The Scientist's Burden

Lena sat on the park bench, the autumn leaves rustling gently in the breeze around her. Lena, looking at the man who talked excitedly, trying smiling. Inside, she felt like screaming. Another day acting this way... Her tight grey turtleneck that clung to her body, highlighting the large breasts she was still unused to having. Each breath caused them to sway gently making her constantly aware of their large heavy size, a reminder of this nightmare.

She try, she really trying hard not to think about the body that wasn't her, but it was impossible with the constant reminder not only from her chest and hips that lived their own life, but also by her long hair, blowing softly around her, in her eyes, a mouth and wardrobe filled with things she could never had imagine wearing.

She tried to maintain a composed smile as Greg, one of the research assistants, stood before her, animatedly recounting his latest experiment, his eyes lingering on her chest more often than on her face. Inside, she wanted to run and hide. She hated pretending like she is a woman who knows nothing of science or the research, who cares more for her appearance and popularity.

Only a week ago, Lena had been Dr. Leonard Harris, a respected scientist in the field of genetic engineering. During an experiment involving a parallel universe machine, something had gone horribly wrong. A surge of energy had enveloped him, and when he awoke, he found himself in this unfamiliar body, in this bizarre version of his own world where he was no longer himself but Lena — a woman who participated in the experiment as a volunteer.

Only after she told many scientific details about the laboratory, the experiment and much more to the scientists, they believed her, albeit with a degree of skepticism. However, they agreed not to tell anyone, because they knew that news like this would upset their patrons greatly and might jeopardize the funding for the experiments. Therefore, they asked her to pretend as best as she could that she was Lena and everything was alright while they conducted their research to find a way to turn her back.

"Lena, are you even listening?" Greg's voice cut through her thoughts, snapping her out of her memories of how she spent almost several hours today on her stupid makeup and hair. "If you don't want to listen, say so. Still, science is not a woman's world." He snorted angrily before sitting next to her, making Lena visibly tense with a hand behind her shoulders.

She forced herself to remain calm, even smiling. "Please. Tell me more about that." she whispered weakly. She knew everything this guy was saying, but she didn't want to lose touch with science and the experiments. Especially now that the scientists said she shouldn't contact them so often, because it was suspicious... and she had no choice but to agree to a date with this Greg, who could give her at least some information about the progress of the experiments.