Alyssa landed the Kirrix dropship in the Invictus' Hangar Bay light as a feather. John stood, the Nymph he'd accidentally inherited from Everitt Hitch still in his arms. "Ladies and gentlemen! You are now aboard my ship, the Invictus. Rest assured, you're safe now! Please exit in an orderly fashion, leaving the guns in a neat pile. My XO, Jonah, will escort you all to Deck 4, where plenty of clean beds, warm showers, and a fully-stocked Galley are waiting for you. We will soon be enroute to Port Heracles, where the Terran Federation will see that you all find your ways home. Just so you know, every prisoner from the Kirrix ship was rescued yesterday, so have no fear for the fate of your friends and coworkers! The nightmare is over, people!"
There was a cheer, and the mood was decidedly celebratory as Jonah went to the airlock and started to lead all 15 captured Terrans out the dropship.
*Jonah, make sure they're all settled. Sparks, turn on all the systems on Deck 4. Calara, pilot us to the edge of the gravity well. When Alyssa reaches the Bridge, she'll plot our route through hyperwarp to Nerus and Port Heracles. Then family meeting in our quarters, we need to have a talk with our newest addition,* John projected through Telepathy to all his crew.
*We should arrive in 36 hours, give or take,* Alyssa piped in. She was familiar enough with the local sector that she was already planning the astro-navigation course in her head. Her warp-tunneling technique would shave a good third off the usual travel time.
John and Alyssa followed behind the last of the rescued hostages. Jonah took the whole group up to Deck 4 in one trip of the elevator. When the lift returned to their level, John and Alyssa stepped in.
"What's your name?" Alyssa asked the Nymph. She wanted to be welcoming to what was probably the newest of her future sister-wives.
"This one was called 'bitch' or 'slut' by her last master. Master has not assigned a name to this one yet that this one is aware," the feline humanoid replied. Her voice no longer sounded like a cartoon mouse on helium, now a much more natural mezzo-soprano. It was still like a silk scarf across the eardrums, musical and enchanting even in ordinary conversation.
"You don't have a name? Didn't you have one when you lived on Lenarra?" John asked, saddened that even this facet of the Nymph's identity seemed to have been stolen by those who kidnapped her species.
"This one cannot remember that far back, Master. This one will accept any name you choose for her," the Nymph said, her tone completely guileless. She really meant what she was saying.
"How about… Jade? Your skin and fur remind me of a jade stone my dad found in the mine one day and brought home," Alyssa suggested.
The cat-girl looked up at John, clearly waiting for his approval.
"If you like it, then it's yours," John told the female alien.
"Jade loves her name, Master!" she replied instantly, showing a beaming smile. John noted sharpened incisors, which fit the feline theme of her whole appearance.
The elevator opened on Deck 2, which held all the officers' quarters, including the master cabin where John and all his lovers slept. John stepped out, sending a mental kiss at Alyssa as the doors closed on her. John carried Jade down the hall, managing to press the button to open the double doors at the end even with his arms full. He strode over to the bed and gently laid Jade on it. She made no move to adjust her position, seemingly perfectly comfortable to stay just where John left her.
John removed his helmet, getting his first direct look at Jade and vice-versa.
"Master is very handsome," Jade said, practically purring.
"Jade, as your master, I order you to be free. You need no master, you can decide for yourself now, live your own life," John said, praying this would work.
"Whatever Master says!" she said, clearly not understanding or incapable of following that command.
John sighed. Well, he tried. He started to remove the rest of his Phalanx Alpha armor. The process took several minutes, to the point the rest of his Angels had arrived by the time he was undressed of all but his body-sleeve underneath.
"Master, who are these people?" Jade asked, taking a brief second to look at the others before returning to seemingly just drinking in the sight of John.
"These are my crewmates and also my lovers, Jade. Their names are Jonah, Alyssa, Calara, and Sparks," John answered. Each one gave a small wave as he named them.
Jade's brow furrowed and she looked again at Jonah. "Master prefers men as well? Jade is not sure she can take a male form even if Master asked it of her."
"You don't have to take any form but the one you want," John rushed to reassure her.
"Jade wants to take Master's ideal form, but Jade could not read Master's mind. Jade is very sorry for her incompetence, Master," Jade said, looking down. To John's dismay, he saw actual tears start to bead in her eyes.
"It's not your fault, Jade," he rushed to reassure her. "I'm psychic too, like you. I blocked your mind probe earlier, it took me by surprise and I was on guard."
"Master is psychic?" Jade asked, looking up in awe. Her sadness had vanished like dew in the morning light. "Master is so unique among Jade's former masters! Master is so wonderful!"
*Wow, you weren't kidding, she really is a mindless sex slave. No wonder they were abused, it's like the deer walking up to the hunter and begging to get mounted and stuffed,* Sparks marveled via Telepathy.
*Apt metaphor,* John thought dryly before concentrating. While he was mildly curious to see what his unconscious idea of the perfect woman would be, he wanted Jade to have a body she was comfortable with. Trying to blend the general build of a female Angel with her natural cat-girl form, John focused on the image and told Jade "Try again, Jade." This time, when the mind probe came, he allowed it in.
As she had on the Stalingrad, Jade vanished in a shimmer of green light. When her form solidified once more, she didn't look too different. She was taller now, at 5'9, and naturally had the statuesque body characteristic of women John's Progenitor semen put through the Change. Her fur had vanished, though she retained the tail and cat ears. Otherwise, she was still jade-green with tiger-like stripes of lighter green highlighting her curves. Her hair was still a black that seemed to cast green highlights in the light, and her eyes were emerald with slit pupils.
Jade stretched her now-longer limbs. She beamed. "Thank you, Master! Jade is overjoyed to take the form most pleasing to you! Will Master use Jade now?"
He'd tried setting her free, and it hadn't worked. And John couldn't, in good conscience, cast Jade aside to imprint on someone else, if that was even possible at this point. So, accepting that he'd gotten another lover to join the family, John reached behind his back and unzipped his body-sleeve. He stepped out of the nanomesh fabric, standing nude and proud. "Jade, I'd love to feel your mouth," John said leadingly, even as his behemoth of a cock began to harden.
"Yes, Master!" Jade said brightly, staring at John like he hung the stars in the sky. She slipped off the bed and crawled over to kneel at John's feet. Maintaining eye contact while keeping her hands demurely in her lap, Jade opened wide and swallowed John's whole length in one fluid motion.
*Fuck…* John moaned, going a bit cross-eyed. He'd noted while carrying Jade that her skin was a bit cooler than a baseline Terran's. But that apparently was just on the surface, because the inside of her throat was just shy of too hot, the perfect temperature to make his manhood feel right at home and never want to leave. Then, to his amazement, Jade's throat began to ripple in a way no Terran could possibly replicate. With her chin brushing his quad and seemingly perfectly content to stay there, John was treated to the sensation of what felt like a dozen eager hands stroking him just the way he liked it.
John had been known to last literal hours when he was determined to blow his lovers' minds. But given he needed his cum in Jade's belly in order to make a Connection and make her an Angel, he saw no reason to hold out. In a timeframe he hadn't experienced since he was a horned-up adolescent, John reached his peak and began to pump pints of rich spunk straight down into Jade's stomach.
Jade maintained her technique as if she'd done this a thousand times before and knew exactly how to prolong John's pleasure as much as possible. She withdrew just as the last jet shot out the tip, catching the final drops on her tongue. She licked her lips and gave John a grin like the cat that got the cream. "Did Jade satisfy Master?" she asked, seeking his feedback.
"Oh, yes. I am very satisfied, Jade," John panted, still reeling from one of the stronger orgasms of his life. And that was really saying something, considering all he and his Angels had gotten up to over the past few weeks.
*She didn't go into the trance,* Alyssa noted privately in the chorus.
*She's already psychic, maybe she has a natural resistance to whatever's in John's pre that zonked the rest of us out,* Jonah hypothesized.
*Kinda wish I had a cock just to see what she's got. I've never seen John blow that fast,* Sparks thought with a giggle.
*What's happening to her stomach?* Calara thought curiously.
John blinked and brought his mind back from orbiting the heliosphere. He looked down and his jaw dropped. Rings of green light were radiating, like ripples in a pond, out from Jade's navel and across her body, fading by the point they reached her neck, wrists, and ankles. "Jade, what's happening to you?" he asked, concerned for his newest lover.
Jade blinked and looked down. "Oh! This has never happened to Jade before, Master!" Jade's brows furrowed as if she were thinking hard. Then her face lit up like all her dreams had come true. "Oh, thank you Master! Jade is most grateful for your gift of more energy!"
*More energy?* John thought in confusion.
*Well, we know your cum can turn a normal person psychic even without you actively investing power into the process. Same principle here, your cum has a certain amount of psychic juice and Jade's absorbing it into her own stores. It's just very… visible for some reason,* Jonah reasoned.
Before the others could chime in, Jade gasped. Her eyes began to water again, but based on her expression they were most certainly of pure joy. "Oh, Master, you are not only so potent, but you are genetically compatible with Jade! Will Master breed Jade?"
John's thoughts came to a screeching halt at this realization. *What the…*
*I thought Nymphs weren't compatible with any species in the Galactic League,* Alyssa thought to the chorus.
*They're not,* Calara thought in shock.
*But apparently they're compatible with Progenitors,* Sparks stated the obvious conclusion from Jade's words.
*Okay, what the fuck? There's no way this is a coincidence or lucky break,* Jonah projected.
John managed to regain his composure. "Jade, think hard. Do you remember ever having another master like me? A man with a cock and quad like mine, with ears like mine, one who was psychic?"
"Jade cannot be certain, her memories are so dark and far away. But Master feels… familiar," Jade said after a beat, her eyes narrowed as if trying to match John's face to a half-forgotten photograph.
*Alyssa, take a look into her mind,* John ordered.
*Sure, but aren't you forgetting something?* Alyssa reminded him.
It took a second for John to get it, but then he focused and made a Connection with Jade. She appeared in one of his mind-boxes under Alyssa… and immediately afterward, John felt almost drunk as a surge of psychic energy filled him like a tsunami crashing onto shore. His number of free mind-boxes, their only metric at measuring psychic power, more than doubled as Jade was added to his network.
*... Note for the future: psychic Angels, or at least Nymph Angels, provide a MAJOR power boost,* John managed once he felt less like he was going to explode or transcend to a higher plane.
*Then maybe we should start tracking them down, get you a whole litter of sex kittens,* Alyssa said, only 25% in jest. Then, focusing, she separated her Astral form from her body in a Spirit-Walk. She blinked when she got a good look at Jade's mind-shield. *John, you need to order her to let me in. I couldn't break into this thing if I had the rest of you to help. You could take lessons, Jade seems to be a natural at Telepathic defense.*
"Jade, I need you to open your mind, please. Alyssa is going to take a look at your memories," John said firmly but as gentle as he could.
"Of course, Master," Jade replied, not blinking at the request. Her formidable mind-shield disappeared to Alyssa's sight, and she reached into Jade's mind.
Time moved at different speeds in the Astral, and the dilation got worse once a Telepath entered another's mind. John had never known Alyssa to take longer than 5 minutes in the real world to do what she needed to do on a Spirit-Walk. So when the minutes continued to creep past and her eyes stayed closed, he started to worry. *Honey? Is everything okay?* he cracked and sent to his Matriarch after a full quarter hour had passed by with no response.
*I'm fine! Just… kinda having my mind blown to smithereens by what I'm seeing. Go take a shower, I'm going to be here a while!* John heard as if from a great distance.
John looked at his other Angels, who shrugged helplessly, as much at a loss as him. "Jade? Keep your mind open, Alyssa needs more time to work. Would you like a shower?" John asked the newest member of his psychic network.
"Jade would love to bathe with Master!" Jade beamed. Then she looked hesitant all of a sudden. "Master did not answer Jade earlier. Will Master breed Jade?"
John was rather put on the spot. He looked to his crew for help.
*You're on your own, Johnny boy,* Jonah snorted as he got out of his own body-sleeve and went towards the bathroom.
*Good luck, Commander,* Calara wished before leaving him to his fate.
*If you're worried we'll get jealous or something, remember the Change got rid of that. I find the idea of you knocking up Jade here with a little green John or Jane very hot, and I know I speak for the others too,* Sparks supplied 'helpfully' before shucking her clothes and heading out the room.
John turned back to his Lenarran lover, who had such a heartbreaking look of hope he felt like a bastard for not immediately answering 'yes'. But that wouldn't be fair to the other girls. "I will, Jade, but not right now. When we're all ready to settle down and start having children, I promise to give you as many babies as you desire. Until then, can you please be patient?" John asked delicately.
"Master WILL breed Jade! Oh, Jade is so happy! Jade will of course wait until Master and his other mates are ready to become parents! Jade is content so long as she can be with Master and one day bear his heirs!" Her tail was actually wagging, she was so excited.
It occurred to John that Jade was the textbook definition of a low-maintenance girlfriend. It seemed impossible to upset her so long as he allowed her to serve him in some way. His pleasure was her pleasure. That felt incredibly one-sided, but maybe that was just the way she was wired. Or perhaps designed, they still needed to talk about the fact Progenitors could get Nymphs pregnant in the first place. Hopefully Alyssa would get some answers from her dive into Jade's mind, which still concerned him but she'd told him not to worry.
John and Jade went into the bathroom to find the shower already running and Jonah, Calara, and Sparks in the process of washing up. John stepped into the large cubicle, Jade fearlessly following his lead. John held his hand to the cleaning gel dispenser on the wall, then lathered up the pleasant-smelling cleanser between his hands. "Jade, I'm going to wash you now," he warned the newest addition to the family.
"Very well, Master," Jade nodded, feline eyes tracking his every move. Not in wariness, but in something like wonder. If John wasn't careful, he could let that kind of blind adoration and total submission go to his head.
John gave Jade a full-body massage, making sure to get every nook and cranny. Fortunately, he had a lot of practice with this particular shape of woman. Jade literally purred deep in her throat as John's strong hands rubbed the gel over her cool skin. John, unable to help himself, paid extra care to her luscious breasts and rounded tummy filled with his spunk. The rings of light were still radiating from her bellybutton, though John thought they might be a tad less bright. Curious, John used his active connection with Jade and funneled some energy from his own reserves into her body. The rings flared as bright as a mag-flare, and Jade gave a moan that could only be described as indecent. John reined in the flow of energy, but he'd keep that little trick in his back pocket for a later date.
When they were all clean, the crew took turns at the auto-dryer and then went to sit on the bed. Alyssa was still frozen, though her eyes moved as if she were in REM sleep. *Alyssa, you've been in there for over half an hour. Get out here, that's an order,* John sent through their Telepathic link.
*Oh, fine, worrywart. But I am DEFINITELY making a second trip in the near future,* Alyssa grumbled. A second later, her body's eyes opened and she let out a long whistle. "Well… that was life-changing."
"What did you find?" John asked. He decided to stick to verbal communication so Jade could stay part of the conversation. While she had a mind-shield and could apparently read her masters' minds, he wasn't sure she could join the chorus at this point.
"How to describe it… okay, imagine a library. The biggest damn library you can think of, filled with bookshelves that reach the ceiling, jammed so close together you'd get claustrophobia walking through it," Alyssa started.
"Okay," John nodded.
"Then imagine an earthquake came and knocked every single book to the floor. Then imagine someone took the time to go through every single book and rip out every single page. Then imagine a hurricane blowing through, scattering the pages all over into complete chaos. Then imagine years and years passing so the pages get yellow and the ink fades. Some even got damp or spontaneously caught fire and are impossible to recover," Alyssa continued.
"Where are you going with this?" Sparks asked with furrowed brows.
"Take a moment to picture what I just said. And I'd still have an easier time repairing all that damage and being able to find the book I want than I'd have of making sense of all Jade's memories," Alyssa said, her expression serious as the plague. "It's a mess in there. The only thing holding it all together is her obsession to serve and please her current master. If she didn't have that guiding instinct, she'd be a gibbering wreck or so lost in her own head she'd be catatonic. All that being said, I managed to learn a few things, which I'm still trying to process and I spent a subjective 6 hours wandering around in there."
"Don't keep us in suspense, sweetheart," Jonah said, leaning forward.
Alyssa took a deep breath to steady herself. "Okay, first off, Jade's old. I'm talking older than the Stone Age. There's tens of thousands of years of memories in there. I'm guessing she's like a Progenitor and immune to old age. So her ass and tits will be just as perky as they are now when Sol goes red giant, assuming no one kills her."
"Good to know," Calara nodded. "Go on."
"Second, and this is a big one, she met another Progenitor. I couldn't make heads or tails of what they were saying, but he looked like he could be John's cousin or brother," Alyssa told them all.
John nodded. "That makes sense. The Nymphs and the Progenitors are clearly related somehow, if Nymphs can get pregnant from a Progenitor." John frowned. "Do you remember exactly what he and Jade said?"
"When have I forgotten anything since you gave me a tune-up?" Alyssa asked rhetorically. She closed her eyes to focus and began to speak in a fluid, lilting string of syllables that was nothing like Terran Standard or any other known language in the Galactic League.
John jerked as if he'd gotten an electric shock. "Your report is appreciated, spy. You may share my bed this evening alongside my Matriarch. I am honored, Master Mael'nerak. Now begone, the Achonin are doomed but they seem determined to make their demise as irksome as possible. Attend me, Thralls!" He trailed off as Alyssa stopped speaking. "Mael'nerak… that's a Progenitor name. It means 'evil enslaver'."
"His mama must have had such high hopes for him," Jonah chuckled. He reached out to lay a hand on John's shoulder. "You alright? You seem frazzled."
"I've never heard that language in my life, but the meaning of every word just 'clicked' in my head. It… it felt like home," John said. "That… that was the Progenitor language. What should have been my native tongue. I don't know… my whole life just feels like a 'lie' now, for some reason. As if I've been wearing a Terran-shaped mask my whole life and someone just shoved a mirror in my face that showed me what I really look like. I'm… unsettled, that's the word. Plus, why the hell would I understand it if I was never taught it?"
"I call psychic bullshit, which breaks all known laws of physics anyway so what's one more oddity?" Sparks shrugged. "And John? If you'd been raised like a 'normal' Progenitor, you wouldn't be the man we all love. I'm sorry this is throwing you off, but I personally wouldn't have you any other way."
John grinned and leaned over to kiss Sparks tenderly. "Thanks, honey, I needed to hear that."
"Back to what Jade and this Mael'nerak actually said," Calara spoke up. "He called her 'spy'. And given what we know about Nymphs, they do seem custom-made to be the perfect honeypots. Become the mark's perfect woman, charm him silly, listen to all his secrets come out as pillow talk, run back to the handler to report. The Achonin… I've never heard of that species. But given how old Jade is and the rest of Mael'nerak's statement… it's possible he wiped them out during a war or something."
"Which brings us to my third point," Alyssa resumed. "Mael'nerak had technology lightyears ahead of the Terran Federation. I saw glimpses of stuff straight out of a sci-fi movie. The thing that almost made me shit my Astral pants was something I found completely by accident. Jade was on the bridge of some ship when Mael'nerak ordered a planet blown up."
"... Please be lying," John said in horror.
Alyssa closed her eyes and began to speak in remembered Progenitor again. John translated numbly. "Master, the World Destroyer is in position. Finally! Took the damn thing long enough to arrive. Fire the Quantum Annihilator… Target destroyed."
"... There's a gun that can kill a planet. I don't know whether to be impressed or appalled," Sparks said, looking a bit dazed.
"He blew up a planet?" Calara said in sheer dread. "That's… Alyssa, tell me it wasn't populated, please!"
"Visible city lights on the darkside of the planet," Alyssa reported grimly.
"Why?! What could possibly justify wiping out an entire global population? Millions or even billions of lives?" Calara demanded.
"Having the sheer gall to be an obstacle in his way," John said faintly. "I'm the only one who's seen that eldritch abomination in the Astral. I'm the only one who's seen and heard Other John. Believe me, they'd do worse for less."
"Well, that's terrifying," Jonah said flatly. "Anything more to report, Alyssa?"
"Jade spent a good chunk of her life on Lenarra, living as a nomadic hunter-gatherer with a tribe of her sisters, but she definitely isn't native to the planet. And all of Mael'nerak's Thralls were a species I've never seen. Our build, obviously. Sky-blue skin. Ears as pointed as John's. Eyes a bit slanted like an Asian Terran's. Pure black hair. Ring any bells?" Alyssa checked with John, who was the expert on the crew about the various species in the galaxy.
"No. But I'm thinking… there happens to be a large, technologically advanced empire of humanoids whose true appearance is a mystery," John mused in deep thought.
"The Maliri?" Calara asked in surprise.
John blinked. "That's literally Progenitor for 'blue'. How did I never realize that?"
"Okay. Mind officially blown. Is it possible… Mael'nerak is still alive? The king of the Maliri?" Sparks asked hesitantly, the idea so incredible.
"I have no idea, honey… but it seems like a possibility," John breathed.
"Alright, hold up, how many other species' names are actually untranslated Progenitor?" Alyssa thought quickly. "John, I'm going to do a quick check. Kintark."
"Nothing," John frowned.
"Ashanath."
"That means 'collective'," John answered reflexively. "Huh, guess that was a translation issue during first contact. The Ashanath Collective is like saying Rio Grande River or Sahara Desert."
"Brimorian."
"Nothing."
"Trankaran."
"That means 'miner'," John replied.
"Drakkar."
"I want to say 'expendable soldier'," John frowned.
Alyssa hesitated. "Terran."
"That's from an old pre-Standard word that literally translates as 'earth', we weren't terribly imaginative in naming our homeplanet," Jonah chimed in.
John had turned pale as a ghost. "Experiment," he breathed shakily.
"Nope. No, nuh-uh, will not compute, return to sender, not happening, ixnay!" Sparks denied while shaking her head. "I refuse to believe that my species was really some Progenitor motherfucker's science project. I reject that reality and substitute my own!"
"The Ashanath helped the Terran Federation develop Standard back in the 22nd Century," Calara said with wide eyes, her mind already making the connections that Sparks seemed to be ignoring. "It's quite possible our word for our species is a loan word from them… and given they seem to be related to Progenitors or at least Mael'nerak, that could have carried over and we never knew any better."
They were silent as the extraordinary truth sank into their minds.
"Alright, quick recap," John finally managed, taking charge. "Jade here is very old, though she doesn't look it. She was a spy for Mael'nerak, who at some point waged war against a species called the Achonin. He waged that war with radically advanced tech according to Alyssa. Some of the biggest players in the Galactic League have names with Progenitor translations. It's a safe bet that Mael'nerak's primary species for his Thralls are or were the Maliri. Given literal eternity to research and experiment and gather resources, my first guess is that Mael'nerak quite possibly genetically engineered the Maliri, Nymphs, Ashanath, Drakkar, Trankarans… and the Terrans."
"That's sound logic," Alyssa agreed, having the easiest time accepting all this, but then she'd had all her time searching Jade's mind to come to terms with it.
Jade tilted her head. "Master and his mates seem disturbed. Is there anything Jade can do to help?" she asked innocently.
"No, no, Jade, honey, it's nothing for you to worry about," John rushed to reassure the verdant woman. "I don't know how much of all that you understood… but Alyssa found some secrets about the galaxy in your mind that we maybe weren't ready to hear."
"Did Jade do something wrong?" she asked in alarm.
"Of course not, Jade," John told her firmly. "It's no fault of yours. You can't help knowing what you know, even if you can't consciously remember it. You did nothing wrong, we just… need some time to adjust to the news."
"Oh. Jade is glad she did not make a mistake. Jade wishes only to make Master happy!" the cat-woman beamed, for all her age seeming like a fresh-faced schoolgirl with her naivety and youthful charm.
Jonah rubbed his hands over his face. "Okay, I need a time-out. Why don't we all take a break to process what we just learned and meet back in the Lounge for dinner?"
"I'll go check on our guests," Sparks said, before all but sprinting out the room.
"I need to hear my mother's voice," Calara said, sounding a bit shaky, and she left as well.
"I'll just go for a little… 10k swim or something," Jonah said, sounding very distracted before he too left the bed.
Alyssa reached out to pat both John and Jade on the knee. "You two can get better acquainted. I'll go man the Bridge, would be just our luck to get ambushed by Drakkar or a second pirate gang on our way to Port Heracles," she chuckled before sashaying towards the door.
John shook his head. Well, when in doubt, cook it out. That's what Grandma always told him. "Jade, do you know how to cook?"
"Jade is not sure, Master, but Jade will do her best to follow all Master's instructions!" Jade chirped with a wide smile.
John went to fetch casual clothes for himself and nothing but a white button-up shirt for Jade (the unofficial 'new girl' uniform for the crew, especially when still rounded with one of John's loads). Holding Jade's hand tenderly in his, John led his newest Angel out the room towards the Lounge and Kitchen.
Sparks was trying very hard not to think. The problem was, she was never not thinking. Her mind was always tackling some challenge, trying to break everything down and neatly sort it so she could use it later. It had only gotten worse since the Change and her newfound ability to seemingly do multiple complex tasks simultaneously. Not juggle 2 or 3 different things, actually maintain more than one train of thought at once. It was what enabled her to type two different strings of code at the same time during the hack of the Stalingrad. Was that really only an hour ago? It felt like a different age, Before Jade and now Sparks was stuck in After Jade.
Oh, the redhead didn't hold any ill will towards the alien girl and newest addition to their harem/polycule/whatever. But what Alyssa had found in her memories and the far-reaching implications of those revelations–
Not thinking. Damn it, Red, stop thinking!
Stepping out the elevator onto Deck 4, Sparks tried to focus the entirety of her brainpower on being a gracious hostess, checking in on the poor people kidnapped by Hitch and his pirate gang who John had rescued. John was awesome like that. Seriously, how could that guy be real? He seemed to tick every single stereotype for the white knight and it wasn't an act, he genuinely was just that good a guy. Plus he was hotter than most holo-actors, hung like a horse, knew how to use it, and his cum was literally the sweetest, richest meal she'd ever had the pleasure of indulging in. Sparks dedicated a side-stream of her mental processing to composing a number of poems that could adequately describe the prime catch that Sparks was lucky enough to have pluck her. To say nothing of getting her oldest friend back after thinking she was lost forever, with the added bonus of lesbian activities on the menu now. Then there was Jonah, who was always quick with a joke and blessed with a near-identical body as John, and Calara, who while a bit of a tightass with her strict adherence to the law and faith in the Terran Federation was just a darling and so eager to help Sparks whenever she asked. Sparks added 3 more side-streams to make poems for the rest of her lovers. Jade would have to be left out until Sparks got to know her better, would have to remember that.
Perfectly able to compose multiple bits of prose in her head while paying attention to her surroundings and carrying a conversation, Sparks went to knock on the nearest door. After a beat, it opened to reveal a large man in coveralls, looking like your typical Outer Rim colonist in Sparks' admittedly limited experience.
"Hi! How are you doing? Is the room to your liking? You need anything?" Sparks asked with a cheery grin.
The man blushed and seemed to have a problem looking at her. "It's fine, miss."
"What's your name?" Sparks asked, trying to make small talk here.
"Geoff McIntyre, Engineer 2nd class on the Dolphin." he muttered quietly.
"Oh, cool, you're an Engineer too? I'm Sparks, Chief Engineer on the Invictus!" Sparks said excitedly, looking forward to a chance to finally speak proper Standard with someone. She loved her crewmates to pieces, but they just were so poorly educated about the finer things in life like plasma conduits and thermonuclear physics and differential equations.
"You're an Engineer?" Geoff asked, as if such a thing were the biggest shock of his life.
"You got a problem with that?" Sparks asked, her good cheer vanishing as she felt a familiar surge of defensiveness. Before John and the Angels, no one had ever taken her seriously between her age, sex, and disfigurement. Even the Diablos, who were the ones to 'hire' her in the first place, seemed shocked when she actually delivered on their demands.
"Err, no! Not at all! It's just…" Geoff sputtered, looking mortified.
"Go on," Sparks said, her tone getting dangerous.
"You're so beautiful! You look like a model!" Geoff burst out, then looked like he wished he'd drop dead on the spot in embarrassment.
Sparks blinked, disarmed at the blatant compliment. "Oh. Well, thanks Geoff!" Sparks decided she liked Geoff and would forgive him for his little misstep. "I really am Chief Engineer, though," she added.
"And your name's Sparks?" Geoff asked, relaxing a smidge.
"You don't like my name now?" Sparks chuckled, finding this whole encounter funny now.
"No, no, it's a lovely name. Just… doesn't seem to fit someone who looks the way you do," Geoff said, red as a tomato at this point.
Sparks ended up having a lovely chat with Geoff about the different kinds of power couplings used by the Dolphin and the Invictus. She left him, citing her need to check on the other 14 guests, but she'd secured his comm code in case he wanted to stay in touch. In a curious phenomenon, all the other rescued prisoners were just as cagey or awkward as Geoff had been initially. Sparks was used to people being uncomfortable around her because of her facial scar and how hideous it was. Now John had given her the face of an angel, it appeared the super-beautiful had their own issues with communication. And a good half of them made some comment about her name not suiting her the same way Geoff had.
*Well, it's not like Sparks is your legal name,* Alyssa spoke in her mind, since they were in constant Telepathic contact and all. *Actually, between running away from the orphanage so young and being stuck in the Diablos' cave, do you even have any legal identity? Sparks may have worked for the scarred waif trapped on Karron, but you're not that girl anymore, inside or out. This is the perfect opportunity to reinvent yourself, including changing your name if that's what you want.*
*Good point,* Sparks thought back. She'd cut her Telepathic links to the others when she'd left the Commander's Quarters. But since she and Alyssa had Bonded already, that link was always-on and took more effort to block. And while Sparks was still trying very hard not to think about certain topics, she didn't want to exclude the sister of her heart from her mind. Besides, it was fun to be able to be in constant contact with her best friend no matter how far apart they were. *Plus, Sparks Blake doesn't exactly roll off the tongue,* the redhead giggled.
*Or Sparks Bennings for that matter,* Alyssa chuckled alongside her. *We can keep it as a nickname, but you should start seriously thinking about what you want your new name to be.*
Sparks was already halfway through the 'A' names she had memorized. But as she finished with the last guest and headed back towards the elevator, that pesky thing she didn't want to think about popped up in her mind. *Alyssa… do you think it's true? Are humans an artificially created species?*
*If the Standard word for 'Terran' is actually the Progenitor word for 'experiment'... it tracks, Sparks. It'd be a hell of a coincidence otherwise,* Alyssa thought softly.
*Dorph that gonk ratscat,* Sparks spat in her mind.
*Wash your brain out with soap, bitch!* Alyssa gasped at the most vile of street slang from the tunnels of Karron. *Why's that idea bother you so much, Sparks?*
*Ever since I was old enough to understand the whole concept of 'the universe', I maintained the idea that it followed a system of logical rules that, while beautiful in their complexity, were more or less random. There is no God, no Higher Power, just scientific laws that are the sum of all we've learned up till now and are open to change if we're presented with new evidence. If something doesn't make sense, then we're just too dumb to reason out how it follows those rules and is the inevitable conclusion,* Sparks explained. *And life, while an amazing thing, was no more special than anything else. They verified the Miller-Urey experiment centuries ago, single-celled organisms naturally emerge from the primordial goo if the conditions on a planet or moon are in the right parameters. Then they can evolve over millions and billions of years into sapient species like Terrans. It's amazing when you think about it, but I thought it was only natural, a particular result of the RNG that is the way of the universe. To find out that there's a good chance Terrans and a bunch of other species didn't evolve naturally, were in fact the product of intelligent design…*
*It makes you wonder if all those 'scientific laws' aren't as immutable as you thought, or just an accident of physics. Finding out about Mael'nerak is making you wonder if there is a God, a creator of the universe, and if everything really does happen for a reason like those street preachers used to tell us,* Alyssa realized in a flash. *Oh, Sparks, you're having a crisis of faith, aren't you?*
*That might be the term for it,* Sparks sighed as the elevator doors closed on her. She hit the button for Deck 2, having spent more than an hour visiting the guests and John was probably about ready with dinner by now. *I mean, I can wrap my mind around the idea of genetic science and engineering a novel life form from scratch just fine. But for some reason, the thought that Adam and Eve were real and were test-tube babies… it's just fucking up the bedrock of my mind for some reason. Doesn't help that we're literally communicating mind-to-mind at a distance without any tools, which violates everything I thought I knew about biology. I was already struggling with this psychic magic crap, I guess Mael'nerak was the straw that broke my back, is all.*
*Well, about the whole Spirit of the Universe thing, I can't help you. That's up to you to figure out for yourself,* Alyssa told her, supportive but making it clear she wasn't going to offer any answers. *However, I think you should take Mael'nerak's scientific superiority and the whole question of psionics as a challenge. It took him who knows how long to get that far; how long would it take you from the baseline of 2779 Terran tech? And what was the reverse of Clarke's third law again? 'Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science'? When we've got a spare minute, you can study and analyze our powers to your heart's content and get some answers that fit in your existing framework of how the natural world functions. Doesn't that sound like fun?*
Sparks got a frankly alarming grin as she chewed on that thought. *You always know just what to say, old friend. I actually feel better now… and itching to get started.*
Then Calara asked Alyssa a question that blew all those thoughts out of Sparks' head.