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The following is a transcription of a chat between Loqu and Misty. It was recorded in 1999.

Loquacious's Study

As much the master bedroom as the study, although there's only room for one on the pallet in the corner. That's because of the wide wooden desk (no chair) that takes up a good portion of the room. Directly opposite the door is a wide window with a view of the lake and the misty lands beyond, and the light from the window or the brass oil lamp hanging from the roof shines upon the cheering comfort of polished wood: desk, floorboards, bookcases, and paneling. A locked wooden cabinet smells of bourbon and leather. A sort of crossbow hangs above the door.

The pallet in its frame on the floor holds an immense, neatly folded wool blanket, there's a jade inkstand and a blotter on the desk, covered with sheets of paper, some with writing, some with none. The desk has several drawers with tarnished brass fittings, all locked. There's a combination hat and cane stand next to the door, with plenty of canes, walking sticks, and hats. The overall impression is that of tidy, resigned bachelordom, and a certain amount of dusty masculine comfort.

Loqu bows.

Misty smiles.  "Hello. How are you doing this evening? "

"All right. Finally won at MW2, both clans. I seem to be rather good at designing Mechs."

"Sounds good. Did you try a different strategy?"

"Yeah, I retreated when the Wolves charged me, hosed them down with PPC's, and then charged. In a heavily-armored Warhammer."

"Sounds like a draw play. I tend to use that in StarCraft."

"Pincher. Had flankers out."

"Same idea. Draw them in and hit hard. With flankers, the hit comes from three or even four directions."

Misty smiles and looks up at Loqu. "What are you up to tonight?"

"Oh, I'm in a chatty mood, or I wouldn't be here."

"Want to choose a topic to chat about?"

Loqu chuckles.  "Formal, are we? You go ahead, I'll respond as I have something worth saying."

"Not really formal. Just thinking about breaking out of the conversational mold."

Loqu hands Misty the Conversational Lysol.  

Misty giggles. 

Loqu grins.  "Here's a question for you... Do you think Female Centaur is all that close to female human?"

Loqu thinks a moment and adds  "How much of the killer ape is in the dexterous horse?"

"An interesting question or two. Have to think about them. Are they concepts in stories you are writing?"

Loqu smiles.  "They could be. I did do a woman to centauress transformation in one story."

"The female centaur/human differences could make an interesting piece. Especially if there are conflicts in behaviors that bother the transformee."

"I remember one transformee of my acquaintance blushing a lot, and then being very, very physically active. To the point where other centaurs were getting quite worried about her."

"I wonder what a centaur mare would feel like if she became a human female?"

"Not a bad question at all."

Misty smiles.  "You wouldn't be talking about me, would you?"

"We were conspiring to have you bred before you broke a leg."

"Hmmm. And what was wrong with running and jumping? A symptom of something other than a need to move?"

"Horrid thought. Drug the lady and use a syringe. It's usually a symptom of a mare's reproductive resources not being used. We were looking for a nice fellow with whom to fix you up."

"More fun for both parties."

"Had you ever considered the possibility that it was nervous energy rather than 'reproductive symptoms."

"Note that you didn't wake up in foal. But we WERE worried about you. And wot about the blushing?"

"The blushing is inherent in being a shy male in a female body. And a sexy female body at that. When I think I'm getting used to it I get a look in a mirror and things revert at times."

"As I said to Mavra, a somewhat similar case, you're not a shy male. You're a female with male memories."

"That is about 98% correct."

"True, I forgot about some rather strange things in your endocrine system..."

"But, thought is chemical. Your memories are still there, but the brain that processes them is now on a different chemical regimen. I've seen friends of mine who've changed physical gender actually start HATING the person they were before."

"Right now it seems to be neutral."

"Well, you were involuntary. There's a factor."

"A good chunk of my troubles with two folk of my acquaintance, I think, had their origins in chemicals. Its origins, sorry. B^)"

"Involuntary, yes. But some of the feminine aspects were there before hand. I tended to empathize with women rather than men."

"You suppose that's what triggered the ponies?"

"Maybe. That or they were looking for someone who didn't get out and about much and wouldn't be missed if things happened to them."

"But, you could have been a stallion, especially if my theory of an invasion is correct... Fewer disruptions to your situation, you'd think you'd be less likely to go insane or suicide... Unless that's WHY they made you a mare. Females tend to think of suicide more often, but accomplish it less. You kill yourself, you're a failed experiment."

"If the ponies could talk, we might find out. But some of the E-team think that a mare is 'safer' as an experiment. One stallion can impregnate a lot of mares. A single mare on the other hand, has a much more limited impact."

"What, the ponies want a breeding population of changees? Or a BRED population? No one's been leaving flowers outside your stall, right?"

"I'm hoping that the ponies decide to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. But I worry that I might regret it."

"Ah... Just level with you? What's interesting is that we are both members, by preference, of a potential fifth column against the human race... As human."

"True. And as fifth column types we are in real danger of being 'disappeared' by assorted types."

Loqu smiles. "No one ever takes a fifth column seriously. Until it's too late. Ideally. And what if they DID tell you that you were breeding stock?"

"Ideally, nobody even knows that a fifth column has been active. Think of the fall of the Iron Curtain. I claim that it was due to MTV, Levi jeans and Pepsi. A very subtle fifth column. If they told me that, I'd ask who the stallion will be."

Loqu chuckles. "Another lifestyle proving attractive... What if humans had bodies that could survive without expensive shelter, on grass and grains, and travel without vehicles? THERE'S a revealing answer. I wonder if the man you were would find the idea of standing to stallion unthinkable?"

"Unthinkable when thinking as a man. Very thinkable when thinking as a woman or a mare. Possible mind manipulation or basic biology."

Loqu indicates that he is saving the conversation, mind you, this is an interesting topic.   "Result's the same, either way. You know horses. Any sign of the ponies reacting to you sexually?"

"The life style thing is a very valid argument. Especially if Y2K is the disaster the doomsayers say it will be. The ponies act like other mares when near a mare is in heat."

"They're all mares?"

"Saving the conversation? Eeek! That's what I do!"

"All three ponies are mares. Which makes us wonder if they can only create other mares."

"Hmmm. How have they reacted to stallions?"

"Like randy mares."

"And the little fiends have shown they don't sweat genetics. Could breed themselves and you off of anything they get."

"Heck, they showed that they could do that with Tanya. We're twins if you ignore the size differences."

"So, again... Changees, able to breed with anything... You, Tanya... How do stallions and human males react around you? I myself find you pretty, if small, and I never forget that you're a happily married former man."

"Stallions act like stallions the few times I've been around them. Human males act like human males if I show a little cleavage and smile the right way. Heck, Myke, the med-equiment tech, has made passes at both Tanya and I."

"I have to wonder by whom you and Tanya would take..."

"I'm half hoping and half dreading that my wife will become a centaur stallion. But that would devastate the finances."

"Any action on that front? What if she became a centauress? The Chalker II scenario?"

"Hmmm. Chalker II. If we were twins, then we might consider having foals. I think. But only if we won one of those big Sweepstakes. Of course, if the next big winner is in the Washington/Idaho area, and I start being on line more often, then I will suspect that something is being manipulated."

"Return to the Well of Souls. Lovers end up becoming matched centauresses. And no kinky lesbian centaur sex! Most disappointing. How expensive ARE you to maintain? I mean... YOU could live on the cheap, I'd suspect."

"I'm not expensive to maintain. Less expensive than I was a human. But the rest of the horses and the property cost a bit. So does the truck and horse trailers."

"Now, if they could alter the HORSES..."

"Hmmmm. Alter the horses into centaurs?"

"You might end up with some rather dumb 'taurs, fond as I am of horses... Better to use them as just partial reproductive material, studs and surrogate wombs, perhaps."

"Unless you start the horses off as children and enhance their brains before you transform them into centaurs."

"Takes a while. When you got all those formed human minds to convert into equine ones, better just to use the horses, as they have always been used, as bodies."

"Consider that the ponies are very smart. They might make excellent centaurs. You're probably right about staying with human to centaur transformations. Just have to pick the right humans at first. And, to be honest, I think they made the right choices with Tanya and I."

"The PONIES would. But they aren't centaurs. I'd think that Centaurs are just the 'virus mutate' designed to take over the world. Works for me. I wonder if the species would ever go over to straight pony... Centaurs can use the human stuff, and take on non- transformed humans and win. Or just recruit, by way of the physical and sexual enhancements."

"A few might go to straight equine. The true horse lovers. But the rest would like to have hands and a voice. Think of something even more basic then that. Consider demographics and what Joe and Marie have done."

"Refresh my memory on Joe and Marie... The old couple? Two more recruits."

"They recruited themselves. Both were dying of old age and complications. The pony they bought was a long shot that worked. Some time in the next few months they will finish their 'farewell' tour and settle down to become centaurs. YOUNG centaurs."

"I mean, you can argue that it's not so much as a conquest but rather a benign symbiosis. Or a merging of species. AT least, I'd see it that way. But, I'm '4 Legs, 5th Column. ' There's a title."

"I like that one. Or 'The Four Legged Fifth Column."

"I COULD edit this into a story. I've done that before."

Misty blushes at a secondary meaning of 'Fifth Column' could mean. 

"See what I mean? Your mare's instincts and mind set ARE kicking in. I fear that you are destined to make a foal of yourself. I think that anyone wanting to be a straight horse would end up on stud or brood duty."

"Probably. Just give me time to get used to it."

"Look at Wendy."

"True. We've had several mare to mare talks about gender and mindsets and biology."

"And, again... I wonder if the Ponies are capable of hostile takeovers. As in, hostile humans into either helpless or unintelligent horses... And breeders."

"An interesting thought. If the human population of the world was changed into the 'ideal' mix of stallions and mares, would that make for a better chance for world peace?"

"Put an equine mind-set into the human population that keeps its hands, and you might well see less primate-style wars. Lots of polygamy, though, and dominant stallions... Shifting of the classes."

Misty thinks. "Hostile humans into complacent brood mares."

"Better bred than dead. As we were thinking about you. Note that that theme's shown up before..."

"Hmmm. Have to make sure that the birth ratios change too. Say one stallion per fifteen or thirty-one mares. Keep the stallions too busy to fight."

"And, again, being bred, having a foal... Might overcome even an intelligent mind's resentment. Your own genes would suddenly have a stake in the equine victory. You could be a test subject for that, even... And it's a private theory of mine that the growing incidence of homosexuality and gender identity disorder is a 'rats in the box' reaction to increasing population density. Imagine what a longer gestation period might do to that."

"The idea of a 'forced' breeding bothers me. Not sure if it is a human thing or something else."

"Could be why you ended up female."

"Another reason is that I appear to be 'cute and helpless' as a centaur mare. A survival trait for me in this world."

"I don't think it would save you from a Green Beret. Sex might."

"We're going to have to wind this up fairly soon."

Loqu chuckles. "Will we? I'll be watching what happens with you and Tanya."."

"A Green Beret who believes that I'm a menace to the country, true. But one who has some doubts, possibly not. Which may be why the ponies 'stacked' the deck so to speak."

"You four, including the newest two, are indicators to me. I watch and evaluate everything, dear lady. POSSIBLY not. But you've had some bad experiences already. Now, a Sherman T. Potter cavalryman might well do some significant sabotage."

"In the right outfit I can be 'cute and childishly innocent.' In a different outfit I can be a 'sex bomb.'"

Misty puzzles over 'Sherman T. Potter.' 

"The old colonel on M*A*S*H, the horsy one."

"Longer gestation and lower fertility rate. Ah! The 'Dragnet' guy. Been years since I've seen either."

"Pony DNA in the military blood supply, for example. Or Clinton a centaur from the waist down (The TSA 'Geneticide' did something along these lines) making sure he'd have a herd of willing fillies. Or the 'I'm not the freak... YOU are' method of recruiting. We got you, may as well join us."

"Clinton could probably market it. And think of where the WWW Centaur Board used to be. A place with 'clinton' in the URL."

"To a very few of us, at least at first... And the reaction would be a problem. Xenophobia would kick in very fast. Note how slowly, how carefully, it's going so far."

"That 'I'm not a freak...' marketing technique works."

"I know. But the number of deaths would be minimized if the ponies could hit the human race VERY quickly, and not give it time to do much more than 'Stand for it.'"

"Slowly and carefully as we approach the new millenium. Might speed up after that. Lots of people would 'freak out' if they aren't introduced slowly. But they might jump on the band wagon if it were a 'fountain of youth' treatment. The boomers are getting older and being young and 'exotic' would be a real enticement."

"But being large and four legged and equine... Might trigger a VERY basic reaction. And our perspective ISN'T the human norm."

"People who love horses would be the first to make the jump."

"And then folk like that BASTARD in Nevada might go around shooting anything on four legs..."

"Our perspective is odd by 'normal' standards. But then 'normal' standards are often shaped by the media. That low life would last a very short while if his targets started shooting back. And if centaur marksmanship matches legend..."

"We're bigger targets, though... And we don't have the same killer instinct the apes seem to have."

"Speak for yourself. I think I have the same killer instinct I had. One which is under full control and requires cold logic to implement it."

Misty imagines the low life being shot up bit by bit. Not enough to kill at any one time but enough to be painful. 

"I'd hate to think of the convertees as vengeful sadists... That's the sort of baggage I'd like to see gone with the extra toes."

Misty looks down at her four toes. "An interesting idea."

"Then it's the same old sad story, only now all the battles are cavalry actions."

"I think the key is whether you kill for sport or for survival. And how you feel about it."

"Of course, you haven't foaled yet... Maybe the final stage would have to wait until after 'The War.' "When we can lose the human mindset, and just be centaurs."

"I hope that it isn't a 'War.' I would much rather have a slow re-channeling of the human race."

"Slow, you end up with a holocaust by one side or the other. FAST it's, 'When did you change?'"

"Being mainly vegetarian would help."

"I don't know how much that would change things."

"Okay. How about a fast re-channeling of the human race. Say, one generation or less."

"And then a breeding program, centaurs into ponies... Hmmm..."

"Say fifteen years from when it makes the headlines in Time and Newsweek."

"If you foal a centaur, it'd be an argument that that's the target species. If you foal a pony, there's your answer. Thirteen Monkeys cities."

"Centaurs into ponies would have some advantages but would lead to extinction in the long run. We really need a space program and that requires hands. The 'Hundredth Monkey' theory."

"How did the Ponies get here? Symbiotic species? Or are they 'stealth missiles?' And if they want the planet, and not us... Clop, clop. There's a fun thought. We end up as genuine sauerbrauten. But, not if the species stays centaurs."

"The origin of the ponies is a major topic of concern. The best guess is that they are from a very Earth-like planet. A parallel universe or something in the future."

"Hard to think of them as naturally evolved."

"Might be 'naturally evolved' if psionics are part of the mix. I suspect that if I lose it and mate with a pony, I'll foal a pony. And if I manage to find a centaur stallion, I'd foal a centaur."

"I don't know... I'm inclined to think you'll breed what they meant you to breed."

"You're probably right. I could end up having puppies or kittens if they decided that that was 'right.' It is really strange having to deal with 'inferior' creatures that may be your superiors."

"Possibly. It's true that I'm shaped by the evolutionary process as it's worked on Earth. I don't think you'll mind, dear. I think you'll feel that it's very, very right. Even if you and your wife both ended up studded by your own stallion."

"Now that would be an odd mix. All the centaurs are mares and all the stallions are horses. A friend of mine has a story line or six on a world like that."

Loqu smiles. "I'd have to buy a new wardrobe. But we might well get a lot of male human to female centaur transformations. Particularly potentially dangerous human males. Into mares with a genetic stake in defecting. But, we've been through this, you need to sleep."

Misty nods and hugs Loqu. "Take care!"

Loqu bows.

Misty trots out of the room, yawning. 

Loqu thinks to himself. "Huh. I bet she's got her male residue either because she's to breed on their command, parthenogenically, or because she'll need pony-altered DNA... A Y chromosome, perhaps... to add into the genetic mix when she foals... Interesting thought."

Misty

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