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Breeding Bubble by IIlw

The security screening was long, extensive, and uncomfortably invasive. Kristina would have

only been more unsettled had the security personnel and employees hadn't seemed completely bored

out of their skulls the entire time. She hadn't expected to bring much in with her to the Fuck Bubble,

but was quietly shocked to be forced to give up every outside object that could be physically removed

from her. Her backpack, the contents of her pockets, and her jewelry were a given, but she literally

snarled at the prospect of giving up her engagement ring until she was shown the lockbox her

belongings would be kept in; thick, heavy, and secured with extensive biometrics. It was only then she

consented to slipping the small band off her finger.

The surprise came when she was told to remove her clothing. It was evident that outside effects

weren't allowed inside the Bubble, but she felt she should at least be left her basic outfit. After a semi-

monitored decontamination shower and a long scanning process, she was given a set of freshly printed

clothes; a dark blue, full-body jumpsuit and corresponding boots emblazoned with the flag of the

Galactic Collective. It wasn't until she tried to put it on that she realized there wasn't a hole for her tail.

It would have been easy to tear a new one, but letting out her frustration until a new set was printed

proved more satisfying.

Kristina sat on a bench in the waiting compartment. Her arms folded over her chest, her legs

crossed, her feet and tail bobbing in time, and a meaty scowl on her face did a good job at expressing

the dehumanizing irritation she was forced to suffer through. She was ten feet from the door. With a

push of the button, she could be inside already. But the agonizing bureaucracy of it all kept it going for

nearly an hour longer than it should have. It was like getting her pilot's license all over again.

A canine technician entered from a sliding door Kristina didn't know was there. She perked up

at his approach, but he shook his head.

“Sorry, ma'am. It's not going to be that easy.” He pulled a fabricated cigarette from one of his

pockets and stuck it on the side of his muzzle.

“There's no way they're going to let you smoke in here,” Kristina said, dumbfounded. The

technician laughed.

“Of course not.” He pushed back the fur from around a small, temporary nicotine implant. “I'll

be through with smoking in about another month, but I still like something to fiddle with. Shrink might

call it an oral fixation, but what does he know?” He flashed an exaggerated smile and wiggled the

cigarette up and down with his tongue.

She smiled despite herself, partially because this dog was the only creature all day who thought

to treat her like a person. She held up her right hand, palm inward.

“Down, boy,” she said, jokingly. “There should be a ring on this finger.”

“Well it can't be this one then, can it?” He responded, flashing a gold wedding band on his own.

He crossed the room and sat on the bench next to her, but far enough away that he could still

comfortably rest his leg on it. Leaning over, he held out his hand.

“Trevor.”

She reached across his leg and shook it.

“Kristina.”

“Ohhh, okay. 'Tina?'”

“No. 'Kris.'”

“Gotcha. C or a K?”

“K.”

“Kristina. Kristina Kristina Kristina.” He sniffed and scratched himself behind the ear. “They

send me in here to monitor the door mechanisms, but I like to think it's because I can put people at

ease. Or I at least try, and sometimes that's good enough. What's got you here?”

“I'm, uh...” Kristina kept her composure, but still twirled her tail between her legs with the

excitement of the thought. “I'm getting married in a few months.”

“No fuckin' way!” Trevor shouted, with genuine excitement. His own tail beat against the metalseat. “No wonder you were so eager to tell me about the ring. Believe me, it's the scariest shit of your

life until you're actually there and doing it. Then it's a cakewalk.”

“I'm not worried, really.”

“Then I'm sure your fiance has that covered. When's the date?”

“We...don't really know yet. We're hoping it won't be too long from now, but it all depends. I

won't do it until I can make sure my sister comes. And she's...” Kristina jabbed a thumb to the door

behind her.

“Okay, okay. So a little more than just a visit.” Trevor said.

“It's not like she's got a phone,” Kristina said. “And it's been...a long time. At least now she'll be

staying in one place for more than a week.”

“It's been a few months since we shut the doors, so...” Trevor gestured to his stomach. “She

might not being going anywhere fast by now.”

Kristina nodded stiffly, her whiskers twitching. She fell silent, looking to the door and gazing at

the small window, blazing with artificial sunlight.

“Okay,” Trevor said. “Sorry. Joke might have been a little close to home. I apologize.”

Kristina returned his look and smiled.

“It's alright, it's not you. It's...just a lot to think about. I didn't even know she'd been placed here

until a week ago.”

“It's kind of a bombshell, huh?” Trevor said. “We don't get the reputation we deserve, really.

That might be part of it. We're way, way more than just the 'Fuck Bubble' everyone calls us. Yknow

what?” He jabbed a finger enthusiastically into her shoulder. “When you see your sister, I want you to

tell her 'thank you.' From me. From Trevor. She doesn't know me, but just say from Trevor, anyway.”

“I can pass that on,” Kristina chuckled. “What for?”

“We're a conservation center,” Trevor said, pointing at the door. “And everyone in there like

your sister is doing more good for conservation than I could ever hope for. Aside from little pockets of

population, lions are still a threatened species. Sure, it's better, but it's not going to improve unless our

bio-domes can help put the work in we need.”

“You seem very passionate about this,” Kristina said, raising an eyebrow.

“Absolutely I am!” Trevor gestured between the two of them. “I don't think this 'Cats and Dogs'

thing is ever going to go away, but we need more lions! We need more people like your sister!”

“But not any more like me?” Kristina said, frowning. She recognized his innocence, but Trevor

had touched a nerve she wasn't ready to let slide by. He stumbled for a moment, stalling for time while

he slipped his unlit cigarette into a pocket.

“That's not what I'm saying, Kris. There's a lot that goes into who gets a place into the Breeding

Dome. Not just genetics or fitness. Personality, habits, quirks.”

“So what does Katharine have that I don't?” Kristina grumbled.

“It's not that...Katharine happens to have a few hundred specific traits, each one shared in a

billion other people across the universe, that just so happen to come together into a perfect candidate.

Your sister won out over millions of other lion females in the galaxies, not just you.”

“I was a cop, alright? On Venus. I don't like being told I can't do something just because of some

bullshit parameters I didn't even know existed.”

“Well,” Trevor shrugged. “Maybe she's better suited to staying in one place for a long period of

time.”

“And I couldn't do that?” Kristina snapped back.

“You probably could... but then, why are you a pilot?”

Kristina fell silent, at a loss for what to say next. She was fortunately interrupted by a series of

red lights lining the ceiling of the room turning yellow all at once.

“Oh!” Trevor shouted, jumping up from the bench. His tail wagged excitedly as he made his

way to a small console that slid out of the wall as he approached. Without looking over his shoulder, hebeckoned her to stand. “We're almost ready!”

Kristina took a controlled breath and stood from her seat. She walked to the middle of the room

and stood at attention toward the large doors, as if she were in basic all over again. She was nervous,

underneath her shell, but she wasn't sure of what. Perhaps only the anticipation itself? She hadn't seen

Katharine in nearly three years. It wasn't the ideal reunion she could have picked, but she was

nevertheless excited to see her sister. Kristina just wasn't sure how she'd see her sister.

“I'll tell you something,” Trevor spoke up from the console not far from her. “It's not a prison.

It's not a zoo. They're all here of their own choice and can leave whenever they want. Think about that.

It helps.”

“How many actually leave?” she asked.

“Let me put it this way: less than you'd think while you're going in, but more than you'd think

while you're coming out.”

“What's that sup-”

The interior lights all suddenly turned green, bathing the room in an eerie, ghostly atmosphere.

“We are go!” Trevor shouted excitedly before keying a button on his touchpad. With a loud

clanking followed by powerful hisses, the thick doors began to open before her. A warm, dusty air

flooded in the room and assaulted Kristina's nostrils, so used to the acrid smell of pressurized cabins.

Her eyes watered, both from the particles in the wind and the bright, agonizing sunlight that poured

through the widening crack between the doors. They screeched to a halt, nearly five feet apart, just the

width of a normal doorway.

“Don't forget to tell your sister hi for me!” Trevor yelled. His voice jolted Kristina back into her

body. She took a deep breath, pushed away all her apprehensions, and strode powerfully through the

open doors.

Her feet, moments ago standing on the steel bulkhead, immediately fell upon the crunch of dead

plants and dried earth. She continued forward, hearing only the heavy doors shutting behind her and

seeing virtually nothing. Kristina was amazed that an artificial sun could even be that bright. Stopping

in her tracks, she relented to try and adjust to the bright lights instead of striding blindly into

nothingness.

She took a minute to rub her eyes and shield them from the light she only knew came from

somewhere above her. Eventually, the sting in her pupils faded and the light dimmed enough for her to

examine the world around her. Because despite being in a self-contained bio-dome, that's what Kristina

found herself in; a world.

While only seconds ago, she had walked through the corridors of a blank, steel-gray facility, she

now stood under the glow of an artificial sun, glaring from thousands of feet above her. As far as the

eye could see was a wide, flat plain of golden brown earth, dotted with small outcroppings of tall reeds.

Small trees stuck out like mile markers, crooked and dry, but appearing nevertheless healthy.

Kristina turned around to see the large metal doors around her had faded to a similar shade as

the surroundings. Above them were the beginnings of the gargantuan dome, a lattice of hexagons

stretching upward farther than Kristina could tilt back her neck. Far above, the walls curved inward to

meet at the middle, where shortly underneath the 'sun' was suspended. While the glass was tinted the

soft, light blue of a sunny day, it was possible to look through the translucent coloring to see the

swirling clouds of Jupiter on the horizon.

She turned away from the sight of space, no great wonder to her compared to the vast emptiness

she had been essentially dropped into. Kristina grumbled to herself, thinking of how she had been given

virtually no means of navigation. By the Earth-time she had arrived, and with Io currently on the

opposite side of Jupiter's spot, she figured out a rough approximation of north. With a shrug and a sigh,

she popped her neck, shook out her legs, and started walking, feeling far more stranded than she really

was.

The Repopulation Facilities were a relatively new venture of the GC, opening their doorsaround the time Kristina's mother was in middle school, coming at the heels of the terraforming boom

just before then. While many species of sapients adjusted simply fine to the newly colonized planets,

just as many were ill-suited to environments outside of a small few. Most lions, like Kristina and

Katharine, only truly flourished on Earth, already wildly overpopulated and drained of its resources;

feeble and brittle as the burnt head of a match. Mars served as a suitable substitute for a while, but

overcrowding and poverty there turned what little hospitable areas there were into slums of their own.

For diversification's sake, there needed to be a method of producing enough offspring of

endangered species to kick-start colonization on new worlds. The solutions were the Repopulation

Domes. Kristina and Katharine were both products of a traditional family, but she met a number of

other sapients, in both basic and the police force, who had been born in such facilities. Those admitted

were given one, singular task for the duration of their stay: breed. Hence the colloquialism “Fuck

Bubble.”

Despite what Trevor had told her, it was hard to not think of the domes as a massive, galactic

zoo. There were designated facilities for each species, each resembling traditional habitats of their

genetic ancestors. But despite the vastness, Kristina couldn't shake the feeling she were walking inside

the walls of a cage. Maybe Trevor had been right. After seeing it, she agreed that she wasn't a good fit

after all.

After at least half an hour of walking, Kristina stopped to breathe, trying her damndest not to

pass out from the heat. She scanned the horizon, hoping to find some kind of marker she could use to

find signs of life. Fortunately, far to what she assumed to be the east, she saw a larger copse of trees

with the smokey hints of recent fires. If she squinted past the sunlight, she thought she could barely see

the movement of people within them. Having fared no better going north, she turned her attentions east

and started a new hike.

Kristina approached a more surreal and bizarre scene with each foot she walked. As she could

have guessed, the small trees and patches of greenery surrounded moderate-sized watering hole. Also

around it was a group of lions, far more than Kristina had ever seen in one place. While she was first

taken aback by how many of them there were, she was more uncomfortable with the fact that every last

one of them was completely naked. They lounged and slept and floated lazily in the water, all while

totally comfortable in nothing but their own fur.

She approached, her steps becoming exponentially slower the closer she came to the group. For

all she knew, they were getting ready to pounce on her. She took notice of how the majority of them

were female. In fact, aside from a single male lion sleeping beneath a tree not far away, the group was

entirely made up of females, with the majority of them in varying states of pregnancy.

Kristina gulped, drawing closer with every step while ready to run at the slightest hostility. She

scanned the crowd for her sister's face, but couldn't make out any specific ones. She came within range

of a young lioness, lying on her back in the sun, the hint of a bump rounding out her stomach. Kristina,

without knowing, passed slowly between the lioness and the sunlight, casting a shadow over her face.

She cracked an eye open.

“Oh!” She shouted, sitting up quickly. Kristina jumped at the sound and ground her heels into

the dirt, whether for fight or flight, she wasn't yet certain.

“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” The young lioness said in a high pitched voice. She scrambled to

her feet and grabbed Kristina's hand, held forward in a blocking motion the lioness misinterpreted as a

handshake. “I thought you were just someone else in our pride!” She turned to the watering hole and

called out. “Hey! Guest!”

A number of the lions raised their heads up from their naps, the few swimmers stopping from

their activities to wave. Kristina awkwardly waved back, slowly cracking a smile.

“Are you a new researcher?” the lioness asked. “The others didn't find us for a while. I don't

know why the other scientists and stuff don't give you guys a map or something.”

“No, I'm not a researcher,” Kristina said, staring the lioness intently in the face to keep herselffrom looking anywhere south of it. “I'm just a...I'm actually looking for my sister.”

“Oh! You should have said something before!” The lioness took Kristina's hand again and shook

it vigorously. “I'm Valeena. What's your name?”

“Freeland. Kristina Freeland,” she responded, with an air of formality reminding her of military

days. She tried to relax, but letting her guard down in such an alien place felt unnatural. Kristina

resolved to keep her stiff, official demeanor.

“Freeland?” Valeena scratched her head. “I don't know if we have...” She turned to the rest of

what she called a 'pride.' “Anybody's last name 'Freeland' here!?” The two waited for a break in the

silence, but the rest of the lions shrugged, while a few redundantly shouted “Not me!”

“Her name's Katharine. Goes by Kat.”

“Katharine!” The lioness shouted again. “Kat Freeland!?” Still no response. Kristina frowned,

new fears creeping in.

“How could she not be here?” She asked. “Could she have left?”

“Don't worry, don't worry,” Valeena said, cheerily. “We're not the only pride here. C'mon, let's

talk to Leo.” Valeena skirted her way around the group while Kristina followed, silently rolling her

eyes in response to the most common male lion's name in the known universe. She carefully mirrored

Valeena's footfalls to navigate the pile of other lionesses. While a small number of them were nursing

or caring for new cubs, the majority of them were in mid to late stages of pregnancy and sunning their

distended bellies in the warm sun.

Kristina ducked under a group of trees, following Valeena, to find the lone male lion she had

seen inside the dome sleeping in the shade. Valeena was crouched next to his shoulder, gently trying to

wake him.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “He's a really heavy sleeper. Hang on.” In the shadows, she grinned

mischievously, her tongue poking from between her teeth. Creeper her hands down his thigh, she

slipped her fingers beneath his exposed genitals and made a sharp motion. Leo's eyes shot open as he

arched his back and groaned.

“Oh-hohohoh!” He laughed. “Oh fuck Valeena! Keep your hands to yourself!” He pulled her

closer for a deep, passionate kiss. He noticed Kristina crouched in the corner as he pulled away. He

jerked to a sitting position, a developing erection poking him in the stomach.

“I'm so sorry, ma'am. I didn't see you there,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It's...It's fine,” Kristina made herself say while being suddenly reminded of the dome's

intended purposes. Comfortable or not, she was the visitor here and would have to get used to it.

“Leo,” Valeena piped up, “This is Kristina Freeland. She's looking for her sister, Katharine, but

I think she's in another pride. Do you remember where the other watering holes are?”

“If I didn't,” Leo boomed, “then I shouldn't be in charge here anyway!” While certainly friendly

and outgoing, Leo seemed to embody a sense of overblown machismo that made Kristina want to roll

her eyes back into her head. His voice was loud on its own, but he insisted on projecting his voice far

beyond what he actually needed to. The force had seen many of his kind come and go just as quickly.

“Off the top of my head,” he continued, “the nearest watering hole would be about a mile and a

half...” He thumbed over his shoulder. “That way.”

“Wow...” Kristina snarked. “I guess you really know the lay of the land.”

“Sorry, ma'am. I admit it, they didn't really bring me here for my brains.” While still looking at

Kristina, Leo brought up his left arm and slipped two fingers up and between Valeena's legs. She

gasped quietly and closed her eyes, shuddering while biting her lip. “But believe me, you should find

another pride if you just keep thataway for a while. And if I'm not right, just come on back and we'll get

you where you're going.”

“I think I'll be fine on my own,” Kristina said. She stood as best she could under the low

hanging branches and made her way toward the direction Leo indicated. “I can't leave you to...that.”

“It was nice to meet you, Kristina!” Valeena called from behind. Kristina merely waved overher shoulder with the back of her hand and continued her trek under the bright lights.

It was only once she was far enough away from Leo's encampment for it to vanish from the

horizon did she finally see another gathering of plants and trees appearing away from her. Regardless

of whether there was anyone at this watering hole, she would have to stop and drink. She didn't know

whether to be angry at the staff for not warning her of the harsh conditions, Leo for his inept directions,

or herself for being the root cause of her misfortunes.

The closer she got, the easier it was to make out a similar crowd of lions, albeit more active.

While many of them were lounging about, many of the lions were chatting or playing with one another.

In a way, this made them seem a great deal less threatening than the others. As Kristina further closed

the distance, a few lionesses noticed her approach and waved, some of which Kristina awkwardly

returned. From behind a tree, on the outside of the group, a lioness stepped out from behind a tree and

stared at her intensely. She began a slow approach, moving faster and faster the closer she got. Once

she and Kristina were at least fifty feet apart, she broke out into an awkward run.

“KRIS!” Kat shouted. “KRIS! OH MY GOD!”

“Kat?” Kristina said. She quickly dropped her survivalist instincts as her face broke into an

enormous grin. “KAT!” She sprinted across the dry plains, closing the distance far faster than her sister,

who she then nearly tackled off her feet in a tight embrace.

“I didn't think it was you!” Kat panted in her sister's ear. “I...I thought you were

another...another of those scientists...Oh my God, Kris!” She pulled Kristina in tighter and buried her

face in her hair. “What are you doing here!?”

Kristina tightened her hug around Kat, but was met with unexpected resistance.

“I wanted to see you. I had to see you.”

“I-I mean,” Kat laughed, “You could have just waited.”

“I'll tell you more later,” Kristina said into her sister's ear. “Just shut up for a minute.” The two

held each other, remembering the lives they lived together and regretting the ones they lived apart. A

thousand wounds they didn't realize they had were finally starting to heal.

When they finally separated, Kristina finally realized what made their hugging feel so strange.

Kat looked more or less the same as she remembered, but with much longer hair and more weight put

on. This was evidently from the fact that her sister was at least seven months pregnant, an egg-shaped

belly rounding out her frame and ending at her widened hips that gave her a distinct hourglass shape.

While it was something Kristina had expected to see, and thought she had prepared herself for,

it was overwhelmingly bizarre to actually see. A soft layer of healthy fat draped over Kat's body like a

blanket, rounding her edges into smooth curves. Her fur had never looked so golden and so sleek; Kat

was almost shining in the sunlight. While Kristina had never remembered her sister as particularly

busty, her breasts must have doubled in size and volume. Her nipples were barely visible beneath her

sleek fur, including the vestigial ones running up the middle of her belly.

When Kat noticed where Kristina's gaze had fallen, she twitched her whiskers, a trait both of

them shared when embarrassed, and cradled her hands over her belly.

“Well...” Kat said, giggling sheepishly, “I guess you picked a hell of a time to visit.”

“Oh...uh...” Kristina looked up, her own whiskers twitching. “N-No, it's fine. You're fine.

That's...it's what you're here for.”

“I mean, yeah.” Kat said, drumming her fingers against her taut skin. “But it can't be exactly

comfortable, I guess.”

“Like I said, it's fine,” Kristina said, wrenching her gaze back to her sister's face and smiling.

“As long as you don't care how knocked up I am, I'm happy to see you, too.” Kat's face lit up

with a grin. She rubbed one hand against her lower back and groaned. “I probably shouldn't have been

running, though.”

“I probably shouldn't have tried to knock you off your feet I guess,” Kristina admitted. Kat

incredulously waved it away.“Pfft, no way. Believe me. I've got a pretty solid center of gravity going on here.” She laughed

and patted her belly, but fell silent as she noticed Kristina's discomfort. “Uh...Sorry. What you need to

do is come over here and meet some of my friends so they know I haven't been making you up the

whole time.” Kat strode back to the watering hole, but much slower than she thought she was going.

Kristina easily kept stride with her, but followed a few feet behind her sister to let her lead the way. At

times, she seemed nearly ready to topple over, seemingly unused to the weight she had put on. Kristina

glanced down absentmindedly and caught sight of her sister's tail waving freely above her rounded, soft

rump. Kat's hips widened her legs and thighs out more than anything else on her body. Her healthy,

sleek fur nearly glowed in the sunlight. Kristina quietly cleared her throat and looked out at the scenery

as they walked, her whiskers twitching madly as she flushed beneath her fur.

“Farrah! Diana!” Kat called out, waving her hands in the air and drawing the attention of two

lionesses that sat chatting beneath a tree while dipping their feet in the water. They both glanced up and

waved. One of them cupped their hands around their mouth and shouted.

“Who's that?!”

“It's my sister!” Kat responded cheerily. “Kris! Kristina! Remember? I told you about her!”

“Of course!” The other lioness shouted. “You couldn't say a word about home without talking

about her after! Hang on!”

The lioness on the left, who herself was somewhere within her second trimester, carefully stood

to help heft the one on the right to her feet. The lioness stood shakily and braced herself against her

friend to keep her balance. She carried an enormous belly, nearly a foot in front of her, and looked close

to dropping at any time. Kristina picked up her pace, walking past Kat in the hopes of making her

speed up. She didn't want to make any of them walk more than they had too.

“Whew! Jesus,” Kat panted, her tongue hanging from their mouth. “I wasn't expecting that kind

of-” She jumped, her hands moving to her belly. She laughed, rubbing herself up and down. “I don't

think they did either. Probably shouldn't have been running, to be honest.”

“Wait.” Kristina turned to her sister and blinked. “They?”

“Two of them!” Kat said, grinning as she held up corresponding fingers. “At least, as far as I

can tell.” She looked down and prodded the upper right corner of her stomach, directly below her

breast. “That's a foot right there, okay? But that,” she moved her hand down to the lower middle of her

belly, “I’m pretty sure this is a back or a head. So unless baby has some crazy long legs, I think I've got

twins in here with me.”

“I've lost fucking count, I swear,” grumbled the bigger lioness. “It's just a damn whirlpool of

tiny fists and feet and heads kicking the shit out of me from the inside.”

“But at least you're next on the birth pool, right?” Kat said.

“Hell yeah I am. I put my bet in for next week. If I win, I get money. But if I lose, that's all the

sooner I get my body back to myself. It's a win-win.” The lioness waved dismissively toward Kat and

turned to Kristina. “But we've been talking to you for months. I want to here about this cop sister of

yours.”

“Kris, this is Diana and Farrah. Guys, this is my sister Kristina,” Kat said, pointing to the larger

and the smaller lionesses, respectively. Farrah grasped her hand from the side and started shaking it

excitedly while breathlessly babbling a number of greetings. Diana, however, steadied her belly with

her right hand and extended her left to shake. Kristina felt a powerful grip beneath her rough paws.

“Your sister tells us your beat was on Venus. I was Galactic Reserve on Earth. Got shuttled in

during the riots a few years ago. It's a tough place to try and keep the peace, that's for god damn sure.”

Kristina tightened her grip in solidarity and nodded.

“We had our moments, ma'am, but it wasn't much worse than any other big city.”

“Oh shit!” Kat swore, swatting her palm to her forehead. “You can only be here 'til the end of

the day! Guys, I'm sorry, but I really wanted to introduce Kris to my pride. We'll come by and chat

more on the way back, okay?”“Do what you gotta do,” Diana said. She gripped Kristina's hand one last time and nodded

curtly. “It was nice to meet you, officer.”

“I'm not a cop anymore, Diana,” she responded. “Just a shipping pilot. But it was nice to meet

you too. Both of you,” she added, nodding to Farrah. Kat grabbed her by the elbow from behind and

began dragging her away.

“We need to go, we need to go!”

“Alright! What are you, a tour guide?” Kristina joked. “Don't I at least get a brochure?”

“Yes, I am the tour guide. And the bus is already full, so you're just gonna have to follow on

your own.” Kat made her way through the dried grass, cutting through gracefully as if she could will

them out of her way. In comparison, Kristina couldn't help but bumble loudly through the underbrush,

crunching nearly every blade of grass in her way.

“Kat?” She asked, but fell silent when Kat held up a hand.

“Hang on. There he is.” Kat cupped her hands around her muzzle and shouted. “Hey David!”

Even with her hand blocking out the sunlight, it took some peering before Kristina could finally

make out what her sister was yelling at. Her eyes went wide as she saw two lions vigorously and almost

aggressively fucking out in broad daylight. The male, presumably David, glanced up as he paused his

almost mechanical rutting of the lioness beneath him and waved cheerfully.

“Hey Kat!” He called back, nonchalantly. He used his free hand to pull the mane back from his

face. He panted, tongue lolling out.

“David! I still have your book! I finished it the other day!” Kat yelled back.

“What did you think!?”

Kat exaggeratedly shrugged so David could tell from a distance.

“It was okay! I kinda had some issues with it! I'll tell you later! When do you want it back!?”

“No rush, Kat! Just bring it the next time you come and visit!”

“Will do! Oh! Marilyn!” Kat shouted. “Marilyn, is that you!?”

The lioness raised her arm and called out.

“Hey Kat!”

“Grab his ass! He loves that!”

David jumped as Marilyn wrapped her long fingers around one of his cheeks and squeezed.

“Oh, I already figured that-” Marilyn's voice was drowned out by a moan as David resumed

plowing into her with slow, but powerful thrusts. Kat chuckled and moved on, beckoning Kristina to

follow. Kristina herself was still rooted in place, her mind reeling.

“Sorry, I was looking for him earlier,” Kat explained, while tapping her foot impatiently.

“Guests can't stay longer than a day cycle and I really want you to meet my pride.”

“Right...” Kristina said, tearing her eyes away. “Right. Sorry. I...It's fine.” Her whiskers were

practically seizing on her face. Kat's expression softened.

“Sorry, Kris. We're all used to this stuff, I guess. I know it's weird.”

“No...” Kristina paused, struggling to find the words to say. “It's not...wrong. I don't think it...”

“You're just not really comfortable about sex stuff,” Kat finished. “I know you're not. You never

have been.”

“It's not that. It's okay. It's safe here. That's what you're here for. It's...overwhelming. But I was

prepared for that.”

Kat pulled her sister closer and kissed her on the cheek.

“It means a lot to me for you to visit, Kris.”

Kristina's whiskers twitched again as she smiled bashfully.

Kat continued on, leading Kristina by the hand to follow.

As they walked, Kristina found herself worrying about the harsh environment, more so for her

sister, in a far more delicate state than her. Eventually, by the time Kristina was panting and weary

again, Kat was still keeping her stride and humming cheerfully. Perhaps under the pregnancy and babyfat, her sister was in better shape than she realized. If where they were going was a reasonable distance

to a cub-heavy lioness, then it couldn't be very far.

“Hey, Kat?” Kristina asked after a long period of comfortable silence. “What's a pride?”

“Oh! Right, okay. So a pride is something from ancestral lions, when they were just animals. It's

what you call a group of lions, mostly with a ton of females and only one or two males.”

“So one guy knocks up dozens of women?” Kristina asked, slightly appalled. “That's fucked.”

“That's how it was for the ferals, though.” Kat explained. “Before they let us into the savannah,

we all had to take these classes on, like, lion biology and stuff and how it applied to the Repopulation

Facility. They want the babies that are born here to be as close to their genetic heritage as possible. So

they try to re-create the habitats of our ancestors. Like, for genetic diversity, it's generally better to have

a lot more females to each male, so that's how the prides got organized.”

“Kat, this sounds awful so far.” Kristina said.

“It's not like it sounds, though. What gets people in here is based more on personality than

biological stuff. They don't just want people that'll fuck, because anybody can do that. They need to

make sure everybody gets along as a community and that they want to make healthy babies.”

“But you’re still stuck sharing this one guy for everyone else to sleep with.”

“We're not stuck. Prides aren't regularly divided. You could go to any one you want. I started out

in David's pride for a while before I met Denka and liked him a lot more.” Kat ran a finger up the

underside of her belly and circled her navel. “These are his little space invaders. You'll like him.”

“We'll see,” Kristina mumbled, remembering how much Leo rubbed her the wrong way and

finally understanding the chip on his shoulder.

“God...” Kat grumbled, stopping. “I always get so turned around.” She pointed to a small pile of

rocks surrounded by overgrown weeds. “I recognize that, but I don't know...Wait!” She turned and

pointed to a patch of trees far in the distance. “Okay, okay! There's a dried out riverbed here that leads

right past our water hole.”

“It's unbelievable to think this whole place is man-made.” Kristina remarked, examining the dirt

crunching under her shoes.

“They took topographical scans of areas on earth that they reconstructed here with industrial

replicators. It kinda is and it kinda isn't.”

As they fell into silence again, Kristina had her fill of the surroundings and found her eyes

migrating back to her sister's rear end. It bounced ever so slightly with every step and waved almost

seductively with every sway of her hips. It was plush and soft, rounding out into a well-defined shape.

Her tail, as slender as ever, waved freely above it, twirling gracefully in the air like a snake.

Kristina pulled her attention away and stared straight ahead like she was trained to do during

marches. But her eyes were less willing to take on such orders. As they drifted downward one too many

times, Kristina closed the distance with tight strides until the two were side-by-side. Kat glanced up at

her sister, puzzled, before she spied the smoke of a young fire and pointed excitedly.

“There! We're almost there!” She said excitedly. She sped up as fast as she could with Kristina

by her side, silently on watch to see if her belly-heavy sister were about to topple over. After a few

yards of dusty waddling, Kat began to pant for the first time of their entire hike through the savannah.

She stopped and rubbed her lower back, catching her breath. “Okay...Okay, fuck it. We walk...No

running...No more of that.”

Kristina giggled quietly, but turned her head away when Kat snapped around with a glare. They

continued through the tall grass, breaking away from the riverbed. They crossed a patch of open dirt

that surrounded the watering hole on all sides. The pool itself was much bigger than the other oases

Kristina had seen and broke off into smaller pockets of water, but had less tree cover. The pride was

composed of fewer lionesses than the others, only a few less than ten. Most of them were either wading

in the shallow waters or sitting on the bank while wetting their feet and chatting. Like the rest, each one

of them was pregnant, but the average seemed bigger and more heavier than the others. Two lionessesstood up from the water and dried off together in the warm son. Running fingers up and down each

other's bodies, they grinned, retreating to a clump of trees far from the water's edge. Kristina looked

away, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“Hey Kat!” called a lionesses, standing from her sitting position in the water and waving. “I

thought you were staying at...Holy shit! Is that Kris!?” A good number of the lionesses stopped what

they were doing and turned at the sound of her name.

“Yes!” Kat screamed back, excited all over again. “She came to visit! Just out of nowhere! Just

walked up on us, it was crazy!”

After some controlled fast-walking on Kat's part, the two finally made it to the water's edge,

where the lionesses gathered excitedly around them.

“Okay, so, for whoever managed to tune me out for the past couple months,” Kat began,

pausing as the group laughed, “this is my sister Kristina. She used to go by Captain Freeland, but now

she's just Kris and if she tries to tell you to call her 'Kristina,' she's being a tight-ass and you should tell

me right away.”

The other lionesses laughed again as Kristina smiled modestly. Kat was right, but she was trying

to get better at letting go of her resolved, military attitudes.

“How long are you gonna be-Oh!” A younger lioness began to ask, but was startled by a

movement in her belly. She glanced down, rubbing the point of impact. “Jesus, kid...”

“Thank you,” Kat said, exaggeratedly gesturing to the lionesses' middle. “Questions later! Kat's

used to having a CO that's what I'm gonna be today!” She turned and saluted to Kristina, who only

rolled her eyes.

“Kat, for God's sake...”

She giggled and dropped the act. She pointed to the group from left to right. “Okay, so this is

Vanessa. She's a horticulturist on Earth. This is Helena, a sous chef on Mars. Luna is from the Eden

colony and...okay, I don't know what she does.”

“Engineering student,” Luna quickly corrected.

“Huh. Okay then. Engineering student. Lynne is a painter and she's from Mars, too. Dominique

is from Earth and is studying biology, funnily enough. And...I don't know where Yvonne and Beatrice

are.” Silently, the lionesses glanced back at the trees across the water, independently of one another.

Kat badly suppressed a giggling fit before gasping out, “Nevermind, I know where they are. Yvonne's a

navigator and Beatrice is an escort, both on Mars.

“Everyone, this is my older sister.” Kat finished. There was an awkward silence before Kristina

realized that was a cue for her to speak.

“Oh, uh, hi everyone. I don't know what Kat's been saying about me, but I'm sure she's made me

sound more interesting than I really am. She and I both grew up on Mars, but moved to Venus when we

were in middle school. I joined the military police there after college and stayed there for about eight

years before I resigned. Nowadays I'm just a contracted pilot and freelancer.” She paused before

shrugging to her sister. “I mean, I don't know. What do you want me to say?”

“Why do you always try to be so boring!?” Kat teased.

“Um,” Kristina stalled while looking around the watering hole. “Where's...uh...where's

your...your guy?”

“Denka?” Luna asked before glancing to Kat to answer. “He's in his 'place' right now.”

“Are we not supposed to bother him?” Kat asked.

“No, it's fine. I think he's just reading.”

“Awesome.” Kat grabbed her sister by the arm again to lead her. Kristina briefly considered

planting her feet and letting Kat fight for it, but was put off by the idea of rough-housing with her sister

as she was, so she resigned to being dragged away while waving goodbye to the other lionesses.

She was led a ways away from the actual watering hole to a lone, particularly leafy tree growing

a fair distance away. The shape of a lean, tall lion male sat in the shadows, reading a book perched onhis lap as he leaned against the tree's trunk.

“Hey Denka,” Kat said, loudly enough to get his attention, but softer than before. Denka looked

up, setting the book down on his lap. As her eyes adjusted to the shade, she noticed the book was

written in Old-Earth Russian.

“Hi Katharine,” he responded, softly and with a warm smile.

“I wanted you to meet my sister, Kristina,” Kat said, gesturing. “She came visiting out of the

blue a couple hours ago and I've been showing her around.”

Denka folded the page of his book inward and shut it. He stood, very conspicuously holding the

book over his otherwise exposed genitals, and shook her hand. In a way, she appreciated his modesty, a

rare sight that day.

“It's nice to actually meet you, Kristina,” he said. “Katharine's told us so much about you, I'm

glad we got to finally meet face to face.”

“It's nice to meet you, too,” Kristina responded. She found Denka unexpectedly easy to like.

“You know my sister...particularly well, so any friend of hers is a friend of mine.”

“Then I hope you find me to your liking,” he said, letting go of her hand to grasp the other side

of the book. Kristina frowned, thinking intently over Denka's words.

“Your accent,” she asked, “that's Venusian, isn't it?”

“Yes, actually...” Denka responded, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “I've been told it's very

faint, however.”

“I'd recognize it anywhere,” Kristina said. “Where are you from?”

“I grew up in the...less developed neighborhoods of New Troy.”

“That was my beat. Those are...That's a tough place to have a childhood.”

“Regrettably so, but I like to think hard times serve to make us stronger, Miss Freeland.”

“Kristina is- Kris is fine,” she said, correcting herself. “Were you there during the riots?”

“I was, though my family had since moved. I'm very thankful we avoided much of the

violence.”

“What do you do, if I might be so direct?” Kristina asked, moving the subject away from what

might be a delicate topic for the soft-spoken lion.

“I'm a linguistics professor at Selene University, when I'm not working on other translation

projects.”

“Denka is crazy smart,” Kat piped up, excitedly. “He speaks about thirteen languages and can

read even more than that.”

Denka scuffed the ground at his feet and shrugged.

“I-It is my field of study, after all...”

“In all honesty, Denka,” Kristina said, “you would be among the last people I'd expect to find

here. And I mean that as a compliment.”

He smiled lightly, shuffling his feet and looking away uncomfortably.

“I- I mean- It's a n-necessity. I-I have a big family, you see, so I believe that my genetics are

pre-disposed toward...um...e-excessive...potency.”

“I'm happy for that, if nothing else than to have someone responsible looking after my little

sister.” Kristina stole a glance toward her sister's stomach. “If not more.”

“I- Um- Thank you. I mean, you're welcome. Or rather...” He took a deep breath, his tail

nervously swishing back and forth. “Kat and I get along very well. She's a very easy woman to like. I'm

glad to have met her, even if it were under such...um...strange circumstances.”

“You're gonna make the guy pop a blood vessel, Kris,” Kat teased.

“In any case, I'll sleep a lot easier having met you, Denka.” Kristina turned to her sister. “Kat, I

want to meet the rest of the pride. Let's let Denka get back to his book.”

A badly-concealed look of relief spread across the lion's face as he smiled.

“It was nice to finally meet you, Kris. Especially after all I've heard from Kat. I'd love to hearsome stories another time.”

“I'd be happy, to. Look me up once you're...uh...released?”

“I consider us private contractors, in a way,” Denka said.

“That makes the most sense to me. Take care, Denka.” Kristina began to stride off, leading Kat

reluctantly after her.

“Likewise!” Denka called back before settling back into the shade with his book.”

“He is adorable,” Kat said, with a bounce in her step.

“He's probably the last I'd expect for a super-macho alpha male. He's...bookish?” Kris shrugged.

“I'm probably more surprised by how much I like him. Seems like a good guy.”

Kat stopped in her tracks, pulling her sister to a halt with her. She looked up in Kristina's eyes,

deadly serious.

“Kris,” she said. “I mean this with complete and total honesty. I have never, in my life, had

better sex than with Denka.”

“What?” Kristina said, incredulously.

“He is in-fucking-credible. He's hung like a horse. He's flexible like a gymnast. He lasts for

hours. He can finish and start again in minutes. ” Kat snapped her fingers for emphasis. Kristina

frowned and glanced back to the demure lion beneath the tree.

“That guy?”

“I have never been fucked by anyone like Denka before and I don't think I ever will again.

Tears. Every time, he leaves me in tears.”

“Wow...uh...” Kristina glanced between her sister and the tree. “I guess first impressions aren't

everything, huh?”

“You have no idea.” Kat finished.

“You're right. I really don't,” Kristina said, continuing their walk back to the watering hole. The

group of lionesses was still gathered around the edge of the water, talking to two new women she didn't

recognize. Kristina assumed these two to be Yvonne and Beatrice who, like the others, were thickly

pregnant. Unlike the others, they were covered in head-to-toe in dirt and dust and stood in the shallow

edges of the water to wash off.

“Hey guys,” Kat said, walking up to the other lionesses. “Who's the best guy you've ever slept

with?”

A few of them looked startled by the question, but Helena answered immediately with “Denka.”

“Yeah, Denka,” Dominique agreed. “No question.”

“He's half the reason I stuck around,” Beatrice said. She glanced over to Yvonne. “But only

half.”

The others nodded in agreement. Kristina held up her hands defensively.

“Okay, right, okay. I get it.”

“I mean, if even I liked it, that's really saying something,” Beatrice said. She glanced curiously

at Kristina and raised an eyebrow. “Also, um, hello?”

“It's Kris!” Kat said, performing a heavy little hop. “My sister Kris!”

“No shit? Well it's nice to see she wasn't making you up the whole time. I'm Beatrice, but

mostly just B. This is Yvonne.”

“H-Hallo,” Yvonne said quietly in a heavy accent. She whispered a couple words in French

which B responded to with equal fluency.

“She's asking me to tell you 'it's a pleasure to meet you' in better words than she can. So what

are you doing in our little corner of paradise?”

“She's...” Kat looked up, confused, at her sister. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Umm...” It was Kristina's turn to look bashful and stall for time. She wrapped her tail around

one of her legs and bit her lip before speaking again. “W-Well, I mean, it's not just a visit. It mostly is

but...” She felt an ecstatic energy surging through her legs and she didn't know whether to jog in placeor jump up and down. She'd hoped to tell Kat in private, but she supposed it didn't really matter as

much as she thought.

“I'm getting married.”

“HOLY FUCK.” Kat shouted, her voice echoing across the plains. “Kris! Kris! Holy SHIT!”

She pulled Kristina forcibly into a tight hug, regardless of the belly in the way. “Why didn't you

fucking tell me?! Jesus Christ! You kept that from me all day!? I'm going to kick your ass once these

kids are outta me!”

Kat let go, looked up at Kristina with tears on her eyes, then immediately pulled her into

another, tighter hug. Kristina accepted the fact that her breathing would return once her sister had had

her fill and just quietly waited for her to finish.

“Whoisit? Whoisit? What'shisname? What'shisname?” Kat jabbered after finally releasing

Kristina. She was so excited, Kristina was reasonably concerned it might trigger an early labor.

“Oh,” Kristina said, suddenly realizing the situation. “Uh...I'll tell you later on today, alright?”

“Oh hell no,” Beatrice said from behind. “You don't drop a bomb like that without telling

everybody. What's his name?”

“DoIknowhim? Isheacoptoo? What'shisgoddamnname!?” Kat almost shouted. She shifted

excitedly from one foot to the other, her entire body swaying.

Kristina paused. Her whiskers twitched wildly.

“Um...Elizabeth.”

The silence was dense enough to touch.

“Oh,” said the gathered lionesses with mild concern, each retrospectively aware of how

surprised they weren't.

“Ohhhhh....” Beatrice said with a song in her voice, looking Kristina up and down with renewed

interest.

“...Oh.” Kat's ears folded back against her head. Her smile faded away, leaving her face stone-

still aside from her wildly twitching whiskers. She blinked over her widened eyes. Slowly, she looked

down at her body, eyes lingering on each breast and nipple, barely cresting the surface of her fur.

Involuntarily, her tail pulled folded between her legs. She let one arm rest atop her belly, covering

herself as much was possible.

“Was she a Venus cop too?” Luna asked.

“Oh...Um....I....” Kristina tore her face away from her sister's. “Um, what?”

“Where'd you meet Elizabeth?”

“Oh...We...We were in the same flight school, after I retired from the police force. We ran a

couple long runs together and...got to know each other...”

“You've been dating pretty long then?” asked Lynne.

“Yeah. We took a lot of runs together and would stop off places on the way for dates. Went to a

lot of places we wouldn't have gone to otherwise. We'd been together for something like...two years?

Maybe three. I popped the question on Mars while we hiked Olympus Mons, right as the sun came up.”

Kristina beamed at the memory. She wasn't aware how much baggage she had kept on her chest

or how willing she was to talk about her relationship. The fear of outing herself was totally eradicated.

“What's she like?” Beatrice asked.

“She's...God...” Kristina ran a hand through her hair, trying to think of the best way to begin. It

was like describing Starry Night to the blind. “She's like one of those old-style pin up models. Just a

total bombshell from head to toe, even when she's covered in grease and oil. She's a better mechanic

than I'll ever be, too. Smart. Crazy smart. Always knows the one thing at any time that'll make me

laugh, and that can be hard sometimes. I mean...” Kristina shrugged. “I am stupid lucky, basically.”

“Is she a sapient?” Dominique asked.

“Yeah, white tiger. White as snow, almost all the time. She's unreal.”

“Where's she from?”“Selene City, but she spent a lot of time between there and New London, growing up. She's got

this really faint British accent and it just...Ugh, I just melt whenever I hear it, I swear.” The tip of her

tail was kicking up dust as she swung it wildly behind her.

“You look like you're about to float to the top of the dome,” Helena joked. “When's the

wedding?”

“I mean, we don't want to wait all that long, but it won't happen unless Kat's there with me.”

Kristina paused, finding her sister not where she expected her to be. She swung her head around the

water's edge, but caught no sight of her. “Kat?” Somehow, she had slipped away unnoticed, an

impressive feat considering her size and condition.

“Hang on,” Kristina blurted to the lionesses before jogging quickly around the oasis. Ducking

between rocks, through groups of trees and bushes, and beneath tall grass without sight of Kat, her

worry grew with every passing minute she didn't find her.

“Kat!” She called, her voice echoing off across the grasses. As the sound faded, she heard the

faint sound of water coming from behind a group of bushes. Without thought, Kristina barreled through

them, finding her sister treading water in a small, deep pool hidden beneath a scraggly tree. Kristina

sighed and crouched to her haunches.

“Oh God, I don't know why I was so worried,” She panted.

“Yeah, it's...Sorry,” Kat said, her voice soft and uneasy. She floated in the water up to her neck,

her long hair floating alongside her face.

“So...um...” Kristina paused as she raised her hands in a waving motion. “Surpriiise...” Kat

chuckled, making bubbles in the water.

“Yeah. Surprise.” She agreed.

The two of them fell silent, listening only to the soft ripples lapping against the shore and the

artificial wind blowing through the grass around them.

“I'm sorry,” Kristina said. “I didn't want to tell you like that. I was just...I was scared.”

“No, no, no, don't be sorry,” Kat said, silencing Kristina. “It's me. I'm sorry. I just...got

embarrassed, I guess. I've just been hanging around...naked...I thought you might be...I don't know.”

She began to swim to the water's edge before Kristina held up a hand to stop her.

“Don't get out yet,” she said, her own whiskers twitching. She sat cross-legged on the bank of

the pool. “This is the first time you've looked like yourself all day.”

“So...” Kat said, choosing her words carefully. “I mean, be honest. You were kind of...”

Kristina bit her lip and looked away sheepishly. If she were human, her skin would have

blushed bright red.

“I think it's the...the baby belly...kinda...Sorry. I...I didn't...expect that.”

“It's not your fault,” Kat said, reassuringly. “It is kind of...Anyway, I don't blame you. And I

don't care you're getting married to a girl. I bet I'll love Elizabeth to death.”

“Yeah,” Kristina smiled. “Yeah, you will.”

“I just...” Kat sighed, looking away. “I kind of wish you hadn't come here to visit.”

“Why?”

“Because...” Kat glanced back up, wearing a heavy expression. “Kris, you're this awesome cop-

pilot badass superstar, okay? I wanted everyone to know you were my sister because I wanted them to

think more of me, I guess. But for once, I felt good doing something that...that you couldn't. It's so

shitty and I hate that I think that, but it's true. I'm just this...dumb little nymphomaniac, but for once,

that can be a good thing. I just didn't...didn't want you to see me. Like this. All fat and pregnant and

waddling around like a goddamn...” She trailed off, her lip quivering, but her eyes still dry.

Without a word, and fully clothed, Kristina slipped into the water. Wading up to Kat, she

grabbed her sister and pulled her into a tight hug. Kat couldn't tell from the water, but it was Kristina

who had begun to cry.

“Don't you ever think, for even a second, that I'm worth anything without you, Katharine.”Kristina said, words muffled against her sister's neck. “I won't walk down the aisle unless you're right

there with me. As much as I love Elizabeth,” she pulled Kat in tighter, “you were first.”

Kat threw her arms around Kristina with a loud splash, fighting to hold back tears of her own.

She said nothing, simply burying her face into her collar.

“You're not worthless. Even if this is all you were good for, and it's not, you're still bringing two

people into the world, who I know will be amazing.”

Kristina felt a kick coming from her sister's womb, pressed tightly against her own stomach. Kat

laughed and surrendered to a few of her own tears. She backed away, wiping her eyes with her already

wet hand.

Underneath the water, Kristina laid a hand against her sister's belly, feeling he tiny jabs and

kicks against her palm. She smiled, massaging Kat's stomach and feeling the twins inside stirring

awake.

“You're amazing,” Kristina said. “I wish I could be half the person you are, Kat.”

“I...” Kat croaked. She swallowed and attempted to speak again. “I really needed to hear that.”

She held Kristina's hand and moved it toward the upper left of her belly, where they could both feel one

of the twins turning over. “I guess I'll have to be the baby-maker of the family,” she joked.

“I don't know about that,” Kristina said. “You make it look so appealing.”

“Yeah? Just wait until you feel it. It's a lot less fun than it looks. Trust me.”

“Well, we'll see.”