Double Helix Ch. 02

Note: In case you haven't figured it out already, this story takes place at approximately the present, but in a different timeline from our own, one where computers and genetics took a very different development path. Enjoy!

Sasha gave me my new ID on the Friday of my first week, along with the new clothes she had bought me. The Washington state drivers license stated that I was Mark Winston, age 25. The same name appeared on my new social security card and birth certificate. Sasha also handed me a new leather wallet, with a bank card inside. "I got the agency to agree to a small allowance that will be automatically deposited once a month," she told me. "I still suggest you not go out of the house on your own."

I didn't think that there was any danger of that. My trip out on Wednesday had been more stress than I wanted to experience again just yet. I wasn't sure how Sasha could stand it.

I saw that the terminal was free, so I logged in to check my bank account, entering the name and password that came with my card. There was four-hundred dollars in it, more than I expected, and that set my mind working. I needed to do some research first, though.

It was my day to do the laundry, so I gathered the cloth sacks from the rack by the stairs and brought them up. Sasha's washer and dryer were not quite commercial grade, but they were large and looked expensive. She had left instructions taped to the top of each machine for what settings to use and how much detergent. As I passed her office on my way back to the basement, she asked me to look in on the tomatoes and zucchini in the green house to see if some of them were ready to pick.

I was starting to think that Sasha had actually made a request with the agency to get me stationed here. There was an astonishing amount of work involved in running her household, and I got the impression that she was only easing me into my role as her assistant. I allowed myself a moment of indignation at the workload being thrust on me as I stripped for the shower at the greenhouse entrance. Wasn't I as much a refugee as any of the others? But no, that was hardly fair. With my responsibility came additional freedom. Wendy had likely not seen the outside of those four walls in the year-and-a-half she had been there.

At dinner, Tilly quietly joined us, sitting on the end next to Wendy. Nissi sat across from me. We didn't touch or even talk much during the meal, but just having her there, casting smoky glances across the table, electrified me. I almost missed something Stan had said. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, it's all over the internet," Nock said. "Nothing on mainstream media yet, but they're probably waiting until the McCain administration gives them the go ahead to run the story. It was a rural safe house with over twenty genemods and a husband/wife running it. It looks like one of the mods went and turned himself in."

"That's awful," I said. "Did anyone get out of there?"

"Nope, looks like the feds found everyone. Damn it, what could make a person do something like that?"

"Believe me," Stansy said, "I've thought about it from time to time. I know they would revert my mod, but I'd do it in a heartbeat if I thought that it could get me my son back. As it is, the courts would probably never let me see him, let alone have custody, so it's a moot point."

"I'd never give up what I've got," Nock said. "Do you realize how much time you waste sleeping every day?"

"You never have to worry about getting sick, old or fat," Nissi added. "I love who and what I am."

"I plan to live forever, if that's possible," Stan said. "Things suck right now, but the world's going to get better, even if it takes a century."

I looked over at Tilly. She gazed at a spot three feet in front of her. Her mouth opened each time her spoon neared it. She chewed each bite exactly ten times before swallowing. I had counted several times to be sure. Was she even aware of the rest of us and what we were talking about?

"What about you?" I asked Wendy.

She smiled. "All of the benefits of immortality, but they stuck me in this pint-sized body. I actually don't mind it as much as you'd think. It's part of who I am and I'm not sure I'd like to be different. Though I've always wondered about sex."

"Oh God," Stansy said, putting her spoon down with a clatter. "I didn't need to hear that. My son's going to be fourteen soon. That's nightmare fuel."

"No, really," Wendy said. "The hormones aren't there, so I have no libido, and even if I did, well, my physiology just isn't developed for it. But most of the human race seems to think sex is pretty fun. Not to mention falling in love. People get uncomfortable at the mere suggestion that a stunty might want those things. I don't like feeling left out of the experience."

"I would think it wouldn't be too hard to get your body to age to adulthood," I said. "Couldn't you just take hormones?"

Wendy shook her head. "No, hormone treatments won't work. My body won't respond to estrogen like most women. It would have to be at the level of the cell nucleus to work, reprogramming cell receptors, though I'm sure it could be done with the right equipment. Not while we have the Ban, though. And if I turned myself in, they would just take away everything. There's a lot about me I don't want to give up. So I guess you're all safe from me."

When the others began to get up from the table, Nissi and I were still talking. I had just admitted to her that while I enjoyed music, I didn't have the knowledge to keep up the kinds of conversations she wanted to have, delving into theory and topics like how much rock had been influenced by gospel. That's when I discovered her other great love, movies. We both thought that Spielberg's craft had gone to shit when he quit making movies with Disney, but where she thought that Seth Michael was under appreciated, I agreed with the critics that everything he had turned out since Titanic had been special effects drivel.

"Okay, Cyberbots III was pretty bad," she agreed. "But I only think he did it because everyone thought he could revive the franchise after Verhoeven killed it."

"Couldn't be saved," I said. "But Leonid Minksy is a genius," I said.

"Why, because every single damn movie he directs has a twist ending you 'never saw coming'?" Her fingers made quote marks around the words. "That formula is going to wear out eventually. When it does, people will stop taking him seriously. It was already starting to wear pretty thin in 'Birthday Girl'."

"Three-hundred forty million at the box office says otherwise," I said.

"And he's a purist," Nissi added.

"No, he isn't."

"Yes, he totally is. Just look at Vector. Luddite, purist garbage. Rogue lab produces supervirus that threatens to wipe out everyone in the world? I wouldn't be surprised if the McCain administration funded that piece of crap. It just serves to reinforce the average person's fears about technology. Look at that TV show, Buffy. Who do you think the vampires and demons are really supposed to be?"

I sensed that she was becoming genuinely angry, that I had crossed a line that needed to be uncrossed, and I thought maybe she had a point. I decided to hedge. "Well, I never thought of it that way, I'll be honest. But he still makes good movies."

"Sorry, not going to agree with you."

We must have forgotten about Tilly, because we both turned in surprise when she spoke, even though her voice was barely audible. "Joss Whedon wrote the Buffy comics. Minsky just adapted them for TV. And it wasn't a metaphor, not like you're trying to say." She stood without saying another word, her bare feet slapping against concrete as she went back to her partition.

"Was that Tilly talking?" Nock said over his shoulder.

"Okay, so enigma girl agrees with you," Nissi said. "You're still wrong."

I decided that my best option was to change the subject. "So what do you think of Monty Python?"

"Overrated, unfunny nonsense," she said. I pretended to swoon, but then she smiled. "Just kidding. They were bloody brilliant. Too bad about Terry Gilliam, though. It just wasn't the same after he died."

By the time we were done, I realized that I felt a lot more comfortable around Nissi. I was starting to accept that she really did like me for who I was, that she did not regard me as her inferior or hold a grudge for the way her kind had been persecuted by normals. But when Nissi didn't offer me a good night kiss, I was afraid that our earlier conversation had offended her. Feeling a bit disheartened, I went to my partition and got ready for bed.

"Hey, can I come in?" a female voice whispered outside my curtain a short while later.

I jumped at the unexpected sound, then hurriedly rolled and wriggled myself under the covers, just in case she decided to let herself in anyway, before answering. "Sure."

The curtain moved aside and Nissi stepped in. "You always sleep in the nude?" she said with a grin, swaying towards me.

"I forgot to ask Sasha to get me some pajamas," I said sheepishly. "I'm used to being alone when I sleep."

She sat on the edge of the bed. "That's a shame. I was hoping you might like some company tonight."

I was beginning to see where this was going. "Do you always seduce men on the third date?" I said, echoing her earlier question.

"Only the cute ones," she said, brushing my lips with a finger. She grew more serious. "Norm, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. I just—my model has a pretty strong libido. You might not want to hear this, but last night, after that kiss, I had to get myself off twice before I could go to sleep. Long courtships just aren't my thing."

The thought of Nissi masturbating was too compelling an image to resist. Warmth began to pool in my groin and a flush crept up my neck. Also, I knew that the normal risks of spontaneous sex were just not there with a genemod. Anyone of second gen or later had immunity to most known diseases, and any unknown diseases would find Nissi's body to be a very hostile environment. Also, all gene models required an external hormone trigger for pregnancy, for both males and females. The lack of risk made it that much harder to think of a reason to refuse her. "Um, okay," I said.

She leaned over me and her hair draped around our faces like a curtain. "Okay? I would hope it's better than just 'okay'. You are about to have sex with an elf. Your inner geek should be drooling and gushing blood from his nose. Oh, I forgot. You're all geek, through and through. And yet, no drooling or gushing."

"Shut up," I said and pulled her gently down for a kiss. Her lips were soft and delicate, but her tongue pressed confidently against mine, stroking the tip playfully and diving deeper inside. She was definitely breathing harder when we finally broke apart, and so was I. My cock was already beginning to stiffen beneath the sheets.

"You have a certain way with words," Nissi said, "but I really like your follow-up." I sat up as she stood to unbutton her nightgown and let it fall to the floor. Like most female elves, her breasts were not large, but made up for that in their exquisite shape. The same could be said for her hips, which looked prominent mostly in comparison to her very narrow waist. Taken together, it was a very alluring picture, further stoking my excitement. I reached out to run a hand up Nissi's back, then back down again to cup a firm buttock.

She sighed contentedly and leaned down for another kiss. My other hand found the soft flesh of her breast and I brushed a finger lightly over her erect nipple. She moaned into my mouth and pressed herself more insistently against me, giving me my cue. I pinched and kneaded her nipple, lightly and first, then as she moaned louder, with more force. I could feel the heat of the flush on her skin as she pressed closer. She pushed back the covers and her hand wrapped around my cock. "Oh, I think I found something," she teased. "I wonder what this thing is for?"

"I can show you what it's for if you like," I said, or, at least that's what I was going to say, before she began to stroke slowly up and down. I only got about the first two words out. The rest was lost in a groan. I reached for her and she edged her legs apart. My fingers slid over the smooth skin of her pussy and I parted her nether lips. She was wet, near to dripping, and I pressed up and into her. Her breath caught and she gave something between a whimper and a sigh.

"Mmm, that's good," she said, as I rolled my fingers around the firm patch inside and at the front of her pussy.

"Elves have a g-spot," I mused, and stroked my fingers back and forth along it.

"Mm-hm," she moaned in agreement. "The girls, anyway. Keep doing that." She turned her body a bit, so that she was halfway laying across me, and smoothly took my cock into her mouth.

The feel of her warm lips sliding down my length got another groan out of me. She slapped playfully at my hand, which had stopped its slow thrusting in and out of her. She alternated licking my cock and sucking me into her mouth with pumping her fingers slowly up and down its length, giving little twists that shot pleasure into my body.

"I need you inside me," Nissi said. She stood and sank onto her knees at the edge of the bed. One of her legs swung over to straddle me and my cock came to rest against the warm wetness of the lips of her pussy. She leaned over me to kiss me hungrily. Her body flexed so that she slid forward slightly. When she moved again I slipped inside her. I felt her breath warm in my mouth and she shuddered. "Oh, yes," she whispered.

I sighed in contentment. Nissi's tongue quested back into my mouth once more, and then her teeth caught my lower lip and pressed down, settling right at the edge of pleasure and pain before she released it. Slowly, she sank down, taking all of me inside her. Nissi was warm honey and velvet on my cock. When she hit bottom, she ground herself against me as if to trying to take more. She inhaled long and slow, moving up along my body, then let it out again in a muffled wail as she pressed back down. I felt a kind of fluttering pressure as she came to rest. Her cunt alternately gripped my cock and relaxed. "You like that?" she asked, her lips brushing my ear.

She rocked forward, then back again, a different stroke that sent new waves of pleasure cresting through me, following with more of those little squeezes. "I'm going to come soon if you keep doing that," I warned.

Nissi paused to give me another kiss before leaning back. I cupped a hand around each breast. She cooed as I moved my fingers across her nipples and rocked again. Her eyes closed. "More," she murmured. I lightly squeezed each nipple between a thumb and finger, rolling first one, and then the other. She began to fuck me in earnest once more, moving in long, slow strokes. The tension of my impending orgasm had retreated somewhat, but it quickly returned as she slid herself up and down the length of my cock, crying out softly with each stroke.

I gave a long moan, both in sheer pleasure and as a warning that I was nearly there, but Nissi never slowed. The tension coiled tighter, tighter, past the point of no return now, finally cresting in a release that drove the air from my lungs. Nissi slowed to a shallower and more languid pace as my orgasm played itself out. She was panting when she came to rest, leaned into me and pushed her hands beneath me so that she could wrap her arms around me. We lay together for a few minutes without speaking. "You have no idea," she said at last, her cheek pressed against mine, "how much I've missed the feeling of a man coming inside me."

"That was..." I started, but words couldn't match up. "I've never had a woman take control like that," I said. "I think I like it."

"I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of fun trying things you've never done," she whispered and kissed my cheek. "Speaking of which, when do you think you might be ready to go again?" She wiggled her hips as she said it, and my cock, which had begun to flag, pulsed and began to grow hard again inside her. "Uh oh, I think I woke it up again."

She began to move again, tentatively at first, testing that I was past the sensitive refractory period, but she soon began to increase her pace, giving little grunts each time my cock slid home all the way inside her.

"I want to fuck you now," I said.

She moaned at my comment, driving herself down on my cock hard one last time. She pulled her body free of me and pressed herself against the wall so that I had room to get out of the bed. Once I was clear, she lay on her back on top of the covers and I climbed atop her, my cock easily finding her pussy once more.

She gave a wail as I pressed into her in one stroke and she clutched at me, her fingers pressing hard enough into my arms to hurt. I growled and thrust in and out of her wildly. Her hands released their grip and fell to the sides as she cried out her pleasure. Her hips lifted in time to my thrusts, trying to drive me even deeper. Her eyes were closed, her body writhing as she moaned. I could feel, distantly, another orgasm rising within me, but I tried to put it out of my mind, focusing solely on Nissi and drinking in her every sound and movement.

Her voice, that rich and melodious singing voice that I had discovered just two days earlier, rose in pitch as her cries became louder and more ragged. I felt her body tense and she pulled a deep breath into her lungs. She cried out, a long, dissonant trill as her orgasm began. She gasped for air between moans as her body shook and her legs and arms flexed and straightened, like she was trying to climb out of herself. Finally, it passed, leaving her limp but panting.

I started to get up, but her arms went around me, pressing me hard against her. "Just stay." She said it between gasps. "I like. You lying. On me." I relented, letting her take my weight, and she gave a satisfied sigh.

"Do you think Nock heard?" I whispered. "You were pretty loud."

Nissi laughed. "I'd be surprised if Miss Gray didn't hear. And you were pretty loud yourself. But you know what I could really go for right now?" She rocked her hips suggestively. My cock had begun to go soft again, but it was still inside her.

"Let's save some for tomorrow," I said, laughing.

She laughed with me. "You know, you're going to have to learn to keep up with me if we're going to do this on a regular basis."

"I was wondering..." I said, trying to figure out how best to broach the subject. I climbed off of her and sat on the edge of the bed, comfortable in my nudity. The air was always a little too chilly down here, but I was still warm from our lovemaking. "The others are going to know what's going on with us if they didn't already, and, uh, I'm not sure how to ask you this..."

"You want to know if I have been with any of the others?" Nissi finished my thought. "I tried to hook up with Stan when I first got here, but he and Stansy were already kind of an item."

"What, really? I would never have guessed."

Nissi sat up and pivoted to swing her legs over the edge so that she could snuggle into my shoulder. "They keep it pretty toned down. I don't think they want us to know, so they're very quiet. I think he cares for her more than he lets on. That leaves Nock, who got here after I did, but he's got his girlfriend. He's completely devoted to her and wouldn't even consider it. It must be nice, having control over your own endocrine system. When I brought it up, he said he wasn't interested and that was that."

"So I was the only option left?"

"Aw, don't say it like that. I'm glad it was you. Nock's way too pragmatic. I like that you've got your head in the clouds a little bit. And you're smart. Good-looking too." I was glad that she didn't add "for a normal".