Darlene heard the good news the following morning.
"Darlene, guess what? My rider has matured!" Elizabeth cried, spinning around with glee.
"Really? Congratulations, Mom!" said Darlene, noting her change in attitude.
"Want to see it?" said Elizabeth, with a grin.
"Of course!" said Darlene.
"Elizabeth, no!" said Greg, alarmed by her new enthusiasm.
"What's wrong, Dad? Mom is just proud for having joined the Hive. You will be too, when your turn comes," Darlene promised. She grinned as she got the surprised reaction she desired from him.
Elizabeth, having taken off her shirt, turned to show her back to them. They saw the golden banded rider, much larger than when it had just been implanted mere days ago. The band was bright and gleaming, and every time the rider deflated they could see the prominent bone structure on it. It was as if Elizabeth had symmetrical clamps on her back, holding on tight.
Elizabeth turned her head and gave them a brilliant smile. She looked so energized, so
vital
.
"How do you feel, Mom?" Darlene asked, as Greg looked on, feeling a little sick.
"Wonderful!" said Elizabeth.
"And your rider?" Darlene asked.
Elizabeth gave a shy smile. "It loves me."
"Elizabeth!" said Greg sharply.
Elizabeth took his hand. "I'm sorry, dear, but it's true." She smiled like a woman in love.
"Elizabeth, don't let it control you," said Greg desperately. He felt his wife slipping away from him.
"It's inevitable," said Darlene. "Mom, how do you feel about the Hive?"
"I love it! My purpose is to incubate eggs inside me!" said Elizabeth promptly.
"Elizabeth!" Greg said again.
"I'm sorry, dear, that's just how I feel," said Elizabeth, giving him a sad smile.
"No, it's not, it's how that thing on your back feels!" said Greg.
"If you feel so strongly, Dad, why did you help Mom make her rider grow?" said Darlene, putting her arms around him. "Why did you let her fuck your brains out, over and over, knowing it was increasing our hold over her?"
"It was... it was...." Greg was suddenly at a loss for words.
"Instinct," said Darlene, looking into his eyes. "Sexual instinct. That's all the Hive does, Dad, is harness your natural instincts. It allows you to shed cumbersome customs and reach your full reproductive potential."
Greg bit her lip. "Now that we've done as you asked, I want this off of her."
"Of course. When you've completed all your tasks," said Darlene.
"We've done everything you asked," said Greg desperately.
"Almost everything," said Darlene. "Dad, we'd like you to participate in a little experiment. We're very interested to see if we can breed more ESPers."
Darlene explained. They had a female ESPer in mind, a woman with an ESPer strength of 82, just two points below Greg's 84. They wanted Greg to mate with the woman to see if they could reliably produce an ESPer skilled child.
"You want me to have sex with... and impregnate... another woman?" said Greg. He looked at Elizabeth, whose eyes were shining.
"That's exactly right, Dad," said Darlene.
Greg could not believe what he was hearing. "Suppose I wanted to agree to such a thing, which I don't," said Greg. "This project of yours could take a long time. People don't get pregnant and give birth in 30 minutes."
"This would not be an ordinary impregnation," said Darlene. "Both you and the other volunteer would be given augmentations which would enable conception to occur within ten days, and incubation in only a week."
"A week?" Greg had trouble believing this. "But even we were able to create such a baby, it would take years to grow up and determine if it had ESPer skills," said Greg.
"Normally, yes. But we've found a way to speed up the process so the child will be born fully mature," said Darlene. She saw the indecision on his face. "There's no need to consider it, Dad, it's not a request. It's an order, from the Hive. The female ESPer's name is Joy Montana. She will be here tonight for her first session with you."
"I haven't even said I would agree to this yet," said Greg angrily.
"Of course, if you prefer, I could give Rudy his first rider instead. He didn't seem that eager when he saw Mom's, but I'm sure he'd change his mind as quickly as she did. Perhaps even quicker."
Greg looked helplessly at Elizabeth. He was looking at her for permission, she could tell. He would be having sex with another woman. Elizabeth, with pain in her eyes, slowly nodded.
"Good," Darlene smiled.
********
It was very awkward when Joy Montana arrived that evening after dinner. Joy was a blonde hispanic woman in her mid 30's with very big, heavy breasts. She looked as nervous about being there as Elizabeth and Greg was to have her.
Rudy immediately wanted to know who she was and why she was there. Darlene gleefully informed her that she was here to have sex with Greg and get impregnated.
"You're going to cheat on Mom?" Rudy said angrily.
"He has no choice," said Elizabeth, grabbing her hand. "None of us do, dear."
Rudy pulled his hand away and stomped into his room, closing the door with a bang.
"I'm sorry for that," said Greg.
"No, I understand," said Joy. "This is awkward for all of us."
Briefly, she explained her situation. She was a school teacher and her husband Tom was a psychologist. They had a son named Emilio. Emilio was taken captive by the parasites and Tom and Joy were forced to cooperate with them.
"They started to do things to us," said Joy, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. "More and more things in our private areas."
The aliens seemed interested in Joy, who had an unusually high ESPer score of 82. They forced her and Tom to conduct a breeding experiment.
"What was born, he looked like my Tom but he wasn't," said Joy. "He... he strangled Tom, and killed him. Drained his body of all his life. Then he took his place."
"That must have been horrible for you," said Elizabeth, instantly feeling sympathy for her.
"It was," said Joy. "These creatures keep demanding more and more. Now they demand that in order to keep Emilio safe that your husband and I... I...."
"Say no more," said Elizabeth, putting a hand over hers. "We understand." She wasn't happy with the reason that brought Joy here, but she was starting to feel sympathy for what Joy had suffered through.
"And now that the introductions have been made, why don't you lovebirds get down to business?" Darlene suggested.
Elizabeth gave Darlene a hateful look. Greg obediently nodded, and stood up, as did Joy. She followed him into the bedroom. The last thing Elizabeth heard was the door closing.
"How can you do this?" Elizabeth hissed. "How can you make your father sleep with another woman?"