C3Verse: Alex's 2nd Convention: Interlude Story Number 1

[Skinsuit/CrossdressingTG]

{6,200+ Words}  

*Disclaimer/Spoiler Alert: Contains Science. 

From the Author: "Hello, I'm Xarek.  



This is a non-sexual short Interlude to Chapter 2 of the C3Verse:Convention storyline. It hints at part of my long term plan for Lexi and A.N.N.E.S. 

Remember that this takes place in an alternate reality to our own with half the population we had at the same time period, due to a tragedy early in the previous century. Medicine and science have advanced far more than our own reality, giving people a better and healthier future. Though the future is still plagued with various health problems that continue to affect us as well. H.U.M.A.N.E. is one of the forefront medical research institutions that is helping to develop a brighter future for those in medical need." 

____ 

Monday, August 6th 2018, Time 08:42 

One and a Half Weeks After Bree's Birthday 

Seattle, Washington; H.U.M.A.N.E. Associated North East Seattle Medical Center 

____ 

Bree dodged some more doctors as she searched the hospital for Alex's room number. She glanced down at her phone to look at the text from someone Bree had never met named Misty Sharp. Misty was apparently Alex's assistant for some company he owned that dealt with medical stuff. 

Tossing the green streak of hair out of her eyes, Bree continued her search. She had originally gotten the green streak as a thank you for her Best Friend during her Birthday weekend, green being Alex's favorite color. But now she was hoping it would help cheer him up and was grateful she hadn't changed it this morning like she was originally planning. 

Bree had gotten a call from Misty over half an hour ago saying Alex had been hit by a car yesterday. 

It was followed by a text with his location. Apparently it was bad enough that they were going to have to perform surgery immediately. He was going to be bedridden for two weeks and Bree was determined to take care of him as much as possible while trying to figure out how to run her new Salon.  

Breana's Gothic Cosplay and Specialty Salon her Best Friend had given her as a gift for her birthday. 

Bree had tried to refuse the gift, but Alex had told her that the paperwork for canceling was just too much work. She really needed to be there for him as a friend and for giving her such an incredible gift. 

Though she was furious at him for not telling her himself that he was in a car accident. 

"Finally!" She said as she saw his room Number with Alex Johnson on a white board. 

Bree hesitated, worried about how bad he was going to be.  

Misty had been vague over how bad the accident had been over the phone, and Bree had no idea what to expect, preparing herself for the worst.  

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she carefully opened the door without knocking. 

Alex was sitting in a hospital gown up in bed, and playing the Warrior Princess on the Portable Visix game system on the hospital TV. There appeared to be nothing wrong with him at all. He looked the same as he had when she had seen him on Saturday.  

Completely Normal and fine except for the fact he was completely bald. 

"Alex?" Bree asked. 

Alex turned to see her standing at the doorway. He seemed shocked to see her and immediately turned off his game without saving. He then turned to glare at the only other person in the room, a woman with ebony skin and black hair done in a tight afro, wearing a conservative business jacket, blouse, and pencil skirt. 

Alex cleared his throat loudly and angrily, causing the woman to glance up from her phone.  

"Oh, Hi! You must be Bree. Alex told me a lot about you." She smiled brightly and came to shake Bree's hand. "I'm Misty Sharp. I'm going to leave you two alone for a bit and find some coffee." 

Bree noticed Alex plead to Misty with his eyes and Misty winked at him and left. 

Alex sat up in his bed, but didn't look at her. "Hey Bree, how are you?" 

Bree came over to his bed, hesitant to bump it. "I think I should be asking you that. You are the one that got hit by a car." 

A look of anger flashes quickly on his downturned face, but it passes just as quickly. He finally looked up at her. "You really didn't have to come."  

Bree moved around the bed and sat in a different chair than the one Misty had been in. One that was facing the bed, trying to show she wasn't going anywhere. 

"You were hit by a car." She said calmly. "You're my best friend, I should be here to help you." 

"There isn't much you can do. I'm fine, really. The doctors have everything under control." 

"You are in a figging hospital for durian's sake! And you need to have surgery! You are clearly not fine." She glared at him, but dropped it quickly. "What happened?" 

"I was walking in a parking garage and I guess someone didn't see me and tried to pull into a spot I was in front of. They hit me and drove off. They didn't have a license plate and the police are looking into it, but with no plate, they aren't hopeful. The doctors patched me up easily enough, but in their exam they found out I hit my head too hard. I may have some damage to something they call the dura mater. Stuff that protects your brain. They are going to go in and take a look." His response seemed pretty practiced and straightforward. He must have given this speech a couple of times. 

"Something in the Brain? That seems pretty serious." Bree was worried. Anything to deal with the brain probably wasn't a good thing. 

"This happens more often than you would think. It can be serious, and dangerous, but mine doesn't seem that bad. The doctors have done this a lot. It'll be fine." Alex reached over and took her hand from her lap. "I'm fine Bree. Really. I feel great. I'm confident things will go well." 

Bree was watching his face as he said this and there was a slight nervousness in his smiling face.  

He swallowed and lowered his voice. "Unfortunately, Lexi won't be able to be around for a while." 

Bree felt her heart squeeze a little bit, but the feeling rapidly disappeared as her concern for her friend pushed it out. 

Despite them supposedly 'Taking the sexual thing slow.' Lexi and Bree had had sex twice since Bree's birthday. 

Now knowing Lexi would be away while Alex recovered, Bree thought to herself, 'Maybe this is something our friendship needs. A good break away from Lexi.' 

She mentioned, "Misty said two weeks bedrest." 

"That's what the doctors say, plus a few weeks making sure I'm in working order. But you don't need to be here. The hospital will send people to take care of me. It may be a while until we can hang out and even longer until Lexi can visit." 

"Nope. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to take care of you." 

Alex let go of her hand and pulled away. "Bree -" 

"Nope. You need help. You've done a lot for me lately, so now I'm returning the favor. I've already decided to stay in your guest room." She lowered her voice, "or Lexi's room. She isn't going to need it, and I've stayed there before." 

She gave him a reassuring smile. "You are probably too injured to stop me anyway so you can't make me leave. I know you don't have anyone else to look after you." 

"Bree-" 

"Alex, You can't stop me from helping you. It'll be a while until everything gets set up for work and I have nothing else going on so this is perfect." 

Alex sighed deeply, shaking his bald head. "I really appreciate it, but you don't need to be there. I know how much blood affects you." 

For being such a dark loving person, Bree knew that blood freaked her out more than it should have. She couldn't even handle putting on fake makeup blood despite loving the vampire looks she did often. "Well... maybe a nurse can come take care of that stuff, but I'll handle the rest. I'll get you food or water or whatever else you need." 

Alex smiled. "There's no changing your mind is there?" 

"Not a chance. You need someone and I know you would do the same for me, even after all I owe you. Please, just... let me pay you back by hanging out and helping you. It'll ease my conscience a little bit. You are really doing me the favor by letting me pay you back." 

He sighed deeply. "Fine, you can stay over, but only as long as I need it, okay?" 

"Of course." She smiled brightly and gave him a hug. Then pulled herself away quickly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that." 

"I told you I'm fine right now. Just a bump on the head. I really needed that hug." 

Bree smiled and very gently hugged him again. "I have to say." Bree said, her face near his. "I really don't like you bald. Especially after the haircut I gave you." 

"I haven't looked in the mirror since they did it a couple hours ago. My head feels cold." 

They hugged for a while, until Alex said, "I'm sorry Lexi can't be with you." 

Bree broke apart to see tears in his eyes. "Hey, I'm okay. Lexi doesn't need to be around. I'd much rather be here with you now." 

"Thanks for being here Bree. I honestly was scared to do this alone." 

"I will always be there for you Alex. Even if Lexi wasn't around." 

She hugged him again. 

____ 

Alex idly chatted with his best friend for a while about what they would do with all the time they had on their hands and what Alex could handle, until Dr. Chow came in.  

Doctor Elizabeth Chow was a thirty year old Blonde woman with Asian heritage, generous curves, and a very pleasant demeanor. Alex had gotten to know her pretty well in the past year as she was the lead scientist for a project he was a part of. 

A project Alex couldn't tell the person he was now lying to. 

"Good Morning Mr. Johnson, how are you feeling today?" 

"It's Alex, Dr. Chow." 

"I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to that, I'll try and do better. 

Alex looked at Bree, "This is Dr. Chow my...." Alex didn't know what kind of doctor he should call her. 

"I have a Doctorate in Neurobiology. I'm trying to help Alex get fixed up."  

Alex knew that was just one of many doctorates Dr. Chow had. She was very intelligent and hardworking. 

"Nice to meet you, I'm Bree." Bree waved to the doctor from sitting next to Alex's bed. 

"Bree will be staying with me to take care of me for the next couple of weeks." Alex explained. 

"Oh how thoughtful of you. We will still need to send people to you to make sure everything works out okay, and then he'll need a check up with me frequently when he is able to travel, but Misty hoped Bree would agree to do that." Dr. Chow smiled kindly at Bree. 

"Ya, I bet Misty hoped that." Alex glared at wherever Misty was until Misty coincidently walked in with a large file filled with paperwork, as if Alex's glare had summoned her. 

"Hello Misty, Bree agreed to stay with him like you said." Dr. Chow greeted Misty who set the file on a desk near the bed. 

"I told you she'd help you." Misty smacked Alex on the arm. Then turned to Bree. "He didn't want me to tell you about the accident. So I stole his phone and got your number." 

"Ya, I wish you hadn't done that." Alex glared at her. 

Bree poked his leg. "You weren't even going to tell me?" She glared at him. "Some friend you are." 

Bree broke into a smile and looked at Misty, "If he tries to pull a stunt like this again, please let me know." 

"Oh I will happily do so." She held up her hand conspiratorially, but Alex could hear her fake whisper, "I think he really needs a good friend like you." 

Dr. Chow interrupted.  "We have things we need to discuss before the surgery. Bree, I'm sorry I have to ask, but could you leave us alone for a bit? I'll have Misty come get you before he goes in." 

"Of course." She smiled at Alex. "I'll be here for the whole thing. You don't need to worry." She patted him gently on the shoulder and left, closing the door behind her. 

Alex's reassuring smile dropped the second the door closed and he glared at Misty, "I'm half tempted to fire you." 

Misty laughed, "I don't exactly work for you except in a very round about way. And you like me too much to do anything about it. Plus you really need someone to help you through this. You really will be bed ridden for a few days. How would you get food?" 

Alex was a master at having take out shipped to his door. But having someone to help him with it all would be really nice.  

He just didn't want to have to lie to his Best Friend. 

Misty continued. "And I don't think you have the courage to fire anyone." 

Alex hated how right Misty always was. "I told you, I didn't want to lie to her." 

"A car accident was the easiest way to tell people why you had surgery on your head. You can't explain to her about project A.N.N.E.S. yet. We need time to figure things out and get the paperwork going. We need progress. This little lie was the easiest way to do it. It's not a big deal. What would be a big deal, is if this project got out in the world, especially because of another security issue last week. We have to keep this bottled up for as long as we can." 

Alex had been well informed about the security breach.  

H.U.M.A.N.E., The Humanities Medical And Neuropathic Engineering: Research Institution; was a company that Alex owned a majority share in that had had frequent security breaches over the past couple of years with multiple project's data and research stolen digitally. They had their best people looking into who had breached the security, but couldn't find the leak. Whoever was stealing the project information had yet to show anything to the public yet.  

It was scary what some of the medical projects could be used for in the twisted projections that Alex had been informed of. 

"Whatever." Alex shook his head, letting his frustration show. He turned to Dr. Chow. "Are we ready for the implant?" 

"We are ready, yes. But are you sure you want to do this? The risks involved are high. You don't need to do this. We can find another way without putting you at risk. You own the company, you also help a dozen others and are a really important person- even though you don't want to be." 

Dr. Chow interrupted his protest. Alex hated being in the spotlight and he didn't really feel like he was that important to anyone. 

Alex said firmly, "I've already told you I want to go through with this. You made me learn all the risks involved. Twice! and I accept them. You and your doctors are confident in success and this is what we need to do to get this project going. We need to help these people. The longer it takes us to figure it out, the longer these people will be without the tools they need to live normal lives. It's already going to take a decade at the very least until we can use this on someone else. Let's get this started." 

Misty held his shoulder. "Well put Alex. I'm proud of you for doing this. Not many people would do this for a company they own."  

Dr. Chow sighed. "Alex. Are you sure your excitement for being able to be a girl whenever you want isn't clouding your judgement?" 

The A.N.N.E.S. project (or Artificial NeuroNerve Engineered Skin) was designed to help people with missing or damaged skin and give them the ability to feel again. Even if they were missing a limb, the skin could be grafted to an advanced prosthetic and they would have the best equivalent of the full feeling limb back. Because of the biological properties of the skin they were developing, they could even graft it to the damaged skin, making it a permanent fix to the patient that required it. 

They just needed a way to test it in a very advanced way and test the range of skin all in one go or the testing would take several decades to accomplish. 

Alex had come up with the idea to create a suit of a woman that he could slip into and test, as the differing skin tissues in men and women would be enough of a difference to make the test work. 

A female skinsuit that Alex was really looking forward to experiencing. 

Alex sighed and explained to Dr. Chow, "In our therapy sessions you asked that already. Of course the chance this might all work excites me. But so does helping people. This will make a huge difference in people's lives. I want to do this for them. So what if this also helps me fulfill my fantasies? I just want you to be excited about this too. All I really have to give people is money. Giving my body to help people is a noble cause in my mind, especially if the chance of permanent harm is minimal. Can you please be happy that I'm forwarding your research? I miss excited Dr. Chow." 

Dr Chow tried not to smile proudly at him. "It's Liz, Mr. Johnson... I'll try and put my worries at ease. I'm so happy that my project is becoming a reality. Thank you for helping me accomplish it." 

She held up her hand and Alex shook it as she said, "I'd give you a hug, but as you are suffering from 'damaged Dura Mater', you aren't supposed to have your head evenly slightly jostled." 

Realizing this, Alex prayed Bree didn't look that up. 

"Now, Alex. Time for some paperwork." Misty held out a pen and Alex groaned, sinking his head into the cold pillow. 

He had almost forgotten he was now bald. 

____ 

Tuesday, August 28th 2018, Time 08:12 

Three Weeks Later 

On The Streets of Seattle, Washington 

____ 

Alex was sitting in Bree's car as she drove to H.U.M.A.N.E.'s main office. Alex still wasn't cleared to drive yet so he had asked her to take him and she happily agreed. 

He tried not to treat her any differently than what their relationship was like before she stayed at his house for two weeks, but it was a little difficult especially with her not knowing how he really felt having spent most of his waking hours for most of that time with her. 

Bree was a terrible housemate.  

She was a bit of a slob, often dressed inappropriately which made things awkward for Alex, and she was an expert at leaving clothes everywhere. 

She also enjoyed loud music far too much. After Alex asked her to keep her speaker down the first time, she was generous enough to never play her goth or punk music aloud in the apartment again. But the noise was always high on her headphones and he had given up calling her name more than twice within the first couple days, resorting to messaging her if he figured she had headphones in whenever he needed something and couldn't leave his bed.  

She was a pretty decent cook, and an expert at eating out, but would often leave the dishes for a few days and always forgot about the leftovers she had. 

Then there was her newfound job that he had given her. Because they lived together, she was constantly bugging him about it, asking him how he managed his businesses, wanting his opinion on things, trying to convince him she wasn't worthy of this and he should just fire her or just let her work for someone else. 

It was difficult for him to help her with how much pain his head was in. His head constantly ached and it sometimes felt like the pain was made worse with medication. He knew it was his responsibility to help her with the salon he now co-owned, but it was all he could do to convince her that she could do this and to keep with it. 

Alex tried really hard to be patient with her. He was more than happy Bree had done this, because he wasn't sure he could have done this by himself. She was doing him a huge favor in taking care of him, and she always did everything he asked and never complained once, but the small things added up and he convinced her he could take care of himself last week if she just bought food with his own card and checked on him once in a while.  

Sometimes he wished he wasn't such a coward at confronting people. 

Alex turned and smiled kindly at her. For what felt like the hundredth time, he said, "Thanks for taking me to my doctor's appointment." 

Bree kindly smiled over at him. "Of course, happy to help. Do you actually want to go out to dinner somewhere tonight? I think it'll be good for you to go someplace besides your doctor's visits." 

"That sounds great." 

Alex had wondered how they had gotten along having partially lived together before, and he finally decided that sex was probably the answer.  

Bree seemed very different around him now that their 'Friends with Benefits' relationship had been put on hold and Lexi had been missing from both of their lives for three weeks. They still seemed like pretty good friends and enjoyed watching movies, talking, scheming, and just hanging out. But there was definitely something missing and things were slightly awkward at times for both of them. 

He was happy that he found out just how bad she was before he became completely infatuated with her again. Anytime he started to fall in love, he could just remember the moldy takeout that stank up his fridge. 

But one really good thing came from this. He believed their friendship was a lot stronger than before. 

Not Lexi and Bree's friendship. Alex and Bree's Friendship, which he considered more important now. 

And Bree was starting to do really well for herself. She had even gone on a date last night that had been terrible, but she was still happy to be out looking again. 

Which made Alex feel pretty good that she wasn't trying to change herself for him again. 

He turned to look at the Security gate as they approached.  

Alex had a doctor check up three times a week with Dr. Chow. As he recovered, Dr. Chow's excitement over their project seemed to grow again. 

He was now the first human with a highly advanced Neural Feedback inside his head. This was the first step in allowing him to test a NeuroNerve skin.  

Because of the nature of injuries that the future people that needed NeuroNerve had, it would be impossible to just apply it to them and be done. They would need an implant straight into their nervous system that allowed them to feel whatever parts they were missing and new nerve-like strands run through their bodies. The strands were easy enough to implant without any form of scaring with the technology they currently had. The procedure was similar to replacement blood veins that was finally being implemented in the public this year. 

The technology that allowed people to move prosthetic limbs required a similar nerve tap, and project A.N.N.E.S. adapted the technology and reworked it to include the sense of touch.  

Today was Alex's first test of it to make sure his implant was successful and the technology worked enough to progress.  

But to Bree, it was another unusually long doctors checkup at a highly secured office building. Alex had told her he owned this company and because he had gotten in an accident here, they felt obligated to help him recover. 

"Hello Sir." The security guard bent to see into the car. 

"Hey John." Alex knew the guard and his co-workers pretty well now, having been here at least once a week for the past year. 

"Here is your Visitor Badge Miss Turner. Remember-" 

Bree interrupted the standard procedure for visitors. "Ya, ya, stay in designated green areas, including the lobby, green cafeteria, and waiting room." 

John smiled at her. "Have a good day you two. Put on your badges." 

Alex already had his clipped to his t-shirt while Bree did the same to hers. 

John opened the gate and let them through. 

____ 

Misty had been waiting for them and was going to keep Bree company for the duration while Alex made his way to Dr. Chow's office. Because of the efficiency of security, Dr. Chow already knew he was there and directed Alex to an exam room where Alex was immediately given a full check up by a nurse. 

After the Nurse left, Dr. Chow did a final check on the new additions to his body.  

He now had two small metal plates about the size of a small pill just under the back of his skull. They were the color of his skin and almost invisible while he was still regrowing his hair. 

He had been wearing baseball caps lately to try and hide them and the lack of hair he still had. It would take another week for it to even get to a buzz cut with the hair regrowth medication he was on. 

The downside to the medication was that his body hair would also grow very strongly with it. Not something a crossdresser wanted. 

Dr Chow commented, "They look good. Any issues with them the last few days?" 

"Nope. Except for I'm still getting a few more headaches, but it's been getting better. I sleep just fine. It took a while for me to be able to lay on the back of my head because of the pain, but it seems to be getting better all the time." 

"Good. Are you ready for today?" 

"Yep, I'm a little nervous and excited, but I'm hoping this is a success. We put a lot of money into this." 

"Yes we did." She smiled at him. "Hopefully this will be worth it. If today works out, we may get the government funding we need too. I know you didn't want an audience today, but this is a big step forward in what we are doing and we don't have a choice because of government contracts. No one knows how far this project testing will go. They won't know about what the rest of the tests will involve, They just need to make sure it works then they'll help us fund it if we can help them utilize it. I really think they are looking forward to helping a lot of future veterans that need this." 

Alex nodded. He knew all this already, and wasn't pleased that the government was interested in this project, but there wasn't anything he could do. Even as owner of the company.  

Though it was always good to remember all the good this was going to be used for, especially those that served this country. 

Dr. Chow continued to reassure him. "Unless they look into it more, they won't even know who you are." 

Alex took a deep breath.  

"You alright?"  

"Yep. Let's change the world." 

She smiled at him. "Yes indeed." She went over to a cabinet and pulled out a hospital gown. "Everything off except your socks and underwear." 

She made no move to leave. 

He looked at her embarrassed and she said, "Alex, when this is finally underway, I will have intimate knowledge of your whole body. Probably even more intimately than you will ever have. You better get over your shyness quickly. Soon I will need to have a cast of your entire body and multiple scans and reference pictures of everything. You'll probably need to shave everything for all that." 

"Again?!" Alex didn't like being completely bald. 

"Yes. And I mean every body part. It's just part of the process. We can't have you with hair. I can get you a wig for your head until it grows back. Probably a fake beard and eyebrows too." 

"Eyebrows?!" 

"Yes. Every hair. It'll grow back quickly with the medication." 

"Ya I know. That stupid medication reset some of my Laser treated body hair." 

"If you are interested, and not too shy, we could give you a special treatment that would permanently remove whatever you want." 

"Will I have to be hairless every time I wear the suit?" 

"Nope. Not at all. You could even have your normal sized beard with it." 

Alex hadn't known that and the fact he could keep his beard under the suit for a change made him excited. "Good." 

"I'll leave you alone to change." 

Dr. Chow left and closed the door. 

___ 

"For security Reasons, the Subject will be referred to as Subject AJJ001 during this test. Dr. Garner, let us begin." Dr. Chow informed those in the room. 

Dr. Garner was a H.U.M.A.N.E. scientist that worked in advanced  biochemistry and robotics. Alex felt Dr. Garner's rubber gloved hands attach something to the base of his skull, where the metal plates were. Alex's face down head was gently lifted as a tight cap was placed over most of his head to keep the wires in place. Then he was helped to turn around and lie on a pillow on the exam table as more wires were suction cupped to his temples. 

Dr.Chow continued. "Diagnostics test."  

A nurse that was assigned to monitor Alex told him to close his eyes. 

There was a slight tingle in the back of his skull that lasted for 10 seconds, then nothing. 

"Pass." One of the technicians at a computer informed them all. 

"Good. Link up the apparatus." 

The first test was of Alex trying to move a mechanical finger that lay on a table near him. This was a standard test given to any patient receiving the Neural Implant for robotic prosthesis. 

Wires were connected to the wires attached to him. 

"Subject AJJ001 check." 

"Clear." Alex informed them, giving them the signal to continue. 

"Activate link. Begin procedure." 

Dr. Garner sat in a chair next to Alex and the table with the finger. 

"Alright Subject, I want you to clear your mind. Listen carefully to my voice. Good." 

Alex knew Dr. Garner could see his Vitals and Brain Waves on a monitor. 

"Now I want you to focus on the pointer finger of your right hand. Imagine how it feels, how it moves. Now I want you to lift it ever so slowly upward." 

Alex did as he was told and lifted the finger. From the shuffling and murmuring of all those around him he guessed that it was working. 

"Subject, take a look, and try moving your finger more." 

Alex opened his eyes to see that the black mechanical finger on the table was raised. It was attached to a base so it wouldn't roll around. Alex flexed his finger and watched as the black finger did the same. 

The feeling of being able to move something that wasn't really a part of him was a curious one. He felt like he had the weirdest toy to play with. 

Dr. Garner spoke. "Very good."  

Then Dr. Chow's voice came from somewhere in the room. "Yes it is. Run diagnostics as the subject curls and uncurls finger." 

Alex sat there curling his finger and the robotic one for a full minute. 

"Pass." 

"Good. Prep for the next phase." Dr. Chow informed the people helping with the project as Alex had to sit still while another prosthetic was brought out and attached to him.  

This time a full arm attached to a base. After the same process was repeated with each part of the hand, Alex was closing and opening the hand into a fist while diagnostics were run again. 

The final phase was another arm that was identical to the last except for a strip of flesh like material attached to the forearm. They had practically grown it from some synthetic material and his own DNA. It was an exact likeness, but it wasn't really noticeable with no defining features on his own arm in the small area. The only difference was that it wasn't attached to him and it didn't have hair like the arm hair he was almost finished regrowing. 

It was the first piece of A.N.N.E.S. created from a human, to be attached and felt by a human. Years of research and work, and a large fortune to make just a small three inch by three inch fake skin. 

He was linked up to it and the test began.  

"Subject, close your eyes. Relax. Take a deep breath. Good. Now, I will touch your real arm in a few seconds. When you feel it, raise your opposite thumb." 

Alex felt something brush against his forearm and he raised his thumb. 

"Good." Now I will do it again in just a moment." 

After a few seconds Alex heard a motion to his right and felt something cold on his arm, he shivered. It didn't feel like the touch he was expecting, and was slightly confused. 

"What happened?" Dr. Chow's voice broke the silence filled with concern. 

"Subject AJJ001 Check." 

"Clear." Alex spoke aloud, slightly worried, but trying to remain calm with no idea what was going on around him with eyes closed. 

After a pause Dr Garner spoke. "Subject AHJ001, Identify... shiver." 

Alex was now confused. "I felt something cold on my arm." He heard some murmuring in the distance. 

"Subject." Dr. Garner silenced the voices."If you feel the cold again, raise your thumb." 

Alex heard a movement and felt the breeze. He raised his thumb. He put it down for a second but felt a stronger breeze and he shivered again with his thumb up. 

The murmuring got excited. 

"Silence please." Dr. Chow's voice broke into the room, much closer than he expected her to be.  

"Subject, identify source of shiver." She asked him 

"A stronger breeze." 

"Do you know what caused the breeze?" 

"I don't know, maybe someone is blowing on me." 

Alex felt the breeze on his arm again and he raised his thumb. Alex also felt something else hit his arm and brush against it. 

Deciding it was okay to speak, Alex said, "Dr. Garner, something just brushed against me." 

"Subject, open your eyes." 

Alex opened and looked to find Dr. Chow blowing gently on the prosthetic arm, her ponytailed hair resting on it.  

He could feel it.  

He could feel her hair brushing against the skin that wasn't even a part of him. 

It worked. 

Dr. Chow smiled up at him with joyful tears in her eyes. One tear broke free and traveled down her face, falling onto the synthetic skin. 

Alex spoke in wonder. "I felt that." 

____ 

____ 

"Dear Reader,  

I was very excited when I wrote this story as it felt like something that I have been preparing months for, finally got to be started. I am very excited to show you what I consider to be the most detailed and descriptive Skinsuit story I have seen in all my time reading. One day, Alex will have an amazing skinsuit that I hope feels realistic, plausible (with more advanced technology) and detailed enough that you can imagine the suit.  

I have always loved reading Skinsuit fiction, but one thing it has always lacked was details such as: how does it work? What is needed to make it real? Why would anyone fund this sort of thing? What are some of the realistic side effects (without getting trapped in the suit)? 

I hope you are enjoying this long journey. We aren't there yet because I see plenty of other opportunities to write stuff about plain silicone suits that I'd like to show off first. And when Alex does have his 'Lexi' suit, I hope that I can still show you fun ideas that will make you excited and jealous as the C3Verse continues to get bigger. 

Thanks for being patient with me. 

Until next time, 

-XAREK"