LIGHTNOVELONLINE 38. Waiting on the Skies to Change
The rest of the night passed peacefully, with Echo and I again taking dinner in our room before spending the evening watching shows on the viewscreen. It was comfortable, and I enjoyed her company greatly. After sleeping alone or in a bunk room all of my life, having a real friend in the room with me was a nice change.
With a bit more than another week to go before it was time for my big day, I did manage to spend a bit of time exploring. The medical facility, small as it was, still played host to a fairly significant contingent of staff along with the small group of patients that were in house at any given time.
As I found out, I was one of only eight people currently receiving services in this division of the Celeste Institute. Most of them were older executives that were there getting a second chance at youth, though one was another trans person, this one trans masc. He was a really cool guy to talk to the few times I was able to speak with him. By the time I met him, he was already partway through his rehabilitation program post-transference. His new shell was quite the specimen, even if I held no attraction to men. It was readily apparent that, should I get similarly successful results, physical condition wasn’t going to be any sort of problem. Of course, I wasn’t particularly interested in getting the scaly skin and reptilian eye modifications, personally.
Those kinds of mods were popular with younger people going through Celeste. Bioprosthetic appendages had come into vogue several years back, though it faded into the background of society soon enough. The emergence of Celeste’s transference process, though, had caused a small boom in the industry and the ‘otherkin’, as they liked to be called, had come out of the woodworks to try and get the highly sought-after treatment. I had nothing against them, really, even had experimented with it myself a few times in VR, but the reality of being a pilot in often cramped quarters kept me from seriously pursuing the option.
One other thing I discovered was that the receptionist, Orange, actually was related to the Red I had met before. As it turned out, the two were members of a plural system that liked to mess with people by switching out randomly. About the only really obvious tell was their synthetic eyes, which changed color to match whoever was ‘out’. I’d never met a system like that, but after finding out the ruse, I did find it funny. Echo apparently knew the entire time, but kept quiet about it out of amusement.
Probably my favorite moment of those days was getting to watch the pre-trial hearing of Harvey Kruger on the viewer in mine and Echo’s quarters. He was in his typical tailored suit, but I got the impression that he wouldn’t be able to wear it much longer.
“Harvey James Kruger,” stated the judge. “You stand accused of three counts of workplace harassment, two counts of defamation, eight counts of tampering with evidence, one charge of false statement to law enforcement, eleven counts of corporate sabotage, six counts of embezzlement, four counts of felony destruction of property, two counts of felony coercion, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of attempted murder in the first degree. How do you plead?”
Even with my knowledge of Kruger, it was quite the list to listen to, though if that was what he was being charged with, I had no doubt he had committed much more. Evidently, I was far from the only one to have been screwed by the man.
The camera panned to show the accused. His reaction to the charges was as I expected, stone-faced and defiant. “Not guilty, on all counts, your honor.”
The judge wasn’t surprised either, by the look of it. “Very well, a trial by jury will be scheduled. I suggest you find yourself a lawyer, Mister Kruger.”
I had to chuckle at that. This was a high profile case. People all over the union would be seeing the news on this one. It wasn’t often that someone from the corporations was caught in such a massive scandal, and for the owner of the company to so publicly denounce the perpetrator was making for a juicy story.
Echo gave me a side hug and remarked that at least justice was being served. This was only the criminal trial; the lawsuits against him were still to come.
The rest of the week passed by easily. The daily scans continued to be annoying, but a necessary evil. I was given the news that the growth process was going well and was on track to be on schedule for the day of my transfer. My meeting with the cyberware tech was actually rather fun. I was given a short listed rundown of everything I would be getting included.
My body really would be fully loaded. Though it wouldn’t be superhuman at all (Terran Union law expressly forbid that, after all), the enhanced musculature would put me on par with professional athletes. With the boosted metabolism and immune system, I was unlikely to deal with anything but the most aggressive diseases, and weight was equally unlikely to be a problem.
Notably, none of my augments were highly visible like some people got. The most obvious signs of cyberware would be the eyes and the small amount of subdermal wiring that made up the communications suite. Even the holo projector located in the right wrist would be subtle enough to easily conceal. Certainly nothing like the bulky exposed implants my missing arm had.
I had nothing to complain about after talking with the technician. My new shell was going to be a wonderful upgrade over my previous one. Body dysphoria wouldn’t be a problem anymore and I was sacrificing absolutely nothing to gain everything I had ever wanted.
With the day of transference drawing ever closer, I found myself getting anxious. I had been at the institute for more than two weeks and I was becoming restless.
“How did you deal with it, Echo,” I asked my companion. “The wait?”
We were sitting on the couch in our suite, relaxing. It was only a day until my scheduled transfer day. Echo was in her star-patterned pajamas and just across from me. We’d had a quiet night, mostly watching shows from the galactic broadcast network, but the viewer was ignored for the moment.
She refilled her wine glass and leaned back into the corner of the sectional. “I was pretty anxious, coming up to it,” she told me. “Mom and Dad were here with me, but they took the ferry into the city a few times during my stay so I didn’t always have company. A lot of the time, I just poured myself into my studies.”
“Studies?” I asked. “What kind of studies?”
“Business Management. I went to school for it. I’ll probably be taking over the company someday, so I want to be ready.”
I nodded respectfully. “Makes sense. I never had much opportunity for secondary school. Everything I know was on-the-job training. I couldn’t bear to stay on that damned station any longer than I needed to, and once I signed on with Jay and the Forge, there just wasn’t time. Then I got to Telemachus and, well, you saw how that went.”
Echo bumped my shoulder. “I wouldn’t have met you otherwise, and you’ve done pretty well for yourself, it seems to me. And hey, if you had done things differently, I might not have met you.”
My eyebrows raised and I scoffed. “You sure that meeting me was a good thing? I seem to have added a lot of complication to your life.”
That statement got me a half lidded stare. “And you have added a lot of good too, Addy.” My companion's face brightened and she gave me a soft smile. “Even just for the ship, you’ve helped. But I am personally very happy to have you in my life. You have already become a great friend, maybe more.”
A bit of my heart melted at that. “Maybe more? I thought you said you wanted to get to know me more?”
She blushed slightly. “And I have. You are a good person, Adresta, I’ve told you before. I like you, a lot, in fact.”
Echo leaned forward. In the dim light of the viewer the shadows and colors played across her face. Gosh, she was beautiful.
“We spent days together back on D’reth. I got to see you in your element, cool and confident in your skill. I got to watch you get passionate about your ship. I was with you when you solved a problem that even our lead engineer couldn’t figure out. We shared stories, we laughed; you are special, Adresta.”
Eyes misting, I scooted forward to match the incredible woman across from me. “I won’t lie, Echo, as much as you say I’ve done for you, you’ve done a lot more for me. By the void, you saved my life just a few weeks ago and don’t even get me started with the job offer! You… I don’t think I need to tell you that I’ve not exactly had many friends in my life. Vox has been the best I’ve had since leaving behind the Forge. And then you answered my call to the Ratatosk. Suffice to say, my life hasn’t been the same since.”
I gulped. My emotions were thick and my heart pounded in my chest. For many years I had known that I liked women. Girls were just… pretty. I had never actually crushed on one before, though, not really. Yet Callisto Erickson was taking my breath away.
Our faces were only inches apart. Despite the cool weather, it felt quite warm inside the room. A slim hand reached up to cup my cheek.
I could feel the prickling sensation of facial hair rubbing between her hand and my face. I couldn’t help but pull away. The closeness just didn’t feel right suddenly. Echo’s smile turned sad, but she nodded.
“Yeah,” Echo said quietly. “Dysphoria is a bitch, ain't it? I couldn’t do much before either. I think I’d like to try it, though, when you are ready.”
My broken body refused to let me forget. It wouldn’t be a problem anymore soon enough, but until then I was still trapped.
Those feelings made a nice turnaround though a few minutes of awkward silence. The room’s VI sounded out.
“Incoming communications request from Doctor Hayes.” I told the VI to accept it and the doctor’s voice told me exactly what I needed to hear.
“Miss Matson, I have good news. Tests have completed and the transference vessel is ready. Your procedure is scheduled for ten-hundred hours tomorrow morning.”
A tear in my eye, I answered. “That’s great news, Doctor Hayes. Best news I’ve gotten in weeks.”