“So maybe I don’t want to alter my genes or throw away my childhood. I just wish I’d started transition early before puberty kicked in.”
“Okay,” responded Gene as he opened Quantum-Search and started typing.
A confused expression spread across Katie’s face until she realized what Gene was doing. Gene was granting her second wish!
“Found her,” said Gene, then they sat together and waited for the spinning loading bar.
The woman on the screen looked more like Katie than the previous alternative universe Katie. Whereas the previous alternate Katie looked like a sister, this version could have been Katie’s identical twin. Although Katie quickly realized the more feminine face, lack of any signs of balding, and slender arms.
“Hi, you look lovely,” greeted Katie.
“And you do too. Are you an alternate version of me?” asked a very confused alternate Katie.
“Yeah, turns out Gene here can do magic…”
“Not magic, software engineering!” interrupted Gene.
“... and set up a video connection between our branches of reality,” continued Katie. “Although, I only realized I was a girl two years ago, whereas you figured it out earlier.“
“When I was in primary school, Mom was taking me to after-school soccer practice, but the GPS went kind of haywire and we ended up at a transgender support group instead. After talking with some of the people there, Mom figured out that her experience raising me was similar to that of other parents with trans kids.”
“Awww, that’s so sweet.”
“Not exactly. There was an older transgender woman there who had only recently started her transition, and she, uh, kinda just looked like a man in a dress. Mom didn’t want me to become like that. On the other hand, Mom also realized from the other parents’ experiences that if she tried to stop me, it would only be delaying the inevitable. I guess it kinda scared Mom straight—if I was going to be a girl, then Mom wanted to make sure there were no signs that I ever used to be anything but a girl.”
“That sounds like Mom,” Katie deadpanned.
“With Mom’s help, I started puberty blockers at age 11, and estrogen at age 16. I had GRS scheduled for my 18th birthday.“
“So that explains how you got Mom onboard, but when did you figure out that you were a girl”
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘figure out that I was a girl’. I’m a woman because I transitioned and have a woman’s body. That’s all there is to it.”
“Okay, but not everyone has that luxury. Some people can’t afford access to medical treatment, have contraindications that make it unsafe to have medical treatment, or are okay with their body but still don’t identify with their birth gender.”
“Some people are delusional,” stated alternate Katie flatly.
Katie instinctively grabbed the mouse and hit the ‘x’ button.
Have you read (Hugo nominated) "Unknown Number"? This seems like a similar premise, although so far a lot more dark. I would hope that alternate me's wouldn't go TERF or transmedicalist but I guess I'll never know.
https://twitter.com/azure_husky/status/1420177932518137862
I hadn't! I really enjoyed the style of Unknown Number and the concept of minimum girl distance. In Katie's case, there is no timeline where she doesn't eventually transition (the only question is how early), but glad to see Unknown Number explore this concept.
Wow, thanks for taking me down a parallel rabbit hole.
Man I can’t believe I used to be like this.