The ABO Serum

(Part 5) Matchmaking Experiments

The situation at the GenLife Resort, as they began calling the property bought to isolate omegas during their transition, was growing dire. The big wigs worried more about the alphas being aggressive than they did the omegas experiencing heat and desperation looking for partners that would never come.

The alphas would fight over available omegas if they smelled them, but if none were available, they lived relatively normal lives. The omegas did not. Dr. Anna Placer could not believe that after all her hard work earning her PhD, she ended up an omega instead of an alpha. When did she ever nurture anybody? Okay, so she tutored and mentored and generally helped lots of other young women following in her footsteps, but she was a leader dang it! She should have been an alpha.

Now, both the company and her own body had her trapped, and her superiors considered her useless during this crisis. She wasn't useless!!! She met with each omega daily and took meticulous notes about their transitions. She demanded access to the accumulating data from the boss so she could stay abreast of developments and contribute. As ranking staff among the isolated omegas, they granted her that much, though she knew they expected nothing from her on the scientific front.

The most interesting data were the developing relationship samples. The omegas in pairs didn't suffer like those around her were doing. Until they could do something medical to suppress these painful symptoms, perhaps an effort could be made to find suitable mates for as many omegas as possible. Her mind raced with the possibilities. Scent was key.

An interesting proposal landed on Daryl's desk. Dr. Placer proposed a blind matchmaking trial using scent. They'd give each omega and each alpha a towel with a number on it recorded with their names in a database. They'd sleep with the towels, saturating them with their pheromones. Then, they'd exchange the towels and with controlled exposures see how particular each type was about scent, whether singular scents would cause unique reactions, and whether pairs would naturally select each other having no idea to whom each towel belonged. If alphas and omegas favored each other in a reciprocal manner, they could arrange to chat online and get to know each other outside of the influence of pheromones and maybe a few more omegas would find mates and not suffer anymore. If not, they would still gain valuable data about how effectively the scent of pheromones matched pairs.

It was a good proposal. Daryl tweaked it to include the newly added alphas and omegas from the town to maximize the respective pools and ran it by the CDC and local authorities. As they had no other solution for the suffering omegas, they approved. The hospital staff tucked towels in by the unconscious subjects as well in hopes that finding a match might lead to them waking up like the one successful example of waking up GenLife had.

Swapping the towels between the groups was an incredibly delicate process. They weren't sure how the scents would make each group react, so they broke them up and exposed them to the scented towels once subject at a time. It was a slower process than Dr. Placer was hoping for. But the results were fascinating.

In 18.4% of the cases alphas picked the omegas that picked them. Moreover, those cases were the ones where both parties rated their preference the strongest. That was a remarkable figure for a relatively small pool of subjects. Video meetings were set up to see if they would be compatible without the influence of scent. Dr. Placer recorded them for future analysis.

When awake subjects who could register a strong preference preferred the towels of unconscious subjects, the lab requested a blanket and pillow from the bed of the selecting subject and placed it with the unconscious subject to see if they would respond by waking up. Several of the unconscious subjects were betas, but two were still selected somewhat strongly by alphas and one by an omega.

Dr. Placer didn't intend to take part in the matchmaking experiment. She needed to be an objective observer. But while she was helping others through the test there was one towel that smelled...it was her mate. She knew it in every fiber of her being. She hadn't submitted a towel, so she didn't know if the other party felt the same. She meant to leave the towel in the experiment to see if anyone else would respond, but she couldn't. It felt like that towel hijacked her brain. She needed it and she took it. She hid it under her pillow and slept with her nose in it.

She had to find out who it belonged to. It was imperative. It seemed like her symptoms were growing worse now that she knew her alpha was out there but couldn't be with them. This was torture.

This increase in symptoms seemed to be common among the 18.4%. They became obsessed with each other. The alphas as well. It was a relief that those with lesser attraction didn't suffer the same escalation of symptoms. So far, only those whose attraction was significant enough to be mutual escalated.

When they connected online, they were often surprised by their mates, but the scent lingering in their primitive brains overrode surface reasons they might have had for bypassing the other party had they met under normal circumstances. It pushed them to explore the potential of mates they would never take time to consider. And most were getting on very well after a few online meetings.

The amount of time they spent online with their matches quickly escalated and then the requests to meet in person started coming. First, politely worded, then increasingly desperate begging from the omegas and demanding from the alphas.

The CDC wanted to be cautious but Daryl and Dr. Martin both advocated strongly for letting the pairs meet. GenLife's resources for containment had stretched thin and they needed their staff back at work. They couldn't say it, but every matched pair were also two more data points to add to the mated subject pool and suppressant research.

Daryl slammed his hand on the conference table for emphasis and grabbed control of the room from the CDC's liaison. "With consent from both sides, mating must be allowed. We have no other treatment available and their symptoms are escalating. It's unethical to let them suffer when Dr. Placer has presented a solution. These people are not prisoners!"

Dr. Placer was in the meeting, doing her best to describe the condition of the omegas and advocating for them with those exact arguments, but the CDC's liaison didn't want to hear her. It was frustrating to have her words stolen by a man, but it was more important the decision makers hear them. She didn't expect credit.

The liaison looked like a deer in the headlights facing down Daryl's righteous anger. "I have informed you of our next steps. I don't need your consent. If you're too stupid to listen to the only authority on the omega transition and the lead researcher studying the influence of pheromones on mating alphas and omegas, I can't waste any more of her time educating you." Dr. Placer looked up at Daryl and suddenly realized she was looking at a mated alpha. His aggression turned to protection, and not just for his own mate. She wanted an alpha like that.

She wondered again about her mate. To protect the integrity of her study she'd stopped herself from looking up the number on her mate's towel. But it became more difficult each day.