Chapter 9

19 YAL

Our wanderings became circumscribed by our daughters. Ananya and Hotene, names we had chosen from the Old Sol cultures associated with their phenotypes, largely slept when we did. Thankfully, they usually went down at around the same time, after Hotene’s nightly fight; the staggered circadian rhythms that kept our sleepless human ancestors on guard at the mouths of their caves were synchronized in homo liberas twins, repurposed to Longshot’s watches. Our family expanded to three blankets.

Our days became consumed by playing with our children, talking to them, knowing that they understood almost nothing that we said, yet were drinking everything in. The factos became diaper recycling machines. The children thrived.

The twins quickly proved to be very different. Hotene was the fussy one, the one who vied for attention or feeding, while Ananya was almost always placid, loving and calm. Attending to their cries at night took no more than rolling to our sides when they stirred.

Zuri was true to her word when it came to sex. It was a month before her body was ready for intercourse, but she was as inviting with her mouth as ever, feeding on my cock as devotedly as the babies latched on to her breasts. There was never again any talk of going to our mother for my needs.

The moment the children began to crawl, Zuri became terrified of being anywhere near the ringriver, convinced that one of them would slide into the water and drown. She was only reassured after she saw one of the factos gather up a scrambling Hotene with infinite gentleness and return her to the blanket.

The traditions we had developed as a family continued. When they were three years old, we bundled the children up for the long trip to the bow, rising with them to the Cupola so that they could experience the true nature of their home and the universe outside for the first time. Mother began her visits back to the city shortly afterwards, leaving for several days every few weeks.

Lying side by side, still panting after a bout of intense lovemaking, Zuri and I watched the children playing at the edge of the river beach a few meters from us, closely attended by two factotums.

It was fascinating to me how quickly they had developed their own personalities. I could see it even in the small tableau on the sand: Ananya decorating a sandcastle she had methodically erected and tugging at her sister’s arm, trying to get her to join in, while Hotene resisted, squatting over a set of stones, banging them together with an intense frown of concentration.

I felt my sister’s fingertips delicately stroking against my wet shaft, exploring, eager, and a little hopeful.

“You’re insatiable,” I growled.

“I am. For you.” She grinned, and I kissed her while twitching my hips to one side, temporarily drawing my cock out of her reach. Her playful moan of disappointment echoed in my mouth.

“Sorry.” I parted. “Still a little sensitive. I’ll need a while.”

Her lips formed a tiny moue of frustration as her voice rose, child-like. “But I want more.“

Zuri gasped as my fingers moved to the back of her neck and slid up, grasping her hair and tugging back firmly. Her body immediately fell back to the rug, hands opening to expose delicate pink palms as her nipples hardened.

“Who decides?”

She swallowed, eyes wide. “You do.”

“Don’t forget it.”

“I won’t. But –” She sucked in a deeper breath, head arching back as my grip tightened further. “But, do you think there might be an engram for it?”

“Huh.” I hadn’t considered that before. Letting go of her hair to stroke it with my hand allowed Zuri to nuzzle up against me, purring happily. A quick query to Ship revealed nothing, and I didn’t particularly want to disturb our mother with a question like that. “I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you ... Master.”

My head whipped around. “What?”

“Do you like it?” She looked up with a grin. “I’ve been diving some deSade. Or I could use the Latin. Dominus.” She half-growled the word, kissing my chest.

“But I thought you ... your phenotype...” I stammered.

“What? The fact that I’m black?” Zuri’s eyes rolled. “Brother, I have no relation to those people. They were slaves a thousand years ago. Master means something entirely different to me.”

“Alright.” My arm slipped behind her shoulders, and I turned my head to kiss her forehead, warm in the sunline. “I do like it.”

“Good.” We spent a long moment watching our children together. “We’re going to have to talk to them eventually,” Zuri said.

“About?” I felt a bead of sweat sliding slowly down the midline of my abdomen.