Episode 11-3: Transparent Troy

Before I can get another word in, the entire room of people clears out and enter into the previous place that has the viewing glass. They stare at us from a distance, each putting on a pair of tinted goggles. Amelia was standing at the front of the group, pointing at a console in the room. She says something, but I can't read lips. Another scientist starts moving towards a console, and he gently rests his hand on a red lever, waiting for Amelia's signal. My ears twitch in anticipation, and I regret not asking her if this is going to hurt or not. I look to my right to see Clyde, his eyes are closed peacefully and his arms resting on the chair like he's at a relaxation spa. How can he be so calm right now?

I look back at the viewing glass just in time to see Amelia's mouth move. It doesn't take lip-reading skills to know that she says, "Now!"

The switch flips, and I'm greeted by the deafening sound of the machine's engine roaring up. It becomes so loud, my ears lower down as far as they can get. After fifteen seconds of non-stop gear-grinding, I feel my skin begin to burn. It's like having a sunburn at first, but it gradually gets much greater. Soon, I might as well be on fire. The heat is so intense, and the pain is unspeakable. A quick glance at Clyde's container shows that he too is suffering the same fate as I. His mouth forever opened to let out his screams of agony. I'm certain that I am screaming too, but the grinding engine would not let us hear it. I look down at my arms, the fur burning up and the skin boiling until it slides off like tender meat on a barbecue grill, showing bones underneath.

I'm not too sure about threshold factors, but I swear that I've reached my limit at how much pain it is possible to feel. It reaches the top-notch, unable to reach any higher on my sanity levels. Finally, I feel nothing. I can still see the skin peeling off, but I can't feel it. My fingers collapse on themselves, breaking and contorting into horribly disfigured appendages, but there is no pain. The engine roars loud still, but there is another noise now present. It's a distorted, warping noise that you'd hear on some sci-fi show. Something like a portal opening. Lastly, my vision doesn't become blurry, it just goes completely white.

*** *** ***

McAllen, Texas: Hearth & Barker Residency

I remember every single moment of that hellish machine, but for some odd reason, I feel warm and safe. It's reminiscent of my childhood, when my dad would sit me on his lap and read to me, or when my mom would have me snuggled up next to her at the fireplace dipping her homemade cookies into a cold glass of milk. I open my eyes to see that I am laying down on my side on a very soft bed. The covers rest on top of me so gingerly, creating the perfect temperature for comfort. But there is something odd about this scene.

Across from my bed is another bed, but it's empty. Where's Clyde? I try to sit up, but the covers are much heavier than I thought. I place my arm between the covers and my body, barely noticing how furry the inside of it is. I push up, the blankets finally falling off, and that's when I see it. It's an arm! A grey-furred, beefy arm, and it's connected to a colossal dog sleeping next to me on the same bed. It's Clyde's arm. He has his arm wrapped around me while he sleeps.

With his arm and the blankets uncovering my body, I notice that I only have underwear on. I clasp a hand over my mouth to stifle a yelp as I come to the conclusion that Clyde is most likely dressed the same way. I carefully position myself to silently get off the bed, placing one foot down on the carpeted floor, then gently moving the other. I look around the room, it's apparent to me that we were stuffed into some local apartment complex while we were out cold. After all this commotion, I completely forgot about my initial problem. I raise a hand to my face, smiling at the sight of a fully-fleshed hand staring back. It worked, I'm not dying!

"Jeez, put some clothes on you pervert," Clyde says behind me. I spin around quickly, slightly startled to see him awake already.

"Clyde, it worked!" I yell, my smile is so big that it's a pain to present.

His eyes grow wide as he jumps up from his bed, confirming my theory that he is indeed dressed in only his underwear. He runs towards me quickly, and without warning, gives me a slap across the face. I stumble from the force, falling on my butt.

"Ow! What the hell's the matter with you!?" I cry, rubbing my burning cheek.

"You-you're real!? It's not Fake Troy! They did it!"

We cheer for a brief moment in our underwear before actually searching for some clothes. The place we are in is set up like somebody actually lives here. Cable television, closets full of clothes, a fridge full of food, everything. I find this incredibly cute pink vest, and decide to pair it with a red ascot hanging in the closet; throw in some jeans and a pair of converse to the mix, and I have an outfit ready. Clyde comes around the corner wearing his usual get-up with black under-armor and cargo pants.

"Seriously?" I ask.

"What?" He asks innocently, shrugging his big shoulders.

"We're given an entire closet of new clothes, and you still wear that?"

"You can't beat the classics, Troy."

A knock on the door stops the conversation in its tracks. "Mr. Hearth? Mr. Barker?" a voice calls out from the other side. There's a peeping hole installed into the door, and using it shows me that it's Teddy standing there in a narrow hallway. I open the door and greet him with my charming smile.

"Teddy? What a nice surprise."

Clyde pushes me from view, taking up the whole doorway with his massive frame. "Theodore, we've got a lot of questions to ask."

"Clyde, don't be so rude."

"Yes," says Teddy, "that's why I'm here, Mr. Barker. If I may come in, we could discuss this in the comfort of your brand new central air condition."

Clyde takes a step back, letting Teddy in. The living room is quite spacious with a huge couch and a couple of single-seaters. Teddy sits in the recliner on the left of the room, while Clyde and I take the couch.

Clyde's foot hits a box on the floor. "What's that?"

"That's a mini-fridge, open it," says Teddy. He does, revealing two shelves and the door completely stocked with Clyde's favorite brand of beer. A twinkle in his eye sparks; it's probably visible from space.

"Sweet," he says, grabbing one quickly and opening it.

"Clyde, manners!" I scold. He ignores me. "Right. So Teddy, where are we?"

"You two are in your new residential home for your temporary tour here in Texas. Mr. Marston wants you to be comfortable during your transfer, so he's personally seeing to it that y'all be booked into a presidential suite in this five-star hotel."

"Oh, my, how nice of him," I'm going to be spoiled rotten by the time I go back to Hartford. "Please tell me you know what happened after Amelia stuck us into that... thing."

"Unfortunately, I couldn't get Amelia herself to come with me; she'd do a better job at explaining it. What she did do though, was give me the report she'd written up for the experiment." He takes a packet from his suit pocket and places it on the coffee table in the middle of the room. I pick it up, skimming through the massive amounts of data and information she had written down. "Here are some cliff notes," Cliff notes!? "But I'll give yah the gist if you'd rather have it that way."

"Yes, please."

"Basically, the procedure she tried out worked in the end, but there will be some side-effects."

Clyde chokes on his beer. "Side-effects?"

"Well, I couldn't really understand it completely, but it's like this: She scrambled your atoms in a container, she picked apart what belonged and what didn't belong, then she put them back together. She mentioned something about cell structures, and how the new atoms will need to adjust for a while."

"I'm not following any of this," I admit.

"Don't worry, Troy. I'm not either," adds Clyde.

"I guess it means that you won't be looking like yourselves for some time," says Teddy.

I sit up straight. "What!? Do you mean that my face and body are going to change!? My whole line of work depends on my face and body! It can't change, I need it to stay the same!" I'm already standing up and pacing around the room frantically. Clyde has to catch me and sit me back down on the couch to calm me down.

"Mr. Hearth, I can assure you that the effects won't last. That part I understood, I promise. I'm just not sure how long it'll last."

"Oh... I... I can't... this is..." I can't form a proper sentence.

"Breathe in, breathe out," says Clyde.

I try it a few times, it manages to reduce my anxiety. "Okay, okay I'm good. One more question from me, Teddy," He nods, eager to make up for delivering bad news. "Why was Clyde sleeping in the same bed as me?"

The poor dog chokes on his beer again, "What!? But... but we were in our underwear!"

Teddy straightens his horseshoe tie, "That was to test if the particle streams were cut off. I guess they just forgot to put you back in your bed when they left."

I look at Clyde, who is curling up in a ball on the couch. I smile and say, "I saw you in your underwear."

He is not amused. "Yeah, well I saw you naked!"

"Did you like it?"

His mouth opens, but he says nothing. He takes another swig of his beer, the corner of his lips twitching with anger. Poor Clyde, he can never handle when I win at these arguments. Teddy has pulled out a different file from his suit, holding it firmly in his two hands.

"Excuse me, but I also need to deliver this to you. It's a case that Mr. Marston has issued for your unit. This is all the details you're gonna need to get started." He places the file on the table, "Our own agents took a crack at it, but came up with nothing. A couple of professionals are exactly what we need for a job like this. I'm sure that you'll knock 'em dead, sirs!"

A case on the first day? I thought they'd be more understanding about our little problem and give us some time to adjust, but I guess not. After all, we aren't tooting our own horn here; people really think that we're the best of the best. Why not prove it by solving a couple of cases for them?

"Thank you, Teddy. We'll look through it later on today, maybe start tomorrow though. We're a little tired from our... doctor's visit." I look at Clyde for his permission, and he gives me a nod.

"I understand," says Teddy, "I'll let Mr. Marston know that you've accepted the job." He looks at his watch, "Well, until next time, gentlemen." His long legs carry him swiftly to the door, and he exits without another word. Truthfully, I'm not ready to get back to work just yet, but given the fact that they saved my life, I am ready to return the favor in any method possible.

"Hand me that file," I tell Clyde.