Megumi walked down the corridor, as her other instances actively considered what she was learning. One of her cells had successfully managed to get her the look she needed at an enhanced Neku specimen. Enough of one that she now had a solid idea of what the Iniri were doing. In many respects, these enhanced Neku really were enhanced. While clearly of secondary import, there was some enhancement to physical abilities. Minor improvements, nothing really drastic but enough to make a difference. The real kicker was the focus on mental abilities, the enhanced specimens were made smarter, with improved potential and development for psionic abilities including telepathy.  In addition, they were made much more receptive to telepathic communication. In other words they could hear, and understand it more easily, among other things. This did make it easier for them to be telepathically brainwashed, but that was only because most Neku weren’t trained to defend themselves. If they had that training this would be an advantage. As being more receptive to telepathic communications, was basically the same as having really good hearing after one was trained to defend against hostile telepathy.

Of course, putting aside what they were doing to the mental and physical abilities of the Neku, there also were the alterations to their reproductive organs. As Megumi had noted earlier, and now confirmed, the Iniri were introducing their own genome into the Neku’s. This not only made them more compatible with the Iniri reproductively speaking, but it also meant their organs were changing to better resemble Iniri ones. Although without the limitation that they had, one introduced by the idiots that tried to finish them. One that Megumi had already fixed in Qelu. Speaking of the genome tweaks, she did note that some of them would have an impact on the instinctive behaviors of the Neku species, she had down some tweaking on Qelu in that regard, but she didn’t think it would be needed to reverse everything the Iniri had done to the Neku in that regard.

Anyway with the changes the Iniri were making, she had little doubt that once their program had run its course, the Neku would no longer need their men. Not for breeding, anyway, and the enhanced female genome was certainly more dominant. If she removed the Iniri, but did nothing, the enhanced would eventually replace the normal on their own. Especially given how the Iniri were doing this.

They were using controlled retro-viral engineering, to rewrite the Neku genome. This was combined with the use of a special cocktail of minerals, vitamins, growth stimulants, and retroviral programmed cloned stem cells among other things to accelerate change. It was primitive compared to what Solean bioengineering could do, and harder to control than the Solean method, but for such a young species remarkable. The exact particulars were actually quite fascinating.

Those exact particulars even shed light on why they had worked on Riku the way they had. They had isolated her womb specifically to protect the child, since the doses needed to affect mommy the way they planned could prove harmful, if not fatal, to the unborn child. Although once they had worked on the baby, the changes would have eventually moved on to mommy as well, albeit at a slower pace. So in that light it had been quite illuminating.

This new data had also revealed something she had not noted before. While she could not be sure, since she had been following protocols. Many of the Neku she had recovered from the fleet she captured including Kiru had been infected with a mild virus. Naturally she had simply purged the virus to ensure their health. Now she was wishing she had analyzed it before she had destroyed it. It might just have been the Iniri retrovirus. Oh well, there was no point lingering on what ifs.

Her mind then considered the data she had recently received from the spa trip May was observing. The mineral bath was interesting, and it was a mineral bath, but it was also more. Not only did it do everything a normal mineral bath did, but it was also laced with special compounds.. She found those compounds quite interesting, but she felt they were part of something larger. They struck her as incomplete, but she did note what effects they had. Most notable were the ones they had to nerve fibers. It would be temporary, thanks to the incomplete nature of the compounds, but for a brief period the subject would be more sensitive. Of course she had her fully enhanced subject to inform her opinion of this, and she had a feeling this played a role in certain observed characteristics of that subject.

All of that data however was something she was going to keep to herself for now. Instead, she was going to share what she learned about the air in the spa. As May suspected, it was laced with something, but nothing too nefarious. It was a simple relaxant, meant to help relieve a subject of undue tension, and render them more docile. Not exactly something she wanted May breathing, for obvious reasons. At the moment her shield was keeping her safe, but that was a short term solution. She was already working on a more permanent solution to the problem. In the meantime, she went ahead and informed May about the contents of the air.

May shifted as she took in what Megumi had told her moments ago, while watching Yiria give Riku a scalp massage. By this point her gaze had turned somewhat glassy, and she seemed rather relaxed as well. She had little doubt that Yiria was in Riku’s head. Brainwashing her further, molding her into whatever form the Iniri wanted her to fit into.

As for the air, Megumi told her it had some kind of relaxant in it, but nothing else. The ship already had a solution to it, but it wasn’t ready to be implemented. As such in the meantime, she was expected to keep her shields up. May wasn’t surprised that the ship had a solution. Nor about it not being ready just yet. Megumi wasn’t going to deploy something without testing it in a controlled fashion first. Hopefully, the ship would be done making that solution ready, before her shields had to be lowered.

Her mind dropped that line of thought as something interesting began to happen. Yiria shifted, and suddenly asked Riku a question, “How are you feeling?”

Riku was slow to respond, but when she did respond her tone was slow, and dreamy, “Really... nice.”

“That’s good, you should be feeling quite relaxed by now.” she paused, “In fact your mind should also be quite open for me to mess with. So we are going to use this opportunity to work on your trust and make sure you are completely comfortable with the caretaker program. Does that sound alright?”

Riku was again slow to respond, “... Yes that sounds nice.”

It seemed that for the moment at least, she was rather gone. No real surprise there, but May wondered where this was going.

Yiria leaning forward, a somewhat different expression on her face, said, “Great. I was hoping to discuss the name I had in mind for your baby. I was thinking of naming her Miku.”

There was a pause, and after a minute or two, Riku tried it out, “... Miku. Miku, I ...”

“Are going to like the name. I picked it after all, and doesn’t it feel nice knowing I didn’t pick something weird?”

Riku nodded slowly, as Yiria continued massaging her scalp, “...yes. It does feel nice knowing you didn’t pick something weird. It’s a nice name. Just...”

Yiria cut her off, “It is a good name alright. So you should be happy I picked it for your baby.” Yiria paused and glanced at Riku’s swollen belly meaningfully, “And I really like it, so just forget any complaints you have about the name.

Riku after a moment, simply said, “Yes, it’s a very good name. Thank you for naming my baby so quickly.”

“You’re welcome. Anyway speaking of your baby, we should discuss your after-birth schedule, and how much time you actually spend with her. You will have full access, naturally, since you both need to spend time with each other, but that time should be carefully managed. It’s best you don’t spend too much time with her, during such a critical time in her development afterall.”

Riku’s glassy-eyed face soon frowned, and she said, “I’m not sure I like that.”

Yiria nodded, and cooed, “I know you don’t, not yet, but that’s why we are talking about it now. So you can work through those feelings. Besides, remember how I said that taking your baby from you was critical? This discussion plays into that step, and will prepare you for the extended absence, okay?”

Riku replied, “...yes.”

Yiria smiled, and soon drifted into talking about the schedule just like she said. May paid attention, but nothing about it really stuck out to her. Riku did not seem to fully like it. Even as she agreed to some of it, but not all of it. May had the feeling that this was one of the things they were going to be working on with Riku.

“Anyway, I think with this schedule your baby will be ready to be separated in about two months. That is the whole point of it, to get your baby ready for that extended separation.”

Riku gave her a look, “...I know, but...”

“Trust me, this is a long way off, you will feel better about it when the time comes.”

“...I.. uh, guess.”

Yiria grinned broadly, “You will, I’ll make sure you are ready for it.”

May figured Riku wouldn’t just be ready to be seperated from her daughter like that, but eager for it by the time they were done. In fact that might be one of the goals of this training program, but obviously not the only one.

Before much more could be said, the other Iniri came back. She slipped over quietly, and said, “It’s about time you moved on from the bath.”

Yiria nodded, “I thought it was about time. I made good progress here. I’ll get her ready for her massage then.”

Riku blinked slowly, “...massage? You’re sure that is a good idea?” she asked, while rubbing her swollen belly.”

Yiria replied, “We have a specially designed massage table, meant to accommodate girls like you. It is made of a special material designed to provide the appropriate support without putting undue pressure on your belly.”

Riku gave her a look, and after a moment started to ask a question, but was interrupted as Yiria helped her out of the tub. Before leading her out of the room. May moved to follow, curious as to where this was going to lead. There was something else going on here, May was sure of it. On the bright side, she was getting out of this room. She was looking forward to being able to drop her shields, and breathe normal air.