Working From Home

Woman: Torino
Tarantula: Creative Commons Luis Bugalio Sanchez

Lindie worked in the Emergency Containment Office. Her position wasn't important, just an office manager. But she kept track of the hundreds the Transformation Quarantine laws had on the books. It was her duty to track them, make sure they were getting the necessities of life, and inform the proper authorities once they were completed whatever transformation they'd been stuck with. Of course, sometimes it was difficult. After all, the pace of the transformation varied from individual to individual. There'd been a couple of cases where she and the experts had guessed incorrectly. But, for the most part, the people in transition were kept safely under guard in their homes until they'd changed. Then they were relocated to the various camps set up for each kind of creature. They definitely didn't want one transformed person eating another. It was just too hard to explain to the newspaper.

She, of course, took every precaution she could. Since many diseases were spread by contact with infected surfaces, Lindie had taken to wearing surgical gloves and tight-fitting clothes. She even went so far as to wear a surgical mask. At first, she got strange looks but, when she didn't start to transform, others decided she was onto something. Soon, surgical supply houses couldn't keep up with the demand even though the people in charge pooh-poohed the idea that the virus would be stopped by something as simple as a cloth face mask.

Lindie also began to avoid large crowds in places like shopping centres and night clubs. Supplies, of course, could be ordered by Internet and she made sure to bring them into her home only after the delivery boy had left. In saner times, that is to say before the Change of Life Virus was released, such behaviour would have been termed bizarre, even a sign of mental illness. Now it was common as people strove to prevent their own infection.

Lindie's husband had disappeared when the first transformations started. Likely he was in his hunting cabin away from everything. He was a bit of a hypochondriac at the best of times. In plague times such as these, his fears soon got the best of him. That, unfortunately, left her to deal with his "pets". He was an arachnid fancier. In his terrarium in the basement, were a dozen or more large tarantulas of various species. They weren't much trouble, fortunately. A few crickets now and then seemed to satisfy them and she definitely wasn't about to be petting them the way he did. That was definitely not on.

Some ten weeks after the transformations started in North America (and a full 5 months after the virus had been released), Lindie was getting ready to go out. She'd just slipped on her gloves and was about fit a new mask when she caught sight of a decidedly strange patch of hair on her arm. Long and dark, it looked something her own hair but was considerably courser and stiffer. She sat down on chair by the door. She knew exactly what that meant: she, too, was infected. Taking the phone from its cradle, she pushed the number for her boss.

"Fred? I think I've a bit of a problem," she began.
"Not well?" he cared for his definitely overworked staff and his voice held that concern.
"I ..." she paused battling with the urge to cry. Then taking a deep breath, she blurted it out. "I'm infected. I've got the virus."
"I was afraid that would happen eventually. Every woman around seems to be coming down with it."
"But the program! The records!" Lindie was proud of her skills keeping track of the situation.
"You're just about the last one left that knows the front office routines. I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you could work from quarantine?"
"You mean at home?"
"You've Internet and a home computer. We can bring out the office software and get you linked up."
"But I'm no techie."
"They can walk you through it by phone."

Lindie thought about it for a few moments. She really couldn't abandon the Program now. They were short-staffed by nearly half. One more might just be the straw that broke the camel's back. Besides, Lindie well knew the boredom that might result from just sitting about at home doing nothing.

"Okay. When?"
"I don't imagine you are going anywhere," his voice held a trace of relief. "I'll get the disks out to you by courier within the hour. Phone Information Systems as soon as it arrives."
"I'm in quarantine," she was smiling even though she knew better than most what her future held. "Where would I go? I'll e-mail you as soon as I'm set up."

True to his word, the disks arrived less than an hour later and she phoned I.S. It only took an hour to walk her through the installation. Soon Lindie was ready to do her job. She started with the promised e-mail.

Her next weeks were busy with work. This helped, somewhat, to take her mind off her transformation. She dutifully recorded everything using the online forms as they changed. Often, you could tell what the person would end up in the first few days. Her changes, though, seemed much slower than most. Where everyone else had nearly finished her changes within three weeks, Lindie was still pretty much normal save for a covering of black fur from breasts to legs. She wondered whether she should request a genetic assay to find out what form she'd end up living with for the rest of her life. Every time she picked up the phone to request the assay though, something made her put it down before keying in the number. Finally, she decided that she'd rather not know. Or, she'd know when her change was complete.

One morning, she discovered that her "fur-only" stage was coming to an end. She'd tossed and turned all night long. For some reason she couldn't find a comfortable place or position. It was like she had a large lump in her bed that was always in the most inconvenient location. That morning, she discovered her hips had grown a bulge just above her buttocks. This was the lump that had made sleep so difficult. About the size of a football, it was hard and covered by the same course, stiff hair that covered the rest of her body. Over the next few days, the bulge grew until it was easily as half again as large as her hips in width and nearly as long as her torso. The extra weight made walking difficult but Lindie managed by leaning forward to balance herself.

With a week, the lump (which Lindie christened her "bustle") stopped growing. Four pairs of bulges started to develop from the underside of the lump. These, over the weeks, grew into huge hairy legs that she soon had not trouble identifying. She had a body just like the damned tarantulas her husband kept as pets. Somehow, the virus had grabbed them to change her into. As the legs grew out, Lindie discovered her own legs were starting to weaken and thin. It was as if the new legs needed something from her legs to finish their growth.

She quickly realized she'd best learn how to work the spider legs as her own would soon be gone. At first, it was frustrating beyond belief. For days, the best she could do is wiggle a tip or a segment. Eventually, though, as her legs shrank to the point of near uselessness, she finally got the hang of the spider legs. Of course, the new legs were weak as they were still growing but Lindie persevered.

With all her work and effort focussing on the legs, she almost missed the next development. A second lump was starting to grow from the end of her spider thorax. At first, she hated the new addition as just one more stupid thing that the virus had done to her. But as her spider legs strengthened, the new abdomen proved its worth as it help balance her still human forward portions.

Finally, there came the day that she dreaded. It had been apparent for at least three days that she'd stopped changing. She knew she should report this and accept assignment to one of the new camps in the wilderness. But there was one thing she wanted to do first.

After five weeks of avoiding patrols, she finally left civilization behind her. She headed off on the dirt road into the mountains to the place she knew her husband was hiding. She'd definitely have a surprise for him when he got back from hunting. She climbed the cliffside behind the cabin and waited. She didn't have to wait long. The coward soon appeared with a small deer slung across his back.

"Well," she stated as she dropped down beside him and tossed a loop of silk around him. "Are you going to invite me in?"

All he could think to do was scream.