Chapter 12: Close Call

The Engineering Officer Karl Zpender was now a little girl named Karla. The Assistant Engineer Vernon Davidson was a girl named Veronica. Gunnery Officer Ida Langjon remained Ida when she became female. Gunner Howard Oater became Stella. And First Officer Walter Peeks became Molly. Along with the former Captain Barnes (Justine) and Medical Officer Gates (Brandi), the entire human crew including me was in school together. It was the first time we had been together since that breakfast for thirty-two. Fawn was our tutor and was conducting the class. Usually we'd simply sit in a learning carrel for hours at a time. This was more like a traditional class: seven naked girls sitting in a circle with a naked boy while a naked woman led a discussion.

I didn't know why the nine of us sported identical hair styles—even Fawn had her hair died black and cut with bangs at eyebrow level and the rest cropped at ear lobe level. Fawn was taller than the rest of us, and the tattoos differed. The discussion today was on family groups in Paxlyn Domain.

"We live long lives here," Fawn lectured. "I am still a young 547 years. The most senior citizens in Paxlyn Domain are more than two thousand years old. Death is a rare event that sometimes happens by accident. When a citizen grows weary of life, she is usually age regressed and that fixes the problem, but there is the rare instance when she manages to terminate her own life before we can intervene."

Wow. Thousands of years. I was wrong about ages. Why weren't these people smarter if they were so experienced? It wasn't a question I wanted to ask in front of the other ex-crew of the Futile Gesture. I've been through leadership schools. Undercutting those in charge of me was a bad idea, not just because it would irritate my seniors, but diminishing my seniors also diminished my 'authority.'

Fawn described how adult women lived either in dormitories or paired up and got assigned an apartment with each other. 'True Love' could only exist between two women, Fawn explained. There were two models for those newly-age regressed girls. Most lived in a junior dormitory. Those requiring special attention were assigned to a couple who had been trained to provided the attention needed to convicted criminals, to the mentally ill, to medical emergency cases.

We eight ex-crew were special cases, just in case it wasn't obvious.

"Sex between women is state policy," Fawn added how girls undergoing secondary education were required to undergo counseling, keep a sexual activity log, and if the girl wasn't sexually active enough, she would be re-evaluated. Governments! Mandate. Prohibit. Both mandate and prohibit! All for a fantasy they call 'control.' The more I learn about human societies, the more I like Vix society—even if the latter is savage and brutal.

"The odd girl out is Nolan," Fawn pointed at me. "Everybody born during the last thousand years started out female. Only girls are born here. We do have some immigrants, such as you eight, but they all are age regressed and get a new start as a female. After growing up female and living several decades as female, after becoming part of Paxlyn Domain society, should you decide to become male again, you have to grow up again—this time as a boy. Council determined that Nolan was going to grow up male and that is that.

"You seven girls get something that isn't normal—you get to have sex with a boy," Fawn sighed. "Nolan was my first boy. Five of you girls were homosexual males, and the other two occasionally had sex with males. It was decided that Nolan would have sex with you a few times a month."

I had only one reservation about being pimped out. I feared that I wasn't going to give satisfaction to everybody. So many women, so little time...

"High, people!" The new voice belonged to the last person I expected to crash our party—Matilda Holt of Topix Today. I recognized the voice, but she was naked and wearing the same black pageboy hair cut as we nine wore. When she had been dressed, her breast looked bigger—they were larger than Fawns but still small and perky—if I am making any sense. "I'm going to be living with Nolan for the next ninety days."

Okay, I thought to myself, this is strange. I picked up fear and distaste from Matilda, the same emotions she tried and failed to hide during the interview. Ninety days? I could quietly observe and ask my own questions at a more opportune time. I was in class at the moment and my attention was supposed to be on my teacher, Fawn.

"Matilda, don't omit," Fawn's words caused Matilda's plastic expression to slip. "You can tell Nolan that your interview with him almost resulted in you being fired. If your fans had their way, they would have sentenced you to regression for the shabby way you treated Nolan. You can also tell Nolan that the Vix refused to allow you to interview them, but your probation served with Mother Regina would be grounds to reconsider. You are the hottest host on Paxlyn Domain, Matilda, and Nolan is the hottest guest you ever had. You had the largest audience ever. People used influence to be in your studio audience. It was the interview of a lifetime and you failed."