The Eleusian Effect

Marteen and Baskin sat for a moment as I accessed the classified drive from the conference room. “What I’m about to tell you is highly classified. We’ve decided to tell you because both Captain Tanner and I feel you deserve to know the whole truth. The thing is that many lives depend on the keeping the secrecy of what I am about to tell you. This is especially important if and when you decide to return to Earth. Now,” I accessed the Eleusian hard drives. “You won’t mind if I give you the short version. Three months ago, this vessel traveled to Venus for the first time to do a standard planetary analysis. We experienced an anomaly like nothing we’ve seen before. We recovered data and technology far beyond own and we’ve been studying it. Several of us were exposed to a contagious, alien virus. The virus had caused a catastrophic physiological change to the male members of the Kennedy. Though it was non-fatal, it created a great many,” I paused for effect. “-changes.” Baskin spoke first. “What kind of changes?”

I put up Tanner’s picture as she is now. “This is our Captain, Deidre Tanner.” I brought up another picture of her, pre-Venus and superimposed it over the female Tanner. “When this ship left for Venus, she was a man named Benjamin Tanner.” They were both skeptical and then incredulous. “I don’t understand. What happened?” Marteen was trying to make sense of it.

I continued. “When we landed on Venus, the Kennedy had a complement of 235 crewmembers, 15 female, 220 male. We experienced some alien technology and an alien virus. Though I am skipping a lot of information, that virus changed the 220 men into women, fully complete women.” Baskin reacted. “That’s incredible! How? I mean how can a virus make a complete chromosomal conversion?”

“We studied the data left by the Eleusians and found a cure. Unfortunately, we found out too late the cure must be administered within the first 30 days to reverse the process or else it becomes permanent.” “So Marcus is changing into a woman but it’s reversible.”

“We think so, however, he has been inside that globe for a long time so I don’t know what effect, if any, that has had on him.” “What should we do?”

“Well we have some time to treat Marcus and change him back, if he wants to.”

“What? What do you mean, ‘if he wants to?’”

“Well,” I paused for a long time. How do I tell Marteen that Marcus is physically enhanced by the Eleusian virus and may like being that way better? “There are unexpected benefits to being altered by the virus. For instance, our stamina, musculature, immune systems are all improved by about 400%.” “You mean he is a better specimen as a woman than as a man?”

“Yes. The Eleusians developed this compound to make better warriors. They were extremely successful. Their women were genetically superior so they geared the compound to the females. The problem was that the Eleusian females were immune to the compound and so they exposed the men. Turning female was actually a side effect.” “So now what?”

“We monitor Marcus for a few days. No longer than a week. Then we start the curing protocol.”

“Can we talk to him?” Baskin was anxious.

“Of Course. But remember his situation is very different. Plus he hasn’t had any human contact in several years. Only a few minutes with him, okay?” “Sure, Doctor.”

The Elders stayed in the conference room and spoke with Tanner as Marteen, Baskin and I went back to sickbay. Marcus was awake and resting comfortably. I motioned for Marteen to stay back to avoid contamination. Baskin and I entered the chamber without suits and Marcus sat up. I moved in close. “How are you feeling?” “Better. Amazing in fact. I’m starving though.” His voice was significantly higher and feminine.

“No problem, just use the pad and order anything you like. The cantina will send it up to you.”

“Thanks.”

Baskin moved in closer to the bed. “Marcus, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“I remember we were exploring the cavern and there were the big pits. I climbed down to a ledge and realized I might have been in trouble. I saw something glowing in the pit, and an energy told hold of my brain, like a massage and it felt amazing. Before I knew it, I was falling.” “So you were awake when you landed?”

“I think I hit my head on the way down. I don’t remember hitting bottom.”

“Anything else?”

“I remember the sensation of floating. I figured it was you guys bringing me out.”

“All right. Get some rest.”

“Wait, I have questions.”

“Sure. Shoot.”

“Where did you guys come from? Did they send you to rescue us? That doesn’t make any sense. What kind of ship is this? How long was I down there?

“Marcus, much has happened since you went missing. Some of it may be hard to accept. Here’s what I can tell you: You are rescued and have the option of going back to Earth. The difficult thing is,” I paused to let Marcus know some difficult news was coming. “The thing is you have been down in that cave for eight years.” All the color dropped from her face. Marcus was pretty, like a female twin of himself. Her hair was shoulder length but unkempt. “Eight years?” “Yes. Baskin can come in but until we know more about what happened to you, Marteen and any other male cannot come in, at least not without a protective suit.” “Am I contagious?”

“In a sense, yes but we have some data that may help you understand a little better.”

“ I don’t understand.”

“I know. You’ve been through a trauma that is, to say the least, unprecedented. I will go over the data that we just showed Captain Marteen and Lt. Cdr Baskin. Give me a moment.” I left the chamber and got a spare pad. I returned and prepared Marcus for the whole story. “As I told the others, what I’m about to tell you is highly classified and the lives of many people depend on it’s been kept a secret.” I proceeded to tell her everything that happened to us. I suspect she would take it better than the others and she did. “So you can cure me?” “Yes. There is time, unless there are complications.”

“Like what?”

“We’re not exactly sure in your case. You were inside of that alien globe for a long time. We don’t know what effect that has had on you. You changed faster than us so we need to study you and do more tests.” “I understand, Doctor.”

“Get some rest. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

September 24, 2169 0512 Hours

I woke up to the sickbay alarm. I threw on a robe and ran down the hallway. The two nighttime med techs were in Marcus’s chamber trying to stabilize her. “What’s happening?” “We don’t know! She was asleep and then she went into cardiac arrest!”

Marcus’s body was shaking violently and then it started to glow again like before. Gradually the shaking subsided but after the lights flashed, our monitoring devices were offline. Marcus began to float in the air but seemed calm. Just then the comms sparked to life and a voice came through. “Bridge to sickbay, bridge to sickbay, come in!” There was a grave sense of urgency in the voice. “This is Captain Tanner, is everything all right down there?” “We’ve had a bit of a scare but it’s contained. How did you know?”

“A burst of energy came up from the planet. We’ve pinpointed the origin and its target. It was from the cavern where we found Marcus. ” “Target? Are we under attack?”

“It doesn’t seem so. No projectile has been fired and there doesn’t seem to be any damage, but the target was the Kennedy, specifically sickbay.” “Okay, let me get back to you.”

Marcus was out of danger and our machine came back online. She was floating in a standing position with her eyes closed. She radiated high levels of Element X energy, and landed softly on the floor. When she opened her eyes, they were electric blue and sparkling with energy. She looked around and in a different voice with an unearthly reverberation, she spoke. “I AM THE EMISSARY.”