After our abduction by Astikal and Hokal to Kyra, a planet in the solar system of Proxima Centauri C, and our return to earth at McCarran airport, we, headed into Las Vegas on the shuttle for a bit of R&R before deciding how to get on with the rest of our lives.

Before we left the airport they had a quick look at the IDs that the Kyrans had provided for us, so that when we registered at our hotel we could at least get new new identity names on the hotel registration.

On the ride into downtown Vegas, we chatted to the people next to us to ask if they could recommend somewhere to stay as it was our first visit, and were told that The Starlight Resort was a decent mid-range, hotel, casino and show venue, right in the heart of the popular areas.

“That seems decent Patsy, and very appropriate considering our last trip, let’s give it a try.”

The shuttle dropped us off near enough to their hotel to just walk the last few hundred yards up the sweeping entrance drive, where we were greeted by a young bell-hop with a trolley who offered to carry our cases for us and help us get booked in. We signed in and took a double suite and were soon up in our rooms staring out of the full-height picture window

“Wow, Sharon, this place is out of this world, look at the view over the hotels up to the starry sky. I wonder which one is home to Astikal and Hokal.”

“We’ll pay a visit to the observatory and look it up, if it is the nearest one to us it must be visible in the sky.”

“Anyway let’s get our cases that the Kyrans left for us unpacked and see what Astikal and Hokal have provided and decide whether we need to go shopping.” Along with an extensive collection of clothes and accessories in a wide range of styles, there was a mid-size tablet computer, which I fired up and accessed with my thumbprint as instructed, and it opened up with a video image of Astikal.

“In case you have not yet checked your id documents, you are now Patsy McCauley and Sharon Dumfries. The identities are genuine and used to belong to other people who are now living ‘off-grid’ in the wilds with no contact with authorities. The documents are genuine and will stand up to scrutiny, even by government agencies. You have driving licences, and passports that will allow you to travel, and a Social Security card which will allow you to work if you wish, although you may not find that to be necessary. The people you are replacing will be temporarily abducted by us and their memory banks modified to give them new identities, there will be no way to trace you back to them. You have been given enough money to meet your immediate needs, but you should arrange banking and credit accounts for the future. Good luck in your new lives and we thank you again for helping to save our species. Keep this tablet safe, we may need to contact you again.”

“It looks like we have not seen the last of them Sharon, but at least we know that they mean us no harm.”

“Forget that for a minute, they said on the journey back that they had modified your gene structure so that you would gradually fully become female, let’s have a look at you and see how much of the old male Patsy is left.”

Feeling embarrassed and scared to look I lifted off my sweater and dropped my skirt, and just stood there waiting for a reaction from Sharon.

“Turn around, let me see the full view.” she did a twirl signal with her fingers.

“Wow, they haven’t half done a number on you.It looks like they have been working from your brain downwards. The good news is that as you have seen already your hair has already grown to an acceptable length, your facial features have softened, you have a narrow neck and shoulders, a fine set of breasts and a narrow waist. The bad news is that there is still a bit to go down below. From what I can see through your panties you still have all your male bits, your hips and bottom are unchanged and your legs and feet are still not quite right. Astikal did say that ‘your body will continue to change, until you are eventually as naturally female as any other of your species.’ let’s just hope that you are not left in limbo for too long.”

“I suppose that we just have to wait and see Sharon. Meanwhile we are in Vegas for a bit of fun, let’s get freshened up and hit the scene, after all Vegas is known as Sin city.”

“You go and get cleaned up and I will sort out something for us to wear.”

“Are you sure that I look ok in this? I feel a bit over-exposed in this skimpy dress and made up like one of the overpainted make up models on the adverts.”

“Believe me girl, when we get downstairs in the casino, you will find that you are quite restrained compared to many of the floozies who will be wandering around, playing the slots or the tables, and playing the field with the men. Get it into your head, you are now, or very soon will be a woman. You have a lot to learn but your sister Sharon will be right by your side, so just relax.”

She was right, many of the other punters were dressed in revealing or skin tight clothing, showing off their bodies, and that was just the men, the woman were even worse, over made-up and underdressed no matter what their age shape and size.

We played the slot machines for a while to get into the mood for gambling, and walked away pretty even, before hitting the real action on the tables.

Roulette seemed the easiest option to understand, so we watched the action for a few spins before cautiously placing our first bets, we both started off quite cautiously with bets covering 6 numbers, paying back 5:1. I hit a lucky streak and for five spins in a row, I chose correctly and by splitting my winnings roughly half and half between my bank and playing the table was up just under $30,000. The croupier was joined by a colleague who watched over my next two plays, as I was getting adventurous I changed to a corner bets covering 4 numbers, both of which came up at 8:1, giving me a clear profit of over $320,000.

“Come on Patsy, let’s have a break, you’ve had an amazing winning streak, quit while you are ahead.”

I cashed in the chips for a credit into my hotel account rather than carrying cash or a check. And we went over to the restaurant to take in what had happened. We were just about to order when the man who had joined the courier at the table, came over to us.

“That was amazing young Lady, in all my years at the tables I have never seen a streak like that. Your winnings drew in a lot of attention to the table and encouraged others to place bets, unfortunately for them not as successfully for you. I’m Mike Walker, the Pit Manager responsible for overseeing the tables. With all your winnings, and if your luck continues there will be no need for it, but I would like to offer you a penthouse suite upgrade in the hotel along with complimentary meals and drinks as long as you continue to play the tables and draw in the crowds, word soon gets around when someone has a big win, and although you have cost us a lot, we will more than make that up many times tonight.”

“Why thanks Mike,” I replied, touching his hand in a thank you gesture “that’s too kind. If you are sure, we are in room 1526, can you arrange to have all our stuff moved.”

“No problem Ladies, I hope to see you back at the tables after your meal.”

“You outrageous little flirt Patsy McCauley, touching his hand like that, and ‘That’s too kind’, I was just waiting for you to start fluttering your eyelashes at him. You haven’t wasted any time learning how to wrap the men around your little finger.” she said with a cheeky grin.

After a delicious meal and a bottle of sparkling wine we made our way back to the roulette table amid a buzz of excitement among the other punters, but to their disappointment the small bets I placed did not come up and they soon stopped following my leads and returned to their own systems and hunches, losing a lot more than the small wins they had. Sharon however, on the opposite side of the table next to the croupier, was having a successful run, following the nods and winks I was giving here as she placed her tokens, and was soon up over $150000 before we called it a night, cashed up and left to go to our new penthouse suite.

“I thought that our other room was wonderful, but this suite is amazing, large rooms, a bedroom each both with ensuite, lounge and a hell of a view, that was an amazing nights work Patsy, how did you do it, and please don’t say beginner’s luck or feminine intuition.”

“I don’t really know, but as I was placing my bets I just had visions of where the ball was going to end up, and followed them up. When you were playing later I gave you the tips and ignored them myself to try to guess where it was all coming from.”

“It’s been a hectic day, and an exciting one, let’s prepare for bed, have a good night’s sleep and see what tomorrow brings.”

I had a bit of a fitful night’s sleep, my mind was buzzing at what Astikal and Hokal had done to us and for us, wondering if they had any further plans for Sharon and me.

Early the next morning on my ritual trip to the bathroom, I was relieved to see that there had been no apparent further changes to my body, but when I turned to examine myself in the mirror, I was shocked to see that my hips had flattened and widened and that my butt was a lot fleshier and protruding. Along with my narrower waist and my breasts which appeared to have reached their maximum size, I now had quite a feminine figure. I put on one of the bathrobes that came with the suite and hurried to Sharon’s bedroom, rushed in without knocking and shook her awake.

“My body is still changing, have a look at what has happened to me now.”

Still half asleep she looked me up and down without showing any significant reaction. “What do you want me to say, your trousers will fit you a lot better now, but the last thing I want to hear is ‘does my bum look big in these’. Astikal told you that you would eventually be a complete woman, this is just another step on the way. Do you mind closing your dressing gown again, the last thing I want to see at at this time of the morning is your male bits bursting out of your panties?”

“Let’s get dressed, and see a bit of Vegas in daylight without all the garish neon glare. I’ll order breakfast from room service and we should have time to get ready before it arrives.”

“Order it for 30 minutes time, you are a woman now, well almost, you don’t get ready in five minutes anymore.”

Just as we were putting the final touches to our make up and competing our outfits for the day, room service arrived with a trolley loaded with anything we could possibly want, multiplied by at least 5, enough to see us all through the day and even into the next.

Now that we had almost $500,000 at our disposal we were determined to enjoy the fun times around Vegas, and had ordered a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, actually being picked up in the grounds of our resort. We had an amazing day, the views were almost unbelievable and a bit overpowering, stopped of for a light lunch, not needing anything too big after the enormous breakfast trolley, and did the route in reverse back to our hotel to get ourselves freshened up for another night at the tables.

“Playing the roulette wheel again tonight girls, or do you want to try something different?” asked Mike, the pit manager as we entered the casino area.

“We’ll play for a few spins and see how it goes, then might try the poker table, and see if my luck carries over to there. We will probably see you later” I gave him a big smile as a I replied.

“I told you yesterday, you’ve only been a woman for a few days, including your time in the army, and you are turning into a right little flirt. You seem to be enjoying yourself enjoying your new talents. Just be careful though, Mike seems ok and probably has only a professional interest, but others might pick up your signals differently.”

We made our way to the same roulette table where we had been so successful yesterday and seemed to have a fan following from other punters hoping to follow our bets, got a stack of high-value chips and watched the plays for a while, before placing a $5000 bet on my lucky number, 21, which came in at 35:1. I drew half my winnings my winnings and just did a 6-number corner bet at 8:1. Sharon and some the other punters were following my bets, usually with smaller amounts, but here were two other high-rollers playing along too. I deliberately made a couple of low $5000 column bets which people were quick t.,o follow, some with high stakes that they had won on the earlier spins, and the house soon recouped a decent proportion of my wins from them. I banked over another £200000, after a cut for the croupier, and left the table to wander over to watch the Poker games.

It was quickly obvious which people at the table were prepared to play for high stakes at high-risk and who were the type of people who deserved to lose. Just as at the roulette table I was getting visions of the next cards in the pack, but also what the other players were holding and picked which table to sit in on. I had never been a good poker player, but knowing what cards were on the table and in the pack made all the difference.

I started off fairly modestly with small bets, losing a few hands and winning a few to give the impression that I was no expert and ripe to get fleeced by the semi-pros. However the next game after two rounds I knew I had a winning hand, just, a Royal Flush against a Full House and hesitantly matched the stakes of my last remain opponent which were raised until there was almost $50,000 in the pot as the other players folded,. At the showdown he smirked as he placed his Full House face up on the table, confidently ready to collect his winnings. I gave a worried look as I placed my cards down one at a time, enjoying the smile gradually fading from his smug face. “I believe that means that the hand is mine, I smiled in the best innocent girly voice I could muster.” Sharon standing behind me gave a giggle as those standing watching gave a whoop cheer.

My opponent was determined to recoup his losses and had the determined look of a man that was going to put the little lady in her place and for the next few hands played quite aggressively and I folded in the early round to let leave him to play against the others at the table to let him win some of his stake back, until I drew a Straight Flush, and I knew that I was going to beat his Four-of-a-Kind. As the others folded, I just matched his stakes leaving him to raise until it was time for the showdown with about $100,000 in the pot. We had drawn quite a crowd to the table, including the Pit Manager who was keeping a close eye on the game. When the cards were shown my opponent was livid.

“You hustling little bitch, I don’t know how you are doing it but you are scamming me somehow.” and he made to grab the pot off the table.

Mike and a couple of his assistants grabbed him and led him away, still shouting that I had cheated him. After that I cashed up and left the table to go for a drink to calm my nerves, and we were soon joined by Mike.

“Don’t worry about him he is a sore loser. He is here most nights and makes a reasonable living out of people that don’t know the first thing about the game, he is happy enough when he wins. I suggest that as long as your luck holds out that you keep away from him.’

“Thanks for dealing with him Mike, I don’t know what would’ve happened if you had not been around. Stay and have a drink with us.”

That’s not allowed I’m afraid, maybe another time.” And he left us at the bar.

“God, you are so good at playing the innocent weak little woman, I was almost expecting you to put your arms around him and give him a big long kiss. Let’s go back to our room and order some drinks, I want to know what’s going on.”

“Sharon, I don’t know how it is happening, but I seem to get these visions of winning bets and have just been following them. The only thing that I can think of is that when the Kyrans modified my genes to let me develop as female that somehow I have gained some of their ability to read minds and see a little into the future.”

“I suggest you calm it all down, if we keep making these big wins, people will start to think that you are playing some system, memorising the card runs or something like that. I’m sure that is why Mike is always around, he’s trying to work out how you are doing it , the casinos work on the basis that nobody is that lucky and something underhand must be going on.”

“Let’s just play vacationers for the next few days, leave the tables alone, we are up over $500k, let’s just enjoy it. Finish your drink and let’s get ready for bed.”

Early morning, still only half awake, I made my way to the bathroom to clear my bladder and almost freaked out when I discovered that my manhood had totally disappeared, replaced by what seemed to me to be a female slit. I screamed for Sharon who came running in.

“What on earth is up with you, I thought someone was trying to kill you?”

“Just have a look at me, don’t tell me you are not freaked out too.”

“So what, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before, only not on you. You knew this was going to happen only maybe not so soon, and so quickly overnight. Get used to it, learn all the basic functions and feelings, we can deal with the more lurid details later, I’m going back to my bed.”

I sat there for a while trying to come to terms that my old life was totally in the past and that I would have to just accept my future as a woman, eventually going back to my room to get dressed. Now that I had all the right bits in the right places and none of the wrong bits anymore, I had developed quite a shapely figure and stood examining myself in the full-length mirror, thinking about how I would’ve felt if the old me had met the new version. I cleared my mind and decided that rather than wear a skirt or loose trousers as I had been doing that I would wear some skintight jeans and a low-cut thin-strapped top to show off all my new attributes.

“What on earth have you got on?” muttered Sharon when she finally re-emerged from her room. “You look like a pubescent teenage girl who has just realised that she can look sexy. You are an educated, mid-twenties woman, a very rich one too. Let’s find something a bit more sophisticated and appropriate. Before we go out for the day, we need to open bank accounts and get cards, to deal with all our winnings.”

I ended up in a tailored pants suit, white silk blouse, and 4” heels, along with a subtle makeup, looking every inch a smart lady-about-town dressed for a business lunch as we entered the downtown branch of the Wells Fargo Bank and requested a manager to oversee a new account.

“Good morning ladies, how can I help?” asked the professionally-smiling junior account manager.

“ We’d like two sets of accounts, one for each of us. Both are to include a usual checking account, a Signature credit card, and an investment account.”

“I apologise, but do you realise that it is not that easy, there need to be credit checks and minimum earning and spend limits?”

“Does an initial deposit of $400,000 for me and $200,000 for my friend, drawn from our accounts at the Starlight Resort, satisfy your credit requirements or would you prefer us to take our business elsewhere?”

He almost fell of his chair and his jaw dropped. I..er..think that should suffice, I take it that you have had a good time on the tables, I am more used to dealing with people that have lost and are needing loans. Let’s go to my private office to tie up the details and fill out the forms.

A half-hour later we were hitting the shops with our new cards taking a beating, and arrived back at the Starlight in a limo taxi laden down with bags from the big-name international chains.

“That was great fun Patsy, but before we do it again, I think we need hit the tables to make up for what we have just spent. I know I told you to take it easy and not fleece the tables too much, but let’s start off downstairs to help draw people to the tables to compensate the Starlight for the costs of our hospitality, and then try our luck elsewhere.

The pattern for the next few days was more of the same, adventure tours during the day, including an adrenaline rush on an ATV desert tour and a fantastic helicopter night flight over the entire Vegas strip, a brief visit to the Starlight casino and then off to other major casinos to try our luck .

We found that word had obviously got around among the pit managers about our winning streak and everywhere we went they all seemed to be keeping an eye on us, they were determined to discover how we were eating into their profits. Nonetheless by the end of our two-week stay we both had over £2M in our bank accounts, which was increasing day by day, from our winnings and by what the investment managers were making for us.

“Sharon, I know that $2M dollars each sounds a lot, but if we want never to work again and live a life of luxury, we need a big win, and if we go for much more here someone will put a freeze on our assets while our wins are investigated. Why not share out the losses amongst a larger number and go for a win on the lottery. One big win each, a few months apart will set us up for life, it will be more than enough without getting all the publicity that the top prizes generates. We can invest in properties, somewhere up in Vermont for the scenery, somewhere in Hawaii for the laid back life, and even somewhere here in Vegas for the fun, what do you think.”

“You’re probably right I am getting the impression that we are becoming unpopular in the casinos, they like losers, not winners.”

We checked out of the Starlight, leaving a healthy tip for Mike and the other staff and bought a large antebellum-style house by the lakeside up in the remote forests around Palmer Lake in northern Washington while we planned our future.

Almost the first thing we did was to buy stakes in the state lotteries, which with our advance knowledge gave us the major prize wins which provided more than enough to keep us more than comfortable for the rest of our lives.

As we were now officially dead and with new identities we couldn’t simply sent money to our parents, as we wished to do. I sat in the car outside my family home and used my telepathic powered to implant the winning numbers for our home-state lottery into my father’s head and left it to him to buy his own tickets, which earned them enough for him to give up work and allow them to enjoy their later years travelling around the country.

On one of their many trips they ended up in our neighbourhood which allowed me to come across them in their hotel as strangers meeting and finding that we had a lot in common. It was good to see that they had moved on from their son’s death, but had still been unable to get details from the army as to what had actually happened, As often happens with vacation friends we promised to keep in touch and would visit whenever we were in each others neighbourhoods.

It was not so easy for Sharon, she had not changed physically, as I had, but we still managed to arrange a lottery win for them. I implanted an image in their minds of a distant cousin, her new identity as Sharon Dumfries, which allowed her to make contact with them and keep in touch.

We not long settled in and becoming used to our new lifestyles when we received a message from Hokal on the tablet they had given us.

“We need your help again, if you are willing. When Astikal and I were on your planet, she picked up an infection to which we have no immunity and her life and the lives of others are in danger. From when we read your memories we know that you call this illness Covid-19 and that is what our other crew members died from on our first visit to your planet. Have you immunity and are you willing to let us copy anti-bodies to reproduce to protect our people?”

“We have not had the disease and have no natural immunity, but when we were in basic training we were given vaccines to build up protection.”

We readily agreed, but mindful of the damage inflicted on the holding cell when we were first teleported we stood by the lakeside and waited for Hokal to carry us off back to her craft.” When we materialised we found ourselves in isolation suits, the Kyrans were obviously taking no risks of further infections.

We were soon flashing through hyperspace to Kyra, and Hokal explained that the disease was just starting to affect a small number of people who, apart from herself, were all in isolation. We were immediately taken to Hatikel’s operating suite and hooked to machines which drew our blood, processed it to filter out the antibodies and send it back to us.

The whole process was over quickly and we were shown into private rooms where would be staying while Astikal and the others were treated and until it was known if the treatment was successful. It was hard to relate to time as the whole concept of hours and days was totally blurred in the distorted time continuum, but what must have been the equivalent of about a week later, Astikal and Hokal came in to see us.

“I have fully recovered and am now producing antibodies which are being used on others. We have learned to be more careful now when our people visit other planets. As well as treating Covid, your blood contained many other antibodies which will make us more infection-resistant for any other visits to your planet. Once again we are in your debt.”

“No need to thank us, we are in your debt too, in a different way?”

“We know that you have developed some telepathic powers and have used them for your personal gain. We can only ask that you use them for the good of others, not just to benefit yourselves. We do not know enough about your culture to tell you what that means, you must determine for yourselves how best to help your peoples. You will now be returned to your Planet, which we will now know as Earth.”

Thanks to the wonders of Jump-gates and Warp-space we were returned to the lakeside by our house as if we had never been away and looked up at the stars where we were at last able to identify the Centauri system in the middle of what we know as the constellation of Centaurus in the southern sky. We stared and thought deeply about the friends we had made there, with the hope that when our technology developed many years hence that our explorers would visit there in peace.

Keeping enough to allow us to live comfortably along with our investment returns, we used a large amount to set up the ‘Kyra Foundation’ to assist charities and social schemes which took our interest. Where there were natural disasters which caused widespread death damage and destruction, the people we supported were often the first relief agencies on the scene to cope with immediate requirements until the international agencies geared up to take control.

Other than topping up the Trust funds when needed, anonymously forewarning authorities or the press of any potential political or cultural turmoil, and for a few fun trips back to Vegas, the use of my telepathic powers were mainly left unused. No more messages came through on the tablet from Kyra and we were left to enjoy our lives in peace and comfort often sitting by the lakeside or up in the wooded hills of Vermont staring up at the sky remembering how our lives had been changed by a chance encounter.

The end