CHANGE

The mobile phone’s alarm clock on the nightstand woke her up. The display showed the time and date – 8:00 am, Friday, the 12th of July 2093. Abigail sat up in her bed, still drowsy. Then in an instant, a wave of excitement washed through her, waking her up immediately. She got out of bed quickly. It was in fact surprising she got any sleep at all. Her first thought was of a cup of coffee of course. The smell of the brew on her mind, she started making her way to the kitchen.

Within a few steps however, she came to an abrupt stop.

Her own reflection in the large mirror of her bedroom caught her attention. Abigail examined her body in the mirror. Having slept in nothing but shorts, the outlines of her twenty-four years old body could be clearly seen. Abigail approached the mirror, rotating her torso left and right, inspecting.

There was nothing wrong with Abigail’s body, of course. A lean feminine physique, somewhat muscular for the average female body. As a police officer, Abigail needed to maintain a high level of physical fitness. Since her teenage years, Abigail had been visiting the gym regularly, as well as training in martial arts. She had also taken any nanite pill recommended by the doctors during her developmental years. It was only natural that her body would be well-built. There was no reason for it not to.

As Abigail lifted one hand to touch her breast, her gaze shifted from the breast to the hand itself. In spite of years of training, her muscle mass was not comparable to that of her male colleagues and training partners. Abigail liked her hand exactly the way it was – relatively strong and muscular for a young woman, yet completely feminine. Abigail liked being a woman. She liked her body.

Her female body however, was not good enough for what she wanted.

A female body was good enough for a police officer, of course. Even good enough for the more physically demanding positions in the armored corps or as a fighter pilot. But the army had a strict rule against accepting a female body type to the elite infantry units, like the one her father served in. A female body type was just too weak for the extreme physical demands of these units. In fact, even most men were not up to the task.

She kept inspecting herself in the mirror for a few seconds more, then forced herself away. Throwing on a tank top to cover her upper body in a swift motion as she continued on her way to the kitchen. The thought of a cup of coffee luring her. Or perhaps it was the notion of parting with her female body that pushed her away from the mirror.

On her way she passed by the dining table where all the recruitment forms were laid out. Among them were various forms related to her screening process, different medical forms, notification of acceptance into the elite infantry unit, and more. All neatly stacked, except for the top one which was slightly tilted. Abigail only gave it a quick side glance on her way to the coffee cup. Her thoughts were given to the subject anyway, so the sight of the form changed nothing.

The title was clearly visible: approval of an army-funded sex-changing nanite pill to a male body type.

In the past, many decades back – or at least that’s what her grandmother would always say, transitioning one’s sex was a messy business. In fact, the technology back then was so primitive that the “transition” was not a real transition at all. It was a superficial change at its core – consisting of a series of plastic surgeries, some dangerous, most of them painful. With the purpose of altering some of the most basic external features of the human body, to give either a male or female appearance. Coupled with the need to take external hormones on a daily basis. Most people that chose to go through the transition process back in those days, did not really resemble the sex that they tried transitioning to, of course. Male or female genetics have a profound effect on the human body during puberty. Muscle mass, skeletal structure, different hormone-producing glands around the body, among others.

It was ridiculous.

But that was a long time ago, before the giant leaps in nanotechnology during the twenty-first century. These days nanite technology was widespread and readily available. In fact, Abigail didn’t really need army funding for the pill. It was indeed costly, but still affordable by almost anyone. Amounting to approximately two weeks’ worth of the average salary. It was, after all, the most basic transitioning pill on the market – and the first to have been created.

The coffee was ready and Abigail took the first sip with sheer enjoyment, still standing in the kitchen in front of the water heating machine. For a brief moment, her lean, muscular female body stood there like a marble statue in between the dirty dishes and cutlery. Turning away towards the living room, she snatched the form from the top of the pile on her way to the couch. Abigail sat down, with one long, toned leg bent towards her chest, and the other stretched across the couch. One hand holding the coffee cup while the other, elbow over knee, held the form high up so Abigail could read it. Not that she needed to, having read every word of it so many times by now she knew it by heart.

Transitioning the human body between sexes was the most straightforward change process. All that was required really was to go through each and every cell in the body, changing the genetic code of only one chromosome. Muscle mass would have to be altered, along with some skeletal structure features and the function of certain hormone-producing glands. For the nanites – nano-robots that had been specifically designed and programmed to produce a specific change in the body – it was a simple task. The process lasted about six months. The nanites could self-replicate as needed, and reach every body tissue through the bloodstream. There would have been no need for the dreaded surgeon’s knife. When the process had finished, the nanites would self-destruct and exit the body through the urinal and fecal secretions.

Indeed, a relatively simple matter.

The more expensive pills triggered far more extreme changes in the body that went well beyond the typical human form. For instance, one could opt for a skin that was entirely hairless, or for that matter skin in almost any imaginable color, shade, or pattern. The same was true for the human eye. Both of these were not limited to the colors or patterns that humanity had known for millennia. Red, green blue – or any combination thereof. Shiny silver or glittering gold skin were known, and many more. There were pills that could render the body completely androgynous, with neither male nor female features. Or anything in between. The possibilities were endless: fur, fangs, claws, pointy ears or a tail were all within reach. Wings, though not capable of true flight, could be grown. The nanite pills could transform a person into a mystical beast in appearance, or some other human-animal hybrid. There was even one pill that would grow a horse’s backside – giving one a centaur’s look.

In theory it was always possible to go back – just another pill and the nanites would revert the body back to its original form. But these extreme pills, unlike their simple sex-transitioning counterparts, carried a higher risk factor with them. Often ending in disaster, or a change that was hard to reverse.

Abigail did not like this madness at all, it was utterly distasteful in her eyes. Most people steered clear of such things, but there were those who were obsessed with it. Trans-humans they called themselves, and Abigail knew them very well as part of her work as a police officer. Many people were disgusted by the idea of such drastic changes. Repulsed by the notion of human beings walking around in the streets looking like monsters. As a result, there were many cases of violence and discrimination. Most landlords would not rent a flat to these types. Family members often rejected and stayed away from their trans-human kin. So they tended to congregate in their own communities. Communities of extreme poverty and squalor were usage of some of the worst known drugs was commonplace.

Each month Abigail would find herself in at least one homicide, suicide, or death by overdose scene of some trans-human person in one of these troubled areas of the city. In spite of her personal aversion, Abigail would always perform her duties to the utmost. As a police officer, it was her job to protect all citizens, no matter what whacky nanite pill they chose to take. Abigail had always taken her job very seriously.

The sudden ringing of her mobile phone interrupted her train of thought. She sprung to the table, looking at the small screen – it was her sister. A smile immediately came up on Abigail’s face as she put the earpiece in her ear.

“Dana?” said Abigail.

Abigail’s younger sister was perhaps the most appropriate person she could talk to right now. Or maybe the least. This was due to the fact that Abigail’s sister wasn’t born as her little sister, but rather as her little brother.

When her little brother was born, their parents named him Dan. But Dan was born with a very rare syndrome known as Gender Dysphoria. Dan hated his male body. He had always felt as a little girl trapped inside a little boy’s body. That was the state of things when they were growing up, Abigail was always keenly aware. At the age of fifteen Dan chose to change his sex to female. Their parents bought him a nanite pill, and Dan changed his name to Dana.

Abigail always loved her little brother dearly, who was now her little sister. Always very protective of him. Fully aware of Dan’s feelings towards his own body as they were growing up, the change was no surprise to her, feeling rather natural in fact. The thought of now having a younger sister made her happy. Although, in some respects that had always been the case.

Dana, on the other hand, had an older sister. An older sister experienced with life inside a woman’s body. An older sister that could teach Dana everything she needed to know about her new female body. From menstruation to the looks from men. It was Abigail that Dana could talk to about anything and everything. They were best friends, same as when they were growing up, back when Dana was still Abigail’s little brother.

“So, police officer, had you made up your mind yet? Are you going through with it?”

Dana always teased her older sister with the nickname “police officer”. It did not bother Abigail of course. Nothing her little sister said or did could ever bother Abigail. Whatever teasing there was, Abigail always knew was from a place of affection. And besides, it was her little sister, the one she had always been protective of. The title of “police officer” seemed very fitting in Dana’s eyes – Abigail being that strong figure from her point of view, the one who was always looking out for her. A tomboyish character who did not hesitate not even for a fraction of a second before jumping in to defend her little brother from bullies in school. Wrestling fearlessly with the bigger boys if they ever threatened her younger brother.

“It’s not that simple, Dana.” Smiled Abigail lovingly.

“Oh, come on police officer!” Abigail could sense the teasing smile from the other side of the earpiece. “It is very simple. You swallow a pill and then go to sleep. You’ll feel the change starting in the next two weeks. Slowly at first, and then at a faster pace. How could something like this be anything but simple for such a big and strong police officer?”

That was the heart of it. Dana hated her male body, she wanted the change. Dana wanted to become a woman. But Abigail had no desire of becoming a man. Abigail liked her female body just as it was. She enjoyed sexual intercourse using her female body. It was not known whether or not her sexual orientation would change as a result of the transition. She might continue being attracted to men, or she might find herself attracted to women. Or she could find herself interested in having sex with both men and women. But none of that was the point. Abigail had only ever known the sexual act from inside a female body, using female genitalia. As the large muscular men who were her sexual taste and with which she’d go on dates with, would penetrate into her body. That’s what she enjoyed, and she had absolutely no desire to change that. The thought of the roles being reversed, of penetrating another human being during the sexual act seemed repulsive to her. Again, she cast aside the thought out of her head.

“Are you still there, police officer?” asked Dana.