Chapter 6

Kim and Georgie and the others clustered round, concerned by the girls’ state. The hermies were so empathetic; really they were too nice to be true. Alex and Robin went off to find some food for them.

And too nice to survive on their own, Sophie reflected a few minutes later, sipping the smoothie Alex and Robin had made. They had no aggression whatsoever, it seemed. She was sitting on a bed next to Effie, with one hand on her lovely meaty thigh.

She had to know. “So,” she looked at Kim, “Thoro, you know, did he, and Ero, do you when you’d been grown...?”

“No,” Kim smiled easily, “they wanted, to socialise us, but Richard and Claudia kept the door locked always, when they weren’t there.”

That was good. Sophie smiled back. It made sense she thought: if they’d been fucked in that selfish way then Kim and the others would’ve been a bit different somehow and not been so fond of sex in that pure, happy way they were.

“What happens now?” she asked. “Do you go out and start having babies with humans? Ordinary humans I mean you know.”

“We wait to hear,” Georgie answered cheerfully, “then we do it.”

Sophie smiled, wondering if it all made sense. Anyway she called her mum to ask for a lift: voicemail though. She tried her dad: voicemail.

While she drank her smoothie she tried to get her head round what they’d learned. There were pieces missing, but it looked like Thoro and his species had messed up their planet with overpopulation and arrived here, somehow; as the last survivors or something?

“I bet,” said Effie, in tune as if by telepathy, “with all that genetic engineering the males’ve altered themselves to make sure the females cum even if they don’t really want it.”

“Yes,” Sophie tuned in, “so they can breed lots of offspring.”

“It fits with what we know doesn’t it?”

“Yes ... then, possibly, this was the planet they got assigned while others tried other planets? Using some kind of teleporting with DNA; and presumably latching onto Population in the name of the Institute.”

Effie nodded tiredly.

Sophie supposed if they could teleport they could scan satellite traffic and websites and everything, and message to find someone to put together the equipment and ingredients they needed to rebuild themselves. Geneva? Well the Swiss hadn’t been in a war since forever, so they probably looked like a good bet to not start shooting space beings up the second they appeared! Plus Geneva was pretty neat, totally civilised, and with the lake and parks and everything it must look great from space.

She wished now that she and Effie had stayed and talked to the space family a bit, but at the time she’d just wanted to get away from those awful self-centred males. Sort of aggressive but weak all at once. It was dead lucky they were weak anyway, otherwise she and Effie would still be up there probably, being fucked to pieces!

She’d never been in a such a state, ever. Hadn’t even known anyone could cum like that. Not that she couldn’t appreciate the occasional insane cum like that, probably, in the right circumstances...

Another time anyway maybe she and Ells might not just charge into the unknown the way they had! The door did have a huge lock on it, a red light and a sign...

Anyhow it seemed the space family had brought with them the story about the nightmare scenario of population growth ruining their planet, and also the technology to engineer humans in any designer form you wanted? To engineer a second cock for the lads, even! To grow the hermies, quite quickly; in months perhaps.

Somebody, maybe like her mum or dad, or one of the other people at the Institute, had seen it as an amazing lesson and opportunity all in one; decided that the human race was too aggressive and that’s what they had to change. Now that all the other species on earth had been conquered there was no need to be aggressive any more. In fact over-breeding was an aggressive instinct that could eventually destroy everything...

“So...” Effie put in, “someone came up with the idea of making the hermaphrodites to end the male/female thing? Because basically it’s the males who mostly have that extra aggression and cut down the trees and kill other animals for fun and want lots of offspring, and have this instinct to compete with all the other groups of humans. But now nobody’s evolving in any useful way so a lot of the masculine traits are just a problem. It’s better for everyone just to be a sweet person.”

“Yes,” Sophie nodded, “and while they were at it they made the hermaphrodites sterile unless they deliberately take that hormone: no more unwanted babies, and no more wives having more children than they really wanted. Brilliant.”

“So presumably these five hermies were a sort of trial?” murmured Effie.

“Yes. And they’re lovely, but they’re way too unaggressive, don’t you think? If they went out to go and seduce men and women they’d just be victimised hopelessly or be like pets. But actually it’d need them to be a bit less girlie in some ways too, so like less aggressive than men but also more ... purposeful than girls. Like a half-way thing.”

“That’s just what I was thinking babe.” Effie put her arm round her. “But with these hermies, people’d probably add them to their normal family instead of swapping.”

Sophie detected a touch of need in her girlfriend’s voice. Time to get home: it was almost eight and they were more tired than they knew really, after everything. She was only just up to doing anything herself, but home was where she really needed to be.

They stood up and kissed the hermies goodbye, then walked down to her mum’s office to pick up their backpacks. They could get outside, through a fire escape or window or something, or perhaps a card would work, and start walking while she phoned.

“I was wondering if Thoro sabotaged the hermaphrodites?” Sophie mused, putting her arm round Effie in turn as they walked slowly along the corridor. “Maybe automatically more than as deliberate sabotage. Cos the people here obviously depended on him to do it, and he’d think if they were female - more than male anyway - they shouldn’t have any aggression.”

“Yes,” said Effie, “and now there’s nothing happening, no growing. I wonder if they’ve given up? Now it hasn’t worked. Or they’re trying to find a way to make a new batch without Thoro?”

“Mmmm.” Sophie thought about that for a second. “And how can they keep it secret? I mean, somebody eventually has to notice they’ve swiped a whole two floors of the building or whatever it is! So perhaps they realise they won’t be able to grow another batch? Or they’re planning it like you say. Anyway we can ask now.”

They were coming up to the door off the corridor; the one with rows of seats. There were voices though! The girls stopped to listen at the door.

There were people in the room. Raised voices! People arguing. Sophie heard her dad! Normally he was really controlled, but he sounded desperate!

“EUTHANASE them?” he was pretty much yelling, “you can’t! They’re PEOPLE for God’s sake!”

“You can’t!” It was her mum! She sounded almost in tears!

God! What were they talking about? With one ear right up against the surface the girls could hear the raised voices quite well. There was a guy who sounded in charge, speaking in English with a French accent. Telling everyone what would happen: “I understand, really I do,” he sounded quite reasonable, “but we have to recognise that a lot of laws have been broken.

“The law on genetic engineering is very, very strict. The government is severe about it, and if it is known that we built genetically engineered beings the whole world will descend on us. And not to say helping aliens to rebuild themselves right here in the Institute! The effect on the University could be catastrophic. All our research would be suspended; grants would be withdrawn; funding would be stopped. This whole department would close, probably.

“So we have to undo what you have done here. Which has been crazy. These beings from space have to teleport off again and these humanoids they helped you manufacture have to disappear completely. I’m sorry, but that is the only way. Otherwise you could go to prison, even. You used stem cells did you not? From an embryo? So. It is a very serious business and I have had to take a serious decision about it.”

“It will be done in the most painless way,” it was another voice, a man supporting the big boss. “They will know nothing about it.”

“But it’s murder,” Sophie’s mum was still arguing, but sounding a bit like she wasn’t really expecting to win.

Sophie finally recognised the awful truth. She looked at Effie’s horror-stricken face.

“It cannot be murder,” the boss guy was sounding so in control, “if they are not human beings, and they are not, are they? They have been created in a laboratory from artificial DNA and stem cells. They are nobody’s children and while they remain the project cannot be disguised.

“And this project, this illegal and outrageous project, has to remain a secret, forever. It should never have occurred and you who started it, it is now for you to take responsibility for what has resulted and accept what is inevitable. I am sorry of course, but that is the situation. They have been created in the laboratory, for an experiment, and now they must be disposed of. It happens all the time.”

“I think it’s completely wrong.” Another voice spoke; probably a colleague of her mum and dad. But she didn’t sound very powerful.

“It is unavoidable, I am sorry,” the boss was definite, not really discussing it just telling them.

“But they are LIKE people!” Her dad was still in there fighting, “You haven’t met them to see!”

“It is not a decision to be decided with emotion.” The boss’s mind was closed.

“What can we do?” Effie whispered. “We have to stop them!”

“Something!” Sophie knew nothing could be more wrong than to kill the hermaphrodites. They were a lot more human, she was thinking, than that guy who was worried about a scandal and his funding. She’d had Georgie, Alex, Robin and Pat inside her! Effie had had Kim inside her! If they’d taken that hormone she and Effie could be having their babies!! And what about the space family?

“We can tell people,” said Effie. “Other people wouldn’t let them be killed!”

“Right!” Sophie saw it immediately. It was the only way. “We have to be quick! It sounded almost like that guy was just telling Mum and Dad what’s about to happen!”

How to do it? What did they have?