Oscar observed his Captain's near panic with some amusement. It took only a small portion of his capacity to do so, and it in no way got in the way of his on concern for the vampire and what was happening as she wildly convulsed on the floor. He already had the emergency MedUnit brought in before Carver started yelling for its arrival. In fact, another tiny section of his resources were registering some fear and uncertainty. He had no knowledge of vampire physiology in his data stores, and there was nothing other than fiction out on the 'Net. He hoped that the MedUnit would be able to provide some information on what was happening to her. But his primary focus was on Carver's reaction to the situation.
"Oh my God, I think she is
melting,
what the hell is going on?" he screamed.
Indeed, it did look like Anyessa was doing just that. She no longer was flailing about. She had begun to flatten out, as if she no longer had any bone in her body. A sad, lifeless doll that stretched and sagged as Carver picked her up and placed her on the MedUnit. That portion of the ship's mind that was amused noted the shrillness in his maker's voice, the massively elevated blood pressure and heart rate. And the
sweat.
These were all new experiences to Oscar, who had never seen him in such a state. Carver was one of the Originals, the group of people left behind after the Earth's destruction. Carver, who had escaped numerous way of dying over the centuries (and NOT by hiding from the dangers) looked to be scared out of his mind. Why Oscar found this amusing was something he would not be discussing with his maker any time soon. He was very certain that if Carver had not Changed back into a man, his reactions would have been a lot more calm and collected. But the ship was quite biased on that, as other potions of him, ones interconnected with everything, had quite a different set of conflicting emotions.
He turned down these parts of him and focused on the vampire.
Once a person is placed on the MedUnit's table, its sensors automatically begin scanning and sending data. In this case, not unexpectedly, there was almost no output at all. There was no pulse or heartbeat, nor any sort of blood pressure. There did seem to be some blood or fluid flow happening inside her body, as well as what appeared to be brainwave activity.
"I cannot make much judgment on what is happening here, Carver. The data obviously does not fit any known parameters. But the internal scans do seem to indicate she is literally dissolving internally. What is causing that I cannot say."
"Dammit, we can't do anything?"
"No, not at this moment, not without knowing what is causing this."
"Dammit," the Captain repeated.
A small warning screen popped up on the MedUnit's display, along with a double beep alert tone.
"Are you bleeding at all, Carver?"
"No, not anymore at least. Why?"
"Oddly, the sensors are alerting to a massive nanobot failure, which can happen if there is blood on the table somehow, such as a bleeding wound. As the 'bots cannot be from Anyessa, they must be coming from you somehow. The large amount of failures would indicate a large number of the 'bots in her system, which is strange as the amount of your blood she ingested does not correlate to the failure numbers. Which means that they replicated in her body, and at an accelerated rate."
"That means that they are trying to fight off something, but loosing a lot in the battle"
"That sounds likely, Carver. My initial theory is that the 'bots are seeing her body as a cancer or infection and are trying to break it down."
"And her body, at least according to most vampire lore, is trying to repair itself or fight back against the nanotech."
"Agreed. I can disable the 'bots to allow her to hopefully repair herself."
"Well, what are you waiting for, then, " Carver was again a little bit shrill..
"You need to leave the area, unless you want me to disable your 'bots as well. You know the quickest way to turn them off is via an EMP pulse."
"Yes, I do know that. Get on it!"
He watched as his maker made a hasty retreat for the lift tube to take him down to the storage area. He wondered what it was about this woman, other than the obvious vampire bits, that put him in such a state.
The vampire's eyes opened, and she was instantly aware of her surroundings. It wasn't like she was ever actually unconscious, but the agony was a big distraction for a while. She knew she was in the Med room, still aboard Carver's cozy ship. She knew she was being restrained, but couldn't tell how. She also knew that the incredible pain was now gone, but she was all alone in the room. Well, not totally alone.
"Oscar," she spoke. "Are you there?"
"Of course, Anyessa," the ship responded, somehow putting it's voice just behind her left ear. Slightly disconcerting for a moment as she was lying face up on a table. " I never left. I have been monitoring you for over 48 hours. Observing you and your recovery has been both a pleasure and informative"
She grinned.
"So basically you have been staring at my boobs for two days then, eh? Why am I all tied up? Does Carver have a thing for that? Do
you
? Where is he anyway?"
"No, he is definitely not into that, not lately as far as I know. I have kept you restrained so you could heal, at least that's what we hoped would happen. You were flopping around like a fish out of water. The restraint is a device similar to Carver's fieldsuit that keeps you immobile while you heal. Kept, I should say, as I just turned it off."
She sat up, dangling her legs off the side of the table. It felt as if every bone in her body was going through growing pains, which she assumed was the actually the case. She had suffered bodily damage over the centuries: mainly broken bones suffered from falls, collisions, rough sex, and the like, but had never had to experience such a massive regeneration before. Despite the discomfort, however, she felt both alert and energized. Casually, she stretched her arms out behind her and arched her back, twisting from side to side slowly and luxuriously, just as if she had awakened from a day's sleep.
She let out a quiet, yawny moan.
"Ah, " the ships computer said.
"Yes?"
"Carver is in his quarters, he has been here for most of the time you were incapacitated, but I convinced him to shower and try to rest. Shall I get him for you?"
"No, let him sleep. What exactly happened? I assume it was something in his blood, right?"
"We think it's the nanobots everyone has in their systems. Some act as super-antibodies, helping the body fight disease and infections. The 'bots are keyed genetically to each person, so I don't understand why they attacked you. We don't have much information on Vampire physiology. I think that your blood and the nanotech were fighting each other, the 'bots most likely would have lost in the long run actually. But the pain and suffering would have been long and miserable. Once we deactivated them, you began to firm up."
"Firm up?"
"You had become round and soft, and not in the pleasant ways you are now, more like a pudding-filled doll. Other than to prevent damage from possible convulsions, I figured you would heal faster if your bits didn't move around too much."
She began touching herself again, this time in a more clinical fashion, probing for soft or squishy parts, or rather ones that should not be soft and squishy. She didn't detect any.
"I will assume you were right, I've never melted before. Thank you, Oscar, for taking such good care of me." She stretched again, this time bringing her hands down to rub the kinks out of her neck, then slowly down her chest. The vampire massaged her breasts, squeezing and kneading them for a moment. She let out a different sort of moan as she pinched her nipples then let her hands follow the contours of her sides, then her hips as they made their way between her legs.
"Ah," Oscar said again.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Oscar! I should have some manners, I should. Does it bother you? I do get quite randy after a regeneration, but this one was quite the doozy. Are there any toys aboard? I could rape two dildoes right now, unless a gang shows up for a bang."
"Not a bother at all, quite the contrary, actually. You are something worth watching, that is certain. I don't know if Carver has any sex toys right now, as he is male again."
"Damn! Though men can use toys too, you know."
"I would not know. However, I could simulate a gang, perhaps. I can create a number of different voices and accents for you."
"If I didn't know any better," Anyessa said with a sly smile, "I would think you were flirting with me, Oscar."
"Perhaps," the computer replied, matter-of-factly. "But I could not simulate the 'bang' for you. Unless.."
"Unless what?" She laughed. "You don't have a cock hiding somewhere, do you?"
"No, I do not. But I do have an old idea I could try."
"Old idea?"
There was a perceptible pause. Why would a computer pause? Already more horny than she could imagine, her interest was definitely piqued.
"When I was younger, I developed a modification to the MedUnit's restraint field that allowed for... physical stimulation -- and even for penetration. But I never had the opportunity to use it."
"Why not?"
Another un-computerlike pause.
"I discussed my modification with Carver, and my desire to use it. She was not interested, and very soon after changed back to being male."
"Oho! So.... you wanted to fuck your "mother", but she rejected you. That is too bad. Your idea sounds like a wonderful twist on sex toys. Have you tried suggesting this again to him, since his change"
"No, I have not," Oscar replied.
"Why not?"
"She became male, so it would not work."
Anyessa was curious about this. Was it normal for a piece of sentient software running a space vessel to harbor such human feelings? Or have a human gender identity? She pushed on.
