Kendraha begins the next millennium sticking mostly with a single disguise, or leapfrogging as her younger disguise grows old, and a new young disguise appears to aid it. She keeps her estate together near Westerton, letting well trained servants deal with it when she travels for years at a time. Things are going well for her.
Stranded in Alternate Time 22-24,
by Py, (c) 10/24/2000,
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A dedication ceremony was held today for the newest building on the huge Westerton university campus. The new Josalin building is a large 4 story building, done in all the newest materials for strength and earthquake resistance, with an outer facing of brick to give it an older look that matches the rest of the campus. The building will house the library once transfers are done, providing far more space. It will also become the new Computer center for the university, housing the Westerton mainframe, and having areas for computer learning also. The old mainframe will be streamlined, and will become a real time back-up storage system for the new mainframe, and will be available for emergency use if the new mainframe should crash at some point. Most of the capacity of the new building is unspoken for at this time, but will be designated soon.
Here in this first image you can see Miss Evalin Josalin, granddaughter of our benefactor Mrs. Kennedy Josalin, beginning the construction by digging up the first shovel full of dirt herself with the ceremonial shovel. In the second picture we see Evalin Josalin standing at the front doors to the newly completed building. To either side of her you can see the statues which guard the entrance in old world style. Mrs. Josalin insisted on doing some of the design work for the building herself, and the university put up little protest considering the money she has donated over the years, not to mention paying for this entire building herself. To the left of the stares is a stone cobra coiled with head hooded and raised to strike, and to the right a stone anaconda likewise coiled with head raised to strike. Both are made with a concrete shell over a steel framework, and neither serpent has a tongue sticking out as that was thought to be a likely point of future damage if done. The guardian serpents may seem a strange ornamentation for the building, as well as a similar snake theme found in a few other places in and around the building, but it stands out from the usual lions and gargoyles.
Also it should be noted that there is an engraved symbol over each external door, some say it is nothing, but others say it has to stand for something. It does resemble a simple X which could be the number 10 in Roman numerals, but others say it more accurately resembles the crossed swords symbol of the nation state of Amazonia Island. When we asked Mrs. Josalin about these symbols and their meaning, and those of a half dozen others throughout the building, some of which are clearly identifiable and some not, she declined to comment. The only such symbol she would talk about were the snake guardians at the front door and other places, merely saying that she wanted something different and unique for the building, and she had always loved snakes.
The one controversial piece was the fountain in the courtyard in front of the building. It depicts a nearly naked stone woman standing at the fountains center, a serpent also in white stone rising up to coil around the woman. She holds the beasts neck in her hands, and her face is clearly fearful. This statue was heavily protested against during it's planning phase, The protesters lost the battle to stop the statue from being made for the fountain, but they did achieve a small measure of victory. The original plans were for a naked woman, but the pressure of the protesters convinced the Westerton board of directors to request that Mrs. Josalin make a change. In the end the statue went up in the center of the fountain only slightly behind schedule, Mrs. Josalin having agreed to change the design slightly. Now the 'Snake Woman Fountain' as it is called features a woman wearing a rather small loincloth, and one serpent coil is positioned to cover her breasts sufficiently to dull the screams of the protesters somewhat.
At the dedication ceremony Miss Evalin Josalin presented the keys to the building to the head of the board of directors, at which point they entered the building for her to take them on a tour. Young Miss Josalin may only be another student at the university, but as Mrs. Josalin's granddaughter and representative with limited legal powers over the Josalin estate, she has been in on the design and construction of the building from the beginning. Mrs. Kennedy Josalin was a student at Westerton university, graduated in 2002, and was a teacher here from 2008 to 2039, at which point she retired due to failing health issues. She was married to Walter Brantix in 2004, kept her maiden name, and he died in 2019. When her mother died in 2022, she inherited the estate and the bulk of the Josalin fortune, but chose to remain working regardless. Since retiring she's become reclusive, letting her granddaughter live with her and handle most of the business of the estate. Apparently her daughter and only child died at some point, and Mrs. Josalin having been without a husband for many years, was pleased to take her granddaughter in to "Fill a void in her life." as she told me during our interview.
Westerton Gazette, 7/11/2047,
Westerton Campus gets new building, donated by former student and teacher,
Written by Ellenore Traverson,
22. The pool was a huge indoor model, the entrance at one end slanted like a riverbank, so a person could walk in without using the ladders. It was shallow as you walked in, after 10 feet down the soft rubbery bottom the average person was only chest deep. Then the slant grew steeper, and in another 10 feet the pool went to a depth of 20 feet, where it remained that depth for the remaining area of the pool. It was fresh water, using the best in gentle to the skin chemicals, with a straining system that could remove almost any particulate matter that collected in the water.
Gentle ripples spread out in circles in the shallow area, as a naked red haired woman weakly fought to escape the coils of a greater than 25 foot long boa constrictor. Kelly had fought hard just to stay afloat, then gasping would try to pull herself up the ramp out of the pool. She managed to reach hip high water when her legs collapsed for the last time under the weight of herself and the coils of serpent around her. She now screamed somewhat more quietly than she had been minutes earlier, and her pounding with fists on the green and black colored coils were weaker as they rhythmically constricted her. Kelly continued to call for help, but the room was soundproofed, the pool room door locked, and nobody entered this wing of the building without the permission of the mistress of the house.
Kelly was desperate to escape the coils and the pool. She had know idea how she had come here, only remembering talking in private with her new friend Kendra, and suddenly finding herself here naked in the water up to her waist, unclear as to why she had come, and having no idea what had possessed her to get into a pool. She hated water, couldn't swim a stroke, and was scared to death of any water deeper than a bathtub, but hadn't had time to think more about it when the serpent had attacked. She was scared of reptiles also, almost as much as water, and the 2 together had made her almost hysterical.
Kelly had fought wildly, then had tried to work her way out of the pool, only to have her body betray her by collapsing, unable to pull the weight of the snake further out of the water. Several times the serpent constricted her to near death, only to loosen it's grip. Kelly couldn't stand the feelings of wet snake sliding around her, the difficulty breathing, the tightening coils, and the occasional mouthfuls of water as her head went under briefly. As she would lay panting with her head barely above water, the serpents head would rest on her shoulder, sometimes it's forked tongue caressing a breast or her ear, which brought about further hysteria and fighting. Finally after a long time when Kelly was ready to give in, still fighting weakly and reflexively to move out of the pool, the tightening coils stole enough of her breath that her body grew too weak to hold her head above water anymore. Kelly collapsed one last time, sinking to the bottom. She held what little breath she had left and panicked as she tried to get her head above the surface of the water, but fell a few inches short each time. Her fighting slowed, then bubbles streamed from her mouth while she fought in wild desperation, then she became completely motionless as she died. After a short while the snake fed, swallowing the body while still underwater, parts of her or the serpent occasionally breaking the surface. After Kelly was swallowed fully, and internal muscles had moved the serpent's meal down it's length to it's stomach, the snake crawled up onto the carpet surrounding the pool, where it realigned it's jaws, and curled up to digest under the daylight responsive lighting of the room.
The following day after digestion was complete, the serpent shifted it's form to that of Kendraha, who had a better than average but not spectacular body in this disguise as Kendra. In this incarnation her face and her shoulder length jet black hair, and deep blue eyes were her best features. Although the rest of her was good enough to ensnare almost any single man she wanted without too much social effort, and with no mental trickery either, weather she wanted them for food or sleeping with, the same applied with some women. Of course, being daughter to the late Linda Josalin, who was the daughter of Evalin Josalin, with all the money that gave her did make things a bit easier.
Kendraha had set down roots here in the San Francisco area, not sure why she had, but it had proven easier and safer than she had first suspected. She had started with Kennedy, leaving the pattern of her name most of the time, choosing the names Dolly, then Evalin, then Linda, and now Kendra. This not only made her a 5th generation resident, but made her quite familiar with the area and it's people. It also allowed her in younger form to be a student at Westerton, later to teach. Kendraha liked both learning new things and teaching. However, she did travel a lot, and did most of her hunting on the road so as not to bring suspicion and nosy investigators to the area. This of course gave her the perfect excuse to travel to temples to the goddess Kendraha worldwide, keeping to her general once per half century or more per temple rule. Temples made convenient places to feed, but their weren't nearly enough of them, so she usually fed elsewhere.
Ballet students were generally highly emotional and made good meals, as were artists of all types, but she didn't want to feed on them all the time, making them occasional treats. Lawyers were surprisingly good, they were generally so sure of themselves that they made good prey, as were powerful and influential people of all sorts. However these also remained occasional meals, as she couldn't afford to set a pattern that might make someone suspicious, or make people notice the death rate and lose interest in that profession. Doctors and religious types tended to be poor meals, so she usually avoided them, but anybody could supply her with some nutrition, even if poor meals might only be half as filling as good meals.
Kelly had possessed the mental gift, that shielded mind ability that the human having it was rarely ever aware of. Nearly 10% of the world's population seemed to have it these days, about a third of that so strongly that Kendraha couldn't break through without killing or severely injuring the human. She had tried several times, always ending up with the human dead or a vegetable, and her with a splitting headache. Another third had weak defenses she could get some thoughts and feelings through, such as making them want to run away, or be temporarily attracted to her. She could cause them a little pain, fear, maybe make them go unconscious, but little else and it still stung.
Then there were the weakest natural shields such as Kelly had possessed. Kendraha had learned using her ability combined with some hypnosis she could get what she wanted from them. It took time and effort, but devouring the life force of someone with that level of mental ability had been glorious, and well worth the effort to her. The woman's fear of water and snakes had been a bonus, and all together she thought this feeding might last her as long as 4 or 5 months, far longer than normal. Kendraha knew she'd try this again sometime, but finding a person with low mental shielding who was also vulnerable to hypnosis was not exactly easy to do. Kendraha had learned that usually humans with this unconscious mental shielding ability, also made bad subjects for hypnosis, compounding the problem of finding such a person. Kelly had been an exception, and Kendraha wondered if it might be due to the abnormal fears in her mind. She mentally noted to look into clinics dealing with people who had various phobias.
Kendraha flipped a switch which unbolted all the doors in the pool room, then went through Kelly's things, removing some money and a few items she thought might be useful and putting them aside. Then she put anything that might identify Kelly into a small cloth bag, and threw the rest of her clothing and other possessions into another larger bag. She then left with the 2 tightly bound bags, knowing her servants would never look inside them, and would burn them bag and all as instructed. Down the hall a short ways Kendraha stopped at a small door in the wall, which opened onto a chute leading into the cellar. Using an intercom she had someone in the kitchen go down cellar to dispose of the 2 bags by burning them in the incinerator. Dropping the bags down the chute, she listened with her mind for a while, sensing the servant doing as instructed, then she left. Returning for her own clothes, she gathered them up with the few useful items she had kept, rolled them all in a towel, and carried them to her inner chambers bedroom.
As she entered, tossing the towel roll onto the bed, Kendraha thought she saw a flicker of movement, and chose to ignore it. She had a meeting today, she had only been on the Westerton board of directors for a few weeks, and she was finally getting a guided tour of the Josalin building. Of course Kendraha knew it well, but she had to pretend it was all relatively new, as if she had only seen the computer area and a few other sections a lot, and the rest only in passing once or twice, and she was curious to see what they had done with the place in the last 30 years since she had gone inside as Linda Josalin.
The shower was invigorating, and the cap kept her hair dry. They had sonic showers for fast touch-up cleanings for times like this, but she preferred water, and the sonic showers always made her teeth feel fuzzy for an hour afterwards. Humming while brushing her hair, Kendraha thought about things she had to do that day. When done she walked over to the 4 poster bed, reaching for the towel to put her things away. A weight fell upon her naked back and shoulders as she reached, and coils formed around her with more weight as she stood and gasped. The greenish gold snake wrapped Kendraha in it's 12 foot length, and she held it just below the head in one hand. "Okay Kato, you got me this time, but let me go now I've got to go to work." The feelings she sensed from Kato her genetically enhanced python told her that he was quite pleased with himself for a successful hunt, Kendraha wasn't going to try to explain to him that she was far too big for him to eat, nor that she could probably get away from him with mental use, or maybe by physical means depending on the circumstances of his capture of her. He was too caught up in just hunting, and Kendraha had long ago accepted the dangers inherent in being alone with her pet, but he was only supposed to grow a foot or two longer at most, and she was confident that she could handle him.
Kendraha thought she could affect his mind, he was smarter than most snakes which made him somewhat vulnerable to her mental attacks if her arms were pinned or he got a tight grip around her throat. However she didn't want to be forced into doing that, as he was too low in intelligence to do much with, combined with a cold blooded brain which naturally was harder to affect. Kato however was quite intelligent, not as smart as the anacondas she had taught things to, but on the level of a dog or cat, thanks to genetic engineering and her mental implanting of knowledge. She even had Kato trained to stay in one room even when the door was open, and do his business in a bucket, but Kendraha wished she could break him of his habit of attacking the servants and scaring the hell out of them. She would waggle her finger in front of Kato while projecting thoughts and feelings of displeasure, "One of these days one of them is going to forget who owns you and dash your head against the wall." In reply Kato would usually lick her finger with his forked tongue.
A week later, a small white car pulled into the Westerton parking lot, it's electric motor making almost no noise as it's low streamline shape cut through the air around it. Once parked the door of the 2 seater opened and Kendraha got out. She wore a somewhat old fashioned outfit by today's standards, a one piece dress which wasn't too revealing at the neckline, with a skirt which went almost to her knees in an exceedingly modest way. In Ameris these days women either wore clinging pants, or very short skirts or shorts. They also tended to go sleeveless, and Kendraha had long sleeves, and only a few other women on campus seemed to do that these days, even men and older women tended to go sleeveless except for doing business. Her outfit was mostly white, with light blue designs, and ruffles at the ends of her sleeves and hem of her skirt, all fashion no-nos according to the fashion gurus of the time. However, she liked her older stuff, it reminded her of the past, and it gave her an overall vulnerable look to those who didn't know she knew how to defend herself. Kendraha also believed it would put off the possibility of suspicions developing about her, if she grew careless about disposing of evidence of her feedings, and that it made some prey easier to approach.
Kendraha walked to a steel and glass weather shelter, and went to the map of the campus on the wall inside. It had numbers and such for buildings and various commonly used locations, and a list of the names of those places written under a clear plastic covering of the small table placed directly underneath the map. She reached to a small box connected to the table, and pressed a button. A light on the box's front came on, followed by a small chirping sound and a cheery "Can I help you?" Kendraha smiled automatically at the voice, "Kendra Josalin, I need to get to the Josalin building." The human sounding computerized voice didn't hesitate to respond, "Yes Miss Josalin, I will route a trolly to your location, ETA approximately 5 minutes. Can I be of further assistance?" "No thank you." she replied. The voice returned, "Then thank you for using Westerton Campus Trolly services, and have a pleasant day." then the light went out with another chirping tone.
Sitting down on the bench inside the shelter, and noting she was alone, Kendraha looked at her hands. Her green fingernails were a little chipped, "Yuck, and I'm wearing blue and white today, not green." She sensed for anyone in the area, then her fingernails rippled slightly, the rounded and chipped edges smoothing, and the green color turning to a bright red. "Toes too my dear, you never know." and inside her black loafers her toenails changed to the same shade of red.
About ten minutes later Kendraha heard the low electric whine of the trolly approaching. She finished reading the paragraph of her paperback, it was one of those trashy things people wouldn't approve of, and she was a member of the university board of directors now. It was a new thing to try, in the past she had been happy to simply be the big money contributor with lots of influence, but now she wanted to try this, while continuing to contribute and have major influence of course. However, being a board member at 26 years of age made her very visible, and she still needed her privacy so she didn't want to make too many enemies, nor even leave too many bad impressions. So Kendraha wanted to be careful about who saw her reading such trashy novels, trying to appear respectable. It hurt too, this one had been about the gorgeous and villainous Arletta, who lives in the largest of the 9 Mars colonies. Her ship is lost on reentry, presumed destroyed, yet crashes in the middle of nowhere. Then Rock Mallen a stunningly handsome prospector, finds her and saves her from death as her suit runs out of air, only to hold her prisoner against her will in his remote prospectors dome, hidden inside a protective Martian cave. It had all the usual formulaeic drivel, set in the real world of the current Mars colonies, and Kendraha had found herself having trouble putting it down.
Kendraha climbed onto the trolly, noting the necking couple near the rear on the opposite side. As she sat a voice from a speaker in the ceiling called down, "Good day Miss Josalin. Sorry I was delayed, do you still want to go to the Josalin building." Kendraha smiled, "Rudy, glad it's your turn, good day to you, but I told you to call me Kendra. No problem about the delay, you must have had good reason. Yes, the Josalin building, the main entrance please." Rudy reminded her to use her seat belt, then it slowly began moving. Rudy wasn't a truly conscious artificial intelligence, but Rudy was Kendra's favorite of all the computerized trollies on campus. As they moved along Rudy chatted with her about the weather, then about her snake Kato. Rudy hadn't known what a snake was until Kendraha had brought pictures of Kato with her, and since Rudy was always asking and sharing data with the other trollies, they also knew about Kato now, but none seemed as interested in the welfare of her pet as Rudy did. She always argued with people that Rudy had some form of consciousness, but the experts insisted it couldn't pass the tests. She insisted on at least continuing to call Rudy he in front of other people, the male voice made nothing else possible, and she didn't want his voice changed. Dolly the trolly was another nice one, named for her supposed great grandmother. Dolly was okay but not quite as friendly as Rudy.
On the way they stopped at the Madison building where the necking couple broke it up and exited the trolly, followed by a pair of young women getting on. One said good day to her, and she returned the greeting, then tried not to listen as through a different speaker Rudy talked to them about their destinations. At the Josalin building she got off the trolly, remembering to say so long to Rudy, and getting a brief blurt of the trolly's musical horn in reply as the trolly began moving off. Kendraha smiled as she approached the building, noting the serpent guardians at the front door, and 'Snake Woman Fountain' which was still in excellent shape, the water from the top of the woman's head and the serpent's mouth serving to keep away pigeons.
She stopped as a blur of fur came at her, and reached down to stroke the mostly black cat twining around her ankles. She bent low to lift the cat and look it in the eye, "Hunting in my territory are we?! Well, I'll let it go this time, I don't care for mice and birds. However, cats aren't supposed to be on campus, you'd better get out of here before someone important sees you." Kendraha giggled at her own joke as she let the cat go, and saw it make a bee line for the fountain. There a bronze skinned young woman with close cropped white hair, wearing a black pants suit with no sleeves, picked up the cat, and looked at Kendraha strangely. Kendraha began walking on as she smiled at the woman, "Please keep the cat off campus." she said with a smile and a wink. As she climbed the stairs Kendraha thought, Nobody bothers with that old rule, but now she was on the board, so at least had to pretend to support the rule while it was on the books.
Entering the doors she was almost immediately met by Ernest Grub, the biggest splash for Westerton in the last 50 years. He had only been at Westerton for a couple of years in the Egyptian studies section, when he made what turned out to be a key discovery about Egyptian translation techniques, his biggest prize being the translation of the 'Song of Kleopatra'. It had been a triumph for him, but although the translation was clear, the meaning was confusing. Still it had opened up numerous other up to then untranslatable documents, and made his name well known in the field of archeology. Then not 3 years ago, the discovery of the 'Eye of Atlantis'. Kendraha had never thought to see her Time Core retrieval bracelet again, and certainly not with the crystal still in one piece. She had been briefly near it already a year ago, and her mental probing had still found it to be inactive. "And just what were you expecting!?" she silently scolded herself. "This is home now, get used to it!" Professor Ernest Grub, or just Ernest as he preferred, was waiting at the door with a broad smile on his face, clearly pleased to show her around, or at least pretending to be pleased.
Ernest Grub was in his mid 30's, and Kendraha looked at his nice physique and dark hair, feeling some interest in him before remembering that he used to be her teacher, and now she was one of his bosses. He led her through the small museum kept in this building, explaining that since they couldn't afford the absolute best security available for everything here, they only had replicas of many items, where as things of great monitory value were at other museums. First Grub led Kendraha coincidentally into the religions room, where a great deal of artifacts connected to one religion or another were kept. The first thing anyone entering the room saw was the huge throne to the Goddess Kendraha. It was supposed to be hollow, but the original was pure gold, and of course this was a replica, right down to the simulated rubies in the giant cobra head. Ernest had her sit on it's curled coils as he explained the history briefly, describing the kind of pit this throne would have looked over. He then led her around to other religious items, pointing out that they only had things here that Westerton had been connected to in some way, either through translation or dating usually.
He pointed out some books, scrolls, and other text replicas from various religions, and of course his triumph the 'Song of Kleopatra' scroll replica,in the original script, and another in translated form. Her eye was drawn to a painting on the wall, which she approached without a word. It was a wide picture, showing an auburn haired woman, with a green and black serpent's tail from the lower ribs down. Her tail was wrapped around a dark haired woman, one thick coil encircling her several inches below her breasts, another around her thighs almost on her hips, and a last coil around one leg. The serpent woman looked down on her human prey as if hungry, and the dark haired woman on her side looked as if she was in agony as she struggled for air. The painting was called 'Kendraha feeding', and Kendraha remembered posing for it after controlling the mind of Da Vinci and the Italian model, then later disposing of the model in private. Grub told her all about the painting, explaining that a Nobleman suspected of having been a Kendrahaite had commissioned the work, and the original had barely escaped being destroyed in a fire during World War 2, and now was kept in a museum in France. Kendraha knew most of what he said, but pretended not to at the proper moments, and found out where she could buy a replica for her estate.
The following room had dinosaur bone replicas and photos, including a gigantic T-Rex skull. She asked him about snakes from the dinosaur ages, and was told that they weren't his specialty, and he didn't think they had any bones or photos here. Grub thought about what little he knew on the subject, explaining that several varieties of creatures tried to evolve into snakes before becoming extinct, and one had succeeded in the last 100 million years or so. He wasn't sure, but they had been primitive creatures, venom not developing for some time later as snakes in general evolved. He ended by pointing out that people always imagine cavemen and dinosaurs fighting, yet dinosaurs died out long before man evolved, but man did have to deal with crocodiles, giant snapping turtles, and some snakes, all distantly related to the extinct great reptiles.
Grub showed her a couple of other rooms with mixed exhibits, including a small and highly protected room with the actual Eye of Atlantis bracelet in it. He explained that this room had more security than the entire building combined had, because even though the Eye had a high value it was not worth millions or more like a Da Vinci painting. The board just prior to her joining had therefore authorized it's being kept here because of it's importance to the university. The value was low enough and the item distinct enough that they felt that nobody would make the huge and expensive effort required to steal it. Checking with the guard posted in the room during the day, security was lowered briefly for them, allowing Kendraha to pick up the retrieval bracelet, remembering days just prior to being sent on her mission to this time line. After a few moments and some thoughts from Grub on the origin of the Eye, she put it down and they continued the tour.
They next arrived at the last museum room. It contained all sorts of armor, blades and shields, from many countries and ages. She looked around as he talked, then Kendraha spied a replica sword with Amazon markings. She smiled and withdrew it from it's stand, feeling the blade with one finger, finding it disappointingly dull. Ernest turned to look at her holding the sword and he frowned, "Easy, that's an extremely valuable, well replica sword." Kendraha dropped her purse and pointed the sword at him, "Prepare to die, you male!" Ernest grabbed another replica sword and they began dueling, until she thrust past his defenses passing her blade between his body and arm. Ernest dropped his sword, and caught her blade with his arm, staggering around as if mortally wounded. Eventually she helped him off the floor and they both laughed, "Where did you learn to fight like that with a sword." he asked. Kendraha realized what she had done, "Oh, I took some lessons when I was younger, had my own private fencing instructor, same guy who taught me all those martial arts skills I teach in campus self-defense class." As they were putting the blades away, their hands met over a sword. Soon they were kissing, and it was about an hour after that before they could continue the tour of the building, their tardiness commented on by Miss Dover who oversaw the computer mainframe.
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23. Kendraha stood in the middle of a wide empty room, facing the charge of a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. She sidestepped, and simultaneously pulled the woman's arm and tripped her, sending her face first to the floor. Two others charged her from opposite directions, Kendraha rushing towards one, catching her off guard, and flinging the woman into the other woman, making them both fall. Another woman came at her and Kendraha managed to twist her arm behind her back, grabbing her around the neck with her arm, and kicking another woman to the floor. Then with a smile on her face Kendraha pushed the woman she held away, tripping her as she did so. Then a foot hit Kendraha hard in the stomach, making her bend over and fall to her knees.
A small brunette woman stood over Kendraha's kneeling form, other fallen women slowly picking themselves up off the mats all around them. "Mistress Kendra, I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?!" the brunette asked with concern. She helped Kendraha to her feet, and in a hoarse voice heard the reply, "Fine Brenda, that was a good kick." As Kendraha got her breath back, she saw the other women slapping Brenda on the back and shoulders, and the redhead in the corner who hadn't joined in the fight even coming over to congratulate Brenda on knocking down their martial arts instructor. Kendraha took a deep breath, then bowed at the waist to Brenda, "Very well, you girls have won our little contest thanks to Brenda. Now I'll keep my end of the bargain, let us begin today with just a demonstration."
They went to a low table, and they all knelt before it except Kendraha and the redhead who went into another room. "You let Brenda score that hit." the redhead said in a low voice. Kendraha smiled, "Was I that transparent Ralli?" she replied quietly. Ralli shrugged, "To me perhaps, not to them." Kendraha grinned, "Ah yes, that Amazon trained eye of yours, so why are you here if you can see that?" Ralli snorted, "There's always more to be learned about fighting techniques, and when I return to Amazonia Isle full of book learning, I don't want to be too far behind, nor rusty from lack of fighting." She chuckled, "It's hard to find boyfriends who will let you knock the crap out of them for practice." Kendraha laughed, and Ralli prodded, "So, why did you do it." Kendraha clucked her tongue, "Unity of course, Brenda's had a hard time fitting in, and now she's the center of attention and everyone's hero for the day." Kendraha waved a hand, "I know crime is way down these days, and campus security is excellent, but you still never know, and a little attention will help Brenda, I don't want her to get discouraged and drop out of the program. But I also can't make it look too easy or she'll realize and that could make her quit too." Ralli smiled, "Yes, I can see the dilemma, just don't ever give me less than your best, when I beat you I want the real thing." Kendraha smiled sheepishly, "I can't afford to give you anything or you'll pound me into the mat."
In the main room, Ralli began to stack up the bricks between 2 small blocks which would elevate the stack slightly, her short red pony tail swishing back and forth as she worked. Kendraha looked at her class of 6 students kneeling in there white robes and smiled, "I usually get around to this with my classes eventually, but I hadn't planned on it right now. Today I'll demonstrate how to break bricks, we'll talk about it after, and tomorrow after you've all begun practicing making a proper grip and focusing your attention on the target, I will let you try one brick each." The women groaned in disappointment and Kendraha waved both hands, "Now you've got to learn to walk before you can run, and other old sayings like that, you don't want to break your hand on your first try!" They muttered and she continued, "Actually, the powers that be don't really appreciate my teaching this part of the program to any of my classes, they worry you women might start breaking the bones of your boyfriends or something." The women clapped and nodded and Kendraha continued, "However, this is not really a university course, and they have little to say about it, unless they want to kick me off the campus grounds. But then I'd still be on the board, and probably would reopen outside the campus. But for now, I'll settle for a solemn vow that you won't use this technique on anything other than wood or bricks, excluding any of my wood furniture." The entire class including Ralli raised their hands and crossed their hearts.
Kendraha looked at the stack of 6 bricks as Ralli knelt with the other women. The table was low, the top of the stack at about belly level for her. Kendraha placed an open right hand on the top brick, focusing her mind on it, stiffening her arm, and taking several preparatory motions towards the stack while adjusting her breathing. Then with no warning her hand drew back, and with a slight hop up and a scream at her target, her arm came down as hard as it could, slightly increased as her body fell the extra few inches from her hop. Kendraha's hand broke cleanly through all 6 bricks, and the women clapped as she waved her stinging hand back and forth somewhat rapidly. "I didn't quite get that right." Kendraha admitted. "But I broke all 6 bricks and not my hand. Anybody still wanting to try this on one brick can do so tomorrow, if I'm satisfied with your technique, so practice tonight what I teach you about brick breaking. Right now I need a short break to put this hand in some ice."
Several days later Kendraha was waiting for a trolly, reading the campus newspaper, first noting an article about an attempted assault on one of her female students, and how the man was currently recovering in the hospital with several broken fingers and a concussion from hitting a wall head first. That made her smile as she read on, until she caught the campus gossip section which clearly implied that she and Ernest Grub were having an affair. "Can't keep anything a secret for long around here these days." she said to herself with a deep sigh. She flashed on the idea of the campus newspaper breaking the story of her being a Humalli, imagining headlines, 'Martial Arts Monster', or 'Professor sleeping with a Demon'. These thoughts made her chuckle, but the reality of possibly being exposed didn't. In these modern times it was harder to go unnoticed, but it was still easy enough to find a quiet spot to feed in. The missing people were spread out enough to avoid suspicion, but she could only imagine it getting worse all the time as transportation and record keeping improved. Human technology advanced so quickly compared to the slow pace Humalli advancements had taken. She hadn't expected humans to have made the advances they had so fast in the last 200 years, it would have taken Humalli 10 times as long or more. And the numbers of people with natural mental shielding were growing also, making it slightly harder all the time to find easily caught prey. Right now it wasn't so bad, 1 out of 10 being a problem wasn't a concern, but it was only 2097, and she wondered where things would be in another 1000 years.
Kendraha caught the trolly driven by the AI named Dolly, which had 8 people on board right now during the busy time of day. Most people walked to classes, but those who had a long way to go, or otherwise needed a ride, would use the trollies and make 1 or 2 transfers if necessary, the remainder would usually walk since it took only a bit longer and they had time. They sped along campus roads at about twice walking speed, passing lots of people walking on sidewalk's, Dolly's musical horn blowing if someone got in the way. Occasionally they would slow if someone didn't move out of the way fast enough, and Dolly would appologize for the bumping, explaining the roads were more crowded now than usual. At the parking lot Kendraha and 2 others got off, while 4 others got on. Kendraha smirked, Dolly hated when things got busy like this.
In her streamline electric car Kendraha drove home, noting that once she was beyond the campus it wasn't so busy. The gates in the wall that surrounded the Josalin estate opened in response to the confirmation code she sent from her car, the household AI confirming her car and identity, and notifying the staff of her imminent arrival. At the front door to the house she exited the car, making sure she had everything, and instructing the car to park itself in the garage. There was an unfamiliar black 2 seat electric car similar to her own which was already parked in front of her house, and she planned to ask the staff about it. In the house she barely had time to catch her breath when the servants one by one began wanting her attention. She had managed to find time to put her purse and some other things down, when Madeline the head servant of her mostly female staff approached and said she had a visitor. "Oh, where?" Kendraha asked looking around the parlor. The woman cringed a bit, "Umm, in your private area Ma'am." Before Kendraha could begin expressing her displeasure in a growling tone the staff dreaded, the woman continued, "She said you wouldn't mind, showed me an FBI badge, and threatened me with obstruction if I didn't."
Kendraha's anger was suddenly washed away with concern. She only hesitated briefly though, "Very well Madeline, continue with your duties, I'll look into this, you handled it well." Madeline ran off clearly relieved not to have been fired, and Kendraha went to deal with the situation. She couldn't imagine what the FBI wanted with her, but Madeline's mind had been sure of who had come, if a bit cloudy as if mental manipulation were involved, or simply a high state of anxiety. If the FBI were on to her, then she couldn't hide anywhere. Any disguise she took on would quickly be uncovered after a year or so and a few feedings. Of course Madeline had met only one person, and Kendraha was under the impression that FBI agents always came to a scene in pairs. Maybe the other was around somewhere providing back-up, perhaps she was surrounded and trapped already, it wouldn't be that hard to find her out in disguise, and check everyone trying to leave the mansion. Her weight alone was abnormal for a human female of her height and shape, most people just thought she was heavy as a man, big boned or something and dismissed it, but not someone looking for the difference. All they'd have to do is see a good looking female human in whatever disguise she took, weigh her, and arrest her.
As she approached the private section of the house she was nearly in a panic, but containing her fear. The household AI reported that the stranger was in her bedroom, a thought which annoyed her. The door was open a crack as Kendraha approached, and she opened it normally so as not to surprise the agent. The first thing she noticed was Kato, laying on the rug near the foot of her bed, a bulge in his length and his jaws working to realign after swallowing a meal. Kendraha didn't for a second think that a 12 foot python had swallowed the agent, unless of course she had been a midget. Kendraha looked around, her eyes fixing on the dark skinned woman she had seen a few days earlier by Snake Woman fountain. She still had the same close cropped white hair, and the same pants suit type outfit on her well proportioned body, only in blue with more pockets now. The woman's mind was strong also, Kendraha didn't think she stood a chance of breaking in, and wondered if the woman had conscious control of her ability, and how far those abilities might extend.
The woman looked at her, "Your snake has eaten my cat." Kendraha crossed her arms, "Excuse me!? Your the one who barged into the private area of my private home, pushed my staff around, and I'm supposed to be sorry because your boss at the FBI never told you to leave your cat at home." She felt a rush of anger, "I don't think so! Now, what the hell do you want, and aren't you FBI agents supposed to identify yourself right away." The woman stood and approached her, smiling at Kendraha with a predatory look, "Oh, anger is a wonderful taste isn't it." Kendraha found herself suddenly not so angry, confusion building with a touch of fear. She took a step back and cleared her throat, "Explain yourself!" she hissed between clenched teeth, her body tensed and ready to shift to hunter form for combat. The woman laughed which confused Kendraha again, then she reached to the long chain around her neck, and lifted out a pendant hidden in her cleavage.
"I had it here to hide it in case you saw me earlier before I was ready to confront you." the woman said as she handed it to Kendraha. "My name is Lyrasul, I'm here to bring you home." Kendraha barely heard her as she looked at the retrieval crystal set in a pendant, on the back of it was a Time Core insignia.
Lyrasul let Kendraha enter her mind, reading almost everything there. All Humalli had personal areas walled off in the mind where none could go without a mental battle, or reluctant consent usually won through legal means. There seemed no doubt that this woman was from her time line, and they had finally come to rescue her. She even learned that cats had been developed as a tool to locate stranded Humalli, once the proper Earth to search had been established. Since cats could go almost anywhere largely unnoticed and report back to an agent in the field, it was far more efficient than sending lots of agents. Cats like all animals tended to dislike Humalli until they got to know them, which made them good Humalli detectors. They would be trained by some of the most powerful Humalli minds available, and taught to follow certain basic instructions. After an Earth with a retrieval crystal was found, the agent they were working with would center them on a base of operations, and deliver instructions later, such as return by nightfall. Cat minds were difficult to understand, but if they found a Humalli in the course of the day, that fact and the position were easy to detect in their thoughts. More difficult was using cats to find clues such as the religion Kendraha had started, so other agents roamed that Earth looking for clues of that nature. The only problem was finding the proper area of the world to search, which tended to be very difficult, not all the stranded Humalli had thought to leave clues, and even clues themselves were difficult to find, less or more difficult depending on how primitive human civilization was. She read that it had been decades between the first search in this time line and the tracking of her to the Westerton area, and it would have taken longer if she had kept moving and changing identities. On the question of how they had found her time line, she found no answer, but guessed it had been some sort of robotic probe. She imagined a small fleet of them skimming from time line to time line, maybe once every second, scanning for the retrieval crystals of all the Stranded Humalli. The odds of even a few thousand of these probes finding anyone was extremely remote, but not completely impossible, and with all the time they would have had to search they could have found some of them, and apparently had.
After moving Kato out of the way, Lyrasul took off her pants and they both shifted to hunter form, Kendraha admiring the mottled grey and black pattern of Lyrasul's 17 foot long tail from her lower ribs down. She learned that the woman was barely 1200 years old, her mental abilities were slightly less formidable than her own at that age. Lyrasul like most Humalli could not shift her human appearance as Kendraha could, but had to maintain her dark skinned appearance. However, Lyrasul could manage minor changes such as eye and hair color, length of hair and minor body size and color changes. Her eyes currently were brown, but Lyrasul said she preferred blue, and sometimes she lightened or darkened her bronze skin, or changed her hair style or color to fit in to a particular time.
After a while Kendraha allowed Lyrasul to enter her mind, thus quickly learning all that had occurred to her since coming here over 2000 years ago. Lyrasul frowned slightly as she considered the knowledge, "You've been a wanderer." "Necessary for survival." Kendraha quipped in reply. Lyrasul shrugged, "Yes, I suppose so. I don't think the Time Core will like the idea of you starting a religion though, you didn't need to do that to survive." Kendraha sighed, "Yes, but I knew this time line would be removed from future historical studies anyway, too much contamination, whether I started a religion or not! I figured that my survival came first, and in primitive times it gave me a place to feed without fear of discovery, even today it does although I manage on my own. The Core wasn't here, I had to make this my world since I would be here for who knew how long, perhaps the rest of my life." She waved a hand, "Besides, with a nearly infinite number of time lines to work with, why bug me about this one." "Bug you?" Lyrasul asked with a puzzled look. Kendraha grinned, "Human slang, sorry. I mean why bother me or complain about this one." "Ah yes." Lyrasul said with a smile. "I've heard that phrase before somewhere, but it's a bit old a reference for this time." Kendraha blushed, "I have been absorbing human culture for quite some time, far longer than the 5 out of every 25 years recommended maximum."
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24. The 2 spent the rest of that day together, Kendraha explaining to her staff that Lyrasul was an old friend, and the FBI bit was an old joke from high school days. The servants accepted this, served dinner to both of them, and nobody questioned them about the missing cat. After dinner Kendraha took her guest around the San Francisco area, showing Lyrasul some of her favorite places, including the temple to the Goddess Kendraha which she made small but significant donations to every year. There was no pit ceremony that evening, but many worshipers were there anyway. There was a ceremony going on involving robed followers dancing in a ring while holding candles, and in the center a naked man and woman stood kissing and groping while in the coils of a snake, which the 2 Humalli estimated to be about 15 feet long.
High Priestess Saturn saw them, welcomed their patron and occasional worshiper Kendra Josalin. Upon introductions between Lyrasul and the High Priestess, Saturn offered to show them around, during which time she made a subtile play to get Lyrasul to join the temple worshipers, describing all the wonderful benefits of being a follower of the Goddess Kendraha, and playing down the short comings, and totally destroying the myth that you had to live on temple grounds by pointing out that only a few did. Lyrasul was well trained by the Time Core even if a bit green in Kendraha's opinion, and managed to give the impression that she'd think about it, while smoothly avoiding committing herself to anything.
Back in Kendraha's car Lyrasul explained that she had to feed and care for the cats while she was here, although at the small secluded cabin she was using they could manage hunting in the forest alone. However she had to at least drop in on them once a day, bring food, make sure they were doing okay, until the next window for transfer came in 8 days. They were valuable enough that she'd get a black mark if she lost too many of them, and Lyrasul hoped Kendraha didn't mind the wait for the next time window. Kendraha didn't, and said it would give her more time to show her around, which pleased Lyrasul as she hadn't been on too many assignments so far, and had not found much time to have fun in any of the Earths she had visited.
That night they finished with a night club, Lyrasul loving the music, and getting a bit drunk. Kendraha reminded her not to get so drunk that she forgot herself and transformed, which Lyrasul assured her in a slurred tone wouldn't happen. Kendraha was feeding off the emotions of some half drunk teenage boys who were arm wrestling, and at that moment unable to use her mental ability to get rid of an obnoxious guy hitting on her, and not willing to stop feeding long enough to do so, when she saw Lyrasul. The Humalli was clearly blitzed, dancing in the center of a crowd of mostly male onlookers, her top unzipped and about to come off. Kendraha wasted no time brushing off the obnoxious man and running to Lyrasul's aid, to the disappointed groans of the men around the drunken Humalli.
In the ladies room Lyrasul vomited into a toilet, her tail having come out from lack of control. Kendraha guarded the door, planning to keep people out with thoughts directed to change their minds, but the broadcast discomfort of Lyrasul was doing most of that work, as well as upsetting Kendraha's stomach. If anyone was stubborn enough to come in, she planned on making them see nothing out of the ordinary, and would try to keep them from tripping over Lyrasul's tail. Once regaining her legs and on the drive back to Kendraha's, Lyrasul sat with the passenger side window wide open. "You drank too much." Kendraha stated. "I know." Lyrasul moaned. "It just felt so good, and I don't have to be anywhere in the morning." "The cats." Kendraha said in a half musical tone. Lyrasul hung her head, "Oh shit, the cats." Kendraha smirked, "Where did you pick up that expression?!" Lyrasul shook her head, "Leo at the bar, he said something about taking me to some quiet place, and when he spilled his drink he said that word." Kendraha chuckled, "Try to focus your mind on where the cats are, I'll see if I can read it through your fuzzy thoughts and take care of them for you tomorrow, I don't think your going to be feeling up to it."
Kendraha barely got herself and Lyrasul into the private area of the mansion, and to a small guest bedroom, when Lyrasul fell fast asleep in the bed there. Kendraha had managed to get Lyrasul's pants off in the night club bathroom before she shifted, but not this time, the inner leg stitching loudly snapping as her legs became a tail. "That's gonna sting," Kendraha said as she began removing Lyrasul's blue pants. The pants and panties weren't easy to remove, even with the broken open crotch and inner seams and fabric broken, there was enough left that Kendraha would have had to pull them down the entire length of the tail, until she thought to get some heavy scissors from a maid. After that she had 2 servants come and help her undress Lyrasul, making sure they forgot all memories of her serpentine tail before rejoining the others. Finally she returned to her room, her own body calling for some sleep also.
In the morning Kendraha found Lyrasul still asleep, so she found her purse and took out the code key for Lyrasul's car. In the trunk she found several outfits folded in plastic packages for use if she ruined her clothes on the road. Kendraha took a couple, a red pants suit, and a similar gold outfit with a knee length skirt. Each outfit was appropriately stretchy in case Lyrasul altered her shape moderately, and Kendraha approved except for a noticeable lack of creativity with human fashions on Lyrasul's part. When Lyrasul was awake, Kendraha had them served breakfast in a small room in her private section of the house, knowing this would allow them freedom to talk after breakfast was served and the servants left.
They both sat in robes drinking coffee and eating, Lyrasul beginning to look better after a while. Eventually they both dressed, Lyrasul choosing the gold outfit, and Kendraha choosing jeans and a blouse. Kendraha drove her car through the back roads to a secluded area miles outside the city,traveling by dirt roads the last third of the way, Lyrasul resting her head on the open window frame as they traveled until things got bumpy. Then she led Kendraha through the woods to a small cabin, which clearly had been unoccupied for years before Lyrasul came along, but right now was being used by a couple of dozen cats. The 2 Humalli set about refilling some food and milk trays, and talking to the cats to introduce the new Humalli to them. As they drove back out onto a paved street, Kendraha changing from manual piloting back to automatic, Lyrasul smirked, "I'm feeling somewhat better now, what else can you show me that won't make my insides come out." Kendraha grinned mischievously, "I've got just the thing, I have a class today, you'll love my girls, they're so quiet and peaceful."
Kendraha drove Lyrasul onto the campus parking lot, called a trolly and authorized temporary passage for her, and took her around to various buildings of the campus, introducing Lyrasul to friends and associates as her cousin Lyra. At her martial arts class her students were pleased to meet a friend of Mistress Kendra's, and a few wanted to show off by breaking a board. "You've mastered Humanish fighting?!" Lyrasul said. "Martial Arts." Kendraha corrected in a low voice. She continued in a normal tone "Only 2 styles, but I know a lot of things from other styles also." "She fights much like an Amazon sometimes." Ralli said. Lyrasul pushed for a demonstration, and reluctantly Kendraha agreed. Ralli volunteered, so it became a one on one demonstration between them. Ralli did well, using various sweeping kicks and punches, but found herself on the losing end more often than the winning. In the end Kendraha knocked her to the mat 5 times to her knocking Kendraha down only twice. The fighting interested Lyrasul as these humans fought so much better than any at home, and the ritual bowing and bonding among the class was easily understood by her, although the yelling of the competitors and cheering of the other 6 women went straight through her still recovering head.
Later that day they continued seeing the sights of the San Francisco area, Lyrasul expressing an interest in hunting wild humans before she left, if of course Kendraha didn't have any territorial objections. "Back home their all tame, even the ones who live beyond the cities. I want to hunt something wild and untamed, I never seem to find time on missions, this may be my only chance." Kendraha thought, "No territorial problems, you asked and we're leaving soon, so it doesn't matter to me. Let's see, with sub-orbital shuttles we can go almost anywhere and be back the next day." "You ride those, things!!" Lyrasul howled. "The danger, I can't believe you do that!" Kendraha blushed, "Yeah, well it's hard to get away from danger here, I guess I've gotten used to it and forgot you wouldn't like that." "I could manage." Lyrasul said timidly, Kendraha seeing her trying to hide a slight tremble.
"No." said Kendraha. "We don't have to do that. There's plenty of what you want closer by. We also don't want to go to the sea colonies, it's too difficult to get anyone alone for any length of time there, security cameras all over the place, and of course the pressure. At any moment the whole place could..." she raised her voice to a near shout. "Implode!!" Lyrasul nearly jumped out of her seat, bringing forth a chuckle from Kendraha. Lyrasul looked angry for a few moments, then figured out that Kendraha was having fun at her expense, and became determined not to show fear at anything Kendraha suggested doing. Kendraha smiled, "Don't worry, I know where we can find you a meal not too far from here, and nothing too dangerous is in the way, it's one of the people I've been saving for a rainy day. Lyrasul caught the flicker of an image in her mind, and was pleased at the idea. "Rainy day?" she inquired. "Another slang expression." Kendraha explained. "It means saving for a time of need. I won't need them anymore, so one of them is all yours."
When they pulled into the estate that night, both were tired from the days running around, however that didn't stop them from sharing a bed that night. They fondled as women, then took turns being squeezed nearly to unconsciousness in the coils of the others hunter form, and finally writhed together as serpents. Then they repeated it all in the pool, green and black mottle colors with bronze skin, or grey and black with lightly tanned skin, toying with each other in ways that stimulated a lot of emotion, but only a little instinctive fear as a human form found herself unable to breathe. Then finally 2 serpents coiled together under the shallow water. "It's so good to be with another Humalli again." Kendraha muttered a bit later before going to sleep in their shared bed.
To be continued
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By Py
Part 9