Strange Labs -- Rock and a Hard Place

Thanks go out to Keahi for letting me write in her setting! Hope you all like it.

Prologue

In the distant future, men have been rendered sterile by a rampant virus, pushing the human race to the brink of extinction. In the 11th hour, a scientist pushed the bound of genetic engineering to produce a process by which females could be made to carry male reproductive organs, making them able to father children.

Now, women everywhere are considering their options as they never could before. Should they choose to begin the new journey, there are untold changes and challenges awaiting them as they become something more than female.

Chapter 1

Alexandra woke up from her night's sleep, blinking back whatever dream she'd just had. It was indistinct and hazy now that she was awake, but her skin still felt cold and clammy.

"Shit," she said, breathing a sigh as she swung out of her bed and padded into her bathroom. The Healthmate flicked on as soon as the lights came up. She preferred not to deal with AI's, but her health was important enough that she made this one exception.

"Mistress, can one recommend a sleep aid?" the Healthmate said.

"No, thanks," Alexandra said, leaning forward to get a good look at herself in the mirror. Even though she was in her mid thirties, she could still pass for ten years younger, especially with her shimmering brown hair and killer body. The only thing that looked out of place was the dark under her eyes, but it did little to detract from her look of youth.

Not that it mattered.

Alexandra gave herself a long look in the mirror and then decided to get some fresh air. "Healthmate," she said. "I'm going for a jog."

"One does not recommend jogging at this time of morning," the Healthmate said, but Alexandra was already gone. Her exercise clothes were in the Alexe place that she had left them the night before, and she put them on and ignored their odor. Such just didn't seem to matter any more than her looks.

After she put her hair up just to keep it out of her face, she went through some basic stretches before she went outside from her small house. The morning was cool and gray, sad but nonetheless relaxing. It suited her mood perfectly. Sometimes, the weather almost seemed like it was made just for her. Whether it was or not, she was going to get her fresh air, so she took off into the nearby park. She queued up her internal music player that played right to her brain -- something that many had -- with a few flicks of her fingers, and then she started her run.

The route through the park took her by plenty of picnic areas and other places for people to enjoy the out-of-doors, but all she ever saw were women. The park was not unusual in that sense, as women predominated everywhere, either women who had been born female or had been converted through treatments. Instead of thinking about the state of the world, though, Alexandra concentrated on t