Daughters of Demeter

Our last full day on Rolandan-2 was fairly quiet. Or at least it was for us. The shipyard staff were still doing some work on the exterior of the ship, mostly at the back around the main engines.

Inside we had everything pretty much ready to go. The starboard crew cabin was clean and tidy, ready for our passenger slash patient to arrive. I also made sure the lounge area was clean, along with the mess and galley.

In the afternoon the three of us took another trip into the city together, the boss bought some supplies so I'd have quality ingredients to work with for a few days. She didn't come out and say it but I got the feeling she wanted to impress Mel with my cooking.

Finally we got a nice meal in the city, before returning to the ship. Then Sarah and I stowed the grav-sled so we'd be ready to go in the morning, as soon as we got clearance.

That process was even easier than before since Mel's people installed some proper clamps to secure the grav-sled on its shelf. They even wired the clamps into the hoist controls, so Sarah didn't have to crawl out on the self to secure the craft manually anymore.

By that point the shipyard people had finished the last of their work, they had the cowling and hull plates back in place over the engines and the ship looked like it was good to go.

I was planning to stay up that night with Rebecca to help when Mel came aboard, as the ship's medic I sort of viewed it as taking responsibility of a patient we'd be transporting. The boss vetoed that however. She wanted it done quietly, and with as few people involved as possible. So just herself, Mel, and Helen probably.

That meant I didn't get a chance to see or speak to Mel until the morning of our planned departure, when we all met in the mess for breakfast.

Neither Sarah or myself had bothered to put on anything special when we left our cabin, I was just wearing a nightshirt while she was in a tight tee and panties. Not that we forgot Mel was with us, but it might have slipped our minds that we were supposed to be more presentable with a passenger on board.

When we entered the mess and saw what the others were wearing I felt my cheeks going red. Rebecca was fully dressed in her typical 'business' outfit, and Jenny was wearing slacks and a blouse. Mel was more casual, in loose trousers and a buttoned shirt.

Sarah took it all in stride, she just bid the others a good morning then got coffee for the two of us.

I greeted the others as well, then started preparing a nice breakfast for everyone. We didn't really get into any serious conversation until I had the food ready and served.

"Helen's going to drop by in about an hour or two," Rebecca announced. "She'll go over the repairs and maintenance with me, let me know if there's anything they came across we need to be aware of, that sort of thing. We'll handle the payment at that point too, then assuming everything's good and we're clear, we'll be ready to take off not long after that."

Sarah asked, "As the ship's engineer should I be in on that meeting? I'd like to know what sort of work they did on the engines, rather than be surprised by something once we're in flight."

The boss nodded, "Sure you can be there for that."

"There shouldn't be any surprises," Mel said. "Even if I haven't been at the shipyard, I've been monitoring the daily reports from home."

He'd been fairly quiet up till that point, and I was positive he was dealing with some nerves or anxiety. I figured it was probably just an unusual situation for him regardless, having breakfast surrounded by four attractive young women. And back to the nerves and anxiety, he was probably thinking about how sometime soon he'd be the fifth attractive young woman joining us at the table.

"Thanks Mel," Rebecca replied. "That's good to know."

After a sip of coffee she suggested, "Sarah and I will handle things with Helen down in the main hold. While we're doing that, you can wait here or in the lounge with Amanda and Jenny. I'm sure they'll be happy to talk with you, to answer any questions you have."

Mel thanked her, then glanced at me and Jenny before nodding. He was definitely nervous, but doing a pretty good job to keep it under control.

There was some more idle talk as we all finished eating, but nothing too serious. We agreed not to actually go to Ecclestone's World and back. We still had to address the situation with Lebeau, but none of us wanted to worry about that while we were taking care of the captain's friend. Instead we'd just do a level zero jump around the Rolandan system for a few days.

Sarah and I took care of the dishes after everyone was finished, then she and Rebecca headed down to the lower deck to meet Helen. Meanwhile Jenny and I stayed in the mess with Mel.

I got him another cup of coffee, then asked, "Do you have any questions? Any concerns? Or anything else you'd like to talk about?"

He had a sip of his drink then grimaced, "I suppose it's an obvious one but I assume you've been through this process yourself?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Just once so far."

Mel asked a few more questions about my experiences, though he didn't ask anything too personal. And he had some questions for Jenny, about the technical side of things. The two of us did our best to answer, and we tried to make sure he wasn't too anxious about things.

Through the conversation the one thing he avoided asking or talking about was how this was going to change him. He didn't ask about my previous life, who or what I was, but I was positive he was curious. I knew Rebecca already told him about her past, but I wasn't sure if she told him how that change impacted her afterwards.

I finally decided to bring it up myself, since he was obviously avoiding it.

"One thing you haven't asked or mentioned yet Mel is how this is going to change things for you," I commented. "I mean above and beyond making you young and fit and healthy. I know you've put some thought into this, Helen told us you've already got a name picked out."

Mel grimaced and his cheeks even took on a faint blush. He sighed, "I've thought about it Amanda, but I honestly don't know what to expect or how I'll react. Rebecca told me it was a very difficult adjustment for her. She told me Jenny could help with that adjustment if I needed it."

After a brief hesitation he asked, "Did you have to go through that sort of adjustment yourself? What about Sarah?"

"You'll have to speak with Sarah yourself," I told him. "These are the sort of personal questions we can't answer for anyone else."

I continued, "As for my situation, it was similar in some ways, but opposite in others. Like Rebecca and yourself I was born with a masc body, but I'm trans. I was saving up to afford a medical procedure that would give me the feminine body I needed. Jenny's Re/Gen pod was a dream come true for me, it gave me so much more than I'd have ever got with conventional medicine. So my experience is basically the opposite? The body I was born with was uncomfortable and didn't fit me right, but Jenny fixed that."

He looked thoughtful as he commented, "The shipyard has had a couple trans employees over the years. One's still working for us now. I've never looked too closely at the medical side of that but I know the option exists, I've seen staff go through it."

"It can be an expensive process," I told him, "But maybe that's an option you could consider in the future? If your new circumstances cause you too much distress, that is."

Mel was quiet for a few seconds as he thought it over. He finally responded, "Our medical care can be expensive for offworlders, but it's usually free for citizens. Or if not free then very reasonable. Having said that, I've tried to come to terms with this solution. I may look at that option in the future, if I find that I'm unable to adjust to the new circumstances. But for now I think I'm as prepared as I can be, and I plan to do my best to make this work."

Jenny agreed, "That sounds like a good plan Mr. Lancaster. Like Rebecca said, I might be able to help you adjust if necessary. When the time comes, you and I will have a private consultation before we begin the process. I'll be in a better position to give you a thorough assessment once you're in my Re/Gen capsule, and we can determine the best course of action together."

"Thank you Jenny," Mel nodded.

I asked, "Have you decided when you want to do it? I don't mean to sound like I'm rushing you, but we've basically got three days. And from my experience the process takes half a day."

"Rebecca and I talked about that briefly last night," he replied. "She suggested we wait until the ship is in jump, then we should get it over with as soon as we're under way."

He grimaced and blushed slightly again as he added, "According to her, that will give me two and a half days to get used to things before we're back here."

"That's what I would have suggested as well," Jenny stated. "I think it's the most prudent course of action."

"Same," I agreed.

Mel was still grimacing as he commented, "So there's probably only a few hours left now..."

"Try and remain calm Mr. Lancaster," Jenny said in a reassuring voice. "We're all here for you."

He just nodded, but it was pretty obvious he was still uneasy.

Eventually Rebecca and Sarah both came up from the lower deck, the boss announced "Everything's done and squared away, the ship's sealed up. All that's left is to get clearance from the port controllers, and we'll be on our way."

She added, "Amanda would you get things prepped in the cockpit? And Sarah, you can start warming up the power plant and engines. I'm going to have a few words with Mel, then I'll join you up front."

"Aye-aye boss," Sarah replied as she turned and headed back towards the engine room. I acknowledged the captain as well, then headed forward to the cockpit.

I got settled into the co-pilot seat and started getting the Demeter ready to lift off. Displays came to life on the engineering console behind me as Sarah did the same at the other end of the ship.

About ten minutes later the captain arrived and took her seat next to me. She quietly looked over the controls and readouts as they all came to life.

"It's going to take me a little while to get used to how clean and neat everything is up here now," I commented. I had a bit of a smile on my face, between that and my tone I hoped Rebecca would know I was teasing.

The boss nodded slowly, "I really didn't expect them to do all this. I thought they'd just patch the window and fix whatever shorted out."

I glanced at her, "It's not a problem is it?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "But like you said, it'll take a little bit to get used to it. I miss my loose cables and dangling wires, even if they were fragile and unsafe."

This time she was smiling, and I knew she was teasing a bit as well.

"Anyways since you landed the ship you get to handle the taking off part too," she added with a wider grin. "I'll be here watching, and I'll give you suggestions and pointers, but the Demeter's in your hands co-pilot."

"Ok..." I grimaced.

I had a pretty good idea what to do though, having watched her do it several times already. The first thing I reached for was the communications gear. Like the saying goes, a journey of a thousand systems begins with a single call to the port traffic controllers.

Despite my lack of confidence things actually went fairly smoothly. Or maybe that's not the right word, considering the Demeter was just as shaky as ever flying through atmosphere. But our lift-off and departure went without a hitch. I followed the assigned vector out of Rolandan-2 space, and just over an hour after leaving the shipyard we were finally clear and free to navigate on our own.

The boss had me plot our level zero jump, it was a wide elliptical loop rather than a trip to any particular destination. That was unusual but not actually difficult. We'd be in Jump-0 for about sixty-eight hours, and we'd end up pretty much right back where we started.

I glanced at Rebecca and she nodded, so I pushed the throttle forward and the ship accelerated into Jump-0. The auto-pilot took over, and I set up the standard sensor monitoring routines. And with that done the two of us headed aft to meet the others.

Jenny and Mel were in the lounge during our lift-off, so Rebecca and Sarah and myself joined them in there. I could tell Mr. Lancaster was getting more anxious, now that the ship was in transit it was basically up to him when he wanted to take the last step.

"Mel?" Rebecca asked in a compassionate voice. "Whenever you're ready. If you have any more questions, anything else you want to know, now's the time to ask."

He took a few deep breaths then grimaced "I suppose there's no point stalling. May as well get this over with."

Jenny reminded him, "It's up to you Mr. Lancaster. You'll have the option to change your mind at any time right up until we actually begin. As I already explained, you and I will have a preliminary conversation once you're in my Re/Gen capsule, before we start the process."

"I really can't back out now," Mel replied. "Helen's going to announce my death in the next day or two, that's going to be a problem if I come back as Mel. And my condition's not getting any better on its own."

After another pause he sighed and slowly got to his feet, "Let's get it over with."

Rebecca and I accompanied him, but Sarah and Jenny stayed behind.

There wasn't much point in Jenny's android body heading down there since she'd be seeing him in person once he was in the capsule. And Sarah didn't need to be there either. I could have stayed behind too since I didn't actually know him that well, but as the ship's medic I felt it was my responsibility. He was in my care until I handed him over to Jenny's capsule.

The three of us rode down on the engineering lift, then walked forward into the secondary hold. Rebecca tapped the control on the side of the capsule and we all watched as it opened up.

"So I just get in there?" Mel asked nervously.

"Yeah," the boss nodded. "Just lie down, get comfortable. The pod will close up, and Jenny will talk with you through her direct interface."

After another few seconds of hesitation Mel finally nodded and moved to the pod. Rebecca and I both gave him a hand since it was awkward and he wasn't that steady on his feet.

Once he was laying in place Rebecca gave him a smile and said "Good luck Mel. Amanda and I will be here for you when you come out."

He nodded, then she tapped the control and the capsule slid shut.

Ten or twelve seconds later the processing timer came up and Rebecca sighed, "Ten and a half hours."