Chapter 2

Note: When the conversation is telepathic, it is indicated by italic font.

While Sarah and her friends traveled toward their destination, it was quiet at the estate. Hardly a day had past before their absence began to be noticed by their friends. First Bob, Nancy, Stan and Julia were surprised that they could not reach them Wednesday evening. They tried again on Thursday morning and were still unable to reach them or the house staff. After trying several times on Thursday with out success, they decided to return as soon as arrangements could be made. They managed to get reservations on the first flight out Friday morning then called Al with their arrival time.

After retrieving their bags, they let Al know they were on their way to arrival’s curb. When they saw Al, their worry grew, just based on his expression.

Nancy inquired, “I gather you went by the estate.”

“Yes. After you called, one of my trips took me near your place. Once I dropped off my customer, I stopped by. You were already in the air so I didn’t call. Access was fine. Everything looked pretty normal for when someone is there. The office was open, the lights were on. I only looked in the door and didn’t change or touch anything. The cooks are worried. They told me that they were given Wednesday and Thursday off. When they arrived today no one was there and all the lights were on. They will have lunch ready when we get there. Also Mairia’s group is expected late this evening. We are scheduled to pick up Shirley and the children later today.”

“I thought, they weren’t returning until Monday.”

“That was the message Joyce gave us Tuesday evening. Shirley called us because she couldn’t reach anyone at the house to tell them of the change. Fred’s return was moved up so they decided to come back early.”

It was very quiet in the limo on the drive to the estate. Nancy and Julia had cried for a short time. Stan and Bob just stared out the window with a glassy eyed looks. When they were near the turnoff, Bob said, “Al, let’s go in the back way.”

“Okay.”

Bob got his laptop out and turned it on causing Stan to give him a puzzled look. Seeing his expression he said, “Once we are inside the back gate, I can connect and get a look before we arrive and disturb anything.”

“We should call Lt. Flanigan and Lt. Rose,” said Nancy.

“Yes. First, let’s see how things are first then review the surveillance video. From my perspective, their objective was achieved.”

“So you think they were abducted?”

“Yes. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Now we need to determine, who, why and what can we do to rescue them. We need to think about who we share this with very carefully.”

“Why?” asked Julia.

“We could have the same issue here that Zoe’s group faced in New York with tainted officials. Besides, our surveillance system will provide us a lot of details on what occurred. It probably isn’t wise to let too much of that information out.”

“Okay.”

“Rusty’s friend, Mark Edwards, is another one to consider talking to,” responded Nancy.

“Agree. Let’s see what we have, then decide what we share. Just like you I want to know what happened to my daughter and our friends. My instinct says we need to be careful, very careful with how we proceed.”

“If I can jump into this,” said Al, “he makes good sense. From what I know of Flanigan, Rose and Edwards, they are good to have on your side.”

“Al, we are always open to your suggestions or comments,” responded Nancy.

On entering the estate Bob had Al stop on the drive just past the curve, so they were out of sight from both the houses and the back entrance. After about fifteen minutes, Bob said, “Let’s go. Everything looks normal. The only traffic in or out was our van and the cooks on Wednesday then Al and the cooks today. There was movement in the house, office and dock area on Wednesday ending early afternoon. The only oddity was the presence of a trailer at the dock Wednesday from late morning till early afternoon. After that there was no activity anywhere until the cooks arrived this morning.”

“Strange. Wait you said the cooks were in on Wednesday.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe I miss understood,” said Al, “but I understood them to say they were given Wednesday and Thursday off.”

They had only been in the house a few minutes when the phone rang. Nancy picked it up almost immediately and said, “Hello.”

“Thank, God,” exclaimed Melody.

“What’s wrong?” replied Nancy.

“Nothing. We were worried about you all. No one was answering the phone or our messages. So...”

“Where are you?”

“Resting before tonight’s show. Why? By the way, I didn’t think you were supposed to be home yet.”

“We moved it up as we had the same problem you’ve apparently had. Sarah’s group has disappeared along with Joyce and three other friends.”

“You’re shit-in’ me. Oops, sorry.”

“Sorry but it’s true. We just got in and are trying to figure out what happened.”

“Our prayers are with you. Call us when you know anything.”

“We will. Bob wants to talk to you.”

“Hello, Melody.”

“Hi Bob, what can we do for you? We’ll do anything, just let us know.”

“Be safe. Keep your eyes open and work in pairs. You know the drill. If you need more help let me know and don’t let this be a distraction.”

“Yes. Boss,” replied Melody with a giggle. “We’ll call three or four times a day. As I told Nancy, our prayers are with you.”

“Thank you. We’ll keep you posted. Have a good quiet evening.”

“Thanks.”

As Bob and Nancy would learn later, Melody barely turned the phone off before she started bawling. It was only Zoe threatening to call Bob and chew him out that slowed Melody’s tears. On hearing the news they all cried. It was Belinda who reminded them to get their game faces on in time to go to the stadium with the performers.

At the estate, they decided to eat dinner while they talked to the cooks. All the cooks knew was a woman called them, who sounded like Joyce, and gave them the time off. They didn’t think too much about it, as they weren’t coming in till lunch on Wednesday due to an appointment. When they arrived this morning, they were surprised to find the house open and lights on. Even more so when they discovered no one was in the house or answering the office phone. They were on the verge of calling them when Al arrived.

The next several hours were a mess. They had hardly finished dinner when Shirley, Janice and Thomas arrived. Explanations were barely finished when Mairia’s group entered the house. Mairia was barely through the door when she said, “Where’s Sarah?”

When Nancy said, “We don’t know.”

Crying Mairia asked, “When?”

“Wednesday we think.”

“Oh my God,” then was nearly inconsolable along with the rest of her group.

It was nearly half an hour before everyone was somewhat calm and Bob asked, “Mairia, was there a meaning behind your comment?”

“Wednesday afternoon I was walking with Kathleen and Ron after class and out of the blue I thought I heard Sarah say something like, “I described the dream in a note.” There was a bit more but I was so shocked I am not sure I can remember it. I mean she wasn’t anywhere near me.”

“Just that?”

“No, I felt some foreboding along with the comment. Is there a note?”

“Don’t know,” replied Nancy. “It has been a mess around here since we got back.”

“What can we do?”

“Not sure at this point.”

“Have you checked their suite?”

“No,” said Nancy. “We haven’t gotten to the point of deciding what to do next.”

“Can I go look?”

“Sure but don’t disturb anything.”

“Okay. I’ll just look around.”

A few moments later Mairia walked back in the kitchen holding two envelopes. “These were lying out like they were left there on purpose.”

After looking at the envelope with the hair on his neck twitching Bob carefully removed the document from the envelope. Bob read through it silently. As he did, tears filled his eyes. “This will take some thought.”

“What is it?” said Mairia. “Are they okay?”

“Sarah has had repetitive dreams and this is her description of them. If this is true, then they are okay, but...” As he finished speaking Mairia pulled the letter from Bob’s hands and held it so the rest of them could read it. By the time they finished all of them were crying.

“Mommy, why are you crying?” asked Janice.

“Because we don’t know where Sarah and her friends are or when we will see them again?”

“Mom, they are okay,” replied Janice in a way only a child can. “They love us. We will see them again.”

Then Thomas chimed in with, “Janice is right,” as Shirley enveloped them in hugs.

“We hope so,” said Mairia with her eyes filled with tears. “We have to believe.”

“Okay,” said Bob, “It is late and we are all emotionally upset. I would like all of you to get a good night’s rest, preferably here on the estate. Then in the morning, we will decide how to face this together.” Looking at the cooks he added, “Can someone take care of your children tonight?”

“I think so,” replied a cook. “Can I call?”

“Yes. If you need a reason try to make it as vague as possible.”

A few minutes later the cooks came back into the room. One said, “We are all set until tomorrow evening.”

“Thank you,” replied Bob. “Since we know the approximate time they left the site, we should know by tomorrow morning what happened and how they did it. I am willing to share that with all of you, however it mustn’t go beyond those in this room plus Zoe’s group. We will likely let the detectives and Mark know of their disappearance as well.

“We will want a story we can share with outsiders. My inclination at the moment is to say they went on a vacation to a tropical resort. It fits with the description in the letter. So with that in mind, sleep well.” There were quite a few chuckles.

“We know it will be hard,” added Nancy, “but we should remember the good times while we wait to see them again.”

“Yes!” exclaimed Thomas.

It was several days after the abduction of Sarah and her friends when a small group on a space ship in the Mars - Sun L5 Lagrange position gathered around a table. “What is their status and your recommendation?” enquired Amy.

“They are stable and the changes that woman initiated are progressing,” replied Connie. “However, the projected result will be a horrible disaster unless we act now.” She then described what they had learned from questioning the two attendants and the eight people who had arrived with them.

“How did you question our guests?” asked Jim. “I thought they were sedated.”

“We woke them enough so that we could probe them telepathically. If they remember the experience it will seem like a dream.”

“So the two attendants were acquainted with several of the people prior to them starting their trip here.”

“Yes. Remember our questions primarily focused on health issues. All eight are saying they were drugged then walked into the trailer when told to do so. They referred to it as being abducted. The two attendants, confirm that the group walked into the trailer. They also claim to have been abducted several years earlier. They were taken to Sylvia’s farm where they’ve been since their abduction. According to them, they are EMTs and assist the doctor in caring for the other women at her farm.”

“Do you believe any of it?”

“All of them believe what they are telling me. Regardless we need to deal with the health issues.”

“We agree,” responded Jim.

Amy looked at Erica and said, “If this is true, how did we miss this? Where is this Sylvia now?”

“We don’t know. There was no indication in the information we have on her to suggest she was involved in human trafficking. Our monitoring of Dorothy during the questioning tell us that she is being truthful. She doesn’t know where Sylvia’s farm is located. We haven’t been able to locate her.”

“Didn’t our eight guests sign the contracts and health forms?”

“Yes. To be sure, we are checking the paper for their prints and DNA. Once we find a valid signature of theirs, we will do a comparison. Even if we have positive results, it will not be proof of their agreement but only indicate a probability.”

“This species seems to spend more time subjugating or killing others than advancing their knowledge.”

“We have another issue, that we will need to address in a few days. Based on the information from Sarah, she had dreams of something occurring. At her friends prompting she left a note for the friends they lived with describing her dream. From her description, you would think she had been to the island. Her descriptions of it are very good. So, I’ve sent drones to monitor the place where they lived. The location is exceptionally well covered with intrusion and video monitoring devices. However, they are not capable of detecting us unless we want them to. Putting their relationships into context: Sarah, Rusty, Sally, Terry work for N&R Security which is based at an estate owned by Nancy and Bob. Joyce is the owner’s daughter. Judy, Jill and Janet are friends who came to visit for the weekend.”

“That raises an interesting question,” said Amy. “How did Sylvia manage to abduct them?”

Erica smiled, “Careful planning, research and some how knowing the victims plans.”

“What has their friends been doing in response to their disappearance?”

“They are maintaining a low profile so I suspect they found her note and are waiting. They’ve only told three of their friends outside their immediate circle. Their immediate circle is fairly large.”

“What a cockup!” exclaimed Amy. “First, we need to resolve how we address the medical issues.”

“Our systems tell us there is only one way to successfully do that,” said Betsy. “A key sticking point is not having their permission to proceed. Waking them, then getting them to understand the situation, would as we understand it put us too far into the changes to safely alter them.”

Connie said, “We’ve discussed this among the medical staff. We feel the only way out of this paradox is to bring them here immediately so we can use the incubators. This is based on what we think we would want if we were in their position. The autodoc projects greater than 99% probability of success. All other treatments protocols we have access to are less than half that.”

“I agree with that logic,” said Erica.

“Do we need to have a formal meeting of everyone?” asked Jim.

“We should,” replied Connie. “While that is taking place, I want them brought here.”

“Okay. Do it.”

Amy then asked all the crew to join them in reviewing the situation with their new group of potential surrogate mothers. The shuttle carrying them was just lifting from Earth when the crew were told of the situation and possible resolutions. They also agreed that using the incubators was the wisest choice.

Once the decision was made, Connie, went to initiate the treatments.

“Is everyone agreeable with me sending their family a note?” asked Erin.

“To say what?” asked Amy sharply.

“Simply that their friends arrived safely. It will be awhile before they can contact you as they had a poor response to a treatment they received on their way here. They are currently in an advanced medical facility to fully resolve the complications. A full recovery will take at least six months.”

“I am not sure about the wording you propose but agree with the idea. Simplest is best.”

“I’ll help you with the wording,” said Betsy.

“Thanks. We should try to send it as soon as possible.”

“I’ll leave it in your hands,” said Amy.

“Are we done here?” asked Connie.

“Yes,” replied Jim. “I think so.”

“How long before we know?” asked Amy.

“Incubators for at least two months once the treatment is initiated then sedated for about four months until the changes are complete. Once they are out of the incubators, we should have a pretty good idea whether we were successful. Although we won’t fully know until they are awake and mobile.”

“Sarah and Rusty are active telepaths. Sally, Terry and Joyce are very close. I didn’t check the other three.”

“Interesting,” responded Amy. “So should we look for other candidates to be surrogate mothers?”

“I am agreeable to looking,” replied Jim. “But not initiating contact until this group is up an about. While the likely hood is small, we strongly suspect they didn’t know about or agree to fill our need. We need to give them the opportunity to make that decision.”

After a moment Amy replied, “Okay. Although, considering how they were brought here, the probability of them filling our need doesn’t seem very probable.”

“Considering the difficulty we’ve had, we should rethink how we look for candidates. Perhaps the two women who arrived with them can assist us.”

“Good idea. I wonder what other surprises are in store for us.”

It was a little over six months after the abduction when Sarah slowly opened her eyes thinking of how rested she felt. The empty bed caused her to wonder where her friends were. Looking around, she realized this wasn’t their room. “Where am I?” Then she remembered having lunch with her friends and enjoying the added presence of Jill, Janet and Judy. She shivered as she remembered the rest of the events and her inability to react. She vaguely remembered feeling the trailer move before darkness overtook her.

Sarah forced her thoughts back to the present and said softly, “So, where am I? Where are my friends?”

Assessing her surroundings, she saw that she was lying on a big bed in a rather large room. One wall was covered by a mirror. The reflected image was that of a very lovely woman laying on her side. The woman had long flowing red hair and a lovely figure. The woman was definitely not petite or small. “Oh my, that’s me,” she gasped. The view in the mirror pleased her. She moved to rest her head on her hand as she studied the view. As she examined the image, she thought she noticed some differences in her appearance. Her skin color appeared to be a light golden brown like someone of Spanish or Italian descent. Her analysis of the image in the mirror halted when she realized her bladder was full and so were her breasts. When she moved to sit up, the lighting in the room increased from the soft twilight like glow. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and without a thought slipped on the shoes laying nearby.

She took only a few steps before she began to think about her actions. “How did I know where the bathroom was? Or where to go?”

She soon stepped into the next room then walked straight to one of the stools. Sitting down on the stool, she reached behind her to lift something, as she did, she felt a part of her body move near the top of her ass cheeks. “That’s strange,” she thought. “Why did I do that?” Her movement felt normal but she couldn’t remember doing it before, besides she couldn’t see what it was. Relieving her bladder was much more important at the moment.

Releasing the pressure on her bladder was satisfying. The loss of that urgent need was quickly replaced by the slight ache in her breasts. After wiping herself then washing her hands, she again followed her instincts and went toward the door. On entering the room, she saw several benches. The benches were similar to those in the trailer and similar to the one at home. Walking over to one, she straddled the seat and sat down. “Ah,” she thought, “it has my name on it. Adjusted for me as well.” She leaned forward, letting her breasts slip into the cups. As soon as her nipples reached the bottom chamber, the tugging on them began initiating the release of her milk.

As her milk began to flow her labia began to swell and moisten as they always did when her nipples were being sucked. She placed her hands on the grips then squeezed. She gasped as she felt a dildo slide slowly between her labia and into her sheath. As it slid in, her extended labia minora released more of her cream easing its passage. Tightening her grip caused the dildo to swell. When her head touched the headrest, a small penis shaped tube pressed against her lips. As if it was part of a routine, she opened her mouth letting the tube slide between her lips. Once in place, she closed her mouth around the tube and began to suck. Her mouth filled with a mixture of warm milk and a granular substance along with the taste of cum. She swallowed until the flow diminished then changed to water.

Pushing the handles forward caused the dildo to lengthen its thrusts. The steady rhythm of the dildo and the sucking on her nipples increased her arousal. She was soon on her way to an orgasm as she dreamed of the times she spent with Rusty and her three friends. Her orgasm came in several small steps, reaching a grand finale which was triggered by the dildo to release hot cream. As she recovered from her orgasm, the sucking sensation on her nipples slowly subsided.

She lay there and rested for a bit. She was amazed at what she had just done. It seemed to her that she took care of her needs without even thinking about what she was doing. She wasn’t upset as she found the after effects quite refreshing and satisfying.

With the urgent needs of her body satisfied, she again wondered where she was and what had happened to her friends. She sensed they were okay but yearned to see and be with them again.

Releasing her grip on the handles caused the dildo shrink then slide out of her. With her sheath no longer plugged, her cream began to flow. She was puzzled when she didn’t feel it running down her leg or puddling under her ass on the seat. Easing back from the bench she looked down between her breasts to see her cream dripping into a small circular trough surrounding the dildo.

Feeling thirsty, she looked around and saw a small water cooler. “Great,” she said then walked over to the it. While she drank several glasses of water, she looked around the room then the adjoining bathroom. The only thing unusual in the bathroom was the toilets did not have a back. There was a bidet sitting near the toilet.

Then remembering moving something on her ass when she sat on the stool earlier. She felt behind her and nearly dropped the glass of water when she placed her fingers on her backbone at the top of her ass.

“What?” she screeched as she felt around feeling a lot of soft hair. Continuing to explore, she felt fairly long hair on her back but seemed to just be along her backbone. She could tell that it continued ran down between her ass cheeks. Feeling around she between her ass cheeks, she discovered a hairy protuberance between her ass cheeks beginning where her tail bone should be.

She thought, “It can’t be.” After quickly finishing the glass of water, she walked back to the bedroom. Stopping in front of the mirror she turned at an angle, so she could see her back. She gasped, “Well I guess seeing is believing. I really do have a mane and a tail.” She could see that her tail lay partially in the trough between her ass cheeks, apparently an extension of her tail bone. It was covered with dark red hair which matched the hair on her head. A narrow row of dark red hair along her backbone from from her neck and down her tail.

She bent over to look between her legs to examine her tail. She could feel a bone in it and saw that it reached down several inches below her crotch. Sliding her fingers through the hair on the tail bone, she realized that it felt just like the hair on her head. The hair on her tail was about the same length as that on her back bone, and the tail hair reached nearly to her knees. She found touching it and stroking it arousing. The small amount of caressing caused her nipples to stiffen as her labia moistened then started to swell as they distended.

Standing back up, she looked at her profile in the mirror again and tried to see as much of her back as she could. When she pulled her long hair to lie over her shoulder, the ribbon of fine hair along her backbone was clearly visible. Seeing it confirmed what she had earlier felt. The hair on her back, appeared to be about the length of her finger. “Well it looks like I now have a mane. I guess that is what you would call it.”

Turning back to face the mirror, she looked more closely at her image. Her features seemed different but she couldn’t quite place the changes. She felt different but her height seemed to be the same, then again she had no way to judge. Looking again at her face, she tried to figure out what was different. Finally she decided that if her features had changed at all, they weren’t very different. Based on her reflection, her breasts didn’t seem to be as large as she remembered. Her shoulders and chest appeared to be broader and definitely more muscular. Her arms and legs showed more muscle tone than she remembered. Flexing her legs, arms and shoulders, she could barely see the muscle groups ripple. Her hips seemed a bit fuller, but she always worried about that. Running her fingers through her dark red hair, it felt both thicker and silkier.

She gasped as she looked down at her feet. They really looked different. The body of her foot seemed longer and she was now essentially standing on her toes. She liked wearing heels but these were different. “That’s it,” she thought. “They feel more comfortable.” Looking more closely, she noticed that there wasn’t the sharp angle where her heel should be. She pulled one foot up to examine it closer. The most obvious change seemed to be that she no longer had what she knew as a heel and the ankle joint felt different. Her foot was now like an extension of her leg without the sharp angle due to the heel. Probing her foot and ankle with her fingers, it seemed that the biggest difference was what she remembered as her heel now seemed to be part of her ankle. The width of her foot across her toes seemed to be wider, but it was hard to tell how much with no reference. Slipping her shoe off, she could see hardened areas on her foot under the toe joints and toes. As she examined the shoe, she noticed that the ankle portion seemed quite a bit longer and the angle of her foot seemed sharper or more vertical. She slipped her shoe back on and put her foot down. It was then she realized she had been standing on one leg with no balance issues at all. “Wow,” she thought, “I could never do that before. Now I have a much stronger sense of balance, and the reason I feel more comfortable is the changes in my feet.”

She saw a note on the table and it read, “We suggest you take a shower. After that come back here and we will try to answer any questions you have. This facility is managed by a computer with a voice interface. You can query it throughout the building as well as around and in nearby buildings. The computer’s voice will sound like a woman you used to work with before you went to work with Bob and Nancy. When you are ready, just come back to the bedroom and say “Hello”. It will try to answer any questions you have although some questions may require it to query the administrators before they can be answered. Enjoy your shower.”

Sarah let her instincts take her to the shower. She was shocked by how big the bath and shower area was. The room contained several wash basins along one wall with mirrors covering the whole wall behind them. There were more stools like she used before and these were spaced along a low wall in the middle of the room. There were also several bidets as well. She then realized it was a part of the room she had been in before, and was surprised that she had overlooked seeing this part earlier.

When she reached the shower, she changed her shoes before stepping into it. Entering the shower room, she saw it was large enough for several people to comfortably share the shower. As she stepped in the water began to spray from the shower heads. Stepping into the spray, she wet her body and hair. Once she was wet, she said, “Soap,” without thinking and the spray turned into a soapy solution. She took the long handle brush from the wall and began to brush the soap through her hair even, the hair that now coursed down her back. She found washing the tail hair a bit arousing. Once her hair was thoroughly brushed she rubbed the soapy water over her body paying special attention to her nipples and labia. The caresses to her nipples and labia felt good. While she was washing she thought again of her friends and the fun they had in the shower. She thought about continuing her caresses until she came but decided she wanted to hear more about this place and what has happened. She said, “Rinse,” and the water cleared quickly rinsing the soap off of her and from her hair.

As she left the shower, it shut off. She dried off then brushed her hair before going back into the bedroom. She was surprised at how easily her hair brushed out. Tangles were one of the reasons she had never let hers grow much longer than shoulder length, even then she occasionally had tangles that could be a bear to remove. As she brushed her hair, she cast her mind out in search of her friends, and quickly found them but wasn’t able to link with them. She did identify Rusty and even though she couldn’t link with him she knew he was okay, as were the others.