The Problem II

There happens to be a set of clothes on the table, or I guess it would be the dresser. There are both sets of undergarments and a top blouse and slacks. I grumble a bit and fumble around with the brassier feeling not more than a little awkward messing with the thing.

I'm more used to taking the things off rather than putting them on, and certainly not on myself. The feeling is...strange and definitely doesn't feel normal. But then again normal went right out the window when I woke up in space and apparently not even in my own body, but well it is my body, but it isn't, yet it ... 'AH FUCK IT TO HELL!'

I scream mentally, because this train of thought is not doing anything to help, It's just making me more confused than I already am at this point. So I hurry up and finish getting dressed. The new additions, certainly not helping matters, but making it a bit more awkward to get dressed.

Seriously, I don't know how women actually manage with them, but I guess its the same with them wondering how We guys manage handling getting dressed with the dangly bits. I fumble a bit with the buttons on the blouse.

After getting dressed I walk back out into the main room and see the Ash lookalike sitting on the couch with a pitcher of water and two glasses. I sit at one of the chairs and stare at him, Refusing to be the first one to speak.

He chuckles and starts to pour water into both glasses "Go ahead and ask your questions, Though I will primitively answer three of your questions. First, Yes we are not on the planet but in a stationary orbit just about at a geostationary position. Second, No your not dreaming, and third Yes, you are currently in a female form."

He smirks "Frankly it is a bit surprising to me that you already managed to achieve such use of your abilities even if it were subconsciously and unintended. Now for the bad news, No, you can't switch back.

At least not at the present moment. You won't be able to do such until you have a more conscious control over it. So until such a time, you will either be stuck as a woman, or you will randomly shift while unconscious with the correct subconscious stimulus."

I stare at Him "How did this happen?"

"You recall the other night yes? The one where we met at that club?" he asks

I look at him suspiciously "So your saying you were there and we met? Then am I correct in assuming that you don't just appear to be an Ash look alike, but are Ash herself... er himself? ugh this is confusing."

Ash nods "you have the right of it, and yes such things will be confusing until you become more acquainted with your abilities."

He waves his hand "Don't worry about identifiers such as he/she. they are useless to us." He indicates waving between himself and me "The reason being, is that we can take on whichever gender of the form we are in, provided you have an intimate knowledge of it. And by intimate knowledge, I mean on a more scientific level, not intimate in that way.

The form itself, outside of your base form, which for you would be Human, requires the consumption and acquisition of what we call Heartsblood. Think of it as the essence of the object. Everything contains it, even inanimate objects, though they contain much less of it than living organisms."

"Whoa...Hold up there, your getting a bit ahead of the topic" I raise my hands, lets start slow again and back at the club where we met. What about Lexi?"

"Ah yes her... Well to be frank, she doesn't exist. To make it more simple for you as well, Technically I am not in front of you either, not physically at least, As I have no physical form but am what you might consider a three dimensional Hologram. Lexi was the same." He said

This information was yet just one more shock to me in this day of multiple shocking revelations. I still have not yet managed to comprehend everything and am rather numb to the whole situation, which I guess is why I am managing to sit here without what I would assume to be otherwise a massive panicked state.

A few minutes pass as Ash allows me to process the information and I look back at him "So then the dream I had the other night?"

He nods "That would have been likely a side effect of the solution I had you consume that night. You were a prime candidate for me to test this prototype solution on, and the federation doesn't know about your world yet, as your people have yet to reach the level of colonizing other planets in your solar system much less being able to travel beyond it, Your space travel capabilities are... Rudimentary at best, Most of the knowledge you have about physics and such are misconceptions. such as your assumptions that the speed of light is the fastest anything can travel at, although for now, even traveling at light speed is a very far off goal for your civilization, so once you achieve that, then you will realize that y'all have been wrong."

I become a bit more reserved at this information as well as the acknowledgement that He either wittingly or unwittingly just made "So your saying I am nothing but a guinea pig for your experiments?"

"Indeed, You see, the rules in the federation would prohibit me from testing such things on sentient beings. And abducting anyone in the federation that would be suitable for testing would be... ill-advised to say the least, They are watching my actions closely to so if I approached anyone, I would be... restricted by the authorities before I could make contact. SO my solution was to send an unregistered drone ship out to your system.

See, while I said the federation doesn't know about your world, Its not entirely accurate, the federation is aware of your solar system and are aware of your races presence, but as your race is so under developed by any of the other interstellar capable races, you are ignored. Until such time as you manage to cross the lightspeed barrier, your race will not be visited or acknowledge by the federation at large. Which makes you perfect for my experiment of the Lunaris Prototype."

I turn slightly hostile towards the person sitting across from me, and then realize that responding in anger to Him is likely pointless as He is probably nowhere near me but somewhere far, far out of reach for the foreseeable future. "So then the dream as if it were a game system, with a status screen and all that?" I think about the status screen and it pops up in my vision.

"Simply a side effect of the electrobiological prototype solution I had you consume. A fantastical dream I must say but nothing more than that, while this is a prototype, its the Gama prototype, So I do have research results from the previous test subjects upon completion of the testing phase of it.

I have made obvious tweaks here and that to improve upon it, and I must say this prototype is my current masterpiece, The first one to enable one to become a shapeshifter outside of my own race. Though limited it may be, You wont be able to shift into anything outside of your own form, so your races male or female variants." Ash goes off on another monologue that I interrupt

"So why then are you going about all this trouble making such a thing that obviously is going to get you into a lot of trouble?" I cant help but dislike the guy because he's used me as a guinea pig for his experiments, but at the same time the man has a charm about him, though I'll keep my anger in check because again, the guy is far, far off. And I get the feeling that what is happening to me Is not entirely something that he predicted, He seemed to disscout the whole system thing, but the status screen is right in front of me

[User: Alex]

[Age: 28

[Race: Human]

[Form: Human(f)]

[Level: 0]

[HP: 180]

[SP: 200]

[XP: 0/100]

[Strength: 13]

[Agility: 10]

[Dexterity: 13]

[Constitution: 10]

[Body: 8]

[Intelligence: 12]

[Wisdom: 11]

[Luck: 7]

[Knowledge Skills]

[Survival: Basic]

[Active Skills]

[Shifter]

[Titles]

[Child of Luna]

"I suppose the answer of 'Because I can' isn't going to be suitable for you yes?" he glances at me and nods to himself "I figured as much because such responses didn't go over well with the other test subjects. But Its the only answer I have for you, You see, I am researching life itself.

This universe didn't just come to be, but something started it, And I wish to find out what that is. So I took the essence of several races, mine included and studied it and dubbed the essence as Heartsblood, because it's located near the hear of the creature. Like I said, everything has it which is what leads me to my conclusion that something created the universe."

"And yet this will apparently get you into a lot of trouble with your federation will it not?" I ask

"Psh.. Those old cronies don't understand that... you have an apt phrase for this, to make an omelet you have to crack a few eggs" he chuckles

My eyes darken at this, because while he is chuckling that phrase indicates to me exactly how this is going to end, Once he's done with me, I'll be set to be examined. And I am not one to believe that I would appreciate such an examination.

"I see, well you'll forgive me if I'm not as amused as you are by that, But back to my confusion from earlier, now that I think I'm understanding the leadup to the whole situation now." I gesture to myself "Somehow I shifted to a female while asleep. You, well your a hologram so that explains how you were looking like a woman yesterday but are a man today. though I don't quite understand how you made it that I'm a she now.."

"Bah... he, she... such useless label's for you now. after all, you can take on whatever form you like of your race now, Isn't that just exciting?" his eyes glint

"Right sure... but it still brings it to being the confusing part from earlier that I stopped you at you said such Identifiers are useless, Which I guess I can understand based on the situation. If I can be either a man or a woman, then I would just be whichever. If it just don't think about it, its not really all that confusing. It only becomes confusing when I think about it."

"Indeed" He exclaims "After all, such things are how other people perceive you and refer to you as, After all, you don't rightly go about calling yourself Him or Her" he chuckles "do you? that is how other people would refer to you as, and that is entire prescribed by their perception of whomever. If you look like a woman, they will naturally refer to you as such, same as if you looked like a man. No use thinking about it at all, it'll just be far too confusing for even the most sane and intelligent people to understand." I simply nod, It does make some sense

"Oh and one thing I should let you know, when you take the form of something, its not just in appearance, but you do fully shift to that form. So if your in the male form, you are in fact a male, and if your in female form, you are a female. If someone were to do blood tests on you, the genetic makeup would be of that. Fascinating is it not? its why I call the gamma solution to be my crowning achievement at this time."

I simply sit dumbfounded by this, and cant help but laugh to myself, Oh if only some people knew about this. Then they probably wouldn't waste all that money just to end up pretending to be something they aren't. A mirthful glint in my eye, even under these circumstances as a guinea pig to this madman, I cant help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all

"You said even inanimate objects yes?" I ask and He nods I bark a laugh "Then I guess I just have to be an attack helicopter now"