Several hours later, Mir'tan and I emerged from our stateroom, refreshed and ready to face the tasks ahead. Our time together was a much-needed respite, allowing us to reconnect and reaffirm our bond.

The ship was alive with purpose, with crew members moving with a determined stride as they fulfilled their duties. We navigated our way to the bridge, exchanging nods and smiles with the crew we passed. The palpable determination among us, a testament to our shared mission, made us feel like a part of a grand cosmic endeavor, something greater than ourselves.

“I’d have liked to see you change, but I guess I should have said so directly, instead of just hinting that I’d like to meet Jennifer.”

 

“Oh. Scott thought it might be easier to get here unchallenged if I were already Jennifer. Maybe next time.”

Allison spent the day making new friends, and experiencing things in a new way, the first time really as herself, traversing the station on her own. This happened while Angie prepared for her new job with the medical professors. When Angie came back to the apartment it was obvious she enjoyed herself as she was a little worse for wear. And worse again once the two demolished most of a bottle of gin she’d been given as a gift.

Now Allison is waiting around, letting Angie sleep off her hangover before they go for breakfast with Adam. But the time spent doing nothing but waiting for Angie has brought her to a realisation, and she needs to tell One something about her intentions.

Dr. Grace took Angie and Allison for lunch, not to explain some very relevant medical information about Allison’s journey but to coax Angie into a medical job, and some medical education. The new information on Allison’s journey simply came about because Dr. Grace couldn’t escape her old university professor tormenting her over the lunch; an old professor who was fully sure Allison was ready to know the details of the endpoint of her path.

Now, with Angie preparing both herself and the people in the medical faculty for this new job, and training, she’s being given, Allison is left all on her own. It’s the first time she’ll be left to her own devices since she became Allison. And she has a whole station to discover, in a brand new way.

Allison found some way of slowing things down at the start of her week; on Monday, the day women mostly had to themselves. Up until then her mind had been racing but a message from Des — delivered to Jenny’s — helped her put things in the correct place. It was right around the same time Dr. Grace said what Allison was going through was normal; the standard effects of the disruption Allison had been through.

Dr. Grace booked an appointment for Allison for the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, saying Allison could see her on any of those days, whenever she needed to, simply walk in. Just to talk, if she wanted. But no later than the Thursday. Whatever she ended up doing it would mean yet another round of fun with doctors on her journey to womanhood.

The work on the papers and other ideas had brought me near the end of my freshman year, and that was the time to plan next year’s classes and, ideally, to declare a major. Since I couldn’t progress on the goals within dreamwalks, I tried to figure out what classes would help me in other ways.

Another thing I liked a lot was her healthy lungs, her ability to breathe so deeply and easily and go for hours without feeling the need for a cigarette.

Allison and Angie were having lunch when Allison revealed she wanted her ears pierced. Angie knew the perfect place for it, and it was also the perfect place to fix Allison up with makeup, but neither counted on finding two women who treated Angie and Allison just like Angie and Allison treated everyone else; they were fun head-wreckers.

Now Allison needs quiet. And to rest. And more. But with the pace of the past few days, with all she’s discovering, all the secrets revealed on the deep space station, she doesn’t know how to achieve any of that. And she doesn’t know what she’ll do if she can’t find it.

I was a freshman in college when I heard the news on TV that Hiroshi had died. They called him video game entrepreneur Hiroshi Yamamoto, who clearly had to be the man I had been dreamwalking with for the last three years. Sure enough, he was present neither in World of Dreams nor in the studio. So I figured that was over and I was on my own now. I’d learned a lot; enough to be dangerous, but I wasn’t planning to use my power to steal, kill, or worse.

Weird Science Transformations Part 4

At long last she said, "I hope you can enjoy this time you have: to sit, to think, to watch."

"I am," I replied. "I do. A little. Some. When I'm not afraid."

Weird Science Transformations Part 2

Nailed to Change Part 3

Nailed to Change Part 2

Genesis Infiltrator

The woman's words were a hammer blow. Raped. Mutilated. Left for dead.
Stacy... the image of her friend, vibrant and alive, morphed into a
terrifying possibility - a victim of human trafficking, lost in the
nightmarish underbelly of the world.

A wave of nausea swept over Sasha; a primal scream trapped in her throat
by the leather restraints. "Stacy?" she rasped, her voice cracking.
"What about Stacy?"

After waking Allison received news she didn’t believe at first but instantly realised she loved, Dr. Grace confirmed Allison is changing. Allison is becoming who she wants to be. Now she just needs to let time work its magic and keep doing what she’s doing.

What Allison would really like, however, is for things to slow down. Not the changes, rather she’d like to get time to enjoy who she is, but she doesn’t even know if that’s possible. She knows she’s unique in the history of the deep-space station, and maybe that means things will never be slow and normal. But what’s more normal, in all this newness, than a lunch with Angie?

Umberto didn’t respond to my note. I guess I wasn’t too surprised. Elissa never interacted with the notes I left in Tommy’s game; it was Tommy doing so, though he thought my responses were coming from Elissa at first.

The next morning, Genesis, Jesse, and Ramona met up with Rachel again at the Orphanage For All Ages. This time, Rachel had Lanie Evans with her.

"So you're Lanie," Jesse said when he saw Lanie for the first time.

Lanie smiled. "Yes I am," she said.

"It's nice to meet you," said Jesse.

Rachel handed the vial that contained her blood to Genesis. "This is the blood that the doctor drew from me last night," she said. "I hope this'll be enough to finish the serum."

"Thank you," said Genesis. "Thank you so much."

Genetic Gender Experiment

The humid air clung to Elias like a second shirt as he pushed through
the tangled undergrowth. Shanda, his girlfriend, was just ahead, her
laughter a melody in the symphony of cicadas. They were on a secluded
resort vacation, and a poorly marked trail had beckoned them deeper into
the jungle than they'd intended.

It didn't take long for Genesis to find Jesse. Right when she stepped out of the Orphanage For All Ages, she saw Jesse just standing there on the edge of the sidewalk. His head was hung, and he was staring off into space, as if he didn't even care where he was or where he was going.

"Hey!" said Genesis.

Jesse turned and saw Genesis. "Hey," he said.

"Jesse, I'm so sorry," said Genesis. "I didn't know that she'd..."

"It's not your fault," said Jesse. "I shouldn't have even come here."

"Don't say that."

Oh my, Tommy thought upon awakening. What did I do last night? I kind of remember getting up and walking around, and yet, it didn’t seem like I was doing it.

While getting dressed, he saw the note next to his computer. Wow, Tommy thought. The amulet really works! Or more likely, Sarah’s gained control of her powers but just needed to be encouraged to visit other places, which was what I hoped for by lying to her about the amulet.

After the encounter at the mall, Genesis, Jesse, and Ramona were extremely paranoid. As they drove, they kept an eye out for any cars or vans that might be following them. They didn't see any, but they were still on edge. If Lucas knew they were heading for Atlanta, then he was probably heading there, too.

It took another two days to reach Atlanta. In the late afternoon of February 1, 2024, Ramona got off the highway and entered Atlanta. "Here we are," she said. "Atlanta."

"Rachel Miller lives in an orphanage, right?" Genesis asked.