May quietly snatched a piece of fruit off the plate of a passing Iniri. Her cloaking field quickly encompassed the stolen fruit. Sure her biology meant she didn’t need to eat, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to eat. The Iniri didn’t even notice the theft, and she paid close attention to the conversation unfolding at the table before her. It might not reveal much, but she couldn’t dismiss any information out of hand. At the moment, the Iniri girl, Yiria had just asked Riku to tell her a bit about herself, and Riku wanted to know if there was anything particular she wanted to know. 

Yiria picked up a utensil, and replied, “I believe you are rather new to the city, right?”

Riku nodded, “Yeah I moved into the capital a couple of months ago.”

Yiria smiled, “I thought so. What brought you into town?”

“Looking for work mostly.” she rubbed her swollen belly, “It costs a lot to raise a kid, and my old job didn’t pay that well. It might have been fine if her father was around, but he was drafted. He sends me money, but it’s barely enough to make ends meet. As such, I was in the market for a better job, preferably with both better hours, and pay. I found one here, and they helped me move into my current apartment. Although I am not sure what I am going to be doing now. Since one of your fellows asked me to terminate my employment, and said something about me not going back to the apartment.”

Yiria nodded, “I see. Well don’t worry about that. They won’t leave you without a job or shelter. I’m sure they already have a place lined up for you, and perhaps even a job. One that will likely pay quite well, but I can’t say anything about the hours. If anything they will almost certainly be quite long.”

“Perhaps, she did say not to worry about that, and they would take care of everything.”

“Oh, that they will, you shouldn’t have to worry about a thing.”

“Glad to hear that.”

The Iniri girl smiled and took a bite of her food. Then she changed the subject, “Since you mentioned her father. I take it your old town was one of the townships that still allows men, or perhaps it was offworld?”

That seemed interesting. May paid close attention to the response while nibbling at her stolen fruit. While the skin wasn’t edible for a Neku or Iniri, the entire thing was edible to her.

“It was on the homeworld, a smaller town to the north. And yes, men were still allowed there, until recently. A couple of months before I moved down here, all the men were either drafted or relocated. As for the boys, thanks to the new gender laws. They were required to visit the clinic for gender correction..”

Yiria shifted in her seat, “Interesting. I guess your old town must have been selected for a new nest. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so aggressive with making it a girls-only town.”

Riku shrugged, “I wasn’t really thinking about it until now, but you might be right about that.”

“There is little doubt about that.” she paused for another bite of food. “Why don’t you tell me a bit about your life back then? Your friends and family. That sort of thing.”

Riku nodded and started to relay her experiences. Yiria would occasionally ask questions, but she revealed little about herself. As the conversation continued, May noted that what Riku was sharing grew increasingly intimate. No surprise there, especially given her lack of a problem with having her memories copied. She had even lost a few in the process and was acting as if there was nothing wrong with that. So there was little surprise that she started answering very intimate questions about her relationship with her husband.

“I see. Sounds like he was a rather interesting man. Have you been in contact with him much recently?”

Riku shook her head, “Not really. The military restricts contact between us.”

“Ah, I yes, that was to be expected. Now that you are here, I expect the others to take a controlling interest in your relationship, possibly even terminate it.”

Riku frowned, “I guess. I don’t see why they would want to terminate it, though.”

“Well don’t worry about it, and if they ask you to terminate it just do it.”

“Alright, I will,” she said, agreeing to that far too easily. In fact she seemed to be barely questioning it, and not very resistant to the idea either. May wondered if they had indeed been preparing her for that sort of thing, and if Yiria was just probing her to see how she would react to the idea. From the look of things, she seemed to dislike the idea, but would go along with it if asked.

“Great! Glad to hear it.” she paused for another bit of food, and said, “I guess we can talk about your baby now.”

She pats her stomach, and replied, “I guess, but there isn’t much to talk about is there?”

“Oh, there is a bit to talk about. I’ve been told that you are going to be busy. You won’t have much time to care for her, so I am going to be doing much of that for you.”

Her tone seemed a bit more defensive, “You are?”

Yiria reached across the table with a tentacle and started stroking her head. Riku visibly relaxed, and after a moment she was told, “Yep, you might not see much of her. I will take good care of her for you, and make sure she grows up a good girl. Don’t worry you will see plenty of her for her first few weeks, I won’t be taking over until she is strong enough to leave you.”

May licked her fingers of the last juices of the stolen fruit. She had eaten it slowly, but it was gone all too quickly. In any case, this seemed more interesting than it had been in the last few minutes.

“I guess that is okay then. Although I would like to know you a little better first.”

“You don’t need to know me, just trust me. That is why I am here now, so that you can learn to trust me with your child.”

She nodded, and May noted the slightly glazed look in her eyes, “I don’t need to know you, I just need to trust you. I understand.”

“Glad to hear that. We can work on your trust over the next few days. Sound good?”

Riku nodded again, “That does.”

“Now moving on, about your baby's name?”

Her glazed eyes lit up, and she said, “Oh I already have a couple of names picked out. Care to hear them?”

“Nah, I want you to forget those names. I want to name your baby. I know it’s normally a mother’s right, but since I am going to be taking care of it, I want that right instead.”

Her eyes dimmed and glazed over, “Alright, you can have that right.”

Yiria smiled, “Thank you. It’s so nice of you to start trusting me enough to hand over that right. We can make it more formal later.”

Riku replied, “Yes, we make the agreement more formal later, and you did say I needed to learn to trust you.”

“Good girl. Now finish your food. I have another appointment to get you to in a few minutes. It’s nothing to worry about, and we will be done before you know it.”

Riku nodded, and went back to her food. The conversation died off, and the two finished their meals in silence. Yiria signaled someone to collect their food, and led them out of the room. May followed them, and led to another small room. This time quite a few Iniri were waiting for them, and Riku was promptly guided into a chair, where they quickly attached probes to her. While others wrapped their tentacles around her. What followed was clearly a brainwashing procedure. It seemed they were strengthening their grasp on her mind.

Kiru stretched, after helping Qelu into the truck. They had just recently finished lunch, and now it was time to head off to another inspection. She sighed, it was not a job she looked forward to. Afterall she was helping take girls away from their families, where who knows what could be done to them. Getting involved with Qelu had certainly shed some light, but she didn’t really think it was going to yield more. Not anytime soon, but maybe Qelu could open some doors for her? It was worth thinking about, but would require bringing the girl more fully into the cell. That seemed risky, however. Still, maybe there was a way to gauge the risk before trying? Afterall, she wasn’t going to get anywhere without taking risks.

With that thought, she climbed into the driver’s seat, and closed the door. As she guided the truck out of its bay, Qelu spoke up. “Um, uh Kiru. Can we talk about something?”

“Uh, sure. What do you want to talk about?” asked Kiru curious about why she seemed hesitant.

She didn’t answer right away, but after a moment, she said, “Remember when you asked me about why that neighborhood was selected?”

Kiru nodded, “I remember that.”

“Um, well I never fully answered that question, and I think you deserve to know a little more.”

“Hmm?” she prompted.

Qelu sighed, “Um, well a major factor in the selection is, um well... Reproduction. That neighborhood was found to be good for that. We’re um, compatible with the Neku, and can breed rather quickly.”

“I see. So what exactly does this have to do with selecting that neighborhood?”

Qelu shifted, twisting her tentacles together, and several expressions morphed her features. After a moment or two she quietly replied, “Remember what I said about Enhanced Neku, and taboos?”

Kiru nodded.

“I never really told you about it, but I guess I should mention what an enhanced Neku is.”

“You didn’t, and I have been curious.”

“Well, I don’t know all the details involved, but in short, they are being enhanced for stronger mental powers. The more important bit is what we are doing elsewhere, we are making them more like us. They won’t need men anymore to get pregnant once the process completes. We don’t either.”

She knew that Megumi had told her that they were a single-sex species. The rest seemed to imply that they were trying to do the same to the Neku. The question was why? Unfortunately, it seemed Qelu wasn’t sure how to explain what she wanted to explain.

Qelu sighed and fidgeted, “Those girls are being trained, among other things, to be less reserved about sex, and we are even going to set up facilities and services for child care there. The whole goal of selecting neighborhoods is for nesting, and not just for our own children. We want, and need, Neku children as well.”

Kiru looked back, and smiled, “I seem to have noticed. Most Neku seem to do a lot of work for your kind.”

Qelu nodded, “We are born leaders, but leaders need a workforce. That is what they are for, any task beneath us, they exist to fulfill.”

Kiru was inclined to dispute that, but it certainly lined up with observed behaviors. They did seem to consider themselves above ordinary Neku. There was one thing she had to point out. “I’ve noticed that tendency, but I don’t think that gives you the right to turn people lives upside down and turn them into sex workers.”

Qelu frowned, “Um, that is only part of what they are doing. We make sure they have nice productive jobs, it is not just sex. Jobs that they have both the aptitude and inclination for, if possible. If not, we can nudge them to develop an inclination for something they do have an aptitude for.”

“I see.” replied Kiru. Likely part of that workforce angle, but she wasn’t sure she liked the picture Qelu painted. Unfortunately even if she could convince Qelu that this was wrong, convincing the rest of her kind would prove impossible.

Reaching the block, they were heading for, she set the truck down. As she was doing that Qelu said, “Um... I, ...uh, would like to show you something.”