by Lisa Lace
Grenta and Bris were obviously enjoying the attention as the women grew bolder in their touches. Telli stroked the bulge in Grenta’s pants with enthusiasm as another woman touched Bris in the same area.
Rev looked away and noticed that only Grubba separated herself from the women with a confused expression on her face.
The truck pulled smoothly to a stop. The miners got out of the truck, walked to the back and lowered the tailgate.
“Bring the females,” said Quam.
The women couldn’t keep their eyes off the male who was speaking. “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 are 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 get off the vehicle. After Rev had lifted Grubba onto the ground, she looked around, then turned to Rev.
“My friend isn’t here. Where is my friend?” she said 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 reassured, but he followed the others to a fissure in the rock. Stone walls rose around him to form a narrow corridor that only accommodated one person at a time. They were forced to traverse the length of the hall single file until they arrived at a large cave. The cave was round and had a curved ceiling that opened up in the center to the sky. In the center 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 on different parts of their bodies.
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 by the gleam in Grenta’s eye, and by how he was leaning forward, Grenta 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 wiver’s operation, so what did he know?
Grenta stared out at the pit. The miners were 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 the woman a miner was interested in came close. When the woman passed by, they dropped their arms until she came near again. The music rose into 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 the Staukub, tearing off their clothes with hard yanks to expose their breasts. Groans rose up from the excited women, and their quills rose as the miners played with their breasts.
Next to Rev, Grenta was lost in concentration. His hand strayed between his legs, stroking himself.
Bris was nowhere to be seen.
The women helped the men strip their clothes off and couples rubbed their bodies 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 splattering on the sandy floor.
Rev was filled with longing for Tracy. These erotic sights 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, having 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 instead it was her pink softness encasing his shaft, driving all thought and reason from his mind. He exploded, his essence flying against the wall. He sank against the hard rock shaking. 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 now 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 this time? You know it happens like this. They want to sample the merchandise.”
Rev felt bile rise through his gut. He would derive great satisfaction in 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. Grenta bent down and slapped the miner across t
he face.
“Hey, Quam. Time to settle your debts.”
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 with concern.
“You! You’re blue!” she cried. She grabbed her head with both hands. “It hurts! Someone help me!”
With a strangled gurgle, every muscle Grubba had 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, Grubba stopped convulsing. She immediately lapsed into unconsciousness. While all eyes were on her, her physical appearance started to transform, and her skin began changing into a different 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. Everyone 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. When they looked at each other, they didn’t speak a word before they turned around and broke into a run.
TRACY
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 a different 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. Tracy didn’t feel 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 lack of sound in the cave was eerie. She 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 they were still outside and away from her.
When she heard a tap, tap, tap inside her little shelter, she tensed. The taps gave way into a strange screechy noise, a cross between a cricket chirping, a frog croaking, and a squeaky door hinge. The hairs on the back of her neck rose.
A creature was in the cave with her.
The primitive part of her brain, the part that told her fight or flight, interpreted the strange chirping as a warning and a threat. Quickly, Tracy gathered up the supplies she laid out from the catch pockets on the suit 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 toward 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 pinchers 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 her a meal, she’d give this space crab something to think about by stabbing it in the stomach.
Before she could reach its stomach, she was going to have to do something about those claws. Her heart pounding, Tracy swiped at the pinchers with the long knife. The tips of the pinchers were cut off and fell away. The creature reared up with a horrible screech. She scrambled to her knees and pushed the knife into the black spot as hard and deep as she could.
The animal reared, several of its legs flailing, but it fell. Tracy scuttled out of the way, pulling out her knife as she did. The beast thudded to the floor of the cave.
Tracy struggled to catch her breath. Her heart raced. As her heart beat slowed, she stared at the creature. It did bear a superficial resemblance to a crab, but by how much she didn’t know. She kicked the creature, but it did not move.
She wiped her knife. It was thick with brown ooze. Tracy wondered if any part of the crab was good to eat, but before she could form an opinion, a swarm of glistening black bugs flowed down the walls to the crab, crawling on it and covering it. Not wanting to be the next meal of the bugs, she hurriedly ran out of the cave through the arch. With nowhere else to go, she began to head in the direction of the humanoid settlement.
*
REV
Grenta, Rev, and Bris ran out of the lust cavern as fast as they could. The miners were following.
Rev looked back and saw the miners had dangerous looking instruments that they were waving 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 miner’s 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 pile-up of bodies at the entrance to the mine caused the others to stop.
“Come on,” said Bris. He began to run in the direction of the transport. He touched a section 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!”
Rev didn’t hear what Jaal replied, but Bris nodded as if Jaal could see him.
“Come on,” he motioned with his arms. Bris ran faster then, and Grenta and Rev could do nothing else but follow. Behind them, a group of miners pursued them in their truck, and they were gaining on the fleeing men. The loud thrum of a ship filled the air. When Rev looked up, he saw the transport descending slowly.
Suddenly, the transport dropped to the ground and the hatch opened. The gangplank was already extended. Bris ran up the gangplank, and Rev and Grenta followed. As soon as they were on the ship, Jaal pulled the ship into the air, leaving the gangplank and hatch dangling until the ship was higher than the miners could reach.
Grenta sunk to the floor of the transport, clutching his chest. Jaal was piloting the transport. The ride was rocky, and Rev had to hang onto a grab bar to keep from getting tossed to the deck himself. When he looked out of a hatch window, he saw that Jaal kept the ship close to the ground.
The transport stopped, and Jaal put the vehicle on autopilot. Jaal came out of the pilot’s cabin with a scowl on his face.
“What in hells happened, Bris? Cax?” He glared at the two men.
“That other Terran,” said Grenta. “Her conversion broke down amazingly fast.”
“That is not an excuse. Where is the money?”
“They kept putting us off. They wanted to party first,” said Bris.
“What! How many kinds of idiot are you? Did you at least SEE any money?”
The captain could deduce the answer by looking at the men’s faces.
“Fuck!” Jaal kicked the bulkhead. He set his jaw and stared at the three men.
“Then we’ll go get it,” said Jaal. “We didn’t come all this way to get taken advantage of.”
“But captain,” said Bris.
“No but captain!” said Jaal. “I’m not leaving here without my money, and if that means killing every last one of these bastard miners, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Rev turned his head away. This was not good, not good at all. He imagined that Jaal would order them to hit the miner’s camp hard. These ship men would not care who they had to kill, but Rev couldn’t do it. He was a licensed space cop AND he would lose his chance to retrieve Tracy. This loss of life went against everything he believed in.
Jaal stared at Rev carefully. “Will you have a problem with this, Cax?”
“Yes,” said Rev. “We aren’t likely to get other business if we start killing our clients.”
“Our business is cooked if word gets out that we are selling counterfeit wives.”
“What makes you think that people aren’t suspicious now? These miners were very reluctant to give us money. They were WAITING to see if the goods were was descried, and their suspicions were confirmed by Grenta’s sloppy work.”
“My sloppy work!” protested Grenta. “You were right there next to me. Everything was done by the normal procedure.”
“Maybe you overestimated the Terran’s ability to convert. The first one was a failure, and the second one failed within a few hours of conversion.”
Rev realized he was fighting a losing battle about the miners. He thought that, at the minimum, he would be able to stop the abduction of women from Earth. Whether or not he could figure out a way to save the miners and their captive wives was another problem altogether.
“Enough,” said Jaal holding up his hands. “Arguing won’t solve our problems. The way I see it, these miners are going to report us at the first opportunity. That is, if we let them. We’re going in after them, and we’ll leave no witnesses. Understood?”