by Calista Skye
There must be fifteen of the creatures, and they all look the same.
“He’s a hive,” Bleep helpfully explains. “He might look like several beings, but he sees himself as just one.”
The room erupts in deafening scraping sounds as the crickets rub their long insect legs together.
“As far as I can tell,” Bleep says, “he will breed you right away.”
I give a dry laugh. “Those things can’t breed with me. Different species, Bleep. You should get your organics straight.”
“Oh, he can breed with any female. Very versatile species. He just needs a womb and ovaries to take his seed.”
The crickets gather around me and start poking into my flesh with their cold tentacles and antennae, staring at me with their dead compound eyes.
“Bleep, seriously. You can’t do this to me.”
“Already did, sweetie. Um. There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“He will definitely breed you. Which is good! The thing is that the offspring of these things have a special way of gestating.”
I try to swat the insect tentacles away, but my hands are tied and it’s pretty ineffective. “Such as?”
“Apparently, the brood will eat the mother from the inside. To gain nourishment while they grow. So the mother always dies.”
At this point, death holds a certain appeal for me. But that doesn’t sound like a good way to go. “You’re kidding.”
More cricket noises fill the room, and Bleep has to raise her voice. “But they also say that the brood will keep the mother alive for as long as possible while this is going on. That’s good news!”
The crickets suddenly take their tentacles off of me and attach metal shackles to my ankles and wrists. My neck is released from the wall, and then I find myself in the middle of the hive, being held up and marched out of the room.
“Okay,” Bleep calls after me. “I have to get back into the Competition. Don’t worry! Eight million will keep me in the running just fine! And I might mention you in my victory speech. Thanks again!”
Surrounded by huge insects, I’m marched through the space station, and hardly anyone turns an eye or appendage my way. This is just business as usual here.
I don’t have the energy to resist anymore. It’s all I can do to stay on my feet, even if the insects hold me up.
The corridors get narrow, and then we go through an airlock and I’m no longer in a corridor. The walls look like chaotic fibers held together with glue as if we’re inside a bird’s nest or a wasp nest.
This has to be the cricket spaceship. The light is bright green everywhere, and there’s a permeating stench of trash.
The crickets put me inside a round cage that looks most of all like a huge basket woven from meat fibers. It’s sticky to the touch.
I curl up as far inside the cage as I can.
The weird ship shakes once as it undocks from the space station. It crosses my mind that only Bleep knows where I am, and she’s not going to help me.
She pretty much condemned me to death.
I have to escape.
I have to escape.
I have to escape!
- - -
I wake up with a jolt, then remember where I am.
Shit.
I have no idea how I even fell asleep in this nightmarish cage after all that’s happened. The only reason I’m not going crazy is that a part of my mind just refuses to think that this can be real. My brain hasn’t had the time to catch up with all the alien stuff that’s happened.
But it is real. And I have no reason to doubt Bleep’s description of how my captors will breed me. Or try to breed me.
Three crickets come into the room, walking on strong, green legs, but also gliding along the floor.
They come all the way up to the cage, and I draw away from them. But it’s a small cage, and when they stick two long antennas into the cage, I can’t stop them touching me.
They make their cricket noises as if talking to me, but I have no idea what they’re saying, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.
Strong and hard insect claws shoot into the cage from each side, grab my arms and legs, and hold me still. I try to escape the grip, but the claws don’t budge much.
Then a sharp tentacle punctures the skin on my thigh, stays there for a moment, and then withdraws. At the same time, the claws let go of me, and I collapse to the floor of the cage.
A searing heat spreads from my leg and all over me, then subsides.
I scream in horror, having a strong feeling that I was just injected with something. Fuck, maybe that’s how they’ll breed me and I’m now full of cricket seed that will eat me from the inside!
The crickets don’t leave the room, but stand around it like guards, not moving.
I can feel insanity lurking around the edges of my consciousness. If these guys had been human, or something like it, it would have been different. But they’re clearly aliens, so weird and horrific that it’s too big for my brain to process.
Damn, it’s hot in here. Do I have a fever? And why do I feel so empty? And itchy? Especially there…
Despite the insects probably staring at me with their compound eyes, I let a hand slide down to my crotch. It’s very hot down there. And itchy, in a pleasant way. I slide the hand over the slit, and it comes back soaked.
The other hand seeks out my breasts, all by itself. There’s definitely a tingling sensation there now. I wish I had three arms so I could stroke both nipples and my pussy at the same time.
I rub my pussy harder and faster, but I can get no relief. I need something inside!
Waves of tingling heat roll through me.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this horny. It feels almost unnatural—
In a flash, it hits me: The injection! They injected me with something to make me this horny. They must be preparing to breed me right now. Probably the purpose is not to make me horny, but to prepare my body for accepting the alien seed and conceiving with it. The arousal is just a side effect. God, what will that offspring look like?
As I finish the thought, more crickets come into the room until I’m pretty sure all fifteen are there. Yeah, this is breeding time. After all, why should they wait?
An icicle of terror shoots down my spine at the thought of what’s going to happen. At the same time, I’m getting more and more horny. Rubbing my pussy doesn’t do anything but make it worse — I know I can’t get relief that way. I need to be fucked!
I’m vaguely aware that the crickets outside have taken off the shrouds that concealed their lower parts. I can understand why they’d keep that hidden — they’re pretty much worms from the waist down. Half crickets, half earthworms.
And they’re clearly ready for this. I see hard little tentacles standing out where the worm part meets the cricket part. They look like fishhooks, and they’re dripping with something.
The sight both horrifies and intrigues me. What would it feel like?
I shake my head. No. No! That’s the alien injection speaking! I have to get out of this. I have to!
The crickets open the door to the cage and stand back, clearly waiting for me to come out.
I really want to. I want to get out there, put my ass up and be fucked.
No! I don’t!
But I do. I want to be taken by those fifteen cricket worms.
No! Resist. Think of being eaten from the inside by tiny maggots-slash-crickets!
Mmm. I wonder what that would feel like. It would probably tingle just right—
No! Stop it!
The ship suddenly judders, and I’m thrown out of the cage and onto the floor, right in front of the crickets.
They start making those noises again, dry and penetrating and painful to the ears.
They draw closer.
I’ll just put my naked butt in the air for them.
No!
Look at their stiff things there. They’ll make my pussy feel sooo good...
It will kill me. I want to live!
I can’t get away. Why resist? Why not just enjoy it?
I slap myself in the face, trying to snap out of it. But whichever chemical they injected me with, it’s strong. My vision is going blurry, and it’s starting to feel like my whole body is just one big pussy, dripping and ready to be bred.
With a final burst of willpower, I curl up on the floor, hugging my knees.
“No,” I can hear myself mewling. “No. No.”
The cricket worms slither closer in a tightening circle. I can feel their tentacles on my skin.
Then the whole room just explodes.
33
- Brox -
I’m barely able to walk through the alien ship in my ordinary form. The total rage is just under the surface, simmering with murderous intent and creating a green tinge around everything I look at.
Then I break into the last room and see Althea on the floor among the Ypp. They’re obviously ready to impregnate her.
The rage flows through me like a wave of boiling rocket fuel. The change to Combat form has never happened this fast before.
And still, I retain some degree of control. That has also never happened before. This is not an ordinary battlefield There is something precious in this room. Something that must not be harmed, not at any cost.
The Ypp are deceptively good fighters, despite their half-worm bodies. They react as one and strike with their sharp spears from every angle.
And still, in my Combat form I tear through them as if they were made from wet paper. All the while taking care to not harm that breathtakingly delicate thing in their midst.
It always feels wonderful to let the rage loose and massacre my enemies. But this time, it’s just unspeakably glorious. My rational mind is still in control, and somehow that heightens the sensations and the glee and the feeling of power to previously unimaginable levels. This is more than war. This is more than battle. This has a purpose larger than that. Much larger.
This is important.
Suddenly, there are no enemies left.
Still in Combat form, I lift the naked Althea in my arms.
“Fuck me,” she mewls. “Just take me. Please. In your monster form.”
I carry her back to the Glup ship I’ve commandeered, gently set her down on the floor, and set course for her home system, making sure to push the Ypp ship in the direction of the nearest star, where that hideous thing will hopefully burn up.
Then I break off the terrible metal collar someone has placed around her neck.
Only then do I choose to return to my ordinary form. I’m in control of it now.
“Fuck me,” Althea begs when I sit down close to her. She grabs my arm with both of hers. “I need your cock in me. Please.”
Her dark eyes are glassy and feverish.
Just being this close to her turns me on. And her words, too. But the breeding processes of the Ypp are known throughout the galaxy. They’re all male, but they can procreate with any female of any species. But they have to prepare her first. The Ypp injection is extremely feared. It usually means death for any female. Except, apparently, this one. Holy Nutg’ir’x, she’s spectacular!
“Later,” I promise. “I’m not sure this is a good time for you.”
“It’s the best time,” she assures me with great sincerity. “I need it, and I want it. With those crickets, I didn’t want it at all. With you, I do want it. With all of me.”
“The Ypp sprayed something into you that makes any female unreliable,” I explain. “I won’t mate with you until the effect has subsided. Anything else would be… hm. Remember how you told me some things are just wrong? This feels like that. But I can help you alleviate the pain of it. You like the tongue, yes?”
“Oh God, yes,” she gasps in anticipation, bucking her hips.
I lay her on her back, sit between her legs, lift her by the backs of her knees, spread her open, and bring her pussy to my mouth.
She starts climaxing at the first touch of her wet, swollen slit. And then she keeps going with one orgasm after the other as her juices drip from the corners of my mouth.
Finally I deem that any more would be unwise.
I let her lie on my chest while the aftershocks tremble through her.
“That helped,” she sighs. “I could still kill to get your cock inside me, though. In your monster form, Brox.”
“That would kill you,” I state, at the same time feeling my cock jump to attention. Fucking while in Combat form, in a state of pure sensation and dominance — the idea is dangerously attractive.
“You could never hurt me,” Althea purrs. “In any of your forms.”
“That is an extraordinarily suicidal thought,” I say. “The Combat form is difficult to control.”
“Looked like you controlled it just fine when you killed those crickets. You were a whirlwind of violence in that small room, but you never once got close to me. I’ve never felt so safe.”
My cock is straining against my pants, and I have to change the subject. “Do you know where Bleep went?”
“To continue the Competition alone. Do you know she sold me at a slave auction? She got eight million for me.”
The rage flows back. “I know. Don’t worry. We’ll get her. I think I know where she is. We’re in pursuit right now.”
“It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. I was about to go insane. And she said if the crickets bred me, their brood would eat me from inside.”
“It would,” I confirm through clenched teeth. “I’ll crush that Bleep like a bug.”
“You might have to fight her. She’s in some kind of robot body.”
“I know it,” I growl. “I got that for her.”
“Umm,” Althea says. “I just want to ask…”
“Yes?”
“When you fight her, you’ll be in your monster form, right? Can I watch?”
“Watch me fight Bleep?”
Althea gasps, and her body twitches on top of me as another mild climax passes through her. “Yeah. It’s just… when you’re a monster… it’s so fucking hot.”
I scratch my chin. “I’ve never heard anyone say that before. Well, we’ll see.”
She lies still for a while, and I enjoy the weight of her and the scent and the warmth and the fast rhythm of her breathing. Prey, a primal part of me says.
Maybe. But very special prey.
After a while, she turns around so she’s lying on her stomach on top of me, allowing her to look up at my face. “Brox.”
“Yes?”
“Is this a spaceship?”
“It is.”
“Is it yours?”
“Yes.”
“It’s kind of creepy. With all the black stuff and the sharp angles and the cobwebs everywhere.”
“It’s the Glup ship.”
“Oh. They gave it to you?”
“They left it on the surface. There was one Glup left. I convinced him to let me have it.”
She strokes one finger along the edge of one gill, making it tickle. “Did you... kill him?”
“No.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
I place a hand on her head and let it infiltrate her long fur. “I let him come with me to Bununun Orbital. It was the closest station with a slave market. He voluntarily left the ship when we got there. But only after he had contacted the Competition referee and withdrawn the Glup from the Competition, as well as withdrawing any protest his team may have filed against my team. The Glup are tough when many, but cowards when only one. Then I asked around the station for information about you. It took me about three minutes to get the whole story. Apparently, you put on an extraordinary show at the auction.”
“I was trying to act crazy so nobody would bid for me. Didn’t work.”
“Oh, your craziness is an act?” I deadpan.
For a moment, she’s quiet. Then she punches my almost completely healed shoulder with a small fist. “You horrible man!
Don’t tease me at a time like this. Actually, yes. That craziness was an act. But the craziness that makes me feel good here with you, an alien who has whipped and abducted and punishment-fucked me, is pretty real. Yeah, you’re right. I must be totally crazy. Shit, I even feel safe right now. Just commit me.”
“I think you are probably safe. As long as you don’t provoke my Combat form. It is very dangerous. Now I should check if we’re catching up with Bleep.”
I try to lift Althea off me, but she resists and clings to my chest. “Hey, monster man.”
“What?”
“Thank you for coming after me.”
I kiss her long head fur, enjoying the scent. “There’s just something about you.”
As if any other course of action had ever crossed my mind.
I find some rags that Althea can use to cover herself with, and she fashions them into a wrap of sorts. I would love to see her in nicer garments, but that will have to wait.
The instruments show that Bleep’s little saucer is not far away. As I suspected, she’s going straight for the nearest place where she can get the fuel she needs. Robots are many things. Gifted at deception is not one of them.
Her ship is fast, but this Glup ship is in another league entirely. It almost makes me wonder how we were able to do so well in the Competition against them.
I give her a warning shot with the ship’s ray guns, and then when she doesn’t slow down and just tries to evade, I shoot a net at the ship and pull it in.
I extend a boarding tunnel, burn a hole in the saucer’s dented hull, and march in, not trying to stop Althea from following.
“Bleep!” I shout so the ship vibrates. “Get out here!”
34
- Althea -
He has a powerful voice, Brox. And I swear the air shakes like water in a glass when he shouts like that.
It’s fine, though. He’s mad as hell.
I look around the saucer. There’s a sack that I think contains money. The money she got for me.
The gun is gone, but my pack is still there. I open it and take out the glass jar with the nanogel tube inside. I want it safe.
I wonder how she made that sheer suit she got me. Because this wrap I got from the Glup ship doesn’t smell so good.