Parasites Love Earth!

  At least the kids were protected, she told herself. She was doing it all, for the kids.

  But still, that evening, when she and Miles got undressed to begin the reproduction ritual, Caroline, looking at Miles' very alien looking penis, started to get second thoughts.

  "Maybe this isn't such a good idea," she said, crossing her hands protectively over breasts.

  Miles pressed his body against hers. She felt his newly enlarged penis protruding against her. Even flaccid, it was quite big. "Why not?"

  "Who knows what kind of creature we will create?" said Caroline.

  "Melinda promised us it will be human," said Miles, kissing her neck.

  "Miles, I have spider eggs inside of me. And just look at your penis. These two things are not going to produce a human baby."

  "I must fertilize you now," said Miles.

  "No, Miles, I don't think we should," said Caroline, even as she felt her rider building up arousal inside of her, trying to change her mind.

  "I must fertilize you now," Miles repeated, pushing her down on the bed. He mounted her.

  "Miles!"

  "I must fertilize you now," Miles said a third time, moving his penis to the entrance to her vagina.

  Suddenly, Caroline realized that forcing Miles to agree to be reprogrammed had been a terrible mistake. Melinda had taken advantage of the opportunity to-

  Her thoughts were cut off by the feeling of the head of Mile's penis thrusting into her. Miles pressed and into her yielding flesh. Caroline felt a tremendous widening of her eyes as she felt his alien organ plunged deep into her trembling body. She gasped, feeling its fullness. The black hairs on the sides scraped her vaginal walls in a rough way.

  Miles started to thrust out of her. The sharp tip of his penis started to scratch her insides, but in a less pleasurable way.

  "Miles!" said Caroline, feeling the tip scratch her as he thrusted. "Not so hard!"

  But Miles, thrusting into her with bull-like enthusiasm, acted like he wasn't listening.

  Caroline's rider, the pulsing four pounds of alien intelligence between her shoulder blades, moved to compensate, flooding her bloodstream with pheromones. In moments, pleasure outweighed the pain, and Caroline moaned as Miles thrusted into her rough and hard. His rider, on his back, rippled with pleasure with every thrust, enjoying the blood coursing through his muscles, feeding on them even as Miles performed the reproduction ritual.

  Miles found that his new penis had a lot more sensitivity than his old one, and had a lot more capacity. He felt himself building up to higher and higher peaks. And then, gritting his teeth as he sensed himself reaching an edge, he thrusted extra strongly, scratching Caroline's insides painfully with the sharp head of his penis, and then he exploded. The contents of the green leathery sack pulsed into her with such tremendous force that it sprayed past her cervix, flooding her uterus.

  Miles lay in her flat, for a moment, savoring the sensation. He had satisfied his programming. As he pulled out, a thin green trickle of liquid accompanied his withdrawal.

  "We must do this three times a day, every day," said Miles sternly, his rider rippling with pleasure.

  "Yes, dear," said Caroline passively, the resistance drained from her, even as her rider snuggled up to a better position between her shoulder blades as it sucked the last of her exertion into itself. She was sore now, between her legs, very sore, but she realized that she could not resist. Or was that her double banded rider telling her that, in her mind? Ever since her rider had gotten its second golden band, Caroline had found herself giving in to whatever it demanded more and more often. It just seemed easier that way.

  ********

  It happened four days later. They knew, because shortly after Miles sprayed into her, Caroline felt a trembling in her body, and her rider started flapping its pancake-like edges in excitement.

  She had gotten pregnant.

  Miles contacted Melinda. Somehow he had her comm code. Caroline got the paranoid feeling that there was some contact between the two that she was not privy to. She tried to tell herself that it would be insane to be jealous, under these circumstances. They were both prisoners of the parasites. Miles wouldn't be feeling something for Melinda... would he?

  But he was there for her. As her belly got larger and larger, each day, he held her, hugged her, and told her everything was going to be all right regardless of what happened.

  Melinda had said her pregnancy was only going to take a week, but Caroline had only half believed her. But it seemed to be the truth. Caroline's belly started to balloon after the second day. She started to wear loose clothing, but again the kids started to tease her about getting fat. It was better if they didn't know.

  By the seventh day she was visibly showing, even with baggy clothes on. She didn't feel as full as she had when she gave birth to Marie or Mark or Ella, but she definitely had something inside of her. She could feel it growing inside of her. She could feel it pulsating. Somethings, as she lay in bed feeling it pulsate, her eyes would glaze over, and she would start to say "Momomomomomom. Mamoonishom. Mamoonishom," without realizing it.

  And then the day came when she felt a rumbling, and knew it was time to give birth. But birth to what? That's what worried her. Melinda had told them it would be human, but Caroline couldn't possibly see how that could be, given the alien sources of her eggs and sperm. As she rubbed her belly, Caroline looked in a mirror and said, "I want this baby. I want this baby."

  "Do I?" said Caroline. Who just said that?

  "Yes, I do," said Caroline, smiling as she continued to rub. "It will be the greatest achievement in my life. I will love it like all my other children."

  "I hope so," said Caroline, looking at her belly worriedly.

  And then the time came. Melinda wasn't even there for it. She felt her belly rumbling, and she called out to Miles. It was a Tuesday morning. The kids had just left for school. But she had gotten a feeling, and had asked Miles to take a sick day from work, as she did. And now it was happening.

  "Should we go to a hospital? Or the cave?" Miles asked.

  "No," said Caroline. Her feet were carrying her rapidly, but where? Soon she knew the answer.

  The basement.

  Down in the basement, Caroline saw herself taking off her clothes. Her baggy shirt came first.

  "The basement? Why here?" Miles asked.

  "Don't ask stupid questions," Caroline snapped, rapidly pulling off her pants, and then her underwear. In moments she was completely naked, with her belly jutting out. She sat down on an old chair.

  And then the waiting began. Caroline felt the contractions start to narrow. Suddenly, a green liquid started to come out of her vagina. She cried out. Miles held her hand.

  And then she felt it. It, whatever it was, was moving. On its own. She started to push, to bear down, to help it. Caroline felt it leaving her uterus and entering her vagina. But she wasn't wide enough. She cried out.

  "Push, Caroline, push," said Miles encouragingly. He tried to pat her on the back, but recoiled when he touched her rider. Her rider was pulsating more and more rapidly, sucking energy from her even as she needed it most.

  Caroline pushed down, and with a grunt, something came sliding out of her vagina.

  "I can see it," said Miles. "The head has come out!"

  The head of what? Caroline looked down and saw something green and slimy. She pushed down more. She wanted it out of her. All of it.

  The slick green thing slowly popped out of her, and landed on the ground.

  "Is that it? All of it?" said Miles.

  Caroline, panting wildly, nodded. "I think... that's it."

  They looked down at the ground. What Caroline had given birth to was some kind of green pod. A green pod, with a glowing light source in it.

  "What is it?" said Miles. He moved to pick it up.

  "Don't touch it," said Caroline sharply. She realized the rider was talking to her now. "Just leave it there."

  "But-"

&nbs
p; "Just leave it!" Caroline snapped. She stretched painfully. "I need a bath. Help me, will you?"

  Miles helped Caroline get up. They went to the shower and Miles removed his clothing, and they bathed together. She moaned approvingly as Miles lathed her breast and belly and pubis with soap. One thing led to another and soon they were touching each other and having sex, with Caroline's hand jerking off his penis, and Miles' hand at her vagina.

  "It's sore," said Caroline, taking his hand from her nether lips. "I just gave birth, remember? Stick to the clit."

  "Oh, sorry. Yeah."

  Soon they were both giving each other massive orgasms. Caroline found she kind of enjoyed fondling Mile's new large, enhanced penis. It felt bigger, and fleshier to her as she stroked it with her hand. The tip was hard and sharp, she enjoyed watching his face as she fondled it. And when he climaxed, she was surprised by the stream of green liquid which burst out. It was more powerful too, shooting across the bathroom floor into the bedroom, which caused both of them to laugh.

  The only thing that concerned her was Miles' rider. It was bigger than hers, and heavier. She restrained a gasp when he turned around and she saw he had the third ring. Three rings were the final stage of maturity. Miles was probably almost totally under their control now. No wonder he didn't protest this pregnancy. She looked in a mirror, and saw the beginnings of a third ring for her own rider. How long before her mind was under the total control of these alien creatures?

  And then there was the rash. Around each of their riders was an angry red rash that was growing bigger and bigger. And what was happening to the skin underneath the riders? Would they be able to tolerate these riders in the long term? There were no answers, only worries.

  Every morning after the kids left for school, Caroline and Miles went down to the basement. The first morning after Caroline had given birth, they were surprised to find that the pod had grown. When Caroline had given birth the pod had been perhaps six inches long. The next day it had grown, and was now more than a foot long, and was starting to look like a cocoon.

  "How has it grown so quickly?" Caroline wondered, staring at it.

  Miles stared at the glowing energy source within. "Maybe it's that thing. Maybe it's converting energy into biological matter."

  "Is that possible?"

  "Theoretically. Though we don't have the technology to do it."

  The second day they came down to the basement, they saw it had grown again. By the third day it was three feet tall, and a foot wide. The pod was laying upright, against the basement wall. The outer layers were green, and semi transparent. With the energy source illuminating it from the inside, they could almost make out the shape of what was inside.

  "Miles... is that what I think it is?" said Caroline.

  "It looks like... a child. A human child." said Miles.

  When they came down the fourth day, it was clearer. There was a human shaped child inside the pod, floating in some kind of liquid. They couldn't make out specific features, but the shape was undeniable.

  "Melinda told us it would be a human baby," said Melinda. "Maybe they developed a new way of making babies."

  "If so, it would take the world by storm," said Miles. "Just look at it! It's growing up in a matter of days. Imagine having a fully grown person, in two weeks from conception."

  "But what kind of mind will it have?" Caroline asked.

  "I don't know," said Miles.

  Caroline, staring at the baby through the cocoon's leafy walls, learned something else. "Look Miles... we're going to have a son."

  Miles looked between the child's legs. Sure enough, it was a boy. The pod was now nearly four feet tall and two feet wide. The child looked as big as a teenager. But still, all it did was float in the green fluid inside.

  The child finally emerged on the seventh day. They could see by the sixth day that it was almost fully formed. It definitely had a tall, masculine body.

  "It's going to be an adult," said Caroline, grabbing Miles' hand, as they looked at it on the morning of the seventh day. Caroline reached forward to gingerly touch the skin of the pod. That seemed to trigger something, because the pod trembled, and then it broke open. There was a hiss of steam which obscured their vision for a moment. A flood of green fluid splashed their feet. When the air cleared, they saw something that surprised them.

  It was a fully grown man, with his eyes closed.

  "Miles," said Caroline. "It's... it's..."

  "Me," said Miles.

  At that moment, the child's eyes opened. It did look like Miles. It even had his blue eyes. He looked at Miles and Caroline.

  For a moment, no one spoke. Then Caroline said, "Can you... can you understand us?"

  "I can understand you," said the duplicate. Its voice was deep, and harsh.

  "What... what are you?" said Miles.

  "I am... I am you," said the duplicate. As he spoke, his voice started to sound less harsh, and more normal.

  "What?" said Miles.

  "I am you, Miles Kelly," said the duplicate. His voice sounded almost exactly like Miles now.

  "What... why?" said Miles.

  "Come. I will show you," said the duplicate. He took Miles by the wrist. Briskly, he started climbing the stairs out of the basement.

  Miles let himself be led, at a rapid pace, up onto the main floor. The duplicate marched Miles to the bedroom. Caroline followed close behind.

  "No," said the duplicate, in a deep voice. "You must wait outside."

  And then it propelled Miles into the bedroom, followed him inside, and slammed the door behind them.

  Caroline wondered what was going to happen. She stood very still in the hallway, trying to listen. She thought she heard the sounds of clothing being removed. Miles' clothing? Why would Miles be taking off his clothes?

  Then she heard sounds of yelling, and screams. She immediately ran for the bedroom door, but didn't get more than three steps before she doubled over in pain. She felt her rider pulsating wildly on her back as Miles' screams permeated the house. She tried to crawl to the bedroom door, but each step only increased the pain. She had a two ringed rider on her back and it could cause her a significant amount of discomfort to her nervous system, anywhere in her body.

  Caroline, sobbing, crawled a step away, and then another, and the pain started to receded. Finally when she got to the kitchen the pain was gone.

  She sat sobbing in the kitchen. What was being done to Miles?

  They were in there for hours. In a way Caroline was glad the children were in school. It would be impossible to explain this.

  Finally, around one o'clock in the afternoon, she heard the door to the bedroom open. She heard footsteps. Seconds later, Miles appeared in the kitchen. He was totally naked. His body was covered in sweat.

  "Miles, are you all right?" she cried, running over to give him a hug. He did not return the hug, but merely said, "I am fine. I just need a drink." He said. He went to the sink and poured himself a glass of water. He drank the entire glass. He filled it again, and drained that one too.

  Caroline looked at him. His body was covered in sweat. Then she noticed something else.

  There was no rider on his back. His back was completely empty. There was not even a sign of a red rash.

  She looked around at his front. His penis was glistening with sweat. She could see beads of clear liquid on the shaft and head of his penis.

  His human penis.

  Except that Miles no longer had a human penis.

  "You like it, don't you?" said Miles, seeing her gaze. "Would you like me to use it on you?"

  "You... you're not Miles. You're the other one," said Caroline. "What are you doing to Miles?"

  "Nothing much," said the duplicate. "We are almost done," he said, draining another glass of water. Without saying another word, he walked back to the bedroom, and slammed the door shut behind him.

  Caroline sat as silently as she could in the kitchen. She heard moans now, Miles' moans. Then, after about an h
our, she heard him yell, "No... please, no, no!" and then a scream.

  Caroline jumped up. She took a step down the hallway but felt the warning pain. She stopped in her tracks. "Miles! Miles, are you all right?" she yelled.

  There was no answer.

  And then, about five minutes later, the bedroom door opened, seemingly on its own.

  Caroline took an exploratory step forward. There was no pain.

  She half ran to the bedroom. She saw Miles standing there, in his underwear, looking very tired.

  "Miles!" she cried hugging him. "I feared the worst," she said.

  "Everything is all right," said Miles, hugging her back.

  "Miles, what did it do to you?" said Caroline.

  "I think it wanted my memories," said Miles.

  "Why?" Caroline asked.

  "I don't know," said Miles.

  "Where is it?" Caroline asked.

  "Over there," said Miles.

  Caroline looked on the other side of the bed. She saw a lifeless husk. The creature had stolen Miles' memories... and then simply died? It didn't make any sense.

  But then she looked back at Miles. At his smile. At his bare back.

  That wasn't Miles. This was the duplicate.

  That lifeless husk, in front of her, was Miles.

  Miles, the duplicate Miles, smiled, seeing realization dawn on her face. "Congratulations. The experiment was a success."

  "Why?" said Caroline. She was sobbing now. "Why did you do this? We did everything you asked!"

  "Exactly," said Miles. "You were among our most obedient, useful servants. And our most fertile. That's very rare. By duplicating Miles, I have also inherited his inherent fertility."

  "But... but...."

  Miles walked over to her, pressing his very manly chest against hers. "There are no buts," he said softly, with a dominating glare.

  "You promised if we obeyed, that you would release us," Caroline wailed.

  "You have become too valuable," said Miles. "The needs of the Hive come first. I can still be your husband. In every way."

  "You? Never."

  "In every way," said Miles. "I now have all the memories of Miles Kelly. I remember the day you first met, in the boathouse in Central Park. I remember your wedding night, in Waikiki. I remember the night Ella was born."