Original image set, with 3 alts
https://drive.google.com/drive/fold.....HU?usp=sharing

From the desk of:
Officer; Lumbo, Claw

Case number; 34863

I was given a case of a rather odd squirrel, having had a breakdown then taken to an AVMA asylum in the country side. Unlike most patients, he had been heavily restrained and muzzled, being uncooperative while insisting he was a canine, rather than a squirrel.

Upon arrival he had calmed down quite a bit, but continually insisted that I, nor staff refer to him as a rodent. It became clear he'd suffered mental trauma, but wouldn't elaborate on the events that lead to this, no more than 'suddenly I was a squirrel'. He did bear the coat colors of a rottweiler, but TYL could easily do that. Upon mentioning the collar, he broke down again, repeating over and over he was not a squirrel, rather a dog. He withdrew and further question was put on hold.

It would be two days before I was able to visit him again, but also becoming a great boon to the case. Detective Skott, G had been handed a missing persons case. A husband who never returned after work, the wife concerned. Of great interest was that the missing had been a male rottweiler, being reported within the time frame our not-squirrel was taken in.

I suggested it was possible the two were the same, or perhaps linked to Skott's missing person. A quick comparison left us both sure the two were connected. Aside from a slight scuffle where both had been jacketed for a week, these two cases were the only things pending a complete investigation.

Both of us decided to head to the missing person's residence, to see if there was any overlap. Skott had managed to collect a few pieces of information, but I wanted to ask if either of them used TYL collars. The wife vehemently said neither would ever change via the collar, but would allow medical services through it. I repeatedly asked, to be sure, each time the possibility was turned down. The last place he had been seen, or known to have traveled to was work, at the mine Aurelius.

The squirrel was found along the road there, a lead in the least.

Together we traveled to the mine, and struck gold. An incident report had shown a landslide had knocked transport trucks off the road and down the steep ravine. Two of the drivers were fine, but the third, our rottweiler, had been given a medical injection of nanites to save his crushed body in the cab. The other drivers recalled it as odd, they managed to inject him within the 10 minute window, but instead of returning to the injector, the nanites stayed inside.

He was taken to the medical facility on site. Before a TYL tech showed up, he'd vanished. They kept his clothes and the empty nanite charge, considering the odd events. We collected what was there as evidence, thinking it was the key. One last question, where did they get the nanite medical injectors.

This was the big break, as records accounted for all but one of the injectors. Where the one we had in evidence came from was unknown. A rottweiler who disappeared, and a squirrel with rottweiler markings appeared in the area. The big link, of how he was changed was the issue. TYL medical nanites weren't allowed to create any changes, just read and write what was there.

I took this information back to the squirrel, who fell into a fit of hysterics. Little else could be gleamed from this trip, as he was escorted to a secluded area to calm down. I let him rest, confident that this was the missing rottweiler. However, the information was crucial to the staff and overseeing doctor, letting them know the issue was probable that his situation was external, and not internal or mental.

TYL had contacted us and sent out a representative to take a look at this mysterious injector. That's when the dam broke. The injector didn't originate from TYL at all. Someone had managed to replicate, or even worse, reprogram the nanites with their own code. The base protection coding wasn't there. I wish I knew the level of disruption this caused. Soon an army descended on the area, a large cruiser hung low in the sky, scanning any TYL to retrieve any and all recorded data from personnel who had any contact with anyone who had contact with the mine, or personell there. This was the entire town.

I visited the squirrel again, laying out what the evidence had told me. Instead of withdrawing into a loop, the squirrel broke down in sadness. This was why him and the wife never wanted to use TYL for anything past medical use, even with that he'd been changed, and couldn't change back. He'd been in his menu, staring at the body parameters, trying to activate an option that wasn't there.

This had major consequences, a transformation one couldn't change back from. TYL techs showed up and questioned him as he was hooked up to an odd machine I'd never seen. It had a heavy metal collar with two large cables running out of it, the squirrel had to be restrained on a table to apply it.

The techs were unable to do anything, the injector had 'jacked' nanites in it, someone purposefully removed the safety features, but thankfully only had a species change in the parameters. The removal of the nanites was successful, but they had already did their damage. Along the squirrel's DNA strand they added in something extra, a trap, with a dead switch. The form DNA had been spliced on either end with a bit of custom structuring, no further nanites could ever change this, even if possible by coding them to do so, it would kill him. I was told the DNA would unravel due to this custom work, leading to death. The code-jacked nanites were removed and would be studied, but the damage was already done. With as much as TYL could do, he was lucky it just changed his species.

The squirrel didn't take the news too well, crumpling into a sobbing mess. By now the case was given to TYL, now their burden to find this new 'TYL jacker'. A priority 0 message was pushed out across all TYL users and information dissemination channels.

This was brand new ground, case 0, and everyone began work to find the perpetrator. The mine had ordered a fresh set of medical charges, in which the jacked one arrived. Every set of collars and injector charges had to be checked now.

The squirrel didn't want his wife to see him like this. Though it wasn't his fault he had blamed himself, should just have died instead of getting the medical charge. He was taken somewhere quiet to calm down for the evening.

His wife had arrived at the Asylum, I pulled her aside to give her all the details, and how his physical state was irreversible. I give her credit, she didn't show any outward signs that this was a hurdle to overcome, stating she just wanted to see her husband, no matter what he was now. I differed to the overseeing doctor, who turned down any visits for a while.

This was quite the case, first of its kind. It had many implications, and would foster a further divide between the new TYL collar users and those who didn't. I saw the start of this half a century ago, and began to mull over what TYL meant for investigations going forward. This was just the beginning, and a wholey new angle, folks getting stuck with a transformation. Just a new challenge for the job.

Addendum:
A pleasant update to the case. After a few weeks the squirrel's wife decided to transform via TYL to match him. It seemed to help coming to terms that he'd been irreversibly changed. Both had been canines from birth and had stayed such in the decades they'd been together. Both kept their original coats, a rottweiler and dalmatian, but sported the large teeth and bush tails.

I wish them well in their new endeavor, and speed in learning the specifics of the new species.