Chapter Six: Poolside Palaver by Tina Semanas Athan’s place was outrageous! Modeled in a late 20th century Tudor design, his house included lavish exotic gardens, 20 acres of rolling green lawns dotted with towering pines, a par three golf hole with an adjacent sand trap, and Beck’s favorite, an outdoor infinity pool spilling into a bubbling hot tub. It was everything she dreamed of. Where did Athan get the money for this? Oh how badly she wanted it all! She could taste the extravagance. This was nothing like the spartan living quarters she had with Lacy. This was a palace... dripping with prestige and money! Athan came out to the back patio through a sliding glass door carrying a tray of champagne. Two crystal flutes of white bubbly were already poured. “So Babe, how do you like it? Could you get use to this?” Beck was torn, this opulence was pulling at her soul, but she knew the only way to have it all to herself was to hurt the man who has been so kind. Athan was the perfect gentleman on the honeymoon, the sensitive friend on the plane ride home as he helped Beck nurse through a bout of nausea, and the benevolent spouse offering her an equal share of all this? She turned to him and with a shy smile said, “Yes, of course.” They both sat down on soft poolside loungers as Athan raised a glass to toast, “To Us!” The glasses clinked and then Beck took a long slow sip allowing the cool liquid time to soothe her throat. Taking in all the beauty she wondered to herself, “How was she going to wreck this marriage?” She didn’t want to tonight, it was still so perfect, she wanted to enjoy another moment with Athan -- he was so easy to be with. As she took her second sip a small pad on the table buzzed letting them both know the real world was just a call away. Athan looked at the number and asked, “Do you know anyone with a 440 area code? It reads ‘M. Sanger something or other?’ Where is that?” Beck snapped back, “Athan I already told you all about this! It is my old apartment and more than likely Lacy is pissed off at me about something stupid like she always is.” “Oh boy?” Athan rolled his eyes knowing her relationship with her ex-partner Lacy was still a toxic mess. “What does she want this time?” Motioning for silence with her hand, Beck walked further out on the patio and picked up the flat phone, “I have to answer this.” He raised his glass with a smile lifting another toast to her in the air, right before he gulped down the rest of his drink. Beck in a low direct tone with her back to Athan said, “What do you want now?” On the speaker you could hear deep breathing and guttural sounds, Lacy was unhinged, “First off you Dowager whore, you can get all of your crap out of my apartment; and you still owe me for court damages and three years rent!” Beck knew how to get under Lacy’s skin, and with a small irritating chuckle she replied, “Slow down Lacy dear, sounds like you have been shooting up more of that black market T-strain again? Last time you did that you needed three weeks of detox in a Termagant rubber room. You O.k? Or do you want me to call your ex-parole officer again? Remember what rage will do to you?” “Arrrrggggghhhh!” Lacy’s primal yell blasted out from the phone’s speaker. Beck also heard glass shatter in the background while she was screaming at someone named Ara or Zara to go to her room...she wasn’t quite sure? Twisting her acid words deeper, Beck continued, “You sound terrible honey...I’m calling your NWP patrol agent to check in on you.” “No, no, no! Don't do that B, just get over here and clean everything up. I have been forced to take another roomy and I need all memories of you gone from this place. You hear me?” Lacy was red hot! “Wait, what did you say? You have a new roommate? I thought you were done with hook-ups and companionships? Don't tell me you are with that stupid workout partner Chaz again? Or is it Spaz?” “Stop it Beck, you know when I say I’m done, I’m done! No, I have a 12 year old priss living with me, and she happens to be my niece. You remember Dia? It’s her kid.” Lacy’s voice seem to mellow the more she talked. “Just get your stuff and I won't bug you again. And Beck, I really need that money. I thought you said you were going to play this guy Athan for a fool, drop him really quick and take all his money? You said you were an expert manipulator? Well, start putting it to use! You better get it done soon or I will have my personal Vitup waiting with papers for you. C’mon, I want to be civil about this, let's just settle our differences and you will be done with me for ever.” Beck went silent for half a minute to think. “Lacy’s niece? Legal papers? I do need to get Lacy off my back because legally I signed the joint papers to that place. Her Vitup is a shrew and she knows how to win cases before the magistrate. Wow, how do I even begin to get Athan to hate me?” “Beck, you there? I need an answer? And don't try to play me, I know you better than you think and your Dowager charms don't work here. I expect an answer in two days!” The speaker clicked off and Beck stood there for a long time staring out in the distance. Arms folded, Beck was lost in thought. “Hey Beck, you O.k.?” Athan was standing right behind her holding her glass of half drunk champagne. “You look troubled?” “No, it’s nothing. Lacy is shooting up more Testosterone again. She has to keep that masculine image thing going.” Beck took the drink and chugged it down quickly motioning for a refill with her glass. Athan looked worried, “Beck, that woman is dangerous! I saw how she would punch people square in the face when they simply wanted your autograph. And if those shots she is injecting are the new T-strain ... That is not good! Two of my top chemists have explained how they actually cause enzyme mutation, it screws with your chromosomes. That can make a person clinically insane off the first hit.” “Don't worry Athan,” Beck laughing off his concern, “I know how to handle her. Hey, let's open another bottle and try out your, I mean our hot tub tonight. It may be our last night to enjoy it?” Athan with a queer grin replied, “What do you mean our last night? Even though we are home now, the honeymoon doesn’t have to end?” Responding quickly Beck replied back, “I know, it’s just I have a big project at work the next few months. I have been invited to be one of the top vloggers for this year’s Vanity Night and the Selfie Awards, and you know how caught up I can get in my work? You’re lucky, even though The Sister’s shut down your laboratories and production plants, they sure did compensate you well. You get to do nothing for the rest of your life - - you own all this and never have to work again. You’ve got it made!” “Beck, I told you, money's not everything and I don't want to hear about the magnificence of The Sisters. They are a brood of vipers! They stole from me my livelihood, three generations of our family’s work, my father has been exiled, and now you are all I have left. I told you, just quit your job and we can forget the world, be free of the iron grip of The Sisters, and get lost traveling. Just think, you can ski to your heart's desire? You should see France this time of year: Ski in the Alps all day, drive south for three hours and you are on the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean.” Athan swallowed down hard the rest of his champagne trying to quench his obvious bitterness toward the system he loathed. Beck putting her finger over his mouth, “Athan, be quiet! What if the NWP monitoring devices picked up your anarchist comments? You could be exiled yourself!” “They wouldn’t dare - - they still need my mind to even understand the new patents, genetic algorithms and formulas our company designed. Could you imagine the chaos if I was exiled? I’m not stupid Beck, I still know how to play the game while keeping my behind safe. I can feign male subordination better than anyone… that is where my father messed up. He had to be ‘The Man’.” Athan reached over and filled her glass, “Here, drink up and let's stop talking about those five wenches, they have already ruined my life as is!” Beck snuggled in close flicking his nose with her index finger playfully, “Athan, aren’t I enough to make you forget? Cheers again, ‘To Us!’” ------------------------------------------------ “Wake up! You mute blank, wake it up!” Drew’s eyelids felt like heavy pieces of lead as he tried prying them open. All was still so blurry, a faint light was directed into his eyes. “C’mon pretty boy, you can do it, open up!” Drew concentrated on the voice and as his vision cleared up, a face with two black eyes was staring back at him. After a minute Drew saw clearly his nurse was a Plastic; not only was this person wearing black contacts that gave them an otherworldly look, but their skull was ribbed with at least ten subdermal implants complete with two horns jutting out from both temples. Was this a lizard or a man? “Stunning, aren’t I?” The lisping attendant said revealing a set of fanged teeth and a cloven tongue. “I am affectionately known as Beelzebub, you can call me Bee.” Drew still groggy, slurred out a thick tongued question, “Where am I? And why can’t I move my arms or legs?” “Oh, no worries pretty...you are in a full body traction. Those NWP thugs really beat you to a pulp: 3 broken ribs, a smashed pelvis, 2 fractures in your left forearm, a fracture in your left femur, and they sure did a whooping-up on your head! You must have been a naughty, naughty boy? It is fantastic that your body didn’t fully shut down into a coma state. You are amazing us all! Now we are trying to get you fully conscious so we know what to do with you...as of now you are a blank canvas.” Drew faintly remembered the beating he sustained, all he recalls was the sick laughter and glee expressed before the stun stick or a booted foot came down to smash and pound his body again and again. “Bee, what did you say? I’m a blank what?” “Oh, here in our body transformation department we consider every client, or subject the NWP brings to us, as a blank artistic canvas. From this point on you can be whoever or whatever you want to be!” Bee seemed to say more with zis delicate hands adding to the heightened expression of zis tone. “In their foresight and benevolence, The Sisters believe every person must choose for themselves who or what they want to become, and this is the place where all the magic happens!” Drew was confused. Maybe, he thought, he just wasn’t able to process his thoughts properly, but he was sure Bee said you can become whatever you want. So he asked, “What do you mean by ‘you can be whatever you want’?” Bee moved in closer and with wide open eyes that enhanced even more the blackness of zis contacts, ze said, “Oh, the world is your oyster, as they used to say. You can stay your biological gender if you want, but that is so boring. We now have such cutting edge cellular expertise that if you choose to become the superior gender, hormone therapy only requires a year to fully bloom into a perfectly functioning woman.” Bee quickly walked over to get a large flat tablet with a slide show of touch screen pictures. Bee continued, “Look here, we also have over 100 options if you choose to become a Plastic. We offer standard skin whitening and even complete genital removal if you feel like you would be a more complete person as a non-binary. We are still experimenting on injecting chameleon genomes into skin cells so patients will have the ability to change pigment colors based on their surroundings or moods. But here is where it gets exciting, we also have mastered skeletal reshaping so your skull, legs, back bone, hands and feet can replicate a wide variety of animal types.” Looking into the wall mirror Bee skimmed zis fingers down the many bumps on his head saying, “And I choose the crocodile skink look, my home mentor bought me one of those beautiful lizards when I was a kid and I loved its look ever since. And now I am one!” Drew looked at the pictures of people who resembled rhinos, hippos, and even snakes. One man had four legs, another a long fully functioning tale. Drew remembered as a kid noticing his first view of a person with horns, but he never considered looking like this? Bee put zis hands on zis hips and asked, “So what will it be? We need to decide soon so we know how to fuse your bones? So many fun options!” Drew squeezed his eyes shut tight. This experience was a nightmare, it couldn’t be true. All he ever knew was living with Dia and Ara, being a kid, going to school, goofing around downstairs on the video pad. Now this? He again opened his eyes and cringing at Bee’s hideousness and said through hot tears, “I just want to be myself!” Bee looked disgusted, and the once sunny mood ze had changed to a fast storm,”You know what this means pretty? If you are staying a biological male, you have only one option seeing how you were brought here as a convicted criminal by the NWP? Regression Apps, Cleaning and shipped to the factories! Is that what you want?” Drew bit his tongue knowing that staying true to his biology was his only choice if he wanted to keep his sanity. He wondered to himself, “How could you ever want to be a Plastic? So hideous.” It was as if Bee could read Drew’s thoughts as ze bitterly said, “Suit yourself! If you want to live your life a slave to your biology fine, you could have been such a gorgeous Plastic too… so be it! I’ll let Doctor Dali know. Another fool to feed to The Sisters’ machine.” Bee opened up the morphine drip and Drew drifted back off into a dreamless, painless sleep. All he wanted to do is die. -------------------------------------------------------------- Phen’s mind was exploding, it never was more active and alive; but so too was his paranoia. He felt like eyes were watching him everywhere. The Xenon station had no effect - and the attendants had to know he was no longer responding? He could barely sleep in his bunk, staying awake thinking all night. The cameras had to register his tossing and turnings? And he was no longer suited for such mundane tasks. He couldn’t inspect another switch, gasket or diode. His required quotient had to be tapering off? Liam gave him his life back with those two blockers. Phen couldn’t continue as he was. But he didn’t know what to do? A month after his mind came alive Phen was stationed once again inspecting item by item by item. His morning routine on this particular day was like every other day. Phen was wearing a teal jumpsuit, he felt rather sleepy, fighting to subdue his wandering mind -- he knew sooner or later it was going to get him into trouble. Today was sooner. The muted buzz sounded, 12:25, time for lunch. The mindless male attendants dressed in drab gray came pushing cubes and squares. When Phen went to grab for his meal he looked up into a 16 year old boy's face. He knew that face, it couldn’t be? But it was. It was his son Drew.
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