ISCHARISLA

“You’re going, then.” Candymaker stood at the threshold to the lift. Bailey had Kalin’s suit and briefs packed. She was wearing the stockings.

“Best option available,” Bailey shrugged. “You don’t really want to lose sight of him.”

“I don’t want him in her hands,” Candymaker said. “But I’ll have to be kept in the dark. At least for now.” It was a pained look. Candymaker didn’t have many tells, but he saw Kalin as more than an asset—because Bailey read this as guilt. Deserved or not. “I trust your judgement, my dear.”

“I’ll use a bounce to check the normal channels now and then. Let them see the chatter out in the open a little.”

“No. Only through third parties beyond this.” Bailey shifted her weight.

“You really think they’re watching us that closely?” Bailey asked. She looked at Candymaker’s bronze-colored arm, stretched and braced against the threshold. Stopping her. “C, he’s been in worse with us.”

“It’s not him, really. Or the Governess. You handle yourself well with dangerous people. But things have changed with one of the internal councils, and I’m not certain your new position will afford you many illustrious transfers afterward.”

“IDOX is moving on Agora,” Bailey said. “Isn’t it?”

“They’re determined to deploy strategic preventative measures. The stories coming out of Agora are quite an issue for those who extended diplomatic advantages to the Vestiniad.”

“Including those who helped initiate them,” Bailey said. That, of course, meant Candymaker Holdings.

“It’s not so dire as you expect—but suffice it to say I’ll no longer be able to offer any more political resistance to deeper sanction. You may be exposed in your position.”

“I’ll manage,” Bailey said. Her eyes fell for a second, and her voice became quiet. “IDOX is going to fall on her side, completely. She’s already pretending to be a reformist in Vestinia Prime, and after Kalin’s—” Candymaker held up a hand.

“They’re not related,” He said. Bailey looked just shy of laughing, incredulous that he’d deny it.

“IDOX is ignoring the fact that she’s a war criminal,” Bailey said. “They’re probably going to free her hands to reestablish peace on Agora—even if it means changing every magic-resistant human into chalk. And for some reason, in the meantime, our quiet gray friends let Kalin walk after dropping off what is essentially an undocumented entity that’s potentially hazardous to the entire Tyche cultural structure...albeit not without shaming him.”

“Each word more shrinks my life, Bailey.” Candymaker wasn’t looking at her. He wasn’t smiling. She was treading into territory she didn’t belong, and he was worried. Wasn’t he genuinely worried? At this point she could tell a play for sympathy, or a play toward more information. “What you find out—hold close. For my sake, for Kalin’s...for yours.”

Now he looked at her, unbracing his arm and touching her shoulder.

“You are the maker here, Bailey. You have no director.” She let it wash over her on the outside—cool, collected. Prepared for those words.

On the inside, she was lost. Confidantes with a mass murderer, representing the interests of a unbending conqueror. But then, best friends with a part-time sociopath, too. Among criminals and antisosh. And now was the moment that her edge-of-civilized-society boss decided that the master had sufficiently trained the student.

“It’s not that I don’t want to be your employer any longer, Miss Bridgman.”

And it clicked in her, above all the circumstances she’d just constructed to make her the implacably moral innocent caught up in the center of—literally—universes’ worth of deception.

“We’re no longer on the same side, are we?” Bailey searched the old man’s eyes, but she already knew the answer. He smiled at her.

“They’ve chosen to let you keep your status. Probably to assist him.”

“The Tyche?” Bailey asked. “I was nothing but perfect with them. They couldn’t t—”

“They could have sorted him by density and put our entire tradehouse under sanction,” Candymaker said. “Think wider, Bailey.” Candymaker established the Vestiniad’s acceptance into IDOX. Now he’d likely have to defend his firm over it.

In the meantime, Bailey and Kalin would have to take the next steps themselves. Kalin’s official credentials were suspended now, and Bailey’s were restricted, limited by her connections and probably under close watch.

She’d have to make good friends with her new employer.

“Be smart, and protect him. Not just for our personal loyalties or our principles, Bailey.” The light caught his eyes as he backed out of the lift. “Use the data drops, and speak to the other staff as little as possible. We’ll be in touch.”

Just before she activated the lift, she tried one more time for reassurance.

“You’ve seen far worse than this,” Bailey said, waving her hand over the sensor.

“What we’ve seen has brought us here,” Candymaker said, smiling and raising his hands. The lift doors closed around his expression. “Good luck, Miss Bridgman.”

 

VESTINIA

Ava was off shift, returning to her condo as sunlight broke over the violet sky. The sleek, black catsuit alighted on a balcony 16 stories above North Nyxepolis’ second mezzanine. An attractive blonde in her late thirties reclined, hovering in the air—a terry robe wrapped around her.

“Nice morning,” The catsuit said to the woman as the glass door slid itself open. The suit turned to lean over a railing as latex shine and a cloth emerged from the glass door.

“Mm-hmm,” the woman replied, looking over to a cup of coffee to her left. It dutifully sailed toward her and tipped back gently at her lips. “Getting into some trouble lately?”

“What makes you ask?” Ava said, turning back to the woman in the robe as the latex shine painted a stripe of lubricant over her shiny black arms, legs, and torso. The empty catsuit stretched as the cloth polished her curves, gliding over her breasts and stomach as she let out little moans.

“You’ve been requisitioned by someone important,” The woman said. “But I hope you’ll still come back and play with me once in a while.”

A long satin nightgown emerged from the glass door, holding an intricate letter. It had the same marks as Kalin’s invitation, and Ava made the connection right away: the Systemian.

“The governess general,” Ava said. “When did this come?”

“In the last hour,” the satin nightgown said, lifting off the ground and swooping around the woman in the robe. “We we just getting up.”

“So is it an invitation, or a summons?” The woman asked.

“I suppose I have to find out,” Ava said. She stepped inside the condo, the lube and cloth in tow behind her. The kitchen was busy making juice and stirring oatmeal. “Who delivered it?”

“It came alone, as far as we know,” The nightgown said.

I delivered it, said a voice that stopped the catsuit in its tracks.

“Something wrong?” The nightgown asked. The collar of the catsuit turned.

“No, nothing at all.” A shiny black sleeve raised the invitation to its neck and dropped it, letting the paper drop into her. “Apparently I’m off to serve at our Governess General’s pleasure.”

“I thought so!” The gown danced. “That’s sooo exciting, isn’t it, Gloria?”

“Congratulations, sweetie!” The woman on the porch said. “You must have made an impression on someone important!”

Ava thought about the man she brought to the Palace, and the moment she did, the voice came through again.

I need your full attention. You will go now. Leave your friends their pet; you’ll see them all again. I will direct you once you leave this place.

“Someone very important,” Ava said with a strange stoicism. “You girls take care--I’ll be back when I can.” With a whistle, Ava’s zipper opened on her back, and the lubricant bottle, cloth, and a small bag hovered inside of her. The thick, shapely catsuit leaned over the railing on the porch once more and took off flying.

“Official business, huh?” Gloria asked as her robe turned her upright. She hovered into the house as her coffee cup followed.

“Very fitting,” said the robe, hugging her. “I always thought she seemed like the secret agent type.”

The moment Ava sailed away from her apartment building, something took a hold of her body. She was being pulled somewhere--as if she were flying without thinking about it. Without using a drop of ethera.

You’d like to taste him again, wouldn’t you? The voice said. Ava could feel it massaging her, seeing into her. You’re going to be his escort here, his bodyguard.

“I--I’m honored by my Governess General,” Ava said to the open air.

Your response is appropriate, the voice replied. Your handling of his arrival was impressive, as was your manipulation, even after you discovered his special status.

“A man is a man, my Governess.”

This one is more than a man, Ava—he is a weapon. He can counter and resist us; he can turn his blood to ice and become a vicious machine. He is dangerous. But he will be our distinguished guest for the foreseeable future, and as you and my sentinel Evisea have charmed him, your Governess asks you to play as her agent.

“My body and will are yours, my Governess.” They weren’t just words of custom. Ava could feel the energy all around her—the warm, life-giving ethera of the one who ruled the world. Nyxe ruled the world, and she was paying attention to Ava. She couldn’t help but feel proud of herself. Useful. Important. The catsuit could feel its rubber tits swell and deform with Nyxe’s energy—the sorceress made her breasts grow at the same time that her remote hands groped and squeezed them.

He’s smart. He’ll never trust someone of my position. Still, he’s a passionate thing, and loyal like a dog to those able to gain his favor. Be your charming self—tough, straight-forward...it turns him on and eases his guard—but pry. Ever so gently, and always to your own curiosities. Intimate with him—and the woman, if possible.

“The woman?” Ava asked.

One of my diplomatic envoys to our cousins across the tear, Nyxe said. Nearly as difficult as he is, and opaque save for one weakness...him. You’ll meet her soon enough.

“And the information you’re looking for, should I…”

Only to your own curiosities, Nyxe said. You are my passive eyes and ears. Become a part of their lives. Serve him. Teach him more than he already knows about Vestinia. Become indispensable to him. Our dividends will quickly become clear.

Ava sailed north, high above Manhattan Island. Even before Nyxe laid her claim, this was the de facto capital of the world, a mix of old and new architecture that went preserved under the glass, steel and concrete of the first mezzanine, the ethera-powered platform above the city that divided Nyxe’s heaven from Nyxe’s earth.

Ava dipped, under the airy second mezzanine and toward a structure suspended in the sky. It was sort of cylindrical on the bottom, stretching out on higher decks like an inverted pyramid, and topped with a blunt, minimalist structure. The walls were glass, some transparent, some translucent, some opaque black. There was a living yard, a small garden, arches, and a small circulating stream, terminating in a small pond. The largest deck was the size of a small city-block, and Ava shivered at the sight of it. It almost looked abandoned.

“We’re...here?”

You’re the first. I’ve shaped this place, but your loneliness is perceptive—it’s all inert. He must be tied to it with his own ethera, and it's to our benefit if you’re present when it happens.

Ava felt the grass under her boots when she landed. With her body under her own power again, she stepped to the edge of the deck, looking over the side.

“It’s not fixed or anchored,” Ava said.

It’s mobile, Nyxe said. Heading south directly above the riverbank. He’s permitted nearly anywhere, though you aren’t currently equipped for the worst of what Gaia has to offer.

“Nearly anywhere?”

In Metropolitan zones, you are not to rise beyond the second mezzanine. Stay away from administrative centers and diplomatic zones, and do not allow him to be involved in a situation you cannot resolve with your own connections.

Ava tensed a bit.

You worry too much. Have faith in yourself as I do. I called for you because you’re capable.

“Thank you, Governess.”

I realize how unfair it seems for me to speak to you this way, Nyxe said. I had to be sure that we understood each other. When you see me here later, you will be nothing but an assigned bodyguard—humbled to be in the presence of her highest sovereign.

“As your greatness commands,” Ava said. This was beyond service, she realized. She had just been indicted into a secret order. She was Nyxe’s own.

I will not intrude this way again unless it’s absolutely necessary, Nyxe said. I will find you in other forms when I believe you require additional direction.

“Yes, Governess.” Ava turned back to the structure, wondering what kind of rooms were inside. What kind of connection did this man have with her queen? Why was he so special to her?

Your curiosity is another reason I chose you, Ava. Follow the questions you’ve created. Explore. Feel out your new home. Ava obeyed the voice, heading back toward the structure. A latex sleeve raised to the glass, and a transparent door opened to a kitchen area. He’ll be here with Evisea and Raquela momentarily. Take advantage of your position. We will speak again soon.

And like that, the warmth left her. Once it was gone, she had a better sense of it—Nyxe was within her, speaking to her with vast power and the ambient energy that she pulled from the air. Something stayed with her, even after the Governess’ energy had left—some overwhelming sense of gratitude and belonging.

She was the first living energy on this cold, beautiful block in the sky. She was going to experience the Systemian’s imprint upon it—weaving herself into the island’s energies as they attuned themselves to him. She was going to taste him again—feel his release once more.

She was going to be a tremendous success for Nyxe, and for herself...and the next time she visited Gloria—she’d be an elite.

 

* * * 

“You’re such evil teases…” I groan, hovering inside the sentinel outfit. My arms and legs are spread wide as invisible tongues work their way all over my skin, licking off my sugary coating as I tremble and laugh. Even at half-intensity, my nerves light up like a main transverse at night. My Intecast soon has to stop harvesting free ethera—it doesn’t take long to fill the rest of the damper units that hold ethera like biologically-powered batteries.

“That’s a nice, tight body…” The satin top says, humming between my ears as her wet invisible touch cleans my skin. “And how nice of you to candy-coat yourself before playtime.”

I look down at my chest, tinted red by the translucent satin draped around me. Raquela hadn’t quit on my nipples since we first took off, and now there were invisible mouths sucking on both points as two more nibbled at my ears.

I was mush. Exhausted, kicked place to place by diplomatic games and oddly merciful captors, I let himself go inside the security of the sentinel outfit. Evisea and Raquela weren’t allowed to let me come—that much I could already tell—but they were clearly interested in keeping me near peak pleasure.

If I had to be a pawn until I could suss out how to play the gameboard against itself, the least I could do was enjoy the parts worth enjoying.

 

ISCHARISLA

“Lucky bastard made it,” Chalco said. “Least from what we can tell.” He gave a toothy grin at the surface lift, winking at Bailey. “Pretty one’s turn next?”

“Not a chance,” Bailey said. “So you’re pretty sure you didn’t kill him.”

“We absolutely did not kill him,” Chalco said. “Our atmo taste indicated coordinates in an atmospheric density somewhere around ours. Volatiles and traces included indications that he was just above a water-based, oddly uniform organic liquid surface—acidic. We did precisely as he asked.” He hissed laughter. “If he’s in a wall, or dissolving in acid, it’s his own stupid calculation.”

Bailey loosened a little. Chalco was nearly certain Kalin was alive. He’d have been quieter if there were a doubt.

“Thanks for your help,” Bailey said. “I owe you one.” Chalco sneered.

“Platinum received. Nothing owed. Thanks for the test subject.” Bailey nodded, watching Chalco’s stare. Looking for something else. “Now, now. Don’t scan a friend, Kelysnethite. I tell you the things I know.”

“Chalco, I didn’t mean it...I was just—”

Too much sky, like always,” Chalco said. “Your head is flying.”

“It’s been a long day,” Bailey blinked. “I’m sorry.”

“Be sorry when it gets you killed,” Chalco said. “Look at what’s in front of you, little birdie. There’s a lot going on.” Bailey found his eyes burning into her, and she knew it was a warning.

“Bye, Chalco.”

“Long bye, pretty one. Keep your eyes in front of you.” A tough hand clasped her shoulder, and Chalco went back to the surface lift. He grunted at the operator and descended again as Bailey left the shaft room. She wandered back toward Wally’s, around the park, through the center of Temponis—trying not to look back at the tower or Ytras’ Hold atop it.

Then, finally, the message came.

WE ARE PREPARED TO RECEIVE YOU.

Bailey took a couple of deep breaths and made her way to the platform at Temponis Superior.

“BeeBee!” Ghebrin snapped out of his official-looking stance the moment he saw her. “Hey, did the big man find you?” Bailey nodded at him.

“He did. Thanks, Ghebrin.” Bailey handed him a card, and put a finger to her lips.

“Service to—ah.” Ghebrin read the card. “Hey, it’s funny! That’s exactly—”

“Ghebrin.” Bailey stared him down. “For your own good, for his, and for the boss...clear the record of your S2U1126 transfers in the last four cycles.” The little man almost immediately broke into a sweat.

“Th-that’s th-thr—”

“Four. Four transfers. One in, three out. You’re about to do the third.”

“Beebee, I can’t make—”

“If you have to talk to someone shady, do it, Ghebrin. Someone’s trying to take down the boss, and I need those transfers—and the one you’re about to do—gone. Forge the connections.” Bailey stared him down until he broke. She couldn’t stand doing it, but she needed to plant a marker for herself. Hurt feelings didn’t matter at the moment.

“I’ll do what I can, Beebee, but…”

“I know that’s going to be enough, Ghebrin. Thank you.”

She was unceremoniously dialed to her destination as Ghebrin watched her face. She was carrying something that he couldn’t know more about—just as the Candymaker had been. Ghebrin pictured the upcoming weeks...fewer friends passing through. More official attention. Maybe questions.

Ghebrin made a sour face. Bad things were happening. As always, “playing dumb and staying dumb” was the protocol. It was better for everyone.

Still, Bailey had a scent on her that mimicked something about the way Kay-Ay smelled when he came through. Whatever they were involved in, it didn’t smell like death. It smelled like...free ethera. S2U1126 wasn’t a regular plug for his gate, and he couldn’t remember using it for anyone but the boss. He’d have to look it up later—offline—when it wouldn’t gain him any extra attention.

Ghebrin’s indicators glowed blue, and he flashed his open fist twice at Bailey, giving her the okay. Bailey waved at him before she stepped through. It was a heavy wave—a ‘long bye’, as the Petroves called it.

Ghebrin cleared the recent exchange logs with S2U1126-VESTINIA. He simply cut out whole blocks of traffic, labelling the records “missing audit” or “secondary audit required”. He signed the log to a long-gone co-worker of his: Fince Geary.

He looked up, wondering if the sky *truly* made surface-dwellers stupid, like the Petroves always claimed. He couldn’t tell if he was 30 years dumber, but now he was juggling falsified records for an old friend...and now an official trowel of his paperwork would put him at risk.

He prayed no one would come digging.

 

VESTINIA

“This is absolutely incredible,” I said, walking around the perimeter of my new home. I didn’t give a shit that I was doing it nude and half-masted.

“I can certainly tell that some part of you is excited,” Evisea said, brushing up against my shoulder with her huge leather hip. I laughed, reaching up and smacking her thigh as I turned to face her.

“Well, yeah—the blue balls make it obvious, do they?” As I mentioned to them before—they were amazing teases. I motioned to my dick. “You two are...really something else when you work together.”

“Maybe we should ask for a more complete team...I bet you’d like it even more in there if you had three more of us tending to you.” Evisea squatted, her knees thrusting out to either side of me. Suddenly her crotch was in front of me—her emulated curves pushing harder against the tight leather. I took a long look down at the inside of the tight leather ass, and I couldn’t help but imagine myself inside her again--feeling a touch so perfect that it didn’t need hands or neurons. It was simply her...against my skin.

“You know—I just wanna dive right back in.” It was practically an aside to her, but across the deck came another voice who obviously heard me.

“The big girls win you over easy, then?” I knew the mocking tone, remembering my last gate landing here. Shiny. Dark. Tits like honeydew dipped in liquid latex. Before I even turned toward her, I said it.

“Licorice?”

Ava sneered at the name she gave him after their little encounter. He called her “licorice tits”...and something about it made her thump. Maybe it was his confidence. Maybe it was the fact that despite all that swagger, he had to play by her rules.

Maybe it was the fact that his suit—a freed Vestian—wanted to go back home with him.

He was a man in the way that the world’s art described a man—pre-Nyxe, of course. Not simply farmed for brutality or companionship or service...but built--by his own hands and his own wandering cock.

Clever and dangerous and animal. Thump. Untamed. Thump. Thump.

Not to mention—a few days ago, she went from his sarcastic, self-assured responses...to having him singing in public as she made him fuck her in midair, before every perceiving soul on the open mezzanines. Thump, thump, thump.

“Ava to my employers,” The catsuit said, approaching them. Evisea stood at attention on hearing the name. She stepped forward.

“I’m sorry—I didn’t realize you’d already arrived,” Evisea said. “I’m Evisea. My partner Raquela and I have been assigned to you. I was just showing Mr. Adriksehn his new quarters.”

“Assigned to...you?” I asked, pointing at the busty catsuit. This was getting a little coincidental.

“Yes, well—although they’re palace guards, and very capable ones...I’m a transfer overseer,” Ava said. “In this instance, personnel management is organized over security.” By now, Raquela had wandered back, her satin shirttails tucking into Evisea as her buttons did themselves.

“Nice to finally meet you,” Raquela said to Ava. “I love your shape.”

“And that’s a lovely red,” The catsuit said, approaching the towering constructs. Both collars turn to me, and I’m sure my eyes light up when I go ahead and say it:

“I’m going to skip euphemism...you’re gonna fuck my brains out to give this place the missing je ne sais quoi, right?” Both the collars turned to each other again, and then back to me.

“If it was as simple as that, we’d have already done it,” Ava said.

“No—the designs you’re looking for require someone with a little more...talent with ethera.” Every sentient entity turned with me to see Nyxe atop the building. The sentinels and Ava both bowed their heads, and I acknowledged her.

“I’m honored that you’re seeing to them personally, my Governess,” I said. “And for sending me such a pleasant support staff.”

“Yes, I hear you’ve been very pleased with your handling.” The goddess rose from the top of the structure and hovered to the deck, offering me her hand. I took it and knelt.

“You’re going to have me after all,” I whispered as I kissed her hand. “Part of the plan?”  She drew close.

“I don’t need to plan to get what I want, Systemian.” She smiled. “Now are you ready to make this happen?”

I grinned. Everything around me was fucked up. My credentials, Candymaker Holdings, Bailey’s involvement—and—more than anything else, my new best friend at the Syntyche.

Now I was here. A land of hedonism, a world of power turned on its head and rebuilt by an ageless, ever-hungry entity that took the shape of a human woman. One that—for the moment, had a use for me...

...and wanted to show me that use.

“Yes, please.”

She had purple irises, surging blue. She wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, pulling me toward her lips as she pinched my Neuropause between her thumb and forefinger.

“Put it on bypass. We need all of you.”

Admin/RootFn/FullBypass_?:1;
CAUTION! (Admin/RootFn/FullBypass_?) Synapse traffic will remain monitored and recorded, but will no longer be filtered. All psychosomatic and psionic resistance functions, field monitors, and rider protections will cease. Linked system monitors may continue unimpeded, but any linked system dependent on NPBIOS will become inaccessible until the FullBypass command is rescinded.
SpecComm:AuthConf

I blink a couple of times as the light balancers and infogrids disappear. I’m seeing through my own eyes again for a second before Nyxe approaches and meets my mouth.

“You may not want to reveal, Systemian…” Nyxe whispers before she licks my ear. I wrap my arms around her, touching the perfect flesh she created from air as her voice continues. “But you must surrender if you want this to work to your advantage.”

I reach up, tracing my fingers through the spun dark violet silk of her hair, gently curling around her face. She leans into my hand, nuzzling it—pressing herself against my palm and inhaling. I watch her take me in—watch as she loses herself in my scent and my touch—and something comes over me.

I brace and grab a handful of purple hair, firmly pulling her head back just slightly as I growl at her.

“You want surrender? I want those lilac lips sucking my dick,” I say, pulling her next to me. Her eyes glow royal blue, and she grins. Suddenly I feel it—and she hasn’t made a move.

“As you like,” She says—pulling tight against my grip as I loosen up. I look down at my cock, which is bobbing and turning on its own. I feel them—a pair of invisible lips tightening around my growing cock. I look back at Nyxe, licking her lips now. Suddenly, my own mouth is inundated—filled with a slippery tongue as another invisible pair of lips press against my own.

I simply kissed back, closing my eyes and letting my other senses take over. Just like Evisea and Raquela, Nyxe was all over me—carrying her touch through ethera. Physical limitations like having only two hands, one set of lips...they were meaningless.

Nyxe didn’t need to touch me to melt me down--and this was just the beginning. When I opened my eyes, I was faced with nothing before my lips. Nyxe was at an arm’s length, tasting my reactions to her affection.

When her eyes met mine again, hers was a gaze of control—of victory. With my Neuropause on bypass, I was no match for her animal charm at all.

Going with my instincts came with its own advantages, though. The Intecast reacted to my natural biofeedback, giving me a channel to the ethera. I immediately used it to reach out to Nyxe, imagining my hands reaching out and pressing her breasts together under her dark purple tube dress.

The Governess’ eyes darted down to her chest, and I telekinetically tugged at the upper hem, pulling it around Nyxe’s perking breasts. Delighted surprise came over the Governess, her expression turning coquette as she watched me concentrating—making the best of my artificial manipulation. The invisible lips around my cock pulled harder, and now Nyxe rose in the air, looking down at her breasts.

I watch them grow. I wasn’t certain it was happening at first, but when she forces herself against my face, I can feel it happening.

“Weightless,” Says the governess—and up I go with her. “Suck, darling.” Nyxe’s breasts plump again, and she shifts so that I wind up in front of one of them—a hardened nipple finding its way between my lips. “Suck, baby.”

I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me as we both rise into the air. I’m sucking on her tit—feeling an overcharge of ethera flowing through the InteCast and back into the environment around me. There’s a slight hum on the island—and some of the deck lights and navigation lights twinkle in the setting sun.

“Now dream—and show this place what you want.” And when she says it, my mind wanders—just like it’s told.

I think of fucking Licorice...Ava. I think of being surrounded by Sentinels like Evisea and Raquela. I think of this place staffed with secretary skirtsuits, engineer jumpsuits, and a sleek, shiny, latex-clad security force.

I thought of myself trapped here, denied my reinstatement forevermore—subject and pet to the entourage I’ve dreamed up—bound...played with...domesticated.

You have a lot of weight on your shoulders. I come to focus with Nyxe’s violet gaze. Our mouths are locked—her tongue rolling over mine as her lips pull against me. It’s only natural to want to relinquish control to something familiar...something safe.

And you’re happy to be my safe haven, I think back to her. Maybe you owe something big to my boss?

This is sacred. No politics allowed. Nyxe breaks off her kiss and pushes me away from her. We both hover, suspended in midair—Nyxe’s engorged tits spilling from her tube dress, and my cock apparently pulling itself in and out as the invisible lips continue their work on me.

Nyxe raises her hands, palms in, and I watch as her tube dress shimmies up her thighs, revealing olive skin until they join beneath black satin panties.

Right now, I am your safe haven. Your goddess and your slut. I am your overseer, and the engine of your creation—and I swear to you that if you let go of everything and trust me--you will see the way.

She bites her lip, her head pointing down toward her waist as her purple eyes peer back up at me. My own eyes jump from her gaze to her waist, where her panties curl down her hips on their own.

I watch them peel away, glistening from her pussy. I lick my lips, mentally begging them to come to me.

Dirty boy… Nyxe smiles at me, feigning disgust. You want to know what my own excitement for you smells like, don’t you?

“I want to lick you off of them,” I growl, watching the satin sail off her lower legs and bounce back up toward my face. I flutter a bit as the panties fill to her shape, shoving their crotch against my nose and lips.

And now I taste her—I smell her. Impossibly delicious. Maddening. It turns me animal, and my dick hardens as an invisible tongue sails around it.

I want her riding my cock and showing me her power. I want her legs to spread themselves open and make her straddle me. I breathe her in, and everything goes straight to the InteCast.

“Ohh...!” Her legs scissor open, and she’s drawn toward me. My cock stands at attention, ready for her shaven pussy. I watch her watching it happen—lifting her legs to make herself more accessible. I pull her body closer, and there’s a violet/blue spark when the tip of my dick approaches. I watch her lips spread themselves open a moment before I slide into her. “Oh, fuuuuck…”

Her satin panties ride against my face hard as Nyxe’s pussy slides over me, engulfing my cock. I smell her, taste her, and feel her—and now, in my peripheral vision, I can see the effects.

My eyes dart around the deck, watching materials stretch and shrink—watching them change shape and size. Metallic veneer and stone walkways materialize from nothing, and etched lines trace aesthetic details along the decks of the island.

Things were happening inside the structure as well. Light and plumbing fixtures were adjusting and settling into place. Floor and glass treatments changed materials and tinted themselves.

I couldn’t see these things—not directly—but I knew they were happening. It was like I was being asked a million interior design questions and answering them without knowing it. Before I really understand what’s happening, Nyxe’s living panties lift from my face and turn around, bouncing their satin ass against the bridge of my nose and wiggling hard before flying away.

All I could see was her purple eyes again, glowing as she stared--intensifying with every thrust.

“Yes...you can see this is your home now, can’t you, Kalin?” I nod my head as she nods hers. It’s a hypnotic, floaty feeling as my head bobs—almost as if I’m not doing it...almost like I’m being rewarded for allowing it without resistance. “Your governess will give you everything you need.” She held out her hands, and my body thrust itself up under her, lifted toward her hips by her own magic. “Fuck…” She made fists, pulling her hands up again. My hips began moving on their own now, tethered to nothing but air--and they piston me inside her without any of my own input.

I growl again, pushing back against the full charge of the InteCast. It’s picking up her resonance like smoke in a wildfire, and I can actually FEEL the free ethera around us—blooming in the air itself and fueling the massive physical, molecular, and even atomic changes bring my new residence into its active state.

I reach out and take her wrists in my hands, her palms still clinched. My eyes burn back into hers as I use the ethera, lifting her body against mine and slamming it against my cock.

Nyxe’s eyes roll back, and I feel her arms pulling against my grip as I hold her wrists in place. My arms and shoulders flex, keeping Nyxe’s arms still even as she tries to break free. She blinks, staring at me again and grinning. We’re both controlling each other like puppets—each dancing the body of the other in this strange, wonderful transaction.

“You are dangerous, aren’t you, Systemian?” She moans aloud, looking down at my cock penetrating her. I feel her touch as her gaze travels up my torso—invisible fingers tracing over my abs, then my chest. I moan a little when both my nipples are pinched between soft invisible fingers, and a reciprocation reflex deforms Nyxe’s tits, squeezing them together as I use another ethera burst to telekinetically grope her again. “Mmm...suck—suck them!”

I don’t let her arms go, but one of her massive tits lifts on its own and aims its pink nipple right at my mouth, stretching to meet me and spouting warm, sweet milk when I suck. I moan through this absolute delight as her pussy contracts around my dick, lifting and pushing faster and faster as it tightens around me.

“Suckle, Kalin—drink from me and be one with your home...taste my magic flowing through you…”

I want to come inside her. I want to float in midair and suck on her tits forever. When I hear moaning behind me, it only takes a glance to see that my former escorts are caught up in the ethera storm as well. Ava was twisted over herself, her double zip slightly opened to expose her ass. She was bobbing in the air next to Evisea and Raquela, who were still coordinated as one outfit and apparently being pawed and groped by giant unseen hands, scaled up to meet the sentinels’ massive size.

At the glance back to the other Vestians enjoying the reverie, I notice that the structure below us is almost unrecognizable now—modified with elegant touches like wood rails, chrome fixtures, and tinted glass. It looks nothing like the grey shell I landed on a few minutes ago...and reminds me a lot of a few familiar places. Ytras’ hold at CMH labs. Goldrail on Arespolit. Eudemia at Aristotia, and...just enough of my childhood home back on Systemia—massive timbers making a huge modern cabin somewhere in the central lakes of the North American shield.

She’s humming with power. It’s vibrating through me. I’m still holding her wrists, but her gaze is wandering over my skin, her telekinetic touch flowing over my body—tracing up my sides and teasing my pecs.

My lips release her puffing nipple, and I pull her wrists toward me, bringing my lips to her cheek as she growls into my ear. I kiss her cheek, moving back to her ear and pulling on it gently with my teeth.

“I’m going to come inside you,” I whisper, squeezing her wrists. Her body tenses against my grip, and her hips buck wildly as her head carefully draws back to kiss me again.

I don’t close my eyes this time, and the royal light of her eyes glows a halo through everything I see. They’re smiling, mischievous eyes—eyes that seem pleased at what they’d accomplished up to now. Eyes beholding their new trophy.

Then come already, my prize male. She breaks out of the kiss, and her arms dissipate into smoke and reappear a second later outside my grip, taking my wrists and pulling them back. She wraps my arms around her and lets go, and now I hold the Governess’ body against mine as she bounces against my cock, grinning like she’s mad. Come now and give me everything.

It’s a chorus of ecstasy. I come, but my howl is accompanied by both Ava and the Sentinels. I only faintly realize the other part: the generation of the staff in my new headquarters has been started by the ethereal storm that Nyxe and my hybrid technology created together. It’s not just the facades and the design of this place that’s borrowed from my mind—it’s every Vestian being created somewhere in this city, Vestians that will soon join us on board.

I’ve lost my connections at CMH for now. I’ve been erased from IDOX. The Syntyche have a bead and an ear on me—and probably even know I’m thinking this about them right now…

But in Vestinia, I’m now that rare and famed creature so seldom seen on Nyxe’s Earth—especially in the heart of the capital city itself—an ethera-using male with status.

For the moment, I have the favor of the Governess. For the moment, I’m in heaven, gripping her perfect, glowing body as we drift slowly toward the deck.

“I hope you won’t be offended,” Nyxe whispers to me, slowly disappearing. “But I’m a very busy woman, and I have other situations to take care of.”

“Duty calls,” I say, smiling at her. “Thanks for your help, my Governess.” Her form dissipates, sliding around me as I’m placed on a stone section of the open deck.

It wasn’t everything you imagined... Nyxe says inaudibly. I just chuckle, knowing what she means. I’m still a human being, and I’m still animate. For anything else the Governess General is, she’s not a Black Widow on a first date.

I suppose, though, that she wouldn’t help build me an ethera-powered yacht in her capital city if she didn’t have a use for me.

After the personal attention she poured into me, I was sure it wouldn’t take long to find out exactly how I’d be put to her service.