1 Making Her

The musk bath seemed to have no temperature to Yahaji. It was muted, numbed, shelling her, permiating her bloated skin as the gyre suckled greedily from each of her toes, collecting genetic material for insemination.

"How do you feel?" asked Laila, the rope, a fuzzy yellow batch mother with a voice filled with fake gentleness.

"A little disoriented" said Yahaji, struggling to control her quivering "And disturbed."

This was not her first contribution to the scientific advancement of uinly procreation, and she always found the whole process eery and unpleasant. During the procedure she was prone to hyperventilation, nausia, and syncope. Laila was always her partner, always fumbling through her accomodations with a cold certainty, entirely unphazed by her own incompatance.

Yahaji glanced down at the gang of maggot like males, squirming their fat, furry bodies, clicking and squeeling with their flaps and mounds. They were wiggling and advancing, having collected all the epithilial tissue and capillary blood they could safely aquire from her toes, they worked her way up her ankles, and stalled at her knees.

The rope lowered her long, fleshy tube of a face and forced Yahaji to make eye contact with her. She had sixteen eyes to choose from, all glossy, all spilling over with false sympathy, and wore a cheap imitation of a comforting smile.

"Understand that the gyre are not eating you or drinking your blood-"

"I know that." Yahaji interrupted, then considered the fact that uinly people as a whole didn't respond to, or seem to understand interuption. Uinly birthed large litters of babies, and each litter was connected through a collective consciencesness, with each sibling telepathically communicating continously and simultaneously. They often struggled to communicate with anyone outside of their own litters. As Laila droned on about alien procreation, despite Yahaji's interruption, the woman wondered what the rope and her mates were taking about right now. What she tasted like, maybe? The quality of her skin cells?

Eventually, Yahaji tuned back in to just in time to hear the end of the lesson.

"-They are our version of molecular geneticists, and an essential part of procreation. As Uinly do not procreate outside of their own litters, we choose and rely on the DNA of other species to provide much needed genetic diversity. I'd like to remind you that you volunteered for this in order to help us reach our goal of producing humanoid offspring. "

"I know," said Yahaji, rolling her eyes. This was how Laila always responded to Yahajis fear. 'I need this.' 'You chose this.' It was almost as if Laila delighted in being unpleasant.

"I think I'm just reacting to the musk."

She pulled a pruney hand out of the liquid, and watched it trickle down her red-brown skin. Her keloids were becoming much more tame, but it would probably take a few more sessions before they were entirely collected by the gyre.

It would all be worth it in the end, to recognize herself in the mirror. So hoped Yahaji.

"When our child is finished, will you come see her?" asked Laila, suddenly.

"Assuming this will actually work?"

"It will. Uinly have used this technique for centuries to adapt to many climates, both geographical and social. We won't fail."

"But have you used it to try to blend in with a species before?"

"No, and you are well aware that this is not our intention."

"Right, you think looking like us will help you live like us. That won't work, but by all means, keep making me pretty."

Laila scoffed, "I know that you're deflecting and I didn't forget about the question I asked you."

This was Laila. She never let things go. It wasn't as if Yahaji hadn't considered the reality of what it would mean for her to do this, to donate get flesh to the Uinly, she just tried her hardest to do it as little as possible. As if not thinking about it made it less real.

Yahaji sighed deep and slow.

" I don't mean to be rude but if I saw that they came out looking like you I'd need therapy. You're made out of human DNA too right?"

"Yes, along with many others earthlings. My batchmother prioritized effeciency over asthetics. However my sisters and I find that asthetics can improve efficiencey on earth, so we're trying a different approach."

"Creepy. I'm surprised no ones come to burn this entire place down."

"That would be illegal."

"So?"

Laila laughed aloud, her slit of a mouth opening and creating a chasm in her tubular body.

"I forget that each human only lives by it's own personal laws of morality."

"Yeah. I mean that's not entirely true, but, yeah."

Before Yahaji realized it, her body had become completely numb, which meant it was time for the gyre to go inside of her.

"Can I be sleep for this part?"

"No. But you can answer my initial question."

"What if I pass out again?"

"That is preferable. Stunning is only for those who try to run away. It's risky. You may be unconscious for several days. Instead you should answer my initial question."

Yahaji wondered, if she got up and started galloping around the den right now just to get stunned, would she still be able to finish her treatment? If she asked, Laila would know her intentions if Yahaji did decide to run, and the rope would refuse to stun her. Was it worth the try?

"I'll come. I shouldn't hide from my own choices right?"

Right?

"I'm glad," said Lailu, twisting her ugly face out of Yahaji's sight.

"Why? If it's about helping your children integrate there's always the cultural exchange program."

"I'd rather them learn from a good human, who'd bother to learn how to read our expressions. I know you're not fond of me but, I still appreciate that."

Lailu began to exude warmth, for the first time Yahaji believed the ropes gentle demenor and kind voice.

"The bar is way too low."