Chapter 14: Contact

The alarms were different this time.

Not the harsh warning klaxons from Emma and David’s escape attempt, but something almost musical—a series of tones that made the ship’s walls vibrate at harmonic frequencies. Emma looked up from the sleeping platform, her six-month-pregnant belly making the movement awkward despite her enhanced flexibility.

“What is that?” David asked from his usual position against the wall.

Before Emma could answer, the cell door opened. Xeph entered with unusual urgency, his movements less fluid than normal. Behind him, Dr. Yanna’s expression was carefully neutral.

“A situation has developed,” Xeph stated. “Human military vessels have located our position. They are demanding the return of all abducted specimens.”

Emma’s enhanced heart—larger and more efficient than her original—beat faster. “Rescue?”

“An attempt at rescue,” Dr. Yanna corrected. “They’ve threatened to fire upon us if we don’t comply. We’re currently in Earth orbit, which limits our options for departure.”

David was on his feet immediately. “You’re returning us? We’re going home?”

“That depends,” Xeph said, his large dark eyes fixing on Emma. “On whether you wish to return.”

The words hung in the air like a bomb.

“What?” David’s voice cracked. “Of course we want to return. You abducted us. Experimented on us. We want to go home.”

“The male’s desires are noted.” Xeph’s gaze never left Emma. “But the female must choose for herself. Emma—do you wish to return to Earth? To resume your previous existence?”

Emma’s hand moved to her swollen belly, feeling the hybrid life moving inside her. Her enhanced mind processed the question with brutal clarity.

Return to Earth. To her old lab, her old colleagues. To people who would see her modified body and know something had happened to her. To a world where she couldn’t breed with the frequency and intensity her enhanced libido demanded. To a life of constant, unfulfilled arousal.

Or stay. Continue her breeding schedule. Birth her hybrid and immediately conceive another. Live as the sexual goddess her enhancement had made her.

“I...” Emma started, then stopped. “Can I think about it?”

“You have one standard cycle,” Xeph said. “The human military has given us twelve hours to begin releasing captives. We will start with those who unambiguously wish to leave. But you, Emma—you must decide.”

They left, the door sealing behind them. Emma and David stared at each other across the small cell.

“What is there to think about?” David’s voice rose with desperate hope. “Em, they’re giving us a chance to leave. To go home. To be free.”

“Free,” Emma repeated, the word tasting strange. “David, what exactly do you think we’d be free to do?”

“Live our lives. Raise Lily. Try to—to heal from this. Get therapy. Be normal again.”

“Normal.” Emma laughed bitterly. “Look at me, David. Really look at me.”

She stood, letting her naked enhanced body display itself fully. Her breasts were larger than human normal, sitting impossibly high. Her skin had that subtle iridescent glow that marked her as genetically modified. Her pregnant belly was unmistakably swollen with non-human offspring. Her pussy glistened with constant arousal, lips plumper and more prominent than any baseline human.