Specimen 16

; Specimen 16

; ; Synopsis: James is having a bad day. The Moral Rehabilitation Camp he got sent to appears to be a cover for a corporate genetics lab researching a performance-enhancing street drug called 'Hara'

; ; Known Characters: Ashmael

; ; Time period: Before book One

; ; This fanfic is copyright to Storm Constantine should she wish to exercise that right

; ; --- ; ; I'm innocent. Didn't do it. Wasn't me. My protests fell on deaf ears, naturally.

; ; Its one of the really nice things about Citadel Corp, they don't worry about due process. You're living on their land, in their houses, protected by Citadel-gard militia, even my fucking parents are employed by good ol' Citadel and rely on them for the paycheck; so they figure they get final say on everything.

; ; The problem I thought I had had with Citadel was one of a simple lifestyle disagreement. I thought I should be allowed to listen to loud music and seduce any girl who'd show willing (of which there were quite a few!).

; ; Citadel preferred their employee's kids celibate until married and attending daily prayer meetings with their parents.

; ; Turns out my lifestyle choices had nothing to do with it. But I didn't figure that out until later. It never occurred to me that I was rebellious because deep down I'd already foreseen that I was going to become Citadel's worst nightmare.

; ; So there I am, a rebel without a clue, but I wasn't a fool, I knew what the limits were. Like every corp-kid I was fully aware that expulsion was the ultimate sanction. It would mean life on the streets, followed shortly thereafter by death, once a downtown gang like the dreaded Wraeththu caught you on their turf.

; ; The hearing was brief. I was accused of graffiti, vandalism and worst of all 'leading Mary Ellison astray'. The director laid it on thick, informing my parents that they had two choices. Citadel could expel me or I could volunteer to undertake rehabilitation at one of Citadel's mid-west facilities.

; ; Naturally my parents opted to have me sent to rehab. I protested that I hadn't done it, but no one was interested in my opinion by that stage.

; ; So next thing I know I'm handed an orange jump-suit to wear and am off to Ohio.

; ; ---

; ; I don't know what I expected Rehab to look like. One thing was for damn certain, I wasn't expecting a military bunker with Citadel-gard Militia dressed up like they were the fucking US Marines.

; ; "Out"

; ; It was the first word anyone had said to me in two days of being driven cross-country. I wanted to say 'what the fuck is this shit' but common sense told me to keep my mouth shut. Unfortunately I couldn't help giving the guy a rebellious glare.

; ; That's when I found out that, actually, rifle butts to the head do hurt and that the guard had no problem with dragging my unconscious body down into the bunker.

; ; ---

; ; ; "They got a new guy, someone whispered loudly

; ; "Which cell?" called another

; ; "Sixteen"

; ; "Hey Sixteen, you awake in there?"

; ; I groaned

; ; "This here's Thirteen, welcome to hell"

; ; I slipped back into unconsciousness

; ; ---

; ; ; So, I ask you, what sort of rehab involves doctors in full biological containment suits and me being put through a full set of physical exams?

; ; Whatever it is, it doesn't involve me having a name anymore. As far as the doctors are concerned I'm not a name I'm just a number...number sixteen to be precise.

; ; The doctors are no more interested in my opinions than the guards are.

; ; They test me to exhaustion, making me run on treadmills until its so fast that I stumble, then make me do it again with a gasmask on that feeds thinner air.

; ; By the end of the day, I'm barely conscious and still none the wiser about whats really going on. The thin plastic covered foam mattress on the floor of my cell looks like luxury.

; ; Thirteen isn't there but his mate Fifteen is in the next cell.

; ; "You ok Sixteen?"

; ; "I've been better"

; ; "I bet. Not exactly the School for gifted kids like we were promised is it"

; ; "Huh? They told you you were going to some fancy school?"

; ; "Yep, they did this psionics testing stuff, said I was a borderline telepathic, said I was gifted. They told you different?"

; ; "I was framed, this is supposed to be a 'Moral Rehabilitation Camp'. Although, come to think of they did do some of that psi-testing shit at school a few weeks ago. I couldn't be bothered, so I just ticked random boxes" I admitted.

; ; Obviously this Fifteen was really gullible then. I mean psionics. Its right out of X-men!

; ; Down the hall someone laughed, it was an odd sound, spooky. There was pain in that laugh and bitter mocking amusement.

; ; I craned my neck, peering through the letterbox slit in the cell door to see if I could identify where the laughter was coming from.

; ; "Ignore him, advised Fifteen "That kid's a Wraeththu. He thinks being an unemployable druggie makes him better than us in someway"

; ; I shut up.

; ; Where I come from streetscum that get too close to the walls are used as target practice. That one of them should be given equal status with the rest of us meant we were probably equally expendable. The presence of a bloodthirsty piece of streetscum just a few feet away brought it home to me. Whatever was really going on here wasn't going to end well at all.

; ; A moment later the lights were extinguished, accompanied by a clunk of a large circuit breaker being thrown. Clearly we were expected to sleep. Not knowing the routine, I decided that it'd be a good idea to take the hint and grab what sleep I could get.

; ; That night I dreamt that I could hear singing, the most beautiful poignant song I'd ever heard. I wanted to get out of bed and go to her. I ached. When I awoke I couldn't remember any of the words.

; ; I'd half expected to be kicked out of bed by a military type at dawn, in fact they didn't come for us until 9am. Apparently the corporate scientists work office hours.

; ; Instead of the gym we were led to what I immediately recognized as a psionics lab...or what I imagined a psi-lab might look like. You know, cards with circle, square, star on them, all that shit.

; ; For the first time I got a glimpse of the scientists outside of their bio-suits. They were behind a glass wall, three old men with hard emotionless faces. A bit like three clones of that Moff Tarkin dude in Star Wars.

; ; No guards were present on our side of the glass. There were just the four of us; me, Thirteen, who turned out to be a girl, Fifteen who to my surprise was a black kid (his voice had sounded upper-class English) and finally the Wraeththu streetscum with the number one sowed into his jump-suit.

; ; Instinctively I edged away from the streetscum. Despite his somewhat battered state he radiated poise and danger. It was rather like sharing a cage with a panther, he could lick your face, or bite it off, or both.

; ; As if he'd read my mind he glanced directly at me and made an exaggerated licking motion. I shivered and stepped sideways so that Thirteen was between him and me.

; ; Satisfied that all three of us knew he wasn't to be messed with, he stalked over to the glass and held his hands behind his back as if he were a general inspecting the troop of scientists.

; ; "Well darlings, what game are we playing today?" asked the Wraeththu looking at his prey. The Scientists had instinctively backed away, despite being behind glass that was almost certainly armored.

; ; I frowned. The pitch and inflection of the Wraeththu boy's speech were almost feminine. Was he actually a rather flat chested tomboy then?

; ; To my surprise the scientist answered.

; ; "We are interested in comparing your parapsychic gifts with those of these three."

; ; I almost pointed out that I had no stupid fictional bloody psychic fucking superpower but a warning glance from The Wraeththu shut me up. Suddenly it occurred to me that if I were of no further use they'd probably just dispose of my body.

; ; As before, it didn't occur to me that the Wraeththu had just read my mind as casually as blinking. Stuff like that was pure fiction.

; ; "This is pointless, replied the Wraeththu "I don't have any superpowers, I'm not fucking Jean Grey. Even if I did have powers, I'd be a fool to demonstrate them to creatures like you."

; ; "Obviously." replied the scientist dryly "But you see, your co-operation isn't necessary."

; ; The Wraeththu seemed to sag slightly and muttered "Of course"

; ; "Thirteen, Fifteen and Sixteen." said the scientist speaking to us for the first time ever. "You probably wonder why you were kidnapped and brought here. Number One here is the reason."

; ; "Ash. My name is Ash, growled the Wraeththu boy

; ; The scientist continued, ignoring the interruption "...every child in the Citadel school program was tested for parapsychic abilities. You three aced the tests demonstrating an extraordinary sensitivity."

; ; "But....I cheated! All I did was tick random boxes, blurted someone. A second later I realized it was my voice.

; ; Ash the Wraeththu boy smirked

; ; Suddenly words formed in my mind

; ; Don't you see! That's exactly how precognition works, you just open yourself up to the higher planes and let it flow

; ; Fortunately I have a pretty good poker face. I think, I hope, I didn't let the Citadel bastards notice that I'd just been telepathed.

; ; Its odd. I ought to have been thinking 'superpowers are real!?!!?!' actually I thought 'so that's what that is then' as if I'd known it was possible all along.

; ; "You are here because we believe that the Wraeththu gangs have developed a highly addictive drug called Hara that boosts reflexes and creates mental powers. Discovery of such a drug would be exceedingly profitable to Citadel's military division. Statistically you three are the cream of over 200,000 students and he is a homeless street kid taken at random. In theory you three will have greater psionic ability" explained the scientist.

; ; "If that's true, why put us in cells?" demanded Fifteen "I even volunteered to come here. Why should I be treated like a criminal? I've done nothing wrong!"

; ; "Unfortunately scientific method requires that we keep each test subject in near identical circumstances. As Number One is a criminal vagrant intent on escape, you three must also be treated in the same way. This procedure eliminates variations caused by environment. Sorry"

; ; He lies

; ; I didn't need Kid Telepath to tell me that. I already knew that this was bullshit.

; ; "Today you will attempt to read Number One's mind and report anything you detect. Take as much time as you need, said the scientist, flicking a switch that turned the glass into a one-way mirror.

; ; The three of us didn't know what to make of this and glanced at each other completely baffled.

; ; The streetscum meanwhile, decided he might as well get some rest and sat down cross-legged, his back against the wall. No not he, she. Definitely. No guy would naturally sit like that; his 'equipment' would be uncomfortable.

; ; "Wake me when you're done" she instructed, dismissing us from her attention.

; ; "So." I said "You guys read minds a lot then?"

; ; "Sometimes I know what people are thinking, its kind of random. I hadn't thought there was anything unusual about it until the school did the tests" admitted Fifteen

; ; "Like I said, I thought I was just goofing off." I admitted

; ; "I guess that puts me head of the class then." replied the girl I knew only as Thirteen "I had this knack with card games, I could 'see' what cards other players had. Unlike you two I could switch the ability on and off"

; ; "So what do we do then? I don't believe for a second that we're not just as much prisoners as she is." I replied pointing to the Wraeththu girl

; ; "I expect that they will threaten harm to yourself and your families if you don't" said Ash from across the room not bothering to open her eyes.

; ; Play along with them. I can't get us out until they've relaxed their guard a bit whispered Ash's mental voice

; ; "Looks like we don't have a choice then" I replied bitterly wondering if the other two had 'heard'

; ; Only you my sweet replied Ash, her communication loaded with strange emotions that I wasn't ready for.

; ; "I'll go first then, replied Thirteen brushing past me to sit in front of Ash

; ; "I'm sorry, said Ash inexplicably

; ; Thirteen sat in front of Ash for what seemed like hours. It was probably nearer twenty minutes. At the start her expression was one of calm confidence, which changed about fifteen minutes in, starting as a frown and rapidly turning to a look of unreasoning terror.

; ; Thrusting herself away Thirteen ran for the armored door and began beating at it with her fists. She never said a word. Her fists bled, but she continued to hammer at that door like the hounds of hell were chasing her.

; ; Fifteen and me glanced at each other and then lunged at Ash. It was obvious the streetscum was doing something to Thirteen.

; ; Attacking Ash was probably the stupidest thing either of us had ever done. We were a couple of corporate school kids and she'd grown up in the slums where life was hard and death was easy. Given what happened later we were plain lucky that Ash felt merciful just then.

; ; The first thing I learned was that Ash was insanely strong. No girl I knew could have grabbed each of us by the fronts of our coveralls and lifted us off the floor one boy in each hand.

; ; Despite this rather distressing turn of events, my male instincts were still those of a teenage male. I took time to look down the front of her coverall scanning for a cute pair of tits. I discovered no cleavage at all. Ash was male after all.

; ; "Calm down. Both of you!" growled Ash

; ; It hurt her because she's female, her mind works on a different frequency to mine. I couldn't save her thought Ash sadly

; ; "If thats so why didn't you warn her!?" I snapped angrily

; ; Think it, don't say it

; ; I tried to frame a question mentally but couldn't. It puzzled me that he thought that I could.

; ; Fifteen glanced between Ash and me; clearly he'd caught at least a hint of the telepathy.

; ; "You think they'll let you harm us? The guards are probably already on their way to separate us!" snapped Fifteen.

; ; I felt contempt. It was pretty evident to me that Citadel owned Fifteen's soul.

; ; Ash dropped us like a pair of shopping bags.

; ; "You still don't get it do you Fifteen. They want to see what I do to you. They know we Wraeththu are 'weapons grade' but they haven't figured out in what way yet. They think they're onto something with psionics, but If I kill you some other way, the data still has value" replied Ash bitterly "How long shall we wait for those guards to get here Fifteen? How long would it have taken me to break your neck Fifteen?"

; ; The guards never showed up. After a while Thirteen slipped down to the floor and curled up into a ball. I never learned her real name.

; ; They dragged her out at midday; they wore full bio-suits to do it and aimed guns at us as they tossed three MRE ration packs into the middle of the room.

; ; I woke up mid afternoon feeling Ash's soft fingers caressing my cheek. Fight or flight is a good instinct to have; suddenly I was fully awake and scrambling to get away from him.

; ; "They doped the food. I should have anticipated that," said Ash

; ; "Why?"

; ; "If they'd handed each of us a specific plate each I'd have expected it and not eaten anything. As it was random chance who got which, I assumed they were all safe. Doubtless they've used the time to take various samples from all of us."

; ; Across the room Fifteen groaned still not fully awake. I glanced at him and then back at the telepath.

; ; "Why Me?" I asked. My question could have meant anything, but he clearly understood my meaning.

; ; You are the one who sees the future, you figure it out he whispered in my mind

; ; Out loud he said, "I live in a downtown ghetto, I could be a carrier of anything from SARS-7 to pneumonic HIV. They want to see if I'm catching. Their first attempt to test me was... Unsuccessful."

; ; I figured I didn't need to be a precog to guess there was more to it than that, but was reluctant to say anything in front of Citadel's scientists.

; ; "I'm James Conway, by the way." I said offering my hand.

; ; "Ashmael Aldabaraan" he replied giving his full name

; ; Instead of a handshake Ash gripped my forearm in something like the old roman greeting. His arm felt noticeably warmer than mine, I could feel his pulse running fast where our forearms touched. Some instinct told me that one day I would trust him utterly.

; ; Across the room Fifteen glared at us. Noticing this, Ash moved to assist him, only for Fifteen to scramble backward terrified.

; ; Shrugging, Ash resumed his cross legged pose next to his wall, Fifteen walked to the furthest corner and sat there never taking his eyes from Ash. Still Feeling groggy from the doped food I moved to the third wall so that I was equidistant between the two.

; ; We were silent for some time, possibly hours, each of us absorbed in our own thoughts.

; ; My mind drifted in the silence, hands caressed me, pushed me backward, gently parting my legs getting ready to..... I jerked awake.

; ; What had I been thinking!?!

; ; Fifteen was looking at me intently.

; ; "What are you looking at?" I snapped

; ; "Umm..you were broadcasting, telepathically." he replied moving his hand to hide an embarrassing erection.

; ; I glanced in Ash's direction. He had his eyes closed but his mouth twitched slightly.

; ; "You can shut up as well!"

; ; Ash raised a languid eyebrow but it was obvious he'd been a party to my....my what?...my sex fantasy?

; ; "Explain, demanded the voice of the Citadel scientist, speaking for the first time in hours...Big Brother was interested.

; ; "Fuck off!"

; ; "He had a precognition, he was having sex ...as a girl" replied Fifteen.

; ; CALMLY!

; ; Ash's mental voice practically shouted. Clearly there was something about my sick little fantasy that Citadel Corp's scientists didn't need to know.

; ; I unclenched my fists "I thought you were supposed to be reading Ash's mind Fifteen. Your aim's a little off there matey"

; ; "Screw you Sixteen!"

; ; I leaned back against the wall, wondering whether I should seek out further visions or avoid this strange new ability like it was poison. In the comics precogs always get a bad deal. Pyrokinesis, now that would have been a kewl power, why couldn't I have got something neat like that?

; ; Fifteen meanwhile was looking hard at Ash.

; ; "Scientist. The Wraeththu is very worried about those samples you took. Whatever you are looking for, look there." he snitched "Now for gods sake get me out of here before he kills me"

; ; This time the scientists decided to act and quickly. They might value Fifteen about as much as a pet hamster, but he was an obedient hamster. The door opened and the guards piled in.

; ; Being sat against the wall as I was, I had no chance to intervene. I was kind of glad about that afterwards.

; ; I'd heard that the streetscum kids, and the Wraeththu gang in particular, were quite lethal. I never expected to see that skill demonstrated.

; ; The first few guards never stood a chance. Ash sold them a dummy, pretending to lunge for Fifteen only to use the wall next the frightened boy to gain momentum for a dive back into the guards, pouncing like the panther I'd imagined him to be.

; ; Fortunately I couldn't see much as they all went down in a tangle of arms and legs. The wet crunching sound of windpipes being crushed and the drum of dead feet against the floor was more than enough detail for me, thank you.

; ; I'd expected Ash to give some sort of warcry as he did his 'Butch and Sundance'. He didn't. The boy was a silent, lethal, killing machine. Maybe he hoped they'd kill him, he definitely wasn't trying to escape. In the end it took six of them to pin him down.

; ; Once the guards had dragged him away and picked up the bodies of their comrades I turned to glare at Fifteen.

; ; "Happy then Fifteen? People just died because you are a snitch and a coward"

; ; Fifteen ignored me, allowing a guard to lead him away. Stupid sheep.

; ; Another of the guards grabbed me by the arm and none too gently pulled me up. It looked like Citadel's great psionics study was over for the day.

; ; I couldn't help wondering what would happen next. It seemed to me that there was no way they were going to get Fifteen and Ash back in the same room without a murder being committed.

; ; James

; ; I was awake instantly.

; ; The sleeping cells had no windows, to guess what time it was, all I had to go on, was the fact that I was fully rested. I chose to assume it was sometime before dawn.

; ; I know what they will do next

; ; I had no way to answer, so I just left it to Ash to be aware that I'd heard him.

; ; You mustn't eat anything tomorrow. You should tell Fifteen not to eat either said Ash's gentle psi-voice.

; ; I found it hard to reconcile the neck breaking berserker with that mental caress.

; ; Thanks to Fifteen, they know that the Wraeththu secret is in our blood and DNA. They will inject you with it to see what it will do. It will be rough, but you will survive. Do not be alarmed by any physical changes, they are necessary, beneficial and ultimately pleasurable.

; ; I would have been rather alarmed by the whole 'physical changes' thing, if it hadn't been for the emotion of utter certainty that accompanied Ash's sending. I think he was wise not to go into detail. Had he done so I wouldn't have been nearly as calm. What I had been told was bad enough. I lay awake looking at the ceiling wondering what it all meant. It must have been earlier than I thought, because I was soon asleep dreaming what was my first recognizable precog dream.

; ; In my dream I was running barefoot over the shattered concrete. The lack of shoes didn't bother me; my soles of my feet had long since hardened.

; ; As I ran I noticed a poppy bud poking up from a crack in the asphalt. I stopped captivated by its simple beauty, caressing its life-force with my slender fingers, giving it the small burst of extra energy it needed to unfurl.

; ; With a solid clunk the lights came on in the cell and the strange dream evaporated.

; ; As Ash had predicted both Fifteen and I were dragged from our cells, neither of us were given the opportunity to dress. This irritated Fifteen who was still under the impression that being a good boy yesterday meant he was due better treatment.

; ; The guards, doubtless annoyed by the deaths of their comrades, were having none of it pushing us forward with their rifle butts.

; ; One such shove put me close to Fifteen's ear. "Read my mind, I whispered urgently. He glanced at me sharply, and then got the vague look that meant he was concentrating.

; ; I ran through Ash's sending in my mind, hoping he'd get the idea.

; ; Two breakfasts were provided in the observation room that we'd been in the day before. Fifteen took this as evidence that Ash wouldn't be joining us and relaxed visibly.

; ; Despite my hunger I pushed the food away and refused to eat. Fifteen either hadn't read the warning in my mind or was choosing to ignore it

; ; "Don't!" I hissed

; ; He glared at me and resumed shoveling the cereal into his mouth. A minute later Fifteen was slumped on his side the remnant of the drugged cereal pooling around him.

; ; Two bio-suited guards entered, one holding a hypodermic, clearly intended for me.

; ; "Don't. I'll cooperate. " I said in as passive a tone as I could manage.

; ; The guard hesitated then nodded. Ushering me out into the corridor whilst his mate slung the unconscious Fifteen over his shoulder.

; ; Soon we were in a room I'd not seen before. The main feature of the room was a pair of medical beds complete with restraint straps.

; ; As it was quite obvious what was required I walked over to the bed and hopped up onto it. I couldn't see any point in struggling, I was hardly going to get far if I did.

; ; A scientist entered, his status indicated by his white bio-suit rather than the green ones worn by his guards.

; ; "I'm cooperating." I said again

; ; "Why is that? Given your behavior so far it is evident you don't trust us" asked the scientist

; ; "You dragged me in here because you think I have precognition. Well you'll be happy to know I had one last night that tells me I won't be harmed by what you are up to. Speaking of which what exactly are you planning to do to me? Whats the purpose of all this? Its clear to me that the Psi-drug is only a part of the story"

; ; The scientist paused in his preparations of a tray of instruments and then nodded as if coming to a decision.

; ; "The Wraeththu streetgang aren't human. We think that they were lab-grown by a rival defense contractor as genetic supersoldiers. They are faster, stronger, have enhanced senses and parapsychic abilities that are off the chart."

; ; "Not. Human?"

; ; "Their DNA is unlike any in nature. From our dissection of the dead one its evident that the ability to reproduce was deliberately designed out so that they couldn't 'interact' with civilians. To put it crudely the Wraeththu penis is virtually unrecognizable as such" explained the scientist clearly forgetting who I was and getting disturbingly enthusiastic about his subject.

; ; "So..." he continued, "they are not capable of normal sex and yet the number of teenage Wraeththu appears to be growing almost exponentially. It was essential that we find out how. Thanks to Specimen 15 we believe we now have the answer!"

; ; I mean...mad scientist or what!? Ok I admit I was beginning to have second thoughts about the whole 'co-operate with the experiment' thing. But by then the two guards had already locked the leather straps around my wrists and across my chest.

; ; The Scientist holds up a syringe filled with blue un-oxygenated blood.

; ; "When Wraeththu DNA is mixed with human DNA, their DNA becomes viral. Now a normal virus just turns a cell into a virus factory whose only function is creating more virii, this stuff goes one better it maintains the cell's original function as well as replicating. The guy that came up with it deserves a prize."

; ; Yep, I should definitely be nervous but suddenly I'm getting swamped with feelings of passive acceptance. Ash. Ash is doing it! I should be feeling betrayed but my emotions are not my own.

; ; The syringe is inserted into my arm and the entire vial of Wraeththu blood is pushed into me.

; ; A minute later Ash's mental broadcast faded. I guess there's a limit to how long he could keep it up.

; ; Finally I'm allowed to be scared. No scared isn't a strong enough word. Terrified..I'm fucking terrified. I start hyperventilating and sweating.

; ; The veins on my arm are already inflamed, bulging so that they look like ivy wrapped around a tree trunk. So fast!

; ; My heart hammered in my chest.

; ; "Clever, clever, clever." Muttered the scientist. "Your adrenalin levels are way up Sixteen. The converted cells are generating it, telling your heart to beat faster so that the Wraeththu blood reaches every part of your body quickly"

; ; "Oh..great!" I gasp sarcastically "Are you...going to... Do a....fucking.... running commentary?"

; ; "Specimen 16 is exhibiting mild levels of distress, but is still lucid, said the scientist, speaking into a recorder.

; ; "Screw you too!"

; ; For the next few hours things went on about the same. I was feeling pretty uncomfortable, but if I was honest, not really any worse than when I'd had any of the fever's I'd had as a child.

; ; My one obsession was observing my penis; I didn't much like the thought that it was going to be damaged. So far the only sign was the enflamed veins giving it semi-erect look despite my utter lack of arousal.

; ; I wondered how long this was going to last, becoming impatient with the process.

; ; Two more days whispered Ash in my mind

; ; Meanwhile one of the other scientists came in showing his Colleague the results of samples he'd taken.

; ; "Am..I...still human then?" I gasped half jokingly

; ; They glanced at me, then back at the printout.

; ; "Actually no. Every cell in the last sample was infected, replied my friend the chatty mad scientist "The adrenaline levels are reverting to normal and your cells are beginning to generate some sort of RNA analogue. I'd say your body is getting ready enter a phase of rapid cell division"

; ; "Will...that...hurt?" I gasped

; ; "No idea. But I'm sure you will be letting us know. You've not eaten in twelve hours Do you want any food? Water?"

; ; Recalling Ash's warning I shook my head "Just...Water"

; ; My growth spurt started about five minutes later, just before the water arrived.

; ; I started to swell up like someone who's allergic to bee stings..whats the word? annapha-something shock.. my fingers so thick that I couldn't form a fist. I wanted to scream, but my throat was constricted, swollen shut.

; ; For the first and only time the Citadel scientist was useful. Forcing my mouth open (my teeth were gritted) he shoved a breathing tube down my throat.

; ; After that I lost interest in everything beyond the sensations running through my inflamed rotting carcass.

; ; I might have lost interest but it didn't stop me remembering a few choice phrases.

; ; "Body mass at 189%...."

; ; "Phase-2 White blood cells appear to be attacking the human cells altered during phase-1. I predict that no original cells will remain by phase-4"

; ; "Rapid onset acne and eczma, vomiting and continued incontinence of both types. Speculation: Body is expelling dead human cells... Body mass down to 86% of original"

; ; "EEG shows a completely different brainwave pattern. I want a scan of that brain Stat!"

; ; And finally

; ; "Excellent! Get him back to the CT scanner! The internal sex organs are beginning to form"

; ; I don't remember hearing anything after that. I do remember being placed in the white donut of the CT scanner and a knife-like pain ripping my crotch apart like I'm being unzipped.

; ; Fortunately my inflamed no-longer- human brain shutdown completely after that.

; ; When I awoke I found that I was curled up on the mat in my sleeping cell. My cheeks were wet, I'd been crying in my sleep I guess.

; ; I didn't hurt anymore, not at all. I could tell I was still naked though. I guess specimens don't warrant cloths I thought angrily and sniffed.

; ; The first thing I noticed was that the sound of the air conditioning had changed. Along with the steady humm that I'd become used to, was an annoying ultra-high pitched whine.

; ; Enhanced senses! They'd said enhanced senses!

; ; I opened my eyes.

; ; It was a revelation. I hadn't realized that there was anything wrong with my eyesight. Things in the distance had always been slightly blurry. Today I could see the speck of rust on the screwhead of the door hinge from the other side of the room.

; ; Hair flopped into my eyes. I had long hair? How the fuck long had I been out of it anyway? Weeks? I swept my new hair out of the way. It felt softer, or was that just my sense of touch was more sensitive?

; ; If a long time had passed my fingernails should be noticeably longer and there should be a beard. My fingers seemed slimmer, the nails a fraction longer but not greatly so. Big change to my face though, it felt pre-teen smooth. So that didn't help, I was no wiser about how much time had really passed.

; ; I wondered if I would recognize myself when I looked in a mirror. As far as I could tell I didn't have any Klingon brow-ridges or devil horns.

; ; With a surge of energy, I rolled off the mat and stood up, feeling ready for anything. I'd forgotten about the other changes, the ones Ash had been careful not to mention, the ones the scientist had misunderstood so completely.

; ; Everything down below had felt perfectly natural and normal. As a result I nearly died of shock when I looked down.

; ; My first thought was 'oh fuck I've turned into a girl'. My second thought was..'its fucking glowing...I'm radioactive??'

; ; Fortunately the new body comes with a full set of instinctive software. My third thought was 'wow! I look really hot!'

; ; Having been close and personal with Mary Ellison I was fully aware what a labia should look like. What I had looked sort of similar but more of it and with constantly shifting colors, like an army camouflage pattern but done in neon bright hues.

; ; Tentatively I touched it with a finger...it was very pleasurable and sensitive. Erotic thoughts surged through me.

; ; I snatched my finger away as if I'd been stung. I'd almost put it somewhere deeper.

; ; To say that I was sexually confused would be an understatement. I looked at myself and desired penetration and at the same time wanted to thrust my apparently non-existent cock into those delightful fleshy folds.

; ; Something stirred within, swelling outward. At first it looked like the tentacles of a squid, then like petals and finally like a large erect penis formed from the strands, spiral-twisted like a rope.

; ; I felt somewhat relieved to meet this replacement bestfriend. Perhaps things weren't quite as alien as I'd feared.

; ; I had no idea that I had control or that I could choose the role that my body would take from minute to minute. As a result, my confused body tried to follow the directions given out by my butterfly-like sexual identity.

; ; My beautiful new rod unraveled and retracted back into safety only to emerge again a few seconds later as the sight of my female-like parts aroused me again.

; ; In the end I closed my eyes, folded my arms and tried thinking about something non-sexual. (A near impossible feat)

; ; I didn't need anyone to tell me that the scientist had been dead wrong when he said Wraeththu were some sort of neutered castrati. I'd never been this needy in my life.

; ; After a few deep breaths I looked down at myself again. As it happened my penis-like organ was out and dangling in loosely coiled semi-erection. Ash had complete control of his body, so I reasoned that I ought to have the same degree of self-control.

; ; I tried creating a picture of how I wanted to be in my head...that didn't work. My thoughts slid off toward the desire to penetrate and I felt myself getting harder the un-named parts twisting tighter. With careful deliberation I tried thinking about the opposite roll, wondering what it would be submissive as I had been in my precognition.

; ; It was like hitting a light switch. Like a startled eel my parts unraveled and retracted as if they'd been attached to a bungee chord. Alien desires filled me and left me reeling. Finally instincts and conscious mind had connected up.

; ; Now that I understood how it worked I admit I played a little, like a child with a new toy. First thinking one way and then the other and watching with delight as I changed...in. Out. In. Out.

; ; Finished playing with yourself yet? asked Ash, his sending colored with tender amusement that tasted of peaches and cream.

; ; I snatched my hand away guiltily.

; ; Yes

; ; Good

; ; You heard me?

; ; You are Wraeththu now. Our minds are on the same frequency, I don't have to punch through all that human sludge

; ; A nasty embarrassing thought occurred to me. Was I broadcasting?

; ; Just a bit

; ; In other words Ash had had access to his own personal porn channel. I blushed.

; ; Its understandable. You have new instincts, which you aren't used to yet. For example If you got into a murderous rage your conscious mind would know that that wasn't acceptable and inhibit you. At this stage your mind doesn't have any inhibitions on the soume side of your character. explained Ash

; ; Soume? Whats that?

; ; The role you haven't tried yet. Your female-like internal parts are your Soume-lam, the outer parts the Ouana-lim

; ; So you're saying I'm a nymphomaniac who'd spread his legs for anyone? I asked. The emotion of 'desperate longing' that accompanied my thought pretty much confirmed it.

; ; Don't worry. The state you are in is temporary....its a symptom of the one final thing about us that the humans don't understand yet.

; ; And that is?

; ; Our blood can create new Wraeththu, but the change doesn't stabilize until the new guy has...(Ash's sending begins to glow with compassion)...umm 'used' that new Soume equipment of his.

; ; I like to think I was pretty quick on the uptake, despite being a wild hormonal soup right then.

; ; So basically I need to have sex with you pretty fucking soon or I revert to being human? I sent. I was getting all warm and tingly just thinking about it.

; ; No. You don't revert. You die.

; ; Well that one certainly dumped cold water on my warm glowy feeling.

; ; Great. Just fucking great. How long have I got?

; ; Plenty of time. But you need to be ready. If they are fool enough to put any two of us in the same room you are going to have to get it on fast. Hardly the romantic ideal unfortunately

; ; And if they don't?

; ; If they don't, then I'll have to demonstrate yet more of those superpowers I don't have...and then kill every last human on this base.

; ; I broke off the mental link and shivered. The emotions that had accompanied Ash's last words had been too alien. He'd been eager to start killing. Ash meant exactly what he'd said. His bloodlust extended to every human on the base, from the head scientist down to the janitor and the receptionist on the front desk, even those on other shifts who'd clocked off and gone home.

; ; The really frightening thing was that I couldn't feel anything for them. It was as if only three people existed...Ash, Fifteen and me.

; ; Remembering that Fifteen existed diverted my thoughts. My hand drifted up to fiddle with my hair and I wondered how hot the transformed African American would look.

; ; An hour later the guards came for me. There were six of them, all armed. They stank of fear. There hadn't been a coverall in my cell and the guards didn't have one for me. As I wasn't human, I guess I no longer rated clothes. To them I was now just Specimen 16, a dangerous lab animal.

; ; Oddly my nudity in front of them didn't bother me any more than it would bother me if my pet dog saw me naked. I was Wraeththu and I knew I was superior.

; ; I recognized that we were headed for the observation room and optimism increased. The others would be there. I was certain.

; ; I was in for a disappointment. A transparent plastic wall had been placed dividing the room in two and so far the other half was unoccupied.

; ; "How do you feel today?" asked the chatty scientist from behind his mirrored wall.

; ; I didn't answer for a few minutes, partly because I wanted to figure out the answer for myself and partly because I had no intention of helping Citadel.

; ; "Better" I said finally

; ; "Please be more specific"

; ; "You wouldn't understand"

; ; "Try"

; ; "Better in every way imaginable" I said, standing with hands on my hips my ouana-lim retracted so that he had a good view of my magnificent Soume-lam. Let him make of that what he would.

; ; "You aren't upset that we've done this to you?"

; ; "Not at all. Had I known the benefits I'd have volunteered."

; ; "What specifically do you notice an improvement in?"

; ; "If you want any more data then we need to cut a deal. And I want Fifteen and Ash here too, so that they can agree the same terms"

; ; "You are in no position to make demands. Cooperate or I will send in the guards" replied the Chatty one coldly

; ; "How many can you afford to lose?" I replied with bravado. I had no real idea if I could take down one guard let alone several. Right then I didn't care. I needed contact with my own kind and was prepared to say almost anything to get it.

; ; To my surprise there was a long pause and I felt the edges of an argument going on behind the opaque glass.

; ; "Very well, you have a bargain. We are bringing Specimen Fifteen to you. Now its your turn. Tell us something"

; ; I thought about it for a moment. Wondering what it was safe to reveal.

; ; "My sense of smell is enhanced. On the way here I could smell the fear on your guards...you won't get more until after I've spoken with the others" I replied finally.

; ; A minute later Fifteen was pushed into the room on the other side of the transparent barrier. He'd been struggling with his guards and flew at the door snarling and denting the metal with his fist as he tried to reach them.

; ; He was raw, dominant and wild and I wanted him in me. Any thought that Fifteen had a repulsive personality and that he had already betrayed us once, evaporated from my mind like morning mist.

; ; Even with his back to me I could tell he'd changed more than I had. His skin had paled to a coffee color, but in places it had retained its original darker hue that left him looking like he was made of marble shot through black stripes.

; ; Like me, his hair had grown longer, but it had also grown straight with each strand ending in a frizzy remnant of his original tightly curled hair. Each strand acted as if it were a tiny dreadlock.

; ; I thought he was beautiful.

; ; Finally he stopped hammering the door and turned, sensing my presence.

; ; His eyes widened as his gaze met mine and then he looked down checking out my body.

; ; To my surprise he turned away, preferring to face the wall than look at me. In my precarious emotional state I concluded that he hated the sight of me and tears began to form. Frustrated with myself I brushed the dampness away.

; ; The imagined rejection cleared my head somewhat. I wondered if Ash had spoken in Fifteen's mind as he had mine. If not he had to be told.

; ; Fifteen I called

; ; ----- he replied sending wordless emotional turmoil at me.

; ; "Damn" I whispered sadly

; ; In that instant of contact I'd seen enough to know that Fifteen was reacting to his changes completely differently to the way I had. Where I had managed to come to terms with my new self in only a few minutes, Fifteen was in denial. Big time. It was driving him insane.

; ; Gone was the sneaky telltale corporate boy. The new Fifteen feared and loathed the female/soume side of his personality and had retreated into a primal male state, full of murderous unreasoning rage. He hated Ash and me for being what we were and hated the humans for doing this to him. Hate was easy, as long as he hated he wouldn't have to feel any of the alien emotions.

; ; I took an involuntary step back.

; ; Summoning up my newfound telepathic gift I called for Ash.

; ; There was no reply. I began to fear that the humans had done something to him. Now that they had us he was probably expendable.

; ; Here...distance came a faint reply

; ; I felt like an idiot, it hadn't occurred to me that telepathy wasn't magic, it still had to obey natural laws.

; ; Fifteen. Insane. Male. Help I replied concentrating hard on each word.

; ; Dominate...Seduce...cure It was evident Ash understood the problem but wasn't aware that Fifteen and I were unable to touch each other.

; ; Separated I sent

; ; This time there was no reply. Whether that was because of the range or because Ash didn't have an answer I didn't know.

; ; I turned to the opaque glass

; ; "He's not well." I said tapping my head

; ; "How do you know that his behavior isn't normal? The other Wraeththu exhibited similar berserker tendencies. Are you certain that you have better self-control than either of them?"

; ; They were so obvious, hoping to goad me into revealing things. Unfortunately my concern for Fifteen overrode my common sense.

; ; "You'll just have to take my word for it. If you want to get technical, I seem to half recall you guys getting all excited because my brain is a slightly different shape to what it used to be. Fifteen's mind and his brain don't quite match up right now and its...."

; ; Fifteen slammed against the plastic barrier, the sound loud enough to startle me. The impact had sent white fault-lines radiating across the transparent plastic another slam like that and Fifteen would be through.

; ; On the other side I could see Fifteen shouting silent curses at me. I couldn't help noticing his engorged Ouana-lim or block out his insane mix of hate and lust generated by his mind. Fifteen was turning into a wanabe rapist.

; ; Guards surged in through both doors. I suppose I could have done as Ash had the day before and tried for freedom, but I was still reeling from my brush with Fifteen's mind.

; ; In the other room Fifteen had finally found someone he could beat up. The guards had hit him with a tranq dart straight off, but whatever they were using wasn't very effective. It took a further four frantic darts before he finally succumbed.

; ; Interesting data that. Might be useful to know.

; ; They were still straightjacketing Fifteen as I was led away. By my count Citadel were going to be short a further eight guards. Unlike Ash's precise killing attacks, Fifteen had only been interested in causing pain. Fortunately guards with broken arm, legs and ribs are as useless to Citadel as the dead ones in the short term.

; ; By the time I got back to my sleeping cell I was back into a soume mood-swing and crying my eyes out with compassion for poor mind-damaged Fifteen.

; ; Once I was safely locked away, I wondered gloomily if I wasn't swinging off the female end almost as badly as Fifteen was off the male.

; ; You're fine. Your mind is just playing in its new garden. reassured Ash, his mental sending sharp and clear Now, show me what happened

; ; Ash's demand for a tactical update called to male...Ouana.. side and I found my body and mind reverting.

; ; I pictured the scene in my head and sent the whole memory to Ash as if it were a movie.

; ; It will take time for them time to replace that partition and they are probably examining Fifteen in the medical centre. They're also short a lot of guards until the next shift mused Ash.

; ; My heart raced, was my knight in shining armor going to come for me?

; ; Ash laughed..I'd been accidentally broadcasting again...I blushed. Again.

; ; Yes now's a good time for a wander. I think they're as preoccupied as they're going to get.

; ; How are we going to get out? Pretend to be ill and attack a guard when he opens the door?

; ; Hardly. They wouldn't send less than half a dozen to check on you. No. What I have in mind is going to sound a bit bizarre to you.

; ; What? More bizarre than being kidnapped because you're a latent telepath and then transformed into an alien species by an infusion of blood from a member of a streetgang in an experiment to identify a non-existent performance enhancing drug? I thought humorously

; ; I want you to pick up some earth in your hand he said ignoring my excellent wit.

; ; This cell has a concrete floor. I objected

; ; Sorry. my fault. When I say earth that includes dust

; ; Obviously this was quite insane nonsense. I did as he asked anyway scraping a meager amount of cell dust into the palm of my hand.

; ; Ok. I got some dust

; ; Cut yourself and mix your blood with the earth.

; ; Lacking anything sharp, I bit into the skin between my thumb and index finger and dripped the blood into the palm of dusty hand. I only got a couple of drops, the wound closed so quickly.

; ; Done

; ; Draw a half circle on your palm and then press it against the lock

; ; Done I sent adding the emotion of utter puzzlement to the sending

; ; Think about helping me. Will me to succeed. Send it as an emotion. Now!

; ; I did it. It wasn't very focused but the links were there. Suddenly the sort of mental push I was giving became a pull as if my soul was being drained. I felt weak and faint, my knees wobbled. The flow was exiting through my blood-crusted hand.

; ; Without my willing it my hand began to turn. A second later there was a barely audible click.

; ; Open! Go, Go, Go!

; ; I was out the door in a second, nearly bumping into Ash as he barreled out of his cell.

; ; My desperate sexual needs reasserted themselves full force and instead of running, I kissed Ash full on the lips.

; ; My mind melted.

; ; Ash pushed me back, breaking the kiss.

; ; "What did we just do?"

; ; "Later! We have to find a safe place first"

; ; Alarms were going off and red lights were flashing. I didn't care. I was still dizzy from the kiss.

; ; "What's the plan?" I asked, sprinting hard to keep pace.

; ; "They'll expect us to head for the surface, the armory or Fifteen. We aren't doing any of that." he replied checking around the corner before sprinting on.

; ; I followed and found myself at the back end of a fight to the death. The two bio-suit wearing technicians hadn't stood a chance, one was already on the floor and Ash gave the second one's neck a final jerk as I arrived.

; ; "Jesus!"

; ; Ash inspected the cart that the two had been pulling. It contained soiled clothing.

; ; "They must have been on their way to the laundry room"

; ; "Get the other one into the cart, the uniforms might be useful later" instructed Ash dumping the corpse he still held in the cart.

; ; I did as I was told, surprised at how light the body was. As I did so something on the wall caught my eye..a fire exit map.

; ; "A map" I pointed

; ; "You only just noticed? We pass it every day. I memorized it ages ago" Ash replied "This way!"

; ; We went down the corridor past four doors, at the fifth, Ash pushed it open and guided the laundry cart inside. Locking the door behind us he turned on the light. We appeared to be in some sort of executive office.

; ; As far as I could tell there was no exit other than the one we'd come in through.

; ; "But..." began

; ; "Don't worry. They aren't going to be looking in here for a while. First, get the suits off those two before they get stained, then we get to business"

; ; I nodded and did as he asked. Getting a corpse undressed is not as easy as the movies might lead you to believe.

; ; Finally the suit and its previous owner were separated. I picked up the boot and began easing my foot into it.

; ; Not yet thought Ash, silently placing a restraining hand on my shoulder. This may be the only chance we get, I have to make certain at least one of you will live

; ; I didn't understand what he meant.

; ; Wrapping his hand gently around the back of my head he pulled me into a kiss.

; ; This time it was different. This time he wasn't desperately trying to avoid a fatal distraction.

; ; It wasn't a kiss at all. This was something no human could do. He exhaled into my mouth and his soul flooded into my lungs and into my mind. Instinctively I knew that I should breath myself into him in return.

; ; Had we just exchanged souls? Was I now Ash? Was Ash now James? One body exhales the other inhales, I lose track of which body I am within and which one I started from.

; ; Our thoughts merge, we are confident, we know that when our lips part we will automatically untangle into our separate bodies. We know that Ash has not told James how close to death he is and we know that James' desire for Ash is more than the simple biological imperative. We know that we each want to know the other fully and well. We know that it is time to act.

; ; Our lips parted and I gasped for air. What I had previously imagined had been the nuclear fire of insane passion was merely a faltering candle flicker compared to the real thing. The fact that I would be dead if I didn't do the next thing never entered my head.

; ; I needed us horizontal immediately. Wrapping my arms around Ash I simply leaned back until we overbalanced, my back hitting the carpet tiled floor with Ash's smooth chest pressed tight against mine.

; ; Ash wasted no time, sliding into me, brushing against the place that my finger had found. Last time it had been like prodding one terminal of a battery with a pencil, this time the power was on and the connection was solid. Erotic energy screamed through me.

; ; I inhaled ready to scream my delights to the hostile world. Let the humans hear! I was new! I was Wraeththu!

; ; Fortunately Ash was prepared, having a fraction more self control and presumably a wealth of experience with first-timers. I entered the realms of ultimate ecstasy with a dead human's sock rammed down my throat, muffling the five orgasmic waves that crashed through me.

; ; How romantic.

; ; In an ideal world I'd have drifted up there with the clouds for a few days. Instead I wasn't allowed the luxury, Ash sat astride me tickling my inner thigh until I came down to earth and glared at him.

; ; Can I take the sock out now? he asked

; ; Yes. But next time we take aruna you get to wear it I thought as he pulled the foul object loose.

; ; "Sorry. I could tell that orgasm of yours was going to be audible all the way to New York." he said rolling off me, reaching for one of the Bio-suit boots

; ; "Its Ok. You did the right thing. By the way, where have I picked up this vocabulary? I just called sex aruna, I know that we shared breath instead of kissing and that I'm now a har not a him." I asked snagging the other bio-suit between my toes and pulling it within reach.

; ; "You have a powerful mind, you shared me very deeply. I expect that a lot of things you needed to know rubbed off."

; ; "Oh. Ok. What do we do now then?"

; ; "Cause as much mayhem and bloodshed as is safe and then arrange to get recaptured." replied Ash, smiling evilly

; ; My assumptions came screeching to a halt.

; ; "Did you just engineer our escape with the single objective of making wild passionate love to me?" I asked suspiciously

; ; "Of course not. Think. Where will they take us when we are recaptured? Their observation room got trashed and we just proved their cells cannot hold us. That leaves the medical centre where they've got Fifteen." explained Ash

; ; I was doubtful, but given what I'd just experienced I still perceived Ash as my own personal god. Besides, he was the tough street urchin and I was the corporate rich-kid. In this situation I was pretty sure his abilities were more relevant than mine.

; ; "So..Mayhem then. What do you want to destroy first?" I asked

; ; "You know computers?" said Ash pointing at the PC on the desk

; ; "Naturally"

; ; "Well I don't" said Ash sounding rather proud of it. "I want you to get rid of everything they have on us"

; ; "You want me to delete it?"

; ; "Delete. Yeah that's the word." he replied, ripping open the desk drawer and inspecting the contents, selecting some pencils which he pocketed.

; ; I switched on the PC and was surprised to find that the lazy human had his passwords set to automatic. I was in without even having to try my hacking skills. It only needed eight key presses to complete the task.

; ; "I've deleted everything that's accessible. But they'll have backups of these files and I'm locked out of the really important stuff " I warned as I switched the machine off.

; ; "Good enough" he replied taking the cordless mouse from my hand and pulling loose the pair of AA batteries that powered it.

; ; "See if you can find me more of these" he said placing the batteries on their tips like candles.

; ; A search revealed two unopened packs of four batteries and two in a slide projector's remote control. Ash inspected the two from the remote and binned them.

; ; "Flat" he said although I had no idea how he knew it.

; ; "What do you want those for?" I asked as he used a 6H pencil to score something vaguely star shaped into the desk.

; ; Personally I thought scratching a desk was pretty low-level vandalism and hardly the promised 'mayhem at all.

; ; Carefully Ash placed the AA batteries at the intersections of the shape he'd etched. I still had no real clue what he was really doing. It just looked harmlessly bizarre.

; ; "Open your mind and watch what I do. Its a simple magari that might save your neck someday"

; ; I did as I was told and watched him pull sideways with his mind whilst he pronounced meaningless words.

; ; I jumped back with a start. All ten batteries were suddenly glowing translucent neon white.

; ; "What? How?"

; ; "Batteries are intended to release their energies in a slow trickle. I've persuaded these ones that they want to release their energy in a single short burst when they touch Earth."

; ; Cautiously I leaned closer and extended a finger to see how hot they were. No heat, just light. Another of the certainties of reality crumbled to dust. Magic wasn't just parlor tricks.

; ; "My energy levels were pretty low after doing the locks, but thanks to the aruna we just had we both have agmara to spare." he said cryptically, casually scooping up the batteries and dropping five of them into my hand "treat them like grenades. And for the Aghama's sake don't drop them!"

; ; Carefully, Very carefully I placed the battery grenades in my bio-suit's pocket.

; ; "The door locks? That was another magari? How'd that work?" I asked

; ; "Telekinesis is easy for anyhara. I'll show you later. The magari trick was to create a sympathetic link between the Earth aspect of the lock in my cell and the one in yours. Adding our blood associated your spirit with the locks enabling me to draw upon your agmara."

; ; "You realize I haven't a clue what you just said?"

; ; "Yep. Now see if there's anything else we can use" he instructed.

; ; It was soon evident that the room had nothing more to offer by way of improvised weapons. Satisfied, Ash pulled on the suit's plastic hood and headed for the door. I followed doing the same.

; ; We checked each room as we went down the corridor, any hidden camera would see two of the base's technicians performing a search for the fugitives.

; ; On one side were storerooms on the other were variously sized offices. I suggested grabbing more batteries but Ash declined. Apparently he'd only gained a finite amount of this agmara stuff and wanted to save it for later.

; ; We'd just gotten half way down the next corridor when we encountered our first pair of citadel-gard troops emerging from the elevator at the far end. It was clear from the way they approached that they were suspicious but not certain of our identity. I fingered one of the batteries and glanced at Ash.

; ; Suddenly Ash was in motion, leaving me standing there like I'm stupid. I had no idea that a pair of pencils could be used as lethal weapons... they can be, if you punch them into your victim's heart hard enough.

; ; I opened up my bio-suit hood and retched, fortunately my stomach was empty. I was feeling very soume right then and not at all combative.

; ; Ash ignored the guns choosing instead to strip the bodies of their combat knives. He handed one of the green serrated blades to me and I looked at it in a blank stupid sort of way.

; ; The deaths of the technicians hadn't bothered me much, I'd been too focused on my arunic needs. This time I was fully aware that I was an accomplice to murder.

; ; "They're only humans!" reminded Ash

; ; I glanced down at the bodies again and found that I was only imagining that I felt compassion. It was rather like having put down a rabid dog. I didn't really feel very troubled at all.

; ; The elevator was an obvious trap so we headed to the stairs next to it. Bullets spanged off the concrete wall as soon as we opened the door.

; ; "Grenade?" I asked

; ; Ash nodded

; ; I admit to having played in the corporate baseball mini-league. My aim was more than adequate. I had expected a bang and some smoke like a regular grenade. What I got was a blinding flash of sheet lightning followed by an authentic thunderclap.

; ; Ash surged up the stairs knife in hand. I ran after, stepping over the five charred and smoking bodies without giving them a second glance.

; ; "What's on this level?" I asked crouching next to the door

; ; "Barracks and their central security post, where they monitor the cameras. This could be a bit tricky, its certain to be well defended"

; ; Without warning I felt the dizziness that accompanied a precognition. This time my brain was in better shape to interpret it.

; ; For a few moments I was a teenager called Peter. Peter had only been hired two weeks ago because a load of guards had gotten a lethal strain of pneumonic HIV. He'd thought he'd got lucky, not only employed, but being a corporate guard would be a safe job. But it hadn't been. The Wraeththu had gotten out of containment and killed everyone. The sergeant had put him on monitor duty, said he'd be safe. But he'd seen it happen, seen them all die, Dave, Barry, even Big Sven. Even being locked in the Monitor Room hadn't been safe. the Wraeththu done something, made him......., tied him up and injected him with poison. Now he was ill and he didn't want to die... The vision dissipated and I was back to being me in the stairwell.

; ; "Wait. I just had a precog vision" I said as Ash raised his arm to chuck a battery grenade.

; ; "Tell me"

; ; "They've put a new recruit in charge of the monitor room. We didn't kill him. His memory is blank for a bit, then he remembers that we tied him up and injected him with something. He was thinking that the base was short handed due to some disease outbreak and that we'd already killed all the guards apart from him. Does that make sense?"

; ; "Hmm perhaps this base has a smaller staff than I thought." replied Ash sounding disappointed. I was becoming convinced Ash had been looking forward to a full on killing spree.

; ; "It makes sense that they're running with a relatively small staff. The Corporation would want to limit the chance of an information leak. If they'd already taken losses they could well have been stretched thinner than we thought"

; ; "Change of plan. No need to get recaptured" said Ash chucking two of the transformed batteries at the barricade that was apparently the Citadel-gard's last line of defense.

; ; I looked away so that the double flash wouldn't blind me. After the thunderclap, I'd expected Ash to race through to take the position. He didn't. Instead he sat down in his now familiar cross-legged position becoming more and more soume as I watched.

; ; "What are you doing now?"

; ; "Showing off. Sit with me, become Soume and hold my hand" he instructed

; ; Shrugging, I did as I was told. It seemed like an insane time to be doing meditation but after the episode with the batteries I was willing to go along.

; ; Becoming soume required hardly any effort, I was still pretty much in that frame of mind anyway.

; ; Ash began to sing, and I knew that no matter how new the Wraeththu species was our distant ancestors must have been the Sirens that tempted Odysseus. I knew this song, I had thought it had been a dream, but actually it must have been another precognition.

; ; I recalled the words that I'd blocked from my mind that night and joined in, earning a surprised glance and nod of approval from Ash. Another benefit of becoming Wraeththu I seem to have gained a very good singing voice.

; ; The words of course weren't important, it is the emotion behind it that is the key, the desperate longing for an Ouana's fiery embrace, pulling the fire toward the sea.

; ; A few minutes into our song I heard the sound of feet dragging zombie-like across the floor and locks being pulled. Our prey emerged from his heavily shielded monitor room and drifted toward us.

; ; I didn't need anyone to tell me that this was Peter and that he was born with a Wraeththu's soul. He came to us willingly almost without resistance.

; ; (Ash told me later that some boys are so ready they will drop whatever they are doing and follow the first Wraeththu they see. Illustrating it with the humorous tale of a Wraeththu called Vaysh who'd had to flee a Walmart because several lads had begun following him about.)

; ; You said we injected him. Look for a first aid kit. Keep singing Sent Ash

; ; I obeyed, finally finding one in the monitor room. in here

; ; Ash joined me, leading Peter by the hand and sitting him back in his chair. Using the belts from the other guards we tied him down singing all the time. Peter never objected or struggled he just sat a blissful smile on his face.

; ; We stopped singing just before injecting him with Ash's blood. The prick of the needle was what finally broke his trance and by then of course it was too late.

; ; "Whatever you think Peter. You aren't going to die" I said trying to be reassuring.

; ; Peter didn't really reply he was too busy looking at the inflamed blood vessels on his arm and mumbling no!, no!, no!

; ; "We'll be back for you" I said trying to calm him. Naturally that didn't have the desired effect. Right then he didn't want us back ever.

; ; Whilst I was inadvertently tormenting Peter, Ash was scanning all the monitors.

; ; "You were right! The rest of the humans have holed up in the medical section with Fifteen."

; ; "How is he?" I asked

; ; "Strapped down and furious." replied Ash walking out into the corridor

; ; "He's certainly not been himself since he was incepted." I commented following him

; ; Ash shrugged "He'll be alright once you've taken aruna with him"

; ; I stopped walking "Me!"

; ; "Of course you. He's seen you since he changed. He's imprinted you, you are the focus of his desires. Can't you feel him calling to you?"

; ; I couldn't and said so.

; ; "Ah well, never mind"

; ; On the next level up we stopped at the main computer room and fried the mainframe with two more of the batteries.

; ; We'd continued to check rooms as we went. One of which had a set of raggedy looking clothes laid out and clearly being forensically tested.

; ; Ash let out a cry of delight and immediately began stripping out of his Bio-suit. I took time out to admire his magnificent physique as he dressed himself in what must have been the clothes and jewelry he'd been wearing when captured.

; ; It might have only been rags but the overall effect wouldn't have looked out of place on a top designer's catwalk. I wished I had something else to wear, a bio-suit is just totally unflattering.

; ; Ash must have sensed my sartorial distress and used his combat knife to quickly redesign the suit so that I ended up with just a set of knee length shorts.

; ; Next, Ash pulled open a small tin attached to his rags by a loop of chain. It appeared to contain a child's make-up kit.

; ; "Do we have time for this? They could be doing terrible things to Fifteen." I asked as he began tying what looked like a budgie feather to a strand of my hair

; ; "We should always look our best when its somehar's first time. Fifteen will treasure this moment for the rest of his life" replied Ash firmly

; ; "Great! He gets to see feathers and jewelry and what did I get? A dirty sock!"

; ; "Somehar are luckier than others." he replied, grinning

; ; "I'm still not happy about the humans"

; ; "Trust me. They aren't a factor. Right now they are stewing in their own fear. Besides, now that I've got my fighting gear on, they don't stand a chance." he said indicating various bits of cheap jewelry that dangled from his perfect body.

; ; It took a good ten minutes before Ash was satisfied with his efforts to make me presentable. Finally he showed me the results in the cracked mirror of a powder compact.

; ; I have to admit I looked pretty damn good. A savage. A henna tribal mark flourishing around one eye its harshness offset by the tiny pink and green feathers tied to my hair. I was also highly impressed by my face. I hadn't seen it, since 'before'. Inception had left me with a face that could seduce anyhar....no wonder Fifteen had tried to break down a wall to get to me.

; ; "Ok. You were right. I was wrong. Can we please go rescue Fifteen now?"

; ; "Are you sure you aren't picking up on all that need Fifteen's broadcasting?" asked Ash

; ; I didn't. But I was fidgety to get on with things.

; ; "One last thing before we go. You should think of a new name to go with that new face of yours. There's not a single cell of James left in you"

; ; He was correct both physically and mentally, but I really hadn't a clue about what my new name ought to be.

; ; The medical area had been thoroughly barricaded as we'd expected. The scientists had clearly kept a couple of their best guards with them. Bullets stitched the wall as soon as I poked my head around.

; ; "Two of them. With M16s. Grenades?" I said brushing the plaster from my naked shoulder.

; ; "No. This time you are going to negotiate with them"

; ; "I'm what?!?"

; ; "You have to do the talking because I'm going to be casting a magari that will make them believe that you are utterly sincere."

; ; "But what if it doesn't work?"

; ; "Trust me. Compared to exploding Duracells, this is easy."

; ; "Well what should I say then?"

; ; "I dunno. They're scientists, play on their thirst for knowledge. Its like hypnotism, it works best when its feeding something that they already want."

; ; My erratic precognitive ability kicked in suddenly and very strongly.

; ; For a moment I was old, very old. On my lap was a book like a diary with numbered entries written in with a quill pen.

; ; An eager young voice said "send another one Great High Sire Sixteen!"

; ; "One last one then its off to bed for you young Shoul" the old me replied

; ; "Awww!"

; ; The old me looked at the page. It read 'I saw an old guy named Great High Sire Sixteen reading a book that said I could fool the humans by offering to demonstrate the act of Aruna. And as the old hara closed the book I suddenly realized what my new name was going to be'

; ; My hand, which quivered slightly but otherwise looked as young as ever closed the book. The title in gold-leafed on leather read

; ; 'A Life Foreseen by Tiahaar Sixteen'

; ; I woke up looking at the neon strip light in front of me on the ceiling.

; ; "Another Precognition?" Asked Ash sympathetically

; ; "They aren't precognitions. They're sendings. Somewhere in the future a very old me is reading his diary to a young relative. Not that that's important. I know what to do now...and the name thing. Call me Sixteen"

; ; I was quite pleased with myself. The look of astonishment on Ash's face was priceless.

; ; Scrambling upright I took a moment to tidy myself and then shouted around the corner

; ; "Hey! Ceasefire! I want to talk to the chief scientist guy"

; ; A clip's worth of bullets chewed up the concrete exposing some reinforcement.

; ; I glanced meaningfully at Ash but he had his eyes closed and was chanting silently

; ; "I said Ceasefire! Let me talk to the boss. He has something I want and I'm willing to trade"

; ; "I'm here. Show yourself"

; ; I glanced again at Ash. He nodded.

; ; Pushing myself to be as strong and ouana as I could manage I stepped out into the killing zone.

; ; Nothing happened.

; ; "Here's the deal...you think Wraeththu are just castrati, that we're neuters with no capability or interest in sex. Correct?"

; ; "Yes" he replies cautiously

; ; "That's not how it is. We are very, very sexual. When you brought me here I was just a little rich boy. The worst I'd consider doing to you was to hammer loudly on my cell door. Today I am Wraeththu and I'd happily kill every single one of you humans to get past you and breed with Fifteen"

; ; Behind the barricade I can hear the metal clik-click as the guards hastily refined their aim.

; ; "So here's the deal. I need Fifteen so bad...so bad that I'm willing to walk through there and demonstrate what the Wraeththu sex act looks like right there in front of all your recording devices. Once we're done we'll leave you and this base intact."

; ; "Sounds fair to me. Come on through" replied the scientist sounding like he'd just been offered a trip to the International Space Station.

; ; "You should all watch very very closely. So that you don't miss anything"

; ; "Yes. We should all watch very closely"

; ; "We're going to come forward now ok?"

; ; "Ok"

; ; I smiled to myself and had to clamp down on the desire to say 'these aren't the Wraeththu you are looking for, move along.' very slowly I began walking toward them.

; ; Going beyond the barrier was like entering a memory of a sci-fi hell. The room is hi-tech and lit with white-blue light in its centre are the two restraint tables, the empty one on the right was where they'd pumped me full of Ash's wonderful blood.

; ; On the other table is Fifteen, looking very angry and very Ouana.

; ; I tried touching his mind, but as before all I got was a mindless swirl of Ouana.

; ; Suggestions? I asked Ash

; ; Busy

; ; I cursed myself for a fool it was essential for Ash to concentrate on his magari mind fog.

; ; "Fifteen" I said moving close and pulling his face around so that he was looking at me face to face

; ; "Fifteen!" I said again sending as well as speaking.

; ; Fifteen's thrashing stilled, he was seeing me for the first time. I took the moment of calm and used it to examine his face close up. He was beautiful and exotic, a dark 'Y' shaped stripe of darker skin threaded diagonally across his face. The two arms of the 'Y' highlighted his left eye like a natural tattoo. His features, like mine, seemed slightly younger captured at an androgynous moment where he could have been either sex or both.

; ; "Can you understand me Fifteen?"

; ; "Yes...is..is that you Sixteen?"

; ; "Pretty much. You know what they did to us, right?"

; ; His eyes widen, teetering on the brink again. He returned to his mindless thrashing. I'd nearly touched his soume side and that scared the shit out of his dominant persona.

; ; I smoothed his forehead and made soothing sounds. Finally awareness returned.

; ; "There's nothing to be scared of Fifteen."

; ; "No! You are wrong! I can feel it! Its trying to take over my mind. Its female! it wants to breed. It wants to create more aliens! Inside me! Fucking inside me!"

; ; "Fifteen. There is no alien. You are suffering from a split personality disorder. The more you try to seal that part of you off, the less sane you're going to be"

; ; "Sixteen. When the fuck did you become a psychiatrist?"

; ; Since I went through exactly what you did. I know what you are doing to yourself and I also know the cure

; ; What the? Telepathy? I thought you were a fake precog

; ; Trust me. Compared to the rest of the fringe benefits, telepathy is nothing.

; ; "Stop tempting me. I can feel it getting stronger"

; ; I smiled and let the remains of my bio-suit fall to the ground exposing my ouana-lim, glowing in the dim light.

; ; "Nooo!" he whined even as his body reacted to what it craved. If his hand had been free I'm sure he'd have tried to hold his unraveling ouana-lim together.

; ; His expression changed from one of self-loathing to one of blind lust. Actually I think this second look was the scarier of the two.

; ; "Yesss" he hissed

; ; "Not quite yet. I'm only going to take aruna with the whole you, not just one aspect"

; ; Fifteen managed to pout convincingly before his expression finally resumed what all my senses told me was a balance of his two aspects, or as near as he could get

; ; "Finally" I said

; ; "Shit. I'm really fucked up Sixteen. I think I know what you have to do. I don't know if I'll ever be really ready. But...times running out ...isn't it? I sense that now" he replied his voice full of a wistfulness that was impossible not to love.

; ; I wanted to share breath to prepare him as Ash had done with me. But in his fragile state I didn't feel I could take the risk. Carefully I mounted the table and then realized that I was as much a virgin as Fifteen. Experience with the Human game of hide-the-sausage wasn't going to help.

; ; Slowly, carefully I lowered myself into him. I needn't have worried, after a certain point instincts took hold and I was magnificent.

; ; Is it possible to have aruna and not lose consciousness? I awoke with Fifteen wrapped around me, the ripped remnants of his restraints digging into my thigh.

; ; The Humans!

; ; I scrambled upright, waking Fifteen in the process.

; ; The humans were dead. The bodies had been stripped and a symbol cut into their chests. In each case the cause of death had been a slit throat. Ash had evidently been busy whilst I'd been healing Fifteen.

; ; Fifteen hugged himself close to me, still mainly soume after our aruna.

; ; I knew what this was about. Ash was leaving a message. The only sort of message that Citadel Corp would understand.

; ; I thought about it for a moment and then added my own message. I bent down and repositioned the chatty scientist's corpse so that his forearm was vertical, ending in a fist with the middle finger flipping the bird. Rigor Mortis would keep the message fresh.

; ; We spent the rest of the day destroying everything and anything that Citadel might have used. We took our time and we were thorough. As the sun set we loaded Peter into the back of the security van along with a couple of hundred MRE rations and hit the road.

; ; It was a shame we couldn't hang around to watch what happened when Citadel's troubleshooters finally showed up. Ash had let the generator's fuel tanks drain and rigged every battery in the place to detonate the next time a human opened the main door.

; ; There was no chance of getting back to Ash's tribe and neither Fifteen nor I had a home. Fortunately Peter was a local kid, reckoned he knew place to hide out and offered a whole town full of boys that he'd like to introduce to us one at a time.

; ; Note to self: I really must steal a diary and some quill pens.

; ; Specimen 16: A Campfire Story

; ; It is two days since Citadel's genetics lab suffered its catastrophic 'accident'. The local newspaper reports that a badly wired lightning conductor fed a lightning bolt direct to the facility's emergency fuel tank. The reporter says that Citadel Corporation are unlikely to rebuild locally given the current difficult economic cycle.

; ; More likely Citadel are just a tad worried that the locals might find out what they were up to down there. Anyhow, Citadel pulling out is good news. It means they aren't looking for their escaped lab rats. Namely yours truly.

; ; We've been camping rough for three nights and none of us are happy with it. Wide open spaces make Ash nervous, Fifteen and me aren't used to rough living and Petreon (ex-Peter) wants to check in on his human family in town.

; ; I have to admit, the country is nice (when its not raining) and the aruna has been excellent, but you can't be getting it on all the time.

; ; We huddled next to each other, comforted by the closeness of our group.

; ; I picked a log..ok a twig..and chucked it on the fire. So far everything had been about the practicalities of survival or the important lessons as we re-learned our bodies. There'd been very little said about anything that had happened longer than a week ago.

; ; I decided it was time to interrogate Ash, seeing as he was our leader and by rights ought to have said something. "Tell us about our gang. Tell us about your friends, What about that Vaysh guy and his supermarket?"

; ; Fifteen and Petreon, who'd been petting each other gently, raised their heads, interested in Ash's response.

; ; "Tribe, they are called tribes not gangs." he corrected and smiled nostalgically "Ah my lovely Vaysh...how we laughed."

; ; "The trouble with Vaysh is that he's like a beacon radiating 'spirit' and 'destiny'...at the time he had only recently incepted and wasn't fully aware of harself. He'd figured for some Aghama only knows reason, that he could fit right back in to his human life without anyone noticing. Even taking the time to pretty himself up first" explained Ash

; ; I noticed Petreon paying extremely close attention. I didn't need any special abilities to figure he intended something similar.

; ; "So off he trots down to Walmart, nice as you like, radiating the sort of glamour that boys like Petreon can't resist. He walks in the door and a bag-helper drops some old witches' booze supply. The bag-helper ignores her swearing at him and just watches Vaysh."

; ; "Now Vaysh, he's not clocked this, figures its just an accident and off he goes down to the fruit n veg. So there he is testing the pears to see if they're ripe when suddenly he gets this prickly sensation like he's being watched."

; ; "The bag-handler, right?" I ask

; ; Ash nods "..And a middle-age guy, two teens and a ten year old, all just stood in a semi-circle appreciating Vaysh's harish beauty."

; ; "So what'd do?"

; ; "Obviouly he was a bit unnerved, he'd been in school with one of the teens only a month before so he knew that this was odd behavior. So Vaysh, he decides to ditch the fruit, grab a loaf and get the fuck out."

; ; "Smart move. I take it they followed him then?"

; ; "Yep just a bit. And the kid's mom wasn't too happy about that especially when he pulls his arm loose and stamps on his mom's foot. Seeing this, Vaysh ups his pace to a swift walk and heads straight past the bread. He looks back and sees he's picked up two more teens and that the whole lot are almost jogging. That was it for our Vaysh, we'd made dead certain he knew how important it was not to get captured by the half-sexes, so like a good Hara he bolted."

; ; "The posse, they see the perfect one getting away and start running after him. The kid's mother and a couple of acquaintances, they light off after the kid, screaming about kidnap. Now the store detectives...they see all these people running and figure they've got a streetgang in-shop raiding for food." explained Ash taking a swig from a can we'd liberated from Citadel.

; ; "Some idiot fires a gun and suddenly the rest of the customers are stampeding too"

; ; "So meanwhile, me and some others are chatting with a human gang leader, telling him about the 'Hara' drug that we're peddling. When Vaysh goes boosting past dressed in his best clothes moving faster than an Olympic sprinter and still holding his Walmart bag."

; ; "One of yours? Asked the human. Yes I said, craning my neck to watch Vaysh go"

; ; "I've got to get my boys on this shit', he says. Just before the front of the mob began to appear." said Ash

; ; "Did Vaysh get away?" Asked Petreon

; ; "Oh Sure. We arranged for him to run around the whole block so that he merged with the back of the posse chasing him. The stupid humans went around the block three more times after he'd slipped away." said Ash almost in tears of laughter.

; ; We howled with him.

; ; "The best of it. The men and boys who Vaysh accidentally charmed, they weren't fooled, they followed all the way and received exactly what Vaysh's glamour had promised." said Ash raising his glass to cracking fire "To Vaysh the Pied-Wraeththu of Walmart...wherever you are"

; ; We raised our drinks in tribute "To Vaysh!" ; ;