Children are like a mirror of their parents. If parents are doctors, children will usually be attracted by medicine. If parents are alcoholics, children are predisposed to drink (child psychology).

But what will happen if parents are transgender people?

The planet Betelgeuse VII was built as a paradise for transgender people and rare sexual minorities. It is a refuge in space, where millions have settled, away from those who rejected them. In the first decades, population was dominated by immigrants. The founder of this world, Caligula I, insisted in its constitution that, the use of hormones, body implants or transgender surgery should be possible only after waiting five Earth years for an approval and only after the age of twenty.

Things worked like this for a long time. Then, the former dictators Caligula XII and Caligula XIII broke the constitution, building on the moon an autonomous region, where such things are available for anyone. They were sentenced to death for violating the constitution. However, the newly elected dictator, Caligula XIV, faced a massive budget deficit. Many people asked him to change the constitution. Even if Caligula XIV was not a transgender person, he agreed. He acknowledged the huge progresses in medicine. Now, with induced DNA modifications, it is possible to make transformations complete. The reason why Caligula I restricted transgender modifications is that, in its time, it was impossible for a transgender woman to have children or for a transgender man to have functional spermatozoids. Now, with current technology, people can change their DNA completely with the help of a virus, then grow in vitro organs of the opposite sex and replace them through surgery. It is now possible for a man to become a woman or a hermaphrodite, or for a woman to become a man or a hermaphrodite. And also, very important, it is possible for a transgender person to have reversal surgery with DNA transformation.

In just four days after becoming the elected dictator of Betelgeuse VII, Caligula XIV asked the people to say what they think in a referendum, which would allow him to change constitution. If 75% would vote for and 25% against, the modifications would be accepted. But, 76.5% agreed with him. So, the new law was accepted. From now on, on Betelgeuse VII, anyone being more then 10 Earth years old can have body modifications. Below this age, body modifications are allowed only for medical reasons.

But how are the children of Betelgeuse?

From a very young age, people on this planet are used to go cross-dressing. It is something so normal for them to do this, just like it is for children on other planets to change their regular clothes. On any planet, some children are tempted to try to use clothes from the opposite sex, but they are strongly prohibited. Those who do this, do it only when they are home alone and never in public. However, on Betelgeuse VII, this is something common. Travelers have reported this over and over:

I came to a small town, like most settlements look like on this planet. A school was close. So, I came to see the children. It was something amazing. I seen little children, but it was impossible for me to say if they were boys or girls. I've seen boys with skirts and child pantyhose, together with girls with short hair and boy clothes. Some, even worn clothes belonging to both genders. It was all so confusing, that I felt dizzy.

I asked how do these children go to the toilette. I mean, this is the point where people are most separated by gender. Surprisingly, the answer was one I never expected. They go together. They don't have a 'boys room' and a 'girls room', but one common bathroom, where each one enters alone in a single toilette room.

As they grow-up, children are so used with cross-dressing, as they find it extremely natural. As they become teens, it becomes very common for boys to glue fake breasts or for girls to glue fake beards and mustaches. One journalist asked a 14 years old teen:

"What are you?"

"Today? I am a girl. Yesterday I was a boy. Tomorrow, I don't know".

Cross-dressing has reached an incredible level. For their parents, which settled here, it was not like this. They preferred to look in one way for many days, even years, but for their children, it was so different. Their parents were more determined. Many, once they settled here, free from the constrictions of the world they came from, cross-dressed to the opposite sex for their entire life, or at least for many years. For their children, it is all very different.

When it became possible to change gender, a new trend appeared, something nobody expected: to become hermaphrodites.

For those who came here from other worlds, things were much more different. Those who opted for body transformations, chosen to become transgender men or transgender women. However, for the children, born here, everything is different. From a very young age, they were told that once you cross gender, a reversal transformation is very hard, if not impossible... so, they chosen a new way, the herm way.

Well, at that time, things were different. Artificial organs, belonging to the opposite sex, were not able to breed. So, a person born as a male, will have its functional male organs and non-functional female organs. Then, a delicate hormonal equilibrium was needed, to keep both organs as they are. But now, with genetic improvement, it is possible to change the gender chromosomes, X and Y, into a new one, Z, which includes both male and female features.

Surprisingly, even if people change their appearance so much, homosexuality is not found in many relations. Heterosexuality remains dominant.

Two teens, born on Betelgeuse, decided to get married. However, the man preferred to dress more like a woman and the woman preferred to dress more like a man. They had their first child. Later, both parents decided to have gender surgery with DNA modifications. This time, the woman (which was a former man) became pregnant, with a boy. It is a strange situation, where a parent is called "mom" by one child and "dad" by the other. Then, they decided to go for a second surgery and became both hermaphrodites. And since they changed their X and Y chromosomes with the artificial Z chromosome, they made a child, which is a herm. This child calls "mom" the parent which gave it birth and "dad" the other one.

But, with the introduction of the Z chromosome, things got on an unusual track. Now, it is possible for a single person to get pregnant with its own semen. This happened a few times.

A reporter from Sirius came to Betelgeuse VII with an unusual and indiscrete question: How do herm people have sex? He found the answer and wrote for everyone to see:

The hermaphrodites of Betelgeuse present a unique challenge. Is it possible for them to have sexual relations? Yes, it is, both as men or as women. However, the male organs are above the female ones. So, almost always, when they have sex, one plays the role of a man and the other of a woman. It is possible for them to use both organs, but one must stay with its head towards the other's feet... and they say it is not a pleasant position. So, they use one organ at a time.

What I thought, is that the introduction of the herm race will make people no longer wish to form families, but it is not true. It clearly appears that people like to stick together and there is attraction between them. The major difference is that, there are no longer 'boys' and 'girls'. On Betelgeuse VII, I see that anyone can form a family with anyone.

Now, let's take a look at a young family. Dawn and Emerald form a couple. Dawn was born as a man, while Emerald as a woman. They had their first child, Sugar, which is a girl. Then, they went to DNA transformation and surgery and changed genders. Dawn became the woman and Emerald the man. This way, they had their second child, Crystal, which is a girl. Again, they had DNA transformation and surgery, so that they became hermaphrodites. They had a third child, Cara, which is a herm. Then, they further transformed their bodies and added horns. Except for their unusual appearance, with horns, with a silvery-white hair and with organs from both genders, they take good care of their children.

Now, all three children are young, not yet going to school. They play together and find their parents not unusual. In fact, this is how many people look like around them.

Well, Dawn and Emerald are born here, but their parents are not, they came here. Their children are the second generation born on Betelgeuse VII.

Another major difference, compared to other planets, is that on Betelgeuse VII, children start smoking very early. Instead of using an aggressive anti-smoking campaign, doctors preferred to upgrade the human DNA, to make humans resistant to this.

**********

In many aspects, Betelgeuse VII appears to be a unique place in the galaxy.

Only that, Betelgeuse, the sun that brings light and heat to this planet, is dying. This was a well-kept secret for a long time. But now, it becomes known by everyone. The former dictator Caligula XIII sacrificed its life to start terraforming another planet around another star. Even if the terraforming process is almost finished, people will need to wait 18 more Earth years before all the carbon dioxide in its atmosphere will be fixed by vegetation and the air is breathable. Betelgeuse has 19 to 22 Earth years left... if anything goes as planed. Only if... There is a significant chance that things will not go this way, that the star will collapse faster, if neon fusion will not occur when it was predicted to start. Still, people don't believe this yet. The media required more detailed analysis of what is happening inside the star, but each new experiment proves that the star is dying.

It will not take much until people will accept the truth... but now is the moment when the civilization on Betelgeuse VII has reached its maximum. Now... Tomorrow, chaos and panic will follow.