I almost always welcome reviews on my works so if you have an opinion about what I wrote feel free to email me at happiest_in_shadows@yahoo.comBe certain to include something in the subject line that will let me know it's not spam. Preferrably mentioning the title of the story.

It was rare that Lucy forgot anything if she truly forgot. At times Albert was fairly sure she pretended to do so simply for conversation or as a means of letting you out of a debt. There was no way that she was going to allow him to forget his agreement with her though. He had already put the blueberry and strawberry muffins on now he found himself wondering what to prepare next. He had promised her something unexpected. It was for this reason she was leaving him alone in a relative sense.

At the moment Lucy wasn't watching him or he didn't believe she was. There was no way for him to be sure. She was however keeping track of everything that went into and out of the kitchen as well as listening. Fortunately sound wasn't a very effective way of seeing what he was cooking. "Lucy you're not using sound imaging are you?"

"I'm not using it to see what you're doing right now but that doesn't mean I'm not using it."

"Alright so long as you're not watching me" once he finished speaking Albert made his way over to the fridge and checked inside the fruit cabinet. It was filled to the brim with fruit many of which he hadn't even tried before. Some was of Lucy's making while others were of natural origin. He didn't plan to use all of them but it was done in keeping what he had planned for her a secret. He only hoped that she would like it. She hadn't given him time to experiment and find one what he thought tasted good.

A sigh escaped Lucy as she ran over the layout of her home in her head. She had known she'd grow while she was in Mizia but she hadn't been prepared for how much. She now had to duck to get through the doorways even after they had been expanded. The furniture seemed to be horribly small now and most of her clothing had to be modified. Fortunately she just needed her clothes to cover her. She needed to expand her home if she didn't want to end up spending all her time in the open. "Albert, have you considered moving any?"

"I can't say that it really crossed my mind. I had always assumed it would happen after all I don't plan on renting that apartment all my life."

"I believe that we might need to move somewhere else. Now that I'm serving as your instructor I don't believe it would hurt anything if we did so."

"Ah but we have so many things here. There is the brink and our friends and the road work you paid for so you could travel along some of them. Plus a lot of the people around here are fairly accepting of your presence."

"We can still enjoy all of that it would just mean the walk to get to them takes longer."

"That is true but what brings this up?"

"I designed my home with growth in mind but I didn't expect it to have to grow quite this quickly. It was supposed to be a progression at roughly the same rate as my body. I even bought up quite a bit of land I really didn't need so that I could remain here a long time if I wanted to."

"Even the best lay plans can fall apart, but Lucy, you do realize that wherever you go you're going to outgrow it don't you?"

"I know. Unless I stop growing I will outgrow any residence I take up."

"We both know that there is no way you're going to stop growing."

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"Because I know you can't stand being so short."

There was no real need for Albert to finish that statement. Lucy had figured out what he was going to say as soon as he had got to the fifth word. Immediately she bit down on her lower lip to keep herself from yelling as Albert once again took a jab at her size. "I swear you haven't picked on me this much since we were kids!"

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he could hear the amusement and frustration in Lucy's voice. "I'm just being honest here. However, you know growth doesn't always refer to scale."

"Humph that is true. I could start working on refining my body or finding a different way to handle my mass. Of course I use the term work loosely. It's not like I can actually set down and develop a blue print for a new body." A sigh escaped Lucy as she rubbed her head. "I'm not even that smart."

"Lucy, I believe you might already know a way."

"I know what you're thinking about. I was much larger whenever I was out of it in Mizia. The more of my awareness I can focus on my body the larger I become while the more aware of my surroundings I have to be the smaller."

"Then after you began to think of the world around you once again you began to regress in size. I was worried you'd go back to being as short as you were before hand."

"Okay, you know that I'm not going to just set here and let you take jabs at my height all the time without paying you back right?"

"You'd punish me for being honest?!"

"Keep it up mister and you'll find out what I'll do. Anyway, I don't believe what happened whenever my conscious mind became aware of the world around it once again is what we want."

"Why is that?"

"I don't just reduce in scale whenever I wake up again Albert, I really do shrink. I have to keep a certain amount of my awareness focused on my body or I can't handle it. The more I focus the more I can handle. It's not the same situation."

"Ouch."

"Is something wrong Albert?"

A sigh escaped Albert as he quickly removed his finger from the knife and the fruit. "No. I just had a little accident." It was hard for Albert to keep from groaning as he quickly covered his fingers. He hadn't been paying as much attention to his cooking as he should have and managed to cut himself. Naturally he didn't want to tell Lucy just how deep the cut was or that he felt a strong need for a band aid.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm fine. It's just a little scratch." Even as he was speaking Albert was being very careful while opening the medicine cabinet. Given how good Lucy's hearing was he knew she'd notice if he was to suddenly start rummaging around and want to check on him.

"Okay then, so how are my muffins coming?"

"You'll have to give me a little while some of the fruit is being uncooperative."

"Fruit? So you're only using one. Mm I wonder which one it is."

"Blast it Lucy quit trying to figure it out! It's supposed to be a surprise."

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she gave the roof of the building a quick tap. "Hey now, it's not like I'm trying to trick you into telling me what you're doing."

"Yeah right, I will admit you have been behaving."

"Are you out of milk Albert?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I can hear the tap running. I thought you always used milk while baking."

"I'm just washing off a few things." Albert knew that whenever he stepped out Lucy would notice the bandage on his finger if the injury was bad enough. He hoped that a little spray bandage would take care of the injury so that he might be able to hide it. As he washed the blood from his finger and held it up for examination he was surprised to find that a bandage of any type wouldn't be needed. There was no cut to be found or any sign that there had ever been a cut.

"Back to the subject of moving then, I was thinking I should buy some new property that is further away from civilization. Perhaps even an island of some type is in order. I'm not entirely sure if it would fit into my budget right now though. With everything that has happened and my work in Mizia I have to be kind of careful with my cash flow."

While Lucy was talking Albert had walked back over to the cutting bored, which still had a good deal of his blood and the partially sliced fruit upon it. He then placed three of his fingers in his blood taking note of the fact that it was still warm. There was no logical way that much juice had come from the fruit due to one cut. He also knew that it wasn't that red. However, he still wanted to check as he once again picked up the knife. He had to remind himself to respond to Lucy. "Wouldn't that just be a temporary fix?"

"Yes it would. I'm going to have to find a more long term solution but that would give us a little more time. Really I just need to find a way to communicate to my body that it needs to start growing in a new way."

"You might be doing that now." As he was speaking, Albert pressed the very tip of the knife into his finger. He didn't make the wound deep enough to need sowing up but he did insure it would bleed for a bit. Once again blood began to flow freely. At least it did for roughly a second. Once he saw the blood stop flowing he made his way back over to the sink and began to wash it off.

"I might be but I swear at times it's so hard to get it to listen. Whenever I wanted to be able to be with you and my parents it responded over night. They are other things that it never truly responded to though."

Albert heard Lucy and knew what she had said but at the moment his mind was on other things. Once again he washed away the bit of blood that was on his finger only to find that the cut had been healed entirely. As he had been watching himself this time he knew exactly how deep the cut had been. "Lucy, why is my body healing from a cut in less then a second that should have taken several days if not weeks to heal from."

Lucy felt her eyes widen and her senses shift to Albert. She couldn't see him visually but she could tell where he was standing and she knew the knife was in his hand. "Um surprise?"

If that was Lucy's only response she either didn't know what to say or wanted him to drop the subject. Given that she hadn't told him about it Albert felt fairly sure she wanted it dropped. That was something he wasn't quite ready to do yet as walked over to the sink and prepared a wet wash cloth to clean up his blood. "Lucy I love you and I know you love me and want to protect me but modifying my body without my permission seems a bit much. I'm not exactly happy about this."

A sigh escaped Lucy as she leaned over the building. "Would you like to come out and talk to me? At least that way we can see one another."

"I'll be out in just a minute."

"Okay." While she waited for Albert to come outside Lucy lowered herself to her knees so that when he stepped out he'd be more or less eye level with her. She had known that he would figure it out eventually but not how he would respond. Instead of trying to explain herself while he couldn't see her though she waited for him to step outside.

"Okay Lucy, what all did you do to my body?"

"I didn't do as much to your body as you might think but I'll just tell you. That isn't the body that you once had."

"What?"

"Albert whenever we first lay together you went inside of me and you never actually left."

For a moment Albert didn't know what to say as he looked into Lucy's massive blue eyes. "What do you mean that I never left?"

"I mean just what I said. The body you're using now isn't the same body that went into me that first time. That body is still inside of me. I couldn't help it. After the crash I was so worried about your safety that I began looking for a more permanent method of protecting you. Enhancing you seemed like a good idea for a little while but I soon realized it wasn't enough. Then whenever we lay with one another my body just responded."

Being angry with Lucy wouldn't help anything and it sure wouldn't make him feel any better so instead of getting upset Albert took in a few deep breaths. "Lucy, I can't say that I'm happy about you taking my body away from me."

"I didn't! I promise! It's just that your body is still inside of me."

"Then where am I?"

"Well you're still inside of me as well. You just feel like you're inside of that body because you've been controlling it through me. You have been ever since that day."

Learning that he had been modified without his knowledge had been quite a surprise to Albert. Suddenly being told that he was still inside of Lucy was something else. Instead of letting it overwhelm him though he took in a deep breath. "I need to finish making your muffins and make sure those that are cooking haven't burned."

"Albert, are you alright?"

"I'm kind of surprised and a little upset at the moment but I don't want to ask questions right now."

"Are you mad at me Albert?"

"No, at least I'm not truly upset with you. I know that you don't have perfect control of your body but even then you wouldn't do anything to harm me. I'm sure that you had my best interest in mind. It's just kind of surprising."

"You're angry though."

"On a few levels yes, I feel like you crossed into an aspect of my being without my permission. It isn't that you aren't welcome there or weren't welcome there but on some levels it hurts me that you didn't ask."

"I didn't mean to hurt you I didn't even mean for it to happen."

"I believe you Lucy, I know what I'm feeling now will pass soon enough. It's just a lot to process all at once. They are things that I want to talk about and things that I want to ask you but not right now." A half chuckle escaped Albert as he shook his head. "It's kind of strange to think that even whenever I walk back into the kitchen I haven't put any true distance between the two of us. It's a nice thought but it's strange."

"I should have told you about the change that first night."

"I will want to know why you didn't tell me eventually but not right now." As he was speaking, Albert made his way back into the building and towards the kitchen.

Even with Lucy's intellect she wasn't sure what she should say at the moment. She had been quite certain that Albert would be surprised whenever he learned the truth though she knew the day would come. Part of her had wanted him to figure it out on his own. She had even taken care to insure that the body he was currently using didn't get injured by keeping him inside the gems she wore. Of course there had been some slip ups.

"I'm an idiot!" As Albert yelled it was hard for him to keep from hitting himself.

"Albert, what's wrong?!"

At first Albert grew silent and closed his eyes. After taking in a few deep breaths he finally spoke. "You were speaking Mizian before hand and I could understand you. It's because I was hearing the world through you at the time. That is why I could understand what you were saying."

It was hard for Lucy to keep from chuckling, if it hadn't been for the frustration in Albert's voice she wouldn't have been able to. "I slipped up whenever that happened fortunately I had you near something that could easily distract you at the time."

Even though Albert had just witnessed how quickly the body he was currently using could heal he was careful while cutting the fruit this time. "I bet there are even more instances were I missed the obvious. Lucy I do have one question for you now. Why were you so eager to get this body away from your main body whenever you thought you might be infected? You didn't seem to be acting and I don't believe you were."

"I wasn't acting in the least. I was truly concerned that I might lose this body and yours with it. So I moved the one you're currently using away so that I could transfer your awareness into it should this body fail me."

"I should have thought of that without asking. So it's like you and your spare bodies. Even if you lose one you can transfer your awareness into another and continue living despite the set back."

"Yeah but I'm glad that didn't happen."

As Albert finished cutting up the fruit he mixed it into the muffin batter he had already prepared. "I hope that I cut these up enough, they look kind of big."

"Don't worry, I know I haven't given you time to experiment but I want to see what you come up with without that time."

"Lucy you're good at thinking of things in the long term. I have to believe that your body would recognize this and adjust so that you wouldn't end up increasing in scale too much. You enjoy interacting with the world around you after all."

"In theory you're right and I know that but it has never stopped growing before."

"So do you have any plans incase your body doesn't ever stop growing?"

"Actually I do. Separate into several small bodies and use one large one to start throwing them into space. There is plenty of room up there. I know that it sounds silly but when you start talking about certain scales there really isn't any other choice in the matter. I'm kind of lost as to what I would do after that point."

"I wonder how people would respond to that!"

"Oh I have a few ideas. It is a silly idea though isn't it?"

"It sure sounds silly but if you grew too large that could be the only way for you to keep from badly damaging the planet." A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he gave his head a slight shake. "A very silly idea that might be necessary, that's a strange one."

"There might be some way for me to communicate to my body what I want it to do more effectively. Then again it might help if I were to quit focusing so much of my awareness on the world around me and focus it on myself. That might be one of the reasons I can't control my body more effectively."

"Yeah but you remember what happened in Mizia when you did that don't you? I know that you're a good person Lucy but I'm not sure what you'd do if you focused that much of your awareness on yourself here."

"That's one reason I've never tried it. Honestly I was taking something of a risk back in Mizia but I had to do it. So how is the first batch of muffins coming?"

"They're coming but it's going to take a little while." As Albert was speaking he turned his attention to the cutting bored and noted a small drop of red on it. It was impossible for him to keep from sighing as he retrieved a wet wash cloth and began to clean it up. For the moment he was trying to think about other things then his body and that hadn't helped him. "You tend to communicate to your body that you want it to get stronger by exercise right?"

"That is one method I use to let it know what I want. They are other factors though."

"Could you give me an example?"

"As far as I can tell my body responds to what I want, what I try to make it do and what it feels is best for my survival. I want it to get more powerful and I communicate that to it by exercising. A stronger body also aids in my survival so it responds to all three of them quite readily. Now I may want to find a way to restrict or better control my scale while still growing however I need a way to communicate that to it."

"Mm you know I might have an idea."

"What would that be?"

"You wrestle yourself with several of your smaller bodies while keeping the involvement of your larger body to a minimum."

"What's the theory behind that?"

"If you're very active with your smaller bodies while your larger body lies still, even for a short while, you might tell your body that you want to work on a smaller scale. At the same time the physical exertion would let you communicate that you still want to become more powerful."

"You know that might just work. I wonder where I would do it though."

"Why not on the stomach of your larger body? That way you wouldn't have to worry about tearing up the area unless you knocked yourself into the air. If you keep to submission holds and limited strikes though you could remove that risk."

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she leaned closer to the building so that her voice would shake the entire structure. "I bet that you want to watch as well."

"Um well I can't deny that."

"You probably want to watch while setting atop a nice mountain well above the playing field. You'd have a bird's eye view and something very soft to lie upon."

"I don't know. If I'm going to watch I'm going to want to be able to see what is happening and that is awfully high up. I swear if your height only matched your bust size you wouldn't be so darn short."

There had been an instance in which Lucy believed Albert was going to actually say she was big. At least she thought he was about to indicate that so she wasn't ready for the short crack. "Blast you!"

Despite everything that he had learned in the last few moments Albert couldn't help but chuckle. The conversation was good for him anyway as it was helping him to relax. "What did I say?"

For a moment Lucy was made to groan as she stood up to her full height so that even if Albert looked out the window he'd only be able to see her legs. "You're lucky you're cooking for me right now or I would make you pay for that comment."

"Speaking of cooking you might want to come on in. The first batch of muffins are ready they just need a few moments to cool down."

************************************************************************

Lucy knew that he wasn't asleep and Albert knew that she knew. For her part Lucy never slept but they still remained quiet as he lay upon her stomach looking up towards the darkness. This was quiet time for him, time to think about what she had told him and consider all the implications. It also gave him time to sort through his own feelings about the entire situation.

For several months now the body he had been manipulating hadn't been the one he was born with. In response to this thought Albert gave his head a quick shake. He hadn't been using that body for years given that all his cells except his brain would have been replaced many times over by now. This body didn't have the same DNA pattern though. Were he to have blood work done with the body he was currently using he couldn't prove that he was his parents' child with it.

That didn't truly give him reason to be upset though. After all Lucy's body was constantly changing in nearly every way except for shape if one didn't count scale and she never griped. He also knew that the difference between the body he was currently using and the one that was inside of Lucy wasn't the problem. It wasn't the body itself that made him upset. So what was making him feel irritable?

Receiving gifts tended to be nice. They were situations in which that changed though. As Albert considered the situation he soon began to liken it to coming home and finding all of his furniture replaced with something far better. It seemed good on the surface but it had been done without his permission, there was no way for the old items to be retrieved and no one had asked if they could or even for a key to his home they had just broken in.

Was it his home anymore though? Was it his home whenever he committed to Lucy? Typically being in a committed relationship meant ones partner had access to the other's body. Far more access then anyone else would be permitted and far more regularly and they received the same in return. At least that is how Albert felt it should be. On some level he felt that Lucy had the right to do what she'd done.

It was new and surprising. A sigh escaped Albert as he closed his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead. He had been surprised by the entire situation and it had caught him off guard. It made him feel like a fool for not having realized it sooner and he was having trouble adapting to the new situation. Even if the new furniture is far better then the old it can require some time to adjust to if the change is made suddenly. Parting with something as personnel as one's body and DNA pattern wasn't done easily.

"I didn't mean to pout so much over this Lucy but I believe I know why it's bothering me."

"Why is that?"

"I'm having trouble adjusting to a new situation so quickly. I'm used to a more orderly change not finding out that it happened before I even noticed. It's sort of like coming home and finding out all the furniture hasn't just been changed but it has been that way for several months now."

"Do you feel better now?"

"A little but not entirely I will be fine soon enough maybe after sleeping."

"You just need time to let those feelings die I suppose."

"Yeah and I'm working on that. The more logically I think about the situation and the more I consider what I truly value the deader they become."

"You want to ask me something purely out of frustration though. You know that it's a silly question though and shouldn't be asked because nothing good can come of it. At best I would just shrug it off and at worse it would hurt my feelings."

"How did you guess that?"

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she set up slightly in order to get a better look at Albert. "I can remember whenever decisions were made for me without my say so. I can remember those days very well actually. So what do you want to ask me?"

"I am not going to ask you anything that is born purely out of spite! I don't care how much I want to ask it."

"You don't believe you'll feel better once you get it out?"

"No! I'll feel like even more of a fool for asking it and even something of a bastard for trying to harm you. I'm just going to let the question die just like I'm going to let these feelings die."

"Thanks Albert. Hearing you say that makes me happy. I am curious what the question is though. How about telling me what it is?"

"No."

"Come on I know you don't mean it and now you have me curious. Well I've been curious about it for a while since I realized you probably wanted to."

"I'm going to sleep now Lucy." As Albert spoke he turned over on his side and closed his eyes.

"It's rude to make me wonder what you wanted to ask then not tell me."

"Good night Lucy."

"I could keep you awake until you told me you do realize that don't you?"

Instead of responding Albert just pressed his head against Lucy's flesh more firmly and stretched out his legs. He then placed one arm so that it covered the ear that was still exposed. As long as he kept responding he knew that Lucy would keep pressing for an answer and he wasn't going to give it to her. The fact that he even thought of such a question made him feel like a fool and it wasn't going to leave his lips.

************************************************************************

"Okay Albert something is on your mind. You were quiet through breakfast and haven't had much to say for most of the morning."

"Yeah I've been thinking about how I was able to understand Mizian earlier."

"What were you wondering?"

"I flat out don't know Mizian I don't even know a word of it. However, I was able to understand it through you but my senses seemed tied into this body so it isn't like I was listening through your ears. Then again this body was produced inside of your own and probably has cells somewhat similar to yours. Am I right?"

"Yeah but what is the question you wanted to ask?"

"They are several things. One thing I've been curious about though is what would happen if this body was destroyed? I know you made it so it can heal very quickly but that blade still cut through my skin just as easily as ever."

"Oh you'd be fine. It isn't like if that body dies your mind dies. Heck that was the main reason my body ended up taking yours inside of it."

"That's good to know but I wonder what it would feel like. Could you cut the connection between me and this body?"

"I'm pretty sure that I can, do you want to try and see what happens?"

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he reached up and rubbed his forehead. "To be perfectly honest I'm not entirely sure I do but I've been thinking about it most of the time. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop thinking about it unless I try it at least once."

It was impossible for Lucy not to grin as she leaned forward. "You know it won't be like whenever you're inside of my vagina. You're body is literally hardwired into my own right now."

"I figured as much which is one reason why I'm not quite sure I want to."

"Well it's up to you. If you want me to cut the connection between your body and the one you're currently manipulating just say so and I will. Just be prepared."

For a moment Albert didn't respond but took in a few deep breathes while a grin spread across his face. He had no idea whether or not he'd like what he was asking for though he doubted that it would be unpleasant. He felt certain that it would be quite odd though. "I could probably just ignore it until the desire to find out died but I have no way of knowing how long that will last. Besides that hardly seems the appropriate way to handle the situation. So yeah, Lucy I want you to cut the link between my awareness and this body."

"Remember that you asked for this so I don't want to hear any complaining after words." As she was speaking Lucy began to quit sending messages between Albert's body inside of her and the one that he had been manipulating. She had every intention of shutting down the link entirely but didn't want to shut it down all at once to avoid any unforeseen complications. "Let me know if you begin to feel anything."

In response Albert gave a slight nod and closed his eyes. He could already tell the link was weakening as he noted how long it took his eye lids to shut. Yet as he closed his eyes he was surprised to find that he could still see color though he couldn't make out what the colors were at the moment. He also noticed that he could feel himself becoming warmer. "You know normally whenever people lose connection with their body they're portrayed as feeling cold but I'm feeling warm."

"Well this isn't exactly like the situation you find in movies. Your awareness isn't truly inside of that body after all." While Lucy wasn't surprised to hear that Albert was feeling warm she was a bit surprised whenever she felt a heat within herself. Her muscles were made to tighten and expand as if preparing for some heavy work.

While Albert kept his eyes closed he tried to move the right army of his body. At first it didn't seem like anything was happening but then he felt the muscle begin to shift and work. As the limb moved though he couldn't help but notice that it felt a little odd. He had expected his arm to feel heavier then what it normally did but found that it felt much lighter instead. It could have been him not feeling the effort as much or something else he wasn't sure. "That warm feeling I mentioned is getting stronger Lucy."

"Don't worry that's natural for this situation. I would have been worried if you actually felt cold. Do you feel anything other then warm though?"

"I can't really say for sure but I can see with my eyes closed. There is actually a good deal of light I just can't make out anything. Things seem to be becoming clearer but I might just be tricking myself." As Albert was speaking he was somewhat surprised whenever he felt his arm being lowered to his side once again. He hadn't told the muscles in the limb to relax the arm but apparently they had decided to.

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she began to feel out Albert's emotional state. The face on the smaller form before her had quit showing emotions just a few moments earlier and went strait. "So does anything feel strange?"

"My arm doesn't feel quite like it used to."

"Uhuh, is your arm the only thing?"

Before Albert could respond he was surprised when everything around him went dark. He had his eyes closed before hand but he had still been able to see color for some reason. He was actually surprised whenever that color vanished. "Everything just went dark."

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she kept her eyes closed and reached up pressing her hands to her breasts. As she did so she gently squeezed her nipples only to feel her arms suddenly try to jerk away. She had to exert a good deal of willpower to keep them from moving. "Isn't that strange?"

Even if he couldn't hear through the ears of his body Albert could hear Lucy and he recognized sarcasm. At the moment though his mind was on other things, "my chest feels really strange right now."

"Your chest does?" As she spoke Lucy quickly opened her eyes and glanced down at her chest. This time she wasn't able to stop her hands from moving away as they went to both of her sides. It was impossible for Lucy to keep from laughing as she felt a surge of emotion from Albert.

"What is going on?!"

"I told you that you were hard wired into my body!" There was no way Lucy could hide the amusement in her voice as she not only heard Albert's reaction she felt it as well.

"Lucy I'm seeing through your eyes!"

"Yep, now if you don't mind I would like to have control of my arms back."

"What? But I'm not! I couldn't have!"

While Albert tried to form a solid thought Lucy took the moment to regain control of her arms without using brute force. She then settled them down on her thighs. "I would say take a deep breath but given where you are that really isn't an option. I'll just give you a few moments to calm down."

"Those were your breasts I felt!"

"Yep though not in the normal way but hey at least you know what it feels like to be able to get a better grip on these mountains!"

Despite what Lucy had said about being able to take breath Albert found himself trying to do just that as the reality of the situation settled in. The colors he had noticed beforehand had been the result of him seeing through Lucy's eyes. His arms felt different because they weren't his arms. For a moment he was made to shudder as he realized that the reason his chest felt odd was because he felt Lucy fondling her breasts.

"Now Albert it doesn't feel like that to me. You were just too focused on how strange it felt to enjoy it. Let's try again." As she spoke Lucy once again reached for her chests though her arms were stopped before they got there.

"No!"

Once again Lucy found it impossible to hide her amusement as she willed her arms closer to her chest. "Albert you wanted to find out what it was like if I broke the connection between your body and the one you were manipulating. Now you might as well find out."

"Lucy I'm not supposed to know what that feels like."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a guy and we aren't suppose to be built like this!"

"But don't you want to know how I feel Albert?"

While Albert's initial reaction was to say no he couldn't quite form the thought after Lucy phrased the question like that. It made it impossible for him to tell her no though he still felt the idea was rather strange. "You're really getting a kick out of this aren't you?"

"Yeah I have to confess that I am." As she finished speaking Lucy quickly pressed her hands to her breasts giving them a gentle squeeze. She felt Albert mentally tense up immediately and gave a slight giggle herself. "You're never going to be able to enjoy it unless you relax."

"Um Lucy, do you believe that we could go a little slower perhaps?"

"But Albert I'm already limiting what you feel a great deal. Perhaps we could move onto something else for now though. Just don't think we're done here though."

"Thank you, what all are you blocking though?"

"Quite a few things actually, perhaps we should move onto something that you might be a little more comfortable with. Albert would you like to feel what my strength truly feels like?"

"You mean you don't feel like." Albert grew silent as he felt a sudden surge of energy hit him. The rush overwhelmed his mind and he grew silent as he struggled to cope with the strength that he felt running throughout him. Even as he struggled to adapt to what he was already feeling he felt it increasing.

At the moment Lucy knew it would be useless to ask Albert how he was feeling. It was plain from the lack of thought and constant stream of emotions that she was feeling from him that he was overwhelmed. This actually held her curiosity quite well as she hadn't been certain how he would respond. She had grown into her body so the changes had been subtle to her and never truly overwhelming. Albert was feeling the results of several years of improvement in an instant.

"I. This is. Wow."

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she reached down and picked up the body Albert had been manipulating for the past few months. After a moment of consideration she tucked it between her breasts for safe keeping. She had considered absorbing it back into her being but as the cells weren't exactly like her own it could have taken a while to reform it. "So what does it feel like?"

"It feels like. It's hard to describe. It feels like I've been sick for a very long time and have only recently become healthy. Like when I had a really bad cold as a child and was given some medicine that also put me to sleep. The difference I felt in the morning was remarkable but this is even more extreme."

"Incase you were wondering I'm still holding back. I have to admit though I felt something whenever I turned off the connection between the body you were manipulating and the one inside of me."

"Was it draining?"

"No, it actually feels rather nice." As she spoke Lucy slowly turned her arm and began to curl it in order to form a bicep. "My body feels even stronger then it normally does. I imagine it's due to you picking up some of the slack for me though."

"What slack?"

"Now that your awareness isn't as focused on manipulating a second body it's helping me handle mine. That's letting me draw out more of my strength without reducing how aware I am of the world."

"Huh? Surely I can't be contributing that much though!"

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a slight shake. "Albert your awareness is anything but weak I hope you realize that. Mm this feels nice!"

"I thought you were going to let me adapt some more!"

"Huh? What? Oops!" In response to Albert's comment Lucy quickly pulled her hands away from her chests.

As Albert went to sigh he was actually surprised whenever he felt air move pass lips for a moment. It only lasted a moment though as he quickly felt the mouth forced shut and realized he must have slipped up. "Huh?"

"Careful now or you're going to end up tearing up your private space."

"What did I do?"

"If I had let you control my body just now you would have blown your indoor home to bits. Until you adapt to your current situation be careful not to override my control while I'm relaxed or you could end up causing more damage then you thought."

"I believe I might have liked it more whenever you were in control of your body."

"Ah that isn't any fun. This is actually kind of neat."

"Don't you believe that it's strange sharing control of your body with someone else?"

"Albert, my body has been reshaping itself for over a decade now and much of that time I had little or no control over the changes. This doesn't bother me in the least."

"Perhaps you should restore the connection between my awareness and the body I was using. I believe I've got an idea of what it's like to have the connection cut now."

"Ah you want to quit already?"

"You said it yourself. I'm not used to the power of your body and I could end up causing you to destroy something that I don't want broken." As Albert finished the thought he expected Lucy to begin restoring him to his body. He began to wonder what she was thinking about when she didn't respond right away.

"I'm not sure I'm quite ready to do that just yet."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Honestly this is kind of fun and they are some things I want to explore as well. Besides this is pretty neat having you inside of my body like this."

Even if he couldn't see her in the regular sense Albert knew that Lucy was sticking her tongue out at him. The feeling was just too strong and familiar to be ignored. "Lucy I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to do right now. I didn't know what to expect to begin with. I sure didn't think I would end up seeing through your eyes like this."

"That's part of the fun! Besides you haven't really tried anything yet you've just set around. Why don't you try moving around some?"

"You're the one that said I didn't know how to control your body. I could end up collapsing your entire home."

"Well that is possible and could be done easily but I'll keep an eye on you and do my best to insure you don't. If something does go wrong I should be able to override your control quickly enough to prevent it or at least it can always be repaired. So long as you don't kick or throw anything that is."

"Wouldn't it be safer for you to move around and just let me come along for the ride?"

"Albert, I'm letting you control my body so I can see what it's like as well. Now we can stay like this for a very long time or you can stand us up and try something."

A sigh escaped Albert as he lightly pressed against the seat and began to stand up. He was actually surprised by how quick the motion felt yet how slow things seemed to be moving as he struggled to adapt to just how large Lucy truly was. "You know Lucy I have to say that my indoor home looks larger then what it should be compared to this body."

Up until now Albert had been too shocked to make any such comments so Lucy wasn't expecting it when he did. "You can say that even when you're looking down on it!?"

"Well yeah. I remember looking down on it while riding on your shoulder and thought it seemed kind of large in comparison to you. Now I'm sure of it."

A sigh escaped Lucy as she reached up and rubbed her forehead for a moment. "I thought you'd be too lost to think of anything like that but it seems I was wrong."

Instead of commenting Albert had Lucy's body lean forward so that her chests came very close to the structure. "See both of your breasts together aren't that much larger then it."

"Just one of my breasts could easily crush it I wouldn't even have to say my chest in the least!"

"I didn't say that they weren't bigger I just said that they weren't that much bigger. At least not as big as they need to be."

"Oh! Just walk around some!"

Despite the situation Albert gave a slight chuckle as he had Lucy's body straiten up. Fortunately the overall controls seemed to be the same. He knew that Lucy could be tweaking them so that he could move but chose not to think about that too much. If that was the case he doubted that he could learn to control Lucy's body within his life time. "I'm not sure if I can. Your breasts are so large compared to the wrest of you and I haven't had the time to learn how to balance with them."

"You know Albert, perhaps you should learn what it feels like for other parts of me to be stimulated since you seem so reluctant to have me feel my chests."

"No! I'm moving." A sigh escaped Albert as he willed Lucy's leg to move. He was a bit surprised by how quickly the limb left the ground as well as the force that ran throughout Lucy's body. He felt his control cut immediately as Lucy overwhelmed his and regained control of her muscles. Soon they went from wobbling to steady once again.

"Um Albert you do realize that every reaction is met with an equal and opposite reaction correct?"

"I did something silly didn't I?"

"My body is a lot stronger then what my mass indicates. The percentage of your strength that you use to walk is absolutely over kill for me to move." As she was speaking Lucy lowered her leg back to the ground. "Now I want you to try taking baby steps. Be ready to catch yourself as you'll probably get more of a reaction then you're expecting but as long as you take it slowly you should be fine."

"I take it you're helping me control your muscles?"

"Yeah, if it wasn't I believe you'd just made me do a flip."

"Okay, little steps, not regular ones just little steps." Even as he finished the thought Albert began to slowly have Lucy lift her foot. She was right. He was surprised by how quickly the limb responded to what seemed like a very tiny amount of force to him. "Were you helping with the arms before hand?"

"I helped with the arms and the stomach. You would have sent my breasts through my table if I hadn't been."

"Why not help me like that now?"

"Oh I just want you to have fun with the learning curve I had to adjust to. That and I want to be able to focus more of my awareness on drawing out more of my strength. Once you get the hang of handling this much of my strength I believe I'll relax my control a little and draw out even more."

"Just how long do you plan on keeping this up?!" It was impossible for Albert to not feel somewhat alarmed as he listened to Lucy.

"Only for a little while today, I know that they are some things you want to do in your own body but this is kind of amusing to me. If you would relax and quit worrying about feeling what it's like to have breasts and other body parts you might be able to enjoy it."

"Lucy how would you like to feel you're in a male's body?"

It was impossible for Lucy to keep from chuckling. "Albert you do realize that I don't just design and build things. I also test them. I wouldn't give you a body that I hadn't tested out before hand."

At first Albert felt his mind go blank as he consider the implications of what Lucy had just told him. Thought was slow in returning but as it did he felt a grin spreading across his face. "I suppose that shouldn't have surprised me."

"Well come now Albert you've hardly taken any steps at all. Also try picking up something. I'll do my best to keep you from sending it through the roof or into orbit."

"You know I'm used to setting on your shoulder and looking down into your cleavage so I wonder why this feels so awkward." As he was speaking Albert had Lucy's body move very slowly over to one of the tables. He then began to scoot her hand under the nearest thing he believed it would fit under.

"Hey maybe we should enjoy a meal like this! That way you can learn what things taste like to me!"

"Okay now that could be an experience."

"Is that all you're going to pick up? Come on Albert there has got to be at least a few things you want to try. Then again maybe you've relaxed enough that we can try something I'll really enjoy as well." As she spoke Lucy began to lift her right hand towards her breasts once again. She was surprised whenever she didn't get as strong of a response from Albert as she had previously.

"With all the time you've trapped me inside of yourself I guess you're used to me being inside of you."

"Well yeah I suppose I have had more time to adjust to the concept."

"Okay how about I try using your body to prepare a meal then we can eat. After that you restore my control over my secondary body."

"That could be more difficult then you realize but that's why I'm going to agree. This should be quite amusing."

************************************************************************

"I'm currently standing in what was once one of the most prosperous cities in Mizia. Not only was it a major center of industry but also a regular destination for tourist to the region. Now it's empty, little more then a cracked shell of what it used to be. Wild dogs, cats and other animals left ownerless can be found wondering streets while except for the occasional looter or passer through is empty.

What caused this destruction? As we all know it was a loan woman who felt the government had violated a contract with her. Were there any attempts to take the matter up in court on the world stage? No. Yet as we look around these ruins do we find any bodies? Only a few scattered about from place to place. Does that mean that some escaped or were buried?

Once again the answer is no. Not a single person from this city was buried rather they were eaten. Nearly every person this city was eaten by a cannibal."

"She's not speaking English is she?"

"Nope, I'm just translating things for you so you can understand her."

After a moment Albert gave a quick nod. "Why are we watching this Lucy? I'm sure they are plenty of stations that have some quite positive things to say about you or at least they aren't so biased."

"I appreciate people that choose to think well of me or try to remain entirely honest but they aren't the ones we need to be watching. I don't want to sound unappreciative but I would prefer to know what those against me are doing rather then those that are for me."

"Ah yeah, I see. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?"

"Yeah, I doubt she's going to even talk about the work I'm having done to rebuild Mizia's industry."

"I bet you she will and she'll twist it so you're working to insure their culture is completely killed off."

"You make a very good point."

"Ah well it isn't like many people are going to be watching this. How many reports are you currently observing though?"

"At the moment I could only find four that I felt were worth watching. I just chose to watch this one with you."

"What made you pick this one? She's really putting you in a negative light."

"I like how you grip the hem of my bra so hard your knuckles begin to turn white."

In response Albert quickly glanced down at his hands and was surprised to find that he was doing just what Lucy said. He had been trying to hide his frustration from her but it seemed that his body wasn't cooperating. "If she was here right now I would probably try to beat her within an inch of her life."

"My protector" As she spoke Lucy reached down and gently rubbed her finger against Albert's back. "I know that things have been quiet for a while but I doubt they're going to remain that way. People are forgetting the terror already."

"So many that didn't have the nerve to speak whenever you were tearing Mizia apart are going to be criticizing you it is really pathetic. Why couldn't they find their voice while everything was happening?"

"Um because if they'd come too close to me in the war zone I would have eaten them."

At first Albert said nothing but turned around to look up at Lucy. "Okay you have me there. Still, what they're doing now seems cowardly to me. They didn't have to come to Mizia to communicate with you and try to get you to stop."

"I suppose they could have felt that while I was in such an enraged state the most they would accomplish is me making them my next target."

"That is bull crap!"

"I know but that's one way they could justify their choices."

"So swift was the attack that people didn't have a proper chance to evacuate." As the reporter spoke she bent down and picked up a child's stuffed animal. "Little reminders of the life that once existed here lay scattered about in every home and throughout the streets. Several buildings still stand entirely intact as a result of the creature's cruel games. This thing carefully plucked people from the confines of their homes to eat them one at a time leaving the structure intact in order to draw out her fun."

"And the flavor! I can't believe she forgot to mention the flavor! Doesn't she know fear makes them taste better?"

Albert gave a slight jump in response to Lucy's outburst. "Lucy I doubt that they are many people that know that."

"Humph, well then maybe I should give them a call and tell them they forgot a very important part."

"You have to be joking."

"About what?"

For a moment Albert grew silent as if caught off guard. He had expected a yes or no not another question. It took him a moment to decide on his answer. "That you scared those people just because you like the taste."

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a quick nod. "Yeah there is more to it then that. Honestly I was angry with them for siding with the former Mizian government. Even if someone doesn't fight along side them if they help your enemy recover they become an enemy as well."

"I know. I wonder how much of the cities you cleared out have been looted."

"I'm sure that the most valuable or least well protected items have been largely cleared out. If they haven't been it's because I decreased the population so much."

"How are the farms you started in Mizia doing?"

"They're still costing me money and they're going to continue doing so for a few more years. Trees take a while to grow you know?"

"Yeah, why do think she hasn't shown any of the tanks you pilled open? I'm sure she could go on for quite some time how you opened them up like a can and ate the troops inside."

"That would give the audience an idea of how powerful I am. Granted it wouldn't be a very good idea but it would still be an idea. She wants to make them angry at me not scared. If they're scared they're less likely to act on their anger. It's a good thing that I didn't destroy every building I encountered. It made housing fairly easy."

"I bet utilities were something of an issue though."

"Ugh! Yes they were."

"I wonder how many pipes you crushed and wires you ripped apart with those little feet of yours."

"I'll put it like this. I'm glad that I don't need to pay for all the repairs. It's also a good thing that a few of the cities were occupied. They made for very useful starting points when it came to the repairs."

"What do you believe would have happened if they hadn't been occupied?"

"More then likely even more people would have left the country as quickly as they could. Others would have ended up in my belly while some would have surrendered. Many didn't truly surrender to me rather they accepted the offer of the UR. It has a similar results but it isn't for the same reasons."

"You know that brings up another question. Why wasn't the reporter doing any UR bashing?"

"Albert I wiped out Mizia's leadership and their army as well as a good chunk of the population. The nation as it was has fallen and I doubt it could be rebuilt. At the moment the former allies of Mizia don't have many options. If they take on the UR they take on me as well however they can take on me without insulting the UR."

"So do you believe you'll be put on trial?"

"I don't believe it will be a regular trial if it happens. The UR has made it clear that they consider my actions a military matter between a nation whom they don't currently have any agreements with. They don't really have any legal reason to try to apprehend me over this and with the Mizian government destroyed they don't have anyone to put in a request."

"Even if they did I doubt they'd honor it."

"I have no doubt about that. I'm kind of surprised that no one from the government had been contacting me though. They were quite upset whenever I decided to sell certain materials to Mizia. Personally I think this would make for a perfect I told you so time."

"Wouldn't that be kind of petty and pointless? Overall I imagine they're happy to see Mizia destroyed in everyway except for its name. Someone fought the war they wanted for them."

"That's not really the point. The point is that they were right about me not being able to trust Mizia and not realizing that they would violate the contract with me. Even if I suspected that they would eventually. It's a good reason to try to convince me to terminate some of my other contracts in favor of ones more beneficial to the UR and its allies."

"I see. Well I can't blame them for wanting to hold a monopoly on your technology given that I want to hold a monopoly on all of you. There is just so little it makes sharing very hard."

Even when he was being sweat Albert was teasing her. It made Lucy grin as she placed her hand on her forehead and gave her head a slight shake. "Albert you're the only person on this planet that I would allow to tease me like that. Just remember that you're mine as well." As she finished speaking Lucy reached down and gently ran her pinky finger over Albert's back.

"I know. Well it looks like that reporter is done for now."

************************************************************************

"While we do not condone Miss Angeye's actions there are no grounds for us to act against her. Her actions while violent were not crimes but an act of war."

"How can you call that an act of war?! She's not a nation and it was only one person."

"One does not have to be a nation to start a war and since when has the size of the army mattered but the effectiveness? We recognize Miss Angeye's actions in Mizia as a war between her and the former Mizian government. It was a war in which the UR took and shall continue to take a neutral stance in."

"How is the UR taking a neutral stance when you are currently sheltering her?"

"Must I remind you that during the actual conflict the UR offered Miss Angeye no assistance? We did and have done nothing to aid her in her conflict with Mizia what we did do was offer those that did not wish to be caught up in the battles of a few a way out."

"She murdered and consumed millions of people and you're not going to do anything about it?!"

"As I said previously the UR does not condone what Miss Angeye did however it was a war and war inevitably consumes human lives. Whether they were blown apart by a shell or broken down through other means makes no difference in the end."

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she glanced down at Albert. "He should be ashamed. He just fibbed."

"About what?"

"By eating them I made clean up much easier."

"What about those that had family in Mizia? What are you going to do about their losses?"

"They were forewarned to leave Mizia by Miss Angeye I believe. They chose to remain. Further more that is the nature of war. If you choose to remain within a battle zone there is a good chance you'll be killed."

"They weren't killed they were hunted down and murdered!"

"Please refrain from shouting. Miss Angeye chose the method of waging war that she felt was the most effective I'm sure. She is not currently constrained by any form of treaty to behave in any way. I'll say it once again. The UR does not endorse Miss Angeye's actions but we are remaining a neutral party in the war a war that was ended several months ago."

As Albert listened to the conference he gave his head a slight shake. "The chief of defense is sticking to the idea that it was a war and there are no legal grounds for them to get involved."

"Of course. It's the story they started with and it solves all their problems so they're going to stick to it. If it wasn't a war and they treated me as a civilian in regards to my conflict with Mizia they would have to change their stance."

"It doesn't seem to be satisfying everyone but that isn't surprising. Those who want to see you punished won't be happy until you're dead."

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she nodded her head. "Which means they won't be happy for the wrest of their life?"

"Not unless they manage to let it go and accept what happened. Hey Lucy, I'm sure some people in the UR lost family like they said though. Why haven't we seen any protest?"

"You haven't seen any protest because we haven't gone to any of them and I haven't watched any with you. I've seen quite a few but chose not to mention them."

"What about right outside though?"

"I suppose they don't want to risk portraying me as understanding. They're welcome to come and protest my actions on my property all they want so long as they don't damage anything."

"If they did would you eat them?"

"Nope, I'd call the police and have them moved back to public property."

"Well you're quite a benevolent lady."

"I try to be. I personally believe that people have a right to their opinions and to express them so long as that doesn't infringe on the rights of others. I will admit that they are some things that might cause me to kill someone just because they expressed their opinion. Fortunately no one has gotten around to pushing that button yet."

"Oh? Just what button is that?"

In response to Albert's comment Lucy felt her skin warm up and quickly realized she was blushing. "I'm not going to tell you!"

"Why not? Are you worried that I might try to hit that button?"

"No! Besides you can't hit it."

"Hey now! Look who just made a short joke!"

"What? No! That wasn't a short joke!" As Lucy spoke she quickly pressed her hands against her chests and leaned backwards. Her blush had grown until it covered a good deal of her face yet she wasn't able to keep from smiling. "It's not because of your size."

Now it was Albert's turn to be confused as he looked up at Lucy. He could tell that he'd caught her off guard but he wasn't sure how. He wasn't even sure what she was talking about at the moment. "Okay then."

A relieved sigh escaped Lucy when Albert didn't ask another question and she began to relax. "They're really giving him a hard time over this. I'm surprised he's keeping his composure so well."

"I probably couldn't. I don't like having to repeat myself and they're just asking him the same questions using different words. It seems like they're trying to back him into a corner or catch him in a trap as well but so far he's dodged all of them."

"Yeah he's doing a good job of sticking to the same answers."

"So then what are the UR's intentions in Mizia?"

"In its current condition Mizia isn't capable of defending itself and won't be for a long while. It has also been left with a severe lack of leadership. We aim to help Mizia's building their country a new and the formation of a government."

"What do you think of Miss Angeye's actions in regards to the reconstruction of Mizia? Should you truly be allowing her to be involved considering what she already done?"

"Miss Angeye's war was with the former government of Mizia and those who supported them. Now that the war is over we believe she no longer poses a threat. Given the expense of the work to be done in Mizia we also appreciate the aid she is giving us."

"So you don't believe she has any other agendas?"

"I am certain that she intends to make a profit as most companies are. Outside of that I believe her efforts are purely humanitarian and have seen nothing to the contrary."

"Don't you believe she may be setting them up like she did last time?"

"To my knowledge Miss Angeye never set up the Mizian people for any kind of fall. Their leadership chose to violate the contract they had with Miss Angeye and she handled the situation how she saw fit."

"How can you say that? She admitted it herself that she was waiting for someone to breach the contract with her. She undoubtedly prepared the document so that the Mizian government would have no choice but to breach its terms of use eventually."

"I have read over a copy of the document in question and have found no such trap within its pages. It was very clear about how the materials could and could not be used and the Mizian government chose to ignore this. Not only did they choose to ignore the contract they agreed to they attempted to hide the fact that they had breached the agreement and refused to rectify their actions when prompted to do so."

"Her demands were unreasonable! You say that she gave advanced warning but if they had done as she demanded they would have left themselves vulnerable to attack."

"That was the consequence of their decisions. I can't say whether or not the time frame Miss Angeye granted was unreasonable or not. All I can say is that they chose to breach their contract and she responded in the way she felt best suited the situation as did the Mizian government. Unfortunately the end result was blood shed."

"Lucy, do we have to keep watching this? They're just going to keep going around in circles until time runs out."

"If you want I'll find something else for us to watch. I want to keep track of what is happening though."

A sigh escaped Albert. "No. You're right. I want to help you in anyway that I can and that means knowing what is happening. Why have you been so quiet though? So far you haven't scheduled anything in your defense."

"They're not worth my time."

"Huh?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Lucy, if you don't believe they're worth your time why are we watching this?"

"Well I don't believe they're worth responding to but that doesn't mean they're not worth watching a little bit. Is there something you'd rather be doing?"

"Oh they are several things but I want to be able to help as much as possible. You just threw me whenever you said that they weren't worth your time."

"Just because something doesn't require an immediate response doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it. You don't get something replaced or drugs every time you get a physical do you?"

"That is true. Alright you have a point." A sigh escaped Albert as he turned his attention back towards the television. "I am wondering how long before he wraps this up though."

***********************************************************************

As Albert set at his desk he gave a slight sigh. Currently his computer screen displayed several documents Lucy had provided him with. Once again he found himself looking over the employee reports and deciding who should be removed, demoted or dealt with in other ways. The list had grown a lot sense Lucy's activity in Mizia meant hiring a good many more workers. "Okay Lucy, this guy has to go."

"Okay, I just sent a message to the manager informing him to fire him." Lucy's response was more immediate and instinctive then thought provoking. Her conscious mind was more focused on a variety games she was playing to amuse herself.

Did Lucy notice the way she shifted whenever she spoke? Albert didn't know if she did or didn't but he knew it was proving to be a distraction. His office was housed in one of the special gems Lucy had developed and she was currently wearing it around her neck. It gave him a wonderful view but that was proving to be a problem. "So what are you doing?"

"I'm playing some video games. They're not really challenging but it forces me to pace myself and lets me enjoy the storyline a bit."

"You know if you want to take your time while reading a story you could get it on audio tape and just listen to it while it's on fast forward."

"I do whenever I find one that I feel is worth reading. I just have trouble taking some stories seriously to be more exact most stories seriously."

"Is it because if you were the princess you'd pull the dragon's head off for bothering you?"

"That's one problem I have with fantasy but I have trouble with historical works as well. I can remember the facts but I have difficulty feeling what those people must have felt at that time. There have been things in my life that frightened me but they aren't like what other people feel. I'm sure that many have shared my fears but I don't share in many of theirs."

"Most don't know what it's like to grow up with as much power as you do so I can see why."

"It isn't just that Albert. I had a loving family growing up and I had you. I've been loved and protected throughout everything I've ever gone through. I believe that is an even bigger factor then my body. After all if I hadn't had you and my family I'm sure that these changes would have been truly horrifying."

"Thanks Lucy, it's nice to feel needed."

"You shouldn't feel needed Albert you should know that you are needed."

For a moment all Albert could do was grin as he turned back to the screens before him. "Well I have a lot of reports to read through so I should get back to work. If I wait too long you'll have all those games beat."

************************************************************************

Sara gave a slight sigh as she looked out over the city. It had been quite quiet for the past few days but that wasn't surprising. They had rooted out most of the trouble makers while they were still quiet from the fear of Lucy. She had then insured that very few of them were able to come back though Sara was surprised any had come back. "Patrick, how much longer do we have to remain here?"

"Until things have settled down enough, right now we're surrounded by people that would love to invade."

"Do you really believe anyone will try after what Lucy did?"

"It's a possibility. I believed you'd enjoy having this time to develop your abilities."

"I have but blast it. I was hoping I could find a way to mimic the results that Lucy achieved while she was here but so far nothing. It's becoming very frustrating."

"Has Lucy been in contact with you since you spoke with her?"

"No, we haven't communicated in quite some time which is strange. I thought she'd want more information on unlocking her abilities."

"From what I know about her she doesn't like being in debt which may be why she hasn't contacted you. It is possible that she resolved to develop her abilities on her own. After all we had to start with one person that knew nothing about how to truly use their abilities and work from there."

"Well that isn't a pleasant thought." As she finished speaking Sara turned to face Patrick completely. As she walked towards him she made certain to head strait for him so that her breasts were over his head. "At least I've managed to grow quite a bit."

A chuckle escaped Patrick as Sara put him in her shadow. When he looked up he couldn't see her face but only the underside of her chests due to her proximity. "That is true. I'm not sure if we want to become in debt to Lucy but you may have to be the one to contact her. We'll have to talk about it later though and decide what information you could offer her."

"I just hope there is some information I can offer her. She might decide to ignore anything I say."

************************************************************************

"You want to try what?"

"It isn't what I want to try it's what I want us to try together. I want us to try mind reading. I don't know every detail but I believe I have the basics down."

"Is this some new feature that came included with this body or my true body being inside of yours?"

"Not exactly, I told you about Sara in Mizia and what we talked about. Well one of the things she mentioned was that one person couldn't learn to do this alone there partner had to help them. So if I'm ever going to get the hang of this stuff we need to work together."

"Lucy I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Sure you do! We've spoken without words before and I don't mean through body language either."

"But Lucy my body is inside of yours and hooked up to your nervous system. That's far different from someone that doesn't have any form of connection."

"Don't worry about such things. Anyway I believe the way we should start is by going backwards. You know that I can guard my thoughts from you and block out your thoughts even though you're inside of my body. I'm going to teach you to do the same to me."

"Do you really believe that will help you learn to read the mind of others?"

"Of course it will. We had to learn to send signals through wires before we could send them through the air after all. That's electrical signals don't get smart and mention other types."

"Drat."

"Humph, anyway I believe that it would be best if I cut the connection between your bodies. It'll be easier to teach you while you're inside of my body."

"What?! Come on Lucy we did that a few days ago. Can't I have a little more time to recover?"

"Didn't you think it was fun?"

"I can't say if it was fun or not but it was interesting. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to do it again just yet."

"Please."

"Can't I have just a little longer?"

"Please do this for me Albert."

A sigh escaped Albert as he rubbed his forehead. "Don't you want me to finish up these reports for you?"

"I'd rather work on this and maybe this way we can do both. You need to take some time away from such things anyway or you'll tire yourself out."

"Okay if you don't mind the delay I'll do it for you Lucy. Just please don't fondle yourself."

"Um how about I keep it down to a minimum?"

A low groan escaped Albert as he shook his head. "Fine, but remember you're to keep it down to a minimum and by that I mean when I ask you to stop I expect you to do so."

"I'll do my very best."

A sigh escaped Albert as he turned off his computer and closed his eyes. "Okay go ahead."

"No, not if you're going to make it sound like an execution. I want you to ask me to cut the link and be honest about it."

"Huh?! Are you serious?"

"I am."

"Lucy, please cut the connection between my bodies. I'm happy to help you in whatever way I can but I'm still getting use to this. I feel really awkward while inside of your body and seeing through your eyes but it's also nice to know that you're all around me."

"Now that was better!" This time Lucy didn't bother shutting the connection down slowly but quickly cut it. Even she felt a slight rush whenever she felt Albert's awareness quick focusing on his secondary body. Her muscles tightened and bulged for a moment as energy began to run more quickly throughout her body.

"Woe! That was a head rush."

"Wasn't it neat?!"

"Um well. So how do you want to begin?"

"I believe we should start with the basics about guarding your thoughts from me. Not thinking about them and thinking about something else actually don't work well at all. Mm how should I describe this? Oh I believe I know! It's sort of like a poker face! You adopt an external exterior that hides the emotions you're feeling within."

"Lucy I've never played poker at least not seriously."

"Then we've got a lot of work to do. Yeah I believe that poker is the way to go."

"Shouldn't you put me back in my body then so I can work on my face?"

"No, that isn't necessary. I believe we should go to a place a little more intimate."

Before he could respond Albert felt a sudden tug. It was a pull that seemed to reach through and grasp his entire being but he couldn't tell where it was going. "Lucy what's going on?"

"Just relax Albert. I'm taking you further into my mind. Don't struggle."

A sigh escaped Albert as he tried to do as he was asked. He had closed his eyes to avoid the disorienting affect of his view suddenly changing. As he entered into Lucy's though color returned yet it wasn't the world he remember. Rather he felt as if he was sinking but not into darkness. Rather light seemed to be reaching up from under him. "This should be interesting."

"You're probably right."

Upon hearing the voice Albert quickly turned to look towards it. The voice had been familiar but different enough to surprise him. He felt a little odd whenever he found nothing but light. "Who was that?"

"It was one of your play mates."

Once again the voice was very similar to Lucy's but not the same and not the same as the one he had heard moments before. He knew that sound waves had no affect on what he would hear inside of Lucy's mind but this only made him even more concerned. Why were the voices different? As his stress level began to increase he felt his fall slow.

"Stop! Just relax Albert. Don't struggle. You know where you are and you know that it is safe for you here."

"Lucy why is your voice different?" Upon asking the question Albert noticed something coming into view. He immediately recognized who it was but he was still surprised to see her.

"Well first you're used to hearing my voice in the air and well my voice will be different from what you know."

"Um Lucy, why do you look like you did when you were a child?"

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she shook her head. "Who says this part of me ever grew up? Haven't you ever heard of someone's inner child?"

"That's why you sounded differently! That is the voice you had whenever you were still a little kid. What was that first voice though? I can't ever remember you sounding just like that."

"That's not surprising."

Once again Albert heard the voice and once again he turned. This time though he found two people standing there. He immediately recognized several features of each person however they were also differences. "Who are you?"

Instead of either figure speaking the child responded first. "We are Lucy!"

"What? You mean Lucy is a multiple?"

"No! No we're not separate personalities. We're parts of the same personality."

Before Albert could respond one of the three spoke up. This one had a cold tone to her voice that Albert hadn't heard in Lucy's before. At least he had never heard it whenever she was speaking to him. "Everyone has different aspects to their persona. We are the three that make up the whole whom you know as Lucy. Haven't you ever found yourself struggling with your own nature or experiencing conflicting desires?"

"Well yes, but I never expected Lucy to be like this. I didn't believe it was like this."

"Think of us as different parts of the same computer program. We are one but we can still be broken up into each unit."

"Okay, but then who are each of you?"

A slight chuckle escaped the child as she took a step closer to Albert. "We don't have individual names! We are all three Lucy. I suppose if you wanted to know more then that you'd have to call us by our natures."

"What nature are you then?"

"Duh!" Instead of saying another word the child quickly fell over with laughter.

For a moment Albert didn't know what to think as he listened to laughter that he hadn't heard in many years. He still heard Lucy's laugh often but not with that tone. "So um I guess you're not just Lucy's sense of humor."

"No she isn't. What you see before you in that child is Lucy's primary hopes and desires. She actually embodies far more then that but that is her dominant nature."

"Okay and what of you?"

A sigh escaped the cold one as she placed a hand against her forehead. "Are you even trying to think?"

"I'm sorry I know I should consider these questions more but it's a bit overwhelming is all. So would you embody Lucy's more logical side?"

"You may call me indifference and it would not be appropriate to say I'm Lucy's logical element."

"You're the side of her that expresses itself whenever Lucy has quit carrying about something aren't you?"

"That is most assuredly one way of looking at it."

While there was a temptation to press for a better answer Albert restrained himself. Instead he turned his attention the one that had spoken first. "So are you the one that spoke to me first?"

A grin formed on the woman's face revealing a row of teeth that were far sharper in appearance then Lucy's. Indeed while the woman's basic shape followed Lucy's everything was more predatory. The muscles appeared stronger and ready to strike at a moment while the fingernails resembled talons more then anything else. "Why yes that would be me."

"So would you be Lucy's hunger?"

A slight chuckle escaped the woman as she shook her head. "No. That would be her." In response o her statement the woman pointed a finger directly at the child. "Like my fellow nature said before. She is Lucy's desires."

"Oh yeah, I suppose I forgot. You just look like well a predator."

"Mm that is a good way to describe me as long as the word is used properly."

At last the child seemed to recover from her storm of laughter and resumed speaking. "None of us could be defined in such simple terms truthfully. What we have told you is what we are predominantly but none of us are that entirely. If you over simply you'd end up thinking that she is our self control." As she spoke the child pointed towards the cold one. "Suffice to say she isn't."

"She seems composed."

"Oh really? What about not carrying about something involves self control?"

"Um well. That is. You have a good point. So what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to do what you came here for. We're going to play poker!"

"Huh? I thought that was just a metaphor."

"No! No, no no. We're going to play poker." As she was speaking the child's smile grew until it seemed like it would split her face.

A slight chuckle escaped the cold woman as she came to stand to Albert's side while the predator moved to another. "Don't worry you have a far better chance with us then you would against Lucy."

"Didn't you just say that you are Lucy?"

"Yes we are as a collective. This insures more of a challenge though as we'll be competing against one another."

"Now sit down." As she spoke the predator reached around and placed a hand against Albert's chest. She then gave him a swift push sending him toppling back into a seat.

The push had caught him off guard and Albert reached back to catch himself. He was quite surprised when he didn't land on the ground but found himself setting in a chair. "What? Where did this come from?"

"Where does anything here come from?"

"Oh yeah. Hey wait a minute! How are we going to do this? You could shift the cards to be anything that you wanted and I know that Lucy hates to lose."

As the predator was setting down she placed a set of cards on the table. "Don't forget you're connected to the same system that we are.

"Yeah but I haven't had years of experience. Hey wait a minute! Are you what controls Lucy's development?"

This time the child chose to speak. "All three of us control it."

"Then why can't Lucy? Just how deep am I inside of Lucy's mind now?"

"Um you're with us Albert. You're at the core of it and I quite frankly don't like some of the changes that the others two believe they want to make."

"How can I be at the core though? Each of you seems to have a mind of your own! Couldn't each of you be subdivide further?"

"Albert, an element can be subdivided further but if you go beyond that point it stops being an element. It loses the properties that it once had. This is as far as you can go and still find something of a coherent mind."

"I guess I see what you're saying. So the reason Lucy can't control her changes is because you three haven't agreed on it?"

"We haven't agreed on all the changes that just one or two of us wanted to make and there in is the problem."

"Hey, what about Symbi though? Shouldn't the symbiot that was originally placed inside of Lucy be part of this network?"

This time the predator spoke up as she began to deal the cards. "We're the union of Symbi and the child that was Lucy. You never met the Lucy that exited before then."

A sigh escaped Albert as he nodded his head. "I know that. I've known it for a while after all. What happened to you whenever that happened?"

This time the child spoke up. "Neither Lucy or Symbi died so in a way you know that Lucy but in other ways you don't. She didn't die or quit being but neither did the symbiot. We just became the same person. It was so subtle that no one noticed the change not even Lucy until years later."

"Do you believe it was frightening?"

"No, it wasn't frightening in the least. My mind wasn't as strong as it is now back then but I believe I can remember. It felt warm like it was suppose to happen. There was no fear of losing herself to Symbi because we belonged as one being."

"It wouldn't be appropriate to ask if you're more Lucy or more the Symbiot. Would it?"

"The question doesn't make sense. You see Lucy is all here but the Symbiot is all here as well. There is no more or less as nothing faded away." A slight chuckle escaped the child as she shook her head. "OH it's too hard to explain!"

At last Albert seemed to become aware of the table and cards in front of him. He carefully picked up his cards to keep either lady on his sides from seeing what he was holding. "I'm going to fold this hand."

The predator gave a slight shrug and didn't bother to look at the cards she'd dealt herself. "I'm already in for this hand. I'm going to raze."

It actually surprised Albert when he saw the Predator place a few chips out in front of her. "Hey where are my chips?"

"You have to provide your own chips."

"How do I do that?"

"The same we do silly. You bring them into existence. Just focus on the table before you and try to create some chips. Be careful that you don't create too many though."

Albert's first response would have been to argue that he couldn't do that but given what was happening he doubted that it would be very effective. Instead he had another question. "Is it like pretending?"

"No. You need to tell yourself and in many ways us that they are chips before you. The workings in this place aren't like the workings in the physical world after all. You have to learn to exert yourself and I recommend you do it very quickly."

"Is there some reason to hurry?"

"Well after her you are suppose to deal."

"I see." Instead of closing his eyes Albert looked at the table before him. He wasn't use to telling himself that something was in front of him when he couldn't see, smell or fill it. Of course given what was going on he imagined this was part of helping Lucy. If he was going to help her develop he needed to learn to work in the world of her mind. With that thought motivating him he began the task of convincing himself that there was a stack of chips before him.

While Albert focused the child turned to the predator. "You haven't even seen the flop and you're razing already. You must be very confident about how this hand is going to play out."

"Of course I am."

After a moment Cold gave a shrug and placed some of her chips before her. "I'll stay in just long enough to see the flop then make my final decision."

"Mm I believe that I'm going to fold."

A grin formed on the predator's face as she finally looked at her cards. "Well then let's see what the flop has to offer."

While cold and the predator focused on one another the child extended her leg under the table and pushed her foot against Albert's knee. She knew that she had his attention whenever he looked up at her. Instead of saying something though she quickly waved at him.

A sigh escaped Albert as he just shook his head and looked back down at the table. He was rather surprised when he found some chips setting there. "What the? Did you do that?"

"I might have helped a little."

For a moment Albert was just glad to have some chips but that only lasted until he realized how few he had. "If I'm going to stay in this game don't I need more chips then this? Any one of you could easily force me to go all in several times over."

"If you want more chips then you better make more quickly. Just think about what was going on whenever I helped you make those."

"Okay I was trying to picture some chips on my table. I had my hands here and here while two of you were putting down the flop. You nudged my leg and I looked up for a moment."

"Right there Albert, I helped you whenever I nudged your leg and looked up but I didn't actually expend energy to make those chips. Try to relive that moment of distraction while thinking about your chips. Even while you were trying to create them you doubted yourself and that insures that you'll never be able to do it."

"Okay I believe I understand. After all I generated these chips so it's logical that I'd be able to do it again. I just have to know that it can be done and that I can do it." While Albert was speaking he really wasn't speaking to the child but trying to convince himself of the situation. It became much easier to do so whenever he noticed a few more chips appear before him. He was surprised though whenever he felt a tug on himself. "What was that?"

A grin formed on the predator's face as she looked over at Albert. "Be careful not to weaken yourself too much."

"What do you mean?"

"Maintaining and generating those chips requires energy even in this place. The more you create the more energy it takes. That's why we all only started out with a few when we could in fact create far more. Once someone wins all your chips you must continue to maintain them and create more if you want to remain in the game. That's how we decide who wins here."

"What about the cards then who is maintaining them?"

"We all are but that isn't a good thing. It means that each one of us could change them to be what we wanted. The others must expend energy to keep that from happening. Oh and don't believe just because you folded means you can just slack off. If you let someone get too large of a lead while you just fold you'll find yourself overwhelmed whenever you do get into the actual game."

"Of course this means that winning hands doesn't mean you're winning if you're expending too much energy to force the cards to be as you wish." As she spoke the cold one pushed a few of her chips over to the predator.

Now the predator was made to chuckle as she looked at the cold one. "You don't need to worry about my energy reserves. I plan to make good use of your chips. Now I believe that it's Albert's turn to deal."

In response to this Albert took in a deep breath and gathered up the cards. He placed two chips before him, shuffled and began to deal. He had felt a drain on his energy when he had created his chips and he still had so few. There was no way for him to be sure how many he could sustain. "What happens if someone isn't able to sustain the chips that someone else has won?"

"If that happens they're out of the game and those remaining start over again. This is a matter of endurance but it is best if you can plan far enough ahead to insure you have chips from everyone and that you exhaust as much of everyone's energy as you can while conserving yours."

"Which means that the best thing to do is stay in the game and let everyone exhaust the others?"

"I don't know if that is the best thing but you're welcome to try if you want."

Albert gave a slight nod as he lifted his cards slightly to peek under them. He already had chips in the pot so he wasn't going to back out unless he felt the need. His hand wasn't great but it wasn't bad enough to make him quit right away. "Okay I'm in." It didn't surprise Albert whenever the child decided to stay in this time but he was a bit surprised whenever the predator spoke up.

"I'm out this time."

"After you started before you even looked at your cards in the beginning I'm surprised you didn't stay around."

"I value my opening moves a great deal and while follow through is important I don't want to exhaust myself."

Cold's response to whether or not she would be staying in was to place a few chips on the table. Once it was clear to him who was in and who was out Albert began to flip over the cards noting each one as he did so and wondering which ones the ladies had manipulated and which ones he might be manipulating. "Okay I'm going to stay in."

Cold waited until the child had spoken to make her decision. "In that case I'm going to fold."

A chuckle escaped the predator as she looked at cold. "You stay in with me and lose your chips and this time you decide to fold after you put in some chips. That isn't showing very good planning."

"You'll forgive me if I can't take that comment seriously coming from you."

"Hmm I would have thought that by now you'd learned not to underestimate me."

As Albert placed another card on the table he looked towards the child. He wasn't surprised to see she was still smiling. "So do you three tend to talk like this?"

‘Not really this is an unusual circumstance. You're here which is causing some changes in our behavior. We do tend to debate certain issues of course."

"How often do these debates happen?"

"They're rare but when it comes to certain subjects they are often the same. Most of the time whomever is more appropriate to a situation takes dominance."

"I see. So then what happens whenever Lucy isn't focusing as much on the world around her? As in what happens to the three of you?"

A slight giggle escaped the child as she shook her head. "Albert you're talking as if Lucy is a separate person from us."

"Whoops! I guess I forgot for a moment. It's just hard to talk to you and think of you as Lucy at the same time."

"How come, we are Lucy after all?"

"I know. I guess it's like talking about my more rational side or emotional side. When I do talk about them I tend to talk about them as if they were another person and not just aspects of me."

"Albert, please don't talk to us like we aren't Lucy. It hurts."

Albert had no idea what to expect whenever he was speaking with these three however as the child's words registered with him he felt a deep pain in his chest. "I'm sorry about that. I'll do better."

"Thank you, so are you going to fold or stay?"

"I'll stay. So what is happening whenever you quit focusing on the world around you?"

"That's easy! We have more energy to focus on ourselves and our body so we can make the body more powerful. Processing external information becomes slower and more difficult though. We quit really thinking about what we're doing to the world around us so that desire rules."

"Okay that makes sense." As he was speaking Albert proceeded to place several other cards on the table. Once again he looked at his cards to insure that they hadn't changed. "If I catch you changing my cards can I accuse you of cheating?"

"Nope we don't play by physical rules here." A slight giggle escaped the child as she glanced at her own cards. "Besides I don't need to change your cards if I know that mine area already beating yours."

"I guess that means you're staying in."

"Yep!"

"I'm staying as well. What about you?"

"I believe that I'll fold."

As the cold one placed her cards before her and pushed her chips away the predator spoke. "You lose your first hand to me and now you fold even when they didn't raze. I have to say you're not showing very impressive planning."

An amused chuckle escaped the cold one as she looked at the predator. "The fact that you don't realize what I'm doing means that part of it is working. You should know better then to underestimate me."

The predator's smile went from a grin into a rather toothy display of teeth as she leaned forward a bit. "We'll see who is better at reading who soon enough."

"So do the three of you ever decide decisions with games like this?"

"No, when we fight it's pretty much a matter of brute force. Whomever has the most strength in the end wins and that is the decision we go through with."

"Have you ever been forced to a draw?"

"Never. I'm not sure if it is truly possible for us to ever have a true draw. The winner or winners must be too weak to implement the change they desire in its entirety but they would start it at the very least."

"Winner? How could just one of you win against two?"

"It happens whenever one of us isn't fully decided while the other two are or one is certain and the other two aren't. So Albert are you going to put down another card?"

"Huh? Oh sure! Sorry I got a bit distracted." As he took hold of the card Albert focused on it. He didn't know what was on the other side of the slip of paper but he wanted to know. Instead of trying to see the card though he began to try to see it as a jack much as he had seen his chips on the table even before they were there. He was a bit disappointed when he flipped it over.

"Changing what the cards are is one of the hardest things to do Albert. You should focus more on learning to keep them from changing and knowing when we are changing them before you try that. You're also not subtle in the least."

"I didn't think I had to be subtle."

"You don't. One more flop Albert, are you going to raze?"

"I don't plan on razing?"

"If you want to stay in you have no choice because I am." As she spoke the child placed a few more of her chips in the pot. "Well are you going to stay in?"

"Yes I am." As he spoke Albert placed enough chips in the pot to match the child's though it nearly drained all his chips.

"Wow! I doubt you're confident that you have the winning hand so something else must be going on here. You know that took most of your chips."

"I know but if I run out I'll just make more and if I run out of those even more."

A slight giggle escaped the child as she glanced down at the cards on the table. "You're sounding very confident all of a sudden especially for someone who hasn't been here before."

"I wouldn't say it's confidence but I'm not going to let doubt hold me back. I'm going to enjoy being here with you Lucy."

"Oh!" It was clear to everyone that Albert had caught all three aspects off guard as all the ladies began to blush though the cold one only slightly. "Well then turn over that final card."

Nearly as quickly as he was told to Albert took hold of the top card and flipped it over for everyone to see. A sigh escaped him as he found himself with only one pair and it wasn't particularly spectacular. Fortunately he had more chips to bet. Even if he did lose at least he would learn how much chips he could create.

Before Albert could the child revealed her hand. "Well let's see what you have."

Even though he had lost the hand Albert put down the cards he held with the same enthusiasm he would have if he'd won. "I'll just get those chips back from one of you."

There was no laughter from the child as she gathered up her winnings though she did wear a wide grin. "Then I'll just have to take them from you again. Now I believe that it is my turn to deal." As she spoke the child took hold of the cards and began to deal to everyone as well as put her chips in the pot.

Even though he knew that the ladies could change the cards even after he'd seen then Albert still chose to glance and see what he had. Once again he found himself with a hand that wasn't spectacular. "I'm going to fold this hand."

"Where did all that enthusiasm go?"

"It's still here I'm just waiting for a hand I'm going to win."

This time the predator chose to turn up her cards and see what she held. "That's good just as she prefers a spirited play mate I prefer a spirited chase."

"Don't think you're the only one hunting here."

Now the predator was made to focus on Albert entirely. "Now that is an interesting thing to say. Are you saying that you're hunting us?"

"I've played with you before and I know that it's a mistake to let you be entirely on the offensive. You'll wear down any defense I can put up far too quickly."

"Mm you have a point. Well I don't have to worry about you for this hand at least."

"Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

In response to the question all Albert did was shrug and begin to play with his few remaining chips. He actually had a meaning behind his question but he wasn't going to go out and say it. This would help him gage each part of Lucy and try to figure out how much each aspect was thinking about the situation. Hopefully he could get them to exhaust one another before they exhausted him. Making them concerned and expend energy they didn't need to seemed like a good path to take.

A slight chuckle escaped the cold one as she noted the expression on the predator's face. "Someone doesn't like how things are going at the moment I believe that I'll stay in for this hand. Why not? I'm even going to raze this time."

For a moment the predator was made to snarl as she looked at the cold one. "Just remember that I have the chip lead right now."

"Only superficially. You have more chips for us to see but how much energy have you already expended?"

It was impossible for the child to keep from giggling as she listened to the predator and the cold one. Their rolls tended to be so in sink with one another or so different that they never had a conflict. Listening to them bickering was actually quite rare and yet it was happening so much. "I believe the two of you are trying to show off instead of just have fun!"

"The hunt is fun!"

"It isn't if you expend more energy then you gain in the end." As she finished speaking the cold one let a smile spread so far across her face that her teeth could be seen.

"Just put down the flop."

It had been Albert's hope to get the aspects to expend more energy then they had to. As Albert listened to them he couldn't help but believe he was well on his way to doing that. Unfortunately he had no idea how much energy he had himself and how long it would last. If Lucy was to figure out that he was playing her different aspects against themselves they might all three decide to focus on him and exhaust his energy.

As the flop was placed on the table the cold one's expression remained constant. She had regained control of her appearance and had returned her facial features to what she considered to be the norm. "I'm going to raze this hand." As she spoke the cold one pushed several of her chips into the pot making it easily the biggest they'd seen thus far. It was a move that everyone noticed.

How much energy had the predator used up whenever she'd won the two hands she already had? Albert wasn't sure but he imagined that the cold one was banking on it being a fair bit. She had only lost a few chips previously while conserving her energy it seems and now that the child and cold one had expended theirs she was ready to strike back. This didn't seem to deter the other two as they also put a heavy amount into the pot. As Albert watched this he remembered what he had been told about being idle and focused on the flop. He then began to focus on the cold ones cards.

As the predator met the raze she couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated. She had been too slow in the pounce and might have indicated a moment of weakness. She didn't want to be found vulnerable especially right now. "So are you going to fold this hand as well?"

"You're just going to have to wait and see."

"Do any of you believe you could give me a little more information about how you each express yourself?"

Neither the cold one or the predator had time to speak up before the child. "You know whenever I made you climb my breasts. That was me and the predator for the most part. Our aspects blend together and come out in the behavior you know as Lucy."

In response Albert gave a slight nod. "So you two are the reason I have to work so hard?"

"Oh she's not entirely innocent." As she spoke the child indicated the cold one.

"I see. So when have you expressed yourself?"

"We were all three there whenever Lucy ate all those soldiers. I was dominant she came in second." As she spoke the cold one indicated the child "I'm sure you can guess who was last."

"Are you serious?"

"The initial encounter wasn't truly a hunt so yes she is being serious. I was largely silent during that."

"Is there any way that the three of you could join into one mind?"

In response the child gave a quick nod. "Yep there is! If we were to come to agree with one another one hundred percent of the time we would become one joined mind. Can you think of someone that has never doubted anything they've done, felt like another person or in general seemed to present a single stable persona all the time though?"

"Well no. I can't really say that I have. I"m not sure how I should ask my next question."

"Just give it a try."

"Whenever you're focusing in the physical world are you aware of one another?"

"We are aware of one another as any program. Actually I'm certain that we are more aware. You just never see Lucy speaking to herself at least not in the crazy person manner because all the conversation takes place here. Whenever a person begins speaking with themselves in the physical it's a sign that something is breaking down in the mental and things aren't being resolved as they should be."

"Hey I talk to myself at times!"

"Yeah but not in such a way that would indicate insanity."

"Okay then, so do any of you have regrets?"

"Nope. We have thoughts that we can keep to ourselves but that is about it. It's one reason we brought you here."

"You can't hide anything from me?"

"Oh we can hide plenty from you! But this is where we are the most honest even with ourselves."

"I see. In that case what did you think of the shirt my mother got me whenever I was thirteen? The festive one."

This time the cold one spoke up first and indicated the child first then the predator. "She thought it was cute, it gave her ideas of chasing deer and I didn't like it."

"Why not?"

"I wanted to be the one to keep you warm and that shirt was a hindrance."

Now Albert wasn't entirely sure what to say as he looked at the cold one. "What do you mean?"

"I enjoyed cuddling you whenever it was cold and still do but that shirt promised to help keep you warm. You didn't need me as much whenever you had it so I wanted to get rid of it."

Before Albert could speak up the child did. "She doesn't like anything that hinders her enjoyment and tends to seek it's removal regardless of what it is."

"It was just a shirt though."

"Yeah and you might think that a little annoyance like that wouldn't matter much but believe me it did. If she had her way we would have taken the shirt away from you and torn it to shreds."

"Just what all does this extend to?"

"From that shirt all the way up to your parents."

Once again the cold one spoke up. "I did not like them talking about going on a vacation that would prevent me from spending time with you."

"I'm not entirely sure if I should ask this but I assume the two of you overpowered her. What would happened if she had gotten her way then?"

"Oh she'd killed your parents. She's remarkably hostile in that way."

Now Albert turned to the cold one. "Don't you like my parents?"

"Yeah I do but they were in the way and I do have my priorities strait."

A slight chuckle escaped the child as she placed another card on the table. "She's even more selfish then either of us. But if it makes you feel better there was no passion behind her desire to kill your parents then they were simply obstacles that she wanted to remove."

"What about the pain that would have caused me?"

"Albert if you had lost your parents who do you believe you're were likely to come to for comfort and support?"

"I see your point. Thanks for saving my parents then and well I'm not sure what to say about you wanting to kill them."

A slight chuckle escaped the cold one as she reached for her chips. "You can say what you want Albert I'm certain of how I feel and am being honest. Surely you didn't think that we were happy about the idea of you going away and not being able to play with us for several days."

"I didn't believe it would make you happy but I didn't think you'd be angry enough to kill my parents."

"Oh Albert don't you understand me? It wasn't anger that made me want to destroy your shirt or kill your parents they were just in the way of getting what I wanted. Also don't forget that as the collective you tend to call Lucy I didn't want to kill them I was just upset with them."

A sigh escaped Albert as he rubbed his forehead. "It never occurred to me that you being upset with someone meant that part of you wanted to kill them. I guess that shouldn't be surprising though."

As the predator noted the cold one placing more chips into the pot she was forced to follow suit. With the child staying in as well one of them was going to have quite an advantage soon enough. "I hope that the two of you are ready for this."

"One second. I feel the need to raise just one more time." As she spoke the cold one placed a few more of her chips into the pot.

A slight growl escaped the predator as she noted the extra chips being placed in and she was forced to follow. "You know you're not going to scare either of us away we've already committed too many of our chips."

"That isn't true!" A slight chuckle escaped the child as she crossed her arms defiantly. "I'm not going to put anymore in."

"What?! Why not?"

"Because I know that neither of you are going to be willing to lose this hand to the other and are going to commit huge amounts of energy to winning it regardless of whether or not I stay in."

Now Albert turned his attention to the child. "You're suppose to be a kid right?"

"Oh I feel like one most of the time that is why I look like this. Our appearances changes with mood though. You should see those two whenever they become really involved. My appearance has no affect on my intelligence though."

"Aren't you worried that they're going to refuse to expend much energy and just let the cards decide who wins?"

"No."

At first Albert considered questioning the child further but he quickly changed his mind. He had other things to focus his energy on. "I guess you two might as well put down the final card then." As he spoke Albert turned his attention towards the cold one's cards and began to focus. So far Lucy had told him to focus on preventing them from changing their cards but he was actually trying to change the cold ones cards for her. They were two identical cards on the field already and he wanted to insure she had the third or even four of them.

"Are you ready?" Even before the predator could respond the cold one took hold of the card on top of the deck. "You know you can back out now and not face losing all out. You'll just have surrendered."

"Turn the card."

There was a slight delay when the cold one chuckled she then turned the card and placed it out for everyone to see. "Well then I suppose we should show our hands." As she spoke the cold one turned her cards so that everyone could see them.

The predator was made to growl slightly as she placed her hand against the pot and pushed it towards the cold one. "Don't you believe this is over for a instant."

A slight giggle escaped the cold one as she pulled her chips towards herself. "I suppose that makes me the chip leader now and by quite a generous margin. I however notice you didn't put in the chips you won from Albert."

Now the child was made to chuckle as she held up the few chips she'd won from Albert. "They're still over here with me and you're going to have to do better then that if you're going to take them away from me."

As Albert looked at the cold one's cards he couldn't help but wonder how much he'd been able to affect them. She hadn't said anything to him about his efforts but he felt sure that all three of them knew what he had been trying. "So shall we continue the game?"

"Yes."

A low groan escaped Albert as he covered his eyes with his hand. "Hey Lucy."

"So did you enjoy the game Albert?" As she spoke Lucy placed a hand over Albert to block out the light that seemed to be bothering him.

"Yeah it was fun but darn am I tired. I haven't felt this drained in a really long time."

"I'm not surprising you went for much longer then I believed you would."

At first Albert said nothing but looked up at Lucy as he considered his next question. In the end he had to ask it. "Lucy why are you split up between three aspects?"

"Because one aspect by itself would never be able to handle every situation so we develop different parts of ourselves to handle various situations. In my case it required me to form three aspects or programs if you like to handle every situation I've ever encountered. We break them up all the time really our pride, inner child, desire."

"I'm not sure if other peoples are quite as pronounced as yours."

"I doubt that they are but the more powerful the system the more complicated the program needed to run it after all."

Once again Albert had to take time to consider what he was going to say next. It was a good thing he did as he realized how foolish it was. "I just about asked what it's like for you to do that but that isn't really a practical question. I'm talking to all three of your aspects right now but as your blending together before it gets to the surface it's impossible to talk to only one of them at a time." As he was speaking Albert glanced towards a window he was rather surprised to see it was dark out.

"I see your understanding of the situation has improved. It wouldn't be wise for any one of my aspects to fully manifest itself. Like I said they can only handle certain situations."

"By handle what do you mean? Like the one desiring to kill my parents?"

"No that isn't exactly right. I guess one of the best examples would be whenever we first lay together. If it had only been the child in control of that time she wouldn't have known if she should take you into the body or not. At least on the level that we ended up doing it."

"So that was mostly the other twos doing?"

"Yeah they were both entirely for the idea. The other was uncertain and couldn't decide so she would have frozen. You would have found me in a coma that I couldn't come out of until something happened."

"Dang it's later then I thought it was. Was I in there all day?"

"Yeah." As she spoke Lucy couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. She didn't need to ask or wait to know that Albert had heard it.

"Okay what's so funny. I heard something in that yeah that shouldn't be there. What happened while I was inside of your mind?"

"You were in there for a day and then some."

"Huh? It didn't seem like it, how long was I gone?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised you'd let me stay in there for a few days."

"Oh Albert you weren't in there for a few days. You were in there for five years."

"What?!" It was impossible for Albert to hide his surprise at the news however this was fortunate as well. If he had managed to Lucy would have probably been able to keep from grinning. As things were he couldn't help but notice the wide smile spreading across her face as she tried to keep herself from laughing. "OH very funny!"

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy despite her best efforts as she was forced to cover her mouth to keep herself from laughing openly. "I. I suppose you want to know. How long you were in there still."

"I believe I'll just go check the news now."

Once again Lucy was made to giggle as she noted the expression on Albert's face. "It was just over a week."

"Are you telling me that I stayed inside of your mind playing poker for an entire week?"

"Yes I am and no I'm not joking this time. Albert just stop and consider how many hands you played and the wrest breaks you took before you try to figure out if I'm playing around or not."

For a moment Albert did nothing but look at Lucy as he tried to decide if she was joking with him or not. Given how late it appeared he felt certain that he had been in there longer then it felt like. He still found it rather surprising that an entire week had passed though not nearly as surprised as when Lucy told him it had been a year. "Promise you're not joking this time?"

"I promise Albert that your mind was inside of mine for a bit over a week."

There was no hesitation on Albert's part when it came to believing Lucy this time. One thing she didn't do was joke around about promises. "Wow. An entire week? I thought it had just been a few hours but an entire week. What all have I missed?"

"Albert don't you believe I'd brought you out sooner if something important had happened?"

"In all honesty I have to say no."

"Ah that is mean!"

"Lucy I love you but I'm fairly certain that unless my parents or your parents were dieing you wouldn't have informed me what was happening Even then I believe your first priority would have been to find a way to extend their lives so you did't have to tell me."

"Mm well I can't deny that."

A sigh escaped Albert as he rubbed his forehead for a moment. "Lucy I don't want to cut this conversation short."

"But you're tired and need to wrest I understand. Go ahead and take a nap once you've had time to wrest we can see what you've learned."

"Hey Lucy has anything on the legal scene happened?"

"Some are calling for the world to press charges against me but they're having trouble getting backers. No one as of yet has pressed formal charges against me most likely due to fear of how I might respond. I just wish that fear was enough to make them quit urging others."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"How long will it be before this monster decides that another nation has wronged her? How many have to die before you're ready to take action against her?"

"Must I remind you that the former Mizian government was forewarned? I know I have made mention of it several times now. Rather then look to us though why not ask those allied with Mizia why they didn't come to his aid?"

"To do so would have only brought the beast to our lands! We did not have the power to stop her but you do. You have the ability to do something about this beast!"

"What makes you believe that the UR or any of her allies are better suited to handle Miss Angeye? Our army is much larger and better equipped then the former Mizian military I will give that but Mizia still applied some very powerful weapons and they had no effect upon her. As I recall even a ground penetrating bomb proved ineffective against Miss Angeye and she has grown since then."

"Surely you have a weapon that could combat her otherwise you would not be so relaxed! Even if you don't you have the resources to develop one."

"I'm afraid you have began to tread into a territory we may not go. I will say this though. Our decision not to act against Miss Angeye is not based on military strength."

"Then what is your decision based on?!"

"We do not consider Miss Angeye to be a threat. She has shown limited hostile behavior within our nation and has shown no malice towards the state itself. The only thing she has requested from us is understanding of her condition and that we honor our agreements. Something that we have no difficulty in doing."

"She murdered one of your civilians in the open! She took the law into her own hands and ignored your legal system!?"

"While we do disapprove of Miss Angeye's behavior in that situation her anger was not directed towards the state. Given the circumstances of the case her anger is perfectly understandable. All things considered I believe that she conducted herself very well. I doubt many would be so composed if they found out someone else was responsible for a close friend nearly dieing. I do not understand how you can say she ignored our laws though. She did submit to a trial after all."

"That trial was nothing more then a show!"

"She accepted the penalty given to her. While I realize that in most cases she would have been placed in prison for her term we have no facility capable of holding her and to build one just for that purpose would be folly."

"If you really wanted to punish her she would have been locked in some old hanger! That would have been big enough."

A sigh escaped the UR official as he shook his head. "We do have laws about how we may and may not treat prisoners. In order to provide an adequate structure to meet those laws for Miss Angeye we would have to exhaust a large portion of our budget and it would have taken too long to build. Home arrest was the only sensible option in that case."

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she glanced down at Albert. "Poor Gernar they're giving him the run around again."

"How long do you believe this will be on the agenda?"

"Probably until the UR as a nation refuses to discuss the subject any longer."

"You said that the UR has no trouble following the agreement between itself and Miss Angeye. What about reports of energy systems developed by Miss Angeye being used in occupied territories?"

"Those systems have only been put in place to support the civilians we are currently protecting. Miss Angeye's movements throughout the region left the power grid quite badly damaged."

"You claim that isn't a military use?"

"It may benefit the military indirectly but no it is not a military use. Our armed forces are currently using a different system for their power. It's less efficient but we honor contracts we agreed to."

"You say it isn't for military use but how can it not be? By putting the civilians on systems developed by Miss Angeye you free up all the energy for the military. You may not be using the wiring or power sources in your machines directly but they are aiding in your military efforts."

"Sir what you said is the state of the entire nation. By helping the efficiency of the power grid as a whole of course it's going to benefit the military indirectly that can't be avoided. The same could be said for food production and medicine. All these things were clearly outlined in the agreement we signed with Miss Angeye and from my own examinations of the contract between Miss Angeye and the former Mizian government so was theirs."

"So are you going to take these systems with you whenever your armed forces pull out of Mizia?"

"I'm afraid we have no choice. The current population of Mizia no longer has a contract with Miss Angeye to use the equipment she developed. If we were to leave it behind she may feel the need to take them back by force and it would be partly the UR's fault for leaving that equipment behind. Before we depart though it is hoped that we might rebuild Mizia's power grid or have a new contract between Miss Angeye and the current population."

"So you have no intentions of adding what remains of Mizia into your own nation?"

A slight chuckle escaped Albert. "He dodged that one."

"Yeah, they were hoping he would say that there would be no need to remove the equipment as they were going to officially claim Mizia as a province. I suppose he saw that coming."

"Do you believe the UR intends to claim Mizia?"

"Well yeah! I have no doubt that is one of their intentions if it proves too difficult though they'll simply install a government that is friendly towards the UR. It wouldn't work as smoothly as simply adding Mizia into the UR but it avoids other problems."

"How about putting in a puppet government and adding Mizia into the UR at some future date?"

"Yeah that works as well. I can't say which they're going to do right now though I believe they're still making up their minds. Then again they might be letting the situation decide for them and right now it seems like putting in a new government would be the best move. If they did otherwise it would look like they'd used me as a weapon of mass destruction to further their own goals."

"Isn't that what they did?"

"Albert if you take advantage of the destruction caused by a hurricane does it mean you used the hurricane as a weapon?"

"If you trapped the enemy in the hurricanes path yes but I see your point."

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she gave a slight nod. "Okay they are a few situations in which even a hurricane could be used as a weapon if not a very predictable one. That said that wasn't what the UR did."

"I know they just tossed people they didn't want to survive back into the hurricane."

"Um well yeah you have me there. Okay they might have used me as a limited weapon but that wasn't their immediate intention and you know it. They simply wished to aid the survivors and further their own goals at the same time. There is nothing saying that humanitarian efforts can't have a little greed mixed in. In the end I would say that it's best if there is some in there."

"Yeah after all everything cost money. If you don't take that into account your boat load of good will is going to run out of steam very quickly."

"Due to the magnitude of the destruction we have no intention of compensating those that lost businesses. We simply don't have room in the budget to restore an entire economy. For the moment we can only try to help the Mizian's get a new economy going."

"What efforts are you taking to limit the influence Miss Angeye will have in that new economy?"

"Currently Miss Angeye is operating under the same laws as any business found within the UR with some added restrictions. However, these are the very same restrictions we're imposing on all other civilian industries currently operating within Mizia."

"Don't you worry that this might allow outside powers to gain too much influence within the weakened nation?"

"We are carefully watching for such behavior but so far we have scene none. To our knowledge none of the industries currently operating within Mizia have done anything to infringe upon the people's identity to such an extent that we would deem it a conscious effort to destroy a culture."

"You say that but just now you admitted that they are infringing upon their identity."

It was hard for Gernar to keep his irritation from showing but he knew that he couldn't deny that some changes were happening. "The changes that we have scene are not due to any ill intent of the industries currently helping with the work in Mizia. Nor are they violating any laws, rather it is their attitude and different style of management that are causing these changes. This is unavoidable though given the amount of deaths in Mizia."

"What kind of changes are you talking about?"

"Since construction began there have been a greater number of Mizian women in the work force. This can't be avoided though given how many of the men were killed. There simply isn't enough man power to neglect such a resource. For this reason the industries have been encouraging Mizian women to join the work force which up until this point was a rare occasion."

"Couldn't you just bring in outside workers or resort to automation?"

"The expense to do either of those would be overwhelming. Further more bringing in others from different cultures would have the same affect."

It was impossible for Albert to ignore Lucy giggling as they listened to the report. "What is so funny?"

"He talks like the UR isn't encouraging such behavior and that it's simply the industries' and economics deciding for them."

"So are they encouraging such behavior?"

"Of course! They want to insure that Mizia's old culture is as dead as they can possibly make it. Generally speaking Mizian women were expected to stay in the home by encouraging them to get out into the work force they cause a power shift in relationships and thinking which should help keep the old ideas from resurfacing."

"I imagine that the military was primarily made up of males who are now mostly dead helps in that effort."

"It sure makes it easier to justify such efforts. It's a shame that they can't openly admit that they wish to insure the destruction of the old Mizian culture and put in one that is more to their liking. It would end quite a few questions but if they were to just come out and say that then they'd have quite a few people grumbling and it would make the process much harder. People always resist change more whenever they know you're trying to force it on them."

"Well most don't like to feel as if they're being controlled even if they are. It's one thing to know that you're being moved in a given direction it's quite another to admit to it openly. I feel kind of strange encouraging the destruction of a culture though."

"Why would you feel bad about the removal of such a system? I'm glad to see it go."

"I didn't say that I feel bad I said that I feel strange. Much of the time we're taught to respect other cultures and let people choose what they want to believe. Heck it's one of the UR's major guide lines in political policy. People should have the government and culture they choose. Yet here they are slowly working on destroying a culture and replacing it with one they like. While I set here and hope that they succeed."

"People wouldn't respond well if the saying was, "Those who we like have the right to decide what culture and government they have." You're right though. On the other hand it could be said that they're protecting the Mizians from themselves. After all it was their culture and government that got so many of them killed whenever it could have been avoided so easily."

"I know and I know that for all practical reasons it would be best for their old culture to be replaced but it's still odd to talk about the destruction of a culture as a good thing."

"Now Albert, I know you've never bought into that all life is sacred, we should respect others for who they are bull crap."

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well that is true."

"So what is the problem then?"

"How would you say the transformation of Mizian culture is going?"

"So you're going to change the subject on me?"

"It was just silly babble to have something to say Lucy."

"Which means you were hiding what you really wanted to say."

At first Albert was going to deny what Lucy said but he caught himself. She was right. "I hope that they do a good job."

"I take it you're not a fan of the former Mizian government."

"Given that they were foolish enough to provoke you I should say not. I'm also not a fan of the culture that would bring about such a leadership. There is more to it then that of course but suffice to say I'm glad to see that system gone and I hope it stays gone. Unfortunately they are many more like it."

"Don't you mean fortunately?"

"Huh?"

"How else would I ever get to have such a fun little hunt?"

"You have a point there. I didn't think of that."

"We believe that five years will be required before we can even begin to consider pulling out of Mizia. Even with help from the private sector there is a large amount of work to be done. Right now we're struggling to find an effective temporary government to work in conjunction with the armed forces we currently have."

"What is the difficulty?"

"As you know Miss Angeye didn't just stop at those who were currently in power she went after their supporters. Nearly every member of the old faction was killed by Miss Angeye so there is no one to step in and take their place. Many of those that weren't killed went missing during the chaos. With the old government destroyed so completely we're having to form a new one from scratch with help from the Mizian people and private sectors as well as other nations sending in aid."

"Just what type of government are you attempting to form?"

"I can't give a specific type at the moment. We have people looking into the situation and trying to come up with the most effective means of introducing a new government. Unfortunately the old system didn't leave anything in place for its replacement should it fall. We considered free elections however such a concept would be foreign to Mizia at this time. If we were to hold free elections we fear that many would be afraid to speak up leaving room for a minority to take power."

"So government by gun point is going to remain in place then?"

"At this time military guidance is the only stable form of government we can offer."

"Plus it's not much different from the previous government." A chuckle escaped Lucy as she glanced down at Albert. "I bet he is dieing to say that right now."

"You're probably right about that."

"You say that you're looking for aid in reconstructing Mizia but you have refused aid from several nations some of which were former allies of Mizia. Why are you refusing such efforts?"

"We're trying to keep the situation as stable as possible and while we don't doubt their good intentions we can't allow them to help. We fear that their influence would destabilize the situation at the moment. We can't have a civil war erupting right now and we won't allow a foreign power to take over Mizia in its weakened condition."

"How would they be destabilizing the situation? You said you were looking for people to help in the formation of a new Mizian government yet you're keeping those most suited to the task out."

"You mean those that were backing Mizia when they violated the contract with Miss Angeye but refused to send aid of any kind once the fighting began?"

"Oh I bet he's been waiting to say that for a while now!"

"It was a warning. He's telling them to drop this current line of questioning or he's going to go on the offensive and they're the ones that are going to end up looking like traitors. So far he's been purely defensive I guess that just taking the hits has finally worn down his patience."

For a moment the representative was made to stagger as if he'd received a quick blow to the cheek. It took all his willpower to maintain his composure as he tried to decide how to handle the question. If he didn't provide an appropriate answer Gernar was going to tear into him for the wrest of the meeting.

Instead of just waiting for the official to speak up Gernar chose to continue. "We can't very well ask those that have already offered their aid to pull out at this time. Yet we can only let so many third parties get involved or the situation would become unmanageable very quickly. Coordination of the aid being provided is essential during these times. We also worry that there may be hostilities between certain groups."

"Do you believe that he'll just go along with Gernar and not even try to answer the question?"

"It seems like a good way to get away from it for the moment but if he leaves it out in the open it could come back to haunt him later. If he takes any longer to decide on what he's going to do or Gernar will finish before he has a chance to ask anything else."

"I guess you're right well that is what happens when you come unprepared. I'm surprised that he left an opening like that."

"The UR has been defensive this entire time Albert. No one has needed to worry about an attack from them. I suppose that Gernar is getting tired of playing that roll. I just don't know if others will share his opinion or not."

"If they do?"

"You can expect the political scene to change very quickly. I suppose I should begin preparing myself then and schedule an interview. I hope Sam is willing to come by."

"I'm sure that he'd be glad to. He sure seemed to enjoy your previous interviews."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Lucy, I don't mean to be rude but your home doesn't look as stable as when I last visited."

"It isn't. I had to make some adjustments so I could still fit within it comfortably. Unfortunately these adjustments had to be made more quickly then I was ready for. Don't worry though it isn't near collapsing at this point."

After a moment of silence Sam gave his head a quick nod. "Okay then shall we begin?"

"Sure, I'm glad you decided to come."

"I don't know if you should be saying that just yet."

"I know you'll be honest but that is fine."

"Okay let's begin recording." As he spoke Sam took a seat facing Lucy on the table. This meant that he was still well below eye level with her. He then waited a few moments for easy editing. "Sam Archer here and I'm once again with Lucy Angeye and Albert Garsen. If you can't see him it's because he's right up there on Miss Angeye's shoulder."

In response to the comment Albert proceeded to wave his arms to make himself stand out more. From such a great height he didn't know if it'd help but at least he tried. "Hi again Sam."

Before Sam could speak up Lucy responded. "You don't need to shout for Albert to here you just talk normally when addressing him."

"Is he using some kind of hearing enhancer?"

"Yeah though it isn't as simple as that. If you'd like I'll explain it to you later for now I believe they are other things to talk about."

"You're quite right. Lucy while no one would have expected the topic of Mizia to die quickly did you expect it to persist quite this strongly for so long?"

"In all honesty yes. It doesn't surprise me some people are having trouble forgetting what happened though I don't believe they're really upset over Mizia. At least I don't believe that is their primary motivator at the moment."

"What do you believe that would be?"

"Fear of me. They're not trying to avenge Mizia they're trying to insure that the same thing doesn't happen to them. I can't say I believe they're using a very good method but I believe that is their primary objective."

"What makes you say this?"

"There are several reasons going back all the way to the war's start. If they had truly wanted to aid Mizia they would have sent military aid to back them though that would have resulted in me just killing them as well and destroying their nation. However, they could have sent diplomats to try to talk me out of my chosen actions. I don't believe they would have succeeded but at least it would have been something."

"Perhaps they feared just talking out against you would invite your anger."

"I doubt that. If that had been the case then it would still be holding and keeping them from talking now. They've been quite vocal though. Only after the fact did they choose to really speak up. Instead of offering to confront me themselves though they're encouraging other powers to step in and take action on their behalf sighting a lack of military power as their reason. If they were truly as fixated on seeing justice served as they're acting they would be contributing as many men and materials as they could."

"So you feel what happened in Mizia is being used to try and provoke a response from the UR and its allies?"

"I don't believe it's what happened in Mizia exactly. I believe fear is being used to motivate response and Mizia is being used to justify that fear. At least certain details of the war are being used to justify that fear."

"So Lucy you don't believe that this fear is justified?"

"It depends on what your intentions are. For those that are trying to provoke the fear I believe that it is indeed justified."

"Why would you say it's justified?"

"They want to do something or have done something that violates our contract and are worried that I'll find out. Now that I've proven I will enforce the agreement they feel the need to remove me from the picture before they can do whatever they have planned. That or they've already done something foolish and I just haven't found out about it. Naturally they would prefer if others did the fighting for them though as it would weaken their nation."

"I see. Do you have any proof of this accusation?"

"None beyond what their current behavior indicates."

"Are you sure about that? Given your ability to interact with electrical systems I can't help but wonder if you might have found something."

"Ah well I couldn't tell you if I had. After all breaking into another nations computer systems, downloading all the information into your brain and then reading through all the files when there is nothing more important to do is illegal."

For a moment Sam didn't say anything as he looked at Lucy. A slight chuckle escaped him after roughly a minute and he gave his head a slight shake. "I see. Well you did sneak into Mizia and steal a jet aircraft. That isn't legal either."

"That was under different circumstances. I was quite certain that they didn't have the ability to develop such a fighter without using materials I had developed and forbid to be used in such a way."

"Ah yes. Speaking on the legal ways to use materials you've developed what about using them to develop new materials?"

"Such as?"

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this but according to some of my sources the UR has been using materials developed by you to produce some new alloys. Alloys that they are using in some of their next generation weapons systems and which couldn't be economically produced without the materials you provided."

"Yeah they're good at that!"

"Good at what?"

"They're good at finding creative ways to use legal agreements to their advantage even if it was meant to restrict them."

"So this doesn't upset you?"

"I expected such behavior really. I can't say that I'm happy about it but they're working within the confines of our agreement and I can't just rewrite it because they found a way to use the materials that I didn't truly restrict."

"I see." Sam didn't get a chance to continue as Lucy spoke up.

"Before you go any further please think of this. Just by improving the energy grid I help things that were not economical become economical. If I were to try to prevent everything I developed from benefiting the military in any possible way then I couldn't sell anything. It's just not possible to say that they can use such materials for civilian use but not benefit the army."

"That is true, but isn't using the materials to build such materials pushing the boundary?"

A sigh escaped Lucy as she nodded her head. "It's getting there I can't deny that."

"You said you that such behavior didn't make you happy but does it make you upset?"

"I can't honestly say that it does or I would be trying to do something about it. Like I said I expected such behavior before and accepted that it would happen. I have been surprised by how close to the edge the UR can be at times but they've never gone over."

"What do you believe will happen the day they stumble over that line?"

"They'll probably realize their mistake and fix it before I even know about it."

"Well that's a surprising answer. Why do you believe they'd behave in such a manner?"

"Because they realize the importance of trust in such agreements and wouldn't want to reduce their ability to negotiate. I'm constantly developing new technologies after all and being honest with me now is a small price to pay for a favorable position during future negotiations."

"So you wouldn't say that it's out of the kindness of their hearts?"

"You've got to be joking. Of course it isn't because their good people. If what I had already developed was all I had to offer and there would never be anything new things would be very different."

A slight chuckle escaped Sam as he shook his head. "Well there goes the idea that you have faith in humanity."

"I do put trust in humanity I just acknowledge that greed is part of that."

"What about you then Lucy? You seem to be quite generous where is your greed?"

"Oh I'm very selfish I just value different things then other people. Well no that isn't right. The source of what I value comes from a different source then other peoples."

"Which is?"

"Here is a hint. The source is setting on my shoulder right now."

It was impossible for Albert to keep from smiling as he leaned forward and looked at the side of Lucy's face. "Well that is good to know."

"I see. So you put no value on money?"

"Of course I value money! It's a wonderful tool for getting people to do you favors. I just don't value it beyond its ability to help me obtain what I want. It's not the money I truly care about rather what it allows me to get more easily is what concerns me."

"Why not just take what you want?"

"It's easier for me to pay people then it is for me to force them to do what I want. Sure I could use fear to get some things but that is bound to give diminishing returns and deteriorating quality. Of course when money and reasoning fail I'm not beyond using force as I've proven. Actually, I quite enjoy using force depending on the situation."

"Yeah, I believe the smile you wore while stomping through soldiers and buildings proved that. Lucy, I believe I've asked you this before but just in case I haven't. How can you enjoy killing people so much?"

"I suppose because they aren't people to me. I gave ample warning and chance for them to leave. They chose to remain behind. They chose to kill themselves by ignoring my warnings. So they're already dead in my eyes when the time comes."

"So you feel that it's entirely their fault?"

"Yep! They made their own decisions not me."

"What about those that couldn't decide for themselves such as young children? You didn't seem to discriminate."

"Ultimately a child's safety in such a situation is up to the parent. It was the patent's choice that resulted in the child's death not mine."

"Yet you've set up shelters for children in Mizia who lost their parents."

In response Lucy gave a quick nod. "Actually most of them have one parent remaining their mother. I just hope you don't believe I did that out of guilt. I have no remorse for what I did and don't feel I'm in debt to anyone."

"So why did you do it?"

"I just wanted to help out. I tend to enjoy helping people as long as I don't feel like I'm being used. Besides those kids are the future work force of Mizia and they're going to need to be raised properly and given an education. I know some would say that'll be difficult without their fathers around but given the situation I believe it's best that they aren't in this situation. They don't need their fathers around teaching them the ideas that got them killed after all."

"I see. So Lucy do you have any financial reasons for aiding Mizia?"

"Of course, I opened up several businesses their to help the economy get back up on its feet. Right now they're actually a bit of a drain but I can keep them open for the time being. Then once Mizia has recovered enough I'm certain that they'll start profiting me. I just wish the farms didn't take so long to become truly productive."

"Lucy if you don't mind would you bring your friend closer? I would like to ask him some questions. I know you said that he can hear me but we also need to be able to hear him."

"Sure thing." As she spoke Lucy reached up and gently scooped Albert up in her hand. She didn't have to ask him if he wanted to speak to Sam because he'd already told her by beginning to stand up. As she lowered her hand down towards Sam she adjusted it so that Albert could stand up in her palm. She had no intention of setting him down though.

As Lucy's fingers opened up so that they can see one another Albert spoke up. "Hey Sam."

"Hello Albert, you don't mind if I call you Albert do you?"

"Nope. So what do you want to know?"

"First of all. I believe that you were with Lucy throughout her entire time in Mizia correct?"

"That's right."

"What did you think whenever she was tearing through a city full of civilians?"

"Mostly I thought she sure seemed to be having fun. She was just so cute while she was tearing apart those buildings or stocking runners through the street. I was surprised by how many different ways she tried eating as well."

"So you felt nothing for those she was eating?"

"I felt that they should have listened to her warnings and left but they put their faith in the Mizian government. I did feel some anger towards the soldiers for trying to harm Lucy but they also provided her with some amusement so I guess things evened out in the end."

"I see. So what do you think of her humanitarian efforts in Mizia?"

"I think she's doing a nice thing for those people but I hope she doesn't let herself be taken advantage of. I've been helping Lucy with her business as much as I can but I can only handle so much information at once. More then the charity she's giving though I believe it's wonderful that she's providing jobs. Charity might be able to keep people alive for a while but it won't help them get ahead of the curve."

"I see, so do you believe that her business ventures in Mizia will pay off?"

"Sure Lucy's pretty good at most aspects of business and if things don't work out she can always force them to go the way she wants."

"What do you mean force?"

"She could always develop some new cloth or metal that would greatly improve industry but only have it produced in Mizia. That would pretty much insure that branch of her industry got some customers."

"Albert, what did you think whenever you saw Lucy buckle?"

"You mean when they tried to use that parasite to kill her? It felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart. I haven't felt fear of that magnitude in a very long time. It didn't exactly help whenever Lucy began trying to put distance between me and her main body."

"You and her main body?"

"Yeah, she didn't have any intention of dieing after all! Still, the idea of Lucy cutting the connection between herself and the majority of her body isn't a pleasant one. In all honesty though even after she told me she could separate from her primary body to save her awareness I was scared I'd lose her. No scared doesn't really define it. I'm not sure there is a word for how horrified I was at the thought."

"I see. Yet she came through and even bigger then when she started. Would you happen to know what caused her sudden increase in scale?"

"Shouldn't you ask her that?"

"I could but I'm fairly certain you'll know as well."

"Okay, but I'm not sure that you'll believe me even if I tell you or even if she tells you."

"We'll just have to find out."

"Some of the children that remained in the city didn't actually die there. Rather their awarenesses chose to enter into Lucy as a safe refuge. Their awarenesses strengthened her and allowed her body to grow all the larger."

While Sam was fairly open minded he couldn't help but stair at Albert for a moment. "Are you serious?"

"I'm very serious though if you don't believe me you can ask her."

"No, that isn't necessary. It's just that. Um Lucy so the awareness of several of the Mizian children are currently inside of you?"

In response Lucy gave a quick nod and placed a finger against her forehead. "Yep they're in here safe and sound. I was quite surprised whenever they came to me and even more so whenever they entered into my body. Honestly I didn't know I could do that."

"So um exactly what are you going to do about it?"

"You know I'm not entirely certain. I suppose that I could work on restoring them to new bodies. Um if they'll cooperate that is."

"What do you mean if they'll cooperate?"

"They actually wanted to come into me to escape the city but now that they are there I'm not entirely sure they'll want to leave. It's not exactly easy to force an awareness to leave a system whenever it doesn't want to."

"So um what exactly is it like?"

"Mm sort of like being a big sister I suppose. I've given them a safe and warm place to stay for the time being. I don't believe it was fear that brought them to me. It seems like they were upset with their parents on some level and went to the best source of warmth and comfort they could find. I know that sounds a bit out there given that they are children but I believe that is what happened."

"So how many of the children survived?"

"Oh not all! All the children that were killed before I seemed to collapse died. It's still quite a new ability to me and I"m not exactly sure how it functions at the moment. I do have a theory as to why I developed it though."

"Would you mind sharing that theory?"

"Actually, I would like to keep that to myself for the time being. Perhaps one day I'll give away the information."

"I see. So Lucy can you offer any proof of what happened?"

"To a limited extent yes. If you'd like I could identify the children that came into me and give some information about them. Actually I could tell you anything that was retained in their memories. Would you like to hear a few of them?"

In response Sam gave his head a quick shake. "No Lucy I believe you. Perhaps someone else will come along and test your claims but after everything you've proven capable of it seems that believing you is the more certain route."

A slight giggle escaped Lucy before she spoke. "Well that is nice of you to say."

"Lucy, while no one has physically attacked you at this point to my knowledge there have been some military build ups. Does this concern you in anyway?"

"Actually it does to an extent. I'm not worried about my safety rather I'm worried who they may hurt in their attempt to get to me. Due to that I've been thinking about leaving the UR for a little while and relocating somewhere to make myself an easy target if anyone wants to kill me. Then once that has been taken care of I can return here."

"So you believe one of the reasons you haven't been attacked yet is where you're living?"

"I believe that is part of it. Everyone knows that if they sent bombers flying over the UR and level my home they've just committed an act of war. I wouldn't be the only thing they'd have to worry about in that situation they'd also have to worry about how the UR would respond."

"And you don't want to get the UR involved in such things?"

"Of course not! They'd get in the way of my fun."

Once again Sam became silent as he found himself pondering Lucy's response. She didn't respond the way most would have that was certain. "For a moment I thought you were going to say you didn't want to cause any UR soldiers to have to become involved and get killed."

"Ah well that is part of it I won't deny that. Mostly though I'm worried that the UR would expect me to follow their military guidelines or they'd slow me down. I just get so excited while playing with tanks and rocket launchers that I worry I'd lose my ability to distinguish friend from foe."

"I see. Lucy was that what happened whenever you ate those reporters?"

"Of course not! I was perfectly aware of their presence."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because they're tasty and they didn't listen to my warnings either! Mostly the tasty." As she finished speaking Lucy let her tongue extend out of her mouth and slowly run along her lips, a slight giggle escaping her as she pulled it back into her mouth.

A sigh escaped Albert as he shook his head. "Now she's just being rotten."

"Really? Albert, why do you believe Lucy ate them then?"

"Like she said they were warned and she did want to have fun. They chose to stay and either rely on their ability to protect themselves or the Mizian army's ability to protect them. They had chosen to ignore Lucy's warnings so she treated them like everyone else that had done so."

"That's what I said!"

A slight chuckle escaped Sam as he nodded his head. "You do realize that she is right. What you said was effectively the same thing as what she said only moments earlier."

"Well darn. You're right. Well it isn't always what you say but how you say it."

In response Sam gave a nod. "Yes and Lucy you seem to enjoy saying things in such a way to cause people the most distress."

"It's funny you tasty little reporter!"

"Should I be scared?"

In response to Sam's question Albert gave his head a quick shake. "No. She's just playing around. The worse thing you can do is show fear."

"Isn't that what got the Mizian's killed?"

"It wasn't not showing fear that got them killed it was showing a lack of common sense. Sam do you really believe that Lucy would kill you for no reason."

Before Sam responded he gave Lucy a quick glance. He actually had to keep himself from laughing when he noted her mouth was wide open. "No I don't believe so. She's as bad as some of my nieces though if not worse."

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy upon shutting her mouth. "Well I still have a lot of growing to do."

"Yes you do!"

Sam gave a slight jump upon hearing Albert and quickly turned his attention to him. He was surprised whenever he saw how wide the grin on Albert's face was. "What was that about?"

"I'm constantly having to remind Lucy of how much more she needs to grow. She's far too weak for her own good."

Lucy gave a slight snort in response to Albert's comment having been caught off guard. "As you can tell Albert has no fear of me what so ever."

"How can I fear you when you're so small?"

"Albert, you're a braver man then I am."

"Oh this isn't an act of bravery. Lucy has never harmed anyone for being honest so long as they aren't belligerent about it or revealing private information. I'm not doing either of those. After all it's plain to see that she needs to become more powerful."

Despite the situation Sam actually found himself struggling to keep from laughing as he noted the look on Lucy's face. "I see that you two are quite a close couple."

Before Albert could respond Lucy reached down with her free hand and gently ran her pinky over his back. "Yeah we are. I love him enough to even tolerate such verbal abuse."

"Lucy, you know that I'm only trying to help you to the best of my ability. I can't risk you growing comfortable with being so weak after all. I don't want to risk losing you."

"I know Albert and I know where what you say is coming from."

As Sam listened he knew that he'd let himself get sidetracked but he didn't want to say it. Even if it was a sidetrack the subject matter was quite interesting. "Albert it seems that you've learned to relax since our previous interviews."

"Yeah you get use to them to an extent. I just have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a documentary so I don't have to be overly serious."

"I believe some would disagree. We are discussing the results of a war after all."

"I don't see why they'd be upset. Whenever anyone gets involved in military conflict they tend to celebrate whenever their side suffers no causalities. Even if the deaths are kept very low people tend to be happy over all regardless of what happened to the enemy. I'm on Lucy's side and our side didn't suffer any casualties so I don't see a reason not to celebrate."

"That's an interesting view point. So Lucy what is your over all business plan for Mizia?"

"It's fairly simple really. I believe that I can have the farms in Mizia growing enough produce to be profitable within five years. I've planned the farms so that they should be producing more then what the Mizian economy in its reduced state will require so the extras can be exported. I'm not sure how much of a profit I can make but I'm fairly certain that the farms will be self sufficient by that time."

"So you're not really worried about making money for yourself?"

"In five years I won't be."

"In five years? So you are now?"

A sigh escaped Lucy as she gave her head a quick nod. "Yes I'm currently having to concern myself with finances. I was a little overly generous with my spending, coupling that with my sudden increase in scale and the expenses that has caused me I'm a little lower on funds then I like to be. I have a few projects underway that should put me comfortably back in the black but I have to wait until everything has been cleared before I can really begin."

"That is surprising. So the the war did cost you in a sense."

"Well if you play hard there tends to be quite a bill waiting for you at the end and I did play awfully hard. I don't know perhaps I should put Albert in charge of the finances. He seems to be good at managing money."

It was impossible for Albert to keep the surprise off his face as he glanced up at Lucy. "Huh?"

"You shouldn't looked so surprised Albert you help me with a lot of other things after all. I'm sure you'd do a great job of planning the finances."

"Very funny Lucy, you know perfectly well that it would take an entire team of people to make all the financial plans your company requires."

"Oh I wouldn't expect you to do the little day to day things. You could help with the overall budgeting though besides you're already helping with research and development ideas."

"That's only because you're making me!"

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she noted the concern in Albert's voice. Given what she'd put him through before hand she wasn't surprised he worried she was serious. It helped that to a limited extent she was serious. "You needed some extra motivation and besides you've been doing a wonderful job."

"How about we talk about this later and you focus on the interview for now?"

Before Lucy could respond Sam spoke up. "Actually, this raises some questions. Albert do you have any plans for Mizia or are the developmental plans you help with of a different nature?"

It was impossible for Albert to keep from groaning. "I believe Lucy might have given you the wrong idea just now. Yes I help her come up with new ideas for projects but the finer details are left up to her. In the end I don't really do all that much." As Albert was speaking he glanced up at Lucy and noted her grinning. She had a comment.

"Don't underestimate yourself Albert you've been a great help in coming up with new ideas. I wish I could safely fast track the ones you'd already given me so I could get to work on the next ones."

"So Lucy, can we assume the next few developments you come up with are in part due to Albert's choices?"

"Yes you can!"

"I see. So Albert would you like to share some of these ideas with us?"

"Not at the moment I don't feel comfortable talking about them just yet. Maybe once they're made public I'll find it easier to speak on the subject."

"Very well then. So Lucy would you care to give us a better idea on just how he inspires you?"

"Sure! He suggest an idea to me and I see if I can bring it into being."

"I see, is that the only rule?"

"Yep! I leave the moral implications up to him which tends to slow down his suggestions quite a bit. Before I used to spend a lot of time considering the dangers that something would pose and the moral implications. Now that I have Albert I don't have to think about those nearly as much. It has really freed me up to create."

In response Sam gave a quick nod and turned his attention to Albert. "I'm going to assume that she's being serious about this. She sure doesn't seem to be joking. So you're now charged with the task of coming up with new projects. I imagine that must be stressful."

"It is especially whenever Lucy begins to really push for something new to do."

"Just how does she apply that pressure?"

"I'd rather not go into that I'm worried she'd give a demonstration."

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she covered her mouth to keep from bursting into open laughter. "I would right now if I didn't know how angry you'd be after words. Mm it might be worth it though. I'm sure I could get you out of the huff quickly enough."

"So Sam how long was this interview suppose to run?"

A slight chuckle escaped Sam as he shook his head. "Don't worry we have plenty of time. It's been a while since Lucia has given an interview of any type. I'm sure people will be interested in all of this."

"Ah was someone trying to get the interview cut short?"

"Well before Lucy gives a demonstration I had better say Lucy is quite a tease whenever she wants to be. This is especially true whenever it comes to get what she wants from someone she isn't willing to use physical force against or some other form of motivation. I guess some would say she has me wrapped around her finger."

Before Sam could speak up Lucy chose to. "I don't believe you'd reach that far Albert. I'm pretty sure that if I tried to wrap you around my finger I'd tear you apart."

"I didn't mean it literally and you know it."

"So Albert once you suggest an idea does anything happen after that?"

"Lucy tends to twist it into something still fitting into the general idea but different enough to be frustrating."

"Hey I only did that once and you brought it upon yourself by trying to be sneaky."

"I hope you two don't mind me interrupting but would you mind telling us what he was trying to be sneaky about?"

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she felt her skin warming up slightly. "Well it might be best if he told you what he was doing."

At first Albert had expected Lucy to tell Sam openly. When he looked up and noticed she was blushing he knew there was more to it. As the thought settled in he finally realized something. If Lucy had only been worrying about his health she wouldn't have minded. On top of that he didn't even need the medicine because the body he was currently using had been developed by Lucy. She hadn't been worrying about his fitness she had enjoyed exercising with him and she didn't want to lose that. "I feel like a jerk."

"Um would you please clarify?"

"I can't go into too much detail but I suggested Lucy develop a new treatment to help people become physically fit more quickly. Given how much money people spend on trying to lose weight I'm sure they'd pay quite well for something that made building muscle easy. You don't just drop the flab that way you get to exchange it for something else."

"Why would you feel guilty over that and how did she change it?"

"I can't go into that right now. I'm going to have to talk to Lucy about it." As he finished speaking Albert couldn't help but think that he was sorry. He was kind of surprised whenever he heard Lucy's voice in his head.

"Albert we're connected now remember? We can talk as much as we want and no one will ever hear us. Why are you sorry though?"

"I should have realized you weren't worried about my fitness. You just enjoyed exercising together and I was trying to take that time away from you."

"That's okay Albert, how could you have known?"

"By the way you were behaving. I should have realized much sooner then I did."

After a moment Sam gave a slight shrug. "Very well. So is this treatment currently under development?"

Before Albert could respond Lucy spoke up. "For females it is. I doubt I could come up with something that worked equally well and safely for both genders under current limitations so I started developing it for females first."

"Well I'm sure people will be looking forward to that. Does it involve the use of symbiotic life forms though?"

"No, that would come with far too many restrictions and other complications. Developing the treatment is going to be a complicated enough process as is given how many things could go wrong. At the moment I believe that it's going to have to be a procedure given by medical professionals rather then something anyone could pick up over the counter."

"And how long ago was it that this idea was suggested?"

"We were still in Mizia whenever Albert gave me the idea but I was already working on another project. I've only been able to devote any real thought to it recently and began to realize some of the deeper complications."

Once again Albert focused his thoughts on Lucy. "Are you going to work to insure those in Mizia who want the treatment can receive it? I imagine it would go a long way in removing certain old ideas. It'd be hard for any old fashioned male to claim that women are a weaker sex if they're lifting more then the male ever could."

"Well they could claim that what I have done is upset the natural balance and that such women are no longer pure."

"If that is how they feel they can simply refuse the treatment whenever you develop one for males. Until then they still have to live with the results."

"Quite true and it might take quite some time to develop an effective treatment for males. Especially with all the new projects I'm going to be working on."

"Some how I doubt the treatment for males will be coming any time soon after the females even if you didn't have any other project to work on."

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a slight nod. "That is probably true but I don't want anyone else knowing that. I'm sure that I can come up with some reasons to delay the project that people will buy."

"So Lucy back to one of our old subjects. What will you do if Mizia's economy hasn't recovered at the end of five years and the businesses you started there are still draining you financially?"

"That depends on the reason for the failure and how well my other business plans are going. If Mizia is simply taking longer then expected to recover I'll tough it out if I'm financially able to do so. However, if the reasons were do to something such as political instability I might just cut my losses. It depends on the nature of the instability."

"What nature would that be?"

"Well there are quite a few possibilities. One thing I can think of is a civil war. I'd really rather to just keep out of such things and wait until one side killed enough of the other to win. If I were to get involved I'd probably end up picking one side to exterminate entirely or kill off both sides depending on if I favored one group over the other or just felt they should both be removed."

"I see. Albert how would you feel if she did this?"

"It would depend on what they were fighting over. There is no way I could just set by and let Lucy kill so many if I agreed with one of the groups."

"Do you believe you could stop her?"

"I'm fairly certain that I could. It might come at great cost to me but I'm pretty darn certain of it. That said I doubt she'd force such a decision upon me."

As she spoke Lucy once again ran her little finger against Albert's back. "Albert and I agree on most things but we have had our differences in the past. We tend to resolve them fairly peacefully though."

"That or she just waits until my guard is down and does what she wants anyway."

It was impossible for Lucy to keep from chuckling as she quickly lifted and lowered her hand causing Albert to bounce into the air for a moment. "I only do that whenever you're being silly! At times you can be a little too merciful and it is up to me to make sure you're not being taken advantage of."

"So you two have disagreed on certain things?"

"Yeah such as whenever she broke several of my instructor's bones for his method of returning exams. She didn't like the idea that someone could see what I had made even if I wanted to keep it secret."

"Privacy is very important to me!"

Now Sam turned to Lucy. "Are you serious? Lucy it seems that you live your life quite out in the open."

"I live my life in the open whenever I am out in the open. I don't know what I might do to someone if I felt they were invading my personnel life. Mind you I have a few ideas as to what I'd do to them but I can't be entirely sure. I'd want to make it severe enough that everyone would think twice before it happened again."

"That's quite a strong statement."

"Yes it is and I'm quite willing to back it up."

"Lucy, do you feel that you could have backed down from attacking Mizia once you issued your warning?"

"If I had people would have lost respect for me and it would have been nearly impossible to convince them to honor any contract made with me. I'm not like most companies that can turn to a nation to force someone to honor the contract. And as far as the world court. Well that just isn't effective enough for my taste. After all nations have stood by and watched millions be slaughtered but didn't get involved because it wasn't something that involved them. How could I expect them to force a nation to honor a financial and control agreement?"

"So you felt that once Mizia refused to honor the contract you had no choice?"

"That's right."

"If someone was to intentionally violate your privacy would you have any choice other then to carry through with your warning?"

"I wouldn't even try to think of another choice. I simply don't see a reason why I would ever try to convince myself to let them get away with doing that."

"So your resolve in this matter is just as strong as your resolve when dealing with Mizia?"

"It's even stronger. Mizia I wasn't truly angry with. After all they had just volunteered to be my. Mm I believe the word food is the only thing that describes it. After all I tend to take very good care of my toys. I wasn't angry with them though. The idea of someone invading my privacy alone tends to upset me a great deal."

"Would it be safe to assume that violating your privacy in such a way would have to be done intentionally?"

A slight giggle escaped Lucy as she gave a quick nod. "Well yeah! Like you said before I'm quite open about most things."

End chapter 6