A red rose in a vase appeared in the center of the table. I picked it up and handed it to Tatiana. 'For you, my lady. Also, you can address the computer now. His name is Mikhail. Simply think to it what you want it to do.'
'Thank you, Steven.' Tatiana smiled at me with an almost girlish smile and accepted the rose as I handed it to her. She couldn't be much more than twenty-one or twenty-two and still looked very young. Her short, one-length black hair and her nubile, petite, hundred-and-ten-pound frame made her cute but not impressively so.
Both of us were beginning to adjust to the situation. Our mood swings appeared to be gone. Mostly, we were very tired. We had each had four years of living in an emotional hell. Neither of us was in any hurry to do anything but relax and rest.
Tatiana smiled at me and sipped her wine and then a king-sized bed appeared on one side of the room. A large two-person-sized whirlpool tub appeared on the other side of the room and a small section walled itself off from the room. The door to the little room had a full-length mirror attached to it.
'What's going on?' I asked.
'I'm making this our suite. There is the bathroom. There is our glamour whirlpool tub. And there is
'Cool. I am beat and could use a nap.'
'You're not getting into my bed with all that alien goo and other filth on you. Into the tub you go. Don't worry, I'll help you wash your back if you will promise to wash mine.' She smiled at me. 'Besides you've already seen me naked.'
Tatiana had spent a seeming forever time in the bathroom and then she went straight to the tub, peeled off her clothes and plopped down into the whirling bubbles that were flowing over the sides. The whole time she had been in the bathroom I simply sat there and stared out the wall at Saturn's rings. I had thought of my family, of little JackieZZ, and finally of good ol' Lazarus. At one point I noticed that I should have been crying but I wasn't. I felt sad but not lost and overwhelmed by emotions that I couldn't control. Having removed the implant really had given me my sanity back, for the most part. I mean, what was sane about having a shootout with a bunch of aliens, hanging out in the same room, and having a full-course romantic meal with a decent-looking girl, and then planning on bathing and spending the night with her. Oh, and all of that while hanging out in orbit around Titan in a liberated—or is it stolen—alien spacecraft.
I noticed Tatiana splashing around a bit so I decided I should join her, but first I needed to freshen up. She had thought of everything. There was a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, cologne, bathrobes, and anything else you can think of that a well-stocked lavatory should have. I used the facilities, then freshened up and sheepishly made my way to the edge of the tub.
'Well, don't just stand there, Steven. Come on in. The water is fine!' She said this in Russian and English mixed.
I started to take off my shirt but was a bit embarrassed. 'Maybe you shouldn't look at me, Tatiana. I'm not that pretty of a sight to see.'
'You're silly. I've already seen you naked, if you recall.' She laughed and it was a distinctively Russian laugh.
'Yeah, but . . . we didn't have a choice then. I, uh . . .' I stammered and felt ashamed of myself.
'Steven, it's okay. I understand how you feel. I've never been the prettiest girl in the class either. I have an idea.' Tatiana put her hands on the sides of the tub and lifted herself up. She stood there in front of me with soap bubbles running down her naked body and she smiled and jiggled at me as she stepped out of the tub. 'Come with me.' She took my hand and led us in front of the mirror on the bathroom door.
'Tatiana, what are you doing?' Standing beside a wet, naked woman excited me, but it also made me nervous as hell.
'Hold still, Steven, and just watch.'
I wasn't sure what I was watching for but, hey, if a wet, naked girl tells you to look at her—you look at her! So I did. And the damnedest thing happened. Tatiana appeared to be becoming slightly taller. Her body also thickened a little and instead of looking skinny she became somewhat muscular. Not bodybuilder muscular, but athletically muscular. Her boobs looked fuzzy for a few seconds and then they began to grow; boy, did they grow! Tatiana went from a small B cup to a well-rounded and firm C or D cup size in a matter of seconds. Her hair grew nearly a foot longer and something about her face and complexion changed. I'm not sure exactly what about her appearance changed because she still looked like Tatiana, a hundred-thirty-pound big-breasted and gorgeous rippled-stomach version of Tatiana, but it was still her. However, she was beautiful now—not just cute. She could easily be a supermodel or movie star from her new appearance.
'Tatiana, what did you do?'
'Isn't it obvious, Steven?' She turned to face me, showing me the full frontal of her new appearance. 'I had Mikhail enhance me.' She raised her hands over her head and posed left, then right for me. Then she rested her hands on my shoulders and smiled lovingly at me and looked into my eyes. 'And he didn't just fix me cosmetically
