PZA: XY-N 1-4

"And all I loved, I loved alone."
– Alone, Edgar Allen Poe

"After the fire, the fire still burns…"
– Roger Daltrey, Under a Raging Moon

He watched from the forest as the big building burned. It was so bright and he could feel the heat all the way back to the trees were he hid. He knew they'd be angry that he was outside the fence, but he was scared and he didn't know what they'd do with the building burning down and the all the CareBots offline. He thought he was lucky to get out, and he was. When the computer systems had failed and the Voice said to abandon the Facility, they had all ran. The fence had stopped some of them, and the Adults took them. He didn't know where they were taking them, but he was afraid of Adults. None of them had ever hurt him, really, in fact there were all usually nice to him. Something in his head told him to run from them, though; all of them but for Mr. Rick, and he didn't know where Mr. Rick was. He probably burned up in the fire. He sighed.

He watched the Facility burn. He was warm, hidden, and he felt safe. He didn't think anyone would miss him, since Mr. Rick and the Carebots were the only ones he ever saw and the Bots were just that – Bots. They didn't feel or anything. Mr. Rick felt, though. He felt more for him and was nicer to him than he was to any of the other Bios. That's what they called them all – all the kids in the Facility. Bios. Bios didn't have Implants. Everyone had Implants, all but for the kids in the Facility; even Mr. Rick had Implants. He was an Adult, too. And he had stuff on his head that he called 'hair.' He had shown him a picture once, called it a "HIRESCAN". It showed him what a Bio looked like inside and what an Adult looked like inside. It was so different in the pictures. But now Mr. Rick was gone, the Facility was gone, and he was alone in the woods. He decided he better leave and not make the Adults mad at him for hiding. He'd never been in the woods before, but it felt nice so far. There wasn't anyone near him, and he didn't hear anyone else in his head or feel like they would feel. He was himself for once, and he liked that. Usually the only time he could be was when everyone was asleep or he was alone with a Carebot. Carebots didn't do that to him like real Adults or other Little Ones did.

He decided to start walking. It was a warm, nice night anyway and he always wanted to see what was outside the fence. He'd been looking at the insides of the Facility for ever since he could remember and just staring out at the fence and the trees beyond. The trees seemed to call to him, and they went on and on… and he really wanted to see them up close. Besides, someone was sure to find him. Every day it was the same thing. Wake up, wait for the Voice to say to get out of bed. You got up and went to the shower room with all the other Bios. They all looked the same, but some were different colors on the skin and some of them had different colored eyes, but they were all the same build or age, or close. The showers would come on and spray you down. That was fun, with all the nice smelling foam all over you, tingling, and then the hot water would spray you off and the Voice would tell you to go and get dressed and get morning rations. His only clothes had always been a very tight and soft white suit with a big black "N" on it. It fit him from neck to toes, including his fingers. When he put it on, only his bald head stuck out of it, unless he pulled up the hood which would shrink down to fit his head. The door would then pop open and a Carebot would take you to the big room where you got a little cake that tasted really good. It wasn't big, but it was good and it filled you up.

Then Mr. Rick would come and see everybody, talk to the Carebots, and then you'd do 'schoolwork' he called it. Said you were getting educated so you could grow up and help work and make the World a better place and leave the Facility. No one understood it, but they did the work. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was dull. After a while, another cake, more work, then playtime and another cake. More playtime, study time, then bed. Every day. Mr. Rick would go away after lunch, but he was there again the next day and sometimes at night. You never knew where he'd show up at. The Carebots would talk to you, if you asked them stuff, but that was about it. Then one night the alarms had all gone off and everybody was up and the Voice said to run, abandon the Facility. It was an emergency, the Voice had said.

He just kept walking. They had studied nature, all the other Bios. He knew about forests, crops, and how the World used to be and how it was now. He hoped they were ok as he walked, especially K6; K6 had been the nicest one in the dorm. It was dark, but he wasn't afraid. So he just walked. His suit would protect his body from the sticks, thorns, etc. You couldn't hurt a suit, and he smiled at that thought, pulling the hood up and listening as it shrunk down to fit skin-tight over his bald head and to keep his ears warm.

"We haven't confirmed all the remains yet, sir," the officer was saying, "There are 12 charred bodies we've recovered. We have 35 accounted for, and that leaves one. We're still looking for remains in what's left of the Facility, but the scans show no organic remains left. There's a heat trail fading off into the woods, near the break in the fence, but it's weak and the animals' trails are masking it. All we can do is look when the Recons get here since the handheld units can't cope with it."

Abrams wrung his hands. He wasn't supposed to get attached to any of the boys – no, Bios – he wasn't to think of them as Human, even. They didn't rate Implants, and they probably wouldn't live past 20 or so if they didn't; they were Bios, not boys. No one did, not without Maintenance and Implants. The BioGenic Wars had seen to that, but Kadens the Unifier had come to power and ended it. His common sense and his medical knowledge had probably saved Humanity. Abrams thought hard, the coprocessor deep in his brain running through thousands of scenarios a second. His main processor was heating up, and he realized he was only minutes away from a reboot. He didn't want that either, since it usually gave him a splitting headache and his memory would lose the last two minutes. Ever since he had received his secondary processor at age 12 – since all Approved little ones were born with a primary one – he had had a tendency to overload. His parents had requested extra chips for him, but they couldn't rate high enough for them. He still couldn't. He just had to calm down.

But HE was missing. He couldn't help it – Rick Abrams was attached to a Bio that wasn't Approved, wasn't his, and wouldn't live past 20 or so anyway. He'd been trying to adopt him, but the tests had said that the Bio known as "XY-N" wasn't worth certifying. He wanted him so badly. All the other Bios loved him, and he was such a good one. There was just something about him that made Abrams feel alive and so good. Of course he knew what that was, but it was a secret. If anyone knew, it would be the end for both of them. And now he was gone.

He shook his head and watched the Officials scanning, as the hovercraft flew over to assume the search. If nothing else, he thought with a chill, poor little XY-N was considered as missing Biomass that was a wasted Resource. He hoped that they didn't find him. It was a slim chance, but perhaps the little fellow might make it to the Old City, where there were districts of Unapproveds that lived and worked and sometimes had little Unapproveds of their own. Maybe someone would take him in, since they wouldn't let Abrams have him. It was so stupid. He had had his request in for a Clone for years now, since he was Approved himself and healthy, but even though he could pay for it, the fact that his balls were bad and he couldn't make an Approved little one the biological way was a stumbling block. His Approved little one would have the same problem, even with in vitro procedures, and the Clone REALLY would. They were still debating it. Rick wasn't hopeful though. It was a Defect, and Defects were to be weeded out.

He watched them put out the fire of the Facility. He actually liked his job here, taking care – with the Carebots, of course – of the accidental little ones or orphans of other Approveds. Usually, the Approved little ones, born with processors in their brains due to the Nanobots that they received while still fetuses, were adopted out fast to good homes. Unapproved Bios weren't. They just showed up. They were left there, brought in by the Officers, etc. It was better than being found by Dealers or Hunters, he knew, but it wasn't much of a life. If a little one was a pure Bio, no Implants, then the little one couldn't be expected to live much past 20 until a Bio-remnant or Residual from the Wars got to him. Usually, Cybernetics were the only cure, and Nanobot-infected Approveds always lived to be healthy Adults since the Nanobots reproduced and adapted to keep the Host alive. Most of the pure Bios didn't, and died slow, lingering deaths. The ones who did live were made to live in the Old City, but their numbers were growing. It was a good sign that Nature was coming back to take over, and many were living to 30 lately.

But HE was gone. Rick thought of him as "Xyn", although he didn't have a name. Unapproved Bios never did. His parents had died when he was very little, the padd had said. Rick had found him on the doorstep one morning. He was Human, and the scans showed he was pure Bio. There was no processor in his brain, no Nanobots in his blood. He was just another Unapproved Bio, male, infant, intact… and amazingly – perfectly healthy. He was put in dorm 11 with some other male Bios and labeled as "XY-N". "XY" meant he was male, and "N" was his designation. He had been the 14th inmate of dorm 11, so all of his white one-piece body suits had had a large black "N" put on them. Rick thought of him as a real Boy though, one he wanted to have certified and upgraded to Approved status via Implants. But they wouldn't allow it. Xyn, as he thought of him, had failed too many scans and tests. He was just so normal. He was labeled a waste of Cybernetic Resources, but at least he would be given the chance to live and labor and try to contribute. But without Implants and a processor, how could he compete with Approved Little Ones? To the System, Xyn was just another piece of meat unless he could prove himself otherwise. If he didn't, he'd probably die from something by 30 or less, just like most of the rest. Abrams then looked at the bright side of it – at least some rich bastard with a malfunctioning Approved Little One hadn't come and requisitioned Xyn for "parts" to repair the Biosystems of his own ailing Approved Little One.

It made Rick Abrams sick to think of it. How many times had a Bio in his care been taken away, and brought back with a bandage on his lower back or an eye missing? Or worse yet, a whole limb? He remembered XY-c2 from last year. Poor thing. He had come back minus an arm AND a kidney. A few weeks later, his genitals had been taken, leaving no trace that he was an XY. Abrams shuddered, remembering how the poor little thing had begged, when the Bots took him a third time, to just kill him. He had never come back. But was it any better to be lost and in danger of being found by a Hunter or Dealer? There was a huge market for young XY Bios, and not for just 'parts' either. It was a no-win scenario.

But the fire was being put out. The survivors were being transferred. The Recyclers would come soon. Rick Abrams sighed, feeling a terrible emptiness somewhere inside of him. Then, for the first time in years – not his father had died – Rick Abrams, Approved Adult Male and Administrator of the Facility #32, stood alone and felt a tear roll down his cheek. He turned to face the forest and whispered, "I love you, Xyn. Be well."

It had been his turn to go look for food, and he didn't like it. Even though he knew they all had to take turns and take the chance of a Hunter finding you and turning you over to a Dealer, it was his turn. Jayk decided that he didn't have to like it, though. He crept out of the old building and made his way out of town via the storm sewers, through the ruins, across the flats, and out into the forest. The hike took him about an hour, but the forest was in full bloom with spring and there was a lot to eat there. Besides, Hunters never thought to look in the woods; they always hunted in the Old City, roaming the back allies and empty warehouses like demons looking for lost souls to drag down into Hell. Jayk smiled as he entered the forest, a kind of calm detachment coming over him as it always did when he went there. The forest smelled good, and the dew was still wet all over everything. He soon found a bush loaded with some kind of blue berries, and knew from experience that these were good to eat, even if they did turn you teeth and mouth all blue! Jayk smiled. At least he HAD teeth, and they were all good. In fact, two of them, the ones on top next to his 'beavers' as everyone else called them, were too good. They were too long and too sharp, and he frequently bit his lower lip with them. They were good to have in a fight, however. He could have worse Bio Mutations though, so he didn't mind it. He had the customary number of arms, legs, fingers – all but for one that had got cut off by accident – eyes and ears, etc and he was happy about that too as he began to denude the bush of its fruit, rapidly filling his sack with the sweet berries to take back to the others.

Life as an Unapproved Bio – and not Implants – especially as a little Runaway in the Old City, had trained his senses well. It wasn't a Hunter though, that he could tell. His slightly pointed ears were very sensitive, and he could hear the breathing and leaves crunching as whoever it was came closer. It was a measured walk. He cocked his head. Good breathing. Clear head. Small feet. The sounds came closer. It had to be another little one. He sniffed at the air and wrinkled his nose. His heart skipped a beat as he smelled disinfectant and soap! He himself hadn't had a bath in at least a month, and the smell of soap was odd to him. Whoever it was was small and clean and healthy. He crawled under the bush and waiting, popping berries into his mouth and swallowing them whole. He might be sure, but he wasn't stupid either. He had made mistakes before, and he wasn't about to make another one.

Xyn felt him from a long way off, of course. There was another little one up ahead, and he was happy. He was eating something, and Xyn realized that he too was hungry. He had been walking all night, but he wasn't so tired that he was going to pass up food. He knew from his studies what he could eat and what he couldn't, and he had always wanted to try real food. From what his feelings were telling him, the little one up ahead had detected him and he was hiding. Xyn could feel the fear coming off of him in waves. A few minutes later, he found the bush where the little one was hiding. It had blue berries of some kind on one side of it. The other side was picked clean. Xyn looked at the small footprints on the soft ground. Whoever was hiding under the bush didn't have shoes, and Xyn wondered how his feet could have taken the walk. He was glad of his suit again, and pulled his hood down as he stepped into the sunny patch and began to pick berries.

He popped one into his mouth and gasped. It was strange. It didn't taste like anything he had ever had before, but he liked it. He continued to eat, and evaluate the feelings rolling out from under the bush. When he was full, he backed up a bit and sat down on a fallen tree, his suit-protected feet swinging back and forth. "You can come out, I won't bother you," he said to the bush.

There was no reply. "C'mon, Jayk, I know you're in there. I knew about ten minutes ago."

There was a gasp, then rustling. A little one not much bigger than Xyn came out from under the bush dragging a backpack with him. He was dirty, and smelled bad, but he was also scared. Xyn felt a wrench of pity for him, then a wave of jealousy. This Jayk person didn't like him, and that bothered him. Xyn thought that everyone liked him. "My bush, I found it. Don't try anything, or I'll tear you balls off!" Xyn flinched. This little one was now angry.

"I'm sorry," he offered, "I was hungry. I'll go away." Xyn jumped off of the fallen tree and turned to go. There was something up ahead, he could feel that too. Lots of people. Maybe someone there could help him.

Jayk gasped. Then he looked closer at the intruder. He was smaller than himself, probably eleven or so, thirteen at the very most. Jayk could only see his head, but since he was perfectly bald and in a white suit with a black letter on it, that meant only one thing – this little one was a Runaway from a Facility. And it appeared that he was also a Psion. "What color am I thinking about?" Jayk demanded.

"Yea, I do, some," Jayk replied. Xyn could feel the apprehension, fear, then suddenly – concern. This little one was worried now. Xyn let his feelings stretch out to this Jayk person, and when he did, he shivered. Tears formed up in his eyes, and he started to tremble. He hadn't done it often, only when he was exposed to real people. Of course, he did it with Mr. Rick all the time, but he was gone now. He didn't really count the other little ones in the Facility; he was with them so much that he was just used to them all feeling back and forth. Too used to it. Yet he'd liked them well enough. He had really liked Mr. Rick, but he wasn't so sure he liked Jayk. Jayk was afraid of everything, it seemed. Xyn swallowed hard and wiped at his eyes.

Then he felt it. Jayk was toying with him, and Jayk was mad. Xyn had no idea what to make of it.

"I'm sorry," he choked, "I didn't mean to…" then he turned and fled. Jayk would be even madder now, just like the Approveds who came to look at them in the Facility sometimes. They'd talk to you for a while, look you over, then read your evaluations. Then if they even thought you had a Mutation or were feeling at them, they'd get like Jayk. Bios who couldn't do it got adopted sometimes and taken home with the Adults, but no one took Xyn. That hurt.

He could feel Jayk behind him, and he knew that Jayk was stronger and faster than he was. It was only a moment before Jayk tackled him, throwing them both to the soft cool forest floor. Jayk sat on top of his prey and studied him. He was wearing a white body suit, which was just as good as armor if it came from a Facility; in fact, Jayk thought the suits were only a myth. Much better than the short battered green tunic that he wore. He was also perfectly bald, and his white teeth and small ears were also both perfect. No points, no fangs, actual color in the irises of the eyes. Jayk reached down and touched Xyn's smooth head. He himself had never had a haircut, and his long black hair was pulled back and tied up into several braids that Shar often fixed for him. Feeling Xyn's shiny scalp stirred something within him. He pulled his hand back. "Runaway?" he asked.

"There was a fire," Xyn replied. "I just wanted to see the woods and I got lost."

Jayk laughed. "Buddy, you're NOT normal! You might not have any Implants or Cybernets inside you, but you ain't normal! You know you're a Psion?"

Xyn was confused. He could feel Jayk's elation now, and his concern as well. "What's that?" he asked. "Is that why no one wanted me?"

Jayk rubbed a rough and dirty hand over Xyn's bald scalp again and then felt his round ears. He was staring into the Runaway's eyes now. "Blue and gray," Xyn offered, "and no points?"

Jayk blinked. "Stop it! I don't like you inside of my head digging around. You mean you don't know what you are?"

Xyn just didn't understand. This strange Mutant XY shifted his emotions so fast it was hard to keep up with him.

Jayk got up off of him and offered a hand to help him up. "I thought I was an Orphan XY. You don't like me, do you?" Xyn asked.

Xyn looked down at the ground and nodded. "I can't help it. What did you call me?"

"Psion. You can feel other people's feelings, hear their thoughts, amplify their emotions. You're the most dangerous Mutation there is, you know," Jayk replied.

Xyn blinked at him. "Dangerous? Me?! I never hurt anyone! And I'm NOT a Mutant!"

Jayk nodded. "Yea, you are! They find out, man, they'll kill you, or worse – zap your brain and make you a zombie or something and use you for parts for some little rich Approved brat."

Xyn didn't understand it, but he could feel it. He remembered XY-c-something or other, the little one who never came back one day; they used him for parts. Jayk was terrified of that. He knew how he COULD understand it though, but Jayk wouldn't let him, he knew. Jayk was too scared of him. There was a face in Jayk's mind, a little one with red hair and white eyes. He was blind, and Jayk took care of him. Jayk wouldn't think his name though, but Xyn could hear the cries for help, feel Jayk's helplessness. The blind little one was being taken by someone, and Jayk couldn't help him.

"You're afraid they'll do that to you, and me," Xyn said, "come and take us, hurt us. Like they too him from you."

Xyn shrugged. "Don't have one. My designation was 'N' at the facility, but Mr. Rick called me 'Xyn' because of my male designation and the 'N'. You know, x-y-n. He said it 'zin'."

Jayk sighed. "Ok, Xyn, listen up, buddy. What you can do is dangerous to you, and those you do it to. You might not know it, Xyn, but you're packing around a weapon more dangerous than any stunner or blaster right inside of your HEAD! You can know what others feel, what they think, hell you can use it against them! What a Mutation! Shit, all I got was pointy ears and fangs."

Xyn's eyes were wide at that. He had realized something. "Is that why nobody wanted me?"

Jayk nodded. "If they knew it, it scared them." Then Jayk realized something. He could almost feel it himself and it was coming from this strange, bald Runaway. "You really miss this 'Rick', don't you, Xyn? I bet he knew about you and hid it. I think he wanted to keep you." he stated.

It hit him suddenly, and he was unprepared for it. Jayk's words had hurt this strange fugitive, hurt him badly. Whoever Rick had been, he had been close to Xyn. Jayk suddenly felt his eyes tear up and his throat tighten. He dropped to his knees amongst the dead leaves and freshly sprouting weeds and grass and sobbed. He could hear Xyn crying as well, and although it was not his own emotion – it was Xyn's – he was projecting it out to Jayk. Jayk realized that Xyn was terribly frightened, had lost all of his friends, and had never had anyone but this Rick person love him. Now that was all gone. He knew how it felt. Tentatively, he reached out a hand to Xyn, a hand that was missing a finger. Xyn took it, and Jayk pulled him close. He let Xyn cry on his shoulder for a while, one hand on his bald head and the other wrapped around him. Xyn was trying, Jayk could tell, not to overpower him. He wasn't doing a very good job though, so both of them just sat by the bush and cried for a while until it passed.

When they had both recovered, Jayk stared at him. "Help me fill up my pack. It's my day to find food and you can come with me. I'm sorry I said that, I didn't mean to set you off."

"OK," Xyn replied, wiping at his eyes, "Where we going?" Xyn asked. Jayk was guarding his thoughts now, and Xyn was hurt by that. Jayk was still afraid of him, but concerned too.

"Back to my friends in the Old City. You can stay with us, maybe. Tell you what, instead of me trying to explain it, you can meet Shar. She's a Runaway, but she's got Implants and she can handle you if anyone can. You can have her explain it."

Then he realized that it was probably a mistake, but he couldn't leave someone as naive and innocent as this Runaway out here in the woods or alone in the City. But Shar would handle it – Shar could handle anything.

Xyn nodded and helped Jayk fill up the pack. When they had stripped the bush of its blue fruits, they moved on to a tree with purple globe-shaped fruits hanging in clumps all over it. It took them a while to fill the pack, and the sun was high in the cobalt blue sky as they started back for the City. Jayk was thinking of this 'Shar', and the image of a Queen came to Xyn's mind. He didn't look any deeper.

The sun was getting hotter as they made their way out of the cool forest and onto the flats. They had walked for a long while, stopping now and then to pick more wild fruits as they could find. Jayk didn't talk much, but Xyn had a feel for him. Xyn had a feel for everyone he met, and he knew that Jayk didn't like it. When they reached the edge of the trees, they stared out across the flats to the ruins beyond. It didn't look all that far, but the walk took about half an hour and it was hot. Jayk finally spoke as they entered the ruins. It was a haunting place, tumbled buildings and abandoned things – strange things Xyn had never seen before – bearing mute testimony to a civilization that had very nearly destroyed itself. It was quiet, though, and Jayk was the only thing Xyn felt.

They made their way cautiously through the old buildings which smelled of damp decay. Jayk's eyes darted this way and that, and rounding a corner, he put down his pack. "I gotta take a leak," he announced, turning from Xyn and starting off a ways. Xyn felt shame coming off of him, and turned his back. A vision came to his mind then, one of Jayk lying on a wooden table and trying to scream as a man with a knife cut into his crotch, slicing away his parts that made him an XY. Xyn heard the stream of urine hit the ground, and felt Jayk's shame keenly. He didn't look. He knew Jayk had had to squat to go. An XY could do it standing up. Jayk couldn't. His own bodily needs, he knew, were being taken care of by his suit. If he had to go, he just went and the suit would take care of it, vaporizing his wastes and discharging the particles.

Xyn nodded. There was more – frustration. Jayk had another Mutation, he saw. "You age slow, don't you?" he asked

Jayk nodded. "Fuckin' Mutations. I've been a little one longer than most live to be, at all."

"Do you relive it every time you go?" Xyn asked, feeling he had to know. Jayk hurt so bad inside, he thought he could help. If only the young eunuch would let him. Funny how Xyn had only now just noticed it.

Xyn moved without thinking. He reached out and touched Jayk's dirty cheek, letting all the compassion and need for a friend that he felt flow into that touch. Jayk's eyes went wide, he tried to resist, then collapsed, sobbing, into Xyn's arms as the full force of Xyn's will struck him. "Why me?" he choked, his voice hardly a whisper, "Why did the Hunter have to find me and let the Dealer cut me up? Why did he do that to ME?"

Xyn saw it all as he held the shaking little one in his arms. He saw Jayk, younger, being grabbed by an Adult somewhere in the Old City. He felt the stun charge hit him, and felt himself being carried, paralyzed, like a sack of stuff to some dimly lit place where another Adult – a healthy one with Implants – looked him over like a piece of meat. "Very nice, Dallen," he heard the voice say to the Hunter, and heard the clink of gold changing hands. "Very nice indeed. A cut here, a cut there…" then the whir of the scanners… "and full Bio too! Not a Nanobot in him! Now, we just get rid of those damn XY things of his, freeze 'em, then sell THEM to a bidder for his own mutated or malfunctioning offspring! He'll be so much nicer without them! What a beauty! Look! Look at his teeth and his pointy ears! Beauty Defects! Ye Gods, the gold he'll bring once he's gelded !"

"A Slow Mutant!" he cried. "This one is priceless! He'll stay little for… for who knows how long?" His voice was exulting. "And whoever buys his parts can use them to sire more Slow Mutants like him – or Clones! We're set for life, Dallen, you and I !"

It was a confused welter of emotions as Jayk, in Xyn's mind, was laid down and stretched out. The Dealer cut him without drugs, without technology. All he had was a sharp knife and he used it to sever Jayk's XY-parts in one sweep, as men and boys had been cut into eunuchs from Time immemorial. He called for someone to come and take them to Cryogenics, and put out an ad on the Network for a Buyer. Jayk was trying to scream, but he was stunned. His mind was alert, his body was frozen. Then the Dealer sprayed something on his ruined crotch and it began to heal, fast. It burned, it hurt… and then the embarrassment as the memory jumped to being looked at, naked, by Adults. They were Approveds, mostly healthy. Jayk was healed, his groin smooth and clean and no one could tell he was ever a real Bio XY. A force field box was holding him, and he couldn't move as the Adults leered at him, some of them touching themselves. All he could do was stand there and cry. He looked almost like an XX, but they didn't want XX's. They wanted cut XY's. Funny, but Jayk remembered, as Xyn learned, of being clean and warm and fed. He was in a nice bed, but with an Adult. An XY Adult, and the Adult wanted him to do things, DID do things with him. It hurt sometimes, but sometimes it felt good and there was so much shame. Then he was running down a dark corridor, and she was there beside him. Shar. The one who braided his hair. The one he told Xyn about, Shar with mostly Bio and only some Implants. Shar, who was a Psion like Xyn. Shar, whom they were going to see. Shar, the Queen in Jayk's' mind. There were screams, sounds of blaster fire, then the running in the trees and the trip in the stolen flyer! Then jumping, falling, splashing into a river or lake as the flyer burned up on its crash to the ground. Then home. That memory was foremost and strong – home, and Shar and the other little ones. And him, the one with red hair and blind eyes of whose name Jayk wouldn't allow Xyn to touch.

Xyn had seen memories in others' heads before, but none this intense. He simply held Jayk and felt what he himself wanted – a friend, love, somewhere to be. Jayk looked up at him, his dirty face streaked by tears. His black hair was still braided, and he smelled bad, but Xyn felt for him – felt TO him – nonetheless. Reluctantly, his own unenhanced Bio mind no match for Xyn's powers, Jayk yielded. His slight body shivered as Xyn's feelings flowed into him. In his mind, Jayk seemed to hear, "I'll love you," over and over. He knew that Xyn was a Psion, and he knew what Psions could do to you. For all he knew, it was a trick. Yet he couldn't help it. His heart stirred, and he saw – so Xyn saw – that little face that was always there for so many years. After Shar had rescued him from the Adult who liked little cut up XY's – e-XY's as he had called him by, and not by his name – she had found HIM as well. He had been just some little abandoned one who was a Bio and a Defect. He was blind, his eyes totally white. He was just out wandering aimlessly when they returned home to their lair at the edge of and far below the Old City near the border to the ruins. His other senses, though, were razor sharp. He could hear a rat breathing at a block away. He had heard them coming from two blocks distant.

Jayk had taken one look at his blank little face, his slight frame, his flaming red hair and pale freckled skin – and had instantly fallen in love. The little one was safe from being used by Jayk though, since Jayk was cut and had no parts down there anymore. He was an XY, a Defective XY, but he was still a Bio and homeless little Bios had to stick together. Aside from his eyes, he was free of other Defects and had no outward Mutations. Jayk had been ashamed of himself for thinking such thoughts, how bad he wanted to do to him what the Adult had done to him in bed, until Shar had said that anyone who went through what Jayk had would feel the same way. Shar had used her Psi on him that night, easing his pain and shame and helping him to understand his feelings and frustrations.

"Sometimes, XY's like other XY's," she had said, "But you're an e-XY now. You're different. You can't be an Adult Man now, and you're a Slow Mutant. You'll be a little one, and a eunuch, for a long, long time, Jayk. Perhaps hundreds of lifetimes. Other Bios would grow up, become men, their Biochemicals shifting – but not YOU. The same rules don't apply to YOU. If you truly love him, this little one, then love him without regret. You needn't be alone," Shar had advised him.

And he saw that face in his dreams, long after the Hunter had taken him… Long after Gods knew what became of his little blind XY friend. No, beyond friend. Beyond family, although Jayk's memories of family were infantile and dim. Shar had instilled that in them, somehow with her Psi, and Jayk worshiped her for it. What she had created for Jayk was priceless, and now it lay broken. What had eased the pain of his gelding was now gone, and his heart was almost as barren as his groin.

Jayk sobbed again. "I can't. P-please don't k-kill me, Psion!" Jayk wailed, "I know what you saw, in my head. I'm sorry…"

Xyn held him tighter. Jayk was now more afraid of him, desperately afraid. He would not probe deeper, though. Jayk didn't like him, hated him in his mind. Worse yet, Jayk hated himself. No, not hate for Jayk, Jayk the XY – hate for Jayk the eunuch, who wanted to do what e's could never do. Xyn poured out the love that he had in abundance, a gift Mr. Rick had called it, but Jayk couldn't take it. Would never take it. His XY-parts had been stolen by a Dealer, but his heart had been stolen by a tiny and blind XY Defect with no name. Xyn sighed and released him. "I can't MAKE you feel, Jayk, I WON'T," he offered. "And I didn't see anything YOU did. Only what they did TO you."

Jayk sat there and cried for a while, then he stood up, wiping his face on his tattered sleeve. "I guess I deserved it, or you did. Follow me, the sewer pipe we want isn't far from here."

They climbed down the rusty iron rungs embedded in the bricks. When they reached the bottom, Jayk pulled something from his pack and put it on his head. It was a band with a small light on it. "Follow me close, Psion," he ordered, "Almost home." Xyn was glad of that, as he was very tired from the long walk and the heat of the flats. So was Jayk.

Xyn felt his elation, and felt, dimly, the presence of others up ahead. One of them was strong. It had to be Shar, and he could feel her feeling him back. He smiled. The light on Jayk's head bobbed and skipped as they walked. Other than an occasional rat, they encountered no one. The tunnel they followed sloped down, and Xyn could hear the water running. "We're just under the City now," Jayk explained. "No one knows this place. Not yet." They stopped when they came to a large door, its surface pitted and rusted from years of dampness. There was a large wheel in the center of it. Jayk spun it once. It spun back.

"All the better to eat you with," Jayk replied, and Xyn realized it was the password.

The wheel spun and the door opened. "You got food, Jayk?" a small boy asked, wheezing badly..

To Xyn, he looked to be the ugliest little one he had ever seen. He wondered how someone with so bad of Mutations could live, much less sound so happy! The boy's back was slumped a bit, and his arms were too long. His left eye was a clear, glassy and sightless globe. His incisor teeth were longer and pointier than Jayk's, and his white hair was long and stringy, pulled back in a ponytail. His ears were very small, and he limped badly. He also coughed a lot. Jayk handed him the pack and put an arm about his slouched shoulders, helping him along. Xyn could feel some kind of friendship coming off of Jayk, and absolute trust coming from the badly Mutated XY.

Xyn shivered as he watched the blue/green veins in the Mutant's chalk white skin pulsating as he spoke. He coughed again.

"This is Xyn. Well, x-y-n, he calls himself 'zin'. Xyn, this is Dan," Jayk introduced them.

Xyn offered his hand mannerly. "Nice to meet you, Dan," he said, but Jayk swatted Dan's hand away.

Dan gasped. "Shar will eat him alive!" he piped, then coughed. It sounded as if his lungs were giving up fast on him. If he were an Approved XY, Xyn thought, they'd fix those.

"Shar will decide," Jayk stated, "But he didn't kill me. I THINK he's nice, but I ain't sure."

Xyn sighed and followed them. It seemed that there was nowhere he could go where anyone would want him. Silently, he thought of Mr. Rick and silently cried. No one saw his tears in the darkness, but someone felt them.

"Who cries?" came a soft, feminine voice from ahead. It had an edge to it, however.

"I bring you a visitor, Shar, and food for the day as was my duty," Jayk announced.

Dan limped off with the backpack, and Xyn felt slight feelings of happiness coming from at least three other minds. He didn't dwell on it, however.

"Who is this Psion that comes with you, Jayk? Did he overpower your mind and make you bring him?" Xyn could feel her mind powering up, and he realized in an instant that she could crush out his consciousness like he would swat a fly. He lowered his defenses and gave in. She didn't like him either. It was all too much for Xyn – the fire, losing everyone, being lost, finding Jayk and these others, then realizing that they all hated him. He had tried to help Jayk, and Jayk had spurned him. He looked up, his vision blurred by tears, as lights came on. He saw her – Shar – the Queen of Jayk's mind, and he fell to the grimy floor. She was tall and lean, and muscular for a XX. She was dressed in a tight black gown that reached to the floor, and he long black hair was curled tightly down to her waist. Her eyes were also black and glittering, and her skin was the color of sun-blaster sand on the beach. She moved with infinite grace, and her hips swayed as she stepped closer. She placed a hand at her ample bosom, and overpowered Xyn effortlessly. The last thing he felt was a brief flash of pity.

There were three of them, and Jayk and Dan weren't among them. Slowly, Xyn opened his eyes. He was cold. The lights were on, and he could see them. Three little ones. Two XX's and one XY. The XY was the smallest, about his age, but he had a Blaster. Xyn held his mind steady, not daring to feel anyone. The two XX's looked at him. He looked back, but didn't speak. They probably hated him too, he thought. They were both pretty, he noticed, and didn't seem to have visible Mutations. One was blonde, the other brown-haired. The XY, like Jayk and Dan, had pointy ears and fangs. He must have eaten, because his fangs were stained blue. It seemed to be a common Mutation. Xyn tried to sit up, but realized that he was tied down. He sighed. "Don't make any funny moves, Runaway, or I'll blow your XY-parts off!" the little XY threatened him.

Xyn didn't reply. He desperately longed to be back in his warm bed at the Facility, where Mr. Rick would come sometimes and hold him. Mr. Rick loved him more than his own life, he knew. He didn't mind when Xyn felt him, or felt to him. They both enjoyed it, and they both knew that they loved each other. Xyn sniffed. With his own Psi repressed, he was all alone.

Without trying, Xyn felt her coming. She was so strong. "Maybe she'll kill me," he thought, and he found that he didn't care. He let his tears flow again, but felt compelled to look up at her. As he did, he flushed as their eyes locked. Shar could see all of him. They had removed his suit! He lay there, helpless and naked, as her Psi lashed out at him again. His head began to hurt as she dug in, probing here and there, sifting his memories. She read him like a book. He didn't try to fight back. He just took it. He was embarrassed to be naked in front of strangers who hated him, and wanted nothing more than to just disappear. He wished the XY would shoot him.

"None of that," Shar ordered, her voice softening, "Tears are not permitted here." She reached down to wipe his cheeks, her hand lingering for a moment. "Untie him," she ordered, "He's no threat to us." The two XX's obeyed her. "Adele, Tyra, leave us," she ordered. To the XY with the blaster, she said, "Kefe, you remain." Then she turned back to Xyn.

Xyn closed his eyes and sighed. He was unbound, but still naked and he longed for his warm suit. Shar felt that. "You'll get it back soon enough, little one," she said. "I'm sorry to have hit your mind so hard, but Jayk said you were a Psion, like me. One of us cannot be trusted and must be tested. I never intended to harm you. Apologies." Her voice was softer now, and something in it made Xyn want to stay near her.

"Jayk hates himself," Shar countered, "and you tried to help him. I have tried. No one can help him. Not since Scot was taken, that is."

Shar nodded. "A Hunter took him while Jayk watched. I could hear his mind screaming, but none of us could help. We can only hope Scot was placed with a kind Master who repaired him."

Xyn didn't know what to say, the vision of Jayk being gelded coming to mind. He saw the knife again, felt the pain, and he knew that Jayk was close. "Enough!" Shar shouted to the shadows, "You're hurting him, Jayk!"

"He hurt me," Jayk replied, stepping into the light. He was dirty as when they had met, but his fangs were white and flashed in the light that shone on him.

"He was only curious then tried to help you, fool! Is it wrong to have a loving heart and to seek someone to share it with?" she admonished.

Shar sighed. "There's no talking to him when he's like this. Shut it off, Xyn, don't share in his pain. It won't help either of you. I sense a great love in you, Xyn, a love that's lost its counterpart. In fact, what I feel in you is much like what I feel in Jayk. We work together here, as you can see. Stay or go, the choice is yours." And with that, she released him. Xyn sat up slowly, then folded his arms about his knees. He really missed his suit. It was then that one of the XX's, Tyra, he thought, came back in carrying it. He smiled at her.

Xyn thanked her, to which she snorted and left. "How does it fit on you? I have heard of these Facility suits in the past, but thought it rumor." Shar asked, genuinely curious. Xyn laid the suit out flat on the table and then laid himself on top of it. The suit immediately recognized him and flowed like liquid up and over him, encasing him in itself like a new skin. Only his bald head showed. There was a soft beep and a hiss from somewhere inside the suit. Xyn sighed and smiled. Shar's eyes were wide.

Xyn shrugged. "They adopt us out, use us for parts, or make sure we live to be Adults and release us. The suits protect us. We're valuable, sort of, I think." With a shiver, he remembered C2. Shar gasped.

Xyn watched him go, not daring to feel at him. Jayk hurt, but Xyn hurt as well. Although he was surrounded by others, he was still all alone. He turned back to Shar, whose eyes were glittering and golden, yet still a mystery. "I have to go," Xyn said softly, his voice full of sadness, "You all hate me."

"I have no reason to hate you, Xyn Psion," she countered, "yet I have no reason to trust you. Did a Hunter send you? Jayk knew better than to bring you here."

Xyn gasped. He needed to know more about these Hunters, and the City, but he didn't dare ask. Shar could melt his brain if she chose, and he knew it. "I thought he might like me," Xyn offered, "But I was wrong. I saw what they did to him, in his head. He saw into mine. I guess we traded pain – my being alone, his being cut. After that, he told me to follow him. I didn't trick him, honest. I'll just go now." He turned, hanging his head.

Then he heard a cough. He looked up and saw Dan, the ugly little one with so many Mutations. He was coughing hard and his nose was bleeding. A small hand was at his chest, and he was deathly pale. Xyn heard Shar gasp, saw her run to him. She took him in her arms, and Xyn felt her Psi reaching into his body and mind. "No!" she wailed, "Oh Gods, no! Kefe, run and get my bag, the big one with the drugs in it."

Xyn gathered his courage and sent his own Psi out. He had never felt Death before, and it stung through his eyes like a hot circuit overloading. Queen or not, better Psi or not, Xyn pulled himself upright. He didn't know what all he could do, or why they were so afraid of him, but he had reached the point of not caring. This dying little Mutant XY, Dan, didn't want to die. Despite his miserable little body, he wanted to go on living – because he was happy! As Shar held him, Xyn felt that.

Shar gaped at him, yet as her own Psi probed his, she nodded. She saw his plan in his mind. As she carefully pulled the dying Dan's clothes from his thin body, Xyn gasped. He was so pale and weak. Xyn could count his ribs. There were small sores here and there all over his body. He coughed, and blood ran from his gray lips. She laid him out on the table, and Xyn stared at him. His XY-parts were small, but normal and all there. Then Jayk entered. His dark eyes were wide, and his mouth agape. His fangs just touched his lower lip, and he was shaking. "What's wrong?" he cried.

"What the fuck can YOU do about it? He's been sick for a long time." Jayk demanded, and Xyn saw the image of the blind XY rising in his mind.

Deliberately, he removed his suit. There was no 'taking it off', he merely stepped out of it. It made a hissing sound as it slid off of his own pale skin. Jayk was staring at him, jealous Xyn knew, jealous of his XY-parts since Jayk was a eunuch – not XX, not XY… and doomed to it for centuries, perhaps. But Xyn focused on Dan, who was scarcely breathing now. He laid the suit out beside of Dan's naked little body and rolled him over onto it. Shar stepped back and gasped as the suit enveloped him, hissing and beeping as it enfolded him. Xyn pulled the hood of it up, and only Dan's face showed. His breathing stopped. "NO!" Shar and Jayk screamed in unison, reaching towards him. Xyn, however, froze Jayk with a thought and stepped in front of Shar.

Slowly, the suit 'realized' that it had work to do. It was built to sustain the wearer, and as little Dan drew his dying breath, Xyn reached into his mind with his Psi. "LIVE!" he ordered, as the suit pumped a year's worth of drugs and nutrients into Dan's body. It began to heat up, evaluating its new wearer and beginning repairs. It changed from a soiled white into a glowing pale blue.

Dan gasped, his lungs flooding with bronchio-dialators and antibiotics. In seconds, years worth of Bio Remnants and Leftovers were purged from his dying body. His color improved, his breathing eased, and the suit seemed to expand as his thin frame filled out. He turned onto his side and coughed, expelling a shocking amount of bloody phlegm. Xyn smiled, unconscious of his own nudity. "Leave him in it for one day, then take it off of him," he said flatly.

"My suit's new," Xyn explained, "They're good for three years. Well, probably two now with Dan in it once it fixes him. I was a good candidate for parts, and they wanted to keep me perfect, so I got a good suit. In a day, he'll be perfect, and he might stay that way." Then he sighed. "That and the Administrator liked me." Somehow he couldn't say the name in front of them.

"Why did you do that?" Jayk asked in a choked voice, and Xyn saw into his mind. He was confused – why had Xyn done it ? What if he had to do it ? Could he do it ? If the choice were his to be made again, who would the Hunter take ? Again, the blind face…

Dan whimpered, closed his eyes, and rolled over. He relaxed, and Xyn and Shar knew that he slept. His groaned softly, his breathing easy and free of wheezing. "It can't fix Mutations. It can only work with what it has. It cures, heals, adds water and nutrition and stuff. Tomorrow, I'll put it back on and leave." Xyn stated.

"Can I have a blanket and a bed now?" Xyn asked, "My head really hurts bad and I'm cold."

"See to it," Shar said softly, as she picked up Dan and carried him off to his own bed.

Jayk motioned to Xyn, and the naked Psion followed him. Jayk looked back every now and then, and Xyn could feel his jealousy. "He could have mine, if he'd just like me," Xyn thought. Of course Xyn knew all about sex and reproduction and sexual intercourse, but he wasn't interested in it – not yet. He thought someday he would be, but for now he didn't want sex. He wanted a friend. He just didn't want to be alone.

Jayk led them to a larger room with a bright light and a large bed. There was an old rug on the floor, and several tattered blankets on the bed. The only other piece of furniture was a large bookcase, filled to overflowing. "This is my chamber," Jayk offered, you can stay with me for the night."

Xyn sighed, feeling that Jayk was doing this is out real gratitude, and a sense of obligation. He also felt the jealousy and the plain fact that Jayk still didn't like him. He trusted him now, and was in awe of him, but he didn't like him. Xyn got into the bed and covered up. The blankets were rough, but the light gave heat as well and he was warm and covered. He watched as Jayk pulled off his battered tunic and stood there. Xyn looked at the braided hair, the pointed ears and fangs, down the dark but dirty body to the empty and smooth crotch where Jayk's XY stuff should have been. He remembered XY-c-whatever his number was. They looked the same, only Jayk was darker and more muscled. Xyn was, in a strange way, jealous of him. He felt the apprehension as Jayk got into bed with him, staying near the edge and turning his back to him. He felt the Memory as well, the Memory of the Adult and his bed… Jayk in that bed, warm and soft and clean – and so ashamed of himself. And although his head hurt badly, Xyn watched it play out in Jayk's mind. He could feel the eunuch – was that the word ? Eunuch ? – trembling. e-XY? Eunuch ? The Adult was saying it to Jayk in his Memory, but Xyn stopped there. He sighed.

"If you or Shar is going to kill me in my sleep, do it fast. My head hurts bad, and when I sleep, I'm not Psy-ing on you or anything. The suit won't fix your Mutations. It won't bring back your finger or your XY-parts, so don't try. It only heals and sustains. It won't round off your ears or teeth, either. You're YOU, Jayk, like it or not. So if your gang wants the suit, take it. I can live without it. If you let me live through the night, I'll go away at dawn." Xyn stated flatly. He then closed his eyes and shut off his mind, as Mr. Rick had taught him to long ago. The soft whistle of his breathing, slow, told Jayk that he was sound asleep.

One singled tear escaped Jayk's slightly almond-shaped left eye as he turned to look at his bedmate. Indeed, he could kill him with one hand, or one bite to the throat. This Runaway Psion was smaller, weaker, but not naive. And although he wasn't a Psion like Shar or Xyn, Jayk felt that Xyn didn't expect to live through the night and had just accepted it. In fact, in light of how Xyn felt, Jayk realized that this Runaway had given his life for a Mutant little one that he had only just met.

"Why would you do it?" Jayk whispered to himself, all confused. "How can you have so much love inside of you for others you don't even know? Gods, you'll be dead in a day up there in the City, dead or in a Hunter's flyer… like Scot… like me, like I should have been the second time."

Jayk didn't want to go to sleep, and he yawned. He fought it every night, and every night the dreams came back. Not even Shar could stop them. He felt his eyes drooping, and soon he was asleep as well. While Xyn slept the dreamless sleep of the totally exhausted, Jayk slept the sleep of the tormented who can never rest. He whimpered softly as he dreamed of the stunner hitting him and the big man picking him up in his huge arms. He dreamed of flying for a long time, until they landed and the man took him somewhere, having long since blindfolded him. He felt himself being stripped, bathed, examined, scanned… and then the voice saying, "Look at him!" Then came the cutting – they stretched his stunned body out on a table and pulled off his blindfold. The man was holding a small, curved knife and Jayk knew what he was going to do.

All he could do was cry as the Dealer cut him. The small knife cut his manhood away in one smooth movement, and they laughed at his pain and tears, telling someone they would sell IT to someone and how Jayk was worth a fortune to them. He watched them drop his cut XY-parts into a Cryo-container and take them away. The tears flowed down his face from his almond-shaped eyes as they worked on him, making him heal up fast and smooth with some kind of Medtool. Then came the display, the showing off of their new object – Jayk… or as they all called him, 'the new e-XY toy'. He was standing in a force field and they looked at him, they bid on him. They said things, dirty things, Jayk knew.

Then one of them took him home with him. He was an average Adult, Approved, healthy, a few Implants, but all man. Something, he made a point of telling Jayk, that he would never be. He had kept Jayk in a nice little room with a soft bed for several days, bathed him, felt him, made sure he ate and rested. Slowly, Jayk began to think that maybe he wasn't going to hurt him, part him out, or something worse. Even if he did keep the heavy chains on his ankles and the shock collar around his neck, he was still good to him. But Jayk had been wrong. The Adult had bought him for a reason.

One night, about a week after he brought him home, the Adult whom Jayk had been ordered to call 'Master', took the little eunuch to his own bed. Naked and afraid, ashamed of his mutilation, Jayk had watched his Master undress. He had never seen a naked man before, and he gasped. Before him stood something that he instantly knew that he wanted to be, and could not. He also knew what Buyers did with little ones like him, once they cut them up. Jayk began to cry and beg.

Gently, his Master took him in his arms and held him. He held him as Jayk imagined a father might hold his son. The bed was warm and soft, and soothing music was playing in the background. Jayk was so frightened that he was trembling and gasping, but the Master just held him, his hands moving over his slightly darker skin and feeling his smoothed crotch. "Listen to me," the Master was saying, taking Jayk's face in his huge hands and staring into his dark eyes, "I don't want to hurt you. But you know why I bought you?"

"I will do with you as I wish, little slave, whether you like it or not. I had desperately hoped that it would not be like this, but it will be – one way or another." He stroked Jayk's hairless body and played with his braids and touched the points of his ears and fangs. He smiled and softly kissed Jayk's cheek, a slight peck. "Sex, as men know it, is lost to you now. But sex for a eunuch is something you can have and enjoy, if only you submit to it, little one. There needn't be shame in your pleasure, and as you pleasure me, it will come to pleasure you too – and come to own you as well."

Jayk was crying openly, clinging to the Master who was about to hurt him. Gravely, he nodded and let the Master lay him back on the soft bed. "I will provide all your needs and wants, my little Mutant. And since you're a Slow one as well, it can go on and on… for years." And with those words, he lay beside Jayk and touched him all over. Jayk found himself shivering, but not from fear, as those large hands moved over his smooth skin. He knew exactly where to touch Jayk , so that the feelings would make him twitch and shiver. The Master's mouth found his, and he kissed him deeply. Jayk's tears still flowed as his Master guided his braided head down to his own manhood, which scared Jayk very much. It looked large compared to his own that had been taken from him, and he knew what the Master wanted of him. Reluctantly, he took it into his mouth.

"Watch the fangs, Mutant," the Master said softly, "One eunuch in the house is enough!"

Jayk gagged slightly as the Master's enormous organ filled his mouth. His hands guided Jayk's head up and down on it, pushing it into his throat and pulling it back. It seemed to go on forever, and Jayk began to taste something strange, something not unpleasant. He continued his duty, then suddenly, his throat was filled with his Master's hot discharge as he arched and stiffened, groaning in pleasure. Jayk thought that the Master was dying, in fact, having never seen an sexual climax happen in person. But he continued, for fear of angering his Master. If he died, he died – so what? The fluid filled his mouth, and since a large hand held his head in place, he was forced to swallow it as his mouth filled. The taste was strange, but as starved as he had been on his own in the past, Jayk swallowed it without question. He didn't stop his sucking, however, even after the Master's organ had become limp in his mouth.

When the Master withdrew from his mouth, careful of his slave's fangs, he turned for a moment then turned back and rolled Jayk onto his stomach. "Please, no, Master," Jayk begged, his nightmare spilling over into reality and making him cry out. Xyn was too deep in exhaustion, however to help him. As the Master in his nightmare rubbed something warm and slimy onto his butt, the Queen of his reality heard his mind crying out.

The Master waited for a moment, touching Jayk here and there and rubbing his large hand over Jayk's ass and his smooth crotch again and again. Jayk saw through his tears that he was getting hard again, his penis swelling to that frightening size. He knew what was next. Slowly, the Master pulled him up a bit so that he was kneeling before him.

As the Master's dream penis, huge and painful and once again fully erect, entered his virginal hole in the dream, the Queen's real Psi, soothing and calm, entered his mind. The Master's penis filled him, impaled him, and he cried out in agony. The Queen's Psi filled him as well, pushing the Master aside and sponging the hurt away, pulling him back to a calm, safe place. He felt shame, he felt comfort. He felt pain, yet he felt pleasure.

He awoke with a start, gasping and shaking, his skin wet with sweat. He looked over at the little one in the bed next to him, and as a dog shakes off water, he shook off the nightmare. He saw, then, just how beautiful of an XY that Xyn was and thought of his old Master taking the little Psion as he had taken him so many times.

Jayk shivered again, ashamed of himself for thinking it. He couldn't let Xyn leave.

"In time, you grow to like it," Jayk thought, "And when you want it and can't have it anymore, you go mad like me."

And as he did every night, Jayk cried softly for a time, hating himself for the pleasures that he had learned to take while pleasuring his Master. With a wave of self-hatred rising up within him, he thought of how he had grown to expect it, even to enjoy it, as his Master filled him in whatever way. And of course, his Master had been right all along.

Jayk lay there watching Xyn for a long time before he too drifted off again. He dreamed of knives and blood and the Adult – his Master – and his soft, clean bed. He dreamed of the shame, of the feelings of pleasure, and finally of the blind little XY who used to sleep where Xyn now was.

Chapter Two
The Fire Still Burns

Xyn finds acceptance in Shar's Domain of Unapproved Orphans, while he tries to help Jayk find acceptance of himself.

Time & Again
"I have time, or rather, Time has ME."
– Waverider, DC comics, circa 1990

Xyn awoke to find himself alone in the large bed that Jayk had shared with him. What had awakened him was an itch that seemed to come from here and there and just kept moving around. He sat up, and his small body screamed at him when he did. His head didn't hurt as much as it had the night before, though. He looked at the empty side of the large bed with its ragged blankets and near flat pillow and thought of Jayk. Xyn sighed – then realized that he was still alive. Jayk hadn't killed him in his sleep. He hadn't meant to turn his back on him the night before, but his experiences with Shar, not to mention walking in the woods all of the previous night, had left him worn out. Then there had been the incident with the dying little Mutant, Dan, and the Psi – both his and Shar's. He realized, as he began to uncovered himself, that Dan was still wearing the suit. He uncovered himself the rest of the way and slowly got up. His legs were weak, and he rubbed at his eyes. It was strange not being awakened by the Voice in the Facility. For every morning that he could remember, it had been the same. He also realized that he wouldn't be getting a hot shower, either.

He stared around the surprisingly well lighted room, wondering what time it was. He had fallen asleep early, he was sure, but he had no way to know how long he had slept. He didn't feel very refreshed, and he was still sore all over. He scratched at his scalp, and gasped. His head didn't feel right. It was rough to the touch. For a moment, he almost panicked as he took a step and felt a wave of vertigo. Then the simplicity of it struck him. It was hair growing in! He hadn't had a shower in at least two days or so, and his hair was coming back. He realized quickly – he WAS intelligent after all – that the shower foam must also dissolve off hair. He smiled and thought of Jayk and his long, braided dark locks. Xyn had never had hair before. Then he itched, right on the base of his scrotum, and scratched at it vigorously. He scratched a bit too hard, however, and never having felt pain in his testicles before, let out a yelp. He stared in surprise as his penis became erect, his mind instantly realizing what that feeling in the suit had been all those times lately.

He stayed hard as he shook the final bits of sleep from his head and began to explore Jayk's room. Of course he knew about erections and sex and such from his studies, all the Bios did. It was all part of learning about the biological makeup of Humans. However, all they had studied was cut-and-dried reproduction facts and nothing else, so his erection didn't give him any ideas. He scratched again as he wandered about the room, noting the threadbare rug on the floor, the rough and crumbly brick walls with their myriad pipes with various conduits running here and there. The room was large, Xyn thought, for an impromptu shelter for Runaways. Then he realized that they had probably been there for a while, and since they were right under the Ruins, that they probably planned to stay for as long as they could. He shuddered as he crossed the room, a chill settling into his naked body. He fervently wished that he could know if Dan were done with his one day in the suit so he could have it back. The suit, if nothing else, would stop the itching that was about to drive him insane. It would also protect him from any of the BioRemnants or Leftovers that floated around, making the Ruins almost uninhabitable. He certainly didn't want to come down with one of those, as it seemed that Dan had.

He thought about sending his Psi out as he scratched again, but a strange sensation stopped him. As he stared at a bookcase that covered one whole wall of the room, he realized that he was still scratching at his penis. It felt strange, and it was so hard that it almost hurt. He pulled his hand away, convinced that something was wrong. He hadn't thought much about it before, but as he looked down at his erect penis, which looked somehow strange when it was like this, he reached back down and moved it a bit to look at the sac hanging underneath. He gently rolled the two orbs contained therein around, and wondered at the feelings it was giving him. He remembered how the sac hung down in the hot shower, as it did on all the other XY Bios who still had them. All but the ones who had been used for parts were pretty much the same. He didn't understand it, so he stopped. He thought of Jayk, what his Psi had seen of Jayk's memories, and shivered. The thought of his own crotch, smooth and empty like Jayk's didn't appeal to him and he wasn't sure why. As an Unapproved Bio from a Facility, he hadn't really thought of having little ones of his own, and that's what those part were for, if you were an XY. He made a conscious effort to keep his hands off of those parts until he could get his suit back. He turned his attention instead to the books, keeping his Psi where it belonged as well. He didn't want Shar angry with him for snooping.

The bookcase was large, and Xyn stared at it. His eyes went from end to end, not reading titles, but trying to estimate the number of books. Most of them looked very old, and they smelled like old books usually do – musty and strange. The books on the topmost shelf looked to be covered with a layer of dust, with the amount of dust decreasing as his eyes moved down and over, down and over, until they reached the end of the last shelf. Xyn had seen books before, but he had never actually read one. He pulled one off at the end of the shelf and looked at the title. It was by some guy named Hawking, and it talked about the nature of the universe. The pages were brittle, and Xyn took special care not to damage it. He soon realized something else as he scratched at his scalp.

"It'd take YEARS to read all of these!" he exclaimed, looking over the bookcase again.

Xyn turned back to the shelf, replacing the book. He didn't want Jayk mad at him for messing up his books on top of everything else that the Mutant eunuch didn't like about him. He did not, however, turn towards the direction from which he felt Jayk coming.

He heard a dull thud, and realized that Jayk had entered the room from some unseen portal near the ceiling. He could feel him approaching, although his bare feet were making no sound on the worn out rug. "Yea, and I've read them all," Jayk said by way of greeting.

"Hello, Jayk," Xyn replied, sensing a bit of elation in the Mutant's voice. He said nothing else, however, and he didn't turn to face him. Xyn knew what was waiting for him. Sharply upturned eyebrows, mouth slightly agape to accommodate the fangs, and brows creased. The same smelly ragged green tunic, the long braided hair, and the sense of self-loathing; it was all there, and Xyn didn't have to see it with eyes to know it. He sighed. Yet there was still something else.

"What's wrong with you ?" Jayk asked in irritation, "Shar doesn't like to wait."

"Not much else to do, really, and up above is an old building just full of them. I read fast, and I keep the ones I like. It's not like anyone is going to miss them."

"You must know a lot from reading all these," Xyn mused, "All we read was schoolwork stuff."

He could feel the consternation, the irritation, and a flash of the blind little one. They were sitting in the old chair opposite the bed, a chair with torn coverings and stuffing falling out here and there that was big enough to hold them both while Jayk read to Scot. The little one's white eyes were wide open as Jayk read, his mouth slightly agape as Jayk gave life and depth to the words he read to the little one who couldn't see them. He heard Jayk make an indelicate sound.

"You have to remember, I'm a Slow Mutant," he explained, "and other than scavenging for stuff, there isn't a whole lot else to do."

Xyn whistled. "Jayk," he asked bravely, "How old ARE you?" And he knew it was a mistake. He felt the animosity coming off of Jayk, and the annoyance. It was borderline hatred, but it was unfocused.

"C'mon," Jayk retorted curtly, "Shar wants to see you, and wants you to see Dan and your suit."

Xyn nodded and turned, and Jayk made another indelicate sound. Although Jayk was dressed, Xyn wasn't – no one had offered him anything to wear. Jayk stared at Xyn's XY-parts, his pupils changing diameter rapidly. Xyn felt a confused welter of emotions coming off of him, but he had no idea what to do. He was still hard, and for some reason that bothered him. He slammed his eyes shut as the flood of images came from Jayk's tormented mind. He wasn't even trying to Psi, but Jayk's pain was so great that he could not tune it out. He in too close a proximity to him. He heard Jayk say, "Looks nice. Right on the verge of turning into a Man. Hard as a rock, and balls hanging down there just waiting to make you into a Man. Do you even know what to do with that stuff, Psion?" The foremost emotion was jealousy.

He could hardly hear Jayk's words. Jayk was fading before him, and he was looking at plain light gray walls. He was laying in a soft and warm bed. The lights were on, and when he looked around, gasping, he saw that he was in a small room with only the bed and one door and no windows. He wanted to get up and try the door, but knew it was locked. Still, he did, with an extremely uncomfortable sensation coming from his ass. It felt as if he had to go bad, but couldn't. He felt soft carpeting under his bare feet, and looked down. He sniffed. He was clean, and he could feel that his belly was full. There was also something around his neck, and he reached up to feel a snug and wide collar of some kind there. It felt warm. A sense of panic began to set in as Xyn realized that he was seeing Jayk's memory, but it was too clear. It had never been like this before, and try as he did, he couldn't bring back Jayk's room and the bookcase. Unconsciously, as he must be remembering it, he felt a hand move to his crotch. Xyn remembered scratching when he had gotten up, how he'd wondered about his XY-parts, but this time there was nothing there except for smooth skin. The hand trembled as he pulled it away, and he spun around to see what was on the other side of the small room. The feeling in his ass worsened, and he arched his back and groaned in discomfort. He tried to relax, but that only made it feel worse. As he took a few steps, he could feel that there was something up inside of him, something being held in there and he couldn't expel it. Xyn had had rectal exams before, during physicals, so knew what something being inserted into his rectum felt like. This, however, wasn't right. Something large was moving inside of him, inside of Jayk then, and he didn't like it at all. Tears formed up in his eyes as he reached back to try and remove it, but his probing fingers met with soft fabric that felt thick. He gritted his teeth, the pressure in his bowels building as he moved. There was something large in his asshole, and it came out of him to connect to a wrapped mount of some kind that was somehow attached to thin straps that went down below his ass cheeks and up the inside of his thighs to attach to a wide belt around his waist. Try as he might, Xyn (or rather, as the Psion felt it, Xyn/Jayk) couldn't budge the belt. It fit like a legless suit with no top, he thought, but it exposed his smooth and empty crotch and also his ass cheeks. As he stood still, the pressure decreased. He felt as if he had to pee, but there was nowhere to go. He held it, afraid to move for fear that the thing that was up inside of him would squeeze it out.

In the doorway, as Xyn/Jayk turned, stood an Adult. He was huge, muscular, and well dressed. His short hair was cut in a flat-top style, and he moved with a grace that Xyn would not have expected from one so large. His face was clean shaven, and not fat. It was simply as proportionately large as the rest of him. He was wearing a clean and pressed plain white shirt and tan pants. Xyn had seen uniform clothes like that before; in fact, he thought of Mr. Rick and his clothing. This man's eyes, however, told Xyn/Jayk that he wasn't like Mr. Rick. His grin was evil, not comforting. Xyn/Jayk looked at him, feeling very afraid. The man was smiling openly now, leering at him. His eyes were on the Mutant's empty crotch, and they sparkled in delight. «Well, little one, I see you're awake. All healed up fine from yesterday's performance?» He moved closer, and Xyn/Jayk took a reflexive step back. The thing inside of him poked at his bowel as he did, and he cried out.

«What's wrong, little eunuch? The training device not seated right? I myself thought it a bit large, but the Dealer transmitted the specs to me and I had one duplicated just for you. You don't like it do you?»

Xyn could feel the sarcasm, as if the memory had burned itself into perfect detail in Jayk's mind as a data writer would make a flawless and indestructible copy of isolinear data packets. He shook his head in a gesture of NO, the tears falling down his cheeks.

The Adult approached him, and took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. «Please, sir, I have to go bad,» Xyn/Jayk was saying. The Adult nodded. «Good little slave, on with the 'sir' already. Excellent. After last night, I was wondering if the sedatives were ever going to wear off. You must have to go really bad, don't you?»

He did his best to follow him, but after only a dozen or so steps, he couldn't take it. Whatever the Adult had stuck up inside of him simply wouldn't let him walk comfortably, and it made his empty crotch feel funny. It also made him almost pee on the floor. He put his hands over his smooth area where his manhood had once been and whimpered. The Adult turned, laughing. He smoothly scooped Xyn/Jayk up into his huge arms, kissed him soundly on the mouth, and took one step through a door that the confused eunuch hadn't seen. It looked like a large bathroom of some kind, with odd fixtures and furniture here and there. He stood him over a drain in the floor, nodded, and the eunuch knelt and let go. It seemed like he peed forever, amazed at seeing it coming out of something other than his penis. He thought of the suit, but he wasn't Xyn, he was Jayk. Xyn didn't pee like Jayk had, the suit took care of him. But Jayk hadn't peed like this before… it was very confusing. He sighed in relief as the thing inside of him poked at him. He winced. When he was done, the Adult handed him a tissue and he wiped himself off. «Thank you, sir,» he said softly. He stood up, and instinctively looked down at his feet.

«Very good!» the Adult praised him, «You know, you might not be so bad afterl all. The Dealer said you were a Slow Mutant, and I'd hate to have to spend five or ten years training you!»

«Tell me, they estimated you at a late 13 Cycles in Bio growth. Is that right?»

The Adult was touching him now, one hand on the back of his neck and the other caressing his smooth crotch. «So close you were, too,» he said softly, kissing the point of Xyn/Jayk's right ear. «From the looks of what the Dealer took from you, you would have grown up into a fine Adult in a few centuries!» He could feel the Adult moving now, the hand still on his nape and he followed him. They walked down the hall to a larger room full of furniture and things that Xyn/Jayk had never seen before. It looked like the cubicles in some of the buildings in the Ruins, but it was all clean and new. There was another Adult there. «Ah, Doctor! Our newest toy is alive and well it would seem!» the Adult greeted the Stranger. Xyn/Jayk glanced at him and continued to look at the beige colored carpet, praying that someone would take whatever it was out of his ass. The one he had called Doctor came over to him, waved a wand of some kind in front of him, and stared at a handheld unit of some kind. Xyn/Jayk knew it was a Medscan.

«Let's see – genital nullification 60 hours prior, rapid healer protocol used, repair of anal tearing after sexual intercourse 36 hours ago… just couldn't wait, could you?» the Doctor asked in a light tone, «and what's this? Oh. He's not constipated after all. I see you've given him a training device already.» The Doctor's tone was a bit disgusted.

The first Adult was laughing. «He was too tight, Doc. Hurt him bad, had to call Emergency Medtechs for him! You wouldn't believe the bill! I paid a fortune for a Slow Mutant Eunuch-little one, then I almost broke my new toy the first night! I thought that while they were here, we'd put the thing in him so that they could fix him for me if anything went wrong.»

«Well, with that device up inside of him, it won't be long until he can easily handle all you've got,» the Doctor agreed, «Why don't you stick to just touching, kissing, oral maybe, you know – stuff that will be EASY on him?! You could have given him a little more time to adjust you know.»

Xyn felt it as Jayk remembered it. The terror of being cut up – his manhood stolen from him. And right on the verge of the change all XY's had too! He now knew why Jayk had some musculature. It was bad enough to be cut up, but Jayk had been just starting to grow into being an Adult! Xyn brought his Psi to bear, and he thought of a computer downloading as fast as it could. He saw the Adult holding Jayk – holding him – holding Xyn/Jayk. He was waking up in his bed, naked and warm. The Adult fed him, talked to him, explained that he was his slave now. He listened as he ate, his disgust not affecting his ravenous appetite. This Adult was his new Master, and he a slave. The Master wanted him for sex, having a taste for little e-XY's, cut smooth and healed well. He would do what his Master told him, and he would address him as 'Sir' at all times and speak only when spoken to, or when he had a question on something that he needed to know. He would be cared for medically, fed and housed, but his freedom was over. He was Property now, and his Master owned him.

He was crying, and the Master was holding him close. He dimly remembered a Man – his Father? – holding him like that. The Master made him eat, explained more and more to him, showed him the whole house. He showed him things he could do for fun if he were a good little slave and pleased him. He showed horrific video of what would happen to him – video of his last slave – if he did not. Xyn felt Jayk's terror and instant submission. Fear for his life was the paramount driving force, and Xyn sifted through Jayk's tortured mind as fast as he could. That night, after just letting Jayk get used to the place, the Master had taken him to his soft and warm bed. Jayk had known what was coming, and he tried as best he could. He did alright up until the Master had lubed his ass and begun inserting his stiff penis. The sucking of it, which had almost choked him, hadn't been bad. Swallowing his Master's cum when he climaxed has been strange, but hadn't killed him.

But this very nearly had. Taken by his passions, the Master had not been gentle enough and hurt him. He had taken Jayk's cries of agony as simple protest. It was during the rest afterwards, when he kissed Jayk's mouth, being careful of the fangs, that the Master had found him bleeding badly and unconscious. Although Xyn didn't see this directly, since Jayk didn't remember it, he knew that he had come in to Jayk's mind when he had awakened, healed up, two days later. The previous day was lost to pain haunted slumber as the Medtechs had repaired his torn rectum, using rapid healing on it as the Dealer had used on his crotch during his emasculation. The next day was the day that Jayk had awakened to find the training device inserted into his butt, and where Xyn had come in via his Psi. The belt to which it was attached locked, and there was no way for the Mutant eunuch to get it out. The Master informed him that it would slowly stretch his butt to accommodate his penis, so that there would be no further danger of hurting him. The Master had apologized, but still hadn't offered Jayk anything to wear to hide his semi-nakedness and shame.

And Jayk had been so ashamed. The Master left his butt alone for a week, removing the training device only when he requested permission to relieve himself. When he was done, the Master would wash his butt out with a quart of warm solution that made him drowsy. He would then gently reinsert the device and lock the belt back into place. By then, the Master would carry him to his bed and Jayk would awaken there the next morning in his Master's arms. During the day, Jayk was left to the various entertainments of his Master's home while he was at work. The security system wouldn't let him leave, and the Master warned him not to try unless he wanted to spend his days locked in the small room in chains. After a week, a slightly larger training device was inserted. Another week, and a larger one. The same the week after. Jayk had to learn to walk differently each week with the devices inside of him, and as much as it shamed him, he actually found that there were certain ways that he could move or sit that made the device give him strange feelings of pleasure. By the end of the fourth week, it was almost with a feeling of regret that the Master told him that he wouldn't have to wear the devices any longer.

As he watched, Xyn struggled with the one nagging complexity that marred Jayk's whole existence of his enslavement – when would it end?

That night, the Master had taken him. The near month of no full-blown sex had ripened his appetite. He used Jayk in every way that he could before finally rolling him over onto his stomach. This time, when he slid his stiff penis into Jayk's stretched and trained ass, it didn't tear him up. It did hurt a bit, but as it slid in further and further, Jayk worked at it as he had worked on the training devices, attempting to ease his own suffering by duplicating his own feelings of pleasure. He relaxed as best he could, taking his Master's full length into himself. This, of course, drove the Master wild with ecstasy, and Jayk stopped suddenly. Xyn heard him asking in alarm, «Master, what is it? What's wrong?»

But the Master had simply said, in a voice full of pleasure, «Don't stop, little one!» And Jayk had not stopped. He was a slave. He did his duty to the best of his abilities, and if he himself took some small pleasure in it, so what ?! His Master had not pulled out of him when it was over, his hot seed shot far up inside of Jayk. Xyn felt the shame as the Master kissed his pointed ears and pulled him closer, falling asleep with Jayk in his embrace.

But for as much as his Psi felt – shame, pleasure, lust, curiosity, and many other strange feelings that Xyn didn't know about – he felt no love. What Xyn felt for Mr. Rick wasn't there. What he felt for the other little Bios in the Facility wasn't there. What he so wanted Jayk to have, what he knew Jayk didn't have in him, wasn't there. Xyn looked deeper, his Psi at full power. He had never taken It so far, and he saw night after night of Jayk and the Master entwined in bed, sweat coming from their naked bodies. He saw the Master holding Jayk, even when they were not in bed, treating him not as a slave but as a beloved little one. This he could almost sense from the Master, but how many Parents made their own little ones prisoners in their homes and kept them naked? How many of them disciplined their little ones with control collars? It was almost love, but Xyn saw through the façade, as Jayk must have, realizing that it was lust, and not love. Xyn's Psi cringed back from the memories of the Master showing Jayk – his prize – off to his friends who used him as well. If it bothered him, Xyn couldn't see that. Jayk did as he was told, and he was seldom punished. He saw the Master's happiness, but in Jayk he saw none.

Jayk knew his duty as a slave so very well, and his Master soon recovered his huge investment in the Slow Mutant that he had had made into a eunuch. And although he learned much in the few moments that his Psi roamed through Jayk's memories, he didn't understand much of it. He was wrestling with one particularly disturbing question that Jayk was asking in bed one morning as his Master was stroking his smooth crotch and just watching him. Jayk had asked his Master, if he would do something for him before leaving for the day's work. The Master had laughed at his audacity, but Jayk had had such a pleading expression on his face that the Master simply HAD to hear it. His slave wanted a favor! Xyn's Psi went over it three times before he began to move on.

«Master, it's been a long time since I had to wear the training device, and well, I was just wondering if you could… if you could… put it back on me today, just for today?» Jayk had asked in a quiet voice, his face flaming. His Master had looked shocked for a moment, then roared with laughter until he cried. In fact, he'd gone and gotten the largest of the devices out of storage immediately and watched his slave squirm in pleasure as he seated it and locked it into place.

Xyn didn't understand the words, «A good slave like you SHOULD be rewarded from time to time. I may just have to work late tonight, too!»

Then he heard her. A Psi more powerful than his invaded the mental 'download'. It said one word – "STOP!"

Jayk and Xyn both cried out, each falling backwards onto Jayk's worn rug in his room. The link broken, each one shook his head and panted, trying to clear his mind.

It was Shar who spoke in their minds. Shar, the Queen of the Runaways under the Ruins. "Bring him to me NOW, Jayk!" she commanded.

Xyn took his hand, and strangely, Jayk didn't release it. Xyn saw Scot flashing in Jayk's mind, but he also saw something else – it was like a door, and it was cracked open just a bit. Xyn asked again, "Jayk, how old are you? And, uh, I'm sorry for all that, I really am, but YOU did it to me this time. You're strong Jayk, strong in the mind. Did you know that?"

"I've been HERE for 15 Cycles. Scot was here with us for four of those. He's been gone for almost one. I was with my Master for almost 13, before Shar rescued me. Before that, I was with Tevis in our Refuge on the other side of the Old City in the top of an old building they tore down. I was there for, let's see," Jayk mused as his sloped eyebrows creased in thought, "I think it was ten. Then Tevis died of a Remnant attack. Before that, I was running the streets and roaming the forests for about 20, give or take a year here and there."

Xyn stopped and stared in amazement as Jayk explained it. His hand slid from Jayk's grasp. "You're almost 60?" he breathed, unable to believe it.

Jayk shook his head. "Slow Mutants age approximately 50 Cycles to a normal Bio's 1," he said dismally. "If I hadn't been rescued, I could have been enslaved for centuries before I grew undesirable. Remember, I was 13 in Bio growth when my Master got me. That made me almost 65 in real time then. Try something like 125 or so. I lost track long ago."

By then, they had entered the main room. They were all standing there, behind Shar. There were even ones that Xyn hadn't felt before. All in all, there were about 12 of them. Xyn suddenly felt embarrassed to be seen naked in front of all of them.

"Xyn Psion," she began, gesturing to Dan, "we cannot thank you enough for your gift. There was no reason for you to do what you did for young Dan, yet you did. You literally gave your life for his, not knowing if we would let you leave or not. We are grateful, as only a Family can be grateful. Believe me when I say that we ARE a Family – a Family of Outcasts. The pain of one is the pain of all." Then she bowed her head to him again. When she lifted it, Dan approached her. He was dressed in a dirty gray tunic that was almost too short to cover his butt and he had no shoes. Xyn watched in absolute amazement as the little Mutant handed her the suit, but she shook her head and pointed to Xyn. "Take it to him, Dan, and thank him," she said softly, "He won't hurt you."

Dan approached him warily, but he was smiling. His cheeks were rosy, and his skin was no longer so white. His lips were now a deep red, and his flesh-tone was good. His hair had been washed and combed, and he had had a bath. Despite his other Mutations, Xyn noticed something else – his arms had shortened. In repairing him, the suit had borrowed bone and muscle mass from his too-long arms and redistributed it! Dan also appeared to have put on about 10 pounds [4½ kg] in weight. Xyn had not known that the suit could do that. He smiled as he took it back from the little Mutant, who shyly looked down at his bare feet. Xyn thought he looked like a smaller and paler version of Jayk. "Thank you, Xyn Psion," he said softly, "Thank you for saving my life. I've been sick for a long, long time."

"You're welcome, Dan," Xyn said in return, draping the suit over his back and sighing in genuine relief as it enveloped his naked body. The intermittent itching stopped, and Xyn flexed. The stiffness in his muscles and joints dissipated instantly as the suit began its minor repairs. It hissed and beeped once and then settled. Dan was grinning at him. "I can breath now too!" he piped, his face lit up like the sun rising. Xyn smiled back at him, although he made no effort to touch him. Dan reminded him now – except for the ears and fangs – of the other little ones back at the Facility. He sighed.

"I know you are uncomfortable here," Shar said then, "But know this – you have proven yourself to us. You are no street Orphan, just an unfortunate. You are more than welcome to stay here with us, if you like. I know you and Jayk share a bond, not unlike the one he shared with Scot. He won't admit it, not yet, but I also know that you learned much from him when I summoned you." She then turned to the others. "Leave us now," she ordered, but her tone was soft, "We all have work to be about." They did that. Dan left last, still smiling at Xyn and running back the dim tunnel. Jayk laughed as he went, and Xyn liked the sound of it.

Shar nodded. Then she looked directly at Xyn. "Let your mind roam, Xyn Psion," she told him, "and know that we truly welcome you. Stay if you wish, or go. But know this as well – despite your gifts, and your suit, you will not last a week above if you go alone. A Hunter will find you. No doubt your Facility wants a specimen like you back. I sense in you a great longing for this Adult called 'Rick,' but know this as well – he was an Adult in charge of a Facility. He cannot give you a home, nor a Family as we can. This I know to be Truth. Do not fear me, for I shall not harm you. I never intended to harm you."

And with that, Xyn felt her defenses fall. The minds of all the Orphans and Runaways in this strange underground complex opened up to him, and he felt them all. Shar's Psi was so strong that she had been able to mask all of them from Xyn! There was respect, friendship, awe, trust – but most of all, there was love. Love for one another and fierce devotion to making sure that each and every one survived another day. Xyn gasped as he felt most of this from Jayk as well. The pain and loss and humiliation were all still there, but Xyn saw the door opening a bit further. The love was behind that door, and Xyn knew it.

Shar nodded. "Xyn Psion is YOUR responsibility now, Jayk, since you brought him here. Take him in hand and instruct him. Teach him our ways. For today, however, it is yours. Do as you will. Resume that which I interrupted, if you wish. It was not my intent to eavesdrop." She then turned and left the room, her bearing as regal as any Approved Lady.

After she had gone, Jayk turned back to Xyn. He gestured at the corridor, and Xyn followed him, his Psi switched off. When they arrived back at Jayk's room, Xyn's curiosity got the best of him. "Where did you get the books?" he asked.

Jayk pointed at the ceiling. "Up there. I think they called it 'library' or something. There's a ton of books and stuff up there, machines that don't work, all kinds of stuff. No one's been in it for a long, long time." He flopped in the old chair, and it creaked.

Jayk sighed. "I'm sorry. I guess it was coming back in and seeing you naked that did it. I was so jealous. I mean, I got cut up about 30 years ago and I'm still pissed off about it. Stupid, huh ?"

Xyn shook his head. "I know sometimes the other little Bios cried for a long time when they took a part from them at the Facility."

"I only remember three who got that. Most of the time it was an eye or something from inside."

Then Jayk sighed heavily. "I don't know if me being in charge of you is a good thing or not," he admitted, "You might not like me after a while."

Xyn turned back to him. "I liked you when I met you in the woods. You didn't like me though. Why the change of heart?"

Jayk hung his head, his long braided hair falling over his slumped shoulders. "I… I guess… I dunno. Maybe I just wanted somebody to know. Not even Shar's been in my head that deep. She doesn't know what you know, like, what he did to me – or how I got to like it after a while."

Even with his Psi turned off, Xyn could still sense the shame in Jayk's confession. Yet he saw no crime in it; Jayk had merely made the best of what Life had dealt him. Where was the shame in that? He let his mind range back over the things he had seen in Jayk's mind. He shifted his legs as he felt his penis getting hard again. The suit would hide it, of course, so Jayk wouldn't know it. Jayk might get mad or jealous, and Xyn didn't want that. It was becoming uncomfortable, though, and he didn't know what to do about it. He walked over to where Jayk sat and placed a hand on the Mutants eunuch's shoulder. "If you WANT me to know more, or you NEED to just talk, I'm here," he offered.

Jayk looked up at him sharply. "You can't understand, Xyn," he replied in a sick tone, "You can't understand what it's like, what it WAS like. I'm surrounded by others who love me, they say, and almost worship me because I'm the most talented and biggest, oldest one here. But I don't FEEL it, Xyn! How do I FEEL it? What did my Master cut out of me so long ago besides my manhood?"

"I know one way to do it, for how the others feel about you. I can't do it without one of them though, I need to touch him. What I can do is tell you I know what being loved is like. I can share that with you if you want it. You saw a small bit of it in the woods," Xyn offered. He shifted again, trying to make his throbbing erection a bit more comfortable. It was beginning to annoy him. Why was it doing that when he wasn't trying to make little ones of his own?

Xyn flushed. "I don't know. I think my suit's messed up. I was itchy and I had an erection this morning. I have one now, and it feels weird. I don't get it."

Xyn did that, reciting his textbook lesson letter perfect. Jayk was convulsed with laughter when he was done. Xyn was confused. "What?" he asked in an embarrassed tone.

"Xyn, that's only a scrap of it! You're in your 13th Cycle? You're hitting the Change, buddy! You're slowly becoming an Adult Man, and you're feeling sexual arousal for the first time!"

Jayk answered him. Then he went back to laughing. When he was done, Xyn was staring at him like he was an idiot. He had also removed his suit. He felt Jayk's mirth turn to shock.

Jayk gaped at his new charge. Xyn was standing there with his full 4½ inches [11½ cm] of late boyhood erection pointed at him. Jayk tried to recall how large his had been before they'd cut it off, but he found he couldn't. He thought of how large his Master's penis had been, and when he saw Xyn's, he realized that the Psion had potential. He also saw that Xyn was worried.

Jayk nodded, staring at the throbbing erection and Xyn's well-formed balls hanging below his uncut penis. For his age, Xyn was pretty well set, Jayk thought. He wasn't nearly as large, not by any means, as the Adults who had used him for sex, but still, Jayk found himself feeling things that he thought were long since buried. It had been 15 Cycles since he had last had sex with his Master, and none of the Orphans here had ever been old enough to be sexually mature. Shar was, or course, but she was an XX and Jayk couldn't do much with her, even if she'd wanted to. "You're in good shape," Jayk offered lamely.

Xyn felt the pain in Jayk's voice and let his Psi open up to him. "You hurt so bad, Jayk. Tell me what I can do to make it go away," Xyn offered. He watched as the tears welled up in Jayk's eyes. Very slowly, the eunuch took his hand and led him to the bed. As they sat, Xyn's suit on the arm of the chair and Jayk's green tunic falling to the floor, Jayk laid his head across Xyn's lap. He could feel the erect penis on his cheek, and he knew how much he wanted to do with this Newcomer what he had done with his Master. He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to do it, though.

Once again, the shame. Xyn felt it keenly, and felt his own discomfort. From what Jayk had told him, sometimes XY's had non-reproductive sex with each other for fun, because it felt good. He had seen proof of this in Jayk's memories. Yet Xyn only knew that his penis didn't feel right and that he didn't like it. If Jayk could fix it, he was all for it. Very gently, he let his own memories of the other little Bios and Mr. Rick filter into Jayk as he stroked the eunuch's hair and touched his pointed ears. He gasped as Jayk turned his head a bit, and being very careful of his fangs, took Xyn's erect penis into his mouth.

Time and again, Jayk had wanted it. Time and again, he had been denied it. But as Xyn's Psi flooded his aching mind and heart, Jayk found not only his mouth filled with Xyn's penis, but his heart filled with something else of Xyn's. They laid back on the ragged blankets, each one doing what he knew how to do best…

"…the Heart grows older, but never ever learns.
The Memories smolder, and the Soul always yearns…
After the Fire, the Fire still burns."
– Roger Daltrey, Under a Raging Moon

Chapter Three
I Heard a Voice Asking…

This part gets a bit more graphic, in which Xyn finds his way into Jayk's damaged psyche and begins to heal it. A new threat to the Underground society of Outcasts in introduced, and the first hints of something big begin to dawn on Xyn.

"I heard a Voice asking, «What happens after the Fire?»"
– Roger Daltrey, Under a Raging Moon

The young Psion's education in the realm of sexual relations had been limited to what all the little Bios in the Facility had studied in class, so all that he knew about was how an XX and an XY made a little one the natural way. Of course, there was in vitro, and cloning as well; Xyn knew about these too, but he didn't know a thing about what Jayk was doing to him. He knew, from Fragments gleaned from the minds of the few Adults that he had met, that sometimes and XY would have relations with another XY, and XX's would do the same to other XX's as well. He'd never been able to get many details, however. Now, the details were literally in his lap. But, being the Innocent that he was, and finding that he so desperately wanted to help Jayk, he didn't protest. His curiosity had been piqued, and he wanted to see where it went.

Although the feelings that he was experiencing were totally new to him, as well as distracting, Xyn found that he was still able to think. He shivered as Jayk worked at his hard penis, and he wondered why anyone would want to do that to an XY. He thought about how old Jayk really was. Although the Slow Mutant looked like a little one, he was – in all actuality – a very ancient Soul of a Man trapped in the body of a little one. His mind had aged over the Cycles of Slow growth, but his body hadn't. Instead, it had been mutilated, violated, and just kept going on and on. Xyn didn't understand why anyone would want to cut up a little XY and make him into an e-XY, or 'eunuch' as some called it. He understood that some of the little Bios at the Facility were used for parts for malfunctioning or deformed Approved little ones, but that was the limit of his knowledge. Perhaps the Dealer who bought Jayk from the Hunter had simply done it to be mean. But there was the lingering thought of Jayk recalling how the Master had said that it had increased his value by so much. As Property, an e-XY was worth a lot more than just an XY.

Xyn moaned reflexively as a shudder of pleasure shot through his small body. It was a strange feeling, and frightened him. But Jayk continued his work, his mouth moving skillfully over Xyn's genitals. He was moving slowly, as if trying to make whatever he was doing last longer. The Psion thought about what Jayk had said about his life: he'd been a slave for 13 Cycles. He'd been free for 15. That was 28. He'd lived with someone called Tevis for 10, that was 38. Then he remembered being free and roaming the forests for something like 20, give or take. That made almost 60 Cycles of life. But, Jayk had said that Slow Mutants aged only 1 Cycle of growth for every 50 Cycles of real Time. If Jayk had accounted for 60 Cycles, then he would have aged 1 Real Cycle in that period. In all those Cycles, in all that he had told him, Jayk would have to be much older than he let on. 125 was nowhere near close to Jayk's age in Real Time. Even if he were still 13 or so in estimated Real age, what about the other 12 x 50 Cycles of life? It made no sense to Xyn. To make it to the age of 13 in Slow growth Time, Jayk would have to have been alive for at least 650 Cycles.

Being as intelligent as he was, even without benefit of a Processor in his brain, it took Xyn less than a minute to arrive at this figure. Jayk continued to suck his penis, and Xyn began to shake. His eyes widened as he watched Jayk's braided and dark head moving in his lap, and thought became more difficult as his body and mind began to give themselves over totally to physical pleasure. What Jayk was doing to him felt good, and Xyn found that he liked it. Still, he struggled with it. He recalled his History class, in which they studied calendars of various Eras. Man once used the term 'years.' Cycles, however, weren't years. Years were 12 months, roughly 30 days each, a day was from sunrise to sunrise next. Cycles were different. Whatever the true age of the Mutant eunuch, Xyn realized that he was very old in mind, if not in body. His thoughts, however, ceased wondering about Jayk's real age as a tightening began to take place in his crotch. Jayk increased the speed of his actions a bit, and the tightening grew worse.

It felt as if things were getting ready to explode inside of Xyn. He stared in amazement at Jayk, at his own trembling body, and Jayk's long-fingered hands that began to move over his thighs and up onto his belly. That action sent chills racing up and down his spine. Xyn felt his body stiffen as the impending explosion began. He had tried to keep his Psi out of it, but as the first waves of Xyn's very first orgasm began to spread within him, his Psi acted on its own. He reached down with his own hands and felt at Jayk's pointed ears, touched his slender neck, and saw a thousand thousand memories of this self-same act being performed on Jayk's Master. Then he felt the desires – the need to make the Master feel pleasure, the need to feel pleasure himself. The desires were strong, but the one desire – and perhaps the greatest – was simply not fulfilled by this sexual act.

He heard, somewhere deep in the recesses of Jayk's tormented mind, a small voice asking, "why can't I be loved?"

Xyn cried out as his penis jerked and his body spasmed. His hips thrust out at Jayk, but the little eunuch compensated for it as if he knew it were coming. Xyn's whole body felt as if it were on fire. His muscles contracted, relaxed, and his thoughts ceased. Where there had been curiosity and desire for knowledge, there was now only pleasure. Xyn felt something coming out of his penis, and feared that he had lost his bladder. Jayk, however, seemed unaffected by this and continued his work. Xyn had never felt anything like it before, and as his breathing accelerated and his heart pounded, he felt his body pumping something hot out of him again and again. His body bucked and he cried out, but Jayk was unaffected. Whatever it was, Jayk was keeping it in his mouth, working it over Xyn's penis as if that were all that mattered.

The waves of raw pleasure that tore at him now tore at Jayk as well. His Psi sifted through Jayk's memories, and he saw the Master wracked by the same throes of ecstasy. As his hands ran over the pointed ears again, Xyn felt a familiar flash of shame and then, suddenly, a sense of loss and regret that was so enormous and ran so deep that he could hardly believe it. He moaned and gasped again as his body ceased its strange convulsions of pleasure and the feelings began to ebb. He felt his penis softening and his hips stopping their motions. Jayk had slowed again, then finally stopped, and was moving to place himself on the bed next to Xyn.

It had been the greatest thing that the young Psion had ever felt, yet it was marred by something else. Xyn realized what it was as his Psi ranged with lightning speed through the new memories of Jayk's mind that were now wide open to him – Jayk had felt this only once before in his long, strange life. Once – before the Hunter had caught him and the Dealer had cut him up. Jayk had been just on the cusp of Adulthood when they had taken him, his own sexuality just beginning to form. Xyn's eyes teared up as he realized that Jayk had enjoyed it as much as he had, and that the Slow Mutant, no matter how long he lived, would never be able to feel it again. Was that why they cut his XY-parts off? To deny him pleasures, since he was going to be a slave?

But as Jayk lay beside him, licking his deep red lips and taking Xyn in a warm embrace, the Psion saw something else – Jayk COULD feel pleasure. It was strange and certainly not the same, but it WAS pleasure. It took longer to reach the spasms, they came in a different way, but they also lasted longer. In his mind's eye, Xyn saw the Master mounting Jayk from behind and pushing his enormous penis into Jayk's ass. Jayk was grimacing, his eyes shut tight, but then his jaw opening and Jayk gasping as he became accustomed to it. His real eyes saw Jayk moving nearer, and he felt those red lips pressed against his own. His eyes locked on to the gleaming fangs. He knew what a kiss was, of course. Mr. Rick had kissed him several times when he had held him, when they were alone. Xyn remembered what it felt like, but this time it was different. This time, it brought the strange pleasure. With Mr. Rick, Xyn had felt love. With Jayk, Xyn felt something new.

As Jayk's lips pressed tighter onto his own, Xyn felt Jayk's tongue and his own lips slipped open. The fact that those lips had been, only moments before, wrapped around his penis didn't bother him. Then his mouth opened as well, and both became lost in the deep kiss. He didn't worry about Jayk's razor-sharp looking fangs, for it seemed that the Mutant knew how to be careful of them. Xyn felt his penis throbbing again, becoming erect once more after having gone back down. His Psi saw, once again, the image of the Master and what he had done to Jayk so often. Then Xyn felt Jayk's hand on his penis again, rubbing something onto him, something that smelled of sweetness and flowers. It was cool and slick, refreshing on his hot body, and Jayk was moving to place himself atop of Xyn. He said nothing as he placed a knee to each side of Xyn's hips, a calm smile on his face. His hand moved to behind his back, and Xyn gasped as he stared at Jayk's smooth and empty crotch now hovering above his own XY-parts as Jayk rose to his knees and began to descend.

The little eunuch carefully lowered himself onto Xyn's aching and once more hardened penis, using his hand to guide it towards his ass. As he felt it touch Jayk's skin, he felt the slipperiness of the oil and felt it on Jayk as well. Jayk sighed deeply as Xyn felt his penis encountering resistance, but the resistance yielded as his penis slipped up and into Jayk's ass. Jayk moaned softly, and Xyn found his thoughts once again.

"What are you doing?" he almost begged, warily keeping his Psi OFF of what it must have felt like when the Master did this to Jayk.

Jayk shook his head, his eyes closed. "I warned you of this," he replied in a choked voice, "What came before with my mouth pleasured you. What comes now pleasures us both. Relax, and let me do the deed, Xyn Psion, so that you may understand me better."

And with that, Jayk began to move himself up and down, forcing Xyn's erect penis in and out of his ass. Xyn found his astonished thoughts evaporating again, for as Jayk moved – his face betraying the pleasure that he was taking in the act – Xyn felt pleasure as well. He also felt his Psi working harder and harder, trying to reach that door in Jayk's mind and force it open. There had to be more to this act than pleasure. If only there were some way he could make Jayk feel what he had felt when Mr. Rick had held him, or when he thought back on all the other little Bios at the Facility. True, Xyn had never done ANYTHING like this with them, but he had felt for them. He missed them all. And as Jayk's smooth skin moved against him, his hands touching here and there, Xyn realized how much he had missed that pure physical touch in only the few days that he had been without it. Oddly, he found his mind very carefully storing and analyzing every detail of how Jayk looked.

For the rest of his life, Xyn would remember those almond shaped eyes beneath the upward sloping black eyebrows and the long, braided hair that hung down Jayk's back. He would recall in stark clarity the points of the ears, the set of the jaw, and the gleaming whiteness of his sharp fangs as well as the deep red of his lips and the shape of his forever beardless chin. His eyes and mind wandered down the slim neck where there was no bump in the throat like an Adult XY had, down to his slightly barrel-shaped chest where his nipples stood out. He stored the image of the flat and tight stomach and the developing musculature of his legs and arms, which were a bit long for a little one of his age. He watched the slim and also too-long fingers moving here and there, touching, feeling; he noted the missing ring finger of the left hand, and wondered, as he felt the pleasures increasing in his own flesh, how Jayk had lost that finger and how long ago. Xyn took in the lean and long legs, the knees which rubbed at the outsides of his hips.

But foremost, his mind and Psi burned into him the image of Jayk's crotch, devoid of the things that all XY's were born with that eventually made them into Men and brought them their own little ones with an XX for a mate. He felt the cruelty, the joy, the elation of the Hunter and Dealer; he had felt, yet felt again, the pleasures of the Master for 13 Cycles of Jayk's long life. Then, the voice again, asking, "Can't I have someone for more than a few Cycles? When will it end?"

It was with this image frozen in his mind that Xyn realized something else – Jayk desperately wanted to die. All the Cycles of his strange and unnaturally long life had finally caught up with him, and Xyn began to wonder if it had been curiosity that had drawn him into the forest some nights ago. Perhaps, in some way that he was unaware of, his Psi had locked onto Jayk and drawn them together. His Psi, or something far more powerful.

He moaned softly again as his skin, warm against Jayk's, added to the shivers of delight that coursed through his own slight body. Jayk was moving himself up and down on the shaft of his hardened penis, his mouth agape and his head tilted back. Xyn could feel the ends of the braids brushing at his legs. Jayk's skin was smooth and so warm against his, and he couldn't imagine anyone not wanting to be with this strange Mutant.

Then, intermingled with the visions of the Master, Xyn's Psi caught a flash of Scot, the blind little one whom Jayk had taken in. He saw Jayk and Scot in bed, the little one blissfully asleep in Jayk's arms as the Slow Mutant cried silently. The flood of self-loathing was there, and in that vision Xyn's Psi saw another vision. This one came from 'that' Jayk, and Jayk was imagining himself doing THIS to Scot.

Jayk felt real love for this Defective, it was there – or had been – Xyn could feel it – yet Jayk was horribly ashamed of himself for thinking as he did. Ashamed of where his love had led his thoughts. Ashamed for wanting what he couldn't have. Yet Xyn felt the love, a fading ember of what had once been a raging fire that had burnt Jayk's heart almost beyond recognition. The love had been true, and the loss and guilt so great.

But there was more – with the vision of Scot was the image of the door. Xyn's Psi reached for that door, and it found it. With his mind struggling to do more than feel the pleasures that Jayk was giving them both (for as a Psion, Xyn was feeling Jayk's pleasure as well), he reached for that door and jerked it open. His Psi brushed the feelings of self-loathing aside, washed away the shame as the rains wash the dust from the roadside flowers, and he threw the door wide open. His Psi was aflame with its full Will, his body was aflame with its full sexual awakening. He felt the orgasm coming again, and his mind resisted it. His Psi felt Jayk approaching his own, so slowly. Very carefully, with all of his Will bent at it, Xyn merged his Psi and his mind into Jayk's, somewhere behind that door. Jayk's eyes opened wide as he continued to move on top of Xyn, his ass taking the comparatively small length of Xyn's penis in and out, over and over. Then Jayk's eyes went wide.

"I will be that one," Xyn assured him in a near-strangled voice, in answer to the question.

Jayk was unable to vocally respond, however, as he continued his movements. He felt the sensations of Xyn's penis inside of him, moving, stimulating him as his Master had done. Xyn was much smaller, but the feelings were there. Yet somehow, the young Psion had managed to transmit his own sensations to Jayk – the sensations that he had felt only once and then so long ago before the Dealer had cut him up. He stared in amazement at the little one below him, the little one who would soon be a Man. He had come to him, and Jayk had rejected him. But Jayk had brought him here, and for no reason other than the fact that he was full of love to give and all alone in the world, Xyn had proven himself in healing Dan. They had all accepted him, all but Jayk, who had begrudgingly put up with him thinking that he would leave the next day.

But Xyn had stayed, and all trusting and open, had allowed Jayk this act and joined his mind with his own Psi; this was something that Jayk had not even allowed Shar to do, fighting her with all he had in him when she tried. Xyn had healed Dan, and now he was bound and determined to heal Jayk as well, in mind if not body. Jayk felt himself slowly becoming Xyn/Jayk, and he knew in an instant how the Psion must perceive things when looking deep into others. His ass was stimulated by Xyn's penis as he rode it, yet his nonexistent one was stimulated as well as his phantom balls rose up close to his body, as Xyn's must be doing. He groaned in the pure ecstacy that he had known that he could never experience again.

Feelings of pleasure built and built, and some abstracted part of Xyn watched as Xyn/Jayk became lost in those pleasures with no hint of guilt or regret to mar it. As it came closer, both of them groaned again in anticipation. Jayk's almond shaped eyes were wet with tears, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Two physical bodies moved on the bed, but only one mind moved between them.

The eunuch's back arched, pressing his thin mid-section closer to Xyn's. They both shivered with the feelings of ascending climax, as well as with the feeling of simple skin on skin. Xyn's Psi amplified that as well. Jayk's movements changed, and his ass tightened around Xyn's shaft. As Xyn began to ejaculate, Jayk's whole body shook violently, the spasms forcing him down on top Xyn. The Psion took him in his arms, their hips still beating against each other as the pleasures tore at them and threatened to rip them open from the groins up. Xyn cried out as Jayk's arms squeezed his ribs. His red lips were pulled back in a snarl, his fangs gleaming in the light. Then Xyn raised up, rolling Jayk backwards on the bed and taking over the motions of the sexual act. With information that his Psi had taken from Jayk, Xyn thrust his penis in and out of the eunuch. Jayk was shaking his head and his thin body convulsed, wracked by feelings of the mind as well as feelings of the flesh. In affect, he was experiencing his own orgasm as a eunuch, and Xyn's orgasm as a Man at the same time. Xyn's hands roamed over the Mutant's sweat soaked skin as he pumped at his ass, imitating what he had seen in Jayk's mind, striving to hit the spots that would pleasure him the most.

Still, it continued with no sign of stopping as Xyn's Psi amplified the waves of orgasm over and over, increasing them exponentially until both were shaking and totally covered in sweat that ran in rivulets to soak the ragged bedding. Xyn was moaning in his own physical ecstacy, but he was violently pulled up out of it by Jayk's chilling scream as the Mutant's mind AND body began to overload. The numbers came racing back to him – 650 Cycles – one Cycle of real Time… how many times had the Master made Jayk do this? How had it felt? 13 Cycles with the Master, hardly a day of slow Time… and Xyn realized that he had to stop. Jayk was shaking his head, spittle running from the corners of his mouth and his whole body convulsing. His eyes were wide, but he was seeing nothing. His head shook as if to say NO, and he screamed again.

Very carefully, Xyn pulled back his Psi and shut it down, easing himself out of Jayk – in body and mind – falling onto the sweat-soaked bed beside him. His own body shook with pleasure and his heart pounded as it never had before. With extreme care, he made the amplifications stop. He then took the eunuch in his arms and kissed his pointed ear as the Master had done so often, stroking at his long, braided hair. The smell of sweat and dirt and sex filled his nostrils. He held Jayk close to him, his breathing stabilizing and his convulsions subsiding. Xyn felt the muscles relax as the orgasm died away, quickly, and Jayk became still. His dark eyes had closed. He was, however, smiling, and his arms were clinging to Xyn's body as if he never intended to let go. Xyn returned that embrace, and gently sent what he felt out to Jayk.

Xyn felt it going out of him in a hard wrench, his mind shooting – in affect, ejaculating – much as his penis had.

Jayk turned his head and buried it in Xyn's shoulder. Without warning, as if opening that door had released something long deprived of light and air and sustenance, Jayk began to sob. Again, his small body was wracked by tremors, but these tremors were not the type that threatened to tear him apart in pleasure. These were tremors of release; a release, which Xyn could feel, would heal Jayk – not hurt him.

Xyn held the eunuch in his arms until the sobbing died down to gentle weeping, and his Psi reached in to sponge away the last few shattered fragments of shame and regret.

He held Jayk until, mentally and physically exhausted, the eunuch fell asleep in his arms.

Several levels below, Shar's connection to the Network via her Implants broke. She was pulled from the Virtual World by a scream – a scream of the likes which she had never before heard. Then her Psi reached out, thinking a little one in danger, and found something for which she was totally unprepared. She felt Jayk, and Jayk was happy. Jayk was feeling, and he wasn't projecting that cloud of regret and hatred that hovered over him at all times! She felt Xyn, she felt love, and she herself smiled and sighed. A tear ran down her perfect and unlined cheek as she flipped the long and curled Midnight of her hair from her face. "Oh, finally!" she breathed, "You've saved him, Xyn Psion!"

In his new office in the new Facility #32, several leagues to the west of where the old one had burnt, Rick Abrams glanced up sharply from his terminal. Something had pulled him out of his own Network connection and the files and facts on the surviving Bios which he cared for, that danced before his eyes in a Virtual display, disappeared. He heard a familiar voice cross his mind, not his ears, and he knew to whom it belonged. He gasped, his heart skipping a beat as he felt something that he had convinced himself he would never feel again. Somehow, over whatever distance was between them, he felt Xyn. Xyn, the little one he so desperately wanted and couldn't have. His eyes teared up, at about the same time that Shar went back to her own work, and he stared at the damned document in the center of his desk. "Clone request denied, blood sample XY-N, Facility 32. Waste of Resources." Mr. Rick, as Xyn used to call him, realized that he was out there somewhere, and he was ALIVE!

She had renewed her Network connection and gone back to her Secured communications with the Others. The Others, as only she knew them, that led small groups of hidden Mutants, Orphans, and Runaways like her own. They were scattered all over the Ruins, which were vast. Some were even under the Old City, while a few others were actually IN the Old City and functioning in normal everyday life undetected. It was risky, she knew – and they knew – to engage in such communications. However, she had to keep enough of her Psi free to stand watch over the little ones who guarded the entryways. There were rumors of a Psionic Hunter out there now, brought in from the New Approved Cities to help exterminate the infestation of Mutants who lived below and stole little ones to corrupt. This new Hunter was not only a Psion, but Approved with Implants – and in perfect health. He was one of them, taken by the Approveds and made to hunt down his own kind. He would be a formidable enemy, to say the least.

Shar snorted in disgust at the previous thought. The Newscasts and the Journals made the Public believe such about them. Made them believe that all the Runaways and Outcasts in general were an infestation bent on destroying what Kadens the Unifier had worked so hard to build after the devastation of the BioGenic Wars. The simple truth was that Mutants were feared for their differences in appearances or talents. Defectives were to be wiped out for the good of All, and Runaways… well, they were open targets for the Hunters and Dealers. They were free Resources for the taking, and with the World in the shape it was in, Resources were not to be wasted. Life was precious, and Shar knew it. That was why she had done it.

That was why she had run away when she did, when the Processor in her brain had overloaded one day in college and the Nanobots had tried to Adapt. She had been studying Nanotechnology, of course, and she had simply pushed herself too far. Her Psi, which she had hidden so well for all of her life, had then taken over. It had somehow merged with the Processor, bringing it back online. But it had been too much for the physical tissues around the Processor, and try as they might, her Nanobots simply couldn't keep up with the rapidly necrotizing tissues. They had rushed her to Emergency of course, and they had admitted her. Shar had come from a good Approved Family in a New City, and she was not a waste of Resources. Shar had had potential. She would receive care, which she later found out, was to come at the expense of an Unapproved Bio fetus.

She thought of that as she closed her Network connection, having routed a shipment of vacuum sealed meats off of its predetermined course of delivery. Actually, sabotaged would have been a better word; the flyer carrying it would go down right outside the ruins, and they would be ready to raid it. She smiled at the Virtual display; it was all in the programming. Her contact above had been a large help, and her little ones needed more than the scavengings of garbage and the pickings of the forest to survived. Every day was usually a struggle just to survive, but all of that was about to change. Soon the Revolution which had begun years ago with her discovery would come to fruition. The Revolution which had begun in her, when she had found that her life had been saved by the injections of the Unapproved Bio's carefully filtered and processed cerebral/spinal tissues into her damaged brain.

It was at that point, upon her release, that Shar had given up hiding her Mutant status and become a Runaway.

She sighed as the Virtual display before her eyes vanished. Soon they would come, and she was exhausted. With one last probe of her surroundings, she deemed it safe for the time being and headed for her bed. On that last pass, her Psi slipped over the sleeping minds of Xyn and Jayk. She saw them together, in Jayk's ragged bed, their arms wrapped about each other and dreaming smiles on their faces. Xyn, she knew, was a little one, hardly 14 Cycles old. Jayk, however, was very old. Very old, indeed; not even Shar was certain of how old. As she found her room and took to her own bed, Shar allowed herself a brief flash of jealousy in the fact that Xyn had penetrated areas of Jayk's mind that the ancient little one had always kept hidden from her. She decided to let them sleep, as they both needed it; and so did she. But as she drifted off, however, Shar was haunted by the scream that her Psi had heard from Jayk when Xyn had finally gotten through to him. She seemed to hear another scream overlaid on it – no, in it – but, tired as she was, she didn't pursue it and fell asleep almost immediately. In her dreams, she was pursued by the rumored Psionic Hunter.

He watched the darkness fall over the Old City, the crimson sun painting exaggerated shadows over the landscape. Far off past the flats, which were stained by the sunset and looked like lake of blood, lay the forest. This was the one thing he feared. Being a Hunter – which was, after all, legal – didn't bother him. What would happen to his prey, as if he cared, didn't bother him. Working the long hours and having no one to go back to when he was done didn't bother him. But the forest did.

His thoughts reached back as he checked his weapons, the sun sinking lower and redder. It must have been from when he was a little one, he reasoned. For years he had tried to cope with his irrational fear of nothing but trees, green things, and animals. Dimly, he recalled being lost. He recalled being chased. Something large was after him, but the thought of this made him smile. 'Is that how you'll feel, Runaway?' he mused to himself, his Psi picking up the nervous personality of a scavenger come up out of the Underworld too soon before dark.

He slipped back into the deepening shadows, pressing himself up against a wall. He watched as the nervous one came into view, a little one, but not too little. He estimated his age at 15 Cycles, perhaps. Maybe less. In the waning light, he could not see any outward signs of Mutation, but it didn't matter. Mutants or Unapproved Bios, they all sold. They all brought money. Just as he had brought money so long ago when the Authorities had taken him in from the Hunter who had captured HIM. He smiled. 'I was so lucky,' he thought, remembering how the Leader had had a great idea about a Psion becoming a Hunter. He smiled as the little one moved closer. His Psi probed him, and the Hunter saw that he was no Psion. So much the better. He thought back, remembering how he had grown up in fear, hiding his talent, his Mutation. In the end, it had brought him a high paying career.

He watched the little one. For years, they had trained him after he had been taken. He had had little choice in the matter, actually. It was a simple choice – take the position as a trainee Hunter, using his Psi Mutation for the job, or be lobotomized to neutralize his Psi and used for parts for other Approveds. He had taken the job. Fortunately, he had come to enjoy his work. Rounding up Runaways and taking Mutants off of the streets had become his life. He rationalized it often, thinking 'If I got this life, why not them too?' The little one moved closer. He began to reach out with his Psi, enticing… entreating… calming… 'come closer,' it seemed to say. To the Hunter, it wasn't a person. Approveds were people, Unapproveds were there for their benefit. And no Unapproved, no matter how dumb, would be out on the streets after sunset without an Identification Beacon. He double checked his readouts, graphical displays that moved inside of his face mask. This was a Runaway, or a Mutant. No Beacon.

He raised his weapon, set for heavy stun, and aimed. Looking at the display at such a small target didn't bother him in the least. "Damn Unapproveds breed like rats," he thought, "just making more burdens for a World that can't handle them anymore." Of course, HE would never do such a thing. It was not because he didn't want to. He remembered his own parents, and how good they had been to him when he was a little one. He also remembered how they had tried to hide his Mutation. And he remembered how their lives had all fallen apart when the Hunter had taken him that day. Unconsciously, he shook his head, banishing the idea.

The little one stopped, his eyes suddenly glowing cyan in the fading light. He stepped back into an alleyway, hardly daring to breath. The Hunter felt it. He moved carefully, his Psi telling him that his target was wary. But no one would miss him, no one but his hidden friends somewhere Underground. How many of them were there? No one knew for sure. With one in ten births carrying a Mutation, there could be quite a few. Mutations could be exploited, of that HE was proof, but most were to be exterminated. Or sold. He had grown rich over the years selling them, especially the XY's. He smiled. This was an XY.

The target moved back out into the clear, and he fired. A thin bolt of energy, hardly more than a millimeter in diameter, lashed out from his weapon and connected with the target's head. The little one stiffened for a second, then moaned. He fell to the ground without another sound as the shot simply shut down all neural activity in his voluntary systems. His heart would beat, he would breath, but that would be it. The Hunter stepped out of concealment, his Psi feeling the sheer terror rolling off the little one. He smiled, lifting his face mask. The fact that this was someone's son didn't bother him at all, for HE had no son. He would never have a son.

One stipulation to his new job, so long ago, was his being identified to the Global D-base as a Mutant. That meant that although he was given Implants and Approved status, he was not allowed to father children, adopt, or be cloned. Enforcing the decree wouldn't be hard either. His DNA was registered, and the Agency had had him castrated upon his acceptance. He was sure that the Agency WOULD clone him, however, once they saw how affective a Psionic Hunter would be. In his first Cycle of duty in one of the New Cities alone, he had brought in over 500 strays. They were impressed with him. He picked up his prey and slung the stunned XY over his shoulder. The cyan fires in his eyes had gone out, and he could feel the heart hammering against his shoulder as he carried him like a sack of supplies. What was to become of the terrified little XY didn't matter in the least. Whether he went to the Officials, a Facility, or a Dealer meant nothing to the Hunter.

As he began his walk back to his vehicle to head for the Office to deposit his prey, he mused that he hadn't been much older than this little one when they had taken him from his family. He hadn't seen them since, but the Agency assured him that they knew that he was alive and well and Approved now. That was enough.

The suit under his protective armor softly hissed, and he became aware that it had just inoculated his body against something. The suit, from a Facility that raised pure Bios for parts, had sold the Agency the suit for a small fortune. Naturally, it had paid itself of in no time. It kept the Hunter in perfect health and made him almost invincible.

"Probably sick," he muttered, shifting the stunned XY on his shoulder. As if in response, the XY sneezed. Sneezing was not a voluntary action, after all, and he wasn't surprised. He was halfway to the station when the idea came to him. He had just passed into a well lit part of the City where the 3rd Duty business was going on. It was a full 3 Shift World, and it stopped for no reason. He WAS near a Dealer's hidden office, he knew, having used it several times in the past. Would it matter if he brought this one in to the Officials? No. He was already over quota for the Term, anyway, and since he was all alone in life, he was driven by money and possessions. He set the XY down to look him over. He clapped his visor down again, the display coming to life.

His skin was very pale, and his white hair was cut very close to his scalp. His eyebrows were white as well, and the Hunter recalled the cyan glow to his eyes. He looked deep into those eyes, wide with fear. The pupils were vertical slits, not orbs like a Human's. His ears were only slightly pointed, almost normal, as were his teeth. He felt to have the beginnings of musculature, and as the Hunter pulled him back into an alley and stripped off his clothing, he saw the first dustings of body hair. It was white as well, and he had to feel at it to be sure. Everything else, including his XY-parts, were normal. There wasnt' a Nanobot in him.

"A Nightstalker," he whispered, his Psi telling him that the little one was in absolute panic now, his body unable to respond to his frenzied thoughts. He had caught Nightstalkers before, and the Agency had praised him highly on this. It wasn't easy to catch something that could see in the dark as well as the day and could move with such agility. "Oh don't worry," he snapped as he picked him up again, "I'm not going to rape you. I can't rape you." He felt the thought, the worrying coming off of the XY, and curiosity.

"Sure, lots of Adults like little XY's. I'm not one of them, though." More curiosity. It was impossible to lie in a Psionic chat.

He cursed himself at the frustrations he felt. Sure, he'd take a go at this one if he could. He was lying to the XY and to himself. God knew he wanted to. Or an XX, it didn't matter. What did matter, though, was the fact that he couldn't, no matter how bad he wished to. The Agency had castrated him completely, leaving him with nothing at all between his legs except for a small hole through which to urinate. The suit took care of that for him. To exacerbate the problem, the suit that he wore which protected him medically also kept his XY-Balance up to high levels. He was horny as hell, very well built, rounded up stray little XY's and XX's for a living, and couldn't take advantage of it.

The victim must have caught on to it somehow. A rush of arousal, brief and so curious.

"Cut, yes," the Hunter thought back, "Job requirement." More fear, anticipation and fear.

"I'm taking you to a Dealer." A wave of near hysteria. Stunned as he was, however, the victim couldn't even whimper in protest. "What he does with you is none of my concern. Are you sick?"

He knew that the little one couldn't answer, but his Psi 'listened.' Allergies, it felt. The Hunter smiled. "Those can be cured." And with that, he hauled the stunned little Mutant into his vehicle and set a new course for the Dealer he knew so well. The night was young yet, and the one he had just taken had unknowingly informed him that were others in the area. It might just get him a vacation.

They were still asleep. Shar had assembled the group in the main room, but Jayk and Xyn were both absent. She asked the others to be patient, and reached out to them with her Psi. They were both still asleep in Jayk's bed. "Wake up!" she 'shouted' at them. She got back a 'mumbled' protest from Xyn and she smiled. "Come to the main room," she stated, and turned back to the others. "If and when Jayk and our newest family member arrive," she began, "We can go over the plans for the day. All but you, Kefe," she added, "An up & coming Nightstalker like you who works 3rd Duty wouldn't do much good falling asleep at the edge of the Ruins and trying to hide from the sun. Besides, we want your eyes to develop the glow." Kefe smiled, nodded and went in search of his own bed. Shar smiled as she watched him go, moving with that fluid grace that only a Nightstalker Mutant would possess. Before another Cycle passed, Kefe would be a young Man.

When Xyn and Jayk arrived, each dressed as he had been the day before – Xyn in his suit and Jayk in his ragged green tunic – Shar got down to business. "Today we're going out after a transport of vacuum sealed foods. I've been on the Network and we've arranged for the robot craft to malfunction and make a forced landing at the edge of the flats. It should come down near the brush line where the Ruins just start to end, so it won't be a long journey." She used the screens of the Network machines to show them all plans, explaining every step in great detail. They all paid perfect attention, and Xyn could see nothing wrong with her plan. Except for the amount of stuff the ship contained and how many of them there were. It took a while to get all the details across to some of the younger ones, but in the end, the stage was set.

They all nodded, as if they all knew what to do. Xyn, however didn't. He'd never scavenged before in his life. He felt the anticipation, though, and realized it was going to be a lot of work. They would all eat well that night, for certain, and for many a night to come. Then Shar moved towards him. He felt her elation as she put an arm about his small shoulders. "Most of you know Xyn," she stated, "Jayk took him in. He'll be staying with us. Xyn is a Runaway from a Facility, and he's also a Psion, like me. He is, however, pure Bio." There were some gasps of amazement from the assembled group of Outcasts, many of whom Xyn had not met the first few nights before. He realized that Shar had hidden them from him until it was known whether or not he could be trusted. He smiled at her. Finally, it seemed, he had found somewhere to be and something worthwhile to do. The group disbanded, and Xyn felt their sense of urgency. He felt it from Jayk as well. Then, only the three of them remained.

Xyn flushed, and Jayk looked away. "I thought so," she mused, "You seemed to need the rest. You've both slept away a whole day, you know, and a good rainstorm wouldn't hurt either of you." Then she touched Xyn's smooth cheek, raising his perfect face to look into his blue/gray eyes. She noted that his hair that was coming back in was a dark brown color. "Thank you," she said simply, then to Jayk, "Make sure he's prepared. The Others will be here within the day." She then turned to go, and Xyn felt great amounts of anticipation coming from her.

"Shar's been Online. She's had some friends help her hack a transport's program and they're gonna soft-land it outside the Ruins. We go and clean it out, then blow it up. Looks like a program error, a crash, we get food that'll last us months and months and nobody's the wiser! We won't have to got out and scavenge for a LONG time!" Jayk was actually excited, Xyn could feel. He thought about it. It seemed like a good plan to him, now that he knew that the Others were coming.

Once back in Jayk's room, Jayk went to a trunk at the foot of the bed and opened it. He pulled out some kind of hats, gloves, odd clothing, and a pair of boots. He glanced at Xyn. "You won't need anything but a hat," he observed, "since your super suit there will protect you. The flats can be nasty at midday, despite the brush at the edge." Jayk then began to pull off his tunic. Xyn watched him change, his eyes following the eunuch's smooth crotch as he moved to dress in the protective garb. He felt a stirring in his own. From what his Psi had gathered, and from what they had done the day before, Xyn understood. He understood it all.

Xyn laughed. Jayk was wearing a hard hat with a wide brim and skin tight, but thick, shirt and pants. The only exposed part of him was his face. He pulled on the boots and flexed his feet. It was clear that he was unaccustomed to wearing shoes. Everything was the color of the brush line, and Xyn realized that if Jayk were to stand still, he would 'disappear' into the foliage. It was a good plan. Then he thought of something else.

"We'll need the help," Xyn said, "and them coming here. This is a good place, I think, and I think they'll stay here."

Jayk nodded. "Shar's been wanting all the Old City gangs to come here to the Ruins for a long time now. Some of them might get sick, but hell, we'll have enough food and supplies from this transport to keep us all happy for a LONG time. It's gonna take all day, the others are already on the way, but I think it's a great idea. No Hunter's found us since we moved here. The Ruins are too hostile for anyone who's not a Mutant to survive. An Approved would die of a Remnant in a few days out here."

Then Jayk's almond-shaped eyes went flat. "They hate us, Xyn. The Officials, the Agencies, they all hate us for being what we are. It was their forefathers, just like them, who started the Wars. They thought that if they drove us Underground, or rounded us up like animals for sale, they'd get rid of us and just have pure Approveds left. It didn't work though. Mutants are born every day up there. We're going to get together, then Shar and the others will find other groups. We'll all come together and we won't have to be afraid and sneak around and scavenge just to live anymore. We wont' be living in fear of our lives, or in fear of being sold to someone…" Jayk paused, swallowing hard, "…like I was," he concluded.

Xyn nodded, taking the spare hat from Jayk and plunking it down on his stubbly scalp. Having never had hair before in his life, it felt strange. So did the hat. Jayk looked up at him, and laughed through his anger. "You look absolutely stupid!"

Chapter Four
Cries in the Night

Xyn and Jayk help with the raiding of the transport ship and meet Chriss, another young Mutant who has made a stunning discovery about Mutant powers. The Hunter is onto them, and is dispatched to intercept the group.

"…and then the sound of a distant gun, and the cry of a hungry child…"
– Roger Daltrey, After the Fire.

"Come away, oh Human child
to the waters and the wild.
With a faery hand in hand,
for the world's more full of weeping
than you can understand."
– Yeats, & Dr. Know (because there's nothing he doesn't)

– 'AI', Kubrick/Spielberg 2001

The Ruins did not actually end at the flats, Xyn recalled, as they all gathered and set out to await the soft-landing of the transport ship that Shar and her friends had sabotaged. The remnants of a collapsed civilization gradually crumbled into the relentless onslaught of Nature's reclamation; it was Nature, however, that abruptly ended at the place that the Mutants knew as the Flats. As they climbed up various ladders, some of them coming up out of what had once been sewers, Xyn remembered crossing the barren wastelands with Jayk on their long return trip from the forest. He knew that had it not been for his suit which protected his pure Bio body, that he would not have made it. He also marveled at how Jayk, without such protection, could survive it. And on a regular basis at that. His own bare face had been scorched by the time they had crossed it, with Jayk leading him back to shelter in the Ruins, but the suit had healed it quickly. So quickly in fact, that no one had paid it much attention. And it had healed one of them, bringing Xyn into their confidence. So it was with great curiosity that he followed his friend Jayk up the ladder, out of the small hole in what once had been a busy street, and waited for directions. He watched as others emerged from various exit apertures, here and there, and thought of the ghosts in the scarey stories he had read in some old books Mr. Rick had given him back at the Facility. Ghosts, the restless spirits of the dead, rising up from the graves to wander the Earth. He watched as they came out of hidden entryways here and there, like secrets finally let loose. Several of them looked around in wonder. So many were so little.

Jayk, standing close as he was, caught it. "What's wrong?" he asked, remembering that Xyn was a Psion like Shar.

Xyn shook his stubbly head and smiled. "I was remembering a stupid story, is all," he replied, but then, sensing Jayk's intent, he nodded and let his Psi wander out beyond the group that he knew to be theirs. He hadn't had much time to 'meet' the ones that Shar had hidden from him at first, but the brief time had been enough. He ran a mental inventory of their own group, and satisfied, moved on. He expanded his range, unsure of how far he could go. He reached and reached, his eyes distant He ignored their expectations, their fears, their awe; his Psi passed over Kefe the Nightstalker, who was sleeping back at the place they called home. Jayk waited, as the others clustered about. Shar brought up the rear, her own Psi probing, closer, letting Xyn try the hard work.

She watched calmly as sweat formed up on his brow. Shar knew the effort that he was exerting, but better to find out how far he could reach and tire him a bit now than to exhaust him later. "Look for vertigo," she suggested softly, "many will have to cross a bridge. A large bridge. It is very old, and there will be fear and feelings of being dizzy. They'll be tired as well."

Xyn nodded. "Relief," he finally breathed, when his Psi found them, as they all watched him, "everyone made it across, but the bridge isn't in that bad a shape. It scared a lot of them. A lot of them are little ones! And there's so many of them! It's new to them, isn't it? I mean, being above ground?"

Shar nodded, but Xyn's brows creased as if in great thought. His eyes went distant again. From that group, and it was a large group, he felt something. He carefully filtered out vertigo, fear, weariness. They would naturally be expectant, and jumpy. He ignored that as well. But there was something else, he FELT it. Somehow, he could 'see' a vision of the huge crowd of them crossing the bridge, but the viewpoint was all wrong. He bent all of his will towards it, following it back, and his knees buckled. Had it not been for Jayk's quick reflexes, he would have fallen. Several of their gang gasped, but Shar was moving even as Jayk was. As Xyn's legs failed and Jayk caught him, she herself grabbed the young Psion from behind. One arm caught him under the armpits, and her slender and long-fingered free hand encircled his rough scalp, the stubble of new hair growth tickling her palms, as her Psi joined his and took flight over the miles to 'see' what he 'saw.'

She quickly ran through Xyn's mind, deftly skipping over the recent memories of the boys' sexual escapades. For some reason, those memories loomed large in Xyn's mind. Shar allowed herself a brief moment to store these memories, mainly Jayk's happiness, for later analysis and moved on. She read what Xyn had already 'seen,' and she probed further. Xyn had filtered out several emotions, and she knew why. "He's good," she thought to herself, so that the boy would not know it, "very good, but he's no match for this!" She carefully hid her own shock at her discovery. Someone was missing. That's why they were late coming. Only at the bridge so far? They had not traveled at night. Their Nightstalker, a Mutant who could see in the dark and who was almost inexhaustible, like Jayk – almost – or Kefe, certainly, was not with them. Nightstalkers were valuable, but Jayk's eyes lacked the cyan/blue glow of Kefe's. And they knew that someone had taken him – a Hunter. And that same Hunter was hiding, watching them through his computer assisted visor, on the opposite side of the bridge. He was shielding his thoughts, carefully, knowing that some of them were Psions. And HE was a Psion as well.

The rumors had been true. The other gang leaders had been right. An Agency HAD captured and trained one of them to hunt down his own kind. THAT was what Xyn had felt, how he had 'seen' the wrong angled view, but had not been strong enough to identify it. Without trying, for there was no time to protect Xyn from it, Shar locked onto this Hunter's mind and struck with only a fraction of her Will.

She berated herself for showing it. Stupid! Now they all knew that something was wrong. She had to cover it. A part of her groaned inwardly, and she drew herself up to lie to them. They loved her, they trusted her. They depended on her for their survival.

Carefully, they eased Xyn to the ground. Jayk uncorked an old canteen that he was carrying in his pack and got the trembling boy to take a drink. After a few moments, he shook his head and looked around. His Psi had shut down, and he groaned as his eyes slowly focused.

"Xyn over-exerted himself, that's all, dear," she lied, "Everyone is across the bridge, running late, but they'll arrive in time to help. Let's go meet the other gangs and head for the Flats."

He didn't face her. He left his eyes staying intentionally unfocused, wandering. Tired as he was, Xyn knew better.

He slammed his visor up and cursed, dropping his scanning device. His head throbbed with the pain of the onslaught. "Idiot!" he screamed at himself, kicking at an unoffending orange lily at his feet. He hated flowers. Damn weeds were everywhere. Someone should level this stinking place once for all. Abandoned buildings, everything relatively intact – it wasn't like a war where the bombs had blasted everything into rubble. Instead, everyone had just died of a hundred different diseases at once. The city itself was still there, but Nature wanted it back. It had had a long time to reclaim it, and it was doing a good job. He kicked at the flowers again.

He had been caught off guard, he realized. He had been watching the readouts in his visor, flashing in front of his eyes as the display zoomed in on the gang of Mutants and various other Unapproveds crossing the old bridge. He had hoped that some of them would fall from it, fall through it, but the ancient structure had been built well and it was still strong. He had watched with his technology, not probing them with his Psi, shielding his thoughts. They weren't traveling at night, and as he had watched, he realized that the little Nightstalker that he had just sold to a Dealer the night before had probably been theirs – and the only one they had. He had imagined that by now the little freak was gelded, if not dead or resold even, and that he himself had gotten careless. The thoughts had aroused him, futile as that was, but that he could not help. His suit kept his hormones levels high, and he cursed it.

But someone had felt him, of that he was sure. The touch of that Psi was somehow familiar. He thought back, back to when he had discovered his talent (or curse) as a young boy. With a gasp he realized that it felt like that. A little one, an XY, with a Psi had sensed him, but he was weak – weak or too far away. He thought about it for a moment longer, a hand subconsciously going to his empty crotch and absently scratching a non-existent itch. He thought of the men taking him, his parents cries in vain for their son, the tests, the imprisonment at the 'school,' and finally, the ultimatum and the castration surgery. He sighed heavily and sat in the midst of the orange lilies.

His head still throbbed, and he realized that the little one couldn't have done it. He wasn't with this group, the bridge group, as he thought of them. He was further away, watching the bridge crossing group. Very far away. The very notion of it told him that the little XY was strong, stronger than he had ever been when HE was that little. And he knew that it faded with age. In twenty Cycles, his Psi would probably be so weak that it would be useless, or gone. But in the past few Cycles, he had noticed that is wasn't the same. It took longer to 'fire it up,' longer to clear it up, and it tired him out easier than before. And although he tried not to think about it, he realized that since the Agency had gelded him and put him in the damn Suit, that it had grown steadily weaker. He had some ideas about that, but he didn't want to deal with them. He tried not to think about it, but his head hurt too bad. He couldn't have done it, this far off little one. Someone else had, and whoever it was had been powerful beyond belief.

He sighed again, his mind racing. He wasn't alone, this little Psion. He felt like eleven, maybe thirteen Cycles at most. His own Suit pumped painkillers into him, and he breathed easier. When his head began to clear a bit from the pain of the psychic slap, he scanned his own memory. They were crossing the bridge, afraid, dizzy, but full of ambition. They were going somewhere. Somewhere important. He'd never seen so many all together at once, and out above ground! It would be the biggest strike of his career, hell, the biggest ever! This would have to be enough for him to be able to retire, and retire well. A golden close to his career.

"That's IF they let me retire," he grumbled. But deep down, he knew that they probably wouldn't. They'd just repair him, replace parts, send him back out. He didn't want to think about that.

Still, the thought of so many gnawed at him. WHY are there so many of them here?

And then he had felt him again. That little mind, brushing over them, ignoring them, reporting to someone else, moving on… and then finding him. "I was shielding," he muttered to no one but the trampled lilies, "how in hell did he FEEL me?"

Because he's good, the thought came to him, he's young and he's good and he's got nothing to lose and he's having a good time. He's got his friends, he's got HER, and he knows it.

The Hunter sighed and returned to his hidden vehicle. Some weeds and brush DID have uses, after all. He climbed inside and closed the hatch. Looking over the control panels, he realized that he had pushed his craft a bit too far, and that no one had ever gone this far out. Hell, no one could. No one without a Suit – or who wasn't a Mutant – could survive here. He'd have to start running emergency power soon enough. He filed a routine report – tracking, times, etc., but made no mention of how MANY he was tracking at once. He wanted this one to be a big surprise. But Suit or not, it couldn't heal or treat his Psi, and his Psi hurt. It hurt bad. SHE had hurt it bad, as if in warning, he felt it as it had hit him – "STAY AWAY FROM ME AND MY CHILDREN!"

The transport ship was heard long before it was ever seen. When the soft roar filled their ears, the little ones, Mutants, and everyone else along for the trip disappeared into the allies and small places like frightened mice. Xyn felt a hand on his upper arm and knew that something was wrong. He let himself be pulled, still a bit stunned from his encounter, into a deep doorway of some building that rose up into the very clouds. Xyn felt all bemused at the sight and his mind wandered back to how this place must have looked when it was alive and full of life… until a small, soft hand touched his chin and guided his gaze down to a smiling face. A face that had not, for the longest time, even remembered how to smile. "Earth to Xyn!" the child's voice said. Xyn focused on the mouth, the thin and ruby red lips that framed a very white set of evil looking fangs. But this was no child. This was a slow Mutant, an unbelievably old soul trapped almost forever in the body of a little one. The gelded body of a little one… a former slave… what was the word? He couldn't focus.

Xyn reached up and took that hand in his own. His mind cleared. For a brief instant, they were Xyn/Jayk once again, as the other's eyes widened and his smile broadened. It lasted only an instant.

"I-I'm not sure," Xyn replied, "I think I hurt myself." He was also becoming aware of the stirring between his legs as he looked at Jayk. His memory raced, but he put it out of his mind. He was no shape to deal with THOSE feelings.

Jayk scanned the skyline, and pointed. A black speck was moving closer to them. "It's the transport!" he cried.

Then Shar's voice echoed in his mind, and he knew that Jayk and all the others heard it as well. The ship approaches! There is nothing to fear. Down this street to the two tall buildings near where the water once was, that is where it will land. Make haste, the others are still coming.

From their nooks and crannies they emerged, a small army of them, Xyn thought. There were more than before, it seemed, but he couldn't be sure. He was in no shape to power up his Psi again, and the roar of the ship's engines was deafening. They formed up in a ragged formation, and following Shar, headed off down the street. They had to stop several times for the smaller ones to rest, but by almost noon they could see the two buildings that she had spoken of. But seeing them wasn't the end of the journey – they were so big that they continued to only SEE them for the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

By the hot time of the day, they were all standing in the shadows of those buildings staring at the transport as it vented drive gasses and continued to shut down. Its lights had gone off, and as they approached, several hatches opened with a loud hiss. Many of the younger ones jumped and a few ran. Shar, however, eased their minds with air of calm and dignity that she exuded. To Xyn, she was like a commander in charge of an army, waiting to give the orders that would bring victory. Unafraid, and as if she knew what to find inside, Shar entered the ship with Jayk and Xyn close behind her.

The rest of her gang followed, reassured by her lead. Shar went immediately to the command center, making sure that the ship was indeed shutting down. Even robot transports had stations for manual flight controls and real pilots. Jayk and Xyn watched over her shoulder as she nodded and smiled at the controls. She punched in a few commands, then turned to face them. "Get some of the older ones in here and start passing out supplies. Make sure no one touches the green panels on the crates or they'll open and be ruined. Open only what we need to eat now. There should be anti-grav handles in boxes in the cargo holds for the larger containers. Use them. Show them how, Jayk. Speed if of the essence!"

They relayed their orders and soon the ship was crawling with people that Xyn had never seen. Word traveled fast amongst them, and now and again he caught bits and pieces of voices in his head, Shar's and some strange others. They were amazingly organized as Xyn began to understand, finally, how they proposed to get all of this cargo back underground to where they had come from. They had traveled all morning and into the heat of the day, and would have to carry it all back. It would probably take all night to unload it as well, and night was not that far off. The anti-gravs made it all make sense, as did the small vehicles they found in the holds. Xyn soon realized as well that the resident Psions of the other groups were working in concert, like a hive mind to coordinate the project. It was a strange sensation as he touched on it, and Xyn was not at all unhappy about having not been invited.

It was late the next morning by the time the ship had been emptied, counting the few times that some man, a very large man with a frightening artificial eye, had called for lunch and dinner breaks. Xyn had also found his scheduling of napping cycles to be remarkably arranged.

Feeding was the worst, though. Arranging rest was nothing compared to that. All of them were hungry. It wrenched at Xyn's heart to see them eating as they broke a few small crates open. His Psi was functioning again, although he kept it under rigid control. Once he had the excited anticipation of food filtered out, it was much easier. After all, having starving workers handling food wasn't really an ideal work situation. Xyn was fatigued as well, having been unable to sleep on his allotted time, as well as being sore from working. Instead of sleeping, he had lain awake, watching as a few other smaller groups arrived in the night. In each of these groups, there was a small boy with glowing cyan eyes leading the way. Xyn had analyzed them all, making mental notes so that he could 'scan' over them if need be. All in all, since Jayk was seemingly tireless, as were Shar and many of the others, it was a rough night for him. Despite his Suit, he wasn't used to hard labor.

He finally lost that precious control when he saw the huge man hand a small box to a bone-thin child, who, despite looking sick and starved, had no outward Mutations. The box popped open as the child laid a small and nail-bitten hand on the green panel, revealing what looked to Xyn like a pleasant smelling but nasty looking mess. The child's eyes filled, and he attacked the stuff like an animal. It's more food than I've seen in a month! came the thought to Xyn's mind, along with scattered images of shivering in the rain and eating garbage. He 'saw' this ravenous child huddled in a dumpster, burning up with a fever, so afraid that he was going to die. The pressing thought on his mind was live, don't vomit – there's nothing to waste. To Xyn, it seemed that death would be preferable to such a horrible existence, but he 'felt' the child's will to live. He so wanted to stay alive. Xyn 'saw' the adults, 'heard' their cries of "Begone!". He 'felt' the various items thrown at the child strike him, and he was running… he was so tired, exhausted from not only hunger and sickness but from rejection; yet he ran.

Numbed to the center of his soul, Xyn stood there, his eyes clenched shut and his body wracked by tremors as he tried to hold it back. He had never in his life been hungry. He had never been cold and frightened. In fact, he had never been alone in his life. Even the long night of walking through the forest after the fire had not been bad – it had been fun. He had always had Mr. Rick and his Suit and the Facility to protect him. And the forest was ever a curiosity, and so full of things to see and eat and experience for the first time. Things that weren't artificial or bland tasted so good. Being out on his own and exploring had been exciting! This child had had none of that, and Xyn couldn't understand it. Try as he did, he couldn't regain his control.

Then Jayk was there, his hands taking Xyn by the shoulders and turning him away from the frail child. Xyn buried his face in Jayk's shoulder and sobbed as Jayk eased him down onto the floor to lean on the wall and cry it out. Eventually, he managed to do that and sat there, letting Jayk hold him tightly. "Welcome to the real world, Bio-boy," Jayk finally whispered in his ear, his lips brushing over the lobe and his cheek pressing against Xyn's. Xyn said nothing. He knew that Jayk could explain it, surely would explain it, and that he wouldn't like what he was going to hear.

"The ones who survived the Wars," Jayk began, "put their lives back together as best they could. Eventually, they found out that the only way to continue surviving was to replace the parts that failed with mechanical ones. They used to call them cyborgs, now they call them Approveds. But later on, they found out that Implants weren't just for survival. When mankind began to recoup his losses, he realized that the next step in human evolution was upon him. That step also included weeding out the weak. When Kadens the Unifier came to power, the ones who rejected the plan were cast out. Some went to the old cities, some were rounded up and forced, others were executed. Those that didn't conform didn't have much choice. It took them years of realizing their dream, though, to also see that some of mankind had survived, mutated, and adapted naturally. They called us Unapproveds. They decided it would be easier to let us go our own way, live in the old cities and have little to no contact. They didn't think we'd make it.

"But then they started seeing the more powerful Mutations. The Approveds didn't like that, or the increase in our numbers. It was a threat to Kaden's perfect world order, some said. While more and more Approveds got sick and their Implants failed, and maintenance got to be more of a problem, they decided to do something. After all, they had all these Others living apart from their 'perfect world,' so why not use them? Guidelines were set, and those who didn't meet them weren't allowed to reproduce or were cast out. The Eugenics Laws that they came up with were ridiculous. Many called for a full-scale slaughter, but there were enough outcries to prevent it. Some just didn't like it and ran away. Over the Cycles, it only got worse.

"Anyone unfortunate enough to get left alone in the world, like that boy you just saw, were considered no better than animals. Sort of the "this is our space, over there is yours" mentality. Eventually, business sprang up. Hunters came into being to keep Society clean, Facilities for medical research opened to help the Approveds, and of course Dealers were there through it all to make money. And it was us, the Unapproveds, the castoffs, who paid for it. In the end, it all boils down to who you are and where you were born and how lucky your family is. Now it's them or us, and we ain't goin' out without a bang."

Jayk fell silent as Xyn pondered his words. One word, 'Facility,' struck at his heart. He thought back to the other little ones, and he remembered. 'Only Mr. Rick knew I was a Mutant, and he didn't tell. Did he really love me? But I was really only a part of his job; I was an inmate. Stock. Maybe it wasn't me he loved, it was what I did for him. How I made him feel. He didn't love ME, he loved the Mutation – the Psi. If I hadn't run away, would they have done to me what they did to the other XY's? Would I have scars on my belly or back, or be missing an eye, or worse yet, my XY-parts?' Xyn remembered some of the others all too well, especially the little one who had begged to be killed and hadn't come back. Then he remembered his introduction to physical pleasure with Jayk, and he shuddered. Having THOSE cut off didn't sit too well in his mind, but yet he knew. He knew how Jayk felt. He knew how the other ones at the Facility must have felt, at least those that knew then what was being taken from them. He hadn't known.

He glanced back at the frail child, who had fallen asleep against the bulkhead. He was in danger of being stepped on. It was evident that the trip had worn him out, and he'd been trying to help with the unloading as well. He couldn't weigh that much. Very carefully Xyn picked him up and, despite his screaming muscles, carried him out of the ship to the soft grass in the lee of the ship's wing. Jayk nodded and went back to helping with the last bits of unloading as Xyn held the helpless little Unapproved in his arms. His Psi went to work, expanding his education via the sleeping child's mind. He worked softly, so as not to wake the little one, and since his Psi could download data faster than any Approved Implant could ever hope to, he became painfully aware of so much cruelty in a matter of seconds.

Jayk watched him, not knowing this, and turned so that his friend would not see the bitter tears rolling down his own face as he remembered Scot.

He went, instead, in search of Shar, who was busy with the ship's computers. Her processor was fighting with the ship's programming, and the ship was losing.

"I think you better tell what's-his-name to take Xyn off of unload duty. It's too much for him," he said flatly. But she could see that his almond-shaped eyes were red, and she could 'feel' that his heart was heavy once again. Her Psi swept over Xyn, and she sighed.

Shar glanced back to her control panel, back in the pilot's seat, and smiled. "Learn well, Xyn Psion," she murmured to herself, accessing the auto-destruct sequencer and checking the virus program that they had planted. Nothing was amiss, and as she worked, a stanza from an ancient piece of poetry came unbidden to her. She projected it to Xyn, who was holding the sleeping little one and rocking him softly back and forth. The little one was fast asleep in Xyn's arms, and near totally exhausted, Xyn wasn't far behind him. She could feel his pain, and not only from his screaming muscles as his Suit struggled to keep up with the strain. 'For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand,' she thought.

I don't care where you are, or what you're doing, get back here now! Leave a marker beacon if you have to, but this is a Class One order from a Facility Director. If you don't have enough fuel to make it back in, send out a distress beacon when you land somewhere else. Of course, we'll respect the rules of your Hunt and not infringe, but whatever it is, it can wait. The Director of 32 wants YOU, the Hunter with the best record, to find his little missing Bio-stock kid ASAP!

He glared at the message, his rage inflaming his Psi. He carefully pulled it back in. Here he was, right on the heels of a huge group of Unapproveds, ripe for the picking, and they were calling him back! He smacked the screen and started his vehicle in stealth mode. It made no sound as it hovered above the lilies and took off, back from where he had come. "Damn Director, big-shot desk-bound prick. I outta kick HIS ass is what I should do." But then he realized that striking a higher-up in the endless chain of bureaucracy would only get him punished. He thought for a moment as the craft skimmed along over the ground. There were so many of them, they couldn't travel THAT fast. They would be there, and he could find them again. He'd use the Psi if he had to, but he'd find them, he'd get them, and he'd be even more famous. He smiled. "I might even rate some replacement Bio-work when this is all over," he murmured, a grim smile crossing his face.

Satisfied for the moment that he could handle both assignments, he called up the encoded file on his screen and set the craft for auto-pilot. On the screen was an image of a little one, an XY. He was bald, his skin very white, and he was wearing a white Suit. It had a black N on the front and back, as the image rotated. He looked to somewhere around 13 or 14 Cycles. It also projected the image of the boy with some hair, the 'N' gone from his Suit, and then the Suit being dirty. It also projected how he might appear dressed in cast off clothing. "Cute," he grumbled, "but what's so damn important about YOU?"

The Hunter then pulled up the data profile. Runaway, or kidnaped. Unknown. Disappeared after fire at Facility 32, designated XY-N, room #, floor #, ID#… the usual boring bullshit… nothing interesting. It was the flashing ALERT line that got his full attention, however. After all, all Facility parts-brats looked the same to him. They were just stock for Approved repairs, after all. A lurid thought crossed his mind as he opened the file. He smiled.

"ENTER PASSWORD" the screen demanded. He did that, and drew a sharp, whistling breath. He read it again. "Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed. It wasn't often that a simple intercept order was encrypted and requiring the password.

"AFFIRMATIVE," the console replied, showing him Xyn with darker sun-tanned skin.

Then it hit him. Psion. Missing. Age. Again, he smiled, and turned the craft towards a refueling center where he could check in. "Two birds, one stone," he whispered to himself. "I'll get them all, and little Mr. Xy-n too with his big reward bonus!"

Abrams sat at his desk that morning listening to his assistant babbling on and on about the latest inventory reports and parts acquisitions as if he were trading hovercar parts. "Yes, a liver for an XY @ 11 Cycles if you please, low mileage…" "How about some genitalia for a congenital eunuch Approved brat who doesn't deserve them?" "One good deep blue eye for a blind XX on the North coast? Ship it right out! We at Facility 32 have got a part for YOU!" Abrams belched and exhaled harshly, letting the fumes of his somewhat offensive breakfast/lunch carry towards his chattering underling. He paused.

"'scuse me," Abrams offered in a dead tone. Lately, he had taken no joy in his work and left most of it to the ass-kissers and hopefuls. What was the point? He was alone, he was always going to be alone, and the better part of his own Soul was missing. 'Peddlers of flesh', he thought to himself, 'that's all we are. Dealers in agony and death. Liars to ourselves. Killers of children.'

His assistant recovered himself and continued. "Now about this XY-N of ours," he began.

The assistant looked abashed. "THE Hunter, sir," he replied, "He checked in not long ago, refueling. Thinks he's onto something big."

"Xyn is his top priority!" Abrams thundered with uncharacteristic heat. "I don't give a fuck about the other scum he brings in or the ones he hands over to the Dealers. I don't care about his jaded amusements, whatever they may be, or how rich he's getting. He's only a payroll to keep him in line, easier to manage. Works better that way, actually. Just remind him not to try and rise above himself. We DO own him, you know. After all, he IS one of THEM, not US. I'm not after damaged goods here, do you get me? If he brings in Xyn with so much as one hair on his head with a split end or even a hangnail, I'll have his head on a plate on THIS desk!"

"It is reasonable to assume that the Runaway has grown some hair by now, yes," the assistant noted clinically, trying to evade his obvious slip. "And of course his Suit will keep him maintained for approximately another five years if all goes well and he doesn't injure himself seriously." Yet Abrams had let something slip. It wasn't 'X'- 'Y'- 'dash'- 'N'. He had said the one word, it sounded like 'ZIN'. And he instantly recognized the anagram pronounced. Abrams was attached to this one.

He stared at his boss for a moment, then left. Quickly. He had to think about his discovery.

Abrams let his head fall onto his desk with a 'thunk' and sighed. "If anyone can find my boy, I know he can," he reassured himself. The ache in his heart was still there. Yet he went back to his Network connection, searching, inquiring… calling in old debts and favors. Someone somewhere in his own past and out there in his vast array of connections had to know something.

By noon the next day, the transport was emptied of everything they could use. Shar broke her Network connection to the ship's computers and made sure, with a quick sweep of her Psi, that everyone was off the ship. The ship's sensors also showed no one else in the vicinity, and the last expected group had arrived. There were now more than ten times the number with which they had begun. Despite those numbers, the anti-grav platforms had helped immensely, and once everyone was headed back to the Underground, she informed them that the ship would blow in approximately one hour. The locator beacon was offline, so no one would find it. In fact, the false records would still how it on course. It was a great haul, and the supplied would feed and clothe her small army for nearly a year. She watched as the group moved on, with anti-gravs, boxes, cases of all sorts and descriptions. She merged her Psi with a few others of the group – all but Xyn – and between them they 'encouraged' everyone to hurry. A soft alert in her own Processor told her it was almost time.

They hurried them as far away from the doomed vessel as they could. The minutes passed slowly, painfully. Finally it was time.

"Take cover!" they all announced, both verbally and mentally. Once again, like vermin scattering before a predator, they began to disappear into the myriad hiding places of the Ruins.

A few minutes later, after everyone had dived into those hiding places, there came a huge explosion from behind them and a gigantic cloud of black smoke reaching up to the sky from between the two towers. Many of the smaller ones screamed in fright, and everyone covered their ears in moans of pain. The shockwave scattered small bits of debris over the entire area. Shar would have liked to have been farther away, but it was too risky. The ship had to be done away with as quickly as possible. Slowly, they reemerged and watched the smoke. There was an unexpected second noise, however, and they all stared in wonder as the crumbling old tower on the left began to teeter and lean dangerously out towards the empty basin of the Flats that had once been the sea. Amazed, they all watched with mouths agape as it fell. Clouds of dust and ash billowed up towards the sky, and the noise was unbelievable. When it was over, an eerie silence fell.

"My friends," she announced, "I think we should leave here as quickly as we can. Someone somewhere HAD to see that!"

Jayk set off to find Xyn, the thrill of the pure destruction still coursing in his veins. It had, as someone had said, been 'wicked.' It didn't take him long to find him. At some point during the morning, Xyn had awakened and gotten the little one something else to eat and moved him far away from the ship. The frail youngster had been exploring a long-dry fountain, staring at the ornate sculptures, when the ship had blown. When Jayk found them, he was clinging to the young Psion, trembling. Both of them were huddled just inside of what once had been a furniture shop of some kind. It wasn't the little one that bothered Jayk, however – it was the blank look in Xyn's eyes as he held the small XY close to him. They were sunken down in an oversized chair that had been raided by mice many times, but still had some stuffing left in it. They both looked so small, yet comfortable. Jayk felt a familiar pain in his heart. They only needed a book.

Xyn didn't react, but the little one turned to face him. He was basically an unremarkable child. He was thin and pale, his long hair was tangled, and he was very dirty. Jayk noticed that he didn't show any outward signs of Mutation or mutilation, but that meant nothing. The rags he was wearing could well have hidden a plethora of other sins. Jayk knew of those all too well, suddenly realizing, as it sometimes overtook him by surprise, that no one knew that he was a eunuch. No one could know that he was incredibly old either, not by just looking at him. The little one stared back at him, looked him over, and seemed to be staring through him. Then he grinned.

The little one shook his head. "He cries when he's asleep, you know. He doesn't talk anymore, either. I know he's not muted, cause he talked to me before. What's wrong with him? I swear, I didn't hurt him. He said you were his friend, honest, I didn't…"

Jayk nodded his head, about to speak, then suddenly fell into a crouch, ready to attack, as he noticed someone at the very periphery of his sight. He spun with a snarl, placing himself in between his friend and his tag-along. His long-fingered hands suddenly became like claws, and his fangs lengthened and shone in the light.

"Relax," said the newcomer, his voice a mix of cracking alto and hoarseness, "You would be Jayk. Hi. I'm Chriss." He extended a thin, long-fingered hand. Jayk relaxed a bit. "Shar sent me to hurry you up. Well, actually my group's Psion said that she said to find you… anyway… we need to move out. It's getting hot and it's a long hike back to your place."

Carefully, Jayk took his hand. It was unusually warm to the touch, and Jayk saw that it was built like his own hands. Chriss smiled, his normal-looking teeth gleaming white. Jayk looked him over. His shoulder-length hair was white, and his skin had a very faint green tint to it. His eyes were gray, almost colorless, and somewhat almond shaped as his own were. He wore only a ragged pair of short pants that had frayed out to above just above the knees. Jayk noted that his body wasn't very muscular, but it wasn't the build of a boy either. He wasn't fat by any means – none of them were – but he also looked to have a bit stored up here and there. He took in the length of the arms and legs, listened to him speak, and noted the lack of bodily hair. Jayk judged him at about 14 or 15 Cycles if he wasn't a Slow Mutant. Jayk looked closer, noticing that even his eyebrows and lashes were white and that his face was smooth and flawless. Given that much data, he guessed that Chriss was at least castrated.

He didn't give much more thought to Chriss, however; he would remember his face forever. It was one of his gifts. Xyn still hadn't moved, or even blinked for that matter. He was as still as a piece of the antique furniture. Jayk gently slapped his cheek a few times, but got no response. Carefully, he and Chriss lifted him to his feet, and although he seemed to be able to walk, he stopped if they let go of him. Chriss passed a hand in front of his eyes. Jayk pinched his arm. Nothing.

The little one nodded. "My name's Tym," he offered. It sounded to Jayk like "TIME."

"He'll be fine, Tym," Chriss answered, gently stepping on Jayk's foot. Tym ran, his spindly legs carrying him at a remarkable rate.

Chriss stared him in the face. "I already know what's wrong with him, Jayk. Seen it before. Let me hold him closer to me, so he doesn't chill before it gets hot out here. Hard telling how long he's been like this. I'm a Pyro, so I can keep him warm. I'm also a weak Psion, and let me tell ya, buddy, your friend's lights are on, but no one's home. Right now, he's in some kind of shock and that isn't good. You know how this Facility Suit of his comes off ?"

"You know he's a Psion then?" Jayk asked in shock, nodding. It was, after all, just a bit rude.

Chriss nodded. "I met Shar just not long ago, and I know all about your group. I'm sorta the second in command for mine since I'm the next biggest XY… well… sorta that too. And yea, I'm a eunuch, too. I knew you were wondering about it. I didn't mean to pry."

"Not yet," Chriss stated, motioning for Jayk to help him. He didn't understand why, but once they had Xyn out of his Suit, which didn't even rate a blink from the young Psion, he realized that Chriss was looking over Xyn's body for damage. Even though the Suit wasn't torn, he was still looking, looking for signs of blunt force injury or bruises – anything. Jayk watched Chriss' eyes sweep over Xyn naked body, rolling him over and over and doing it again. Xyn didn't even whimper. "I see he's still intact down there," Chriss noted clinically, as his yes passed over Xyn's groin. Again he motioned Jayk to help him put Xyn back into his Suit.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jayk demanded with sudden heat. He also realized, amazingly, that he was feeling jealous. He flushed.

"Oh, sorry," Chriss offered, a small flash of their intimacy coming to his mind. "Anyway, it has to do with power, ability, Mutation, whatever you wanna call it. Some of us have a theory. One of our gang is an e-XY, a eunuch. No balls. He got caught by a Dealer when he was pretty little and they castrated him. He got away though, because when he was supposed to be old enough for puberty to start, his powers went wild! We don't even have a name for it, but we did make some guesses. We're positive on it now, you probably guessed, since I'm a eunuch too…"

Jayk felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as they picked up Xyn and began carrying him. Chriss continued to explain.

"…see what happens is if you don't hit puberty, or you lose the hormone flow of puberty somehow, like by being cut – or getting sick or something, your powers make up for it. It's almost like the testosterone limits and eventually kills what you can do," Chriss continued, "so I volunteered. I had a constant pain in one of my balls anyway, so I let our leader do it to me. That and my voice was breaking and there were these feelings… anyway…," he coughed and flushed a bit, embarrassed. "I couldn't deal with it. That, and I'd started getting headaches when I would heat up. You know what? About a month after my balls were gone, the headaches stopped and I was setting fire to things that don't even burn naturally! You know you can torch a rock if you can get it hot enough?"

It was soaking into Jayk's head slowly, and it was stunning. Being a Mutant, an Outcast, was bad enough. Having been caught and sold as a slave, gelded even – that had been worse. But to volunteer? This Pyro has WANTED his balls cut off, to prove a theory ?!

"Do tell," Jayk whispered, his sinking feeling becoming nausea. He tightened his grip on Xyn. More than anything, he wanted to go home, to get Xyn home – and get him away from Chriss.

^Paolox3_

XY-N

Summary

Characters

Category & Story codes

Disclaimer

Author & Editor's note

Table of Contents

Chapter One
After the Fire

Chapter Two
The Fire Still Burns

Chapter Three
I Heard a Voice Asking…

Chapter Four
Cries in the Night

^Paolox3_

XY-N

Summary

Characters

Category & Story codes

Disclaimer

Author & Editor's note

Table of Contents

Chapter OneAfter the Fire

Chapter TwoThe Fire Still Burns

Chapter ThreeI Heard a Voice Asking…

Chapter FourCries in the Night

Chapter One
After the Fire

Chapter Two
The Fire Still Burns

Chapter Three
I Heard a Voice Asking…

Chapter Four
Cries in the Night