Receiving the first transmission from an alien civilization was a momentous occasion. The humans sent as much information about humanity as they could from music to mathematics, from art to anatomy. The aliens seemed to sent back schematics for a portal. Some were hesitant to build it, thinking it would allow the aliens to invade Earth. However, top scientists concluded that the portal would only work for a single lifeform, for a single trip, and it was a one-way trip.
It took quite a while to build, and almost no one wanted to be the one to use it. Anyone going through would likely never see their loved ones again, or even another human. Dr. Maxwell Wen eventually volunteered. He had never gotten married; his parents were dead. He couldn’t justify allowing a member of his team to make the sacrifice.
The trip through the portal was painless, a single step and he was on an alien world. He was greeted by a group of aliens, who explained how the portal worked. It destroyed his body and converted it to data, which could be transmitted over long distances much quicker. Then it was reconstructed, curing and diseases, fixing wounds, and repairing any damages DNA; improvements could be made as well, such as allowing his reconsructed body to live comfortably in the alien atmosphere or adding knowledge of the alien language to his brain. He questioned why he had become a woman. The aliens didn’t know what he meant, but as they had no gender, the portal had assumed Maxwell’s Y chromosome was simply a damaged X, and repaired it accordingly.
Maxwell supposed it didn’t really matter as he was the only human on the entire planet -- and the only being with a concept of gender at all. It was fascinating to collect information on the alien species and send data back to Earth in a human language they could understand. At the same time, he would translate any transmissions from Earth for the aliens while also sharing from his own depth of knowledge.
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