Drelloc was dreaming. She had been standing too close to the fire again, her clutchmates called out to her but she didn't listen. Instead she wandered closer to the mesmerising flames. The light that flickered so enticingly, enchantingly. She stepped closer and her world became pain.

She awoke with a shudder, she was very hot. She didn’t even have the energy to open her eyes, she felt so tired.

She slowly became aware of something cool draped over her head, covering several of her eyes as she lay somewhat awkwardly upon her side. She felt liquid drizzle over her head and chest slowly, the coolness of it almost shocking. It was water she realised, she must have been overheated as it felt almost frigid on her feverish skin.

She opened the single uncovered eye that wasn’t facing the soft ground below her. She was in a clearing amongst a glade much like the one she had spent the night in. The ground was soft and covered in a layer of plants almost like moss or grass.

She realised with sudden shock that her chest was exposed, in fact she could feel that her bodysuit had been removed all the way down to her waist.

Something was draped over her exposed skin though, covering her nakedness. She should not have been embarrassed as she was, she had nothing to cover up there after all. She was not a mammal, she had no mammaries or other orifices that might have become exposed. But the feeling of exposure remained.

She heard a noise and saw a pair of booted feet approaching, she closed her eye and tried to control her breathing. She felt the ground shudder slightly as the man, Donner, sat next to her still form.

There was a rustling noise and then once more cool water was applied to her coverings, cooling her and serving to keep her skin delightfully moist as well. She felt the man’s hands on her body as they adjusted her coverings. Seemingly checking for dampness and if they were cool. His hands lingered on her skin slightly longer than may have been strictly necessary. One of those strange smooth five-fingered hands resting on her shoulder as he checked her temperature.

She couldn't help but feel a slightly deeper sense of relaxation as her tired muscles unclenched and began to relax. His hand pulled back sharply and she heard him make a small noise.

He breathed out heavily. “Are.. are you awake Drelloc?” the man, no, Donner, asked in a strangely paternal way.

She opened her eye again and answered a little sheepishly. “Yes. I am awake.” She paused, not wanting to distress him. So instead of remarking on her current state she asked him, “What happened? We were walking, it was so hot. Then.. where are we?” She reached up and removed the cloth that was covering her eyes, and froze.

Donner was seated on the grass next to her, his armour and jacket removed. So were his military fatigues leaving him sitting wearing only a thin white sleeveless shirt. It was wet, whether it was sweat or water she didn’t know. But she could practically see right through it.

Her breath caught slightly as another prickle of those strange feelings passed through her core. A small cackle echoing in her mind from her other selves. She pushed them down, but not as forcefully as she might have done in the past. She could feel the slight tug of influence from them remain, their eyes drawn to the man’s toned muscles. His pectoral muscles clearly defined through the thin fabric of his shirt, the wet fabric clinging to abs like iron bars that bunched and danced as he seemed to shift uncomfortably.

She sat upright, the cloths falling from her bare torso as she tried and failed to regain her composure.

Donner cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck with one of those alien hands as he looked away from her. “Er, um. We are in another glade. I figured that it might have a spring to uh, cool you down. And I was right because here we are, and you are alright now?” He glanced back at her before looking away almost shyly.

She felt a strange warmth rise inside her at his seeming coyness. Or maybe he really was just embarrassed? She was unsure, many of her people chose to wear no body coverings at all and were not generally seen as particularly offensive. Maybe it was something else she wondered.

He pointed towards a small thicket of bushes on the far side of the shadowed clearing. “There is a small spring there, I already filled up our water bottles and took a dip. As you can probably tell from my wet clothes. I think it might be a good idea if you were to go and immerse yourself for a while. I mean, if you want to, that is. You can do whatever you like..” he trailed off as she stood, her bodysuit clinging to her waist, the limp arms hanging down past her knees as she straightened.

He looked at her again, his eyes roaming over her body in a manner that she couldn't help but notice. He snapped them back to her eyes as she spoke, “Yes. I think I will. Thanks”

He nodded jerkilly and stood as well. He towered over her, he was at least twenty centimeters taller than her, maybe more. She found that she had to lean backwards slightly to see his face from this close. “What do you mean, I mean.. you are welcome?” He nodded to her slowly as he answered her.

She felt her eyes crinkle in a smile. He was annoyingly naive at times. She started to walk towards the water but paused and looked at him with her rearmost eye. “I mean it, Donner. Thank you for saving my life, on multiple occasions now.” She observed him nod again and then sit back down as she pushed her way through the bushes and into another smaller clearing inside the main one.

A small stream led into a pond the perfect size for a single occupant. She felt her other selves gurgle in delight in her mind. She thought about pushing them back down as she generally did, and then stopped. They had almost died too, they didn’t deserve to be silenced. She hesitated, it had been so long since she had disrupted the concord.

She took a deep breath and embraced her selves. All at once three other voices populated her mind. Two of them meek and quiet, the third brash and full of a confident swagger.

‘Oh now you are going to let us stretch our limbs huh? All it takes is you nearly getting us killed to take off the gloves huh?’ Her other scolded herself.

Drelloc felt her other arms and legs move slightly of their own accord. Her total control over her body now partially surrendered to her other lobes. She apologised weakly. ‘I am sorry. I never wanted to hurt us, but somebody had to take charge and you would have gotten us killed a long time ago!’

Her rebellious self appeared to smirk, part of her face crinkling as the attached arm made a somewhat rude gesture in front of her own eye.

She frowned herself now. ‘Hey, no need for that. You know I am right. I felt you willingly let me keep control when I had to destroy the Valor.’

Her other self sputtered and she felt the anger from part of her rise but she remained calm. ‘I did that only because there wasn’t time for me to explain why what you were doing was wrong, you worthless sludge pile.’

She rolled her primary eye. ‘Yeah? And yet despite that we ended up fine.’ Her other more rebellious self had always been brash. But never so unremittingly rude, this was a new and frankly worrying direction. She was a bit worried all truth be told.

The other voice started to respond harshly saying, ‘Yeah, and when I take control..’ but was cut off by the two meek voices speaking in unison.

Drelloc started as she realised they had formed a partial consensus themselves. They spoke, their combined voices echoing strangely, ‘No, you won’t. She has not led us astray so far despite the danger we have faced. Unlike you. We won't let you bother us anymore, enough is enough.’

She shuddered. The others plowed over her rebellious self and locked her inside a cage of pure willpower. Their combined strength more than a match for her other. She was astonished, they had always stayed back, letting her take the fight alone. Her constant struggle was a point of personal shame that her own mind would not even help her.

She was silent for a time, then she shivered and asked, ‘Why now?’

The twin voices spoke as one again. ‘You were always stronger than us. But we couldn't allow you to become soft and so we waited until we were sure. You are truly the best of us, and we will support your decisions. She will no longer trouble you Drelloc.’ She would have had to pick her jaw up off the ground if she had had one. Hearing her name in her head from the others was a strange feeling.

She reached out towards them and felt them embrace her control wholeheartedly and with the tenderness of a long lost family member. She felt a new wave of euphoria as for the first time in her memory she felt truly complete. She began to laugh, she laughed as she stepped to the edge of the water.

She laughed as she stepped out of her bodysuit and immersed herself in the cool spring, only the barest tip of her head poking out of the pond as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Feeling truly at peace for the first time in her life, the blissful silence in her head a welcome balm from the constant bickering and prodding. She let out a sigh as her laughing fit subsided and she slipped completely under the cool surface.

No matter what happened on this mission now, she would feel complete.

**********

Donner sat and rubbed his hands together as he watched the alien woman disappear into the brush by the edge of the clearing.

He stood suddenly, he felt energised, adrenaline spiking in his blood as his emotions went haywire. What was happening? There was no way he was falling for the strange woman. But what if he was?

He placed his hands on his head as if he could tear the feelings from his own brain. But it was hopeless, seeing her lying near dead and broken upon the ground had hurt him far more than if she were just his charge. No, seeing her injured had torn at his soul. He had feared for her life in a way that went beyond even what he had felt for the loss of his squadmates.

The terrible self admission shamed him and he smacked his fists into his head. How could he think that? What kind of terrible friend was he?

He began to pace restlessly, what was he to do? What could he do?

He stopped and took several deep calming breaths as he started to formulate a new plan. There was no way she felt the same about him, did she? The self doubting part of his mind began to poke tiny holes into everything he thought he knew.

He suddenly thought back to the way her eyes had roamed over his body earlier, the way she had paused near him. The way she had said his name.

“Oh boy..” he muttered to himself. He was in trouble alright.

He stood still before walking over to the duffel and sitting by it. He unzipped the bag and rummaged around inside, taking inventory of their supplies.

After a few minutes of rummaging around he had come to the conclusion that they had more than enough dried rations to last them a week or more if they had too. They had rope, the conservotarp, a pair of old analog two way radios and more than enough quickheal to recover from anything they might encounter. Their only real limitation was how much water they could carry and their ammunition.

The pistol only had two spare magazines and his MR-12 had only the six spare magazines he carried on his utility belt. He wished that she had managed to grab more ammo, but he could understand why that might not have been a priority when escaping a smoldering wreck that was about to explode.

He sighed and then decided that he was hungry. He didn’t know what Drelloc’s metabolism was like but after her near brush with heat stroke he figured she could probably use some warm food to revitalize her. He would make his food first so it had time to cool while he made hers.

The act of setting up the tiny mobile cooking station was familiar and brought him to memories of better times. He recalled the first time he had been forced to improvise his cooking with Frezz and Bell. they had been on a deployment to some tiny backwater mining colony much like the one he had grown up on. He had been making something when he realised that he had forgotten to purchase any proteins and Frezz had convinced him to purchase some suspicious mushrooms from a swanith street vendor. He had nearly shit himself to death, Frezz had laughed the whole time of course.

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He realised that he hands were shaking, the small freeze dried meal he had clutched in his hand crinkling as his white knuckles clenched. He forced himself to relax. He needed to deal with the loss of his squadmates sooner or later, but he had to focus on the mission. If he let himself break now then Drelloc might never make it back alive without him, and a steadily growing part of him found that unacceptable.

He swallowed heavily as he poured some water into the heater and waited for it to come to a boil. He busied himself setting up two of the packages, another beef stroganoff for himself and a sweet and spicy chicken and tehro-rice for her. She might find it more palatable than the ambiguous beef dish he had served her for breakfast.

The water began to boil after a minute and he carefully removed the small insulated cup. He poured the liquid into his food pouch and closed the bag, giving it a few shakes for good measure.

He replaced the cup and poured more water. While it was reaching temperature he should go and let Drelloc know that he was making food. He was also a little concerned about her well being, he had heard splashing a little while ago but the noise had subsided a while ago.

Donner stood and walked slowly towards the small spring thicket. As he neared it he called out for her. “Drelloc, I am making some lunch. I figured now was as good a time as any.”

He waited, no response came. Now he began to worry anew, thoughts of her being injured or worse flashed through his mind as he pushed his way through the thick bushes into the small clearing. He looked around and was immediately alarmed when he didn't see her.

Donner moved towards the water and saw a shape below the surface, it was Drelloc. Alarm surged through him at the sight of her motionless body submerged below the surface, he looked both ways and then took a step into the pool.

No sooner had his foot made ripples across the surface than he saw her eyes open and she moved. He had the impression of some deep sea creature moving for just a second before she burst from the water.

Her slightly wrinkled grey skin was shining with moisture, the light catching it and seeming to sparkle as if it was covered in ten thousand tiny diamonds. Possibly an effect of the same tiny hairs he thought he had felt on her hand earlier. Her body was nude he realised next with a start, her bodysuit discarded by the waters edge. His first instinct was to turn away, but he realised that there was no real reason to, her people had no external genitalia or other such anatomy to cover up. She didn’t seem to mind his gaze that much either, at least he didn't think she did. She certainly wasn’t making any effort to cover herself up as she stood in water up to her flared waist.

She seemed to look at him with a strange new expression he didn’t recognise. “Yes? What is it Donner?”

He shifted between intrigued and embarrassed in equal measure as he looked at her and then to the ground nearby. “I was just coming to check.. I made some food. I wanted to tell you that before it had a chance to get cold.” he wasn’t sure what else to say, his mind squirming with the plethora of stimuli that had assailed it in the past two days.

She reached up and ran two hands over her head as if she were pushing back a ponytail, but she had no hair so the gesture must have had some other significance. “I thank you. I am finding the waters here quite rejuvenating, I am curious if you would be willing to bring it to me here.” She seemed so at peace, so sincere. At once he nodded, her transformation was noticeable, she seemed to hold herself a little more confidently and he couldn't help but feel as though something about her had changed.

Maybe he was talking to another part of her? But her voice was the same, it was his understanding that all of the different minds of a razah’vool would show subtle differences. He put it out of his mind as he turned and walked a little quickly out of the small secondary clearing.

He was a bit confused, but he tried to bury it with self confidence. He was doing the right thing and the mission would be alright. He deserved to be alive because Drelloc needed him. He nodded and repeated it a few more times, part of him still unconvinced as that small self doubt crept back.

He scrutinised his self doubt, was he really so different from her after all? He didn’t always agree with himself either, maybe his own mind was compartmentalised too? He shook his head at the concept and worked on the food. Finishing it up and grabbing both packets.

Donner made sure to turn off the electric heater before he turned and looked back towards where the object of his internal strife was. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind before he made his way back towards the strangely alluring alien woman.

***********

Drelloc was relaxing completely. She was fully submerged in the cold crystalline water of the spring, the tiny layer of microfibers that covered her skin acting as both an insulating layer and trapping microbubbles of air that allowed for gas exchange to take place. The oxygen content of the water was low, but she wasn't planning on staying submerged for too long.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine she was back home on the colony world where she grew up. The dark grey skies field with storm clouds, the rain as it fell in drenching torrents and flooded the park near where she grew up. The way the wind rippled the surface of the oceans of the world. She could almost imagine she was there instead of on a small hot hell world with no large bodies of water and no seas.

As she lay there under the water, totally immersed in her own little world, she thought she heard a faint noise other than the burbling of the spring and the slow beat of her own heart. She listened, but the sound didn't repeat.

She felt the skin around her eyes crinkle in a frown, another few seconds passed before she heard the unmistakable sound of something landing in the water. Her eyes shot open and she bolted upright in the pool, ready for nearly anything as the water splashed away from her in all directions. Anything that was, except for Donner to be standing at the edge of the pool. One bare foot in the water and a look of some strange mixture of emotions on his flexible facial features.

What was he doing there she wondered amongst her selves. One voice in her mind suggested that perhaps he been coming to swim with her. But she doubted that was the case. Another part of her mind pointed out her current state of undress, but she found that she didn't seem to mind his eyes upon her. It wasn't as though she had external genitalia to cover up like Donner or his species did. Her own concepts of modesty were largely moral, not physical.

She wore the bodysuit because she found it comfortable, not because she was embarrassed by her body in the same manner many other races seemed to be. Did humans really have such poor impulse control that they could not look upon each other in their purest form? She supposed not, as she herself was unsure how she would have reacted to seeing another of her kind unclothed in the pool with her at that time. Especially a young male with such delightfully pale skin.

She jerked slightly as she felt at least one of her selves admiring the man’s body again. The strength apparent in his strange alien limbs. So alike her own and yet different in subtle and surprising ways.

She tried her best to clear her thoughts, brushing them away instead of jamming them down like she used to. She spoke, her voice as carefully neutral as she could make it. “Yes? What is it Donner?”

He took a step back out of the pool. His strange blue and black eyes at first looking and then avoiding her as he seemed to stutter nervously, “I was just coming to check.. I made some food. I wanted to tell you that before it had a chance to get cold.”

She smiled, the crinkling of her eyes likely not as obvious to the man as his own displays were to her. So she opted for a very obvious and perhaps pointed gesture of pleasure. She passed two of her arms over the sides of her head as if wiping the water from her face. Four of her eyes closing in response to the movement. If she had made the gesture towards another member of her race she might has well have asked them to swim with her, but the gesture must have not been familiar to Donner as he just blindly watched her for another moment.

“I thank you. I am finding the waters here quite rejuvenating, I am curious if you would be willing to bring it to me here.” She made a gesture of thanks to him. He seemed to hesitate, his eyes wandering over her body once more. Only her torso was out of the water, her waist and legs were still submerged in the cold spring.

Finally he seemed to make a decision and nodded. His head bobbing before he turned quickly and scuttled away. She chuckled to herself quietly. Where was the blunt and callous soldier, all she saw in his recent demeanour was that of a young man. One likely confused as to their emotions, did she dare to think that he may share some of the strange feelings that were growing steadily in her own mind.

She waded to the edge of the pool and pulled herself out of the water for a moment. The clear liquid cascading from her body to splash upon the soft carpet of moss that lay below her. She shook all four legs individually, trying to dry herself off as best as she could. She might not be able to pull herself back into her skintight bodysuit if she remained too wet.

She stooped and picked up the garment. She had been wearing it for a while now and a part of her thought about not wearing it, especially in the heat of the world. Maybe she would refrain from putting it on for the time being at least.

She walked to the water and immersed the bodysuit’s fabric in the water, washing some of the grime and smoke from its exterior. She laid them out in a nearby patch of sun to dry and moved back to the water's edge where she sat with her legs immersed in the water, her feet tucked under her webbed thighs.

After another few moments she heard the brush rustle and presently saw Donner make his way back to the clearing with two packages. He stopped and she once more took the opportunity to scrutinise his demeanor. His face was so strange to her.

He had only two eyes, set near each other and parallel in height. Between them was his funny little nose, the nub of skin and cartilage looking so out of place on his otherwise flat features. His mouth was set on the front of his skull and consisted of an entirely separate bone structure. This jaw was hinged and connected to his skull by a complex series of muscles and sinews.

She marveled at what manner of evolutionary pitfalls must have resulted in this incredibly inefficient design. Humans put all of their sensory features to the front, as did many other species. This total neglect shown to their surroundings made them very adept at monotasking, but somewhat poor multitaskers. Not like herself, she could relinquish control and have all of her selves do something different if she wanted to. The most she had ever done was two things at once as she was generally rather against letting her other selves take control.

She felt a gentle nudge in her mind at the thought and smiled. Not so anymore. She had gained a new appreciation for herself, and a new self confidence. Maybe it was this self confidence that compelled her to speak, but whatever it was she gestured to the man and patted the ground beside her. “Thank you Donner. Come, sit with me. You are a social species, correct?”

Donner nodded. “Well, yes. Though there are some of my people that prefer to live alone. We call them reserved or antisocial.” He took another step closer, an arm extended with what she assumed was her food.

She took it with another grateful gesture. “Well, are you one of these reserved individuals?” She would have raised an eyebrow if she had them. Instead, she winked the smaller secondary eye above her larger primary.

The man seemed a tad torn, but then that same unreadable expression she had noticed earlier crossed his face and he shook his head. His expressive eyes widening slightly as he spoke, “No. I’m not.”

She smiled with her eyes as he scooted over and then sat to her side with his feet and lower legs extending into the water. He was a respectful distance away and she decided not to push her luck.

She looked at the pouch he handed her and was pleased to see it was not the same nasty beef stroganoff as that morning. “What is.. chicken?” She asked aloud as she poured a small measure of the package into her open mouth.

The tehro-rice was tender and sweet, the taste reminding her of several of the human meals she had had the privilege of trying back before she had been shipped to Minasdee. The chicken seemed to be small chunks of meat. It was a little tough and covered in some manner of breading that had soaked up a considerable amount of the flavors in the packet’s sauce. It was sweet and a little tangy while the chicken itself tasted very light. Hints of some deeper flavor reminded her almost of greak steaks, the aquatic creature native to the razah’vool homeworld of Vool. She had not had many occasions to consume greak though.

It was good, as she poured another measure of the tasty dish into her mouth she heard Donner answer her. “Chicken is a kind of terrestrial fowl native to old Earth. I haven't ever eaten a fresh one but it is one of my favorite MRE types. Much better than the beef to be fair.” He spoke with a small tinge of what sounded to her like wistfulness in his voice. As if he were thinking of what it might be like to try one.

She made a gesture for a shrug. All four shoulders rolling slightly in unison. “I suppose that would depend on the nearest planet that raises them. If it’s eighty light years away I don't think you are going to be getting anything but flash frozen chicken.”

He chuckled and she felt a tingle zip through her. She realised that she loved the sound of his laughter, the strange alien chuffing so unlike her own. She wondered, and not for the first time, what he thought of her. She felt like a younger version of herself, before her sequential transition to a mature female she had been a male. As was true with every member of her species, her people were born entirely male and transformed into females as they reached maturity near the age of eighty to one-hundred standard rotations.

She could remember how it felt back then, her young male hormones had commonly run rampant. One of the reasons that youths in razah’vool culture were so rarely given responsibilities. They were far too impulsive to be trusted with true responsibilities.

With nothing more to say that wouldn't betray her thoughts she simply enjoyed the cool water and company. She thought about the mission, it was still important to her that she get through to make her report. But judging by the rather significant delay their unfortunate accident had imparted upon them she wasn't so sure that her information would be as useful. Though she still thought it was pretty important.

The rebels had been using encrypted communications as had the Union for the entirety of the war. Both sides used a complex series of quantum computers to both encode and decode the information, but it wasn't an exact science. On rare occasions the enemy code could or would be broken revealing significant amounts of useful raw data that might give them a key advantage.

After a few assassinations and more attempts it was determined that presenting these code breaches when they occurred was dangerous to say the least. Now whenever a code breach was detected the agent or mindjacker responsible for it would generally report directly to their local command with the news. While this also seemed as it might be a dead giveaway, there were enough other priority reports that were trusted to couriers that it fell in with the normal traffic.

She had done just such a thing, detecting an anomalous radio frequency and tracing it to its source. She had found the mothercode for the local rebel forces, potentially even the local or regional forces. She wasn't really sure just how far up the totem pole this call was going to go, but part of her hoped secretly that this would be the straw that broke the ranx’s back so to speak.