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XY embryos then need a moderate level of androgen insensitivity introduced by the fourth week, in order to avoid masculinization of the hypothalamus, where sexual differences in the brain will be concentrated. XX embryos need the application of androgens to one Mullerian duct in order to stimulate the growth of a Wolffian duct. As that Wolffian duct develops, the Mullerian duct on that side will experience apoptosis underlying genetic makeup is the difference between androgyny and gynandromorphy, often not discernable by body features. XX humans with conserved Wolffian ducts are gynandromorphs; XY humans with conserved Mullerian ducts are androgyns. In both, androgens and estrogens are supplied with hormone pumps such that the child is born with potential for both kinds of genital development in the body, awaiting the choices prenatally selected bisexuality has the strongest positive correlation with longevity. Hormonal treatments begun at puberty or during adulthood also have positive effects on longevity, but the psychological set will be hormonal treatments support the surgical addition of a functioning uterus in the abdominal wall above the penis alteration of the clitoris into a small functioning penis, with testicles grown using either conserved Wolffian ducts or stem cells from the subject. Gynandromorphs can ordinarily father only daughters, as the construction of a Y chromosome from an X chromosome involves problematic females adding functional reproductive masculinity are helped by a process imitating a natural 5-alpha-reductase deficiency principal categories of self-image for gender include feminine, masculine, androgynous, gynandromorphous, hermaphroditic, ambisexual, bisexual, intersex, neuter, eunuch, nonsexual, undifferentiated, gay, lesbian, queer, invert, homosexual, polymorphous, poly, labile, berdache, hijra, two-spirit, cultures deemphasizing gender are sometimes referred to as ursuline cultures, origin of term unknown, perhaps referring to the difficulty there can be in determining the gender of bears

KIRAN ON VENUS

The moment Kiran was alone with Shukra, Shukra said to him, “We’re going to have to put you through some tests, my boy.”

“What kind of tests?”

“All kinds.”

Three big men showed up to escort them across a few boulevards of Colette, and Kiran saw there was no question of him doing anything but what he was told. As they entered a building with bay windows overlooking a street corner, he tried to see the street signs and remember where they were. Eighth and Oak. Although the tree across the intersection was a willow.

“Tell me again why Swan brought you here?” Shukra asked as they went into the building.

“I helped her avoid being kidnapped, when she was out in my neighborhood. She wanted to return the favor.”

Shukra said, “You asked to come here?”

“Sort of.”

Shukra shook his head a few times. “So now you are a spy.”

“What do you mean?”

Shukra glanced at him. “You’re a spy for her, at this point, whether you know it or not. We’ll find out with our tests. After that you’ll be a spy for me.”

“Why should she need a spy here?”

“She was very close to the Lion of Mercury, and since the Lion’s death, she has started traveling in the way that the Lion would have. And the Lion always kept a big cadre of spies here. So let’s see what the tests say.”

Kiran found his heart was beating hard, but the three big men closed around him, and there was no choice but to be escorted into another room. This one had the look of a medical clinic. The tests in the end resembled medical exams more than anything else, which was a great relief to discover. Although when medical exams are the good option, it is not a good situation.

At the end of that day he was escorted back into Shukra’s presence. Shukra examined the console that presumably contained Kiran’s results. When he spoke, it was to Kiran’s escorts. “He looks clean, but somehow I doubt it. For now, let’s use him for bait.”

After that Kiran was assigned to a Chinese work unit, which lived together in a building near the city’s crater rim, and left the city together almost daily to do work outside. The unit’s members had no control over their lives; they went where they were told, did what they were told, ate what they were given. It was almost like being at home.

A stupid little translation belt Swan had given to him was now the only company Kiran had. He got a lot of puzzled second glances when he used the thing to facilitate communication, but he also had a few ten-minute conversations through it that were much better than nothing. Mostly, however, he was on his own in a throng, doing whatever came up for his team that day. He never saw Shukra again after the battery of tests, which made him feel like he had failed-although one day it occurred to him that maybe he had passed.