Monica paced up and down the room, trying to arrive at a decision."You know they're looking for you?" Syntel?" You've got them scared. Ben's brokering...a deal with them at the moment, trying to get Hunter Killers integrated into Oceania's military. Any massacres linked to synthetics will seriously jeopardize their plans. Syntel are paying him a small fortune to facilitate this deployment, including upgrading me as a sweetener." They started it," Claire protested. "I was living a nice quiet life. "I'm sorry, darling. I only want you to look nice."Her sincerity made me crumble. "I know."As we hung up, I was filled with glee, having gotten Kelley to agree to bare her hickey-decorated ass to her mother and to express my demand that we be allowed to make love in her room. Also, she'd raised no objection to being seen wearing a bikini.I was reading my mail, a letter from my mother saying she was happy that I was coming home for a weekend in October, and a short note from Jeannie giving me. Living as a woman and becomingbiochemically feminised was altering my subconscious mind, and as itbecame increasingly more feminised it started to send strange desiresdrifting in to my head at the strangest of times about having a man comealong and sweep me off my feet! Making matters worse was as I hadprogressed from accepting that I had to live as a girl to activelyenjoying being a girl, I started to get hit on more regularly, whichresulted in Nick the 'cute' IT guy asking me out for a. "Carl absorbed this bitter information. His mind flashed briefly to his parents. He had been an only child and he worried that his loss might devastate them. Then he guiltily thought of Reatha's parents. Might they not feel the same way about her?Sick to his stomach with the decision he was forced to make he said, "Let's do this thing Arter. I don't have any choice."Arter clapped a hand on his shoulder, "I knew many a brave human long ago. I'm glad to see that bravery hasn't gone extinct in.