by Merri Todd Webster

"Mommy, when do I get to change into a boy, like you and Daddy?"

Harry Kim looked up, startled, from the Ops report he was working on. His five-year-old daughter, Miranda Eugenia Paris Kim, was looking at him intently with those clear blue-grey eyes that went right through him every time, eyes that were shaped like his own but colored like Tom's.

"I don't know, sweetie," he answered truthfully. "The Doctor thinks you might be able to change, someday, when you're a big girl, but we don't know for sure."

"Why not?"

Harry sat back and made an inviting gesture. Miranda put down her plush targ, a gift from Aunt B'Ela, and came to sit in her mother's lap.

"Mommy and Daddy weren't born this way, honey. Remember I told you about this before?" Miranda shook her head. Well, she had been only three at the time. "We were in an accident on a planet we were visiting. The people who live there helped us, but their medicine changed us, permanently, so that we could be boys or girls. But Daddy and I were both born boys, and you were born a girl, so we don't know if you'll be able to change or not."

Miranda frowned, her lower lip sticking out in a way that made her look like Tom. Harry suppressed his smile. "I want to change. I want to be a boy."

"Why, sweetheart?"

"Boys get to do more."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Where did you get that idea?"

"Uncle Chak gets to go down to the planet, and the Captain never does. And you and Daddy don't get to go down to the planet unless you're being boys. And Aunt B'Ela doesn't go down as often as 'karo Tuvok does."

Harry sighed and stroked his daughter's hair. "But that doesn't have anything to do with being girls, Mira. The Captain has to stay here where it's safe because she's the Captain. There's only one of her, and she's in charge, and we have to protect her. Daddy and I usually go on away missions as boys because we're still more used to being boys, it's just easier for us. And Aunt B'Ela has to stay here and run the ship most of the time. Nobody can take care of Voyager like she does. So you see, it's not because girls don't get to do as much, it's because the girls you know have special jobs that mean they have to stay here."

Miranda thought about this for a long moment. Harry could practically see the matter and antimatter of her thoughts fusing behind the lowered eyes and slightly pouty mouth. "What will I do when I grow up?" she asked then.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, sweetie. What would you like to do? Fly the ship like Daddy? Run Ops like Mommy? Work in Engineering like Aunt B'Ela? Help Uncle Neelix in the mess hall?"

Again Miranda thought deeply. Then she gave her mother a brilliant smile. "I want to be the Captain!" she answered.

Harry smiled a little sadly. "Maybe someday, honey." He squeezed her close to him. "Maybe someday."

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End