by Aline Riva
Jinx was still looking at the creature in the preservative. He was glad it was dead and thankful the transparent container that held it was sealed. He wanted to back away from it, never look at it again, he wanted to forget that thing had ever been inside his head. But there was so much more to recall and the amnesia drug was holding it back. He got the oddest feeling as he turned to Neve.
“What did it do to an infected person?” he asked, “How did it affect them? How did it affect me?”
“It caused insanity,” Neve replied, “But Sin was able to work out that your mental state was caused by something organic. You asked the ship to scan for alien life and you found the source of the problem and came to me.”
“But what did I do when I was insane?”
He looked at Sin and she looked away and that worried him greatly as he began to break out in a sweat.
“What did I do?” he demanded, turning back to Neve.
“It created psychotic urges to kill, to eat human flesh, it increased sex drive and distorted reasoning. But Sin got you here in time. And you're okay now, Jinx.”
He held her in his gaze, demanding the truth.
“Did I harm anyone?”
“It almost killed you,” Sin said, speaking up to spare Neve his laser stare and demand for answers, “But that's over now. We just have to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.”
Jinx looked back at the creature sliced in half in the sealed container.
“We should leave now,” he decided, “Let's warn the researchers and turn this thing over to security. You can take all the credit, Neve – once you're back on earth with that parasite and on the way to get it analysed me and Sin are gone, I'm taking off and not coming back to earth for a long time. Keep my name out of this, too. I'll fly to S69Q-1, but when that's over, I want no reminders of my involvement with this, I just want to go back to a quiet life with my wife, I want to walk away from this incident.”
“Fine,” she replied, “I'm happy to collect the reward money anyway. I'll say I removed the creature from the head of an unknown infected person who died during the surgery and I incinerated the body to be sure of no risk of further infection.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jinx agreed, “Neve, get the shots ready and bring the parasite with you – I'm going up to the surface. The ship will be ready to fly in one hour.” Then he led the way out of the lab as Sin followed.
Once back on board the ship, Sin took a seat on the flight deck and watched as Jinx checked controls and cancelled the emergency return to earth he had programmed in the event of his death, instead setting a course for S69Q-1. He was quiet as he worked, a hum was running through the vessel now, a reassuring sound that she had learned meant the power was running just fine and the next step would be take off, in around an hour, when Neve arrived. It seemed like a good time to bring up a subject that she didn't want to save for later, when the moment could be awkward. Jinx had said he wanted to spend time with her and she wanted him to know now, before things got intimate...
“Rik... can I talk to you about something?”
“Just a minute, Sin,” he replied, standing with his back to her as he flipped switches and then entered command codes. The controls lit up and then he turned around and met her gaze.
“What's wrong?”
Seeing Jinx looking at her so kind and concerned was a whole new side of him that she had not met while the parasite had been inside him. For a moment she spared a thought for the others back at Shyra-K1, wondering what Mack and Jody and Zeke had been like before they had been infected – human, just like Jinx, all of them victims...
“Something happened to me...” she said, feeling awkward.
“Happened? What's this about, Sin?”
He went over to her, stood there looking down at her as she stayed seated in the padded chair, looking up at him and blinking away tears.
“What happened?” he said again, kneeling in front of her as he clasped her hands and looked at her with nothing less than love in his eyes.
“I had a piercing, a zestion piercing...”
“Zestion? That stuff is dangerous!”
“I know...and it ...it broke through the tissue and went into my body. I had the ring and the shards surgically removed but I have no feeling there any more. I can feel everything else, just not...there...”
She glanced downwards as she spoke, then as she saw the look of concern deepen in his eyes her heart ached as she recalled how she had felt like killing him after the ring had been removed – this was the real Jinx, the loving and kind man who wanted to help, who never would have harmed anyone if not for the alien infection – he was not to blame...
“Where did you lose feeling?”
“It was a clitoral piercing.”
“I don't remember this.”
“It was before we got married.”
Jinx shook his head.
“I still don't recall it.”
“I'm looking at you and every part of me feels aroused at the thought of making love with you but there's no feeling there. I can't have an orgasm. I'll probably never have another orgasm.”
“Maybe you just need some help with it,” he said, and reached for the zip on her body suit.
“What are you doing, Rik? Neve's joining us -”
“We've got an hour. The door is locked.”
Jinx gently pulled on the zip, opening up her body suit. As he took in the sight of her perfect body barely covered by white under wear trimmed with lace, she felt his gaze burn over her flesh and she ached inside as she grew damp but no feeling came from anywhere above the deep ache. Her hand slipped between her legs, covering her groin as she met his gaze once more.
“I just want you to know that I don't know what it will be like...I mean, I haven't tried anything, you were in the coma and I just felt numb from that, I didn't even bother to see if I could...I just assumed that I can't...”
“I'll see what I can do,” he said softly, reaching down and lifting her hand away from her under wear, “Get out of those clothes, Sin.”
He kissed her gently and she kicked off her boots and slipped out of the open body suit, then as she shifted forward he unhooked her bra as she took off her under wear.
Jinx pushed the pile of clothing aside, taking in a slow, deep breath as he took in the sight of her round, high breasts and her smooth body, looking at her there seemed to be nothing wrong – her lack of body hair only served to emphasise how swollen she looked. He had been concerned she might have been damaged or lost part of the tissue when the ring was extracted, but it surprised him to see at a glance as she sat back and allowed him to spread her legs, that clearly, everything was intact.
“You look very swollen down there, “ he said, smiling as he slid a finger deep into her wetness, “You're turned on for me, I know that...and you look like you've been playing with it all day...”
She glanced down at her body and shook her head.
“It's always slightly swollen. I can't feel it at all.”
“Let's have a look at your clit,” he said softly, “I bet I can help...”
“I don't think you can,” she replied quietly.
Jinx gently rubbed at her, but saw at once there was no reaction. She still ached for him with desire in her eyes, but she felt nothing as he touched her there.
“You probably need a lot of attention down there to get the blood flowing again, it might help.”
“Maybe it's a part of me we should just forget about.”
Sin had spoken as if already resigned to never feeling in that area again. Jinx looked into her eyes.
“Don't look down at what I'm doing, just tell me if you feel this,” he said.
She kept her gaze on his, feeling nothing. Jinx pinched harder, feeling sure at any moment she would gasp or at least cry out in pain, but she felt nothing, so he stopped pinching and gently rubbed at her exposed clitoris again.
“You really can't feel anything?”
She shook h
er head.
“I'm not going to give up even if you do,” he told her, then he placed his hands on her thighs and buried his head between her legs, she caught her breath as his tongue flickered lower, dipping into wetness where she ached for him, but as he turned his attention higher, she felt nothing, just a sense of deep desire growing within, an ache that screamed for him to take her, any way wanted, even anally, it seemed all feeling had been switched off in one place and re routed around the rest of her body.
She doubted she would be able to reach a sexual peak but to still have desire was enough to tell her all she needed to know – she could still find pleasure in making love, even with a part of her body that had once been so central to her pleasure feeling absent. But Jinx refused to give up, she felt his mouth move upwards, then he sucked hard against her body and she gave a sigh, as the sensation reached everywhere but the place where it mattered most. He sucked again, then kissed her down there and as he drew back and looked up at her, he smiled as he saw her face was flushed.
“I think If I do this to you every single day, you'll start to feel something.”
“Maybe,” she replied, it seemed the only thing she could say after the loving attention he had given her body in an attempt to heal her.
Then he freed his belt and tugged at his zip, freeing his solid erection.
“I love you, Sin,” he told her, “And I can't wait any longer!”
He pulled her closer, tugging on her hips, sliding her down the seat and as he filled her up in a single thrust, she gave a gasp. It felt as if every remaining nerve was on fire with need, like the brink of an orgasm but deep within. He thrust hard and fast, panting as he took her impatiently, then as he thrust a final time and throbbed inside her she felt a ripple of pleasure deep in her body, like the echo of something that could have been greater had she not lost sensation, but she had definitely felt something good that made her face flush.
As they separated, she was as breathless as he was, he paused to kiss her and then he handed her back her clothing.
“Was that an orgasm?”
“I'm not sure,”she said as she started to get dressed, “It felt good...inside. Not the same, but....”
“But better than nothing. We'll sort this out, don't worry, Sin.”
He kissed her again, then he got up and tidied his clothing as she continued to get dressed, feeling slightly more hopeful now – she had never had a vaginal orgasm before, and it had not been the waves of pleasure she had come to expect from external stimulation, but Jinx was right – it was better than nothing, today she had started to feel like a woman again...
As Jinx buckled his belt he suddenly stopped and looked at her.
“The ring that caused the damage – why did you have it in the first place?”
“Some guy I used to know.”
It was all she could think to say. His eyes darkened with anger.
“We'll talk about that when we get back,” he told her, “I want his name. I want to kill the bastard!”
Sin said no more, silently hoping that nothing on this journey back to a place Jinx never ought to be heading would remind him of the past he had been so desperate to forget...Now she knew the real Jinx, she doubted his sanity could survive knowing the terrible truth of all he had done since the parasite had invaded his mind...
Chapter 5
One hour had passed and Jinx fired up the vessel. The flight that took them away from the barren planet filled with underground life was uneventful as the ship punched out through the atmosphere and headed off into the peaceful blackness of space.
While Neve was in the ship's lab carrying out further tests on the creature and making the most of the vast lab space and all its contents – which surpassed her own back home – Jinx sat at the controls, watching as starlight passed by and stretched onward, gathering into a blur as he increased speed, then set the course to auto and relaxed, watching the void as they slipped through it. The darkness and the never ending vastness made a sense of deep relaxation cover him, soothing his senses as he felt a sense of normality to be at the controls of his ship once more.
Suddenly his mind was full of questions as the blank spaces in his memory started to irritate and he turned to Sin, who was seated on the padded chair where an hour before she had been naked, and for a brief moment he thought of what he wanted to do for the rest of the flight and then those questions got in the way and refused to leave him alone, so he started to speak, asking the things he knew she had probably already agreed not to answer before he had chosen to lose a big chunk of his memory.
“Where do I live, Sin?”
“For now, on board your ship. We've yet to settle somewhere.”
“How did we meet?”
She hesitated.
“You...invited me on board... and I never left.”
She smiled.
He looked at her doubtfully. Something felt wrong about the answers she gave, nothing seemed to make sense at all...
“What happened to Mack?”
“I've never met Mack. I think you used to fly with him.. a long time ago.”
“Why did I ask for my memory to be partially wiped? You must be able to tell me something...Was it because Cora died?”
“You said there were lots of things you needed to forget. Painful memories.”
He paused for thought but none of her answers felt right, even though he had no memories to confirm or deny any of it.
“How long did I know you before I had the operation?”
She said nothing for a moment, turning her head to a view of stars set in velvet space as she blinked away tears recalling all she had suffered back at Shyra-K1.
“You were very sick, I barely knew you at all. But I saw you, I saw you through what it did to your mind, I saw you were still in there, and he was the man I fell in love with. I was right, too. I saw you caught in that darkness and I found a way to help you through it. I'll never regret making the choice to stay with you.”
A tear ran down her face as she turned back to him.
“I love you so much, Rik. Don't worry about why you asked to have memories taken away – we've all been through pain in life – yours would have been too much to bear. You've been through enough and so have I.”
He got up and went over to her, as she rose from her seat he wrapped his arms around her and held her in an embrace so tender it would have seemed at that moment impossible to believe this was the same man who had treated her so brutally back at Shyra-K1.
“I'm sorry,” he said softly as he held her, “I shouldn't be bringing up the past – you're not over what's happened to you, I can tell. It must be so hard to live with feeling nothing...I meant what I said, we'll find a way to fix this problem.”
As he pulled back from her, he wiped a tear from her face as he blinked to clear his own vision. In that moment she realised just how different the real Rik Jinx was to the hardened killer she had first met back on that private planet... So much of him had been held back, taken over by the parasite. She had never imagined Jinx could be so kind or so sensitive.
“I've got the ship on auto for a while,” he told her, “Let's go somewhere more quiet.”
Then he took her by the hand and led her from the flight deck, down a corridor and through a walkway that led deeper into the ship, towards the luxurious living area he called home while on long haul flights. As they walked together his hand never let go once as he clung to her, pausing only to exchange a glance of deepest love, then they reached the doorway and he opened it and they went inside together.
It was dark in the vast living area save for a few dimmed spotlights and Jinx led her over a soft carpet towards a door padded with black velvet. As he opened up the door that led to another dimly lit room with walls that matched the door, he lifted her into his arms.
“You're resting for the duration of this flight, Mrs Jinx,” he said, and carried her across the room and set her down gently on the bed.
As she looked up at h
im she said nothing, enjoying the sensation of total surrender to a man who she loved more with every passing day, a man she was still discovering now the parasite was gone from his mind.
Relaxing on the soft bed, she enjoyed the luxury of Jinx undressing her, when she was naked his gaze wandered over her exposed body and then lingered for a moment at her groin.
“It's a long way to our destination, Sin. I could spend hours with you, in here... Let me try again, I can be very patient.”
Before she could speak, he slid his fingertips over her pubic mound and slipped into folds of warm silk, rubbing gently, then harder as the numbness stayed put but the rest of her body tingled at his touch.
“How does that feel?” Jinx asked as he kept his gaze fixed between her open legs and he carefully kept up the massage.
She gave a sigh as wetness made her thighs damp.
“I can't feel it there but I can feel it everywhere else...”
“Just enjoy it,” Jinx said softly.
He slid his fingers lower, pushed one inside her and then slid it out again as she gave a low moan.
“At least you can enjoy some pleasure,” he said, “That's a good start, but I want more for you.”
She gave no protest, just lay back in surrender as he joined her on the bed, slid his hands up her parted thighs and buried his face in her wetness, as she gave another sigh and ran her fingers through his hair he kissed her, then sucked hard, then ran his tongue up and down the folds of wetness.
As she lay there with the odd sensation of half deep burning arousal while no orgasm built up and the numbness refused to lift, Sin relaxed, looking down at Jinx and watching as he licked at her patiently and firmly, he pressed his hands harder against the soft flesh of her inner thighs, keeping her legs wide as he refused to give up.
Being numb, she had no sensation of bruising or soreness as his attention lasted for more than an hour, then he raised his head, looked at her red, swollen sex and then he got up from the bed.