by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Ok so I'm back again and with something new as promised. I'm told this story is a little different than the ones I've written so far so I guess you guys are going to need to bear with me for a bit until I get this thing going. I hope to get back to the DRU as soon as I can but until then I hope you enjoy this fun little tangent of mine. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and my beta readers for their great help.

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1:

There was another car, I think that was four now. Four in the last five minutes. I didn’t really know Crystal all that well, but apparently a lot of other people did. It was strange to say you didn’t know someone, especially considering I used to see her every day. Used to being the key word. Young people die all the time but I’ve never actually known one of them. It doesn’t happen as often either. At least not in the small burgs like ours. In the big cities, sure but not around here. It was kind of sad when you stopped to think about her life being cut so short like that. In a car accident too. I still couldn’t believe how something like that was even possible. The mag rails were fully automated; the cars driving them were completely controlled by the system. There weren’t supposed to be any accidents.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. There were no tears, why wasn’t I crying.

Looking out my window at the Sanderson’s house around the street, everyone there had been crying. Even the couple that was getting out of the most recent arrival. These people were strangers to me and yet they had more emotion than I did. Sure, I didn’t know Crystal as well as I should have, but I should have at least cried for her, right? Her sister Maddie was in my class, I should have been crying for her sake, too. The two of them had been close. Real close I think. I used to remember them playing in the yard when they were younger. They looked so happy then. That was before their older brother Ryan manifested though. Families always seemed to be strained after that. It got worse when Ryan went to live in the Cube with the others and his family decided to stay behind.

It wasn’t that uncommon of course, but I couldn’t imagine why anyone would refuse The Cube.

I tried not to think about it though.

I tried to pull away from the window too, but I just couldn’t. People fascinated me a little bit. It’s not like I wasn’t a people person, sure I liked them but I tried to avoid them whenever I could. There was just something about them that intrigued me. I liked watching behavior, the way certain people reacted to certain things. Mom always said I’d make a great scientist like her because of it. I wasn’t going to be like her though. Not that I thought there was anything wrong with Communication but I wanted to be a Sentinel. I’m sure every guy my age did but some part of me wanted it more than the rest. Sentinels were the only other people besides the Alphas and their families who got to live in The Cube. I wanted it more than anything else in the world.

Another car pulled up to the house. That makes five.

I almost lost interest after that but a moment later, a sixth car arrived. This one piqued my interest a lot though. It was a white Saber, no wheels, retrofitted with grade C hovers. State of the art tech---Dad helped manufacture some of it. It wasn’t the car that interested me though, it was the occupants. As soon as the door opened, I recognized the overly beautiful woman who stepped out. Long legs, gorgeous flowing blonde hair. Tall, beautiful and in total control of every situation----that was what Ms. Scott strived for. She looked just as perfect as ever in her tiny little black dress, not even a wrinkle. Of course she was perfect though, she was an Alpha, a Super Venus, some called her.

I didn’t disagree.

I just didn’t realize she knew the Sanderson’s though.

I tried to lose interest but I just couldn’t especially when the passenger door opened and Teddy slid out. He was my best friend. It was just hard to imagine that he was anything at all related to his mother. Here she was this tall, gorgeous Goddess and Teddy, well he was anything but. Short and far, the only way you could tell they were even related was because they shared the same hair color. Strangely, though, his mother’s seemed to be shinier. She walked around the car, her long legs elegantly moving with the grace of an angel. Teddy fell in behind her, his head low, his shoulders slouched. I knew what he was thinking because he grumbled about it every time he went anywhere with her---he despised his mother. He hated everything she stood for.

She was an Alpha and he was not. She apparently made that very clear to him as well. I felt bad for him. It wasn’t unheard of for Alphas to slum with us lower people, even have children with us. The Alphas frowned upon it of course. It was beneath them to be seen with us. It’s why they all lived in The Cube. It’s why there were Cubes all over the world. At first, they were meant to protect them from us. Back when the Alphas first started manifesting, us normal people didn’t understand. There was a lot of bad blood. Some real bloodshed, too. The government came up with The Cubes to protect them and then the Sentinels to protect us. After the years though, it became less a refuge and more like a standard of living for them.

I continued to watch my friend as he trailed slowly behind his scene-stealing mother.

When they got to the front door, she hugged a weeping Mrs. Sanderson. Then the two of them disappeared into the house like everyone else. A second later, I heard a pip in my ear. I nearly jumped out of my chair. I cursed, tapping the small device just below my left earlobe. A moment later, I heard the recording, “Can you snipe me from that window please?” It was from Ted. I looked but of course, he was already inside now. I was just surprised that he was able to see from all the way across the street. I couldn’t help but wonder if his mother let him finally get that thermal upgrade to his Bio he’d been bugging her about.

It was the same one I’d been bugging my parents about too but to no avail.

“Bio’s aren’t toys, Ben,” my Dad reminded me every time I asked.

A moment later, another pip. Again from Ted. “Maddie looks really upset. I didn’t realize she and Crystal were close anymore?”

Ted and Maddie had been friends since grade school. Their Dads worked the Tunnels together. Ted and Mads had a lot of play dates when they were younger. I think it was just his mother’s way to get rid of him. He was one of us after all. Ted got dumped with his father a lot because of it. It kind of pissed me off a bit, that Alphas could have kids with us and then expect them to be Alphas too.

Everyone knew it didn’t work that way. Alphas were a genetic abnormality, not something, that could be created through procreation. Not that people didn’t try. Alphas even tried with one another but with little success. In fact, they couldn’t procreate with one another at all. It was one of the reasons they slummed so low as to “do it” with us normal people.

Their normal children were a lot like Ted too. No one knows why.

If you ask me, it was kind of a shame for the child.

I was about to return the pip when there was a knock on my door. Sighing, I quickly spun my chair and slid over to my desk. I had a pretty good idea who was on the other side of the door and I definitely didn’t want her catching me gawking. I was proven right a moment later when the door opened and my mother stuck her head inside. Her real head too, not some holographic representation of her like usual. I wonder what the occasion was.

“Ben, I’ve just been across the street,” she said, answering my unasked question.

So the death of a neighbor gets her home but not her two kids.

Typical.

“I didn’t know you knew Crystal?”

“Not a lot but enough. Besides its rude not to show.”

Sure, make me feel bad now. It’s not that I didn’t want to go, it’s just that I felt awkward just showing up like that. I didn’t really know Crystal after all and Maddie and I were barely friends. Showing up at her house to help mourn her dead sister just didn’t feel right to me.

“I don’t really…I mean I didn’t really know her.”

My Mom frowned. “You might not have known her but it’s proper to go and pay your respects anyway.”

Shit. I hated getting dressed up.

“You’re going to make me go aren’t you?”

“You’re almost fifteen now Benjamin, so I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. However, I think your friend Maddie might appreciate it if you showed.”

Double Shit.

How do Moms do that? Sure, she wasn’t telling me to go but she was sure as hell guilting me into it.

I tried to weigh my options. I only really had two of them. Stay here and look like an ass, not only in front of my own mother but also to Maddie. Or I could put on my best clothes, force a fake amount of grief and try to be human once in my life. I sure wanted to go with #1 but I had to do the right thing. Me and my stupid moral compass.

Why did I always pick the right thing?

The tie was too tight. I tried doing it myself but in the end, I let the Auto Dresser in my dad’s closet do it for me. I know what you’re thinking and no, my father knows how to put on his clothes. The Auto Dresser was there for things like that---ties. It was programmed for other things as well but it had this tie tying function. These little robot arms actually tied the stupid thing for you. It was very convenient but also a pain in the ass because it always made things too tight. It was like the stupid thing was literally out to choke you.

I finally managed to get it free from my neck. Loosening it as best I could, I was finally able to take a deep breath before walking out of the little main foyer area.

The Sanderson’s house wasn’t all that different from our own. In fact, it was nearly identical. Most of the houses in the Burb were all prefab things. Created with a computer program somewhere and assembled in a day. They had the same rooms, the same amount of bathrooms, the same two car garages and the same backyard, down to the centimeter. No one could ever say this place wasn’t efficient. The only thing different about the Sanderson’s was the color on the walls and the furniture of course. They also did some minor renovations as well, it seemed. They took out a wall, turning the kitchen and dining room into one large area. There was also a huge holo fish tank that floated down from the ceiling, centering the whole of the living room.

I looked around for their holoscreen, wondering why they would ever replace it. My wandering eyes caught the attention of some nearby adults so I quickly pretended I was scanning the room for someone. I recognized some of the adults. Miss Green was in the corner---she was our home room teacher. She was just as beautiful as ever. She was an Alpha, too. In fact all of our teachers were. It wasn’t unheard of actually. There were only six schools in our Zone. Twenty teachers rotated between each every four months. We had different subjects in the four month blocks. This block was Math and Science; last block was History and English. The next Block would be starting very soon, the Block I was looking forward to. It was the one where we took placement classes, leading us into the kind of career that we wanted to do.

For someone my age, it meant the world.

My little sister Carrie was still in the Under Program. Whereas she had the same teachers, her curriculum was much different. I was in what the schools referred to as the Intermediate Program.

Crystal---before her tragedy---was an Upper. They were already in Career Placement programs in their respective fields. I think I remember Maddie saying her sister was in Med.

Thinking about it actually pained me a little.

I quickly distracted myself trying to find someone I knew. I saw several other teachers, some parents and lots of neighbors. I thought I saw my little sister somewhere in the crowd. She and Mom had come over before me; Dad was the lucky one hiding at work. Nothing new there. I finally spotted Ted. He was with our other friend Joe, trying very hard to blend into the scenery near the food table. I made sure I didn’t run into anyone who might stop me as I slowly made my way over. Joe caught sight of me first, giving me a nod. Ted and Joe struck me as an odd pair. Whereas Ted was short and round, Joe was tall and very thin. Lots of the kids at school referred to them as the number ten whenever they were together. So of course, I referred to them as “One” and “Zero”.

“Hey Minus” said Joe as I approached them.

Sure if they were the number ten then I was the negative. People latched onto that pretty quick too. It was pretty well known around school how anti-social I was. Dark hair, dark clothes, dark demeanor. That pretty much summed me up. My grandfather said they used to have a name for it when he was younger. Someone like me didn’t even get categorized anymore. What with Alphas and the like. To them we were all Jects—short for Rejects of course. So for us to give ourselves denominators due to social status was a bit redundant.

“Hey guys,” I said, keeping my voice low.

Today was not a day to joke with my buds.

Ted turned and looked at me, giving me a nod. “Didn’t think you’d show.”

I shrugged. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”

Ted nodded, clearly reading through my bullshit. That’s what I liked about him; you could never pull a fast one on Ted. He knew when you were lying, when you were sincere and when you were just trying to play it cool to look good. I guess he picked up a lot with a Mom like his. Sure, she was gorgeous but it was clear that she was fake. I looked around and caught her chatting up a group over in the corner. She was flashing a smile, laughing lightly at some joke. I’d only ever met her once or twice but from both those encounters, it was clear she wasn’t pleased to be around me. Pleased to be around any Jects for that matter. I still couldn’t figure out why she was here at all anyway.

“It looks good for company PR,” said Ted as if reading my thoughts.

His mother was the CEO of Scott Pharmaceuticals. They were the leading drug manufacturer on the East Coast. They supplied meds for several Zones, including the big Zone areas like NYC and Atlanta.

It still didn’t explain why she was here rubbing elbows with us little people.

“That guy next to her” said Ted, nodding to a tall, nondescript blonde. “That’s her assistant. Mom’s trying to write this off as some philanthropic PR stunt or some shit.”

Now that I could see. Say what you want about Alphas, they sure knew how to put themselves out there.

Most Alphas were either actors or politicians. Something that put their face all over the world. Though there were some who used their talents for other things. Like sports teams and big business. Alphas were after all stronger than us and much smarter than us. They explained it all in science class more than once but it was never my best subject. It had something to do with manifestation and the over activated brain something or other. Suffice to say, they were definitely better than us in just about anything they ever did.

Ted groaned. “Don’t look now but here comes the leech?”

I just caught a quick glance and saw the “leech” coming over. It was his mother’s assistant. He was an Alpha too, an Adonis. I always felt a little intimidated by them when they were near. Not only did their height make me feel tiny but their muscles and chiseled looks made me feel like I should wear a paper bag over my head for the rest of my life.

“Hey boys” he said in a tone that was borderline condescending. “How ya guys doing?”

Ted rolled his eyes. “What do you want, Jeremy?”

The Leech---Jeremy---feigned insult.

“Just getting another drink,” he said, stepping toward the table.

He stepped right between Ted and me, completely devoid of personal space. He nearly bowled me over too. I had to side step his approach and even then his hands still ended up on me. Trying to step one way only made it worse because he tried to go the other. It was awkward to say the least. After getting another drink, he looked annoyed at first as if he was going to insult me but thought better of it. As soon as he got his drink, he was gone. I watched him go, giving him daggers. I wasn’t the only one either though. As he walked back over to Ms. Scott, I saw the daggers she was giving him too. They exchanged words and whatever she said to him, it clearly took the wind from him because the look on his face was priceless.

I couldn’t help but smirk at that.

“What a tool?”

“Your Mom just bitch slapped him for it,” I said, laughing.

Joe and Ted gave me a strange look.

Yeah, so I didn’t laugh much.

“Hey did you guys see the latest vid?” asked Joe excitedly.

Joe was a bit of a vid nut. He was a techie like my Mom so anything to do with the Bios or Vids or Holos got his blood pumping. We both knew what he was jumpy about today though. It had to be the ASC. They were all over the Vids lately. The Alpha Superiority Coalition. They were a radical group of Alpha nut jobs who thought Alphas were superior to everyone and that the Jects needed to start to understand that or pay the price. They were nothing more than common thugs. Taggers and paint bombs mostly.

“What did they Paint now?” asked Ted, barely interested as he sipped his drink.

“They’ve escalated.”

Ted rolled his eyes but that actually did pique my interest a bit.

I was all for anarchy in all its forms.

“They popped one of trams yesterday, took it for a ride around the Outer Zone before the Sentinels finally pinched them.”

I’d heard the sirens yesterday but I had no idea it was for that. I just assumed some other punk tried to break into the Cube again. Cube break-ins or rather attempted break-ins happened every other day. People were always anxious to see what was on the other side of those high, pristine white walls. Hell, I was just as anxious too. I knew there was a proper way to get in though. Well two proper ways but I was pretty certain I was far from Alpha material. In fact, just thinking about that made my skin crawl. I was going to go about it the only sensible way.

As a Sentinel of course.

“They’ll be old news before you know it,” said Ted, disinterested as usual.

I had to agree with him though. The ASC were harmless, a bunch of street thugs just looking for a little screen time. As soon at their 15 seconds of fame was up, they’d be done.

“How do you pop a tram anyway?” I asked, letting my curiosity get the better of me.

“Not easily” said Ted and Joe together.

“A hack of that caliber” continued Joe “its high quality bio rewriting. Not to mention interrupting the System. Taking a mag off line is no easy task either.”

Joe tended to get loud when he was excited about something, especially when he was talking about his techie stuff. His voice carried and several of the people nearby gave him nasty looks. He didn’t notice but I quickly put my heel down on his foot. After yelping and cursing, I think it finally sunk in. Talking about derailing a mag at such an excited level and especially now, it wasn’t the brightest thing in the world.

“Dude” hissed Ted, looking just as angry as everyone else.

“Oh shit,” said Joe, turning a pale green.

Literally too, actually. He had one of those apps on his Bio that changed the pigment of his skin based on his emotions. It was absolutely pointless of course but a lot of kids our age had them. Well a lot excluded me.

After that, Ted started chastising him which I decided not to stay around for. I thought about going to look for Carrie but quickly second guessed that. I loved my kid sis but she was nine and I didn’t exactly have a lot in common with that. I tried to find common ground with her but she was all about her dolls and Bio pet things. The only thing we actually did have in common were our parents and the house we lived in. Well and maybe Toby. He was our dog. He was a German Shepherd on the good days, a Golden Retriever whenever Dad was around and a nice shaggy sheep dog whenever Carrie played with him.

Toby was a Synth. A synthetic bio-organize pet. Owning real dogs wasn’t allowed anymore so some ingenious company developed syntho-pets a few decades ago. They could literally be whatever you wanted them to be. We got REX003 when I was about Carrie’s age. Dad was always partial to dogs. He actually had a real one when he was a kid. A Golden Retriever named Toby, that’s sorta how ours got his name. Toby was great but according to Dad, he was nothing like the real thing.

I’m just surprised Carrie didn’t try smuggling him in here somehow.

I found my sister in one of the back room, playing with her friend Becky from down the street. They had their dolls out, up walking and talking. It always freaked me out when they did that. Whoever came up with toys like that was a genius of course but that didn’t stop me from wanted to stomp on them.

I thought about going out onto the back patio where I saw my Mom and several others but didn’t want to get into the mess. Maybe I’d just head home. I’d done my part after all. I made an appearance, I saw the guys, I filled my human quota for the day. I made a beeline for the door when I got pipped again. At first, I thought it was Ted again, trying to coax me into staying just a bit longer. I tapped my lobe and heard a voice I hadn’t actually heard speak to me in a long time: “Benjy?”

It was Maddie.

I turned around, confused. Then I caught sight of her. She was sitting in the shadows at the top of the stairs, her knees pulled up under her chin. I sighed, trying to remember the last time anyone ever called me Benjy. It had to be back when I was an Undie like Carrie. Benjy was a nickname that a lot of the kids called me. I actually think Maddie was the one who originated. She was also the only one who still ever called me by it. It’s just been so long since I’d actually heard her say it. I took a cautious breath before deciding what I wanted to do. I had two options again. Either continue out the door and forget her or turn around and go to her. I knew which one my head wanted me to do but my heart was telling me something else entirely.

I have a bit of a confession to make.

The real reason I stopped being friends with Maddie was because of puberty. It was exceptionally kind to the Sanderson sisters. Crystal was near Alpha pretty and her sister was a very close second. Maddie went from this chubby, chipmunk cheeked girl into a knockout over night. It was a pretty amazing metamorphosis actually. Sure, it was longer than over night but you get my drift. Suffice to say it didn’t take long for her to set my hormones racing. Unfortunately, that’s where the problem fell. I wasn’t the only one. I’m not sure which one of us decided it but somehow Ted got dibs. Call it the bro code or whatever but I wasn’t going to muscle in like that on my buddy. So I did the noble and heart wrenching thing and I backed off.

Ted got the girl even if he never actually got the girl.

The only thing the two of them were ever able to muster was a very good friendship. I know it pissed Ted off a lot too.

I made up my mind quick though.

I turned and started for the door just like before.

Pip. “Benjy, please, just once.”

Letting out an even heavier sigh than before, I finally made my way up the stairs. My legs felt like they both weighed a hundred pounds at least. I found Maddie sitting on the top step, still shrouded in shadow. It didn’t matter though because I could still vaguely see her face. Like Joe, she had one of those funky Bio apps too but unlike his, her app allowed her to change her hair color and makeup at will. Today it was all black, no surprise there. I dropped down the step next to her, not sure how to react or what to say. In the end it didn’t matter because as soon as I dropped next to her she had her arms around me, her head buried into my shoulder and the tears soon followed.

I tensed up.

I can count on one hand how many people ever actually hugged me. I can even use one finger to count how many people ever cried on me. To say I was a bit awkward was an understatement but I let her cry. It was the human thing to do; right? And cry she did. I’m not sure how long she actually did it for but when she stopped, I couldn’t help but want to hug her a bit myself. Instead, I took my grandfather’s handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to her.

She dried her eyes. She might have even blown her nose. I didn’t really care just so long as it made her feel better.

“Thanks” she said in a soft voice, still clutching my keepsake tightly.

“I’m sorry about Crystal” I said and actually meant it too.

She didn’t say anything for a whole minute but when she did speak it was softly again. “I don’t understand it.”

“Understand what?”

“They said it was driver error. That Crys accidentally turned off the autopilot and car jerked from the rail going 80. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

She broke down again. This time I did hug her. Her head somehow ended up under my chin this time. Her hair smelled like lilacs. I kind of liked it. I held her a longer this time as she sobbed into my chest. I needed to comfort her, I needed to say something. Then I remembered what Dad said. The car Crystal was driving---the Saber---there was no way that a driver could switch off the auto. That function wasn’t even in the cockpit. He was certain that the malfunction was on the rail itself or one of the mag couplers on the bottom of the car.

It was definitely not pilot error as all the vids were saying.

So I told her that.

She looked up at me, her eyes glistening with tears. “You’re sure?”

I smiled. “My Dad built the car. He should know after all.”

Her face split into the biggest smile I’d ever seen. God I forgot how much I loved that smile.

Then she did something I only ever dreamed. She actually grabbed my head and kissed me. It was a quick peck but it was still on the lips. She pulled away quickly, a little surprised more than anything. I was surprised to say the least too. We stared at each other for a few moments before she finally pulled away.

“Sorry” she said softly, welling up again.

I reached to comfort her again but she brushed me off.

Of course. Mistake. That’s all it even was with me.

No, not a mistake. Grief. I comforted her and she got lost in the moment. Nothing more, soon to be forgotten.

“I gotta go,” I said quickly, standing up.

I started down the stairs, getting pipped as I opened the door.

“Thanks Benjy”

Gods I would pay a million creds to keep hearing her say that name over and over again.

I couldn’t help but smile as I opened the door. Glad no one saw either because two in one day from me, people might think I was sick or something. I managed to smile all the way across the street though. I even found myself smiling as I got into the house and made it to my room. As soon as I got to the bedroom, the smile faded. Well good things can’t last forever, right?

Toby was on my bed waiting, currently a Boxer.

“I guess I might be human after all boy,” I said happily.

He cocked his head, giving me a funny look.

Then there was the pip.

One simple line.

“I saw that.”

Shit.

Ted.

Well it’s officially, I’m definitely human.

At least until tomorrow anyway.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Here's Ch.2, as promised. I'm going to try one chapter a week and see how that goes. I'm currently writing Ch.4 so I'm ahead of things---for now lol. No TG elements yet though just some explanations. Oh and if my science is off, let me know and help me change it please. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and my beta readers for their great help.

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2:

For the next few days, Crystal’s death was the talk of the school. After all, dying in a car accident was a big deal now. My dad used to say such things were pretty common back in my great grandfather’s day when cars still ran on combustion engines and gasoline but the new mag-lev models were supposed to be infallible. Ok, so not totally of course, but an accident like Crystal’s was very rare. While the Vids were still calling it “pilot error”, I knew from Dad that such a thing wasn’t possible. It made me wonder why the government would continue to allow such a lie to sold to the masses. I mean after the Freedom of Speech act was amended to include private protection, you’d think that such a thing would be slander now.

The accident wasn’t the only thing that was on people’s minds though.

It didn’t take long for someone to crunch the numbers and figure out something even more drastic.

Crystal was a Ratio.

Now in some of the bigger Metros, something like that was nothing to fret about. After all, places like Metro One there were thousands of people. Ratios were a dime a dozen and cropped up like dandelions in summer. But here in Metro 656, a Ratio was a big deal. Our Metro wasn’t the smallest but it was pretty close. We only had about five thousand people, not including the Alphas and their families who lived in the Cube. So if one of the Jects happened to croak, it always made everyone take a moment. If one of us turned out to be a Ratio, then it really made everyone stop what they were doing. Especially considering the last one was nearly a year ago.

Population control was a big deal in the Metros. At any one given time, the System knew how many citizens were present and each one of us had a number. Don’t ask me mine because I haven’t the foggiest. The numbers helped the System keep a tally on the ratio between male and female citizens. That Ratio was important for the upkeep and well being of our society. If for instance not enough boys were born and a few of them were to die then there would be an imbalance. Thus, the next number in the sequence would be a Ratio. If another boy was born then the Ratio would go away and all would be fine. It was how the system worked.

There were, of course, unforeseen circumstances.

Like Crystal’s sudden and tragic death.

The fact that Crystal was a Ratio made things even more troublesome.

It meant there was now an imbalance in the female population.

It also meant a new Alpha was about to appear.

Even if a new baby girl were to be born tomorrow, things would not even themselves out overnight. The baby girl would be added to the System’s registry, of course, and as soon as she was processed, things would get back to business. But processing an infant took time and the System would be unbalanced until then. The System could function fine on its own but nature had other plans.

I learn about it every year in science and history class.

Shortly after my great grandfather was born, there was a nasty illness that swept across the world. They called it the XY Plague. Those born after a certain amount of time---mainly males---were susceptible to the plague. Nearly 80% of the male population was wiped clean. My great grandfather one of the lucky few. To compensate for this loss, nature found another way. The best way I can describe it is with clownfish. Say for instance, there are more male clownfish than females. Well then, one of the male fish becomes a female fish and things are balanced out. Well after the XY plague was cured, it was discovered that every baby born afterwards was born with what the media affectionately began calling the “Clownfish gene”.

According to science class, I know this type of change should be called sequential hermaphroditism. Up to that point in the history of the world, it was something only some fish, snails and plants had. However it seemed Mother Nature decided that it was the next step in human evolution. All of us born after the XY Plague are born that way but most of us live normal, healthy lives. It’s only when a Ratio comes up that we have to fear for things to come.

When a Ratio pops up one of us becomes an Alpha.

Now that might sound cool in the long run but the idea of changing one’s gender to achieve such a cool thing rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I know it did me.

I know it scared a lot of guys.

So suffice to say, the mood was pretty damn somber in school for the next couple of days. I couldn’t walk anywhere without hearing the whispers and the fear. People were running scared. The halls between classes were vacant, the lunch room nearly deserted. There were a lot of stupid superstitions surrounding the “Manifestation”. Some people believed if you stayed isolated, it would keep you safe. Others believed that your proximity to the opposite sex made it easier to “manifest”. There were even some who believed if you fled the Metro completely you were safe from it.

It was all bullshit of course.

Nothing stopped you from manifesting. If you were going to do it, you did it. It was like the lottery. If the right number was picked then that was that. There was nothing you could do to prevent it. History had proven that. When the first Alphas appeared, there was a lot of fear and lots of people ran scared. Scientists all around the globe tried to come up with ways to prevent such a thing from happening but nothing worked. When my grandfather was in his twenties, that’s when the first Cube was made. He was a first generation Sentinel. He was proud of it. The stories he used to tell me were some of my fondest memories of him. Whenever I asked him about what he thought about manifestation and the Alphas, he always used to tell me, “We only have one life and no matter how it turns out, we need to live it and accept it for what it is.” So if we were to manifest and become an Alpha, that was what our life was meant to be.

I always thought I took grandpa’s philosophy seriously.

Well that was before this whole Ratio thing.

Sure, the adults and the older Uppers had nothing to fear, they were immune to the change. It was us kids, the “Inters”, who had to worry. Manifestation usually occurred in teenagers from the ages of thirteen to sixteen. It often happened during the onset of puberty but was not uncommon to manifest later. The change occurred over a period of about a week. The first sign was a slight tingling on the back of your hand. That tingling would grow into a rash which over the course of the day would slowly manifest itself into a rudimentary symbol: the female symbol would pop up on a guy and vice versa for a girl. It was kind of weird actually but who was I to argue with Nature.

To say I was scared was an understatement.

As I walked into the cafeteria, I was surprised to see I wasn’t the only one.

On a normal day the room was packed and buzzing with activity. Guys and girls laughed and co-mingled without a care in the world. Today it was not like that. Yesterday had been bad of course, especially after the afternoon Vids came on. Today was a completely different story. Whereas yesterday there was slight panic today it was a ghost town. There were a hundred Inters in the school on a day-to-day basis. We all ate at the same time in Cafeteria 2. Like I said before, usually it was Grand Central Station. Today it was the Sahara. You could drive a hover truck through the gaps in the people. It was even worse when you considered that the majority of the guys in the room were sitting on one side and the girls on the other.

No one spoke.

No one even looked at each other.

A pin dropping in here would be like a bomb going off.

I scanned the room, looking at all the idiots. I spotted Joe and Ted sitting at an overly crowded table with a bunch of other guys. Ted’s back was to me, eating normally. Joe gave me a look, his face a pukish gray currently. Joe was a smart guy, his parents worked with my Mom in fact. They were smart people too. In just floored me that he’d actually believe some of the stupid stuff. I gave him a look and shook my head. I was actually ashamed at the moment to call him my friend. I wasn’t as ashamed of Ted though. I know he was only sitting there because Joe was.

I also know that he was pretty pissed.

He was angry about the kiss.

I tried to tell him that it was incident and it meant nothing. I also told him that she was upset, I told her something to make her feel better and she reacted. It was innocent and stupid. Ted didn’t see it that way. I’m not sure I wanted to either. I knew what it really was and I think Ted did as well but I wanted it to be more. I wasn’t going to lie to myself. I had it bad for Maddie. She was after all the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen---not counting any Alpha girl.

Alphas didn’t count as far as I was concerned. Maddie was the one I wanted. She was always the one I wanted. I backed off though. I knew Ted liked her too. He was my best friend. There was no way I could betray him like that.

So I let them have their time.

I left Maddie alone.

It was working too. That is until her sister’s wake of course.

I should have just walked away. I should have just stuck with my guns and left like I wanted too. The only problem was that I erred and decided to be human.

See, being human leads to nothing but problems.

Yesterday I set about to talk to Maddie. I wanted to clear the air. I wanted her to know that I knew the kiss was nothing and that she was upset. Except she wasn’t in school yesterday. I suppose I couldn’t blame her. She was still grieving. After my grandfather passed away, I spent two days crying in my room. I couldn’t even bring myself to go to the funeral. In fact, to this day, I have yet to visit his grave. I can’t do it, it’s just too painful. He was the closest thing to a true friend and definitely a true parent I had. Sure, Mom and Dad were there but they weren’t really. They worked all the time and grandpa; he was the guy who had my back.

Crystal and Maddie were like that too.

So it was only understandable.

Only human.

So after I finished staring at Ted’s back, I decided to see if I could find Maddie. It actually wasn’t all that hard. She was the girl sitting at the table all by herself. The table that was away from every other girl on her side of the cafeteria. Oh yeah, I forgot about that stupid superstition. Somehow, people actually believed that the Ratio was cursed and that anyone who came in close contact with them was cursed as well. That if you even sat next to them, somehow the curse would activate and that either you or one of your loved ones would become the next Alpha.

It was by far one of the stupider ones.

I took a deep breath and started toward her.

I dropped into the seat across from her, though she barely noticed.

I decided with something light to break the ice.
“Hey”

I’m going with the classics here.

She looked up at me, surprised at first.

“You sure you want to be seen sitting with the pariah. You might get cursed and grow boobs out of your forehead or something.”

“I’ll take my chances”

Maddie smiled. God she had a great one.

I was glad to see she was a lot happier today too. Her gloom was gone and in its place was something slightly more her. Her hair was still on the shade of dark but at least it was purple and not black. Her makeup was still black though. She was also sporting a black ring. Most people didn’t really go for the whole black is for mourning anymore. Now the trend was to wear rings. Even the guys wore them but usually only on their thumbs and no more than a day or so. I did notice a few of the other girls wearing similar rings. A lot of the Uppers had them on too, mostly Crystal’s friends.

It was kind of nice they were showing their support.

I thought about getting a ring too but I think it would have soiled my whole loner image.

The Loner cares.

Yeah.

Not.

Good.

“So” I said, trying to find something worthy. “Are you feeling any better today?”

She set down her fork. Not that she was really eating to begin with. All her food was still on the tray, untouched. I think she was just using the fork to move everything around.

She sighed. “I’m sorry, Ok.”

“About what?”

“The kiss”

“Oh” I said, shrugging. “Nothing to apologize for. You were upset. I told you something nice, it was a perfectly normal reaction I suppose. I mean I don’t want to ruin things between you and Ted.”

She scoffed. “Me and Ted?”

She laughed a bit.

“Don’t get me wrong, Ted is a nice guy but there’s nothing going on there” She laughed even louder. “He’s just a friend. I mean he might think something more is going to come out of all of this but I can assure you that Ted and I are never going to happen.”

So maybe I recorded that bit.

Sue me.

I just wanted to make sure I had it on file if Ted ever got into my face about all this shit. I knew Ted. He’d stew about this for a bit, get pissy then boil over. When I least expected it, he’d strike. Usually I just let him come because well he’s Ted. He gets filled with hot air a lot and tends to overreact to the littlest things. He would come at me with this eventually and now I had something to use if he got too carried away. I didn’t want to hurt him, of course, but like I said, sometimes he overdid things. I can still remember what happened when I got a hover bike first. He avoided me for a week then came by with an even better bike. It probably cost a fortune and Ted got it just because he wanted to prove he was better than me.

He was like that with a lot of people.

In fact, it was pretty common when one of your parents was an Alpha. Living with perfection and not being a part of it, it tends to rub people the wrong way. Every once and a while there was a News Vid about some Alpha’s kid going ballistic and doing something stupid. It went with the territory.

Ted was no different.

“Are things Ok with you two?” she asked, clearly looking over my shoulder to see him.

I only half turned, catching him out of the corner of my eye. He no longer had his back turned to me. Instead, he was now staring daggers at us. I could only imagine what this must have looked like to him.

I sighed.

Fuck him.

“I’m fine but you know Ted.”

She nodded. “Unfortunately.”

She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “You should have seen what happened after you left. I mean I only saw because they didn’t see me at the top of the stairs but I caught this argument between Ted’s Mom and that assistant guy of hers”

“Jeremy” I said.

“Yeah him” she said then continued quickly. “I’m not sure what the argument was about but she kept calling him a moron. She was saying something about the wrong one. I think he screwed up some business thing. I overheard her talking to Mom earlier about business. Mom was in the den, on the holo with her. I think that’s why she was there.”

“So she couldn’t even come there to mourn your sister?”

“Yeah I know right” Maddie looked slightly hurt. “Say what you will about Alphas but sometimes those people are real asses.”

I bit my lip. “So do you ever hear from Ryan?”

It was clearly a sore subject, especially from the sneer it provoked.
“We don’t”

“Sorry” I said softly.

I knew her brother was a sore subject and I’m an ass for bringing it up. I remember Ryan growing up, he was kind of cool. He was about ten years older than Maddie and I. Ryan was one of the coolest guys I knew. He used to let me help him wash his hover car on the weekends. When he manifested I was only five. I don’t really remember much of the specifics only that I was upset because I thought maybe Maddie would have to move away. But the only one who left was Ryan. I cried a bit because I was upset that we couldn’t hang out anymore.

Of course, it wasn’t the last I saw of him. Well her now.

After Ryan emerged, he became a super star.

Everyone knew Rachel Monroe.

She was the star of several Vids and Commercials. Her face was practically everywhere these days. There wasn’t a person in the whole Zone who didn’t want to be her friend or to even be in her company. To be in the shadow of Rachel Monroe was like walking in the shade of a giant. I’m even ashamed to admit that I even have a few of her Vids in my personal file storage.

“She” said Maddie, putting it in air quotes. “Wants nothing more to do with the Jects who she once called family. The overbearing bitch could even keep our Ject name.”

Yeah lots of bad blood there.

Open mouth, insert foot.

Gods, I’m such an idiot.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bring up such a sore subject.”

“It’s ok” she said and sighed. “That person is not my family anymore. She’s not my sister and never will be. I have a sister and she was great. Rachel Whats-Her-Face can go suck it for all I care.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

On instinct, I reached out and touched her hand to comfort her. She didn’t pull away. A moment later, there was a pip.

“Dude, Minus” it was Joe. “What are you doing, you can’t touch her!”

I of course ignored him.

I continued to keep my hand on hers for another minute or so. She didn’t try to pull away once. Of course it didn’t last. When we finally did pull our hands away, both of us were smiling. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this good. It was a nice feeling actually.

“So are you excited about this afternoon?”

Was I ever? I think I might have mentioned more than once about wanting to be a Sentinel. Well this afternoon was the first step on my road to achieving that goal. Today after lunch, we were all to meet with our Placement Specialists. We’d get a standard physical then answer a series of questions. For once in my life, I was actually kind of excited. I hated feeling this way knowing that was feeling so bad but from the look on her face, she looked really excited too.

Maybe this Placement was what she needed to help her move on.

“What Placement are you going for?”

“Medical, I want to follow in Crys’s footsteps.”

“I think she would like that.”

Maddie smiled. “How about you? You still want to be like your grandfather?”

Holy crap, she remembered.

“You remember that?”

She laughed. “Of course, Benjy. You used to run around with that old Sentinel hat of his and pretend to arrest all of us. It was so darn cute.”

I laughed. “I just want to make the Old Man proud.”

She touched my hand this time.

“I’m sure he is.”

Pip. “Great now you’re double cursed.”

Still ignoring. I also made up my mind about something. To hell with Ted. She didn’t want him and he clearly didn’t have the gall to do anything so I’m going for it. If she laughed at me then I could take it. I have thick skin but I had to try.

“So Mad, if you’re not doing anything this weekend, you think you might want to catch the new Vid with me?”

Ok so it was lame but I had to take the plunge.

She stared at me for a moment or two.

I was convinced I was toast.

Then she smiled.

“Sure, Benjy, I’d like that.”

BANG.

SCORE.

BENJY ROCKS!!!

A few seconds later the tone sounded, ending lunch. Maddie and I got up separately, carrying our still uneaten lunch to the recycler. We walked out of the cafeteria together, the rest of the world a mere memory for that one split second of a moment.

I found myself grabbing her hand as we walked out the door.

I was so excited I could actually feel the tingle.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Here's Ch.3. I'd like to say I'm on schedule to post Ch.4 next work but sadly I'm only half done with it. Unfortunately, Real Life has interfered with this story and I've been really busy. Sadly I might be real busy for the next couple of weeks now too. I'll try to finish 4 to have it up next week but any other chapter might be delayed a bit after that. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and my beta readers for their great help.

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3:

“Benjamin Daniels?”

The secretary behind the desk was Alpha pretty. She didn’t have the height or athletic build, of course, but she was still a knockout. That’s all I noticed about her though. I was just too nervous to really pay attention to anything else. This was it after all. This was the moment I’d been waiting for ever since my grandfather’s first story. I was finally on my way to achieving my lifelong dream. Ok so it was technically only the first step but it was the first step of my future.

My first human step.

I stood up from the hardback chair, taking a deep breath as I did so.

When I first arrived nearly an hour ago, there had been seven of us. Now there were just two. The other kid was Mark Ross. He and I were mutual acquaintances. Well technically all of us were acquaintances. We all had the same classes together after all, except for PE of course. Even then, though, there was only an invisible line dividing the girl’s half of the gym from ours. I never understood why we had separate classes actually. After all, we did the exact same things. The only thing that really needed to be different was our locker rooms.

Even then, there was some debate.

Mark looked through the vid screen in front of me, nodding as he did so.

I nodded back before I followed the secretary through the door she opened. She stepped aside and stopped, apparently not going any farther.

“First door on the right” she said as I stepped past her.

As soon as I started down the hall, I heard the door close behind me. I was a bit nervous as I followed the hall. When I got to the door, I paused before entering. I’d had quite a few physicals, actually. In fact, it was standard for us to have one every six months. I knew this one was a bit different though. There were certain qualities that the Sentinels were looking for. It wasn’t just physical stuff either. I needed to have a proper mental state as well. Being a Sentinel wasn’t just about patrolling the perimeter of the Cube. I had to be in peak physical and mental condition.

I had the advantage of having my grandfather to tell me what to do.

I took another deep breath and opened the door, stepping into the small room. Inside I found another chair, this one cushioned.

“Take a seat,” said a voice in my ear.

It was always a bit unsettling when the Administration could access your Bio whenever they wanted.

I did as I was instructed, dropping comfortably into the large chair.

A moment later, a panel in the ceiling opened and a console slowly dropped down in front of me. All very routine.

Physicals were done a little bit differently now. I knew from history class that something like this would have been overseen by a medical professional. But with the invention of Bios, most medical professionals were obsolete. Sure we still had them but most of it was lab work now. Medical science was now a hybrid field with computer and biological sciences. The Meds worked closely with the Bio division to find ways to better advance the Bios’ performance. A hundred years ago when Newton Cross invented the Bio, he changed the course of human history. I single device that could tap into an individual’s brain and in essence, their very core self.

The Bios of course had advanced quite a bit since the first version.

Now human beings couldn’t function without them.

“Insert the tube please,” said the voice, referring to the “tube” that came out of the side of the console.

I grabbed the thin, black cord, then slowly inserted it in the little port under my left earlobe. Whereas the right ear was for communication, the left had a tiny hole or “port” for medical reasons. It might seem a little weird and I’m sure when they were first implemented people probably freaked, but now it was how the world worked. I suppose you could say that with the port and the Bio, human beings weren’t really fully human anymore. Add Alphas to that equation and well that was a whole new ball game.

A moment after inserting the tube, the console in front of me lit up. A second later, a small holographic representation of myself appeared. A blue dot appeared near my left ear then slowly started to trail its way through my body, following my central nervous system, lighting up as it went along. I followed the first blue line for a second but lost track of it a second later when it split into several different directions. After less than a minute, the holographic me was all blue lines. It was kind of freaky.

I shifted in my seat.

“Sit still please”

Sighing, I tried not to move anymore. Of course, I started to get an itch. I decided to concentrate on holo me again.

The blue lines remained and a red line started. I watched it for a moment as it followed my blood stream. After that, a yellow line started highlighting my internal organs. Then purple started to highlight my skeleton. Finally, green started to highlight my muscles. When it was all done, holo me looked like a little rainbow man.

“Thank you for your patience” said a voice a moment after the green line finished.

“You’re welcome,” I said, even though I knew the voice couldn’t hear me.

“You may remove the tube now but please remain seated.”

I took the tube out of my port. As soon as I let it go, it quickly recoiled back into the console. A moment after that, a mechanical appendage appeared. Nearly identical to the arms of the auto dresser, the only difference being this one had a syringe. I flinched, guessing what was next.

“Raise your left arm and remain absolutely still.”

I did as instructed.

The arm stuck me fast. I flinched again. Then watched as it drew my blood.

It was kind of funny actually. All this advanced tech and they still used old school syringes. I suppose if something isn’t broke, there’s no need to fix it. After my blood filled up the syringe, the arm quickly retracted back into the console. A few seconds after that, the console returned to the ceiling.

I sat and waited for my next instruction. I didn’t have to wait long.

“Please report to room 213, down the hall, second door on the left.”

I left the tiny room and followed the hallway again. My nerves had subsided some but I knew the hardest part was about to come.

Physicals were very straightforward because Bios never lied. My grandfather had told me that much. According to him, what really mattered was making a good impression during the interview portion of the process. All Placement processing exams were the same. First, there was a test you took the year before. If you passed that, then the following year, you got an appointment. Last year the test had been a joke. Then again, I had a good coach. Unfortunately, now there was nothing I could do to prepare for this next part.

This was all me. No pressure.

I found room 213 easily enough. Not sure what to do I knocked but no one answered. I knocked a second time but finally convinced myself there was probably no one on the other side. Taking the imitative, I opened the door. Sure enough, I was right. I found myself standing in an empty, well, one devoid of people anyway. In the center of the room, I found a table and a single chair. Other than that, it was pretty barren. It was kind of creepy actually. Even creepier because it didn’t even have a window.

I tried to look like I belonged there by quickly making my way over to the table. I took a seat in the chair, hoping that I wasn’t wasting my time in the process.

As soon as my butt hit the seat, my fears subsided.

A holographic image of a man--- wearing the white uniform of a Sentinel---appeared in the middle of the table. The 14-inch high holo-image flicked only once before stabilizing. The figure was middle aged but well fit. I could just make out the insignia of Sergeant on his left shoulder.

“Mr. Daniels?”He asked, I nodded. “Good to meet ya, Sergeant Philips, I’ll be your Orientation Officer.”

“Orientation?” I asked, surprised. “Does that mean I’m in?”

He gave me a look. “You were in, son, the moment you stepped through the door.”

Shit.

“You’d be surprised how many kids your age never bother to take that step. We monitor that hall and out of the seven of you today, only three of you opened the door. You should be proud of that, son.”

I had passed a test I didn’t even know existed.

I suppose it made sense when you think about it. If someone didn’t have enough courage to enter a room without being told to do so then they had no point being there. Well ok, so maybe courage wasn’t the right word, confidence might fit better. Grandpa taught me to be confident a lot time ago. I might be a self-appointed loner but I wasn’t afraid to be myself. I knew who I was and that’s all that mattered. I was confident in who I was too.

“This is awesome,” I said, unable to contain my glee.

Philips smiled. “You’re very privileged, not many kids your age make it into the Sentinels.”

I knew all about that too.

Out of all the potential Sentinel Probates, less than half actually made it out of their first years. Even if you did, things were hardly easy. As soon as I become an Upper next year, I’m going to have to spread my time between school and Sentinel Academy. The Academy was no walk in the park either from what I’ve heard. There was a rigorous training program that a cadet went through. It was the program that caused ninety percent of the washouts. I was ready for it though.

I was ready for it all.

I would not quit.

I would not fail.

I would make my grandfather proud of me.

“You’re Murray’s grandson aren’t you?”

The question took me by surprise. Grandpa only made it to Sergeant rank in the Sentinels. He told me he was happy there. He used to operate the gate on the south side of the Cube. Other than that, he really didn’t talk much about his work. Sure, he would share some interesting stories but the day-to-day stuff was pretty boring according to him.

“You knew my grandfather?”

Philips laughed. “By reputation only.”

Reputation?

What the hell did that mean?

I wanted to ask more but he already moved on.

“Now an orientation with the Sentinels is not easy. There’s a lot of hard work involved. If at any time you feel it’s too much, you let me and we can make other arrangements.”

A washout, not likely.

“I know what’s involved and I’m ready for it.”

“Good, just the attitude I wanted.”

Sergeant Philips spent the next several minutes telling me everything I would need to know. Most of it he said would be covered in the manual they would send me later tonight. After that, he asked me a lot of questions. Most of them I’m sure he already knew the answers to, but he was testing me again. I answered as best I could. After all, I wanted to make the best impression I could. While we were talking, my nervousness began to fade but something else started to replace it. I started to feel the itch about halfway through our talk. It actually wasn’t all that uncommon for me.

I’ve had blood drawn before and each time afterwards, I always started to itch.

I think I had allergic reactions to whatever process they used.

It was no different this time.

I scratched my hand a few times, then tried to ignore it.

Thankfully, the Sergeant didn’t notice or if he did, he was polite enough not to say anything.

When we finally ended our conversation, he stood at attention and saluted me.

“Probate Daniels” he said, making me straighten up a little. “It is my honor to welcome you to the Sentinels.”

I smiled. “Thank you sir.”

I did it, Grandpa.

I’m a Sentinel.

I stood and returned the salute. After that, the Sergeant’s holo disappeared, leaving me alone. I let out a final great big sigh then itched my hand again.

Things were finally starting to look up for me.

The house was quiet when I got home, which wasn’t a surprise at all. I couldn’t remember the last time one or both of my parents were home. Sure Mom made appearances but most of her life was her work. Dad was the same but at least he could work out of home if he needed. He had converted our garage into a workshop a few years ago. My parents weren’t bad parents, they were just really busy. It helped a lot when grandpa was here. He was more of a parent than either one of mine. Like I said though, it wasn’t that Mom and Dad didn’t try. They tried real hard but often saying something and doing something for them were two completely different things.

Hey, they were only human after all.

“Carrie” I shouted, dropping my bag near the door like usual.

More than likely my sister would be in the den. The den had the bigger of the two vid screens and my father’s vintage collection of old movies. Carrie liked to hide away there every day after school. I used to do the same. It was kind of cool to watch some of those oldies. The graphics were a joke and there were no holograms but they were still pretty entertaining. Even the 3D effects were decent if you could get over how flat looking, they were. Dad seemed to enjoy them. Then again, he enjoyed anything vintage. He was a bit of a collector. He had a lot of really cool stuff actually. His pride and joy though was the vintage 2040 Ford Vector. It was the last combustion engine vehicle ever produced. There were only four left on the whole planet.

Dad pulled a lot of strings to get it too.

Unfortunately, it was illegal to drive or else I’m sure he’d be tearing up the streets right now with it.

“Carrie” I called again, making my way to the kitchen.

As soon as I stepped inside, the lights turned on.

I walked to the island and brought up the console there then brought up the holo interface. Scrolling through the fridge, I was hoping to find something quick and easy for dinner tonight. With Mom and Dad pulling another all nighter, it was up to me to feed us again. I continued to scroll, trying to decide what I might be interested in. The fridge was well stocked today. Mom must have reset it before going to work this morning. She even put in Burger King and Domino’s. She must have been feeling really charitable. She usually left the fast food places out of the weekly rotation.

“Carrie” I shouted, hoping I’d break through to her finally.

Third time’s a charm.

My sister appeared a minute or so later, Toby trailing behind her.

“What” she asked, annoyed.

Eight years old and an attitude already.

I turned to look at her, wondering what fashion forward guru she was emulating today. Carrie liked to be hip and fresh. Every day she modeled her outfit off of one of the vid star’s latest looks. Today was no different. Her dress was pink, her hair done in pigtails. I was just glad the dog wasn’t pink too. Toby was looking very fashionable today though, I heard Siberian Huskies were all the rage lately.

“You want Domino’s?”

She shrugged. “Whatever is fine with me?”

“Are you this much of a bitch with Mom too?”

She shrugged. “Wouldn’t know.”

Burn.

The sad thing was it was the truth.

Eight years old and already so wise.

Scary too.

“They leave an ETA this time?”

“Probably” said Carrie, feigning disinterest. “I’m going back to the den, my show is back on.”

She left just as quickly as she arrived, the dog stayed behind.

Man’s best friend, loyal to the end.

I ordered up the pizza then headed up to my room. Toby followed, keeping at my heels. This was routine with us, too. He stuck with Carrie until I got home then he was my pal for the rest of the night. It was how he was programmed actually. His subroutines could be changed at any time but I kind of liked it that way. Of course, when Dad was home, he always liked to tamper with him. I loved Toby, I loved the fact that he would be around forever but I think I would have much preferred a real dog. It was a shame that they didn’t allow them in the Zones anymore. There were still some places out in the rural areas who still had real ones but it was a dying fad.

I mean who would want a real dog when they could design their own.

Man, this society was messed up.

Entering the room, the lights immediately turned on. I also noticed that the indicator light on my wall vid was blinking. Ignoring it for a second, I dropped onto my bed. I just needed a moment to myself. Toby jumped up next to me, laying his head on my chest. I laid there, petting his head and staring at the ceiling. I couldn’t help but smile, too. I did it, I was a Sentinel now. So Ok, I wasn’t even a Cadet yet, but I was in. If grandpa was still alive, I’m sure he’d want to celebrate. I thought about calling my parents, telling them the good news but I don’t think they’d care. Neither one of them was too keen on the idea in the first place. Dad thought I should have followed Uncle Frank and gone into politics, mom wanted me to be a writer of all things.

Neither one of them knew me at all.

I wanted to be like grandpa, the man I idolized.

Why couldn’t they see that?

“They’re clueless Toby,” I said, which caused him to cock his head.

I laughed then sat up, groaning as I realized that someone wanted me to be social.

I took a moment before I answered, though.

Glancing around my room, I couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be before I gave this all up for a place in the Cube.

I was happy and sad at the same time.

I had a lot of good times in this room.

But I’m not sure I was going to miss it.

Sure, it was my room but it wasn’t very personalized. Carrie’s room was much more decorated to fit her personality. Mom had even let her color change the walls pink. Me, I liked the steel gray of my walls. I also liked the lack of personal things that I had going on. Sure, I had some pictures and my desk but nothing really stood out as being specifically me. The pictures were framed holos of me and my family. The desk had a lamp sitting on it and my console. My cabinet on the far wall had a few books but most of them I had read half a dozen times. I watched vids but not as much as my friends and definitely not as much as Carrie. The only thing I ever really cared about was the Sentinels. Well, that and my grandfather’s old badge. It was also one of the very few possessions of his I still had. I wore it on a chain around my neck, keeping it with me always. It made me feel like grandpa was with me everywhere I go.

My eyes fell on the wall vid and the blinking light.

Sighing, I brought up the interface and waited as it came to life. The typical System logo and message played first followed by a quick scroll of the top news stories. I ignored all that of course. A moment later, Joe’s face filled up the screen.

“Dude, about damn time” he said, feigning annoyance.

“Sorry, I just got home.”

“So how’d it go?”

“I’m in” I said, smiling.

“Of course you are” he said with a laugh. “I got in, too.”

Joe wanted to be in Comms like Mom. I wasn’t the least bit surprised that he got into that.

“What about Ted?”

Joe shrugged. “Not even sure what he was going for?”

Ted was a weird friend. Sure, he was my best friend but he was a very private person. The three of us used to be really close but lately he’d been kind of distant. At one time, he wanted to be a Sentinel like me but something changed. He never really said what and no matter how much we tried, we could never get him to confess the reason. Now neither Joe nor I knew what Ted wanted. Our friendship was a bit on again, off again, too. It was almost as if he was developing a weird mental illness. One minute he’d be just like good ole Ted, then he’d be this complete stranger the next minute. The only problem with my theory was that mental illness was obsolete now thanks to the Bios.

No, whatever Ted’ thing was it, it was all him.

Screw him.

I was tired of trying to figure him out.

“So” said Joe, bobbing his eyebrows up and down. “What’s this I hear about you and Maddie?”

Holy shit.

“How the hell did you know about that?”

“Melissa Jackson has an audible app, she kind of heard you two today.”

Shit, Melissa was a nasty gossip.

So now, everyone knew.

Which meant my good buddy Ted did as well.
Great.

“That girl needs to get a life” I said, shaking my head.

“Ted is pissed.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t see him making a move. I waited; he fumbled so I went for it.”

Joe laughed. “Oh he made his move last week.”

“What? Really?”

Joe laughed even louder. “Oh yeah, it was pretty epic. He came, he saw and he crashed. Maddie busted him up pretty bad. It was fucking hilarious.”

Shit, I had no idea.

I couldn’t help but laugh though.

I had to hand it to him though; I never thought he had the courage to do it. I knew he talked about it a lot but he never actually did anything. I can only give him points for trying. It sucks that she rejected him though. I suppose that would explain why he’s so pissed off at me right now. I had actually succeeded where he failed. That was definitely not going to go over well. I just knew he was going to try harder to top me somehow.

“This is going to be a pain in the ass,” I said.

“Ted is the least of our problems,” said Joe, lowering his voice. “I’ve been following the news, still no manifestation.”

Damn it.

This was bad, this was really bad.

After a Ratio died, it usually took a day for a manifestation to occur. The new Alphas were usually picked up, reported and in the news by the end of the second day. Here it was nearly two days after Crystal’s wake, nearly four days after her death and no new Alpha yet. This was scary business indeed, especially for us guys in the fallout zone.

“How big is the FZ this time?”

“Including you, me and Ted?” I nodded. “Forty six in this zone. I suppose it’s possible the manifestation could occur in another Zone but we both know that’s pretty rare. No we’re looking at forty six potential future Aphrodites.”

Shit.

“You gonna get the shot?”

Shit, not that bogus crap.

The “Shot” was horse crap. It was some homeopathic garbage someone cooked up to make an extra buck or two. According to the latest Vids, this shot was supposed to keep people from manifesting. It was complete crap of course but a lot of morons fell for it. The government was totally against them, too. They kept warning people that the shots were bogus and were a waste of your money but that didn’t stop the idiots. Some people even got two just in case.

“Don’t tell me you believe that crap?”

Joe showed me his arm, where a small band-aid was present.
“Done.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“Hey I’m not taking any chances. Aphrodites may be hot but that doesn’t mean I want to be one. Boobs are great and all but as long as they’re on someone else.”

Hell I didn’t want boobs either but I wasn’t stupid enough to throw my money away on stupid crap.

“Joe, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

He gave me the finger.

We both had a good laugh.

“You know,” he said, after our laughing fit. “You might actually be hot. You’ve got the bone structure and look your hair is already long enough so it wouldn’t have to grow all that much. Slap you in a dress, you’d make one hot chick.”

“Go fuck yourself” I said, laughing.

Joe joined me.

“Let’s make a pact, right here and now,” he said, getting serious. “If one of us turns, the other gets dibs on asking her out.”

I started laughing but stopped when I realized Joe hadn’t joined me.

Sometimes I really worried about me.

“I’m going to eat now” I said, annoyed.

“You’re not agreeing to the pact?”

“Cya tomorrow Joe.”

“That is so cold.”

I clicked off the vid, laughing again.

Idiot.

As I started out my bedroom door, the itching in my hand came back. I cursed, trying my best to ignore it. Whatever the hell they used this time, it was really starting to piss me off. I’m going to have to see if I can get some cream for it or something. If not, this fucking itch was going to drive me insane.

I found myself absently itching as I walked down the hall, cursing when I noticed my skin starting to turn red as well.

Great, now I’ve got a rash.

Fucking Med Centers.

I just hope it’s not contagious.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

-----

Author's Note:Here's Ch.4. Like I mentioned last week, this will probably be the last update on this story for about a week or so. Don't expect a chapter next week sadly. I'll try to find some time to write 5 but it might be two weeks or so before I get to it :( So no lynching me for the nasty cliffhanger at the end of this one :P I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and my beta readers for their great help.

-----

4:

“You’re going to wear that?” asked my sister from behind.

I was standing in front of my mirror, putting on my only good shirt.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Didn’t you wear that to her sister’s funeral?”

Wake, but yeah she had a point. I sighed as I stopped buttoning it. I was already nervous enough; I didn’t need my picky little sister to add to it. Carrie let out a sigh of her own before coming into the room. Without asking, she started for my virtual closet, scrolling through my collection. I could see the disgust on her face already. She started to grumble, systematically rejecting shirt after shirt as she stopped on them for a moment. It took her only a few moments to go through what I had to offer and clearly, she wasn’t the least bit satisfied.

“You’re hopeless,” she said, shoving me aside as she made her way to my wall vid.

I watched with interest as she brought up the GAP, groaning a bit as I realized what she was doing. I wanted to protest but I realized it was futile. Like my mother, once Carrie set her mind to something there was no stopping her. So if she thought my wardrobe was crap, and apparently she did, I couldn’t stop her from correcting the issue. I learned a long time ago to just go with the flow with the women in my family.

The flow was currently leading me to a really nice blue dress shirt and designer jeans.

An expensive shirt and jeans.

“I can’t afford that”.

“This one is on me, bro,” she said, whipping out her cred chip and sticking it into the wall slot. “After all, Mom told me to spend my money on a worthy cause.”

I watched as my sister quickly burned through her weekly allowance and then some.

I made a mental note to pay her back.

When she was done, a buzzing sounded from downstairs.

“Be right back” she said as she ran out of the room.

Shopping was completely different now that everything was done virtually. Whereas in the past you would have to go to a store and spend hours trying on clothes, now everything was automated. You could shop right from your own bedroom and have the clothes you ordered delivered in mere seconds. It was amazing some of the innovations of the future brought us.

Grandpa said it always used to floor him how simple things were now.

A moment later, Carrie came running back into the room carrying a silver wrapped packet with GAP printed all over it.

“You can thank me later,” she said, tossing it at me before leaving.

I stared at the package in my hand for several seconds, trying to decide the best course of action. It was hard not to trust Carrie’s fashion sense. However, I couldn’t help but think she was setting me up for something too. Though she looked like an eight year old, she was one of the brightest and most devious little brats I’d ever seen. Sure, this package could contain exactly what she appeared to order for me or it could be an elaborate trap. I could open it and it could be a paint bomb or something just as mischievous. Last year when Dad turned forty, she had given him a box, which in all likelihood should have contained a mug. Except when he opened it, there was a loud sonic box in there. Dad said he still had ringing in his ears.

That little stunt had earned her a nice grounding.

It only lasted two days.

Carrie managed to weasel her way out of it.

Dad always was a softie for her.

After several more seconds, I decided the risk was worth it. After all, like she pointed out, I really didn’t know what I was doing.

I braced myself as I tore into the package, expecting anything. I was marginally surprised when I found the designer shirt and jeans she bought for me. I took them out of package, laying them gently on my bed. As I did, I noticed another package fall out. It was wrapped in black, almost like an envelope. I picked it up and opened it slowly. I groaned as soon as I saw what was inside: a pair of sheer, black panties.

Pip. “Just in case you know. Hey, I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Then her laughter.

So it was one of those pranks.

I made a quick mental note to get her back later.

I quickly disrobed. I wanted to get going as quick as I could. Mads and I weren’t supposed to meet up for another hour but it didn’t hurt to be a tad earlier. When I was down to my boxers, I couldn’t help but notice something felt off. It almost looked as if the hair on my legs looked lighter and less dense than it did yesterday. I reached down and touched my left leg. It didn’t feel any different. Maybe it was just my imagination. Maybe it was more fear, though.
Last night’s conversation with Joe didn’t settle well with me.

It was really rare for a manifestation to take this long. The media was running wild with it, too. All of them had their theories of course, most of them were bullshit. The only thing they were doing was making guys like me run even more scared. It didn’t help this morning when I woke to the same. They were even debating shutting school down Monday for fear that there might not be enough students attending to keep the doors open. That bit I didn’t mind actually. I tried to convince myself there was nothing to worry about. Every time I did though, I couldn’t help but itch my hand more.

The itch had gotten worse too.

The rash too.

Mom noticed it last night when she came home. I was in the living room reading over the manual Sergeant Phillips had sent. I was sitting on the couch when she came through the door. It was when she came over to kiss my forehead that she saw my hand. She paused for a moment then frowned. She tried to play dumb, of course, then concerned. She did neither really well. She wanted me to go to a Med Center today to get it checked out but after I told her my plans, she got really excited. She practically gushed about the date. She was happy about the whole Sentinel thing too---even if that was fake happiness. She said she’d try to be here to see me off. She wasn’t but I didn’t hold out any hope that she might be.

Thinking about everything made it worse.

As I redressed, I tried to think of other things.

Mainly what my afternoon held.

First, it was the Vid with Maddie. We picked one of the more popular movies to go to. A lot of kids at school had already seen it and the reviews were pretty good. I really wanted to have lunch afterwards, but sadly, I had to go to the Sentinel Center. SC was the Sentinel headquarters. Last night right before turning in for the night, I got a quick message from the Sergeant. Apparently, he wanted to know if I would be free in the late afternoon so he could give me a tour of the facilities.

I’m not sure what excited me more.

The Date.

Or the Tour.

Why was I so nervous, I shouldn’t have been nervous.

Hell, I don’t get nervous.

Ok, so not true but this was Maddie after all. Sure, she was the girl I’d been crushing on for a few years now but we were friends, too. I’m not sure what was going to happen by the end of today but no matter what I’d still be her friend. If this didn’t work, it didn’t work. I wasn’t like Ted. Sure, I liked her a lot but I wasn’t going to get bent out of shape if this didn’t pull through. Of course, I wanted it to work; I’d be a liar if I didn’t say otherwise.

It has to work.

I tried to take my mind off the date as the tram meandered through the tunnels. Looking out the window didn’t help matters in the least, though. There was nothing but dull gray walls as they zipped by in a blur. Occasionally the dull gray was replaced by the blur of neon light but it was rare. I tried to imagine what things must have been like back in the day. My grandfather said when he was a boy; there were trees everywhere. There were birds too, and insects buzzing about. We still had those things, of course, but it was in a more controlled environment. Trees were in the designated park zones. Birds and insects were synthetic like our pets.

It was for sanitation.

It was also about order.

There was a reason a lot of people called the government, “The System”.

The world was like a computer now. The System controlled every aspect of our lives and like good programs we fell in line.

It wasn’t perfect and it definitely wasn’t living.

But it was life.

Whether we liked it or not.

Thinking about what could have been just made me even more depressed. But thinking about the now was making me nervous.

Damn.

I just couldn’t win.

“Nervous”

Joe pipped in my ear.

I groaned. Why in the hell did I tell him about the date to begin with?

“Don’t you have something better to do?”

“Not really”

Usually Joe, Ted and I spent our weekends browsing through the Net at one of our places or playing some new Vid game. Now that Ted was mad at me though, our friendship was strained. Sure, if not for the date, I would have still hung out with Joe but Ted was being a dick. He seemed to be convinced that Joe was in on this whole thing too. So Joe was just as guilty as I was.

Ted could be a real ass at times.

“So you decided to bug me?”

“I’m bored”

I was too but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“You could always pip Ted.”

“He’s not answering.”

“What about Greg or some of your other Net friends?”

Ted and I weren’t Joe’s only friends.

Joe had a gaggle of cyber geeks he hung out with on a regular basis. The only one he ever talked about was Greg, though. Greg was already career placed, an intern at one of the other Zone Com Labs. Joe had never met him but talked about him a lot. In fact, Joe had never met any of them. That’s why Ted and I started to refer to them as his Net friends. They were all Tech Heads like Joe and like Joe; they seemed to live in their own little world.

“They’re off fighting the powers that be”

That was Joe geek talk for his friends weren’t available.

“And so now you’re bugging me.”

“Not bugging just enquiring after your well being.”

I sighed. “Yes I’m nervous. Are you happy now?”

“Really? What’s there to be nervous about?”

I was about to answer when a wave of nausea swept through me. I felt a little lightheaded too. I gripped the seat and let it pass. I’d been feeling this way all morning, actually. It would come and go though. I was chalking it up to nerves. I mean what else could it be. It’s possible it was connected to the rash on my hand but I’d never heard of allergies making you sick too.

“You ok, your vitals went a little wonky there?”

There was genuine concern in Joe’s voice.

I groaned. “Joe, have you hacked my Bio again?”

Joe had this annoying habit of hacking into other people’s Bios. He didn’t do anything bad; he just liked to show off his skill. He was a pretty decent hacker. Hacking into a Bio wasn’t illegal per se, unless of course you did something malicious. There were some pretty nasty Bio Hacks out there. The things that these people could do was pretty sick. A few years ago, a teenager like me had her Bio hacked. The perpetrator was a young hacker in her grade, someone who claimed to be the product of bullying. The girl---who the Vids never named---was a real bitch to him. So he hacked her Bio and tweaked her metabolism. Once a thin girl, the after pictures were pretty startling.

That was a mild hack too.

Some of the other stuff, not so much.

Thankfully, there were now measures in place to stop things like that.

Joe just knew some of the back doors.

“I’ve been in all ours lately. This Manifestation shit is really scary. I’m just looking out for you buddy.”

“Thanks”

Joe was silent for a moment. “Yeah about that…”

Whatever he was about to say was lost in the drone of the Tram conductor. The electronic voice overrode his pip.

“ALL PASSENGERS, WE HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION”

“Joe, I’m here. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait Ben…there’s something wrong….”

“Tell me about it later.”

I severed the connection.

I’m sure he had something long and boring to tell me. Whatever it was it could wait until after my date.

My date.

The nerves started again.

A pip sounded in my ear but I ignored it.

I knew who it was.

I didn’t want him psyching me out anymore.

It was just a shame there was no way to shut off the stupid Bios. Sure, they were really cool most of the time but sometimes you just wanted privacy. With a Bio though, anyone could reach you at any time. Then there was the whole scanning thing. Lots of places had Bio checkpoints set up. Small boxes—sometimes with attendants---that would scan every person as they stepped through. Any abnormalities set off an alarm. If an alarm sounded when you passed through a checkpoint, the rule was to stay calm and wait for the proper authorities.

Then the Silvers swarmed you.

That’s what we called the authorities. Thus named because of the ridiculous silver jackets they all wore.

I couldn’t help but shudder when thinking about being one.

It was a possible life for me if I washed out.

Not happening.

Ever.

“ALL PASSENGERS PLEASE DEPART”

I nearly jumped at the voice in my ear.

See what I mean about privacy.

I sighed heavily, slowly getting out my seat. I stepped aside to allow the old woman behind me to pass before following her out of the tram. In a mass of people, we flooded out onto the tunnel platform. Up ahead, I saw the scanner. Our mass formed into a single file as we slowly made our way toward it. The old woman in front of me gave the box a weary look before she passed on through. She sighed when the alarm didn’t go off. A lot of the times, the elderly set off the alarms. I’m not sure if was their Bios failing, their vitals failing or if it was any number of stims they were on.

Regardless she passed through without a problem.

I took a deep breath when it was my turn.

I’d been feeling a little off all day so I couldn’t help but wonder if I had a cold. If I did and the alarm went off like it sometimes did, I’d be pulled aside. One of those arms would give me a thorough scan then an injection. The viral stim would last until I got a med facility. Of course, I would have to go right away but there was no way I wasn’t going to let something as little as a cold ruin my date with Maddie.

“One moment” said a voice as the scanner passed over me.

This only took a few secs.

They must have detected a fluctuation in my normal pattern.

“I’ve got a bit of a cold I think,” I said.

I felt the prick as something jabbed into my upper arm. Flinching in surprise, I never noticed the arm as it pulled away.

“Make sure you get to a Med center as soon as possible”

I nodded, passing through without further incident.

I walked up the stairs leading into the Mall station.

I think a little rundown of the Metro might be in order now that I’m here. There were several major metropolitan areas in the country, five on the east coast alone. These Metros were broken up into Zones, each had six. I lived in Zone 3. They were all centered around the Cube, blocked off into sections. The only way to pass through each Metro was through the tunnels. Most people used the tram but there were transpo tunnels for cars as well. The mall was in Zone 6. At one time---according to history class---the country had lots of cities and towns. After the XY plague though, the world had a huge upheaval. When the System started to control things, cities became obsolete as the population was smaller than it had ever been.

So the Metros were created.

Then the Zones.

It was all about population control.

Depending on who you were and your occupation, you lived in certain Zones. Maddie, Ted and I were in Zone 3, of course, because our fathers worked in the Engineering Sector. Joe lived in Zone 4 because his parents were in Industrial.

I’m not sure how he turned into a Techie.

Usually Zonies didn’t interact with one another unless we went to the same school. Zones 3 and 4 were together for instance because we were the smallest. Most Zones actually had their own schools. It might seem a little strange to an outsider but it was our way of life.
Whether we liked it or not.

I tried to look like I fit in with the throngs of people zipping around me. Zone Six was all Commercial. It was also the only zone that didn’t actually have anyone living in it.

There were no other businesses in Zone 6 though.

It was all the mall.

It was a large one, too. Over four stories high and claimed to be the most comprehensive shopping center on the East coast. Some of the bigger Metros boasted about having bigger malls but very few could top ours. I’m not sure if that was something to be proud of or not. I’m not even sure why it was needed anymore. Most people did their shopping via their wall Vid screens these days. I guess it was just one of those hold outs. Like movie theaters and restaurants. Man was a social animal after all and to take that away what would that make us. Less than human I suppose.

Like me.

I tried to get my bearings as soon as I stepped out the Zone 3 station.

Already there were tons of people making me really nervous. I hated Z6 for this reason. There were always too many people.

To make matter worse, I couldn’t see Maddie in the crowd at all.

We had agreed to meet at the station but she was either late, I was early or she was swallowed up by all the throngs of idiots around me.

Sighing, I tapped below my ear.

“Bio, display HUD”

A second later, a holographic heads-up-display formed around my head. Looking like a see through motorcycle helmet, the HUD was a feature added to the Bios a few years back. It was a rather convenient way to find whatever it was you were looking for. Like most Bio apps, there were a lot of features you could add to it as well. Mine was a simple as simple could be though. It had several area maps and a Bio locator.

It was all I needed.

“Zone Six” I said, watching as the hologram changed from a featureless screen.

Before me, the map sprang to life, filling in the detail quickly.

The whole of the Zone was laid out before me.

“Locate Madison Sanderson Z3-14-05-56”

We were all designated numbers. As far as the System was concerned, that’s all we really were. It was a little complicated at first to grasp but once you got the hang of it, it was pretty easy. For instance, my number was Z3-14-03-49. Z3 was Zone 3 of course. 14 was my age, 03 designated my standing in the family and 49 was my address. Each year of course the age number would change and when I got old enough, the address would change. When I got married, my designation number would become 01 as well. It was just another one of those little ways that the System could keep track of us.

A blinking green light appeared on my map.

It was moving toward me.

I smiled. “HUD off”

The holographic helmet disappeared.

Gods, I hated those things.

I smiled as Maddie came into view a few moments later. I’m not sure what her dress was made out of, but it shimmered when the light caught it. Her hair was pink today to match it as well. I took a deep breath, feeling the tingling of my nerves coming back. I tried not to think about it but it didn’t seem to help much. In fact, the tingling was a little more intense than before. It was also started to get a little hot, too.

Too hot.

I reached to undo my top button when everything seemed to feel a little heavy.

The room started to sway a little.

Then spin.

“Ben?”

Was someone talking to me?

I tried to focus but everything became a blur.

I heard someone scream though.

Was that Maddie?

I toppled to the ground, ending up on my knees. Everything was hot and spinning. Someone was there next to me, trying to help me up. I looked up to see their face and saw the absolute look of horror on it.

It was the last thing I saw before darkness.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

-----

Author's Note:So finally got around to writing this chapter. What with moving, unpacking and a bit of a block, I'm back on track with things. I'd like to announce that finally the TG has come into this TG story...took me long enough lol. After carefully thinking it over, I decided to change the original pic to a new one. I hope everyone likes it :) I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and my beta readers for their great help.

-----

5.

BEEP.
BEEP.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

I gave her the strangest look. How could she not hear it? It was this loud beeping sound, almost like an old school truck backing up. I opened my mouth to tell her about but stopped when I saw the look she was giving me. It was the same look I’d give someone in this situation. Great, my first date and she thinks I’m crazy. Taking a deep breath, I decided to ignore it. I wanted this to go off without a hitch and my date thinking me a nut job was definitely not going to get me another.

I smiled. “It’s nothing, probably nerves”

BEEP.
BEEP.

Nerves my ass.

I ignored it, hoping it would go away.

Instead, I tried concentrating on how beautiful she looked. Her shimmering pink dress, her hair to match. She did something with her makeup and nails too; they seem to glow with an inner light. I’d seen a lot of girls do that lately. It was some kind of luminescent app or something. It made it look like parts of them were glowing. It was actually the makeup but it was kind of cool. It was one of those trends started in the vids; I think it might have even been her sister.

Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to bring that up.

Instead, I just continued to smile.

BEEP.
BEEP.

Damn it.

“I’m really glad we’re finally doing this,” she said, completely oblivious to the noise. “You know I’ve waited so long for you to notice me.”

Notice her? Of course I’ve noticed her, how could I not. She was beautiful. I was just too afraid that I might jeopardize my friendship.
I was about to tell her so but something was different. I stared a few seconds before I realized what it was.

Her hair.

Her long pink locks were now a very shiny black.

“Wasn’t your hair pink before?”

She gave me the strangest look. “Are you sure you’re feeling ok?”

I nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well after you collapsed, I thought for sure they’d take you to a Med Center?”

Collapse? I collapsed?

When did that happen?

This time I gave her one of those looks. I was about to say something about it when I realized that she had changed again. It was height this time. She was taller now, much taller. Alpha tall. Before I could say anything about it, she changed again. Her glowing makeup was gone and her face was different. The girl sitting across from me was suddenly different. Gone was Maddie. In her place was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Long jet black hair, ample breasts, tall athletic body.

Shit an Alpha.

A Super Aphrodite.

Super Aphrodites were what us Jects called the really hot ones.

This girl in front of me was a 12.

BEEP.
BEEP.

“Who are you? Where’s Maddie?”

The girl smiled sweetly. When she spoke, there was something slightly familiar about her voice:
“She’s gone Ben. Who’s to say if we’ll ever see her again?”

“What do you mean gone?”

The girl shrugged. “You know how much she hates Alphas”

BEEP.
BEEP.

“Alphas? What does that have to do with me?”

She smirked. “Everything”

The restaurant was gone. Everyone else around me was gone. The table disappeared a second later and I found myself no longer sitting across from the girl but a mirror. Sure, the girl was still there but she was reflecting back at me. Her smirk was gone, replaced by the biggest look of shock I’d ever seen.

No, I’d seen it before.

It was the same look I gave when I was surprised.

The very same one.

My look.

On this girl.

BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.

My look.

Who.

What.

How.

BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.

I looked up at the girl but the mirror was gone. I was alone. Confused and slightly scared, I felt something. Something off. It was cold too, too cold. It started at feet and moved slowly up my legs. Looking down scared the living hell out of me. Gone were the nice pants my sister bought. My pants were gone, replaced by the very same pink leggings I saw Maddie wearing just moments ago. My shoes were different as well. As I followed the trail of my legs up, I noticed the dress too. Pink just like hers. Then two swelling mounds on my chest. Touching them with my hands just didn’t seem real.
Mine.

They were mine.

BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.

How was this possible?

That’s when I saw it.

On my hand.

Plain as day.

The symbol.

The Alpha Mark.

Shit.

The room started to darken around me. The beeping grew louder, more rapid, too. I felt dizzy and sick. The room spun around and the beeping. It wouldn’t stop. I wanted to scream. I opened my mouth to do so but no sound would come out. Why couldn’t I scream? I fell to my knees, the dress flying up slightly as I did so. I tried crying but no tears. Why did this happen to me? How could this happen to me. The tears finally came then the darkness. It pressed in around me until there was nothing…

I opened my eyes and groaned.

A dream, it was a dream. Groaning again, I guess it made sense. I remember what happened now. I was waiting for Maddie to show for a date. I was in Z6. I clearly remember seeing her with her pink hair and dress, smiling as she came for me. Then things were kind of fuzzy. I think I might have passed out. Rubbing my head, I sat up, blinking as I did so. It was bright here, too bright. I had to close my eyes to get adjusted to whenever I was. As soon as I opened them again, the room was a lot easier to tolerate.

Not my room though.

It was large and circular, also white. Everything was white.

The walls, the ceiling, the floor.

Looking around as I sat up, there were other things I quickly noticed. The first was that my clothes were gone. No, I wasn’t naked. Instead, I was wearing a white skin suit. I looked at my arms, flexing them slowly. There was something different about them, they seemed thinner. As I was flexing my fingers, I took a closer look at the suit. There were only two places where such a suit was needed: either working in a Clean room or being in the hospital. Looking around, I couldn’t help but think I might have been in both.

I tapped my ear. “Bio, HUD”

Nothing happened.

I tapped again, giving the same command but in a louder voice.

Still nothing.

Cursing, I had a pretty good idea where I was.

There was only one place where a Bio was deactivated.

Shit.

I was in the Q.

The Q was short for Quarantine. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who they put in there.

Cursing again, I took a closer look at the suit I was wearing. I’d never seen one quite like this before. Sure, I’d worn them before. When I was a kid, I spent a day in the Med after breaking my wrist. They made me wear one of the suits then but I don’t remember it being like this. For instance, that suit had been gray and wasn’t nearly as tight. This one almost felt as if it was surgically attached to my skin it was so tight. I was surprised I could even move in it. There were the lights. They were faint, just under the fabric but there were red lights running the length of my arms and legs. Flexing my arm didn’t seem to change anything either.

I couldn’t help but wonder if they were reading my bio signs somehow.

It would explain one of the reasons my Bio was deactivated.

Trying not to think about it, I decided to get a better look at my surroundings. I slid off the cot I’d been laying on, allowing the rest of my thin blanket to fall to the floor. Ignoring it, I wanted to see if there was a door. I took my first shaky step, not realizing how hard it was until I did so. My legs were very weak and walking didn’t help any. It didn’t help that they looked different too. Like my arms, they seemed more slender. They also looked longer. A lot longer. I knew my body quite well. My legs were by no means short, but like my father, I was more torso than legs. The legs I was looking at were much longer than my own.

Not my legs at all.

Then again, everything about this body felt off.

It was mine but not.

I took a moment to explore it. Legs definitely thinner and longer, arms too. My waist was thinner but my hips were definitely wider. Then there was my chest. I could already see the telltale signs of bumps starting to form. While I reached up to touch one, I found the mark. It was hard not to notice. It was hard to imagine something like that appearing naturally but sure enough, it was there. Of course, it wasn’t a distinctive sign of the woman; it was more of a birth mark that sorta looked like it. Looking at said mark now, I could almost see how it resembled it. There was a circle with a little line facing toward my wrist.

But looking at it closer, it could have been anything.

What it wasn’t though was a mistake.

I cursed.

So I was an Alpha.

Halfway there by the looks of things.

An Alpha, boy was that going to change things. I turned my hand over---looking at the palm---trying to see if it looked any different. It was a smaller hand and my fingers looked a little more slender. My nails had changed though. They were definitely longer than before, not by much, but longer. Looking at my other hand, I noticed the same and sighed. I guess there was no turning back now. Then I cursed, realizing that my name was probably all over the Vids now. New Alphas were always big news for the first few days. I’m just glad they didn’t force us into interviews anymore.

Us.

Me.

Alpha.

I wanted to think of something else, anything else. There was time to ponder the Alpha thing, right now I had other things to worry about. Looking around the room, I went back to the real reason I got off the “bed”. I wanted to see what exactly I was dealing with here.

I knew a little bit about The Q. Whenever a new Alpha was announced, the Vids said that they were taken to the Q to finish their change. It was also said they were put under observation. It was that last little bit that concerned me. If there was observation than there was a way to see into the room. I knew they could technically use the Bio to spy on me but that would only be a one sided view. You know, looking out from my eyes. No there had to be another way to see into the room. I looked up, scanning the ceiling to see if there were any cameras there. I knew all the usual places they might hide those now.

Hey, I did read that Sentinel manual that the Sergeant gave me.

Cameras these days were small. There was always a telltale sign of them though. The lenses were usually hidden in the wall, made to look like other things. An abnormality in the wall for instance or a tiny hole. Scanning the ceiling, I found none of those. So I drew my attention to the walls. Three of them came up duds but the fourth one definitely drew my attention. It looked just any other wall in the room but there was something odd about it.

I walked closer to it, reaching out to touch it.

As soon as my fingers touched the surface, I smiled.

Clever.

I rapped my knuckle against it.

Sure enough, it wasn’t a wall at all.

“Step back please” said a feminine voice which bounced around my empty room for a few moments before dissipating.

I took a step back. “Am I to guess this is my prison?”

“You’re not a prisoner Benjamin”

So they knew my name.

I also knew this wasn’t a prison either but I needed to test these people.

“So when can I leave then?”

“When you’re done”

Another loaded question but another test too.

Asking questions I knew I wasn’t going to get answers to was pointless. Asking questions I knew I might get some kind of answer to was not a waste of time. It told me a couple of things. One they weren’t willing to tell me the whole truth about anything and two, they weren’t keeping things from me either. After all, some of the stuff about Alphas was common knowledge. I knew roughly how long it took for someone to be fully an Alpha. What I didn’t know was how long they were going to keep me here.

“So how long have I been here?”

“Two days”

Another good answer.

Another truth.

Alpha manifestation took a week---common knowledge. Well a week from when the manifestee started to feel the itch. The itch, I don’t think…wait yes. I started to feel it the day of the physical. Did I get infected then? No, not infected, someone didn’t get infected. What I guess I mean is that I did start to manifest then. How long ago was that anyway? Two days? God, why couldn’t I remember something so simple. Well considering that was the first day that this started and I’ve been here 2 days as well, that meant I was at least four days into this transformation.

Four days.

Looking down, I stared at my new budding chest.

Was that four day’s worth of growth?

I reached up to touch them again when I stopped. Feeling myself up was the least of my priorities right now. Staying my hand, I thought of something else.

“How long have I been manifesting?”

There was a pause.

Why was there a pause?

“Three to four days”

So uncertain. They were confused. Why were they confused? Weren’t they the people with all the answers?

Something else just occurred to me then.

“And my parents?”

“They’re nearby. The first few days of manifestation is hard on some families. We usually like to give it a few days before we allow visitors”

I nodded. “Are they here now?”

“Nearby”

“When can I see them?”

No answer.

I asked again, still nothing.

I waited a few minutes before asking again. When I didn’t get answer the third time, I realized the Q&A was officially over.

Sighing, I went back to exploring the room. Unfortunately, walking around staring at the same bare walls got pretty boring after about five minutes. It was clear they just wanted me to sit here like a good little lab rat or whatever. So that’s what I did. I walked back over to my “bed” and sat down. After about ten minutes, I pulled my legs close to my chest, resting my chin on my knees and wrapping my arms around them. It was something I’d seen my sister do. It was also something I did without thinking about it.

After an hour of this, the fake wall started to blink.

Ok, not the whole wall but a small part of it.

A few seconds later, the vid screen there sprang to life.

I guess they didn’t want me to die of boredom after all.

So I spent the next few hours doing something that normal teenagers were supposed to do---I Vid surfed. Of course there wasn’t much on. I surfed all the news channels though, hoping I’d catch something on myself. Strangely, they never once mentioned me. Now that was odd. After getting bored with that, I found their Vid movie library.

Jackpot. It looked like they had every movie of the last century or so. I’d seen most of the modern ones but there were a lot of good ones from back when my grandfather was younger that I browsed through.

After another couple of hours, food arrived.

Sadly, these people didn’t know what food was.

No Dominos here.

Nutri-paste.

Not even the good kind either. It was the dull, gray flavorless crap.

I picked up the bowl of gray glop and tried to stomach spoonful after spoonful of it. Whoever thought of this shit should have been shot. The commercials said it was nutritious and healthy. I’m sure it was but it also tasted like someone scraped it from between their toes. Not that I knew what toe jam tasted like of course. I’m just saying if it had a flavor then Nutri-paste sure cornered the market on it.

After eating, I started to feel a bit tired.

Laying my head down, I thought a little rest couldn’t hurt.

Over the next three days, my life fell into a routine.

Wake up.

Check out my body.

Ask the same stupid questions.

Get the same bland answers.

Watch Vids.

Eat.

Watch more Vids.

Sleep.

The only highlight of my day was checking to see how much I was gone. This morning upon waking, I discovered that there was very little of Ben left now. Whereas yesterday I could look down and see my feet, today I had two nice sized mounds on my chest. Grabbing them produced a great deal of heft. At least a C cup I think. My suit felt a bit tighter too, but it conformed more to my body now. It was quite a body too. From what I could see, I was going to be a real heartbreaker.

I’m not sure what I thought about that.

Pushing my now rather long hair behind my ears, I slid off the cot and did my morning walk around the room. Everything felt a little off now. My center of balance definitely, but the way my body moved too. These new hips of mine had a slight sway to them and I couldn’t help but feel a tad sexy as I walked about. It didn’t help that all my curves were on display. Running a hand down my body sent slight shivers all throughout it.

Great I’ve turned into a perv.

After my “walk”, I found myself in front of the “wall”

I rapped my knuckles against it.

“Rise and shine” I said, noticing the change in my voice.

Well actually, I noticed that yesterday. When I woke up, I found my voice had started to change. It had felt like going through puberty but in reverse. Today however it seemed to stabilize. It didn’t sound all that different but I’m sure it was. I touched my throat and sighed. Just one more change for the list of changes. If I had to guess, I’d say there was maybe ten percent of the old me left. I knew where it was too. I found that out yesterday in the “bathroom”. When I went to the toilet to relieve myself, I found that there wasn’t much left of me to relieve. Meaning that Little Ben was now Baby Ben. Just standing here now I could barely tell anything was there. Well something was still there but it was beyond baby size now. A nub really.

The last of my manhood.

Turning my attention to the wall, I realized that they were being a little slow today.

“Hey what’s up Doc?”

I pounded on the wall this time, hoping it was enough to get their attention. As my palms hit the glass there, I heard It echo. There was something else though too. Something not there yesterday. The wall shook slightly as I banged it. It took me a second to realize what it was. Alphas were stronger than humans. So of course, I was going to shake the wall if I banged on it. I stopped banging to look at my hands, only taking a second to admire my new longer nails. I flexed my fingers and then flexed my bicep. I wasn’t grotesquely muscular but there was muscle there. It was a runner’s physique definitely. I couldn’t help but smile at that.

As a boy, I was a bit of a couch potato.

I wasn’t fat nor was I a skinny twerp but I wasn’t a sports star either.

This body however.

I felt like the sky’s the limit now.

I couldn’t help but smile again.

“Good morning, Miss Carson”

I kinda flinched at the “Miss” part but it was inevitable. There was no boy here, not anymore.

“Hey Doc” I said, still rubbing my throat. “Thought maybe you guys forgot about me today”

I chuckled a bit.

“And how are we doing today?”

I gave a quick rundown on the vitals. She knew all that of course, I was all wired up in this suit after all.

“These are new though,” I said, hefting my new chest accessories. “Not sure how I’m gonna get used to them.”

No comment.

You’d think these people were trained not to have a sense of humor.

We spent the next few minutes going through the usual question and answer routine. She still wasn’t very forthcoming about things.

“So no ETA on me getting out of here?”

“Soon” she said and then added. “We want to run you through some tests over the next few days. After that, we’ll talk about release.”

I nodded.

I’m not sure what I thought about the whole tests thing though.

Was I just a lab rat to these people after all?

I mean what’s the big deal anyway. I was an Alpha now. They’d seen hundreds of like me over the years. It wasn’t like I could glow in the dark or shoot laser beams from my eyes. I was an Alpha just like every other.

“I do have some good news for you” she said, there was a bit of an uplift in her voice when she said it.

A moment later, the Vid screen sprang to life.

I took a step back and a few seconds later, my parents appeared on the screen.

I was actually kind of surprised to see both of them. I think I mentioned more than once how busy the two of them were. Mom with her medical stuff and Dad with his engineering. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen the two of them in one room together. But here they were, standing side by side, actually holding hands no less. They looked like crap too. My parents were those rare people who actually looked their age. Most people---most parents---when they reached their forties, they took pills and had other procedures to look younger. Sure Mom dyed away the gray but other than that they were all-natural.

The pair in front of me looked older.

They were worn and tired. Dad hadn’t been shaving. Mom’s hair was a mess. Both of them looked like a pair who had been under a lot of stress lately.

Stress generated by me no doubt.

Shit.

“Hey guys,” I said, not bothering to hold back the tears.

“Hi sweetheart” said Mom, choking on her own tears.

Dad just stared. When he spoke the first word out of his mouth was “Whoa”

An elbow from my mother fixed that. A more polite greeting followed quickly after.

“Err…hey son”

I laughed. “It’s ok Dad. I haven’t seen my full self yet but from what I can see, I’m definitely a Whoa”
That caused him to smile a bit.

“How are you feeling sweetheart?”

“Bored” I said, causing her to smile a little. “And I miss you guys.

How’s the munchkin?”

“Sad she couldn’t come and missing her big brother…ummm….sister”

I nodded. “It’s ok, Dad. I’m not used to any of this either.”

Dad looked uncomfortable.

I didn’t blame him. I was uncomfortable.

“Honey, I’m sorry this happened. If there was anything….”

I cut her off. “Mom, there is nothing anyone could have done. It’s the way the world works now. Does it suck, sure; but I’ve accepted it. You guys need to accept it as well. My life is different, my body is different but I’m still Ben.”

“About that” said Mom, looking a bit downcast.

I laughed. “So what do I put on the top of my papers now?”

Mom blinked a few times but looked at her feet again.

Dad answered. “Bethany”

Hey, I could live with that.

It was the name of his sister after all. I always kind of liked Aunt Beth.

I nodded. “I think that’s doable”

Mom let out a sigh of relief.

After that, the awkwardness in our conversation fell away. We talked like usual, save for the fact that I was in a giant white room. They had a lot of questions and I answered what I could. Mom really wanted to know how much of her daughter I was now. When I mentioned what was left, Dad winced. I think this was going to be harder on him than me. Sure, it was pretty hard to deal with but to lose my maleness paled in comparison to losing your only son. I can only imagine what that must have been like. Maybe there was a support group or something. Maybe he could talk with Maddie’s dad.

I’ll have to ask when I get out of here.

Our conversation seemed to die down after the questions were over. Mom still asked me some things but it was mainly about trivial stuff. Dad fell quiet a long time ago.

“So did they say when you can come home?”

I shrugged. “The Doc says they want to run tests. As soon as those are done, I think they’ll let me go.”

Mom nodded. She more than anything understood all that.
Dad rubbed the back of his neck.

“You hang in there, son”

“I will Dad”

Then he awkwardly stepped away.
I was alone with Mom now.

I had to know something.

“Has anyone talked to Maddie?”

I’d been thinking about her a lot over the last couple of days. I felt really bad about all this. I hated that this ruined our date and what’s more, probably our friendship. I knew what she thought about her “sister” and what she thought about Alphas in general.

Mom sighed. “I’m sure she’ll come around”

So she had and apparently it didn’t go well.

I guess that’s one more thing to deal with when I get out of here.

Mom and I talked for a few minutes more but it was clear the conversation was done. We said our good-byes; there were more tears, than she was gone. I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by it all though. In the last few years, I think that was the longest conversation the two of us ever had. I guess it takes manifesting to get my parents in a room together and talking.

I tried not to think about it as I got the Vid screen to bring up some movies. Walking back to my cot, I sat and watched for the rest of the day. Trying to distract my mind from my life and my family did help some. As the hours waned and sleep started to creep up on me, I couldn’t help but think of Maddie a little more before lying down. I promised myself to make it right with her.

Convince her I was still me, still human.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Here were are, Ch.6. I meant to have this up last week but it got a bit delayed in my head.As I mentioned in the Note from last chapter and in a blog, I decided to use a different picture to represent Bethany now. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on her new look :)Oh and kudos to anyone who knows what those numbers and one letter is at the end but if you do know and figure it out, keep it to yourself please. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and my beta readers for their great help.

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6.

“That’s good Bethany,” said the Doc as I finished my tenth rep with the free weights.

I set down the weights and gave her a friendly smile.

She looked up from making something on her pad, smiling as well.

It was kind of strange meeting the Doc face to face after talking to her for several days. It was even stranger to see how young she was. Or rather how young she appeared to be. The way she looked and the way she spoke were two different things entirely. I couldn’t help but wonder if this pretty blonde twenty-something was actually my Mom’s age or older. I mean it was pretty amazing what surgery could do these days. In a world where people could turn into idolized super beings, superior in every aspect, it was no wonder normal humans would try to compete.

I say try because there was no way they could look as good as Alphas.

As good as us.

I groaned at that thought. Here I had only been an Alpha for a few days and I was already thinking myself better than humans. I swore to myself I wouldn’t let that happen. Sure I knew Alphas were inherently better in every way but I wasn’t going to get a big head over it. I needed to be myself.

I needed to be human.

“Try the five hundred pound one next,” said the Doc giving me a friendly smile.

I moved down the rack of weights, grabbing the one she suggested.

Sure the two of us were becoming a bit friendly with one another but not really friends. I had to keep reminding myself that they weren’t here to make friends with me. The Doc and her silent companions were monitoring, making sure I was everything I could be before releasing me back to the world. If we had been real friends, she would have stopped all this and let me go. She would have also given me her name. She didn’t even flinch when I kept referring to her as Doc meaning she didn’t really care to be my friend. She was being friendly simply because it was her job.

I started to curl it, surprised at my own strength.

So far this morning I had aimed to please.

The Doc was thrilled.

Her companions were thrilled too.

I couldn’t help but sense there was something wrong though, too.

Yesterday while I was doing the written part of my tests, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched. I mean I know they’re watching me but it felt like there were a lot more eyes on me. The test itself was kind of easy. In fact, there were several of them. They ranged from different subjects too. Many of the subjects I had no idea what they were, but for reason as soon as I set out to work on them, I was able to comprehend things rather quickly. When I announced I was done, I thought I heard a bit of surprise in the Doc’s voice.

I was an Alpha; I was supposed to be smart.

So why was she so surprised?

I noticed something today too. It was when I was on the treadmill. A couple of her silent buddies kept giving me these looks. At first, I thought they were perving on me but it was more than that. They kept looking at me and then jotting down furious notes on their pads. I think they thought they were being discreet but spies they were not. What’s more, every time I finished a test and they saw my results, they raised their eyebrows slightly.

It made me wonder if I was doing something wrong.

Thinking about it now just made me more concerned.

“You can stop now Bethany,” said the Doc.

I hadn’t really been paying attention but I think I curled the dumbbell about fifty times.

Fifty times with five hundred pounds.

That was fucking crazy.

Even crazier because I felt I could do more.

I knew Alphas were strong but I never realized they were this strong.

I stopped curling and replaced the weight on the rack. I moved onto the next one only to find that I was at the end.

The Doc was staring at me strangely again.

“Good work, Bethany,” she said, though there was something in the tone of her voice that made me think she didn’t mean it.

I looked around quickly.

All eyes in the room were on me.

I rubbed my hands together.

“What’s next?”

“Next?”

I nodded. “You guys have been testing me for two days now. I’ve been poked, prodded, pinched and scanned. I’ve taken every written test known to man. I’ve run on your treadmills, I’ve benched weights, curled weights. I’ve done dozens of pushups, chin-ups, sit ups and any other up I can think of. You’ve run me through my paces. Are we done now or do you want me to write the great American novel now?”

Ok, so their stares were bothering me.

And I was cranky.

The looks I was getting now were even more annoying. They disappeared quickly. That didn’t stop them from frustrating me more. It was clear that I perplexed them but I was no different than any other Alpha. So what was the big deal?

The Doc spoke after a few moments of silence. “We’d like to give you another physical before we dismiss you.”

Dismiss me?

I groaned. “No”

She raised an eyebrow. “I hardly think you’re in a position to argue”

I smirked. “I’ve played your games, jumped through your hoops. I’m done. I WANT to go home now!”

So I raised my voice a bit in the end. I don’t give a damn.

This charade of theirs was over.

I’m going home.

The Doc took a step back. It took me a second to realize I was clenching my fists. I sighed, letting out a deep breath before relaxing. Losing my temper was not the answer. Getting angry wasn’t the answer either. Once she saw I had calmed down some, she took a step forward. She gently put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Then she turned to the others.

“We’re done here. I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

This time I was surprised. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “There might be a follow up but there’s nothing more we can learn from you here.”

I was so happy I could have kissed her.

I settled for a hug instead.

I was going home.

“You can’t be serious?”

After it was designated that I could actually go home, The Doc raided their meager wardrobe and presented me with an outfit that would fit my new curves. Unfortunately, for me, they really didn’t have much of a choice. Thankfully, they got me a pair of jeans and a shirt. Not so thankfully was the fact that the jeans were so tight they literally felt a part of my skin and the shirt---if you can call it that---was nothing more than a few strips of cloth. Ok it was a little more than that but it showed a lot of cleavage and exposed both my midriff and back.

The only good thing about all this was the fact that I actually got a look at my body.

For the past few days---nearly a week now---I’d been hidden in that V Suit.

Now I got to see the real me.

Oh FYI, fully girl now.

I lost Little Ben the day after my talk with my parents.

I got a chance to see all of Beth when I was stripping out of the V suit earlier. I thought I’d feel different about the whole thing. I thought I’d feel the least bit turned on but there was nothing. Of course, it wasn’t the first naked female body I’d seen. My grandfather used to tell me that nudity was a bit of a taboo when he was growing up. That though girls readily exposed their breasts in public that the lower part of their anatomy was always covered. It was interesting what a few decades did. Not that girls walked around naked or anything but nudity was no longer something to be shunned. It helped that there was no real religion around to enforce the whole “nudity is a sin” mentality that a lot of people back in the day had.

Sure, there was still church. But after the plague and society’s restructuring, religion took a serious backseat to actual progress. We no longer relied on the All Powerful to tell us what to do. It also helped that the Middle East imploded all over themselves. After the plague, great wars broke out there. They literally wiped one another out. The holy cities were leveled, thousands of years of history lost. Our new world decided to leave all of that where it was---in the past.

Religion was now a private matter.

People were now allowed to express themselves however they wanted.

So nudity was no longer something to be afraid of.

Not that I was prepared to adapt such a policy.

“You don’t have anything else?”

I turned to Deena, looking with pleading eyes.

Oh yeah, The Doc’s name was Deena. She said since I was no longer confined to this place that it was all right if she finally gave me her name. Dr. Deena Chambers, MD, PhD, and all that blah blah. Surprisingly I’d been wrong about her age too. She wasn’t some forty year old trying to look twenty. She was actually twenty-two just really smart. She was something of a savant apparently. A kid genius who went through school early enough that she had her MD at age 12. Though she didn’t say so and I didn’t ask, there was possible genetic engineering involved. Though technically illegal, genetics was something that a lot of richer parents did to give their kids an edge.

Especially in an age where Alphas existed.

“I’m sorry about the top, it’s all there was but the pants aren’t so bad.”

It was kind of weird hearing her talk casually to me now. Before she’s been all strict and stern and official. I guess when whoever wasn’t looking; she could finally let her hair down. Literally too. Before her blonde locks were down up in this weird updo some girls liked; now they were dwon and flowing around her shoulders. That alone made her look so much younger. I noticed her glasses were gone too.

All in all, a very pretty girl.

Woman.

And sadly, I wasn’t attracted to her anymore.

I’m not sure what to think about that.

“You think I can have a mirror?”

It was kind of funny but I’d been here a week or so and still no mirror. It might be one of those things you don’t think about but when you don’t see your own reflection every day, it’s kind of weird. Deena gave me a strange look until she realized their error.

“Sorry about that” she said innocently. “We wanted to make sure the full change was through before showing you the final result. In the past, they used to keep a mirror present but they found in some cases, the new Alpha reacted badly to the changes in his or her new body”

She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze before turning toward the false wall.

She tapped something on her tablet.

A second later, the vid screen there turned to a reflective surface.

I’d seen something similar in my sister’s bedroom.

Me, I just used an old mirror that belonged to one of my distant relatives.

Deena stepped away from the wall mirror to allow me to get a full look at myself. I took a step forward and my mouth dropped open.

Gone was the gawky, slight, tall teenage boy.

In his place was a Goddess.

Tall.

Long Black Hair.

Gorgeous Face.

Perfect Curves.

Athletic build.

An Alpha.

An Aphrodite.

Hell a Super Aphrodite.

This was me.

I took another step closer to the mirror, the girl in it reflecting my same movements. When I touched my face, she did as well. When I ran my fingers through that long, straight raven black hair, she did the same. It was kind of freaky. It was even freakier to think that this absolutely gorgeous person was in fact me. Another step closer and I saw that I was still slightly there. There were some similar features like my hair. Her face looked a bit like Mom’ too---that is if my mother had thousands of dollars worth of reconstructive surgery to look super hot. Not that Mom wasn’t beautiful; it’s just that she was just pretty.

There was something else too.

This girl had my eyes.

No, that’s not right. I had my eyes.

I couldn’t help but smile at that.

When I smiled though something else twigged about my new reflection. I’d seen this girl before. It only took me a few seconds to remember where, too.

The dream.

The girl in the mirror was the girl in the dream that Maddie had changed into.

Shit.

“Kind of shocking huh” said Deena as she appeared in the mirror behind.

For the first time, I noticed how short she really was.

Or how tall I was now.

“How tall am I?”

“Seventy four inches”

Shit. Six Foot Two.

I was barely five eight before. Which was kind of tall for a fourteen year old, I think.

Thinking about my age gave me another slight pause. I looked a little closer and smirked. I’d seen my share of fourteen-year-old girls and there was no way in hell that I passed for one anymore. I was about to ask her about it when I remembered what we learned about Alphas. When someone became an Alpha, they became an idolized form. So young, beautiful, strong etc. The girl in the mirror---me---looked about eighteen.

Damn that was going to be hard to get used.

Not that any of this was going to be easy.

This was me now.

This was Beth.

“Hi” I said softly to myself.

I took a step away from the mirror and turned sideways, letting my ego take over a tad bit. I suppose as far as Alphas go, this new me wasn’t so bad. It was a common misconception that all Alphas were alike. When in reality, there were several different kinds. Or to put it more simply, your Alpha life was partially reflected on who you were before. Sure, an overweight guy won’t turn into an overweight Alpha but he’ll have the same tendencies he had prior to it all. Take Maddie’s brother for instance. He was always really big in theater at school. It was no big shock that he became an actress after the change. Just like if you were a computer geek like Joe, you’d still be an adept computer geek as an Alpha as well.

Me, I’m not sure what I was before.

I just existed I suppose.

Looking at the new me, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of impact she’d make on the world.

Who was I now?

I looked like an athlete but so did all the other Alphas.

I was beautiful now too but so were all the other Alphas.

I didn’t feel any smarter but knew I probably was.

In fact, I didn’t really feel any different.

I just looked different.

“You all right?”

I nodded. “Just wondering what kind of person I’m going to be now?”

Deena gave me a look. It was the one she and her colleagues had been giving me the last several days now.
When she spoke, the look was gone replaced by a smile. “You can be whoever you want to be”

I scuffed. “Except Ben”

She laughed. “That might be a little hard now”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little, too. It hurt some too. Ben was gone, never to be seen again. Sure, I was still me but the Ben Me was no more. I’d be Beth for the rest of my life now. I’m not sure how I felt about that actually.

“So, how about we get you discharged?”

Whatever I was feeling about my old self was lost in that instance.

Discharged.

I was going home.

FINALLY.

“Are you ok, honey?”

I nodded, not sure what else to say.

Honestly, I was far from ok but I didn’t want Mom to worry. It was strange enough that I was her son now daughter and my life was going to be completely different now. It was going to be extremely hard now too. When my going home was discussed a few days ago, the idea of me going to The Cube was the biggest thing on everyone’s plate. Sure, ninety-nine percent of the Alphas lived there but there were others who lived with the Jects. I talked with Deena and my mother about it for a few hours, trying to decide what was the best course of action for me.

Deena thought The Cube was.

Mom thought I should try home.

Me, I was on the fence.

Both places held pros and cons but I wanted some time to decide. I also wanted to see if I could give my old life a shot. I guess I just wasn’t ready to give Ben up.

So I decided on going home.

The closer we got to our destination, however, the more I was regretting such a decision.

“You think this was right?”

“Going home you mean?”

I nodded. “I know this is what you wanted and I think it’s what I want too but I’m just not sure how everyone is going to react.”

Everyone being our neighbors, my friends, even some of my family.

Everyone also meant Maddie.

“Honey, in the end no one but you can make this decision. That’s why Deena and I discussed it with you at such length. If you feel you can’t handle it at home then we’ll get you a place in The Cube.”

By me, she meant me.

Mom and Dad were staying home.

I guess that didn’t surprise me in the least. I just couldn’t help but wonder who was going to take care of the squirt while they were working.

“I know Mom and I’m sorry I’m causing such a mess of things.”

Mom reached over from the “driver’s” seat and gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

“Ben…th, you’re not a burden. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her messing up my name.

I decided to think about it as the car sped ever closer to home. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much time to do so as our street came into viewing. Cursing, I never realized how close The Q was to our Zone. I’d only been to Zone 2 a few times and only to the building that Mom worked in. It just never really occurred to me that The Q would be located there too and that it was only about a ten-minute ride from there to our actual house.

I was that close to home this whole time.

Mind-boggling.

We pulled into the garage a minute later. I watched as Mom went through the routine to shut the car down then opened the door. I took a deep breath before stepping out of the vehicle. Thankfully, it was the middle of the day so my sister was still at school. Dad was at work too so Mom and I got the house all to ourselves. When she led the way through the garage door into the kitchen, I couldn’t help but realize that nothing had changed.

Nothing except me.

“You want something to eat, honey?”

I shook my head as my Mom gave me a sympathetic smile.

Without thinking, she walked over and gave me a tight hug.

“Everything is going to be ok. I promise.”

I nodded. “I think I’m gonna go up to my room and crash for a bit. Want to check some of my mail and things.”

I’m sure I had a lot of it too.

I literally disappeared off the face of the planet over the last week or so. It didn’t help that my Bio had been off since then. Deena only got the permission to have it reactivated this morning. Sadly, I hadn’t been allowed to access it until a few minutes ago. As soon as I did, there were several beeping messages and other nonsense. I ignored them at the time but now, the flashing indication in my left eye was starting to annoy me.

I started for the stairs when Mom stopped me for a moment.

“Later, we need to talk about some things.”

I nodded.

I had a pretty good idea what.

Going to my room felt kind of strange.

I felt strange, too.

Like an Outsider.

I stopped in the doorway, staring at what had been my Mecca for all fourteen years of my life. I sighed as I realized how minimalistic I’d been. I had my bed and my desk but like I said before, there was little of anything else. Unlike my friends, I wasn’t one of those kids who liked to plaster the walls with moving posters or set their walls to constantly change colors every few days. I like my blue walls; I liked the little non-moving prints. I liked having this place just the way it was. Now however it felt kind of bland. Sure my taste hasn’t changed but it just felt like something was missing.

Yeah, me.

I walked in and dropped on the bed. I lay there for a few before deciding to tackle the mail.

Most of it was junk, spam.

There was a frantic message from Mom, must have been around the time I collapsed on my date. Then several from kids from school, all spanning over the course of a few days. I had a couple from my teachers too. All of those were pretty standard. It was the ones from my friends that seemed to draw my attention or friend as in singular. All the friend messages were from Joe. At first, he sounded a bit annoyed that I wasn’t replying then he became a bit concerned until finally it was like I was dead or something.

I think the more concerned ones came when the Bio was deactivated.

The frantic nature of his voice showed in those.

I had about a hundred message in all.

But not the one I wanted.

Damn Maddie.

After going through the mess, I thought about beeping her. Then thought against it. I knew what she thought about Alphas, I knew how she was going to react. I’ll catch her later at school. Maybe I can try to talk some sense into her before she turns me into a complete pariah.

My yawning broke my thoughts.

Crap tired already.

I rolled over, fluffing a pillow before trying to get some sleep. I don’t remember drifting off but I must of because the next thing I knew, there was a pip in my ear. I tried to ignore it but when you did that the noise only got louder. Sighing, I sat up and tapped below my ear.

“This better be important,” I groaned.

At first, there was nothing. Then I heard it.

Faint then growing louder.

Until…

44414e474552

It was repeated over and over again.

That same string of numbers and one letter.

What the hell?

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

-----

Author's Note: And We're Back! Sorry for the massive delay, I was stumped then bored then stumped again but now things are back on track. This one is a little short but I hope to make up for that as the story progresses :) I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

-----

7.

44414e474552.

What the hell did it all mean? Was someone pranking me? Or was it just some random spam that tends to pop up every once in a while. There were supposed to be filters for those kinds of things but spammers were getting better at bypassing them. I would have to ask Mom about it. Though there was another explanation.

Joe.

Though he’d never done anything like it before, I wouldn’t put it past him in the least to spam me with crazy numbers.

I had half a mind to pip him now and chew him out.

I wasn’t ready for that yet.

I wasn’t ready for any of my friends yet actually.

Especially Maddie.

The numbers could wait though.

Sighing, I pushed myself off the bed. I felt more refreshed now than ever. Ok so not totally true but I couldn’t lie there anymore. I needed to do something, anything. I know I told Mom I just wanted to veg but I’d been doing that for the last couple of weeks. Hell, I’d been doing that for the last fourteen years. I needed to get out and do something. Actually “need” wasn’t the right word, more like “want”. I wanted to get out and do something. I thought back to the tests and the activities they’d been making me do. The exercising. I was never really a fitness nut before but now I felt like a run.

I looked down at myself.

I wasn’t exactly dressed for one though.

Walking over to the wall screen, I stopped to think. What site did Carrie use to buy me clothes?

Groaning, I turned on the screen. I pressed a button, bringing up the intercom.

The Vid came to life, showing my mother in her office.

She was at her desk, working on the console interface there.

“Mom?”

She flinched for a sec. “Honey, you startled me.”

I bit my lip. “Sorry but I need some help.”

She looked concerned. “Is something wrong?”

I nodded. “I want to go for a run but I have nothing to wear.”

She gave me this strange look.

Hey, it’s not like I’ve grown a second head or something.

“A run?”

“Yeah, you know. Around the block, maybe to the park. Something.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

I shrugged. “I need to get out of the house, Mom. Sitting around is making me feel all itchy.”

She smiled at that.

It was actually true now that I thought about it. Just standing around was making my skin tingle a bit. I’m not sure how to describe it. I was never much of a physical person before. Sure, I was in shape for the most part but I wasn’t a crazed fitness nut though. Now I felt like I needed to run, that I needed to flex my muscles and keep my body doing something. Maybe it was some compulsion buried deep down inside before. Something that my new Alphahood is bringing to the surface.

Great, now I’m Wonder Woman.

Or something.

“You want me to help you pick out something to wear then?”

“Well seeing as I’ve only been a girl for a little while, I don’t exactly know what to do .Besides, nothing I own from the past will fit anymore.”

I could see Mom trying to suppress her smile.

Yeah, laugh it up.

I tried to show her how cross I was with a look but I’m not sure she was buying it. In the end, I just gave her an annoyed one in response.

“It depends on what you’re looking for honey” she started and we began.

I quickly ruled out the whole sports bra and tight little shorts thing.

There was no way in hell I was doing that.

I don’t care if I had the body for it.

In the end---after much deliberation---we settled on the combination of gray running tank top and black running tights. I wasn’t too happy about how tight they looked but I’d deal with it. We got some good running shoes too. My new clothing items arrived a few minutes later. Mom wanted to help me to make sure I didn’t mess things up but I turned her down. I was fourteen; I didn’t need my mother to help me dress.

Though if there was one thing about this whole girl thing I was never going to get used too, it was the damn clothes.

Why the hell did everything have to be so tight?

I managed to get both the pants and the top on but damn, it felt like my entire body was being squeezed.

Ok, so a little overdramatic but still much tighter than my old clothes.

I did like the way they felt though.

Male clothes were rough to the touch.

These were soft and actually comfortable.

I could move a lot better in them too.

This body was a whole lot more flexible too. I liked the way I could bend and stretch. Nothing at all like my male body. I couldn’t help but smile a bit about that.

Did I still want my male body back?

HELL YES.

Seeing as that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon though---never in fact---I’d just have to deal with it.

As I was putting on my new shoes, there was a light tap on the door. Not even bothering to turn my head, I knew it was Mom.

“Wow” she said softly.

I laced up and turned slightly. “It’s not too much is it?”

I turned this way and that, looking myself over as I did so.

It was hard to believe that all of this was me now.

“Do you think it’s too much?”

“I don’t really have a choice now do I?”

I’m not sure when the tears started but the next thing I knew, Mom was hugging me.

This whole thing sucked.

Plain and simple.

Mom held me for a while, let me cry it out. It was kind of nice actually. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever held me this long. Not to say Mom was a horrible parent, just not a very attentive one. When I finally finished and we pulled apart, there was this pained look on her face. It was only there for a moment but I think it might have been regret.

“You can stay here with me you know. You don’t have to run if you don’t want to?”

I shook my head.

I needed to run.

I started stretching. “I have to do this Mom. I’ll be back in an hour or so I think.”

“Ok honey, just be careful.”

Careful?

Careful of what?

“I will, Mom.”

When I was younger, Grandpa used to take me to the park. He used to bring me to this little fitness area and we’d spend hours there. He used to regale me with stories about the park when he was a kid. His childhood parks were a great deal different than mine, of course. They used to be much bigger and there was a lot of green. They were more for recreational purposes back then, a sense of bringing some bit of nature into large cities and towns. We learned a lot of that stuff in history class; of course, most of it was pretty watered down.

Grandpa always used to have much better things to teach me.

Sadly, our parks were far from his

Sure they were still about bringing nature in, but I think it was more for a practical purpose than anything else. You couldn’t even really call them parks. Sure there was grass and trees but much like the grass in our own yards, it was well manicured and sectioned off. There were only small sections of it here and there and all well within control. Each Zone had their own park, each one the same size, the same layout. The small fitness area where I played as a kid was still there---unchanged. There was also a tiny picnic area with vintage benches and things. In the center they even had a fountain though the water was holographic. Using real water for something so trivial was a waste in this day and age. My grandfather used to say that the artificial didn’t make it feel like nature anymore. Sure it was real grass and real trees but everything else was fake.

The birds, the small animals.

All synthetic.

Even the flowers were some kind of synthetic nano-creation.

All fake.

All within control.

I tried not to think about it as I ran. I tried to think about little as I made my second or third lap around the bike path.

Sure there was a track that I could run on but that meant going to the school. I wasn’t ready to go there yet. At least, not until tomorrow. Mom and dad had pulled a lot of strings to get me there. Of course, they wanted me to go The Cube. My parents were able to convince the government to give me a chance. I wanted to be as normal as possible. Part of that normality meant returning to the same routine as before. My gender might be different, I might be different but I still wanted to prove to people that I was still me.

Still human.

On my fifth time around the path, I noticed the company.

It was hard not to.

I’d seen the four of them approach. I tried not to pay attention at first. They were a group of guys from my school. John Kingston and some of his buddies from the Free Ball team. What’s Free Ball you ask? Well think of old school football and basketball, remove the court and field and put it in a large domed room. Then remove the gravity. That’s Free Ball. It was the only sport authorized by the Metro government. Our school was pretty good apparently. Not that it really took much skill to play. I mean a monkey could strap on those shoes and go floating around like that.

One didn’t dare call a Baller a monkey, though.

Well not unless you wanted to keep your smile.

John wasn’t a bad guy I guess. We didn’t run in the same circles so I didn’t really know him all that well. His father was a Supervisor---a low man on the government totem pole. In fact, he was the Supervisor of Zone 3. John was a bit of school royalty because of it. He never used that to his advantage though. He did like to show off though. He was after all the closest thing to an Adonis that our school could muster.

For a Ject anyway.

I heard them before I saw them.

The five of them were trying to catch up with me. They started at a steady pace first. After about ten minutes, they started on a little faster. Five minutes after that, I could hear the heavy footfalls. Thanks to my biological enhancements---better sight, hearing---that kind of thing, I could tell they were really trying. Mark Rogers got close, I could hear him huffing and puffing behind me. He kept that pace for a whole minute or so before falling back. Sam and Greg Hodge---the Wonder Twins---lost the race a few laps beforehand. Frank West fell out a minute or so before Mark, leaving John the lone man to try to impress me.

That’s what they were doing after all.

Five idiots trying to show the Alpha girl that they were cool enough to hang with her.

So far, John was the only one who seemed to be doing ok.

I could feel him waning though.

After another lap, I finally felt the burn.

I took stock at where the Ballers were currently collapsed and made a beeline for a bench about twenty feet from them. I was feeling pretty good after my run. My blood was pumping, my heart was pounding and I felt great.

No, I felt alive.

I was also feeling something else.

Something foreign.

I began stretching, using the bench as I perched one of my legs on it and slowly started to lean forward. As I did, I couldn’t help but notice that five pairs of eyes watched me the whole time.

Something stirred inside.

Something new.

Something overpowering.

Pride.

I felt proud that they saw me.

I was proud that these guys saw something when they looked at me.

Them looking made my heart pound even faster.

I finished stretching a moment later. John took that as his cue to approach.

It was a bold move on his part.

He slicked back his sweat drenched blonde locks and slowly made his way over.

As he approached, I couldn’t help but size him up. I could see why a lot of the girls in school saw him as a “prize”. He was well fit for a Ject. His biceps bulged, his muscles well formed in the thin t-shirt that currently clung to his body. Something else bulged too. I felt a bit repulsed by that but embarrassed too. A bit scared as well. Even more scared when I found myself looking. I was a guy, I shouldn’t be looking there.

No Beth.

Not a guy anymore.

Shit.

“Hey” he said, starting to stretch like I’d been doing only moments before. “You’re pretty fast”

“I know.”

It was my attempt at a brush off but I have no idea what I’m doing.

Double Shit.

“I’m John,” he said with one of his prize winning smiles.

“That’s nice”

Come on take the hint.

“You’re an Alpha right?”

All I could do was nod.

“That’s really cool,” he said with another smile. “We don’t see too many around these parts. You live nearby?”

I sighed. This guy wasn’t going to go away.

I took the hip bag from around my waist. It was another one of our quick purchases. It was attached to a thin belt, hanging on my hip like it belonged there. I unzipped it, taking out my water bottle before leaving it sitting on the bench. I took a quick swig of water before speaking.

“A couple of blocks away.”

That seemed to surprise him.

“Not in The Cube?”

“Nope”

Go away please.

“So does that mean you go to my school?”

Oh shit he was hitting on me or trying too. This kind of tactic might work on normal girls---Ject girls---but with an Alpha, he was out of his league.

I think he knew it too.

When he stopped stretching, I couldn’t help but smirk.

John was tall, a good physical specimen of the Ject race. Blonde hair, blue eyes, chiseled looks.

The best that he could offer.

But still a Ject.

A Ject who was a whole head shorter than me.

This guy used to intimidate me in gym class. He never went out of his way to do so of course because like I said “Good Guy” but I was always afraid of him. He was the kind of guy who had a presence. Everyone flocked to him, girls drooled all over him, people opened doors for him. That kind of thing. The complete opposite of me.
Well the old me.

Now though I couldn’t help but smirk.

“What’s so funny?”

I was still amused when I spoke. “Thinking about something from before.”

“Before what?”

“Before all this” I said, waving my hands up and down my body.

He looked confused.

Time to break his precious heart.

“Where do you think Aphrodites come from John?” He gave me a clueless look. I decided to cue him in. “We’re guys, John, or at least we used to be. I’ve only been a girl for about a week or so, John. How does that make you feel?”

He stood there dumbfounded.

His friends must have been close enough to hear our conversation because they started to laugh.

I wanted to laugh too but that would have been cruel.

Instead, I patted his shoulder gently. Touching him made my skin tingle which I didn’t like in the least. Being close to him like that made something else tingle too. That scared me. I knew that this was a possibility but I wasn’t going to let it. I took a step back and brushed past him, leaving him standing there with his mouth open, contemplating my words. As I walked by the table with his friends, I couldn’t help but rub it in a bit.

“See you at school tomorrow boys”

I put a slight sashay in my step as I started walking away.

I got about ten feet or so, when I was greeted by more numbers. As soon as they popped up on my HUD, I froze.

54 68 61 74 20 77 61 73 20 63 72 75 65 6c.

What the hell was going on?

I snapped around quickly, my pulse racing. I looked at John and his friends. John was back at their bench, his friends were still laughing at him. He was still a little dumbfounded. I looked from them to the rest of the people in the park. There was a group of small children playing, their mothers nearby. There was an elderly couple on one of the benches, too. Nothing out of the ordinary. I scanned the rest of the area. The only thing that seemed out of place was a silver sedan. I’d noticed it on my run. Was it there as I started or did it show up after?

I tried to remember but after John showed up, I lost interest in it.

Shit.

Staring at it though made my heart beat a little faster.

Maybe I was being paranoid but I wasn’t going to take a chance.

I started to move away when there was a commotion. John apparently recovered. He was watching me but more than that, he was watching the car, too. He shouted something. I think he must have picked up on my apprehension because he seemed to notice that the car had been there a while too. He started to make his way toward it when the car quickly took off.

Ok that wasn’t suspicious or anything.

I wanted to stick around to say thanks but I was already unnerved enough.

Instead, I turned and started to run.

John shouted something.

I was almost home before I realized I’d left my hip pouch behind.

Damn.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

-----

Author's Note: Here's Ch.8, not a lot of stuff happens here. I like to refer to this as the "School Ch." as you'll see. There are some good interactions here but it doesn't really progress the story much. Chs. 7,8, and 9 are ones that I needed to write so that I could finally get back into the real story in Ch.10. So bear with me a little longer and I promise things will get going again :) I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

-----

8.

“Definitely that one”

I couldn’t help but groan as I looked into the mirror. Carrie was sitting on the bed behind me, coaching me as it were. Her words not mine. Out of the two girls currently in the room, she was the only one who was really enjoying herself. She was practically overflowing with giddiness. Me, I was a total fucking wreck. According to her, this outfit was crucial. Making a first impression was ideal for my social well being. True, but who said I wanted to make one. I was still me and nothing was going to change that. Not even little sisters who mean well. Though I could see where she was coming from. After all, it’s not every day that your older brother has a spontaneous gender change and you need to coach him on how to be a girl.

Ok so not really spontaneous.

“Light blue is not my color”

I peeled off the tiny shirt quickly and tossed it into the growing pile already growing on the floor.

Carrie started to pout. It was a ploy of course.

I knew that look all too well.

I also knew from experience that it wasn’t going to work.

“That didn’t work on me before what makes you think it will now?”

“You’re my sister now. I figured all those stupid boy genes were gone for good and you’d start to appreciate my plight.”

I had to give her credit.

“Sorry, different wrapping, same cream filling.”

After coming home from my run yesterday, I was immediately met by the highest squeal I’d ever heard in my entire life. Apparently, while I was out, Carrie returned home from school. I got barely two feet into the house before I was bum rushed by a bundle of energy. She nearly tackled me to the ground. When I finally was able to pry her off me, she never shut up. She was rambling a mile a minute, telling me everything that the two of us could do together. I’d never seen her like that. For the rest of the night I couldn’t go anywhere without her following me with a goofy smile. According to Mom, Carrie was thrilled about all of this. Well, that made one of us.
I needed to go easy on her though.

Humor her.

Mom’s words not mine.

I guess when you’re son becomes a daughter, it’s ok to be a parent again.

No, I’m not bitter.

Just annoyed.

So I took Mom’s advice. When I woke up yesterday morning, I found Carrie waiting. She was overflowing with excitement. Apparently she was bound and determined to “make me a real girl”. Her first order of business was to help me pick out the perfect outfit for school. I was a bit confused to say the least. Especially when I realized I was getting up two hours before I usually did and strangely two hours before I set my alarm for last night.

“Try the green one again,” she said happily.

I sighed, digging through the pile.

Where did all these clothes come from you ask? Well yesterday, a day I thought I was going to have to recuperate and be myself turned into Carrie’s day. After forcing me away, she dragged me to the mall. We could have easily done all our shopping right from home but she insisted. We spent the better part of several hours going from store to store. It was by far one of the most embarrassing moments in my life. There’s a reason I like to shop from home. After our marathon clothes run, we ended up getting the everyday basics a girl might need. I’m not going to bore you with the details. When we got home, I thought we were done but remember how I said Carrie wanted to teach me how to be a girl. Well, we did that for the rest of the night.

Nails.

Hair.

Makeup.

Proper Hygiene.

I’m a real girl now.

I turned back to the mirror and tried not to think about the goddess staring back at me. The one in the pink satin bra.

Me.

“It’s not fair you know,” she said as I pulled the shirt over my head.

“What’s not?”

“You got boobs”

If I was drinking something, I would have totally just spit it all over the mirror.

“Carrie, you’re eight”

“Julie is starting to bud”.

She crossed her arms and started to pout. For real this time.

“Julie’s clearly cheating.”

Julie was one of Carrie’s BFFs. Her Mom worked with ours. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Julie was getting a little help. Some girls popped pills to help them develop. When I was Carrie’s age it wasn’t as common but it was starting earlier and earlier. Though not illegal per se, the government was starting to crack down on it more and more. There were studies that showed that developing at a young age---especially through artificial means like that---had adverse health effects. Sure Julie might be fine now but come her thirties she was going to be a load of hurt.

There was no way in hell Mom would ever let Carrie do something stupid like that.

Thank the Maker.

“You’ll get there,” I said, hoping it was the right thing.

This girl thing.

Whole new territory.

This conversation.

FUCKING AWKWARD.

Carrie smiled. She jumped off the bed and wrapped herself around me.

Another hug.

“I’m glad you’re my sister now”

Well that makes one of us.

A few moments later, she broke the hug and pulled back. She gave me a strange look and shook her head.

“No that one is definitely not it. Try the blue one again”

“You understand the delicate situation I’m in here right, Miss Carson?”

I still couldn’t help but flinch slightly at the “Miss” thing.

But I understood the situation all too well.

Hell, I was living it.

I nodded. “I know the situation sir. I see it every time I look in the mirror”

Mr. Henry looked a little uncomfortable. I guess I couldn’t blame him. He was a good guy, of course, but it was hard to fathom of a lot of these things. Sure Alphas were a part of our everyday lives now but dealing with them didn’t make things any easier. Especially for him. Technically speaking, I wasn’t supposed to be here. I as an Alpha now, I was supposed to be in The Cube. I was supposed to going to Cube school or whatever the hell they called it. I was supposed to be someone else’s problem. I couldn’t expect him to understand or even know how to deal with something like this. I was still trying to deal with it myself but I’d made my decision. I was still Ben Carson---at least on the inside. I wanted to live my life just like I’d been living it. That meant going to school, my school. If this peon didn’t understand that then that was his damn problem.

“I am permitted to still attend this school right?”

He nodded. “There’s nothing that says you can’t, it’s just a little unorthodox”

“Try waking up with boobs” I quibbled.

Mr. Henry loosened his tie a bit.

Then he cleared his throat. “I’m legally obligated to tell you that as an administrator, I cannot deny you an education. However, I’m also obligated to inform you that this establishment will not favor you in anyway. If you choose to attend school here, we can’t protect you from any harm. You attend at your own risk and must deal with the consequences of such”

Wow, way to have my back.

I guess I couldn’t really blame him.

He was a low level Administrative Bureaucrat. A small fish in a rather large pond. Like I said, a good man but one who was afraid of the system, too. I really couldn’t have expected the man to act any other way. I just thought he’d be a little less of a coward. Was he really afraid that I was going to do something or worse, someone was going to try to do something to me?

“I can handle myself now sir,” I told him truthfully.

Hell I could handle myself before as well.

“Its not you I’m worried about”

So he really was trying to protect his own ass.

“I’m not a danger, sir. I know my limits.”

I let out a sigh, thinking.

“I’ll make you a promise,” I continued. “If at any time I feel like I can’t hack it here or I don’t belong, I’ll leave. I know what a problem this is, not just for you either. I want to try, sir, I have to try. If it doesn’t work, I need you to let me figure that out.”

He nodded. “Thank you for the honesty Bethany. I’ll hold you to that promise”

I nodded too, then stood up. He didn’t bother to correct me. I knew when the conversation was done.

Besides no one dismissed an Alpha.

Not that I was being arrogant, it was an actual societal thing.

Alphas were superior in every way and as such, they were afforded certain liberties.

I realized my mistake quickly and started to sit back down but he waved me off.

“Its ok Miss Carson, we were actually done”

He actually chuckled a bit.

I smiled and thanked him before heading out the door. As soon as it closed behind me, I let out a sigh. I’d like to say that the hard part was over but that was a lie. I’d actually arrived here about an hour early this morning so I could get things all organized. Apparently deciding to go back to my normal school meant I had to do everything by myself. The government was nice enough to change my gender and my name but that’s all they were willing to do for me. Not going with the “program” meant that they weren’t going to help me with anything.

So before the meeting, I spent most of my time with a guidance counselor organizing things.

It didn’t take long.

I was able to convince her that I was the same person and wanted the same schedule.

The only thing that changed was my gym class.

Now I was in a class with girls.

Yay me.

I tapped my ear as I started down the hall. I brought up a quick map of the school. Something else had changed too, actually. After I “disappeared” for a week or so, they had to give up my locker. It was nothing new. So I had a new locker on the other side of the building. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from the office. Walking there was another thing though. Since leaving, the school was starting to fill up. As soon as I turned around the corner, I found myself in a sea of my peers.

And boy was I noticed.

As I walked, I couldn’t help but feel like my skin my was starting to match the red of my shirt.

All eyes were immediately on me.

I tried my hardest not to let it get to me but of course, it did. Here I was wearing a bright red shirt and the tightest jeans known to man.

Of course, people were going to notice.

Damn it Carrie.

Every guy I past seem to undress me with their eyes. Every girl I passed looked like they wanted to drive a stake through my heart. Oh yeah, this day was going to be loads of fun. It got even worse when I approached The Hall. That’s not its real name, hell it didn’t have a name actually. It was just something that the normal people in the school called it. The Hall was where all the popular kids hung out before, during and after classes. There was nothing overly special about it but they seemed to gravitate toward it.

I took a deep breath as I approached.

The cheerleaders saw me first. Of course, they all sneered. Sure, they would. They were supposed to be the school Queens and here I was now.

A God among them.

Actually, that bit made me feel a little better about myself.

I never really had a problem with those girls but I knew Maddie did. I used to watch the way they treated her and it was pretty bad. To them, individuality was a sin and Maddie was the greatest sinner of them all. Now though---with those looks---I was sure they were definitely going to be thorns in my side. Especially with the way, Natalie was looking at me. Natalie St. James---the Queen Bee---cheerleader and bitch extraordinaire. I had a feeling she was going to be a real problem. Even more so because her boyfriend happened to be my new stalker---John.

Speaking of which…

“Hey”

I stopped in my tracks, about ten feet from the girls.

I just barely missed him when he practically materialized in front of me.

Shit.

“I’m gonna be late” I said, hoping it was enough to get rid of him.

It wasn’t.

“You left your bag thingy at the park yesterday. I have it if you want it.”

I knew that was going to be a problem.

“Sure thanks I guess”

I followed him the short distance to his locker---which was of course surrounded by his Free Baller buddies. The guys from the park were there, giving me friendly nods. The others there were all staring at me like I walked out of Heaven or something. I tried to ignore them all and waited impatiently. A few seconds later, my hip pouch was back in my hands. I opened it to make sure everything was still there, getting a quick reassurance from John that he didn’t touch anything.

“Well I might have looked for ID,” he said embarrassed then quickly added. “You know for your address…to uh return it to you.”

“I don’t have one”

Not yet anyway. It was supposed to come in the mail any day now, not that he needed to know that.

I stuffed the pouch in my backpack and started down the hall again.

John of course was right with me.

“So what’s your name anyway?”

I sighed. He wasn’t going to give up was he?

“It’s Beth”

“Beth, cool” he said with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

I laughed at that.

“We’ve already met…several times in fact.”

He gave me a confused look before it seemed to sink in. When the truth dawned on him, he fell silent which was fine by me. What wasn’t fine was the course he seemed to be taking. As I meandered my way through the halls, he seemed to be following. Not out of obligation to stalk me but actually because he seemed to be going in the same direction. No not just the same direction I realized, the same class. I cursed. Of course. I forgot he was in my first morning class. In fact, he was in three of my classes.

Shit.

“This is your class?” he asked when we got to the door.

I nodded. He quickly opened the door for me and we went in. As soon as I stepped into the room, all eyes were on me including a very surprised Mrs. Wren. Even more surprised though was Joe, especially when I made my way over to my usual sit. As soon as I sat down, a murmur roared through the room immediately. Mrs. Wren blinked a few times before giving me a concerned smile. Just like Mr. Henry, it was clear that she knew I was going to have problems here.

“Welcome back Miss Carson” she said, stumbling for a second over the “miss” part.

All eyes were on me.

Joe’s especially.

I wanted to crawl under the desk and stay there forever.

“Thanks” I said sheepishly.

A second later, several hands in the room moved. Most of them up to their ears. The pips were flying. In several minutes, I was pretty sure everyone in the school was now going to know that Ben Carson was now an Alpha.

Shit that’s all I needed.

“No fucking way” whispered Joe, leaning slightly to speak to me.

He was sitting next to me after all.

“Now you know where I’ve been,” I whispered back, refusing to look in his direction.

Joe sad nothing for a minute or so.

I held my breath.

Then he laughed. “I guess we can’t call you Minus anymore.”

I wanted to laugh myself.

Instead, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

One down, two to go.

By the time I got to my second class of the day, the news of my transformation had spread like wild fire. Every person I ran into stopped to stare at me and those who didn’t seemed to linger around longer than necessary. The only people who seemed not to care were the teachers. There was some initial shock on their parts but they recovered quickly. Thankfully they treated me like a normal human being. Even though technically I wasn’t one.

Thankfully, the novelty of me started to wear off as the morning went on.

By the time lunch came around everyone knew.

And everyone had seen me.

Including Maddie.

The first class of the day I had with her was the one right before lunch. When I walked into the room, I took my usual seat next to her. As soon as I did, she got up and moved. Trying to speak to her was useless as well because she wouldn’t even look at me. I’m not sure if I was more pissed off or disappointed. I knew what she thought of Alphas of course but I was hoping she’d be able to get over that prejudice because it was me.

I was still me.

If only she’d let me explain it to her.

When I finally got to the cafeteria, I found Joe at our usual table. As soon as I walked into the room, all eyes were on me, of course. I went through the lunch line as soon as possible then made a quick dash for my usual seat. When I sat, I was surprised he was alone. I let out a sigh, desperately wanting to scream at the top of my lungs.

I picked up my burger and took a huge bite, not bothering to be polite about it either.

Joe gave me a strange look.

“What?” I asked, my mouth full.

“You really are the same, aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes then swallowed. “Yes”

“So no compulsions?”

It was fairly common knowledge that a lot of recently emerged Alphas went through some behavioral swings and things like that. I knew the drill. Deena actually talked about it with me for some time in-between tests. In fact I think a good portion of her tests were to see how much I’d actually changed. Well besides the whole wanting to be more active---like my running---I was the same person.

“I’m the same guy Joe”

“Ummm” he said, pointing at my chest.

“You know what I mean,” I snapped.

He looked like he wanted to ask more questions but I had one of my own first. I quickly cut him off as he was about to speak.

“So why are you sitting alone anyway?”

We were never the most popular kids in school but we had a small group of friends. We didn’t always sit with them at lunch but sometimes people rotated our way. The usual group at the table was Joe, Ted and I. After Crystal’s funeral though, Maddie had started joining us too. Some of her friends would sit here too. Things got complicated with Ted of course after Mads and I kinda hooked up. I just thought maybe whatever his problem was would have cooled off by now.

“Well” said Joe pointing. “There’s Maddie”.

I followed his finger and saw her sitting with a group of kids I’d never really noticed before. Then again, looking at Maddie I wouldn’t have noticed her unless I knew her. She looked totally different now---even from this morning actually. Her hair was pitch black now, her makeup dark and edgy. I’d say she was in mourning again if not for her clothes: a black shirt with long mesh sleeves, a short tartan skirt, fishnets and black boots.

I knew the look well.

“She’s taking things well,” I said sarcastically.

“Give her some time”

I turned back to Joe. “What about Ted?”

Joe rolled his eyes. “That’s a different thing altogether”. He sipped his drink. “Two days after you were gone, he seemed to grow a pair. He walked right up to Maddie and asked her out. Lot of nerve if you ask me. Well after she spurned him, he kind of freaked. He caused quite a scene. It escalated quickly too. He tried to drag her out of her chair and that’s when things got real bad. One of the Free Ballers stepped in and well let’s just sat Ted wasn’t in a good place when it ended. The day after that he was gone. His Mom pulled him out of school, said it was an “unsafe environment for her son”. Load of crap if you ask me.”

What the hell was with Ted lately anyway?

“Are we still good?”

“Best buds bro,” he said, holding out his fist, waiting for me to give it a bump.

I didn’t leave him hanging long.

It felt a little weird though.

“I think we need to come up with something else,” I said.

Both of us laughed.

After that, I let him ask his questions. He had a lot of them, but I answered them as best as I could. I think my whole manifestation interested him way too much. It was nice to talk about it though. When I started talking about my tests, he seemed really interested. Especially when I told him, I was free weighting five hundred pounds.
He seemed particularly interested in that. I was about to tell him about those strange numbers when the chime ended lunch sounded.

I sighed, maybe tomorrow.

Because of the strange rotating block schedule we had, classes were split into two parts. The first parts were before lunch, the seconds after.

So Math 1 and Science 1 in the morning, Math 2 and Science 2 in the afternoon.

It was a real pain in the ass.

I was on my way to Math 2, when John was waiting for me.

Does this guy ever quit?

“You’re Ben Carson,” he said as I approached.

“I said I was a guy before.”

“You could have said something before I made an ass out of myself.”

“Is this the part where you hit me or threaten me? I don’t have all day you know, so get it over with quick or we’ll be late for class.”

“Wait? What?”

I sighed. “I was a guy. Aren’t all you jocks homophobes or something?”

Being homosexual wasn’t much a problem anymore. In fact, it was part of the norm now. I knew from history class that it was a real problem when my grandfather was younger. Several people actually said it was unconstitutional or some such bullshit. People were stupid. Even though it wasn’t a problem now though there were, still some of saw it as such. It was common knowledge that a lot of jocks seem to think that way.

It was different with Alphas. Though not illegal by any means, it was frowned upon when normal people had relationships with Alphas. It was one of the reasons Alphas were asked to live in The Cube. That way they could meet a respected partner and be done with it.

“That’s kind of offensive isn’t it?”

He looked genuinely shocked.

“And it’s not offensive to be standing here, staring at me like I’m a piece of meat?”

He didn’t respond but by the look of his blushing face, I knew I’d struck a nerve.

I did get him to advert his eyes though.

“So” I said, hoping this conversation was going somewhere. “Was there a point to all this?”

“I just wanted you to know that I don’t care if you were a guy before. You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. Screw what everyone else has been saying.”

Ummm….what.

“What are they saying?”

He suddenly looked like someone shot his puppy. Then he quickly filled me in on the rumors. Apparently, I somehow managed to get my hands on a genetically manipulated sample of the “Alpha gene”. One that not only made me faster and stronger but also made me a Super Aphrodite. It would seem that I was just too damn beautiful to be a normal Alpha so I somehow made myself into a super normal one.

If that even made sense.

Where the hell did rumors like that even come from?

“John honey”

Suddenly Natalie materialized right next to him, making a big display of looping her arm through his.

Was this the fabled “Marking one’s territory” from girl world I’d heard so much about.

Natalie turned to me and gave me a look.

No shit.

She thought I was trying to take John from her.

As if.

“What are you doing talking to him anyway?”

Yeah, definitely jealous.

I wanted to smirk but instead I just pushed past the two of them, hoping to make it to class before the chime.

When I finally did make it, I found my seat quickly. I couldn’t help but smile though, especially when Joe gave me a quizzical look.

So to quickly recap today’s events: Joe was still my friend, Ted was gone for good, Mads wanted nothing to do with me and John was even more of a creepy stalker than before.

Oh let’s not forget Natalie.

I couldn’t help but sigh.

I wonder if it’s too late to go to The Cube after all?

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: I bet everyone thought I fell off the face of the Earth but I'm still here and still kicking. It took me a while to get things going again with this story sadly. I wrote up to the end of Ch. 8 but when I went to write 9, nothing happened. I also kept thinking of every different story like this and I really didn't want to try to copy something that came before so I was stumped. Then the other day, it just came to me :) So without further ado here's Ch.9 of Clownfish. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

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9.

“How are you feeling?”

I shrugged.

It was a good question and one I didn’t really have a good answer for.

“How am I supposed to feel?”

Deena smiled. I’m not sure she had an answer either.

The two of us were sitting in her office. When I left the Q, it was decided that she and I would meet every week for a couple of weeks after my release. Remember how I said MD and PHD, well besides her medical license, Deena was apparently a shrink too. Today was our first official meeting. This morning I had to get up extra early to get ready too. You know how much teenagers hate to get up before noon on a Saturday? Yeah, well Mom insisted. Thankfully, I managed to go through my morning routine without Carrie interfering.

The Squirt didn’t wake up until Mom and I were leaving.

She pouted a bit about that.

No Carrie meant slumming it a bit. Even in a pair of sweats and a loose t-shirt, I still looked like a Greek Goddess.

Damn.

Anyway, I was now in T2, in the same building that Mom’s office was in. Unlike Mom’s though, Deena’s office was pretty high class. Apparently, the different medical fields were relegated to different floors. Mom’s office was on the third floor while Deena’s was on the top one---the forty fifth floor to be exact. Yeah, it was a really tall building. Not that it was out of place, though. Most of the office buildings in the Zones were tall. In fact, there were four buildings of the same height in each Metro.

They had an official name but most of us just called them the Towers.

Mom and Deena had offices in T2.

Dad had an office in T3.

You get the drill right?

There were other differences besides the floor. I wouldn’t say Mom had a small office by any means but it didn’t compare to the size of Deena’s. Her’s was huge. Not only did it have a reception area with a secretary but it also had a little en-suite, a few examining rooms for her medical patients, a room where she met with her psych patients and her private office area. We were currently in the private area. It was pretty spacious too with a horseshoe shaped desk, a large sitting area with a very comfy couch and a great view. When I first came in, Deena ushered me over to the large glass window behind her desk. She wanted me to see the whole of the Metro. It was spectacular, I could see all the zones, the towers, even the semi-transparent dome of The Cube---well at least when the light hit.

Now though, the two of us were on the couch.

This first meeting she said she wanted to make as informal as possible.

That’s why we were in her office.

“Why don’t we start with something else, feelings can wait,” she said, smiling. “Why not tell me about your first week of school?”

“It was weird”

“How so?”

I sighed. I gave her a quick recap of the first day. How the principal basically told me he wasn’t going to protect me if something happened and how everyone reacted to seeing me. I told her about my friends or lack thereof now. Well I still had Joe but Maddie and Ted were probably gone for good. Then I told her about John and Natalie.

“Girls are like that sometimes. You’re new and let’s face it, much prettier than her. It’s only natural she’d feel threatened by you.”

“It’s stupid. Why should she feel threatened by me?”

Deena smiled. “You’re a very pretty girl now, talking to her boyfriend. I think you see where I’m going with this?”

I sighed and nodded.

I knew exactly where she was going.

“How do you feel about John?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know what I mean.”

I’ll admit it; I squirmed a bit in my seat. I was hoping I could avoid something like this. I’m an idiot for even mentioning him to her. Now I was going to have to explain something I didn’t want to talk about yet. I was a little scared about it all actually. I knew I was no longer attracted to Maddie or any other girl for that matter.

“He’s not unattractive”

“But he’s a boy” she said and I nodded. She continued. “And that makes you uncomfortable. It’s perfectly understandable. You are still in that transition phase of things. It’s common for new Alphas. In time, it will fade. Eventually you won’t even notice. He’ll be a boy and you’ll be a girl and nature will take its course.”

“I’m not sure I want it to.”

She burst out laughing while I frowned at her reaction.

She apologized when she was done.

“Ok, moving along” she said more professionally. “Tell me about the rest of your week”

Taking a deep breath, I told her.

The rest of the week was pretty routine I guess. The only thing that really stood out---on the second day of school---was my new Gym class. While the boys and girls had different locker rooms for obvious reasons, we still shared the same Gym for actual class. Well mostly the same. The Gym was the largest building in our school; as such, it was large enough for them to section it off. A large glass wall divided it directly down the center. The boys were on one side, the girls on the other. It kept the two classes separate but the same. The strange thing was the opposite nature of it all for me. Both halves of the gym were identical but I couldn’t help but feel I was on the wrong side. Especially because I used to be one of the boys who used to ogle the girls.

Now I was on the receiving end of that.

And boy did they ogle.

Carrie had picked out what she called “the perfect gym ensemble”. Unfortunately it consisted of a white tank and blue shorts, both of which I think she bought in one size too small or something. At least I thought so when I put them on. Apparently, though, it was a standard uniform for girls because just about everyone was wearing them. I mean I guess I noticed as a boy but it just seemed standard or something. Now that I was wearing such an outfit, it was far from standard. I felt naked, especially with all the male eyes on me.

I also felt all the glares.

Every female eye around me was burning holes into me.

Eventually the staring got so bad that Miss Marx---the PE teacher---had to break it up with her whistle. The girls fell in line pretty quickly after that. The boys were a different matter. It was then decided that the “glass” would be “shut off”. It was something that the teachers could do from time to time to lessen the distraction. Basically, both teachers on either side had to push a button. Said button pushing turned the glass wall into a frosty glass wall, making it impossible for either side to see-through. They usually did it when the swimming rotation came around.

Yeah underneath the usual gym floor was the pool.

The only time we ever left the Gym room was when we did the track rotation. Apparently the higher ups just couldn’t figure out how to fit the track into the space provided so it was actually outside.

Well, Gym was the highlight of the rest of my week.

“What about your friends?” she asked after I regaled her with my amazing Gym story.

“You mean my friend,” I said, using air quotes when I said friend to emphasize I only had one now.

“How do you feel about that?”

I shrugged. “Pissed”

Ted I could understand, I mean he was gone now. The rumor was his mother was actually sending him to school in Z1, where a lot of the government muckity mucks sent their kids. The school there was smaller but very exclusive. Ted probably hated it there. Serves him right. If he wasn’t such an ass about things, he’d still be here with us.

Maddie, on the other hand, she was just being downright ridiculous.

She cut ties with everyone.

Including her old girl friends.

Now she was with that other crowd.

It got worse after the first day too. She wasn’t just dressing like them anymore. She was starting to act like them too. My second day back she turned up with several piercings. The third day, she had quite a bunch of weird tattoos. Then there was her attitude. Maddie had never really been a people person but now she was just a downright bitch---to everyone. The only ones not appalled by it were her “new friends”.

She blamed me for it too. She made that abundantly clear whenever I was around her. She would raise her voice and say things like “that freak” or “that thing”.

It hurt.

“She’s hurting too I imagine,” said Deena, comforting me as I started to tear up. “Give her some time; her world has fallen apart all at once. She just lost her sister and now her boyfriend, it’s going to take some time for her.”

I nodded, wiping back the tears.

I knew that.

Deena decided to change things up after that. She started asking me about my home life. Well there wasn’t really much of one. Just like before, it was usually just me and Carrie. After that first day of school, Mom became Mom again. She was still a little more attentive but she lost herself in work again. Dad was always absent. Apparently he had some big “project” he was working on. I don’t think he’s been home once since I have been. I talked to him briefly on the vid but he seemed distracted and distant. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was avoiding me.

It was how he coped.

When Grandpa died, he disappeared into his work for weeks.

So life kind of sucked right now.

The only good thing I had going for me now was the Sentinels.

“I think that’s a good place to end this,” said Deena when I brought them up.

“What about them?”

She chose her words carefully I think. “Are you sure going back to them is such a good idea?”

I nodded. “The Sentinels have been my life. They’re all I ever thought about. I want to be me, as normal as I have been. I want that life”

She smiled, a little uneasily but smiled nonetheless.

“Well good luck to you then.”

The ride from Deena’s office to the main way was a rather quiet one.

Mom and I never talked all that much to begin with, not enough in common. They couldn’t be more far from the truth now. We weren’t technically even the same species anymore. It was one of the reasons why I chose to take up my usual seat in the back of our Jag. My sister usually rode shotgun anyway. Today however Mom and I were alone but I didn’t feel much like talking. I was too worried about how things might go. Sure there was nothing in the rules that said an Alpha couldn’t be a Sentinel but I was setting a great deal of precedence with it.

I was also causing quite a stir apparently.

Though I was an “unknown” Alpha, the News didn’t fail to report my recent controversial stand. Apparently I was something of a rebel now.

Go figure.

I wish they’d get their facts straight for once though. I wasn’t rebelling against anything. In fact, my parents and I had spent the better part of the week talking to the higher ups in The Sentinels. Much like my school, they said they couldn’t give me any preferential treatment, but unlike my school, they said they’d be fully responsible for my actions. Actions, in and out of uniform. So even if I were to streak through the park in my skivvies, they’d still hold me responsible for it and take the necessary action. That action was one thing and one thing only: Removal.

No more Sentinels.

My dreams crushed.

Loserville.

So yeah no pressure or anything.

Thankfully, I was going into this somewhat prepared. Having already gone through the preliminary orientation and having been accepted as a Probate, I was one step closer. The next two weeks however were the real test. My meeting with Sergeant Phillips was just step one; sure they’d accepted me now they needed to see if I could make the grade. That meant putting me and my fellow Potentials through a grueling two-week orientation course. If at the end of those two weeks, I could prove myself to them then I would be an official Sentinel Cadet.

I already made steps toward said goal. Last night I spent a better part of forty-five minutes reading my manual, from cover to cover. My new super Alpha brain enabled me to memorize the whole thing too. Ok so it was a little unfair but it’s not like the other guys weren’t going to have some tricks up their sleeves too. My grandfather told me to always be the “best me I could possibly be” and that meant using everything I had to offer.

Alpha powers activate.

Seriously, though, I was really nervous.

It didn’t help that my mother and sister had convinced me to dress a little more sporty for it. Gone were the sweats and tee I wore to Deena’s office. In their place was a light hoodie over one of my running tanks and a pair of black yoga pants. Yeah, I’m totally hating the pants. At least they let me pick out my own shoes---a new pair of Nikes. My mother tried to convince me a little makeup might not hurt but I drew the line there. I compromised by letting her style my hair into a nice high ponytail. Carrie had wanted to braid it down my back, you know like that girl from those old time video games from the yesterday year, Lara something or other.
Yeah I’m not ready for that yet.

I’m still not ready for a skirt either.

Carrie tried to convince me to wear one to school yesterday but I’ll burn that bridge when I get there. Like I said before, I think she’s enjoying having a sister way more than I am enjoying being one.

“You ok?” asked Mom, bringing my thoughts to an end.

I shrugged. “No better than usual”

She turned around, letting the car drive itself.

In fact, most of the time she let it go on Auto.

“You don’t have to do this you know. I understand your need to be a Sentinel, I know it’s something you’ve wanted but that was before…”

She trailed off a bit, stopping herself before saying the obvious.

I finished for her. “Yes, back when I was Ben.”

She’d been doing that all week, whether she realized it or not. It was tough on all of us, me more than most. Carrie liked having a sister but I could tell even she was weirded out by it . Mom kept making mistakes and apologizing for them. She wanted me to be happy of course too but she seemed to want me to forget who I was before too. Don’t even get me started on Dad. When he visited me at the Q was the first and only time he’d seen his “new” daughter. Ok like Mom, Dad and I had never really been that close. I think he resented the relationship that grandpa and I used to have. I think I mentioned it before but Dad and Grandpa were never close.

Grandpa had been very outgoing, always on the move. Dad was more of a stay in the garage and tinker on something kind of guy.

He was still like that now.

Except instead of a garage, he spent most of his time at work.

Avoiding things.

Like his son turned daughter.

Strangely enough, the only one of the family who didn’t seem to have a problem was Toby. Then again, he was programmed to accept us no matter. I’m sure a real dog would have noticed the difference but not good ole Toby. All Mom had to do was access his memory bank and switch the old me to the new one and for him it was like I’d always existed this way. Kind of insulting but it saved some problems. If Toby hadn’t recognized me, I’d be in a load of hurt. Sure, they were great pets but they had a real nasty security system built into them as well.

I knew my family was trying but that didn’t stop me from getting annoyed about the whole damn thing.

“Honey” she said, trying to take my hand but failing when I pulled away. “I understand how hard this is for you but you need to accept…”

I cut her off. “I’m still me!”

We’d had this conversation before too.

Mom had been continuing to try and convince me that my life as Ben was over and I needed to accept it. I needed to embrace the new and let the old stay where it was, in the past. That meant anything that Ben had been involved with should be forgotten. Things like The Sentinels. I could read her like a book though. She was never happy that I’d been interested in them in the first place. She used to hate when Grandpa told me stories about the “good old days”. She had made it very clear when I wanted to join them that she hadn’t been happy with my choice.

But it was my life.

My decision.

“Car stop!”

I could hear the anger in her voice as the car came to a stop in one of the many nearby parking spots along the road. She unbuckled her harness and turned completely around in her seat.

“Now listen and listen good,” she said in her sternest voice. “I’m concerned for you sweetheart. This obsession you have with your life before is unhealthy. I know how much you loved all this stuff but there is so much more out there for you now. A new life waiting on the horizon, new opportunities.”

“I don’t want a new life or opportunities. I want everything as it was before. I liked what I’d been doing, I liked being me!”

We weren’t shouting at one another but we were getting pretty close.

Mom rarely got angry but when she did, it was something not to be trifled with. However, unlike before, I wasn’t the least bit afraid of it now. It seemed so trivial in comparison to me now. More than that though, it was a human yelling at her superior. If another Alpha or a Sentinel happened to be witness to it, Mom could get fined. It was kind of stupid but it was the law. We used to learn it all the way back when we were children, the Three Truths: Alphas are Superior, Alphas are Strong, Alphas are Never Wrong.

Three Guidelines.

Three Absolutes.

Three things that humans were not allowed to go against.

“Mom” I said, looking out the window, worried.

Mom seemed to notice she’d been raising her voice to me.

Thankfully, for her, we were still a few blocks from the Sentinel Center.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking downcast.

This time I took her hand, tearing up. “It’s my fault and I know what you’re saying but I can’t accept it Mom. This is all bullshit and I want…”

She was hugging me a moment later. Whatever anger either one of us felt was gone in that instance. After a moment or so, I realized how stupid it had all been. We were having the same argument all over again. We had it last night and the night before that. In fact, we’d been having it pretty much since I’d gotten home. It was getting us nowhere. I understood what she wanted and her concern but she needed to understand my concern as well.

I wanted to be me.

I wanted to be human.

We stopped hugging and crying a minute or so later. Mom took a moment to use her Bio to fix her makeup. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. If there was one thing about all this I’d never do, it was that. I don’t care how much of a girl I was now, something like that just freaked me the hell out. Women these days were too damn vain and it scared the hell out of me that I might turn into something like that, something not me anymore.

Like Maddie’s brother.

“We’ll be ok Mom,” I said, reassuringly.

“I know sweetie”

Though she said, I could sense there was something else in her voice too.

Uncertainty.

Another moment later, she had the car moving again.

The rest of the short drive from the parking spot was a quiet one. As the Center started to get into focus, my excitement started. The Sentinel Center was a large complex that stretched around the entirety of The Cube. There were a total of six entrances, each one opening into one of the Zones. From what I understood there were four entrances that opened into The Cube itself. Large and constructed out of titanium steel and glass, The Center was one of the first structures built after the Fall and Upheaval. The Sentinels as I mentioned before were created as Peacekeepers, there to prevent any further hostilities between Alphas and humans. Originally meant for humans alone, there was nothing in the rules that stated an Alpha couldn’t join their ranks.

It had just never happened.

Not until now.

As we got closer, more of the building came into view.

Calling it, a building though was a bit of an understatement. It was more like an elaborate guard tower that wrapped around the transpari-dome of The Cube. Five stories high, build to withstand most explosives and natural disasters, the Center was a literal fortress. At one time, it housed over two thousand Sentinels. Over the years though, the number had dropped drastically. Now only five hundred strong, the Sentinels were a dying breed. Most of the Center was used for training exercises now. Large areas were even sectioned off and abandoned because there wasn’t enough man power to keep the place fully staffed.

A part of me felt sad.

The other part realized the significance of it though.

The Center had been built in a time of turmoil. The large show of force there to convince the humans and the Alphas that they meant business. Now however, it mean that there was peace. Peace was good on all levels except for the Sentinels themselves. Once a force of absolute power, now the government kept lessening their duties and mandates. A once great military arm was reduced to nothing more than glorified security guards and babysitters when needed. Sentinels weren’t even allowed to carry real weapons anymore.

The sign of the changing times.

Mom pulled the car into one of the designated visitor slots.

“You sure about this honey?”

I nodded.

“This is where I’m meant to be Mom”

She gave me a weak smile then a long hug.

I climbed out of a car and gulped, never realizing how enormous all of this was. The large blue steel and glass building loomed high above me. Even higher was the dome of The Cube. This was the closest I’d been to it after all. The dome of The Cube was several miles wide and three miles tall, an engineering marvel. The transpari-dome was designed to simulate a calm and soothing environment for all those who looked at it. On the inside, I had no idea what it looked like. Out here it was currently displayed a serene skyscape of clouds. Every one of my classmates used to gloat about how close they’d been to The Cube and what they saw on the dome. In truth, they were all full of it. Most humans only even got to the designated spectator zones around the perimeter, several feet back. One actually had to get a pass to get any closer and go through two checkpoints.

Very few were afforded those passes.

As a Sentinel candidate, I had special permissions. Mom was allowed to use one of the designated roads to bring us here. On my preliminary orientation---back when I spoke to that hologram of the Sergeant and had that life altering physical---I’d been afforded access to one of the Center’s underground way stations. There were several of those, accessible to anyone. They were there to report problems and things like that. In fact, there were several ones all around the Zone, unattached to the Center actually. Those little way stations were nothing more than call boxes though. We learned about something like that in history class from long ago, police boxes or whatever. We also learned about something called 911.

All of that was gone now.

I was also in the big leagues now too.

No more way stations.

No more underground meetings with holograms either.

I took a breath as I stepped away from Mom’s car and toward the building. My heart was racing as the excitement inside of me grew. As I got closer to the entrance, I felt a little nervous as well. It took a lot to get myself to this point. I’d been through a lot too. Not just my gender flip either. I’d been training for years up to this point. Well not really training but preparing. Sure, I had some rudimentary combat training from grandpa. A mild form of martial arts he taught me, the only form Dad would permit him to teach me actually. I’d also read everything I could get my hands on throughout the years, including grandpa’s old manual. It was miniscule in comparison to today’s modern one but it still contained all the same info.

I knew how to be a Sentinel.

I was a Sentinel.

At the door, a hologram of a man’s head appeared.

There a was momentary look of surprise on his face before he was all business.

“Can I help you miss?”

I cleared my throat, moment of truth time.

“Bethany Carson Z3-14-A1-49”

Yes, I had a new designation now. No longer was I 03 of my family. Because I was now an Alpha and the only one in my household, I’d been designated A1. It was kind of cool but a little embarrassing as well. Not cool though was the change of my last name. I’m not sure if it was noticed at first but I’d been Ben Daniels before all this crap happened. Well society designated men and women a little differently now. Unmarried women took the name of their mother until such a time as marriage. So I was a Carson now, just like Carrie. It was kind of stupid if you ask me but nothing any of us could do about it. Interestingly enough though, if I’d actually moved to The Cube I could change everything, including my name. Mom and Dad picked out Bethany of course but if I had wanted, I could have called myself anything. In fact, there were a lot of Alphas out there with weird names like Johnny Crash, Moonshine Flower and Raven Dark---Johnny was a Free Baller, Moonshine an actress and Raven a poet.

The sky was the limit when it came to Alphas.

The hologram blinked a few times. He looked me over a lot. I was starting to get really fucking annoyed about that bit. He was a Sentinel after all; surely I wasn’t the first Alpha he’d ever seen. Ok so my lips weren’t three colors nor were my eyes neon---don’t ask. I was still just like any other Alpha out there, minus the fact that I was on the other side of their “wall”.

It took him a few seconds to recover.

“You’re Probate Carson?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes”

This guy had clearly been expecting me. Technically Probate Daniels was supposed to report to them last week but circumstances out of my control had changed all that.

“Ummm…”

I sighed. “I’m supposed to be here. Do whatever checking you need to do, I can wait.”

The head disappeared.

About five minutes later, another head appeared.

This one of Sergeant Phillips.

“I’m sorry for the mix up Probate, we were expecting an Alpha but the man here was under the impression that it was going to be a male one.”

“In another life sir.”

Phillips laughed. “I can only imagine.”

I’d only met Phillips that once but I did like him.

“A bit than the last time we met sir.”

“Only on the outside, Probate”

I smiled.

Now I really liked the guy.

“Damn straight sir.”

He nodded. “Well then, I’d like to re-welcome you to the Sentinels, Probate Carson.”

He gave the customary salute gesture---a fist to his chest. I returned the same and the door opened.

Sentinel life here I come.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Here's Ch.10, I'm happy to report that I'm schedule with things now too, halfway through Ch.11 as I write this. I'm also happy to report that this story is finally getting into the heart of things. The chapters leading up to this one have been a set up, after this one the story should start to pick up a lot so thanks for bearing with me :) I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

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10.

After walking a short corridor, I found myself in some place rather surprising---a spacious lobby.

It was the last thing I expected.

I mean this was a government building that didn’t get too many visitors and here it had a lavish lobby complete with a comfortable looking reception area. It was a pretty good size too; one could get a strained neck looking up at the ceiling. I only looked up for a second, concentrating quickly on the rest of the details. I liked to know a place well, especially if I was going to be spending a lot of time in it. I quickly took note of the exits---there were four and how the architectural design from outside seemed to make its way inside as well.

Here I saw the same blue steel.

The same glass.

Even the column work here was very similar to the two columns I forgot to make note of flanking the main entrance. The difference here was the floor; it was made of polished white marble. It looked pretty impressive, too. It was well kept, making me wonder how often this place was cleaned. I mean everything around me looked sterile and seemed to shine. I could even see myself in some of the surfaces. I couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Can I help you, Miss?” asked a man directly to my left.

Turning I noticed him.

Tall---but not quite Alpha tall---he was wearing the standard white Sentinel uniform; the green bars on his shoulder told me he was a Corporal.

Ok quick rundown on Sentinel rank.

At the bottom, you had the Cadets and Probates. You could always tell them apart from the rest because they didn’t get the fancy white outfits. They usually wore gray tees and cargo pants. Above them were the Corporals like the guy to my left, they were noticeable due to the green bars on their shoulders. Next in rank were the Sergeants, like Phillips. He had three bars on his right shoulder: green blue green. Then there was the Lieutenants with their red stars, usually displayed on their left or right breast. Above them were the Captains. They had gold Stars. You could always tell a Captain because they were usually older, having been with the Sentinels for a long time. There were only six of them as well, one for each Zone. They were in complete control of most of the aspects of their respected Zones as well, only answering to one individual, The Sentinel Major---the highest ranking officer in the Sentinels.

I’m not sure what kind of symbol he wore because I’d never actually seen the man.

All I knew about him was that he had an office somewhere in the Center.

I turned to the Corporal.

“Probate Carson sir” I said, saluting with my fist.

He returned the gesture.

“Sergeant Phillips said to be expecting you,” he said, his eyes roaming me for the briefest of seconds. “I’m Corporal Townes; I’m to give you a quick tour before escorting you to the Rec.”

Like most Sentinels, Townes had his hair buzzed.

I was glad it was only a requirement for men.

And yes, before you think it, there were female Sentinels. Ok, so not as many as the men but they were there. Unlike the men though, they were allowed to keep their hair at shoulder length. Also unlike the men, they actually had a separate Barracks. I didn’t have to worry about all that yet though. Probates were usually still students and weren’t required to live in the Barracks until after they graduated from school.

“Follow me please,” said Townes, leading me out of the lobby.

We went through one of the nearest exits and down a corridor.

It didn’t take me long to realize this place was a lot of corridors.

Townes wasn’t a very adept tour guide though. As we passed a room, he’d point it out and move on. A lot of places we passed were offices. It was kind of disappointing. I was hoping to see something exciting. All I ended up seeing were corridors and doors.

“Mostly empty rooms now I’m afraid,” he finally admitted at my sour look. “This place used to be a lot more active.”

“What happened?”

“Guardians”

I couldn’t help but groan.

The Guardians were starting to be one of those contented topics these days. It was hard not for them to pop up on the vids every other day. It was the Guardians this or the Guardians that. It didn’t help that they had full backing of the government either. They were after all the government’s answer to the Sentinels. Unlike the Sentinels who were their own organization, the Guardians answered directly to the core government. They were more a military branch than the Sentinels too, allowed to carry actual guns and wore advanced power suits that made them easily able to contend with any threat, including the Alphas.

That’s of course where the controversy came in.

Many Alpha officials viewed them as too much.

Of course, the Sentinels hated them for a completely different reason.

They were stealing our jobs.

Ninety percent of the Sentinel recruits who washed out were easily snatched up by the Guardians. They were also tapping into the Sentinels potentials even before they could get to them. To say the Guardians were a real threat to the Sentinels was an understatement. In another few years, they would render the Sentinels completely obsolete.

It was a very scary thought.

“They’re not trying to muscle their way in here yet are they?”

Townes shook his head. “Unfortunately no but I’ve been hearing some rumblings coming from a colleague in Metro One, it doesn’t sound good.”

Metro One was our capital city, the seat of the core government and the current home of the Guardians. We here at Metro 656 were small fry in comparison but the fact that we were now the only Metro out there that still actively used the Sentinels had put us on the radar and into the direct crosshairs of the Guardians. To say we were a threat to them was an understatement. Conflict was coming and coming fast. It was one of the apprehensions my mother had about me becoming a Sentinel.

Of course, now she could add the whole “First Alpha Sentinel” to her growing list.

I tried not to think about it though.

The tour continued down another corridor.

As soon as we turned the corner, however things seemed different. It was still the same bland gray walls as before but now there seemed to be posters lining them. When we passed by one, I noticed the Sentinel symbol emblazoned on it one: a red shield with two crossed swords. It was the very same patch that appeared on the uniforms. There was a poster every ten feet or so.

It was a really long corridor.

At the end of which I noticed a large opening.

At first, I thought we were coming upon another lobby until I saw the stairs.

It was actually a foyer, very similar in design to the lobby actually but with two staircases on either side, winding up to a floor above it. Hanging from the floor above were large banners with the same Sentinel symbols. In-between the two staircases was a reception desk with a rather bored looking female officer behind it. Unlike the lobby, there were several Sentinels moving about. Some going up the stairs, others disappearing into doors and other corridors.

It was almost as if everything I’d seen so far had been a façade.

“Welcome to the Hub” said Townes with some pride.”The true center of this place”

“And before?”

“That was for the public. It’s an oversight committee thing or something. Its where the brass entertain and whatnot. It’s good for the Vids, it keeps people happy.”

I think I understood.

It made sense.

If I was in charge of this place, I wouldn’t want people seeing where the real work was done.

So The Hub.

This is where the real heart of The Center truly lied. It’s also where the real tour began.

“Up those stairs is the conference and interrogation rooms”

Townes didn’t need to point but he did anyway.

“Over there…” he said pointing but I interrupted.

“Interrogation?”

He nodded, lowering his arm. “Every once in a while we get a disgruntled citizen that needs to be arrested. It’s not as common as it used to be, especially on the other side of the Wall’.

“The Wall?”

“Its we call this place around here” he said, “The Center wraps around the whole of the base of the Cube. Kinda like a wall, that separates it from the rest of the Metro."

“Oh I get it.”

He continued with the tour. He wanted to take me to each of the rooms as he told me about them but there would be time for that later. Instead, he walked and talked again. There were four central corridors leading out of The Hub. Standing near the reception desk enabled you to see them all. The ones to the left and right led to Armory and Evidence rooms respectively. The one behind me of course led back to the way we’d came from. The one in front of me---directly behind the desk---led to Rec.

“Not much of a tour” he finally admitted “but there’s really not much to see, not anymore anyway.”

“Where are the Barracks?”

“Down the Rec hall, I’ll have someone show them to you later”

I nodded as he led the way to our destination.

“Sergeant Phillips will give you a brief orientation when we get to the Rec then assign you an FTO to further your training.”

FTO.

Field Training Officer.

Wow, this was really happening.

I was really a Sentinel now.

I could barely contain my excitement.

The Rec was a room a lot similar to the gymnasium at school, except with no glass divider wall and much smaller. It also had one of those rubberized floors like in the weight room. Unlike the gym at school though, it was pretty vacant right now. It reminded me a bit of the weight room at school as well, what with all the equipment. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the free weight rack, remembering fondly my time at the Q during the tests. As we entered, Townes explained that most of the guys were either on patrol, in the Barracks or in the case of my fellow probates, out running laps.

“You have a track?”

“No, they run the halls”

I guess that made sense.

The room wasn’t completely empty though.

Standing at attention in the center of the room were Sergeant Phillips and a Corporal who didn’t look much older than me. I sized Phillips up, seeing him for the first time in the flesh. Mid forties, well build and chiseled. The hologram didn’t do him justice. I should have been surprised he was in such good condition for his age but I knew better. He was a Sentinel after all. Most were pretty well fit though that did have something to do with their strict regimen and diet. Some also had some help along the way. Though not strictly illegal with Sentinels, it was definitely frowned upon. It didn’t stop some of the older ones though. As I mentioned with Deena, genetic manipulation was seen as an edge.

The Corporal on the other hand…

My heart skipped a beat.

Shit.

Young, very well fit and gorgeous.

Ok forget that last part.

I tried too.

Unfortunately my eyes found themselves giving him a complete once over anyway. I found myself comparing him to John as well. John was the prime specimen of manhood for kids my age, this guy however made John look like a boy. His bulging muscles strained against the gray tee he wore and with the buzzed head and chiseled looks, he was a prime candidate of human everything.

There was a term for guys like him.

Betas.

Men and women so good looking that they could be Alpha but weren’t.

Some of the girls at school referred to John as a Beta.

If only the girls could see this one.

“Probate Daniels, I’d like to introduce you to your FTO, this is Corporal Phillips” said the Sergeant, gesturing proudly to the Beta.

Phillips?

I looked from the older man to the younger one, suddenly seeing the resemblance. It was clear now that the two were definitely father and son.

If I was a father, I’d be proud to have him as a son too.

“Pleasure to meet you sir” I said, giving him the standard fist.

The corporal returned the gesture.

“Ryan, I’ll leave you to it then,” said the Sergeant.

Salutes were exchanged, Townes excused himself with Phillips and now I was alone in Betaville.

My heart skipped another beat.

Corporal Phillips let out a little sigh. He also relaxed his rigid posture a little. It was clear that he was trying to make a good first impression. It was also clear that most of it was for his father’s sake. I couldn’t help but smile at that. When he noticed it was as if he turned to stone. He went right back to the rigid statue he was a moment before.

“Amused Probate?”

“No sir”

“Good” he said, taking a step forward.

Even when he walked, there was an air of statue about him. It was a rigid, military like walk. He circled me a few times, looked me over once or twice. When he was done, he ended up in front of me. I’m proud to say that like John, he was only an inch or so shorter. I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Betas were a thing too. Maybe someone decided that they couldn’t make Alphas but Betas---hell they were easy. I mean it was kind of funny that both he and John were considered Betas and both were the same height.

Hey conspiracy time.

I couldn’t help but smirk.

“Something funny now?”

“No sir”

“If you think this is a joke Probate then you’re wasting my time,” said Phillips, leaning in. “I know what and who you are and frankly I’m not impressed. You might be an Alpha outside these walls but here you’re just like everyone else. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir, I wouldn’t have it any other way sir”

“Good” he said with a nod. “Now how about you show me what you’re made of”

And so it began.

First, it was the pushups then sit-ups. After that, we moved onto chin-ups, squats and jumping jacks. None of which seemed to wind me much. Even after he made me do a hundred of each. After that, he had me hit the weights. We started on the free weights---there weren’t as many as there was in the Q. I went through their whole set, causing him to raise an eyebrow. He didn’t skip a beat, moving me onto the bench press. He spotted me through the first hundred pounds or so. When I got to two hundred and fifty or so, he had to stop.

I was half way through getting ready with the three hundred pound weights when he stopped me.

“You can’t lift that?”

“Yes I can”

He shook his head. “Someone your size and weight…”

“Have you seen my physical results from the Q sir?”

He shook his head.

“Then watch and learn”

So I pressed the three hundred. Then four hundred. I would have gone more because I was barely breaking a sweat but we ran out of weights again.

“That’s impossible” I heard him mumble under his breath.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s an Alpha sir,” I said, making sure I let him know I’d heard him.

He looked genuinely surprised.

My next words threw him for a loop.

“So can I try that treadmill over there next?”

I pointed to the series of treadmills over in the corner. The look on his face was priceless. All he could do was nod like an idiot. Ok so I was showing off a bit but he deserved it for being a jerk. I knew it was his job to ride me but I wanted him to realize what it was going to be like to be with an Alpha. It also kinda wanted him to see what I could really do. I’m not sure why I thought it mattered so much but it did, it really did.

I really wanted to impress this guy.

I was on the treadmill for twenty minutes before he finally stopped me.

“Ok, ok you’ve humbled me.”

“I’m not sure I follow sir?”

I stepped off the treadmill, taking the towel he offered. I wiped my face and the area above my breast. I was just starting to glisten slightly.

“I thought maybe my father was pulling a prank on me or something but you’re serious about this?”

“Yes sir. I’ve wanted to be a Sentinel for as long as I could remember, I’m not going to let a little change in gender and societal status stop me from that.”

This time he smiled.

I stopped myself from asking if he found something amusing.

“So is there anything else Corporal?”

“Ryan” he said.

“I’m not sure I follow sir”

“No sir or Corporal when we’re alone Probate. I like to keep things casual when I’m training. So call me Ryan please”

“Yes sir…I mean Ryan”

Wow, that was a great name.

“Good” he said then took on a more professional tone as he continued. “I think that’s enough for today. I just wanted to see where you and I needed to go from here. It’s safe to say that you can meet the physical prowess of this job. Next weekend, you and I will be back in here, I need to see how well you can defend yourself.”

I was kind of surprised we were done.

“That’s it?”

He laughed.

God he had a great laugh.

Shit.

“I’m not used to probates being able to do that much. Usually I run them through the paces a bit more, weed out those who need more work than the others. I also usually do this as a group but seeing your circumstances, the rest of your peers have moved on. So we’ll be one on one for a few weekends until I think you’re ready. Seeing how you are though, it might be sooner than later.”

I impressed him.

That made me feel all warm and gooey inside.

Oh God.

Gag.

What the hell was wrong with me?

“Thank you sir, I mean Ryan”

“You’re impressive Probate,” he said, smiling.

He dismissed me after that.

He agreed to show me my way out but I was able to manage. Something else cool about being me now, I memorized the route. Not that I did it intentionally or anything. It was just one of those freaky Alpha things I guess. I meandered my way through, finding the entrance lobby without a problem. This time the man at the door saluted me as I left. As soon as I stepped out, Mom piped.

She must have been monitoring me or something.

Parents.

“Hey Mom, what’s up?”

“Honey I’m sorry to do this but do you think you could walk home today. Something’s come up at work.”

Of course, it has.

“Sure thing Mom”

She didn’t even say bye before terminating the connection.

Sighing heavily, I stepped away from The Center.

I knew what I was supposed to do but I knew what I wanted to do as well. I couldn’t help but smile as I took off in a nice jog first then broke into a run.

Ok, so the park wasn’t exactly home but for a reason it’s where my feet took me.

Hey I was dressed for a nice run anyway.

I was on my third lap around the bike path when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. At first, I thought I was just being paranoid; after all, there are a lot of silver cars like that. On my fifth lap around though, I couldn’t help but notice it was still there. I kept it in the corner of my after that, watching. It didn’t move. I knew it didn’t belong there either or else it wouldn’t have bolted after John and his buddies went toward it last time.

There was something else different about things this time though.

The park was empty.

It was strange because it was a Saturday afternoon.

Even stranger though was that I wasn’t alone.

There was a lone man sitting on one of the benches. He was reading a paper. It kind of struck me as odd because no one read newspapers any more. Sure they were still available but most people got the news on their Bios or vid screens. I lost interest in the car and kept him in my sights instead. He didn’t seem to be watching me but it was kind of odd. On my seventh lap, I decided that I was going to see if he spooked as easily as the driver. I made it look like I was winded, which I kind of was. I timed it so I stopped fairly close to the bench.

Huffing slightly, I wandered slowly over.

“Tiring” I said, in hopes that I was convincing enough.

I wasn’t.

The man gently folded his paper and I got a better look at him. Slicked back hair, mid-thirties, nice crisp gray suit.

“Now we both know you don’t get winded that easily Miss Daniels”

Shit.

“How do you know my name?”

I went on the defensive.

He chuckled then reached into his suit, pulling out a thin business card. “My name is Rossen, I work for the Administration”

Ok so he didn’t say it was a capital A but it sure felt like that’s how he meant it.

“Which one?” I asked, looking at the card.

Looking but not taking.

“Does it matter?”

“It depends on what you’re here for”

He smiled thinly. “Very good” He stood, straightened the front of his suit. “I’m not here for anything sinister. I was asked to monitor you for a while, keep an eye on things. My colleagues fouled things up last week. I apologize for that”

When he said “colleagues”, he looked over at the car.

So they had been watching me.

“Why am I so interesting?”

“Come now, we both know the answer to that. I mean it’s not every day that an Alpha chooses to forsake the Cube for life with us lowly humans.”

So that’s it.

They were afraid I was a liability too.

Typical.

“I’m not a danger to anyone. I just want to live my life like before.”

“We both know how difficult that could be. The Cube is there to protect your kind, to keep you safe. We don’t want anyone to do anything to you or heaven forbid you do something harmful to others now do we?”

The threat was subtle but it was there. He didn’t come out and say it but I could read between the lines. They were waiting for me to fuck up and as soon as I did, they were going to “deport” me to where I belonged. After all these people didn’t want the Big Bad Dangerous Alphas to be living in their neighbors, threatening their way of life.

“I’m not dangerous and I’ll be careful”

“See that you do” he said, setting the card on the bench. “I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen. If you have any problems, give us a call. You have a good day now”
He nodded curtly then headed toward the car.

I stood and watched as he got inside. I didn’t stop watching until the car was gone out of sight. As soon as he was gone, I picked up the card. There were only two lines on it, Nathaniel Rossen and directly below that, a number to call. Nothing more, nothing less. I thought about ripping it up and throwing it away but I quickly realized that it didn’t matter. Throwing it away wouldn’t get rid of him. Rossen was going to be keeping his eye on me whether I ignored it or not.

Shit, just what I needed.

Sighing heavily, I felt a little sick to my stomach now. Why is it that dickheads always seemed to know how to ruin your day? Now I was in no mood to continue running so I guess it was time to go home. I stuck the card in my back pocket and started walking. I got about ten feet from the bench when my Bio pipped.

More of those stupid numbers.

44 6f 20 6e 6f 74 20 74 72 75 73 74 20

What the hell was with these numbers? I couldn’t help but groan again. I was getting sick and tired of this crap. At first, they were an annoyance but now they were pissing me off. I think I figured them out though and the sender. Now all I had to do was confront him and figure out what the hell his problem was.

Damn it Joe.

Either he was responsible or he could tell me who was.

I was going to find out either way.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

-----

Author's Note: Here's Ch.11, sorry I got a bit distracted as of late. Plus I couldn't really figure out Ch.12. I knew how to write this one but not 12 but 13 is pretty good lol. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

-----

11.

Sunday was rather uneventful considering all the things that happened on Saturday.

The Sentinels, the government agent and the new numbers.

Sunday was downright dull in comparison.

I sat around most of the day stewing in my own devices. Carrie tried to convince me to go to the mall with her but I was really looking forward to a “Me Day”. So instead I sat around for a bit, vegging while watching some vids. I was also trying to reconnect with things, including Toby. Synth-pets were weird things. Though my parents had programmed him to accept me as I was now, I was convinced there was still a small part of him that didn’t trust me. He didn’t avoid me or anything but he didn’t follow me around as much as he used too either.

It was as if he knew there was something off about me.

When I told Mom about it during dinner, she told me I was looking into it too much.

What I didn’t tell her about was Agent Rossen.

I wasn’t really sure what to think of the whole thing. I could sorta see where he was coming from, where the government was coming from. I was a liability to them and others. I was also really pissed that they felt they had to spy on me though. It made me a little paranoid for the rest of yesterday, too. I couldn’t help but feel that they were somehow watching me from the vid screen or using my Bio to track my movements and vitals.

It was even more nerve wracking on my way to school this morning.

I couldn’t help but keep looking over my shoulder.

I could swear I saw the silver sedan following me. Then in my first period, I thought I saw it parked across the street.

Yes paranoid.

My paranoia was increased every time I thought about those stupid numbers, too.

What the hell were they?

Who the hell was sending them?

And why?

Today I was bound and determined to find out.

It was perfect too.

My second class of the morning was just getting out. I had a little time to get from there to Joe’s locker. Thankfully it was just right around the corner. I found him busy swapping books, completely oblivious to the world around him. It was kind of how Joe operated. He paid little attention to anything else but his computer skills. He had a bit of a one-track mind like that. He wasn’t always that way though. When we were younger, the three of us---Joe, Ted and myself---used to do a lot of fun things together. Sure most of it was sitting in one of our rooms playing games or reading comic books but it was a lot better than doing nothing. Occasionally though we’d get out and actually do something.

Unfortunately, for Joe and Ted, they didn’t have an athletic bone in their bodies.

I never really did either but I was more active than either of them.

My grandfather had all the credit there.

“Hey. Joe”

He jumped a little at my approach.

“Ben…errr…Beth”

He sounded a bit nervous. Besides lunch and class, the two of us barely spent time together anymore. Well it had only been a few days since I’d been back in school but he seemed to be avoiding me outside of it. Back before Crystal’s death, the three of us used to be inseparable. We used to hang out all the time. It was strange how one event seemed to change everything. Crystal’s death had led to Maddie and me getting together, it had also led to Ted being a total dick. Then things just seemed to go downhill a bit as far as friendship was concerned.

“You and I need to talk” I said, crossing my arms across my chest, awkwardly putting them underneath my breasts.

Joe suddenly lost all the color in his face.

Which looked pretty funny.

It felt strange not to be looking him in the eye anymore as well. He and I always used to be the same height, now his head was at my chest. Bad for me, good for him I’m sure. He was a gentleman though, not looking at all. I could give him kudos for that. Especially after I nearly bitch slapped him the first day back about it.

The boy was learning.

“I gotta get to class,” he said, trying to step around me.

I stopped him with an arm.

“It’ll only take a sec and you’re not in trouble”

He seemed to relax a slight bit. “Thank God, I thought you wanted to know about those stupid pictures?”

“No…I…wait what pictures!”

“Nothing”

I let out a sigh.

Pictures, seriously?

Stay on target girl.

Also never refer to yourself as girl like that again.

Way creepy.

“So if this isn’t about the pictures?”

I pointed down the hall, toward one of the classrooms I knew would be empty this period. As soon as we got inside, the bell rang. Joe seemed to fidget, realizing we were now late for class. We were ok though, it was one of those Alpha perks. Not that I’d ever take advantage of it again but apparently I could be late for class or never show up if I wanted. After all, I didn’t really need the education here. In fact I’d already read the whole curriculum for the semester.

Hey, I had a lot of boring time on my hands.

I steered him to one of the seats in the front row. He sat down while I sat on the corner of the teacher’s desk. It somehow made me feel important.

“I need your help with something”

I took out a pen and a sheet of notebook paper. I could have just pipped him the numbers but I didn’t want to give him any more access to my Bio than he already had.
I quickly jotted down the numbers and handed him the sheet.

“What’s this?” he asked, quickly looking them over.

“You tell me”

He looked at them again, more intently this time. It took him a minute or two because he really seemed to be concentrating. He also looked puzzled but only for a second. I knew he got it when he smiled. He liked puzzles and whenever he solved one, he always got this goofy looking smile.

It was the same one now.

“Well…?”

“Hexadecimal”

“Hex-a-whata?”

He stifled a laugh. “It’s a mathematical code, used in computing. Its old though, barely used anymore. I almost didn’t recognize it”

“But you know it, right?”

He nodded. “Sorta. I mean I could identify it but that’s about all.”

“So you have no idea what it says?” I asked, sighing.

He shook his head. “Sorry”

Damn it.

There goes my only chance.

“However I think I might know someone who does. It’ll take a few days but if it’s all right with you, I’ll pass this on.”

I gave him the ok and he folded the piece of paper, sticking it in his back pocket.

“So where did they come from?”

I shrugged. “No fucking clue. They just popped up the other day, the first one after I got home from the Q. That second one was last weekend right before I started school, I was running in the park, the last one…”

“Wait, you were running!”

I sighed. “Yes Joe, apparently I’m a runner now”

He laughed aloud. It took him a minute or two to stop, annoying the hell out of me in the process.

Laugh it up buddy.

“Sorry” he said, finally stopping. “So the third one?”

“Saturday afternoon, after I was done at the Center. I was in the park again---running---when I ran into this guy” I took out the business and handed it to him.

“This for real?” he asked, looking at the card and raising an eyebrow.

“Apparently” I said with some disdain. “He’s here to make sure I’m not in danger”.

I said “danger” with those little air quote thingies.

Joe scoffed. “More like making sure you’re not a danger to others. Fucking bureaucrats”

That’s what I liked about Joe. Nothing seemed to get past him.

“You mind if I keep this too?” he asked, waving the card about.

“Be my guest”

He pocketed that as well.

“Anyways, those numbers were freaking me out. At first I thought it was you being a dick”

He feigned being offended.

“I would have been a lot more subtle,” he said, laughing again.

I actually laughed with him this time.

It felt good to be laughing with my friend again.

We fell into an awkward silence after that. It lasted for a while, neither one of us saying anything, neither one of us getting up to leave.

“I’m sorry this has been so strange,” I finally said.

“Not strange just different”

I nodded. “Tell me about it. I just want you to know, I’m still the same me. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, the outside is the only thing that’s changed”

He nodded. “Well except for that whole running thing and guys passing around pictures of you in gym class”

As soon as he said that last bit, the color drained from his face again.

“Add that to your list of things to do,” I said sternly “I want you to hunt down every last one of those pics and whoever took them, you got me?”

“Yes ma’am” he eeped.

“Good boy, you’re dismissed now,” I said playfully.

He saluted like a dork and the two of us left the room together.

Pictures.

God I was going to kill someone!!!

Life moved on.

The next few days in school were rather routine. I went to class, people seemed to finally stop whispering and staring and I was accepted. The pictures were gone too, thanks to Joe. My mind was free and clear too. Joe was helping me with my weird number problem, I was back in Sentinel training and John was finally not stalking me. Ok, so stalking was again the wrong term but at least I wasn’t turning a corner and “accidentally” running into him anymore. He was staying on his side of the hall, with his group of friends and I was just trying to be as normal and as human as I could.

Unfortunately, I had another problem now.

Girls.

Ok actually one girl.

Natalie.

I’d heard the story, seen several of those stupid teen vids my sister loved to watch. I used to think it was stupid made up drama those vid creators liked to push down little girls’ throats. You know “oh this is the cliquey thing that they do”. All bull shit stuff. Boy was I ever wrong. It turns out some teenage girls were really like that. Mads I could sorta understand. She was being stupid too but I knew her reasons. Natalie on the other hand was a complete and total mystery to me. I mean before---back when I was Ben---she’d been a complete non-entity to me. Like I said, I wasn’t popular but I wasn’t a loser either. I just existed and as far as she was concerned, I didn’t.

Now things were different.

I was on John’s radar.

I was on her’s too.

It somehow painted me an enemy.

God, girls were stupid.

It wasn’t like she was going out of her way to be a bitch though. It was the little things. Some snide comments in the bath and locker rooms, an occasional stupid note here or there. Yesterday in gym class, I went to change back into my normal clothes and found them drenching wet. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was behind it. Natalie wasn’t hiding it either. Every time she looked in my direction there was a smirk. She wanted me to know it was her. It was just plain dumb. I mean clearly she thought I was a threat. A threat to what I don’t know. I didn’t crave her Queen Bee status and I sure as hell didn’t want her stupid boyfriend.

Today was no different.

Gym was just starting.

I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary until I opened my locker. My usual set of clothes was missing. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who took them. A quick look around the room confirmed my suspicions. Natalie was over by her locker with her two friends Clara and Diane. All three of them were looking in my direction, smirking. So once again, I was the butt of their cruel petty garbage.

Fucking children.

Groaning, I shut my locker. The other girls around me were already dressed now. It didn’t take many of them long to get their clothes. When Miss Marx came in to see if we were ready to go, she gave me a cross look.

“Suit up Carson”

“I seem to have misplaced my gym clothes, ma’am,” I said, looking slightly sheepish.

“Really?”

She looked unconvinced.

I shrugged.

She looked quickly over at Natalie.

She got it.

Miss Marx was a bit on the young side. She’d only been here about a year or so, straight out of her career placement internship. I vaguely remember from back in her school days, she was only a few years older than us after all. She was one of the star players on the girl’s Holo-Net teams.

Quick rundown on Holo-Net Ball. Like Free Ball, it was played with no gravity. Unlike Free Ball though, it was played with a holographic net that bisected the room. Similar to the glass wall that separated the two halves of the gym. Unlike the wall though, it was always meant to be transparent. In fact, you could walk right through said net. There were two teams on either side. The goal was to try and get the ball through the net and keep it over there, each time the ball passed through the net it changed colors. Red on one side, green on the other. The Red team wanted their ball to stay red over on the green side and vice versa. The longer the ball stayed your color, the more points you got.

It sounds simple but trust me it’s not.

You see the ball could only pass through certain parts of the net to actually change color and every time you scored a point, that spot changed.

The only one who saw those spots were the teams defending their own sides.

See; very difficult.

Ok tangent over.

“Miss St. James, have you seen Miss Carson’s gym clothes?”

Natalie feigned ignorance. “No ma’am, the Dite must have lost them”

Dite.

One of the more derogative terms for a female Alpha.

A nasty, shortened form of Aphrodite.

It’s the equivalent of calling someone a bimbo.

Except of course, there was no such thing for an Alpha. Unless of course she chose to act like one.

Miss Marx gave her a nasty look and snapped. “I will not have that term used in my presence Miss St. James. My sister is an Aphrodite I’ll have you know”

Natalie knew that of course.

Every one did.

The Marx siblings were legendary at our school. Melissa Marx the star Net Baller and her brother Craig, the God of Free Ball. Except Craig was now Lark. Lark Metallic, the premiere Net Baller. She was huge, had massive endorsements, her face was just about everywhere these days. It was hard not to see it on the Vid screens around the Sectors. Just like Maddie’s sister but unlike their relationship, Miss Marx and her sister were on good terms. Last year Lark was here for a week helping the girl’s team in training sessions. It was big news; all the vid reporters were here covering it.

It was strange how everyone seemed to forget Craig.

Lark had tried to be normal too. She had tried coming to school here as well. Back then, she’d been Jessica. Unlike me though, she only lasted a few days. It must have been hard on her. She’d been the big man on campus and now she was a bombshell hottie. Miss Marx had been extra supportive of course but it didn’t work.

It seemed to tell me one thing though.

It told me that Miss Marx was sympathetic to my plight.

She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Ok girls, hit the court. Carson, I can get you a spare set if you want or a pass to the library?”

I shook my head. “I think I’ll just take a pass session”

She nodded then filed out of the room with the other girls.

Pass sessions were free periods.

Technically anyone could take them but you were only allowed so many a semester. Basically they were a “get out of class” free card.

It meant now I had a free hour or so to do what I wanted.

Unfortunately, for me what I wanted to do was actually attend gym class.

It was that urge of mine again.

I needed to be active.

I needed to run.

I sat on the bench and sighed heavily. I dropped my head, running my fingers through my hair. A moment later, I realized I wasn’t alone. I saw a pair of white shoes in front of me. Following them up, I noticed a short girl standing in front of me. Well all of them were short now but this one was quite a bit shorter than most. I knew her from class, Clarissa Morris. She was one of those quiet, mousy girls. Cute in her own way, a little over weight but nothing to an over extreme. I knew her for another reason though too. She was the girl that Joe couldn’t stop talking about.

“Hey Clarissa”

She looked down at her feet while I made sure to look at her face, smiling as I did so.

Mom and Dad always taught me to be polite after all.

“They put your clothes in Natalie’s locker,” she said softly, barely above a whisper.

“What was that?”

I’d heard her of course but I wanted her to speak up for her own good.

“I saw them,” she said a little louder. “People don’t usually notice me because I’m so quiet and small. I usually hide when I see Natalie…anyway, I saw them go into your locker and take your clothes.”

I looked at my locker. The lock was still pretty secure.

I’m guessing someone must have hacked it.

So Natalie wasn’t any idiot after all.

“And my clothes are in her locker?”

She nodded her head softly.

This time I smirked. Hey, I wasn’t some super hacker genius that could get into these locks. I usually had Joe around to do stupid things like that. Not that I ever would of course. I stood up anyway and walked over to her locker. Staring at it, I could see something like trying a conventional way to get in was pretty pointless.

“Can you hack it?”

Clarissa had clearly followed me.

“Nope”

“If you give me a moment I might be able to work something out,” she said quietly.

I grabbed the door handle and gave it a tug, ripping the door clear off its hinges.

“Where’s the fun it that” I said with triumph.

The look of shock on Clarissa’s face was priceless.

I found my clothes stuffed in the back, behind Natalie’s backpack.

The little bitch.

“Won’t you get in trouble?”

I shrugged. “She’s the thief; I’m just taking back what’s mine”

“What about the door?”

“It just fell off its hinges when I grabbed the handle,” I said innocently.

She caught on quick.

“I think that’s what I saw too,” she said softly.

She shook her head and spoke more confidently.

“No, that’s definitely what I saw”

I quickly dressed, putting my normal clothes into my locker. After I did that, Clarissa fiddled with the lock for a few minutes. When she was done, she smiled.

“I put it on a rotating algorithm, now no one can hack it. A new password will be sent to your Bio on a regular basis. You’re just going to have to learn a new password every week”

“Not a problem.”

“Really?”

I laughed. “Alphas remember.”

She looked genuinely surprised. “You guys can do that?”

“There isn’t much we can’t do,” I said with a laugh.

The two of us left the locker room after that. When we got to the gym, Miss Marx smiled. Natalie and her friends looked shocked. I did rather enjoy seeing the color drain from her face when she realized what I must have done. She couldn’t say anything about it of course though because she’d be admitting to a crime. Ok so I committed a slight one too but we were both damned as it were. That didn’t stop her from trying to get Miss Marx to allow her to go back to the locker room though. I couldn’t hear the conversation but Natalie went off in a huff.

She shot me daggers the rest of the class.

It made it all the more satisfying though when I saw her reaction after class in the locker room. She was positively livid when she found her locker without a door. The look she gave me was priceless. I shrugged and completely ignored it. Miss Marx gave me a triumphant look before trying to calm down a rather frantic Natalie.

“She’ll seek retribution,” said Clarissa.

“Let her”

I wasn’t afraid of her.

I finished getting changed just as the tone sounded.

Clarissa started toward the door. I caught up quickly.

“So, you want to sit with us at lunch?”

She nodded numbly.

Ok so this incident wasn’t a total loss after all.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

-----

Author's Note: Here's Ch.12, only a few days later than I would have liked but I finally got it done. Sorry about the delay, as I said in my blog I was having internet connectivity issues and when I finally fixed it I realized what a moron I was for not noticing a simple cord being loose. Enough of that though. I have a new plan for this story, which will end its first part of the tale after Ch.15. I will take a break where I want to pursue something else then I'll write the second half of this story, most likely consisting of 15 more chapters. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

-----

12.

The rest of the week and most of the week that followed went by without much incident. The retribution that Clarissa claimed Natalie was going to rain down on me never came. Sure there were a lot of sneers and dirty looks but nothing life threatening. Word did spread about the “locker room incident” though. People now seemed to think I was a force to be reckoned with. In the hallways, most guys gave me a wide berth while a lot of girls stopped to congratulate me on a job well done.

It turns out Natalie was a bit of a bitch to everyone.

So I wasn’t so special after all.

I think I’m gonna cry.

It was kind of funny how she operated. I think I mentioned before that it reminded me a bit of those teen vids that Carrie watches. Well it was exactly like those, almost as if Natalie was using them as a script for her own stupid antics. It was the bullying and the teasing and what she thought were intimidating looks. It was sad really. I was waiting for the bucket of pig’s blood on my head. The glares got even worse when she realized they were having no effect on me.

It was comical really.

The little human trying to pick a fight with the Alpha.

Oh, ugg…that sounded way too Alpha of me.

Sorry.

Besides Natalie though, things were good.

Clarissa nicely filled the spot in our group vacated by Ted and Maddie. Once you got her to open up, she was actually pretty cool. She’s a techie like Joe. The two of them together were really cute, too. Listening to them rattle off all their mumbo jumbo and practically salivating as they did it. The scary part was that I kind of understood some of it. Well when they talked about numbers anyway. Numbers were good for me. I seemed to get them better than anything else. Speaking of numbers, Ted finally cracked the mystery of the hex code.

Once he knew what he was doing that is.

It turns out he wasn’t lying about it being archaic.

He only revealed to me yesterday that he cracked it.

“Simple know that I know what I’m doing” were his exact words.

Now I knew what I was getting:

DANGER.

THAT WAS CRUEL.

DO NOT TRUST.

Danger was an easy one though I’m not sure what I was in danger of. Joe didn’t seem to know either which scared him a little. That Was Cruel was a little more ambiguous that is until I remembered when I’d gotten the message. It was after I showed off in front of the Free Ballers that day in the park. God that felt like ages ago now. The last message had been in the park too, right after my talk with Agent Rossen. So the mystery of the messages were solved. Joe managed to write me an algorithm to decode them too. He downloaded it into my Bio. Now whenever I got a new code, it would automatically translate for me. Now more funky messages I didn’t understand. I made him teach me the code anyways though. Who knows, maybe I wanted to send my own message back.

That led to our second mystery to solve though.

Who sent them?

Joe had his theories.

According to him, there were only so many people smart enough to even remember hex code. Hell, his own “source” didn’t even know how to crack it at first. Joe complied a short list, all Z3s and some of the smartest men in the Metro. Outside of The Cube of course. He would get back to me on it as soon as he had more to tell. Which was Joe speak for “I’m narrowing things down”? It was funny. I was the only one who could ever truly translate ‘Joe speak’. Ted used to have a hell of a time with it. He never really had much of an imagination honestly. He was one of those “I see, I get it” kind of people, no room for creativity or individualism.
I don’t think he truly loved Maddie.

He wanted her because she was pretty and shiny.

He practically self destructed when she wasn’t interested.

He was such a fucking child.

Well screw him.

We both lost.

I could only imagine what he’d think of Maddie if he saw her now. For one he’d barely recognize her. Hell, I barely did and I saw her every day. Her tats and piercings seemed to multiply every day and she was thin now. Well she’d always been a little thin but now she was scary thin. There was this attitude now, too. Speaking out in class, failing grades, synth cigs, foul language. I mean sure I swear but Maddie had a mouth now that would make a sailor blush. She didn’t even call herself Maddie anymore. She made that clear one day last week when one of the teachers called her name. She made it very clear her name was Zee now.

What the fuck kind of name was that?

I guess it was progression.

I called her Mads. Her new friends were calling her “Madz” and now she apparently took the “Mad” out of it altogether.

The girl needed help.

It was like someone brain jacked my girlfriend.

Well, former girlfriend.

Thinking about it all though helped me get through other things.

Like Sentinel training.

Last weekend had been more orientation stuff. It’s too boring to get into but let’s just say it was pretty much a repeat of the same from the week before. This weekend---today---was supposed to be the nit and gritty of it all, Ryan’s words not mine.

“Good morning Lady and gentlemen”.

There were six of us standing in a line, Ryan in front of us. A few seconds ago, there was a quick intro around the room. My fellow Probates were all male and all very human. Four of them were from different Zones, two Z1s, a Z4 and a Z5. The fifth guy was a Z2er like me. Mark Ross. I think I briefly mentioned good ole Mark back before finding out I was even in the program. Mark was one of the last guys in the waiting room with me actually. It seemed he was the only one who made it beyond myself. The look of surprise on his face only a few moments ago was pretty priceless.

Not too many girls made it to Sentinels.

None were Alphas.

Mark was still slightly staring at me.

“Probate Ross, do you have a problem with Probate Daniels?”

“No sir” said Mark, snapping to attention. “I’m just a bit surprised to see her, sir”

Ryan nodded then addressed us all. “Probate Daniels is an Alpha as most of you mutts can see but you are to treat her like you would any other Probate. Do I make myself clear?”

There was an “aye sir” from all of them.

There were glares from two.

The Z1ers.

Spooners were snobs; everyone knew that. They were privileged little snots who thought they were God’s gift to the world. Children of the Administration, they usually got the best of everything. The best clothes, the best education, the best that money could buy. They were silver spoon brats, which earned them a bit of a nickname in the other Zones.

Spooners.

You could barely tell the two of them apart to be honest.

Same hairstyle.

Same striking blue eyes.

Same sneers.

“Listen up everyone, from this day forward the seven of us are a unit. As such we will move as one, talk as one and fight as one. If one of you fails, all of you fail”

There was a collective bit of mumbling at that last part.

The Spooners louder than the others.

“As a unit” Ryan continued. “You’ll each be given a specific call sign. This name will be a unique identifier for when we’re in the field together. It will be the only name you have from this day forward for as long as you’re with me. Do I make myself clear?”

More “yes sirs”

Ryan dropped the next ball on us only a moment later. Apparently, the names had already been chosen for each of us and there was no changing them. The Spooners definitely didn’t like that. Ryan had apparently compiled them while we’re been in orientation the two weeks before. He apparently hadn’t really thought them out well enough though.

The tall kid from Z5---Griggs---was now Stretch.

The solid, muscled Z4---Ford---was Ox.

Z1 #1---Jackson---was now Hawk.

Z1 #2---Hines---was now Falcon.

My good buddy Mark was now Spider.

Last but not least.

“Carson from now on, you’re Enigma”

“What the hell” snapped Hawk. “I get a fucking bird and she gets a cool name like that?”

Ryan snapped around on him fast. “You have a problem with birds, Hawk?”

I saw the tattoo on Ryan’s arm a second before the others.

A large black bird.

A raven.

Guess what his call sign was.

“Why Enigma though?” asked Hawk.

Ryan smiled. “That’s for you fools to find out”

We were broken into pairs after that. Ryan said he wanted to get a gauge on our combat abilities, specifically how much hand-to-hand we could do without any actual training. After announcing that we’d be rotating partners every ten minutes, the Spooners groaned again.

“It’s not fair. She’s an Alpha. She’s got a serious advantage”

This time it was Falcon.

“And yet we’re required to handle all threats, human and Alpha alike. You lot are privileged to have Enigma here. No other unit has an Alpha to practice with. Through her, you’ll learn their strength and their weaknesses. You’ll know what to do if you’re ever in the unfortunate situation of running into an Alpha and getting on their bad side”

“Does that happen?” Stretch asked, looking very nervous.

“Sometimes” said Ryan “usually it’s a misunderstanding on their part, some drunk accident. Combat training to fight them is only one of our weapons though”

Ryan walked over to a locker on the far side of the large training room. He placed his hand on a pad and the door opened. Inside, I could make out rows of strange silver jumpsuits. The chest, arms and legs were padded slightly. He took one out and tossed it toward Stretch. Stretch strained slightly as he caught it in clumsy fingers.

“This boys and girl is am SAS, Shock and Absorb Suit. It’s specially designed to protect its wearer---us---from potentially life threatening blows from a larger opponent, i.e. an Alpha”

Boy that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

He reached into the locker again, taking out a pair of bulky looking gloves and a strange glowing baton.

“Shock gloves” he said, slipping one on.

A moment later, there was a light hum and each individual finger seemed to glow for a second.

“Get a hold of someone with these and its pretty much lights out. The current in these gloves is enough to take down a full size Adonis”

“And that?” asked Hawk, putting to the baton.

Ryan smirked.

He walked over to Hawk. Before the jerk could react, Ryan gently tapped him in the stomach with it. Hawk immediately doubled over and puked. Very unpleasant to say the least. It got a few laughs, though.

“We call this little baby the Sick Stick” Ryan waved it around. “I don’t think I need to tell you what it does”

There were murmurs all around.

I watched as he put each item back into the locker, carefully memorizing what they looked like. I definitely didn’t want to be on the receiving end of either the gloves or the baton. I might have speed and strength but I knew there was no way I could withstand either of those. Ryan seemed to notice me watching and gave a nod, confirming my fear.

Locker Stuff bad for me.

“Ok now that you’ve seen the gear, let’s see who among you will earn the right to use it next week”

The sparring began.

I was paired with Mark first. I felt bad for him. Hell, I felt bad for all of them. After all, I was stronger and faster and I had some training. Mark tried to stay on his feet but it really was no contest. Stretch lasted a little longer. Hawk and Falcon fought like they talked. They were all show and very little action. Neither one of them proved much of a challenge. Ox was the best. He lasted nearly three minutes.

After the first fights, things rotated again.

We sparred for an hour.

The boys started to pant and sweat.

Me, I could go all day if I wanted.

At one point, they convinced Ryan to let them all come at me at once. He only allowed it after I told him it was ok. It was a valiant effort but in the end, futile. The only one who got close to taking me down was Falcon and only because he tried to cop a feel on one of my boobs. It took me by surprise. A few seconds later though, I flipped the little prick over my head like a rag doll. The satisfying sound of him hitting the mat made me smile.

After that final charge, Ryan called it.

“You guys are pathetic,” he said, shaking his head. “Ox, well done. The rest of you, you shame the human race.”

There were a bunch of groans.

Ox was the only one smiling.

After being told to hit the showers, Ryan stopped me at the door.

“You were holding back,” he said.

I shrugged. “I didn’t want them to hate me too much”

“They’re your teammates; that’s good but don’t forget in the end they’re competition too. By the time you become a full Cadet, at least three of them will be gone. At this moment and time, they’re the enemy too. Don’t forget that”

I nodded. “Thanks, Ryan”

“Now hit the shower,” he said, smacking me hard on the butt.

It was a knee jerk reaction.

A coach did it to his male players all the time.

I think I turned every shade of red imaginable.

Ryan took the whole of the purple spectrum I think.

He stumbled out an apology.

I slipped into my private locker area, my heart thumping in my chest.
Shit.

Stop blushing idiot.

“Beth, wow look at you!”

I was just walking into Deena’s office, feeling better than I’d felt in a while. I will not admit it was because Ryan just smacked my ass. I’m not even going to think about that. Nope that little tap didn’t even happen. It wasn’t even a tap really, just a knee jerk reaction. He apologized for it too. I don’t even care about it. Sure, I blushed. He blushed too. Wait why did he blush? Did that mean that he wanted to smack my butt? That maybe liked smacking my butt. Did I want him to like smacking my butt?

Son of a bitch.

Why am I still thinking about this.

Stop.

Stop.

STOP.

“What’s wrong with me?” asked, responding to her happy greeting.

I looked myself over, hoping that I wasn’t wearing my panties on the outside of my pants or anything. I had been a little distracted getting dressed after all.

She laughed. “Nothing’s wrong, you’re just glowing a bit”

Shit.

Stop glowing Damnit.

“It was just a good day at The Center”

I quickly filled her in on everything. I left out the butt slap though. I think she knew there something else too because she gave me a strange look. She didn’t pursue the inquiry though, so thank god for that.

“So Enigma huh?”

I shrugged.

“I think it sounds cool,” I said, smiling. “Mysterious”

I didn’t tell her we were planning to get tats. It was something the guys decided just after we all left the locker rooms. They wanted to get something to solidify our new team. Tattoos aren’t like they used to be. It’s nothing permanent anymore. In fact, much like makeup and hair color, it was controlled by our Bios. It was just one of those useless apps my mother never thought I needed. Of course, that was before being an Alpha. I had all those silly apps now. Not that I’d ever use any of them but Mom thought I was responsible enough now to use them without abuse.

I already did it.

Thankfully, I had long sleeves or else Deena would have seen the purple question mark was currently adorning my left shoulder.

Hey, the guys got cool animals except for Stretch of course.

I couldn’t wait to see what he’d come up with.

“So tell me about school?”

“I made a new friend,” I said happily.

I quickly filled her in on Clarissa.

This should have been a part of our conversation last week but Deena had been swamped with work so she had to cancel. She still looked swamped. She looked tired; there were circles under her eyes that not even her makeup could hide. Her hair was a little messy too. Not the professional looking woman I’m used to seeing. She was still gorgeous of course, just a little worn out now. I wanted to ask her if she was ok but she would have quickly reminded me that we were here to talk about me and not her.

Telling her about Clarissa though led to Natalie.

“What do you think about that?”

I shrugged. “She’s a nuisance but hardly a problem. If she starts shit, I can handle it”

“Nuisance or not it could still be dangerous”

“I’ll be careful”

“I know girls that age, hell I was one. It’s not easy and girl problems aren’t like boy problems. If she feels threatened by you, she’ll do everything in her power to get rid of you”

“She can try but I’m not exactly like normal girls”

Deena nodded. “Just be careful”

She changed the subject after that.

She went back to asking me the clinical questions. How am I doing, how am I adjusting. How is life at home? All the blah blah. I answered the same. Everything was fine. Ok so I’d never get the hang of wearing makeup and long hair was a pain in the ass but life was good again. I was finally starting to adjust to this new body. There were still some things I refused though. Still no makeup, still no girly things like dresses and skirts but I wasn’t as alarmed anymore by looking at this body. Yes, it did scare me a little but I accepted it as my own now.

Still human.

Well in a matter of speaking.

We wrapped the meeting up quickly after that. When I got down to the lobby, I waited at my usual spot for Mom. When she didn’t show, I pipped her. I got her message a moment later. Apparently she was caught up in a project and couldn’t get me. Which meant I got to run home.

YES.

I could have jumped for joy as I headed out the front door. I started my stretching exercises. I was halfway through them when a familiar car pulled up. If I had heat vision, I would have burned a hole through it. I definitely would have fried the foul thing behind the wheel.

OH.

HELL

NO.

I stopped stretching and walked up to the car, holding back the urge to turn it into scrap.

The window rolled down.

The thing inside spoke:

“Hey…uh…buddy”

Buddy.

“Hello Person who I do not know”

“I deserved that,” said the man who pretended to be my father.

“No, you deserve a lot worse but I’m not supposed to do anything violent to humans”

Ok, I’m being a bitch but I have my reasons.

The last time I saw Dad was the day he and Mom showed up at The Q.

That awkward and strained moment. Dad could barely look at me then. Now it was clear he was trying but I didn’t give a damn. He and I had always been pretty close, well when we were younger. As I got older and started to stray toward my grandfather’s path in life, Dad sorta stopped trying. So I was used to him ignoring me but I wasn’t used to him running away from home for nearly three weeks.

“Can we talk?”

“We are talking”

“I meant someplace private”

“You do not want to be anywhere private with me right now”

I was hurting.

A lot.

I didn’t want to hear whatever bull shit excuse this man might come up with.

“I really need to talk. I want to explain some things. I need to explain them, to help you understand my absence”

He leaned forward and I saw how he looked.

One word:

Awful.

The last few weeks had definitely not been kind to my father. Like Deena, he looked exhausted. Bags under his eyes, his hair unkempt. He looked thinner too, like he hadn’t been eating and he had an unshaved face. My father was always a very clean, very well groomed kind of man. Except of course when he got lost in his work but even then, it would only take him about an hour to get back to his usual look. He never went out in public looking bad though.

My hard shell cracked.

Whatever anger I felt for this man was gone now.

Now I just wanted to make sure he was ok.

“Holy shit, Dad!”

“Watch your mouth young lady!”

I pulled open the car door and without thinking, I wrapped him in a tight hug. He returned the gesture. We hugged for a couple of minutes before I finally broke it. Public displays of affection weren’t illegal but they were frowned upon. This world and all their stupid rules.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant but it hasn’t been easy”

“It’s ok, Dad”

He shook his head. “No it’s not”

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

Like me, Dad had had it rough.

Crystal’s death had been a blow.

Not just for Maddie’s family but for mine as well.

Dad invented the car that crashed after all. The mechanism that failed---the one that caused the crash---he owned the patent on it. So after her death, there was a small inquiry. Dad was called before the Administration. There was an investigation. When it was done, it was ruled an accident but Dad took a blow. An accident, yes, but because it was Dad’s device, he took some of the blame officially. Maddie’s parents didn’t blame him of course but some of his colleagues did.

“The accident” he said “then what happened with you…it was just too much”

I nodded. “I said it was ok and it is. You know why it is?”

“No, why?”

“Because Alphas are Never Wrong”

Ok so I threw the Truths at him.

It seemed to work.

He smirked then both of us starting laughing.

It was nice to hear Dad laugh again.

“So what do you and your mother usually do after one of these meetings?”

I shrugged. “We go home.”

He nodded. “You want to go get lunch. Give me time to get to know my new daughter?”

“I’m still the same me”

“I know. That came out wrong…”

He sighed heavily.

He’s trying. I’ll give him props for that.

“Sure, I’d love to go to lunch with you”

The smile on his face was worth it. Dad put the car in auto, programmed it for the nearest café and we sat back as it drove. The ride was quiet. Neither of us knew what to say. Hey, it was a start. One step at a time. I was just happy to have my father back in my life.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

by:

In the not too distant future, evolution has taken humanity down a different path. In a society where gender is controlled with numbers, one young man finds that being evolved might not be such a good thing.

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Author's Note: Sorry for the delay...its actually been one month since posting Ch.12. I'm not sure why it took so long to get this one to be honest. I was hoping to have it up sooner but truthfully I was just too lazy to write it lol. After this there will be two chapters of this current part of Clownfish left. I'm still going to write it but the rest of it will probably be published under a different title, sometime down the road in the future. I have a pretty good idea where I want to break the narrative too, some of you might be able to guess as soon as you read this chapter. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

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Ch.13

“I think you people thrive on torturing me”

I was standing in front of the mirror, trying my hardest to hide every bit of flesh that this so-called bathing suit was currently exposing. I mean whoever created this thing and thought a few pieces of fabric was proper swim wear should be shot. No matter which way I turned my body, there was no doubt that every bit of me was on display.

Bathing suit my ass.

“It’s not that bad sis,” said Carrie, suppressing one of those little girl giggles of hers.

I think she was enjoying it far too much.

“Not that bad, you’re kidding right?”

The look Clarissa was giving me was pretty similar. Both of them clearly thought I was being a prude or something. There was however nothing prudish about what I was wearing. Nor was there anything prudish about my attitude concerning it. I was perfectly in the right thinking that this thing was two tiny bits of cloth held up by tiny bits of string. I still couldn’t believe I let them talk me into this stupid thing in the first place.

The two of them had conspired against me.

Every year the whole of the Inter population in our Metro and others as well convened on Metro One for a big field trip. Of course, it wasn’t a field trip per se, more like a get together for all the Metros in the area. This year I think there were going to be three Metros in attendance, ours, Metro 36 and Metro 92. They were closest Metros to us. Most of the time we didn’t really interact with one another---the Metros I mean. So this was a pretty big deal.

Three days and two nights.

Of course nearly a day and a half of it is on board the zip line to get there.

It was an even bigger deal for me this year though.

Besides it being the first time I’d ever left our Metro to go anywhere, I wasn’t just going as a student. Last night I received word from Ryan. Apparently, our squad was chosen to provide security for the trip. So not only was I going to be there---not having a good time with my friends---I’d have to be working as well.

Of course, none of that seemed to get through my sister’s thick skull.

It was well known that Metro One had some of the best synthetic beaches around.

I’m not sure how she roped Clarissa into her little scheme though.

“I think it might be a little too much, you know, for your brother though.”

Clarissa, ever the voice of reason.

She got me, she understood. I might be a girl now but there was still the boy lurking inside. Sure, I’d been Beth for nearly a month now, hell, more than that now but I’m not sure I was ready for this. I think Carrie knew that too, at least a small part of her. She was just excited that I could be her life size doll again. What with school and Sentinel training on the weekends, she and I didn’t get to spend a lot of time together anymore. She practically had to drag me out of bed this morning for this little shopping excursion of hers.

It was her morning.

She had the whole thing planned out.

We were to spend all day in Z6; acting like the teenagers, we were supposed to be.

Well teens and one persistent little girl.

“It’s so perfect though. It shows off your body really well, I mean you’ll be beating them off with a stick in that”

That’s what I was afraid of.

“Tell you what,” I said, concealing the hologram of the suit. “You look for the bathing suit; I’ll go to the hardware store and get the stick.”

I stepped off the pad, sighing as I did so.

The hologram of the suit was bad enough but I could only imagine how embarrassed I’d be if I actually had to wear that in public. It was bad enough that I had to strip down to my underwear to stand on the holo pad in the first place. Most of the time I just did all my shopping from my wall vid. Seeing the outfits on my little avatar was a lot easier because if it looked bad there I knew it would look bad on me. Carrie however vetoed that idea immediately. She wanted me to experience shopping like most girls my age. It was a lie, of course. What she really wanted was an excuse to go to the mall.

What with both our parents working non-stop these days, I was stuck in babysitter mode again.

She used that against me.

She was going to the mall and if I wanted to make sure she was not in danger, I’d just have to go with her.

The conniving little snot.

“Are we done trying to find me the greatest swimsuit ever now?”

“It was the most amazing swimsuit ever” said my sister “and not by a long shot”

She coaxed me back up on the pad. I shot a pleading look at Clarissa but I wasn’t going to get any sympathy from her. She and Carrie were like two peas from the same pod. Things became a bit of a blur after that. I’m not sure how many suits I tried on afterwards but they were bound and determined to find one, regardless if I liked it or not. I couldn’t help but wonder who this trip was really for, them or me. Out of all the girl things, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the need to shop. Back when I was a guy, I’d go into a store, find some clothes and leave.

An hour tops.

We’d been here nearly two hours and we were only in one store.

Crazy.

I’d been a girl for nearly a month or more and I still didn’t understand it.

Finally, we found the right one though.

It was black.

It also covered all my assets completely.

I’m not sure if the two of them were happy but this wasn’t about them in the end. It was my body and I’d wear what the hell I wanted.

“You sure we can’t look…,” asked my sister as we finally left the story.

“Carrie, I appreciate how much fun you’re having but the decision is made”

She looked a little hurt but she’d get over it.

Victory for me.

However short lived it was.

Because apparently we were far from done.

We flitted from store to store after that. The two of them were convinced I needed a whole new wardrobe even though the trip was only a few days. I mean how many damn times did they expect me to change my clothes? I tried to use that logic with them but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. Carrie was loving it and Clarissa seemed to be on Cloud Nine. She confessed earlier that this was the first time she’d ever been “shopping with the girls”. I felt a little bad about it. I mean though Maddie had semi-hung with us before we “dated”, she still had girl friends. Of course, as soon as I changed she dumped them as fast as she dumped me.

Zee had all new buddies now.

An hour after leaving the Swim Suit Shack, we were on our third store.

Lingerie.

My sister had run off, leaving Clarissa and me alone browsing the bra section.

Color me embarrassed.

And trust me I was.

I usually did all this shopping on the Vid screen.

“Thanks” she said, smiling.

“For what?”

“Being my friend”

I hugged her. Girls apparently hugged a whole hell of a lot more than guys. Say what you will about not changing my behavior but I sure hugged a lot more lately. I couldn’t remember the last time either Joe or Ted hugged me. In fact, I’m not sure I ever hugged a guy before, besides my dad or grandfather. It felt kind of nice being on a friendly basis like that with someone. Though it was slightly comical too. Clarissa’s head rested under my breasts as we embraced.

She was a short one.

“This is the set,” said Carrie, returning with a pale pink panty and bra.

I couldn’t help but groan.

She handed them to me.

Unlike most other stores, there was no dressing pad. There were dressing rooms but there was no need. I knew my breast size and I also knew that the set she was handing me was going to fit. The good thing about Alphas was as soon as their body changed, it never adjusted itself. I would have this body for the rest of my life. Sure, I’d appear to age slightly but I’d never get older in the sense that humans would. Even Ted’s mom---she was my parents age---except she looked to be in her mid-twenties. I could never figure out how that didn’t freak Ted out. Sure he’d grown up with it but still having a hot and sexy Mom like that would have freaked me the hell out.

“Great” I said, grabbing several of the sets I was looking at, blushing. “We’re done here right!”

Carrie rolled her eyes. “You’re such a boy”

“Remind me to take you here when you start to develop and I’ll embarrass the hell out of you too”

“Really?” she asked enthusiastically.

I groaned as I went to pay for my purchases.

It was nearly noon by the time the three of us left the lingerie store. We made a bee line toward the food court.

Hey, a girl has to eat.

It was starting to get pretty packed, too. It was, after all, a mall. Sure the entire Zone was all commercial and there were several food courts here. This one however was more frequented by teenagers. There were several food shops spread over three levels. Back when I was Ben---when I actually came here---I frequented the ones on the second floor. They were usually the more greasier places. Now however I could barely stomach most of that crap. I had a much healthier diet now thanks in no small part to my need to be physically fit. Sure I could eat that crap and nothing would happen to my awesome figure but my body just couldn’t seem to take it anymore.

I dragged my two companions to a couple of nice healthy spots on the first level. I had a nice charge line when it came to food. Because I was an Alpha, the government gave me an allowance. It was a little unfair but they tried to do everything they could to make us comfortable. Everything to abide by the Truths after all. It was supposed to be just for me but that didn’t stop me from buying them lunch too. Hey if I had it, I was going to use it where I saw fit.

We found a table near the railing.

Carrie always liked to sit there.

“Where the hell do you put it all?” asked Clarissa as she looked at the food overflowing my tray.

“What do you mean?”

“If I ate that much it would all go to my butt”

“She’s a machine,” said my sister “She’s been eating us out of house and home. You should see her at dinner, she eats twice as much”

I gave her a playful shove which caused a girlish giggle.

“I have a different metabolism than you guys. I burn a lot more energy now too so I need to eat like an elephant”

“Must be nice. Eating all you want and not gaining a pound”

I shrugged. “I don’t really care about things like that”

“I find that hard to believe”

I shrugged again. “This is who I am now. The perks of being me”

No point getting jealous Rissa, we can’t compete with Miss Super Pants here”

Both girls laughed.

I stuck my tongue out at them.

Which of course caused them to laugh harder.

It was kind of infectious because I was laughing too.

We were half way through the merriment when I sensed a disturbance in the force.

Yes, I said Force.

Hey, Star Wars is still around.

Out of nowhere, they seemed to come, the flock following their demented leader. I’m not sure why they stopped at our table though.

“Wow Sasquatch, piggy much”

“Good afternoon to you too, Natalie” I said, not really meaning it.

She ignored the greeting. “I mean I’ve Alphas are pigs but that’s just excessive, you should really consider seeing someone about that”

I promised myself I wasn’t going to let her push me into a fight. It was petty to argue with her. She was a gnat to me. I could squish her like a bug, literally.

“Oh I see you brought the loser squad with you,” she said, looking at Clarissa. Then she directed her attention to Carrie. “Oh is this a Junior Loser in training?”

Ok, insult me all you want but going after my sister.

I opened my mouth to reply but Carrie beat me to it.

“Says the girl wearing that skirt with that top. News flash, missy, that look went out of style two days ago. And don’t get me started on those shoes. You call me a loser, look in the mirror the next time you dress yourself.”

The look on Natalie’s face was priceless but not as priceless as her two friends who smirked and actually laughed slightly. Her glaring shut them up. She was beet red though. I would be too if I just got owned by an eight year old. It was classic though. I didn’t know Carrie had it in her, but apparently, when she went into a fight she went in guns blazing.

You could almost see the smoke coming out of Natalie’s ears.

“Listen here you little bitch” she snapped.

“Watch it” I warned grabbing the edge of the table. “Choose your next words carefully, human”

Ok so I didn’t pull the species card much.

In fact never.

But this girl was starting to piss me off.

A look of fear was clearly present on the faces of her friends.

“Come on Nat, let’s go”

“Yeah, Three Truths”

Natalie fumed. “This is worthless anyways. John is waiting. You know John, My Boyfriend. Not that you know anything about that, you freak”

As if on cue, he appeared. I’m not sure where he’d been hiding but suddenly I felt him come up behind me. He wrapped his strong arms around me from behind, kissing me on the cheek before dropping into the chair next to me.

“Hey babe” said Ryan, grabbing one of fries. “Sorry I’m late”

My whole body was stiff.

What the.

Where the.

Heart racing, tingling with excitement.

“Hi” I said, recovering quickly, taking his hand gently in mine.

The look on Natalie’s face was priceless. She stood there, mouth slightly open.

“Didn’t you have somewhere to be?” asked Clarissa, sensing we now had the upper hand.

“This is far from over” she said before turning and storming off.

Her two friends continued to stare at Ryan as they walked away. One of which---unbeknownst to Natalie---gave me the thumbs up.

Ryan held my hand and kept his arm around me until they were out of sight. Then rather abruptly, he moved away. My body twitched, longing for the contact again.

“Sorry about that Enigma” he said “I saw you there and them and never leave a team mate when they’re down.”

I’m not sure I was down per se.

“Thanks for the save boss” I said softly.

He nodded, standing as he did so. “Well I’ll see you at training later”

With that he was gone, just as quickly as he appeared.

I couldn’t help but watch him go, shuddering slightly.

Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me.

I wasn’t the only one watching as both my companions watched him leave too.

“Who was that?” asked Clarissa, smiling.

“No one” I said, blushing.

“No one just doesn’t come out of nowhere to rescue you,” said my sister with a sinister smile of her own.

I shrugged. “He’s my Training Officer.”

“Sign me up for the Sentinels then,” said Clarissa dreamily.

I rolled my eyes.

I couldn’t take these two anywhere.

Though I’m not sure I like the way she said that. Not about my Ryan.

My Ryan?

I mean Ryan.

Damn it.

“Can we go now please? I have to be at the Center in an hour”

We finished our lunch as fast as we could. The whole time I couldn’t help but think about his rescue and how much I liked it when he touched me. Especially the kiss on the cheek. I stopped myself from touching said cheek in case they ridiculed me. Thinking about it sent my heart fluttering though. Which scared the living hell out of me.

“Ok boys and girl, gather around,” said Ryan.

Our squad was in the one of the training room, looking no worse for wear. We’d just suited up and were ready for action. Well, the boys were ready anyway. Me, I still couldn’t get over how tight these suits were. Actually how tight mine was. Apparently, I wasn’t the only woman in the Sentinels of course but I was the first Alpha. Most of the suits designed for women were different but I had to have one specially designed due to height and proportions.

Honesty time.

I’m too tall and my ass is too big.

There I said it.

The tightness wasn’t the only difference either though. The top brass felt that because I was different I didn’t need as much “bulk” as the other suits carried either. Unbeknownst to me---over the last two weeks or so---an R&D team had been completely redesigning the suit to fit my needs. They were so impressed with the redesign they labeled them Mark 2’s and were already in the process of mass production. Mine was currently the only model though. Sleeker, more streamlined and as tight as hell. It breathed as I moved though. Over the last hour or so---before the boys had arrived---Ryan and I ran it through its paces.

I passed every test.

“You look umm…,” said Spider, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and toeing the ground.

I gave him a look. “However I look, imagine how it feels.”

He turned a shade of crimson and looked away.

Yeah, this isn’t going to be distracting.

“As you all know, the Inters of this Metro are going on a field trip to Metro One next week” We all nodded and murmured. “Our squad and squad 3 have been assigned to be escorts”

More murmuring.

They broke the news to us last week actually.

To say we were surprised was an understatement. There was no way in hell any of us were ready for something like that. Especially going to Metro One. That was Guardian territory. I don’t think I need to mention how much Guardians and Sentinels don’t get along again. However, that was only half the problem. The other problem---the most immediate---problem was yours truly.

Me.

Alpha.

You see, not only was Metro One the seat of our government, it was the seat of the Human government. Emphasis on human. While most Metros had at least one or two Alphas in some position of power, Metro One had zero. Ok not totally rare or unheard of but this next bit I’m about to mention is where things get bad. You see not only do they have no Alphas in the government, they have no Alphas anywhere.

Nada.

Zilch.

None.

There’s no Cube, no Three Truths, no anything.

After the little uprising---the one that created the Sentinels in the first place---the government ran scared. Sure, they now had a force to protect the public but they were afraid of what might happen if an Alpha managed to get in charge of everything. The Grand Chancellor---our highest position in power---had to remain “pure”. He was the head of the Council, the ruling body of the government. If anything were to happen to him, the Council had to vote one of their members to replace him. Humans began to grow afraid that if an Alpha gained that position that oppression would happen. So it was deemed that no Alpha could hold a position on the Council.

This of course led to other prejudices.

With an all-human Council, Alphas started losing other rights in Metro One. Slowly, every single one of their individual rights were taken away. Eventually they no longer wanted to live there. So ten years ago, the Cube there was abandoned. It was now the base of power for the Guardians actually. It was the base of power for something else too.

The Humanity First Initiative.

I know that sounds made up. Like something out of those 20th century comic books, my grandfather used to collect but trust me it’s very real. The HFI sprang up out of fear that Alphas would gain too much power. They were a tiny little organization at first, a bunch of “concerned” citizens. Eventually those concerned grew and grew. Now there were hundreds of them. They were led by a man named Fairbanks, the CEO of Fair Corp, one of the largest software manufacturers around. Hell he’s the guy who mass-produced everything, including Bios.

My parents were both technically Fair Corp employees.

Most people were.

And when one of the most powerful men in the world is a “Huffer”, it’s hard not to take the group seriously.

The Guardians were his brainchild.

A group of soldiers meant to keep us safe.

Us as in the “human race”.

Fairbanks uses his incredible wealth to back the HFI, enabling them to do just about anything they want. Within the confines of the law of course. After the Alphas in Metro One fled and abandoned the Cube, he bought it up. Not long after, the Guardians came on the scene. The HFI rose through the ranks quickly after that. They started influencing government decisions and mandates; they passed stricter laws and legislation. They managed to nab a seat on the Council, too. From there they gained real power. It, the HFI, that maneuvered and got most of the Sentinels disbanded. Fairbanks feared they were “too sympathetic” to the plight of the Alpha.

Bull shit if you ask me.

He was just like the rest.

Charismatic, slimy and well loved.

It sure helped that he was one handsome son of a bitch too.

Thinking about him, I couldn’t help but glance over at Hawk and Falcon---my Z1 “squad mates”. It was pretty common knowledge that most Z1ers were Huffers. Ok so maybe not them personally but definitely their families. At least the human ones anyway. They were discreet about it of course. Huffers weren’t illegal around here, hell they weren’t illegal anyway. Here in Metro 656 though, they weren’t nearly as common. We did after all have a large Alpha population, one of the biggest, actually. Plus we had the Sentinels, too. So most Huffers here kept a much lower profile. They held rallies and demonstrations, and some recruitment campaigns, but it never really panned out.

The Three Truths ruled here.

No one knew anything different.

I’d be a liar if I said I was one hundred percent against the Huffers, though. Yes, they were nut jobs but some of the stuff made a small bit of sense. Sure, the Alphas weren’t evil nor did I think they wanted to rule the world but they were arrogant. Just looking at Ted’s mother would give you proof to that. Did I think they needed to be locked up in boxes and shipped out to sea or whatever, NO WAY. I did think the Cube was necessary though but only because it was safe for everyone.

Ok now I’m just a hypocrite.

Damn I hate politics.

“This is so cool,” said Spider, smiling wickedly.

Shit, now I’m clueless.

I had no idea what he was talking about because I hadn’t been paying attention.

“Sorry” I whispered back.

“The whole Bio link thing”

Bio link?

I gave him a blank look, which caused him to groan. Like Joe, Mark was a bit of a techie. Unlike Joe, most of his tech stuff was more like something my father would be interested in. The two of them were still friends though, outside of the friendship Joe had with Ted and me, of course. My point, Mark seemed to know a little bit more about Bios than any of us assembled here.

“Bio links are something a lot of Sentinel squads do,” he said, explaining it to me and in turn the whole group. “Basically two people interface their Bios with one another, linking the two of them together. They share thoughts, feelings, sometimes even dreams. In essence, it’s like having another person in your head.”

“Nicely put, Spider” said Ryan with a nod.

“Wait, he’s serious?” asked Hawk, looking a little pale. “You mean someone is going to know what I’m thinking, all the time?”

“Yes and no” said Ryan. He held up a small silver capsule. “Inside here are two blue pills, they have a technical name but we usually call them Blues. These pills create a link between those who swallow them. I’m going to pair you off with one of these capsules; each of you takes a pill. The effects only last a few hours but while they are in effect, you will be linked to your partner.”

“You’re sure it’s only for a few hours?” asked Falcon nervously, looking at me.

Yeah I knew what he was afraid of.

He didn’t want a girl in his head.

Hell, I definitely didn’t want that Spooner in mine.

“Yes” said Ryan, tossing the capsule he was holding at Falcon who caught it clumsily.

He paired us off after that.

It was no surprise how it went either. The two Spooners---Hawk and Falcon were one pair, Stretch and Ox became the second and by process of elimination that left Spider and I as the third. Ryan handed the capsule to me, our hands touching for the briefest of moments. A small spark shot down my body, sending tingle shivers.

My heart skipped its usual beat. Damn it.

I stopped myself from blushing, though.

“Thanks” I said softly before he walked off.

I snapped open the capsule, dumped the pills into my hands and passed one to Mark.

“Now before you swallow it, a few things. These pills are linked to one another. So as soon as you swallow it, you and only you will be linked to your particular partner. It’s going to be a little disconcerting at first, you might even feel slightly sick. Trust me, it will pass. After that, you’re going to feel a bit of a rush, might even feeling a bit euphoric. Ignore it. Some guys like to abuse Blues because of the rush, you will not be those guys. If I catch anyone with these pills outside of this program, I’ll will drop you in an instant” He looked directly at the Spooners. “No objections, no favors, no nothing. One instance of abuse and you’re done. Do I make myself clear?”

We all nodded.

“Ok then, pop those pills”

I sighed, looking at the little pill in my hand. Then looked at Spider, who looked just as nervous.

“On three” I said, he nodded.

I counted it off then popped the pill. He quickly followed. I’m not sure what was supposed to happen because whatever it was, it didn’t start right away. I turned to him and shrugged. He was just as confused as I was. Looking at the others, they seemed to share similar attitudes. Looking at Ryan however I couldn’t help but feel a little concerned by his smile. I was about to make a comment but then I felt it. A massive headache, I doubled over in pain. Somewhere I heard someone moan in pain. The room began to spin.

Hawk puked.

Someone screamed, I think.

Ox was busy trying to stay on his feet while at the same time trying to keep Stretch on his. I looked at Spider, I found my partner leaning against the wall, panting. Then suddenly I was panting, too. It was strange though because I didn’t feel the least bit out of breath. I also realized that my head didn’t hurt either. Sure it felt like it was supposed to hurt but it didn’t actually hurt. I stared at Spider closer and realized he was rubbing his temples. I gasped, realizing what that meant. The headache was actually his. I was panting like him too. I wasn’t actually rubbing my temples but I felt like I wanted to.

Wow.

Son of a bitch.

The thought was mine but not mine.

It wasn’t my voice either.

I looked at him and my eyes widened.

It was Spider’s.

“Can you hear me?” I thought back at him.

He stopped rubbing his temples and looked at me, his eyes widened.

“Holy shit” he thought back. “No fucking way”

No fucking way indeed.

“This is freaky,” he said, looking down “I can feel your body. I mean I can feel the weight of your chest as if it was”

He reached up to touch his chest.

“Perv”

I could almost feel him groping me, it was disgusting.

“Sorry, it’s a little confusing”

“Well stop now, please”

He lowered his hands, blushing.

I could his body too, almost as if it was my own. Unlike him though, it didn’t feel nearly as foreign. It felt familiar, like an old friend. I suppressed the urge to grope myself though. Unlike him though, it appeared that my concept of my own body didn’t go away. I could still feel my boobs too. It just felt like I had a penis again.
“Do you feel the rush?”

He looked like he was on cloud nine, a big smile on his face.

Whatever he was feeling though, I felt none of it.

No euphoria like Ryan described.

So apparently, it was the one thing we didn’t currently share.

I did feel his need to squeeze my boobs though. I also felt him stiffen when he looked at me too. There was a mix of emotions there too, lust being the chief one among them.

Ugh, fucking pig.

I wonder if he could feel my disgust.

“Sorry” he thought, a moment later.

Yep, he could definitely feel it.

“I find it hard to believe though. I mean I feel your body, its freaky being a dude one sec and feeling like a chick the next”

“Don’t I know it?”

I felt his shame.

“Oh shit, sorry. I didn’t…”

“It’s ok. I’m used to all of this now. I’ve adjusted quickly”

He nodded. “Your body is incredible though. I mean do you feel this good all the time. The strength, the energy?”

I guess I never really thought about it. I was just me. I couldn’t even begin to wonder what he was feeling though. He was flexing his muscles though, preening like a fool. It was clear that my body was having a bigger effect on him then his was having on me. I did feel something though, slightly less of myself. It was like trying to walk underwater. Not that I was sluggish, just slow or at least felt that way now. I flexed my hands, feeling no strength or rather a lack of it.

“Come here a sec,” I said, knowing he knew what I was thinking.

We both walked over to the free weight rack against the wall. He nervously looked down at the weights. I felt it, I also felt confidence too. I grabbed the heaviest weight. His apprehension and fear was there but I was able to override it. I lifted the weight without a problem even though his mind told me there was no way I actually could. He tried the same. He had my confidence and his fear. His fear and his only body ruled him though. He wasn’t even able to budge it.

“Just as I suspected. We’re still ourselves even if we feel like one another”

“Well that’s disappointing”

“Only from your point of view” I thought and laughed.

I laughed out loud, he did the same.

He followed his laugh with a dirty look.

“Ok boys and girl” said a voice, it took me a second to realize it wasn’t in my head nor was it Mark’s.

I turned to look at Ryan; Mark seemed to do the same.

It was kind of creepy.

“Now that you’ve taken a few moment to get acquainted with one another, I think we can begin,” he said this with a big smile.

“Begin what?” asked Hawk and Falcon together, both of whom looked shocked when they did so.

“Sparring”

There was an evil glint in Ryan’s eye.

Apparently, there was a method to his madness, which he quickly explained. This was just the first of several initial tests. He wanted us to get used to be being one mind in two bodies. It was the whole purpose of the pills to begin with. They were meant to link you with your squad in battle. Eventually he would graduate us to pills that made all of us linked together but first we needed to get used to the link. So it was the pairing. As soon as we could prove to him that we could handle that then he’d move us up to the “heavier stuff”.

“Wait you mean I’ll eventually be linked to that thing?” asked Hawk, pointing at me, a look of disgust on his face.

A look mirrored by his partner.

I smirked. “Afraid of all this?” I asked, moving my hands rather seductively down my body.

I said---I mean the words came out of my mouth---but I wasn’t thinking it. Nor did I move my hands. I shot a nasty glance over at Mark, feeling his sudden shock and embarrassment. He put a hand to him mouth, flushing red as did so.

What the hell was that?

Ryan was smiling and clapping. He walked over and stood between us, placing his hands on our shoulders. “Did you see that, guys? That’s what I’m talking about. That’s the link these exercises are going to form between you all. One mind, six bodies. I know these two did it on accident but it’s the kind of thing that all of you will be doing when we’re done.”

Great, just great.

“This is scary, I heard about these pills. There’s nightmare stories about people who take them. Some guys have even reported having residual effects after long exposure. You know acting without thinking, mimicking the movements of someone even when they’re not on the pill. Almost as if their bodies become linked all the time. It’s scary shit”

I nodded at Mark.

Then I verbally expressed his concerns.

“It happens,” said Ryan with a frown. “That’s why we do it in a safe environment and why we don’t overdo it. It’s one of the dangers. It only happens though if you don’t know what you’re doing and you abuse the pills, especially abusing them with the same partner. So I’m going to make myself very clear. You will NOT use these pills with the same partner. Next exercise you will be using them with someone else.”

“What about when we all take them?” asked Stretch, looking nervous?

Ox looked a bit scared and nervous too, which in turn looked silly for him.

“Different pills” said Ryan. “The group pills are Greens”

I suppose that made a slight bit of sense.

I had a thought, which I’m not sure was actually mine or Mark’s now that I thought about it. I was the one who expressed it though.

“What happens when we do take the Greens and we’re not able to mesh with one another?”

Ryan smiled and nodded. “Good question and the answer to which is if one of you fails, all of you fail. If you can’t work as a team---as one---then you can’t work at all. Do I make myself clear on that?”

We all gave our affirmatives.

After that, he ordered us off into our pairs.

Then we started sparring.

It was a little hard at first. I mean both of us wanted to do different things. More than once, I found myself tangled up with Mark on the floor. I tried to punch, he tried to kick. Unfortunately our bodies---working against one another---tried to do both things. It was hell for nearly an hour. We weren’t the only ones having that problem though. The others were on the ground too, cursing and moaning. Eventually though, Mark and I thought it through. It was Mark who actually came up with it. It wasn’t about trying to beat your partner in the fight; it was about anticipating the moves and copying them. Using each of our strengths to the other’s advantage.

So when I kicked, he kicked.

When he punched, I punched.

It became almost a dance.

He threw a punch while I instinctively blocked it. I tried to kick him and he countered it. Almost as if he knew it was going to happen before I did it.

Now I understood the purpose of the exercise.

Ryan was watching the two of us closely, smiling and nodding as did so. It didn’t take long for the others to stop what they were doing and watching us too. I didn’t really notice until Ryan stopped us. Then he had us explain to the others what we were doing. As soon as we did, he ordered the others to try the same. Another hour or sparring---of being linked with our partner---and the others seemed to get the hang of it too.

We quit after that.

“Totally freaky” thought Mark as we toweled off our sweat, seemingly in synch with one another.

“Tell me about it,” I thought.

I bent to tie my shoe. Mark bent to do the same and stopped. I saw the look on his face and realized that I couldn’t feel him anymore. I finished tying my shoes and looked at him, waving my hand, flexing my fingers. I realized he wasn’t doing the same. For the last two hours, the two of us had been literally copies of one another.

“You didn’t hear me when I thought, did you?” he asked.

“Nope”

“Well, all good things” he said, laughing.

I laughed. “That’s a relief because I definitely didn’t want you in my head when I was in the locker room changing.”

I saw him working it out, realizing what he just missed. I patted him on the cheek when I saw the look of disappointment on his face.

“Maybe next time” I said with a playful wink.

He frowned when he realized there wouldn’t be a next which one got me to laugh at his expense.

I went to the locker room alone.

I undressed alone.

I showered alone.

I redressed alone.

Boy did it feel good not to have anyone else in my head again.

BE CAREFUL WITH THOSE PILLS BETHANY.

It was the numbers again this time though, Joe’s little program translated them for me; unfortunately it didn’t make me feel any better.

I groaned.

At least I’d been alone for a moment.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF