“Do you really expect me to know the names of all of my 140234 descendants? Well, you are badly mistaken! I only know the 1321 who I was personally responsible for.”

-Antioch

***Outer Rim***

***Antioch***

I was drowning! My lungs were burning as if I had inhaled liquid fire!

I flail with my arms in an attempt to get to the surface of whatever I am submerged in, but it's no use!

Strong hands grab my wrists and I am pulled up and out of the green fluid. As soon as I reach the surface, I expel liquid from my lungs in a most un-enjoyable manner, and whoever helped me expertly manhandles my upper body into a position which ensures that I wouldn't swallow the substance right back in. Face pointing down and held by my shoulders and arms, all I can do is empty my lungs until I dry-heave several times.

“Waking up is always a nasty experience. The hardware-backups can be pre-grown to minimize the downtime after death, but there is no way around having them submerged in nutrients,” a female voice explains apologetically while I am still concerned with getting my breathing under control.

One of the hands which are holding my upper arms squeezes my biceps approvingly. “You can note down the musculature hasn't suffered from inactivity. I even managed to get them a little more toned.”

Childish sounding female giggling follows.

“I told you that we should have had a little fun with the body while it was still unoccupied. It's a quite fine male specimen.”

More giggling, now from three females.

“We have a guy of our own, Kylie. Why should we risk our lives by touching what belongs to the queens?”

“Mwahaha. Life's no fun without the thrill of danger. Besides, what could they do? Kill us?”

“I heard that Mom locked a competitor inside the colony's power core and roasted her alive. Given how sturdy our bodies are, it took hours.”

“Yes, and Lisandra hit one unconscious and fed her to her demonlings! Went into the spawning chamber with the body and came out alone. Some of the younger generations said that the bones were still in there.”

“That happened? I never heard of that particular rumour. Nasty. She really did that?”

“It isn't a rumour.”

“Did we ever get fed with... you know... I know that I may sound squeamish... nutrients are nutrients... but...”

“Nah... Fiona isn't that loopy. Our Mom is nice. She only kills you in horrible ways when you touch what's hers. At least I hope so. We haven't seen her in a while. Hopefully, she still remembers us.”

“Better than what Silith does when she feels that her position as the first wife is threatened. I hope that I don't have to remind you guys of the latest report about the meat-cleaver?”

I finally manage to look up and into the faces of three beautiful women with generous curves. All three look almost identical, with blue skin and stubby horns poking out from where their foreheads meet the hairline. Their hair reflects the light in several shades of blue and black. They look like identical triplets and even their tails all have the heart-shaped tip, a certain sign that they are their mother's daughters. Their inviting, white medical gowns are fighting with their skin-colour, but for some reason, a white dress-up seems to be necessary for their line of work.

Thankfully, my perfect memory provides me instantly with their names, an absolute necessity if someone has as many descendants as I do.

“Kylie, Julie, and Alie, you are from one of Fiona's clutches. How are the three of you doing? We haven't seen each other since... two decades? Only network messages from time to time regarding research. Wow, time flies by.”

“Thanks, Dad,” they chirp in unison and smile. Julie and Alie pull me out of the nutrient tank, while Kylie uses a holographic interface to manage some data regarding the revival process. Then she proceeds to hand me a towel while the others wait with dry clothes.

“You will need these. Your body will lack the nano-tech to manifest clothes until you replenish enough rare elements. You will probably feel a little feeble until everything grows in according to specifications. It can't be helped since you made this backup two decades ago,” Kylie provides me helpfully.

They were among the first children we had after our arrival in the Outer Rim. From what they told us, they are original triplets from even before they originally uploaded their personalities. As bioengineering experts, they got ranked pretty high on the waiting list of new personalities the Lifers provided us with.

Back then I still had enough time to pay each clutch of demonlings regular visits, so I am better acquainted with my older first-generation offspring. Though they aren't as close as Sam, Min, Siegfried, Jill and V, but I always was on good terms with them. Back then, the personalities who were sent to us were all high-calibre, so it made sense to familiarize myself with each of them. Sadly, we decided to send most of them off to travel further away from the area we settled initially. It was an ingenious move to think that far ahead, since now we have three formidable bases as a backup.

“How are the others? And how long was I-”

“They are all fine,” Alie informs me with a winning smile. “Your downtime wasn't much longer than a few minutes. You shouldn't even have memories of waking up inside the V.C.”

I indeed did not, and so I nodded.

Julie took over, “We aren't sure of the tactical situation, but since most of our assets in that area were destroyed, you will have to ask the others. From what I heard, the Cybers are on the move. Whether they will act according to the plan has yet to be seen. There is nothing we can do from here.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out again. “Right. We are two years of conventional travel time away from the conflict zone. Phew, that will take some getting used to. How about our retreating assets and the kids?”

I look warily at them. We sent everyone without Hardware Backups in safe locations off to fly to our outposts the conventional way. That included most of the demonlings and most importantly, the true-born children. Those who were conceived without complete personalities. That included Siegfried and three clutches of eggs. Somehow I feel more responsible for them than for any other of my offspring. Without protection and guidance, they are vulnerable. Especially since they would die a final death if something happened to them.

Kylie's face lights up as she guesses at my thoughts. “It looks like they will get away just fine. All of them are stored in cryogenic sleep, so you won't miss a single moment of them growing up.”

My expression drops a little. “Cryogenic sleep? Didn't I assign them the best caretakers?” I thought they would be weaned by the time they arrived at our new home! No pooping, no screaming, just curious, little kids when I would see them the next time.

Alie is a little smarter and realizes what's going on. “Hahaha. No. I am afraid that Mom – Fiona – saw the orders and changed them at the last minute. She didn't want to miss a single month of them growing up. They are all in cryo-sleep, even the eggs. Sorry.”

I roll my eyes. So that's one part of my plan going amiss.

After having dried myself, I take the offered clothes and get dressed in the loose, silken shirt and trousers. “No problem! I guess that I will simply endure being a lucky father. Are you guys still sure that we can't build a society with cloning tanks or something like that?” I look down at the nutrient tank. It would be so much better if we could just have the adult personalities step finished out of a cloning tank.

“No way!” Julie crosses her arms in front of her chest, shaking her head vehemently and allowing the social engineer to shine through. “It would have an eroding effect on the society we want to build. Humans need family ties, or we would soon end up like the Cyber. Actually, such a development would take only a few generations. It would quickly be like trying to live inside a gigantic machine. The current way of popping out clutches of eggs and uploading personalities also isn't healthy for our developing culture, but we are forced to do it. We need educated hands. If it were up to me, I would upload only one person for every ten natural-born children.”

I wince. “We don't have the time or the resources to educate so many real children the normal way. Heck, we just burned a sizeable part of our population to gain a little breathing room.”

She nods. “Sadly. There will be a lot of work for us, getting all the Hardware Backups out of storage.” Her face cringes a little as she looks down into the tank. The part I emerged from is only the receiving pool. The tank itself is much, much deeper with thousands of bodies floating inside it. “Still haven't found Auntie Jenny. Must have misplaced her somewhere among the storages for the regular population.”

Kylie's eyes widen. “Are you sure? She will be pissed if we revive her after her gang and she gets the short stick with Martin. Maybe we should wait with reviving the rest of her family?”

“Maybe.” Then Julie's face lights up. “It just means that we can have even more fun with the bodies of-” She suddenly seems to remember my presence. “oof... people... because... reviving people is so much fun.”

I glare at her warily. Getting along with them is well and good, but maybe I should keep a closer eye on them.

“Making them is also fun.” Kylie nods, then she looks at me. “Would you be in for a round?” She winks at me. “Three sisters at once. What do you think?”

I clear my throat and raise my hands defensively. “Err. No. I have my hands full. Besides-”

Julie sighs and rolls her eyes. “Don't say it's because we hatched from Fiona's eggs. I told you several times that our bodies are all bio-engineered constructs down to the last cell. There can't be any form of inbreeding or other detrimental effects. I am not saying that I want to partake in Kylie's particular form of suicide, but those arguments of yours are just stupid. You have to finally get rid of the stuff those barbarians taught you when you were a child. It's not our fault that most species can't edit their genome. And, last but not least, counted in life-experience we are older than you.”

“I just wanted to say that even if I were inclined to take you up on the offer for any reason at all, it would still feel wrong because I peeled you three out of your eggshells,” I explain. “You were that big.” I indicate the size between my thumb and my index finger, stretching them as far apart as possible. “I could hold you on my open palm.”

Alie bites her lower lip and regards her sisters. “Girls, he actually has a point. Give the man a rest... and allow us to live another day,” she finishes softly.

I feel relieved at observing their interplay. Just like I remember their constant bickering. I smile and excuse myself, sliding out of the medical chamber. Outside, I find someone to guide me to my new quarters, another old acquaintance who is also working in the medical field.

It takes her less than ten minutes to guide me through a set of corridors to my personal quarters where we part.

Upon entering a large living room through a generous doorway, I spot Lisandra on a large plush chair, studying a hologram. She is wearing the same clothes as me, so she must've revived not so long ago.

“Lisandra, I didn't know that you are already awake.”

She squeals when she notices me and jumps up, running in for a hug. “You are alive! I mean, we are alive. Yes, the others are still in storage. Apparently, there were some management problems with the backups. I was a little pensive because I woke up alone and they told me they still had to search for the others. Sorry that I sound so stupid, but I was really afraid. This was the first time I had to use a backup,” she bubbles.

I smile and hug her much smaller body, now suddenly aware that she is naked beneath the flimsy shirt and trousers. “No, I understand. I am also still a little uncertain about the tech, but all the other humans seem to have no problem with dying.”

“Haah...” She suddenly relaxes into me and raises her left leg, hooking it into the hollow of my knee. Then she proceeds rubbing her lithe and slender body against mine while trailing my shoulder blades. Her eyes are on the neck-part of my shirt. “You know, the muscles on that new body of yours look really defined. And they feel wonderful. Did the three sisters make some adjustments? It feels really good and I want to test it.” Sliding her other leg around me, she climbs me like a tree and manages to kiss me beneath my chin.

“Lis, maybe we should wait?” I suggest. “The others will feel left out if they wake up and-”

She suddenly lets go and drops to the ground. With one movement, she gets rid of the shirt and drops the trousers. Then she is on all fours, waving her best asset at me. And then, after unpacking the most unfair trick in the box, she taunts me with her sexiest voice. “I know that you like this view. Why don’t we start with your preferred position?”

I flex my fingers, remembering that I complained about not receiving enough attention before the battle went down. Now I am reluctant to take what’s freely offered? Like hell!

“Just once.”

But somehow I know that it won’t be over with ‘just once’.