Incest/Taboo Bred by the Hive

Major Samantha Arden of the United Survey Service is a senior official in HomePlanet Security and is a very skilled ESPer, which makes her a prime target for the Hive. She has a strained marriage with her husband Gavin and is secretly in love with her superior officer, Colonel Jack Sullivan. Sam gets taken by the Hive. She and Jack have been selected as a breeding pair, and Sam gives birth to her own replacement who will copy her memories and then dispose of her.

And so the day came, as Sam always knew it would, when she was sitting nude on the toilet, and Jack held her hand as she spread her legs and pushed hard from her womb.

For four hours Sam cried out in pain.

"Push, Sam, push," said Jack.

Sam cried in agony.

"Is it supposed to hurt so much?" Jack asked.

"I... I don't know," said Sam. She paused a moment. "My rider... my rider tells me I am fulfilling my function. So things must be right."

Sam looked so vulnerable, sitting there with her giant belly and he legs spread wide, moaning in pain. Her belly was so big that Jack could barely see her vagina.

Sam cried out again, and Jack said, "Do you want me to get a doctor?"

"No doctor!" said Sam quickly. "My rider says no. Just hold my hand, Jack."

And then on the fourth hour, the baby started to come out.

"It's starting to move, Jack, I can feel it," said Sam. "Aaaaah!" she cried from the pain.

"Keep pushing, Sam!" said Jack.

"I can't! The pain is too much!" Sam cried.

"Sam, you're a soldier! A soldier and a woman! You can do it!"

"I can't I can't I can't," said Sam. She was crying now.

Jack hugged her and squeezed her hand. He spoke in a low voice. "Sam, what are you?"

"I... I am Hiveflesh."

"What is your function?"

"To... reproduce and spread the Hive," said Sam, her eyes suddenly glazed.

"Then do it!" Jack cried.

"I... I must obey," said Sam. Suddenly, her face became blank as her rider asserted control. She bore down again, screaming even as she pushed.

A few moments later, a large green pod started to poke its head out of her vaginal lips. Sam blinked as some awareness returned to her. "Oh, my baby, my baby," said Sam. "What does it look like, Jack? Tell me!"

"Keep pushing!" Jack cried.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Sam cried out in pain as she kept pushing. Sam was doing everything she could to bring Hivelife into the world. Sam's legs were widely spread. Her pubic bones had separated. Her belly looked huge and on the point of bursting. Her pubic hair and thighs were glistening with sweat. She wanted to reproduce. She wanted to expand the Hive. She must fulfill her function! And then Sam gave another push, and Jack reached between her nether lips and gently pulled the baby out.

"Show me! Show me the baby!"

Jack held up the pod. Sam's jaw dropped. "A pod?" She got a very disturbed look on her face. "Jack... there's something else inside of me!"

She cried out as she bore down again. Ten minutes later, she gave birth to a second green pod.

"What... what are these?" said Jack, looking at them.

"They are Hivelife," said Sam. She had been shocked when she first saw them, but now she felt the glow of motherhood. Her rider, acting strongly in her brain, assured her that she had completed her mission. She had reproduced and expanded the Hive.

"But what are they?" Jack asked.

"They are Hivelife," said Sam firmly. "That is all we need to know." She took a deep breath. "Help me up," she commanded. Jack gave her hand.

Sam got up, took the pods, and put them on the floor in her walk-in closet, and closed the door.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Jack asked.

"I don't know," said Sam. "I just know that's where they should be."

They checked in on the pods every day, and every day they grew substantially bigger.

"How're they doing that?" Jack asked.

Sam pointed to the glowing cylinder in each pod. "They must be converting energy into biological matter. That's highly advanced."

"Yeah. But what's going to come out?"

They began to get an idea on the third day. The pods had turned into semi transparent cocoons, and each had a shape. A human shape.

"Look!" said Sam. "One is a boy, and one is a girl!" She hugged Jack.

"Yeah," said Jack. "But they're growing up awfully quick."

By the sixth day it was clear that their children would be born as sexually mature adults. "Fully grown up," said Sam. She stared at the male and female bodies in their respective cocoons.

"That will be creepy," said Jack. "Instant adults?"

"They can serve the Hive more quickly that way, Jack," said Sam, taking his arm possessively. "Just think, you and I created these wonderful beings from our own bodies. Doesn't that excite you?"

"Everything I do with your body excites me," said Jack.

Sam leaned up and kissed him.

"You know," said Jack. "The female, the girl, looks a little like you."

Sam stared at the girl who was gestating in one of the cocoons. Her face, her breasts, her body shape... it did look a lot like Sam. "Yeah, she does. How do you like the idea of a daughter who resembles me?"

"It excites me," said Jack, and they kissed again.

When they parted, Sam said, "But the male doesn't look like you. He probably has more of a mix of both of our characteristics."

"But however human they look, they are also Hivelife," said Jack.

"Yes," said Sam. "They will emerge and help the Hive grow strong. We have done our part to expand the Hive and help it enslave the world." She looked up at him. "How does that make you feel, Jack?"

Jack saw the look in her eye and he kissed her again, this time with more passion and longing than before. Before long the both of them were both back in bed, repeating the same act that brought the pods into being in the first place. Their riders pulsated strongly on their backs as they made love.

By the seventh day they were fully grown, adult sized individuals. As cracks developed on the pods, Sam felt herself coursing with excitement.

"This is it, Jack. Our babies are being born! Hug me!" Jack obeyed.

The cracks grew larger, and the cocoons broke open. Green liquid flooded into the bedroom. Dark shapes slowly emerged into the light.

The first to emerge was the male.

It was Dunlop 4.

Sam gasped. They had made an exact copy of Dunlop 4.

But her surprise only grew exponentially when she saw the woman emerging behind him.

It was her. Samantha Arden.

"What... what is this?" said Jack.

"Who are you?" Sam asked, her eyes wide.

The other Sam looked at Sam. "I am you, Samantha Arden."

"You are Sam?" Jack asked, sounding confused.

"Hello, Jack," the other Sam smiled. She boldly wiggled her hips and ass as she walked over and took Jack in her arms. She gave him a passionate kiss while Sam watched, her rider pulsating. When the other Sam pulled back, she said, "How did that feel?"

"Different," said Jack.

"We'll work on it," the other Sam promised.

"Hello, Samantha," said the other Dunlop 4. Sam took a step backwards.

"There is nothing to fear," said Dunlop, and he took her hand, and kissed it.

"Sam," said Jack. "The other Sam. Whoever you are. Explain this to me. We've made a baby Dunlop... and a baby you... except they're not babies?"

"Everything will become clear to you soon," Dunlop promised.

"You may go, Jack," said the other Sam.

Sam tried to hide her horror. She had a good idea what would happen next.

Jack looked confused.

The other Sam took a step towards Jack. "You may leave now, Jack."

Sam could sense what would happen if he didn't. She quickly ran forward, putting her body between the two of them. "Please, Jack, go," she said. She kissed him. "I'll be all right."

She saw doubt in his eyes.

"Really," said Sam. "I'll drop by and see you later," she promised. She would say anything, to save his life.

"That's right," said the other Sam. "Sam will drop by to see you later."

Jack looked at the other Sam, and then back at Sam, and saw something in her eyes, and he nodded, heading for the door. In moments the door had slammed shut.

"Thank you, Samantha," said the other Sam. "You are obedient to the end."

"And now you are going to kill me," said Sam.

"Not quite yet. I still have to absorb your memories, first," said the other Sam. She turned to Dunlop. "And you should go to the other Dunlop, and deal with him."

"I will," said Dunlop. "But first I must go to the Hive, and get a detailed briefing." He looked in the closet, put on some of Gavin's clothes, and left. When the door slammed behind him, it was just Sam, and the other Sam.

The other Sam smiled wolfishly at her.

"I don't understand," said Sam, taking a step back. "I obeyed you in everything."

"You obeyed us in everything," said the other Sam, walking up to her. She grabbed Sam by the shirt, and ripped it open.

"I did everything you asked," said Sam.

"You did everything we asked," said the other Sam, roughly pulling off Sam's shirt.

"I even let my body be modified, and let myself be impregnated."

"You let us change and impregnate you," said the other Sam, ripping off her bra. The other Sam smiled as Sam's breasts came free. Sam winced.

"And Dunlop was being trained to go back to the Stellar Union."

"And Dunlop was being trained to go back to the Stellar Union," the other Sam repeated, almost mockingly. She opened Sam's skirt, and let it drop to the floor.

"So why would you do this to us? Why would you replace us?" Sam asked.

The other Sam pulled down Sam's panties. Then she pushed Sam back against the wall, where they stood face to face.

"I'm afraid you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Hive works, Samantha," said the other Sam. "The needs of the Hive dictate everything." And with that last word, she smoothly stuck two fingers between Sam's nether lips. Sam's mouth opened reflexively as she felt herself being penetrated. The other Sam leaned forward and put her tongue in it, and kissed her deeply. For a moment, Sam felt the sensation of being doubly penetrated, in and out, in and out. Then the other Sam pulled back, with a satisfied smile, and stared at Sam's helpless, nude body as she continued to work her fingers down below.

"The fact that you were so cooperative, the fact that you were so fertile, those were the reasons why we duplicated you," said the other Sam, still working her fingers in and out of Sam. It was less a sexual act than one meant to show power and dominance. "Your fertility was passed on to me. And soon so will your memories and personality. I can use them much better than you ever could. I was engineered with abilities you will never have," she said, sticking her finger in so deep that Sam gasped. The other Sam smiled as she made her point.

"A brain that has been created to be loyal from birth to the Hive is much preferable to one that needs a rider, don't you agree?" And she moved her fingers deep into Sam. "I said, don't you agree?"

"Yes," Sam gasped.

"Naturally, the same goes for Dunlop. We might have heavily programmed him to spread us in the Stellar Union, but without a rider, there was always a risk he could fall short. The new Dunlop you just met will never betray us. He will be much more reliable, and much more efficient," she said, and once again, she thrusted deeply inside Sam at the word 'Efficient'. "Don't you agree, Samantha?"

"Yes," Sam said again, inhaling rapidly as she was penetrated.

"I'm glad we are all in agreement. Now lay down on your back on the bed. You and I have some heavy fucking to do. Your last fuck, I'm afraid, Samantha, but I will try and make it a good one," said the other Sam.

Sam immediately scooted to her bed, and lay on her back. She spread her legs submissively.

"That's a good girl," the other Sam purred, getting on top of her. Sam whimpered as the other Sam spread her legs even further, to make more room for her between her legs "Just raise your knees a bit, that's right, very good, Samgirl."

Sam obeyed every command eagerly. She didn't want to participate, and yet she also wanted to do so more than anything else in the world.

The other Sam mounted her with a predatory smile and rubbed her pubic hair against Sam's clitoris. "You're a very good girl, Sammy. Do you like the feeling of that?"

"Yessss," Sam hissed, as their fleshy vulvas rubbed together.

The other Sam started to kiss Sam furiously, and rub her breasts tightly against hers.

The sensation of having her own body rub against her was a new one for Sam. Despite her predicament, she began to get aroused. Her nipples hardened as a chill went through her. As the other Sam kindled her sexuality, the other Sam's face was also right above her, staring into her with hard green eyes. Sam's rider filled her with tremendous desire. As she saw this gorgeous blonde above her with perfect breasts and sexy thighs rubbing against her, she felt a burning in her vagina. She needed to be taken, and taken now.

Sam felt her mind begin to be drained. Something like tendrils in her mind, sapping, taking away from her.

"That's right, Sammmy girl. Feel the pleasure in your crude, animal like body while I take everything of value from your mind," said the other Sam. She smiled mockingly at Sam as she grinded her pubic hair against Sam's clitoris. The other Sam looked pleased when Sam groaned in pleasure.

"Even now, you want me to drain your mind, don't you?" the other Sam asked, as she made love to Sam.

"Yes," Sam whispered.

"Say it."

"I... I want you to drain my mind," said Sam. At that moment, it was the truth. The other Sam was the sexiest woman she had ever been with. She needed to climax, she needed to come, regardless of the consequences. She grinded her vagina tightly against the other Sam. The other Sam was so sexy! Sam cried out, "Please... drain my mind... take whatever you want, I beg you... but also let me come! I need it... I need it so badly....."

"That's the gift we give good little girls like you." The other Sam snickered as she continued to grind her body against Sam's. She reached down with her hand and started to rub her clit.

"That's it, just like that! Rub my clit harder, Master, please, harder!" Sam cried, as she was lost in a fog of lust.

The other Sam snickered as she took what she wanted from Sam's mind and body freely. The kissing and physical contact had a hypnotic effect, and time seemed to blur, and Sam's mind seemed to submerge in a sea of sensuality, as if she were communing.....

The next thing Sam knew she was sitting in the kitchen, with the other Sam. She was still naked. Her head hurt, and her body was sweating all over.

The other Sam was downing glass after glass of water. "Thirsty work," she said, between glasses. "I'd offer you one, but soon you won't need it."

Sam started at the droplets of sweat dripping from the other Sam's heavy breasts, and her nicely curved ass, and for the first time started to get a true understanding of what men saw in her. The other Sam saw her staring and smiled. "Do you like it? I'm sure I will be able to please Jack, now that I know how he likes to be kissed." She smiled as she saw Sam's reaction to that.

The other Sam sat down next to her, and stared at her with those sexy green eyes as she combed her blonde hair over her forehead with her hand. "We're almost done, Sam. I just need a few more odds and ends from your head."

"And then you will kill me."

"There really isn't any need for two Samantha Ardens, no matter how attractive and desirable we may be," she said, smiling at Sam.

"We will defeat you," Sam said.

"I presume that 'we' doesn't include you, because in a few minutes, you're not going to exist," said the other Sam. "It's so comical. Even at the end, you still don't understand what we did to you."

"So why don't you explain it to me?"

The other Sam paused. She knew Sam was stalling for time, delaying the inevitable. But she wanted to drive her point home, to thoroughly defeat her original. "You were programmed that way. Now that I have your memories, it's all so clear. Do you remember when Gavin programmed you with the black spider, on that very first day, when you were first taken? Do you remember wondering what you were programmed to do? Well, part of your programming was an instruction not to resist. To cooperate. But we also planted some hope in you. False hope."

"We instructed you to tell yourself not to resist, but to wait, to bide your time, to wait for the right moment to resist. A moment that would never come. That's how we got you to passively accept worm after worm. That's how we got you to Infect and fuck your best friend and secret lover. That's how we got you to lead your family to the slaughter. Remember how you watched your sweet sister and nieces being absorbed by the Hive? You did nothing because we told you that resistance was futile. The number one thing we stamped into your brain was that you could never, ever beat us. And so you never even tried."

"Instead, you tried to cope by telling yourself that you would fight on another day. Well... here's another day. All your friends and family are dead or altered. You yourself are about to join them. And even now, at the end, you cling to a false hope. A false hope we gave you. Can you see how truly pathetic you are?"

Sam stared at her other self. She wished she could wipe the smile off her face. But she sat there, with a heavy rider on her back, unable to do a thing.

And then she remembered something Colonel Worth Rogers had said. He had said that the aliens would win if they could convince her that she couldn't fight back. But he said Sam could beat them if she could convince the Hive that she believed she was defeated, when she wasn't. So who had fooled whom?

And as the other Sam laughed, Sam also remembered something Gretchen McCallister had said. How the famed Anna Rogers, whose mind had been so brutally altered by the first alien invaders, somehow managed to climb out from all that conditioning and still beat them. If only Sam could be like Anna Rogers. If only she could struggle past the layers of control of her conditioning, and the giant five pound tripled banded rider on her back.

"You seem at a loss for words, Sam," said the other Sam. "Come back to the bedroom, and we'll finish our business." She left for the bedroom, supremely confident that Sam would follow.

Sam found herself getting up and following the other Sam. The other Sam had no rider, but she had the same plump buttocks Sam did. She watched them clench and unclench as she moved.

In the bedroom, the other Sam mockingly waved her arm to the bed with a flourish. Sam obediently lay down on her back, and the other Sam mounted her.

"Beg me again, Sam. Beg me to drain your memories."

Sam was suddenly filled with arousal again. "Please," she whispered. "Take my mind. Take my cunt. Take whatever you need. But please let me come."

"Don't worry, I will," said the other Sam, grinning wickedly as she got on top of Sam and started grinding her body against hers. "You like this?"

"Yes... oh yes," Sam cried, feeling sexual ecstasy even as she felt the other Sam's tendrils entering her mind again.

"We're getting close to the present, Samgirl. There are some certain specific memories I want," said the other Sam. "I want to know how you pleasure Jack. What makes Jack happiest in bed."

"I'll show you," Sam whispered, even as she knew that she was helping the other Sam replace her.

"I know you will, Sammy," the other Sam grinned. "Think hard about it, Sam. Think how you please Jack."

"Rub my clit, Master! Rub my clit and I will tell you whatever you want to know!"

The other Sam grinned as she started to rub Sam's clit again. Sam groaned with pleasure. She started thinking about how she used to pleasure Jack. How she grinded his shaft in the circular motion he liked so much. How she kissed him while pressing her breasts against him while rubbing his back. How she laughed and looked flirtatiously at him while playing with his penis. Soon she was lost in erotic thoughts of making love to Jack, and time passed by rapidly.

...and suddenly, it was over.

Sam blinked, and saw the other Sam above her. Sweat glistened on her face, on her bright blonde hair. She saw the other Sam smile at her.

"What a good girl," said the other Sam. "I have everything I need now. We're all done here, Sammy," she said cheerfully. She put her hands around Sam's throat. "Any last words?"

Sam's gaze drifted down to the other Sam's breasts. They looked so large and heavy, the way they hung over her. Her erect nippled tits stood out surrounded by bright red areolas; her creamy white breasts were spotted with beads of sweat. For a split second, Sam understood why other men and even women found her so attractive.

In her final seconds of life, Sam wondered about Jack. Would the other Sam merely have sex with Jack, or would she actually become his lover? How would Jack feel about making love to the woman who had killed her? Would he even be able to get an erection for her, thinking of how the other Sam had killed her original self? Would he be able to work himself up enough to ejaculate inside of her, or would his revulsion prevent him from coming? Or, given enough time, would he even forget she existed, and treat this duplicate like her original self?

For some reason, in the last seconds of her life, Sam was haunted by that fear, the fear that Jack could actually fall in love with her duplicate. In her heart of hearts, she felt that while Jack could be made to make love to the other Sam--she had seen that the Hive could make them do anything--she felt that Jack could never love her duplicate like he loved her.

The other Sam smiled down at her. "He'll love me just as much as he loved you. Bet on it."

Sam looked startled.

"You forget, Sam, for the past few hours I've been doing nothing but reading your mind," said Sam. "It's touching that in your final moments you're focused on Jack. I could bring Jack in right now, and make love to him right here in front of you, and you would see exactly what I could make him feel for me."

The other Sam paused for a split moment, as if considering. Her grip on Sam's neck tightened... and then, loosened. She raised her eyebrows as the other Sam spoke again."No. I have an even better idea. I'm not going to kill you, Sam."

The other Sam pulled back, and took her hands away from Sam's throat. "I'm going to do even better. I'm going to have you turned into a spider guard. Did you happen to notice them, Sam? They're kind of like the harem guards, except they have a black spider in their brain. The way it works is that they put a green liquid in your brain. Not the kind that erases your brain cells; no, this is a stronger version which melts your brain tissue away entirely. Then the black spider oozes its way in, and takes total control. Then they finish you off with an arthropod exoskeleton mask over your face."

"Just think of it, Sam! You'll be totally nude, in the Hive, with a human body from the neck down. You'll get to show off those gorgeous titties you admire so much. But from the neck up, you'll be all Insect. Your brain will be gone forever, and you'll live the rest of your life as a mindless spider guard."

The other Sam smiled. "I'll work on Jack for a few days, conditioning him. From your memories, I can see that you have him wrapped around your little finger. I will too. When he's ready, I'll bring him to the cave, and have him fuck me in front of you. Then, I'll tell him that the spider guard in front of us is you." She leaned her face close to Sam. "And then I'll have Jack fuck me again."

She slapped Sam on the ass. "So get up, and get dressed! This is your big chance you've been waiting for, to escape!"

Sam slowly got up. She found her ripped clothes.

"Oh, sorry about that. Get something else from your closet. We want you to look nice for the harem master," the other Sam grinned. "No, I have a better idea! Wear your Survey Service finest! You're so proud of that, aren't you? Major Samantha Arden? Get dressed, you noble bitch cunt!"

Sam woodenly went into her closet and got dressed. When she emerged, she was wearing her Survey Service skirt, pantyhose, blouse, and jacket. Her face was a block of stone.

"Don't forget your hat, dear," said the other Sam, reaching out to put it on her head. "There! You look like such the warrior soldier now!"

Sam stood there woodenly as the other Sam saluted her. She saluted back.

The other Sam smiled. "Give me a kiss before you go."

Sam walked over to the other Sam and pressed her lips against her. The other Sam looked disgusted. "You can do better than that."

Sam leaned forward again, and gave her other self a kiss filled with passion. The other Sam kissed her, and for a moment they lovingly locked lips. As they did so, the other Sam slipped a finger into Sam's skirt and into her panties and penetrated her. Sam gasped as the other Sam winked at her. When the other Sam pulled back, she said, "You see? We can make you do anything. And right now you are going to drive on down to the Hive and find Marion or Janice and beg them to turn you into a spider guard. You'll do that, won't you, Sammy girl?"

"Yes," said Sam.

The other Sam smiled. "I know you will. And on the way there, spend your last minutes thinking about the resilience of the human spirit, and how, when the time is right, you're going to break out of our control and save the world. You'll do that too, won't you, my little Sammy baby?"

"Yes," said Sam.

"Then go and get to it," said the other Sam, slapping her on the ass again. "I would say goodbye, but better to say, 'until next we meet'."

Sam robotically turned and left the room.

The last thing Sam heard as she left was the sound of laughter.

Sam marched to her car. Once again, she remembered the words of Colonel Worth Rogers, telling her that the enemy could only win when they convinced you to stop fighting. She remembered Gretchen McCallister telling her how Anna Rogers resisted, and won, even under overwhelming alien mind control.

Sam struggled to stop or alter her course. She couldn't change a thing. She was still walking to her car. She had a three ringed rider on her back, which was controlling her completely.

Or was it?

Or was she simply letting it control her? She tried again to resist, and this time paused a step. That wasn't much. But it was something.

It had been so long since Sam had tried to resist. She had even forgotten was it was like to try.

And then Sam got to her car. The car recognized her and opened the door.

And then Sam tossed her car keys to the ground.

Sam smiled, "Do you really think you're going to delay the inevitable that way, Sam?" Sam turned around, facing away from the car door, and bent down on her high heels, and picked up the keys. Then she slowly stood up, intending to turn around and get into the car.

At that moment, as she was standing up, Sam summoned all her ESPer powers, her ESPer powers she had never before tried to use to fight the creatures, and used all her will to send herself slamming backwards.

Her back slammed hard against the sharp corner edge of the door, the sharp point where the top met the side. Sam cried out and fell. But that was nothing compared to the screaming in her mind.

Suddenly, her rider started to flipflop violently on her back. She heard it cry in pain in her head. For a terrifying long moment she felt it flipflopping on her back. Sam's heart beat rapidly as she felt liquid streaming down her back. She cried out as the rider's movements became more frantic, and then.... suddenly it went limp, and stopped moving entirely.

Sam sat on the ground for a long moment. Her rider was not moving. She couldn't feel it in her head.

Her rider was dead.

Sam experimentally tried to get up. She could. Her arms and legs were suddenly under her control again. Suddenly she felt the rider, on her back under her shirt, falling off. It dropped to her waist, still inside her shirt.

Sam took off her jacket. There were large yellow stains on her back. She took off her blouse, and the smelly dead body of the rider crashed to the ground. It had been stabbed right in the middle.

For a moment Sam stared at it, stunned. For the first time in a long time she had complete freedom of action. She had no rider on her back. She had no worms controlling her. She had no heavily preprogrammed routines to perform. All she had was... herself.

Dunlop. There might be time to save him.

She got into her car and sped off.

The Survey Service had given Dunlop 4 an apartment in Bethesda, Maryland. Sam had been there a few times. Dunlop's duplicate had a several hour advantage over her, but she remembered the duplicate saying he had to report to the Hive first before taking care of Dunlop. There might still be time to save him.

As she drove wildly, Sam tried to formulate a plan. Dunlop would still be under the control of his rider, of course. But perhaps Sam could persuade him to come with her. Or she could figure a way to knock him out. If only she had her blaster.

When she got there, she rapidly knocked on his door and tried to catch her breath.

Dunlop 4 opened the door. "Samantha," he said.

Sam entered his apartment. It had come pre-furnished, of course, but didn't have much in the way of furniture. It was a one room studio with a kitchen and a bed and a chair and a closet. Dunlop's weapon lay on a counter top.

Sam entered his apartment. "Did he get here yet?"

"He who?"

"The other Dunlop." She looked at Dunlop intently. Had she gotten here too late?

"No one has been here, Samantha," said Dunlop.

"Good," she said. She grabbed his hands. "We have to get out of here."

"Why?"

"Your life is in danger."

"We serve the Hive," said Dunlop.

"Yes, we do, but-" her voice suddenly broke off.

Dunlop had been calling her Samantha.

Dunlop 4 had been conditioned to think she was Sirena, his long lost wife. She pulled away from him, and took a few steps back.

Dunlop 4 gave an unnatural smile as he saw realization dawn on her face. "It seems you somehow got away from your counterpart. I wonder how that happened?" He took a step towards her.

"You killed Dunlop!" said Sam, taking a step backwards.

"I replaced him with something better."

"You bastard!" she cried.

"That's a funny name to call your child," said Dunlop, smiling. When he saw the horror registering on her face, he lunged for her, but Sam dodged out of the way, falling back against his kitchen counter, feeling something solid on it-

and suddenly she clubbed him with his own blaster rifle. (Which, she had learned, was much more than an ordinary blaster rifle.)

Dunlop fell back, for only a moment.

"That's not how you use it, Samantha," he said. "It can only be activated by my thought patterns."

He smiled at her as she realized she was once again helpless, and he grabbed for her again.

Sam, grasping the useless gun, found her finger grasping the trigger anyway.

There was a burst of light, and suddenly, there was a smoking hole in Dunlop's stomach. He looked astonished, and fell to the ground. As life faded from his face, Sam stood over him.

"I think I understand now," said Sam. "This is how you control people. By telling them they are powerless. Well, it only works if they believe you."

Dunlop opened his mouth to say something else, but Sam fired again, blowing off his head.

Then she ran into the bedroom, and saw what she knew she would find. The dried out husk of Dunlop 4.

She cried out.

But then she got a hold of herself. This is one of the first places they would look for her. She had to go to ground and find somewhere to hide.​