A Wish the Heart Makes: Fornever in Blue Genes

by Tigger

Chapter 17: Plans, Problems and Solutions

Interlude:

Teri Richards watched as her relief made a quick scan of the
instrument readouts and then began to read the day log.  Not
that there was much to review.  Teri's professional opinion
was that Mandy had little need for the round the clock
supervision, and soon, even the very cautious Doctor West
would recognize that fact.  

The Leader and Freuda would not be pleased to lose Teri's
window into the new woman's world.  Sighing, she began to
gather her things in preparation for going home.

"Hey, Teri . . . "

Teri turned and found Morag MacPherson walking over toward the
station. "Hey, yourself.  What's up?"

"I've got tickets to a concert, tonight.  Want to go?"

One of the things they had discovered was they shared a taste
for the same kind of music, so Teri was tempted. *Perhaps I
should try to convince Freuda and the Leader that it would be
a good idea to cultivate this relationship so that when they
do end the monitor watch on Mandy, I will still have contact
with Morag.  After the grief Freuda has been giving me for not
seducing Mandy, this is at least sounds plausible.  I don't
want to lose her!*

"Sure?  Where do you want to meet?"

"I'll pick you up about seven at your place, okay?  We'll stop
tae get a bite after the show."

"Great.  Now, I have to run.  I need to pick up some stuff at
the market."

She was just out the door when Bob West burst past her. 
"Mandy!  Cat!  I've got it!  We need to . . . "  The solid
security door went shut, blocking off any further sound from
inside. *Damn,* Teri thought furiously.  For a moment, she
considered going back inside, pretending she had forgotten
something, but then she rejected that plan.  Her return could
only be momentary, and would likely distract even Robert West.

*Well, at least I will have something to tell them tonight. 
Mandy thinks West has a good idea what has been preventing the
reverse transition for former males, so his excitement can
only mean that he has figured out a possible solution to
that.*

~-------------------~   

"So, you see I need test samples," Bob was saying, still
flying on the high of discovery.  "I mean, I know it *should*
work, but what if I have missed something again?  I mean, I
can test just Mandy, but that won't be conclusive."

*Good old Bob,* Mandy thought indulgently. *He really is sure
that he has the solution, but he's been wrong once, so he will
follow the philosophy that anything worth doing is worth
overdoing.*  "So, what do you want to do, Bob?"

"I want to get samples from a group of folks, make up the
intervention treatment for them, and make sure that everything
goes as predicted by the computer this time.  So far, the
treatment has worked for your tissue, but it hasn't been
optimized yet, and I'd like to be a little more confident that
I understand what is going on this time.  I mean, it isn't a
crisis this time.  We can take a few days or weeks to make
sure we really have this thing nailed down."

For just a moment, Mandy considered being male again, and was
surprised at how noncommittal she felt about it. Dr.
Thompson's parting question and her own inadvertent
eavesdropping had been much on her mind of late.  Her eyes
went over to where Cat was seated, and saw the tension in the
other woman's bearing.

*Other woman,* she thought with a touch of amazement. *Since
when have I thought of myself as a woman?  And why doesn't
THAT realization bother me?*

"Robert?  If you're going to be that careful?" she said
quietly.

"Yes, Matt . . . I mean, Mandy?" 

"If you are going to do this testing, make sure you are
testing what you'd really be using.  Only optimized
treatments.  We already know we don't know the human genome as
well as we thought we did.  Let's not waste effort on
something that wouldn't be what we'd really be using."

Robert considered that for a few moments.  "That will add time
to the process, Mandy.  Even on your newest, speediest
QuantCha machines, optimization takes about an hour or so per
subject."

"As you said, old friend, we've got the time in hand." 
Another thought hit Mandy.  "Bob?  Are you testing born women
as well as tissue that is now female but that started out as
male?"  Robert shook his head.  "Test tissue from born women,
too, just for the hell of it.  Let's find out if there are
gotchas there as well.  Same rules."

"I'll have to chart their genome patterns first," Robert
pointed out.

"So, start with women you have already charted.  Cat, Teri,
Morag.  Get tissue samples from them and test them when you
test mine while you collect patterns from other women on
staff."

Bob shrugged. "Okay.  Actually, I don't think have Nurse
Richards' pattern, but that won't take very long once I have
her in the lab.  I'll get the stuff for Morag and Cat ready to
go tonight and get their tissue samples tomorrow.  It won't
take long, but I will need them over in my shop to do it.

~----------------~

Interlude:

The "council" of holos was again meeting in Teri's apartment.

"Our own facility for the regendering of those men who have
displaced females from positions of political and economic
power is now complete, thanks to the plans and technical data
provided to us by Admin," the Leader said.  "If what Florence
infers is correct, Robert West has found a solution to the
sex-linked failures.  Our ultimate objectives will definitely
be advanced if our adversaries survive as women so that those
who remain male can eventually know our power and fear us."

"We need the technical data from West's new process, Leader,"
Freuda put in.

"True," the Leader agreed.  "We also need to be sure that
Florence's supposition, based on admittedly sketchy evidence,
is correct.  An open attack on BioCybernetics will only
succeed one time.  We must be sure that we will get what we
need to make our facility and our grand cause successful."

"Florence could signal us when West reports success, Leader,"
another wraith offered.

"We must strike as soon as we are certain they have solved the
sex-linked survivability problem.  Freuda, station our strike
team and have them ready to go.  Florence?  As soon as you are
sure they have the solution in hand, use your signaling device
and be prepared to disappear.  Understood?"

'Everyone' murmured their understanding.  The Leader's avatar
stood.  "Very well.  Our glorious destiny is at hand.  The
hated ERRPA will shortly be rendered impotent as so-called
"men-of-power" disappear without a trace from the public eye. 
We will gather at our hidden facility after we have
successfully obtained the new data.