Polar Pathogen

“No going back now, you know that, Joseph?”

“Of course. I'm not nervous though, I've been planning for this ever since you picked me to accompany you like a month ago.”

I knew he wasn't just saying that to assure me, but also to keep himself feeling confident as well. The trip wouldn't just be his first time out of the US for more than a few weeks, but also his first paid research opportunity since he had graduated from college. He couldn't mess it up if he wanted to get his own research grants and his own assistants in the future.

We stepped onto the plane with nothing but ourselves and our backpacks. We had checked in our luggage much earlier that day, and already stopped worrying about it. The plane wasn't very crowded, but that was expected for a flight from Los Angeles to Canada in the late summer. You'd have to be crazy to want the Canadian climate over the cozy warmth of California, or receiving a lot of money for research.

I felt a little bad for Joseph. I hadn't told him the truth about what exactly we were researching. He was a biology major, so he probably figured that it had something to do with the animals up North, but there was no way he could possibly guess that he'd be studying me. After I tried out the serum my team had worked out.

I decided to put it off until we landed in Churchill, over 30 hours away. Sleeping was much easier after all, and I couldn't be sure that I'd get a lot of rest once I became the test subject.

###

Four flights later, and we were finally on our way to our lab near Churchill. We had permission to use a research lab there, and we would get to have that lab all to ourselves. What's more, it even had lodging for us both.

“Wow, there's still snow in the middle of summer! We really have come a long way.” Joseph said while gazing out the window of our rental car.

“For sure,” I said weakly, trying to think of how I'd phrase my next sentence. “Hey, I have something really—“

“Turn left here, Dr. K. Er, should I still call you that?”

“We're gonna be here a while, might as well get used to calling me Brock. Anyway, you know we're studying—“

“Polar bears, right? That's why we're so close to Wapusk National Park, I think. They should be around here looking for seals.”

“Somewhat. I'd appreciate it if you stopped interrupting me, so I can finish explaining. Honestly, sometimes you're just like a freshman still.”

“Sorry….”

“Just don't do it again. Anyway, there's this vial of synthetic viruses in my bag, the latest in a long series of tests, which have finally gotten ready for human trials. The only issue is that no volunteers presented themselves to be treated. The main reason for that is because once you get treated, the virus stays dormant inside you and even helps protect against other viruses changing your DNA.”

“Alright, I'm with you so far. I assume the virus helps correct problematic genes so that cancers or other diseases get prevented. Sounds great! Why wouldn't anyone want to try it? I'm sure there are some patients… well, about to die.”

“That would be,” I said slowly, “because the DNA that the virus inserts in isn't fully human.”

There was a long pause in the car after that bomb.

“So then… what is it?

“Well, for me, we decided that a polar bear would work well. Mostly because I like those a lot, requested them, and brought my team around to the idea of it. As you know, I have started showing symptoms for Huntington's disease. If successful, this treatment will cure me of that. It will also, put bluntly, turn me into a polar bear.”

“What the hell? Why even get cured then if you're just going to turn into an animal? There's no point! You'd never be able to interact with anyone again!”

I had been thinking about that since before I even asked him to come along. “I'm aware of that. I've lived alone for how many years now though? Six or seven? I can't find anyone interested in me, although I've found a few trying to take my money and ditch me. Huntington's will only make that harder, and this way I can at least become a good test case to help promote others to take it too. It can save lives, and who knows, maybe we'll find a way to revert it after.”

“...I guess it's your decision to make. This is gonna take some getting used to.”

“We're here, hope you're ready.”

Joseph blinked a few times, motionless before looking up at the lab. It was much bigger than he expected. Truthfully, he was expecting some worn down freezing hut in the middle of nowhere, but this had tons of glass, stone and wood. It was really beautiful, and spacious too. He sat simply taking in the lab and the gorgeous snowy landscape around it until he heard me slam the car door closed. The sooner we started, the better. I couldn't wait to just get it over with.

We started unloading the luggage, sprinting in the cold outdoors and taking our time walking around the house once we were inside before getting the second load of baggage. Once we had finished transferring the suitcases indoors, I  grabbed my bag with the serum and and injection gun we'd be using to get it in me and moved to one of the testing rooms. It was in the back of the house, and shaped like a U around the other testing room, basically a large glass box.. Both rooms shared a glass wall facing the cold outdoors. The only difference between the two, other than the shape of course, was that the U Room was set up for monitoring and was filled with computers and measuring instruments while the glass room was sparse except for snow covering the stone on the floor and a small indoor pool.

It would become my habitat.

I began to prep the injection gun as Joseph lazily followed me into the testing room. He had probably decided to explore the rest of the lab while I was getting to work, but to be honest there wasn't much else to look at. There was only two small bedrooms to the east of the testing room, and a kitchen to the west of it. I was the main event.

“Alright Joseph, I'll let you pull the trigger,” I said as I finished prepping the injection gun and handed it to him.

“Geez, do you have to phrase it like that?” He said as he readied it above my shirt collar. He paused.

“Whenever you're ready.”

“Yeah, I know. Just… are you sure about this? Maybe you want to show me the equipment first or something?”

“This is what I want. In fact, now that I've squared everything else away, I can't wait for it to begin.” That came out a little more excited than I really felt, but all the better for reassuring my assistant. I was certain that I was making a choice that would make me happier than I could be as a human, and needed to convey that to him.

“Alright, I trust you. ...Can we still go over the equipment though?”

“You've used this stuff a ton before at your other internships, you'll do great. Besides, the transformation isn't instant, as the virus has to permeate through my body and change each cell.”

“Ok. I'm doing it, gonna put it in you.”

Just like that, with only a bit of tingling on my neck to show for it, my life would never be the same. I looked back at Joseph and smiled.

“Thanks. I don't know how much longer I'll look somewhat human, or how much longer I'll be able to talk, so best to get that out now.”

“Hey, what if it messes with your brain? ...Is there a possibility you eat me?”

“We'll, uh, think about that if it happens. I should still be sentient but of course there's not a precedent so… we'll think about that if it happens.”

I opened the reinforced glass door to the Habitat, as I decided to call it, and closed it back immediately.

“Too cold for me right now,” I said with a little laugh. Joseph laughed back a little. He still seemed uncomfortable.

“Hey, I'll go get some food, in case we ever get hungry. There's only a few old fish in the freezer so I'd better get on it. Don't go crazy!” Joseph said as he hurried out towards the car. I watched him sigh and calm his nerves a bit before heading off towards a market miles away.

I realized right after he left that we forgot to take a picture of me before the experiment! I had been too preoccupied with the big moment to even give documentation a second though. The procedure was documented in advance, and I made sure to follow that while prepping the injection, but I didn't make any measurements.

I hopped on a scale, took my weight, took my height, blood pressure, cholesterol (hadn't eaten since I got on our fourth and last flight, about half a day ago), heart rate, everything I could think of. As I was taking my picture, I noticed that my legs looked a lot… hairier. Is that my fur starting to grow in? I thought to myself in a strange mixture of surprise, fear, and excitement. I took a closer look at one of my leg hairs. It looked a bit wider than I remembered, and the blond color had vanished, replaced by what looked like a brighter white.

I heard to door open and looked over towards the sound. “Hey, I'm back! Want to help me carry groceries back? I got a TON of...” Joseph trailed off as he saw me feeling my legs that were now completely covered by dense fur. “Shit, what'd I miss? Can you still walk?”

I hadn't tried yet. I was sitting on a table, with my pants rolled up super high so that I could feel my fur. I took my pants off first, since they were really starting to get tight around my fur, and hopped down from the table. My legs still worked fine.

“Yeah, it seems like it. My new fur just grew in, I don't think the structure of my leg has changed yet. I can walk normally, for now at least.”

We both paused for a moment, letting the reality sink in.

“So, you wanted my help unloading?”

###

I still slept in a bed that night, wearing a pajama top, a jacket, and three blankets over my chest to keep it warm enough for me to turn the heating all the way off in my room so that my legs would be comfortable. Joseph had it easy, sleeping normally in the room right next to mine.

When I woke up, the changes had progressed further. The fur was almost at my arms, but most noticeably, I had two more limbs hanging off my chest near my stomach. I decided to go get Joseph and go to the U Room to go over it all.

He seemed pretty excited about the feeble new growths on my front. “Um, what do you think these are?” He said, as he measured their length and the diameter of the end of it, for logging.
“No clue. Last time I checked, Polar bears didn't have 2 extra feet.”

“Gee thanks. Can you hold one out for me?”

I tried to manipulate one of them, and it cooperated. I stretched it out, just like I would for my legs.

“Hey, you don't think that my new attachments are legs, do you?”

“...I would say that was crazy, but the joint structure looks like it could match. Couple that with the fur on them and how much muscle they already have… you might be right, you could be growing extra legs.”

I couldn't believe it. This wasn't planned, so what else could happen? Was I turning into a polar bear after all or some sort of monster? Would I survive the changes?

“Well, I guess we'll see what they turn out to be. I'm not gonna put any weight on them until they start filling out. No point in speculating when we can just wait until later.”

###

“Pass the fish,” I said to Joseph, sitting across from me in the kitchen. We had just finished our evening observations. The experiment was proceeding remarkably fast: the fur had already grown up to my neck, my two pairs of legs had started to bulk up, and we could barely see some stubby claws growing in. What I was most excited about though, was the tail that just came in. Short and stout, but fun to wag about, as I stated repeatedly to Joseph.

The changes never hurt. In fact, I barely even felt them. I was glad that both of us were looking me over multiple times throughout the day, so that I could stay on top of how much of me was bear and how much was human.

The skeletal structure of my legs had started to change. Walking upright was uncomfortable for me, and I frequently had to have Joseph to support me when walking around. My hands had not changed structure at all though, ignoring the aforementioned claws, even though they were covered in fur. I was glad, because it made it easier for me to grip him without accidentally hurting him. He continued to be a huge help throughout my transfiguration.

I didn't belong in a bed any more, it was too hot. I'd be sleeping in the Habitat.

###

When I woke up, I immediately realized two things: that my chest-legs had grown enough to match my original legs, and that my spine was curved way back, so that I could comfortably walk on all four of my legs. Joseph looked up at me through the glass, watching as I tried out walking as a quadruped. He looked tired. I had fallen asleep in the habitat stuffed on fish right as I felt the nice cool air, but I got the feeling he hadn't slept at all.

“You ready for measurements?”

“Already did them. Your tail grew about three centimeters, your fur is a bit longer, and as you've noticed your legs are now almost fully developed, tipped with claws, and built like a normal polar bear.”

“Nice job,” I said, truly impressed that he had taken the initiative to do such detailed measurements and that he managed to do them without waking me up. “Have you gotten any sleep though?”

“You're not going to be very human for much longer. I feel like I owe it to you to do this experiment as best I can.”

“Don't worry about the experiment, I'm sure whatever you put out will be amazing. There's a reason I picked you out of all my past students you know. I'm more worried about your sleep.”

“No no, I'm fine. I've had some Red Bull, I'm not that tired.”

“Go get some sleep. I'll still be me after this is over. You're gonna collapse later if you don't.”

“Do I have your permission?”

“YES! Of course you—“ I stopped abruptly as Joseph immediately nodded off, leaning back on his leather chair.

I checked myself for anything he missed. He couldn't really see my belly from how I was sleeping, so I started there. The fur covered all of it, and it seemed like a lot of fat and muscle was building up. Also, my genitals had moved back near my rear legs, where it would be natural. I decided to record that to spare Joseph the awkwardness. He was a great student, and he had handled the experiment remarkably well. I felt proud of him, even though what I taught him in my class probably hadn't made as big of an impact as I liked to think.

I really hoped I wouldn't eat him by the end of the week.


“Hey, you know centaurs?”

I looked up from my meal at Joseph. I didn't fit very well in the kitchen anymore, so instead he brought me food to eat in the Habitat while he took measurements. “Well sure. Do think that's what I'm becoming?”

“Yeah, it makes sense. I've thought about it a lot. Just like centaurs are built like a human from the waist up, you're human from the waist up, and bear on the other half. It fits perfectly.”

“Other than the fur almost at my chin.”

“Yeah, but your hands haven't changed structure, have they? It's just the surface level stuff. And I'm willing to bet that you'll keep a lot of your human body's innards up top while your bear half grows its organs and muscles and nerves.”

“So that's what I'm becoming? A Polar-bear-taur?

“I think Polar-taur works better. No wait, that makes you sound like you're half North Pole,” Joseph finished with a laugh, and I joined in.

“Anyway,” he continued, “that means that it probably won't mess with your head. And by extension, that I won't become food for you.”

“That's the best news I've heard all day.”

###

I woke up in the habitat again, and lifted myself up on my legs. It was becoming natural alarmingly quickly. It was time to wake up Joseph.

Joseeeeeeeeeeph!! was what I tried to say, but instead, a huge roar shook the room.

My head must have changed.

I looked around the room, trying to find a mirror. I couldn't find one, so I padded towards the glass of the habitat instead to get a look at my snout. I looked just like any other polar bear. Joseph chose that moment to enter.

“WOAHHH BROCK DON'T DO THAT I SWEAR IF YOU'RE NOT BROCK ANYMORE I'LL—“ He stopped as he saw me looking at my faint reflection in the glass.

“Well, I guess you're all done, huh?”

I tried to say yes, but more growls came out.

“You… are still in there right?”

I could still nod my head, so I did that instead. Vigorously.

“Alright, that's good. That's really good. Reeeeeally good.” He said, mumbling quietly to himself. “I'm going to come in now to take your measurements, okay?”

I nodded my head again, and made an OK sign with my hands that I was certain would be too furry to read.

As soon as he entered the room, I couldn't help but smell him. He wasn't stinky or anything, just my snout must have been really powerful. My ears twitched a bit as I heard the glass slam back closed behind him. Everything was working great. I had to open my mouth for him, and he poked and prodded my huge fangs and the smaller molars near the sides. It must have been incredibly frightening, but he was either really good at hiding it or too tired to be registering all this. He felt my head, stroked my back to see what response that would elicit, he did the whole deal. This would be my last time, so he had to be thorough.

“Alright, what now? You're done, we've got the data, you're all set.”

I growled at him, trying to explain that he could just release me into the wild, that I can make my way to the National Park and hunt with the other bears, that I was sterilized (assuming the serum worked as intended there) so I couldn't create some screwed up polar-bear-man-thing at the park, and that there was nothing to worry about. This would be frustrating.

“I guess I should just leave the door open. I stocked up the fridge for you, but you're probably gonna have to hunt sooner or later. You'll… you'll be fine without me. I have to go back and make sure the data's been received and return to my family… okay?”

All I could do was look up at him sadly.

“I'm not gonna lie, I've gotten really attached to you, you big huge furry thing. I'm gonna miss you, you know that?”

I nodded back at him, and tried to show with hand gestures I felt the same. I made like twenty thumbs up and moved my hands back and forth, but I couldn't be sure he understood.

“ Maybe we can meet back up here, in the winter, and see the Aurora Borealis or something, you know? I just… don't want this to be it, Brock. I don't want you to disappear forever like you died here.”

I slowly walked over to him, and wrapped him in my arms. He hugged me back.

“I'm glad I finally got to see what a real bear hug was like. Well… see you later I guess. I'll visit as much as I can, you know? Don't get too lonely without me.”

He just left after that. I walked him out to his car, my exposed fur gently blowing in the wind in stark contrast to his layers of stiff jackets. I waved him goodbye, and watched his car drive out back towards civilization.

It wouldn't do well for me to dwell on my last connection to humans for too long. After all, I wouldn't be seeing many. I decided to visit the lab every week though, just in case he really would go through the 30 hour flight just for me.

I turned around and started heading for the National Park. It was seal hunting season, and to tell the truth, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into one and see what it tasted like. I wasn't sure if it meant the virus was still changing me, and changing my thoughts, but I was too tired tired of wondering to care.

The trek took about a day, and I had to stop and sleep halfway through, but I though all things considered I was pretty fast. I still wasn't very hungry, which meant that Joseph did a great job of feeding me and that I probably didn't need to eat as often as a human. After all, seals would probably last me a few days.

I knew I was at the right place because I could smell tons of seals and tons of other polar bears. I headed over towards the polar bears.

Hey, any of you guys speak growl? I attempted to say, with only harsh looks and aggressive body language in response. Their message was clear: No we do not speak growl, and you're scaring the seals away! So much for me finding anyone to spend a lot of time with.

I decided to bunker down like some of the polar bears and wait. I knew I'd have to sit for a few hours but at least I could take it all in. the beautiful snow, the great looking bears around me and the new, strong body I had. I figured that I would end up hating this body after the second pair of legs grew in, but I actually really loved that I'd still be able to walk and have hands free. I'd be able to eat while traveling, and if I leaned down, the sharp claws on my hands could easily help me reach some prey further away than my forelegs could jump at.

Sure enough, three hours later I saw a seal surface for air at one of the breathing holes I'd sniffed out. I immediately stood ran as fast as I could at it. My legs were moving perfectly in tandem, like I had been born a polar bear. It caught sight of me and was beginning to sink away, but it was too late. I pounced up, and crashed down in the water, gripping the seal with my claws and dragging it back up, dealing a ton of damage to it in the process. By the time I had pushed it back on the ice, I wasted no time and bit into it's body, putting it out of its misery. I feasted on its body, surprisingly tasting at least as good as the stale fish I'd been eating back at the lab. I could get used to this.

As I was eating, I sniffed something else. It turned out that overbearing scent was a huge walrus, toward the east near where I was. He had just tried to impale an adolescent bear that was getting a little too aggressive.

Alright, let's see what I can do! I ran at it, like I had with the seal, covering distance like a machine. Once I got close enough, I feinted going to one side and dove to the other side, digging my claws in the ice for traction. It worked, and the huge walrus wasn't able to turn around fast enough to help himself. I lashed out with my hands at his head, cutting it all over in a huge bloody mess. It would have scared me back when I was a human, but it felt natural to me now.

I was about to begin eating it, when another polar bear approached me, clearly eying my meal. I growled at him, trying to explain in ways that bears understand that it wasn't for him to eat. He backed off, and then started to circle the walrus before approaching me again. Something was telling me he was requesting to share it with me.

He started lining up his nose with mine, and I leaned down to help him with that. I had already eaten anyway. We began to eat some of the blubber, and more bears approached me, engaging in the same ritual as the first. I was content to share it with them all, and eventually as we finished they went their separate ways and I washed the blood off my fur in the sea.

I could still smell them from incredibly far away. I wasn't sure if it had to do with the food we all eat together, or if it was the nose booping ritual. Either way, I was satisfied that I was making connections with my species. I'd certainly have stuff to show Joseph when he would return.