It's My Life

Chapter 19 - More Secrets Revealed

I had been taken back to my room, my clothes in my arms, and the door locked behind me. I moved to my bag and found fresh clothes, then went into the bathroom. I felt oddly dirty, like the water had left a film of filth over my skin. I knew I better not shower too long though, so I set the stream at a nice warm setting and stepped out of the bathing suit, putting it with my dirty clothes, then ducked under the water, imagining the muck leaving me. I could almost sympathise with the oil-covered penguins I'd heard about a few years ago. I lathered my hair and washed all over, finally feeling clean again, brushed my teeth to get rid of the sick taste that lingered,and got out of the shower, drying myself off. It was probably my quickest shower ever, but I wasn't going to give them any more ammunition for questions. I dressed and went into the main room, sitting on my bed and pulling a brush through my wet locks. After tying it in a wet plait I saw the plate of food on the chair, but I didn't touch it as I wasn't feeling hungry, and definitely not feeling well. I curled up on the bed, rubbing my stomach, trying to read my book but unable to focus on the written words.

Dr. Warden had arrived in the testing area, feeling slightly anxious. She felt a little sorry for the girl, but she also didn't want to stuff up either. She got everything she needed with the help of a lab assistant, labelled everything, and then set up with a camera and voice recorder.
"Are you ready?" She asked her assistant. he nodded. Warden took a deep breath. "First I will inspect the blood sample to confirm results of the previous test." Warden said. With the camera pointed at the sample, Warden moved the sample to the microscope and inspected it.
"Human blood, proven to be..." she looked at her notes, "...A negative, but with slight imperfections. The oxygen cells are slightly enlarged." Warden said. She picked up the bottle of pure sea water and a tiny eyedropper.
"I am now about to place a few drops of normal sea water on the sample." Warden said to the camera and into the voice recorder. She brought the dropper to the sample and squeezed so that two drops left the dropper and dropped onto the blood. She looked through the microscope again, and nearly gasped.
"The oxygen cells have increased in size, nearly doubled. The water has nearly been absorbed, as though the blood took it into itself. Not all, but quite a bit." Warden said, then waited a bit. "The cells are slowly returning to normal now the nutrients in the water has been absorbed." Warden added, seeing the water pool at the side. Picking up a syringe she gently sucked up the water, taking care not to allow any blood into the syringe. "Vial please." She said. The assistant handed one over to her, and she squirted the water into it.
"Label that as blood absorbed ocean water." Warden instructed. The top was screwed on and the vial labelled as instructed. After a few photos, Warden carefully put the first sample in a sealed, small container for records, then got some DNA and put that on a slide, putting it into the microscope. Peering through the lens Warden looked at the sample.
"Human skin cells, nothing unusual. A bit dry-looking, like the water in the skin has evaporated." Warden noted. She picked up the ocean water again and faced the camera.
"I am about to use an eye dropper to add pure sea water to the skin cells." Warden advised, then dropped a few droplets onto the skin, and peered through the microscope lens.
"Good heavens! The skin has totally changed! Are you getting this?" She asked, the assistant answered in the affirmative. Warden adjusted the viewfinder, and her eyes widened. The skin had taken on a shimmery texture, and looked almost like...
"Scales! They're scales. I'm sure of it. Fish. Remarkable." Warden said. As the water dried up, the skin returned to a fleshy pink again.
"Remarkable." Warden said again. She put that sample away too, then got new samples and ran the same tests with the re-created water.
"There are more of the same results, but the oxygen cells are maybe a half-size bigger instead of double the size, and the water isn't being absorbed as much." Warden reported, getting a clean syringe and collecting that water. The assistant was ready this time with a vial, and it was filled, sealed and labelled. Warden got the next skin sample and added the re-created water to that as well. Looking at the sample, she frowned.
"Barely a change. There is a slight shimmer to the skin, but it's nowhere near as iridescent as the ocean water, and the scales barely form, still mostly flesh. That is interesting." Warden said, and cleaned everything away. She then got the few samples of water, ocean and re-created, then the ocean water after absorption and the re-created water after the same test, and ran nutrient tests to see just how much had been removed. She tested the ocean water first.
"It's almost like heavy water. The oxygen in the water particles are gone, and all the nutrients, as though the water had been stripped." Warden said. She ran the same test on the re-created water.
"The oxygen particles are gone, yes, but many of the nutrients remain behind, as though her cells knew they weren't real, they would harm her." Warden said. She sat back, taking off her glasses and gloves, rubbing her eyes.
"How is that possible?" The assistant asked. Warden shrugged.
"I don't know, and I don't know how to explain it to the others." Warden said. The assistant looked at her.
"Just show them the footage. That'll explain it more than words will." He said. Warden nodded, then picked up her notes, took the camera, recording and photos, then headed out to go to Shields's office.