XY-N 2 : The Fire Still Burns

-Waverider, DC comics, circa 1990

Xyn awoke to find himself alone in the large bed that Jayk had shared with him. What had awakened him was an itch that seemed to come from here and there and just kept moving around. He sat up, and his small body screamed at him when he did. His head didn’t hurt as much as it had the night before, though. He looked at the empty side of the large bed with its ragged blankets and near flat pillow and thought of Jayk. Xyn sighed - then realized that he was still alive. Jayk hadn’t killed him in his sleep. He hadn’t meant to turn his back on him the night before, but his experiences with Shar, not to mention walking in the woods all of the previous night, had left him worn out. Then there had been the incident with the dying little Mutant, Dan, and the Psi - both his and Shar’s. He realized, as he began to uncovered himself, that Dan was still wearing the suit. He uncovered himself the rest of the way and slowly got up. His legs were weak, and he rubbed at his eyes. It was strange not being awakened by the Voice in the Facility. For every morning that he could remember, it had been the same. He also realized that he wouldn’t be getting a hot shower, either.

He stared around the surprisingly well lighted room, wondering what time it was. He had fallen asleep early, he was sure, but he had no way to know how long he had slept. He didn’t feel very refreshed, and he was still sore all over. He scratched at his scalp, and gasped. His head didn’t feel right. It was rough to the touch. For a moment, he almost panicked as he took a step and felt a wave of vertigo. Then the simplicity of it struck him. It was hair growing in! He hadn’t had a shower in at least 2 days or so, and his hair was coming back. He realized quickly - he WAS intelligent after all - that the shower foam must also dissolve off hair. He smiled and thought of Jayk and his long, braided dark locks. Xyn had never had hair before. Then he itched, right on the base of his scrotum, and scratched at it vigorously. He scratched a bit too hard, however, and never having felt pain in his testicles before, let out a yelp. He stared in surprise as his penis became erect, his mind instantly realizing what that feeling in the suit had been all those times lately.

He stayed hard as he shook the final bits of sleep from his head and began to explore Jayk’s room. Of course he knew about erections and sex and such from his studies, all the Bios did. It was all part of learning about the biological makeup of Humans. However, all they had studied was cut-and-dried reproduction facts and nothing else, so his erection didn’t give him any ideas. He scratched again as he wandered about the room, noting the threadbare rug on the floor, the rough and crumbly brick walls with their myriad pipes with various conduits running here and there. The room was large, Xyn thought, for an impromptu shelter for Runaways. Then he realized that they had probably been there for a while, and since they were right under the Ruins, that they probably planned to stay for as long as they could. He shuddered as he crossed the room, a chill settling into his naked body. He fervently wished that he could know if Dan were done with his one day in the suit so he could have it back. The suit, if nothing else, would stop the itching that was about to drive him insane. It would also protect him from any of the BioRemnants or Leftovers that floated around, making the Ruins almost uninhabitable. He certainly didn’t want to come down with one of those, as it seemed that Dan had.

He thought about sending his Psi out as he scratched again, but a strange sensation stopped him. As he stared at a bookcase that covered one whole wall of the room, he realized that he was still scratching at his penis. It felt strange, and it was so hard that it almost hurt. He pulled his hand away, convinced that something was wrong. He hadn’t thought much about it before, but as he looked down at his erect penis, which looked somehow strange when it was like this, he reached back down and moved it a bit to look at the sac hanging underneath. He gently rolled the two orbs contained therein around, and wondered at the feelings it was giving him. He remembered how the sac hung down in the hot shower, as it did on all the other XY Bios who still had them. All but the ones who had been used for parts were pretty much the same. He didn’t understand it, so he stopped. He thought of Jayk, what his Psi had seen of Jayk’s memories, and shivered. The thought of his own crotch, smooth and empty like Jayk’s didn’t appeal to him and he wasn’t sure why. As an Unapproved Bio from a Facility, he hadn’t really thought of having little ones of his own, and that’s what those part were for, if you were an XY. He made a conscious effort to keep his hands off of those parts until he could get his suit back. He turned his attention instead to the books, keeping his Psi where it belonged as well. He didn’t want Shar angry with him for snooping.

The bookcase was large, and Xyn stared at it. His eyes went from end to end, not reading titles, but trying to estimate the number of books. Most of them looked very old, and they smelled like old books usually do - musty and strange. The books on the topmost shelf looked to be covered with a layer of dust, with the amount of dust decreasing as his eyes moved down and over, down and over, until they reached the end of the last shelf. Xyn had seen books before, but he had never actually read one. He pulled one off at the end of the shelf and looked at the title. It was by some guy named Hawking, and it talked about the nature of the universe. The pages were brittle, and Xyn took special care not to damage it. He soon realized something else as he scratched at his scalp.

“It’d take YEARS to read all of these!” he exclaimed, looking over the bookcase again.

Then he felt it. Jayk was approaching rapidly.

Xyn turned back to the shelf, replacing the book. He didn’t want Jayk mad at him for messing up his books on top of everything else that the Mutant eunuch didn’t like about him. He did not, however, turn towards the direction from which he felt Jayk coming.

He heard a dull thud, and realized that Jayk had entered the room from some unseen portal near the ceiling. He could feel him approaching, although his bare feet were making no sound on the worn out rug. “Yea, and I’ve read them all,” Jayk said by way of greeting.

“Hello, Jayk,” Xyn replied, sensing a bit of elation in the Mutant’s voice. He said nothing else, however, and he didn’t turn to face him. Xyn knew what was waiting for him. Sharply upturned eyebrows, mouth slightly agape to accommodate the fangs, and brows creased. The same smelly ragged green tunic, the long braided hair, and the sense of self-loathing; it was all there, and Xyn didn’t have to see it with eyes to know it. He sighed. Yet there was still something else.

“You’re supposed to come with me,” Jayk said after a moment of silence.

Xyn nodded, still not moving.

“What’s wrong with you ?” Jayk asked in irritation, “Shar doesn’t like to wait.”

“I was just thinking about your books,” Xyn replied.

“Not much else to do, really, and up above is an old building just full of them. I read fast, and I keep the ones I like. It’s not like anyone is going to miss them.”

“You must know a lot from reading all these,” Xyn mused, “All we read was schoolwork stuff.”

“I like the fiction, stuff that isn’t real, just stories.”

Xyn nodded. “That’s an awful lot of books.”

He could feel the consternation, the irritation, and a flash of the blind little one. They were sitting in the old chair opposite the bed, a chair with torn coverings and stuffing falling out here and there that was big enough to hold them both while Jayk read to Scot. The little one’s white eyes were wide open as Jayk read, his mouth slightly agape as Jayk gave life and depth to the words he read to the little one who couldn’t see them. He heard Jayk make an indelicate sound.

“You have to remember, I’m a Slow Mutant,” he explained, “and other than scavenging for stuff, there isn’t a whole lot else to do.”

“How long to read one book?” Xyn asked, genuinely curious.

“About a week, why?” Jayk asked.

Xyn whistled. “Jayk,” he asked bravely, “How old ARE you?” And he knew it was a mistake. He felt the animosity coming off of Jayk, and the annoyance. It was borderline hatred, but it was unfocused.

“C’mon,” Jayk retorted curtly, “Shar wants to see you, and wants you to see Dan and your suit.”

Xyn nodded and turned, and Jayk made another indelicate sound. Although Jayk was dressed, Xyn wasn’t - no one had offered him anything to wear. Jayk stared at Xyn’s XY parts, his pupils changing diameter rapidly. Xyn felt a confused welter of emotions coming off of him, but he had no idea what to do. He was still hard, and for some reason that bothered him. He slammed his eyes shut as the flood of images came from Jayk’s tormented mind. He wasn’t even trying to Psi, but Jayk’s pain was so great that he could not tune it out. He in too close a proximity to him. He heard Jayk say, “Looks nice. Right on the verge of turning into a Man. Hard as a rock, and balls hanging down there just waiting to make you into a Man. Do you even know what to do with that stuff, Psion?” The foremost emotion was jealousy.

He could hardly hear Jayk’s words. Jayk was fading before him, and he was looking at plain light gray walls. He was laying in a soft and warm bed. The lights were on, and when he looked around, gasping, he saw that he was in a small room with only the bed and one door and no windows. He wanted to get up and try the door, but knew it was locked. Still, he did, with an extremely uncomfortable sensation coming from his ass. It felt as if he had to go bad, but couldn’t. He felt soft carpeting under his bare feet, and looked down. He sniffed. He was clean, and he could feel that his belly was full. There was also something around his neck, and he reached up to feel a snug and wide collar of some kind there. It felt warm. A sense of panic began to set in as Xyn realized that he was seeing Jayk’s memory, but it was too clear. It had never been like this before, and try as he did, he couldn’t bring back Jayk’s room and the bookcase. Unconsciously, as he must be remembering it, he felt a hand move to his crotch. Xyn remembered scratching when he had gotten up, how he’d wondered about his XY parts, but this time there was nothing there except for smooth skin. The hand trembled as he pulled it away, and he spun around to see what was on the other side of the small room. The feeling in his ass worsened, and he arched his back and groaned in discomfort. He tried to relax, but that only made it feel worse. As he took a few steps, he could feel that there was something up inside of him, something being held in there and he couldn’t expel it. Xyn had had rectal exams before, during physicals, so knew what something being inserted into his rectum felt like. This, however, wasn’t right. Something large was moving inside of him, inside of Jayk then, and he didn’t like it at all. Tears formed up in his eyes as he reached back to try and remove it, but his probing fingers met with soft fabric that felt thick. He gritted his teeth, the pressure in his bowels building as he moved. There was something large in his asshole, and it came out of him to connect to a wrapped mount of some kind that was somehow attached to thin straps that went down below his ass cheeks and up the inside of his thighs to attach to a wide belt around his waist. Try as he might, Xyn ( or rather, as the Psion felt it, Xyn/Jayk) couldn’t budge the belt. It fit like a legless suit with no top, he thought, but it exposed his smooth and empty crotch and also his ass cheeks. As he stood still, the pressure decreased. He felt as if he had to pee, but there was nowhere to go. He held it, afraid to move for fear that the thing that was up inside of him would squeeze it out.

He began to cry.

Then the door opened.

In the doorway, as Xyn/Jayk turned, stood an Adult. He was huge, muscular, and well dressed. His short hair was cut in a flat-top style, and he moved with a grace that Xyn would not have expected from one so large. His face was clean shaven, and not fat. It was simply as proportionately large as the rest of him. He was wearing a clean and pressed plain white shirt and tan pants. Xyn had seen uniform clothes like that before; in fact, he thought of Mr. Rick and his clothing. This man’s eyes, however, told Xyn/Jayk that he wasn’t like Mr. Rick. His grin was evil, not comforting. Xyn/Jayk looked at him, feeling very afraid. The man was smiling openly now, leering at him. His eyes were on the Mutant’s empty crotch, and they sparkled in delight. “Well, little one, I see you’re awake. All healed up fine from yesterday’s performance?” He moved closer, and Xyn/Jayk took a reflexive step back. The thing inside of him poked at his bowel as he did, and he cried out.

The Adult laughed.

“What’s wrong, little eunuch? The training device not seated right? I myself thought it a bit large, but the Dealer transmitted the specs to me and I had one duplicated just for you. You don’t like it do you?”

Xyn could feel the sarcasm, as if the memory had burned itself into perfect detail in Jayk’s mind as a data writer would make a flawless and indestructible copy of isolinear data packets. He shook his head in a gesture of NO, the tears falling down his cheeks.

The Adult approached him, and took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. “Please, sir, I have to go bad,” Xyn/Jayk was saying. The Adult nodded. “Good little slave, on with the ‘sir’ already. Excellent. After last night, I was wondering if the sedatives were ever going to wear off. You must have to go really bad, don’t you?”

Xyn/Jayk nodded vigorously.

“Follow me, then,” the Adult ordered.

He did his best to follow him, but after only a dozen or so steps, he couldn’t take it. Whatever the Adult had stuck up inside of him simply wouldn’t let him walk comfortably, and it made his empty crotch feel funny. It also made him almost pee on the floor. He put his hands over his smooth area where his manhood had once been and whimpered. The Adult turned, laughing. He smoothly scooped Xyn/Jayk up into his huge arms, kissed him soundly on the mouth, and took one step through a door that the confused eunuch hadn’t seen. It looked like a large bathroom of some kind, with odd fixtures and furniture here and there. He stood him over a drain in the floor, nodded, and the eunuch knelt and let go. It seemed like he peed forever, amazed at seeing it coming out of something other than his penis. He thought of the suit, but he wasn’t Xyn, he was Jayk. Xyn didn’t pee like Jayk had, the suit took care of him. But Jayk hadn’t peed like this before...it was very confusing. He sighed in relief as the thing inside of him poked at him. He winced. When he was done, the Adult handed him a tissue and he wiped himself off. “Thank you, sir,” he said softly. He stood up, and instinctively looked down at his feet.

“Very good!” the Adult praised him, “You know, you might not be so bad after all. The Dealer said you were a Slow Mutant, and I’d hate to have to spend five or ten years training you!”

“No, sir,” Xyn/Jayk answered softly.

“Tell me, they estimated you at a late 13 Cycles in Bio growth. Is that right?”

Xyn/Jayk felt his head nod.

The Adult was touching him now, one hand on the back of his neck and the other caressing his smooth crotch. “So close you were, too,” he said softly, kissing the point of Xyn/Jayk’s right ear. “From the looks of what the Dealer took from you, you would have grown up into a fine Adult in a few centuries!” He could feel the Adult moving now, the hand still on his nape and he followed him. They walked down the hall to a larger room full of furniture and things that Xyn/Jayk had never seen before. It looked like the cubicles in some of the buildings in the Ruins, but it was all clean and new. There was another Adult there. “Ah, Doctor! Our newest toy is alive and well it would seem!” the Adult greeted the Stranger. Xyn/Jayk glanced at him and continued to look at the beige colored carpet, praying that someone would take whatever it was out of his ass. The one he had called Doctor came over to him, waved a wand of some kind in front of him, and stared at a handheld unit of some kind. Xyn/Jayk knew it was a Medscan.

“Let’s see - genital nullification 60 hours prior, rapid healer protocol used, repair of anal tearing after sexual intercourse 36 hours ago ... just couldn’t wait, could you?” the Doctor asked in a light tone, “and what’s this? Oh. He’s not constipated after all. I see you’ve given him a training device already.” The Doctor’s tone was a bit disgusted.

The first Adult was laughing. “He was too tight, Doc. Hurt him bad, had to call Emergency Medtechs for him! You wouldn’t believe the bill! I paid a fortune for a Slow Mutant Eunuch-little one, then I almost broke my new toy the first night! I thought that while they were here, we’d put the thing in him so that they could fix him for me if anything went wrong.”

“Well, with that device up inside of him, it won’t be long until he can easily handle all you’ve got,” the Doctor agreed, “Why don’t you stick to just touching, kissing, oral maybe, you know - stuff that will be EASY on him?! You could have given him a little more time to adjust you know.”

Xyn felt it as Jayk remembered it. The terror of being cut up - his manhood stolen from him. And right on the verge of the change all XY’s had too! He now knew why Jayk had some musculature. It was bad enough to be cut up, but Jayk had been just starting to grow into being an Adult! Xyn brought his Psi to bear, and he thought of a computer downloading as fast as it could. He saw the Adult holding Jayk - holding him - holding Xyn/Jayk. He was waking up in his bed, naked and warm. The Adult fed him, talked to him, explained that he was his slave now. He listened as he ate, his disgust not affecting his ravenous appetite. This Adult was his new Master, and he a slave. The Master wanted him for sex, having a taste for little e-XY’s, cut smooth and healed well. He would do what his Master told him, and he would address him as “Sir” at all times and speak only when spoken to, or when he had a question on something that he needed to know. He would be cared for medically, fed and housed, but his freedom was over. He was Property now, and his Master owned him.

He was crying, and the Master was holding him close. He dimly remembered a Man - his Father? - holding him like that. The Master made him eat, explained more and more to him, showed him the whole house. He showed him things he could do for fun if he were a good little slave and pleased him. He showed horrific video of what would happen to him - video of his last slave - if he did not. Xyn felt Jayk’s terror and instant submission. Fear for his life was the paramount driving force, and Xyn sifted through Jayk’s tortured mind as fast as he could. That night, after just letting Jayk get used to the place, the Master had taken him to his soft and warm bed. Jayk had known what was coming, and he tried as best he could. He did alright up until the Master had lubed his ass and begun inserting his stiff penis. The sucking of it, which had almost choked him, hadn’t been bad. Swallowing his Master’s cum when he climaxed has been strange, but hadn’t killed him.

But this very nearly had. Taken by his passions, the Master had not been gentle enough and hurt him. He had taken Jayk’s cries of agony as simple protest. It was during the rest afterwards, when he kissed Jayk’s mouth, being careful of the fangs, that the Master had found him bleeding badly and unconscious. Although Xyn didn’t see this directly, since Jayk didn’t remember it, he knew that he had come in to Jayk’s mind when he had awakened, healed up, two days later. The previous day was lost to pain haunted slumber as the Medtechs had repaired his torn rectum, using rapid healing on it as the Dealer had used on his crotch during his emasculation. The next day was the day that Jayk had awakened to find the training device inserted into his butt, and where Xyn had come in via his Psi. The belt to which it was attached locked, and there was no way for the Mutant eunuch to get it out. The Master informed him that it would slowly stretch his butt to accommodate his penis, so that there would be no further danger of hurting him. The Master had apologized, but still hadn’t offered Jayk anything to wear to hide his semi-nakedness and shame.

And Jayk had been so ashamed. The Master left his butt alone for a week, removing the training device only when he requested permission to relieve himself. When he was done, the Master would wash his butt out with a quart of warm solution that made him drowsy. He would then gently reinsert the device and lock the belt back into place. By then, the Master would carry him to his bed and Jayk would awaken there the next morning in his Master’s arms. During the day, Jayk was left to the various entertainments of his Master’s home while he was at work. The security system wouldn’t let him leave, and the Master warned him not to try unless he wanted to spend his days locked in the small room in chains. After a week, a slightly larger training device was inserted. Another week, and a larger one. The same the week after. Jayk had to learn to walk differently each week with the devices inside of him, and as much as it shamed him, he actually found that there were certain ways that he could move or sit that made the device give him strange feelings of pleasure. By the end of the fourth week, it was almost with a feeling of regret that the Master told him that he wouldn’t have to wear the devices any longer.

As he watched, Xyn struggled with the one nagging complexity that marred Jayk’s whole existence of his enslavement - when would it end?

That night, the Master had taken him. The near month of no full-blown sex had ripened his appetite. He used Jayk in every way that he could before finally rolling him over onto his stomach. This time, when he slid his stiff penis into Jayk’s stretched and trained ass, it didn’t tear him up. It did hurt a bit, but as it slid in further and further, Jayk worked at it as he had worked on the training devices, attempting to ease his own suffering by duplicating his own feelings of pleasure. He relaxed as best he could, taking his Master’s full length into himself. This, of course, drove the Master wild with ecstasy, and Jayk stopped suddenly. Xyn heard him asking in alarm, “Master, what is it? What’s wrong?”

But the Master had simply said, in a voice full of pleasure, “Don’t stop, little one!” And Jayk had not stopped. He was a slave. He did his duty to the best of his abilities, and if he himself took some small pleasure in it, so what ?! His Master had not pulled out of him when it was over, his hot seed shot far up inside of Jayk. Xyn felt the shame as the Master kissed his pointed ears and pulled him closer, falling asleep with Jayk in his embrace.

But for as much as his Psi felt - shame, pleasure, lust, curiosity, and many other strange feelings that Xyn didn’t know about - he felt no love. What Xyn felt for Mr. Rick wasn’t there. What he felt for the other little Bios in the Facility wasn’t there. What he so wanted Jayk to have, what he knew Jayk didn’t have in him, wasn’t there. Xyn looked deeper, his Psi at full power. He had never taken It so far, and he saw night after night of Jayk and the Master entwined in bed, sweat coming from their naked bodies. He saw the Master holding Jayk, even when they were not in bed, treating him not as a slave but as a beloved little one. This he could almost sense from the Master, but how many Parents made their own little ones prisoners in their homes and kept them naked? How many of them disciplined their little ones with control collars? It was almost love, but Xyn saw through the facade, as Jayk must have, realizing that it was lust, and not love. Xyn’s Psi cringed back from the memories of the Master showing Jayk - his prize - off to his friends who used him as well. If it bothered him, Xyn couldn’t see that. Jayk did as he was told, and he was seldom punished. He saw the Master’s happiness, but in Jayk he saw none.

Jayk knew his duty as a slave so very well, and his Master soon recovered his huge investment in the Slow Mutant that he had had made into a eunuch. And although he learned much in the few moments that his Psi roamed through Jayk’s memories, he didn’t understand much of it. He was wrestling with one particularly disturbing question that Jayk was asking in bed one morning as his Master was stroking his smooth crotch and just watching him. Jayk had asked his Master, if he would do something for him before leaving for the day’s work. The Master had laughed at his audacity, but Jayk had had such a pleading expression on his face that the Master simply HAD to hear it. His slave wanted a favor! Xyn’s Psi went over it three times before he began to move on.

“Master, it’s been a long time since I had to wear the training device, and well, I was just wondering if you could ... if you could ... put it back on me today, just for today?” Jayk had asked in a quiet voice, his face flaming. His Master had looked shocked for a moment, then roared with laughter until he cried. In fact, he’d gone and gotten the largest of the devices out of storage immediately and watched his slave squirm in pleasure as he seated it and locked it into place.

Xyn didn’t understand the words, “A good slave like you SHOULD be rewarded from time to time. I may just have to work late tonight, too!”

Then he heard her. A Psi more powerful than his invaded the mental ‘download’. It said one word - “STOP!”

Jayk and Xyn both cried out, each falling backwards onto Jayk’s worn rug in his room. The link broken, each one shook his head and panted, trying to clear his mind.

It was Shar who spoke in their minds. Shar, the Queen of the Runaways under the Ruins. “Bring him to me NOW, Jayk!” she commanded.

Jayk slowly got up and offered Xyn his hand. Xyn blinked.

“So now you know just how foul and depraved I am,” Jayk whispered, “Let’s go.”

Xyn took his hand, and strangely, Jayk didn’t release it. Xyn saw Scot flashing in Jayk’s mind, but he also saw something else - it was like a door, and it was cracked open just a bit. Xyn asked again, “Jayk, how old are you? And, uh, I’m sorry for all that, I really am, but YOU did it to me this time. You’re strong Jayk, strong in the mind. Did you know that?”

Jayk nodded. The anger that Xyn expected, oddly, wasn’t there.

“I’ve been HERE for 15 Cycles. Scot was here with us for 4 of those. He’s been gone for almost 1. I was with my Master for almost 13, before Shar rescued me. Before that, I was with Tevis in our Refuge on the other side of the Old City in the top of an old building they tore down. I was there for, let’s see,” Jayk mused as his sloped eyebrows creased in thought, “I think it was 10. Then Tevis died of a Remnant attack. Before that, I was running the streets and roaming the forests for about 20, give or take a year here and there.”

Xyn stopped and stared in amazement as Jayk explained it. His hand slid from Jayk’s grasp. “You’re almost 60?” he breathed, unable to believe it.

Jayk shook his head. “Slow Mutants age approximately 50 Cycles to a normal Bio’s 1,” he said dismally. “If I hadn’t been rescued, I could have been enslaved for centuries before I grew undesirable. Remember, I was 13 in Bio growth when my Master got me. That made me almost 65 in real time then. Try something like 125 or so. I lost track long ago.”

By then, they had entered the main room. They were all standing there, behind Shar. There were even ones that Xyn hadn’t felt before. All in all, there were about 12 of them. Xyn suddenly felt embarrassed to be seen naked in front of all of them.

“Xyn Psion,” she began, gesturing to Dan, “we cannot thank you enough for your gift. There was no reason for you to do what you did for young Dan, yet you did. You literally gave your life for his, not knowing if we would let you leave or not. We are grateful, as only a Family can be grateful. Believe me when I say that we ARE a Family - a Family of Outcasts. The pain of one is the pain of all.” Then she bowed her head to him again. When she lifted it, Dan approached her. He was dressed in a dirty gray tunic that was almost too short to cover his butt and he had no shoes. Xyn watched in absolute amazement as the little Mutant handed her the suit, but she shook her head and pointed to Xyn. “Take it to him, Dan, and thank him,” she said softly, “He won’t hurt you.”

Dan approached him warily, but he was smiling. His cheeks were rosy, and his skin was no longer so white. His lips were now a deep red, and his flesh-tone was good. His hair had been washed and combed, and he had had a bath. Despite his other Mutations, Xyn noticed something else - his arms had shortened. In repairing him, the suit had borrowed bone and muscle mass from his too-long arms and redistributed it! Dan also appeared to have put on about 10 pounds in weight. Xyn had not known that the suit could do that. He smiled as he took it back from the little Mutant, who shyly looked down at his bare feet. Xyn thought he looked like a smaller and paler version of Jayk. “Thank you, Xyn Psion,” he said softly, “Thank you for saving my life. I’ve been sick for a long, long time.”

“You’re welcome, Dan,” Xyn said in return, draping the suit over his back and sighing in genuine relief as it enveloped his naked body. The intermittent itching stopped, and Xyn flexed. The stiffness in his muscles and joints dissipated instantly as the suit began its minor repairs. It hissed and beeped once and then settled. Dan was grinning at him. “I can breath now too!” he piped, his face lit up like the sun rising. Xyn smiled back at him, although he made no effort to touch him. Dan reminded him now - except for the ears and fangs - of the other little ones back at the Facility. He sighed.

“I know you are uncomfortable here,” Shar said then, “But know this - you have proven yourself to us. You are no street Orphan, just an unfortunate. You are more than welcome to stay here with us, if you like. I know you and Jayk share a bond, not unlike the one he shared with Scot. He won’t admit it, not yet, but I also know that you learned much from him when I summoned you.” She then turned to the others. “Leave us now,” she ordered, but her tone was soft, “We all have work to be about.” They did that. Dan left last, still smiling at Xyn and running back the dim tunnel. Jayk laughed as he went, and Xyn liked the sound of it.

“He hasn’t been able to run in months,” Jayk said.

Shar nodded. Then she looked directly at Xyn. “Let your mind roam, Xyn Psion,” she told him, “and know that we truly welcome you. Stay if you wish, or go. But know this as well - despite your gifts, and your suit, you will not last a week above if you go alone. A Hunter will find you. No doubt your Facility wants a specimen like you back. I sense in you a great longing for this Adult called ‘Rick,’ but know this as well - he was an Adult in charge of a Facility. He cannot give you a home, nor a Family as we can. This I know to be Truth. Do not fear me, for I shall not harm you. I never intended to harm you.”

And with that, Xyn felt her defenses fall. The minds of all the Orphans and Runaways in this strange underground complex opened up to him, and he felt them all. Shar’s Psi was so strong that she had been able to mask all of them from Xyn! There was respect, friendship, awe, trust - but most of all, there was love. Love for one another and fierce devotion to making sure that each and every one survived another day. Xyn gasped as he felt most of this from Jayk as well. The pain and loss and humiliation were all still there, but Xyn saw the door opening a bit further. The love was behind that door, and Xyn knew it.

He bowed his stubbly head to Shar. “I will stay a while,” he said softly.

Shar nodded. “Xyn Psion is YOUR responsibility now, Jayk, since you brought him here. Take him in hand and instruct him. Teach him our ways. For today, however, it is yours. Do as you will. Resume that which I interrupted, if you wish. It was not my intent to eavesdrop.” She then turned and left the room, her bearing as regal as any Approved Lady.

After she had gone, Jayk turned back to Xyn. He gestured at the corridor, and Xyn followed him, his Psi switched off. When they arrived back at Jayk’s room, Xyn’s curiosity got the best of him. “Where did you get the books?” he asked.

Jayk pointed at the ceiling. “Up there. I think they called it ‘library’ or something. There’s a ton of books and stuff up there, machines that don’t work, all kinds of stuff. No one’s been in it for a long, long time.” He flopped in the old chair, and it creaked.

“You like to read, don’t you?” Xyn asked, his eyes on the bookcase again.

“You should know what I like by now,” Jayk said dismally.

“I didn’t mean to do that, Jayk. I couldn’t keep YOU out that time.”

Jayk sighed. “I’m sorry. I guess it was coming back in and seeing you naked that did it. I was so jealous. I mean, I got cut up about 30 years ago and I’m still pissed off about it. Stupid, huh ?”

Xyn shook his head. “I know sometimes the other little Bios cried for a long time when they took a part from them at the Facility.”

“Did a lot of them get gelded?” Jayk asked.

“I only remember 3 who got that. Most of the time it was an eye or something from inside.”

Then Jayk sighed heavily. “I don’t know if me being in charge of you is a good thing or not,” he admitted, “You might not like me after a while.”

Xyn turned back to him. “I liked you when I met you in the woods. You didn’t like me though. Why the change of heart?”

Jayk hung his head, his long braided hair falling over his slumped shoulders. “I ... I guess ... I dunno. Maybe I just wanted somebody to know. Not even Shar’s been in my head that deep. She doesn’t know what you know, like, what he did to me - or how I got to like it after a while.”

Even with his Psi turned off, Xyn could still sense the shame in Jayk’s confession. Yet he saw no crime in it; Jayk had merely made the best of what Life had dealt him. Where was the shame in that? He let his mind range back over the things he had seen in Jayk’s mind. He shifted his legs as he felt his penis getting hard again. The suit would hide it, of course, so Jayk wouldn’t know it. Jayk might get mad or jealous, and Xyn didn’t want that. It was becoming uncomfortable, though, and he didn’t know what to do about it. He walked over to where Jayk sat and placed a hand on the Mutants eunuch’s shoulder. “If you WANT me to know more, or you NEED to just talk, I’m here,” he offered.

Jayk looked up at him sharply. “You can’t understand, Xyn,” he replied in a sick tone, “You can’t understand what it’s like, what it WAS like. I’m surrounded by others who love me, they say, and almost worship me because I’m the most talented and biggest, oldest one here. But I don’t FEEL it, Xyn! How do I FEEL it? What did my Master cut out of me so long ago besides my manhood?”

“I know one way to do it, for how the others feel about you. I can’t do it without one of them though, I need to touch him. What I can do is tell you I know what being loved is like. I can share that with you if you want it. You saw a small bit of it in the woods,” Xyn offered. He shifted again, trying to make his throbbing erection a bit more comfortable. It was beginning to annoy him. Why was it doing that when he wasn’t trying to make little ones of his own?

Jayk caught that. “What’s wrong with you, you got bugs?”

Xyn flushed. “I don’t know. I think my suit’s messed up. I was itchy and I had an erection this morning. I have one now, and it feels weird. I don’t get it.”

Jayk laughed, and Xyn let his Psi come up just a bit. Jayk was amused.

“Tell me what you know about sex and XX’s and XY’s.”

Xyn did that, reciting his textbook lesson letter perfect. Jayk was convulsed with laughter when he was done. Xyn was confused. “What?” he asked in an embarrassed tone.

“Xyn, that’s only a scrap of it! You’re in your 13th Cycle? You’re hitting the Change, buddy! You’re slowly becoming an Adult Man, and you’re feeling sexual arousal for the first time!”

Jayk answered him. Then he went back to laughing. When he was done, Xyn was staring at him like he was an idiot. He had also removed his suit. He felt Jayk’s mirth turn to shock.

Jayk gaped at his new charge. Xyn was standing there with his full 4 ½ inches of late boyhood erection pointed at him. Jayk tried to recall how large his had been before they’d cut it off, but he found he couldn’t. He thought of how large his Master’s penis had been, and when he saw Xyn’s, he realized that the Psion had potential. He also saw that Xyn was worried.

“This is normal?” Xyn asked.

Jayk nodded, staring at the throbbing erection and Xyn’s well-formed balls hanging below his uncut penis. For his age, Xyn was pretty well set, Jayk thought. He wasn’t nearly as large, not by any means, as the Adults who had used him for sex, but still, Jayk found himself feeling things that he thought were long since buried. It had been 15 Cycles since he had last had sex with his Master, and none of the Orphans here had ever been old enough to be sexually mature. Shar was, or course, but she was an XX and Jayk couldn’t do much with her, even if she’d wanted to. “You’re in good shape,” Jayk offered lamely.

Xyn felt the pain in Jayk’s voice and let his Psi open up to him. “You hurt so bad, Jayk. Tell me what I can do to make it go away,” Xyn offered. He watched as the tears welled up in Jayk’s eyes. Very slowly, the eunuch took his hand and led him to the bed. As they sat, Xyn’s suit on the arm of the chair and Jayk’s green tunic falling to the floor, Jayk laid his head across Xyn’s lap. He could feel the erect penis on his cheek, and he knew how much he wanted to do with this Newcomer what he had done with his Master. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to do it, though.

Once again, the shame. Xyn felt it keenly, and felt his own discomfort. From what Jayk had told him, sometimes XY’s had non-reproductive sex with each other for fun, because it felt good. He had seen proof of this in Jayk’s memories. Yet Xyn only knew that his penis didn’t feel right and that he didn’t like it. If Jayk could fix it, he was all for it. Very gently, he let his own memories of the other little Bios and Mr. Rick filter into Jayk as he stroked the eunuch’s hair and touched his pointed ears. He gasped as Jayk turned his head a bit, and being very careful of his fangs, took Xyn’s erect penis into his mouth.

Time and again, Jayk had wanted it. Time and again, he had been denied it. But as Xyn’s Psi flooded his aching mind and heart, Jayk found not only his mouth filled with Xyn’s penis, but his heart filled with something else of Xyn’s. They laid back on the ragged blankets, each one doing what he knew how to do best ...

“...the Heart grows older, but never ever learns.

The Memories smolder, and the Soul always yearns...

After the Fire, the Fire still burns.”

-Roger Daltrey, ‘Under a Raging Moon’