3G: the Glowing Green Goo

“If I get it right, your mutation removes the marker causing potential rejection in grafts? That’s…”

Creepy.

Zax was uneased by Shelley’s explanation. He would’ve definitely never considered it on his own, so congratulations to Garuza, but it raised so many questions.

The only way for something like that to happen would be… if grafts were an essential part of her life, for a long time, and to… want to be better at being operated on? Maybe like, not wanting to deal with rejection? It made sense, in a morbid way.

“Exactly. All my organs have blank IDs to other organs, so they’re welcome everywhere.”

“But when you get… something new, isn’t it undone? The graft still has its own markers.”

“If they don’t reject me, they don’t reject each other. Except for special cases.” She shrugged distractedly, still lost in her own thoughts about Zax’s situation. “At first, I merely didn’t reject anything healthy, and my next activation removed the graft’s markers. Made everything fit together, if needed. ‘Harmonisation’, I call it. Then one day, we realised my immune system destroyed the markers on its own. Not the whole cell or organ, just the marker. It takes time, it doesn’t remove the source of the marker protein, but the graft ends up being temporarily free to use by anyone even without 3G; with delayed and reduced rejection if any.”

She looked and sounded strangely proud of herself. As strange as it was, it made sense if her mutation went so far. She deeply wanted and/or needed to be better at… getting new organs?

“Who’s ‘we’?”

She clammed up and didn’t utter another word.

Not a surprise, she had done the same for all his questions centred more around her than her mutation.

“Where did all those organs come from?” and “What are you trying to do?” and “Are you a surgeon yourself?” were met with a sturdy silence. Though the last one wasn’t hard to figure.

The answer to “Where did your organs go?” had just been hinted at, and it made the hobbyist queasy. “Free to use by anyone.” That sentence was hardly as disturbing as the casual tone it had been uttered with. Queasy was a euphemism.

“What about animal organs?”

“Hm. I don’t know. It’s never been tried.”

“And your genitals?”

“What?”

“You had a sex change from male to female. It’s the only non-transplant surgery I can see, so it stands out, but nothing else was done in that direction. No mammary alteration, no skin or hair treatment, not even cosmetic surgery. Maybe the occasional hormone treatment, but that could be a result of other grafts, or even that harmonisation thing you mentioned. What’s the deal with that?”

“Like everyone.” Consciously or not, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I didn’t feel like myself as a male, and 3G wouldn’t help me.”

True.

Shallower changes, feminisation and masculination, of males and females both, were trivial. Augmentations or diminutions of secondary sexual characteristics? Standard fare, even if they rarely went far. Other genital deviations, non-human traits, knots or barbs? Not as uncommon as one might think. Some pervert purportedly had a prehensible penis, borrowing orca traits.

Diminutions so complete they were functionally the same as asexualisation had been reported, but although vestigial and non-functioning, the organs remained. Allowing for easy recuperation, was the main theory. It fit with the ‘prioritising survival’ rule the 3G seemed to follow; no reproduction was bad for the species as a whole, even if it happened to be the best for the individual.

Even going from hot-blooded to cold-blooded, which required a fundamental change in the biochemistry of the whole organism, was more common than gender changes, or even hermaphrodisation.

The only recorded cases were all among extremely advanced mutants, already as optimised for their lives as they would get. Take too many traits of an organism that happened to change gender in the right circumstances, that one trait will eventually emerge if just because all the pieces are present. And even then, the mutation only gives the possibility to change gender, it will not do it itself.

Another unexplained mystery of the Glowing Green Goo.

“Why stop here? It feels like you’ve ‘manually’ customised your body, so to speak, even if you held back on structural changes.”

“The rest didn’t feel that important.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t sure I’d get to keep it anyway.”

Revealing.

The dotter knew he shouldn’t try to fill in her past, but she was just so bad at hiding it when she wasn’t conspicuously silent…

Time to move on.

“Alright. Would you be interested in a, er, what do you call it… A coaching program? From me? If you keep nanites inside, I can have precise live measurements of your physical and mental attributes, and I see nothing hinting at normal exercises being an issue. Maybe I can help with that harmonisation you mentioned?”

“I don’t think- wait, what? You can help that?”

“Not with the ‘removing markers’ part; it’s so precise and you have a dedicated mutation, better let it do its job. But I can help you smooth the macroscopic inconsistencies.”

“What inconsistencies?” She frowned, looking offended.

“Well, for example, the muscles in your left arm are focused on explosive power, your right arm for weak but sustained strain. Not the whole limbs either. I bet it poses lifestyle issues?”

“… Sometimes.” She reluctantly admitted.

“My guess is: both had at least muscles grafted from different mutants, one arm probably ended larger than the other, but your mutation already ‘equalised’ them to look natural. Without significant loss of either attribute, if I may add. There’s also your digestive track. Your pancreas grants you hyper-reactive glycemia, but your gastric juices have a hard time processing quick-release sugar. Your whole body is like that, I’m sure training to actively equalise everything can only help.”

The Doctor was considering it, but she was uncertain. Zax gave her another push:

“If it makes you feel better, we can limit it to physical exercises for now. Workout, fitness, and the like. See how that helps, decide if and where to go from there?”

“That, sounds good.” She relented. “What about you?”

“Me?” He leaned his head to the side in confusion.

“Would you be interested in being coached by me?”

“Er, I mean, sure, I guess, but do you have anything for me? Pretty sure I’ve tried everything already, and it didn’t work.”

“That just because you stopped-”

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I slowed, certainly, to live my life, but I never stopped training. My job keeps my mind sharp, and I learn new things every day. I still regularly go to the gym. Less so recently, but that’s only because I started practicing free running again. It gives me a complete workout. Full body strength, agility, coordination, balance. The works.”

“Well-well, the standard methods don’t give results, but there are some unconventional ways-”

“Tried those already.” He curtly cut her mid-sentence.

The Doctor’s awkward silence confirmed they were talking about the same method. She didn’t dare ask for details aloud, which was sensitive of her, but it wouldn’t do. Zax lifted his left sleeve, showing his inner elbow and confirming their concordance.

“I was sixteen and desperate. My guardians spotted it in time and made me promise I’d never do it again. There’s not as much as you, and definitely not as deep, but it wasn’t as controlled either. Still no activation. They could be removed if the doctors pushed the machines, but they were ethically required to refuse on account of my mental state. Now, I keep them to remind myself where I started and how far I’ve come.”

“…I’ll talk with Garuza.” Shelley concluded after some hesitation. “Maybe he’ll have an idea.”

“Pretty sure I already wringed out everything he had to offer, but sure, why not.” Zax shrugged.

“Hey guys, done already? Who won?” The furry bird asked when they found him, fixing a few puzzles in the mind section with other employees.

“No one.” Zax casually raised a shoulder.

“Draw.” Shelley tersely answered. She didn’t like to be reminded of it. “Where did you find that guy? I didn’t know someone like that could exist.”

“Funny, I was about to ask the same thing.” The dotter smirked. “Though I have a few ideas-”

“Fine! You win! I’ll admit it. I can’t figure out everything on my own. Now could you please stop gloating?!” The doctor burst out, steaming.

To be fair, with a smirk so wide his eyes squinted and his leaned back posture, the head coach was indeed gloating, so hard it was panful to watch. He enjoyed himself a few seconds more before getting serious again.

“And you? What do you think?” He nodded to Zax.

“I already knew what surgery was. It seriously messes with my nanites’ readings, but I learnt to compensate for that. Or I thought I had, but I never thought it could go that far. I can’t be sure yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if only part of her brain was her birth one. And I do mean part of it. But in practice, she’s kinda like me: a blank state.” He changed tone. “She has bits that push in every direction, so she’s free to choose any she wants. Not sure if the others would hold her back.”

“Interesting, I didn’t see it that way. Could she actively try for several directions simultaneously?”

“Hmm, if she can go in one direction, the others shouldn’t be an issue. She’d have to make sure what she chooses aren’t incompatible, or harmonisation will be difficult and it could negate her advantage.”

“She has experience. Not an issue.”

“Why did you hire her?”

“The gender change.” Garuza didn’t notice the non-sequitur and gave an honest answer.

“What about it?”

“I said that aloud?” His beak twisted in an awkward apologetic smile.

“You did. You want to add this otherwise impossible alteration to your rooster? It should sell well, but it’s not exactly coaching…”

“That’s it.” He nodded. “And most people don’t care about coaching, it’s just the best mean to their end. If they could have a controlled activation with only a pill and a long rest, they would.”

“True.” Zax had experienced that too. “So… nothing to do with wanting one for yourself?”

“… It may have helped the decision a little.” The muscle giant reluctantly admitted, twisting his gaze to the side.

Every member of their hobbyist community had their own reasons to delve in the topic, but Little-Big-Bird’s had always been a mystery. Nobody openly asked, it was bad form, but most of them were open, transparent or obvious. Garuza’s reactions had been so subtle Zax would have missed them entirely without his nanites’ help. On the other hand, from some of their past conversations on the forum, he wasn’t exactly shocked.

“What!?” Shelley might be. “You want to transition? You?”

“I’m not sure yet. I avoided thinking about it for years. Since I knew the 3G wouldn’t help. I still have a lot of introspection to do before I consider asking about it. We don’t take corporeal changes lightly.”

He truly didn’t. It was his motto, and his business reflected it.

“Let’s get back on topic. A draw? And you admit to it?” He glared pointedly at Shelley. The bird of prey eyes and beak made the effect harsher than intended. Probably. Hopefully. “I have a hard time seeing that happen.” He added jokingly.

“I can show you.” Zax played along. Both set of eyes jumped at him, nonplussed. “Did you forget I’m recording everything?”

“Still?”

“Of course. And I won’t repeat it every time we see each other.”

“It’s always on?”

“Sure.” Zax shrugged. “It’s how I make my diary.”

“What are you two talking about?” Doctor Shelley interrupted.

Did I forget to tell her when we met?

He had. She was just “the infirmary gal” at the time, so he hadn’t sorted her as repeated business acquaintance and didn’t give the usual disclaimer.

Embarrassing, but easily fixed; with a demonstration to boot. They went to the chief’s office and Zax connected to a portable screen taken from a drawer. Unlike most dotter devices, it couldn’t connect remotely, but Zax could bypass that by covering the socket with his hand. It stayed there as he showed the simultaneous admissions of failure, through two of his senses and with a few 3D animations, just because.

It was nostalgic; he hadn’t had to do this exercise since he was learning how nanites worked.

“Creepy.” Shelley didn’t have much to say about it.

“That’s… how do you do that?” Garuza had a strange expression. “I thought you had a protected hidden bug or something. Maybe in your hairs, or your clothes, since you’re a professional adjuster.”

“Yes, but also no. Nanites are just that great. I have no doubt that without the 3G, they’d be the basis for everything major in the Shelter.” The dotter nodded to himself.

“Uh… Anyway, what did you decide about mutual coaching?”

Ah, right.