*(mood song:"Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal")

Inky soon recovered and they all went to the kitchen, as Erik prepared some thin slices of grilled pig fish meat along with pickled algae.

He first roasted some garlic and kneaded some simple dough mixed with it and some butter and kelp oil, making some simple foccacia as he added toppings on top from some grated butter and algae pickles to some onion slices, and finally lots of cheese and garlic powder, and baked it.

Then he dipped clam steaks in corn starch, then egg, and finally crispy hard bread flakes, and then fried them until they were a nice golden color. Then he mixed a sauce of thick yogurt from Molly's milk, smoked paprika, diced fresh onions, and pickled algae, and spread it on the middle of the just baked cheesy foccacia, then adding a crispy fried clam steak in the middle.

The final result was a creamy and cheesy bread full of crispy juicy clam meat with the bitterness of yogurt, repressing onions, and smoky paprika, along with a side dish of crispy fried meat and more sauce.

Everyone ate it all really fast, but thankfully robot arms came from the ceiling as Rose started to mass cook more dishes to let Erik rest.

Hours passed and they all ate till they were stuffed.

Erik looked at his daughters as they looked back with eyes full of curiosity at everything and everyone, while still in the arms of their robot nannies, seemingly wondering what everyone was doing.

Erik touched his boobs but they didn't seem that much bigger, though they did feel heavier these days, though it was nothing to his strong physique.

Erik: "Rose, what will the babies eat? human babies need milk at first before eating solid food..."

Rose scanned the babies: "Hmm it seems their digestive tract is developed enough, maybe some soft food like boiled vegetable paste? anyways, do you even have milk?"

Erik took a boob out of his suit: "I think so, let me see..." he tried pinching his nipple and a drop of milk did pour out "Ohhh... I do have milk!" taking Zoey and Eirene into his arms and going away with them "I will feed them and put them to sleep" signaling for the bots and Inky to follow.

Once alone in their room Erik let his daughters suck on his nipples, they seemed confused at first, when presented with a nipple, but they soon got the hang of it as Erik squeezed the nipple and put a drop of milk on their tongues. Instantly they started sucking on them as Erik caressed their heads with a smile.

Inky saw that and pinched her nipples too and milk also poured out. Inky tasted it and it was creamy and sweet, unlike the blue starting poison and bacteria fluid that octopeople normally secrete for their young, she couldn't help but to have the passing thought that she was no longer octopeople, but human instead.

Inky was surprised: "So that's how humans feed their young, interesting"

Erik: "The leviathan Molly too remember? It's called lactation, anyways, human kids only start eating solid food when they are around 6 months old"

Inky laughed as the sucking was ticklish: "Haha it tickles!, its quite different from us... our young are almost self sufficient after a couple of days..." she caressed lovingly her daughters sucking on three of her boobs "but this aint so bad"

Erik: "Haha indeed, it ain't bad at all, I never imagined I would become a parent like this but... but I'm fine with it"

Inky was curious: "How did you imagined you would become a parent then?"

Erik: "Hmm the old way I guess? meeting a young woman in her sixties, getting to know each other, going on dates, and finally marrying when we would both be adults at a hundred years old... and thinking about having kids from there... though there are multiple ways to conceive kids back on Earth anyways, even cloning a younger version of yourself is available, although it is not common.

Inky: "That... sounds like a lot of effort and time?"

Erik: "Yeah well... when you are with people you love, time just flies by~" and winked at Inky, making her blush.

Inky smiled shyly: "...I love you Erik, I'm glad I met you and had kids with you"

Erik smiled widely: "I love you too Inky, I'm glad I had your kids and you had mine"

Inky: "So, its not what you dreamed about but-"

Erik: "It's okay, this is even better than anything I could have ever imagined, I love you and our daughters very much Inky"

Inky blushed and looked away: "Huh hmm!"

Inky: "So... do you miss Earth?"

Erik: "Well yes and no..."

Inky: "What do you mean?"

Erik: "You see, I was already ready to leave Earth behind when I left, although some things like the internet and entertainment are good, now I have a way more interesting life, and I would be detained if I went back anyways Jajaja..."

Inky frowned: "Detained? why?"

Erik: "On Earth, cosmetic and genetic changes are allowed as long as you report them on your bio ID along with a full body scan, but the moment you can bend steel with your bare hands it becomes illegal, as only those in the government and armed forces are allowed to go past that point"

Inky was confused: "Isn't it dangerous to be that weak?"

Erik shook his head amused: "No, cause the government protects you, you can sign up as a reserve soldier to get a military upgraded body for example, a friend of mine called Antonio had one, but it's quite boring as it doesn't have genitals, it's kinda like a compromise"

Inky frowned: "...so the strong are allowed to get stronger while they rule over those weaker, never allowing them to get strong enough to be a threat?"

Erik: "...More or less yeah, though since there are no predators or monsters on Earth, people just wanna live their lives"

Inky: "I see..." while inwardly thinking their societies weren't so different, the strong rules over the weak "So... are you really happy here? are you happy... with your life here? weren't you gonna lead a new colony on another planet?"

Erik sighed: "...I was good, really good... and when you are good and people keep telling you about it as you grow up, you end up having expectations about how your life should be but... having tunnel vision ain't good you know, being open to new opportunities is way better. And you have given me the biggest joy of my life" pointing at their sleeping daughters "Our beautiful daughters, I told you earlier, but never forget that I love you, leading a colony might have been fun, but now i co-lead a planet haha~"

Inky blushed and shyly asked: "...what about Sarah? do you love her too?"

Erik: "Well... yeah, I won't deny that, she's from Earth, and we have known each other since long ago"

Inky: "...girl, man, Earth... there are many things I don't quite get about your world, but I know I love you" She then took off her translation collar "Annnddd I haavveee beeenn leeaarrniingg to taalkk humaan languaagess" a whistling sound accompanying every word.

Erik was surprised: "That must have been very hard with the differences in our anatomy" kissing her on her forehead as he put the collar back on her "but you don't have to force yourself"

Inky pouted: "I wanna know everything about you, and know to do everything you do, I won't lose to Sarah!"

Erik: "Jajaja! It's not a competition silly, you are my wife already"

Inky giggled: "I'm your husband"

Erik chuckled: "You don't even... fine, not like it matters so, whatever you say, my love"

Inky: "I do get it! husband is the one that protects the family"

Erik shrugged: "well... not always"

Inky: "I saw it in movies, the husband always jumps forward to protect the family!"

Erik: "...that I can't argue with jajaja"

After some minutes, the babies seemed to be full as Erik softly patted their backs to make them burp, and laid them all together on the bed to sleep.

One of the robot nannies came forward.

Nanny Bot (Rose): *don't worry, I will keep an eye on them, we now need to go get our samples from the Golden Dawn group, they should have them ready"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Erik nodded: "Alright" he took one last look at his sleeping daughters "Let's go"

Meanwhile, without anyone other than Rose knowing, the Yasha were hidden on the room's vents and behind the furniture, ready to lay down their lives for Erik's daughters.

All the yaksha stood guard with an stern face doing their best to remain alert as they pointed their spears forward.

Then a pained cry was heard and the nanny bots started laughing, as one of the yaksha had lightly stabbed another almost as they bumped tentacles and startled each other.

Nanny bot (Rose): *guys, relax a bit in the bath, it's fine, I... we will keep an eye, we will call you if there's trouble okay?*

The yaksha came out from cover and happily ran to the bathroom, now free from the tension of keeping guard. Only the yaksha leader Yhana remained a moment longer to bow to Rose in gratitude before jumping inside the warm bathtub.

The yaksha had been constantly looking for hidden places on the submarine to lay their eggs, hidden the same way tree frogs used to do on Earth, so Rose had kept an eye on them and removed them every time to avoid overpopulating the submarine, as their reproduction speed seemed even faster than the octopeople, and she had gotten to know their habits well from her constant surveillance.

Meanwhile, in the communal bathroom Erik, Sarah, and the others were lying down and had put their neural connection helmets on.

Rose: "Time to start the show~" as her own main mind link connected to the puppet bot body of Sarlex Zoth back at the Golden Dawn secret bio lab and others, and sync them to Erik and the other's brainwaves.

All the bot puppet bodies that had been pretending to sleep stood up and exited the rooms of the interns and the lead researcher Tsutsu, who seemed to be receiving information from the interns at that moment.

Tsutsu noticed Sarlex and the others and turned to them: "Oh, you guys could have slept some more, we are almost done"

Sarlex bot (Erik): "haha... it's alright, we need to get ready to set course too"

Tsutsu: "Is that so... I hope you don't forget..."

Sarlex bot (Erik): "Of course, I will be sure to give more funds to you, Golden Dawn needs to support your efforts if we wanna grow after all"

Tsutsu smiled revealing a mouth with some missing teeth, replaced by shiny metallic teeth.

Tsutsu: "Good ~ good~! That's how it should be haha!" he turned to his interns and yelled "Now, help Mister Sarlex take the samples and research information to his boat!"

The interns were barely awake and exhausted, but they forced themselves to move as the end was finally in sight.

Tsutsu made a motion with his hand in the direction of the elevator: "Let me escort you to the door then, Sarlex"

Sarlex bot (Erik) nodded: "Much appreciated" walking calmly with his back straight, and his hands behind his back.

-- Back inside the submarine, captain's room --

The daughters were sleeping on Erik's bed, when at that moment Zoey yawned, slowly opened her blue eyes, and looked around, not finding her progenitors anywhere she felt anxious.

Zoey had tears starting to form as she took off the blanket: "huuuh pa huuuh"

Her muttering seemed to wake up the others as they similarly looked around in distress, not finding their parents, but Rose's bots quickly took the girls into their arms and consoled them, though that also seemed to distress them.

The Yaksha quickly came out of the bathroom worriedly, and Yhana their leader motioned to the bots to give the babies to them.

Rose didn't trust them too much but gave them a chance and made the bots sit down so the Yaksha could reach the little girls in their arms.

Yhana got closer to Eirene and softly caressed her face and then her back softly, as the Yaksha then started to do the same to the other daughters, as they all started singing a guttural but pleasant song like the song of a whale.

The daughters stopped crying, but they still seemed to be looking around.

Nanny Bot (Rose): *You guys were born in this world so you are recognized as part of it by the security system... can't read your minds but... I'm sure I know what you guys want*

The bots then took the daughters to the heated pool where Erik and Inky were lying down with the nerve helmets on.

Nanny Bot (Rose): *See? Your parents are totally fine*

Zoey and Eirenne looked at Erik and seemed to reach with their hands at him, while Ana, Elena, and Maria were looking between Erik and Inky.

Nanny Bot (Rose): *So you want something from them... hungry perhaps? You are clearly clean... hmm let's see what happens then*

She put the daughters near the shallow pool, and observed as Zoey and Eirene went near Erik's face and carefully climbed inside the pool that was barely 10cm deep and rested on his armpits hugging his chest.

Ana and Maria went to also hug Inky, but Elena the most humanoid of Inky's three daughters looked back at Erik and ran to him instead, climbing across his face and falling onto his chest where she fell asleep.

Nanny Bot (Rose): *At such a young age, but they missed their parents, and even remembered their appearance... unprecedented behavior for human babies according to Erik's memories... better memory and senses from birth, fascinating* She chuckled *Well... they are not human after all, what could be a good name...*

The Yaksha also got inside the heated pools, laying down around Erik and Inky as they kept looking around at the other octopeople in suspicion, like expecting to be attacked at any moment.

-- Back at the Golden Dawn research lab entrance--

The security checks were easily passed as the lizardmen interns took all the research materials and samples to the top of the submarine, where bots that looked like lizardmen took it all inside.

Sarlex bot (Erik) turned to Tsutsu and nodded at him: "We'll get going then, it was a pleasant visit doctor"

Tsutsu: "Haha, glad you liked it" he looked at the lizardmen carrying the materials inside the strange vessel "Could I get a tour of your boat as well?"

Sarlex smiled widely and laughed, patting the old man's back: "Hahaha! sure! but maybe next time, right now we are in a hurry after all, you told me these samples are dangerous right?"

Tsutsu seemed disappointed: "Oh... right right... until next time then"

Sarlex bot (Erik) smiled: "Bye then old man, don't treat your interns so harshly~!"

As if being reminded of a source to relieve his frustrations, Tsutsu scoffed and turned around yelling: "INTERNS! THE ONE WHO DOES BEST BY THE END OF THE YEAR WILL GET A BONUS!"

Interns: "Money?", "A permanent job?", "more rest?"

Tsutsu scoffed: "Interns these days... a separate room! that's it! back in my day, we did what we were told and done, for my position I had to do way more..."

Erik zoned out as he just walked back inside the submarine, wanting to go back and hug his daughters.

Then the moment he logged off inside the submarine and took off his helmet, there they were his daughters sleeping on his arms.

Erik: "Aww" [Rose did you read my mind?]

Rose: [Nop, I just observed them ¯\_(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)_/¯]

Erik: [hoh... they missed us that much] Erik smiled widely as he hugged them "You are so cute!" and kissed their cheeks, causing them to wake up.

Zoey: "ah.... hmmm Erik!"

Eirenne: "Erik!"

Elena: "Erik?"

Erik: "JAJAJA! call me papa okay?"

Zoey, Eirenne, and Elena seemed confused, pointing at Inky.

Zoey: "papa?" pointing at Inky

Erik sighed: "...I guess it's confusing..., Erik is fine darlings, just call us whatever you want, it's already impressive you guys can say words so fast..." patting their heads "A human baby would never be able to do this... well maybe a vat-grown one, but those were only grown during wars and it became illegal, healthy humans need a proper childhood- ah... what am I even telling children..."

Zoey touched then her belly and Eirenne did too.

Inky had also woken up with Ana and Maria in her arms.

Erik: [Rose, you said they could eat right?]

Rose: [yeah, their digestive tract is almost developed, kinda like a seven month old human baby, so eating something bland and simple should be fine? (^ᴗ^✿)]

Erik: [hmm, with what we have... a porridge, rice with some veggies should be fine...]

Erik: "Okay, let's go to the kitchen, maybe they can eat solid food now"

Inky nodded: "okay" taking Ana and Maria into her arms.

Meanwhile, the other octopeople were also standing up and looking at the daughters with curiosity, while the Yaksha made a protective circle around them.

Timberly easily walked past them as she came next to Erik, looking down at his daughters.

Erik smiled: "what do you think?"

Timberly looked at their eyes and smiled: "I think... I'm an aunt now haha~"

Jennifer also came closer to Inky: "Can I hold one?"

Inky: "Hmm no, they could fall"

Jennifer smiled: "I'm their aunt, I will be careful"

Inky: "...fine"

Timberly: "Oh, I also wanna try"

Erik: "Don't you have lots of kids of your own?"

Timberly shrugged: "I haven't seen or remember my kids much, but to be fair, you are the one who brought this concept to us"

Erik scoffed: "You had a mother too, it's not a new thing"

Timberly rolled her eyes: "It's very different but fine, just let me hold one of those cuties"

Erik: "Fine, but be careful with your strength"

Timberly: "Of course~" and held Elena carefully "You look the most human huh... such a cutie~ can you say hi to your auntie Timberly?"

Elena was really shy, as Timberly was really big and had a mouth full of sharp teeth, she felt like crying, but looking at Erik and seeing him calm made her relax a bit, and she shyly looked up at Timberly

Elena: "H-hi aunty Tamnbruli"

Timberly: "It's... ah who cares, you are so cute~"

On the other side, Jennifer was holding Maria, the daughter that most looked like octopeople.

Jennifer: "This little one on the other hand looks the most like us... I'm your auntie Jennifer~" smiling to her.

Maria wasn't scared and responded with a smile full of emerging sharp teeth of her own.

Maria: "hello aunty Jhanufer!"

Jennifer: "hahaha~ such a joy, Shana would have loved this~"

Timberly: "I'm sure of it hahaha~"

Jennifer: "Let's call her later and make her jealous hahaha~"

Erik: "Well let's go to the kitchen, the girls are hungry"

Everyone followed except Rose who was focusing on piloting the submarine to their next destination, a secret base of the Iron Sect, they would wait nearby waiting for the assault from the Golden Dawn group and strike then.

-- In the submarine's kitchen --

Erik left the daughters with Inky, Sarah who just observed from the side, and their aunties as he started preparing porridge.

To make sure it was safe he boiled the rice two times until it was free of any inorganic arsenic. Then he let it simmer to become more goey while he finely chopped some carrots and ground pork fish and fried them in some algae oil, after that, he drained the oil and added it to the rice. It would be bland for an adult but strong flavors can easily upset the taste of children, or at least that's what he had learned in basic household studies back when he was a kid in his thirties.

He prepared a small bowl for every one of his daughters, and after cooling the hot porridge for a minute in the freezer first, gave it to them, along with some fish sashimi slightly cooked with a torch in case they wanted to chew something.

The little girls were spoonfed the porridge, as they had trouble holding the spoons, but they seemed to like the porridge and sashimi, so Erik was relieved.

After they were done they still had to drink milk though, Erik didn't have a clear reference, but since he still had milk he decided to breastfeed them until his body stopped producing milk naturally, or the girls stopped wanting to breastfeed by themselves.

Rose: [By the way... since you are no longer human perse... have you thought of a name for your race?]

Erik: [Humans come in all shapes and sizes nowadays, some even have wings and fly, but still we are all called Homo Sapiens Sapiens... maybe adding Atlantean? Homo Sapiens Sapiens Atlantean]

Rose: [Why Atlantean though? What about Homo Sapiens Sapiens Oceanus, for Ocean in Latin?]

Erik: [... I like mine better]

Rose: [then.... Homo Hermaphroctopoteuthis?]

Erik: [too complicated, we can just be Atlanteans, like wolves are Canis Lupus and dogs are Canis Lupus Familiaris]

Rose: [are you calling your race dogs hehe υ´• ﻌ •`υ]

Erik: [It was just an example... forget it]

Rose: [Well whatever, you have to come see this, we are surfacing, come up I'm already there with my main body along with Amanda]

Erik: [what is it? we can't have arrived yet]

Rose: [No, I took another path to see something first since we have time... the source of the golden on the golden dawn group... call the others with you]

Erik: [oh... alright]

Erik: "Rose has found something, let's all go to the top deck"