Atonement

Nina winked at her guards as they approached the training block. "You can go take a break," she said. "This cow won't cause any problems for me."

She squeezed Ashley's neck, Ashley trembling under her grip. Despite her musculature, while in her control, the woman had turned increasingly docile.

It was rather unexpected, and she thrilled at the taste of the unknown. Usually cows who decided to resist were belligerent until they were broken, but this one was already becoming pliable to her influence. Either she was further along in the process than had been reported, or there were special circumstances.

She peeked at the cow's neck, noting four dots on each side. Ashley was exhibiting the behavior of a stage three cow, but with only eight injections, she should by all accounts be stage two.

She moved in close and clinically ran a hand over her chest, Ashley squirming from the attention. No, as she had thought, her next set of breasts were only budding. And this was not an Ultra. Those tended to balloon up quickly, gaining breast mass so fast their keepers were barely able to keep up.

This one was following the usual schedule, nothing out of the ordinary. The way she was acting was a mystery. How exciting!

Was she a cow lover? One of those who secretly wished to be under a mistress' control? She squeezed Ashley's neck roughly, steering her left into the exercise room. "Tell me, cow, have you ever fantasized about being controlled? Being milked?"

Ashley stumbled at the unexpected turn, the door rumbling shut behind them. She regained her balance with little trouble. "No," she declared in a strong voice. "I can't say that has ever been one of my fantasies. I don't like giving up control. The thought of being forcibly used is abhorrent to me."

Her voice was a little uncertain at the last statement. "At least, that's what I thought. Every time you squeeze my neck, I can't stop this feeling of submissiveness from rising in my chest."

Nina squeezed again as an experiment. Ashley sagged, clinging onto the front of a treadmill which had been mounted in the center of the exercise room, hands tangled in loops that were fixed to the hand rests. Her face flushed and she groaned. "Could you please stop doing that?" she requested. "The sensations are uncomfortable. I really need release."

Nina examined her closely. This wasn't the normal progression. This cow was breathing heavily, flushed from the attention. Her nipples were stiff, breasts swollen. With minimal handling she could be brought to orgasm.

Normal cows were highly sexual beasts, but not to this extent. Not for just any keeper. Only for ones they had been Paired with.

A shock ran through aching body, one she thought she would never experience again, not after the death of Ana. A sudden tension struck her. It couldn't be possible!

She unwrapped her hand from around Ashley's neck carefully, half closing her eyes as she did so. "Fuck no, not again."

A faint outline had been traced onto the cow's neck, a pie shaped circle. Under her inspection, the symbol darkened minutely.

"Ah, what's going on?" asked Ashley with a light twang, turning to try and figure out what had caused the seasoned keeper to curse. In that moment, her face was replaced with that of another cow making the same gesture.

Nina stumbled back, shot through her heart with pain. She set her back against the wall, shivering uncontrollably. The hackles on her neck rose. She couldn't believe it.

"I'm too damn old for this," she groaned. "This can't be happening."

If this was a miracle, it was a shitty one. She blinked, the old images banished from her mind. Her past mistakes were not relevant here. This required cold, hard logic to solve.

She ran her hands over her slick, black bodysuit. She hadn't bothered wearing one with accessible breast flaps for ages, as she was far past the prime of her life, her fertile years behind her. To her horror, she discovered that they were feeling tender underneath the rubbery material.

In all her research and experience, she had never heard of this. Her mind leaped ahead, thinking of the implications. She might become a new case study, fertility in old age. Perhaps the common wisdom was not entirely correct.

She blinked, banishing the fantastical thoughts. Milk production simply didn't occur at her age. There must be another explanation. Until she had a better handle on what was going on, she would need to keep this cow compliant and occupied.

Calming down, she projected an air of confidence to overlay her concerns. Cows should not have to worry about the details. "Ashley, your new designation is MU4. I do not expect you to respond to your new name at first, but over time you will learn that you will only be addressed by your new title. MU4, step onto the treadmill."

Ashley hesitated, looking at Nina and the locked door for an alternative. There was none to be had. This cow was going to need encouragement before she decided to resort to violence.

That was rare for cows not showing milk madness, but it was still within the realm of possibility for those who had not yet accepted their new role.

She stepped forward and wrapped her hand around the cow's neck, staring her down. "You will follow my commands and get onto the treadmill," she commanded, forcing her will into her inky black eyes.

Ashley blanched, turning to step up onto the treadmill. At eight injections, whatever resistant she could scrape together wouldn't be sufficient unless she had gone milk mad. This wasn't a bad cow, just an untrained one.

"Put your wrists through the loops," she commanded.

Ashley did as she desired, the automatic locking mechanism cinching a loop of material tight to hold her hands straight out in front of her. Nina let go of her neck, warmth sparking under her palm. She wasn't imagining things, the symbol was getting darker. The mysterious bond was strengthening. She needed to talk to somebody else about this to confirm she wasn't going crazy.

Ashley was restive, her wrists jerking in the restraints. "What are they doing to Iris and Daisy?" she asked. "Will they be okay?"

Nina sighed. She still had a job to do. "Daisy will be fine," she declared. "Nora was top of her class, and knows how to train a cow. Iris will be fine, too. You should concentrate on your own training."

She bustled over to a side cabinet and bent over, retrieving a jangling belt fitted with several leather straps. "Let's get you hooked up," she declared. "You're not an Ultra, so you'll be following the normal schedule. With eight injections, I expect you won't need to be milked for several more hours. Cows who are just starting out need to be milked about twice a day."

She moved the harness in front of MU4 so she could get a good look. Two rubber tubes dropped from the bottom of the harness, leading to pressure pumps. The interior was fitted with two, medium sized dildos, which could be inflated with pressure to fit snugly inside any cow's nether regions.

"This is a sex harness," she stated, not sugar coating anything. "It acts as a reinforcement mechanism. The system will take you through a series of scenarios. Uphill, downhill, and stiff, level grades. After each period of exercise, the system determines how hard you've worked. If you've been a good cow, the system with reward you."

She gripped the front dildo with one hand, rubbing up and down as the dildo inflated. "If you've been bad, the system will punish you."

Ashley's eyes widened as the dildo continued to expand, until the thickest part of the shaft was as wide as a soda bottle. Nina chuckled to herself, knowing that the system's safety limits would never take it this far. The cow didn't know that, though. They always believed whatever the keeper told them.

"After a period of rest, the system will begin again. Since you are a new cow, I won't leave you here longer than an hour, though some cows I have trained have run marathons in this belt."

Ashley cleared her throat. "What is the longest distance recorded on this trainer?" she asked.

Nina considered. "We had a blue roan run a marathon, but she was so fucked out of her mind by the end of it that it took a few months for her to recover. I don't sanction that kind of event any more."

Ashley grinned, marching in place. "What a shame. I'm sure I could have beaten her record," she declared.

Nina shot her a dark look. "Don't even think it," she replied. "It's far too dangerous."

Grunting, she leaned over and set the belt on the treadmill in front of her cow's feet. "Come now," she commanded, tapping her hand against Ashley's left ankle.

Ashley obliged her by lifting up her foot so that the keeper could slide the rounded opening underneath. The process was repeated with her right foot, the belt sitting flat on the floor.

Nina grabbed it by the buckle, standing to fit it around Ashley's waist. The upper part of the harness fit loosely around her torso, jangling as the keeper worked to move it into place. "You have a nice ass, MU4," the keeper declared. "How often do you work out?"

She cinched the belt tightly over the swell of Ashley's ass. The cow leaned forward, accentuating her rippling thigh muscles. "Every day," she replied. "It's impossible to stay on your game if you don't put in the work. And I never skip any of my exercise routines."

"Dedication. I admire that," said Nina. "It will serve you well as a cow."

She tucked a belt under MU4's nether regions, pressing the embedded dildos up against her snatch. "Just a taste of what's to come," she said, buckling the strap shut.

The dildos were deflated, nestled between the cow's legs. The automated reward system would insert and pump them up as required.

She worked extra straps around the cow's legs, ensuring the belt would not come off no matter how hard the cow exercised herself. When the last strap had been buckled shut, she walked around the cow to the side and pressed a button on a panel built into the wall.

A calm chime sounded and the treadmill began to run, forcing Ashley to move her legs to keep up. "I've set this to easy, as I won't be able to attend while you're working out. This routine will take you through a gentle, rolling set of hills. If you get thirsty, just suck on this."

She rotated a flexible tube over, which extended from the front of the treadmill. The tip was fitted with a bulbous rubber dildo, the end dripping a light colored liquid. Ashley shivered, her eyes fixed to the tip, but Nina waved her off.

"It's nothing special, just a sports drink. It's not milk, if that's what you were thinking."

Ashley shot her a disappointed look, but she shrugged. "I know, cow, but you're not ready to process more milk yet. You aren't an Ultra."

She moved a rocker switch on the console and the blank wall at the rear of the room lit up with a hypnotic display. "Enjoy your training, cow, I'll come back to get you when the cycle has completed."

She moved to the door, rolling it open and shut as fast as she could. Once it had locked into place, she leaned back against it and put her head in her hands, her head tendrils wrapping around her fingers. Not again! She couldn't go through with this again!

She sobbed bitterly, letting the angry tears flow. She cursed her fate, and her body. Why now? She was old, not fit for this kind of duty! She gritted her teeth and typed in a code on her wrist communicator, which duly chimed. "Yes, what is it?" came a soft voice from the other end.

"This is Nina," she sighed. "I need to see you immediately. Something unexpected has come up."

***

The rolling door slid open, a blast of humidity coming at her from within the large chamber. The door was standard issue at the Farm, but the interior was anything but.

A large, domed glass ceiling filtered calm sunlight down into a literal jungle of plants. It was a garden writ large, a greenhouse packed from corner to corner with an eclectic array of plants, many from off world.

Ferns rubbed shoulders with rhododendrons, interspersed with endemic shrubberies and an amazing variety of flowers in an explosion of color. The first few rows were arranged in a maze, making it difficult for the uninitiated to find their way through the well worn pathways.

The first thing she always noticed was the smell, a fresh, clean scent she didn't find anywhere else. She felt a deep seated longing for long, sweeping vistas and sunlit beaches. Perhaps it was time for a vacation, but not before her current problems were dealt with. She might be a bitter old codger, but she wasn't a coward. Never that.

She nodded at a cow who was moving among the plants with a watering can, her belly gravid with young. She was wearing a milking harness, the cups sucking away with gentle popping noises as she worked. This one was close to birthing a new calf, and had therefore been assigned light gardening duties. All members of the farm were assigned useful tasks by the administrator, whatever their physical state.

The cow mooed at her as she passed, a dopey smile on her face. She set down the watering can and rubbed her pussy, one hand over her enlarged belly. Nina ignored the behavior. Cows at this stage of their conversion were always oversexualized. Punishment would do little to stop the cow, and it wasn't her role to police the administrator's pets.

She moved past a section of bamboo, the long grass brushing against the ceiling. For some, this place might have seemed excessive, but not for the administrator. As one of the original founders of the Farm, she had presided over the facility for over a hundred years, ensuring that all of the necessary, but boring details were taken care of.

The other founders had moved on to other successful ventures, but Hys'alan'throp had stayed here. She had told Nina several times that her roots had sunk deep and she would never leave the facility. Nina suspected that she simply enjoyed being the de facto queen.

Since nobody remembered a time without her, nobody would gainsay her commands, and the government would deny her nothing. Hence the elaborate garden, which the administrator had claimed would be of the highest benefit towards the physical and mental state of everyone in the facility.

Most in this position would have ossified, or become a tyrannical dictator, but fortunately Hys'alan'throp was neither. She simply stayed behind the scenes and ensured that everything continued to run as required. Which was a little frightening, to be honest, as that made her absolutely essential to the facility's continued existence.

She rounded a corner, stepping past a bed of chrysanthemums, finding Hys'alan'throp sitting up against a table of orchids, puttering among the flower pots. She hummed as she cut off a few dead blossoms, turning the plant to present the green leaves to Nina.

"I find earth plants to be fascinating, don't you? There's a strange symmetry between our world and theirs, an improbable intertwining that I find enthralling."

She moved a hand down the side of the pot, almost as if in a caress. "This flower has died, but with proper care it will eventually renew itself, becoming stronger along the way."

She turned and stood, her body suit crackling as she stretched her legs. A cow mooed, sliding from underneath the bench she had been sitting on. A hole had been bored into the wood, providing access for the cow to work with her mouth.

Small droplets trickled from the administrator's nether regions, escaping from a cut out made into her blue suit. She flexed her arms under her back, emphasizing her generous assets.

"Yes, they are our pets, our livestock, but they are also our friends, our lovers. Our hearts."

She turned to spear Nina with a glance. "You do not visit me often, Lys'antha'top. What is troubling your heart?"

"I apologize for the intrusion," Nina began, not averting her eyes. "I've run into something unexpected which requires your special insight."

The administrator flicked her fingers in the air. "Always so direct," she stated, moving her hand in a fluid gesture.

Cows waiting in the wings sprung into action, bringing in a table and chairs, spreading out a checkered tablecloth. Dressed in white and black latex maid uniforms, they brought out a silver tea set complete with saucers and biscuits.

One of the cows set down her tray, waiting for the other to distribute the plates with their cups. She poured tea into the cups, filling them three quarters full. Putting down the tea kettle, she leaned over and raised her brow at Nina.

The keeper nodded her head and the cow opened a breast flap, squeezing at her nipple to express a few drops of milk. After working on it for a few seconds, a larger stream trickled into the cup. When the keeper nodded again, she snapped the fabric back over her nipple, hiding her massive breasts under the slick, white surface.

"One of us has to be direct," retorted Nina as the service continued with crackers, cookies, and cheese. "It's the only way to get anything done."

"Now that's simply not true," chortled the administrator. "Our means may differ, but if the job is completed in the end, that is all that matters."

She took a dainty sip out of her tea cup, her lips gently pursing. "You're lactating," she said suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue. "How interesting."

Following suit, Nina grabbed her tea and nodded her head, drinking down the hot liquid as fast as she dared. It was the perfect texture, a bright explosion tantalizing her taste buds.

The older alien sat back, eyes closed as she tasted another mouthful of tea. Swallowing, she opened her eyes. "You wouldn't come to me with a small problem. You've Paired again, haven't you?"

Nina finished downing her tea and set the cup back on the saucer, gasping for more air as her pulse thudded in her chest. She stared straight ahead, dully, trying not to show any emotion. It would be unbecoming of her to scream and shout.

As soon as her cup hit the plate, the service cow was back at her elbow, mooing softly as she refilled the delicate porcelein. Without asking, the cow unsnapped her breast flap and commenced to add the delicate flavor of her milk to the mix.

Hys'alan'throp sighed and folded her hands. "You've done a good job over the years trying to hide it," she stated gently. "But her death is still affecting you, isn't it?"

She raised a hand. "It's not my place to tell you how to grieve, but it has been over thirty years, Lys'antha'top. When will you forgive yourself?"

Nina swallowed, a harsh pain trickling down the back of her throat. "Never," she admitted. "This regret I will carry to my grave."

The administrator's tone changed, her eyes becoming hard. "Your self inflicted pain is not helping her. It is only hurting you. You must let it go or it will poison everything you do."

Nina clenched the side of the tea cup so hard it hurt. She made a concerted effort to release it, lest she break the delicate china.

She traced the pattern of a chrysanthemum on the side of the tea cup, her eyes twisting around and down the petals and leaves. She sat back, leaving the cup untouched.

The administrator watched her patiently, as still as a cat. "However unlikely it might be, you have Paired again. The foibles of youth are beyond you, but old age does not make one infallible."

She shifted her pose, leaning forward and looking hungry. "I shall not live forever," she declared. "Even glaciers move, when observed on a long enough timescale. It is far past time for me to take on an apprentice, and I have decided, given your current circumstances, that you are a perfect candidate."

Nina frowned, looking the administrator up and down. "What do you want with a shriveled old bag? Wouldn't someone younger be more suitable?"