Well... that was that.
Aneeza thought this to herself as she stared at the ceiling. Some part deep down knew there was always this possibility. She had done the work with great sacrifice... and while her conduct was poor at the end... did it really take away the years of good she did? Everything undone..
But at least, it was over. Right? She was not going to ask if it could get worse. It just might, and right now she had more then enough problems. Her financial situation was not known.. she just couldn't remember how much money she had and how long it would last.
She continued to stare at the ceiling... what exactly could she do now? Find another job, obviously... if she wanted to survive.
... did she?
... yes. She wanted to live. She had already experienced the chase of death, and it showed her the splendour of Earth, and the song of the stars. If her life ended, a song is lost. Perhaps it was over simplifying how complex her emotions were. However, she knew, she still wanted to hear the song...
Perhaps that is why she confessed. Maybe... she wanted to be someone else. She could leave the prison after she did her time, and become anyone she wanted. Could she have the right to this? She had seen stories of people do similar. Why not her?
To live a new life, free of these memories, to be a creature born of space and simply exist to watch over the void of an entire galaxy and beyond... how small a man could be.. the earth, the sol system... it would have been quite nice.
"Anneza? You got to come down from there eventually," The wolf-girl said gently.
Anneza stared at her uncomprehendingly. She floated down, and gave a very weak half smile. She never really had guests before. Now she had two... she should at least make dinner for them.
But one thing she needed to do... she needed one last act of defiance. Just one more... given that she had entirely lost, what did it matter to do one more?
She looked at her phone in her old jacket... she knew she had speed dial numbers on this. She just needed to pick the right one. She pressed one and heard the phone dial.
"Er... Anderson?" Toby said with a confused tone behind the line..
Anneza put it down. Wrong one... try the next.
"... yes?" Jay asked cautiously.
That was Jay. Wrong one... she put it down. Come on one more...
"Bernardelli" the flat male voice said.
Ah ha! She had found it. She opened up a string of curses and said the most vilest possible things she could think of in her language. She said anything and everything to the confused man at the other end.
"I... think you have the wrong number. Sorry... bye."
Anneza shook her head. Well.. maybe not as satisfying as she hoped... but.. it felt good.
Stacy ran with an uncanny speed chasing after his little sister. His large snout was almost to the end of one of her tails! Just another inch and...
Billy gasped as she felt the slight contact with her tail to her sisters large teeth. She needed to run away faster! She had no idea Stacy could move like this.
Onlookers watched rather fearful and horrified. Was that transformee really going to eat another transformee? The confusion turned to laughs as they realised it was just an innocent game. (Though one or two onlookers were still quite horrified at such a giant child)
Billy on realising she was being outpaced, had a sudden urge to jump. She skilfully ended going over Stacy's head! The squirrel girl fell slightly down onto the dinosaur's tail.
"Hey that's not fair!" said Stacy growling. "It still counts as it."
"Maybe Jenny should be a referee! Jenny? He can't get me from here! I win right?" The squirrel girl asked keenly.
Jenny ran towards them. "Er- I think it counts. Cause you're touching her."
"But her hands can't reach me!" Billy pointed out.
Stacy started shaking her body, and Billy tried to hold on. "Eek! Sis I'm sorry!" she said quickly.
"I can reach you with my mouth," the dinosaur pointed out. "An' I got your tails with it. It counts. You're now it."
Billy looked shocked but then tapped her sister. "Tag!"
"Nope you can't do that while you're still on me. That makes it go back to you!" Stacy said.
"Aww..."
"Okay," Said Jenny. "So new rule. You can't jump on him and stay on him 'cause that makes it too hard."
Billy sighed. "Okay," She agreed.
They all continued to play, taking turns to be it. It was an interesting mix of talent they each displayed on their different skills that made the game a lot more varied then if they were all human. Stacy's strength and speed gave her a higher viewpoint then the others and allowed her to run like a guided missile.
Billy's skills at improvising where to jump and run hinted that she could have a talent at acrobatic movement. The girl was quite flexible.
Jenny's skills followed the more normal human traits. However there was a certain cunningness in the way she hid behind trees and grass, and even a rock. Despite being taller then Billy, she seemed to have it easier to hide. Billy insisted it was because she didn't have a tail to worry about, while she had two to find a hiding place for.
As the day continued they got very tired. Billy tried to put on her pants again now that they were not running, but there was a little reluctance to. Never had she felt such.. freedom? These clothes got in the way... but her big T-shirt looked too much like a dress on her!
Remembering that fact the squirrel girl started making do with the pants one last time. She would have to get another set later.
"I'm thirsty," said Billy after putting them on. "Um... Jenny?" The squirrel girl looked a bit embarrassed by something.
"Yeah?" She said back.
"Um... do you... wanna... come to my house?" She said blushing even more.
Jenny was taken aback but smiled. "I got to ask my mom first. Where do you live?"
"Not far," said Stacy joining them.
The white haired girl nodded. "Let me ask. Um- are your mom and dad also changed?" The white haired girl asked.
"No.. neither are. Cause of what happened to us," Said Billy a bit more upset.
"It aint like that big brother," said Stacy. He looked back to Jenny. "See.. cause I became a boy.. and she's a girl now.. they are worried it might happen to them too."
"An' they are afraid of that?" Asked Jenny tilting her head. She guessed it was understandable but.. she got the feeling there was more to it then what they were saying.
"Our mom is p- p- um-" Billy struggled saying the word.
"Pregnant." said Stacy with a little smile.
"Uh huh." nodded the squirrel girl. We might get a new brother or sister. But.. if our mom changed like we did.. um..."
They didn't want anything to happen to the unborn baby. If she became male... wouldn't the child cease to exist? Given what's happened to them.. whatever affected them, must also be in her genes too.
"It's known to happen. In families where it changes. It runs in families. They want to be careful you see." said Stacy. She was vaguely aware of her father reading various statistical studies that pointed this out too.
Jenny thought about it. "I don't think you have anythin' to worry about," the white haired girl said. "I aint heard of anyone gettin' hurt by the sunlight. Even kids in mommies tummies." Though why did that image make her blush so much?
"Our dad doesn't want to take the chance. He protects our mom. He's got companies trying to find a cure for us," explained Billy.
Jenny sighed slightly. She liked these two. Billy wasn't really so bad, and she really wanted to play with them more. "I'll um.. asked my mom if I can go to your house. I'll bet she'll want to come too though."
"Yay!" both sieblings said excitedly.
Hiro used his senses to probe the flower girl as much as possible.
begin analysis
A cyborg was in some ways, a compromise between organics and synthetic life. It attempted to bring about the strengths of both, but compromises had to be made. The machine parts were dependent on respiration as a power source, and had to be incredibly efficient.
He had experimented with over clocking, but that tended to burn his systems terribly, as well as stress his organs as they tried to keep up. He had the theory that a digital life form, if subjugated to his programming, could be used to augment and make his processes more efficient.
If he could do that, then not even artificial life forms would be able to keep up with him. His organic brain would be effectively parallel processing with his conventional computing systems which would be bridged by a digital creature. The experiment however was.. terminated rather quickly.
The idea that his mental mind was subject to hacking terrified the cyborg. A digital creature, nearly had access to his brain. His mental realm. This was so much worse a thought then entering the mind of artificial life where the architecture is defined even if unknown.
His human brain's architecture was designed to adapt and change itself for whatever the situation presented. That was the nature of organic life... an organic machine.. a human brain. He didn't know what would happen if someone successfully hacked into his brain.. but it was a very close thing.
All his thoughts took only a millisecond as he viewed the report on the flower girl.
Well now.. that is interesting. Her petals were part of her. He thought it to be some kind of skirt. The particle analysis also pointed out to a large number of pheromones being transmitted from the girl, in the form of a sweet scent.
If this girl served as a bridge to plant life, just as he did to machine life, that made him similar to him.. and possibly, just as valuable. Hm.. maybe he should play another game with her. One that will let him get a closer look at this flower girl...
Effie and Dennis had pinged themselves to a networked arcade machine. Translucent lights in an inky darkness met their gaze, as information became a structured environment.
"I had no idea they were even connected to the internet," said Effie.
"Times changed. Now instead of getting new machines, they just install new games remotely." explained Dennis. "I have gained access to the network.. its all low priority security. We're safe."
Effie nodded. So.. this was an arcade machine? A very simple system. It wasn't designed to do anything other then play one game, via only a few keys. From a digital fairy's perspective, it was a simple formula approach. Did this key get pressed? Then you win. If not, you lose.
The data was always being probed and a display system updated... this wasn't exactly what she had in mind when he said they could play a game.
"We have to go to a lower level of the machine," explained Dennis.
"How do we do that?" Asked Effie.
"We have to jump into the sprite stream, and the system should render us as characters."
"I-Is that safe?" Effie said worried.
"Oh completely. Don't worry you won't change appearance or anything. It's just the system will recognise you as one of those inputs and outputs it's supposed to look at. You can jump out at any time. I've got a program from Emergence and they say it's completely safe."
Effie was a little worried... but also intrigued. Maybe a little fun would be nice... she wondered what game this even was?
Melody really didn't know what to do with those... things she just.. just...
her brain was seizing up. She had to dispose of them! But what if someone looked in the bin? In the end she decided to bury them in the backyard. She knew her father was in the kitchen so.. at least she couldn't see this.
She hoped.
Taking the shovel she burred the objects, still wrapped in the towel. She just didn't even want to look at them. How many times was this going to happen? Was this going to be a monthly situation? Finally, she sat down on the ground and gently cried her eyes out.
Being a dragon-girl seemed so cool at first.. until... until this. It was painful, but it didn't last as long as a period did.. but... god! At least a period was discreet. This left evidence you couldn't flush!
She glanced up at the sky.. hearing something. A primal feeling in the dragon girl surfaced. Some other dragon- no.. dragons, were invading her territory. She could hear the beating of their wings... it was a challenge to her...
She raised her wings high, as she took off, seeing the two figures of red in the distance...
If they were to fight, they really picked the wrong time...
