Copyright July 30, 1999 by Sharin Tharkanis

This work is unfinished and as such may not be redistributed in any form
without my permission.  Not great writing either come to think about it,
but it is my first foray into furry fiction.  Somehow Colin and Jan took
over the story early on and I'm still trying to rebuild the beginning to
suit *their* tastes before going on.



The Webber Project
==================

History:

By 2102 it was apparent to everyone that Earth was dying.  Deforestation
had decimated the rain forests and now the inhabitants of earth found
themselves dealing with an insufficient oxygen supply to sustain life and a
global greenhouse effect that was beginning to melt the polar ice caps at
an alarming rate.  It had been known by organizations within the major
world powers that the critical balance had actually been exceeded shortly
after the turn of the millenium, but that information had been suppressed
and ignored in order to serve the demands of business.  Once the truth was
inescapable and the disastrous results began to manifest themselves,
aggressive reforestation programs were implemented and research into mass
conversion of water into its components hydrogen and life giving oxygen
were launched in what was to be the last and only great cooperative effort
of the world's governments.

Humanity was stuck right along with the rest of the planet's creatures in
the hell that he had created.  After a century and a half of spaceflight,
research into manned spacecraft for deep space missions still took a back
seat to near-earth orbit missions, obital space stations, and colonization
of the moon.

At the beginning of the end, earth looked to the moonbase as a possible
source for oxygen and other raw materials.  Under the leadership of
Commander Colin Webber, moonbase Olympus had finally fulfilled its
primary mission goal of becoming completely self-supporting.  In fact, it
had exceeded it's original definition of "self-supporting" and was able to
produce it's own raw materials and technologies without any additional
supplies from earth.  Several missions were launched and the moonbase
scientists and staff worked feverishly to produce oxygen for the dying
planet.  A few short months after the program began, it was decided that
the amount of oxygen retrieved from such missions was not enough to
justify the amount needed to fuel the liquid propulsion engines of the
transport craft.  The moonbase was left to fend for itself.

Four years later, the water-conversion research had failed.  The quantities
needed just couldn't be produced with the technology available, and the
number of scientists and support staff for the project were diminishing
along with the rest of the population.  Reforestation continued with great
pomp and fanfare but was simply a morale booster for the general populace
to give them hope and quell revolt.  The results of reforestation would not
be realized for at least another 150 years and it was doubtful that mankind
would survive that long.

By this time, Olympus had developed it's own advanced propulsion spacecraft
and made plans to send a mission to earth.  Commander Webber had the
beginnings of a plan to repopulate earth after the disaster was over.  His
team of scientists were among some of Earth's leading authorities in the
fields of biology and genetics and and his handpicked staff boasted several
with experience in cryogenics.  It was clear to Webber that the moonbase
would be the last bastion of the human race.  However, he was not satisfied
with simply creating a "Noah's Ark" on the moonbase to save humanity and
whatever other animal life could be salvaged.  He was convinced that man's
tendency to control his environment rather than live in harmony with it
would lead to a similar catastrophe in the future and that mankind would
eventually utterly destroy itself along with the rest of the planet.  Some-
where along the line Man had lost his instincts, and in so doing he had
destroyed his world.

Stage One of the Webber Project began in earnest, and by the end of the
year all contact with Earth was lost.




Chapter 1 - September 16, 2112


"Just give it to me straight, Jan", Colin sighed steeling himself against
the inevitably poor report.  "How many species were we able to save?"

"It's not as bad as you're probably thinking.  We have representatives from
roughly 30% of earth's land creatures from ants to elephants.", Jan replied.
"Of those, we have about 8% with terribly small representation; 130 species
have only one living specimen, but the Gene Pool is working 24 hour shifts
to offset this problem.  You wouldn't believe the rate at which we are
putting out our modified clone embryos back there, Colin..." and off she
went praising the efficiencies and triumphs of her lab - her life's work.

Collin grinned despite himself.  Uninterrupted, Dr. Janice Winters, the
illustrious head of Genetics on Olympus, could continue for quite some time.

"30%," Collin interrupted, "that certainly *is* better than I had
anticipated.  Lower than I would have liked, but I guess we'll have to trust
God to handle the particulars like he did the first time".

Jan gave him a funny look, "What on earth are you babbling about?  'The
first time'?".

"Well, yes.  We have essentially 'Noah's Ark - Part Two' up here, wouldn't
you agree?"

"Don't even begin to tell me that you believe such mythology, Collin
Webber!"

"Given a few thousand years even we will be mythology, Jan."

"You've got an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Why yes!", he exclaimed sporting one of his best mischevious grins,
"That's what I've got you for!".

Jan made an exaggerated show of rolling her eyes at him and smiled
slightly to herself.  This type of lighthearted banter was a staple of
their professional relationship.  The stress of the project ate on
everyone and Collin was extremely good at finding ingenious ways of
releasing the steam on the collective Olympus pressure cooker while at
the same time maintaining his own cool in public.  For his part, he
depended on his strong and open friendship with his senior geneticist
when the pressure got too much for him.  Many were the times they shared
shoulders to cry on, a sympathetic ear to the frustrations of tight
schedules and the inevitable personnel conflicts, and a word of
encouragement when things looked hopeless.

Reluctantly giving up this small moment, Collin returned to the business
at hand.  "Ok, so we've done our last salvage mission to Earth then,
right?".

Sighing, Jan briefly flipped through the pages of her clipboard and
replied, "Yes.  There isn't much left alive down there outside of the
major forests and kelp beds and we want to leave those alone to develop
their own ecosystems during the second stage of the Project."

"Thank God.", Collin replied reclining back in his chair, "It's damn
depressing down there and the morale of this place has been pretty low
after news of the conditions of the planet have circulated from the last
several shuttles' crews.  It's going to be good for all of us to be able
to announce that we've accomplished stage one and won't have to send any
more shuttles down there."

"I agree with you completely, Collin.  As intense as it gets in my lab,
I've had to force several of my crew to their quarters to get some rest
over the past couple of weeks.  I think they're expressing their
feelings of hoplessness and frustration by intensifying their work.
It's a pretty daunting task, literally saving the world."

"We could all use a little shore leave that's for sure.  You know, some
kind of recreational sports would do wonders around here.  I wonder if
there is something we could do with that old sports arena after all?"

"You mean besides letting it collect dust?  What idiot decided that the
moonbase should have it's own multipurpose sports arena should have been
shot.  No sport works well in low gravity."

"No earth sport anyway, but we've still got a few months left here and
the crew needs a break.  Let's go ahead and power up the arena this
afternoon and do a little brainstorming on developing a new kind of sport
or recreational activity that takes advantage of the low gravity."

"I'm going to be busy in the lab this afternoon.  Why not take Lewis
with you instead?  He'd be better for this kind of thing anyway."

Collin grimaced.  Lewis Archer was easily the most openly pessimistic
person at Olympus, but Jan was right.  As chief engineer he would be
just the person to tackle this particular project, even if his
definition of fun was taking an afternoon off to recalibrate solar
reciever array potentials.  "You're probably right.  I'll grab him after
I announce to the crew that we've finished stage one.  What's our
progress on phase two?"

"So far, all of the animals except for most of the ones that only have a
single representative are in cryogenic stasis already.  The guys in the
lab are working hard to collect genetic material from those creatures
for hybridized cloning to ensure their species' survival when the time
comes to return to earth.  Has engineering come up with a target date
yet?"

"Yes.  It will take approximately 150 years for reforested areas to
start reversing the high levels of carbon dioxide, and barring any
unforseen natural disasters it will take an additional 300 years before
oxygen levels return to normal.  Our cryogenic equipment cannot be
expected to operate properly for that long unattended, so we will be
initiating the final phase of the Project in two parts.  Most of the
humans and all forest and sea creatures will be reanimated for
repopulation in 250 years and the rest of the animals and humans will be
reanimated when oxygen levels are at normal.  The first set of humans
reanimated will be able to check the status of the cryogenic equipment
and set it up to function for the remaining 200 years."

"By humans of course you mean what mankind will become after our genetic
alterations?"

"Of course.  We were extremely lucky to have the moonbase and this group
of scientists and visionaries here this time.  The next time, man may
not be so lucky and end up dying with the planet he destroys - unless he
can learn to live in harmony with his environment instead of trying to
conquer it.  The changes *have* to be made at the genetic level, Jan.  I
don't like it anymore than you do, but all our research points to this
being the only solution that has any realistic chance of permanent
success."

"I know; we all know.  But it is still a discomforting feeling knowing
that phase three is where we redefine what it is to be human, even if it
is for the long-term preservation of our species and our world."

Collin's reply was to flash her a humorless smile.  They finished up
their meeting and Collin found himself absently watching her backside as
she left his office.  Startled at his behavior, he quickly busied
himself with shuffling stray papers on his desk into a single pile
before dismissing his momentary lapse of professionalism as simply the
effects of stress.



Chapter 2:  November 9, 2112

Collin enjoyed the illusion of a sunny day at the beach on Olympus' one
functioning holochamber and reflected on the events of the past couple
of months.  Things had been going very well indeed.  After announcing to
the crew the completion of phase one of the Webber Project he had
coerced his chief engineer Lewis Archer into helping him to develop some
kind of of physical recreation activity that would help relieve some of
the excess stress among the moonbase populace.  The man may be downright
crabby, but he came up with a solution so simple Collin wondered that
someone hadn't figured it out before.  In the low gravity of the moon,
autonomous human flight was actually possible and the luxuries
manufacturing plant was hard pressed to keep up with demand for the
'wings' that Archer designed.  The moonbase arena was powered up and
reconnected to the moonbase life support system and after hours you
could find a good percentage of the roughly 300 inhabitants of Olympus
swooping and soaring in sheer delight in the expanse of the arena dome.

Earlier that morning, Jan had informed him that the last of the animals
had been placed in cryogenic stasis, completing phase two of the
Project.  This meant that the most progressive portion was about to
begin and he wanted to get a little R&R before things got intense again.
At some point in his reflections, he dozed off.

-------

For the fourth time Jan impatiently tried to find Collin and again found
herself looking at an empty office.  Repeated attempts to reach him via
wrist communicator were similarly unrewarding and she was beginning to
get peeved.  "I'd think he'd want to know about this!" she thought to
herself as she began to search Olympus for him corridor by corridor.
Luckily for her temper, the holochamber was not far from his office and
she had only searched a few of the nearly 8 miles worth of corridors on
the moonbase for him before she noticed that the holochamber was online
and occupied.  Quietly she opened the door the the holochamber and
closed it behind her.  She intended to sneak up on him and scare him
awake for being so audacious as to nap while she had something important
to tell him, but instead she simply stood by the holodeck door and
stared at him.  He was wearing nothing except sunglasses and a pair of
bikini brief swim trunks and for the first time she had noticed how well
developed physically he really was.  She shook her head and doing her
best to resume as much of her previous state of mind as possible she
called out his name.

Collin stirred, looked behind him and smiled at her, "Hey Jan!  Pull up
a beach blanket over here.  May be the last chance you get for quite a
while."

"Damnit Collin, I've been looking for you for hours.  Have you been in
here the whole time?"

"Hours?  What time is it anyway?," asked Collin, suddenly fully alert.

"Nearly 15:00.  I've been looking for you since before noon."

"Damn!  I'm sorry Janice; what is it that you need me for?"

"The boys back in the Gene Pool have hit upon a possible combination.
We're running simulations now, but it looks very promising and we may be
able to begin live testing by the end of the month."

"Already?  We have an entire year allotted for research into genetic
recombination possibilities alone.  How did you... wait, I want you to
show me.  Can you hand me my clothes over there please?", he asked
gesturing to a small rack next to Jan.  She handed him his clothing and
turned her back to him so she wouldn't be tempted to watch as he
changed.  She didn't know what that nonsense was all about but she
certainly was much too busy to find out.

Collin powered down the holodeck and the two of them went to her lab.
Inside, the scientists were all crowded around one computer terminal
watching something which was completely obscured from vision by their
collective heads.

"Alright folks, you've watched this at least a dozen times today and
that's just while I was in here.  Everyone get back to your own stations
and let me show this to Commander Webber.", Jan commanded.

Reluctantly the crowd of scientists dissolved and Collin could clearly
see the monitor.  Collin didn't understand much of what he saw
initially.  Sections of DNA were shown being spliced with other sections
and as several screens of mathematical figures passed, Jan talked about
fusing human and animal DNA, most of which was gibberish as far as
Collin was concerned.  But the last animation left no questions as to
what Jan's team had come up with.  A wireframe representation of a human
was displayed and then was shown morphing, developing by stages until
the final frame showed some kind of hybrid creature which was clearly
vulpine in appearance yet bipedal.

"So this is phase three then, a fox/human combination?  Why a fox?  I
would think one of the primates would be an ideal match."

"There were a lot of considerations, but the basic problem with primates
is that although our physical appearance would change little so would
our genetic tendency to dominate our environment instead of live in
harmony with it.  We're too similar.  Since we want only one species
of man and the first half of the final phase of the Project will be
centered on Earth's forests, we needed to focus on forest animals.
Also, we needed to choose animals that veterinary science knows
something about.  Who knows what kind of diseases humanity may be
subject to after the change?  So of the few species which matched the
criteria, the fox is the best genetic match and the one with the highest
probability of success."

"Very well.  Keep me informed of your progress.  And for God's sake keep
this information under wraps for now.  I suspect most of the crew was
thinking along the primate lines like I was and I'm not at all sure how
well this foxmorph thing is going to fly.  I don't want a mutiny."

Jan nodded, "Understood.  Thanks Commander."

Collin left the genetics lab and went immediately back to the
holochamber.  After that bit of news, he had the feeling he was going to
need all the rest he could get.



Chapter 3:  December 22, 2112

Collin was awakened in the wee hours of the morning by frantic knocking on
door to his quarters.

"Commander Webber!  Commander Webber, wake up!", the muffled but clearly
anxious voice on the other side of the door demanded.

Grogily, Collin dragged himself out of bed and put on his robe, pausing
a moment to look at his alarm clock.  "3:08", he thought, "this had
better be an emergency".  As he opened the door, the frantic herald
nearly fell into the room.  As he steadied himself, Dr. Ortiz managed to
stammer out the message which brought him to Collin's door at such an
ungodly hour.

"Commander Webber," he gasped, "Dr. Winters,<pant pant> she used the serum on
herself and she's, <pant> she's <pant>...".

Collin immediately started running to the genetics lab with Dr. Ortiz
following close behind.  He was scared.  Jan was a generally sensible
person but when she got an idea in her head it was nearly impossible to
dissuade her from doing what she had planned.  He realized, too late
now, that she intended to be the 'live trial' all along and he'd been
too blind to see it.  Damn her!

When he reached the lab, it was obvious that something was very wrong.
Jan lay writhing in agony on the floor.  The transformation had begun and
she was developing an elongated snout and fine reddish hairs were
begining to appear all over her body.  The scientists were standing
around anxiously watching the scene and obviously had no idea what to
do.  Collin roared, "She's in pain damnit!  Give her something to help
her!".  One of the scientists in the group snapped into action, quickly
retrieving a hypodermic of morphine and injecting Jan while Collin did
his best to hold her still and keep her from injury due to her thrashing
about.  The morphine didn't help and after repeated futile attempts to
ease her pain with various drugs, the decision was made to place her
under general anesthetic until the change was complete.  At last her
writhing ceased as she slipped into peaceful oblivion.

------

Strange and intense smells ushered Jan back into consciousness.
"mmmmph." she mumbled, and she felt the matress sink as if someone or
something had suddenly been set on the bed beside her.  Strange, the
rustling of the sheets was unusually loud and crisp....

"Shh.  Just lay still Jan", she heared Collin say, "Don't try to open
your eyes just yet.  You need to take a minute or two to adjust to
yourself first."

"'Adjust to myself'", Jan thought, "what in the hell is that supposed to
mean? and who got careless with the lab chemicals?  It smells like
someone knocked over an storage shelf in here.", she wondered.  She tried
to sit up - only to find that her hands and feet were strapped to
restraining belts on her gurney.

"I said cool it Jan," Collin ordered softly, "that was a fool stunt you
pulled and so help me if you had died I would have had to wring your
furry little neck."

Disoriented, Jan couldn't imagine what on earth he was talking about and
she rotated her ear toward him quizzically as she was about to ask him
what was going on.  Rotated her ear?!  Suddenly remembered everything -
injecting herself with the serum and the pain (oh the pain!).  Her eyes
flew open and she struggled against the restraints for a moment.
Looking up at Collin she demanded, "let me go!  I need to get to my lab
station!", or at least that's what she intended to say.  What actually
came out was an odd mixture of garbled barks and yips as her now
unfamiliar mouth and tongue tried unsucessfully to form words.

Collin regarded her thoughtfully for a moment and then answered her.  "You
volunteered to be the guinea pig so I don't want to hear any complaining
about the treatment or accomodations, which is what I assume you were
trying to do.  I've placed Dr. Ortiz is in charge of the lab until
further notice since you will be much too busy with other duties for the
forseeable future - such as being poked, prodded, and observed 24 hours
a day in addition to speach thearapy and whatever other torture your lab
mates can come up with for you."

Jan struggled vainly for a moment again as the realization hit her of
what exactly was going to happen to her.  She had been planning to
research the transformation first-hand but now Collin had basically
suspended her from her duties.  She looked down at her bonds, looked
back at Collin and yipped at him questioningly.

"We didn't know what state of mind you would be in when you came around
again so we didn't want to take any chances.  I'd say you're ready to
lose those, but that's Dr. Ortiz's decision.  Whatever the case, you
have to remain in the lab and out of sight.  I can tell by your actions
that you feel the process is ready, but I'm not willing to make that
commitment until you've been thoroughly checked out and declared
perfect.  I'll invent some kind of cover story to explain your
disappearance and I'll be sure to check in on you regularly so that I
can evaluate your progress personally."  He paused for a moment and
regarded her seriously. "I put some of the crew to work clearing out
the unused storage room next to the lab.  That is going to be your
living quarters from now on.  I've had the door leading from that room
to the corridor sealed off and a new door connecting opening from it to
the lab installed so that we can keep you out of sight while you are
being tested.  You may not leave your quarters except under the
supervision of Dr. Ortiz or one of the lab staff.  Can I count on your
cooperation Dr. Winters?", he questioned.

Jan nodded and Collins' features softened again.  "I'll check in on you
later", he said and bent down and kissed her furry cheek before stepping
into the main lab to speak with Dr. Ortiz.

Moments later she heared the hydrolic hiss of the door as someone,
presumably Collin, left the lab and Dr. Ortiz entered the room. He looked
her over briefly, checking her vitals and making notes on his datapad.
"I think it's safe to remove these now," he said and released her from
the restraining belts.  "Please don't try to get up yet Dr. Winters," he
cautioned, "The changes to your body are significant and it is probable
that your brain will need some time and training to adjust to your new
form, though it appears from the way you can move your ears to follow
sounds that you already have some fine motor control", he noted as she
rotated her vulpine ears forward to listen to him.  "I'll send Valerie in
to get you situated in your new quarters.  I'm assigning her to you
full-time as a matter of fact.  She has had some veterinary experience
in addition to being a Nurse Practitioner and since you will be
rooming together for the duration of your testing and analysis, the fact
that she is female was an added bonus."

As he left the room Jan carefully sat herself up on the gurney, mindful
of her new tail.  "I guess I won't be slouching in my seat anymore," she
mused as she hung her tail over the back of the gurney and examined her
hands.  If it weren't for the red fur, the retractable claws, and the
soft black pads on the palms, they would look just like human hands.
She flexed her fingers experimentally and found that they had the same
range and complexity of movement that her fully human hands did.  As
intent as she was in her examination, a shuffle close to the door behind
her caught her attention and her right ear almost involuntarily turned
to follow the sound.  She turned her head and saw the young nurse just
approaching the room.

Valerie Wilkes smiled broadly as she noted that Jan had heared her
coming.  She hadn't actually seen the transformation in person, but she
had been shown footage of it in preparation for her assignment so she
was not surprised or alarmed at Jan's appearance.