I get to work.

I actually made a fair amount of progress on the grav drive once I returned and set to work. The drive room had all the tools needed, but their pristine condition was proof enough that nobody had attempted the routine maintenance necessary to keep the engines running. Surprisingly I was left unsupervised for this. I was beginning to get hungry and tired, but none of the Helcions I had encountered had thought to give me a comms unit or bothered to instruct me where I would get food or where to sleep. Without a comm unit I could not be certain how much time had elapsed exactly, but from my progress I reckoned it had been a few hours. I was on my back on the deck refitting a freshly ungunked plasma feedline when I heard the pneumatic hiss of the door. I slid myself out from beneath the drive expecting to see either Momo or Domino had come to check on my progress.

Two unfamiliar Helcions stood just by the door watching me silently. The pair looked identical, whether that was because they were twins, clones or through nanite remodelling was impossible to guess. The pair had Asiatic features and glossy black hair bobbed to shoulder length. Each was dressed in a black ruanite bolero jacket and thigh high ruanite boots. The short pleated skirts they wore were the first non ruanite clothing I had seen on the ship and was made of some shiny black synthetic material. Each had a round dataport disc situated to the side of their foreheads just below the hairline. One had the dataport on the right of their head and the other on the left, the only difference I could see to mark them apart. Though they did not speak I noticed them glance at one another a couple of times as they observed me for a few seconds.

"Uh Hi." I said, when the silent treatment became unconfortable. "I'm Mel....Sweetcheeks."

"Yes we know, Momo informed..." One of the Helcion began and her twin completed. "...us that you were the new ship pet."

I looked from one Helcion to the other as each spoke, their voices as identical as their features. Dataports were often used by ship crew to connect to computerised systems like nav, helm and weapons. I realised this pair's ports must be wirelessly networked to one another. It meant they were in one another's heads, sharing thoughts, emotions and senses. It was common practice to link minds through a data cable plugged into the port when operating a ship, when for instance piloting and targeting needed to work together. Having a permanent wireless link though I had never seen before.

"I'm not a pet, I'm the new engineer." I protested.

Both Helcions moved in synchronised unison, covering a hand over their mouths and gave me a harmonised giggle in response. Then in perfect lockstep they strode forward to stand close above me. I looked up at them from one to the other. They were close enough for me to see up beneath their short loose skirts. Neither of the Helcions wore anything beneath the skirts and I was treated to a view of bald dark lipped pussies.

"You are not Helcion, but are not..." One said and the other finished. "...in **** hold, so are ship pet."

"You were man yes? Before Momo...took cock away and give you pussy." They asked, curiousity showing on their faces.

"I'm still a man inside." I argued, their response to this being another shared glance and hand smothered giggle.

"You no have cock inside...inside just pussy." They pointed out. "If you had cock inside pussy...that not make you man. It make you...fucked pussy."