Sex Culture in the 23rd Century

Sex Culture in the 23

rd

Century

By Gary L.M. Martin

Chapter 6: Biological Equality

The next day began most normally for Fredrik. He got up, had Ted dress him, reached into his pants and underwear and pulled the Global Tampon out of his ass, and went to the bathroom.

But when Fredrik went to take a dump on the old American flag, he felt something was wrong. He started to feel some stomach cramps. And then, all of a sudden, there was a rumbling in his bowels, and something came out.

He looked down and saw excrement. And blood. A lot of it!

Fredrik had the mechanical hand wipe him and was horrified to see blood appear on the hand. He was still bleeding!

Had he perforated his bowels? Or his intestines? Had he eaten something with a sharp piece of glass in it? Or had some chemical gotten into his food and burned his insides? His heart was racing.

He collected Laura, told her what had happened, and they both rushed to the nearest Wellness center. That's what hospitals were called, Wellness Centers.

The Bernard Chickfila Wellness Center was one of the best in OrgyFree. But the waiting room was packed with sick people. They went to an automated counter, identified themselves to the receptionist (Ted), and were told to sit down and wait. Fredrik was embarrassed because there was a blood stain on the back of his pants as he continued to bleed from his ass. He wasn't losing blood at a rapid pace, more like a trickle, but it still alarmed him.

Laura held his hand, trying not to look worried as they waited. There was a holoscreen that rotated different messages of encouragement.

"We care about your wellness in the Community!"

"The Community wants you to be healthy, happy, and wise."

"Always finish all medication."

"Always obey your doctor."

"Work to make the Community stronger, for the good of the body."

The images also showed smiling children, adults, and older people of all ethnic groups, races, and genders as they interacted with what looked like doctors, who were also of all ethnic groups, races, and genders. Meanwhile Fredrik covered his ass with a towel, which was starting to get stained with blood. After nearly an hour of waiting, they went up to speak to Ted.

"We want to see a doctor," said Laura.

"You're in the queue," said Ted.

"He's still bleeding, we need to see a doctor now," said Laura.

"You will be seen in order. Your wellness is important to the Community," said Ted.

"When will we be seen?"

"Someone will be with you in two point four seven minutes."

Finally!

Nearly three minutes later, sure enough, a woman came over to them wearing a white miniskirt and a stiff Chikdik. "Hi, hello, how are you? My name is Nurse Kumquat, and I am fine," she said.

"Hi, hello, how are yew? My name is Fredrik Diem, and I'm bleeding out of my arse," said Fredrik.

"Yes, well, we'll just get you processed then, won't we," said Nurse Kumquat. She toggled something in the air, and a holographic keyboard and display appeared before them. "I just need you to fill out your identification form, your incident form, your virtue form, your genetic profile, and a short essay on how you feel about the Community."

"Why'd yew need all that for?" said Laura.

"It's all part of providing wellness services in the Community," said Kumquat. "Now, the sooner you fill out these holoforms, the sooner you can get the medical care you deserve."

Laura helped Fredrik fill out the forms. It took them nearly an hour. The hardest part was the essay, writing a letter of gratitude to the Community while the Community was letting Fredrik bleed out of his ass without being treated.

Finally they were done, but Nurse Kumquat was long gone. They gave their forms to Ted and asked when they would be seen.

"In approximately twenty four minutes, my friend," said Ted.

Twenty Four minutes! They had already been waiting two hours.

"But my arse is bleeding!" said Fredrik.

"My arse bleeds in sympathy with yours, my dear, dear, friend," Ted assured them.

They went back to their seats. Nearly a half hour later someone came up to them, but he didn't look like a doctor.

"Hi, how are you, I'm fine," he said. "My name is Charlie Subaru, and I'm your designated survey taker."

"Survey taker?"

"Yes," said Charlie. "We're very concerned about providing the highest quality of wellness to members of the Community. I'm here to get the feedback on services rendered thus far."

"We haven't had any services rendered thus far!" said Fredrik.

"Well, then we can skip the second page of the survey, then. If I can just ask you-"

"Get out of here!" said Fredrik. "Get out of here now!"

"You seem upset. If you feel the need, have some Weed," Charlie smiled.

"Now!" said Fredrik.

Charlie, still smiling, retreated.

"That does it," said Laura, equally frustrated. She went up to the front desk. "Ted! I want to talk to a real person."

"I'm a real person, Laura."

"No. A real person in charge hear," said Laura, her accent coming out more strongly under stress.

"I'm a real person in charge here, my dear, dear, friend," said Ted.

"Fredrik is bleeding and needs to be seen."

"You can take Fredrik to examining room 14B," said Ted.

"And someone will come to examine him?" Laura asked.

"Yes," said Ted.

"Yew promass?"

"I do, my dear, dear friend" said Ted.

Laura helped Fredrik go to examining room 14B. By now his towel was getting stained with blood but the rate of flow seemed to have lessened. Laura paced back and forth until the door opened and a young man came in, carrying some kind of recording device.

"Are you a doctar?" Laura said immediately.

"I'm the photographer," said the man. "I'm here to get holoimages of injuries for our marketing department, to show the range of wellness services we provide-"

"Get out!" said Laura. "Get! Out!" she screamed, as he left.

"I love your aggression," said Fredrik weakly.

"I'm going to get a doctar for yew if I have to tayre this entire hospital apart," said Laura.

After more requests to Ted, someone else finally came.

"Are you a medical professional?" Laura asked the young woman who entered the room.

"Yes," she said.

"Thank gawd," said Laura. "My friend hear has been bleeding for hours."

"What has he been eating?" the woman asked.

"He had steak tacos for dinner last night, I think, right Fredrik?"

Fredrik nodded weakly.

"Has he been eating a balanced diet?"

Laura frowned. "I don't knauw."

"Maybe he needs to eat more veggies. Veggies do a body good," said the woman.

Laura's eyes narrowed. "What kind of doctor are you?"

"Oh, I'm not a doctor. I'm the nutritionist. You'd be surprised how many-"

"Out!" said Laura. She looked up. "Ted? Ted? Are you listening?"

"Always, my dear friend."

"Ted, I want Fredrik to see a doctar, right now, or else I am going to tayre this hospital apart. Do yew hear me, Ted?"

There was silence.

"Do yew hear me, Ted?"

"Someone will come to see you now."

"A doctar," said Laura. "Not a photographer, not a dietician, not a nutritionist, not a butcher, baker, or a candlestick maker."

The door swished open, and a man in white entered.

"Are you a doctar?" was Laura's first question.

"No-"

"I asked to see-"

"Ms. Ngo, if you'll please calm down. There is no doctor."

Laura's eyes narrowed. "What do yew mean, there is no doctar?"

"There are no medical appointments available for the next 23 days."

"Are you saying that Fredrik has to wait 23 days to see a doctar?"

"If he signs up now, we can have him seen by the end of November," said the man.

Laura looked at the man as if she was going to murder him.

But suddenly, the door swished open again, and in came none other than Janet Taco Bell.

"I'm sorry I was delayed," she said. "I heard you were having a bit of difficulty, but a heterogeneous virtue anomaly arose that I had to deal with."

"Janet, what's going on hear?" said Laura. "Fredrik is very seeck, and he can't see a doctar for several weeks!"

"Laura, I can see you're upset. Sit down."

Laura looked stubborn.

"Laura, please sit down, and I'll explain everything."

Laura sat, next to Fredrik and his bloody towel, (still pressed against his ass). Janet smiled, secretly pleased that she had just dominated Fredrik's woman in front of him. She faced the both of them, also pointing her Chikdik in their direction as she talked.

"Now, first of all, everyone is guaranteed medical care, regardless of ability to pay, from cradle to shredder," said Janet. "But providing top quality wellness services to a population this size isn't an easy task. In order to keep our standards up, and provide the best quality care, the Community requires a lot of resources. So while we do provide the best care, there is sometimes a small wait to see a physician."

"Three weeks is a small wait? What if Fredrik died in that tyme?"

"Then he would be sorely missed by the Community," Janet assured her.

"Now, point number two," said Janet. "Fredrik is not sick."

Laura's face scrunched up. "He's bleeding out of his ass."

"Fredrik is no more sick than you are, once a month."

A light dawned on Laura's face. "Are you saying..."

"Congratulations, Fredrik," said Janet Taco Bell. "You've just gotten your first period."

"What?" said Fredrik.

"Aren't you happy? You aren't sick at all. It's simply a normal biological process," said Janet.

"It's not normal for me," said Fredrik.

"It is here. Once you came here, it was only a matter of time before you acclimated to our system and developed your first period."

"Out of my arse?" said Fredrik.

"Out of your arse," said Janet, smiling. She found something about this situation physically arousing. Was it Fredrik's sense of vulnerability?

"Noah, noah, and noah," said Fredrik. "This is a bridge too far. I want to speak to Maoina."

"Maoina is very busy," said Janet.

"Let's see how busy she is," Fredrik declared, getting up while still pressing the bloody towel against his asshole.

"Before you go, why don't you get cleaned up," Janet suggested, indicating a Manipulator Booth in the corner of the room.

Fredrik gave her a wary glance, as he realized the implications. But he also realized he didn't have much of a choice, unless he wanted to walk into the First Deputy Assistant Controller's Office for the Northern California District with a blood stain around his ass.

Fredrik went into the Manipulator. It removed his clothing efficiently, and gave him a quick shower. He noticed that Janet didn't even pretend to look away, watching him with unabashed interest. There was something in her smile that seemed almost predatory, hungry. Or was he just imagining it?

When the dry shower was complete, Fredrik was given clean clothes. But not before something was shoved up his ass. And Fredrik knew very well what that something was. A Global Tampon. One that been up the asses of hundreds if not thousands of other men. But he had no choice now, unless he wanted to walk around bleeding.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped out was that he felt concern radiating from within him. He somehow sensed this concern was coming from Laura. How? It was being radiated from his GT. He looked at her. "Are you..."

"Yes," said Laura. "I started wearing it yesterday. I don't need it yet, but I got tired of pulling it out of my twat every day. It's really not so bad."

"You haven't seen mine, it's like a butt plug, it's much bigger than yours," said Fredrik.

"Let's go," said Laura, grabbing him by the arm.

Maoina Bin Laden was indeed occupied when they arrived at her office, at shortly after one in the afternoon. They had to wait twenty minutes in the reception area until the door swished open and several people emerged from her office, all chatting about something.

"Those sliders were the best I've tasted in years-"

"-but was nothing compared to those wheat tacos!"

"I just have to know what they put into that quiche!"

And then they were gone, and Laura and Fredrik were escorted into her office.

"Fredrik, Laura! Hi, how are you, I'm fine," said Maoina, smiling at them. Her young blonde chinese assistant, Madison, stood in the background as always.

"We're not so fine," said Fredrik. "I've just discovered that I've been given a period."

"Congratulations on your very first menses," said Maoina, walking around her desk with a big smile and giving him a firm hug. Then she looked into his eyes. "I can feel your anxiety, but believe me, you have taken your first step into a much larger world."

"It's not a step I want to take," said Fredrik. "I want yew to turn it awff."

"Turn it off?"

"Deactivate it. Whatever future word you guys use for cancelling a guy's period."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Fredrik," said Maoina, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "But once a man's period start, it can't be terminated." She saw his expression, and caressed his face. "It really isn't so bad. There will be some blood, for the first day or two. By the third day you'll start to see it replaced by a clear, light colored fluid, which may resemble egg whites. It's perfectly normal. And by the end of the fifth day, all it will be is a little clear liquid."

Fredrik looked thoroughly unhappy. "Fine. But I want it deactivated so it never happens again."

"Well, of course, the choice is always yours," said Maoina. Fredrik perked up a little. "However, I'm a little disturbed by your sexist attitude."

"Sexist?"

"Women have had to endure periods since the beginning of time. Men, by nature of random acts of biology, have been spared that. So there has been enormous biological inequality for millennia."

"I'm not responsible for that," said Fredrik.

"No, you're not, but you

are

responsible for refusing to try to remedy the inequality. Just think of it, Fredrik. Every man in OrgyFree has agreed, of their own free will, to have their menses every month, to show their solidarity with women."

"Every man here bleeds... from their arses.... every month?"

Maoina nodded. "They do it so they can be biologically more identical to women. Reductions in differences means reductions in inequality. We're all different so we can all be the same. Reductions in inequality lead to a more stable, more secure Community, with better wellness and bliss and Oneness for all, ultimately leading to a tighter Connection to the Global Flesh."

Fredrik looked confused.

"So, if you want to, you can choose to be the only man in OrgyFree who doesn't get a period. You can decide that you, alone, will be the only man in this city to refuse to contribute to reducing the historic biological inequality gap with women. But I fear that such a lonely position will be a heavy burden on you. Is that what you really want?"

Fredrik looked uncertain.

She gently rubbed his shoulders. "Don't you want to

give back to the Community

?"

At the mention of that key phrase, Fredrik felt his mind began to get clouded.

Maoina kept rubbing, seemingly oblivious to Laura standing right next to them. She spoke into his ear softly. "Why rush into a decision? You have an entire month to think about it. Like I said, this cycle can't be canceled, and will be over in just a few days. Think about it for a few days, or even a few weeks, and then decide."

Fredrik paused, and then said, "And you'll honor my request, if I decide not to have any more of them?"

"Of course," said Maoina. She repeated herself. "Remember, the choice is always yours."

Fredrik nodded. He calmed down. "I think the shock... I didn't know what it was... now that I know I'm going to be all right...." Now he felt apologetic, for making such a fuss about the Community giving him an artificial period.

"Of course you're going to be all right. Laura, when you have your menses, you're perfectly fine, aren't you?"

The unexpected question made Laura blush, but she said, to support Fredrik, "Sure."

"There, you see? Now, while you're here, tell me how you're doing. Are you enjoying your work at the Department of Propaganda and Misdirection?"

"Yes, very much," said Fredrik, guiltily thinking of Madeline.

"And you Laura?"

"Yes," said Laura, guiltily thinking of Mary Elizabeth.

Then another thought occurred to Fredrik. "What about our letters to home?"

"They were sent a week ago. Beacons were sent to all your families."

"Have yew heard back?"

"Regrettably, no," said Maoina.

"I wonder if they're all right," said Laura.

"I'm sure they are fine," said Maoina. "You have to remember, that for many of your people, advanced technology is taboo. They may be afraid to touch the beacons we sent. They don't all have the courage that you do."

"Well, I hope we hear from them," said Laura.

"I'm sure you will, before long," said Maoina.

"While we're hear, I wanted to ask about the menu items," said Fredrik.

"Ah, yes, Janet Taco Bell mentioned this to me. You want different food choices. Send me a list, I'll review it, and the approved ones will be added to your menu rotation."

"Thank yew," said Fredrik, so grateful to the have the opportunity to have some input into what he ate. He was giving up all his freedoms, one by one, but his conditioning made him happy just to retain whatever nominal scraps of independence he could get.

"You're quite welcome," said Maoina. "Is there anything else?"

Fredrik hesitated.

"I don't need a GT inside me to realize that you have something else on your mind, Fredrik," said Maoina.

It was at that instant that he realized that Maoina

did

have a GT inside her, and that she could on some level sense what Fredrik was feeling. He blushed, reddening, but refused to be distracted.

"Yes," he said. "Are yew doing something to us in our sleep?"

"Doing something?"

"Telling us things, in our sleep?"

Suddenly, Laura looked attentive. That would explain all the strange dreams she had been having. The dreams about being intimate with women.

Maoina looked confused, and then she smiled. "Oh, you're referring to SleepTalk."

"SleepTalk? What's that?" Fredrik asked.

"A simple instructional protocol where we teach you basic things about our society while you sleep."

"You teach us things while we sleep?" said Laura. "What kind of things?"

"Nothing sinister, I assure you, Laura," said Maoina. "Just simple things to help you get around in society. For example, if you're lost in the city, what do you do?"

"Call for the map," said Laura. Suddenly, a holographic map appeared.

"How did you know to do that?" Maoina asked.

Laura looked hesitant.

"Did someone tell you how to do that?" said Maoina.

"I'm... I'm not sure."

"You learned that, and many other ways of dealing with our society, through SleepTalk," said Maoina. "It's allowed you to enjoy a seamless integration into our society."

"Just the same, I'd lyke it turned off. For the both of us," said Fredrik.

"It's not advisable," said Maoina.

"Maybe not, but it's what we want," said Fredrik.

"Ms. Ngo?"

Laura, thinking of her disturbing dreams of fondling women's breasts, nodded.

"Of course, the choice is always yours," said Maoina. They relaxed again. She added, "I'll have it turned off by tonight. Is that soon enough?"

"Yes, thank yew," said Fredrik.

"Thank yew for everything," said Laura sincerely, not having noticed the import of Maoina's fondling of Fredrik's shoulders in front of her, or the tremendous loss of rights they had just freely signed away.

"Of course," said Maoina. "My assistant Madison will see you out."

After they had left, Maoina smiled at Janet Taco Bell, who had stood silently the whole time in the background. "Very good. Did you notice?"