Small Town Justice

by Keith Morrison

I don't remember too much about before. Before it happened, I mean. I sorta remember what it was like, being a guy and all but it's like trying to remember one of those dreams that disappears when you wake up. You kinda remember what happened but when you stop paying attention it's gone. My life's like that.

I think it was in December but it's so hard to remember and I can't read anymore so calendars don't tell me anything. I know I used to read. I think. I was a teacher and teachers hafta read, don't they? Randy doesn't need teachers. Everyone knows everything they need to, he says. Randy says a lot of things. Randy makes the rules.

Randy used to be in my class. Sometimes when I look at him I see the juvenile deliqu...the...the bad kid. The kid who said he'd get me. Then the silver fog came and Randy changed. I like Randy now. Randy's good to me. He doesn't slap me too bad and he doesn't call me a dumb bitch a lot. Just when I do something bad.

Randy treats us all good. We're all his bitches, he says. The whole town. We all work for Randy. Some of the girls are big and strong in work in the mine. They bring out the rocks for the Machine. Some of the others, they dress normal and fool anyone who passes through. They say the men are all workin' somewhere if anyone starts askin' questions. The sheriff, she and the deputies get 'em out. If they don't go, they take 'em to the Machine and pretty soon they're like us. Randy's girls. But that don't happen too often and I'm happy. I think that it's all wrong but I'm not sure.

The new one, she's sorta strange. I was with the sheriff the other night, foolin' around like we do when Randy isn't with us and she didn't say nothin' about anyone new. I didn't say nothing neither 'cause I don't want Randy to find out. I don't know why, but I think it's important.

She always looks like she's doin' somthin' but I ain't stupid. She's pokin' around, askin' questions. Like I said, she's strange. Not ugly or nothin'. She's pretty tall and she's got big tits just like the rest of us but she looks sorta like the miners but sorta soft. She's really pretty. I told her so the other day an' she smiled and said I was pretty too. I told her she could sleep with me and we could do stuff together but she looked at me kinda funny. She said okay but she was different from the other girls. She asked a lot of questions about the town and Randy like she'd never been here before but everyone that's been to the Machine knows everything they hafta. I told her I should tell Randy 'cause he told us to be careful of people tryin' to sneak in but I wouldn't tell on her 'cause she treated me so nice. She kissed me and said thank you and told me that pretty soon I wouldn't hafta do everything Randy says. I think that sounds okay.

Sometimes I see her pokin' around where the Machine is. I dunno how she don't get caught 'cause them guards at the Machine are tough and the Machine is magic too. Well, it gotta be magic, don't it? You can't change guys into girls without magic, can you? Anyway she goes pokin' around and then she asks me more questions. I try to help her, I really do even though I dunno why and I can't remember much, except maybe when I look at Randy and see a kid instead of the big muscle-man he is.

Liz, that's what she told me her name was, Liz has some sorta secret. When she thinks I fell asleep but I didn't 'cause I want to her to learn me more even if she don't know it she talks into a little box she hides in her pocket. I can't hear much 'cause she's so quiet but I know some of the words. She says 'fire' and 'bird'. And sometimes somethin' that sounds like "raycon". I think I used to know what that word was but I don't anymore and I really wanna.

Today's special, Liz says. She promised me I'd remember more soon and I wanna believe her but I don't think I'll be anything except a wench. That's what Randy calls me when I'm good and I'm not a dumb bitch and he's happy. I make believe it makes me happy when he calls me a wench but I don't really feel happy. Anyway Liz says to do everything normal like I do all the time and she'll come and get me before it happens. So I do because I believe her. Liz is nice to me all the time. Not like Randy. She doesn't call me a dumb bitch, even when I did something stupid like when I almost told the sheriff about her and Liz stopped me just in time and I cried later and said I was sorry but Liz said it was all right 'cause it was just the brain washing and she laughed when I asked how you washed a brain and then she kissed me and told me everything was all right.

I stop by the diner like I always do and order the bacon and eggs like I always do and talk with the other girls like I always do. Paula, she's the cook and she makes good stuff. I don't remember much but I know that she cooks better than she did when she was a guy. The sheriff (her name is Sue but it used to be Sam) says hello and I say hello back and we talk about the weather and she tells me about the new people that came to town. Two guys who wanted to fly up the mountains and ski. Well they were good looking, Sue says, and some of the girls get tired of just bein' with other girls and they took 'em to bed but they sheriff found out and Randy found out and he got all mad. So they had to take 'em to the Machine. Sue points to where they're sittin', eatin' breakfast like all the other folks. Little Chinese girl with short black hair and big titties is sittin' next to a tall girl with red hair and dimples. Sue says Randy's gonna keep 'em for awhile and then he's gonna make 'em the town sluts. Sue laughs when she says it and I feel sorry 'cause Sue is rough when she knows Randy don't care what she does.

Sue stops laughin' and goes away and I feel better. I don't like Sue. Sue is always plannin' stuff with Randy and some of it's bad.

There ain't many people on the street durin' the day because Randy don't want people just passin' through seein' nothin' but women walkin' around. There's a few and some wear big coats and stuff so they sorta look like guys and they make sure no one gets too close and see they're just pretendin'. I go to Randy's place. He lives in the hotel in a big room that he had some of the girls build. He's got all the best stuff in town. I pass the girls who guard the door and they scare me. They're big like the miners but look meaner and carry guns. Randy says he's not afraid of nothin' but those guards are always around. I think he's really afraid but I'm not sure because Randy ain't afraid of nothin'. Liz says Randy's afraid of bein' found out and he's really a chicken and a bully and scared that someone's gonna come and kick him out.

I'm already wearin' my uniform. Randy makes all of us who work in the hotel wear nothin' except high heels and little bikini panties and a collar. My collar's red so I deliver food and clean up and stuff. The girls in the white collars are the smart ones, they do all the stuff you need brains for. The black collars, they do the construction and electrical stuff and things, keep everything running'.

Janice tells me what I gotta do today. She was always a girl. She was Randy's mom but now she looks younger than Randy and he sleeps with her like all the other girls. She's his head wench, he says and she's proud and gives us a bad time and yells a lot when she thinks we ain't makin' Randy happy enough. I hafta clean the Machine and it's a special job because not everyone can go to the Machine so Randy doesn't think I'm a dumb bitch today.

The Machine's in the basement and I hafta walk because only Randy can use the elevators and we use the stairs cause Randy says it'll keep us in shape and have nice butts. There is two more guards near the door and they make a big deal about makin' sure I am really supposed to go in. They laugh when I talk real quiet to 'em and one of them grabs by butt and squeezes 'till it hurts. I think they used to be in my class and buddies of Randy. He treats 'em like the rest but he feels kinda sorry for 'em so they can do whatever they want and he says it's okay. They get tired of me and let me in.

The Machine is a big shiny box with all sorts of tubes and stuff. There's a big door that they put the rocks they mine in and a big glass bowl that's upside down beside it with a door. That's where they put the people they wanna change. One big tube sticks up into the ceiling. I think that's where the silver clouds I sometimes see come from. Randy got mad when I asked him about it and beat me. It ain't none of my business he said. Liz thinks it's my business and she told me to tell her when I see one of the clouds. I told her two days ago and yesterday Randy was mad about somethin' and Liz told me that a lot of people were happy because I warned 'em.

I go get the cloth and start wiping the dust off the Machine. It's scary bein' so close. It hums and makes weird sounds and stuff but I gotta do it or Randy or Janice or someone'll beat me.

There's some yellin' and screamin' and Randy comes in. I get down on my knees and hold up my boobies and smile 'cause that's what we gotta do when we see Randy. He don't even look at me but goes to the little TV at the side of the Machine and says somethin'. There's a buzzin' noise and the door on the big glass bowl opens up.

The guards got two girls and I know they ain't Randy's girls 'cause one's got no boobies and the other one's kinda tubby. They're both screamin' and cryin' and trying to get loose but the guards are really tough and hold them real tight so they don't run. They got bruises all over themselves. I think they're the girls Sue said came with the two guys and it looks like Randy made 'em go to bed with him and he beat 'em up. Now he's gonna change 'em and make some more of his girls.

They make the tubby one get in first and she's screamin'. Then the bowl fills up with a shiny fog and she disappears for a little while. Randy's still talking to the TV. He says to make her taller and skinnier and a bunch of other stuff I don't hear and then the fog goes away and she's standin' in the bowl, taller and thinner with really really big titties and long blonde hair that goes all the way to her legs and big red lips and she smiles and gets on her knees and holds up her boobies like I am and she says she loves Randy and she wants to serve him and a whole bunch of other stuff. The door opens and she runs to him and kisses him and he whispers somethin' in her ear and she smiles and says yes and then goes to her friend.

"Your turn, Tina," she says and grabs her friend and hauls her to the bowl. Tina begs and calls her Helen and begs her to let her go but Helen is Randy's girl and she pushes her friend in the bowl. Randy says somethin' to the TV and the fog comes back and when it goes away Tina looks just like Helen, like she was a twin. They both start kissin' and huggin' Randy and he feels them all over and slaps 'em on their butts and they giggle and say how much they love him.

Then there's more yellin' and screamin' and the two guards fall down with little darts in their backs. Liz comes runnin'g and with a weird-lookin' gun thing and aims toward Randy. The two girls jump in front of him but she shoots 'em and they fall down. Randy looks scared until Liz tosses the gun away and walks at him and asks if he wants to fight someone his own size. He laughs and flexes an arm and points to it and says no body is as big as he is. Liz points to his pants and says no body is as small as he is either.

Randy calls her a dumb bitch and jumps at her but she smacks him up the side of the head and punches him in the pants and he falls down and his face is all blue and he's cryin' like a baby. Liz gets out some plastic cord stuff and ties his hands behind his back and drags him over to the TV. He says something and she slaps him again and he falls down with blood in his mouth and she says she'll take off his balls and make him eat them if he don't do what she says. He says that he will and Liz asks me to come closer. I do, kinda afraid of Randy even though he don't look so big now. She tells me I gotta go into the big bowl. She says she's gonna change me.

"I'm scared to," I say but she hugs me and tells me it'll be alright so I go because I trust her. I go in and she's holdin' a big knife against Randy's throat and he's talkin' to the TV on the machine and I'm scared even though Liz said I shouldn't and the shiny fog is startin' to come in and I hear a buzzin' and I can't see and I try to scream but nothing happens.

And then the buzzing stops and my vision returns and I'm still alive. Randy is slumped on the floor and Liz touches a spot on the control panel. The door to the chamber swings open and she looks at me cautiously.

"How do you feel?"

"Okay, I guess," I say. I examine myself. I'm still a woman but I don't feel strange or disturbed. It's sort of comforting.

"I can't make you a man," she says. "The nanites won't cause additional physical changes."

I shrug. "I guess I'll survive. What did you do?"

She grins. "I had dear old Randy over there adjust you mentally. Your intelligence and personality is back, changed a bit so you're adapted to the body, but otherwise you're the same."

"Can you do this to the others?"

"You tell me."

I see instruction codes and remember voice commands that I know I didn't learn and look at Liz's grinning face with confusion.

"I also had him download instructions on how to use the command console."

I smile. It could be done. The series of codes would be so simple, so easy to do. I could give everyone back their own identities. And then I look at Randy and have an absolutely brilliant idea. Liz sees my glance and nods slightly.

Randy's screaming when I pull him to the chamber. He's still the sisxteen year old brat from my class and I realize that his overdeveloped body was an illusion created by the alteration of my mind. He's still just as scrawny and just as stupid. He had dominated us for so long he thought that Liz was like us so she would see him as an Adonis instead of the pimple-faced rat he really was. I lock the chamber door but before I do I kick him once in the groin. I don't give a shit that he's a kid. The little pervert deserves it.

The command console responds to my words as efficiently as it did to Randy's when it beeps a warning. I look at it in surprise as it begins to count down from two minutes. Self- destruct, I realize. The false memory comes unbidden. The machine is hard wired to self-destruct if attacked or if it is used by anyone but the operator. That's why it didn't change Randy. This is the fail-safe.

Liz starts bellowing and five black-clad soldiers appear out of nowhere and start dragging the unconscious out. Liz grabs Helen and Tina underarm like two dolls and yells for me to follow but I go for Randy first. I don't know what's going to happen and while death may be too much for the little prick I won't be like him. But you already are, a voice inside me says as I pull his unconscious form out of the room and toward the elevator. You tried to change him like he changed you. I tell the voice to get lost. That was justice.

We make it outside in time and a few seconds later the building erupts with flame and smoke. The street is full of girls staring at the inferno with more black-uniformed soldiers scattered among them keeping them away from the blaze. A few of the girls are on their knees crying out Randy's name. His mother is one of them.

I note with some satisfaction that Sue the sheriff is under armed guard. Liz is standing next to some medics who are treating the wounded and I see some blankets carefully placed over prone forms in the street. Liz shakes her head sadly.

"They fought even when we had them surrounded. We didn't have a choice."

"No, you didn't," I say. "They were loyal to him." I look around at the confused mass of women. They would never be able to be as they were. I feel guilty because I'm the only one who was given the chance to be me again, even though it's not the me I was born as.

"We're going to quarantine this area," someone says. I see him come closer. He's a little shorter than Liz and has a cold look in his eyes. "If word gets out everyone from Hugh Hefner to every hormone-crazed teenage male in the country will want to come here."

"I can help," I say and I mean it. "I know what they're going through."

The man looks at Liz and she nods. He extends his hand and grips mine firmly.

"My name is Taggert Shannon."

"And I'm Paul...Paula Wayne."

He smiles a lopsided grin and for a moment the coldness in his eyes is gone.

"Welcome to Project Firebird, Miss Wayne."

I smile back. I have no idea what Project Firebird is but I suspect I will soon find out.

Small Town Justice copyright 1998 by Keith Morrison.