by Alyson Belle
I glared at him, but then adopted the softest friendliest tone I could. “Oh, Jeeves. Everything is so wonderful. The new girls are lovely, and everything is fantastic. I just find that I’m getting a little bored at the moment.”
“I can materialize all manner of games and activities for you,” Jeeves offered. “Though in your condition activities that are too strenuous are discouraged. What did you have in mind?”
“It’s just that I have all this training to interact with technical systems… I’m feeling like a challenge. Is there a computer I could try interacting with on the alien ship? Maybe something with information or controls?”
Jeeves buzzed in a way that seemed worrisome. “Of course we can’t allow you to interact with exceedingly complex systems of your benefactors, but we have the whole of human television, movies, and videogames at our disposal if you’d like. There are also historical archives for you to review if you’d like to learn more about your history after you were frozen, and some limited information about the capabilities of your new home. James has been reviewing those at his leisure whenever he has a spare moment.”
I frowned and thought through my options. It might be useful to learn more about the alien systems, especially if James was going through them, but it wouldn’t tell me anything about the details of how I got here.
“What about our capsules?” I asked. “Is there diagnostic data or records available from those.”
“The diagnostic data from your preservation units was lost when they failed, allowing your physical bodies to decay, but we do have backups of the readings and preparation records up to that point. Would you like to review them?”
“Yes, please!” I said eagerly.
Jeeves wobbled in affirmation and a door slid open in the middle of the air, just like the doors we’d all entered through.
“This way, please,” he said, floating through the new opening. “You’ll need to access the records directly from your capsule’s computer, and you can return to the garden afterward.”
Chapter 11
I wasted no time in following the little robot quickly through the opening he had created, and shivered as the temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees. The door slid closed behind us, revealing a long, metal-colored corridor without doors or windows except for the portal at the other end. My nipples sprang out and poked through my thin, silvery dress, another annoying side effect of this female body, and I rubbed them with my hands, trying to warm my breasts up.
“I am reading discomfort from your body. Allow me to resolve it.” Jeeves hummed, his light beeping purple for a moment, and the air instantly warmed a few degrees. I dropped my hands to my sides, relieved, and glanced around the strange hallway again. This seemed to be the actual interior of the alien ship, unless there was an even weirder surface hidden behind some holograms, and I was surprised he had allowed me back into this area.
“I thought the ship was off limits to us,” I said. “Are you sure this is okay?”
“Of course it is fine, mistress. I would not allow it otherwise.” Jeeves sounded amused. “We want only for your happiness and flourishing, and you have no limits except those that would be harmful to you. You’re free to roam the ship as you like, or even view the planet from which your species originated, though we expect you’ll be the most comfortable in the garden.”
“Earth?” I froze where I stood in the featureless gray hallway, my heart pounding. “I can see my home?”
“Yes, though you may find it distressful…”
“Show me,” I demanded.
“Very well.” Jeeves whirred and a panel beside us slid open. Where the wall had been featureless, seamless metal a moment prior, now I was looking out through a thick glass panel. A vast swath of stars radiated out into the distance in what was unmistakably the patterns local to our star system. I stood for a moment in awe, taken aback by the beauty of it, but then I noticed a huge, black, pitted rock floating in the lower right side of the image. It looked misshapen and shadowed and was covered in a purplish-black mist. My heart sank as I gazed at it.
“That can’t be…”
“Yes,” Jeeves intoned. “That is your Earth.”
I sank to my knees and pressed my head and hands against the cold, thick glass, staring at the long-dead planet that had once been my home. I had known that Earth was gone, of course—it was the first thing Jeeves had told me when he had awoken me. But it was a whole other feeling to see the grim sight with my own eyes. Up until now, it had been an abstraction. I remained there for a moment, letting the reality of it all sink in. We weren’t playing a game. Earth was gone, and it really was up to those of us left to repopulate the human species.
Am I being selfish? I wondered. I’m so focused on my own, petty problems, when the literal fate of our species hangs in the balance. In that way, I’m no better than any of my own ancestors… I laughed at the irony. There was nothing more human than selfishness when it came to survival.
Suddenly, anger overcame me, and I balled up a fist and smashed it against the glass.
“Mistress, be careful,” Jeeves warned. “I sense you are distressed, but I must not allow you to harm yourself.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I murmured. “Please lead on to the computer console.”
I picked myself up and followed behind the bobbing robot, trying to keep my emotions in check. I was angry at Lana, the real Lana, for being so careless as to play a prank at all. This was all her fault. I was mad because she had taken my body and my rightful place in the repopulation of the human species, but more than that, who knew what she might have inadvertently messed up with her bad behavior? What if our brains hadn’t worked across opposite-sex biology? There would have been no way for the aliens to know why the resurrected creatures weren’t surviving, and they would have just moved on. Or what if it had caused some other complication? It was horribly unprofessional and unbecoming of an officer. I straightened my dress and harrumphed in frustration. The worst part is that I couldn’t even chastise her, because she didn’t seem to care. She was too happy playing king of her little castle in her ‘accidentally’ stolen body.
We came to the door at the end of the hallways, and it slid open with a hydraulic hiss. Jeeves led the way into a cool, featureless room that I dimly remembered waking up in. My preservation chamber was in the center, the compartment empty, only now there was a laptop computer terminal just like the ones I’d trained on plugged into the circuitry of the steel and plastic sarcophagus. I walked over to the machine and logged in with my standard credentials, impressed that Jeeves had been able to accommodate me so well. The technology was probably ancient by now, and should have rotted away and failed long ago, even though the preservation chamber itself had been built to endure the ages. The machine brightened up to life with the words WELCOME, CAPTAIN JAMES T. MITCHELL flashing across the OS before showing me a dizzying array of menu options that perfectly mimicked the custom OS we had designed for these computers ages ago.
“Where did you get a laptop in this great of a condition?” I asked, swiping through a series of menus as I searched for the preparation logs.
“We can easily reproduce technology from any period in your timeline, from your records, at your request,” Jeeves informed me. “It is a trivial matters for the beings which revived you. It is unfortunate for you that we cannot so easily reproduce organic biomatter required to create your human bodies and resolve the embarrassing mix-up of your gender predicament.”
Yeah, that would be nice. Still that’s impressive that they can just recreate anything else from the records of our software. These aliens are really advanced. I wonder what else they’re capable of?
As I scanned through the computer’s files on the grand mission of the U.S. Human Preservation service, I was pleased to see that the full backup of the project preparation notes were intact along with the further history of the USHPS initiative that had happened after I was frozen, just as Jeeves had said. I noticed re
cords for Minny and Lindsay along with several dozen more female names, and a handful of male names too—backups and extra breeding pool material, no doubt. Ensign William Stryker was one of the male names that caught my eye, and I filed the information away for later.
I pushed deeper, searching for the specific logs that detailed the preparation of our chambers, but was surprised to find that the files had been sealed. I attempted to open them, and was met with a brash ACCESS DENIED message.
“That’s strange,” I muttered to myself as I frowned at the blinking red denial. “I should be able to access everything. There would be no reason for restricted content once we’re trying to resurrect the human species.”
Cracking the encryption on a sealed government file would take forever, even if I had access to the proper decryption tools, which I didn’t. I sighed in frustration. I decided to try a different tact, and opened a utility that would allow me to examine the system-level actions taken by users to see who had encrypted the file. When I viewed the signature and date-stamp on the sealed file, my mouth dropped open. It bore Lana’s login information… and the date was only three days before we had gone into a cryo-sleep. A chill ran down my back, and the fine, blonde hairs on the back of my neck lifted up.
Why had our chief archivist been messing with chamber preparation at all? And why were the records sealed? I had to know, but I also knew that there was no way James was going to give me Lana May King’s credentials to crack into the computer and find out. It was incredibly frustrating to be so close to getting some real answers to the puzzle, and still so far away.
Then I paused and held my hands up in front of my face. Did I actually need Lana’s credentials?
“Jeeves,” I said. “Is there a fingerprint scanner login option on this device?”
“Of course, mistress. Right beside you, on the edge of the laptop.”
I quickly logged out of my real account and held the tip of my index finger on the place that he’d indicated. The system beeped, the OS login screen faded away, and WELCOME, CAPTAIN LANA MAY KING flashed across the screen. I grinned and almost clapped my hands with delight. I’m cleverer than I look, just like Lana always was too. Now to see what she was trying to hide…
Chapter 12
As I tapped into the sealed capsule preparation files accessible on to Lana May and began to scan over them, my jaw dropped. Chills ran over me, and my pulse quickened.
Lana had been the last one to interact with our capsules before we went under, and not only that—if these records were correct, it appeared that she had deliberately sabotaged the subsystems critical to maintaining the long-term viability of our life support systems.
I was dumbfounded. If this was true, Lana had caused our organic bodies to die and decay, apparently intentionally. It cast her “harmless” prank in a whole different light. If Lana had had reason to believe that technology would eventually advance to the point where we could be resurrected from our biological records and mind scans, and all signs had pointed to that, then the “accident” that had placed us into the wrong bodies wasn’t anything of the kind. She had engineered all of this from the beginning, knowing that she would wake up in my body, and I in hers. Knowing that I would be the one to have to get pregnant and pop out baby after baby for the good of the human race, while she ruled the harem that had been intended for me.
I closed the laptop and sat back on my haunches. All the pieces fit, and I had all the proof I needed to make the case. The only trouble was, who would I prove it to? There was no longer any governing body to rule over us, no Earth central HQ to complain to. Jeeves had already made it clear that as the sole male aboard, James had the final say, and I didn’t think I could count on Minny and Lindsay to side with me here. If Lana had been willing to take such drastic and illegal measure to secure her place as “James,” she’d have no issue lying about what had happened to newcomers and doing whatever it took to cover it up.
I wanted to confront her and demand an explanation, but she had all the power. What could I do? I was a weak, pregnant woman… a sex toy that was regarded by our benefactors as childlike breeding stock.
As much as it appalled me, I realized what I needed was a man’s help to get anything accomplished. If I could get someone on my side, I could at least have some additional support to sort out what to do about Lana’s betrayal.
“Jeeves,” I said. “If I wanted to awaken another USHPS volunteer, how would I do so?”
Jeeves bobbled and blinked uncertainly. “It would be unusual per the release schedule laid out by your ancestors, but of course we are not beholden to their whims. My sensors indicate that there would be no appreciable issue adding another human to the current pool of living organisms on board, so you are free to awaken whomever you wish. As one of the few living humans in the galaxy, your preferences take precedence over those who are no longer living.”
I smiled. At least I had some pull around here. I thought back to the list of names I’d reviewed earlier, and remembered that one of them had been relatively young and junior—that was perfect, since I needed someone impressionable if this was going to work.
“I’d like to awaken William Stryker, please.”
“As you wish, mistress. Awakening Ensign William Stryker now.”
A long moment passed while I waited for something to happen, and then just as I was about to ask Jeeves whether he’d already done it, a panel in the wall slid open to reveal a dazed-looking, handsome young man who appeared to be physically about 21 years old. He wore the same silver shorts that James did, and he had curly, short-cropped reddish-brown hair. I couldn’t believe how cut and muscular he was, and as he stood there rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with a dreamy, blinking gaze, I felt a twinge of need at my crotch that I was starting to become very familiar with.
Uh-oh. That’s not good. Stay on task, lady.
“Ensign Stryker,” I barked. He snapped to attention, saluting me by reflex, and I grinned to see that the long cryo-sleep hadn’t dulled his trained mannerisms at all. “I am Captain Lana May King of the USHPS. Are you familiar with my mission and background?”
His eyes widened and he blinked at me. “You’re cuter than I expected,” he blurted out, and then turned bright red and straightened, evidently embarrassed by his lack of decorum. “I-I’m sorry, Ma’am. Still a little woozy from cryo sleep is all.”
I blushed too. It was strange for someone to call me cute and think of me like that, and this was the first man I had encountered who wasn’t Lana swapped into my own body. I felt moisture begin to grow between my legs at the unexpected compliment, but I ignored my body’s biological impulses to mate with such a young, strong, attractive man, and glared at him sternly. Let him think the flush in my cheeks is from anger instead of lust…
“Listen carefully, Ensign,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back and squaring my shoulders. “What I’m about to tell you will seem strange, but as your superior officer, I require an open mind and your trust in this matter.”
“Of course, Ma’am.” He nodded dutifully.
I began to fill him in on everything that had happened since I had been awoken by Jeeves, and as I spoke, he seemed more and more in awe of the entire situation. By the time I finished, he had taken a seat on the ground beside me and scrolling through the same computer records that I had, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. I tried to ignore the effect that the heat of his body was having on the yearning need in my loins.
“I know it seems outlandish,” I finished. “But this is the situation in which we find ourselves. It’s reckless, dangerous and illegal at best, and a downright coup at worst. Do you understand?”
He slowly nodded his assent, his eyes still fixed on the computer screen. “It is outlandish,” he murmured. “Like some kind of story out of the movies. Jeez, Ma’am… er, sir. Ma’am? I’m sorry.”
“Ma’am will do for now if it’s easier for you. Does this mean I can count on your assistance in bringing the traitor to ju
stice?”
He straightened where sat, letting his cool blue eyes meet my own, and his jaw stiffened as he gave a tight salute. “Yes, ma’am, of course. I’ll do everything in my power to assist and protect you.”
Now my panties—if I had been wearing panties—were soaking. But since I wasn’t, I could feel my own moisture leaking onto my thighs. There was something biologically breathtaking as a woman about a strapping young man swearing to protect you.
I stifled a gasp and bit my lip, unable to keep my eyes off his well-defined abs and thick, rounded biceps, and as he regarded me, something changed in his demeanor. When previously he’d viewed me as his superior officer, now his eyes lingered on my tits and hips with the hunger of any man looking at any beautiful woman. Our eyes met again, and my lips parted involuntarily. His hand slid closer to mine, and my fingers trembled, longing for his touch. The aliens hadn’t recreated his body with maximal sexual impulses as they had mine, but I knew just how powerful the natural impulses of a young, virile man were without outside assistance. My feminine body was giving off all the right signals, and he was reading them loud and clear.
His pupils dilated as the air crackled between us, both of us holding in a breath. The realization dawned in us at the same time that there was no law we need respect except the law of attraction pulling us inexorably together.
He seized me and kissed me on the mouth, tangling his strong fingers through my curling golden mane. At first I reacted with shock, stiffening, but as soon as I tasted him my body took over, and I relaxed into his grip. He lowered me down onto the floor, and his manly scent, both unfamiliar and exciting, washed over me and drove me wild, stiffening my nipples and sending shivers running through me yet again.
“Is this what you want?” he growled in a deep, throaty voice with more than a note of demand to it. I mewled my assent, giving him a half-lidded, dreamy gaze with my pouty lips parted in a way that had always driven me crazy as a man. It had the desired effect on Ensign Stryker as well. He groaned as his cock swelled beneath his silver shorts, and he slipped a hand beneath my dress and thrust two fingers into my hot, yearning wetness.
