Justin Caas - The Third Sex

“You have to stand up to bullies,” he said. “If you don’t it just encourages them more.”

“There are three of them,” I explained, “and they’re all bigger than me.”

“Speed and surprise can swing things in your favour—especially so if they’re not expecting it. I used to be an MP. Know what that is, boy?”

I shook my head.

“It’s not a politician. In the army I was in the Military Police. We’re not the most popular of soldiers, but at times we had to confront some of the toughest men. I can show you a few pointers to looking after yourself.”

He did—for many afternoons, although I hoped I’d never be obliged to see how effective they were.

By now I had grown accustomed to my indeterminate status. We were entering the teenage years, and impelled by a surge of unfamiliar hormones became aware of new urges.

It didn’t take long for some of the boys at school to discover masturbation. The others would discover it in due course when their time came. I guess it’s a stage most boys reach and perhaps girls too although none of us was too sure about the motivations of girls except to observe that girls were both weird and incomprehensible while at the same time being totally desirable—although mostly unattainable.

I was no exception to these urges, except in my case I didn’t have a readily available penis to play with and when it did come out, touching it with dry hands wasn’t an option because it then became difficult and painful to retract back into its sheath. So I was filled the the urges but hadn’t puzzled out a way to satisfy them. About this time and observing frequent wet patches in my pants mother suggested a visit to Dr Fox the family physician who, she claimed, could impart enlightment on the issue of my strange and troubling gender.

So I made an appointment.

Dr Fox is a small man in his early fifties of slender physique and greying hair. His manner could be wry, but as he ushered me into his surgery he seemed quite genial. I guess he looked forward to talking about something different from winter colds and problem haemorrhoids.

The surgery was small and overlooked a sunny garden. Dr Fox indicated a chair and seated himself. He leaned forward and said, “You are no doubt familiar with some aspects of your body so perhaps the first thing is to give you some background that you may not be aware of and we’ll move on from there to your present condition. That okay with you?”

I nodded.

“The Third Sex did not arise through evolution. It is a genetically engineered body. The motivation was the terrible devastation caused by the last major war three hundred years ago. The human race was in danger of dying out unless a drastically accelerated programme of renewal could be found. So much is common knowledge although people today are now becoming hazy about the details of the Third Sex, or Studs , as they were popularly called. Scientists looked to nature, noting that rams, for example were tireless breeders and one ram in a field full of sheep could impregnate all of them in a short time. Dogs are much the same and for various reasons of a technical nature a decision was made to emulate in a human, some of the canine characteristics from a breeding perspective. You with me so far?”

I nodded again, wondering if such theory was really necessary.

Dr Fox continued, “You will perhaps be aware that the penis of a male dog is concealed within a sheath, and emerges, largely under the stimulus of smell becoming erect and ready for mating. The opening you have at your crotch is not in fact a vagina. It is a sheath protecting your penis. When hormones move a boy’s body towards maturity he is powerfully affected by the sight of the opposite sex. In your case sight plays a lesser part and sense of smell dominates. Already you will be able to detect when a woman is ovulating by sense of smell alone, just like your canine antecedents. But it is important for you to understand that as far as thoughts, feelings, intellect is concerned you are totally human; though as far as instinctive responses are concerned you are and will be largely ruled by canine impulses.”

Some of this was new to me so I started to listen more carefully.

Your mother indicated that at times, lubrication appeared in your pants. Females experience this upon arousal in preparation for intercourse. In males there may be a vestigal leakage on arousal, but in dogs rather copious ejaculation can take place before and during intercourse. This may be mistaken for a climax . It is not. It is merely a thin, watery lubrication. That is what you have possibly been experiencing. You have no doubt also noticed that if your penis becomes dry it is painful to retract it back into its sheath. It’s a bit messy I’m sorry to say, but there are compensations. Shall I go on?”

I nodded. I’d better learn the worst.

“Your school friends, I’m referring to boys here, have no doubt discovered masturbation and may indulge in this quite lot. However once they have experienced a climax, it usually takes a distinct time before they are re-charged as it were. As they get older the interval between re-charges lengthens from minutes to hours or longer. In your case there is only a small latency and it doesn’t change much with age. That means that you are perfectly capable of impregnating a dozen or more women a day.”

Dr Fox chuckled as he saw my look of amazement. “But there’s a catch here as well. In life there usually is. The catch is that to perform repeatedly you usually need to be motivated by the unique smell of a woman ovulating. Although even without this stimulus the nature of your genetic engineering will impel you to seek out sexual contact more often than ordinary males. That is after all, why you were bred—to impregnate females and the mechanism is very efficient.”

“But how is this possible if I have no testicles to produce sperm?” I queried. I had learned in biology class that testicles were an essential component.

Dr Fox grinned again. “Ah, but you do, they are tucked away inside you. But while they remain there you are in fact sterile. The reason being, the higher body temperature is fatal to sperm. But you do have within conscious control a muscular reflex which can expel the testicles through that same sheath-opening to hang outside the body. After some months the cooler surroundings vitalise the sperm and it becomes potent. You will find though that the act of extruding or withdrawing your testicles to be a painful process. They don’t like being squeezed. So leave it until the time when you need to start breeding.”

“How do you mean need , do I not have a choice in this matter?”

“For better or worse your motivations are already genetically programmed into you.” Dr Fox continued, “There are still many childless women who wish to become pregnant but for various reasons are unable to do so or their circumstances may make it difficult. Studs , as they are popularly called are still in ready demand on account of their excellent genetic heritage. That also is part of your genetic engineering.

Now I’m sure your next question is going to be what sort of offspring will I produce? The answer is: only normal males and females. It would be unusual to produce another stud, in fact such a condition has so far never been recorded.”

“Well how did I come to be born then? I mean my mother and father are just ordinary people as far as I know.”

“Exactly true. Studs occur spontaneously at a present frequency of about one in a thousand births, but the link is carried by the mother, who inherited it from her mother and so on. In the early days Stud births were plentiful but as the mother’s line gradually becomes more attenuated so the frequency becomes less and eventually it will die out altogether. The programme has largely fulfilled its purpose. You might remember learning that just after the Great War, not only was the earth’s population largely depleted, but it took a greater toll on males, hence the overwhelming preponderance of females which still exists today although the balance is gradually being restored.”