The Eros Expansion

by Prax Venter

  “Probably,” she said, her tail hopping once.

  “Good,” Vale continued. “And strategically, we could get the jump on Blackheart if we attacked from the rear.”

  Ahnix was smiling again. “There is a nice balcony with a view. Blackheart was reading alone in the captain’s quarters. I’m sure we could cause some serious damage before reinforcements came.”

  Mark could feel Vale get into her serious planning mode as her eyes focused intently on Ahnix. “Great. Now, tell me everything. How many entrances, exits, crew…”

  Ahnix drew a rough layout of the ship in the smelly sand with a splintery piece of driftwood. A few minutes later they had a solid plan to get in, kill Blackheart, and get out with the treasure.

  It started with Roo summoning the door back home and depositing the blank Character brain in a safe place. No reason to be carrying it around.

  Next, Mark needed to power up Ahnix’s teleport again. He reached out through the universe and locked on to her ability with ease. He wrapped his mental arms around her glowing sphere of flicking, shadowy energy and instilled it with love and pleasure.

  The cat-girl groaned then all of reality folded in on itself, and Mark found himself standing on a creaking wooden balcony looking down at the distant ocean below. The Skipping Coin looked like a toy boat from here, and he imagined that the giant skeleton in the water must have thought the same thing.

  The next part of the plan was to quietly wait for Ahnix’s teleport and Mark’s enhancement to cool down. If they were caught now, it could go very badly for them. No one came though. Mark’s wait time was longer than Ahnix, and he nodded when it was ready. He wrapped his fingers around the back of Roo’s soft neck and channeled power into her Metalmancy ability. She needed to make a massive iron ball to block the only entrance into the captain’s quarters. Once he had given his velvet-girl all he could, Roo reached out to touch Ahnix’s furry shoulder and then they both vanished.

  Mark and Vale quietly crept forward and waited for the impact of Roo’s iron ball from the other side. Mark could see a few rows of bookshelves and rolled up maps on one side of the room but couldn’t see the Captain himself. When they heard the splintering wood, Vale charged in, and Mark followed close behind.

  Around the corner and sitting in a chair was a skeleton dressed in a white, ruffled shirt and slick black pants. He had a cutlass on one hip and a flintlock pistol on the table in front of him.

  With a speed Mark could barely follow, Blackheart grabbed his pistol and fired at Vale’s head. The giant-naga lifted her shield, but the bullet passed right through and bounced off one of her long, armored ears.

  There was no serious wound, but Mark could feel that the blow stunned and deafened her.

  Mark leaned out from behind Vale and launched a shining ball of energy from his crossbow, but the Captain vaulted over the desk he had been sitting at and escaped the blast radius.

  Blackheart cleared the table and drew his cutlass. The razor-sharp weapon flashed out towards Mark, but Vale was instantly there to intercept it.

  A flurry of blows followed, and Vale caught most with her shield, but it was as if his sword summoned a visible slice of wind with every attack. Some of these magic attacks hit Vale through her armor.

  Mark almost put up a protective bubble when Blackheart stopped his onslaught to deflect an iron needle launched at his head.

  Vale used the opening to bash Blackheart in his skull causing a minor stun.

  Mark knew Ahnix was in the room, but he couldn’t see her. As part of the plan, the cat girl was intended to stealth into the room and wait for the perfect time to strike. Apparently, this was it.

  Ahnix became visible behind the Captain of the Aegaeon and instantly struck him five times, blue afterimages trailing after her claws.

  Amazingly, she only chipped a few bones before Blackheart was back in the fight. That was, until Roo engulfed their foe in searing flames.

  They knew her Combustive Glance was coming, so Ahnix dove far out of the way as Blackheart began to bellow in pain, his clothes turning to ash, and his white bones cracking from the heat. Vale pointed her Judge 559 right at his screaming skull and obliterated it with one point blank shot.

  Mark felt a torrent of essence tickle his genitals for defeating the boss of Skullcrack Cove, but they weren’t done yet. And they didn’t plan on the ship catching on fire so quickly.

  “We need to move!” Vale ordered as they watched the flaming wreckage of Blackheart’s body start to consume the dry wood all around them.

  “This way,” Ahnix said as she jogged over to one of the corners of the captain’s quarters. When Mark got there, he saw thick bars of iron covering an alcove filled with several chests spilling over with gold coins, chalices, jewels and various other shiny trinkets.

  Vale bashed on the door a few times with her shield, making a thunderous clang, but the bars held. Mark felt her wince from the cuts under her armor she received from Blackheart’s magic slices, but as they agreed before, he’d hold his heal until they absolutely needed it.

  Roo pushed her way past Vale to the door. “Let me try.”

  “Fire’s spreading fast,” Ahnix said, pressing against Mark as the flames consumed the wooden ship around them.

  Mark looked back over his shoulder at Roo and saw her produce a shorter, glowing red needle and shove it into the lock.

  “Hit it!” the velvet girl said, moving back.

  Vale slammed her shield into the cool end of the metal shaft and smashed right through the melting locking mechanism. The door swung open, and they all barely fit inside.

  Mark was up again, and it was all on his shoulders. He had to hit Ahnix as hard as he could- otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to teleport all of them and all the treasure out of there. And everything had become a raging inferno.

  Mark pushed the sweltering heat and chaos out of his mind. He wrapped his fingers around Ahnix’s sleek furred arms and gave himself to her. His badass cat-girl had changed so much lately, but one thing was still true, she never ceased to amaze him. He focused on that feeling of constant awe he felt. From her beauty and grace, from her combat prowess, from her never-ending determination.

  He poured his infinite confidence into Ahnix, and he felt her spasm from an instant orgasm. Mark’s lips curled into a devilish smile in the darkness of his own mind and locked everything on her pleasure and forced all the energy he had toward enhancing her.

  Ahnix grunted loudly as she doubled over from the multiple intense orgasms wracking her tight body. When she opened her eyes, Mark opened his, and he saw the telltale white flames of a substantial upgrade.

  Ahnix took a shuddering breath and held out her hands.

  “Hold on,” she said calmly, and the next thing Mark saw was Silvermist Isle from a across a large body of water. They were all back on the deck of the Skipping Coin and surrounded by the full collection of Blackheart’s treasure- and she hadn’t even been touching everything.

  Mark smiled as he turned to look up at the black smoke rising from the ship up in the mountains, but his chin was pulled down into a deep kiss from Ahnix’s furry lips.

  After she had her fill, the cat-girl leaned back slightly and looked deep into his eyes.

  “Now that was a powerful enhancement.”

  The skeletal Captain Helgin began to laugh into the sky, behind him.

  “We’re rich boys! Let’s get gone before someone sees all this booty!”

  Helgin’s words triggered another torrent of essence to enter Mark from the air around him for fully completing the quest and holding up their end of the deal. Mark took the opportunity to press his lips onto Ahnix’s again as the erotic energy from the universe poured into his reserves through his prostate.

  - 17 -

  “Geez, took you long enough!” Johnson said as Mark and his girls walked through Roo’s doorway to Cargo Bay Gamma 7.

  Ahnix’s furry tail flipped behind her as she held up the shiny, silver Character bra
in.

  “Relax, we have the blank receptacle for the station’s virtual assistant,” she said, slapping it roughly into his hand. Mark felt another massive rush of essence pour into him for finishing part of the main quest line. He shuddered as erotic pleasure raced up his spine. He was at about half already.

  Johnson had a wide grin on his face as he spoke. “Great. I’ll start by burning off the body formation libraries, extra room that way for-.”

  “Wait,” Vale said, weaving forward. “You’re going to burn libraries?”

  “What? No- just the code that would normally store the physical body instructions. We’re gonna brain-in-a-jar this thing.”

  The giant naga’s violet eyes narrowed. “You are going to create an artificial mind and trap it in a jar without a body?” She looked Ahnix. “And you’re okay with this?”

  Ahnix’s tail hung limply between her muscular legs. “I didn’t really think it all the way through...”

  Mark felt something radiate from Ahnix that he almost never felt- deep shame. Two times in a row she had thought of less complex AIs as disposable. The sullen cat-girl internally vowed to never do it again as she snatched the smooth, metal brain back from Johnson.

  “Hey! What-”

  “Doing this right,” Ahnix said walking over to the workstation.

  Mark remembered detecting a hint of emotion from the station’s virtual assistant when they first met Erica’s malfunctioning hologram. That felt like a hundred years ago. He walked over and patted the giant naga on her firm, toned back. She had removed her armor the moment they left Skullcrack Cove, and he relished every opportunity he got to touch her smooth, flawless skin.

  “Oh Vale sweetie,” Betty called out. Mark looked over and saw the gray-haired woman sitting on a small stool, stirring a bucket of black tar. “Bring that shield over here, and we’ll see what we can do about that upgrade I promised.”

  Mark, Vale, and Roo all moved over to see what Betty had cooked up.

  “Ooh, what is that? Smells horrible.” Roo said, wrinkling her nose.

  “Exo-rubber polymer, and it won’t smell like nothin’ after its slathered on. Look, you even got another hole to patch.”

  Betty pointed to the ground near the pot, indicating the place Vale was to lay her shield. Mark felt the giant naga’s apprehension. This shield was one of the few relics she had from her home, and from her whole world. But potential tactical advantage took over, and Vale laid the shield down on the white cargo bay floor.

  “You can trust Betty,” Willard said from his corner in the pillow nest. “She’s really nice and knows a lot of Junker tricks.”

  Roo walked over to the round man, holding a tablet in his hands. It looked like he had been reading something.

  “What’s a Junker?” the velvet-girl asked, her head tilted.

  Betty answered while she painted the melted rubber on Vale’s shield. “Someone who knows how to find the broken bits no one wants, and fix ‘em for a profit.”

  “Like turning iron to gold?”

  “I wish,” Betty said, looking over her shoulder at Roo.

  Johnson’s sudden outburst caught everyone’s attention. “Zoology? What the hell are you doing?”

  “Shh, not now,” Ahnix hissed. Mark could tell the cat-girl was intently focused on what she was typing on the console.

  They passed the next hour or so talking about what Betty did before she came to this station. She regaled them with her outrageous exploits as a Scavenger and Junker while she applied her advanced rubber to Vale’s shield. Johnson and Ahnix argued quietly, and he lost every battle. It seemed like she was making some radical changes to what he had planned to do with the blank brain.

  Roo asked what Willard was reading, and Mark moved over to join her. He was curious as well.

  “It’s supposed to be about cowboys, but it’s just nonsense.”

  He handed Mark the tablet, and Roo watched over his shoulder as he swiped the screen to change the display to another page.

  “I know magic when I see it, and that’s a magic book,” Roo said.

  Mark didn’t correct her. Instead, he was lost trying to puzzle together what he was seeing.

  The words on the current page read, ‘daddy can I pet them why not he’s crying can I help stop his eyes from leaking where is the juice not today you promised you’d be here come up and get me I’m under here nothing just looking at the rain how come-’

  It went on like this, page after page. It was as if the station was haunted by a child. Mark shrugged and handed the device back to Willard.

  “It’s better than staring at the wall, I suppose,” the large man said.

  Eventually, Ahnix was done with her modifications and called everyone over to the crafter. Mark saw the silver egg that was the unstamped brain sitting in the machine’s alcove and waited for the show to start.

  Ahnix picked up on his thoughts. “It’s not blank anymore. I stamped it with Erica, the station’s virtual assistant. And I made some drastic changes to how she’ll form and access memories.”

  Johnson pushed his glasses up. “I don’t know if this is even going to work, but if it does, it will be a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Those learning algorithms you used…”

  Mark felt a few things from the people gathered around him. Johnson’s jealousy was palpable. Ahnix surpassing his computer knowledge was a vivid green fog around him, but Vale and Roo were glowing with interest.

  The black and gold cat-girl typed in some quick commands into the crafter and then followed up with a few taps on the hacking tool on her wrist.

  A moment later, the crafter’s alcove began to glow as motes of light formed around the lonely, silver brain. The bright points shifted to black dust and started to collect around the smooth, metal surface. Bit by bit, a spinal cord was slowly formed, and Mark watched in amazement as it extended out of the crafter down onto the cargo bay floor. The long knots of dark metal seemed to be too long, and Mark wondered if Ahnix had left instructions to grow a giant.

  But as the rest of the body began to quickly fill out, he had to smile. Next to him, Vale sucked in a breath of surprise when she realized the form taking shape before her eyes.

  Ahnix had created a human-sized, robot naga. The figure was female, but she had a sleek shape that wasn’t overly voluptuous like Vale. She looked built for speed. Mark could see metal eyelashes, full lips, and long elfish ears take shape on her perfectly smooth round head. The crafting machine stopped adding layers, and Erica was complete.

  “Oh, Ahnix…” Vale whispered. “She’s beautiful.”

  At this, the metal naga opened her glowing, green eyes and sat bolt upright- directly into the roof of the machine with a loud clunk.

  “Relax!’ Vale called out as the newborn creature looked frantically around the room. When the giant naga spoke, Erica’s eyes locked onto hers. “It’s going to be okay,” Vale said in a calm voice.

  The metal naga squinted her eyes as if trying to remember who Vale was, then darted away from the crafter’s alcove in a blur and ending up pressed against Vale’s side.

  “Who are-? Who am-?” she said in a high, melodic voice and then put her polished metal hands over her long ears. Vale instinctively reached her hand down over Erica’s back with a loose, yet comforting embrace.

  Erica’s bright green eyes still darted around the room, but Mark could tell she had relaxed a little.

  “I’m Vale. It’s nice to meet you, Erica.”

  “Eric-a,” the metal naga said, tasting the word on her mouth. “No! That’s not my… I- I- Informative concierge assistant. Erica. Yes? How can I help?” She looked up into Vale’s eyes.

  “For now,” Vale responded calmly, “just slow down and relax.”

  The metal naga looked around at everyone again, more calmly and then winced as if in pain.

  “Too many things, ideas, minds- inside.”

  Mark felt a snap of recognition from Roo before the velvet girl stepped around Vale
and faced Erica. She reached out her soft, fabric hands and clasped the naga’s polished metal ones.

  “I know what it’s like to wake up and have everything exist at once- knowledge, concepts, people, places… shove all that to the background. Look at me.” Roo took a few steps back, and Erica kept her eyes locked on the lithe fabric-girl.

  “Focus on the here and now,” Roo continued as she formed a smooth iron ball in her soft hand. “Here! Catch!”

  Roo tossed the ball to Erica who reached out and caught it effortlessly. Erica, the metal naga, let out a tinkling laugh and smiled. Mark had to marvel at the way the smooth metal on her face moved so fluidly. It behaved like skin.

  “It’s working. You did it,” Johnson said, disbelief evident in his slack face.

  Ahnix crossed her arms. “She’s a little shaky, and we still need her to properly interface with the station.”

  “I can interface,” Erica said, pouting. “I think I’m good at it too!”

  “Remarkable…” Johnson said.

  Mark had to smile. He waved one of his hands to Erica, and she turned her glowing eyes on him.

  “I’m Mark. I’m also glad to meet you. Do you know where you are?”

  The station AI considered Mark’s question as she looked around the room. She was as tall as Mark, but next to Vale, she looked like a child. Mark could tell by her posture that she wasn’t going to leave Vale’s side for a while.

  “Cargo Bay Gamma 7 - Deck 7. Near the Blackhole Casino and Buffet, only thirty-nine… thousand credits to… Yes. I know where I am.”

  “Now I’m hungry,” Willard said from the corner.

  “Great,” Mark said, ignoring the extraneous information. “We really need your help.”

  “How can I help?” she repeated, looking around at everyone with an earnest look of cooperation on her smooth, metal face.

  Ahnix spoke first. “We need you to access the FTL communications array- without letting anything from the station write to your memory. Can you access your firewalls?”

  “Firewalls?” Roo repeated quietly as Erica focused inward.