Amphotericity

It's hard now to look back on who I used to be and accept that we're the same person. I know a lot of people could say that but whereas they have most likely changed gradually with age the alterations to my life happened suddenly, unexpectedly and all due to a strange twist of fate in an otherwise uneventful life.

It was the penultimate year of my degree, a year I was spending in a biotech company gaining 'valuable work experience.' I had it all going for me, at 6' tall and broad I'd spent the first two years of university studying, playing rugby and adding notches to my bed post. Everything was going well and my placement was drawing to an end after the completion of that year's exams.

The company I was working for had me running tests on a new pesticide they were developing. It was supposed to be the next big money spinner. A retro-viral sterilisation treatment for rats. I forget the details but the basic premise was that bait would be doped with the virus and thus infect the rats. In males it'd insert some very specific, and very female, pieces of DNA. This would apparently make their oestrogen production go into overdrive and stop them producing sperm. It all seemed very clean and clever, but no one had realised its full potential.

Carrying the tray containing samples of this wonder material back to the fridge I was all set for an evening training for the upcoming game before hitting the local for a few beers. I used to wonder what would have happened if I'd paid more attention, noticed the pool of water from the leaking sink before I set foot in it. It's hard to picture who I might have been had my feet not gone from under me right then. Landing on my back I cried out in pain as I hit my head on the damp floor, the tray had slipped from my hands, it's contents spilling out. Vials smashed on the floor around me, a few loosing their contents onto my lab coat where they left faint orange stains. One, losing its lid mid flight, emptied itself into my gaping mouth.