276 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
276 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
Archive-name: Changes/abfh1b.txt
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Archive-author:
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Archive-title: Anderson's Training
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Keywords: trans
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Anderson asked the logical question: "Now what?"
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"We'll handle this just like a standard set of permanent
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orders." He pulled the desk drawer open and handed Anderson a
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piece of paper, it was another set of BuPers message orders. When
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the standard wording was translated, it read that Lt Anderson was
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to be detached from his current duty station, take 30 days' leave
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(known as "delrep" for "delay in reporting") and report to the
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military air terminal at McGuire Air Force Base in civilian
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clothes; he was not to use his own vehicle to get there. His
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personal effects (known as "household goods" or "HHG") were to be
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put in storage at government expense for the duration of the
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orders. "You won't be stationed at McGuire," Col. Hampton
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explained, "That's where we'll be picking you up. Bring three
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days' worth of clothes. The Commodore of DesRon 2 has already
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written a detaching fitness report, you'll sign it when you get to
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where you're going after your leave.
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"So go home and get your personal life in order. Make sure
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you're parents know that you're going to be out of touch for a long
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time, it may be a few years before they get to see you." He handed
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Anderson a card. "They can call this number in case of an
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emergency, but make damn sure they understand that doesn't include
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anything less than imminent death. And make sure they know that
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you may not be able to come back for any kind of emergency. You
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can use the address on the card as a forwarding address for your
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mail."
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"Where am I going?"
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"You'll know when you get there, Sherry. The same lady who
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drove you here will take you back to your transportation. See you
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in a month."
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Anderson left the room. Hampton watched him go and sighed.
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He was getting to have too much time in this assignment, he told
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himself. At first, he thought of the program as a way to gain some
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use from worthless deviates. But now, he knew that the men he
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recruited were fine people, they simply had a different
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orientation. Hampton now knew that tossing them out was a waste;
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now at least he could do something with some of them.
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The woman drove Anderson to a third airport, this one was
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considerably larger than the other two and had a control tower.
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This time, he was shown to a Sabrejet bizjet that was painted in
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USAF colors. The jet took him to Langely AFB. The same man who
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had taken his car keys at the Norfolk airport handed them back to
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him. Anderson found his car and went home.
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It took four days to arrange for the movers to come and take
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everything he couldn't fit into his car. Then he went home. The
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leave was less than satisfying; neither one of his parents were
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supportive of his desire to stay on active duty. Anderson visited
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his brother and left him the car and his personal gear (including
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a fair number of firearms). He did a little bit of traveling, and
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presented himself to the military air terminal at McGuire with two
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weeks' worth of leave remaining.
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The Air Force sergeant who was at the receiving desk read
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Anderson's orders and then checked a file. She told Anderson to
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go check into the transient BOQ and stay there; he'd be notified
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when his flight was called. Anderson had taken MAC flights before,
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one normally has to wait at the terminal for one's name to move up
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the waiting list. This treatment mystified him, but he just did
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as she told him to.
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The phone in his room rang a day and a half later. Anderson
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switched on a light, picked it up and muttered his name into the
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handset.
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"Lieutenant Anderson? Master Sergeant Wilkes at the MAC desk.
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Your flight leaves at 0430. A car will be at the Q at 0410 to pick
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you up."
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"What time is it now?"
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"A little after three, sir."
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"All right, thanks." Anderson set the handset back into the
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cradle. Fucking zoomies, scheduling a flight on the rev watch.
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Oh, well. He rolled out of bed, shaved and showered. The desk was
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open 24 hours, he was checked out by four and waiting for his ride.
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An airman came over to him. "Are you LT Anderson?"
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"Yes."
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"May I see your ID, sir?" Anderson handed it to him. The
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airman looked it over and handed it back. "Come with me, sir."
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He led the way to a "blue steelie," Air Force lingo for an issue
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sedan. Anderson got into the right-side seat. He was a little
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surprised when the airman passed by the MAC terminal and drove to
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a hangar after passing a security check from the APs, who were
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wearing woodland camo uniforms and carrying M-16A2s. The airman
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drove out onto the ramp and up to an Air Force C-12, their version
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of the Beech King Air. This one had seen better days, it was set
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up as a cargo carrier (or "trash hauler"), complete with a load of
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cargo. The pilot, a woman in a USAF pilot's jumpsuit with
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captain's bars waved him on board. Anderson stowed his bag between
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two crates and settled into the right seat.
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"You might want to put on that headset," she said. "This old
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beast can get pretty loud."
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Anderson did so, adjusting the headset to fit and the boom
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mike to almost touch his mouth. "Can you hear me?"
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"Sure can." The pilot ran through the starting procedure with
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the economy of motion born of great amounts of practice. She soon
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had both PT-6 engines turning. She received her IFR and taxi
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clearances, then taxied out to the runway. They had to wait for
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the wake of a departing C-5 to dissipate, then they were on their
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way.
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The flight went to Wisconsin, Anderson guessed. He could
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recognize Lake Michigan and he did his best to follow along with
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the air traffic controllers working the airplane. Dawn was
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breaking when the pilot started her descent. There was nothing but
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woods, then he saw a small town next to an airport. When they
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landed, he looked with surprise at the collection of airplanes on
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the ramp. He hadn't seen so many tailwheel airplanes in one place;
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everything from a few J-3s up to three Twin Beeches, a C-46 and two
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DC-3s. There were a few tricycle-geared airplanes, but damn few-
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- a couple Cessna 172s, a Mooney, three Bonanzas and a King Air.
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Everyhting was painted in civilian schemes, complete with N-
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numbers.
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It looked like a civil airport in Alaska, except the man
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coming out to greet them had an assault rifle slung over his
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shoulder. He told Anderson to go to the line shack, then he
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started talking to the pilot about refueling the C-12 and unloading
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the cargo. Anderson trudged over to the shack. A woman with a no-
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nonsense demeanor asked for his ID. She compared the card to a
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list, then handed it over. She stuck out her hand and said:
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"Welcome to school, Sherry. I'm Doris Stackpole. I'll be your
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training coordinator while you're here at the school. Let's get
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you situated. Come with me." Doris led the way out of the other
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end of the building.
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"What is this place?"
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"It's a training facility for all sorts of students. Some of
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the students are training for covert ops, some are here above
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board. First rule is: Don't talk to anybody about who or what you
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are or what you are here for. Everything around here runs on a
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`need-to-know' basis. Understand?"
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"Sure do." They had walked across the road to a small area
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of townhouses. Doris led the way to one of them and opened the
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door with a key, which she gave Anderson.
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"This is yours for the duration of your stay." She showed
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Anderson around. The townhouse was on two levels; upstairs were
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two bedrooms and a bathroom, downstairs was a kitchen, dining area,
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living room, a study (complete with a computer with a 19" screen)
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and a half-bath. "You're getting this place because it's so close
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to the field, most of your training is going to be in flying."
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"Which of those planes will I be flying?"
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Doris shrugged. "If you complete the course, all of them."
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"Even the DC-3?"
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"Yes, but you'll have a few other things to worry about."
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Anderson didn't like her grin, but he'd do a lot to get a DC-3 type
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rating. Doris went to the door. "You have an appointment. Bring
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your stuff, they'll take it and issue you what you need."
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Anderson followed along. They walked to a building almost a
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half-mile away. There they went into a room where Doris told him
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to strip to his underwear. Anderson did, two women came in and
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started measuring his body; one measured, the other recorded. They
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traced the outlines of his hands and feet. The real surprise was
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when they measured penis size, both flaccid and erect. Anderson
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was embarrassed at that, but the two were just doing their job and
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did it. Afterwards, Doris gave him a pink terry-cloth robe and
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told him to take his underwear off. She collected all of his
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things and marched out of the room.
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For the first time, Anderson was scared. He had no idea where
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he was, had no money, no ID, and all he had was a pink bathrobe.
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Doris returned about forty minutes later with some clothes.
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She handed him a pair of white cotton panties, "I think you know
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how to wear them," she said. Next was a yellow and black t-shirt,
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a pair of white socks, women's blue jeans and a pair of Reebocks
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that were white with pink trim. "Other clothes will be sent to
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your apartment. Now, let's go to medical."
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"Another physical?"
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"Not like one you've ever had before." This time, they drove.
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Doris had the keys to a jeep-like vehicle that ran on batteries.
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She drove to a hospital that was a couple of miles away by road,
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although it was right across the airfield.
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Doris was somewhat right. It was a thorough physical; but the
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difference came when they had Anderson lie down for a whole-body
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CAT-scan. He almost freaked out; he had to lie on a very small
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white tunnel while the machine hammered and whirred. He could have
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sworn the thing was going to grind him up. After the scan, Doris
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took him to the cafeteria for lunch. The food was about the same
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as any other hospital, barely edible.
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The PA system paged Doris when they had almost finished. She
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left the table to answer it, then returned. "C'mon, Dr. Trotti
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will see you now. We'll find out what he can do for you."
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They finished quickly and left the cafeteria. Anderson wanted
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to ask what was going to happen, but there were other people
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around.
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Dr. Trotti was in his late 40s. He shook hands and led them
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into a darkened room. There was a screen on the wall and an
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overhead projector that could project computer images. "Sherry,
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my field is reconstructive surgery, though maybe should say
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constructive surgery. Take a look at this." He turned the screen
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on.
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Anderson looked closely. The image was of a woman wearing a
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tank top and a skirt that came to just above the knee. Her breasts
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swelled the top and showed a little cleavage. The skirt clung to
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nice hips. Her face was not that of a raving beauty, but she had
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nice cheekbones and didn't look bad at all. "Who is she?"
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"That's you."
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"What?"
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"Yes." Dr. Trotti shifted to another screen. "This is your
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skeletal structure.." He went into a lengthy discussion of how they
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could modify Anderson's skeletal structure to make him look like
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a woman, followed by a discourse of what plastic surgery techniques
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they could use. Anderson felt the MEGO (for "Mine Eyes Glaze
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Over") factor kicking in. Adding pieces here, taking pieces out
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there. It wasn't his body, it was a biological erector set.
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After Trotti said his piece, Anderson asked the key question:
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"How much of this is reversible?"
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Dr. Trotti considered that. "Most of it is. We can change
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everything back that required surgical techiques. You are going
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to need a fair amount of electrolysis for us to be able to
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accomplish what we need to do. That isn't reversible." The doctor
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just smiled. Almost everyone he had worked on asked that question.
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He had done the reversal surgery on about five percent of those he
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had worked on. But he didn't say anything.
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"All right. When does the electrolysis start?"
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"Right now," Doris said. They said goodbye to the doctor and
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went to another part of the hospital. There a nurse injected a
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painkiller similar to novocaine inside his mouth. She had him lie
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on a table, then after about 30 minutes, she started to work.
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Another nurse came in and started on the other side of his face.
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Anderson could hear the humming of the machines and the occaisional
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`zap' as a needle vaporized an oil pocket. The nurses would wipe
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his face with an antiseptic every so often. He was very tired and
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since he was feeling no pain, he fell asleep.
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They woke him up four hours later. His lower face was wrapped
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in a cold mask, it had tubing through which a chilled solution was
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circulating. When they took the mask off, one of the nurses
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closely inspected his face. "Not bad." She gave him a tube of
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antiseptic ointment and a small bottle of pain pills. "See you
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tomorrow," she said.
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Anderson wanted to say something, but his face was numb.
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Doris took him back to his townhouse. She showed him the clothes
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hanging in the closet, mostly variations of what he was wearing:
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jeans, different tops, several pairs of running and aerobics shoes.
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There was an assortment of unisex-athletic gear.
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"You get food by placing an order through your computer,
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though you'll have to cook it yourself unless you order the
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microwavable dinners; I recommend them as you won't have a lot of
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time. The instructions are next to it, it's fairly self-evident.
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You can order any books, tapes, CDs or videos the same way. The
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computer also ties into the training database for unclassified
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material; you'll be taught how that works starting tomorrow.
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Anything you order will be placed on the living-room table, except
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for perishables which will be put into your refridgerator or
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freezer. There are some tapes by the VCR to start you off. I'll
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be by tomorrow at 0730. Any questions?"
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Anderson made writing motions. Doris found a tablet and a
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pen. "Toothbrush? Razor," he wrote.
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"Toothbrush is upstairs in the bathroom. No razor, it's
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easier to work with longish hair. See you in the morning."
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Anderson half-heartedly watched a video, then found a chicken
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dinner in the freezer after his face denumbed enough to eat it.
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He took a shower and rubbed the ointment over the areas where the
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eletrolygists had worked. He soon fell asleep wondering waht
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tomorrow would bring.
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Tomorrow brought flight training. Doris took him to a
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classroom next to the airport. She turned him over to an
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instructor named Craig, who proceeded to start teaching him how to
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fly by instruments. Classroom work was in the morning, simulator
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work in the afternoon.
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This routine went on for a solid month: electrolysis one day,
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flight training the other. As Doris had promised, all the course
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work was on a computer database, so Anderson was able to work on
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the rating in the evening. The simulator gave way to an IFR-
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capable Cessna 180; Anderson became able to fly an approach to
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minimums and follow up with a good landing. "It's a lot harder in
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a taildragger," Craig explained. The electrolyis was a lengthy
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affair, Anderson sometimes had several techicians working on his
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body: they removed all the hair from his face, the back of his
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neck, his arms, legs, chest, and back. The process was always
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accompanied by localized painkillers. They thinned his eyebrows
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to ones that could be either masculine or feminine.
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By the end of the month, Anderson had an instrument airplane
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rating and the body hair of a woman.
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--
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