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Close Encounters of a Fourth Kind
By Gwen Lavyril

The Ferulian vessel, whose unpronounceable name meant "Gatherer" in English, was virtually meandering through and amongst the stars at a mere 5 times the speed of light. The ship was traveling home to “Ferulia” and was now light years from any known gathering star systems. The navigators were literally concentrating synchronously to align the ship to enter the wormhole that would take them across the known galaxies to their home star system. The ship was a modest ship by Ferulian standards. It was hardly a dozen kilometers long and only fitted for scientific research and specimen gathering. The ship was too small and not equipped for military actions.

The reduced speed was also a deliberate attempt to stall under the guise of precise navigation. No one on board had before been involved in a violation of the gathering prime directive. That is to say, no one had experienced the death of a specimen in captivity before. Losing a specimen was an egregious and almost unheard of offense. The necessity of reviving one from death was the equivalent of dereliction of duty and an offense punishable by “shunning”. For a species that functioned telepathically almost as a single organism, “shunning” was the fate worse than death.

Still, they had revived the one called Jordan and decided to return him to the female who had extinguished him only hours earlier with a kitchen implement the primitives called a “butcher knife”. The one called Jordan had had his memory cleansed of the attack and the female had undergone yet another engram revision and further stimulation to heighten her feminine instincts, as they understood such to be from Jordan.

Ferulians did not speak but rather exchanged their thoughts. This was something they could do amongst themselves but they had not discovered any other species that could withstand such an exchange so they resorted to translation and vocal synthesizing devices in the presence of the primitives like Jordan and his apparently deadly mate. The captain, whose “name” loosely translated to “Cronish” and his medical officer often had lively thought exchanges, particularly in the midst of a perceived expeditionary catastrophe.

"So, Medical Officer Grolsch, now that we have been detoured for a thousand parsecs once again thanks to your incompetence what have you to report?"

"Captain Cronish, your thought is not a fair assessment. The creatures are actually made of carbon! How is one to know what to expect from such fragile and primitive life forms whose composition is essentially an assemblage of molecules contained in soft fluid filled sacks with some rigid supports running throughout? The one called Jordan was, I mean is, a good specimen is it not? Who would imagine such fragile creatures could be so vicious to each other? Why he wanted that female is still a complete mystery, as she seems most unpleasant during their primitive mating ritual.

"You know that their procreative method to the extent that we understand it is bizarre in the extreme and ridiculously wasteful of energy. In fact captain, I have used your choice of words, 'A disgusting, energy wasteing exertion' in my report."

"Ahhhhummm, yes well I appreciate that, Grolsch, but the fact remains that questions will be sent at us and we, momentarily at least, lost a specimen. That is unheard of, and even my good uncle Admiral Trach may not be able to smooth over this fiasco! What went wrong Grolsch, we need to have a full and complete report, and one that preferably exonerates us from responsibility."
While the Ferulians did not have asses they did know how to “&*+=&%#$” which amounted to the same thing as “cover your ass” in Ferulian anatomical terms.

"Captain, the male who called himself Jordan was without any life force and we were barely able to resuscitate him. The female 'Danielle' as she is named is surely responsible but talking gibberish. This 'sex' as they call it is a very dangerous and emotional way to reproduce one's species it seems, especially as they claim to have this 'love' emotion rather mixed up with it. I have come to one conclusion Captain."

"Please enlighten me, Grolsch."

"That despite the claims of this male called Jordan, the females hate what the males do to them during this so called 'sex', which is why they wail and groan and claw at the males until it is finished. I submit Captain, that it is not just the ones on that dust ball of a planet who call themselves 'human beings' either. Look here, at out library data base on those that the Jordan creature calls lions."

In the vacant center of the ships vast deck a perfectly life-like holographic image of the African Savannah appeared. Captain Cronish watched with a combination of revulsion and fascination as the lioness repeatedly rebuffed her suitor until she was finally subdued beneath him growling with ferocity that neither Ferulian felt comfortable near. Despite the fact that what they watched was merely a stored expeditionary file over 2000 years old, the physical proximity and fearsomeness of the two creatures appalled them.
Typical of Ferulians experiencing anxiety, both Medical Officer Grolsch and Captain Cornish began undulating the silicon-based protoplasm that housed their massive brains while they slowly floated about the horrific 3D scene that played out before them.

"You see Captain; this female is rather like the one we procured for Jordan. Each time they couple, she fights and screams until she is subdued. This last time she surprised him and took her reprisals it seems. You might ask how this species can survive when the one responsible for growing the new life within is so hostile to the one who makes that happen. I have a hypothesis upon that too, if I may Captain?"

"Yes, yes, by all means, just turn this thing off; it is a grotesque process really! Good, now go on."

"Well, Captain it has to do with this 'love' condition that the one Jordan speaks about. This sex seems to work best when the male can make the female feel this 'love'. This 'love' seems something they, especially the female, needs to be happy with this bizarre procreative method."

"Did the female concur?"

"Well, as you know this female is a very strange specimen indeed, Captain."

"Yes, yes, I know, I read your report. She required a great deal of training and repair despite the one called Jordan's assurances to the contrary. They have only been together for two of their Earth months and have caused more trouble than the other specimens combined. The female must accept her circumstances this cannot go on Grolsch! She had better respond to your treatments this time Grolsch or …"

"I understand Captain, please no need for any further concern."

Danielle knew that Jordan would be returning soon. She sobbed as she brushed her hair and looked at herself in the mirror trying to understand how it had come to this. Her baby lay quietly in the small bassinet beside her and she believed her emotional roller coaster was at least partly due to “post partum” depression and would pass. She was worried now, and missed her husband and wondered where they had taken him.
Her labor had been long and difficult but she had given birth to a healthy baby boy. Her efforts seemed to have erased any other recent memories but she felt immense satisfaction and pride in the success of her womanly efforts. The first time she nursed him she had cried shamelessly out of sheer joy.

She remembered their first meeting months earlier before she understood, when there seemed no hope and little chance of straightening this ridiculous mess out. Now she couldn’t remember what was so terrible, or, why she had hated him so much. She must be a terrible woman for stabbing him but she would make it up to him, things seemed much more suitable now, not like before. She wished they had not told her what she had done, how could she have done such a thing?

She could recall how horrible she thought things were just a short time ago but could not imagine why that should have been. Yes, they were prisoners of those disgusting “breast forms” as Jordan called them, but they had each other, why had she been so depressed, so mortified and furious.

“What a foolish woman you are Danielle,” she muttered softly as she stood in her lingerie to slip on her dress. She smiled down at her baby and thought absently about what she might make for her beloved Jordan for their reunion dinner meal. It should be something romantic so he knows I feel differently now, how much I care for him. The thought of having had his baby flashed into her mind and made her heart flutter and she gave out an audible sigh in anticipation of presenting him with THEIR son.

He would be so proud of her, forgive her even. As she slipped on her heels, she smiled, very vaguely remembering that only a few months earlier how she had been frantic as she removed the man’s shirt from the washer because the stain had not come out!
She had dutifully watched the commercial and then followed all the label instructions, but her husband's shirt was still stained. She felt the tears coming then. Would she receive that awful sensation now, for failing? It was like having a migraine but 10 times worse and no one was ever even, around when it happened. In fact, no one was ever around, period, and Danielle had never met her "husband". “Danielle” for her part had no idea where "she" actually was.

Adding to her confusion was the fact that Danielle’s real name was Dan and she was actually a he from a small town in Wisconsin. All that Dan knew was, that since his embarrassing "arrival" dressed up as a woman he had been living as a woman and that this lovely large apartment was "her" responsibility!

Now, Dan, alone and living as a “she” eagerly cleaned, laundered and cooked delicious meals although who ate them she never knew. Now each evening she would await his arrival freshened and as pretty as possible in any one of an almost infinite number of feminine ensembles. She received great pleasure from her domestic diligence and her impeccable and attractive appearance. Oddly, she never remembered their evenings together but she very much wanted him to like her and awaited his arrival with feminine anticipation and longing. She never wanted “Dan’s” pain again.

Still, locked in her head was Danny, who like a Genie in a bottle was unable, or, perhaps for the pain afraid to remove some sort of psychological cork and break free. He kept trying secretly to scream at her to stop as she daintily minced about like some domestic diva on crack, or, spent hours doing her nails or perfecting her appearance. He could not reach her normally but occasionally he seemed to get her attention as a cloud would cross her now feminized features and she would seem to be trying to listen as if to some distant sound.

When Danny had first awakened in that luxurious bedroom in a nightgown he had thought he had had one too many at the party and was the victim of one of Judy's practical jokes. Judy, after all, had cajoled him into going to the Halloween party as a 50's housewife, and it would be just like her to put him to bed in a woman’s night gown after he passed out. However, he knew he had not passed out; he had not even had much to drink. He had walked out of the costume party in a rage!

That first day, when he realized that it was his own now rather long hair in the curlers and that, the breasts were quite real he fainted. Hours later when he was finally able to collect himself he could not make any sense of it at all. Later at the feminine vanity table, he examined his feminized features and realized that he now looked very much like a woman. His skin was soft, his waist slim and his hips wider. Oddly, where it mattered he was still male. That discrepancy was a source of very real consternation and made no sense at all.

That first time, after he had finally covered every inch of the huge apartment, he decided that he was alone and there was no visible means of entrance or exit. The contents of the closets, drawers, and everything else were suited for a woman. Even the magazines on the coffee table were "women’s” magazines. He did not know what was going on but knew that whatever was going on was well beyond any funny tricks Judy could pull off. He sat stoically on the end of the huge bed in his feminine sleepwear and tried to remember.

He had not passed out. He and Judy had had a fight because she had not told him that his resentful ex-girlfriend was going to be at the party too! He felt that Judy had led him into an evening of rather humiliating treatment at his ex's hands and he had been angry despite her reassurances that she had no idea that Wendy would be there.

He had reluctantly agreed to shave his legs and wear a girdle and hose. He looked like a boyish Donna Reed in a shirtwaist dress with full petticoats and pointed toe spiked heels that hurt a great deal by the time he was at that party.

He had worn the full make-up, Judy wanted with polished nails and a fanciful “fifties” style hairdo. That still was not silly enough for Judy either, no; he needed a crisp little apron monogrammed with his initials to get it over the top. He arrived in high style wearing a woman’s coat with a fur collar, gloves, a hat with a little veil and a shoulder bag.

Judy of course was dressed like Ozzie Nelson and quite enjoyed his discomfort. He was a source of great amusement to Wendy his ex who was a serious feminist and found his classic housewife “costume” ironic, appropriately demeaning and very funny! It was harmless fun really but he felt a complete fool as he was cajoled to help prepare and serve refreshments. When he complained about his sore feet, the women howled. Despite Judy’s earlier reassurances, to the contrary, he was actually the only guy in drag for the evening and he heard some disquieting comments that he looked and behaved a little too authentic.

Worse, he could recall wanting to leave and Judy loudly refusing. Saying to the amusement of all that “a girl stayed until her date took her home”, and implying that he was being childish and overly sensitive. The last thing he remembered was angrily walking down the sidewalk feeling fur on his cheek and a handbag swinging on his hip. As he cursed, his high heels and the uncomfortable clothing he had stupidly agreed to wear he suddenly noticed that at 11:00 pm it was as bright as midday.

At that same time, “Danielle” was fussing with her laundry; Jordan McCabe was watching the monitor in his own apartment with a mix of horror and fascination. The device looked like a television but it only showed one scenario. It was some poor woman who actually made a cute fifties homemaker trying desperately to clean, launder, and cook.

Over the several weeks since this first began the poor creature on numerous occasions had been the recipient of some sort of very painful stimuli when she refused or failed in the performance of her domestic duties. Now she was competent and diligent in her domestic pursuits and was very careful of her appearance. In many ways, she was becoming rather perfect if you were into “Stepford Wives” or a feminine caricature, She was rather odd if you hoped for something more in a woman than domestic servitude.

He wondered why she was there, where she came from and what her name was. Was she what they had interpreted his requests to be? Was she how they had used his information? While she was not as pretty as he had hoped she was quite literally, now the embodiment of the sum of the descriptors he had employed to help the "Jell-O Boys" see the differences between human males and females. If she was whom he thought she might be she was quite typical of the naive literality that hallmarked the Ferulians interactions with lower life forms.

He worried now, as it was clear that the shirt she was removing from the washer was still stained and that she was terrified of the consequences. Jordan was not a fan of sadism at all, but there was nothing else to watch. He had been here so long now, wherever "here" was, even a barely pretty woman doing housework was interesting, and at that moment, he very much wanted to take her in his arms and comfort and reassure her. He had tried to record time with little tricks, like nicks and scratches, but they always just disappeared so he had given up.

He had watched her for he guessed weeks now and he found her just pretty enough. As time went by, he had found himself fantasizing more about various sexual scenarios with the demure and dutiful "Mrs. Nelson" as he called her for his own amusement. The idea of her in a pretty shirtwaist dress with its skirts flared by petticoats and impractical heels on her knees gently doing something oral and naughty to him in the living room was growing on him. Harriett must have had some naughty moments for there to be a David and Ricky, he mused as she fretted over her stained shirt.

After several weeks, he desperately hoped that she might actually be real or even near by. He just could not stand it anymore and had to know if all he would ever get was to watch her or had the Ferulians actually delivered on his request. She was constantly on his mind and the scenarios were getting naughtier and naughtier. He was sick of masturbating! Jordan tapped his "communicate" button.

"Hey, Jell-O Boys what is this all about?"

He called his captors the "Jell-O Boys" because you couldn't tell one from the other and they all looked like silicon breast implants gone badly wrong. It had come as a surprise that they were actually a silicon based life form which eventually made sense once he recalled that Silicon was the next closest to Carbon in the periodic table and capable of similar structural and chemical functions. While he was not sure, what they were or where he was, he did know that he "was not in Kansas anymore."

Jordan had only left his own palatial abode once since his own "arrival" and it was a chilling walk. The wall had literally just disappeared and there were two of the "Jell-O Boys" in all their disgusting glory, seemingly floating for want of a better word. The metallic sound of the language synthesizer had made him jump. He had not heard a voice other than his own in a rather long time. He had followed the floating blobs as instructed. It was a very long and eye opening walk.

Some of the creatures he saw made him want to vomit, some just scared him and others made him laugh. All that was clear was that the same “bouncing titties” as he though of them imprisoned them all. Evidently, they did not need much by way of tactile ability and it seemed that their "bodies" were merely housings for their minds and all was accomplished by thought alone. For all of their genius Jordan learned that they were rather ignorant about the fundamental needs of the lower life forms such as himself. He tried to explain his own needs but it had seemed hopeless.

"I need company, a female for sex, to have babies, reproduce!"

"Sex? You do not reproduce by breaking off part of your self in the crystallization mode of life? You humans are the most bizarre of all our creatures. What is this sex then?"

He did his best to explain, then finally gave up and bluffed outlandishly claiming in melodramatic fashion that he would perish without a female companion. He thought that he had failed to convince them but now he was worried that this poor girl being turned into "Donna Reed" or “Harriet Nelson” might be the latest exhibition of their fallibility.

"How may we help you Jordan?"

"Look Jell-O boys, what the hell are you doing?"

"Jordan you demanded a female and we have complied is she not as you asked now?"

"Are you guys drunk? What are you doing to her?"

"Jordan we do not do this drunk or whatever primitive ritual you speak. We diverted course, literally parsecs to return to your pathetic planet and obtain her. She was uncooperative and did not have the skills you demanded and we have trained her for you. You have been indulged enough, she meets all of your specifications!"

"That is for a house keeper you mean? She isn't all that great looking you know, Jell-O butt!"

"Ridiculous, she now looks just like the picture you gave us, besides you all look the same to us! How is she so different from you anyway? Your primitive biology is very troublesome, all these needs and desires you claim to have. Does she have them too, what do you do together in this sex thing you go on about?"

"You know its amazing you clowns can find your way home! She doesn’t look different from me? Look at her, what about sex?”

"What is this clown thing of which you babble?"
“Oh, a great honorary term, oh load of dung.”

"Fine, then that is as it should be between us. Dung is equally esteemed among you primitives then?
“Oh, absolutely shit for brains. Another term of high praise.”
“Very wise of you Jordan. This sex, what is it you do to her?"

"What? I don't do it to her I do it with her! I have to place part of my body into hers and share my male fluids! It is very pleasurable to us. Then a new human grows inside of her until she pushes it out into the world. It's called birth, knot head! "

"So, that is why she has many orifices? To do that, this sex, this birth, this is very confusing, very wasteful of time and energy! What is knot head?"

"Oh a great term of respect! Her orifices aren't all for that you spineless boneheads!"

"Jordan, she will have to do. If she is lacking and you can be more specific we can fix her but for now we have done what we can. She was not well skilled or at all interested in caring for a male as you said she should be and has required much training. Now she is ready and you have your female companion for this sex you deem so important! End of discussion... do you need to feel a reminder?"

"No, no, my memory serves me quite well, thank you oh fucked up morons from East Ja-bip....yes it is our highest praise!"

"We fucked up morons acknowledge your respect then. Tomorrow you move to be with your "wife", is that the right term?"

"Yes your most fucked-upness that is the right term. What do you mean 'move' oh spineless dog turds?"

"A new term of respect?"

"Oh yes, greatest of all dog turds!"

"Very well then, we grant you permission to have your 'sex', 'babies', and any other primitive pleasures you deem necessary. We are most curious to see this sex behavior you engage in with, with your female? Especially this bizarre energy wasteful reproduction your species uses. Very unique in the galaxy we might add this exchange of bodily fluids."

The real problem for Jordan and any other specimen actually was ascertaining when "tomorrow" had arrived. Typically, the transportation to the laundry room took both Jordan and "Danielle" by surprise.

At first they both could only stare. It took Jordan more than a few moments to realize who he was looking at. Even once, he recognized him; it was too weird to contemplate. They had returned to the scene of their original crime to snatch him a "female". Had they presumed some territorial compatibility issue? Forget that, how, why did they make this poor guy into June Cleaver?

Danny could not believe it was Jordan McCabe. He was a legendary high school football hero who went via Notre Dame to the Packers and became a legend. He had returned to help his own small town and disappeared very shortly afterward. Danny knew how he looked at the moment and had never imagined such humiliation possible in his life.

Danny tried to look into Jordan's eyes but he weakened and returned his gaze to the washer. He tried not to imagine Jordan's reaction when he figured it out. He was afraid but he would not cry, maybe he would not even be recognized, who was he to Jordan anyway? Jordan must know what was going on.

Jordon was not sure how to handle such a colossal blunder by the bouncing titty gang. This poor “girl” was a young man he vaguely knew from town. He decided to play it straight not sure what the reaction of their captives might be.

The silence was deafening. "What is your name?"

Danny stood quietly, “he doesn’t recognize me,” Danny thought with relief but also with some shame.

She spoke softly and was clearly fearful. "Danielle, my name is Danielle." They had done something to his voice and he knew he sounded like a young woman to Jordan.

Then, as if it was all just too much the voice and expression changed, and some shocking news spilled forth. "No, no I am not; I am Danny, Danny Wilkins! Please, I don't know why I am like this now....all I remember was the costume party and Judy thought it would be fun if we just went as each ....other....oh god..."

Jordan's eyes narrowed as if he were trying to peer through a fog. Finally, he could see what might have happened. It would have been funny had it not been so bizarre. The poor kid looked mortified, confused, and downright afraid all at the same time. Jordan stepped closer and took his hand more out of amazement and curiosity than any other motivation. The hand was soft, the nails long and brightly polished and there was the delicious fragrance of a woman to inhale. He closed his eyes ever so briefly then.

"Those intergalactic idiots have done it now, Danny, Danny Wilkins? Dear god it is you! I don't understand, well I think I do actually. But, it is ok...don't be embarrassed the 'Jell-O Boys' just made a major mistake...oh jeez did they. I think that we need to talk, ok?"

"Jell-O Boys?"

"Private joke, come on lets go out there to your, our uh...living room?"

They talked for a long time. It was very awkward, in part because Jordan was recollecting all the sex he had imagined with this “girl" who now turned out to be a young man he actually knew from the same small Wisconsin town he was from! His anxieties were also being compounded by the fact that he was finding it rather easy to be with "Danielle" who seemed wildly different from any vague remembrance that Jordan had of Danny Wilkins.

Jordan wondered if Danny had any idea how feminine he looked and more to the point behaved. In fact, "she" still looked good to Jordan despite this disturbing new information. He decided to ignore those thoughts. Right now they needed to get themselves out of a bit of a mess if possible. Actually, it was a very serious mess.

After some time Danny was on his feet, literally pacing as a woman might who was extremely agitated. Jordan found the tiny steps, the swaying hips and the feminine gestures fascinating. The voice was soft and sensual and even the speech patterns and modulations were those of a woman. He closed his eyes to savor the sounds of her feminine rustling and the womanly modulation of her voice and pretend that their captives had not in actuality royally screwed up.

"Please Mr. McCabe, this is so crazy! Must you treat me like a woman, please is that really necessary? Ever since I arrived they have had some sort of whacky notion that I am a woman and whenever I don't behave as they expect...oh the pain is excruciating, please can't you do something?"

"It's ok, kid, I have been there and felt that. Just sit back down and relax. How old are you now?"

"I am 22, Last Friday...well the Friday before I ended up here."

Jordan watched as "Danielle" lowered herself and gracefully swept the full skirt of her shirtwaist beneath her. She settled onto the edge of the chair crossing her slender ankles left over right and demurely folding her hands in her lap. All the while, she looked like a puppy who was expecting a rolled up newspaper across her muzzle at any moment. She then absently fingered a strand of her shoulder length brown hair and waited with a look of evident expectation and concern.

"Are you ok Mr. McCabe? You are staring at me, please it's sort of strange and very embarrassing. I hope you understand I didn't have any choice it is just a huge stupid mistake, how can they be so wrong? Do you think I am pretty?"
Clearly, “he” and “she” were struggling to be in control and Jordan imagined that alone it was “she” who ran the show. Now his presence had dredged up enough embarrassment in Danny to help him break out a little, at least.

"Oh, yeah, sorry you just reminded me of someone, that’s all." Jordan said unable to stop looking at her.

"Oh, really what was his..."

"Her. Sorry she was a 'her', I mean well its just so...."

"Oh dear! I am sorry, I can't change my behavior or the pain is too much for me to stand. The first two days were a nightmare until I understood how I was supposed to be."

"It’s ok tell me what happened."

Danny's scenario was very similar to Jordan's except that Jordan had not been leaving a costume party dressed up as a woman! However, everything else was similar, the walking alone in a bit of a funk, vaguely aware of the sun rising or something lighting the sky, and then "womp" you where here. That was the same, wherever here was. Jordan told Danny what he knew and believed was going on. Danny began to weep and shake his head no, and Jordan felt badly. Jordan was also a bit curious what sort of young man lets his girlfriend doll him up like a woman for public consumption in the first place.

Jordan McCabe told his own story then while Danielle gazed attentively into his eyes searching for truth as women do. He had no doubt that he was speaking to a woman, mostly, even if Danny couldn’t see that. It was disquieting and he fidgeted as men do when they are going to lie to a woman and gently took Danielle’s soft delicate hand.

"All I know is that this is some sort of massive space craft. They seem to be collectors of some sort. You don't want to see what is in some of the other compartments. I am guessing that I have been here for two years given the date you believe that you were snatched, and I am guessing you have been on board for perhaps six weeks. It may seem odd but they do want their specimens to prosper and being alone for so long was getting to me. I stopped eating and started drinking. They can create beverages and foods of any sort it seems. In any event I was headed downhill, which I guess got their attention and so I was taken for something of an interrogation. It was the first time I saw 'THEM' and it isn't pretty, trust me."

"You saw them? You were outside, in the ship, an apartment?"

"Yes, just recently and many months ago. Only twice in all that time and only long enough to answer their questions, actually not answer as much try to explain why I needed you, well not you, I mean a female you, not a you you... oh never mind. They were intrigued by the concept of isolation and loneliness. They evidently are psychically wired together and the notion of being lonely or alone is horrifying. They are so terrified of such a possible state of existence that they use it to punish their own. As far as I can tell, they are sort of like one big organism and they find the idea of ‘individual’ a very cruel and bizarre way to live. That is when I told them about women, love, companionship, sex, and how love was the way our species battled against loneliness and sex was how we reproduced.

They seemed to think it was all very bizarre, especially the sex part. I told them that I could not survive alone and that seemed to rattle them. Evidently loosing a specimen is very bad form. They agreed that I should have a 'female' and agreed to return to Earth and procure me one. All I had to show them initially were some old magazines and so I tore out a picture of Donna Reed from an old TV Guide and a picture of a young hippie girl topless at a concert. I told them all about why they were both desirable to me.

The importance of breasts was completely beyond them. If you had seen them, you would find that pretty damn funny. They don't actually really touch anything and I have no idea how they sense their environments. I can’t detect eyes, ears, or nose, not even a damn nipple which is pretty pathetic on something that looks like a living breast form.”

At that comment Jordan noticed that Danielle stole a furtive look at her chest and then stared rather slack jawed at him. Jordan hurried on with his explanation, as it was getting awkward again. Clearly, the lovely and ample breasts “she” now possessed were real and Danny now knew Jordan was in part responsible. Even though his now womanly shape was, clearly unintentional Danny was not thrilled, that much was clear. Jordan hurried on with his explanation to Danny as to the how, and speculative why, he had become at least as much female as male.

"I guess they were frustrated at my inability to explain how men and women relate to each other, which I am not sure I know anyway. It turned out that they had monitored TV signals over decades and I was finally able to use shows like Ozzie and Harriet, Donna Reed, Dick Van Dyke, and many others to show them how women were different than men were. I tried to point out to them the differences in shape, size, what they wore, and how you women, I mean women, behaved as wives, mates, companions. I had to use rather extreme examples so they could actually distinguish a difference.

I think that to them our genders are as indistinguishable as a bird’s is to us without the plumage differences. It is ironic that male birds are the pretty ones. I explained to them that with humans, the females are the pretty ones and our culture encourages them to enhance that with bright shiny objects, flattering attire and the painting up of their features. Unfortunately, that night you left the Halloween party you fit the bill a bit too nicely.

It seems hard to believe I know, but to them we all look pretty much the same and even when they stumbled across pornographic transmissions of human sex they didn't know what it was about or for. What they did was to make you look as much like the kind of females I showed them and then force you to act like them."

"Do you mean that they were not torturing me, that I was just being trained to be like a female TV character? They think that I am a female, I mean they expect me to be your, that we are going to do, that is…., dear God!"

"Yes, they expect us to mate, and you to have my child."

"That is crazy! How could they be so stupid?"

"Well if you had seen them and some of the other stuff collected on this ship, you would figure that human males and females could look almost identical to them. They seem to have no genders, no sex, nothing like that, but maybe they do and I just can’t tell. The anatomical terms meant nothing to them so I finally emphasized the secondary and visible differences, long hair, breasts, different clothing, jewelry, make-up, colorful nail, things I could actually point out in a picture.

How they could ‘see’ what I showed them I have no idea but they can. The most obvious distinguishing item was, well is seldom on display and even if it was I am not sure even a gynecologist could make sense of it to them.

Also, I had a very hard time explaining the cultural and societal nuances and differences, between us, I mean between men and women. You know, interests and skills a woman usually has, you know the usual stuff, their appearance, fashion, domestic skills and responsibility, child rearing all that traditional female stuff. All-important feminine life skills was how I put it I think. I am afraid I made it rather a big deal. I desperately wanted to have a companion. And frankly, it is hard to know exactly what gets lost in translation via that damn language synthesizer they use to communicate with us.

Honest Danny, I had no idea the woman they were going to grab would be programmed to my specifications if she didn’t stack up. I sure as hell had no idea they were inept enough to grab a guy in drag I promise you that. I mean I know they have done awful things to you but your girlfriend must have had you looking pretty damn cute for that party.

Danny made Danielle look away from his curious gaze. Danny knew that had looked like a boyish Mary Tyler Moore that evening, it was true. No one including Judy had ever mentioned that they thought he had effeminate mannerisms if not tendencies until that night. His costuming that night had evidently accentuated it to laughable proportions, and he was horrified when his ex scolded him for carrying on like a girl because he was embarrassing himself and more importantly her.

"So that's why, I have these, ....."

"Yes, your breasts looked very real and I wondered. Also they seem to have had you enrolled in intergalactic home economics 101!"

"That isn't funny Mr. McCabe. It was hell followed by six weeks of nothing but domestic chores and when I wasn't satisfactory the pain was unbearable. And, you are now supposed to be my...oh Lord."

"Husband, lover, man? Yeah, I think that I am here now because they think you are ready. I am sorry I know it has been difficult."

"Yeah, difficult, that covers it, how do we explain this to them? They were making me behave like a woman, I mean a fantasy sort of woman at that. I think clean floors are the ultimate goal in life! The worst part is that success gives me this wonderful peaceful feeling. I know its crazy but now I feel so good when my floors are clean and the laundry is done, you know, all properly folded and put away, smelling ever so fresh and fragrant. Oh lord, listen to me! So, that is why I have been cooking a lavish dinner and there is a fancy new dress in my closet, I am supposed to feed and impress my husband tonight. I have been so excited about wearing it all day, and the things that kept coming into my mind, oh dear god, this is insane!"

"Well, I agree, but we had better just play along for the moment. Despite their concerns, they don't keep non essential specimens and that is definitely what two males would equal to them at this point, if, they were or cared to ever figure out that whole sex, gender business. One of us, well actually you, would be a nonessential specimen! They seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time on you and I don't think I can afford to complain in any event."

"Inordinate amount of time, ya think? Look at my hair, my skin, these are real breasts on me, and the way I feel about things now, you hear my voice, I sound and talk like a woman who never missed a commercial in her life! You bet it's been 'inordinate'!"

They both jumped at the sexless metallic voice.

"Jordan, is there a problem? Is she not satisfactory? Does she require more training?"

Jordan studied Danielle's wide-eyed terror-stricken face before answering. “Her” fists were clenched now and her eyes suddenly squeezed tightly shut as if preparing for some sort of excruciating experience. He had had it himself early on, he knew and he felt very badly for her. It struck him it was the way a man feels concern for a woman.

"Please, please no, please," was all she whispered.

"No, she is just perfect oh greatest of the dog turds!"
“You call them dog turds?” Danielle gasped now sure they would both be vaporized or worse.
“Shhhh, they think it is a term of reverence, like dumb ass. They may be the masters of the universe but in some ways they are like idiot savants. They can do miraculous things but don’t have a fucking clue about what’s going on.”
Danielle actually giggled despite her terror.

”Your respect is wise Jordan, it is good that you teach your woman the importance of that to us. We shall be watching to see how this ‘love’ of yours works and how she responds to it. I wish you better luck than that lion creature you told us about and we watched earlier. Do human females claw at their mates like she did?”

“Yes, but in a nicer way, your magnificent cow pie ness.” Jordan said smiling softly while patting the sofa next to him and motioning with his head for "Danielle" to come sit by him immediately. Danny, despite himself giggled again, clearly impressed with Jordan’s bravado and feeling grateful for his protection as one might expect from any WOMAN in such a circumstance.

Danny was reluctant and unhappy but also grateful that Jordan had lied. Danny was terrified what might happen should the "Jell-O-Boys" realize the fundamental absurdity of their error, and so, “Danielle” settled timidly into the nook of Jordan's outstretched arm where she smiled gratefully as he drew her gently close to him.

Jordan closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet fragrance as his hand gently caressed her soft bare arm. She was soft and supple and he realized that he had just been showing off for her, like a Tarzan for his Jane.

"You see I am very pleased with her," he said dreamily as Danielle cuddled beside him looking femininely appreciative. Danielle was experiencing a new sensation, a satisfaction even more powerful than when her floors glowed, a male was appreciating her and her insides where doing little flip-flops of anticipation of his touch. She was not distraught or unhappy, as he should have felt. There was not the expected horror. Instead, she was pleased and almost, grateful for his affections.

Jordan went on exclaiming how thrilled he was at their selection and training. Things were getting tense as what Jordan was saying began to sink in for Danny. He was to be Jordan’s woman! Suddenly, he did not care how “she” felt it was all a disgusting impossibility. He might be able to tolerate being Jordan’s little homemaker to avoid the pain, that was just a social charade, mortifying but doable. Having to satisfy Jordan sexually was an entirely different proposition that made “her” skin crawl.

“Jordan please, we have to talk in private, it….” She began to whisper and then stopped. He hated the fear that he heard in that soft feminine voice and despised the way she was clinging pathetically to Jordan’s powerful arm. It made the sight of her slim feminine ones even more disturbing.

It was very much time to change the subject when the Ferulians finally left them in peace.

"Hmmm, I notice we have a clock in here, which is new. It says it's 7:00 pm and I am really rather hungry, have you actually made us dinner?"

Danny rose quickly, he was in shock, desperately wanting to set things straight about how they could possibly proceed. Despite Danny, “Danielle” was immediately smoothing her skirts with a certain distracted femininity and eagerness to please that Jordan could not ignore. Jordan considered the possibility that the Ferulian's had not “inflicted” the feminine gestures and mannerisms on Danny after all. Perhaps, he wondered hopefully, Danny just had a flair for the womanly that they had reinforced.

Danny would have been revolted by such a presumption and even Jordan knew he was rationalizing his new feelings of attraction, but the expression, “any port in a storm” was rapidly taking on new meaning for him, and two out of three “ports” for his needs was not bad, he mused with only partial seriousness. All he really could image was a sweet blowjob from his pretty companion as the other option held no appeal.

"Well at least you didn't call me darling, yes; it is a pot roast of all things. Can you believe it?" Danielle said with a tonality of self-deprecation almost reaching disgust.

Jordan could not help but laugh. Only the Jell-O-boys could take a straightforward request for a mate and turn it into a perverse television sit-com. What would you call it? The Ozzie and Harry Show? In their first episode, we find the hapless Ozzie and his male wife about to enjoy their first romantic dinner together! *Audience applause, cue laugh box!*

Jordan smiled at his own warped sense of humor, it came in handy rather often these days, or whatever time periods he was living.

"Please don't laugh at me Mr. McCabe, this is the worst ...I mean its just ....what are we going to do?"

"I am not laughing at you Danny, I mean Danielle I was thinking of something silly and it is either that or cry? Perhaps you should go get ready for dinner then we will have to think of something, but for the moment just go along and be well, be a good girl? I won't laugh, actually well you look ...very nice, darling."

Jordan could not believe he had said ‘darling’, and the shy but clearly pleased expression his encouraging compliment evoked was rather surprising and embarrassing in its neediness. Danielle was clearly confused by her own reaction too.

"Really? Thank you, yes maybe I had better go and get myself ready. Would you like something to drink before I go?"

"Yes, thank you Danielle that would be nice, is there a beer?"

As "she" swayed off seemingly delighted to wait upon him he knew that there would be beer and wondered if Danny had not been "modified" in some subtle ways that even he did not recognized. He seemed entirely too comfortable in "her" skin and it made Jordan a bit suspicious. She had scampered off in such a dainty feminine way that Jordan was increasingly convinced that Danny had a natural tendency to the feminine and perhaps what the Ferulian’s had accomplished was not as cruel as it seemed.

As he waited, he pondered the circumstances of Danny’s capture that had led to this bizarre charade. The Ferulians had taken his superficial specifications and pictures of what made a female attractive quite literally. How they did it he did not know but they had rearranged his physique into that of a curvaceous young woman, breasts and all. The skin texture, the feminized features were all exact, unfortunately Danny was now what was known back home as a “Shemale”!

“Poor kid, they gave you everything but that all important kitchen sink,” Jordan muttered as he watched his lovely companion come swaying toward him with the beer. Alas, “Danielle” had everything Jordan Desired in a woman and something still that he definitely did not desire!

Shortly, Danielle was standing in only lingerie and studying the dress lying across the bed. Danny still could not get used to the idea that he had breasts now and she could not get used to feeling how much she wished Jordan to gently touch them and then….
“Stop it you little hussy,” Danny moaned miserably unable to deny how she felt and gently touching her breasts with longing through her silk slip. She gasped as her nipples hardened and squeezed her eyes shut at the longing she felt for a man’s touch.

What would Jordan think about such feelings, where had they come from? They could never be shared, that was obvious, and what if he did touch her? “She” was still Danny, but different, her face was still him but as her. As she pondered, he realized that she felt oddly comfortable fastening the bra behind with an expert ease that a male should not really posses.

“Oh Jordan please fondle my big titties,” he muttered at her image in the mirror screwing up her face with an expression of distaste for what was seen.

He felt as if the fools had made her from a magazine picture which if Jordan were being honest they likely did. How could she feel so "complete" when the floor sparkled and there was no sign of dust, it made her sigh to think upon such bliss as she slipped into her dress and smoothed its full skirt. It was completely irrational really but as she zipped the dress up, she eyed herself in the mirror and hoped that Jordan would approve. She had no idea why, it was just a feeling that kept growing as she fixed her hair and freshened her makeup. Wouldn’t it be nice to be zipped up by him, or better yet unzipped she thought absently, and smiling a devilish smile she gave herself the once over.

Her dinner was delicious and much to Jordan’s surprise "Danielle" was as sweet and charming as any woman with which he had ever dined. He thought that she made a charming hostess and felt sad that they would only have each other to entertain.

They talked and exchanged stories from home among other topics, including, how long this charade could be endured. Jordan failed to mention that he did not fee that he was “enduring” anything at the moment.

After dinner, Danielle cleaned up in the kitchen and Jordan relaxed with a cigar and a brandy. Where all the smoke and odor went to, he had no idea. Danielle hummed softly as she went about her clean up. From time to time, "she" would dry her hands on her pretty apron and surreptitiously peek out to see Jordan relaxing. Despite Danny, the sight of him elated her and her sighs of satisfaction were sincere. Danny found himself feeling like a man in a small dingy bobbing upon huge swells of feminine emotions and like that man was justifiably terrified of being capsized and drowned in that frightening sea.

After her kitchen was immaculate Danielle returned with some coffee and strawberry shortcake and graciously served him. She literally fluttered about him and seemed genuinely thrilled that he found it delicious and once again, the "Stepford Wives" came to his mind. Danny was trying desperately but the woman was on some sort of feminine “Auto pilot.”

Danielle seemed almost as surprised at her behavior as Jordan did. He could not help but wonder how "she" might really be as a lover as he watched her peruse a "Lady's Home Journal" with what seemed sincere interest in its contents. Only desperation could make him consider such a possibility and he actually wished that Danielle had tried to fool him rather than confess the truth of things. Clearly, Danny's behavior had been modified but how far? The Ferulians had no clue how humans felt about sex, all they could possibly do is screw that up too!

It was getting late and obviously Jordan was not, could not be leaving. Neither even considered the issue of sex and when they retired to their bedroom, they were both nervous. They were also amused to see that two very Ozzie and Harriet-esque, twin beds, now replaced the single bed.

"Well, there is a small mercy, could you unzip me?" Danielle said turning her back to Jordan and deftly raising her hair to reveal the nape of her slender neck. Danny found himself looking at painted toenails mortified at such an obvious feminine ploy while Danielle shivered at the feel of Jordan’s strong fingers gently unzipping her dress.

"Certainly darling, I was rather hoping for a King with satin sheets,” Jordan said letting his hands gently brush down her back and feeling her shiver as she let out a tiny feminine gasp."

The attempts at witty bedroom repartee merely made their tense scene even more absurd. They really were something of a fifties romantic couple. The yearning female playing coy and the manly befuddled male not at all sure what she really wants or why. They began to laugh simultaneously then;

“I am not sure if we are Tracey and Hepburn or Laurel and Hardy,” Jordan said chuckling.

“Well, just don’t call me Stan, ok?” Danielle said slipping away from him like any self respecting 50’s coquette would while holding her dress modestly before her bosom.

Jordan had noticed the silken feel of Danielle’s skin. It was of a texture that couldn't really be described easily but the silk cliché came to mind. She had held up her dress after slipping out of it and scampered into the bath. Jordan saw the very real breasts bounce in the bodice of her slip and knew from his emotional and physical reaction that he was just too eager for anything that even resembled a woman. The clinging slip revealed the extent and success of the Ferulian efforts to modify his boyish physique. Jordan did not see a boy run into that bathroom.

Danielle returned shortly in a long modest flannel nightgown and pretty robe and seated herself at the vanity where she proceeded to begin her pre bedtime beauty ritual. She soon smelled of lavender and night cream and Jordan wondered if she put her hair in rollers every night or this was an effort to look as unattractive as possible for him. Did Danny really have a penchant for feminine wiles?

As the days passed, Jordan was by turns relieved for and concerned about Danny. His companions behavior was unpredictable in the extreme.

Sometimes, to Jordan "Danielle" seemed self-conscious and mortified by the circumstances and at other times unabashedly womanish and shockingly feminine. The Jello-boys may have made him a "domestic diva" but that was as far as it went. As the supposed weeks passed, Jordan became increasingly uneasy with their "relationship" and his growing desire to experiment with Danielle whom he no longer considered a competent male any way.

At times when she seemed to him coquettish or even sexually provocative, he rationalized his desire. “Why should I be deprived when ‘she’ could, no should, be willing and able to satisfy some, if not all, of my appetites? Hell, no one was ever going to see them again. Danny’s fate was sealed, he didn’t have any right to keep her from him.”

Their apartment was almost palatial and extremely comfortable. There was even a huge window with a landscape that changed every few days or so. At the moment they seemed to be in their ski chalet looking out on what he thought might be Breckenridge Colorado.

“Great, I am with Myra Breckenridge looking over Breckenridge,” he chuckled throwing back one of his favorite single malt Scotches. “Now, this is technology,” he said pouring himself another dram as he waited for the woman in his life to appear.

Danielle seemed content and happy to busy herself with domestic chores that ranged from vacuuming, laundry, even cleaning the bathrooms to preparing sumptuous meals that often took considerable time. Despite his intentions, to the contrary Jordan had begun to think of Danielle as "her" and "she." In part, it was because of her breasts, and comely figure, which he found himself pondering, more than was healthy, and he knew it.

Since their first night together, she had slept in her own bed. Sometimes in lovely lingerie that had immediately revealed to Jordan’s fevered brain that the Jell-O-boys had, like God, fashioned Danielle’s breasts in their own image. Danielle was at least a 38D with the largest pinkest nipples Jordan had ever seen besides the ones on that hippie girl whose picture he had given them as a model.

"When I woke up they were there, and my waist and bottom, well I was terrified but nothing ELSE was changed. Well my skin seemed different and I had no body or facial hair. Except for my head they have me like a cue ball now!”

If, Danielle was a dutiful housewife and quasi affectionate companion she was not a sex kitten in any way shape or form. The Jell-O boys seemed to have only reshaped some rather superficial aspects of Danny's personality and reinforced that with some basic Pavlovian pain and pleasure stimuli to insure she took her domestic responsibilities seriously. Jordan regretted emphasizing them so much now and was not impressed with their effort, but then again how much time would he spend worrying about earthworm behavior?

None of the “training” was remotely associated with sexual orientation or feminine libido. It was all clear evidence to Jordan that despite his elaborate, even graphic efforts they were essentially clueless. Jordan had tried to make his case with the Jell-O-boys but they seemed intent upon being obtuse regarding the problem with his "wife" who they described as having the skills he asked for and "a sufficient number of orifices" so as to make Jordan happy!

Jordan knew that he dared not explain exactly why "she" couldn't or worse wouldn't satisfy him. Danielle was alive because their captors had no clue what it was really all about. He was appalled when they materialized a pornographic magazine showing a pretty brunette on her knees eagerly sucking a massive penis while her male companion was clearly ecstatic."

"Jordan, your wife looks like that one, why can't she do that and make you happy?"

He wanted so badly to scream, "Because he isn't a woman you damn imbeciles!" but he knew it would be the death of Danny and maybe himself so he just nodded as he flipped off the communicator device.

Later that evening, presumably, it was evening or at least the clock said it was Jordan shared the picture with Danielle as they sat together upon the large sofa. Up until then it had been a typically pleasant evening and Danielle was looking especially desirable in a rather fanciful off the shoulder dress. Maybe that was what had motivated him to try to seduce her?

Regardless, it was a fiasco. When Danielle’s luscious mouth fell open it was not for the reason Jordan had hoped. Danielle was on her feet in a second with such a look of horror that Jordan blanched. Clearly cooking and cleaning were the limits of “her" womanhood and this looked like it might get ugly.

He had made little overtures the last few weeks hoping to get some sort of clue as to just how far she might tolerate his attentions and now he knew, nada, zip, zero, and good-bye. The only place that "she" seemed at all amenable was in the kitchen and that was merely allowing him to slip his arms about her waist as she cooked. Anything more, even a playful nibble on her neck was immediately rebuked as inappropriate for two men to be doing.

"Jordan, I suppose that I realize we need to have some little PDA's but that is quite enough, now go out to the living room and I will bring you a beer."

He was ashamed of his desires but he couldn't deny them and was getting impatient with what he now considered Danielle's delusion about what she was or had become and what was appropriate for her to do.
Danielle was actually equally torn. She wanted to melt when he put his arms around her, she wanted desperately to take his manhood in her gentle mouth and pleasure him with her womanly skills, but there was always Danny, the half-crazed homophobe within who would shame her into a corner with his ranting and screaming.

"Danielle, please this is driving me crazy. No one is ever going to know, look at you! Damn it, you should want to do this for me! Please, tonight, just try it? Please that pretty mouth around my.."

"That is disgusting Jordan! Were you a fag or something back home, were you?"

"Oh great, I need this from Miss Macho,” Jordan said moving aggressively toward a terrified Danielle whom he slapped so hard she went to the floor. She lay sprawled in terrified shock sobbing piteously and gently rubbing her reddening cheek.

“Come here honey,” he said grabbing her hair and pulling her to her knees as she shrieked in pain. His massive erection silenced her and he held her head in place with vice like pressure on her temples as he warned her against anything less than complete feminine devotion to her efforts. He ignored her sobbing.

He was not a cruel person by nature but it was just Danny’s bad luck, nothing more. There could only be one man and it was going to be him. Danny had to accept the fact that he was no longer entitled to that status and could be happy as a woman. It was literally a matter of life and death and he wasn’t going to let Danny’s misplaced male chauvinism get them both killed. In fact there was no Danny, just Danielle and this was not the back seat of a Chevy at a drive-in movie, this was the esatablishment of a new culture and "NO" was not an option.

“I am sorry honey, you look like a woman now and I am going to treat you as one,” he said as gently as the moment allowed him and just before he filled Danielle’s mouth with his semen.

It was disaster and a choking Danielle managed to tear away, stormed into the bedroom, and slammed the door literally wailing about not being queer, and all manner of what Jordan considered nonsense given their circumstances. It did not put him in any better mood to find that "she" had locked him out. Maybe that was why he did it? Before he could think it through, he grabbed the porno magazine and found a suitable page.

"Yo, major dog turds, this is the orifice she doesn't have, see for yourself!" He held the pornographic image up to where he guessed the viewing device was, although he was never sure. The young woman with her legs spread was gleefully touching herself and looking provocatively into the camera.

"Jordan, why does your wife have the same tissues as you do in that region? Are you of both sexes like the Yusapovians? This is most confusing and we suspect that we have made an error. Is that so?"

"No, no, not at all! She is young, that is all, you took her before she could complete her transition? Yes, that is what we call it, yes, exactly, a transition. We start out all the same but then the females go through a transition ritual. I bet that she was on her way when you snatched her. She can't be happy like this and it is very difficult for us both now. She won't, she can’t have sex with me like she is now, it's our way. Can't you fix her, it should be easy with your great technology oh esteemed dog turds?"

The magazine became transparent and then completely disappeared.

"We will consult. This is becoming a great inconvenience Jordan."

Jordan quickly held up a copy of the April 1965 Vogue that Danielle had been reading.

"Look, this is how she should be, please I won't ask another favor nor will she!" The Vogue magazine disappeared too.

"Very well Jordan we shall return her in three of your earth weeks, but no more requests!"

"I understand oh greatest turd of all! Thank you so much, may the fleas of a thousand camels nest in your shorts!"

"Your homage is acknowledged Jordan, we will do the best that we can with such pathetic specimens."

Jordan smiled. “Fucking Moron’s” he muttered walking over to his bottle of Scotch.

When Jordan went to the bedroom the door was unlocked and dainty Danny was nowhere to be found. Jordan knew that very shortly Danny would no longer need to be embarrassed for his appearance and behavior and oddly, he did not feel that good about it. Still, it wasn’t like they had a lot of options. What he told the Ferulian’s was complete bull but at least Danny wasn’t a cinder. Surely he could make Danny see his perspective when he, well no more he, when whomever returned.

It was a very long and lonely three weeks even with never ending Scotch.

Grolsch was increasingly suspicious of Jordan’s wild claims about the difference between human males and females, the whole sex concept and in particular, that abstraction that was supposedly connected to it, the “love.” Other than some minor reshaping and redistribution of their pathetic carbon based protoplasm Grolsch saw nothing of importance that differed between Jordans female and the one in primitive image Jordan had been so animated about. After observing the crude image as hard as a Ferulian could and that was very hard, he finally noticed that the female in the image was in fact missing some bits of flesh between her legs and that her body had a shielded orifice there that neither Jordan nor his female possed.

Was that it, they removed that bit of stuff and Danielle became a mature female with a special place for the Jordan creature to exchange his fluids? How did the earthings know which ones got their stuff removed in exchange for that special origfice, or was it always the smaller more delicate ones they chose, ones who might already have a preference for bright shiny adornments and painting of their fragile bodies?

“Of course that makes perfect sense Captain," Grolsch thought to the group. "They are more easily subdued for the sex thing, which the more powerful male may enjoy, by force if necessary. Of course, they have this love belief because it helps those who are made the females accept their fate. Perhaps it is also those who are more predisposed to believe in this love that are chosen too?”

“Oh, I don’t know Grolsch, that is a truly bizarre hypothesis, typically you but..”

“Captain, recall all the old transmissions the Jordan creature used to explain!”

“What about them?”

“Captain at the time it meant nothing but recall great dog turd, how many times the female was being held or subdued and all she kept asking the male was, “Oh, do you really love me darling and other such enquiries. What did the male always say before he sexed her?”

“Of course I do my darling, you are so beautiful and unintelligible mutterings like that," the Captain flashed back in his stream of consciousness. "Grolsch, you may actually be correct for the first time in eons.”

“There is more Captain, Jordan was not lying. Within the female and connected with her orifice, there are different organs than Jordan or his mate now posses. They seem to function to reduce her genome in half so that her genes may combine with the males. Evidently, the offspring grow within her if you can comprehend such a distasteful life function. They must be more advanced than we believed. It was relatively easy to grow the organs in culture and insert them into her. The female is now completely functional for her role as their own rituals would make her.”

“Advanced, because you used a grade school exercise my smallest Blavet could carry out? That is nonsense Grolsch. Is she of the appearance that Jordan asked for, I tire of his incessant complaining, what a troublesome species. ”

“Yes Captain she is fully recovered and functional all though she seems very upset. Jordan says that it is normal and takes a newly made female some time to adjust before they can be enticed to the sex with the love feeling.”

“What a waste of time and energy, fine, return her. There will be no more adjustments for the creature Jordan. We will watch however.”

Danielle was a vision when she was returned to him. Actually, Danielle was now “Jean Shrimpton”! The moron’s had literally copied her off the 1963 Vogue cover he had given them! It did not take long for Jordan to realize that they had tried to instill that 60’s free love and anything goes attitude in her too, but it had not taken too well. She mostly looked very angry and a bit glassy eyed.

“Happy now big boy?” she said with almost a snarl as she removed her coat to reveal her self in a strapless glamour 60’s cocktail dress. Danny was no where to be seen in that thin Blonde’s face or figure but something in her expression made Jordan feel more than a little uncomfortable.
“Make us some drinks big boy, I am celebrating my first period today, ah too bad I am broke I was so looking forward to you playing hide the salami with me.”

“Those imbecilic breast implants, what the hell did you do now?” Jordan growled as “Jean” lowered herself to the sofa and nodded toward the lavish bar encouraging him to make some cocktails. He watched dumbfounded as she began to roll a joint and was soon toking away.

“Jesus, she is stoned,” he muttered heading from the bar to join her!

No food was made, nor was laundry done, and the Jean version of Danielle mostly stoned only giggled at the idea of actually cleaning anything up.

“Darling, look at me do I look like a house frau to you?”

Jordan was no fool but still, she almost got him during his first attempt to have sex with her and after that he was a lot more forceful and careful. He never knew what to expect, she sometimes fought him tooth and nail or sometimes just lay there like a corpse. The Ferulians had out done themselves this time; Danielle was all woman all right!

The Ferulians had not just cosmetically altered Danny this time, either. Danielle was a fully functional female right down to her menstrual cycle and vindictive nature. Sex was her new weapon and Jordan paid a high emotional price for anything even remotely resembling “love making” in their bedroom.

Yes, he was the more powerful and could take her at his pleasure but almost none of it was good. Sometimes it was almost as if she was daring him to beat her, which he never did. Still, on rare occasions, her body would betray her and despite herself, she would couple with him with such feminine desire and abandon that it kept some hope alive for an eventual loving relationship. That false hope eventually cost Jordan his life.

The Ferulians observed the tumultuous, almost combative relationship with a horrified curiosity. It seemed clear to them that being made a female was a horrific fate and greatly resented by those chosen for such a fate. Watching Danielle on her knees being taken from behind writhing and screaming her disgust and contempt for her mate brought the Ferulian equivalent of a gasp from the collective conscious of the crew. All concurred that humans were no different from those horrid extinct Lions in the historical holographic archive that had so terrified them earlier.

Only Science officer Grolsch pondered why it was that Lion females were born that way and yet the humans made theirs. Only Grolsch suspected what had really transpired but diligently kept his thoughts on the matter out of the collective stream of consciousness. It would do no good now for the Captain to learn that for all of their superior intelligence and technology they had blundered horribly and worse, been duped by the pathetic carbon based primitive.

Watching her on her back trying desperately to pummel or claw at her mate’s face was difficult to watch but at least to Grolsch, understandable. Neither form of resistance was as confusing as those rare times when what Grolsch thought of as their creation was clearly writhing in ecstasy and tenderly interacting with her mate. All agreed that the two humans had by far the most bizarre relationship of any creatures on the vessel, if which probably meant the universe.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Grolsch thought in his secret personal forum as he participated in the group consciousness.

When Danielle discovered that she was pregnant, she seemed genuinely happy and full of maternal longing for her baby. She even stopped smoking marijuana and drinking. The Ferulian’s were appalled and fascinated as their scans revealed what looked to them like some parasite growing within her body. They did a Ferulian version of laughing when Jordan explained that his mate would expel her “baby” via the same orifice he used to exchange fluids with her.

Even correcting their initial misunderstanding that the “baby” would not come out of her mouth but from the orifice between her legs did nothing to change the Ferulian's doubts about the likelihood for success. They seemed to find it much more convenient and likely that the female should just burst open like an over ripe piece of fruit expelling its one great seed.

Despite her seeming contentment, the only thing Danielle found good about her pregnancy was that it was absolving her from having to gratify Jordan’s insatiable sexual needs. While Danny was now physically all woman her behavior was still largely of the Pavlovian sort. The feminine body naturally moved in certain ways that males would not and her hormones did indeed impact her psychology but Danny was not born a female and had not wanted to be a female and so a fundamental resentment festered within that lovely visage, at least until her pregnancy.

From time to time Danny could forget what he had become and could allow her body in Jordan’s powerful arms to transport them both to the heights of feminine pleasure and male desire. Swollen with child and fearful of intercourse during their sexual congress she would satisfy him orally. For those rare times, their sex truly became “love making.”

Despite the softening and growing acceptance of her lot and Jordan’s affections Danny could see “Danielle” as a shameful submissive slut who sometimes betrayed him and now had gotten herself and him “knocked up”. Oh, she loved and nurtured her growing baby, the dumb cow couldn’t help it, it seemed, but to him her expanding girth was just an emblem of his degradation at the hands of Jordan McCabe. Maybe simpering Danielle liked that but Danny had other ideas and he was desperate because he felt that he was fading fast. He saw it as a zero sum game and as the baby grew and Danielle filled with joy and love for it he shrank. He could sense that upon its birth there would be little if any room for a Danny. He was terrified.

As Danielle cuddled on the couch with Jordan who was watching some sort of telecast from a planet neither had ever heard of they talked about their captors. Danielle was feeling particularly loved and protected and gently stroked her growing midsection proud of her healthy behavior and obvious maternal status. She was convinced that Jordan did indeed love her and despite Danny she was happy and proud.

“You know darling I don’t think that those creatures can read our minds or if they can they don’t understand what they hear,” she whispered both knowing that they were often being monitored and one never knew.

“I think you are right or they would have toasted me for all the names I call them a long time ago.”

“Honey, I wish you would not refer to them as titties, I mean…..” her voice trailed off and Jordan chuckled as she looked down at her engorged breasts courtesy of her condition.

“I am sorry, I am sure that is an offensive use of lovely anatomy from a woman’s perspective, I will try not to from now on, ok?”

From Jordan’s perspective things were about as good as he could have hoped for even if Danielle was often moody and unpredictable. In his mind there was no doubt that, she was all woman, and becoming more secure and comfortable with herself. Danny would soon be banished, he was sure, and that was a second fatal assumption on Jordan’s part.

The Ferulian’s for their part were finished making any modifications to Jordan’s female. It looked to them like he was doing to her what he claimed was necessary for this sex nonsense and just like that horrific lion creature this female seemed to enjoy and hate it by turns as the male subdued her and filled her with whatever that thing was that he had down there. The Ferulian’s seldom watched any more as the whole enterprise seemed a disgusting energy inefficient waste of time.

Grolsch summed it up in his psychic log before that had to be expunged to extricate them from association with the catastrophe. Medical officer’s thoughts for the Ferulian community 2098:

“I think we are much better off without this ‘love’ and ‘sex’, evidently the female can become enraged upon learning that she carries the male’s child within, a very odd reaction if we understand this love effect, which I am not sure either we or they do. We are curious to see about this ‘birth’ process and have begun taking steps to reduce the female’s agitation as her time approaches.”

Grolsch

That, was the last opinion the Ferulian organism heard before Danny managed to kill Jordan as he was tenderly holding Danielle in the kitchen, gently stroking her swollen belly from behind.

“I have some bad news captain. It seems that the specimen they called 'Jordan' has expired. The female seems to have, well I am not sure of the term but I believe they call it killing.”

"I know fool, we all know at the same moment! We must revive it, this is a disaster!"

"Yes captain but what shall we do with her?"

“We will scour her mind clean and reprogram her completely, use the historical records of the planet’s females as your model. Do whatever it takes.”

“That will take time sir.”

“Just do it. I now sense from Grolsch that the male is out of danger

"As you command sir so it shall be done."

“You don’t really expect me to go back in there with that crazy woman do you, you great silicon pustule?” Jordan asked groggily as he lay on some glistening surface in about 6 inches of some sort of warm fluid. He knew that he had been stabbed, but had no idea he had died. He wasn’t ready to be Jesus in any event. The metallic voice synthesizer was grating on his nerves and he flipped the Captain the finger. Jordan had not lied when he told the Captain that it was a one fingered salute used for special people on his planet.

“There is no need to flatter me Jordan we are above such manipulations. We have used our technology and completely modified her. She is beautiful by your odd standards but vastly different from when she uh, attacked you. She is completely content with her female role and function. She misses you and eagerly awaits your return.

She has given birth to the child and oddly afterward seemed very much changed by her ghastly experience. We have never seen such a gruesome method of reproduction anywhere in the universe and we now understand why the female can become enraged when you impregnate her. It was just ghastly to behold, just ghastly! Still, her anger seemed gone and she held her spawn and seemed completely content as it feed upon her. We could not stand to watch her! ”

Grolsch did not think out loud that he knew what Jordan had orchestrated but was much relieved that the ordeal seemed to have transformed the now truly female specimen’s behavior. Perhaps it was some sort of primitive response to a terrible trauma he did not know but the anger and distrust in Jordan’s Ferulian made mate had been swept away and replaced by a tender gentleness for her own creation and the one who had caused it to grow within her.

When Jordan appeared through the briefly vanished wall, he found Danielle nursing their baby. The baby was greedily working one of her magnificent milk filled breasts and his instant perverse desire was to be at the other. They really had changed her, and now she was a sultry raven-haired beauty that reminded him of a very young Sophia Loren.

“Oh darling, they have returned you to me,” she gasped with such sincere relief in her voice he could not doubt her sincerity or love for him. Perhaps her demeanor was the result of a so-called precautionary measure by Grolsch but it did not matter to Jordan. She was radiant and adoring of her child and even him. She raised herself from the luxurious sofa and clutching their baby to her bosom approached him with such obvious feminine pride and devotion in her expression he caught a lump in his throat.

“Our son,” she said softly gently nuzzling sideways into him so he could look down upon the cherubic features of their baby. “The next one will be a girl,” she said softly gazing up at him with the largest most seductive eyes he had ever looked into. Eyes that spoke eloquently of the infinite pleasure this woman, his wife, was prepared to bring him from now on.

He leaned down and kissed her as deeply as he could without pressing the baby in her arms. He felt himself harden and hoped that she was sufficiently recovered from her birthing efforts to accommodate his needs that evening. After some small talk and caressing, she laughingly assured him that she was able and very willing as she herself was feeling the loss of his masculinity in her life.

Shortly he was watching her stroll shamelessly before him completely naked with a look in her eye that made his testicles ache. “You like?” she said coyly running her hands down a flaws body of the most exquisite proportions he had ever seen.

“You just had a baby, how can you look so…”

“Isn’t Ferulian technology wonderful, no stretch marks, no cellulite, tight as a drum,” she giggled out with a shy seductive smile as she patted her firm tummy and looked knowing ly below to her downy cleft of dark hair that was a match for that upon her head.

“It is ok Jordan, God, I had a baby! Talk about validation, it’s safe, I love you too my darling and I couldn’t be Danny again even if I wanted to be. Welcome home,” she said tugging him down upon her on their massive bed.

As their baby slept they made mad passionate love and Jordan initially suspicious succumbed to her infinite charms and her bold, passionate and tender love making that she practiced now. She had the skills of a high priced call girl but the sweet demeanor and tender affections of a loving wife. She had the body and features of a Goddess that he knew he could never tire of.

“The Jell-O Boys, finally got it right,” he muttered as he rolled off her for the third time that night taking her silken sweat soaked body into his arms and beginning gently to caress it with his tongue.

“Well, congratulations Grolsch, the female seems to be very much improved,” Cronish, thought as he watched the two coupling in all manner of bizarre almost geometric arrangements.

“Thank you captain, we scoured the historical personality records for females of the planet and combined three within her that seemed to meet Jordan’s criteria. No one female seemed capable.”

“Interesting approach Grolsch, what made you select them, I can’t say I understand any of what this is all about.”

“Well, it was largely based on my hypothesis that their so called 'love' is mostly a political game played between the male and the female and driven by their need to reproduce themselves and some disgusting notions of beauty. Therefore, I looked for strong females who were considered the most beautiful and very successful in using their sexuality or sexually provocative for political ends. The three named Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette and Lucretia Borgia taken together seemed to fit my model fairly well.”

“Interesting, anything else I should know?”

“Well sir, I think it is important that the males of this species not become bored with their companion and those two will be together a very long time. I promised her maintainance for that purpose. Oh, and one slight modification to the male she requested.”

“Excellent Grolsch! Now, we must expunge our collective mind and any records of that catastrophic murder or this will be our last voyage, at least as scientists and collectors.”

“As you command captain Cronish,” Grolsch thought trying hard to suppress his knowledge of Lucretia’s fascination with poisons and her bad habit of dispatching people with them and their embarrassing manipulation at the hands of the Jordan creature.

“Did you just think something Grolsch?”

“Me, no captain not me.”

“Fine, dismissed.” Cronish thought as he returned to watching the humans and wondered why the female had switched to using the orifice on her face rather than the one down between her legs to make the male happy.

“Just a disgusting waste of energy,” he said jiggling his silicon protoplasm as a point of emphasis before gliding off to watch the Denguians grow some of their crystalline off spring. All agreed with Cronish when he thought loudly, “now that is a higher order life form and a sensible and efficient way to reproduce!”

“Oh Jordan, you aren’t too angry with me are you, oh, please, do your little trick before you get busy down their, please honey, it’s adorable.”

“How could you ask for such a thing,” Jordan said with annoyance knowing exactly how and why.

“Oh, please sweetie, do it once more, and after you do me I will show you my version of Ferulian Felatio?”

“Oh, fine you naughty girl,” Jordan said grinning at the possibilities and then literally sticking out his tongue and licking the top of his nose with his new version.

As Danielle arched her back and gently clasped her thighs on Jordan’s temples she moaned and fondled her milk rich breasts which began to weep their bountiful elixir.

“Jordan, when you are done mommy has something special for you,” she rasped as her climax came racing to the fore and she felt Jordan’s tongue in places that should have been impossible to reach.

“I never want to go home;” she moaned as Jordan’s lips gently took one of her swollen nipples into his mouth and he began gently withdrawing her sweet nectar.

“Now save some for the baby,” she laughed softly as she gently cradled his head and let the waves of ecstasy wash over her, and thanked the Ferulians that she only had to remember Danny, not be him any more!