Rick wasn't all that happy with his life. He was 34 and lived with his 30 year old girlfriend Amy in a nice house. To an outside observer it would seem that Rick had a pretty good life. He owned an internet cafe and LAN club along with his girlfriend. The incidents of gun crimes had gone down do in part to Rick's insistence that the gangs of the city settle disputes between them with LAN games.
Surprisingly the gangs had accepted this when Rick had told them that this would eliminate the possibility of their family or friends accidentally getting shot.
What an outside observer didn't know is that Rick didn't like his body. It wasn't that his body was ugly but it was average looking. What he didn't like about it was that it was the wrong gender. He had always felt that he should have been born a girl. He even had dreams that told him such. He wasn't gay but he just didn't get to excited by women. Men excited him about as much as women did. Because of this conflict his sex life had never been that great. When he and Amy had decided to get a house together he had felt that she should know what he believed. To his surprise Amy had been thinking about telling him that she thought that she should have been
born a boy. Since then they had both been trying to find a way to change their gender without surgery.
Rick had taken a break from work to walk in a park to think about his life. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he failed to notice that he was the only one in the park.
"I wish that Amy and I could find a way to change our gender without surgery" Rick said to himself.
Little did Rick know that his wish was about to come true. For at that very moment an alien crystal was screaming through the atmosphere toward the park. It landed just a few feet in front of Rick.
"What was that?" Rick asked before going over to look at what just hit the ground.
The crater that it created was about three feet deep and four feet across. Strangely there was no heat being emitted from the impact crater. Rick was a little worried about that but his curiosity overrode that and he climbed down into the crater.
At the very bottom Rick found a small crystal. It looked like clear quartz but it had pink and blue swirls throughout it. He couldn't feel any heat coming off of it so he decided to pick it up. Something inside him told him that it was a bad idea but again his curiosity overrode his common sense.
When Rick picked up the crystal it began to glow and then pulse in time with a strange voice. It sounded both male and female, young and old at the same time. The message it gave him seemed like his wish come true. If the crystal did what it had said it did then he and Amy could change their gender. Not only that but their age too.
"I have to go home and tell Amy about this" Rick said to himself.
Rick quickly climbed out of the crater and headed home.
At home Amy met Rick at the front door. She was really excited as she said "Rick, you won't believe what happened. I was out back tending the garden when a crystal landed in our pool. When I fished it out and picked it up it spoke to me. It said that it could change our age and gender."
"I believe you" Rick said as he showed the crystal he had found to Amy.
"There's more than one" Amy said with wide eyes.
"It certainly looks like it" Rick said.
"I wonder if these are the only two or if there are more out there" Amy said.
"I'm sure that we'll hear about it if there are more" Rick said. "Right now we have a decision to make. I know that we'll be changing gender but what age do we want to become?"
At that moment Adam came into the room and asked "What are you guys talking about?"
"We were talking about changing our gender" Amy said.
"Oh come on Amy" Adam said. "Not that again. Just accept your bodies. I honestly don't understand why you two think you should be the other sex."
"We just feel that we're the wrong gender" Rick said.
"Well there's nothing that you can do about it except to have sexual reassignment surgery" Adam said. "I know neither of you want to go that route."
"No we don't" Amy said. "But we've found something that we think will do it."
"Whatever" Adam said. "I came in here because Emily asked me to ask you something."
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"Emily wants to know if she can go see a movie" Adam said.
"What movie is that?" Rick asked.
"The Wonder Woman one" Adam said. "She wants to go with her friends. And I was wondering if you'd allow me to go see the new Hulk movie."
"So you'll take Emily to the theater and bring her home?" Rick asked.
"Yeah" Adam said.
"Well it's alright with me" Amy said. "Why didn't Emily ask me herself though?"
"She said she tried but you were staring at a crystal and you didn't respond. Not even when she poked you and then kicked you."
"I was wondering why my leg was feeling sore all of a sudden" Amy said. "Could you please tell Emily to come here."
Adam left the room and Rick looked at Amy. He knew that she wouldn't ignore Emily like that. It must have had something to do with the crystal.
"I know you're going to say that I shouldn't let Emily go" Amy said.
"I wasn't going to say that" Rick said. "You must have been so absorbed with the crystal that Emily thought that that was the only way to get your attention."
"It didn't work though" Amy said. "I hope that mom and Pat are having a good time on their honeymoon."
"I'm sure they are" Rick said.
Adam was 17 and Amy's brother. Emily was 10 and Amy's step-sister. Amy's dad was a police officer and he was killed when he responded to an armed robbery. Emily's mother just happened to be at the bank during the robbery and was killed when the gunman had started firing wildly. That had happened five years ago. Since then Amy's mom and Emily's dad had been there for each other. Slowly they grew to love each other and they were married just two days ago. Adam and Emily were staying with Rick and Amy while their parents were on their honeymoon.
Emily came in the room a little hesitantly and said "You wanted to see me."
"Yes I did" Amy said.
"You're not going to let me go see the movie" Emily said. She seemed certain that she wouldn't be going.
"That's not why I wanted to she you" Amy said. "You can go. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for ignoring you."
"I'm sorry for kicking you" Emily said.
"You're forgiven for that this time" Amy said. "Now go ahead and go to your movie. Make sure to keep your cell phone on you and to at least turn it to silent during the movie. Tell Adam the same thing."
"Yes mother" Emily said with a smile.
"I'm not old enough to be your mother" Amy said giggling. "Though I am your big sister and mom and Pat put us in charge by sending you two to stay with us. Now you will listen to us."
"Alright Amy" Emily said. "Though you act like my mother."
"That's because we do worry about you" Rick said. "We want you to be safe."
"I know" Emily said before she turned and left the room.
In a few moments Rick heard Adam's car pull out of the drive. He looked at Amy and said "Well we have at least two hours before they get back. So what age shall we be? Do you want to go first or should I?"