She looked at the interior of the chamber. “It was in this pristine condition this whole time?”
“No, you were out for over three days. We did a little housekeeping.”
Eckhar smirked. “We started up the maintenance bots and they did the housekeeping. Ailan fussed over you while I molested the mainframe.”
Eagerness swamped her. “You got it all?”
“As much as I could. Parts of the memory are still being repaired.”
Razi shifted toward the door and picked up speed with every step. Her leg was sore, but her mind was sparking with eagerness to explore.
Small bots hummed along the floor, vacuuming and whirring as they went. Razi stepped aside and let a few pass, then followed them to a huge chamber filled with medical slabs and computer banks. Tanks lined one wall, each as pristine as the day they were decommissioned.
Before giving in to her urge to explore, she asked. “Is the area stable?”
Eckhar nodded. “For now. The planet is still active, but the area we are in should be fine for a few more days.”
The waves of energy that had caused the tectonic shift would be back.
“Where is the power coming from?” She was examining every console in her path.
“Geothermal. The earthquake raised the water table back to the point where the equipment could activate.”
As she stared at the tech in front of her, a series of lights began to flash. They went from black to crimson and faded to a bright white. “What are these?”
Eckhar leaned over her shoulder and examined the panel. “They appear to be indicators of the processor function.”
Razi chuckled. “I don’t think I am going to push those buttons just yet, or not until I have my equipment back. Did any of it survive the fall?”
The look on his face told her all she needed to know. “That bad, huh?”
“It was worse than you could imagine. If Ailan had not gotten the tank working, you would have been dead the day you fell.”
She paled, her normally chalky skin going a little grey. “You had to use a tank? If there wasn’t a base sample for comparison, what did you use?”
Ailan was leaning against the doorframe, looking a little sheepish. “We had to use our own DNA for the primer. All of the systems here had been purged.”
Razi absorbed that information. She looked around and took a seat near one of the terminals. “I see. I guess there wasn’t time for another way.”
Ailan looked at her. “You were dying and hauling you out of here was out of the question. By the care and maintenance agreement I signed with the Alliance, it was well within the scope of my decision as your physician.”
“Ah. Now about that. If you are a physician, what are you, Eckhar? And why did you deceive me?”
Eckhar bowed and winked, his dark hair blocking the golden hue of his eyes. “I am a master of military service. I have been an enforcer for the colony for the last twenty years.”
Ailan answered the other question. “The elders said you would be more receptive if we appeared to share your occupation…so we lied.”
Chapter Three
A wave of weakness struck her and she leaned heavily on the console. Her hand flipped a switch, a tiny little switch, and the room’s systems roared to life.
Eckhar was at her side and staring at her hand. “Razi, what was that switch?”
She jerked her hand back quickly. “I only know conversational Oefric. What do you think it says?”
Ailan shoved her aside and stared at the console. “Oh dear, this isn’t going to be good.”
“What? What did I do?” She was catching their worry.
An answer wasn’t coming from them. Around the room, bots whirred to life and approached them. A burst of gas emanated from the vents in the ceiling and everything went dark.
Floating in a tank wasn’t a new experience for her, but the general ache in her body was. A voice came to her through the speakers in the fluid and rippled into her. She was wearing a breather, but the rest of her was naked.
“Welcome, human.” The voice was feminine but monotone.
“Um. Hello.” Her words were hollow to her own ears, but they were recognizable.
The voice casually mentioned. “I have subdued your companions.”
“Who are you?”
“Nala. The mind of this facility.”
Razi looked up to the opening of the tank and gauged her odds of making it out.
“Do not attempt to escape. Your reworking is almost complete.”
A trill of dread ran down Razi’s spine. “My what?”
“This facility creates shifters. Your companions are already full-blooded with mastery of their bodies. You require additional adjustment.”
“I am not Oefric, I am Terran. There is no reason for adjustment.” Reasoning was her only recourse as her body tensed with panic.
“It is a requirement before any personnel leave this facility. You are not an employee or management.”
She considered her options. “Where are my companions?”
“They are restrained in the outer quarters. They were quite insistent that you not be altered, but that would go against my protocols.”
“I see. What alterations have you engaged in?”
“You have been enhanced with Oefric genes. Your body will soon be able to shift shape and accommodate your mates as well.”
Her body shook with shock. “Please define the alterations.”
“Physically, you will be able to mate with both of your males at the same time. It is a wish in their minds that my scanners determined to be a primary concern. With the alterations, you need never choose between them.” Nala’s monotone took on a smugness that irritated the hell out of Razi.
Shock ran through her as she floated in the liquid. The mask kept her from looking down so she quickly ran her hands down her torso, relieved when she only found two breasts. With a sense of dread, she continued her exploration to her clit, further to her slit and with a blank mind, she found her second slit beyond it. Her rectum had been relocated an inch northward.
Thrashing around in the tank, screaming invectives into the mask was not productive, but it exhausted her until she could do nothing but pant into the mask.
“Your blood pressure is too high. I will sedate you until the procedure is complete.”
“No, no…” Razi felt her consciousness give way and she floated into blackness.
“Razi. Razi, wake up.” Ailan was holding her and her body was still shining with the liquid from the tank.
A ripple of sensation ran through her skin. It wasn’t arousal, a strange energy was inside her and trying to crawl out of her skin.
“Let me at that damned AI. I want to see if it can feel pain.”
Eckhar snorted in relief. “Thank goodness. We thought she killed your personality.”
Razi sat up, Ailan’s arm behind her. “What the hell did she do to me?”
Her skin rippled again and she flinched as the visible creeping moved down her arm to her fingertips. “What the hell is that?”
Ailan whispered in her ear. “Calm down. The change will come on you if you don’t calm down and this is not the place for it.”
She hissed, “What change?”
“From her lecture, she treated you to an Oefric reset. Your genes are being rewritten to make you into a shapeshifter.”
“Fuck.”
Ailan and Eckhar looked at each other and grinned.
Ailan admitted, “I haven’t heard you curse before.”
“I save it for special occasions.” She looked around and grimaced. “Where are we?”
“Nala had the bots dump you in here. We are in a holding cell.”
The walls were blank. Half a dozen bunks were around the exterior of the room. There was a small dispenser on one wall and a tiny lav enclosure.
“Why did she dump me in here if she was done with her tampering?”
The hated voice came through a minute speaker at the top of the wall. “You will not be released from this facility until you are proven to be a working shifter. At that point, you will be allowed to leave. Not before.”
Razi tried to reason with the computer. “You don’t understand. This facility is going to be destroyed. The tectonic waves are getting closer.”
“I am aware of the degradation of the local strata. It does not mean that a defective Oefric will be allowed to leave. You were brought here to be changed and you shall not leave until you are complete.”
Frustrated, she yelled, “How long will that take?”
“That is up to you. You cannot leave until you take another form so your mates had better work to help you. The moment you shift, you are free.”
Razi was gearing up to yell, but Eckhar clamped a hand over her mouth. “Calm down, Razi. You are experiencing Oefric history in person. Consider it an experience most archaeologists would kill for.”
She snorted and glared up at him with narrowed eyes until he freed her. “That would be an anthropologist. I would be content to simply observe.”
Her skin rippled again and she gasped.
Eckhar sighed. “Calm down. Your first change will be run by adrenaline if you are not careful. That is not a good way to start.”
Muttering to herself, she left the men and went to one of the cots. A few short yanks later and she was wearing a sheet, toga fashion. “That is better. I am in favour of public nudity as long as it doesn’t involve me.”
They seemed surprised but gestured for her to take a seat on the floor of the cell.
Ailan asked. “Do you want to shift quickly?”
“I have no idea, what are my options?”
Eckhar sat on her right, Ailan on her left in a strange triangle.
“You can do a slow shift, controlled and complete, but you might stall out halfway through. That would leave your transformation incomplete and uncomfortable.”
Eckhar continued, “Or you can focus on an image in your mind, get your adrenaline high and shift quickly.”
Razi weighed her options. “Like ripping off a bandage.”
Ailan nodded. “Something like that.”
She bit her lip and noted the tightening of Eckhar’s jaw.
“How exactly will I get the necessary adrenaline going?” She grunted as her skin rippled again.
“Fear, pain, anger or arousal. The choice is yours.”
She blinked. “Any one of those?”
Her companions nodded.
Ailan spoke in a low and calming tone. “It is your first transformation, you can choose. At home, family would guide your first change. Here, we will stand in for the elders of your clan.”
“I would vote for fear, but neither of you scare me. Anger is not a constructive emotion and I don’t want to remember my first shift like that. Pain isn’t really my thing.” She hesitated before finishing her thought. “I suppose that just leaves hormones as my route to shifting.”
Eckhar held up a hand. “Not that we don’t appreciate it, but we don’t want you shifting or fighting for control whenever we are together. Are you sure that this is the method you want for your first shift?”
She ran her fingers through the damp tangle of her hair. “I don’t know. What are you thinking?”
“We have ways to trigger all of those emotions in this space. You need only give your authorization.” Ailan leaned forward, a peculiar light in his eyes.
“Will you stop if I say no?”
“You will need another word. Something that you would not say in reflex.” Eckhar was stripping off his shirt while Ailan removed his boots.
“Why are you removing your clothing? You can shift with it on, can’t you?” She was getting nervous and the tremor in her skin became more visible.
“We can, but the arousal factor is easier if we are able to engage in skin-to-skin contact.”
Ailan stripped off his shirt and Razi’s mouth watered.
“Razi, I want you to concentrate on an animal that you think of frequently. Fur or feathers, claws or paws. Every detail you can think of should be there.”
Eckhar removed his trousers and stood straight, his eyes glowing and gaze fixed firmly on her. She couldn’t help but notice the enticing curve of his erection, including the drop of glistening fluid on the broad head.
Her heart began to beat heavily, moisture emanated from her core and an aroused lassitude came over her.
When Ailan completed disrobing, she bit her lip. She couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. They were both facing her, both aroused and her body was starting to shake with instincts that did not belong to her species.
They did nothing, simply stood there with precum beginning do drip from their cocks. At an unseen signal, they moved and the faces that she was used to shifted into feral animals with open jaws and flashing eyes.
Razi screamed and flung her hands up, hiding her face from their attack, but they brought her to the ground and held her there while their jaws tore at the wrap she was wearing. Teeth flashed, fabric tore and two pairs of clawed hands held her while the shifters eyed their meal.
Her skin was pulsing rapidly now--fear, arousal and confusion driving her body into a welter of conflicting signals.
Teeth fixed on her limbs at random intervals, not piercing, but pressing hard enough to bring a prickle of pain to her. Her eyes watered and then widened in surprise when tongues replaced the teeth.
Ailan had taken on a feline head, Eckhar a wolf’s. The rough versus smooth tongue ran over her breasts, down her ribs and between her thighs with a random frenzy of tasting and caressing.
Razi winced when Ailan moved between her thighs, lapping with his barbed tongue. Her body didn’t care what the stimulator looked like, as long as it got what it needed. The arousal spiralled to dizzying heights as his tongue scraped her clit, delved into her channel and then dug deep.
When he removed his tongue from her channel, she thought he was done, but as he dug into her second channel, she found extra sensations that the moronic AI had installed in her. Nerves that had not been wired for this purpose woke under the methodical scrape of the feline appendage.
He lapped obsessively at her, a deep purr coming from his chest.
Eckhar held her neck between his teeth in warning before his attentions turned to her breasts and shoulders.
She was trembling under the dual onslaught, the difference in sensation enough to make her dizzy. Just when she thought she would shatter in orgasm, they both retreated.