Evolution / 6

 

Susan seemed suddenly distressed.   “You plan to eliminate all the men

from the planet.   Eventually.   What are you going to do?   How can you

possibly justify–“

 

Lisa, sensing the tension, jumped in.   “Wait a minute.   I’m sorry it’s so hard to explain this all at once.   First of all, the major secret is exactly this.   By the end of the next generation there will be few, if any, male members of this species left.”

 

Susan was nearly angry.   “You mean you’re just going to kill them?   You can’t...”

 

Lisa defended this quickly.   “No, no, no.   That wouldn’t be ethical.   You should know by now–we’re here to create and enhance life, not destroy it.   Our philosophers and ethicists, as well as the other women in this group, worked out a great many things to an agreeable conclusion.”

 

Susan’s face brightened.   “You’re right.   All you have to do is to avoid having male children.”

 

Lisa breathed a sigh of relief.   Susan had almost gotten away from her.   But, she was a woman now, and was reaching the point of understanding quickly.   “Correct.   That’s where you come in.   You’re the first woman that can only have female children.   And your children, and their children, and so on.”

 

“That would take... forever, wouldn’t it, if I’m the first?   Besides, why did you start off with a male body instead of making what should have been very minor changes to someone who was already female?”

 

“Okay, good.   Good points.   First, you’re not technically the first.   I’ll explain.   The reason we chose your original body for our starting point had several reasons that are quite involved–partially just luck–you were the first of hundreds of thousands of surveyed people that matched a pattern we needed to kick things off–and, finally, there are a few traits we needed–not sex-linked, fortunately, that we’d only found in certain male subjects–like you.   It was only a little extra work to get you into the body you deserve, and keep you alive during the process.”

 

Lisa continued.   “You have always been you, whether your name was George, or Susan, or whatever you wanted.   You’ve had a feminine spirit inside you since you were born.   Only your body is different–so now you can express that femininity.”

 

“How am I different than Marcy and Dara, then?”

 

“Simple.   Your powers are natural, not artificial.   No laboratory to destroy, secrets to erase.   Your children, as we said, will share these abilities.   No shots, no examinations, no genetic sequencing needed.”

 

Susan understood. “Okay.   How does this affect anybody except my own children, and what happens to all the men currently alive?   Finally, what do you do to protect this?   Once the first man figures out what’s happening, the whole project is in jeopardy.”

 

“It’s just that there’s been so much background you’ve needed, Susan, that’s all.   First of all–this new design for the female body can be spread to any other female–including any or all of us–directly.   Since we’re already female, the changes will be quick and invisible.”

 

“How?”   Susan asked.

 

“Same way Marcy and Dara did it.”

 

“You mean that if I pee on any of you...”

 

“Exactly.   You have that power by now, now that your ovaries are active.   The programming is already carried inside you.   In reality, most bodily fluids will do, in sufficient quantity, but it’s hard to get quite enough of other fluids so spontaneously.”

 

“Yes,” Dara spoke up.   “Besides, we treated you to a nice warm shower; surely you can return the favor?”

 

Marcy giggled.

 

Lisa picked up again.   “Okay.   That’s easy enough.   It doesn’t have any

effect on women who’ve already been converted–“

 

“Though they still might like it just for fun,” Marcy quipped.

 

Lisa cut her off.   “Yes, yes, fine.   It takes about twenty-four hours before a woman who’s been exposed for the first time can do the same to others.   Anyway, on to your second point.   How to unify the species without waiting hundreds of generations.   Well, we had several ideas.   I’ll have Sarah tell you about the options we’ve explored...”

 

Sarah was the researcher, it turned out.   “This was the part of the job that was really quite a bit of fun.   Let me lay out all the possible scenarios for you.   We’ve picked one for now, but might still expand our choices later.

 

“Well, we could have made our bodies, or our urine, or our sexual fluids, or breast milk, or something else about us poisonous to males of our species.   But that would make us killers.   What about all the truly kind men out there?   Or the few that actually are so in tune with us–like you were all your life, Susan–that they deserve the chance to be a part of this evolutionary change–and might have actually deserve to be female?   We had to come up with something else.

 

“The next concept was almost more insidious.   We use this generation’s men to bear our children, freeing us to convert the entire population quickly.   Any woman who conceived successfully would have, by our simulation results, from 2 to 4 weeks to make love to a man–probably the same one that caused the pregnancy, though not necessarily.   The stimulation of lovemaking would carry the fertilized ovum,   in a special kind of capsule, to the neck of the uterus.   Extra “equipment” in the vagina then takes over; the contractions of orgasm force the egg out with all of the uterus’ force;   and, essentially, it enters the man’s body, impregnating him, though not in the usual sense.   In essence, the woman gives birth into the man’s body.   As the child, who of course is female, grows, she starts to take over the functions of her host.   She hears and feels everything that he does.   The older she gets, the more control she gets, learning gradually to control his muscles.   Finally, once she reaches puberty, she can express her true form at last, and sheds the masculine skin from her entirely female body.       This too takes a long time, but is, from our point of view, “off-line”.   We can reproduce quickly and move on to the next victim.   The problem was that the philosophers likened it to a mother who dies in childbirth–although the some of the “spirit” might be continued, continued, we couldn’t say without a doubt that we’re not killing the host.   Plus, it left us with this extra equipment in our bodies that would be useless after all the men were gone.   So, the plan was scrapped.   Back to the drawing board.

 

“So, we thought of this.   A two-part plan.   First, for now, we needed defense against certain men.   So we use a technology similar to that which Dara and Marcy used on you.   We had one of these amazing discoveries during that research; the same fluids that grant these powers to a woman could be used to disable a man.   We were amazed to see how easily it worked out; like we were destined to discover it.   Outside a woman’s body, the special properties of these fluids dissipate quickly, so it has to be delivered directly.   We see that as an advantage as well, since it means that control over this ‘weapon’ should always remain exclusively ours.”

 

“So that’s why Marcy and Dara had to pee on me, and couldn’t just spray me with a hose or something,” Susan determined.   “But what exactly does it do?   Turn them into a female?” Susan asked.   “Doesn’t sound like that would always be desirable.   The woman across from you in the ladies’ room might have been a rapist a week ago.”

 

“True,” Sarah answered.   “But we couldn’t go that far even if we wanted to.   When you were converted, it only worked because you had a specific genetic type that allowed it to work, and the fact that you were injected well before puberty.   The protein that Marcy and Dara carried only was an activator, remember.”

 

“Okay, so...”

 

“The most we could really design into any urine-carried substance was something that would initially ‘disarm’ a man, and enough contact would sterilize him.   That served three purposes–a rapid effect on the initial contact–necessary for the woman’s safety–and deactivation of his masculine capabilities both weakened him a bit and prevented him from reproducing, even with a ‘normal’ female.”

 

“Then what?” Susan asked.   “That doesn’t seem to do what we’re after.   And what happens to a poor man who gets it accidentally, or just playfully?   If it’s not reversible, it seems like another ethical dilemma.”

 

“I like the way you say ‘we’, Susan,” Lisa told her.   “You’ve really come into the group.   We made the right choice.”

 

Sarah continued.   “Again, good points.   More debate and discussion.   Some ‘good’ men are going to get exposed to a woman’s urine; what do we do about it?   This almost tore us apart.   Some of us have boyfriends, husbands–and while we’re being generous in saying that they are being ‘deprived’ of the right to ‘have’ children–since their role in childbearing is so small–we couldn’t do it.   We wanted them to be able to ‘join’ us, to come with us into the future somehow.”

 

“But you can’t make them female, as you said.”

 

“Right.   And wrong.   Another team had worked out a different strategy that seemed too complicated, too troublesome, too difficult, and didn’t seem to solve any problems; suddenly we realized that it solved them all.   We could invite our choice of men to come with us; to become one with us; either to become female, or become part of us.   We just had to invent a new kind of reproduction.   And we had forgotten about a very important gland that turned out to be the key.”

 

Susan waited anxiously, now very curious.

 

“Again, the findings were shocking.   The programming seemed to be so easy to turn on–you’ll just have to read the research notes as soon as you get the chance.   Anyway, men love our breasts.   They’ll love yours too, once you have them.   You’ll lactate upon repeated mammary stimulation, and produce a milk just like pregnant women do now.   But any adult, male or female, who tastes your milk in any substantial way, soon won’t want anything else.   The more they drink, the more your breasts swell; and the more milk they produce–until their entire diet consists of just... you.   It shuts down parts of the digestive system, so someone hooked on it can’t eat anything else.   So these ‘meals’ carry a special surprise.   So, suppose you were playing with your boyfriend, or husband, and accidentally squirted him; or you had a good friend that, unfortunately, was maliciously sterilized by some other female.   He can’t reproduce, and you’d love to introduce him to our world and give him a chance to bear his own children.   You invite him to suck on your nipples one evening.   Soon he’d find his body shrinking, weakening, getting apparently younger, tinier, smaller.   He ends up excreting most of his body weight within a few weeks.   When the time came, your body would be ready for him.   You’d hold him between your legs, bear down, push him into yourself, and then suck him in.   Your birth canal would easily be large and powerful enough–there are activating hormones into your lactation process which prepare you.   We’re projecting that this labor would take between 2 and 5 hours, after which your birth canal closes up, trapping his live body inside you.   After your womb has had some time to absorb his body into you, but while he’s still very much alive, your reproductive system would come to life; you’d ovulate, and a few hours later   he’d find himself trapped in the uterus of a woman who was actively conceiving–him.   His “Y” chromosome is replaced with one of your “X” chromosomes.   Soon the nutrient flow reverses, and you’re now nourishing a baby girl, which is born in the normal way.   We expect that stored energy from the original body will result in a comparatively short childhood.

 

“Wow... that’s heavy.”, said Susan, her eyes wide.

 

“Wait, there’s more.   If you decide not to conceive,   which is your choice, your body will continue to absorb him until there’s simply nothing left.   You would reach unity with him inside.   Physically, you’d have your period, and it would be over.

 

“This gives women the same power to ease someone out of the world as it does to bring children in.   To an extent, it also gives us the power to grant a kind of reincarnation.   We’re expecting that much of the memory and intelligence of a person is preserved through the process.   We won’t know the details until someone tries it.   I don’t know who will be the first to ‘take’ birth–as Jeannette said, your pelvic structure won’t be ready for it until about 18 months from now.”

 

“Fascinating”, Susan remarked.   “But how do we plan on reproducing once all the men are gone?”

 

Lisa spoke up.   “Marcy and Dara showed us that reproduction between two women was possible; although soon they won’t need a team of scientists helping them do it.   We needed some kind of cross-fertilization to keep the species homogeneous, and found that it was still quite possible.   Children will be carried inside our bodies like we’ve always done.”

 

“But how... does one do all those things?” Susan asked.

 

“Trust us, the mechanisms are there–in your body alone, so far, to conceive a child along with another woman, once you’re mature.   Your eggs are compatible with the eggs of other women, and you’ll have the mechanism to deliver your own eggs into someone else, or receive one...”

 

“Who bears the child?”

 

“That’s your choice.   Yours and your partner’s, that is.   It isn’t easy to trigger, which is good because it’ll save you the need for birth control.   It has to be someone you’ve been around for a while, so your period is synchronized, and actual intercourse will take quite a while.”

 

Dr. Carlson spoke next.   “You understand, if you’ve taken biology classes, the importance of sexual reproduction.   That’s unchanged.   Children are the product of two people, either two adults who create a child from ‘scratch’, so to speak, or one woman who engulfs someone else’s body.   It maintains a good gene pool either way.

 

“You’ve always had enough instinct to know how to have sex, right?   Well, we worked on that too.   The philosophers pointed that out–if we had created a single-sexed species with all the instincts of our “ancestors”, we’d end up miserable and with all sorts of problems.   Lots of research went into this.   Your instincts and feelings will show you the way.   The same will happen with that friendly weapon you now have between your legs- - if you’re ever frightened in that way, your instincts will lead you.   So for now, just relax and enjoy.”

 

Lisa spoke up.   “Well, folks, we should probably let these four get some rest...”

 

“Can I get one more question in?” Susan blurted.

 

“Sure, Susan.   But we really should get to sleep soon.   What is it?”

 

“My identification...   How did you do all this?   And the year of my birth is five years too late.   And what about all my other records?   And people at work?   And...”

 

Lisa interrupted her.   “Enough, enough.   You’ll have plenty of time for all the questions.   As for your identification:   Your picture was created by one of our artists, and was our best guess as to what you’d look like.   We have a contact in the state records department that handled issuing the license and changing all of the appropriate records.   By now, most of your records have been changed;   ‘George’ no longer exists.   We wanted to keep your birthdate the same, but we had to make adjustments for the apparent age of your body, which we speculate will end up at about...”

 

Susan had already done the math in her head.   “Seventeen.”

 

“Right.   Your license expires in a few months; that gives you a chance to get a more accurate picture taken.”

 

“I can’t even drink at seventeen,” Susan mused.

 

“I know.   Sorry.   But, technically, you really did lose about five years, since so much of your body was replaced with new cells.   Well, folks,   It’s been a late night.   Marcy and Dara have to get up early.   We’ll leave you four alone and see you all in the morning.   Good luck!”

 

“What’s going on?” Susan whispered to Karen as the others filed out.

 

“We’re going to spend the night together.   You and I will need to keep an eye on Marcy and Dara to see how their reaction to your pee is.   They have two separate flights early tomorrow one to California, one to Europe, where they’ll start their work.”

 

“Why so early?”

 

Marcy and Dara finished shaking hands with the others, and closed the door.   Marcy fielded the question.   “Safety of the project.   Right now, we’re essentially all eggs in one basket.   You can bet that, if we were all in one place, and news of this leaked out, they’d try to put a stop to us all.   Once Dara and I have disappeared into the countryside, we’ll be spreading the abilities you’re going to give us to an initial network of women that we set up.   We figure that within two weeks we’ll have spread our abilities to over 120,000 women.   Nobody can stop us then. By the end of the year, just about every woman who wants these powers will have them.   When our work is done, we’ll be back to see you again.   Before then, nobody will really know where we are.”

 

“Maybe not even us,” Dara inserted.

 

“What happens to us here, then?” Susan asked, as Karen and Marcy began to undress her.

 

Karen answered.   “You and I have responsibility for the women here.   Once everyone’s converted they’ll be able to spread the new programming in the local area.   By then the secret will be out.   I’m going to spend much of my time training you to be a woman.   You’ll need to learn about clothing, makeup, and much more in the time that you’re here.” Staring at Susan’s chest, she added:   “I’m kind of hoping I’ll get to fit you for your first bra.”

 

“Think about... It’s dreamy.” Dara strolled around the room.   “In six to eight months women will outnumber men three to two.   A year from now, assuming that elections go on like they’re supposed to, most of the world leaders will be female, and we’ll start to strip away the economic, political, and other advantages that men have held on to for years.

 

“Wow...” said Susan.   “Outnumbered and outclassed, they’ll be powerless.   It sounds like we’re already treating them like a lower life form.   Is that fair?”

 

“You’re forgetting... the ones who are left are, even now, a ‘lower life form’.   The deserving ones will all be invited to join us.   Those who get left behind deserve to be.”

 

This was still quite a lot for Susan to handle.   She’d be able to invite the men she knew to be kind, and good–several of her best friends–to join her own gender–to be like her.   They wouldn’t be left behind.   She’d see to it.