29/10/2019

Hey guys! Long time since I posted something in here. This short story here is something I've been working on for university. I've pretty much finished it, but I still need to go through a final edit. So please, if you find anything in it that might be able to do better, than please tell me so. It has a word limit unfortunately, so I really can't add that many more words to it, as I'm already over it. But yeah, tell me what you think.

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"Sign here."

The legal documents and instructions book was flipped to the back with a single line asking me to agree to the lengthy and obscure conditions of whatever I was reading. I was not listening to what they were saying, it was just obnoxious jumble of information designed to bore me into signing. That voice inside my head told me I should be paying attention, but who cared about the terms and conditions anyway. It's not like people would do this if it was dangerous. And I wasn't the first one to try it, at least I didn't think I was.

I signed the paper, smiling confidently at the man in black sitting across from me. He smiled warmly back, seeming just as excited as I was. He had been the eager gentleman on the add welcoming everyone to take part in the greatest technological advancement since the internet. All the technology required were willing 'test subjects', and anyone brave enough to sign up was payed a handsome amount. Better to do that than wait for the technology to reach the market.

The man, Gregor Maroon, picked up the papers and gave them a quick tap on the desk to pull them all into order. He then got up from his desk, and I followed his lead, my heart flittering in excitement like a child on a new set of swings.

"Follow me," his excited smile infectious.

We walked through the slim white automatic door at the back of his office and into a sloping corridor which was also white. The sheen of the walls and floor made it difficult to see, as though I had closed my eyes but instead of darkness it was only glossy white. I found myself focusing on Gregor, his black suit the only relief within the room.

"So, Daniel wasn't it?" the man said

I nodded in response.

"I hope you are looking forward to this. Your contribution will help make leaps and bounds with this sort of technology."

I grinned, "I'm just looking forward to seeing how it works."

"It's quite amazing to behold," Gregor sighed, seeming to drift off for a moment, "Now, it was the red-tailed hawk you chose, was it not?"

"Yes," I replied.

"A magnificent bird it is, though it proved difficult to clone."

"No problems I hope," I laughed jokingly.

He laughed as well, "No, of course not. I wouldn't have invited you otherwise."

We stopped as we reached another sliding door near the end of the corridor. The door opened, and Gregor stepped through, allowing me to follow. I marvelled at what lay beyond, my heart leaping out of my chest.

"Welcome to where it all starts. The transfer of consciousness."

The room we had walked into was nearly as large as a football field. It was mostly empty and had the same blinding white colour as the hallway we had just come through. In the centre of the room was a group of white robed scientists fiddling with a machine. It was an oblong shape with an excessive amount of wires snaking across the floor. To one side of the machine was what looked like an electric chair. Hanging from the back of the chair was a cap filled with several technological knickknacks.

What really caught my gaze was the feathered hawk laying lifeless across a table on the other side of the machine. Its golden brown feathers were a stark contrast to the rest of the room. On its head was another cap, smaller than the one on the chair, and for a moment I hesitated, my heart beating faster. It was difficult to comprehend that I would be becoming... a bird. Becoming inhuman.

Gregor lead me into the room and toward the chair, talking as we went. I found myself not listening, as I was beginning to feel the excited nervousness rise through me. It reminded me of the feeling just before you leap off a bridge for a bungy jump. I was lightheaded, shaky and nearly nauseous. But I was excited, more excited than I had been for a long time.

"What's with the space?" I asked Gregor curiously, "I didn't think you would need so much for this experiment."

The man laughed, "Well, we assumed you wanted to fly after your transformation. This room will be more than big enough for that."

I felt my heart flutter at the thought. Often, I had found myself nursing a jealousy for the feathered creatures that shared our world and wondered what it would be like to soar through the sky. To have the air filter through feathers as I travelled higher and higher. It had been the source of many daydreams. That anticipation was what drowned out any trepidations I was having.

"Alright, now, have a seat, and we will begin," Gregor said.

I took a deep breath, sitting down on the uncomfortable chair. The scientists around me began to work, attaching the cap to my head. I sat still, trying to make it as easy as possible for them.

"Will it hurt?" I asked.

"It may, a little," Gregor admitted, "I've been told the experience can be rather disorientating. It is important to remember that once you've made the transference to keep calm as you get used to your new body. There will be a clash between the animalistic instincts of the hawk and your human mind, but they're not difficult to overcome. Just remember, the key is remain calm."

His smile helped me relax, and I grinned back. We waited a minute as the scientists made the final adjustments before stepping back.

"Ready to begin sir!" One of the scientists exclaimed.

"Ready?" Gregor asked me.

I nodded, taking another deep breath. I heard a rustle behind me, and then a click as a switch was flipped. Almost immediately I felt the effect of the machine. I tensed as the cap activated sending a shock across my body. The cap compressed against my head, as though it was trying to pull my head off. I grunted in surprise at the feeling as it only got stronger, but it wasn't the cap's increasing pressure. It was almost as though I was being pulled. It was strange, because my body wasn't moving, but it felt as though I was getting sucked up into the cap.

I struggled with the feeling, trying to pull back, but was startled to find that my body no longer reacted to my efforts. My panic increased as all feeling left me. My vision became a tunnel as the world grew smaller, and all feeling drained from my body, leaving me with nothing but darkness.

* * *

Stunted voices were the first thing I heard, as though everyone around me were talking through a pillow. Then came the throbbing headache, one that reminded me of trying to squeeze my head through a tight space. Slowly my feelings returned. It began as a slow tingling, spreading down my neck, into my arms and legs. A moment later I realised that my legs were bent at an odd angle, as though I was laying on top of them, and my arms were fixed in the wrong direction and pressed tightly against my body.

"Daniel!"

The sudden clarity of noise caused my eyes to blink open in panic. There was a face, peering down at me. A face so detailed, so big, it was like a camera lens had zoomed right up to it. I could see everything on that face. The moisture surrounding grown toughs of hair around wet pink lips. Cheeks of a lighter pink that ascended into a paler green brown under the eyes. The eyes themselves were so many different colours it was hard to see them all. Blue, green, turquoise, and in the middle an entrancing inky black of infinite depth. It was terrifying.

An invisible force gripped my mind. A shriek escaped my mouth and my body moved of its own accord. I leapt upwards, flapping my arms instinctually, and sending myself a lot higher than I expected to. Panic surged through me. I flipped backwards, arms hitting the table in a desperation to get away from the massive thing who had since flinched backwards at my sudden movement.

"Daniel! Calm down!"

The words didn't register. They had been drowned out by the dizzying overload of visual information. It was as though I was looking through a magnifying glass that split in two directions. White coats were surrounding the table, the dull white a stark contrast to the immaculate white walls that seemed to be everywhere. Hands and faces, which were easier to look at, peered at me, backing off slightly but still seeming incredibly close. I could spot each individual hair on an arm, almost subconsciously noting which ones seemed longer and which had been bent back in the opposite direction.

Panic still flowed through me, but instead of inciting movement, it made me immobile. I was frozen as though I were dead except for the incessantly high pace of my . The people around me seemed to have gone still, as though waiting for something. The lack of noise and excitement allowed for my mind to catch up.

'Wait... no way...' I thought, my head moving at an odd angle as I tilted it in order to get a better look at my body.

What I thought were arms were golden-brown feathered wings. My dappled brown and white underbelly looked like a fleecy blanket. My legs, now yellow and scaled from the 'knee' down, ended in wickedly sharp talons that came to a needle point. They felt like hands, but with only three fingers and a thumb. I flexed them, fixated on the unfamiliar movement. My mouth, or I guess beak now, parted slightly in amazement.

That was a new feeling as well. It seemed that my nose and mouth had become one, but with the new position of my eyes I couldn't see it. However, my peripheral vision seemed to have increased a startling amount. I couldn't quite see around behind my head, but I realised if I turned my head enough then I could see directly behind me. My neck was more flexible as well, like my head was not as firmly connected as my human head was.

A movement to my left caused my panic to flare again and I turned my gaze toward the approaching threat. This time I stopped myself from freaking out. Now that I understood what was happening, my human mind regained most of its control.

"Daniel?" A voice I recognised as Gregor said. It seemed noises hadn't changed much in the transformation.

I opened my mouth to reply only to have a wheezing screech come from my mouth. Gregor, mistaking the screech as panic, took a step back. I snapped my beak shut in confusion, the inability to speak more worrying to my human mind than my animal one. I had not considered that when I had agreed to undertake this transformation.

"Is he alright?" I heard Gregor whisper to one of the scientists.

"His vitals seem fine, and his stress levels seem to have dropped. I believe he's in control," they replied.

I let out a small high-pitched chirp in order to gain their attention. They turned toward me in surprise as I attempted to get up from where I lay. The action was surprisingly difficult as my wings didn't bend the way my arms used to. I managed to role myself onto my stomach and finally stand up, instinctually ruffling my feathers as I gazed around.

The animalistic instincts inside me really wanted to leap into the air and fly as far and fast as I could away from the nerve-wracking faces staring at me. The other side of me was working to curb those instincts, reminding myself that these people meant no harm. This was all part of the experiment. I had been warned about this. I wouldn't let myself be overcome.

The thought process worked partly, enough to keep me on the table. It helped that I didn't really trust myself to fly. My head moved to watch as Gregor slowly approached the table, as though I were a wild animal easily spooked. My body screamed at me to leap into the air and fly away, but I shoved them down. It didn't stop me from taking a small hopping step backwards and spreading my wings for balance. Gregor stopped.

"Daniel," he said, "Do you understand me?"

It took a moment for me to gain enough control to respond with a nod of my head. This fear that I was feeling was annoying, and irrational. I knew these people weren't going to hurt me. Yet their proximity and their size made me inwardly shake and shiver, as though I was looking at my worst nightmare.

Gregor seemed relieved at my response, "Are you in control?"

I wasn't nearly as panicked as before, but I wasn't entirely in control either. If anyone else approached me I doubted I would be able to stop myself from flying away.

I decided to respond to Gregor with another chirp, the high-pitched sound being different than what I expected. I hoped it got the message across, that I was in control, but barely. Gregor frowned slightly at the noise, studying me with unnerving eyes.

"Well," he looked back at his colleagues, "It seems we have a success!"

The sudden cheering that followed had me nearly loosing it. I looked to the sky and lowered my body, only just stopping myself from leaping upwards. It was good I didn't, as I had just noticed that the small cap that I had seen before was still on my head. The blue white cord lead my eyes back to the machine, and in turn to what had once been my body.

It was a little surreal, seeing my limp corpse laying against the chair. The eyes hadn't even closed, having my body staring lifeless into nothing. My mouth was slightly agape, as if whatever had sucked the life out of it had been done so without warning. It was as though I had died of shock. I wondered if I would be able to get back into my old body. With that rather scary thought I turned back to the other scientists, letting out another chirp.

"Aaah, you must want to try out your new body eh?" Gregor said with an excited smile.

I tilted my head inquisitively, spreading my wings to give them a better look. The excitement from my human side began to bubble up, helping me manage the weary and stressful animal side. I turned to the man looking at me and nodded my head. The movement felt weird, as though it wasn't natural.

"Well then, just hold on while I remove your cap," he said moving forward slowly.

I forced myself to go still as he removed the head piece, though my heart felt like an overbeat drum. As soon as he stepped back I ruffled my feathers again, watching him with weary eyes. Forcing my mind to calm down I hopped over to the edge of the table, finding that much easier than stepping. My feet didn't really allow for that.

I looked into the air again, trying and failing to ignore the people around me. I opened my wings and took a slow step forward. The hesitation to jump filled me, but only on my human side. I could feel the natural instincts of the hawk begging to be let free and fly. Knowing that I would never have the courage to do so, I let the bird take control.

Suddenly I was airborne, flapping my wings hurriedly to get away from those below. If I had still been human my stomach would have flipped, but as a bird all I could feel was a sudden exhilaration. It was like my human mind had taken a backseat for a moment as the hawk made small alterations in the tail and wings every moment in order to stay in the air.

My head turned, searching for a way out of the dome room I was in but not finding any. Instead I settled into a circling motion as I studied the people below me. The scientists were talking excitedly between each other, pointing at a screen that one of them were holding and then gesturing up towards me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could see what was on the screen from this high up, even if I didn't entirely understand it. It seemed to show things like heart rate, energy levels and mental activity. They were probably using it to make sure nothing was going wrong, though how they were getting the information was confusing to me.

I was calmer up in the air. Both my human and animal side seemed to have reconciled, allowing me some time to think as I circled above those below. I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of simply flying. The weightlessness, the freedom, part of me wondered how I had ever been content living on the ground. I wanted more. The touch of the wind, and the thrill of the open sky. It was so much more enticing now. I inwardly smiled at the thought. When this machine became accessible to the public, I would be sure to purchase it in order to try it out.

My eyes picked out something on the ground. A dash of movement so enticing that it caused the animalistic instincts that were mostly in control to scream in delight. A rabbit had appeared, hopping away from the scientists and toward the edge of the dome. I couldn't stop the hawk from dropping into a dive toward the rabbit. The need to feed was too strong.

Before I knew what I was doing my wings opened with a triumphant screech as I landed on the mammal, driving it into the ground and breaking its back with the force. I felt the crunch of bone as I landed. The human part of me was so shocked that I didn't try to take control back. My beak dug into the flesh of the dead rabbit as I tore its flesh apart, strips of flesh disappearing into my throat. I was so hungry that I didn't notice the approaching scientists.

Hands grabbed me from behind causing me to screech in panic. Something covered my head in darkness, and I froze, going still as I was picked up. For some reason the darkness seemed to keep me from going crazy from being handled, or it at least repressed the more animal instincts. My human mind was having none of it. I felt violated as something was wrapped around my body, wings and legs, forcing me to stop moving. What were they doing?

"Alright," I recognised Gregor's voice, "It seems our experiment has finally succeeded. Now for phase two."

I screeched angrily, trying to break the bonds with my wings.

"Ah, ah. Calm down Daniel. Your contribution will be quite valuable. You see, we need to figure out how long it will take for the human conscious to disappear for this product to be safe to sell."

What! The word bounced around my head.

"Don't stress. Once we have our answer, we will happily transfer you back into your body."

This was not what I had agreed to. I screech, trying and failing to break my bonds. But I couldn't do anything as they walked away with me. I felt trapped, and scared. This time it was no animalistic instinct that was making me feel that way.