Satisfaction Guaranteed
Eighteen, out of work, high school and broke Jacob scanned the classifieds hoping to find a job to earn enough money for college. Unfortunately, his efforts had met with little success.
A new job ad among a sea of repeats caught his eye. It took up nearly a quarter of the page and was in full color. He knew that these postings were expensive. He guessed that such a posting surly must be from a wealthy company that could afford to hire a lot of people. Turning his attention to the ad, he read it.
MetaAnthro industries is seeking (fifty) 50 people of all ages and walks of life to participate in an experiment
We are testing out a vitamin new supplement formula guaranteed to grant its user
- A longer life span
- Better health
- Stronger Muscles
- Increased Intelligence
- Augmented awareness and perception
- Stronger emotional control
- No experience required!
- No Degree required!
- Must be 18 or over!
"Wow," Jacob reacted "That sounds great, it could be the solution to all of my problems."
There was also fine print but Jacob disregarded it thinking it was just legal details he wouldn’t understand.
It never occurred to him to be suspicious. Although he had been job hunting for several months, he was still learning about the process. He was still a tad naive and assumed that the newspaper would have checked up on the company and that it had to be legitimate.
He saw that a number was listed and quickly reached for the phone and dialed it. It rang a few times before a receptionist answered.
"MetaAnthro industries, Heather speaking, how may I direct your call?"
"Hi, this is Jacob calling, I’m responding to your ad in the paper"
"Ah" she answered enthusiastically "Okay, were doing sessions today, can you come down at 3pm?"
"Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem"
The receptionist gave Jacob directions and hung up. Jacob was suspicious about her enthusiasm but was too desperate for a job to allow himself to be cynical and risk turning down a legitimate opportunity. He didn’t have a car, so he would need to take the bus. That wasn’t a problem as there was a bus stop right in front of the building in which the company was located. Something in the back of Jacob’s mind told him to be suspicious, but he brushed the feeling off, justifying it by assuring himself that if the company wasn’t legit then they wouldn’t be in business.
***
Dressed in a black suit, tie, black pants and dress shoes, Jacob arrived in front of the building ten minutes before three. The building was huge, at least as big and tall as a major league stadium, although more rectangle in shape and with very few windows.
He walked up to the front doors and walked in. After walking through a short hallway, he came to the reception area. The reception area had a large desk with multiple monitors and two receptionists, both with headsets and sitting in leather chairs. The rest of the area was carpeted with several leather sofas, potted plants and several paintings on the wall.
Jacob walked up to the closest receptionist, a young woman in her mid twenties with long auburn hair and an expensive looking suit.
"Welcome to MetaAnthro industries how may I help you?"
"Hi, I’m Jacob Tanner, I have an appointment for 3pm."
"Ah yes, welcome Jacob." She said, standing up to shake his hand. "Before we begin, we need you to fill out these forums. I know their a bit extensive, but it’s important that you fill them all out. Please be sure to answer all questions truthfully. Don’t be embarrassed with some of the questions. I assure you that your responses are confidential and will not be revealed to any third party"
She released his hand and reached under the desk, producing a clipboard with at least a dozen sheets of paper attached to it. Jacob took the clipboard and walked over to one of the sofa’s, sitting down under a drawing of a wooden sailing ship from the 1700s.
Putting the clipboard on his lap, he took a pen out of his jacket pocket and started filling out the information. At first the questions were simple. They asked if he was over eighteen and his name and street number. They also asked if he had any previous experience and asked skills, questions he had come to expect from a job application.
Then the questions started getting strange. They started asking him psychological questions that seemed to want to ascertain how he thought and would behave in various hypothetical situations.
Twenty minutes later, he finally had filled out all of the forums and took the clipboard up to the reception desk, handing it to the young woman. She thanked him and stood up and walked down a hallway next to the desk and into a room.
Jacob waited for nearly twenty minutes before the receptionist and a tall man dressed in a lab coat walked out and approached him. Jacob stood as they approached and shook hands with the man.
"Sorry to keep you waiting Jacob, I’m David. We have reviewed your application and are ready. Please follow me"
Jacob did as instructed and followed David into the hallway and through a series of hallways. Eventually they came to set of double glass doors with a camera above them and card reader to the side of them. The doctor reached into his pocket, producing a card upon which he swiped it through the device. The doors opened and both men walked through.
After walking through another series of halls, they eventually came to a door. David used his keycard to open it and escorted Jacob in. Inside the room was an examining table along with a desk and several cupboards. The room had a faint odor of disinfectant. David asked Jacob to disrobe and to put on a medical gown that was hanging up to his left. He then left the room, closing the door behind him.
At this point, Jacob was starting to get nervous. This was supposed to be a simple test of a vitamin supplement, why did this company have so much security? Not wanting to anger the man, he quickly disrobed and put the open backed medical gown on. The room was warm, so he didn’t feel cold, although he did feel very exposed.
David came back a few minutes later carrying a small white box. He asked Jacob to lay on the table face up. Jacob did so, looking up at the man.
"So, what exactly are you going to do to me?" he nervously asked.
"I am going to inject you with three substances. They are all part of this test. I assure you that you will only feel a small prick as it is only a single needle. We have a medical team standing by should any complications arise. But, don’t worry, we have already done twenty tests and so far there have been no unexpected problems"
"Okay" Jacob replied.
David opened the container, revealing a needle and three vials. Putting the container down on a table beside the examining table, he opened it. Removing the needle and a vial, he placed the first vial on it, a vial with blue liquid, he swabbed just above Jacobs left elbow and injected him with the needle. Jacob felt a small prick as it penetrated his skin. As David depressed the plunger, Jacob he felt the cold chill of the liquid streaming into his veins. Carefully holding the needle in place, David removed the first vial, and placed the second one on it, this one full of green liquid. Again, he pushed the contents into Jacob’s system. Repeating the action for the final vial, this one full of yellow liquid, the removed the needle, put everything back into the container and closed it up.
"You’re probably feeling a bit dizzy now. That’s perfectly normal. I’m going to leave the room for ten minutes. It’s best if you remain in a laying position while this takes effect. If you feel sick or experience any pain then call us and we’ll be here right away"
Jacob nodded and the doctor left the room, closing the door behind him.
The doctor wasn’t kidding when he said Jacob would feel a bit dizzy. The entire room seemed to be spinning. Jacob held onto the sides of the table and closed his eyes, hoping to ride out the effects. As he did so, the entire surface of his skin felt warm and itchy. His face started to ache and his tailbone felt as if something were pulling on it!
He wanted to open his eyes to see what was going on, but the room was still spinning and he feared that any more then a few seconds of that would make him puke.
If he had of opened his eyes, he might have seen that his jawbone and nose were lengthening, forming into a muzzle like shape. Simultaneously, small strands of red fur were growing all over his body, turning white on his chest and black on his feet below his ankles and hands below his wrists. If the room had a mirror and he was standing in front of it, perhaps he would have seen the small hairless stub forming as an extension of his tailbone just above his buttocks.
Five minutes later, the dizziness was finally subsiding. His skin had been itching like crazy for the past five minutes and the room felt hot. He could sense something strange growing under his rear end, something warm and soft. His jaw ached and felt longer somehow.
Opening his eyes, he slowly stood up and nearly screamed at what he saw. His arms were covered in a pelt of handsome red fur that turned black on his hands. He could feel something swishing behind him. In the bottom of his vision, he saw something blurry. Lifting up his right hand, he was too shocked to notice the small pads that were forming on it nor that his fingernails were longer, thicker and turning black. He felt that his jaw was longer. It didn’t take him long to figure out that he had a muzzle tipped with a small cold nose!
He felt around the top of his head and felt pointed furry ears in place of his human ears. He also discovered that although he still had his human hair, it was longer and softer. When he pulled a lock it into his field of view, he saw that it had turned black from its usual shade of brown.
Quickly tearing off the grown, he saw that the rest of his body was covered in similar fur to his arms, albeit white on his chest. Almost panicking, he yelled out for the doctor, but got no response.
He managed to looked around and saw what he felt swishing around. He had a tail, a bushy and long red tail with a white tip!
"What the hell is going on! They never said anything about turning into an animal!" he yelled, but again, no one responded.
His feet tingled slightly as he looked at his hands and saw that his fingers were now slightly shorter and stubbier, each tipped with a sharp and thick black claw. He felt himself raising up slightly and looked down to discover that his feet (which now looked like large fox hind quarters) were now digitigrade.
His heart raced as his mind reeled with what was happening to him. At any moment, he expected that he was going to fall to all fours and lose the ability to speak. This wasn’t what he wanted, he did not want to spend the rest of his life as a fox! But, the changes didn’t seem to progress any further. Instead of falling to fall fours, he remained as he was. When David walked in a few minutes later, Jacob looked at him in anger.
"What the hell is going on here? No one said anything about this!" he angrily said, pointing at himself.
"If you’ll calm down, I can explain, please sit down"
Jacob was very angry but complied, having to be careful not to sit on his new tail.
"You see, we have discovered ways to enhance human intellect, strength, longevity and immunity by combing animal DNA with a classified formula to create hybrids. The questions you were asked were made to determine which species would be the best suited to you. If you’ll calm down for a few minutes, please tell me how you feel"
Jacob then realized something, he did feel good, very good. He felt strong and he noted that his senses were much stronger. He could smell smells that were previously absent to him. He could even smell the leather of the sofas on his clothes. He could hear people talking outside of the door. With such excellent hearing and smelling, he feared the cost would be diminished eyesight, but instead, he found that he could see even better then before. Colors were more vibrant, and previously blurry objects were now crisp and clear.
He also found himself able to understand things he had learned in school. Ideas and phrases that were previously impossible for him to ‘get’ now came to him easily.
There was something else though, he felt frisky, and much to his embarrassment, aroused!
"I feel great. But how does making me like this increase my strength and intelligence? I thought animals had lower intelligence and such?"
"Well, we’ve found a way to combine the best traits of both species. Those traits have combined with each other and formed even better traits. Essentially, you now have the best of both worlds."
"Does explain why I feel so frisky and well…aroused? I’ve never exactly seen a sex maniac. But now, whoa, it’s like my hormone levels have tripled. I know that foxes are known for well, being promiscuous. But I don’t recall the posting mentioning this."
"Did you read the fine print?" the doctor asked. Having not read it, Jacob felt embarrassed. But he also had another issue, animal people weren’t exactly something you’d expect to see wandering around.
"But what about my future? How can I live like this? How will I be able to get a job? I still need more education! How will I get accepted anywhere now?"
"You and the forty-nine others were test subjects for this new program. We assure you that you will all be very well compensated. How does having your full tuition paid, as well as nice new car build for your new body plus clothes and more then enough money to be able to buy a lot of very nice things sound?"
"It sounds great, but there is still the issue of how I’m going to be accepted like this. I don’t think people are expected a fox man to walk through the door."
"We will be going public shortly. Once we assure that you are all stable in these forms, people like yourself will start becoming common place. Now, why don’t we get you some new clothes?"
Jacob nodded.
The doctor escorted him out of the room and down another hallway. Jacob was still fascinated with all of the new smells and sounds his enhanced senses allowed him access to. In fact, he was so distracted that he didn’t notice another hybrid being escorted by another doctor and walked right into her, knocking both to the ground.
Shaking his head, he picked himself up. Bending down, he held his right hand up to help the other hybrid up. It was then that he got a much better look at her. She had gorgeous a coat of gray fur. Between her legs was a long and bushy tail with several black rings and a black tip. When she looked at him, he saw the black mask around her gorgeous blue eyes and could tell that she was a raccoon. She didn’t look much older then he and he guessed her age to be around nineteen or twenty.
Looking up at the fox man that knocked her into her rear end, the raccoon brushed a strand of her black hair from her right eye and looked up at him. Taking his hand, she stood up and looked him over as he did likewise. Oddly enough, Jacob didn’t feel embarrassed about his current state of undress. The raccoon didn’t either.
Reaching out her sensitive paws, she gently felt Jacob’s chest. Jacob’s very much enjoyed the feeling and hummed in pleasure.
"Wow, that feels amazing with fur." He said.
"And it feels so soft with these paws. Hi, my name is Cynthia, what’s your name?" she asked.
"I’m Jacob."
Together they walked towards the room they were being escorted to while Cynthia told Jacob about herself. She was Twenty years old and was trying to get a job to save up money for college as he was. Unfortunately, she hadn’t of had much success either.
She wasn’t exactly expecting to be turned into a raccoon woman and at first had been almost panicked. Once she learned that her intelligence and senses were enhanced, she calmed down considerably. The compensation she (like Jacob) was going to receive was icing on the proverbial cake.
Although she was technically a different species then he, Jacob immediately found himself attracted to her. He assumed it was because of his enchanted libido, but had to admit that even without it, he would have been drawn to her.
***
Their first few days as animal people were not easy. People reacted to them with fear and concern. Some were concerned that their mental enhancements were temporary and that they would end up feral and would be a danger. Others feared that they would think themselves as being better then normal humans and would try to take over the world or force everyone to become a hybrid.
Jacob and Cynthia were fortunately disciplined enough not to feel themselves superior and did not end up losing themselves to their animal side.
They both quickly learned that with becoming animal people, there were some instincts. Cynthia found herself becoming even more curious then she was as a human. Both found themselves interested in collecting stuff, something based on a simple aspect of it such as a natural luster or appealing smell. Cynthia became more of a night owl, staying up later and feeling more natural during dawn and twilight hours. At first they tried to fight their animal instincts, but soon learned to adapt to them and embrace them as part of their being. Both being animal people provided made them kindred spirits of sorts and they soon started dating.
The following year, they were both accepted into the same college. By this point, they were already in love, enough that they had chosen to get married once they graduated.
Throughout their course, they never took anything for granted. They were very thankful for the opportunity, not only education wise but also to explore being a different species. They vowed that they would give everything their best effort. And so they did, after both graduating with high honors thanks to their dedication (and with some help from their enchanted intelligence), they acquired great jobs.
Once securely employed, they moved in together and were married. Less then a year later, their first child, a little girl they named Cassandra was born. She was an adorable baby with Jacob’s fur coloration, (except for a mask and rings on her tail) and Cynthia’s body shape. At first the doctors weren’t sure they hybrids, let alone ones of different species could successfully mate but Jacob and Cynthia proved them wrong.
Cassandra was among the first of the new generation of babies born to hybrids (which were becoming increasingly common by this point). Now that they have a family, they happily look back on that day now years ago that their lives changed. Very content with the ways things turned out, they look forward to many more interesting years together.