Galatea 2 - Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16: UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES

“Well, well… don’t you look stunning?” One Dr. Kevin Giles remarked as Vanessa approached his reserved table. She took a moment to observe the atmosphere of the restaurant before approaching the table—the pleasant melodies of the string band mixing with the soothing sound of flowing water in the miniature waterfall creating a comfy cacophony of resonances.

Once again, Giles was totally spoiling his Galatea. He mused over just how expensive this place was, chuckling to himself at the thought of his investors not realizing where the bulk of his funding was going.

“I sure hope I look stunning. This dress certainly didn’t seem cheap when it mysteriously arrived at my door.” she flashed bedroom eyes at the doctor, letting him know she was keen to the rather obvious identity of her secret admirer. Though perhaps it was because he was the only one on the university campus who still attempted to retain an air of subtlety to his approach.

The well-lit interior of the restaurant paired well with Vanessa as she twirled in her red dress, putting on a tiny show for Kevin and every other diner and staff member fortunate enough to have caught it in the moment. Her pitch black hair landed perfectly in cascades around her shoulders like a wind-swept fashion model shoot, splashing down the sinuous muscles of her exposed back. The soft swells of her breasts jiggled as the spin ended, generating a gust of air that could be felt throughout the restaurant.

As if to illustrate a further point about her form of femininity, she clenched both of her fists, causing her shoulders, biceps and triceps to ripple into iron-hard swells and ridges of slim, sexy muscle as she curled her arms upwards. “And while I absolutely love it, I just hope it doesn’t distract too much from the gun show on the second floor.”

“N-not at all!” Giles replied, finding himself stuttering at the very sight of such a powerful woman.

Her matching stilettos briefly pushed off the floor, taking flight an inch off the ground only to quickly land in her seat without much fanfare. She knew she was playing with fire, her sly smile in response to the doctor’s disapproving glare said it all. Giles had made it clear that showing off powers in a heavily public area was a bad idea, and yet Vanessa loved skirting the line anyways.

The food arrived and it was just as good as advertised. Kevin had already ordered beforehand, confident that he knew exactly what dish Vanessa would like most. Sure enough, when it arrived she gobbled it down in an almost unladylike fashion. Admittedly, she would have settled for just about anything—she was fucking starving.

Giles watched in awe as Vanessa ate a fifteen-course meal at what was usually a single-course meal restaurant. The doctor himself was nowhere near that hungry!

Eventually, there was a natural lull in conversation between the two of them, though Kevin was eager to maintain steady conversation.

“I must say, I’ve been sending progress reports and photos to my investors and they are very impressed with your progress, as am I.”

“Hmmph, well, who wouldn’t be? I mean, just look at me. I’m a fucking stunner,” she flashed achingly green eyes his way, causing his heart to throb and his member to engourge.

He steeled his resolve. No matter how excited he got, they needed to keep a low profile. Kevin would never say it aloud, but what he wanted right now more than anything was to tackle Vanessa onto the table and furiously make out with her.

Vanessa giggled, seemingly at nothing, which recaptured Giles’ attention.

“What’s got you giggling?” he asked playfully, twirling a solitary finger around his wine glass.

“Oh nothing, just thinking about something completely unrelated,” she replied, though it wasn’t particularly convincing.

“Well, we’ve got all night on these endless breadsticks, you can tell me anything you want.”

She raised a sculpted eyebrow. “How about this: You tell me what you were thinking, and I’ll tell you what I was thinking. Sound good?”

Giles chuckled. “If you must know, I was thinking about how beautiful you are and how I could just spend eternity looking into your eyes.” He may have omitted a few of the finer details, but the general gist of it was there. Yet—even without a single tell towards his dishonesty—Vanessa wasn’t buying it.

“Tell me Kev, what were you really thinking?”

Phew, good thing she’s my equal. Kevin thought to himself, attempting to quell his fears as his mind conjured up a satisfying response that wasn’t totally embarrassing. Her staring daggers into me would be terrifying if we weren’t both enhanced by the virus.

“Oh, but I believe that’s where you are mistaken, Giles. We are not equals.” She spoke aloud, as if responding to the thoughts within his very head.

Giles did a double take, but said nothing. What… huh? That wasn’t… she didn’t just… did she?

“Oh, but I did, Kev.”

The doctor nearly choked on his water, a solitary cough exiting his throat as he attempted to maintain a respectable presence within this fine dining establishment.

“How did you…” he paused, realizing halfway through asking that such a question wouldn’t even begin to cover the myriad of thoughts rummaging around in his mind. “When did you…” he paused once more, the darker implications of such a revelation overwhelming all coherent thought. “How long have you been able to—“

“I’d be careful what you think about when I’m around, Kevin. You never know who’s listening in,” Vanessa remarked devilishly, interrupting Kevin’s speech before taking a long, smooth sip of her drink, emptying the glass in one pull from her plush lips. “Thanks for dinner, by the way. I’m sure you’ll be a nice, chivalrous man and offer to pay, I believe you remembered earlier tonight that you had just enough to cover such an expensive evening.”

She rose from her seat to leave, there was simply nothing more to say on her part.

“Y-you didn’t tell me?” was all he could muster, the doctor’s response a mix of confusion and heartbreak.

“Oh, Kev, you must realize that I don’t tell you everything…” she then paused to giggle darkly. “But if you’re not careful, you’ll tell me everything.”

She left him alone, the sleek swells of her heart-shaped glutes sashaying side to side as she exited the restaurant. All the patrons were too busy staring at Vanessa to notice the downright horrified face of her dinner partner. His face remained frozen outside of the occasional errant twitch of his upper lips. His eyes stared forward, unblinking.

Who… no, what had Dr. Kevin Giles just unleashed upon the world?

***

Giles’ hurried stride hid very little of his overwhelming terror as he ran back to the lab. Still in his fancy tux, he hurriedly flipped through many of his notes to see where he had gone wrong. Reading someone else’s brainwaves? How the hell was that even possible? It shouldn’t have been possible! Sure, being able to delay one’s descent and improve one’s leaps opposed to gravity were due to highly complex and subtle vibrations that the body produced.

Kevin could not begin to think of a scientific explanation that could explain what he witnessed tonight at dinner.

Pulling out his research computer and searching through some files, he arrived at his last-ditch effort to regain control of the situation. An activation that predisposed Vanessa to be “receptive” to his commands. A failsafe should things go awry. He had explicitly programmed a subsection of the RNA strand to influence her thoughts and attitudes towards him, though she seemed so desperate and eager to do anything for him that he left the cap for its influential tendencies at a mere fifty percent efficacy.

He wasted no time cranking the dial up to 100%.

It would take a day or two for the microchip within Vanessa’s bloodstream to implement every change, but it needed to be done. She was becoming more than even he could handle!

“It’s not fair!” He lamented aloud, venting his frustrations upon the nearest piece of tech. “I finally got the girl of my dreams to fall for me and now she’s ready to surpass me! Where did those powers of hers even come from? I allowed a nigh-identical strain into my body and I haven’t seen side effects as drastic as that one! All I want is a loyal, subservient woman as beautiful and powerful as I am! Is that really so much to ask for!?”

He cried to the heavens which he did not believe in, and as expected they gave him no response. He wanted to make gods! And yet every finely crafted woman he craved was either accidental or something had gone horribly wrong in the process.

Sure, he had told his investors that this tech would be used for the betterment of humanity. No starvation due to the ability to harvest energy from neutrinos. Less violence by reducing predisposition toward violent tendencies and making bullets obsolete through enhanced toughness of the skin. These were all features present in him, Audrey and supposedly Vanessa. But if reports of her misbehavior and negative attitude were true, this would be a hard sell. Giles wanted his superpowered girl cake and to be able to eat her out as well.

He could only hope with uncertainty that his failsafe was enough to override the burgeoning prowess of his Galatea.