“If you’re looking for the utmost in luxury, then it’s really hard to go wrong with 2399. The ride was just about as smooth as could be.”
“How about comfort?”
“Oh, very comfortable. Cushy, even,” I said, poking her gently in the belly.
-Hanne laughed. “Cute. How about the exterior?”
-“No clue. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had any reason to pay attention to the world outside. I imagine it looks just as confusing as it anyways has.”
+Hanne laughed, covering her stomach with her hand. “Cute. How about the exterior?”
+“No clue. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had any reason to pay attention to the world outside. I imagine it looks just as confusing as it always has.”
“Well, okay, fair enough. You’ve been here longer than I have.”
“I keep forgetting you’re younger than me.”
She nodded. “Robbing the cradle, you are.”
@@ -45,11 +45,11 @@“What was it like when you uploaded?”
“You mean phys-side?”
Hanne nodded. “What was Earth like? What was your life like?”
-I shrugged. “Fine, I guess. The Western Fed was swinging conservative again, it was hot as hell all the time, most places were starting to subsidize uploading despite an already declining population. I guess that makes it sound terrible, and maybe it would have gotten worse, but I wasn’t around to see it. We were doing alright, so maybe I was kind of sheltered.”
+I shrugged. “Fine, I guess. The Western Fed was swinging conservative again, it was hot as hell all the time, some places were arguing about upload subsidies leading to a rising birthratesome. I guess that makes it sound terrible, and maybe it would have gotten worse, but I wasn’t around to see it. We were doing alright, so maybe I was kind of sheltered.”
“I hear you on the hot as hell part. We couldn’t afford moving south when it got too bad, so we moved up into the mountains. It helped a little bit, at least.”
“When was that?”
“2320 something. I don’t remember. I think I was under ten, at least.”
-I nodded. “I guess that’s what I mean by sheltered. We were already up in Newfoundland. Summers sucked, winters sucked, but it was alright between them. It was worse when we lived in New York.”
+I nodded. “I guess that’s what I mean by sheltered. We were already up in Newfoundland. Summers sucked, winters sucked, but it was alright between them. It was worse when I lived in New York.”
“Autumn or spring?”
“Huh?”
“Pick one, dummy,” she said, laughing.
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@“Why?”
I laughed. “So many questions tonight.”
She grinned, shrugged.
-“Well, I think half of it was that there was just too much pressure at the time. Like I said, the WF was swinging conservative, so there was this push to assimilate, and we internalized that pretty hard. We felt pushed to just shut up and be a man, just disappear, and always felt that we fell short despite all we did to try, but on Lagrange, we could do that right off the bat.”
+“Well, I think half of it was that there was just too much pressure at the time. Like I said, the WF was swinging conservative, so there was this push to assimilate, and we internalized that pretty hard. We felt pushed to just shut up and be a man, just disappear — that or become a woman, have kids, let the first upload for the payout — and always felt that we fell short despite all we did to try, but on Lagrange, we could do that right off the bat.”
“So they went back to being trans–“
I shook my head, cutting her off. “They’ve given up on gender. I became the way they experienced that again.”
“Sorry, Reed.”
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@The shadow of her shoulders relaxed again in the dark of the night. “Even after so long?”
“Yeah. Like I said, we internalized it pretty hard, even as they tried to diversify later on. I headed back trans, Lily headed back feminine, and Cress embodies the negation.”
“Is that why you forked, too?”
-I grinned. “I forked for fun. Even if it’s still a tender spot, I think I’m still way more relaxed than they are. There may be a bit of that in Tule, I guess. He’s still pretty happy being a guy — he’s the only one out of all of us, come to think of it. Rush is as ve is of vis own choice, though.”
+I grinned. “I forked for fun. Even if it’s still a tender spot, I think I’m still way more relaxed than Marsh is, though it’s been a while since we talked. There may be a bit of that in Tule, I guess. He’s still pretty happy being a guy — he’s the only one out of all of us, come to think of it. Rush is as ve is of vis own choice, though.”
Hanne looped her arm through mine. “Well, I still like you as you are.”
“What, trans?”
“No, a huge nerd.”
@@ -90,9 +90,10 @@“Well, I’m glad you went the Ansible, then.”
“Sap.”
I laughed. “Got it in one.”
+