A/N: I apologize for the delay in releasing this chapter. For those who I told that it would be out this past Wednesday, here you go. I just got a bit of writer's block.
Chapter Four: Self-Doubt and New Year's Parties
Levi groaned, cursing loudly as he ran another diagnostic scan on the machine and once again, it failed.
"FUCK!" Levi cursed loudly. He normally didn't resort to such base displays of anger. But he was especially frustrated. He thought he'd had everything down pat with the Gender Affirmation Machine. But now, it all seemed to be going wrong.
"What's wrong, Lisa?" Leon asked.
"I'm having trouble getting this machine to actually work properly. It… May be a bit longer than I expected before you are all back in your proper bodies." Levi said. Leon sighed. He was eager to become Lily again. Being in a boy's body didn't feel quite right for him. But he wasn't going to get worked up about it.
"Why don't you take a break? You've been working for days on this. Work on something else, then come back to it." Leon said.
Lisa sighed.
"You wouldn't understand. This is what I'm good at. I need to get everyone back to their own rightful bodies. Lincoln will be going away to college soon and I'm sure he can go to any college he wants. Between his stellar grades, exceptional SAT, ACT and CLT scores and his extracurricular activities, he'll likely have his choice of colleges. So he may be going to college far away.
"Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan already aren't always at home. Lynn needs to be in her rightful body to perform in the Olympics as she should. The rest of the siblings aren't as much of a rush. But Mom and Dad… They have lives and I can't just let them stay the opposite gender indefinitely while I take my time repairing things." Levi said.
"But mommy says that tunnel vision can actually slow your progress. That's why when I'm painting and I get stuck, I work on a different painting or take a break from painting altogether.
"Maybe going out and hanging out with Darcy will get things moving again." Leon said. Levi sighed. She was right, of course. Levi hadn't seen Darcy in a while. Lisa mostly did her schoolwork at home so that she could focus on her experiments. Since the first time that she'd tried homeschooling, she'd become more focused on her work and did all her work. It was easy work. Nothing challenging about multiplication and division. She sometimes hung out with Darcy on weekends or holidays. She wished she could hang out with her more. But alas, her true work called most of the time.
"Fine. I'll take a break. Did you need me for something?"
"Can you make more of those paints you made for me last time?" Leon asked.
"Absolutely. Nothing could be simpler." Lisa said, programming her computer and watching as it began to create white globs, mixing in various colors, forming the paints and then pushing them into the requisite tubes.
This took about three hours to create all 400 colors. Lisa took the box that she'd created for Lily's paints and arranged them in the right order.
"Here you go. Enjoy." Lisa said.
"Thanks, Lisa!" Leon exclaimed.
Lisa smiled. Lily's main passion was art. But she wasn't limited to just painting. She also did colored pencil drawings, sculpting and she was using YouTube videos to learn how to do flower arranging, origami and artistic gardening. They had a garden out in the back yard that Lily was passionate about improving. She trimmed the bushes into lovely shapes, she made sure that the flowers were growing in such a way as to complement each other. She kept the exotic plants that Lisa created in good condition.
But Lily was also starting to watch videos on blade crafting. Rita wasn't exactly thrilled that Lily wanted to make knives, but she was happy that Lily had such a passion. Lisa went downstairs.
"Lincoln, can I bend your ear for a moment?" Lisa asked.
"Sure. I'm about to go out. Hanging out with my friends for a New Year's Party. But it's not a rush. What's up?" Linka asked.
"I'm struggling to repair the Gender Affirmation Machine and I fear that its success in switching all our genders was just a fluke and that I may not be able to turn everyone back. How upset would you be if you were stuck as a woman?" Levi asked anxiously.
"Well… I would be a bit distressed, I guess. Honestly, Jordan and Stella are both into guys and girls, so I haven't had any trouble with them over this whole switcharoo. You know, I'm not a girl. I've never been one.
"Even now that I'm physically female, I'm still male inside and I'm kind of anxious about what will happen if being a girl in body means that I have things like PMS and I have to deal with that once a month. You haven't reached puberty yet, Lisa. You've never given me the impression that you identify as male. So I more wonder what you'll do when you start experiencing puberty as a boy. It may not be a mild or pleasant experience for you. This isn't a threat. I'm not trying to scare you. But this has a personal stake for you, Lise." Linka said.
"I-I guess I have to fix the machine. My goal was to help transgender people who feel a need to transition. I want to give them a way to do it without complicated and painful surgery. If my science can help make people happy, make people comfortable in their bodies, I want to do it." Lisa said.
"Not everyone agrees with my work. But my goal is not to make the religious people happy. I don't even believe in God. My goal is to give people who need it better lives." Lisa said.
"I'm proud of you, Lise. You're a good person. You've done a lot of important work. Bionics, Neurotech, UDOM, teleportation, Advanced Combat Suits… While I don't agree with the wars America is in, you've definitely saved a lot of soldiers' lives with those combat suits."
"Hardly. I sold the design for that suit for 100 million dollars on the legal understanding that the copyright on it was still mine. They were allowed to make copies of it, but they were not allowed to stop me from making more and improving it myself." Lisa said.
"Yes, you did make a good amount of money off of it. But you could have kept the design for yourself and sold them individual suits for the same amount so that they could only afford to outfit a few soldiers. You prioritized the lives of soldiers over your own profits." Linka said.
"I left it up to them how many soldiers they protected with the suits. But if even only 1,000 soldiers are protected by them, that's 1,000 more than if they didn't have them. I'm a scientist. My job is to improve and protect lives." Levi said calmly as if it was no big deal.
"And your teleportation technology. You achieved that far sooner than you expected. Your bionics. You estimate that between the enhanced efficiency organs and the nanomachines, people might live as much as 50% longer if not longer and will live healthier lives." Lincoln said.
"Thank you. You've encouraged me. I can't promise that I'll have this done in a week or even a month. But I know I need to have it done by the time you graduate. I don't want you to have to go off to college as a girl." Lisa said. Lincoln chuckled.
"Well… If I have to, I can always teleport back here to get changed back." Linka said.
"That's possible, but you don't want to be roomed with a girl and then have to switch. That could cause some problems, especially since I'm not sure my machine will be complete enough to be revealed to the world. The friends of our family certainly know by now. But I want to limit how many people know for now." Lisa said.
Lincoln nodded, hugging his younger sister/brother tightly.
"I'm sure you'll get this all settled. How do I look? Leni made this outfit for me." Linka said, turning around in a trendy looking skirt and shirt with knee socks.
"Very nice. You know, you could stay a girl if you really want to. I won't insist that you go back to being male if you don't want to." Levi said.
"No, I'm definitely not a girl at heart." Lincoln said. He didn't mind cross-dressing and even looked pretty good doing it. But he wanted to go back to being a guy. His girlfriends liked him as a guy. He liked being a guy.
"I gotta get going." Lincoln said, getting 'her' shoes on and going out to the New Year's Party.
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"Hey! Linka!" Jordan said, kissing Linka on the lips. There were some people who didn't recognize Linka as Lincoln.
"Hey, Jordan… Aren't you dating Lincoln and Stella? I mean unless you have an open relationship." Chandler smirked, winking at Linka, who grimaced. Linka knew that she couldn't give herself away. At least not to Chandler. This may have been a bad idea.
"We take some liberties. But I assure you, Lincoln has told me about you, and you won't be one of those liberties." Linka said pridefully.
"My family is rich." Chandler smirked.
"Good for you. Doesn't change my answer. So hard pass." Linka said coolly, taking Jordan's hand and going over to Stella.
"Hey, Stel." Linka said, kissing Stella as well, leaving Chandler annoyed and flabbergasted.
"Hey! Linka! I'm glad you came!" Clyde said, high fiving Linka. Linka had said that in public at least, they should call him by his girl name. Rusty still slipped sometimes and called him Lincoln.
"Hey, Clyde, buddy!" Linka said.
"I like your outfit. Is it new?" Clyde asked.
"Yeah. Leni made it for me for Christmas." Linka said.
"Nice. Custom made I'm guessing."
"Yeah, she made outfits for all of us. She had to." Linka added in a whisper.
"You know, none of us were expecting this to happen." Linka said.
"Well, who would?" Jordan chuckled.
"Anyway, do you know when Lisa will get the machine repaired?" Clyde asked.
"Not sure. She's struggling right now. Still coming up short. But I encouraged her before I left home. I think she's taking a well-deserved break from her repair work at the moment and I hope she'll reach out to some friends of hers. Just because she home schools and works on her science most of the time doesn't mean that she should neglect her social life." Linka said.
"That's true." Liam said. He blushed slightly, looking at Linka. He knew it was just Lincoln, but she was beautiful as a girl and he couldn't help being slightly attracted to her. Linka recognized the signs that he was attracted to her, especially with her bionic sensory organs. She just chose not to say anything, hoping that it would all pass once he got back into a boy's body.
"I'm gonna go get something to eat." Linka said, getting a plate and a cup and going to the food table, taking a little bit of everything. Clyde had worked hard on the food that was there and Linka didn't want to disappoint. She didn't exactly love everything that was there. But she would try a bit of everything.
As she started eating, she realized just how much Clyde's cooking had improved. He was always an exceptional cook. A real natural. He had worked with Lynn at his restaurant as a cook and had offered new recipes and modifications on old recipes that Lynn had done well with, giving Clyde credit both in the menu and financially over the years. He couldn't pay Clyde much, but Clyde got a salary for helping Lynn with the menu and with creating new recipes.
"What do you think of the food, buddy?" Clyde asked.
"It's great! You're a shoe in for the Culinary!" Linka exclaimed, knowing that was where Clyde wanted to go to college. He was smart and did well in all his subjects, but what he aspired to do most was to be a chef and to bake. So he aimed to get degrees in both.
"Thanks, Linc… I'm glad you like the food. I've already been accepted at the culinary. Now I just have to decide whether I want to go for Baking first or for Cooking first." Clyde said.
"High class problems to have, pal!" Linka said, doing their friend high five with him.
"Are you still working on your new comics?" Clyde asked.
"Of course. Just because I'm a girl right now doesn't mean I've lost my creativity." Linka said.
"No! No, of course not! I didn't mean that! I just thought maybe you were working on something else these days. That new video game did come out. I thought you'd get a copy for free because it related to the Full House Gang." Clyde said.
"Well, I got an advance copy of the game. The case was even autographed by Bill Buck and by the main creators of the game." Linka said.
"But I haven't gotten around to playing it just yet. Between the gender switch and my work on my comics and my schoolwork, I've been a bit busy." Linka said. Clyde nodded. That wasn't strictly true. Lincoln's schoolwork went surprisingly fast now. With his Neurotech, he could plow through homework in an hour most nights. Sometimes there were essays that he needed to write that took longer. But most homework didn't take that long.
"You know, there's a lot of historical sites around Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park where I'll be going to college." Clyde said.
"Roosevelt's home, the Vanderbilt Estate, there's even an old drive in theater there." Clyde said. He was kind of excited to explore Hyde Park's historic side.
"That's cool. I doubt there's much historic about where I'm hoping to go to college. But I hope to hear all about Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park when we meet up on holidays." Linka said. Clyde nodded.
"Yeah. I hear there are good karaoke places near where I go to college too. It won't be the same without you there. But I'll still have fun." Clyde said.
"Well, just don't try to sneak into any bars. We both know how bad you are with deception." Linka chuckled. Clyde laughed as well.
The two went and sat down at a table with Jordan, Stella, Liam, Rusty and Zach.
"So, what are you guys planning for college?" Clyde asked curiously.
"I'm going for business. Probably right here in Michigan." Rusty said.
"And I've been accepted at MIT for Computer Science and Programming." Stella said. Jordan laughed.
"Nerrrrdd!" She teased. Stella laughed as well, kissing Jordan on the lips.
"You love it and we all know it." Stella smirked, seeing Jordan's blush.
"Y-yeah… I do…" Jordan breathed.
"What are you going to do?"
"I've always wanted to go to Columbia University in NYC." Jordan said. She'd be far away from everyone else. Even from Stella, who if she went to MIT would be almost 3 and a half hours away.
"Wow! Good for you!" Stella said, slapping Jordan on the back.
"That's a really high-level college." Linka said.
"Well, I did get a 1450 on my SAT. So I only just got the bare minimum required. But I'm hoping my extracurriculars will cinch the spot for me." Jordan said.
"Clyde, you're going to the Culinary, aren't you?" Stella asked.
"Yeah. You, me and Jordan won't be that far away from each other. I'll maybe be an hour and a half from you, Jordan and from you, Stella, I'll be about 3 and a half hours, so a lot further. But I'm betting that if we plan things out, we can hang out on weekends, if you girls want to." Clyde said. He'd gotten a lot more confident over the years and he wanted to keep in contact with his friends where he could.
"Hmmm… That could be fun. You're sort of in the middle of the two of us. I think we could manage some time hanging out." Stella said.
"What about you, Liam?"
"Ah well, Ah ain't really suited fer college. Ah didn't do so well on mah SATs. Ah'm probably just gonna stay on the farm." Liam said. Linka could tell Liam wanted to go to college like the rest of them.
"Well… You could go to a community college and get your grades up and then go to a bigger college if you want to." Linka offered.
"Yeah, maybe Ah will do that." Liam said.
"What about you, Zach?" Liam asked.
"I'm going for Communications, probably in Michigan U. I want to start a YouTube channel so that everyone can know what I know about the sinister forces in our world." Zach said. Linka nodded. Zach still held onto his paranoid conspiracies. They didn't hurt anyone and Zach was harmless. His parents were a little unseated sometimes and that had rubbed off on Zach.
But they were harmless and maybe Zach really could make a career out of a conspiracy channel.
"You wanna know what I'm doing for college? I'm going to learn how to be a Wall Street executive. I'm gonna be a millionaire when I graduate!" Chandler grinned. Linka rolled her eyes. He certainly wasn't impressing her, even if he thought he was. Lincoln already made millions of dollars a month on his Full House Gang comics and the other merchandise that was related to it.
And those millions of dollars were only about 25% of the total amount of money that was brought in to the main comic company. There were rumors of another movie being made about the Full House Gang. It had simply been such a popular franchise that there was no excuse not to.
"That's good for you, Chandler." Stella said politely, not engaging him further.
"Yeah, 'that's great for me'. It is great, Zhau!" Chandler exclaimed. Linka could tell that Chandler was jealous of Lincoln's poly relationship with two of the most popular girls at school.
And now that there was supposedly a fourth member, that really got his goat.
"Hey, Linc… I got your sister and her band to play at the party. But maybe that wasn't the best move. Can Luna really play if she's a boy now?" Clyde whispered to Linka.
"I don't see why not. Will they be here soon?" Linka asked.
"Oh, yeah. They should be here any minute. I hired them to start playing at 4. It's 3:30 now." Clyde said.
As he said that, the Moon Goats came in, starting to set up their instruments on the stage.
"Hey, everyone! Luna regrets that she wasn't able to come today! But my name is Luke! I'm her cousin and I'll be filling in her role, dudes. I hope you can forgive her. She got sick. But I know all the lyrics to their songs."
"You look just like Luna." One of the party goers said.
"Thanks. We do share certain chromosomes. Beyond that, I'm not allowed to speculate on the reasons." Luke joked. The party goers laughed at his joke. They set up the stage and Luke began practicing his boy voice. He struggled to find his tone. Levi had to modify his bionic vocal cords and voice box and had done it as quickly as he could while being careful to do it right. So his voice was a bit rougher than he wished it was and he had to modify the songs to play with his new voice. Songs that would have had a high pitch had to work on a lower pitch now.
But after almost forty minutes of working on it, they properly set up.
"Sorry for the late start, dudes. I've been a bit out of practice. But we're ready to get started. Anyone who wants an autograph or a photograph with the band is welcome to come by during our breaks." Sam said. The Moon Goats had become moderately famous over the years. They were better known for their songs on the radio and on iTunes and other song download sites. But they went on tour every once in a while.
"Anyone who wants an autograph from Luna, write down their name and number and we'll contact you when she's able to get back on her feet. Again, we apologize for the delay and for her absence." Luke said. They began singing, playing a fan favorite, a power ballad about a human who fell in love with an angel of song and dance and the love affair that they had after. Some of their songs weren't ballads, but Luna really liked writing stories in her music.
The rest of the party went really well. They got a lot of requests for autographs and photos with the band. There was a line of people during the band's breaks to get photos. They gave the photos to the band with their name and address so that Luna could sign the photo as well and then they would send the photos to the individuals in question.
Finally, the night ended and the band packed up.
"Thanks, everyone for your attention! We'll be putting the new album on iTunes on February 10th." Luke said, going back to Luna's home with Sam.
Linka sighed, going out to her own car and heading home as well. She'd had a good time, but she was tired now.
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A/N: Thank you for reading. Please read and review.