"Well, no, not exactly. No. But you really ought to read the article. More people are doing it. I just thought we ought to be aware of it."
"Yeah, I've heard that," Jules conceded. He laced his hands behind his head. "No way to tell unless you've worked with them and suddenly one day they've got a new set of equipment." He laughed
"First time it was sort of hard for me to get used to. Now I hardly ever think about it."
"Me, either."
"They don't cause any problem," Jules said with an air of finality, "Live and let live."
"Yeah." Cleo smoked in silence for a time and let Jules get back to his reading, but she still felt uncomfortable. "Jules?"
"What is it now?"
"Don't you ever wonder what it would be like?"
He sighed and closed his book, then turned to face her.
"I don't quite understand you tonight," he said.
"Well, maybe I don't either, but we could talk—"
"Listen. Have you thought about what it would do to the kids? I mean, even if I was willing to seriously consider it, which I'm not."
"I talked to Lilli about that. Just theoretically, you understand. She said she had two teachers who changed, and one of her best friends used to be a boy. There's quite a few kids at school who've changed. She takes it in stride."
"Yes, but she's older. What about Paul? What would it do to his concept of himself as a young man?
I'll tell you, Cleo, in the back of my mind I keep thinking this business is a little sick. I feel it would have a bad effect on the children."
"Not according to—"
"Cleo, Cleo. Let's not get into an argument. Number one, I have no intention of getting a change, now or in the future. Two, if only one of us was changed, it would sure play hell with our sex life, wouldn't it? And three, I like you too much as you are." He leaned over and began to kiss her.
She was more than a little annoyed, but said nothing as his kisses became more intense. It was a damnably effective way of shutting off debate. And she could not stay angry: she was responding in spite of herself, easily, naturally.
It was as good as it always was with Jules. The ceiling, so familiar, once again became a calming blankness that absorbed her thoughts.
No, she had no complaints about being female, no sexual dissatisfactions. It was nothing as simple as that.
Afterward she lay on her side with her legs drawn up, her knees together. She faced Jules, who absently stroked her leg with one hand. Her eyes were closed, but she was not sleepy. She was savoring the warmth she cherished so much after sex; the slipperiness between her legs, holding his semen inside.
She felt the bed move as he shifted his weight.
"You did make it, didn't you?"
She opened one eye enough to squint at him.
"Of course I did. I always do. You know I never have any trouble in that direction."
He relaxed back onto the pillow. "I'm sorry for... well, for springing on you like that."
"It's okay. It was nice."
"I had just thought you might have been... faking it. I'm not sure why I would think that."
She opened the other eye and patted him gently on the cheek.
"Jules, I'd never be that protective of your poor ego. If you don't satisfy me, I promise you'll be the second to know."
He chuckled, then turned on his side to kiss her.
"Good night, babe."
"G'night."
She loved him. He loved her. Their sex life was good—with the slight mental reservation that he always seemed to initiate it—and she was happy with her body.
So why was she still awake three hours later?
Shopping took a few hours on the vidphone Saturday morning. Cleo bought the household necessities for delivery that afternoon, then left the house to do the shopping she fancied: going from store to store, looking at things she didn't really need.
Feather was with Jules on Saturdays. She savored a quiet lunch alone at a table in the park plaza, then found herself walking down Brazil Avenue in the heart of the medical district. On impulse, she stepped into the New Heredity Body Salon.
It was only after she was inside that she admitted to herself she had spent most of the morning arranging for the impulse.
She was on edge as she was taken down a hallway to a consulting room, and had to force a smile for the handsome young man behind the desk. She sat, put her packages on the floor, and folded her hands in her lap. He asked what he could do for her.
"I'm not actually here for any work," she said. "I wanted to look into the costs, and maybe learn a little more about the procedures involved in changing."
He nodded understandingly, and got up.
"There's no charge for the initial consultation," he said. "We're happy to answer your questions. By the way, I'm Marion, spelled with an 'O' this month." He smiled at her and motioned for her to follow him. He stood her in front of a full-length mirror mounted on the wall.
"I know it's hard to make that first step. It was hard for me, and I do it for a living. So we've arranged this demonstration that won't cost you anything, either in money or worry. It's a nonthreatening way to see some of what it's all about, but it might startle you a little, so be prepared." He touched a button in the wall beside the mirror, and Cleo saw her clothes fade away. She realized it was not really a mirror, but a holographic screen linked to a computer.
The computer introduced changes in the image. In thirty seconds she faced a male stranger. There was no doubt the face was her own, but it was more angular, perhaps a little larger in its underlying bony structure. The skin on the stranger's jaw was rough, as if it needed shaving.
The rest of the body was as she might expect, though overly muscled for her tastes. She did little more than glance at the penis; somehow that didn't seem to matter so much. She spent more time studying the hair on the chest, the tiny nipples, and the ridges that had appeared on the hands and feet. The image mimicked her every movement.
"Why all the brawn?" she asked Marion. "If you're trying to sell me on this, you've taken the wrong approach."
Marion punched some more buttons. "I didn't choose this image," he explained. "The computer takes what it sees, and extrapolates. You're more muscular than the average woman. You probably exercise. This is what a comparable amount of training would have produced with male hormones to fix nitrogen in the muscles. But we're not bound by that."
The image lost about eight kilos of mass, mostly in the shoulders and thighs. Cleo felt a little more comfortable, but still missed the smoothness she was accustomed to seeing in her mirror.
She turned from the display and went back to her chair. Marion sat across from her and folded his hands on the desk.
"Basically, what we do is produce a cloned body from one of your own cells. Through a process called Y-Recombinant Viral Substitution we remove one of your X chromosomes and replace it with a Y.
"The clone is forced to maturity in the usual way, which takes about six months. After that, it's just a simple non-rejection-hazard brain transplant. You walk in as a woman, and leave an hour later as a man. Easy as that."
Cleo said nothing, wondering again what she was doing here.
"From there we can modify the body. We can make you taller or shorter, rearrange your face, virtually anything you like." He raised his eyebrows, then smiled ruefully and spread his hands.
"All right, Ms. King," he said. "I'm not trying to pressure you. You'll need to think about it. In the meantime, there's a process that would cost you very little, and might be just the thing to let you test the waters. Am I right in thinking your husband opposes this?"
She nodded, and he looked sympathetic.
"Not uncommon, not uncommon at all," he assured her. "It brings out castration fears in men who didn't even suspect they had them. Of course, we do nothing of the sort. His male body would be kept in a tank, ready for him to move back into whenever he wanted to."