by Lace, Lisa
The spice in the food bar made the recycled water taste better somehow, so at least she wasn't gagging from that.
She was more impressed with the survival gear than with the food and water. Once you understood how the equipment worked, and they seemed to have made that easy to figure out, it appeared to be constructed for ease of use. She had food, water, light, and a knife. She assumed from the suit's earlier suggestion that it would be easy to convert the parachute into a makeshift shelter if necessary.
All she needed to do now was wait to be found and rescued.
Tracy munched on her food bar slowly. She figured that the food bar was designed to fill her up and provide essential vitamins as long as she drank enough water to go along with it. That was how diet bars worked on Earth, and she hoped that aliens capable of space flight would have the same nutritional advances that existed back home.
Meanwhile, she thought about what her options were. She came up with two:
She could wait until Rev found her, though she couldn't imagine how that would help in the long run. They'd still be stranded in the desert with no way off this rock. Or
she could try to find the miners’ camp, but she had no clue where that might be.
She finished the last bit of her bar and took another swig of water. Maybe she was just getting used to the taste, but it didn't seem so bad now. With a sigh, she picked up the helmet again and put it on. If she kept it over her head, but not sealed tightly, she could still breathe but not lose as much water through respiration.
When she leaned her helmeted head against the rock, the sunlight struck it at an angle. Tracy noticed slight tracings in the face of the helmet, like an electronic schematic. Maybe the helmet could do more than just talk to her!
"Show me the terrain," she said, hoping the helmet was activated verbally.
No response. Great. Maybe her command was too complicated, so she decided to try again.
"Map."
Instantly a three-dimensional picture fanned out across the face of the helmet. It displayed hills and valleys for a wide area. It was impossible for her to tell exactly how big the area was without a reference for the scale of the map. A little pinpoint of red light glowed in the center, which Tracy took as a "you are here" indicator.
Map is incomplete. Additional sensor data required for an accurate rending of the planet's surface.
Even incomplete, it was a lot better than nothing. Unfortunately, she didn’t see anything she was looking for.
She tried again.
"Miners’ camp."
Searching.
After a few minutes, a red star blinked on the screen above her own point of light.
Possible location of humanoid habitation. Ninety-five percent probability location was populated at one time. Seventy-five percent probability it is currently inhabited.
Heck, she'd take those odds. In the Girl Scouts, she’d learned that it was best to go towards civilization, whatever the direction. She looked out the entrance to her cave and see heat dancing in waves above the sand.
When the sun goes down, she thought. I'll head out when the sun goes down.
Chapter Eighteen
As the truck traveled northeast on the sand flat, red dust spewed up from under the tires. They were moving towards an outcropping of rock. The Staukub women clustered around Rev, Bris, and Grenta, each stroking the men where they could. Rev tried to urge the women to sit down, but they would have none of it. They were all too horny from the transformation, and their hands were all over the men closest to them.
Grenta and Bris were obviously enjoying the attention as the women grew bolder. Telli stroked the bulge in Grenta's pants with enthusiasm, while another woman touched Bris in the same area.
Rev looked away and saw that only Grubba had separated herself from the rest of the women and sat with a confused expression on her face.
The truck pulled smoothly to a stop. The miners got out, walked to the back, and lowered the tailgate.
"Bring the females," said Quam.
Three or four women couldn't keep their eyes off him. "Nice quills," one said.
Quam turned and gave a crooked, lipless smile. "Come with us," said Quam. "Lots of men with nice quills here. We have been waiting for you."
"Oooh," the women said together.
"Yes," said another, preparing to jump to the ground. "Let's go with him."
"Ladies, ladies, we'll take you there," said Grenta.
Bris jumped from the truck, followed by Grenta and Rev. They helped the women off the vehicle. After Rev lifted Grubba onto the ground, she looked around then turned to Rev.
"My friend isn't here. Where is my friend?" she asked plaintively.
Grenta, hearing this, moved next to Grubba. "Your friend is with the miners. Go with the others, and they'll take you to her."
She nodded her head.
"What's wrong with her, Grenta?" said Rev. "She's not acting like the others."
"The others were in stasis longer. I'm sure she'll be fine."
Rev wasn't convinced, but he followed the others to a fissure in the rock. Stone walls rose around him to form a narrow corridor that forced them to walk single file until they arrived in a large opening. The cave was round and had a curved ceiling that opened up in the center to the sky. In the heart of the cavern was a depression in the floor filled with sand. A fire burned in the center, and the rest of the mining crew, about twenty men, stood waiting in the pit.
When they saw the women, they let out a lusty cheer. The men rushed forward, and soon they were milling around the women, touching them without restraint.
One of the miners brought three metal mugs to Bris, Grenta, and Rev, smiling. "Drink. Drink. Good liquor. We make it ourselves."
Rev sniffed it and decided to pass, though Bris downed his, and Grenta tasted his gingerly.
"Grenta," said Rev, "shouldn't we get our money and go?"
"No, no. You should see this. This is how the Staukub choose their mates."
Rev had no interest in how the Staukub chose their mates, though from the gleam in Grenta's eye, and by how eagerly he was leaning forward, he could tell the doctor was very interested. Rev, however, was growing more anxious by the second. Something seemed seriously off here. The miners should have paid the money by now.
Then again, he'd never gotten this close to a wiver's operation, so what did he know?
Grenta stared out at the pit. Rev followed his eyes and saw the miners shepherding the women around the campfire. The male Staukub, their quills now nearly at full mast, formed a ring around the women. Everyone was standing up. Music started from a group of four miners. There were two with stringed instruments, one drummer, and one with a long rectangular pipe that sounded like a flute but had a deeper pitch.
The music started slowly. The females stood and started dancing in rhythm, moving counterclockwise around the fire. As the music increased in tempo and intensity, the Staukub women moved faster and more suggestively.
The men hooted and cheered, and some of them held out their hands. Rev noticed that the males only did this when a woman they were interested in came close. When the woman passed by, they dropped their arms until she came near again. The music rose to a fever pitch. Some of the men became more aggressive in reaching for the women, making sounds of frustration if their interest wasn't returned.
Rev noticed Quam watching Grubba very closely each time she passed by him. His face screwed up in frustration when she would not pay attention to him. Finally he reached out to her, and as he put his arms around her waist, he swung her out of the line of dancing women. This set off a round of similar activity among the other miners. They immediately ran their hands over the bodies of their chosen females, tearing off their clothes with hard yanks to expose their breasts. Moans rose up from the excited women, and their quills became erect as the miners played with their breasts.
Next to Rev, Grenta was lost in concentration. His hand strayed between his legs, stroking himse
lf.
Bris was nowhere to be seen.
The women helped the men strip their clothes off and couples rubbed against each other as the music played. The males' erections were on display for everyone, bobbing cocks of different hues of blue. With this new show of male virility, some women pushed their men away to rub themselves against a different partner.
Some women fell to their knees, eager to take the blue pricks into their mouths. Their yellow eyes gleamed in the gloom of the cavern. People weren't happy when they were displaced, and there were brief scuffles here and there. The men were quick to grab any female left standing alone, sometimes even taking a second female to join with the first.
Moans rang against the rock walls of the hall as the couples sank to the sandy floor, the males sinking their cocks into the females, fucking them in earnest. Screams, sighs, and groans filled the air.
Even as the hall rang with sounds of fucking, this did not stop the partner swapping. When the males were done, they'd rise and move to another woman. It didn't matter if she was alone or still in the middle of coupling. If she was alone, the man would be accepted enthusiastically, but if not, the male would push the other away and take his place. This didn't bother the males, who were more than happy to move on to someone else.
The scent of sweat and sex filled the air. The musk drove the Staukub into a greater sexual frenzy. Mouths met cocks, cocks met pussies, lips sucked on breasts, and women were turned on their hands and knees to be fucked in succession by multiple males.
With a shock, Rev realized that Grenta had his own cock out of his pants, stroking it in time to the music. Grenta grunted as his spunk flew into the air before splattering on the sandy floor.
Rev was filled with longing for Tracy. The erotic tableau before him did nothing but incite his sexual desire for her. His pants tented thinking about taking her in the wild ways of the Staukub, and his ache for her exploded into full blown fire. With his erection restrained by his pants, he walked uncomfortably. The fabric was chafing his cock, and he needed a private space.
He found it behind a large crack in the wall, and he entered, finding enough room to stand. That would be enough. He loosened his pants so they fell around his ankles. Rev grabbed his own cock, which was thick with lust. His head filled with thoughts of thrusting hard and deep into Tracy. In his mind, it was not his hand stroking his cock, but her pink softness encasing his shaft, driving all thought and reason from his mind. He exploded, his essence flying against the wall. He sank trembling against the hard rock. Never had he come so fast or so hard, especially from his own hand.
He needed to find Tracy. Now.
Rev pulled himself together and squeezed out of the fissure. He walked back to Grenta, who by then had his own cock back in his pants.
"Grenta, the money," growled Rev.
"All right, all right," grumbled Grenta. "We'll have to wait until Quam is done."
"We shouldn't have waited."
"Relax, Cax. Why are you so edgy? You know it happens like this. They want to sample the merchandise."
Rev felt bile rise through his gut. He would derive great satisfaction from putting these men in jail.
As the moans and groans of the Staukubs' orgy died down, couples lay around the room in each other's arms.
Grenta walked over to Quam, who was snoring. The doctor bent down and slapped the miner across the face.
"Hey, Quam. Time to settle your debt."
Quam turned his back, burrowing his face into Grubba.
"Go away. Sleep now."
Bris yanked Quam to face them.
"Hey, we've got a ship waiting. Pay up."
Quam grumbled and got to his feet. "Too much hurry."
The noise was enough to wake Grubba from her slumber. She sat up and looked around.
"Where am I?" she asked. "What is this place?"
Quam knelt by her with a smile. "You are with me, my mate. This is your new home."
"Home? Mate?" Grubba's eyes widened, and she screamed loudly. Quam tried to calm her, but she scooted away from him. "Get away from me!"
"What is wrong, mate?" said Quam.
"You! You're blue!" she cried. She grabbed her head with both hands. "It hurts! Someone help me!"
With a strangled gurgle, Grubba’s every muscle contracted, and her body convulsed. White foam started spewing from her mouth.
Quam watched the gruesome spectacle with horror.
"Help her!" he said to no one in particular. "Do something for her!"
Rev knelt and turned Grubba on her side, holding her limbs tight so she wouldn't injure herself. After a few terrifying minutes, she stopped thrashing and lapsed into unconsciousness. While all eyes were on her, her physical appearance started to transform, and her skin began changing color.
Quam glared at the people who had brought him these women.
"Look at her. She's turning pink! She shouldn't be pink! Staukub not ever pink! Liars! Cheats! You'll never get money now!"
With each sentence he spoke, his voice grew louder and louder. Soon his angry shouts were ringing around the hall, waking up the other miners. They began to rise groggily to their feet.
Quam turned to his fellow miners.
"They have cheated us. These women are not real Staukub!"
A roar of disapproval shook the cavern. Grenta, Rev, and Bris started backing away slowly. Without a word, almost as if they’d planned it, they turned around and broke into a run.
Chapter Nineteen
She woke feeling a cooling breeze through the opening of her helmet. Tracy felt stiff and sore, but after being abducted by aliens, dodging genetic manipulation, and surviving a free fall onto an unknown planet, she was still alive.
Always look on the bright side of life.
She opened her food pouch and broke off another small brick of the food concentrate. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew from long years of dieting that it helped keep her blood sugar stable if she ate before her hunger became overwhelming. She nibbled at her food, taking sips of water, letting the water expand the bites she consumed before she took another one. Tracy ate noiselessly as the grainy gel didn't provide crunch or resistance. In fact, she found sucking the food bar just as rewarding as chewing.
The absence of sound in the cave was eerie. She occasionally heard rustling outside the cave. Tracy tried not to think about the noises because she didn't want to imagine what they meant. Noises outside the cave were scary, but at least they were outside and away from her.
When she heard a tap, tap, tap inside her little shelter, she tensed. The tapping gave way to a strange screechy noise, a cross between a cricket chirping, a frog croaking, and a squeaky door opening. The hairs on the back of her neck rose.
Something was in the cave with her.
The primitive part of her brain, the part that urged fight or flight, interpreted the strange chirping as a warning and a threat. Quickly, Tracy gathered up the supplies she’d laid out from the suit pockets and tucked them back inside. The only thing she kept out was the long knife, which made her feel like she was not defenseless.
Tracy didn't want to present her back as a target. She scooted backward towards the entrance on her ass, but the scraping of her butt on the ground seemed to irritate the cave dweller even more. The chirping escalated to a high trilling.
Suddenly, a huge nightmare crab emerged from the darkness, rushing towards her.
It scuttled on many legs and was the color of the local sand. The crab had forelegs like pincers, and they were reaching right for her. The thing didn't seem to have a head, but the underside sported a dark spot.
Tracy figured that if this thing ate, that's where the food went. Where food entered, a sensitive digestive track followed. She hoped. If it was looking to make a meal of her, she'd give this space crab something to think about by stabbing it in the stomach.
Before she could reach its stomach, she would have to do something about those claws. Her heart pounding, Tracy swiped at the pincers w
ith her knife. With almost no resistance, the tips were sliced off and fell to the ground. The creature reared up with a horrible squeal. She scrambled to her knees and pushed the knife into the black spot as hard and deep as she could.
The animal tried to pull away, several of its legs flailing, as it fell towards her. Tracy scuttled out of the way, yanking out her knife as she did. The beast thudded to the floor of the cave.
Tracy struggled to catch her breath, and as she did her heart beat slowed to normal. She stared at the creature, and while it did bear a superficial resemblance to a crab, she had no idea if there were any other similarities.
She kicked the space crab, but it did not move. Pretty confident it posed no further danger, she wiped her knife off on her pants leg. It was thick with brown ooze. Tracy wondered if any part of the animal was good to eat, but before she could form an opinion, a swarm of glistening black bugs flowed down the walls and raced to the crab, covering it in only seconds. Not wanting to be the next meal of the bugs, she ran out of the cave through the arch. With nowhere else to go, she began to head in the direction of the humanoid settlement.
Chapter Twenty
Grenta, Rev, and Bris ran out of the lust cavern as fast as they could. The miners were right behind.
Rev looked back and saw the Staukub waving dangerous-looking instruments in the air. Quam was shouting obscenities at the fleeing men, promising horrible and painful retribution.
When they were clear of the entrance to the miners’ hall, Bris turned and aimed his laser rifle at them. He fired repeated shots of red streaks into one miner after another. Quam fell alongside Jenq and Faul. The pileup of bodies at the entrance to the mine slowed the flood of angry blue men.
"Come on," said Bris. He began to run in the direction of the transport. Without slowing down, he tapped the comms device on his shoulder.
"Jaal, it's a bust," he yelled as he ran. "One of the cargo went sour, and the clients are looking for blood!"