I awoke breathing, which was a good thing. I was suspended about two feet above the floor of some sort of immersion chamber, and there were tubes affixed to me in more places than I care to remember. It was then that I realized I wasn't breathing air, but the fluid I was suspended in. I coughed violently but to no avail. The fluid effectively drowned out all sound and feeling, so I was surprised when a voice echoed in my ear.

"Good morning, Doctor Eavens. I trust you had a pleasant rest?"

I tried to say, "as good as can be expected," but no sound emitted from my lips. My tongue was numb. The voice spoke again.

"I must apologize for your treatment. We usually don't have to resort to this sort of violent recapture. Your amnesia was unusually complete."

Amnesia? What amnesia? The chamber was empty except for the tubes, so I had no idea of what kind of situation I was in. I was worried, but I had no way of knowing what was going on. Suddenly a deep soothing calm swept over me. I was forced to relax, even as the rising panic had threatened to consume me. The voice continued.

"At this moment, your original form is slowly being restored. Tailored microbes are completing the work necessary to silence your immune system, and soon they will begin reconfiguring your body. Your brain requires far more delicate restructuring, so it will be done last. Until your immune system can be reactivated, I cannot allow you to leave the chamber, so I must ask you to relax. This won't take much longer."

A dull throbbing pain began to surface all over my body as the restructuring began. My arms began to withdraw into their sockets, and my legs were shortening as well. I looked up at the ceiling of my prison and found my head fixed in that position. I turned violently but could not free myself. I was stuck.

"This process will be complete in about an hour. I do apologize for the discomfort you are obviously feeling, but it was unavoidable. If it helps to hear this, you knew the risks when you volunteered. If you like, I can have you sedated for the rest of the process. It isn't very pleasant. I should know."

I agreed. I didn't want to experience what was happening. Somehow the voice knew this, and I was plunged into blackness. I dreamed then, a few confusing collages about my early days at the university. I remembered Alice. I longed to be with her, to hear her light and cheerful voice, to relax on that old beat up couch that we dragged into the library, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Marple. We were always so great together. I remember those long nights, just sitting and reading, or discussing microbiology...

I was on a beach. I dove into the water and swam away from shore, away from everyone. I didn't want to have anything more to do with those people. I heard my friends and family calling me back, but I didn't care. I wanted to

Escape.

I was awake again. I tried to look down at my body, to see what these people had made of me, but I couldn't. All I saw was the floor. I looked ahead of me, and saw an octagonal hallway stretching out and into the distance where it turned a corner. I ran down the corridor I had been placed in, running past dozens of circular doors. There was a sound behind me, and I turned. Hovering in the corner, and wearing what looked like a cross between a computer board and half a pair of sunglasses, was a bottlenosed dolphin.

"WHO ARE YOU," I screamed. I was terrified. Dolphins had always seemed delightfully alien to me, but now, in these most alien surroundings, the creature almost looked familiar.

"Patience," said the apparition. "All will be explained. Follow me." The creature had the same voice I had spoken with in the chamber. "You have been retuned. All of your motor reflexes have been returned to their original state. Unfortunately those activities which have no human analogues will require retraining. A physical therapist will be assigned to you for this task." I followed numbly. Uncomprehending, I walked behind it. It wasn't until then that I realized I wasn't walking at all, but swimming. Just as I was about to understand this, a fresh bombshell was dropped by my captor.

"Do you miss Alice?" I would have cried if I had been able to. My voice sounded shrill and broken in the water.

"What? Of course I miss her; I loved her!"

"You loved her? She was just a colleague..."

"But such a friend! My only real friend in those days. I loved her more deeply than I ever could have known. Than she ever could have known." I was blubbering. Unable to cry, I had resorted to babbling. The dolphin spoke.

"I didn't know you had such strong feelings for... not even before... " We had stopped. Hovering, still in the water, we both stared at each other.

"Who are you?"

"You really don't recognize me."

"I don't know what you are, let alone who you are."

"Perhaps that would be the best place to start. I am a dolphin."

"That much is obvious."

"You don't understand the full nature of a dolphin. We aren't just cousins of mankind. We are a part of mankind, a sister race. The joining of our races is lost to your sense of history. But not to ours. At a time approximating 12000 BC, a group of humans was infected with a mutation that created a bundle of cells capable of two-way communication with other organisms through virus transformation. Our ancestors became part of the human race when we came into contact with humans having this mutation. These humans were later killed by a volcanic eruption. Those humans who did not have the mutation were far in the majority. They prevailed. But we dolphins, who were not affected by the eruption, survived. Our ability to communicate with this new biological device gave us an edge, and we proliferated. Over the centuries, we learned how to use this ability for many hundreds of applications. These included the ability to become human."

"Become human?"

"Yes. That was the first part of your mission."

"My..." I didn't know what to say. My unusual form was now explainable, but I was reeling.

"We were meant to live among humans and study them. I returned about eight years ago."

"Eight? You're... Human?"

"Not at the moment. Neither are you, technically."

"Eight."

"Do you understand now?"

"Alice."

"What?"

"Alice and I parted company when I graduated. Eight years ago."

"Yes."

"Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Are you Alice?"

"I thought you'd never ask!"