“Welcome to being ‘trans,’” Cory said.
Lori smiled. “A whole new batch of brothers and sisters. I didn’t think of it, but I’m in. What’s up?”
“Nothing I talk about.”
“Is it bigger than a breadbox?”
Cory shook his head no. Well, yes.”
“Does Estella know about it?”
“Yes, but we don’t even tell the kids. They’re from her former marriage, you know.”
“Yes— Oh, can you not have kids? Is that it?”
Cory shook his head. “No— Yes, but—”
Lori made a face that expressed her frustration, and she stared at him.
Cory said nothing.
Lori said, “John would have ignored the whole thing and waited years until you talk, but now I’m curious, so—fess up!”
“You’ve got English idioms down.”
“I’ve been American longer than you! Neophites!” Lori didn’t really think of people as neophites. She was just pressuring a friend to talk. “Tell me what’s on your mind!”
Cory looked uncomfortable.
“Lwaxana, do you know what’s bothering Cory?”
“Yes,” came her simple reply.
“Tell me.”
“That would be confidential,” Lwaxana said.
“Good girl,” Cory said. “See?” he said to Lori, “I give her some Double-A batteries now and then, and she likes me—”
Lori sat back onto the couch and waited, stared at him.
Cory took a breath and thought. “I never go into it. It’s been a source of embarrassment to me—surgeries haven’t been good enough—only made worse by me going on T.V. these last several years for documentaries. I know it shouldn’t matter, and that other people would get over it, but— It’s just my thing, okay?”
“Okay.” Lori impersonated patience.
“Or it’s not my thing, and that’s the thing,” Cory said, and then almost as a segue, “Transmutations are in full swing, most needy first, and I’ve not put my hand in—”
“You’re only, like, thirty-five or something, Cory— Do you have cancer?”
He shook his head.
The two of them walked down a long hallway into a back portion of the huge house.
“What a big chicken,” Lori chastised Cory. “But you’re still in your first century. Lwaxana?” Lori asked her transmuter’s A.I. “Is the house secure?”
“The house is secure.”
“Can you open up the vault?”
“Opening.” A section of wall moved and a room was exposed, perhaps thirty by fifty that housed Lwaxana.
“Hello,” Lori said to her.
“Good afternoon,” Lwaxana said in return.
“Lets see, today, if we can do something for Cory. Cory, you’ll need to strip down and get up on there.”
“Naked?”
“That’s the way it works, kido.”
“Oh, Jesus, this is embarrassing— Did you know Jesus?”
Lori rolled her eyes. “Yes, actually. I suppose.”
Cory gawked at her, but Lori would have none of it. “Strip,” she said. “Everything. Right now. No reason to dally. Pants, shirt off, underwear, socks, all of it.”
Cory hesitated slightly.
“Right now,” Lori said, “I’m like your doctor on steroids. Just do it— And, while we’re at it, Cory, would you like to tweak anything else? Your memory? Your shoulders? Your hips? Want to lose some weight? Because, even if we use your current form, with mods, as your own template, it’ll still be a whole new body.”
“You’re not going to kill me with that thing?” Cory indicated Lwaxana.
“Big baby! I’ve done this like a thousand times. Get to it.”
Cory took all his clothes off and Lori looked him over. “Yup. No penis.”
Cory looked startled.
“No, you can’t have mine. Turn around, please.”
Barefoot on the floor, Cory turned completely around for her.
“Enlarged clit. Scars from double mastectomy. Muscles building. Smallish shoulders— You’ve been wearing boxy shirts?”
“Habitually.”
“I think your ribs are too smallish, and your hips do flare. You know, when you get older, you’re going to grow there. Fat will deposit. Your figure will change.” Lori smiled. “Cory, really, I never guessed. And that lady today blew me away with her ideas. It’s been a long time since that happened. I think I’ve really been behind the times. I’m sorry. I haven’t been much of a friend.” She put her hand over her heart. “But I’m catching up.
“How would you like— Lwaxana, can you put up some suggested appearances for Cory in male form on this screen here?”
“Working.”
Cory looked at Lori with a question.
Lori smiled. “John did like Star Trek, and he asked Lwaxana for an adjustment in interface. It was kinda funny, actually. And I like her.”
The screen showed an image of Cory, naked.
“Lwaxana,” Cory asked, “is it okay if I also talk with you?”
“It is alright,” Lwaxana said.
“Lets see. Can you adjust the shoulders wider? Ribs larger? Yes, like that. And can you make the hips smaller? Thighs smaller? The whole thing a little more muscular? How about another three inches in height?”
Lwaxana did. The changes were immediate on the screen.
Then to Lori, “I’m really not Arnold Swarzenegger. But I do like to look good in a suit.”
Lori smiled at him. “You will.”
“Additional weight thirty-four point eight three three pounds.”
“Where are you going to get the extra mass?” Cory asked Lwaxana.
“From the earth. Atoms are taken, energized, reformed and used for you.”
“It will feel like me? To me?” Cory asked Lori.
She nodded. “You’ll go to sleep, wake in a few seconds, dick and all. Balls—”
“Can I have children with Estella?”
“Yes,” Lori said. “If she can. And they’ll be your children. You’ll have— That’s a good question. Lwaxana, normally we sample someone’s D.N.A. and develop their best compliment for them. Their own D.N.A. corrected for mutations. But Cory’s D.N.A. is female?”
“Yes,” Lwaxana said. “Most of it. If he desires, we can alter it to the XY.”
“You can do that, too?” Cory asked Lwaxana.
“Yes.”
“I can be XY? You can fix that, without changing who I am? What about in my brain?”
“Do you want her to tweak it?” Lori asked.
Cory looked back and forth between Lwaxana and Lori. “Lwaxana, can I have the same brain, the same thought processes—still just me—but change the chromosomes inside to the XY? I like my brain the way it is except for that. I don’t want to change anything else. Though if you see something unhealthy, can you fix that?”
“Yes. I can do that,” Lwaxana said.
“When will you be ready?”
“I was ready five minutes ago, Cory,” Lwaxana said. “Just letting you process things. Please pick the appearance you like. Your body will be free of any illness and not prone to any for the forseeable future. It will use disease resistance I’ve scanned in your current body, but it will be male. You will feel different at first, maybe out of sorts, but it will grow on you rapidly. I recommend no free mountain climbing for a period of one week while you adjust, and no sex for several hours while a mild shock wears off, as you might not be able to get it up until then—”
Cory laughed, rubbed his hands together, and got on the table, turning parallel to it, reclining. “You have got to be kidding me!”
Lori laughed at him. “I’d say ‘relax,’ but Lwaxana will do that for you.” She reached to him, lying his legs and arms straight, and she positioned his head carefully. A strap came out of the bed and lightly secured his head.
“Now, I won’t do anything until you say, Cory, okay? All you have to do is
hold still. Just relax.”
“What if I move?” he said. “On reflex?”
“It won’t matter,” Lwaxana said. “She’s just putting you at ease.”
“I’m ready,” Cory said to her. “Please. Do it. Now. Fast.”
Lori nodded.
“Lwaxana, please do it.”
Cory’s body went limp, all expression fell from his face. His breathing stopped. Then his body appeared fuzzy, morphed into a new form larger than the first, taking shape over the period of four seconds. His heart began. His breathing began anew.
And his eyes snapped wide open.
The head strap disappeared and revealed the capital letter T placed on his left temple, just in front of the hairline.
His arms flew to his chest, his face, and then to his groin. He held his penis and scrotum, bent his knees.
“Lori— My voice! It’s different!”
“I can change that back, if you want,” Lwaxana said.
“It was good before, but now it’s wonderful!”
Cory sat up on the table.
“Wait a second,” Lori said. “Adjust. You don’t want to— You could faint.”
“My heart is strong?” he asked.
“Yes, but everything’s different. Give it a second. Your legs are longer, your arms. Your center of mass is higher. You might fall over if you get up. Give it a second!”
Cory sat on the edge of the table and flexed his arms, legs, feet, toes. “It feels good. No problem! I can do this!”
He got off the table and fell on his face, laughing. “Ah ha ha! You’re kidding me! Look at this!”
Lori bent over to help him, but she needn’t have bothered.
Cory got back up in a second, braced himself with a hand on the transmuter, and felt the floor with his feet.
He looked into a mirror on the opposite wall, examined himself. He touched his left temple. “And I’ve got the transmuter’s T on my temple.”
“We’ll need those for society until most people have been through it, just to keep records straight. Printed pictures on driver’s licenses won’t do any more. Rock your torso side to side. Feel it,” Lori said.
He did.
“Yeah, it— It’s heavier, but I’m stronger— I feel so heavier, but more able!”
“More mass. Don’t swing that body around, or you could hurt Estella. You’ve got to get used to it.”
He grabbed his groin again. “Oh, it’s not pain I’m gonna give her. You just wait and see. She’s gonna flip!”
“She knows, right?”
“I’m coming here? Yup! Believe you me, we talked about it— Oh, what about things like my retina and fingerprints?”
“They are the same, for personnel identification,” Lwaxana said. “However, your chromosome compliment, in your case, is different, so previous D.N.A. tests, depending, may not relate.”
“THAT’S OKAY! I NEVER HAD ANY!” Then to Lori, “I was stealth, so—for obvious reasons. How old am I?”
Lwaxana anwered. “Why do people talk as if I’m not here? You are the same age. Your body appears maybe five years younger, thirty-ish, but for health purposes, it’s about twenty. That’s what I do.”
A young brunette walked into the room and stopped to smile at Cory. “And this is?” she asked.
Cory stood on his own two feet, no longer self-conscious about being nude. “I’m Cory Peck. Westech. Biology. Wanna shake hands? I’m new to it.”
“I’m not,” The lady held out her hand for a shake. “It’s one of my old tricks.”
Cory looked to Lori with a question.
Lori leaned over and hugged her warmly, deeply.
The brunette was about five foot five, well proportioned, shoulder-length hair, seemed delighted at everything, perhaps 20 years old. She had a T on her left temple.
“So who is this?” Cory asked.
“My name’s Marie Curie Faraday,” she said.
“Marie?” Cory looked her over carefully, then to Lori. “Marie?”
Marie giggled and jumped up and down once, turned around. “You’re my first other human!”
CHAPTER
13
“This is Marie?” Cory looked to Lori then back to Marie. “Marie who?” Cory asked suspiciously.
Marie giggled at Cory.
Lori took all her clothes off—
Cory stared at her crotch. “Yup,” he said in confirmation.
Lori smiled at him absentmindedly, climbed onto the bed of the transmuter. “Lwaxana, I’m looking 50s. Can you take me down, be 20s, yet look 30s? Dark brown hair like Marie’s? Use the robust template?”
“Working.”
Lori explained for Cory. “I let myself age for everyone, staying with John for so long. But now the cat’s out of the bag.”
Cory stated at her. “You really do have a— And all this time—”
Lori smiled at him again.
Marie moved to observe the process.
“Robust template?” Cory asked.
Lori nodded. “I’ve been working hard. Lwaxana has several different templates for me—all me, but tweaked a little, depending on what I’m doing.”
“So now you need to be robust,” Cory said.
Lori smiled, laying her head back on the bed. Little straps rose to hold her head. “It’s just a little more strength. Helps me work in a stressful environment.”
“So after twenty thousand years alive, you still feel stress.”
“I don’t bring all that with me all the time, hon. I’m rather present centered, taking each day as it’s here.”
“Ready,” Lwaxana said.
“Please do it,” Lori said.
Cory and Marie watched.
Lori’s body relaxed, quit breathing, then morphed/dissolved into the same Lori, yet younger, somehow—healthier.
Lori took a deep breath and felt her new body.
“How is that?” Lwaxana asked Lori.
Lori sat up, looked in the mirror on the opposite wall, did a quick systems check. She had a T on her left temple, also. “It feels great. Thank you, Lwaxana.” She got off the table and dressed.
“Just like that,” Cory said.
“Well, she’s used to it,” Marie said.
“You!” Cory said. “You were— Why is your name ‘Marie’? I knew a ‘Marie’ here—” He held out his hand to knee height.
Marie nodded vigorously and giggled at him. “That’s me. Was me, when I was little.”
“You’re the same Marie?” Cory asked Marie, then to Lori, “How’s that possible?”
“What’s new? You know I came to Earth and changed to this species. It’s kinda similar to that, with a few other mods.”
“Mods!” Cory began to giggle a little himself. “Like it’s nothing. Marie! You were their dog?”
Marie nodded, giggled at Cory.
“What’s that like?” Cory asked. “How—”
“Oh! I just thought,” Lori said. “You need to get dressed, Cory, but you can’t put your clothes back on. You don’t have any. Your old ones won’t fit any more; you’re bigger.”
Lori and Marie stared at him.
He seemed a little embarrassed, which only encouraged them.
“Can Lwaxana make some for me?” Cory asked.
“I don’t do clothes,” Lwaxana said, as if with pride. “I save lives. I do bodies. I am not a seamstress.”
Up in the house, Lori began giving instructions. “Marie, would you go to your room and get ready? Pack a change of cothes and some toiletries—in that little bag we got at the store?”
“Okay, Mom.”
“Mom!” Cory watched Marie go down the hall.
“Come on,” Lori said to Cory. She walked down the hallway into the bedroom. She opened the closet and found some clothes for both Cory and herself. “You can probably wear some of this.”
“John’s clothes.”
“I haven’t donated them, yet,” Lori said. “I just can’t.”
“I?
??m honored. They’re slightly big for me.”
“You’ll be alright, until you get to a store for more.”
Cory began to dress, while Lori tapped her Apple watch.
“Yes, Mrs. Faraday?” Major Wood said over the phone.
“Can you ready the plane? In maybe a couple of hours, we’ll need to depart for Washington, D.C. We can fly red-eye tonight. I have an appointment with the President in the morning.”
“’I have an appointment with the President’?” Cory laughed at himself. “The world ain’t what it used to be.”
“Who all’s coming?” Wood asked.
“Uh,” Lori thought. “You, me, Marie—maybe Cory, I don’t know.”
“Me?”
“Want to?”
“What I need to do is go home and take my wife around the world, but— hold on.” Lori and Wood did hold on while Cory checked with his wife on the phone. “Sure!” he then told Lori. “This is a special thing, you bet.”
“It looks like and Cory,” Lori said into the Apple watch.
“Who is Marie?” Wood asked.
“She’s my daughter. She’s one of the reasons we’re going.”
“You don’t have a daughter, Lori,” Wood said. “I’ve known you for three months, and you don’t have a daughter.”
“R&D, James.”
The three swung through Nordstrom in Santa Barbara, on State Street, to get some clothes for Cory that actually fit.
Marie bought a couple of things for herself, including a scarf for her neck and a flowing dress that seemed one size fits all.
Lori worked with her, guiding, teaching.
Two and a half hours later, they climbed into Lori’s Boeing 737-Max-9 personal jet. There was a full bathroom in the rear, complete with shower, a full closet, a kitchen, complete with a cook/server, and several first class chairs, all of which would fold down into a flat twin-sized bed.
“Why not have some actual Queen beds in here?” Cory asked.
“Turbulence,” Wood said. “If we hit a pocket, anyone sleeping in an open bed could hit the ceiling.”
“These chairs all have seat belts, which you can wear while sleeping,” Lori said.
“No cockpit door,” Cory noted.
“Mom says if some pilot wanted to commit suicide with her in the plane, she wants to be able to disable him.”
“You could do that?” Cory asked Lori.
Lori nodded confidently.
“What if he’s got a gun?” Cory asked.
Lori nodded.
“What does that mean?” Cory asked.
Lori chatted with the two pilots. “Everybody ready? D.C. bound. We’re going slow, so we have time to sleep.”