X Change

X-Change

By Zeta

A prequel to the Zax Trilogy

Copyright 2024 by Zeta

All rights reserved

This story may be freely distributed in electronic form but must include this copyright.

X-Change is a work for pure fiction and all locales, names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or living persons is entirely coincidental

Translators Note

This translation was undertaken as part of a thesis on archaic languages. The archaic period selected is the 21^th century, as measured using pre-modern reckoning. The particular dialect chosen is the American version of English, as spoken and written during the period approximately 50 standard years either side of that millennium. Modern names and terms have been, where possible, translated into their archaic equivalents. Names and terms without equivalents have been assigned archaic expressions that (would have) provided an accurate linguistic description (in the translator's opinion) to individuals of that era. Fortunately, the text contains only minimal usage and discussions of modern devices and methods, greatly simplifying the translator's task in this area. As such, it is the firm belief of the translator that a native speaker of the chosen archaic era would readily understand and grasp, in its entirety, the resulting narrative contained in the text. Furthermore, the physical environment and social customs depicted are essentially timeless and, could, with minor adjustments to the technological instruments employed, have occurred in any era. In short (and using the archaic vernacular) the text is not a work of science fiction.

The translator would like to thank her advisor as well as the tireless work of her editor and the toleration of her friends and companions during the execution of this work. She would also like to thank the few existing readers of archaic languages for keeping the past alive and especially those who may encounter this text and take the time to read it. It is you few whom this text is dedicated, for you are surrogates to what unfortunately must remain a true science fiction fantasy: a reader from the pre-modern archaic era.

Zeta

North American Federation, 2410

"A mind not to be changed by place or time.

The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."

― John Milton, Paradise Lost

"When you have a plan put it into action instantly. Don't let it lie around and get stale and have other people start thinking about it themselves."

― Harry Harrison, The Stainless Steel Rat

"By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes."

Shakespeare , Macbeth

Prolog

Doctor Nina Venkatesan looked out the window of the transport at the ground eight miles below. Desert. Although she was traveling at over 1000 miles per hour there was no sense of motion. The desert stood still below her frozen in place, unchanging. Nina sighed and closed her eyes. Two hours ago, she had been asleep, dreaming, warm and comfortable in her bed. That's when the message came. A rude and persistent ping that pulled her out of her dream and her bed.

"Yes?" she had answered, annoyed, still half-asleep.

"The Governor wants to see you" said Grace Clark, Dean of the Genetic Sciences division at the University, and Nina's boss.

"At his hour?" said Nina looking at the time. 2:31AM. "Can't it wait till morning? It's 2AM for goodness sake Grace and I told Sidney yesterday that I would have the funding figures for her on..."

"Not the college governor" interrupted Grace. "The Governor."

Nina looked at Grace, nonplussed, her straight short black hair falling across her face, partially obscuring her dark eyes.

"The Governor?" she parroted.

"Yes, Amelia Wu," said Grace. "A transport will be here within the hour to take you to New Washington."

"What?" blurted Nina. "Why would Amelia Wu want to see me?"

Not that she could refuse a summons from the Governor; the idea of doing so never even entered Nina's mind. Given the current political climate, such a refusal was unthinkable. If Amelia Wu called, you came. What surprised Nina was that Amelia Wu would want to see her. After all she was only an academic and Nina was surprised that the Governor even knew she existed, little lone would summon her. And to New Washington no less!

"There's been some sort of flap and apparently your name came up. Something to do with the Gender Crisis. They were purposely vague. I guess you'll find out when you get there."

Now an hour into the flight Nina was wide awake. The Gender Crisis. That was a blackeye on everyone in her field. Nina had been a postdoc at the time of the Plague which had wiped out well over 90% of the male population. Too much tinkering too quickly. Not that this second attempt at improving the human condition was unjustified.

The first attempt in modifying the human genome at the end of the 21^st Century had been a great triumph of science, eliminating disease and greatly extending human lifespan. Unfortunately, it had been accompanied by the equally great ecological disaster of losing the atmosphere to human introduced CO₂. After decades of ignoring the repeated warnings from Earth's climate scientists, the world found itself in crisis again. Twenty-Eighty-Four, or 20/84 as it was commonly abbreviated, was the year when everything changed. Massive super-storms followed two decades of drought causing world-wide coastal flooding, large shifts in rainfall, and alternating heat waves and frigid blasts that decimated the surface of the planet resulting in famine, mass migration, and inevitably war.

After a tumultuous and deadly 50 standard years, the situation had been stabilized (at enormous cost in lives and treasure) followed by the inevitable recriminations. In a sense, it was the straw that had finally broken the proverbial camel's back. Too many aggressively disastrous decisions had been made by mostly male leadership. The entire population had been fed-up and all too eager for a quick fix. Nina's peers and future colleagues had been all too happy to provide another miracle solution. The genome was re-engineered to reduce male aggressiveness and social dominance. Unfortunately, in their haste the genetic engineers had overlooked some subtle but important structures in the complex DNA molecule leaving the male population vulnerable to some rare but particularly virulent virus mutations. When the Plague hit a decade later most of the male population was wiped out, literally overnight.

However, with a population in the billions even a few percent surviving left tens of millions of males. Although alarming, it hardly justified panic. With most pregnancies and deliveries now almost exclusively ex-utero, and an increasingly large lesbian population, the survival of the species was more than guaranteed, even with the drastically reduced male population.

What no one had foreseen was the social impact of the Plague. With women finally and almost exclusively in charge of the planet, the burdens of reproduction eliminated, and such a small male population, males had become largely irrelevant for most women. In addition, women chose increasingly to have female offspring further compounding the gender imbalance. This dramatically increased the proportion of females to males accelerating the social decline of males in society.

If all this was not bad enough, the Plague had genetically reversed the life expectancy gains for the surviving males. While a female could expect to live 200-300 standard years the average life expectancy of males had dropped to less than 100 and kept falling. Within less than 50 standard years, the male population had plunged to frighteningly low levels precipitating what had become known as the Gender Crisis. What had once been a population of billons had fallen to tens of millions and now to hundreds of thousands and all in well less than a century.

Exacerbating the problem was an overwhelming resistance by the female population to restore the male population to pre-crisis levels. Large numbers of males were no longer necessary to guarantee the survival of the species; science had made this possible and politics was making it essential. There were however practical issues and these worried Nina.

Entire cities with an exclusively female population were common. The male population was not only becoming non-existent in most places but increasingly concentrated in certain regions: the southern part of North America, the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, eastern China, southern Africa, and northern Europe. This was risky and Nina had written several papers on the social aspects of this topic. Concentrated populations led to lower genetic diversity and were at greater risk of being decimated or wiped out by natural disasters or plagues. Social isolation led to antisocial behavior which often erupted into violence.

All this was well known and Nina was far from an expert in such matters. Her expertise lay in a different area entirely: social and mental genetic engineering. Increasing mental acuity and social cohesiveness via genetic modification were her areas of specialty. She had won both praise and notoriety for her scientific work that helped facilitate the smooth and orderly social transition into a female led society after the Plague. She was a favorite on both the conference and Vid circuit and much sought after in both academia and industry.

So why did the Governor of North America want to talk to her about the Gender Crisis? As far as Nina was concerned it was chiefly a political problem and she was a scientist not a politician. What could she possibly contribute to the discussion that hadn't already been said? Far better minds than hers had already contemplated the problem and offered solutions both sound and practical. To make the situation even more perplexing, she had never met Amelia Wu and as far as Nina knew, Amelia Wu was unlikely to know little, if anything, about her. After all, despite her modest notoriety she was an academic, not a stateswoman.

Nina pondered all this, mulling over the possibilities, coming up blank or back to where she had started. Meanwhile, eight miles below her the landscape slowly changed from desert to swamp and then finally, after two more hours, suddenly to the high-density urban scape that was New Washington.

Upon landing, Nina was greeted by a security officer from the Governor's office. "Doctor Venkatesan?" said the tall athletic woman in a plain gray business suit.

"Yes" said Nina slightly taken aback by the woman's formality. Titles, with rare exception, were never used.

"If you will come with me, please" said the woman extending her arm towards the exit. "I have arranged transportation. We will be at the Governor's office in a few minutes."

Nina followed the tall woman feeling shorter than her 5 feet 2 inches merited. The Governor's security officer was well over six feet and Nina felt diminutive in comparison. Inside the transport the woman asked a few polite questions and then fell into silence. Nina knew better than to ask questions, so she looked out the window at the passing skyscrapers feeling even smaller.

Fifteen minutes later they were in the Governor's office on the 51^st floor. The view was quite spectacular and Nina stood transfixed while she waited to be ushered into Amelia Wu's presence. After about five minutes she was shown into a very large and well-appointed room with the official seal of the World Federation hanging prominently on the wall behind a large desk.

"Doctor Venkatesan" said Amelia Wu gesturing at an empty chair in front of her desk "please make yourself comfortable. I apologize for the short notice; I hope you were not too inconvenienced."

Nina sat down in the proffered chair and studied the Governor for a moment. Amelia Wu was short, stocky and muscular and without any feminine curves, just like her many images on the Net. Her dirty blonde hair was worn at shoulder length and framed a face with a pug nose and cheeky jowls. Her gray eyes were wide set and intelligent; her mouth large but thin-lipped. Nina was reminded of a bulldog: solid and powerful but somehow likeable despite her formidable appearance.

"Not at all" said Nina politely. "Just perplexed."

Amelia Wu smiled humorlessly and said "Yes, I also apologize for that. I detest melodrama but, in this case, it was necessary as you will soon find out. However, before we get started let me introduce my aide, Katrina Feltte and pointing , I believe you know Doctor Cora Cavendish."

"Yes" said Nina. "We have met several times at various conferences."

Cora Cavendish was the chief genetic scientist and lead researcher at Aurora, the largest genetic engineering company on Earth. This is where the tires met the road when it came to turning theory into reality. Cora and the company she worked for could do everything from changing your brown eyes to blue to re-sculpting your entire body, at least for a price.

Physically Cora was a very attractive woman: five-six with a trim slim figure that featured wide-hips and small but well-formed breasts. Red hair, green eyes, and an angular face that was accentuated by high cheekbones that radiated sensuality without being overstated.

Katrina Feltte was perhaps Cora's feminine antithesis. She was slightly shorter, curvy with large breasts and heavy legs. Although not fat, she was definitely voluptuous. Katrina wore her brown hair short, but not chopped and her face was round and pleasant but her eyes sparkled with an almost malevolent intelligence. Physically she was attractive but not beautiful; intellectually she was dangerous.

Nina nodded at both women and made a mental note to be cautious with Katrina. She then waited for Amelia Wu to continue.

Instead, Katrina spoke. "Yesterday there was another incident, this time in the Kansas area. A woman, Shelly Connor, was raped. Although not otherwise severely harmed physically, the incident was, needless to say, brutal and traumatic. The male responsible was apprehended and if found guilty, will be executed."

Nina frowned. Rape, murder, and other crimes involving extreme physical violence were punished by death. However, such crimes were extremely rare and Nina could not recall the last time she heard about someone being raped, not to mention murdered. If such an event were to occur it would certainly be all over the Net. Nina was therefore surprised by Katrina's remark.

"Another incident?" she said.

"Perhaps we should take a step back," said Amelia Wu. "The doctor clearly needs some background."

Katrina nodded and said "You've obviously heard about uber-males?"

"Yes" said Nina becoming confused. Genetic engineering had left most males quite docile and well mannered, even effeminate some might argue. However, any biological process was always subject to variation. In producing an improved male population, some individuals invariably end up far from the intended norm. Uber-males were such an example. Aggressive, hyperactive sexually, and atypically large and strong, they represented such a variation. This was not particularly remarkable or even surprising. Currently numbering about 10,000 total, they were a small portion of the overall remaining male population and Nina had never heard anything noteworthy about them and despite their physically intimidating characteristics, they appeared, as a group, to be well behaved. What they had to do with this meeting, she could only guess.

"Unfortunately, there have been several other incidents of this kind over the last three standard years" continued Katrina. "To date, at least five women have been raped. The males involved were all uber-males and have, of course, been executed."

Nina was shocked. Five rapes! That was incredible! Even more astounding was the fact that none of these crimes had made it onto the Net. Such sensational news would have flown around the world in seconds and been a Hotop for weeks if not months.

It was all quite unbelievable and Nina could not hide her skepticism. "How come this is not all over the Net?" she asked.

Katrina smiled grimly and said "Circumstances and luck. All of these crimes have occurred in areas where the remaining male population is concentrated; areas that interface by necessity with centers of commerce, the so-called border towns. The women involved have been...cooperative. In addition, the local authorities have acted swiftly and been reluctant to share details fearing negative publicity and a backlash against the males in their territory. The Federation has also stepped in putting gag orders in place, where necessary."

Nina frowned. So that was it. The World Federation had been heavy handed, again. Not that Nina did not see the necessity for such tactics occasionally. After 20/84 the world had been in chaos for decades and the Federation, which had emerged from the few remaining power centers, had been forced to use severe and sometimes extreme methods to restore order. Although the current situation was far from ideal, violence had been eliminated, economic prosperity restored, and the climate stabilized. The need however to suppress news, even harsh unpleasant news had passed, at least in Nina's mind.

"I'm sorry" apologized Nina "but I fail to see why the World Federation is so concerned about these crimes, terrible as they are."

"We are at a delicate moment in time" answered Amelia Wu. "Everyone is tired of violence and the problems associated with it. Especially male instigated violence. There is a sizeable constituency that has been advocating for the elimination of the entire remaining male population. It has been steadily gaining favor among women in general and within the government, in particular. Incidents such as Katrina has described could easily sway opinions with unfortunate consequences."

Nina nodded and said "But isn't this a problem that will solve itself if left alone? After all, most of the remaining male population will be gone within less than one-hundred standard years and the uber-males even sooner, as I am sure you are well aware. In fact, isn't the problem deciding how many males to preserve?"

Katrina sighed and said "You are thinking like a scientist Doctor Venkatesan. That is, rationally and unemotionally. Unfortunately, in politics, unlike science, emotions are much more persuasive than reason, and usually prove decisive despite the consequences."

Nina felt like an undergrad who had just provided the wrong answer in class. The cheeks of her chocolate-colored skin turned white and then pink as she flushed with embarrassment.

Amelia Wu came to her rescue. "The Federation is currently working on an agreement known internally as the Tiresias Compromise. It contains legislation that will establish reservations where (a still to be determined number of) males will live and be provided for. In addition, other legislation is in the works that will completely revise the current penal system. The Federation is moving away from extreme penalties in favor of more humane methods of deterrence. Negotiations are at a critical phase and we can ill afford to have any more incidents like the one yesterday. Eventually, the news will get out despite our best efforts. If that happens before negotiations are complete, the results could be disastrous."