Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 The Ming Prophecy
   Copyright 2006 Rachael Ross all rights reserved.  Story Codes: MF/F,
Sci-Fi, BDSM, Romance, Violence
   The Ming Prophecy by Rachael
   Chapter 2
   I smiled briefly at Peterson and followed Nance out of the QA Lab and
into the corridor.  "Did you understand everything Peterson was saying?"
She asked me as we walked along a broad open-air skyway.  The facility was
largely stainless steel, aluminum and glass, very modern and beautiful, but
somewhat cold aesthetically, I thought.
   "I think so.  You're going to test me.  My response to BDSM."
   "Yes, that's right.  Believe it or not, that's your primary function. 
All the rest, the skills, the knowledge, even your appearance to a certain
extent is secondary to your ability to perform as desired in a specific
environment.  In your case a Dominant/submissive environment, and more
precisely in a Sadist/masochist relationship." Nance looked at me, pausing
and leaning on a railing a thousand feet above the city proper sprawled out
below.  "How does that make you feel?"
   "It makes me very happy." I didn't hesitate; the emotion was clear and
strong inside me.  "I am nervous, a little afraid that I will not know
exactly how to satisfy my end user, my...owner...but I'm sure he will teach
me." I glanced at the woman beside me.  "Will he?"
   "Oh, I'm sure he will." Nance nodded, but she didn't seem happy.  We
started walking again, slowly.
   "Why does that bother you?" I asked her.
   "You know, I started working here right out of medical school.  The
money was good and it was...interesting.  I wasn't curing cancer or
anything, but I was creating something new, you know?"
   I didn't, but I let her continue.
   "We were building the Series I then, mostly.  The Series II was just
coming online and it was exciting.  But they were just...things.  Not real,
not like people at all.  The Series I especially.  They weren't so much
conditioned as just wiped.  They had so much hardware..." Nance gestured
helplessly.  "Well, you saw those two this morning.  Robots really, the
body is just a life support system for the CPU.  I suppose that was natural
though, you know, hybrid's getting us from the Replicant era into the
Biogenisis age." We turned towards the pyramid shaped enclosure where my
room was located.
   "Anyway, Series II was better and then Series III was a real
breakthrough.  We were finally able to teach, instead of just program. 
They started living up to their potential.  The hardware requirements
lessened significantly and software started catching up with genetics, so
that the body itself could be programmed.  Bio-Dynamics wasn't just
theoretical anymore, it was applied.  But Series III are still robots,
still limited in a lot of ways.  Not just by design, but by the technology
required for mass production." Nance stepped onto the lift and I joined
her, although it was really only intended for one person.
   We stood very close together, facing each other and my eyes were level
with her full breasts, pressing against the white fabric of her uniform. 
She was looking down at me as we were gently pushed upward along the
Plexiglas tube.  "But you, Ming." She whispered.  "The only limits on you
are put in place out of fear."
   "I don't understand." I smiled up at her.
   "Series IV is a new race, a new life form." She put her hands on my
waist.  "Series V will have no hardware at all and Series VI..." She
shrugged.  "They will be children, raised from the womb to perform specific
duties.  Conditioning will begin in the uterus and never stop, do you
understand?"
   "I think so." The lift stopped at my level, 1244-Gold, but neither of us
moved.  I had my hands around her neck.  "You are frightened."
   Nance nodded.  "We are all frightened." I pulled her face down to mine.
"Of you." She whispered and I kissed her deeply.  I knew it was what she
wanted, had wanted all day long, and yesterday too...since she'd first seen
me.
   "You do not have to be afraid." I whispered.  "I am just a person." I
led her by the hand, pausing to open my room with my palm print on the
scanner.
   "Ming, I..." Nance was very attractive.  I hadn't noticed before really.
She was maybe 40 years old, with a handsome face, strong and serious.  Her
hair was black, with a few early gray strands starting here and there.  She
was fit and firm and I wanted her suddenly, not just sexually, but
emotionally.  I had a very large hole inside me someplace, indefinable and
irresistible.
   "Shhh...I know you want me, Nance." I smiled and dropped to my knees as
the door slid shut with a whisper.  "When I kissed that girl, before...on
her sex." I looked up at her as I slid my hands up the woman's legs, across
the back of her knees and along her thighs.  "I could sense your desire." I
pulled her panties down so she could step out of them.
   "You don't have...to...ohhh!" She hissed between her teeth as my mouth
found her pussy.  I'd lifted her skirt high enough to expose the woman's
sex and I sucked her tiny clit eagerly.  "Oh yes!  Ming!  Lick
me...Please!" Her fingers were in my hair and I tickled between her labia,
engorged with excitement.  I could taste her sexual energy, the small
dampness already starting and I stiffened my tongue, pressing it inward as
she clutched me to her.
   Nance slowly backed towards my small bedroom, leading me as I shuffled
awkwardly along on my knees, refusing to stop my efforts at bringing the
woman pleasure.  She sat down finally on the bed, laying back and I took
advantage of it, pushing her legs up so I could tongue her asshole as well.
It gave me even greater pleasure to do that for her, licking at her anus
and working my tongue inside while my thumb flicked over her clit gently.
   "Ming..." She breathed as I wormed my tongue inside her anus, feeling
delightful shame at doing something so blatantly taboo.
   I pushed a finger against her tight sphincter, licking around it as I
pushed inside.  I did the same with my other hand, working a finger inside
her cunt, fucking both of her holes slowly at first, both of us enjoying
the sensation.
   "Perhaps we should have knocked." A man's voice startled me, and
especially Nance who bolted upright with a little gasp.
   My fingers were still pushed inside the woman's body, even as she tried
to pull away from me.  Her voice was breathless and tinged with
embarrassment.  "Dr.  Chartre!  I'm...uh, excuse me!" My fingers came free
of Nance's pussy and anus and she pulled a sheet up to cover her immodesty.
   I licked my fingers slowly, looking over my shoulder at the 60ish man,
balding and austere, with a younger man and a woman behind him.  The female
was smirking a little, I thought.  I was still kneeling beside the bed and
I felt a delicious shiver of shame run through me at having been caught in
so compromising a situation, but it was only a small one.  I didn't know
these people after all, so why should I care what they thought?
   "Edward, I believe you have..." The man smiled as his male companion, a
well dressed man with close cropped blonde hair stepped forward, holding
Nance's panties delicately between thumb and finger.
   "Perhaps we could talk to her in the other room, Director?" The woman
said softly.  She was an extremely attractive young woman with long red
hair.  "I think Dr.  Nance would like to freshen up."
   Nance was blushing and she took her panties back with trembling fingers.
"Thank you." She managed to say.  The man nodded and smiled, averting his
gaze like a gentleman.
   "Of course.  Ming, will you come with us please?" Dr.  Chartre gazed
down at me and I stood, following them all into the other room, leaving
Nance alone on the bed.
   Dr.  Chartre took one of my two chairs and gestured for me to take the
other, while his assistants stood nearby, leaning against the wall.  I was
vaguely aware of Nance's sex juices still damp on my face and I resisted
the urge to wipe my lips with the back of my hand.  Instead I merely looked
at the older man with some small curiosity.
   "Ming, this is Dr.  Alan Chartre, he is the Director of this facility
and one of the real pioneers in Biogenesis." The young man spoke first. 
"My name is Edward and this is Lynn."
   "Are you doctors?" I looked from Edward to Lynn and back.
   He smiled.  "No.  I'm in Marketing and Lynn is with Public Relations.  I
do numbers and she..." He looked at the woman.  "...she's a people person."
   Lynn gave a little smile at that.  She really was amazingly beautiful,
flawless in fact.  Her eyes were a dark and bluish, like smoke and she
stared into mine, as if trying to capture some hidden part of me.  Her
face, her body, everything about her was perfect.  Too perfect, the way I
was, and it was immediately obvious.
   "She is like me." I said.
   "What do you mean?" Dr.  Chartre sat back in his chair.
   "She is Series IV." I smiled.  "Like me."
   "That's right, Ming.  Very good." Dr.  Chartre smiled.  "Lynn was the
11th unit produced and the first one to be commissioned.  Her predecessors
were prototypes, not completely functional.  But Lynn, she is the first."
The man looked at her with what seemed to be paternal pride, as much as
anything else.
   "And you, Ming, are her younger sister." Edward said to me.  "You're the
27th unit in the production series."
   "I heard you had some free time, Ming." Dr.  Chartre glanced at the
closed door to my bedroom.  "So I thought we could have a little chat.  I
apologize for the timing."
   "Nance was afraid." I shrugged.  "I desired to comfort her."
   "What was she afraid of, Ming?" Lynn was staring at me.
   "Me." I stared back at her.  "Us."
   "That's not an uncommon reaction." Edward was speaking now.  "Every
Series introduction has experienced some adverse..."
   Dr.  Chartre held up his hand and the younger man stopped talking. 
"Have you studied history at all, Ming?" I shook my head and he continued
with a wry smile.  "No, of course not.  That isn't an interest we promote
here, really.  Like current events.  Have you watched the news at all? 
Browsed the internet, or anything?"
   "No sir, I did not..." I shrugged.  "...I did not know I should.  That I
was...allowed..."
   "Well, it's a matter of choice, really.  Lynn," he glanced at her,
"likes to keep up with fashion, I think.  Some small percentage of my
budget goes straight into her closet." He laughed and Lynn actually blushed
slightly.  "But we like it that way." Dr.  Chartre leaned forward, staring
into my eyes.  "We like her that way." He emphasized.
   I nodded, without really understanding why he was saying these things.
   "But not everyone agrees with us, Ming." Dr.  Chartre opened his hands,
as though pleading a case before me.  "Some people think that what we're
doing is wrong.  That we're creating a slave race, or at the very
least...What was that phrase the General Secretary used, Edward?" The older
man turned as his assistant spoke.
   "He said we were `...Exploiting the desperation of an economically
vulnerable people.'" Edward shook his head.  "The Vatican has formally
opened an inquiry into whether the Series IV units have souls or not."
   "Let us hope we do not." Lynn giggled.  "It will save us a lot of
suffering later." She winked at me and I had to smile.
   "That same Vatican, you might be interested to know, has recently placed
an order for 15,000 Series II units.  For some two hundred years, from the
late 19th century until this one, the Church was pretty much out of the
missionary business.  There just weren't any more New Worlds." Dr.  Chartre
smiled.  "But now there are.  A whole galaxy full of them.  From a
sociological standpoint, everything is coming full circle; it's a very
exciting time.  Some even say the inquisition is coming back, complete with
heretics and witches." He chuckled, but I sensed it wasn't entirely good
humored.  "Guess who the devil is going to be."
   The door to my bedroom opened just then, slowly and Nance peered out
shyly.  "Excuse me, Director; I just thought I'd..." She glanced at the
door exiting my quarters, obviously wishing to leave without further
embarrassment.
   "Of course, doctor.  We hadn't meant to intrude on you like that." He
smiled at Nance.  "I'm sure you have things to do."
   Nance nodded with relief and began walking across the room.
   "But, before you go..." Dr.  Chartre's words stopped the woman in her
tracks, "...perhaps you would explain why Ming thinks you're afraid of
her."
   Nance turned to stare at me and I looked back at her.  I honestly didn't
understand the emotions that passed across her handsome features before she
regained control of herself.
   "I...I'm not sure I understand, Director."
   "Oh, it's simple enough, Dr.  Nance.  Ming feels that you're afraid of
her, and the other Series IV units, for some reason.  I'd just like to know
why." The older man sat back and watched as Nance tried to compose her
thoughts.
   She glanced at Edward and then at Lynn, briefly, before turning her
attention back to Dr.  Chartre.  We all stared at her.  "I was trying to
explain to Ming that...that, I wasn't sure she was...constrained in her
actions, in her...potential...by, uh, morality." Nance spoke slowly,
working hard to find the right words.
   "I assume by `she' you mean all of our Series IV units?" Dr.  Chartre
asked.
   "Yes sir.  I mean they're a new...species, really.  Every time we've
tried to remake nature the effects have been...unpredictable..." She had
been staring at the man.  Now she looked at me again.  "...even dangerous."
   "That's ridiculous." Edward spoke up.  "The protocols have been under
development for years.  Series IV requirements were based on the lessons
learned from the Replicant Uprising.  They've been defined, refined, and
approved by everyone from Congress to the New Harvard Compact.  You work in
QA, you've seen them tested, right?"
   "Yes." Nance allowed.  "And I've seen them fail." She stared hard at
Edward.  "Two days ago we had a Series IV rape a maintenance technician."
   "Raquel." Lynn sighed.
   "Yes." Nance glanced at Lynn then turned back to face Dr.  Chartre. 
"Your Raquel used her fist on the poor girl, a young woman who was 6 weeks
pregnant as I understand it."
   "Not anymore." Lynn spoke again and her voice had a touch of humor I
thought.
   "We're still investigating the cause of that." Edward was defensive. 
"Unfortunately, the unit in question hasn't been entirely cooperative.  We
are, however, reasonably sure that it wasn't a flaw in her protocols.  More
than likely a stage III conditioning process was faulty."
   "But the protocols are intended to override everything, don't you see?
Even bad conditioning." Nance shook her head.  "And they don't."
   "You can't say that based on one incident." Edward declared.
   "It's not just one incident." Nance stared at him.  "The Series failure
rate is almost twenty percent, half of those are unrecoverable.  For every
four units we put on a shuttle, one more is put on the autopsy table in
Biodyne, or plugged into the machines down in Behavioral Sciences."
   "And when Series III came online the numbers were similar." Edward threw
up his hands.  "These statistics have been modeled since the industrial
revolution, Doctor, none of this is unexpected."
   "The Series III is hardwired to prevent certain functions, specific
undesirable actions.  The Series IV is not.  You're comparing apples and
oranges here, sir."
   "A certain amount of unpredictability is desired by our customers." The
Director smiled.  "Human unpredictability." He stressed.  "Replicants were
unpredictable because of processing anomalies, creating an artificial
randomness to their behavior.  The whiplash of that experience gave us the
clones, the Series I, which were so completely uniform and devoid of
emotional expression that we might as well have been selling Barbies to
babies."
   "I understand, Director, I just..."
   "Series I was an absolute disaster as far as the public's acceptance,
and following hard on the Replicant Uprising? ...tsk-tsk..." The older man
clucked his tongue.  "This was a dying industry.  Do you know what saved
us, Doctor?"
   Nance said nothing, waiting patiently for the man to continue.
   "Most people would look for a single specific thing or event, but it
wasn't just one thing.  It was a combination, a culmination, if you will,
of events that occurred at precisely the right time.  One of the biggest of
course, was FTL drive.  Faster than light travel opened up tens of
thousands of new worlds to explore, to cultivate and populate.  It gave us
room for billions of people to emigrate, without the terrible effects on
our collective conscience that would have been inevitable otherwise.  The
Population Support Measure would never have been passed, let alone
enforced, if it had meant the certain destruction of 3 billion individuals
on CNN.  How many people volunteered to leave Earth in the first 5 years of
intergalactic travel?"
   "I'm not sure..." Nance shrugged.
   "Forty-two million." The Director smiled at her.  "There were 71 systems
targeted for colonization.  Almost a hundred moons and planets were
inhabitable, with a little work and a little luck.  But nobody wanted to
go. Not with an estimated 40 percent attrition rate the first year alone.
Six million people go to a planet, a year later they're down to less than
four, the next year is worse and pretty soon there's nobody left.  No, the
key to colonization is to understand that it is a war of attrition. 
Individuals are expendable.  The first wave dies so that a quarter of the
second will survive.  Half of the third wave lives and by the fourth or
fifth wave, people are thriving.  The hard part was getting those first few
waves out there."
   "And we did that with Series I and II." Nance nodded appreciatively. 
"But again...This is something new, Sir.  Ming isn't leaving the planet,
she's staying here.  She isn't an attrition unit, she isn't a terra-farmer,
she's a member of society now.  We're introducing a new and potentially
hostile species into our environment without enough information to predict
the results." Nance lowered her voice, realizing she was getting excited.
"That's...my opinion."
   "And your solution is...?" Dr.  Chartre gestured to Nance.
   "Solution?  I don't have one...I just...I'm not saying this is wrong. 
I'm not against it, Director, I've put too many years into this company not
to believe in the possibilities.  My concern is simply that our capability
is outpacing our understanding."
   "And?" Edward interjected for his boss.
   "And," Nance sighed, "when the day comes, and it will, when we can
produce Series IV units as easily as we do Series II or even III...When
that day comes, we'd better be a lot smarter than we are right now."
   "Why?" Edward seemed to smirk a little, but Dr.  Chartre looked very
thoughtful and Lynn was smiling, but only slightly, like she knew a secret.
   "Because they are, sir." She walked to the door, turning to look at each
of us as it opened.  "And nobody wants to be a slave.  If you'll excuse me,
Director." Then she left the very quiet room, the door sliding shut behind
her.
   End of Chapter Two rache696@yahoo.com
  
ming02