The Afflicted

"Oh Claude!" moaned Frederique.

They were back. The silence was gone. They were back in the present, making love to each other. Claude was still taking his long strokes into her and she was still clinging to him passionately.

"Oh, mother," he moaned. "Oh, Frederique."

Their bodies were drenched in perspiration, but it simply added to it all, lubricating the motion of their bodies.

"Are you ready, my love?"

"Yes," groaned Claude.

"Then it is time," she whispered.

They were so connected; she didn't even wait for Claude to release. She reached down into his system and unlatched the gate blocking his white lively fluid.

On the next spasm of his cock, the first huge gush arrived. She was so aware of it; she could physically feel the blast splash against her elevated cervix. The hot fluid spurned on her own penultimate climax.

"Yes, Claude, yes," she moaned. "Give me more!"

He complied with her wishes and that blast was followed by another and another. She gripped so hard at the sheets that she actually tore handfuls of fabric from it. The feeling of her son's beautiful cum and his massive cock inside of her gave her infinite pleasure.

His manhood retreated, then slid in again, sloshing into the growing pool of seed. With Jacob, she had asked, but now she ordered directly: Claude's cock shrank down to its standard, impressive stiffness. She clamped herself tightly around the base, but kept room in her chamber for even more of his semen to pour within.

"More," she moaned. "Give mama as much as you can, and even more after that."

"Anything for you, mother," he groaned.

Wave after wave after wave gushed into her and it still wasn't enough. She was ravenous and there was only one thing that would satiate her hunger. His seed was filling the very place where his life had taken shape and that knowledge seemed to spurn her pleasure on.

"More," she moaned. "More, my darling."

He urged his system on, doing his best to milk every drop he could. With one final scream of pleasure, he poured the last he could and fell on top of her, panting with exhaustion.

"Well done, my lover," she murmured into his ear. "Very well done."

A few moments later, he started to get up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Water," he moaned. "I'm dying of thirst."

"Oh, don't go," she implored him. "Stay here, inside of me."

"But..."

"Come here, my boy," she purred. "I'll quench your thirst."

She pushed his mouth down to the place they both enjoyed. His lips pulled hungrily at her breast and she gasped as the stimulation brought a final wave of climax through her system.

"So good," she murmured. "So, so good."

His parched throat eased, Claude lay down and they adjusted their bodies in a way that they could sleep comfortably while Claude still stayed inside of her. Claude, justifiably, surrendered to sleep within a few seconds.

For Frederique, however, the warm comfort of sleep would descend more slowly. As she lay with her son-now-mate-and-lover in her arms, she realized she couldn't recall a time when she had ever been so peaceful and happy. She was full of life. Her body was singing with the universe in ways she had never felt. Her lover's cock was still pulsing and hard within her. Glowing within her womb was an effervescent pool of life. Closing her eyes, she could envision the blue glow of life teeming within her belly. These seeds of life were slowly dying, but as they did, each cell fired off a burst into her body, passing on its energy to her grateful system. Tiny though it was, she felt her system reinvigorated by each flash.

She knew this would be a thirst that would never be quenched. The seed of her mates would forever be a touchstone of existence. They would feed her and she would feed them; their bodies would sustain each other.

Her eyelids finally began to drift closed. Her mind reached out once more in search of her other mates. Her sisters smiled in their sleep at feeling her touch. The cocks of the other males stiffened at the gentle caress of her thoughts.

She fell asleep in Claude's strong arms, her son's cock still buried within her.

CHAPTER 21

TWO MONTHS LATER

The Seven had set up a permanent residence in the Governor's Chamber. In truth it wasn't a simple chamber but a suite of rooms that provided ample space while also allowing for privacy (though that need wasn't all that high). Their lovemaking had been frequent and wonderful. The women's bodies had become even more stunning and the men's physiques had followed suit.

They had discovered that there were limits to what their bodies could do... the hyper-tumescence allowed the young men to expand to over 15 inches, but not much more. The women's bodies could only accommodate them so far, and after that there was no room regardless of how flexible or expandable their new interiors were. Nobody was complaining.

On this day, the boys were near Cape Town, South Africa. On a jump to Hawaii, they had discovered something called surfing and it was now their mission to travel at least one day out of the week to discover new places to surf. Though they could now travel by day, they found that surfing at night gave them greater anonymity. With their long wooden boards, they popped in and out all over the globe. Martin was currently working on inventing a lighter type of board with a hollow interior.

This evening, the boys were reveling beneath the moonlight at Cape, St. Francis, where the waves seemed to never end.

At the same time, Frederique was visiting the lovely Cora, who needed counsel now and again on adjusting to the ways of the Afflicted.

"You three!" shouted Aimée's voice in the boys' minds. "We need you home. Now!"

"In a little while," complained Claude. "This is the perfect spot, and..."

"I don't give a damn about it; you have all of eternity to get better at this surfing thing. This is important. Get back here, NOW!"

Her tone left no room for argument. The boys grabbed their boards and deplaced to a freshwater stream to rinse the saltwater from them, then back to the Governor's chamber.

Frederique, too, had received an anxious call from Abby, but the empath would not reveal what it was about. She excused herself from Cora and jumped back to their home in Dougga.

She arrived to find Aimée standing with hands-on-hips, confronting Claude.

"How could you?" shouted Aimée.

"How could I what?" asked Claude. "I have no idea what you are going on about."

Frederique tried to reach out and discover the source of Aimée's irritation, but she was met with a steel door in her daughter's mind.

"Come with me!" said Aimée, giving an angry nod of her head for the young men and Frederique to follow her.

They walked into what had been the governor's office and were met by quite a crowd. Galen was there with Colette, as were Pasteur and Jeannie. Palo stood with Seiko, both of them beaming, seated quietly in chairs to one side were Jessamine, Monshellen (Glennis's egg mother), and Brana. Their moods were hard to read.

Glennis and Abby were seated on the other side with folded arms and fairly angry expressions.

"Would you mind telling us what's going on?" asked Jacob.

"Sit!" screamed Aimée.

Abby pointed to three separate chairs. The boys did not argue and sat down fearfully. They had never seen such rage in Aimée, at least not since their mating.

Frederique went to sit with the girls and put a soothing hand to Aimée's arm.

"Now then, dear. What is this about?"

"Well, mother," said Aimée through gritted teeth. "How do you feel about being a stepmother... and a grandmother? I suppose that's what it means if you look at it accurately."

"Stepmother?"

"Yes, our virile young men there have conspired to sire some children! One apiece."

"What?" said Frederique. She had an inscrutable look of puzzlement on her face. "Do you mean, you, my sisters?"

"No! It's not us," said Abby. "It's them."

She pointed an accusing finger at Jessamine, Monshellen, and Brana. The three blushed, but didn't look all that ashamed. There was actually more an air of pride in their eyes.

"Them, but..."

"It turns out your new cells are more deviously clever than even I could have foreseen," said Galen. "I never would have predicted that your hybrid cells would be compatible with an Afflicted woman's, nor an Elder's. However, the seed of these young men doesn't seem to care much for my opinion of cellular structure or whether they are technically another species. Those little swimmers had a job to do, and they did it."

"When did this happen?" asked Frederique.

"At the liaisongangen," said Monshellen, shyly.

The lovely blond woman from the Elder race was blushing fiercely and could not look up to meet their eyes.

"Madame Villepreux-Power has confirmed mine to be Martin's child. I coupled with Martin just the once, but it seems that is all it took."

"What about you two?" said Frederique to Brana and Jessamine. "Didn't you use the precaution?"

"Of course I did..." said Brana, but there was a hesitation in her voice. "Well, I did with everyone else. Claude was my last at the gathering and I didn't bother because of what Galen had said."

"It was similar with me," said Jessamine. "Jacob was my last after many men. I still remember floating there in the water with his warm seed inside of me. It felt so nice it didn't even occur to me to use the precaution."

"How could you do this!?" Aimée demanded of the young men.

"Now Aimée, I think you know very well how we did it," said Jacob.

"Don't you get smart with me, Jacob," said Aimée.

The other two girls were just as flummoxed, but they were reacting differently. Abby, with her innate empathy was reacting to the pride she sensed in the three pregnant women while also wrestling with the odd mix of happiness and jealousy in her own mind. She was certainly overjoyed that her mates were going to be having children, but there was that part of her that wished she might have been the first to bear a child with one of them... especially Jacob.

Glennis was more accepting of the fact. Perhaps because she came from a race that had been mostly childless, to see her egg-mother flushed with the pride of motherhood was joyous in its own right.

Most visibly shaken, was Frederique. Abby sensed it and she went to her bloodsister's side.

"Frederique, what is it? What bothers you so?"

"I need to talk with Galen, and the other doctors. Please, come with me sisters."

The beautiful warrior stood and walked to a private bedchamber, not even looking to assure that the others followed. They did. The boys were left to offer clumsy congratulations to the Afflicted women who were now bearing their children.

In the bedroom, they shut the door.

"Throw up a block," said Frederique to Abby. "I want to be sure the boys do not know what we discuss in here."

"Of course, Frederique," said Abby calmly.

The empath threw up a mental shield and they were isolated within the room.

"Now, what is bothering you, Frederique," asked Galen.

Frederique brushed tears from her eyes.

"I... I was with child," she said. "At the liaisongangen I took each of my new mates to a bed and I welcomed their seed within me. I was determined to have children as soon as possible. I even bade my body to release three eggs and I felt each one take life. I was certain that in nine months' time I would be delivering triplets, one from each father. Yet, by the next morning I could not feel the life there anymore. Just as quickly as I was with child, it was gone... and don't question me on this, doctors. I know what happened."

"I believe you," said Galen.

"Then what is it? Has something gone wrong? Will these new bodies of ours never bear children?"

"Hush," said Galen. "I could never see that happening. As full of life as you are, I am truly surprised that the four of you aren't already pregnant, even with the precaution. Let me examine you and we will find out the truth."

They laid Frederique back on the bed and her clothing was removed. Four doctors laid hands upon her and their minds examined every aspect of her reproductive system. Galen, Jeannie, Colette, and Pasteur all put their profound knowledge to use and examined every aspect of her system.

They looked for almost a quarter hour and then stepped aside for a conference. With such serious matters, none of the women felt it was in order to eavesdrop. At last, Galen stepped forward with a calm smile on his face.

"First, Frederique, you must know that nothing horrible happened when the fertilized eggs did not grow. At this very moment, all throughout the world, countless women have conceived, their bodies have determined the pregnancy isn't viable, and the fertilized ova has been reabsorbed into the body. It is the body's natural way and it happens far more often than you think. You were simply aware of conceiving, is all."

Jeannie picked up the thread of conversation. "For you, we are fairly certain what happened." She looked at all four of the women. "You are all continuing to change. Though your initial transformation was abrupt and dramatic, it is no simple thing for a body to alter itself to the very core. For the young men, they produce their seed at a rapid rate and within one or two ejaculations, they had cleansed their systems of mere Afflicted sperm cells and were soon producing 'new' sperm cells that echo the cellular code of your kind."

Pasteur spoke next. "However, women's bodies are different. When we re-awoke the reproductive systems of the Elders, it was just that, waking their bodies up again. With you, there were still several developed cells in your bodies that retained your old genetic code. For whatever reason, your altered systems have decided to wait. It seems they wish to wait until you are producing cells that are absolutely and undeniably encoded with your new form before they will allow conception."

"You speak of our bodies as if they are intelligent," said Abby. "That they have minds of their own."

"In a way, they do," agreed Colette. "You are unlike any creatures that have ever existed."

Aimée was still full of angry jealousy. "But, why didn't the bodies of those women out there reject the pregnancy?"

"Because their bodies are not as smart," said Galen patiently. "To them, these fertilized eggs are not only good enough, but superior. In truth, I wouldn't doubt it if the fertilized eggs were 'smart' enough to send masking signals to their systems to assure that their bodies don't reject them."

Aimée was about to complain some more.

"Aimée," Galen said calmly. "Before you continue down this trail of juvenile jealousy, I want to remind you that you have been aware of your mates taking many women to bed, even in your relatively young life. It is unbecoming to show such emotions just because these three lovely women are now with child by them. While I have stated before that I wasn't all that concerned about the genetic problems of such a small gene pool because of how smart your systems are. At the same time, as a scientist I am far from displeased that there will be more diversity to choose from for the sake of your children. For example, Monshellen now carries a child that is quite likely a girl. She will be Martin's daughter. Imagine if you ever have a son by Jacob or Claude. There will be a wonderful mate waiting for him when he is grown."

"When?" said Frederique in a quiet voice. She had sat up and was now hugging her knees to her chest. "When might we conceive? One year? Two years? A hundred? When you spoke of the Elders, you spoke of thousands of egg cells waiting."

"Hundreds of follicles, actually," said Colette. "Follicles become egg cells. By our reckoning, only a handful of your old egg cells remain and we see the new follicles awaiting. It will be soon, my dear. Very soon. I would wager within the year."

* * * *

The three women were moved to Dougga. It had seemed proper that the mothers of this new race would be near the founders until they delivered. Sean was the only mate involved, since Brana and Monshellen were unmated.

Sean was kept rather busy. Brana, Monshellen, and Jessamine experienced no morning sickness, but massive amounts of pregnancy hormones and the attached libido.

Claude, Jacob, and Martin were otherwise occupied with the needs of their four mates. Once the other women started showing, Galen postulated that 'genetic competition' kicked in for Frederique and her bloodsisters. Whatever it was, the boys got little rest.

At last, the day arrived. Monshellen went into labor first, but Brana and Jessamine followed soon after. The doctors were called, but many midwives arrived as well. Everyone wanted to be involved on such a momentous occasion.

The deliveries were flawless. A few hours later, the Seven were gathered in a room where Brana held Claude's dusky-skinned baby girl on her chest, Monshellen was nursing Martin's fair young boy, and Jessamine was comforting a whimpering redheaded little girl who already looked very much like her Aunt Abby.

Frederique, Abby, Aimée, and Glennis cooed over each of the babies with adoring eyes.

Palo also arrived. He and Seiko were already making plans on how they would spoil his first granddaughter.

"Still upset?" asked Abby of Aimée, nudging her gently with her shoulder.

"Of course not," said Aimée. "Look at those darlings."

Abby gave her a warning glance and nodded toward Frederique. She was looking at the babies with absolutely love. How couldn't she? They were the children of her mates, after all. However, mixed in that same gaze was desire. It had been nine months now since she had wished to conceive. Though she had gone over 500 years before having children the first time, once she'd made up her mind to start anew, the wish had been burning in her breast. Though she had all of the time in the world, she was the one most aware of how harsh fate could be. Though they seemed to be invincible, she had lost her first husband before they had children. She was determined not to let it happen again.

At the end of the examination, Pasteur examined each of the babies carefully, looking at the most basic cellular level. He smiled to the Seven. "They are indeed of your kind. Their cells bear your code down to the last strand. You are no longer the Seven, but the Ten. We're going to have to find a better name for your race."

* * * *

Elsewhere, far to the south of them, Ken was watching the stars outside of his simple hut high on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Since being banished by his people, he had spent some time among the Afflicted, but enjoyed the peace of the stars for the most part. Glennis would reach out to him every couple of weeks, but he always assured her that he was doing well and needed nothing.

A moment before, a shooting star had burned across the horizon, seeming to almost pierce the Pleiades. Ken smiled. It was the sign. The prophecy had foretold he would walk alone for four and twenty turns.

Translated, that meant that one of the girls just born was destined for him. When she turned twenty-four, Ken would have his mate and he would never be alone again.

For most people, that would seem like an interminable time. For someone born to the Elders, it would feel like hardly any time at all. Besides, Ken had a great many more stars to study.

* * * *

Brana's daughter was named Hajar, after Palo's grandmother. Martin and Monshellen's son was named Pwellstosn, meaning 'new sun' in the Elder's language, and Jacob and Jessamine's daughter was called Tara to honor Sean's Irish heritage.

The Elder's petitioned to have Monshellen return to their valley to raise Pwellstosn. Though there were already almost thirty babies on the way among their kind, they felt it would do their people good to hear the cries of a baby once more echoing among their homes. Brana would not be returning to her duties in the dorms, except in an advisory capacity, and the Council felt that her presence in the New York community with a child of the new race would also be a very wise move in terms of good will. As for Sean and Jessamine, they truly felt like family and it was decided that they would raise young Tara in Dougga with the help of the Seven.