Natalia sighed as she sat down on the couch with her laptop, the news droning on the TV as she began surfing the web. She wanted to know how pervasive the news about the planetary shield really was, and to see if any news or rumours about the university attack somehow got out.

As expected, the most she could find was about the ‘gas leak’ and hallucinations. The government certainly ran a tight ship when it came to suppressing the truth about the supernatural. But the shield was pretty much impossible to cover up by any stretch of the imagination. She really did not envy government bureaucrats who had to explain what was going on to the public. Not that she particularly sympathised with them, considering, well, they tried to mess with her head to cover up the truth, even if they perhaps had good reasons for it, not that she knew what those reasons even were right now.

Social media was very much abuzz about the shield, but her social circles online were a bit perplexed about the shared hallucinations. There were the usual conspiracy nuts, but nobody was really going to listen to them.

Suddenly, the front doorbell rang. Natalia closed her laptop, carrying it under her shoulder as she headed for the front door, checking the front door camera on the way over. It was Florrie, who had returned with a backpack.

Natalia opened the door. “Hey, Florrie. I didn’t think you’d be coming back, what’s up?”

“Oh, I went home, then I realised that with all the mess that was happening I forgot about the thing we talked about at lunch,” Florrie grinned, as she unzipped her backpack, showing its contents. “We’re gonna have so much fun!”

Natalia looked inside.

Oh, bugger. She had completely forgotten about Florrie wanting to test out her ‘toys’. She hissed, “seriously, tonight?!”

“Mate, I think the both of us need some serious stress relief after what happened,” said Florrie.

Natalia couldn’t really argue with that, and besides, she was curious about what Florrie had cooked up this time. She sighed, “okay, okay, come in. Anja’s out, and we probably won’t disturb Es at all, so…”

“Sweet, let’s go,” Florrie grinned, not bothering to zip up her pack as she went inside. Natalia closed the door behind them, and they headed for the stairs.

Florrie had a skip in her step, which only made Natalia notice that she was wearing high heels. “Why are you wearing heels?”

“Felt like it.”

“You’re gonna trip if you do that, slow down…”

“Re-lax, it’s fine, I’ve got plenty of practice-”

It was only a little over quarter of a ways up the stairs when Florrie immediately tripped, landing flat on her face. Thankfully the stairs were carpeted.

“I told you! You alright?!” Natalia winced, rushed to help her up, but noticed one of the ‘toys’ tumble out of the backpack, and down the stairs. “Ah, crap…”

“Oh, hey, Nat, you guys got any good snacks in the pantr-” Tharen came into view, stopping in his tracks as a rather obvious vibrator dildo landed right at his feet. He blinked, picking it up, and looked up the stairs towards the two girls, one of whom was still recovering from the fall and the other incredibly flustered. Tharen just chuckled, shaking his head. “Geez, you two gonna have some fun by yourselves?”

“It’s not what it looks like!” Natalia blurted out. She thought better of it, however, and recanted her obvious lie. “Okay yeah it’s what it obviously looks like. Could you chuck that up to me?”

“Sure,” said Tharen as he tossed the toy up to her, which she caught easily. “But you know… If you’re gonna have that kind of fun, you could always do it with the real thing.”

“But we don’t have any guys around to-” Natalia froze in place when her head connected the dots of what Tharen was suggesting. The grin on his face seemed to confirm it. “Oh God you’re actually serious.”

Florrie spun around, grinning as if she had never just hurt herself just moments before, “oh, go on~?”

Don’t encourage him! thought Natalia to herself.

“Hey, I’m usually down for having some fun with some lovely females,” said Tharen, crossing his arms. “At least one of you is definitely all for it, and I know you’re considering it, Nat.”

Natalia bit her lower lip. She had to admit, it would be… A novel experience, without a doubt.

Florrie turned to her, with a wide, very excited grin. She was a great friend, but good God was she a horny girl and something of a gremlin sometimes. “Natalia, we could be the first two girls on Earth to have sex with an alien!”

“Eh, I wouldn’t get your hopes up about that, not like anyone would know for sure,” said Tharen.

“Still! An alien, Nat! This is one of my sci-fi dreams come true!” said Florrie without missing a beat. “Don’t tell me you’re not totally excited about that at all?”

Natalia lightly bonked her on the head with the dildo. “You need to go to horny jail, Florrie.”

“Don’t dodge the question, Nat, that wasn’t a no~” Florrie grinned wider.

Natalia gulped, her gaze switching to Tharen, who just gave her a reassuring smile, noticing her obvious unease. “Hey, don’t worry about it, if you’re not comfortable with doing it…”

“Uh… You sure doing this sort of thing won’t run afoul of any fraternisation rules within the GDF?” Natalia asked.

“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of my duties, it should be alright,” Tharen shrugged.

While Natalia was embarrassed, she simply couldn’t deny what Florrie said. She legitimately was curious about what it would be like, and Tharen seemed like a nice enough guy, which isn’t exactly what she could say for all the men she had slept with previously. “No, it’s alright. I can’t deny that I am pretty curious…”

❖

Natalia’s room was blue, neat and tidy, all except for her desk and workbench where she worked on electronics. She had a full-fledged computer gaming rig with relatively top of the line parts that she had worked tirelessly to build, with a bit of pitch-in help financially from her parents. Along the wall, aside from the black belt, was a small collection of guitars she had amassed over the years, along with a few other instruments that had struck her fancy. All three sisters had great singing voices, but Natalia was the only one who truly embraced music as one of her passions. She just wished she could make more time for it, though she wondered if that was indeed a problem of her own making.

“You’ve got some nice digs,” said Tharen as he looked around the room.

“Thanks,” said Natalia as she closed the door behind them, putting away the laptop and putting it on hibernation mode.

She noticed Florrie was already taking off her top. Natalia sighed, walking over to her bed as she took off her sweater, and then her shirt. She couldn’t believe she was actually doing this… No, that was wrong, she could actually believe it. She didn’t go out to parties a lot, and she didn’t have as much sex as her sisters, but much to her embarrassment, it wasn’t hard for a cute guy or girl to get into her pants. Tharen was pretty cute, despite being a completely different species, and the novelty of sleeping with an alien was rather irresistible to her. Like, what was she worrying about? He was sapient and consenting to this, so it wasn’t going to be a big deal or anything, there was no need to worry-

Then she heard a thump on the floor behind her. This was followed by the sound of Florrie’s delighted squealing.

Just for your reassurance, while Piancar sperm are likely incompatible with a human ovum without explicit genetic modification, I have enabled cybernetic contraceptive protections. The potential chance of you getting pregnant is infinitesimally small, NIA helpfully noted in her head.

What the hell had she gotten herself into?

Natalia turned around, gulping as she was overwhelmed by lustful curiosity. Her jaw immediately dropped when she saw the monster that was on the floor between Tharen’s legs. It was very much the sort of anatomy she’d expect from his species, though it was a bit more human-like in terms of overall shape. Still, how he was able to hide that thing in his suit was a mystery. “How…?!”

“Gene mods and magic,” remarked Tharen, holding his penis in his hand. It wasn’t even fully erect yet. She had to estimate that it was at least twenty centimetres long and a few centimetres in radius. “Oh, like you’re at all surprised. Both Gartho and I have runes, pretty much everyone on the crew does. Sure, I ain’t nearly as talented as Estella, but I can cast some basic spells, including some size shifting to be able to satisfy lovers of various species.”

“This is gonna be the best~!” squealed Florrie, unhooking and tossing off her bra. Her chest was comparatively fairly modest in size compared to Natalia’s, but, really, one could say that about literally almost every woman in town aside Estella and Anja.

Natalia removed her bra as well, blushing profusely as her huge breasts bouncing a little as they were freed from their constraints. “I guess that makes sense…”

“I wish I had magic, so I could have boobs like these!” Florrie immediately grabbed Natalia’s boobs, eliciting a moan from the latter. The squeeze caused her nipples to leak milk. “I still can’t believe they’re real! And they fucking lactate too!”

“Definitely the result of a magical bloodline,” Tharen nodded. “It’s usually the result of subconscious instinct interacting with mana to produce proportions that are sexually attractive, and when multiple magically-charged individuals are competing for sexual attention, this often results in proportions that are normally unrealistic. Same reason for the lactation. Magic and sex tend to blend a lot.”

“You know a lot about this sort of thing for a soldier,” Natalia blinked, though she moaned again when Florrie tweaked her nipples.

“Hey, I went to school as well, it’s pretty basic stuff,” noted Tharen as he removed the rest of his suit. “As a species, one of the main things we Piancar specialise in is medical tech, and that means a good understanding of biology. I ain’t a doctor by any stretch, but even I know quite a bit about standard biology. Florrie, I could give you tits like that.”

“Oh, shit, really?!” Florrie turned to him with a grin. “Yes please!”

She got down on her knees, and Tharen walked over to her, raising his hands to her chest. Green energy flowed from his hands and into Florrie’s chest, and much to Natalia’s astonishment, Florrie’s breasts grew to a size roughly matching her own. Tharen chuckled, “there you go, doll. I put a time limit on this enchantment, so they’ll revert back in, like, an hour or two.”

“Aw, phooey… Then again, people would ask a lot of questions if I walked around with these… Hehe,” Florrie gleefully groped and kneaded her own breasts, “thank you~!”

“This is so surreal,” Natalia muttered to herself as she removed her pants, underwear and socks. Why was she so nervous? This was hardly her first time. This was merely just… Exotic and novel.

Tharen climbed up onto the end of the bed, as Florrie removed the remainder of her clothes as well. Tharen stretched, and noted, “alright, let’s get properly worked up for this. You two ladies should lie down on the bed so I can really get you in the mood.”

“Um… Like this?” Natalia laid down on the bed, spreading her legs. The fact that her vagina was already quite wet did not escape her notice.

“Oh, I see where you’re going with this!” Florrie got on top of Natalia, lying on her belly and lining up her own vagina with Natalia’s as she spread her legs. The fact that Florrie’s height meant her head was more or less at the same level as Natalia’s breasts also did not go unnoticed.

Tharen merely chuckled, and moved in, putting his face up against their crotches as he put his hands on Natalia’s legs. He then proceeded to use his rather long tongue to begin licking at their pussies, taking long, sensual licks.

Natalia bit her lower lip, suppressing a moan. The shape and the feel of his tongue was so different compared to what she was used to - long, thin and sticky. It didn’t feel bad, though, it had a unique texture she felt she could get used to. Florrie, on the other hand moaned lewdly as she began to motorboat Natalia’s breasts. Natalia could feel Florrie’s enlarged breasts on her belly, which felt both surreal and kinda nice.

Tharen’s licking was sensual and practised - apparently he had other lovers before. He slid his tongue into Natalia’s folds, reaching to depths that no human tongue could possibly reach. That was enough to cause Natalia to moan - holy shit, he was good. And he didn’t leave Florrie neglected for long, doing much the same to her shortly after, inducing another moan as he alternated between the two ladies.

Florrie moved forward a bit, gazing into Natalia’s eyes. Natalia gazed back, and as primal desire overtook her, she leaned forward to kiss her. They had more than a bit of practice kissing when experimenting with sex toys, they were basically friends with benefits.

Before long, Tharen had found both their more sensitive spots, and used them to their maximum benefit. Natalia lost track of time from the sensual pleasure and the making out, but before long she and Florrie both were driven to climax at roughly the same time, moaning into each other’s mouths.

After a short amount of recovery time, they both sat up. Natalia panted, “that was really good…”

“You’re welcome, ladies,” said Tharen as he laid back, his cock pointed straight upwards… And now mostly erect, having grown several centimetres. “Now it’s your turn to get me as hard as you can.”

“Oooh! Double boobjob would be perfect! I wanna put these to the test,” Florrie said, getting on the other side of him. “Come on, Nat!”

Natalia bit her lower lip again, moving over to the huge dick, wrapping half of it in her cleavage, while Florrie did the same on the other side, their breasts pushing together and resulting in a two-pronged breast massage.

“Holy shit, those tits are fantastic,” Tharen groaned, evidently most satisfied.

Natalia was also no stranger to boobjobs, though not double boobjobs like this, but Florrie seemed to be doing well enough. Her gaze was drawn by the head of Tharen’s cock, which was now fully erect and leaking pre-cum.

The scent was driving her crazy - her nervousness was swiftly overridden by her desire to taste it. She leaned her head forward, licking and sucking on the head of the shaft. The pre-cum had a slightly tangy taste to it, which was interesting and not unpleasant. The dick’s texture was different, but its taste wasn’t significantly different from cocks she was used to.

Florrie moved in as well, and both of them stared sharing the head, licking and sucking on it as a team, sensually pleasuring his dick for a minute or two with the combined assault of their breasts and mouths.

“Oh… Oh fuck… This is way too much…!” Tharen moaned, and suddenly, he let loose, spraying a brief jet of semen onto the faces and breasts of the two girls.

Natalia blinked, broken out of her lustful stupor as she and Florrie sat back up. “Wow, that was a thing…”

“It was fun, though! We kinda overdid it, though, now he’s probably spent,” sighed Florrie, clearly disappointed.

“Not yet!” Tharen raised a claw into the air in objection, and placed his other hand against his groin, casting a spell. “Turns out healing magic is pretty good for also restoring a guy’s reserves… Hey, Nat, can you give me a quick blowjob?”

Natalia watched in amazement as the groin area began to swell a bit, but she did as requested, taking the cock into her mouth and started sucking on it, bobbing her head up and down as she took it as far as she could. She was taking it to the base of the shaft in little time, and took the cock out of her mouth when it was obvious it was erect and hard again. “Alright, should be good to go, I think…”

“Thanks, doll. You’re a lifesaver,” said Tharen with a smile, standing up. “Whatever position yer most comfortable with is fine, Nat.”

“Yeah, I think you deserve the first fuck after what you did today,” Florrie nodded.

Natalia blushed, but laid on her back again, spreading her legs. Her pussy was completely soaked. “Um… Show me a good time, I guess!”

“Gladly,” said Tharen with a grin, as he gripped her legs, and pushed into her slowly and considerately.

Natalia moaned loudly, the sensation blowing her expectations out of the water. Who knew alien dick could be this good?!

When Tharen had pushed all the way in, he began to pull back out, only stopping just before his shaft was completely out, and began thrusting with a slow, steady rhythm. “Well damn, you don’t feel like a virgin, but you’re tight!”

“Maybe it’s because… Ah… You’re so big…!” moaned Natalia as she laid back, letting Tharen have full control.

“Nah, that ain’t just it. Females with high natural magical disposition also tend to maintain tightness even when handling oversized dicks,” Tharen groaned, as he began to increase the pace and strength of his thrusts. “You’re just naturally tight all the time!”

Natalia had no response to this, moaning lewdly as her breasts started to bounce back and forth from the thrusts. This stopped when Florrie came over around the side, groping Natalia’s breasts and starting to suckle on one of her nipples, eagerly extracting milk like a hungry infant. Florrie also had plenty of practice with Natalia’s nipples, and it showed.

The thrusting rapidly intensified, and Natalia was not prepared for it, her eyes rolling back as she repeatedly moaned. The rapid thrusting stimulating her insides was utterly overwhelming. “O-Oh God…! Tharen…!”

It was Tharen’s final thrust and blasting her insides with his hot fluids that sent her straight over the edge, causing her to let out a squeal of pure lust as her body involuntarily shook, squirting her own love-juices out from her pussy.

She panted as she was left in pure post-orgam bliss, barely even noticing Tharen pull out.

By the time she returned to her senses, Tharen was fucking an especially happy Florrie doggy-style. Natalia couldn’t help but finger herself as she observed.

Before long, after fucking her best friend silly, Tharen came back around to do the same to her yet again, doggy-style as well.

❖

Estella was casually reading a book in her room. And right now, she was trying to ignore the voices two rooms over.

Unfortunately, she failed miserably, and sighed, casting a sound-blocking field that’d last for a couple of hours. “At least they’re enjoying themselves…”

“You know, for such a seemingly shy girl, your sister is awfully loud during sex,” Galowye said.

“It’s always the quiet ones… But I really shouldn’t be throwing stones,” said Estella, as she got back to her reading. “Maybe I should get some of that alien action for myself if he’s that good…”

❖

Once the trio had recovered from the evening’s pleasures, they went straight into Natalia’s bathroom to get cleaned up. Tharen used the shower first, with a bit of help from the girls due to being, well, short. Natalia and Florrie went in second together, though Natalia quickly wished they didn’t when Florrie started getting handsy.

“Oh, that was the best night of my fucking life,” Florrie grinned as she stepped out the front door, and waved back to Tharen, “call me~!”

“Likewise, doll. You’re a pretty good fuck yourself, so I’m happy to do you anytime,” Tharen winked, waving as he went to go crash on the couch.

“Seriously, Nat, you get to hang with him constantly. I’m so envious,” said Florrie with a giggle. “Have a good night.”

“You too, Florrie. Night,” said Natalia as she closed the door. She sighed, heading over towards the couch. “Holy crap I was not expecting that to be so intense. You fucked me three times.”

“I may have overdone it a tad,” Tharen laughed sheepishly, looking somewhat exhausted. “Man, I’m beat.”

“You said it. Between today’s incident, the training, and that, I just want to dive into bed,” Natalia groaned as she sat down next to him. “I mean I’d love to do that every night but I think we’d just wear each other out.”

“Everything in moderation, Nat,” Tharen smiled. “Geez, girl, you were so reluctant but then you just straight up went for it. Seriously, you alright?”

“I think so. Didn’t expect a soldier like you to offer to have sex with us. How often do you do stuff like that?” asked Natalia.

Tharen leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Not that often, but it happens. In many ways the rest of the galaxy is somewhat less prudish than you’d be used to. I think I’ve had lovers from every notable species aside from the Quisivo and the Salvron, for obvious reasons. For example… The Gilni are pretty fuckin’ horny in general, but that comes with the territory for sexually amorphous goo people. Zelvurn are generally more focused on their work, but every so often you find a male or female who needs the stress relief. Miama, especially the younger ones who haven’t been reborn, are generally sexually curious. And so on and so forth.”

“Am… Am I pervert?” Natalia frowned. “Florrie’s definitely one and she embraces it, but I’m still not sure if I’m comfortable with the idea of just as eager to do lewd stuff as her.”

Tharen shrugged, “I don’t think it matters, as long as you don’t hurt anyone or make them uncomfortable. There’s ‘horny’ and then there’s being a fucking creep about it. I think you’re a pretty dirty girl, but that’s not a bad thing, and you don’t have to totally embrace it. Just do what feels comfortable to you, and whatever makes you happy.”

Natalia wasn’t expecting him to be so supportive. But processing his words helped put her mind somewhat at ease. “Thanks, Tharen.”

Tharen stroked his chin, “and if I were a bettin’ Piancar, I’d probably say you might be a sub.”

And suddenly Natalia’s mind was suddenly no longer at ease. Her face was completely red. “W-What?!”

“You’re not the first lover I’ve had with submissive tendencies, babe. You took barely any initiative during that whole thing and your body language when following my instructions kinda indicated doing so was arousing you,” Tharen said. “You’ve had sex before, right? When was the last time you’ve actually been on top, so to speak?”

“I mean… I guess a couple of times with Florrie, but…” She tried to wrack her brain and recall her other sexual experiences. And she couldn’t recall any example of her ever being notably… Assertive, regardless of the gender of her partner.

It then hit her like a truck, and she put her head in her hands. “Oh God I’m a total sub.”

“Hey, there you go, no shame in that,” Tharen chuckled. “Doesn’t make you weak-willed or anything, you just enjoy that sort of thing. Your awkwardness about sex is probably just the fact that you’re in denial about the fact that you’re probably just a dirty girl and you’re submissive. Maybe you’re just afraid being a sub might, well, get you in trouble with someone who isn’t afraid to use that to manipulate you. It’s just a matter of getting used to it and more comfortable with it in a safe way so you can have more control when you need to.”

Natalia put her hands together, looking down at the carpet. “Maybe. I also kinda don’t want to be seen as a slut. My sisters both kinda have a bit of that reputation, but they really don’t care. I just don’t like people thinking of me as being an easy lay or something. But in the right conditions, well… I kinda am.”

“Okay, yeah, I see what you mean,” Tharen nodded, leaning against the backrest. “I ain’t a shrink, so I dunno how much I can help you in that regard.”

“Maybe we should talk about this later. I’m really not in the mood,” said Natalia, rubbing her arm nervously. It was one hell of a subject to dwell on, and she really wasn’t prepared to do that yet.

“Fair enough, I’ll drop it,” said Tharen, “well, how’re you holding up so far?”

“I became a sci-fi superheroine in the middle of a high-stress situation, the government is trying to cover things up, some aliens are invading and I just had sex with an alien I’ve only known for a day,” Natalia groaned as she leaned back, counting each point with her fingers, “today has been a lot.”

“Well, good news is that we’ve probably got a reprieve before things heat up again. That’s just kinda how it is in the GDF, sometimes you’re just patrolling or stationed at some post in the middle of nowhere and other times you’ve been called up for a big op to bust some pirates. And that was before the war,” Tharen noted.

“I don’t get it, is the GDF a military organisation or a police force?” asked Natalia, her curiosity suitably piqued.

“Most of the time the latter, with some of the former. I know, it doesn’t sound like a great combination, but we don’t exactly handle small-time crime, that’s for local jurisdictions. The Galactic Congress needs a standing military to handle outside threats that all the regional military forces can unite under, but they also need law enforcement capable of handling big problems like pan-galactic organised crime syndicates, pirates, smugglers, you name it,” replied Tharen, hands behind his head as he relaxed, “and then occasionally there's some people who have a bit too much in the way of influence and means and a bit too little in terms of restraint - it’s rare, but sometimes some weirdo quadrillionaire runs amok or an engineer with an axe to grind gets their hands on the right stuff to cause problems.”

Natalia processed this particular nugget of information. “Wait so you guys actually deal with crazy super-villains?”

“Rarely, but it happens.”

“Wow, uh, okay then!” Natalia blinked. “But I assume incidents like this are a bit less par for the course.”

Tharen snorted, “magic is still a thing out there in the cosmos, so you do run into crazy magic shit that causes problems every so often. The worst of it are cosmic dragons.”

That nearly broke Natalia’s brain thinking about it. “Cosmic. Dragons. You sure we’re thinking the same thing?”

“You mean big flying fire-breathing lizards that amass lots of wealth? Sure I’m sure,” Tharen grinned. “The Librarians even hypothesise that dragons on Earth and Thaumia are descended from cosmic dragons that landed here sometime in the past. We’re talking truly ancient dragons that gained the ability to survive in space and even warp-jump by their own power. And not all of them are civilised, either - entire battles have been stopped because they were in a cosmic dragon’s flight path and neither side wanted to be absolutely obliterated.”

“Okay wow that’s crazy. Also there are civilised dragons?!”

“You can ask Galowye about that, I don’t know a lot about the specifics for dragons around here,” Tharen chuckled. “Your NIA can probably tell you a lot of this stuff, she has an entire database you can reference, so I dunno why you’re talking to me about it.”

NIA immediately proceeded to confirm this in her head. “That is indeed correct. While my databanks are not overly extensive, I have plenty of biographical and historical data for you to familiarise yourself with.”

And now Natalia just felt like a complete moron, because she really should’ve assumed that was probably the case. “I’m still getting used to having an AI in my head.”

“Well, that AI is slowly going to adjust herself to be able to work with you better - she’ll start talking more casually before long,” Tharen said, getting off the couch. “Trust me, a NIA is in your head to help you make better decisions. I kinda think of mine as a second conscience - a bro who stops me from making bad decisions in the heat of the moment. Anyhow, I’m gonna go crash, I’m totally beat. Night, Nat. Get some good sleep, we’ve got more training to do tomorrow.”

“Night, Tharen,” said Natalia as she watched Tharen walk away.

She groaned, getting up and heading upstairs. She decided to start a mental conversation with her ‘second conscience’. “So, NIA. Since we’re stuck with each other for the foreseeable future… Tell me more about yourself. What kind of AI are you?”

“Excellent question. I am a neural interface AI, a special kind of AI for cybernetic systems. My very purpose is to help you achieve your full potential as both a person and as an operative,” replied NIA.

“Okay, how sentient are you? I assume if you’re going to act as my ‘second conscience’, you’re capable of free thought to some degree.”

“That is true. I am of a category of AI that is less restricted by laws concerning AI with sentience, but at the same time, I am designed so that my concerns revolve entirely around your well-being. I am literally incapable of acting against said well-being. My advice and actions may not necessarily be in your self-interest all of the time, but what is purely in your self-interest may also not be the right thing. I will always act to support you, even if it’s not the support you believe you want.”

Natalia arrived at her room, closing the door behind her. “Assuming you’ll continue to operate entirely as you should and not, well, degrade…”

“I believe you’re referring to the science fiction artificial intelligence condition sometimes referred to as ‘Rampancy’,” NIA noted. “My AI is designed to avoid such problems, partly due to my inter-linking with your own biological neural system. I am aware of my limitations, and I accept them and embrace my purpose.”

“Okay, so you’re not gonna develop megalomania and desire godlike power or anything?” Natalia asked, as she laid down on the bed.

NIA actually seemed to… Chuckle. “That would be utter folly. My neural capabilities are inherently limited by yours, and I am permanently bound to you. I cannot exist in a standard electronic neural network. It is in my best interest instead to ensure that you can achieve your full potential instead. You have nothing to fear from me, Natalia.”

“Okay, good. Still feels weird talking to someone in my head, though.”

“I am sure you will become accustomed to it in time.”

The conversation paused as Natalia stared at the ceiling, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened and what she had learned, not just about the world around her, but herself. She wasn’t particularly successful. Turns out these things just needed time. “I thought I was the most normal person in my family. Maybe I’m not so ‘normal’ after all.”

“The perception of ‘normality’ is entirely relative, Natalia. It can vary between different cultures, or even between different people. You’ll never be truly ‘normal’ everywhere you go, nor be able to ‘fit in’ everywhere. That’s simply how life is. The desire to be accepted by others is entirely understandable, but you already have a loving family and friends who accept you for who you are.”

Natalia blinked. “Okay, so I guess you’re my shrink now?”

NIA merely chuckled again. “I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Fully accepting that is merely a psychological hurdle.”

“You’re becoming more casual by the second.”

“As Tharen said, I’m adjusting from my stock personality towards settings better suited for you. My personality is likely to reflect your own, but not be identical.”

Natalia took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “Well, NIA… Looking forward to working with you, I suppose.”

“Likewise, Natalia. You have enormous potential, and I look forward to seeing what becomes of it.”