Collected Science Fiction Short Stories: Volume One: A Short Story Collection by Raymond S Flex

Author:Raymond S Flex [Flex, Raymond S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DIB Books

5

THE PARAMEDICS loomed over him, their hands wandering over his chest, checking his pulse. Feeling sensation entering back into his limbs, filling his muscles, Stanley coughed and, despite the paramedic attempting to keep him lying down, he sat up straight.

Several concerned faces stared down on him.

He rubbed his temples and then his eyeballs.

“Are you okay?” Nick said, from among the crowd.

Stanley nodded and tried to get up.

One of the paramedics reached out and held his shoulder. “Madam? Please don’t make any sudden movements. We just want to do a few more examinations, see that you’re all right.”

Madam?

Stanley gazed down at his chest where a pair of compact, rounded breasts stuck out. He brushed his hand against them, feeling a shudder pass through him. He stared at his trousers, knowing what he would find down there when he got them off.

When the paramedics had finished their examinations, Nick and Alan helped Stanley to his feet and then back over to his work station. The way they held him, their light touch, like he were a delicate flower, felt strange and alien. He perched on the edge of his chair, watching as the colours blurred back into one another, creating whole figures once more. Everything turned lucid, sharpened.

Nick gave him a couple of pats on the shoulder, then told him to come and see him if he had any problems at all.

When Stanley spoke to reply, his pitch was high and floaty. The voice was foreign to him but he had no doubt that it had shaken his own vocal cords.

Alan glanced around the office and then crouched down at Stanley’s side. “You gave us all a scare there. Thought you might be having a stroke or something.”

“Yeah,” Stanley said.

And then Alan reached out and squeezed Stanley’s knee. “Talk about it tonight, okay?”

Stanley’s whole body trembled and his blood pumped to his chest. He stared into Alan’s eyes, losing himself in them. He pressed his back into his chair, trying to escape Alan’s clutches.

With a smile Alan rose and then paced round the cubicle to his own workstation, shooting Stanley another few glances.

Stanley steadied himself at his desk. He looked over the pictures. The ones of him and Mary had disappeared, now all that remained were pictures of himself and Alan. They were in various places: by a lake, in a London cab, drinking together in a pub. He leant closer.

Stanley inspected his own face in those photos. There was no mistaking that it was him in the photos, but he was also, without a doubt, female. He supposed that if he had had a sister she might well have looked similar to him in those photographs.

As he looked up he caught Alan’s eye, peering over the cubicle. When he reached to the back of the chair, for his coat, he found his thick overcoat to be gone, replaced by a flimsy light-purple jacket.

He got up and stumbled back, falling onto another desk.

Alan immediately leapt up from his workstation and ran to Stanley’s side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.