"Hmm," said Karyn. "Tom's friend wanted himself and Tom to make more of a contribution to the program. Anne said something similar about personally contributing. We both know what they really meant. So I think you can tell the stone to do what they meant. The last guy wanted whatever was adding the cats to continue. I have no idea how to fix that one."
"Let's see," said Jon. She held the stone and made a wish: "I wish that Anne is human, and is personally contributing in the way that she meant. I wish that Tom and his friend are human, and they made more of a contribution because their work was more respected. I wish that the last guy is also human and cats got added because some bugs were turned into cats."
In front of Jon was Anne, a woman who looked a lot like Tom's friend, a pregnant woman that looked a lot like Tom, and the last guy. The cages were still filled with cats, though there were more than before, and they might have been different cats. Jon didn't really recognize distinguishing features in big cats.
"Close," said Karyn.
"I think if I just say 'human'," said Jon, "they don't change sex. They don't change pregnant status either."
"Can you wish it?" wondered Karyn.
"Probably." Jon pointed her finger at Tom's friend and said "I wish she is a guy again." The woman transformed back to her old male self. Then Jon waited, considering her next wish.
"I don't know exactly what you're doing to make this happen," said Tom, "but, er, please? Me next?"
"I'm not sure what happened," said Jon, "but here's my guess. If I just make you human, it makes you human but leaves other things the same. If you're turned into a female cheetah and I make you human, you become a female human unless I turn you back into a guy or I make you just like before or something like that. If you're turned into a female cheetah and become pregnant and I make you human, you're a pregnant female human unless I fix that."
"Well, you fixed Mike. Do it for me too."
"I wish that Tom is in a hospital giving birth now. I wish that once Tom gives birth, she will change back to a guy, and everyone will remember he's a guy, but the babies will still be around. I wish everyone will not notice how impossible it is that Tom and another guy have children together. Now I wish I'm home with Karyn."
Jon and Karyn appeared in Jon's room. The room was deserted except for some boxes and an old disused exercise bicycle. "I was expecting pink," she said. "Or a tube of lipstick or something...." Jon had, in fact become a leopard with a wish, erasing Jon from reality. Jon changed back to human without a wish--so Jon still wasn't part of reality. "I wish people remember me as a human again," she said.
The room shimmered. It generally looked like Jon's old room, but there was indeed more pink, and on the corner of a table, Jon even spotted a tube of lipstick.
"I don't know if I'd have done it that way," said Karyn. "Fixing that Tom guy, I mean."
"I couldn't just kill the baby, it was too old for that to count as an abortion."
"What about yourself? If Tom got instantly pregnant, why didn't you?"
"I wish I knew. Oh... here's the answer. You helped with that one. You wished I wouldn't get pregnant by that leopard. So I didn't!"
"But that didn't work. It would have reversed the wish about being the mother."
"No, it wouldn't. Not becoming a mother from that particular leopard isn't the same as not becoming a mother. If I become a mother in some other way, then both of the wishes are true. And before you ask, I do think that means I'll become a mother some other way. We need to figure out a way around that...."
