Psion [m/f, s/f, mind sex]

	"She has potential."
	
	The white doctors surrounded the small teenager who was lain
across a sterilized metal table, making notes on their clipboards and
adjusting the machines that recorded her progress.  One pushed his
glasses over the bridge of his nose and remarked, "I still think we
should perfect this technology to work without a human."

	Another looked at him, bemused.  "Until we can find a way to
translate the human mind into a code that a computer can comprehend,
we will have to do it this way.  The only thoughts we can get are the
top thoughts, the clearest ones, the ones that are voiced aloud in
their minds."

	"But..."

	"Hush!  Yes, it's very precarious, but all of the living ones
except one are dead now.  The living ones were too dangerous.  Not
controlled enough.  This way, we can turn the psionic abilities on and
off."

	The doctor with the glasses frowned.  "Unless we lose control.
You have to understand that we're dealing with human minds here.  In
every instance in history that the mind has been underestimated --
Hitler, for example -- we have been strongly defeated.  I just want us
to remember that and to keep our goals realistic."

	One of the monitors started beeping.  A tired, pale nurse
glanced up at the doctors as she flipped it off, the look on her face
somewhere between grave and grateful.  "She's conscious."

	The teenager started to open her eyes slowly, and then jerked
awake with a start, sitting straight up on the table with a gasp.  Her
head was reverberating with voices, strange voices, voices that she
did not understand. 

	She understood.  But it was too much 

	"Quick, turn the chip off!"

	beep beep beep beep --

	"Her mind is overloading --"

	beepbeepbeepbeep 

	"I can't! Computers are going down..."	

	"TURN THE FUCKING THING OFF!"

	-- She -- oh, so many voices --

***

	"We've turned off the microchip for now, Raira.  When you
passed out, your temperature had shot up to 102 degrees and your EEG
was going crazy.  Now, as you know..."

	Raira stared dumbly at the desk the tall ebony Baig sat
behind.  The chip was turned off, but the voices hadn't gone away.
And there were voices now, muted ones, telling her to get away from
this Baig, to escape while she could.  He felt dirty to her.  She
wrapped her arms around her stomach and lifted her knees up, holding
herself.

	Her eyes were still reeling from the shock of the sterilized
white and silver of the medical center, and the cold, bright room she
sat in at the moment wasn't much better.  Her head was almost empty
now.  The explosion of noise was gone again, and Raira hoped deep in
her heart that it would never return, but she knew it would return.
She knew what they were going to make her do and what they wanted her
for.  She knew she was the first in a long line of intergalactic
spies.

	"You're the first intelligent being we've done this experiment
on, and I think we overestimated the power of your mind."

	Raira opened her mouth, her dry, cracked lips creaking as she
started to speak, her voice barely above a whisper.  "Why me?"

	"Excuse me?"  The man said, leaning closer to her. 

	Raira spoke louder, her voice squeaking cracking.  "Why did
you choose me?  What did I do?  I've never broken a Galactic law
before, sir, it was the very first time and I hadn't eaten in days" --

	The man cut her off abruptly.  "This is not a punishment,
Raira.  This has nothing to do with your stealing provisions, although
it did help us to get in touch with you with the cooperation of your
government.  Rather, this is a privilege.  All of us working here at
the medical center would be delighted to have this kind of technology
working within us.  You were chosen because you are an orphaned Earth
female, so you have no emotional connections with..."

	Raira cut him off just as abruptly as he had.  "Because I have
no feelings?  Because I'm not a Baig?  Because I'm a freak?  Or maybe
because you thought I had nothing to lose?"

	"Listen, Raira, I'm here to help you.  Orphans have all been
but eliminated from Earth in the last millenium.  You were a rarity,
you beat the odds, Raira, by millions of trillions to one.  Why are
you convinced this is an elaborate setup?"

	She grew angry, her cheeks turning scarlet and her eyes
flashing harshly. "Because it is!  You're just using me as a fucking
spy because you killed every fucking psion you had left"--

	"Someone get the nurses in here, please," the man spoke calmly
in a microphone.  Raira started screaming louder and louder, screaming
to be heard, telling them about what she knew, what she knew about
them, what she knew about herself.  Her final scream before they
dragged her out of the door was, "I know what you're trying to do to
me!  I know you killed those psions!"

	The Baig rested his chin on his hand, his brow furrowing.  As
soon as the door shut behind the hysterical Raira, he picked up the
microphone again.  "How the fuck did she know?"

	"Beats me.  We'd better watch her -- she isn't reacting the
way we had anticipated," a disembodied voice replied from the
microphone.

	He chewed on his lip for a few seconds, and then slammed his
fist on the desk.  The desk shook underneath the wrath of the Baig.
"We've got too much at stake.  We'll have no choice if she doesn't
start responding positively.  There are other Earth test subjects."

	The voice crackled in the air.  "But, sir, we've only got a
few days left.  If we were to eliminate her, now would be the ideal
time, sir."

	He stood up and paced the office floor.  "No, I don't think
so," he mused softly, almost to himself.

	"Sir?"

	"We'll keep her."

***

	She blinked as the artificial morning light seeped into her
eyes.  She'd been asleep again.  She could still hear a faint trace of
the voices echoing in her head, and she turned her head to the side of
the pillow,  trying to block them out again.  She knew it wouldn't
work.  She hiccuped softly as a tear traced a path down her cheek, and
she wrapped her arms around herself, curling into a protective fetal
ball.  

	She was a psion now.

	THEY controlled her, by a tiny microchip that was implanted
just above her right ear.  THEY wanted her to spy.  But it wouldn't
work, she wouldn't tell them anything she heard, and they would kill
her, marking off another failure at getting the subjects of their
totalitarian government to work against each other.  Each other was
all they had left.  Worlds were shattered, in ruins, or uninhabitable
for the next few half-lives.  The Baig had taken over the Earth
government when the humans had finally accepted them, and made a
Galaxial government that supposedly involved all the races in the
universe.  But all the races knew that you wouldn't get anywhere in
politics if you didn't go along with the Baig, if you didn't pretend
to love the Baig, if you didn't pretend that you weren't feeling
disgust and nausea every time you looked at their pitch-black skin and
gazed at the greenish tint of their teeth.  But most of all, if you
pretended that you didn't notice what the Baig was doing to the
livelihood of the other races, if you didn't notice the Evil that
radiated out of them, then you might get somewhere in your life.

	Otherwise, be eliminated.

	They'd almost succeeded in ruining the galaxy.  They were
close to succeeding now, and Raira was damned if she would be a tool.
She'd known about their practices ever since she was a little child,
when Earth's psions started disappearing one by one.  Raira's mother
had been one.

	"They're killing us, Raira," her mama had whispered softly as
she gazed out the window to an Earth that was not yet ruined by
radioactivity.  "They're plucking us out, one by one, to try and get
us to spy for them.  When they fail, they kill us.  I can hear the
other ones screaming in my head.  I'm next."

	Raira, not understanding, had buried her head in her mama's
breast and wailed her hunger.  The cool breeze lifted the window's
curtains up, billowing into the kitchen, and Raira's mother started to
weep with frustration and sadness as soon as she inhaled the fresh
night air she knew she'd never smell again.  

	Raira had never understood.  She hadn't understood even when
they had taken her mama in the middle of the night.  They'd done it
silently, and they'd thought they were unheard, but Raira, a small
child of seven, had woken up and felt the bond connecting her mama and
herself being torn savagely, being pulled and stretched before it
finally snapped and her mama was gone.  She was alone then, truly
alone, as so few people left on Earth were alone.  She spent the next
few days wandering the streets, crying for her mama to come back to
her.  Strangers would look at her and tsk-tsk sadly, remarking on what
a shame it was, and whispered cruel assumptions to each other about
who her mama must have been to be so rudely taken away from this baby.
She'd been a street child ever since.

	Well, now she understood.  The chip had woken up a part of her
that was asleep deep inside her, had stirred it and nudged it, and
suddenly the dormant volcano became active with an explosion.  How
could she hear?  The chip wasn't on.

	The sterilized doorknob turned.  Raira's head snapped to the
side, her eyes narrowing in hate as she watched the knob slowly turn
until the door clicked and swung open.  The Baig was back, medical
clipboard in one hand, a tranquilizing laser in another.  He made a
hand signal as soon as the door closed and locked, and with a burst of
activity, her mind exploded.

	"Are you calm now, Raira?  You had a bit of an episode there.
Now, I'm here to explain to you what your next mission is to be."

	Raira turned her back to him, refusing to look, trying to
block out the darkness that invaded her mind.  He ignored the motion
and continued to talk, ignoring her.  "As you now, you can now read
minds, basically.  You can probe into them, take a look around.  It's
kind of like breaking into a computer system.  Some minds will be
simpler, some will be harder."

	He took a seat on Raira's hard mattress.  She recoiled away
from him.  His evil slunk around the room, moving with him, with his
air.  He looked straight into Raira's eyes and smiled.  "Read my
mind."

	She shuddered.  "I would rather not.  I can smell your aura
from across the room."

	His smile darkened.  "Read my mind, Raira."  He lifted his
hand slightly, letting her see the tranquilizer gun. She closed her
eyes and WISHED, as hard as she could, WISHED to all the gods of good
and evil alike, that she wasn't here right now, being forced to read a
Baig's mind.

	"You won't be able to get in, Raira.  Our minds are too strong
for you."

	She slowly let her concentration focus into a ball, and then
set it to float free towards him when it was large enough.  She
shivered as the ball bumped into a turgid, tangled mass of confusion
and silence alike.  She turned her concentration in another direction,
where it met the same wall.  She cried aloud in frustration, and
PUSHED as hard as she could, PUSHED into him with all her mind's
strength and then broke through his barrier with blinding speed --

	He gasped and his hands shot up to grip his head in pain, and
the last thing Raira saw before she passed out was the gun lifting up
to point at her --

***

	"All right, Raira, are we ready to discuss your assignment?"

	Raira glared at him, silent.  Her chip was turned off now, and
her own psionic powers were still much weaker.  She could still hear
muted voices echoing in her head.  They didn't know what happened to
her, didn't know that the chip and the procedure and the whole thing
had woken up the power she'd inherited from her mother.  

	She just had to get stronger.

	She could overtake them.

	She nodded slowly, peering at him through slitted eyes.  He
sighed, and leaned back.  "You've been quite a difficult case, Raira.
You should realize the gravity of this situation.  The future of the
Galaxy rests on your shoulders..."

	_I shrug,_ Raira thought to herself.

	"Now, this is your assignment.  Tonight, you are to attend the
speech of the Galaxy Prime Minister.  As you know, he is up for
re-election.  All you have to do is sit and listen with your mind.
Probe around a little bit.  Is that okay, Raira?"

	_As if I had a choice._ "Yes.  That's fine," Raira said in a
low growl.  The Baig looked slightly surprised at the malice in her
voice.  "Raira, we know you can be a sweet girl.  Why don't you be a
little more nice to me in the future?"

	"Because you speak to me as if I was a child, and then expect
to use me as a spy.  Because you're Evil," she replied in a whisper.
He sighed and stood up.  He offered his hand for a handshake, and she
turned her head to look the other way.

	He left the room.

***

	She ran her hands over her dress uneasily, trying to get used
to the feel of the fine fabric stretched across her skin and of her
inner thighs rubbing together.  She'd never worn a dress before, at
least, not since her mama died.  The one she wore now was a fantasy
dress, the kind she'd only seen in holograms of fashion shows and
prestigious balls.  It was a dark shade of brown in a shimmering
fabric that caught the light every time she moved.  The dress had no
sleeves or straps, and Raira still had no clue as to how it stayed on
her body, defeating the laws of gravity.  She supposed it was her
breasts holding the dress up, the slope of her mammaries creating an
arch for the dress to rest upon.  The bodice was cinched tight around
her, and loosened considerably at her hips, sweeping to the floor in a
graceful waterfall of silky fabric, flowing down her body as smoothly
as if she was a tall whiskey glass.

	Raira turned around to face the mirror, shutting her eyes
tightly.  Finally, she pried open a reluctant eyelid to gaze at her
reflection, and both her eyes widened with surprise.

	She looked nothing like the street rat she'd grown up as.  Her
body looked voluptuous and curvaceous, even though Raira had gone
hungry most of her life.  She supposed she'd eaten more in the last
month than she thought, for now her curves were filled out and she was
rather buxom.  She blushed when she saw the prominent way her nipples
poked through the fabric, and moved her hands over them, trying to get
the nubs to deflate.  Her hair was swept up in an old-fashioned bun
and pinned in place with a diamond-studded hairpiece that she could
see when she lifted a small hand mirror behind her and used the mirror
in front to look at the one in back.  Her hair was woven in auburn
waves that the dress showed off beautifully, and in front, a single
wisp of red hair cascaded down the side of her pale, freckled face.
Raira looked closely at her face.  She hadn't seen many mirrors in her
life, but she was certain that this wasn't how she normally looked.
Her clear, green eyes were surrounded by a smoky brown, and when she
looked especially close she could see that the lashes were dyed a dark
brown also.  Her skin shimmered slightly in the light, and she could
feel a powder of some sort brushed across her skin.  Her lips were
full and pouting, and while that was natural, the light bronze shade
resting on them was not.

	Raira turned around and took an unsteady step toward the door.
Her ankle wobbled from side to side, and she almost fell when her
ankle buckled and pitched her off of the side of her heels.  She
leaned down and sighed, slipping the heel back onto her foot.  She
stood tall now, her jaw set.  The doorknob turned with clicking
sounds.

	"Raira?  Your escort is	waiting."

	The small, mousy nurse who had peeked her head in the doorway
of the classy bathroom had looked bored.  When she'd caught a glimpse
of Raira, her eyes widened.  "My, Raira, you do look nice!"

	Raira blushed, momentarily forgetting why she was all made up.
She remembered herself, then, and squared her shoulders resolutely.
She strode out of the room, still a bit surprised by the unfamiliar
feel of the silky material swishing around her legs, caressing her
thighs and kissing her ankles.  She felt her body start to swing from
side to side as she walked, her hips swinging out against the
restraints of the fabric and coming back in a gentle circle.  It was
an involuntary reaction to the way the dress behaved on her body.

	A handsome gentleman waited by the entrance to the ballroom
where the nominations for presidency would be held in.  A shock of
noise slammed into Raira's ear, and her hands moved up quickly to
block her ears from the sudden noise, but the noise didn't stop.  She
swallowed hard and grimaced as she glanced around at the thick crowd
that was gathered in the hall and ballroom.  He looked at her
curiously, his chocolate eyes questioning her own, and she smiled
shakily at him, standing awkwardly.  He offered his arm.

	"Oh!"  Raira made a face and slipped hers through his.  She
wondered what other basic rules of etiquette she would forget on this
night.  He looked almost as nervous as she did, and she hesitated for
a moment, wondering if it was morally wrong, before probing into the
surface of his mind, poking into his thoughts without any resistance.

	She was shocked.  The surface of his mind was uncomfortable
and warm and sticky, and unquestionably erotic.  She probed deeper,
wondering at the source of his arousal.	He looked over at her
uneasily, and she felt a new flood of arousal.  It was she who turned
him on!  She chuckled to herself, feeling a bit guilty for finding
humor in this man's discomfort, but she had to admit it was funny.  _I
guess that makeup and dress really did work,_ she thought, _because
he's about ready to jerk off._

	_God, I'd just die to have her fucking my cock..._ the thought
was clear and passed through the mental link like electricity, clear
even through all the mental noise of the crowd.  She blushed a deep
shade of red when she realized that he was thinking it, and another
thought shot to her mind, but she blocked it out before it made it all
the way.  She wanted to enjoy her evening, and his thoughts were
starting to make her uncomfortable. 

* * * 

	"How is it going?"

	"Well, at least we don't have to worry about sexual tension."
The voice was sarcastic, with a hint of laughter in it.  

	"Good.  Keep monitoring her."

* * * 

	Raira crossed her legs as they sat and pulled out the fabric
that was between her legs.  She looked around at the inventory of
people, Baig and Earthling alike.  Rich, influential people who,
together, cooperated to rule the Galaxy.  The Earthlings who
cooperated with the Baigs were just as bad as the Baigs - they were
the evil ones of the human race.  Hitler would have been a Baig.  They
were all people who ate a seven-course dinner every night, as they sat
smoking with their friends, making small jokes about how the Galaxial
taxes were putting them into the poorhouse.  People who had looked at
Raira in the streets once, and frowned, turning their heads away,
tsk-tsking "What a shame... We need to rid our city streets of these
vagrants."

	She glanced around, and a man caught her eye.  He was alone,
and adjusted his jacket slightly before sitting down on his chair.  He
felt good.  He seemed to radiate virtues and change.  She tried to
divert her attention away, but she couldn't.  He was amazingly
handsome, a shock of thick black hair resting on his head above his
flawless features.  He had classical looks, the kind of face that you
saw in texts about Greek mythology.  His face, while beautiful, was
serious and contemplative.  

	The microphone crackled.  Her head snapped up and about to
look at the speaker on the stage, blue curtains draping behind them.
Raira turned her head again, oblivious, to gaze at the man.  Her
escort looked at her curiously, turned his head, and seeing nothing,
turned again to look at the man who had caught her attention so.  She
started to probe into his mind, feeling guilty, but too compelled to
learn about him to restrain herself.

	He felt refreshing, like a swim in a cool lake on a steaming
hot day.

	"May I -- excuse me, ladies and gentlemen --"

	The pandemonium started to decrease.

	"May I have your attention?"

	He felt new.  He felt like a baby.

	"Please, ladies and gentlemen, Baigs and Earthlings.."

	The auditorium quieted, its silence broken only by an
occasional whisper, cough, or sneeze.  The man wasn't mitigated by the
monotonous tone of the speaker.  Unlike most of the people in the
crowd, who were calmly being hypnotized, their minds quieting, his own
mind rose in volume and determination.

	"As you know, the elections for the new Galaxial Prime
Minister are coming up.  There have, surprisingly, been no opponents
against Baig Jo`uxy Jante, with the exception of Earthling Mohammed
Azeledith.  We all mourn his death, but..."

	The man set his notepad on the floor and started to rise.

	His mind silenced with clarity.

	_He's going to change it,_ Raira thought.  Joy leapt in her.

	"Excuse me." The man was soft spoken.

	_He's going to run against Jante!_

	"I'd like to make a proposition."

	_He's our only hope!_

	Suddenly, before her eyes, the man withered like a flower that
went dry too soon, crumpling to the floor with a painful cry.  

	_No_

	The audience erupted in anarchy.  

	"I'm a doctor"--

	"Let me through!"

	She stood and ran towards the man at a blinding speed, knowing
it to be too late, but refusing to acknowledge the fact.  His mind was
blank, all activity ceased.  No bursts of electricity crackled between
his neurons and synapses, and no essence of good radiated from him
anymore.

	He was dead.

	Her mind flooded with warm, wet tears.

***

	"That was close."

***
	Raira wept.

***

	"Who let it get this close?"

	"Briggs, sir."

	"Well, damn it, if you'd been monitoring her correctly, we
could have caught it before he even stood up."

	"Sir..."

	"Now she knows something's wrong."

	"She already did, sir."

	Silence.  "Shit."

***

	The gentleman walked up behind her and took her gently by the
arm, his fingers cold and wet with anxiety.  His brow was furrowed
together in concern, and he pulled her lamenting form away from the
death scene.  The bustling nurses greeted them at the doorway.  They
were dressed in their evening gowns, looking worried and fussing over
the small shaking body.  One checked her pulse as the other found her
temperature.

	"Let's get her home.  She's had a lot of excitement tonight."

***

	"Okay, Raira.  Last night was good, so tonight, we're going to
send you to a place you might feel more comfortable in."

	Raira glared at the Baig with hate, the very core of her being
still cold and numb with shivering shock.  

	"We'll send you to a bar downtown for a little while.  Don't
worry, you're old enough to drink."  The Baig winked humorlessly at
Raira, and she felt her stomach reel from him.

	"I'm a recovering alcoholic."

	"Well, they have other drinks.  But, we want you to relax
tonight.  Just practice your skills, get stronger and better."

	Raira clenched her teeth together at the Baig's confidential,
conspirational tone.  Talking to her as if they were friends.  As if
they were kin Earthlings.  "You can wear normal clothes if you want,
if you didn't like the dress last night."

	"I liked it fine."

	"Well, that's a little... how shall I say, out of place for
this bar.  In your room, there's a closet.  Explore it."

	"I have."

	He felt his irritation rising like an indomitable belch, and
he fought to keep it down.  When he felt himself starting to lose the
inner battle of control, he stood and left the room.

***

	Her outfit was simple, much like the clothes she'd worn on the
street but less trashy, less torn, less ragged.  The clothes were
loose and familiar on her body.  The old-fashioned soft, worn cotton
of her dress hung listlessly around her slim hips, the fabric fading
into a dark green sweater that ended just below her midriff, showing
off the curve of her breasts.  She tucked her crimson hair behind her
ears and left the room.  A nurse waiting outside the door gave her a
perfunctory glance, and nodded her approval.  

	Raira was free for the first time in months, and yet she was
not.  She could walk.  She could explore.  But every move was being
tracked, observed, regulated, supervised by the small demon seed
behind her ear.

	She walked out into the bustling street, the cars whizzing
high above her in the brisk night air. .  She felt self-conscious for
a moment as a stranger walked past her, his eyes analyzing her from
the very bottom of her feet to the top of her hair.  She shivered, and
gathered her concentration, keeping her thoughts as close to her as
she could.  She didn't want to invade any stranger's minds tonight.  

	Not after last night.

	Her boots clanked on the sidewalk as she trudged on toward the
bar.  She could see the bar glowing alone down the block, its
conspicuous flashing neon screaming aloud into the night.  Noise
flooded her ears, real noise, real music, and the end of a song faded
away and quieted. People congregated outside around the building,
drinking, smoking, enjoying the crisp, cool air.  They were all
Earthlings, Raira noted with a dizzying sense of relief.  Family.

	She headed toward the door, where a tall, broad man wearing
the bar's uniform stood.  She gazed at him, challenging him as she
pulled open the door.  His muscles bulged and tensed against his
shirt, and his mind felt hard and tough, but the rugged exterior
melted a bit when she gave him a dazzling smile and passed through the
entrance unscathed.  	

	The bar was dim with smoke and colored lights.  Seedy.  There
were tables and barstools and there was a luminous dance floor
illuminated by dozens of different colors flashing and moving around
the throng of people who pulsed and undulated to the beat.  Their
combined mindset was brash, erotic, and with a tinge of anger,
bristling up against Raira's own mind.  She felt at home now - this
reminded her of Earth's seedy nightclubs she'd frequented.  The
crowd's mood changed drastically with the music, adapting to it as if
it was the music that had always been playing.  The music started to
fade out from a hard, driving song, and became soothing, smooth, slow
and calm.  The crowd calmed.  Raira closed her eyes and hummed along,
her shoulders relaxing and her body swayed as she stood on the
sidelines.

***

	"How's it going?"
	
	"Doing fine, Sir.  She is at the location, and apparently
having a good time."

	"Good.  We should have him nailed in a few minutes."

***


	Her mind wandered free.  She let the music lift her, and she
drifted away on the gentle waves of the notes.  The sense of peace and
community brought her to a higher level of inner ecstasy, as her mind
explored and wandered.  She could tell deep inside that the chip
wasn't making her feel this strongly.  It was herself. 

	She opened her eyes and kept swaying, absorbed deep into the
peace.  Fortissimo.  Quiet, haunting.  

	His hazel, inquisitive eyes met her own.

	Crescendo.  The music increased subtly in tempo, stepping up
the intensity just a bit.

	She gazed back at him.  His mind was... clean, organized.  Not
jumbled.

	_Don't think about it!_ The thought pierced through the air to
her, the franticness of his thought punctuated with wide, fearful
eyes, pounding into her brain with the force of a rocket crash.  Her
heart quickened.

	The music went faster, louder.  Piano forte.  Climbing
frantically in pitch.  Forte!  Allegro! Hard and fast, driving and
beating, she was sucked into him.  He was fascinating.  His eyes gazed
back into hers, and his face was soft in admiration, his lips slightly
parted.  

	She went to him, pushing through the crowd in a dreamlike
state, drifting on the cloud created by their mind forces.  He smelled
good, free of smoke and smog and alcohol.  His mind felt good.  She
stood close to him, and moved her body to the beat, not particularly
paying attention, absorbed in their combined emotions.  

	He moved close to her, putting his hands on her waist and
swinging his body in synch with her own.  She shivered in excitement
as his cool, soft skin touched her cheek, a slight neglect in shaving
caressing her surface.  He whispered in her ear, his hot breath
gasping against her lobe.

	"You must not think about my mind.  Just know I am there."

	She understood, even though she didn't know what was going on,
she understood what he wanted.  She closed her eyes and let her
emotions take over, her body dominating her senses.  

	He continued to whisper, and his arms encircled her waist,
pulling her close to him.  She felt dizzy with excitement.

	"You're the girl I dream about every night."

	She sighed, her flustered mind finding it a most difficult
task not to think about him.

	"In my deepest, most beautiful dreams, night after night..."

	Ahhhhhhhh...

	"These dreams that leave me wishing for abolition of
reality..."

	Her chest pressed against his.  Her arms wrapped around his
neck and she almost let her lips graze his neck, for they were right
there, wanting to kiss him.

	"These dreams that leave me soaked in my own sweat when I
wake..."

	His hands traveled down her hips and touched her thighs
gently.

	"These dreams that leave me lonely all day, for the companion
of the night, for the presence of that woman once again..."

	She kissed him on his neck.  His skin prickled in response.
His hands tightened on her thighs, his fingers digging into her skin.
She was hot with needy lust, and light-headed with the gentle way he
touched her mind.  

	"You're one?"

	"Shh.  We'll talk about it later.  For now... let us dance."

	And they danced, in every respect of the word.  He held her
close to his body, and embraced her mind in soft warmth, comforting
and soothing her in ways nobody had ever done before.  She'd led a
long life that needed solace and rarely ever got it.  She loved the
emotions it invoked and reveled in them, able to forget, momentarily,
that she'd once sold her body for food, that she'd once lived in a
cardboard box in the worst parts of Earth, that she was trapped, a
captive of the totalitarian government.  She felt him stiffen against
her, and forced herself from nudging into his minds, finding out what
he liked about her.  He sensed what she wanted, though, and started to
whisper in her ear once again.

	"You're beautiful.  I've been watching you while you've been
dancing, and I've been finding out about you, Raira.  You're like a
tragic heroine, and you're so strong, it's admirable."

	She blushed and he looked into her eyes, strong and serious,
and leaned close to her.  Their lips hovered before each other, too
shy to kiss, until finally, he lowered his soft mouth onto hers.  He
held her tighter and she wrapped her arms around his neck, lifting
herself up to his lips, letting him seduce her with his mouth.  His
tongue flickered against her pout.  She nibbled his bottom lip, and he
ran his tongue along her lips experimentally before slipping the
smooth, slippery warmth into her mouth.  She took hold of his tongue
with her mouth and sucked at it as if it was his cock, and he
unconsciously thrust his hips against her, letting her feel his
teeming hardness.  She moaned into his crevice.  Finally, they broke
the exhilarating kiss, his breathing hot and hard.  He continued to
whisper.

	"I know what they're doing to you."  She jerked, startled, her
mind racing like a ship gone mad and buzzing and nearly screaming in
fear that the whisper had gotten through to the Baigs.  He quickly
reached into her panic-stricken conscious, and restrained her, holding
her thoughts together in a tight, impenetrable ball. 

	"Raira, shh, it's okay."

	She swallowed a gulping gasp and buried her head in his neck.
He caressed the curve of her backbone, running his fingers along the
thin ridge.  

	"I feel like I know you," she whispered to him, her voice
trembling, barely audible over the softly playing music.  "I feel like
you've been here for years."

	He smiled sadly.  "Perhaps I have, and we never got a chance
to find out.  I'm the last one left alive, you know."

	"Why did they kill so many, Jeffries?"  She gazed up at him,
and he smiled.  "I didn't tell you my name."

	The revelation dawned on her slowly, and her eyes widened in a
laugh.  "I didn't even try to get it from your mind." 

	He nodded to her.  "I know."

	She let him lead her off the floor and up a rickety stairwell,
the steps groaning and creaking above the calm-again music.  They
walked together, their minds singing an ancient, forgotten tune, their
feet instinctively working together so they wouldn't have to let go of
each other.

	She couldn't let herself think, couldn't let herself be sucked
into the thick swirling vortex of familiarity she longed to be in.
She knew it had something to do with the chip.

	They entered a small, nondescript room.  Posters of the bare
galaxy covered the walls, and there were thousands of random pieces of
papers tacked up on the walls.  Some had come loose and fluttered to
the floor where they lay untended.  The scent was stronger now, his
intoxicating scent.  She was bathed in the warmth of it all.  She was
home.  It was silent, for the room was soundproofed.  The only sound
was the beautiful music that echoed only in their minds.

	He murmured in hushed tones still, caressing each word as it
rolled off his tongue in a baritone that rumbled gently against her
neck.  "You have to trust me."

	She nodded.

"I'll explain everything."

	She gazed into his eyes, which were as green as the forests on
Earth once had been, tinged with gold around the ends.  Hazel, that
color was called.  His hands traveled up from her waist, squeezing and
stroking her body.  She could feel his mind aching, wanting to be with
her.  But it wasn't a wanting like the man who had been her escort
yesterday, but a deep, true wanting.  Love.

	He nuzzled her, the cold tip of his nose making her shiver.
He held her close to his beating, warm body, whispering to her.

	"Close your eyes.  Let your mind go blank.  No matter what,
don't let your mind interrupt."

	He lay her down on his bed, the soft mattress recoiling with
the weight of their two bodies.  He lay on top of her, her legs spread
around him, and buried his head into her hair.

	The chip.  He was inside the chip.

	She closed her eyes and concentrated on seeing nothing but
black, black as far as she could see.  His hands caressed her and made
gentle waves of warmth reverberate through her body.  The sensation of
his body pressed against her, of his mind mingling with her own turned
her on.  He was hard and firm along her body, and she shifted to feel
him better.  He squeezed her and kissed her neck.  She could feel
something happening in her mind, but didn't think about it.

	His hand crept along her thigh, gently traveling to where
their bodies met.  He slipped his fingers underneath the dress,
caressing her bare, warm skin.  She shivered with the shock of human
skin against her, caressing her, and then sighed with the intimacy of
the moment.  It seemed that only the two of them existed anymore,
wrapped and bonded into each other's world.  She shifted her body
against him, wishing that he'd rub his steel hardness against her.

	Quieter.  It was quieter inside.

	He rubbed the length of his hardness through their clothes
against her mound as he simultaneously ran his finger along the band
of her panties.  She gasped as the tip pressed against her wetness
that was concealed in layers of clothing.  She'd almost forgotten that
he could read her mind, could respond to every urge and need that
reverberated through her hot, hormone-ridden body.

	She moved her hands down from his back, where her fingernails
had been passionately digging into his flesh, and ran her palms down
his ass, feeling the firm flesh against her fingers.  She pressed him
against her, encouraging him, begging him mentally to rub against her
harder.  

	He did so, his cock pushed hard against her clit, thrusting up
and down against her.  His breath was hot and quickened in her ear,
and she responded to his motions by straining her pussy against him,
hungry for him.  She pushed harder into his mind, blending and merging
with him, and together they were enveloped in a utopia of pleasure,
drifting in and around the soft corners and bends of hot, pulsing
sensation, closer and closer to each other.  His need blended with her
own, and her arousal heightened his, each meter higher that they flew,
they brought the other one up twofold.

	She could feel his excitement, could feel the sensations that
surrounded his cock intensify as she drifted deeper into his mind.  He
let her in carefully, opening the entrance wider a millimeter at a
time.  He was hot and hard, pulsating, throbbing, wanting her.  The
knowledge made her want him even more, want to satisfy every need that
he had.

Suddenly, she let up, driven by a hunger.  Her hands traveled to the
front of his body, feeling his broad, hard chest, and purred softly.
She felt his excitement grow when she dipped her hands down to his
waist and pulled urgently at his band.  He lifted his waist up
slightly, still nuzzling and kissing her neck, and giving her silent
images of all the things he wanted to do to her.  Her excitement
surged, and she could feel his desire to give her anything she wanted.
Her fingertips grazed the hard mass that was tenting his pants, and
she slipped her hand in, past the band of his pants, grasping his
cock.  It jumped in her hand, warm and velvety and so unbelievably
hard.  Her mind was flooded with teasing agony of his excitement, and
it drove her higher as they shared the excitement between them.  He
was barely able to control himself when she strained her pussy against
him, turned on by his feelings.  He could barely restrain from
devouring her, and she liked that.  Being wanted like this turned her
on.  They were caught in a delicious loop of need, hunger, and
pleasure.

She made a guttural sound in the pit of her throat, breathing hard
through her mouth.  With one hand, she caressed and felt his manhood,
her fingers running up and down his stiff shaft and swirling around
his silky head, playing with the precum that was running out of the
tiny hole at the tip, rubbing the glans just below the mushroom cap.
She wrapped her fingers around his cock, squeezing it tightly.  He
sighed in her ear.

	The chip was gone.  She was with him alone, yet the euphoric
feelings of stimulation weren't gone.

	She didn't care about that now, cared about nothing more than
his taking her and making hot, rapid love to her.  But she wanted to
explore his body and his mind further, and when his finger pressed
against her clit, she heard him think about what a wet, warm pussy she
had, and his cock jumped in her hand.  She squirmed against him and
gasped when he responded to what she wanted.

	He rubbed her clit softly, tentatively at first, and then
stronger when her mind screamed in response.  His mind was frenzied
now, his excitement being pushed up higher and higher with every moan
and twist she made underneath him.  He released his finger from her
clit against her protests, and she wanted to pull his hand back and
have him keep going, until she realized that he'd known what she
really wanted - his fat, stiff cock driving in and out of her.

She lifted her arms up and he stripped her dress over her head and she
urgently wriggled out of her burdensome panties, his own quickly
following suit.  The discarded clothing landed, piece by piece, on the
floor next to the bed.  He lifted his body up and gazed at her.

	"You're beautiful."

	She sighed.  "I think I'm in love with you."

	He laughed softly, a tinkling music in her ear, a warm wave of
love in her head.  She loosened her mind from the tight ball it was
before, letting it expand and float free around his mind.  His mind
grew more vulnerable as his guard let down.  She could tell it wasn't
something he did often, from the way that he had to coax and urge it
to fade.  

	He was pulsating, sighing and gasping at her mental touches.
She prodded and explored as he leaned down to suckle her nipple.  She
felt him roll it around his tongue, and heard him sigh and groan
mentally at the feel of the hard nub in his mouth.  She pressed
against him, encouraged by his excitement, and pushed her bare pussy
against his engorged cock, the tip of his cock just barely touching
outer edge of her clit.  She pushed her mound against him and explored
his mind again.  She felt his consciousness gently, putting pressure
here or there when she had an instinct that it would feel good.   She
realized that he was responding physically to her mind, and continued
to investigate his sexuality.  Finally, she embraced a hot throbbing
rhythm of his mind, and pushed at it, working with it.  He gasped and
his teeth clamped down on her nipple.  His cock surged, pressed
against her pussy, and she moaned aloud at the sensation when his mind
cried for a release.  She was hungry for him, and her desperation was
clear.  She reached down and pushed at his waistband, tugging them the
rest of the way down from their previous position on his thighs.  He
lifted an arm, not lifting his face off of her nipple, and pulled them
off for her, his bare, hot cock resting heavily on her stomach.  She
squirmed underneath the touch, gasping in unrequited pleasure.  Her
body was enveloped in a needy heat.  His cock touched her clit.  She
let out a gasping moan, shuddering with the desperation.  She let her
body work in conjugation with his mind's needs, and his face contorted
in pleasure as well as her own.  Her excitement mounted as his
breathing grew harder and more frantic.  _Raira I need you...!_ 

He wrenched his mouth off of her painfully hard nipple and bore down
on her, kissing her hard, his warm, slippery tongue pushing against
her lips.  Their arms intertwined, hands locking together as he rubbed
against her harder and harder, his cock becoming more and more
lubricated by the trickle of sweet nectar every time her pussy lips
and clit traveled the whole length of his shaft.

	She couldn't take it.

	_I need it in me..._ she cried in her mind, and he groaned
back to her, showing that he needed her hot, wet flesh wrapping around
his own as much as she needed his rigid piston slamming into her.

	He untangled an arm from hers and reached down, gripping the
base of his cock.  He rubbed the tip at her entrance, and she bore
down on it, moaning his name aloud when she felt his swollen head pop
in, and he started to work his cock inside her with short, loose
thrusts of his hips.  She cried his name when her mind flooded with
his arousal, and she could feel how it felt for him, her hot walls
constricting around his long shaft, her juice smoothing the hot
journey they made together.  His head tilted back as he felt her own
pleasure at his thrusts inside her, in and out, faster, harder.  His
body started to thrash with her own.  She rocked hard against him at
the sensation, straining to push her pussy against him, moaning and
gasping.  She felt so full everywhere, her mind, her heart, her sex.
He pushed in to the hilt, his cock twitching inside, and her pussy
clenched at him, pulling him in deeper, milking him.  His mouth was
open wide in excitement, and his eyes were narrowed as he gazed at
her.  He slowly drew his cock out and slammed it back in with the
pounding rhythm of their minds.

	"Oh, oh..."

	Suddenly, his mind touched and then squeezed a bare,
sensitive, needy spot on her own.

	"Oh!"	

	His cock slammed into her and his pubis pushed against her
clit, the hair tickling her.  His excitement mounted, and he wasn't
able to continue to hold back the rushing torrents of his heat when he
felt her orgasm thundering toward her at ninety miles an hour --

	"Oooooh, GOD!"

	They exploded together, the fragments of their orgasm falling
down around them like a star reduced to fine dust, and a softly
shimmering, peaceful white surrounded and embraced them...

***

	He still held her against his body when she woke, and she
murmured assent to him.  His eyes fluttered open.

	"How did you do it?"

	He smiled sleepily.  "I changed a few wires around.  It's off
for good."

	"Did anything get through?"

	"I don't know.  I doubt it."

	Startled as she felt a tear trace a whispery path down her
cheek, she leaned close to kiss him, her throat choking with
gratitude.  He pulled his body close against his.  _Raira_

	_Jeffries_

	_I know you, Raira... I don't know how_

	_I love you, Jeffries_

	She wondered again how he, a psion, had gotten past the
government's notice.  He looked at her and she blushed, knowing he
could read her thoughts.  He smiled.  He didn't mind.  

	"I haven't.  They just don't know which one is me yet.  All
they know is I appear at this bar sometimes." The words were sudden
and loud in the crackling silence of the bedroom, and she gaped at him
in surprise.

	"You should be dead, Jeffries, you know that."

	He nodded.  "They sent you here to find me.  And you did."

	"But..." Raira tried to gather her thoughts, tried to make
sense of it all.  "Why did you bring me up here?  Why did you make
love to me?"

	He leaned over to kiss her as gently as a raindrop on the tip
of her nose.  "Because I felt an immediate attraction to you when I
laid eyes on you.  Because we're made for each other in the literal
sense.  You felt it, too, when we made love.  When we came."

	She nodded.

	"For me, it's worth dying for.  You're worth dying for.
You're free now, and we can be together.  But it isn't without risk.
They could find you again.  They don't know you're psionic, and may
just let you go."

	His eyes turned dark.  "But not me."

	She felt her insides melt, felt her heart choke and her eyes
well up with tears.  He held her close to his, her ear pressed against
his beating heart.  "Don't cry, Raira.  I'll always be here."

	"Why did they kill so many psions?"

	"Because we were dangerous to them.  They couldn't control us
completely, Raira, even if we did willingly cooperate which no
self-respecting Earthling would do.  They were afraid we'd be able to
bring down their government by reading their minds alone.  They think
of us as thieves, able to slip into their mind and steal their
secrets."

	She frowned, turning the idea over in her head.

	"Their grip on the Galaxy is too tight.  We don't pose any
danger to them anymore.  We used to."

	False mirth once again returned to his face, and he winked
knowingly at her.  "Anyway, they have no idea it was me.  Now, as we
speak, they think you were just making love to some greasy bar hopper.
There's no place in the Universe we can be free, but there are places
we can hide.  I have a ship... we can go anywhere you desire."

	"Like?"  She snuggled against him, reveling in the hard warmth
of his body.

	"A distant, remote star system, far off into the heavens..."
his eyes grew starry.  "BN-4, perhaps.  Or Albion.  Or Kini-Wa."

	He nuzzled her and his lips nipped at her.  "Or heaven, right
here with you."

	A slow smile crept across her face and she kissed him happily,
clasping his body close to hers.  They lay there, asleep in each
other's naked arms and minds, until the morning sun came with its
brash illumination.

***

	"She's still not back yet."

	"All right.  Proceed."

***

	Their minds danced together, twirling around, playing,
laughing.  Finally, they woke, blinking their eyes against the harsh
light.  Raira pressed her body against his, and they lay together in
silence, feeling the soft, bare skin interacting.  Raira broke the
spell of mind play by kissing him before she rolled out of bed.  He
moaned softly when she left, taking her warm comfort with her, and she
giggled, staring into his eyes, infatuated.

	"Are we leaving tonight?" she asked quietly, the hint of a
smile teasing her lips.

	"Today, dearie.  This morning," Jeffries whispered.  "Where do
you want to go?"

	A sad look took over Raira's pretty, delicate features.  "A
planet that looks like what Earth used to."  Tiny, uncontrollable
pools welled up in her big, green eyes.

	"Oh, hon..." he got up with an effort and embraced her.  They
stood, naked, in the cold morning, their bare feet recoiling against
the hard vinyl bedroom floor.  He rocked her in his arms, and she held
back her tears, opening her eyes wide, refusing to let them spill over
onto her pale cheeks.  She felt him comfort her, felt him tell her,
_it's okay to cry...  I cry..._ He felt her gulp against his body, and
she felt his spirits start to sink with hes.  She resolved to cheer
up, and gazed up at him, her eyes firm and resolute.  

	"Here, I know something that'll make you feel better," he told
her, in a tone that let her know he wasn't taking no for an answer.
"I know a planet we can go to.  Why don't you go and get some clothes,
a lot of clothes, and food, and come back in a few hours?  We'll leave
from my ship.  It's small, but..."

	"No space is too small with you."  She smiled and pressed her
ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.  They stood for a
few minutes, leaning against each other, before he gently pried her
off of him with soft laughter.  

	He stepped over to the tiny plastic dresser, opening the top
drawer, one hand still holding her waist, fingers sunk amiably in her
hip's flesh.  He took out a thick wad of money, and handed it to her.
She started to protest.

	Jeffries blocked the protest from her mind, kept it from
forming on her lips.  She suddenly felt as if she'd been bounced back.
The phrase, 'I'm rubber and you're glue...' came to her mind, and she
chuckled.  "Thank you."

 	Raira dressed in the clothes she'd been in yesterday, a slight
smell of excitement clinging to them, a scent that made her giddy and
warm inside.  She bent over to pull on her socks, and she laughed when
she lifted her head up to see his cock hardened and pointing at the
sky.  She wiggled her ass appealingly at him, letting his eyes travel
up and down the length of her ass, before she stood up straight and
stood by the door with a lingering glance.  She didn't want to leave.

	"Now get out of here," he told her with a sheepish grin,
chasing her off.  She closed the door reluctantly behind her, slipping
the wad of bills inside the lining of her bra.


***

	"Is he in position yet?"

	"Yes.  Awaiting approval from proxy."

	"Fuck approval.  Go now."

***

	A silent scream reverberated throughout the silent universe.

***

Raira's fingers fumbled at the cold brass doorknob, frantically trying
to fit the key into the hole with her trembling hands.  The lock
clicked.  The door swung open.  The scene that greeted her broke her
heart.

	He lay in the middle of the floor.  Dead, naked as the day he
was born, his arms, his chest, his face, the blood no longer pumping
through the veins, his fingers, his lips, his legs, his heartbeat
gone.  She fell to her knees and screamed in agony, choking on her own
misery, strangling as the darkness of hopelessness closed in around
her, its cold, unwelcome fingers caressing her, molesting her.

	Suddenly, noise thundered and pounded through her head.  Her
tear-stained face jerked up in surprise, eyes hard and angry, hands
clenched into fists.

	The Baig sat on the bed, a malicious grin splayed across his
face.

	"You!" she cried, her wail of torment echoing off the walls of
the small apartment.  He just grinned harder at her, his lime-tinted
teeth glinting in the light.  She tried desperately to shut down the
chip again, to stop the noise and the Baig invasion of her mind.

	"Why?"

	He didn't answer her.

	Louder, this time.  "WHY?!"

	He looked down at her, and tsk-tsked his tongue in pity.
"Poor you.  Down on your knees, clutching the dead body of the only
person who ever cared about you.  He told you why."

	"He never hurt anybody, and you know it!"

	"Nevertheless, we know something even better now, and he told
us."

	She was blinded with confusion.  "No.  He couldn't have been
working with you."

	His laugh echoed through the cold air.  "No!  He wasn't
working with us, god forbid, we gave up on psions decades ago..." his
words slowed, and his eyes slitted as he glared down at her.

	The chip flicked off.  

	"So, you're a psion, eh?  This changes things a bit."

	She shook her head.  "No.  No!"

	The Baig cracked his knuckles nonchalantly.  "You can't deny
it now.  We did a little test on you that we never even thought of
doing before we implanted the chip.  Little Orphan Raira is a psion."

	A deadly calm washed over her, bathing her in the soothing,
salty waves, as she finally arrived on her mind's shore.  She smiled
wryly, and lowered her head to her lover's chest.  She let her psionic
powers accumulate, and they flew together slowly at first, gaining
speed, concentrating into a tiny ball that had enough power to explode
an atomic bomb.

	Yes, she was powerful enough.

	Her mind burst into millions of pieces, shattering her soul.
The Baig gasped in shock as the fragments of her short, confused life
flew wildly about the Galaxy, spinning and spinning into the infinite
blackness.  Finally, she had the peace she'd always wanted and needed.