The two of them leaned into a lip-lock, while Randy and Terri sauntered over to the bar and poured some drinks for us.

"So, what's up?" Randy asked with his usual directness, while he handed out the drinks.

Randy and Terri were new on the Nexus, having just arrived from Earth.

Although they'd proven their loyalty to me several times in the past few months, they both wanted to find their former employer, Messler, again. They'd come to the Nexus to develop their powers so they could search for him.

Donna accepted a drink and cuddled close to Rissa. I sat down and ponder ed the memories this room brought back. I thought about Don's horror when he'd first turned into Donna and smiled to see her vibrant sexuality now. The sex g ates made us reexamine our attitudes about sexuality. Mostly the change brought us more pleasure. Why live as one sex when you're happier as the other? Of course, most of humanity only got one chance to change.

Rissa finished kissing Donna and accepted a drink from Randy. When she crossed her legs, her iridescent sundress did interesting things, giving me a momentary glimpse of her bare thighs. She grinned impishly, but then sobered.

She had things to say.

Randy raised his glass in a toast. "Here's to the gates: may they endure."

We drank, and Rissa began reporting on her discoveries and my journey to a second Nexus with Amanda. The others were excited to hear about this new world.

58

"But that's not all," she continued. "We're learning things about the gates every day. We're making progress much faster than anyone ever envisioned possible-even Messler. He'd be pleased with the advances we've achieved since he left."Randy and Terri exchanged a glance at the mention of Messler's name.

I.

fought down an unusual twinge of jealousy. I'd made love to both of them as a male and as a female. I cared for them, and I knew they cared for me. But Mes sler commanded their loyalty by sheer force of personality even while gone. When I compared myself to him, I despaired of ever becoming a true leader. I shook off the self-pity and concentrated on Rissa's words.

"We can manipulate the sex gates in several ways. We've learned ho w to send them to other worlds and how to make them disappear from other worlds, like Earth."

I grinned, remembering how we'd used that trick-making the gates disappear-to persuade the U.S. government to accede to our demands and stop persecuting Seconders. The alternative was to watch the gates vanish one by one, and face old age and illness without them.

"But I've called you together to discuss our latest discoveries. We've determined that there's an ultimate limit to the changes. You can only go through a certain number of times if you want to stay human."

Randy nodded. "We've always thought that. We don't know the upp er limit for trips, but at some point we'll have to stop."

Amanda had been sitting quietly, toying with her drink. She looked up at that.

"It's only a limit if the idea of evolving beyond humanity frightens you. No species can survive if it remains static."

"That's probably true, but I like being a human," I said.

"You would." Amanda snorted.

Rissa held up a hand. "This argument isn't necessary. We've fou nd out something else-something really important. It's possible to resist the changes. That means we can bump the limit. Perhaps so high it makes no practical difference, and we can go through a gate as often as we want. It might even be possible to reverse 59

some of the changes, although I'm not sure why anyone would want to."

I whistled. That was indeed important, particularly since I was near the limit myself and Rita wasn't far behind me. If Rissa was correct, I could g o back to Earth anytime. My pulse beat faster as I thought about seeing Rita again. The separation had lasted several months from my point of view in the Nexus, but maybe I could go back earlier in her timeline and share most of her pregnancy.

Donna caught my thought and grinned at me. The glow of anticipation in her eyes told me she was thinking about her plans to become pregnant. I reached over and squeezed her hand, goofy with happiness at the thought of seeing Rita again.

Rissa kept on talking.

"Of course, I'll have to be a guide and teach you how to resist at first, but that shouldn't be any problem. That's the good news." She paused, wa iting.

Some of my newfound joy faded. She looked somber. I bit.

"And what's the bad news?"

"Those poor sick people in limbo." Rissa shook her head. "And t he old ones.

I'm prepared to let the criminals and the deviants take their chances, but I'm worried about the others. If they come through unchanged, we'll have our hands full."

Randy shot a grim look at Rissa over the rim of his glass. He was the really practical one of the group. "It's natural for you to worry about the old and sick, but our real problems are going to come from the criminals and other low-life types. If we let them out, what will we do with them?"

I chuckled. Rissa was two steps ahead of everyone else as usual.

"Well, I-we-can manipulate the gates to sort them out into categories, broadly speaking, and assign specific groups to specific worlds, if we want to. That way, they can only hurt themselves. Lee's found several such worlds and there are bound to be more out there."

I threw a challenging look at Amanda. "I can go out looking again tom orrow."

"No problem," she said. "I welcome another trip."

Rissa frowned at me. "I don't want you going out again until you l earn my new technique. You've taken enough risks. Amanda learned a lot from you.

She should be able to do travel on her own now. I need you here to help with planni ng."

60

For once I was too tired to argue. "Fine."

Rissa held up her fingers and began ticking off her thoughts. "We cou ld put the killer psychopaths on the same world and let them see how they would function as females. That's if they come out as females. Which I assume they w ill."

"Why-oh, I see. Most violent psychopaths were male, weren't the y?"

That was Terri chipping in. As a lawyer, she kept up on criminal statistics.

And what she said was true. Better than 90 percent of the psychopaths who kill are male.

Of course, Rita once told me that some studies have shown that a large m inority of psychopaths are female; females take their deviant personalities in lessviolent directions, mostly using sex as a weapon the way males use guns and kniv es. You learn the strangest things living with a psychologist.

"Yes, I suppose so," Rissa said. "Psychology isn't my field; I'm going by a sampling I took of the people who are currently stored in stasis. Of course a majority of thieves are male, but not by that much. We could put them on a world with nothing to steal."

"If we can find some more Nexus worlds, that will work," I said. "They might steal, but where would they take it?'

"True. Maybe we should get really mean and supply them with such a plethora of goods that there would be no need or reason to steal. Wouldn't that be a fitting punishment?"

I was beginning to think Rissa's brilliant mind harbored more than a touch of the diabolical. I had to admit she was right. The crooks would probably be bored to death with no reason to steal. I nodded agreement.

Donna piped up, "I'd like to see the religious nuts put together by themselves.

Wouldn't that be a madhouse? They could spend the rest of their lives trying to convert each other."

I laughed along with everyone else. None of us were religious, or perhap s I should say none of us had inherited the dominant belief genes most humans possess, the ones that precondition us to have faith in something.

Randy, always the practical one, asked, "Could we let out a sample of each first to see what happens before we go ahead and turn the rest loose?"

61

Rissa shook her head. "No, it's an all-or-nothing proposition. When we break up the stasis we can sort them out and send them where we want, but that's as much as we can do. Once the process starts, it has to go on to completio n."

"I thought you could do just about anything with the sex gates," Donna protested.

Rissa shook her head. Her blond tresses rippled around her neck and shoulders. "Compared to what's still to be learned, I'm an idiot."

"It doesn't sound that way to me," Donna said.

Rissa leaned forward like a teacher who'd arrived at an interesting p oint in a lecture. "Think of it this way: back in the old West, the Indians learned how to use firearms almost as well as the settlers. They even figured out how to make repairs and service their weapons. But did they really know anything about firea rms? None of them knew how gunpowder worked, or why it worked. They used the guns, butthey didn't understand them. That's about the stage we're at: we can use the gates, but the technology behind them is a mystery."

"Do you think we'll ever understand them?" I asked.

Rissa got a determined look on her face. "I'm certainly going to keep trying.

Eventually I think we'll come to understand how they work-and mayb e how to build our own."

"Whew!" Randy clapped his hands and started a round of applause. Rissa blushed. "That calls for a toast," I said. "Who's ready?"

"I'm ready," Donna said. She held up her glass. "This is my last drinking session for a while. I'm going on the straight and narrow."

She winked at Rissa who beamed back at her with a tender look. I realize d Rissa would probably be changing back to Russell within the next day or so. Donna obviously was in a hurry to get going on the baby project. Eyeing Rissa'

s alluring curves, I wondered how she'd feel about one last fling as a female be fore she did.

We sat around together enjoying drinks and discussing the ramifications of the new developments in our knowledge of the sex gates for several hours.

Amanda left first. Finally, Randy and Terri grew tired, and said their farewells.

Donna had put away a lot of alcohol by now. She patted Rissa's hand and got to her feet.

62

"Believe it or not, this little girl is going to bed-all by herself."

I rose to give her a kiss. "Have a good sleep."

She leaned close to me and lowered her voice to a whisper. "She's mine after tonight, Lee. So have fun!"

Chuckling at some private joke, she wiggled her way through the wall. I watched Donna's cute little butt disappear with a smile. My best frie nd wanted to give me one last chance to make Rissa happy as a woman. When I turned fr om the wall, I saw the loungers had vanished and the bed was back.

"Wow, just the two of us." Rissa reclined on the satin sheets, her back against the headboard. Her dress disappeared.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go through the gate and join Don na for the night?" I asked. I didn't want to come between two people who were about to have a baby together.

"I want to be with you tonight, Lee. I know you'll want to go back to Rita as soon as you can. Donna and I will have plenty of nights together."

I relaxed. Plenty was the key word with the sex gates. Plenty of youth, and plenty of time. With plenty for everyone, there wasn't much room for old-fashionedjealousy. Besides, who was I to argue with the wishes of two women I lo ved?

63

CHAPTER FIVE.

I woke up the next morning with Rissa nestled against me, one arm across my chest and wisps of her hair tickling my ear. I blinked and looked aro und. The room had shrunk back to its normal size, and so had I.

I eased out from under Rissa's arm. I tried not to wake her, but I wa s too clumsy to succeed. She opened her eyes, looked at me sleepily, and yawne d.

"Good morning."

"It's a great morning," I corrected.

I had to give Rissa credit for some of my happiness. My whole body tingled with contentment. But what really made the difference in my mood was the knowledge that I might be going home to Rita soon.

I had remembered to take a Nohang pill before going to sleep so I woke u p without even a hint of a hangover. The team that invented those pills should be given a congressional gold medal for meritorious achievement. Except our congress gives those awards to their big donors, not necessarily those who have earned the honor. Oh, well. When it comes to politics human nature is much the same ,.

regardless of the sex gates.

"So it is," Rissa agreed, following my meandering mind. "And now, it's time to get to work. Are you ready?" She sat up. The sheet dropped down to he r waist, revealing her firm young breasts.

"I'm always ready," I said, eyeing her with male bravado.

She touched my mind with a scene from late last night. I blushed. Amazin g what a little alcohol can do sometimes. I wasn't sure I could top myself sober.

"Well, almost," I said. "Anyway, what kind of work?"

Rissa shook her head. "Poor Lee. It's been so long since he's d one any real work he's forgotten how."