Double Helix Ch. 23

"Well, I didn't before, but now that we solved it, there's no reason not to tell him." She leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The thing is, girls having sex really turns him on. He would probably think what we did here was pretty hot, but if you would rather I not mention it..."

Interesting. I could sense that talking about it was turning her on. Was it the thought of Nock's reaction, or was it the act itself? I shook my head. "I guess I don't mind. It's better not to keep secrets from those you love."

"Thank you!" she said, hugging me again, and this time she planted a kiss on my cheek. "You're the best friend I've ever had. And I love you, too, by the way."

It took me a moment to remember that I had said similar words to her yesterday. I smiled and nodded. "Really, it was nothing. Helping you is its own reward."

"Oh, right, but still, this is amazing! I think I should practice again." She considered, then grinned happily. "Maybe a few times. God, I can't wait for the wedding."

Her happiness still buoyed me, and I would have liked nothing more than to stay and help her "practice".

"Let me know if you're still having trouble," I offered. A part of me hoped she would.

Once out in the hall, I sighed and closed my eyes. My body was on fire and there was a hollow ache inside me, begging to be filled with the touch of another. I heard Gena lie down and her hum of pleasure as she began to touch herself. I hurried to the stairs, lest I be tempted to stay and listen in.

I said a quick goodbye to the residents of the house and passed Stansy on my way back to my own home. She waved half-heartedly and I could sense a feeling of worry, but passed it off as wedding jitters.

I had thought that the trip back would cool me off, but I kept getting lost in the memory of the depths in those ice blue eyes, that beautiful blending of strength and vulnerability. I should have been more careful once I started feeling attraction towards her. It was beginning to dawn on me that this might be yet one more way I was different from everyone else.

I sat down to Norm's left this time. I leaned against him, soaking up the warmth and strength of his body. I put my lips close to his ear. "I need you," I said. I needed my lovers to pull me back, to ground me in the joy and wonder that lay within my grasp, rather than a fantasy that I could never have.

If last night was a frenzy of lust with Nissi as both my lover and proxy, this night was a surrender to them both. I let Norm take the lead, undressing me slowly. They both surrounded me, their touches on my bare skin driving my desire ever higher. Norm's hand closed around my throat. I felt my pulse pounding against his fingers.

"Take me," I told him, feverish in my arousal. "Use me. Love m--" His mouth covered mine, silencing my pleas. His tongue pushed roughly into my mouth, and I whimpered in submission and need. My nipples were warm, hard points that needed to be touched nearly as much as the sodden valley between my thighs. An image flashed through my head, of a blond-haired beauty dipping her head delicately to take one of them into her mouth.

As if responding to my thought, Norm's hands alighted on my breasts. Nissi's hands cupped my buttocks at the same moment, squeezing and caressing them as she nibbled at my neck. I moaned decadently at Norm's touch and tried to push my chest harder into his fingers. In response, he sunk his teeth into my bottom lip, well shy of drawing blood, but enough to sting. Then he pinched both my nipples at once.

I came, hard. It seemed to spring from all parts of me at once, a storm of pent up sexual energy tearing though me. My lovers held me up between them as I lost control of my body. Nissi's hand dove between my thighs from behind, her fingers curling up to enter me.

"You're a dirty little slut," she breathed into my ear, thrusting her fingers in and out, and the stimulation of her words and actions drew out my orgasm. Norm had dominated me in bed a few times, but this total role reversal by Nissi took me by surprise. I suddenly understood why she loved being submissive.

Nissi dragged my limply twitching body over to the bed and dropped me on my back. She climbed atop me, just as I had the night before, the scent and vision of her sex filling my senses. "Eat me, you fucking whore," she said, and pressed her crotch against my face.

I did as she demanded, running my tongue all over her slit, sucking and nibbling every bit of her I could reach. We moaned together in shared ecstasy, my sweet elf's singing voice lifting to a chord that sent shivers through me. "She's ready for you, sir," Nissi said between moaning, gasping breaths.

I felt the bed shift slightly with Norm's weight and sensed them kissing. Slender hands pulled at my legs, parting them and pulling them back. "You have such a pretty pussy, slut," Nissi told me.

"She is beautiful," Norm said. "Both of you are."

"Thank you, sir," Nissi said. Her fingers trailed over my labia, a light touch that made my hips buck, demanding more. "Your little whore is getting desperate for that cock, sir."

I could picture Norm kneeling between my legs. I felt him touch me, a bit of pressure that gave way immediately as he slipped inside. I felt the shape of him, the flared head sliding into me, the smooth shaft with its gentle curve, the rougher texture on its underside. I felt him through my whole body as he filled me, possessed me. He stopped there, just letting me feel him.

I pushed my fingers into Nissi and reveled in her answering moan. My lips sealed around her clitoris. I sensed the two of them kissing, completing the circuit, binding us together. Their love poured into me, filling me until there was no room left, nothing but to feel their light and warmth. Time slowed as we three merged into a single being, our physical joining a reflection of a deeper, more spiritual bond. I blinked back tears at the sheer beauty of it.

Norm began to move in me, slowly, and I wrapped my legs around him, both to urge him on and to deepen our connection. My free hand found Nissi's breasts, and I gently rolled one sensitive nipple between my fingers. I heard her breath catch and her moans came faster.

"Yes, babe," she said. "Like that. Make me cum, baby. Fuck!"

As she screamed the word, I felt her muscles squeeze my fingers. Pleasure raced through me, but I kept my mouth glued to her body as she shook. I was nearing my own climax, and tried to hold it off as long as possible. Only after the last wave began to fade from Nissi did I let the dam burst in my own body. I screamed as my body and mind shattered. Fluid gushed from me around Norm's erect member, getting a surprised and delighted curse from him. The orgasm was brief for me, but incredibly intense. My close-up view of Nissi's petite bottom seemed to swim before me when I opened my eyes.

My whole body tingled in afterglow, and I felt uncharacteristically weak. At the same time, my appetite was far from sated. I pushed Norm with my legs, thrusting him further into me.

"Damn," Norm breathed. "You're both so turned on tonight."

"She's a horny fucking slut, sir," Nissi said with a laugh, and ground herself against my face. "Back to it, you little bitch."

I pushed through my post-orgasmic haze and renewed my efforts with Nissi. Norm was moving faster than before, and I gently lathed Nissi's clitoris with my tongue the way I knew she loved. I withdrew my fingers from her and began to caress her anus, making her shudder and groan. Her dominance play had put me under her spell, and I wanted to make her cum again. I slid one finger into her rosebud. A minute later, I added a second, with my thumb caressing her g-spot.

I managed to hold off cumming again long enough to bring her to climax a second time, then surrendered to the intense, full-body orgasm that rocked me. Norm never stopped as I flailed and cried out, and a moment later, he too joined us in ecstasy. I felt the warmth of his ejaculation inside me, lifting me to new heights of pleasure. I faded in and out of lucidity until sleep claimed me.

Nissi woke me with a kiss. It was still dark out, and she snuggled into my side, her hand trailing lazily over my body.

"Was that okay, the way I treated you last night?" She asked. I didn't sense real concern from her. If anything she was feeling deep love and caring, and was just checking in to be sure.

I smiled and kissed her in return. "You should do that more often, love. It was exactly what I needed."

She was silent a moment, her hand playfully wandering down between my legs and back up again. "Did something happen? Norm and I couldn't help but notice that you were particularly...." She frowned. "Intense, I suppose."

I listened for Norm's light snore before answering. "I've been feeling this attraction to someone for a while now. And yesterday I did something, something that I feel might have crossed a line."

"Did you kiss this person?" She whispered, her stroking of my body never slowing.

I faltered for an answer, but then settled on the truth. I knew that I could trust Nissi not to gossip about it. In breathless whispers, I told her everything that had happened with Gena.

"Norm's sister, huh?" she mused. "That could get awkward."

"I don't intend to act on it," I protested. "The thought of her gets me so excited, but I'm afraid it will damage our relationship if I let things get out of hand. Besides, she has Nock."

She nodded. "You know, Nock told me once that he can control his hormonal responses. Can you do that? Turn off your feelings for her?"

I shook my head. "No. I can dampen pain and negative emotions when I need to, but I do that by altering my brain state. I don't have that kind of endocrine control. And even if I could, I wouldn't do it. Sensing and experiencing emotions for me is as important as seeing color is for you."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with being attracted to other people. Take Stanley, for instance...." Her gaze went distant for a moment, but she shook her head. "I've always had a thing for men that are taller than me, probably because there are so few. But I'm committed to both of you and wouldn't stray. You're just going to have to live with it, but it gets easier with time."

Her words seemed reasonable, and yet I knew it was more complicated than that. The thought of keeping her always and henceforth at arms length was painful to contemplate. I would do it, but I somehow knew that I would always feel the ache of her absence. Nissi's gentle fingers did help me to forget for just a little while.

Over the next few days, each time I met Gena, my heart gave a little flutter. I found myself making excuses to talk to her. Every time she hugged me, or even just touched me on my hand or arm, I felt a thrill and a heated desire. Those feelings came to a peak when she related in a conspiratorial whisper how she could orgasm every time now.

Nissi and I both agreed not to tell Norm of my troubles, but she did make me promise to talk to her first if I ever felt too close to crossing a line with Gena. I knew that I could control myself as long as Gena's bisexual curiosity remained trifling. If she ever took real interest in me, I wasn't sure I could resist her pull, but that seemed unlikely. She was deeply in love with Nock, and I was certain that her commitment would only grow stronger once they were married.

Six days after that early morning in the lab, Ed came to find me at my worksite. The biologist was anxious and concerned, but insisted that I come back with him and see for myself what had happened.

The sample under the microscope was a mess. Multiple spores were adhered to the rose/blackberry hybrid, with bulbous appressoria penetrating the plant. Dark splotches of dead and dying cells spread out from the spores. I thought I could even smell the decay faintly, but I dismissed that as impossible. The sample and the infected hybrid were in a hermetically sealed box with a high efficiency particulate filter to circulate the air, and that vented to the surface.

"When did this start happening?" I asked.

"About three days ago," Dawn said. I could sense her frustration, but also determination. She wasn't going to let this defeat drag her down. "The spores all attacked at nearly the same time. We waited to see if the Rot would go necrotrophic, and it did, overnight. The same thing probably would have happened to the earlier sample if we had given it more time."

I nodded. "So it took three days from exposure and adherence for Rot to begin attacking. That's a longer progression than any infection we've seen before. Do we know why that is?"

Dawn shrugged. "No clue yet. Maybe we'll know something once our geneticists start getting back to us with their gene sequence analysis. Here's the weird thing. Rot normally hits roses with haustoria, not appressoria."

I had studied enough plant pathology to know the difference. Where appressoria formed bulbous structures that used hydrostatic pressure to drive a spike-like structure into a plant cell's wall, haustoria grew into a host plant more like roots.

I jumped to what felt like an obvious conclusion "So it's using a different epigenetic configuration to infect this hybrid. We're looking at a completely different iteration of Rot than the one that infects roses."

Dawn nodded slowly. "That seems like a reasonable assumption."

A thought came to me, and I felt a weight of dread in my stomach. "We need to test spores from this sample of Rot on a pure blackberry plant. Can you do that?"

Dawn nodded again. "This infection has been producing spores all morning. I can get a new test set up today."

"Do it. We need to see if these spores can infect it. And whatever you do, please, make sure everything stays contained."

If my intuition was right, we could know within twenty-four hours. If I was wrong, it would take several days to confirm. Either way, we could not risk these spores getting out into the environment. Once this run of tests was done, I would have everything incinerated. We would not be making more of this hybrid species. Depending on the outcome, we might give up on hybrid testing altogether.

The following morning, I was back in the lab to check the results. Just as I had feared, the little potted blackberry bush in the biohazard cabinet had Rot growing into it. The infection was still in the early stages, but would start seeing spore formation within a day or two.

I could see that Dawn and Ed grasped the gravity of the situation. From Stanley's bewildered expression, it seemed that they had not yet explained it to the data scientist. I was about to do just that, but something caught my attention.

"Where is that smell coming from?" I wondered aloud. It was the same rotting vegetation smell I thought I had imagined yesterday, only now it was too strong to dismiss.

Dawn looked at me with a frown. "What are you talking about?"

I cast around and took a few steps, reoriented and took a few more, sensing the particulate concentration, the scent of earthy decay, increasing very slightly. My eyes went wide as the source became clear. "Oh, hell," I breathed as my gaze fell on the second hybrid plant in its open-topped glass case. "Oh, God, no."

I imagined thousands of invisible spores floating in the air all around me as I moved forward in a daze. Bending down, I looked through the glass. Black spots dotted the tops of some of the hybrid's leaves, and a white fuzz adorned their undersides.

Ed had come up behind me to see what I was looking at. I registered his sharp intake of breath. "How did this happen?" he demanded. "Our samples never left containment! I swear to you, Tilly, we followed the protocols!"

I felt panic rising and took control, forcing my mind to calm, my pulse to slow. "The spores must have come from outside the lab," I said. "It could have come in on any of us. Probably me, since I'm working outside."

Dawn had come to see what was the matter. "Fuck!" she spat, and kicked a nearby table leg. "God damn it!"

"First priority," I said. "Seal the lab and sterilize everything. That includes all of us and everyone who's been down here in the last week. Stanley!"

"Yes, ma'am?" he answered.

I turned to him. "Take the first shower while we sterilize the living quarters. Then go out and get Nissi, Stansy and Gena to decontaminate in the greenhouse showers."

"Will do, ma'am, but can I ask what's going on?"

I nodded. "You know all those fruit trees we have growing in the orchard?"

He nodded slowly, and I could sense he was starting to grasp the scope of the problem.

Ed broke in. "Most of those trees are in the same taxonomic family as both of the plants this hybrid came from. Blackberries, apples, peaches, pears and apricots, all part of the Rosacea family. When Rot spores encountered the hybrid, it triggered a variant that defeated whatever resistance the blackberry genes might have conferred."

I nodded grimly and continued. "Our theory is that Rot uses epigenetics to mimic the different attack strategies of hundreds of pathogens, pumping out spores that are ready-made to attack the various plants it has encountered before. We had hoped that the hybrid would be resistant, but it looks like it just trained Rot to bridge a gap in its epigenetic memory. It's possible we just released a strain of Rot that could infect entirely new species. Maybe all of the species in our orchard."

"Not just the orchard," Dawn corrected me. "If we don't contain this fast, there goes Rosacea on the whole fucking continent."