“Different genders, different opinions.”

***Deep Space***

***Antioch***

“Aah! It feels so good to be able to move without pain!” Seriously! I sit up and unhook myself from the medical machines. When I woke up this morning, the pain was gone.

The next time I fight someone, I'll wear metal undergarments! I tentatively feel for my crotch, but the excruciating pain is gone. Right after arresting the stowaways, I made my way back to the infirmary and hooked myself back into the devices which are supposed to assist my regenerative abilities. At least the others had the sense not to comment on my predicament.

But now that I am back to normal, I am curious what Silith has been up to. She only looked after me once and that was two days ago. When I asked Sam and Min about her whereabouts, they said that she is very busy with designing our new race. Of course, she used our personal connection to check on me, but I am starting to miss her physical presence.

It felt like they were discussing things which I should have been included in. Would it have been so much trouble to talk about it in the infirmary?

On my way to our private quarters, I run unexpectedly into Lisandra, who looks a little lost. The blonde is standing in the corridor, eyeing one of my drones which is busy with maintenance work.

I raise my voice to gain her attention. “Lis, Lisandra, how are you doing?”

She turns and raises her eyebrows upon seeing me up. “Antioch. You are awake.” She looks at my face, but her eyes drift off to the floor. “I am fine. Just a little bored. I am still trying to find something to occupy myself with. Nobody told me what needs to be done.”

“Can't play sick forever.” I smile. “And don't worry about your role. I am sure that a task will present itself in time. You look a lot better than when I picked you up, but you should recover fully before doing anything else. Have you seen Silith? She went underground two days ago and I haven't seen her since.”

Lisandra purses her lips and studies me. When we make eye-contact, she averts her eyes and looks at my chest. “Err... Ahem... she is... playing around... I guess that's what you could call it. Yeah, she is playing around with her body. She got a little strange while you were... incapacitated.”

I pull a grimace. Playing around? I feel a little on edge, since Silith and I put our private activities on hold since Lisandra showed up, but I have a feeling that that's not what Lis meant.

I try to sound as sober as possible when I reply, “Playing around? You realize how that sounds?”

Her eyes widen for a moment, before she rolls them. “Not that type of playing around. She is using her ability to make changes to her body. Apparently, rescuing me unlocked some additional functions for her. I think that she is going overboard, but Sam and Min insist that it's better not to be immediately recognized as humans.”

“Not recognized as humans?” I look down at my own body. “I am not sure if I want to be something other than a humanoid! I got quite fond of this form. Maybe it's better if I add my opinion to her plans. I've noticed that Silith tends to overshoot the target when you don't set a clear goal for her.”

“You know her well,” Lis titters. “It's not quite that bad, but the twins have a point. If we really go through with this quest, then it would be beneficial not to be recognized by the G.S. At least not immediately.”

For a while, I try to keep the conversation going, but it's clear that I won't break the wall of ice between us that easily. After questioning her about her daily activities, I find out that the four of them had a vivid discussion about our future. A lot of opinions went back and forth while I was out of the loop.

The conversation turns to Lisandra's person, and I find out that her class allows her access to a lot of mental abilities. As a Mentor, she is able to think much faster than the average person. The more we talk, the more it seems like her mental upgrades make her perfect to process vast amounts of information very quickly.

After pointing that out, I mention the pirate database to her. It already has a well-maintained file system which is easy to access, but that doesn't mean that I have an easy time looking up useful information. The problem with having too much information is losing sight of what we truly need. I didn't count how often I looked up a particular subject, just to drop it because I didn't have the right equipment to put the information to good use.

She promises to look over the database, smiling.

It seems like she is the type of person who needs to be pointed in a certain direction before she gets going.

Feeling a little uneasy, I leave Lisandra to her observations and continue on my way to my quarters. Without thinking anything in particular, I enter the living room and close the door behind me. The living area which belongs to Silith and me is small and compact. Aside from a generous living room, there is just the bedroom and an office.

I hear some shuffling from the office, but when I turn around, there is a creature with Silith's face in front of me. She is so close that I can't help it, I twitch in surprise. “Wah!”

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Then I realize that it's Silith, who is grinning at me.

“You gave me a fright! What did you do to your body!” I reach for my chest to make sure that my heart didn't stop.

“I made a preview design!” She twirls around, making sure that I get a three-hundred sixty view of her body. She changed it, but she is still attractive. Maybe more so than before. I realize that calling her a creature went a little too far. It was just because of the surprise.

“Tadaa! Do you like it?”

Her skin got a red tint and there are metallic, dark blue horns curving gently around the sides of her head. They match her hair. Several fluorescent patterns cover her skin in a decorative manner. Her silvery, silken robe seems to swirl with her movements, and I have a distinct feeling that it's made out of some sort of nano-material.

She kept her hair black, but her grey eyes have now slit pupils instead of round ones. And... I can't be sure, but is that a tail swinging beneath her skirt?

“You look... ahem...” I cover my mouth to stop myself from saying anything. Commenting on her choice of form already got me into trouble once. Better to think very carefully before I say anything.

She wilts a little. “You don't like it!”

I quickly shake my head. “No, no. That's not it. It just took me a little off-guard. Lisandra already warned me about your new project, but it still took me off-guard” I repeat myself, flustered, and point at her head. “What are the horns for?”

She reaches up and takes one off. It comes off with a 'click' and reveals a connection pad which looks very similar to the ones which we have in our palms. “Exchangeable Addons which are disguised as organic appendages! Whether the wearer wants additional sensory functions, or a memory module, it's up to the imagination. It's so neat! Though I think that it will serve mostly decorative functions for women. As the race's designer, I can choose several perks which are accessible to all future members of the race.”

She re-attaches the horn and points at the patterns on her skin. “And look at this! Since we are a space-faring race, I thought that it would be neat to have a way of communication which doesn't rely on sound or electromagnetic signals. Talking is kind of impossible when there is no atmosphere, and certain frequencies can be blocked if there are interferences.”

She tugs at the fabric of her robe, drawing my attention to the deeply cut cleavage. It actually goes down to her navel, revealing the inner parts of her perfectly shaped assets. I don't want to be a prude, but right now, in the current situation, I am of the opinion that there should be a law against such an outfit!

Seemingly unaware that my eyes are glued to her body, she continues. “That's a smart nano-armour, which is produced by the body. It can change its shape and function to either act as combat armour, or as normal clothing. If there is more of it than needed, it can retreat beneath the skin and become sub-dermal. I took it because it's a future development stage of your own nano-armour.”

“Ah, and that’s just for you.” Grabbing the hem of her robe, she raises it slowly, revealing a perfectly shaped leg. Aware that she is teasing me, she raises it further and reveals a curling tail with a heart-shaped barb at the tip.

“I… err…” I am lost for words. Damn! So she noticed that I was checking out the slave girl back at the pirate station. Was I that obvious? Is the slave-girl already a drifting icicle in space? Silith is capable of that. That reminds me that I didn’t check on the prisoners. It will be the first thing on my list tomorrow morning. They should be safe enough in their cells.

No, that’s not important right now. A cold shiver runs down my spine. All my instincts tell me that my answer will decide whether I get to spend a happy night, or have to sleep on the floor!

I smile at Silith, fighting for words. “That’s cute. Who gave you the idea?”

“Min did. She said that my current appearance will remind future members of our society of a famous group of fantasy characters. Apparently, this appearance has a long history with human culture.” She runs her hands down her figure, outlining her body. “Sam said that the men will form a line to join us. That’s why we also added a few perks for the female gender, just to balance the score.”

“Ah, I see.” Why do I have a feeling that I’ll have to kill some of my future offspring? “Could I get the details?”

“Oh, yes!” she purrs and offers me her hand. “Actually, I also designed the male side. I can upload the settings to your system, you just have to accept them.”

I eye the offered hand dubiously. “This isn’t permanent or something like that?”

“Oh, no. As I said, this is just a possible preview which I designed with Min and Sam. Nothing is set in stone. We can drop everything and go with a totally different style. At first, Min thought that elves would be a thing, but Sam said that they look too much like normal humans, and he wouldn't want to be a damned 'vulcan' anyway. Whatever that is. For you, it will just take a while for the new settings to take effect. You don’t have as many body-modification mods as I do. It’s always possible to reject the preview and to return to your original looks.”

“Aha.” I take the offered hand and accept the incoming request.

Upon accepting, my previously bland user interface unfolds and reveals whole pages of new information regarding a potential new race. I suddenly have access to new information about my body… or at least information which the U.I. didn’t bother to show me before.

I search through the changed settings, comparing them to those of a base-line human, which I am apparently counted as right now. For several long moments, I chew on my tongue while Silith uploads the new settings.

The more I read, the less expression I allow on my face. Finally, I look Silith in the eyes. “I think that there is a lot to talk about. At least I want a proper explanation for some of the 'decisions'.”

“Oh, ask away! I am always glad for input. Min, Sam, Lisandra and I already put a lot of thought into this, but this is still a work in progress. Now that you are back, you might find some flaws in our decisions.” She smiles and strokes my hand with fingernails which are a little sharper than I am used to. “Maybe we should add wings? Sam wanted wings, but I thought that they are just a bother inside confined starships!”

Definitely no wings! “No! Please, no wings!” I return my attention to the changed settings. “I can deal with the skin colour, but why did you make 'it' longer!?”

At least she has the decency to blush. “I… um… I like it big? Not that you were too small! It’s just that… given the opportunity… I had to!”

Then on to the next point. “Ripples? Barbs on...? And an elongated tongue?”

Silith winces. “You don’t like it? I knew it. Should have been more subtle about it.”

I tilt my head. “Hell, no! Can you imagine how much time it must take to clean that! And I certainly don't want it to vibrate! What's wrong with you!?”

She avoids my eyes and looks at the floor. “We could try it out? Once?”

Shaking my head, I continue, “Male to female birth ratio, one to three!?” I let go of her hand because the download is finished.

Silith reveals her long tail through a slit in her skirt. Taking it in both hands, she tugs at it, looking guilty. “That has social reasons… societies with many females tend to be more... peaceful...”

I return my attention to the settings. “That was just the first page! How many strange things will I find in the small print?” Looking up, I narrow my eyes. “Why did you increase the sexual endurance?”

“Err… ah…” She looks towards the bedroom. “Do you want to try it out? I promise you that my current body can do wondrous things.”

I have a feeling that this will take a while. “You won’t wriggle your way out of this. Neither will Sam! He should have represented the male rights! Bugger! Where is he?”