Qiri stepped off the ship, and looked around. They had arrived at their destination, the facility. Well that was simply the unofficial name for it. As there were several other such facilities, but she didn’t know the name for this place,  not yet in any case.

Opuri came up behind her, and smiled. “Keep those eggs close, and don’t stray too far from me, okay.”

She nodded, “I will.”

“Good, now that you are here. I’ll tell you a bit about the facility, this is one of the five branch labs and coordination facilities. I have an office here, and which has access to several databases. I’ll show you what you need to know about that, but when we leave we will need to archive your memories of this place. Okay?”

She nodded, “That’s alright. It's fun having my memories messed with.”

Opuri giggled, “I’m sure it is, but before you ask, like that nurse you spoke with, not everyone here has all their memories of the place archived. There will be some items you will be allowed to remember.”

“Understood. Speaking of the nurse, she mentioned that officer Meri’s daughter was here as a test subject. Can we see what they are doing to her?”

“Sure we can sweetie.”

Qiri smiled, “Great. I was told that it was quite the intriguing project”

Opuri led her down a path, and said, “Yes, I’ve heard some interesting things about that.”

Feeling a bit of excitement, she followed along while still looking around. The docks were wide open, with plenty of space for passengers and cargo to be moved. The corridor was wide, and decorated with pleasing landscape murals. It gave the place a different feel from the academy.

Opuri’s office, it turned out, wasn’t far from the docks, and they stopped briefly to leave a few files on the desk before heading on to the labs. Where they would deliever the eggs, and she hoped to get to see the test subject she had heard about. Today was going to be good, she knew it was.

---

Kiru sighed, she had gone through her file, and Miku’s thoroughly by this point. Several times in fact. Her list of kids was far too long, and then there was another subject she had avoided. The fate of her extracted memories. Unfortunately as Megumi had predicted they had long since purged the archives. Although based on the notations some memories like those of her missing sister had apparently been permanently erased long before she had even met Megumi. Evidence that she was never supposed to know about her sister, and they clearly had no plans to reunite them down the road. She was also left wondering what exactly they had been after in regards to her little sis. It occurred to her that would be another relationship to rebuild, if she could even do that. They would have to find her first. Kiru had a feeling that Megumi would be able to do that, even if a little luck would be involved.

These medical files seemed to indicate that they did in fact document what they were doing, but the previous lack of such documentation meant they protected it on close servers, and databanks. Some kind of central database would make sense, perhaps as an archive or something. The real question was where would they keep such an archive of their activities. Given their behavior it would have to be somewhere they felt they had absolute control. Only way that would make sense in fact. That might also explain a bit about what they knew in regards to her little sister, that she didn’t even know she had. Maybe it would have been better not to know about this, but now that she did. Kiru was tempted to dig further, to find her. Kiru wanted to put her family back together, not that it would be easy. Those lost memories were going to be gone forever.

Megumi suddenly spoke up, “I must be luckier than I thought.”

“Why?”

“Oh, just something I overheard while following little Qiri. Her boss, Opuri mentioned that the facility they recently arrived at has offices with access to multiple databases. Perhaps it will be a lead on your sister?”

Kiru leaned back, “maybe, but they destroyed our memories together. How are we going to rebuild our relationship when we don’t even know each other? Not to mention there is the question of what else they have done to us.”

“There is one possible solution, although that will be a bit out of the way.”

Kiru blinked, “Solution, what solution?”

“Remember Ava? Her long distance hail?”

Kiru nodded, “What about it?”

“Well I have her coordinates, not exact ones, but close enough to find her if she is still in the area, and she can help.”

“Help how?”

Megumi snapped her fingers and a series of files were projected, “May I present to you the Iridex Collective. They are an enemy of the Empire, and for good reason. They like to use biologicals such as yourself as drones. As for how they turn people into drones, well they like to completely remove the brain, and replace it with a computer. Effectively killing the person, and turning their corpse into a sort of living robot. As you might guess, reversing the process is rather impossible given the lack of a brain. With enough medical knowledge you can regrow the brain, but that results in effectively a new person. As who they were is gone, at least normally. There is a way to restore those memories, but it requires a knowledge of a certain ritual, and a lot of power. I know the theories behind the ritual, but do not have the ability to actually do it. Uliera has neither the requisite understanding or power, and while I might be able to find a dragon that can do it, it may take years to teach them the ritual. Ava on the other hand would know the ritual, and has the power to do it on her own.”

“Do you mean my memories aren’t gone forever?”

Megumi sighed, “sort of, the ritual can restore impressions of lost memory from which they can be recreated with reasonable accuracy, but something is inevitably lost. It's a partial solution at best.

Kiru waved her hand, “Thanks for the suggestion, but that just doesn’t seem worth it. We would be going out of our way, all for what would only be a partial set of interpretations. I’d rather just hope the file is wrong and I can find a forgotten copy of my old memories.”

Megumi nodded, “Alright, whatever you wish princess."

---

The pair arrived at the lab to find a younger Iniri eagerly awaiting them. She smiled, “Ah Opuri, glad you made it here on time.” She knelt, “and you must be Qiri. Opuri mentioned that she had a new assistant, and you're so cute. Nice to meet one of the girls whose eggs I’ve been working with as well.”

She smiled, “I’m glad you found them useful.”

“Oh, I have. Care to see what I have been doing with your eggs?”

Qiri nodded, “I’d like to! I’ve been curious.”

The woman smiled, “Well there are a few different projects using eggs harvested from Neku ‘donors’ such as yourself. Ours uses only the best eggs donated, where other projects work mainly with the rejects. Of course that is in part due to a difference in goals.”

“Goals?”

“At this lab we are trying to create a better Neku. We take superior eggs, and modify them to be even better. Once we have the egg reshaped as desired, we use it to fertilize a prepared womb, we use a lot of younger officers who can be spared, along with girls procured specifically for the program.”

Qiri listened along, and then asked, “Are there any particular requirements for these girls?”

The lab girl smiled, “Why yes. While we don’t need them to be from good bloodlines per se, it is vastly preferred. Your own line has excellent potential, and you do have relatives in the program, none of which are at this facility. Good genes, healthy bodies with high potential, and excellent wombs run in your blood, which are all things we look for.

“Typically we stick to younger healthier females that score high enough with certain metrics. Especially ones with the right genes to add to our program such as yourself.”

Nodding, she asked, “So what kind of modifications are you doing?”

The lab girl’s smile widened, “We have been working on several metrics, improving the Neku lifespan, increasing the prime fertile period among Neku females, working to shorten the developmental period. Currently, an ordinary Neku takes fifteen years to reach adulthood, where we are adults by five years. Our goal is to shorten that to ten years at most, which would allow a Neku to start breeding as young as six in theory. Ideally they would be about eight when they start seeking partners. After all, if you do the math, six would be equal to about what 12 years normally is now, and most Neku would be in the late stages of puberty, if not already through it by that age.”

Qiri feeling a surge of emotion, and a pang of what she could only describe as a bit of jealousy said, “You mean these girls would get a chance to be mothers at a younger age? That sounds lovely.”

“We considered trying to match Neku developmental speed with our own, but we know that won’t be too popular. One of the joys of raising Neku kids is it takes longer, but some say it takes too long right now. Which I have to agree, as it takes them so long to be ready for motherhood themselves, and many caretakers agree. There is a certain joy in taking care of the children of those you cared for, you know?”

Qiri frowned, “I’ll take your word for it.”

“I’d tell you to wait for a child of your own, but you aren’t allowed so I won’t. Maybe someone will let you care for a child you incubate for them? Best you might be allowed, but I have a feeling you are okay with that.”

She smiled, “Yeah that sounds nice.”

“I figured, of course we aren’t only focusing on improving female fertility. We are also trying to improve other metrics. You name the metric and we have been working on it to some degree, and so far results have been quite promising. Anyway, I have kept you too long. Now run along, and have fun with your mistress!”

Qiri nodded, smiled, and soon left the room with Opuri. There was something else she was looking forward to seeing, in a neighboring lab. Glancing at a display she noted that they would be just in time for a procedure involving the little lady she wanted to see. Qiri was quite curious about what they were doing to the young girl taken from her mother to be a test subject.

The walk to the other lab was delightfully short. It only took a couple of minutes, especially given the low foot traffic, and luxuriously wide corridors that gave plenty of space for people and equipment to move back and forth.

Another Iniri greeted them at the door of the lab, and they were admitted. Almost immediately the Iniri struck up a conversation with Opuri, which gave Qiri a moment to look around. She soon noticed the only other Neku in the room, as she made her way unsteadily over towards the door. One of the first things Qiri noted about her was that she didn’t have a tail. A factor that might explain her unsteady legs. She was small of build just like her mother with bright green eyes, a cute pixie face, silky black fur, and long black hair. 

The girl smiled, “Hello, I’m Rei.”

“Qiri, what happened to your tail?”

She smiled happily, “Oh, that Mistress had it amputated last week. I’m still getting used to not having one. I didn’t realize how much I was using it, until they cut it off.”

“Oh? Was something wrong with it?”

She giggled, and replied, “Nope! It was perfectly healthy.”

Qiri moved around and took a look at her naked rear more closely, noting the closed scar of the recent amputation. “So why did they cut it off then?”

“Well, Mistress decided it was about time to start testing how I respond to her new regenerative therapies. Especially since I’m already having my growth modified.”

“Hmm? Growth modified? In what way?”

“She is working on techniques that will better allow a mistress to modify their Neku’s appearance. In my case, she is testing a serum that not only retards growth, but actually reverses it.”

Another voice interjected, “More specifically, the serum freezes sexual development, and reduces the height of the subject. I’ve tested several variations of it on little Rei here. Along with other modifications to improve her appearance.”

She glanced over to see a new Iniri face had approached. The Iniri smiled, “I hope you enjoy watching today's procedure, I’ll be clipping her ears, and administering a new serum to stimulate regeneration, among other things.”

Qiri glanced at Rei’s ears, as they twitched on her head, her face scrunched, “Why didn’t you clip them when you did her tail?”

Rei pouted, “She was planning to, but my tail alone proved a little too much for me. I was too sensitive, and passed out from the pain.”

“What no anesthesia?”

A grin appeared on the Iniri’s face, “of course not. That would dampen her pain response, and I would lose valuable data on one of the metrics my serum has been modifying. Her sensitivity, which has increased quite a bit since I got custody of the little lady.”

Qiri frowned, “I, uh, see, but isn’t pleasure used as the usual metric?”

“Perhaps, but I find pain response most informative. So I focus on inflicting that to test how sensitivity modifications are progressing. It’s not as pleasant for the subjects, but a little conditioning is more than sufficient to fix that.” she looked towards Rei, “ready to have your ears clipped?”

She nodded excitedly. It seemed she was strangely looking forward to this. Qiri wasn’t so sure she would be that eager to have her own ears clipped. She let out a breath, and inquired, “So why are you clipping her ears, and amputating her tail exactly? Aside from the regenerative therapy that Rei told me about?”

The woman smiled, “Ah, easy. For one, both sets of injuries are not life threatening for a Neku. The tail is more life affecting, since the tail plays a major role in a Neku’s balance, and to some degree her body language. On a different note I also wanted the whole set for myself,” her smile transitioned into a predatory grin,” I think I’d look good with a tail, and some Neku ears. Don’t you agree?”

Qiri blinked, and tried to picture an Iniri with Neku features. She wasn’t sure about that. She thought they all looked pretty the way they are, but she had to admit the girl before her would look exotic with Rei’s ears, which would stand out, but not look entirely out of place. “You just might.”

The woman giggled, “I guess you would have to see the tail, I got from Rei then. She had a truly gorgeous tail, very nice, with superb fur. I’d rate it about as highly as yours, you have a truly supreme tail yourself. It would fetch a nice price on the market, care to donate it?”

She frowned, but before she could reply the other woman giggled, “I’m joking. I don’t need your tail, and you aren’t one of my subjects. So I can’t take it.”

Qiri nodded slowly, and then a moment later the woman led Rei to the operating chair. She was helped into the chair, and then secured. It wasn’t always needed to secure a conditioned subject, since they rarely resisted a procedure, but this was one procedure that would require it. Since neither anesthetic nor conditioning was being used to prevent Rei from experiencing the full pain of having her ears clipped.

Once she was secure, a series of probes were attached to her body. A nearby monitor lit up with medical data as each probe was anchored to a point on Rei’s small body. The Iniri woman made sure each one was secure, and then prepped an injector with a translucent purple fluid. Filling to about half capacity, and then setting it aside, before prepping a second. As she was finishing, she spoke, “Okay sweetie, I’m going to start by injecting your little boobs, I’d like to see them get a bit bigger. You will feel some pain, as the serum starts to work, my other subject described it as a burning sensation. I’d like you to focus on the sensation, and memorize it for your after-op report, okay?”

Rei nodded, and a moment later the woman lifted Rei’s left breast, adjusting in her hand before pressing the injector at the base of the nipple. An instant later the fluid drained into the boob, and Rei’s face scrunched. A whimper escaped her throat, and after a moment she said, “That burns, that really burns.”

A louder whimper escaped her, while the Iniri scientist started on the other boob. Giving her no time to rest before plunging the injector into the base of her right nipple. As that fluid disappeared into her right breast, the left one had already started to swell visibly. The Iniri noted that, and focused a few scanners on the two boobs, and recorded the readings.

After a minute or two the swelling stopped, and the Iniri commented, “Almost ten centimeters, a little more than I projected. That should do, maybe we should see how you react to my other serum? The one for shrinking breasts?” She frowned, “Maybe not today though. Need to let your boobs recover from the forced growth, don’t want to kill them.”

Qiri interjected, “Kill?”

“I tested rapidly alternating between the two serums on a subject just last week. It proved quite stressful to the breasts, and resulted in necrosis of the breast tissue. I had to remove her boobs, but so far she seems to be responding well to regenerative therapy. I think her new boobs will be ready for a new round of growth tests in about a month. Thankfully the serum’s effects are pretty localized so the other subject experienced no other adverse effects. Maybe when she is ready, I’ll try the same test with longer intervals? Oh! On a different note, Rei here might be perfect for that other serum I wanted to try. We can do that in a minute.”

She then turned, and pulled a tool off the table, it was a pair of clippers clearly, but oddly designed. They were shaped with an adjustable fit that would slip over the ears, and a single blade was positioned near the base of the ear. 

The Iniri woman slipped it over Rei’s left ear, and clamped it on securely. “Okay, I’m about to clip your left ear. Don’t forget to pay attention to the pain. Okay sweetie?”

Rei whimpered slightly, but nodded, “I will.”

With that, the Iniri moved the blade, and it began to cut through the base of the ear with little resistance. In that moment, Rei jerked a bit, but the clamp, and restraints held her steady. Preventing her movements from affecting the cut. In a moment, the ear was seperated, and a laser ran over the wound stimulating it to close. The woman removed the clipped ear from the clamp, and placed it into a bath of jelly on the table. A natural biogenerative that would act to keep it preserved and fresh. The special blade, had also given it a nice clean cut that would be easy to reattach. If they had been planning to do that.

The Iniri woman repeated the process with the other ear. Again Rei jerked the moment the specially designed blade started cutting through her ear. The blade only took a moment to sever the ear, and the second ear was soon added to the jelly. The woman grinned, “There we are sweetie, I now have the whole set. Can you hear me alright?”

Rei whimpered for a moment, “You sound a little weird.”

“Of course, I do, but that’s only until your ears grow back, and if I don’t miss my guess they will grow back before your tail does.”

She turned then, and started prepping a series of injector ports. Making sure each one was clean and ready, then she started attaching them. The first pair were attached to Rei’s thighs, the next pair further down her legs, a couple more were attached to her butt, with a few more placed across her belly and chest. Four were attached to her arms, and one to either side of her neck. A series of tubes were attached to the injectors, and the scientist prepared two solutions. One colored a golden color, the other green.

“Okay, I’m about to administer the regenerative serum. You should feel some intense tingling when it enters your veins, and I’ve been told your wounds will start to burn a little once the serum starts to take effect.”

Rei visibly braced herself, and a moment later the yellow fluid was allowed to flow. It went down the tubes. The scientist checked the scanners, and then started prepping a second set of tubes. A moment later Rei was really whimpering, her face scrunched. Qiri noticed the flesh visibly moving where her ears had been. It wasn’t very fast, but over a couple of minutes a pair of short stubs formed, maybe half a centimeter by the time all the serum had entered her. With just a few millimeters more by the time the Iniri was swapping tubes.

“And this is the shrinking formula, I’ve made some tweaks over the last version. We will see if you are any more responsive to it.”

Rei nodded, even as she was clearly trying to endure the other formula. Although she wasn’t reacting as much as she did to other things. That changed the moment the green fluid started flowing into her veins. She let out a small shriek, “That’s cold!”

After a couple of minutes, she began to visibly shrink, as the movement of the flesh around her ears accelerated, and her boobs seemed to swell again. No wait, they really were swelling again. The scientist smiled, and monitored the readings, ignoring Rei’s clear discomfort over the procedure. Rei settled after a couple of minutes, visibly smaller.

The scientist with a big grin, on her face, “Perfect, I hit a real winner this time. You responded much better than predicted. You just lost twenty full centimeters in two minutes, ten times the previous best from last week. Your new height is 100.6 centimeters. I think one more dose and we will hit the goal. Think you can take it right now?”

Rei’s half regenerated ears twitched, and with a note of hesitation in her voice, “I’ll take it mistress.”

“Good girl, now give me a minute to calculate the right dose.” she said while working to prep more of the green solution, and reading the monitor. “Looks like the regenerative also helped deal with the stress caused by the shrinking formula, and may have helped more than I thought it would with the process.”

She proceeded to mix in the same compounds from the regenerative. The fluid turned a slightly yellowish green, and a moment later a smaller amount was allowed to flow into the little girl. Triggering a second shrinking, this one seemed less intense, and finished faster.

The scientist measured her again, and smiled, “There we are. Perfect, you are now 90 centimeters tall, a full 40 centimeters shorter than the day you arrived. You look so precious, especially with the larger boobs. Now let’s get you a second set on that tiny frame.”

With that she walked off, and came back with a few new compounds, and proceded to prep another serum, two doses in seperate injectors. She set them aside, and removed the injector ports, and tubes. As she did so, she began, “One reason you Neku make poor mothers in my opinion is your lack of breasts. Sure two looks cute, but so can four, and even better, six. This is a newer serum I’ve been working on that will stimulate you to grow a new pair centered on the injection sites. You will be my first Neku trial, okay sweetie?”

Rei nodded, “Will it hurt?”

“I suspect it will burn the way your boobs did when I made them grow, okay sweetie?”

Rei smiled, “Great!”

Qiri shook her head, all that pain, and she was eager for more. It was kind of clear what conditioning her mistress had given her. 

The first injector was pressed against her torso a couple centimeters below the base of her left breast, and secured there. The Iniri took a couple quick measurements, and chose a similiarly located site for the second injector below the right. Behind her Qiri heard Opuri comment, “Now this might be useful if it works, especially if the new set is fully functional.”

“She is being a bit tortured by this though.” commented Qiri.

“Perhaps, but this is what she is here for. Now an argument can be made about Rinara’s methods, but we aren’t here to make that.”

Qiri replied, “True, we aren’t”

Just moments before the injectors were depressed, and the fluid within rushed into Rei. She whimpered immediately, tears flooding her eyes, as the flesh swelled, and discolored around the injection site. Rinara removed the injectors, and a moment later a tiny nipple erupted right in the middle of the pink flesh that had discolored. Exactly at the same point the injector had occupied a moment before. In moments, as Rei screamed about it burning, her new boobs swelled at a rapid pace. Quickly forming into a set of breasts, a pair of mild swellings really, not the large perky orbs she had immediately above them.

Rinara commented, “I was hoping they would be a little bigger, but no matter, I can just inject them with growth serum, get em to swell up properly.” She focused a scanner over them, and noted a few readings. “Hmm, looks like they formed properly though, should be fully functional. Let’s see how sensitive they are.”

She pulled out a few small devices, which she proceeded to attach to Rei all over. Not just to her new breasts. “In fact, Sweetie, it's time to test your pain responses. I’m going to stimulate you, and each time something hurts, I want you to identify the part, and give me a number for how bad. The bigger the better!”

Rinara’s grin was somewhat predatory, but Rei simply nodded. Qiri watched as Rinara proceeded to inflict an increasingly severe amount of pain. Monitoring how she responded to it, and kept going until poor Rei passed out, which took a surprising amount of time.

After Rei passed out, Rinara commented, “Hmm she lasted a full two minutes longer than last time.” she turned to the other Iniri that had greeted them at the door. “Clean her up, and put her to rest. When she wakes, make sure she writes her post op report.”

The woman nodded, and proceeded to extract Rei from the chair. As she left with little Rei, Rinara collected the pair of ears, and turned to them. “Care to talk in my office? It was fun having you observe.”

---

As those two headed off to the office, Megumi processed the feelings she had on what she had just watched. She felt quite sorry for the poor little Neku. That Rinara was clearly a little off, but it seemed she was a genius when it came to certain fields of medicine. Megumi had analyzed all her compounds, which were quite effective at what they did. With surprisingly few side effects considering they had just reduced the poor girl’s size drastically.. especially for so young a society. Of course that was in part due to the fact the serums were infused with mana. They were magical medicines, literally. 

Mentally, she marked the incident as something not to tell Kiru about, and made a mental note about the girl. Once she got ahold of poor Rei, and her mother, she would restore Rei to her former size, and undo some of the other work done on the poor girl. It did not escape her drone’s eye that Rei’s development had been artificially frozen. The drugs she was on, would insure she would never grow as long as she was on them. That also meant she wasn’t going to regain that lost size. The mental damage from this was quite high as well, that would take awhile to restore. Of course there was also the question of whether or not they had kept an archive of the two’s extracted memories. Megumi already knew that mommy no longer knew who her daughter was. As for Rei, she may not know who her mother is either.

With those thoughts in mind, she turned to the second drone that she had recently created while also observing that horror of a procedure. This one was sent not to follow Qei, but to look for an access point to the local databanks. She needed to find a lead.