SILLY SEASON

Fiction, approximately 51,000 words

By Therianthropologist Dave

 

 

Corinne Meadowlark, Newspaper Stringer, sat in her car.� The door was open for fresh air.� She sighed, and her breasts heaved with her sigh.� She waited for a ride to interview the matriarch of the Corben family in order to write her next feature article.

 

As directed, Cee had stationed the car in the corner of the lot at a roadside park on M-37 some minutes outside of Newaygo.� Even in early August, being mid-morning, the place was deserted.� This suited her perfectly.� And it seemed to suit her ride � whoever he was to be � perfectly as well.� But she�d not seen her ride.

 

All this waiting was getting a little frustrating.� Was she just chasing a will-o�-the-wisp?� That call White had mentioned might have been a prank.� Corinne was beginning to feel impatient.� She fingered the handle to the large travel-bag that sat on the right front seat.� It held her change of clothes � and in a pouch on the side � extra styluses, a notepad, its keyboard attachment, and an electronic film pack.

 

�Ms. Meadowlark!� That call had come two days ago, from Mr. White, the editor of the Tecumseh Trumpet.� �I want you to write a feature story on Dr. Anne Corben.� She�s called � she�s up North with her family � some sort of vacation holiday � and she�s given the paper a chance to interview her.�

 

�Anne Corben?� The Doctor Anne Corben?� The famous genetic engineer?� She hasn�t given an interview in twenty years!�

 

�The very same.� And it has been more like twenty-five years since the ABC News interview.� This is a fantastic opportunity for the paper!� She and her husband and children are �getting away from it all� at a retreat in the western part of the state.� Near a place called Woodland Park.� If you can find it on a map.�

 

�Why me?� Cee had asked, a little nettled when she finally traced out where she�d have to go on a state road map.� She hated overnight stays at motels, especially cheap ones, and this would involve at least two nights of those, unless she slept in the car.

 

�Because all my regular reporters � and all the other stringers we work with � are on vacation too, Meadowlark!�� That was an exasperated voice.

 

And it could be a hoax. Corinne had decided right then and there.� It was the �Silly Season� � the time of year when even the least newsworthy topic sometimes made headlines.� Oh, well.� Cee needed the cash, and White had offered to pay mileage, food and lodging for the trip, at least.

 

Well, she�d reasoned, perhaps I should go out and see the world for a bit.� The problem was, that meant the world would go out of its way to see her!� Not something she relished.� One nice thing about being a print reporter � I write the feature articles about them; not they about me. And as she was her own photographer, that went the same for any pictures.� She fingered the small electronic camera that just fit nicely into her front jeans pocket.

 

�Oh � Ms. Meadowlark?�

 

The light tenor voice came from the outside above her head and brought her out of her reverie.� She looked out the car doorway, and saw a russet pillar of a giant, muscled cat�s leg, including a huge paw attached to it.� Seven claws extended from the paw.� The claws showed an ivory white in the dappled morning sun.� Corinne put her head out the window and looked up.� And then looked up higher.

 

�Ms. Meadowlark?�� The boy�s � or young man�s � face atop the buttoned green shirt that perched above the mountain of flesh that stood facing the side of her car indicated an expectant interest.

 

�Ah � yes?�� Cee pulled herself out of the car.

 

The creature backed off.� It was a silent padded move, with a flexibility of a cat.� A cat with too many limbs.� Corinne saw two pairs of hind-legs piaffe to one side.�� And a waving tail that emerged from that second massive narrow hindquarters, and that looked more like a dragon�s than a cat�s.� The boy�s face momentarily retreated into the shadow of a broad-brimmed paisano�s straw hat.

 

�I�m Chris Corben.�� That voice again.� Strong arms from a short-sleeved shirt adjusted his hat so that Corinne could follow the features of the � young man�s � face.� The blue eyes of the red-mop-head darted to the far side of the parking lot and then to the deserted road.� �Do you have your luggage?� I�m supposed to be your ride to see Mom.�

 

Cee stood leaning up against the car.� This Chris Corben deserved a long look.� �Yes, I do, Hon,� she replied after some delay.� But she didn�t immediately retrieve her bag.� This Chris Corben really deserved a very long look.

 

Underneath the pocketed green shirt was a gray sweatshirt that extended past the short sleeves and down past the short tails to cover most of where his legs should have been.� But he didn�t have any legs �

 

Sometime during that long look, Corinne realized that this wasn�t a human riding some sort of genetically engineered cross between a cat and a mythical dragon.� Chris Corben was part of the beast.� His human torso grew out of the creature where the head and neck should have been.� Or perhaps, the beast was part of Chris Corben.

 

�Sorry, Ms. Meadowlark.� Mom didn�t tell you anything about the family?�� Chris� face looked concerned.� He�d realized that she was staring at him.� Cee must have looked like she was in shock.

 

�Ah.� No.�� Corinne hesitated.� Well, she was in shock, a little.� What bothered her most about Chris was that he just wouldn�t stand still.� His huge lower body � and especially that long heavy tail � just wouldn�t stop moving.� Maybe it was just because he was nervous, but it did bother her.� �Let � let me get my bag.�

 

Corinne heard Chris Corben let out what seemed like a gusty sigh as she turned into the car door to fetch her luggage.� She dragged out the large blue bag with some difficulty.

 

She finally turned her head � Corben had ceased a piaffe with his left flank to her.� His eyes stared at her � or actually her upper torso in profile.� She looked down � the boy-creature had gotten aroused.

 

Cee rolled her eyes.� Another one!� Not for the first time did she wish she didn�t have a body that was the object of a teen-aged male�s wet dream.� She shook her head and returned the boy�s stare.

 

Despite her action, his blue eyes continued to stare at her chest.� Those eyes were so innocent and wide � and his mouth was half-open on that smooth, square-jawed, beardless, peaches-and-cream face.� Totally unabashed.� �You are beautiful!�

 

Corinne wondered if he even realized that he was putting on a display.� Stallion?� No.� Bull?� No.� Bull elephant.� Maybe.� Or more like four bull elephants?� No.� Cee gave up trying to make a comparison.� She had never known a male � of any species � could be so egregious.�� What kept extending below that extremely tucked lower belly of his were certainly inhuman in scope � and now beyond any creature she�d ever heard about.� The effect was almost alien.� She would be screaming to the cloisters if he actually decided to make an advance.� Except that the idea of them actually succeeding with such a difference in number and size was so impossible that it was humorous.

 

Corinne couldn�t help herself.� She giggled.

 

Chris Corben�s human torso jerked backwards.� His eyes focused elsewhere.� His face went beet-red, and then he turned his head away.

 

�Oh.�� He managed to say.

 

Cee choked.� His was a typical adolescent boy�s reaction.� Except that adolescent boys were usually more completely dressed.� Corben behaved like an ostrich.� Not quite burying his head in the sand, the principle was the same:� if he couldn�t see her, she couldn�t see him!� Not.� Ever more obviously.� Not!

 

Cee laughed.

 

In a blur the boy got over his silliness.� He sat down on his rear most hindquarters and presented his broad feral back to the car and Corinne Meadowlark.

 

All those muscles!� Corinne stopped laughing.

 

Cee was even more impressed when the boy�s tail reached over to a thick White Pine tree at the edge of the parking lot.� And coiled about it.� The muscles of the tail swelled and became very apparent � even underneath his caudal appendage�s silken hair.

 

Although Cee heard the cracking of wood, Corben did leave the tree standing.� After about a minute of silence (punctuated by a soft grunt, a bird song and cricket chirps), he released his grip on the tree.

 

Patently ignoring her, the boy-creature drew a large harness-like belt from a pack he wore on his back.� It was black, enormously long, and fit about his lower chest just behind his forelegs.� He cinched it tight with his forepaws.� Complete with gigantic opposable thumbs, Cee thought they behaved like enormous human hands.� It added to the spooky alien feeling of Corben�s dual-natured body.

 

Chris stood up.� He now had a quirky smile on his face.� With one tine of his forward hind left claw, he picked up Corinne�s travel bag and transferred it to his human hands.� If that flexibility of move hadn�t taken her breath away, Corben nearly reversed his human torso and hooked the item to the top of the harness, at his withers.

 

Chris presented his flank once again.� He was dynamic, yes, but he advanced no immediate sexual overtones now.� An embodiment of smooth Grace lowered his chest next to Cee.

 

The boy � young man? � had an absolutely huge lower body, with every muscle defined, even under that sleek long hair.� Corinne fell back to the side of the car as he loomed, even while sitting � couchant?� Was that the word?� Even when Chris sat this way, she looked up to his face.� She guessed that he�d be a giant if he�d been human; but this catlike dragon body of his made his upper torso look small.

 

All of his recent movements had happened so far without a sound from him.� �Ms. Meadowlark, please lock the doors to your car,� he said at last.� �Your editor did tell you that you�d be gone for a few days?�

 

Cee managed a �Yes,� and went about making the car secure.� A rueful What I do for a feature story! passed through her head when she grabbed her small purse, baseball cap and shades from between the front seats.� Not quite sure what to do next she hesitantly approached him.

 

He reached down and held out his hand.� Quietly he said, �Take me by the wrist, and I�ll pull you up.�

 

She did so, and with his practiced move, Cee was on the boy-creature�s back in a moment.� Corinne�s immediate sensation was the size of that back.� And then how soft the long silky golden-red hair was, and how warm.

 

�It is easiest if you sit or lie down backwards, Ms. Meadowlark � you can�t ride me like a horse � back�s too broad.�� Looking over his shoulder, Chris had that Puckish grin on his face again.� �Use your bag as a pillow if you want � soft enough with all the clothes.�

 

Cee held her breath.� From this view, the boy looked like another Chris � a young Christopher Reeve, the actor of many years ago, before his equestrian accident paralyzed him.� �Did anyone tell you that you look like a red-headed Superman?�

 

�Yes, ma�am,� Chris said quietly.� �My mom.

 

�I just saw someone in a car passing by and he had a curious look on his face, Ms. Meadowlark.�� Cee could feel him rock as he rose quickly to his feet.� �If you have fear of heights, just don�t peek over my flanks!�

 

Her right foot slipped into the narrow valley of his spine, and the muscles bunched, locking her ankle in place for a moment.� �Well, if my ankles and wrists don�t get crushed by the working of your back, I�ll be okay!�

 

�Oh, sorry, Ms. Meadowlark.�� He sounded truly abashed as he bounded from the view of the roadside park.

 

�You can call me Cee, Chris.�

 

They slowed now, once out of sight.� Corinne stared at Chris� shirted back, his red mane covered neck, and that shady hat.� A whuffle of an enormous breath came from two blow-holes that emerged from the sides and back of his neck.� Other than his prodigious breathing, the two went on for a time in silence.

 

---

 

It was taking longer than Chris expected.� Pure sweat formed beads and then trickles and streams from his torso.

 

Corinne knew that he was miffed.� His face showed it when he looked back at her, his head looming over her recumbent body.� Fortunately his lower body had not become slick with sweat.� At least, not yet.� Her travel bag did make a decent pillow; and his back a wonderful couch � if she avoided slipping into its deep muscular valleys and rills.� Because of that, she stayed to one side of his back.� She was reading a map, the dappled sun splashing on its translucent face.

 

Chris stopped in frustration.� It had been nearly two hours since he�d picked up his ride.� They�d gone back to the morning�s place and the family was gone.� This had not surprised him; but he�d told Corinne that he�d expected a note of some sort.� But his parents had not left a note or any hint as to which of several favorite sites would be their next encampment.

 

Since then, five potential places had been checked out and found empty.

 

�Use the GPS.�� Corinne mumbled.

 

�I know where we are!�� Chris� nettled voice came back to her.� �The question is where they are!�

 

Corinne sympathized with the huge boy-creature a little.� Gone was the easy �can-do� confidence of the seventeen-year-old of an hour ago.� At the old campsite, after searching for any clue about Dr. Anne Corben�s whereabouts, he�d stopped, lowered himself to the ground, and asked her if she�d mind if he took off his shirt.

 

�I�ll need to put on sunblock.� Mom says I have very fair skin,� he�d said as he ducked his head away from her, pulled off his hat, and shucked the clothes.

 

Peaches and cream, all of his human portion she�d thought as he put his hat back on directly.�� She�d stared at broad shoulders, the play of a nude bodybuilder�s trapezius muscles, and the rippling of the thews of his tapered back as he righted himself and worked the cream onto his front.� His skin is as smooth and perfect as a year-old infant�s!

 

Corinne had not jumped off his flanks � even sitting as he was, it was still a long way down from the top of his feral back.� Yet she�d felt a little uncomfortable about her situation.� There was no question that she had been sitting on the same organism as rose before her � some of the muscles under her rippled as Chris had torqued his torso half about and handed her the tube of lotion.

 

�Would you rub it in my back?� I could do it with a hind paw; but it�s clumsy that way � I can�t see what I�m doing.�

 

Corinne had taken the tube from the hand made huge with extra fingers and joints on those fingers.� She�d noted that was no hair on his chest � at least not of the kind that denoted male maturity.� Again, a feeling of alien paradox had struck Cee.� Chris was undeniably a mature male � but she�d wondered if he�d ever shaved� � or ever would.� He�d noticed her hesitation.� �Who usually helps you?�

 

�My mother � or my sisters � or Ling � Ling Li, my girlfriend.�� Chris had arched his back, showing off his abdominals and the exquisitely defined muscles of his ribcage.

 

Cee had seen no hint of amusement in the boy�s face.� He�s probably not even aware that he�s flirting, she�d finally decided.� She�d absorbed the statement that he was already going with someone with some comfort.� Regardless of his earlier indiscretion, Chris Corben was no raging bull.� He�s safe, she�d concluded as she applied the ointment to the textured back.� Her touch had sent him into a paroxysm of sybaritic delight, the way he�d reacted to her fingers over his human back.

 

The first hour of search had been pleasant.� Corinne had to hang on once or twice as the boy dracocentaur clawed his way up nearly sheer embankments.� Chris was showing off his body to her, even if he didn�t realize it.� Cee kept quiet, even when his pleasure soured as each spot in turn showed up empty.

 

�There they are!�� Chris Corben�s voice once again broke her reverie.

 

Cee sat up as quickly as she could.� Chris was waving an arm � anxiously, as if to stop the apparition of awnings from picking themselves up and moving once again.

 

�And there�s my sister, Cyndy.�

 

For the first time, the boy broke into a canter run, rather than his usual walk or trot.� Corinne bounced a little, which was bothersome � Chris� trot was high-actioned and dream-smooth.

 

�There you are, Christopher!� a girl�s voice said.� It had a cross tone.� A golden female version of Chris Corben appeared in Cee�s field of view.� �You�re late!� Did you get the reporter?�

 

�Yes, Cynthia.�� The boy adopted a bored condescending voice that Cee suspected he reserved for his sister.� Smoothly he pirouetted his body about his forelegs, presenting his flank � and Corinne � to his sibling.

 

�Cyndy, this is Ms. Corinne Meadowlark,� he said, presenting Cee, �Cee, this is Cynthia Corben, my twin sister.�

 

�Older twin sister.�

 

She�s every bit as tall as Chris.� Cee thought.� Cynthia wore a half blouse that covered ample, firm breasts, and exposed her belly to just above her navel.� The human-looking part of her was a walking advertisement for some power exercise system.� The feral part of her was six legged, dragon-tailed and had the broad chest and tuck of her brother.� Her back had a wasp-narrow duo of waists punctuated by two pairs ponderously broad hips.� These were wider than her lower chest.� Her tail was the same golden hair of her lower body and mane, and also just as big as her brother�s.

 

Cynthia�s face was nearly identical to her sibling�s, though maybe a trifle smaller in the chin and softer in her features.� Cee could not help but notice the four large pointed ears protruding out and up from her exploding hair.� Two on each side, one behind the other, the insides of Cynthia�s ears were shell pink, and for all their size, marvelously delicate.

 

�And where�s your hat?�

 

�I don�t need it with my hair, brother.�� Cynthia stared at Corinne.� �Ms. Meadowlark?� Ah ��

 

Cee knew the look the girl-creature gave.� It was a mixed look, of rueful envy.� She had never gotten used to that too typical stare.

 

�� you�ll enjoy meeting my mother.�� The girl had realized that she was being rude.� �I�ve got to go check on J & J and M & M down on the beach, Chris.� You�ll have to wait � Mom and Dad are behind the awning ��� And suddenly, with a grace that belied her tremendous size, Cynthia wheeled and left them.

 

Chris Corben was about to speak �.

 

�Were, dear.�� A contralto voice called out after the rippling tail of the retreating sister.� The new character approached.� One definitely smaller than the giants Cee had been consorting with.� �Lower your passenger to the ground, Christopher � I�ll talk to her now.�

 

Corinne instantly recognized her from photographs.� It was the famous Doctor Anne MacAlester Corben.� And in nearly a quarter century, the face of the famous recluse had not aged a day.� In fact it looked younger � if that were possible.

 

�Cynthia has been upset.�� The black-brunette woman looked after her fleeing daughter.� Then she scrutinized Corinne, while remaining inscrutable herself.� �Did Christopher, here, tell you that tomorrow is their eighteenth birthday?�

 

�No � �� Cee scrambled a little to keep level as the giant boy-creature lowered himself.� �He told me he was seventeen � though I�d never had guessed � parts of him look like he�s only ten.�

 

That teasing comment earned a frown from Chris, who�d turned his top around to join in the conversation.� His human chest swelled and muscles strained in a body-builder�s pose.

 

Doctor Corben laughed � she leaned herself against her son�s lower flank.� With an enormous slender-fingered hand, she tickled his division, which made him twitch.� �Chris wasn�t a bother?�

 

Anne�s full-body clothing of khaki was rumpled and askew.� The garments had disguised the fact for a while, but then Cee gaped.� A nude dragon�s tail now arched over Anne�s back and coiled over the woman�s head.� Though Anne was smaller than her son, she had the same dragon body as Chris or Cynthia.� Corinne guessed that the woman she was to interview had a hairless lower body.� Before Cee could recover, answer Anne�s question or ask one of her own �

 

�Hi there!�� A man prowled up behind the older woman.� Anne spied him and introduced the male version of herself to Corinne.

 

�Corinne, this is Doctor John Theodosius Corben, my Cultural Anthropologist husband.� John, this is Corinne Meadowlark � reporter extraordinaire of the Tecumseh Trumpet.�

 

�Just �Cee� will do.� I�m here to write a feature story on Doctor Corben and � er ��

 

John Corben gave a quirky smile as they examined each other.� �That�s alright.� Two �doctors� in a family can be confusing.� Just call me John � or John Theodosius � there are a couple of other �John�s� here.�� Also dressed in disarrayed khaki � he�d not had time to fully dress � he carried his tan multi-pocketed shirt.� His human chest was more �normal� in size � it was on a scale of a six-foot tall man; but was as hairless as his son�s.� The fellow stood somewhat taller than Anne, and looked to be about twice Cee�s petite height � that would make him ten feet tall.� �Cee.� You�ll want to talk to Anne in private, I suspect.�

 

While Cee had been staring at the man, she found herself transferred to Anne Corben�s back � without touching the ground.� Chris had taken Cee under her arms and placed her on his mother�s back as if Cee were a two-year-old.� Like a jockey, she put her knees on the crown of her host�s back and balanced with her sandaled feet.

 

As Chris detached her baggage and placed it on the ground near the family�s awning, Anne�s body moved away.

 

Cee gasped a bit.� This is like riding a feline Percheron!

 

�Chris, let�s go down to the beach � I want to talk to your sister.�

 

�She�s been a pill all trip, Dad,� Chris said as he rose to his paws.

 

�Yes, I know.� I want to find out what�s really bothering her.� Come on.� Ling has been asking for you all morning.�

 

That announcement changed the son�s attitude immediately.� Cee saw sparks fly in the boy�s eyes.� Now he arranged his body so that nothing could hold him back from going to the beach.

 

Chris left with a gust of wind marking their passage.� The older dracocentaur shrugged his shoulders, smiled knowingly to Anne, and leaped after him.

 

Anne and Corinne were left alone next to the Corben family site.

 

---

 

Anne Corben walked on with Cee on her back for awhile.� Then she stopped under an oak tree on a rise that overlooked the encampment.� Cee noticed several awnings, tents and log picnic tables.� What seemed to be a stream flowed in the distance.� Under the branches of a grove of pine trees, she could just see the reflection of water in a lake.� It was very quiet, except for cheeps of a pine-sparrow.

 

�This is a nice place.�� Anne lowered herself to the ground and rolled her lower body to one side, letting all her legs out.� �We can talk here.� Everyone seems to be at the beach.�� She pointed at different camps � �The Johnson�s are over there, the Li family over on the other side � Ling Li, the middle daughter, is Chris� steady.� Emily Peterson keeps herself there.� She�s Cynthia�s best friend.� She�s the daughter of our late physiology expert.� There are a few more folks ��� She stopped, �Tell you what � if someone specific shows up, I�ll point out who they are to you � �

 

�Thanks!�� Cee had stepped off Anne�s tilted back and stood on the soft grass.� She took the stylus and the tiny notepad in her hip pocket and rested it on the top of her own shoulder.

 

Anne�s upper torso sprouted upright.� She indicated the upper side � the right side � of her back just behind her shoulder as a place for Cee.�� As directed, the woman half-sat, half leaned on the spot.� The body under the clothes on her lower body was warm.� Corinne moved her hand over the back of a khaki blouse scaled to draft-horse size.� The body under that garment that matched the one on Anne�s top lived and breathed, rhythmically, and Cee once again felt the strong muscle of a Corben�s back under her petite butt.

 

Cee looked to her left, over Anne�s valleys of feral waists and mountainous hindquarters.� Anne�s first and second waists were both bare.� The hips and four legs were covered by exquisitely tailored khaki pants � again writ large and with holes for a second waist and the long thick tail.� She cast her eyes into the distance, and took in the scene of a rustic idyll.� �I think I�m going to need a scorecard.� Are they all ��

 

�Dracocentaurs?� More or less.�� Anne looked at her again, then realized the state of dishabille she was in.� She talked as she drew in her shirt belt snug to a tiny waist.� Anne�s chest was revealed to be in perfect proportion � and given arms slender and strong � it was probably quite lean � at least with muscles well toned.� Breasts slightly larger than the conventional average but very firm.

 

Cee sensed a subtle signal emanating from the woman-creature.� A signal of interest that she�d sensed in a very few before.� It was reassuring � the woman was flirting with her!� But somehow Corinne felt vaguely disappointed.

 

Anne continued, unaware of her body�s by-play with the reporter.� �It has been the Corporation�s most successful heritable morph.� Some people complain about its generative instability; but my kids mostly have no trouble with it � and I certainly prefer it!�

 

�They�re gigantic!� But they move like they�re a tenth their size!�� Cee looked back at the awning.� �At the family residence � how do you house them?�� She looked back at the length of Anne�s body.� �And you�re nearly ten feet tall yourself � now.�

 

�We all live in a compound near the Corporation headquarters � built to our � dimensions.� Very comfortable, if a little confining at times.� The children like to run about.� So we go on vacations in the countryside � the transportation up here is a little uncomfortable � we hire semi�s with windowed trailers.� But we�ve gotten used to it.� I�ve had this body mass for about twenty years, and John likes to help me start babies in the fresh air, out of doors.�

 

Cee was surprised.� �Chris is nearly 18.� Aren�t you a little � old � to be having more children?� You were forty-something years old when that last interview broadcast.� You were born July Seventh � �

 

�No, no!� Anne winced, and then smiled.� �July First!� Nineteen Sixty Two.� That error seems to still follow my biography after all these years.�� Cee saw her twitch the cloth stretched over her back as she lay on her left flank.� �In case you�re not good at math, that makes me a Spring chicken at age sixty seven.�

 

�The wrong birthday must be irritating.� The rest of the early bio is right?�

 

�Yes � you can run that � just don�t be too creative.� And I explained the principle reason I decided to morph during the interview.� My associates still call it �Anne�s Infamous Declaration of Independence.�� The upshot was, I wanted babies, hadn�t had any, and my �alarm clock� had already rung.�

 

�You married John when you were in your twenties.� Why none?�

 

�Too busy saving people from disease, I suppose.� Another reason is � well, I�ll answer your question with the question:� Why haven�t you had kids, either, Ms. Meadowlark?�

 

Cee was silent.

 

�Sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable.� You�re supposed to be interviewing me, not the other way around.� The morph reset my clock � in fact, I�ll be fertile now for as long as I live.� Cyndy and Chris are my eldest.� Joseph and Jennifer are nine, and little Margie and Mike are the youngest so far.� They�re four.�

 

�Twins?�

 

�All fraternal twins.� My body�s built to carry two at a time.� Three year gestation period.�� She patted the right fore shoulder next to Cee�s seat with her right hand.� Despite its nine digits and the extra joints in each finger, it looked small next to the muscular root of the lower limb.� �It takes awhile for this body of mine to recover � each baby is several hundred pounds apiece.�

 

�You look like you are in your mid-twenties.� Can I look at your hands?�

 

�Thank you for the compliment!� I had been aiming for twenty-five when I designed this body.� And certainly you can!� You�ve been dying of curiosity about them ever since you first saw them, anyway.�� Laughing, Anne turned her torso about and presented them to Corinne palms down.� She smiled.� �Be careful with them � they�re the basis for my family�s extraordinary wealth.�

 

Corinne put aside her pad and clasped Anne�s left palm above and below with both hands.� The palm was broader than hers, and just accommodated the eight slender fingers that grew out of them.� Cee guided it so that her palm was up.� She had a single thumb; but Anne�s hand had doubled index fingers, middle fingers, ring fingers and pinkies, side by side.� And all the fingers had two extra joints each.� The hand made Anne�s normal sized wrist seem tiny.� �You have a laboratory at your Headquarters?�

 

Anne smiled � and made a secretive wink.� �No, I take my laboratory wherever I travel.�� Dr. Corben curled her fingers over Cee�s hand.� �You know the techy details of the process?�

 

�Somewhat, yes.� I know that it also costs a customer a lot of money for your services.�

 

�Only as much as they can afford, Ms. Meadowlark.�� Anne stopped smiling.� �And, it is true, the wealthiest clients are sometimes the stingiest.� I try not to let it bother me � or influence the quality.� The process is tricky and delicate, requiring a good deal of time and thought.� And there are limitations.

 

�The morphing process allows me to create but not take away.� I have nine-fingered hands.� I couldn�t make them five-fingered; but I could make them eleven- or thirteen-fingered if I wanted.� Add fingers, add limbs, even add torsos � or other appurtenances � antennae, antlers, horns, ears � even eyes or noses � or mouths or tongues.� Did you know that the Li children have two tongues apiece?� One mouth, though.� They do have difficulty talking clearly ��� Anne shook her head ruefully.

 

�There are other limits � I�ve no cure for cancer; though I can prevent anyone who I morph from ever having it.� And there are dangers.� If the individual is too old, or the morph is too complex or done too quickly, the results can easily be fatal.� And I have made mistakes.�

 

�Yes, I have heard that you require a signed release every time you do your work.�

 

Anne Corben rolled her eyes at that comment from Cee.� �Indeed.� And yes, I think I have misled you � when I said I bring my laboratory with me.� There is no laboratory, not really.� Did you know �my work� is a little like a laying-on of hands?�� The woman dracocentaur pulled her hand from Corinne�s, and displayed it palm out.� With the index fingers of her other hand she deftly traced a thick vein-like process up the outside side of her hand from the wrist that split, and then reached the tip of both her little fingers.

 

Only now did Cee notice that the little fingers ended in hollow-point claws, not fingernails.

 

It took just a moment for Corinne Meadowlark to grasp the implications.� �I � I think I understand.�� Cee paused to work things through.� �You have no laboratory � because then someone could steal the process.� Or rather, the laboratory is within you � you destroyed what laboratory you had after you made this � ultimate morph � of yourself?� Do you just � think of what you want to transform someone into � and scratch them?� Just like � that?�

 

�Exactly!�� Anne smiled brightly.� Almost with a joyful glee.� �Although �thinking� is not quite right � and it takes a bit of time for the morphing glands to produce the serum.� But you�ve caught the gist.

 

Cee sidled away a little from those powerful hands.� I hope Anne doesn�t notice my rudeness.� �Do � others � have this capability?�

 

�Yes.�� There was a note of pride in Anne�s voice.� �Though in a more limited sense.� Only I can morph a person.� Frankly, it takes a genius intelligence to do it successfully.� Others in the group have limited themselves to physiological modifications of customers.�� Doctor Corben drew in a breath.� Jackknifing her body away from the standing Cee, she tied together the loose belt at her hourglass front feral waist with her forepaws.� The thonged and leather-padded lower extremities looked almost like five-fingered human hands, greatly toughened by walking.� �Regeneration.� And hypermuscle, for example.� Ezekiel Johnson discovered that modification and shared it with all of us.� I�m not quite �Superwoman,� but I�m up to bending a steel pipe in my bare hands.� All of this is �standard� on the morphs we provide as well, and of course, our children.�� Anne frowned.

 

Cee realized that Anne had finally noticed Corinne�s distance.� �That�s an incredible amount of power you � and your associates � have.�

 

�Yes � and power corrupts, doesn�t it?�� Anne sighed.� �Believe me, it is more of a drag than an excitement these days.�� At once the woman-creature became concerned.

 

�Did Christopher give you any trouble on the way over?� It took him longer than I expected.�� Confidentially she mumbled � �We try to impress upon our boys and girls that other people �break� easily � to be as gentle as possible � maybe �courtly� is a good word.� But the boy�s libido can overwhelm his senses.�

 

�Only once,� Cee laughed to soften any criticism.� �When he first saw me in profile.�� Cee had actually marveled at the boy-creature�s self-control.� �But you taught him well, I think � he was a true gentleman throughout � very conscientiously so!�� Cee laughed again at the memory.� �Lots of very male adolescent show-off behavior, but nothing serious.�

 

�I sent him because he�s often said he�d like to have a career in journalism.� He didn�t ask you about your profession?�

 

�No.� I think he got distracted.�

 

�Well, he�s shy.� And has a fixation about breasts � maybe my fault.� Or, as you say, a typical �growing boy.�� He didn�t show you his ears?�

 

�No.� Why?�

 

�Good.� All our eff-ones have the extra pointed ears.� Chris is particularly self-conscious about the size of his.�

 

�I saw his sister�s.� Actually, they�re very elegant, if a bit outr� to have four of them.�

 

�Christopher�s are much larger than Cynthia�s. �He�ll let only Ling get close to them.� If she heard that he was giving someone else the pleasure of their display, she�d have a hissy-fit.�

 

Corinne laughed uncertainly.� Ears much bigger than his sisters?� �Well, I had no intention of breaking up a relationship!�

 

�There are a lot of relationships here.� A real soap-opera!�� Doctor Corben smiled.� �Ling is probably going to find her Chris has changed into something a little more than she bargained for.� And will have no idea why.�� Now Anne looked closely at Cee.� �The VBH bothers you, Corinne?�

 

It was a dispassionate question.� Corinne remembered that Anne Corben was a medical doctor.� She�d used the technical abbreviation for her physical condition.

 

�Yes, of course it does.�� Cee felt compelled to answer straightforwardly.� �The weight.� The bulk.� The lack of properly fitting clothes.� The stretching skin.�

 

Anne nodded.� �An extreme case like yours bothers lots of people.� And I mean others even more than the one with the condition.� And I don�t necessarily mean the way my son reacted.� Most get surgery for that reason � as soon as the growth stops or slows � mostly because it violates other people�s sensibilities, and makes about forty percent of the population rude and behave screwy at the very least.� You haven�t.�

 

�You�re right � I haven�t � and the growth slowed in my late twenties.� It hasn�t ever quite stopped.� You think I�m crazy?�

 

�Some people would think that.� No.� You have your reasons, I can guess at one or two.�� Anne�s perfectly proportioned upper torso leaned towards Cee.� �I�m not your doctor and you�re not my patient � and I�ll admit I�m rather taken by you.� You�re bi?�

 

Cee blushed.� The famous older woman was making an advance!� �Y-y-yes!�

 

�Oh, thank heavens!�� Anne Corben made a deep sigh of gusty relief.� Then with a rush:� �So am I!� Sorry to be so abrupt about it � but l have a rather exaggerated libido, too � for both beautiful men and strong, handsome women.� We often go swimming topless around here, though, oddly, the boys actually prefer the tops on � I didn�t know your preference, and I�m too much of a straightforward person to compel you to do something you didn�t want to.�� So, I�m dying for you to take off that bed-sheet T-shirt of yours.� Would you?�

 

Corinne Meadowlark choked.� The magnificent Anne Corben was pleading with her.� Without a word she began to untie the shirt from around her belly.� This situation � something that she�d unconsciously hoped for � had come so quickly!� Yet, there was still an element of disappointment.

 

Corinne stood away from Anne.� With some further effort Cee got the cotton garment off her top.

 

�Specialty bra?� You aren�t even five feet tall, are you?� You must have � yes � very good back muscles.� Classic early Virginal Breast Hypertrophy � every ounce of excess fat goes to the breasts.� And the condition preempted physical growth � so you are very petite.�

 

�Are you an MD or a prospective lover?�� Corinne was a little miffed at the woman�s commentary of inspection.

 

Anne laughed.� �Both, I�m afraid.� You�ve dealt with your condition as well as anyone could expect.� I notice the nipple covers.�� She sniffed with her small nose.� �You use cocoa butter on the skin.� I have a supply if you need some.�

 

�If you don�t take this as an invitation �� Cee rarely allowed anyone to see her nude breasts; but something about Anne Corben�s incisive running observations made her take a rash action.� With both arms she pushed aside the cup of her right breast and settled her enormous mammary gland on the weave of Anne�s fore shoulder.� The bra, now relieved of half its burden, allowed her left breast to sag prodigiously.� Cee again leaned against Anne�s feral back, her right breast floating between her top and the Doctor�s.

 

�As I thought.� Hmm � aureole about twenty-five centimeters � nipple unaroused.� May I?�

 

�If you must.�� Corinne tried her hardest to sound disapproving.

 

Anne enfolded her right hand about the front of Cee�s bust.�

 

Immediately Corinne felt the warmth.� The stimulation.

 

Doctor Corben began to chant the chorus of a raunchy ditty:� �Oh, the BUX-om MAID of BUT-ter-MERE, the BUX-om MAID of �� Seven seconds.� Just as I thought.� You�re aroused.� Very easily aroused when you�re in the mood, I suspect.� I�ll take that as a compliment.� Rubbing of the nipples arouses you when you�re moving with the bra on? � hence the guards?�

 

Corinne nodded.� �You don�t sound impressed at their size.�

 

Anne gave that damned quirky smile again.� �Well, I�d expect a ten-centimeter long arousal if you�ve gotten yourself up a lot over the years.� Can you touch your tips with your hands?�� Anne took Corinne�s empty cup in her own huge hands, looked at it, and gently positioned it to help Cee put her breast back into place.

 

�It�s a trick.� I�ve sagged a lot over the last twenty-five years, and that actually helps.� I�ve gotten used to loosening my bra and having them sit beside me on either side on chairs at home.� You know, in the last few years in bed I can actually put my head on my breasts now � like pillows.� I�ve thought about having them reduced; but the loss in sensitivity ��

 

�That�s the reason?� I thought it might be at least one of them.�

 

�Yes.�� Corinne tried not to sound defensive as she struggled with her T-shirt.

 

�No, you are not crazy.�� Anne smiled reassuringly, helping Cee.� �It�s refreshing to see a woman who enough likes being overwhelmingly large to ignore �convention.�� Only you�d like to have them and yourself cuddled, I suppose � and that�s difficult for another of normal stature to provide you.� You�ve seen the old interview?�

 

�Yes.�� Corinne felt her way to tie up the shirt so that her navel was just exposed but hidden beneath the downward extension of her supported breasts.

 

�Then you know I have VBH as well.� Not as extreme as yours � but enough to be remarkable.� It started unusually late in me.� When I was sixteen or seventeen.� I was already in medical school then.�

 

Corinne stared at Anne�s chest.� Yes, she�d seen the interview, and perhaps it was a motivator to go see the woman � they�d have had some common point of reference.� �You must have had a reduction.� You don�t show �� Corinne was a little nettled at the confidence she�d given the woman.� Now the source of her disappointment was finally focused � she tried hard to hide it.� Anne had taken the conventional route out of her impasse with the esthetics of most of society.

 

Anne again gave the quirky Corben family smile.� She�d noticed her interviewer�s distress.� �I never thought I�d hear someone like you have a problem with someone else with the same condition.� Oh, but you really wanted me to show up with a vast bosom?� And you�ve never met a woman anywhere near your size who likes her breasts well enough to keep them?�� Anne Corben grinned impishly.

 

Suddenly, Corinne realized that she was being teased � that Anne had some sort of secret that she was about to reveal.

 

�I�m sorry if you are disappointed in me � in handling my condition in a different manner � but I think you shouldn�t be �� And here Doctor Corben smiled, paused in thought.� �I haven�t had a reduction.� It would be ineffective anyway, due to the morph�s regeneration factor.� No.�� Now Anne breathed too deeply for a normally proportioned woman.� �This � � and she patted a covering hand against her upper torso as it twisted about again to face her interviewer, �� is just a bit of misdirection.� You haven�t noticed my gigantomastia because this � � and she now folded her arms over her thorax like a dressed bodybuilder in a pose �� isn�t my original chest.�

 

�Auntie Annie?� Auntie Annie?� Mikey�s chasing me!�� A girl-child dracocentaur rushed up to Anne Corben at that moment.� She was deep black, with corn-rowed hair, both on her head and on her lower body.� Though Cee took her to be only about four years old, she stood slightly taller than Corinne.

 

�Hello, Jessie,� the woman-dragon said mildly.� Anne was distracted from what she was about to tell Corinne.� �What is it?�

 

Jessie looked about herself, slyly.� Then she took a large flat-white smooth stone from between her hands and her halter-top, and presented it to Anne.� �Oooh, take it!� Take it!�

 

Doctor Corben put a palm out and the girl jammed the ostrich-egg-sized object into it.� Jesse giggled and raced away.

 

�What is that?�� Cee asked as Anne folded her fingers into a nest about the egg, hiding it thoroughly.

 

�A coprolith, I�d guess you�d say.� I suspect from its size and purity, that it is one of Emily�s.� I think they�re playing �romancing the stone� � a variation of hide-and-seek.� Ah, yes, here comes Michael.�

 

Three girl-dracocentaurs raced past Corinne and Anne along the dell that separated their heights from the woods beyond.� They were tossing a Frisbee between their number.�� One of them tossed it impossibly high, and another leaped to retrieve it in mid-flight with a forepaw.� She made a complete roll in the air, transferring the plastic toy to a hand, before landing on all six feet, tail rippling about for balance.

 

�Well done, Regina!� Anne shouted.� Quietly to Cee:� �Regina Fernandez is one of the athletic stars of the pre-teens.�

 

The darker girl now tossed a flat throw into the distance.� The third sprinted after it, running faster than the throw.

 

�The red-headed chaser is Jennifer, my second daughter � they�re both nine.� The first one who threw the disc is Mai Li, who is ten.�� By the time she�d finished pointing out the girls, they were out of sight.

 

�Mom!� Mom?�� A fair-haired boy had run up to Anne, flanks panting.� �Which way did she go?�

 

�Who?�� Anne asked innocently.

 

�Jessie!�

 

�Over to the water pump, I think.�� Now she called after the boy who was bounding away � �Watch out for the stones on the path � they�re sharp!�

 

Annie smiled as she looked down at the stone in her hand.� �We�ll see if he�ll be back when he�s caught up with her, and has found out she doesn�t have the stone.� Rules say the diamond has to be kept or given to somebody, not buried or hidden.� It is pretty good for a four-year-old to make the deduction.� He�s bare-pawed and I suspect he�ll be back complaining about how sharp the stones were, in any event.�� She turned the white stone over in her hand.� �You know, if this were cut and polished, it would be worth millions.�

 

�What is it?�� Cee asked.� She stood there, looking at Anne�s torso from behind her back, wondering why the woman was being so casual about the stone, then.

 

Anne yawned and stretched with the stone in her fist.� �As I said, a coprolith.�� Anne frowned.� �It is getting to be noon.� And I haven�t had a swim this morning.�� She rose to her feet, then reared up onto her rear four legs, with her back still towards Corinne.� Doctor Corben�s tendons made popping sounds and something else made cracking-sounds � like knuckles sounding. �You feel up to walking the quarter mile to the beach?�

 

Her host�s reconfiguration from a dracocentauress to a double-decked giant with a huge lofted waving tail fascinated Cee.� Anne pivoted herself about to face her.� A shock of epiphany made Corinne gasp.� Wordlessly, Cee nodded.

 

�Thanks.� I�m more comfortable standing and walking this way.� I was about to tell you that my original human torso is the lower one � �

 

�Oh!�� Corinne now recognized Anne Corben�s lower breasts through the beige material of her lower �blouse�.� All six of them.� And though the three pairs on the chest part of the lower body were firm, and looked buxom, Cee didn�t realize how large they actually were until Anne�s front right knee approached Cee�s own chest.� She stood staring up at them.

 

Anne leaned languidly against the tree with an outstretched forepaw, and looked down at Cee with that damnable Corben half-smile.� �No, I never did get a reduction, Corinne.� I don�t know if mine are bigger than yours � though I�ve got way more!�� She laughed.

 

Corinne realized that she must have been staring for a long time.� �Oh, sorry.� I�ve been terribly rude.�

 

�That�s alright.�� Anne rolled her eyes up, obviously calculating something.� �Come to think of it � you never saw the ventral side of my lower body until just now, right?� And I thought I had been rude when my nipples down there got an unholy arousal!�� She pushed off from the tree, which creaked.� �We can have a tit-fight later.� I want a swim!�

 

---

 

�Well, my suit is in my bag ��� Corinne said.

 

Just then another of Anne�s offspring came bounding by.� Anne sent her nine-year-old son to fetch Corinne�s bag with her swimsuit.� By the time Joseph came back following their path � this brown-haired boy-dragon was almost as tall as his mother � Corinne had realized that the distance to the beach was a very rough trail and she gratefully accepted his offer of a ride.

 

�Are you the reporter from the Tecumseh Trumpet?�� The wide-eyed boy inquired as Cee rode him like a jockey on a thorobred horse.� His mother walked next to him, towering upright on her four back legs.

 

�Yes.�

 

�Oh, cooool!�� The excited boy dashed forward a few paces, then stopped.� �You�re going swimming with us?�

 

Corinne began to have second thoughts about joining Anne in this venture.� Well, it�s too late now.� She thought of the blue-turquoise outfit � the T-shirt, the enormous Lycra bra and the bottom half of the bikini that was in her bag and hoped they�d survive the excitement.

 

When Cee didn�t speak, Anne continued.� �Yes, she is, Joseph � and I want you and all your friends to be careful when she�s around.� We don�t want the bad press if she almost drowns.�

 

�Yeah, mom.�� The boy sounded like he�d been rebuked.

 

Now out in the open beyond the pines, they walked down the sand and gravel rill that emptied into the beach.� A stream fed into the lake here.� And a minute later the dunes fell away to either side.�

 

Anne stood at the point of a shallow peninsula.� She lowered herself, so her lower arms became legs again.� Once more her body creaked and popped, and Corinne realized that she was again changing her conformation into that of a centaur�s:� Her chest deepened and narrowed somewhat � her lower shoulders positioned more under her rather than to the sides.

 

Dr. Corben gave the stone to Joseph.� �Let Ms. Meadowlark down, and see that Emily gets this back, will you?� Jessie and Michael were playing with it.�

 

Cee looked around � on both sides of them were the dracocentaurs � somewhere between a dozen and two dozen of them � lounging, standing, swimming.� Corinne found herself standing in the warm damp sand of the creek, her bag on dry sand behind her feet.

 

Joseph had let her down, and now he dashed off to the beach, disappearing from sight around a bend.� After a few strides the boy splashed his six clawed feet into nearly wave-less water of the shore.

 

�Sand is getting hot.� Would you like to change here?�� Anne smiled as she waved at someone on the beach.� �I�ll screen you.�� She sat down and signaled for Cee to come next to her flank, by her right fore shoulder.

 

Cee did so, and dug into her bag.� She found the small bikini bottom and the enormous Lycra swim top.

 

�John has my change � he�ll be here in a few minutes.� Let me help you.�� While talking, Dr. Corben had jackknifed her doubled hindquarters into a �U� so that her rearmost rump sat directly in front of Corinne.� �Use my rear to rest your breasts on, dear.�� Anne laughed as she took Cee�s swimsuit into her hands.� �I won�t mind.�

 

�I bet you don�t!� Corinne grinned as she sat on Anne�s withers.� She unclasped her bra.� She was a little startled as the fist-sized blunt tip of Anne�s pale nude tail rippled under the mass of Cee�s left breast and transferred its bulk to the khaki-colored surface of rolled muscle directly in front of her.� With great delicacy, Anne did the same with the right breast.� Corinne glanced over to Anne�s face:� she grimaced in concentration.� What she was doing evidently required an enormous amount of it.

 

�Usually I have my breasts on either side of me when I change my pants � but this is perfect.� Can you get your butt a little closer to your shoulder?�

 

�Yes.� A little higher?�

 

�Yes, no � down a little.� That�s right.�� Corinne stared a moment at Anne�s flexing bare midriffs.� The muscles showed the strain on her wasp waists.� Cee was almost surrounded by Anne�s lower body.� She began to shuck off her jeans, by feel.� �This is uncomfortable for you?�

 

�A little.� Nothing that I can�t hold indefinitely.�� Anne�s torso was in profile to Cee, and now she looked down at the Lycra bra she held with the hand that rested on her shoulder.� �My god,� she breathed, fingering the thing, �These cups are as big as mine, I think.� With a sixty inch band extension and more cleavage, I�d be able to wear this.�

 

�I�m a 36 underbust.� The cups go with a 116-inch overbust.� My free measures are a little deceiving because of my sag � 140 inches by the tapes � but a bra that size would be way too big for me.� Here.�� Cee passed her pants and underthings to the dracocentauress.

 

Anne returned her bottom and Cee doubled up her legs under her only slightly stretched breasts.� At that moment Corinne realized how little of Anne�s rear her breasts actually covered.� She stood as she pulled up the garment around her hips.

 

Anne passed Cee the top held with six of the spidery ten fingers of her right hand.

 

�Perfect!�� Corinne smiled, �I�ve never changed clothes so easily since I was a kid.�

 

�What do you mean?�

 

�Say, Anne?� Can I take you home with me?� You make a wonderful bedroom accessory!�

 

Anne arched her human back and laughed, hands covering her head in amusement.� Fluidly, she unfolded herself.

 

Corinne stood as Anne tossed her the travel clothes.� In the blue bag they went.

 

�I�d accept your offer Corinne; but you�d have to feed me, and I don�t think you could afford that.�� With that comment Anne resumed her standing position, and again Cee heard the snap, pop and crackle of her changing conformation.� �Hello, John!�� Anne called over to her husband, who approached in response.

 

�Doesn�t that hurt, Dr. Corben?�

 

�What?�

 

�Changing from walking on six legs to walking upright on four.� You sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies when you do it.�

 

�Oh?� No ��� Anne pulled off her human-scaled blouse with her upper hands.� �Not at all.�

 

A grinning Dr. John Corben, also standing up, helped her remove the clothing covering her lower of her lower chest.� A Brobdignagian pas de deus ensued, and ultimately Anne�s two torsos were ensconced in deep red tops that matched in style if they never could in size or proportions.� The lower �top� had obvious strains where her six lower breasts protruded.

 

John, standing back nonchalant, watched his mate unbutton and pull off both her pants.� He retrieved them with the blunt tip of his tail and slipped them into a bag that was far larger than Corinne�s.

 

�Actually, I only have one set of �private parts�,� said Anne conversationally as she reached down with her quondam forelegs (now arms, the clawed forepaws, now hands, being perfectly dexterous), �but wearing something on my front pelvis � I guess that�s what you�d call it � makes people more comfortable, somehow.�� On went the dark red bottoms � their shape complicated by openings for tail and the waist between her hips.� In fact, Cee noted, the garments were attached above the right hip behind the back.� All her hips projected enormously from the now form-fitting garments.� �I�d love to try a �one-piece� suit � if I could figure out how to put it on.� Haute Couture bathing fashions for a Gee-zero dracocentauress like me doesn�t have a large clientele, I�m afraid.� There.� Done.� How do I look?�� Anne made a four-legged pirouette.

 

�Marvelous, dear.� And you should really talk to Andria.� She�s getting quite good.�

 

Corinne looked hard at John Corben looking hard at his lady.� She realized that he was sincere.

 

�Ms. Meadowlark � have you had a good talk with Anne?�

 

Corinne nodded.� She sensed that this couple truly loved each other.

 

�You should really make some photographs of us at the beach.� Or perhaps of Anne doing her imitation of the Loch Ness monster?�

 

�John!�

 

Grinning at his wife�s reaction, he took steps towards Cee.� With considerable alacrity, John Corben gently wrapped his tail about Corinne.� Before Cee could react, he had set her on his tail just behind his rear rump, and strode off to the shoreline, together with Anne, holding forepaws like the hands they used to be.

 

---

 

Anne Corben had happily waded into the lake with a very pregnant Manuela Fernandez.� Anne had introduced her as �Doctor Fernandez, PhD.�� This doctor also preferred to stand in the same way that Anne did.� This made her some fifteen or sixteen feet tall � about a head shorter than Anne.�� Cee had never seen such long hair on any woman.� Black semi-gloss, her mane processed from the top of her head, down the middle of her neck and her human back to her withers, and then down almost to the ground, where it had been edged.� Her eight breasts, in yellow polka-dot bikini tops, were arranged like Anne�s. though the upper pair were larger than her host�s, and the lower, somewhat smaller, were full and round.� They obviously were soon to be milk-heavy.� And instead of a sweeping concave lower belly, Manuela�s was startlingly convex � both forward and to either side in two lobes.� From that belly�s shape, positioned just forward of her front pelvis, the Hispanic woman was indeed carrying very large twins.� Her navel, stretched between the two bulges did not evert.� Somehow that had disturbed Cee.

 

Obviously Anne had expected Corinne to join them and the numerous younger offspring that were splashing and dancing in the water; but Cee didn�t want to be inadvertently crushed by all those body masses � and she found out that John Corben had other ideas.

 

At the water�s edge now, Corinne sat on John Corben�s rump.�� She was rather nonplussed about her position, but as she couldn�t do anything about it at the moment (the tip of his tail was still looped around her waist), she listened to his running commentary.

 

�The Lings are stretched out over on the right �

 

�Zeke and Brandy Johnson are over there � you�ve met any of their children?�

 

�Jessie.�� Cee replied as John carried her towards the group.

 

�One of their little ones.� Ling and Chris are beyond them.� The Johnson�s are our experts at hair.� They have all girls � ranging from four to twenty-one.� I see Jeannie, one of their oldest two, is with them.�

 

Corinne had found that it was easy to tell an original dracocentaur morph from their offspring.� Jeannie was typical:� she was much larger than her parents, and had hair on her lower body.� It was colored like a gazelle�s; though she had the claws and muscular form of a cat.� �She�s beautiful.�� Corinne stared at her huge, sleek, muscular body as they went by.

 

The parents stood about her as she sat couchant.� The father looked directly into the girl�s eyes, his long fingers on her chin.� The mother, Brandy, spoke in low tones � she seemed to be consoling her child about something � and as John went past and waved, the girl turned her head to stare at them � then directly at Corinne.� The graceful back-curved spires of her antelope horns nodded above the front of her head.

 

�She�s crying!�� Cee exclaimed.� �What�s wrong?�� She craned her head up to see if John would make an explanation.

 

�I think I know.� Her twin sister, Jacqueline, has managed to get herself pregnant.� And she�s frustrated because she hasn�t,�� John paused.� �This is off the record?�

 

Corinne thought.� Then, reluctantly, said �Yes.�

 

�It looks like all of our children will have a devil of a time getting pregnant.� It�s hard enough for us ��

 

�Really?� I�d never guess it!�

 

�It is,� John frowned down behind him towards Cee�s upturned face.� �But Jackie is the first of our F-1�s to manage it � and not for want of trying � they�re both 21 years old and been seriously working it out with any number of boyfriends since they were 18.� She�s only two months caught, and we�re still worried that she�ll not come to term.� So she�s been cosseted and pampered.� I suspect that Jeannie is feeling a bit neglected.� It�s not her fault � just a bit of bad luck ��� John stopped moving.� �Ah, there they are,� he pointed to an intertwined pair of red- and black-haired dracocentaurs, �My eldest son and his sweet.� Let�s see how Ling Li feels about you.�

 

With that comment, Doctor John Corben grabbed Corinne around her waist with his tail, and with a practiced turn, hurled high into the air out onto the lake�s waters.

 

Her plunge feet first into the wavelets abruptly cut off Cee�s high-pitched scream.

 

---

 

Corinne�s breasts bobbed to the surface, with Cee�s head close behind.� Quickly, she checked out her suit and found to her astonishment that the top had remained intact.� Her next thoughts were how to effect the slowest possible torture and ultimate death of one �-

 

�John Theodosius Corben!�� Came a far-off call dripping with reproof.� �What have you done to our guest!?�� Evidently Anne had seen the man�s throw.

 

Corinne sat in deep water; but that was no problem.� Her breasts were more than adequate floatation devices � she�d heard the joke more than once that large vest-type life preservers should really be called �Corinne Meadowlarks� rather than �Mae Wests�.� With a few paddles of her hand, she oriented her face towards the shore.

 

As the Corben�s argued, the black-haired girl that had been with Chris Corben had slipped into the water.� Ling Li approached Corinne directly.

 

The mass of eight-foot wide shoulders connected to forelegs (arms) whose ankles (wrists) now dipped below the water impressed Cee a good deal.� Corinne could just see the slightly broader hips � and their legs � working behind them.� Otherwise coated with Han-black hair, a deep vee of bare skin divided her lower feral breast.� That recessed vee grew upward and ultimately turned into her elongated human belly.� So long was it that her stomach had five, rather than the human-normal three, pairs of abdominal muscles.� These bowed and flexed as she worked her way out to the floating reporter.

 

Though the girl was still quite distant, Cee had to consciously look higher to take in her human torso.� The variation between Ling�s immense lower body and much smaller waist had astounded Corinne.� The space between waist and lower body, which would have been a normal human girl�s hips, was wildly shaped � as if there was an enormous strain on the skin to stretch far enough to cover the flare.� Indeed, it was in two steps � bare pseudohips that reached quite a bit wider than the girl�s human shoulders, and then bulging hair-covered muscles that grew out to where her neck would have begun if she were a dragon.� Upwards, her figure was hourglass, stretched in the middle.� Corinne estimated that Ling�s body had stolen as much diameter from her waist�s flesh as it dared in order to make it longer.� Above this almost painfully flat thinness was a thorax that led to broad shoulders.� Ling wore only a loose buttoned half-blouse, with elastic bands at the hems around her midriff and bare shoulders.� Her human skin was a perfect, smooth, almost luminescent yellow ochre.

 

Auxiliary windpipes, similar to Chris Corben�s, arched back like collars above either shoulder from her clavicle.� These flowing tubular processes pushed the collar of her blouse to either side.� Ignoring the webbing that loosely attached the windpipes to it, her neck was proportionately long and thin as the waist.

 

Her nose was small, her eyes, now almost closed as she looked down at where she was stepping, were huge.� The cheek bones were broad; but the enormous forehead was slightly protuberant and her jaw somewhat prognathic.� Her lips and mouth were wide � Corinne noted in her mind that this was not so stereotypical of a Han Chinese woman�s face.� Four delicate pointed elf-ears were mostly buried in head hair, their tips extended slightly from the groomed mop.

 

The hair!� A little of it cascaded in loose rings over Ling�s face � her forehead, cheek and under her chin.� But most of the hair was tied in an enormous queue that was nearly wider than the girl�s waist and tumbled down the girl�s back and now dragged in the water by her approaching flank.� She attempted to control its behavior with the crook of her left arm � perhaps �guide� it was a better word.� To keep from twisting her torso, she�d reached down with her huge seven-fingered left hand and dug into the bulges of her lower �neck� muscles or withers or whatever it was called just above her feral shoulders.� The strain on the arm was very noticeable.

 

The burden of the mass of glossy hair slowed her progress as it dragged in the water, and it took a couple of minutes of such slow progress for Ling to approach Corinne.� Ling�s overall appearance gave that feeling, despite her enormous size, that she was delicate, almost exquisitely fragile.� And, of course, she was a stunning beauty.� But then, Corinne had not seen a dracocentauress who hadn�t been.� What was most surrealistic about the girl�s visage was that she wore a pair of gold metal rimmed glasses, which gave her the look of a serious scholar.

 

A good portion of Ling�s tail was still coiled on the beach as her head end reached Corinne.� The top of her hairless �hips� was just above the water.� With only one slender arm available (the other coping with her queue of hair) Ling Li wordlessly steered Cee to where her feral back was below the water.� Then she pushed herself up underneath the intrepid reporter, evidently standing on the tips of her toes (fingers).� Corinne found herself sitting on the corner of the gigantic dracocentauress�s withers.

 

�Hello, I�m Corinne Meadowlark,� Cee introduced herself.� Ling had not said a word as she made a U-turn.

 

Ling paused in her efforts to return to shore and swiveled her stalky waist to look back and down at Corinne.� Cee noted that Ling�s profile showed off her large-boned cheeks.� They were also slightly puffed-out.� Corinne remembered Anne�s brief mention about the Li children having two tongues � and their difficulty in talking � and for a moment she regretted her introductory chattiness.

 

To Cee�s relief, Ling smiled broadly � very broadly � and slipped a tongue out of her mouth.� The astounding view lasted only two or three seconds; but the Han girl�s expression changed quickly to a bit of embarrassed distress, her eyes went cross-eyed, the tongue itself bent into a U, hooked its tip on the inside of Ling�s mouth and pushed itself back in.�� The girl thoughtfully worked her jaw for a moment, and the cheeks on either side puffed out more (she was facing directly towards Cee).� Then she gave a flustered little giggle, and then said as if her mouth was full of cotton:� �Thoorry.� Wing Wee.�� She paused, working the inside of her mouth again.� �Ling � Li ��� She spoke slowly, with a great deal of concentration.

 

�Pleased to meet you!�� Cee said, hoping that Ling would take this as an end to their immediate conversation.� She�d seen only one of the girl�s tongues; but the momentary exposure of that one had been impressive.� She dearly wanted to ask Chris Corben�s girlfriend many questions; but with her difficulty in speaking, she felt she should forebear.

 

As the girl-dragon stepped inshore again, Ling twisted her torso about another quarter turn above her huge feral body, showing Corinne the full trait of her limber waist.� Cee�s back began to hurt in sympathy; but evidently Ling thought nothing of it.� The contortion was due to the distraction on shore.� Anne and her pregnant cohort had arrived on the scene and the alabaster-skinned woman was reading the riot act to her husband.� John�s arms were crossed.� He�d a smile on his face.� Cee agreed with Anne on this one.� In fact, if she�d had arms long enough she�d punch him in the nose!

 

As Cee watched the scene, a slender tail insinuated itself around John Corben�s feral waist.� It wrapped a number of times about the man, without actually touching his skin.� Before he noticed it, the glossy black appendage had seized the male Dr. Corben about his lower middle, lofted him, and had tossed him high into the sky, out into the lake beyond where Corinne had landed a few minutes before.

 

The air in Ling�s blowholes whuffled.� She was breathing hard as she untwisted her human torso and faced forward, towards her motionless boyfriend.� Corinne caught a very pleased, smug smile on her face as it passed by.� Her ears, all four of them, twitched at the satisfying sound of a very loud splash.

 

�He can swim to shore himself,� Cee said half to herself.� Ling�s head nodded.� �How long is your tail, anyway, Ling?�� Corinne regretted directing that question to her carrier.

 

Ling didn�t answer, realizing the rhetorical nature of the statement.� She just looked over her shoulder, her chin above her right windpipe, and smiled resolutely closed-mouthed as she waded back to the lake�s edge.

 

�---

 

Chris Corben sat on his rear-most rump, that silly hat clamped on his head with one hand.� His red-haired back faced Cee and Ling as they approached him.� Corinne noted that he was surreptitiously observing them.� As they came near the beach, Chris turned his head away.

 

�Dah-toor Cor-ven wah righ,� Corinne heard Ling say, �You tur heem � � � Ling struggled to keep her tongues in her mouth for an initial open vowel � �onnn.�

 

�I have seen him get aroused,� Cee said diffidently.� She did not want to alienate Ling.� She was in no position to.

 

�Ooonly little bit,� Ling giggled, �He tol me.�� More struggles with her tongues.� Cee looked back at her ribbon lower waists as her two sets of hindquarters shifted independently.� �You see his ears?�

 

�No.� I hear they are very long.�

 

They had reached Chris.� Corinne estimated that the boy-hunk was only a tiny bit taller than Ling, but quite a bit heavier.� Evidently Ling had left her pack on Chris Corben�s lower shoulder.� Deftly with her available hand, she drew a plastic object from it.� It looked like a mouth-guard, but with extra plastic loops.� Ling inserted it into her mouth, worked her jaw a moment, made a far-away look and � well � Cee observed the girl�s tongues bulge through her cheeks, wriggle and hold still.

 

�Yes.� They are.�� Perfect English, with no hesitation, now came from Ling Li�s mouth.� �Longer than my arms.� Christopher, show off your ears to Corinne.�

 

Reluctantly, the red-haired boy removed his hat.� Out flopped the ends of four enormous ears.� Bare of hair except for rather impressive red tufts on their tips, their flesh tumbled down the boy�s back.

 

No wonder the kid was so careful about ducking when he removed the hat!� They look longer than donkey�s ears.� Corinne couldn�t help but smirking at the young Corben�s embarrassed discomfort.

 

Ling worked her arm out of the embrace of her hawser-like queue, stretched up on her ribbon-waist, and used both hands to stroke the ears, one or two at a time.� Her chest, though that of a female giant, was dwarfed by her boyfriend�s pectorals.� But still he seemed smaller when he�d hauled Cee to the campsite.

 

Soon, the boy�s flesh stiffened and the ears rose like cranes erect above his head.� Christopher�s face had turned beet red.� He shifted his enormous lower body to another seat in the small dune of sand where he�d rested.

 

�Well, we had been cuddling for an hour or two before you came, Corinne.�� Ling said.� �So my dear Chris is already quite aroused.� And he�s such a dear, never showing off his beautiful ears to anyone but me � unless I give him permission, of course.�

 

Chris� attention diverted to Cee, who�d been sitting on Ling�s fore shoulder.� His lungs � both human and feral � began to pant.� So far, he hadn�t said a word.

 

Corinne wondered if he�d lost his mind.� I think he has, at least temporarily � Cee thought as she glanced over the boy�s lower shoulders and saw what was to the landward side of the dune and his sitting body.� What was there, surrounded by the broad red loop of the boy�s dragon-tail, amazed her.� And she thought he�d been aroused by that original sight of her by the car!

 

�That�s an incredible amount of equipment he�s got there,� Cee mumbled.� She thought it was to herself.

 

�Yes.� In lovely red velvet.�� Ling paused.� She�d been looking � was it a bit sadly? � at the parts of her boyfriend that littered the ground.

 

�What�s wrong?�

 

�Isn�t it obvious?�

 

Cee was mystified.

 

�In short?� Ling turned her torso to face Corinne.� She heaved a sigh with her human lungs.� �Ms. Meadowlark, I can�t caress poor Christopher to keep him aroused and make love to him at the same time.� He�s � too long.� The moment I�d stop teasing him to get into position over on the next hump there, he�s too soft.�

 

�You mean � you�ve never made it together?�� Suddenly it dawned on Corinne that the young creatures had a problem.

 

�Oh, yes we have, sort of � but it takes several people,� the boy said, adjusting his glasses.� Ling had stopped her stroking of his ear and so Chris Corben had snapped out of his stupor.

Cee glanced down and the four tapered red pipelines had indeed sagged, although his other equipment there was still quite full.

 

�Or Emily.�

 

�Emily Petersen is scary, Ling.�

 

�You do her every day.�

 

�Have to.�

 

�You enjoy it.�

 

�I enjoy it not hurting after half a day of abstinence.� All the guys will tell you that.�

 

�Humph!� It would be easier if you didn�t have five times the gonads the other guys do.� And I�m not going to get Sammy and your sister to help.�

 

�I didn�t expect you to.� And it�s four-and-one-half.� Get Jeannie and Ronaldo � we can go two by two with them.� And not two on two � that�s needs even more help � and I�m not going to ask Mom or Aunt Manuela.�

 

�How about Abby?�

 

�She�s pregnant � you know pregnant women don�t turn me on � and she�s a Gee-zero, even if she�s your sister.�

 

�Only way one of us got pregnant is when we did a four on four, anyway � Chris.�� Ling marveled, evidently recalling a fantastic memory.� �That was kinky enough to get everyone of us high as a kite.�

 

�That was pure luck.� The Johnson�s told Jackie that.� She�s still snotty though.� You were planning to get pregnant any time soon, Ling?�

 

Corinne was again mystified by the terms in this lover�s squabble.� Two by two?� Four on four?

 

�Hi!� said another voice.� �Someone mention our names?�

 

Cee looked around.� Coming down the beach was a young black haired dragon centaur.� Jeannie � the older black dracocentauress that Corinne had seen before � walked by this fellow�s flank.� Behind them came two other black girls.

 

�Hi Ronaldo, Jeannie!� Ling responded.� Cee got the feeling this was for her benefit.� �I see you brought along Joanie and Jonquil.�

 

The new arrivals needed a good hard look.� Ronaldo had a bullish look about him:� thick necked and thicker in the human waist, he was somewhat shorter than Chris, who was still sitting on his rear butt.� And Ronaldo was perhaps a trifle wider in the chest, if that was possible.� As Corinne stared, Jeannie jumped her fore body onto Ronaldo�s horizontal back, put her forepaws around his feral shoulders and made her feral body a backdrop for the young male�s human torso.� She leaned down and propped her hands on his enormous bovine horns.� Bending over Ronaldo with her face upside down, Jeannie planted a kiss on his cheek.� In reflex, he grasped her long horns with his fists.

 

Corinne decided that Jeannie was in a far better mood than the first time she�d seen her.� Evidently the two had been intimate.� There was that easy telltale hitch in both individual�s movement.

 

Joanie and Jonquil � as Ling named them � galumphed past this show of affection.� The two were zebra striped on their lower bodies; with black corn rowed hair on their head and along the length of their draconic tails.� Slender and gracile, the nubile girls nevertheless had the five full pairs of breasts � one pair on the upper and four pair on the lower chests � that Cee had noted was typical of the grown female children of the morphed parents.� They approached Chris Corben�s half vertical backside and climbed up his shoulders in an apparent attempt to caress his ears.� The boy looked delighted at this sudden new attention.

 

�No you don�t!�� Ling Li commanded the two girls.� Ling murmured her dislike down to Corinne, �Those two are seventeen, six months younger than I am.� They�ll tease any male, even the ones who are already taken.�

 

The striped girls laughed and ignored Ling.� This was tempting an explosion in Cee�s carrier, and Corinne didn�t like this situation.

 

�Oh, get back from him � Jonquil, that means you!�� Jeannie, the elder sister, reprimanded the two.

 

Jonquil had already begun to get results her tactile blandishments:� Chris Corben was beginning to breathe fast again.

 

Jeannie continued in a more conversational voice, �Mrs. Corben and your Mom told me to tell you to find Cyndy � and take Ms. Meadowlark with you � dinner is in an hour.�

 

Ling frowned.� Corinne knew she was very unhappy to leave her boyfriend in the tender ministrations of the younger girl-dragons.� �Hmm � I�m sure Cynthia is with Emily Petersen.�� A look of calculation appeared on Ling�s face.� A tongue worked in her cheek.� �Chris?� she asked her tempted boyfriend.

 

�Yeah?�� The boy was still panting.

 

�Do you want me to send over Emily?�� Ling turned her head towards Jeannie.� �Unless you want to take Chris right now, just after �� She cocked an eyebrow to punctuate her question.� She nodded at Ronaldo in the background.

 

�No � no �� Jeannie shifted her front hind legs out of alignment with her rear hind legs.� Corinne recognized this as a sign of discomfort, and surmised that the girl had just �relieved� her bull dracocentaur consort just a few minutes earlier.

 

�Yes!� Please!�� Said Chris to the original question, interrupting the gazelle-marked girl.� �I�m very uncomfortable right now.�

 

�Okay, Chris.� Just hold on.� I hadn�t realized your not having sex this morning when we usually do would have made you so bad off.�� Ling reached up and brushed Chris Corben�s right front ear tuft.� The boy gasped.� Ling turned her attention towards the other young adults.� She looked pinch-eyed at Jeannie in particular.� �Keep your sisters away from my boyfriend, and I�ll go find Cyndy.�� Without another word, Ling U-turned her body to carry Cee away further down the beach.

 

---

 

�Plhah!�� Ling Li spat out the mouth-insert as soon as she�d completely turned away.� �Mmgnhth!�� Tongues flashed out uncontrolled.� �Owhhh!�

 

It was a minute before Ling managed to pack her tongues back into her mouth.� After that she crossed her arms, mouthpiece dangling from the fingers on one giant but very human hand wrapped behind her human back.� Ling twisted about, and looked behind, her enormous hawser-like queue draped across the dracocentauress� back, staring on the other side of Corinne�s seat.

 

Cee followed her gaze.� To a point almost out of sight, now. Corinne squinted in the haze, saw Ling�s boyfriend running his forepaw along � It took a minute for Cee to recognize that Chris had been stroking the tip of Ling�s tail.

 

Ling�s body quivered under Cee�s butt.

 

�Your tail-tip is an erogenous zone, isn�t it?�

 

Ling just nodded.� She was panting and her human chest was heaving.� Then she winced.� �Yeowpth!�

 

Involuntarily, Ling dropped the mouthpiece, which landed smack on top of Corinne�s right breast, causing it to quiver in waves.� Cee reached out and picked the plastic up, before it had a chance to be knocked off.

 

The long dracocentauress bucked � her hindquarters, loosely coupled, dipped.

 

Corinne looked back to see Ling�s tail come towards her abruptly, flowing back from its outstretched position.

 

Within seconds, a five-foot length of the tip was in Ling�s arms.� Vast loops and figure eight�s of glossy black-haired tail arched behind and over Ling�s back.

 

Corinne found this rather intimidating � for the tail writhed like something quite out of control.� She tried to move closer to her carrier�s delicate fore-torso.

 

Ling was striding forward, almost dancing in pain.� Within seconds, the group on the beach behind Cee had gone out of sight around a bend in the shoreline.

 

�Calm down � please!�� Corinne said urgently.� Ling�s hide was getting slick with sweat.� Cee was very much afraid she might fall off.

 

Ling hesitated.� Her breathing slowed.� She looked down at her rider.� The girl-creature looked an apology as she massaged the last meter of her tail.� There was a series of pops and cracks, and the stiff caudal tip loosened.� Ling flexed it tentatively.

 

Cee offered her the tongue-retainer.� Ling put it back into her mouth.� �What happened?� Did Chris hurt you?�

 

�Ng.� No.� My tail is growing in another vertebrae or three.� It hurts when it does that.� Now my whole tail aches because I snatched it up in a hurry.� I have to be more careful � I haven�t really been able to walk continuously on land since my tail was ten times my body length � between my rear hind legs and forelegs.� Sorry, I can�t keep my retainer in for more than a few minutes at a time right now � I get a gag reflex.� Let�s look for Emily.�� Abruptly, she removed the plastic from her mouth, and started to walk down the now deserted beach.� When her tail stretched, she�d stop, and then pull up most of her tail beside her.� Then she�d start off again.

 

�This length of tail seems to be a problem.�� Corinne commented.

 

�Yepth.� It ith.�� Ling replied.� She struggled with her enunciation and her recalcitrant tongues.

 

�Sorry.�

 

Ling stopped and braced again to again retrieve her extended tail.� �That�th al �� she almost lost her left tongue again �� right.� I have to practice my enunciation.� Ah � ah,� Immediately after that burst of clear speech, one of Ling�s tongues � it looked like her right one � launched itself from her mouth.

 

After a minute�s recovery:� �Hereph �� Ling pointed to something in the soft warm sand a little distance a head of them.� �Emily.�

 

It was the tip of a tail of a dracocentaur � a first generation one.� Emily had once been two-legged.� By now Corinne could readily recognize such hairless caudal appendages, even though this one was pale on the underside, and nearly black on the top.� Cee looked down the beach, but there was no body of a dracocentaur in sight.

 

Finding anything more than Emily�s tail to look at took several pauses as Ling Li gathered her own tail to allow herself to pay it out while walking.� Cee noted that most of it was mostly not much thinner than the waists that connected her lower chest to her front hips, and her front hips to her back hips.� This was slow progress, indeed, though she did wonder why Ling did not just drag it behind her.

 

�Why don�t you just drag it along on the ground?� she asked.

 

Ling twisted to face Corinne, looking down at the reporter�s enormous breasts, still in their specially constructed Lycra top.� In a very forward manner, the oriental creature patted the top of Cee�s slung left mammary gland, causing the flesh to ripple once again like a small sea.� Ling struggled to emit the one word.� �Breasts.�� Then she smiled.

 

This puzzled Cee, and irritated her, as well.� Ling was obviously flat chested.

 

Ling Li turned her stalky waist about and simply continued her mincing sidewinder progress.

 

Ultimately, Emily�s tail thickened as it meandered on the beach.� It began to show a texture of muscles as well.� And, finally, a double pair of pawed and clawed hips loomed into sight.� Hairless, sitting on what Cee presumed was Emily�s left side, they were black on the top and the outside, and pale underneath and between the four legs.� But it took about three times as long as Corinne expected to get to them.� When Ling finally did reach the tines of Emily�s back-reaching hind paw, the hips loomed above Cee�s head � the Brobdignagian pelvis bones were indeed level with Ling�s height.� About each of the two widely spaced hips were a dracocentaur�s swimsuit bottoms.� But the bright yellow things were enormous.

 

�This � � Corinne intoned, not believing her eyes �� is impossible.�� She pointed at the monstrous form in front of her.� It seemed almost surrealistic � the underside of Emily�s huge rearmost hip was covered by a taut trapezoid of stretched cloth.�

 

Ling just looked down at Cee.� �Yeh think tha � thet�s impossible?�� The girl giggled, then took Cee with a small section of her tail and set her down on the inside of what Ling averred was be Emily�s next-to-rearmost left thigh.

 

The cavern easily contained Corinne Meadowlark standing up.� The muscles of the thigh she stood upon now twitched and jumped Corinne slightly into the air.� The small reporter looked out of her enclosure at Ling, who had a hand at her mouth and an impish twinkle in her eyes.� Cee lost her balance for a moment and leaned backwards.� She found that she�d braced a hand into the vertical crotch area.� The skin there was warm, soft, smooth and very much � alive.� There was also a considerable thick smooth bulge here.� Suddenly the leg above her kicked.� This flung Corinne still further backwards, towards Emily�s tail.� (Or what she assumed was Emily � he hadn�t even seen the beginning of the gigantic dragon centauress� front end.)

 

Struggling to her feet, Cee found she could no longer see any of Ling Li.� A spasm of what must have been enormous bowel muscles contracted again.

 

A hailstorm of smooth white stones dumped upon Corinne Meadowlark�s head and upper body.� Cee struggled to put her arms over her head, and she fell to the firm �ground� of Emily�s rearmost inner thigh.

 

Some of these are bigger than my fists!� They�re going to really bruise my breasts! Was the last she remembered thinking before one of the last uncut diamonds knocked Cee silly.

 

---

 

�Will she be alright?� came a whisper to Corinne�s ears.

 

Cee found that she was sucking on something.

 

�She will be, now that I�ve given her one from the right pair.�� There was some asperity in what Corinne recognized as Ling Li�s voice.� She was obviously wearing her tongue-retainer.

 

Corinne kept her eyes closed.� She didn�t feel bad at all.� In fact, she felt rather warm, cuddled, and � wonderful.� And she was sucking on what could only be a nipple � and though the milk tasted odd, it was very nice indeed.

 

A third voice:� �It�s been almost five minutes.� What did you think you were doing, anyway, Ling?�

 

In the long silence that followed, Cee recognized this as Cynthia Corben�s voice.� She kept her eyes closed.

 

�Ah, guys, when she wakes up, I�m gonna have to gather up all the stones that fell into the sand.�� This was a new voice � except it came out as a very loud, rasping whisper.

 

�Yes, we know, Emily,� Cynthia said.

 

�You didn�t have to toss her on me, Ling � and especially not into my rearmost set of hindquarters.�� Emily, the whisperer, continued, �You know I was trying to wait until vacation was over before taking a dump.� Her tramping all over my thighs and bumping into my belly � I got my front end here as fast as I could � but that brain-nexus was all confused and in a panic.� It�s the only one that can make me shit, and it did.�

 

Now that was a grumpy, disgruntled sound in Emily�s voice, Corinne thought.� From Ling Li�s silence, and reviewing the situation, she suspected that the Asian-featured girl was envious of Emily.� And probably jealous of Ms. Meadowlark as well.� So she�d given in to the Imp of the Perverse � and rudely dumped Cee on to Emily.� It was a stupid thing to do, of course.�

 

Corinne opened her eyes a crack.� She took the glossy, close-haired velvet black in her face to be a bit of Ling�s tail.� Deliberately, Cee bit Ling�s nipple.� Hard.

 

There was a noticeable delay, then a yell of pain.� Another noticeable delay, and the section of tail that rested upon Cee�s length pulled away, twisted above her, and pulled towards Ling�s front.

 

Corinne stretched and sat up.� She found herself in a horizontal depression �� actually the top of an enormous brown belly with each abdominal muscle being as big as she was.� She leaned against a high point of a hip almost as high as she was tall.� Vast-muscled legs were attached to these hips.� Looking over the obstruction, her eyes pulled in a rather interesting tableau.� Directly before her was the torso of a brown-haired girl with tanned skin.� When she moved, Corinne perceived that she had 4 long, slender human arms!� The two pairs were attached, one behind the other, to a human-sized front scarcely covered by two string bikini tops.� The torso was attached to what looked like a nude dracocentaur�s body, about the size of Dr. Anne Corben�s.� But this too, was odd � it had four front limbs; but with enormous hands with human nails (no hint of claws).� This was, too, about the size of the elder Corben�s.� The front of this torso was brown, but the back was flat black.� And hugely muscular.� Like the first torso, it had two bright yellow bikini tops, covering four obvious breasts sized in proportion to the body.

 

�Hello,� the girl�s mouth whispered.� �I�m Emily.�� She reared up both torsos, cupped one of her lower right hands, and scooped up Corinne.� Twisting her lower torso�s waist, Emily faced about.

 

Corinne was shocked.� She was barely aware that she was set down on a golden-haired body, on the pack that set upon the trapezius muscles directly behind Cynthia�s human torso.� She was shocked because she�d caught a glimpse of how the enormous Cynthia was sitting on one side of what must have been another of Emily�s torsos.� It was black on its back, with six yellow half-meter wide straps that must have held a dozen breasts in place.� But this muscular back was in scale as Emily�s second body (which Cee had taken to be her dracocentaur body) was to her human-sized chest.� What looked like folded wings � four of them � grew out of shoulders on either side of the swelling sea of back muscle.

 

Somewhere on the watery horizon, that Brobdignagian back curved about and must have tapered into a waist. The furled spars were unimaginably huge and extended straight well past the beginning of the waist.� The dorsal sides of these bat-like wings were also made of black-colored human skin.� Corinne tried to follow the lay of Emily�s body:� Yes, there was where that waist tapered and became the neck and shoulders of another identical torso.� That one had four front limbs, one directly behind the other.� And four wings above these.� All with massive shoulder joints and an enormous chest.� And yet another torso followed this, and another, and so on and so on �out of sight along the curve of the beach.� And, coming back, were hips, sets of two pairs fairly close together, lying on their sides, each set separated by long stretches of limber waist.� Corinne could not get a sense of scale.

 

Until she saw Ling, with a miffed, defiant look upon her face, walking by the next nearest quartet of hindquarters.� They were as wide as she was tall.

 

Corinne looked up, and looked into the gentle face of Emily.� �This is all ��

 

�� me,� Emily whispered.� And smiled a quirky � almost pained � smile.� Hollow tubes of flesh emerged just behind her human-proportioned waist, from roots at the collar of the second torso.� There were dozens of them; black skinned in back, brown in front.

 

The smallest of these were about the length of Cee�s forearm, and the longest skied several times Corinne�s five-foot height.� Instead of just one pair of external windpipes (which Emily also did have at the back of her neck) the girl had them to breathe from a whole series of those enormous lower bodies.� Corinne�s brain surmised that the numerous silver metal implants, one for each tube, turned them into musical windpipes.

 

�Ah.� Nice to meet you, Ms. �� Cee reached back through her dizzy memory and fished out �Ms. Petersen.�

 

Emily smiled more happily.� Cee saw the plethoric muscles on her stupendous forward body relax.� She leaned the two monster right hands of her second torso against her back, on the other side of Cynthia�s couchant body.� She continued to whisper.� �You can call me Emily.� Cyndy was telling me about you.� You are the reporter?�� Then she heard � or rather felt � a hoom sound emanating deep from within Emily�s body.

 

�Yes.�� Corinne realized that Emily whispered because she had no larynx.� Or at least, no larynx sized appropriately for speech.

 

�Cool!� Sorry about the stones.� I have a weird metabolism:� I don�t eat anything except trace elements.� My symbiotes do everything else.� The excess carbon and some nitrogen I excrete as gem-quality rough diamond stone.�� Emily held up one of the smooth ellipsoids.� �I shit these enormous things about once a week � I was trying to hold them until after vacation was over � my most after-brain panicked when it felt you bouncing around on my backmost thighs and belly, and before I could send a countermand, it had taken a dump.� I think I got most of them gathered up �� Emily indicated with the tree-like arms of her second torso an enormous yellow bra that she evidently had used to gather up her coproliths.

 

�I was massaging my 33rd and 34th breasts when I felt you.� It took a moment to figure out what was happening, get organized and get my front end back here.� Ling should know better.�� Emily frowned at the Asian dracocentauress.� �Cynthia?� I need another dose of manganese.�

 

In irritation Ling attempted to rear.� Her ribbon lower waist was too thin to hold the muscle-mass of her lower chest, so it collapsed against Emily�s couchant body.�� Leaning against Emily�s smaller second torso with her own lower thorax, the two came out looking into each other�s eyes.

 

The exaggerated frown in both the girls� eyes was almost hilarious to Corinne.� Again, she couldn�t help but to laugh while staring upward.

 

Ling stuck out a tongue and it thwacked Emily in her petite nose.

 

Cynthia pulled on the cord that attached to a bag Cee was now sitting on.� Corinne nearly lost balance and pitched forward when the palomino dracocentauress yanked harder.� The palomino dracocentauress pulled out a golden dollar coin from the pouch.

 

Even with her titanic body and doubled limb-count, Emily was smaller than Ling in both first and second torsos.� Ling�s arms were longer, and she pushed away Emily�s arms.� Even so, Emily was just about to make up her mind to deliver a double-right fist haymaker when Corinne finally managed to shout.

 

�Chris needs your help, Emily!�

 

Emily�s reaction was immediate.� She looked down at Cee.� Her eyes were open in delighted shock.� �Really?�

 

�Yeth,� Ling mumbled.� She was struggling to nod, pull out her retainer and to get her left tongue back into her mouth at the same time without much success.

 

So, the long girl finally remembered why they traveled to see Emily.� Corinne found herself saying, �He�s in considerable � discomfort.�

 

�Ha! So is my ninth hindquarter set.�� Emily looked back along her body, and hugged all four of her arms around her first human torso.� She rasped on:� �I haven�t had sex there in a day and a half.� And � geez! � so is my sixteenth!�� Emily quivered, gently stroking the belly in front of her just before the beginning of her tail with a third-torso paw that extended tined claws the size of a ten-foot four-by-four.� �Cynthia, give me that dollar coin, and d�you mind getting off me?�� She made the request in a panted wheeze, reached down to grab the coin from Cyndy�s outstretched hand, and put it into her totally human mouth.� She swallowed it.

 

Ling now recovered her retainer and her voice.� �And Cee, Cyndy and I are supposed to be at dinner in a little over a half-hour, by now.�

 

The hard-bodied Cyndy abruptly grabbed Corinne by one arm and slipped off Emily�s third back � the first of her truly enormous ones, and landed on her six feet on the ground.� She pulled up her powerful tail into a loose figure eight.

 

�Could you � carry my tail?�� Ling asked Cynthia.

 

It was obvious to Cee that the two were not exactly the best of friends � at least at the moment.� But it was obvious, with all those sensitive teats on the underside of most of her incredibly long tail, Ling Li could not drag it without a great deal of discomfort.� And to carry it was literally more than Ling�s tenuous body could bear.

 

Cyndy paused, as if in thought.� �Sure,� she grinned in such a way that made Corinne wonder what she was up to.� �By the way,� Cynthia turned about and dug something out of a pack that hung on her fore shoulder, below where Cee sat.� �Here�s your violin, Ling.� Mom wants us to practice for our next customer�s visit.�

 

As Cynthia did this, Emily rose up onto her first set of forefeet.� In a long, rippling rising motion, the rest of her front end came to her feet.� Her body was lean and solid, just like the other dracocentaurs; but titanic.� Emily Petersen moved with a slow, deliberate, ponderous grace.

 

The Corben girl evidently had watched Corinne�s awed face.� Until now she hadn�t said a word.

 

�She�s ten meters tall at the withers.� She doesn�t eat any food � it is made for her by photosynthesis of her symbiotic plants that are in her dorsal skin.� She suns herself most of the time during the day.�

 

�She couldn�t possibly fly with those wings ��

 

�More surface for her.�� Cynthia Corben giggled as she worked to pile Ling�s tail on her powerful back.� �She loves Chris when he�s horribly aroused.� The silly boy forgot to have enough sex this morning � he was so excited about picking you up.�

 

�Is this a problem with ��

 

�All the boys?�� Cynthia laughed.� She tossed her hawser-braided hair and her big ears twitched.� �Yes.� My brother is just worse off than the rest.� What do you think of Emily?�

 

�She�s � she�s � � Corinne looked up from Cynthia�s back at the passing waist that currently processed by.� �I don�t think I could possibly describe her with words.�

 

�You should take pictures � you did take along your e-camera?�� Cynthia sighed, and mumbled something inscrutable:� �I do wish her brother were here ��

 

�Yes � but I left it in my bag.�

 

�That�s unfortunate.� Well, maybe later in the day.�

 

Ling cleared her long slender throat.� �Thank you, Cynthia.�� That was a pointed reference to her dependency on the powerfully built palomino-girl and the fact that the trio were now in an unstable situation.

 

The two, in tandem, moved away from the collapsing U of Emily�s body.� The hindquarters about them were now standing and beginning to move off.� Most of Ling�s tail was now wrapped in coils about the Corben girl�s lower body.� Corinne stood to get out of the way of this operation.� With some awkwardness � which made Cee a little uncomfortable � Ling and Cynthia leapt over Emily�s own grounded tail.

 

---

 

A few hundred yards on the path into the woods away from the lake, a young pale-skinned, black haired dracocentaur woman chased down the three.� She introduced herself (breathlessly) as Andria Artoni.� She was shorter than both Ling and Cynthia, and Corinne judged that her weight was somewhere between the two.

 

She held Corinne�s carry-bag in one hand.

 

�You�ll want to change, Ms. Meadowlark?�� the young dracocentauress asked.� Corinne noted that she was wearing a skin-tight top � which didn�t seem to have any seams or means of entering or removal � unless it was a pullover.� The top seemed of some sort of stretchable cloth � but with a silky patina of green.� It certainly did show of the young woman�s quite large (but not overwhelming) breasts; and every detail of her ribs and abdominal muscles.� Andria also had a perfect coiffure, piled high on her head, perfect glowing skin, and a mane that traveled down her back with each strand of hair in its perfect place.

 

After some pause to consider, Cee replied by stepping off Cynthia�s burdened back and onto Andria�s.� Corinne took the bag in hand, sat down on the near side of the exhaustively groomed brunette-haired body, and looked back at her former carrier.� Except for about the first three body-lengths Ling�s tail of glossy-black hair was still wrapped about the palomino�s lower chest, and forward and rear waists.

 

Corinne reached to her side and opened the zipper of the carryall.

 

After that, except for the light wind blowing in the breeze, and the idle plinking of strings by Ling�s fingers on the violin she held, there was no sound.

 

Andria pranced as she twisted her torso about to peer at Corinne.

 

�Doctor Corben sent you?�� Cee asked the smooth skinned face with the incredible black eyes.� Make-up?� If she wore make-up, it had been a very good job.

 

The girl nodded solemnly.

 

Corinne directed her attention to the gawks.� �Why don�t you two go off to your dinner?� Or practice somewhere.� I want to talk to Andria alone.�

 

�Oh, yes!�� Cynthia had finally caught herself being rude.� She shook her head and kicked her left middle hind-leg back in a show of embarrassment.

 

Ling screwed up her face, folded her arms; but willy-nilly trotted along as Cynthia carried most of her weight away.

 

Sorry, girls.� You won�t get a look at me getting out of this suit this time.� I only want to have to deal with Andria, not all three of you.� Corinne dug out her change of clothes.

 

�Will you need help, Ms. Meadowlark?�� The young woman was attentive.� �Dr. Corben calls the condition Virginal Breast Hypertrophy.� It does seem to be an issue in your proper clothing �� Cee got the feeling that this Andria Artoni was looking at her body with some sort of professional interest.

 

�Yes it is.� And, yes � I�ll need a rest.� Your dracocentaur backside seems to make an excellent support.�� Corinne was not above making a quirky smile at the young lady�s reaction.� �If you�ll lower yourself.� I assume Dr. Anne Corben briefed you on how to handle me.�

 

�Yes,� the compact dracocentauress said as she lowered herself to the ground, �But please stay away from the chequey patterns I�ve twisted into the points of my front left hindquarter and rear right hindquarter.� They�re very difficult to keep well.�� Then, Andria blurted, almost as an afterthought:� �Sorry for staring at your body.� I make clothes for everybody, and you are quite an interesting challenge.�

 

�The size of my breasts?�� Cee�s feet dropped to the sandy dirt of the shaded path.

 

�Yes.�� Andria replied as her back and waist muscles rippled while her back four legs placed her rearmost left hindquarter in front of Corinne.� �Sorry � this won�t work.� My butts are too big.�

 

Indeed, the top of the seated rump was taller than Cee�s head.� She faced a sloping wall of bulging muscle.� Quickly, Andria reached around with her right taloned forepaw, cupped its palm under Corinne�s feet, and lifted up.

 

�May I?�� The dracocentauress had leaned down far, indicating Cee�s top.

 

Corinne nodded.

 

Andria undid the straps.� The cups of Cee�s top fell off and Corinne�s breasts flowed out onto the top of the perfectly groomed brunette surface of muscle.

 

As Andria�s hands coolly handled her flesh to remove the top from underneath, Corinne noted that, even though Andria was slightly smaller in front than Cynthia, and shorter than both girls, both sets of hips set out before her were noticeably broader, deeper and longer.� Unlike the other second-generation dracocentaurs Cee had met, who generally wore nothing beyond the human torso, Andria also wore a ribbon of green around the thick upper thigh of the leg directly before her.

 

Andria then gently pulled down Corinne�s bottom, and took away that garment.� In short order, Cee�s body was nude.

 

�I�ll size you, then help you get dressed.� Oh, you are ancient �� Andria mumbled, then shut up.� A very contrite, �Sorry,� and then without another word she ran her fingers down Corinne�s sides, probing at her waist and hips, and along her thighs.� Then she pulled up Cee�s feet and palmed them, each, one at a time.

 

It was such a cool, professional � groping � that Corinne didn�t mind enough to complain.� Andria extended her torso over Cee, without moving the palm of her forepaw.� The young woman-creature reached past Cee�s head and palmed her breasts in numerous places.� Artoni bunched a few muscles in her left rear rump, and the nipples and aureoles came up into view.� She ran her fingers from Cee�s shoulder to the extremity, and then mechanically fingered the area for a second or two.

 

�Sensitive?� Andria asked, and then answered herself, �Yes.�

 

Corinne could see the brunette screw up her face as she hefted a bit of Cee�s half-fluid left breast.� Andria then took it fully in her arms (still leaning over more than horizontally from her lower torso, which now faced directly towards the side of her butt) and shoved it firmly back and towards Cee�s rib cage.� �Good.�� It was an inscrutable almost-grunt.

 

Andria returned to an upright position, dug out and tossed out the underclothes, T-shirt and jeans Corinne had worn earlier.� Her face was screwed up in a look of distaste.� �You are four-foot-eleven.� One hundred forty five pounds.� A third of you are your breasts.�

 

�Yes.�� Corinne said while pulling up her pants.

 

�Short notice.� What I have in mind might balance differently than what you are used to.� You won�t mind?� I�d get you new clothes earlier;� � again that look of distaste in Andria�s face � �but I have a lot of costumes to make for tomorrow.� You are going to the birthday party tomorrow?�

 

�No I wouldn�t mind.� I�ve lugged these around in lots of positions, even used them as pillows.� I�d heard that Anne�s eldest are eighteen tomorrow.� I didn�t know I was invited.�

 

�Yes, at least Dad said so.� My brother and sister will be delighted if you did � well, my brother would.�

 

�Chris and Cyndy are your siblings?�� Cee finished pulling her T-shirt over her breasts.

 

�Half-siblings.� My mom, Rebecca, is at the headquarters running things there.�� Andria gently took Corinne by the waist and put her on behind her withers, hips nestled in the valley between the right back and trapezius muscles.� Unfolding herself, the dracocentauress stood.� �We have the same dad.�

 

The other Doctor Corben.� �Artoni is your mother�s name, then?�

 

��Yes; but I see more of Doctor Anne than my mom.� I just want to warn you � they don�t particularly like each other.�� Andria began to arch her tail over her back.� Its beginning was a lot thicker than even Cynthia�s.� �Doctor Anne likes me because I�m a re-morphed F-1 � one of her tricky designs.� Besides, it�s fun to make clothes for people.�

 

If this girl is a male Dr. Corben�s dalliance between �� �Wait a second, how old are you?�

 

�Fifteen.� Why?�

 

That made sense to Cee, but �You look like you are twenty at least!�

 

Now Andria�s glamorous reserve completely disappeared.� She sounded and acted like a true fifteen-year-old.� �Really?� Well, I am a big girl � but Dad says a lot of that�s due to the re-morph.� I work hard on my appearance.�� The girl primped her perfect hairdo.� �I don�t know why Ling and Cyndy and the others ignore me like they do.� But shouldn�t everyone make themselves look beautiful all the time?� Oh, and my boyfriend is thirteen � have you met Roger Hernandez?�

 

�No,� Corinne listened.� This was a girl, not a woman � and truth often emerged from the mouths of babes.

 

�Roger just hit puberty a few months ago.� So he�s pretty silly and helpless right now.� He�s so sweet though.�� Andria clapped her arms around her green-silk-covered chest.� �Oh, that�s why you haven�t seen him!� He�ll look kind of grotesque for a year or so, until his systems calm down and he can hold himself for more than a few minutes.�

 

Corinne just waited.� She wanted to ask her about the conversation Ling and the others had at the beach; but this girl might be too young to understand that.� It was better just to let young Andria�s words flow where they may.

 

�Oh, I�ll tell you.� All young dracocentaur boys when they grow up can�t get them down for at least a year.� They�re always aroused.� Even peeing is a problem for them, and they have to pee through all four of theirs.�� Andria just breathed in.� �It is really absurd.� Every few minutes � off Roger goes again.� And he always has to carry himself around under his left arm.� I�ve offered to make clothes for him � but he hates the pressure.� It just sets him off in front of everybody.� He�s gotten messes on people too many times, he says.�

 

�I � see,� Corinne responded noncommittally.� �And the other boys?�

 

Andria nodded.� �Chris had it really bad.� He was solid for three whole years.� Until he was sixteen.� Drove everyone crazy trying to keep him down so he wouldn�t get his plumbing backed up.� Dad says that none of them were like that � but they were original morphs.� I think that�s why Cyndy likes Andrew � Emily�s brother.� He�s morphing into a centaurpede, too � but only one male section to him � did you know that?�

 

Corinne just nodded.� Her newspaper stringer�s experience was starting to take over.� This is why I�m here, after all.� So Emily had an as yet unseen brother.� And probably not on site.� She put things together and realized why Cynthia was so � bitchy.� Andria was a gold mine of rather interesting � information.� Best not to press her, she thought.

 

�We should go to camp.� Just a second.�� Andria worked on pulling her tail over herself.

 

Until now, Corinne hadn�t seen the end of the dracocentauress� tail.� As it appeared, instead of a blunt end, a huge node appeared at the tip.

 

Andria delicately rested the formed mass on her lower back, between her first and second hips.� The thing was shaped like a rounded-off block, and textured with smooth bulges, lines of muscles, ridges and � on the back most lower edge � rows of some sort of very fine-looking organs that were obscured by short thick hair.� The well-knit dracocentauress started moving down the path.

 

�What is that?�� Corinne pointed to the massive object.� It was nearly as big as Andria�s lower thorax.

 

�My spinnerets.� I told you � I make clothes.� For everybody, the elders especially, Doctor Anne, Dad, Emily �� Andria paused, then had an epiphany.� �Oh, I meant I make them from scratch � I make my own cloth � it is finest quality silk, if I do say so myself � though I can weave things that are rougher wearing.�

 

Cee just stared at Andria�s human back covered in pearlescent form-fitting green, and then looked at the business end of the rippling giant organ.� Corinne, too, had an epiphany.� And she can apply it directly to her customer�s body.� No wonder there was no visible seam!� They walked on a few minutes in breezy silence.

 

Then Andria reached the edge of the woods.� In the distance was the campsite � with many, many dracocentaurs standing here, there and in expansive clusters.

 

She stopped, and patted the top of her lower shoulder with her right hand.� �I�m swelling back there because there�ll be a lot of work tomorrow in a very short time.� So right now I�m very hungry, and I�m gonna have to really pig out if I�m going to make the silk glands big enough for all those clothes tomorrow, including yours.�� She sighed, and spoke into the air:� �And Roger would certainly like to see me before then.�

 

�Ah � do you get it on with him, then?�

 

�Oh, no!� No sex until he�s sixteen.� Just kiss him on his cheek and he goes all red and lets fly!� Poor boy.� I hope he�s not too long, then.� Like poor Christopher.�

 

Andria moved ahead.� �I�ll let you off at the hill, and then I can settle down and get something to eat!� Dad says you can�t really walkabout much with the weight of those � oh, sorry � I am as rude as Ling and Cynthia were.� Oh!� We�re just being jealous � it would be awful if you were younger.�� A thought diverted the girl�s mind into an attempted reconciliation.� She smiled, obviously hoping that she hadn�t offended Corinne.� �I do hope you will let me dress you tomorrow.� And you know, sometimes I can�t move about either when my tail is loaded down.�

 

---

 

It was the smell of roasted turkey meat that made Corinne�s mouth water.� She hadn�t eaten since breakfast � and here it was mid afternoon.� Almost late afternoon.� It had been a very busy day!

 

Cee looked around for Anne; but did not find her.� She did notice the cinder oven, fired by charcoal, near the open space to one side of the area of encampment.� Several roasting were going on at once.

 

�Dig in!� came John Corben�s voice from a low table where an enormous feast was set.� The older dracocentaur held out an enormous wing in one hand to her.� He�d been gnawing on a drumstick held in another.� The drumstick was longer than Corinne�s arm.� �Oh, and we have corn, beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams � and whatever you�ll have to drink.�

 

�Oh!�� Cee exclaimed as she watched younger dracocentaur boys and girls carried even more provender from the cooking area to the series of tables next to the first.� She recognized Jennifer and Joseph Corben immediately.

 

�Jera!�� John called to one of the two zebra-striped blazed black girl dracocentaurettes.

 

�Yes, sir?�

 

�Could you fetch what Ms. Meadowlark would have?�

 

The girl grinned.

 

�This is Jera Johnson � Jethra, there, is her sister.� The two are fantastic runners.�� He gave the wing into both Corinne�s hands.

 

They certainly look the type! Cee emphatically decided in her mind.� �The regular � a little of everything ��

 

�Corn � we have cornbread if you wish! � Beans � both kinds, sweet potato,� the girl � almost the size of John Corben � rolled up her eyes and swished her black and white saurian tail in thought � �potato � you like parsleyed? � But that�s not quite ready yet � ooh, we have little sweet gherkins � why don�t I just carry you along?�� And Jera swept Corinne up onto her back and trotted off.

 

Cee gasped, and looked at John Corben receding.� The male just shrugged his shoulders and attended to something else.

 

�That�s Rex and Regina over there �� she pointed to two black haired Hispanic child-dragons.� �Raphaela runs the ovens.�� That had all the tone of disapproval.� Jera had absolutely no tact.� �Oh!� she blurted, �you do have enormous boobs, Ms. Meadowlark!� You must have to eat extra food if you don�t want them to shrink!�

 

With that extraordinary remark, the zebra-striped dracocentaurette stopped in front of a stack of large plastic plates.� She grabbed the wing from Cee, and put it on the top plate.� Before Corinne could say �yea� or �nay� Jera started in.� With a small fork she speared a number of pickles, then scooped up cornbread (piping hot!) with butter pat next, beans, two small yams, mashed potatoes � and then just managed to squeeze two slices of peaches onto the corner of the dish.

 

Her white silk half-blouse (which was all she wore) twisted about and faced Cee with the dish, and Jera handed it to her.� Then she got another dish and piled it high with food for herself.� �You should have more when you are done with that,� the girl-dragon said.

 

Corinne stared at a plate in her hands that had more food than she could eat all day.� �Will all this get eaten?� she asked.

 

�Yep!� And this is just the first batch.� The boys went out and shot several dozen turkeys this morning, and we�ve been busy dressing them.� I�m really hungry!�� Jera said no more; but walked away, gnawing voraciously on a drumstick.

 

---

 

Eventually the zebra-striped dracocentauress ended up in a group with her several older sisters.� Jera introduced Corinne to her mother Brandy (who was shorter and smaller than Jera by quite a bit), the seventeen-year-olds, Joanie and Jonquil (huge versions of Jera, with cheetah bodies and zebra-striped hair) � and the oldest of the �natural-born� dracocentaurs, Jeannie and Jackie.

 

�Ms. Johnson?� I�ve met Jeannie with her boyfriend,� Corinne said, as she stared up at the women�s towering antelope horns.� While she did so, strong arms transferred her and Cee�s plate up to Jonquil�s back.� Somehow this bodily transfer didn�t bother her anymore.� It was smooth and ethereal, almost as if she were dreaming.� In fact, when she sat down on the side of the seventeen-year-old, she had such a feeling of pleasurable contentment and well being that she pinched her own denim-clad thigh to be sure she was awake.

 

Jonquil pivoted her slender bodybuilder�s waist and put her large right hand atop one of Cee�s breasts.� �Nice.�� She said, in a low voice that contained some envy.� �Wish my eight lowers were like these.�

 

Cee looked away and saw the pregnant Jackie Johnson glowing.� She had sat down couchant while consuming a turkey breast. Perhaps it was Jonquil�s hand � or the pheromones in the air � but Cee felt stimulated somehow.� Jonquil settled down at Jackie�s first rump, leaned over and put her smooth black chin in her hands, elbows on the muscles of her sister�s butt.

 

Jackie looked back, frowned, and twitched those muscles.

 

Jonquil weathered the waves, and impishly grinned back.� �If she�s gonna be insufferable, I can give her a hard time, too.�� She reached down and patted the side of Jackie�s belly.

 

Jackie�s mother was standing, leaning against her pregnant daughter�s flank.� She was sharing a large jar of sweet gherkins with her huge offspring.� Wide lips paused in the eating of a pickle.� A mouth in a stunning face said, �Call me Brandy, Corinne.�� The voice was just as beautiful as Brandy Johnson�s face.� �Mai?� Milton?� More food, please?�� The black woman dracocentaur called out to young Asians passing by.

 

Corinne saw the two wave, then galumph off in a tear.

 

In a conversational voice:� �The Li�s ten-year-old twins,� she said in a way of informal introduction.

 

In a few minutes the two children returned with huge platters of food, and served them to all present.� Corinne, her belly pleasantly stuffed, demurred.

 

Jeanie and Joannie, the other two Johnson sisters present, had been standing.� They looked at each other and giggled, drumsticks in hand, and chafed their hindquarters together.� Their comely bodies proceeded to sit couchant.

 

Corinne was not sure how they managed it; but they positioned their rearmost hips so that their hind legs faced each other and their clawed feet passed through the gaps between their connecting waists and the ground.� With each girls� pudenda within a foot of the other, Cee had to stare:� A mass of individual tentacles � there must have been dozens of what Corinne thought to be muscular continuations of each dracocentauress� labia � everted from under the two girl�s rear hindquarters and engaged in mutual rubbing.

 

Brandy carried on a pleasant conversation for nearly half an hour, talking between chunks of food.� She talked about genetically engineered skeleto-muscular enhancements, noting how increased strength-to-weight ratios could trump the square-cube law.� The ageless beauty finally got around to mentioning people � dropping names � that Corinne had never heard of and would probably never meet � at least, not in any near future.� The mother was completely oblivious as to what was going on behind the hump of Jackie�s body.

 

Jonquil, however, had followed Corinne�s eyes.� �Not enough guys!�� Jonquil muttered.� After eating what she�d been given, she stood up.� �I�m still hungry.� And �� Cee felt her carrier shift her bowing body.� Jonquil�s bodybuilder�s arms were crossed tightly.� Corinne imagined that Jonquil was reacting to her sisters� sexual workup.

 

The sisters were indeed reacting to each other.� Each had closed eyes, and limp limbs.� Corinne was fascinated by the act.� There was an �eeuw� factor � those tentacles were at least as long as her arm and just as thick or thicker.� Their strength could not be denied.� For a moment, Jeannie�s tentacles twined hard about Joanie�s and literally lifted the hindquarters of her sister off the ground.� Cee noted how the entire being of each was concentrated in the pleasure of those squirming limbs that weren�t limbs.��

 

Just then, two more children � Cee recognized Joseph and Jennifer � passed by with more platters.

 

Jonquil grabbed a leg from one as it passed under her front.

 

�Do all you girls have those?�� Corinne pointed.

 

�Yes.�� Murmured Jonquil, her mouth half stuffed.� �Twenty four each.� Six from each of our four labial pairs.�� Jonquil swallowed and breathed hard.� �Mom�s aren�t small either � but a lot fewer.�� Then she remembered her hunger, and took another enormous bite out of her turkey drumstick.� She chewed absently and swallowed this.� �Usually they hold the penises of a boy or two or four in position.� We can�t really reach back there, and it helps to have something to stuff half-meter-wide dildoes into ourselves.�� She shifted her hindquarters � independently again � �And the boy�s can�t reach either.� Sorry to be so horny-acting,� she apologized as she danced nervously, her long black-and-white tail waving about.� �None of the others � Ling?� Cynthia?� Andria?� � showed you?�

 

�No, actually.� With a start of an epiphany, Cee realized that Jonquil had been playing with herself back and below her resting spot.

 

�Ling was probably too embarrassed to show you.� She�s got the longest of all of us.� Same genetics that caused her to have those tongues, I think.� And that�s bad enough having such a hard time talking.� She�s my age, and I remember several times when she was a kid and she would actually trip over hers.

 

�Cynthia�s are so strong she can break you in half with hers ��

 

�Jeannie!� Joanie!� Bear your bodies more seemly!�� Brandy had spotted her daughters� behavior.� �You, too, Jonquil.�

 

Immediately the two couchant girls broke off their mutual diddling.� With an embarrassed cat-grace, they slipped their embrace and righted their bodies as if nothing had happened.

 

Sharply, Brandy considered her wayward daughters.� Jackie was so full of herself that she had not even noticed the discordance.� She continued to eat placidly.� �Jonquil � will you take our guest to Dr. John?� Dr. Anne was supposed to join us here; but she seems to be busy.� And if you see any males your size, please send them over.�

 

�Yes, Mother!�� Jonquil giggled as she turned her enormous gracile body away from the group.� It was now late in the afternoon.

 

Corinne spotted John Corben some distance away talking up to his son, Chris.� The young creature was obviously sexed; but no longer egregious.� His eyes were closed with the memory of pleasure.� Cee pointed the two out to Jonquil.

 

The girl immediately sidled up to Chris.� She made as much of her flank � shoulders and hips push against the young male�s body.� She attempted to twine her tail about his.

 

�I�ve already had my way with Emily, Jonquil,� boy said quietly as he transferred Corinne from her back, then lowered himself to place her on John�s.� He raised himself fluidly, and gazed admiringly at the beautiful cheetah-zebra dragon-girl, who had resumed her advance.� But with a mere flex of his lower-body muscles, Chris Corben pushed the disappointed girl firmly away.

 

�Or she had her way with you!� Jonquil fumed.� �We�re really horny, Dr. Corben.� Jeannie, Joanie � and me.�

 

John interjected.� �Why don�t you find Roman and Ronaldo?� And I know Sam Li is around somewhere.� I just saw him with his sister.� Your dad�s away?�

 

Jonquil nodded her fine-featured face.� It was very much like her mother�s, but with a narrower mouth.

 

�Did you ask your mother?� No, you didn�t.�

 

�She�s crabby.�

 

�Of course she is � I can help with that � let�s find one of the kids to get Chris here on his feed � then go find some stud-muffins to orgy you three.�

 

�Sorry, Corinne.� I�m going to have to leave you with Chris again.� Anne is busy with a commission.�� And up went Cee, back into the huge gentle arms of Christopher Corben.� Under his paisano�s hat the glorious redhead grinned in a proprietary manner.

 

�I take it that Emily fixed you up.�

 

�Yes.�� Chris looked back down at Corinne, who had taken up a perch behind his front left shoulder.� �I hope it doesn�t bother you; but our libidos are a problem.� Emily can swallow any guy, but I had to do two of her before I was completely exhausted.� You know, she needs sixteen men like me to have kids?� All at once?� There aren�t that many of us yet.� Maybe in five or ten years she�ll �catch,� as dad says.�� Chris closed his eyes, his chest expanding and letting out a sigh.� �And you do turn me on.� Sorry.� I like women with boobs.�

 

�And Ling has hundreds of them ��

 

�Three hundred and eighty six pairs last time I counted.� I�ll have to count again when hormones don�t jelly my brains.� It is probably more now.� You know, each pair generates a different milk?� She�s a walking pharmacy, you know.� Oh, speak of the devil �� Chris grinned and pointed into the distance.

 

Corinne spied Dr. Anne Corben at last.� She was standing and talking with a sitting Ling Li and a male second-generation dracocentaur on her other side.� All three had huge hunks of food in their hands.� Cee could just make out his glossy black hair and Asian features.� She deduced that this must be Ling�s brother, Sammy Li.

 

Corinne did not need to prompt Chris Corben to draw near the group.� As they got closer, she could see that Anne was working as Ling was talking to her.� She held a clip book in the other hand not occupied with food.� Cee marveled at how the woman did the work of a normal two limbs with that one enormous multi-digited hand.

 

Ling saw Chris (and Corinne on the edge of his back) approaching.� She whispered something to Dr. Corben.� To Cee, it looked like an apology.� She did hear a definite �It�s all right,� from Anne.

 

�Hi Ling!�� Chris worked his dynamic body about.� Then he settled down next to Ling Li and stretched out his tail besides her.� It was a total mismatch � as Ling�s tail was nearly four times as long as his � though a good deal slenderer.

 

Corinne watched as Ling started to loop her tail about his.� She had plenty to work with.

 

�Hello, Corinne!�� Anne said as she wheeled about and approached Chris and Ling from the front.� She reared up into her easy standing pose.� �I was just finishing the last bit of this commission.� It involves Sam here.� Have you met Samuel Li, Cee? �He�s Ling�s twin brother.�

 

Corinne wagged her head, �No.�

 

�Sammy?� Will you stand up?�

 

Sam�s head wagged a demurral; but Anne Corben just stared at the boy.� Corinne could see this, and right away detected a very shy person in this young man.� It was a little sad � the boy was slender, incredibly handsome.� Square jawed; but with the bulges that indicated that his mouth was also full of tongue.� His upper body looked like a classic Asian martial arts instructor, his chest heavy with spare muscle.� His frame was attenuated, in the same way that Ling was, but more solidly than his sister.

 

With Anne chiding him, he finally got himself up onto his paws.

 

By now, Cee was used to a dracocentaur�s multiple and egregious sexual organs.� Given their size, such things as the second-generation girls� four sets of muscular labial tentacles no longer bothered her.� And the males born of dracocentaur mothers had massive quadruplicated equipment so absurdly large that Corinne considered them �safe�.� After all, how could these over-sized puppies possibly do anything to her with organs nearly as large around as her hips?

 

Samuel Li was different.� Corinne could readily see that as he finally cleared the height of the couchant lovers, Ling and Chris.� Yes, his underside was sexed to an impossible extent, like his male cohorts.� But his hips were unusually wide as well as deep � it gave him an almost feminine look.� This gave his belly room for additional equipment to emerge from his groins.� Corinne couldn�t avoid seeing what he carried, bundled, a plethora of masculinity, crammed into that extra free space underneath his two pairs of hindquarters.� All this extra was scaled to more � humanly approachable � proportions.� Corinne hunched her shoulders, clenched her fists, and dug them into her hips.� As a reporter, she�d thought she�d seen everything; but the pure overwhelming excess of the boy (he�d a hairless chest), took her breath away.� These slender masses of masculinity were incredibly long, bound in numerous long honeycombed sheaths along with his four major �weapons�.� With any one of those (Cee was perilously close to having a dissociative reaction, a denial of what she was seeing with her own eyes), Sammy Li could have his way with Corinne � or any woman.� With all of them � dear Hecate! � how many women at once?

 

Then Sammy caught sight of Cee�s bust.� When she�d squeezed herself together, her profile became ever more exaggerated.� The male Li began to breathe.� Fast.� And harder.� After a minute of spellbound observation, he rolled his eyes in his head and teetered.

 

Ling saw what was happening, and had got to her feet.� Sammy Li slumped against her body.� Ling nearly buckled from the extra weight.

 

�Hey!� Chris had reacted by standing too.� He had to, or his girlfriend would have fallen on top of him.� With Cee still on his shoulder, he leaned into Ling, propping her up.� This lasted for just a few moments.� Then, like three enormous horizontal dominos, the three ponderously completed their fall.

 

Fortunately for Corinne, she managed to hang on to Chris Corben�s arm.

 

Anne just rolled her eyes as she rescued Cee from the tumble.

 

�Mmmmph!� He�s out cold!�� Ling had recovered her tongue restraint and stared at Corinne.� �You flashed your boobs at him, didn�t you?�

 

�Now, Ling!� Anne Corben scolded.� �That may be true; but Sammy hasn�t had a girl since early this morning.� So will you revive him, and send him off to the Johnson sisters?�

 

�That just takes time.� He passed out because he was getting aroused too quickly.� Sammy will be alright � won�t you dear brother?�

 

�Uh � oh.�� Corinne heard the enormous human-creature groan.� His tongues were lolling out of his mouth now.� No wonder the boy never talked, with those things blocking his speech!

 

It took almost fifteen minutes of ministrations and quiet reassuring talk; but finally Samuel was able to return to his feet.� Cee considerately screened herself from his view to prevent a reoccurrence.� Ultimately the boy-creature stumbled off.

 

�Poor kid.�� Anne said.� �And his girl-friend won�t show up until tomorrow morning.�� Madame Corben addressed her son and Ling Li.� �Now, you two go have fun with each other, I want to talk with Ms. Meadowlark alone for awhile.�

 

Chris took the hint and placed Cee on his materfamilia�s withers.� Ling and the boy left.� The girl helixed her tail� with its serried pairs of breasts � about his tail for support.� Chris also carried Ling�s hawser like hair, leaving both her hands free, with which she reached for the boy�s ears.� Chris flicked them back and forth, playfully as the pair walked off into the lowering light.

 

---

 

It was definitely evening now.� Cee yawned � the food, the wild activities and the lateness of the day were getting to her.� Anne Corben showed Corinne what she�d been working on.� �It�s a design for a rescue morph,� she said, handing Cee the computer tablet.

 

Corinne looked at it.� �A hairless forty foot tail?� Slender, prehensile and everything, yes � but isn�t that a little much for a normal-sized human body to handle?�

 

�Close to the edge, yes; but with Hemoglobin phi-23, she should be fine.� A young lady wants it � she�s a volunteer rescue squad member.� It is outr�, yes; but no worse than most requests I�ve been asked for � and actually this is the smaller of two possible designs.�� Anne continued as Corinne examined the muscular attachment to a shapely young woman�s body.� �Actually, the girl�s taking on the form in exchange for perpetual youth, and I think that the exchange is more than fair.� I have the greatest respect for the woman.� She�ll be a hero and save lives � and enjoy the � erotic � aspect of her tail as well.

 

�Now tomorrow morning, I�m afraid you�ll see the start of one of the morphs that I really don�t like to do �� Anne frowned.� �But the customer is extremely rich and powerful.� From Singapore.�

 

�Oh, one of those oriental men with a private army?�� Corinne�s newspaper sense was tingling.

 

�Yes, actually.�� Anne stretched her slender human arms, arching her human upper torso.� �Wu Wao-Chiang�s got 10,000 men bought and paid for on the Malay Peninsula.� But he can�t trust them to stay bought and not switch allegiance to someone who�ll pay more.� He wants a much more personal control.� I�d get out of this one if there were any reasonable way to do it.� Unfortunately, Wu�s got his hooks into the Li�s � not me.�

 

Cee had an idea of what Anne was talking about � she�d heard of powerful men in the fascistic Orient of these days having themselves morphed into extraordinary studs.� Converting their economic wealth into political wealth the old-fashioned way � by arranged �marriages� and concubinage � these bull-bodied men fathered a hundred offspring � a day � upon enormous harems in a process that in some cases was indistinguishable from rape.� Ultimately, with a prolonged life, such a male easily could afford to wait the 20 years for his army to mature � with all the soldiers dedicated by filial devotion.� Cee shivered.� �He wouldn�t want anything to do with Ling, would he?�

 

�No, actually,� Anne smiled ruefully.� �Sammy Li.� Turns out that he and Wu�s eldest daughter have been an item for years.� Each truly loves the other.� You�ve seen Sammy � I�ve already morphed him.�� Anne frowned.� �Sammy didn�t like it at all � the kid knows what�s next.� And Xiao-Fei is such a sweet delicate child.�

 

Corinne looked blankly at Anne.

 

�This way it is very easy on old man Wu � and he doesn�t have to worry about his source of power running off.�� Anne just rolled her eyes.� �Think � termite queen.��� She bit her lip.� �The Li�s pleaded for me to do this.� It is one of the reasons I hate this job.

 

�It�s late.� You can�t get back to your car tonight.�� Anne abruptly changed the subject.� �Why don�t you stay over with us?� With me?�

 

�Well ��

 

�It will be fun!�� Suddenly, Anne Corben reared up and stroked her mid-left and upper-right breasts under her clothing with her two lower hands.� �And � well � I�m getting a bit � milch � I suppose.� No kids to nurse; but I�m still lactating.�� She yawned.

 

Corinne felt trepidation.� She was clinging to Anne�s flexing upper backside for dear life.� �You want me to ��

 

Anne did not wait.� She twisted her torso about, and grasped Cee around her waist with the tip of her tail.� �Massage me?� My breasts?� Ooooh, would you?�� Dr. Corben grinned.� �It�s fun to have someone other than John do it for me � and � I�ll let you in on a little secret � Chris isn�t the only Corben boy who can�t have sex with his lady and be intimate with her at the same time!�

 

�Yes, that is a challenge,� John Corben called as he approached, with a very pregnant Manuela Fernandez on his arm.� He smiled.� �Is Cee a consenting adult?�

 

�If you guys are very gentle, and do what I say ��

 

�Oooh, a dominatrix!�� John Theodosius laughed.� �Certainly about the first point, though!�

 

Manuela � whose flanks ballooned on either side of her feral back � although she was not nearly as enormously breasted as Anne � giggled.

 

So began one of the strangest evenings of sexual play Corinne Meadowlark had encountered.� Her hosts arranged themselves � and John began the session quietly, with a recitation of love-poetry.

 

Corinne never did have heterosexual intercourse � not that she�d ever want it with the size of that man�s tools being casually flaunted about � but she certainly enjoyed everything else.� And there was a lot of �else.�

 

Cee didn�t remember when � or how � Anne Corben shucked her clothes off � but she remembered slowly stroking each of Anne�s enormous lower breasts.� The nude woman-dragon had laid herself down and rolled belly up, slowly so that Corinne stayed on top of her.� The nipples got aroused � fully on the scale of Cee�s own � and got puffy aureoles at the same time � much to Cee�s amazement � and leaked milk.� She found herself sucking at Anne�s middle left nipple � and gagging because it simply grew too big for her to hold in her mouth.� When she pulled away, milk geysered from it.

 

Manuela looked at Corinne�s breasts and asked � almost faintly � if she could massage them.� The beautiful Hispanic woman moved her body � halted a moment when an enormous twitch hit her flanks � and then again moved to Cee�s front.� Her tail, browner than Anne�s, supported Cee�s breasts out of their bra.� Fernandez did not use her hands � or forepaws at all.� Just her tail.� It was quite enough.� She was stimulating John with her other limbs.� Corinne was starting to get breathless.� She couldn�t see them � but she felt her nipples getting aroused.� It was almost as if her body became an irrelevant extension of the tips of her breasts.

 

Cee remembered at one point Ling came by and looked longingly at her, couched nude on Anne�s gracile lower belly.� Anne was panting that draft-horse sized, lean body, arching it in ecstasy as John had inserted a scant two meters each of his two slender capers into her down by her second hindquarters.� He was so long and rigid that he was in no position to caress the woman�s fore body.� Riding her middle, Corinne couldn�t see Anne�s head, either � though she could hear the lover�s groans � the reaction from her double climax.

 

For his part, John was in the arms, upper and lower, of Manuela.� Her tail had been diverted � along with Anne�s � to playing along the length of John�s organs � there was much laughter as he foiled � with his own tail � their languid attempts to kink the roots of his vulnerable, aroused twinned sex.

 

Cee rolled her eyes as Ling Li dropped both her tongues out of her mouth.� �Oh, all right,� she said, lazily.� Corinne had expected this was coming ever since the two had met, and Ling had behaved jealously.

 

Ling lowered herself, slowly � so as to not touch the other lovers.� She lowered her torso and head to Corinne�s level with a rippling move of her stalk-like � almost snake-like � upper waist.� The effect was unsettling.� Ling Li tried to smile reassuringly; but merely lost control of her tongues, which twined and writhed, as she crossed her arms before her chest and tried to regain their control.

 

Corinne warned her � or rather � those wriggling tongues.� �Be very gentle!�

 

She was.� In ten minutes Cee had an incredible orgasm.

 

Cee rested that night in the firm saddle between Anne�s second and third pairs of lower breasts.� Corinne was certain that well before midnight she herself was asleep, totally exhausted.� The penultimate thing she remembered was the fact that all eight of the enormous nipples about her � Anne�s and her own � were so fully aroused. Their aureoles, even though stretched taut like a drum by the bulk of the mammary glands within, swelled into hemispheres that would have been the envy of a buxom woman as breasts in and of themselves.� And, at last silly as she drifted off, she wondered if the arousal had become a permanent condition.

 

---

 

Corinne Meadowlark awoke well before the sun rose.

 

I�ve had a dream, she thought; but couldn�t remember details.� She�d had a sensation that her nipples itched horribly and her aureoles ached; but she couldn�t touch them with her hands at all.� It drove her crazy, she remembered.� Cynthia had nursed on them, filling her mouth with one teat.� And Ling had nursed on the other.

 

But that can�t be, She was nude, lying cuddled on the sandy pine needles and what she took to be Anne�s lower belly.� John was still in the dracocentauress, although he, too was now unaroused.� Cee�s breasts were now loose, floppy.� Nipples unaroused (she reached for one).� Was there a glint of milk on the aureole?� Nonsense � Corinne hadn�t lactated in over a decade.

 

When she moved again, her body thrilled to aches.� Muscle aches through and through her entire body.� Cee stopped moving from the surging discomfort.� Then, carefully, she sat up, her breasts sitting on either side of her.� She was nude now.� And also very hungry as well as achy.

 

Corinne looked around herself.� She sat in front of a slender muscled belly, between what she took as Anne�s forward and rear horse-sized hips, which were pitched on their sides, so Cee was between the two pairs of enormous cat-like legs.� Of course she couldn�t see who it was for sure; but the immense body was hairless.� So she assumed it was Anne�s.� Her lower body had rolled over onto her side.

 

Drat!� Here was her Chief Joseph T-shirt!� Cee was assured that this was Anne � for jammed under Anne Corben�s forward hip was Cee�s distinctive shirt.� And as she looked around in the setting gibbous moon, she noticed her panties and jeans � also pinned under Anne�s vast lean body.� Looking in the other direction, she noticed that John�s limp organs were still buried in her host�s pudenda.� John Theodosius Corben had managed to creep up and embrace his mate with his foreleg/hands about her lower shoulders.� Cee wrestled with her Imp of the Perverse; and barely restrained herself from stroking his exposed veined organs.� Each was bigger around than her arm, and they now looped lazily, in tandem, now resting over Anne�s tail, then sojourning to John�s belly sheathes and eventually within them to his groin.

 

She didn�t want to wake Anne with pulls and tugs � so she decided to surrender her clothes temporarily � she would wait to retrieve them when the sleepers awoke.

 

�Hi!�

 

Corinne heard a whisper.� She looked around.

 

�It�s me, Emily � Emily Peterson.�� The whisperer continued.

 

Cee looked about over Anne�s upper front hind leg, and focused in the shadowy night on the neck and four shoulders of a young woman.� Emily�s smallest human front was down on the grass.� Her face looked up towards Cee.� All her arms were folded in front of her, propping up her chin.� Behind her first torso, her second raised up behind her � its four larger arms folded under her neck-waist, they dressed the multitudinous pipe-organ-like windpipes away from her forward-most torso.� On beyond, Cee could just trace out the still more enormous third torso, with its four arms � and wings � folded.� Beyond that, she could only guess.� �Hello, Emily,� Corinne said quietly.� As far as she could see, Emily was also without clothes.

 

Emily closed her eyes in bliss.� �The boys like sex in the morning.�� She sighed a vast hoom and whispered on.� �I�ve sixteen sets of sexual organs back there � but only four guys really capable of taking me � I really don�t want to exhaust them � but � they do need to sport something bigger than telephone poles.� Their younger brothers can�t grow up fast enough as far as I�m concerned.� Did Cynthia tell you I can�t get pregnant until I have sixteen different guys do me at once?�

 

�I don�t remember her telling me that.� They�re on you now?�

 

�Yep!�� Emily grinned.� �Out of earshot around the hill back there � Chris is working on my thirteenth set right now.� Sammy on my fifteenth.� Roman and Ronaldo on my seventh and tenth.� Ohh, that feels good!�� Emily wriggled her first waist.� �Out of sight is definitely NOT out of mind with a body like mine.�

 

�Emily?� Is that you?�� Corinne heard heavy breathing, as if someone were carrying an immense load.

 

�Of course it is, Andria,� Emily whispered.

 

�I just finished your brother.� Do you want to get started?�

 

Corinne heard a faint howl in the distance.

 

Emily delayed her response, a thoughtful frown on her face.� �No, not till later.� I�m having sex � and I need to wash off after that � sorry.� I just kinked my waist holding Sam�s penises a little too much � I think he�ll be all right.� Ouch!� I think he�s a little angry with me.� Andria, I won�t be ready until mid-morning, probably.�

 

Corinne saw the couturier-girl collapse in front of Emily�s head � but not quite obscuring Cee�s view of the immense-bodied girl.� Andria was carrying an enormous load on her back � perhaps larger than she was.

 

�Awww ��� Andria nearly wept.� As she turned her couchant body, the enormous load dumped off her back and onto the ground.� Corinne made out her tail-tip, now incredibly bloated.� �I�m so tired.� I really don�t want to drag myself all over this corner of creation.�

 

�Andria!�� Emily whispered a scold.� �Your tail is less than two-thirds the bulk you were when you started on Andrew.� I saw you then � I know you couldn�t even carry yourself around � �

 

It was an epiphany.� Cee now recognized the solution to her nudity.� �Andria?� It�s me, Corinne Meadowlark.�

 

�Yes?�� The sniffling Emily turned her attention to the direction of Cee�s voice.� She massaged the muscular fold of her tail tip, just before the bank of spinnerets.

 

�You measured me for a set of clothes, yesterday?�� Cee spoke in a low voice as she struggled to her feet.� Her breasts only began to lift off the ground when she worked herself to her full height.� �I seem to have lost mine under Dr. Corben � and I don�t want to bother her right now ��

 

There came a giggle from Andria�s direction as Corinne struggled with her movements.� Without support, her free-falling breasts draped down below her knees � and their bulky sway made Cee unsure of her footing. And it ever disconcerted her to find her knees banging into the backside of her breasts.� It took a minute to get herself out of the tangle of Anne�s hindquarters (she was still fast asleep as far as Cee could tell).� Ouch!� Her muscles were hurting as well.

 

Andria got to her feet and came as near to Cee as her considerable tail would allow, the vast tip seemingly welded to the ground.� Another few steps �

 

�Do you guys really want breasts like these?�� Andria cupped one of Corinne�s breasts and hoisted it �

 

�With the proper support, Andria, with the proper support.�� Emily grinned, and rolled her eyes up as another wave of sexual ecstasy rolled in from the distance.

 

Andria assisted Cee to the side of her immense organ.

 

�Well?�� Corinne asked, �How does one go about ordering a dress from you, Ms. Artoni?�

 

Andria giggled again.� �Well, for you, it should be a one-piece suit.� I was thinking long-sleeve, neck to ankle, form-fitting.� What color do you want?�

 

�Blues and greens are my favorite.� Can you do a sky-blue?�

 

�Yes.�� Andria said absently as she repeated many of the measures she�d done the afternoon before.� �You�ve lost weight.�

 

�What?�

 

�You�ll see.� But you�ve lost quite a bit of weight in your torso.�� She hefted Cee�s breasts again.� �I think I know why, too.

 

�Okay, this may take several passes to get right.� I am going to make yours as close to form-fitting as I can.�

 

The process was unnerving.� The warm silk got woven smoothly onto her body from the hundreds � thousands � of tiny snakelike spinnerets that exuded from the business end of Andria�s tail.� Once that was done, Andria would cut away an uneven spot, and reweave, each time tugging here, supporting there.� Her breasts found themselves encircled, lifted, shaped, lifted again.� The experience was actually quite pleasant, after Cee had gotten over the �Eeuuw� factor.� An hour had passed before Andria pronounced herself satisfied with the shape of Corinne�s dress.� Since it was applied directly to her body, Corinne couldn�t see anything below, except for her extremely lifted and separated cleavage.� But what she could see seemed like a patchwork mess!

 

Andria just smiled when Cee complained.�� �A couple more times and I�ll be finished.� It is near dawn, and I want to get the color right.� You don�t feel any sharp tug on your shoulders?�

 

�No ��

 

�Good.� Here goes.�� And Andria continued with another layer, covering the patchwork � or melding with it.� That was a better term.� Again, a bit more tugging, a bit more forming.� It was gentle � all over her body � and it was firm.� When done, the covering was still a gray-white.�� Cee flexed her arms and legs tentatively � perfect stretch everywhere � not a hint of binding.

 

Then, as the sun came up, the final surface went on.� It was a perfect sky blue, as was proved a little later that morning.� �Done!�� Andria gasped.� �You are tough!� Everybody else only needs one quick pass � you ��

 

�Yipes!� What did you do to her!?� I�ve got a mirror at the tent,� Cynthia exclaimed.

 

Cee looked up.� Anne�s eldest daughter � and the Birthday Girl � loomed above Corinne, in the company of Ling Li.� Corinne looked around � sometime at dawn Emily must have disappeared.

 

�Well, get it!�� Artoni grumped.� �I don�t care what you think, Cynthia!�

 

�Andria!� Ling warned.

 

Corinne was curious herself as to what the weaving girl-dragon had done to her appearance.� Her muscle aches and pains had disappeared, and she felt light � almost bouncy.� Her breasts had been uplifted to an extremely high position.� But there was no feel of strain or tension on her shoulders.� Tentatively she put her arms under her breasts.� It did feel a bit odd; but she couldn�t pin-point it.�

 

�Well-th,� Ling hurriedly put her retainer into her mouth.� �They say that clothes make the woman!�� She hurriedly settled her body down into a couchant position, pointing her legs and the underside of her hindquarters away from Cee.

 

�It is rather plain,� Artoni allowed.

 

�Yes.� Try plaid the next time, why don�t you?�� Dr. Anne Corben piped up.� She was yawning and stretching a few meters away.� The other Dr. Corben was nowhere to be seen.

 

�But she asked for a one-color outfit.�� Andria yawned.� �I have to go do a dozen other outfits before Noon.� Sorry, got to go.�

 

As the couturier left, Cynthia Corben returned with the large full-length (for a human like Cee) mirror.

 

The results were truly staggering.� They staggered Corinne!� Every bit of her body � except, of course, her breasts � looked like it belonged to a female bodybuilder.� And the muscles were real, not some sort of sham:� they flexed and bulged as she stretched and tensed.� Right down to her interstitial rib muscles and the detailing of her abdominals.

 

Corinne took a very long time staring at herself.� Her thighs flexed as she moved � like a dancer.� Her hips seemed broader, her butt deeper � like she�d been gifted with sprinter�s rump.� She ignored someone�s titter as she arched her back and found herself doing a pirouette en pointe.� She very pointedly ignored the sharp laugh when she had to crumple herself when the excess angular momentum of her breasts threw her off balance.

 

At one point she moved her hands through the hourglass voids between her hips and her chest.� It gave her the willies to feel nothing there!� The mirror gave her no illusion � this was real.� Corinne stood before the mirror, facing it dead on and watched her breasts heave, with every detail of vein, nipples (now partly aroused) and bulging aureoles showing through the silken fabric.

 

And what was more Cee looked thirty years younger.� And she felt so � comfortable!

 

Dr. Anne Corben broke into applause.� �Let�s see what we can do with that hair of yours, Corinne, and you�ll be perfect.� Ling?� You�re our hair expert.�

 

---

 

Ling took Corinne on top of her back and walked off with her.� She carried her immense braid in the crotch of her left arm.

 

�French braids okay by you?�

 

�Well, I usually wear loose ��

 

�It�s Cynthia � and Christopher�s � Birthday Party.�� Ling twisted her stalky torso about and looked at Cee.� �Please?�� She lost her retainer.

 

�Oh.� Ah.� Okay, if you insist, Ling.�� Ling was pleading with her.� And Cee remembered the last evening very well.� She supposed she owed the pipe-stemmed oriental dracocentauress something.

 

Ling looked very relieved.� At the edge of the lake, she settled down and drew out a black bag that contained hairbrushes, combs and hair-notions.

 

A half-twist of her upper torso allowed Ling to make an inspection of Corinne�s hair.� Then, the sleek black-haired dracocentauress started brushing and combing.� Cee relaxed on Ling�s back in her new blue form-fitting dress.� She watched the small waves sparkle in the early morning sun.

 

Ling replaced her tongue-retainer into her mouth.� �People will start coming down to the beach pretty soon.� Emily and the boys are almost to the opposite side of the lake,� Ling pointed.

 

Corinne followed the lead, and found the thick string of the centaurpedess� body in the distance.� Her wings were rising and then splashing in the water.

 

�Big news!� Jeannie, Joanie and Jonquil all got pregnant last night � at least that�s what Brandy says.�

 

�Oh, really?�

 

�They�re starting to behave like Jackie did � according to their mother.�� Ling sighed.� �She told me that they weren�t at all interested in boys this morning � or any kind of sex � for that matter.� Christopher is likely to be father of four of the babies.�

 

�Do I hear a hint of jealousy?�

 

Ling replied directly:� �Yes, I am!�

 

Ling stopped her grooming � and then started again.� �Yes, I am.� And I helped keep Chris aroused so he could put one of himself in Jonquil, one of himself in Joanie � and the other two of himself in Jeannie.� It was fun � I helped Roman and Ronaldo keep aroused at the same time so all the other girls could have four apiece! � But I feel just like help sometimes.�

 

Silence passed, except for some distant shouts and splashing.� Cee suspected that Ling had removed her retainer.

 

Ling paused at her brushing.� The click of the retainer, then �Sorry for venting at you � you aren�t anybody in the family �

 

�And sorry � for something else, too ��

 

Ling started combing.

 

Then, she stopped.� �Well, I had better tell you.�

 

�What?�

 

�Remember when you nursed from one of my tail-teats?�

 

�Yesterday?�

 

�Yes.� It was a restorative for concussions.�

 

�Yes?�� Cee wondered what Ling Li was tacking around.

 

�Well, at first I gave you the wrong one.� It was my mistake � I have so many � and I told Anne; but she said not to worry.� But I should tell you.

 

�I�m asked to use it a lot.�

 

�Yes.� Yes.� Go on.�

 

�It�s � a youth elixir.�

 

�A youth elixir?�� As in �Fountain of Youth�?�

 

�Yes � it�s very popular! � I have lots of teats that make it ��

 

Corinne smiled.� This was interesting!� She hid her smile, turned to face up towards Ling.� �But I�ve been feeling horribly tired � muscle aches � all sorts of pains, flashes � and my scalp itches horribly!�

 

�Yes!� That�s the way it works � your body is working to regenerate itself � just like you were younger � when you were in your peak physical condition.� Your muscles are growing, your hair starts regenerating � your body will start to behave like it was in its twenties.� Pretty soon you will get loose teeth, and the old ones fall out � but you�ll get new ones every few years!� There are lots of things � that�s why your skin is turning so smooth and young now � though Anne still says you�ll need cocoa-butter for your breasts � they are already trying to swell and grow again � oh, I AM sorry!�

 

�So I am actually trying to lactate?�

 

�Yes � you moaned when Cynthia and I nursed from you last night � but it seemed your breasts would burst if we hadn�t.� You gave A LOT of milk.�

 

�I am still horribly hungry, you know.�

 

�Yes � but Doctor Anne tells me you shouldn�t eat anything � at least until noon.� And then only a little.� She warns that anything you eat right now � until your reverse aging stops � will go straight to your breasts � as milk or � bigger breasts.� She wants you to see her with some customers this morning, anyway � I think you are wanted as a witness.

 

�I hope you aren�t mad at me.�� Ling stopped her combing.

 

�I don�t know.� Is this permanent?� The youth, I mean?�

 

�Yes.�

 

�I see.�

 

Ling removed her retainer.� She started work on Cee�s braid.

 

�I suppose I could be angry.� The process does hurt, Ling Li.� Though I think I�d love to be in my twenties again.�� Cee thought a moment.� �And I�ll be fertile again, too?�

 

Ling nodded.

 

Then Corinne had her second epiphany of the morning.� �And there�s one thing that you�d really like me to do � say, sometime in the middle of the afternoon?� You�ve been edging up to it all during my visit.� Sort of a birthday present for Chris?�

 

Ling looked totally confused, then her face turned beet red.� She tried to talk; but her tongues leapt out and she made an inarticulate �pthppbthth�.

 

Cee took Ling by her long spidery hand, and patted it.� �The boy is sweet, he�s gentle � and as long as I don�t have to go near his tail end, I�d be happy to seduce him � besides � I�m curious to see how a couple your size actually does manage to get it on!�

 

Ling�s tongues completely blocked her vocal tract; so she just blushed and snorted.� Half an hour later, she�d finished Corinne�s braiding.

 

In the hand-mirror the young dracocentaur girl provided, the youngering woman reporter thought it a fine job � though she suspected the hair would need to be edged very soon.� Very soon indeed.

 

Now Ling rose, and stopped.� She looked longingly off in the distance.� Corinne followed her gaze.

 

�Chris?�

 

The long, thin dracocentauress let out a sigh.

 

�Yeth.� Thorry.�

 

�You�re madly in love with him, aren�t you?�

 

Ling Li sighed again.

 

Just then the four eldest Johnson girl-dracocentaurs pranced by, tossing sand everywhere.� The two older kept going; but Joanie and Jonquil stopped in front of Cee and Ling, pivoting their doubled hindquarters so that they flanked the long Li daughter on either side.

 

�Hi!� said Jonquil.� She was prancing coquettishly, her zebra-colors danced as her cheetah�s waist arched and flexed.

 

Corinne had heard about Ling�s extraordinary endowments, but until now never seen them in action.� Now she did.� It was awing.

 

Ling gasped, as she could no longer restrain her pudenda from reaching for the parading young women-cat-dragons.�� Corinne saw multifarious labial tentacles reached out and began to coil about the tween-hindquarters waists of the two.

 

The cheetah dracocentauresses danced aside.� They had to take many coordinated steps before they could pull clear of the coiling boneless limbs emerging from under Ling�s rearmost hindquarters.

 

�We�re all pregnant now, Ling � sorry.�� Jonquil laughed.� She called out from a safer distance:� �Not interested!�

 

Corinne�s saw Ling�s face turn beet red.

 

�And thanks for loaning Chris last night!�� Joanie laughed.� �When your brother got diverted by our mom and her friends � well, you did a nice job to help Chris to help Jeanie and us!� Thanks!� Bye!�

 

The sleek pair sprinted off in happy synchrony.�� Their black-and-white ringed tails floated behind them.

 

Cee saw a tear of frustration in Ling�s eye.� She�d crossed her arms around her torso, then reached down and dug her hands into the top of her feral shoulders.

 

A completely extraneous conclusion presented itself to Corinne.� �Ah!� Zeke Johnson only sires girls, right?� And Brandy is sick of girl-babies and wants to mother a boy � so she seduced your brother away from those three �� Even as she talked about the Johnson�s Corinne was beginning to put two and two together about her dracocentauress carrier.� �And �

 

Ling spat out her tongues, and then struggled to gather them up again into her mouth.� This took a small while, and let Cee think.

 

�You haven�t had any in how long, Ling?� she asked.

 

Ling made a show of inserting her tongue retainer.

 

�A few days ��

 

Cee didn�t reply.

 

�Okay.� A week.� Not coital sex.� I�ve had everything but ��

 

�I can�t imagine Chris refusing you ��

 

�He wouldn�t � he does his best � oh, it�s too complicated �� Ling began to cry.� Then she bit her lip and recovered herself.� �He likes girls with big boobs � and I�m not built that way.� She dried away her tears on a silk sleeve, which left a stain.� �Though I might be �� Ling stared at Corinne in a way that made the reporter uncomfortable.� She reassured her rider, �That�s why I�m asking you to help me with him.� I think I�m also too much for him � You know I�m didymous?�

 

�Well � I do know that each of you younger women have four sets of sexual organs ��

 

�Not that � yes �� Ling tried to explain.� �Yes, we all are set up like we�re four as far as sex organs are concerned.� But in me I�m doubled up again.� Sorry about that display � did someone tell you about me back there?�� Ling sounded embarrassed and was talking about two things at once.

 

�Yes, I think it was one of the Johnson�s who told me about your � labial tentacles, I think she called them.� Two of the daughters gave me a � demonstration � yesterday.� So I wasn�t too taken aback � though yours do look like they belong to a giant squid.� Although I am impressed that you can control them as well as you do.�

 

�Gee, thanks!�� Ling faced Cee and pouted.� Then she smiled with some pride � �I didn�t want to shock you � I�ve kept them hidden � coiled up underneath as tight as I could.� Extended, they are several times as long as one of my legs.� All muscle.� All twenty-four of them.

 

�They�re very sensitive, as you might guess.� Only a few years ago I had to keep them looped and hooked on top of my rump or they�d drag on the ground, and I�d climax every time I�d try to walk.� Worse than dragging my tail � which wasn�t nearly as long then as it is now.�

 

�Hi, Ling!� called four small voices.

 

�Hello, Regina, Jennifer, Jethra, Jera,� Ling said in a bored manner.

 

The group of dracocentaurettes clustered around Ling�s forequarters.� The one Cee identified as Jera announced:� �We�re supposed to give you a message.� But you have to pay us first.�

 

�Pay you?�� Ling asked indulgently.

 

The chorus rang out:� �We want to make love to you, hoo!�� The four immature girls giggled and primped their bodies imitating the older Johnson sisters.

 

�Absolutely not!�� Ling jumped her body, which made Corinne very uncomfortable.� �You are disgusting � you should have your mouths washed out with soap!� You know you all are too young for �!� Now get out of my sight!�

 

But the imps had already scattered from their teasing.

 

And, Corinne saw, the teasing had an effect on Ling.� She put a hand on Ling�s quivering stalk of a waist.� The enormous girl�s flanks were heaving underneath Cee�s butt � she seemed not to be able to breathe fast enough, despite her huge lungs.

 

�They weren�t serious, you know!�� But Cee�s reassurance was too late.

 

Ling had passed out.

 

Fortunately for Corinne, Ling settled more-or-less upright onto the ground.� Her upper torso sank backwards, so that now her human body slept on her black-haired back.� Before Ling, one forepaw was relaxed, curled up, the other�s claws half-gripped into the sandy soil.� Cee turned her head.� With chagrin she looked down at dracocentauress� bare human abdominals behind her.� The fast breathing slowed to a more normal pace.

 

While Cee tried to decide whether she should attempt to slide off Ling�s back � it was a long way down! � Sammy Li showed up.

 

�She�s fainted, Sam!�

 

He smiled and settled down next to Ling�s prone body.� Without a word � and Corinne realized he couldn�t say a word with all that tongue in his mouth.� So he was perforce mute.� The slender-bodied monster-bodied boy scooped Cee up by the waist and set her on his back.

 

Cee had an idea.� She�d learned a bit of sign language when she�d prepared for a feature article on a school for the deaf.� That was several years ago � before deafness could be cured by genetic morphing technology.� Did she remember any of it?� �Look at me,� she said.

 

Sam bowed his human waist about.� Not nearly as slender as his sister�s, it was nevertheless long.� He caught sight Corinne�s moving hands.

 

�She�ll be alright?� she signed.

 

�Yes,� he replied, using sign language.� Sam smiled again, his tongues bulging in his lean jaw.� �So you figured out I knew ASL?� My sister�s just as oversexed as I.� She�ll feel better when she does wake up,� he said silently.� �I have to take you to Dr. Corben.�

 

---

 

Sam silently returned Cee back to the Corben�s place � in fact Anne Corben was seated couchant, holding court there, and under the tree where Corinne had first interviewed her the day before.

 

�Ah!� Welcome!�� Dr. Corben saw Sammy coming with Corinne on her back.� �I�m talking with a couple of our customers right now.�

 

Cee looked about as her dracocentaur settled down.� Each of the dracocentaurs present was wearing an Artoni creation.� Cynthia was present, wearing white with gold accessories that matched her head and body hair.� Manuela Hernandez, vastly pregnant � her flanks kicked periodically from within � was present.� Cee wondered when the woman would pop � it couldn�t be too long from now!

 

Corinne turned her head and spotted an Asian couple.� As they were close to each other she guessed that these were the elder Li�s.� Their next-to-youngest daughter, Mai, was there with a young blonde dracocentauress of about the same age that the reporter hadn�t seen before.� Both were larger than Anne; though Mai of course had her family�s length and slenderness.� The other had a burliness that reminded her of a Corben offspring.� Dr. John was not present � and none of the other younger dracocentaurs were there, either.

 

As Cee watched, she saw that the two were rocking, their tails waving, curling and uncurling.� A little closer look and she noted that both youths were panting � their muscular lower ribs expanding and collapsing.

 

Partly screened by them and also Cynthia, Corinne spotted three others � not dracocentaurs at all, although one of them had a powerfully coiled tail that must be immensely long when stretched out.� This one propped three left hands against the fore shoulder of the more stout young dracocentauress.

 

�Merrienne?� Anne spoke to that person.� �William?� Elizabeth?� That is Corinne Meadowlark � sitting on my future son-in-law, Sammy Li.� She�s a reporter for the Tecumseh Trumpet.� Sam is Mai�s older brother.�

 

�Hello!� the three said, not quite together.

 

�Corinne, you�ve met Mai; but I don�t think you�ve met Essie.� She�s a younger Artoni daughter.� These are Elizabeth Anderson, Merrienne Roosevelt and William Pin.� They work in the EMS/Rescue team for Oceana County, and are very good friends.� I met them a few years ago.� Merrienne, as you can see, has a rather extensive morph by my hands.� I understand that Betsy here wants a similar morph.�

 

�Yes, Dr. Corben.�� That was Elizabeth speaking.� She was a tall, willowy woman in a cotton EMS-stenciled T-shirt and shapeless jeans.� Broad shoulders, shapely pelvis � an active woman.� Smooth symmetrical face, average D-cup breasts, defined arms hovering between �toned� and �bodybuilder.�� Cee guessed she was in her early twenties.

 

The man, William, was dressed in the about the same clothing as Betsy.� Broader shoulders, not too much squarer face.� Alert gray-blue eyes.� Brown hair pushed back into a modest ponytail, he stood with hands on narrow hips.� That, of course, emphasized the laughably large codpiece emerging from his crotch.� Corinne had heard and seen images of this type of male hypersexual morph; but had not seen one in person.� Most boys of his generation were congenitally endowed with organs that grew to between 12 and 15 inches in length.� His would have to be much much longer.� On an active man such as William would seem to be, this didn�t seem to make sense.� It was tough for her to estimate the height of the three; but the women were an inch or two shorter than the man.� Cee guessed he was also in his early to mid-twenties.

 

Corinne particularly noted Merrienne�s morph.� Considering that she had six arms � it was difficult to ignore it!� That, and an enormously long tail, and six dancer�s legs spaced on three pelvises trailing behind a normal-sized abdomen.

 

�Essie�s certainly strong enough to carry me, Dr. Corben,� Merrienne said.� �We traveled from the parking lot to here without too much trouble at all.� Mai�s a little light � but by the time Betsy is fully morphed, she should be strong enough, too.�

 

�So, you�ll work together with them?�� The Ling father spoke up.

 

�Yes, Professor Ling,� said the male � William, �Mai can carry both me and Betsy for now.� We�ll expect money to pay for both their board, of course.�

 

�Good.�� The oriental male dracocentaur sounded a bit relieved.

 

Cee looked at Mai.� She was all smiles, as was Essie, who twined her tail a little around Merrienne�s.

 

�All right, then,� Anne said.� �You are sure you want to go through with the extensive transformation, Betsy?� Not the fifteen-meter tail?� I�ve worked very hard on that one � you wouldn�t grow the extra limbs or need the extra pulmonary systems.�

 

Betsy looked over towards Merrienne.� Corinne remembered Anne�s talk about someone�s proposed gallant behavior the evening before.� Did Cee detect a glow of heroine worship here?

 

�Yes.� The thirty-five meter tail � just like Merry.� Please.�� Elizabeth approached the dracocentauress� spidery hands.

 

�Alright.� This will take about a year for you to develop.� And it won�t be pleasant.� But you know that already.�� Anne sighed as she plunged a pinky-finger talon under the skin of the young woman�s forearm.

 

The process took just a few seconds � scarcely longer than an immunization shot.

 

Immediately upon removing the spur, the couchant Anne took a cotton ball in her other upper hand and covered the wound with a swab that wafted alcohol to Corinne�s nose.

 

Despite the obvious discomfort, Betsy was ecstatic.� She hugged the upper torso of a very embarrassed Anne, then turned and hugged a laughing Merrienne.� William just grinned as Merry smothered the two-armed girl with her own six arms.

 

---

 

While she was looking around the scene, Corinne couldn�t help but notice Cynthia�s four ears perk up.� Subtly, the dracocentauress twined her tail about her mother�s right front hind leg.� The pressure got Anne�s attention.� Once it did, Cynthia mouthed a word � helicopters?

 

Corinne was so involved in trying to decipher what the huge blonde dragon-girl was saying that she didn�t notice that her tail was extending out towards her, and by the time she�d noticed it � the golden-haired tail had secured her waist, and Cee was already halfway to the ground.

 

Anne reared up and raised her hand for attention.� �Folks, our next customers will be arriving in a few minutes � Mai � oh, and there you are Milton � Essie, you take William Pin and Betsy Anderson and Merrienne Roosevelt down to the lake.� You�ll stay for the birthday party?�

 

Corinne now stood on the sandy grass when he heard William speak:� �Sure!� We�re off-duty until tomorrow, right, Merry?�

 

The tailed and twelve-limbed girl smiled and climbed aboard a grinning Essie, who used her tail to support Merry�s onto her broad back.

 

The sight of John Corben arriving and escorting a discomforted Manuela Hernandez away diverted Corinne�s attention.� By the time Corinne heard the beating of large helicopter blades most the group was gone.� She walked up to Anne�s couchant flank.

 

Dr. Anne Corben was talking into a phone.� �You can set down in the field a hundred meters west of this point.�� She muted the instrument and looked back over her shoulder, at Cee.� �Our second customer for the day.� No peace for the wicked, eh?�� Anne sported the quirky Corben smile.

 

Sure enough, two ancient CH-47 Chinook helicopters came into sight a minute or so later.

 

The first carried a large sledge below it.� On the sledge was something large and vaguely cylindrical, wrapped in Mylar insulation. �Besides the swinging four-point cable support, a slender silver-wrapped umbilical cord from the cargo waved up into the body of the airship.� Now this two-rotored �copter began to settle the sledge on the sandy field.� It hit and bumped to a stop, kicking up sand.� Even a hundred yards away, Corinne could feel the gust as the pilot shuffled the craft to one side and set it on the ground.� The cargo compartment door slid open completely, and out came three passengers.

 

They were two men in fatigues, and what Corinne took to be a small woman, dressed only in a Mylar gown.� She looked to be in a state of collapse.� The girl was holding the umbilical � it was thick in her arm � in the crook of her elbow.� The thing seemed to disappear underneath the edge of the clothing she wore.� The two men were propping the girl up.

 

Following the three came four more men out of the hatch.� The remainder of the squad immediately set to work unhooking the cables attaching the sledge to the helicopter.� As soon as they were retracted, the Chinook took off, leaving the delivery on the ground.

 

Some fifty yards nearer, off to one side of the sledge, the second helicopter settled to earth.� Immediately the remainder of what must have been at least a platoon of men �escorted� � Cee counted � eight women.� They were dressed in little more than colorful shifts coming off of the transport.

 

�Shut the damn engines off!�� Corinne could hear Anne shout into her phone.� Near gale winds were picking up sandy dust and blowing it into their faces.

 

The engines shut down.� Finally the abrasive blast settled.

 

The men hustled the women towards the group of dracocentaurs and Cee.� Except for the girl with the sledge.� As they got closer, Corinne could see that most of the women were little older than girls � there was one older woman, and she gave her escort more difficulty, tripping once, and then forcing the two men about her to walk at her pace.

 

Corinne looked about her � the group was down to the elder Li�s � both of whom did not look at all happy � Samuel Li and Anne�s eldest daughter, Cynthia, and of course, herself and Dr. Corben.� Sam looked far out onto the field � staring at the sledge � and ignored the approaching party.� Anne did mention something about Sammy�s girl friend, Cee recalled.

 

�Corinne � I want you here to observe.�� Anne talked urgently.� �I am sorry if you think I invited you here under false pretenses � but Wu is a slippery character and will claim an agreement was made that never was � or, rather, the fulfillment of some agreement was never carried out.� I don�t want him letting on that we � or in particular the Li�s � welshed on their deal.�

 

�What was the deal?�� Corinne was a little confused � and perhaps a bit miffed.� Dammit!� She was a feature reporter.� Not a notary!

 

�Just watch, please.�

 

Corinne did feel a tiny bit relieved when she saw no arms other than nightsticks in the belts of the soldiers coming near.

 

�Doctor Corben?�� It was their leader.

 

�Yes, Lieutenant � Wu, I presume?�

 

�My father is Wu Wao-Chiang, yes.� My mother is of no importance.�� It was a young woman in the khaki, looking up at Anne Corben�s face.� She was well over six feet tall and willowy � Cee could see that even under the baggy clothes.� Her short black hair scarcely moved when Lt. Wu opened a case, dialed a number on the cell-phone, flicked a setting to �Conference� and presented it up to Anne�s hand.

 

�Dr. Anne Corben?�� It was more a statement than a question by a person with an obvious oriental accent.

 

�Yes, Mr. Wu?�

 

�You are ready to complete your side of the agreement, I presume?�

 

�I expected two � at the most, three, subjects as well as Xiao-Fei.�� Anne sounded very irritated.� �And would you kindly explain why Mei Lung is here?�

 

�My wife is there to be transformed like the rest of them, my daughters.� And the number in the contract is eight additional, my choosing.�

 

Anne Corben pulled out a copy of a paper, laid it out on the top of Corinne�s left breast and pointed to a paragraph.� With the angle of her torso, she was showing it only to Corinne.

 

The paper read �� no more than three (3) ��

 

�I see,� Anne said quietly.� The dracocentauress doctor pointed to the Li�s, who held each other�s hands and stared at Anne.� They looked extremely nervous.� Corinne�s companion sighed, and signaled for the first young woman to approach.

 

Curiously, the girl shrugged aside her fears (and her burly Caucasian attendants), and proudly walked to the sitting dracocentauress.� She announced herself. �Ji Lin!�

 

Corinne was astonished to note that the woman was grown; but so small � at least three inches shorter than she!

 

�It will be very dangerous for Mei,� Anne said conversationally as she plunged another of her needle-sharp fingernails underneath the skin.

 

�Five of the other seven � and of course Xiao-Fei � are hers.� But she is losing her ability to have children.� That must be corrected.�

 

�She�s given you twenty-seven � including several twins, Wu.�� Anne brushed a cotton swab on the upper arm of the girl, and signaled for the next to come forward.

 

�Mei Lin!�� Proudly.

 

�Do I have to remind you of the Li�s situation, Dr. Corben?�

 

There was a pause.� Corinne glanced at the slender powerful bodies of the oriental couple.� She understood that Wu had something on the Li�s.� Cee glanced towards Sammy Li.� He stared � fearfully? � longingly?� Out towards the sledge in the distance.� She looked out onto the field, and thought she saw a soldier�s machete glint next to the sagging girl still there.

 

�Mr. Wu.� I can�t interfere with your family business � but I do wish to warn you of the dangers.�

 

�Consider me warned, Dr. Corben.� You may, of course, modify the transformation so that it does cause less stress upon her older body.� But I want the result to be the same.�

 

�You understand its extent?�

 

�Of course.� Xiao-Fei was an excellent test subject � and I understand that she�s scarcely begun to grow.� Too bad that she has already reached the limit of transport.� I think I shall rather enjoy the challenge with my chosen.

 

�Xi!�

 

�Yes, sir?�� The tall woman responded.� She took the phone from Anne�s fore shoulder (where the Doctor had set it when she�d started work on the first of the eight �subjects�), and switched off the conference option.� �Yes, sir!�� A pause, �The third, sir!�

 

Corinne observed that Wu need not have worried.� Anne Corben could not do the first seven female �subjects� fast enough.� They went from eldest to youngest.� They were all small, and looked to Cee to range in age from their early twenties to small children.� To the reporter, Anne clearly found repugnant doing the last of these.

 

�Tom and Dick�s arranged mates,� Anne whispered sullenly to a somewhat mystified Corinne.� �They won�t develop until puberty, you understand!�

 

�Who are Tom and Dick?�

 

�The Li�s youngest � Wu had them abducted,� Anne whispered.� �They�re four years old; but somehow he managed to get them transported to the Far East.� We don�t know where they are, exactly.�

 

Now much made sense!� Wu didn�t have anything on Anne Corben; but held the Li�s youngest for ransom.� And what a ransom!

 

The woman who was apparently the mother of most of the others Anne did last.� Imperiously, the woman walked forward.� She was taller than the others � about an inch shorter than Cee.� Of all the �subjects� only she remained accompanied by a pair of guards.� �Mei Lung!�

 

Anne evidently was not ready.

 

Wu became impatient, and had Lt. Wu resume the conference call.

 

�You want a live wife or a dead thousand-ton carcass, Mr. Wu?�� Anne drawled in response to his voiced complaint.� She flexed her huge hands, shaking them like huge doormats from her slender wrists.� �I have to reset the serum manufacture ��

 

To Corinne�s delight, that reply shut up Wu.� Cee was beginning to despise the disembodied voice fiercely.

 

Lt. Wu snatched back the phone, pocketed it, and made a wink that Cee knew to mean volumes.� She didn�t think that Anne, busy shifting her chemistry, saw this.

 

At last it was done.

 

And once it was done, Lt. Wu couldn�t get out of there fast enough.� The helicopter rotors of the remaining Chinook began to spin up just as Anne applied the sterilization pad to the older woman�s arm.

 

The men � Corinne recognized them to be mercenary thugs � she�d seen their type on the streets of Detroit, long ago � took Madame Wu, the eldest daughter and the two youngest.� They left the four others standing there.

 

Xi Wu signaled the two men on the field near the sledge.� They came running towards the helicopter.� The small girl by the sledge slumped to her hands and knees.

 

Within three minutes, the transport took off.

 

Within five minutes, Cee couldn�t hear the blades.� But before that, Sammy Li had dashed out to the sledge.� And this was without regard to the mass of his enormously long tail, which rippled behind him.� Corinne turned her view towards Cynthia, who had a look of disappointment on her face.� The enormous girl-dragon pulled up a forepaw and pressed it under her lower chest.

 

Interesting, Corinne thought.

 

Tenderly, the Li boy pulled up his tail and twined it about the distant girl�s body.� Simultaneously, a massive tine of his right forepaw sliced away at the straps of the cargo on the shed.

 

�Sam and Xiao-Fei have been childhood sweethearts, Corinne,� Anne said in a low voice.� �And yes, my daughter has had hopes about Sam �

 

�Cynthia!�� Anne said in a louder voice.� �Cynthia!�� She looked up at her distracted offspring.

 

�Oh!�� Cynthia sat herself down and looked down at her mother�s head.� �Sorry.�� She tossed her blonde hair and flexed her ripped body.

 

�Cynthia.� We were going to wait until the party to announce this � but Andrew is in camp � and very much wants to see you.�

 

The giant dracocentauress froze at the sound of the name �Andrew.�

 

�Where �� Cynthia began to fold her tail about herself, �where � is he?�

 

�I�m not sure � I imagine with his sister somewhere ��

 

�Anne �� John Corben had raced up, �Anne �� There was some urgency in his voice.

 

�What is it John Theodosius?� asked Anne � and then �Oh, damn!� The women!� They�ve gone faint with hunger!�� She pointed at the four Wu daughters � they�d passed out on the ground.� �Oh, I hope those idiots on the helicopter brought plenty of sustenance for their charges!�� Anne stood, dwarfing Cee, who stayed on the sandy grass.� Doctor Corben approached them � Cee walked along side her.

 

�Anne � Manuela is in labor.�

 

�That�s what I was afraid of � I was hoping Manuela would be available � I�ll have to nurse these girls myself � they need food immediately.� Cynthia!� Oh, she�s gone!� Good!�� Anne looked around and down at Corinne.� �Cee � oh I wish that Andria wasn�t so partial to women with extreme hourglass figures � later today � after you�ve eaten � I�m going to ask for your assistance.� But right now � could you get Sammy to carry Miss Wu Xiao-Fei over so I can nurse her as well?� I suspect her appetite will be rather extreme, but maybe I can hold off her starvation long enough � at least until lunch is served.�

 

---

 

Anne gathered up the tiny women, reviving them using smelling salts from her pouch.� As she teased her body into a halfway comfortable nursing position, Corinne left the tree and headed towards the sledge in the field.

 

Cee had been fascinated by the tableau.� The Li parents had joined their son � and Xiao-Fei had wrapped her arms around Sammy Li�s human torso � or at least, some of his human torso.� The embrace was returned gently with one arm, Sammy holding the girl�s legs with his left arm.

 

Corinne found herself next to Madame Li�s foreleg/arm.� Like Anne, her skin was youthful; though it had that perfect oriental saffron color.� Without a word, the older Li coiled her tail (which was longer than Anne�s, though thinner) around Cee, and considerately pulled her up to sit astride her back.

 

The intrepid reporter (what was going on was much more than feature-article material, Cee decided) noted that Xiao-Fei was shivering.� Also, she saw that the �umbilical� that she was holding when under guard actually sprouted from just above her butt � and was almost as thick as the slenderest portion of her waist.

 

So the �umbilical cord� is actually � a tail, Cee thought.� Then she looked down at the cargo, and saw it shivering, too.� And it breathed.� The light bulb finally went on in Corinne�s head.

 

�Think termite queen,� Anne had said earlier.� So, this was Xiao-Fei�s modification � it all made sense now.� The �cargo� was part of the girl�s body � or rather � Xiao-Fei�s human part was a small piece of her real body.

 

Corinne gulped.� The temperature was at least seventy degrees Fahrenheit and rising.� Still she�s shivering.� She�s desperately hungry, with very little fuel reserves left in her body.� Cee suspected that the girl was right at the edge �

 

�Samuel!�� She called up to the boy�s head.� �Can you carry Xiao-Fei to Anne?� She�s faint with hunger.� Your girlfriend very much needs to be fed.� That�s why she�s shivering.�

 

Samuel said nothing � but reacted by lowering himself to the ground and with astounding delicacy used his incredibly long tail to work Xiao-Fei�s major body off the sledge and onto his back.

 

He struggled to his feet � for a moment Cee was afraid the girl�s � gaster? � was too heavy for Sammy Li to carry; but he managed, staggering, to carry the girl to the place where Anne lay on her flank.� Xiao-Fei immediately began sucking greedily from one of Dr. Corben�s last two lower chest teats.

 

To Cee (who�d been carried by a silent Madame Li), the scene was almost surrealistic.� All five women were nubile adults, obviously mature, with perfect skin � a shade lighter than Sam Li�s � perhaps a gold ochre.� Yet they nursed like babies, and, shortly after Xiao-Fei arrived, the others fell asleep, like babies.

 

�Do they need to be burped?�� Cee asked aloud.

 

Anne laughed.

 

Xiao-Fei shifted, glanced adoringly at Sammy Li, and began sucking on Anne�s last available enormous underbreast.

 

�Probably.�� Anne thought, looking back at her flank.� She pawed the grass with a foot hand.� �I sense that Xiao-Fei is going to drain me.� I never thought that would be possible.� I hope it will be enough for her.�

 

�You can � feed me � solid food,� came a tiny bell-like voice.� Then Xiao-Fei resumed her drinking.

 

�Oh, sorry, Ms. Chang,� Anne called back.� �You aren�t a baby after all!� She laughed again.

 

�Madame Li?� I think everything�s under control here.�� Anne directed her voice to Corinne�s carrier.� �Actually, it�s refreshing not to be bursting with milk all the time.� Could you take Ms. Meadowlark to see my husband?� He�s with Manuela.�

 

Without another word, Corinne Meadowlark was carried out of sight.

 

---

 

When Cee arrived at the site chosen for birthing, she saw a clearing surrounded by a copse of pine trees.� The half-foot thick mat of needles on the ground gave off such a scent of �Pinesol� antiseptic that Madame Li�s rider smiled.� There was something odd about the two first-generation dracocentaurs already there � but Corinne couldn�t put her finger on it right away.

 

Manuela Hernandez leaned upright, both her backs resting against the trunk of an enormous White Pine tree.� Her muscular tail twined about tree behind her.� She held in her four hands straps from thick padded leather bracelets about the respective wrists.� These four straps looped over the thickest possible branches, and her lower two supported much of her body.� Corinne had never seen a dracocentaur woman take this pose.� Manuela stood only on her rearmost hind legs spread very wide.� Her front-pair of hind legs were actually above them, knees folded and toes propped up on the extravagantly muscular thighs.

 

The dracocentauress Corinne was approaching had a classic mezcla beauty.� Dark lank hair, tanned brown skin, round features.� Like Anne, Madame Li and Brandy, Manuela had a muscular, lean upper torso that � other than the too-slender waist � would be indistinguishable from an average-sized athletic woman.� It gave no hint of her advanced pregnancy, other than her swollen hemispherical pair of milk-filled breasts.� Cee judged these to be a couple sizes larger than Anne�s.

 

Manuela�s far larger lower torso had the same lean tone and perfect skin as her upper body.� The six large breasts in three pairs � also perfectly hemispherical and filled with milk that leaked from dark nipples � were not as egregious as Anne�s.� Despite the depth and breadth of her bodybuilder�s lower chest, her belly stuck out hugely.� But not to either side, as Cee remembered her from the afternoon before.� Rather, Manuela�s powerful abdominal muscles conformed to a shape that was straight out and narrow.� One fetus had dropped down into her second pelvis and the other had taken its void, resting somewhat diagonally above it.

 

John Corben was in attendance.� He also was rearing up � though on both pairs of hind legs, so he was head and shoulders shorter than Manuela at the moment.� He held a five-gallon jug � Corinne thought it held water.� It was a clear liquid and she could smell no strong scent to it.

 

Manuela turned her head and smiled at the male dracocentaur.� �God Damn, you bastard!�� Her eyes were closed in concentration.� She lofted the upper baby in her belly with the play of her muscles.� It twitched.� �Why do you have to make such big ones, JT?�

 

�You sure you want me around?� You keep talking like that and I�ll leave,� the male Doctor Corben responded smoothly.� He was in a state of partial arousal, which was rather awesome.� Every few seconds he twitched the tip of his tail around Manuela Hernandez� upper right thigh.� �Besides, you don�t know that they�re mine.�

 

�Oh, yes I do!� And you stay right here!�� Manuela drank hugely from the cup John handed up to her.� She opened her eyes after smacking her lips.� �You�ve nearly killed Sylvia Artoni twice.�� She turned her head and became aware of Madame Li�s appearance.� � � Oh, hello, Lian!� You are just the person I need.�� Manuela grunted as a vast wave of contractions rippled across the distended muscles of her long lower belly.

 

Apparently neither of the two paid attention that Cee was on Madame Li�s back.

 

Manuela gasped, then continued addressing Li.� �I desperately need to get my cervix dilated.� You or Ling ��

 

�Ling�s sticking with Chris right now.�� John Corben replied.� �It�s up to you, Lian.�

 

While John talked, Corinne observed that Manuela�s nude body was slick with sweat.

 

That�s what�s �wrong� � they�re both nude, Cee realized.� She covered her reaction by sliding lightly off Li�s back onto the pine needles.

 

Looking around Corinne saw a pile of discarded �camp khakis� to the side of one of the trees.� It made sense when birthing � clothes would just get in the way.� And she�d seen the younger dracocentaurs often wear nothing at all � but it wasn�t something that the elder ones did commonly.

 

Corinne rolled her eyes and backed off from her former carrier � she should have known!� She saw many of Madame Li�s labial tentacles reach out, rippling along the ground like muscular snakes, and into and under Manuela�s dropped belly.� This was extraordinary, because their length allowed Li (apparently her given name was Lian) to stand well away from both Hernandez and Corben.� Like boneless fingers, they flicked bits of pine needle from their extremities, and then proceeded to diddle the end of Manuela�s birth canal.

 

To Cee�s bemusement, more � she counted six � of Lian�s tentacles twined about John�s two penises � just past the lower belly sheaths that normally supported them.� Standing behind Li�s body, she couldn�t see Lian�s reactions � but she did see Corben�s eyes close with rapture, and Hernandez� eyes open with shocked pleasure.� She began to pant more from excitement than with effort.

 

It took less than ten minutes, and the lower fetus began slipping down between Manuela�s back legs.� With some reluctance, Madame Li withdrew from her.

 

Corinne hadn�t even been noticed � all were so involved in their activities.� At least no one had behaved like she was even there.

 

In five more minutes, a baby dracocentaur was delivered, wet, on the ground.� In less than a minute it stood and tried to pull away, two umbilici (one attached to the human belly, another to the feral) holding it to the placenta still inside Manuela�s body.� Li found a pair of sterilized scissors from a kit that had been left with the clothes, and took care of the matter in a rather professional manner.

 

It gave a chance for Cee to look at the newborn.� Yes, it was big.� Six legs like the older siblings.� She � and it was a she, from a glance under her rearmost butt � was precocious.� Walking about, testing her body.� Perhaps 150 kilos of muscular body.� Tail flicking � shorter in proportions than even a child dracocentaur � a little more than body length.� Eyes open, a full � if wet � head of curly hair.� Blonde all over, except for a black line right along the spine from the nape of her neck.� She had startling blue eyes.� Corinne thought she saw a button at the hairline in the middle of her head.

 

�A unicorn?�

 

Cee caught John Corben staring as the child made a dash and reared up � or jumped up � to feed from the top left of Manuela�s lower teats.

 

Manuela released the straps on her upper hands, bent her human torso down, and looked closely at her youngest daughter�s head.� �No, Maria doesn�t have a unicorn.� There�s a primary horn in front, but � looking closely � there�s a ring of horn buds on either side � like a tiara.�

 

�A crown of horns �� John said.� Then he laughed.� �I suppose the boy will have the same endowment?�

 

Almost as if that was a cue, the second fetus became a baby.� This one was quite obviously a boy � a second-generation dracocentaur male.

 

Again, within a minute the infant was free of his mother and on his six feet.� Slightly larger than his sister, he gallivanted about, tripped over two of his penises, whimpered a little � and then worked out how to retract all four of them into their proper sheaths.� He had the same startling blue eyes of his sister.� His lower body was black-haired, with golden stripes � almost like a color negative of a tiger.� He joined his sister at Manuela�s lower teats.

 

�Yes.�� Manuela answered John�s past question.� Then she snapped her small hand at the infant boy�s fore shoulder �Don�t bite, Miguel!�

 

�Oh!� Hello, Cee!�� John finally managed to notice Corinne, standing there.� This was excusable, as he was half-aroused, half-fighting Madame Li�s attempt to work the male�s two penises into her rearmost hindquarters.� �Lian � I�m here for Manuela � ah!�

 

A final spasm of Manuela�s bottom belly expelled the steamy afterbirth.� It went almost unnoticed.� Rather, Corinne was taken aback by the fact that Madam Li�s labial tentacles were fully as long as Johns male organs � and quite a bit heavier and stronger.

 

�Hello, John.�� Cee responded hesitantly.

 

�How � how long have you been here?�

 

�Since Madame Li arrived.�

 

�Oh.�

 

Meanwhile, Manuela Hernandez released her tail-grip from the immense tree she�d leaned against, and began stripping the broad leather bracelets from her upper and lower forelimbs.� She unpropped her front hind-legs and stood now in a four back leg stance, holding her nursing infants in her lower arms.

 

Corinne glanced at her.� She was shocked to discover that Manuela�s lower body had suddenly become horribly thin � almost emaciated.� Her belly had been almost all pregnancy.

 

�You�ll need to get Manuela something to eat.� She looks like she�s starving.�

 

�It is nearly lunch time � � Corben tried to think as he was being taken into ecstasy by Lian.� �Raphaela � uh � Raphaela should have something prepared by now ��

 

�And � I want to get washed off, as well,� Manuela continued.�

 

John Corben�s face turned to Manuela.� �So, Li and I will go off and get you set for food.� You go to the beach.�

 

�I�ll leave the kids here now � I don�t want to feed them too much � they�ll get lazy and sleepy if I do.�� Manuela�s towering eyes fixed down on Cee.� �Will you keep the kids, Corinne?� I hate to impose on you �� The dracocentauress put down her infants and pushed them gently towards the small woman.

 

The two eyed Cee like a new toy.

 

Oh, oh.� Corinne was cornered.� Well, she�d been a babysitter before.� But these kids were enormous.� Each weighed at least twice as much as she.

 

�She is to mind you, children.� You follow her instructions.�

 

Cee was startled when the girl � Maria � blurted out, �I am hungry still.� Will she nurse us?�

 

Perfect grammatical English from newborns???� Corinne hoped that Mother Hernandez would dissuade them from that attempt.� Her breasts were enormous; but she was dry right now.� In fact, thinking on it, she was horribly hungry herself.

 

�No!�� Manuela warned.� �You two need to be a bit hungry.� Oh, I know � why don�t you two and Cee go off and meet your brothers and sisters, while I clean up.� Then I�ll come back for you.�

 

Maria and Miguel�s puppy-feet carried them up to either side of Corinne.� They � leaned � affectionately against her, which nearly knocked her off her feet.

 

The connected John and Lian made to go.

 

�Easy!� Easy!�� Cee looked up, Manuela had already disappeared.� �John!� John!�� Corinne shouted.� �You�re going to leave me here?�� Cee was also a little appalled that the two were running off in flagrante � That must have been uncomfortable for John.

 

Too late.

 

Corinne was alone with the two infants.

 

---

 

Like a jungle adventuress, a woman out of a Frank Frazetta painting, Corinne Meadowlark wandered through and then out of the forest of pines in the western Lower Peninsula of Michigan.� Two giant six-legged cat-like creatures accompanied her � one golden with a line of black, one black with narrow stripes of gold.� The shoulders were topped by torsos of small children.� An uninitiated human eye would say they were about two or three years old � but Corinne would tell you she�d seen them newly born.

 

A head shorter than she, Cee controlled them with a hand each on the back of their withers.� They were obedient and quiet.� To her astonishment, she found that if she grabbed tightly at the nape there, each would go limp � just like a kitten.

 

Corinne felt totally abandoned.� Miffed, she was looking for someone � anyone � who might be responsible for these two.� She thought she saw the red and black of immense creatures some hundred yards ahead.� Chris Corben and Ling Li, no doubt.

 

The children kept looking about them, their torsos switching this way and that.� �What is that?�� �Oh, what is this?�� �This is green?�� �That is blue?�� Cee tried to answer each question in a sensible way.� She just managed to restrain Miguel from hieing after a Fritillary butterfly.

 

Corinne approached the shore, Miguel and Maria at her sides.� The would-be lovers were near the beach, on sand with bits of saw grass about them.� Cee heard the laughter and splashing of children on the lake, which must have been not too behind the two.

 

Chris and Ling were stretched out � �Couchant� with their forelegs upright.� The dracocentaur�s lower waists (Ling�s shockingly narrow and long) were in a quarter-twist, so their doubled hindquarters sat on the sides of the hips, the top of their butts facing Corinne.� The two sat face-to-face, their enormous arm-legs crossing over each other�s.� Ling�s tail extended from her wide rear-most butt, down to the soil and then wrapped about upwards in a loose conical coil.� Its tip was poised elegantly over the nubile girl-dracocentauress� head.

 

There�s something � different � about Chris Corben.� What Cee noticed the most was Chris� feral breast was so thick with muscle that Ling�s fore torso could get no closer than double arm length and remain upright.� Ling was making mooneyes at her boyfriend, her long arms crossed over her tailored vest.� Her elongated stalk of human belly and its navel writhed.

 

She�s anticipating sex.� Cee could sense that from anyone, and Ling very apparently was no less horny than a few hours before.

 

Closer in, Corinne noticed that Christopher Corben was typing on a keyboard attachment to a notepad.� He was also drinking hugely from a long tube, which went back to a large closed barrel of electrolyte fluids resting on the top of where the spine-hollow of his back would be.� Except �

 

�Who are they?� Maria asked.

 

Cee responded, �You see the one with the red hair,� she pointed not recalling whether the newborns knew what �red� was � or even �hair� � �that one, has the same father as you.�

 

�Oh.�� The infant rolled up her eyes a moment, as if searching for something, �Oh!� He is my � half-brother?�

 

�Yes!� That�s exactly right.� His name is Christopher Corben.�� Inwardly, Cee felt a little spooked.� �The black-haired young woman next to her � well, she wants to have babies � � How am I going to explain � and should I even try?

 

As she wondered, Maria came up with �They are lovers?�

 

�Yes.�� Corinne responded.� �Her name is Ling Li.�� She was distracted by the sheer bulk Chris had grown to.� How had he packed so much more � lean muscle � on that already huge body so quickly?� How did this happen?

 

�Wow!� They�re big!�� This was a round-eyed Miguel.� �I am Miguel � Corben?� Will I grow so big?�

 

Just then Jennifer Corben trotted lightly by.� She carried an enormous carboy of Gatorade on her red-haired � almost strawberry blonde � back.� She reared up and handed the thing up onto Christopher�s back, her muscles straining hugely.� Her job done, she turned and saw Corinne and the two dracocentaur infants.

 

�Hi!� Jennifer called to the approaching group.� She approached as Joseph, her brother, came galumphing by.� �You two must be Miguel and Maria?�� Gracefully, the girl lowered herself to the sandy grass.� She held out her hands, and introduced herself � �I am Jennifer Corben.� Your sister.�

 

�Half-sister,� said Maria.� She leaped up and wrapped her forepaw hands about one of Jennifer�s arms.

 

Half a moment later, so did Miguel.� �We were looking at colors!� the boy exclaimed.

 

�Oh, my!�� Jennifer smiled the patented Corben smirk.� �So, the experiment worked!� Cool!�

 

�Experiment?�� Cee asked.

 

�Well, not really an experiment.� All of Manuela�s children were supposed to be able to talk at birth � but none of hers did.� She thought that maybe a different father might be the key.

 

�Unicorn horns?�� Jennifer sounded amazed.

 

�No,� Corinne smiled, �Crown of horns.�� She pushed aside Maria�s head hair and pointed out the buds on either side.�� �The middle one is the most prominent.� Your father made the same mistake.�

 

�C�mon Jenny!� We need to fetch more �� Joseph had come up.� �Oh, hi!�

 

�Jenny � could you take charge of these two?� Their mother is bathing in the lake, and your father is off ��

 

�With Madame Li?�� Jenny snorted.� �I saw him.� If he isn�t careful he�s going to hurt himself.� Yes, I�ll take care of them until dinner � okay � until I see Manuela.�

 

�What about filling tubs of stuff for Chris?�� Joseph complained.� He was holding two empties, one in each hand.

 

Jennifer Corben took the very young dracocentaurs up onto her back.� Both infants giggled at the sensation as she rose to her six feet.� �Oh, find someone else � Rex � or Milton if he isn�t carrying food around for everybody by now.� Besides, I don�t see how much more Christo can blow himself.� He�s being all silly, in my opinion.�� With that, Jennifer flew away.

 

Before Joseph had a chance to complain, Corinne asked him for help get up onto Christopher Corben�s back.� Something odd was going on here � her sense for the unusual and different was tingling.

 

�Sure!�� Joseph dropped the tubs and easily pulled Cee up onto his draft-horse sized back.� �Chris is working on your article for you.�

 

�He�s got my notepad?�

 

�Yep.� He wants to help you, so he�s writing stuff.� He likes to type.�

 

�Joseph, I really wish �� Corinne was miffed � Chris Corben had no business � but she found herself on top the huge red dracocentaur�s back.

 

Cee looked down to where Chris Corben�s spine would be � but it was so far down between his lower back muscles that she couldn�t see it without the risk of falling into the crevasse.� Now she realized what was � different.� Chris� lower body was � incredibly muscle-bound!� Behind, his two hips rested on their sides.� His two rumps had become grossly huge � the thews of his thighs restricted the movement of his legs � he could hardly bend them.� Corinne wondered if he could even stand right now.� His tail was blown up with muscle segments, and it was bound to be nearly straight.� She couldn�t see any more in that direction.� Ahead, Cee peered a little over the near side and saw that his right foreleg was splayed out forward and to the side.� Again, forced that way due to the ballooning of his shoulder muscles, biceps and triceps.� Upwards, his human portion was buried to the middle of the upper torso in the red-haired back muscles.� The human part was less affected by this � condition.� Right now he faced away, head down.� But he leaned his long human torso back only a little.� He rested his elbows on the top of the massively over enlarged trapezius that Corinne now perched on.

 

Muscles!� Muscles!� Muscles!� Corinne took a step forward, towards that silly paisano�s hat.� The muscle under her shoeless foot was firm, but with a hint of softness in its warmth.� What has happened to Chris?

 

Cee looked over his nude shoulder, and saw what he was typing on the notepad�s keyboard attachment.

 

�Christopher Corben, what are you doing with my notepad?�

 

�Writing your article for you, Ms. Meadowlark,� he replied without looking back or ceasing his work.

 

Cee noted that his human portion was not as affected by whatever happened to him to cause � �You haven�t messed with anything on it, have you?�

 

�New document �� Again, without looking at her, he stopped his furious work, and scrolled it up to the beginning.� ��I hope you like it.�

 

Cee read.

 

�Corinne Meadowlark, Newspaper Stringer, sat in her car.� The door was open for fresh air.� She sighed, and her breasts heaved with her sigh.� She waited for a ride to interview the matriarch of the Corben family in order to write her next feature article.

 

�As directed, Cee had stationed the car in the corner of the lot at a roadside park on M-37 some minutes outside of Newaygo.� Even in early August, being mid-morning, the place was deserted.� This suited her perfectly.� And it seemed to suit her ride � whoever he was to be � perfectly as well.� But she�d not seen her ride.� ��

 

�Actually, that�s not too bad � if you were writing a novel.�� Corinne spoke.� �You were there for awhile yesterday before you made yourself � visible?�

 

�Of course.�� Chris did not turn and look at her.

 

�Well ��

 

�Ms. Meadowlark?�� A male voice called.� �William � William Pin here � over here, on Mai Li�s back � with Betsy Anderson.�

 

Corinne focused beyond Chris Corben�s back.� Yes � on the far side of the couchant Ling Li, stood a far smaller Mai � with the two bipeds standing on her back.� It looked like they�d just climbed down from Ling.� Ling herself was still writhing her body � eyes closed.� Long arms crossed over a black jacket.� Long fingers feathered the quivering skin of Ling's own belly. �Whether all this was in ecstasy or agony, Cee could not tell.� Her hair had been unbraided and fell all over her back and rained down her near flank in a sheet.� Ling�s folded forepaws had reached forward and gently stroked the hair of Corben�s immense lower shoulders.

 

Betsy was in the process of uncoiling her tail from William and coiling it about the Mai-child�s tiny lower waist.� The flexibility of the girl was evident � her own shirted upper torso was nearly turned backward, supporting the woman�s hand.� Mai�s looped-about tail-tip steadied William.

 

�Hello!� Cee called.

 

At William�s request, Mai floated mincingly over to Chris� far flank.� The young girl dracocentaur looked down several times.� Apparently avoiding barriers on the ground.

 

Corinne had to leap over that deep spinal chasm to the other side of the dracocentaur�s huge back.� She looked back and down and gasped.� The depths must be over my head, she thought.

 

�Hey!�� She heard Chris exclaim.� �Careful!� My skin is very sensitive right now!�

 

If he looked back, she hadn�t noticed.

 

Mai sent up her glossy black velvet haired tail and wrapped its very end around Cee�s waist.� Corinne slipped a bit, and Mai frowned.� The dracocentauress passed a few more loops about Corinne�s thighs, and then brought her down on to her back to join Elizabeth and William.

 

It took a moment for the girl to unravel her double wrapped cargo.� �Sorry not to have been able to talk earlier,� Cee said to the two sitting down on Mai�s back.

 

�That�s all right,� the young man said.

 

Mai walked away from Chris�s flank.� Corinne glanced back at the thinned red hair over stretched skin that barely covered ballooning interstitial rib muscles � and the chunky upper abdominals that strained at the young man�s ribs.� She couldn�t even see his human torso from this angle.

 

The younger Li girl chose a spot and settled down.� All three slid off.� Their feet hit the loose sand.

 

�Thanks, Mai!� Elizabeth said, and patted her on the flank.

 

Mai beamed.� She brought out a packet and pulled out an emery cloth.� Mai occupied herself cleaning the tines of her left fore claw.

 

The trio walked away.� Then William Pin stopped.

 

�I just have to ask.� Are those real?�� He pointed at each of Cee�s breasts.

 

Corinne rolled her eyes.

 

Betsy laughed.

 

�Is THAT real?�� Corinne retorted.� She pointed to Pin�s calf-length codpiece.

 

�What a pair!�� Betsy now fell and rolled on the sand.� Her insane laughter was brought short by an �Ouch!�� She�d inadvertently pinched a section of her tail.

 

�Ow!�� The young woman grabbed hold of a three-foot section of her tail in her two hands.

 

There really isn�t much of a kink, Cee thought.

 

Betsy started massaging the section of tail.� She winced more than once.

 

�Growing already?�� Will asked gently.

 

�Yes.� I guess so!� I wonder when my extra limbs will start growing in.�

 

�Particularly your hips?�� Will smiled.

 

Betsy blushed and punched William Pin in the shoulder.� �Part of the deal � I do want to take all of you, just like Merry does.�

 

�Not for a year, girl.�� William shrugged.� �Sorry, Ms. Meadowlark.� I�ll try to explain everything � I didn�t ask to be so massively endowed.�

 

�Oh?�

 

�Nope,� Will took Betsy and Cee by the hand on either side of him, and walked the two to a nondescript part of Chris Corben�s anatomy, half buried in a sand-pile, and sat them down on it.� The bit was russet red velvet, warm, soft; but firm enough to support the two women.� �My slung schlong �� he grinned, �It was a prank by a fraternity I pledged to when I was in school.� Some of the seniors managed to get hold of a vial of research material ��

 

�Oh.�� Corinne frowned.

 

�I was pissed �� William frowned at the memory.� �It grew out in less than six months.� And nothing can hide it.� Just too darn thick.� Didn�t finish school because of it.� I�ve taken jobs here and there � I like the out-of-doors � but someone with my � endowment � keeps me at a desk job mostly.� I saw a post on the I-net from a girl who found most men too small ��

 

�� That was Merrienne�s post �� Betsy interjected.

 

�� and found myself up here.� Merry and I are a dead match, sexually �� William closed his eyes in remembered bliss.� �Betsy has been insanely jealous for the last year.� The two are � were � best friends.�

 

�Are.�� Betsy pouted.� �And you are nicely tapered, Will.�� She flicked at the tip of the young man�s down curved horn, then grinned proudly.� �We�re Rescue for the county.� You don�t know how useful having a looong prehensile tail is for fetching poor babies and little children out of wells and water-soaked culverts.� Ice rescue is cold.�

 

�So this wasn�t an intentional morph?�� Cee enquired.

 

�Nope.� Though I don�t mind it � now.�

 

�You are aroused like this all the time?�� Cee asked.

 

Will laughed.� �Hell no!�� It was a rueful laugh.

 

Oh, oh.� Cee thought wildly.

 

�This is a soft as it gets!?�� Will said and Cee asked at the same time.

 

�Yes.� About twice as long fully hard.� And yes, that�s bigger than a stallion�s � and it is a challenge to get it that way.� I�ll answer all the usual questions � I had a T-shirt made up with all of them on it, by the way � but it�s worn out.� And you?� And yours?�

 

�Natural.�� She caught both Betsy and the man�s disbelief.� �Grew up with them.�

 

�Not fake?�� Betsy asked.� �No.� No.� Too big to be fake.�

 

�And not a genomorph?�

 

�No.� If she wanted to be big big, she�d have stopped earlier ��

 

�� I�d always thought if I�d stayed at HH-cup size, it would have been fine, Betsy.� I got that big early in High School.�

 

�Geez.�� Will�s expression changed.� �And we�re asking you all the usual questions, I�ll bet.�

 

�You are making a start � but I don�t mind.� The T-shirt idea sounds interesting.� The condition�s called Virginal Breast Hypertrophy, VBH for short.� Chris� mother has the condition � nearly as extreme as my case � though she�s morphed herself to make it less obvious.� Now � what�s going on with Corben up over there?�� Corinne pointed towards Chris� head end.� The boy � er � young man � is still whaling away at my notepad!

 

�Chris?�� Betsy followed her index finger.

 

William responded.� �Oh, he�s trying to give himself a monster case of priapism.�

 

�Hyper hydration.� He�s trying to drink himself into permanent arousal.�

 

Corinne found the facts clicking through her brain, almost as if one more piece would make the pinball machine light up with a 10,000-point bonus.� �Ling?�

 

Betsy sighed.� �Yep.�

 

�He�s about 3/4 hard already.� Says it hurts like hell.�

 

�Ling gave him something to drink so that he can�t pee.� He said he�s 18 now so his mother can�t tell him not to.� I guess he�d gotten this way when he was younger ��

 

The bells rang, the lights flashed, and the tally went up on the board.

 

�We�re sitting on his penis?�

 

�Yep,� William grinned.� �One of them.� It�s already traveling off over that small sand hill.�

 

Corinne stood up.� Too hastily. (Will grinned.)� She looked about herself.� There were Chris Corben�s swollen hindquarters.� His hind legs were splayed out to the side towards them.� In fact � the claw-tines of the more forward upper hind leg (the left one) were only a few meters away, the foot hands clutched into a fist.� But his body was almost a frozen statue, encased in enormous, and literally unwieldy, muscles.� A series of red domes, each about the size of a Volkswagen bug top peeked over a rise behind the Corben boy�s hindquarters.

 

�A few of his testicles.�

 

�Oh �� Cee looked elsewhere, and met the eyes of Mai Li.� She responded.� She rolled her eyes expressively, twitched her four evidently sensitive pointed ears, shook the edged mop of her hair, and smiled a puffy-cheek grin.� Mai shifted her horse-sized glossy black body, and returned to trimming the claw nails on another foot.

 

�He�s been drinking since we first met him with Ling.� Betsy answered quietly.

 

�Will he hurt himself?�

 

�I hope not, but I get the feeling this is not healthy.�

 

�Ms. Meadowlark?� called a delicate voice.� �Corinne?� Did I hear your voice?�

 

The last ten meters of a very prehensile black tail had uncoiled itself from an enormous pile, and wandered towards the small group.

 

�Damn!�� Corinne turned about, looking for a way to distance herself from that approaching tail.

 

Betsy stared at Cee�s middle.� She exclaimed � �where did you get that tiny waist, Ms. Meadowlark?�� Betsy seemed to be oblivious to Ling�s caudalian approach.

 

The group stood directly between Chris�s body and the lakeshore.� The sandy beach cut off escape directly away, and the red dracocentaur�s idle tail and back legs made it a long run around them.� And then there was Mai.� The beautifully delicate girl-dracocentauress was grooming herself.� Cee didn�t know where her interests were.

 

Ling�s staring at me now.� Sweating.� Longing.� �My breasts make my waist look slenderer,� Cee mumbled in distraction.� There was one way out � somewhat towards Ling and her mountain of tail � but then � Good!� Ling�s looking at uncoiling more of her tail right now � away!

 

Corinne made break for it.

 

�Cee?� Cee!�

 

She found herself racing along Chris Corben�s outstretched penis.� Or, actually penises, as they were clustered along in a very loose bundle.� Some rose above the sand, some dipped well into it.

 

Slow going, sand.

 

Cee hastily chose the shaft that seemed to stay above grade level, yet had good support from the ground.� She trotted quickly along the not-too-pliable flesh of thinned red velvet.� Three more strides, and she was over the sand hill.

 

Unfortunately, so was the tip of Ling�s tail.

 

Another two strides and Corinne�s feet ran out of penis-path.� Before she could think her ankle fell into one of the slits that marked the beginning of the boy�s foreskin tentacles.� She plunged down, and pitched forward.� Splat!� She fell into the tangled pile.

 

For a second or two there was silence.� Then a male�s scream of agony.� The tentacles started to twitch, started to grasp Cee�s arms, legs, breasts around their circumference.� To squeeze.� Her neck �

 

Ling rescued her.� Or � rather � her tail did.� It first snatched her about Cee�s waist.� That wasn�t enough � the grip was too loose.� Relentlessly, Ling�s tail increased its presence, more and more of it, as it slowly overpowered the giant squid-like extensions of Chris Corben�s penis tip.� Within half a minute, Ling had boxed Corinne inside a dense cage of sweaty black haired flesh.� Grains of sand powdered its surface, and it soon became very hot and muggy inside.� What�s more, Ling had boxed Chris� pained reaction outside.

 

Corinne could still hear the young man howling in discomfort.� He was yelling at Ling.� �What are you doing???�

 

Now Cee was being hauled away � the enfleshed mew now began to unravel, and she sensed the motion.� And though now she could view everything freely (from quite a height!) Cee was also bound with loops of Ling�s tail and quite helpless.

 

It�s almost like being an aerial camera operator, flying over the ground, she thought.

 

Now Corinne came near to Ling�s body.� It was as drenched with sweat as her tail, and the huge chest cavern panted hugely from an extreme exertion.� The neck blowholes of the dracocentauress swelled enormously to pass the hair to her immense lungs.� Ling�s human cheeks puffed out.� Her black blouse was soaked with water.� Her skin wet and shiny.

 

Ling twisted her hyper-long human waist about, and glared at Corinne as she set the reporter down just behind her withers.� The wind of her breath whuffled loudly.

 

Cee glared back up at Ling�s face, standing as she was being unwrapped of tail coils.� Corinne�s feet were buried in soft slick hair.� She crossed her arms over her breasts, taking what she hoped was a firm stance.

 

The two stared at each other.

 

�Him �� and Cee pointed to the agonized red-haired boy-dragon � �His water-logged priapism scheme isn�t working, is it?� There�s too much of him to get completely hard this way?� You want me to help with Chris, don�t you?�

 

Ling continued the stare, with hardly a nod.

 

Yes.� Cee understood exactly what Ling wanted her to do.� Reviewing the situation, she had an idea something like this was in the cards since yesterday � when she first met the two.� Corinne was against doing it � Chris might love it; but � knowing how this sort of thing worked, the girl-dragon would likely hate Cee afterwards.� Now she wondered if becoming familiar with the older Corben kids had been a good idea � but then, Chris Corben had the one who picked her up.� And, there wasn�t much in the way Corinne could do to stop Ling from forcing the issue.

 

Yes it was a hot day; but there was more to Ling�s sweat than that � or her exercise with her tail.� The girl quivered in the waist � Corinne wondered if the 17-year-old creature could hold her torso up much longer � she wouldn�t take bets on it.� Ling was in extreme heat.� Cee reckoned that if the dracocentaur girl could get Corinne to help her get pregnant, she would do (or not do) anything Cee asked of her.

 

A drop of sweat slithered down the left lens of Ling�s glasses.� She twitched and brought one long seven-fingered hand to her eyes.� That signaled the end of the silent contest of wills.

 

�Unless you agree to what I say,� Corinne said, �Exactly.� Without evasion, the answer is No.�

 

Ling searched her back for her mouthpiece (it was buried in a cleft of her shoulder), and jammed it in.� �You would seduce my boyfriend � for me � then?� Please?�

 

Corinne sighed.� �What you really want is to let him play with my breasts ��

 

�And you can play with his ears?�

 

Cee blanched.� �Ling!� He�s huge!� Even just his human torso dwarfs me.� I don�t care how nice and decent he is when he�s �normal� � one careless move in the heat of passion and he could crush me.�

 

Ling began to cry.� Then she caught herself.� �What do you want me to do?�

 

�Send Mai for a pair of cell-phones.� And keep her � and Pin and � Anderson � around.� If there�s a problem, I want to be away from the boy in an instant.� Got it?�

 

�Yes �� Cee sensed that Ling had her doubts.

 

�And the phone connection stays open all the time.� When you�ve had sex before � have you been able to talk to each other in a normal tone of voice?�

 

�We never �� Ling giggled � a little crazily � �Oh!� Yes!� We�re always too far away from each other ��

 

�Exactly.�� Corinne reached up and patted Ling�s trembling forearm � �You�ve never thought of talking dirty to each other through a phone?�

 

�No.�� Ling�s eyes opened in delight � and then she winced in pain, her waist nearly buckling.� Mai Li stood near her older sister now, watching the exchange between her vast-grown older sister and the tiny reporter.� Her tail looped, her legs pranced.� William and Betsy were nowhere in sight.� �Mai!� Mai Li!� Hurry!�� Ling swallowed and wrapped her arms tight around her torso.� �Get what Cee wants!�

 

Mai dashed off.

 

�Are you okay, Ling?�

 

�Nothing that a good �� Ling gasped again, and stood up.� �I�ve ovulated.� That�s what happened when I passed out on you.� It�s � it�s never � been so bad.�� Ling smiled.� �Or so � good?�

 

�Do all of you � girls � get this horny?�� Cee was blunt.

 

�No.� Only Ling Li,� Ling giggled.� �My parents had me and my sisters designed to be twice as sexed as the other girls.� I must carry eight babies at a time � the other�s only four.� Until now �� And here Ling gasped again.

 

Corinne glanced to one side and saw Ling fiddling with her tail, moving huge sections of it from one pile to another, and then a third � almost as if she were playing some sort of version of Tower of Hanoi.� The double row of uncounted breasts along most of the underside of the tail, covered with slick black hair, seemed more obvious now.

 

�I�ve � I think I�ve finally ovulated for all eight of my wombs.� Finally, at once.�� Ling gasped.� The skin under Cee�s feet quivered, almost knocking her off her feet.

 

Corinne�s dancer�s legs would not let her fall, though.� She found herself staring past the side of Ling�s wet jacket at the blimp-body of the red-haired dracocentaur.� It seemed that poor Chris had passed out.

 

---

 

Levitated by the palm of Ling Li�s forepaw, Corinne stepped onto Chris Corben�s pelt just next to his human torso.� She retrieved her notepad from his limp fingers with a little difficulty, and put it in the carry sack Mai Li had provided her.

 

Christopher�s eyes were not closed; but stared off into space.� He was breathing � his human chest was heaving, and Cee felt the body under her rocking.� You couldn�t say exactly that his upper body was �doubled over� his back � the pelt of his lower trapezius muscles propped up his human torso almost vertically.�� He rested on his right shoulder, facing away from the sprawl of his sexual organs on his left flank.� A feeding tube traveled from yet another one of those Gatorade chests on top of his back to his slack-jawed mouth.� The liquid was flowing � siphoning � yet into his body.

 

This has to stop.� Corinne grabbed it, and yanked the tube off the tank.� Then she took the end of the thick plastic tube and pulled it gently.� It started to slither out.

 

A few minutes later, yards of the stuff were half-coiled on the dracocentaur�s right fore shoulder.� It would eventually slip down onto the sandy ground; but Cee didn�t care about that.

 

Corinne touched the dome of his upper shoulder.� She bent down to stare in his face.

 

Chris� eyes began to focus.� �Ling?� he managed to say without putting voice to his utterance.

 

�No.� Not Ling.�

 

He gasped.� �Ms. � Ms. Meadowlark?�� Chris Corben shut his eyes.

 

�Yes.� Ling�s asked me to seduce you.� So you can look at me now.�

 

Chris opened his eyes.� But then he tried to turn his head away.

 

�Ohhh � I hurt!�� The pain made him stop.

 

Cee pulled out the cell-phone from the carryall.� �Listen,� she said, and switched the mode to �speaker-phone�.� �Ling!� Chris wants to talk to you.�

 

�Hi Chris!� I�m moving to your penis ends!� You do what Cee asks you � did she tell you that it�s all right for her to seduce you?� Love � don�t look away, okay?� We�ll talk dirty over the phone.� Just imagine she�s me.�

 

�Ye � yes, Ling!�� Then a note of concern:� �Don�t keep your mouthpiece in too long � you know you�ll choke on it if you do.�� He sighed � a little hopelessly.� Then, Chris � for the first time that day � looked at Corinne full on.� He was stupefied.

 

Corinne sighed.� Silly boy.

 

And that was it, Cee realized.� No matter what his maturity, his overwhelming � Mythical?� Primeval?� � whatever � masculinity.� Despite the muscle, the size, this human torso of his was boyish.� The skin was so pale and smooth that it was hard to think of him as more than a child to be � cuddled?� His appearance and stature was so surrealistic that she wondered if he wasn�t really some sort of white marble half-statue that grew out of a mounded ground of soft red granite.� Corinne found it hard to keep her hand off his breastbone.

 

That pressure, of course, stirred Chris� torso.� His eyes opened wide as he realized what his arms were doing.� He amused Cee with such a look of determination.� Gently, gently as he could, a hand covered Corinne�s back and Chris took her to himself.

 

He�s real enough.� That scent is not at all unpleasant.

 

Corinne found her nipples tingled with arousal.� They began to press against the boy�s chest.� That doesn�t happen unless �

 

�Are � Are � you there �� Christopher talked towards where he saw Cee leave the phone.

 

�Oh, yes, Christopher!�� Ling�s voice came.� �Mai and William and Betsy have joined me.� They�re on Mai�s back.�

 

Cee�s belly was still a good half-meter away from Chris� torso.� Even so her breasts in its skin-fitting clothing bulged.� The tips of her breasts pushed out, and � inanely, she found that her nipples now matched his.� And his became aroused as they rubbed against hers.

 

Chris Corben�s human torso began to rise up.� As it did so, he placed his cupped right hand under Corinne�s butt.

 

�Quickly!� Quickly!� Catch my labial tentacles � your penis ends are far apart � I�ll have to pull them together!�� Ling�s voice was panting again.� �You�re getting � your ��

 

Chris winced.

 

�Are you all � all right?� Cee found herself panting as well.

 

�My � I�m getting more aroused �� His eyes looked like they were about to pop.� His entire body shifted under Corinne.

 

�Are � are you all right Ling!?�� He called.

 

�Yes � ouch!� I have to back off.� Can you grab?�� Ling paused.� �Dammit � now we have to start over again.�

 

�She�s probably lying on her back � yes.�� Chris had a far-away look on his face � �I feel her.� I�ve overrun her and my bottom left penis dropped on her human part.�� In a louder voice:� �Sorry, Ling!�

 

�Just get your clumsy tentacle out of my face!�

 

Corinne couldn�t help but giggle.� She put her legs around Chris Corben�s tapered human waist.

 

Chris gave her a sheepish grin.� His right hand slipped up to her waist.

 

A look of alarm mixed with erotic delight struck Corben�s face.

 

�Will you slow down?�� Ling�s voice sounded exasperated.� �I need to get all these tentacles straight � dammit!� Upper left goes into Upper RIGHT.� Geeez!�

 

�Cee ��

 

Corinne stopped giggling.� The sensation of her breasts pressing against the flexing muscles of the dracocentaur boy�s huge pectorals was turning her on � but there was a warning hesitation.

 

�Your waist �� Chris hesitated, he was obviously turned on feeling her � tiny waist � but he was trying also to think logically.� �Who made this suit for you?� Andria?�

 

�Yeeesss.� Andria Artoni.� I�ve felt wonderful ever since she�s put it on me.�

 

�How long?�

 

�Since early this morning.� Why?�

 

�Oh no!�� Suddenly he leaned back onto his feral trapezius muscles.

 

�What?�

 

�Jeez, Corben � can you wait even a minute?�� Ling complaining again � �Your secondary erections are starting and I haven�t � haven�t �� Her panting overwhelmed her speech.

 

Both giant hands trembled as they sought Corinne Meadowlark�s throat.� The force of those hands was so brutal that it tore away the fine fabric there without pressure on Cee�s neck, clavicle or shoulders.

 

�That�s too long.�� Chris talked in a monotone.� �Way too long.�� Inch by inch, he parted the snug garment from her clavicle.� The force he exerted reflected in the bulges of his arm muscles.

 

Cee could see the regular bumps of her breastbone in the glow of her skin as the weave split.� �It�s not just form-fitting � it�s ��

 

�Form-setting.�� Chris worked furiously down to her belly.

 

Except Cee�s belly had almost disappeared.

 

�She didn�t tell you?� Oh, I�ll KILL HER!�

 

�Chris!� CAN YOU HOLD ON!?!?!?�� Ling was shouting in the phone.� �You are fighting me!� I�ve got you together square � but I�ve got to back off and � and you are pulling me into you �� There was a frustrated gasp � �but you are missing � you need to stay on target.�

 

�Oh shut up!� Cee�s in trouble!� Artoni�s dress has almost cut her in half!�

 

Silence.

 

�Well, get her out of the dress!�

 

�I� I feel fine, Chris,� Corinne said, tentatively.�� She�d felt above her hips (which felt huge and heavy), and struggled to keep her hands tracing her flank.

 

�I did!�� Chris had ignored her, and began pulling the loose shards of the clothing away from Cee�s shoulders and back.� He made it fall loose about her hips.

 

After some groping, Cee found her belly.� It was hard-muscled.� She could put her hands around it easily.� And there was the navel.� She felt no pain.� And no feeling that she couldn�t support herself.� It was weird.

 

�She � she says it feels okay.�

 

Tenderly, Chris held her out like a child might when examining a toy that might be broken.� One hand held up her butt, the other her back.� By his concerned look, he was very frightened that she might break in half at any moment.� But there was something else in that look �

 

Corinne felt odd � as if this was not she.� She was suffering a bit from a dissociative reaction.� The inside of the sky blue apparel is a shade lighter than the outside.� Her breasts remained firm � they did not droop.� She couldn�t see her belly or lower abdomen or even much of her legs for the enormity of her breasts.� And she was having an unholy arousal.

 

�I�m fine, Chris.�

 

�Your nipples are dribbling ��

 

�I AM hungry!�

 

�Not surprised � you have more hip than belly to fill it.� Oh, uh, oh bo-o-y-y�

 

�What�s happening?�

 

�She�s � Ling�s pushing � pushing me inside her.�� Then a glassy eyed pause.� �Top left.�

 

�Find my hind leg thigh, Christopher!� Not the bottom right � er, left!� Top left!�

 

�I�ve � I�ve got to find her � that�s it.�� Inexorably during this surrealistic conversation, Chris drew Corinne to his chest again.�

 

She was on top of him � her knees rested on his plaited abdominal muscles, her breasts squashed out like enormous pale � well, she thought crazily � like the pumpkins that win prizes at county fairs for size.

 

�Sorry, Cee,� Chris looked apologetically up at the reporter.� �Your body really turns me on now, especially now that you have that wasp waist.� Tell me if I am squeezing too hard?�� A tear came running from his eye.

 

Cee looked up � there were those huge ears.� Somewhere in the excitement, Chris had lost his hat.� The four ears were still a bit floppy, resting on his red-haired back.� And Corinne noticed something she�d not seen before � there were a number of slender writhing tentacles emerging from the back edge of each ear.� Perhaps half a dozen on each ear?� Some were larger than others.

 

�Chris!?� I�m � I�m ready, I think!� You are all � all � whee!�

 

�Don�t worry about my ears,� Chris smiled.� �She�s rubbing me inside herself � ooh �

 

�I�m coming dear!�

 

Corinne felt the enormous boy�s body heave.� Human chest, feral chest.� She felt like an abandoned rag doll on top of him as he grabbed the hair of his lower body on either side of him by his six-fingered hands.� Chris clawed into the muscles of his lower shoulders.� She tried to hold on, pressing her own tiny hands against his bulging rib-muscles on either side of his hairless body.

 

�I can see a bolus � yes, all of them �� the girl dracocentaur on the other end cried out.

 

�Hold on tight!�

 

�Oh, another set � and another � Oh ��

 

---

 

�Oh, what a mess.�� That was William.

 

�Don�t tell me what it looks like � did I get her pregnant!?�� Chris held the tiny cell-phone in his immense hand.

 

A pause.

 

�No, you didn�t Christopher �� That was a disappointed Ling.� She was breathing hard.� �You weren�t far enough inside me, it seems.� I am sorry � I�d thought you�d hit bottom.�

 

�I can�t tell!�� Chris sounded exasperated.� �You�re out of my sight!�� He was sitting upright now.� Corinne stood � a bit unsteadily � on his fore shoulder.� �Each penis tip should be fitting snug, almost to your diaphragm.

 

�Look � All of me � each one of my penises � is still in you.� Right?�

 

�Yes?�� Ling sounded a bit abashed.

 

�So what are the tips pushed up against?�

 

�My first pelvis �� Abashed again.

 

�I�m only halfway in then.�� Chris rolled his eyes so expressively Corinne smiled to herself as she picked up her left foot from the slick mass of long russet hair and examined it.

 

Cee had found a pair of scissors in the sewing kit in the carryall.� With it, she�d trimmed her constrictor�s suit into a pair of hip-hugging pants.� The ruined top she�d pitched overboard, where it now presumably rested with the feeding tube.

 

Her feet were in good shape, and her legs were incredibly enhanced � thick and hugely muscled.� To her hands, the thighs felt more like a jumping frog�s than a dancer�s and buttocks more like a quarter horse�s than a runner�s.

 

Feeling further up, her hips were so large and heavy (to support the muscles of her rear and thighs) that her belly concaved in, rather than out � even though she could feel the very prominent lower abdominals.� She didn�t dare touch her pudenda.� The waist � she almost panicked again when she tried to feel her waist.

 

Let�s not do that � you don�t want to think about that, Cee.� Instead she stood erect.� She felt her nipples were still tenderly aroused.� And � Hell, I�m hungry!

 

�Ms. Corinne?�� An oriental head popped up.� An arm was attached to the shoulder that was attached to the clavicle that was attached to the neck that was attached to the head.� The arm supported an immense tray of food.

 

�Milton!�

 

All at once:� �Doctor Anne was busy so she asked me to find you and ask if you were all right and that you should have that suit of yours taken off as soon as possible and would you like to have lunch because it�s two o�clock in the afternoon already.�� The �little� boy wavered � he was reared up on his four hind feet.

 

Cee grinned. ��Well, speak of an angel � Yes, tell Anne I�m alright, and most of the suit is off, but I�d like to get my clothing back � particularly the T-shirt with the Indian chief � but wait!� Until I can get something off that plate � or just leave it here on Christopher�s back � it�s not too hot is it? � �

 

Milton�s face grinned, and he put the plate down and gallivanted off.� Cee shouldn�t have worried � it was cold cuts and cold drinks.� Also relishes, pickles, carrots and celery.� Perfect for a very hot, muggy day such as this.� She picked up a gherkin and set to munching on it.

 

�Yes!� Yes!� I know.� I�m still horny.� It�s just going to take � some � ah!� Time!�� Chris grunted.� He�d shut off the speaker option, so Cee couldn�t hear the other end of the conversation.� �You didn�t need to do that right now, Ling.� Yes!� Yes, I do love you!�

 

Chris looked down at Cee and her newfound repast.

 

�Bye now!� Cee has wangled a lunch.� Oh, play bridge or something while you�re waiting.� Bye!� Yes!� Yes!� I�ll regenerate faster if we don�t talk.� Believe me!� Bye!�� Chris sighed a huge gusty sigh.

 

�You do love her, very much.�� Corinne murmured.

 

�Yes.� I�m sorry Cee � this is really an imposition on you � can�t say it was my idea ��

 

�I�ve enjoyed it ��

 

�Your body has � you�re nipples are � still aroused.�� Chris cradled his arms around his bodybuilder�s chest.� �But it�s really � oh!� I didn�t want to be ��

 

�So are yours, big boy.� So you don�t want to be one of those boys?�

 

�Well ��

 

�Well, you are one of those boys,� Cee smiled to blunt any inferred insult.� She sat down next to the tray of delicatessens.� �And yes, you � and Ling � are using my body as a sexual fetish � I recognize that.� So far you�ve been careful.� I take it you�ve got enough for another round?�

 

�Actually, two � but it�s going to take some time for me to ��

 

�That�s what I thought.�

 

�About an hour.�

 

Cee munched on a celery stick while deciding what sort of sandwich to make.� �Well, Chris Corben � you�ve got brains and a moderate amount of consideration.� Thanks, by the way, for spotting that problem with that suit.�

 

�Andria loves giving unsuspecting subjects an hourglass figure.� But she usually tells them when she�s put in a winching corset to take it off after awhile.�� Chris adjusted his glasses, self-consciously.

 

�She must have forgotten � �

 

Chris leaned back onto the side of his body, facing Cee and the food tray.� Corinne noticed that his trapezius muscles were somewhat less swollen.� He dug through the carryall.� �I saw a chess set in here.� You play?�

 

�Yes, while we�re waiting for your gonads to fill up,� She replied, and smiled.� So!� The boy wanted to show off his intelligence, eh?

 

---

 

The first game took quite awhile.� Corinne as White underestimated Chris Corben�s play, and found herself down at the end game, King to King-Bishop-Knight.� Well, she was busy pigging out on a late lunch, she rationalized.� It was one of those endings where Black technically could win; but Chris didn�t remember the book and trapped himself into granting Cee a stalemate.� Cee patiently reviewed the proper sequence with him for a few minutes.

 

Milton had returned with her clothes.� Cee put on her T-shirt tying it about her middle so it showed off her navel.� (�Careful not to choke your waist,� Chris quipped.)� She stripped the last of the suit for her jeans.� Corinne gasped at the size of her calf muscles and thighs � she almost couldn�t fit them � or her butt � into her old pants!� Oooh, they were tight!�� Something else seemed odd.� Then she remembered! �She wasn�t wearing a bra!� Yet her breasts were high and firm.

 

�How long will this last?�� She asked Chris while reaching out to cup her nipples.� A cloud covered the sun as she did so.

 

Chris just shook his head, smiled, sighed at her appearance, and beckoned her to sit for another game.

 

The second game, with Corinne as Black and on her guard, found her crushing Chris when he misplayed his queen into a losing exchange.� The carnage of careful exchanges that followed took some time.

 

While he was concentrated in thought, Cee examined Chris Corben.� His human torso.� His arms.� His head (with that silly hat he�d clapped back on his head � and ears).� His face with those studious looking glasses.

 

That�s it!� What had struck her was his � androgeny.� He was much too masculine to be feminine � yet somehow too feminine to be completely masculine.� His body had a perfect symmetry � so, in a funny way he was beautiful.

 

Don�t ever tell him he�s beautiful enough to be a girl, Corinne Meadowlark!� Cee smiled secretly to herself.

 

They were just into the third game when Chris started to fidget.

 

He sat his torso up � of course all this time he�d been sitting couchant with his enormous body almost frozen in place.� He twitched his skin and the chess set spilled.

 

Corinne hastily returned the men into the box and folded the board.

 

�Sorry � Just a twinge.�

 

The phone tweeted.

 

Cee grabbed it.� �Cee here.�

 

�Chris� penises are twitching.�� It was Betsy.

 

�Yes � I think he�s getting close.�

 

�Ow, ow ow!�

 

Suddenly the massive forequarters of the red dracocentaur pushed up, so that Chris found his lower body in a sitting position.

 

Corinne dove for the small of Chris�s human back.

 

�Jeez-ee-peets!�

 

�Get Ling on!�� Cee managed to switch the thing to speaker.

 

Chris rested his hands on his upper fore shoulders, head bent over.� He was gasping for air, the lungs of both sets.

 

There was a delay.� �Dammit, Ling!� I don�t care if you are declarer � if your boyfriend is ready and you aren�t � oh, all right!�

 

�Ling won�t talk until she�s done playing this hand.�

 

�Oh, tell her I�ll wait, and if I shoot her to the moon, it�ll be her fault!�

 

�Dear!�� Cee recognized Ling�s sweet-and-sour voice.� �That�s Hearts � I�m playing Rubber Bridge, and it�s a small slam in a major suit.� Bye!�

 

�Oh, no � I�m not sure how long I can hold off � look � look at those �� Chris pointed a trembling hand.

 

Against her better judgment, Cee stared out at the scrota (their four tendile connections to Christopher�s rearmost hindquarters extending many meters) and testicles (eight laid out, straining and stretching in each scrotum).� The sculptured red-velvet masses covered the sand on the other side of him.� His four hind legs � enormous and long as they were � could not cradle these overgrown monsters.� A network of veins, each the thickness of her arm, covered the things.

 

Yet � something � told her:� They�re not big enough.

 

She knew how sensitive men�s testicles were.� Only one thing to do, the voice said.� Corinne jumped off Christopher Corben�s back.

 

She was told later that the scream could be heard all the way across the lake.

 

---

 

It took another half hour for Chris to calm down, and to shoo off the adults who showed up at the alarm (interestingly, none were Anne, John or the elder Li�s).� By that time the poor fellow was in tears, whimpering, at the load he�d stored up.� Corinne refused to look anywhere on the dracocentaur youth�s port side.� Thunder boomed from across the lake.

 

Cee would never be sure if Chris Corben ever forgave her for doing what she did � but Chris soon admitted it had been necessary.� The second time around worked without a hitch �with his four organs completely inside Ling�s long lower waist this time.� That was a trick that required all of Corinne�s skill as seductress to accomplish.� Chris wasn�t muscle-bound nearly as much, so he got up and danced in place � his tail waving about � each time he hit a climax � maybe half a dozen times, once every ten or so minutes.� It was an exciting ride!

 

Somehow Chris saw that Cee never got hurt � even with that dangerously thin waist of hers � even when Ling explained curtly to Chris that he�d have to pull part way out and let her belly muscles shunt them to her second set of wombs each time while he was ejaculating.

 

Just as they finished and Ling pronounced herself happily satisfied, the rain came.� And did it come down!

 

William, Betsy and Mai Li came running back from Ling�s lair.� The three were thoroughly soaked.� Mai was happy though, as she picked up her feet in the rain and washed off the gism that had accumulated on the ground surrounding the group during her sister�s long sexual bout.� �Ycch!� Pththp!�� Her tongues stuck out in disgust.

 

William laughed.� The man had an arousal.� It disturbed Cee to view a man whose penis was a good deal longer than his legs.� Pin noticed the soggy frown on her face.� He grinned.� �Oh, I�ll find Merry.� It�s after four and she�s probably as horny as Ling was.� Sorry, watching this was like watching a porno movie � only twice as effective � with the smell ��

 

�� And the feel.� Not a chance,� Betsy chimed in.� The rain came pouring down now.� �Bye!� Let�s find some shelter first, okay, Mai?�

 

The three were gone then.

 

Cee turned to find Chris Corben collapsing.� A sweet smile of the exhausted crept across his wet face.

 

�Cee!� Cee?� Corinne?� Ms. Meadowlark?�

 

Corinne heard Ling�s voice coming closer.� Slowly.� She was probably struggling with her tail.� �Over here!� With Chris!�� Cee�s bare feet sloshed in the water on the sleeping dracocentaur�s back.

 

When Ling Li�s forequarters finally did come into sight, the rain was pelting.� Corinne found Ling bedraggled, also exhausted, and also with a sublimely happy smile on her face.� Her human waist flexed in an S-curve, first left then right.

 

A few seconds later, Cee found out that Ling was dragging more than her tail � she still had the end of all of Chris� now limp penises in her body.� �I�ll have to expel them � but they feel so good in me.� Don�t wake Chris up,� Ling lowered herself onto her chest with her forelegs entangled in those of Chris.� She rested her elbows on the top of the boy dracocentaur�s fore shoulder.� �He sees me and he might get aroused again and hurt himself.� Thank you so much, Cee.�� She took off her now useless glasses and stared up at her.

 

�You�re welcome.�

 

�Oh, no, not just with getting myself thoroughly screwed.� But letting me practice talking with you,� she smiled.� The bulge of her tongues became extremely prominent in her high cheeks.� She looked back at her hindquarters.� �Sorry if it makes you queasy, them being in me � Ugh!� I�ll have to work at pushing them out of me.�

 

�Makes you look half-pregnant.�

 

�Well, I�m fully pregnant now.�� Ling smiled beatifically.� �I can tell.� Ooof!� There!�

 

Chris� exhausted members flopped to the ground in a cascade, his foreskin tentacles limp.� She pushed them away with a hind paw, then Ling diddled with them with her labial tentacles, arranging them fondly, just so.� Then she withdrew her own organs into her rearmost hindquarters.

 

�I didn�t even have to play with his ears, Ling.�� Cee considered.� �In fact, I didn�t do much of anything.�� That�s a fib, Corinne thought ruefully.� But Ling seemed to buy it.

 

Ling turned her torso about and looked at Cee sharply.� �Good.�� Then she smiled, sunnily.� In the rain.

 

Which stopped.

 

Corinne looked up.�

 

An enormous dragon-like wing had sheltered the group of three.� It was more than thirty feet up.� There were several more, spreading and contracting; but this was near the tail end of the fore torsos of a � dracocentaurpede.�� But it was not Emily Peterson.� The hair color was wrong.� And it was a he.� A he that was far skinnier than Emily Peterson.

 

�Hi, guys!�

 

Below the pattering on skin above them walked Cynthia Corben.� She trotted majestically, smoothly, just behind the rearmost right two forepaws of � Now Cee remembered.� Andrew Peterson.

 

Corinne rolled her eyes.� Another Corben in flagrante!

 

Ling rose to her feet and stretched.� She shook a lot of water from her body.� Wriggling and writhing her tail, she coiled it up loosely beside herself.

 

Cynthia held a cell-phone in her hand.� Cee could imagine who held the other end of the connection.� �Andrew!� Would you stop a moment?� Hold your wings open in back like you have � Ling and Corinne Meadowlark and my brother are underneath right now.� They�d like shelter I think.�

 

�Okay, Cyndy!� came the distant reply.� �You want me to double around?�

 

�Sure, if you can ever get your front end here before it stops raining.�

 

�Ling?�� Chris had righted himself again, and then got to his six feet.� �Ling?�� Cee was still on Christopher Corben�s back, but he rose so smoothly that she didn�t even rock.

 

He looked around and spied Ling�s front.� �I really need to piss.�

 

Ling laughed.� She adjusted her mouthpiece.� �You are out of me now, big boy, so go ahead.�� She advanced on him, twisting so she appeared directly in front of him, leaned forward and gave him a delicate peck on the cheek.

 

�Oh, he�ll be peeing all week now!�� Cynthia laughed.� �I got a wonderful birthday present!� Drew�s made me pregnant, Ling!�� She twitched her tail.

 

�Ouch!� came the noise from the phone.

 

�Cee?�

 

�Yes, Ling?�

 

�Do you mind if we head off towards Dr. Anne?� I really don�t want to brag about her brother and me ��

 

�In the rain?�

 

�It�s letting up.�� Ling was very insistent.

 

�Your tail?�

 

�I�ll drag it.�

 

�You really want to get away, don�t ��

 

---

 

Corinne Meadowlark just managed to snag the carryall before Ling Li scooped her with one seven-digit hand by the waist.� Off she went like a mailbag snagged by a speeding train.

 

�It wasn�t that bad!� Ling complained as she slogged through the rain-heavy sand down to the lakeshore.

 

Corinne looked up.� She was soaked to the bone; but the rain had let up � and rays of sunlight were now shining through the clouds in this late afternoon.� She checked the bag.� Fortunately it was water resistant:� Here was her notepad, rescued from Chris Corben�s eager clutches; the cell-phone; the chess set.� All dry enough.

 

The dracocentauress took a bit of time to push her tail into the water.� And though the muscles in it were so heavy that it didn�t quite float, the buoyancy was enough to make the walk easy � or so she said.

 

�Grown any new teats today?�� Cee asked.

 

�Oh, perhaps a dozen,� Ling said offhandedly.� She turned her long stalk-waist to look down on Cee.� �Presumably that will stop � my body�s going to be too busy making babies to grow more tail.� They�ll just get bigger.� And maybe more sensitive.�

 

�Do you have any idea what your � offspring � will look like?�� Cee found her clothes drying off quickly.� A dry breeze had come up in the warm late afternoon air.

 

Ling thought for a while.� �No, actually.� Nor how long our gestation period is � maybe three- four- years?� Nor how big the cub-babies will be.� They�ll all be some sort of dracocentaur presumably.� With eight and me being so thin � I�ll probably get so blown up I won�t be able to walk.� Ask Dr. Anne.� She expects us to breed true � though the difference between us F1�s and our parents is rather substantial � it came as quite a shock to my parents.�

 

�You are beautiful,� Cee said, honestly.

 

Ling, who�d been half-facing Corinne while talking, blushed her cheeks.� And turned her torso away from her rider.

 

�All of you.�

 

Ling and Cee walked on in silence.

 

�There they are � oh, I see they had Emily as a shelter � she�s just walked off.�� Ling pointed to a disappearing chain of widely separated light brown hindquarters with a dragonesque tail folded up over it.� �I expect Cynthia will keep those two away from each other � I wonder how long it will be before she ejects him.�

 

�Are you cross-fertile?�

 

�Centaurpedes and us?�� Ling laughed.� �Sure looks like it.� Us girls know when we�ve gotten pregnant.� Within minutes.� It�s � all or nothing, you know.�

 

�Kind of figured that.�

 

�Hi, Ling!�� It was Dr. Anne Corben.� She stood reared up and waved.� �Over here!� Oh, and you did bring Corinne with you.� Good!�� Anne�s voice was sunny; but there was a serious look to her face.

 

A spot of sunshine illuminated the scene to the approaching pair.

 

In the background sat Sammy Li.� His vast black couchant body outlined the nude tail mass of� Xiao-Fei.� Sam held the girl�s human body snuggled on his back.� Her connection-tail rippled down his deep-chested flank.

 

Nearer the water line, Manuela was nude, nursing her two newborns from the middle pair of her lower breasts.� John Corben was near her.� Cee choked (and why didn�t she expect this?) when she saw that he had to be.

 

�I�d like to talk to Sammy�s girlfriend, Ling.�� Corinne sensed a story.� �I never did get the chance when she first arrived.�

 

��Pretty Girl� Wu?� Ling smiled at Cee.� �Sure!� You know � she and my brother�ve been sweet-hearts since childhood?�

 

�Oh, really?�

 

Ling snaked her body around so that she met the couchant Sammy Li more-or-less front on.� He smiled and nodded.

 

�Cee, here, would like to talk to Xiao-Fei, bro.�

 

�Hi!� I hear you are the reporter that�s been lurking around,� Xiao-Fei said.� She held out her hand.

 

What a bright voice!� Cee thought as she hopped from Ling�s back to Sammy�s, and stood over the tiny woman in the silk-print dress as she sat in the crook of the Li boy�s lower back.

 

Sammy had twisted his upper torso half-about and was possessively admiring his girl-friend.� He glanced up at Ling, and returned her tongue-filled smile.

 

�Oh, thanks, Regina!�� Ling was distracted.� She grabbed an enormous Dagwood sandwich off a tray carried by the passing young dracocentauress, removed her mouthpiece, and surrounded the food with her tongues.� �Mmmph!� Strrrving!�

 

�So am I!�� Xiao-Fei responded.� She already had a half-eaten sandwich in her hand.� Before she dug in she, asked something of Ling in melodious Chinese.

 

Ling responded happily.

 

Wu Xiao-Fei grinned and replied, again in Chinese.

 

At which Ling Li pouted.

 

�Your T-shirt is stained, Ms. Meadowlark,� Xiao-Fei said, switching her small voice to perfect English.� Then came a very frank statement:� �I envy you your breasts and body.� And I thought I had a tiny waist!�

 

And this from a woman with a perfect body.� Cee marveled.� Being slightly less than five feet tall, she generally admired the fine-boned oriental women with no fat on their bodies.� Corinne realized that her nipples were extremely aroused.� Of course, I�m not wearing my bra and the rubbing, even with my shirt tight as it is, would cause that achy itching I�m feeling.� Corinne restrained herself from reaching out and kept her hands away from the front ends of her breasts.

 

�I hope I can grow many breasts like those!�� Xiao-Fei giggled.� �To nurse all my babies.� But I am not sure where ��

 

�You�ll just have to grow tails, Sister,� Ling interrupted.

 

�Is it in the design?�

 

�You could look it up � and show Cee at the same time.�

 

�Oh, yes!� Would you like to know how I am to grow in the next few years?�� Xiao-Fei asked Corinne.� She grabbed a notepad that Sammy Li held.

 

Cee recognized it.� �That�s Dr. Corben�s ��

 

�Yes.� She loaned it to us �� Doctor Anne is a little upset right now.�

 

�Oh.�

 

�Here ��� Xiao-Fei nimbly slid down Sammy Li�s flank.� Her pace was substantially retarded by the muscular umbilicus that connected to �� �� my caudal body.�� The extension of the tiny woman�s body sat by Sam Li�s protective flank.� Covered with a silken fabric, it was higher around now than Xiao-Fei was tall.

 

�It looks a lot larger now than I remember.�� Corinne said as Sam considerately handed her down with one long strong arm.� She was now on the other side of Sammy Li, away from his sister Ling.� Cee patted the warm mass with a hand � she recognized Artoni�s work on the dress � but this clothing was quite loose, to her relief.

 

�Doctor Anne has been feeding me all afternoon!� And, well, I am only 4�10� tall, Ms. Meadowlark,� she continued, guessing the reason for Cee�s comparing glances.� The tiny woman folded her right foot on to her knee, taking a stork like pose.� �They folded it up really tight for transport.� That hurt!� It is stretched out properly now.�

 

�Yes,� Anne spoke.� �Xiao-Fei here eats like a herd of water buffalo.�� The woman had dropped to her centaur-like stance.� �As do her sisters.� Oh, show yourself off, Miss Wu.�

 

Xiao-Fei had hesitated.� Now she walked the length of her extremity.� It was shaped like an enormous wasp�s abdomen.� The connection between this and her butt was long enough so she could just do that.� She separated the cloth at a seam, unveiling the flesh.

 

Corinne glanced down at her left thigh � the seam on her normally iron-tough jeans was splitting!� At least Andria was considerate enough to put Velcro hems in Wu�s clothing!� Cee griped to herself.� When she looked back up, she was awed at the muscular structure of that body.� It was like a bulging wall, with the tiny dressed Xiao-Fei standing before it.

 

The flexible caudal connection was already nude.� The young woman grasped the thick thing a meter past where it erupted from a slit in her silks, just above her shapely flat buttocks.� She rippled it before Corinne for her inspection.� Except where veins and the multiple parallel spines forced indentations, the skin on it was perfect.� Smooth.

 

�My �tail� is really that and a sort of a neck.�� Xiao-Fei said.� �My spine very quickly splits into eight, and they go along the length of it in parallel.� You can see how they encircle it on the outside.� So it is not as flexible as it could be if I had only one spine; but it is less likely to break � and that would kill me.� I don�t have any stomach here.�� The slender woman pressed in where her human belly should be.

 

To her dismay, Cee saw that the fabric had actually tented from her pelvis, and the fabric indented a frightful distance without being stopped.

 

�My stomachs are all back there.� Air passages and esophagi run through it �� She ran her delicate thin fingers along its length, past Cee�s gaze, �� to the root of my caudal body.� I call it my gaster.�� She patted where the �tail� flared hugely into the mass of muscle, spine and buried ribs, inevitably resting on the ground.� �It has my stomachs on the inside. You can see my lower lungs breathing?� Ribs stretching all around?� In two ranks?� Right now eight of my stomachs are fully functional � I am growing new sets.� Sixteen pairs of my lower lungs, and sixteen hearts are doing most of the work.� They�re kind of small right now � but growing.� And more are growing in all the time.� Along the length.� None of my reproductive organs have grown in yet.� They will be towards the back end.� They are still very tiny and are only just beginning to develop.� Nor do I have anything that you might call true tails � at least not yet.�

 

Corinne finally found a moment to speak.� �So � your back muscles are on the outside?�� Cee visually traced several of the long indentations where the vertebrae of several of the spines could be traced.� They twitched.� �Sorry.�

 

�That�s all right.�� Xiao-Fei patted her nearest �back.�� �My back muscles do all the work.� Here, let me stretch my gaster a little.�� She wriggled the nude abdominal flesh.� The show was a little unsettling.� The girl�s lower body, though limbless, was not helpless.� Xiao-Fei likely could make the thing writhe rather powerfully.

 

�Ah, that does feel better.� Although I�m always �lying on my back� � it is good to roll it a little from time to time.� As I said, my reproductive organs have not really begun to grow in.� That�s the whole point of the gaster, though.�� With the help of her muscular �tail,� she hopped up on top of the end of her body.� Then she reached down and pulled Cee up to sit beside her.� Xiao-Fei regarded Cee and smiled.� �Feel my lower lungs breathe?�

 

Corinne was a little nonplussed to leave a wet spot where her left nipple dragged on the woman�s exposed expanse of saffron skin.� Cee felt the body below her breath and hearts beat in synchrony.� �So, how big are you supposed to grow � your gaster?�� She patted the solid thing below her hip.� It was very difficult for Corinne to think of the huge assembly of solid muscles and bone as part of the tiny woman.

 

Xiao-Fei giggled.� �That tickled!�� She took a breath (in her small upper lungs) and composed herself.� �Absolutely enormous.�� She opened the notebook.� �Here, let me show you.�

 

A few rapid moves of Xiao-Fei�s delicate fingers over the keyboard produced an image.� �Here I am, three years from now.�� She pointed the flat screen into Cee�s field of vision.

 

A picture of Xiao-Fei�s human portion appeared on the screen.� This was a 3-D Shaper image, startlingly realistic.� It was no different than the Wu Xiao-Fei that Corinne saw now.

 

�My tail and gaster together are already several hundred times � a thousand times � my human body weight,� Xiao-Fei said.� She happily sent a key-command, and the view backed off.� What had been an indistinct background now resolved into a distant wall of saffron flesh.� Now the point-of-view moved and turned into a profile, backing off further.

 

Corinne noticed that the tail was somewhat thicker, and longer � and actually had a loop or two in it.

 

�Tail connection�s going to be longer � wish it were even more; but that would stretch my esophagus too much.� Right now all my wind goes through my auxiliary trachea ��� Xiao-Fei arched her neck to display the large blowholes behind her jaw.

 

Corinne had seen the feature on all the larger dracocentaurs; they were particularly prominent on Ling � so she wasn�t surprised when Miss Wu displayed them.

 

�But that�s nowhere near enough air for my gaster when I�m older.�� Xiao-Fei panned and backed off the view.� �That�s the start of it ��

 

Corinne tried not to gasp at the image.� The beginnings of the gaster made Xiao-Fei�s human body look like a bug.

 

The delicate woman commanded the image to pan further to the right � and she had to have it back up to include all of the expanding gaster.

 

Segment after segment of textured golden skin passed by.� The image had limited animation, and lungs breathed in and out.� Expanding and contracting the segments independently, although there seemed to be some sort of peristaltic wave effect to the motion.� Yes, it was easy to think termite queen Corinne decided.

 

After the first few sections Xiao-Fei gave up trying to include all of the body vertically in the field of view, so the pan went along the top.� The frame was also too small horizontally to contain a full segment at a time.

 

The vertebrae running along the length seemed strained, tight, stretched; the space between them, bulging and full.� Corinne lost count of the segments.� �How long does this go on?�

 

Xiao-Fei was mesmerized, starry eyed.� �Oh!� Sorry.� Do you think I should tattoo it?� It does have rows of spiracles so the lungs can breathe independently.�� She speeded up the pan.

 

�It�s supposed to be big enough for me to have 50,000 babies.� A year.� Maybe 100,000!� I do hope so!�

 

Finally the gaster seemed to narrow.� Xiao-Fei slowed the pan.� The sections came faster, until the tip came where all the spines nearly fused back together.� This was a hard, solid � almost hip-like structure that extended nearly two frame-widths � and then � tails � well over two dozen nude true tails exploded from it on the other end.

 

�Oh, good!� cried a delighted Xiao-Fei.� �One, two, three ��� The woman counted silently.� �Thirty-one � thirty-two.

 

�Yes!� I�m going to have the spines split into fours?� Cool!�

 

Corinne could take a lot; but listening to this enthusiastic commentary made her squeamish.� The panning screen showed the muscular tails arch and coil, writhe and wander back, back, back.� She looked at Xiao-Fei instead of the notebook.

 

�And thousands of nice big pairs of tits lining the underside of each of them.� Or will be big when I start getting really pregnant.�� Xiao-Fei closed the notebook and hugged the thing to her flat chest.� �So I�ll be able to feed my babies, then.� And then I can send my children out and conquer the world!�� She closed her eyes and smiled.� �A sixteen million-man army in just thirty years.� And more all the time.� Dracocentaurs.� Yes.� My Sammy and I, ruling together.�

 

The tiny woman slid off her gaster, leaving Corinne and the notebook upon it.� She walked over to the waiting Sammy Li, a happy smile on her face. Bubbling, Xiao-Fei leaped up onto his back (her muscular tail-connection helped spring her up).� Sammy�s eyes doted on her, and his elongated human portion cradled his arms and cuddled her gently, tenderly.

 

Dr. Anne Corben, who�d been standing by all this time in her khaki blouse (and nothing else), came up and rescued a shocked and dubious Corinne.� Anne�s enormous hands enveloped and pulled Cee onto her back, then took the notebook and put it in her satchel.


Cee felt grateful.� She glanced back at the odd oriental couple.� �She�s kidding � isn�t she?�

 

Anne moved away from Xiao-Fei in a half-walk, half-trot.� �I need to talk to you.� Ling and Manuela have gone back to Chris and Cynthia � they�re going to sing �Happy Birthday.�� I want to go somewhere quiet and have a talk with you ��

 

Corinne rode on Anne�s nude back in silence.� The reporter looked over her flank, and could just see the outside of her three left lower breasts.� They woggled below Cee�s feet.� Now the two were on a path; but out of sight of everyone.

 

�No,� Anne said quietly, �She � Xiao-Fei � definitely is not kidding.�

 

�She�s nuts!�

 

Again, Dr. Corben turned her torso about and looked at Cee.� �I need to talk to you about that � and some other things � but later.� Your pants are split.�� Anne obviously wanted to change the subject.

 

�Yes, they are ��� Cee fingered the rip along her hard left thigh.

 

�I�ll take you to Essie Artoni.� She�s with the Rescue Squad, last time I checked.�� Anne pointed.� �Over there.�

 

Essie � Andria�s little sister � stood with her feral lungs panting for breath.� She was an athletic girl, with better looks than her elder sister, and her body was sleek and very well groomed, though not as perfectionistic a look as her sibling.� Even though she was only nine years old, she was larger than Anne Corben.� Merrienne Roosevelt sat on her back, with three legs gripping the hair on each side of Essie�s heaving flanks. �Both were laughing.

 

�Oh, wow!� Wow!�

 

Essie twined her tail about Merry�s.

 

�Had a good run?� Anne called out.

 

�Oh, yes!�� Both replied simultaneously.

 

Merriene dismounted Essie, and dragged herself � and her tail �under a pine tree to dry off in the nearing evening breeze.� Four of her arms grabbed broken off branch stubs and the last two propped up her body with the fore-most hips.� Merry had a smile of exhaustion engraved upon her lips.

 

�Are you up to fixing Ms. Meadowlark�s pants, Miss Artoni?�

 

�Ye-e-es,� Essie frowned.� �But my big sis is better at it by far!�

 

�So you need the practice, yes?�

 

�Well, yes,� then the light bulb went on.� Essie stared at Cee.� �Oh!� She went and did it � she really went and did it ��

 

�Yes, your big sister just had to be the brat.�� Anne crossed her arms, her long fingers dangling down to near her pseudohips.� �Can you make some � amends � for it?�� Then Anne turned her head to Corinne.� �I�ll talk with Andria later.�

 

�Why, sure � but I�m not nearly as big as her � my spinnerets could make a whole new pair of trousers � but that�s about all.� Nothing fancy.�� Nevertheless, she pulled out a measuring tape from a small pouch strapped about her waist like a quiver.

 

�I don�t think I really want anything fancy, Essie,� Cee blurted out.� �By the way � no one has answered this question � maybe you can tell me.� How long does this �� and Corinne indicated her exaggerated lower hourglass figure �� last?�

 

Essie Artoni had Corinne stand up and was already measuring her inseam.� She sighed.� �It�s permanent,� she admitted.� �Sorry.�

 

�Don�t apologize for something someone else did,� Anne scolded.

 

�Hip huggers?�� Essie reached up and measured first about her left thigh, and then at the fullest part of Cee�s hips.

 

Cee blanched when she caught a glimpse of the numbers.

 

�Wouldn�t worry.� It�s all muscle and pelvis, Ms. Meadowlark.�

 

Anne tried to reassure Corinne, �Don�t worry � a lot of it is your butt muscles.� They make you look like a dancer � a gymnast � an ice-skater � a runner.��

 

The young dracocentauress� eyes rolled.� Essie�s �bedside manner� was much nicer than Andria�s, Corinne decided.� She felt much better in the girl�s care � but then she had been lulled by Andria�s manner as well.

 

�� Or not hip huggers?�� Essie reached up and quickly measured about Cee�s waist.� �Oh geez.� Better be hip huggers.� If you want them without pleats and also be able to take them off.�

 

�Hip huggers; not too loose � but not too tight.� Functional.� And how big is my waist?�� Cee sat down on Dr. Corben�s back.� Essie bit her lip to avoid answering the reporter�s question, took one final measuring look at Corinne�s body and turned away in what appeared to be deep thought.� Cee recognized a �no comment� when she saw it.� She turned her attention to the woman below her.� �Okay, Anne, what�s the deal with Xiao-Fei � and the other Wu women?�

 

Anne Corben sighed, and sat herself down on the soft needles near the tree.� She studied Cee, and then Merrienne.� Evidently she didn�t mind having Merry there, so she began a monologue that both recognized should not be interrupted.

 

�Wu Wao-Chiang � I�ve told you about the bastard.� He�s got the two youngest Li children with him somewhere in Southeast Asia � along with a sizable army.� He used � uses � their captivity as a lever on the Li�s to get morphs out of me.� Wu knows I couldn�t stand to see the kids hurt � any kids hurt.� I don�t know.� I think he may have been planning something like this for decades.� He�s purchased several life-extension genomorphs over the years � from others.

 

�Anyway � he�s thoroughly indoctrinated all his more pliable children � including Xiao-Fei � a nice kid; but easily influenced � she�ll do anything he wants her to, and love it.� He uses women of that sort as baby-making machines.� He had me do the morph on her, as a test.� The one you saw on the notebook.

 

�It appears he loved it.� I don�t think the Li boys will ever see them � I am not sure they are alive � or, if they are, they�ll never see their parents at least until they are grown.� But I am sure it is his plan to sire an army of Amazons on the women that he got sent back to him after I began their morphs.� Never mind what his body is going to have to look like in order to be able to do that.� Sixteen million?� Twenty million?� I have no idea.� But enough to conquer most of East Asia.

 

�But the real shit I just figured out while Sammy�s little girlfriend was scarfing down a plate of sandwiches about an hour after Wu�s little delegation left.� At first I thought � well, they�re here to intermarry (or at least interbreed) with my kids � you know, as sort of extended-family ties thing.� But no!� He�s left me all those other women � Xiao-Fei�s sisters � to eat me out of house and home!� He considers them � including Xiao-Fei � expendable.� Damn him to Hell!� He knows I can�t let them die!� He knows that I have to find shelter for them as well as Xiao-Fei.� So I�m stuck with them.� White elephants!�

 

Corinne sat stunned.� Silent.

 

Only Anne�s angry breathing could be heard.� �I�m sorry.� I just had to vent.� I�m sure it�s not as bad as that � but I ran some calculations, and I have to figure out how to increase the sales of Corben & Associates by 150% or we are definitely screwed.�

 

�Even if Xiao-Fei is not?�

 

�What do you mean, Corinne?�

 

�Screwed.� Is there any rule she has to have babies?�

 

�Hmm � sorry.� Only if Xiao-Fei wants to stop the physogastry.� And she either grows � or dies.� As do the others, except they�re on a later timetable.�� Then Anne stopped a long while.� �I could encourage something else though �� She smiled.� �Corinne, you are a genius!�

 

Cee got a giddy feeling as Anne twisted her upper torso about and hugged her.� She was a bit confused � so she babbled, �Well, I wouldn�t worry about old man Wu.� I mean � even if he has a gazillion kids � the way Wu acts, and if his personality even halfway breeds true � he�s going to have a devil of a time keeping an army of his daughters in line.� Did you see his daughter Xi�s behavior and expression?� That Lieutenant Wu?� Talk about a rebellious woman in authority!�� Corinne laughed nervously as Anne released her.� �Ouch!� Oh, sorry!�

 

Anne laughed as she brushed at huge milk stains on her blouse.� �That�s all right.� Seems like everyone with two X chromosomes is lactating these days.� Sorry about the scratches.�

 

Cee ignored the scratches on her forearm � they were just pricks, anyway � she�d gotten them while Anne had hugged her.

 

�Here, guys!� It�s done!�� Essie returned from wherever she went to with a blue pair of pants that approximated the look of blue jeans.� She tossed them at Cee.� �Try them out.� They�re my best microfine fiber.� I call it squeezle-skin.�

 

Corinne flopped over to the opposite side for a modicum of privacy and changed.� �These fit beautifully!� Not too tight.� I�ll need a T that�s a size or two larger to be able to tuck them in � my bust sits high � �

 

�Sis gave you a permanent full corset � it worked into your body while you were wearing that suit of hers.�� Essie and Anne gave each other tight Corben smiles.

 

Corinne reached in towards the almost missing support of her torso.� �Essie, I want the damage report.� You just measured it.� How big around is my waist?�

 

The girl evaded Cee�s direct question by using obscure units of measure.� �Forty nine barleycorns.�

 

Anne interrupted.� �She told you about her plans?�

 

�Well, yes � when Ling embedded that youthful hypermuscle conversion into her body � but I never believed �� Essie broke down.

 

�Oh, Anne, actually I feel great, I don�t seem to have any problem carrying myself �� she wanted to get Anne to lay off the poor girl.� �These pants feel great.� Very soft.�

 

Essie smiled, wanly.

 

Anne stared at Essie.� �Why don�t you � and Merriene � go somewhere � else?�� And now the strains of �Happy Birthday� wafted to the small group�s ears.� Much too beautifully done for such an old horse as that song.� �Yes!� Go wish Cynthia, Chris, Maria and Manuel a happy birthday.� Please!�

 

The two others got.

 

Anne waited for a minute, her ears cocked.

 

�So.�� She beckoned Cee to get off her backside.� Holding her hands out, her forepaws folded before her, Anne spoke in a low voice.� �You�ll be leaving tomorrow.� What do you think of the kids?�

 

�You want the truth?�

 

Anne nodded.

 

�All of them?� They�re kids.� Immature.� Oh, I can be poetic I guess.� The Johnson girls are the epitome of the glories of sybaritic irresponsibility.� Stunning beauties that sing and dance the summer away like the grasshoppers.� How�s that?

 

�The older Hernandez boys are a bit like bullies.� Goes with their body style I suppose.� Not sure why.� They have their girlfriends � prance them around almost like gang molls.

 

�The babies are frightening.� So human; but so � advanced.� Scary.� The younger ones � any of the kids between seven to twelve are wonderful � dutiful, always helping � Essie, Mai, Milton, Jera, Jethra, and your younger ones.� Although they aren�t always the most tactful and they play hard, sometimes very hard.� The Hernandez girl � Raphaela � is a tremendous cook; but she and Andria are thirteen � a strain of the martinet runs in Raphaela; and the imp of the perverse runs in Andria � boy, do I know that!

 

�I like Chris and Ling the best.� Ling Li has a good sense of right and wrong, though she�s been driven by her physiological needs � I�m amazed how tolerant she is of Chris� flirtations.� She�s strong willed � those tongues of hers have not kept her from working at talking quite well � extraordinarily intelligent, has some abilities that I�m not clear about that she�s yet to master.� She hasn�t mastered herself.� I don�t know nearly as much of her as I�d like to.� She�s very complex for a 17-year old.

 

�Sammy�s a conundrum � he really can�t talk with those tongues of his � neither can his mother. His mission in life is to protect Xiao-Fei from harm ��

 

�I�m counting on that.�

 

�He�s given up doing anything else I�m afraid.� Chris is sweet.� A beautiful boy.� Wouldn�t harm a fly.� At least not intentionally.� The other girls sense that and want him as a partner � insist on it forcibly sometimes � so, maybe I shouldn�t be so amazed at Ling�s tolerance.� He finds her special, and he means it.� I hope he didn�t wreck himself today.� He has brains but doesn�t care to show them off.� If he weren�t a dracocentaur, he�d be a good-ol�-boy hanging out at the country store.

 

�Cynthia has self-doubts.� She wants to be grown up; but she feels she isn�t.� She overcompensates.� Will her mating with that dracocentaurpede boy kill her, by the way?�

 

Anne laughed, reassuringly.� �Chris may be in more trouble than she is � he�ll be pissing for a week before he can drag himself around.� I�m a bit mad at him for pulling a young adolescent stunt like that � so he deserves every bit of misery he gets.�

 

Cee frowned.� �Never did see one of the early teenage boys � Roger was he?� But I heard that they have real problems controlling themselves.�� Corinne went on with her appraisals.� �If Cyndy can get her confidence built up, she�ll be an excellent person to succeed you � which is what you want to know, I think.�

 

�In twenty or thirty years, yes.�

 

�Well, if you want someone who can act for you when you are gone � forget your age peers.� The Li�s are heartbroken � not just because of Tom and Dick; but they�re not sure of Ling and Sammy.� Brandy is very intelligent and educated � they all are; but she�s not much more into sense than her daughters are.� Manuela just wants more babies.� And your husband is more childish than your children.� He fancies himself a Don Juan � I haven�t really met the rest of the males.�� Cee leaned against the trunk of the pine tree.

 

�You don�t need to.� They�re just as bad as John is.� Except for Li all of them decided to skip this vacation and go off with two-legged women on their backs.� So John�s just got luck rolling his way.� He got Lian, Manuela, Brandy and me all pregnant in a 48-hour period.� And don�t worry, your analysis is very close to mine.�� Anne smiled a very un-Corben-like smile.� It was somehow warmer, sunnier, more wistful.

 

Music wafted to them as the sun got low.� The hooting of biological pipe organs vibrated the ground; violins sang in the breeze.� Rays of light filtered through the needles on the branches of the trees about them.

 

Anne continued after looking around.� �But now you can see how I�m kind of in a jam.� You remember our first conversation?� So, who should I call my second?�

 

�Sorry, I have no idea,� Cee spread her hands apart.

 

�Yes � not your concern.� Thank you anyway for your frank opinions � those are hard for me to get sometimes.�� Anne patted her flank.� �Do you want to write up something tonight?� I�ll take you back to the lean-to.�

 

�By the way �� Corinne wanted to ask a question. �Dr. Corben slinked along the path, sand puffing up between her hand-feet fingers.

 

�Yes?�� Anne put a hand back onto Cee�s thigh.

 

�Something�s bothering me.� Cee felt about where her waist wasn�t anymore.� �What�s a �barleycorn�?�

 

Anne paused.� It was a mellow moment.� She looked back and grinned at Corinne.� �A third of an inch.� You work it out.�

 

---

 

Corinne Meadowlark yawned and arched her back.� It was morning.� One opened eye told her she was sleeping on Jonquil Johnson�s back.� Zebra stripes, with an enormous, gracile cheetah shaped body.� The beautiful face next to hers contained a sleeping smile of bliss.� It belonged to Jonquil of course.� Her milk-chocolate human torso was sleeping on her own back.� Limber girl � but they all are.� Cee didn�t remember how she got there.� She did remember a lot of tongues and a lot of enormous tentacles that grew out of vast pudendas.

 

But now it was the start of a brand new day.

 

Corinne sat up.� Her breasts dropped from either side of her head to high on her chest, taking their customary position.� They were as enormous as ever.� Her nipples suddenly became aroused, even though she was nude.� She felt for her waist, and almost didn�t find it.� Even after pigging out last night, Cee found that she was just as hourglass as ever.� Her belly had a hard time stretching across her hips.� Thunder-Thighs Corinne?� But those were all muscle.� She peered at her outstretched arms.� Stupid Supergirl jokes � she remembered twisting a bar of steel into a pretzel last night.� Now, now, girl � was that really true?� Or a dream?� Any way she put it, she felt wonderful.

 

�Good morning, Corinne!�� Anne walked by (she stood upright on four legs) and reached down with a forepaw hand, bearing her up to the top of her six-teated lower bosom.� To a startled Cee, those hands, with their five enormous fingers, despite their claws, were more human than Anne�s upper pair.

 

�I finished the article � would you like to see it?�

 

�Sure �� Anne carried Cee off to the lean-to, where Corinne saw her notepad on top of the rest of her baggage.� �� We can fax it in for you right here.�

 

�That�d be great.� White is probably fuming about my lackadaisical timing.� �Great Caesar�s Ghost!�� I can hear him say.� �That woman can�t even file a feature article on time!�� Well, it�s not like it�s a news flash.� It�s a bit of fluff.� I asked you to read it, so you know.� Almost no content.� �Yep, the famous Dr. Anne MacAlester Corben and her family are vacationing somewhere in beautiful Western Michigan, well known tourist and recreation area � blah blah blah �.�� It will make the local business folk happy.� Anything I shouldn�t have said?�

 

Anne laughed as she put Cee down, then settled herself down next to the lean-to, Corinne�s notebook in hand.� A few minutes later:� �This is fine.� Thanks, you really didn�t have to let me vet this.�

 

�I do have one more question for you I guess I never asked.� It�s been bugging me.� Do you mind?�

 

�Go ahead.�� Cee sensed tenseness in her lower shoulder.

 

�Why six legs?�

 

�Oh!�� Anne laughed.� �Sorry, I thought the question was going to be something really hard.� I could give you several reasons.� First there�s more stability when I�m standing up fully.� All of us � especially our children � are top-heavy.� Also, that means we can use our natural hands � or forepaws, if you prefer, to manipulate objects without worrying about losing our balance and crashing to the ground.� Not quite as useful for our kids; but it was genetically encoded, so they�re stuck with it.

 

�Second, our tails are long, prehensile, and quite heavy.� Extra legs mean extra support.� I did a simulation once, sticking with one pair of legs.� The results were ugly.� I�d look like a kangaroo, and the kids would be even worse.� Us girls would have problems bearing children because our hips would have to be too narrow and heavy.�� Or we couldn�t walk.� You ask Ling and she�ll tell you she actually wishes she had more hind-legs to support that tail of hers.� I�d morph them to her; but it would be inheritable.� Actually, the Petersen�s are the result of that sort of morph.� But that�s another story.

 

�Yes, we do have to give birth through both pelvises, but they are wide and light.� Years ago I asked Lian Li � she�s had babies both as a human and as a morphed woman.� She said it was a whole lot easier as a dracocentauress, even with the bigger offspring and the doubled butts.� So there�s a testimonial.

 

�Third.� Well �� And here Dr. Corben blushed.� �Frankly, it was actually easier.� These morphs are actually quite primitive � I did them early on � when I wasn�t as good as I am now � and having the number of hind limbs � the back limbs � match the number of forelimbs � arms and front legs � turned out to be far easier. �I can�t really describe the reasons without getting really technical.� So, in a sense, for your purposes, it was really a dumb accident.�

 

Corinne smiled.

 

�Does it bother you?�

 

�I�m used to it now � it just seemed � odd.� Unusual.�

 

�Ah!� Yes � all the six-limbed creatures in mythology � and yet no one here has morphed a six-limbed creature, � much less a six-limbed half-human creature, � much less a classical horse-centaur.� But eight limbs are snap-easy for me.� Did you know that the Artoni�s mother owns an eight-legged dog?� She�s quite a happy creature.

 

�Ah, Jennifer!� You�re up!� Would you radio-fax Cee�s file to the number at the top � yes � �Silly Season.rtf� � that�s the one.�� Anne pointed out the file in the index to her daughter.

 

The girl with blazing red hair reached down and took the notepad from Anne�s extended hand, and flew off with it.

 

�Anne sighed.� �I wish they didn�t change so when they hit puberty.�

 

�She�s got an awesome body � and she�s very pretty.�

 

�She�ll break some boy�s heart.� My guess is she�ll grow bigger than Chris.� I was going to have him carry you back to your car; but after what happened yesterday, it will have to be Cynthia ��

 

�Mother!� Mother!�

 

�Speak of the devil,� Anne murmured.

 

Cee heard Cyndy�s voice from behind a nearby copse of old oak trees.

 

�What�s wrong?�� Anne called.� She stood up on her back four legs.

 

A moment later, both Ling Li and Cynthia Corben appeared.� They were close, side-by-side.� Neither was wearing any clothes � they�d just awoken.� Ling appeared to be struggling to prop up a halt blonde dracocentauress.� But the black-haired lanky body could give the massive-muscled young woman-creature only a little support.

 

�Mother!�� The girl was in tears.� �I�ve � I�ve ��

 

The source of Cyndy�s distress became apparent to Cee.� Corinne choked.

 

Cynthia could just cross her arms over a pair of enormous human breasts.� They�d apparently grown in overnight.� But the sudden change to her heavyweight bodybuilder�s human torso wasn�t all.

 

�I won�t be able to take � take ��� She gasped.� �It hurts!� They hurt!�

 

Cynthia Corben had struggled to step forward without stepping on two enormous white velvet udders � one under each of her hindquarters.� Each had six teats � three pairs of nipples.� Each nipple dragged on the sand and saw grass (That�s gotta hurt!) and each had its own distinct cistern, with webbing that tied them together.� They had their own unique shape � but something that Corinne would never expect on a dracocentauress.� Her back legs were � udder bound � that made it difficult for her just to move them.

 

�Cynthia � you�ll need to be milked!�� Anne had walked over to her distraught daughter.� She put her lower forehands up reassuringly against the flank of the tall dracocentauress.

 

�I�m not leaking milk yet,� Cyndy was taking rapid breaths.� �I woke up this way �� Some semblance of calmness came to her at the touch of her mother�s fingers.

 

Ling Li had quietly piaffed aside and slowly walked towards Cee.� She lifted and wrapped her tail � coiling it and uncoiling it � to move forward, yet minimize the stress on her own teats.� Corinne knew these were sensitive; though Ling seemed unaffected by whatever condition Cynthia had.� But then, Cyndy didn�t have a double-row of teats on her tail.

 

�I�m not too surprised.�� Anne felt one of the eight massive lower chest teats in front of the palomino girl-dragon�s lower body.� They made Anne�s six teats seem tiny.� �They�re not tight, yet.� So, my VBH genetics did express after all?� Only as post insemination gigantomastia ��

 

�It�s � okay.� It is.� I can feel my udders filling with milk � it�s weird.� I feel wonderful � but I can hardly walk with all this in the way.�

 

�I suppose not.�� Anne patted the solid bulging wall of Cyndy�s forward udder.� She traced a vein that was thicker than her upper forearm.�

 

Cynthia shifted.� �That tickles.�

 

Corinne was distracted from this tableau when Jennifer walked up.� She gave Cee her notebook.

 

�Stick around,� Cee whispered as she put the notebook into a pocket of her travel bag.� She didn�t have to say that.� Jenny was fascinated by the scene.

 

�You consumed a lot of food last night?� Anne asked, clinically.

 

�I was very hungry � and thirsty!�� Cyndy wrapped her own tail about her rearmost udder, kneading it.� �Everything aches.� A �Feels Good� ache.�

 

�Probably caused by your pregnancies.�� Anne spied her errand girl, back with Corinne�s notepad.� �Oh, Jennifer!� You�re back!�

 

�Yes, Mom?�

 

�Could you rouse the Wu women � all of them?� Tell them I�ve got a free milk breakfast for them.� Heck � tell everyone there�ll be breakfast ��

 

�Yes, Mom!�� Jenny grinned and whipped off.� Her red tail whipped and twisted in her speed.

 

�You stay here.� Pretty soon you�ll have relief � �

 

�Thanks, Mom!�� Cynthia blushed red.� Corinne caught her eye.� Cyndy found herself grinning at Cee � and looked away.

 

With a pat on her daughter�s flank, Anne walked back to where Cee now stood.� Ling�s right forepaw idled next the reporter.

 

Anne looked down and addressed Cee.� �I know that this isn�t a decent send-off � I would have sent you back with the Rescue squad; but they left really early this morning.� Merry said they had to be back on duty at 8 o�clock sharp.�� She now turned and looked up at the long thin torso of the oriental dracocentauress.� �Ling � you�re handy.� If that tail of yours doesn�t pose too much of a problem � could you escort Corinne back to that roadside park where she left her car?�

 

�Sure, Dr. Corben.�� Ling smiled at the chance.

 

Anne gave Ling a chilly Corben smile.� �Here�s the GPS � Christopher put the coordinates in two days ago.�� She reached up and Ling reached down to take the object.

 

Ling lowered herself and pulled Corinne up onto her back.� Then came the luggage.

 

�I�ll have to take care of today�s �emergency� now.� I sense that poor Cynthia can�t decide to be delighted or distraught.� She�s wanted large mammary glands since she was an adolescent.� Couldn�t understand that a woman could be beautiful without an enormous bust.� Right Ling?�

 

Ling turned her head away, studiously ignoring the dame of the clan.� Without another word, Ling Li gathered up her tail into a pile of coils, and walked off, paying the tail out.

 

Even with her twelve-body-length tail, coiling and uncoiling and constantly testing her stamina, Ling made decent progress.

 

As soon as the two were out of earshot (and Ling listened carefully before she absolutely knew she was out earshot, her four ears twitching), the dracocentaur woman struck up a conversation.

 

She stuck in her mouthpiece.� �May I ask you a question?�

 

�Yes, Ling.�� Cee was enjoying the ride � it was another sunny day � dry with the pressure of a high from the northwest.

 

�Do you have your large breast genome patented?�

 

�No.� Why?�

 

�I stole it ��� Ling stopped moving, embarrassed by the admission.� The tips of her tongues slipped out and pressed against the cheeks on either side.

 

�What do you mean?�

 

�When we were having � oral sex � I took some of your cells.� My body has a built-in genomic pharmaceutical factory � the drugs express in my milk somewhere back there.�

 

�Yes, a different drug for each pair of your tail teats?�� Cee remembered Ling mentioning that.

 

�I can do ad hoc genetic analysis � don�t even have to think about it.� It took awhile; but I got the essence of your big breasts � if you suck on tit 800 or 801 � you�ll get them, too.�

 

�Not that I�d need more coal in Newcastle.�� Cee sniffed.� �So, why?� Why�d you do it?�

 

�Cynthia�s been pestering me to do it.� She�s always wanted huge breasts � wanted to be at least as big as her mother.� And then she saw you ��

 

�And?�� Then it dawned on Corinne.� She wondered what Cynthia Corben had on Ling Li.� Chris?� Could be � �Oh!� So that wasn�t her mother�s genetics coming into play, then?�

 

�No,� Ling said in a tiny voice, as she moved smoothly one length further on.� �Well, probably not.� I had Cyndy suck on those nipples yesterday morning.� She started growing in late last night � it was a rather delayed action.�

 

Cee laughed.� �Oh, Ling!� Maybe it was her pregnancy, then.�

 

Ling Li�s saffron skin turned red with embarrassment.� �Or a combination.� I sometimes nurse from myself ��� She fingered her tail, a section well toward the tip, and fondled two black velvet-covered bulges there.� �� But I wouldn�t drink this stuff even if these two nipples were straining with milk � imagine me with all my teats blown up like hers!�� Two weak arcs of milk squirted out, into the ferns about them.� Her voice squeaked for a moment:� �Thank you �� and then returned to normal.� �I prefer to stay flat-chested.�

 

�There�s an old proverb, �Be careful what you wish for � you just might get it.��� Corinne quoted, finger pointing to the air.� �I think the aunt of your future children has found that out.�

 

Ling giggled.� �You will come back to see us � wherever we are � when Chris� and my kids are born?�

 

�I�ll try, dear.� About three years from now?�� Corinne saw Ling nod that lovely long neck.� �I wonder how you keep track � which pair of breasts is which?�

 

Ling laughed.� �In my head � though sometimes I screw up.� That�s why you got the youth hypermuscle potion.� It is a form of� �fountain of youth� � Sorry.� I intended to give you the concussion remedy that was next to it.�

 

�Sorry?�� Corinne looked askance at her bearer.� �I�m in my 50s, Ling, honey.� It feels great to have a body that�s half that age again.� I should thank you!�

 

�Yes � but do you really want to live forever?�

 

---

 

�Corinne Meadowlark returned to her car with her blue bag.� Ling waved and U-ed herself back into the woods.� A car was coming, which prompted her disappearance.

 

�Cee keyed the lock, and aired the inside of the vehicle out.� She slid the luggage into the back seat, and felt her thighs, enjoying the texture of the pants.� Her favorite T-shirt was a bit of a mess � Corinne hoped there was a near-empty restaurant in Newaygo or White Cloud where she might use a bathroom stall to change.� She�d been swimming last night � but she wondered if it would be worth it to rent a motel room for an hour and get freshened up.

 

��Let�s get out of here,� she said to herself, and climbed in to the old Model Grande.� To her surprise, the seat with the booster pillow was tight across her hips.� Of course the seat would be, with hips like these.� Cee was a little miffed at herself.� For a moment she wondered whether she�d be able to fit in a standard-sized movie theater seat anymore.� Naturally Corinne couldn�t see the dash below her breasts � but she was used to that.� After a trial, she decided to pull the booster out � she seemed to ride a little high, now.� My big butt muscles. �She turned the ignition and the engine started right up.

 

�Cee looked out the door window and back into the woods next to the roadside.� There was no clue that anything had passed by there.� Well, actually, there was � The White Pine tree that Chris Corben had crushed when he first had an inkling of a hard-on at her profile.� That was nothing to what he�d displayed yesterday, she recalled in awe.� Wow!� What an experience that was!� A shiver went down her spine, and she pressed the accelerator.�

 

�As she drove south, her fingers began to tingle.� On both hands.� It didn�t bother her at first; and she ignored it.� The tingles became more insistent � and when she did reach a Mickey D�s (it was mid-morning and nearly empty) � she got out of her car and dashed into the restroom.� She changed her shirt (putting on the protective nipple cups from her now unnecessary bra).� Cee found herself washing her hands in very warm water for several minutes before the prickles abated.

 

�Corinne was hungry � well, no breakfast, you idiot! � and ignored the stares of the servers.� Expected, when your bust measurement goes around the alphabet so many times the corsetieres lose count, the woman thought sourly.� The world hadn�t changed in the last two days.� Cee ordered as much food as she decently could from the one guy who�d managed to overcome his dazed condition.� Take out.

 

�She drove on and the tingling returned.� It got worse and her hands felt numb.� What the hell?� She could hardly drive this way! She pulled off M-37 at a scenic turnout at the top of a high hill.

 

�She ate some of the food, and that made her feel better.� The tingling and the shakes stopped.� Cee yawned � it was approaching noon � the trees were beautiful and the light breeze in the blue sky wafted cedar scent.� Corinne closed her eyes and snoozed for awhile.

 

�Waking, Cee felt wonderful.� Perhaps the tingling was due to all the activity and excitement of the last few days?� She just needed the meal and the rest.� Nevertheless, Corinne decided she�d better make a record of the problem with her fingers.� This sort of complaint had never happened to her before.� She put her hand in the pocket where she�d stored the notepad, and felt three smooth stones next to the instrument.� Some of Emily�s �coproliths.�� I wonder how those got in there?� Corinne thought as she inspected them.

 

�Cee had some difficulty controlling her fingers to write in her notepad � her hands seemed clumsy and somehow too big.� She really wasn�t paying much heed, thinking more about what to do with the stones.� After concluding the note (�had tingling fingers and numbness in hands and wrists�), she scrolled through the index.� Well � Here is Chris Corben�s file � �Corben Family.rtf� she thought.� Cee paid complete attention to the screen.� He was typing so madly � I wonder how he finished it up?

 

�Corinne skimmed through the thing � it was Chris� take on Cee�s experience � from her point of view.� �What a presumption,� she said to herself, and laughed.� He�s skipped through big chunks � particularly his sex with Ling � A little more reading, then Cee gulped.� Now, this part�s uncannily accurate, she thought seriously, How did he get this right?� Chris must have swiped the notepad last night � He wasn�t there � . She reread a section, the part that covered last night�s conversation with Anne.� Reviewing the scene in Christopher�s story dropped a hint as to exactly why Cee�s hands were beginning to hurt again. But that was not all � Corinne now got really spooked as she neared the end of the tale.

 

�The text it�s telling me what I�m doing � thinking � right now!� Shaking, this time for a much different reason, Corinne Meadowlark snapped closed the cover ��

 

� to the notepad.� And very carefully she tucked it back into the pocket of the blue MacGregor bag, along with the uncut diamonds.

 

Corinne stared straight ahead for a moment, staring into the forest.� Her knuckles on the top of the steering wheel grew white.� Her palms on each hand seemed wider.� Were wider.� Much wider.� There were too many knuckles.� She spread her hands apart, up off the circle. �Cee looked at the eighteen splayed digits dumbly.� The littlest fingers didn�t have nails anymore.� Hollow point talons instead.

 

�Oh, SHIT!� she whispered solemnly.� She pulled down her right hand and clumsily tried to start the big six-cylinder engine. �Too many fingers � there!� The motor roared to life.� �DAMN YOU, Anne MacAlester Corben!�� I don�t want to take over your job.

 

Cee almost reached for her notepad � but then she froze her huge aching hand.� Her gut sank as she imagined these very events must have still been following the text in Christopher Corben�s story.� She�d liked the boy, thought he was the gentlest of souls � but now � now � he frightened her.� She didn�t really want to find out how far his mantic fury might have carried him.

 

Rubber screeched as Cee grabbed the wheel with too many fingers and pulled out of the scenic overlook and onto the blacktopped road.� The engine screamed hell-bent-for-leather, as Meadowlark drove as fast and as far away as possible from the North woods of Michigan and the Corben family.

 

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