Evolution / 8

 

The door opened before Alyssa could get off a single scream.   A flashlight was lying in the dark stairway.   The man opening the door carried a gun.   He quickly assessed the situation, and took aim at Alyssa.   “Not a sound,” he said.   “Stay quiet and you’ll live through this.   Otherwise...”

 

He glanced around.   “I thought so!   I’ve known something funny was going on here.”   He advanced towards Alyssa, who was now shaking with fear.   “Let’s see what you’ve got.”   He grabbed one of the booklets out of the box Alyssa was carrying;   Alyssa breathed the word “No....” in protest.

 

“Quiet!   I’m not afraid to use this,” the man said.   He backed off a pace, so he could read while keeping Alyssa in view.   She slowly set down the box.   With each passing second, the man was learning more and more about what was going on, and thus becoming more dangerous.   Alyssa slowly set the box down.

 

“My God...   It’s worse than I thought...” was all he could say for the

moment.   Alyssa advanced towards him a bit; “Let me explain...”

 

He finished skimming the brochure, and stabbed towards Alyssa again.

“No.   It seems that we have to stop you before you women make any

of...”   He shook the brochure... “this... madness happen.   You’re going

to come with me.   “

 

Alyssa backed off, and he advanced towards her, his empty hand reaching out to grab her.   “No... Never... we’ve worked too hard... It’s too late...” Alyssa whispered, and soon found herself backing up to the wall, under the stairway.

 

The man advanced towards her.   Alyssa slumped down to the floor, against the wall, in the shadows.   He advanced towards her, with one hand reaching towards her neck...

 

A soft, warm rain fell upon exposed flesh and cotton clothing; porous cotton quickly wicked it to the skin underneath.   This skin, like most, was fairly impervious to the water molecules that were coating it, but it was not impervious to the enzymes, proteins, gentle acids, steroids, and other substances that the water molecules deftly carried with them.   The invading liquid found its way into sweat glands and hair follicles, other pores of all sorts, and as it soaked through deeper layers of cotton fabric, to other orifices as well.   Some escaped into the air, finding its way into nose, throat, and finally lungs.   The invasion was sudden, brutal, and very confusing to an immune system which found nothing to launch an attack against.   Alien substances assaulted from all sides.   Defense mechanisms tried to slow, or buffer, or somehow neutralize the attack, initially with some success, but these mechanisms exhausted themselves rapidly, leaving no further defense for the continuing onslaught.   It was confusing delicate neural circuits, disrupting hormonal messages, and causing their victim immediate dizziness and loss of motor control.   The substance was powerfully female and ordinarily would have no business inside a male body, but there seemed no way to stop it.   These feminine substances had already entered the bloodstream, and the heart obediently pumped them throughout the entire organism.   The most protected, masculine parts of this body also proved to be the most vulnerable; the invading fluids seemed to have no regard for them at all, changing that which should not be changed, disrupting processes that could not be easily repaired.

 

The man collapsed to the floor just next to Alyssa, soaked and surrounded in a warm yellow liquid.   As he fell, he looked upwards, spotting two women on the platform above him, one crouched near the railing.

 

Susan lowered her skirt, and stood back up.   She looked down at the two

wet figures below her, and took a deep breath.

 

Karen patted her on the back.   “Alyssa!   Are you alright?   Did he hurt you?” She ran down the stairs just as the door from the library opened again.   A posse of women sprinted onto the platform, led by Lisa, who held some kind of weapon.

 

“Yes... Yes... Fine!” shouted Alyssa.   “Shaken up, but O.K.”

 

Susan looked over the edge of the railing at her.   “Sorry, Alyssa.   He was too close to you.   There was no way to get him without getting you wet also.”

 

Alyssa looked up.   “Holy cow, Susan... You sure do worry about things!

You saved me from this creep... and think I’d be upset at being wet?

I’m grateful!”

 

The women on the platform, including Susan, went down the stairs to

survey the situation.

 

The man was barely conscious, and couldn’t move.   Lisa grabbed him firmly by the collar and dumped him flat on his back.   “Daniel Albertson,” she said.   “He’s the guy we bought this building from, indirectly.   Somehow he circumvented the security sensors in the stairway and on the door.”

 

Susan looked up.   “What brought you here, then?”

 

“Voice sensor.   He must have said something after he entered the room, and the detector discriminates against male voices and notified the guard upstairs.   But it looks like our panic is for nothing, thanks to Susan.   I really have to commend you...”

 

“It was nothing.   I thought I heard a noise out here, and realized that Alyssa had been down here for too long.   Fortunately, he didn’t hear me, and with Alyssa up under the platform, was walking right under me.”

 

“My skin tingles,” noted Alyssa.

 

“Good,” said Lisa.   “We’ll clean up here.   Don’t sleep alone tonight.”

 

Susan’s eyebrows perked.   “I’ve always wondered; why that warning?”

 

“It makes sense not to leave people alone in case they have an adverse immune reaction.   As long as we have a choice, at least.   It wouldn’t be serious in either case, but she might get sore if she develops a fever–and simple aspirin would avert that if we need it.”

 

“Oh.   What do we do with Daniel, here?” Susan asked.   Daniel was barely

conscious now.

 

“Bring him upstairs and secure him; we’ll place him under medical

observation,” Lisa suggested.   “We can use the opportunity to verify

that our simulations were accurate.   We’ll also need someone to

re-secure the back door.”

 

 

“Then what?” Susan asked.

 

Karen smiled.   “Leave him to me!”

 

It took less than twenty-four hours to verify that the simulation was accurate.   The shutdown of certain male traits became permanent within the first hour, but the rest of Daniel’s body remained functional.   He was conscious and alert, and mad as could be when he discovered that he had been secured at the wrists with sturdy cuffs attached to a pair of strong steel cables.   There was enough slack for him to reach the bathroom, and wander around a bit. The cables were anchored to some spot underneath the bed.   His clothes were gone.   He sat on the edge of the bed, cables trailing behind him on the bed, pondering his fate.   He felt quite weak.   He looked at the sore spot on his arm where Dr.   Carlson had taken his blood for analysis.

 

The door opened, and Karen peeked in.   “Good afternoon,” she told him.

 

Daniel jumped to his feet.   “What do you want?   When I get out of

here...”   He tried to hide his muscular weakness.

 

Karen stepped outside the door and flipped a switch.   A humming sound came from under the bed, and the steel cables slowly retracted through the slot between the bed and headboard.   “Lie down, please,” she told him, stepping in through the door.   Susan followed.

 

Teeth clenched, he advanced towards her until he reached the limit of the cables.   He tried to reach forward, and the cables soon tipped him backwards, where he fell onto his bottom, and then his back.   Soon his entire body was being dragged, by the wrists, across the floor.

 

Karen shut the switch off.   She was amazingly stern.   “I said, _lie

down_.   Or we can just drag you back into bed.”

 

Daniel stood up, and sat down on the edge of the bed again.   “This is

kidnapping, you know.   I could have you...”

 

“Hmmm... For someone who’s guilty of breaking and entering, I’d...”

 

“Go ahead, then, call the police.   Call them.”

 

Karen flipped the switch again, pulling Daniel down onto the bed.   Soon his wrists were at the headboard, at which point the winch motor shut itself off.   “I don’t think so, dear.   As you can tell, we don’t need any interference at this point.   But you–we can handle.”

 

She came over to him and sat down at his side, and ran her fingers down his neck and along his body.   “Everything will be fine.   Just fine.   Right, Susan?”

 

Susan nodded, but remained silent.

 

“Help me with this, would you?”

 

Karen raised her arms, and Susan pulled the sweatshirt from her.   Karen

wasn’t wearing a bra.   Susan knew what was about to happen.

 

Karen ran her fingers across Daniel’s face again, and snuggled up to him.   She brought her naked bosom closer and closer to his face.   “Just relax.   This’ll be fun.”

 

Daniel turned away from her, struggling as much as his weakened body could.   Susan had no problem holding his ankles down.   “No!   No!” he shouted.

 

“I see you read quite a bit of our informational packet,” Susan noted.

“Relax, it’s all quite painless.   And you must be very hungry by now.” She took his head with one arm, and brought her right breast to his lips.

 

Daniel managed only one more muffled word in protest before Karen’s breast sealed against his lips.   She squeezed him into her, slowly oscillating him against her soft flesh.   Her mammary glands began to activate.

 

“Ouch!” Karen shouted.   “Oo..mmmmm..   Bite if you like, dear.   It turns

me on.     Ooooh, here we go...”

 

Susan looked on, but couldn’t see well.   She tried to imagine what Karen was feeling right now.   Daniel struggling increased as he tried to resist Karen; so Susan stayed at the foot of the bed for the moment.

 

“That’s it... now just swallow.   Swallow! Come on...”

 

Daniel swallowed.   A mouthful of warm milk flowed down his throat, and

special hormones began to enter his bloodstream.

 

“That’s it.   What a good boy!   You are very hungry.”   Karen continued to nurse him in silence for several minutes, then separated from him, moving her other nipple into place.   He buried himself in her bosom and sucked eagerly now.

 

“How do you know when to... switch?”

 

“You can feel it.   I feel–empty on the other side.   Jeannette tells me that it’ll take a few days for me to get up to maximum capacity.   God, Susan, this is so great... so... erotic.   I can’t wait until you have real breasts of your own.”

 

Susan looked down at herself.   Her own nipples protruded only slightly from her body.   The puffiness around them had expanded a bit, but the “growth phase” that facilitated her conversion into a woman was nearly over; her breasts would grow now according to a more “normal” timetable.   Her secondary sex characteristics were becoming prominent now, though; she had the beginnings of pubic hair which was starting to hide her well-developed genitals.

 

“I can’t wait either,” said Susan.   “I envy you right now.”

 

“Mmmm....” said Karen.   “You’ll have your own chance soon enough.   Well, I think... yes, we’re done for now, Daniel.”   She separated from him.   There were visible traces of milk around his mouth.   He said not a word, and she carefully lowered his head back down.   He closed his eyes; Karen’s secretions were already taking over control of his metabolism, as they were supposed to.

 

They left him for now; Karen flipped the switch outside the room such that the cable would again unspool if he tugged on it.   He’d be needing to get to the bathroom soon, as his body began to disassemble itself.

 

The charts that Jeannette Carlson kept showed that his weight loss was measurable by the next morning, and within days the changes to his body were visible.   As a test, they offered him solid food, which he wanted, but was unable to keep down.   Several times a day his hunger became overwhelming; and he just had to have Karen, despite the rational thoughts he had–he knew that each additional dose she fed him simply made matters worse.   Karen’s breasts were swelling noticeably, and as a result the feedings became longer and more frequent, and further accelerated their effect upon Daniel’s body.

 

Susan and Karen shared a bed throughout this time; although it was tempting to see Karen’s moist nipples next to her, she dared not partake of them, as she might then end up sharing Daniel’s fate.

 

“I wonder what will really happen,” Susan said at a group lunch.   “It’s such an appealing mechanism–even Daniel no longer seems to mind what’s happening to him.   What’ll happen to the human population count?”

 

It turned out the research here had already been done, as well.   Two major factors–the one that Daniel was experiencing, and the simple change of making reproduction much more voluntary than it had been–would indeed reverse the trend of population growth–but only for a time.   As land, food, water, and other resources became plentiful in comparison to the current sorry state of affairs, the new population would reach equilibrium.   The potential carryover of human knowledge from one life to another could be a great asset to the species, and without substantial fear of self-destruction, the species now seemed to have much better long-term prospects, rather than simply an exponential population curve.

 

The few reports that the group had been receiving from the outside world were entirely positive.   The initial networks were nearly exhausted, meaning that almost all of the women who knew anything about these new capabilities now had them.   Soon the spread would be more into the general population; and the reason for keeping the secret secret was becoming less and less important.

 

Susan spent much of her time in the library and media center, trying to learn as much as possible; and the rest of the time with Karen, who was now becoming more and more preoccupied with Daniel.   Susan went along with Karen for one of her feedings (the first in several weeks) and was shocked.   Daniel was no longer restrained because he didn’t have to be.   He was the size of a small child, and definitely posed no escape threat.

 

“I can’t believe it...” she whispered to Karen, who was unbuttoning her

blouse for the next feeding.   “He’s so small... so fast!”

 

“It IS a short process,” Karen answered, as she went over to the bed.   “Ordinarily your body spends most of its energy on maintenance, and very little on growth.   Now he’s getting very little energy.   When any given cell is worn out, rather than being replaced with a new one, it just merges with its neighbor; he excretes the remainder.   He can’t help it.”

 

Daniel looked up, and was amazingly lucid. “Maybe I can!   I’m not as

hungry as I usually...”

 

Karen showed little sympathy for him.   “Of course not.   You’re much smaller.   My tits almost weigh more than you do.”   It was a big exaggeration, but got the point across; Karen’s capacity far exceeded Daniel’s.

 

Susan nearly took her seriously for a moment.   “Actually, I think you

were a bit larger last...”

 

Karen didn’t need Susan to finish.   “True, actually.   I can feel it.   I think I’m starting to shut down already, now that he can’t empty even one breast anymore.”

 

Daniel’s world was reeling.   A few weeks ago he was so normal, so complete; and was on the verge of saving the rest of his gender from this hideous, secret onslaught.   Now he was nearly powerless, his body tiny, his entire life enslaved to the body of this woman who now lifted his entire self to her bosom... for the last time.   He could barely drink at all; perhaps it was his sudden depression and regret; perhaps he had tired of the same diet for weeks, or maybe was finally beating the addictive effects of Karen’s milk.   In reality, though, it simply meant that his digestive system, no longer needed in this scheme of things, was shutting down.

 

It was, unfortunately for him, far too late to make up for the threat he had posed to the women around him.   He tried anyway, and Karen made it perfectly clear that they had no intent to “save” him.   Susan, who still remembered her act in the storage room very clearly, felt the same way.

 

“But what’s going to happen to me?” Daniel asked, his eyes filling with

tears.

 

“You didn’t read that when you broke in, and threatened my friend’s

life?”, Karen asked him.

 

“Well...   I didn’t...   I guess so...”   Daniel had read this, but didn’t

want to believe it.

 

“I think you’ll be finding out soon enough.”

 

They left him when Jeannette came in to take the next set of measurements for the record.   “I’ll need to see you today, Karen.   It’s getting close and I want to see how you’re doing.”   Karen nodded.

 

It was indeed “close”.   Karen’s pelvic examination only an hour later showed that the dilation had already begun.   She was no longer lactating, and her vagina was becoming increasingly wet.

 

“How do you feel?   Are you hungry?” Jeannette asked her.

 

“I feel fantastic.   But I haven’t been hungry for several days,” she

admitted.

 

Susan, who was watching all this, asked why.

 

“Well, her body’s getting ready to recieve a whole bundle of new energy.   If one has to eat more to make a baby, one eats less when...   doing the reverse.   That way Karen here will stay in good shape.   You’ll probably eat virtually nothing for a day or two... afterwards.

But that wasn’t the hunger I was referring to.”

 

“Oh.”