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  “Excellent. Well, lead on.”

  With a flourish, he wrapped the cloak around her, and it hid the batons on her thighs. He nodded and gestured for her to leave her quarters.

  Lynni headed into the hall, and Leko came up behind her. He put his hand on her back and steered her up to the roof where the runner from earlier was waiting.

  She settled in place, and he wrapped his arms around her. It was amazing, the dimensions of his body were the same, but the feeling was very different.

  They rose in the air and crossed the span of the city, the folk below were tiny, and many of them were wearing the same kind of concealing fabric that Lynni and Leko were sporting.

  Cloaks were all the rage on Lrrko.

  They cruised across the sky until they got to the council building. He landed them on the roof and escorted her through security and into the building once again.

  This time, instead of stopping on an upper floor, they paused and a pad for a palm print lit up.

  “Put your palm on that pad. You have the clearance to see the gestation area at any time. It was one of your sister’s stipulations.”

  She smiled and pressed her palm to the pad. The elevator resumed its course, and it paused on a floor with no number.

  The doors slid open, and a very startled tech stared at them as they exited the elevator.

  “Familiar, we weren’t expecting a visit.”

  Leko chuckled. “She is the new Bride, and she wanted to see the gestation facility. Here we are. She would like a tour.”

  Lynni pulled her hood back and smiled brightly. “Yes, please.”

  The tech looked at her and jolted. “Right. Of course. I will call someone.”

  They waited near the elevator, and she gave Leko a sideways glance. “Why can’t you show me around?”

  “I have never been in here before. This level is highly secured. If not for your clearance, we would not have been able to get in here.”

  She nodded. “Right. I didn’t think of that.”

  “There is no reason you should have. You have been on the surface for less than four hours.” He quirked his lips again. “Give yourself at least thirty hours before you can expect to know everything.”

  She laughed and was still smiling when a physician in a pale-green bodysuit came toward them.

  “Hello, Bride Lynni. I am Dr. Jimkol, head geneticist on Lrrko. May I express my gratitude at the willingness of you and the other Terrans who are coming here to help us?”

  She inclined her head. “Your thanks are not necessary. After the treatment, I am no longer acceptable to my own kind, so it is just as well that I am here.”

  He blinked at her candour. “You are now with your own kind. It just took the genetic enhancement to bring your true self out.”

  “Oh. Nice rebuttal. Pleased to meet you, Dr. Jimkol.” She smiled.

  He looked to Leko and raised his brows. “Is that switch normal?”

  “It isn’t so much a switch as a permanent state of being. If you pay attention, she always has two streams of thought going on. You just have to figure out which one is talking to you.” Leko pressed his hand to her back to sooth her in case she took exception to his truth.

  Lynni shrugged. It was true. Usually, her thoughts ran in parallel, but every now and then, they diverged. Apparently, today was one of those days.

  The doctor clapped his hands together. “Well, in that case, would you care to see where your offspring will be grown?”

  The phrasing had her intrigued, so she smiled brightly. “Yes, please. Lead the way.”

  Leko kept his hand on her back, and he maintained his watchful stance as they walked through additional security doors. She was about to see where the Lrrko started.

  Chapter Six

  She was asked to wear a narrow belt that created a sterile field around her, and they brought her to the design department.

  “The Lrrko have a catalogue of all our genetic traits and how they interact with each other. Our system has been designed to house three broad castes, but there are always random events, which allow a crossing from one designed path to one’s own destiny. Your Familiar is one of those.”

  She looked up at her companion. “Is that true, Leko? Did you buck the system?”

  He sighed. “I was destined to be in the Agent class, but I was taken to become a Selector, and from there, I became a Familiar.”

  Doctor Jimkol chuckled. “It is a good thing he wasn’t designed for labour or he would have gone through that class, too.”

  Leko cleared his throat. “Everyone receives the same basic education. It is only when the Selectors come that we are found to have our final calling. They assign us to the occupations where we will contribute the most to our society.”

  Lynni smirked. Her Familiar was a guidance counsellor.

  They went from the design stage to the insertion of the genetic material into the host cell with the neutral genetic code. It was a building block that they were able to create on their own or occasionally purchase from other species with the necessary structure in their own DNA.

  The insertion was smooth, and soon, the cell began to duplicate.

  The doctor continued. “From here, we go on to cold storage where scans will assess the developing cells and determine the general application of the new Lrrko. It has happened that we design an Agent and end up with a Labourer.”

  She smiled slightly. “It is nice to know that there is a bit of random action in there.”

  The doctor looked a little disgusted, but they continued on.

  In another room, they saw the current batch of five canisters. Each had a central core, which held the tiny sprout of life in oxygenated fluid.

  Jimkol looked in on them and checked the monitors above each canister. “This is the newest batch of Labourers. We hope that they all end up in that field.”

  They left the little tadpoles in their small space and turned to the next wall. Larger canisters housed larger occupants.

  “These are at four months. You can see the development in their limbs and the eyes.”

  She looked into the canister and observed the small, pink, soon-to-be person. “Leko, I have a question for you.”

  “What is it, Bride Lynni?”

  “If I had sex with you and got pregnant, what would happen to the fetus?”

  The doctor answered that. “The Familiars donated their genetic material and then were sterilized. They cannot father a child without medical intervention.”

  Lynni twisted her lips. “Well, that is no fun.”

  “If they have not told you yet, Familiar Leko has been offered an heir of his own genetic line. That is his reward for being at your beck and call.”

  “I like the idea of the beck and call, but getting to jerk off into a cup is hardly a reward.” She wandered over to the next collection.

  The next grouping was larger than the second. “Seven months?”

  “Correct. Three more to go and they will reach decanting.”

  She pressed her hand to one of the canisters. “Hello, little guy.”

  The eyes blinked and opened, showing her a vivid purply-blue.

  Her voice was soft. “What pretty eyes you have, darling.”

  It wiggled a little and raised one fist before slowly returning to its sleeping state.

  Doctor Jimkol was staring at her. “I have never seen one do that. They open and close their eyes, but their vision is so poor that they don’t look at anyone.”

  “Don’t you talk to them?”

  “No. Their caretakers speak to them when they are decanted.”

  She looked around. There was an empty station next to the one she was currently standing in front of. “You just opened a batch?”

  “Last week. They are on a lower level with their caretakers.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “May I see them?”

  Jimkol frowned. “They do tend to cry a lot.”
r />   She grinned. “That is the nature of babies.”

  Leko cleared his throat. “They are only with the caretakers for a few months, then they go back into a tank until they are able to care for themselves. They will be taught language and basic information and then decanted again, given physical training and entered in the school.”

  She blinked. “Oh, that isn’t going to do when the Terrans get their children. I am pretty sure I can speak for my sister when I say that after ten months, that baby will be mine.”

  Jimkol cocked his head. “I thought that you would want to bring your child to term within your body.”

  She gestured to her split-coloured skin. “I don’t know if it is a good idea. Two genes in one body is tricky enough without adding the stress of a pregnancy.”

  Leko laughed. “I am sure that Medic Alveck will be happy. No pregnancy means additional extractions.”

  She snorted. “Wonderful. I am thinking that I am going to put a cap in regarding the number of eggs that can be harvested in one year.”

  Doctor Jimkol looked shocked. “You would do that?”

  “If I have extra ovaries, I would like to know that at least one or two months a year I won’t be stabbed in the abdomen. I read Alveck’s notes while I was in the office. He had my sister’s file open for comparison, and I was able to scan it.”

  Leko was surprised. “He did?”

  “Yeah, it is the new eyesight. I can spot bits of information everywhere and bring them up with perfect recall.”

  Leko grinned. “I think you are going to have to see the elders again.”

  She sighed. “Can it wait for another day? I want to find a place to get a meal.”

  Doctor Jimkol perked up. “Would you like to eat in our dining area? I have a number of questions regarding the changes you are undergoing. I would like to make some notes.”

  Leko smiled. “If you provide her with food, you can ask her anything.”

  And so, they left the canisters, stopped for a moment to see the new babies in the care of their ridiculously large caretakers and, after a little cuddle and a few cooing noises, she went with Leko in search of food.

  It was like seeing a new gynecologist. Jimkol asked her things that she hadn’t ever paid attention to, and soon, the meal was done, but they were still talking. Leko stood by on alert the entire time.

  She had asked him to sit down, but he said he would eat later.

  The doctor waved the idea of Leko eating aside. “Familiars are trained to eat when their charges are resting.”

  “It is weird. And I feel a little rude.”

  Leko tutted. “It is fine. I will eat later; now, tell him about hiding in the light.”

  So, she told the doctor about hiding in the light, and he was still making notes and examining her left hand when the daylight coming through the windows started to fade.

  “As much fun as this has been, I need to be getting back to my quarters. I think I need another nap.”

  She got to her feet. Jimkol jumped up as well.

  “I have more questions.”

  She patted his arm. “I am sure you do. Write them down, and I will come in a few days and you can ask them all. For now, I am in the mood to spend time with my sister and explore my new environment. Don’t worry. I live here now. I am not going anywhere.”

  He looked perturbed, as if no one ever said no to him. Well, if he was going to be chatting with her in the future, he was going to have to get used to it.

  Leko put his hand on her back, and they left the facility via the same elevator that had brought them down.

  On the roof, she stood and looked over the city with the wind snapping at her cloak. “It is really quite beautiful, but I do want to see more.”

  “Leave some of the world for tomorrow.”

  She grinned and got onto the Riot Runner. He slid in behind her, and she sighed at the warmth that he surrounded her with.

  “Can I learn how to drive this?”

  “Of course. I can start teaching you tomorrow. It is only fair. From here, I can see that your sister has command of a flight suit.”

  She turned her head and looked over at a slow cloud of figures that were flying over what appeared to be a school. The slight and curvy figure was whipping through the cloud with amazing dexterity.

  “Well, damn. I had better pick something up, for the sake of sibling rivalry if nothing else.” She watched Ty soar and twist in the updraft. It was amazing that just over a month ago, Ty had been missing so much skin that her life was endangered by someone simply not washing their hands.

  She turned away from her sister’s flight and watched Leko’s hands on the controls. Her mind gave her clear directions as to how to fly the runner, but she didn’t want to let on that she knew. She was going to enjoy sitting in his lap for lessons.

  The facility that she was living in had a pool, a gym and a track. The gym had a weird floor.

  “Why is the floor spongy?”

  Leko grinned and stepped up to her, flipping her through the air to skid across the mat.

  She was very glad that they had stopped at her apartment to ditch the weapons and cloaks. She rolled to her feet and faced him. “Is that the way you want to play?”

  She circled him slowly, watching his head track her movements, getting closer by increments until she kicked out at his knee and grabbed his arm, swinging onto his shoulders just as she had before. The only difference was the heat of his breath against her crotch and the hands cupping her ass. There was no chance to slide along metal and get behind him. He kept her firmly pressed where she was.

  Ty’s voice rang out. “Are we interrupting something?”

  Leko’s hands slowly released her, and she got to his shoulders and back flipped through the air to land in a crouch.

  Brex looked at Ty and raised an eyebrow. “Can you do that?”

  Ty was standing with her mouth open before she closed it with a snap and said, “No, and as far as I knew, neither could she.”

  Lynni laughed. “We both got something out of the enhancement. You got skin back and a strange number of ovaries, and I got the ovaries, tactical skills and this wonderful paintjob.”

  She snickered.

  They walked to each other and hugged again. This time, they had a chance to actually look at each other. They commented on hair, skin, boobs, anything else that they could think of. Ty had the figure of a pinup while Lynni was more lithe and athletic. It was strange considering that they came from the same genetic stock.

  Brex and Leko were comparing notes, and Leko was looking rueful.

  Lynni looked at her sister. “What is that about?”

  Ty snickered. “Oh, before they got to us, Leko thought he was getting the quiet one.”

  They looked at each other and cackled together as only sisters could.

  Chapter Seven

  When she was in the soaker tub, Leko was behind her, rubbing her back. It seemed the most natural thing to her after their time together until she looked next to her leg and saw skin instead of metal.

  She focused on the work he was doing on her back. Just because her sister had arrived didn’t mean she got out of her workout. Workouts meant bruises, but she healed quickly.

  “So, is this weird for you as well?” She glanced at him over one shoulder.

  “Not weird. The fulfillment of a fantasy. Nothing more.” He grinned.

  “I hear that you were looking forward to having the quiet sister under your care. Boy, did you back the wrong horse.” She grinned.

  “Brex has a big mouth.”

  She laughed and leaned back against him; his erection pressed against her lower back. “He does, but I still think it is funny.”

  Leko sighed. “Not having exposure to a female of my own species, I was hoping for someone nice and passive. It took a while before I realized that no Lrrko woman in our history has ever been passive.”

  “Excellent. I wo
nder what the other three will be like.”

  “That is their Familiars’ problem.” He chuckled. “You are my only concern.”

  She sighed and relaxed against him, pulling his arms around her and placing one hand on her left breast, the other on her right.

  He didn’t hesitate; his hands started to move on her, stroking and squeezing in a more arousing and less therapeutic manner.

  She sighed and spent the next ten minutes moving his hands on her and squirming against him.

  She felt her body heat rising, and she was nearly to the point of straddling him in the tub. She mentally smacked herself. Tub sex sounded fun, but the addition of water took the natural lubrication and made it useless.

  Lynni twisted in his grip and faced him. “As fun as this has been, I would really like to dry off and get you inside me. It may take some effort on both of our parts, but I am confident that we can manage.”

  He stood up and lifted her a moment later. Water sheeted off them, but he moved confidently across the floor to the solar shower, and a few flashes later, they were dry.

  He carried her into the bedroom and smiled down at her. “What now?”

  “Well, I am in a bit of need here, Familiar. Isn’t it your duty to attend to me?”

  He set her high on the bed and parted her thighs, lying on his belly and becoming truly familiar with her.

  His tongue sent shockwaves through her, and she twisted until he grabbed her hips and held her still.

  The heat built in her veins until she thought she was on fire. She panted for breath, and still, he drove her higher and higher. Her hands were fisted in the sheets, and her voice climbed into an octave she had never reached. When the fire broke inside her, a shriek ripped through the air.

  Her sex was clenching when he positioned his cock in her, and with every spasm of her channel, he eased into her using her muscles to pull him forward.

  When she finally relaxed completely, he was inside her and his grin was smug.

  She pulled him down and tasted herself on his lips. She murmured. “Stop grinning and start moving.”