Alien Mine Ch. 17

Both women turned to Yaneta. "Watch," they both said simultaneously and then went over to Nikita, grabbing his arms and pulling them out to the side.

Nikita struggled, but the women just laughed, holding him with little effort despite his struggles. They each took an arm and then a leg, spreading him out on the floor.

Kiania stood over the now cowering man, knife in hand and an empty look in her eyes. This was how she had felt when she cut up her uncle, all the pent-up rage, the pure hate distilled into a cold, cold thirst for revenge. Thanks to Rhys, her life had changed, but this part was still with her. She smiled, thinking about how her uncle had screamed in agony and horror as she cut off his cock and balls and fed them to him. She bet Nikita would wet himself before she made the first cut.

Yaneta had never been happy to see Leslie before, but she was glad she arrived before Nikita had injected her. She watched in relief as the other two women grabbed Nikita, but Yaneta turned her head as Kiania began to cut him. Nikita screamed and screamed, but it didn't stop. Yaneta closed her eyes and covered her ears with both hands to try and stop the sound of Nikita's high pitched cries of pain. She couldn't believe the way they casually cut him up. Yaneta screamed for them to stop, but they didn't.

Then suddenly, the cries ceased, and she felt hands on her. "Look at him," Leslie said firmly, shaking Yaneta until she opened her eyes. Nikita lay there in a pool of blood, a look of terror on his dead face. Yaneta gagged when she realized his cock and balls had been cut off and shoved into his mouth.

"Get yourself together," Leslie told her; it's time to deal with your husband.

"Nelya," I don't know where she is, Yaneta said desperately. "She is gone; please don't hurt me," she begged.

Leslie looked at her, it was satisfying in some ways to see her like this, but she knew it was time to back off. She needed Yaneta to act her part, and a terrified widow would not be convincing. In the long run, she would have to come to terms with Yaneta, she would be working for Leslie, and she would need her motivated, not terrified. Still, fear had its place until the symbiont was awake.

"Don't worry about Nelya; she is with us. Come on, it's time we dealt with your husband." Leslie turned and headed for Dmitri's office.

"Stop, please," Yaneta said, pulling at Leslie's arm, "you don't know him; he will kill us."

Leslie turned and looked at her, "I don't have time for another lesson in obedience," she said, "but I will have after I have dealt with him. Are you going to disobey me?"

Yaneta was terrified there was no way out, no easy answer that had always been there for her. "I will obey," she said in a trembling voice.

"Good girl," Leslie said, "follow me."

Leslie took Yaneta to her house, where she knew Dmitri was. The original plan was to wait and kill Dmitri later, but Rhys had decided to move the schedule up. Yaneta followed Leslie into the house, past the servants, and into Dmitri's plush office. Dmitri sat behind a large desk, a senior aide in a chair to the right side of the desk, and another man in uniform sat on the left. FSB Leslie thought with satisfaction, he should be the last one on the list. Dmitri looked up as they walked in; "Yaneta," he said sharply, "what is this? You and this woman leave now."

Leslie just kept walking over to the one in uniform. Then, quick as a snake, she reached out and grabbed his head with both hands before he could move. "I have been looking forward to this," she said and gave a jerk as she twisted his head and broke his neck.

Dropping the FSB Major, she turned to the other man in the room. He had sprung up from his chair and backed away, but Leslie was much quicker. She calmly took him by the neck and threw him across the room, almost through the wall.

Dmitri stared at what was unfolding with disbelief as the man crumpled broken to the floor, his head cracked open and bleeding. Then, panicking, he yanked a pistol out of his top drawer, "Stop!" he shouted, pointing it at her.

Leslie just laughed and kept coming. Yaneta saw him fire point-blank into the woman, and she hoped for a second she was dead, but Leslie just kept on walking. Dmitri pulled the trigger repeatedly, the bullets bouncing off her as she reached out and took the gun away, and then she casually broke his neck as well.

Yaneta screamed and fell to the floor sobbing. She had planned to kill Dmitri herself, but seeing this and how they had killed Nakita was too much for her mind. Then she heard that voice again.

"Get up," it said coldly. Yaneta forced herself to her feet. "Go to your room," it said, "I will take care of this. They are going to die again shortly in a car bomb. It was originally going to be an accident, but we decided to make an example out of them. You had better play the part of the grieving widow convincingly; you don't want to end up as part of the FSB investigation or make me angry."

Yaneta just watched as Leslie casually picked up both men and walked out. "I will be back for the other one in a minute," she said. Yaneta fled to her room.

***

Borodo woke up with a splitting headache; he felt awful, like he had a bad flu. Flailing around, he managed to sit up. "Fuck," he muttered; what's wrong with me? Forcing his eyes to focus, he stood up to go to the bathroom. He staggered, unable to steady himself. Finally steady, he started for the bathroom but stopped when he saw drug vials on a bedside table, the kind used at the lab. Then in confusion, he looked down at his arm where it hurt, and he could see injection marks. He ran into the bathroom with sudden horror and looked at his face in the mirror. Borodo began to panic when he saw the tell-tale signs of the drug, the coloring on his face, the drooping eyelids, the trembling, and now the pain.

He looked around, not recognizing where he was, but found his clothes strewn haphazardly around the room. Hurriedly dressing but unable to think coherently, Borodo found his car outside with its keys. With trembling hands, he started the car, driving as fast as he could toward the direction he guessed the lab was. He had to find out what had happened and to get another injection. It was clear he was going into withdrawal, and that terrified him; he knew what happened to those men that had been used as experiments.

His thoughts were sluggish as he drove, trying to stay in his lane. What had happened to him? He tried desperately to remember, but there was nothing after seeing a car broken down on the road. Borodo drove for about fifteen minutes, but it seemed an eternity before recognizing the road. Thank God, he thought, I am almost at the Laboratory, but he saw police cars on the road as he got close and was waved down.

"This area is closed," one of the police officers stated, walking up to his car.

"But I have to get to the laboratory," Borodo replied insistently, "I work there."

"Let's see your identification,'' the police officer demanded."

Borodo showed it to him with shaking hands, even more anxious now, confused about why the police were there.

The police officer took his credentials, looked them over, and handed them back. "Sorry," the Officer said, "but the area is closed; there was an explosion or something; rumor is that it was destroyed, and everyone was killed."

Borodo just sat there stunned, suddenly realizing there may not be any more of the drug. "No," he screamed in panic, "let me though." He desperately tried to drive past the police, but his car was blocked; hands reached in and pulled him out of the vehicle. "No," he screamed again, you have to let me through. I must get to the facility."

Borodo felt like his head exploded as he was hit with a baton and knocked to the ground. Hands lifted him up, and he saw one of the police reach for handcuffs. "No, please," he shouted again, twisting away just enough to grab a holstered gun. He pulled the weapon and pointed it at the police. "Stay back," he shouted, "I have to get through."

"Easy, you idiot, there is nothing left there, didn't you hear? The FSB has been there for four days now."

"Four days?" he said, stunned, his mind whirling with the implications. By four days, the drug was well into his system. If he didn't get more and quickly, he would die. Boroda realized there was no way out, and he remembered the horror and the pain of those he had tested the drug on. "Get back," he shouted again, then taking a step backward, he shoved the revolver into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

"That's the last of them," Leslie said.

"How is Yaneta doing?" Rhys asked?

"Better, she played the grieving widow like it was a leading role on Broadway; she may have missed her true calling. I am sure you can put her acting skills to work in the future. How about Nelya?"

Nelya is doing much better, " Rhys said, but the masochistic tendencies are still there; the pleasure/pain they forced on her really fucked up her mind. She is having trouble coming to grips with it. The symbiont is ready; you need to come back to the base for a day or so; Kiania will be there in a couple of hours to pick you up.

"What about Yaneta," Leslie asked hungrily. Amancia could feel the anticipation, how much Leslie wanted this, and the interlace sprang into being, and they were one person again.

"Soon, next week, probably. Nelya first, though, I want you to get her settled back in Moscow and help her take charge of Dmitri's companies."

The binaries and their symbionts recognized the command. "Yes, sir," they replied.

Nelya was doing better than expected; at least, she thought so. The memories of the last few months no longer held any terror for her; it was as if the emotions attached to the memories had been stripped away. Even the anger associated with what had happened was almost gone, but not quite. Thoughts of Yaneta still upset her, and Nikita, well, she was glad he was dead. Kiania had told her that she had killed him, and for that, she was grateful. Her father's death, though, made her sad. He had been a hard man to love, always away or too busy to be concerned with a young girl growing up. Nelya's mother had died when she was young, and she had always wondered if her father had arranged it. Still, he had been the only family she had, and now he was gone.

Everything she had lost made her realize how much life had changed for her. She had grown up spoiled, raised mainly by nannies, but she had wanted for nothing. Her father had been among the elite in Russia, and that respect had extended to her. After school, life had been one big party; she traveled the world and indulged her every desire. Some of the parties she had thrown on her father's yacht had been legendary, but when she made the gossip pages of several newspapers, her father had brought her home and married her to Nakita. No one knew what kind of man Nikita really was, but Nelya blamed her father for much of what happened to her.

"Good morning; how are you doing," Kiania asked, interrupting her morbid thoughts

Nelya's face flushed a little seeing Kiania suddenly standing there. She was still trying to adjust to the open sex life everyone else seemed so comfortable with. "I feel wonderful; I am ready to train again. Do you have time?"

Kiania studied the young woman standing in front of the mirror. She could see the changes in her; Nelya's symbiont was almost sentient. There was more muscle mass, and much of the drug-ravaged body had recovered. Her emotional state was the most improved and would get better in time; she could vouch for that. "Yes, that's why I came looking for you; we need to exercise the new muscles; your body is growing stronger, as is your mind."

"How much will things change when the symbiote begins to interact with me," Nelya asked.

"It's like a whole new world that will open up for you. I know it's hard to imagine, but it's like a supercomputer you interact with in your head. The symbiont has already been making changes. You are probably twice as intelligent as you were, and you probably have noticed that you never seem to forget anything. The symbiont will work with you, learning new things while at the same time it rebuilds your body, increasing your reflexes and making you immune to diseases. As a result, all your senses, taste, smell, hearing touch become more sensitive. Also, it will not let drugs affect you ever again.

Nelya thought about what Kiania had told her. She was initially terrified when Rhys, Kiania, and Thea took her from her father's house and brought her to this alien base. They explained the symbiont, which had initially added to her confusion and fear, but Rhys and Kiania had calmed her, and somehow the fear just went away.

"I know there was an ulterior motive, but I am grateful for what Rhys and the rest of you have done," she said. Rhys had told her of his plans for her, that he needed her to become strong.

"Kiania nodded in agreement. We are all glad we discovered what was happening; you know we have stopped it; we killed everyone involved."

"Not everyone," Nelya said with anger.

"No, Yaneta was part of our plans from the beginning," Kiania replied. "She hurt you terribly, we know, but she has a role to play, as do we all."

"Not just her, though I will never forgive her, but this went all the way to the top. It was a way for the President to silence his critics forever," Nelya said firmly, surprised at the burst of anger she felt.

"Yes, of course, but he will be dealt with in time; perhaps you will be the one to mete out justice to him. But we presently still need him; he will be the architect of his own destruction when he brings you into the government."

"Do you really think he will let a young woman like me into a position of power?"

"Yes, you will control almost all of the energy sector, much of the steel industry, and the new space company we helped Dmitri set up. Rhys will see that you stay in control, one way or another. Your rise will be rapid, but come, you need to be able to defend yourself against the much more dangerous foe. Remember, Nelya, the battle you will fight to become the leader of Russia is just a stepping stone. The real fight will be in space, and the stakes are the survival of the human race."

Rhys had listened in on Kiania's conversation with Nelya and was pleased with the way Nelya had responded. Still, today, he had something else on his mind, something that swept away the thoughts about her. He and Sandy were in Engineering and were staring at what they saw. Thea sat relaxed in a chair dressed in a red blouse and tight white slacks. Mei and Bao sat on the floor, their legs around each other and their faces centimeters apart, dressed only in skirts and bare from the waist up.

Usually, Rhys appreciated the classy way Thea always dressed, but all he really noticed was Thea's mane of blonde hair stretching out to Bao, Mei, and the AI. However, instead of the hair wrapping around them like Sandy's, thousands of strands seemed to be touching the back of each girl's neck. The strands ran from the base of their skulls and continued in a line down the spine. More hair ran to the AI. Rhys thought it looked as though they were wired together. Looking closer at Mei and Bao, it appeared as though Thea's hair was penetrating inside their bodies.

"What are you doing?" Sandy asked in a loud voice, equally surprised at what she saw.

Thea looked up, her eyes registering them. Her hair retracted into her head, and the binaries stood up, immediately coming over to Rhys. Rhys had gotten used to Sandy's hair, but what he had just seen made him uneasy. He took Mei and Bao into his arms, his mind searching theirs, looking for their emotions and symbionts. He could see the usual riot of bright colors, but he noticed there was hardly any difference between the two of them now. The emotional bands seemed to dance and throb in a steady rhythm, like two professional dancers moving together, never out of step with one another. Rhys could see the symbionts purring with satisfaction, the interlace so complex he didn't even bother to try and understand it anymore. Furthermore, overlaid on top of them was Thea's, binding the three of them together with the AI.

"The AI suggested it," Thea said. "The hair connects directly to their neurons and acts to increase data flow between the four of us. It's incredible," Thea said with a smile.

"The AI?" Rhys asked. "Is that alright with the two of you?" Rhys asked the girls in his arms.

"Of course," Bao's voice answered him; "It makes us more efficient," Mei added, looking up at him.

"How does it work? Does the hair actually penetrate into their bodies?" Sandy asked, not a little concerned.

"Not exactly. Each strand of hair penetrates the skin, but just a tiny, fragile part continues inside to contact certain neurons and nerve endings. So it's direct contact between our brains and the AI," Thea said.

"But you are already linked through your symbionts; why do you need it?" Rhys asked. He did not trust the AI, or rather he was not sure of its motives, and he didn't like the way it had taken control of Mei and Bao's symbionts when they were merging. It had saved them, but the AI's motives were unclear, and it refused any further communication with him. He only hoped that whatever was happening was benign since he couldn't control it.

"The data flow is so much richer," Mei said while leaning her head on his shoulder, relishing the physical contact. She/Bao wished they were naked; the skin-to-skin connection with Rhys was so much better. "It's hard to describe, but our minds seem to work as one much more efficiently."

"What about the AI?'' Rhys pressed, "How does that affect you?"

"It helps, of course, but we are allowed only limited access to it so far. But Rhys, our abilities are amazing; it's like we are one giant supercomputer. So it's a little frustrating that the AI blocks us from so much of it. However, it is helping us unravel the physics behind the Drans technology, and as we grasp each concept, the AI gives us a little more access. So we are making good progress."

"Does any of this translate into something that will help us with that energy beam the Om are using?" Rhys asked.

"We have already figured that out, at least partially," Thea replied. We can upgrade our drone with a rudimentary shield, but it is not perfect. It can withstand two hits, but the third will make it fail, and the fourth will kill you. We are working on adapting the power source, but this is not something the Drans have done, so we are pushing the limitations of the technology. Still, this is much better than what we had, but it is bulky because of the power requirements. We can't fit it into the armor, so we will have to use it on a drone."

"When can we try one out?" Rhys asked.

In reply, a bulky-looking tiger drone trotted over to him and seemed to nuzzle his leg like a real animal. "Already built," Thea said with a grin, "but we can't reproduce the actual energy weapon, so you will have to simulate it."

"That's too bad; we could use something like that ourselves," Rhys replied.

"Don't worry," Mei/Bao said; we have a laser that will be effective. By tomorrow we will have a prototype drone with the shield and laser. But, of course, it will have to be larger, and the shield will be big enough to protect those behind it, as long as it lasts. I am sorry, but that's the best we can do for now."

"That's ok; this will be a huge improvement over our armor," Rhys said, looking at the two women in his arms. Not two, he corrected himself, but one now. Rhys still felt guilty about what had happened even though they kept reassuring him that they were happier than either of them had been individually and would not change back even if they could. Still, he wished he could have done something to prevent it.