Threads

What was not free could not be limited.
Leo Tolstoy “War and Peace”
A white envelope lay on the metal table. Its black block letters reflected in the mirrored panels of the surrounding space. One dark matte panel creaked and rolled to the left. A human entered the room from a gaping dark hole. They wore a colorful business suit-skirt. When they touched the wall, the rounded room was lit up by soft light. A deep velvet voice said:
“Alexia-Omega is pleased to welcome Mx[i] Rob (13; 14)[ii]. We are happy to inform you that the capsule is ready for life. Please, could you rate our care on a 5-point scale? We also inform you; a letter awaits you.”
Rob (13;14) was perplexedly listening to the annoying Omega’s voice, looking around the capsule with a tired look. They blinked in surprise when they heard about the letter.
Their head was spinning a little from what happened today, November 8th, 24** year. It was such a long but important historical day. And they, a 37-year-old non-binary, intersex person, played perhaps one of the key roles in this event. Finally, the Supreme Tribunal of Intersex-people and their allies adopted the First Genetic Declaration of the United Biological Space.
Who would have thought that only a few centuries ago, intersex people were destroyed, their organs were fixed, and they were hidden in hospitals like mythological creatures in a cabinet of curiosities? Now being an Intersex human is not just an honor; it is the privilege of a few, only 2% of the biological population[iii]. Yes, of course, there was a problem of synthetic, artificially created intersex people. But the Dispenser is continuing to work. And any creation and distribution of clones are considered a crime against post-humankind.
All of these thoughts flashed in Rob (13;14)’s head while they was slowly walked to the table. Intersex carefully touched the letters with fingers, as if they did not believe that this addressee still exists. Then Rob (13;14) cautiously opened the envelope and took out a wrinkled sheet of paper. The letter began with a very old expression, it has not been used for a long time:
“Dear Mr. Rob … …”
A whirlwind of images exploded like a bright kaleidoscope in their head. Rob (13:14) was indignant; no, they was extremely offended by such a disrespectful language.
“Well, who writes that! And where does the Commission for the Elimination of Correctness look at? What kind of mockery is this?”
It reminds them of all the history of the intersex movement from 1985[iv] to the first victories of the political institutionalization in the early 21st century. At that time, a group of so-called Intersex separatists proclaimed the principle: “Nothing about us without us” and its unofficial clarification: “Everything about us is only with us, and with no one else.” According to this idea, only intersex people could engage in intersex activism, other interested bio-citizens brought to the position of allies. But even the allies did not have the right to take part in any political events or actions or jointly decide on strategic issues without supervision and control by intersex people. An ally from an equal partner turned into an adviser. In most cases, the ally became a virtually disenfranchised servant between the intersex governing bodies and the outside, obviously “hostile world.”
The second important factor of the new strategy was the formation of the Federation Intersex Organizations. It included various intersex initiatives from around the world. At first, the participants received informational help and solved problems together. Later the Secretariat of the European members of the Federation developed conventional methods for organizing actions, standards of information resources, and management for all members of the Federation. Dissenting were either excluded or reformatted. Those intersex initiatives that initially did not want to join the Federation were faced with the restriction of finances, and other types of support from international institutions. Sometimes Federation the “establish” of twin initiatives aimed at crowding out the opposition from the society or used the information war against the non-aligned intersex communities, portraying them as conservative groups. Over time, the Federation has become a unitary and authoritarian organization.
All these transformations led to the fact that the New Intersex Movement had new allies among different political parties and biotechnological corporations. The movement gradually became ideologically monolithic and biologically homogeneous. And it paved the way for new achievements.
“And today, years later, such yesterday’s advertising signs, as “Everything Natural Is Useful,” “Say No to GMOs,” “Body Autonomy is Autonomy of the Mind,” have become the anthem of the New Era and the New Great Solidarity. And it’s so powerful to feel how your heart beats in unison with thousands and thousands of hearts … “.
That’s what Rob (13;14) dreamed, continuing to read the letter and mentally conducting an orchestra of vivid images of the past, present, and future until their gaze froze on the lines written by their mother:
“Our dear Rob.
If you read this letter, then we, your parents dead.
Forgive me, your mother, for hiding this truth about your birth from you for many years. I was always afraid of this moment. I love you so dearly, my only child, that I could not decide to tell it to you in person. I’m still afraid that you will push away even memory about me.
Father was eager to say, but I always kept him. I did not want to destroy your dreams. And he understood me. We were so happy about all your public achievements; we are proud of you …
Do you remember that October day when we took you from a school and drove you away for a few weeks to Dr. Fix? We said that you urgently need to have surgery because you often had migraines and bleeding. You were 7 years old. You believed us. Then for several years we took you only to see him and gave you the pills, calling them restoring vitamins. And you have never asked questions.
Yes, Dr. Fix was a good specialist, but most importantly, he knew how to be silent. Of course, it was worth the money. However, we knew what we paid for, we paid for our hopes and for your happiness. The fact is that (it’s even hard to write about it).
The fact is that he was a genetic engineer, biotechnologist. Before the ban on the creation of clones, he developed a bio-synthetic version of the genome, which repeated the chromosomes of parents in their intersex variation. Yes, you are still intersex. But you are an artificial intersex clone created from our biological material in a unique cybernetic uterus.
When you got a little older, we wanted to tell you about your birth, but we learned that the clones are called “inorganic,” and they are subjected to violence. And we were scared for you.
We did not dare to talk to you. I hope … one day you will understand and forgive us. Everything that we did, we did for the sake of your happiness and safety. The past cannot be returned, we can only change the attitude towards it”.
Rob (13; 14) saw that the letters strangely blurred. A little drop of water fell on them from somewhere. One more. They ran a hand over a face and felt tears. They clinched the letter in their fist and fell to knees. Rob (13;14) tried to restrain the deaf sobs bursting from a chest, like the roar of a captured beast. Anger, bitterness, and pain strangled them, burned everything they cherished, what they had lived all these years! Everything turned out to be a lie. It would be better if their parents did not give them life at all. It seemed to them that they was always their toy, like a wooden Pinocchio.
“How could they fool me like that? Why?” the thought beats in their head like a bird in a cage. “Who am I now? What my body is? It betrayed me too. I hate it, I hate myself, I hate this world, I hate my parents! Do I have the right to live? I am the most despicable,” they spat out these words, “a non-human, a monster, inorganic trash, and my place is the garbage.”
Suddenly Rob (13;14) twisted into a fetal position, holding their fists to a stomach and breathing feverishly. Their eyes bulged and stared into the darkness under the table. The heart pounded in their chest as if it wanted to break free. Dispenser. The clone knew what is usually happens on the other side of the wire. After all, they participated in the compilation of the Secret protocol. Rob’s world turned upside down. And they vomited.
The world turned upside down. The capsule, swaying slightly, slid carefully and changed its position so that the solar panels outside were closer to the fading evening light. One after another, residential capsules stretched into sparkling threads of multi-colored beads that surrounded the inner circle of the central city. A long, silent night was ahead.
Bibliography:
I. Olivia Goldhill. What’s it like to be a Mx? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11597192/Whats-it-like-to-be-a-Mx.htm
II. Chromosome translocations. http://www.eurogentest.org/index.php?id=612
III. Intersex — UN Free and Equal. https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UNFE-Intersex.pdf
IV. We are real: The Growing Movement Advancing the Rights of Intersex people. http://astraeafoundation.org/wearereal/#a-global-movement
