//------------------------------// // 02 - Desperate Measures // Story: The Conversion Bureau: Project Thesan // by Cloudhammer //------------------------------// Year 6, Week 5, Sunday Ferrik sneezed as the newpup vanished. “Ferrik never get used to pony magic,” he growled softly. K’rik growled sharply at his beta, then turned back to face Luna and Dr. Lewis squarely. “Now, K’rik must know where the female for this...” he paused, eyes narrowed as he focused, “‘ex-pear-a-mint’,” he clumsily spat the human word, “will come from.” Luna glanced to Dr. Lewis, the two speaking briefly before the alicorn turned back to the diamond dogs. “We had hoped to ask you for a volunteer or two of your pack-” she was cut off as Ferrik growled, his upper lip pulling back. Azure huddled behind Dr. Lewis, ears flat as he watched the two predators nervously. Luna’s expression never changed, the alicorn meeting the taller dog’s eyes calmly. “Females vital to pack. Cannot, will not give them up for this.” K’rik’s eyes were hard as he glared at the two of them, the human taking a step back nervously. He decided that he was starting to lose his interest in these humans already, if there were more like this one out there. The ones carrying weapons he could understand better. Luna stared at him for a long few seconds before she nodded. “Alright, we shall find a volunteer elsewhere.” Lewis gulped, starting to open his mouth to remind Luna that they didn’t have any other volunteers, but chose to keep his mouth shut as she turned to face him. “We are glad to see that this research has borne fruit, Dr. Lewis. We will return to Equestria with K’rik, and leave Ferrik in Hawaii to oversee Steven’s training. I look forward to your next report.” She spoke with K’rik and Ferrik, and the three of them, along with Cloudhammer, trotted to the designated teleport area beside the base’s Beacon Stone. In a brilliant flash of azure light they were gone, and Lewis allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. “So now what do we do, Walter?” Azure asked as he trotted out from behind him. “We were counting on having a native diamond dog volunteer, after all.” Lewis sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We’ll call a team meeting, figure something out.” “So then what do they expect us to do?” Arcane asked hotly, stamping a hoof on the table. “It’s not like we have candidates lined up waiting for this!” Colonel Harkness sighed and rubbed his face in aggravation. “I asked you, repeatedly, if you had a backup plan in mind for this. You assured me that this wouldn’t be an issue, that K’rik’s pack was large enough he could afford to let one of his females go. This is what I get for listening to you!” “Look, getting angry and pointing fingers won’t change anything,” Elizabeth Ross got to her feet and started to walk around the table. “We should have anticipated this happening, but we’ve only been working on this idea as a solution for barely a month. There’s just not been time to evaluate this seriously as a project while we were developing the canification serum.” “Umm, I’ll do it...” The quiet voice, coming from the slightly overweight woman two seats down from Azure, went unheard. “We could seed the nearby Bureaus with opt-in forms for single women seeking Conversion, see if any of them would be willing to help test out a new serum,” Dr. Splein, one of the team’s two virologists, chimed in. “Conduct a background check and select the best of them. Any who refuse can be ponified and shipped to Equestria.” “You can’t honestly be considering that, Albrecht,” Steel Glimmer said with a snort. “We can’t be forcing people into this.” “Nor will we tolerate just picking up anyone from the street,” Colonel Harkness said angrily. “I’ll do it...” the woman spoke up again, trying to make herself heard. Azure flicked his ear, glancing over to the woman. “What did you say, Heather? Hey, everyone quiet down a second!” As the voices quieted down, all eyes turned to the other virologist on the team, Heather Douglas. She’d been brought onto the team developing the canification serum from Johns Hopkins, and had come highly recommended. She’d been instrumental in developing a new binding agent for the diamond dog DNA, though her quiet demeanor sometimes slowed down the rate of development. Under the focus of everyone in the room, Heather squirmed a little lower in her seat. “I said I’d...” she took a deep breath, “that I’d do it.” Elizabeth blinked. “Heather, are you serious? What about y-” “It’s unacceptable is what it is!” Splein shouted. “No one else on this team, myself excluded, is as qualified in virology as her.” Heather shook her head. “But I can stay with the team here, help refine the serum... can’t I?” She glanced at Colonel Harkness. “No, the plan is that once the first subject has been impregnated, they will be taken to Equestria so that they will be safe. The other reason for that is to ensure the fetus develops in an environment saturated in thaumatic radiation,” Harkness said with a sigh. “Although, this does solve the issue of maintaining program secrecy...” “See?” Heather said brightly. “This is the best solution, and besides, it’s not often you get the chance to save your own species.” She smiled weakly at her attempted joke. Splein fumed, but couldn’t seem to find anything to say. He lurched to his feet and stormed out of the conference room, not even bothering to close the door behind him. Heather looked like she wanted to go after him, but Arcane got to her hooves. “Don’t worry about it Heather, I’ll go talk to him.” She trotted out the door after him, closing it behind her. Dr. Ross took a breath, then looked back to Heather. “Now, Heather, are you really sure about this? This isn’t something to be done lightly, even if it were a normal Conversion.” “I understand, Liz, really.” Heather glanced to the door. “But this isn’t just about me, anymore. I couldn’t forgive myself if I did nothing, if I let the human race fade into history. I know that we’ll eventually begin selecting more candidates, but I can’t just sit on the sideline anymore.” Dr. Ross stared at her colleague for a few seconds, then looked over at Colonel Harkness. “Well, what do you think?” The officer shrugged. “Honestly, this is better than picking up random women from the Bureaus.” He turned to face Heather squarely. “Dr. Heather Douglas, should you choose to volunteer for Project Thesan, you do understand that you will need to relocate to live in Equestria for the duration of your pregnancy, and that depending on the success or failure of the project, that your country may need to call upon your help in instructing other women enrolled in the program?” Heather nodded slowly. “I do.” Harkness nodded, his expression sour. “Still can’t fuckin’ believe this is what we’re reduced to.” He turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Lewis sighed as he stood up. “Well, Heather, if you’re really serious about this, then we can Convert you once we prepare an embryo. I take it no one objects to one of Heather’s eggs being used?” Everyone at the table shook their heads. “Alright. Now, there is the issue of who our male donor will be. Right now, there’s only myself and Albrecht on the staff who are capable...” “We’re not using Splein.” Dr. Ross’ voice was firm. “He’s a brilliant virologist, but his personal behavior is... eccentric at best. I nominate using Dr. Lewis as the male contributor, any objections?” At the silence she nodded. “Well, looks like you’ll be having a kid after all, Walter.” Dr. Lewis sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head. The enormity of the choice that loomed in front of him weighed down on him. Granted, Liz had it right with him wanting a kid, but something like this... It was all too crazy to really wrap his head around. Not to mention being thrown into it with Heather out of the blue. “Are you really okay with this, Heather?” Heather stared at the table for a few seconds, then looked up at him and nodded. “Y-yeah... I mean, it’s not the perfect solution, but we have to try.” Dr. Lewis held her gaze for a second, then nodded. “Alright. Well, I’ll go take care of business. Liz, think you can help Heather with her part? We’ll get the Conversion underway once we’re done.” He got to his feet. “We’ll also need to take some blood samples, and prepare the instructional material for the Canterlot doctors.” The rest of the team rose and began to disperse. “A-are you sure about this, Walter?” Azure asked quietly, ears half-folded back. “I mean, Rangel’s Conversion was pretty rough. And he did hit you pretty hard.” Lewis touched the bruise on his head and winced, but smiled anyway for Azure’s sake. “Well, it’s not that bad. But now that we know what to expect, we can take precautions.” “Well, if you say so...” Azure didn’t seem convinced, but squared his shoulders. Heather got out of her chair and hugged Azure. “I promise, I won’t hurt you. This’ll work out, I know it.”