Conquering a planet was a little sad, I won't deny that. There was something somber about it, bringing a race from billions to just a few thousand, but it's not like I was killing anyone! Besides the data was clear, the average human experienced far more pain, sadness, and struggling than they did happiness or love in their time. This was for the best.

And it was an honor to be chosen.

I looked over my body in the creek, making sure I hadn't subconsciously changed it at any point during the descent. No such problems, still looked thoroughly human, dark hair to contrast with the big white eyes and alabaster skin, a lilac hoody to give an air of comfort. Then there were the physical characteristics.

Two Large, firm breasts, wide child birthing hips, and just enough fat on the body to look healthy.

I appeared to be a young woman in her early twenties, just androgynous enough to pass for a biological male if I claimed to be one. Appearing that way also made it easy to make subtle changes without being noticed, make the lips a little fuller and the face a little sharper if they wanted someone more feminine, or add a little muscle under the loose clothes if they wanted something more masculine.

It was fine, it was perfect, I'd already spent countless hours looking over this.

It was time to get to work.

The obvious place to start was a bar, I should be able to reach the nearest population cluster by about sundown, and from there finding one would be simple. Though it was good to have time in the woods here, for a long walk through this beautiful planet to precede my quest. These massive trees, the chipper sound of the birds seeking their mates, the rustling of the wind through the leaves.

This is what I was fighting for. The ecological health and wellbeing of the planet as a whole, if that meant culling down one species, that was a small price to pay. Especially when we expected these people to cull themselves quite significantly very soon if left without intervention.

By the time I found a road to walk along, I was thoroughly determined!

It was maybe five more hours before I began passing buildings, first places of commerce, mostly gas stations, then some kind of outlet with several shops, including the kind I was looking for. Whoever designed this place clearly didn't do it with pedestrians in mind, but I managed to get there without getting hit by any of the vehicles zipping around.

It helped that they were slow and careful in the parking area.

I stepped through the glass door, and took a deep breath, appreciating the warmth of the air inside. A bar separated one young woman from the rest of the half dozen occupants, marked her as an employee, I sat in front of her.

Her eyes were tired, tense just like her muscles. Still, she put on a cheerful face when she looked at me.

"Hey there, what can I get you?"

I felt my heart rate speeding up already. She was a beautiful girl, such soft skin, such a wonderfully toned body… the thought that I'd likely be embracing her soon was almost overwhelming, I couldn't help the faint blush from appearing on my cheeks as I answered.

"You have such cute hair," I muttered, appreciating the short pink mane around her scalp. The color matched the short blush that took her cheeks, but I answered before she could muster a response. "I'm a bit new, could you make me your most popular drink?"

She let out a little chuckle, still thrown off.

"Well that'd be beer, is that okay?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Certainly,"

"Okay, I just need to see some Id then real quick,"

The request threw me off. I was legal drinking age in every state on the planet, and I'd double-checked this was a country where alcohol was legal.

"I'm…clearly of age, aren't I?" I asked cautiously, suddenly afraid of what fuckup I might have made.

"Well yeah, but you know, rules are real strict on that stuff," she said, seeming to pick up on my fear and try to ease it. "Do you not have yours on you?"

"No, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be difficult I just don't know who would possibly care or punish you for serving me alcohol,"

"Assholes," she clarified.

"I see, well could you make me your most popular non-alcoholic drink?" I inquired, trying to bury the oddity and appear more normal.

"Pop?" she asked, with a grin a tone that told me I'd failed.

"Sounds wonderful," I agreed, tucking my hair back with a shy grin.

As she poured the man two stools down scooched over, an older man, maybe forty in age who came uncomfortably close to whisper to me.

"I'll buy you a beer," he offered. "We could go sit somewhere more private in the back, chat a little?" he inquired.

"No thank you, I don't want to cause this place any trouble," I replied, pulling myself back just a tad.

"Come on, you didn't come here to have a soda did you?" he pressed, once more coming uncomfortably close, towering his larger frame over mine. He didn't seem to mind the blatantly displeased look I took at this action. It looked as though the bar lady was going to say something but I beat her to it.

"Goodbye-" I said in a sing-song voice, tilting my head just a bit as his face went snow white.

He sprinted out the door as I turned back to sip the black liquid in front of me.

Too sweet.

"How the hell did you do that?" the bar lady demanded, suddenly demanding, almost afraid herself even.

"Oh I'm just very good at scaring people when I need to," I said vaguely. "Thank you for the soda, it's quite good!" I added, trying to change the subject.

She stared at me as if an unfamiliar animal for a long time.

"You seem like a nice person, I doubt I'd ever do anything like that to you," my assurance seemed to soften her just the slightest bit.

"Who taught you that?"

"My mother, but I'd rather not talk about it," trying, and failing, again to change the subject.

"That was like, evil eye bullshit like, witchcraft, real witchcraft right?" she asked, growing quieter and ignoring my request. Well, she was brave, if not wise. I'd give her a little more information.

"It's just something people with my genes can do, I'd rather you not use a word like that, especially in public," I pressed, only now growing a little demanding, frowning as I looked into her eyes.

"Oh shit, right, of course I'm sorry. I wasn't judging or anything, it's amazing!" she said, whispering now.

I leaned forward, all the way up to her ear.

She let me.

"I'm sure there are amazing things about you too," I whispered back into her ear, using our proximity to run one soft hand over the palm she had on the counter. The blush I was rewarded with was spectacular. "But there is something else special about me, I would be more than happy to show you, if we could go somewhere private?"

"I-uh- my shift ends in an hour or what the fuck am I thinking I'll go tell my boss I'm feeling sick we'll get out of here!" she assured, only kept in place by the hand, which squeezed down on hers when she began to walk away.

"Finish your shift, it's okay, there's no hurry," I offered.

Her blush remained.

Thanks for reading, they'll get down to business next chapter.