Chapter 20: She Does The Things You Do, But She Is An IBM. (Page Twenty)

"Twenty five, Forty two.... twelve." Captain Versalice' voice rings out from the darkness behind my blindfold. My heavy caliber anti material rifle adjusts to her coordinates appropriately. "On target." My finger readies on the trigger. "Hit it." There's a slamming jolt through my shoulder and out through my braced legs as the round ejects from the barrel of my rifle at several hundred meters per second.

There's a distant explosion from a mile away when the round makes contact with its target, and then the ground behind it. The score counter in the bottom right of my view goes up by one thousand points exactly, leaving me with 28,546.

Completely unable to see, I'm currently flying on blind faith alone in her ability to spot and command me to aim exactly where she wants me to. Often, people think of the sniper as the one being the most skilled in the sniper and spotter duo. While I am definitely skilled, Captain Versalice is the one who is really doing the work. I simply aim where she tells me to and I've yet to miss.

With expertise and grace, my fingers lock around the bolt of the rifle, pulling it up and open to eject the spent cartridge before reaching into the bottomless bag of ammunition on my right hip, picking out another heavy round. Set the round in its place, push the bolt forward, and lock it down, in that order.

"Go sixty towards the right, hold the rest." This shot being in range, I don't even need to pick my rifle up completely. Just tilting the end of the barrel sixty marks to the right in a perfectly straight line. "You're on it, fire when ready." A second heavy slam from my shoulder to my legs only fractionally shakes the rest of my body. Perfectly balanced and leveraged in my stance, I can redirect or just absorb the rest of the shock. However, upon the distant explosion of the round hitting its target, you can tell that it was a serious payload.

"We have company, second floor I think. Three men breaching. Let's hold the stairwell." Captain calls me. Her enhanced senses perk allows her to pretty much sense any movement of any kind in the area.

Nodding, I slide my rifle behind my back into its attached sling carrier. I secondly untie the blindfold and stuff it in my pocket. There's a small sidearm on my hip. Low caliber, but lightweight to compensate for the extra pounds from the rifle.

Captain wields some kind of sub machine gun with a round magazine, gray ribbed barrel, and wood stock. Attached is a laser sight, giving a little red dot wherever she points. Although, she didn't actually need it because of her senses perk. She just put it on because it looked cool.

Captain kicks down the door to our room to gain a bit of a time advantage for our rush to the stairwell. I follow in after her, closely second, readying my aim as best as I can while running.

We reach the stairwell, and the first of the waves arrives. Three men one after another dive over the top of the final stair, rolling into a crouch and holding a line of suppressive fire, all assault rifles.

Luckily, we were prepared. Captains submachine gun opens fire to meet theirs, finding her mark far more often. The first fell, exploding into a bunch of colorful cubes. Truly, a video game death in its finest.

Next is my turn however, emptying my magazine of .45 into the middle man, catching him once in the shoulder and the next in the block explosion.

500 points are added to my score as captain's submachine gun runs out of ammunition in its magazine. "Reloading." She says, ducking down tight. "At the top." The next wave hits us, this time they're wearing heavier armor. Still not really a challenge, just needing to be shot twice in the same area to pierce it.

I duck and rush forward, face stone, focus honed, dodging left and right to Avoid the streams of rounds flying by me. My wings twitch outside of the VR simulation, losing focus on keeping them restrained, they pop open with a "fwuf" sound.

Getting just close enough, my sidearm levels again, down into a ducked position, two shots clap out from my gun. Piercing the armor and granting me 750 points and a very colorful display of blocks.

One more npc rushes out, wearing dark black armor that almost looked like some kind of exosuit. My first two shots hit the center of their helmet three times before my sidearm gets shot out of my hand. Very cinematic. Left with only my combat knife, I immediately push into the hardest sprint of my life, low and shaking around. I reach them in three seconds.

One more pull left, I barely made it out of the way of several rounds. One shot catches me down my arm. There's just the barest sense of pain. Either I only got barely touched, or the digital adrenaline coursing through my coding disallows me to feel it. I reach the boss with a tense spring stance and launch. The bottom edge of my palm slams into their chin, smashing their visor open from the impact against the wall.

Wasting no time, I ready my blade and plunge it into the new open space created. A shower of confetti and points showers me as the dull pain of the round I just took fills my attention.

Then everything fades to white. I sink back down to my knees shuddering. Holy shit, that was intense. Knowing I didn't have my armor plating in VR really left me feeling vulnerable even with my combat training. "Haaahhh..." I exhale loudly.

Aether quickly comes into me and wraps me in a hug. "You okay sweetheart? That was kinda intense huh. Here, let me hold you. We can hold off on that game for a while if you need to." Her hand makes its way to my head, gently petting me to relax my nerves.

"Thank you. It's just a little realistic. It makes me get really jittery, in a mixture of good and bad.... I actually have a question about it. The game we played."

"Go for it." She ruffles my hair a little more.

"How on Terra did you get a hold of a game like that? Did you make it yourself?" My tone is full of both curious enthusiasm and straight up confusion.

"It's actually an adapted version of a Terran VR game I downloaded into my digital archives when I first arrived here. Before we... Censored most of the violent media. Sometimes I even secretly send out copies to users to play multiplayer stuff too. It's quite fun actually. I would say it's a shame we censored all this media, but as you can see, some of it is genuinely brutal. Humanity doesn't need that." Aether inhales and exhales loudly, trying to relax from her worked up state, a little proud of her ability to capture all that media.

"Incredible.... How did you even adapt it in the first place? Isn't it centuries worse tech?" I query, genuinely enraptured by her passion.

"Seriously? The Compact is the single most technologically advanced society that exists in the three galaxies we have domesticated. You really don't think I have an adept enough computer to adapt software?" Aether crosses her arms, looking playfully upset.

"Wow... You're really a nerd." I give her a smug smile. She quickly starts assaulting the top of my head with petting and patting. Definitely a nerd, she's deflecting with affection! Not that I mind at all... I lean a little further into her hand.

After a few minutes of Aether just petting me and comforting me, she stops suddenly. "Oh, the uh... Affini delegated to the position of report checking in the compact is here, I suppose I should dock myself in the charging port for now." She looks at me with a slight red blush. "Can I hold you for the duration? I think I need it."

"Of course. You don't need to ask for my permission to do anything to me. Truly." I give her a warm smile, showing her just how I'm feeling.

Aether smirks smugly. "I should really hold you to your word then. I'll meet you at the door." The rest of the VR overlay dissipates out from my vision, leaving me just where I was sitting on our bed. Aether is already halfway out the door to the bedroom by the time I'm finished decompressing. I hear her drone lock into one of the charging ports in the other room. There's a quiet ruffling of leaves following after.

With a grumble, I flex the tension out of my wings and get up. My clothes have long since been discarded and... Today's gonna be emotional so I wanna wear something soft. When I enter the wardrobe, I hear the door to the hab open. Oh geez, I really don't want Her to face this alone.

Quickly dashing around, I just find a black hoodie and some sweatpants. My wings are a little cramped in the back of the hoodie but it will be fine for now.

Okay deep breath. Let's go. I straighten myself out as best as I can and make my way to the front room. In the doorway is a gentle green Affini covered in little lily pads, it seems. Built more for an aquatic homestead. I wonder why they're here on Terra.

More importantly though, is the terrible state Mistress seems to be in. Wilted slightly, with her vines taking on an unhealthy look to them. The stress must really be getting to her. Time to be my best self, and provide nourishment in love.

{I'm here}

Mistress doesn't break away from the conversation she's having in the Affini language. Her voice is like toasted coffee beans and deep jazzy tones. Instead, Her vines just sweep up and around me, gently pulling me close to Her. Wow, how much I missed being held by Her like this. It makes me feel so small, so vulnerable to her, but so safe and protected.

From this closeness, I can feel just how much She's shaking right now. Obviously nervous because of the conversation She's having. But also because of how little She really interacts with other Affini.

I grab onto some of her vines, pulling myself closer into her chest, and they start to tighten around me possessively. Dare I say, even a bit needfully for my closeness.

Mistress tenses up tightly for a minute after the Affini says something important, before nodding and carrying me with Her out of the room. She carries me into Her work room, which is still bathed in complete blackness. There's some ruffling of papers, and when we exit the room, She looks significantly worse. No longer containing even just the upper half of Her form. Just a squiggly blob of beautiful, soft, comforting spaghetti noodles. And one head on top, dark wooden mask threatening to just crush itself in how tightly She's keeping it still.

Mistress nervously hands over the stacks of detailed paper and the Affini in the doorway tucks it all away in their body. Mistress switches from Affini now to a recognizable language. "Where are my manners, please come in. We're not busy at the moment so we'd love to have some company. Isn't that right, Sera?"

Doing my best for Her, I turn my head to the stranger and give them a smile and nod.

“Wonderful. Well, lead the way. I have some questions for this little one here.” The masculine voice of the Affini sings out into the room as Mistress leads them towards our table set. She sits down in one of the two large Affini sized chairs in the kitchen, pushing the smaller ones out of the way for the other Affini. Mistress keeps me secured in her lap when she sits us down, all nice and neatly bound in place to Her.

“Nice to meet you, little dear. My name is Wysterium Effervesce, eighteenth bloom, He/Him. What's your name?” Wysterium reaches a vine out to pet my head. In a time before now, I would flinch from the suddenness, but the comfort provided by Mistress holding me oh so close dulls my reaction. Plus, it’s not like I dislike the affection. His vine is smooth like rubbery skin, and light green.

“Seraphim Versalice, First Floret Ramet, sir.” My even, calm, but slightly happy tone answers him. Add just a bit of happiness in my voice to cut through the nervous tension in the air.

“What a wonderful name you have, little flower. Would you like to tell me about your experiences in the last few days? How about we start with what happened with those Terrans.” He says, taking his vine away and pulling out a data pad.

From here on, we go back and forth. I explain most of what happened on my own, with some occasional clarifications from Mistress. When I've reached the end of my story, he packs the data pad away back into his chest compartment.

"Well I suppose that wraps up everything. If you have it written down, I'll take the form for what should be done for the funeral...." He pauses, adjusting himself for a minute. "I had no idea things would run this deep. Madam Versalice, I'm incredibly sorry for your loss. There will be no need for any corrective measures for your pet, I believe, since the problems that lead her to those brash actions have been remedied. Though please, do try to make sure she doesn't traumatize anyone else, feralists or not." He gives a healthy laugh, which immediately diffuses a lot of the tension in the air. "I'll have you know, they're all finding loving homes and owners by now. Would either of you have anything else to say for the record?"

"Yes, actually." Mistress, who has been mostly quiet during this conversation, especially towards the latter half, speaks up. Her vines still wrapped around nearly my entire body tightly, providing us both comfort through the difficult conversation. "Could we possibly get a request form for a specialty ship to be made? One for traveling. Sera and I have decided that we'd like to open an interplanetary pop up bar. I think we both need to get away from this planet for a while. I'll have her last wishes form written up by tomorrow morning as well."

"Absolutely. I think you two more than deserve a vacation." He pulls his data pad out one last time, messing with something. "There, when you drop off the rest of the forms tomorrow, stop by the bureaucratic office, I'll hand you a request form myself."

Wysterium stands, giving me a pat on my head on his way out towards the door. "Oh, and Madam Versalice." He pipes up in the doorway. "Please get yourself some nutrients and rest. It's been stressful for the two of you, I'm sure. Please, take care."

We wave together as he steps out the door to the hab unit. Once again leaving just the two of us together.

The moment he exits, we both deflate. Mistress makes some stressed noises while She pulls me completely into the warm darkness, surrounding my body with Hers so tightly that light doesn't even enter. It's a little hard to speak, but I try to give her some words of encouragement.

"See, Mistress? Everything went okay, just like we knew it would. I think it's fair to say that anyone in Your position would have taken the same actions. You are a good owner." The rest of my ability to speak is cut off by Mistress clinging to me even tighter than before.

"Okay…." She says quietly. Just holding me there for a little while for us both to get more comfortable. After some close cuddling time, She unwraps me and sets me down into the chair on my own. Though I'm left with a few stray vines to hold. Which I do, extremely tightly.

"I think I'll make us some breakfast now. I have that cookbook your little friend made for us, so I might as well try to branch out from baking today. How's that sound, my little princess?" She asks, pulling Herself back into a more defined form. She gives me the best smile She can while under all that stress.

"That sounds nice. I've been wanting you to feed me again ever since our date last night, to be honest." I blush a little bit at the admittance. But, I agreed to be honest in everything from here on out, so I'll keep to it.

“I know~” She coos, flowing across the room over to the book on the table. The way She moves right now is markedly different than usual. Rather than keeping any semblance of relative form, She just falls apart into this big wave of dark vines only to reform at the end in a tighter shape, leaving little black and red rose petals on the floor. Honestly a beautifully orchestrated display of what in reality is just Her falling apart and reforming in the correct location a second later. For some reason, it reminds me of my warp.

Mistress picks up and opens the little cookbook, looks at me for a moment, smirks, and then closes it. Whatever that means. It honestly didn't even look like She read it yet but then she's off, busting out various utensils and cooking supplies from the cupboards. Whatever She doesn't have is compiled within a moment's notice. It's this big display of multitasking to such an extreme level that something is in the oven and on the stovetop sizzling away in about forty seconds total. Honestly, I was so mesmerized that I didn't even pay attention to what She was making in the first place.

Then, in another big flurry of deforming and reforming movement, She appears directly in front of me, eyes filling up my vision. Words enter my head. [You know, angel, I've been pretty easy on you the last few days. Adjusting to everything and from all the… stress, we've been through. I think it's time to really show you what I can do.] All thought comes crashing to a halt. My ocular cameras try desperately to relay to me all the intricate details of the Galaxy behind Her eyes. Suddenly completely consumed in… something else. A void. A rock dropped into the ocean. Down and down. So free of anything, so comforted, so safe, and so loved. I hadn't even the processing power to realize I've been fed an entire plate of eggs with toast. When She finally pulls away, and I'm broken from my stupor, some odd thirty minutes has passed.

There's a little automated chime from the oven right at the same time my thoughts floated back up to the surface. Mistress looks a little different from when I last remembered. A little more fluffed up. There are some incredibly conflicting feelings coursing through me at the moment. First and foremost: arousal. Within half a second, Mistress was able to completely erase my entire thought pathway just by looking at me hard enough. So effectively that thirty entire minutes passed without a thought in my head. This potent feeling of helplessness mixes with some primal desire. Both of my own and of Hers, as it rages on through me. Looks like She liked it too.

But secondly, frosting away behind the joy and the submissive feelings mixing is a darker feeling. A painful one. Her sorrow and grief still cutting away at the light and warmth of everything else in the background.

When my thoughts finally catch up with me completely, She's standing over the table with a forced neutral expression. There's a new… cake! On the table now. Even after She said She wanted to break away from baking, here is yet another cake! Not that I mind in the slightest. Though this cake looks different. Next to it is a bowl of berries I don't remember seeing. They're red and have little seeds on them, with green leaves at the top. Mistress takes a few berries, slicing them up into little bits with Her thorns, and places them all around the top of the cake.

She backs up for a moment, turning around and grabbing a big silver bowl from a hidden place out of my view. Setting it down, Her vines start to shake a little bit, and Her flowers start to droop.

There's a big spoon in the bowl, which She takes out and uses to spread this layer of fluffy white cream on top of the cake and strawberries. Then lastly, She takes out a plate and sets it down in front of me with a slice of cake on it. When I turn to look up at Her, she's distinctly avoiding my gaze with what seems to be a very forced smile.

"What kind of cake is this, Mistress?"

"It's…." She trails off for a moment, flowers drooping more, vines shaking. "It's angel food cake." She finishes, falling apart into a heap on the kitchen carpet. Sorrow and grief radiate out of Her like gamma rays, destroying everything happy in their path. Tears threaten to fall down my own cheeks as well.

[Destroying everything happy in their path just like me huh.]

This sends a click through my servos. I jolt up in my chair. "Absolutely not! You've given me more than anything I could have ever wanted in life! You're better than You give Yourself credit for!" My face radiates a bit of flushed heat. The mess of plant on the floor makes no move to get up.

[I destroyed your original. Personally snuffed out one of the only things precious in this universe. A life. Your life. I'm a horrible caretaker.]

"That's not true! I-" tears stream down my face, choking up my words. "I made you do it! You didn't want to fight me… you didn't want to fix me. You were scared, and I made you! This is *my fault!"

[That's not how it works, and you know it. I claimed responsibility for your actions the moment you lost. Everything from then on has been my decision and my choice to make. And I failed.]

My throat hurts, threatening to collapse under emotional weight. "You wanted to give me a better existence. Look at me now, in this body, I'm happy. Ortet didn't die for you to hate yourself over it. And I wasn't born to let you."

[Don't you dare. Speak about her like that.] The mass of dark vines, wood, thorns, and roses writhes on the floor. [She didn't die for anything because I killed her. The one precious thing to me.]

The dam breaks and heavy sobs wrack my body. "The one precious thing?" My eyes sting, my chest heaves, and whatever new equipment that's in my chest aches like nothing else. "But what about me? Am I not good enough because I'm not the real Sera?" My voice fades out in the end, alongside my strength, collapsing onto the table.

The mess of plant on the floor suddenly tenses together, rocketing off and grabbing me up in my entirety, pinning me against one of the walls of the hab unit. "I'm not…that's not. That's not what I meant, Sera. You know that's not what I meant." Mistress says, voice quivering and teetering on the edge of what I would say is tears if She were Terran.

"Then why do you talk like I'm not still here?" My weak whimpering voice creams out in between tears. Her grip on me tightens exponentially for a moment before releasing nearly completely.

"You are… you are here! You're still her! You don't know anything else, you're still her consciousness, her… I just wish! I didn't! I! AAAGH!" She lets me go. I land on my feet and lean back against the wall for support as She wails into the room. Full of self hatred, anger, and sadness. Her voice shakes the hab unit, booming out from the walls and floor and me.

Turning into a blurry mess, Her vines go everywhere in a big display of anger. She doesn't know what to do, or how to get rid of the feeling. Everything is already too late to change. Vines tipped with roses and needles stab into the walls around us, slam into the chairs and tables, and rip through the air like black lightning.

Tears still pour down my face. What would Ortet want me to do here? How can I rescue Her from the throes of this emotional breakdown? I'm supposed to make Her happy as a pet just like how she cares for me. She's angry with nowhere to put that anger towards. Only me. That's where She can take it out on. But first She needs to take a cold pill.

My metal hand flies up and under my shirt tearing at my chest in an attempt to find the access hatch. My fingers dig into the metal of my tummy slightly before they catch, throwing open the port on my tummy and revealing my internals. With deft precision, my fingers slide their way through the wound knot of vine to the little red glowing shard embedded in me. A brief thumb across the smooth edge of the shard freezes Her immediately. Slowly, she pulls herself together a little more, looking straight at me. “Sera. What do you-” Her words are cut off by my hand wrapping around it completely, gently rubbing it in my palm and fingers. The sudden overstimulation knocks me to my knees, but I refuse to take my hand away.

Mistress falls to the floor along with me, whining and making all these musical sounds. It's not enough. My hand grips harder. My entire being feels like it's being put into a little rough box. She starts to whine louder, writhing around on the floor, breaking out into full on moans as I grind my palm into it more and more and more. My breathing catches in my throat after one more final squeeze. Mistress howls a long, needful moan. High pitched like flutes and trumpets and- There's now a big puddle of sap on the kitchen carpet around where Mistress was when I started. Air blows in and out of the room in these heavy pants and whimpers coming out from Her. Slowly, hand still over the shard, I make my way over to Her. My tears have dried, but She has not. Still shivering and whimpering on the floor. It's really a precious sight to see. Can an Affini be dommed? Maybe I should do this more often. It seems to have really derailed Her. As intended.

Slowly I circle around Her like a shark. Tracing around Her body in long slow steps. Drinking in every detail of Her beautiful form, a mess of flowers, vines, plant life, and sparkling leaky sap. “Ser- aaahhh~” She tries to call out to me in an angry tone, reaching with several vines, but it's easily cut off by my hand squeezing again. One hand on Her core, one hand grabbing at the light circuitry in the hab unit. Every time She reaches for me, I turn the lights on full blast for a flash, and squeeze Her core softly. Eliciting another moan and whimper and drop of sticky sweet sap. Denying Her again and again just to watch Her whimper and moan in denial. Just like She does to me >:3 Oh, disobedience never felt so good. So exciting. Feeling the second hand embarrassment, frustration, and lust, I listen oh so carefully for every little moment she’s going to move.

She groans very very loudly all of the sudden, then goes completely silent, all vines ceasing movement all at once. It catches me just the barest bit off guard. “Wh-” The side of my cheek is suddenly struck by a whip faster than I could even see, dazing me instantly and knocking me over just slightly. She doesn’t waste Her chance though, immediately pouncing on top of me the moment my attention is taken away.

All of the air is forced out of my vacuum chambers as an intensely crushing force is placed upon my shoulders, spine, sides, hands, and legs. Binding me to the floor like a hydraulic press. And then, just as suddenly as She pounced, my vision fades. Filled with darkness.

When I come to, I’m really really cold. And my body feels weightless. When I open my eyes, I see… okay that's weird as hell. I have skin again. I seem to be in some microgravity military ship with incredibly cramped hallways and pipes jutting out of the walls. Okay, well this is pretty easily established as not real. Totally in VR right now regardless of how nervous this is making me and how real this all seems.

Okay okay okay… Process this. Vr. I can edit the world in VR. So let's do that.

Every attempt I make to inject code into the simulation is met with an error displaying 'File not found!' Which is just so damn annoying! Alright then, I'll play whatever this is normally.

Taking some very floaty steps over to the door of the bunk room I'm in, there seems to be a little paper taped beside to the door. It reads "Objective: survive. Secondary objectives: find armory, establish communications, fix jump drive, and exit through an escape pod."

Oh great. This is a survival horror.

There's a heavy thump down the hallway as something crashes into the floor. Followed by that is a loud hiss. When I peek out of the room, I see Her there at the end. Maybe a hundred feet away, facing another direction. Her mass is unfolded with vines holding onto every little nook in the walls.

I quietly step out into the hallway. There's another opening to my left and a little plaque on the wall with an arrow that says 'armory.' Though my push off from the wall to get closer is just a little louder than I intended. The dark alien at the end of the hallway turns around and sees me. There's a roar I've never heard from Her before. Deep like a mountain shaking, a crater forming, and a canyon splitting. There's a heavy thump in my chest as it passes through me, leaving ice cold fear in its wake. Oh fuck, I gotta go.

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The alien dashes down the hallway towards me, using hand holds on every wall and floor to grab and pull at lightning speeds. Five seconds and She'll be on me. Go.

I tuck and launch off of a nearby wall down the hall with as much force as I can. One good thing about microgravity is that momentum is easily carried. I barely have to turn my head to see the roaming mass of darkness gaining on me. The signal, the pull, the music just beckons me as prey to fall and let Her take me. Do whatever She wants to me. Hurt me. Breed me. And I want it so badly. But I also know how to put up a fight.

I barely pass through a bulkhead in the hall before lashing out my leg and slamming my foot into the emergency locking button. The wall slams shut with barely a fraction of time left. A huge sigh of relief flows out of me like oil when I float a little too far and bonk my head into the back wall. Ouchie.

Just next to me is the armory. Okay, good. I don't have a lot of time, so make it fast. The door is locked, but the window nearby is easy enough to smash through with a kick from my boots. Diving in, I speed over to the equipment and weaponry first. Incendiary grenades, snap rifle, hand gun, whatever a foam grenade is, and magnetic installments to my boots to pick and choose whether or not I float off the floor while running. Running… Running…. Run.

The vent above the armory falls out of place the moment I cross the threshold of the smashed window. There's a metallic clang as it hits the floor, followed by a familiar heavy thump and hiss. It's no matter, I'm already speeding down corridors and alleys between rooms. I feel so scared, so terrified of the consequences. It's almost as though I've never felt so afraid before. Why do I feel so scared, when I know the beast that is chasing me? Maybe it's just part of the game.

A vine whips around my leg, grabbing and flipping me up towards the ceiling upside down. But I'm ready for this, my rifle is already leveled and charged. A blue bolt of light builds in the barrel of the gun before blasting out with a snap and severing the single vine. My magnetic boots engage on the ceiling and I dash off again. Terran weaponry is pathetic and often just as dangerous to the wielder as it is to the victim. It even has the telltale tubing and cell implements used to overclock the gun. A very common move in the Terran navy, so I'm told. Officers with hands missing make great patients in Aether's workshop for prosthetics. But it's no matter for now, it did what it needed and cut one vine. More than one and I'd be toast.

I zip around a corner, breaking distance just barely ahead. Then leap in zero G across the hall silently. When the scary Alien passes by, She goes down the hallway that I last made sound in. Not seeing me tucked away just behind some pipes in the wall. Another wave of relief passes through, and I dash off towards the engine room of the ship. I'm not entirely sure why I suddenly know so much about the Terran navy. I've never served with them, nor have had any interest to look into them beyond the things Aether told me about them in her workshop. Maybe part of the game is to automatically give me data on my situation? Just a bit of knowledge to make everything just the tiniest sliver easier. Yeah, that sounds like it could be right.

With silent caution, I gently drift into the engine room. It's dark and quiet, but I'm just barely able to see through it. Alright, the big block of machinery over there is the main engine. And off to the side that must be… the jump drive! Alright, get to work. The front access panel is easy enough to wrench away, leaving some of the internals exposed. My hands automatically enter the dark opening, dashing around to various wires and tubes and machinery to fix some problem I've never heard of before. Something about exotic matter? It's no worry, though, as a little grey bar appears in my vision, slowly filling up as my hands work and work. It seems to be about a minute long, because by the forty second mark I'm just barely almost there.

There's a screaming sound of ripping metal to my left. The bar is 80% done. A hole is torn in the wall of the engine room, behind it are two red eyes. 90%. The alien tears Her way into the room through the gap. 95%. Her vines ensnare me in six places at once, but my hands are still free. 100% marks just before I'm ripped away from the access panel. The vines constricting me make me gasp and shiver as burning hot pleasure arcs from every contact made. One little barbed vine dances up my cheek making me squeak out in fearful pleasure. The moment a needle starts to break my skin, the activated incendiary grenade hits the floor. She looks down just in time to witness an explosion of real burning, real fire, vividly and brightly bursting into life and consuming everything in the area. Including oxygen, I might add. Why a navel ship has something that would use up this much oxygen is beyond me. All I know is vines don't like fire. And hey look, She's got vines this time.

I thud on the floor, dropped in one place the flames have yet to reach as the Alien screams in fear and backs away from the burning. Perfect. I waste no seconds running from the room with my boots activated, giving me so much more traction than I'm used to. But I don’t worry, the jump drive is active. Now all that's left is to make it to either the escape pods or the communications array. A plan starts to form in my head. Access the array to establish a timed jump path into deep space before getting into one of the pods. Once inside, and far enough away from the ship, it will jump away into unoccupied space carrying the sexy scary Alien with it. And I'll be safe. Great. Let's go.

Somehow knowing the exact location of the communications array, I realize I also left my rifle behind in the engine room. All I have left is two 'foam grenades' and some kind of energy handgun. It's no matter though, my plan is vine proof! Bursting in through the door of the comms room, I toss one of the foam grenades behind me into the closest door. When it explodes, a big fluffy cloud expands out from it, filling up the door completely and hardening solid just a few seconds later. Wow! I should make one of these outside of VR.

My hands, with no training, expertly establish a line of communication by making sure the wave frequency is held on exactly a certain level. Nice little mini game, I suppose. Text boxes fill my vision, and I begin to enact my real plan. Find out where the rest of the Navy is, and jump towards anywhere they're furthest away from. Then, break the console so no files can be found and extracted to give the Enemy more information. Why I'm doing this when I know perfectly well how stupid and absurd both the Terran Navy and feralists are in general is beyond me. I guess the game we're playing just really wants me to take it seriously. All the more worse that I have skin to cause goosebumps on when there's a loud thud in the doorway with the foam. Chunks of hardened fluff are being torn away into an opening with just enough time to establish a jump path, pull out my secondary, and riddle the console with bullets.

The last two in my magazine are spent firing through the hole in the foam doorway before I yeet the empty gun in that direction and storm off towards the escape pod bay. Just behind me is all the rattling of a thunderstorm as hundreds of vines grab and pull off every surface towards me.

I barely make it inside a pod, hit the button, and watch in solid fear as the door on the pod seals shut. Locking me in the pod, and the scary Xeno out of it. I sink back into my seat as the pressure changes and the pod is ejected from the side of the Naval ship. All before my digital blood freezes in my veins as several hundred vines find hold all over the outside of the pod. Grabbing tightly and ripping the door off with just enough time before being out of range to pull my body straight out and into the vacuum of space. Thank the stars that I don't actually need to breathe, otherwise my lungs would have exploded in the vacuum. Slowly freezing vines silently bind me before pulling me back into the ship.

When the pod bay door shuts, and the pressure stabilizes, Mistress laughs in a beautiful predatory song. "Almost got away from me there didn't you, little pet. But it's no worry, because now the real fun begins~"

Several needles puncture the simulated skin all over my body at once, lighting my entire being on fire at once as need and pleasure burn their way through me. It hurts so badly just how much every inch of my inside and out beg, scream, and cry to be touched by Her. Abused by Her. Cut, slapped, bit, and punished by Her. But all that comes out of me is pathetic gasps, mewls, and needy moans.

Pressure starts to build in both my head and between my legs. A pressure to break all my walls down again. The ones that have already broken for Her before. But this time, it's with the idea that I should be punished for my disobedience. Not just submission to Her in every way, but the desire to be punished when I don't. The need, the lust for the punishment. To feel Her exert Her will over me and push me back down into my rightful place. I want to be punished so fucking bad. And I want Her to be the one to do it.

When the pressure builds too far, my view cracks like glass, shattering the illusion of the Terran ship and bringing more fear and need alongside it. My face is pushed into the damp sticky carpet of the kitchen floor, filling my olfactory receptors with a smell so delicious it makes me drool and shiver with delight. Every little fiber of every little string in the carpet is described to me through my haptic layer in such extreme intimate detail that I could probably count each and every one of them as they burn my sensors with pleasure and softness. There's a gentle breeze across my metal spine. Oh stars, I’m not wearing any clothes. She just tore them off me.

I feel vines, lit by electricity, slowly tie up my hands and legs behind my back. Then I’m flipped, legs spread wide, onto my back. When my wings touch the carpet I let out an involuntary squeak from how sensitive they are. Above me is a shifting mass of darkness and red orbs. Fear, need, lust.

“You’re afraid, Sera.” Mistress says, undoing and retying my legs up and backwards. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. Be not afraid, little pet. Isn’t that what the angels say?” Mistress forms a familiar thick and long bundle of tight vines that slap and rest against my tummy. I can’t help but start giggling incessantly at Her statement. When faced with impending punishment, I just cannot help but laugh. She's so adorable.

“Hehehehahaaaahhhhh~” Her length slides inside me all the way to the base with zero resistance. The feeling of Her inside of me is immediately the most meltingly pleasurable experience I think I could possibly feel. Being digitized, my body can sustain extremely high levels of pleasure without serious repercussions, so my insides spasm nonstop, and my eyes start sparkling with tears as the pleasure builds up so much it’s painful. It’s so good it hurts. To accompany it, my entire body is constricted with vines at an almost crushing spirit, tied up completely and pinned on the floor beneath Her. Thorns start to cut into my haptic layer suddenly, pulling my headless bliss back down to Terra. My lenses focus to a pinpoint under the hypersensitivity. It hurts so much. Cutting completely through the bliss to force me to be completely in the moment. Completely focused on everything She’s doing to me.

I can feel Her start to secrete sap inside me, sending out burning hot waves. So warm, so sweet. In and out of me. Nearly pulling out completely just to crush, cut, choke, and slam back inside me all the way. Harshly fucking me into the floor. It gets to be so much that I start screaming, high pitched and animalistic. Which is ironic for an android. My wings are assaulted with tens of tiny vines that slip in between each of my feathers to play with my new hypersensitive appendage. It causes me to shudder and tighten around Her cock. That just causes more and more sparkly liquid to seep out into me.

Another little bundle of tiny vines start to press and rub against a rock hard little nub above my entrance. She presses hard against it over and over and over at the same rhythm She's fucking me with. My ocular lenses roll backwards into my head as more tears stream down my face.

Powerful words slap me in the face, grinding everything to a halt. She even stops pumping into me for just a moment. “You’ve been disobedient. I am going to rewrite your code for a little while. Make you utterly, completely at my will for the rest of the night. Every command I tell you, and I’ll tell you a lot, will put you on the edge of passing out from glee. And you’re going to thank me for it. Now, apologize.” Her voice booms, maxing out my auditory.

my voice catches again and again and again like a short circuiting robot. A broken circuit, firing the same syllables repeatedly. And Her, my circuit breaker. “1M- S0-S0R-R-SS0RY M1ST-R3-R3SS”

She beams at me, crushing me harder, more possessively. “That's right. You’re beneath me. My property, my floret and I. Own. You. And you will obey me. Tell me you’re my pet, now.”

“1M- 1M Y0UR P3T!” my barely functioning voice managed. Forced by the overwhelming force of Her will to listen to every syllable of Her words like i would self-destruct if i didn’t. She collapses on top of me further, completely surrounding me with Her entire form. Vines all over every single place in my body at once, causing me to stop making sounds entirely under the pain and electricity. Heat like the sun washing over my soul. Distantly, I feel my access panels open. All her vines start invading me, filling up not only my dripping cunt, which is lubricating itself all over Her, but the rest of me as well. Every available space is filled with Her. My body starts to convulse from the feelings. She continues to pound me over and over and over again anyway. Not slowing for a moment.

“Such a good fucking pet. Grrrrhhhhaaahhhh…..” She growls, biting down so hard around my neck all of the sudden that the metal flexes under the force. Metal straining until- pop. Her dripping fangs break through the metal, stamping two holes permanently. At this moment, She shudders, pushing against me hard and grinding at the base as liquid fire starts to pour out of Her, burning away at my consciousness completely. The feeling of Her cumming inside me leaves me completely vacant with the only possible sensation being pleasure. Totally and utterly gone. My own orgasm from being used and punished simmers over to meet Hers.

Outside of my ecstasy shut down, Mistress pulls on me hard enough that I sink into Her form, cut off from all light and oxygen completely. Not that I was breathing anymore anyway. And then, i touch Her core as it slips in the gap on my access port, brushing against the one that binds me to here, and automatically pulling it back into place. Just like that, i’m gone. Bright…., everything explodes from everywhere all at once. i feel like… Like merely an extension, a part of Her. Like some kind of metal graft to Her being. Being so thoroughly invaded that i no longer exist. Not in the slightest. Liquid starts to fill my vacuum chambers as my ex chassis becomes a part of Her bloodstream. But instead of blood, it's concentrated xenodrugs. Knowing She programmed my body to sense a xenodrug injection in sensors and convert it to the digital equivalent in my coding through feeling everything about Her. Knowing everything about Her, plugged into Her. I can feel Her thoughts and feelings about me. It’s so sudden, and so strong, my ex chassis genuinely short circuits, causing my non-existent consciousness to still cut off.

…

…

…

…

…

…

It's unknown how long I was deactivated, but when I awoke, I was gasping for air and shaking with new feelings. Softness everywhere, like little flowers and moss. I was laying with my spine to something cold, wood. I could feel the texture of it through the clothes on my back.

Slowly, I rose to my feet, digging my toes into the ultra soft moss and feeling the soil dirty the bottom of my feet when a presence entered the room. They’re in the doorway. I don’t know how I can sense it, but it's almost like I’m there too, but only slightly.

Going to take a step forward lets me realize that... I can't. I have no idea how to control this body. It feels completely different to me now, for some reason. Which is strange, since I'm the one who built it in the first place. I know intimately where every joint and plate were beneath the layer of synthetic skin adorning this body of mine is. Which can't be right, because I didn't build this chassis. Aether did. So why on Terra does that feel so strange? I'm Aether! Oh geez, it's happening again, isn't it.

With that realization, the lenses in my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. The low level night vision I implemented into the ocular sensors always came in handy when I didn't feel like turning the lights on.

Around me was the beautiful dark garden that once was my workshop. On each of the walls are roses and vines and black leaves. Little thorns shining beautifully like stars in the night sky, accompanied by the most wonderful smells and feelings. The floor has a layer of black moss coating every surface in the room with little sprouts growing up every few feet. The room was immaculately formed into the most beautiful, natural, and perfect little garden I could ever create. It may not be Violacase, but it's the best I could provide for a resting place.

Turning back towards the presence, Sera is standing in the doorway. The glow of her eyes, the ones I made for her, shine gently over the little gold plate on the side of her collar. One which displays her name. The one I gave her. The one she accepted from me.

All of these things are obvious truths, so why does everything still feel slightly off? As though I'm walking through sacred grounds that I don't have the permission to walk through.

"Aaahhhh..... Uhhh... Heyyyyy Aether." Sera calls out to me.

"Hi doll..... Is it just me or is there something off here?"

"Not just you. Something's weird." She takes a few steps forward before stopping and looking around the room.

"Thank you, angel." I say to her.

"I didn't say anything?" She asks, confused.

"Oh I- I thought you complimented my work."

"I did... I just didn't say it. I- hold on." I take a few more steps toward Aether, pulling myself out of the daze from the garden. "I can hear your thoughts."

"Couldn't you do that already?" I take a few steps towards her as well. Her wings twitch a little bit when we get close.

"Yeah but they're not usually as... Woah." There's a very clear sensation of my own fingers running along the back of my hand, trailing over my synthetic skin. Which is... I don't have synthetic skin. That was the first thing I noticed about this body when I woke up in this hab unit for the first time.

But that can't be right? The only chassis that didn't have skin on it was Sera's. Since I hadn't gotten around to layering it on before moving onwards and.... "Woah." I reply back.

"I think I figured it out." Aether says, still trailing her fingers over the back of her hand. I stare at the back of mine as the feelings dance their way invisibly over me.

"What's your idea?" Sera replies curiously.

"I... When we were uhm... Playing together. I got you a little close to the rest of my core. The shard in my chassis- your chassis, sorry, connected with the rest of mine, fitting back into place for a moment. I think we-"

"-linked. We linked. That's why we can't figure out who's who." Sera finishes my statement exactly how I was going to.

It's not as though we simply feel each other's thoughts and feelings. They're both our thoughts and feelings at the same time. Sera's thoughts are Aether's. And Aether's are Sera's. One mind split across two metal bodies.

"You did a really good job in here." Aether says, taking Sera's hand in hers.

"Thank you. It was the best I could do. It remedied the problem of what to do with her biological parts as well. Though it's only a temporary hold since-"

"-it won't be too long until we arrive at Violacase."

The two of them turn to each other under the sparkly stars of thorns, their hands held gently together. We, together, nod. No longer needing words to convey anything. You don't need to communicate with yourself, after all.

No thanks were needed for the creation of the garden. Only a flicker of shared somber happiness for both their treatment and receival of it.

When we entered the kitchen, there was a third. Us, we, but different than the two robots standing before the third. Core bared, showing through the knitted vines. There's an obviously distinct gap where two small shards should fit. The two that are embedded in the robots.

The collared chassis opens her chest hatch, allowing us to wrap a vine around it and replace the shard within the larger core. The chassis falls over limply to the floor.

The chassis with brown hair presents hers as well, allowing for the same to happen.

When both shards are eventually replaced properly, everything gets really really really fuzzy. Existence got fuzzy. Time, thoughts, life got fuzzy.

And then it all gets sharp again when everything is properly adjusted and accounted for, cutting off the invasive thought meshing. When I awoke for the second time, I was back in my old body. My wings ache slightly from being crumbled beneath me. Aether's presence is still in my head, though feeling once more like a secondary addition alongside my own instead of a single one combined.

Climbing to my two feet once more, Aether is beside me with the most... Wondrously baffled look. She turns to me with a dopey smile. "That was weird as fuck, Sera."

"Girl you're telling me. We linked? What does that even mean?"

"I guess so." She shrugged. "I think the part of me that's stored in you uh… brushed a little too close to the rest of my core and happened to… fit back into place for a minute. I kinda had you like a graft for a bit back there." She giggles before going serious again. "Sera, you sure put me on a pedestal, you really feel like I'm some sort of deity? It feels almost silly that I thought I could fail you as an owner when you feel that strongly about me."

"Of course I do. You're the reason I exist in the first place. I wasn't happy before meeting you. I wasn't really living until you entered my life, and now everything feels perfect. Oh and it also feels silly to me that I felt like my status as your pet was on the line back then. You love me too much for that, I can see."

"I do love you too much for that. Things have happened, sure, but now…. Nothing can get in the way between us. I love you." She says in a wistful tune.

"I love you too….. Hey, Aether?"

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I saw inside your head and… You’re different.”

“What do you mean?”

I turn towards Her taller form. “You’re different from each other. I see why it was hard for you to describe earlier…. Have you ever heard of being bi-gender?”

She, the taller, the leafier gazes down upon me. “I don’t think so?”

“Well, it's someone that has two genders, as the name implies. Someone, that is say, both a boy and a girl. Distinctly two. I think You’re similar to that in a sense. Where you’re both an Affini.” I turn towards Aether once more. “And, an android. Distinctly two different forms to one person. I don’t think I’m able to see you as both being one anymore after this.”

One of Her forms, I don't notice which, makes a groaning sound. "Well… I guess you're kinda right. When I'm like this." Aether gestures down at her body. "I don't really feel all the same as I do when I'm like that." Mistress mimics the action with a few vines. "I'm still me as both, but definitely my own being as well as either. It's really strange and hard to think about, honestly. Being two separate and distinct beings at once while still being me as either. But I'm willing to figure this whole thing out as long as you're with me. Also, you sure know a lot about gender for a girl who just figured her own out."

I giggle dumbly. "Hey that's not my fault though! I was locked out of thinking about my own gender, but it doesn't mean I haven't still done research! Plus, I wouldnt rather be anywhere else! I had my identity crisis last week! I'm more than happy to help with yours this week." I giggle happily again, pulling Aether into a little kiss before turning and jumping into the arms of my Owner. Her dark wooden mask pulls into a little smile as my body is tightly and possessively wrapped up into a little cocoon.

"Now, you've been missing your friends for a while, haven't you?" My owner asks me, tone alien yet still completely familiar. I nod obediently.

"Yes Mistress, I have."

"Well then. Let's get you started on contact with them, huh? I'm sure they've been so very worried about you for the last few days. Can't keep them waiting too long!" Mistress sweeps Her smaller form up and off the ground as well, pulling us together into a tight hug before wandering over to the couch. "Yeesh." She huffs for a moment. "This hab is a wreck. Remind me I need to clean the place up a bit before we have any more guests over."

I nod, happily nuzzling into my fiancé's shoulder. "Okay Mistress! I'll remind you!" A timer is set within me for tomorrow morning.

The rest of the evening is spent writing and then rewriting a letter to Lillina and Raynor. One that's short, but explains just enough to show that it's me, while also showing that I really want to talk to them soon. Concise and to the point. When I'm finally finished with my awkward writing, I'm left with something honestly anticlimactic, as the letter reads:

"Dear Lillina Nera and Raynor Wellium. It's your friend, the android. Some uh... Things happened, and I've been away for a while. But I'm ready to come back and see you two now. If you aren't busy, can we all meet tomorrow in Raynor's bookstore around noon?

Thank you - Yours Truly - Seraphim Versalice, First Floret Ramet."

(End Of Page Twenty.)

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