The Transition (short story)

       “Why are you here?” Bruce asked while fidgeting with some buttons and dials on the large machine he was standing at.

    “I was instructed to observe you during this transition,” Brian answered matter-of-factually.

    “Okay, but why are YOU here?” Bruce repeated, this time with emphasis.

Brian looked away, searching for solace in a nearby wall. There was none to be found. He could feel his brother still staring at him, and it felt as though a hole would penetrate his chest soon.

    “Brian!”

Brian's gaze snapped back.

    “W-what?”

    “Can you not answer a simple question? Why are you here instead of, oh I don't know, any of the other hundred people you work with?” Bruce demanded. “Did Mother Euphoria send you? I have a difficult time believing this is random.”

    Brian shuffled. Beneath his breath, he cursed their Mother for placing him in this uncomfortable situation. He didn’t want to be here. He wasn’t prepared to confront his brother, and he certainly wasn't prepared to use force if things escalated. He wished he could be back in his pod playing video games or watching porn. He did not want to be here doing this, but Mother insisted.

“Brother, please..” Brian attempted, but was interrupted.

“Don’t give me that brother shit! Be straight with me. Answer the damn question!” Bruce shouted while walking loudly away from the transition machine. He reached a desk on the other side of the room, plopped himself into a swivel chair, then proceeded to type at a computer keyboard while pretending to ignore his brother. The sound of fingers clicking a plastic keypad filled the emptiness of the air between them.

Brian made his way over, touching the transition machine in various spots as he slowly approached. He knew nothing about how it all worked, but feigned interest nonetheless. When he neared Bruce, he stopped and cleared his throat.

“Mother Euphoria will not allow this transition, brother. She has instructed me to terminate the sequence." He placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder and added, "I’m..  I’m sorry."

Bruce pretended not to hear and continued typing for what seemed like several minutes. Eventually he stopped, kicked backward in his rolling chair, and rose to his feet. He turned and stared harshly at his older brother who was still fidgeting with knobs on the transition machine. He appeared distant and confused, like an Indian witnessing a European sailing ship on the horizon for the first time.

“For fuck sake, stop messing with those,” Bruce pleaded as he walked over. He handed his brother a picture. “Hey, remember this?”

Brian took it and looked at it for a moment before handing it back.

“Mhmm. What's your point? I’m not here because of that transition."

Bruce took the photo back and stared at it nostalgically. His heart rate accelerated as he noted the female physique from his past. He was very pretty, back then. All the boys fawned over him. He hated how they were always vying for his attention. He remembered how it wasn’t so bad until his tits formed, then it felt like all hell broke loose. It was then he knew he wanted to transition from Brenda into Bruce and no longer wanted to exist in his female frame, but laws were in place, and he had to wait until he was eighteen before performing the transition. In the three years leading up to the procedure, his brother was there, reminding him every step of the way, how ‘she’ would never become ‘he’. No matter what, she would always be trapped inside the wrong body. Bruce hated his brother for this. There were some nights he dreamed him dead.

    “Bruce… BRUCE!" Brian shouted, trying to roost his brother from the trance he was in. Bruce looked up and his brother continued. "Mother Euphoria has informed that you are no longer current with your 221.39 vaccine certification. I've been instructed to halt this transition and delete your uploaded progress chart. You are to report directly to her by week’s end, where you will be scheduled to acquire the first two rounds of the Conculus Virus shots you skipped, before proceeding.” Brian reported, somewhat stoically.

Bruce dropped the picture to the floor and looked his brother directly in the eyes. He felt physically ill knowing they were related.

“Listen, I’m fully tested and I’m not even classified as a potential risk carrier. I have my test results here...”

“Doesn’t matter,” he interrupted. “Any use of this facility requires up-to-date vaccination status. I cannot allow you to proceed with this transition until you’ve taken all the Conky shots,” Brian said defiantly.

Bruce stared angrily at his brother, searching his brain for a worthy excuse. “These things haven’t been fully tested yet. Just two days ago, I read an Israeli scientific journal citing complications with the experimental mice,” he said, hoping to persuade.

“Doesn’t matter. You absolutely cannot use this machine until your vax status is current. You know the rules, brother.”

Bruce fumed. “You are on the wrong side of history. You are going to regret this moment and the decision you made. In the future, you will reach a place in your heart and realize the actions you’re taking right now, were dreadfully wrong. And you will be greatly disheartened. And maybe, just maybe.. you will even kill yourself over it," he said while staring coldly at his brother. "One can only hope,” he added.

It was Brian’s turn to stare at his brother coldly. He remembered back, not very long ago, to when he was still his sister. He recalled peeking through the 1/4 inch crack in the bathroom door jam, watching her finger herself while sitting spread eagle on the toilet. He learned about girls by spying on her through puberty, and now his younger sister stood before him as a fully transitioned man. It took several years, but eventually he learned to stop being pissed off about it. After-all, a third of the world transitioned. It wasn’t really a big deal anymore. But what was a big deal, were vaccine card requirements, and at his mother’s behest, Brian had become an enforcer.

“Listen, Brenda, you’re acting as though this is somehow my fault, when it was you who failed to stay up-to-date with your shots,” he stated, purposefully addressing his brother by his assigned female birth name. “Mother is agitated by your disobedience and you’re making my job harder than it needs to be. This whole situation could’ve been avoided.” Brian stepped closer as he continued. “Effective immediately, you’ve been placed on the detransition list, which means you will no longer have access to your T-pills, etc. Your med card is deactivated until further notice.”

        “Wait, what? That’s a death sentence and you know it!”

        “Well, go get your fucking shots!” Brian retorted. “You were willing to go through gender reassignment surgery, but you won’t even take two rounds of Conculus shots? It makes no sense!”

        “Because I don’t NEED them, you fool! I don’t want the risk! And I refuse to be coerced. I’m sick and tired of all this… of this bullshit system we live in.”

        “Ha! Now you sound like all the conspiracy kooks that got sent away after the purge. I’d caution you on that type of talk, brother. Rhetoric like that could land you in a much worse situation.”

Feeling defeated, Bruce turned away and walked over to the transition machine. He thought about the past eight months he had spent preparing for this Heart & Soul transition. A rage grew inside as he glanced at his pathetic brother, gloating defiantly across the room. He hated him. He hated everything he represented. All the rules. All the nonsense. All the government regulations. He hated Mother Euphoria and her desire to inoculate society from every new emergent disease. He hated almost everything about the world he was forced to live in. The only thing keeping his spirits up, was his constant search for true love and his willingness to transition his Heart & Soul chakra into that of a struggling couple. Bruce had given up on finding love for himself and decided to donate his energy core to a lovebird couple living in New Brunswick. But now… this bullshit. His own blood brother, a bureaucratic, cisgender asshole unwilling to look the other way. Infuriated, he clenched his fists.

“JUST LEAVE!” he pleaded one last time. “Ignore your directive; go back to Mother and offer a temporary distraction. Allow me to do this final thing… PLEASE?” Bruce pleaded, hoping to find a crack in the shell of his hardened brother. Brian stood quietly for a moment before replying.

“You know I can’t do that. Statute 1.17.097 of the W.E.F. Agreement requires all citizens to be fully vaccinated at all times, which means I can’t just look the other way,” Brian declared. “This is my job!" he added.

“YES, I know, but I was allowed to chop my tits off without an updated vax card, for Christ sake!” yelled Bruce. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked while storming across the room to confront his brother. “All I want to do is transition my Heart/Soul energy into this couple who desperately needs it. Why does my vaccine status even a matter at this point? I’ll be zombie after this procedure anyway. None of this makes any sense, and you know it.”

        For a brief moment Bruce thought he got through to his brother. He watched what appeared to be a conceding sigh flow up from his chest, followed by the lowering of his eyes toward the floor. He stood quiet for a minute, creating an air of uncertainty between them. Brian then turned and walked back over to the computer desk and quickly started typing on the keyboard. Bruce gasped and rushed over, but it was too late. Brian hit the ENTER key and the screen flashed: SYSTEM TERMINATION SEQUENCE several times before fading to black. The transition machine ceased humming and reduced itself to a silent heap of metal and all the lights went out as it powered down.

        Bruce felt an anguish that he hadn't felt since before his prior transition. He turned to face his brother. Frustrated and filled with disgust, he couldn't muster any words to match his current emotions, so he simply stared at him through tear-filled eyes while trying to control his heavy breathing and girlish sobs. He wondered what type of god exists that would allow such an error in humanity to occur. This pathetic, human stain standing before him. An obedient slave to authority. His own flesh and blood, devoid of principle and character; a monster unleashed by Mother. Bruce stared silently at his brother, feeling somewhat sorry for him. He could see how Brian was now trapped by a system that consumed his entire existence. He became a ghost in a shell; a husk of his former self. A loser in this life… a programmed puppet.

        All of society was sliding this way. Everyone was doomed and nobody noticed. Bruce no longer wanted to be alive. He managed to escape his birth body in order to locate happiness in the physical form, only to find himself tormented by what the world around him had become. Life, the amusement park ride, was no longer fun. The 'ups' felt lousier than the 'downs' and the loops felt wickedly twisted. The thrill was gone, and the line to get on was no longer worth the wait.

        With nothing left to say, Bruce wiped away the tears on his cheeks and walked over to the exit door. After scanning his ID badge, he pulled on the handle, but the door remained solidly fastened. He tried again… nothing. He tried a third time and started crying uncontrollably after experiencing the same result. Footsteps approached and Brian’s arm appeared over his brother’s shoulder with ID badge in hand. He scanned it and the door unlocked.

"You gotta get those Conky shots for it to open, sis."

THE END.