July 21^st, 2085, 21:11h – Eria’s Cottage, Living Room

Ruby was panting, exhausted, on her hands and knees, stockings ripped which caused the hardwood floors of the cottage to become even more unbearable, and she’d been like that since the end of dinner service. Sweat was again dripping from her brow, her motions forward and back, until finally, finally she managed to scrub the last caked on stain from the living room’s stone hearth. The heat from the flames didn’t help, it was 33 degrees, but Eria insisted on keeping it lit, likely knowing how it would influence increase Ruby’s discomfort. Never mind that she had been denied both lunch and dinner earlier, for reasons Eria refused to state.

Eria, wearing her gold and sapphire nightgown which was barely held in place by a loose belt walked up the rickety steps from the basement and looked weary for the first time Ruby could remember. Locking the basement door before pushing a book on a case beside it, the case moved to hide the door. Ruby, having finally completed her task with less than four minutes to spare, collapsed on the stones, breath heaving against her bodice which Eria kept tightened throughout the day.

After the scene with the cane, Ruby had woken from her sleep still in pain, but Eria lovingly spread a top-tier healing balm across Ruby’s stricken skin, before stitching the gashes which were too wide, saying she’d remember to give another treatment after ‘you go under again’. After lunch it was attending to Eria on the beach; then collecting firewood; then organizing the attic; then serving her coffee and attending to her base carnal desires; before having to wash from doing so; then prepare dinner; followed by Eria’s insistence that the entire first, second, and third floors be quote, ‘spotless by 21:15’ (two hours from when dinner was served, which she was still expected to attend to Eria during).

Without her memories, Ruby couldn’t recall the strict cleanliness of her first years in the military. She had the endurance, but it was knowing how to clean which was the issue, something Eria gave no guidance on, instead saying she needed to work on some projects and disappearing until right before the deadline.

Eria ignored Ruby as she rested, and instead went to the third floor and began her assessment, holding a lantern with a light which emulated those carried in the Victorian Era. Ruby pushed herself off the ground and realized the cleaning supplies around her probably had to be put away as well, and did so, before guzzling glasses of water from the sink and resting on the couch which still had the hypnotic sapphire concealed upon the nearby coffee table. Ruby could vaguely remember something about that covering, but like most of her thoughts that didn’t concern Eria and her tasks they were hazy, locked away by the woman who eventually made her way down to the first floor.

Eria seemed to be doing better, at least. Her mood had lifted, but she still ignored Ruby. Saving the living room for last, Ruby listened to Eria whistle a tune she couldn’t identify, the NATO National Anthem, while walking through the kitchen and finally emerging into the living room. She had a white glove on, and still not speaking to Ruby, traced lines along the floor, mantle, bookcases, anywhere dirt might still be hiding, before stooping down and pressing her hand against the stone hearth. Ruby couldn’t see the result until Eria casually strolled over to her and raised the glove’s palm and fingers.

“Ruby, what is the definition of spotless?”

Ruby, who was still herself despite the temporary loss of her memories smiled, “That glove, Mistress?”

Eria looked at the glove, its white material marred by a few streaks of dirt. “Then your definition isn’t the only thing in need of correction.”

Ruby, still out of breath and fighting her bodice, looked up at her in defiance. “Another game?”

“This was the game.”

“That Doll you said you have in the basement would deliver you a spotless house, Mistress Eria.”

Eria sighed, “I never use it. Dolls aren’t worth a damn.” She composed herself, “But you did better than expected.” Eria pulled off the glove and thew it into the fire, watching it burn while Ruby sat across the room. “I give impossible tasks to those who submit to me, because the thrill of punishing them afterwards is part of the fun. You almost defied the odds, but still failed.”

Ruby’s body tensed, “Then what’ve you got planned for me?”

“Quite a bit.” Eria walked over and sat right next to Ruby, running a hand through her thick black hair. “But breathe easy, because your punishment isn’t going to be physical, and depending on how this goes, not even psychological.”

“I don’t understand.” Ruby tried remembering anything relevant to the situation, but the world outside the cottage was blank. She wasn’t even entirely sure if there was one, even if she had glimpsed it while outdoors.

Eria, instead of torturing Ruby, brought her by the hand to the couch. Eria firmly wrapped her arm around her and pulled it in, laying back on the couch with Ruby falling on top of her. Ruby immediately could feel a slight difference in Eria’s body, her breasts had swelled, even more than she noticed that afternoon. Eria played with Ruby’s hair before saying, “Last night we talked about your past, then I spent a very long time in your head.” She seemed uncomfortable but pressed on. “Ruby, and for the purposes of this question you may remember scraps of your past which are relevant before shutting them away after answering, have you ever felt loved?”

Ruby’s reply didn’t take long. “No.” What wracked memories she felt were locked back away in an instant.

“I didn’t think so.” Eria studied Ruby’s reaction. “How do you feel admitting that?”

Ruby, with the knowledge that her entire life (however long that may have been, but in her present state guessed about 32 years) had gone without something, felt like it should bother her but never managed because, “You can’t miss something you never had.”

Eria, speaking with concern gave her another order, “Memories open until answered as before: ‘Do you know what love is?’.”

This hurt Ruby, so she answered as quickly as possible, nearly howling from the weight of the world. “Yes!”

Immediately Eria followed up, “Memories shut away, but in answering you only draw on your impressions left by them, not their content or graphic details. What is love to you?”

Ruby, more at ease answered. “Lust for, companionship, but… something more? I’m guessing you’re not talking about how I love my M1911, so yeah, that’s it. Lust and companionship that lasts?”

Eria pulled back her nightgown, revealing her bare and swollen breasts. “There are a few reasons I gave you my card. The first was a good fuck, the second was that I fucking knew you had a lovely submissive and even masochistic side that needed to play, but the third was how I saw you and Xavier interact and the destruction you caused for a pittance. Love isn’t some cure all to an ailing mind, but last night it became clear that it was something you’re missing.”

Ruby didn’t know how to react, “I can’t miss what I’ve never had.”

“You’ve had what you defined as love. I saw you and Mikea, you obviously care for the- girl. But your definition is as sad as your situation.” Eria brought Ruby’s head down towards one of her breasts. “So, I have a plan for the next forty-eight hours. I’m going to show you love, in many forms. As I already did this morning.”

“When you beat me so hard I needed stitches?”

“When I carried you to bed, tucked you in, made sure to stay close, brought you water, and held you as you cried, while we quietly spoke about the experience. Did that not help?”

“Yeah, it helped me process what happened and made it clear that it was play.” Ruby’s lips practically graced Eria’s left nipple as she spoke. “It felt nice. It felt…” Ruby knew the word but couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Safe. Safe like you cared for me, and all that shit.”

“The love between a Mistress and her sub. All throughout that morning as I was beating you, I was keeping a close eye on you. I would have stopped at the first sign of dissociation or paralyzing fear, but you ached for it, and we both felt that.”

“I fucking did…” An emboldened Ruby graced her tongue once across Eria’s nipple, to her temporary Mistress’ approval.

“Yes, there you go… But before we start on that, I want to say that everything you’ve done today has been difficult, outright humiliating, and/ or intensely painful, but you did it in service to me. You allowed yourself, last night, to let go of your past and enter yourself into my household, and today you’ve proven what a high caliber servant you can be. I’m proud of you, Ruby.”

“Well, I just did what came naturally, Mistress Eria.” The compulsion to address her as Mistress was so strange, but every time she said it doing so became less embarrassing.

Eria tilted Ruby’s chin up so their eyes could meet. “I’ve fallen in love with you being mine. Feel within yourself and answer truthfully, do you feel something- perhaps something you can’t articulate- which compelled you to stay here, with me specifically, and do what you’ve done today?”

Ruby was silent for nearly a minute, her eyes darting slightly, “Is this love?”

“You tell me. Think about tomorrow, and the next and the next. They won’t be the same, but your service will continue, to me. How would you describe that? How would you describe me as your Mistress?”

Ruby started to understand, “I would want that, Mistress.”

“How much?”

“I really want that, Mistress.”

“And me?”

“I think I…” Ruby’s lips quivered, “I think I- There’s a memory I can’t use.”

“Use it.”

“I think I loved you by the pool, when we fought!”

Eria seemed surprised, “When we fought?”

“Well, here’s this blazing hot chick who’s making me feel all sorts of things, and fucking challenging me even when Xavier’s device is poisoning me…” Ruby trailed off and Eria immediately blocked the memory. “I’m sorry, I can’t remember what I was saying.” Ruby looked to Eria, “But I- I- I- I…” So confused, it was at the tip of her tongue, but she’d never said it. “You’re fucking kickass, and I think I love you? I feel something strong, at least…” She looked at Eria’s delight in her breakthrough. “I was going to add, ‘when we do this’ but… How do you love someone? Can it be this fast? That’s fucking stupid. How can you tell when it's something you’ve never known?”

“I once knew a couple that met at a bar on trivia night. He sat across from her as they formed teams. By the end, people were asking how long they’d been a couple. Upon hearing they’d known each other for four hours, a friend of mine bet they’d be married in a year. He lost that bet, it took two.”

“But I don’t have my memories. You know more about me than I know about you, and what if you’ve done some fucked up shit to me?”

“Unlock all relevant memories to Eria Piper and the surrounding context.”

Ruby’s eyes blinked as she searched them. “No; shit. I mean, you dommed me, but what I hated was that Xavier put that thing in me, it was poisoning me. It wasn’t you. The hate I felt, the disgust in myself, that came from what he did to me. You and I, we just played… Like we did this morning. I hated myself for submitting but…” She looked down at her outfit, and where she lay. “Fuck me.”

“I’ve done that enough today.” Eria tapped the tip of Ruby’s nose with a smile. “What Xavier did to you was horrific, but think about today; have I ever hypnotically compelled you to do anything you didn’t want?”

Ruby shook her head, “No, I’ve just been doing… if I lived another life.”

“Ruby, safely open up your memories. They can’t lash out and hurt you, but you need to process this.”

Ruby hated herself for becoming emotional, but Eria began to stroke her hair again. “If I hadn’t been born to that family, if I hadn’t gone to those schools… If I’d been born female… If I hadn’t joined the military… I don’t know. It’s done now, it’s all done and done.”

“Yes, it is. You can’t change the past. However, look around. What do you see?”

“I see that box over that sapphire you used. I see a cozy manor. I see a fire that needs to be put out because it’s fucking hot in here…”

“When emotional it’s common for the body temperature to rise in some, but yes, I’ll douse it after we’re done.” Eria wrapped both arms around Ruby and held her close.

“You’re making it hotter, Mistress…” Ruby complained, before finishing her thought. “There’s you. Fuck, you make me feel- different. I’m still a fucking domme too!”

“Oh, believe me!” Eria nodded, “I’ve never doubted that. Your streak of domination is so deep it’s fused to your soul, I found that out last night while testing the depths of your subconscious. But it’s the direction you set yourself in that matters, I feel like sometimes that part of you just erupts in every direction. Your dominance runs wild and free, while your submission stays locked away. But look down at me, what do you see?”

“Someone I’m starting to love.” Was all Ruby said.

“I see someone I’m starting to love too.”

“Why are you doing this? Not this love- well maybe the love stuff?” Ruby’s defenses began to rise. “Why take three whole days on me?”

“Because a long time ago, someone taught me what it was like to love.” Eria teared up for the first time Ruby could remember. She didn’t shed any, but they glistened in her eyes. “And because when I first saw you, my sense of empathy was assaulted by the fact that you were alone, that you were scared, and then you were violated. To which I still played a regrettable part. If it wouldn’t have given away the game, I would have wrenched that thing from your neck.”

“Another game, Mistress?”

“One you’ve been a pawn in for quite some time, one pawn amongst many you’ve never known. But this isn’t the time for this, so put your memories outside this manor away now.”

Ruby’s weight fell against Eria. “I think I understand now, at least.”

“Good, because I want to show you another kind of love.” Ruby was intrigued and nodded to her. Eria nearly laughed, “Okay, maybe I’m stretching the definition here but this is an emergency. My tits are fucking unbearable! That injection I took this morning? The lactation one? The potency with my body chemistry is making them bloat, with highly nutritious milk for an adult human, part of the mommy fetish thing. You haven’t eaten since breakfast, and you must be starving, which I did intentionally. I need you to help yourself. Alleviate me of this burden and get everything you need.”

“Maternal love? Ruby guessed.

“There are many kinds, I’ve shown you a few, but no, this isn’t one of them. The dose is having an interaction with my aging treatments, and it only just stopped building. But sure, drink me in, and think of nothing but that ember of love you have for me or whatever. Just get on this, my chest really fucking hurts!”

Ruby’s hunger was quickly sated as she dove on Eria’s breasts, suckling at her swollen breasts which had grown beyond even the impressive but tasteful size they were normally. Eria for her part lay against a pillow, and began to play with herself, flicking her clit at first before diving fingers deeper as the pleasure from Ruby’s ‘dinner’ became overwhelming. The unburdening of her miscalculation, all by the lips and tongue of a gorgeous girl in a maid outfit that occasionally got squirted and splattered by milk.

By the time it was over, and Eria finally had corrected her mistake, she ran one finger along Ruby’s lips and tasted for herself. “Not bad. A little sweet, actually. Must be the brand. There’s a whole line of these things, but I didn’t think you’d be in the mood for sucking on my tips and tasting a strawberry milkshake.” An evil glint crossed her eyes, as Ruby sat up on her chest. “Daybreak.”

As had happened that morning, Ruby’s body was hit with a shattering orgasm after a single second of pain, for seasoning. Eria watched, realizing she’d need to have the couch cleaned, as Ruby came immediately and hard, first over her dress, then Eria’s, before her juices seeped through to the leather. “One more thing to clean before you sleep tonight! There’s quite a bit of laundry too!” Eria laughed at the sight, but also was content, knowing that Ruby was in the throes of pleasure she’d never known before that day. Eria let it go on for a couple minutes before speaking, “Nightfall.” As quickly as it had come, Ruby returned to normal.

“Fucking hell…” Ruby, weary from the experience fell onto Eria’s chest, something well welcomed. “Can we do that all the time?”

“It’d fry your brain.”

“I don’t care, Mistress.”

“I mean…” Eria thought, “At a certain point, you technically wouldn’t… But I need to lucid, and prefer you that way.”

“Give me more, please Mistress Eria.” Ruby pleaded.

“There’ll be more, but first we have to plan for tomorrow. Two things; first your maid duties aren’t done, clean this couch, then do the laundry, you already know where to do so despite having never seen the laundry room. And the second is a question…”

Ruby gasped and would have felt embarrassed by her soaked panties if it weren’t for the fact Eria had practically ordered it. “Which is?”

“Second Sun has a habit of buying out companies, and assets are often acquired which intrigue us with their use cases. I have a device, similar to one used on you before, however instead of overriding your nervous system and bending you to my will, because I don’t need chrome for that, it will allow you to interface with temporary, I’m stressing that: temporary, aesthetic implants. I have an idea I want to try, but I won’t without your consent.”

“What temporary implants would these be, Mistress?” Ruby wasn’t averse to the idea but was curious.

“You’ll find out when you wake up tomorrow. Nothing too extravagant, just three pieces really. And I’ll be there all the way, because I wouldn’t miss the chance to see how your liberated mind would be influenced by them, not by force, but simply by inhabiting a slightly, very slightly different form… What do you say? It will require my use of the sapphire, and some minor surgery, but the implants will be removed by the time you sleep tomorrow.”

Ruby, in her state where memories were difficult to know and access, did have some worries which bled out from the box Eria had placed them in. “Xavier?” Was the only word she got out.

“Nothing like that.” Eria wrapped her arms tight around Ruby. “Xavier’s cruelty isn’t here, and have I not taken good care of you today?”

“You have, Mistress.”

“Are you not curious?”

“I am, Mistress.”

“I can remove them at any time. So, what do you say?”

Ruby trusted Eria, “Sounds good… When do we start, Mistress?”

Eria looked around the room, “After you’ve done the laundry and cleaned this couch…” She looked down at Ruby. “How do you find maid work?”

“It is relaxing, but I am very tired, and the milk is still… processing.”

Eria sat Ruby up and pulled over the Sapphire, unmasking it. Immediately Ruby’s conscious mind was lost in its immensely complex and beautiful design. Eria wrapped one arm around her and whispered into her ear. “Until you wake tomorrow at precisely 0700h, your conscious mind will sleep. Perform your maid duties in blissful, mindless trance, with no memories made until that time tomorrow. Once your duties are done, enter the basement, and go to the far room at the end of the hall. You will not notice any of the other doors, nor any noises which come from them. There you will lie face down on the table, and when I prick you with the anesthetic, both conscious and subconscious mind will go blank until you wake. Understood, my love?”

Ruby responded in trance, “Yes, Mistress.”

“Then get to work. The basement will be unlocked, so come down as soon as you’ve finished. Oh, and have a drink of water, you look like you need it.”

July 22^nd, 2085, 06:57h – Eria’s Cottage, Mistress’ Bedroom

Eria sat on the side of her bed with a coffee, wrapped in her sapphire and gold nightgown, looking down at Ruby whose mind wouldn’t reawaken for another few minutes. She kept an eye on her watch, and knowing she had time, knelt beside the plush, comfortable little bed Ruby was curled up on and reached under the fluffy blanket which covered her naked form. She gently stroked along Ruby’s side, all the way past the curve of her ass, and down one leg. Her fingers caught a feeling of what had been implanted into Ruby’s tailbone but didn’t want to play with that until she was awake.

A couple kind and loving of strokes of Ruby’s hair, still long, dark, and wavy, silky as she’d given Ruby a proper wash. She warmly remembered having Ruby unconscious, being showered personally by her, every inch scrubbed and cleaned. As the hour drew close, and knowing how good Ruby’s internal clock was, she sat back up on the bed and waited with her coffee.

The moment the second hand on her watch hit 0700h, Ruby’s mind reactivated and the girl’s eyes fluttered open, waking from a sleep Eria programmed would be one of the deepest, most rejuvenating Ruby would have ever had. Ruby’s eyes opened to see the bare feet of her Mistress, and almost on instinct, without any prompting from Eria, she leaned forward and instead of the kiss she intended, began to lick between Eria’s toes.

Eria laughed delightfully, “Oh my! Now, is that just because you’re happy to see me, or did something compel you to do so?” Ever the academic, Eria was excited not just for this day of play, but also to understand if the non-cognitive implants in Ruby would affect her behaviour. “How are you feeling?”

Ruby was alert almost immediately, “Never felt better.”

Eria probed, “And why did you just lick my toes?”

“I don’t know.” Ruby shook her head, “It felt appropriate.” She felt the blanket over her, knew she was naked underneath. “I thought I’d wake up in that nice little room again.”

“That’s for a maid, not for you.”

“So, I’m not a maid anymore?” Ruby wasn’t sure what to do with that information. The purity of purpose against the difficulty of the work was… a confusing melody she both despised and craved.

“Do maids sleep in a little bed by their Mistress’ big bed?” Eria’s tone was soothing, kind, and protective. “But that begs the question, if you’re not a maid anymore and you woke up like this, what are you now? I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”

“I really haven’t.” Yet Ruby had barely moved while conversing with Eria.

“Listen to my voice, does it sound any different?”

“Clearer?” Yes, that was it. “Yeah, actually I can hear the world better now.” She reached up and felt the ears on the side of her head, the human ears, however as she tapped them, she realized that they registered no sound. “How am I hearing?”

“Up.”

Ruby reached through her hair, and finally to a pair of dark furry fox ears, in a colour which matched her hair perfectly. She felt that they were triangular, stuck straight up, and even had a small tuft of fur within them to protect from dust and debris. She could hear her fingers grace them, and even feel them. Ruby looked stunned for a moment and sat up, letting the blanket fall off her body. That’s when she felt the sensation of the falling blanket’s resistance against her tail- no, nine tails, and she realized she could twitch every one individually, or control them as if they were one large floofy tail. “Kitsune…”

“You have new eyes too, just a temporary change, but you’ll be seeing things near the ground slightly better than you will while standing up due to your pupils being slits instead of dots. Anything else you notice?”

“The light is just fine; I can see everything… perfectly.”

Eria clapped her hands once. “I didn’t want to skew the results! I wanted to see how well you could see in the dark without being told. Your old eyes will be re-implanted when this is done, you may see them when we return to the operating room if you wish.”

“I feel like a science project.”

“You are. Don’t worry, you’re not the only person to experience one of these devices, they’re benign things without a single failure case.” Eria admitted, “This experience has been an incredible learning experience for me. I’m getting to learn about a person’s relationship to their memories, about shame, and now…” She didn’t want to get carried away or frighten Ruby. “But that was never my primary goal.” She stood up from the bed and reached her hand down to Ruby. “Want to check yourself out in the mirror?”

The rest of Ruby’s body was as it was and responded as it had always done. Still, even as Eria lifted her up, Ruby couldn’t help but splay out her nine tails in a circle, confirming they were prehensile. The display caught Eria’s eye, and she hurried Ruby to where a full-length mirror stood before she let them slip back down. Ruby saw her naked form, free of fur or markings, but that Eria in designing her hairstyle must have purposefully hidden her human ears, while her kitsune ears sat proudly just to each side of the top of her head. She wiggled each one while pulling her tails together to swish them around and across her pussy in a mild display of modesty. Then she leaned in to inspect her eyes, the slits weren’t extreme, as she’d need to see well standing up, but they were there. Her irises had been changed to a ruby red.

At first Ruby wasn’t sure what to make of it. However, as Eria observed out of the mirror’s line of sight, Ruby quickly mastered her new body and more than enjoying it, she seemed to revel in a body that was recognizably hers, but with some added features. She did ask, “I thought dogs, foxes and the like couldn’t see many colours.”

“Kitsune were fiction until recently, everyone took liberties when the technology became available, for both for Dolls and gene modded individuals. The general consensus was firmly established they have a keen sense of colour, more than the average human. Also, you might find violets, neon lights, black and gold contrasts, vivid translucent colours oddly particularly appealing, these eyes come from Korea so… that whole thing. Someone close to me had a liking for a game featuring one… Your outfit might match that character’s in her memory.” Eria sounded wistful. “Now, I haven’t quite decided what to do with you. It was all going to come down to how you liked this form.”

“I fucking love it! It actually…” Ruby swished her tails back and forth, enjoying the perfect control she had over them. “You’d think a trans woman would hate being fucked with, but everything’s like it should, and whatever device you’re using has me feeling and understanding what the new stuff’s giving me perfectly! I’m not feeling any dysphoric effects.”

Eria walked into the mirror’s sight and wrapped her arms around Ruby. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you like this. This wasn’t possible decades and decades ago, now we can explore our ‘humanity’, and it’s put a real smile on your face.”

“I’m as surprised as you are.” Ruby admitted. “Got a fetish for this too?”

Eria paused, not sure how she wanted to answer. “As I said, I knew someone a long time ago who had a thing for kitsunes, she’d often joke w- of getting one as a pet. Arguing the intelligence of a human fused with the body of just the cutest…” Eria began stroking along Ruby’s ears, something Ruby found intensely arousing to the point Eria quickly saw her turn red. “Body. Nothing horrid like bestiality, just a cute kitsune on a leash, as she’d suggest. Oh, shit… You need a collar. I have one, it’s ostentatious and wild, K-Pop inspired. One second.”

Ruby kept admiring herself in the mirror but had to keep her tail in front of her pussy, and she even wrapped one arm around her breasts, best not to think erotic thoughts after Eria inspired so many by playing with her ears. Eria returned quickly and wrapped a collar around her neck, the band looked like a sparkling sapphire, and it was textured with diamond patterns which rose slightly to peak, while a river of gold filled the cracks. In the back, there was a ring which held the two sides together, which Eria had designed to be released with the press of a small button, otherwise it could hold Ruby tugging on it all day. The front had a small ring, with an ivory identification tag. The back had ‘Property of Dr. Eria Piper’, Eria’s number, and Ruby’s blood type. The front simply read in black letters against the ivory: Ariadne. Nothing about what Eria did helped Ruby stifle her arousal.

“I wanted to go with your NATO surname, which is by pure coincidence closer, but that would be playing with fire. I visited your shop and perused your catalogue one day and considered Blake, because your name is Ruby, but I believe she’s a kitty sort of character whereas a kitsune’s fox traits would put them in the Canidae family and not Felidae. Remind me when your memory is back if selling Dolls named Ruby is ever weird for you.”

“Eria and Ariadne? Won’t that get confusing?”

“I think it’s a cute couple thing. Besides, names in the same vein of one another seem to be your thing when it comes to my life, and you’ll be back to Ruby soon enough.” Ruby wasn’t sure what she meant by that but didn’t quite know how to pursue the question. “You must be starving. I have breakfast waiting for you, it’s in the living room.” She attached a long leather leash to the collar. “Come on, let’s get you fed.”

Ruby was made to lead the way, with Eria smiling and playing with the leash as they entered the living room. Looking around, Ruby didn’t find breakfast waiting on the coffee table, or any other surface, before noticing two silver bowls on the floor, by the entrance to the kitchen. Eria explained, “You’re not a true kitsune, that would require a couple years of gene therapy and I felt that would be an absence which would be difficult to justify when you return home. However, kitsune specific food is sold (in very specialty markets) and it’s suitably nutritious for a human without any additives that will cause you problems. I wonder how you’ll find it, given your tongue and nose are still tuned to a human body. It may not be as appealing…”

“Any chance of eggs and toast? A coffee?”

“I fried a couple eggs and mixed them in, and you have a bowl of water right there.”

“Do I have to?”

“Are you hungry?” Eria had a sly smirk. “Because I know you are after all that energy your body had to spend during the installation process.”

Ruby was ravenously hungry, but had been trying to ignore it, thinking breakfast was just around the corner. “It looks like a mush of dog food and odd substances.”

“And your wellbeing is important to me, so I’m ordering you to get down on all fours and eat until you can lick the bowl clean, and finish your water too, it’s going to be another scorcher.”

With the order given, Ruby’s body compelled her to drop to her knees and with Eria still holding the leash, sitting herself down comfortably in a chair to watch, she pressed her non-kitsune calibrated nose to the meal. It faintly smelled like meat, red meat, with maybe some chicken but that was about what she could discern. Still, the order drove her to take a bite. It wasn’t terrible, but her tongue was unable to properly taste what apparently was the highest quality kitsune feed on the market. Its tastes were muted, perhaps a blessing, as she began to work at the pile. At one point she reached out take some in her hand and eat it that way, something which made Eria pause her in place.

“So… a kitsune can use their hands, but I rather wanted to see you eat like a dog… but that’s not what you are. Unpause and go ahead, I’ll allow it.” Eria reasoned, and Ruby resumed eating, even using her hands to scoop water up to her mouth. “Yes, this is fine, but you had better clean yourself after.”

When the meal was done, Ruby had to drag her tongue along her hands and between her fingers, until Eria was satisfied. “There. Done.”

Eria knelt and rubbed Ruby’s fox ears, “Good girl! Your hair’s going to be so nice and shiny. How was it?”

“A little tasteless.”

“I don’t know, I thought it was adorable.” Eria joked. “What you might find tasteless is that I’m taking you outside so you can excrete any waste you have.”

“This kitsune is using the bathroom! I’m still humanoid.”

Was counting on Ruby calling her bluff, but still had to maintain authority, “Fine.” She took the leash off the ring. She pointed to a white box on a table by the windows. “Do what you must, then put that on, and find me outside.”

Ruby stepped outside looking like a pop star, with leggings that were a complex web of dark opaque panels and translucent lighter ones, a one piece of dark violets, gold, with a white and gold halter at the top, and a sharp-edged golden earring which fit perfectly into the pierced hole Eria had made in her left ear the night before. It felt familiar, but she had never engaged with the culture which spawned it. Still, it was an outfit that wasn’t entirely brand new, despite no evidence that anyone had ever worn it. The outfit had fibers that were Old World, and it was in absolute pristine condition, despite evidence that it had been tailored somewhat presumably to fit her body. A strange relic for Eria to have, and one that had obviously been cared for despite Ruby being the first to wear it. Care, Eria was full of it and showed it through her actions and maintenance of these artifacts, but Ruby couldn’t help but feel a bizarre impression of melancholy when she looked at herself in the mirror.

Melancholy, something that could be used to describe a great number of things involving Eria during Ruby’s stay. There was the book she glanced at when deciding on a safe word, the specific location of the cottage which (for a security minded woman) could have been built in any number of more suitable locations, the fact that she had a Doll and yet never used it, and the way in which Eria spoke to Ruby at times. The wistful cadence to her compliments, the hesitations, and quick correction of certain word choices. Ruby wasn’t the most empathetic person in the world, but she had to ask herself, why a Victorian cottage? Why did Eria, a queen of fusion energy and the entirety of academia, choose this style? Ruby had expected something modern, or even something harkening to the 1990’s or early 2000’s, not an 1800’s cottage whose materials and condition were anachronistic, the building was clearly under forty years old.

Ruby could have been wrong, and she consciously believed herself to be so. Her historical knowledge and ability to be empathetic were both limited at the best of time, and she was missing most of her memories. Still, ingrained into her subconscious over her century-long life was the instinctual ability to feel inconsistencies, to understand when somewhere or someone wasn’t what they seemed, and while she felt no malice in place or person during the trip, the depths of her mind were adamant that she was missing something critical in understanding Eria and her relationship to the cottage. She had hazy memories, looking at the bookshelf, ones which made it seem like the whole thing wasn’t sitting right, even if by all accounts it was perfectly normal. Worse still, was the smallest impression of having once heard weeping from whatever was behind it. No matter, it was her imagination, and she had an order to follow.

Ruby walked out to the wide path leading to the beach and began looking for Eria. The colours really were more vivid, although her non-augmented or bio-enhanced brain couldn’t fully appreciate what her eyes were sending it. Quietly treading across the narrow dirt path which had been trampled to make a walkway, she looked but couldn’t see any sign of Eria. Reaching the beach, she felt the heat on her body, and the not unpleasant sting of the scorching rays on her ears. She burrowed her toes into the sand and took a moment to look over the serene lake, to the dense pile of trees aways across it, and all around her, the Lake of Bays living up to its name as being a continuous mixture of water and greenery.

Eria whistled from a hammock a little way into the lush forest behind Ruby and to her right. “Ariadne!” She whistled again. “Here, girl!” Ruby turned and saw her, as she reclined in a rope hammock securely bolted to two trees. “Come here!”

Ruby didn’t notice she was running towards Eria at first, and when she got to the hammock and leapt into it, the bolts fully capable of supporting the weight, but causing the hammock to start shaking side to side as Eria held on, laughing the entire time. As the hammock came to a rest, Eria reached up and stroked Ruby’s hair, and admired the outfit. “Not something I ever would have chosen, but I didn’t choose it for me.” She softly scritched behind Ruby’s left ear, something which caused Ruby to melt into Eria’s arms. “There we go…” Eria spoke in that deep, soothing voice. “There we go…”

“What do you want me to do?” Ruby asked.

“Stay here with me.” Eria wrapped her arms around her. “Be my beautiful, cuddly pet, my dear Ariadne…” She snickered. “If you’d gotten gene modded, this is when I’d take you to a special vet to have your shots and be inspected, but this is just for today.”

“I’m glad I could avoid that humiliation…”

“Oh, I can’t help but feel you’d revel in some of it.” Eria graced her hands along Ruby’s tails. “Excellent, nice and floofy.”

Ruby was still expecting something, “Is this where we’ll fuck?”

Eria looked past her for a moment, stroking her back. “No. This is where I hold you, pet you, call you a beautiful creature, and we talk.”

Ruby worried, “How can I talk without my memories?”

“We can talk about anything. I want to hear what’s on Ariadne’s mind.”

That name did something to her, “I…” She wasn’t sure what she should say. “This is nice?”

“It is. But why the inflection?”

“I worry I’m not very good conversation. I feel like I never have been.”

Eria leaned in and kissed Ruby’s lips. “Tomorrow’s our last day, at least for some time. I have plenty of delightfully dirty things planned then. Today? I just want to lay in this hammock, read the novel laying by me, and let you cuddle me and play.”

“Play?”

“When’s the last time you just- played? You’re a kitsune today, a foxy gal should have all kinds of ideas. Here. Forget the hammock, up!” Eria waited for Ruby to stand before getting off herself. She took the novel she was halfway through and directed Ruby to the beach. Tossing the novel on a Muskoka chair, dressed in a sapphire and gold bathing suit wrapped in a translucent ivory white skirt, she dashed into the knee-high water. Turning to Ruby she held out her arms, “Come on, Ariadne! Come on, girl!”

Ruby ran into the water, her feet gracing sand and small stones, a few loose sticks that had sunk, and tried to leap right into Eria’s arms before Eria took off running. Kicking up water, weaving through it, looking back at Ruby as Ruby chased her down. Eventually Eria’s pet caught up with her, after all, Ariadne had access to Ruby’s physical conditioning. With a pounce, they were both underwater, playfully wrestling around before resurfacing and Eria began the chase all over again.

The next many hours were spent with Ruby playing with Eria in the water, and later with Eria reading her novel while resting one leg on Ruby’s back as the kitsune played in the sand. There were some strong animal instincts in her, even if Eria never programmed them. Perhaps it was simply how Ruby would have played if ever given the chance.

Lunch brought more kitsune chow for Ruby, with Eria gradually sliding some cold cuts to her as Ruby lay under the table. “I won’t tell your owner if you don’t.” Eria joked.

“What’s the punishment for this?”

“You might be stuck this way someday.”

Ruby, who internally had begun to see herself as Ariadne, didn’t mind. “Proper gene modifications?”

“Complete and total. Not even NATO would be able to read your biometric signature. At least, I’m working on a way to make that possible… I work on a lot of things. But not here.” Eria reached down and stroked Ruby’s fox ears. “Here, it’s just about you.”

“I thought I was serving you.”

Eria held Ruby’s collar and brought her to the couch, wrapping an arm around her. “You are, but am I not providing for you?” She wasn’t offended, she understood why Ruby couldn’t see it. “We’re providing for each other. I haven’t had a time like that since long before the Old World died.”

“Plenty of daylight left.” Ruby mentioned. “Still not down for a fuck?”

“I don’t want to.” Eria admitted. “Like I said, time for that tomorrow. Right now, I’m just…” She was caught, and felt her eye twitch, and Ruby watched a tear drop along Eria’s cheek. “I just want to play… Or maybe I could nap.”

“You were probably up late doing all this to me.” Ruby pointed to her tails.

“Come, Ariadne. Come keep your Mistress cozy as she naps.” Eria stretched out on the couch and Ruby happily pressed her weight down, their bodies together as Eria gently rubbed and stroked Ruby’s kitsune features while relaxing. Right before Eria dozed off her guard dropped, and Ruby heard her say, “We used to do this too…”

July 22^nd, 2085, 17:40 – Eria’s Cottage, Living Room

Eria’s eyes snapped open as she found Ruby clutching her head and howling in pain on the floor. She had nearly smashed the coffee table as she fell, instead her knee struck one of the edges and was bleeding, but Ruby paid it no mind. She was screaming incoherently, violently thrashing on the floor, and as Eria tried to approach her to help, she realized that Ruby was grasping, clawing at where she’d installed the implant.

“IT’S HURTING ME!!” Ruby screamed. “IT HURTS! IT HURTS!”

“How?!”

“IT’S INSID- INSIDE- INSIDE MY HEAD!!”

Medical training kicking in, Eria carefully removed Ruby’s collar so she could breathe and tossed it aside, burrowing it between pieces of furniture. She managed to pick Ruby up and place her on the couch face down so she could examine her. The implant shouldn’t have any way to interface with the brain like this, and certainly not cause pain.

“Your implants hurt?”

“EVERYTHING HURTS!!”

Running her hands along Ruby’s neck, she felt movement up towards her skull, like a wire was wriggling its way into her. “This isn’t supposed to happen! This can’t happen!”

“It is! FUCK!!”

“I need my medical bag; I’ll be right back!” Eria fled to move a bookshelf and pressed in the copy of Jane Eyre, it moved aside, and she unlocked the basement before disappearing downstairs.

Ruby barely heard it through the pain, but that faint weeping could be heard again. She ignored it, the pain was only getting worse. Trying to claw out the implant, she could feel it, and she could feel the wire (now wires) pressing into her skull.

Eria rushed back upstairs and locked the door before moving the bookcase back in front of it. Ruby, laying on the couch, grasping her head as the implant’s tendrils burrowed further inside her, came to the realization this must have a purpose. She couldn’t feel it within her brain, given its lack of sensory nerves, but she could feel the implant’s tendrils enter her brain at the stem, and occasionally striking the top side of her skull. As soon as that sensation was felt, the tendrils drove back into her, but it was enough of a clue. She couldn’t remember what was there, but she knew Eria would.

“What’s at the top of the head? Inside?”

“The cerebral cortex. Higher reasoning, motor function, spatial reasoning, and long-term memories.”

“Memories!” Ruby yelled. “What other function would it have if it wasn’t going for those?! If it wanted me dead, it could have destroyed me by now!!”

Eria agreed, placing a blanket over Ruby before trying to collect herself, focusing on the task at hand. “And packaging them up through hypnosis will only obscure them, given my research into the sapphire’s effects, but it doesn’t erase…”

Ruby looked at Eria with fear in her eye, “Why me?! You said you used these things on other people? Why this one? Why me? Do you reuse them?!”

“Never! This one was no different from the others on the shelf, I just plucked it out!”

Ruby tried to focus, while her motor control wasn’t the target she was finding it increasingly difficult to speak, feeling as if one of the tendrils was after her ability to do so. “What memories would it want?!”

Eria had a guess, “Are your NATO…” She realized Ruby wouldn’t know. “I can keep those safe…”

“No, you can’t. Unlock them!”

“That might send it straight to the areas of your brain those are stored.”

“I can’t- I can’t speak long, unlock them, I need to know! I need to know! I’m strong, I can hold it off! DO IT!!”

“Ruby, unlock all memories associated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization superstate.”

Ruby’s eyes blinked. “Phone, plug it into th- the?” Her mind was shutting down. “No time! Phone! Dial 937-M5A9-JJG2! Plug wall no wireless!” Eria immediately found her phone and ran to grab the cord sticking out from a nearby wall (which was coiled up inside it) which enabled long-range wired communications. Dialing in the sequence exactly after one ring a man answered.

“Peter’s Taxidermy: You snuff ‘em, we stuff ‘em.”

Eria thought she had dialed the wrong string, but Ruby barely reached out her shaking hand for the phone. Ultimately Eria had to hold it up to her ear. What followed was incomprehensible to Eria, as Ruby spoke: “Fýaral! Fýaral! Fýaral! Ma- ma mettedö HOTEL-KILO-843496. Cystëicht! Vérda keysal! Slirúx NATO! TRÏDAS PAQI NATO! VÉRDA KEYSAL- CYSTËICHT PAQI. Eria Piper masweft! Ma dö almadöt Eria! Döma ünalmadöt! Cárrëhawó! Cárrëhawó!” Ruby collapsed and only writhed in pain as she fought the infecting cybernetic snaking through her brain.

Eria picked up the phone, “Ruby’s down, get here now!”

“Are the coordinates we have locked spoofed?”

“No, I am not using any encryption for this call.”

“Is there space to land two medical choppers and one helicopter.”

“The beach. But it will be a tight squeeze.”

“If there isn’t ma’am, we’ll make room. Unlock the doors and disable that defense grid of yours. Any hostile action and we’ll consider you…”

Eria screamed into the phone while looking at Ruby, “Yes! Yes! Go! Do whatever! She doesn’t have time! Something’s in her brain, and it’s looking for something!!” Eria heard the other side hang up and immediately went to a side panel in the living room and disabled the security grid.

Bending down beside Ruby again and stroking her forehead she tried to keep her lucid. “What were you saying?”

“NATO speak.” She coughed, “I had to quick- prove…” Ruby nearly fell into Eria’s lap as she vomited all over the floor and collapsed into it, before Eria pulled her out and tried to get a towel. Ruby, propped up on one arm, looked even worse now. Like her body was being poisoned, which taught her something. The chip was encountering her resistance, her training in resisting these techniques, and was now attempting to destroy her will by…” She vomited again; this time blood was in the mix, and she felt the worst nausea she had ever felt.

Eria returned from the basement, after having unlocked every point of entry, and brought her some water which Ruby couldn’t manage to swallow. “Where’s the base you contacted?”

“Bracebridge. We we…”

“Ruby, listen to me.” Knelt in the puddle, Eria kept Ruby’s body out of it. “Fight it. Just fight it.” She stroked Ruby’s forehead, avoiding the ears out of fear of stimulating the device. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen. This never…”

“I know.” Ruby’s mouth was unbearably parched, her extremities were on fire, her entire body felt like it was disintegrating, and the nausea continued as she did everything to hold her will together. Somehow she held back the onslaught, but the device kept probing, pushing deeper.”

Eria left Ruby’s side once to lock the hypnotic sapphire and its case, along with the collar, inside a vault in the basement, while grabbing a cardboard box of devices identical to the one inside Ruby’s neck. Returning to the main level, she concealed the door by the bookcase. Pushing a special five-book combination to lock it there. All power to the basement was cut, the lines physically detached from the surface ones. As an added layer of protection, locking the bookcase caused a gate to close at the foot of the stairwell to close, completing a faraday cage.

Three helicopters landed overhead and while two landed at the beach, another hovered above the door leading to the pathway to it. Six soldiers, dressed entirely in black, with the white compass symbol of NATO kicked in the unlocked door and raised assault rifles at Eria specifically.

The Field Commander confirmed her identity. “You are Eria Natalie Piper, CPO of Second Sun.”

Eria gave no resistance. “I am.”

“Turn around slowly and place your hands behind your back. Your license to this property has been temporarily revoked by the Canadian government under orders of the NATO superstate. You are being held to ensure operational security, make no attempt to resist or you will be neutralized. Is this understood?”

Eria slowly turned and did as instructed. “Understood. However, you’ve read my personnel file. You know about my degree from Johns Hopkins, and how I may assist.”

The Field Commander stopped one of the soldiers from cuffing Eria. “Fair enough, but we’re watching you.” Medical staff led by a man with augmented eyes burst through the door. A collection of medical bags, surgical equipment, a surgical bed, and other potential necessities were brought by a team of five nurses and five technical specialists behind him.

“Dr. Eria Piper, my name is Dr. Eugene Gylys. We will remove the device. Prepare Sky Marshal Aarre for surgery.” He ordered the nurses to get Ruby up onto the surgical bed before walking up to Eria. “I need you to tell me everything you know about this de…”

“Sir?” One of the soldiers who had been standing next to the Field Commander held up his armband. “That device is sending a signal.”

The Field Commander turned and demanded to know, “Where?!”

“I need a coms unit, Sir.”

“Then get one!”

“Yes, Sir!”

As Ruby was placed face down on the surgical bed, Dr. Gylys prepared an anesthetic. Ruby had enough forethought to order him to drop it. “My will is the only thing keeping my memories in-tact!” Dr. Gylys put the syringe aside without question. After a few pulses from a device used to internally map a person’s body, mapping the damage to Ruby’s brain on a screen, Dr. Gylys ordered his assistant for, “A worm. Dr. Piper, when was this device manufactured?”

Eria had been dressed in a white lab coat, gloves, surgical mask, and eye protection. “2080.”

“It is fortunate for us all that we have something developed in 2083. Nurse, I need an ’83 Worm. Prepare it for injection through the skull.”

“Ruby!” Eria didn’t want to see her endure that, but the order to avoid anesthetics had been given.

Ruby only yelled, “DO…” The specialized injection device left a pinprick sized hole in Ruby’s skull as a small, cybernetic, autonomous worm was injected into her. Continuing the pulses, as if watching on radar, Eria watched as the worm, being fed information from those pulses, weaved around and caused minimal damage before it found a tendril. The tendril seemed to do something, the machinery around them became fuzzy, but when the small EMP defense was over the unphased worm proceeded to eat it, bit by bit. One of many, but one stopped at least. The hole in Ruby’s skull was covered and tended to.

“Now, Dr. Piper, we must ensure the worm destroys the attacking tendrils before we extract the…” He looked up at a device one of the soldiers was scanning over where Ruby’s implant lay. “Can I help you?”

The soldier only reported to the Field Commander. “It’s transmitting, but the signal is only open, establishing itself. There doesn’t seem to be any content, either readable or encrypted.”

“Then either it already found and sent the data, or we still have time. Let’s hope for the latter.” The Field Commander ordered a few of the technical personnel to use the communications equipment brought in to narrow down where the signal was headed, as Dr. Gylys and Dr. Piper returned to work.

Eria took the lead, continuing to use pulse scans and other instruments to inform the worm’s work. After sufficient intelligence, the predator in Ruby’s brain masterfully adapted; instead of going for the end of each tendril, it began hunting down bunches which had entered the brain. A far more efficient process, and it swiftly severed each one, before they were consumed like one sucks in a spaghetti noodle, albeit slowly enough to avoid damaging Ruby any more than she had been. In fact, as new tendrils arrived, the worm lay in wait and struck before they could reach Ruby’s grey matter.

The sound of Ruby’s grunts and groans continued, but as the tendrils were extracted from her, the device’s ability to torture her stopped. Finally, with the situation in her brain under-control, Ruby asked for a general anesthetic, and an anesthesiologist was glad to provide her with relief.

Eria spoke to Dr. Gylys, “We should extract it.”

“I leave that to you; your qualifications are more than adequate. I will recall the worm after you do so, I wish to study what it has assimilated. In the meantime, I will examine the devices you brought. Are they all identical?”

Eria spoke as she began to extract the device, which still attempted to spread more tendrils only to have them snapped off by the unseen worm. “I was given a box of five. I chose them in sequence, but my partners were not known by the provider, nor was the fact that Ruby…” She realized they knew her by a different name, one Eria found immensely impressive. “Sky Marshal Aarre’s presence here wasn’t scheduled on any document, and she arrived in secret.”

“Why’s she wearing fox ears?” The Field Commander asked. “And a… few tails?”

Eria smiled, clearly relieved as she began to extract the device. “This device was designed to allow temporary organic interfaces with cybernetic attachments, for fun.”

A nurse noticed that Eria was about to remove the device and stopped her. “Here, we need to hook it up to a power supply, so it’ll keep broadcasting and allow tracking.” He brought over a small battery.

“I need one which feeds off the same currents as the human spinal cord.”

The nurse quickly began rummaging through one of the bags. “We have one, one moment.”

Eria looked to the Field Commander. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

“I don’t have a name to you. Allowing a Second Sun C-Suite to take part in this operation is already going to be a difficult task to justify.”

“If I wanted to hurt NATO, I would have let the infection spread by anesthetizing her.” Eria sighed, even as a suitable battery was placed in her hand. “Instead, a night I thought was going to be filled with loving kindness and kitchen mishaps became this.”

One of the soldiers pointed to Ruby’s fox ears. “Oh, she’s a kitsune! That’s actually pretty hot. Good job, Dr. Piper! Can I flick one?”

“Corporal, you may not ‘flick’ one of Sky Marshal Inkeri Aarre’s fetishy fox ears!”, the Field Commander shouted.

“Sorry, Field Commander! I- I forgot who the patient was, sir!”

Eria stifled a laugh.

“How?!” The Field Commander sighed. Shaking his head, he quietly told Eria, “Sky Marshal Aarre is a quarter of spec ops’ first-year curriculum. But, I guess when you’ve been told someone’s been dead for over forty years, it takes more than a quick helicopter ride and some declassified details for reality to sink in. I mean, I was a young man born in 2024, and according to the official record Inkeri Aarre had just died in 2043 of a severe brain hemorrhage; there’s ashes kept in our most hallowed vault in Paris. I’ve spent my entire NATO career learning from her case studies, video lectures, and writing… and I only learned she was still alive when we were in the air and her file was declassified.”

Eria assumed, “You wouldn’t be telling me this if NATO didn’t know that Second Sun unmasked her relation to Ruby Eve, and her role in Operation Daybreak.”

The Field Commander was nearly taken aback. “Role? No, thousands of us played a ‘role’ in Daybreak. Sky Marshal Aarre was the fucking architect of the entire thing. She’s the one who figured out Russia’s blind spots, she oversaw the recon teams, led the acquisition and verification of intel, and coordinated the bombing runs; she planned everything literally down to the very second that decapitated Russia.” He nodded to Ruby with profound respect. “She made it all happen and insisted that she be the one to press the trigger on Moscow, saying it was her plan and thus her responsibility to end fifty million lives, and condemn twenty million more to suffer. ‘It’s my weight to carry.’ I’m told that was her last words before boarding that bomber, and securing NATO’s dominance of nearly the entire Northern Hemisphere.” He pointed to Ruby, “Right there, in the fetish-getup (no judgement) is a goddamn living legend. Not a single NATO military member doesn’t know the name Sky Marshal Inkeri Aarre.”

Eria listened quietly as she worked, smiling faintly. Finally, she swapped the power source and was able to remove the device from Ruby, along with the worm that resurfaced as Dr. Gylys recalled it. She handed the device to one of the technicians who brought it to the communications equipment, and a nurse returned the worm to its containment. With it, the device were able to closely examine the direction of the signal and through movement of the device plus some sophisticated computing, begin to mark areas to check. Once they were confident in their assessment, they used an encrypted phone to jack into Eria’s landline and send a coded signal which would translate to the mission’s status, and the discovery of the transmitter along with its potential purpose and relay location. A team was sent immediately upon receiving the information to investigate.

“Dr. Piper, who gave you these? They don’t conform to any known patents or company constructions.” Dr. Gylys asked, looking up from a workbench that had been set up. He began to study the device used on Ruby.

“Second Sun won a bid for the assets of the company which developed them as they were liquidated to appease their creditors in Kurdistan. They…” She hated herself, absolutely hated herself and grit her teeth. “Sat around, in a facility in the Second Sun controlled Côte d'Ivoire.”

“Do you believe a worker would have tampered with one? They would have to have been highly sophisticated…”

“Fuck no, I know who tampered with them! I know who could have accessed them without leaving a trace.” She pointed to the device from Ruby. “Check to see if that, and any of the others remaining, would be activated upon being implanted inside her. Activated by her specific biometric signature.”

“You believe this was a targeted attack on the Sky Marshal?” The Field Commander asked.

“Yeah, and I know who did it. I’d give you his name, but you already know it. Xavier Wolff.”

The Field Commander stepped closer, “Do you have any proof?”

Eria shook her head, “No, but… Something is not right with that man. I mean that in ways other than his usual self. Xavier Wolff, our CEO had something to do with this, but I can’t prove it. Still, this has never happened before… I need you to believe me, I brought Ruby- Inkeri here to help her, it’s been a long time since she’s been with you folk. She’s been through a lot, suffered greatly, and I thought I could help her… Well, look at her now.”

“There’s a link to Second Sun through you, but until this operation is complete we can’t pin anything on Xavier Wolff.” The Field Commander folded his arms and nodded. “But, maybe, there is something to what you’re saying. Besides, the Sky Marshal said she loved you, that we could trust you. We already have medical staff that could have extracted the device, but it was her words on the phone that saved you from being taken in for interrogation. You are still suspect, even if we’ll be leaving you a free woman.”

“I could have tortured the information out of her. Or hypnotized her into telling me.”

“I’ve heard the stories about Field Marshal Aarre. You’re not cracking that nut.” The Field Commander walked over to where Ruby lay on the surgical table and lay a blanket over her, before standing at attention and saluting. The entire team, medical, technical, and soldiers followed suit, before going back to work. It was a sight to behold for Eria. Men armed to the teeth and Doctors alike, taking a moment to salute a woman none of them had likely ever met. She could see it on their faces, they all knew the saga of Sky Marshal Inkeri Aarre. The woman who became Ruby Eve the moment she stepped off the airfield on May 1^st, 2041, and vanished from NATO’s sight.

Eria watched Ruby sleep, and gently stroked her hair. Pulling up a chair, she lay her head down beside her and whispered, “You come back to me, you hear? Because while heroes get remembered; legends never die.”