Minutes

I awoke in a warm pool of water and arose in a new world. I immediately sought out any pigmentations and found none. I was not in the Virtual Cosmos, nor was I in reality. This must be a dream, but only the mentally ill have dreams!

The Microbiotic Intelligent Nanobots, or Minutes, which run in our blood make sure of that. Although the Minutes are programmed not to alter neurochemistry, they send data from the body to the brain. Some scientists believe that this internal transfer of data and the bond of artificial and natural nerve cells create too many stimuli for the brain to enter a meditative state. 

The Minutes have enabled humans to expand our waking hours with a substantial decrease in fatigue, so many go weeks without needing to sleep! Now here I am, feeling fatigue more and more often, and facing the unexpected introduction of dreams.

So far, the dreams have all been different. Some sent me back in time to the collapse of the Information Age. This is clearly inspired by my colorful history lessons of late. Other dreams have me in my current life, living out entire days without realizing that I am dreaming. Often there would be a subtle change, just enough to wake me.

This was different. As I looked above me at the violet sky, I knew I was exploring alien territory. The trees grew twisted and bleeding into the ground. They often resembled an oily rag frozen in the wringer, a sight I have only seen once before at the museum.

I looked around and saw nothing but the hideous trees clawing for any sliver of light that danced above in the purple shaded atmosphere. I looked down at the puddle I rose from, and the reflection did not show me, but a girl who looked like my mother’s childhood photos. I reached up to touch my face, trying to test the accuracy of the reflection, when I awoke.

"I've finished running my exam, please remain on the bed," a voice sounded from a crackled source. I looked around and saw myself in a hospital ward, with three windows that revealed another room. My mother and a Doctor I did not recognize were in the room speaking to one another. I strained my ears attempting to hear what they said. When I still could not penetrate their conversation, I resorted to my Minutes. However, goosebumps rolled throughout my body. My Minutes were turned off and began to reboot. The Doctor entered the room to begin the debriefing.

"So, I have some bad news, Andrew." The Doctor sighed.

"What is it? Am I sick?"

"No, but you can get sick. For some reason, your Minutes stopped ticking. This might have happened sometime in the past few weeks. They are still operating, but they keep requiring reboots just to stay alive. So, can you tell me if you had any head-related injuries in the past week? Anything to set the Minutes off their clock?"

"I hit my head when I fell back in my room."

"Were you in the V.C.?"

"Yes, he's always hiding behind his goggles. He just refuses to live in Reality!"

The Doctor glanced at my mother in annoyance but decided to respond to her backwards thinking. "Although being in the V.C. for longer than sixty hours is not recommended, these symptoms don't match with Goggle Grasp. I believe this could be a more serious malfunction. Does your family have a history of Minute Allergy?"

"No," My mother and I spoke in unison.

"Well, then we'll have to schedule a follow-up and another CAT scan to track any changes. Until then, I suggest reducing any activity that places stress on your Minutes. The nurse in the office should be preparing an Alternative Diet for Andrew. You're more than welcome to pick that up, I have a few more tests I need to run on Andrew."

With that, my mother left me alone with the Doctor. The Doctor laid me back on the table and began feeling my ribs for any irregularities.

"Tell me, Andrew, have you had any dreams?"

I immediately lied to her in hopes she would not think I needed psychological assistance. However, she seemed to see through my weak lies and continued her investigation.

"What do you look like in your dreams? Can you see yourself?"

"I saw myself in a reflection, and I was in a different body."

"Who's body?" She allowed her curiosity to guide the questioning. 

"It's my mother's, from the old childhood photos she hangs around our house."

"I see. Well, you might be experiencing Gender Dissociation. Although it is very rare nowadays thanks to Minute Mods, it is not anything to be of concern. However, the Minutes do not know how to treat your body since the nerve cells of your brain are off sync from your Minute Nerves. This might be why they keep rebooting and explain the fatigue."

"So, what do we do?"

"I can send a forced program through the Minutes into your brain to resolve the miscommunication. However, it will forever alter your body and mind. I need to know now, do you want to stay a male, become a female, or become intersex?"

I could not believe what she was saying. I have known other kids my age changes their gender to match their inner selves, but never their sex. "Why do I need to change my sex?"

"We can either force your brain to think it is a male or allow the Minutes to alter your body to fit that of a female autonomy. Either process will be extremely painful, I should warn you now."

"So, my brain thinks I am a girl?"

"Yes."

"Then that's what I'll be. I should ask my mom first…"

"Per the 37th Amendment of Medical Autonomy and the case of Florida v. Planned Parenthood, you do not need any parental consent for gender affirmation care if you are older than the age of twelve."

"Ok, I think I know what she'll say anyway." She will try to fire the doctor for even suggesting the motion! "Do it. Make me a girl."

Once more, I was in a strange world. I stood up, and despite the repeated history of this dream, I did not gaze towards the heavens, but towards the twisted forest. I felt afraid, as if something were behind me, preparing to pounce! I ran as fast as I could, and the puddles shifted and gave birth to new alien life forms. They lunged forward and clawed towards me as I ran. Through a thicket of briar, I saw my mother standing tall in a great illuminance. 

"Run, Ariana, run!" She yelled at me. I stood confused as to the change in my name when the monsters reached me. They clawed and pierced my body, dragging me down into a pool of water. I awoke back in the hospital room alone as I heard my mom and doctor arguing with each other outside.

"You can't do this kind of operation without my approval; I have the medical power of attorney!"

"Per the 37th we don't need parental approval to perform any medical operation on a patient older than 12."

"Do you not know what power of attorney means?!"

"Ma'am, I must ask you to calm down or I will have you removed."

"I want to see my son!"

"She needs her rest."

"I want to see my son." She repeated. There were some scuffling sounds as I unplugged myself from the Minute Balance. "You don't have the right to arrest me!"

I ran to the hall to see police officers pinning my mother to the ground. "What are you doing to my mom?!"

"Andrew, I'm sorry, but your mom is mentally ill at the moment. Has she said anything to you to make you question yourself?"

"What, no, let her go!" I ran towards the officer, but Doctor Bre pull me back. I tried to resist, but I felt so weak. 

"Andrew, I am hereby discharging you and trespassing you from this clinic!" Bre screamed at me as she dragged me towards the hospital exit.

Thankfully, my girlfriend was able to pick me up. "So, you wanted to become a girl, but no one let your mom know?"

"I don't think my mom is transphobic like they claimed."

"Of course, she's not! Do you know why your mom was so peeved? Before I came to this country, I met your mom at a refugee camp."

"My mom served in the war?"

"She was a field medic assigned to the Ukraine Front. A few soldiers, I am not sure whose army they served, attacked me. I was pregnant and scared. Your mom was the only one who helped me when I decided I did not want to keep it. The doctors who were operating on me screwed up, and your mom saved my life. She brought me back to America with her and found a good family for me to live with. Ever since then, she has been extremely paranoid about any medical operation that was carried on you or I."

"She never told me any of this…"

"Listen, your mom loves you no matter what. We have to get her out!"

"That takes money, though. We don't have any!"

"The Cosmos does."

"You want to start a fundraiser?"

"I already did!" We looked out the windows as the car drove itself, each in deep thought. I thought about what else I didn't know about my mom. I concluded that I would do anything to have the time to be with her and hopefully hear her stories. I wondered how she would treat me now that I am a girl, but I felt that she would still love me. In my dream, she called me Ariana, after all. 

"Hey, Willa?"

"What is it, babe?"

"Would you be ok with calling me Ariana?"

She sighed to herself and wiped away a tear. "It will take me a while to get used to… the new you. I cannot even recognize your voice!"

"So, what about us?"

"I'm not comfortable around you at the moment, but that will change soon. I love you, and I am committed to our relationship. I just need space until things settle down. You should take some time to yourself as well to get accustomed to your new body."

"Willa, I can't do this alone."

"I'll help your mom. And as for you… maybe we should take a break."

"But there's so many things I don't know about being a girl!"

"I'm not the person to help you with that, I'm sorry."

"So that's it?"

"This is your stop." She said coldly as she looked away. I could see the tears running down her face in the reflection of the windshield. I got out and said goodbye to us.

For a while, I was alone. My mom was discharged from the hospital, and she filed a lawsuit against Dr. Bre with Willa's legal support. Willa truly is one of the greatest lawyers of our time. However, after a year we still have not spoken since I became Ariana.

I have made new friends and I live with them now. My mom and I meet each other every day in the Cosmos. She keeps trying to make up for our year apart by trying a little bit too hard to teach me everything I need to know to be successful in my new feminine identity.