None of the doors in the room opened to us. We sat next to each other on a bench, listening the hums and groans of a facility aeons old.

"I wonder, what happened here", I said in low enough voice not to disturb the fickle peace. "This place still lives, even though it has grown so wrong. It isn't at all, what I expected."

"It's perfectly possible that this compound served its --perfectly sane and reasonable-- purpose, before being left to fall feral." Bemariq tried to reassuringly squeeze my thigh, but the armour plate barely gave in. "I'd say 'don't be afraid', if it wasn't utterly hypocritical."

My smirk widened, which helped to relieve a little of the trepidation.

"Proceed to the surgery", said the voice from the walls.

A door opened into a clean hallway, from which we entered a small side room. In the middle was table enclosed by a cocoon of large transparent leaves.

"Subject", the voice declared. "Remove unnecessary decorative garments."

I took off my shoes and gown. I turned, and my eyes locked with Bemariq's. After a long shared gaze, Bemariq wrapped his arms around me and crushed me against him.

The disembodied voice whined, but I only listened to my husband's breath.

We drew back. His hand clasped mine. For a moment, his expression wavered, but he couldn't find fitting words.

I suppressed a shiver and forced a smile. The glassy cocoon of the table opened to welcome me, and I took my place on it. My suit became rigid around me.

A thick limb appeared from the table and spread to cover my lower half. I pressed my head down and stared at the lights above, so I couldn't see the fear on Bemariq's face, and so he couldn't see the terror in mine.

"An imprinted breeding pair confirmed", the electric spirit declared. "Reproductive mismatch. Continuing with the corrective procedures."

The transparent sheets rose to cocoon me. I took a deep breath to brace myself against crying out, no matter what happened.

When the stinging lance stabbed into my crotch, I wailed.

"Sirin!" Bemariq rushed to the cocoon.

"I-I'm fine", I lied, to myself the most. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

The feeble reassurance didn't calm Bemariq. His arms shivered against his body.

Sedatives pulsing into my veins relieved the pain. They didn't mask the squirming of tendrils, which pushed, ripped and rearranged the flesh inside me.

"It's... fine..." I slurred. "I'm fine..."

Bemariq placed his hands on the glass-like surface. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressured you to this."

"You dumm--" I gasped, as the numbed nerves of my abdomen flickered in a bewildering array.

"Physiological parameters near optimal. Proceeding with implantation. Error: the patient is demonstrating signs of consciousness. Administrat--–"

My head spun, and the ancient lights above me finally went out.

I heard myself groan. My belly pulsed with a warm pain, which was tinged with dizzy horror and confused hope.

The light in the room was blinding for several blinks. Bemariq lay on the bench next to a wall. I was still stuck on the table.

"Bem..."

My husband was startled awake. He hurried to me. "I'm here, my honeydew. Are you alright?"

"Yes... But I can't move."

"Reproductive reorganisation successful", my suit chirped. "Adjusting fertility rate to required parameters. Error: due to low population, required number of offspring per each fertile uterine body exceeds ten thousand. Levelling to highest survivable ovulation rate of... eleven."

"What the..?" Bemariq mouthed. "We need to get you out!"

Several spikes stabbed my abdomen. Beyond a sting and uncomfortable movement inside me, there was no pain. Because my brain still floated on a bed of sedatives, I had to look in my husband's terrified face to understand, that something nasty was going on.

Bemariq tried to pull the glass cocoon down, but his arms weren't strong enough to budge starfarer machinery. He punched the glass without effect and howled from pain.

"Procedures done", said a strained and disembodied voice.

The suit around me gave a faint click. My sluggish squirming removed the locks on my limbs, and I tried to scurry away from the table.

Bemariq caught me before I fell off the edge. He helped me on my feet, but I didn't really stand. Instead, I merely allowed to suit to keep me up; my legs were listless liquid.

"I..." My voice was a meek whine. "Bem..."

"It's alright."

In my dazed state, I almost believed my husband. He lifted me up and carried me to a bench near the door.

I fumbled for his hand. Despite the danger of the suit crushing his bones, he twined his fingers around mine.

"At least I'm not dead." I forced a smile on my face.

"Yes. That is good." Through is attempt at a smile, my husband looked concerned. "We need to figure out what the suit meant with the 'the ovulation rate'. If... Eleven is far beyond unreasonable. Even with starfarer wizardry."

"It had to be an error." I frowned. "Right?"

"Likely, but we can't know in what part. Once free, we should wait and see how your natural cycle works."

"That's... disappointing but reaso--" I shivered. "What if... What if the process malfunctioned..."

"We can't kn--"

I yelped from a sting to my thigh. "The suit pricked me!"

"Administrating coital urge enhancer to encourage instinctive reproductive behaviour."

A tingling flame spread across me, sending shudders through my flesh.

The carapace suit let out a hiss and cracked open from around me. My burning skin sensed the wet air as terribly cold. Never had I been so hot yet graved to be warmed.

My crotch wasn't the heap of mangled flesh my imagination had conjured. Instead, the slit was barely noticeable. My mind went blank. I had been girl for my man. Now I wouldn't be anything else.

Bemariq helped me out of the husk and on my feet. His eyes wandered over my naked form. My hand quivered, as I debated about giving my new self an examination. A clench of the inner muscles proved the changes weren't merely skin deep.

I didn't notice that strength had left my legs, before Bemariq's hands caught me from falling. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his neck. The scent of his stale sweat tingled deep in my nose. I didn't need starfarer sensors to interpret the chemical message: this was a male ready and able to fulfil his reproductive purpose.

Even if he hadn't been such a prime specimen of human masculinity, I needed him.

"Take me", I whispered. "I don't care, if I end up blowing up."

Bemariq's smirk flashed, before turning into a deep frown. "Are you well?" With little regard to the artefact, he pushed the husk from the bench and placed me on it.

I didn't let go off him. "Of cour--" I closed my eyes and bit my teeth together. All my thoughts were interrupted by images of hard pounding, which I would soon receive. But part of me realised I should have reason somewhere buried in the desire. "Damn... The suit wasn't kidding with the 'sexual urge enhancers'."

My limbs trembled. I let out a tiny squeal. Bemariq wrenched himself from my hold, but I could see that a burgeoning tool filled his trousers.

He was a virile man; of course the sight of a nubile girl would stoke heat into him. My hand wandered to my groin. The sensation was just as exciting as I had hoped. A desperate moan left my lips, which sent a jolt through the man's handsome frame.

"Come on..." I murmured.

Bemariq's grimaced and pulled his hands away from me. "Try to relax, Sirin."

"You'll have to help me." I tried to sit up, but Bemariq pressed me down. His hand was cold and moist on my heated flesh.

Instead of getting on top of me and taking me, as was his right and duty, the man kept me from moving. I squirmed, but he was much stronger than a vulnerable woman like me.

I snarled: "You impotent eunu--"

"Shut up." Bemariq's tone was sharp but calm. "And think. You are poisoned, but your mind still works. Now, be a good girl and behave, and I'll get you off."

I had no choice but to yield to his torturous denial.

The brute moved his other hand down my belly. I shivered, when a finger touched the lower lips and slid into the heated wetness between. While his other fingers didn't probe deep, a thumb and the index found the nub.

I tried to curse him for doing something so boring as forcibly rubbing my tender spots, but soon I could only groan. His touch was still the same gentle but strong delight, even if my brain flared in confusion from the rearranged flesh.

The raising arousal in me tightened into an exasperating node. The relief wasn't far off. I cried out as the knot of nerves unravelled.

The glow didn't fade. Bemariq continued his forceful dispensation. I writhed, my limbs shivering, until I wailed from an orgasm no less intense than the first.

My mind reeled, as the lights above turned into spinning stars.

Bemariq relinquished his grip and sat next to me. "Do you feel better?" His voice wavered, as if from barely contained excitement. "Any closer to sanity?"

I caught my breath, focused my vision and smiled at him. "Somewhat. Thank you... For a moment, I thought..." I swallowed. The buzz was still clouding my head, but at least death from catastrophic superfecundation didn't seem like worth a good probing any more.

My husband's gentle smile widened. "Don't bother blaming yourself."

I sat up, and a sob burst out of my throat. I had acted so dumb. And it wasn't just for that one moment; there was little I was good for. The despair was like a crushing wave. I began crying, and Bemariq embraced me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I... I don't..." I gulped. "You are too good to me. A silly frippet like me doesn't deserve a proper and gentle man like you."

"What the..." Bemariq sat on the bench with me and lifted me to sit on his lap. His arms crushed me against him. "The drugs must have stirred the chemicals in your brain. The effect will soon be over, and you'll feel better." He moved his mouth to my ear and whispered: "I love you."

Such proclamation was neither plausible nor something I deserved. But he continued his kind platitudes, and I listened, until I found my calm again.

"Oh, have mercy on me, Our Lady", I muttered. "This is embarrassing."

Bemariq dried my cheeks with handkerchief. "How so? I've seen people have such outburst even without their blood being saturated with starfarer chemicals."

My mouth struggled into a crooked smile. He really was too good for me, but that wasn't grounds for more whining.

"The procedure really worked." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Will you now grow bored of your dully mundane wife?" Though I tried to sound nonchalant, desperation tinged my voice.

"What for? I don't think your genitals affect your ability to categorise ancient relics." He gave a brief kiss. "That is the faculty in a woman, which foremost warms my blood."

I giggled in response, but my gaze fell.

"I'm serious." Bemariq affected being hurt, but couldn't wipe his smirk entirely. "Imagine having to live with someone, who thinks your work is a vapid waste of time. Though you are --at times-- preoccupied with the market value of the artefacts, you nevertheless can appreciate the difference between a proto-Jaan plough and a Kosite-style sickle-dagger."

"I know they are both worthless scrap." I laughed, but only for a burst. "Though I have to say, it's peculiar to find both at the same site, not to mention in this remote area of the world. It places serious doubt on at least two current models on the spread of post-Collapse material culture."

Bemariq let me down to sit next to me and insisted that I explain myself, even though he must have been well aware of what I meant. I humoured him, but he countered my sensible assertion with arguments, which were intermittently both quaint and radical. Yet his tone was serious enough that I didn't catch on, what he was doing, until I sighed from frustration.

"Damn." I chuckled. "One might have assumed the renowned associate of Usinilim didn't harbour such amateurish views."

"If you think you know better than me, you should write a monograph on the subject." Bemariq's smile was wide and warm. "Do you feel better yet?"

I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. "Yes. The haze is gone. Thanks for distracting me from those gloomy thoughts." I stood up and gave my body another glance.

Despite the radical changes, my physical form wasn't foreign. It was fully mine. Though the sedatives had worn off, a vague satisfaction infused my mind. The sensation wasn't hazy or confused. Instead, the fog, which had clouded my life before, had disappeared.

I placed my hands under my navel and shivered. Hidden inside me was either a miracle or a misshaped horror. One, which could turn something as wonderful as love into anguish.

Before the distress could overtake me, I steeled my resolve by concentrating on the facts. I was alive, we were trapped. If... When we escaped, anything wrong in me could be fixed, or at least mitigated.

"Sirin?" Bemariq stood up.

I filled my lungs to the brim. "I'm fine. I need to get back into my suit."

"No!" Bemariq strode to me and grabbed my arms below the shoulders. "Absolutely not."

"Bem." I lowered my voice so it didn't sound so frightened. "We need the suit. Fertilisation wouldn't happen this fast anyhow, so I doubt it can tell whether or not we actually... participated in intercourse. In any case, we must risk it. I must."

My husband bared his teeth and sighed. "Yes. You are right. You made it this far. The luck might not run out yet."

Bemariq lifted the husk and helped me step inside it. The familiar tightness surrounded me, and against my fear, nothing happened.

"Seems the electric spirit is satisfied." I turned and hugged Bemariq. He kissed me, chastely enough not to stoke fire into our souls.

The tight fit of the carapace suit was almost like nudity, so I put on the stained gown, but not the superfluous boots.

"Let me try something", I said to Bemariq. "Hey, electronic spirit! I am possibly the sole breeding female in this facility. Because my fresh fertilisation, I require full access. Otherwise my survival is not guaranteed."

After a moment, the voice said: "Contact the Nexal Censor for access management."

"How?" I asked. "I don't know, where to go, and the doors don't open for me."

"Granting temporary door access. A guide will be sent to escort you."

I smiled at Bemariq, but he looked grim.

"I don't like the sound of that 'guide'", he said.

"Whatever the thing is, it might not even be alive any longer. Let's search this hospital. Perhaps there's some sort of tool for inspecting human bodies."

Bemariq's eyes brightened. "The ancients must have had excellent machines for that. Such a tool could combine a radiation imager and one those glowing windows."

The doors opened in front of me. I held Bemariq's hand, so we couldn't be separated by the caprice of the spirit inside the stone.

Many of the rooms were barren, with the machinery presumably hidden in the walls. Some had beds or tables like the one I had laid on.

We entered a room similar to the others, save the table wasn't unoccupied. On it, the decomposed bones of a person lay in their proper places. I would have ignored the signs of ancient death, except my eyes caught the smaller remains on top of the crumbled hip bone.

"Oh the Lady..." My mind spun. There wasn't just one tiny skeleton or even two.

My mind sunk into darkness.