to announce that we have finally figured out how to create a self-sufficient hybrid."

And there it was. That was the issue at the heart of Project Aspen. Hybrids.

Nanotech research had been growing explosively for at least 30 years. It was only natural that one of its major applications would be changing the human body. Curing most diseases was simple. Improving physical abilities like strength, or eyesight? Easy. Then people took it farther. Body modifications started to stray into the superhuman; then they made the jump straight from science to science fiction, and then to "mad science." I still remembered when I was a kid and heard on the news about how they could now give humans wings.

It was the furries who took the final step. They were one of the endless bizarre subcultures that existed on the Internet in the early 21st century, but they really latched onto the idea of these body modifications. They pushed the boundaries of what was possible (and pushed way past the boundaries of what was societally respectable). They were the first real "hybrids" - crosses between human and animal, blended to the point of seamlessness.

Then, "hybridization" did something that nobody was expecting: It went mainstream.

Hybridization was far from just a momentary fad; it was truly popular. There were a lot of theories about why, but there's nothing that properly explains why a good 30% of the planet's population decided to become anthropomorphic animals. And they experimented a lot with the new technology; the range of hybrids just exploded. Canine and feline variants, of course, but also avian, equine... you name it. It even extended into the realm of fiction; one of my friends from high school became a dragon-hybrid (though last I heard, he hadn't gotten the "fire-breathing" thing working yet).

With any popular trend, of course, came people trying to exploit it. People like Sean Fuller. The Spec-Res labs hired him about 10 years ago to investigate the potential military applications of hybridization. His research rather quickly hit a snag, though; just a couple years after he started, a rather comprehensive international treaty was signed that made it illegal to use nanotechnology as weaponry. Fuller was at risk of losing everything he had been working on for years. So, he and his superiors in the military made an unusual move: They took the project completely dark. Officially, Fuller's labs were shut down; only a select few people knew about his continuing research.

Technically, Project Aspen wasn't quite illegal; it fell into a kind of gray area. The laws only prohibited using nanotechnology itself as a weapon; they didn't prohibit using nanotech to create a life-form such as a hybrid, and then using that hybrid as a sort of super-soldier. The main flaw in this plan, though, was that most major body modifications required constant support from nanomachines. The human body simply couldn't sustain the massive changes involved in hybridization without frequent maintenance.

Fuller's breakthrough - the innovation that led directly to Project Aspen - was in figuring out how to create a self-sufficient hybrid. Through a combination of stubbornness, sheer luck, and massive piles of cash, Fuller was able to develop a hybrid variant that would be able to support itself without needing nanotech to keep it alive. It was around at this time that Fuller's team found me, and decided I was a perfect test subject... and nearly two months later, we were ready.

Fuller cleared his throat. "Well, enough talk. Let's get this started." He turned to one of the lab techs next to him. "Initiate the procedure."

A loud humming noise started. I could feel the machinery around me whirring to life. The operating platform I was strapped to began to shift. Then Fuller started speaking to me again.

"Remember your instructions, Alan. Firstly: You need to stay awake and conscious. We'll do what we can to help, but the nanobots will be making a lot of changes in your mind, and we don't want you ending up as a vegetable. Staying awake through all of this will make sure we don't, ah... 'overwrite' your consciousness.

"Secondly: Try to remember your identity. Focus on some memories that are important to you. Again, we're changing a lot in your brain, and you need to remember who you are and why you're here. Amnesia is something we'd rather not have to work through. Just pick a memory and keep it in the front of your mind."

I was a bit nervous about this part, to be honest. It was risky - despite all the scientific advancements in the past few decades, there still was no good consensus on what exactly made humans sentient. It wasn't something that people were particularly eager to experiment with. This was the best that Fuller's team could come up with: "Make sure you stay conscious, and we'll try to get the nanobots to avoid the most active parts of your brain." It didn't exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence. But it was too late to back out now.

"Okay. Are we in position?" Fuller asked.

"All set," replied someone. I couldn't see who; I was lying on my back by this point, staring up at the ceiling.

"Begin."

I felt it almost instantly. It started as a soft prickling sensation in my arms and legs, but quickly changed. You know that feeling you get when your leg falls asleep? That sort of pins-and-needles feeling, where you can't even move? It was like that - but across my entire body. Strangely, it felt kind of pleasant; it was like it was an itch being scratched across every square centimeter of my body.

Then it changed.

One second, it felt nice; the next, it was pure pain. It felt like I was on fire and freezing at the same time. I wanted to scream but couldn't move; I couldn't even open my mouth, much less let out a noise. My skin felt like it was peeling itself off my body. I couldn't think of anything else; the pain was all-encompassing.

Then, somehow, out of the haze of pain, I remembered Fuller's instructions.

"Pick a memory. Focus."

I tried to think, but it was impossible. I was panicking; I could feel myself slipping away. I needed to find something. Anything. In a moment of startling clarity, I knew: If I don't focus on something, I'm going to die. A thought, a memory... anything.

Something snapped. My mind fractured and - almost like a dam - the walls collapsed. Memories came in a torrential stream, and I was helpless as the flood carried me away.

To be continued...