Scifi thinky-thought
Had a thought about a futuristic cybernetically enhanced soldier, who was nearing the end of her tour of duty and looking forward/well sort of but more just imagining what's it gonna be like when her arms and legs get traded back in for the civilian models. And also looking forward to getting her reproductive set reinstalled, because it makes perfect sense that if you've got that level of cyborg mix-and-matching technology, that on duty everyone would have their civilian model and their work/duty model, and their potentially duty-interfering bits kept safely cryo'ed until you're back on-planet and have the time and energy to mess around.
I dunno, it's just kind of a neat thought- it probably wouldn't be an acceptable norm now, but in another time, another context, it makes perfect sense to store it until you actually know you want or are willing to risk reproduction. And that would go exactly the same for male soldiers, because while leaving bastards in every port may be less of an interference to ship- and combat-duty, it's still problematic and embarrassing and does not please the brass when someone can wave a DNA test at one of their soldiers and demand comp.
So yeah. Someday- scifi story with awesome cyborg lady adjusting to civilian life, with added world-building for flavor.
Oh! I know where this came from- there was this one story in a Chicks In Chainmail anthology, where the local women-warrior's guild responded to a burdensome tax on bronze bras by engaging a plastic-wizard who could leave them flat-chested as any man for duty purposes, then return them their boobs with ease when desired. (This is all further complicated by the fact that he's been doing business on the side with the court ladies who want younger, trimmer parts themselves, and aren't particularly scrupulous about just where their 'dancing master' is getting those parts and what he's paying for them. Namely nothing, leaving a lot of shepherdesses, apple-pickers and exotic dancers waking up with the wrong bits and a whole lot of angry warrior-women who want their boobs kept straight and to get the *right* set back on reversing the spell, thank you.)
I dunno, it's just kind of a neat thought- it probably wouldn't be an acceptable norm now, but in another time, another context, it makes perfect sense to store it until you actually know you want or are willing to risk reproduction. And that would go exactly the same for male soldiers, because while leaving bastards in every port may be less of an interference to ship- and combat-duty, it's still problematic and embarrassing and does not please the brass when someone can wave a DNA test at one of their soldiers and demand comp.
So yeah. Someday- scifi story with awesome cyborg lady adjusting to civilian life, with added world-building for flavor.
Oh! I know where this came from- there was this one story in a Chicks In Chainmail anthology, where the local women-warrior's guild responded to a burdensome tax on bronze bras by engaging a plastic-wizard who could leave them flat-chested as any man for duty purposes, then return them their boobs with ease when desired. (This is all further complicated by the fact that he's been doing business on the side with the court ladies who want younger, trimmer parts themselves, and aren't particularly scrupulous about just where their 'dancing master' is getting those parts and what he's paying for them. Namely nothing, leaving a lot of shepherdesses, apple-pickers and exotic dancers waking up with the wrong bits and a whole lot of angry warrior-women who want their boobs kept straight and to get the *right* set back on reversing the spell, thank you.)