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Harry's tail flicked in frustration as he addressed the dragon on the other side of the interrogation room door. "Sorry, you'll have to go through the proper channels. Come back when you have paperwork." He started closing the door.

"Oh, but I do." Nonah put their hand on the door so that if Harry tried to close it, it would catch on their fingers.

Nonah had made their basic profile available to the public and I was able to see that they did indeed use singular "they." I'd been right to be cautious about gendering them.

Harry paused for a moment. "How did you--" he opened the door further and then looked back at me. "I'm smelling a conspiracy again. I'm going back to my desk. That's if you consent to this private meeting."

Oh Harry, poor ordinary good-hearted officer Harry. How I wish I could've turned Nonah down. But, I had far more to gain than I had to lose from an opportunity like this. "I'd like to meet with them."

Nonah ducked so their long fanned ears wouldn't hit the door frame and stepped into the room.

Harry's ears and tail hung in defeat and Nonah stepped to the side so he could exit. Before he left, he said, "If Nonah gives you trouble, message me and we'll take pleasure in dragging them out of here."

"So melodramatic, I'm not the enemy here." Nonah shut the door as Harry scoffed at their comment.

They were nearly seven feet tall and their tail and wings were massive. The room was feeling cramped and when they pulled out the chair across from me it looked like a toy. I felt vulnerable until they smiled. It was comforting despite the rows of pointy teeth. "Our names end the same way. Isn't it nice to meet a fellow 'A H'er?"

"Indeed it is." I wondered if they were using a "yes" ladder with me. Starting out with things they knew I'd say "yes" to so I was more willing to agree with them later in the conversation. Corporate liaisons often used tactics in conversations. Some were skilled psychologists or sociologists in their own right. Picking up skills was much easier with augmented minds.

They must have noticed that I was withdrawing because they switched to Paitishek and said, "No stomach for small talk? Then I'll get right down to it. We don't want the press to find out about the incident between you and our FCAT. Especially the part where you kicked its ass. In exchange for your silence, I'm authorized to offer you: legal help, repairs, a place to stay, and employment."

I stared at them blinking for a moment. "I have no credentials, so my signature is meaningless."

"If you sign on as our employee, you will inherit credentials that you can use on this station. It will take time and effort for you to gain more far-reaching credentials, however. Luckily, light lag to earth makes it so nearly all apps or services you'd want to use have servers on this station and your credentials would work on them."

"Is it really worth it? I'm nobody to your company. And the damage that could be done by an article about a hacked FCAT is limited."

"You let us worry about the risk-reward calculations. We're offering this because we want to." They leaned forward. "You defeated an FCAT that outweighed you by a factor of four. That alone makes us very interested in you. Multiple factors have been considered."

Nonah's speech had an ominous undertone due to it echoing in their large muzzle. They sounded like a powerful demon in a VR game. But, their voice somehow remained charming and warm. I suspected that they'd spent a lot of time on their voice and mannerisms. It was hard for me to distrust them. This made me vigilant towards foul play.

Sometimes it made sense to jump at opportunities. But, this was a company I had no rapport with trading a diamond for a dime. "No, you're giving me a smokescreen. I'm an unknown quantity. The media shit storm from me being found out to be a hacker, terrorist, or smuggler could greatly overshadow any fallout from an FCAT security breach."

"We know who you are, Saanah. The police update the station's public registry whenever they identify an unknown. We don't know why you can't access your previous credentials, but we know you need us. And that the employer listed on your profile is a front. We won't ask questions, we just want you to work for us. Why? Because we're impressed. We know you hacked our network. I'm told it was utterly brilliant."

They leaned forward as if telling me a secret. "You still have internet because we decided not to shut it off. And on top of that, you took out an FCAT when you were uncoordinated. You're an action hero and a hacker. How many companies have one of those?"

I balked in their direction with one ear up and one down. Confusion, surprise, vulnerability: they mixed in me like ashes and water. An emotional mess.

They crossed their legs and sat more casually. "You're on the winning side here. Talent acquisition is incredibly competitive between security firms these days. Last year, the number one way hackers got out of jail wasn't litigation. It was getting hired by cybersecurity firms. It's been like that on and off for years. Our arrangement isn't strange."

"True." I slouched as I realized they'd made this speech before. And that they were right: it wasn't strange. Though, Nonah was selling this a bit hard. Were they under more pressure than normal to get me to agree? I was a rare find. I didn't know if I was in the top ten of hackers in the solar system, but I was close. No, it was more than that. I crossed my arms under my upper set of breasts pushing them up a bit. Nonah's eyes went right for them. I smiled. Now things were making a bit more sense.

"Take the deal, for the near term, you'll be isolated in the asteroid belt, but with time you'll be able to build a life and perhaps even make it off this station so you can go back to whatever you were doing before."

I said, "You seem to think I'll be here a while."

"Your work contract is for one year. If you leave early, you will have to pay off the repairs to your body or we'll have to repossess the components. And before you tell me it's better to not sign, know that we will have to repossess your components today if you don't. We would give you a basic body and you could go on your own way. But, you'd still be stuck here."

And get mauled by another FCAT? No thank you. Would pretending I wasn't desperate help at all? I had to try. "I'm not sure I even want this body. I can't feel myself breathe or anything. It's like a shell."

"That's because you aren't fully utilizing it. If you sign, you'll get everything required to feel at home in it. You can complain about stipulations in this contract, but both you and I know you're safer in that body than you would be otherwise and you wouldn't trust the contract unless there was a catch. So, now you know the catch."

"Aren't you selling this a little hard?" I asked.

"The truth is... I really like you and after I met you I got a bit excited about the fact that you'd be staying in a room in my house. Frankly, I'm a bit off my game. You're the most interesting thing that's happened in the last two years. I have a thing for action heroes." Clearly they knew I was interested in them as well. Damn. I looked around the room for a moment. It was a shame it was so boring. Staring at something intricate would make my pause seem more natural. One year, stuck on this station. If I didn't sign the contract, I wouldn't exist. No one would give me a good deal when I no longer had leverage.

This was actually the perfect situation. Animsys was the most powerful conglomerate in the asteroid belt. I'd have resources to investigate what happened to me, to force the CCAI to explain themselves, and to protect myself from Tabetha.

If Nonah really did like me, I might also have a powerful friend when I couldn't even reach my friends or lovers. I couldn't hack my way back into my own accounts. If I left holes in my security that I could get through, someone else could as well.

Without credentials that reached outside the belt, I'd be unable to communicate with Gualmeeta. I'd only be able to request information. Read only access to the outside world.

Sure, I could do things anonymously, but how would I make anyone believe that I was me? AI's pretended to be people all the time to exploit people and hack them. Credentials and certificates were the only way to truly prove that I was me. Hacking my accounts was a near-impossibility, but that was another avenue I could try.

All this would take time and resources and that's exactly what Animsys was offering. If I found out they were playing a game on the side, I was a hacker. Being employed by them meant I'd already be in their system. Easy.

"Alright, I'll sign."

"Perfect." Nonah sent me the contract.

"I told Binota and the police what happened," I said. "Are you going to give them jobs too?"

They laughed. "If we can show Binota that you signed and offer him some money for his non-profit, he'll sign. We have a good working relationship with him. And the police, well, they're not allowed to go to the press over stuff like this."

"Why is it that everyone knows Binota?" I asked.

"He's gotten the entire station involved in his criminal rehabilitation program. Easily one of the most loved individuals in the belt."

"Wow, well, I'm glad I met him then..." I looked over the document one more time. I set all my AI's on it to see if any of them could spot something troubling. No, it looked as though they'd been very careful to make it so I was getting a deal that would be hard to refuse. But would protect them where necessary.

I signed it. The moment Nonah got it, I received credentials and logged onto the network legally. Though, I did so after putting up a very overprotective firewall. Until I made sure my AIs were updated on new threats, I wasn't going to be letting anything unnecessary in or out.

Nonah got out of their chair and walked up to me. "Let's go."

"We can just leave?"

"What? Was there more you wished to tell them?"

"Not really."

"Let me guess, you have a thing for Harry."

"No, that's not it." Yes it was. Nonah was formidably perceptive.

"It's okay, I have a thing for him too."

"Okay, fine, I want to talk to Harry before you cart me off."

"You can always be honest with me about that stuff. I'm part Paitishek, I understand. It's amazing we get any work done."

I laughed and then realized what she actually said, "Part Paitishek?"

"One of my moms was Paitishek, the other was human. They designed me to be somewhere in between, but I always felt more like a dragon."

"Well, then, I'll consider you a dragon," I said.

"Thanks! I keep telling my parents that it's the natural result of a dragon obsession these days. They're still a bit cross about it."

"Sorry to hear that."

They waved a clawed hand to disperse my consolation, "Nah, it's had twenty years to boil down to the occasional sarcastic comment."

I chuckled. "Do they live here?"

I guessed not. In an era where parents and children were often functionally immortal, moving far away was a coping mechanism.

"No. They're on Luna and I want it to stay that way."

"I totally understand, I moved to a different solar system to get away from mine."

Her laughter surprised Harry who was just walking up to us. "I see you two are already as close as two feathers in a pod."

"Feathers in a pod?" I asked.

"I mean peas, peas in a pod. Sorry, I just got done doing paperwork on an avian-modded guy." He assessed the situation and his ears drooped a bit. "Aren't you going to stay and answer more questions?"

I said, "Sorry, I really don't have any more to offer you. The hacker involved is as good as me or better. I've told you all I can."

Do you feel safe going with Nonah? he sent me.

Is there a reason not to feel safe?

He looked into my eyes. No, but Animsys nearly owns this station. Just be careful.

I will, I sent before saying out loud, "Would you mind meeting me outside of work?"

"Twenty minutes ago, I would've said 'no' outright, but Nonah here, has obliterated your legal issues. You're not even listed as a suspect..."

"So, is that a 'yes?'"

"Why would you want to sit around listening to boring cop stories?"

"Because you'd be the one telling them." I smiled.

Look at his tail wag! He likes you. Nonah sent.

I blushed. Quiet you!

"There's no harm in chatting, I suppose. I can't argue with your fresh clean record."

"I thought you didn't like conspiracies." I winked.

He shrugged. "Like it or not, I'm surrounded by them. I may as well take the plunge."

"Oooh, I like the sound of that." I grinned.

"Okay you two, that's enough." Nonah started wheeling me toward the door. They sent to me, If you share adorable tidbits from your date, I'll be forever in your debt.

That can be arranged, but I doubt it would be a date. I just want to get to know other people on this station, I sent back.

Sounds good. They clasped my shoulders. I hope you'll grow to like it here.

Their cool hand had the texture of a python's belly scales, smooth with just a hint of roughness. Nonah might have been a corporate tool. But, they were a gilded tool. Someone that I was hoping had beauty far beyond their function.

» O «

Nonah's home was over three hundred square meters. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, three shower rooms, a hot tub, a living room, three sitting rooms, a dining room, an augmentation room, and a room they ignored on the tour.

The decorations were extremely convincing 3D-printed drift wood with orange and silver accents. I couldn't believe that they'd actually gone through the trouble to have furniture, towels, and art that matched their eyes. It lost them some points with me, in fact. Not as many points as they'd lose if I found out that they'd chosen their eye color based on their furniture, however.

The white of the walls and other surfaces was blinding. It was efficient to light, at least.

Ultramodern dwellings had this sterility that made me feel as though sick patients were going to be suddenly brought in. I was leaning on Nonah's counter. They had an actual kitchen. I'd thought their body was synthetic. Perhaps they had it for non-synthetic guests?

I put on a mischievous smile. "So, did a hospital architect design your condo?"

One of their ears fell, but then they noticed my smile and giggled. "You caught me. This was once a hospital, but patients kept dying for inexplicable reasons, so they turned it into residential property. I still find blood stains from time to time when I pull up a floor tile or move a picture."

"Ha ha, very funny," I said.

"No, I'm serious. Look here." They moved their toaster and on the wall was a dark red stain.

I was horrified.

They started laughing. "It's red wine. My friend spilled it last night and the cleaning cycle hasn't started yet."

"That's a relief, I was about to start forensic analysis."

They smirked. "So, just how boring was your repair session? Give me all the boring deets."

I started explaining what happened in monotone. How the repair robots started on my arms, how the AI overseeing it kept commenting on the experimental nature of my components, and how I just screwed around on the net trying to not think about the people back home.

After about eight sentences, they held up their hands. "I surrender. I can't take any more."

"Now we're even," I said.

"Oh yeah?" They closed the distance between us and towered over me. A pillar of muscle and curves within reach.

I blushed as my crest shot up. Almost no one made me feel small in this way and it made me uncomfortably aroused. It was so sudden that I leaned back wondering what I was feeling.

They took a step back and assessed me. "I was gonna rough house, but you look shaken. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I wanted to distract them from my obvious signs of sexual interest in them, so I grabbed their wrists and pulled them toward their painfully-orange boxy couch.

Physical contact. Oh how I loved the fact that this body now felt like an extension of me instead of a shell. When I pushed them onto the couch, I could feel my arm muscles tense. When they grabbed my wrists to stop me from poking them, I could feel the way their fingers indented the flesh of my forearms. When they tugged me on top of them, I could feel the weight of my body compress my breasts against theirs.

My blush grew.

They put their arms around me and said, "I don't know what we're doing."

"Neither do I." I admitted.

"But I want to play with you. It's so strange."

"Let's not analyze it. This is the first time since I woke up here that I've felt normal."

They laughed under me shaking both of us. "Your assessment of what's normal is abnormal."

"Says the person with ridiculously large wings."

"I use them to fly."

My eyes widened. It wasn't that rare of a mod, but I'd never been in this close of contact with anyone who had it.

"My other place is in the lunar gravity shell."

Each shell had less surface area. The lighter the gravity, the more expensive the real estate. My mouth hung open. For them to afford this place and a place up in lunar gravity...

"Don't look at me like that, it's a timeshare. I get to stay up there two days a week at most."

I'm not sure why I was comforted by their being less affluent. Perhaps it was because I'd learned to see the extremely rich as my enemy. I'd been a Platinum Consumer just like her, but that rating was a tool the CCAI and I had forged to subvert the system. My borrowed Animsys credentials put me at Silver. And I'd stay that way until I had enough history to get my own rating. I needed to fix that if I was going to wrestle with the platinums again.

I nuzzled their neck on a whim and they started getting hard under me. I hadn't realized that my thigh was touching their rather large balls until that moment.

They said, "Bite my neck."

I did so as if commanded and they thrummed under me. My body heated up as my member slid out. They were so big and powerful. Ooh, I could feel the heat from their erection through the fabric of their dress.

My throat tightened with anxiety. Our chummy interaction had come out of nowhere. Was I being seduced?

That question hung in my mind. Because the truth was that I wanted to be seduced by them. And I had no way to know if they'd misuse my sexual interest. If sex with them was as amazing as I thought it would be, I'd get very invested in whether they liked me. For Paitishek, sex was something acquaintances could do without problems. But, I'd be living with this person. And, even if I was being manipulated, the temptation to keep having sex would be ever-present.

They pushed me off of them and helped me to stand up. Their erection towered comically under their dress. After staring at my endowment for a moment, they said, "Let's not."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"How about we revisit this in a couple days? I know we're both Paitishek and sex is like going out for dessert, but..." They tilted their head thinking.

"This is a very odd and sudden situation," I offered.

"We'll go with that," they said, "How about we switch to getting you some clothes and getting you ready for your interview tomorrow?"

"Interview? I thought I was hired."

"Craig, the CEO, wants you to meet the higher-ups you'll be working with and discuss what you'll be doing the first couple days."

"Ahh," I nodded. "Give me twenty minutes to..." I stammered not wanting to finish that thought in front of them. "a--and we can go shopping."

"I was going to ask for the same," Nonah winked.

My mouth moved ready to make a sexy retort, but I felt too bashful. I headed for my new bedroom instead.