A part of me had hoped that I'd never walk those corridors again. Yet the excitement --that intense thrill of discovery shared with my husband-- returned. The place was one of a kind among the surviving remnants from an age, when the sky wasn't the limit.
That extraordinary nature was exactly why we couldn't study the facility in peace. Sitolytta had been right to fear, what the Conglomerate might find, as the cadre of soldiers I had helped to outfit proved.
I walked beside the guide, so I didn't have to concentrate on keeping fear off my expression.
Even if I couldn't be sure, the tunnels became familiar in their vitality. Pipes and nerves filled the corridor like reeds, though any critters had fled from our approach.
One of the soldiers yelped. The other men joined with their own surprised noises. The floor clattered, as the myrmidon's dropped their weapons.
I pressed against the wall, and let the men pass me.
"Explain!" Ayimun demanded, as he strode past me in stiff march. "What is this 'reproductive reorganisation'?"
My stomach twisted. Not even the associate should have been forced through that. Nevertheless, the starfarer machines should have been able to reverse, what they had done.
I didn't answer, but dropped behind the group and picked up one of the impressive alloy-barrelled needlers.
The gun was oversized for me, but its weight was barely noticeable inside my suit. I tried to shoulder the unwieldy if delicate weapon, but my arms weren't quite long enough to hold it comfortably.
As if I was a kid playing with tools meant for adults. A memory of practising to shoot with my father returned to my mind. I brushed the recollection away.
My suit should have been more than able to handle the recoil, so I lowered the needler to my waist. In any case, the gun wasn't my first or even second backup plan.
The men, trapped inside their suits, continued on after the guide. I kept my distance as I followed, so that they couldn't be sure that they hadn't been abandoned to their fate. My reappearance should be a relief despite their anger.
The door of the hospital area opened, and the group walked inside. The moment the door closed behind them, a clamour started. Ayimun shouted my name. A debate rose, but it was too frantic to lead to any conclusion. The door was banged.
"Violent self-destructive behaviour detected", the voice of the facility said. "Safeguards enacted."
The footsteps stopped. Soon enough, the men ceased their frantic talk. I sat on a pile of pipes to wait.
After the group was gone from the reception room, I followed inside. Their suits had taken them all into separate rooms and trapped them into cocoons, which had fortunately sedated them all properly. Out of guilt, I did my best to make sure, the machines weren't actively mutilating them. But their bodies were fully hidden, and I couldn't tell what was happening.
I picked up their discarded equipment including sidearm and hid them out of the way. The day had been long, and so I helped myself to the field rations. The liquid meal didn't stop my hunger, but it would keep me from passing out.
Hopefully Bemariq wouldn't think I was hurt or worse. I could have run to the top and out of the facility, but I had to stay to keep the 'Congs' from trouble. There was no knowing, what they might accomplish in their desperation.
After hours of humming boredom, the door opened. A person, who must have been one of the myrmidons, staggered in.
The machines hadn't done the bare minimum to enable uterine reproduction. The myrmidon's face was perfectly womanly, if a bit heavy at the jaw. His shoulders were still wide, but appeared less pronounced accompanied by the flared hips, squashed waist and ample chest.
The soldier's eyes were filled with tears, and awfully girly sobs rose from his throat. The sight crushed my chest. I couldn't fault his bravery or self-control, considering how I myself had reacted. And for me, the changes had been welcome.
"Everything will be alright", I said in motherly tones incongruous to the needler I was holding. "What's your name?"
"Qa--" He hesitated. "Qafin."
"Alright, Qafin. Those machines should be able to return you back to yourself. But you need my access to change your reproductive designation back to male, or whatever this place calls them."
I couldn't be sure that it would work. But the myrmidon's devastated expression made me hope I wasn't lying.
Qafin took a deep breath and found his calm. With startling rapidity, he seemed like a soldier again. "What do you want, lady Usinilim?"
"Just obey me. I could use your help. The others might not be as collected as you, so your help to convince them to act reasonably would be appreciated. The faster we are done here, the faster the changes can be reversed."
The myrmidon glanced down on his frame and took a deep breath. "I understand."
Rest of the soldiers filtered into the reception. Most were sobbing, one was stunned to silence. When I told them to remove their carapace suits, all obeyed me. Underneath they were distinctly feminine, if too muscular for conventional womanly beauty. Such a body type had its appeal, though my opinion wasn't exactly representative of the average.
A shorter woman, who had the appearance of a younger sister to Luwud Duy, walked into reception. His grin was amused and strides bold. He glanced at the naked women in the room and bowed to me.
"You seem calm, considering, commandant", I said.
"Oh, I had plenty of time to hyperventilate in my pod, lady Usinilim." Duy tapped his new dainty nose. "'Exactly like me'. I presume your plan is to force us to obey you in order to get the chance to restore ourself."
"That is true."
Duy chuckled. "I'll take this as the rare opportunity it is. Not many get to experience the other side."
The commandant removed his suit without protest. Underneath was a robust but generously feminine body, which appeared to please Duy.
A statuesque woman with a short silver hair walked into the reception. Ayimun's form was willowy, and his movements graceful and uncowed.
"You..." The associate's scowl was poisonous on his new gorgeous face. "You knew this would happen."
"I hoped it would."
Ayimun looked at the myrmidons and back to me. He took a step towards me, but Qafin placed a hand on the associate's shoulder.
"That gun will crush your bones even through your armour", the myrmidon said. "It's better to stand down, associate."
Ayimun sneered. "Did the surgery take your manhood in more ways than one? Better to die--"
"You can still get your toy back", I said. "But you need my access."
My bluff was inadequate, so I continued: "Or do you trust your own skills in archaeolinguistic analysis to command these primordial systems? Enough to bet your dicks on it?"
It turned out that the associate Ayimun wasn't willing to risk his manhood for a fickle chance of glory for the Conglomerate. He got out of his carapace suit.
I told them to place their identification rings on their suits, and we headed towards the secondary exit. I asked the guide to accompany me. Its voiceless presence had become surprisingly comforting.
The guide wouldn't follow us farther than the elevator. Being packed in a tight space with people, who had a good reason to hate me, made heartbeat fill my chest. Yet they all remained calm and dejected to a pitiful degree. The unmanning had taken its toll.
I left the naked group to the safety of dark cave, and crawled out.
The small barren valley had turned into a busy campsite. The Roluans had brought a large delegation of officials, who were engaged in frantic talks with Conglomish notables. Jaan, Conglomish and Roluan soldiers eyed each other from the sides and kept the milling throng of curious civilians and journalists away.
I told the guard at the tunnel to get some clothes for the group inside. I took a few steps forward, before Bemariq noticed me.
We rushed to each other. Only in the tight embrace I remembered the powerful suit I was wearing. I drew back a little, even if Bemariq didn't show pain. He kissed me with deep hunger, as if the restrains of the recent weeks had been dissolved.
I returned the kiss eagerly, uncaring of the public spectacle we were making.
"Sirin..." he whispered into my ear.
I detached from him. "Let's talk later, in more privacy. Now I need to find the representatives of Jaan and Rolu."
Magnatess Sitolytta and the three men and a woman from Roluan government listened to my suggestion. They agreed to present it to Ayimun.
The associate wore a loose uniform and stared at us with cold eyes. Though he hid from the open view in a carriage, he sat in rigid posture.
"So the plan goes thus", Sitolytta began. "The Jaan Directory and the Conglomerate will create an agreement to keep the facility underneath us untouched. It is demonstrably dangerous and unpredictable, as you may agree."
Ayimun grunted, in a way which must have been much more petulantly girly than he had intended.
Sitolytta continued: "This vault shall remain untouched, until a joint international excavation --without any military presence whatsoever-- can be arranged in a conference, in which all great powers --not just us and you-- participate."
"Why would the Conglomerate agree to this?" Ayimun asked.
"This plan assures the research will be conducted with full and careful scrutiny", Bemariq said. "As an expert on the subject, I think proper and meticulous research is in the interest of the Conglomerate, as it is in the interest of the whole world."
"Besides..." Sitolytta made a pursed smile. "After this tentative plan as been formally agreed, lady Usinilim will help with your current predicament."
I said: "Of course, if the initial agreement can't be made swiftly enough, the Conglomerate might decide certain organs of personages present are worth sacrificing, permanently."
Ayimun's posture managed to stiffen even more. "These negotiations seem to be prudent and in the interest of all parties."
"Very good!" a representative of Rolu said. "We'll make the formal arrangements for the official talks in the coming days."
