By Ultrasybarite and Shadar

He was the impossible man.

His name was Jason. His escorts thought he was just a political exile, too well connected to be executed but too far out of favor to be allowed quiet retirement.

They were wrong.

They thought he could never get away from them, that the machine they had been given made him safe to transport.

Again they were incorrect.

The machine prevented him from using any mental powers, true; and it kept him from accessing the other dimensional energies in the manner that other races called magic or sorcery. But he was still more than the two of them could handle. He had been an agent for the Atlantean government for 30 years.

He had worked for the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defense and for the last 10 years for a High Councillor. He had great experience in defeating unbeatable security, harming the invulnerable, and tracking the untraceable.

He was good at the impossible. He could never be publicly commended for he was an unperson, a ghost, deniable and expendable. He had been OK with that. He was never reprimanded. Any failure would have been met with death on his return home. That had been OK too. He had been responsible for the safety of his planet and its people and culture, that was more important than his life.

It was also why he was here, at the Prisoner Transport Facility deep inside the Ministry of Justice. He had seen finally, the true heart of the person he worked for. He had questioned orders and the policy behind the orders and the integrity of the man who made the policy. He had done this publicly, he who was supposedly to be unheard and invisible had made himself seen and heard by all. He hoped that the people had heard but it was out of his hands now.

The other Councillors had covered for their colleague; even the Chairman of the Council of Thirteen had done nothing -- so Jason had taken things into his own hands. He had sent his former boss into the disintegration chamber and exposed the corruption to the planet at large. He hoped it was enough but he had done all he could for his world and now he had to do what he could for himself. He was no longer an agent for anyone except himself.

They were sending him to a world that was pre-industrial and so far from any wormhole that nobody would find it for millennia, if at all. The Diaboli knew of it because it had been seeded by the Elders long ago; and the Elders had told the Atlanteans because unlike them the people of planet Velvet had gladly agreed to be cannon fodder for those so-called gods.

They were used as an example of the benefits of following the leadership of the High Council rather than the Elders. Now the New Atlantean government used them as an exile planet because of their low population, tech level, and isolation. The High Council, justly worried about the resourcefulness of their few renegades, had even put satellites around the planet to prevent any inhabitant from quantum tunneling from its surface without equipment such as his escorts wore to provide the right electronic keys.

Few could use that method of traveling to other planets without technological aids like the two escorts had; although it was barely possible, if only for the most powerful and mathematically inclined. Therefore it was ruled out. It was impossible for him to escape but he did it anyway.

During the trip through folded dimensions their grip loosened, after all this was the home stretch so they relaxed. It was all he needed to free himself. Of course this left him adrift between dimensions but he was one of those who had the power, skill, and training to traverse the folded dimensions on his own and he changed his destination to Kelsor 7.

On Kelsor 7 it was as if he had never been stabbed in the back by his own people, as if he was a loyal servant again. Thanks to the advanced state of Diaboli medicine and his own abilities he looked only in the mid-twenties despite being fifty-something and he had always looked nondescript. He blended with almost any crowd. He infiltrated, set up a cover identity and went up into orbit with a repair crew.

They had lost a man on the last job, upgrading the cyber-weapons mounts on one of the Quaker warships. He was the replacement. They were a freelance outfit that boasted it could refit any ship as good as new.

The wreck they were working on hadn't even made it into dock but had needed a rescue boat to take the crew off. It floated alone at the farthest end of the repair facility as if the other ships worried about catching something -- or more likely it was considered bad luck and nobody wanted it too near them.

The crew labored over all parts of the ship and Jason labored along with them learning as he went and filing the data away for further use. After they finished the ship was indeed good as new and they had an unofficial party on board to celebrate the completion of a long assignment and the bonus they would get.

Jason took over the mind of the shift boss, Vanessa Ciardi. One slow dance was enough to make her his with the ease of long practice. She had already been planning to put him in for a commendation , she considered him a good worker and would have announced it to everyone after dinner. He sighed, unhappy at the work he must do now -- but this was not the way to be invisible, so he smoothly moved her to decide that someone else would be the recipient.

He had a plan and put it into action. After a long night of dancing, eating and drinking homemade liquor, everyone drifted off to sleep -- everyone but him. He set up his cut-off to disable computer control as soon as everyone else left. The crew went left on schedule the next morning and the records showed the ship was empty but ready to be occupied as soon as it was inspected.

Port control was shocked to see that the ship was moving while empty and wasted precious time checking the docking clamps and trying to reach the onboard computer. At the right time Jason manually fired the engines and they realized there was a person or persons onboard.

The officials told each other that whoever it was must be crazy for nobody could pilot a ship without computer control anymore. There was too much data for any normal human mind to make much sense of it. The Diaboli, however, are from an early age accustomed to dealing with masses of data that would overwhelm most normal minds.

Jason not only knew how to guide the ship, he knew where he was going. That was the other part of his plan. The idea was simply to get so thoroughly lost that nobody could find him and not get killed -- as he himself might, even if he made it safely through the "unnavigable" wormhole.

It had already been known to him from his work in Diaboli Intelligence that there was a P1 who had refused her Rites and instead had gone to Kelsor and become a scientist there instead of a Protector. She was also known to have ridden on some wormhole scouting expeditions. This was one reason he had come to the planet as part of his escape. He hoped to scan her mind and find habitable planets for which there were no starmaps.

His shift boss had heard rumors about Alisa Liddell's last expedition. There was something scandalous about it, or something scary -- Boss Ciardi didn’t know which -- and there was nothing about it any public database. But it had apparently put Alisa herself off traveling for a while; she was now on leave from the Survey Service. Jason caught up with her at the Dirac Hole, a bar catering to physicists, where she was talking shop with several colleagues.

He scanned her mind lightly from across the room. There he found what must have been troubling her: a planet called Rostran. It was overrun with Primes -- that was upsetting enough. But there'd also a been woman who was half-Galen, and had managed to make the Primes of Rostran think she was a Goddess. On top of that, they even had a Tset'Lar and a Saray'en.

There had been a power struggle on Rostran, supremis against supremis. It had nearly led to a civil war that could have destroyed the planet. Still in Alisa's mind the goddess who had played a central role wasn't just on a power trip -- she was trying to do good. Only, it hadn't been good enough, and she'd been -- replaced? But not by anyone from Rostran --rather by her sister from… another world he'd never heard of -- one known only to Alisa herself among those of the Survey Service mission to Rostran.

There were other memories -- tangled relationships among Alisa, her captain, one of her colleagues, and the Rostrans. Her unexpected enhancement, which had enabled her to save the mission during its encounter at Cygnias 275 with rips in space and -- the Old Galactics? He didn’t want to go there; instead he focused on what she knew of Sanctuary. Chances were that nobody else on New Atlantis had ever heard of it. And it was habitable and inhabited by normal humans, although the only people she knew from there were Aayla and Klara.

If it wasn't on a standard starmap, it was pretty far afield and hopefully safe from his colleagues. He'd had other ideas but none were good enough. He wanted, no needed a place where he didn't have to spend his whole life undercover. That was one reason he was doing this. To find a place that let him be himself. The planet was possibly a place where all sorts were welcome and definitely out of the way. If it went bad he would go from there. Thoughts and worries done he guided the ship through the necessary transits.

If he made it, the planet called Sanctuary would be the perfect hiding place, and he could make it. He also knew that he was unlikely to be found out unless he chose to reveal himself. He disliked having to go undercover again but he could if necessary. Those who could not master the mental and "sorcerous" abilities he would need had not been allowed to breed by order of the Elders and by the time they no longer revered the Elders, as gods they were no longer normal humans.

The physical differences were so slight that none but the Vendorians had ever created a scanner that could detect them. Other races would need the most exhaustive of DNA analyses to ever see the difference. The Atlanteans were among the strongest clans of Diaboli and Jason had been selected for ability then trained. No, he was sure of his abilities; the rest was up to the stolen ship.

The ship had never been designed to be controlled by one person -- and no matter what modifications he made it showed. The wear was much greater than he had anticipated, especially at the uncharted wormhole, and it was barely holding together during that last transit.

By the time he made it through that last wormhole, he knew that the ship would likely never dive another -- but with luck it wouldn't need to. He aimed for the M class planet and tried to baby the ship along. He managed to enter the atmosphere before the engines died completely, then strapped in securely and, being too much of an atheist to pray, spent what might be his last minutes chanting his invulnerability spell out loud and continuously. He was hoping repetition might help reinforce it.

On the planet called Sanctuary it was Ann McCloud's turn to patrol. She saw the fireball and soared off to keep it from the hitting the city.

On the way she imaged it with her tachyon vision. There was a man inside! He was no Arion and not Vel or Krypt' either. Maybe he was an enhancee; but if so it wasn't much of an enhancement. Still he seemed to be alive and she would try to keep him that way. She guided the ship as gently as she could to the ground somewhere outside of city limits.

The man got up and moved towards the airlock: he was conscious and mobile, at least. Ann could see how badly he was hurt, and that the airlock controls were shot. No problem for her though; she just ripped them off. The ship was toast anyway, and she wanted to know who it was and why he was the only person on board. It was not a large ship but it wasn't a lifeboat either. After removing the inner airlock door more carefully she saw him standing with hands raised and trying to look non-threatening. She smiled amused. "I am not about to harm you, Terran."

He put his hands down.

"You may wish to change your mind later," he said. But he was too weary to say any more until she got him home and let him get some rest in a spare bed. He really needed it. Still, she was surprised at how quickly he recovered -- and how eager he was to pick up the thread of conversation as if he had never left it.

"Listen to my whole story first and I think we can be of great benefit to each other. Will you promise to listen to my whole story before deciding what to do with me?"

"Are you a fleeing criminal?"

"No. I am a political exile, although I freely admit to not going quietly into the exile planned for me. I have killed nobody in my escape although I did steal this ship from a people my former government is at war with."

He chuckled bitterly.

"Of course we are officially at war with every people I am aware of that have star travel. Our so-called leaders keep us in a state of emergency -- us against the universe -- to justify their actions and the actions they would have us do. It was exposing just how little of what they say is true that got me exiled. They asked why I would do such a thing after 30 years of service, but I wonder why I took so long to see how bad they are. Most of us are like people anywhere but our leaders are not elected, they do not officially answer to anyone but the High Council as a whole.

"I worked for a member of that august body and I discovered he was corrupt. He was barely hiding it. He thought no one would punish him for his excesses and he was right. I tried to meet with the Chairman in private to discuss my suspicions and was brushed off twice and the third time he directed me to remember my oath and where my loyalties lay. I did. My oath was to serve my race, to sacrifice myself if it was necessary to make them safe and happy. My loyalty was not to these fat, evil men, making promises they never even attempted to keep, turning a blind to each other's 'indiscretions.' That's what he called them you know, 'indiscretions.'"

He looked at her with haunted eyes.

"I was a soldier and then a spy for 30 years altogether and what I learned about him still made me sick to my stomach. The minister of Justice said it was out of his hands and if the High Council knew of what he did then they have no morals left at all. It was when they told me that they would retire me to the country with a nice pension that I woke up and smelled what was coming."

"The retirement they had planned for you was permanent wasn't it?"

This was spoken by And'ril, who had been standing by Ann and taking in Jason's story without comment, but was nodding as if he knew what Jason had gone through and what was coming next.

"That's what they told me too. Fortunately I found Ann here and she has made my declining years golden. One thing bothers me. You seem very standard Terran but you do not look old enough to have witnessed everything you describe although the look on your face is one I have unfortunately seen before so I believe you but what branch of humanity could you be to live so long with so little apparent aging?"

Jason felt like putting his hands up again, but there was no help for it and no real reason to stall.

"Well you have listened to most of my story so hopefully you will not kill me out of hand. If as it seems you can have Arions and Velorians living here in peace then maybe you will give me a chance. I swear I mean you no harm but I am Diaboli."

"The race created by the foes of the Galen?"

"Yes, although we rebelled against them about a thousand years ago to go our own way. Or so the history books say. I know I've never seen an Elder. Or maybe I just didn't know it. Anyway, I killed the bastard councillor in his own disintegration chamber and I vanished. I'm trained to do that, but doing it on the homeworld is much harder.

"I figured before they killed me, I'd tell people. I commandeered a holographic broadcast at a station where they knew I worked for the government and told my story. I think I shocked the hell out of them because I was two thirds done before they caught me. They put out rumors I had been erratic for awhile and finally snapped. They televised a trial with an actor in playing me very convincingly as an agent who was losing his grip. I know he was good because they let me watch the trial live.

"They were 'lenient' and sentenced me only to exile. It made me see how far the rot had spread. Still I am hoping that those good people who work and play and laugh and depend on their government to keep them safe heard me and perhaps if they believe something can be done. For them, not me.

"I can never go back home. They'll send others to find me and silence me forever, so I can't live openly on any planet ships normally call at. If I were willing to live a lie for the rest of my life, I might escape notice in some backwater -- but I don't want that. I gambled on you taking me in because I'd rather die than not have a home and spend the rest of my life lying to people and looking over my shoulder."

"Just how did you find us and could you have been followed?" Ann asked.
"Will they trace you here to Sanctuary and bring death and destruction among us for hiding you?"

She looked worried for her people but at least she didn't seem to consider him a demon -- she hadn't killed him yet. Jason knew he could not stop her. Diaboli were no match for Protectors or Primes in general. They needed numbers to make up the difference in power and, and his own magic was exhausted in any case. The nearby man, moreover, looked like a supremis himself. Jason thought about Ann's questions and answered them as truthfully as he could.

"I am sure nobody followed me. The way I left is known to less than a hundred and usable by only a few dozen -- who are, with the exception of the High Councillors, all off-planet. The Council never leaves the planet and it will take time to recall anyone with sufficient power and training to be able to follow my trail even to Kelsor 7. I can't imagine them pulling more than four away from their duties to go after me. I do not boast when I say I was one of the best operatives they have.

"I do not think even a full team could follow the trail I took across the stars but nothing is impossible or I wouldn't be here. Still they never send more than four of us anywhere. I'm sure you could kill them if you could spot them -- and I can help you spot them. I'll tell everything I know about how we operate and what we are capable of doing. All I ask is to be able to live in peace under my own name and without hiding what I am.

"In return I will do my best to help you safeguard this world against my former colleagues and will fight them with you if they come. However, I feel obligated to tell you that if you kill me here and now they will read that in your brain and leave you alone. Once I am dead you are safe from any Diaboli searching for me and I very much doubt any will find this place accidentally."

He took a deep breath.

"So now you have heard my whole story and you have heard my offer. It's up to you now but if it's not too much trouble may I ask you for a place to sleep? I am quite exhausted from piloting this bucket of bolts through that damn wormhole of yours. I'm sure you want to keep an eye on me while you discuss and I don't think I could go very far anyway so maybe I'll just sleep here under your roof if you don't object very much."

Jason had apparently used up his second wind; he lay down and was soon fast asleep at their feet.

Ann had worried about his second collapse and after a talk with And'ril she had gone back into the bedroom to keep an eye on him. If her descendants had the knowledge and abilities he could bequeath as well those of her children then Sanctuary would be safe even if found. They would be able to defend their planet against anyone but the Galen themselves. Or the Elders…..

If only he would and could contribute his unique gifts to her line. The poor man, even in his sleep he stirred at the lightest footfall. He must be so terribly lonely. His people had used him cruelly and he apparently found little peace even in his sleep. She floated cross-legged to one side of him as she watched over him so as to disturb him as little as possible.

Jason awoke quietly. He kept his eyes closed and remained still. It had become a habit for him to wake silently and take stock before opening his eyes because he so often awoke far from home. He was stiff and sore and he sensed he had been asleep along time. He listened and heard no sounds of breathing or footsteps. Considering where he was that did not mean he was alone but to gather any more information he must open his eyes and stop feigning sleep. He opened them and saw a woman floating nearby watching him. It was the woman from the ship floating there in a Protector's uniform.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well enough. I guess you decided to take me up on my offer?"

"Well actually I had a counter offer in mind. Would you like breakfast while you hear it?"

At the mention of food his stomach growled.

"Yes food would be welcome but I doubt its still breakfast time."

He sat up with a twinge and looked around the room. Sure enough, it seemed to be afternoon from the position of the sun.

"No matter. You are just waking up and that makes it breakfast."

She lowered herself to her feet and walked out of the room.

Jason got out of bed and took a hot shower. He felt much better afterwards. Looking around he saw it was obviously a guest bathroom as it had things no Supremis needed such as toothbrushes and razors plus the soap and shampoo he had used in the shower.

After he came out he looked about for something to put on. He found nothing but he was not shy or phobic about such exposure so it was no hardship for him. Then Ann came in with a breakfast tray and she was wearing nothing either. He smiled, the body of any Supremis especially one who wore the V ring of a Protector was a thing of beauty. Sculpted perfection that was truly best appreciated nude.

Nothing awkward about her as she set the tray on a side table and sitting took a mug for herself.

"Myra and Ben have got me into coffee so I hope you don't mind if I join you?"

"I don't mind at all." He sat next to her and surveyed the breakfast, it consisted of a very fluffy looking omelet with home fries, sausage links and buttered toast. "Wow, this looks great. I didn't think Supremis went in for cooking much."

"One of my daughters cooked that; she's been trying to get a feel for Terran cooking. She'll be glad to hear you like it. If you notice anything off please let me know. She prefers honest feedback to flattery. Well, at least most of the time." She sipped at her mug and continued, "While you eat I'll tell you my story."

As he ate and later as he sipped his second cup of coffee she told her story. She told me about growing up in a lab on Velor and about the experiment with Aphrodite. She told of her flight from Velor and her meeting And'ril. Then she told of her wandering Krypt'terran lover and her three children by him and the surprise conception of her youngest daughter Myra. When she related how she met Ben his eyes widened.

Jason told her he had heard about that ship from his shift boss on Kelsor 7, but never made a connection between that story and this world. He went on to relate how, after hearing rumors about an expedition that had been declared top secret, he had tapped the mind of a P1 who had gone there for asylum after refusing her Rites and joined the Survey Service.

"She is known to us," Ann said. "She is the only one among the Kelsorians who knows where Aayla came from. Or Klara. But what did you hear about the other story -- about Ben's ship?"

"It said that after a bad transit caused by stellar disturbance they sighted an Arion Battleship attacking a Velorian citizen, presumably a Protector, flying through space without a ship and that their Velorian passenger, against all advice, left the ship to try and rescue her. It also said that they waited as long as they could but were forced to retreat by the Arion ship. No mention of your hair color and certainly no hint that they left him to his fate or that either of you could have survived. Given that report there should have been some grief but no official investigation."

"I'm glad about that last part and from Ben's story I know he won't be badly missed and I am certain he is happier here." She stood up, "If you are finished would you mind walking with me and telling me about your powers? I have heard only hearsay so far and not much of that. Can you really do magic?"

"Nothing we do is supernatural, but we do use some really advanced technology and science. We were given a big leg up by the Elders and teaching telepathically is a fair bit easier than verbally. There was a phrase on Earth when I visited there once: 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' and its true. Of course it helps that we've been altered to directly perceive the energies we work with. In fact, after we learned that others thought of it as magic we started calling in that ourselves. But if you hear me speak of spells and sorcery its just a science not yet known elsewhere. Want a demo?"

She smiled and opened a door to a Salle D'Armes, a place where you could spar with weapons or bare handed. And'ril was there in workout clothes. "Why don't you put on a spare gi and spar with And'ril? You could show us some combat sorcery. Unless you think it too dangerous?"

"No, I'll use just my battle aura that should keep me from harm while sparing him any harm that might be caused by an overly energetic combat spell." He concentrated and was surrounded by a golden glow. He put on the martial arts clothing she had pointed to, and approaching And'ril, bowed.

He caught the old Prime by surprise and won the first one. He lost the second and third though. Apparently even twenty times his age a Supremis could still kick his ass in hand-to-hand. The third time he had even used illusions to hide but And'ril was too canny a warrior and closed his eyes using other senses to track the now exhausted and heavily sweating agent.

Still Ann seemed impressed that he had even come through three sparring rounds with a Prime alive and with nothing broken. She showered with them and afterwards massaged both of them. He did get to show them some magic, he cast a healing spell and his bruises faded like… well, magic. Still he welcomed the opportunity to soak in her hot tub. As he lay there relaxing a fourth person walked up to the tub. He opened his eyes and saw a very pleasant sight. A blonde stood there at the edge of the marble rim looking at him. She was naked and looked 100% Velorian.

"Is she one of your daughters, Ann? She looks completely Velorian," he asked quietly as she sat beside him with And'ril on the other side.

"No this is Nikki Kim'Vallara. Her mother was a diplomat to Reigel 5. We persuaded her to come here rather than stay on Velor."

"It was an easy decision. I like being empowered and all I had waiting for me there was a clerical job in an office building somewhere. Besides, Ben can be very persuasive." She smiled and slipped into the hot tub next to Jason. She held out her hand in the Terran gesture of friendship, "Hi, call me Nikki. Did Ann tell you why she's happy to see you?"

"Hi, I'm Jason. No, but I think I have an inkling."

"He went three rounds with And'ril and actually won one!" Ann said smiling at him from the curve of And'ril's arm.

"Wow," Nikki said putting an arm around him and getting close. "That's amazing! You must be really good at hand-to-hand."

"Not really I just surprised him at first."

"You surprised him? How?"

He snuggled closer to her and said, "I'll make you a deal, you tell me exactly what I'm wanted for and I'll tell you how I surprised him."

She was more than willing to snuggle closer and stroke her hand across his body, which was fit and young seeming if not up Supremis standards. He suddenly recognized the honey and wildflower scent tickling his brain and used magic to keep from being overwhelmed by her pheromones. She noticed and smiled.

"I met several Diaboli on Reigel, Jason, and my mom dated one for awhile -- well, he was part-Diaboli and he wasn't supposed to show it. I think I know how you surprised him but I'm still impressed. Even more impressed that you can shake off my pheromones, mom's lover never could. Still why bother?" She kissed him, "If you can spar with a Prime and be this healthy afterwards a little loving from an M--class Vel like me won't harm you.   Ask anyone who's been to bed with me here ."

"I had my battle aura up with And'ril. It kept me from getting hurt but it takes concentration, without it I'm a Frail."

"That's why I wanted Nikki to try to enhance you first," Ann broke in. "She's less dangerous than any of my daughters. I'm sure you two can come up with some way to share sorn'fuk. You'd like to make love to her right? All you need to do is come up with a way to survive the enhancement process."

"Yes, Jason, come up with a way." Nikki kissed him again, "I can feel how much you want me and I have needs that I'd happily let you fill if you were enhanced. I just love to fuck -- ask anybody. Only Ben's the only enhanced male here, and he doesn't have time for me right now."

Jason interrupted, "Yes I'd love to but I hardly know you and you hardly know me."

"Yes but Ann vouches for you and if you agreed then Klara and I wouldn't have to resort to each other so often. Its nice but I want a man I don't have to share quite so much and Paris would love to learn how to enhance her boys. She even offered to let me try if I were successful with you. So you see we all stand to gain." She kissed passionately, "Can't you think of some way, anyway it can work?"

"Easy Nikki, we want him to be able to think," Ann advised. "If you keep that up he'll stop thinking and hormones will do what pheromones can't. I don't want him coming up with some half-baked idea just to get into the pants you aren't wearing."

Nikki crawled off Jason's lap. "Well it does look as if his brain is not what's getting all the blood at the moment." She flashed a smile. "I can fix that, I mastered the art of underwater blowjobs while on Reigel 5." She then proved that statement and he floated away blissfully for awhile.

Afterwards she said, "and you can have more when you've proved yourself to us."

"Proved myself huh? I figured that was coming. What do you need me to do and what happens if I refuse?"

"Well what you must do to prove yourself is go on patrol with Myra until she is satisfied you are genuine in your confession and change of heart." She held up a hand. "I know from your story its not so much a change of heart as an opening of the eyes but lets just say we want to be sure you won't suddenly close them again. We want to take your measure and since Myra was such a good judge of character last time we picked her to judge you."

Ann smiled, "I have faith in you Jason. I was watching closely when you told your story. I've gotten good at reading people and I could see that you needed to tell somebody, that you had to unburden yourself and it didn't matter to whom. I trust that because I was there but the others cannot be expected to take only our word for it. They want to find out your character for themselves.

"Well that and they want a chance at Ben. Myra had him to herself for almost a year while they were away and now there is even more competition for his limited time. My other daughters are reacquainting him with their charms and of course Nikki had a lot of catching up to do after the years he spent refusing her so I suspect that's why your test lasts a month. One week for each of them and none for Myra meanwhile."

A voice came from inside the house, "What?! Is that really why you all arranged it like this? I can't believe you be so...so...petty!" Out came a lovely young girl of about 18 with flashing blue eyes and really lovely hair. It was midnight black with a hint of deepest purple. He'd read of the trait in the Academy but had never seen it before. It was beautiful.

She was wearing only an apron that said "Kiss the Cook". It hung from her neck to her knees and was tied around her waist. He was disappointed at her not being as naked as everyone else and then he firmly told myself she was way too young for him. Down boy! He thought to himself fiercely as Nikki replied, "Well we needed somebody to double check your mom and And'ril and you are the only one who patrols on foot and Ben himself says you have the best rapport with Terrans."

"You leave him out of this! If you all really thought mom was wrong Aayla and Klara would be here. They are Galen enough, especially Aayla, to keep him from using any powers on them but you came to give him a little preview and have some fun and then stick him with me while you all have fun with Ben!"

"Now Myra you know I raised you not to be so jealous! Take Jason on patrol with you. I'm sure he'll be a help and even enhanced he might not fly well so he may end up patrolling on foot too."

Well, if you're gong to be that way about it, you can take care of Todd."

Todd?

"Ben and Myra's son," Ann quickly explained to Jason. Ohhhhh , he realized. They have a breeding project going here.

Jason didn't like being caught to what seemed to be a developing a family quarrel, so he tried to defuse the situation by returning to the original subject.

"I know I'm still on probation but I think Myra has a point."

He waved, "I'm Jason by the way."

All three ladies turned to look at him and And'ril grinned.

I think he noticed me noticing Myra , he thought. A very good thing he wasn't acting like a Terran dad. I'd hate to have fight him again for real.

Ann tilted her head slightly as she looked his way, but now that he knew about Todd she wasn't going to let that matter drop.

"I thought you had it all worked out. I want your genes as well as your expertise. If Ben has kids by all of them then the next generation is in the same boat as the first."

Another stud for Ann's stable! Only....

"I figured that out but if he and I both have sex with all of them how will we know his kids from mine? We don't want half siblings mating. I admit to having a fondness for brunettes -- especially if they can cook as well as Myra but if I prove out then logically I should not have kids with the same daughters as he does and from everything I've heard you two are a pair. Or can you arrange to know whose kids are whose?"

"We can arrange our cycles somewhat." Nikki said.

"Yes we are a pair. However we are not exclusive -- or at least he isn't. I haven't had a chance to be non-exclusive," Myra said and smiled. " Except with Nikki. Does that count?"

One big fucking happy family here , Jason was thinking.

"I'm glad you like the food," Myra continued. "I've been practicing for Ben. I hope he'll like it as much as you do. Come by tomorrow morning and we'll talk further."

She looked at her mom and Nikki.

"But if I am going to spend a month evaluating him then I want veto power on any schedule involving me. I may want to stay a one woman man. Then again I may not."

"Of course dear," Ann answered. "I'd certainly never force you. I'm just trying to do what's best for all of you in the long run."

Myra grinned, "Thanks!" She looked at me her eyes twinkling, "Another lover of brunettes huh? Well just in case I don't want to be exclusive I'd like to show you something."

"What?" I had a pretty good idea of what and was sternly reminding myself of much older I was.

She untied the back of her "kiss the cook" apron and whipped it off posing naked in the afternoon sun. I forgot how much older I was and my good intentions and became very erect under the bubbling water. She dropped the pose and grinned, "I see you do like me after all." She leaned down and extended a hand. I shook it. "Nice to meet you Jason." She kissed my cheek and stood back up.

"Nice to meet you too Myra." He thought to himself, Yes, I could definitely get to like it here . Then she gathered up her apron and left saying she was going to clean the kitchen and go back to her place.

"A fondness for brunettes? Watch what you say or I'll let her enhance you instead. Not many Terrans survive sex with a Prime you know."

"I know. Not many Diaboli either. Shortly after the gene bomb we sent a diplomatic group to Aria. We had not known of the bomb or its effects. All the woman of the would-be embassy became Betan comfort women and the men went to various Primal women. Only one survived. He returned much vital intelligence.

"Unfortunately , after it sank in that his enhancement precluded normal relations with Terran women, he left the planet. He pulled strings and set out in a scout ship. Nobody knows where he went. I wasn't trying to be nasty with the brunette comment just honest. It's just a preference though and it looks like all the brunettes are taken so I'll probably be eating crow in a month and apologizing on my knees."

"Well apologizing on your knees is very likely but all the brunettes are not taken as I'm sure you'll find out in time." With that cryptic comment she flew off, leaving him in the hot tub with Ann and And'ril.

Later that night Ann slipped still naked into his room as he read through a local history book. "I already know you to be a good man Jason so I am here to honor you early."

"What about And'ril?" He asked but the flood of pheromones she was releasing had taken him by surprise and he barely got the question out.

She laughed, "He won't mind, he's Supremis by culture as well as birth like I am and there is no jealousy in either of us. He is taking care of Nikki's needs while I see to yours since you are both guests in our home and needy after the day's experiences."

She turned out the light and he put the book away as she slipped in to his bed in the dark. One night of Supremis sex and he was hooked for life. He loved the incredible feel of her skin. So soft but so firm underneath, like silk over steel but warm, living steel. He loved the taste of her on his tongue like honey and wildflowers. She gripped in a vise of velvet and he gave himself up totally to the experience.

Afterwards he says, "You really are a goddess."

"So I have been told." A warm kiss, "And you are my chosen for the night." Then they ascended to the heavens again. He slept like a baby that night.

In the morning there was no Ann in bed with him but there was an envelope on the dresser. He showered and shaved and looking around he even found his clothes. He dressed and opened the envelope. It had a place and a time. He tucked it into his pocket and left, hoping for another great breakfast like the last one. He oriented himself and then found the apartment with no trouble. He knocked on the door and Myra answered, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt showing a local band. She waved him in. "Hi, I hope you're hungry. You said good things about my cooking so I made you breakfast."

He grinned back, "It looks great but I can't eat like this every day. I'll get fat. Still no reason to let such good smelling food go to waste." He sat down at the table, "Mmmm! Just tell me we can hit a gym along the way somewhere. Gods, Ben is such a lucky bastard."

She smiled again, handing him a mug. "If you think the food's great try this coffee," she said sipping from her own mug as she sat across from him. "Sure we can find a gym. I've never needed one but I know where a few are."

He loved the coffee. He was glad it grew here. It didn't on some planets, but here it not only grew but thrived. Afterwards he helped with the dishes and learned heat vision dried dishes beautifully. "Alright let's go. Where do you normally patrol?"

"I vary my path from day to day to make sure I cover everywhere eventually, and I have this."

She held up a comlink.

"If the Fire department or the Police need me they have the number. My sisters generally handle the really big stuff but I'm the one the people see most often. I can't fly but I like to think that people are reassured by seeing me walk by on patrol. I get to know them better this way and they know me. I usually patrol in the mornings, grab an espresso or two for lunch, then lie out on the beach until I hear what the plan is for the night. There's usually something going on and somebody always finds me at the beach to invite me."

She looked at him after drying the last dish Supremis style.

"You're welcome to come along. After all it will take more than just morning patrols for me to get to know you well enough to decide if you're what you seem. Apropos of that you'll be stay here every night."

"Here? With you?"

"Yup, but don't get excited. You're not 'getting lucky' as the Terrans call it. You're being watched. One old Terran said 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer.' He was mainly full of it, I think -- but that's what I'll be doing with you and watching for evidence of treachery. You ready to go?"

"Sure."

Jason was dreading a month of distrust but surely before then she'd see he meant what he'd said to her mom? He was through with New Atlantis and the Atlantean government. This was his new home. He just needed to convince this beautiful seventeen year old of that. So followed her out the door and they strolled. They strolled for two hours then went to her favorite coffee shop.

She introduced him to Mary who owned and helped run the shop with her helpers Laura and Peter. She had espresso and Jason had something he'd first tried on Earth, a mocha frappucino. They were greeted often as they strolled and Myra waved and greeted people by name. She asked if anybody needed anything and they swore everything was fine and thanked her for asking. One young man offered her flowers. She thanked him and kissed his cheek.

"Happen often?" Jason asked.

"It would but I've convinced most of the people that I need no tangible thanks and most of the guys know I'm living with Ben. Still some of them must be extra susceptible to pheromones because they keep trying to soften my resolve."

"I don't think it's the pheromones Myra. I think it's you."

"That's what Ben says."

Her eyes got a little misty.

"Oh, I'm going to miss him so for the next month. My other sisters are all part Galen so he's always exhausted after making love to them. I probably won't even hear from him until he gets to Nikki. Oh this sucks! I had him all to myself while we were out recruiting Nikki and now nothing for a whole month!"

"I'm sorry for you. Why didn't you grab a male Vel while you were out?"

"It takes careful planning to be sure of the people we want to recruit. And setting things up to have them disappear in such a way that no one looks for them is also complicated. So Nikki was first. We'll try to get a guy next. Not a Messenger though, just an ordinary Velorian." She was about to continue outlining the plan when her comlink buzzed.

It was the police. There were three gunmen holed up in a suburban house and they had taken the family of three hostage.

They had a list of demands that needed to be met in three hours or they'd kill the hostages. "I've to get there quickly. I'll be running 30-40 mph can you hang on at that speed?"

"Yes. Maybe I can help when we get there." He put up his Battle Aura and stepping behind her, put his arms around her.

She took at a human sprint and moved smoothly up to full speed. She looked over her shoulder once to make sure he was OK but did not stop till she got to a suburban street with many local police units parked in front of a house.

A detective walked up to her, "Thanks for coming Miss McCloud. I hope you can help. We can't tell how the gunmen or the hostages are positioned. Can you take out these guys fast enough to keep them from endangering the hostages?"

As Myra scanned the house with her tachyon vision Jason scanned it telepathically. "I see two on the ground floor." Myra said, "One behind the front door, one behind the back door and four in the basement."

"I can read their minds from here," Jason added.

The detective looked at him shocked. Jason smiled. Myra smiled as well and said, "He's my secret weapon for a month." She turned to Jason, "Can you keep the basement gunman from harming the hostages while I take out the top two guys?"

"Yes, but you should be warned that all three men are expecting you to show up and they think they're ready for you. Specifically the guy in the basement is thinking about a trap on the basement steps but there may be others as well. Be careful and wary. You're not totally invulnerable."

He turned to the detective.

"Do you have a means to let us communicate with you and each other?"

Yes," replied the detective. "But are you sure you can get in and take out the basement guy without being noticed?"

Jason smiled at him and faded from view for 30 seconds or so then came back several steps away.

"Not bad but be warned I could hear you move."

"I can deal with that too."

"OK, here are your short range coms." He held up two small pieces of equipment. Each looked like an earplug with a curved piece of plastic leading towards the mouth and a short antenna on top. They each took one.

"I'll tell you when the guy in the basement is secure," Jason advised.

He faded from sight and sound and even scent and then moved towards the rear of the building. Once behind the house he approached the window and created a mental illusion so the guards would not see the window open. He slipped through the window and closed it behind him. He walked silently past the rear guard and headed for the basement door.

A moment of concentration and a new illusion covered him as he slowly opened the door. He closed it behind him and dropped the illusion but remained invisible, inaudible, and scentless. He scanned the brain of the gunman in the basement again, looking for more information on the trap he had been thinking of before. However the gunman was now thinking hard about previous crimes he had committed and it might take a long time to dig for what he needed to know.

It would take too long he decided. He could just levitate down with touching any steps but they would have considered that she might just jump down the stairway so it was likely they had set up some sort of electronic eye. They must be gambling that she would be in too much of a hurry to rescue the hostages to notice it. Well, he would just have to bet he was smarter and more observant than they were. He shrugged, they were planning to annoy several Supremis women how bright could they be?

He surveyed the walls closely and spotted one end of the beam. He could not see the beam itself but the detector was visible about halfway up the wall above one of the steps. He levitated carefully over it and continued to make his way warily down the stairs. He moved up to just behind the gunman and drawing some more extra-dimensional energy he altered it to suit his current needs and put the man to sleep with a "spell."

He caught both man and gun before either hit the floor and, canceling the silence that had surrounded him, he keyed the mike of his com. "The gunman in the basement is unconscious. Everything OK up there?"

There was no reply; but as he said the word "unconscious," he heard several noises almost simultaneously. There was the sound of heavy wood breaking, a loud, wet splat, a body falling to the ground hard, followed by an "Oh, shit!" and another body falling a few seconds later. He levitated up the stairway and carefully over the electronic beam and through the basement door. The man was speaking into his radio and pointing a weapon at Myra when Jason hit him with a lightning bolt and fried him extra crispy.

Outside, what had been happening was that after Jason had disappeared Myra had spent a few moments searching for him with tachyon vision and had no luck. She was greatly surprised and not a little impressed. She turned to the detective, "Wow, even I can't see him now." She looked down at her clothes, "I should get ready to charge in as soon as he has the basement gunman secured."

The detective, having worked with her before, nodded and opened the rear car door, "Anything you don't want to get messed up you can leave here. I'll keep an eye on it for you."

"Thanks, Bob! I hate to ruin a good pair of jeans and this is my favorite shirt."

"Well if you are trying to impress the new guy then this is a good way to do it," he said watching her undress and fold her shirt and jeans carefully and lay them on the backseat of his car.

She blushed at the compliments, "Only until he meets my sisters." The detective shook his head at such folly, "I doubt that." He turned towards the house, "Get ready. He'll could call in anytime now."

She started scanning the basement waiting for something to happen to the guy there. She concentrated on him, ignoring the admiring looks of the policemen as she stood in plain view in just a bra and panties of midnight black. She wondered how Jason was planning to get in. She knew he was a spy but those gunmen were alert for anything.

Of course "anything" rarely if ever included Diaboli superspies; still, how would he take the guy out quietly? She realized how little she knew about Diaboli powers. She knew they were supposed to cast spells although Jason just said these were merely advanced science and innate ability. She looked closer hoping to see what he did.

When she did she was amazed. The man in the basement just fell and he and his gun were laid softly on the ground without apparently being touched. She shuddered once; she certainly hoped he turned out to be on their side. He'd be one scary opponent.

She shook off her amazement as she realized he was speaking, it must be the go signal. She took off running at the front door and hit it hard. She had seen that the front gunman had been crouching beside the door and was trying not to damage the house more than necessary so she did not hit it as hard as she could and she stopped just inside.

As she stood there, there was a wet splat and she was covered in something gooey. She looked down and to her horror saw it was gold paint!

"Oh, Shit!" she said over the microphone as felt the first tingles. It must have a high concentration of gold particles. She tried scraping it off and just spread it around more. She stumbled and fell next to the gunman who had been knocked over by the force of her entry and was injured by flying wood.

After electrocuting the standing gunman Jason used the sleep "spell" on the other guy and moved towards the broken doorway. He could smell the pheromones already and knew he had to get Myra away and fast. The cops could take it from here. After he got her to someone who could help he'd return to interrogate the prisoners.

"Stay back until I get her airborne, then you can come and arrest the two living ones. The family is completely safe." He stepped over to her and leaned down to lift her off the floor. She flung her arms around him and squeezed as she kissed him. He cast a spell and gathered her up in his arms and stepped outside.

The police were staying back, good. As he levitated he called out, "I'll take her to her sister. I'm sure she can get this stuff off her safely." He figured Aayla would be immune to the pheromones and should have something to remove the paint.

As he flew Myra had her arms and legs wrapped around him and was kissing him. His levitation spell was much slower than Supremis flight and trying to muster enough concentration to fly, block pheromones, and the spell that kept the arms and legs wound around him from harming him was very difficult with the scantily clad Myra distracting him.

Eventually after a few close calls he realized he would not make it all the way and put down on a high flat rooftop away from civilians. Even with the gold she was stronger than he, and pinned him to the roof. He wondered if all female Primes were this strong or if it was because she was an Old One genetically, or maybe it was her arousal.

Whichever it was, she shredded her clothes and then his and then started kissing him all over. He was hoping whoever was on patrol would find them soon. As she started making love to him he found her pheromones getting through despite his block and felt guilty pleasure as his resistance dissolved and joined with her wholeheartedly. There was just enough of him left to be happy the gold was enough to limit his injuries to bruises and muscle strain and to hope for rescue before complete exhaustion set in.

Aayla discovered them on her patrol. She picked them up effortlessly and flew them back to her place. She pried Jason off Myra and locked him in a guest room, then carried Myra to a table in her workroom to remove the paint. She did not want to use heat vision because in Mra's weakened state that might harm her sister. So, pinning Myra to the table with one hand, she used a chemical solvent and rag with the other to start wiping it off.

As she did that, Jason was lying on the floor of the guest room and his head was slowly clearing, After it cleared enough he meditated, healing his body and restoring his energy. When he was done he telekinetically picked the lock and walked outside. He scanned for Myra's mind, hoping to locate her and see how she was feeling. He found her and felt embarassment but no pain, so he disengaged and started walking in her direction.

As he neared her, he heard, "Hey! Watch where you are scrubbing Sis!" "You want all this paint off right?" "Hell yeah!" "Then stop squirming!" "I hope I didn't injure anybody." "Well when I found you, you were both on a deserted rooftop so I guess he got you away before an orgy started but as soon as I'm done I want to know everything that happened."

By this point he was at the door so he knocked. "If I may come in, I can start telling you what happened."

He heard Myra's voice from inside, "Sure come on in. The most embarrassing bits are done already."

Jason entered and saw Myra lying naked on a table with her feet towards him and a woman who must be her sister wiping the last of the gold paint off with some strong smelling solvent. The woman was lovely of course but she was more slender than the average Velorian and he could feel an energy to her that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. This was one of the Rostran goddesses, he sensed.

Aayla looked at him expectantly so as she finished removing the last of the paint from Myra's legs Jason told her everything from the call they got while patrolling up to where they separated. Myra joined in then and together they brought the story up to date. "I'm sorry Myra," Jason said looking abashed. "I figured if I could ignore Nikki's pheromones I could manage yours too but I was wrong."

"Did you ever think maybe it was her and not her pheromones that made the difference?" Aayla said smiling as if she was talking to children. "I think it was that you just like Myra a lot more than Nikki."

Myra was blushing but looking pleased.

"Well he did say something about preferring brunettes."

"Oh, Really? Maybe he should patrol with me until we are certain of him."

"Hey! I'm not going to be swayed by a pretty face."

"Not that I have one. I look distinctly average, a benefit to a spy."

"Yes, a spy. So you need to prove yourself and if Myra is fond of you, that might influence her decision. I could feel your mind searching before so I am sure you cannot affect me without my knowing and I can control you with brute strength if necessary and possibly with the pheromones of dominance."

Jason was alarmed. "You're so worried about mind control that you're planning to control mine? That hardly seems fair. Also if I am controlled then I can't prove myself since I can't choose a side without free choice. It was for freedom I came here. If you're just going to make me a puppet then I will have to fight you. At least if I die I die free. Alisa thought you were playing your part on Rostran only to try to help the people there. So I came here hoping for a home. I thought I had it but if I'm wrong...well I am a spy as you pointed out and death is the usual consequence for being badly wrong. I was a soldier for twenty years before that and soldiers can die even if they do everything right. I can feel your power from here and my people were shaped to be a knife at the throat of the Galen whose genes you obviously carry. I..."

He was about to continue when Aayla stopped him with a hand across his mouth. He hadn't even seen her move.

"You are the most melodramatic spy I've ever met. I thought you were all supposed to be cynical beings, in the business only for the fun of it! I do need to know whether or not you are on our side but you were right on one count. I can find that out by brute strength or pheromonal control. But those are only for if I decide you are on the wrong side."

"How?" he tried to say. It came out as only an mmmph, but either she understood or knew

"I need to know information that only the gunmen could have. They were supplied with traps to incapacitate a Supremis. Where did they get the ideas? I can't believe the three of them thought it up all by themselves. I need to get information from them and be sure of it and for that you are the best person if I can trust you so, I need some way to decide that now. But I am not power hungry and here I am just an artist who occasionally helps out not some sort of dictator or goddess. Clear?" She took her hand off his mouth. She knew she'd now have to explain Rostran to Myra and her family but the threat to them all came first.

Jason nodded, "Clear." It was also clear to him that his emotions were still shaken by what he had discovered at home.

Myra spoke, "I don't know about Rostran but I know my sister is a good woman Jason. She would never do anything unethical. I don't know what you had heard but believe me when I say she did anything she did for good reason."

She turned to her sister who was evidently glad for the support.

"Jason gets my vote, Aayla. Not because he's sexy or a good lay but because of the way he made sure the hostages were safe and then rushed to my rescue and when he saw a man point a weapon at me he acted instinctively. I could see his face clearly and the gold hadn't clouded my mind yet, he was worried about me. He fried that guy to save me and he might have actually saved my life. I won't know till I see what the weapon was but even if it would have been harmless to me the fact remains that he attacked the guy to save me and I won't forget that."

Aayla knew her mom would agree. She had been told that privately. Also she had her own reasons for agreeing. Klara might have taken Rostran from her but there were other planets out there and the Diaboli were supposedly masters at manipulating human societies. She wasn't sure how much help Jason could be in that regard but it was tempting to have him help her straighten out a planet or two.

Next time, she thought I'll do it so well that mom will realize I'm right and the people will thank me for making their society better. She smiled at the mental image and the other two saw the smile but did not know what she was thinking.

Jason was leary of peeking at her thoughts now that he knew she could sense it. So he exchanged looks with Myra and they waited for Aayla to finish her train of thought and tell them what she had planned.

Aayla decided she would seduce Jason and make him want to help her in her schemes. She was sure she could do it. Between her shapeshift and her pheromones he wouldn't know what hit him, Still if he was going to be of use he would need to be enhanced. They'd have to travel by wormhole and he'd need to be a Prime or P1 Vel to survive that.

She glanced at Myra who was starting to look at her suspiciously but what Aayla saw was not her sister's expression but her genetics, almost pure Old One. The little cogs and wheels of Aayla's mind were turning full speed. Yes, she decided, it would be best if Jason was enhanced by her since then he could survive the wormhole trips but not fly or navigate through them himself. And he should be an adequate enough lover to start with, although she was sure she could teach him a thing or two.

She finally spoke, "OK Jason, convince me! Make me believe you are exactly what you say you are. I can read minds a little too. Let me roam through your memories without hindrance and maybe I'll believe you."

"If you do that we might end up doing a ceremony from New Atlantis," Jason replied. "It's usually called the Ceremony of Ultimate Commitment, but our chief Archivists have their own version. They use to make sure no knowledge is ever lost again as it was when the Elders destroyed the first Atlantis. They..."

Aayla interrupted, "We can discuss Diaboli history later, what is involved in this ceremony?"

Myra interrupted him as he started to speak, "I am the one who is to pass judgment on him. No one else. You all agreed. You have no say in this Aayla. Thanks for the paint remover but we are going to go now." Myra got off the table and took Jason's arm.

"OK, I'm sorry," Aayla said. "It's your call. I guess I was being too bossy again." She grinned. "It comes with being a big sister. You can go if you want to but wouldn't you rather shower first? Once you've got that gunk off you I'll let you rummage for clothes in my closet. You'll be walking right? And I know you'd rather not walk home naked. I have some of Ben's stuff too and maybe some of it will fit Jason." She left the room and beckoned to them with a hand. "Come on. I'll show you to my room. It has the clothes and the shower."

"I know where your room is Aayla. I've been here before, you know." Myra was annoyed but no longer suspicious, unfortunately. She guided Jason to the room and they showered. Myra had gotten a naughty look on her face and suggested they shower together. He was happy to agree. She was squirmy fun in the shower and he scrubbed her back for her. Yet while she seemed to make a point of brushing her nipples against him often he never got a chance to touch anything but her back and neck, with his hands at least.

Afterwards, as they were drying off she asked about his home and he started telling her all about it. They were sitting on Aayla's bed crosslegged and he was still trying to describe a culture that was vastly different from any she knew when she suddenly gasped and her eyes shot wide open.

"Aayla's pheromones are in the air!" She shouted in a panicked tone. "Quick put your defense against it and leave the room. Tell mom that she's out of control again. Mom will know what to do."

He put up a spellshield against Aayla's pheromones but instead of leaving he scanned for her mind and finding it he telekinetically grabbed her and dragged her into the room.

"Why were you filling the room with pheromones?" Jason asked as Aayla broke away from his telekinetic grip and stood tall between the still cross-legged Jason and Myra. "I was chatting with Myra and she warned me in time to block them. Are you trying to get me accidentally dead?"

"No. I figured that before I agree to what is essentially a Diaboli wedding ceremony I'd see if you can survive enhancement." She was still pumping out pheromones at the maximum rate. "If you can't survive a night with Myra then you are useless for my plans."

Myra was furiously stroking and caressing herself and trying very hard not to grab either of the nearest bodies. It helped that the nearest was her sister but that distinction, like her worry about harming Jason, was being slowly washed away in the waves of pheromones that washed over her.

She imagined that Ben was with her and doing what her hand was doing and she came loudly, interrupting Aayla and Jason as they argued. In the silence following her loud orgasmic cries, Myra rose up and grabbed her older sister and threw her off the bed and out the door.

Both Myra and Aayla were surprised that she managed it. Jason was shocked. He'd seen that Aayla was caught completely by surprise, then she was flying out the door -- and not under her own power. Myra looked stronger than he'd ever seen her and Aayla looked surprised as she flew. Jason clapped and Myra smiled as she turned back to him naked and flushed with desire and exertion.

He looked up at her as he lay on the bed and knew he did not have much time. He might have blocked Aayla's pheromones but he was vulnerable to Myra's or perhaps to Myra herself. He could smell her pheromones in the air too. He closed his eyes to the beauty of her and cast his strongest Invulnerability spell. He bound it into the very walls of the room, so that it would last even if he no longer concentrated on it. As long as they did not break the room he would survive her passion.

If Jason had known how strong she was just then he would have worried more. A normal Primal female has twice the strength when aroused. Myra, who had twice a normal Prime's strength to begin with, gained a fivefold increase when very aroused and Aayla stayed at the door pumping overstrength hormones into the room for four days. Fortunately for him they did not quite break the room, just everything in it. Along the way,

In between bouts of intercourse, she fed him enough retrovirus to wet the parched throats of a regiment. On the fifth day Aayla left and Myra came back to herself. Jason had fallen into an enhancement coma and there was nothing she could for him but make him comfortable and hope he pulled through. She bathed him with cool cloths to help ease his fever and carried him to a spare room where she tucked him under the covers to prevent shock. Then she called her mom. Ann promised she would do something about Aayla.

"I think she was messing with his head, mom, and then she started pumping out that damn stink of hers."

Ann set down her PersComp to study her youngest daughter. Myra looked so healthy and empowered as she leaped up onto a rock at the edge of the pool area. She moved smoothly with catlike flexibility. "And you were in the room? Breathing Aayla's pheromones? With him?"

Myra nodded slowly as she looked down at the ocean far below. She'd dispensed with her top and was drinking up the warm sunlight as was the family tradition, her only clothing a blue print sarong. Her purplish-black hair was tied off with a flowered band to hang straight down to her waist.

Ann could see that her youngest daughter was still affected by Aayla's pheromones, not to mention her likely encounter with the Diaboli man, Jason. She was well aware of the power of Aayla's pheromones. They were absolutely compelling, especially to other Supremis, and they didn't respect relationships, ethics, gender or morality. She felt a tingle race through her own body as she sensed what Myra was feeling. Myra's entire body must still be vibrating softly inside, her nipples so sensitive that she wouldn't be able to endure even the touch of even silk against her skin.

"So what happened to Jason during all this? I assume he got safely away from you guys before things went crazy."

Myra shook her head, a ripple of muscle tension tracing down her bare back. "Hardly. Aayla's the one who disappeared, leaving me with him."

Ann suddenly wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. Myra had little experience being in the throes of Ples'tathy. "She left you? What about Jason and... is he OK?"

"He projected some kind of spell around his body, especially his... you know." Myra took a deep breath as the memories of that incredible moment flooded back, her already engorged nipples hardening further, nearly overwhelming her still fragile control of her libido. "He... he made himself... you know, big, and so... hard. Using his magic."

Ann's eyes opened wide in surprise. Strangely, she found herself feeling relieved in one way, but disappointed in another. Jason's spell must have been incredible if he'd impressed her daughter in that way. Myra had recently learned about empowered men, for she'd been sleeping with Ben, and he was Velorian-enhanced. Everyone knew that even an average Velorian man would give the most dramatic human male porn stars an inferiority complex, and Ben was hardly average.

Now, with Jason here, things were going to get complicated for Myra, especially since she'd never had Klara or Aayla's penchant for playful promiscuity. Or her own for that matter, for Ann had been Velorian-raised. Myra had been willing enough to participate in Ben's procreation mission, so far without results, but sex had to be meaningful for Myra on a deeply emotional level. In that way, Ann thought she behaved more like a human than a Supremis. "So he pushed some inner buttons, huh?" Ann offered.

Myra blushed visibly as her mother walked closer. She crossed her arms over her treacherous nipples in embarrassment. More than anything, she wished Ben was here so he could put out the fire that threatened to consume her. If not for her anger at Aayla for getting this all started without her permission, she'd be looking for him right now. "Aayla was way over the line, mom. She was trying to force me to enhance him."

Ann gasped softly as she rested her hand on Myra's slender shoulder, sensing her inner tension. Her skin was tight, feeling like metal film stretched tightly over her steel muscles. "But you didn't. Did you?"

"It's all Aayla's fault, mom. I didn't want to."

"For Skietra's sake, Myra, he's Diaboli!" Ann shuddered. "Combining our physical abilities with his mental ones is... dangerous." That word somehow seemed too weak. A strong Diaboli could influence people into doing things that were outside their moral code, and if combined with Supremis strength... it wasn't a pretty prospect.

"Aayla said you were planning to do that yourself. But that you wanted him to have Arion, not Velorian abilities."

"And you believed her? You know the games she plays in people's heads, especially around you."

Myra closed her eyes and hugged herself tighter, her nipples tingling even worse now. "All I know is that I want him again, I need him, and he's sick with the fever."

Ann wrapped her arm around her daughter's waist. "Then you should go to him. He'll need your energy to power his transformation, and he'll need your support to keep from damaging things when he wakes up. That's what your body is trying to tell you."

The flashes of light were followed by dreamlike visions of Myra. Erotic dreams. Jason felt himself snuggling against her warm chest, her breasts so soft even as her hard nipples, so large, were forcing his lips open. Suckling them in his dream with childlike innocence, he felt a burst of invigorating energy washing over him, pushing the pain away to reveal euphoria. His body awakened, and her body welcomed his again, and his body performed before finally exploding into a rainbow of pleasures. Then his world faded to black as the fevered sickness and nausea overcame him again. The sweating, the shaking, the weakness, they would combine to overwhelm him again. Then his world would fade to blackness as he fell deeper into his dream.

Soon enough, the light would appear again, her tanned breast also, her nipples larger and glowing with energy. He'd give himself up to the pleasures again, ending in another burst of incredible wellness and vitality. The cycle repeated itself. A dozen times. A hundred times. Jason had no idea how long it had gone on.

He finally awoke and was alone. He blinked his eyes to look around the room, only to be startled to see everything in incredible detail. From the grain of the wood to the brilliant colors of the drapes to the shimmering sunlight that streamed through the window, everything looked too crisp, too bright to be real. Like someone had turned up the reality filter on a PersComp monitor to the limits. Super-reality. He blinked his eyes and the view persisted.

He mentally performed an audit of his body. The dizziness and fever were completely gone, and his weakness had been replaced by a calm, steady sense of well-being. His heart was beating unusually slowly, but very strongly. He lifted his hand to inspect it, and barely recognized it as his own. It looked stronger, with pronounced tendons shaping his wrist to gradually blend into a large forearm that was lean, hard, and muscular.

He realized in seconds what had happened. His dream hadn't been a dream at all, but instead merely fragments of consciousness during a severe illness.

He'd been sick with enhancement fever!

Myra had done what Aayla had promised.

He was no longer merely Diaboli, and his body was no longer human.

Reeling at that thought, he struggled to gather his mental energies and reach out, finding it was harder than usual to make a connection to those around him. Still, he sensed Myra's soul in the other room, and she sensed his.

Moments later she appeared to stand over the bed, her body an erotic vision of long legs and Arion perfection. She wore a short white skirt and a burgundy turtleneck sweater, the breasts he'd fixated on in his dream swelling so high and proud, her hard nipples so visible. He stared down at her legs, vividly remembering the pleasures he'd expended between them, and felt himself rising yet again.

"So, my prince awakens," she said softly, a saucy smile softening her lips.

The surge of desire exploded to race through his body like an electric shock, leaving him gasping for breath. Staring down, he saw the bed sheet tenting ridiculously high over his groin.

Her eyes followed his down to the rising peak, and she giggled. "And looking so very Arion, I might add."

Jason struggled to breathe as the purest and strongest wave of desire he'd ever felt raced downward, converging on his raging erection. He'd never felt so alive and so vital as he did this moment.

Myra kicked off her shoes and quickly straddled him on the bed, her blue eyes dancing in amusement as she rolled the sheet down to reveal a part of him that was even more startlingly transformed than his hand. He barely had time to gawk at his magnificence before she gave off a soft cry, her smile fading into trembling lips. She took a deep breath and rose, guiding him beneath her skirt with her hand as she lowered herself over him, taking him all in one lithe movement. Shockingly, his steel parted her with ease now.

He cried out as her wet tightness enveloped him with delicious warmth, drawing him into depths beyond his wildest imagination. The mind-ripping surge of pleasure tore at his very being. Grabbing her steel-muscled thighs, he rose, his body so flexible now, and grabbed her ass to hold her as tightly as he could. Instead of feeling like a woman of steel, she felt so feminine now, his fingers digging deeply into her yielding flesh. His lips found hers, and the wondrous insanity of perfect pleasure washed over him as he rolled her over and began to thrust with the limitless power of a Prime, his hot desires melting into her yielding willingness. His extreme athleticism turned into extreme sex, which in turn brought them both pleasures that were a dozen times those any human had every experienced.

Long minutes of near-orgasm finally spilled over into completion as Jason cried out in wondrous agony. The godlike pleasures of Primal orgasm brought Myra to nirvana with him, her legs wrapping around him with immeasurable power as his impossibly hard and strong erection triggered every pleasure she'd ever dreamed of, this time without the numbing tingle of a Diaboli spell.

He truly was a man of steel. Steel she begged him to conquer her with again and again.

Jason lay gasping on the sweaty bed many hours later, Myra beside him. Her clothing was torn, her skirt ripped, tangled hair falling partially over her face to reveal that she was smiling in her sleep. Jason rose from the shredded sheets to stand on the roughly hewn wood floor beside the bed. He pulled what was left of the sheets over her sleeping form.

Turning, he saw a superman standing in the wall-length mirror. From chiseled chin to intensely blue, widely spaced eyes, his face was a study in strength. Even more dramatic, his shoulders were broad, his chest massive, tight muscles shaping every curve of his lean body. He had to raise his hand to prove it was his reflection, and tensed his arm, a fantastic array of rounded muscle shaping it. More than an erotic dream, he realized with a shock that Myra had truly done it.

The retrovirus from her body had reprogrammed the DNA of every cell of his body.

He was now one of the Ancients.

A Primal warrior.

Continued at Sybaritical Stories