Find out in the ashes of the Aftermath
Copyright© 2003 Jerrie526
All Rights Reserved.
Admin Note: Originally published on BigCloset Classic on Friday, 02-28-2003 - 03:14:04 am and migrated to BigCloset TopShelf, this retro classic was pulled out of the closet, and re-presented for our newer readers. ~Sephrena
Image Credit: Divider licensed for use in publishing from Photoshopgraphics.com ~Sephrena.
Story 2 – Aftermath
(NCNS) Big River, CO - The nation has held it's breath waiting for the outcome of the highly publicized lawsuit trial for the twelve individuals involved in the now famous body-swap incident last year using Magnatronics, Inc MagGen power generators. Lawyers for both sides report that the settlement is adequate for the damages incurred on both property and lives. Neither side is willing to publish the exact amount settled for, but both sides say that it is in the high millions.
Despite the damage to the minds of each individual involved, medical professionals have felt that the benefit to science outweighs the actual damage done. The positive side is that psychologists involved have been able to study the actual affects on the mind of an individual of one sex being put into the body of the opposite sex. Long-term results are still under investigation but the short-term effects are quite noticeable. Due to the limited number of people that actually wound up in the body of the opposite sex (six of the twelve involved), the study remains inconclusive. The group's highly outspoken leader, Michelle, formerly Michael Fontaine met with reporters after the settlement hearing to give a brief statement. (Story to follow).
Has the nation and the world learned the down side of investigating new sources of power? Legislation has been enacted to prevent such calamities from ever occurring again. The President is expected to sign the bill immediately upon passage through Congress. Upon signing, this historic piece of legislation will give property owners specific instructions on the set up of MagGens. It also makes the manufacturer liable for any damages that occur as well as civil liability to the installers who fail to observe correct procedures when setting up new gensets. The future possibility of this incident is highly unlikely but scientists are studying the effect closely trying to re-enact the incident but have failed to date to find the cause of the body switching. All volunteers for the study have perished in the failed experiments. The Government has put a ban on all human testing for the interim.
John Cornelious - National Combined News Services reporting.
Fluctuation, One year later.
[R] This is John Cornelious reporting for NCNS. I am here interviewing Ms. Michelle Fontaine after winning her lawsuit against Magnatronics, Inc. Ms. Fontaine, In the year since the accident occurred, we have seen many changes that came from our replacement power sources. You were one of only six people to actually change sex in the accident. Plus you became a mother shortly afterward because of your new body being 6 months pregnant at the time. How is life treating you now?
[M.F.] I never thought life could be fulfilling after my body swap with Jane. Not only did I have to deal with the remainder of her pregnancy, but I had to separate myself from the claims of her husband, who wound up in the middleaged body of his neighbor Ralph. Jason still feels that he has the right to claim that my body is his wife's and all conjugal rights are still with him. That is not to mention that my body's son is in the battle for custody with his mind mother, mind father, body father and body mother. I feel that I can win the battle since I am actually the one that gave birth to the beautiful little boy. I still have a hard time dealing with the fact that I am a mother but I have adjusted to it.
At first, I wanted to kill myself because of the shame that I was going though in being a woman. Eventually, the hormones that were flooding my body because of the pregnancy adjusted my mental thoughts and even brought me to the point that I loved the fact that I was going to be a mother. Although I had never been through such pain as giving birth causes, in the end to see the beautiful face of the baby looking up at me was worth it all. I am uncertain if it will ever happen again but at least for now, I am content with my son.
Now that the trial is over for my lawsuit against the MagGen manufacturers, I can at least be able to afford things and give my baby a good life. Being a single mother is not easy but I have at least had a loving and caring family to support me. When they found out that I had been involved in a twelve-person body swap, they flew to be at my side. My father is still taking it rather hard at the loss of his only son but my mother is ecstatic over gaining a new daughter and has been my biggest help with the baby.
One of the easiest things I have had to adjust to was the fact that I lost sixteen years in my age. I am now officially twenty-two years old. Getting my records updated took the longest time but I and the others at least had the help of the Government to do so.
This was nothing in comparison to being poked and prodded for the first four months of my new life. I had shrinks asking me all sorts of stupid questions that I could not really answer. They gave me some sort of test they called a personality inventory that was one of the weirdest tests I have ever taken. When they received the results back, they told me that I should have been a man. Well, DUH! I used to be one until that horrible day.
It took me the longest time to get them convinced that I was not someone who was faking my mental state. Everyone else had the same problem that I had and yet they did not believe any one of us. They tried to explain it all away with some sort of psychological mumbo-jumbo but in the end, they reached a conclusion that the body swap HAD occurred. They even brought in our body parents in an attempt to make us all crack and let go of our delusions but when our parents were confused by a stranger calling them mom or dad, they had several groups of people up in arms over the treatment they had been giving us.
After we were declared of sound mind and body, they were forced into letting us go once we were able to prove our sanity. It was during the time were under observation that I gave birth to little James. I call him Jimbo as an endearment. I never did like the name Jimmy but I did like Jimbo. The psychologists had to watch me closely during that timeframe to make sure that I would not do anything to harm myself or the baby. By that time, my mind had already been overrun by the female hormones and I would not have hurt a fly. I was in love with the fact that I had a baby and that he depended on me for survival. It was quite a turnaround from being father material to mother material.
I may not be an instinctual mother, but at least I am learning how to be one. I feel that I have a long way to go before I will be totally comfortable in the role but I am something that I had never been before and that is a parent.
Oh, please excuse me for a few minutes. The baby needs to be changed. I'll be right back.
[A pause]
[M.F.] I am sorry it took so long. Now where were we?
[R] Ms. Fontaine, could you tell me about the other people involved in the body swap? Our viewers are curious about them.
[M.F.] I do not think it is fair to talk about them behind their backs. They have not been through as much stress as I have and each one of them has their own story to tell. I just cannot tell their story for them. You will have to arrange an interview with each of them personally.
[R] We have tried to arrange an interview with them and so far, all our efforts have failed. It seems you are the only one who is willing to talk with us. Therefore I have to talk about them. Now, the woman who's body you now inhabit, what body does she have now?
[M.F.] Oh, I see what you mean now. Jane is now in Frieda Malony's fifty-nine year old body. Her husband or at least my body's former husband is now in the body of Ralph Watts. The scientists who studied us all agree that there is no rhyme or reason why we shuffled bodies as we did.
[R] If they found a way for you to regain your body, would you do so?
[M.F.] To tell you the truth, I am not sure. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said yes. Now, I think I would rather stay where I am. I have become comfortable as I am and I can foresee a life that I will not have the pressure that I had before.
[R] Are you now seeing anyone special who might become a father figure to your little boy?
[M.F.] Not at the moment. I am still uncomfortable with the thought of going out with a man. The thought of having sex with one really is not foremost on my mind. That is the only aspect of being a woman that I am uncomfortable with still. Taking into my body a part that I just a short time ago, had attached to me.
[R] I can understand that. If I were in your position, I would be thinking that I was not gay and I would be just as uncomfortable. I have a personal question for you if you are willing.
[M.F.] I will answer it depending on the question.
[R] What are you going to do with the money that you won in the lawsuit? Will you be moving away from this area or will you be getting a bigger house in the area?
[M.F.] My notoriety will go with me no matter where I am. I think I will stay where I am and raise my son here. Maybe one day I will become comfortable enough to look for someone to become close to and possibly marry. I am now young enough to do whatever I feel like doing.
[R] Well, I think I am about done with my questions. Is there anything that you would like to add before I close this interview?
[M.F.] Only this: My life never was good before. It took a tragedy such as this to awaken me from my apathy and realize that life is too short not to enjoy it. I am starting to like myself for the first time in years. One day, I think that will turn to love of myself. In the mean time, life will go on and my life will be doing so also.
[R] Thank you Ms. Fontaine.
[M.F.] You are welcome Mr. Cornelious. It was my pleasure.
[R] {Turning towards Camera} This is John Cornelious for the National Combined News Services reporting from Big River, CO. We now return you to your local news stations for updated news. Good night. {[R] motions to cameraman to stop recording}
I was glad the interview with the reporter was over. I had not been looking forward to it but ever since the accident became known, reporters had hounded me. The neighbors that were involved with me were too embarrassed to face the public. I, on the other hand, have been vocal over the neglect that was shown by the manufacturer of the MagGen systems. Now that the lawsuit is over, I am now financially well off. I was awarded $25,000,000.00 for damaged and pain and suffering. And believe me, I went through a LOT of pain shortly after the swap to Jane. I have become quite the little mother these days. I was still nursing the baby and whenever I hear him cry, I have to go running to him. I have learned to distinguish between his hungry cry and his wet diaper cry as well as his poopy diaper cry. He is a wonderful baby as long as he is dry and clean but once he is dirty or wet, he fusses incredibly.
My mom is enjoying being the Grandmother of a newborn or at least pre-toddler child. He has not started walking yet but he is starting to crawl around increasingly each day. One of these days he is going to get up and run away from me. His mommy is scared silly for that day! Gramma is enjoying herself playing with the baby. She moved in with me shortly before the baby was born so that she could help me adjust. It would have been so much worse if she had not. Her and dad have been a great support to me. My siblings have been having a hard time trying to figure out how to deal with me. My sisters have come around but my poor brother feels that he lost everything. He is angry and saying that there was no way that I was once his brother. He only has three sisters and a fourth one is not welcome. He has seen the person around that is wearing my former body and swears that it is his brother.
Walter Maloney is in my old body and is enjoying being younger and would not ever go back if they found a way for us to go back. Since he was sixty-three before the accident and was now thirty-nine again. He once confided in me that he was glad that his wife was no longer a woman. He had grown to hate her constant picking at him. Now he was free of her nagging and enjoying every moment of it.
Frieda Maloney on the other hand hates being a man. She had wound up in the body of twenty year old Keith Larson and now has to go out and work for a living.
Keith Larson is now in the body of Jason Wilson, the body father of my baby.
Keith's girlfriend Lisa Canby is in the body of Steve Mitchell.
Steve Mitchell is in the body of his wife, Karen.
Karen Mitchell is in the body of Kathy Watts.
Kathy Watts is in the body of Jack Tate.
Ralph Watts is in the body of Walter Maloney.
Jack Tate is in the body of Lisa Canby.
Jack has been having a marvelous time being in Lisa's body. She was a perky nineteen year old and it seemed that she was always on the go. Jack's wife was out shopping the day of the accident or she could have been involved in the body swap. She is having a hard time dealing with being married to a twenty-year-old girl. Jackie is afraid that she is going to file for divorce soon and take half of the lawsuit settlement. I have been feeling so sorry for Jackie. At least she could get a new boyfriend easily. She is like me in a way but is a whole bunch more comfortable in her role. It seems that Jack was a secret crossdresser and only her wife knew about it and barely tolerated it. Jackie has been spending a lot of time at the mall trying on new clothes without the fear of being discovered.
Poor Lisa went from being the perky nineteen-year-old girl and wound up a forty-two-year-old man. She has been near to committing suicide because of it. Her life is gone, for the most part anyway. She was in love with Keith and wanted to marry him but he was not ready. Now, she feels that she has little to live for. We have been keeping a suicide watch on her making sure that she does not do so.
All in all, most of us are coming to terms with who we became and are trying to get on with our lives. We all have reasons to live for but we still struggle to create an identity for ourselves based on what we were in the past. One day, we will but at what cost to those that cannot handle it. What will our fifth anniversary hold for us? I hope more than our first did.
Note: TG series sci-fi body swap
Posted by: Jerrie526 on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 03:14 AM
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Comments
Original Comments
by aardvark on Feb 28, 2003 - 04:31 AM
This story was done in matter-of-factly, from the point of view of an interview, and then from the musings of Michelle, who has quite obviously gotten on with her life. In that sense, it made it realistic for me; this is what may well have been the result of such an interview and the aftermath.
As an aside, I don't know how sorry I would be for Jackie, though. Suddenly being a 19 year old girl with millions of dollars when she was an older CD man in her former life - how much pain and suffering is that? It seems that she should be paying Magnatronics. ;-)
I can't say that I wish you hadn't delved more deeply into Michelle's life when she first became a woman. I would have liked to have felt what she experienced when she found she had to waddle around, when she felt the baby kick, her fright in the delivery room; all the unique experiences that she would only feel once. But that would have required a rather full length story and might have been out the scope and intent of what you wanted to do.
Ultimately, the story worked for me, and that's all that's really important from the reader's point of view.
by MissyGirl2002 on Mar 01, 2003 - 06:44 PM
Barbara Lynn Terry
by Jezzi on Nov 14, 2003 - 12:47 PM
Egg heads
Leave it to the shrinks to throw doubt into the works when the truth stares them in the face. Even when there is overwhelming evidence supporting the truth.
Slowing adjusting to a body as it ages can be imperceptible. Suddenly aging or regressing can be very stressful, as can suddenly being another gender.
These people went through a frightening experience, a unique experience. One they should explore instead of acting in despair.
Others have feelings too.