Chapter Nine #2
The doors opened with a soft hiss, revealing a mostly-white laboratory. The walls shimmered like polished sandstone, and sleek machinery grew from the floors. Crystal tubes spiraled toward the ceiling and pulsed with light like a heartbeat.
Two tanned Dara males in loose robes attended to the machinery.
One was the red-headed one from Earth, and the other an unknown blond.
None had coverings over their chests, just the two rows of natural purple flecks.
They barely glanced at me as they adjusted controls and monitored holographic readouts.
My focus shifted as movement caught my eye.
In a shadowy corner, a Sandari stood hunched over a console, his large, tufted ears twitching as he worked.
Now that I knew how to look up the species, I got basic information.
He was male, older, and considered small.
Little else came through beyond references to a bigger female warrior sex.
With him, his ochre fur absorbed the overhead light, and his robes flowed around him like rippling sand.
The beads resting below his neck clinked faintly as he moved, and his golden eyes tracked me.
He hissed with a sharp, guttural sound that made every hair on my body stand on end.
I jumped back. "Nice kitty!"
The room fell silent.
"Or fox," I muttered, mostly to myself. "They look like both."
Zephyron's voice cut through, "It is a simple greeting." He gestured to his staff, if not subjects. "Remove his implant," he ordered, pointing toward the blond Dara technician and the Sandari male.
The tech nodded briskly and approached with a sleek, long instrument with tiny tendrils stretching out.
"Wait," I said, stepping back instinctively. "Why don't you ask me first?"
Zephyron turned his gaze on me with a flicker of annoyance. "This is to ensure you understand the nuances of our language. The implant from another Soturi contains no localizations for Sudo." He glanced at the blond, who pressed a few buttons on his console.
A holographic display appeared, showing a list of functions in curved Volardi text and English. The blond smirked. "The device appears to have been used primarily to activate Human appliances and to assist with paddling over water."
I'd never asked it to turn on the television or coach me on surfing, but it did anyway. "Is it going to give me information overload, like tell me everything about your two unnamed moons every time I look?"
"You need awareness to survive on Sudo," said Zephyron.
"Language, slang, and a warning about anything dangerous, then," I said. Alen's implant constantly told me where to put my fingers when I played guitar, the calories in food, and gave an efficiency rating while surfing. Social media notifications were distracting enough.
Again, I explained, and the cat-fox Sandari turned, speaking in Volardi Standard. "We could use a model with legacy translation architecture." He paused. "I will monitor his reaction, and we can add political diplomatic protocols later."
Zephyron's gaze remained steady as he spoke.
"Which will you insist upon, Thomas? The implant from another Soturi, both imprecise and improper for one mated, or one better suited for Sudo?
" Imprecise and improper as it was, it still gave me an overview.
I'd be converted for default living in a desert, with no need to ever reach for a glass of water again.
I crossed my arms. "Fine, but I'd really like to keep some comforts, like drinks and baths."
Zephyron's voice held a sharp edge. "As my mate, you will accompany me in public. Drinking water in public is an affront to the Sandari and our customs."
"I know. You told me already about drinking," I gritted my teeth. "I won't do it in public, just like I'm not going to bathe where everyone can see me."
His lips pressed into a thin line. "That is not the point. The water you use will be taken from others."
"Then make more with nanites, you know, gleps."
The blond Dara's voice grew solemn, "The gleps you mentioned have limitations. Water production is heavily restricted and can only be used within a living body. To use it otherwise, risks destabilizing the Sudo ecosystem."
My comfort wasn't worth taking from those who had less. People did it to us in Georgia, and I couldn't become them. "Ugh! Fine. No baths either." Technically, it was no bubble baths, but I didn't need them to look down on me more.
The red-haired Dara inclined his head and slightly smiled.
"You will adjust," said Zephyron as if to comfort me.
The conversation shifted as the second Dara—the redhead from Earth—segued into the Omegafication explanation.
His tone stayed clinical and detached, "Your outward physical form will remain recognizable, though modifications will occur internally.
Additional organs must be grown to accommodate your reproductive duties.
You may experience default sensations of fullness or tightness. "
"Got it."
"Microscopic gleps or nanites will regulate hydration, and excess waste is eliminated at the cellular level.
You will no longer require traditional Human functions such as urination.
Your entry will be self-cleaning, and lubrication will occur when aroused.
These changes are designed to replicate natural Femeni. "
Heat rose to my cheeks. "Let's get this over with."
The red-headed Dara gestured toward a circular chamber emitting a consistent violet glow.
After I stepped inside, the door sealed with a faint hiss.
A low-frequency hum vibrated through the floor beneath my feet and rose steadily.
The air thickened quickly, dense with static, and carried an electrical tang that clung to my skin and settled in the back of my throat like the sharp scent of ozone before a thunderstorm.
To Zephyron's credit, he asked if I was ready, and I nodded.
Pulses of sound hummed through the chamber as the machinery calibrated itself to my physiology.
Sensory receptors engaged, reading metabolic patterns.
A tingling sensation spread, followed by targeted warmth centered in the abdominal cavity.
Muscles felt loose but not weaker. My skin softened, and there was a growing pressure in my abdomen.
A tension I didn't have before was now replaced by. ..
My womb?
Dara technicians and the Sandari spoke in their individual languages, asking diagnostic questions.
The translations in my mind turned sharper, more immediate, as if the language barrier had been completely dissolved.
I was still the same size and didn't seem as delicate as Zephyron's previous Femeni, although technically I was now an Omega.
After verifying the process had completed, the blond Dara directed me out of the chamber.
A mirrored surface grew from my thoughts, and it was still Thomas in the reflection. No purple flecks to show what had been done, and a reflection showed my ocean-blue eyes. "No, outside changes."
Zephyron thought it was a question, and I didn't correct him.
"That is intentional. The Emperor wished to convey Earth's contribution.
It is a declaration that your people are worthy of alliance.
There are Volardi, Humans, and other species who oppose our union, but they will see you and know our worlds stand together, per the Emperor. "
My gaze lingered on Zephyron for a moment longer than I intended. Despite everything—the arrogance, the disdain—there was something undeniably striking about him. His powerful frame, the long, wild hair which fell past his shoulders, the sharp angles of his face...
Heat pooled in my abdomen, and I realized with horror what my new entry had done.
No. Not now.
But the evidence was undeniable. I lubricated, preparing for an alien cock.
I heard Volardi men were huge.
No, no, no. This is not the thought to have!
I willed the image away as best as I could. My mind wasn't ready for pregnancy, but this body with both Human and Volardi hormones, had no issues.
Zephyron inhaled, and his lips twitched into the faintest of smirks.
This was going to be a hard adjustment.
***