The P-Virus (tg, mf, mm, ff) [11/12]

The next day, after Billie had left for work, Lillith heard a knock on the
door.  Answering it, she saw a pretty woman dressed in a nondescript
business suit.  The woman said, "Are you Lillith?"

"Yes."

"I represent The Organization.  Its leaders would like to talk to you."

Lillith had been expecting something like this.  She knew things about The
Organization that could endanger their very existence, yet she was not an
ally, and had no urge to become one.  She almost expected to have a couple
of big, beefy men come charging into her apartment and drag her off if she
said no.  If she was to have any chance of staying with Billie, she had to
confront these people up close and personal.  "Alright, let's go."

The two went out to an expensive car and drove downtown to a high-rent
business district.  The woman drove into a parking garage and escorted
Lillith up to one of the upper floors of the building.  She pointed Lillith
to one of the end offices, and waited by the elevator.  Lillith walked down
the long hall, her footsteps echoing in the otherwise soundless corridor.
She got to the door, steeled herself, and walked right in.

Inside, another pretty woman who looked to be in her mid-40's greeted her
with a surprisingly amicable, "Greetings, Lillith.  Please do come in."

Lillith stepped into the room.  Around a large, square, business table sat
nine other people, eight women and one man.  The woman pointed at an empty
seat on one end of the table, saying, "Please sit."  Lillith sat down, and
the woman followed suit, sitting in a seat right by her.  "Now, Lillith,
we've come together here to ask you if you would join us."

"And if I don't?"

The woman didn't seem to understand.  "Then... you don't, but we are
prepared to make it worth your while."

"I won't be bribed, and from what I've seen, I have no desire to join you."

"I'm not talking about a bribe.  I'm simply talking about a paycheck.  We
want you to join us as a full colleague."

"And if I refuse your 'paycheck'?"

"Then... you refuse.  You go home and go on just as you have been."

"Come on.  You're telling me you're just going to let me walk out of here
with all I know?"

"If that's what you want."

"I know enough to bury you."

"Now I understand.  You're afraid we're going to make you disappear if you
don't join us."

"Aren't you?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but no.  We don't work like that."

"No, you just secretly rearrange other people's lives without their consent
or knowledge and just expect to get away with it."

Lillith saw a ripple of guilt pass over the faces of some of those present.
"I suppose we deserve that.  I assure you, we only want the best."

"And that's supposed to justify it?  The ends justify the means?  I don't
buy it.  Use tainted means and that taints the ends."

"Which is why we want you with us.  Perhaps it would be best if I explained
the origins of our group."  The woman leaned back and started explaining.

"Our group's formal origins starts at the end of World War II when soldiers
returned to the work force, displacing the women who had done the job while
they were away.  But the women would not be so easily shunted back into
solely domestic roles.  This was the beginning of what would come to be
known as the Feminist movement.

"For the next two to three decades, the Feminist movement acted upon its
stated goals, moving towards equality and the right for women to control
and direct their own fates, but some time in the late 60's or early 70's,
the movement was corrupted.  Women who were more interested in reversing
the oppressive system than in fixing it managed to pollute the cause.
Instead of working towards equal rights and the right of choice, the
movement became dedicated to putting women into the role of oppressors
under the guise of 'female empowerment'.  The slightest problem with any
man was automatically made into a 'sexist overture', and any women who
didn't support the cause, like say a woman who decided to be a stay at home
mother rather than a corporate mogul, was derided as an old-fashioned
throwback.

"But there were those who wanted to fix things, to remain true to the
original cause.  They tried first to reverse the problems in the Feminist
movement, but soon realized the anger that had changed things had become
too deeply ingrained.  They tried to create a new movement, but the new
Feminism either absorbed the new movements or used black P.R. to destroy
them.

"So those who wished to remain true to the cause went underground and
established The Organization, a covert group of both women and men
dedicated to bringing true equality to first, the U.S., then to the world.
We work to help institute laws that protect all rather than just empower
women or degrade men.  We work just as hard at protecting men's rights as
we do to women's."

"Nice speech, but it's a load of crap.  You force men into becoming
different people by changing their bodies against their will.  Are you
going to claim this isn't a violation of their rights?"

"No.  Not even going to try.  But I also wish to say that we realize we
were wrong.  Even instituting the plan to use the virus in the first place
was a hard-fought decision that many of us objected to, and your
confrontation has brought the plan to an end.  The virus will be used only
when the person knows all the consequences of what they will be going
through.  Does this surprise you?"

"That you say it, no.  But I find it a little hard to believe that a so
obviously unbalanced panel has the well-being of both genders in mind."

The woman smiled.  "Lillith, we didn't just inflict the virus on the world
willy-nilly.  We have each experienced the virus first-hand.  I, myself,
was born physically male, and like your boyfriend, consider myself still
male.  Lewis, the one man who still appears male, just has a natural
immunity to the feminizing effects of the virus.  Fact is, of our panel,
seven of us are genetic males.  Two of those are transsexuals who have
undergone the operation; one is a she-male like Kira who considers herself
female, and three of us are male she-males."

"That still doesn't give you the right to rearrange lives."

"No, it doesn't.  Lillith, in our passion to right the injustices of many
unequal conditions between men and women, we... sometimes go too far.  I'm
not trying to excuse, just explain.  We always have the best intentions,
and that blinds us to the wrongness of what we do.  That's why we need you,
or someone like you."

"Why is that?"

"We need someone to act as a... moral compass.  Someone to point out where
we're straying from our path.  We're asking you to join us as our... ethics
advisor."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you go home, and we look for someone else.  But you've seen what we
can do for people in what we've done for you, your boyfriend, and his
friends.  With your help we can help others without hurting them or our own
ethics.  Are you willing?"

Lillith thought about it.  If they were serious, it would mean being able
to help a lot of people.  Finally, she said, "I'll have to think on it."

"I understand."  The woman handed Lillith a business card.  "When you make
a decision, one way or the other, give me a call.  Ask for Chris.  The same
driver who brought you here will take you anywhere you need or want to go
from here."

Lillith returned downstairs, and asked the driver to take her to the
hospital.  It was still a little early for her shift, but if she went home,
she'd just have to leave immediately to catch the bus.  When she got to the
hospital, she went to the lounge to rest and think.  After a little while,
doctor Mae Lane, the hospital's chief surgeon, knocked on the door frame
and asked, "Mind some company?"

"I guess not, but I don't know what kind of company I'm going to be.  I've
got something on my mind."

Mae surprised her by asking, "The offer from The Organization?"

"How did you...?  Oh, let me guess.  You're one of them?"

Mae came in and sat down.  "Aside from a few official insiders, one is only
affiliated with The Organization.  But it's my husband, Chris, who I'm
affiliated with more so than The Organization.  I believe you met him
today?"

"Yeah.  He said some pretty things, but I'm not sure he meant it."

"He meant it.  Lillith, the vote that had the group start using the virus
in the first place passed by only 6 to 4, and it was me convincing Chris
that swung the vote.  He did it because I convinced him it was a good idea,
and he lived in fear of the day that someone would have some kind of
breakdown from being changed.  He really didn't like using the virus, and
he praised the fact that you convinced doctor Hill to no longer
participate."

"You convinced him?  How could you...  How could any doctor willingly
participate in that... that... travesty?"

"Lillith, I understand where you're coming from, but I also think there are
times when a patient's well-being should come before their free choice."
Lillith was too shocked for words.  "I see the look in your eye.  Perhaps
you should know why.

"A little less than two decades ago, I had a patient who was diagnosed with
a small cancerous tumor.  A simple operation would've saved them, but their
religion forbade the use of invasive surgeries.  The tumor grew, became
malignant, and the patient died.  If I'd've had the right to use the
surgery I knew would work, that person would still be alive today.  Just as
a child must sometimes take medicine it doesn't want to, sometimes society
must take medicine it might fear."

"But at what cost?  A child doesn't have the experience or self-discipline
to properly weigh the pros and cons of whether or not a medicine should be
taken.  But you take away an adult's right to choose his own path and you
make him little better than a slave.  What good is life, if it is a life
lived at the whims and dictates of an elitist minority?"

Mae smiled.  "And perhaps if you'd've been there, that argument would've
swayed the council of The Organization not to utilize the virus."

Lillith gave her a curious look.  "Did you just take that viewpoint as
devil's advocate?"

"Not exactly.  I do believe that sometimes a person must allow other, more
educated decision makers to tell them what to do, but I think that this
must be done very, VERY carefully.  All the targets of the virus were
carefully selected, both to see if they could handle the virus and to make
sure they would benefit from it.  But I'm also woman enough to admit I
could be wrong.  I think you could do a lot of good on the council,
Lillith.  You're an incredible woman."

Mae got up and patted Lillith on the shoulder before heading out.  "Think
about it, dear."

Lillith did think about it.  Shortly before the end of her shift, she
called the number on the card, unsure if there would even be anyone there.
After being routed through a service, she heard Chris's voice ask,
"Lillith?"

"Yeah, I've decided."

"And?"

"I accept."