Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Elevator Pitch 2: Transgender Space Jesus

(From the people who brought you Elevator Pitch)

It is the future.

A perfect utopian society exists.

But one girl knows she is different from everyone else.

After an awkward and embarrassing incident [TBD] others know too. She consents to medical examination. The results astound and confuse everyone.

Ostracised and alone, rejected, wandering lost and bewildered, she is eventually approached by an enigmatic individual who reveals the reason for her uniqueness.

She lives on a planet whose inhabitants have no concept of gender.

Everyone is female from a reproductive point of view. Maleness has been eliminated. People are born with a full complement of ovums which are self-fertilised to allow procreation once maturity is reached without male input. Everyone is identical to their mother and sisters, nieces and daughters, differing only in age.

However the girl is a mutant.

A chromosomal abnormality has resulted in physical defects and behavioural difficulties. The enigmatic stranger explains that this deviance corresponds to a situation that is known in other societies, and is a throwback to the way things once were before the founders of their society established the basis for the equilibrium and tranquillity they enjoy, the peace which she has now disturbed.

In a time now considered prehistory a scientist developed a retrovirus to propagate his own genetic material through the entire population by hijacking the reproductive systems of every woman. This infection had resulted in self-fertilisation. Parthenogenesis of exclusively female offspring eliminated all men within a generation.

Now a flaw in the virus has resulted in the girl being a throwback, chromosomally masculine, and developing the corresponding traits and physical features.

The girl is grateful for the explanation but unsure of her feelings or what to do next.

The stranger then makes an offer.

The stranger explains that she knows about this because she comes from a special organisation that exists in secret within their otherwise utterly undifferentiated and perfect society. This organisation acts as liaison with similar organisations in other societies on other planets to co-ordinate the preservation of the galactic ecosystem. This has given her access to information about the past of their own society and the existence of other societies, knowledge from which the general population are protected.

The girl's abnormalities mean she is uniquely qualified for an urgent mission that has arisen. They are the only planet close enough to intervene and save another from destruction, and because of her mutation she is the only person with the experience and understanding to enable her to be sent to change the course of that society's actions before they lead to disaster.

The society on the other planet has an emphatically binary concept of gender.

The other planet is Earth.

It is evident that the way the people on Earth are exploiting their planet and each other will result in catastrophe, and they need to be taught a new way of living to prevent this.

The girl is brought to a remote location where she boards a space vessel and embarks for Earth.

Once on Earth she reveals herself to a few individuals who she tries to teach, who can then in turn teach others. She preaches a message of love, of abandoning destructive materialistic goals, of considering more sustainable achievements and rewards based on a more spiritual awareness of reality.

Her followers become intrigued by her virgin birth. Her scientific and technological knowledge is so advanced they find it indistinguishable from magic. They interpret many of her acts as miracles and misconstrue their intention.

The mission starts to go wrong and she decides to act directly, attacking a primitive system of valuation and exchange that imposes limits on their ability to think about the issues she wants to discuss. She throws some of its most prominent practitioners out of a particularly high profile building where they have taken up residence.

This antagonises some sections of society and her death is sanctioned. She is nailed to a tree.

Before returning to her own planet she promises to come back one day.

After reaching home and recovering from her adventures she encounters a young niece unusually curious about her absence, what new experiences she had, and what she can learn from them.

Eventually the niece confides in her. The niece is worried she is not like other people.

She smiles.

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