Going Through It: Rising Star

By Alyson J. Bowles and Tiffany C. Oliver

In "Going Through It: Rising Star," the gripping debut novel by Trans Author, Alyson J. Bowles, the mysterious world of the Collection is brought to life. For two decades, young boys have vanished without a trace, leaving behind a community haunted by questions and fear. On the cusp of his 17th birthday, Jason finds himself standing at the preci

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mariposa Sources
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798985845013

Book preview

Chapter One

Jason groaned, or at least he thought he did. He wasn’t even sure he was still alive. The last thing he remembered was his father’s face fading to nothing. And now pain. A dull ache pulsed from his toes to the top of his head. Something around his wrist and ankles kept him immobile on the hard mesh-like surface beneath him. There was a low air current that let him know he was wet, but that was the only input he had. His eyelids were unwilling to open and there was something thick in his throat. His ears reached for any sound but found nothing. Absolute silence.

There was something seated tightly over his mouth, which was suddenly being lifted away, and pulling the long tube-like object from his throat with it. His abdominal muscles spasmed and he involuntarily convulsed as his body tried to expel whatever it was in his stomach. As soon as the tube cleared his mouth he felt a large hand press against the side of his head, forcing him to turn it to the side as another hand firmly pressed on his stomach. With nearly zero effort on his part, a thick pudding-like substance flowed from his mouth in three large heaves.

Next, stunningly cold water was spraying down from above. His brain told him his muscles were tensing but he felt no movement. The water sprayed across his face and ran through his hair. He could feel the same strong hands running along his skin beneath the spray as if rubbing something away. In his deeply fogged state, he was aware that his body was sending back strange signals, but his brain was barely responsive as it was. The spray of water was gone as fast as it came - to be followed by a directed blast of warm air that started at his toes and moved up past his head, drying him as it went. Then there were multiple hands on him, lifting him from behind by the shoulders into a seated position. Soft material was pulled up his arms and then over his head. There was an odd weight to his chest as he was jostled and handled like a rag doll before being laid back down. The fog was just starting to clear when something pressed against the side of his neck followed by a hiss and burst of stinging pressure before everything quickly returned to oblivion.

When he next came to, someone was shaking him.

Their voice was shrill and full of panic. C’mon, c’mon wake up! They’ll be back soon!

Jason finally got his eyes to open and found a Japanese girl with bright blue eyes looking down at him. Her hair was slicked back into a ponytail, and she wore a white cotton button-down blouse. The sleeves were short and exposed most of her thin arms.

Oh, thank god! She took his arm and began pulling to get him to sit up. Jason didn’t fight her and was soon sitting upright with his bare feet on the floor.

What- He croaked; his throat and mouth felt like they’d been packed with cotton balls. She held up a clear pouch of liquid with a straw to his lips.

Here, drink this. Jason began to turn his face away, but she gently caught his chin and pulled him back. You have to drink it; it’ll make you feel better.

Jason wrapped his lips around the straw and began to suck. The liquid was lemon bitter but soothed his throat and settled his stomach. Before long he found he had drained the pouch and she pulled it away, then smoothed her poodle skirt before sitting on the bed.

Poodle Skirt!?

Yep. Right there, a white embroidered poodle just above the hem of a red skirt, with the white of a petticoat showing from beneath. It was so out of place and unexpected that Jason lost precious moments as his brain struggled to find something to do with the information. Why would a Human girl be on an alien spaceship dressed like she’s on the way to a sock hop?

Before the question reached his lips though Tabitha leaned forward until she could look him square in the eye. There’s no sugar-coating this. You’re not dead. This is real. And they’re turning us into girls. She reached out and poked his chest gently, but it felt all wrong and Jason looked down in alarm. There. Two large mounds were tenting the loose blue shift he wore. A shaking hand lifted to cup one and then the other. Jason looked back up at the girl on his bed and then back down at himself. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t this. He didn’t need to lift his shift to know the change had been complete. He could feel it.

My name is Tabitha. I was Collected last year. Here, put these on, she handed him two objects that looked like streamlined hearing aids. Tabitha turned her head so he could see how to place them.

I’m not wearing these. What are they for? Mind control? Jason grimaced at the croak in his throat, the tone of worry still coming through.

Tabitha shook her head, No, nothing like that. They’re translators as they don’t speak English. They control them though so if they don’t want us to hear them talking, they mute the hearing. You have to wear them.

Jason looked down at the devices in his hand then back up at Tabitha. What if I don’t?

Then you’ll be punished, and you really don’t want that. He saw something flash in the girl’s eyes as she shuddered. Listen, they’re going to be here for you any second. Don’t fight them. Just don’t. You don’t want to know what happens to the ones who refuse to obey.

She took the devices from him and quickly put them behind his ears. Jason reached to see if he could remove one and discovered it had somehow attached itself to his skin.

It’s not so bad if you follow the rules and don’t fight them. We aren’t sex slaves or... Tabitha paused as she seemed to doubt her own words. It could be so much worse. They treat us well so long as we do what they want. Some even come to accept it. Tabitha looked away with a hint of shame.

Why are we here?

Tabitha flicked her eyes to the door as there was a beeping from outside, Just do what they tell you... He saw her lips finish the sentence but sure enough, her voice had faded to silence. Jason reached up and tapped at the device behind his left ear to see if it was malfunctioning. But she caught his hand and pushed it down with a shake of her head. When the door slid open, he was able to hear that just fine and he heard Tabitha jump to her saddle shoes as she adopted a very submissive stance. Her chin buried into her chest and hands behind her back; one hand gripping two fingers.

Jason’s first thought about seeing the alien step through the door was Vulcan, but the ears weren’t as pointed and there was a ripple of ridges sweeping from over his right eye back to the temple. The eyebrows were thin and arched to an impossibly fine taper over solid black eyes. And tall, he was very tall. However, glancing over at Tabitha, Jason realized he might actually be much shorter than he himself was before. These were really the only features he could make out as the man’s visage overall seemed to be fuzzy and just slightly out of focus. Other than that, he appeared to be Human as far as Jason could tell.

Why is she sitting on the bed still? The voice in his ears was deep and very clear with a standard middle American accent. Jason could just barely tell it was a synthesized voice. It helped, though, that the movement of the alien's lips was out of sync with the words he heard.

Tabitha spun and quickly pulled him standing onto shaky legs. Just as he was sure they’d hold his weight Jason made the unknown mistake of looking up into the alien’s eyes. Jason had just enough time to catch the look of horror from Tabitha before the alien’s hand lashed out and encircled his throat.

Do not ever look a Proctor in the eyes. This is your only warning. Do you understand? The alien had pulled Jason close and lifted him so that his toes barely grazed the deck plating.

Jason’s hands were clutching at the alien’s wrist in sudden panic as he struggled to breathe.

Do you understand? The alien’s voice returned from the booming tone he had used before to quiet and stern. The voice of someone who had asked a question to which there was only one answer.

Jason nodded and the alien’s grip lessened so he was able to breathe again as he landed back on his feet.

You, he pointed to Tabitha. It is time. Tabitha visibly paled and then quickly scurried from the room.

The Proctor took Jason by the arm and hauled him out the room into the corridor. The corridor was wide enough that six men could easily walk abreast with two thick lines, one yellow and the other blue, running down the sides. Tabitha had quickly crossed to the blue line with other girls who were similarly dressed and quickly walking down the corridor. Jason was roughly guided onto a thick yellow line and held against the wall. All along the corridor girls in blue shifts and bare feet were being pulled from rooms by their Proctors and forced to stand on the yellow line.

For as many as there were, Jason was surprised he couldn’t hear any voices but those of the Proctors barking orders. He understood then what Tabitha had said about the translators behind his ears. It was a very effective element of control. Preventing them from talking to each other and forcing the Humans to focus just on the Specter’s voices was a great way to prevent most initial resistance.

The girls in the poodle skirts refused to look back across as they walked away. If Jason were to hazard a guess there were maybe two hundred rooms over the length of this corridor. He could see others like him looking around in horror as the reality finally struck home. Wet faces and red puffy eyes looked back at him as his Proctor placed a hand against his chest, pushing him back against the wall and keeping him in place. Jason began to look up at him again but cast his eyes at the last second. The sensation of the Proctor’s hand around his throat was still fresh in his mind.

A blonde girl came running down the center of the corridor with her face awash in tears and nearly red, her mouth open in a silent wail. Jason’s Proctor took two steps and caught the girl easily by her arm, there was a barked order that didn’t come through his translators and Jason watched as the girl was pushed down to her knees. The Proctor released the girl as a black marble came sailing down the corridor and impacted the girl’s shoulder.

With a subtle flash, wire-like tendrils wrapped themselves around her body and appeared to slowly tighten. Forcing the blond to collapse into a fetal position on the floor. The tendrils were so tight Jason could easily see the indentations from them in her exposed flesh. Still, he could see her writhing as her mouth opened in a silent wail. Then there was a pulse of electricity and the girl suddenly stilled.

Jason’s Proctor turned back to find him staring in shock. His own heart felt like it was trying to seize in his chest. Walk! The alien’s mouth didn’t move but the command had been loud in his ears. In silence, those who had just witnessed the other girl being put down, turned, and began shuffling down the corridor in the opposite direction of the girls who had left. Jason risked a glance down at the blonde on the floor and was relieved to see her chest rise and fall.

The returning silence allowed Jason to take stock of what had happened so far as he walked behind the blonde in front of him. He’d been Collected and somehow between the time he had last seen his Father and waking up to Tabitha leaning over him, he’d been turned into a female. And, so it seemed, had all those currently shuffling down the hall with him down the yellow line. There was no question in his mind that Tabitha and the others dressed in the same 50’s fashion had once been in the same place he was now. He had observed that all of them walked with their eyes cast down and their hands behind their backs. When he looked harder, he noticed all of them looked extremely nervous if not-

The Proctor’s artificial voice was in his ears again. Eyes down, unless you would like me to make an example of you as well. Jason quickly obeyed.

So far, this experience was a lot like what his father had told him boot camp was like on the first day. The intake officers came at them hard and fast; giving very little time for the recruit to gather their thoughts. His father had said it was to keep them off balance and focused on getting through the first day. Waking up disoriented, confused, in a completely unfamiliar environment, on top of suddenly having breasts were things that were definitely going to put any boy on the back foot.

Okay, he thought as they entered a vast auditorium. I doubt they’d give a lecture before eating us, and obviously, the Humans taken before are still alive… Boys are taken but we’re all girls now... He told Tabitha, It was time. Does that mean time to leave? That she was done? But this has been happening for almost twenty years and no one has returned. There’s no way they’ve kept everyone here all this time. So where are they going?

He furtively looked around, as others were, and took in the space around him. The space was huge for being on a spaceship, as it looked as if all five thousand girls who used to be boys were escorted in from multiple tunnels on the sides and from underneath the varying levels. Each seat was placed double arms width from the next and the Proctors took up station just behind and to the right of them. He didn’t dare turn around but surmised from the scale of the nearness of the ceiling he was most likely on the highest tier of five.

Far down below in the middle of the lowest semicircle of seats was a dais that rose several feet from the floor and was lit from underneath. Above and behind the dais was a huge flag hanging vertically from the ceiling. It was banded with bars of yellow and red, while in the center was an unfamiliar constellation of stars encircled by what appeared to be a crown pressed flat.

It was eerily silent for so many people, even though it looked as if most had settled down to quiet shock, he understood the silence was artificial. Jason looked up as the Proctor firmly took his arm and led him to a hard plastic seat. It was only a moment when an alien in a red tunic and black piping on the cuffs emerged from a tunnel stepped onto the dais below. Jason wasn’t sure how, but the room seemed to still and grow even quieter.

He began to speak as a holographic projection came to life above the audience, showing a large projection of the same map of stars on the huge flag. Welcome. Everyone stilled. His voice was more refined in Jason’s ears than the Proctors. I am Commander Jones.

Jason knew there was no way that was his real name.

We are the Ceruleans and our homeworld is over thirty-six thousand light-years away. The holographic display slowly transitioned to first show Earth and then drew a long curving line that led pretty far across the galaxy and stopped at a small blinking dot. Our planet is much like yours. A lonely blue marble drifting through the nothingness of space. However, we were launching our first spacecraft when you Humans were still figuring out fire.

The realization finally struck that this was a type of orientation and Jason felt a yawning pit open in his stomach, only to be filled by the weight of a lead ball. There was a definite reason why they’d all been turned female and as far as Jason could tell there were no female aliens present. Fear began curling around his spine as his brain quickly began to race on thoughts of the impossible. He wrapped his arms about himself, noticing many others were doing the same with a look of horror on their faces.

You are here, having been Collected, as you call it, because our species is dying. In the last two centuries, most of the females of our species have died off. Those who have survived to maturity are sickly or unable to bear children. Those who are fertile have become quite rare. The holograph changed again to show a female alien, obvious by the same brow ridges and dark solid eyes, but she appeared almost like a cancer patient. She looked emaciated, with no hair, and barely able to move.

Oh god no...

Which is why you are here. When we first performed our surveys, it quickly became obvious that your Human females would be unable to bear our children. However,

No, No, No…

We found that by changing the sex of the male of your species we could also alter your DNA. He paused for effect as the holograph displayed the double helix of Human DNA being broken and reshaped as new pieces were added. You are all now part Cerulean.

At least a hundred of the neo-girls jumped to their feet in alarm, some trying to run but all were easily seized and forcefully shoved back into their seats. Those who fought were lifted and slammed into the floor. These girls were visibly dazed as they were picked back up and placed back in the chairs with firm large hands on their shoulders keeping them in place.

Commander Jones seemed unflappable as things settled back down. You will be the mothers of our children. After a year’s time here aboard the ship you will be transported back to our home planet where you will be partnered with a suitable Cerulean male and bear his children. You will comply. For those who refuse, there is no going back to Earth. Instead...

The holograph changed again to the exterior of the ship. To the horror of all present, they watched a girl in a blue shift with shoulder-length blonde hair be transported into the void. Her body materializing and then flailing for a brief moment before her skin began to ice over and she went still.

Bile rose from Jason’s empty stomach as he realized it was the girl he had seen rendered unconscious back in the corridor. Fear had caused her to try to run and without a chance to redeem herself she’d been made an example of. Just to show how serious they were.

I hope we understand each other. She had the misfortune of convenience. Obviously, this would all be for naught if we killed every one of you who misbehaved. Still, we have many ways of ensuring that you all become compliant.

The holograph derezzed. The absolute silence filled the auditorium as if the air had been sucked out of the room. Jason felt his brain trying to shut down, to escape the reality he had woken up in. Now, you should all be quite hungry. Your Proctors will take you to the dining halls where we have gone through the effort of programming our food replicators to provide you with the food you are accustomed to eating. After you eat you will be returned to your dorms where you will find a tablet has been placed on your beds. In those, you will find lessons on the culture and traditions of your new homeworld. Along with a schedule of classes that you will be taking and what to expect for the next year before you are sent to your new home.

Commander Jones stepped down from the dais and disappeared into the hidden tunnel beneath the seats that he had exited earlier. Nobody moved until the Proctors began lifting girls to their feet and leading them back towards the different dorms using the same tunnels as before. Jason hazarded a quick glance around as he was pulled from his seat to see tears flowing freely from wide-open eyes and expressions of incomprehension on the feminine faces around him.

This ain’t fucking Kansas anymore.

The Proctor stopped short next to a door as it slid open. Jason looked up as he pointed to a series of glyphs that he assumed to be numbers. This is your room number, he touched each glyph in succession. Level 4, Section 3, Room 134. Do you understand?

Jason nodded and received a tightening grip on his upper arm, causing him to wince. Use your words, let us hear that voice. So that it is established you understand what I tell you.

Jason hadn’t uttered a sound since Tabitha had left. Yes, I understand. It finally registered that his voice was in a higher register than before. The familiar vibrations in his chest from having a deep voice were gone.

If anyone asks who your Proctor is you tell them 4-3-134. Understand?

Jason nodded as he spoke, his arm was actually starting to hurt and his fingers were going numb. Y-yes.

Good, his grip lessened and eventually released Jason’s arm as they entered the room.

Things had happened so fast upon waking up that he hadn’t had a chance to take in the space that was evidently now his. The bed was a twin size mounted on the wall to his left on a floating platform. To his right was an open doorway that appeared to lead into a bathroom.

The Proctor guided him towards it and pointed to the dowel that spanned over a chest of drawers that was set in a recess of the passthrough and then on to the simple wet-room style bathroom.

Take a shower before bed, every night. This vent here, he pointed to a box with louvers opposite the showerhead. Blows hot air for drying the body and hair. In the drawers, you will find a change of clothing. Your uniforms haven’t been manufactured yet so it may be a few days. He pulled Jason back into the main space and pointed to the tablet on the bed. I suggest you read as much as possible. You will be tested on the rules in twenty-six hours. Do not fail.

The wall across from the door was completely bare and Jason understood why when the Proctor placed his palm against it. Jason gasped and stepped forward as the top half slid down to reveal a large window looking down at Earth. For the first time since waking, Jason felt the sting of tears in his eyes.

You have one hour, be in bed before it closes. Jason barely heard the Proctor and when he turned it was only in time to see the Proctors back as the door slid closed.

The shower was easy enough to figure out as there were only two options on the control panel beneath the showerhead. Short and long. On the wall was a recessed shelf in the tile which held a bottle of body wash that smelled of cinnamon and vanilla, along with a loofa. Next to that was a bottle of shampoo and conditioner that had no scent at all.

The water turned off after ten minutes and the air vent was suddenly blasting hot air at him. He stood with his back to it and felt his hair quickly drying underneath the blast. It had been held back by a hairband but had felt it brushing his back before so he knew it was long. When removing the hairband, he was not surprised to find it was dark red like his mother and sisters’, but still had the curls from his father. His father was European Spanish and Moorish from the Muslim invasion of Spain, oh so long ago, but his mother was Russian, whose lineage had only been traceable to the steppes of lower Siberia; meaning she could have the blood of twenty different peoples flowing through her veins. The result had been three swarthy skinned children, all with green eyes and red hair. Jason had kept his hair cropped short as the teasing had been relentless about his red curly hair when younger. But now he could see in the mirror above the sink that his hair easily reached the middle of his back. As it dried it rose to the natural big loose spiral curls his sisters were known for.

It was an interesting thing, really. He’d idly been wondering what he looked like in the back of his mind all through the orientation but especially while eating. None of them could hear each other, so dinner had been a silent affair. Everyone was constantly looking at everyone else. No one had really had a chance to see what they looked like and only had others to go on. Interestingly, every skin tone and those in between were represented. To Jason’s eye, every single one of them was a smoke-show, as his father called an insanely