Extreme Measures:
A Story from A Devoted Future
 
By ParaGirl
 
The Players
 
Linda had always been very bright, ever since she began school.  Her
grades were always the highest, her projects always the best and her
parents were always the proudest.  She had always loved media, from books
to videos to holograms, but her foremost love was computers.  She started
playing with her house computer by age four, and her parents got her a
deck of her own when she was seven.  By nine she was already an adequate
programmer, and by thirteen she was actually improving on consumer wares,
making them run more efficiently or add to their capabilities.  Of course
she could never sell or gain credit for her skills, at least not for
another six months, on her eighteenth birthday- after she went through
Puberty.
 
Linda had many friends, but the girls who held the distinct honor of
‘Best Friend’ were Karen, Libby, and Iris. They had grown up in the same
neighborhood, gone to the same school, and the four had been friends for
as long as any of them could remember. They were all almost the same age,
though Linda was technically the youngest.  Iris, the oldest of the
group, would reach puberty in just six weeks, and like most girls she was
very excited about her impending womanhood.  It was actually one year
ago, on Iris’ seventeenth birthday, when the beginnings of a plan started
in Linda’s mind- a plan that, to Linda’s knowledge, had never been tried
before.
 
The Plan
 
Linda, like most girls her age, was both excited and nervous about
Puberty, the day when a girl became a woman and left some part of her
self behind in the process.  Linda would never think about NOT going
through puberty, but the uncertainty of the whole process frightened her,
she wasn’t sure if she could accept her Womanly Body, at least not
certain possibilities of it.  She couldn’t bear the though of losing her
arms, and a wheelchair, though not as bad, still frightened her.  After
long hours of thought, she decided that deafness would be acceptable, not
too difficult, as she already knew Sign fluently, but still Puberty, so
she would still be a Woman.  It was with this thought that her plan
emerged.
 
No one really knew how FATE, the deciding factor in every Puberty, chose
the Womanly Body that a girl would get, but everyone knew it was some
sort of computer, and that was the key. If Linda could somehow get into
that computer, she could possibly manipulate the data to give her exactly
what she wanted for her Puberty.  She already had a vague idea on how to
do it, and she had three tries to get it right- her three friends were
going before her.
 
The First Try
 
Linda made the first connection to FATE four days before Iris’ Day of
Decision. The security was incredible, more layers than Linda had ever
seen, all protecting what looked like huge numerical database.  Linda
didn’t know what many of the numbers’ meant, but she figured out a few
sets- one was the identifier number, a unique number given to each
citizen at birth.  It took little time to find her own, and she figured
out another string of numbers was her birthday, but the other strings of
numbers were undecipherable.  She found Iris’ number and marked that set
of codes on her home deck.  It would be a risk, using one of her tries
just to see if the code changed, but it was all she could do.
 
Iris’ birthday came, and Linda got back into FATE to find her string. She
did a compare of Iris’ saved string and the new string- there was only
one digit different, and it changed from 0 to 1!  That was the
information that Linda needed- if only one digit changed, then FATE for a
girls’ puberty was probably predetermined.  She got out many of the tools
she had written and had to write two more to begin the decipher of the
remaining string of numbers, but once she saw Iris when she got home from
her puberty, she would have even more information.
 
Linda waited at Iris’ new home with all Iris’ other friends and family.
By the layout of the place she could tell Iris would be in a wheelchair,
though no one spoke of that.  Finally the doors opened, and in rolled
Iris- her legs were still there, but by her feet Linda could tell that
Iris was paralyzed.  There was much rejoicing, and Linda and the rest of
the girls got together with Iris and talked for hours.  Thankfully, none
of the girls noticed how distant Linda was as she sat and went over the
code in her mind.  Oh, she laughed and joked and enjoyed the company of
her best friends, but her thoughts were always with that string of
numbers on her deck at home.
 
The Second Try
 
It had been five weeks since Iris had come home, and it was only one week
before Libby’s day of decision, when Linda thought she had the answer.
The numbers represented different codes of disability, in octal format.
When she de-coded the Octal, she got three-letter alphabetical codes that
represented different disabilities.  She tested the hypothesis with Iris,
and her code cam up PAR- that had to mean paralysis.  There was another
string of numbers that Linda still hadn’t accounted for, but she believed
she had the key she needed.  According to the code, Libby was destined tobe a BAE, which Linda took to mean Bilateral Above Elbow amputee.  Linda
knew that Libby really wanted to be in a wheelchair, and she wanted to be
a doctor.  Holding her breath, Linda changed the code from BAE to BAK, or
Bilateral Above Knee.  She knew what she was doing, using her best friend
as a guinea pig for her own plan, but if it worked Libby would be so
happy.  She entered the code, then re-checked that section of the string
to make sure it saved properly.  She shut down her deck and silently
prayed for her friend.
 
Libby’s rehabilitation took longer than Linda anticipated, but she
finally got the call to Libby’s homecoming.  Linda was the first one
there, and she was so nervous she was shaking.  She waited silently while
all Libby’s other friends chatted in joyful anticipation.  Finally, the
door opened and Linda’s heart rose, then sank.  Libby walked in on both
legs, but with empty silk sleeves- the change hadn’t worked, Libby was
still a BAE amputee.  Without realizing it, Linda started to cry and
Libby walked up to her and hugged her with her new arm stumps, telling
her it was OK, that she felt wonderful and she was a woman now.  Linda
pulled herself together and made her apologies, saying she wasn’t feeling
well.  She left and as soon as she made it home turned on her deck and
logged back into FATE.  She pulled up Libby’s code and looked for the
change.  It wasn’t there!  They must have changed it back somehow- they
must have had more layers of security than she had figured out.  This was
actually better than she had thought, and she already had a plan for her
next try.    She had to be right, because this was her last chance.
 
The Third Try
 
Linda had been monitoring FATE for seven weeks when Karen went for
Puberty.  She had changed Karen’s code repeatedly and watched it- she had
figured out what the layer of security was that did the refresh and had
overcome it- it was a simple checksum, and it didn’t appear that it’s
routine alerted anyone to a violation, luckily for her.  Karen was
destined to be RBE, or Right Below Elbow amputation.  This posed a
dilemma for Linda, because she knew Karen wanted an arm amputation, so
she didn’t want to test the code for deafness- she believed it was DEF.
She entered LAE for Left Above Elbow amputation, calculated and changed
the checksum, and crossed her fingers.  If this didn’t work, she would
abort the whole thing and take what she was going to get.  She kept
checking to make sure the code didn’t’ change, and on the day after
Karen’s puberty, the code was still as Linda had set it- LAE.  Linda
waited nervously for the call to come to Karen’s coming home party.
 
     The day finally came, and as Karen walked in the door, a Left
Above Elbow amputee- it had worked!  Linda ran up and hugged her
one-armed friend, laughing and saying how wonderful she looked.  She
and her friends enjoyed the party and Linda stayed out until very late,
her head swimming with her success- she had changed FATE!!  She
got home and turned on her deck, calling up herself.  She finally looked
at the code she had been given at birth- RAK- she was to be a Right
Above Knee amputee, spending her days on crutches, hobbling around.
Not any more!   She changed her code to DEF and updated the
checksum- she was ready for Puberty!
 
The Big Day
 
     Linda’s friends and family had never seen a girl so excited for
puberty.  Her party was bright and cheerful, and the morning of her
eighteenth birthday she practically skipped to the Hospital and her
Puberty Clinic.  She passed all manner of women on the street, in
wheelchairs, on crutches, with empty sleeves, and she smiled at each
one, imagining herself in just a few days as a Woman.
 
     The Puberty clinic was warm and inviting, and Linda approached
the counter.  The nurse behind the counter, who was in a wheelchair
and had no legs, greeted Linda warmly and took her information down,
then led her to the waiting area.  There were already four girls there
before her, and as usual no one spoke, they all just sat nervously and
stared at the inspirational posters on the walls.  Linda tried to fit in,
but
she was so excited she fidgeted and the other girls looked at her
strangely.  One of them offered a small smile but turned back away
before Linda could return it.
 
     The first girl was called and walked up to FATE.  The screen
showed a reflection of her, then blanked, replacing the image with the
girl naked, but shaded black from her waist down- the girl would be
paralyzed.  A doctor came in on crutches, one leg gone right at the hip,
and she led the girl through the doors and into Womanhood.
 
    A few minutes later the next girl was called.  Again the girl got on
the platform, and it showed her as she stood.  Again the screen blanked,
and again the image was replaced by an image of the girl, naked, only
thins time she was less one arm at the elbow- she would be an arm
amputee as dictated by FATE.
 
The third girl was called up and the
screen reflected her Womanly Self- both legs amputated mid-thigh.
The fourth girl was called up, and FATE reflected her Womanly Self-
paralyzed, this time the screen reflected the girl shaded form the
shoulders down- she would be paralyzed as high up as possible, a rare
occurrence indeed.  The girl visibly slumped as she saw the reflection,
and her doctor, an elder woman in a wheelchair with Para legs, put her
hand on the girls’ arm, leading her gently into the clinic.
 
    Finally it was Linda’s turn, and she could barely contain her
excitement.  She stood on the platform and FATE reflected her as she
stood.  The screen blanked and was replaced but an image of Linda,
naked.  She looked right at her head, for the black shading on her ears,
but it wasn’t there.  She looked again, and the indication that she would
 
be deaf just wasn’t there.  She held her breath as she looked at the rest
 
of her body, then she began to shake.   Her doctor, a pretty younger
woman with one arm, placed her only hand on Linda’s shoulder and led
her gently back, into the clinic.  She was prepared and led to her
operating room, where she laid on the table with tears in her eyes, still
 
shaking.  As she  fell into an anesthetic sleep, the last thing she saw
was
her mistake, the image of her Womanly Self.
 
The Results
 
     Linda woke up groggy and disoriented.  She was blindfolded, as she
expected.  She heard someone in the room and called out.
    “I’m right here Linda” her doctor replied.
     “It’s over then?” was all she asked.
    “Yes Linda, and it went very well, you make a beautiful woman.”
The doctor said from beside the bed.  Linda felt different, her limbs
felt
different, as of course they would.  Linda fell back to sleep, not
wanting to feel herself any more.
 
     Linda awoke feeling better, less groggy and very hungry.  She called
out- she still couldn’t see- and a nurse came to her side.  She asked for
food, and the nurse left immediately to get some dinner for Linda.  The
nurse returned not only with dinner, but with Linda’s doctor in tow as
well.  Linda’s doctor helped her to sit up carefully, and as Linda was
fed by the nurse she realized just how she would spend the rest of her
life.  As she finished her dinner she began to sob again and wasn’t even
able to wipe away her tears.  She felt her doctor wipe them with a soft
cloth and she went back to sleep, dreaming of her childhood.
 
     As the bandages came off Linda’s eyes she looked at her womanly
body for the first time.  Her arms ended in smooth, round stumps just
four inches below her shoulders, and her legs ended in smooth round
stumps at mid-thigh.  She would be a  quadruple amputee for the rest of
her life.  A nurse dressed her in specially made clothes that fit her new
 
body, and she was helped into a power wheelchair with a mouth
control.  Then, as she was pushed into the Rehab center to learn how to
use her new Womanly Body, her doctor said something that for the rest
of her life she would never forget;
 
     “By the way, Linda, the code for deafness- it’s EAR.” She said
quietly, then walked beside Linda as she was pushed in her wheelchair,
her four smooth stumps wriggling slightly as she unconsciously tried to
keep balanced.