Mutationem

by Phoenix Jericho

  Leea had a contented look on her face, lustful but sweet, and it was mirrored in Brooke’s eyes. Brooke was inexperienced and awkward, but her body responded to Leea. Leea hungered for more, and she began to grind harder on Brooke’s clit. Brooke moaned, and Leea encouraged her to moan louder and freer, and to give in to the pressure building between her legs.

  “Cum for me, baby. Cum for me!” Leea moaned.

  Leaning forward, Leea took one of Brooke’s nipples in her mouth and then the other, still grinding on the clit. The new angle allowed Leea’s clit to come into contact with Brooke’s. Soon both clits were rubbing against each other.

  The vaginal secretions just before climax are thick and wet, and if you had your tongue down there, you could taste the difference just before it floods, like a reward of deep nectar only released upon orgasm.

  Leea was breathing heavily. She wanted to let go but held it. She wanted to cum with Brooke, but Brooke’s clit was driving her nuts. If she altered her rhythm, it would throw Brooke off, but if she continued, she would cum. It was utter ecstasy.

  Then her experience kicked in as a lover and she bit Brooke’s nipple; it was sudden and painful and unexpected. The trigger fired, and Brooke arched her back and screamed like she never had before. It was hard and intense; her whole body shook and convulsed, and she felt it both in her clit and deep in her vagina. Brooke had never had an orgasm in both places at once. Leea had timed it perfectly.

  Rubbing their two sensitive clits together as they held each other, Leea kissed Brooke deeply. They lay in that position for a long time wrapped around each other.

  Whispering in Leea’s ear, Brooke said softly, “I think I like the breeding cave.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  The laser traced a yellow line across the abdominal wall, which soon turned a dark crimson. It only went through the skin, and not into the fat or muscle layers below. The burnt tissue’s odor was vacuumed off, but you could still smell the charred flesh. The Surgbot retracted the incision and the yellow laser cut through the fatty adipose layer; this layer smelled worse, similar to a fatty steak on a grill. The yellow human fat was about an inch thick; another set of Surgbot retractors pulled this open as well. This last laser cut revealed the white fascia over the abdominal muscles. Again the yellow laser made a cut and pierced the tissue. This was also retracted, revealing the abdominal cavity.

  Pickle was on a stainless steel gurney with medical airway tubing going into her mouth for general anesthesia. The Surgbot looked like a sinister praying mantis, making slow movements as it hunched over the sleeping section commander. Watching it would have made most people shudder, but not Connie. She was proud of the Surgbot; it was her baby. She had developed it on Earth with the aid of a large government grant and a generous donation from an anonymous donor. The last remaining Surgbot had just implanted both fallopian tubes in Pickle, and was now placing the sutures so precisely that they looked like a fine seam sewn in a piece of linen.

  Just then the doors in Med Bay opened and in came Captain Kriss. “How is our patient?”

  “Everything went fine. We should be harvesting her eggs on the next cycle.”

  “Great,” said Kriss. “I have something I want to discuss with you.”

  “What is it, sir?”

  “It’s your protein powder blend. I quizzed Spuds on her cookies and she directed me to you,” said Kriss, pointing a finger at Connie.

  Connie started to speak, but Kriss cut her off.

  “I know what that blend was. Off the record, thank you. It was great for the crew to forget their problems and be happy. On the record, I better never see a single plant or you will be locked up in the Hole,” Kriss said with a wink. Saluting, the captain left Med Bay.

  I better hide the evidence, Connie thought with a grin as she went over to the fume hood. Flicking on the fan, she lit up a big fat one and exhaled, watching the blue smoke spiraling overhead.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  “Today we are honoring one of our own. Someone who has gone further than the call of duty, someone who knew we were in danger, someone who wasn’t frozen with fear but rather was driven with a loyalty to the rest of the crew and her ship,” said Captain Kriss. “Dozer, I clip this Medal of Honor onto your neck and salute you. You saved us all by sensing the danger lurking in the gas halo. With the power vested in me as the ship’s captain, you are granted all rights as a fellow section commander. You will now have access to every meeting and location this honored position affords.”

  Leaning down, Kriss wrapped the black titanium chain made by Merc around Dozer’s neck. She snapped the latch shut and positioned it so that the silver cross hung perfectly centered on the cat’s chest. Standing back, Kriss took it all in and nodded her head in approval. Her dad’s medal looked good on Dozer. He would have been proud that it had been passed on for such an important occasion. It was one of the few things Kriss still had of her father’s. It looked better on that damn cat than in the box in her quarters.

  There was a round of applause from all who were present in her command chamber: Smitty, Susanna, Libby, Dozer, and herself. The captain had decided to make it a private event to keep the rest of the crew unaware of the danger that had almost destroyed them. Reaching down, she patted Dozer on his head.

  Dozer seemed quite bored with the whole situation. To him, he had only done what was necessary to protect his pride. These silly humans and their awards. What Dozer really wanted was to get back to that black patch of fur in Med Bay.

  “Everyone is dismissed,” Kriss barked.

  The stainless steel doors had just closed when in walked Connie and Merc.

  “What is it?” snapped the captain.

  “We think we have good news, sir,” they both said in unison.

  “Out with it!”

  “The ship is going the speed of light,” said Connie.

  “That’s right, sir. We have reached the speed of light quicker than we had estimated,” said Merc. “That means we will get to A-64 sooner.”

  Both commanders beamed.

  “How much sooner?”

  “Well, I had originally calculated that it would take six years, but now it will only take six more months,” said Merc.

  “Incredible! We left Earth only ten months ago,” said Captain Kriss.

  “It’s really scary as shit, sir,” said Merc. “No one on board is certified to fire a bolt gun, we aren’t acclimated to the increased gravity of the planet, and—”

  “Shut up,” cut in the captain. “Smitty will whip the crew into shape, and Merc, you better get live-fire demos up and get this crew ready to protect themselves. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” said both Connie and Merc.

  “Also, Connie, what kind of nasty diseases do you anticipate? Do you think we should pick one crew woman to do a little recon, then quarantine her and see if anything happens?”

  “I think that would be a good idea, sir,” said Connie.

  I wonder who I should nominate, thought Kriss.

  Chapter Fifty

  Carefully Sophi spun the dial counterclockwise; the spring in the dial added tension to the rotating dial till it braked so hard it stopped. With a satisfied grunt, Sophi grabbed the large, radiating, spoked handles below the dial and twisted them to the right. This made a heavy metallic sound as all twenty-four locking bolts retracted into the vault door. Pulling outward, the large vault swung open on its four oiled hinges.

  Merc and Sophi had made the giant steel vault to house the weapons; it was the ship’s new armory. As soon as the door completely opened, a flickering row of overhead fluorescent lights came on automatically, revealing rows of bolt guns standing up on racks from the ceiling to the floor on two walls. They were held in place with Velcro straps that secured the weapon but allowed easy removal in an emergency. Each gun’s battery pack was plugged in,
and the glow of their green lights lit the walls, indicating they were fully charged. Merc and Sophi also had four heavy laser weapons mounted on bases on an opposing wall, with four bolt guns mounted on large bases as well. In the last three weeks, Engineering had built a complete arsenal for the ship.

  A crew woman let out a low whistle in amazement. Turning toward the noise, Sophi said, “Sign your names as you come up and receive a weapon.”

  The line was long. Captain Kriss had made an address over the ship’s PA that all on board must head to Engineering for mandatory weapons training. Anyone not qualified at the end of the day would have to meet with her personally in the captain’s quarters. The crew respected Kriss, but they also knew she could be a demon when provoked. No one wanted to not qualify.

  After each woman got a weapon, they lined up in groups of ten.

  “All right, ladies, pay attention,” yelled Smitty. Smitty stood in front of the women with her legs shoulder-width apart. She had her space helmet and visor removed so that the crew could better see her.

  “I’m going to teach you how to operate this new personal weapons system. Repeat after me,” she yelled. “The most dangerous weapon on board is your brain.”

  Everyone yelled back at her what she had just said.

  “Good,” yelled Smitty. “Now if your brain is trained properly, it can kill. Do you understand me, ladies?”

  Everyone bellowed back, “Yes, sir.”

  “I can tell I have some smart bitches on board,” barked Smitty. “This is what a highly disciplined brain can do.”

  Reaching over her shoulder, she grasped the butt of the stock of the hidden bolt gun on her back, pulled it out over her head, and dropped and spun at the same time. Bringing the holographic sight up to both eyes, she aimed the laser at a five-gallon bucket twenty-five yards away and sprayed it with short automatic bursts. The bucket danced across the floor until it was riddled with holes. Glowing red like a flaming meteor, it cooled to a black hunk of disfigured metal.

  “Ladies, hold your weapon out in front of you and aim it at the floor. Treat all weapons as loaded even if they aren’t. I don’t want any accidents,” yelled Smitty. “First, this is the trigger. Always keep your finger out of it until you have acquired a target and wish to fire. You will notice a selector switch above the trigger on the side of the weapon. Flip it now. Flip it up and you will see a red number one stamped on the receiver directly above the selector. The signifies single fire only. Now flip the selector down. You will notice it points to a red number eight. That really isn’t an eight, but rather an infinity symbol. This position is full auto, and if you hold the trigger down without letting up, you will empty the entire magazine. If you pull and release the trigger like I just did, you will have eight to ten short bursts until the seventy-five-round mag is empty. This method won’t empty the whole magazine at once, will help conserve ammo, and will allow you to take out more targets.

  “Next, see this button just in front of the trigger? It’s the safety. Push it into the weapon from the selector side of the receiver. Notice it is now flush with the receiver on that side. Now flip the weapon over and look at the other side of the receiver. You will see the safety button is protruding out of the receiver, and if you look closely, you will see the exposed pin shaft is painted red. Red means hot; the weapon is ready to fire. Now push the pin back in. It will protrude out of the selector side of the receiver. Notice the pin shaft is painted black, and this color means safe.

  “The last button is in the base of the stock at the rear of the weapon. Use your index finger and depress it. This releases the magazine. Notice it pops out. It is under spring pressure to aid in mag changes. Conversely, when you insert a loaded mag, it must lock in completely or that same spring will dump the mag. Practice this over and over. In the heat of battle, I don’t want one of you dying because of a sloppy mag change. Understand?” said Smitty in a commanding voice.

  “Yes, sir,” yelled back her recruits.

  “Very good. The last thing you need to know about is the battery. If it’s got a green steady light, it’s fully charged. If it’s a flashing green light, you need to either charge it or replace it like an empty mag. For today’s practice, you will notice all weapons are set for the lowest battery setting. We don’t want a hull breach. Also, everyone’s RFID chip is electronically set to only allow the lowest power setting. As you each become more proficient in the use of the weapon, these settings will be changed as deemed fit by the captain. But that will only happen once we have landed on A-64. We want no hull breaches.

  “Sighting is obvious. Bring the weapon up, look through the holographic sight, and put the red dot on what you want to hit. When you pull the trigger, a targeting laser is activated and paints the target. Okay, now go over to that table and exchange your empty mags for loaded ones and then return to the line.”

  Walking down the newly reformed line, Smitty stopped at the end. “Soldier, shoulder your weapon, look through the sight, and acquire your target. When you have the red dot on it, push the safety from the left to the right side, breathe in slowly, and as you exhale, squeeze the trigger.”

  Immediately, there was a full auto burst. The noise of impact frightened the woman and caused her to jerk the barrel up and continue firing.

  Slapping the woman on the back of her head, Smitty yelled, “Short bursts only! You see that giant blue mat attached to the wall behind your target? It absorbs the bolts so we can reuse them, and keeps them from ricocheting off the hull and killing someone. Focus!”

  Going down the line, Smitty watched everyone till she was finally instructing the last line of recruits. In it were Connie and Spuds, the least ideal recruits any army would have guarding it. One would drop a mag by accident, then a battery, and then try to replace them in the wrong locations.

  Smitty was tired and her voice was getting hoarse. Soon she couldn’t scream anymore and turned red in the face. Raising her hand over her head, she gave the universal sign that she was giving up and exited Engineering. Both ladies stopped and turned towards each other.

  “I think we did pretty damn well,” said Connie.

  “I agree,” said Spuds. “At least we didn’t kill anyone.”

  All of the bolt guns were returned to the armory and signed back in. All except one.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Hiccup’s eyes were starting to open. At first they were knifelike slits, and all you could see was the dark, slick surface of the eye. But as each day passed, the slits opened until the dark interior was revealed and the darkness turned blue. Not just any shade of blue, but a beautiful bright aqua.

  Hiccup was eating her sixth eye dropper full of milk and was no longer timid about it. She knew what it was now and wanted to be fed every three hours like clockwork. As Connie wiped the kitten’s face with a warm cloth, Hiccup lived up to her name twice and purred. Connie gave Hiccup a kiss on her head and looked into her eyes. For an instant the kitten did the same.

  Placing the struggling bundle up under her chin, Connie could feel its breath on her neck. Buttoning up her space suit collar to hide her precious cargo, Connie walked out of Med Bay. Reaching the garden, Connie entered unobserved. She walked over to where she had cut her pot plants down and looked to make sure there were no incriminating sprouts poking up out of the soil. With a satisfied look, she observed none.

  Connie wasn’t taking Captain Kriss’s words lightly. She knew the captain would throw her ass into the Hole if she got caught. The next time she planted her seeds, it would be on A-64. She contemplated whether she would have enough pot to last the next six months. If she and Merc had miscalculated, she would run out. She might have to ration her stash till then.

  She found her way through the garden to the moon pond. Sitting down, she unzipped her space suit and pulled Hiccup off of her neck. The kitten had her little claws dug into Connie’s skin. With some coaxing, the kitte
n relaxed her grip, and Connie wrapped her up in her discarded suit.

  Connie felt sticky and hot, so she dangled her legs into the cool gel. Hearing a slight meow from behind, Connie turned to the direction of the noise. As her eyes came to rest on her piled-up space suit, she noticed the back end of Dozer running away with a dark object in his mouth.

  “Dozer, you damn cat, stop!” yelled Connie. Swinging her legs up and out of the pond, she ran as fast as she could after the cat. But Connie was in no shape to catch up with the athletic strides of the large animal. Soon he disappeared from sight.

  Connie’s maternal instincts were in extreme panic mode. She had just lost her baby. Screaming at the top of her lungs for Dozer to stop, she ran naked down the hall.

  Lunging around a corner, Connie ran full tilt into a smaller crew woman and sent her spinning into the wall. The woman cracked her leg on the metal handrail and let out a scream of surprise.

  From the track in the gym, Captain Kriss saw Connie looking through the entrance with a confused look on her face.

  “Don’t just stand there. Get your ass in here, Commander,” yelled Kriss. “It’s about damn time. I thought I was going to have to get Smitty to drag you in here.”

  Connie timidly inched her way into the gym. She was never naked around people, and it made her extremely nervous.

  “If you want your crew to follow your lead, you have to lead by example. Now get your white snowman ass over here and run with me,” barked the captain.

  With uncertain steps, Connie made her way onto the track. The captain was already a third of the way around it. Connie never ran; she only did one time on Earth after stumbling upon a hornet’s nest buried in the ground.

  A loud smack on her ass brought her to her senses. Before Connie could say a thing, Smitty said, “Get your ass running. You heard the captain.”