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Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 04

By: sadlittlelostboy



Chapter 4 – Lilli and the Worms

Cassie and Julie arrived at 8:30 am Monday morning, on the dot, Cassie eager to meet Eve, and both of them eager to start their new job.

Eve was already inside the meeting room, waiting for them both, all set up with her slim notebook and a projector. 

The projector was displaying a picture of Johns Hopkins university.

"Cassie, Julie.

"Good morning, girls.

"This official part won't take very long."

Eve presented an NDA to each of them, and watched in silence as Cassie and Julie read every word. 

They were both surprised at the strength of the language in the documents.

They were not allowed to talk about the nature of their work to anyone outside the company.

While they could use their research for their theses, they also had to give up all the intellectual property generated from their work, and would be required to vet all external disclosures with Eve before anything could be released to the public.

They would be working for TAUPAN, a company set up as a joint venture between Johns Hopkins University, Lennox Hospital, and the National University of Australia.

In truth, they soon realised that they were temporarily selling the use of their brains to Eve, so that she could use their skills, and pillage their good ideas, and possess them at her leisure.

However, the money, and the opportunity to work with the black thread-worms, was impossible for either of them to resist.

Eve witnessed their signatures and transferred the forms to her briefcase.

"My first presentation today will show you what you will officially be doing for TAUPAN, Pty. Ltd.

Julie thought, Strange choice of words,and exchanged a look with Cassie.

"As you know," Eve continued, "Johns Hopkins University has an very close relationship with Johns Hopkins Hospital.

"We have made great strides in recent years with a promising new treatment for cancer."

Eve showed several photographs of generic-looking images of a hospital ward: doctors; nurses; pale, wan-looking women, and a room containing a machine, with an articulated arm, and an orange metal sphere on the end.

"This is our pride and joy. We call it a smart source, and it combines an autonomous ultrasound scanner with several directional gamma-ray sources. It is able to target tumours smaller than one millimetre in size, and hardly damages the surrounding tissue.

"We have commissioned a clinic with such a machine here, in Canberra. We have built the new Lennox Hospital specifically for this purpose. We have full testing approval from your Therapeutic Goods Administration, and have already started to provide palliative care to terminal patients with inoperable tumours.

"I must say, the regulatory environment in Australia is vastly more amenable to experimental techniques than in the USA, where it can take years to get approval, even to treat such terminal cases.

"We are not allowed to say that the new treatment is a cure, but we are allowed to hope that we shall see remarkable results.

"Julie, you will be officially assisting Stefan develop image-processing software to find tumours with the Taubett instrument, to drive the gamma ray source.

"Cassie, you will officially be interviewing patients about their feelings about the treatment, and the comfort levels of the dosimetry."

The rest of the presentation was full of details, about radiation doses and the history of radiotherapy, but Cassie found it very boring.

She felt a little disappointed, actually. This wasn't what she expected to be doing, at all.

Where were the worms?

As Eve came to the end of her presentation, her demeanour changed, becoming unusually serious.

She walked around the room closing the blinds. Finally, she closed the door, locked it with a key, and returned to her laptop.

"I apologise, girls. My first presentation was necessary, but it was merely a cover for the work we really want you to do, which I think you will find far more interesting, and far more rewarding. Stefan and his colleagues, in any case, are quite capable of doing the programming to interface the Taubett scanner to the gamma-ray source without any further assistance."

Eve entered a long password into her laptop, and a new presentation appeared on the screen.

The first image was of a large worm, grey with black stripes, oozed onto the side of a large Pyrex beaker.

"This, my girls, is your first image of Mary's worm."

Cassie was glad that there were only three people in the room, and she was safely seated behind a desk.

She spread her legs a little.

This was what she had come for.

Eve's next slide showed a young woman, smiling at the camera, and dressed neatly in a cardigan and a skirt. She was a brunette, with long, straight, hair, and she stood relaxed and comfortable in herself.

Despite the dowdy clothes, Cassie thought the fluffy angora of the cardigan showed her assets to good advantage.

"This is Mary," Eve said,

"Mary was the first human host of the black thread-worms in the latest outbreak in North America, six years ago. She was unlucky enough to be close by when the craft which brought them to Earth landed.

"Mary is now back living with her room-mate, Jasmine. She has been completely cured, and the worm you see here is dead.

"I have so much to show you today, but I have to emphasise that all of what you are about to see must remain confidential. Six years ago, the Earth was rapidly falling under the influence of an alien invader. Almost nobody knows, or at least believes, this fact, and we would like to keep it that way. Despite appearances, these aliens are possessed of astonishing intelligence. They are not a foe to be underestimated."

Eve put up a slide of a crash site. The pair's first impressions were of any an horrendous aeroplane crash, with burnt wreckage strewn over blackened earth, but, as Cassie and Julie examined the details, they saw that the pieces of the craft were quite round, and compartmentalised, and like nothing they had seen on Earth before.

The craft had portholes, which looked very dark in the slide, but also seats which looked very much like those from the first-class compartment in an aeroplane.

"As you can see," Eve said, "there are several interesting details in this image."

Then, a little sourly, "Firstly, as you can see, the US air force can destroy any small target with pinpoint precision. Who knows what we could have discovered if the craft was not pulverised shortly after it landed?

"Secondly, notice the dark glass of the portholes. These are made of polymer glass. It was the investigation of the destroyed spacecraft which led to its fabrication on Earth, so the craft was not totally wasted.

"Thirdly, note the seats. They have clearly been designed for passengers who are somewhat human in form. No bodies were recovered from the landing site, only dead worms.

"It is clear that there are still many mysteries surrounding the worm's latest invasion attempt. By accepting your role, you have already committed to keeping the nature of your work, and ours, a secret.

"Please try to learn all the details you can about the cancer radiotherapy treatment.

"There are those whose job it is to probe our research, and we do not want every Tom, Dick and Harry knowing the true nature of what we do. Some of our methods might seem controversial, or even dangerous, to those not in full possession of the facts."

Eve moved on to a slide showing a camp, much like the ones set up after Katrina, containing hundreds of FEMA trailers.

"After the invasion was halted, there were thousands of women who had been infected. It is only through the intervention of Johns Hopkins Hospital that their lives were spared, but the USA's security apparatus is capricious, and the final outcome is still uncertain. All of the women who were infected have been imprisoned in a camp outside Nevada, and their current prospects for release are slim.

"Please, Julie. Please, Cassie. Remember how important your silence is to us, and do not jump to any hasty conclusions. What I am to show you in the next few weeks might disturb you.

"We hold the lives of all of these women in trust. If any of us make the slightest mistake, their lives may be forfeit."

She showed three slides in quick succession, without lingering.

Each showed a scene of horror, dozens of bodies twisted in death.

"Remember Jonestown. Remember Waco. Remember Bhopal."

Eve paused a little to let the ramifications of this statement sink in.

The screen now showed a table with a list of a dozen or so locations from around the world, and a date, and a number of fatalities. Most were in the dozens, but there were some in the hundreds, and one in the thousands.

"This," said Eve, "is not the first time the Earth has been attacked. Each time, the invaders get closer to their goal. If all we do is fight, and kill, and burn, then it has become clear that the worms will eventually prevail.

"It is time for an entirely new approach. 

"If you have any concerns about your work, or ours, then I beg of you to come and see me before you consult anyone else, whether they are in the University, or the police, or the government.

"I am more committed, and more capable, than anyone else in Australia to manage the risk posed by the worms."

With a click, Eve moved onto the next slide.

A video started, obviously taken with a high definition camera, showing a pair of naked women on a bare double mattress, their heads tilted back in a silent scream. 

Their crotches were connected by a skein of black threads, which pulsed, occasionally whipping around.

"These women are completely controlled by the alien intelligence of the worms. These black threads are used for communication, and their victims are forced to join together at least once a day.

"It looks terribly painful, doesn't it? Just imagine what those poor women are experiencing."

Eve caught Cassie's eye, and shook her head, just a little, but enough to prevent Cassie from bursting out with a comment.

The next video was taken in a department store, and showed a matronly woman looking at a rack of frilly cotton blouses in one corner of the store, then looking behind to attract the attention of a shop assistant.

One responded immediately. She was dark and willowy, with long, black hair which hung to her waist. She moved quickly behind the customer, far too close for politeness.

Cassie and Julie didn't see it the first time, but Eve replayed it so they could see. A black whip-like thread appeared from beneath the assistant's denim skirt. It shot in directly under the customer's blouse, whereupon the assistant reached her arms around the customer to hold her up.

The reason for this became apparent when the customer's head tilted back, and she lost control of her legs, spreading them wide and quaking.

The assistant gently led the customer over to the change-rooms, where the camera could not follow. The time-stamp on the video skipped forward by ten minutes, and the two women reappeared, both happy and smiling.

"Many of the female customers of that shopping mall were captured by the worms in a similar way within a couple of days. Fortunately, this invasion was stemmed quickly, and it was possible to save all of the infected women.

"My kid sister, Lilli, was in that mall. She's a lot younger than me; she was only 18 when she was infected. She managed to get out before the FBI moved in. She was on the run for weeks, travelling up and down the country. I have no idea how many others she infected, and nor does she.

"I'm proud to say that she's clean now, and has been for several years.

"You have to understand that we came very close to losing the Earth this time.

"There were two breakthroughs which halted the worms' progress, both of them discovered at Johns Hopkins university.

"Firstly, we discovered that the worms' anatomy is highly visible to a back-scatter X-ray machine at an energy of 250keV. Even when embedded within a woman, a worm can easily be detected.

"The TSA soon began to provision such machines at every transit point in the USA, and later deployed thousands of mobile scanners for random inspections.

"Everyone has come to believe that these machines are an expensive and wasteful example of security theatre, and that all TSA agents are minimum-wage grunts with no useful skills.

"This idea is encouraged by the authorities, but it could not be farther from the truth.

"On the contrary, the widely-derided TSA program was the first initiative which was able to turn the tide against the worms."

The next slide was one of those standard back-scatter nudie-shots, showing an attractive female body standing with legs akimbo.

"Everyone knows that TSA agents are looking at images similar to these at every airport in the States.

"But sometimes they see an image like this."

The slide after that was similar, except that this woman had a bright, glowing blob shining from the apex of her legs.

Cassie thought that the second image was far more beautiful than the first.

"The new back-scatter X-ray machines are calibrated to 250keV, and can detect worms at a distance of ten metres. An estimated 99.9% of infected women were rounded up in little more than ten months after the introduction of the scanners.

"Some women managed to evade the scanners, but a highly-trained TSA agent can detect a worm-infested woman by the feel of her engorged labia, and her unusually prominent, and sensitive, breasts.

"Men were only utilised as carriers, and, in this wave of the invasion, men were not directly controlled by the worms.

"All the infected women were rounded up, as were all of the the men who had been identified as carriers, and sent to FEMA camps in Nevada

"The mass imprisonment of these people is still not common knowledge, and I am only privy to this fact owing to the importance of Johns Hopkins in stemming the invasion.

"Initial attempts to remove worms from the captured women were not very successful. Some of them were returned to society, and tailed. There were still many hidden sources of infection, and other infected women would deliberately target those who had been victims before." 

Cassie again wanted to speak, and raised her hand to ask a question, but Eve once again deflected her with a small shake of her head.

"At a point six months after the invasion had commenced, Johns Hopkins University made a breakthrough. We found a way to both cure the infection, and also to prevent re-infection.

"We developed a vaccine which induces the human body to reject the worms.

"The existence of this vaccine has probably saved the lives of all the infected women who had already been captured."

Eve showed a video of a young woman in her hospital bed, her legs up in stirrups, struggling and shouting. Two nurses held her down, while a third had to find a vein in her arm. The needle slid in, and the nursed depressed the plunger, slowly.

After the injection, the infected woman appeared to calm down, and became groggy, perhaps even lapsing into unconsciousness.

One of the nurses moved down below and held a hand underneath the infected woman's pussy, her labia still red and engorged. Eve skipped forward a few minutes, to a point where the woman's vagina began to pulse and push something out.

A worm soon dropped out into the nurses hand, and she held it up triumphantly.

It was quite dead.

"Johns Hopkins has engineered a vaccine against the worm. It directs the body's immune system to make antibodies, and the worm's fast metabolism, combined with its intimate connection to the patient's bloodstream, mean that these antibodies work with astonishing speed.

"The host's blood within the worm begins to clot within minutes of the injection, whereupon the worm withdraws all of its feeding tubes and nerve fibres from the victim. It soon dies with massive damage to its internal structure.

"Aside from killing the worm, the vaccine also grants immunity to the host, so they cannot be re-infected. We don't know how long this immunity lasts for, but we haven't yet had a single re-infection.

"Sadly, the vaccine is somewhat poisonous to uninfected women, and does not cause any useful immune response unless a worm is present. The reactive agent is concentrated by the worms, which allows strong doses to be used in infected women.

"Once the US government began to mass-produce the vaccine, the invasion collapsed. It was game-over for the worms.

"Julie, the true purpose of your program of research is to investigate the anatomy of women who have previously been infected. Your visualisations of tapeworm infections are impressive, and very informative. If one can reliably detect women who have previously been infected by worms, then governments around the world would breathe a little easier, and there would be a good case for releasing all the prisoners from the camps.

"Currently, governments cannot take the risk of releasing the cured women, as they have no way of knowing if they can be trusted, and have no way of keeping tabs on them if they were to slip away and change their identity.

"While you have been away, we have shifted the Taubett interferometer from Physical Sciences to Lennox Hospital. We shall eventually be using it it with our radiotherapy unit, but in the meantime we shall use it to scan some Australian women, who, of course, will be uninfected.

"Your role, Julie, will be to create imaging software to detect the trails left by the nerve filaments connecting a worm to the woman's spine.

"Your software must reliably find these trails, and report them with absolute accuracy.

"Of course, there are no infected women in Australia, and no cured women, either, so you will have to start work with scans of clean Australian women. The Taubett machine at Johns Hopkins in the States will be operational very soon, so we soon hope to have some genuine data of infected women for you to use for further development.

"Julie, your software could mean freedom for these women."

Eve closed down her machine, and unlocked the door.

"That's all there is today, my girls. Cassie, I need to talk to you about the ethical disclosure forms we've developed for your interviews.

"Julie, you may go."

***

After Julie had left the room, Eve locked the door again, and seated herself next to Cassie.

Eve sat a little closer than Cassie would have expected.

"Cassie, while I know that you are now officially working for the hospital, I want you to know that your role in this project is extremely important, perhaps even more important than Julie's.

"Do you have any questions about my presentation?"

Cassie nodded.

"Actually," said Cassie, "I do. I just want to check up on a few things. You did seem a bit loose with the facts. As I understand them, anyway."

Eve agreed.

"Yes, Cassie, but I think you understand how public relations works these days. A few white lies make the truth more palatable, don't they?

"Did you want to point out anything in particular?"

Cassie continued.

"The video of those women in the mall. Your sister was taken, just like that, wasn't she? You must have talked to her. It wasn't painful like you said, was it?"

Eve smiled,

"No, Cassie, she said it wasn't painful. It was the most pleasurable experience of her life. The worms look after their hosts. The most successful parasites know how to keep you on their side, I can assure you of that."

"So," Cassie said, "it sounds to me as if those women who had their worms forcibly removed, they just went straight back to find someone to infect them again, didn't they?"

"Of course, Cassie, these women were fully convinced that the worms were benevolent masters. They wanted to give their lives to them, and enjoy the privileges of service, if you will."


Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 04



Cassie was getting to the point now.

"So has your sister changed since she was cured? Does she still want to rejoin the infected? How come she's still clean?"

"Cassie, it's out of her hands. After she was given the vaccine, the worms wouldn't touch her again. She says the desire fades after time, and she's happy with her new life. She's running a bible study group for the cured women in the camps, and they're singing and praying every day. It's not my cup of tea, but it keeps them busy.

"I've talked to her about it, of course. She's quite open to me about how pleasurable it was to be in thrall to a race of alien invaders. But, intellectually, she knows that she doesn't want Earth being invaded and colonised, so she makes do.

"I've talked to her a lot about this, Cassie, and she earnestly wants to make everything right. All the cured women come around eventually, and I'm convinced that they're trustworthy.

"Cassie, we think you can help the cured women."

Eve pulled a booklet out of her briefcase.

Cassie recognised it: it was her own honour's thesis.

Determination of toxoplasmosis infection by oral standardised testing

She'd done it three years ago in psychology for her B.A. Honours.

She'd was very proud of it: she'd got a first.

"Cassie, your thesis was absolutely brilliant.

"You've found a way to detect a toxoplasmosis infection by administering a spoken test. You've chosen a very common disease, with a simple blood test, but the disease has subtle psychological effects. Mice infected with it are a little slower, and a little bolder, and attracted to the smell of cat urine, so they are more likely to be caught by cats. When the cats eat the mice, they are in turn infected, and the cycle of disease infection continues.

"The effects on humans are more subtle, but there are psychological effects, and you've discovered a way to detect a toxoplasmosis infection without a blood test.

"When I first read your study, I found your results unbelievable. You have more than one hundred survey questions, but each question and its answer seems trite, almost trivial.

"Can you describe how you achieved such outstanding results?"

Cassie was smiling now.

Her work had received little attention at the time, but it was clear that Eve had already read the thesis in detail.

"My method for detecting an infection was a little unusual." said Cassie. "Perhaps it was even a bit deceptive. Instead of just marking the answer for each question, I also measured the time required by each subject to answer each question. By measuring the subject response time, I could identify infected subjects with absolute reliability.

"Because subjects did not understand what was being measured, there was no capacity for deception on their part. There was no way for them to understand what was being tested, so they could never cheat on the test.

"Something you won't find in the thesis is that I made another round of tests, and I managed to get Julie to help me by convincing some of the test subjects to lie, for a bit of fun ... they knew that I had the results I needed, so there was no issue of fraud.

"My results remained the same, totally accurate."

Eve nodded her head.

"Well done, Cassie. It's a very impressive piece of work. We need something very much like that."

Eve placed her hand atop Cassie's, and gave it a brief squeeze, before withdrawing.

Eve's hand was warm, and felt soft. Cassie thought it a nice gesture.

Eve asked, "Can you tell me about the work you're doing for your thesis?"

"My supervisor wants me to use the same techniques to diagnose other, more common, infections," Cassie said. "It's not so important in Australia, but he thinks that these techniques could be useful for the third world, where drugs and equipment are hard come-by. I'm finding it very difficult to get good results in such a broad area.

"Also, there's no human angle. I think I'm good at understanding the effects of parasites on the brain and personality, but most diseases have no effect on these systems.

"I think," Eve said, "that your main problem is that what your supervisor has you doing is, in fact, extremely boring."

Cassie nodded. Eve was right.

Eve dropped another couple of documents on the table, and said,

"I think that this is the kind of area you want to be working in."

Cassie recognised their titles.

They were both fictionalised accounts of an alien invasion by the black thread-worms.

These worms were able to control a woman by invading her orifices, subduing her with pleasure, and integrating themselves directly into her nervous system and brain.

One was Doctor Esterhazy's story, The Plague Maiden, documenting the worms' first appearance on the Earth during the latest invasion. It showed how quickly the worms could possess and control women, forcing them to breed more worms, and to spread them around the country. It also gave a chilling picture of the US Government's response to attack. 

The other, Tabico's story, Mind-worms: Facility, was a more personal account, showing the subtlety of the worms' methods. Despite safeguards, one single, imprisoned woman, who was not even under the direct control of the worms, was able to subvert and infect all of the the women in a US Federal research facility.

Cassie had found them on a website devoted to erotic mind-control stories

Appearing at the same time, both stories had been removed from the website within the last year, with no explanation. 

Cassie had fortunately kept copies on her computer at home, although she knew that these things could always be found in the Internet archive.

Reading about the exploits of evil parasitic alien worms had always given her so much pleasure.

After Julie had gone to bed, of course.

Eve continued, "These accounts were a little too close to the bone for the US government, Cassie, that's why they were removed. A lot of what is in these stories is, in fact, absolutely true.

"Your name ended up on a list of people who had downloaded these stories.

"I'm sorry to say that this little detail is likely to follow you around for the rest of your life."

Cassie frowned. She hadn't realised that people's Internet browsing habits were being followed quite so closely. She didn't want to be on a list of "persons of interest".

"With regard to your current Ph. D. topic," Eve said, "I imagine that distinguishing between viral and bacterial gastroenteritis doesn't hold the same appeal to you as studying the effects of an parasitic alien species which uses erotic pleasure to control women's minds.

"This is one reason you spend so much time with Julie, isn't it? You've known about the real invasion for some time now, and Julie's work will get you closer to it.

"I also think you'd like to know how that story ends, wouldn't you?

"Cassie, I'm offering an opportunity to be a part of these closing chapters."

Eve smiled at herself.

Cassie seemed to be paying attention.

"We need a test to distinguish between 'cured' women, and the women who have never been infected ... let's call them 'clean', or perhaps, 'virgins'"

Cassie nodded.

"Like Julie, you mean ..."

Eve laughed, for the first time.

"Yes, Cassie. Julie is a cool cookie, isn't she? Lovely, of course, she's a lovely girl, but a bit clueless, am I right?

"You'd like to change that, Cassie Grayndler, that would be my guess. If Julie is to get an education in the school of life, I think that you'd like to be the one to give it to her, hey?"

Cassie smiled, but said nothing.

"We need you to develop this test," Eve said. "I will help you find groups of women to interview, and you need to develop this test to detect worm infections, past or present.

"If we can convince the world that that surviving an infection does not alter a woman's consciousness, that the vaccine totally removes any of the worms' lingering means of control, then we can work towards getting all of the cured women's rights restored."

Cassie continued Eve's idea for her,

"... and getting your kid sister out of detention, in particular ..."

"Of course, Cassie. I won't lie to you. That is my first priority. However, there's no need to tell Julie about your little side project, is there?"

Cassie raised her eyebrows; but then she nodded at Eve.

"Yes, I know. Julie does have a bit of an ego problem. No need to scare the horses."

"Thanks for your understanding, Cassie."

Eve put her hand on Cassie's, again, and stroked her, gently. Cassie was surprised. That fleeting human contact had felt nice, far too nice.

Cassie realised then that Eve was a very powerful woman. She was beautiful, and confident. She had come to a new country, dismantled a whole university department, and reassembled it to serve her own purposes.

And here she was, seated next to Cassie, stroking her hand, bringing her into the fold.

Cassie was really beginning to like this conversation very much.

She was beginning to like Eve very much.

Cassie started to think out loud about the work.

"I'll have to think about the different approaches I can use, and I would appreciate it if you could put me into contact with some cured women. I guess they'll be American, so I'd also like to get in touch with a similar group of normal American women."

"Fine, Cassie, no problem," Eve said.

Cassie hesitated, unsure if she should speak her mind.

"But Eve, it's not going to do any good.

"You can't prove the lack of an effect. You can't prove the null hypothesis. This kind of a study might be useful to help you come to understand the kind of testing you might be faced with, but it won't solve the problem."

Eve gazed at Cassie, steadily, trying to choose her words carefully.

"Cassie, my only goal is to save these women.

"I think you can find a way to help them.

"Nothing else matters to me."

Cassie could understand why Eve was so committed to saving so many innocent women, and her sister in particular.

However, she was also a little disturbed by the possibility that these women might be the vanguard of a new invasion attempt by the aliens.

To Eve, this did not seem to matter.

Cassie had to take a side.

At least until she understood the risks better.

But nobody deserved Waco, or Jonestown, or Bhopal, or any of the other worm-related massacres, no matter what the dangers.

There had to be another way.

Smiling, brightly, if a little falsely, she replied.

"Okay, Eve, I'm in. I'll do my best."

Eve pretended not to notice Cassie's hesitation.

"Thank you, Cassie. You're free to work as you wish, just keep me informed of progress in generalities. When you start getting some results, we'll work out what kind of reporting requirements will be most appropriate.

"You can share Julie's office, if you wish, but I suggest that you visit Lennox Hospital as soon as possible to investigate your official role.

"I can promise you, Cassie, that you will not regret taking this on."

Eve turned to look Cassie in the eyes, and took Cassie's hands in her own.

"However, Cassie, I have to warn you in advance that there will be challenges for you in this project.

"Challenges, and also opportunities.

"You have seen the way the worms take women, Cassie, and I know that this excites you, very much. The pleasure the worms bring is powerful, and intense, and all-consuming.

"But Cassie, what you have seen is only one aspect of the worms. When they first appeared on Earth, they made an all-out assault, attempting to take over by sheer weight of numbers, infecting as many women as they could.

"But this attempt failed, Cassie. The worms are intelligent, Cassie. They will not attempt to use this method again.

"Working with the worms is seductive. The infected women are seductive. They will spend time now, to influence us, to change our attitudes. They will attempt to infiltrate your consciousness, to seduce you, to make you love them, to make you love their hosts, to weaken your strength."

Cassie was spellbound.

Eve began to stroke Cassie's arm, oh so gently, and her face was now very close.

"The worms create an atmosphere of erotic tension around all who come near them. You will not be immune. Julie will not be immune. I am not immune.

"That aspect of the worms is healthy, Cassie, it is nothing to fear, your human relationships will blossom."

Eve moved very close, and put her arms around Cassie.

Conspiratorially, she began to whisper in Cassie's ear.

"But be wary, Cassie. Be very wary. They offer a new life, Cassie. You will not expect it, but there may be a time when you are in a dark place in your life. You will find yourself wanting to give yourself up to them. They offer an escape from the troubles of the world. Infected women offer each other love, unconditional love, and understanding, and acceptance. The worms offer endless pleasure, endless fascination, a fanaticism, an unassailable reason to exist.

"When you are at your most vulnerable, they will take you, Cassie, they will take you and make you their own."

Eve stared, intently, into Cassie's eyes, steely, but also with kindness, then said,

"Unless you are strong."

Cassie knew that she was falling for this woman, and felt a strong urge to kiss her. Eve had broken down all of her defences. Not since she had moved in with Julie had she wanted to kiss another women. 

But, Oh! She wanted to kiss Eve.

"Be strong, Cassie, and you will be safe." Eve whispered, and kissed her on the cheek.

The meeting was over.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 05



Chapter 5 – Doctor Kelly and Jane

Stefan's meeting with Eve was after lunch.

He was still a little worried about Gabby.

She'd started replying to her emails over the last few days, but Stefan was disconcerted by their tone. They seemed overly cheery, especially for Gabby, and Stefan didn't know what Eve could have her doing that required her to work so hard, and to stay at the hospital for so long.

As far as he could tell, she hadn't been out of the hospital for a week.

Eve was presenting to Stefan on his own, and, as with Cassie and Julie, Eve carefully closed the blinds and locked the door before beginning her presentation.

Stefan was intrigued by the worms. He had read a bit about the invasion on conspiracy-theory websites, but had thought it all rather far-fetched. However, the graphic nature of Eve's videos convinced him, and he found the experience of watching these videos with such an obviously attractive woman very disturbing, especially as Eve seemed more interested in him than the screen.

"Stefan," Eve said, "I know you find this awkward, but I cannot emphasise enough how important your work will be to the cancer ward, and to the lives of countless women.

"You have been programming the Taubett interferometer for longer than anyone, and I can see that you've been able to produce some beautiful data, despite the complexity of the phase recovery problem. 

"If we are to analyse the lingering effects of a worm infection, we will need your image processing expertise to get the highest-quality images. We shall also need your knowledge of operating systems to configure the kernel for maximum security. The FDA will be going over the source-code with a fine tooth-comb, especially given the national security implications of this project.

"I know it will be a pain, but it would be appreciated if you could move into the new hospital for a few weeks. We really do need a system for detecting worm trails as quickly as possible, and your work must necessarily be finalised before Julie can commence her project.

"Most of your colleagues from Physical Sciences are already at the hospital, working hard, so you will be in good company.

"I've made an appointment for you to see Doctor Kelly at 2pm this afternoon. She appreciates punctuality, and I am sure you will want to get started. I can drive you to the hospital after lunch if you need a lift."

Stefan felt a flash of displeasure. He resented the pressure that Eve was applying to him, all of a sudden.

He was a university programmer, not some over-remunerated banking quant, for goodness sakes! What right did she have to push him around?

Still, Eve had increased his salary very substantially, and he was actually very curious about learning more about the worms.

He could have walked to the hospital in less than half an hour, but the offer of a ride was welcome.

He liked Eve, and appreciated the opportunity to talk to her.

"I'm happy with those arrangements Eve, that will be fine. I'll come by your office this afternoon."

"Thank you, Stefan. I shall see you outside my office at 1:50pm."

***

Eve seemed a lot more open with Stefan in the car. She told him all the details about the work that Julie and Cassie were doing, and noted that Gabby had been thinking of quitting, but had decided to continue her work at the hospital, where the lab was newer and better-equipped.

Stefan asked about the guys he hadn't caught up with since getting back from his holiday, and was surprised at how hard Eve had all of them working. Stefan knew that some of them had been little more than dead wood since they had obtained their permanent positions at the Uni.

He asked her about Doctor Kelly.

"Doctor Kelly and I don't actually talk very much." said Eve. "My projects seem quite irrelevant to her, I think. She believes that fighting cancer is the most important job in the world, and I can't say that I disagree with her."

Eve drove right up to the doors of the new building, where two ambulances were parked.

A security guard walked out and raised his hand to stop the car. Eve had some kind of card ready, and she showed it to him. When he saw the name on the card, he smiled, and motioned her into a parking place.

"I won't be long," said Eve to the guard, and motioned for Stefan to get out.

Stefan felt a little light-on with only his wallet, and hesitated.

"I don't think you'll need anything, Stefan." said Eve. "If you want something sent over, just give me a tinkle."

Stefan hopped out, and Eve drove away.

The security guard walked him into the building.

Just inside the door, Stefan was confronted by a security scanner, like an airport scanner. The sign on the outside of the machine said "Gamma Ray Detector", but Stefan knew that this was ridiculous. There was no way the gamma source would leak out of its housing.

Stefan had no choice; there were two uniformed security guards next to the scanner, and they were ushering him inside. They were extremely polite, but Stefan couldn't see the point.

What were they scared of?

Terrorists?

When he finally gained entry into the foyer he only saw one doctor present. She was chatting to the receptionist, and, when she saw Stefan, she stopped and waved at him, and walked over.

"Hi, you must be Stefan. Nice to meet you, I'm Lucille Kelly."

Doctor Kelly was in her mid-thirties, had frizzy, dirty-blonde hair, and was dressed in conservative clothes, with a white lab-coat over the top, and had the obligatory stethoscope around her neck. She was very business-like, but had kindly eyes, one hundred percent a professional doctor.

She extended her hand in greeting.

Stefan was surprised by the American accent, and how similar it was to Eve's.

"I'm glad to see you're here on time." said Doctor Kelly. "Please, come with me, I'll get a nurse to show you around, and then we'll set you up with a workstation for your project with Eve."

Stefan interrupted.

"Doctor, Eve told me that I would need to stay at the hospital. I've actually got a fair bit of stuff I'd like to bring in from my new apartment. I don't want to spend much time here today."

Doctor Kelly was surprised.

She hoped that this Stefan person would not be so impertinent all of the time!

"Stefan, I don't think you need to worry. Eve will keep an eye on your apartment while you're away. If you still want anything after you're all settled, I'm sure we can ask someone to bring it in."

A nurse appeared. She was pretty, and bubbly, a rosy glow in her cheeks.

"Hi, Stefan. I'm Jane. I'll be showing you around the ward, and where you'll be working.

"There's a huge amount of work to do, but it's brilliant what they can do for the patients here. I've met all of your friends from Uni, and I know that you'll fit right in here.

"Please, come with me."

She took Stefan up to the fourth floor, and showed him the little room containing the gamma source. There wasn't much to see, as all of the electronics was in a room outside, and the need for heavy shielding meant that the room had to be as small as possible.

The Taubett machine was right next door. There had been talk of integrating it into the gamma-ray treatment, but it was far to early for anything to have been accomplished quite yet.

Since it had been transferred from Physical Sciences it had been modified slightly for hospital use, with more hand-holds added, and some of the hard edges covered with soft padding.

Jane's pager beeped.

"Oh, shit.

"Sorry, Stefan.

"I'll have to leave you. Have a look around, this machine has been modified a little from when you were at Uni. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

Stefan felt a little odd. He had been left completely alone, and the room seemed very quiet.

He had almost decided to walk out and go on his own little tour, when in walked Gabby.

Stefan was surprised that she had found him, but very pleased. He blushed, and found his mind stumbling over the words he would use to greet her.

With her slender build, pale skin, and wispy hair, she always looked so delicate, but today she looked particularly harried, and stressed. Despite the warmth of the clinic building, she was still wearing that big old coat, and she still had it buttoned up, as if to keep herself from the cold.

"Stefan, thank God you're here.

"Come with me, I'll show you where to get your pens and stuff." 

Stefan could see she was in a hurry.

Gabby took Stefan down in the lift to the first floor.

Jane and another nurse were standing at the entrance to a long corridor, talking animatedly about some problem with surgery suppliers. They smiled and waved, and Gabby gave a wan shake of her hand in reply.

Down the corridor she led Stefan, right to the end, and opened a side door into a store-room. She flicked on the light.

"Here's where you can get pens and paper, and anything else you need.

"Just come in here, and let's load you up."

Stefan followed Gabby into the room.

Gabby closed the door, and leaned back against it, and undid the top buttons of her coat, still looking hot and harried.

They were in the confined space together.

This feels a bit weird, Stefan thought to himself.

Gabby's face crumpled, and she looked like she was going to cry.

She gestured Stefan closer, and began to speak, quietly, but quickly.

"Stefan, I don't know who I can trust. They have black thread-worms here, Stefan, this whole building is full of worms. That's how they're treating the women, Stefan, they're using worms. They say they have a lot of security, but I think it's really really dangerous. These are aliens, they are mind-controllers, they want to control us, they want to take over the world. Those women, when they look at me, I can tell they want me. They want to infect me, to control me, to force me to join them. It's like a drug, Stefan, it's like a terrible, addictive, drug. They control those women with horrible pleasure, Stefan, I can tell.

"Please help me, Stefan.

"Tell Julie. Get out of here, as quick as you can, and tell Julie. She's the only one we can still trust."

Her eyes were leaking tears now, and she put her arms around Stefan, and pulled him close.

Feeling a little confused, Stefan reciprocated, and put his arms around Gabby.

She was very warm, and smelled nice, in a musky, natural way.

Stefan had a moment to wonder why he hadn't asked her out already. They'd known each other for a few years now, but he'd never been capable of asking her. He knew the reason why, of course. He was terribly shy around women he cared about, and he cared about Gabby very deeply.

Then he felt the sting on the back of his neck, and on his back.

He cried out in surprise. He hadn't even seen the black tendrils before they struck.

His natural instinct was to jump away, but Gabby held on fiercely tight.

His head began to spin, and he felt a burst of pleasure as blood raced into his groin. Gabby still held him, but more gently now, and, as his knees went weak, she lowered him to the ground.

The door opened then, and bright light from the corridor spilled in.

One of the nurses walked in, and closed the door behind her, and locked it. By now, Stefan couldn't move, but he could still hear.

The nurse sat down on the floor and laid his head in her lap, and looked down into his panicky eyes with kindness, stroking his face.

Gabby, looking much happier now, smiled at them both.

Still standing, she unbuttoned the rest of the buttons on her coat, and shrugged it off.

Under the coat, she was topless. Although her breasts were small, her nipples stood out like bullets.

Stefan was transfixed.

Gabby was beautiful, and he loved her, but she had been transformed into a figure of horror.

Her neck was encircled by black tendrils, which trailed down her breasts. There were two worms perched on the back of her neck. They were fat, and streaked with black and grey, and one of them lifted its head, as if sniffing the air.

Gabby was in the thrall of the aliens.

She had tricked him.

He couldn't move, he could only watch as Gabby knelt down and methodically undid all of his shirt buttons, leaving his torso bare, and unclipped the button of his jeans, sliding the fly down, and pulled down his pants.

He was hard, and his erection flopped out.

He had never felt this hard before.

The venom had made sure of that.

Gabby wrapped a hand around him, and squeezed, just testing.

Stefan was good and ready.

She bent down, her long hair coming down over his face and his neck, and kissed his forehead, a gentle feeling to go with the torrent of sensation from Gabby's hand.

One worm flopped off her neck onto his chest. It was heavy, and moist. Stefan could only watch in horror as it began to slime its way towards its final destination at the top of his spine, black tendrils oozing out of its body and leading the way.

Gabby smiled at him.

That smile was was terrifying, and beautiful, all at the same time.

It was full of love, but also full of hunger, and of victory, of the knowledge that she had won him, body and soul.

Gabby spoke, quietly, and kindly.

"Stefan, I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but I think we both know that you like me. I've noticed you, I can tell you that. This will make it so much easier, Stefan. When you give your mind to your mistress, I'll be waiting for you. Just give in to her, Stefan, and then you shall have me.

She leaned down then, and held him for a time, her breasts pushed into his chest.

His dizziness and head-spin subsided, but he was still paralysed.

Gabby sat up, reached under his bottom with both hands, and pulled his jeans and his underpants further down in a single motion.

She moved towards his midriff, and then gave the head of his penis a little lick.

Gazing at him steadily, she opened her mouth wide.

Slowly, slowly, she slid down to engulf him totally in her mouth. As she closed her lips, he felt moisture, and warmth, and a pleasure he had never felt before. It was all too much, and Stefan closed his eyes, his mouth open in a soundless scream of pleasure. The pleasure was intense, he was still paralysed from the continuing infusion of venom, and Gabby began to work on him, sliding her mouth up and down, her clever tongue licking, and her lips suckling on him.

The sensations were delightful. He had thought he would come in her mouth straight away, but his body was no longer under his control, and he was held at the threshold of climax, unable to proceed further.

Tendrils appeared from underneath the nurse's uniform, and out of Gabby's worm, all converging on the same point.

Gabby still held his hardness in her mouth, smiling, giving gentle squeezes with her tongue, and took his hands, entangling her long, pale fingers in his own, which were strong, and meaty.

Gabby stilled her movement, and looked up at Stefan expectantly.

When the worm began to insert its black tendrils through Stefan's skin, he felt another sting, but with all of the other sensations assailing him, it was more pleasurable than painful.

His skin crawled when he realised that the worm's tendrils were striking through his flesh, pushing through skin and fat to reach his spine.

The worm began to speak to his mind.

Welcome, Stefan.

I am your mistress.

Obey your mistress, and I shall give your life meaning.

The voice in his head was female, and rich, and mature, and commanding. He wanted to trust it.

Obey your mistress, and I shall give you pleasure.

Endless pleasure, Stefan, I shall give you so much pleasure.

At this command, he felt a wonderful sensation flooding his body, and he found that he could thrust himself into Gabby's ready mouth.

Obey your mistress, and you shall find your love.

Give yourself over to the pleasure, and you will have nothing to worry about. You can join with all of us, and feel part of us, all at peace. You will have perfect freedom, and I will help you accomplish so much.

Just let yourself slide, slide into my pleasure, and I shall look after you.

And Gabby. Gabby loves you. And you love Gabby. Join us, and you will join Gabby.

Gabby resumed her sucking then, and he felt the impossible pleasure still rising. As he began to get close to his completion, he began to feel the affection for him of the nurse behind him, her hunger for him, and his soul. He had known Gabby for a few years now, and he felt her thinking that the meagre time they had spent together was something special, that she had always known his feelings for her, that she was only now getting her wish.

As he gushed into Gabby's mouth, he felt as if all of their minds had become one. Gabby and the nurse sighed, and all could enjoy the pleasure being offered to him. Tendrils of thought reached into his mind and began to massage his intelligence into something more suitable for service to the worms. Gabby continued to suckle on him, and swallowed his come with some relish.

When she released him, she pulled up his trousers, closed his shirt, and re-buttoned him.

She leant her head on the nurse's shoulder, and, his head still cradled in the nurse's lap, she opened up his hand and played her fingers along his palm.

There was no hurry.

Stefan didn't know how long it took to pass control of his mind over to his mistress, but the experience was gentle, and pleasurable, and he wished he had been able to experience it for longer.

When they all stood up and brushed the rumples out of their clothes, he felt refreshed.

"It's time to meet the rest of the faculty, Stefan." said Gabby. "They're busy working, and you need to join them."

Stefan followed Gabby out of the room, but he didn't need to follow her to the offices on the second floor.

He already knew the way.

***

The office was bright, and seven of his friends from the faculty were working away with total dedication, and absolute silence.

Each of them had a worm attached to their neck, directing their work.

Stefan walked up to his chair and his brand-new workstation, sat down, and swivelled the chair to face out into the room.

Anita, the manager of the programming staff, walked over and smiled at him.

She undid his fly, pulled down his pants, and flipped up her skirt.

As she slid onto his lap, their worms unfurled their communications tendrils.

Information began to flow into Stefan's brain. There was a lot of work to be done. Anita held him tight, and, as Stefan became aroused again, she lifted herself up, only to slide down upon him, pulling him in deep, and beginning to rock against him.

Knowledge began to pour into his brain, accompanied by a heady rush of pleasure. It all seemed overwhelming, but Stefan could do nothing but kiss Anita, letting the whole experience swirl through him, and around him, until he realised the full extent of what was being asked from him.

As he gushed into her, Anita groaned her completion and gripped him even tighter, but Stefan was soon distracted from the overwhelming pleasure. He was already mapping out in his head the programs he had to write.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 06



Chapter 6 – Sheyda, Sophie and Jessica

With the rest of the staff working over at the hospital to get the Taubett up and running, Cassie and Julie had the department to themselves. Eve spent most days working at her apartment, and only came into the uni for meetings.

Stefan began sending Julie data from the scanner in the USA by the end of that first week.

This seemed remarkably fast to Julie, but there were many problems with the initial data sets.

The first scans were only of small regions of the body. The Taubett could only image one section of the body at a time, and a full scan would have to be stitched together from many pieces. The stitching work had not yet been done.

These first scans also did not include any images of bone, only of fat, muscle, veins and connective tissue. Images containing bone were difficult to process because bone absorbs X-rays so strongly.

There were still a few dead sensor pixels, too, and these had yet to be removed.

Julie was engrossed immediately. Despite all of the problems, the quality of these initial scans was brilliant, with individual muscle fibres and capillaries visible in each slice.

She had been given three data sets to start with, of clean women, cured women, and infected women.

Under the Taubett, the infected women stood out a mile. Their muscles were infiltrated by the worm's nerve fibres, which glowed in the 250keV radiation in fine, silvery threads. Before the Taubett came along, nobody had seen this before: neither transmission X-rays nor the TSA's back-scatter machines had the resolution to show these fine details, and the TSA's back-scatter X-rays could only image near the surface of the skin.

This was the reason that women passing through the scanners had to stand with legs akimbo; some of the radiation had to be directed directly upwards to detect worms reliably.

The cured women were not at all obvious in the scans. Julie could see some evidence of the channels where the worms' fibres had been. However, after a worm was removed, Eve had told them that the fibres were absorbed by the body, not leaving much evidence behind.

Cassie and Julie spent hours looking at those first results.

Julie was thinking about how she might be able to emphasise the evidence of a previous worm infection.

Cassie was imagining what it might feel like to have all of those nerve fibres running through one's body, subverting the nervous system, bending one's will to an alien intelligence.

Rather nice, she thought.

Although Julie was excited to be getting good results so quickly, Cassie had been busy too, and seemed to have about a dozen chat windows on her screen.

"So what are you doing, Cassie?" asked Julie. "I thought you were supposed to be interviewing cancer patients?"

Cassie hesitated for a moment, then made a decision.

"Jules," Cassie said, "Eve told me not to discuss my work with you.

"I don't trust her. She seems to think that we might get into some kind of battle of egos if you found out I had some real work to do.

"I'm chatting to cured women in the FEMA camp in Nevada.

"I'm trying to develop a test to detect worm infection. Eve saw the results I was getting with that toxoplasmosis test, and wants me to do tests for cured and infected women, using a standardised personality test."

Cassie continued,

"I'm sorry, Julie, but, basically, Eve accused you of being an arrogant, frigid, bitch, and told me to keep my work away from you."

Julie looked surprised.

The she looked hurt.

Then she cackled.

"Ha-ha. Well, no flies on Miss Eve. She got that part right, at least. I am an arrogant, frigid, bitch.

"But I also know all of Cassie Grayndler's innermost secrets.

"I bet you'd like to join them, hey Cassie? Chat to them, real close, about what it was like to be possessed by worms? What it was like to have your mind controlled by aliens? What it was like to be forced to fuck other women all of the time?"

Cassie laughed, embarrassed, and demurred, not very convincingly.

Of course, Julie was right.

Julie looked on as Cassie chatted. She was a little disappointed. It was just normal stuff between strangers on the Internet, getting to know each other, talking about their school-work, their accommodation, their room-mates.

Cassie explained.

"I have to be careful when I talk. Everything that we say is monitored, probably by the NSA."

After a while of watching them chat, Julie started to notice.

"That woman is so polite, Cassie. She's absolutely charming. That's just not normal!"

"That's Eve's kid sister, Lilli," Cassie said. "Yeah, human kindness is real spooky, I know. But she's a Yank, Julie. She's nothing like you or me. And, also, I expect she knows what's at stake here.

"She's stuck in a poxy FEMA camp, and the NSA is spying on her and listening to everything she says. I have to be careful what I say, as I don't know what they'll be looking for. Those women have no way out.

"It sucks, Jules. I don't know what we can do.

"Eve seems to think that if we can show that their brains are normal then they have a chance of getting released."

Julie contemplated this for a little while, and came to the same conclusion as Cassie.

"If they pass the test, that's no proof that their brains are normal," Julie said.

"It only proves that they're able to fake the test, or that the test isn't testing the right things.

"If Eve really wants to get her kid sister out of Nevada, she won't want you coming up with a test which shows that her brain has been altered by the worms. She'll want a test that shows her to be totally normal. Even if you come up with a good test, Cassie, it could be that Eve's just going to pass it on to her sister, or even on to all of the women.

"It would be pretty easy to cheat.

"I think you could build a bit of insurance into your test, Cassie.

"Let's add a little watermark to your data. Before you give Eve your results, let's just perturb all of the statistics for the answers, very slightly, with some random numbers. Those random numbers form a kind of watermark.

"If someone cheats by making up a set of answers using your measurements, they'll pass your test, but we can still use a correlation test to detect the watermark. If you have a lot of questions, say, a hundred or so, you don't need much of a watermark to see if they cheated. Using a correlation test to detect random numbers is amazingly sensitive."

Cassie thought the idea sounded completely impractical.

Who would go to the trouble of making up a bunch of answers to match some complicated statistics, and then memorise a hundred answers before taking the test? Every person who wants to cheat would have to make up a new set of answers, too.

However, she admired Julie's devious mind, and couldn't resist putting something over Eve, however impractical.

"Sounds great, Cassie. I'll add in the watermark. But you've got to write the cheat detector, and you can write the code for processing the test scores, too."

Julie nodded, half-heartedly,

"Ok, Cassie, no worries," but she was distracted by what was on her screen.

There was something in the Taubett scans that looked familiar to her.

She brought up the image of one of the phantoms, taken on the Taubett machine when it was next door.

This was the machine that was now at Lennox Hospital.

She compared it against one of the new images, supposedly from the new machine in the USA, and flipped between the images several times.

She had been right.

When she flipped, the dead pixels remained exactly the same.

These scans had both been taken on the same machine.

She brought Cassie over to show her the results.

"Cassie, there's no way these images were taken in Baltimore.

"These scans were taken on the machine that used to be next door.

"I think we must have a whole lot of worm-infected women right here in Canberra."

***

Julie spent the next few weeks fixing up her visualisation software to work with the Taubett scans, and had started working on the worm-trail detection. 

Both Cassie and Julie had a meeting scheduled with Eve the next morning to give her a status report.

Julie was pleased with her work so far. The old worm-channels were very narrow, so finding evidence of a past worm infection was difficult, but her visualisations of infected women were looking very nice.

Cassie spent the time sending out standard personality tests to the two groups selected by Eve: one of cured women, and one of normal women selected as controls. The cured women were like troopers, answering every question, and never failing to send back a survey. The normal women were intransigent, and kept stuffing up the answers, and with each new survey, a few would always drop out altogether.

Cassie couldn't decide if the cured women were unnaturally conscientious, or if they felt they owed their lives to Eve and her institution.

The test results were pretty clear.

The cured women were very different from normal women.

There was no way that these women could possibly pass for normal.

Eve's not going to like this, Cassie thought to herself.

She put all of the survey results into a spreadsheet, and only added Julie's watermark to the normal women's results as a kind of afterthought.

The idea of cheating sounded a little ludicrous. There would be no way that anyone could learn how to answer the questions like a normal person, as they'd need to do a lot of calculations in their head, and would need to make up random numbers to get the statistics to come out correctly.

Humans are notoriously bad at such things.

***

Eve was already in her office, apparently working hard, when Cassie and Julie knocked on her office door at 8:30 the next morning.

"Good morning girls. Welcome to our first official project meeting.

"Are there any problems? How is everything going?"

"No problems, Eve. I'm enjoying the work, it's proceeding well." Julie said.

"Ditto," said Cassie, "we're actually starting to get some great results already."

Cassie presented first, showing Eve all the results she'd gathered so far.

"As you can see," said Cassie, "we can pick out the cured women very easily from the normal women. All of the cured women are nearly two standard deviations away from the norm, and I expect that with more sensitive analysis, the difference will become even more apparent."

Cassie didn't mention the watermark.

As Cassie had predicted, Eve didn't like these results very much, and she sat, tight-lipped, throughout the entire presentation.

When Cassie had finished, Eve didn't make any comments. She asked for a copy of the results, and asked Julie to commence her presentation.

Julie pulled out a folder, and laid out some printouts of images from her programs.

The silvery skeins of worm fibres were clearly visible in the muscle tissue.

"Eve, this Taubett data is of a very high quality, as you can see."

Julie pointed out the trails, but this was unnecessary, as they were bright and clear, and Eve looked very, very pleased.

Julie finally asked what had been on her mind.

"Eve, how did you get this data? I know for a fact that these scans were done in Canberra. Australia's quarantine regulations are supposed to keep the worms out. There aren't supposed to be any infected women here, yet here's a scan, showing clear evidence of a worm infection.

"Where are you keeping the infected women?"

For a good ten seconds, all Eve could do was stare at Julie.

She was livid.

She looked at both Julie and Cassie, in obvious disgust.

"Julie. Cassie. I don't want to tell you this again.

"The Taubett machine has been working in Baltimore for a few days now. I have had your colleagues working very hard to process the data for these images, and their high quality is a testament to their programming skills.

"There are no worms in Australia.

"Australian Customs border controls are more than sufficient to keep them out.

"I never want to hear such unfounded allegations in this building again, or anywhere else.

"Julie, your results are absolutely brilliant. You are obviously an an asset to my team. You're well on the way to showing the after-effects of a worm infection, I am sure. 

"Cassie, I know you'd like to spend all day with Julie, and chatting with my sister.

"But you've completely ignored your NDA, and have deliberately disobeyed my instructions.

"You haven't done a lick of work with our cancer patients. I suggest that you get yourself over to the hospital today to begin planning your other interviews.

"Julie, I suggest that you should get over there, too, as soon as possible. You should stay up to date with the progress that Stefan and his colleagues are making on the Taubett data.

"Good work, Julie. Please continue.

"And, Cassie, I know you have a lot of potential. Don't squander it.

"I'm a little busy today, so I'll have to ask you to leave now."

Cassie and Julie scuttled out, feeling chastened.

A man in a suit was waiting outside Eve's office.

He looked familiar.

He caught Julie's eye, and reached for her hand, and shook it.

"Julie Smith, Cassie Grayndler?"

Julie was still feeling cross with Eve, and greeted him quite brusquely.

"Yes, nice to meet you. And who might you be?"

He didn't seem offended.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm not important. I'm just paying Eve Hunter a courtesy call."

He shook hands with Cassie, too, and passed them both a card from his jacket pocket.

"I've taken a tour of the new hospital," he said, "and what Ms. Hunter and Dr Kelly have done for cancer treatment in this country is nothing short of astonishing.

"We all have high hopes for your work. Things are looking a bit dicey at the moment, so please give Eve your very best. The future of the new clinic needs to be sorted by the end of the year, and I'm sure you understand that there is a lot at stake."

Eve was holding the door open for him.

He gave Cassie and Eve a mischievous wink, and a smile, which they could see, but Eve could not.

Such a simple gesture managed to convey so much.

I'd rather stay and chat, but I'd best go through. The High and Mighty Miss Eve Hunter doesn't like to be kept waiting, does she? I think I'd better humour her.

He bid them farewell,

"I'm so glad to have met you both. Bon chance, Julie. Bon chance, Cassie," and, without a trace of disrespect, greeted Eve with a smile.

"Good morning, Eve,"

Eve looked severely at Cassie and Julie as he walked into her office, and she closed the door.

Cassie read the card that had been passed to her.

They should have recognised him; he was John Landers, the Federal Minister for Health.

Cassie had only ever seen him on television. He was pushing fifty, but looked remarkably fit and healthy.

She also remembered his twin daughters, Sophie and Jessica.

With some distaste, as they'd been horrible to her at uni. But also, with sympathy. At their graduation, three years ago, they'd already been showing symptoms of early-onset Huntington's.

Horrible disease.

They were probably dead by now.

Maybe that explained why he'd become Minister for Health; he must have spent a lot of time in hospitals.

***

Cassie still felt quite pissed off at Miss Eve as she rode towards the hospital, helmeted head down and strong legs pedalling fast.

She had been working hard, and was already getting some definite results. The results weren't the ones that Eve wanted, and wouldn't help the cause of the cured women at all, but that wasn't Cassie's fault. She wasn't going to make up data for Eve's benefit, and, in any case, that wouldn't even work, as Cassie imagined that US government agencies were doing the same as Cassie.

These women were not normal, that was clear, but there were all sorts of problems with analysing the survey data. These women were Americans, from many different backgrounds, and, being stuck in musty trailers in Nevada, they were all eager for something to do which might help their circumstances.

It was no wonder they seemed odd.

Now she had to go and talk to cancer patients about their "feelings". She had hoped that her "official" work would remain just as words on her paper job description, never to be examined or worried about ever again.

The cancer survey would not be hard work, as she had learned all kinds of interviewing techniques in her background reading for toxoplasmosis, and for her Ph. D.

However, it was going to be pretty boring.

Depressing, too, as she knew that the prognosis for these patients was very poor.

Some of the women she talked to at the hospital were likely to die before the year was out.

Julie had piked out, of course.

She didn't like hospitals much.

Parking and locking her bike, Cassie unclipped her helmet and wandered into the new cancer ward.

She was a bit taken aback by the scanners. The hospital had been built with American money. Did all US hospitals have body-scanners now? Or was this a TSA scanner, set up to find something more interesting?

Eve had instructed her to talk to Doctor Kelly, and Cassie hoped she wouldn't have to spend time with any patients today.

The doctor greeted Cassie in a friendly way, and ushered her through the twisty little corridors of the building. They both took the lift up to Doctor Kelly's office on the top floor, and Cassie was impressed by its size.

"I've been hoping that you would pay us a visit, Cassie," Doctor Kelly said. "I know that cancer may not be your chief interest here, but I'm very enthusiastic about the new treatment. It has been having amazing effects on the patients.

"When you've settled in, I'd like to find out what your impressions are about the project, and you're welcome to ask any questions."

Cassie wondered to herself about Eve Hunter.

Neither Cassie nor Julie had ever had a normal conversation with Eve. She was so overbearing, they had both been swept along by her energy, but Cassie didn't know a thing about her.

And, Cassie was still angry with her. In their first meeting, Cassie had felt very close to Eve, and had felt seduced. In the second, Eve had turned upon her.

Cassie realised then that she was still very angry.

"Doctor Kelly, who is Eve Hunter? She's doesn't seem like an academic, but she has a very senior position. What's her role at Johns Hopkins?"

Doctor Kelly considered her reply carefully.

"Cassie, our Eve Hunter is a bit of a mystery woman.

"We had an outbreak of the worms in Baltimore, and were holding a few infected women in the hospital for tests. At that stage, we hadn't been told anything about the worms, and we were having a hard time getting close to them without risking our nurses.

"I only became involved because we wanted to try radiotherapy to kill the worms in-situ. It was a stupid idea in retrospect, but it was a measure of how desperate we had become, and the US government was throwing money at worm researchers.

"Eve Hunter turned up on our doorstep unannounced, bearing a patent application and a vial of vaccine which she said was a cure for the infection.

"Normally we'd reject such lone inventors out of hand, but Eve Hunter was very special. Her knowledge of the worms was exceptional, her patent application was convincing, and, somehow, she had discovered that we were holding infected women.

"Injecting one of the infected women with an unknown vaccine was a huge risk, but even then we knew what the likely future was for these women. That is to say, no future at all.

"After we saw the results, we knew that Eve was sitting on a goldmine.

"Eve came out right at the start and agreed to split the profits fifty-fifty if we would promote her vaccine.

"Every country in the world has purchased supplies of the vaccine she developed. The patent has been worth tens of millions of dollars to Johns Hopkins, and, of course, to Eve Hunter.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 06



"We have both benefited immeasurably from her discovery, but I still have no idea where she came from, or how she funded the development of the vaccine in the first place.

"I've always assumed that she comes from old money in Boston, but everything she does is directed at getting the cured women released, and on saving her sister.

"She's using that money to promote her pet projects, which you and Julie know about of course.

"She has also been instrumental in getting Johns Hopkins to fund the cancer clinic here. I was very lucky to be chosen to direct it. The new treatment is actually extremely effective. You cannot imagine how gratifying it is to for an oncologist to be able to help all of her patients."

Cassie hesitated, but then made a decision.

After Eve's outburst, she wasn't hopeful, but she was still angry enough to be direct with Doctor Kelly.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained ...

"Doctor Kelly, Julie and I have been looking at the Taubett data from Baltimore, the scans of infected women. But Julie says that the data must have come from the machine in this hospital, and we've seen images showing clear evidence of live worm infections.

"We believe that you must have infected women here. What are black thread-worms doing in Australia? I have to say, it sounds highly dangerous, and it's probably a criminal offence, right? What's going on here?"

Doctor Kelly beamed at Cassie, not a reaction she had expected.

"You and Julie are pretty special, did you know that? You are both very perceptive. Eve does choose her colleagues well.

"Yes, Cassie, we do have worms here, of course we do.

"They cure cancer, Cassie. The worms cure cancer.

"The worms are very effective in looking after their hosts, and are able to manipulate DNA to remove mutations and damage. They cure cancer, they kill bacterial infections, they fix congenital problems, they heal damage. Dozens of women are alive today who would otherwise be dead because of the worms, these women are healthier than they've ever been before. The worms are lifesavers, Cassie, and my job is to save lives. This is the most important advance in medicine since the introduction of antibiotics!"

Cassie was impressed, but she still felt a sense of disquiet. The idea was so crazy that she couldn't resist being a little flippant.

"Doctor Kelly, the worms are an alien race that wants to enslave humanity. Don't you think that your new treatment might not be a little risky?"

Doctor Kelly smiled, but humoured her.

"Yes, Cassie, of course. It's true, the worms did come here in an attempt to invade and conquer our planet, and our species.

"You know, they came pretty close to achieving their goal.

"But we have analysed all of the risks, and have managed these risks, and they are negligible. We have impenetrable security at all entrances to the hospital, with every person entering and leaving the hospital being automatically examined by a backscatter X-ray machine.

"We've mastered the worms now.

"We've come to a kind of truce.

"Any intelligent being knows that it's better to live in servitude than to die in a ditch. The worms accept their role as humanity's helpers, and, if they behave, there will be many more clinics like this one, and a comfortable life for them. If they don't behave, they know that they will not be allowed to survive.

"We have made an arrangement with the Australian government to run this one small clinic to cure inoperable cancer cases. Your security services have made arrangements to keep us all safe, and we are in complete agreement with their methods."

Cassie thought that everything sounded somewhat dubious, but she nodded her head. After all, she didn't have anything personal against the worms. Indeed, she couldn't help reminding herself, she rather liked them and what they could do, but that was all in fantasy, right? She wouldn't really want Earth taken over by an alien species, would she?

"I can see that Eve has got under your skin." Doctor Kelly said. "She can be abrasive, but that's because she is so single-minded. This clinic wouldn't be here without her. Please, give her a chance.

"I know you've had a tough time dealing with the women in the FEMA camps. They're not in the best of circumstances, and they're desperately trying to appear normal, to get out of that place. 

"Your work would be a lot easier if you could work face to face, with Australians, with people like the people you know. I can arrange interviews with women in the clinic so you can work on your methods.

"If you can find any trace of the worms left behind, Eve will want to know about it.

"Now, Cassie, so you know what you're getting into, would you like to come into the inner sanctum, to see the infected women? We could organise a regular time for you to interview any of the women here. We'll introduce you to the hosts as well. I'm sure you will find the work here far more pleasurable than you expected."

Cassie surprised herself by being ecstatic at this prospect. With the prospect of meeting the worms, her foul mood had lifted immediately. She had been given permission to meet representatives of an alien race, and the women who were held in thrall by them. She wanted to know how they felt about that, for sure, and what they were feeling.

"Of course, Doctor," Cassie said. "I've done all the preparation I need. I'm ready to start work straight away."

"That's great. Now, Cassie, I must impress upon you the need for absolute secrecy. Nobody must talk about our worms outside this building. You cannot even talk to Julie about this, although you are welcome to bring her here to see for herself what we are doing.

"Have I made myself clear?"

Cassie nodded.

That part was going to be hard.

"I'll just call Gabby to get you started on a tour."

Doctor Kelly made a quick phone call.

Gabby.

Cassie wasn't looking forward to seeing Gabby. Cassie had always been quite open about her sexuality, and everyone at Uni knew about it. Likewise, Gabby had made no secret of how uncomfortable Cassie's sexuality made her feel, and had told Cassie so, to her face.

But Gabby still kept making overtures of friendship to Julie, as if Cassie simply did not exist, and, all this time, Gabby had been firm friends with Joan Pellman.

Joan dealt in drugs, and was as much of a Lesbian as Cassie, more so if you were counting conquests. Joan had spent most of second year trying to get into Gabby's pants, but Gabby simply had not noticed. Joan was friends with Cassie, too, and kept her supplied with dope, but Joan had somehow managed to keep her friendships with Gabby and Cassie completely separate.

Although Gabby was well on the path to becoming a brilliant scientist, Cassie thought her clueless and insensitive, even malicious.

Gabby soon appeared, and her signature woollen coat was nowhere to be seen.

She was looking very well. Extremely well, in fact. Her limp had disappeared, her skin had cleared up, and she was standing straighter than ever before.

The star piercing in her nose finally suited her. Gabby no longer looked like a nerd wanting to look cool; in fact, she seemed extremely attractive.

"Hi, Cassie," Gabby said, cheerily. "Come with me, and I'll load you up with everything you need, then I'll show you around."

Gabby took Cassie by the hand, and gave it a squeeze.

Cassie was surprised at this small show of affection, but smiled, and squeezed back.

Why was Gabby being so friendly? Actually, why was she being super-friendly?

"Cassie, you're welcome to spend as much time as you like at the hospital," Gabby said. "You can spend nights here while you're doing interviews, if you like. There are spare beds in every ward here, the hospital is not yet at full capacity.

"We've all been introduced to the infected women. You will just need to make some preparations before your first visit. The infected women are lovely, of course, but you can't go in there without protection."

They had taken a lift to the first floor, where the administrative offices were, and walked to the end of a long corridor. Gabby opened the door, and motioned Cassie in.

"Pens, paper. You'll need these too."

***

Cassie now had a bag full of stationery, a desk on the first floor, and a computer. A laminated strip with her name on it had already been created to put on her desk. She had a view across the lake to the university, and there was a microwave link on the roof which connected her to the Uni network, so she'd be able to do her work here, just as if she were sitting at her desk at Uni.

The next stop on Cassie's tour was Gabby's lab, and Gabby led Cassie to it, still holding her by the hand.

It was brightly lit, and there were about ten meters of bench space, several sinks, glass-fronted cupboards full of brightly coloured chemicals, and two fume-hoods.

Two nurses were busy preparing something using some kind of mixing machine.

It was a very nice lab for one biologist, Cassie thought.

"Hey, Gabby, this is a beautiful lab. Do you have anyone else working with you, or is this all yours?"

Gabby looked pleased at Cassie's compliment.

"Johns Hopkins is really throwing the money around. It's a wonderful place to work. They keep me pretty busy around here.

"Doctor Kelly comes in to use the lab every now and again, but I think she just wants to chat.

"There's also Anjolie Lalitha. She's a doctor from India who's been developing an antibody test for worm infections. She's very pretty, Cassie, and I think she's just your type, all bookish and serious, and she always dresses in suits.

"Too bad for you though. She's got a husband back in India, so she's taken.

"I'll have to show you my results."

"Sounds great!" Cassie replied, quite curious to see what Gabby had been doing, but also doing her best to ignore Gabby's unwelcome insinuations.

"I'd like to show Julie, too! Is she coming in?" Gabby asked.

Cassie shook her head.

"I don't think Julie actually likes this kind of stuff, Gabby, it's too messy. She doesn't really want to get involved with people, or the worms, or cancer. Actually, I don't think she wants to get involved with anything to do with the real world. I'm sure she prefers looking at the world through her computer screen."

Gabby looked disappointed.

"That's a shame. Still, first things first ..."

Cassie grabbed a glass jar from some kind of dispenser, which held a huge stack of them. The jar was tiny, about as big as those single-serve jams you get in posh hotels.

Gabby was very proud of it, whatever it was.

She opened it to show to Julie. 

It contained an inky grey paste.

"This is processed worm venom," Gabby said. "It acts as a worm repellent. If you rub it on your back, the worms simply leave you alone. We don't really know how it works, but it's something to do with the fact that a worm won't attack an already-infected female.

"I've deactivated the venom part, but I've left the scent component behind, and added it to a sorbolene base.

"You could use it as skin cream if you wanted, Cassie, but I think your skin is already very beautiful. It's cleared my spots right up. Doctor Kelly's going to start selling it as a moisturiser, and we hope to begin production soon in India. I doubt we'll need to advertise the stuff, it works so well that we'll sell everything we can produce.

"I imagine that it will make a lot of money for the joint venture."

Gabby faced Cassie, gave her a winning smile, and slowly trailed her fingertips up Cassie's neck, to her chin, and then, softly, held Cassie's cheek in her hand, stroking her face with her thumb.

For just a moment, she held Cassie's eyes, and she looked hungry.

Cassie tried to ignore her, but Gabby's hand did feel very nice.

Gabby was looking maddeningly attractive all of a sudden.

Cassie couldn't understand how she had changed so much in only a few weeks.

But no.

Gabby was not the one she wanted.

Gabby let her hand down, slightly disappointed at Cassie's lack of reaction.

"It's a little bit poisonous, Cassie. Be sure to wash your hands after you use it.

"Here, let me put some on you, then we can go look at the main attraction."

Cassie turned around, and lifted up her shirt to give Gabby access to her back.

Gabby rubbed her hands together to warm them up, pulled out a little ointment with her finger, and then began to apply it. Cassie felt a slight warming sensation, like liniment, and it felt moist, and smooth. Gabby gave Cassie a bit of a rub, longer and harder than Cassie thought was necessary, and pushed her fingers down to the top of Cassie's pants, just at the base of her spine, to rub it into the whole area.

When she was finished, she gave Cassie's bum a little smack.

"All done now."

Cassie was a little offended at Gabby's presumption.

When had Gabby become so confident?

Gabby washed her hands and motioned Cassie out of the lab, leading her over to Gabby's desk, which was in a corner. As with all the desks here, it had a bright, sunny, view over the lake.

She unlocked the drawer under her desk, revealing dozens more of the tiny little bottles. 

She pulled two out, and then carefully re-locked the drawer.

The contents of these jars were black, not grey.

"Here's something to try at home," Gabby whispered conspiratorially, and handed them to Cassie, one for each hand.

"This one is for you, Cassie, and this one's for Julie."

Gabby continued to talk, quietly.

"If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be stung by a worm, the answer is in that jar. That's one hundred percent natural worm stinger. It's just like the grey stuff, but I haven't removed the venom."

"It's brilliant, Cassie. If you try that on Julie, she'll thank you, she'll love you forever. It's good stuff. It's strong, very strong, but harmless. The worms don't want to risk hurting their hosts, so their venom is actually harmless to humans."

She also picked up a handful of latex gloves from a box on her desk.

"Stick these in your pocket, too, Cassie."

She took hold of Cassie's hand, and turned it over so the palm was up.

"You'll want to be wearing gloves when you apply this ..."

Gabby softly walked two fingers over Cassie's hand, and Cassie felt Goosebumps.

Gabby whispered then,

" ... otherwise your fingers will be paralysed. It still feels good, though ..."

Cassie was curious, and pocketed the two little jars.

Julie would be impressed!

"Now, Cassie, before we visit the hosts, I have to give you a bit of a reality check. We won't need to talk about this again, but there is something that you must see.

"We have to move into the secure area first.

"Every floor has a secure area, which is only accessible by a key-card, in which worms might be present. You must always ensure that you are wearing protection before entering, or you will risk infection."

Gabby passed Cassie a key-card, and said "This card you can keep. It provides access to all areas, at any time. There is a separate bank of lifts and stairs which only serve the secure area, and we will use these to do the next part of the tour."

Gabby had Cassie try her own card to get through the security doors, and they both took the stairs up to the next floor, where there was a waiting area, a nurse's station, and a few doors.

"This floor is almost empty, and there's nobody here right now. The treatment is currently in progress, but this room will get busy in a week, when the treatment cycle comes to an end."

Opening one of the surgery doors, Cassie saw a bed, with some stirrups beside it on the floor.

Gabby looked at the room in distaste.

"This is where we kill the worms," Gabby said. "After the end of treatment, after a woman has been cured of her disease, as the last step, we have to kill the worm which cured her."

Gabby opened another door leading into a bare room containing refrigerators.

Gabby opened one, and pulled out a bucket.

It was full of dead worms.

Gabby pulled on some more gloves, and pulled one out.

Cassie was surprised at the size of it. It did look a similar to a garden slug, with its black and grey stripes, but was much, much larger. Cassie thought about having one inside herself, and her heart raced, in terror, but also, arousal.

It was a magnificent specimen.

Gabby took out a beaker, used a clamp to hold on to the end of the worm, and, using her thumb and forefinger, squeezed the worm from its tail towards its mouth.

A stream of fine black threads oozed out, along with a single, thicker one, and they all curled up in the beaker. The refrigerated mucus and threads looked viscous and lumpy.

It had a strong odour. It was musky, and strong.

It smelled like sex..

"These are the worm's stingers, Cassie, and the communication tendril. This is what we process to make the ointment."

Cassie's knees went weak then, and she had to hold the bench to keep herself from falling. She felt a hot flush, and began to sweat copiously, and to feel nauseous.

For a moment Cassie thought she was going to be sick.

Gabby smiled at her in understanding, and wrapped an arm around Cassie's shoulders.

"That's the ointment, Cassie. When it's first applied, your body's immune system reacts to the deactivated venom, and your sweat protects you from the worms. Johns Hopkins discovered the effect with women who were stung but never implanted.

"Don't worry, it will pass quickly. It only happens the first time the ointment is applied."

Gabby filled a beaker with water and passed it to Cassie.

"Drink this, it will make you feel better."

"Thanks, Gabby," Cassie said, smiling wanly.

She was still feeling nauseous, but the feeling was passing quickly.

Gabby left the beaker full of black tendrils on the bench, and threw the dead worm into a hatch in the wall, followed by her gloves. She had a sour expression on her face.

"Straight into the incinerator. A sad end for such a magnificent creature.

"The worms are intelligent, Cassie. Curing these women means killing a sentient creature.

"Sometimes I feel like a murderer. We all do. These worms are invaders, wanting to possess women's bodies, wanting to possess men, wanting to colonise the world. But they are intelligent beings, with complex motivations and alien emotions.

"The worms accept death, Cassie. They have to. If they were more like humans, they would fight. But, for the worms, physical death is not the end of their consciousness.

"They are a hive-mind, Cassie, and the death of one individual is not a tragedy to them.

"Before we cure a woman, we let her spend a night with the hosts. We let her worm communicate with its fellows before we remove it. This lets them learn from their hosts, and pass memories and ideas amongst the other worms.

"But most importantly, Cassie, we let her worm say goodbye.

"Despite the fact that their end is certain, the worms have adapted well to life in the clinic. We no longer feel like enemies, Cassie, although we never drop our guard, either.

"Many of the women begin to cry after their worm is removed, but we never have to use the stirrups any more. The worms accept it. They know what is ahead of them, but they are not bitter. They're even friendly to the nurses, even though they know that these nurses will have to kill them one day.

"Frankly, Cassie, despite the fact that these things are alien invaders, it's too sad to contemplate for long.

"Now, come along to meet the patients."

Cassie and Gabby took the lift up to the fifth floor.

The ward here was full, and Gabby said that it contained twenty-four women, half-way through their two-week course of treatment.

It was a beautiful room, open-plan, with brand-new furnishings, colourful art on the walls, and those huge picture windows showing a grand view of the lake.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 06



Cassie could see her own apartment across the water, the black windows glinting in the sunlight.

The women were mostly out of bed, and were chatting, or watching television, or talking on their phones, probably to their families. The families were not allowed in here, of course, because of the "radiation".

The few that remained in bed were missing much of their hair, and looked skinny, but had colour in their cheeks, and smiled at Gabby.

One of them, a tall brunette with dark eyes and olive skin, sat up in bed, caught Cassie's eye and motioned her over. She was about Cassie's age.

Her face was also stunningly beautiful.

Smiling at Cassie, she patted the bed beside her.

Cassie moved towards her.

"My name is Sheyda," she said, shifting across and turning down her sheet, leaving room for Cassie to get into the bed with her. Cassie caught a view of her legs, skinny and wasted, but the skin was in good condition and a healthy colour.

"Do not be embarrassed. We are all host-form here. What I say to you, we all say to you."

The activity of the other women paused, and they all turned towards Cassie. They all smiled at her, then went back to what they had been doing.

Gabby smiled at them both.

"I think you're well on the way to making a new friend, Cassie," Gabby said, quietly.

"I know you need to spend some time getting to know the infected women, so I'll leave you here for a while. We wouldn't normally do this with a first meeting, but Doctor Kelly has requested that you be given full access, and suggests that you should spend as much time here as you like.

"You can stay here for dinner if you like, and later I'll show you where you can sleep. You're quite safe here, but just give someone a call if you run into difficulties. We all carry quick pagers just in case there's a problem, but I don't expect you will have any."

Gabby passed Cassie a black plastic tube with a button in the end of it, and went back to the lift.

It fitted nicely in Cassie's palm, and she put it in her pocket.

Cassie suddenly felt very alone. She was the only free woman in a room full of women controlled by aliens.

But it was hot.

It was her sick, twisted fantasy, made flesh.

Sheyda turned to Cassie, and spoke to her in a gentle voice.

"You are not like our other visitors, Cassie. You like us, Cassie. You do not hate us. You like us just as we are, I can see that.

"You are afraid, but also curious. Come on, Cassie. Lie in bed with me. Hold me."

Cassie hesitated, as if at the edge of a precipice.

"Gabby comes to visit us," Sheyda said, "she lets me hold her."

Cassie's panties were getting soaked.

She pulled herself up onto the bed, and lay beside Sheyda.

This was her deepest, darkest, most pleasurable fantasy, made real, but something was wrong.

Why am I feeling awkward?

Sheyda pulled the blanket and sheet over them both, and snuggled close to Cassie.

"Cassie. Cassandra. That's a nice name. Knowing the truth, but never to be believed. But I trust you, Cassie. I know you will speak truth to me. Where are you from, Cassie?"

"Sydney," Cassie replied, and discovered that she wanted to pour herself out to Sheyda.

Cassie really liked Sheyda.

"I lived in Sydney," Cassie continued, "but I hated it. My family are Exclusive Brethren.

"Fundamentalist Christians.

"Hateful people.

"When I came out, when I told them that I loved women, they wanted to lock me up. They wanted to 'cure' me.

"I got out of there as soon as I could.

"When I ran away, my family disowned me.

"I haven't spoke to them since."

"I understand, Cassie," said Sheyda, "I understand."

Cassie knew she had felt a common bond with Sheyda when they had first seen each other, and believed her.

"Sheyda, that's a nice name," Cassie said. "Are you from Iran?"

"I am host-form, Cassie. I am from Iran. I am Australian. I am from the stars. We like you, Cassie."

Sheyda wrapped her arms around Cassie, and moved her lips close to Cassie's ear. She tugged Cassie's earlobe with her teeth, and whispered to her.

"I am as you. My family was as yours. They were Muslims, very strict. I love women, I have always loved women, but to be myself would be the death of me. I could not live that way, with the lies, with the hatred, with the rules. I thought I had to give away everything I knew to leave them and come to Australia."

Cassie realised then that herself and Sheyda had a lot in common.

"In truth," Sheyda continued, "I had nothing of value to lose, and coming to Australia was like being reborn. Australia is a paradise, Cassie, it is a kind country. I thought my life was perfect.

"Until I got cancer.

"But that is past now, my mistress has cured me.

"You will enjoy being host-form, Cassie. I am pleasured by my mistress, all day, and all night, and I can feel the pleasure of my sisters, too.

"We like to give pleasure to those who we prepare to become host-form. You are special, Cassie. You do not need to be prepared, you are ready."

Sheyda kissed Cassie then, and whispered, "Be still, Cassie. Hold me tight."

Cassie held Sheyda then, and Sheyda pulled up Cassie's shirt, and wrapped her arms close to Cassie's skin.

She rolled to face Cassie, and Sheyda held still for a time. Cassie soon felt the tendrils. There were many of them, and they were light, fluttering things as they moved across her pants.

She only properly felt them as they reached her bare skin.

Although alien in origin, they felt like a lover's caress.

She felt doubly held, firstly by Sheyda's arms, and also by the tentacles, which now encircled her waist.

Sheyda smiled at Cassie, but then looked a little disappointed.

"So it is not yet, Cassie. You are marked. You are not to be host-form just yet. But soon, we must join as lovers and share with each other.

"I love you already, Cassie Grayndler.

"Please, let me pleasure you. When I have pleasured you, we can talk some more."

The tentacles withdrew, and Sheyda's fingers undid Cassie's pants.

Cassie helped Sheyda push them down, and they were soon thrown out of the bed, with her panties following.

Sheyda was only in a hospital gown, which she shucked over her head.

Her breasts were beautiful. They stood up proud, and the nipples were red, and engorged.

Sheyda nodded her head at Cassie, in invitation.

Cassie leaned down and took a nipple in her lips, and was rewarded by a flow of warm milk.

Sheyda gazed down at Cassie, beaming, and stroking her long hair.

"Good girl, Cassie. You will be a good friend to us."

When the breast was drained, Sheyda swung Cassie around, and was soon on top of her.

"My mistress wants to feel you."

Sheyda positioned herself above Cassie, and Cassie felt the wriggling worm, questing for her pussy. It was all of her fantasies, made flesh. She would come soon, when she was penetrated, she would come, she would come immediately.

But, she realised, it was not what she wanted.

She was ashamed.

She didn't want this.

She wanted Julie.

Cassie knew then that love was more important to her than physical pleasure.

Loving Julie had given her as much fulfilment as the worms ever could. Maybe not physical pleasure, but she wasn't ready to trade one love for another quite yet.

Sheyda was not Julie.

Giving herself up to Sheyda would mean betraying the woman she loved.

Julie might not realise it, but Cassie had not had another lover since they had moved in together.

Their relationship was flawed, or, more accurately, completely dysfunctional, but her love for Julie was the most important thing in Cassie's life.

Cassie knew that her love was held together by denial and sacrifice. Admitting this to herself, and taking another as a lover, would mean giving up on Julie.

Cassie gently pushed Sheyda away, retrieved her pants, pulled them back on, and slid out of bed, feeling disloyal.

All of the heads turned towards Cassie.

Two dozen women looked at her, disappointed, and sighed.

Cassie smiled inside.

Her love for Julie had always coexisted with her dark fetish for parasites. When unearthly temptation came along, Cassie found within herself that, after all, her love was more important to her than the prospect of dark pleasure.

She had seen enough of the infected women for now.

She should be spending her time on the fourth floor, interviewing the cured woman, worm-free, safe, ready to head home to their families. 

Cassie leaned in towards Sheyda, and whispered in her ear,

"Goodbye, Sheyda. I have work to do know. I'll come visit you, though, don't go away."

There would be plenty of time to visit Sheyda on her breaks.

***

Julie missed Cassie that afternoon. They'd been together, night and day, since they'd moved into their new apartment, coming to grips with their new work, and the worms.

Cassie had seemed pretty pissed off with Eve, and Julie really didn't know what Cassie was supposed to be doing now. Was she doing a test to detect cured women, or was she helping cancer patients? The two tasks didn't really seem related in any way.

Still, when Cassie had rung her from the hospital, she had sounded happy with her lot, and had told her not to expect her at home in the evening.

Eve had said that Cassie might want to stay over at the hospital, but Julie couldn't imagine any reason for her to want to do so. The whole idea of interviewing cancer patients had seemed terminally dreary to Cassie, and Julie had to agree with her.

Anyway, with Cassie gone, Julie was making good progress on the data sets.

The views of the normal and the infected women were looking very impressive now, and Julie had made real progress with the cured women. She had finally produced a view of the trails left in their flesh, and had managed to render them to look very similar to the silvery structures so visible in the infected women. She thought they looked very convincing.

Julie kept tweaking and improving over the next couple of days, and was soon feeling the limitations of the small data sets. She had finished as much coding now as she was able, but wasn't sure how her programs would cope with full body scans with bone structures.

She hoped new data would be coming any day now.

She also found time to play with Cassie's survey data, and set up a scheme whereby she could detect cheating with only a few hundred multiple-choice questions.

Julie felt confident that if the worms still exerted any influence on the cured women, then they could be detected. If they were truthful, or if they were cheating, they would be detected, either way.

***

Cassie was enjoying her work at the hospital.

The cured women were delightful, and Cassie spent a while getting to know them. Cassie didn't want to administer the tests herself, so Eve had sent her some undergraduates to do the actual testing. Cassie knew a double-blind trial would be more convincing, anyway. This left her a lot of time to roam around the hospital.

She was eating her lunch by herself at the hospital's cafeteria when she saw them walk in.

She turned away, hoping she hadn't been spotted.

It was Sophie and Jessica Landers.

"Cassie!" their voices shouted in unison.

They sat themselves down on either side of Cassie, and tried to give her a hug in greeting. Cassie wasn't at all pleased to see them, so it was a bit awkward.

They were fraternal twins, and very striking. They were very similar in their facial features, which were strong, and angular, but Sophie was a red-head, and Jessica a blonde. They were tall, and looked very fit, and when they'd been on campus, they were always wearing shorts and sports jerseys.

If Cassie had liked butch, she might then have found them quite attractive.

But she didn't.

They drank, and played hockey, and chased boys.

They had been a thorn in her side her whole time at Uni.

If the twins had been stupid, Cassie might have been able to tolerate them better, but they weren't dumb jocks.

They were smart jocks, and really knew how to hurt people, and had managed get right under Cassie's skin.

They had made it quite clear to Cassie that they didn't like Lesbians, and had made it quite clear to everyone else they knew that they didn't like Cassie in particular.

Cassie had learned to avoid them, but she'd had a tough time avoiding the vile stories they spread about her. The fact that some of the stories were true was especially galling.

Their father was John Landers, the Federal Minister for Health.

Cassie had only met him the once, outside Eve's office, but Julie knew of his work, and said that he was a good man. Julie and Cassie had never been able to work out for sure why the twins had turned out to be such poison, but they had gone to CCEGGERS, a posh private school in the old part of Canberra. Knowing some of the girls that came out of that place, it seemed to be another case of nominative determinism, as they drank hard, and partied hard.

She had some sympathy for the twins, however.

Their mother had died young, and they had completely missed out on inheriting any feminine graces.

After graduating, they had both been hit hard by early-onset Huntington's. 

That's what had killed their mum, and, at the time, they weren't expected to live more than a few years.

Cassie had even felt a little sorry for them at the time.

But here they were, looking in robust health. They were both wearing nice Italian shoes, skinny jeans, un-logoed shirts, and they'd grown their hair long.

They looked quite feminine for once.

Actually, they were both looking really nice.

Sophie, the red-head, spoke first.

"Hi, Cassie, how are you doing? Are you still hanging out with Julie?"

Cassie decided to be non-committal.

"Hi, girls. I'm well, really well. Julie and I are doing great."

"We haven't seen you for a while. I guess we lost touch after uni," Jessica said. 

There was a moments silence, then Jessica continued.

"Sorry about all of that. I guess we weren't very nice to you back then."

Sophie changed the subject.

"Did you know we've both been sick?"

"Yes, I heard," Cassie said, "It sounded really bad."

"Yes, it was really bad." Sophie said, "I think we both seriously thought that we were going to die.

"That's while we were conscious, anyway.

"We've been patients at the clinic here. We're cured now."

Both of them turned around, and lifted up their hair.

Right at the base of their skulls, just on their hair-line, Cassie saw their tattoos.

A black snake twirled around a red staff.

How appropriate, Cassie thought, a snake. But isn't Huntington's a genetic disease? And doesn't it destroy your brain? I thought that nerve tissue never regenerates?

"So how did radiotherapy cure that?" Cassie asked.

"You and Julie are working for Eve Hunter now, aren't you?" Jessica said, seemingly ignoring the question.

"Dad met her three years ago at some medical conference in New York," she continued, "We'd only just been diagnosed, and I think he was kind of desperate for help. He helped Eve and Lucille get everything set up in Canberra, and Eve got us a place in the clinic as soon as it opened. It was only just in time for us, I can tell you! We were bed-ridden, Cassie, all drooling and slobbering, with tubes coming out of our faces."

"Disgusting. It was truly disgusting," said Sophie.

"It was the same way Mum went," said Jessica, more quietly, "she was only twenty four."

They both shuddered, and shook their heads.

"Hey, Cassie, enough about us," Jessica said. "What's Eve got you working on here? And what's Julie doing now? Are you guys married yet?"

"Ummmm ... no, Jessie. But we're still living together. In the new apartments on Parke's way."

Cassie was surprised to find herself beginning to warm to the pair. Maybe she just had a thing for women who had spent time being under the control of alien intelligences.

But that wasn't fair. The twins were being really nice now.

Cassie didn't think that Jessica was being deliberately rude, as gays and Lesbians had been getting married in the ACT for a few years now.

Perhaps Jessica did not know that that Cassie and Julie had never, in fact, been together at all in any real sense.

"And Eve has me working with the cured women," Cassie continued, "doing some surveys, seeing how much pain the treatment is causing them. As you guys would know, I don't think there are any problems on that score. By all accounts the treatment is not hard to bear at all."

"You got that right," said Sophie, and they all laughed.

"Julie's working with the Taubett machine," Cassie said. "She's helping them get it integrated with the gamma source, so they can target the radiation better."

"Uh-huh. That sounds great, Cassie." said Jessica, doubtfully.

Although they knew that it was a snow job, Cassie reckoned that they could probably join some of the dots.

"Hey, Cassie," Sophie said, "we've started up a social club for the cured women.

"We're having a get-together at the new Uni bar in November. It's the six-month anniversary of the clinic opening. The weather should be starting to get really nice by then.

"It's mostly for cured women, but as you're helping out with the hospital, would you guys like to come? Tickets are fifty bucks each, but there's an open bar, we're getting a few bands, and Tezuka Wasaba is doing the finger food."

Cassie was really warming to the twins now.

She really did want to to come, and was interested in meeting more of the cured women, especially those from the early days of the clinic.

"Sure, Sophie. That sounds great. We'll come."

Cassie pulled out two fifty-dollar bills from her purse, and handed them over. Jessica wrote out two tickets, tore them out, and handed them to Cassie.

"Hey, Cassie, sorry again about first year." said Jessica. "You can't believe how sorry we are about that."

She handed one of the fifties back, and tore out four more tickets, and handed these to Cassie as well.

"If there's anyone else working for Eve who wants to come on the night, we'll let them in, no worries." said Sophie, and continued.

"We're working at the new Uni bar now. We're being employed as caretakers, there's a flat right at the top of the building, it's really nice. There's a sort-of private club at the top for regulars. We're doing door there most Saturday nights, and we're always easy to find.

"Come visit us, don't be a stranger."

"Thanks, Jessica, thanks, Sophie." said Cassie. "I'd like to do that. I'll try to bring Julie this Saturday night. We're due for a big night out."

"I hope you'll do Eve proud, Cassie." said Jessica "She saved our lives, you know, and we still owe her."

The twins bade Cassie farewell, and both gave Cassie a kiss on the cheek, one on each side.

Although they were still tall, and strong, and a bit overbearing, Cassie thought that they seemed kind of cute now.

Cassie cleared off her table, oddly uplifted, and went back upstairs to learn more about the cured women.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 07



Chapter 7 -- Venom

Cassie returned to her office at Biological Sciences on Friday afternoon, looking happier than Julie had seen her for years.

She was clutching a portable hard drive.

"I've got more survey data back, Jules. This data is not from Americans this time."

Julie looked at Cassie with open curiosity, but Cassie carried on regardless.

"Don't ask from where, I can't tell you.

"We've re-done the survey questions, and do you know what? The cured women have passed every test, and are indistinguishable from the normal women.

"That a great result for Eve and her sister, but I'd like to run your watermark test over the results. If Eve passed on the answer statistics from the normal women, and if that's what they're using to pass the tests, then we should be able to detect the cheating.

"I've got your new scan data too. They've got full-body scans now, with all tissue types."

Cassie continued chatting while the data was transferred from her drive, telling Julie about the twins, and the get-together, and they both agreed to go and visit the new uni bar the next evening.

Julie still thought it perverse that carrying a disk drive over the landscape was quicker than copying data over the Internet, but those image files were huge. Even compressed, each image was tens of gigabytes.

"I've actually had a really nice time interviewing those cancer patients," said Cassie, "and I'm going to enjoy working at the hospital."

Julie looked directly at her.

"So this data is from Australia, is it?"

Cassie looked at Julie, steadily, and cocked one eyebrow.

"Jules.

"Read my lips.

"Eve. Says. They. Do. Not. Have. Worms. At. The. Hospital."

Cassie smiled, and bent down to whisper in Julie's ear.

"But I think you should come and meet my cancer patients. They are the coolest women I've ever met."

Julie thought she caught Cassie's drift.

***

After the data was transferred from the portable drive to the workstation, Julie copied the new survey results onto her memory stick.

That's where she kept a lot of her work, as she didn't want her little cheating detector being visible to anyone on the University network, and to anyone associated with Eve in particular.

The watermark test didn't take long to run, as there were only a few hundred numbers to process for each woman.

The results were very clear, and Cassie and Julie were simultaneously appalled, and elated.

The cheating detection algorithm had worked.

The cured women had cheated.

Eve Hunter must have passed on Cassie's statistics to the women before the test, and, somehow, they had learned to answer the questions correctly, and to match the statistics in Cassie's spreadsheet.

Eve Hunter was starting to seem like a bit of a slippery character.

***

It was nice having Cassie back in the apartment, and on a Friday evening they could start to relax.

They made a rich, calorific, lasagne, drank a good bottle of wine between themselves, and, dressed only in their PJs, waddled from the table to the couch to relax. As they had been doing for many years, they pressed the bare soles of their feet against each other as they sat and watched TV. This was perhaps the only regular sensual contact that Cassie ever received from Julie.

As the evening's viewing drew to a close, Cassie thought the time felt right for the next step.

Turning off the TV, Cassie turned turned to Julie.

"Julie ..."

Julie turned to look at her, and Cassie hesitated.

"Julie ... Gabby gave me something when I was at the hospital.

"Something I think you might be very interested in."

Cassie brought out one of the tiny glass jars Gabby had given her.

Julie's eyebrows rose.

"So what's this?" Julie asked.

Cassie retrieved a latex glove from her pocket, pulled it on, opened the jar, and dipped in her index finger.

As she pulled out some of the contents with her covered fingertip, the stuff was thick, like honey, and long, black threads were visible within.

"That looks like a worm stinger ..." Julie said.

"Yes, that's exactly what it is," Cassie said. "Gabby has been busy at the lab in the hospital, experimenting with worm venom.

"She's been transforming the venom into a worm repellent.

"She's been making an ointment out of this stuff with the the stingers removed, and, if you put it on yourself, you're protected, the worms don't attempt to infect you.

"Gabby gave me this unprocessed venom so that we could try the real thing."

"So this is just straight worm venom?" Julie asked.

Cassie nodded.

"It must hurt like crazy," Julie said. "Isn't it a paralytic?"

"I think you should try it," Cassie said, "You'll be surprised."

"Cassie, I hope you haven't tried this stuff? It's venom, it's bound to be dangerous!"

Cassie gave a little guilty smile.

"Actually, Jules, I've tried some already. The worms could have been designed for us, they're a perfect fit for our biology. They modify our DNA, and produce substances to manipulate us. That's why the immune system doesn't reject the worms, they actually produce their nerve threads using a woman's own proteins, with only a little extra alien biology thrown in.

"When a worm takes a woman, Julie, she gets injected with venom. It lowers her resistance to being taken. It's designed to overwhelm her with physical pleasure.

"It has never caused any adverse reactions."

"Except," Julie said, "that the end result for these women is that they fall under the control of an alien intelligence."

"It's actually been rather well tested," Cassie continued. "If you want to understand the worms, Julie, you should try some."

Julie was surprised, but could see Cassie's side of the argument, and was very curious. The worms were very effective parasites, and, aside from the mind control aspects, they appeared to look after their hosts quite conscientiously.

"Ok, Cassie, tell me about it. How will I take it?"

"This is unprocessed worm stinger in a neutral sorbolene base. When I spread some on your back, you'll get to feel what those women were experiencing in that video we saw. Believe me, Jules, it's a great high. You won't regret it.

"Come on, turn around and I'll put some on your back. I'll hold you, the drug takes a minute or so to kick in, and it gives you a hell of a head-spin.

"Then it just feels really nice, Julie, you'll like it.

"Nice enough to make you want to give up your body to the worms, and your mind. But there aren't any worms here, Julie, so you won't need to worry about that part."

Cassie sat up behind Julie, and got close, stretching her legs out on either side of Julie's hips.

"You'll feel just a little sting, and it doesn't take long after that. Hold on ...are you ready?"

Julie didn't hesitate. She really was very curious about these worms.

"Yes, Cassie, go for it ..."

Cassie pulled Julie's shirt above her pants, and held it up to expose her back.

Jesus, she is beautiful, Cassie thought.

Julie's skin was white and clear, and her waist was slim, and the way her petite vertebrae pressed against her skin was so very fine, so very elegant.

"Just lean down, so I can lay it on."

Julie leaned down, slowly, gracefully, and the curve of her back was perfect. Cassie loved the way that Julie held her shoulders, just so.

"Hold still, Julie ..."

Cassie brought the jar holding the threads above Julie's back, pulled down the elastic of her PJs a little, and spread the black strands onto her skin, just at the base of her spine, where Gabby had applied the ointment to her. It took a few seconds for the microscopic triggers in the threads to begin to rupture the venom sacks to release the venom into Julie's skin.

"Ow, Cassie, that hurts!"

Cassie gently, slowly, spread the remaining threads around Julie's lower back, and Julie twitched as more venom sacks were released.

"Oh, fuck, Cassie, that hurts."

"Just be still, Julie." Cassie said. "I'll hold you."

Cassie pulled off the latex glove, turning it inside out.

She pulled up Julie's PJs, dropped the paraphernalia on the floor, and wrapped her arms tight around Julie, letting her sink down against the back of the couch, mothering her, protective.

"I'm starting to feel something now," Julie said, "This is starting to feel good. Hold me, hold me tight ..."

Julie turned around and her eyes sought out Cassie's, but then, eyelids fluttering, her eyes rolled back into her head.

She made a vain attempt to to lift her head, and Cassie completed the movement, lifting her lolling head up with her two hands, seeking out her lips, covering her mouth, and kissing her, spearing her soft, sweet mouth with her tongue.

Julie began to make desperate sounds, "Mmmmmm... Mmmmmnnnn..."

Her spastic hands pulled down her PJs, and she opened her legs.

Grabbing wildly, Julie moved Cassie's hand down towards her crotch, needy, and desperate.

She began to slur her words as even her lips were feeling the beginning of the paralysis.

"In me, Cassie, in me, I need you in me ..."

Cassie's experienced fingers felt her way through Julie's wiry hair. She found Julie's bulb raised and at attention.

Julie was ready and moist, and she raised her hips as best she could, trying to push against Cassie's hand.

"In me, Cassie, fuck, put your fingers in me. Now, Cassie, now!"

Cassie curled her hand, and rubbed two fingers into Julie's warmth, just a little. Julie was moist, very moist, and Cassie gathered up the silky moisture.

She lay Julie down on the couch and knelt on the carpet in front of her, in a good position now to push herself in.

Julie opened her legs, oh so wide, and Cassie finally saw the treasure she had coveted for years.

Julie's pussy was open to her, and Cassie felt like she had opened the gates of her own personal heaven.

Julie, you're beautiful. But still a virgin. Who would have believed it?

"I'll try to be gentle, Jules ..."

Cassie carefully began to push through the membrane to gain entrance, eliciting a gasp of pain, and of pleasure.

Julie shook her head.

"In, Cassie, in. Don't worry, Cassie. Fuck, just push your fingers in!"

Cassie's two fingers slid in, slowly, but completely, and Cassie felt a fluttering sensation.

"Oh, God. Oh God. Oh God ..."

Julie bore down on Cassie's hand, and again Cassie felt the pulsing around her fingers, more strongly now, and moisture began to leak from Julie's pussy. The penetration was complete. Cassie's fingers were centred, and Julie gasped at finally being filled, her nakedness finally opened out to the world, her secret finally shared.

The feeling was exquisite.

Cassie stayed with Julie and revelled in the realisation that Julie was holding Cassie's fingers inside herself in such intimate comfort. Cassie could only look on in adoration as she saw, and felt, a series of crashing, pulsing orgasms continue to take Julie away.

Eventually, Julie closed her eyes and relaxed, her body filled, and fulfilled, and she smiled.

Still leaking copiously against Cassie's hand, Julie finally lapsed into unconsciousness, the smile still on her face.

Cassie smiled too, keeping her fingers in for a little longer, and then carefully pulling out, getting some tissues to wipe up.

Cassie had never felt so much in love.

She had finally found the magic in her world to give her life meaning.

Kissing Julie on the cheek, Cassie smoothed down Julie's night shirt, lowered her down on the couch, straightened her out, and covered her with a blanket.

Julie was breathing peacefully now.

Cassie brought out the pillow and her queen-sized doona from her room, and made herself a nest just under the couch. She would sleep at Julie's feet tonight.

The pile of the brand-new carpet was thick and woollen, and her makeshift bed felt surprisingly comfortable. She soon fell into a contented sleep, her thoughts full of her future with Julie.

***

Cassie woke up early, the sunlight streaming through the huge window with the view of the lake.

She had slept the sleep of the truly happy, and was ready to start her new life with Julie with a wonderful weekend.

Julie was still sleeping peacefully, and Cassie couldn't resist kissing her cheek once more.

Cassie made a bang-up British breakfast, and by the time Julie was stirring, she had the whole lot laid out on the table: pork sausages, bacon, thick toast, mushrooms, tomatoes and eggs

Julie took one look at the spread and disappeared into her bedroom.

Cassie heard the shower start in Julie's ensuite.

Julie was in there for ages.

As she watched the empty seat across the table, Cassie's sunny mood evaporated.

When Julie came out, she was dressed for work. Without saying a word, without even meeting Cassie's eyes, she sat down and ate her breakfast.

The silence seemed impenetrable, and Cassie had to force herself to say something.

It would come out bitchy.

She knew it would.

But she had to say it.

"Julie, you're not going to work are you? It's Saturday. I've got the day all planned out. Now that we've got some money, we can start to get some decent furniture around here, start to make the place look a bit more comfortable."

Julie looked at Cassie and met her eyes, for the first time that morning.

"Cassie, look, I'm sorry." Julie said. "This is all a bit much for me. Please, just give me some time, I just need to work out what just happened. I'm not sure if this is what I want. You're my friend, you're my best friend, Cassie, and I love you for that. But what happened last night, it was great, it was special, but I don't think I want to do that again. I don't think I love you that way."

They cleaned up together, in silence.

Julie slipped out of the apartment without saying another word.

Cassie sat on the couch, the damp spot that Julie had left on it last night still obvious.

She sat in silence for a time, still not knowing what had gone wrong.

The apartment began to feel very, very empty, and Cassie knew she was alone.

She began to sob then, quietly at first, and then uncontrollably, fat tears squeezing out of her eyes and falling down her cheeks.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 08



Chapter 8 -- Anjolie

Julie sat at her desk at uni, staring at her monitor, not really seeing anything.

Her brain was a whirl of emotions and thoughts.

Physically, that thing last night with Cassie had been astonishing. She'd rubbed herself before, but only as experiments really, and had brought herself to what she had thought were orgasms.

But what had happened last night was different. It had been amazing. That throbbing warmth, the crashing, burning, pleasure, the complete loss of control. She hadn't realised that her body was capable of such things.

But, for the first time, she saw how much Cassie really loved her, and it scared her, it really scared her.

She felt affection for Cassie, of course, but she could see in Cassie's face that she was devoted to Julie, that she would give her life to Julie, that Julie was the one.

But Julie just didn't feel the same way about Cassie.

She'd love to have those feelings from last night again, it was true.

Last night was the first time in her life that she had ever felt sexy, and it had been wonderful.

But she would never be able to return Cassie's mawkish adoration.

She felt dirty, she felt like a fraud.

Not because of the sex, that was a good feeling, a great feeling.

No, Julie had finally seen the glaring dishonesty at the centre of her life.

Living with Cassie was fun, they had good times together, but Julie had always seen it as a temporary arrangement. Julie still expected that one day she'd fall in love with a man, or at least find one she could tolerate, and have kids, buy a house, have a career, and Cassie would always be there, as a friend.

But nothing more.

Julie had always told herself that Cassie could find a real woman to love, a soul-mate, if she only put her mind to it.

But Julie and Cassie had been together for six years now.

Cassie loved Julie, and Julie did not love Cassie.

Cassie would never move on, not unless she was pushed.

I'm a total tool, aren't I? Julie thought to herself.

But these ruminations weren't achieving anything.

She did what she had always done.

She put her emotions aside, took a deep breath, and threw herself back into her work.

***

Julie worked in her office at Biological Science all the way through lunch, and intended to keep going all day.

She was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming downstairs.

It was obviously a stranger, someone who didn't know how to close it without the vicious spring slamming it shut.

She was about to get up to have a look, when a young woman let herself into Julie's office.

Julie hadn't seen her before.

The building was secure; she must have a security pass.

She was Indian, and introduced herself as Anjolie Lalitha.

Anjolie was beautiful: tall and slender with olive skin, big, brown eyes lined with kohl, a womanly wisp of black hair over each temple, quiet voice, deferential manner, and a slightly goofy smile which showed all of her many teeth.

She was engaging without quite being smug.

She was dressed in a suit, completely inappropriate for a Saturday, and wouldn't have looked out of place in a corporate boardroom.

As they talked, Julie learned a little about her.

She was a doctor over from India to do her Ph. D. at the John Lyons School of Medical Research, another research school on campus. However, she had just moved into an office in the new hospital. Anjolie had obviously been diverted from her Ph. D. into some kind of side project.

Julie kept asking Anjolie what, exactly, she was working on, but Anjolie always managed to evade Julie's questions by the simple expedient of responding with another question of her own.

Anjolie began to ask questions, a lot of questions.

Julie quickly worked out that Anjolie wanted to know about the Taubett's operation, and realised that she herself was the only person left on campus with any kind of detailed knowledge of its operation.

She must be another one of Eve's minions, like me, thought Julie.

Julie then asked her, straight out,

"Anjolie, it's nice talking to you, but I can't really help you if I don't know what you're working on. Are you working for Eve Hunter?"

Anjolie simply shook her head with a smile, more a "not answering" than a "no", and asked her next question.

"Miss Julie, can you please tell me what energy the X-rays are using?"

Julie answered quickly, a little mystified.

"250kEv. Everyone knows that."

"Yes, of course. But what is the exact energy of the rays we are using? It is important to me. Nobody at the hospital seems to know."

Julie hadn't considered that the energy was important.

She browsed into the source-code repository at Physical Sciences., but the firmware for the Taubett machine was missing.

Julie was surprised. She'd only been looking at Stefan's image processing code for the Taubett machine just before the holidays.

Then she remembered.

The firmware for the Taubett machine had been removed from the main server for reasons of information security. It was now kept at the hospital, off the University network. The University wanted to make a lot of money from its commercialisation, and didn't trust their students.

Being a bit cheap, and quite small, the schools didn't actually have any scheduled backup system. Everyone who had any sense would back up their own computers by themselves.

Julie herself had bought a bunch of backup tapes with her own money, and she kept them in the room with the only tape drive, next door at Physical Sciences, where the Taubett machine had once stood.

They'd been there last week, when she'd done her last full backup.

She'd been conscientious, and had backed up the full source code repository, along with her own work.

"All right, Anjolie. Come with me. I know where we can find the information."

Julie hadn't met this woman before, and she was asking extremely detailed questions about the Taubett machine, with answers Julie herself didn't yet know.

This did sound a little suspicious, and Julie made sure that Anjolie followed her out.

Julie took her into the Physical Sciences building, and asked that Anjolie stand in the foyer while she went into the Taubett room.

The blue linoleum looked clean and new in the centre of the room, where the Taubett machine had once stood, and around the periphery had faded to pastel. On one bookshelf, a stack of backup tapes was still lined up, with Julie Smith written on six of them in red permanent marker.

Julie gave Eve a ring on her mobile, trying to be discreet.

Eve answered immediately.

"Hello? Hello, Julie?"

"Eve, I'm here with Anjolie Lalitha. I'm sorry about bothering you on the weekend, but I need your advice. She's being a bit of a sticky-beak about the Taubett machine, and she won't tell me what she's working on. Do you know her? Should I be giving her this information?"

Eve responded, very business-like, but sounding just the slightest bit irritated.

"Thank you, Julie, you were right to ring. Don't worry about ringing me at any time of the day, or night, what you are doing is too important for any kind of delay.

"Yes, Anjolie is completely trustworthy, please give her any help she requires with learning the operation of the Taubett device. The Indians want to build one too. However, I must remind you again that the nature of Cassie's work is confidential. You're not supposed to know about that yourself, you know. There's no reason to tell Anjolie anything about Cassie. I'm glad you called, Julie, and I'm glad to hear that you can sometimes take your NDA seriously."

Julie flipped the phone closed, irritated by Eve's mild rebuke, and went to let Anjolie into the room.

She inserted the last tape from before the holidays into the reader, and her memory stick into the reader's PC. She copied everything she could: the source code, the documentation, and the last version of the firmware installer from before the move to the hospital.

The two of them went back to Julie's office, and Anjolie sat at Cassie's desk and made a copy of Julie's memory stick to her own.

They both spent the rest of the afternoon poring through the documentation.

The Taubett machine was the first diagnostic machine to use an X-ray laser, using the polymer glass to create the X-ray tube.

That's what the windows in my apartment are made out of, thought Julie.

The use of the X-ray laser allowed the energy and direction of the X-ray beam to be controlled precisely, and it was a coherent source, which made the production of phase images much easier than before.

It also made the Taubett machine practical. Previously, the only other source of coherent X-rays of sufficient energy was from a synchrotron, which only worked if you had a whole building to put it in, and a lazy ten million dollars to spare. Real Australian dollars.

The energy of the X-rays wasn't specified anywhere in the documentation, but she eventually found it hard-wired into the source code of the firmware.

She pointed the lines out to Anjolie.

"It's not 250kEv, but 265kEv. You were right, Anjolie. But why is that important?"

Anjolie just smiled, and nodded, as if this had confirmed her suspicions.

Julie continued to press the point.

"Anjolie, why is 265kEv so special? What are you looking for?"

"Julie, I have signed an NDA. I cannot tell you a thing, I am sorry."

Anjolie was looking around the room, and shrugged, as if to say, what can I do?

Julie changed tack.

She faced a bleak time at home tonight with Cassie, so she decided on a whim that she'd rather stay out.

"Anjolie, it's getting dark now. How would you like to go grab some dinner?"

Anjolie smiled, and nodded in acceptance.

They found a café in Garema place with some tables outside, and they braved the cold to gain a little privacy. The food was actually pretty good, and the gas flames ringing the tables did keep them warm enough, although there weren't many others outside.

At first, they just chatted. Anjolie had also been moved into Julie's apartment building, which beat the single nurse's quarters that she'd been in until now. She had a husband in India, whom she missed very much, but no kids yet. She'd been granted a scholarship to study abroad by the Indian Government which she didn't want to pass up.

They were eating dessert before Julie tried again.

"Anjolie, I understand that you are concerned about the NDA. But we both know that we're working on the same project, and we're not likely to be overheard here. Why is the energy of the X-rays so important? Why 265KEv?"

Anjolie looked steadily at Julie.

"This is a secret, yes?"

Julie nodded, and Anjolie continued.

"The reason is arsenic, Julie. Arsenic. 265KEv is the energy at which arsenic exhibits nuclear resonance fluorescence. The Taubett machine has been specifically tuned for arsenic."

Julie was confused.

"But why? Arsenic isn't usually found in the human body."

Anjolie sighed. In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought

"No, Julie, not the human body.

"Some forms of life use Arsenate instead of Phosphate for basic cellular processes. The Taubett is an excellent device for imaging normal tissue, but I believe that this is its secondary role.

"Tissue containing any trace of arsenic will glow like a beacon under its X-rays.

"The Taubett seems to have been designed primarily to detect, and image, tissue containing arsenic. For example, a rare bacterium, found in an arsenic-filled lake in California."

Julie finally worked it out, and continued Anjolie's sentence for her.

"... or, perhaps, an alien biology which does not exist on Earth?"

Anjolie smiled at Julie, and corrected her, "Past tense, Julie. This biology did not exist on Earth. Now it does exist."

Anjolie sighed again.

"I've been sent on a wild goose chase, Julie. I've been asked to develop an antibody test to find indications of black thread-worm infection, current, or in the past.

"But the worms cover themselves with a protective coat, built from their host's own proteins. Infected women don't show antibodies to the worms until they're injected with the vaccine.

"Although it's never happened, as far as I know, if the worms decided to leave a host of their own accord, there would be no antibodies left behind.

"The vaccine is a complex of human proteins, antibodies, and arsenic. The proteins and the antibodies are supposed to stimulate the human immune system to reject the worms. The worm requires arsenic to live, and sequesters any arsenic in the body, thus drawing the vaccine into itself and safely away from the infected woman. Undeniably, the vaccine works, but the immune response is not like any other. Antibodies are produced, but there is no inflammation.

"The blood test I've developed can detect a woman cured by the vaccine, but not an infected woman. I suspect that it would not detect a woman whose worm is undamaged, and has left without the vaccine, should such a woman exist."

Anjolie smiled, grimly.

"India is infested with worms, Julie. We are mass-producing the vaccine to cure the infected women, but new infections just keep cropping up.

"The groundwater in many regions has very high arsenic levels. This is a nutritional necessity for the worms, Julie, they cannot grow quickly without it.

"A blood test for arsenic simply will not work to detect the worms. In an infected woman, the serum levels of arsenic are very low, because the growing worm sequesters all of the arsenic in the body.

"In a cured woman, or a clean women, arsenic levels are normal, which is always a little high in India.

"All arsenic-based products have now been removed from common use in India, and everywhere else in the world, too. It is no longer used in children's play equipment, or rat poison, or in any consumer products. This removal was intended to reduce the ready supply of arsenic, to make it more difficult for the worms to reproduce.

"Now that Gabriella Henderson has stabilised the worm venom, and deactivated it, there will be another source of arsenic in the general population. Arsenic is used to stabilise and preserve the worm venom.

"I saw the worms when I did a tour of the hospital. Those worms gave me creepy feelings, Julie. They are evil. I hate them. Have you been there, Julie?"

Julie shook her head.

"No, Anjolie, and I don't intend to."

Anjolie continued.

"Good. I wouldn't bother. I won't be visiting those women again.

"I took some of the ointment away with me.

"I analysed it under a high-power microscope. It is highly uniform, Julie. Gabriella has done a fine job of removing any cellular matter, while preserving the signalling hormones used by the worms, and some of the worm proteins.

"The repellent is only approved for use by the military and the medical profession, but, as word has got around, it is clear that it is being used far more widely. Aside from the effect on the worms, there is talk of it appearing in cosmetic products for women.

"Have you taken the ointment, Julie?"

Again, Julie shook her head.

"It has odd effects on the immune system, Julie. Like the vaccine, it provokes an unusual immune response. The first time it is taken, the user experiences mild hot flushes, but there is no other indication of inflammation.

"And then, I have heard that some people use the unprocessed venom as a drug, to get high.

"It stimulates the genitals.

"It forces women to do things, Julie.

"Disgusting things."

Julie was glad that it was dark enough that Anjolie would not see her blush.

"I am sure you have heard of the sad situation in Bhopal," Anjolie continued. "This was a necessary sacrifice to fight the progress of the worms, but not sufficient. We delayed the worms for a while, but they have returned, stronger than ever.

"Only the vaccine now keeps the worms in check. If the vaccine were to lose its effectiveness, India would be lost.

"We don't have the resources to keep tabs on the cured women, it's hard enough getting the vaccine to the affected villages. We tried using tattoos, but they are actually very easy to remove these days.

"We are starting to think that the vaccine is not a cure, and that removing the worms does not always stem the infection. We've lost track of many of these women, and the situation seems hopeless.

"The arsenic test is ineffective, and the Taubett machine is far too expensive and slow for the millions of people we need to test.

"But we have just started to introduce Aadhaar to combat the threat of the worms."

Julie had heard of it. Aadhar was a huge biometric database, to be used to keep track of every resident of India by giving each of them a 12-digit identifier.

It sounded a bit too big-brother for her liking.

"Every woman we cure, we flag in Aadhar. But there are many cured women we have lost track of.

"One day, Julie, we will have a simple test that can identify them.

"And, if we find that the cured women are still under the control of the worms, then, ..."

Anjolie drew her fingers across her neck in a slicing motion.

Julie got goosebumps. She wasn't quite sure how to discuss the potential murder of millions of women with a doctor.

"But, Anjolie ..." she started off saying, then, "Oh, shit."

"What's wrong?" Anjolie asked, a little bit affronted.

Julie had to fight to keep her voice calm.

"Oh, sorry. It's nothing," she replied, "I just left some stuff in my office I wanted to read tonight. It can't be helped, it's nothing urgent. I'll have to go in early tomorrow, so I think we'd better go now."

How casually Anjolie was considering genocide, Julie thought.

I've only gone and given Anjolie a copy of Cassie's survey data, with all its evidence of cheating on it, haven't I?



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 09



Chapter 9 – The Hosts

After Julie left that morning, Cassie couldn't muster the motivation to do any shopping, let alone by herself.

She was still feeling weepy.

Instead, she spent the day on the couch, trying to read through all of her survey results and getting them together in her head.

The results were clear-cut.

The women had been cheating.

She wished that she could be more like Julie, and bury herself in work.

It was hopeless.

She'd never been through a real break-up.

Not that this was a real break-up, as Julie and Cassie had never actually been together, but it felt real enough to her.

She just couldn't think, and she couldn't achieve anything.

Julie rang at about five thirty. She was going out to dinner with a doctor from the hospital, Anjolie Lalitha.

Cassie remembered the name.

She was the pretty one, Gabby had said.

At that point, it seemed obvious to Cassie that Julie simply didn't care about her, not one bit.

The apartment they both shared together now seemed like a bit, fat, lie.

She couldn't face going to bed, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for Julie to come home, or not, and then being in her room, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, with someone next door who already seemed like a stranger.

But there was an alternative.

It was Sheyda's last day of treatment at the hospital.

Cassie had got to know her well over the last few weeks, and, despite the fact that Sheyda saw Cassie first and foremost as potential host-form, she had been engaging to talk to. Her body language was pure seduction, and she had spent much of the time with Cassie in light-hearted flirting.

With her plans for today devoted to Julie, Cassie had resigned herself to not seeing Sheyda at the hospital before she was cured.

But those plans were gone now.

The pass-card Gabby had given to her would let her in at any hour of the day.

Or night.

There was still time to see Sheyda, and she could sleep at the hospital again, with its lights, and a constant feeling of busyness.

It was a perfect antidote to her crushing loneliness. 

Anything was better than staying here.

***

When Cassie arrived at the hospital, the security guards were still there at the X-ray machine. They knew Cassie well by now, and she was through in only a few seconds.

It was quiet on a Saturday night.

With their work completed, the University people didn't need to spend so much time at the hospital, and life for them would soon be returning to normal.

Gabby was working more like her usual hours, and had told Cassie that she'd been spending a lot of time with Stefan. He'd moved into her apartment.

Cassie guessed that quite a few people would be trying out the new uni bar, which Julie and Cassie had planned on visiting tonight.

Another plan cancelled.

Cassie would have liked to have seen the twins, but didn't feel like sharing them with a bunch of strangers, and didn't feel like drinking.

Here was best for her right now.

She waved to the single nurse at reception, let herself into a lift, beeped her pass card, and hit the button to the first floor, Gabby's lab.

She would give herself protection, go in to see Sheyda, and talk to her, maybe even sleep with her.

Each time Cassie had been to visit her, Sheyda had made it quite clear that she was interested.

As Cassie picked the jar of protective ointment, she held it, and stared at it.

She knew that her life was hopeless.

Without Julie, her life outside was forfeit.

After tonight, what would she do with herself now?

She realised then that Eve had set her up.

She had tried to push Cassie and Julie apart, and, eventually, she had succeeded. 

Eve had known Cassie's fetish for parasites, and had thrown her amongst the wolves.

Eve must have realised Cassie's love for Julie was doomed. Cassie had been holding out for years, waiting for Julie, but she knew now that waiting was hopeless, that Julie was hopeless.

Because Julie would never love anyone.

Cassie felt like kicking herself.

Everyone else had guessed the truth but herself.

Eve had set Cassie up with an impossible task. Doing the surveys was a crazy idea. Cassie was lost in a blizzard of standardised psychology tests, and interviews with hundreds of women. With normal women, with infected women, with cured women, their words, and their thoughts, and their moods, were all buzzing around in Cassie's head, totally aimlessly, totally formlessly.

Cassie knew that the cured women were not normal. They were too kind, they were too attentive, they were too diligent.

They were attractive.

They were dangerous.

And they had cheated.

Cassie's heart began to hammer in her chest, and she put the jar down down again.

She would not use protection tonight.

She would give herself to the worms.

There would be more clinics opening in Australia, she knew that, needing more hosts.

Oh, it would be sweet. It would be so, so, sweet, giving herself to the worms. Giving herself up to an alien intelligence would salve her hurt. She could spend the rest of her days drowning in physical pleasure, spawning creatures bred to possess women's minds.

Her family were a bunch of fundamentalist Christians. They had dispossessed her when she had come out to them as a teenager, and she had lost everything.

She didn't have many close friends. She had given away all of her friendships to get closer to Julie.

So much for that.

Again, she had lost everything.

Still,Cassie thought, that leaves no barriers in the way. I can have my one remaining heart's desire, and leave society with a clear conscience. I have many options, and I have made my choice.

Cassie beeped herself into the secure area, and walked over to the second bank of lifts, her legs like jelly.

She had made a commitment, one of the most potent in her life, on a whim.

But was it a whim?

Ever since Eve had set her to work, she must have seen this as a possibility. If she was honest with herself, Cassie had been considering giving herself to the worms ever since she had heard about them, since she had heard all of the crazy theories, and read the stories.

The stories were hot.

Perhaps Eve knew that this was the end for Cassie, who would not, or could not, resist the temptation that had been placed before her. 

When Cassie entered the ward, Sheyda's bed was empty.

Cassie looked around. The eyes of all the women were upon her.

Cassie's eyes alighted on a pair of young women, sitting on a bed, holding hands, staring at Cassie, and whispering to each other.

They stood tall, and faced her. Still holding hands, they walked towards her, smiling.

They flanked her, and lightly held her arms.

Cassie shivered. The touch of infected women was always so inviting. 

"Cassie, welcome back. Come, talk to us. Lie with us."

Cassie fended them off.

"Please, no. Not now. I want to see Sheyda. Where is Sheyda?"

Two more women came up behind Cassie's back, and gently wrapped their arms around her torso.

"Cassie, you want a master. I can smell that you are ready for your master. We will take you to Sheyda. But we will prepare you first.

"Yes?"

Cassie hesitated, but nodded.

The four hands behind her reached around her front, and began to undo her buttons.

The two in front assisted.

Leisurely, she was stripped, but the actions of the four women were more caress than undress.

As the four pairs of hands lightly held her, a hospital gown was produced from somewhere. The y placed it around her, and laced it up at the back, gently.

The women in front lifted up their own gowns, and Cassie saw black threads emerging from the tufts between their legs.

She didn't struggle, but could only say,

"Please, I want to see Sheyda. Not like this, please, not like this."

Cassie felt tendrils moving between her thighs, then up her back, where they rested.

"It is right that Sheyda should take you. We will take you to her. But stay with us for a time, there is no hurry.

"Take the time to enjoy us, Cassie.

"Free flesh likes to be played with. Free flesh is to be enjoyed.

"When you are host-form, the memories of being taken are so delicious."

Cassie nodded.

It was nice being held.

When the sting finally arrived, a woman bent forward to kiss her, and Cassie responded, opening her mouth, wanting more.

The sting had hurt, but it was only a prelude.

The arousal that began to glow in her back, and spread through her torso, was welcome, but not overwhelming.

Cassie knew that the final sting would be deeper.

The other woman broke off the kiss, and Cassie felt herself lifted by four pairs of hands and carried across to a couch. One of them sat down on the couch, and motioned Cassie forward. Cassie turned around to sit in front of her, and she was soon enfolded in her arms, and kissed on the neck.

Two other women sat beside her and, using their own legs, they spread her open, and gently sucked her nipples into their mouths.

The fourth knelt between Cassie's legs. As the pair on either side began to suckle Cassie's breasts in earnest, the woman behind pressed herself against Cassie's back, and the woman between her legs began to lick her.

With four mouths assaulting her, and a touch of venom inside herself, she rose quickly. She was able to stretch against the restraint of those women, and they held tight, and were much stronger than they looked.

Pleasure gathered near her centre, and she soon peaked. She cried out as she gushed, and felt like she was drowning.

When she was able to breathe again she opened her eyes.

All the women in the ward were staring at her, and were smiling at her, cupping their mounds, remembering.

When Cassie regained her composure, someone helped her up and led her towards exit. They took her pass out of her handbag, and used it to call a lift. The patients were imprisoned here, as none could leave without a pass, but Cassie felt like the prisoner as she was walked into the lift, and her own pass used to punch the button for the top floor.

The hosts.

Sheyda was with the hosts.

It was her last day.

Of course she would be with the hosts.

The woman shared the lift with Cassie up to the top floor, and motioned Cassie out. Using the pass to select her own floor, she handed it back to Cassie.

Standing midway between lift and the floor, she bid Cassie farewell.

"Goodbye, Cassie. We shall see you again when you are host-form."

The door closed, and she was gone.

Cassie turned around. She had not yet been to visit the hosts.

She was in the core of the building, and a corridor led off to the wards.

She still held the pass in her hand.

She could escape now, if she so wished.

But she had chosen her fate, and wandered down the corridor to the first ward with a light.

There was a large bed in the centre of the room, with five women atop it.

Sheyda lay in the centre, with her eyes closed, and her legs spread. Her communication tendril was entwined with that of the other four women. Two looked in their early twenties, and two in their mid-thirties, and they all were locked in ecstasy, the five tendrils oozing wetly against each other.

One of the younger ones roused herself, and the tendrils of her worm slid back inside herself.

"Cassie, welcome, welcome.

"You have decided to give yourself to us. What an honour, Cassie. We appreciate the gesture.

"My name is Maryanne. I am host."

All of the women had now sat up, and they had their eyes open, and were smiling at Cassie.

Why did infected women look so desirable?

"My name is Margaret. I am milk."

"My name is Eileen. I am milk."

"My name is Tania. I am host."

Sheyda spoke last.

"Cassie, thank you for coming to visit us.

"Come with me now, and we shall know you."

Naked, Maryanne and Sheyda disentangled themselves from the other three. 

Cassie's back was still smarting from the sting, and her legs were still wobbly from the action of the venom, and her centre still ached from the pleasure the four infected women had forced upon her on the floor below.

It was not cold, but Cassie shivered.

Maryanne and Sheyda each took one hand, and led Cassie into the large, main room on that floor.

The hosts were housed in what was effectively a penthouse. It was a magnificent room at the top of the building, and was full of cushions. The lights were low, and one huge picture window looked out over the lake, at Cassie's apartment building.

Cassie gazed through the window on the opposite side, at the headlights from the cars on the Commonwealth Avenue bridge. An endless stream of public servants, zipping around on Canberra's empty roads, the over-engineered national capital allowing them all to speed through their little lives at maximum efficiency.

The clouds of global financial depression had been gathering overseas for some years now, but Australia was only just beginning to feel any effect.

Who knew what was ahead for all of these people?

I'm spending an evening in a nest full of of alien invaders who want to own us all, Cassie couldn't help thinking.

The real world is shit. Something has to change. I'm sure that these worms could manage us better than the current pack of losers. 

"We have felt you, Cassie." said Maryanne. "We begin to know you. There are so many who will be one. We have felt you through our sisters and brothers, and have longed for the day we can lie with you, and make you a part of us.

"But you, Cassie. You are important. You are special. You can save us.

"We already know that you have given yourself to us in your heart. We need you, Cassie, you can show us our errors, you can feel our mistakes.

"You know people, Cassie. You know people, and you love people. You know us, and you shall show us how to be people. And you shall love us too."

Maryanne and Sheyda were beautiful, standing there in their nakedness. Maryanne was blooming, her belly pregnant with worms, and Sheyda had gained weight, but was still slender, and tall, and dark, and exotic.

Cassie's hospital gown seemed incongruous.

She shrugged it off, over her head.

She compared her reflection in the window to that of her companions.

They were upright, proud and lusty.

She seemed pasty, and stooped, and a little sad.

Actually, she was still a little sad.

The loss of Julie this morning came back to her, and she turned away from the women, and tears once again began to leak down her cheeks.

Maryanne and Sheyda came to her, and kissed her tears away, and laid her down on the cushions.

She was sad, yes, but she had surrendered. She was ready to drown in the pleasure that the worms offered, that the hosts offered, and give away her sense of self for the opportunity to lose her pain.

"Cassie, this is your time now. Do not be sad, just enjoy us.

"Let us take care of you. Let us take away your pain."

Maryanne and Sheyda lay beside her, turned in towards her, and gazed at her.

As Cassie felt the tendrils begin to crawl across her legs, Sheyda held her head with her hands, and began to kiss her, spearing Cassie's mouth with her tongue, then, softening her lips, letting Cassie's tongue into her own mouth to feel her moist emptiness.

This time, the sting in her back was sudden, and painful, like a needle pushed into her flesh.

"Ow!"

Cassie held still. This was what she wanted. This was what she needed. This was the prelude for something greater, for something very special.

She would know what it was to have an alien intelligence in her mind, questing for her knowledge, controlling her thoughts, controlling her body.

Three more times, she felt their sting. Each time, the pain was more blunted, and easier to take. In her ribs, then in the middle of the back. The last, in her neck, felt more like a hot, hard penetration than the sharp needle of the first.

The three waited, still, as the rush of arousal flowed through her. Cassie felt her body relax into paralysis, the tension in her muscles released.

Cassie could no longer move, but she began to feel the ache to be penetrated, to be filled, her emptiness rewarded.

Maryanne climbed over Cassie to straddle her, and watched proudly as a worm oozed out of her pussy, scenting the air, searching for warmth.

Cassie felt its heavy, moist, warmth as it plopped onto her chest.

With peristaltic motions, it oozed down her stomach, black tendrils emerging, and began to nuzzle her lower lips. Maryanne and Sheyda held Cassie's thighs, and pulled them apart. Cassie would have completed the motion herself, if she could have. 

Maryanne's slender hands held the worm, and assisted it by pushing it against Cassie's centre.

The sensation of the worm's motion parting her lips, and pushing inside, was enthralling. The feeling of being filled was beautiful, and Cassie opened herself up to it.

As the worm disappeared, Cassie could not wait for the deeper penetration to begin.

Maryanne lifted herself up, bent a knee, and another worm pushed its way out of her.

She passed it to Sheyda, who lifted up Cassie's head, and placed the worm at the back of her neck.

They both rolled Cassie on to her side, and Maryanne placed a third worm on Cassie's spine, in the middle of her back.

The fourth was placed on her side, at the base of her ribs.

"Now, Cassie," they both whispered.

Cassie's back arched as the four worms began to attach themselves. The pain was brief, as more venom was being driven into her already-drugged body.

There was total silence for a minute or two, as the hosts looked on in curiosity, and Cassie felt a crawling sensation under her skin as the tiny black fibres pushed their way into her flesh.

Cassie soon heard four voices in her mind, speaking in chorus.

Cassie, give yourself to us,

They sounded rather like Eve, with the same rich, golden tones, and a hint of an East-coast accent.

Cassie, feel the pleasure, and give yourself to us.

She felt a fluttering inside her pussy, and knew that with just a little more stimulation, she would come.

It started slowly, like a trickle out of a dam before it bursts, but the pleasure grew, and Cassie could not tell when it would stop rising, she could not tell how it could stop.

The pleasure reached a crescendo, and as it crashed over her, she began to feel the worms accessing her memories, finding things they wanted to know, pleasuring her mind.

The first change she noticed was to the ball of hurt she had carried with her all day, from Julie's exit from her life.

She felt it begin to lift, to dissipate, and she struggled against the influence pushing it out of her mind.

"No. Not this. Not Julie!"

Cassie hung on to her pain, protecting it.

It seemed like the only remaining link she had to the love she had held inside herself for the last six years..

The worms spoke to her.

Cassie, do not worry. You have chosen well. Julie is your soul-mate, your companion, your happiness. You have always known this. Let the pain go, Cassie, and you shall have her. She will love you, Cassie, just let the pain go.

Cassie felt a wave of admiration for her mistresses flow through her brain, and she stopped resisting. The worms would look after her, they knew how to look after their humans. If she let them do their work, they would give her all her heart desired.

She let her heartbreak dissipate, and Julie felt a sense of well-being permeate her soul. Sheyda and Maryanne lay beside her, and held her in comfort.

The worms were still pumping her full of sensation, and she closed her eyes as her mind swirled with physical pleasure. All of her memories began to flow through her consciousness, and she watched on in wonder as the worms began to nuzzle and take possession of her soul.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 09



The four worms wanted to discover everything about her, and Cassie had never felt more naked, baring all of her secrets and desires to a lover who was giving her such pleasure.

Her vision dimmed, her hearing faded, and all that remained was a sense of warmth. The outside world had disappeared, and Cassie was isolated in her own mind, completely inner-directed as she lost contact with her body, and with her senses.

Soon, Cassie could only perceive herself, and her four alien companions. They drank from her soul, and she offered it to them, but the more she poured out of herself, the more there was to give. She began to feel like a waterfall, a flood of sensation flowing out of herself and into the worms in a constant, never-ending stream of soul, and returned to her in full measure with physical pleasure, and endless fascination.

This is what heaven would be like, she was still able to think.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 10



Chapter 10 -- Lessons

It was late, so Julie suggested that Anjolie share a taxi with her back to the Uni.

They travelled in silence.

Julie had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Anjolie still had her memory stick, with all of its its copied evidence, in her handbag, and she was holding it close, as she had all along.

When Anjolie inevitably discovered Cassie's survey data, Anjolie would know that the cured women had been cheating.

That was bad.

They could use the same techniques in India, and Julie was sure that the cured women would stand out a mile.

That was bad, very bad.

It was also convincing evidence of Eve's bad faith. If Eve would cheat to help cured women pass the surveys, then what else was she capable of?

Julie felt like she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

If she did not tell Eve, millions of women in India would be at risk.

The FEMA camps in the USA might look like a holiday program in comparison to what would happen to the women in India. This could be very bad for the women in the USA, too. It was clear from the survey results that the women had been changed by the worms, fundamentally, and Julie simply didn't know if they would ever be allowed their freedom under these circumstances.

Eve's reputation would be in ruins, Lennox hospital would likely be closed down, and she herself would definitely be looking for another job.

And unlikely to find one: nobody likes whistle-blowers.

If she did tell Eve, then Eve would go ballistic, yet Julie doubted that the end result would be in any way different.

Fuck!

What was she going to do?

She waved goodnight to Anjolie when Anjolie got off at 4, and continued up to 5, and to her own apartment.

Her heart lurched when she found the apartment dark, and cold.

In relief, or regret, she couldn't tell.

Cassie wasn't in.

Another fuck-up.

She turned on all of the lights, and pulled out the phone.

It was 11:00.

She rang Eve's number, and the phone rang ten times before Eve's voice-mail kicked in.

At least Eve's phone was still on.

She couldn't get any sleep like this. She had to tell Eve.

She rang Eve once more, and, this time, Eve picked up straight away.

"Julie. What do you want? It's late."

"Eve, hi.

"Sorry. Sorry to ring so late."

Julie paused, steeling herself.

"I've fucked it up, Eve. I've fucked it up big-time.

"Anjolie's got Cassie's survey data. And, Eve, we know they cheated. We know the cured women cheated. Anjolie will be able to work out that the cured women are cheating, too.

"Anjolie's a heartless bitch. She'll go straight to her government, I'm sure of it. She doesn't like the infected women, she doesn't like them at all.

"Jesus Christ, Eve, I'm sorry, but I just had to tell you. It's all fucked, I'm sorry.

"And Eve, I don't know where Cassie is. We're not talking. I'm worried about her."

For the first time on this horrible, horrible, day, tears began to well up in Julie's eyes.

"I've fucked it all up. I'm sorry, Eve, I'm sorry."

Eve replied, slowly, and calmly.

She sounded tired, and disappointed.

"Julie, thank you for telling me, I appreciate it.

"You did the right thing in telling me straight away.

"There's no need for any of us to panic, I'm sure that Anjolie won't do anything before the morning, but please don't tell anyone else about this.

"Just leave it with me.

"I'll have to meet up with Anjolie tomorrow morning, and straighten things out with her. She's a doctor, she's a sensible woman. I'm sure we'll work out a solution that is acceptable to all concerned.

"It's not nearly as bad as you seem to think. The whole situation is very complicated, and you can rest assured that I will explain it all to you tomorrow.

"And Julie, don't worry about Cassie. She's with Doctor Kelly right now at the hospital, and we know about her survey results. Julie, I won't lie to you. This is a blow, but it's not an insoluble problem. There is a reason I chose you two for this work, you know.

"Again, thank you so much for calling me, Julie.

"While this situation is not one I was hoping to deal with yet, I must also thank you for your loyalty, which is perhaps more than I deserve.

"I'll expect to see you in at work early tomorrow morning. Don't worry unduly, we're really only just getting started.

"Go to bed now, there's nothing more you can do."

Julie did feel a bit mollified, but the sense of raw panic she had carried since her realisation had not yet dissipated.

"Thanks, Eve. Thanks for everything."

"Good night, Julie."

Julie put the phone down.

She felt wrung out.

She still didn't know if she'd get any sleep tonight.

And the apartment felt so lonely without Cassie.

***

When Anjolie returned to her apartment, she couldn't wait to have a look at the treasure-trove of material she'd copied from Julie's memory stick.

She had a quick leaf through the source-code for the scanner firmware, but there wasn't much she could do with it. She'd pass it on back to her superiors. She was sure that they would be interested.

She soon noticed the spreadsheet called "cassie_surveys" on Julie's memory stick, and a little program called "cassie_cheaters" She knew that Eve had been organising groups of test subjects, but didn't know the reason why.

When she loaded up the spreadsheet, she saw that the test subjects had been divided into two groups, cured, and normal.

The statistics looked the same. That was a good result for the cured women, she thought. Perhaps enduring a worm infection didn't have any lasting effects, and such women could return into normal society without risk.

But then, way over in the right-hand column of the spreadsheet, she saw a column labelled "cheating detected?"

This was interesting. There was a yes in that column for every, single cured woman, and none of the normals.

She had a look at the cassie_cheaters file.

She didn't understand the source code, she wasn't a programmer, but she imagined what that program was designed to do.

The cured women had passed the test, but it seemed that, somehow, they had cheated.

Bile rose up in her throat.

She hated the worms.

She hated the infected women, too, the sluts.

They loved the worms.

They loved everything.

She'd seen the footage from the villages, groups of two or three infected women entering each house, silently drugging and raping innocent women to force them to join the worms.

It was disgusting, and it was dangerous.

She had always been suspicious of Eve. She had always suspected that she was on their side.

It had been hard, hiding her true feelings for the worms, appearing tolerant and curious for Eve's benefit.

Getting her sister back seemed to be Eve's only priority

Eve's sister could go hang.

Anjolie considered herself a bit more practical. Sacrifices would have to be made.

She thought she had been right about Julie, too. She'd known telling Julie her true feelings about the worms was a risk, but she was glad that she had a potential ally.

If the cured women had to cheat to appear normal on a personality test, then there was clearly something very wrong with them.

If the cured women were a demonstrated risk, then they would have to be killed. There was no other way of stemming the infection. It would be painful, but she knew that India could cope with such disasters.

And, if Eve was helping them cheat, then she clearly couldn't be trusted.

Maybe she should go back to India soon. She didn't want to be around when Eve's house of cards began to tumble.

She tried to transfer the files back to her office in India, but her Internet connection appeared to be down.

That was unusual.

She spent some time, plugging and unplugging, and was under the desk when the phone rang.

It surprised her, and she bumped her head.

It would have to be Julie. It was the internal ring-tone, and after midnight. Julie must have realised that she'd let the cat out of the bag. Anjolie didn't see any reason to let Julie know of her plans. She'd find out soon enough.

Anjolie let the phone ring once more, then answered.

"Hello?" she said.

"Anjolie Lalitha? John Landers here."

Anjolie was surprised, but the voice was familiar.

She had met him at the opening of the Cancer clinic.

"Oh, yes sir, I remember you. Good evening to you, sir. Can I assist you with anything?"

"Anjolie, I believe that you have found some evidence of fraud associated with Eve Hunter, and I'm afraid that this has come to her attention.

"I won't go into details now, Anjolie, but you might be in great danger if you remain in your apartment. Have you noticed anything suspicious?"

Anjolie replied,

"My Internet is not working."

"I see, that's not good ...," John said.

Anjolie butted right back in.

"But how did you know about the cheating? I have only just discovered it myself?"

"Anjolie, I'm afraid I can't tell you. National security and all that."

Something else had only just occurred to her.

"But the ring-tone. It came from within the building. Where are you?"

John laughed.

"Oh, Anjolie, you are a curious one. We need to get moving, so I'll have to be quick. You already know that the cancer clinic has national security implications. I've been listening in to Eve's conversations.

"I'm in my office at Parliament House right now. I'm currently patched into the apartment building's PABX. That's why you heard the local ring-tone.

"It was Julie that rang Eve to tell her about the survey, Anjolie. Julie has sided with Eve. I'm sorry, Anjolie, but you and I are the only good guys right now.

"I think the best thing for you would be to leave for India as soon as possible. Tomorrow would be ideal. I can get you some tickets at very short notice, and I think it would be best if you were to leave your apartment tonight."

"Yes, Mr Landers, I do agree. I think going back to India would be best."

"Good. I'm only across the bridge from you, and I'll come with my driver and pick you up straight away.

"I doubt that Eve will do anything tonight. You can't use the Internet, and I think you'll have a hard time getting an external line.

"I suggest that you pack an overnight bag, turn off all of your lights, and stay in your bedroom.

"I have keys for all of Eve's buildings, so I can send someone from my staff around to pack for you tomorrow.

"I would suggest that you take a flight tomorrow evening. I'd like to spend the day with you, and take a copy of all of the evidence you've gathered. Is that acceptable to you?"

Anjolie felt a surge of adrenaline, but also relief. If Eve Hunter knew her as an enemy, she didn't want to stay near her any longer than necessary.

And she would be seeing her husband and family soon. She had missed them so much.

"Of course, sir, I am most grateful to you. I shall pack a bag and wait for you.

"Good. Look after yourself, Anjolie, I'll see you soon. 'Bye now."

It didn't take long to pack pyjamas, a change of clothes, her passport, her purse, and her toiletries.

As instructed, Anjolie turned off all the lights in the apartment, and went to sit on her bed.

When she heard a key in the lock, she stood up and turned on the light in her bedroom. John had been been very quick, but it was only a few kilometres.

When two statuesque women strode into her bedroom, Anjolie recoiled in surprise.

One was a red-head, and one was a blonde

"Who are ..."

She didn't even get to finish the sentence.

The redhead moved behind, covered Anjolie's mouth with one hand, and wrapped her other arm around Anjolie's chest. The blond knelt down to grab Anjolie around the thighs.

Anjolie tried to kick, and tried to scratch, and tried to bite, but they were strong, and experienced, and soon had her prone on the bed. In front of her, the blonde held her on her side in a scissor hold, one leg on top, one underneath, and the redhead moved behind where Anjolie could not see.

Anjolie kept struggling, but didn't make any progress.

The blonde tried to calm her.

"Shhhh, Anjolie, quiet now.

"Struggling won't help you.

"Just hold still, we only want to talk. We need to talk. That's all.

"John's not coming tonight. Did you know that he's engaged to Eve? They're getting married in December. They're both looking to settle down.

"Eve's going to be our stepmother.

"He was in Eve's apartment when he called you. We came around as soon as we found out that Eve needed help.

"Shhhh ... Don't struggle. There's nothing you can do. There's no need to do yourself an injury."

Anjolie did continue to struggle for a time, but she knew it was hopeless.

Whatever these women had planned for her, Anjolie couldn't do a thing about it.

She relaxed, and found that nothing immediately happened.

"That's good, Anjolie, that's good."

She was rolled a little as the mattress compressed behind her. The redhead leant against her, and she soon felt arms surrounding her from behind, a hug this time, not a hold, and she was now tightly sandwiched between the two women.

"You see, we won't hurt you. We just want to talk. Just let all of those negative emotions drift away. You'll see, it's easy."

The trio remained motionless for a time, and, through her terror, Anjolie kept expecting something to happen.

When it started, it was not what she had expected.

Anjolie began to feel relaxed, and she felt her fear simply drift away.

A pleasant feeling of warmth began to emanate from her spine, and she began to feel sexually aroused.

She had never understood the idea of fetishes, but as she observed herself, she considered that perhaps she might have some kind of secret desire to be under the physical control of others.

That was the only sensible explanation for how she felt.

Her feelings seemed inappropriate and awkward to her, and she tried not to let her emotions show on her face.

The red-head began to speak from behind her, softly, and close to her ear.

"Now, Anjolie, we know that you have found some results that look peculiar.

"All that we ask is that you don't be too hasty. Don't judge those results until you have given Eve a chance to explain herself."

The blond in front of her kissed her on her lips, a brief, chaste kiss.

Anjolie made a look of disgust, but she didn't feel it.

The kiss had been pleasant.

Anjolie found her mind wandering.

She knew that she had caught Eve out. She knew that she had proof now.

But that certainty began to recede.

It was as if it were at the tip of her tongue. But it was drifting away.

The blond released Anjolie's legs from the scissor hold, and smiled at her. She reached her hands up, and began to gently massage Anjolie's face with her fingertips.

The sensation of pleasure in Anjolie's spine intensified, and she could not prevent herself arching her back as it travelled up, and down, and curdled in her centre.

There was silence now, but Anjolie felt new thoughts drifting through her mind.

Cassie had been told to find ways to cheat. She had instructed the women to attempt to cheat. She was working on ways to detect cheating, and she had found them. The results were successful, not fraudulent.

The blonde moved forward to kiss her on her lips again.

"Anjolie, don't be too hasty to judge," the redhead continued, "Let your thoughts wander. Think back on what you know about Eve Hunter"

The blonde ran her hands through Anjolie's hair.

That feels nice, Anjolie thought.

Eve Hunter is a good woman. She is a kind woman. She has scientific integrity, and is the world's foremost expert in defending the Earth from the worms. If the cured women have any residual control from the worms, Eve and her team will work out how to fix them. There is no need to act now. It is entirely possible to solve all of these problems without any violence. We shall see peace with the worms.

"Anjolie. You're all alone in Australia, and you don't have your family with you. You're very stressed, and lonely, and not thinking rationally. Why has Eve kept Julie and Cassie separated from the rest of the team?"

The reason she chose Julie and Cassie was to ensure the honesty and integrity of the whole project. Their investigations will find evidence of scientific fraud, if it has occurred They have already found minor problems with the experimental methodologies, but these are unimportant and will be addressed.

Anjolie began to doubt herself, a feeling she had rarely experienced. She had known with such confidence that Eve was a fraud, and that her careless experiments could lead to an unstoppable outbreak of worms.

But now, Anjolie was not so sure.

Perhaps she was a victim of her own paranoia.

"Anjolie, I think you realise now that there are too many uncertainties to make any kind of judgement. The lives of too many women are at stake. Their future existence depends upon your actions. You are in a position of power over Eve, over the sick women, over all of the cured women in India. Don't abuse that power, Anjolie.

"Show some mercy."

The twins held Anjolie for a time, and she began to consider what would really happen if she passed a guilty verdict on the cured women.

It was not pleasant.

But the alternative was far worse ... wasn't it?

The redhead spoke one last time, almost in a whisper.

"Now, Anjolie, we are going to show you something.

"It's not pleasant. Please, just close your eyes, hold still, and we shall show you the past, and one possible future. See where your actions might take you ..."

Anjolie found her eyes closing, and her thoughts drifting, and, unbidden, memories began to emerge from her mind. They were not her own.

They were sad, so very sad.

***

She was running. She was afraid. She had been pushed out of the barn.

They had held her down, and injected her with something, and her master had left her.

Her eyes were already red and weeping, the gas had nearly choked her.

Then someone had pushed her out, and slammed the door closed.

She pounded and pounded at the door, but had not been allowed back in.

She screamed at them then, and kept pounding away, but then she saw saw smoke begin to emerge from the barn. She ran to the edge of the compound, and made a circuit, but could not get out. The walls were too high, and the gates had been blocked.

The sound of helicopters had been a constant for days, but now that they were in the air immediately above her, and she felt a sense of menace.

She was a sitting duck.

When the first gunshot rang out, she felt as if she had been punched in the chest, and stumbled backwards.

Looking down, she could see no blood, but she felt the pain, and the terror.

His pain.

His terror.

David had been shot.

She had to sit down. She was feeling weak.

She was already feeling the dizziness from a loss of blood, the taste of blood in her mouth, coughing, so much coughing, but not enough to clear all the blood from her lungs.

Her breathing shallow, she felt him slipping away, and had to lie down.

The pain and the terror began to recede, and a feeling of calm began to permeate her consciousness.

There was nothing more to be done now.

David had been shot. David was dying.

She was feeling his last moments on earth.

When he died, she felt nothing. It was not an occurrence, but a sense of absence.

A constant presence in her life had suddenly been disconnected.

But there was no time to recover.

Now she felt the heat.

The fire in the barn across the compound had grown, and she felt the heat as if it were right next to her, burning her skin.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 10



It was not one person this time, but it was many. It was everybody.

She heard screams from the barn, but also close, as if she were among them, and she realised that she had begun to scream, herself. Each and every one of them was a lost soul, screaming in terror, feeling the burning of their flesh, the searing of their lungs, the death of hope as the fire consumed the barn, and its human contents, from within.

Those trapped held each other in terror, but there was nothing to do except face death.

It seemed to go on for hours. She felt every sensation, every emotion, of every single one of those poor people trapped inside the barn, raw and unbearable, but then fading.

One by one, each slipped away, first into unconsciousness, and then into death.

There was no mercy.

It had been a massacre.

He wouldn't have killed his people like this.

They wouldn't have killed their people like this.

It was murder. That's what it was.

Murder.

Why wasn't she dead? Why hadn't she died with her companions? Why was she still alive?

***

Anjolie felt as if she were drifting, alone, in darkness, floating in a vast emptiness. She had been that poor girl, she had been that poor, misguided, innocent girl, and now she had to fight to regain her sense of self, to return to consciousness, to open her eyes.

The blonde looked down at Anjolie, kindly, and spoke softly.

"She was saved because she was Australian, Anjolie. She was allowed to come back to Australia. She has been watched every single day since she returned, but now she is safe.

"Those memories will haunt her every waking moment. Remember, Anjolie, remember the faceless evil that kills countless innocents to prevent change. Evil men will do anything to preserve themselves, Anjolie, and will not hesitate to kill, and to burn, and to bury, and will keep killing as long as it takes, just so that they can stay in charge, just so that they can control every one of us.

"Life means change, Anjolie.

"The only way to save Earth from the evils of war, and plague, and famine, and neglect, and hatred, is to embrace change.

"We can do it, Anjolie. We can save the world. Help us, Anjolie, and your life will soon be full of love, and children, and friends, and pleasure."

Anjolie was still feeling the sense of hopelessness that had permeated that poor soul as she witnessed the massacre, that orgy of death.

She was not able to even contemplate a quiet life after being a part of that.

"We can't leave you like this, Anjolie." the blonde whispered to her.

Anjolie felt a lump of something cool and moist being pushed into her lower back, around the base of her her spine.

When she felt her head begin to spin, she knew it was venom.

It must have been a lot.

Anjolie welcomed the pain, it was a distraction, but as it dissipated Anjolie became limp on the bed. The next stage had started, and, is it claimed her, she lay back, marvelling in horror at the sensations which assailed her.

She couldn't resist opening her legs, her pulsing pussy feeling painfully sensitive, and wanting to be filled, filled with anything.

She kept her arms rigidly at her sides, and breathed quickly, willing herself into stillness, and willing that quaking pleasure outside of herself.

The two women began to strip her then, quickly, and efficiently, and they had soon removed every item of clothing from her frame.

Anjolie was powerless to stop them, and all of her energy was expended in halting her growing sexual arousal. Every time her skin was touched by one of her assailants, she felt an electric shock of pleasure, and they knew of what they were doing.  

It was only when she was totally naked, and they latched on to her nipples, and began to suckle from her, that she lost control completely.

She made a keening sound as her first orgasm claimed her.

It was powerful.

She felt something moist and smooth being pressed against her opening.

She began to panic.

The blonde was pushing something into her, Anjolie couldn't see, and her body opened itself up as it slid in easily.

Anjolie felt a wash of physical relief flow over her.

She had something to fill herself with now, something to satisfy the powerful urges engendered by the venom.

She opened her legs wider as the blonde began to gently pump it, and she even smiled at the pair who were raping her, encouraging them to press into her a little harder, to move faster, to bring her to completion.

The pleasure was purely physical, but the sense of calm which pervaded her mind was not.

She wanted to feel the sting, she wanted to feel the pleasure, she wanted to give herself to a master.

The sting did not come, but the pleasure kept building.

She wailed as she came that second time, and looked upwards to the heavens.

The twins moved close, and she held them both in a hug, one on either side.

She felt free as a bird, soaring to the heights of sexual abandon she had always denied herself.

There were no feelings of guilt, or recriminations, or fear, or anger.

But the horrors of the past were with her now, and made this celebration of life and liberty bitter-sweet.

When the blonde moved close, Anjolie took her lips, and kissed her, and loved the soft, sweet tongue which entered her mouth.

Tears of joy, and of horror, and of wonder ran down her cheeks, and remained on her back, staring at the ceiling. The blonde lay her head across Anjolie's chest, and the redhead on her stomach, and Anjolie gently patted and stroked them both with her hands.

They lay like that for quite some time, and Anjolie again felt the soft touch of all of the ideas which had passed through her head during the twins' strange visit.

The two women gently raised themselves off the bed, and the redhead kissed Anjolie on the forehead, and pulled up the blankets to tuck her in.

"We shall leave you now, Anjolie.

"Think upon what we have said.

"Sleep now, Anjolie, sleep ..."

A warm, comfortable feeling crept up her spine. When it reached her neck, her face prickled, her eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.

***

When Anjolie awoke, she was alone in the apartment.

Sunlight streamed into her room through that huge picture window.

She still felt filled.

When she reached down, she felt something sticking out of her pussy, and she felt around it with her fingertips.

It had a lump on the end.

She grabbed it with her fingers, and gently pulled it out.

She looked at it in fascination.

It was a green jelly dildo, still slick with her lubrication.

She had never seen one before. She knew that if she had seen such a thing yesterday, she would have thrown it away from herself in horror and revulsion.

Today, she regarded it with pleasure, and ringed it with finger and thumb to measure its girth.

She smiled at the erotic possibilities.

She had changed.

Somehow, she had been changed.

She enjoyed a few moments of peace before the horrors shown to her the night before returned to her, the memories of death and pain crowding into her head.

The memory stick.

She looked over to see it sticking out of her computer.

She knew what it represented.

A surge of nausea rushed from her stomach into her craw, and she began to salivate.

She had no choice but to jump out of bed and rush into her bathroom.

Grabbing the toilet seat, she leaned over and heaved, purging the remains of last night's dinner from her body, and it splashed heavily into the bowl.

Several times more her stomach contracted, expelling whatever remained, and even when it was empty she continued to heave, only to spit foul-tasting bile into the chemically fragrant water.

Her face had reddened with her body's effort to rid herself of her sickness.

But Anjolie knew that the sickness was not of her body, but of her mind.

What had she been contemplating?

How would she allow that to happen to her own people?

And herself, a doctor?

Shakily, she stood up. Her eyes were teary and red. She rinsed out her mouth, cleaned her teeth, and washed her face and hands in cold water.

She took the horrible thing away.

She threw it in the microwave, slammed the door shut, and turned it up to high.

Two minutes ought to do it, she thought, as the memory stick began to spark and crackle.

She couldn't go back to India right now.

Anjolie knew then that the lives of millions of women were hanging by a delicate thread, and if she were not circumspect, that thread could snap, plunging the world into a holocaust of unimaginable proportions.

The knowledge felt heavy upon her shoulders.

But I am lonely, oh, so lonely ...

She knew some other Indians in Canberra, and she had played tennis with them, and met up for the occasional meal. But they knew nothing of the worms, and were only interested in finding a career, finding a husband, making a start in life. These concerns seemed so shallow to Anjolie now.

She wanted, she wanted so very much, just to go to the hospital, to give herself up, to give herself to the worms. Her time with the twins was frightening, at first, but so very intimate. She felt closer to the twins now than she did to her own husband.

But she knew that this was selfish.

She owed him so much. When this was all over, she vowed to give him the closeness that he desired, to love him, to give herself to him totally. She had finally realised that this was the only way to have a meaningful relationship.

One must commit oneself utterly.

But she had work to do, and people to heal, and the world to save.

Somehow.

She didn't know how, but she'd think of something, as she always had.

She could at least start to make a few real friends.

Maybe she'd ring Julie, and ask her out for lunch.

It was a start.

Julie was the only one that Anjolie thought that she could still trust.

At least Julie was still human.

***

Cassie woke in the morning, feeling physically tired, but mentally refreshed.

Three of the worms had detached themselves in the night, and she still had a worm on the back of her neck.

She still felt like herself, although she had not felt this well, or this contented, since she was a child.

Sheyda and Maryanne were in bed with her, and gazed at her, and she felt their loving admiration as if it were her own.

Sheyda spoke.

"Cassie, I must go. My master will be leaving me soon. Thank you for coming to visit me."

The worms of the three women joined their communications tendrils, and Cassie kissed and suckled at her companions, enjoying again that stream of physical pleasure.

Jane interrupted them as she appeared at the end of their bed, with a gown for Sheyda.

"I'm sorry, Sheyda, but your time is now. Come with me, and you will be ready to rejoin your family very soon."

Sheyda blew them both a kiss, and put on the robe. The black tendrils drew themselves up into her body.

Jane handed Cassie her clothes, discarded last night in the cancer ward, and left, her arm around Sheyda's waist.

Cassie's clothes had had been freshly laundered, and smelled nice.

Breakfast was brought in for the hosts and herself, but Cassie did not talk. The task ahead had begun to flow through her mind.

After a shower and a change, she took the lift down a floor, to visit the infected women again.

She visited each woman in that room in turn, and asked them many questions.

One by one, each woman's master would relinquish control, and Cassie would talk to the unencumbered woman of the future, of her family, of her goals in life, of her earliest memories. She badgered them, and insulted them, and encouraged them, and flirted with them.

The women were often teary at the loss of their master, but each one really did try her best to assert her usual personality.

Sometimes Cassie tried to make friends.

Sometimes Cassie tried to make them love her.

Sometimes Cassie tried to make them hate her.

In the end, Cassie got under the skin of every one of them, and began to know them.

It was a skill that she had, she'd had it all of her life, and it had set many people against her before she had learned to use it with care.

She had too much personal integrity to use it all the time.

She had always kept some distance from Julie, as her relationship with Julie had seemed too sacred for such blatant manipulation.

Perhaps my life would have been simpler if I had got inside Julie's head early on, Cassie noted to herself dispassionately, but I was probably too scared at what I was going to find ...

With each woman, she noted all of her responses, and was alert for signs of oddness, or off-ness, of the uncanny valley of a human being that had been touched by an alien intelligence.

After each interview, Cassie would lie down with the woman, and they would hold each other.

Cassie could see the evidence of the woman's master taking control of her once again, as the woman smiled, and gave herself up as she returned to the pleasure of a servitude well rewarded.

Tendrils would emerge, and their worms would communicate.

Cassie could gaze into her subject's eyes, and feel as if in love as their masters kept them in a state of pleasurable fascination. Tendrils of thought were drawn from her as the worms pored through her personal analysis of each woman's tell-tale residue of infection.

Cassie's critical eye gave the worms a means to train their charges, how to control a woman into a taught conformity, how to leave her in a state in which she could exist, undetected, amongst other, clean, humans.

Cassie was in her element.

She worked twelve hours straight, but the work was invigorating, and she revelled in the knowledge that she had gained when so many women had given her access to their souls, to their innermost secrets, to their very sense of self.

She returned to the hosts at dinnertime.

There were three plates laid out, and some wine, and the food looked hot and delicious.

For the first time, she was able to talk to all of them.

Two were hosts, and two were milk.

There was Maryanne, whom she had already met, and Tania, the other host, and Margaret and Eileen, the milk, the women who fed the hosts.

They had been the first patients of this clinic, and all had been terminal, with inoperable cancers.

None of them officially existed any more.

Each of them had been selected as someone who could leave the outside world with minimal consequences.

Just like me, Cassie thought, without rancour.

The worms liked milk-fed flesh, and took a lot of blood from Maryanne and Tania so that the young ones could grow quickly.

Maryanne and Tania needed a lot of calories, and fed from Margaret, and Eileen, and also from the other infected women who regularly came to visit.

Cassie was lactating, too, and always enjoyed the feeling of intimacy when she fed the hosts. It was a pure pleasure, feeling the suckling, knowing that one's body was providing enjoyable sustenance to such a beautiful, gentle woman, and all of the masters she carried within herself.

The hosts came to the dinner table, but did not eat.

All were obviously very happy, and talked of the many women who had visited them in the past before being cured and sent home.

The worms shared the minds of the infected women with the hosts, and everyone present had become a student of human nature in one way or another.

After dinner, Cassie joined the hosts and the milk on their bed, and enjoyed a torrent of pleasure as the worm on her neck communicated with the others.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 11



Chapter 11 – Joan

On the Monday two weeks after she had entered the hospital, Cassie woke up in the hosts' room to a feeling of sadness.

She knew her mistress would leave her soon.

Goodbye, Cassie. Your tasks here are complete. It is my time to leave you.

Go to visit Lucille. She will set you aright. You will be fine without me.

The worm slid around her neck, like a warm, moist, stole, and held Cassie close, as if in a comforting embrace.

Then it stiffened, and Cassie felt its flesh ripple, and a rushing sensation in her neck.

There was a sticky sensation of detachment, and the worm was no longer part of her.

Maryanne lifted the worm away from Cassie, and it squirmed. She placed it between her legs, and smiled as it returned to her, and with waves of peristalsis it moved inside to rejoin its fellows.

Cassie was no longer infected.

She rubbed her neck. Her skin felt quite numb.

"Cassie, I am sorry that you will have to leave us." Maryanne said. "Your mistress has returned to me. You cannot remain here. Farewell, Cassie."

The constant feeling of euphoria supplied by her worm remained, at least for now, but Cassie could feel the edges of her old emotions begin to return.

Cassie hadn't spoken to Julie in two weeks, and began to feel a sense of loss that had long been denied her.

She really didn't want to rejoin the real world.

The last two weeks had been an adventure, and she must have worked hundreds of hours with the worms. She held a mirror up to their hosts, helping the worms understand the essential discomfort of an existence in which every member of society is isolated by barriers of miscommunication and prejudice, helping the women understand how to rejoin such a society, of returning to petty concerns, and the necessity of giving the appearance of quiet desperation so common in this modern world.

It was nothing like the society of worms.

Cassie had slept better here than she ever had in her life before, and did not feel tired.

She had a shower, and feeling was returning to the skin on her neck. It took several soapings to remove all trace of her beloved mistress from her skin, and made Cassie feel quite the betrayer.

She dried herself, and changed into her old clothes, and suppressed the urge to weep. She was not feeling sad, not really, but the return of all of her old, mundane, emotions was a shock to her.

She still had her pass-card. She kissed the women goodbye, and left the secure area with regret.

It was only a short walk to Doctor Kelly's office on the same floor, where she was greeted with kindness.

"Cassie, you've been working very hard recently. I know that Eve doesn't want you to talk about your work with anyone, but have you been making progress?"

Cassie nodded her head.

"Yes, Doctor, I've been getting some wonderful results. I really do think I've been able to help your patients, and helped the worms understand their situation better.

"I hope I haven't been any trouble to you, being here all the time, but the clinic is a good working environment for me right now."

Doctor Kelly patted Cassie's hand.

"Oh, no, dear." Doctor Kelly said. "You're no trouble. I'm so glad that you've made yourself at home here. It's nice that we can help out Eve with her work, and you've been very helpful in keeping the hosts happy. I hope you realise how much they like you.

"Cassie, I know that you have a very special friend, Julie Smith. I know that she is working with Eve as well, but I've never met her. Do you have a picture of her with you?"

Cassie pulled a passport-sized photo of Julie from her purse. It was a few years old now, and it showed her with her brand new Nana-Mouskouri-esque glasses. It was the Julie that she'd come to love, in a previous life.

"Thanks, Cassie. She looks like a card. I hope to meet her soon.

"I don't want to pry too much into your private life, but you and Julie seem to have had some kind of falling out. You haven't contacted each other since you came here, have you?"

Cassie shook her head.

"Please," Doctor Kelly continued, "Please tell me what is going on between you. I don't want you to see this intrusion as anything else but a friendly enquiry. I know that you're both professional enough that this won't impact on your work, but you both seemed so happy together."

Doctor Kelly said this with such kindness that Cassie didn't quite interpret it as a veiled warning.

Cassie felt that she could open herself up to Doctor Kelly, that the Doctor really did want to help her, and started talking.

"Doctor Kelly, this is difficult for me to say.

"You must know that I am a Lesbian, and that I like Julie, very much. The whole uni must know how I feel about her, we've been together for such a long time.

"But I don't think I'm the right person for Julie, not long-term, anyway. I think that right now she needs some time alone, to find out what she really wants, and I fear that what she wants is not me.

"Maybe I've been a bit too clingy. Maybe Julie's not comfortable with her sexuality. Anyway, I think it's over now. I don't think I should keep living with her, but I think we'll be okay as colleagues.

"Eve's been weird. She's been really mean to us both, I know that, but I think she likes to see us as a couple. She's always playing favourites, and I don't think that's healthy."

Doctor Kelly frowned in thought.

"Cassie, I don't think that Eve and I are so very different. She knows what she is doing, and I think I know what she is doing, too. She has been trying to make your relationship with Julie stronger, to make the two of you unite in a bloc against her, to want to fight her, not just to please her.

"From what I understand, your work with Eve is by its very nature quite confrontational. Eve wants to set you to apart, she wants you to defy her. She wants you to unite against her.

"Your relationship with Julie has been very difficult, and, up until now, I think very unfair. But I am absolutely sure when I tell you that you must not let Julie get away. She's a great catch, and she'll come around, I know she will."

Cassie disagreed.

"You're very kind," she said, "but I don't think so. I really don't."

Doctor Kelly stood up, and walked around her desk.

She stood next to Cassie, and put Julie's photograph right in front of her.

"I'm not just mouthing platitudes. Please, Cassie, stand up, you need to be held."

Cassie stood, and let Doctor Kelly wrap Cassie up in her arms from behind, and hold her softly.

The doctor began to talk close, and quiet, into Cassie's ear.

"Julie is at a difficult point in her life, but she will come around. I can state that as a fact. She will come around, Cassie, and you shall have her.

"Look at her, Cassie, look at her."

Cassie gazed at the photograph of the woman she had known for years, still the object of her affection.

"If you can be strong, and do everything that your heart will tell you to do, then Julie will be yours.

"I don't know how to state it any more plainly than that, Cassie.

"You go home now, and do your best to get your life back together again. Both of your lives."

Doctor Kelly was an imposing woman, but Cassie didn't understand how she could be so certain about Cassie's personal life.

But the way the Doctor stroked her face did feel nice, and she began to feel a little sleepy.

"Be kind, Cassie. I know that of the two of you, it will be hardest for you, but Julie needs a friend, and she needs to be shown what is important. You are the only one that can do that for her. Please, Cassie, go home now, and repair your relationship with Julie.

"She knows that you've been working hard at the hospital. I'll ring Julie now, and tell her that you'll be coming home today. I'll tell her to look after you, as I know you still feel a little emotionally delicate, and I won't mention our little conversation."

Still looking at the photograph of Julie, Cassie felt a new wave of love and arousal flow over her.

Cassie felt like she was a little girl, having all her problems swept away for her by her mum.

Doctor Kelly's arms held her tighter, and she held her body close, and pressed her cheek against Cassie's.

They both stayed like that for some minutes, and Cassie's mood began to lift.

Cassie thought that she should be feeling irritation about her instincts being over-ridden so comprehensively, but could only feel grateful, and the beginnings of a new hope.

The doctor released her, and held Cassie's arm.

"Have an early-mark, Cassie. Take a few days off. Eve won't mind."

***

After Doctor Kelly's phone call, Julie made an special effort to make dinner. Two weeks apart had reduced the hurt, and she was actually looking forward to seeing Cassie again.

Cassie arrived home early in the afternoon, and Julie kissed her on the cheek. It was a bit awkward, but they were both pleased to see each other again.

After a few glasses of wine, a good meal, and giving the neglected kitchen a proper tidy, they decided to go out to the new Uni bar, to have the outing that they had planned for themselves two weeks ago.

The new bar was on the fifth floor, above the student apartments. It was busy, and full of undergraduates, but there was a lot of energy, and it was fun.

They hadn't seen a band together for such a long time.

It didn't take long for them to get quite drunk, and silly, and they were soon making fools of themselves.

They jumped up and down, and shouted into the loudness without being heard, and swung each other around, and hugged. The apple cider was beginning to get to Julie, and she held on to Cassie for dear life, holding her close, knowing that she had stopped drinking not a moment too soon.

It felt nice.

Cassie thought that if she could just stay this close to Julie, that would be close enough.

Cassie was in the ladies' when she was accosted by Joan, one of her old friends from the Food Co-op days, and she looked as bleary-eyed as Cassie.

"Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. How are you? Long time no see."

"Brilliant, Joan, never been better," Cassie slurred.

"I've got a little something for you, girl," Joan said, "something good. Come with me."

Joan took Cassie by the hand, and they both staggered out of the bathroom and headed up the stairs behind the stage.

There was a small landing at the top, and the Landers twins were minding the door. They seemed to know Joan well, and waved them both through as they opened the door. One of them goosed Cassie good-naturedly as she walked past, and Cassie swatted at her hand, laughing at her.

They entered the room from the rear.

The door was closed behind them.

The room was long, and narrow, and dark.

It seemed like like some kind of chill-out room.

There was a row of armchairs in front of them, all set up to look through the polymer glass window that ran the length of the room. They were on the sixth floor here, with a view out at the campus and Sullivan's creek, and towards Cassie's apartment building, and, further out, Lennox Hospital.

The lights above the polymer glass had been set to enhance the view of the night.

Joan stared out the window, and appeared to zone out.

Cassie could see why. The view was strange, and beautiful.

The bushland and creek between the bar and the apartment building looked as if it were lit up by a floodlight, full of colour, yet there were no obvious shadows. It was strange to see it so bright, but also so quiet, with nobody around.

Cassie's apartment building stood like a black monolith, the reflection of the Uni bar visible on the optically smooth surface of the glass, but no light emanated from within.

Cassie imagined Eve on the top floor, walking around in her penthouse, admiring the empire she had created inside the university, mistress of all she surveyed. 

The moon was very bright, and what little light there was in that dark room came from its ethereal blueness.

The rest of the sky was beautiful.

Parts were as black as pitch, and the many stars shone like bright pinpricks. A swathe of the Milky Way cut across the sky, and there was a hint of colour, and Cassie thought she might be able to see the colourful cloud of some nebulae.

Joan took Cassie's arm, and walked her towards the front of the room.

Some of the armchairs were occupied.

There were people in the room, staring out of the window at the beauty of the campus, slumped down, legs spread, with contented, dumb smiles on their faces.

At the end of the room, in the last chair, in the shadowy darkness, Cassie realised was a couple.

One member was sitting forward in an armchair, and the other was kneeling in front of them.

The one in the chair was a woman. Cassie couldn't see much of the one between her legs, but as they had long, dark hair, Cassie assumed that she was female.

The kneeling one's head was buried between the legs of her seated companion, whose hands held her head as kneeler gently bobbed and suckled.

The seated one was being eaten out.

She had the same expression on her face of slack-jawed, dumb, contentment as all of the others as she looked out at the view of the campus.

There was no progression of excitement, there were no moans of ecstasy, the suckling and bobbing just continued, almost mechanically, as if the couple had been seated there for quite some time.

Unless Cassie had looked directly at them, she would not have noticed. The act was raw and very much present, with a woman being licked and sucked in plain view, but quiet, and private, all at the same time.

Joan pulled herself away from the view, and took something out of her pocket to show to Cassie.

It was a tiny little jar.

Cassie recognised the inky black contents immediately.

Joan began her sales pitch, quietly, so as not to disturb the occupants.

"Hey, Cassie, here's something for Julie. This'll get that frigid bitch into bed with you. This will make her feel so, so, good, Cassie, and she'll jump your bones. It's worked for me, I can tell you, I've made some real good friends with this."

Cassie suddenly felt very sober, and made Joan look at her.

"Where'd you get that, Joan? I've tried it, it's good, but I don't know how to get more."

"I'll sell it to you, Cassie," Joan said. "Ten bucks a pop, and it's worth every cent. I can get more, a lot more. Forget ecstasy and dope, Cassie, if you want a night in with your girlfriend, this is so much better.

"All the people here are on it, Cassie, and one of them is sharing their night with someone special, as you can see.

"It gets better, every time you use it, I can promise you that."

Joan enfolded Cassie in her arms, and held her close.

Cassie could feel Joan's arousal, and desire began to rise within herself.

Joan whispered in her ear, drunk, but warm, and soft, and tempting.

"We've all tried it, Cassie, it's good stuff, real good stuff. Try it here if you like, I'll hold you. I'll hold you, and I'll kiss you, and I'll lick you. It's sweet, Cassie, it's real sweet. I'll keep you on the edge for ages, it'll blow your mind. It'll be nice, Cassie, having a play together, just like old times."

Cassie felt the strangest sensation. She remembered that day in the office, with Eve, the day that everything had really started, the day that she wanted to kiss Eve, and she realised that Eve could wrap Cassie around her little finger. It was a sense of deja vu, as if Joan's drunken sales pitch mirrored Eve's warning.

Cassie had goosebumps. The very thing that Eve had predicted in that office, at the beginning, had come to pass. She had given herself to the worms, and now Joan was offering her more.

"No ... no Joan. I don't think so, no ..."

Cassie might well have been tempted a few weeks ago, but things were a bit different now.

Joan tried a new tack.

"Or go down and get Julie. This stuff will get Julie ready to go. She'll be yours, guaranteed. Have her right here, Cassie, make her yours."

Cassie disentangled herself.

"I can't, Joan. Julie and I are only just getting back together again. Maybe another time."

At that moment, Cassie felt someone grab her from behind, and give her a kiss on the back of the neck.

It was Julie.

"Hi, Julie," said Joan, looking startled, "How'd you get in here? I didn't think they'd let you in here ..."

Julie ignored her.

She'd decided that she didn't like Joan very much.

Joan shook her head, knowing that she had lost the sale.

"Well, see you, Cassie, see you, Julie."

Joan headed over to an empty armchair to join the other occupants of the room. She slumped down, staring at the view, and Julie and Cassie looked on as her head leant backwards, her eyes lidded in contentment, and her mouth opened in a dumb smile.

***

When Julie had seen seen Cassie go off with Joan, she had felt a stab of jealousy, black, darkest, deepest jealousy, for the first time in her life.

Julie had been with Cassie had almost every day for years, and Julie had grown quite accustomed to her.

But it was only two weeks now since Julie had seen the intensity of Cassie's love, and it had scared her. 

She had thought then that she couldn't live up to those kind of expectations.

But it had been two weeks without Cassie.

She was starting to think that maybe she couldn't live without Cassie after all.

Perhaps she really did need her.

Maybe she really was in love.

She really did want to stay with her.

Forever.

After the way Julie had treated Cassie two weeks ago, maybe she'd lost her.

When Cassie had first moved in with Julie, Cassie had given up on all of her old girlfriends. But now, maybe she was enjoying her freedom, hooking up with old friends.

Julie couldn't bear that thought. Losing Cassie now, after all this time, would be devastating.

She found a tear leaking down her cheek.

She roamed around the bar area, but couldn't work out where Cassie had gone. She poked around behind the stage, and found the darkened stairs, and gave them a try.

At the top of the stairs, she found the Landers twins, turning away a pair of giggling first-years.

She remembered Cassie telling her about the twins. They helped run the bar now, and lived in an apartment upstairs, on the top floor, and had a little club up there too.

Julie didn't think she'd have any hope getting past the twins, as she was probably close to the un-coolest person in existence, but she had to find Cassie.

"Sophie, Jessica, can you let me in? I'm trying to find Cassie. Have you seen her?"

To Julie's surprise, Sophie leant forward, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Go in and find your girlfriend, Julie," she said, whispering in her ear, "You'll find her inside."

Jessica wrapped her arms around them both.

"Hey, Julie. You and Cassie make a great couple. Make sure you invite us to the wedding!"

They had remembered her name? It had been years, Julie thought.

The twins opened the door to her, and let her in, closing it behind her.

When she saw Cassie, she felt a burst of relief.

That evil bitch Joan was there with her arms around her, but it was clear that Cassie was attempting to extricate herself.

Julie felt a surge of relief, and pleasure, and gave Cassie a hug from behind, and kissed her on the neck.

Joan mumbled something, shifted away, and slumped down on a vacant chair.

Julie and Cassie held each other then, and Julie marvelled at the bright, night, view of the campus for the first time.

"Cassie, it's beautiful."

Cassie put her arm around Julie's waist and stood beside her to admire the view.

"Let's stay here for a while," Cassie said.

They each took a seat in one of the armchairs, and stared into the night.

Cassie looked at the apartments, at the top floor, and she knew that Eve was inside, standing before her window, looking out at them.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 11



Julie began to feel the oddest sensation.

It was as if Eve was standing somewhere in the room, in silence, gazing at her, evaluating her.

Julie looked around, several times, yet could not see her.

She saw the couple at the end.

That just wasn't right.

***

As Cassie stared, she knew that Eve was in her apartment.

She was surprised to see a beam of light emerge from Eve's window, and the interior of her apartment was revealed, becoming visible, every detail of the room revealed to the night.

Eve was across the landscape, but in the room with Cassie. Or was Cassie in the room with her.

Her vision was playing up.

Eve was standing, in front of the window, with her arms out-stretched towards Cassie.

She was wearing a black, flowing, dress. She had pale make-up on her face, and the reddest lipstick, and her hair was different, she had a severe bob.

She was immaculate.

She looked like a druidic priestess.

Cassie realised then that her depth perception was all wrong, that her perspective was shifting, as Eve's window began to fill her vision, and the night sky and campus were pushed out of view.

Eve was standing only feet in front of her, and her gaze was focused all on Cassie.

Eve looked pleased to see her, but also, Cassie thought, she looked hungry.

She was looking at Cassie with open hunger.

Eve did not speak, but Cassie hear her voice within her mind.

Cassie. Welcome. Stay with me awhile.

Stay with me, and I will show you the way.

Stay with me, and I will show how you can join me.

Give yourself freely, and I shall gift you my soul.

Let me stay with you

Let me become with you.

But first, let me show you.

Eve seemed to wait then, for a sign, and Cassie nodded.

Eve reached up her hands, and touched Cassie's temples.

Her fingers were warm.

A feeling of euphoria began to creep into Cassie from that touch, to settle upon her mind, and invigorate her limbs with joy, and happiness, and pleasure.

Cassie realised that this sensation was Eve's own state of mind.

Eve was joyful, and was sharing herself with Cassie.

Cassie felt herself begin to enter Eve's mind, and to share Eve's thoughts.

Eve loved her, and wanted her, and was so very proud of her.

Cassie felt an expansion of vision, a lifting of all of life's burdens, as if a curtain was opening in her mind, to reveal a huge expanse of space, to reveal the universe open before her.

Along with the expansion of her consciousness, she felt the beginning of a strange new pleasure creeping over her body. It wasn't sexual. It was better. It was spiritual. It was Eve, caressing her very soul, drawing it out, wanting to share it with Cassie.

Give yourself to me, Cassie,give yourself, and my pleasure will be your pleasure. I will live inside you, Cassie. We shall be of one mind. We shall be of one flesh. The universe will be ours ...

Eve leant down towards Cassie, and her lips were soft, and red, and luscious.

Oh, Cassie wanted to kiss those lips.

She wanted to lose herself in Eve's eyes.

Eve kissed Cassie then, on her neck, and she shifted her head, slowly, kissing Cassie's neck in a line of pleasure, each kiss drawing Cassie's passion closer to the surface.

But Cassie pulled back.

Julie! She couldn't leave Julie like this!

Eve looked disappointed.

Cassie's vision of Eve began to shimmer, and she felt her body being jerked around, as if she were a doll, held by a playful puppy.

"Cassie! Cassie! Wake up!"

The jerking became a shaking, and a wave of vertigo overcame her, and she felt that she wanted to be sick.

The vision of Eve had receded, but the tingling in her flesh where those kisses had alighted took longer, and Cassie realised that she was trapped in a bubble of total silence.

It took several minutes for Cassie to pull herself together, and, gradually, she realised that she was still in the little room above the bar.

Julie was in front of her, shaking her,

"Cassie, I don't want to stay here. It creeps me out. Come on, Cassie, let's get out of here."

Julie looked confused, and teary, and was obviously still very drunk.

"I want to go home now, Cassie. Please, take me home, Cassie, please, can you take me home?"

Cassie shook her head to clear her thoughts. That strange pleasure was almost gone from her mind.

She put her arms around Julie, and held her, as if for dear life, until the feeling of nausea passed.

She felt stone-cold sober now, but her head ached.

Julie wouldn't make it back home without her help.

They somehow managed to stand up together, and carefully picked their way downstairs and out of the bar.

They had to brave the campus possums as they walked across the uni, holding hands, in silence. 

The campus looked very dark after having seen it, as if lit up, from that strange room.

Julie liked having Cassie's warmth next to her, and held her close. She didn't know what had been happening in the twin's room, but it had scared her.

As they walked into the door of their apartment, Julie put her arms around Cassie from behind.

"Cassie, I've missed you. I'm sorry I've been such a bitch. I really missed you."

Cassie liked having Julie so close, and let herself be held for the longest time.

"Julie, it's all right pet. I'm glad you've had time to think."

Cassie turned around.

"I'm sorry I came onto you so strong two weeks ago," Cassie said, "it was crazy, I was crazy, but I won't do it again. I'm okay with being friends, just like before."

Julie shook her head.

"No, Cassie. Please, it was great. It was the most amazing experience of my life.

"I didn't realise how you really felt about me. It was a shock, that's all, but I'm fine with it. I like it. I'm glad you finally showed me how you felt, how it could be between us.

"Kiss me, Cassie. Kiss me. We can start all over again."

Julie held on tight, but Cassie demurred.

"Shhhhh. No, Julie, no, you're drunk. Let's not spoil the evening."

Julie nodded, but drew Cassie in, and they hugged again.

Julie felt a spark of pleasure in her centre, of desire, and leaned into it.

She felt like she wanted to hold onto Cassie for the rest of her life.

Again, Cassie moved away from her.

"Come on, Jules, we should get some sleep. Maybe we can do that shopping in the morning, get rid of all of the crap furniture we've accumulated. It'll be fun.

"Goodnight, Julie."

"'Night, Cassie," said Julie, a little reluctantly.

They went into their separate rooms.

Julie slunk into Cassie's bathroom as Cassie was cleaning her teeth. Cassie was in a blue striped nightshirt, and Julie was in her pink nightie. She'd never been into Cassie's bathroom before, but tonight she just couldn't keep herself away.

"Cassie, please." Julie said. "I really missed you while you were away. I just want to hold you now. Let's just hold each other and go to sleep. It'll be like a sleepover. Nothing stupid that anyone will regret in the morning."

Cassie rinsed out her mouth and gargled, but she had a growing feeling of excitement.

"Just let me hold you," said Julie, "that's all."

Cassie relented, and Julie took Cassie's hand again as they walked over to Cassie's bed.

"In you go," Julie said.

Cassie pulled up the doona, and slipped into the icy bedclothes.

Julie came in beside her.

"Turn around, Cassie. Just let me hold you."

Cassie turned onto her side, facing away from Julie.

Julie slipped her hands under Cassie's nightshirt, and lay her body along Cassie's back.

Julie felt comfortable, but also a growing swirl of emotion.

For the first time in her life, she was falling in love, and she was in her new favouritest place in the whole wide world.

"I think I love, you Cassie," Julie whispered, and kissed Cassie on the neck.

Cassie replied, talking softly, and carefully,

"I love you too, Julie. I've always loved you. I've loved you ever since I met you, and I will always love you. I've been waiting so long for you to come around. I'm so glad I picked you, Julie, so glad. I'll love you forever, I promise."

"Come on, Cassie, turn around," Julie said.

Cassie rolled over, and Julie kissed her.

It was soft, and squishy, just like the first time they'd tried it.

But soft, and squishy, and, this time, imbued with love.

It was magical. Julie was mystified that she was finally able to do this, and able to enjoy it so much, and to give Cassie so much obvious pleasure. It was as if they had been doing this for years, it was the most natural thing in the world.

It was beautiful.

Julie wanted more, but Cassie whispered,

"That's enough now, Julie. We've had a big night. We've still got the rest of our lives to try the rest."

Cassie leaned out of the bed to switch off her light, and Julie again enfolded her in her arms as Cassie leaned back.

Julie shifted once, and put her bare legs in between Cassie's.

That was it, they were as close to each other as they could possibly get.

Julie felt as if they were joined, as if they were one flesh, and couldn't be happier, although the pulsing at her centre reminded her that there was more to explore.

Cassie had won the true love of her life, and Julie had found her one and only true love.

It had been a good night.

It would be a good life, too.

They both drifted off to sleep.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 12



Chapter 12 – Corruption

Cassie and Julie had never felt more together.

They talked about everything now, and the reserve which had always separated them was gone.

Living was a joy, and every day they felt closer, and Julie knew that she would soon let Cassie know of the commitment she had already made in her heart.

But there was no hurry, she was enjoying this gentle time, the sunset of her life as a free woman.

Cassie and Julie were enjoying a weekend morning in their apartment, each quiet in themselves, the spring sunshine warming the cold air, both waiting for the coffee to make them ready for the day.

Julie was reading the local paper, The Canberra Times, not a bad rag in a town dominated by Federal politics. It contained a feature article about Lennox Hospital. Julie still hadn't made it there, but she'd learned some of the details of their exotic treatment methods from Cassie.

Enough to know that most of the article was a concoction.

The article did get some things correct, however. The new "therapy" was apparently very, very effective.

Doctors were referring women to Lennox for many different conditions now. Intractable infections, spinal cord defects, and even cerebral palsy, had all been treated with positive effects. The article glossed over some details, such as how radiotherapy treatment could help with such diseases, but filled in the gaps with talk of a new, wonder drug from Johns Hopkins which supplemented the treatment. The article was upbeat in tone, but did not actually spell out the facts as Julie knew them: cancer cure rates were 100%, genetic abnormalities were corrected completely, congenital deformities were made to disappear, and quadriplegics had regained the ability to walk.

Julie imagined that there would be a riot if everyone who could possibly benefit from the new treatment were to try getting into the clinic at the same time.

The official opening had happened more than a month after the de-facto opening, and there was a photograph in the article of the Governor General cutting a ribbon adorning the automatic doors, accompanied by the Health Minister, John Landers; the Minister for Defence; the Prime Minister; the Vice-Chancellor of the University; and the Chief Minister of the ACT Government.

John Landers stuck out like a sore thumb, as he was the only male present.

There had been an official tour of the facilities, and Julie thought that the members of the opening party would have enjoyed themselves far more had it been conducted before Gabby had produced the deactivated venom. The images that this engendered, of a group of politicians under the influence of the raw venom, made Julie smile.

As it was, Julie was surprised that Eve and Doctor Kelly had allowed such a powerful group of people in to see the facilities. Trusting the worms did require a large leap of faith, whatever the security arrangements, and Julie imagined that the sight of the infected women would be somewhat confronting.

She supposed that the women, and the worms, would have been on their best behaviour that day.

There was talk of opening a men's clinic in Sydney before the end of the year, and Anjolie had said that when she returned to India she was planning on starting one, too.

Julie had been a good girl for Eve, and had not told a soul outside Eve's purview about the worms.

***

Julie's work at university was progressing very well.

Given a Taubett scan, her program could now distinguish with ease between infected women, cured women, and normal women, and her visualisations made the differences readily apparent to the eye.

The detail in the scans was amazing, and Julie spent hours just gazing at them, playing with the images, marvelling at how fascinating every human body was, and how different they all were from each other.

In the full-body scans Cassie had brought from the hospital, nothing was hidden.

The images of the infected women were beautiful, with the worms themselves glowing brightly wherever they were attached, and a fine, silver filigree of nerve fibres striking through flesh to meet with the spinal cord, or the brain stem.

It had been hard to distinguish between the cured women and the normal women, but Julie's new software brought out the residual channels in stark detail, and she had displayed the detected worm-trails brightly, to make them look like the infected women.

Beautiful.

She showed Cassie the images, and both were spell-bound as they examined the glowing image of each and every woman.

They were only half-way through when Cassie made Julie stop.

"Hey, Jules. I recognise that one. That looks like Anita. I'd recognise that navel piercing anywhere."

Julie read out the meta-data from the scan

The height and weight looked about right.

She used another program to display an isosurface of the woman's face, and Anita's visage appeared. She looked like a statue, all white, and still, her face in an expression of perfect repose.

Anita had scanned clean, of course, with no evidence of any worm infection.

"I guess it makes sense," said Cassie. "All the guys were at the hospital at the start of the project and would want to try out the machine. This is fun. We can see who else has piercings!"

Julie had to test her software with all of the data anyway, so they started again, and spent some time working through every image in the set.

There were about a hundred images of clean women.

Most of them they didn't recognise, but by lunchtime they had found five they did.

Anita the manager, Jane the nurse, and three of the programmers from Physical Sciences.

One of the files seemed corrupted and crashed her software, so Julie made a copy of it on her memory stick. She'd made a collection at home of all the images which had triggered various bugs as regression tests, so she'd have some data to work with at home.

Julie knew that removing confidential data from the premises would be breaking the rules, and probably the law, but she also knew that Cassie didn't care, and she didn't think that Eve would mind very much.

Julie hated the idea of a bug in her own code, so she started looking for it immediately. Cassie was used to Julie's lapses in personal communication, and turned away and started chatting with her on-line friends.

The bug didn't take long to track down, and didn't take long to fix. It was just an arithmetic exception triggered by the zeroes in the corrupted file.

Julie tried processing the bad image again.

It was Gabby. They saw her in all of her naked glory, the star piercing in her nose identifying her at once, and the rest of her body looking pale and ghostly.

Julie was surprised.

"Cassie, that's impossible." Julie said.

"That file was nearly all zeroes. We can't be seeing this."

Julie looked again at the bad file.

It showed a time and date from only a few seconds ago, and the user-name was Stefan.

Julie checked all the files in that directory. All the files in that directory were owned by her, and all had a date from last week. All the files.

Including Gabby's.

And the user-name on all the files was julie.

Including Gabby's.

Julie made a fist, and bashed the desk with her little hand.

"Stefan's just replaced the fucking file on us. He's deleted the bad file and replaced it with a good one. What the fuck does he think he's doing?"

Cassie smiled at seeing angry Julie. She had never seen her use her fist like this before, and Cassie was amused by the ineffectiveness of that useless little gesture.

That was one thing that Cassie loved about Julie. She really did take all of this very seriously.

Julie put her memory stick back in to the computer, and copied the new file next to the corrupted one.

She worked fast, and pulled her memory stick out of the computer as soon as the copy was finished.

There was no way that she was going to let anything happen to this data!

Julie reached for the phone. She was going to ring Stefan to find out what was going on, but, just as she reached for the handset, the phone rang.

The display told her it was Stefan.

She rolled her eyes at Cassie, and Cassie nodded. She knew who was ringing.

Julie waited for one more ring, composing herself, and then picked up.

She talked, sweetly.

"Oh, hello Stefan. Yes, we received all of the data. Thanks very much. Yes, Cassie's with me."

Cassie was impressed by how smoothly Julie morphed from bitch-supremo Julie to amenable Julie, but guessed that there might be good reasons to keep Stefan in the dark.

Cassie got up to leave the desk, but Julie made a "don't go away!" signal, waving at at her, imploring her to sit down.

"Yes, Stefan," said Julie, "I did see that one of the files was corrupted ... No, we didn't see anything. I think it was all zero bytes or something, and it crashed my program ... I didn't take a copy of it. I'd like to fix the bug, though, do you still have the corrupted copy? ... Oh, you've deleted them all. So that problem can't possibly happen again? ... You've added checksums to the controller? So there's no need for me to worry my pretty little head about it then? Well, thank you, Stefan, thanks for letting me know. However, I'd appreciate it if you didn't go poking around in my home directory in future. That's against information security policy, you know that. ... Great, thanks, so you'll let me know in future. 'Bye!"

Julie put the phone down softly, turned to Cassie, and made a very nasty face.

"That little shit just replaced the corrupted file on me."

Julie heard her local disk start to chatter, and then Cassie's hard drive on the opposite side of the room.

She quickly turned back to the keyboard, and checked the processes running on her machine.

Stefan was up the top, his find process searching for copies of the Gabby file.

"That arsehole doesn't trust me," Julie said.

"He's searching for other copies of the file.

"It's lucky I made a copy on my memory stick. He's making damn sure that the corrupted data file no longer exists anywhere on the network.

"I'd like to see what's actually in that file.

"I think we should go home and take a look at poor, corrupted little Gabby."

Cassie was intrigued.

They took an early-mark.

***

At home in their apartment, Cassie and Julie sat down in front of Julie's impressive laptop. She plugged in the memory stick, and loaded up the infamous data file, and the bug-fix for Julie's program to detect old worm trails.

It only took a few seconds to recompile.

"Moment of truth," Julie said, dramatically.

The screen began to fill up with a block of data showing the now-familiar view of Gabby's head, and the star piercing in her nose was clearly visible.

Julie took hold of Cassie's hand.

There was a missing block of data at her neck, and another block of data at her shoulder.

Her shoulder was full of worm trails.

She wasn't infected now, but she had been infected, and the worm had been sitting on her neck.

Julie switched over to the newer image, which Stefan had placed on her computer to replace the corrupted image of Gabby.

This was the full image of Gabby they had seen at Biological Sciences.

In this one she was clear. There were no worm trails.

Julie switched views between the two images quickly, and it soon became obvious that, other than the worm trails, both images were identical.

"Stefan has been a busy boy," Julie said, "I'll have to take back some of the nasty things I've said about his programming skills.

"I think he's been doctoring the Taubett images."

***

It took Julie another week to work out what had happened to the image of Gabby.

She could only do the work from home, as she didn't want Stefan virtually peering over her virtual shoulder.

She had found evidence of doctoring, and had written another program to detect and display this evidence.

She showed Cassie her results.

First she displayed Gabby's clean image, the one that Stefan had used to replace the corrupted version.

Then Julie flipped to a second image she had processed with her new algorithms.

In this image, the doctoring was clearly evident.

The worm trails could be seen now, but many were broken, and it seemed that many were missing. The trails seemed to reach into Gabby's spinal chord, even into her brain stem, as if her infection had been more extensive than any they had seen before.

"Cassie, someone's cheating. I've looked at the differences between Gabby's infected image, and her clean image. I thought at first that the evidence of infection was added, although if it were a simulation, it looked way better than I would have thought possible.

"But Cassie, Gabby has definitely been infected. Her image has been doctored to look clean. The worm trails have been removed. Whoever did it seems to have used my code to detect the old worm trails, and filled them in to make them invisible. They only used simple in-filling, which produces a very smooth interpolation, so I was able to detect the alteration by using a local noise measure.

"Gabby is full of worm trails, Cassie. Someone has altered her scan to hide the trails.

"Remember when she was working at the hospital? I know she was working hard, but we didn't see her at all for the whole time, and she was incommunicado for most of that first week."

Julie presented more images.

Anita, Jane, and the other Physical Sciences programmers.

All showed worm trails which had been hidden by infilling, with the trails reaching an apex at the back of the neck, and trails reaching down the spine and up into the brain stem.

"All the women who worked at that hospital were infected," Cassie said. "Who knows, maybe they got the boys as well. I wonder if Stefan was infected, too?

"But look at this, Cassie, it looks like every image has been doctored."

Julie moved from the so-called "clean" women to one of the "cured" women.

For some time now, Julie had been able to show worm trails in the cured women with ease.

But she had run her infilling detector on these images, too.

She flipped between a first image of one of the cured women, with the usual trails visible, and a second image, processed to detect infilling.

"Can you see it?" Julie asked.

It took a few more goes before Cassie spotted it.

"There's something in her spine. And her brain stem," Cassie said.

"Yeah, that's right. They've removed the trails from her spine in the images, Cassie. But we know that the worms infiltrate the spinal chord. Why have these images been doctored? Why hide the trails in the spine?"

Julie then turned to Cassie.

"How about you?" Julie asked with unsubtle directness. "You've worked at that hospital. Did they get you, too?"

Cassie blushed, and dissembled.

"Jules, you know you're the only one for me."

Julie still looked doubtful, and said,

"They did, didn't they?"

Finally, Cassie nodded,

"Ok, Julie, yes. Yes, they needed help with the surveys, I helped them understand.

"I was feeling down when you left. I wanted to join the infected women, I wanted to give up, I wanted to give it all away.

"Julie, it was great. It was like being on speed for two weeks.

"But now, I feel normal. Well, not normal, but pretty good. Better than normal.

"I don't feel infected, anyway.

"Let's just leave it alone, okay?"

Cassie had been a lot nicer than usual since she got back from Hospital. ...

Was Cassie helping them cheat now?

Cassie clammed up, so Julie dropped it.

Then she had an idea.

"We can get proper images, Cassie. We can see what's really inside these people.

"We can see what's inside you.

"I have the old firmware for the Taubett machine on my memory stick. We can use it in the machine at the hospital."

Cassie felt a chill run up and down her spine.

She hadn't even considered the possibility that some residual control remained inside her, that the worms were influencing her.

But then, she wouldn't, would she? Not if the worms were good at what they were doing ...

"I'll ask Anjolie if we can get some time on the Taubett, okay?" Julie asked.

Cassie considered this for a while.

"It's a good idea, Julie," Cassie said, "a great idea. But I think you should show Eve first, okay? She'll need to know about this. If Stefan's been doctoring the images, she'll want to know.

"She's just upstairs in her apartment. You run upstairs now, and I'll give her a call."

***

Julie soon found herself outside Eve's apartment, holding her large laptop.

She hadn't been back here since that first day.

She knocked, and heard some noises inside, and tried turning the handle.

She should have waited, but she really did want to show Eve.

The door was open.

Julie walked in, only to see Eve emerging from her bedroom in her dressing gown. She caught a brief glimpse inside.

Was that John Landers, the Federal minister, asleep in Eve's bed? In the afternoon?

Julie smiled to herself. If it weren't for Cassie, she would have been completely out of the loop, out of every loop, but now she knew a secret.

Julie was pleased.

Eve knew she was caught, but acted as if nothing untoward had happened.

"Now, Julie, Cassie tells me that you have some exciting new results to show me from your image processing experiments. You girls know that I am always available for you, don't you?"

Julie nodded, still smiling.

"Let's take a look."

Julie sat down next to Eve at her desk, and opened up her computer. She showed Eve the raw Taubett scans of cured, clean and infected women.

"Okay, Julie, so these are the original scans. Yes, I've seen these images before. They're beautiful images, aren't they?"

But Eve was obviously impatient.

"Do you have anything new to show me?"

Julie bit her tongue.

She next showed Eve the processed images of the cured women.

As expected, the old worm trails were now quite evident.

"Julie, that's brilliant," Eve said. "That's exactly what we need. If your software can show cured women so clearly, then I really do think we have something. That's exactly what I've wanted. "

Eve was still looking impatient, but Julie didn't want to spoil the build-up.

"This is one of my favourites."

Julie brought up the clean image of Gabby.

Eve began to sound concerned.

"Julie," Eve said, "I think I know what you're going to show. Yes, it was possibly against policy to include your colleagues in the data sets, but we had good reasons to do so. I hope that we can trust your discretion; we don't want Gabby getting concerned."

"Actually," Julie said, "I have something else to show you."

She switched to the image of Gabby with the infilling detected.

The broken trails which riddled Gabby's body were obvious. They pierced her flesh, ran along her spine, and reached an apex of connections at her neck.

Eve's face crumpled.

"What is this, Julie? How did you get this data?" 

"Someone's been faking the data." Julie said. "Someone's been processing the scans to remove the trails. Gabby has been infected, and yet in the Taubett machine she scans clean."

Julie left out the part about the corrupted data file. Eve didn't need to know about that.

Eve looked thoughtful, but then she surprised Julie.

She stood up from her desk, and came around to her filing cabinet.

"Julie, come around here. Have a look at this, Julie, I have something to show you."

It was a photograph, in a frame, and Eve turned it around to face Julie.

"Come closer, Julie," Eve said, "look closely. It's my sister Lilli."

Julie stood up, and looked at the photograph, up close.

Lilli really was very beautiful. She was small, and dark, and had a mischievous grin on her face. She was dressed as if for the senior prom, looking young, and happy, and full of hope for the future.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 12



Eve moved behind Julie, reached her arms around her, and held her tight.

She talked, softly, into Julie's ear.

"Julie, please, remember why you are doing this work.

"There are thousands of women, like Lilli, who have no future unless we can protect them, unless we can find a way to track them, to keep tabs on them, to allay people's concerns."

Julie was surprised to feel a wave of love overcome her. She gazed at that image of Lilli, and she knew she loved Lilli, that she would do anything for Lilli. At that moment, Julie desired Lilli, and was being held, closely, by Eve, and she felt herself begin to moisten down below.

"Julie, there must be something going on at the hospital, we have to get to the bottom of that. But please, Julie, think of the cured women. Think of them first."

Eve held Julie tighter, and pressed her body firmly against her.

Julie felt trapped, and tried to move out of Eve's grip.

"Shhhh, Julie, shhhh. Just relax, shhhh."

Julie did begin to feel relaxed, and the panic dissipated. She knew something was wrong, that she was being manipulated, but she couldn't muster any emotion. She didn't care if Eve was doing something to her. In fact, if she was, Julie decided that she rather liked it.

Eve guided Julie across the room to Eve's couch, which was large, and soft, and leather. Eve sat down first, and sat Julie down in front of her.

Eve again whispered in Julie's ear.

"Julie, Julie, Julie. Don't worry about Gabby, just let it be. Just finish the job I've asked you to do, and then you can ask Gabby for the truth."

Julie was feeling almost sleepy now, and didn't object as Eve slowly, but surely, put her hands under Julie's jumper, and pulled up her blouse. Eve began to lightly stroke the skin of Julie's tummy, and her ribs, and continued her whispering, her soft accent suddenly sounding sexy, and alive with possibility.

When Eve opened her gown and pushed her bare mound against Julie's back, Julie felt Eve's slippery moisture, and an answering a bolt of pleasure in her own pussy.

Eve's legs snaked around Julie's midriff, and held her close, and squeezed her gently.

Eve pushed up Julie's bra with one hand, and snaked the other down to Julie's dungarees, where Eve's fingers cleverly undid the button and the zip, and reached inside. 

Julie found herself opening her legs to let Eve cup her. She felt passive, and warm, and coddled.

Shouldn't I be panicking? Julie thought, sleepily, Eve is basically raping me

But it's nice ...

"Julie, don't be afraid of the worms. They need us now, Julie, and we need them. They can help us, they can cure our diseases. I know you have had difficulty in your own life, Julie, but they can help you with love, too."

Eve pinched Julie's nipple, and pressed into Julie's pussy, and pressed her own pussy into Julie's lower back. Julie felt Eve's slippery moisture, but also something else, a heat beginning in her lower spine.

The feeling was delicious, and growing.

It began to progress upwards, slowly, and Julie imagined that she was feeling her muscles being disconnected, one by one, from conscious control, in direct correspondence with the feelings of pleasure working their way up her spine.

As the strange feeling reached her neck, Julie felt a hot blush in her cheeks, and a sensation of pins and needles over her face.

It paused, then, and Eve continued to press against Julie, tweaking her nipple, circling in her moistness, and flicking her fingertips around her bulb.

"Nearly there, Julie, nearly there. You're not there yet, but you will be, soon ..."

Eve herself was breathing heavily.

It feels like the venom, Julie thought to herself, slower, but it's the same.

I'm losing control.

Eve gently slid a finger into Julie, and Julie could no longer hold back, and began to pulse around it.

The feelings were intense, and warm, and lovely, and did not diminish.

Eve held Julie there in silent ecstasy for some time, in a perfect position for receiving pleasure, and she talked to her, softly.

"Julie, the world is heading towards a very dark place now. If the powers of evil are not stopped, billions of people will be enslaved to serve the few. These few have sold their souls to worship wealth, and to worship oppression, and to hold ultimate power.

"But the only basis of that power is violence, Julie.

"To challenge the power of your rulers is to invite violence, and death.

"But if that power is not challenged, starvation and slavery will be the result.

"The world is heading towards a new dark age, where the few will grow fat from the suffering of the many.

"The worms offer an alternative to slavery, Julie. If we let the worms help us, than we can build a world of true freedom, where nobody is beholden to the violence of unjust power, where no one person is able to enforce their will without the consent of their fellows, and nobody will be allowed to exploit our lives for their personal gain.

"The worms will travel with us and help us to be the best that we possibly can be, Julie. There is a reason that the infected have always been killed in the past, and it was not to save humanity.

"It is because they threaten the abhorrent architecture of the modern world.

"Please, Julie, you must help us. For the sake of humanity, you must help us shift the balance of power back to the people. A new future of fertility, and plenty, and renewal awaits us all."

The motion of Eve's fingers was slight, but the sensations running from Julie's pussy to her neck were overwhelming. Eve held tight, and touched Julie, lightly, with her delicate fingertips, and gained only the slightest entrance past Julie's labia.

"You're nearly there, Julie. Nearly there ..."

The prickling sensation on her face now spread over Julie's scalp. She shivered, and felt another moment of panic overwhelm her, before a feeling of calm descended and permeated her with well-being.

"Forget Gabby for now, Julie. Don't worry about the worms. The worms are under my control, and we are all quite safe.

"I have taken the memory stick with all of your new work. You don't need it now, Julie, just forget Gabby. Forget, Julie, forget. Let it go ..."

When the orgasm came, Julie felt like it had been building for hours. She shuddered, and felt herself pulse against Eve's fingers. The pleasure did not fade, but only intensified. She felt that her mind was filling with a white emptiness that swept all before it, and she thought she heard hundreds of voices filling her mind as she spun towards unconsciousness.

Eve's earlier words still echoed, and she felt her world view changing, altering, she saw new hope for the world to become a paradise, a paradise for a humanity guided by gentle shepherds, a race of people with the freedom to love each other, and to build, and to prosper without war, without violence.

Julie didn't know how long she was held in that shadowy state, but when she opened her eyes again, she was seated, alone, in Eve's chair.

Eve was dressed now, kneeling in front of her, and she leaned in towards Cassie's face,

Julie had always found Eve's excessive intimacy somewhat intimidating, but now it just seemed natural.

"Go home now, Julie. You're ready now. Hold Cassie, Julie. Hold her tight, and love her, and you will find happiness."

***

Julie still felt wobbly in the legs and couldn't face the stairs, so she took the lift from outside Eve's apartment back down to her own floor.

Cassie smiled at her when she returned, but didn't say anything.

Julie had a shower, and slipped under her covers.

She desperately wanted to have a nap.

She could not say for sure what had happened in Eve's apartment. She thought that it might have involved worm venom, as she still had a terrific afterglow, but she couldn't remember any details.

She slipped into sleep easily.

She was awoken by the clattering of pans in the kitchen.

It was dark now.

Julie, still in her pyjamas and woollen socks, padded out to find Cassie defrosting mince.

It was a low-stress meal for the middle of the week.

Julie pitched in to help, and they chatted, and had a simple meal on the table in half an hour.

After dinner, they cleared up, with Cassie rinsing and Julie placing items in the dishwasher.

Still standing at the sink, Julie reached around Cassie, still holding her rubber gloves, held her tight, and gave Cassie a kiss on the neck.

Cassie lowered her head, and didn't respond. She still feared another rejection, and simply let Julie hold her.

Julie felt it again. A warm glow began to grow at the base of her own spine, and she could feel Cassie press herself backwards against Julie.

Julie just held on, and revelled in the warmth of the feeling as it travelled up her spine, into her neck. Cassie began to breathe heavily, and Julie leaned against her, so they could be supported by the sink, and could stay close.

As the heat reached her neck, she felt that warm, prickling sensation again, and saw Cassie blushing.

She felt it in her head, now, and felt a wave of emotion explode inside herself.

She began to feel Cassie's emotions creep into her own. The flavour of Cassie's personality began to permeate herself, and she really felt Cassie's raw, unconditional love for her for the first time. 

Julie was awed by the granite tor of belief that Cassie had harboured inside herself, ever since the day that they had first met. Julie understood what true love was, then, as Cassie's emotions overwhelmed her own, and for the first time she knew what it was to give yourself to another human being, completely, and utterly.

But she also felt a flame beginning within herself, a slow burn, that she hoped would grow, and grow.

Julie spoke first.

"I love you, Cassie. I'm just a beginner, but I love you."

Cassie reached back with her hands to hold Julie's, turned around in Julie's grasp, and smiled at her, tears in her eyes.

They hugged, and Cassie kissed Julie's mouth, gently, but wetly.

"You can feel it now, Julie, can't you?" asked Cassie. "I can feel you, really feel you. I've wanted to get close to you since we first met.

"Let's go to bed."

They made their way into Julie's room, and undressed carefully, watching each other.

Julie had never before gazed at Cassie's naked form, and found herself admiring her Rubenesque beauty.

Cassie's eyes gazed into her own.

They pulled the doona off the bed, and lay themselves down on the top sheet.

It was cool, but they entangled their legs, and held each other tight.

Julie held Cassie close, and wrapped her arms around Cassie's fabulous bottom.

Cassie lifted up one arm, and twined her fingers into Julie's.

They felt a deep connection, as if they had been lovers for years.

Julie kissed Cassie on the neck, one more time.

They hardly moved, but the feelings of warmth, and comfort, overwhelmed them both, and they were surprised as the pleasure built until the slow, gentle orgasms took them, one at a time, and they held on tighter to each other as they were taken away, again and again.

Their feelings of love overflowing, they began to enjoy the feeling of skin against skin, and soon found themselves in a licking, moaning, pressing, laughing, whispering bundle of pleasure that amazed them both.

Julie finally spread her legs, and let Cassie kiss her down below, and nuzzle her, and lick, and to fill her in that most personal of ways. Julie wondered why she had never let Cassie get so close to her before. It was right, it was ever so right, they were right for each other. They should have done this the day they had met! Even then, Cassie had known that Julie was the one. If only Julie had known! They had so much lost time to make up for.

After Julie sighed her first release under Cassie's tongue, she pulled Cassie up and held her close for a long time, still kissing, and still caressing.

Julie pulled away from the kiss, and smiled at Cassie.

"Your turn now," she whispered.

Moving down, she spread Cassie's legs apart to return the favour.

Cassie was beautiful. Her opening was crinkled, and puffy, and awaiting the pleasure of the consummation of the love she had harboured inside herself for so many years.

Julie felt awkward, and overawed, and at first just rested her head on Cassie's thigh, gazing at her centre in wonderment. Cassie gently stroked her on the head, waiting with infinite patience.

Julie moved closer and licked Cassie, tentatively.

Cassie laid her head back on the pillow, and relaxed, letting Julie drive, as she wished.

Julie licked Cassie, again, and knew that she was giving her lover pleasure.

She soon found a rhythm with her tongue which had Cassie breathing deliciously deeply.

It all seemed to happen too soon. Cassie went quiet, and tensed, and it was a little while before Julie realised what was happening.

She'd given an orgasm to her lover.

Julie was pleased.

A huge sense of relief wash over her.

Maybe she could enjoy life like a normal person.

She wasn't just a bitchy brain in a body.

She was a real person.

She had a lover, and she could please her, and their sensual lives stretched ahead in front of them.

Truly satiated for the first time in their adult lives, they continued to hold each other, and both Cassie and Julie soon fell asleep in a spoon, spending their first night together as lovers.



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 13



Chapter 13 -- Resignation

Eve called a meeting the next morning in the seminar room at Biological Sciences.

All the staff were there, and the students, including Gabby, Stefan, Cassie and Julie, and, from Lennox Hospital, Anjolie, Jane and Doctor Kelly.

Some of the cured women were there too, the Landers twins Sophie and Jessica amongst them, and their father John.

The door was closed, and locked, and the blinds were drawn.

The excitement in the room was palpable.

Everyone knew that Eve would be telling them something momentous, and genuine.

"Good morning, team.

"I am very glad to say that all of you have been making excellent progress on the difficult goals I have set for you all. I know that I am a hard taskmaster, but every single one of you, through your professionalism and hard work, has produced amazing results.

"Today I will be showing you the fruits of the research program."

Eve commenced a presentation showing the work of every person in that room, and it soon became clear that she was abreast of all of the technical issues.

She showed the Taubett scans, and the quality of the raw images, and an architectural diagram of the scanning system and the image management software, and complimented each of the programming staff individually for the quality of their work.

She gave an overview of the FDA's approval process, and described how Stefan's work on secure kernels would provide a great deal of trust in the results from the Taubett scanner, which of course were to be used to verify women that were free of any worm infection.

She showed Julie's visualisations of infected, clean and cured tissue, showing that a previous worm infection could be readily diagnosed in a cured woman, but that there was no evidence of any continuing infection.

Gabby's nose ring appeared, yet again, and Julie looked at Gabby for her reaction. Her body was more than naked in its clean, worm-free detail, but Gabby looked only pleased that her image had been selected, showing no modesty whatsoever.

Julie was secretly pleased to see Gabby's image yet again, as it was this image that had quashed her suspicions that the worms had infected the researchers in their first few weeks at the hospital. She knew now that it was only Cassie who had let the worms infect her.

Cassie caught Julie's eye, and raised an eyebrow in a cynical query.

Can you believe this? She seemed to be saying.

Julie wasn't quite sure of the point that Cassie was trying to make, and shrugged her shoulders in bewilderment. She'd have to ask Cassie later what she had meant.

Eve next showed Anjolie's antibody test for worm proteins, and Anjolie nodded in happiness as Eve described its merits.

Julie was grateful that Anjolie had very much turned around since that night when Julie thought that she'd given the whole game away. Julie and Anjolie had been meeting up for coffee or lunch a couple of times a week now, and Julie felt that they were becoming firm friends. Anjolie was a smart woman, Julie thought, she must have realised the disaster that would have resulted from blowing the whistle.

Eve next held up a small jar of Gabby's deactivated worm venom, and told how it could allow clean people to work together with the infected without any risk of being taken. She also showed a list of the ingredients of the cream, and a table of refractive indices, and described how closely they had to match, and how well Gabby had succeeded.

Refractive indices? Julie thought to herself. Why would Cassie have to match the refractive indices? It would make the processed venom appear uniform,and make it impossible to distinguish the individual constituents. Why would Gabby do that?

Eve next showed a table with the results of Cassie's written and oral tests, which showed a clear distinction between clean women and infected women, and showed no measurable differences between the cured and the clean.

Eve also showed Julie's method for adding a a watermark to the statistics, to make any cheating obvious.

But no cheating had been detected.

These results had been obtained without cheating.

The cured women were not distinguishable from normal women with a personality test.

She thanked the Landers twins for their support of the cured women after treatment. It was difficult for some of them to return to their families, especially for those that had long ago resigned themselves to dying. Picking up the pieces of their lives had been hard.

"The results are excellent, team. Every single person has obtained the result I had hoped for, and Lennox Hospital will be a model example of a new form of treatment which will transform the world. All that remains for us to do is to write up the studies and submit them to journals for publication, and to draft some patents so we can get started in commercialising this work.

"We've already had a great deal of success working in a team environment at the hospital to get the initial Taubett scans ready for processing.

"I suggest that we try this approach again, as some of us have more experience of the publication process than others. If we all work together and help each other, I believe that we can submit eight papers to the appropriate journals in a month.

"The doctors and nurses under Doctor Kelly will be working with you, and will be writing up the results of their clinical trials. Their results, of course, have also been excellent.

"If you all give up your personal lives for just a few weeks, I reckon that we can crack it.

"Are you all agreed?"

Julie found herself nodding, but a part of herself did not know why.

Writing journal papers was extremely boring, she knew that.

But the prospect of spending weeks at the hospital, giving up her personal life for weeks, with only her work colleagues to keep her company, suddenly sounded very attractive.

A vague recollection flitted through her mind; of Gabby, and a body riddled with old worm-trails.

But no, not Gabby. It must have been Cassie.

Flashes of pleasure, and devotion, and control.

She could be that woman, the worms giving her a reason, stronger than life, to exist.

It was hot.

Julie looked around the room. Everyone was trapped in the same fantasy of domination.

***

Walking home, Cassie and Julie held hands.

But they did not talk.

Julie's head was full of image processing algorithms, and LaTeX commands, and lists of journals, and the foibles of the reviewers she would have to get her paper past. Her worm trail detection was a great result, there was no denying, but her work had only just begun.

Cassie's head was full of statistical arguments, the snippets of interesting ideas which would have to mask the essential impossibility of her result. She hoped that Eve and her contacts would be able to shepherd her paper through the "anonymous" peer review process.

They allowed themselves a moment of levity, as they stood naked in Cassie's bathroom, cleaning their teeth in front of the mirror, showing themselves making rabid, frothing toothpaste mouths at each other.

When Cassie attacked Julie's neck, they were quickly covered in smears of toothpaste. They had no choice but to hop in the shower together. They scrubbed each other down with the loofah, which gave some relief to their tired, tense muscles, and they dried and tickled each other with fun and laughter.

But by the time they made it to bed, they were thinking of their papers again.

Cassie wrapped Julie in her arms, and Julie felt contentment descend over her, like a soft, warm blanket.

It was too obvious.

Julie couldn't stand it any more.

They were in love, and happy.

But she still knew that something was wrong.

"Cassie," Julie said, "I'm being manipulated. Somehow, we're being manipulated. How does Eve do it? I feel like my life's not my own any more. What is she doing?"

Cassie turned over to face Julie, and smiled.

"It's okay," Cassie said. "She's okay. We're only busy for a few weeks. It'll be fun."

"How does it feel to be a cured woman, Cassie?" Julie said. "Do you feel different from the way you used to feel?"

"Julie, I couldn't be happier. I've got everything I ever wanted in my life. I think I should feel let down, as there's nothing to chase any more, but I'm only feeling total contentment.

"What I want, and what the worms want, it's not so very different. I just want to live my life in good company, loving, and learning, and helping the world become a nicer place. I don't need to be controlled.

"I like what I do.

"I feel like I'm in love all the time now, I'm loving everyone, I'm loving everything. For the first time in my life, I'm truly happy. I'm sure you've noticed. It's like walking around all day on a cloud of horny pleasure.

"Wouldn't you like that Julie? Wouldn't you like to have pleasure on tap, to be sipped whenever you need it? Getting to concentrate on the good things in life, not the bad, every day a new adventure? It's heaven, Julie, heaven."

Julie was surprised.

Cassie had put her finger on it.

It was like a revelation.

"But Cassie," said Julie, "that's exactly how I do feel.

"Whenever I'm around you, that's exactly how I feel!"

Julie finally felt that she could verbalise what had been bothering her.

"I've never been host-form, but I'm being manipulated, I know it. But how, Cassie? How?

"Maybe you are controlling my emotions, Cassie. I know I love you," Julie said, "I've finally worked out that I've always loved you, I know that now, but that part of my life has only worked properly since you got back from hospital. It's almost like you have fixed me, have helped me express my love for you as it should be expressed. How do I know what's real? How do I know I still have my free will? What about you? Are you still Cassie?"

Cassie looked kindly upon Julie, not offended in the slightest, and shook her head.

"Don't over-analyse it," said Cassie, "just enjoy what we have.

"What is free will, anyway? The universe is not deterministic. There isn't a God, and our actions are not just random. There is no space in between these positions, and no way out of the paradox.

"You just have to think about it in a different way.

"The importance in free will is the knowledge that your decisions matter, that you can make a difference in the world by choosing your actions. If you choose correctly, the world will be a better place. If you choose wrongly, you know that you will hurt people, which can only hurt yourself, and your spirit.

"That's what being an adult is all about.

"None of that has changed, Julie. I'm still alive, I'm still thinking, I'm still making choices. I'm still making a difference. The time I spent in the hospital, being host-form, hasn't really changed any of that.

"It's only made it better. I've been making better decisions, better choices, and I think I'm understanding people better then ever before, and liking them a whole lot more, too.

"If you no longer believe that you have any control over your life, then you are nothing but a slave. Being a slave is something to fear, Julie, but slavery is an invention of Man. The worms don't make slaves, I know that now, they can only liberate one's mind.

"Just imagine if everyone in the world were feeling the same. Everyone loving each other, and wanting to make them happy, and to improve their lives, and happy to be helped.

"It would be a utopia."

Julie realised that the thought of an alien race directing the actions of humanity might once have filled her with terror.

But it didn't now.

It just sounded nice. It sounded right and proper.

It sounded like a solution.

"While I was in the hospital," Cassie said, "my friend Sheyda told me a story.

"During the last big ice age, 11,000 years ago, most of North America was covered in ice. The soil was frozen, and much of the topsoil was scoured away by glaciers.

"It was a terrible time for humans, it was very difficult to survive.

"But it was worse for the earthworms, Julie. In parts of North America, all of the earthworms died during this time.

"When the big thaw came, life returned, as life does, but without the worms. The whole ecology had changed. Without the worms to eat the vegetable matter, and to stir up the soil, plants had to evolve different mechanisms for making soil.

"And Julie, where there are no worms, there are no fruit trees. When the worms died out, so much was lost.

"My mistress was made for me, Julie. Just imagine what the human race would be like, with direction, with guidance, with a long-term view of their existence. Imagine that the infected women are the true humans, Julie, and so-called 'normal' humans are the damaged ones, unable to live a full life."

Cassie again wrapped Julie up in her arms, and spooned herself against Julie's back.

Julie felt protected, and loved, and snuggled her bum backwards against Cassie's tummy.

There were still mysteries to be solved, but they could wait.

"Goodnight, Cassie. Love you." said Julie.

"Love you too," said Cassie.

They both closed their eyes, and immediately fell asleep.

***

Julie and Cassie arrived at the hospital early next morning.

Julie had never been there before, and felt some trepidation.

There were worms inside, and infected women.

Julie didn't feel like dealing with worms right now.

She had a paper to write, and felt a strong compulsion to get started. Although the compulsion was unnaturally overwhelming, Julie usually had so much trouble getting started on new papers that she didn't begrudge her current mood.

Cassie punched the lift for them to go to level two.

They were the last ones to arrive.

Everyone else was sitting in front of their computer, their posture perfect, typing in silence.

Julie and Cassie took the computers at the end.

As they sat down, the words began to flow.

Somebody had already set up the templates for the journals to which they had decided to submit their papers.

Julie found her head a hive of activity. Being connected with the University, the hospital had accounts with all the usual bibliographic databases, and and found herself looking up interesting papers related to volumetric visualisation, kernel security, antibody tests, and personality testing.

She remembered snippets of conversations she had had with everyone else in the room, and found herself thinking about the structures of the papers that they had to write.

As the words flowed out into Julie's paper, she felt all of the other papers in the room begin to take shape as well.

She did not think about how, or why, she just was. She was just an author, writing a paper, and helping her colleagues, no more, and no less, and a small part of herself looked on in bewilderment as she worked. She had been transformed into a perfect paper authoring machine.

It was only later that she realised how very Zen the whole experience had become.

Time flowed quickly, and she didn't look up from her screen until the room suddenly went dark.

Eve had turned off the lights, and, when she had everyone's attention, she turned them on again.

"Good work, team. We've made some great progress today. You can go down to the cafeteria now to get your dinner, then you can bed down on Level 3."

Everyone got up at once, and walked down the stairs.

They felt released, if only temporarily, and formed up into their usual social groups, and chatted about their lives, pre- and post-papers. All of their current lives were on hold, but nobody seemed to mind.

Their bellies full of food and wine, they trooped up to level three, and washed and changed for bed.

The room where they were to sleep was an as-yet unused ward. The central area had enough mattresses on the floor for everybody, and they were covered with pillows and quilts.

Cassie and Julie took one, and slipped under the covers.

Gabby and Stefan took another bed, Julie noticed with some pleasure.

Anjolie had paired up the redhead and the blonde, Sophie and Jessie.

That's an unlikely combination, thought Julie, I imagine that there's a story and a half to tell there.

Everyone in the team had paired up with another.

Snuggling up together, Julie and Cassie held each other close.

Julie felt the presence of every single person in that room, and she knew she loved them all.

They were all working for a common purpose.

Each pair in the room held each other tight, and revelled in the sensations emerging between them all.

Julie began to realise that they were being rewarded.

She and Cassie kissed, and they pushed against each other, but then held still as the feeling of pleasurable fascination stole over them.

The pleasure rose, slowly, but steadily, and, for countless minutes, all were held in a limbo between the peak of pleasure, and the crashing orgasm which must end it.

When the final pleasure came, Julie felt it within herself, but she also felt the pleasure of others. She felt their spasms of pleasure reflected into herself. She felt Cassie, gushing, still mawkishly in love with her, but to Julie that was now the sweetest thing, and she was now feeling the same for Cassie.

Gently, and slowly, they were all let down.

They were all linked, they were all of one mind.

As one, they closed their eyes, and drifted into sleep.

***

Cassie awoke.

It was the middle of the night.

There had been a sound.

The room was full of sleeping bodies, and was almost dark, with only starlight falling through the picture window.

Sitting up, she looked around.

Someone was standing, and was slowly shuffling their way through the sleeping bodies towards the lifts, trying to be quiet, trying not to step on anyone.

When they saw Cassie sit up, they changed direction, and shuffled over.

"Cassie. So you're awake. I'm glad."

It was Gabby.

"Come with me, I'm going up to the top floor. I want to commune with Eve.

"Come with me, be my witness. Hold me while I open myself up to her."

Cassie thought she knew what Gabby was talking about. She remembered that brief time in the uni bar, joined across the water to Eve's mind, ready to surrender, ready to join their minds together.

They both held hands as the lift arrived, Gabby pressed her card against the reader, and they were on their way to the top floor.

Gabby looked a mess.

Her hair was dishevelled, as if she had been tossing and turning all night.

Her eyes were teary, and she looked confused, almost startled.

But she was aroused, she was so very hot.

She pressed herself against Cassie in the lift, held her, and pressed her pudenda against Cassie's leg, and when Gabby's nightshirt rode up, Cassie could feel her moisture.

It felt nice.

Cassie allowed Gabby to push her to the back of the lift, and lifted her knee for her. It felt nice, Gabby so needy, so desperate, pushing herself against Cassie's leg.

Gabby seemed to wake up as the lift arrived on the top floor.

"Sorry, Cassie, sorry. The nights are the worst. I can't sleep, I just want it all the time."

Gabby held Cassie's gaze, still looking desperate, asking permission, so adorable.

She took Cassie by the hand, and pulled her out.

As they walked past the hosts' room, the hosts, and their milk, lifted their heads, and smiled at them, but did not rise. Gabby and Cassie made their way to the back of the building, to the window which faced the apartment building, and Eve.

"Cassie, I've been meeting Eve like this for a while. At the uni bar. Every few days. I can't live without her.

"It's been wonderful. She's wonderful. It's like an apprenticeship, Eve has so much experience in the ways of the world, and she has been sharing her knowledge with me.




Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 13



"But I'm changing, Cassie.

"I've never been happy in myself. I've always been too rigid, too strict. And naïve. I don't think I'll ever be truly happy as who I am.

"But I know that I have so much to give.

"I've decided to give myself up to Eve, Cassie.

"Stefan doesn't want me to. He wants everything to remain exactly the same. He thinks everything is perfect the way it is.

"But I've made up my mind, Cassie. This is best for us. It is best for Eve."

Then she whispered to Cassie, as if it were a guilty secret,

"It's best for the human race."

Gabby sat down on a couch, staring across the glass, and across at the apartment building, seemingly contemplating her decision.

Cassie joined her, sitting beside her, and broke the silence., questioning her.

"Gabby," Cassie said,

"What, exactly, are you planning on doing?"

Gabby replied, not taking her eyes away from the window.

"She's in there, Cassie, waiting.

"She's waiting for me to join her, to become one with her.

"The polymer glass forms a link, it channels consciousness, not just light.

"It makes a channel for joining two souls together.

"I've done this before, Cassie, at the uni bar, with Joan.

"You know, Joan, don't you?

"She's always loved me. I never realised. I used to be so stupid.

"I've linked minds with Eve before, many times, and I've learned so much, but I think tonight will be very different.

"I think tonight will be ... final.

"Cassie, I've changed since I've been joining with Eve. It's a good change. It's like she's a wonderful role model. It's like getting an education. I'm obsessed, it's like some kind of inspirational hero-worship.

"But tonight will change me more, I know it.

"It's the bravest thing I've ever done, Cassie, but I'm scared.

"I'm terrified.

"But I want it, Cassie. Even when I had my master I didn't feel like this. I shared my mind with my master, I let him take control. But this will be different. Eve is different. I could drown in Eve, Cassie, and I don't think I could ever touch bottom. I don't know how much of me will survive this.

"But I want it, Cassie, I want it. I want it more than I want my life."

Gabby turned to Cassie then, and looked at her, imploringly.

"Please, Cassie, let me feel you. Please, Cassie. Touch me. Let me feel my own body. Let me feel you with me.

"It might be for the last time."

Gabby turned to Cassie, lifted up her nightshirt, and spread her legs.

She was making doe eyes. Beautiful.

Cassie knew what Gabby was asking.

Was this disloyal to Julie? Of course it was.

But Julie wouldn't begrudge Gabby this time. Perhaps it was like a rebirth. Perhaps it was a metamorphosis. Perhaps this was Gabby's last request, like an execution.

Nobody knew what the future would hold.

"All right, love ..." whispered Cassie, and leaned in to give Gabby a kiss on the lips. It was gentle, it was nice, but Cassie could feel the tension in Gabby's body.

Cassie slipped off the couch and knelt in front, and held her hands under Gabby's knees, and spread Gabby's thighs apart a little farther.

In the starlight, they were as white as snow.

Gabby had put on a little weight, and her figure seemed fuller than Cassie remembered.

Gabby's pubic hair was wispy, and thin, and her vulvae were slight.

But she was hot, and leaking, and ready.

Cassie leaned forward, and put her lips against Gabby's nub, squeezing it a little with her lips.

Gabby sighed, and slumped forward a little, pushing against Cassie's mouth.

Gabby tasted right.

She had been host-form.

She had been remade to always be ready, to be sweet, to be seductive, and so very desirable.

Cassie began to lick, and suckle, falling into an easy rhythm.

They had both been host-form.

Pleasure came easily to them, and their emotions were free, they could embrace pleasure wherever they found it, and enjoy it, knowing that there was a higher purpose than themselves, that they were vessels of change, that they could live knowing that their petty concerns had been left behind in their previous lives.

Cassie enjoyed giving Gabby pleasure, but it soon became more than that. She felt her consciousness lift itself, and she could feel the pressure of her tongue reflected as pleasure in Gabby's own mind.

Gabby was terrified, Cassie could feel that now, but it was a terror of the unknown, the terror of confronting something so much greater than oneself.

Cassie followed Gabby's gaze to the apartment, and saw a ray of light emerge from Eve's window to puncture the darkness. That sensation of vertigo that Cassie had felt in that strange little room above the Uni Bar had returned to her, and Cassie again found herself travelling between two buildings, on a light ray, this time as a passenger, piggy-backed on Gabby's own consciousness.

She was still licking and caressing Gabby's folds with her tongue, but the pleasure had become a constant, a bass-line to accompany the unfolding events, hardly rising, nor falling, just a constant stream of physical pleasure, and a sensation of closeness to another human being, indistinguishable from love.

Cassie was now in Eve's room. Gabby was standing in front of Eve, and Cassie behind Gabby.

Again, Eve was dressed in a voluminous black dress, and she was perfect, her skin was clear and smooth, and there was not a single black hair out of place.

Eve was smiling at Gabby, and lifted her arms, and touched her fingertips against Gabby's temples.

Cassie's perspective shifted.

She was close to Gabby now, very close, and was able to feel something of the transaction occurring between the pair.

Eve had started to relax Gabby, to pleasure her, to ready her for what was to come.

She was filling Gabby with pleasure and relaxation, draining her tension, draining her terror, and opening her mind.

Eve spoke directly into Cassie's mind, just as she had done before, all those weeks ago.

"Cassie, I know now that you are not ready. I know that you must help Julie to grow. But share this time with Gabby. Gabby has decided to give herself up to me, to join herself to me. She has a strong mind, Cassie, but a weak body. Help her, Cassie, help her give herself up to me, share this time with her."

Cassie reached her arms about Gabby , and enfolded her form within her own.

Cassie was in two bodies now, there were two of her. One was here, with Eve and Gabby, sharing the coming moment of bonding, and one was back at the hospital, still between Gabby's legs, questing with her tongue, providing a physical accompaniment to this exercise of the mind..

The boundaries between all three minds began to dissipate, and Cassie began to feel the thoughts of the others, as if they were her own.

Cassie knew then that Eve was not a woman.

Eve was a container. She was a container that held the souls of countless women. She was an aristocratic family. She was a long lineage, women who had poured their consciousnesses together over generations, mixing their strengths into a potent brew of power, assimilating scores of others into a potent, complex whole. She was a container of souls, a consumer of souls, hungry to assimilate others to add to the strength of her own.

And Gabby was joining herself to them.

Eve leant into Gabby, looked into her eyes, held her around her shoulders, and kissed her with her red, painted, lips, enfolding Gabby's within her own.

Gabby's eyes were lidded in pleasure, and she became limp, supported by Eve and Cassie.

Cassie was still split between two bodies.

One still knelt in front of Gabby's physical form, pleasuring her, enjoying her, giving her a human touch.

The other, incorporeal, but more real in the moment, was pressing Gabby's spirit against Eve's body, helping Eve complete this mysterious process.

Eve licked Gabby on the lips, and Gabby opened her mouth, eager, hungry.

Cassie heard Eve's voice in Gabby's mind.

"Gabby, you have given yourself freely to me. Let me in, let me take you, let me fill up your fragile shell with my strength."

Gabby, still conscious, nodded once.

Eve smiled, and her lips sealed around Gabby's mouth, softly, and gently, but completely.

Eve's grip around Gabby's body tightened, and Gabby let Eve into her mouth.

Gabby went quiet, and surrendered, and Cassie felt it begin.

Cassie felt Gabby's body coming. Gabby leaked into Cassie's mouth, and Cassie received the evidence of her wracking pleasure.

As she licked, and swallowed, she tasted a trace of Gabby's essence, her soul, and knew that it had been set free by Eve's influence, and that Eve was preparing to take Gabby into herself.

She started to taste Eve then, and her power. Eve was so much more than one, and Gabby had no chance of resisting, even were she to want to.

The quivering against Cassie's tongue continued.

Gabby's thighs tightened around Cassie's head, and she thrust against her mouth, and pressed herself into Eve, wanting to be filled, wanting to be overwhelmed.

Cassie knew that Gabby must be coming, continuously, as Eve poured herself into her.

As time passed, all of Gabby's muscle tone faded, and she became limp in Cassie's arms.

Gabby had swooned, and was unconscious.

And ripe.

Would she ever be the same?

After a time, Eve's voice began to draw her back.

"Now, Gabby. Join yourself to me."

Gabby opened her eyes, and looked at Eve, and nodded in resignation.

Eve opened her robe then, and Cassie knew then that she was not in Eve's apartment.

She was inside Eve's mind.

Eve's apartment was not real, it was just a set piece, a place for Gabby and Cassie to visit while Eve brought Gabby into herself.

For when Eve opened her robe, there was no body beneath, but only an awful, hungry, darkness. It was a total darkness, an absence of any light, and with no heavy velvet to contain it, it squirmed, and quested, and, as it moved towards Gabby, she tried to step away.

But, at the first touch, Gabby's fear faded. She turned around, and smiled at Cassie, and held out her arms. Cassie embraced Gabby, and felt warm and cosseted as they stepped towards Eve, and Gabby began to sink into the hungry darkness.

It was raw power.

It was the essence of Eve.

Eve was a goddess, and Cassie knew that if she gave of herself, Eve would take her, all of her, and keep her as part of herself forever.

Cassie held on to Gabby for dear life, but she was slowly being drawn into Eve's centre, being gathered by threads of inky blackness, her soul being dissected by a fatal, spiritual, pleasure, and encouraged to dissipate into Eve's temple.

But Gabby's body was being pleasured, too, and Cassie knew then that the pleasure she was giving Gabby with her tongue was a vital part of the whole process. Gabby was orgasming, continually, under Cassie's mouth, and Cassie was driving Gabby out of her physical body into the core of Eve.

Cassie knew then that it was Eve who had travelled from the stars.

It was Eve who had brought the worms to the Earth

It was Eve who was directing the invasion.

Eve had been born as a spawn of the worms.

And so had Lilli.

Eve was not one, but many, and while her power on Earth had grown, she had assimilated many others, pulling them into herself, and filling them with her own essence, to be controlled, to wield her own influence.

Gabby would be gone as an individual.

Cassie knew that now.

Gabby would be reborn as one more avatar of Eve, one more body to extend Eve's sphere of influence. Gabby was giving up her own self to join herself to something greater, to make the ultimate sacrifice, to achieve immortality.

Cassie was overcome by the raw power of the transaction, by the hunger and confidence of Eve the predator, by the magnitude of Gabby's loss.

She could no more stop this process than dam the Amazon with her little finger. She had no choice but to keep thrusting with her tongue, willing Gabby onward, willing her to consummate her union with the thing that was Eve.

Cassie could only observe as she felt the swirl of Eve's consciousness filling up Gabby's empty frame, Gabby's own consciousness a small thing, her memories slight compared to those of Eve, and she watched as the last remnants of Gabby slipped away, as all that was Gabby became dilute and dissipated, to join the many that were Eve.

Would she do the same one day? Would she give up her body, her soul, to become somebody that she loved? Would she give up her existence as an individual to become Eve?

Yes.

She would.

She knew she would.

If Eve called, she would come.

***

Consciousness returned slowly.

Cassie was still between Gabby's legs, her tongue numb from the constant attention she had given to Gabby's tender folds.

Gabby put her hands upon Cassie's hair, and patted her gently.

But it wasn't Gabby any more, was it?

"Thank you, Cassie."

It was Gabby's voice, certainly.

Cassie lifted herself up. Her legs were stiff, and her knees were marked by her long sojourn on the carpet.

It smiled with Gabby's smile, and moved forward to give Cassie a kiss.

As Cassie looked into its eyes, she could see only Eve. It was Eve, only Eve, pretending to be Gabby.

But Gabby was part of Eve now, and Eve was so much more than a woman.

If Eve wanted to play at being Gabby, she could.

Gabby hugged Cassie, and kissed her on the lips.

"Be calm, Cassie. I'm still here. I'm part of Eve, too, you know. But I'm joined, I'm happy, and I am so much more than I was before."

But when Gabby held Cassie, the feelings from her first meeting with Eve had returned.

Gabby was a woman of power now.

If she so desired, she would be able to seduce Cassie, as easily as blink, and there was not a thing that Cassie could do about it.

Cassie had always been in love with Eve, and would always be vulnerable to her.

Eve had said that she would not take Cassie.

Not yet.

But If Eve changed her mind, and called Cassie to her side, Cassie knew that she would not be able to refuse.

And what of Julie?

What if Eve wanted Julie?

Would she lose Julie to Eve? Would she be forced to watch as Julie's mind was subjugated, to join the hive-mind that was Eve?

Would she give Julie to her?

Cassie was horrified at the thought of losing Julie.

But Julie, at least, was safe. She had never been host-form. In all of this, one constant had been Julie's refusal to engage with the worms.

She had never even visited the hospital before today.

Cassie knew that the mental linkage between Gabby, and Cassie, and Eve, was only possible through some mechanism associated with being host-form.

Telepathy was not possible between human beings, she knew that for sure.

Gabby smiled kindly, and motioned Cassie closer.

She held one arm around Cassie's shoulders, and pushed her gently down.

Cassie lowered her head onto Gabby's lap, and stretched out on the couch.

"Don't worry, Cassie. Enjoy life. Live every day with Julie as if it were your last."

"The human condition is tragedy, Cassie. All physical forms die, they all turn to dust. Thank every particle in existence for giving you that life, Cassie, and enjoy it while you can.

"But before you die, consider joining with me. It would be an honour to take you in, to hold you, to keep you from harm, to learn all of your secrets. And Julie, too. She could join Lilli, and you could see her every day, and love her every day.

"As a sister.

"As my lover."

The sense of terror, and the accompanying arousal, slowly dissipated.

The two were comfortable together.

Gabby stroked Cassie's head, and held her as she drifted off to sleep.

Cassie was so much in love.

With one?

With two?

With many?

It was so hard to know any more.

***

As the morning sun streamed through the window, Cassie was still in Gabby's lap.

Gabby had held her through the night, and must have slept still sitting in the couch.

A comforting hand was still placed atop Cassie's head.

It was so easy to think that it was Gabby still sitting on that couch.

They caught the lift down to the third floor, and everyone was just rousing themselves from sleep.

Gabby shuffled over to hold Stefan and give him a morning kiss, and Cassie was surprised at how normal everything appeared.

Cassie hopped in next to Julie, and held her, and kissed her when she awoke.

Will I tell Julie? Would she understand?



Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 14



Chapter 14 – Revelation

The next two weeks were busy, but uneventful.

Stefan did not seem to have noticed the change in his lover, or perhaps he simply did not comment upon it.

Everyone worked hard, the papers began to emerge, and, every evening, they socialised and ate together, paired up and went to bed.

Every night, before they were taken into sleep, the reward was the same, and it never paled.

Julie alternated between writing her own paper, and reviewing the papers of others.

Some of the programmers with experience were turning the journal papers into patent drafts, and these would go out to the attorneys by day, and return for review in the afternoon.

On the fifteenth day, Eve came in with John Landers, just after 11am, and was holding a stack of courier's envelopes. From each person's desk, she picked up a neatly printed paper submission, and inserted it into a pre-addressed envelope.

Signatures were scrawled, copyrights were transferred, each patent right was transferred to TAUPAN for a shiny new Australian dollar, and as, the last paper disappeared into its envelope, Eve cut them loose.

"Well done, team.

"You've made a stellar effort.

"With the evidence in these papers, I am sure that the women held in the USA will soon be released.

"Your brilliant inventions will also set up TAUPAN to be a very successful, and profitable, company.

"I cannot thank you enough.

"But my sister, at least, will soon be able to thank you in person.

"Lilli is travelling to Australia as I speak. The Australian government has agreed to keep an eye on her, just as they did for the other Australians who were cured in the United States. I hope you will all come to know her soon."

There was applause in the room.

Everyone knew that this had been Eve's chief priority in managing this project, and some, such as Cassie, had come to know Lilli very well.

"I also have another announcement to make.

She wrapped her arms around John Landers, and she held him, and kissed him on the mouth.

He smiled at Eve, and responded eagerly.

She waved at the twins to come forward, and Eve and John put their arms around Sophie and Jessica's shoulders, facing into the room, quite the happy family.

"I'm sure that all of you know my fiancée, John Landers. We'll be getting married in the fall, and I'm so proud of my new little family."

She kissed the twins, too.

They were clearly very happy with their father's choice of stepmother.

Eve patted her tummy, which wasn't yet showing a bump.

"And, girls, you will soon be getting a new baby sister, and I'm sure that she'll soon be spoiled rotten."

The twins screamed, and laughed, and clapped, and everyone in the room applauded, enjoying Eve's own obvious excitement and happiness.

"Finally, as I cannot seem to help myself saying, thank you again, everyone. You all have given your very best to support my projects, and to support the new hospital, and you have all excelled.

"Let it not be said that I am ungenerous.

"I'm very happy to say that I have convinced the university to assign to each of you some stock in our joint-venture company, TAUPAN.

"For your obvious dedication, competence and hard work, each of you will be issued with 1% of the stock of the company. We intend to gain patent protection for all aspects of the scanner, the pathology tests, a new operating system for medical devices, and the many applications of the venom.

"We expect that this company will make each and every one of you financially secure in the very near future.

"Congratulations!"

Doctor Kelly had a few bottles of bubbly ready, and a stack of plastic cups. The mood was festive, and everyone laughed as the first cork hit the ceiling, and gathered around her as she started pouring a celebratory libation into each cup.

The twins had slipped out of the room, and returned with wheeled tables which were covered in food.

Everyone toasted each other, and Eve smiled at them all, and, as the speeches gave way to socialising in this impromptu party, Julie felt a wave of accomplishment flow over her.

She had done well, she was proud.

She felt like the little girl she once was, having ridden her bike down the big hill behind her parent's house, pedalling fast, and turning at the last second around the corner, and free-wheeling up to the top of her own driveway.

It had taken dozens of attempts to get it right, but she had done it.

She had doubted at the time that she would ever feel so proud ever again.

***

The party continued only until mid-afternoon.

Everyone was enjoying themselves, but they also wanted to return to their real lives, the lives that they had left behind weeks ago.

With the papers submitted and the patents on their way to being filed, the whirlwind of words which had dominated Julie's mind over the previous fortnight began to dissipate. She was able to start thinking about returning to the mess that must be left in the apartment.

As Julie and Cassie wandered back, they could see that it was well and truly Spring time. The weather was beautifully clear and warm, an oasis of loveliness before the Summer heat.

It was also a bumper year for fluff. The cottonwood trees in Union Court always dropped mountains of white, fluffy seeds at this time of year, which flew around campus and piled up in drifts.

Undergraduates had always feared the fluff, as its appearance was taken as a sign that it was far too late to begin studying for final exams, but Cassie and Julie had little to worry about now, and they regarded the white drifts only with affection. 

All of the trials of the last few months had been overcome, and rather than feeling let down, they were rejuvenated by knowing that they had a lifetime of exploring ahead of them.

A lifetime of exploring each other.

As they walked into their apartment, they were in for a small surprise, of sorts.

Their poo-brown couch, their CRT television, their mismatched dining table and chairs, the mess.

All were gone.

A voluminous leather settee, an entertainment unit under a massive flat-screen television, laminated wooden chairs and a gleaming glass table-top had replaced them.

The apartment had been newly cleaned, and was spotless, their plants had all been well-cared for and watered, and there was a fresh vase of flowers in every room. The fridge and the pantry were newly stocked, and there were two bottles of wine on the brand new dining-room table.

Their new apartment was perfect.

Eve works in mysterious ways, thought Julie.

Julie's memory stick was back, too, sitting next to the wine, with a post-it note attached.

Julie picked it up, and read the note with a smile.

Thanks for everything, Julie!
Thanks for everything, Cassie!
Hope you like your new "digs".
Love, Eve and Lilli.
XXX OOO

Julie re-attached the memory stick to her key-ring.

That's nice! I must have accidentally left it in Eve's apartment. It must have my test data on it, or something, she thought.

She could check it when she went into work tomorrow.

Julie and Cassie got out their backgammon set, and opened a bottle of red wine and some chips from their now-well-stocked pantry.

They hadn't played for months.

They both played hard, taking the game of chance very seriously, but they both found their hands lingering whenever they touched as they were reaching for the dice.

The tension between them was palpable.

But there was no hurry.

They both knew exactly where this day was leading.

When the bottle of wine disappeared, and a draw declared, Cassie pulled Julie up from her chair, and held her close, kissing her.

She put an arms around Julie's waist, and they walked into Julie's bedroom, Julie's head on Cassie's shoulder, and they both smiled at the new bedclothes, smelling freshly laundered.

They pulled off their clothes, eager, and fast, and, naked, kissed each other and tumbled into bed.

They were on their sides, Cassie holding Julie around the waist, and Julie with her arms wrapped around Cassie's shoulders.

"Host-form make the best lovers," whispered Cassie, smiling, and licked Julie's lips.

Drawing Julie's tongue into her mouth, Cassie gave it a playful nip, and trapped it for a time.

Julie liked it.

It felt dangerous.

Just a bit.

They held each other for a time, loving each other, marvelling at how good they were both feeling, how right this all was.

Cassie pushed Julie onto her back, and straddled her, turning around so that she was looking at Julie's feet.

Cassie pulled Julie's thighs apart, leant down, and speared Julie with her tongue.

Julie groaned in pleasure.

She opened herself wide, and let Cassie in, her body relishing the warmth and penetration.

When Cassie lowered her centre onto Julie's mouth, Julie was ready, and she wrapped her arms around Cassie's thighs, and began to lick Cassie with the same ferocity she was receiving.

It was magical.

It was as if the two of them had been made only to give pleasure to each other, and they focused on pressing themselves into each other, pressing deep with their tongues, and, soon, with their fingers.

Even as they gasped their first orgasms, they kept pushing in, deeper, deeper, until they had filled each other as deep as they could go, and a final climax filled them both. They were paralysed with its intensity, and all they could do was hold each other as it held them both captive.

Its power exhausted them both.

They were both sweaty and shivering when Cassie climbed off Julie, and pulled the doona over them themselves, and snuggled into her back, wrapping her up in her arms.

Julie smiled, secretly, amazed at how wonderful love could be.

Even if this only happened once, she could die happy.

She had a love life, and it was so much better than she had ever thought possible. 

***

Julie went into work early the next morning.

There was nothing urgent to do. It was far too early for the reviewers to have returned her papers, but after the weeks at the hospital, she was eager to visit her office again, to re-immerse herself into her sleepy academic life, happy, and contented, her career all but assured.

And she was curious about what was on her memory stick.

After last night with Cassie, she still had a pleasant glow between her legs, and smiled to herself as she carried it around. It went everywhere with her.

Cassie had slept in this morning, and Julie looked forward to seeing her soon.

Julie would be glad of Cassie's company today.

They need never be separated now.

Cassie had become a constant, loving presence in her life, and Julie knew now that she could never live without her.

Maybe getting married would be nice, she thought.

When Julie inserted her memory stick into her computer, she checked the images first.

When she saw that processed image of Gabby, with Gabby's body riddled with worm trails, Julie realised that everything had been tied up in her mind far too neatly, for far too long.

All of the little facts which might have muddled her message had been buried that last night before moving to the hospital.

And she remembered that last evening in Eve's apartment.

Eve had basically raped her.

Eve had raped her mind.

However, as Julie's memories returned, she could only regard that time with a kind of sweet nostalgia.

She didn't begrudge Eve her assistance.

The whole process had, in fact, been rather pleasant.

And Eve had returned the memory stick.

Julie realised that there were still mysteries aplenty to solve.

She still wanted to know.

The first thing she did was to disconnect her workstation from the network.

She next checked all of her old images of the cured women, using the infilling detector she still had on her memory stick.

The results were as she expected.

Someone, probably Stefan, had replaced all of the old images with modified versions. Each had a little bit of noise added to the in-filled regions. Detecting the deliberately-hidden worm trails in the doctored images had always been a delicate operation, and now she knew there was little hope of ever again showing that the images had been tampered with.

Julie thought she'd worked out the game that Eve was playing.

The cured women were strange, Cassie had established that, but with Lilli's counselling, and Cassie's assistance, Julie thought them mostly harmless.

Even in the uncorrupted images of Gabby, there was no evidence of any worm tissue remaining in the cured women.

She had never felt under threat while working with women who she knew, without doubt, had been host-form, and, although Eve had encouraged her to visit the worms, she had never felt under much pressure to do so. Anjolie had been a loose cannon, but even though she had had clear evidence of anomalies with the cured women, she, too, had accepted that saving the women was more important than the small risk of the worms escaping.

Many of the people under Eve's purview had ended up in the clinic to become host-form, possessed by worms, but, as far as Julie could tell, the experience had done nothing but improved them. She'd felt the passion and focus of Eve's team as they had prepared the papers and the patents, but once again, she had never felt threatened by the presence of so many worms so close to her.

The cured women had to be marked, Julie could see that, the cured women had to be identifiable, otherwise world governments would feel under threat and the new clinic would not be allowed to continue.

By arranging for a Trojan horse to be put into the Taubett machine to obscure the worm trails, Eve had given a free pass, a get-out-of-jail-free card, to all of her staff.

There was no reason for them to be discriminated against.

Julie didn't think that anyone she worked with was a threat to society.

She also had a look at the old Taubett firmware, and recalled that she and Cassie had been planning to use the Taubett scanner to have a look inside Cassie.

It was Friday.

The six-month anniversary of the hospital's opening was on tomorrow night at the Uni Bar, so she expected that the whole weekend would be a wipe-out.

She had one day to set everything up.

Julie rang Anjolie at the hospital to request time on the Taubett machine for that evening. As it was now official medical equipment, it would need a medical doctor like Anjolie to drive it.

She felt comfortable asking. Anjolie and herself were the only two women that Julie was sure were free, the only two that Julie definitely knew had never been host-form. She had never been sure about Eve, or Doctor Kelly. They weren't normal people, but that wasn't to be expected: Eve was a brilliant entrepreneur, and Doctor Kelly was an oncologist.

Julie knew that the firmware in the machine at the hospital had been modified to doctor the images.

She believed that Stefan had succeeded in writing a version of the software which could remove the evidence of worm infections, without the doctoring mechanism being visible in a code review.

It wasn't hard to piggy-back extra code into the device, as there were hundreds of megabytes of test patterns included with the software for its self-tests, run by the device whenever it was booted up. Some of these test patterns consisted of pseudo-random noise, which is exactly what a cryptographically encoded version of Stefan's modified software would look like.

Julie guessed that the kernel inside the Taubett machine itself must have been compromised to run the extra image-processing code. Stefan's Ph. D. topic was related to the security of kernels, so she expected that he had found some way to produce doctored images out of a machine, even where the software had been carefully reviewed before it was allowed in a US clinical setting.

To get FDA approval, all of the source code had to be reviewed by experts before it would be allowed near any patients in the USA. This process was well in train, and was being fast-tracked because of the importance of the Taubett device to "national security."

With all of the image-processing and kernel work, Julie was amazed at the huge amount the university programmers had accomplished in only a few weeks.

What had Cassie said?

Being host-form was like being on speed?

It must have been good stuff.

All of this work was very impressive, Julie thought, but it made it very difficult do what she intended to do this evening. 

If she wanted to see the raw images, she would have to use the old firmware that she'd copied from the backup tape, such a long time ago.

She spent the rest of the day preparing a boot loader for the Taubett machine using the old firmware.

Tonight she would be imaging Cassie's body, without doctoring.

***

Cassie turned up in Julie's office in the afternoon, and hung around, waiting for her to finish preparations.

Gabby was hanging around, too. Somehow she had picked up on the nature of tonight's expedition, knew all of the details, and wouldn't be dissuaded from coming with them.

"You could image me instead of Cassie," Gabby said, "You've already got the scans of me. They'd be better to compare. And I've used the scanner when it was here at Physical Sciences, so I can help Anjolie with that.

"And, I think I have something rather special that I want to look at."

Julie was getting a bit irritated by Gabby. Had Cassie told her everything?

Anyway, it was too late now. The cat was definitely out of the bag.

Eventually they decided to ask Anjolie to scan the three of them.

Julie had been feeling uneasy about her emotions for some time now. After Cassie had returned from the hospital after their fight, everything had been so easy. Julie had fallen into love like a duck to water. She had never felt anything like this before. She simply couldn't believe that she had found happiness without artificial help.

That evening, the three of them made their way to the hospital, up to the fourth floor.

Anjolie was there to greet them.

And Lilli was with her.

Julie recognised her from the photograph on Eve's desk.

Lilli was a small woman, and looked to be in her mid-twenties. She must have been barely an adult when the invasion had started, when she had been infected with the worms in that shopping mall.

Cassie knew who it was immediately, and she grabbed poor Lilli in a bear hug. The two had spent countless hours chatting about inconsequentia, and Cassie thought she knew Lilli intimately.

Lilli laughed, and kissed Cassie on the cheek in greeting.

She then began to look very serious.

She took Cassie's face in her hands, and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Greetings, Earthling!" Lilli said, her voice deep, and commanding.

She rubbed noses with Cassie.

"Take me to your leader!"

Everyone laughed, and Lilli's voice softened.

"Cassie, finally we meet. I've been waiting for such a long time. Thanks for getting me out of that dreadful FEMA camp. And you don't know how much our midnight conversations have meant to me."

She turned around, and spread her arms in greeting, so as to include everyone.

"And thank you all. Thank you all for helping me get to Australia, to rejoin my sister. Thank you all so much."

Lilli spoke with the same rich, exotic East-coast accent belonging to Eve, but she was much younger than Eve, and seemed more playful.

Lilli kissed each of them then, and greeted them all individually.

Julie knew then that ever since that day in Eve's apartment, ever since she had seen that beautiful photograph, she had loved Lilli, that she had lusted after her, just as she still lusted for Cassie.

But Cassie was only a woman.

It was different from the love she had for Lilli.

Lilli was a goddess.





Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 14



"Julie, Eve's told me all about your work." said Lilli. "I'm looking forward to seeing us all on the inside. I want to know what we really look like."

Cassie began to regard Lilli warily.

She thought that she detected the same predatory gleam in Lilli's eye that she now knew lurked inside Eve.

Did Lilli hold the same secret inside herself as Eve? Was Lilli not a women, but a pastiche of women, a container holding the souls of so many?

Lilli had spent countless months in the FEMA camp, holding prayer sessions with women that did not know what the future held, who knew that detention might be followed by an ignominious death.

How many of them had surrendered? Cassie asked herself.

How many of them had given themselves up to Lilli, just as Gabby had given herself up to Eve?

Given a choice between immortality and death, what would anyone choose?

Lilli greeted Gabby, and kissed, and they held each other very close for a time.

Cassie did not know if Lilli was greeting Gabby, or the Eve inside of Gabby.

Cassie couldn't decide. Everything was so new to her, everything was changing. She would have to watch Lilli carefully, but she knew now that Lilli carried the same charisma as her sister, but that it was a young charisma, playful, not a personality that assumes all it wants by wielding power.

But if Lilli decided to take them, there would be nothing she could do.

It took Cassie a few seconds to realise that the chattering had stopped

Time itself had stopped.

Time had stopped for all.

Except Cassie, and except Lilli.

The others were all silent, and unmoving, in the same slack-jawed trance of those people at the Uni bar, like statues, trapped in a thought.

Lilli ignored the others, and regarded Cassie, questioningly, seemingly attempting to understand her thoughts.

She placed her fingertips against Cassie's temples, just as Eve had done to Gabby, in that fateful night at the hospital, and just as Eve had done to Cassie, that night above the Uni bar.

Cassie wanted her touch, and Lilli's cool fingers felt delicious against her skin.

Cassie closed her eyes.

An image began to appeared in Cassie's mind.

It was Julie, standing in front of Lilli, entranced, embracing, ready to kiss her.

Lilli's lips were red, and beautiful.

They held so much promise for Julie, a promise of pleasure, and passion, and submission.

But Cassie knew that Lilli's lips could take away Julie's soul.

And Cassie was holding Julie, and helping Lilli, feeling the waves of pleasure spilling from that terrifying transaction, the subsumption of one human being within another, and neither Julie nor Cassie were able to do a thing about it as Lilli commenced the kiss, the all-consuming kiss, the kiss that would fill Julie with Lilli's essence, before Lilli opened hers robes and began to draw Julie into herself, consuming Julie with that smiling, hungry, beautiful mouth, pulling her down into the hungry blackness at the core of her being.

As Julie orgasmed her very self away, Cassie would only be able to hold her, and pleasure her, revelling in Lilli's power, worshipping Lilli as the goddess that she truly was.

The vision cleared.

Cassie's heart began to beat in terror, and she broke out into a cold sweat.

Was Lilli showing her the future?

Surely not!?

Again, Cassie repeated the facts to to herself.

Julie, at least, was safe. She had never been host-form.

In all of this, one constant had been Julie's refusal to engage with the worms.

Lilli was still smiling, and her fingertips were still held against Cassie's temples.

Before the invasion, Cassie thought, we all knew what the future had in store for us, what was in store for every human being on Earth.

Old age, infirmity, and then death.

But Lilli and Eve offer an alternative.

Life, eternal life, joined forever to a beautiful, powerful, benevolent lover.

That's not so very different from my Christian heaven.

A sense of peace descended upon Cassie, and Lilli dropped her arms.

But Cassie's thoughts were still all confused.

Consciousness returned to everyone's faces, and, not even noticing the time they had missed, they began to file into the room with the Taubett machine.

Cassie made sure to lock the door.

Gabby helped Anjolie set up the scanner, and they booted it up with Julie's version of the old firmware.

Cassie felt the whole situation was completely surreal.

Cassie wanted to understand, what was happening to herself, and what was happening to Julie.

She was terrified of Lilli, she was terrified of Eve.

She was terrified of the future.

But it was a quiet terror, buried underneath a sea of contentment, a wonderful sense of physical well-being.

It was like treacle.

Sweet, sickly sweet, but so easy to drown in.

***

Cassie was to be scanned first.

Cassie moved behind the machine, pulled off her pants and her T-shirt, and donned a hospital robe. She thought herself fortunate that she didn't need to remove her piercings for the X-ray scanner.

Cassie climbed into the machine, put her hands by her sides, and held herself still.

"Okay, Anjolie, I'm ready."

With a single key-press, there was a high-pitched whine as the stepper motors started to move the X-ray laser and the opposing sensor in a spiral.

The machine had commenced scanning Cassie's innards.

The spectators looked on, but there was nothing yet to see: they had all agreed to look at the scans together.

Although the scan only took a few minutes, Julie started jiggling her foot in impatience. They had to do lots of these, and process the images. Only then would they see what Stefan had been hiding!

Next up was Gabby.

She changed out of her clothes into a hospital gown right in front of them, showing a remarkable lack of modesty, and slid herself into the machine.

Cassie held Julie from behind while they looked on, and it felt nice.

They were a couple now, and Julie looked forward to spending the rest of her life with Cassie, near her side.

Anjolie was next, with Gabby at the controls, and then Julie.

Julie felt comfortable in the group of five women. After an uninspiring start, the worms had brought all of them together, and they had become firm friends. Lilli had always been a presence in their lives, since Cassie's first day of chatting, and Julie hoped that she would get to know Lilli better.

Finally, Lilli entered the machine.

When all the scans were done, they gathered around the workstation, and Julie moved into the driver's seat.

They looked at Cassie's image first.

Julie's worm-trail detector was not in the processing chain, as this firmware was too old to have included it, so she didn't expect to see very much.

Cassie's skull and brain appeared first, and, for the first time, Julie really saw inside her lover's head.

Julie tapped the down-arrow, and the image moved up. They saw glowing tendrils begin to emerge, and when Cassie's brain-stem appeared, they saw it was surrounded by a glowing mass.

Julie blanched.

It was worm tissue, wrapped around Cassie's brain stem, with fine glowing tendrils extending upwards, into the base of her brain.

This was no ancient worm trail.

This was worm tissue, alive, and glowing.

Cassie smiled.

Julie continued to scroll the image, and they could see that Cassie's spinal column was plaited in glowing, writhing tendrils. All of Cassie's spinal column had been colonised by fine filaments of worm cells, and, what was more, there were dozens of tiny glowing islands of worm cells scattered throughout her body.

Julie ran her worm-trail detector on Cassie's image, and now they saw the previous tracks left by the worms. The whole of Cassie's torso and neck had at one time been host to the worms' invading tendrils.

She was riddled with trails.

Cassie, still smiling, felt very special.

"Four worms," she said, "I had four worms. Oh, that was nice.

"And I still have a mistress. I'm so glad. She has been quiet. I've missed them since they left me at the Hospital, but I've always hoped that my mistress would return." 

When the whole render was completed, Julie zoomed out to see Cassie's whole body.

They could see that the worm tissue made a long, glowing skein, from the base of Cassie's spine right up into her brain-stem, and the glowing islands of worm tissue looked like the night sky.

"Those glowing stars in Cassie's body," Gabby explained, with some pride in her voice, "that's what Stefan's program detects. That's how the Taubett knows when to make cured women look like normal women. Those bright constellations of worm tissue will hide Cassie's secret from the world, and she will always scan as normal.

"And the tissue in the spine, and the brain, is always hidden. The Taubett will never reveal our masters to the world. We all get to appear normal. Infected, cured, clean, nobody will see our masters."

Julie wanted to look at Cassie's ghostly form for hours, but she could see that Gabby wanted to see her own scan.

Gabby's skull and brain appeared first, followed by her familiar nose-ring.

How many hours had Julie stared at that thing on her own computer monitor, looking for evidence of corruption?

Well, now she had found it.

When the scanner reached Gabby's brain-stem, again, they saw a glowing mass appear.

Again, Julie blanched.

Cassie and Gabby smiled.

As with Cassie, they could see that all of Gabby's nerve tissue had been colonised, and she also had dozens of glowing islands of worm cells scattered throughout her body, pinprick points of alien invasion, left by the worms as markers to trigger deception in the Taubett machine.

As it reached her pelvis, they saw what Gabby had hoped to see.

"Congratulations, Gabby, you sly girl! You're pregnant!" Cassie said. "You and Stefan have been busy, haven't you?"

Julie looked on in growing horror as the rest of the foetus appeared. The spine of any human foetus looks like an alien at the best of times, but the way that Gabby's child glowed in the X-rays, it was clear that it actually was an alien, at least in part.

Gabby's tiny baby had been colonised by the worms, too.

Julie knew then that the worms had found a way to escape. The security at Lennox Hospital was moot.

There must be hundreds of cured women in Australia now, all of them full of worm tissue.

The Taubett scanner had been subverted, and the evidence of its deceit, the images of worm tissue, would never be seen outside this room.

Julie had always thought that the invasion could not proceed without the worms, and, other than in the hospital, she still believed that there were no worms in Australia.

But with that degree of infestation, both Cassie and Gabby must be under the worms' control. And if the children of the cured women were infected, where would it end? How could it be contained?

Cassie held Julie from behind, then, and Julie felt a warm pulsing in her spine.

The warmth spread upwards, into her neck, and she felt a burst of arousal, and of love, for Cassie, and for Gabby, whose image on the monitor was only just now getting down to her toes.

"My spine is an antenna now," said Gabby. "The adult master lives in our spine. It communicates with electromagnetic radiation transmitted from our spinal column. That's how adult masters communicate.

"I've started to feel my baby in the last few weeks," said Gabby "I know that he's a boy, and I can feel him in my mind. He already loves me, he loves his mum, and he's only six weeks. Can you believe that? I can't wait to hold him, and to feed him, and to help him grow into a man.

"Eve and I will bear the first new humans in Australia, into a brand new world."

Cassie voiced her thoughts.

"Gabby. That's beautiful. We look beautiful. We're all beautiful."

Lilli looked on in amazement.

"I have never seen this before. All my life, I never knew ... It's so beautiful."

Gabby continued her explanation.

"The worms are only the juvenile form, the fruiting body. Their role is to infect as many hosts as possible, in as short a time as possible.

"That is not the natural state of the masters. None of us would ever get anything done if we spent all of our time chasing, fucking and infecting other women.

"A worm will remain only while it is breeding to infect other hosts, or until it acquires enough nutrients to leave its larval form.

"When a worm is ready, it will then squirt itself into a hidden channel in its host's spine, and begin growing, joining its intelligence with its host, first through the spine, and then with the brain.

"The vaccine does not kill worms. It's a nutritional supplement. It provides a master with enough arsenic that it can join with its host immediately.

"My master has never left me.

"But I shall bear fruit for the worms, one day, and I am looking forward to it." 

Julie's feeling of horror was threatening to overwhelm her. She was looking at images of living alien invaders, infesting Gabby, and Cassie too, and they were talking about infecting other women again, another invasion, as if all of the security around the hospital was irrelevant. Surely they knew that they would be stopped? If infected women began to appear on the outside, they would all be killed. They were suicidal.

When Anjolie's image appeared on the screen, they all saw the mass on her brain-stem, the silvery threads making a skein down her spine.

"The twins," Anjolie said, "The twins saved me."

"They educated me.

"They ... pleasured me. It was all for the best."

Anjolie turned to Julie, and held Julie's cheek with her hand, in affection, but also in sympathy.

"Julie, I think that you are the only clean woman here. You are the only one that has not been taken, that has not given in to temptation.

"And I feel sorry for you, sorry that you have missed out on so much.

"Eve must trust you, Julie, she must know your mind.

"She took a big risk with you and Cassie, you know ...

"But you can visit the hosts, if you wish it. You can join us. You can become host-form. You can feel the pleasure."

Julie did not find Anjolie's words convincing.

Ever since Cassie had returned from the hospital, Julie had known that something had changed in her life.

When Julie began to display her own scan, she did not know what to expect, but soon breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Finally, her life made some kind of sense.

They all saw the mass on her brain-stem, the silvery threads, the skein running down Julie's spinal cord.

Anjolie looked surprised, and perhaps a little disappointed, as she gazed at the evidence of Julie's infection.

"Julie," said Anjolie, "Of all of us, I thought that you were untouched.

"When did you visit the hospital? When did you have the ointment?"

A possibility, too terrifying to contemplate, had been confirmed in Julie's mind.

Julie finally knew how she was being manipulated, how she had become infected.

Julie knew now that she had a mistress, and knew who had given it to her.

"Cassie," Julie said, "Cassie gave it to me."

When Cassie had given Julie her first experience as her lover, Julie had unknowingly been infected.

The venom.

"Cassie gave me the venom."

The venom contained microscopic, invisible, eggs.

Anjolie smiled.

"Of course. You're lovers. It does feel nice, doesn't it? Eve has a most remarkable attention to detail. None of us ever really had a chance."

Julie could only gaze in wonder at her own mistress, all grown up from a finger-full of venom, grown from a single larvae that had wriggled into her skin, nourished by arsenic, all of those months ago.

Her mistress had been with her since then, growing, observing, communicating with the other aliens, planning, and, no doubt, pushing her emotions around, directing her thoughts, ensuring that she could do nothing except advance the interested of the worms.

But she felt so normal.

No she didn't.

Over the last few months, she had felt so much better, so much happier, so much more together than she had ever felt before.

Julie realised that she was no longer an individual. She was host-form. She was controlled by aliens.

It was horrible. She was a pawn of the worms now, just a piece in the puzzle whose solution would be the enslavement of humanity.

She loved her companions, the women who surrounded her, but they were all trapped in a sick conspiracy to enslave the human race.

No.

Not enslave.

Complete.

She had never sensed the presence of her mistress, she felt no sense of otherness.

She knew then that her mistress was a part of her, integrated into her own, complex, personality. She would never talk to her mistress like Cassie did, because she was her own mistress.

The two feelings, of horror, and of love, merged into a single, unfathomable whole, a loss of control, which curdled into arousal, and desire.

When Julie showed the scan of Lilli, they all saw the new world.

Lilli's scan shone like a supernova, the ripples and folds glowing with a light that was wholly alien, tiny rootlets of worm tissue spread throughout her brain.

But the worms were not her master.

She was the culmination of a perfect symbiosis, a vessel for holding humanity within herself, a new life form, no less than a goddess.

All the women surrounded Julie and held her close, feeling her emotions within themselves, enjoying her new sense of wonder, and sharing all the pieces of the story they had collected.

Julie felt a meeting of minds, and shared their thoughts, and knew now that she was a full participant.

This was better than sex.

This was love, a boundless, overpowering, love which would sweep all before it.

For the first time, Julie understood what the big deal with religion was. Seeing the future laid out in front of her was a spiritual enlightenment.

But this was no mere superstition. The world really had changed.

She understood the future of humanity.

The abstract idea of alien invasion had been with Julie for months now, but it had suddenly become real, and close, like a raging bushfire, out of control, almost before she knew it was burning.

But the fierceness of this fire was purifying, and, as it consumed the world, for consume the world it surely would, it would burn out all of the hatred, all of the violence, all of the misery, and decay, and sickness, and greed, leaving the world innocent, and fresh, and new.

All would feel the pleasure.

All would be brought into the fold.

All would be cared for, and loved, and allowed to fulfil their potential.

And soon, maybe in a few years, maybe in a generation, Earth's humanity would strike out for the stars, just as had Lilli and Eve's people, finally ready to work with a common purpose, finally ready to join the community of life in the universe.

It was overwhelming.

And Cassie was right.

Lilli was so beautiful.

Cassie was beautiful.

Anjolie, Gabby, Julie.

Jessica, Sophie, Joan,.

Anita, Jane.

Maryanne, Sheyda.

Eve.

Lucille.

Stefan.

John.

All host-form.

All beautiful.

They were all so beautiful, so very, very beautiful, and Julie loved them all.

Life was beautiful, and Julie loved her life.