Parallel Universes

**Parallel Universes** is a magazine that deals with supernatural phenomena and cultural extremes, and notably features a lifestyle piece about a person with extreme physical modifications.

## First Edition

Telorix used to be named Jason Pauling. He legally changed his name after a year of massive bio-modifications. He has visited several clinics, and his DNA profile is now strikingly different then his "origin set" of DNA. "We need to keep this, just in case something bad happens." Telorix said, holding a vial and a chip in his padded hand. He grins, showing his pointed teeth, as his tail shifts behind him. His hair and skin layers were replaced with cat-like fur, his leg bones were broken and re-set and his feet elongated, his skull changed, and many more internal and external body systems were modified via gene therapy and bio-mechanical augmentation over the past two years.
*Because of the radical changes, Telorix can no longer be considered a human being scientifically. However, as a biomorphic sentient organism, he still has the rights that non-modified humans do. The Sentient Organism Rights plan is being debated in the administration. The point of debate is how to ensure rights of cybernetically augmented humans, genetic modified humans, and biomorphic sentient organisms.*"

## Second Edition

People who are opposed to the continuation of the most racial modifications, biomorphism, are mainly from the medical and religious community. Doctors fear that the new changes may be dangerous. "It's human nature to push things to the limit." commented Dr. Linus Celceron of the Page Medical Center. "Playing with DNA is risky. At best you just get a defect that can be de-programmed, at worst, cancer of a life-threatening genetic conflict." Several people have already suffered the consequences of pushing their bodies to the farthest limits of biomorphic modifications.
*Even stronger opposition comes from religious fronts. "Lamar made man in his image. Why are people bent on re-making themselves in their own image? It's an abomination." stated High Priest Beefman of the Church of St. Lamar. "People are saying that now they have the power to create. Now I'm not saying these people are evil. I just think that they are not making good choices." Not all religious figures, however, are opposed. Many feel that there is no problem with applying scientific understanding of the way the body works in this way.*"

## Third Edition

Biomorphic humans have faced some oppression in the past. "My co-workers thought it was strange as hell at first, but most of them were surprisingly open to the changes." stated Telorix. "People stare too. It's alright though, I would too. Some think it's terrible, but some think it's incredible. I've had complete strangers who were so amazed they wanted to talk to me, and make sure I wasn't an alien."
*Telorix commented. Telorix was asked how he felt about people who thought that it was wrong to do the things he did, and to become the biomorphotic creature he is now. "It's funny to think that people, long ago, thought having dark skin made you a completely different and inferior creature." Telorix said with a smile and a laugh. "Maybe humanity, and its derivatives like me, are making progress after all."* "

## Fourth Edition

This is almost inexplicable.
Notice the word inexplicable.
I was recently watching TV and saw this guy who said that he has come in contact with aliens. Does he really expect this to be SO easy?
The guy was in the forest cutting a tree when he sees two red dots in the sky - the dots come closer and he sees that they are UFOs, saucer type even. One goes away, another lands. He waits for a long time, nothing happens, so he goes up to the ship and touches it. The surface was red-hot and his hands got burnt. Some kind of exhaust that was on the ship shoots hot gas at him and his shirt burns up. He throws off his shirt and contacts people on his cell phone. When some people finally arrive, he just wanders around in circles. Apparently he's forgotten where he found the ship. And he comes on TV, shows the burns he received and says, "Contact has finally been made."
First of all - I don't believe the guy, I mean, we're the pros on this business, WE should be the ones who talk with aliens FIRST, not some yahoo woodcutter who likes to yell 'timber!' and export wood to Canada or some other place. I'm telling you, dear reader, that after twenty years attempting to contact E.T., this sickens me. It should have been ME, not that guy! ME!
*Larry*"

## Fifth Edition

They are, you know. I'm not talking about aliens, I'm talking about MIBs or "Men In Black". And no, not the movie. In the much more interesting real-world myth, the MIB usually ARE the scum of the universe. That is, they're the bad guys, menacing heavies from another world of shifty fixers dispatched by the cover-up-obsessed government.
It's interesting - and a bit unsettling - that in Hollywood's riff on the myth, the MIB become "good guys" even though they're members of an elite and xenophobic secret police organization not unlike the Nazi SS. Apparently in the Hollywood of the nineties, it's politically correct to round up degenerate foreigners as long as they drool copious amounts of outer-space endoplasm.
Witnesses who report MIB sightings often describe "foreign looking" men with exotic features; it's as if they're "from elsewhere." They look "Oriental" or "Indian" and have "deeply tanned" skin, although sometimes their complexions are extremely pale. The eyes of the MIB are usually described as slanted or "bulging," as if from a thyroid condition. Their noses and chins are often "point," and their cheekbones are set high on their faces. Though some are tall and thin, with naturally long fingers, others are short or stout. They may or may not have fingernails.
A researcher in New Zealand, who was doing research on a UFO landing, says that he was once called out in the middle of the morning and told by a tall man in a dark suit with a machine-like voice, "I warn you to stop interfering in matters that do not concern you," and the researcher, who will not be named for privacy reasons, says that the MIB ended the conversation by saying "I... am from another planet." The MIB then got into a Chervolet automobile and drove off.
Unfortunately, that's all I could collate for this month, but be sure to be here next month readers, where I investigate even deeper into the myth of the MIB.
*Bennett*"