Three Square Meals Ch. 058

John went over to his chair, and Irillith strolled past him to go to hers. She let out a surprised squeak when he pulled her into his arms, and then sat down with her on his lap. When she looked at him with a questioning smile on her face, he said, "Rachel's revelations can be a bit unsettling. As this one is all about the Maliri, I thought you might need some moral support, just in case."

She snuggled into his comforting embrace, and said, "That was very thoughtful, thank you."

Rachel waited for his nod to proceed, and she smiled at everyone as she said, "As you are all aware, I've been studying snippets of Maliri DNA. I first looked at the sample we took from Ceraden, then at the sample I acquired from Irillith." She paused and gave the Maliri girl an apologetic smile.

"How did you get that anyway?" Irillith asked curiously.

Alyssa grinned at her, and said in a playful tone, "From your first meal with us, remember? You made your grand entrance, went for a power-play on the seating, then turned your nose up at dinner."

Irillith flushed a dark-blue and looked mortified, and John hugged her tightly, as he said, "Don't pay any attention, she's just trying to make you blush."

Calara smiled affectionately at Alyssa, and said, "You get desensitised to it eventually. I spent my first few weeks blushing furiously, but now I'm as blasé as Dana is."

Dana chuckled and said, "We're all on to your games now, Blondie!"

Rachel waited for the laughter to die down before she said to Irillith, "I actually got your DNA sample from the wine glass you left behind. I'm sorry I had to go behind your back to get it, but I didn't think you'd be all that cooperative at the time, and we needed to know more about your species."

Irillith gave her a wry smile, and said, "I can't blame you, I was a colossal bitch to everyone when I first met you."

"Forgive and forget, that's our motto, right?" John said with a disarming smile.

Calara frowned and said, "I thought our motto was: 'Wipe out all bad guys'?"

Dana corrected her, as she chimed in, "It should be: 'loot all the best tech'!"

Alyssa shook her head, and said firmly, "Nope, it's definitely: 'Recruit the galaxy's hottest girls'."

John chuckled, and said, "Fine, we have four mottos then." When the giggling and general merriment had died down, he smiled apologetically at Rachel and added, "Sorry, we'll try not to derail your presentation any more."

After giving him a grateful smile, Rachel continued her presentation, "As I mentioned before, I started my research with Ceraden. I wasn't able to learn a great deal, as male Maliri DNA wasn't as extensively modified by the Progenitors as the changes they made to the females." After a moment's pause, she clarified, "When I say 'they', I actually mean the Mael'nerak. All the genetic tampering was the work of just one specific Progenitor."

"I have a quick question," John asked. "Were Maliri males given the behavioural modification changes to their DNA as well?"

Rachel nodded, then replied, "Yes, but obviously it's nowhere near as dramatic. It's more a case of being favourably disposed towards Progenitors."

"I suppose that would make it easier for rounding up replacement females, if the males don't stand in the way," Jade said thoughtfully.

John nodded, but looked a little disappointed, as he said, "I always thought that Ceraden and I were good friends. It feels a bit tarnished if he got coerced into it."

Alyssa reached over and stroked his arm as she said, "If I'm understanding Rachel correctly, the male behaviour modification isn't as strong as that. I met him when he came aboard to warn us about going into Maliri Space, and his friendship with you is quite genuine."

Rachel gave him a smile, and said, "She's quite right. Any friendship you've built with Ceraden just got a helping hand to start with. Most of the male Maliri behaviour modification is focused on the desirability of Progenitor-affected females as potential mates."

Dana grinned and said, "So one look at our luscious Maliri babe, would send them into a drooling mess? The long white hair is basically a sign saying, 'Hey! I'm a hot piece of ass, come and knock me up!'?"

"Exactly," Rachel said, turning to look at Irillith. "If you were to stroll around Genthalas without any armour on, the effect would be quite dramatic."

"Yes, I'd be lynched in minutes," the Maliri girl said with a worried frown. "You're forgetting that revealing what we look like behind the armour is a capital offence."

Rachel shook her head, and said, "After one look at you, the Maliri men would never allow it." She smiled, as she looked at John, and added, "That's why I'm so confident about the Engineer's you changed back at Genthalas. One look at them will have the men desperately bidding for breeding rights."

Calara had been watching Irillith, and asked, "Can we just go back to something you said a moment ago, about the death sentence for exposing what the Maliri look like. Why is that exactly?"

Irillith paused, and with a frown she admitted, "I actually don't know. It's been one of Maliri societies oldest rules, dating back millennia. I'm not sure if it dates back to an order from the Mael'nerak, but Tashana might have found some answers, with archaeology being her thing."

Jade shook her head as she said, "I don't think this came from the Mael'nerak. Do you remember the stone pictographs the Ashanath found? They showed blue-skinned, white-haired Maliri women accompanying the Mael'nerak, and apparently making no effort to hide their appearance."

After thinking this one over for a moment, John nodded towards Rachel to continue.

She smiled, and said, "Now where was I... Oh yes! So I examined Irillith's DNA, and found that unlike Ceraden's it had a triple-helix just like John's, Alyssa's and Jade's, which usually indicates where a Progenitor has imbued one of his creations with psychic abilities."

"Well you were definitely correct on that one," Irillith noted wryly. "My new technokinesis, or cyberkinesis, or whatever you want to call it, is pretty dramatic proof of that!"

Nodding Rachel said, "We managed to gather a DNA sample from Edraele too, and you share the same markers in your triple-helical genetic structure. The same anomaly that gave you those tumours, also gifted you with psychic potential as well." She hesitated for a moment, before she continued, "But something about that doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?" John asked her with interest. "I thought you just said that this 'Eldritch Bloodline' is what gave Irillith and Edraele their powers?"

"Yes, that's true," Rachel replied. "But the Mael'nerak was a master at genetic modification. He grew entire new species like the Trankarans, and heavily modified an existing race like the Drakkar. I can't see him making a mistake with the changes induced in Irillith's family, which would end up giving them potentially fatal brain tumours."

"No chance he could have just been careless?" John speculated.

Shaking her head, Rachel replied, "It seems highly unlikely, considering how meticulous he was with everything else. The Eldritch Bloodline is probably some kind of genetic mutation that goes right back up the family tree."

"Maybe Irillith's distant ancestor was the Mael'nerak's original Matriarch?" Alyssa said after thinking it over. "After the Mael'nerak disappeared, perhaps something happened to Great-grandma Valaden, which caused this tumour problem."

"It's a good theory," Rachel said, nodding her approval. "It would explain their triple-helix DNA, which can't just evolve spontaneously. I took a sample from one of the engineers, Myriana, during the Invictus' refit, and just like Ceraden, she had double-helix DNA."

John tilted his head, and said with interest, "Weren't you going to look at a 'regular' female Maliri to provide a baseline? Something about checking the behaviour modification as well?"

Grinning at him, pleased that he'd been paying attention, Rachel said enthusiastically, "Yes, that's right, well done!"

The other girls laughed at his smug expression, and Dana quipped, "Maybe I should start making some gold stars for Rachel to give out to the teacher's pet."

Rachel smiled at the redhead, and said, "I'd say jealousy isn't a good colour on you, but green does set off your hair." They shared an affectionate glance, before the brunette turned to look at her audience and continued, "As John just said, I planned to look at a non-psychic Maliri's DNA to do a comparison."

Irillith was listening intently now, and she asked, "What did you find out?"

"Well firstly, as you can see from the holographic display, both Myriana and Ceraden have double-helix DNA," Rachel replied, pointing towards the floating image above the desk. "I suspect that the women in your family are quite unique amongst the Maliri."

"We already know she's quite special," John said with a smile. "What else did you find out about the behaviour-modification?"

Rachel looked away into the distance for a moment, before she turned to look at her audience, then stopped at John and said, "We all witnessed the dramatic effects of it on the Maliri Engineers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to test it in laboratory conditions, but the longer you spent just in their company had a more pronounced effect on their behaviour. A few minutes stimulates curiosity, and after an hour or two that germinates into absolute fascination. After several hours, they were completely besotted with you."

"Yeah, it was quite unsettling to have that many people focused on me like that," John said with a nod.

Alyssa laughed loudly at that, and said, "That only lasted a few seconds! You were loving being the centre of attention!"

Calara grinned at him as she asked, "Don't you remember showing off your muscles for the swooning girls?"

"One of them was so distracted, she fell off the ship!" Jade said, giving him a beaming grin.

With his left arm wrapped around Irillith, John raised his right hand in surrender, and admitted with a smile, "Alright, I concede that I did enjoy myself a fair bit too."

Faye had been listening to the whole dialogue intently, while carefully watching Irillith, and piped up in her chirpy voice, "So why didn't my Creator behave the same way? She was around John for weeks before she got injured, and then... well, he healed her."

Rachel turned to look at the AI construct, and said, "And that, lovely Faye, is what I was most curious about too." She looked back at Irillith, and said, "I know you've said that you struggled with the attraction, but it's truly remarkable that you managed to resist that compulsion to submit to him for so long."

Irillith nodded, recalling the weeks of conflicting emotions, and said passionately, "It certainly wasn't easy, I can tell you that!"

Alyssa smiled at her, and said, "I know how hard it was for you to resist, but just think about the Maliri engineers back on Genthalas. Could you imagine them lasting for four days, let alone four weeks?"

Irillith paused, and shook her head, saying, "They were all quite obsessed within a day."

Rachel nodded, saying, "Exactly right. I suspect that there's a passive psychic component to this, and normal Maliri women are hugely vulnerable to it, just as any pre-prepared species are to a Progenitor's influence. My theory, is that your latent psychic potential helped you strengthen your resolve to fight off the compulsion to submit. When we had to load you up to heal your wounds, you had no chance of resisting from that point."

"Why's that?" Irillith asked her in fascination.

Looking at John, Rachel met his gaze and said, "I think his cum is a psychic catalyst. When girls ingest enough of it, then it physically modifies them to the template that we've all been modified to, but that doesn't explain a whole host of other supernatural events we've witnessed."

"Such as?" John asked, just as curious about this as the rest of them.

Ticking off fingers on her hand, Rachel said, "Giving Alyssa psychic powers, Irillith's rapid healing when she nearly died, unlocking Irillith's technokinesis, the personality changes we all experienced, which were even more dramatic on Irillith. Building Edraele a new personality after the old one got wiped, giving those assassins back their fertility after only one dose, linking eighty Maliri engineers to Edraele after a small mouthful." She paused, staring at him intently before continuing, "It's the only conclusion I can draw that makes any sense."

Alyssa frowned and asked, "So why did it take two weeks for me to fill out? Or for Calara, and Dana to get fully healed? If the rapid healing is all from psychic abilities, then why didn't we get patched up in a day like the Maliri?"

Dana looked quizzically at the brunette, and asked, "Wasn't your previous theory that it was because we weren't already changed to the standard template? Healing was slow, because our bodies weren't ready for it yet?"

Rachel nodded to them both, and said, "I developed my first theory before we saw everything that happened with the Maliri. I still think my first theory was partially correct, in that for us Terran girls, there wasn't any psychic healing involved. Over that two week period, we slowly adapted and changed, growing faster, tougher, and stronger, to fit the template. Our mental tweaks, like us not being jealous of each other was a psychic change."

"You missed out boosted intelligence, when you were listing the improved attributes from fitting the new template," Calara said helpfully.

Rachel shook her head, as she said, "Progenitors don't really strike me as the kind of guys who appreciate intelligent women. They see them as disposable tools; that's what Edraele said, right John?"

Edraele immediately responded, saying, *Yes, she's quite correct. Women under a Progenitor's thrall are merely tools to be used. Either as soldiers in their wars, or as breeding stock to replace losses.* Her telepathic voice was full of respect when she added, *This girl is really quite brilliant. You're very lucky to have found her.*

John listened to Edraele, and after sending her a telepathic thank you, said, "Yes, she just confirmed it again. You're correct, Progenitors don't value intelligence in their Thralls."

"Which means we have you to thank for that," Rachel said, giving him a lovely grateful smile.

Alyssa grinned, and said, "You did tell us you liked smart women."

He chuckled, and looked at each of them, and said, "Well, you're the smartest women I've ever met, so consider me a very happy Progenitor!"

The girls gave him bright, happy smiles, and he could see the gratitude and devotion in their expressions as they gazed at him.

Alyssa gave him a smouldering look, and purred, "If we weren't so close to a ravaging group of rogue AI, you'd be in for one hell of an orgy, mister!"

Rachel's expression changed for a moment, as she said quickly, "Before we get too distracted, there's another addendum to my theory. I think your psychic healing is getting more powerful because you're growing in psychic strength yourself. If you met Dana as she was before, it might still take a couple of weeks for her to grow half-a-foot and fill out to the template, but I think you'd be able to heal her burn scars in a couple of days."

Nodding thoughtfully John, said, "Another compelling presentation, Rachel, congratulations!"

She grinned at him, and said, "I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully it was useful information."

John looked down at Irillith and asked, "How are you doing? Not too traumatised by anything you heard, I hope?"

The Maliri girl shook her head, saying, "I'd already heard about the Maliri being designed as a slave race for the Progenitors, which came as a huge shock the first time." With a twinkle in her eyes, she added, "I've grown quite accustomed to the idea now for some reason."

He laughed, and gave her a hug, but an excited squeak from Faye drew his attention to the purple sprite. "The long range scanners are picking up something!" she explained, when they all looked her way.

It only took a quick glance for Calara to say, "I've seen that kind of sensor signal before. That's starship debris."

Nodding, John spun the chair so that Irillith could dismount his lap, and said, "Let's get to the Bridge everyone, we better stay alert from now on."

The girls rushed out to the Bridge, and as he followed Alyssa, he asked, "How long until we get to the Beta-Persei system?"

The blonde girl was a bit distracted by the threat of the impending Rogue AI, as well as wanting to ravish him for the Gifts he'd lavished on her, so for once she gave him the precise figure rather than rounding it down for convenience. "Two hours, four minutes, and seven seconds," she replied without a moment's pause.

John blinked in surprise, and took hold of her hand, pulling her back into the Briefing Room with him. "How can you know that so precisely?" he asked her, truly astounded. "You didn't even stop to think about it!"

She gave him a cute quirky smile, and said, "I told you I needed a new challenge. Memorising the galaxy lets me know exactly where we are at any given moment. Most of the time when you ask me to plot a new course, I've already laid out the route in my head before my hands touch the console. For the last several weeks, I've only been putting it through the Nav computer to help train Jade."

He shook his head in amazement, then held her close, as he replied with telepathy so they wouldn't be overheard, *I talk about the other girls being geniuses, but you're just as smart as any of the others, aren't you?*

Alyssa looked shy and wouldn't meet his gaze for a moment, until he lifted her chin to look at him. She realised he wouldn't back down on this, and with a smile she replied, *I suspect you've enhanced each of them to make them highly specialised in their respective fields. I guess you'd say I'm more of a generalist, but I'm extremely gifted at whatever I turn my mind to.*

As he stared at her in wonder, he took in the sharp brilliance in her cerulean eyes, and realised she wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. He asked in confusion, *Why would you try and hide this from me?*

Alyssa smiled at him and replied, *Just like all the others, I've developed over time. When I finally realised what I was truly capable of, we'd already started adding girls to the crew to fill out different roles.* She leaned in and gave him a soul-searing kiss, as she added, *I'm already your Matriarch, and psychic too; let the Terran girls be the geniuses. Besides, it's been much more fun when we recruit new girls for different roles, rather than me training to fill that void.*

He returned her kiss, his heart thumping in his chest at the fierce intensity that got his pulse racing. He had to admit she was right, and he couldn't imagine doing without any of the girls now. As he'd said before on numerous occasions, they felt like his family now, and he loved them all.

*You're right,* he replied honestly, knowing she'd have heard his whole train of thought. *In any case, with the kinds of odds we go up against now, we need all the extra hands we can muster.*

She grinned at him with delight, but her happy expression quickly vanished and turned into a frown as she said, *Please don't let knowing this change the way you interact with the girls. They love how much you respect them professionally, and I wouldn't want to diminish that for a moment!*

He shook his head, and replied, *Don't worry, I love them all too much to change that. You're very sweet to let them have their own time in the spotlight. I think you'll have a job concealing how smart you are when you start managing our savings though. I was already expecting great things from you, but now I know I'm going to be truly amazed!*