Maing a 23rd Generation Colonist

"Next on our program, we have Bella 13," the interviewer said.

Bella tried not to squirm as a camera swung in towards her face. She wasn't used to being the public face of her family's company, but she'd have to work on that. Even if her appearance was something she'd always been self-conscious about.

She was wearing a base layer under her slim-suit, to keep the compression fabric from irritating her skin, but she could feel herself sweating through that base layer, under the hot studio lights.

"Thank you so much for having me," Bella replied.

"Now, Bella, you're about to turn 23, which means you'll have a 30% share of your family's business empire. And I understand you're here to give us a preview of what you'll be doing with that."

"Right. As you know, there's been a widening divide, dating back to the early days of the colony. On one hand, you had those who had children sooner and more often, at the expense of having more mouths to feed."

"You can call us Breeders, it's okay," the interviewer said, with a gentle laugh.

"Exactly. And that was important, to build up the colony's labor pool early on. And then on the other hand, you had families like mine, who focused on earning more in the years they could work the hardest, and delayed having children, and had fewer children to split their inheritance between. The Elites.

"I know there are lots of Breeders out there who would make the kinds of choices that the Elites make, if only they could. But even in the span of a couple centuries, Breeders have evolved to be resistant to conventional methods of birth control. For instance, hormonal birth control has steadily lost its efficacy on them. And most Breeders today have an inherited latex allergy."

"Don't I know it!" the interviewer said, breaking Bella's concentration momentarily.

"I'm going to be leading a research team to develop new forms of birth control. Ones that might actually work for Breeders."

"And tear down the class system?"

Bella shook her head. "If I, Bella 13, have a baby--which I have no intention to do until I'm at least 30--my baby would be part of generation 14."

"Or 15, or 16..." the interviewer added.

Bella smiled to cover for her irritation at the suggestion that she would marry down, and have a baby with a 14 or a 15 or worse. She knew that the interviewer was just engaging with her hypothetical scenario.

"Sure, it's possible. But for a Breeder--let's say she's a woman of my age, and she's a member of the 22nd generation--her children will never going to be part of generation 14. They'll be a 23. Or higher. So there's no practical way to level the playing field all at once. But if we can discover new forms of birth control that Breeders aren't yet resistant to, some of them can choose to delay having children."

The interviewer thanked her for her time, and then Bella was off, out the studio door, to where her transport pod waited to take her home.

When she arrived at her penthouse suite, Bella stripped immediately. She had to wear her slim-suit for her public appearances, to flatten down her breasts and squeeze her thighs into shape, and make her look more like the Elite she was. She could never completely eliminate her curves, but with her slim-suit on, it looked more like her father's stocky build. But it made it harder to breathe, and where her base layer rode up, the slim-suit fabric irritated her skin, leaving red bands around her wrists.

Bella pushed a button, and her tub filled up, at just the right level of heat. Sliding into it made her gasp. It felt like a lover's embrace, or what she imagined that might be like. She found herself getting aroused, and slipped a hand down between her legs, finding herself sensitive and ready to be touched. This was her vice, her indulgence. She knew just how to rub her clit, to bring herself to a delicious shaking orgasm, and at the very end, she slipped a finger inside of herself, feeling her vaginal muscles clench and unclench around her fingertip. That was always the icing on the cake, so to speak.

When she got out of the bath, she tested her fertility, using a device she borrowed from the lab. It showed that she was ovulating and fertile. It was a familiar result, but still disappointing. It meant she had to keep being careful.

She still took the pill every day, but at this point, she mainly did it because she didn't want anyone to find out she'd stopped taking it. Or why. She figured it was probably an environmental factor that was making the pill less effective over time, both within the Breeder population and in Elite families like hers.

When she was a little girl, all the girls in her class had teased her for being the first one to develop tits. When they grew into thin, boyish teens, like an Elite girl is supposed to, and she grew thick and curvy, they called her a Breeder constantly, and she hated it. She stayed away from boys all through school, because she knew she'd get teased even worse if those girls caught her in a compromising situation. She hated how she looked, even though she also knew it wasn't her fault.

Bella would never be a Breeder, she'd never let someone call her that, but she also understood how cruel Elites could be, and how little choice Breeders could have about what they were.

The doorbell of her suite ran, breaking her out of her reverie. It meant someone had gotten past the building's front desk staff, and was waiting at her door. It had to be someone they recognized. Bella wrapped herself in a bathrobe and went to answer it.

Her accountant, Stanley 19, was looking dour. He was a somewhat older man, though Bella had never asked his age, never had that much of an interest in him.

"I'm sorry to drop in on you unannounced," he said, as his eyes wandered her from head to toe. Bella realized that the thin fabric of the bathrobe put her curves on full display. "...but I came about a timely matter, and one that I think we should discuss in confidence."

"Come in," Bella said.

He didn't say anything more until she finished closing the door behind him.

"Bella, I have some bad news. There's been a claim made against you, regarding your inheritance. They're alleging that you're not eligible."

"What? I've inherited three shares already! Meanwhile I haven't had a baby, and I'm definitely not pregnant--"

She knew the conditions of her inheritance inside and out. Starting at age 21, she was going to inherit 10% of the company every year until she turned 30. Unless, that is, she got pregnant before then, in which case it was all forfeit.

Bella would've had to share the company with her older sister, but Lila got pregnant at age 28, a decision Bella would never understand. And because Lila 13 had her children with Robbie 15, their children would be ineligible to inherit too--the family bylaws said that inheritance could only go forward by one generation at a time.

Lila only had to wait two more years! Why was that so hard? Bella was coping just fine, and she had another seven years to go still.

"The anonymous tipster claims that there's been a generation skip somewhere in your lineage," Stanley said. "If that's the case, then instead of going to you, the business would go to another branch of your family, someone who might be on generation 14 already but hasn't skipped any numbers along the way. I haven't had a chance to determine which of your cousins that might be.

"They're also claiming that you may be--in part or in whole--a Breeder. Your family also has strict provisions against allowing a Breeder to inherit, so..."

Bella felt like she was in free fall, her whole world suddenly upended before her, and for what?

"This can't be happening," she muttered.

"I know it must be distressing for you," Stanley said. "This kind of thing happens more often than you think, and there's a process that it will go through. In many cases, it turns out that nothing is amiss after all."

"But I turn 23 tomorrow," Bella said. "If I don't inherit on time, people will notice. Is there anything I can do about this?"

She didn't want to wait for some process to run its course. She wanted the share of her company that was rightfully hers, so that she could move faster on her important work.

The sooner she developed a pill that worked, the better. She could get through another seven years of celibacy, not that she was counting down or anything. She'd already been celibate since forever. Even as a teen, she'd noticed that taking birth control wasn't changing her periods at all, and so she had erred on the side of caution, and that turned out to be a very good thing.

Stanley sighed. "Alright. There aren't many options at this stage. Obviously you could let this run its course, but otherwise...

"If you found out what the evidence against you was, you could try to refute it, somehow or other. Another approach could be to get another mitochondrial test done, since this claim calls your previous test results into question. And then, one way to clear at least some of the allegations against you, the most serious ones, would be to prove that you're not a Breeder. There's a quick and, I dare say, easy test we can use to rule that out."

"Alright, what is it?" Bella wanted that off the table most of all.

"It simply involves allowing someone, me or another reliable witness, to ejaculate inside your vagina," Stanley.

"Are you seriously suggesting that we have intercourse?" Bella asked.

She had never considered Stanley in a sexual way, but she'd always walled her mind off from any consideration of other people as potential sexual partners. Was he attractive? Desirable? She didn't even know. But the prospect of feeling him ejaculate inside her carried more of an allure than she expected it to. She had denied herself that experience for so long, maybe this once... But she knew she was fertile. Fertile enough that there could be consequences.

"It depends on your definition, I suppose," Stanley said. "The ejaculation in your vagina is the important part. For one, a Breeder would get pregnant from that, whereas for an Elite like yourself, it should be risk free. But that would take time to become evident, one way or the other. The more immediate outcome would be that it either brings you to orgasm or it does not. A Breeder reliably climaxes when a man ejaculates inside her, whereas an Elite woman does not. And I can administer this test in such a way that, as an Elite, you would not be brought to orgasm by other stimuli."

As he said this, he started to unsubtly rub himself through his trousers. She could see the outline of his erection starting to strain against the fabric.

"Do people actually do this?" she asked.

"Oh yes. As I said, this is the quick and easy way to get your funds unblocked in the short term, and many people take advantage of that. For an Elite woman, it's just a brief sensation of warmth, done before you know it, and then you can move on with your life, while the auditors go through the long, hard work of verifying your pedigree. There's an equivalent test for men, by the way, though as a 19 myself, it's something I would fail."

Bella felt hot all over, from all of this talk about cream pies and pregnancy and orgasm. To her own surprise, she was actually considering it. Having never had sex before, she didn't know what it would feel like to have a man ejaculate inside her. She assumed that, as an Elite, it wouldn't get her off. After all, clitoral stimulation was her tried and true. But she couldn't be sure.

More important was the risk of getting pregnant. Of finding out the hard way, what her sister had given it all up for. It would mean giving up on her inheritance. Maybe not immediately, but even if she could get through this without cumming at the wrong time, it'd be starting a countdown clock to when it would all be over for her.

"I appreciate the offer, I suppose, and perhaps I'll come back to that," she said.

She thought getting the test done might be the simplest option, but she didn't have a doctor she trusted. She tended to keep her distance from them, to avoid questions about her birth control dosage. She was also a bit afraid, rationally or not, of getting the test done, if this could all be resolved without resorting to that.

Besides, she couldn't help her curiosity. She wanted to know who lodged the complaint, and what they think they found out about her.

"I'd like to start by reviewing whatever evidence they have against me, if I can do that. Where do I start?"

"Well, we don't have much to go on so far. All I have is an address of where the claim was filed from," Stanley said. Bella didn't detect any disappointment in his voice, at the lost opportunity.

"Send it to me," Bella said. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to get dressed."

Momentarily, she received the address, and she shuffled Stanley out the door. Looking back on it, she couldn't believe she'd seriously considered his offer. Depending on her luck elsewhere, it might still come to that.

She got dressed quickly, and didn't bother with the slim-suit. Her skin was still irritated from before, and this wasn't going to be a public appearance. Then she saw where the address was located, and realized she needed to blend in anyway, since it was in a Breeder slum.

On her way over there, Bella messaged a friend, to ask about a doctor who could do a mitochondrial test discretely for her, on short notice. She hoped it wouldn't prove necessary, but it couldn't hurt to have the doctor's name handy, just in case.

Her transport pod dropped her at the front door of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. There was one lamp on inside, but Bella didn't see much else through the grimy windows. Her knock was loud on the hollow metal door.

It opened, and Bella was surprised to recognize the man at the door. Richard 22 had worked on her family's estate when she was growing up. He was only a couple years older than her, but he was put to work when she was still in school. The one boy she had a crush on, all those years ago, even though she could never act on it. A 13 and a 22? It could never be.

"It's you!" she said.

"You came," he said at the same time. "Come on in."

Inside it was dark but warm, with a thick layer of carpet muffling their footsteps, as he led her through to the room where the lamp was on.

"It's good to see you again," she said, hoping to grease the wheels. "I wish it was under better circumstances. Are you still living in the carriage house?"

"No, my family got too big, and had to move off the estate, remember?" he said.

Now that he mentioned it, she did remember all that. Richard turned 18 years old, and then shortly thereafter, three of the female staff all wound up pregnant. A Breeder right of passage, they said.

"We're remodeling this warehouse to turn it into housing, because the family's about to be growing again," he said, and he sat back on the loveseat. "I was sorry to hear about your dad."

"Thank you," Bella said.

There wasn't much else furniture in the room, so she ended up sitting next to him on the loveseat, their knees brushing together as she angled toward him to look him in the eye.

"Look, Richard, we've always been friends, right? I came here to see if you'd be willing to share what you uncovered. It was you, wasn't it?"

"Absolutely. I was hoping you'd turn up," he said with a smile. "Let me show you. This all started when I used to dust the portraits at your mansion."

He picked up a tablet, and brought up a series of pictures of those portraits. Old fashioned oil paintings in ornate frames. Bella remembered walking past them in the hallways of the mansion all the time, but never taking the time to stop and look. She wondered where they would be now, since her family moved out of the mansion and rented it out.

"This one here for example. Lisa 4. She's got that nose, what's the word for it?"

"Aquiline," Bella supplied.

"Right. And then Carmen 5, her daughter, same nose. And then...let me find it...Sarah 6, Carmen's daughter, same nose. But Trudy 7? Different nose. Funny, isn't it?"

Bella saw what he was talking about, with Trudy's button nose. These portraits used to be spread out over long hallways. She'd never seen them lined up like this before.

"These things can happen naturally, right?" she asked.

He gave her a look that was patient, but good-humored. It almost made her laugh, remembering how funny he was growing up.

"Alright. That was one thing I noticed. But here's another. A freebie, for old times' sake. Edward 9, black hair. Dominant gene, by the way. Breeders all know this stuff." He illustrated with one of his own dark curls. "Trevor 10, his son, black hair. But then Charles 11, orange hair."

"Red hair," Bella corrected him. "So?"

"So these portraits made me wonder, what if your family wasn't all that different from mine? You all blame us for cheating on each other, making babies we people we shouldn't, but what if you Elites have been up to the same thing this whole time? What if some of the members of your family secretly came from my family?"

"I don't think that's necessarily true at all," Bella said defensively.

Even if one of her ancestors had an illegitimate child, that didn't mean that the other parent was a Breeder. And if an ancestor's parentage wasn't what it was supposed to be, that didn't necessarily mean they were a higher generation number than they claimed. It didn't have to mean Bella's generation number was higher than she thought. It could mean she was in fact a 12 or and 11. Except, if the secret was something good, it probably wouldn't have been kept secret.

"Sure, but these discrepancies in the portraits just told me where to start looking. I've been researching this in my spare time for years, finding explanations for all of this." He looked so happy, so smug. Bella had to admit, she missed having him around.

"And...?" she asked. "Well...?"

He chuckled softly. "Oh, Bella. You think you can just walk in and take the fruit of my hard work for free?"

"If you need help with your financial situation, I can--"

Before she knew it, he had a hand on her thigh. "I think I know a way that this can work out well for the both of us."

At his touch, she could already feel herself getting wet. But she knew she couldn't risk just letting him do what he'd want with her. She knew what he'd want, as a Breeder. And she knew what it might do to her if he did. Letting Stanley ejaculate inside her had been a non-starter, and she had to be careful not to let that be the outcome here either. But the idea of doing something with Richard wasn't entirely out of the question, if it would allow her to learn what he'd found out about her family. And more importantly, figure out what evidence he might be lacking.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" she forced herself to ask, her voice soft and shaking.

"I worked for your family for years. I'm just asking for a little in return," he said. "I'll show you the rest if you can get me off."

"If" not "when" or "once". He was being cheeky, taunting her, suggesting that she might not be able to. She remembered how they used to tease each other years ago.

"No problem," she said, and reached into his lap.

She found him already stiff inside his baggy sweatpants. He helped her pull them down to his ankles, and she wrapped her hand around his shaft. It was hot in her hand, firm, and long enough that she was a little intimidated by it, wondering what organs he'd be pressing against if she took it inside her.

She began stroking him with her hand, gently at first, and he leaned back to let her do her thing, his eyes drifting closed. But she watching his face, and the rise and fall of his chest. She could tell that what she was doing was giving him pleasure.