James could have been male or female.

I pause for a good long time as I try to process what he’s asking. Gender Testing? So far as I knew, in our time gender was found out through an ultrasound. It was literally found out by seeing if there was a penis or not around eight weeks into the pregnancy. I obviously had a penis, so… did he think I was a woman dressing as a man? After trying and failing to figure out what he was asking I simply shrugged and answered, “Yeah. I mean, I wasn’t even born yet, but everybody gets gender tested in the Coalition.”

The man, who had been looking at me calmly and patiently the entire time, looked down at his clear tablet and tapped it a few times. “That’s what I thought too. You said you’re forty years old and your levels of genetic decay track with that. We don’t keep in contact with the Coalition or any other nation as far as that’s concerned and maybe they didn’t have the technology back then, but your karyotype indicates a set of genes that could have been male or female. Pure random chance unfortunately made you male.”

He turned his tablet toward me to see as he continued. “See here? In your fifth day after fertilization your Y chromosome wouldn’t have been fully formed. It would have continued flipping between X and Y during your morula and blastocyst cellular division stages. Gender testing at this point would have indicated the duality in your nature and could have been corrected. Unfortunately, by letting nature take the reins, your gender was decided by a random coinflip instead of what’s best for society. I’m sure you can agree that we need all the women we can get. I’ve heard tell that even in the Coalition, women are treated better. Here, in the Free Union, we give women every advantage in life.”

I suppress the intellectual part of me that wants to marvel at how they could have known such a thing during my mother’s pregnancy, let alone find it through genetic testing now. Instead, I try to focus on what this could mean. “Well, I guess we can all agree that the Coalition should have done a better job. But this doesn’t mean I’ve done anything wrong right?” I try to chuckle as I hopefully lighten this serious man’s mood. “I mean, I wasn’t exactly able to make that decision when I was only two or three hundred cells!”

A single corner of the man’s mouth twitched upward for a fraction of a second. Compared to his steely gaze since I entered the room, it might as well as been a belly laugh. “Indeed Mr. Williams, there is no blame in this room or in our society. Unlike the Eastern Coalition or most other countries, we don’t bother with blame. Instead, we simply focus on fixing the problem. Which is why we’ll simply correct this issue and let you go upon your normal routine.”

I nod, feeling a sense of relief that there would be no punishment as that seemed where this entire presentation was heading. But then it hit me. Correct the issue? But before I could question exactly what that meant, the dour man continued his questions in another direction.

“Now, onto familial relations. You said that you are cousins with Mr. Atticus Moore. Tell me about that relationship.”

Remembering what Atticus said about his questioning, I go with what he suggested and stick with our story. Our mothers were ‘sisters’ and that was all we knew. The man asked various questions about genetic testing that we would have had, but finally seems satisfied that neither Atticus nor I were aware that we weren’t related.

Before he moves on, I can’t help myself from asking, “Why does this matter so much? If one of us had been adopted but raised as a family member, we’d still be cousins. We’d still be family. So why the grilling on this particular subject.”

The man clears his tab by simply waving his hand over the top and looks back at me as if I were dim. “We don’t care Mr. Williams. You could say you were brothers, father and son, cousins, or simply friends, so long as you were both men. But now, after your procedure, if you were truly family relations, we’d want to increase the chance of genetic diversity and we wouldn’t house you and your cousin together. We’d want you to have sex with other men first. If you’d been related, he’d only have a chance to impregnate you after three months of failed attempts. Now, are you ready to correct nature?”

The man’s words seemed to echo in my head as what he meant was coming into focus. ‘after your procedure’, ‘genetic diversity’, ‘sex with other men’, ‘chance to impregnate you’. With their obvious ability to not only scan genes but to look through a history of their karyotypes, it seems possible that they’d be able to do it. It didn’t matter if I came across as naive of their abilities though, I had to put the brakes on this and ask, “Wait, do you mean you’re going to change me into a woman? You’re going to change my gender?”

The man stood up, obviously nonplussed with my question. “Mr. Williams, I assure you if we could change anybody’s gender at will, we wouldn’t have any problems with the number of women in our society. We’d likely be able to correct the fertility rate and have a booming society within a couple generations. No, we’re not going to change your gender.”

My sigh of relief quickly seemed premature with his continued explanation. “No, we’re just going to correct what nature decided and let your own genetic nature express it’s underlying female side. Since you are one of the rare people that can be either male or female, we’re going to let you be female.”

I couldn’t even think of anything to say as the man grabbed his tablet and walked out of the room. Any doubt I wanted to embrace in their ability to do what he was saying was already squashed with what had happened to Dr. Moore. In less than a couple hours they’d taken years off his aging.

A moment later a man walked in with a syringe on a metal tray. The syringe was tiny and looked like one designed to give insulin, even if the needle was clearly big enough to go into a muscle. The only other thing on the tray was a small device that looked like a mini flashlight. This man, looking like he was in his twenties, had a far more pleasant attitude. “Okay Mr. Williams let’s get this started. This injection will be the first step and make everything else come a lot easier. Please roll up your sleeve.”

I rolled my sleeve up and displayed my shoulder, as my mind raced to figure a way to at least delay this. I might not be able to figure a way out of this fantastic situation, but maybe Atticus or Catty could. The man waved a bright blue light from the flashlight device over my shoulder which I assumed was cleaning the area like an **** swab would. As he set the light down and picked up the needle I shrunk back and asked “Hey before we get too deep into this can I speak to my cousin? This is… um… going to be a big change and he should know about it first. I trust his opinion.”

He seemed sympathetic and set the needle down. “Well, we generally want this to go in one smooth process, but I know it can be a big change. I came from Oceania years ago and had to have my karyotype fixed when they realized I would always remain an infertile woman but could be corrected into a fertile male, so I understand. Having family will be comforting. Tell you what, since we’re already done with the karyotype repair we can hold off on the antibiotics and counseling and let you speak to your cousin and his wife.”

Wait… what?

I clasped my hands together to stop them from shaking. “Do you... um... I mean… was that… light… the genetic treatment?”

The man gently grabbed my arm and helped me stand as he smiled. “Yup. The worst is already done. Your genes are already rapidly changing. Let’s go see your family for a few minutes before the changes become apparent. That way they’ll be able to say goodbye to Mr. Williams and then in a couple hours say hello to Miss Williams.”

I felt like my legs were made of rubber. I tried to focus on my body, feel if there were anything going on, changing, transforming, but everything felt normal. Before I knew it, the man had led us back to the waiting room and walked me inside. After closing the door behind me I looked up and saw… I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at. It’s like someone took a photo of Atticus and Catty and applied one of those beauty anti-aging filters to it.

Atticus’ body evidently had only half changed when I saw him last. At my best guess he was now a full four inches taller than he was before. His hair was a thick dark brown with no sign of greying at all. He had a five o’clock shadow that would probably grow into a full thick beard and mustache if let to continue instead of the patchy facial hair he got when he forgot to shave. They’d brought new clothes for him, although in the same bland grey, as beyond his height change, he now had the body of a professional footballer. His broad shoulders came down to thick well-muscled arms. And although they were covered by the pants, it looked like his legs were similarly developed. But more than that, his face was shaped differently. It wasn’t a radical change, but he looked… better? Both better looking and more masculine at the same time. He looked like an athlete, a movie star, and a model all in one.

The changes in Atticus, however, were nothing compared to Catty’s transformation. Dr. Rodriguez was never ugly by any standard, but she wasn’t pretty or cute or beautiful either. Whether it was her being simply focused on her work or her noncaring attitude toward her outward appearance, she’d let herself go. Her hair had been a salt and pepper mix that was thin and brittle and constantly pulled back in a severe bun just to keep it out of the way. She never wore makeup and it especially showed on her thin lips and double chin. Even with the extra weight she carried showing in her face, she had an abundance of wrinkles around her eyes, mouth, and neck. I’d have guessed her breasts to be about a B or C cup but they sagged quite a bit on her thick frame. Her pear-shaped body could have been lovely, but her thighs were beyond thick and could honestly be called fat. But now? Now she was a supermodel.

Her hair, like Dr. Moore’s, was thick and luxurious and a deep inky black. Her face was smooth and beautiful and accentuated her thick kissable lips even without any makeup on. Her wide chin with its well-defined jaw line gave her an almost innocent look, yet at the same time dripped sex appeal. Her slender neck melted into her svelte shoulders and showed off her large perky breasts. These, along with her almost severely nipped in waist and wide hips, gave her a classic hourglass shape. Her skin showed no sign of age or wear of any type and almost glowed like polished copper.

I was so amazed by the pair that initially I forgot what I wanted to talk about. When Catty came up to me and reached out to clasp my hands asking “James, what’s the matter?” it all came back to me.

“I don’t know how long they’re going to let me stay, but I think I’m in big trouble. The karyotype thing they were talking about. Evidently my genes could have been male or female early in my development. We’re talking blastocyst stage of development. And they, well, they said they’ve corrected that problem. They’re going to change me into a woman. No, that’s not right, they’ve already given me the treatment and say that it will be done in a couple hours. I just have an antibiotic and some counseling left. Guys, you have to help me. I’m all for blending into this society, but I don’t want to be a woman!”

As I was talking, I saw Atticus’ eyes flick from mine to my hair and knew that it was already happening. Reaching up for my previously short, cropped hair I felt it already flowing down to my shoulders. Looking down at my hands being held by Dr. Rodriguez’s I could see that our hands were now the same size and shape. The large red birthmark I’d had between my thumb and index finger on my right hand was gone, leaving behind smooth pale white skin. When I looked back to Dr. Rodriguez’s eyes, I saw that for the first time ever I was looking right into her eyes, not down into them. We were the same height.

At that point, the door behind me opened up. Dr. Moore rushed up and pulled me into a hug. It felt so strange on so many levels. First, Dr. Moore wasn’t a physical guy. I think we’d only shook hands on a half dozen occasions and he might have clapped my shoulder in excitement once. We’d never ever hugged before. Second, his four extra inches in height should have made him just a touch taller than me. He now towered over me and easily enveloped me in his thick strong arms. And finally, there was the sensation of the small pillows between us. My new breasts pushing into his hard chest. “Don’t worry James. We’ll get this fixed. I promise you, I’ll take care of it!”

The man stepping in was the same that had brought me here earlier. “Okay folks, I need to get this new young lady back to finish up. It shouldn’t be more than an hour or so. And please, as the last counselor said, the two of you are welcome to take advantage of the time and privacy. Use those new bodies and get to work on making a baby!”

When Atticus let go of me, I looked into his and Catty’s eyes and saw… embarrassment? Looking over to the side of the room I could see what they were clearly trying to avoid looking at. A bed with rumpled sheets.

The man’s gentle touch on my arm turned me toward and out of the door, heading back to what I now thought of as the interview and treatment room. “I see your body is taking well to the changes. You’re going to turn out like most Coalition woman and be quite fetching. You’ll have no problem finding men to mate with!”

My mind continued to race faster and faster as my heart rate tried to catch up to its hectic pace. Doctors Moore and Rodriguez were beautiful, idealized people. They seemingly were being encouraged to have sex while they waited for me. Seemingly HAD had sex while waiting for me. I was being changed into a woman and everyone seemed to think I would be beautiful. Who would find it easy to mate. I was going to be expected to have sex. With men. Soon.

Where the man had seemed so gracious and kind before, he came across almost shy when he asked “You know, when we’re done here, I’ll be doing your final physical checkup before delivering you back to your friends. I know you’ll have your choice but if you want to have sex with me as your first, I can arrange that before we return to your friends.”

My legs felt like rubber as the world grew black and I fell forward, passing out.