    "This is what you really look like."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Come on." Tom took his hand and ushered him into the bath, positioning them before the mirror.

    "Wow," Toby exclaimed.

    Tom snickered. "I said that already. Babe, if I thought you were drop-dead gorgeous before, I don't know how to describe you now."

    The night had transformed Toby somehow. The curl had disappeared from his hair, leaving it straight and silky, with silver highlights, falling casually over his forehead. His facial features had softened somewhat around his almond shaped eyes. Tom stroked the soft skin of his cheek. No beard would dare appear there again. In fact, Toby was hairless except for his head, brows and a thin line of pubic hair. His skin, stretched over the angular planes of muscle, was blemish free and now radiated a golden tan. His penis and testicles had returned to their former state, but the pseudo-scar just above the pubic hair remained.

    Still staring at the mirror, Tom shook his head in wonder. "Does this scare you?"

    Toby shook his head, smiling at their reflection. "I don't know why, but no. In fact, I've never felt so alive before. I guess this is the real me."

    Tom kissed the back of his ear. "If you're content with the changes, then so am I. There must be some explanation for them and I suppose we'll find out what they are when we get to where we're going." Tom jerked out of his contemplation and exclaimed, "Oh shit!" and ran back into the bedroom to check his watch. "It's almost eight o'clock Babe. Our ride will be here any minute."

    They took a hurried shower, mourning the lack of time to touch each other. Tom brushed his teeth while Toby muttered quietly, trying to manage the new texture of his hair with a brush and comb. Minutes later, Tom stood in the bedroom, in clean underwear, shoving dirty clothes into his back pack when a knock sounded at the door. He fished the laser pistol out of his back pack and slid it under a pillow on the corner of the bed.

    Opening the door slowly, he saw two smiling young men wearing battered caps and rough, worn clothing. They entered and greeted him. "You must be Tom. I'm Nick and this is John," the taller of the two stated. Before Tom could respond, Toby strolled in from the bath naked. Nick frowned and consulted a folder in his hand, checking a photograph there. He looked up, apparently in shock. "Toby?" he asked in an unsure voice.

    "Yes, I'm Toby," he answered, with a hint of fear in his voice, having seen Nick's reaction to his appearance.

    Nick's eyes narrowed as he perused the boy critically. "It's happened," he stated to no one in particular.

    "Yes, he's changed," Tom said, wrapping his arm around Toby protectively.

    Nick continued to stare at first one of the boys, then the other. Finally, his gaze settled on the pseudo-scar on Toby's abdomen. "Did you mate?" he asked in an awe-inspired voice.

    "Yeah. What of it?" Tom responded, his words dripping with warning. He inched closer to the pistol on the bed.

    Nick, whooped and poked John in the ribs. "It's really happened!" he shouted. Both men laughed with joy as Tom and Toby stood there in confusion. "You really mated?" They nodded. "Oh man, this is fantastic!" Nick pulled them into an embrace. "Take care of each other, because you are really, really special," he whispered.

    Seeing that they were completely bewildered, Nick became all business. He explained that they were about to embark on the last leg of their journey, and that they would be traveling through land that had been abandoned by the law. For self protection, he gave them changes of clothes, just as rough and worn as his own, the better to blend in with the few natives left in the region. He reminded them to wear their caps and contact lenses and to bring along their laser pistols. Still totally confused, they loaded their gear into a disreputable looking van with dents and peeling paint, but inside, the vehicle was a model of the latest comforts and technology. John reported that the van was armored and had a range of a thousand miles.

    As they left town, Nick turned on to a narrow highway with pavement obviously left to the mercy of the elements. The roadway soon lifted sharply into the mountains, making many blind curves. Progress was slow.

    Just outside of town, John donned a communications headset and reported in to someone. From his half of the conversation, Tom and Toby gathered that the other party was overjoyed with the news of Toby's changes. Just before he signed off, John gave a mischievous look at Tom and Toby, then stated that a blessed event might possibly be forthcoming. The reaction of the other party required John to move the headset away from his ear.

    With a grin, he looked back at the boys and said, "Uh guys, they're really happy for you." Toby and Tom dissolved into embarrassed giggles. They didn't know what to make of these two guys.

    Tom suddenly exclaimed, "Damn, I forgot to call Father Benton!" and reached for his mobile phone.

    John said, "Don't bother. No doubt he's being notified at this moment, along with the rest of the network."

    With a determined sigh, Toby said, "Look guys, we've been kept in the dark for nearly a week. Can you tell us where we're going and why we've had to go through all of this?"

    John nodded. "I'll leave the major details to the people we work for, but I can tell you that we're headed for what used to be an abandoned mining town. About forty years ago, a group, mostly scientists, settled there, primarily because they didn't go along with the government programs of propagation. Initially, they were laughed out of the then current scientific and political communities because of their differing theories, but eventually, they had to move for their own safety. That's why we had to bring you here as we did. Times are getting dangerous. The government here and everywhere else is seeing all of their efforts to save mankind from extinction fail. Unfortunately, the more they fail, the tighter they feel they have to control things. In their panic, they refuse to look at any alternative path." He gave Toby and Tom a serious glance. "If the authorities had known that you two wanted to leave the Church of the Holy Conception, they would have literally chained you to your beds at night to keep you there."

    Tom and Toby shuddered, then Tom asked, "Will Father Benton be in trouble over this?"

    "No, as you've no doubt suspected, he's a covert operative, along with hundreds of other people, mostly priests, all over the world. As long as women keep getting bred every day, the priests pretty much run their own show, and Father Benton has made a practice of transferring people around." John grinned wickedly. "And, some of the people get lost every once in a while. The government makes a half hearted effort to recover them, but they never do."

    Toby frowned in thought. "What is it exactly that Father Benton does for you?"

    John replied succinctly, "He looks for signs of the Epicene Effect."

    "The what?"

    John teased, "Figured I'd have to explain that to ya." Then, seriously, "The Epicene Effect is what the scientists call it, and I'll let them give you a technical explanation. Considering that all men are now doped up with hormones, it's hard to spot. About the best that Father Benton, and all the other operatives, can do is look for (1) homosexuals, (2) with prime sperm tests, (3) with light gray eyes, and (4) light-colored hair. The characteristics are the same for all races. Not that different races mean much anymore, but as you can imagine, that has caused some raised eyebrows at the propagation centers, like when a black baby is born with light hair and gray eyes. But they are just happy that a baby was born. Also, the one's who are likely to experience the Epicene Effect are under fifteen years of age. You have all the characteristics, so that made you two prime candidates."

   They rode along in silence for a few minutes. Toby was trying to sort out all that happened to him in the last twelve hours. Finally, he said, "I guess we are. And it surprises me a little that I'm not frightened about it."

    John said seriously, "Probably because it feels natural to you, even though it goes against everything you believe about the human species."

    He searched the boy's face for a reaction and got it. The corner of Toby's mouth twitched up into a serene smile. "You're right. All of this seems natural to me." He leaned over and gave Tom a kiss. "Father Benton said that God had another plan. I wonder if I'm part of it."

    Suddenly, Nick rounded one of the blind curves and braked the van hard, throwing everyone forward. A large boulder about six feet across rested in the middle of the highway. A steep slope up the mountain on the left and a steep drop on the right made going around the obstruction impossible.

    "Something's rotten in these here parts," Nick muttered. "That wasn't here two hours ago. Shit!"