The twin suns were setting upon the 3rd quarter snow as the two girls staggered home, leaning against each other and giggling. Standard issue boots slid through the sticky purple slush that coated its surface for half of the planet's cycle. It fell from the smog clouds that formed in the air over the busiest cities, and spread out over the entire planet. When the planet passed closer to the sun for the second half of it cycle, the clouds evaporated and the snow melted and it took another half a cycle for the clouds to form again.

Razae's catlike face was deep in concentration as she put one foot in front of the others, leaving footprints in the snow. Two footprints side by side were followed by a third. Mokku kept a couple of eyes on her. She knew that her friend wasn't used to Switching. It could be disorienting, the first 100 units or so after you switched back.

"I need to sit down." Razae groaned as they reached the park at the corner of the girls' Settlement. Fifty identical grey houses stared at them disapprovingly from either side of the street, but Mokku ignored them as she lowered Razae onto a bench. It was still 30 units before Curfew.

"Your fur is purple" she smiled as Razae leaned forward, hunched over her front leg. "You don't want your parents to see you like this."

Razae sat up and laughed. "Remember when my PM caught us eating? I was grounded for a whole quarter." PM stood for Primary Mother. As a Felian, Razae had a Primary and Secondary mother, plus three fathers. Her chromosome genotype was XXXXY, making her female. Those who had XXXYY chromosomes were androgynous and could choose their gender. XXYYY was male and XXXXX was extremely female, and occurred very rarely. Any androgynous or male Felian would be attracted to an XXXXX.

Mokku remembered the incident of which Razae spoke. The popular girls at school had boasted about eating, so the two of them had experimented with it. Mokku had found it disgusting, to tell the truth, but it was exciting at the time. There were rumours that Humans had to eat every day, to stay alive, but neither of the girls had ever seen a Human. They had arrived on the planet fifty cycles ago, just before the old government was overthrown and the Establishment was set up with its Controllers and Curfews, and no one had seen one of the ugly aliens since.

"We've got 25 units until Curfew." she told her friend, reassuringly. "Take all the time you need."

Razae nodded. A grin spread across her face. "The Switching was neegsome, wasn't it? It's so weird having five eyes. How do you make any sense of what you're seeing?"

Mokku shrugged. "How do you walk with three legs? I kept falling over."

Both girls laughed, excited by the danger of what they had done tonight. Switching was illegal, but most teenagers knew somewhere they could go to do it. It basically involved transferring the brain patterns - the consciousness - of one person into the body of another, and vice versa. Razae had been able to control Mokku's body, and Mokku had been in hers. It had been banned three cycles ago, when the Controllers had been overwhelmed with reports of body theft.

Razae's pale blue colour was returning, but she wasn't ready to go home and face questions from all five of her parents just yet. Swinging her front leg, she suggested a game of truth or dare.

"OK, but you go first." Mokku grinned. "Truth or dare?"

Razae sighed. "Truth." she decided, after a subunit or so of thought.

The two oval shaped eyes atop the stalks on Mokku's head narrowed. "You always pick truth." she complained. "OK then... if you could Switch with anyone and keep their body, who would you choose?"

Her friend's nose twitched happily and she grinned impishly. "It would have to be Zeela. She's a five-X and all of the boys love her. I'd steal her gorgeous body with all of its pheromones and leave her with my staticky fur and misshapen ears."

Mokku laughed. "You're so jealous of that girl. Is it my turn now? I choose dare."

Razae rolled her eyes. "You always choose dare." she mocked. Sighing, she glanced around. "I can't think of anything. Um... I dare you to sniff a lump of snow."

Felians weren't the only species on the planet. Mokku was a Harpelo - a species famous for having an extremely strong sense of smell. The toxic substances that made up the purple snow gave off a rich odour that would confuse her sense of time for up to 5 units.

Without hesitation, Mokku scooped up a lump of the stuff and took a deep sniff. The three eyes on her forehead turned red and blinked rapidly. Focusing her stalk eyes on Razae, she demanded, "Do I look OK?"

"Are you OK?" Razae asked before realising that Mokku had already answered her question.

"As if I'd refuse a dare!" Mokku laughed.

"Well, you didn't have to do it if you didn't want to." Razae protested. "Oh, you already answered that, too."

"Yeah, good idea." Mokku nodded before Razae continued "Maybe we should wait for your sense of time to return to normal?"

3 units later Mokku's mind had returned to the present. "Right!" she said decisively, "You don't get a choice this time. You have to pick dare."

With a small smile, Razae said "Well, I suppose I deserve it."

"Yep" Mokku replied distractedly. She had noticed someone standing on the other side of the street. "See that neeg over there? I dare you to throw a snowball at him."

"Oh, come on.” Razae’s tongue flicked upwards and licked her nose anxiously. “It's Curfew in ten units. We don't want the Controllers to catch us. Lets go home."

Despite Razae's protestations, Mokku would not change her mind. Her mind was still reeling from the harsh smell of the polluted snow, and she wanted revenge.

The snow was warm and wet to the touch. Scooping up a handful in her delicate paws, Razae aimed and let the snowball fly. It hit the man right in the middle of the chest.

"Nice one!" Mokku laughed, punching the air with a tentacle. Razae smiled and bowed. She was rather proud of her aim.

Mokku's laughter died out when she realised that the man had not reacted to the attack. "Why's he just standing there? He's just standing there..."

"He's standing there watching!" Razae gasped in horror. "Oh neeg, he's a Watcher!"

All five of Mokku's eyes widened. "Run!" she whispered as the man's face split open, unzipping down the middle, and a small robot the size of her head emerged, flying towards them, flashing red. The girls panicked and scattered in different directions as the robot began to shout "LAWBREAKERS DETECTED. LAWBREAKERS DETECTED. STAY INSIDE YOUR HOMES AND LOCK YOUR DOORS. AN EXTRACTION TEAM WILL BE HERE WITHIN 2 UNITS."

All down the street, doors opened and people poked their heads out. The Tracker robot zoomed past each house, following Razae down the street. She ran as fast as she could, third leg giving her a loping gait that allowed her to pass each house in a single bound. Knowing that she could only keep this up for a short amount of time, she hoped that Mokku would get away while the Tracker was distracted with her.

She couldn't believe that she'd done such a reckless thing. They should have known that Watchers would be out at night. They were robots used by the Controllers to patrol the streets after dark and make sure no-one was breaking Curfew. The Contollers were extremely unforgiving when it came to lawbreaking. If they caught someone out later than the designated time, or breaking the law in any other way, no matter how small, they would deploy the Tracker to chase you until the Extraction Team arrived. And when the Extraction Team arrived...

Someone in her class at school had been picked up for littering in a Conservation area. He'd reappeared, two weeks later, drastically changed. Before he'd been a class joker, funny and slightly rebellious. After the Controllers got him, he was studious and serious, going about his day as automatically as a Watcher robot - a pawn of the Establishment.

Razae was tiring. Her legs felt weak and her breath came in short gasps. Unable to go on, she collapsed and rolled over onto her back, waiting for the Tracker to immobilize her.

A paralyzing gas was sprayed from a nozzle that emerged from the Tracker’s side, and Razae was unable to move. The squat, ugly robot hovered above her until the Extraction Team arrived in flying saucers and demolecularlised her.

She was remolecularlised on a cold hard surface, staring up into a grotesque face that loomed above her. The skin was pink and wrinkly, tufts of hair sprouted from the top of the head, and white teeth shaped like tombstones filled a mouth twisted into a fake smile.

"What are you?" she wondered, unable to turn her head away from the horrific sight. She guessed that she must be in restraints because she couldn't move her arms, or any of her legs.

"I'm Human." the creature replied in a nasal voice. Razae winced at the repulsive sound. "Now you stay perfectly still. This won't hurt a bit."

The Human picked up a needle and injected Razae in the side of the head. The girl felt something enter her veins and course through her.

"What are you doing?" she asked sleepily, the drug already affecting her. She struggled to stay awake.

"You're full of dangerous thoughts." the Human replied, scalpel in hand. "I only want to remove those in order to make you a better Citizen for the Establishment."

Razae's breathing was slow and she lost the battle to keep her eyes open. "You're going to alter my brain." she realised. "That's how you control us. You Humans... are the Controllers."

She drifted off to sleep.