Chapter 4

***Parker***

Parker slips on her laser oculomotor visual syncing game interface over her eyes. The company has recently updated its interface, and she loves the new updates. The new system makes her feel like she is actually on the battlefield, rather than guiding a cyborg, scoping out the enemy, and protecting her team with her superior sniping skills. Her numbers have improved with the upgraded gaming console.

Parker has enjoyed transporting to one of the Arcturian battlegroups to work with the defensive technology unit. She has worked with a defensive technology unit to develop a three hundred and sixty-degree defense cloak that protects her back and flanks so the enemy can not approach from the sides or behind. Last mission, she knew she would have been in trouble, feeling the vibration hits she had received at her back and flank. She hates losing, and whenever her system shows she had gotten ‘hit,’ she gets mad.

Parker is excited, thinking about tonight’s mission. For the past two years, she has been fighting battle after battle, saving worlds, pushing Purix towards the Beltway for containment. Finally, for this mission, they would contain Purix to a singular star system, limiting battles to this galaxy and saving countless worlds.

Parker had been playing this game every moment she was not at work. It seems so real, these alien males from Arcturia, whose planet, Purix, had wiped out their families. All their females. Although these warriors had different blue hues, their features were very human-Earth-like, except they were all hot. Their eye and hair color vary like humans, but their skin tones range from light sky blue to deep blue-black violet. She thought they were beautiful.

She often wondered if they were as built under their liquid metal armor, as the armor appeared to contain very muscular, large male bodies. They had all the right bulges in all the right places.

Teams were encouraged to transport back to the battlegroup to debrief and build camaraderie by eating or socializing. Parker always attended the debriefings, but the socializing always felt so real, and she was so socially awkward that she would signal out of the game once the debrief was finished. She had been late to work a few times, losing track of time as she needed to get to the end of a fight. However, she was as skilled a baker as she was a sniper. And they were happy as long as she finished her work for the custom cakes she baked and decorated.

Now she wondered how the game would evolve with Purix being contained. The gameplay centered around fighting Purix; these warriors have been fighting for decades. What direction would the game take now? How would her sniper skills be helpful in a game setting up a planet? Would they need to defend the planet? Would Arcturian units still fight to contain Purix in the Beltway? It all seemed so real. She was excited to see how the game would evolve.

Parker couldn’t imagine if all the men on Earth were gone. How lonely did these Arcturians get? She saw them in battle and interacted with them. Recently she had started hearing some of the guys in her unit talking about mates, pairings, and a repopulation mission. Parker usually sat off to the side, cleaning and organizing her gear, listening as the warriors in her unit talked amongst themselves. To the warriors in her unit, she appeared as a genderless cyborg. In the Infinax game, they fought side by side. Her unit appreciated her sniper abilities, as she had protected and saved many of her unit. They are proud that their cyborg has the highest sniper ratings in the Arcturian battlegroup. It seems so real. Parker has to give her inner self a talk to not care so much about the warriors in her unit. It is just a video game.

Her heart hitches slightly when she thinks of not interacting with General Brax anymore. Brax is the general and her direct commander. She has been assigned to his fighting unit. She continually has to remind herself that he is not real. But the gaming system feels so real. The headset system makes her feel that she is a part of this alien world. Unsurprisingly, Brax has become a permanent fixture in her dreams and fantasies. His well-formed, sizable muscular body has starred in her more vivid dreams lately. She often wonders what is under that black armor he wears and how his dark blue hands would feel as they touch her and run along her body.

Sadly, her dreams are better than her reality. She has not had a man in so long and is not interested in any of the men she interacts with. A couple of the staff have shown interest, and a few customers have asked her out, but none of these Earth males come close to spiking her interest as Brax does.

“I’m so fucked. The guy I find most interesting is in a video game.” Parker shakes her head, muttering to herself. But slips the headset on, knowing she will take virtual reality over her reality anytime. As she became wholly immersed in the game, Parker wondered if the game could morph into more personal, one-on-one interactions. She was sure that the gaming people could develop a whole-body interface for some face-to-face, up-close contact.

Parker’s imagination is very fertile. She can imagine Brax wrapping himself around her, touching her. If her perception is accurate, these Arcturian warriors are enormous, in all areas, almost seven feet huge, with muscular arms, chests, and legs to go with the height. Yes, they are different hues of blue with deep black eyes that change color with emotion or threat, but their features are very similar to humans. They have eyes, noses, ears, and hair. No extra legs, arms, or eyes.

Brax has deep, black hair that is swept back from his face and covers his neck. She has only seen it twice as he usually wears a helmet. But she can imagine running her fingers through it, it looks very soft, and he is always so structured that she wants to mess it up.

Chapter 5

As an AI avatar with a companion cyborg, she had been on dozens of missions with him and his unit. Parker always makes a point to keep an eye on him and cover him as he moves across the battleground.

Lately, it seems he has been taking more and more risks. Brax’s fighting style has become more fierce, less controlled, and desperate. She has started to worry about him.

“Well, I’ll keep a closer eye on him.” Parker talks to herself as she boots up the game and lets the light and lasers merge with her optic nerve. It's like she can feel her body fill the cyborg form, controlling all of its movements. When her cyborg gets hit during battle, she will get a sharp buzz, keeping the gameplay feeling authentic. Sometimes after some missions, she is really sore and has bruises from the active gameplay.

A red banner flashes across Parker’s gaming screen that the intelligence unit is pinging her with a special notice.

“Hm, a notice from intelligence, a special mission.” Parker presses the activation icon for her comms unit to access

The room she appears in as an avatar is a utilitarian grey with her special equipment for missions. It is like her personal quarters on the battleship. The room has her weapons, armor, a mission packet, and a battle pack with food and emergency supplies.

Parker activates the communication icon, and she is surprised to see the head intelligence officer appear in her mission quarters.

“Hello, Parker, I am HelixI. I have a special, top-secret mission for you if you agree.” HelixI is thrilled to be interacting directly with his program’s candidates. In particular, he is excited to meet Parker and get the first case study for the Repopulation Mission protocol.

“Ok, what is the mission?” Parker asks nervously with the head intelligence officer in front of her, but she already knows she will most likely say yes.

“The Arcturians need you to be the first Repopulation Mission candidate. I ask if you accept this mission as the first Repopulation Mission candidate. You will continue your role as 1st sniper in your fighting unit. However, we are starting a new program seeking candidates to interact with ICUS Arcturian warriors. The goal is to merge suitable candidates from Earth with Arcturian warriors. Do you accept your new mission?” HelixI purposefully skips over a few details, and he must get her to agree.

“I’m not sure what you mean by interact and repopulation. Would you clarify?” Parker wonders if this is the new direction the game takes as Purix is now contained.

“Suitable candidates, females, identified as compatible with a warrior, will meet and develop a relationship with a warrior or warriors and move through the three phases of an Arcturian melding - physical, mental, emotional.” HelixI looks at Parker, hopefully silently willing her to agree.

Parker looks over HelixI. He is not Arcturian, but she had seen him during mission briefings with intelligence information. He was tall, slim, solid black, with gold geometric designs. His eyes looked like computer screens with data scrolling across them.

She considered this new information. Maybe this was how the game was phasing out of pure battle mode into a more interactive mode. This sounds almost like the Intergalactic Bride books she has read. She had been hoping for the possibility of interacting more with the warriors, one in particular, Brax, and this sounds like it is the next phase in the game.

Parker thinks about the game's evolution, becoming integrated as part of Arcturian society. It is an exciting and interesting pivot in gameplay. Parker wonders if her sniper skills will be valuable in the next phase of the game. But, she is so immersed in the game that she decides she is all in.

The first candidate for the Repopulation Mission, the idea of simulated mating in a gaming environment, yes, she was all in. Even though this was a game, it all felt so real. And if she could get some alone time with Brax, even in a game setting, her pulse spiked with the thought.

The gameplay felt so real that Parker wanted these warriors to find their place, find mates, restart their species, to start families. Parker had felt their loneliness at times, sometimes, their desperation as they communicated across the battlefield. She had seen their battle haze becoming more intense, driving their actions in battles, taking more and more risks. The warriors talked amongst themselves, like they were real beings, settling down after an adrenaline-fueled mission about their hope for a new Arcturia. Hope for mates, for soft females.

“This melding sounds like a marriage. Do the candidates know their match? How will I complete the mission without knowing my match?” Parker’s mind flies to the possibilities of having a virtual ‘melding,’ as HelixI calls it. Everything in the game feels so real. The idea of getting to know one of the warriors (hopefully, Brax) will be enjoyable gameplay. Getting to know one of these warriors in a holo room, yep, she is all in. Sign her up if the virtual ‘melding’ feels as accurate as the virtual battles.

“Our studies and simulations have shown that the female and male pairing are more successful if they choose one another, rather than the manipulated situation. An Arcturian melding is more than marriage; each individual within the melding will have marks appearing at each relationship phase. These marks and this melding are permanent. Will you accept the mission?” HelixI stares at Parker intently. Thoughts of seeing what was under that liquid armor, touching a hard blue body, seeing if all her fantasies meet reality?

Parker takes no time to answer, “Yes, I accept the mission.”

HelixI releases a breath, “At your right temple is a button, and please press it to activate your mission. You have agreed to this mission; by pressing this button, you will integrate into tonight's battle plans with your unit and begin your covert mission. You are renouncing your Earth citizenship and agreeing to become an Arcturian mate as part of the Repopulation Mission. If you agree to these conditions, press the button now.” HelixI has embedded the binding contract within the gaming protocols.

“Renounce my Earth citizenship? Arcturian mate? Bring it on. This sounds like fun. I’m enjoying the changing in gameplay.” Parker presses a small button on the gaming system at her right temple.

She feels a light buzz; multi-colored lights flash before her eyes. Parker feels a strange swirling, pulling sensation at her navel. This is new. She feels her feet leave the floor as she is pushed, pulled, and stretched into a void. She sucks in a breath as she starts to panic, but then her body feels like it is submerged in a warm bath that relaxes her as she loses consciousness.