April 3rd, 032 SDE:
Countryman tapped on the keys as he reviewed Ruri’s latest report on the storm. It was enough to detail when the next surfacing would occur. They’d been stuck here twenty-seven years, been through two surfacing events, the first in 014 SDE and the second in 025 SDE roughly a decade apart. The first cycle had been 9 years, the second 11, and right now this was their third in the storm. So far they’d dealt serious damage to the Enterprise with each attempt to leave the storm. The last attempt in 025 hadn’t gone as well as they would have liked, rather than risk the storm surfacing while they were in the rim again, they’d left Anchorage early and tried to reach the rim before the storm surfaced, but despite improvements in sensors and navigation technology, they’d still taken a hit from an eddy. Several in fact, and been forced to turn back for repairs. So far they were seven years into the third cycle and they still had no better plan for escaping the storm. Rather than give up they were focusing on studying the storm and working out a better plan to leave. Of course there was also an upcoming diplomatic meeting, representatives from the Drifters were going to be there, but also interestingly enough the Bresh’i Hive was going to be present. From what he could gather a new faction war was brewing.
He had no intention of getting involved; he had more than half a million people to worry about: the result of their baby boom. Growth rates were down compared to when they arrived but still higher than human norms. Litter sizes were up compared to human norms as well, and it likely wasn’t going to change back. Robins had identified a new gene that drastically increased the rate of twins, triplets and quadruplets. Thankfully, litters larger than four remained quite rare. They’d also found other changes. During puberty they started releasing a potent pheromone that not only signaled readiness to mate but drove others to be ready to mate. Older people could resist the urges and control them but it made young teens incredibly horny. As a result, they’d seen a massive spike in teen pregnancy rates among other things. Well, at least until Robins found a solution, so far his fix seemed to work.
He’d turned to targeted engineering, taking advantage of their mutations, they’d introduced a gene that made them immune to their own pheromones. Compatible aliens like the Gyn’ri however were quite subject to their effects and there had been a little interbreeding between their two species as a result. It wasn’t the only change they’d seen in their genome. The gender skew mutation was permanent, over the last few years they’d confirmed that for every male born there were about five females. Not only that, but as a general trend they also tended to be smaller than humans of the past were. The average height of a mature female had dropped from about 170 centimeters to 135 centimeters, meanwhile, males which previously averaged around 190, typically measured around 155 centimeters.
Size wasn’t the only change, they’d noted significant internal changes. Musculature had become denser, yet strangely lighter. By all metrics they were twenty to thirty percent stronger and faster than the average human. The most notable changes were in their back muscles, oddly enough and their legs. Letting them run and kick harder and faster than even a peak human specimen from a few years back. Bone structure had changed greatly, the original material structure had completely changed into a highly complex organic polymer structure that was half the weight of conventional bone but yet somehow stronger than any known alloy. Robins had joked at the time that they now had the bones of a legendary dragon, which had strangely stuck; the material of their bones was now called dragon bone.
The internal changes hadn’t stopped there. It had progressed to their organs. Brain tissue density has been rising steadily over the last few decades, leading to increasing leaps in intellectual ability. This hadn’t necessarily made people smarter, as they were still prone to doing stupid shit, but when they applied themselves intellectual pursuits came easier. This had come as a great boon to the research labs, where intellectual ability was prized. More recently people had started displaying weak psionic abilities, picking up on thoughts and emotion and being able to move small objects with a thought.
Other changes to their organs included a larger heart, more complex lung structure, additional primary arteries and veins, and significant alterations to the digestive system allowing them to extract more energy from food. A new complex plasma organ running through their abdomen and throat had also formed that produced a charged bioplasma that among other things allowed them to discharge electrical energy like an eel but at significantly higher voltages, they were talking around a hundred thousand volts or more in some cases. Robins had noted that the organ in all people he’d examined appeared to be underdeveloped as if hadn’t finished. Based on his scans of people since the organ appeared and first became useful, he thinks additional abilities will appear over the next few decades. Their immune system had also changed, becoming more aggressive and effective at eliminating pathogens, while their ability to heal from physical wounds had also improved.
One of his favorite changes was their skin, various changes to subcutaneous pigment sacs and the addition of new subcutaneous plasma sacs had resulted in an ability rarely found outside of plants. They’d gained the ability to draw nutrients from light. Not enough to sustain them, they were more akin to carnivorous plants than your average tree. Even their dietary requirements had changed. Not only that, but it was harder and harder to separate the Valorians from the humans, both species had effectively become different phenotypes of the same species. Yet they had no name for the species they were becoming.
Suddenly his door opened, “Daddy? Have you seen my panties?”
He turned and blinked, Rika had blossomed into a lovely young woman and it was hard to believe but she was moving out to start her own family soon. Then again she was 27, almost 28 years old. Yet at the moment, she stood in his door entirely bottomless and not even trying to hide her privates. He sighed, unfortunately, she’d inherited her mother’s sense of modesty and that was unfortunately true of all his daughters. Rika stood at a hundred and forty centimeters tall, and she had naturally blue hair. Not a color she’d been born with, but a post-birth mutation that had occurred around puberty but her eyes remained a lovely shade of brown and she had an athletic body, a runner’s build as the girl enjoyed running. He sighed, “No Rika, I haven’t seen your panties. Did you ask Rose? She was doing the laundry.”
“She hasn’t seen them either, I was hoping you had, since I’d been having sex in here, I thought maybe I left them in your bedroom.”
Countryman blinked twice, then sighed. “In my bed!? Again? Haven’t I told you...”
“I know, but it’s just sex daddy, you have it with Ruri and Vera all the time,” replied Rika. “Oh right, and Mom wanted me to tell you she’s found a lovely young lady she wants to invite to bed with you.”
Countryman groaned, “Of course she did. I have enough trouble with two wives. I don’t need a third.”
“But I’d love having more sisters!”
Countryman closed the console, turned around and sighed, “Come on, lets find your panties so you can get dressed and out of my hair. Then I’m going to find your mother and talk some sense into her.”
Rika giggled, “Good luck! You know how clueless mom is.”
Countryman gave her a look, “Yes, but you aren’t. So remind me again, why do you keep using my bed?”
“It’s just sex Dad, not a big deal.”
Countryman dropped it, it wasn’t a line of thought he was used to but youngsters these days didn’t make a big deal of sex. It was a commonplace and socially accepted way to pass the time and might also factor into why they were growing like weeds. “Fine, fine, but next time use your bed.”
“But I like your bed more, it’s bigger. More space to have fun in!”
“I guess it’s a good thing you are finally getting your own place then.”
“I’ll still come by and visit my sisters. Maybe have some sex while I’m over, we can share our friends!”
He sighed, already guessing what she was about to tell him, “Right, so when is the next sex party?”
“Oh next Tuesday, all our friends are coming.”
“Just clean up after,” he groaned. “Rose works hard enough to keep this place presentable. I don’t need it smelling like a sex party.”
“Sure thing, Dad!”
Countryman briefly considered talking to Robin about curbing his daughter’s sex drive. Just a little, but he wasn’t the only parent dealing with hyperactive sex drives. The Pheromone part might have been solved but they still had hyperactive sex drives.
Noticing something, he leaned down, then unlatched the bolts of his nightstand and moved to the left to reveal a small piece of blue cloth between the bed and the nightstand. Said cloth was stained with dried love juices. Raising it up, “Here they are, now get!”
“Thanks Dad!” she said before rushing out of the room. Countryman watched her go, then turned to resecure his nightstand. Just as he was finishing, there was a beep from his desk.
Walking over, he checked the monitor to see a new message had come in. Sir, can you meet me down in the brig? There has been an incident, and I’m not sure how to charge this one. It's technically not illegal, but the victim is understandably quite upset. I think we might have to discuss this one in council and write new laws.
It was signed, security chief and council member, April Baker. Countryman sent off a response, then went to change out of casual off-duty clothes and into his uniform.
About an hour later Countryman passed through the main blast doors into the brig. A guard at the duty desk noticed him come in, “Baker is in her office and told me to expect you.”
“Thank you,” he replied before taking the hall towards the security office, where he found Baker waiting for him.
She looked up from her desk with a frustrated look on her face, “Glad you could come down so quickly.”
“Right so what was the new incident?”
She groaned, “A nasty violation that we don’t have any laws against, the poor victim had her mind invaded by another young lady. I can’t think of any other way to describe it than as some perverse new form of rape.”
Countryman blinked and took a chair, “That’s a nasty thought.”
Smith gave him a look, “Tell me about it. I have one lady in tears, and another all proud of herself,” she let out a breath, “Can’t say I’m entirely surprised this happened,” she grabbed something off her desk and threw it at him. Countryman caught it, but before he could look she was talking more, “All those new mental abilities? It was only natural someone would use them for causing trouble sooner or later. I just wish we’d drafted something before it happened.”
Countryman read the item he’d been tossed, a fresh medical report. “We did discuss it.”
“I know, I know! I’m just frustrated by this, it isn’t right.”
“No it isn’t, the mind is sacred and we need to make sure the young folk understand that.”
“So how do you want to charge this one?”
“Well you said it yourself, its a form of a rape. This new crime of mind rape should be charged accordingly.”
“So we make an example of the young lady? Some might not approve of a harsh punishment.”
“Perhaps not, but we must present a firm stance on this. Otherwise we only encourage further incidents. Would you want your daughter to be mind raped? I certainly don’t want that,” said Countryman, his tone turning harsh.”
She flushed, “No! I wouldn’t want that. You’re right, an example must be made.”
“Then we are agreed, we only need to convince the council and decide on what form that punishment will take.”
“Robins might have a few ideas, but yes, it does seem we are agreed.” She glanced at her monitor, “What do you want me to do with the culprit?”
“Hold her for now,” said Countryman, “I’m going to convene the council
As it would turn out the council would quickly agree on a punishment, a public lashing followed by an injection of a drug found to suppress psychic ability. Prolonged exposure wasn’t recommended due to Robin’s tests with the drug, but a month was doable. She’d heal from the lashing, likely wouldn’t even scar thanks to the enhanced healing factor they all enjoyed. But the pain would leave a mark, and the drug would keep her from using her abilities for a month. During that time frame, she’d be consigned to the brig for reeducation classes and community service.
They were also drafting a law to specifically forbid mind rape and detail out proper punishments for those caught violating the sanctity of another’s mind. This was a crime they couldn’t ignore.