Listen When Sibyl Speaks Pt. 05

"I suppose over the millenia goddesses have bred themselves towards their oversexed traits, then."

"She was in fact the very oldest goddess to live, before she ceased to do so. A survivor from the ancient times, prior to the cataclysm. And even then she was an elder. But some thirty years ago she left us." Sibyl again looked to Lucia. "That brought a great deal of sadness to her circle. It was a great loss for our kind."

"Why? How did she die?"

"She didn't quite die. She simply... ceased to be. The light behind her eyes faded, and her body was vacated."

Lucia waited for more information, unsure if she understood what she was being told.

"The inner consciousness of a goddess, her soul, is not as tightly bound to her body as it is for humans. Sometimes we are able to meet during our dreams, over the aether where our souls reside. But only when in our deepest state of rest."

"I must be resting pretty deeply then."

"Within the aether I saw the soul of this ancient goddess become extinguished. That is not something I have ever seen before. It is not something that should happen."

"I suppose not. If a goddess dies, it should be for explainable reasons, which took place in the physical world. Right?"

"Yes. And even then, her soul would not die. It would simply await the birth of a new body to inhabit. But this goddess, she has truly left us. And it happened the moment life was created inside this laboratory."

"I... what are you trying to tell me," Lucia pleaded, beginning to feel guilt under Sibyl's suddenly burning gaze. "That... that when Schaller created Sibyl, it killed this goddess?"

Sibyl nodded. "This body was created unnaturally. It caused an imbalance in the aether, and so as a new goddess was wrongfully made an oldest goddess was destroyed."

"I see," Lucia said, beginning to feel guilt for her life's work. "And Alene and I are poised to repeat what Dr. Schaller did."

"You would repeat it many times over, reaping the aether of its wisest souls. It is truly fortunate that you were sired before there were more losses, so I could be here with you to explain!"

"My god! I'm... so sorry," Lucia said. She turned toward the tank and stepped forward to lay her hand on the cool glass. "I'm so, so sorry."

From behind Sibyl placed her hand over Lucia's shoulder and gave a firm, meaningful squeeze. "Remember the words I have spoken. When you awaken you must prevent any more deaths."

Chapter 33

Lucia awoke in her bed with Alene lying asleep by her side. She hadn't a clue how long she'd been out, and from within her windowless room there was no immediate way to tell. She sat up and a motion detector activated her bedside lamp.

"Mh... good morning," Alene said. Her eyes were still half closed as she sinuously snuggled up against Lucia. "And... congratulations."

"Ah, thank you," Lucia said. Alene's hands were sliding up her thighs, and she had a hungry look forming on her face. She couldn't wait to consummate Lucia's new life as one of her kind. Lucia caught that roving touch and lifted it away.

"What's wrong? Now we can really have some fun."

"I, yeah, I know, but... I had this dream..."

"Of course you did." Alene crushed up even closer and began to run her hand up and down her cock, which though soft was beginning to lengthen. "You all do during the big sleep. You can tell me about it later."

"No, I want to tell you about it now. We have to stop."

"Stop? Stop what?"

"The cloning project, with our Aerotian samples. It can't happen."

"What? I don't think so. Why?"

"During my dream a spirit came to me, and they explained that we'll kill other goddesses when we create the clones. When one is made unnaturally it messes with whatever invisible balance is in place, and so another has to be destroyed."

"I'm sorry, what? That sounds like madness."

"You wouldn't know about it at first because as goddesses you and your sisters are relatively young, and it's the oldest goddesses which die..."

"Lucia I think you've lost your mind. You're talking crazy."

"No! No, I think this is very real."

Alene shook her head and slipped out of bed. "Right. You know, the deep dreams you have during the change are very important. But they're still just dreams. We're in the real world now."

"This was real! Project CBL has to stop."

"It can't." There was a pause, with Alene and Lucia staring intently at each other. "It's too important. We need Project CBL."

"Project CBL is definitely interesting research, but I don't see how we actually need it? Let's stop it until we find a way around this problem."

"No, we can't do that, not just for what you dreamt. It must continue. We need to make the clones for the colonization."

"The colonization?"

"Yes. Of the other world."

Lucia squinted as she considered what their research could possibly have to do with their fantastic plans to settle another planet. She got out of the bed and began to pick up her clothes. "Why?"

"Well, because we'll need a lot of personnel to pull it off. We need way, way more goddesses than we have now, to get everything started once we arrive there. We're basically going to open up a factory that rolls out goddesses whom we can train for the task."

"No! You absolutely cannot do that!"

"Oh, we're doing that alright."

"I can't be a part of this. I won't have these deaths on my hands."

"I really hope you haven't fully woken up yet, that you haven't in fact actually lost it."

Lucia was roughly slipping into her jeans and a t-shirt. "No, I haven't fucking lost it! We can't do this!"

"There is no way Project CBL is going to stop." Alene stepped closer to Lucia, lowering her voice to a quiet yet authoritative rasp. "And I will not let you set foot in my lab until you recognize that."

"You're making a big mistake." She pushed her out of her way and barged out of her room.

***

"Your assistant is running away. She appears to be a in a bit of a huff," Marla remarked.

Alene ran to the window, where her mother stood watching as Lucia straddled a motorcycle. She was strapping on a helmet.

"That's my bike!"

"Is something wrong?"

"Well yeah, I mean look!"

Marla nodded patiently. "Yes, but why?"

"This morning she started talking nonsense. I told her she can't work in the lab until she gets her head together."

"Nonsense? Like what?"

"She said that if we follow through with Project CBL other goddesses will die."

"Oh," Marla said with a chuckle. "How odd. I hadn't seen her all of yesterday. Was it the big sleep?"

Alene nodded.

"Most breeders awaken from their first sleep with a clearer head, not a crazed one."

"Someone stop her! Call security, tell them to close the gate!"

There was no one else nearby, and they suffered an awkward moment of silence when Alene's call went unanswered. "Ah, no darling," Marla said, grasping her shoulder. "Let her go. We'll get you a new bike."

"But! But..."

Chapter 34

Under the hot summer sun Faith struck a pose in her bikini, tilting her body at an angle that highlighted the contrast of her lissome frame and recently augmented features. With an adorable smile of innocence she was a perfect image of sexified youth, sweet yet hot, the fantasy of any red blooded man.

Part of maintaining her growing career as a model was keeping her Twitter stream active, which Sibyl was happy to help with as she snapped a few photos and passed her phone back to her. Faith began to scroll through the images to choose one for public sharing.

"Okay, this one is good. Thanks." As the image uploaded to the internet she set down her phone and picked up her glass of fruit punch.

"No problem," Sibyl said. Her towel fell from her hips and she began to slip into the water of her little backyard swimming pool. "Ooh. Perfect temperature. This is going to be nice."

Once Faith had put down her drink and followed her into the pool they snuggled up against each other, smiling with a building excitement at each other's lust inciting presence. Beneath the crystalline blue water their bodies rubbed close, with their sizable round busts pressing together and Sibyl's heavily stuffed bikini shorts nudging against Faith's crotch. They shared a few playful kisses before Sibyl pulled away and swam for deeper water. She was feeling temptation for Faith and, having already made love to her several times that day, wanted to delay their next session for a little while. It was time to enjoy the simple pleasure of a summer swim. She plunged her head under the water's surface and dived deep.

"I see you've come along."

"Lucia...!" Faith spun around, splashing water beyond the pool's edge to face her long absent friend.

The scientist smiled calmly. "Hey. You two've been doing well?"

"Uh, yes, I suppose we have. No complaints."

Lucia nodded and turned her gaze to Sibyl, who was surfacing after a lap along the pool's bottom.

"Lucia. I was wondering if we'd ever see you again." Sibyl swam to the pool's edge beside Faith.

She struck a pose, then dropped the act and her arms, which slapped tiredly against her thighs. The visor of her helmet was hooked beneath her fingers. "Here I am."

"You... rode a motorcycle here?"

"Yeah. I borrowed Alene's bike."

"I didn't know you could ride a motorcycle."

"I can do a lot of new things."

"Huh. And to what do we owe the honour of you rejoining us, this hot summer's afternoon?" Grinning at her witticism Sibyl rose out of the water to stand dripping before her.

"Oh, nothing I could talk to you about. Things I wish I could discuss with Dr. Schaller."

Sibyl's eyebrows raised. "May he rest in peace."

***

Later in the living room Lucia revealed to Faith and Sibyl that she'd become a goddess, though that was something Sibyl had known only moments after she'd shown up in her back yard. It wasn't just that she was driving motorcycles and didn't need her glasses to see; she exuded an air of intangible excellence, a sort of perfection which she had never seen in anyone but herself, as well as Diana and her family. Yet there was something else about her still, which she didn't yet understand.

Lucia was only the second female goddess she had met, with the other being Jenn, though in her she never sensed quite what it was she did at that moment in Lucia. It was something in her smell, a certain thing which gave her caution and tempered what should have been an intense desire for her, even after the intimacy they had once shared. And this was despite the amazingly developed figure she displayed once she'd taken off her motorcycle jacket.

"I'm pregnant," Lucia said.

"Pregnant," Sibyl repeated softly. That was it.

"Yes..."

"By whom?"

"Ah, I'm not sure," Lucia said, blushing slightly. "It could have been Alene... or it could have been Diana."

Sibyl nodded, holding her tongue lest her words betray her jealousy or speak offence. The goddesses at Astro-X had certainly put her to use.

"It's only been a few days," Lucia continued. "That is, since both my pregnancy and being a goddess. The two kind of came as a package."

"That's not surprising," Sibyl murmured.

"Yeah. But that's not what I came here to discuss."

"So what is it, then?"

"It's... matters of Astro-X, and what the goddesses who run it are planning to do."

"Which is?"

"Leave Earth."

Sibyl twitched. "What?"

"You heard me. Marla and her daughters have found a planet that looks hospitable, and they want all goddesses to live there."

"That's so strange. I suppose they could, with Astro-X at their command. Why would they want that?"

Lucia then, as Diana and Alene had for her, explained to Sibyl and Faith the incredible history of goddesses, as well as their almost as incredible plan to move their entire population to the other planet.

"Well," Sibyl said as she sat back in her favourite La-Z-Boy, "that's an exciting plan. A bit scary, in fact. Marla and her daughters have big dreams. But what about it brought you here, and what of it would you want to have discussed with Dr. Schaller?"

"It's about the end goal of Project CBL. They had a bigger purpose for it than just to learn about ourselves. They want to start making clones of goddesses, in production quantities, to be the crew for the first wave of migrants. Why, just weeks ago we went to Aerotia, an island where there are a couple generations of goddesses living, to gather many-many samples for the cloning."

"Well, that's exciting! What an excellent idea - goddesses are smarter and stronger than humans, and would be more sympathetic to the cause of their mission."

"Yes, but it comes at a price. An immense one. The price... is death."

Faith had been occupied with other things nearby, but at those ominous words Lucia had regained her attention. She came to sit beside her and quietly listen.

"It's hard to explain why, but you see, there is an invisible balance that is always being kept, of all the living goddesses in our world. The number increases every time one is born, or is sired as a breeder like myself. But if a goddess comes into being in any other less natural way, the balance is compromised. It has to compensate for that by subtracting another living goddess from the total amount."

Sibyl blinked. "Unh?"

"Stay with me. It gets worse. The ones that are subtracted when a newest goddess is artificially made are the oldest. And so every time a clone is made, the most wisest, most experienced of our kind is taken from us. And with them goes our history, our legacy and all the rest."

"If that's true, one went when I was made. I wonder how old she was."

"Probably thousands of years old. Thousands of years of wisdom, lost. And Astro-X wants to make so many more clones!"

"How do you know all this," Faith asked.

Lucia sighed, knowing her credibility in the matter was about to see a sharp decline. "It came to me in a dream."

"A dream," Sibyl repeated with a chuckle of disbelief.

"You heard me. But not an ordinary dream. I've learned that goddesses, when they are in their deepest sleep, can have telepathic communication with each other. And when a human reaches the limit before they change into a goddess, they fall into the deepest, longest sleep of their lives. It's at least over twenty four hours."

"So when you changed you were contacted telepathically, in your deep-dream, by someone who told you all of this."

"That's right."

Sibyl laughed again and shook her head, looking down at her lap. "Well, geez. That is beyond incredible."

Lucia was beginning to deflate. How could a scientific mind like Sibyl's ever believe such claims, if they'd come from a dream?

"But, then, why wouldn't I believe you?"

Lucia sprung out of her seat and took Sibyl's hands, causing the blonde clone to twitch with surprise. "So you do believe me! Good. Because I need your help!"

"Unhh?"

"A mission! An adventure. Just you and me, a pair of super-human goddesses. We need to go back down to Astro-X and end Project CBL. We need to destroy all their genetic samples, before the fused eggs begin to divide."

"A-buh, a-buh-"

"Do this for me Sibyl. Please. For me and the rest of our kind. We're in the right. They don't know what kind of damage they're going to deal."

"Why do you need me though?"

"You're strong, and fast. We'd make a hell of a team. Plus you're Diana's double, so we could infiltrate the lab easily enough."

"Of course. Uh, hmm. When do we do this?"

"As soon as possible. Alene had scheduled for the gene fusings to begin the day after tomorrow. And you know how long it takes to drive down to Astro-X."

"Oh, god damn. So we have to leave, basically right now."

Lucia nodded.

"Shit." Sibyl rose from her seat. "Faith, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to do this. I'll return as soon as I can."

"Will it be dangerous though?" Faith and Sibyl looked to Lucia.

"I don't know. Maybe?" Lucia shrugged. "I don't think so. Marla and the rest of them aren't bad, they're just in the wrong."

Faith feared that she might lose her goddess, but wouldn't let herself stand in the way of such an important task. "Um... well, if Lucia is right, I guess it's up to you. You're the only one that can help. You, um... You'd better get going."

Sibyl could see the conflict in her beautiful face. "Oh, babe. I love you so much."

Faith dashed across the living room to her, and they shared a brief yet impassioned kiss.

"I'll get back in one piece. Don't worry."

"Okay..."

Lucia was already moving towards the front door, her helmet tucked under her arm and her jacket slung over her shoulder. Sibyl left Faith's reach to catch up with her, and they were gone.

Chapter 35

"So. Tomorrow's the big day, huh Alene?"

"That's right Marla," Alene said without looking up from her work. She was meticulously arranging tiny vials, which each contained the cells which would become a veritable army of super-intelligent, strong and immortal beings. "This will really kick-start the goddess population."

"Are you excited?"

"Extremely. But at the same time, I'm quite calm. With all the anticipation I've been through, I've planned every single step to the smallest detail. I've rehearsed everything in my head, which makes actually doing this a little less intense."

"But you didn't plan on having Lucia leave."

"No, that came as a surprise." She shrugged. "What could I do about that, though."

Marla nodded and crossed her arms beneath her bust, tilting her hips as she turned her gaze upwards, in thought. "Mhmm. What convinced her that Project CBL will kill goddesses, anyway? What got into her?"

"Geez, I don't know. She just woke up and told me that during her deep-dream, a spirit told her we couldn't do this. Isn't that ridiculous?"

Marla fell silent, and for a moment the only sound was the faint clicking of vials as Alene continued to work. She then asked, her tone apprehensive: "she was told this during her dream? By a spirit?"

Alene nodded, still busily sorting.

"Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh', with that heavy tone? It's just a dream."

"No darling. No. It's not 'just' a dream. Our dreams can be very real, especially when we have the deep-dream. The people we interact with in them are not simply manifestations of our subconscious. Those are other goddesses, wiser ones, telling us what we need to hear."

Alene quietly put down her vials and turned to look at her mother.

"Now if the goddess that spoke to Lucia was one she hasn't met, one that introduced itself as simply 'a spirit'... and it came to her bearing such a dire message? Well, I fear it may have been the oldest, the wisest of goddesses. Perhaps it was even one that no longer lives in this plane of existence. And its message, we are going to have to take very seriously."

"What are you trying to say?"

Marla took Alene's hands and pulled them close to her chest, away from her work. "My darling... I'm sorry. But we're going to have to have to postpone tomorrow's work. Until I've had time to think this over."

"Marla!"

"I have nothing more to say on this matter until I've made a hard decision. Until then put your samples back into storage."

***

Sibyl had her reservations about her and Lucia's sudden road trip, of course. How could she, still a scientist at heart, not be sceptical? To her a dream was just a dream, despite whatever importance Lucia claimed those of goddesses held.

From her driver's seat she glanced at her as she road alongside her on that motorcycle, her dark brown hair whipping behind her from under the rim of her helmet. She had to squint, for the burning orange of the desert sun was shining sideways into her window as it set.

Despite her uncertainty about what they were doing she couldn't resist the chance to leave with Lucia, for many reasons. It was good just to be with her again after so many months apart. Life with Faith at home was wonderful, but she had missed Lucia so and didn't want to see her go yet.