The Denebian Princess

The Denebian Princess

Postby Miki Yamuri » Tue May 07, 2024 9:21 pm

The Denebian Princess

Characters:

Brandon Achernar - 32yo Insurance Salesman

Trina Ensarus - 25yo Star Explorer

All characters played by Jennie Flint and Miki Yamuri

Scene: At the Star-line counter waiting to buy a ticket
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~~ Prologue ~~

"Here you are then, Mr. Archer," said the travel agent.

"It's Achernar, actually," said Brandon.

"Achernar," she corrected herself. "Sorry. Anyway, this is your ticket." She slid a golden securi-card toward him. "One fare aboard the Denebian Queen, most luxurious star-liner in space, for a three-week cruise around the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way. You'll see all the sights. The ship's like a planet all its own. It's got everything. Have a great vacation!"

"Thanks, Ms. Antlia," Brandon said. "I'm really looking forward to this. It's been too long since I've had a chance to relax."

"They work you hard, selling, what was it, insurance?" she asked.

"Oh, there's some stress, I'll admit. But nothing I can't handle. I'm just ready for a break."

"Well, a break is exactly what you'll get, Mr. Archer. Enjoy!"

Taking his ticket, Brandon stood up and said, "Achernar, but thank you!" He smiled and walked out of the office.

Ms. Antlia poured herself a glass of blue Rigellian sherry and sipped it as she finished entering her latest customer's data into the system. "Oops," she said as she knocked a stack of identity cards over. "Now, which one was his? Oh, here it is," she said, picking them up and shuffling through them until she found what she thought was the right one. Ms. Anita was feeling very tipsy as she looked at the card she had lain before her. She typed in for sex: Female and for age she put in three year old Infant. She had already pushed the enter key on her terminal before she realized that the Identity card she had before her, was for a baby girl of 3 years old ... still in diapers. Try as she did, she couldn't recall the data to correct it. It had already been transmitted to the Computers on board the Star-liner.

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~~ Boarding Mistake ~~
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Trina Ensarus had just turned 25 and was one of the new breed of explorers. She had just graduated from the Academy of Sciences and was itching to travel to her very first off world colony. She hoped Arcturus was exciting as they had said it would be. She really wanted to see the Fire Falls and the hydrogen trees that grew near by. It was said that each of the bubbles of the tree would float freely if released from the trunk ... although they were highly explosive and flammable.

She looked down the ramp at several of the other passengers as they were boarding. Trina wished they would hurry, but knew things were probably going as fast as they could. Brandon was also walking up the glittering silvery ramp and getting in line to board the cruise liner, looking around him at the crystal spheres and steel lines of the Zeta Reticuli 3 spaceport. He was distracted when he saw a beautiful petite blonde ahead of him in line, seemingly traveling alone. He would have to try to introduce himself to her later, once they were under way.

Once his ticket had been scanned, one of the cruise ship hosts -- a humanoid robot, like every employee of the gigantic, totally-mechanized star-liner -- took him aside, along with about a dozen of his fellow passengers. "Welcome to the Denebian Princess," said the android in a happy-sounding voice. "We will do everything to ensure that your cruise is a pleasant experience and will provide for your every need. But first, a few introductory words."

Brandon glanced at the young woman he had seen, but blushed when she noticed and looked back at him. Their eyes met. He looked away, embarrassed. The robot was saying, "released from your suspended animation pod once we have made the jump to hyperspace and are under way. You will then be shown to your quarters by myself or one of the other staff."

Trina looked around the advanced Star-liner. This was the most technological Ship in the inventory. It had Hyper Velocity and many advancements in Cryo-suspension and Hyberculum sleep chambers in the galaxy. As she glanced around, her eyes fell on a rather handsome older gentleman who was looking at her with soft, beautiful puppy dog eyes. Trina couldn't help herself as her eyes and his locked. A tingle ran through her as he turned away ... with a seriously red face. Trina giggled to herself as she knew she just had to meet this person. She was sure he would be a great traveling companion.

As the Robot finally finished droning on about the endless minutia ... Trina and the other passengers were escorted off to the hyberculum tubes for insertion. She was stripped down to her panties and bra, had many kinds of wires attached to her vital places, then placed in the tube with her arms folded across her tummy. The last thing she remembered, was the robot telling her to have sweet dreams.There is this really cold something seemingly invading her body from where the wires are attached ... then she opens her eyes and the robot is removing them from her and helps her to sit up.

The Robot says softly, "Just relax, the effect will wear off in a few hours."

Trina had no will to resist as her bra and panties were removed and the robot cleaned her from face to feet and put her in a fresh pair of bikini panties. Trina saw the robot holding out a really cute, skin tight jump suit. Trina obediently steps in and the robot zips it up in back. Trina gasps softly at the wonderful sensation of its caresses softly take her body.

Meanwhile, Brandon had also been carefully stripped down to his underwear -- though he was confused when the robot looked at his briefs and said, "I'm sure those aren't properly absorbent." They attached small patches to his skin over his heart and on his head, near the temples, to monitor his vital signs. He lay down on a comfortable padded couch and folded his arms in front of him as the robots instructed, and then they slid him into the well-lit glass tube in which he was to hibernate for the jump to faster-than-light speed, which apparently was too much acceleration for the human body to survive without such protection. Robots, however, were built to be able to withstand the forces. The automatic system sealed the tube, Brandon felt cold for a moment ... the next thing he remembered, he was awake again, and the tube was sliding away ... or was the cushioned couch sliding out of the tube? He felt disoriented and confused, but they had told him that this would happen.

"Do not worry, little one, you will feel fine again soon. You're not even crying, there's a good girl."

Good girl? What was this? He was even more confused. Was this a hallucination? But soon they were dressing him, removing his sheer briefs and replacing them with something slightly thicker that seemed too white and pink to be right, some kind of underwear that fastened on the sides. "What is this?" he asked.

There were three androids dressing him. They were very strong, but also very gentle, seeming to take great care that he was comfortable. "Only the most advanced and comfortable diapers for you, Sweetheart," said one of his caretakers in a happy, smiling, feminine voice. "Don't worry, we know everything about making sure little girls like you are comfortable and well taken care of."

As she spoke, she and the other androids had covered what was apparently a diaper -- he hadn't worn one since he was a baby himself, so he didn't remember what they were like -- with a pair of white tights that fit like a second skin, with pink ruffles across the bottom, and a pretty pink and white dress with lots of frills. A pair of shiny pink soft booties were put on his feet, and matching mitts were put on his hands. Then he was lifted into some sort of vehicle made of a crystal-clear plastic, highlighted in white and pink with pictures of exotic alien animals. One of the androids swung a clear panel shut over his belly, and he could no longer stand up. But this seat he was in hovered two feet above the floor, and one of his caretakers pushed him down a hallway.

"Time for baby to see her room," she said.

"But I'm ... I'm not a ..." Brandon stammered, trying to put words together. He was still so dizzy from the hibernation.

"Oh, don't worry," the android said, "even with your mommy and daddy not here, you'll be perfectly safe." She put something into his mouth. It immediately changed form to fit his tongue and palate, and he found himself unable to spit it out, and his mittened hands were no help.

Trina is taken softly by the hand by the robot, and lead out into the hall. There are several other robots escorting dazed passengers to their new cabins for the remainder of the flight. The robot says in a very cute voice, "I will lead you to your room and tuck you in. The effect will wear off in a few hours. At that time, it will be meal time and we will come and show you the dining area."

Trina nods as she follows obediently. In her dazed state of mind, nothing made very much sense to her. Everything seemed like it was far off in some sort of dream. As they turned the corner, Trina saw a ... rather large baby girl being pushed the opposite direction in a hover stroller. Trina smiles at the baby as she slowly passes. Trina was sort of struck by the eyes. Somehow ... she knew them from somewhere ... and they looked full of fear. Trina comes up short and stops as she turns and watches the baby being pushed towards the Star-Liner's advanced and plush nursery section.

The robot leading Trina coos softly, "Yes, she was a very cute little baby, wasn't she?"

Trina's mind didn't really totally comprehend what her eyes showed her. Something didn't seem right ... although Trina was in no shape to think about it right now. The robot gently tugs on Trina's hand ... she obediently follows ... just like a little girl being led by her parents. The robot led Trina into a very opulent cabin and into the bedroom. The robot pulls the covers back and pats the mattress as she coos, "Now be a good girl and get into bed." Trina slipped in the bed, the robot tucked her in and turned out the light. Trina tried to think about what the problem was with that baby .... until sleep took her once again.

Brandon didn't know what to do but let the robots push him down the hallway. It hadn't helped when he thought he saw the beautiful young woman he'd seen earlier. He would have blushed brightly if he hadn't been so groggy and out of it due to the hibernation. Suddenly ... she was gone, led away by the hand by another robot, and he was turned into another corridor, which was white and brightly lit, the walls decorated with other exotic but cute alien creatures from many worlds. The hover-stroller stopped in front of a pastel pink door, which opened automatically to reveal a nursery.

It looked like a baby girl's room. Most of the floor was covered by a big pink play mat with bright colored toys all over it. There was a table with a padded surface and drawers, and there was a crib -- both of these obviously big enough for him. There were windows, too, with lovely white curtains with pale pink lace trim -- right now they were showing an image of a bright, sunny day over a garden, obviously artificial, as they were in hyperspace.

"All right now," said the android, "we'll just put you in bed for a little nap, and when you wake up you'll feel lots better, and you can play, and maybe have some nummy supper!"

The robot moved into the room, and the toys on the mat automatically moved out of her way. She released the side of the crib, which lowered smoothly, and released Brandon from the stroller, lifting him carefully and setting him down in the crib.

"Mmmb nmmmf nmmmd ..." Brandon tried to say, but the pacifier in his mouth wouldn't let him, and he couldn't get it out.

"No, no, baby, not time for talking, time for napping," said the android. "You get some rest, and I'll see you when you're back from dream land." Touching a button Brandon couldn't find, she caused the side of the crib to rise up smoothly and click into place. Brandon tried to make more noise, but couldn't make much, and soon there was soothing music playing from hidden speakers, and he did feel really tired after his ordeal. Soon he was fast asleep. The android lowered the lights and quietly left her charge to her nap.

Trina slept fitfully. She couldn’t get those eyes of the adorable ... but large baby she saw earlier, out of her mind. She knew ... she didn't know how she knew ... but she knew it had to be that handsome man she saw on the loading ramp at space dock. She walks to the desk next to the bed after finally waking, and opened her carry all and removed her Nano-Padd and logged into the local network. She began to do a passenger search ... after a bit of hacking to bypass ship's security AI.

None of the names of ID files gave her any kind of useful information on who the individual might have been or where they had taken them. The only thing she did discover ... is the clothing requirements for one three year old. They were keeping her in Nursery Room 111. She brought up a schematic map of the Liner's layout. The nursery section was just around the corner. Trina quickly gathered up her slippers and put them on her feet. She walks to a large panel in the wall and says, "Mirror."

Trina's eyes get large as she sees the skin tight, boy short outfit the ship Steward Robot had dressed her in. As she slowly twisted from side to side and realized this outfit was more ... revealing and attractive than she really wanted ... but from the stores requisitions of other female passengers ... most were dressed similarly. She brushes her long blond hair quickly to get the sleep out of it .. and proceeded down the hall to the nursery.

Brandon woke up from what seemed like a very strange dream. He dreamed that he had been dressed like a ... wait. It hadn't been a dream, he realized, and the first clue was the fact that he had a pacifier in his mouth that he couldn't easily spit out. The second clue was that he had padded mittens on his hands that he couldn't easily take off ... the third clue was the android nanny who was coming into the room just as he was waking up, crooning at him soothingly, "Good morning, sweetheart! Did baby have a nice nap? Is baby all rested and ready to play?"

Brendan tried to spit out his pacifier or tug on it with his mittened hands, but wasn't having much success. "Ohhh, baby must be hungry," said the android. Brendan shook his head no, but the android ignored this and reached for a panel in the wall, which opened to reveal a baby bottle. "This will fix you up right away," she said. "Nana's connected directly to the computer, and it'll send anything I ask it for."

"But I'm not --" were the only words Brandon was able to say in the scant seconds between when the android removed his pacifier and when she inserted the nipple of the baby bottle, and whatever was inside felt warm. He was actually quite hungry and thirsty, but his fear had been masking it. A drop of the liquid in the bottle made its way into his mouth and tasted very good -- perhaps it was tailored to his body chemistry?

Trina rounded the corner and saw the many individual playroom nurseries set up for any infants lucky enough to travel on the Line's Premiere Ship. No luxury or nicknack was overlooked in the care or happiness of the infant's in the robotic Nana's charges. Trina finally came to the room 111. She stands on her tippy toes and looked in the small square window in the door. She saw a Nana sitting in what looked like a very advanced rocking chair with a large female infant in her hands ... having lunch.

Trina pressed the enter pad beside the door. A green light quickly scanned over Trina before the door whooshed open. Trina walked quickly in. The baby looks around and sees her ... then began squirming and fidgeting and fussing loudly. All her words were garbled due to the Nana's proficiency in keeping the nipple in her mouth.

Trina says with a slight snicker in her voice, "Wh ... what's going on here Robot? Has it ever occurred to your AI ... that this infant is a bit too large for 3 years?

The Nana coo's softly, It doesn't matter how big a spices babies are ... We are perfectly able to care for them." Trina steps closer as Brandon becomes almost unruly. The Nana coos softly, "Aww. it seems baby is getting rowdy."

Trina's eyes get large as she says, "Stop ... immediately."

The Nana looks up with ... electronic surprise on her face as she replies in askance, "If ... baby is acting naughty ... protocol clearly sates a swat on their bare thigh is in order."

Trina had to think fast. She finally blurted out, "There's no corporeal punishment permission on this infant's ID profile ... don't you dare lay a hand on her."

The robot quickly accesses the profile .... and true enough ... there was no corporeal punishment for this infant authorized by parental signature.

Brandon had heard a new voice and, looking around, recognized the beautiful young woman whom he had wanted to get to know -- but not like this! He had been drinking the baby formula because he didn't want to starve or get dehydrated, but he didn't want this person to see him in this predicament. He struggled and tried to hide his face. At the android's admonitions he lay still and just blushed with the bottle in his mouth. Perhaps he could pretend to be a real baby, the offspring of a larger-than-human species, so that when he finally got this obvious computer error straightened out, he could pretend that this had never happened and start over with her on the right foot.

Brandon just tried to drink from the baby bottle and appear calm, though inside he was as nervous as a Leporian rabbit-mouse in a room full of Renni-tu.

"There was an update in this child's records," said the android to the woman. "I had not downloaded it from the computer. The discrepancies have been resolved now, however. I assure you, there are no errors."

Trina snorts in frustration. Here she is ... on the most advanced star-liner in existence ... with the most sophisticated AI ever written ... and it doesn't have the common sense of a gnat. Trina brings out her Padd and plugs it into the port next to the door. Try as she might, she couldn't get the interface to save any data she was inputting. The encryption was such, that once the data had been entered for infants, no one could change it without approval of the Captain, First Officer, and the CEO of Babies of all Ages.

Trina stomps her foot, "Darn!" She looks at Brandon with real concern in her eyes, "I am doing my best to get you out of here. According to this, you are a baby girl of three earth years old and need special care. This Nana has been assigned as your personal care taker." About that time, the Nana bends slightly and pulls the front of Brandon's cute panties and check his diaper. The Advanced cloth had nanobot particles woven in. It automatically told all that a mother would need to know.

The Nana coos softly, "Aww, poor little girl aww constipated. Nana can fix that right away."

Trina really hated the WIFI connection aboard the ship. She knew is was fire walled and monitored heavily. She had to find a way to the main core so she could do a direct interface. The WIFI was no good and this connection didn't give access. When the young woman looked into Brandon's eyes, they lit up with hope. She knew his predicament was a mistake and was trying to help him! Maybe she'd talk some sense into this android, or go to the captain, or hack into the computers, or something. He wasn't in any discomfort exactly, but this was very embarrassing.

The android started to take an interest in his diaper. No, in fact, he hadn't used it, because he wasn't a baby. But sooner or later he was going to have to do something, because he was feeling the need to pee. It was some kind of high-tech polymer cloth, he could tell, probably with all kinds of sensors to measure his vital signs and relay to the computer exactly how much he excreted so the system could monitor his health. Maybe there were even nanobots in it too, to dismantle the molecules of harmful chemicals.

"Oh dear," said the robot, "Baby's diaper is still clean and dry. Well, she's not a little baby anymore, is she?" What it didn't say was that although older babies didn't wet and fill their diapers immediately after being fed like little babies did, this one's records said she wasn't potty trained, so if there wasn't anything in her diaper soon, the android nanny might have to assume she was ill and try to "help."

"Well, now that you're not hungry anymore," the android said, "let's take you where you can play with the other babies and be happy."

She easily picked Brandon up and carried him out the door, heading for the large playroom, where sounds of small children could be heard from down the hallway. Trina had to do something. He was such a hansom man ... and he made quite a cute baby too.

She snickers to herself as she says, "Keep yourself together. I'm going to see the captain or the first officer." Trina spins and walks up to the information panel made into the wall. She types in Captain's or First Officer's current location. The system immediately showed her the floor layout leading directly to the bridge. Trina ran all the way. When the door to the bridge whooshed open, her eyes became very large in surprise. There were ... no people on the bridge. In the very center of the bridge, was a large softly glowing round sphere with many control panels and strange blue holograms with data on them floating all around.

A very male, although electronic voice said, "Welcome to the bridge. Is there ... something I may do to make your voyage more comfortable?"

Meanwhile, Brandon's nanny bot set him down in a brightly-colored room full of babies of all shapes and sizes. He counted at least eight ... no, ten, species represented just now, and there were only about 20 babies in the room.

"Now, Brandy, play nice with the other babies, OK?" said his caretaker.

Brandon had the pacifier back in his mouth, so he couldn't say anything, and still had those mittens on his hands, so he couldn't take it out. He pretty much had no choice. Squirming because of his need to pee, he crawled over to some of the other babies, a cyan-colored Rigellian girl and a large gold-skinned Vegan boy, almost as large as Brandon himself. They were playing with a toy that involved colored lights and sounds appearing in the air.

Trina walks up to one of the keyboard interfaces and realizes they too were virtual holograms. She says off hand, not really expecting any kind meaningful response, "Well ... there's a problem with one of the infants."

The AI responds quickly with the sound of real emotion in its voice, "No! That's impossible. Do you have the name of the child ... or at least its room number?"

Trina replies, "Yes, it's the infant in Nursery Room 111 ... that individual ... isn't an infant, they are a grown man. Here, I took a picture of him while we were boarding."

A wide green beam flashed from the sphere and made a quick connection to her Padd. It looked over the photo in question.

It finally replies, "I'm sorry, young woman, but that individual is a grown man ... and the infant in question is a little girl of three. I see no correlation between your supposition and fact."

Trina yells out, "The data in the ID list is incorrect. It needs to be changed immediately."

The computer sat inert for a few seconds. For an advanced system like this one ... that was a total eternity. It finally responds slowly, "I have taken the matter into advisement."

Another beam shoots from the sphere and a hologram of a very cute little girl in a very short Babydoll dress and ruffled bottoms appeared. She giggles adorably as she blushes softly pink, She says in a very cute little girl's voice, "Hello ... I'm Sally. I tha executive Babydoll." She waves like any little girl of 3. She giggles again then says softly as she shuffles her feet, "There's nuffin we can do longs ur aww onna flight. Am sowwy. Tha infant safety protocols prevent it. We gotsa wait till ya getsa next stop at Infantus Colony."

She walks over to a table with a large map on top. The view changed angles and Trina realized it was a star chart. Sally continues, "Me n mommy will meet you at Denebian Prime. We fix it then. Until then ... jus bea baby n enjoy it." The hologram went away ... leaving Trina totally frustrated.

Brandon was really, really bored. This game was meant for children of toddler age, and it really didn't hold an adult's attention very well. He had never really been interested in babies or children -- obviously he had been one himself, but he had tried to grow up as quickly as he could, so he could join the fascinating world of adulthood -- or at least it had looked fascinating back then. Now, it was pretty humdrum, truth be told. He liked the numbers on his paycheck, but he never seemed to have time to enjoy the fruits of his labors. That was why he was taking this cruise, actually.

Now, here he was, among a group of babies and toddlers, and being treated like one of them -- like a girl, no less. Although, aside from the clothing, there wasn't much different from being treated like a boy -- boys and girls of this age weren't really very different. However, this hadn't been how he'd been hoping to spend this cruise -- in a baby dress, tights, and a diaper that was going to be wet any minute now. He didn't see a way to prevent that anymore. His bladder was full to the bursting point, and he couldn't hold on much longer. If there were any restrooms in this part of the ship, he didn't know where they were -- why would they show them to a baby in diapers? So, resignedly, he tried to relax and let go.

It was remarkably difficult. Years of controlling his bladder had gotten him into the habit of only emptying it out when there weren't any clothes in the way. But, he reasoned, there had been a time when he, like everyone else, had just let go whenever and wherever he was. It wasn't second nature -- it was first nature. All he had to do was imagine how it was for a real baby, and then he felt relief from his bladder and a warm, wet sensation in his diaper that quickly subsided. That was pretty odd, but he supposed that the water and chemical reclamation nanobots in the diaper's mesh were hard at work, separating the water molecules and converting the waste products into simpler chemicals. Not that babies ever thought about that, he supposed, but he didn't have much else to think about. It was hard for him to imagine the frame of mind an adult would have to be in to enjoy these toddler toys and games.

The ship's computer, of course, registered that he had wet his diaper, and knew exactly by how much. And thus, so did his android caretaker, within nanoseconds. "Good girl," she said, picking him up and rocking him in her strong arms. "We'll get you taken care of later. That diaper can hold a lot more, don't worry!"

She patted his behind gently and set him back down. He might have felt embarrassed at this display, but none of the other babies seemed to pay any attention. It wasn't anything different from how they were being treated, after all.

Trina walked back to the playroom and observed the twenty children at play. She knew one of them wasn't a baby at all, but there was nothing she could do about it now. It would be two weeks in hyperspace before they arrived at the next stop on the cruise. She began to think about what Sally had said .... to relax and enjoy being a baby. For two weeks ... she could take a vacation from Adulthood ... and be with him too. She smiles as she logs her Pad into her ID data and ... makes a modification.

Suddenly, as far as the ship's AI was concerned, she was now an adorable little baby girl of two ... and Brandon's sister. Before she could put her Padd away, a Nana had arrived and began taking her clothes off as she ushered Trina into the playroom and diapered her. Before Trina knew what happened, she was in an adorable Lady Bug top with matching bottoms ... was well diapered, had matching gloves on her hands ... and a large pacci in her mouth that made it impossible for her to talk. Nana sat her next to Brandon and coos, "Now, play nice."

Brandon had been halfheartedly playing with the "other" babies in the playroom when an android caretaker deposited another baby next to him. This was nothing new by now. They were always picking up the babies, checking their diapers, taking them away for changes, feedings or naps, and bringing them back. He himself had been taken away for a change and brought back here after wetting his diaper.

He suddenly had an odd feeling and gave the new baby a second look. This was a girl, a girl who looked somehow familiar -- no, it couldn't be. Could it? He was unconsciously staring at her, as his mind tried to process what he was seeing. Why would she be here, dressed and treated like that? With his pacifier filling his mouth, he couldn't ask her the questions that came all too readily to his mind, but he could look at her with a confused and rather sad expression. How had she ended up stuck in the same predicament as he?

Trina felt really embarrassed over the whole thing. She hadn't been dressed this way for many years ... not to mention being made to be totally helpless. She fumbled with the pacci in her mouth with her mittened hands. She was unable to grab the loop on the end because the thick durable, but soft lining of the mittens. As Trina fumbled, the fastener holding the strap around her head came loose and the pacci fell from her mouth.

She looks at it for just a second before she looks at Brandon and says softly, "Hi ... I'm Trina. She wiggles closer to Brandon as she takes hold of the strap holding his pacci in her teeth and pulled. The snap came loose and Trina held it by the dangling strap in her mouth. She spits it out. Trina says, "I can't do anything to prevent us from being babies until we reach our next stop. I was unable to modify the ID data within the infant Data Base ... but I could modify the adults and insure we are ... sisters??" She looks at Brandon with big shy eyes.

Brandon tried to get his pacifier out, but it had been customized to the shape of his mouth, so although it wasn't strapped in any longer, it wasn't going anywhere. Still, he could try. He tried to open his mouth wide and nudge it out from the side with his padded hands. Suddenly it popped loose and bounced on the soft fabric-covered floor. He almost couldn't believe it. He'd better say what he had to say quickly, before the androids noticed and put it back.

"Hi Trina, I'm Brandon, and there was some kind of computer mix-up -- I'm supposed to be on the Holiday Deck living the good life!" He looked at her. She was adorable, but in a cute baby sense, not an adult woman sense. "I'm an insurance salesman from Zeta Reticuli 3. I wanted a change of pace, but not like this!"

Trina giggles softly for just a second before she wiggles right up next to Brandon. She whispers softly, "You don't want to ... be my playmate and sister until we get to our next port? You know ... we really don't have a choice at this point." Brandon's eyes get huge, "We don't?" Trina shakes her head, "Nope. Not until the Line's President's Executive Secretary, Sally, arrives once we dock at Infantus Colony. You an me are little baby sisters and all the ship's gonna treat us that way until then." She sticks her tongue out at him in a cute way. Brandon just sat and stared at Trina for a long time.

Trina finally asks in a small voice, "You mean .. you don't wanna hava good time with me?" Trina gets to her feet and stands up. She does a slow pirouette before she sits back next to Brandon.

"But why?" Brandon asked her. "Why would you deliberately put yourself in the same -- situation -- that can't be undone until we get there?"

Just then, an android nanny came by and said, "Oh no, the two little baby sisters lost their pacifiers!" She picked them up and took them to a nearby cleaning station to sanitize them. They only had another minute to talk before their pacifiers were back in their mouths.

Trina explained, "It's like this ... there was some kind of data error on your ID file. Somehow, the place you went for your boarding access pass, entered bogus info in places. Those particular files are double protected and cannot be modified except by the President ... or her Executive Secretary ... Sally." The Nana returned, she leans over and checks Brandon. The Nana clucks, "Tisk Tisk ... seems little baby all constipated. Nana has a real fast fix for that."

As Nana carried Brandon to the changing station, she ran a medical diagnostic on his physical health. It showed Brandon was healthy ... although it recorded he hadn't poopied since the voyage began. The Nana removed Brandon's panties and diaper ... then turned him onto his tummy. Brandon's eyes get huge as he feels something slightly cold and greasy being pushed deeply into his bottom. Once, Twice, three times it happened. All Brandon could do while it happened, was gasp loudly and grunt.

Nana turns Brandon onto his back, then diapers him in a clean diaper. As she carries him off to feed him, she coos softly, "Now, sweet heart ... you won't have any problems going potty now. Should make baby feel real good too."

Another Nana came and repeated the same thing with Trina. Trina lay against the robots chest as she felt the warm wetness of the suppositories melting within her ... relieving her of the responsibility ... of using the bathroom like a big girl.

The robots placed their pacifiers, freshly cleaned, back in their mouths for now, and set them down to play again. "OK, little darlings," said one of them, "soon it will be time for your supper, and then sleepy time. Play nice for a few minutes and then we'll take you back to your room for num-nums."

Brandon tried to say something about being hungry but still not looking forward to this, but his pacifier garbled it into unintelligible sounds. The nearby babies were playing a game, happily rolling a ball back and forth, a ball that emitted soft music and changed colors whenever one of them touched it, and Trina had already joined in, smiling gleefully.

Wondering how Trina could be so joyful about this, Brandon crawled over across the soft floor padding to join in the game. He felt his insides churning, though, and a heavy feeling was starting to materialize in his abdomen. He was sure none of the other babies would think twice about what was about to happen, but it hadn't happened to him for decades. For the first time in many, many years … Brandon had an involuntary poopie.

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~~ End Pt1 ~~
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~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt2 ~~
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Brandon sat down and soon the ball rolled toward him. He caught it, and it played happy music when he touched it and changed to a greenish-blue color, like Earth, or Zeta Reticuli 3 for that matter. He pushed it away toward another baby. Suddenly he felt a gradual build-up of pressure inside him, and there was a wave of that same pressure, pushing a small amount of warm, sticky stuff out into the seat of his diaper. There was a tingly feeling as the nanobots in the diaper went to work, breaking it down into simpler molecules and atoms for storage. More waves followed, and he blushed and looked helplessly at Trina as he discovered there was nothing at all he could do to make this stop. But as humiliating as it was, each wave of pressure brought some pleasurable sensations with it. Trina was blushing too; was the same happening to her?

Trina stops playing with the other babies suddenly. Her eyes get large in surprise as she feels a pressure within her tummy. It felt so strange as small tingling waves began to wiggle through her. She realizes what she's about to do and tries very hard to stop it. Helplessly, she feels it as the mass begins to form in her diaper and squishes around her bottom. She has a most adorable look of surprise on her face as her body completes making her poopie.

A Nana had been watching as she saw the expression come over Trina's face. The highly advanced diaper takes it all in stride as it quickly processes it and turns it into its base components for recycling. Trina grunts as she also helplessly wets her diaper. The Nana picks Trina up and checks her diaper.

Nana says in a cute coo, "There we go. Baby no longer constipated. Nana will give you and your sister three of those at every changing. By the time we get to our next stop in two weeks, you will not have anymore problems."

Another Nana picks up Brandon and checks him as well, and carries him to the changing table. The other children took no notice as they both had their diapers removed ... three more suppositories inserted, powdered well, then rediapered and brought back to play. Before they left, the Nana's removed the pacifiers from their mouths and cooed, "Din Din will be in a few minutes sweeties."

Brandon looked at Trina, blushed, and looked away. "Well, that was about as embarrassed as I've ever been," he said, still not looking at her. "I'm really glad I'm not alone, though. But I still wonder what made you ... you know ... share in my predicament." He looked at her again and added, "You didn't tell me what you do for a living, either."

Trina snuggles closer to Brandon as she says softly, "I did it ... cuz I wanted to meet you and the only way to do it ... was to be like you. Besides, being an Ababy for two weeks isn't such a bad thing. We have no responsibilities ... all of our needs are taken care of," she leans over and give Brandon a soft kiss on his cheek, "and you get to spend an entire week with me playing." Trina gathers several blocks and begins to stack them before she continues, "My job ... is a Star Explorer. My job ... is to explore out there and document it for all humankind." She points off towards a wall with her mittened hand.

"Wow," said Brandon. "That sounds like an amazing job, full of adventure and new experiences." He thought for a moment. "No wonder you weren't afraid to join me here. It's just one more new experience, isn't it?"

Before Trina could answer, two of the android caretakers picked them up and carried them to what used to be just Brandon's room, but now they noticed that there was a second crib, and where there had been just one high chair there were now two. Made of translucent metals and plastics, the high chairs were still somehow soft and padded and had a faintly rosy color. Brandon and Trina soon found the chairs fastening themselves around them, preventing the babies that the computer thought they were from falling out and hurting themselves. A soft, padded piece swung up between their legs from below the seat and fastened itself to the arms of the chair. Then the trays swung down and clicked into place in front of them.

"I wonder what's for dinner," Brandon mused.

The Nana brought out two steaming baby plates of appropriate size. Brandon and Trina see the lumps of goo in each section of the plate. They look at each other and make a face. When Nana places the baby plates in front of them, the aroma was anything but disgusting. The smell of finely sauteed roast beef, freshly steamed string beans in butter, a wonderful variety of sweet squash. Neither could believe what it smelled like as their tummy began to growl.

Nana scoops up a spoon full of the goo all mixed together and gave it to them. It not only smelled wonderful, it tasted as good as any gourmet meal. Nana had no trouble getting these two babies to eat as both of them devoured their meals ... in the process ... making a huge mess down their fronts and on their faces. Neither one was too sure if Nana didn't help in this ... or if they just were getting into being Ababies.

Brandon did not understand how something so disgusting looking could smell and taste so good, but then this was a first-class star-liner with all the best in technology and luxury, and that included the best food for babies, it seemed. When they were done eating, the caretaker androids cleaned Brandon and Trina’s faces and removed their protective bibs. Only when the robots reached down to pick them up did the chairs release them.

Brandon's caretaker checked his diaper again; he wondered why it kept doing that, when he knew the diaper was constantly relaying its state to the computer. But he supposed that it might make some babies more reassured to know that they were getting attention. It hadn't been long enough since their last diaper change for either of them to need another change, so the next thing that happened was getting ready for bed.

The lights in the room dimmed gradually, almost imperceptibly, and very soft lullaby music began to play over hidden speakers. The scene outside the "windows" changed to a nighttime panorama from an Earth like planet, and the androids set their charges down on the changing table to change them into their pajamas.

Brandon found himself wearing a sleeper -- all once piece, pale pink, and covering his hands and feet completely. It seemed to fasten up in back somewhere, where he couldn't see. Not that he could have removed it even if the seam had been in front -- the sleeper was well padded around his hands. What was the obsession with making sure he couldn't use his hands? Maybe there was some explanation in the bogus files the computer had about the baby he was supposed to be. Maybe she scratched herself a lot.

Trina was dressed in a really cute Glow Worm sleeper. It was green and yellow and sealed at her feet insuring she couldn't use them for anything. Her hands were covered once again in soft padded mitts that were part of the Glow Worm outfit. Nana placed Trina and Brandon in their cribs and pushed a button on the side of the crib. A mechanical tentacle extended with a large bottle of white liquid in it. Trina tried to keep the nipple from her mouth, but the tentacle was very deft at its job. The flavor of the liquid was marvelous. It tasted just like fresh strawberries. The warmth of it warmed her tummy and made her feel so groggy. It wasn't long before Trina was having very sweet induced baby dreams of soft plushy dolls, and cute fuzzy critters all playing in a wonderful room of toys, candy, and cookies.

The formula tentacle took Brandon by surprise too, and he tried to escape it, but eventually it found his mouth, and he couldn't avoid getting a mouthful of whatever it was. It turned out to taste a lot like vanilla with a touch of cinnamon. It was warm, soothing, and together with the quiet, soft lullaby music and the darkened room with the faint glow from the "windows," it wasn't long before Brandon was fast asleep. He didn't remember all the dreams he had that night, but one of them was about being back at work. He was giving a presentation at a meeting, and he tried to open his computer, but he discovered that the padded mittens he had on wouldn't let him, and everyone laughed at the ridiculous baby outfit he was wearing, complete with thick diapers that were soaking wet.

He had another dream, a dream of being lovingly rocked in his mother's arms, as if he were reliving a memory from long ago, when life was simple and there was nothing embarrassing at all about needing to rely on someone else for everything. When someone loved him unconditionally. When he was safe.

Trina opens her eyes slowly as she is having her hinny patted softly. Nana coos, "Wake up sweet heart. It's time for your morning bath and breakfast."

Nana picks Trina from the crib and begins removing her sleeper and wet soggy diaper. By the time Nana had carried Trina into the potty, Brandon was already having his hair washed. By this time, it had grown to his shoulders and Nana was washing it. Brandon was actually enjoying this a whole lot more than he thought he should ... but it really felt good. Brandon pushes the hair in his face away in time to see his 'sister being put in the large bassinet with him. Nana begins to wash and tickle Trina the same as Brandon's Nana was doing him. By the time both of them had been rinsed and briskly dried with a soft thick towel ... neither of then could help screeching and giggling like the babies they were being treated as. Trina was diapered and put in a really cute lime green romper with yellow ruffles and lace. Brandon watched as Trina's Nana sat in a large rocking type chair and began to feed her a large bottle.

As Brandon's android caregiver finished dressing him in a pink one-piece outfit with tights, a ruffle around the waist printed with sparkly hearts, an emblem on the chest that must be a reference to some currently popular children's holovid character, and puffy short sleeves that matched the waist ruffle, he thought about how this was actually not so bad. He was being well taken care of. He didn't have to worry about anything or remember to be anywhere or even put his clothes on himself. He didn't have to decide what to do or what to eat. In a way this was more of a vacation than the vacation he'd originally planned to take. He sighed with relief as his android nanny held him and held a bottle up for him to drink. He looked up into her eyes as she looked down happily, if androids were happy. He supposed they were happy when the babies were being good and behaving within the parameters of the androids' programming. Brandon decided to be a good baby.

Trina didn't expect herself to get so sleepy and feel so contented. Her tummy warmed nicely with the milk she was getting and Nana didn't help the way she was rocking and humming a soft lullaby about stepping stones. The next thing Trina knew, she was on Nana's shoulder, and Nana was patting her back. Trina felt it as it happened and was helpless to stop it as a huge 'Buuuurrrrrpppp!' came from her. Trina was instantly embarrassed.

Nana patted her thickly diapered hinny and cooed softly, "That's a good baby. It must have felt really good ... huh?"

Trina was going to answer. For some reason, her vocal chords didn't quite seem to be up to it. She felt a really strange and wonderful sensation slowly creeping warmly through her body.

Nana coos softly, "We understood baby wasn't acting her age ... so we solved the problem." Trina managed to get her vocal chords working and said, "Wh ... wha ya do ta mes?"

Nana giggles as she checks Trina's diaper, "Nothing sweet heart. We just made it a whole lot easier for you and your sister on this flight."

Brandon heard Trina speaking, but her voice sounded tiny, and her words were like baby talk.

He tried to say something, and his voice sounded funny too. "W-wha wong wif Tewina?" he asked, but his voice was much higher, and his speech was slurred. "Wha wong wif me?" he asked as well.

"Don't worry, Sweetheart," said his android nanny in soothing tones, "There's nothing permanent. Just something we thought you might want to try."

"But ..." he began, but the android tried to tease his bottle back into his mouth.

"Now now, just drink your ba ba, baby," the robot said, "and if you don't like it, we'll discontinue that additive, and it'll wear off in less than 24 hours. It's a new discovery, you know. From Infantus Colony."

Brandon allowed the nipple back into his mouth and drank more. It did feel really good, like all the pleasant parts of being drunk with none of the unpleasant parts. And when he was done with his bottle, his Nana put him over her shoulder and patted his back firmly but gently until he burped and giggled about it. "There's a good girl," she said.

Trina was placed in the middle of the soft playpad that covered the entire floor. She sat up, but not only did she feel really strange over it ... it seemed something was wrong with her balance. She looks around as an over powering urge to suck her thumb over came her. Before she realized she was doing it, she was sucking her thumb. There were many large blocks made of some kind of sturdy ... but at the same time soft material lying all around her. Trina giggles adorably as she starts to stack them one on top of the other until there was a small tower standing about a foot tall and 4 blocks deep. Brandon was sat next to Trina as she was stacking the blocks. Brandon couldn't help himself .... he became very engrossed in this new game.

Trina took her thumb from her mouth and said in an adorable voice, "Is u wanna, we can pway knok em down. Takes turns makin it then knokin it down maybe??" She puts her thumb back in her mouth and looks at Brandon with big eyes.

About that time, there were many sudden flashes of light as the Nana's took pictures for the 'babies' non-existent parents.

Brandon felt like he was dreaming -- a lovely, happy dream about being a little baby and playing with a beautiful baby girl. His playmate suggested a game of building up blocks and knocking them down, and he agreed enthusiastically. In this dream he couldn't seem to keep his thumb out of his mouth and couldn't seem to think about anything that wasn't proper for a baby to think about. He and the baby girl were taking turns building up blocks and knocking them over, both of them giggling and having so much fun that he found himself completely lost in the joy of the moment. When Nana called him a baby girl and when he saw his reflection dressed in that frilly pink sparkly outfit, he thought nothing of it at all. Sure, he was a baby girl, just like his friend here; they were both baby girls having a wonderful time on the play mat.

Neither of them had any idea how much time was passing -- neither of them had a very good conception of what time was at this point -- until suddenly both their Nanas told them it was lunchtime and came to pick them up and put them in their high chairs.

Once again, Tina and Brandon were placed in the high tech chairs. They automatically adjusted to their bodies, insuring they couldn't fall out or tip over, and the tray flipped over their heads and locked. They see a Nana approaching with 2 steaming bowls of something that looks like white mush. She set the bowl on the trays, then turns and returns to the other room for a bit. Trina leans over and sniffs the goop. It had a most wonderful roast beef aroma intermingled with some kind of other vegetable she couldn't identify. Trina sticks one of her fingers in the warm mush clumsily, and quickly puts it in her mouth ... making a huge mess along the way. Brandon and Trina giggle.

Trina says in surprise, "It ... tas goo ... I mean ... likes ... ummm ... beef n stuffies."

Brandon looks down at his bowl and puts his finger clumsily into it as well ... and makes just as big a mess tasting it as Trina. Nana returns and sits next to them and begins to feed them.

She coos softly, "So, you like lunch do you? It is a specially formulated baby food to help both of you be babies."

Brandon and Trina both tried to eat the tasty white mush with their fingers and ended up getting it all over their faces and in their hair. In the end their Nanas both had to feed them with spoons. After this, they both needed baths, and the star-liner had wonderful bathtubs full of warm bubbly real water, rather than the chemical or sonic baths one might expect on most spacecraft. Not that the two "babies" were thinking of that -- they were happily splashing and playing with the bath toys while their Nanas expertly got them spotlessly clean.

The android caregivers were operating with much more efficiency now that these two were acting like all the other babies. This was what they were programmed for. It could not be said that they were happy, exactly, because they were never either happy or unhappy, but their performance was now much closer to optimal.

For Brandon and Trina, their vacation had become an experience of nearly constant bliss. There were some tears, sometimes, when one of them had a messy diaper that hadn't cleaned itself yet, or when one of them accidentally bumped a head or an elbow on something, but tears never lasted long -- the androids were right there to make everything better. They really were well programmed.

Then came a morning when things were different. Brandon felt himself waking up and wondering where he was, and when Nana was going to come change his night-time diaper and give him his morning bottle, and when he would be playing with Trina again ... and then he realized that he was wondering about these things, when he usually didn't ... and then he realized that he usually hadn't been thinking about the future much at all.

"Good morning, Sweetheart," said his android nanny, lowering his crib side with a touch, "the ship's gotten to its first port of call -- Infantus Colony. You and your sister get to go see the planet! Won't that be wonderful?"

"Y-yeff," he said, his thumb still in his mouth, "but ..."

"But you're wondering why you're thinking about it," she said, nodding understandingly. "We were putting something in your food and bottles to help you be a baby, but soon you have to go in the sleep tubes, so it's safest if you don't have that stuff in you. But then it's off to Infantus, and you'll love it there!"

Trina had her diaper changed and she was dressed in a very cute love bug romper with lots of ruffles. Her Nana gave her and Brandon breakfast, then allowed them to play for a little bit before they returned and took them from the nursery, down the long hall, back to the hyberculums. The Nanas stripped them both, then attached the many wires and tubes in all the special places before putting them in the cryo-tubes. The next thing Trina knew, she was having a very wonderful dream about a fuzzy Teddy Bear and a very adorably cute unicorn in a magical candy land.

Brandon woke up, still feeling kind of cold but also very groggy. He had been dreaming about playing with legendary snow creatures like the Ice Dragon of Beta Delphinius 7 and the Polar Bears of Old Earth, building castles out of snow and sliding down slides made of ice. But now ... he remembered the groggy feeling from before but didn't really care that he did.

Announcements had been playing over the speakers, but Brandon wasn't really listening -- "... that hyperspace de-insertion is complete. If you have elected to disembark at this port of call, host androids will assist you in preparing for your visit and will be sure to remind you when to reembark before we leave for our next destination. If you have elected to stay on board, host androids will help you return to your quarters for recuperation."

The same android who had been caring for Brandon so far was removing the sensor tabs, rediapering him, and dressing him in a white jumpsuit with pink and yellow flowers. He saw Trina nearby, looking similarly dazed and being dressed by her caregiver android, then put into a hover stroller as usual. Soon Brandon found himself in his own stroller, and they were both off for a visit to Infantus Colony.

The androids took the 'infants' down the long disembarkation ramp to the Terminal. Waiting for them at the bottom, was a very sexily dressed woman in a gray business suit. Standing next to her was an adorably dressed pretty young blond in ponytails. Brandon and Trina looked the girl over from head to foot. She was dressed in a very short Babydoll dress, with puffy sleeves and a white lace pinafore. The dress was a soft shade of yellow with white lace trim. Peeking from beneath the short hem ... was matching rumba panties and large ruffles. It was quite obvious to both of them, that this young woman was in a very thick diaper.

When the Nana's had brought Trina and Brandon up to them, she began bouncing on her toes and giggled, "Aww ... mommy ... they so dorables .. isa shame we gotsa undo it. Do I hafta?"

The woman smiles a dazzling smile as she pats the young woman on her hinny. The crinkle of her panties plastic lining was obvious.

The woman in the business suit says softly, "Only if they want to be that way dear. According to the records ... there has been a mistake and someone has tried desperately to change it."

The young woman pokes out her bottom lip and says in a whiny voice, "Aww .. poopies. Do I gotsa mommy? I wanna pway wif em."

The woman in the business suit kisses the young woman on her forehead and coos softly, "Yes, Sally baby ... you must."

Practically bouncing up to Trina and Brandon, Sally said, "Well I'll take care of the pwoblem in the puter, 'cause m good at stuff like that, but firstus ... gotta make sure you really want me to ... and then I gots questions ... but that no can happen tilla hiber-thingie wears off."

"I ... know you," said Trina, still sounding quite dazed.

"Yup! We talked before," Sally said. "But you in no shape ta be making decisions. How bout I put you two in a nice hotel suite for some rest, and then we can talk some more after your nap -- maybe we can even play some!"

Brandon and Trina didn't disagree, and Sally led their androids to a nearby hotel, owned by her employer, where they were put to bed -- in actual beds, not cribs, but Sally did mention that they might want to protect the mattresses with plastic covers just in case. Trina and Brandon slept peacefully, and while they did, Sally found what was wrong with Brandon's passenger data, and learned what Trina had done to her own. Sally giggles softly to herself as she reads over the current data. She still really doesn't want to change anything ... except maybe that they both become her playmates while they are here. Sally bounces on her thickly diapered hinny as she thinks of all the wonderful things they could get into on Infantus Colony.

Trina finally wakes up. She sits up in the bed and realizes ... she's wet ... and so is the bed. She pulls down the cover and looks. She is sitting in the middle of a wet spot on the bed. Her panties are soaked. She realizes with a start, she's wearing a very cute Milo and Stitch little girl babydoll night gown. Trina looks around the room. It is an Ambassador Suite with all the luxuries that intales. She sees Brandon in the next bed. Now that Trina's mind had cleared, she is amazed at how much Brandon appears to be a young woman.

Trina calls softly, "Hay ... you over there ... wake up."

Brandon squeaks a bit as he rolls over and opens his eyes and blinks. Trina says, "We ... are in a hotel room. I ... I wet he bed." Trina blushes really pink as she realizes she had admitted that to him.

Brandon thought back. As was the case with almost everyone who went through it, his memory of the cryosleep process and its aftermath was very sketchy. But his memory of the past several days was also peculiar. It was like he remembered it, but didn't. It felt like he had done the same thing every day for a long time, but that routine had been ... the life of a baby?

He snapped back to the present. "Oh, Trina," he said, "I'm sorry that happened. I ..." He looked under his covers, and his suspicions were confirmed. "I -- wet the bed too," he said hesitantly. "But don't worry," he added. "We've been through some very strange times together."

Just then the door opened, and two very familiar androids came in. "Oh, hello," said Brandon, blushing and trying to cover his wet bedding up again.

"We must inform you that your personal data has been amended," said one of the robots, in a voice that was still happy-sounding but without the sing-song tones one might use to talk to a baby in. "BOAA Cruise Lines regrets the error and fully intends to refund your ticket price. You have various options open to you for the remainder of your cruise, however, and Miss Sally will explain them to you later. For now, can we offer you any assistance?"

"Well, we seem to be somewhat, ah, wet," said Brandon.

"Yes, that is understandable given the circumstances," said the other android. "If you will allow us, we will help you get cleaned up and ready for your day. You may wish, however, to wear protection in case of other unforeseen accidents."

The Nanas proceeded to take Brandon and Trina in hand and gave them both a wonderful sponge bath and massage, before dressing them in cute little girl pullups. Brandon was given a very expensive Tuxedo, and Trina a very expensive Silk Evening Gown. When the Nanas had finished with them, the two of them were absolutely smashingly impeccably attired. Together, as they looked in the large mirror in the room, they looked to be the perfect couple.

"Have a good time, you two," said Brandon's android assistant, as they walked out the door. He smiled back, out of habit, knowing at the same time that they were robots and it probably wouldn't have mattered if he'd completely ignored it.

"This feels so weird," he said to Trina as they walked down the hallway. "Do you feel like you should be ... well, being pushed there in a hover stroller, wearing baby clothes?"

Trina walks gracefully beside Brandon as she held the crook of his arm. She giggles as she says softly so only he could hear and none of the crowd around them, "Well, these pull ups are kinda ... nice. They're soft and tickly when we walk." She giggles again, "It is kinda weird not being in a stroller and a cute little onesie or a babydoll dress or something."

Trina looks at Brandon for just a second with big surprised eyes, "You ... aren't thinking of ... taking an extended stay here at Infantus Colony ... are you?"

"Not really," said Brandon, "I still wanted to take the rest of the cruise, especially now that it's free. It's just ... I feel oddly sad that things are back to normal." As they entered the hotel's restaurant, Brandon added, "Or sort of back to normal, anyway. We are still on Infantus."

The restaurant was mostly white, with accents of pale pastels. Visitors could sit at ordinary tables and booths, or they could opt for a more colorful experience and sit in what were basically adult-size high chairs with shorter legs. Several of the more adventurous and good-humored patrons were trying these out, wearing bibs with the hotel's logo.

"Brandon, Trina!" came a cheerful voice from a table not too far away, and they looked to see a happy-looking Sally seated in one of the high chairs, waving at them. A server came over to seat them, but when he saw Sally waving, he smiled and motioned them toward her table.

"Ahh, here are your guests then, Sweetie," said another server, apparently the one in charge of Sally's table. "Would you like to be grownups or babies tonight?" she asked them. She was a woman in her mid-20s with short black hair, wearing a white uniform with pastel highlights, matching the decor.

"I'm not sure," said Brandon. "On one hand, it's refreshing to be an adult again, but on the other hand ... I kind of miss it ..." He looked at Trina. "What do you think?"

Trina says softly to Sally, "I am in a cute pair of pull ups. I did kinda like ... experiencing being a little girl again ... sure ... as long as I get to wear a really cute little romper and have a poofy hinny again."

Brandon's eyes get large at Trina's response. The young woman snaps her fingers. As if by magic, a Nana android appears and takes Trina by the hand and escorts her off. Brandon watches with his mouth open as they disappear into the large crowed within the restaurant. Several minutes later, the Nana android returns with a very cute, although rather large, little girl in her arms. She places the baby into a high chair. It immediately conforms the the girl's body insuring she won't fall out. The tray automatically flips over and locks in place. Trina giggles in delight as she kicks her feet.

She was dressed in a very cute little Glow Worm Romper. It was a soft lime green and yellow with large yellow ruffles around the legs, bib, and several rows across her now poofy hinny. It was obvious she was in a very thick diaper. On her feet, she had on a pair of very cute, lime green googly eyed slippers.

Trina put her thumb in her mouth and looked at Brandon for a few seconds before removing it and says, "It fun. I feels so nice too. Nana gave me sompin ... make me soo ... tingly n stuffs."

Sally giggles as she claps her hands. Sally says in her cute voice, "Well, Brandon. Are you gonna bea big person ... or gonna join us children?" Trina and Sally look at him with big eyes as they both suck their thumbs.

Brandon had a brief pang of envy as he imagined what it would be like if he said no and decided to remain an adult for this meal. No, he would be regretting that decision every moment. "Yes, of course," he said, "I'm on Infantus, and I'd regret it later if I didn't have the full experience."

"Of course, Honey," said the server, smiling, and as soon as she snapped her fingers, another android came over, taking Brandon by the hand just as the other one had taken Trina. Brandon soon found himself in a small private room with a padded changing table. Everything looked ultra-clean -- it was probably auto-cleaned after every use. The android lifted Brandon onto the table and removed his suit, which like Trina’s dress was a one-use outfit made of recyclable fibers.

Upon realizing that Brandon's pull-up was recognizably a girl's pattern, the android smiled and asked gently, "Are we a little girl, then? Or perhaps a sissy boy?"

Brandon didn't really know the difference, so he tried to explain. "Well, I've just spent a week treated like a baby girl due to mistaken data entry, but actually I came to really like it, so ..." He was blushing, and the rest was difficult to get out, even though he knew he was talking to a machine. "I'm a baby girl," he finished.

"Very good, Sweetheart," the robot said in a warm, friendly voice ... and when it carried him back out to the table, Brandon was dressed in a sunny yellow jumpsuit with white sleeves and colorful flower patches, soft baby booties on his feet, and a yellow and white baby bonnet. Underneath it he was wearing a very thick diaper, which was a new experience for him after the ultra-thin high-tech diapers the star-liner used on the real babies. He felt very comfortable as he was placed in another high chair and it conformed to his shape.

Sally and Trina smiled at him, and he smiled back -- clearly all three of them were happy that they were all babies again. He giggled. "Me baby girl too!" he said. "We aww babys togevver." He had barely noticed the android slipping him the baby drug as it had diapered him, but it was clearly already in his system and working. Sally giggles as she bounces up and down in her high chair.

She giggles happily, "Guess that means you'll stay here wif me n be babies fora free year? By then ... it aww be normals n u won't hav no issues bein baby."

Trina and Brandon heard what Sally had said, but, do to how far the baby drug had made them infants in their minds ... they were no longer able to fully comprehend what it was she meant, and the implications of it. One might think less of Sally for trying to entrap them like this, but really Sally wasn't thinking of that -- all she wanted was to have some new playmates.

"Yay," said Brandon, "we play!"

The staff of the restaurant, human and android, brought them finger foods and attempted to keep them clean as they mostly attempted to eat it. Fortunately the carpet, though white, was made of advanced materials that were impossible to stain. At tables nearby there were some guests who were acting the same way, as well as others who were simply dining as adults and paying them no mind -- this was Infantus, after all, and it was expected.

When the meal was over, Sally suggested, "Wanna come over n play wif me? I gotsa wonnerful playroom. Pwease pwease pweeeeeease?"

It wasn't hard for her to convince Brandon and Trina. The Nanas came and released the 'children from their high chairs. They made a big to do of checking each one of their diapers ... especially, Sally's ... before they led them off by the hands to Sally's Infantus Apartment. They were led from the huge dining area out to a large Arcade. The place was teeming with many many children of all ages having the time of their life. Even the adults had adopted a more ... childlike attire for the duration of their stay.

This was, after all, the Famous Infant Planet ... Infantus. The Nanas led the three of them past large fountains, many play grounds and candy shops and places that sold infant products of every conceivable type. Finally, They came to a junction in the walk ways.

The Nana's stopped and said in a cooing voice, "Now, before we cross the road ... we always look both ways twice ... just to be sure." The Nanas exaggerated looking up one way of the empty walk way ... and down the other, before they crossed over into the living area. The Nanas led them into a large, very plush and ritzy foyer ... then up to an elevator door that had no button. Sally brought out a golden key from around her neck and put it in the slot. The door opened immediately.

Through the door they saw a study in contradictions. Walls and floor provided a pale pink background that was accentuated by bright purples, yellows, whites, and oranges. It was clear that an adult could live here, with its entertainment screens, luxurious couches, and fully equipped kitchen. But, as Sally showed them, the screens were well stocked with children's videos, the couches lowered to floor level by voice command, and the kitchen's colorful appliances had safety features that wouldn't let them be used by anyone in a regressed mental state.

"Look!" said Sally. "I gotsa baby bedroom." She did, as Brandon and Trina saw, complete with a crib and changing table. "An' ... here we go! Playroom!"

She led them to a room with a white floor accented with bright polka dots in different colors; Brandon and Trina soon found that the entire floor was a soft waterproof pad. It was full of larger versions of baby toys of all kinds -- from Teddy Bears and other plushies to rocking horses, building blocks, dolls, toy hovercars, silver and gold colored mulligroons, and of course more entertainment screens for children's shows.

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~~ End Pt2 ~~
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~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt3 ~~
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Trina and Brandon, in their current mental state, gasped and clapped their hands joyfully and crawled all over everything, especially the mulligroons, which were a type of shape shifting soft furniture especially designed for children of all species by the Plorials of Theta Delphinius, only these were proportionally larger.

One of the Infantus Nana's came into the room and had Sally stand up. She pulls open the back of Sally's panties and checks her. Sally poke out her bottom lip adorably and says, "Amma big girl ... no has ... accidents."

The Nana made an electronic chortle before responding in a soft coo, "So, Miss Big girl, why is it your panties are so wet?"

Sally blushes crimson in her cute cheeks as she grabs between her legs and stands pigeon toed. Sally whines, "I ... I no did that ..."

Brandon and Trina watched with big surprised eyes as Sally was undressed right in front of them, diapered in a very thick diaper, and had a cute pair of soft yellow lined rumba panties and a cute little matching babydoll top with a kitten on the front put on her.

Sally's Nana finished up, her hands momentarily glowing as they self-sanitized. "Now then, how about you two little girls?" she asked. "Do either of you need a change?"

When Brandon and Trina shook their heads shyly no, the Nana said, "Well, I guess you're OK for now," her sensors detecting that their thick diapers would keep them quite comfortable for some time before leaking. "Playing with Miss Sally would seem to be indicated at this time."

"Yay!" said Brandon. "Sally you gotsa super fun playroom!"

"Awww thank yous," said Sally. The Nana had quietly withdrawn to the living room. "Let's play somefins! You like to make stowies wif Teddies?"

"Oooo how you do that?" Brandon asked.

"Like dis," said Sally. She picked up a nearby Teddy Bear. "Mr. Bobby Bear was goin' down ta the store to gets some bear candy. But he meeted Ms. Betsy Bear." She whispered, "That her over there," and pointed at another plushy bear near Brandon.

Trina picked up a large Teddy Bear and toddled over to Brandon and Sally. She plops on her thickly diapered hinny and says aadorably, "And Ricky Bear comesa long n wantsa play wif Bobby Bear."

Sally giggles, "Ms Betsy Bear might wanna come along n play too ya kno." The girl's look at each other for an instant before they both giggled.

Trina says, "Brandy ... what Ms Betsy gotsa say?"

Trina's attention strayed to a funny looking car. It was red with large googly eyes. When Trina pushed it, it made squeaky squawky silly sounds as lights lit up and its eyes rolled round and round. Trina giggles at the new toy. Brandon looks over to see what Trina had found .... it was obvious she wasn't paying attention to the first game.

Unknown to Brandon and Trina, an android sat at a large holo terminal and made personal fact entries into their Personality Profiles. For the duration of the visit with Sally ... that could take a lot longer than Brandon or Trina knew ... they were officially baby girls in the special care of Baby's of all Ages.

Soon the three baby girls were getting sleepy, and the Nana returned to change their diapers and put them into their jammies, pink and white for Brandon and yellow and white for Trina ... and a light green and white for Sally. The android carried them one by one into the bedroom, which now contained two new cribs and was ... bigger? Brandon and Trina were in too regressed a mental state to notice, though, and Sally knew that the walls were mobile and the floor plan was easily rearranged by hidden machinery. There was quiet soothing music, and the lights dimmed to a very gradually changing pattern of soft color, and it was impossible for any of them not to fall asleep and have lovely baby dreams. Sally loved to have those, and she hoped her new playmates Brandon and Trina would love them too.

Trina awoke as the Nana lifted her from the crib and brought Trina to her breast. The Nana cooed softly as she patted Trina's hinny, "Shhh, sweet heart. Nana will have your diaper changed and you all cleaned up in a jiffy."

Trina's mind had begun to clear slightly. She was still very infantile in her mind ... but she began to wonder why she was being carried.

Trina tries to speak, "Nanaaa, why comes u carry me? Amma big girl n can walks."

The Nana giggles softly as she replies, "I know sweet heart, but You waddle n toddle slowly and I have to get back to Brandy. Trina blinks as Nana lays her on her back and begins to remove her panties and diaper. As Nana holds her hinny off the ground by her ankles and cleans her with a soft, moist baby wipe, Trina could just see out the door and into the nursery. Brandon had just wakened and was using the crib rails to sit up.

Trina's eyes get big as she gasps softly at the intense sensation of Nana slowly pushing several large suppositories in her hinny. Nana then sets Trina's hinny in the soft embrace of a super thick diaper and pins it on. She threads her ankles through a clean pair of plastic panties and picked her back up. Nana carried Trina back into the nursery and set her on the floor in the middle of all the toys scattered around. Trina shivers as goose bumps rise all over her body. She could feel the suppositories as they once again began to regress her back to being a cute little 3 year old.

"Oh ..." said Brandon, rubbing his eyes, "I had a dream Trina ... was in the bored room at the boring place and was giving a presen-speecha-tation thing but then you and Miss Sally came and pulled my suit off and there was a baby dress under it and everybody was staring but I didn't care and you took my hand and we toddled away ..." He looked around. "Trina?" Then he looked into the other room and saw Trina getting a diaper change. "Ohhh it is changin time for babies."

He giggled. "I dunno if I needsa change or not," Brandon said, and it was true. He was having a hard time remembering how to tell the difference between a wet and a dry diaper, even though the drug had nearly worn off.

"Don't worry, Brandy," said the Nana, "you don't need to know that. I'm here to take care of that for you. You are a guest of Miss Sally, and she wants her guests to be very happy."

"Yay! Happy!" said Brandon.

He remembered how happy he had been on the cruise and thought how most of that had been because of Trina. He blushed as he thought of her and how happy thinking of her made him. He also thought about the strange computer mix up that had started it all, and realized that although he really hadn't liked it at first, it had become much more fun later. Then he realized that the Nana had picked him up and taken him to the changing table.

As the Nana cleaned him up and changed his diaper, he asked her, "Are we going to be back on the cruise soon, or are we staying with Miss Sally?"

"Shhh, don't you worry about that," said the Nana, "you're a guest of the company that owns the cruise line. If you want to continue your cruise, you can do that when the ship leaves in a day or two, or you can stay for a few weeks and get on the next ship, or on the one after that. Babies of All Ages will take care of you, so don't worry about a thing, OK?"

Just before she pulled his big thick diaper up, Brandon could feel the Nana slip something into his hinny again ... one, two, three somethings. He felt tingly all over, especially inside his head, and things started to get all fuzzy again.

"So just relax and enjoy Infantus, courtesy of your new friend Miss Sally."

Brandon didn't understand most of that sentence, except for the name "Sally." Like Trina, he was put in the playroom among all the wonderful toys, and his head was spinning as he tried to figure out whether he was a baby or an adult, and the drug made up his mind for him.

Trina Stands up with the help of the large rocking chair's rockers. Sally bounds in about that time ... all she was wearing was a hugely thick diaper and a pair of really cute chartreuse rumba panties with large white ruffles across her hinny.

Sally takes her thumb from her mouth and says with a bright giggle, "Goo morning baby. Hows u doin sugar bug?"

Trina blinks as she looks at Sally for a second. Trina turns and says to Brandon, "Is we ... babies? or is we big girls or sompin?"

Sally giggles as she bounces on her toes, "Why silly ... ur babies an onna mostus wunnerful stay wif me on Infantus. We gonna b babies n playmates togeevers."

Brandon began to clap his hands and giggle. Trina looked at Brandon for a second, before she too had gotten caught up in the moment and followed suit. It wasn't long before Sally had picked up a soft plushy doll and swatted Trina on her shoulder. Trina looked up with big surprised eyes. Just before she started to cry, Trina noticed a plushy kitty next to her. She picked it up and swatted Sally upside her head with it. Both girls screeched in the same manner at the same time as Brandon smiles at their antics. Sally and Trina see him snickering to himself. They look at each other for a second before both of them swat Brandon on each shoulder with their plushy dolls.

Brandon screeched and found a big plushy monkey to swing at Sally and Trina. He missed, but it didn't matter; they squeaked and giggled as they got out of the way. Soon Sally's personal Nana android had breakfast ready ... or was it lunch? ... or supper? ... Brandon and Trina didn't really have any idea what time it was, or what time was. They were fed in high chairs, as was Sally, and made quite a mess, but the Nana brought in some extra help and got the babies fed and cleaned up afterward.

After that, they were put in strollers and taken for a nice long walk around this part of Infantus City. To be honest, though, they didn't remember very much of it ... at least, not in the normal way. Babies don't form memories the same way adults or even older children do, and that's why most humans don't remember much about their infancy. The sights, sounds, smells and feelings went straight into their experience, so that later on, they would know how to get to those same places again, even if they wouldn't remember what the places were called or when they had been there.

Time passed, as it has a habit of doing, and Brandon and Trina had a lot of fun with Sally, but it all was somewhat blurred together into a constant flow of feedings, bathings, diaper changes, and playtime of one kind or another. They were given more of the baby drug at each diaper change, so they never had a chance for their thoughts to form back into coherent patterns. Until one day ...

Brand-something suddenly realized that he or she was in a park. He knew this park and was familiar with it, because she'd been here before, though he couldn't really remember what she'd done there before. His thoughts were cloudy but seemed to be clearing.

"I .. uh .. where are we?"

"Hi Miss Brandy," said Sally. She was standing up. Brandy seemed to be in a stroller. Birds chirped happily among the trees in the bright sunshine. But Sally seemed to be a bit serious. "My Mommy and Miss Debbie told me that it's time for you to choose."

"Choose ... what?" said Brandy. She was still uncertain what was going on. They had been having such a fun time for ... for ... for how long?

"Yea ..." Sally didn't look happy. "You gotsa decide whether you are gonna get on the ship to go to the next planet. Or ... stay wif me till the nextest one!" She smiled, bounced and clapped her hands at the thought of that.

That was right -- they had been on a cruise, hadn't they? But something had gone wrong, right? "Oh right," said Brandy. "What does Trina think?"

"She's still a baby for now, but she should be coming around in a little bit."

Trina was in fact in a nearby stroller, trying to catch some butterflies with her hands despite the fact that the butterflies were quite far away.

Sally askes in a cute shy voice, "I also wanted to ask you ..." Brandy nodded., "Well you usedta be Brandon, and Brandon was a grownup boy type person. But you can also be Brandy, who is a baby girl. Which one do you like better? 'Cause we can help you be Brandy if you want. We can help you on the ship too. It doesn't hafta be here." Sally sighed. "Mommy and Miss Debbie say that I gots other babies to help in other places."

"Well, I'm not sure," said Brandy, or Brandon, or ... it was hard to tell. "The life I knew as Brandon seems like somebody else, a long time ago. But it's only been about a week and half."

"Oh," said Sally, "About that ... umm you've been all baby Brandy for about ... I can't count that high." Her Nana whispered in her ear. "42 days."

"42 days!" shouted Brandon, surprised. "I -- I'm in trouble! I should have been back at work weeks ago! They must've fired me by now!"

"Do not worry," said Sally's Nana. "A doctor working for the company has sent an official letter to your employer stating that you were in need of extended medical leave due to high stress, and everything seems to be taken care of. You can return when you wish."

"Oh!" He relaxed a bit. His heart had been pounding and was now calming down again. "Maybe I do need that extended leave."

"Does that mean ... you wanna be Brandy?" asked Sally, looking hopeful.

"Well ... the fact is that I really like it," said Brandy. "When I'm a baby girl I feel free. I can run and play -- or crawl and play, at least. But to give up my whole life -- I'm not sure."

"That makes me happy," said Sally, smiling. "I want my friends to be happy! Now let's ask Trina if she wants to get back on the ship or stay here a while longer."

Trina looked down at how she was dressed. She was adorable as any little girl had ever been. The 3 of them ... looked exactly like sisters. Brandon and Trina were dressed as adorably as Sally.

Trina giggles, "It has been a lotta fun. My job is to explore new places and things .... and this is as different as it gets." She snuggles close to Brandon ... "I would sorta ... like to get to know you on a whole lot more personal level though." She leans over and gives Brandon a huge kiss on his cheek.

Trina takes Brandon's hand in hers and asks Sally, "How long is ... the company picking up the tab?"

Sally giggles delightfully as she bounces up and down and claps her hands, "Forevers n evers is ya wanna. The two of you makesa bestus playmates evers."

Trina says to Brandon softly, "If you're willing ... I'm willing. It was a whole lot of fun being a little girl again."

"Yay!" said Sally, bouncing up and down happily. "But ..." she sighed. "Mommy says there are other things I gotta do." She brightened up, however, when she added, "But there are other cute little babies I can help!" Then she looked sad again. "But that means I gots to say bye bye to you two." Then, happy again, she concluded, "But I can see you again soon!"

"What does that mean?" asked Brandy.

"I know!" Sally said. "You can get on the ship, and the next planet it visits, I'll see you there!"

"Oh! That sounds fun!" Brandy said. "But on the ship, would Trina and I be ...?"

"Oh, the ship computers would know you were adult babies now," Sally reassured him. "You'd be treated like you are here on Infantus."

"Oh. Oh!" said Brandy, remembering the baby drug and the amazing feelings it caused. He was blushing. "Trina ... what do you think? You and me ... back on the cruise ship ... together ... I know I like that idea." He was blushing even more.

Trina snuggles her adorable self up to Brandon and takes both his hands in hers as she says softly, "I would love to be your baby playmate on the ship ... and for a long time after if you're willing. "

Brandon blushes a deep shade of pink as Sally giggles delightfully. Sally says, Mmk sillys ... tha Nanas are in charge of you from now on. You gotsa obey Baby Rules. Is ok," she giggles more, "Cuz it'll be second nature."

Trina says to Sally, "Ok ... let's do it." Sally screeches with delight as she twirls around and around, showing off lots of her ruffled panties and thickly diapered bottom. The Nanas came up and took charge of Brandie and Trina and insured they were safely tucked into their hover strollers. Brandie and Trina waved bye bye to Sally as they were pushed off to board the Liner that was off to the Crayolian Nebula and the large Colony World there.

It wasn't long before the Nana was cooing softly to Brandie and Trina, "Don't be afraid children. We have to put you into cryosleep so we can enter Hyper Space. It only hurts a little bit as the Cryosleep equipment is attached to your bodies." Brandie and Trina were gently stripped nude. The wires and devises were stuck into their bodies. They felt it as the hot / cold fluid ran into their system and spread all through them. They were then laid on the beds and slid into the sleep chamber. The last thing either of them remembered before Nana removing them from the chamber, was her telling them to have very sweet dreams.

Brandy and Trina napped through the cryosleep withdrawal, and awoke a few hours later. They were in a crib. A crib for two. Together. Brandy was thickly diapered and in a cute light-yellow sleeper, and Trina seemed to also have a very thick diaper on and was in a pale lilac sleeper. Brandy's heart skipped a beat. She looked just amazingly adorable, especially lying there sleeping with her thumb in her mouth. Trina wakes slowly. She can feel the wonderful sensation of the infant suppositories inside her as they cause rushes all through her body. Trina realized things were slightly different this time. She sits up and looks all around the nursery with big eyes. She sees Brandy and says in a cute infant voice, "Hi silly. We different this time ... think we slightly older babies.

"Actually I asked for that," said Brandy ... or Brandon ... someday he would have to make a decision about that, he realized. "Too much of that stuff and, well, I miss the whole vacation."

"The concentration is easily adjusted," said the android Nana who had unobtrusively entered the room. "And you won't want to miss this leg of the voyage, either. We'll be passing through the Crayon Nebula."

"Pictures I've seen of it are beautiful," said Brandon. "So many colors! But I'll bet the pictures don't do it justice."

"Our course is plotted to bring us out of hyperspace at points chosen for their scenic beauty," said the Nana. "The first stop is tomorrow. For now, would you like some breakfast, little ones?"

Trina bounces up and down on her diapered hinny as she clapped her hands together. She said in an adorable baby squeak, "Yessss! Baby amid hungrys aww over. Tummy bein grumbly."

The Nanny robot laughs its tinkling laugh as she picks up Brandy and Trina in each arm, and carries them into another compartment. There were 2 pink high chairs with cute little clowns and balloons all over awaiting them. Nana places each of her precious charges in the seat, fastens the seat strap so they wouldn't fall out, then lowered the tray around them. It locked into place with a soft click.

Nana says in a soft coo, "Now, be good babies for Nana and I'll have your food in a minute."

The 2 of them giggle and squirm and kick their feet in joy as they watch Nana leave the room for a bit, only to return with 2 large plates with separate sections filled with different colored goo. She places a plate on each tray, then a large sippy cup that looked like a circus tent .. with the straw being the center tent pole. Nana sat in a close by chair, picked up a spoon in each hand, then scooped up several dabs of the colored goo and places it against their lips.

Trina pooched her lips up and made a face as she turned her head. She stops suddenly as she realizes how wonderful the goo actually tasted. She could taste roast beef, mashed potatoes, and the green goo was string beans. Trina's eyes get large in surprise as Nana completes putting the spoon in her mouth and scraping its contents off. Trina couldn't answer, her mouth was full of food. She nodes her head vigorously as Nana stuffs the last of the orange goo into her mouth. It had a wonderful cinnamon, yam flavor.

Nana coos in a giggly way as she washes Trina’s face with a soft wet cloth, "You are so adorable sweetie. You and your friend make such wonderful children, Sally was wondering if you would like to come and work in her office?"

Trina’s eyes get big as she looks at Brandy. Brandy looked back. Trina says softly, "Ummms ... can we think about it awhile?"

Nana giggles again as she cleans Brandy’s face, "Of course, this offer won't go anywhere. Sally is always looking for Adults who would like to accept Baby Rules and return to infant hood."

Trina asked Brandy, "Whacha thinks? It might bea adventure. Would b babies wiffa mostus famous baby inna uniberse."

"Yes, well ..." Brandon said, hesitating. The idea had some appeal. It had been very fun playing with Sally. But ... "Well, I'd kinda rather play wif the most beautiful baby in the universe -- and she's in this room." He blushed a bit, but he didn't feel like he was lying at all.

Trina looked at Brandon with surprised eyes as her face softly blushed a strawberry pink.

Nana giggles, "Isn't that so sweet? Trina and Brandy sittin inna tree ..."

Trina blushed darker pink as Nana took her and Brandon from the high chairs and carried them into the forward observation room. Out the view ports, reds, blues, greens, yellows, purples, and many mixes in-between swirled all around as the ship traveled through Hyper Space. Nana sat the two infants next to each other, "Now be good babies and play." Nana left several plushy dolls, several trucks, a pile of blocks, and some pixie stix.

Trina snuggles close to Brandy. She says softly, "Baby think ur sweet ... an kinna cute assa baby too."

She wraps her arms around Brandy's neck and gives him the sweetest little girl baby kiss on his cheek. Brandon's eyes get big as he now starts to blush crimson and pink. Brandon was very happy and felt like his face was glowing as brightly as the colors of hyperspace. He had no idea what to do. It was hard to tell the difference between what he felt when he was with Trina and what he had felt back on Infantus under the influence of a full dose of the baby drug.

But he recovered much more quickly from this. He found a dolly and held it up. "Look, this one is almostest as pretty as you! But not quite," he said. "Maybe she needs a new hairdo," he went on, taking the decorations out of the doll's hair so he could re-do them another way. "Nope, still not as pwetty as Tewina."

Brandon didn't even notice, but he was suddenly very caught up in playing with the doll. He was so fascinated that he didn't even notice the shifting colors of hyperspace, which would soon be replaced by the colors of the Crayon Nebula, which were reputedly even more splendid.

Terina, being under the influence of the powerful and selective regression drugs, began to crawl around the room Nana had left them in. Trina saw several padded benches. Above them was some kind of door. She managed to wiggle and crawl her way unto one of them and stand up, using the wall for support. As she pushes open the swinging door, her other hand pushes a green button. The computerized sensors analyzed who had pressed the button and determined the best place to take her. Trina feels a sudden and powerful sucking begin that pulls her into the tube. It was a wild roller coaster kind of ride. There were dark places, loops, falls, ups, downs, then suddenly, Trina found herself deposited in a rather large sand filled turtle.

She was still whimpering and had tears in her eyes as she realized the ride was over. She put her thumb in her mouth and surveyed the place. It was filled with play sets, swings, seesaws, places to make mud pies, Buckets for digging in the many sand turtles scattered all around, tricycles for babies to ride, and even bouncy balls with handles for them to bounce on. Terina looked behind her and realized, the door she came in was above her ability to reach now. She looked around and couldn't see any other way out from her perspective.

Brandon suddenly realized he didn't see Trina anywhere and felt worried. In fact ... he started to cry like a small child. He didn't find this surprising, and neither did the Nana. "Awww, Sweetie," it said, picking Brandon up easily, "what's wrong?"

"T-Tewina go b-bye-bye," he stammered out among his sniffles.

"Awww, don't worry, Honey, I know exactly where she is, and she's OK," said the Nana, drying his tears with a small towel, which Nanas always had plenty of. "She's just accidentally taken a transport tube to Playground 14-B. We can go find her again if you'd like," and Brandon immediately looked happier at this suggestion.

"All right, then," she said, gathering the toys into a carry-all at a speed only an android could attain, especially while holding a large-size baby. "Hop into the stroller, Brandy, and let's go."

Trina began to crawl around and look at this children's wonderland of delights. She came to a thing that looked like a water fountain. She realized she was sort of thirsty, so she used the pedestal to stand on her wobbly legs. As she bent over the spout, a red liquid began to flow. To Trina's surprise, it was Cherry HiC or something very similar. She giggles to herself and wonders if there might be more. Suddenly, the color of the liquid changes to a lime green. Ummm Lime Aid Cool Aid. Once again, it becomes a very dark amber ... soda pop!! This was amazing. Trina drank her fill of many types of sodas and juices before she sat once again.

Her tummy was filled and she was very happy she had discovered this magic fountain. Suddenly, she looks down between her legs as a very warm wetness began to spread around her hinny. Trina realized she was going potty. All that drink had gone right through her. She began to feel strange waves in her tummy as well, and then a pressure. Nothing she could do could prevent what happened. She could feel the mass as it oozed into the back of her diaper and squished around her bottom.

Trina sat in shock for just an instant as she remembered they were totally unpotty trained at this point. Trina couldn't help it ... her face wrinkled up and she did what babies do when they need an adult to change them ... she cried. Waaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!

Just then a door opened, and Brandon came through it, in one seat of a two-seat stroller, pushed by their Nana. To Brandon it looked as if they'd just gone outside, but actually they were just in a large room with cleverly disguised holographic walls.

"It sounds as if we're just in time," said the Nana.

"Poor Tewina," said Brandon. "She all sad an' stuff! She miss me?" he wondered.

"Probably," said the Nana, "but I know one reason why she's crying."

The android was unfolding a diaper changing kit. Then the Nana went over to Trina, picked her up, and talked to her soothingly. "There, now, poor little girl, we'll get you all fixed up right away, won't we? Here, just suck on this pacifier and let's go over to the changing mat."

Putting a pacifier into Trina’s mouth, the Nana carried her over to the changing mat and very efficiently got her all cleaned up. Soon she was in a fresh, clean diaper, even though the old one had already mostly cleaned itself.

Trina sat and patted the front of her new diaper. She could feel the wonderful sensation of the suppositories as they slowly melted in her hinny. Trina knew that if she continued to receive those treatments at the frequency she was getting them ... she would be in diapers for months after leaving this adventure. She looks up and sees Brandon sucking on a pacci and looking rather concerned. Trina felt a whole lot better now ... but she also wanted to get to know Brandon on a more ... adult level as soon as was convenient.

Brandon saw Trina looking happier and patting her fresh diaper, and he felt very happy to see her in a better mood. Then he saw her look up at him from the changing pad with a totally different expression in her eyes for a moment, one that made him blush and catch his breath. Trina was truly a captivatingly beautiful woman in addition to being an adorable baby.

Brandon felt the Nana android checking his diaper suddenly. "No," said the Nana, "you're fine for now. A bit damp, but nothing urgent."

Brandon blushed more, sucking his pacifier without thinking about it. He had no recollection of when his diaper had gotten wet, and, indeed, because of modern diaper technology, it didn't even feel wet.

"Would the babies like to play in the playground for a while, since we're here?" asked the Nana.

Brandon and Trina looked at each other and nodded. "Yeth Nana," said Brandon around his pacifier.

So he and Trina sat down in the nearby turtle-shaped sandbox in their special thick diapers for big babies and played in the sand. The environment was pleasantly warm in this room of the ship, so they were comfortable just wearing onesies. Trina scooped a large shovel full of sand into the hopper of the sand mill. The two of them giggled as the sand trickled down through a hole and turned the large wheel underneath. It made the sand fall into a soft pile that was perfect for making mud pies. Trina looked around ... her eyes got big as she noticed a small thingy that looked like it might bring water. She crawls over to it and pushes on the happy face at the top. Sure enough, a stream of water flowed into a trough. Trina gathered up a hand full of the water and splashed it on top of the pile of sand. It made runnels everywhere ... and enough so they could make pies. Trina began patting her first mud pie in many years and stuck a small stick like object in the top. It now looked like a black pancake with a candle in the middle.

Brandon made an oooooooh noise of amazement without really thinking about it and then started putting damp sand in a nearby bucket, turning it over to make a tower. Then he saw Trina’s pie.

"Oooo Twina maked sand pie!" he said.

He wasn't surprised anymore that what he said came out in baby talk when he didn't concentrate. Trina took her bucket over to the spigot and filled it almost to the top. She brought it back and started dumping hand fulls of sand into the bucket. She mixed it with her hands ... getting muddy to her elbows, before making a huge pile of mud pancakes all around her.

Trina giggles, "Ooooh ... makes nuff for breafas ... huh?"

Brandon looks at the pies and wrinkles his nose in an adorable manner, "Nuuuh unnhhh ... no eats those ... will tast gaa."

Trina and Brandon lock eyes for a second, before both of them break out in baby giggles. Trina says in her cute baby voice, "No eats em fur reals silly ... is pretend suffs."

Brandon looks at Trina, then at the pies, "Mmk ... longs we no gotsa eats em for reals ... is ok."

By the time the Nanabot had showed back up to check on her charges, Trina and Brandon had made many mud pies and many mud towers. Many of the towers looked really artistic. Some of the pies too for that matter. One even looked like a layer cake, complete with candles.

Nana bends over the mud cake and coos softly, "And ... who's birthday cake is this children?"

"Ummm is not my birfday," said Brandon. Trina was also shaking her head no. "It must be ... YOUR birfday!" he said, giggling.

"My birthday, hmm?" asked the Nana. "Well, well. Perhaps we should all have a party when we get you two babies back to your room."

"Party!" Brandon shouted, halfway getting up as if to run there. But he fell on his padded behind in the sand instead. "Whoa, oopsies!" he giggled.

Trina giggled pleasantly, "Ura baby silly ... we no can walks goo yet .. only sorta toddles."

Nana picks Brandon from the sand and pat, wipes the sand from his bottom. Nana coos softly, "If babies want to, can put you in the splashy pool and let you play with the rubber duckies. would you like that?"

Trina shrieks with pleasure at the prospect of going swimming. Nana removes all of Trina's clothes except for her diaper, before holding out her index fingers. Trina looks at the fingers for just a second before taking one in each hand. Nana lifts Trina into a standing position and does fingers with her all the way to the wading pool. Nana helps Trina into the water where she begins to splash and kick her feet.

"Wheeee!!" giggled Trina as she made more and more splashes in the water. Nana returned and placed several floaty toys in the pool for the babies. Several rubber duckies, several boats of cute designs, a ball, and a large toy snake looking critter.

The Nana had also undressed Brandon except for his diaper, and carried him to the wading pool too. The water from the pool didn't seem to be able to get into his diaper, just as the sand hadn't -- the technology of modern diapers was quite advanced. Brandon was comfortably sitting in the water and playing with a toy Iodrian aqua-bunny, which squeaked and hopped around on the surface of the water.

The Infantus regression drug was at a lower concentration, but it was enough to make it equally likely that he would be fascinated in the toys as in Trina’s bare chest. He was in a bit of a confused mental state, partly grownup, partly juvenile, and it was actually a bit upsetting for him. So he decided to focus on the toys, hoping Trina wouldn't be somehow offended.

Trina took one of the toy boats and pushed it under the water. She giggles as many bubbles rise to the surface. She then takes it from under the water and hold it up over Brandon's head. A Cascade of water pours out, inundating Brandon with water.

Trina giggles, "Makes ua water baby ... huh?"

Brandon looks at Trina for a second, before splashing her with a large bucket full of water that he had brought with him for then sand box.

"Now now, be gentle, babies," said the Nana. "Play with the toys as they were meant to be played with, or I'll have to take them away."

"Awwww," said Brandon. But he picked up the aquabunny, squeezed it slightly, and sent it squeaking and bouncing toward Trina, where it hopped in a circle around her. Trina's eyes get big as her infantile mind saw the cute little water bunny. She shrieks with glee as she tries to catch the fast moving bunny. She splashes and falls over into the warm water ... causing Nana to bend over at super speed and lift Trina from the water and hold her to her chest.

Nana coos softly, "Is baby ok? Did you get hurt?"

Trina says adorably, "No, Nanas ... baby no gots hurteded ... jus gots wet an dunkted my head unner tha waters."

Nana carefully put Trina back into the water as she coos, "I just don't want you to get hurt is all. You're my children as long as we are on this flight."

--------------------------------------
~~ The End - Pt3 ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt4 ~~
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The aquabunny was just hopping in place. "I sowwy Tewina," said Brandon, wading over to her, "I just wanted you to has fun playin wif the water bunny fingie too."

He hugged her in the warm water and artificial sunlight. Brandon yawned. He didn't mean to, but suddenly he felt all tired. He'd had enough experience with the regression drug, though, that he knew it made him sleepy during the day so he would have to take naps like a little child ... at the same time it made it hard to remember that he wasn't a little child physically.

"Oh goodness, are the babies tired?" Nana had caught Trina yawning too. "Let's get you dried off and back to your crib for nap time."

"Awwwww," said Brandon, "wanna play more." So did Trina.

"No, it's nap time now. More playing after nap time, little one," said the Nana, easily picking him up and putting him in the stroller.

The android put Trina in the stroller too, and soon they were on their way back to their nursery. When Trina awoke much later, she found an empty bottle lying next to her. Her diaper was soaked and she needed a change really bad. Trina sat up in the crib and saw Brandy lying next to the Large Teddy Bear and sucking his thumb adorably. Trina stood, with the help of the bed rail, and looked around the nursery. She could feel the cold clammy wetness in this particular diaper. It was one designed to give the wearer a droopy hinny experience if they wet it. Trina looks behind her and sees her bottom as it sagged. Without warning, the Nan had arrived silently and pulled open the back of Trina’s diaper.

Nana coos softly, "I see baby needs to get changed." Nana bends and checks the still sleeping Brandon ... he too was wet.

Nana coos softly as she picks Trina up and carries her off, "Don't worry sweet heart, Nana will have you changed and all comfy in a jiffy."

Brandy awoke a few minutes later ... she was having a dream about playing in a beautiful nursery with another beautiful baby girl ... but then she realized that her diaper was soaking wet and started to cry ... and then she woke up, not crying, but definitely soaking wet, and the Nana was setting Trina back in the crib next to her.

"Oh, Trina!" she said. "I was having the loveliest dream! And you were in it! We were both baby girls in a beautiful nursery ... and it kind of came true too!" She giggled. Then she frowned a bit. "What's going on?" she said. "I feel confused ..."

"Come on, baby, time for you change," said the Nana, picking Brandy up and carrying her to the changing table. "Soon we're going to have to put you into cryosleep for the drop out of hyperspace. We're getting close to the first scenic view point."

"Ohh tha colors are gonna be so pwetty!" she said as Nana changed her diaper with android efficiency and put her into another quite thick diaper.

The used diapers went to a central processing facility where they were sanitized and their chemical reservoirs emptied; their nanobots were recycled and reused.

"Most seem to agree that it's one of the most beautiful places in the known universe," said the android, putting the finishing touches on Brandy's change and carrying her back to the crib, setting her next to Trina.

Trina took the soft plushy doll she had in her hands and swatted Brandon playfully. She then grabbed the baby blanket and pulled it over her head.

She says with a giggle, "Am inbisables ... u no can seeee meeee."

Brandon looks round the crib. The only doll left, was a rather large plushy snow leopard. Brandie picks it up and boinks Trina on her head through the blanket. Trina gasps softly as she gets boinked.

She says in a pouty voice, "No fairs ... am inbisables ... u no can see me."

Brandie giggles, "Nopes ... no can sees u ... butta snow leopard hasa goo nose n can smell ur baby powders."

Trina giggles as she comes from under the blanket and swats Brandie one more time with the soft plushy doll.

She says playfully, "take that , oh ferocious hunter."

"Oh, you silly babies," said the Nana. "Here, let me show you something."

The entire opposite wall of the nursery suddenly changed from being a colorful menagerie of baby animals from around the galaxy to a colorful space-scape. Clouds of multicolored gases and dust were everywhere, inhabited by tiny young stars glowing blue-white.

"This is a picture of the Crayon Nebula," said the android.

"Ooooooo," said Trina and Brandy.

"The real thing, most say, is even more beautiful. And we'll see it soon. It's a strange combination, both a birthplace and graveyard of stars, with clouds of many different types of gases and a wide variety of mineral dusts, with various sorts of radiation ionizing everything into different states ..."

Brandy and Trina were tickling each other, so the Nana stopped explaining.

Trina gave Brandon a cute little kiss on his cheek. She asked shyly, "when ... umm >>blushes pink<< we done playin ... u gonna b upset is u gots change me fora while? No think it gonna wears off soon."

Brandon looks at Trina with big eyes. He still thought she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen .... even in his regressed state.

He giggles and says in an adorable voice, "Baby would love ta change baby ... forevers is we gotsa."

Trina giggles as she hugs Brandon's neck.. It was then she noticed the whole wall had become this beautifully swirling mass of multicolors. She went to her all 4s then stood up on wobbly legs and toddled over to the wall.

Trina gurgles, "Ooo ... baby makes art onna wall."

"There might be just enough time," said Nana, and the wall changed to white. "Pat the wall, sweetie," the android told Trina.

Trina put her hands on the wall, partly to try it out, and partly to hold herself up. When she moved her hands, though, it left hand prints, one green, the other orange. She squealed with glee and started making more hand prints, each one turning out a different color. Brandy wanted to try too and came over to join in. Soon the wall was covered with colored marks and smears.

"Well, little ones, we have to put you in cryosleep so the ship can stop, OK? So it's time to go for now ... but we can do this more later if you want!" said the Nana, who was answered with disappointed "awwww" sounds.

Nana took hold of Trina’s hand, then gathered Brandy in her other hand. Nana coos softly, "Come along babies, we need to hurry so you are fast asleep when the time comes."

She slowly leads the toddling infants out of the room and down a long hall. Trina and Brandy looked at all the activity all around them with big wondering eyes. Many of the passers stopped long enough to coo to them and pat them on their diapered hinnys, before rushing off. Nana lead them down the long hall and into the Crysleep room. There was another Android in the room that started removing the baby's outfits and diapers while their personal Nana prepped the Tubes. Their personal Nana turns from the control panel after typing in commands and scoops up the now nude Trina and places her on the table that had slid from the cryotube. Trina shivers. The top of the padded and sheeted table felt cold to her tender nude skin. Nana applied all the wires and many tubes. Somehow, this all seemed familiar to Trina ... although she couldn't put her finger on how. Nana smiles and clasps her hands together.

Nana says in a soft reassuring coo, "Sweet dreams baby. When you awake, we will show you one of the amazing wonders of the universe in all of its splendor." She kisses Trina on her forehead ... the table slides into the tube.

Brandy was nude too, giving her the time to realize what was wrong -- she was not really a little girl. She wasn't sure why she felt like one, but she still did, even with evidence to the contrary. But there was no time to think about it, because Nana came over and secured her to the table with all the wires and tubes, and she quickly went to sleep, vaguely remembering Nana whispering to her about how pretty it would all be. It didn't seem like any time had passed when they both woke up, on tables that had already slid back out of the tubes, and Nana was busily diapering Brandy thickly and dressing her up in a pretty white baby dress with soft booties and lacy white gloves. The android then fastened the still-groggy Brandy into the baby stroller and quickly went over to see to Trina.

Trina blinks confusedly as she wonders ... when they are supposed to sleep? Nana bends over Trina and diapers her thickly too. She helps Trina stand on her wobbly legs as she holds out a cute white terry cloth romper that had 3 rows of thick ruffles on the bottom, and small periwinkle lace trim around the legs and bib. Trina holds onto Nana for balance as she steps into the romper, one foot at a time. Nana pulls the romper up and ties the bib behind her neck. Nana kneels down and helps Trina into a cute pair of matching softsox booties and turned the tops down so the embroidered Love Bug would show.

Nana asks, "Ok, babies, are you all ready to see one of the most beautiful wonders of the universe?"

She takes Brandy and Trina by the hands and slowly walks the dazed duo over to a hovering stroller. She picks them up and places them into the wonderfully soft seat that immediately conformed to their bodies. Nana took hold of the guidance handle at the rear, and enabled the strollers forward motion circuit. The babies screech with delight as it surges down the hall, with their personal Nana riding on a pair of wheels that had come from her feet.

The Nana pushed them through hallways and up and down ramps to the main observation deck. There was a vast concourse with what looked like marble floors, punctuated here and there by polished granite planters filled with exotic flowers from around the galaxy, around which were comfortable benches. Here and there were playpens for babies, watched over by both parents and vigilant Nana androids, and there were a few larger playpens for the big babies as well. Overhead, though ... overhead they could see directly into space as if nothing was there at all, but of course there were multiple layers of perfectly transparent carbon-niobium polymer holding in the air and keeping out the radiation and micro-meteoroids.

What they could see ... was fantastic. The ship hadn't yet entered the Crayon Nebula, but it had been positioned to turn this entire side toward it, and it filled almost the entire sky. It was composed of blotches of every color that nature could produce, some of them slowly changing. As the Nana found a playpen for her two recuperating charges, Brandy and Trina were staring upward at the Nebula in wonder, as was nearly everyone else, except for the android crew, of course. If they felt a sense of wonder, it wasn't a visual sense.

Trina says in an adorable voice, "Ohhh, Bwandy. Mus bea biiig baby there makin huge messy art onna sky."

Brandy looked at Trina for a second before she giggled, "Ohh ... hopes it no getsa spakins for tha mess."

Both of them look at each other for a second with adorable big eyed expression, before they burst into giggles. Brandon looks back up into the miasma of wonderful ever changing colors ... and noticed something odd. Something within his mind came into very clear focus as he looked hard at the Stygian black anomaly he thought he saw.

A recording was playing ... a famous actor was reciting a poem that a famous poet had written upon seeing this nebula for the first time through a telescope, centuries ago ... but then a hushed whisper rippled through the crowd. "Don't think that is usually part of it" ... "but its colors are always changing, part of its beauty" ... "What could that be?" ... "suppose something is wrong?"

Brandy just looked at it -- a streak of wispy blackness, like a charcoal mark against the colorful canvas. It could have been just a dust cloud, except that it moved against the background. More whispers in the crowd ... "to be visible at this range it has to be longer than even a large star is across" ... "it's moving very quickly relative to the Nebula" ... "what's it doing?"

Then another voice came booming over the excellent sound system. "This is the Captain speaking," said a deep, calm voice -- of course his voice was calm, as he was an android, like his crew. "I am sure you have noticed the anomalous dust cloud passing between us and the Nebula. This has never before been observed, and we should count ourselves lucky, to be able to witness yet another of the Nebula's wonders."

Suddenly, the "dust cloud" changed direction and darted like a snake directly into the Nebula, disappearing from view. More murmurs ... "was like a startled snake, turning and hiding" ... "must have moved at half light speed" ... "did it see us?"

Brandy looked at Trina, who looked troubled. "Tewina seened it bfore?" he asked. But she shook her head no.

Trina had a tingle of fear within her. What ever that thing was ... it seemed to invoke nothing but bad thoughts within her. As a matter of fact, the troubling thoughts of something she saw many, many years ago were such that the baby protocols began to fade from her mind. She looks at Brandy and says softly, "I dunno what it was ... but is scares me so that I loosing tha baby stuffs."

"I know what you mean, Tewina," said Brandon. "It scawy ... make me wanna be big. But ... it pwobly justa dust comet or somefin."

Many passengers stayed on the observation deck for a while, hoping to get another glimpse of the strange phenomenon, but as minutes stretched into an hour, it didn't reappear. The sky was still amazingly beautiful, though, and Brandon and Trina calmed down and started to play again. "Look Tewina," said Brandon, pointing upward, "that bluey whitey cloud look likea birdie."

Trina giggles as she points of in another direction, "An that one looks like a big crawly purkles n red bug." Brandon nods as he looks. For an hour, the babies sat and pointed out various critters and objects that appeared in the Crayola Nebulous Cloud. All the colors swirled and twisted and mixed to form many other exotic colors and shapes. Soon, the babies personal Nana had reappeared and checked both of their diapers. They both were only slightly wet ... not enough yet to worry about. Nana gave them both a very large cookie of their choice and a sippy cup of their favorite juices. Many of the passengers marveled at the children and wondered what species they belonged to. It was sort of unusual for many of the passengers to see infants that size.

Finally Nana gathered the children up and cooed softly to them as she pushed them off in the hover stroller, "It's time for din din and then back into the Hyper sleep chamber for our next jump. There, we will be totally immersed in the Nebula's awesome colors and energy patterns.

Brandon and Trina chattered happily to each other as they were buckled into their high chairs, and their Nana recruited another android to help feed them. The two babies tried to keep talking to each other while this was going on, but they kept finding their mouths full, which led to a lot of spilled food and giggling, messy babies.

After they were fed and cleaned up, the Nanas changed the babies' diapers, and then it was time for the cryosleep tubes again. Brandon almost felt like crying when they were separated. He had been having so much fun, and it looked like Trina had been too. Soon Brandon was in the sleep tube and felt everything fading away ...


Trina screeched and fussed as Nana prepped her for cryosleep. She lay on the tray as it slid into the tube. She felt a very hard chill run thought her ... and then she was playing with Brandon in a super huge playpen filled with every toy a baby could dream of. And Trina ... had a very vivid imagination and could think of many kinds of toys.

Trina opens her eyes and blinks. She sees the smiling face of Nana standing over her. Nana coos in a sing song voice, "There's my little princess. Did baby have a nice sleep and beautiful dreams?"

Trina nods as best she could. She was still very groggy from the cryosleep. Nana coos softly as she pushes Trina down a hallway and into a nursery. When Nana placed Trina in the playpen, Trina saw Brandon was already there. She snuggles up to him and hugs him as she once again drifts off into natural sleep as the cryo chemical wore off.

Brandon was also quite out of it because of the aftermath of cryosleep, but he thought he saw Trina come in. He babbled something incoherent but happy at her, and put his thumb in his mouth as she cuddled up next to him and they both fell asleep. Later, Brandon woke up to find Trina still there with one arm around him and the other thumb in her own mouth, sucking very slowly in her sleep. A more adorable sight would be hard to imagine. But after he lay there watching her for a few minutes, she began to stir, and her eyes fluttered open.

Trina sees Brandon looking at her as her eyes open. She sits up and looks around the nursery. She gives Brandon a big hug and the sweetest baby kiss you ever saw.

Trina says shyly, "Seems we ... where ever they wuz takin us." She puts her thumb in her mouth for a few sucks, "Hopes Nana comes back wiff sompina eats .. baby's tummy aww empy n gumbly.

About that time, both of their tummy grumble loudly. The babies grab their tummys and look at them with big eyes for a few seconds ... then at each other ... then burst into giggles.

Trina says with a giggle, "Seemsa critter stuck in my tummy. It growly n stuffs." Brandon giggles again as both of their tummy growl again ... only this time a whole lot softer.

Their Nana came to them along with a second one, this one in a green outfit contrasting with their regular Nana's blue, and both androids quickly got Brandon and Trina into their high chairs once again.

"Do the sweet little ones want to see the pretty sky colors again? I bet they do! They're even closer up now. But first here are some num nums!" cooed the androids.

The Nana's sat and began to feed the infants. Of course, both Trina and Brandon thought this was more a game than serious meal time. By the time the Nanas had emptied the baby plates, there was more on the babies that in them. From their faces to their hands were total messes. Of course, Trina and Brandon didn't mind in the least as they began to toss extra food stuffs around the room. The Nanas quickly subdued this and cleaned both of the infants up squeaky clean, and had them in the hover stroller on the way to the large observation deck. When the door to the observation deck opened, a massive swirl of many indescribable colors flashed all around in a kaleidoscopic panorama of untold beauty.

As Brandon and Trina went past, pushed along in their twin hover stroller, other passengers were looking out at the sight and talking about it. "Most nebulae that look beautiful through telescopes only look like that because of false color or long exposure times," said one stuffy-looking balding man. "This is one of the few that is truly spectacular to see up close."

"Really?" said an impressed-looking woman with an intricate hairdo and a blue-green dress decorated with Riedran crystal leaves. "I do wonder if we'll see that strange dark phenomenon again."

"Oh yes," said the man. "Most likely a fragment from another system, moving as fast as it was relative to this one, dark against the bright background. Unlikely for us to be here to see it enter ..."

"I saw it change direction like a fish in water," said a young man with a blond beard. "As if somebody had tapped on the aquarium."

"Nana, is it dangerous?" asked Brandon.

"Now, don't worry, baby," said the Nana. "We've never seen it before, but we don't think it's dangerous."

By this it meant that the ship's vast database of interstellar phenomena had no record of any such thing, and the chances were small that it was anything that would harm the ship or its passengers. But how could they say, when they didn't even know what it was?

They reached one of the play areas, and the Nana released them from their stroller into the fenced-in space, which was equipped with adult-sized baby swings and a slide, as well as a playpen-like area full of toys. Trina began stacking her blocks and making a large tower as Brandon watched with big eyes. He itched to knock it down, but wasn't really sure what Trina would do about it. Suddenly, a large shadow crossed the floor. The wonderful colors of the nebula dimmed radically as it passed the large window of the playroom.

Trina looked up in wonder. She sees what looks like an extremely large thunder cloud filled with many arcs of lightning rapidly moving past. She points and says. "Lookit there ... is storm or sompin in space?" Brandon swivels around just in time to see the last of it as it passed. Suddenly, all the lights within the ship flickered and the artificial gravity fluctuated just enough to give everyone a queasy stomach. Trina screeches in terror as she and Brandon hug each other. The Nana's had experienced a momentary laps in their functioning and memories. Their memory cores registered the anomaly and suggested they all report to the maintenance shop for diagnostics and possible repair.

"What was it?" asked a young woman nearby, all dressed in white, including white lipstick and eye makeup, which was the latest fashion in the Taygeta system.

"Big dark cloud wif lightning inside," said Brandon to her.

The woman smiled. "Thank you, adorable child," she said to Brandon, "but really, does anybody know anything?" she continued to ask, moving away from the play area toward other groups of people and crew androids.

"Is what it was," Brandon said to Trina, shrugging his shoulders.

Trina nodded. It was true. None of the passengers or android crew members knew any more than that.

"You OK, Nana?" Brandon asked.

"I am running a diagnostic in a background process," the Nana responded, "but so far all systems seem nominal. There was an electromagnetic disturbance that momentarily disrupted sensors and data recording. An upgrade to improve insulation around that equipment has been suggested."

In his partially regressed frame of mind, Brandon didn't follow all of that, but at least she was talking to him, which made things seem better. Off in the near distance, an angry looking dark cloud filled with electrical pyrotechnics gathered itself. There were many long arching bolts of super hot plasma all around the cloud that resembled golden rings with globes that resembled jewels from some exotic place moving along the arcs.

Trina points and says to Brandon, "Lookit ... is almost pwetty." Brandon looks up and watches as the cloud seems to hover just of the beam of the ship.

The Nana crew began to experience problems. Their super advance processing cores began to loose the nano neural connectivity necessary for them to function properly. Many of the android crew began to experience ... what would be called in humans .. psychosis. Once again, the ship began to experience massive fluctuations in its power grid as the many systems began to malfunction due to brownout conditions.

As the lights once again flickered in the playroom, Trina looked at Brandon with big eyes and says with fear in her voice, "It ... mad at us for some reason."

Brandon says with surprise, "Why comes?"

Trina shrugs her shoulders and replies, "Jus is ... it makina ship ... go bad."

All around them they heard passengers becoming uneasy and frightened. "What's happening?" "It's making the ship malfunction!" "How?" And at the same time, the android crew were unhelpful, saying things like, "Malfunction, data error." "Please do not panic." "You are in no danger." "Emergency protocols in five ... four ..." "Please ... panic." "You are in ... danger."

"N-Nana?" asked Brandon.

"W-we caretakers who are put in ch-charge of children are ... b-better insulated but feeling the effects," said the Nana. "R-recommend retreat to p-place of safety to protect children." Moving somewhat jerkily, it brought the hover stroller over and tried to gather Brandon and Trina into it.

"Should we get in?" Brandon asked just as there was a massive upheaval knocking everyone off their feet -- either something had struck a massive blow to the ship, or a huge power surge had just gone through the artificial gravity.

"We should get in," said Trina. "It has its own stabilizers and drive system."

So both of them got into the stroller, and the Nana fumbled to secure them in, following its primary programming of protecting its charges at all costs.

Panic was ensuing. Passengers were running for the doors to go below decks, and the crew were mostly milling about unhelpfully and basically acting psychotic. There started to be shouts and screams.

This was apparently enough for the bridge crew AI. "This is the captain speaking," boomed the voice, which seemed to come from everywhere. "Initiating emergency jump. We apologize in advance for the momentary disorientation and minor injury some may experience. Emergency jump in five ... four ... three ... two ... one ..."

There was a reason why life forms were usually not only below decks, but also in cryosleep, during hyperspace jumps. Unfortunately, the passengers discovered what this miserable state of affairs was all about the hard way. Without warning, all through the ship, the biologicals that were awake and not in the sleep chambers felt something grab them deep within their very essences. What looked like massive bolts of energy began to dance and writhe across every surface as the biological's skin began to feel like it was being torn from their bodies. Everything began to make this long ... stretch while at the same time compressing in on itself leaving no room for anything. Their minds turned inside out and they began to loose what little of their their mind were left as it became impossible for it to function under those circumstances. Time inverted and twisted sideways and backwards at the same time, seeming to rip the biological's bodies to their constituent atoms.

Then ... a sudden shift in perspectives as all eternity filled the small spaces that made up their minds. The pain was horrid as they lost consciousness. When they awoke finally, their bodies ached badly in places they hadn't even realized they had places as their heads pounded like a nuclear war was in progress. As they became more aware of their surroundings, they had jumped several light years away from their other location in the Crayola Nebula and now were in some kind of weird sparkly energy vortex intermingled with all the wonderful colors of the nebula that appeared unlike anything they had charted before. As passengers lay on the floor and twitched, their brains trying to return to normal function after the massive neural shock that hyperspace produced, android crew members were still malfunctioning, damaged by the unknown phenomenon's energy surges. Even the Nana was having problems.

"N-Nana unit function c-c-compromised," it was saying, barely comprehensible. "Sssssshhutting downnnnnnn."

"Nana?" Brandon asked, but there was no response. The Nana was slumped against a bench, unmoving.

"W-why comes we talkin an' stuff when evrybody else onna floor?" Brandon asked Trina.

Emergency crew immediately appeared on deck to assist passengers and to carry off malfunctioning androids for repair and rebooting. The emergency androids also appeared to be having issues .... but they were minor. Trina sees a very dark shadow cross the floor once again. She looks up through the large Armorplast view window and sees the angry cloud sitting poised off their new beam. Trina wiggles from the hover stroller and crawls over to the large view window and puts her hands and face against it.

She says softly, "Why comes u attackeded us? We no done nuffin ta u. We jus love alla beauty ofa place ... is unique inna whole uniberse."

The massive lighting bolts and rings of plasma seemed to fade. Trina was amazed as she saw it become once again like a big black dust cloud against the sparkly energy and many colored background. For long minutes, nothing happened.

Trina turned and looked at Brandon, "It ... no seemsa b angry no more."

The cloud seemed to gather itself together into a more compact clump, then rushed off in one direction, then another, as if unsure what to do. The two babies' hover stroller seemed to have been flung far across the observation deck, protecting them, as their Nana had intended. But now they were up against the transparent metal shell of the observation deck, which in other places curved high overhead.

The cloud centered itself right in front of the two of them. "It knows we here," said Brandon. "It hear you! Hi Mr Big Cloud!" said Brandon, waving out the window. "Please no hurt us no more! We just here to look at the pwetty colors! We sowwy if we bother you!"

The cloud slowly moved toward them. Its edge was soon overlapping the ship, but it wasn't causing tremors or malfunctions.

"Ooo! Tewina! Maybe it come closer to hear us betters!" said Brandon.

Trina put her face to the cold armorplast of the observation window and said, "Why comes u hurt us? We no done nuffin ta u. Wiffout alla tha stuffies onna ship workin ... us babies could gets ... hurt or worser."

Brandon nods his head as he slips his thumb into his mouth. The 2 of them seemed to notice the cloud acted as if it was trembling for a few minute. Then, within their minds ... they heard a soft voice speak, "Who ... are you? You ... are different than the ... others?"

Trina giggles and says softly, "Amma baby. Names Twina." she points to Brandon and says, "He Bwandon ... my baby fwiend. Me wuvs him lots n lots."

Trina couldn't help herself, she had seen Brandon sucking his thumb and just had to. The cloud seemed to wrap itself around the section the infants were watching from.

Trina asked Brandon with a bit of fear, "You ... think it ... mad at us agin or sompin?"

"I dunno Tewina," Brandon said. "I fink maybe it --"

"Baby," came the voice in their minds. "Baby. Juvenile life form." It was as if it was explaining the concept of babies to itself. "Are you children of your species?"

"Um," began Brandon, not sure how to explain this, "kinda? We usedta be grown up but we takin' a break to be babies for a while."

"Babies ... for a while?" the voice repeated, sounding confused. "Impossible. And even if it were possible, why would you do such a thing? Are you mentally deficient? Are you insane?"

--------------------------------------
~~ End - Pt4 ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt5 ~~
--------------------------------------

"No," said Brandon, "I dun fink am cwazy anyway. But I gotsa job and it fulla stress and so I got in this boat to relax. Then I founded out about bein' a baby. Never relaxed so much before ever. Stress all gone now."

"Stress?" asked the voice. "What is that? Show me."

Brandon felt something in his mind, a questioning, probing sensation. So he tried to help by remembering some particularly stressful days at work, which were oddly distant and not emotionally difficult to think about. Days when four clients needed his attention urgently at the same time. Days when one mistake could cost a client millions of galacticreds. Days when he was working as hard as he could, but his boss wanted more.

The thoughts of the entity came back with all too familiar feelings: a hunger for a particular type of ionizing radiation to stimulate its metabolism, needing to find a source of it before its body became starved for nutrients. Searching for others of its kind among the stars, sending out communications, not knowing when or if they would ever be answered.

Trina sat back with big eyes as these new feelings filled her mind. Deep within her mind .. almost lost to her conscious thoughts ... was a memory of a place outside the galactic plain. A certain type of pulsating, counter clockwise rotating singularity that only a few people like Trina had ever witnessed in person came forward in an all too real vision. Trina screeched in fear as for an instant, she felt she was actually there once again hanging in fee space.

The entity's voice sounded softly, "You ... have been to the place of origin?"

Trina blinks as her vision clears and the observation area came back to view. She says softly, "I ... have been there before ... when I was a cadet in school. We had an engine malfunction and it took us there by accident."

The entity's soft voice took on a bit of urgency and anticipation as is asked, "Do, you ... remember where that place is?"

Trina tried very hard to remember where that place had been. It had been so long ago ... and she was just barely more than a girl at the time. She felt the gentle probing sensation slowly creep into her deepest thoughts. To her amazement, she also remembered seeing many such ... black anomalous clouds all around the singularity. All of them seemed to move independently of the gravity well. Another thing ... the ionizing radiation the entity sought ... was more than abundant at that location. In fact ... it created a serious hazard while they had made repairs.

Trina’s pretty face began to crease with concentration. She was sure she had seen the navigator’s panel while she was on the bridge. Within her mind came a certain Asro-navagation setting ... 099-005-132.7 The entity seemed to tremble with joy. It had found the first evidence ... it was not alone.

It said softly to Brandon and Trina, "How ... do you navigate through space? Obviously there has to be a point of origin and destination."

Trina replied, "The point of origin was 099 ... on the galactic astrochart. 132.7 is the point at which the ship emerged from hyperspace."

Brandon piped up, "They have a complete chart on the bridge at the Stellar Cartography board."

"So alone," said the voice. "For so long."

"It so sad!" said Brandon, almost crying. "You no gots fwiends or family or nuffing!"

"Friends ... family ..." the voice nearly moaned in sadness. "I had almost forgotten these things existed. Can you show me the way? The way to the Place of Origin?"

"Could maybe have," said Brandon, "cept now alla androids is broke an' we gots no Nana. They gonna get 'em fixed soon though. We help you! If you wait for fings to gets fixed up."

"I will wait, but do not leave," said the voice. "I am sorry now that I caused so much damage. I did not know you were ... friends."

Time passed slowly as the ship's auto repair cycle did its job. All the while, Trina and Brandon happily talked with the entity. It had never encountered anything like these 2 before in its many centuries of existence. Their minds were very sharp. They were quite intelligent ... but were also children in the purest sense of its understanding of what that meant.

Finally, a Nana came into the observation room and gasped softly when it saw Trina and Brandon with their faces against the cold armorplast observation window ... and the dark cloud wrapped around the ship outside. It rushed up as if to snatch them from where they were seated, but stopped ... and observed them in the last instant. Something told her they were in no danger what so ever.

Trina looks around and coos happily, "NANA!! ur back!" she giggles as she bounces on her thickly diapered hinny, "We gotsa new fwend n he needs our help."

For the very first time since the Nana's activation, its central core didn't have a clue as to how to proceed. It quires the main Processing Center in the heart of the ship for suggestions. The return reply was, "Do as the infants suggest."

The Nana bends and coos softly, "Ok, sweet heart ... what is it you need ... us to do?"

Trina giggles as she says softly, "Need u ta take tha ship to tha coordinates, 099-005-132.7. There'll hafta bea point of origin correction for this one , but am sure we can do it."

The Nana seemingly went inert for several seconds as the data was transferred to the navigators controller.

Finally, the android said, "Now, Sweetheart, I'm just making sure -- you're certain those are the right coordinates? They're far off the galactic plane, in a distant globular cluster, and nothing very much is known to be there."

Trina nodded, and Brandon said, "She is wight! The poor alien out there is all lonely an' gots no family or fwiends but they live out dere. Dunno how it got here ... was long time ago ..." Brandon's eyes seemed to glaze over as the entity told him what it remembered. "It was little then ... it was wif its family ... but somefin' bad happened ... it gotted left behind ... that all it 'members."

"Well, the Captain thinks it would be best in the long run to show it the way home," said the Nana, meaning that the A.I. running on the massively parallel supercomputer at the ship's core had calculated that the greatest possible chances of the ship's survival were achieved by following this plan. "There are still a lot of repairs to be made, but you can tell your friend that once everything is ready, we'll give it a ride home."

Trina and Brandon sat with their hands and faces against the aromorplast observation window. The 2 of them explained everything to their new friend and told it to find a place where it can hold on. As best they could, they explained about hyperspace, and the strange effects it had on humanoid life forms. During the conversation, the entity explained to them how to avoid the effects they used Cryo-sleep to avoid in the future.

To their total amazement, it involved nothing more that introducing a small quantity of the regression drugs that had already been used on them. The effects would be short enough it wouldn't interfere with the passengers except they would still have to be placed in a lying down or reclined seated position during the transition. The effects would wear off rapidly due to the small amount of the chemical used.

Shortly, Nana returned. The infants told her what the entity had told them. A real expression of surprise came across her android face. She said softly, "So, that's why you and Brandy weren't effected by the emergency hop we did earlier."

The infants nodded and giggled with glee as the Android transferred her new data to the main Neural Net.

Soon, all was in readiness for this jump. No ship had ever intentionally jumped this far from the galactic plane nor at this distance. The singularity they were traveling to was many hundreds of light years from any inhabited location ever charted. The Navigation AI carefully plotted and replotted the course many times, before informing the Captain AI it was ready.

An announcement came over the inter ship for all steward androids to prepare the passengers for extended hyper jump. This time, the stewards didn't place the passengers into Cryo-sleep, but instead gave them all a small injection. For the next several hours, the Denebian Princess would be a nursery ship.

All was in readiness. The entity found a crevice to gather itself into amidships, just fore of the observation area, and made itself comfortable. All it could think about was that after all these many thousands of years ... it was finally going home.

The ship seemed to tremble slightly and appeared to turn opaque. There was a huge flash of bright blue / green energy ... and the Denebian Princess leaps into the hyperspace window under full power. Trina and Brandon were lying on a small cot looking out the observation window during transit. All the effects of expansion and compression with the massive energy waves dancing over the ship were all around them. Outside, there were many shades of blues ahead of them, with many shades of reds behind. Something similar to a kaleidoscope seemed to be directly in front of them and shifted colors and shapes as the energy vortex changed. Trina and Brandon lay with their mouths open and their eyes huge in wonder at the grand cosmic display dancing all around the ship.

There wasn't as much variety of color as in the Crayon Nebula, and the patterns were very different, but hyperspace had a striking beauty all its own -- light from another universe entirely, with qualities not found anywhere else. Brandon and Trina’s heads felt funny, kind of tickly or itchy inside, but it just made them giggle until they were again distracted by the ongoing light show.

How long it took to make this particular transition was difficult to determine -- what parts of the human sense of time weren't affected by the regression drug were affected by the transition to hyperspace -- so when it stopped and they were just traveling quietly, it was surprising to find out that it had only been seconds by the clock.

"Oooo wow," said Brandon, "there goes some stars." Sure enough, the stars were passing by -- or at least the hyperspace signatures of their gravitational effects were. "I wonner if our fwiend is otay."

"The alien entity appears to be traveling with us," said the Nana, "having chosen its position wisely."

The android changed the view of one of the wall-sized screens, showing the dense haze of dust that lingered amidships, fore of the observation deck.

"Oh good, is doin fine!" Brandon said, clapping his hands and smiling. "He gonna be home wif his fwiends soon! Or maby issa she. I dunno."

This reminded Brandon ... was he a boy a or a girl? It was hard to answer that question at the moment. He had always been a boy ... but being a baby girl had seemed so natural and familiar somehow.

This time, the Hyperspace duration was longer than the ship's AI had ever encountered. Usually such jumps were measured in a few hours or days ... this one would take almost a full 2 months to complete. The distance traveled was mind boggling ... even to the most advanced AI ever manufactured.

Finally, she ship transitions back into normal space. Several light years ahead of them was a huge, very awesomely beautiful, active singularity. From the top and bottom of the central area in the middle of the huge accretion ring, were two very large bright jets of matter spewing out into interstellar space. Even from this distance, there could be observed many large, dark ... dusty looking clouds moving in all directions. Some of them were merging. Some were alone. Some appeared to be diving towards the event horizon with amazing speed.

As Trina and Brandon watched, the entity came from its hiding place and once again wrapped itself around the armoroplast observation window where the children sat. In their minds they could feel a soft, very happy, and extremely grateful voice, "I so thank you for bringing me home at long last. I truly thought I would never see home again."

Brandon noticed ... off in the far distance ... 2 extremely large and energetic clouds had stopped and taken notice of them. Slowly at first, then at ever increasing FTL speeds they approached. The entity seemed to turn ... and take notice of the approach of the 2 other entities. Trina and Brandon both knew by the feeling in their minds from their new friend ... these 2 approaching clouds ... were very important to it.

"Is those .." Brandon said, staring in wonder.

"Are they ..." came the entity's voice in their heads at the very same time. "... my parents? Can it be?"

"Ooo it is its mommy an' daddy," Brandon said. "If they gots mommies an' daddies."

The words "mother" and "father" had not really been used, but instead there were similar concepts that didn't really translate into human terms. They had both contributed to the formation of this entity and had been caring for it as it grew when it had been separated.

Through the view screens they could see the entity meeting the two other ones, and it was difficult to tell just from appearances that there wasn't only one large dust cloud out there.

"Looks like they huggin'," said Brandon.

Then suddenly the combined cloud moved quickly toward the ship. There was no shuddering of the decks, no fluctuation in the lighting or artificial gravity. But Brandon and Trina noticed that their Nana had taken up a defensive position, leaning over both of them protectively. The screens showed that the ship was now completely surrounded and engulfed by dark dust clouds -- and this was not a small ship; it was one of the largest star ships that had ever been built, though not the number one largest.

Then there were voices in their minds again -- the familiar one and two more. "Our child has told us what you have done," came a new voice. "We had thought our child lost forever, and now you bring our offspring back to us. We are grateful beyond measure."

Trina and Brandon could feel the upwelling of emotion within the thoughts of the parent entity.

"We will tell others of your kindness," came another new voice, "and they, too, will know that even beings as small to us as you can have hearts the size of stars."

"Thank you, all of you," said the familiar voice of the entity they had brought home. "I will never forget you, especially the ones called Trina and Brandon. I hope that someday I will meet you again."

"Good lucks," said Brandon, smiling and waving, even though there was no way it could see him (or was there?), "an' be happy!"

Trina and Brandon watched as the clouds slowly moved off towards the massive singularity in the very far distance. Even from here, several light years away, the gravity well's force and ionizing radiation was strong enough that it would cause issues with the ship if they remained too much longer.

From the huge darkness of the combined dust cloud, a smaller cloud separated itself and rushed back to the observation port. Trina and Brandon could hear a very soft voice say, "We cannot begin to tell you how happy you have made us. I will tell you this ... we are the stuff your dreams are made of."

With this, the small dust cloud rapidly moves off and recombines with the larger cloud. Within a blink of an eye, the cloud had moved off at FTL speeds that boggled the ships sensor AI's mind.

"Well, the entity is home, then," said the Nana, and turned to her babies, just as the ship was turning to leave. "Now let's see if we have babies who need their diapers changed. Oh my, yes we do, don't we? Such wet little girls."

Brandon blushed, because the computer was still set to recognize him with female pronouns. The Nana soon had them each on the changing table and into a fresh clean diaper, with a fresh suppository in them too, and they could both feel the regression drug affecting their minds. Brandon gasped, then giggled, as he felt the dull routine of adulthood slipping away into the distance again.

"Ooo Tewina I wish we could play inna stars like that, we could play space tag!"

"Actually we do have a game something like that on this ship," said the Nana. "Zero-gravity tag is very popular for all ages. Perhaps we'll play it soon. Are you hungry?"

Trina claps her hands and giggles happily as Nana picks her up and places her into a hover stroller with Brandon. Trina still was thinking about the singularity and the new species of sentient life forms that called it home. It came as sort of a surprise when Nana lifted her from the stroller and placed her into a high chair.

After she and Brandon and been strapped in and the tray lowered, she asked softly, "Bwandy? where we goin affer this?" Brandon slowly kicked his feet as he sucked his thumb.

Finally he shrugs and replies, "Dunno, longs my sissy is wif me n we getsa play .. no matters .. huh?"

Trina giggles as she begins to kick her feet as well. By the time Nana had returned with their meals, the children were screeching and kicking their feet wildly in joy. Nana stops and surveys what was going on.

She finally smiles and coos softly, "So, seems you babies are having the time of your life."

Nana places the food on their trays and begins to feed them. Trina and Brandon ate, and put their hands in the plate, and generally had a grand time at dinner as was evident by the huge mess they made of themselves, Nana, and the area around them.

When they were done and cleaned up, the Nana put them back in their twin stroller and took them to a new place. It was a big empty room with white soft-looking walls, but before they went in, they stopped in a small room off the hallway outside.

"Here's a zero-gee room," the android said. "First though, you get to put on these." The Nana took a set of bracelets and anklets out of a cabinet and put them on Trina, then did the same for Brandon; they each got a padded helmet-like thing to wear too. "OK, now we go in."

The Nana pushed their hover stroller into the big white room and opened it up, letting them out. There was no gravity! They drifted out into the room. Brandon bounced off a wall, but it was soft and cushioned.

"The things on your wrists and ankles can push you through the air," said the Nana, "and all you have to do is think about it . There are sensors in your helmet that pick up your mental commands. Try it out!"

Brandon thought about pushing with his legs and there was a whooshing sound down by his ankles, and he pushed forward. "Oooo wow," he said.

Trina watched as Brandon zipped off and bounced off the ceiling and one wall. He giggled and screeched with joy as he tumbled along. Trina wanted to jump, as with Brandon, there was a whooshing sound and Trina zipped off and bounced like a pool ball from the ceiling and several of the padded walls. She screeched and kicked her feet and flailed her arms in joy. Each movement altered her trajectory and caused her to head off in another direction after each bounce.

Every so often, the 2 of them would come together and grab hold for a second, causing them to spin around in weird gyrations as they careened off to bounce against another thickly padded surface.

From somewhere, a rather large multi-colored ball had somehow been introduced into the room with them. The two infants could also see openings that would appear randomly at different places around the room.

A soft voice explained the rules. The object was to make as many bounces as possible before dunking the ball into one of the random openings. The more bounces and the harder the shot to get the opening ... the more points.

Brandon, however, was just having fun bouncing and drifting around. He and Trina giggled and played, and when they got that tickling feeling inside their heads that meant the ship was jumping back into hyperspace, they barely noticed it. What they did notice, was the massive energy bolts dancing off of everything, the ship appearing to elongate, then compress before quickly returning to normal.

"Nana," said Brandon, "where we goin nextest?"

"The ship's scheduled to complete its tour of the Crayon Nebula, and then on to the Deneb Complex," said the Nana. "That should be a fun place to visit! There is lots to do there."

"Oooo I 'member ..." Brandon began to say, then bounced off a wall. "... umm, somefin 'boutta Deneb Comp'ex I heared, but now I forget."

"Perhaps you remember hearing something about the missing Queen," said the Nana. "That has been on the news a lot lately. The Queen of Deneb has been known to take surprise vacations since taking the throne only a few years ago, but this time she's been gone much longer than usual, and they're starting to get worried."

"Ohhh yup that was it!" said Brandon. "Me unnerstand if she wanna go has fun. Is what I am doin after alls!" He and Trina giggled as they held hands and bounced happily around the room.

--------------------------------------
~~ End - Pt5 ~~
--------------------------------------

--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt6 ~~
--------------------------------------

The Ship had reentered Hyperspace, this time without the inconvenience of placing all the passengers into Cryo-sleep. It was a bit challenging for the Nana's at first ... but the small amount of chemical wore off rapidly and the passengers returned to normal. Due to the ship's being so radically off Galactic Center and out in mostly unexplored space, The ship would have to travel for many weeks in hyperspace before reaching Deneb Colony. The Denebian Queen was in contact with the port, and explained to them why they would be delayed for so long. Of course ... none of them believed the official report ... until the robot Captain transmitted the videos. Of course ... the Captain had enough AI intelligence not to tell anyone what the coordinates were to that particular singularity. Space was awful vast and mysterious to stumble upon it.

Brandon wasn't sure, but he didn't think Trina was very happy about going to the Deneb Complex. He thought he had heard her quietly ask their Nana if she could get a stronger dose of the mental regression drug, and she was acting sillier and more babyish than ever.

Brandon had something he wanted to talk to her about, though. "Tewina?" he asked her, "I been thinkin' ... is me a boy or a girl? I feels happier when I am in pwetty clothes, but even more happier when I am ... well, wif you. What does you fink?"

Trina giggles, "Baby no care what u wanna b silly." she leans over and wraps her arms around Brandon and gives him a very un-baby like French Kiss right on the lips, "Jus so longs ur my fwend n no goes away ... no matter ta me."

Brandon sat slightly in shock over the passionate big girl kiss. Trina blushes a soft pink as she folds her hands and assumes an adorably shy pose. Brandon knew something was up ... but in his regressed state ... he wasn't really sure if he wasn't just imagining it.

Brandon figured that if Trina wanted him to know, she would tell him. He just hoped that she would confide in him with time, so he could help her, because helping her feel happier was something he wanted to do with all his heart.

He also wanted to know more about the regression drug. "Nana," he asked once, during a diaper change, "do you know if the regress ... regre ... the medicine that makes me a baby can make me confused about if I am a boy or a girl?"

The android nodded. "Yes, sweetheart," replied the Nana, "the medicine puts your mind into a mental state very similar to when you were very young and didn't know the difference between boys and girls. Somebody with long hair and a dress seems like a girl to you, because that's what they look like in the culture of your home planet. Somebody with short hair and pants seems like a boy."

"But ... what if it's me?" Brandon asked. "What if you dressed me in girls' clothes all the time and called me a girl's name? Would I think I was a girl?"

"Yes, the studies have shown that is quite a common effect," the Nana replied. "You may have been experiencing some of this effect earlier during the previous leg of the voyage. Is that your wish? Would you like me to call you Brenda and keep you in clothing that is usually reserved for girls in your planet's culture?"

Brandon paused. The Nana was about to fasten up his new diaper. "Yes please, Nana," he said, "and can you give me more of the medicine? Like you're giving Tewina?"

The Nana smiled. "I can't give you more than the recommended maximum dosage, but I can give you the maximum," she said, "like I'm giving Trina regularly now."

She slipped a suppository with a carefully calibrated concentration of the medication into Brandon's hinny and fastened his diaper up, then proceeded to cover the diaper with a frilly pink plastic-lined panty.

As Brandon felt the familiar tingling and lightheadedness of the suppository melting and the medicine quickly going to his head. Nana continued dressing him in clothes that were pink and yellow and other pale pastel colors, with prints and appliques of baby animals and toys ... it was very difficult to concentrate on exactly what looked like what, but it was all very pretty. Finally she put his ... or maybe her ... hair in cute pigtails and set Brandon ... or maybe Brenda ... down in the play area right next to baby Trina, who as always was overjoyed to see him. Or her.

Trina claps her hands as she bounces on her thickly diapered hinny. She coos softly, "An u look like u gots morea baby too ... huh?"

Brandon could only giggle as the sensations grew more intense in his body. Trina scooted over next to Brandon and whispers in his ear, "Didja kno? Is we take this long nuff ... we comes babies n gotsa grow back up."

Trina giggles as she sucks her thumb for a bit. Brandon's eyes were big as he tried to wrap his now baby mind around what she had just said.

Trina takes her thumb from her mouth and says even softer, "Ummm ... Brenda? I ... ummm ... gotsa biiiggg secrets ... is ya can keeps it ... maybe?" >>whimpers<<

"Is baby Brenda OK?" said the Nana, coming by and checking Brenda's diaper. "Yup, still dry! How about baby Trina?" She checked Trina’s diaper too, finding her dry as well. It had not been long since Trina’s last change either.

By this time Brenda wasn't sure what Trina had said first ... and just forgot about it. She decided to focus on what Trina had said more recently. "Oooo ... big secrit?" she asked curiously, her own thumb finding its way into her mouth. "Wazzat?"

Trina looks at Brandon for a few minutes while she sucks her thumb thoughtfully. Finally, Trina says, "Baby 4gots. No thinks can members what it was now." She scratches her head as Brandon looks on suspiciously. Trina says, "Didja kno? Therea whooole place onna lowere level ... jus for cookies. Makes em by tha ton."

Trina had decided to wait to tell Brandon ... the big secret. Brandon shook his head ... now he knew something was up with Trina ... the regressed state his mind was in interfered with him grasping what it might have been ... but he knew it was something important that Trina had decided not to share with him.

"There .. there ..." Brenda had trouble thinking, and the fuzziness of the drug was getting worse now. "There a place wif cookies?" Brenda found it easier to say. "Where izzit? Can we go dere? Izzit like a cookie plannit?"

The Nana chuckled. "It is a cookie bakery," she said. "It makes nothing but cookies. We can visit it, if you two baby girls want to."

"Yes yes pwease pwease!" said Brenda, bouncing on the play mat, and barely noticing her diaper becoming damp, then becoming dry again as it sequestered the water and broke the other chemicals down into more fundamental molecules.

The Nana gathered the 2 of them together and placed them in the hover stroller. Nana pushed the 'children quickly down the the hall to the elevator to the lower levels. When the door opened, the wonderful smell of freshly baked cookies fill the air.

Trina said happily, "Ohh, cookies. Baby want some."

Brandon giggled, "Me too." The babies took deep breaths of the wonderful aromas as Nana pushed them into the main production area. Everywhere the babies looked, there was another automated devise making more cookies of many thousands of different types from all over the explored universe. There were cookies made with many flavors and many types of flour from all over the galaxy.

As Brenda and Trina enjoyed their cookies, Brenda still had a weird feeling that there was something she was forgetting. She tried to remember ... "Tewina issit OK if me a girl?" she wondered. She wasn't sure that was it, though.

Trina giggles, "Is ok is ua girl silly." she pats Brandon on the exposed part of his hinny, "Tol ya ... u can bes whatever ya wanna." Brandon's face lights up with a huge grin.

Trina eats another of the Salarian chip Sugar Dabs. The flavor was completely different than anything Trina had tasted before. Her eyes get big as she takes another large bite of the wonderfully sweet cookie.

Brenda felt a lot happier to hear that. She wanted to be a baby girl, at least for now, but the thought that Trina might not like her as a girl had been casting a bit of a pall over her joy. But now all was joy, and she could relax and be a baby girl.

Brenda finished eating another cookie made with Altairian chocolate and canomon, a cinnamon-like spice from Canopus B-4 (hence the name) and wiped her fingers on the bib that the Nana had put on her. "Ooo Tewina has you eber beened to the Denebian Comp'ex b'fore?" she asked. "Issit pwetty? Issit fun?"

Trina turned away and did not answer. The Denebian Complex wasn't a planet but a construction, a growing ring built around the massive star Deneb. Colonists had discovered an odd thing about the star: it put out so much energy that each energy-collecting module added to the complex paid for itself in just a matter of a year or so, then just kept making a profit for its owner. Deneb exported energy all over the galaxy, and some of the colonists were fantastically wealthy. It was known that Deneb was burning up its nuclear fuel at an incredible rate, but that only meant that it would be around for a mere few more million years, rather than billions -- still plenty of time to make a fortune.

Trina sat and wondered what she was going to say to Brandon. She said shyly, "I beena Deneb .... once or twice."

She blushes softly pink as she tries not to look at Brandon. He had become more suspicious. He positively knew something was wrong with Trina and the Denebian Complex ... but he just wasn't sure what it was. He assumed for now that she had just had a bad experience there. One of his coworkers had gone there for business and had come back with a nasty cold. One would think that after centuries in space, humans would have learned how to eradicate the common cold, but no such luck.

"Ooo look, the floor is fuzzy," said Brenda, suddenly getting down and poking at the carpet of the lounge area they were in, just outside the cookie bakery. She didn't know why she did things like that when the regression drug was affecting her brain, but she did. Random impulses just took hold with little or no self-censorship.

But ... hey, the floor really was quite fuzzy and soft. She stopped wondering why she was doing it and tried to give the whole floor a hug, arms spread wide.

Chuckling, the Nana lifted Brenda back up into her seat, saying, "Now, now, baby, maybe I should have brought your high chair along."

Just as quickly as the floor-hug idea had entered her mind, her curiosity about Trina and Deneb had gone away.

Trina suddenly sees, sitting on a low table, several large permanent markers laying there unguarded. Something within her snapped ... she couldn't help herself as she stood up on her wobbly legs and toddled over to the table. She grabs up several of the markers and looks around. There is a very large white blank space on the wall. Trina grins as her heart begins to pound. She toddles up to the wall and makes a long sqriggly black mark.

Brandon had been watching all this time. His eyes were about to pop from his head with excitement as he watched Trina scribble on the wall. He stood up too, and waddled over to the table and grabbed several marking pens and waddled over beside Trina. The two of them then proceeded to make large black squiggles and wiggles and swirls ... and just about every other mark an infant could think of all over the wall ... not to mention the other colors.

Brenda was simultaneously sure they would get in trouble and get a timeout, and having the time of her life. This was so much fun! And with Trina it was even more fun! She giggled and squealed, adding detail to her creations and Trina’s at every turn. She got colored marker ink all over herself and her clothes as well. She didn't notice the Nana standing bemusedly nearby, letting it happen. Trina, too, was getting ink from the markers all over her clothes, arms, face, and hands.

Brenda giggled at her and said, "Heyyy who issat? Where Tewina go?" She giggled some more.

A chill ran up Brenda's and Trina's spine as Nana cooed softly, "That's a real master piece children." Nana claps her hands together in adulation, "But for now ... Nana thought you might like to try out the air buggys? They are sort of like bumper cars ... but ride on a cushion of air."

Trina looked at Brenda as Nana took many pictures of the baby's masterpiece before she touched a place in the smudged and seriously marked up wall. There is a wave of what looked like multicolored plasma arks spark all over the area the babies had been scribbling. When the arks ceased, the wall was sparkling white and unblemished.

Trina looks at Brenda with big eyes, "We no gots inna trouble ... cuza wall clean itselfs."

Brenda nods as they both start to suck their thumbs. Nana pick them up and places them in the hover stroller. She whisks them off to the Aircar play area as the two of them screech and giggle happily.

When they arrived at the air buggy area, the Nana got them out of their stroller and put them each in an air buggy. "Now, sweeties, it's really easy to drive these, so just have fun, and I'll be here in case you need help or a change, okay?"

The air buggies were well padded, and the padding seemed to rearrange itself to conform to their bodies, just as the hover stroller's did. Outside, each of the buggies looked like a cartoon insect from one world or another -- a ladybug or a junebug or a beetle or a Centaurian pillbug. The bugs were easy and fun to control. Brenda put her hand on the control and the firefly she was in came to life and floated off the ground. Its hind end lit up with a soft green / yellow glow as the googly eyes began to glow and rotate in random directions. The small buggy responded to the slightest movement of her hand on the panel but somehow did not respond to sudden accidental tremors or jerks.

Trina squirms in the soft padding of the interior of her air buggy. It was a very cute red with black spots Lady Bug. It had big googly eyes that rolled around in random ways as the car was in operation. Trina places her hands on the control panel and the bug leaps into the air. Trina screeches with joy as she careens around the football field sized room. On the return trip from the far end, she rushes up quickly behind Brenda and runs into the back of her. There is this cute squeaking squeal as contact is made, and the eyes of both cars light up brightly and blink.

Trina screeches with joy as she puts her buggy in reverse and spins around to try and get away. Brenda was surprised for a bit before she giggled and spun her buggy around and was off in hot pursuit. After a few minutes, there were other buggies in the fray. All of them seemed to be in a war running into each other and trying to get away. They would swoop in suddenly from high up in the vaulted ceiling to catch an unwary opponent, or spin around suddenly and run head on into the one chasing them. It really looked like the old vids of rush hour on the Santa Monica Freeway.

Brenda was giggling like crazy as she tried to avoid both Trina and the other buggies, and bump them whenever she could. It was fun and exhilarating, and they had fun for what seemed like hours. Soon, Brenda was getting tired, and she didn't know how to stop the buggy. As soon as she took her hand off the control it automatically navigated itself to one of the parking alcoves on the edge of the arena and stopped.

"Is everything okay, baby?" asked Nana, coming over to Brenda and helping her out of the buggy, checking her diaper in the process. "I think baby needs a new diaper."

"Just tired Nana," said Brenda. "It was fun but ..."

"But now you need a nap," said Nana, nodding understandingly. "Let's see if we can get Trina to come in and take a nap too."

Trina was having the time of her life as she chased the other buggies around the room. It was apparent, she was adept at flying aircraft by the way she handled the simple controls of the Air buggy.

A speaker lit up on the control panel. Nana's voice came from it in a soft coo, "Time to come in sweet heart. Time for a change I'm sure ... and nap too. Brenda is already here and is very tired."

Trina looks over the edge of her buggy and sees far below, that Brenda was already in Nana's arms. About that time, one of the older boys in another air buggy shouts, "Hey ... Aren't you ... that ... princess something everyone’s looking for?"

Trina gasps loudly as she loops and spirals down to the slot beside where Brenda's buggy had parked itself. Nana helped Trina from the buggy just as the older boy came up behind it and stopped.

He said loudly, "Hey ... I'm talking to you. Aren't you that ..." He never got to finish what he was saying.

Trina rushed over and hit him. The boy went silent as he slumped in the seat. Nana snatches Trina up and pops her on her fanny several times. Trina squeals and cries like any very young child that just got a spanking. Other Nana's came quickly up to the dazed boy. There was nothing wrong with him except he was going to have one monster of a black eye. Nana was almost to make Trina apologies ... when suddenly she realized what was going on. The AI recognized her ... and the special notation of anonymity assigned to her file. Nana very quickly takes Trina and Brenda from the air buggy room and off to the nursery as fast as she could without attracting anymore undue attention.

"Trina, that was very naughty," said the Nana. "We do not hit."

"Tewina, how come you hitted that boy?" Brenda asked. "Did he say somefin' mean to you? 'Cause if he did ... good for you!" Brenda giggled.

"Brenda!" said Nana.

"Sowwy, Nana," said Brenda. Though she was wondering what that boy could have said to Trina. She had never seen Trina hit anyone before.

Trina sat and pouted as Nana scolded her. Her hinny was padded, but the spanking still hurt ... just because she was a baby.

Trina looks at Brenda and says in a whimpering, sniffing voice of a child just finished crying, "He ... wuz gonna tells. Tells my secret. He no lloweda do that ... no one is."

Trina started crying again. Nana picked her up and cooed softly to her as she rocked her gently in her arms, "There, there, my little princess. No one's going to hurt you ... and I'm sure that boy knows better now."

"Awww Tewina," said Brenda. "You gotsa secrit but that is otay. You be otay now."

"Well, I know two babies who are tired and need naps," said Nana. "Let's get you into fresh diapers and jammies so you can sleep all comfy."

Soon they were both in the crib, and they were in fact very comfy, and Brenda was fast dropping off to sleep. Snuggled up with Trina and all the plushies, it was hard to keep her eyes open.

Trina snuggles real close to the almost dozing Brenda and whispers softly in her ear, "What would you do ... is u scovered one day ... u were King ofa whole solar system?" She kisses him softly on the cheek, before wrapping her arm around him ... and drifting off into dreamland and one of the wonderful fantasy dreams induced by the Liner's Dream Machine.

In the dream, which was more of a consistent fantasy experience than the random stream of consciousness of a normal dream, Brenda was a baby girl, a real one, and so was Trina. It was different from what they were experiencing in the real world on the cruise liner in many ways -- Brenda was really tiny, for example, so everything was huge. A relatively-giant Nana who looked a lot like Debbie took Brenda and Trina to a magical play world where they met Sally, who was also a baby here, and they played, sliding down rainbows and crawling through fluffy clouds.

In the dream world, Brenda found walking difficult because her tiny legs were so wobbly, so crawling was easier. She also had trouble talking, so she reverted to speaking in baby babble, but luckily all the other babies understood her perfectly, and she them. It might not have been some people's ideal fantasy experience, but then, the Dream Machine had been programmed to give them an exquisite baby play land while they slept, because they were signed up as Infantus babies for this part of the cruise.

Brenda was in bliss. Trina had grabbed fistfuls of cloud and had been trying to cover Brenda with it when Brenda decided to see what it tasted like. It was a lot like cotton candy. The two of them were getting quite messy and slobbery eating cloud-stuff when suddenly something changed. There was a bit of a tremor or flicker all around, and suddenly Brenda was in a place that seemed familiar, if only she could think where it was ... She was not in the fantasy play land any longer.

"Achernar!" said a familiar male voice, sounding upset. "I know you've been on vacation, but you're back at work now, and it's time to get serious. Why are you not updating your clients' accounts?"

Brenda turned around and saw her boss, Mr. Snibbens, that vein pulsing in his forehead as it always did just before somebody got fired. He was overweight, but now he looked really huge. She didn't understand why.

When she turned around, Mr. Snibbens' angry expression changed to one of mirth. "What?" he said. "Achernar, you're a ... ha ha ha!"

"Huh?" Brenda asked. "What's wrong?" Or that's what she tried to say, but all that came out was baby babble. "No! The cruise is over!" was the next thing she failed to say in any intelligible way.

Then Brenda realized, as Mr. Snibbens continued to point at her and guffaw, that she was sitting there at her desk, in her huge desk chair, in obvious diapers and a pink frilly baby romper, with her face, hands, and bib covered with drool and sugary cotton-candy like cloud stuff, babbling incomprehensibly.

"Achernar," said Mr. Snibbens, "d'you have something to ... share about your cruise? Like ... how it turned you into a baby girl?"

His reaction was attracting attention from elsewhere in the office, and others were coming around to look, and they started laughing too. Soon everyone in the office was laughing at her, and Brenda knew her career was over, that she would never be taken seriously again in this business, and she was already crying like the baby she was.

"Oh, dear," came a voice, and the dream suddenly vanished. Brenda was back on the cloud with Trina, who looked worried. "Sometimes that happens," said a voice from inside their heads. It sounded like Nana. "That was a real dream, Brenda, from your own mind. I don't know what you experienced, but you seem upset. I hope everything is all right now." There were still tears on Brenda's face, and without thinking she hugged the baby Trina as if clinging to life itself.

Trina held onto Brenda and rubbed her head softly. Trina says in her baby talk, "Supp sweeties? Where ya go? Was worried ya lef us n no were comin back."

Brenda Buries her face in Trina’s front as she continues to whimper for a bit. Trina coos softly, "It's ok Brenda ... baby promise. Am no gone no wheres ... am gonna stay right here."

Trina tares off a small portion of one of the rainbow slides and hands it to Brenda. She puts it in her mouth and her eyes get big in surprise. It tasted just like Neapolitan ice-cream ... with out the chocolate. Instead ... it had a green lime sherbert instead.

Trina says happily, "Ever thing here is eatables. Evena Rocks."

Trina picks up a small stone and takes a large bite from it. It tasted just like a soft doughnut filled with strawberry cream. Trina's mouth over flowed with the pinkish white cream and it dripped onto her bib.

Trina bounces on her thickly diapered hinny, "This place is wunnerfuls. Prolly eats so muchies baby getsa tummy ache ... huh?"

Brenda smiles ... then begins to giggle as her 'nightmare' faded and she became engrossed back into this wonderful fantasy dream.

Soon, Trina opens her eyes. She can feel her diaper is wet. She uses the crib rail to sit up and begins to suck her thumb as she looks around the nursery. Off in a corner sitting in a large rocking chair, was Nana. Next to Trina, was Brenda. Trina leans over and pats Brenda on her wet hinny and says, "Wake up silly girl. Is time for us ta go n find sompin ta gets into."

Brenda opens her eyes. She realizes her diaper feels wet. Usually, the diapers absorb the water , remove and process the chemicals, and leave the diaper dry. This one was a specially designed one to allow the 'infant to experience a wet diaper feeling, but with all the harsh chemicals removed so they don't get diaper rash.

Nana came and retrieved Trina from the crib first, then Brenda. She took them to the changing station and cleaned, then diapered and dressed them.

After the morning change and a quick dressing into their cute play rompers for the day, Nana took the girls and placed them into the High Chairs and made sure they were locked in. Once again, the plate full of mushy icky looking stuff ... tasted like a gourmet meal. It had all the look of baby food ... but the taste of grown up food. Nana had no trouble feeding her charges at all.

After Nana cleaned their face and hands, she placed them on the floor and went into another room, leaving the babies unattended.

Trina pokes Brenda in her side and says softly, "Bwenda .. lookit there."

Brenda looks where Trina was pointing and saw several large containers with some kind of semisolid goo in each. All of them were a different color.

Trina started crawling towards them as she says, "Sompin for babies ta gets into."

Brenda gasped as her baby mind took over and she immediately started trying to pull open the lid of one of the containers. "Wanna know what it is," she said. "Is gween but ... what is the gween stuff?" Suddenly the lid popped off. "Ooof!" said Brenda, rolling backwards onto her diaper.

Brenda reached into the jar and found squishy green jelly, thicker than finger paint, but not as thick as modeling clay. "What issit?" She started playing with some of it between her hands.

Trina opened a jar of red goop, and they quickly found out that the stuff was moldable and pourable at the same time -- when squeezed it resisted like clay, but when left to itself it flowed like thick oil. The two baby girls started playing with it -- shaping it, mixing it together, trying to make things out of it, smearing it on the walls, furniture, and of course themselves and each other, ending up looking like they were the multicolored inhabitants of Chromia 5.

"And what is going on here?" said Nana, coming in to see the room more or less covered with the stuff.

"Uhhhhmmmm ..." Brenda and Trina both started to say.

"Are there a couple of messy baby girls in here?" the Nana asked. "I can hardly tell them apart from everything else. It's all covered with play goop."

"Oooo, maby if we quiet she no see us," Brenda whispered to Trina.

They both giggled, and they thought they were being very clever and Nana wouldn't notice them.

"Such silly little girls I have," said the Nana, taking them by their hands. "Let's get you all cleaned up so we can go have more fun, OK?" The girls had been quite obvious, actually, but as babies they weren't aware of this.

"Awwww," they both said, though perhaps Trina was more disappointed than Brenda that she was going to be cleaned up.

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~~ End - Pt6 ~~
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~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt7 ~~
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Trina wanted to keep her face covered for some reason. Brandon was starting to take notice of how Trina was acting. In the last few days, Brandon knew something was bothering Trina ... but couldn't figure out what. She had begun to have suspicions ... but the regression drugs from Infantus were the best in the known universe ... and he would forget details of his thoughts.

Trina only fussed minimally, and allowed Nana a chance to wash her face. When Nana Had finished, she cleaned Brandon up as well and placed the both of them in the hover stroller, and began to push them off.

Nana coos softly, "Today, Nana will take you to the Garden Playground. Let you play on some of the living playground equipment."

Trina's eyes get big as she and Brenda look at each other with the same expression of wonder and amazement. Brenda and Trina first saw the Garden Playground from a distance. Pushed down the hallway in their hover stroller, they saw plants with giant leaves beyond a set of tall glass doors. The doors opened for them, and Nana pushed them inside, into an enormous room full of warm, moist air and the strangest trees they had ever seen ... if they were actually trees.

"Okay," said Nana, "who wants to be first down the slide?"

"Me me me!" clamored both babies.

Chuckling, Nana said, "Well it has to be one of you. How about Brenda first? Don't worry, Terina, you'll be the very next one."

Brenda cheered happily, and Nana picked her up easily. Brenda didn't see a slide. "Huh?" She said said, looking around in confusion.

"Here you go," said Nana, setting Brenda down on a large, flat leaf. Suddenly she found herself rising up into the air. The plant was growing fantastically quickly -- or at least unfolding or uncurling. It shaped itself into a tall slide, giant leaves forming the surface and vines and branches becoming railings on the sides. Then it suddenly tipped Brenda down the slide. She squealed and giggled all the way down to the ground. As Nana came to pick Brenda up and carry her back, the slide folded itself back down, and soon Terina got the same ride.

After Trina slid down the slide, she toddled over next to what looked for the world like an over sized Honey Suckle Vine. With out warning, Trina was whisked into the air. She seemed to be floating as she softly settled to the ground amid many large sweet smelling flowers. Right in front of her, another vine formed into another play set. Trina watched, eyes wide with wonder, as these vines quickly made an elongated shape with long legs and something hanging from the middle of the bar that made the top. Trina realizes she's looking at a swing. She slowly toddles over to it. Brandon happens to see it as the 'swing' lifted Trina up and began to move her back and forth. It was obvious the plant wasn't going to allow Trina to fall from the swing by the way it made its vines grow around her.

"Ooo me too!" said Brenda, toddling over toward the plant swing set.

The swing set quickly wrapped vines around her, raised her up, created a swing beneath her, and started her swinging right next to Terina. Nana watched, smiling. The two girls giggled and enjoyed the swings. Then another group entered the room, through another entrance far away from the one the babies and their Nana had entered through. They were apparently walking up a ramp to a platform that they were going to ride a zip line down from, all of which was forming right before their eyes. Brenda noticed that Terina was hiding her face. She didn't want them to see her, even though they were far away and paying no attention to her.

Suddenly the vines reached down and touched Terina's face ... and when they curled away, there was a mask on her face, a mask made of leaves and held on with vines. Brenda didn't understand, but the plants had clearly reacted to what they perceived Terina wanted -- or perhaps what Nana perceived Terina wanted. From that point onward, Trina was a very much happier baby. Brenda began to want a mask too, because she ... wanted one ... it's what babies do. A vine with cute little purple flowers suddenly touched Brenda's face, and she too was wearing a mask made of leaves, purple flowers, held on by vines. The two babies looked like jungle children as they played.

The plant ... or plants ... within the room, conformed and contorted into just about any possible play ground equipment a child could imagine ... and they could imagine a whole lot of things. The other children eventually managed to come together with Trina and Brenda. The ecosystem of the living playground was such it fostered socialization among the many spices of children.

Trina and Brenda were on what appeared to be a whirligig type of ride that swung them around and around at random speeds and altitudes.

Terina finishes screaming and turns to Brenda and says with glee, "This place fun ... needsa has this inna garden at tha Palace ... huh?"

"Yay plants inna garden!" said Brenda. "We play more!" Brenda didn't really know what Terina was talking about, but more plants to play on sound like a good idea to her.

Trina realizes her slip and covers her mouth with both hands. She looks at Brenda with big eyes and hopes she didn't realize what it was that slipped out. Trina felt a small worry begin to creep up her spine. She knew somehow ... someone was going to let the cat out of the bag and her true identity was going to be discovered. Brenda thought maybe she had heard Terina say something about a garden at a Palace, but she didn't understand.

"Yeah!" Brenda said. "It really is good enough for a Palace!" The idea of a palace was kind of archaic, really, something out of a fairy tale from the old times on Earth. But small children will always love fairy tales and imagine that there must be Palaces somewhere. "I bet kings and queens and stuff have these in their gardens for their little princes and princesses!"

"Uhhhhhmmmm yeah!" said Terina, going with it. "I bet they pobly do! Alla them! Yeah!"

"They pobly gots all kindsa fun things they do every day!" Brenda shouted over the whirling wind going by as the ride spun them around. "But you know ... bein' on this adventure wif you makes me feel like we are princesses playin' together!" She giggled.

Terina smiles, at least her new friend's mind was too regressed at the moment to understand exactly what the slip was. She breathed a sigh of relief as, for the moment, her secret was safe. She knew she was also too regressed at the moment to figure out what to do when the moment came someone did let her secret out.

Terina looks at Brenda and wonders if she would like to become a royal ... playmate and consort in the future. As soon as Terina had that thought, the advanced regression drugs whisked it away and left her feeling free and contented. She leaned way back and allowed the wind to rush thorough her hair as she closed her eyes. Terina imagined she was on a wild trip through some unknown dimension as the whirligig twirled them around faster and faster, up and down. Terina finally lets out a loud and joyous shriek as the plant stopped and gently set them all back on the ground.

Brenda was all giggles and dreams of princesses. "Nana Nana can we be pwincesses?" she said, bouncing up to their Nana.

"Well now," she said, "I think we can probably arrange a private tea party. But you need to be wearing something prettier than your play clothes."

Terina sat for an instant. She was sure there was something about a little princess tea party she should worry about ... but in her current state of mind ... she couldn't think of what it could be. Finally, she shrugged and says happily as she clapped hr hands and bounced up and down, "A tea party ... lotsa funs ... invite alla our dolls n Teddy Bears!"

Nana smiles, her babies were so cute and adorable. She almost felt a regret in her circuits over them having to disembark soon. She gathered her charges up and placed them both safely into the hover stroller, fastened their seat restraints, then whisked them off to their private nursery for a hot bubble bath, a diaper change, and a really cute outfit fit for a princess at a tea party.

There was a lot of splashing in the bathtub, but Nana finally managed to get the babies clean and diapered and dressed up. Meanwhile the service androids had been busy, by request, setting up a little royal tea party. So ... soon after, Nana was pushing two beautifully dressed little princesses in their twin hover stroller up to playroom BC-16, which was itself beautifully dressed with a lace tablecloth and a plethora of sweets.

When the door opened, Brenda and Terina were audibly but not intelligibly excited and tried vainly to struggle out of their stroller. But only once the door closed behind them did their Nana set them free. They gleefully sprang into action like soda pop from an uncapped bottle and ran around the room giggling, as much as they could, regressed as they were and unsteady on their feet, as well as thickly diapered under their dresses. Brenda picked up and cuddled a Teddy Bear while Terina hugged a plush faroon, a furry creature with long antennas and six feet from 61 Cygni.

The 2 Ababies giggled, ate cakes and candy, and drank many kinds of spicy teas as they played. Several other babies of different species showed up to join in the festivities ... all dressed in their royal finery. By the time Brenda and Terina looked up, there were many children in the room, all having the time of their young lives.

Terina giggles, "Seems we gotsa huge tea party goin sweetie. Maybes we liven it uppa bit?"

Brenda looks at Terina with big questioning eyes as Terina takes a large handful of spongy cake with a gooey center ... and tosses it into the thickest part of the crowd. A baby girl with blue skin and a bright green dress bore the brunt of the impact; the cake burst open and red jelly splattered everywhere. She gasped indignantly and looked around for the culprit, then threw a soft fruit at another baby, and soon it was out of control. Brenda and Terina's Nana came the closest they'd ever seen to sighing.

Soon, the two were covered in frosting, cream, crumbs, and other remnants, as was almost everything and everyone else in the room, and although their Nana could tell Terina and Brenda apart from the rest, it was certain that no one else could. Some of the children were giggling, but others were wailing sadly, and a few extra Nanas came in to try to put an end to the mischief, picking up some of the more energetic babies and carrying them off to get cleaned up.

"No fairrrr," cried the blue girl in the green dress, "I was s'posed to be a princess!" She had white and yellow and chocolate frosting all over herself now. "Now I'm all messy ... waaaaaahhhh!"

Terina picks up a gnoggle cake from Ferrous Minor. It was filled with a many colored gel that sublimes all over if allowed to warm from it's frozen state. She takes aim at the young girl in the bright white dress made from the fibers of the cocoons of the glow moths of Ceti Alpha Prime ... Not only were those dresses rarer than rare ... they were as expensive as could be. Just as Terina reared back to toss the confection, Nana grabbed her arm and stops her.

Nana actually frowns down on Terina and scolds, "That's a real no, no young lady. That outfit cannot be replaced at any cost ... even for a real princess like you."

Terina gasps as she looks at Brenda. Her secret had just been spilled by Nana ... she hoped Brenda would understand if she even realized what Nana had meant.

By this time, the air was filled with flying confections, screams and cries. Brenda thought she heard the Nana say something about Terina being a princess but the room was very noisy. Certainly nobody farther away than Brenda had heard. The Nanas were starting to appear in force, and it appeared that the food fight was soon to be over, as more and more children were picked up and carried away to be put in their bathtubs. Terina and Brenda were no exception; their Nana cleaned them up as best she could and put them back in their stroller for a trip back to their room.

As the regressed girls sat playing with the bubbles and toys in the bathtub Brenda asked Terina, "Tewina ... you issa pwincess? Like for reals?"

Terina looks at Brenda with big eyes for a second before she looks down and her shoulders slump. She slowly nods her head as she says quietly, "Umm humm ... amma for real princess. Am ... on vacation n went ta scout school too sos I can hab some fun an meets neat peoples." Terina looks back up at Brenda, "You ... unnerstan why I no tol u ... don ya? I wan ... you ta stay wif me at ... tha big place n stays wif me. U no gotsa go back to that place u were hiden from ... evers ... lessn u wanna I buys it for u then u tha owner." Terina looks at Brenda with big pleading eyes waiting for her answer.

Brenda gasped. "You is like a for real pwincess inna cassel an everyfing? Does you gotsa pet dwagon? Wow an' you gets to go on adventures an' stuff! Can me go on adventure wif you? It gots to be super fun to be a pwincess!" She chattered on and on.

It was unlikely that she was going to be able to make a coherent decision while she was under the effects of the regression drug, and their Nana noticed this. After they were bathed and dried and put into nice thick fluffy diapers and comfy sleepers for the night, Brenda began to realize what had happened. There weren't that many worlds ruled by families that used royal titles, and one of them was the world they were going to dock at tomorrow: Deneb, the massive and brilliant super giant star with the enormous energy collection ring built around it. It's only planets were uninhabitable and had been used as raw materials in the incredibly expensive but incredibly profitable enterprise of building the ring. If Brenda remembered correctly, the royal family of Deneb had founded the colony millennium ago and had begun the project of collecting, storing, and selling energy.

Colonists had been welcomed to come to Deneb, purchase shares in the business, and build onto the growing ring, gaining a portion of the energy production as well as a place to live. But the real revolution had been only about a hundred years ago, when the Queen of Deneb, herself an avid interstellar explorer, had discovered a new world that provided a rich source of the mineral used for the reusable energy storage cells that were used throughout the known inhabited galaxy. The Denebian royal family had a long tradition of pioneering and exploration. Most people knew all this, and so did Brenda -- it was only now that she was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. She thought about what Terina had said. Did she want to give up her own career to basically become a playmate for a princess? Her career was at a dead end anyway, though; there was little chance of promotion at her own firm and not much of a greater chance of being hired into a higher position at another one. And what would they say if she showed up to work as Brenda? She no longer doubted that Brenda was the real person she was inside, and she didn't think that she could bear to go back to being Brandon. It would feel like a lie.

"Terina?" Brenda asked. "I just have one question."

"What's that?" Terina answered. It was dark, and they were snuggled together in their crib.

"Do you already have ... somebody special?"

Terina thought back over the many long years of her enhanced life ... a life she is offering to Brenda. In all those years, Terina had been offered many prince's hands to make bonds for more territory and power ... but she had always refused ... hoping to find a special someone. She looks at Brenda and smiles softly. The only person she had ever found ... was Brenda.

Terina says softly as she reaches over and brushes some loose red hair from Brenda's face, "No sugar puddles ... I have never had anyone special until I met you." She looks right into Brenda's eyes to see what her reaction was going to be.

"I've never found the right person either," said Brenda, "until now."

Brenda couldn't really hold Terina's hand because they were both wearing sleepers with pillowy mitts, but they cuddled and thought about what they had each said, until they fell asleep, tired from the day's excitement.

"Time to wake up, my little darlings," said the voice of their Nana, gently shaking Brenda's shoulder. "I hope you had sweet dreams, baby Brenda. Is baby Terina awake? There you are. Time to get ready for the day -- we're going to dock at Epsilon Station, Deneb today. There's lots to do there!"

She had their sleepers and soaking wet diapers off them quickly, and they were in the bathtub again, contemplating what they would do.

"Terina," asked Brenda, "are you ... supposed to be here? Do they know where you are? Or will they try to ... catch you if they see you? Will I get in trouble if I'm with you? Should we disguise ourselves? Maybe we should stay on the ship."

Brenda watched as Nana took Terina from the room into the potty. In the potty, Nana gave Terina a small hypo of antidote. Nana said, " I know you have it within the programming to keep it secret who you are sweetie, but we are back into the home system and it's impossible to do that here. Everyone will know you on site."

Terina slowly shakes her head as she shivers a bit. She feels the regression drug as it fades from her system. Terina sighs and replies, "I suppose a Denebian Princess ... should look the part."

Nana removes the baby clothes and diaper from Terina and bathes her from head to foot. She then dresses her in a gown made from the fibers of the Moths from Ceti Alpha Prime. It is dazzlingly white and shimmery. It glows with a soft and pleasant shimmer that is super pleasing to the eye. After Nana helped Terina into the gown, fixes her hair, and places the jewel encrusted Tiara of the Debian Colonies on her head, she escorts Terina back into the nursery where Brenda is patiently waiting for her friend to return.

Nana had only dressed Brenda in a regular diaper -- one of the super thin nano-tech ones that could nonetheless last for days if need be -- and a simple white onesie so she wouldn't be cold. When she saw Terina she was amazed and stood up, a bit wobbly since she hadn't been walking for weeks, and then only while wearing thick diapers that made it difficult.

"Terina ... wow ... you look every inch a princess. I guess you're not going to try to hide, then?"

Terina casts her eyes down demurely as she replies softly, " I ... sort of can't hide here. This is my domain ... and everyone knows who I am here. I have been gone for a long time and am sure mom and dad are going to be a slight bit ... miffed with me. I can probably assuage their anger by telling them of the new species we discovered in the dark cloud creatures." Terina slowly spins around once, showing off her extremely beautiful gown. She then asks, "Are you going to be ... Brenda when I introduce you to my parents?"

"I ... think I should be," said Brenda. "I think Brenda is who I am, really. I've been feeling less comfortable as that person I pretended to be every day."

"I can help you with that, if you wish," said their Nana. "This is a full-service cruise liner."

Brenda nodded, knowing what the Nana meant. There had been body-remodeling nano-tech for several centuries, and although it was strictly regulated due to the possibly of using it for criminal purposes, it was no longer rare or even particularly expensive. This cruise liner no doubt had facilities for such transformations and was licensed.

"I've never done that before, but I think it's time," Brenda said.

"We'll handle that soon, then," said the Nana. "For now, let's get you dressed in ... oh, something that will serve you well both before and after." Soon Brenda was dressed in a loose-fitting gown made of actual Earth silk, dyed a dark gold color but with gold trim around the edges. "That will probably do," she said. "We might need to adjust it a bit after your remodel."

Soon after, they were walking down the hallways of the ship toward the remodeling salon. "It's so odd to be actually walking down the hallways," said Brenda, "instead of being pushed in a stroller by Nana." She nodded at Nana, who was still with them nonetheless.

Terina asks, "Well, Miss Brenda, do you want me to purchase that hole in the wall insurance place you worked for? I think it would be appropriate for you to return as the owner."

Brenda thought about it, then answered, "Well ... I don't care about that place that much anymore, really. But I do have an idea. I've always thought I could run the place better than the boss could -- maybe it's time I gave it a try. There are lots of kinds of insurance, you know. I've been thinking of branching out into reputation insurance or data theft insurance ... but now isn't the time to talk about boring stuff like that."

Terina followed Nana and Brenda into the New U Shoppe. Everyone immediately bowed and said in unison, "My lady." Terina waved her hand and said in a scolding voice, "Stop that ... you know you don't have to do that to me. Mom and dad maybe ... but not me."

One of the girls giggled and replied, "Why of course we do ... you're in your ... ummm ... uniform. If you were in say ... a jump suit or something ... maybe." Everyone laughs or giggles as Terina turns several shades of embarrassed red.

Nana says reassuringly, "You look wonderful, my dear. Just go with the flow and enjoy it."

Terina gets a mischievous look on her face as she walks over to Brenda and taps her on the shoulder with her scepter, "I crown thee Miss Brenda, as the princess of Moon Vale and all the rights and responsibility that there to pertain." she looks at Brenda's surprised face for a second before she continues, "If I have to endure this insufferable adoration ... so do you ... so there." She sticks out her tongue.

"I ... what? Uh ... are you serious?" spluttered Brenda. She wasn't sure whether she was a princess now or not. But she composed herself. "But um yes, well, I'm here to get a remodel," she said.

"Yes, we'd been told," said one of the technicians, who was of course an android, like all the crew on the ship. "If you'd come with me, we can discuss your preferences and specifications."

Brenda went with the android and stood in front of a hologram of her own current body. As the technician asked her questions, the hologram changed. "So, are you thinking about different hair color? Length? Curliness? Different build? Sex organs? Breast size?"

The questions came quickly, but the android gave Brenda all the time she wanted to answer, and the image floating before her took shape. She felt like there was a secret part of herself that was being unlocked, that a treasure was being found deep within her and gradually assembled before her eyes.

"If everything is to your liking, you can come with me to the makeover chambers, and we can get started," the android said.

Brenda took a last look at herself in a mirror, then looked at the hologram. It was about the same height, with longer hair, unmistakably female and human in appearance but not with extremely large breasts or anything like that. She didn't feel as if she'd miss the old Brandon at all. She felt as if he'd been a mask.

The chamber was a lot like the hyperspace beds, but without quite so many tubes and connections. Brenda lay down, and the chamber was sealed. A number of bio-monitors extended from the walls to touch her skin -- like needles, but not sharp, and not pressed to her with any force. The process began -- it was hard to describe; it wasn't pleasurable or painful, just a lot of confusing sensation as the nano-probes quickly blocked nerves, rearranged her body on a molecular level, then released the nerves, in many places all at once.

Then it was over. The bio monitors retracted, the chamber opened, and she stood up -- and only now did her body tingle all over. She looked at a nearby mirror and saw her new self -- exactly like the hologram. She really was female now. She felt extraordinary, like she'd been a rough diamond and had now been cut and polished by an expert jeweler. She started to pick up her clothes from where she'd put them on the table, but then their Nana entered.

"I don't think baby is ready to dress herself, do you?" Nana said, smiling, and Brenda smiled back.

Nana dressed her as she had every day aboard ship, only things were somehow different now. She really was a baby girl -- only one that was pretending to be grown up. The strangest thing Nana did, was place the glittering Royal Tiara of the Princess of Moon Vale on Brenda's head.

When Nana and the tech escorted Brenda back into the central room of the New U shop, Terina shrieks loudly as she exclaims, "Brenda!! why .... why you are so adorably beautiful!" She rushes up and hugs Brenda closely as she kisses her lovingly on the cheek. Terina says softly, "I so much wanted to have a best friend princess that could be with me on my .... many adventures."

"But ... but I ... this is all so sudden," blushed Brenda. "When I signed up for this cruise I never dreamed all this would happen. I never thought I'd meet ... the best friend I ever had." She hugged Terina and a few tears escaped from her eyes.

"We will be docking in approximately two hours," said their Nana. "Is their anything their Highnesses would like to do in that time?"

An impish grin crosses Terina's face as she takes Brenda by the hand. Terina says, "I have the perfect thing. If I'm not mistaken, there's a formal dinner going on in the upper Captain's Mess for all the Royal Dignitaries on this cruise. And ... If I'm not mistaken about this ... that includes us."

Nana nods and says, "It most certainly does. As a matter of fact, the Captain's Mate is expecting you both to sit in the guest of honor's seat."

Terina says, "Perfect. Now, I have someone that will have to put up with all this honorific stuff with me. Won't that be fun, Brenda?"

Terina tugs Brenda off behind her as she leaves the New U shop and heads for the conveyor tube to take them to the upper deck. They both enter the car and are whisked off at high speed. Terina turns and says to the very surprised Brenda, "I will introduce you and insure you have a place beside me as my most important royal guest."
--------------------------------------
~~ End pt7a ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - pt7b ~~
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"I ..." Brenda began, blushing a bit, "I don't want to go anywhere without you. To tell the truth, I'm kind of scared, facing a whole new world like this."

The car rushed along, carrying the two girls toward their dinner, along with their Nana, who, being an android, did not eat but had nevertheless been assigned to assist them when needed, although they weren't currently being babies. In minutes they arrived at the entrance to the banquet hall, which looked like the entrance to a palace or theater -- grand crystal chandeliers, enormous gate like doors trimmed with gold, polished marble floors, and elegant red velvet curtains.

"The Princess Terina of Deneb," said an android page as they approached the huge doorway, "and Princess Brenda of Moon Vale!"

Word traveled fast, especially among a fully networked android crew. All the guests in the room turned and curtsied toward the two girls. Brenda felt the heat of a hard blush rising into her face as in one voice, they all said, "Welcome, My Ladies."

Terina giggles as she waves her hand elegantly in a very graceful arc. Terina leans close and whispers, "You have to acknowledge your subjects ... My Lady." then giggles behind her hand daintily.

Brenda looks around at the many bowing and curtsying peoples from many star systems all paying homage ... to her. Brenda nodded blushingly and curtsied as best she could -- she'd never been taught how, but of course she'd seen it done on many holo-videos. She supposed she'd have to meet all these people and remember their names -- of course she wasn't too bad at that, having until recently sold insurance.

"Please," said the ship's first mate, who was in a formal naval-style uniform, "if you would do me the honor of sitting at my table."

He gestured toward the largest table in the banquet hall, which was up on a slight dais. The first mate, who was an android like all the ship's crew, wasn't eating, but he was busily being a gracious host, speaking and listening to all the guests. Soon, though, there was an invisible signal of some sort, and the servers began to bring the food, so he came to sit down with the princesses. As the servers served up the many savory dishes, Brenda couldn't believe how it felt to actually be the guest of Honor at a formal Royal Banquet.

Terina leaned over and said softly, "Be careful of that blue wine they are going to serve. You're a girl now ... and ... it's rather potent for us. The men have no problems with it ... but it goes right to our heads."

The servant poured a rather large crystal decanter of blue liquid into Brenda's glass. The aroma of it was heavenly ... it smelled of ambrosia.

The First Mate sat next to Brenda and asked her, "Have the two of you ladies any escorts for the evening?"

Brenda blanched white, her tongue totally unable to formulate any kind of words. Terina replies elegantly, "Why, no, thank you for asking."

The mate smiled and suggested as he nodded toward two very handsome and well tailored young officers in their finest mess dress. All across their chests were many medals of honor and the Gold and Blue braids of command on their shoulders.

Terina smiles and asks, "After dinner, would you be so gracious as to introduce us to them? I would ... love for them to escort my friend and myself tonight."

The Mate nods and replies, "Why, of course, My Lady. It shall be done as you wish."

Brenda watched with big eyes as the mate summoned over one of the servers and handed him two notes ... which the server promptly delivered to the handsome young officers.

"Are they ... they're real, aren't they? Not guests." said Brenda. "They must be on vacation too, unless it's some kind of official business."

"Indeed," said the First Mate. "It is my understanding that they are part of an honor guard escorting the President of Lyra 7 to Deneb for a diplomatic visit."

"I hope they can take some time off."

"I believe their duties already include mingling with the Denebian Royal Family," the First Mate answered, "so I doubt it will cause problems. If there are any, I will attempt to smooth them over."

"Thank you, Commander," Brenda said. The First Mate nodded politely and smiled, as Brenda had read his rank insignia correctly.

After the scrumptious meal had ended, Terina allowed the young Captain to escort her from her seat to the dance floor. Brenda watched as Terina and her partner gracefully waltzed.

Brenda heard Terina ask, "After this crowded meeting, can you and my friend go someplace ... a bit more quiet? Like possibly the garden on level 3? It's a lot better, and we can talk there."

Brenda felt a pang of envy as she saw Terina handling the situation with practiced ease. This was a situation she'd never been in before -- socializing with men as a woman.

Brenda smiled at her escort. "I'm sorry, Captain Tezin, but I'm afraid I'm not the best dancer," she told him. "Perhaps you could give me a few pointers?"

The Captain smiled as he placed one hand behind his back, took Brenda's right hand in his, and then bowed gracefully. He whispered softly, "Now, you curtsey gracefully and slowly in return ... then .. follow me. It goes in step. 1,2,3 .... 1,2,3."

Brenda curtsied gracefully to The Captain's bow, then he stepped up to her and took her by the waist. He led her around the dance floor slowly at first, then in step with Terina and her escort as Brenda got the hang of it. Brenda was learning quickly, so despite stepping on Captain Tezin's toes a few times and apologizing in embarrassment, she had a fairly good time, and her dance partner appeared to as well.

Once she looked more comfortable, he risked some conversation. "You're picking this up quickly," he said. "The rumors say that you've not been a princess for long."

Brenda promptly stepped on his toes again. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" she said, but he was unharmed and smiled again.

"No problem at all," said Captain Tezin. "It's probably my fault, for assuming you were comfortable enough with dancing to talk at the same time."

"I'm not sure I am," said Brenda, grinning, "but I'm trying. No, Terina just recently decided to princessify me so I could help her shoulder the burden. I guess the Moon Vale job's been vacant for some time."

The Captain's eyes get big with surprise as he says, "You .... are the Princess of Moon Vale?? It is a real Honor to be your escort My Lady" He bows gracefully once again, not missing a single step. "I know this will sound ... strange, but did you know the Princess of Moon Vale is second in power only to the Princess of Deneb?"

This time Brenda stumbled, stepping on his foot AND almost sending them careening into the refreshment table. "It's WHA ... um ... how interesting to find that out," she corrected herself. "I will certainly have to ask the Princess of Deneb about that at my next opportunity."

The Captain smiled as he swirled Brenda around and around gracefully. Before she knew it, There was this huge empty circle with only her and Terina and their escorts dancing within. Brenda began hearing lovely comments about the two of them and the dashing young officers they were with. Some of the comments made Brenda blush. She hadn't ever thought about someone thinking that she and Captain Tezin might be an item.

The Music suddenly changes. Captain Tezin Swirls Brenda out to arms length, bows once again, then pulls her body close to his. He takes his arm and wraps it around her waist as the other palms her right hand. Brenda could only wrap her loose arm around The Captain's neck. The music was slow, soft, and magical as The four of them slow danced in the empty circle.

Brenda's mind was totally in a fog of bliss as the night wore on. Both officers were extremely polite, and wonderful dancers. Finally, Brenda found herself next to the refreshment table next to Terina.

Terina asks, "Are you ... enjoying yourself ... Miss Princess?"

"Oh, I'm having the most wonderful time," said Brenda, "... Princess. And I've learned amazing things. For example, did you know that the Princess of Moon Vale is quite an important position? Apparently the family who used to have it died out a couple of centuries ago -- no surviving descendants."

Terina waves one of her hands and says in an off hand manner in an airy voice, "Oh? Is that so? I suppose there's a rumor that the Princess of Moon Vale is also the second richest person in the star system ... but that's just rumor." Terina looks at Brenda with a sparkle in her eye.

Brenda almost sprayed her punch. "You didn't tell me ... um."

She thought. Deneb didn't have any planets at all -- it was such a huge star that planets never formed around it -- so what moon had a vale? The answer was, obviously, none, or at least none in the Deneb system: that royal line was very old, dating back to a time before Deneb had been colonized, and the name referred to another moon in another star system. Where, she didn't know, but she would look it up when she got a chance. Terina had given her an incredible gift. But Brenda also knew what Terina wanted them to do.

"Well, I don't like to pay too much attention to rumors," she said. "Babies should play with their friends and have fun." She smiled. "And I want to make sure that can keep happening. What's going to happen when we get to Deneb?"

Terina takes a drink of her punch then said softly, "I need to tell you about ... The Nexus system ... and where Moon Vale is when we have a chance." Terina looks over at Captain Mueller and smiles, "What do you think of your escort, Princess? Aren't they handsome and ... cute?"

Terina giggles. Brenda's eyes get big. There it was again ... someone saying that there's a possibility of them being an item. Terina takes Brenda by her hand, excuses them from their escorts for a visit to the powder room, and whisks Brenda off to one of the most elaborate rooms she had ever seen. There were many gilded seats with thick, plush silver tasseled cushions. Gold framed mirrors, and jewel encrusted spigots lining the sparkling crystal sinks. Terina sat gracefully in one of the chairs and pushed on the front of the edge. A panel slid open and a tray slid out. It contained everything a Royal Princess could ever need to powder her nose.

Terina says softly, "The star that used to comprise the Moon Vale System went nova long ago. Many Centuries ago in fact. The Royal family that came from there died out almost 2 centuries ago and their position within the Royal line almost forgotten. I have given the Title, the vast holdings, and all that goes with it to you as a gift of love. I so need a sister to be with me. Think you can ... handle the job? There's no way out you know." then she giggles.

Brenda smiled. "If I have to, in order to stay with you," she said, "I can handle anything." She looked in the mirror and tried to adjust her hair. She readily admitted to herself that she had no idea what she was doing. "But I want you to know ... I know you as Terina, not as the Princess of Deneb. I want you to be able to be, well, Terina ... whenever you want to. And whatever I can do to help you with that ... I will."

Terina smiles, "That's exactly what I want. You to be ... my sister, my ... equal ... so we both can be who we are and not to worry about protocol."

Terina stood and came up behind Brenda. She takes Brenda's hair in hand and, with a small stiff brush and a few deft twists of her wrist, created a very cute curl doo that looked adorable.

Terina coos softly, "There, I think Captain Tezin will be unable to take his ... hands off of you now." Terina giggles.

She takes Brenda by her hand and once again whisks her out into the crowd ... and up to their escorts. The Men turn and their eyes get big, and for a stunned moment, their mouths hang open.

Terina pokes Brenda gently in her side as she whispers, "Told ya." Both girls giggle.

"I feel much refreshed," said Brenda to Captain Tezin. "Would you care to dance some more, Captain?"

"Why, of course, Princess," he said. "I'm afraid, though, that once we arrive at Deneb later today, my comrade and I will have to be the escorts of the Ambassador and not the lovely Princesses, but I hope you can understand. We all have our jobs to do. For now, though -- another dance would be even more wonderful than the last." He bowed and held out his hand.

Terina danced with her Captain while Brenda danced with Captain Tezin, and the time passed delightfully until the announcement came over the ship's sound system: "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention, please. This is the Captain speaking. Within 30 standard minutes we will be docking at Epsilon Port, Deneb System. Please return to your quarters so your crew can prepare you for the transition back to normal space. On behalf of the entire cruise line, I hope you have enjoyed your trip, and for those who are disembarking at Deneb, we hope you will travel with us again. Thank you."

"Well, Captain," said Brenda, "I suppose we had better part ways for now." She curtsied, doing much better than her previous attempt. "But I'm sure we'll see you both soon!"

"It will seem like an eternity, Princess," said the Captain gallantly, bowing to her. "Fare well, until next we meet."

"He's so polite," said Brenda to Terina, as they walked toward their Nana to be taken back to their room. "It's so weird how much I like that after the, you know, makeover. But then, I did specify ... normal hormonal reactions to the opposite sex."

Once in their rooms, Nana began helping Brenda and Terina out of their gowns. Terina twirls around and falls across the bed. All she was wearing were her pullups and her bra. She sighs softly and comments, "You know? I think those two were the best escorts I ever had. they were soft spoken and polite as they come."

Brenda giggles. She actually agreed with Terina. Terina rolls over onto her tummy and says, "You think you might like ... to go to dinner or something later with them ... I mean ... after I introduce the new Princess of Moon Vale to my parents that is?"

Nana checked their pull-up high-tech diapers and said, "Very good ... you should be fine until after we decelerate out of hyperspace and I give you the antidote to the regression drug. Then one more change before you disembark, I think."

Brenda nodded at Nana and answered Terina, "That sounds ... I don't know. Part of me thinks it's a very good idea and wants to see Captain Tezin again. Another part of me thinks that we might not want to start rumors -- or keep them going, because they've probably already started. They're very polite, but I think they have to be -- they're part of a diplomatic mission, and any hint of starting an interstellar incident would get them in lots of trouble and get them sent home right away."

Nana comes up to Terina and places her index finger against her arm. There is a small hissing pop noise. Terina's eyes get big for a second before she rapidly regresses to an infantile state. Brenda received the same treatment. Nana puts her hands on her hips after she set the two of them on the floor by many toys.

Nana says softly, "There, now the two of you are in your natural state. Enjoy it while I tend to the other passengers. Terina didn't pay any attention to Nana as she started to stack the large plastic letter blocks one on top of another in a pyramid. Brenda gets big eyes as she watches Terina build the tower.

Brenda was a bit disoriented at first. Her mind had just been thinking about diplomacy and interstellar incidents, but suddenly she couldn't think about anything more complicated than ... mmm ... I wonder what that block tastes like? She picked up one of the blocks and tried to put it in her mouth, even though it was obviously too big to fit. She tried again and again anyway, and got frustrated and even began to cry, but then she suddenly noticed what Terina was doing, stopped crying instantly, and tried to put her block on the pyramid Terina was building, cooing happily.

Just as Brenda attempts to put her block on the tower, a radical shift in reality takes place. Massive arks of blue white electricity seemed to dance from everything. The compartment expanded away from the infants who looked on with wonder as the block tower fell in slow motion. Then, the room contracted seemingly as if it were going to crush them where they sat. Their bodies seemed to collapse along with it as the deceleration wave passed. Then, as quick as it started, everything returned to normal.

Terina looks around the room with big eyes as she giggles, "Ohh .. that fun ... can ... can we does that again?" Brenda giggles and claps her hands; the fallen block tower temporarily forgotten.

Brenda was suddenly startled that her hands, when clapped together, made a sound! She did it some more and smiled. She clapped her hands some more and started to giggle. Soon she was just clapping and giggling for the fun of it all.

"Now, how are my two precious babies?" asked Nana, entering the room and finding them playing innocently. "Having one last moment of fun before you have to put on your big grownup disguises and go outside, I see. Well, I hate to bring the fun to an end, but we all have our duties."

The girls didn't understand a word that she was saying, but her tone was warm and there was a smile on her face, so when she reached out to touch their arms and there was the quiet hissing pop sound, they didn't react ... until they started finding themselves thinking in words again.

"Oh," said Brenda, "is play time over already, Nana?"

The blissful feelings of regression were beginning to fade into memory, but she was still sitting on the playroom floor, and there was drool on her face and hand, as if she had been sucking her thumb. She remembered that she had been.

Terina pokes out her bottom lip as she stands up. She says in a cute pouty voice, "Aww, Nana ... Do I have to wear that ... that gown again? And that horrid crown!! It's the pits."

Nana smiles as an electronic giggle escapes her. She replies, "Yes, baby, you have to. But I do have some good news for you." She holds out her arms and twirls around once slowly and gracefully, "I ... have been selected to be the Nana you requested. They gave me my new memory core and shell just a few minutes ago. That way, I will always be your hand maiden. If you will excuse me, I too have to change and will be right back."

The girls watched as Nana leaves them for a few minutes. When she returns, she was wearing the most beautiful Neegulian silk gown either of them had ever seen. It sparkled and shimmers as if it were on fire. Nana now was attired as the perfect formal Lady in Waiting.

Terina comments, "Wow, now that is a super duper make over if ever I saw one." All three of them giggle.

"Wow," said Brenda, "You are gonna have a Nana? Or ... I guess WE are." She giggled. "I'm feeling happier about that. It means ... we are gonna be babies more later." Her mind was clearing, and she found that she was able to think about the future again, instead of the eternal NOW that was where she lived when her mind was a baby's.

"You both are," said Nana, "and I will be with you to take care of you. I ... enjoy doing so, or that is the closest that I can put it in organic terms. It is most compatible with my operating system and kernel. But there will be times when you can be babies, and times when you cannot, and right now, as much as I would rather put you both in nice comfy diapers and adorable baby dresses, I must prepare you for court, which is nearly the opposite. First, let's get you in some fresh diapers."

Nana was quite right -- their diapers were not near capacity, but it would be best to change them into fresh ones now that there was an opportunity, as there wouldn't be another until they were safely moved into their royal apartments at Alpha Sector, Deneb. Their repeated regression treatments had taken their toll on the girls' bladder control, and they were both quite completely unpotty trained. So Nana removed their diapers, cleaned them up well, and put fresh ones on them, with lots of sweet-smelling powder. As before, these were very thin and indistinguishable from underwear beneath clothing, but due to their nano-tech infrastructure could last for days if need be without a hint of a true need for changing.

Nana had dressed the girls in their most elegant gowns, and place the royal Tiaras on their heads. Terina hated the stupid thing. It was sort of heavy being made of precious metals and having very large gemstones set into it. Terina looked at her self in the mirror as Nana finished arranging her hair. Terina was extremely beautiful in her Glow Moth silk dress. Nana finally finished fussing with Terina's hair, then laid the Shawl of Rule across her shoulders. Nana then curtsies gracefully as she says solemnly, "My Lady."

Terina turns and puts her hands on her hips as she says in a haughty voice, "Nana, really ... I must say ..."

Nana stands up and holds out her finger. Terina shut up instantly. Nana says softly, "You are the ruler of Deneb ... it is required ... My Lady."

Brenda stifles a giggle. Nana turns on Brenda, then places another finely woven Shawl of Rule across her shoulders. She again curtsies and says solemnly, "My Lady."

"I don't know about this," Brenda said to Terina. "Didn't you take princessing classes or something? I don't know what to do."

"Please don't worry ... Your Highness," said Nana. "You are new, so I'm sure most people will be expecting it ... once they get over the shock that Her Highness here has elevated a commoner from another system to such an exalted position. But I believe that you will soon win them over."

"But how do I avoid ... you know, offending anybody?" Brenda asked nervously. "I'm sure there are all kinds of protocols that I have to watch out for."

"You are very highly placed, thanks to Princess Terina," Nana replied. "Just remember to call Terina 'Your Royal Highness' when you're in public, and call her parents 'Your Majesties.' They are the King and Queen, you know. Everybody else will be required to call you 'Your Highness,' and you don't have to address anybody else that way." Terina nodded.

"I just don't want to put my foot in my mouth," Brenda said. "But if that's really all there is, maybe I'll be OK."

"That, and try to remember the name and title of everybody you're going to be introduced to," Nana advised. "I can help with that, as I have perfect recall of course, but do your best."

Terina scoots close to Brenda and says softly in her ear, "All you have to remember ... is your the second highest placed person in the Deneb colonies. If anyone has anything to say ... your word is ... law. Plain and simple. Now, little sister, let's jump from this frying pan into the nuclear furnace."

Brenda's mouth was open as Terina took her by the hand and pulled her into the hall. Brenda surly wasn't expecting what followed. The place was packed with people from many star systems.

A rather skinny man thrust a microphone at Brenda and said, "Hello, I'm Johnny Mueller from GNN news. Our many trillions of viewers would like to know how it feels to be the newest princess in the colonies in the last two centuries?"

He stood there with a stupid smile on his face as flash bulbs popped and many vids recorded their every reaction. Nobody had warned Brenda about the press. Suddenly she wanted to turn around and go right back into her room. Maybe sit on the floor and suck on her pacifier and play with blocks, without even the benefit of the regression drug. So she stood there like a mythical Earth deer in the mythical automobile headlights for a few seconds, unable to think.

Then she pulled herself together and said, "My goodness, but I'm afraid I just don't have a comment for you right now." She thought about the royalty and politicians she'd seen on the holo-vid news herself and the sorts of things they'd said. "Why don't you good people contact my press office, once I've gotten one set up? I'd be happy to talk to you one at a time."

Brenda felt like she was ready to just about blush her face right off her head, with all the attention focused on her, but she followed Terina, and Nana kept an eye on her, and they made it somehow to the docking ports.

Terina turned and aid loudly, "We will have a statement prepared for all the colonies later. I have been away for a long time ... and really want to see my parents and introduce them to my newest sister ... Her Royal Highness, Princess Brenda Achernar of Moon Vale." There were gasps as every one bowed or curtsied ... including the thin man from GNN.

In one soft voice, they all paid homage, "My Lady." The sound of it Drifted through the hall from multitudes of voices.

Terina leaned over and asked, "How does it feel ... My lady?" then giggled.

"Surreal," said Brenda. "Shouldn't they be saying 'Your Highness?' And I thought I didn't rate a 'Your Royal Highness.'"

"I have noticed a certain laxness in protocol about the news media lately," said Nana, "and of course Princess Terina can call you anything she pleases."

"Just don't call me late for dinner," said Brenda, with a giggle. "My dad used to say that."
--------------------------------------
~~ End ptb ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt8 ~~
--------------------------------------

As the girls entered the bay with Nana, Nana says, "I have a rather large present for you from a very little girl named Sally."

Terina and Brenda's eyes get big with surprise. Terina asks, "What kind of present?"

Nana holds open a large briefcase looking thing. Within were many types of seeds all labeled as different types of playground equipment.

Brenda's eyes welled with tears of joy. "Oh," she said, "you may be an android, but you must have a big heart! You definitely noticed how much fun we had on that playground on board ship!"

"You two are special to me," said Nana. "I watch you carefully. At first, just because it was my job, and I always perform my duties to the best of my programming."

"You are the best Nana ever!" said Brenda, hugging the android.

"Now, now, Princess, we must act with propriety and decorum," said Nana, smiling nonetheless. "I will pack these away until they can be installed -- or planted -- which in this case are the same thing."

The two princesses walked with Nana toward the docking port, and outside they could see a royal delegation waiting for them, several well-dressed personages with well-dressed servants waiting on them. "Well, here we go," said Brenda. "I guess I get to meet your family now."

Terina took Brenda by the arm and escorted her up to the delegation of people. Everyone except one large man, and a petite and beautiful woman dressed in royal blue, bowed or curtsied. They all said "My lady."

Terina walked to the man and woman, hugged them both by the neck and said, "Mom, dad ... It's bee a while. I have someone I want you to meet." Terina gracefully motioned Brenda forward, "I want you to meet The Princess of Moon Vale, Princess Brenda Achernar."

The Man said softly, "It ... has been a while young lady. Just where have you been off to these last few years?"

The woman turned to Brenda and said, "It's so nice to meet you my dear. It's wonderful that the empty place in our lineage has now been filled by someone so pretty."

Brenda was speechless at first but then decided to use that. "Your Majesties," she said, with the smoothest curtsey she could manage, "words quite fail me to describe how honored I am to meet you."

"And charming, too," said the woman, who was obviously the Queen of Deneb, with a smile. "You'll have to tell us all about how you met and what you've been doing, but now is neither the time nor the place. Let's get you home, feed you a decent supper, then we can all relax."

"Whatever you and Princess Terina think best, Your Majesties," Brenda said, deciding to go along with it until she felt more comfortable. To Nana, she said quietly, "Have you arranged for our luggage and belongings to be transported to ... wherever we're going?"

"Of course, Your Highness," Nana whispered. "It's already been arranged."

It was hard to say whether it had been arranged before Brenda asked the question or whether it had been arranged during the seconds after she asked it -- androids were efficient and communicated very rapidly.

The King and Queen turned with the two princesses in smart order behind, then walked off towards the Royal Aircar. A Captain dressed smartly in his best uniform with the gold braid of leader on his shoulder, opened the hatch and helped them all into the very luxuriously plush interior. After he shut the door, he entered the compartment aft of them as several of the other armed men entered the one in front. Once all were seated, the Aircar lifted off rapidly and gained altitude.

Brenda watched out the window as the Docking ring dwindled away rapidly. She could see stars off in the far distance and felt the raw energy from the Massive Deneb star on the other side. The windows on that side of the car dimmed rapidly, the temperature normalized before it became uncomfortable.

Brenda watched as the car rapidly covered the distance between the docking ring, and the very large palatial ring that constituted the Ruling King and Queen's personal holding. The car rapidly settled into a very plush garden within an extremely large bio-dome.

"It's been so ... empty around here without you, Terina," said her father. "I've already sent word to the palace staff to have your rooms readied, and I understand the cruise line is having your belongings delivered, so they'll be there for you soon. I took the liberty of having the vacant room across the hallway readied for our new Princess Brenda. I hope you'll be staying with us for a while, or ... at least not staying away for so long."

"Nana," whispered Brenda, "what kind of room do you need?"

"I need only a charging and data terminal," the android whispered back. "It can be in a small room or even a closet, or the corner of a room. I can charge fully in under 15 standard minutes, even if my power cells are nearly depleted, but that ordinarily takes weeks. My power cells do not require charging but once every year. I prefer to charge daily, though, because that also allows for data backups."

The group strolled casually into the palace, and guards and servants stood ready at their posts. The building was like a work of baroque sculpture on the outside, appearing to be ornately carved stone patterned after something from back on Earth long ago. Exquisite floral and ivy patterns led to gold-chased suns and silver-chased stars near the roof. As they went inside, it became much more comfortable, with modern carpet on the floors and modern wall board that made the inside feel warm and absorbed sound without being uncomfortably quiet.

"So beautiful," said Brenda.

"Oh, thank you, dear," said Terina's mother. "So much of it is traditional, but we've put our stamp on it, too. We totally redid the interior of the public spaces. It had been generations."

The Queen turns and says softly to Terina, "We know how much you like that Babydoll theme that is taking over this sector ... so your father and I have redecorated your room ... to match."

The Queen opened a door to a room larger than Brenda's house. It looked for the world like a cross between a nursery and a young girl like Sally's bedroom. There were many large plush dolls lined up against a far wall. Very thick carpets through out the room. A bed that Brenda couldn't tell if it was a normal bed ... or a crib for an adult baby or something. The Queen took Terina by her hand and walked her to a door. She opened the door, on the inside, was another huge room. This one was filled with the cutest outfits Brenda had ever seen.

The queen says softly, "This is for mostly you sweetheart. Although Brenda seems to be the same size as you, I would think they would fit the both of you very comfortably. " She bends and kisses Terina on her nose, "Besides, you have always been our Babydoll."

Terina blushes softly pink as she says, "Aww ... mooom."

The Queen turns to Brenda and takes her by the hand. She escorts her to yet again another door. On the other side was another huge room, decorated in much the same way as Terina's.

The Queen says softly, "And this one ... is all yours, my dear. I do so hope the clothes fit. We only just got your sizes a few hours ago." The Queen says loud enough for all near to hear, "Dinner will be in an hour. That gives you girls time to change." The Queen turns and leaves Brenda and Terina alone in their rooms.

"I'll just help Brenda pick something out," said Nana, "then I'll come see how you're doing, Terina."

"Thank you, Nana," said Brenda as Nana closed the door to the hallway.

"I see several suitable ensembles," Nana said, scanning the contents of the closet and wardrobe with android speed. "Let's just see ... no, your diaper should be fine for some time yet. All right, how about this?"

She got out a frothy white petticoat and a short, pale pink dress that would look beautiful on any baby doll.

Terina looked at all the wonderful Babydoll clothes. She chose a powder blue, soft chiffon Little Princess Babydoll Dress with a white lace pinafore. She found a pair of really cute powder blue bottoms with large white ruffles to go with it. She began struggling to get out of her Princess gown. The many months of regression and being dressed by Nana had taken its toll. The more she struggled ... the more impossible the simple task seemed to become.

"Oh dear, let me help you with that, poor baby," said Nana, coming into the room. "I've just finished helping Brenda with her clothes, but I wanted to check on you before starting in on her hair." Nana undid the fasteners in back of Terina's gown and helped her slip it off.

Terina holds her arms up while Nana slips her gown over her head. The coolness of the room tickles her bare skin. Nana checks Terina's diaper before holding out the cute panties and Terina steps in. Nana pulls them up and pats Terina on her bottom.

Nana says in a cooing voice like she's talking to a very young little girl, "OK, sweetheart, thought you might like to know. You and Brenda will have a wonderful new play set to play on by morning."

Terina's eyes get big, "You ... planted all those seeds?"

Nana nods as she smiles, "Yep ... and they should mature sometime early in the morning. By the time the both of you are bathed and dressed, you can play on them if situations permit. Now, be a good girl and hold your arms up so I can get you in your dress."

Terina held her arms up and Nana threaded Terina's hands through the arm opening and then her head through the opening. Nana pulled the dress on, adjusted the puffy sleeves where all the lace was straight, then tugged on the short hem to get rid of the small wrinkles.

"Good baby," said Nana. "Now I'm going to see to Brenda's hair before she tries to do it herself, but I'll be right back. OK dear?" She smiled at Terina and left the room. But shortly afterward, she was back with Brenda, whose hair was tied into lovely corkscrew pigtails with pink ribbons. "Should I do yours the same way, Sweetie? Or would you like it done differently?"

Terina says with a giggle, "Same's her's. We sisters now."

Nana expertly twists Terina's hair into the same style, then ties them off with soft, powder blue ribbons. Terina and Brenda stood in front of the large mirror holding hands. Their reflection showed they both looked just like beautiful life sized living Babydolls.

Nana dropped 2 pairs of shiny black straps on the floor and said, "Step in and we can go to dinner."

The girls stepped into their shoes, Nana fastened the straps, then took them by the hand and led them out into the very large formal hall filled with many peoples. As they passed, the people would bow or curtsy and say with bowed head, "My Ladies." Brenda watched how Terina nodded her head and waved her hand slightly at each. Brenda followed suit as they turned a corner and went through a huge wooden door into the formal dining room. Nana lead them across the polished marble floor to a small door on the far side of the massive room. When they entered there, Brenda was amazed ... this was just like any other normal dining room with the King in jeans and a T shirt, and the Queen in shorts and a top.

Brenda was surprised, but tried not to show it -- after all, they were the King and Queen, this was their home, and they were dining in private with family. Why shouldn't they dress any way they wanted?

"Oh, good to see you, dear," said Terina's mother. "And hello, Brenda. Dinner will be ready any moment. You both look so adorable!"

"Oh, thank you ... Your Majesty," said Brenda. But the Queen would have none of that.

"Oh, please, let's dispense with the formalities, Brenda," she said. "Please, you could call me Beth, for now, though if you feel like it someday, you could call me Mother, since you've practically become family, officially speaking at least."

"My goodness," Brenda said, "I'm not sure ... I'm sorry ..."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she said. "It's fine if you don't feel comfortable with that yet. We only just met today, after all. By the way, were you aware that you and my daughter seem to have started a babydoll fad that's spread throughout this sector?"

"Well, I ..." said Brenda. "No, I didn't know that. How did it happen? I mean, how did it happen so quickly?"

"How do these things ever happen?" said the Queen. "But let's not worry about that -- let's see how dinner's coming along."

"Yes, let's," said the King. "I understand it's a spiced roast of some sort." He led the way into the dining room.

When they entered, Brenda's eyes got huge as she saw the huge platter in the center of the large table. On the platter, was this strange looking creature. It had a very large fruit of some sort in it's mouth.

Terina claps her hands and says with glee, "OMG! MOM! You remembered!"

The King and Queen laughed. Beth replies, "Yes. dear. I remember how much you like spiced Lenenmos Beast with tubers and baked onions."

The king adds, "Yes, and it's been basted in Keirein sauce to boot. It will be extremely tender and tasty."

Nana helped the girls into their seats as other android servants tended to the King and Queen. The meal was served rapidly and efficiently by the robots. Brenda's mouth watered at the succulent aroma of the many foods arranged on her large plate. Suddenly, Brenda saw the servant pouring a large quantity of blue liquid from a decanter into her glass. She remembered the wine at the formal Dinner of the ship.

The Queen took notice of Brenda's concerned expression and said softly as she took a drink from her own glass, "I do so hope you like the Mrgelleos fruit." The Queen took another large drink from her glass, "It's said to be the nectar of the gods."

The King nods as he drinks from his own glass, "And I agree. It has all the vitamins and minerals a body needs ... and is nonalcoholic."

Brenda sipped the blue juice and was quite surprised. "It's wonderful," she said, drinking more. "I'd never heard of it before."

"Try some of the roast," the King said.

"It smells delicious, Your M- uhmm," Brenda began.

He chuckled. "Please, call me Andrew, or dad" he said. "And please try the roast."

"Oh, it IS delicious!" said Brenda. "No wonder it's your favorite, Terina!"

The King looks over at Terina and says with an off handed tone, "I heard that Prince Townsend wants to come visit ... in the next few days."

Brenda saw Terina blanch white as she spit her drink out in a spray. Terina responded with a tinge of fear in her voice, "You didn't tell him I was back ... did you?"

The Queen leaned over and patted her on the hand as a servant cleaned up the mess. The Queen said softly, "Of course he didn't. But you know ... currently he's the only eligible Prince in the quadrant that meets the criteria to marry the ruling Princess of Deneb."

Terina frowns, "I wouldn't marry that jerk if ... if ... the whole Kingdom depends on it."

The king said softly as he took another bite of meat, "Actually, it sort of does."

"It ... wait, what?" said Brenda. "You have to marry some prince? Whom it sounds like you don't like? How is that fair?"

"The fact is that she's our only child," said the Queen. "There's no heir to the throne, male or female, other than Terina. If she had children, even just one, we'd feel much more secure."

"Well, right, because you basically own the whole star system, so there's a lot at stake," said Brenda. "Keeping it in the family is very important, of course. But ... if she's not ready to settle down, or if she just doesn't like him ... it's not fair to force her, is it?"

The King looked troubled. "No, it isn't," he said, "and we don't want to force her to do anything. But we're coming closer to the point where we're not going to have a choice ... any of us."

--------------------------------------
~~ End - pt8 ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess -Pt9 ~~
--------------------------------------

"So this ... Prince Townsend," said Brenda, turning to Terina, "is he all that bad?"

Terina was pouting as she turned to Brenda. Her eyes filled with tears as she yells in frustration, "He's ... just a monster. He's over bearing, abusive, drinks heavily ... and it's been said he uses that psyco-mus drug to enhance his ferocity in battle."

The Queen replies, "He is one of the best warriors in the Games ... and he does have the mantle of rule."

Terina replies in a whimpering voice, "But it doesn't excuse his abusiveness ... does it?"

The King and Queen sigh loudly as they look at each other. The Queen says softly to Brenda, "You too have the same issue sweet heart ... no heir. Very soon, it will come time for you to think on that issue as well."

Terina snorts, "I can resolve this ... I'll just crown someone prince of .. of ..."

The king smiles and says, "Yes? Of what? The only Realm that had high enough ranking was Moon Vale." The king and queen look at Brenda.

"Well ... I ... hmm ..." Brenda sputtered, all eyes on her for a moment. "Moon Vale will need an heir too, I suppose, sooner or later. But wouldn't one want, well, an heir who came from, shall we say, better stock? I mean, hard-drinking bullies are a dime a dozen."

The Queen smiled, and the King laughed. "Hahaha! Don't talk like that to his face, but you're a funny one. I see why Terina likes you. You say what you think. But really, we don't have a lot of options."

"Well, what about other systems?" suggested Brenda. "Some kind of intermarriage between this family and, say, the ruling family of the Rigel system? Or the Garnet Star? Rasalgethi? Although ... I've never met them. I don't know if there's even anyone eligible."

"Psh. Imitators," said the King. "We're the original. They're rivals, so it would take years to forge any kind of cordial relationship with them."

"Possibly generations," said Brenda, nodding. It occurred to her that she didn't know anything about this, really. It seemed silly to think that she could come up with any kind of instant solution to this problem. Still ... "I do have one other idea," she said.

"What's that?" the King asked.

"I think ... I'd rather talk about it with Terina in private first," said Brenda. "It might not really be feasible. But the fact is, I am extremely honored to even be here, and I want to show that I can be an asset to the family I've been welcomed into with open arms."

Dinner passed more cordially than any family dinner Brenda had ever attended. Terina, was of course, upset over the fact Townsend had even suggested coming to visit ... the king and queen were really upset over the lack of options for their most prized daughter ... and apparently, her newest princess friend.

Finally, The king gestured to the servants to clear away the last of the dessert dishes. Brenda's tummy was so full. The meal was exceptional ... and what ever the dessert was ... was the absolute tops ever.

Trina rose from the table and said softly as she gave the king and queen a kiss on their cheeks, "I will tell you of my adventures tonight. Right now, I think I want to retire to my room and ... and ... I don't know ... cry maybe?"

Terina shrugs as she gracefully turns and leaves. Brenda was taken into the queen's arms and given a hug and a kiss on her cheek.

The queen says softly, "Now, give your new father a kiss and follow after Terina. Try and cheer her up ... please?"

Brenda gently kissed Terina's father on the cheek, and said, "I'll do all I can. She's really been the most amazing friend. I've got to find out ... well, whether my idea has any merit at all."

Nana escorted both of them back to Terina's room. When they were together in private, she said, "OK, I need to know something. Is there anybody you'd rather marry that doesn't rank high enough? Is there a way we could elevate his standing? These Games -- I don't know anything about them. Could he become eligible to marry you if he defeats Prince Townsend?"

Terina gets a thoughtful expression for a few minutes. She then says softly, "You know ... that might work. There's this really cute Prince from Trinity Gate Complex. He's to die for. I've had a real crush on him since I was a little girl." Terina blushes several shades of pink, "His names Randy. The only way I can think of to get him to defeat Townsend ... is to ... have him use the drug too." She looks at Brenda.

"I'm not sure," said Brenda. "From what I've heard, that drug affects the brain permanently. Is it worth hurting him and maybe turning him into as bad a guy as Townsend? What if there were another way?"

Terina replies, "The only way to complete the Game is to win. The combatant has to be ferocious. No exceptions. That drug makes Townsend a total animal for the duration of the Games. It even seems he feels no pain. He can take major kinds of blows and shrugs them off. I'm not sure how to accomplish that ... any other way ... unless ... there's a force field or ... something?"

"I'm not sure how to do it yet, but ..." Brenda began. "I think I'd like to ... sleep on it, as odd as that may sound. I just have this feeling. Like ... I should be dreaming."

"Aww, does baby Brenda need a nappy-poo?" asked Nana, in the happy sing-song voice she used when the girls were babies. "Let's get you all ready. Does baby Terina want to have a little nap too?"

Terina had this strange urge to nap come over her. She stretches and yawns involuntarily. It was like she had suddenly been given a powerful sleep inducing drug. Terina yawns softly as she attempts to wiggle from her dress. Nana smiles in her electronic way as she helps Terina from her clothes and tucks her and Brenda in bed in their pullups and Rumba panties.

She kisses them on the cheek and says softly, "Night my treasures." The girls are asleep almost instantly.

Brenda dreamed, as she had somewhat been expecting to. There were stars, and colors, and rings and ribbons of energy. She felt a presence -- someone was with her. "You are ... troubled."

"Who ... who was that?" Brenda asked. The voice had come from space itself. "Wait -- it's you, isn't it?"

In her thoughts the word "you" was actually a symbol for the cloud entity, the one they had helped find its home and parents. It was familiar and reassuring.

"Yes," said the voice. "I have been ... watching you, in a way. Looking for a way to help you. I am grateful to you, for helping me."

"I'm glad we were able to help you," said -- or thought -- Brenda. "You don't have to reciprocate."

"Perhaps not," said the cloud, "but I want to. And I think I see a way. In your minds, yours and Terina's, you spoke about this prince and the drug he takes. I do not know very much about your ... bodies, and the way chemicals work in them. But ... this drug that is used by this Prince Townsend. It helps in the short term, but in the long term it is damaging. Hazardous. I think ... it is not merely a chemical."

"Not just a chemical?" Brenda asked. "What do you mean?"

"I cannot say with certainty," the entity said. "I need to know more about it. If you learn more about it, I can see it in your mind. But it may be ... it is difficult to put into your language ... matter, infused with energy. The details are unknown. But if so, I can block its effects, make it ineffective."

"Then he'd just have his own strength, when usually he relies on a boost from the drug," said Brenda. "It might work ... but ... can't we just prevent him from taking it in the normal way? Maybe we can just switch it with something ... oh! I know the perfect drug to switch it with."

"I see the idea in your mind," said the entity. "If you can replace the drug with another substance, the effect would be the same. Perhaps I can help another way."

"I have a message to send when I wake up," Brenda said. "Don't forget don't forget don't forget ..."

Terina drifted through a multicolored rainbow of colors. It seemed to swirl around like a pinwheel with a large shifting darkness in the very center. A familiar voice speaks, "I have come to help."

Terina is amazed. She thinks in her dream, "I ... know you. You're .... that being we helped in the Crayola Nebula." Terina wondered how it had known where to find her.

It said, "I have always known where you were. I am very grateful for the act of kindness you showed me and want to do something in return." Terina's only thought at that time was about Townsend.

The Being replies, "I have spoken with your friend Brenda. She's ... very different now than before in many ways."

Terina giggles, "Yes, she is ... and is my sister now."

The being says softly in Terina's mind, "I can help eliminate the induced advantage that Townsend person has during the games. I can even enhance your champion's advantage ... his name's ... Randy?"

Terina feels a flush of shyness run through her. She can almost feel the being laugh happily at the emotional flood filling her.

It says reassuringly, "It pleases me to know I can illicit such hidden joy within you. Rest assured ... Townsend has lost the games this year."

Terina sits up with a start wide awake.

Brenda woke up muttering, "don't forget don't forget ..." She had a confused expression. "What was I trying not to forget?" After a moment, she remembered. "Message! I meant to send a message. About ... a drug. A drug! Yes!" She finally felt awake.

The room had a comm terminal, of course, and Brenda remembered the address. "Hi, Sally," said Brenda into the camera. "How are you doing? I bet you can't guess who I am -- I look a bit different from last time. But I'll give you hint -- I'm calling from Terina's house. And I'm wondering if there's something you can do to help."

About that time, a very excited Terina burst into Brenda's room. She says with an excited squeak, "Brenda!! I just ... spoke to that cloud creature ... Oh, Hi Sally."

Sally giggles, "Hi Terina!" she waves into the viewer screen. Terina looks at Brenda and asks, "You ... spoke to it too ... din't you?" Brenda nods.

Sally says in her cute voice, "I'm sending triple doses that should last an army for at least 50 years." Then she giggles.

Terina smiles as she realizes what's going on. Terina says softly, "I want him to ... have a major accident and break down and cry for all to see." The three girls giggle.

"Next," Brenda said, "I have to figure out how to switch this stuff with Prince Townsend's drug."

"Well remember," said Sally, "you don't hafta figure it out all alone. You gots friends!"

Nana had walked in and overheard the conversation with Sally. Brenda and Terina filled her in on what they were thinking of doing, and the issue they were having with trying to switch the drugs.

Nana said quietly in Brenda's ear, "You said that your interstellar friend could sense the drug Prince Townsend takes. Can he see it so well that he knows how it gets to the Prince?"

"I'll have to ask him next time I'm asleep," Brenda whispered back.

Off in an uncharted section of empty space, A singularity spins in silence as it shoots off towering galaxy sized beams of energy. All around the swirling miasma of the event horizon, appeared many strange dark dust looking clouds of many sizes. One medium sized cloud separated itself from the rest and moved away from the singularity at FTL speeds. It had a mission ... it had friends in need and it just discovered a way to return a huge kindness they had done for him.

In a Thieves Bizarre on one of the backwater domes of Deneb, was a small outpost run by several of the local outcast chemists. They had discovered a use for the waste TAMPRAS micro-fuel cores that all interstellar craft used. They could make a drug from the ground up cores ... that was highly prized by a particular royal family. The family paid very handsomely for it and bought as much as the chemists were able to produce.

The next time the girls took a nap, Brenda and Terina dreamed about these places: the underground lab where the substance was processed and purified, the disheveled warehouse where it was stored, the mag-rail transports that brought the drug to its distribution points disguised as legitimate pharmaceuticals, the dealers who arranged for its clandestine purchase.

"This is much easier to communicate to Terina's mind," said the entity. "She has so many more points of reference for the places I am showing you both. Although she has not seen them, she knows where they are. Brenda is not familiar with the ring of linked humanoid habitats that surrounds this star."

Terina sees in her mind's eye an extremely remote dome. It was one of the very first ones ever put in place and had long since been regarded as uninhabitable due to its extreme age and lack of advanced shielding. The Outcasts had taken it over and renovated it completely with their ill gotten drug money gains.

Terina says softly, "It wouldn't do to attack them there. What they do may be unethical ... but it surely isn't illegal under Denebian Battle Game Law."

The vision within her mind swiftly changes to show one of a large Arcade teeming with multitudes of peoples from many star systems. The scene narrows into a tight area. Terina sees a familiar color scheme on a transport vehicle that is pulled up and is almost hidden behind an engineering station.

The cloud says, "There ... is that not the thing for which you seek? The ... switching place your mind calls it?"

Terina and Brenda both say within their minds at the exact same time, "YES!!"

"Is that where it is now," asked Brenda, looking at this image in their shared dream scape, "or is it where it will be?"

"That is where it has been," said the entity, "on the multiple occasions in the past when it has traveled from the point of its creation to the point of its consumption by the Prince. I can see the residual energy it leaves behind. It has taken other routes before and after this point, but it always travels through here."

"But where is it now?" asked Brenda. "When will we have to be there to make the switch? And what form is it in? What do its crates look like?"

"It is already traveling toward this place," came the entity's voice. "It should be there ... I'm sorry, but it is difficult to put time into ideas that make sense to your minds. It should be there ... tomorrow, 15:34. I had to look into Terina's mind to fit the reference points together. I apologize."

"I see," said Brenda. "That doesn't give us much time, but we already have the regression drug from Miss Sally -- all we need is to put it in vials and crates that match the ones in there ... can you show us what they look like?"

The images in the dream shifted. They were in a cargo container in a mag-rail transport that was in motion, though that motion was imperceptible.

"These are the crates, traveling now," the entity said. "The vials inside look like this." The vision shifted to what must have been an earlier time, before the crates were sealed.

"Well, that helps," said Brenda. "The vials are unlabeled, and they're exactly the same as the ones the regression drug is in. They're both clear liquids, too. We'll have to make sure we keep them straight."

"They're quite different to me," the entity said, and suddenly they were seeing things as the entity did -- the regression drug was clearly just a chemical, while the Prince's drug glowed with an eerie light, a color not easily described in human terms.

Within the next 12 hours, a large contingent of cloaked, well armed soldiers were standing well hidden behind a certain engineering station. A rather large and obviously overloaded transport arrives. One of the cloaked individuals points to the transport ... a young woman's voice is heard saying, "There, that's the one. I can still see its glow."

None of the other personnel said a word as they slinked off to various places within the docking area. As the cargo was offloaded, the mysterious personnel redirected it to another cargo transport, while at the same time, off loading what it was carrying and taking it to the location the other shipment was supposed to go to. The switch only took a few minutes. Neither the Original Transport crew ... nor the receiving crew had a clue that any kind of switch had transpired.

"This is really very interesting," said Brenda, who was watching holo-vids of the Games of previous years. "I mean, not that interesting to watch, but interesting that it's still done. It's like the stories they tell of ancient Earth. Dressing up in metal armor and beating each other with weapons. Riding trained animals to attack each other with long poles. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

Terina had just come back in. "So, is it ... taken care of?" Brenda asked.

Terina removes her hooded cloak and tosses it into a nearby chair. She was smiling broadly as she said cheerily, "It is done. I can't wait for him to get his usual injection," the girls both laugh, "I would love to see him loose his balance and wet his pants for all his macho buds to see." The girls laugh again as Terina twirls around and plops on the sofa next to Brenda.

Terina bats her eyes softly and says in a low cute voice, "Come to think of it ... I would love to feel an injection rush all through me too. I ... umm," Terina blushed softly pink, "like being an Ababy. Besides, the plant playground is in full bloom and I'm told by the gardeners it's chomping at the bit, so to speak, for us to come and play."

"I really ... miss that too," said Brenda. "But there's all this important stuff to do. We have to make plans. Make sure everything's going to go smoothly. Prince Randy ... are you sure he's going to enter the Games? He's not intimidated by Prince Townsend?"

"Relax, Sweetie," said their Nana, "Terina has set up a luncheon meeting with Prince Randy tomorrow. You can meet him then, and both of you can find out whether he plans to enter the Games, and if he doesn't, you can try to convince him to."

"Oh," said Brenda, "that's good, then. Tomorrow." She got a faraway look in her eye.

"What's wrong, dear?" Nana asked Brenda. "Oh, wait, I know that look. I think baby is going to need a diaper change soon. Maybe a nice thick diaper so she can play in the new playground."

Nana moved quickly up to Brenda and touched her with the tip of her finger. There was a soft hissing pop. Brenda squeaked as her eyes got big, and she regressed rapidly into an infant. Before Terina could say or do anything, Nana had repeated the action with her. Both girls found themselves having wonderfully infantile rushes all through their bodies as Nana diapered them in super thick diapers and dressed them in really cute Ladybug rompers with matching red slippers that had black spots and googly eyes.

Nana put her hands on her hips and said with satisfaction, "That, is how you should be. Now babies, lets go and play on the playground."

Nana picks the girls up and places them in the hover stroller and fastens them safely in. Swiftly, they were off and down the long Hall of Ages on the way to the garden. The girls watched as many peoples from multitudes of worlds all passed them, oblivious to who they really were.

The two girls babbled at each other and giggled and cooed and carried on merrily all the way to the garden. Nana contentedly pushed the hover stroller, noting but not reacting to all the stares the girls were getting. No one would find out that they were the two princesses -- the holo-masking earrings they were wearing would see to that. Their faces, hair styles and hair colors were randomized and gradually shifted, so that in five minutes neither one would look as she had five minutes earlier.

They reached the playground area, where the plants had set up a ride much like a Ferris wheel. Nana unfastened the stroller's belts around the girls' waists one by one and lifted them into the ride, first Terina, then Brenda. Vines grew and twisted around each girl's chest; the ride had excellent safety measures.

The ride started to turn, and it lifted the girls high up in the air. They could see the whole area -- although they could already look up and see more buildings above them; they were on the inside of a huge metal tube. Still, it was exhilarating, and Brenda looked around in wonder, turning to Terina and babbling excitedly. If she'd had use of words, she would have said something like, "Oh Terina, isn't it beautiful?" Instead, she said something like, "Ooo na goo da ba ba!" Terina, however, reacted as if she understood completely.

As the ride over peaked the top and began to descend rapidly, the girls screeched with glee at the butterflies in their tummies. After several minutes on the ride, The plants deposited the girls safely on the ground. Once again, it went through a metamorphosis and transformed. It created a set of tripods with a long bar across the top. From the bar dropped four long vines. When it had done, there stood a swing set all ready for the girls. Nana placed them into the baby seats. Vines quickly crossed their laps and chests, before it began to swing.

As the swing reached the apex of the arch and began the rapid acceleration of decent, the girls again screeched in delight. Terina and Brenda were so taken with the feelings in their tummies ... they wet their diapers. Nana smiles as she watched the girls. She was so glad she had thought to ask about the seeds. She knew it was a great idea as she watched the girls screech and squirm in delight.

The sensations were very intense for baby Brenda, even though they would be commonplace and perhaps even relaxing or boring for her at other times. The same was true for Terina, and it wasn't long before both girls were exhausted and rubbing their eyes tiredly.

"Oh, it sounds like it's time for a N-A-P," said Nana, going to collect Terina from the swing set, but then the plants surprised her, transforming into a large crib, suspended by vines from towering stalks high above, holding the girls safely inside as it swung slowly to and fro. They couldn't keep their eyes open and were soon fast asleep.

Nana had not been aware of that mode of operation. But she made a mental note of it and stored the data in her files.

--------------------------------------
~~ End - Pt9 ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt10 ~~
--------------------------------------

About 30 standard minutes later, the girls woke up, first Brenda, and then Terina, rubbing their eyes and yawning. The ever-watchful Nana smiled at them through the woven vines that made up the crib sides. "There you are, my adorable sweethearts. I hope you had a nice nap! There's still plenty of time to play." The girls' eyes grew wide -- apparently they could understand that last word.

The playground reconfigured itself again, into something resembling a carousel, strapping the babies into seats and turning around a central pole, with a leafy canopy overhead. They giggled and waved their arms and wiggled their feet as they happily went around and around. The girls began to chant in their adorable baby talk for the plant to go faster. Being genetically bred to please them, it began to rotate faster and faster. It wasn't long before the girls began to feel woozy in the head and tummy. The plant immediately slowed to a stop and gently deposited them on the ground as it reconfigured into a double pony seesaw. The girls sat for a bit to allow their heads and tummies to settle before jumping on for the ride.

The plant lifts and rocked and twisted and twirled them around as no other seesaw could. The girls screeched with joy as the ever watchful Nana looked on. The plant transformed into several other types of playground equipment before it finally deposited them at Nana's feet. Nana was impressed, the plant also kept perfect time with her own chronometer. It was exactly time to take the babies in for their change and dinner with Terina's parents.

Nana just couldn't bring herself to give the babies the antidote until the last possible moment, which happened to be when she had gotten them back to Terina's room and changed their diapers, putting them back into the thinner and more practical but less babyish model. Then she touched each of them on their upper arms, and with a quiet hiss injected them with the antidote ... It was fast-acting.

"Ooo wow Nana that so much funs," said Brenda, her speech returning. "Wish I could be like that more."

"I'm sure there will be many opportunities," said Nana, smiling. "I'm happy that you enjoyed it. How are you, Terina? Let's get you both ready for dinner."

Terina's head cleared rapidly as the antidote took hold. Terina realized she was in a really cute Ladybug romper still.

Terina said wonderingly, "You ... think mom and dad will ... understand?"

Nana giggles her electronic giggle, "Of course they will sugar plumb ... they are the one that redecorated the nursery for you and bought all the cute outfits."

Brenda walks to the mirror and looks at herself. The romper was red with small black spots. The ruffles on the hinny were red as well as the ones around the bib.

Brenda's eyes get big as she turns to Nana and says, "Nana!! We ... don't have on tops?"

Nana takes the girls by the hand and leads them from the Nursery, "Of course not. Little girls don't need to have on shirts under their rompers."

Terina said, "Well, it is true that every stitch of clothing in these rooms that we didn't bring ourselves, they bought. I guess it is the latest fashion craze in this sector, thanks at least partly to, well, us." She grinned. "They've seen weirder. One spring, the latest trend was embossed metal foil. Brr, that was so cold!"

Brenda looked incredulous. "But wouldn't that tear easily?" she asked. Then she immediately said, "Of course it would ... they must have been one-use outfits, wear and recycle. Then the manufacturer sells lots more of them." Terina nodded.

Nana leads Brenda and Terina to the private family dining room by the hand like the little girls they were dressed as. When they entered the room, the king looked up and a very broad smile crossed his face.

The queen stood and clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "Oh my! What pretty little girls we have for dinner tonight!"

The king nods and says, "They can't be a minute over 4 if that." The queen nods and rings a small golden bell.

From the far side of the room, a swinging door opens and two android servants enter pushing two very cute high chairs made for Adults. They position them around the table. Nana takes the girls to the chairs and lifts them in, fastens the lap belt, then lowers the tray effectively locking the astounded girls in.

"But wh --" Brenda began.

"Shhhh, baby, hush," said Nana, putting a finger lightly on Brenda's lips. "Their Majesties told me earlier that they knew, so there's no need to hide. They've always somewhat suspected, with Terina, and then she came back with me in tow -- they realized that I was a Nana unit of the model used to care for babies on the cruise line. It wasn't too hard for them to figure out that you were someone with whom Terina had shared one of her most delicate secrets."

"But what does it mean?" Brenda asked.

"It means you won't need to hide the cutest, sweetest, most adorable side of yourself from us anymore," said the Queen, looking at her daughter. "Either of you. When we're all in private, anyway. As you know, we've always been in favor of keeping our private lives separate from our public lives."

"You sure are adorable," said the King. "It's hard to believe. You look just like that sweet little baby girl we used to have around here -- and was it really that long ago?"

"What a cutie!" said the Queen, who couldn't resist getting up to hug Terina and ruffle her hair. "You're such a cutie! Yes you are! Yes, you are!" She was beaming with joy and kissed her daughter on the side of her head. Terina was blushing with embarrassment.

The two android servants had returned by this time with large trays balanced on each arm. They served the steaming dishes for the king and queen, then laid out the baby dishes on the high chair trays for the girls. The queen pulls up a chair and begins to feed Terina. Terina was so over whelmed at the moment, that most of the first several spoons full went everywhere but her mouth. The king laughed with joy as he pulled up a chair beside Brenda and began spoon feeding her too. The two astounded girls could do nothing but eat.

The queen cooed softly, "Annnnddd hhheerrreee commes the choo choo train. Choo choo choo ..." as she made a round about circuitous course to Terina's mouth.

The king said, "Open the landing bay for the star freighter. Rrrrrrrrrrr ..." as he too made a circuitous course to Brenda's mouth. All Brenda could do was open her mouth and allow the king to feed her. Other wise, more of the food would be on her bib that already was there.

When the girls had a good amount of their food in them, and Terina's parents wanted to have some of their own food before it got cold, Nana and one of the androids took over the feeding. The King and Queen insisted. Terina and Brenda didn't get to feed themselves at all that evening. Brenda felt embarrassed, but also quietly happy at the same time. She was being taken care of, and this was quite a loving household, at least in private. It seemed that public life was a bit less than ideal here, but that was the hazard of being wealthy and powerful, it seemed.

After dinner, Nana took the girls back to their rooms, where she checked their diapers and removed their bibs, then put them into cute babydoll tops and brought them back out. Terina's parents had started a game of cards and asked if the girls wanted to be dealt in.

"Sure!" said Brenda. "It looks like fun, though you might have to teach me the rules."

"It won't be the only thing you'll have to learn, as I'm sure you know," said the Queen. "That's another reason why we wanted Terina to be happy while she's here -- it's likely that she'll have to get married soon, and the fact is that you probably will too, eventually. It's good to have my daughter back, and I want you and us to be as happy as we can be, before things ... change."

"Well ... if there were some way for Terina to marry someone else, would you be happier?" Brenda asked.

"Oh yes, you said you had some sort of idea about that," the King said. "Has that ... gone forward at all?" He played a card.

"Well ... we'll see," Brenda said. "We've been contacting some friends, let's just say."

"I don't know what these 'friends' of yours could do, short of assassinating Prince Townsend -- wait. You're not planning to --?" the King began.

"Oh, no no, nothing like that," said Brenda. "No one is going to die. The duels in the Games, they're not to the death, right?"

"No, no, they're nothing barbaric like that," the King answered, looking relieved. "Sometimes there are injuries, like lacerations or even broken bones, but the participants get immediate medical attention. Even if someone gets a facial cut, there's no scarring left after it's healed."

"Well, there was that one incident with the Duke of East of the Sunrise and Count Morningstar," the Queen said.

"True, true," said the King. "Investigations showed that the Duke's death was murder, though ... one of the Count's enemies poisoned his weapon to make it look like the Count was to blame, but the plot unraveled when the evidence was examined."

The king dealt the next hand of cards as he looks slyly at Terina. He says offhandedly, "I received a comm from a certain Prince Detrich today. It seems he is requesting a ... private meeting with certain little girls to discuss some kind of arrangement. You wouldn't know anything about that ... would you?"

He cuts his eyes at Terina who was blushing slightly red in the cheeks. Terina replied, "Well, yes ... I do know something about that. I want him to enter the games this year and I'll ... give him my scarf to give him the rank to defend against Townsend."

The Kings eyes get big, he says with alarm in his voice, "Sweet heart, the prince will get seriously injured if he goes up against Townsend. He's been undefeated in ... 10 years running."

Brenda snickers as she turns her head and hides her face behind her hand of cards.

The queen says softly to the king, "It appears, dear husband, our little imps are up to something grand and we ... have been left out of the fun."

The king leans over and looks Terina square in the face, "Now, little girl ... daddy will spank you and make you wear a diaper in the court so all can see if you ... break the jousting rules of the games."

Terina gasps in alarm as she quickly replies, "NO!! We ... I mean I haven't done anything like that. All we did was even the odds. No one gets hurt and Detrich has a fighting equal chance."

Brenda looked at Terina, but didn't say anything. What the King and Queen didn't know, they couldn't talk about with people who they thought were friends but might not be. Nana had anti-surveillance hardware and regularly checked for hidden microphones and cameras as part of her background programming, because cruise ships were excellent places to get dirt on people for blackmail, and it was in the cruise line's interest to keep their guests feeling safe and relaxed. But they didn't need anyone knowing their plans who didn't absolutely need to know.

The Queen said, "Oh, and little Randy -- I mean Prince Detrich -- was always such good friends with you when you two were little kids. Always running around playing tag and catch-the-zipbot together."

Terina's face had turned so red by this point, the king and queen could have used her for a night lamp.

The queen looked at Terina knowingly, "Oh, I see ... is there more to this meeting than we know?"

Terina nods. She says softly in a cute soft voice, "Mom, if I have to get married ... I want to marry him. The only way to do that is for him to win at the games."

The king looks thoughtful, "Sweet heart, the only way to get him to win, is for Townsend not to get his drugs. Since no one knows where he gets it or who manufactures it ... it's sort of a pipe dream."

Brenda giggles more as Terina shrinks in her chair just a bit. The king narrows his eyes some as he nods in understanding. He says as he throws a card on the table, "I don't want to know anymore. That way, no one can say I or your mother were involved."

The queen looks at the king for a second before she agrees, "Yes, I ... think that would be best. But ... I want to hear all the nitty gritty details after the games." The king and queen laugh as the queen drops a big card on the table.

The girls played cards with the King and Queen, and Brenda tried to learn the game, but she got the impression that the King and Queen were playing on an entirely different level, understanding nuances that she had no hope of grasping until she'd had years of experience. But this was very much like the world that she'd found herself living in, so she figured she'd better get used to it.

That night, Nana made sure they were comfortably and thickly diapered and in warm one-piece sleepers, and tucked them both into the crib in Terina's room with their pacifiers and quiet lullaby music playing. She asked them if they wanted some of the regression drug for the night, but Brenda declined.

"We're going to need our wits about us for the next few days," she said, "and besides, it's not like we'll be able to enjoy it -- we'll be asleep. No point wasting the stuff."

Nana refrained from reminding her that thanks to Miss Sally, they had a nigh-inexhaustible supply of both the drug and its antidote. Brenda clearly didn't feel enough at ease with the situation that she could properly relax, and probably wouldn't until after the Games.

In the morning, Nana put the babies in the bathtub anyway, getting them all clean for their lunch with Prince Detrich. Nana dressed both of them as Young Princesses should be. Their gowns were of the finest silk made by the glow moths of Ceti Alpha. Their Tiaras gleamed brightly as the jewels sparkled in the light as they were escorted down the Hall of Ages to the landing pad.

The multitude of peoples bowed and curtsied and said, "My Ladies." until Brenda's head began to hurt. She understood now why Terina wanted someone to be with her through all of this. Brenda did her best to emulate the casually graceful way Terina had as she acknowledged the peoples and the way she waved her hand in greeting.

By the time they reached the door to the landing pad, Brenda was more than willing to exit the crowded thoroughfare. When they entered the door, they were greeted with the most wonderful garden Brenda had ever seen. It was filled with flowers, flowering trees, and many kinds of exotic fruits from all over the universe.

The Honor Guard escorted the princesses to the landing area just as the Air Car landed. Brenda gets a tingle as an extremely handsome young man in a well tailored uniform, many shiny medals, and the bright silver eagles of command on his shoulders stepped into the sunlight.

Terina leans over and whispers wistfully, "And that ... is Prince Randy Detrich."

The young man spots the girls, then a beautiful smile breaks across his handsome face.

"Pssh," Brenda made a now-it's-all-clear-to-me sort of sound. "No wonder you like him. He cuts quite the figure, doesn't he?"

Striding over toward the girls, Prince Detrich said, "Your Highness’s, this day is already the happiest I've had in some time, and it's only getting better each moment. Princess Terina, it's so wonderful to see you again -- and you wore that bracelet! It brings back memories."

Terina was wearing a bracelet she and the Prince had made as a child out of woven flowering branches and reeds that had then been preserved in liquicrystal. He took Terina's offered hand in his own and kissed the back of it, looking upward into her eyes as he did so.

"And you must be Princess Brenda," he said, turning toward her. "An air of mystery surrounds you, for no one seems to know where you come from, yet Princess Terina chose to elevate you to a most high position. To which I say, any friend of Terina's is a friend of mine. I'm very pleased to meet you, Your Highness."

He also held Brenda's hand and kissed it, and she felt a warm flush go through her and smiled back at him as he did so.

Both girls fidgeted and squirmed as the goose flesh ran all over their bodies. Terina was so glad she was in a diaper ... she could feel the wetness of where she had wet herself in her excitement. She looked at Brenda for a second and wondered if she had the same reaction.

Terina took hold of Randy's elbow and said, "We ... have some rather important stuff to talk with you about."

"Important?" Randy looked serious. "Well, I can tell from your tone that it's not just some game. Let's have a seat and maybe some refreshments."

He led Terina to a nearby alfresco cafe in the gardens that she was also familiar with, and Brenda followed along.

Once they were seated and they had ordered some Nathian firefruit juice, which they all liked, Brenda said, "Well, Your Highness, you're right. It's not a game. It's a Game with a capital G."

"It's a ... wait, you mean the Games?" The Prince looked a bit surprised. "What about them?" He looked back and forth between Brenda and Terina for an explanation.

Terina said softly, "First, I want to introduce you to my new sister. She is the Princess of Moon Vale, Brenda Achernar." Randy nods elegantly in her direction as he turned a serious expression towards Terina. She continued, "I ... want to ask if ..." Terina blushes very red at this point.

Randy takes one of her hands and says softly, "Tell me. I promise I won't ... laugh."

Terina continued, "I want to know if you are willing to ... marry me? Let me be your ... Babydoll?"

Randy sat stunned for a few seconds. His eyes get big as he realizes what Terina was asking.

Randy replies in a serious voice, "That ... would be a fantasy of my childhood come true. We both know it won't happen ... and the only way to make it happen .. is for me to win the Games. Against Prince Townsend ... that's ... impossible."

Brenda says mysteriously, "What if it wasn't ... Your Highness?"

Randy looks at both the girls for a second before replying, "Just what have the two of you cooked up? If you intend to violate the rules of engagement ... I'm out right now."

Terina answers quickly, "No! no, Nothing like that ... but what if we can insure you do win .. and have a fair and fighting chance?"

"Besides," said Brenda, "I'm new around here, but I've heard that Prince Townsend uses some kind of drug to boost his performance. Isn't that against the rules?"

"Well, that's the problem," said Randy. "The Games don't have rules so much as ... suggestions. It's rumored that he does use drugs, and that's frowned upon, but it doesn't actually disqualify him."

"But it does make him look bad, doesn't it?" Brenda asked. "It sort of puts an asterisk next to his record. He didn't get there all on his own."

"Well, in the eyes of public opinion, sure," Randy said, "but it's not as if there's any proof, and he's powerful enough that no one will ever investigate him. After all, he's hurting no one but himself."

"What about all the people he's injured in the Games?" Brenda asked, offhand. "But that's not all. Do you have any idea how short the list of Terina's potential suitors is?"

Suitors? Are your parents on that getting-you-married kick again?" Randy asked Terina. "Surely there's some other than that super inflated ... so-and-so?"

Terina just smiled a humorless half-smile.

"You see?" Brenda said.

"I do see," said Randy. "Wow. This is serious. If you don't find another answer, you're stuck marrying that ... hmm. Look, Terina, I'll do anything I can to keep that from happening, even if it means joining the Games, fighting my way to the final round, and getting my spine fractured by Townsend. You're important to me. But I'm not sure that even that would be enough. He'll still win."

"Terina believes in you," said Brenda. "So, because she does, so do I."

Terina leans over suddenly and gives Randy a sweet little smooch on his lips. Randy stops stock still as his eyes almost fall out of his head.

Terina says in a cute voice, "That's ... a down payment on what's to come WHEN you win."

Brenda giggles as Randy looks incredulously at Terina.

Terina continues, as she reaches in the front of her gown and removes a very finely woven scarf, "Here's my scarf of empowerment for you to fight on my behalf. As you know, this elevates your ranking to that of Townsend and allows you to joust him in whatever mode you so choose."

Randy says with emotion in his voice as he takes the scarf, "I know you two have done something. I'm not real sure exactly what. If you can insure that Townsend doesn't have that super human advantage that has become his trademark ... I know I can beat out the rest of the competition."

Terina and Brenda say at the same time, "All we want you to do is enter the Games." Then both girls giggle.

"I'll do it, then," said the Prince. "I just hope there's a light at the end of this tunnel. I've got some training to do."

"Terina said you keep in top condition," said Brenda.

"Well ... I don't consider it that," Randy said. "If I did, there'd be no top to strive for. But still, some practice sparring with my trainers would do me good. This year's Games are what, next week?"

"That's what I heard," Brenda said.

Terina and Brenda stood and took hold of one of Randy's arms and pulled him into a standing position.

Terina said, "As long as you are here, let's take a tour of everything for the afternoon. You need to get to know my new sister ... and we have lots of catching up to do."

Randy didn't argue. Who was he to complain about being with not only the highest ranking Women in the whole system ... but the prettiest ones too. He was still very curious as to what the girls had done ... but with all his wiles, he was unable to get them to spill the beans as to why they were so sure he would defeat Townsend this year.

By the end of the day Brenda was feeling quite confident that this man was a good match for her new best friend. He was self-confident but considerate, and he looked after his friends -- and it was obvious that he loved her besides just being her friend from childhood. Brenda was a bit jealous that he'd known her so long, whereas she'd only met Terina recently, but it was ridiculous to be jealous -- after all, that was just how things had worked out.

The light of Deneb, brilliant to the point of torrential, never stopped shining on the ring, and in fact the segments of the ring were hollow and lit with artificial light, but now that light was dimming and growing orange, signaling that the day was nearing an end.

"Well, ladies," said Randy, "I had best start making plans, and convincing my parents and other friends that I'm not insane for wanting to try this. But I want you to know -- both of you -- that this has been one of the best days of my life. I've missed you so much, Terina; you've been away too long. And Brenda, it's a pleasure to meet you." He bowed and kissed each princess on the back of the hand again, but lingered a bit more on Terina's. "Please promise me it won't be that long before I see you again."

--------------------------------------
~~ End - Pt10 ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt11 ~~
--------------------------------------

The girls both watched wistfully as the very handsome young Prince entered his Aircar and lifted off.

Terina looks at Brenda and says softly, "Isn't he just adorable? I've loved him since I was .... a little girl and we played in the rose garden."

Brenda sighs, she had only been a girl for a little while, but she truly understood the attraction. Terina took Brenda's hand and about faced. She lead her back into the Hall of Ages where the many peoples once again began their "My Ladies" as they passed.

Brenda leans over and whispers so only Terina could hear, "How in the world do you keep from going nuts with that all the time?"

Terina smiles as she whispers back, "I ... leave and go on adventures." Both girls giggle as they quickly hurry back to their rooms in hopes of changing their outfits and getting front row seats for this year's Games. They wanted to watch as Townsend regressed into an infant before the many multitudes.

During the next few days the girls played at the playground sometimes, Terina showed Brenda some of her favorite places, and they got a few messages from Prince Detrich about how he was getting ready for the Games.

But there was one other message.

"Incoming message from Prince Townsend," said the terminal in its neutral electronic voice.

"What?" asked Brenda. "Why would he be calling you?"

"To put me off my lunch," Terina answered. "No, actually probably because he really thinks he's going to be marrying me soon."

"Ugh," said Brenda, shuddering. "Well, whatever you do, don't let him catch on that anything is up."

"Which is why I have to answer it," said Terina. "But I don't have to be enthusiastic to talk to him. I never have before, and there's no reason why that should change." She touched the accept button on the screen. "Your Highness," she said to the image that appeared. "To what do I owe the honor and privilege." She said this without any sign that she felt honored or privileged.

"Why, Princess Terina, my sweet," said the smirking, muscular, blond Prince. "You are even lovelier than when last I saw you. It's been, what, a year?"

Terina made a face. She said softly, "I feel that is not long enough. Have you called to gloat over how you're going to cheat at the Games this year?"

Prince Townsend laughed in an evil way, "Why, My Lady, you wound me to my soul. Just because I'm the best that there ever was at the Game ... doesn't mean I cheat. Besides, how can one cheat at being the most physically strong and adept?"

Terina sneers, "I'm sure one of those many insects you pulled the wings from could tell that story."

Townsend laughed. "Remember, my precious lady Princess, the winner of this year's Game ... has you as their prize."

Terina visibly looked ill when he said this. She said with a haughty tone, "Good Bye, Your Highness. I will see you at the games ... and we will see if you win this year."

Townsend replies as the comm went dead, "You can count on it Princess." She looks at Brenda and says softly with a tremble in her voice, "I ... would kill myself first."

Brenda wraps an understanding arm around Terina and comforts her in the knowledge ... this year ... Tiny Tot the Terrible Townsend will have a major accident on the field.

"Don't worry, Terina," Brenda said. "We've taken care of it. Although we might want to check on things just once more."

"I calculate a 96% probability of success," said Nana, "but it might be good to try to increase that."

"If you're listening," Brenda said, looking at the ceiling before realizing that it really didn't matter which way she looked, "you might want to make sure everything's going where it oughtta." Suddenly she yawned. "Oof. Message received, I think. He might want to talk again."

"Oh, does baby Brenda need a nap?" said Nana, all too happy to help if so.

"I think so, Nana," she said, with a sleepy smile. "Want to talk to our friend, Terina?"

Nana got the two girls bundled up in thick diapers and comfy pajamas and put them down in their crib for a nap. It wasn't long after they'd dropped off to sleep before they realized they were dreaming -- and not only that; they were in the dream-speech of the cloud entity. Terina snuggles up to Brenda and their large purple Teddy Bear. Her eyes were closed before her head hit the pillow.

The cloud entity said softly, "Hello, my friends. I heard you calling and here I am."

Terina said, "We just wanted ta know is everthin where it should be?"

There is a moment of silence ... then the voice of the being said softly, "All the chemical you collected is in a warehouse behind the Center Fountain on your Estate."

Terina replies, "And the other?"

The Cloud entity replies, "As far as I can tell, that is within the personal compound of your Townsend Enemy. Apparently, he has divided a large quantity of it into a personal carrier. I assume it's the one he will use on the day of the ... Contests."

Brenda felt uncertain. "But ... does he have any more? Did he already have a supply of it? Do we know that he'll use the new stock he just bought on the day of the Games, or will he use what he already had?"

"I am ... detecting that there is more of the substance in his palace," the entity responded, seeming to reach out with its senses for a moment. "It is in a safe behind a bathroom mirror in his personal suite on the third floor. I can see that he intends to use it soon, but that is all I can see. I cannot say when."

"We have to do something about that," said Brenda urgently. "He can't use that stuff on the day of the Games. It has to be what he believes to be the new stock he just bought, not what's already in his stash. Maybe we can get him to use it up early?" She looked at Terina, in their shared dream. "Do you think he can be goaded into showing off? The Games are still a couple of days away."

"He does appear to have only one dose remaining," said the voice of the entity.

The week went quickly by. Nana dressed the girls in their finest gowns and did their hair in curly ponytails.

As Nana placed the ornate and bejeweled Tiara on Brenda's head she said softly, "There, now, the both of you look like Princesses of the Realm as you're supposed to."

Terina walks gracefully up to a mirror and looks at herself. She thinks how this gown would make a wonderful babydoll dress if it were rearranged. She turns and says softly, "I do so hope that ... our plan works today. That one dose has me so worried."

Brenda nods, "Me too. If he takes that stuff before the bout ... no one can beat him."

The girls fretted over this as the Royal Aircar transported them to the large Arena for the games. By the time they arrived, GNN had already arrived and many reporters were shoving microphones in the girl's faces as they were quickly escorted to their Dias to watch. Brenda couldn't believe some of the idiot questions she was asked along the way.

"These are your first Games, aren't they, Princess Brenda?" "What do you think of the fashion trends here on Deneb? Are they different from back home?" "Do you think Prince Townsend can be defeated?" The reporters wouldn't give it a rest.

Brenda just smiled at the reporters and said, very distinctly, "My opinion is that you are all doing a fine job of covering these Games, and I wish all the competitors the best of luck today."

The Princesses made their way to their seats in the royal observation box, next to Terina's parents and attended by Nana and other android servants. The King and Queen made speeches as part of the opening ceremonies, and Prince Detrich saluted Terina and Brenda as he rode in, clad in armor, his helm under his arm, astride a horse-like beast. Terina sighs loudly as Randy rode in. He looked so wonderful in his bright and shiny armor. She leaned over the rail and waved as she threw a large Rose like flower to him. Randy raised his right arm, wrapped around it was Terina's scarf of empowerment. Randy was equal to all on the field that day.

Townsend sat astride his mount and sneered. He was going to make sure that upstart Detrich was dead at the end of the Joust. It would be easy to make it look like an accident. He remembered earlier in the week as several of those other imbeciles had suggested he had lost his edge and challenged him. The upstarts from Tannhauser Gate wouldn't soon forget the severe injuries he inflicted on them in the duel. The injection worked perfectly and made him as fierce as all remembered him to be in the previous years.

He places his helm on is head as he always did. He never exposed his face until after the Games. He rode out into the Arena amid many boos and cat calls. He spies Terina and nods to her. Terina ignores his gesture. Townsend smiles behind his mask ... soon, that succulent piece of womanhood would be his property. He reaches into his tunic, behind the shiny breastplate, the auto hypo-spray was right where he wanted it.

"And for our first event, the Earl of Zeta Station takes the field against Count Alnitak in fencing," said the announcer. "Meanwhile, in the heavy fighting ring, Prince Detrich of the Sunward Configuration vs. Lord Fomalhaut the Younger ..."

There were events going on all over the field. Brenda and Terina watched Prince Detrich closely, because if he lost any events, he wouldn't advance to the final round. They kept an eye on Prince Townsend, though -- he was winning consistently despite obviously not having taken the drug … yet. Even without it, he was a formidable opponent, but with it, he was invincible.

Randy, though, was also a force to be reckoned with. He easily defeated Lord Fomalhaut, but once he'd been declared the victor he gave his opponent a hand up and congratulated him on a good fight amid many cheers and applause. He moved on to other weapons, then to fencing, again in a variety of matches with a variety of weapon combinations.

"No, Randy, look out!" Brenda shouted, watching him fight on the holo-magnification table. "Whew, he saw it coming! But Count Alnitak didn't see that one! A point for Randy! Yay!"

The day wore on. All the best combatants of the Denebs and surrounding systems were there to compete. Terina and Brenda leaned over the rail of the holo-table breathlessly as they watched Randy battle heroically. He was a truly amazing warrior. They both cringed with each victory Townsend accrued. He too wasn't a slacker, even without the drug he was famous for.

It wasn't long before there were only about a dozen heavily armored men left to fight. The last woman combatant had held her own most of the day. A rapid reversal of a long sword by her opponent ended her game with a sudden fall. Her opponent was on her fast to take the win.

"My lords and ladies, the next event will be the Grand Melee," came the announcement.

The remaining competitors who had enough victories to remain in the contest lined up around a fenced-in area. This included Randy and Prince Townsend. When the starter's flag was raised, the thirteen combatants began to fight. They went at each other with skillfully deadly intent.

It was difficult for Brenda to see any rhyme or reason to the strategy, but Terina and her parents made comments as events unfolded.

"Ah, the Earl of Transverse Omicron is clearly feeling that blow he took in his earlier fight -- I'll bet he falls soon," said the Queen.

"I think you're right," said the King, "and Count Alnitak is doing better than I'd have thought, given that he's the oldest one left in the game."

"What's Prince Townsend doing?" asked Brenda.

"It looks to me as if he's not focused," said the King. "He's looking past the fighters near him and over toward ... Prince Detrich? Is Randy taunting him or something? Townsend had better look out -- if he doesn't pull himself together, he's going to get knocked out by Omicron and Weston there."

Repeated crashes of maces, swords, and axes against armor and shields, picked up by the microphones and faithfully reproduced by the holo-viewing system, rose to a thunderous din. Brenda saw Randy deftly block a swing and throw an opponent out of the ring. The audience went wild.

"And that's it for Count Alnitak for this year," said the King. "He might be getting too old for this."

"I think Randy only did that so Alnitak wouldn't get hurt worse," said the Queen. "Townsend's still down there."

Prince Townsend, meanwhile, dealt Earl Omicron a savage kick to his injured knee, fracturing it, and the game officials dragged Omicron out of the ring, loaded him onto a hover stretcher, and carted him to the medics.

"That's ... barbaric," said Brenda, even though she knew there was no rule against what he had done. Still, honor counted for something, and the crowd booed Townsend.

The contestants' armor was looking much the worse for the wear, and over the next few minutes several others were either thrown from the ring or eliminated by officials.

"There -- Lord Weston's making his move," said the King.

The indicated Weston's attempt to trip Prince Townsend failed, leaving him off balance, and Townsend took full advantage of this, trapping his leg and twisting it. His leg dislocated at the hip with a very audible crack. Lord Weston cried out in pain, and the game officials called for his removal to the medical area.

"That's how Townsend fights," said the King, shaking his head in disapproval. "Nobody likes it, but it wins matches. And the losers will be fine; the doctors will fix them right up."

Randy held his own all through the melee. Townsend was having no troubles with any of the other combatants except Randy. Every time Townsend got close enough to take a swipe at him, Randy would parry his thrusts or dodge out of the way, only to return it three fold back in ferocity. Townsend was slightly upset that his very expensive battle armor had many severe dents and gashes mostly due to those well timed and expertly delivered counter attacks by Randy.

At every opportunity, Randy would taunt Townsend, making him loose concentration long enough for another combatant to deliver a crushing blow. Townsend became even more enraged over this. His attacks became increasingly more intense as he became more angry and the numbers of contestants rapidly dwindled.

Finally, the call went up ... "The Duke of Medial Theta Sector is out!" said the announcer. "And it's down to just Prince Detrich and Prince Townsend in the final round!"

At long last, there were just Townsend and Randy left in the arena. All others had been seriously wounded, removed for safety reasons by the Officials, or bodily thrown from the arena by brute force either by Randy or Townsend.

The officials called for a 30 minute rest period to give the combatants time to replace their much damaged armor for the final battle.

Townsend smiles evilly as he replaces his chest plate and brings the Hypo spray to a spot he can quickly access during the battle.

Townsend removed the safety ridge along his large broad sword and replaced it with one that appeared to be proper, but would shatter on impact, delivering the micron honed edge to Randy's armor. Townsend smiles. He had killed this way before ... and the official's wouldn't catch him on it now. The duplicate safety bar was a perfect replica and would be undetectable.

"Are you sure you should be taking time off to call us?" Brenda asked Randy. "What about your armor?"

"Oh, I figured that would be a total loss, so it's not too bad," Randy said on the holo-comm. "I brought another set. It's just about time to suit back up. But I had to give my regards to Terina. I'm doing this for you, you know."

He bowed toward where he knew the royal box was in the stands.

"Ohhhh Terina, marry this guy before I do!" said Brenda. Then she realized what she'd just said and blushed brightly. She'd never expected having this kind of reaction to a male.

Randy laughed. "You are so delightful!" he said. "I'm glad I met you. But I must bid you both adieu for now. The final showdown awaits."

"Be --" said Terina, then the call dropped. "... careful," she finished to the blank screen.

"I think ... I think he was worried," said Brenda, "on the inside, worried that this might be ... the end. From what he said."

Inwardly Brenda was thinking, Please, please let it have worked ... please let it be regression drug Townsend has, not that psycho steroid junk … then … she suddenly felt the dreamlike presence of the cloud entity, which must have been watching over them. She began to be able to sense the presence of strange energies ... the nanoelectronic circuitry of the holo-table, the golden filigrees of communications beams through the air ... this was what the cloud being could sense, and it had shown them before what Townsend's drug looked like.

Brenda looked out the window at the arena and saw Prince Townsend. His assistants were finishing the job of buckling his replacement armor pieces on. But under his breastplate was ... some kind of glow. Not bright, very faint, but there.

"Oh no ..." whispered Brenda. She leaned toward Terina and whispered in her ear. "Oh no, I think ... he might have the wrong drug, what are we going to do?"

"There's nothing we can do," said Terina. "He's showing it to me too, but there's nothing we can do. But ... there's hope. It's not a very bright glow. The drug glowed very brightly. It might just be residual."

"I hope so," Brenda whispered back.

"My lords and ladies," said the announcer over the sound system, "the final match is about to begin. Prince Detrich and Prince Townsend, are you ready?"

A new fighting ring had been set up, and the princes stood at opposite ends of it, their armor gleaming, their weapons at the ready. Both of them banged their shields then raised their swords as a signal -- Prince Townsend's massive broadsword and Prince Detrich's nimbler longsword shone in the light of the ring's fusion tube, high overhead.

"Then," the announcer called out, "let the match begin!"

Prince Townsend roared with rage and ran at Prince Detrich, who at the same time ran toward Townsend, but at the last minute Detrich turned away, causing Townsend's sword to swing down on empty air, almost striking the ground, which would have prematurely shattered its false edge, ruining his plan.

Townsend snarled, knowing he faced a clever opponent -- but not clever enough. He blocked a swing from Randy with the flat of his blade and tried a side kick at Randy's legs, but Detrich was too nimble and didn't allow the blow to connect.

Randy, meanwhile, could tell that Townsend was furious. He was fighting to wound, to maim, perhaps to kill. It was good that the blades on their weapons weren't sharp, but they could still shatter bones in strong hands, and Townsend was frightfully strong. Townsend didn't plan to lose this fight. Neither did Randy, but although he could avoid Townsend's crushing blows, he wasn't going to win the battle by avoiding it.

Townsend thought about the hypo-spray in his chest plate, ready to inject him with the drug as soon as he pressed the hidden button, but he was wondering if perhaps he wouldn't need it. Prince Detrich was a lightweight, a flitting butterfly compared to Townsend's raw power. There was no way Detrich could either injure him badly enough to claim victory or throw him out of the ring. All he had to do was tire him out and then move in for the kill.

Randy made his move, quick as lightning. The two had been circling each other for several seconds like animals of prey, looking for an opening, when Randy noticed that Townsend seemed pensive, distracted.

Randy saw a plan immediately and feinted directly at Townsend's neck, so fast that Townsend had no time to consider whether it was a ploy or a true attack. Just as Townsend moved his massive sword to block, Randy swung his lighter blade and then brought it down behind Townsend's with a powerful two-handed stroke, following the broadsword as it moved out of the way and slashing into the gap between Townsend's shoulder guard and chest plate, biting into the exposed flesh near his armpit. Townsend's eyes lit up with pure rage.

There was no question now. As Detrich pulled back with blood on the tip of his blade, Townsend felt that he had to crush this stinging insect. He risked letting go of his sword with one hand, reached up, and touched the activation button behind his chest plate.

What Townsend expected to happen now was to feel an exhilarating rush of massive strength and raw power … like a score of adrenaline rushes all at once; the effect was immediate. He would then win easily, killing his opponent in the process, but that didn't matter.

What he felt, instead, was a sort of eclipsing of his mental focus. He expected the pain from the wound in his side to go away, but it remained and even seemed to intensify. He felt confused. What was he doing there again? Oh right, he was in a fight. And he fought to win!

"Raaa!" he shouted. "You're goin' down, you ... you poopy head!"

"What?" said Prince Detrich, sounding confused. Still, he didn't drop his guard. Was this some kind of bizarre ruse? Randy saw Townsend begin to act … strangely.

Townsend couldn't think. His wound hurt him terribly and began to bring tears to his eyes.

"Oww!" he shouted. "You ... you hurt me! Meany!!" He couldn't seem to remember what the fight was about, and that was troubling him too."Why are we fighting? What am I doing here? I want ... I want ..."

"What's going on?" asked Randy in total confusion.

"I want my MOMMY!" shouted Prince Townsend, bursting into tears and crying like a toddler. He sank to the ground, dropping his sword … a puddle forming under him as he lost control of his bladder. "Wahhhh! You bad man! Where my mommyyyyyy?" he cried.

"My lords and ladies," the announcer said over the sound system, "Prince Townsend appears to have had some sort of ... mental breakdown. The game officials wish for a time out to investigate the situation."

Prince Detrich stepped back and cleaned the blood from his sword with a cloth brought to him by one of his assistants, while the officials and his own assistants swarmed around Prince Townsend.

Shortly thereafter, the announcer called out, "Officials have announced that Prince Townsend has been disqualified. The winner is Prince Detrich!"

A huge roaring cheer went up as finally Townsend had been defeated! Terina and Brenda screamed their joy as they hugged each other and danced around the holo-screen. The king and queen stood and tapped each of the princesses on their shoulders.

The queen said softly, "Ok, girls, you have to come to the winner's box and congratulate the victor of the Games."

The king looked at Terina and said cryptically, "Especially the prize."

The group of them left the dais and walked to an elevator tube that dropped them to the arena floor. They exited and crossed the large expanse amid many roaring cheers and falling flowers and ticker tape. When they arrived at the winner's box, Randy was there with his helmet removed.

The King came to Randy and held out his hand, "Congratulations on your fantastic win. Townsend has been undefeated in 10 years of Games." Randy took the King's hand and shook it vigorously.

Terina rushed up and wrapped her arms around Randy's neck and gave him a wonderful kiss. She said softly, "I was so afraid you were going to get hurt out there."

Randy smiles as he holds Terina close, "With you as my inspiration? NEVER!" Everyone laughs.

In the background, Prince Townsend's assistants were trying to get him to calm down or at least get him out of his armor, but he was throwing a proper temper tantrum and they were afraid to come near him. He was crying and screaming incoherently, still sitting on the grass of the arena floor, flailing at the ground with his hands.

"Your Majesty," said one of the game officials, clad in the traditional black and white striped uniform whose origin none could now remember, "Prince Townsend was using an illegal weapon. This could have been lethal."

She held up Townsend's doctored broadsword, its false edge partially broken to reveal the sharper-than-razor-sharp edge beneath it. Randy raised an eyebrow and looked a bit pale, but fortunately all eyes were on the official.

"Also, it would seem that he had been doping," she said, holding up the syringe which they had found, "but evidently he got a bad batch of whatever drug he was using. Always a risk when buying off the black market. This will go to the lab for analysis."

"So, the rumors were true," said the King. "Doping isn't actually against the rules, but it's not an honorable way to win. But using a lethal weapon is quite very much against the rules indeed. Disqualification is only the beginning."

"The investigation may lead to criminal charges," said the official, nodding, "but all that in good time, Your Majesty. I just wanted you to know before the rumor mill began to grind and distort the truth."

"Thank you for your diligence," said the King, nodding. "You may continue with your business." The official bowed and departed.

The King looks at Terina and Brenda with a knowing glance. He said in an off hand way, "If I didn't know better ... I would think Townsend got hold of some of ... that regression drug of Nana's."

The Queen looks around with a wonderful look of surprised joy on her face. She says with glee, "You ... didn't .... did you?"

Brenda and Terina both start to sputter at the same time. Their faces turned a wonderful shade of strawberry pink.

The Queen gasps delightedly as she puts a hand to her mouth. She says in an airy gasp, "Ohh ... but you did. GIRLS!! ... That ... is so .... wonderfully funny."

Everyone including Randy Burst out laughing as Terina directed Nana over to Townsend with instructions to 'Tend to Baby'.

The King snorts, "Even so, Townsend was going to try and kill you Prince Detrich. Now, I want you to kneel before your King and Sovereign."

Randy knelt solemnly to one knee and bowed his head as the King Drew his own broad sword. The blade made a soft ringing sound as it flashed from the scabbard.

The king said in a loud voice so all could clearly hear, "I here by declare you, Prince Randy Detrich, the Winner of this year's Game and anoint you with the title of 'Protector of the Crown, and your Sovereigns'. With this appointment go all the titles, land, and authority pertaining there to." He then taps Randy on each shoulder with his sword before returning it to his scabbard.

A loud roar went up from all around the arena as more flowers and ticker tape began to fall like snow.

Terina hugs Randy's neck and says softly, "Now, you have the ranking and power to marry a Princess of the Realm ... Oh, my Prince."

Randy Smiles and replies, "And I promise to take very good care of her ... even when she's too young to do it herself."

"Oh," said Brenda, watching Terina and Randy and sniffling, "it's so sweet!"

A tear of joy ran down her cheek, and she took a handkerchief out of her purse to dab at it with, but she dropped it.

"Oh dear," she said as she started to bend down and retrieve it.

Before she could, five nearby handsome noblemen immediately scrambled to pick it up for her. One of them managed to get it first and handed it to her elegantly, smiling. She smiled back.

"Why thank you, kind sir," she said, blushing as he kissed the back of her hand softly. I could get so used to this, she thought to herself.

The press wanted to interview everyone, of course, but only Randy, as the winner, and the King, as the King of course, decided to make any statements.

"So yes, there will be a full investigation into Townsend's equipment violation," King Andrew was saying, "but I intend to see that it's done right, with no rushed or slipshod work. I urge everyone to be patient. We want the real truth. Thank you."

He stepped down from the dais to be with his wife and daughters, and potential new son-in-law.

After holding the Queen's hand and smiling at her, he turned to Randy and said, "So ... dinner? Worked up quite an appetite out there today, I'd imagine."

Brenda was checking on Nana and Prince Townsend. Unafraid of the Prince's tantrum, Nana had gone right up to him and picked him up, armor and all, with her android strength.

"My, such a big baby boy," she had said, oblivious to his continued bawling. "Let's get you changed, shall we?"

She had taken him to the medical pavilion, where a private curtained area was quickly set up for him. In minutes she'd had him out of his armor and thickly diapered, dressed in a white hospital-style tunic that was all the medics had on short notice. He calmed down quite a bit once Nana put a large pacifier in his mouth. The medics saw to his wound, and soon he was sleeping quite calmly on his medical cot, sucking contentedly on his pacifier. The UGNN service reporters went wild!

"I'm surprised you had a diaper his size," Brenda said to Nana when she was finished.

"I try to be prepared," Nana answered. "Unfortunately I only had the thick baby-style ones in his size, though, not the thinner ones."

"I'd have thought you'd have brought the thin ones," Brenda said. "Easier to carry."

"My observation of recent events suggested that the thicker ones were ... more appropriate for the situation that was likely to unfold," Nana explained.

"I see," said Brenda, nodding. "Quite rational." as she giggled softly.

"Indeed, little girl," said Nana, smiling. "Nana should get you home. You need a change."

Nana always knew. Brenda blushed a bit, but could tell nobody could hear. Nana wouldn't say things like that if anyone were close enough. The press's attention was still drawn to the dais, where the King had just finished answering questions.

"As much as I'd rather have a hover stroller ride home," Brenda said quietly, "perhaps we'd just better walk to the King's aircar."

"There will be plenty of time for stroller rides later, dear," said Nana, and they walked to join Terina and the rest.

When the Royal family had entered the aircar and taken off, they all laughed at the UGNN reports that had gone totally off the wire. The reports were abuzz with Townsend's breakdown that had rendered him back to infancy. There were many pictures of him being diapered by Nana and him sucking on a cute pink pacifier.

Those hilarious reports were peppered with the darker reports of Townsend using illegal weapons in the Games and attempting to kill Prince Detrich after his Doping attempt went sour. Every channel was abuzz with the new Royal Defender and his Grand Appointment. Townsend now would have to retire back to his meager estate on a forgotten side of the ring … that is ... if he didn't go to prison or worse for atrocities committed during a sanctioned Battle Game. There was much speculation as to what the King was going to do if it was determined that Prince Townsend had violated that rule and attempted to commit murder under guise of legal games. This was an offense totally frowned on by all and would be dealt with most severely upon discovery of proof and conviction.

At dinner that night, with Randy as guest, the Queen broached the inevitable subject.

"Well, with Prince Townsend publicly disgraced and under investigation, it's unlikely that anyone would consider him an acceptable suitor now," she said. "I don't suppose you have any other ideas, do you, Terina dear?"

The Queen glanced at Randy for just a fraction of a second with her eyes before looking back at Terina.

Terina blushed very brightly. "Moooom!" she protested.

"Oh, don't worry, honey," said the Queen. "I'm actually quite relieved that you won't be marrying Townsend. I didn't really think he was a good match either, but sometimes we do what we have to do.”

Now that he's out of the picture, other options become open, don't they?" Brenda asked.

"Yes, that's the way it works," said the Queen. "Townsend was on the highest tier. He had priority. Now the door opens for the next tier ... or it would, except that one man has been elevated above the rest, so he has right of first refusal. And that man ..."

Brenda picked up with glee in her voice as the Queen trailed off. "... is sitting here at the table with us, isn't he?"

It was Randy's turn to blush -- slightly, but he was blushing.

"There would be no greater honor, Your Majesties," said Randy, "but truly this decision should not be made by you or me. I fully believe that it must be the Princess Terina's decision and would never try to push her into anything."

Terina sat with her face on fire she was blushing so hard. She could feel the heat radiating out into the room. She looked at Randy's red face and realized he too was blushing. This made her feel less shy.

She takes Randy by one hand and whispers in his ear, "Perhaps ... later ... after dinner ... we could go for a walk in the garden and have a chat?"

Randy leans over and gives Terina a sweet kiss on her nose, "As you wish ... My Lady."

Brenda and the Queen giggle as the King looks at Randy with a mock sternness.

The King clears his throat loudly, "I say there young man ... and ... Just what are your intentions with my daughter in the garden?" All eyes fall on Randy at that point.

Randy's eyes get big as he can't think of anything to say.

The King says in a mocking stern voice, "Then, I would think it's proper to call the men at arms?"

The Queen picks up on the joke and says, "Yes ... should we bring an armed guard in here and ... have you detained? Just what are your intentions with my Babydoll?"

Brenda sat with big eyes. She wasn't sure if they were serious ... or not. From the look on Randy's and Terina's face ... she couldn't tell.

Randy was usually a fairly glib speaker, but for once his tongue was tied. "W ... I ..." he stammered. Then he smiled. "Perhaps we could have our talk somewhere else, then, Princess. Anywhere you might be more comfortable. Perhaps ... that new part of the royal garden that has appeared, with such interesting kinetic plants?"

"Oooo yay I love those!" said Brenda, then blushed at her juvenile outburst.

"She's so delightful!" the Queen said to the King. "I don't care where she comes from, she's just like Terina when she was little!"

"I, er, wha?" said Brenda, her turn to blush this time.

Terina says softly as she pats Brenda's hand reassuringly, "I would love to play ..."

Terina blushes more red as she stops herself for an instant, "Walk through that part of the garden and show you our newest exotic flora."

The Queen says softly, "It ... would be proper to send along a chaperone ... perhaps ... Nana and Brenda as well? To keep ... the young man honest?"

Brenda and Terina look at each other, then the Queen. The three of them start giggling.

Randy stands and bows gracefully, "By your leave your Majesty ... and with the Queen's permission. I will escort your two daughters through the Royal kinetic garden under the ever watchful eye of Nana."

The King stands and holds out his hand, the Queen takes it and stands as well. The King says solemnly, "You have our permission and our leave to go Prince Detrich.

Randy offers both girls an elbow, that they each eagerly take, then leaves to the Hall of Ages with Nana walking close.

"Terina, I'm sure you know," said Randy, "I've always dreamed that we could have a future. Ever since we used to play house together when we were three. But I've gotten used to the idea that it just couldn't be. And now ... it just seems like some kind of dream."

The three of them walked through the garden in the twilight. The stars in the sky weren't real stars -- they were the lights of the buildings on the other side of the cylinder that formed this part of the Deneb Ring. The light of the fusion ring was dimming; soon it would be fully night time, but the walkway lights were coming up.

Nana followed behind quietly, and the girls knew that she could check their diapers without touching them just by communicating with the diapers' nano-botic networks.

--------------------------------------
~~ End - Pt11 ~~
--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------
~~ The Denebian Princess - Pt12 ~~
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Randy was amazed at the many types of kinetic plants. He stood totally astounded as one automatically transformed into a wonderful swing for Terina and Brenda to sit in. He slowly pushed them in it and was tickled at how it seemed to softly play a musical song as they swung. Terina and Brenda giggled and screamed like toddlers. Randy smiles. He had heard rumors of Terina being a Babydoll ... now he understood her innocent attraction.

"Wheeeeeeee!" Brenda cried happily as Nana pushed her gently in the swing. Randy seemed to mostly be fascinated by Terina, which was probably to be expected. Brenda was happy for Terina -- it seemed that the main reason why she hadn't wanted to go home had now been resolved. What's more, she had a chance to get married to a childhood friend who she hadn't been able to even consider as a prospect, simply because of the ranks of nobility they'd both been born into … that also totally accepted the Babydoll part of her ... and Brenda had helped bring all of this about! She felt gleeful at having been able to help.

Brenda felt herself getting sleepy after a while, her eyes started to close. "Is someone getting a bit sleepy? Maybe it is past someone's bedtime," said Nana quietly, near Brenda's ear. "Oh, and I think you're not the only one,", noticing that Terina's eyes were also drooping.

Aloud, Nana said to Randy, "Perhaps we may want to get the Princesses back home. They've had quite a day -- as have you, I daresay, Prince Dietrich."

Randy smiled tiredly. "You may well be right," he said. "We should all get back."

"I have taken the liberty of ... oh, here it is," said Nana. "I requested a hover-tram to take us all back."

Another android had driven up in a small open conveyance with six seats, the sort of thing used for giving tours around the gardens. Nana picked Brenda up and carefully buckled her into one of the comfortable seats. Brenda felt like a toddler being buckled into a child seat.

"Would you like to buckle Princess Terina in, or ... shall I buckle you both in, Your Highness?"

Randy stood stock still for a second. The question had caught him by surprise. He suddenly realized that both girls were ... Nana's Babydolls. That's what the Queen meant when she was playing in the dining room earlier. Randy also remembered that Terina was the one that started this whole Babydoll outfit craze that was sweeping through the colonies like fire through dry grass.

Randy smiles as he bends over and picks Terina out of the swing. He says softly to Nana, "It would be an honor to buckle a Royal Princess Babydoll into her seat."

Nana giggles, "That's the spirit."

Randy places the almost sleeping Terina into the seat and buckles her in. Randy and Nana enter the cart, the robot driver pulls away, taking them back to the entrance to the Hall of Ages.

It wasn't long before Randy stood over the two sleeping girls ... in their poofy thick diaper and really cute babydoll jammies.

Randy whispers to Nana, "So ... it's true. Terina is the first Babydoll in the Colonies... right?"

Nana nods, "It's true, Your Highness ... she is in deed."

Randy smiles. This makes Terina even more adorable and attractive to him. He looks at Brenda. The two of them actually did look just like sisters ... and Babydolls at the same time. Brenda was also a very adorable and attractive girl. She would have no real issues finding a Prince for herself … except for rank. Being the second highest ranking House in the Colonies does have its perks and drawbacks.

"Now, Your Highness," Nana said, quietly so as not to wake the sleeping Princesses, "you must be absolutely exhausted after the day you've had. I'm sure Their Majesties would be perfectly happy if you stayed overnight. I could ask them for you. I know the staff keeps several guest rooms prepared. You may wish to communicate this to your parents, so they know your plans. I could contact them for you as well."

With a grin, Randy said, "Did you just ask me if I wanted you to ask my mommy if I could sleep over?"

"Yes, I did, Your Highness," said Nana. "I apologize if it is improper. It is in my programming."

Randy grinned even wider -- then suddenly yawned. He could feel the tiredness of the days battles all through his body. "Ohhhh, wow, I didn't know I was that tired. I think I've been running on adrenaline all day. It's probably too late for a trip back home -- even in a cab, I'd be asleep by the time I got there. Perhaps you'd better do just that."

Nana smiled happily. "At once, Your Highness," she said, and went off to make the arrangements. Randy watched the two princesses sleeping, a bemused smile on his face as Brenda snuggled up a bit closer to Terina in her sleep as Terina put her thumb in her mouth, also completely unconscious. It wasn't long before Nana returned, telling Randy that he was indeed welcome to stay the night and that she could show him to the guest room that the Queen had suggested for him. Randy followed Nana down the corridor from the girl's room to the next door. Nana stepped aside and held out her hand.

She said in a soft voice, "Your room, Your Highness." She curtsied gracefully as any subject could.

Randy said, "You don't have to be so formal with ..."

His voice faltered as he entered the room. It was a very expensively done little baby boy's room complete with an adult sized crib, changing table ... the works. Randy didn't have a chance to say or do anything. He felt something touch his neck, heard a hissing pop ... and felt a most wonderful wave of simple innocence fill his soul. By the time he realized he was being carried by Nana ... he had already seriously wet his pants.

Nana coos softly, "There, there baby boy, Nana have you diapered and in your jammies in no time."

Randy helplessly lay on the changing table as Nana removed all his clothes, pushed several suppositories into his hinny, powdered him, then diapered him in a super thick diaper like the one the girls were in. Nana dressed him in a cute little girl's Red Babydoll outfit with matching bottoms, carried him and tucked him in the crib. The final thing, she placed a bottle of wonderfully tasting warm milk in his mouth before kissing him on his nose.

Nana coos softly, "Good night baby ... sweet dreams. I'll come in the morning and change you. You might want to be in pullups for the next several days, however, until your body catches back up."

Nana dims the light and leaves the nursery. The only sound ... a softly playing lullaby.

Randy was still groggy and mostly regressed in the morning when he woke up on the changing table. "Na-na?" he said.

"Yes, my darling Prince Charming," said Nana, having removed his sleeper and in the process of removing his thick, and soaked, nighttime diaper.

She lifted him up, carried him to the bathroom, and deposited him in a warm, bubbly bathtub that was all ready for him.

"You're going to be all clean," she told him in a sing-song voice, "and we'll get you all dressed up to meet the princesses for breakfast. Won't that be lovely?"

She went on talking to him as she scrubbed him clean and washed his hair. While Nana did this, Randy giggled and played with the toys in the water.

"I knew it -- you do make a wonderfully delightful baby, not like that nasty Prince Townsend, throwing tantrums all the time."

At hearing Townsend's name, Randy made a face and stuck his tongue out. Nana giggled. "Oh my, I guess I shouldn't talk about him then."

She got the Prince all clean and all dried off, and he barely complained when playtime in the tub was over. As the Prince was clean-shaven, Nana used a bladeless wave razor to take care of his facial stubble.

"There we are," she said, "all smooth and handsome for the princesses!"

She got him dressed in one of the ultra-thin high-tech diapers and his outfit from the previous evening, which had been thoroughly laundered. Finally, she brushed his hair and then gave him the antidote to the regression drug. Randy heard a familiar-sounding hissing pop and his facial expression gradually went from blissful ignorance to confusion.

"Wha -- where --?" he asked. "Did you --?"

"You've been away in baby dreamland all night," said Nana, "but I've helped you get ready for the day. Don't worry. But now I have to tend to the princesses so they're ready too. Then we can all go down to breakfast. Does that sound good?"

"Er, um, sure!" said Randy, still confused and a bit dizzy. How much of what he remembered was a dream, and how much was real?

As Randy stood in the hall in a daze, he saw Nana bring a very baby Terina and Brenda from their nursery room by the hand. Terina was sucking her thumb, while Brenda had a large and very cute pink pacifier in her mouth.

Nana says in a cooing voice, "If baby Randy will wait right here, Nana will be back with the girls. Their parents want them to be all baby for breakfast so they can feed them. If you like, you can feed Terina ... it can be a lot of fun."

"Er, um, sure, OK," said Randy, a bit confused. Perhaps he had not been aware of just how much of a Babydoll Terina was. He was truly attracted to her as a Babydoll. She was perhaps the most beautiful girl he had ever met as a Babydoll. Brenda too was absolutely gorgeous.

"All right then," said Nana, "just follow along, and we'll get them all ready for breakfast."

She led the two toddling girls to the dining room where their big high chairs awaited them and quickly got them all strapped in and their tray tables fastened in front of them. Some of the household android servants brought in some steaming hot bowls of oatmeal with honey and fruit, setting them down in front of the princesses, who of course reached for them.

"Now now," said Nana, "don't worry, the Prince and I will feed you your breakfast, but we have to get your bibs on you first."

She handed Randy a bib that was pink with "Princess" printed on it in glittery gold letters, and then snapped another bib around Brenda's neck, this one with a pattern of flowers and happy animals and babies playing in a garden upon it.

"All right then, Terina," said Randy, "let's get this breakfast started."

He snapped the bib onto Terina, although she wasn't really cooperating because she kept trying to look at Randy, with a beaming smile on her face. She was evidently ecstatically happy to see him. Once the bib was on, Randy picked up a spoon, stood right in front of her, and dipped the spoon in the oatmeal. He was not prepared for the look in her eyes. He had thought that she would have some sort of drug-induced vacant stare, but that was far from the case. Her eyes were sparkling and present, entirely focused on him and the moment.

"Hi, Terina," he said, smiling, which only made her smile more, "does somebody want some yummy oatmeal?"

Terina nodded briskly and opened her mouth. "Well then, somebody's hungry," said Randy, and popped the spoonful into her mouth. She closed down, and he pulled the spoon out, leaving some of it on the spoon and some on her lips, but most of it inside the princess, who made happy mmmmm noises. Terina giggles, squirms, and kicks her feet in joy as Randy sat in amazement and fed her. Randy couldn't believe it ... both Terina and Brenda were, perhaps, two or maybe three years old and acted it completely. He began to think of the fuzzy recollections he had of the night before. They weren't dreams after all. Randy takes another scoop of the oatmeal. Terina giggles and opens her mouth wide. Randy had to laugh. Nana was right, this was a whole lot of fun as he attempted put the spoon in her mouth again. He did manage to get some of it in her .... but most of it went every where else. He leans back and laughs.

The Queen asks softly, "Is the prince having fun? It seems he likes to feed Babydoll a whole lot."

The King said, "You can do this all the time if you wish. Nana has this sneaky way about making them infants. It would be so easy for this to be the normal breakfast routine."

Randy smiles as he gets another scoop of oatmeal on the spoon. He says softly in a cooing voice, "Open wide .... time for the shuttle to make a landing."

Terina giggles as she opens her mouth one more time .... then plays at letting Randy put it in. She kicked, wiggled, squirmed, and looked all around, just as Randy remembered his baby cousins do when he saw them getting fed. It was remarkable. The regression drug Terina and Brenda told him about worked more effectively than he could have imagined. No wonder Townsend became the infant he became so quickly. Soon Randy's bowl was empty, and likewise Nana had gotten all of Brenda's breakfast either into her or onto her.

"Now it's cleanup time," Nana said. "Babies don't exactly eat neatly."

Some of the servants brought warm cloths, and Nana started getting Brenda cleaned up. Randy took Nana's example and cleaned Terina's face as the princess giggled and squirmed and tried to evade him.

"Who's a pretty princess?" said Randy, "That would be you!" as he finished getting Terina's face all cleaned up. "What should we do now?" he asked Nana. "They can't spend all day like this."

"Well … they really could," said Nana. "They've spent weeks like this in the past, or so I understand. It can be quite therapeutic. But I haven't asked them what they want to do, so we might want to let it wear off a bit. Meanwhile, maybe they should have a bath and get dressed. I will see to it, don't worry. "And you, Just let me check," and Nana paused for a moment, "no, you're fine for now."

Randy wondered what Nana meant by that as she freed the girls from their high chairs and took them by the hands to lead them back to Terina's room.

Then he realized ... his underwear was suddenly getting very warm and feeling damp inside -- but then the feeling went away quickly. He looked down at his clothes and saw no sign that he'd wet himself or any such thing, so he was confused -- but a quick visit to a nearby bathroom revealed that he was in fact wearing a diaper. But it didn't feel wet at all anymore, because of its nano-core.

That clinched it. Last night hadn't been a dream or hallucination. Nana had dosed him with the same drug that Townsend had unknowingly massively overdosed himself with. He wondered whether it had been at the Princesses' suggestion and smiled wryly. The difference was that Nana knew exactly how much was a safe dose, and knew how to keep it discreet and private.

Townsend had dosed himself with a massive amount of what he thought was a drug that he knew was unsafe -- and instead got a large dose of a different but probably safer one -- but the results had been public and disgraceful. Randy, however, was fine. It was a completely different situation.

Meanwhile, how did he feel about it? Actually, he felt like he'd slept a week. He felt better rested than he'd felt in years. His mind felt clear and he felt as if he had no stress whatsoever. He wasn't sure what to do about his diaper, but he was sure that Nana would know.

The playful Princesses had had their fun, and the diaper was probably there to take care of a known side effect. But he was thinking about a certain Princess who now deserved a good tickling.

Nana had finished bathing, powdering, and diapering the princesses. She had dressed Terina in a very cute all white babydoll dress, and Brenda in a soft peach pink one. It just was short enough to show off the bottom edge of ruffles on their poofy hinnys. When Terina toddled from the potty, Randy's eyes nearly fell from his head. Terina was as adorably sexy as any girl he had ever fantasized about. When Brenda toddles out, Randy knew he had to do something very special for them ... they had to be Babydolls as often as possible.

Randy asks, "Nana? Where ... do the girls get most of their regression things?"

Nana giggles, "From an infant resort called Infantus."

Randy nods thoughtfully. He had heard tales of the place. It was a fantasy place where people went to live out their childhood dreams. He didn't realize ... They actually became children again.

He inquires, "How ... would I contact someone there if I wanted to talk to them about ... something?"

Nana looks at Randy with a suspicious glance. She replies, "They know the executive vice president personally. Her name is Sally Stevens." Randy's eyes get large ... he had heard of Sally. She was one of the most famous Babydolls around as reported by UGNN.

"Well then," said Randy, "if you would happen to know how I could get a message to her, I've thought of a special surprise I'd like to arrange for the princesses, but I'm going to need her help."

"I think I can help you with that, Your Highness," said Nana.

The next day, the Prince found the two princesses looking at a story book. Most texts were electronic, but books for children were still printed the old fashioned way, with colored inks extruded into artificial paper, because children tended to be rather rough on more expensive electronic book readers.

"Oooo, who is that one?" asked Brenda, pointing at a picture.

"Oh oh oh!" Terina exclaimed excitedly. "That is Queen Hortensia! She was queen ... a real long time ago. Anyways she 'scovered a planet and on that planet were some rocks and in those rocks was some stuff that goes in the big battery things that we store lotsa power in and sell it all over the galaxy!"

"Hi, girls," said Randy. "What are you reading?"

Terina held the book up so Randy could see the cover. Brenda said, "Is a story 'bout all the famous 'splorers in Terina's family!"

The book's title was actually The Denebian Explorers, and it was a children's version of the famous explorations and discoveries that had made the Deneb Ring what it now was.

"I see," said Randy, walking around behind them so he could see the pages. "Yes, there are lots of famous explorers in Terina's family, aren't there? It started out when --"

"When Queen Dione and King William 'scovered Deneb and thought of startin' a ring 'round it!" said Brenda. Then she realized she'd interrupted. She blushed and mumbled, "Sorry. But that was onna firstest page."

"Yes, I'm sure it was," said Randy, smiling.

He noticed that although the page Terina was looking at was about Queen Hortensia, and it had pictures of her and the planet she had discovered, as well as the energy storage cells that had been invented because of her crystal discovery, the words were completely different from what Terina had said. Even though she was apparently somewhat regressed at the moment, she had recited it from memory.

"What happened nextest, Terina?" said Brenda, trying to turn the page, although Terina was holding the book. "What what what?"

Terina turned the page. She said softly, "They inveted those thingys fromma rocks that Prince Townsend useded ta makes his drug from. Randy kneels down as he looks over the new page. Terina continued," King William took all the minrals offa stuffies circlin Deneb, and turned it inta stuffies ta build tha ring. The origional ring was lots diffrent anna one now."

Randy smiles as he sees the words on that page were also different than the ones Terina spoke.

Brenda asked, "When did tha other families come?"

Terina replied, "They were tha ones that helpeded supply the ... the ... stuffs need ta build tha ring anna other things."

Randy said helpfully, "They supplied the money to build the equipment?"

Terina giggles, "Yups, that it."

Terina turned the page again. On this page, it showed a large picture of the Deneb Star, and what was obviously a major construction in space.

Terina says, "An they useded tonsa new stuffies ta drag n makes other stuff from alla tha rocks around tha sun. In placeca that ... they builded tha first ring."

Randy interjected, They also brought other large planetoids with tractor ships here to become materials."

Terina nods, "Yups. Tha biggest offa Planetoads ... became tha Palace an alla its grounds."

Brenda gasps, "Ohhh ... it mussa beena biggun."

Randy and Terina both nod. Terina continues, "An unexpected thingy about that rock ... its core was madda gold n diamond n silver ... many many many muchies tonsa it."

"Ooo and Terina," said Brenda, "you 'scovered the big cloud people and made friends! Right?"

Terina nods as she turns to the next page. Randy looks at Terina in surprise. He had just learned of the existence of the Cloud People and the singularity far off the explored path of the known universe. It was in a place far beyond any place ever explored. The information was highly classified and only a very select few were even allowed access. All travel there was restricted due to the understanding that any misdeeds would result in the most horrible of forces being deployed against the perpetrators.

About that time, the comm unit on Randy's belt chimes its cute little tinkling chime. Randy takes it from his belt and looks at it. It was a person to person call from Sally directly to his private number. Randy raises his eyebrows in wonder. How ever did Sally manage to get this number ... its dissemination was highly classified and restricted. Apparently, this little girl has major clearances in high places.

"Oops," said Randy, "Excuse me, Princesses, somebody needs to talk to me. Probably grownup business."

"Yuck," said Brenda, making a face. Terina also made a yucky face, then went back to the storybook.

Randy went to a far corner of the room and said into the comm, "Hi! Yes. Yes! Yes. ... So it can be done? Great, I'll have it sent as soon as ... yes, those do look kind of like fish. But inside ... yes, exactly ... perfect! Yes, that's the idea. Thank you so much!"

"What?" Brenda was asking, as Randy returned to the princesses. "Terina, you 'scovered a planet? You never telled me that! I mean, maybe it doesn't gots any new useful stuff on it, but ... I never 'scovered a planet! That is awesomes!"

Randy smiled. Actually, Brenda had not been idle in the time since she arrived on Deneb either. She was probably not thinking about it right now, but she had already set up a financial accounting system for the Principality of Moon Vale that had caught the attention of some of the other nobles' administrative staff. It had proven to be one of the most efficient and innovative systems to be put into use in the last several thousand years. Randy meant to ask her about it sometime when she was feeling more grown up. He had a feeling that it would save a lot of money and cure a lot of accountants' headaches.

Terina says, "I did scovera planet ... an it gots tonsa new stuffies on it. Jus ... I no wanted tha perspectors there destroyina place. Gots lotsa neat critters n thingys. Even gotsa typepa flutterbye that big nuff we can ride on it. They sorta pink, n white, n blue, n sparkly. Is easy ta catch one too. Jus wave somema tha weird purkle flowers around. They makesa neat sound likes they hummin anna flutterbyes arrive in droves."

Brenda's eyes get big as she says softly, "Ohhhh." Ternia contiues, "Tha caterpillers there spinna cocoon ... it madda some kinna weird fiber. Makes those neat dresses n shawls we wore other day that glow n stuffies."

Brenda gasps, "Those ... Nana say they super spensive an rare." Terina nods, "Yups, Cuz I no lets no one go n just harvest tha cocoons. They gotsa wait till affer ... then only getsa ones that have already hatcheded. Somema them no gots much useable stuffies cuz it taminated wiffa glowy sparkly stuffs."

Randy listens closely. That Glowy Sparkly stuff ... was perhaps one of the highest energy sources that were portable ever discovered. If there could be enough of it procured ... it would revolutionize the engine it was used with ... like ..." Randy smiles at the thought as he makes a high level secure call.

A few weeks later, the princesses were having lunch with the King and Queen, and Prince Dietrich was visiting again. Just as they were finishing up, Randy said, "Ahh, my compliments to the chef! Oh, and Terina," he added, turning toward her, "today is a special day that I've been looking forward to for some time. I have a surprise for you and Brenda -- a pretty big one -- and it's finally ready."

"A surprise?" Brenda asked excitedly.

"Yes indeed," said Randy. "And if the two of you would like to accompany me to Epsilon Port when you're ready, I'll have the honor of showing it to you."

The girls squeal in delight at the prospect of a surprise. The Queen says softly, "Now, girls ... since you are going to be off in public, I want you to look like Young Lady Princesses should."

The girls both said at the same time, "Aww ... mom ... do we have ta?" The King, Queen, and Randy all laughed at how adorable the princesses were while regressed.

The King answered softly, "Yes, children, you have to be beautiful young Princesses. UGNN will be there and I want you to make the perfect impression."

The girls both pouted as Nana showed up. She touched each girl on her neck, there was a soft hissing pop, and the girls faces took on an expression of wonder as they blinked their eyes.

Terina looked around for a second before she said, "OMG! That ... feels so ... wonderful."

Brenda said softly, "I agree."

Nana takes both of the girls by the hand and leads them from the room. Randy starts to follow, the King says, "Randy, my son, why don't you come into the gallery and ... we can shoot some tags"

Randy watches as the girls are led off then replies wistfully, "Sure ... sounds like fun. Why don't we make a wager? Say ... 5,000 E-Bits per?"

The King laughs, "If you think you can beat me. You know I'm the Champ for the last 3 years."

Randy laughs as he follows the King from the room, "The higher they stand ... the farther they have to fall." The Queen laughs as she too follows them from the room.

The King was impressed with Randy's use of the Proton Gun. There were few that could handle the weapon with any kind of proficiency. It had something to do with the way one's mind worked as it drew free agent protons from the environment. Randy drew from the hip and hit Four fast flying tags as the King nodded approvingly.

Later, as the android chauffeur calmly drove them to the nearest spaceport segment of the Ring, Terina and Brenda tried to extract details about the surprise from Randy, but to no avail.

"So, it must be a ... big surprise," said Brenda, "if you've been planning it for so long."

"Not saying anything," said Randy, grinning.

"It must be big, if it has to be delivered at the spaceport directly," Brenda said.

"No comment," answered Randy.

"There's going to be a lot of media attention, of course," added Brenda, "so it has to be something that ... oh, we're here."

"Yes, and you're about to find out what it is, so just hold your horses," said Randy, as the hover-limo parked and its doors opened.

As soon as they got out, they all found reporters taking video of them and pointing microphones at them.

"Marlo Eschamali of UGNN, Your Highness," asked a dark-haired woman in a tasteful light gray pantsuit, pointing her microphone at Terina, "what is the occasion for visiting Epsilon Port?" She said all of this so quickly that there was no interrupting her. She had probably practiced the line so many times that it flowed smoothly; after all, covering celebrities was evidently her job.

Terina waved her hand with a graceful flourish as she responded, "I am here to be here. I decided that this would be a great place to visit and just walk around."

Brenda giggled as Randy cut his eyes at Terina. Another set of microphones were suddenly poked into Terina and Brenda's faces, "Is it true that Prince Townsend has reduced himself mentally to about 18 month old?"

Randy laughs as he says, "From what the doctors at the University Hospital tell us ... yes. It was some kind of new fast acting drug that he over dosed on. They have no idea how to counteract it ... or if he will ever return to normal."

A loud mass of voices began speaking all at the same time. It was so bad, none of them could understand what was being asked.

Terina finally said in a stern voice, "My press officer will be more than happy to answer any further of your questions. Now go away and leave us to be here."

One Haughty young woman dressed in a tight fitting red and very short dress with black shiny spike heels said with attitude in her voice, "Are you trying to restrict the flow of news to the peoples of Deneb?"

Terina turns on the woman and says in a soft hiss with much venom, "No, what I'm telling you is this ... one more word from your mouth in that tone of voice ... and I'll have you arrested for treason and shot."

Dead silence fills the platform as the other newsies take this opportunity to retreat gracefully and then reassemble around the Press Officer. The young woman stands with her mouth open in total surprise at the Princess’s response.

Terina says with venom, "And you ... are wanting ... what? Humm?"

The woman shakes her head, curtsies gracefully, and respectfully retreats quickly to join the others.

Randy says softly to Terina, "That ... was not necessary." Terina replies, "Maybe not, but ... I don't want my surprise spoiled by them. Besides … I'm tired of the news reporter's disrespect towards their rulers."

They walked onward. Brenda looked back to see the royal spokesperson trying to make the best of the situation, saying, "What the Princess really meant was that the flow of information is traditionally handled by royal spokespersons such as myself, whose job it is to communicate with the press, and that to go outside that process is really to overstep the traditional boundaries. Any that do approach the Royal Family, must do so with the respect afforded those of high ranking. It is law that disrespect is Treason. Please, if you have any questions, direct them to me ... Yes, Ms Eschamali? …" the voices faded as they walked towards the docking port.

Randy led them to a space dock that was currently empty. Looking at his comm, he said, "We're just a tad early, but that's for the best."

"Early for what?" asked Brenda.

"For ... that," said the Prince, pointing out into space through the transparent metal panels. There was a wavering in the star-filled backdrop of space, like a ripple in a pond -- the typical effect one expected when seeing a ship come out of hyperspace. And indeed, a ship emerged from the center of the ripple like a giant bird of prey, rapidly approaching the dock, and just as rapidly slowing to a halt.

"Oh ... wow!" said Brenda. "What is that? It maneuvered like nothing I've ever seen."

The ship was a metallic gray like most spacecraft, and it was shaped like a fish, a wing-like fish such as a skate or ray. It adjusted its position nearer to the docking port, which expanded to make contact with the ship's airlock.

"That," said Randy, "is one of the more sought-after private spacecraft ever manufactured, the Manta M-145 by Pleione Systems. But I think you'll find the interior even more interesting."

The docking process complete, the airlock opened, and out stepped ... "Miss Sally?" Brenda called out excitedly.

"Ohhh yay!" said Sally, rushing out of the airlock and bouncing over to hug Brenda and Terina. "He made me promise not to tell you! It's a surprise!"

"What's a surprise?" asked Brenda. "You're ... bringing us something in the ship? Or ..."

"No, no," said Randy. "The ship is the surprise. It's yours, Terina. Although I'm sure you'll want Brenda to come along on its maiden voyage. And myself, I'm hoping."

Sally was dressed in her usual little baby girl way and bounced on her toes as she clapped her hands. She took Terina by a hand, then Brenda by another.

Sally said in her cute giggly voice, "Come on ... gots tonsa neatos stuffies ta show ya."

Randy shakes his head as he follows the exuberant Sally with the two surprised Princesses in tow. When they entered the hatch, the interior looked exactly like one huge carpeted and padded nursery. A door whooshes open and Nana walks out into the corridor.

She claps her hands together and says in a soft cooing voice, "The babies are here."

Before Brenda or Terina could respond, Nana had them by the hand and was leading them into the room she had just left. It was the most beautifully decorated baby's room either girl had ever seen. The floor carpet was outlined in what appeared to be streets with places for buildings. There was a huge toy box filled with many kinds of buildings, airplanes, flying craft of all sorts, cars, boats, soft plushy toys, and many kinds of blocks. There was a beautifully crafted crib with a huge fuzzy Teddy Bear sitting in the middle, smiling out at them. All along the wall were many kinds of riding toys, bouncy balls with handles so the girls could bounce around, and tricycles made specially for them.

Nana took them from this room down the corridor a short way, then into another room. Within this room, were the kinetic plants that made all the marvelous playground equipment. Next door to that was the zero gee room so they could play bumble bee ball or any other thing they desired.

Sally giggles, "No expense was spared for you Miss Terina. I did alla this tha bestus I knew how jus for you. Wasa free gift for all trouble."

Randy gives Terina a small kiss on her cheek, "And I donated my best ship to become an Automated Nursery ship so two very special babies, Sally, and myself could go off and explore the galaxy."

Sally says in her very adorable voice, "An, an .... we gots some glittery sparkly glowy stuffies from this special planet. It went inta tha powercells. It makes thissa mostus fatest ship known ta mankind."

Randy nods, "Terina, this ship is 10,000 times faster than the fastest racing ship. We can truly go ... where no one has ever explored before. It has shields and armament to put a Dreadnaught to shame. A perfect vessel to keep babies safe and occupied all through space."

Nana finally leads them into another room. This was an extremely plush dining area, complete with all the necessary items to feed and occupy babies.

Terina says in a soft gasp, "this ... is .... magnificent."

"And ... as far as anybody outside knows, this is just an ordinary Manta M-145," said Brenda. "Those reporters just think you're taking us for a ride in your ship. Eventually it'll get out that you gave them a ship, but that's all."

"That's right," said Randy. "I know there are 'royal watchers' who will pay attention to the slightest things we do, but most people wouldn't think twice about me taking you two for an outing in my spaceship -- except that it's yours now, Terina. You can do anything you want with it. Although, if I may make a suggestion, we might want to give Miss Sally a ride back to Infantus."

"Yup yup I guess I should go back sometime," said Sally. "But I'm OK! It's been a while since I visited Deneb. And I wasn't the guest of the Royal Princess that time!"

"It would be nice to see Infantus again," said Brenda. "Last time I was there, I was ... holding back."

"I guess you were!" said Sally. "Look at you now! You look wonnerfuls! And you seem ... more happy, too. More you-ish. And wow, now you're a princess! Yayyy!"

"If I may, Your Highnesses," said Nana, "if you do plan to depart, you may wish to inform Their Majesties, so they will know not to worry."

"Oh, that's a good idea -- hey, wait, Nana, how did you get on the ship?" Brenda asked, interrupting her own statement. "I'm sure you were just at the palace."

"There was a dormant android body for me aboard this ship," Nana said. "I merely broadcast my personality core to the ship, which downloaded it into this body's brain. The android body in the palace will be dormant until I return."

"Oh! I didn't know you could do that," said Brenda. "So ... well, Terina, it's your ship -- what do you want to do?"

Terina turns and looks at Nana. She says softly so only Nana could hear, "I think it's time the nursery ship left port ... don't you?"

A wonderful smile crosses Nana's synthetic face as she touches Terina on her neck. A soft hissing pop is heard as Nana repeats the process on Brenda then Randy. Randy has enough time to gasp out, "What are ... doin ta mes? I no ..." Randy stumbles and plops on his rump as he feels a warm wetness creeping into his crotch. He looks down and sees he had just wet his pants. Terina and Brenda were sitting on the floor about that time as well.

Sally bounces up and down as she says adorably, "Kewlies, now we aww babies togevers."

Nana takes the babies one at a time, Removes all their big people's clothes, then diapers them in an extremely thick diaper and plastic lined rumba panties. Randy got special treatment since he was sort of shanghaied, Nana gave him piggies and many raspberries in his tummy before taking him into the nursery, and setting him with the other three girls who were also dressed in just a thick diaper and rumba panties ... just like him.

"Oooo," said Sally to Nana, "he's a prince and stuff, are you sure it's okay to do that to him?"

"The ship is only designed for baby passengers," Nana replied. "He specifically requested it that way, and your company designed it that way. He stated that he wanted to come along. Logically speaking, that amounts to giving me permission. Now then, I have notified Their Majesties about the trip, and filed our flight plan with the authorities, so I think we're ready to go."

"Okay!" Sally happily tumbled to the ground and started babbling and playing baby games with the others -- it was like she'd flipped some sort of switch and turned off the adult in herself. When the ship entered hyperspace, she suffered no side effects at all, even though she didn't take the regression drug. Nana smiled. All was as it should be. The ship was on course to Infantus to take Sally home, and after that, it was onward to exploration and adventure … where no babies have gone before.

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~~ The End ~~
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Miki Yamuri
 
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Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2014 3:06 pm

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