"I still don't understand," said Steve. "Why can't I remove these petals? People don't have petals."
"They're part of your body," replied her mother. "If you try to remove it it's mutilation."
"B-- but... people cut their nails, they pierce their ears, and other things. They cut and dye their hair. They shave."
"No, honey," she said, trying to sound comforting. "People do those things but it's not to hide what they are. Nobody cuts their nails because they want to pretend that their nails never grow. If plant girl fashion starts to develop and it becomes fashionable to have your petals trimmed on the outside where you won't hurt yourself, then you can trim them. Okay? But you can't just take them off."
Her mom just didn't understand. "I don't want any kind of girl fashion. It's bad enough that I'm a plant and I've got breasts. I don't want guys lusting for me."
"You're becoming a very pretty girl," she said. "Of course guys will like you. You don't have to agree to do anything with them."
"I don't want to become a cheerleader."
"There's no rule that says you have to do anything you're not doing now."
"I don't want to put on makeup."
"You have a natural beauty. You don't need much."
"I don't want to get married and be a mother... or whatever it is plant girls do."
"So don't."
A sudden thought occurred to Steve. "Wait a minute. What do plant girls do? I have flowers. What happens to them?"
Her mother didn't have an answer for this one. And she noticed.
"Mom, tell me!" she shouted.
"Stop raising your voice, young lady! I understand this is hard for you but that's no excuse for being rude to your mother."
"Then what's the answer?"
"Nobody knows. It's different for different people, just like some grow roots and some don't. If you really want some ideas, you can read the pamphlets the doctors came up with. They're just printouts, since new information comes in fast and they don't know everything yet. But I wouldn't if I were you. Your imagination will run away with you."
"I think I'll read them, Mom."
She said "fine", and smiled. That was one way to get Steve to read them.
As the papers explained, reproduction of the transformed was complicated. The obvious idea was that two people had to have become the same species in order to reproduce. But that didn't seem to be true, and it couldn't be, anyway--almost everyone was one of a kind. As far as the scientists could figure out, given that few species could have reproduced in the short time since the whole thing started, there were several categories.
- People who were already involved with each other but not transformed sometimes transformed into compatible species, like the woman and her husband who turned into a plant and an insect swarm.
- In some cases, different species were compatible but the offspring were always the mother's type, whether there were two transformees, or one transformee and an unaltered human. At least, this is what all medical scans showed, since it was too soon for many births. (By definition, they wouldn't really be species, but that's what scientists called them.)
- In some cases, different species were compatible and the offspring were combinations, at least as far as the scans could determine. But that couldn't possiby be true of everyone, or else in a couple of generations you'd have 1/8 plant 1/8 lion 1/8 slime mold 1/8 robot 1/8 dinosaur 3/8 random creature people running around. There had to be some limit to combinations.
- Some species could reproduce by themselves. Either they could become pregnant on their own, or grow extra copies from roots (Steve shuddered, but though she was a plant she wasn't a rooted type), or grow from spores or... anything. There were already robots that had managed to build "children" and copy their software.
- Some species stored sperm. There were cases where a person had become a new species and already had sperm in them sufficient to become pregnant without a partner. It came from nowhere--it just was.
- And in some cases, there really were several people of the same species that could have children in whatever way is normal for them.
- Everything seemed set up so that no one species could conquer the world. Transformed people who laid eggs never laid fertile ones every day or even every month, and those who laid clutches did so even more rarely. If someone reproduced by spores, so few spores would grow that their reproduction rate was essentially still that of a human being.
- Those weren't all the rules, and no matter what the rule was, it was always "some". Always. Doctors could guess, but the only way to know for sure was to wait and see.
The part of the papers that described plants was even stranger. It explained how a normal plant reproduces--a plant's stamens are the male parts. They produce pollen. Pollen can be spread by wind, or by insects like bees, who are attracted by bright colors and scents and drink nectar from the flowers. The wind or the insects take the pollen to the pistil where it grows into a microscopic tube that fertilizes the other end and produces seeds.
What this meant for plant people, of course, could be anything. The key word was still "some". Steve was oddly amused to learn that her breasts and the top of her head were really male parts, and she touched them. She immediately felt a bit happier, but it didn't exactly produce an orgasm. But after all, pollination could happen without the plant having to do much of anything--there was no need to encourage the plant to do it by giving it orgasms. On the other hand, some new species kept human traits that they didn't need--orgasms among them. Steve carefully reached between her legs but couldn't stimulate herself to more than mild happiness there either, and she wasn't sure she was just imagining it. Or maybe the thought that those were girl parts really ruined the mood.
And the papers said that plant people could produce seeds, or fruits with seeds, or just babies. Being pregnant could be like excreting a watermelon--if it really is excreting a watermelon, and if it didn't just grow on the outside. Or she could just be like a human girl--which wasn't very comforting either. All the options seemed bad.
And "the birds and the bees" could be very literal.
