Things Better Left Unnoticed Ch5.

	Kayla's eyes opened.  Or, they didn't.  She couldn't tell.  Looking around all she saw was blackness, the dark, nothing.  She had to blink several times before she could accept that her eyes were open.  But, this empty blackness, this didn't bother her as much as the never ending itch.  She was itchy, all over, her legs, her face, her crotch.  Everything itched, and so she scratched.  She had no idea what was itching her, the sensation was so foreign, but no matter how much she scratched and scraped there was no end to the feeling that she felt over her entire body.  So she kept scratching, until she felt something different, pain.  She isolated this feeling, to a spot on her leg.  It didn't feel very good, but it was a welcome change to the constant itch she felt everywhere else.  She focused on the pain, she let it drown out the itch and it worked, soon she could simply ignore the itch while she focused on the dull pain in her leg.  Looking around did her no good as she couldn't see anything.

"Hello?  Hello?"  She spoke, hoping for any kind of response, even in the foreign language.

	Unfortunately, she received no such reply.  She got up, stopped laying and got onto her hands and knees.  Was it possible she was dreaming?  She could remember countless dreams where she had envisioned nothing but an empty darkness.  But no, the pain she felt.  That was real, nothing could prove more to her that this was real than the pain she felt right in her leg, but, it was starting to lessen.  She was getting used to the pain in her leg and that insatiable itching feeling was coming back to the front of her mind.  So, she did the only thing she could think of and scratched where she felt the pain dwindling, scratching hard and deep with her fingernails as she let out a gasp.  The sensation of pain flowing through her leg again as she focused on it.  She then crawled, forward, wondering where she would go until one of her hands touched something solid.  She put her other hand on it, it was a wall.  Then it dawned on her, she was still in the same box she was always in.  But for some reason it was dark.  What was the point?  Was it simply night time?  Was no one watching her?  Was no one here, and why had she been woken up if that was the case?   Up until now she had never woken up without it being a part of something else.  Was this, a kind of test?  Subjugating her to total darkness to illicit some type of reaction?  Or possibly a gauging of her mental facilities while plunged into complete darkness.  Well.  Fuck that.  Kayla was tired of this, tired off all of this bullshit.  If they wanted to mess with her mind, they could go right on ahead, she wasn't having any of it.  She simply let herself fall to the floor and she shut her eyes.  Trying to think of something, anything to occupy her mind so she could fall asleep.  In her anger she had forgotten all about the pain in her leg, as well as the itching sensation covering her entire being.  As she lay there, she thought of the one thing that could distract her enough to fall asleep.  Kayla laid there and fell asleep, thinking about her home and her family, and wishing she were there.

	Kayla's eyes opened again, this time to light, and the appearance of her cube room.  Her first action was to look at her leg, which had been bandaged at some point, but that wasn't what interested her.  It was the fur.  All over her legs, her arms, everywhere.  There was a thin layer of fuzz covering her, a slightly lighter shade of brown than her hair with a hint of red.  This explained the itching sensation she had when she was last awake, in fact she could still feel that very same sensation but now that she had something to associate it with, it seemed like less of a problem.  But Kayla wasn't entirely concerned with why she had fuzz.  Oh no.  She wanted some answers.

"Good, your awake."  Kayla heard over some sort of speaker, thinking she was about to get her request.

"We realize that you may be, somewhat alarmed by your condition.  We must ask you to not harm yourself as you did, it will only be detrimental to your on health."  The voice said.  

	Kayla simply righted herself, and sat up.  Listening to what this voice had to say while wondering why it had stopped.  Though it occurred to her that the voice was just the translator.  The thing that actually knew all this was probably talking to said translator right now.  But that didn't stop her from speaking her mind.

"What, the fuck, is this."  She stated while holding her arm up, it was covered in fuzz just like the rest of her was.

	After a few moments the voice returned.

"Ah.  Well.  You appear to be.  Mutating."  The voice said before being interrupted by Kayla.

"Mutating!  What the hell is that supposed to mean?!  Why the hell would I be mutating!  What did you do to me!"  Kayla shouted, quite peeved.

	Again, there was another pause, though Kayla could hear the sounds of that foreign language coming through the speaker.

"We didn't do anything to you.  Just, give us a moment to explain.  This has become a more serious matter than you can imagine in such a short time."  The voice said again.

"Fine, I'm listening."  Kayla said as she now put her arm down, seeing as her point was across now.  

	More silence, well relative silence.  The speaker would occasionally transmit some foreign language, probably because the scientists or whoever were explaining things to the translator.  Then something she could understand came through.

"This, probably won't make sense at first and I'm going to explain it in the simplest way I can so bear with me.  The reason for this mutation is due to the lack of familiar pathogens in your body.  We've pulled samples of the different types of pathogens that you had on and in you as well as various blood and stool samples while you've been here, and over time you've been losing more and more of the pathogens over time to the point where your immune system was constantly battling with them.  Your immune system has been losing.  We've been able to keep your body free of most harmful things, that would cause you to become sick or ill, but something happened that we didn't account for.  New types of pathogens entering your body simply through us giving you nutrients or from when you were found, ending up causing slight mutations to your body.  Something like a cancer.  It was changing you and your immune system in response was trying to kill the mutations.  These mutations are actually turning you into a new creature, mutating you.  But your body thought it was destroying you and in a sense it wasn't wrong.  So we did the only thing we could think of to do.  By messing around a bit with your genetic code, you convinced your body that the mutations taking place are actually you developing, much like you would if you were a fetus.  Of course we've give you the correct amount of nutrients to ensure that this development isn't halted, but the reason we did this is so that you wouldn't die."  

	Kayla thought about everything that the voice had said, and she could hardly believe any of it.  Though it was the only thing she had to go on and why else would she have fur on her right now?  But this all seemed rather, too likely.  Something was off.

"Okay.  If that all is true.  Surely the things you are doing must cost a great deal of money and time.  Why not just let me die?  I'm sure cloning me wasn't out of the option for learning more about me."  Kayla responded.  

	Surprisingly, she didn't have to wait very long for an answer.

"Yes, cloning you would allow us to continue to study your biology.  But you are also an alien race, your culture, and your knowledge are worth a lot to anyone.  Not to mention that should your species ever come looking for you, we think it would be best if they didn't think we had let you die.  Now, I bet your wondering how they could ever find out you were even here if you did die?  Well, that's where the news comes in.  See, somehow it's been leaked to the general populous that you exist.  Not just rumors or tales, actual pictures and video.  We have no idea how this happened and we are trying to figure out who could have let this information out.  But the thing is.  People know about you, and they want to see you.  More importantly they want to see you set free.  Fortunately for us the discussion is currently underway if you are either an animal or a sapient being.  Unfortunately, due to laws in place, those discussing it will soon come to know that you are indeed a sapient being.  We need your help to keep you here."  The voice said.

"Why would you need my help to keep me here, and furthermore, why would I want to help you keep me here!"  Kayla shouted.

"Because, if you are taken out of this facilities custody, we will no longer be able to ensure that this mutation of yours happens smoothly."  The voice countered.

"Your bluffing, if I was released surely someone would help me, otherwise why would they even care if I was free?"  Kayla countered.

"True, true, you will probably be approached by several groups and organizations.  But what the law doesn't say, is that we have to give our information about you up.  Nor do we have to give up the information about your condition.  So while you may tell others about it, there's no guarantee they'll be able to help you and even if they can, without the relevant data we have you could possibly die before they even know how to help you."  The voice said, sounding a bit smug.  

	Kayla was about to interject when she stopped herself.  The voice had a point.  Would she risk dying for her freedom?  Kayla wasn't sure of these laws, hell they could be telling her blatant lies for all she knew.  But she did know she didn't want to die.

"Fine.  Fine.  I will agree to stay here willingly for the time being.  But on conditions that I be given better treatment while I'm here.  If your people at least think that I'm being treated relatively well here, they will be less hasty, or at least be slower in their process to try and free me."  Kayla said.  

	Then silence.  They were obviously thinking the proposition over, which told Kayla one thing, that it's possible they were bluffing, otherwise why even bother discussing this if they held all the cards.  Then the voice came back.

"Agreed.  But you'll have to do what we tell you when it comes to dealing with press and officials."  The voice stated.

"Noted, and by the way, what am I mutating into?"  Kayla asked, just because she was curious.

"You are probably mutating into a variation or exact replication of the first species of our people you came in contact with, and that's the odd thing.  Your mutating into a species of, well, the species name doesn't translate in this language."  The voice said as suddenly a projected image appeared on the wall in front of Kayla.

	There on the wall was a picture of a very humanoid looking squirrel, she also assumed it was a female because it appeared to have breasts, very human looking ones, how odd.

"So wait, what's odd about me specifically mutating into one of those."  Kayla asked and the voice responded with.

"Because, none of that species works anywhere in this lab."