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You calmly pull your softening dick out of Kida and put it back in your pants as you stand up. A plop of semen falls from her snatch as her gaping womb tries to return to its normal size. Well, after the punishment you gave it, it will be gaping for a while, you supposed.

“Ah, I was just acquiring my victory boon, is all.”

The bitch is staring wide-eyed and is nearly shaking in either fury or shock. “V-v-victory boon!”

You nod calmly. “Yes, well, it’s custom from where I’m from to take the weapon of the person you defeat. Is that not something you guys do?”

The bitch twitches a bit. “I-I’ve heard of things like that… but…”

“So, you know, I defeated Kida, and what do you know, she doesn’t use a sword or a dagger. She fights with her body? Right?”

“Y-yes… but…”

“So… that’s all there is to it. She fought with her body, so naturally, when I defeated her, her body becomes mine. Right?”

“I-I… No! Even if that is a custom, that’s not okay. Kida isn’t even awake!”

“Ah, well, I was just offering a kindness.”

“A kindness?” the bitch asks incredulously.

“Of course! If Kida has to face the humiliation of handing over her only weapon, her body, do you think it’d be more damaging for her while she’s awake and conscious and aware of it, or do you think she’d be relieved to not remember any of it?”

“We… well… I guess when you put it that way…”

“Ah, huh, watching her there is getting me excited again, I might need to go again.”

“Wait! Again! Bu-but you already had her?”

“Huh?” you respond, giving her a strange look. “If I won someone’s sword, would I engage in a fight with it and then hand it back to him after one use?”

The bitch freezes, not able to come up with any word of protest. So, instead, you pull out your dick and return back to your knees.

“W-wait! N-no! You can’t do that to Kida!”

“Well, she’s mine, so I can do whatever I want with her!”

You give an evil grin as you turn away from the bitch, but a moment later you hear a sound. It’s mumbled so you can barely understand it, but your grin deepens.

“What was that? Speak louder?”

“T-t-take me… instead…” As she spoke, the volume in her voice decreased.

Since she walked into the room, you realized that this was the direction things were heading. Right away, you realized the bitches dirty little secret. As she was in the room, her eyes kept darting back to Kida, looking at her, butt in air, pussy gaping open. Each time she did, her breath would quicken slightly. Unable to keep her eyes off the scene, you realized the horrible truth. The bitch was a total lesbian. She was in love with Kida, and, if your guess is right, it was one of those one-sided loves.

“Eh? You want to exchange yourself for Kida? But, I already have Kida, and she’s strong, and beautiful, and top tier. You’re just some bitchy secretary? She’s like a finally toned sword. You’re like a butter knife.”

The bitches hands are tight, and she is breathing rapidly as she tries to think her way threw things. “Yes… but, even so… a butter knife can do… a lot of things… that a sword can’t.”

“Huh?” You demand. “What you mean by that?”

She lowers her head more. “Well, like… if you have a nice sword, you only use it for battle. You take care of it, because your life depends on it. But it’s ultimately… too… too valuable, so you can’t really do anything with it. But a butter knife, you can take it and use it and do whatever you want with it. If it gets nicked or damaged, who cares… so you don’t feel bad about using it… for whatever.”

You finally pull away from Kida and stand back up. “My, my… are you saying that I can use you? For whatever?”

Her lips quiver and she openly wears fear on her face, but she still speaks. “Y-yes… if you take me instead of Kida, then use this body for whatever you want.”

Well… what an interesting development you have here.

In Color

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You’re not completely awful. Of course, you modified and perfected your spy magic, so you quickly ascertain her health. She is unconsciousness, but not seriously injured. She is also disease free, although that would only be a temporary deterrent when dealing with these kinds of things.

Well, that sounds perfectly fine then. You whistle to yourself as you line your cock up with her waiting pussy. Your motions stop for a second as it occurs to you that this might be morally reprehensible, but you chuckle and wave those thoughts away.

This was a completely different world than the one you were born in. It wasn’t nearly as progressive. It was a dog eat dog world, and in a place where there a literal demons and monsters, this hardly seemed that detestable. Ah, she’s tight! Well, that’s not particularly surprising either. You had made substantial improvements since you went to this world. It was just over a foot long and the thickness was somewhere around the size of a coke can now.

It takes a few strokes before your able to get it in. A little bit of blood leaks down her leg. Well, she was a virgin, it seemed, but that’s not particularly special to you anymore. Fortunately, her body was the kind of body that liked big dick, you could tell because as soon as you get it in she started getting very wet. Either that, or she pee’d herself when you knocked her unconscious. Either way, you are thrusting away with a grunt in short order.

Being unconscious, it’s not like she offers particularly much to the table. You grab onto that ass, and perhaps for the first time you gained a true appreciation for having junk in the trunk. The other girls, from tinys to princesses, didn’t particularly have shapely hips. Other than the Queen, Merida had the shapeliest hips and you had yet to break her in. However, there was something very appealing to having something large and round, with tons of cushion to enjoy it for the pushing.

It’s not that she has an abnormally fat ass, she was quite muscular, but she was a very large woman, and that translated to her ass as well. This meant you have a lot of grip, and as you put your hands on her hips, you can get some pretty hard thrusting in there, which feels wet and comfortable.

You confirm she likes big dick, because she is dripping wet down to the point that each thrust makes a wet sliding sound. It is running down between her legs now and forming a puddle under her knees. Furthermore, her mouth has opened, and she is breathing hard. You wonder if she is having a sex dream right now, and weather that dream is about you or not.

Curious, you assemble a dream invasion spell and check it out. As you pound away at her, you can’t help but laugh at the sight of her dream. Simple minded as always, she’s dreaming she’s fighting a monster. Ah, but it’s a tentacle monster, and it’s currently violating her all over. You take control of her dream, and start manipulating the tentacle monster. It wraps its tentacles around her tits, violating her as aggressively as possible. You match your thrusts with the tentacles pulsations, making the experience more vivid for her.

One tentacle shoves down her throat, and the girl herself starts coughing in her sleep as a result. You make the tentacle monster impossibly pleasurable, and watch excitedly as she continues to explode in orgasm after orgasm. This translates to real life, and her pussy immediately starts tightening on your cock over and over again as she lets out unconscious moans. She is definitely a squirter type, as liquid shoots out of her like a fountain. It’s pooling up her butt crack. It’s dripping on the floor. Her knees are already covered in a puddle over her own lust. Your pants will need to be laundered because they are drenched in sex.

Her constant stream of orgasms become all you can take, and grabbing onto those hips with a tight grip, you thrust as deep in her as your dick can go and let your hot jizz explode deep inside her.

“Hah, hah, hah…” you recatch your breath.

That went well. That was fun in a new way.

“W-w-what are you doing to the great Kida!” A voice suddenly shouts from behind you.

You look back to see the bitch receptionist from earlier. It turns out she had come in to see what was taking the pair of you. Ah, why does everyone have to be so problematic?

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Of course, adding a girl to your harem always needs to take a certain degree of finesse. However, this particular girl was barreling down at you at full speed. With the snap of a finger, you could turn her into a writhing mess desperate for your dick, but doing that would involve scooping out most of what makes her her.

Admittedly, you don’t know her, but when you have the powers of creation, you need to take individuality where you can. You could easily create a million mindless, identical sex dolls, but that just kills the fun of it.

Spiderman’s uncle was right, great power does come with great responsibility. If you used it wrong, you could quickly turn this entire experience into a borefest.

So instead, you decide a meatbrain like her properly admires strength over all else. Therefore, if you show yourself to be stronger than her, you’ll have already won her over and it won’t take all that much effort before she’s smothering you with those massive boobs.

They were larger than Merida’s even, although that’s a bit unfair. Proportionally, Merida’s boobs overtake her chest in a comical fashion that dwarfs the rest of her body. So, for her size, Merida’s moves are giant.

Meanwhile, this Kida’s boobs fit her body rather well, but her whole body is big. You wonder if that means her pussy is also big. Well, it will be a tight fit no matter how big she is, you’ll make certain of that.

Of course, while you talk about Kida being large, muscular, and single-minded… you wouldn’t even be a little interested in her if she was ugly. She’s not like a pro-wrestler large. Her body is well proportioned even. She’s muscular, but not like weight-lifting muscular. More like tennis player muscular.

However, she’s also seven feet tall, perhaps suggesting that she has some giant in her. Although, you don’t really know if giants exist in this world or not. Well, a giantess was right in front of you, so you are going with what your eyes tell you. Perhaps a dwarf girl will be in your future?

The best part of Kida was that she really had no shame. Her clothing was the best kind of exploitative. The kind of thing you’d dress Ariel and her mother in for nighttime fun. It was the Conan the barbarian type garb. A flimsy piece of cloth kept her massive boobs in check, but she had cleavage for miles. Similarly, the underwear covering her nethers was barely a step above a thong, her ass totally exposed. The most clothed part of her body was two fur armbands which covered her from wrist to elbow.

Ah! You spent too much time thinking about the giantess, she’s already sending those arms down in a bashing motion. She’s not using a weapon at all, so it’s likely she’s some kind of martial artist or pugilist. You hastily scramble together some magic that temporarily enhances your physical attributes by one hundred times. The blow hits and your feet buckle. You end up flying into the nearby wall.

Ouch, that hurt! Well, it’s not like you were exactly a powerful adventurer before you were teleported to this world. So, it seems like even a hundred times your power is still not powerful enough. However, the girl is looking at you as you stand up. You already used a healing spell to repair all of the damage, so even though it makes you look tough, you’re actually not struggling at all.

“Impressive.” Kida gives a grin as she sees you still standing. “Most adventurer’s don’t choose to fight me straight on.”

As you ramp the spell up to give yourself a thousand times your previous power, you make a mental note to create some kind of magic that will allow you to look at your status later. You honestly never sat around long enough to find out if this world was more classic fantasy or if it had video game mechanics, but with your magic, you figured you can artificially create game mechanics if you wanted to.

“So, how about this then!” She gives a shout and comes at you again while you are considering other things.

This time, you keep your hands out and prepare. While she speaks like she plans on doing something different, it appears like Kida is mostly just used to brute strength, so her attack is really just the same attack again. As a result, it is really easy to read, and as her hands fall down on your head with enough force to explode your skull if it had been pre-powers, you catch them with a clunk.

Her eyes widen in shock as you stop her attack in mid-flight. Not the kind of woman to come up with a contingency plan, she gives a grin and tries to force her arms down with her weight. However, 1000 times your original strength does the trick, and you are now far stronger than she is.

As she realizes that she really can’t barrel through you, her face starts to wear a confused look as she strains. Her breasts are heaving, beads of sweat running down that significant cleavage. Ah, you are caught staring! Well, let’s get out of this situation before she realizes you started to get an erection. You dive to the side and do a single strike.

With a thud, Kida goes flying across the room, crashing on the ground with a tumble. You wince at the result. One thousand times the force is apparently too strong. Even Kida couldn’t take that punch. Before you can walk over to check on her, the sight of her crouched over form causes you to freeze.

Incidentally, Kida has fallen down in a way where her butt is up in the air in your direction. Her flimsy body armor has been pushed to the side, and so you have a full view of Kida in all her glory from behind. Furthermore, she isn’t moving, which likely meant she is knocked out cold in that tempting position.

Well… something about lemons and lemonade, you suppose. You pull out your dick.

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“That is so.” You respond. “Should I show you my abilities?”

The receptionists sniffs and raises her chin. She actually has the audacity to look down on you. This bitch… Well, you aren’t just going to break and enslave her like the thief girls. You’re not a complete asshole. She probably has some place in this community. You aren’t jumping to make the entire adventurer’s guild an enemy just because of one bitch.

“I don’t care about your abilities. But if you really think you’re capable, then you need to be approved by our assistant guild master.”

The tone of her voice suggests that she expects this so-called “guild master” to school you. Her voice is also a little funny when she says his name. Perhaps she has some kind of crush on this guy?

“So, who is this assistance guild master?”

Although she still watches you with disdain, her eyes brightened as she talks about the guild master. “A warrior and swordsman. The strongest in the guild! A true tyrant in battle. You won’t be able to face Kida’s might. Kida could squash your whole body with one muscle! Are you sure you won’t turn back?”

Your mood sours even more at the thought of having to fight some muscle-brained idiot. Ah, well, you’ll squash this Kida, and then you’ll return and put this receptionist in her place. It might be good to fight for a bit. You have the urge to just punch something.

“I’m fine, go get him for me.”

The receptionist’s eyes narrow, but she finally turns away and leaves without another word.

“A-are you sure you want to fight Kida? I’ve heard about Kida, truly ruthless.”

The person who spoke was, of course, Elena, who was unconscious when you had slaughtered all of the thief minions. The other girl’s gave you worried looks as well, but having seen what you could do, they are more worried for this supposed Kida.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill him.” You give the girls a smile and a thumbs up.

Elena looks on with disbelief, but the other girl’s know better. Even Elena’s little sister seems to be very good at reading the mood and doesn’t show the same concern as Elena. In some ways, Elena’s foolish innocence and concern makes him feel like the purest of the group.

Mulan was a monster, Aurora had a large range of sexual experience, Ariel had become completely corrupted almost the second you touched her. Grimhilde was a Demon King, enough said, and Merida, while untouched, was still an experienced warrior. Even his little sister clearly knew what she was doing when she pushed the pair of them into your harem, continuing to shush her brother up whenever he attempted to make protests.

If only he was a girl, she would be fun to corrupt… perhaps you could just… change things a bit? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? It would be so easy.

As you consider changing Elena’s sex so you could take those lips without reservation, he is squirming uncomfortably while you stare at him, but even that looked cute.

“Kida will see you now.” The voice breaks up your thoughts.

Elena’s sexual fate would have to wait for another day. Right now, you have some muscle-brained you have to fight to join the Adventurer’s guild.

The bitch receptionist leads you down the hallway and took you to a large set of double doors.

“On the other side of this door is our gym. Kida is waiting for you inside. Kida attacks, you try to defend and stay alive. If you don’t die too much, Kida may let you join the guild.” She snorts.

You give a shrug, and although she throws you an annoyed look at your nonchalant attitude, you ignore her. She opens the door and you step into a large stadium-like room. The benches are empty, but a room stretches out before you with various mats and training equipment.

“Time to see what you’re made of!” A voice shouts from the other side of the room.

Immediately, a form starts barreling towards you, each foot landing with a heavy thud as a giant comes at you. However, the person charging like a tackler wasn’t the kind of person you expected.

They tower over you, nearly 7 feet tall, with long curly hair. Kida is truly muscular and imposing. Kida is also a woman. An amazoness… with massive boobs that bounce with each step, despite every desperate attempt to bondage them to her chest. They were simply too large to be contained… which were words to describe this woman in entirely.

The second you see her, you start to change your plans. Whatever else you know, you know that this woman is your new prey.

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You pile out the door with a growing group of 5 beautiful women, 1 tiny, and 1 trap. Although isn’t the tiny a trap in her own way? You mumble at your poor luck. You had been in this world for a few days now and everything up until now had gone splendidly. Pussy was practically falling into your lap. But suddenly, the pussy well went sour, and you had a useless brother/sister combo.

Furthermore, you never did make it to the slave auction and the sun was already starting to set. You really had your hopes on finding a few slave women. It was true you had already more than doubled your harem… but enslaving women just wasn’t the same as owning a slave woman. The distinction is important. Anyone could put a collar on a woman and lock her away. It took a man of status to afford to (legally) buy a woman like you were picking out a pet at the pet store.

As your group walks down the street, the eight of you make quite the impression on the small city of Riun.  With night coming, many were going home from work, and not a few were hitting up the bar. You considered walking into one of the bars yourself. Perhaps you’d trigger an event where some drunk guy hits on one of your girls and you could put him in his place. Or perhaps you could just get the five girls drunk. Jasmine could just watch and learn as you violate five drunk women. Ah…  well four, pregnant women shouldn’t drink.

Either way, you didn’t expect the bandit-turned-maid girls to have already cleaned the place within a half an hour, so you had some time to kill.

“There is an Adventurer’s guild in this city, right?”

“Yes, Savior,” Jasmine was the first to speak up.

She seemed incredibly eager to please. Although your bodily real estate was mostly consumed by Ariel and Grimhilde… Jasmine had managed to nuzzle her way in front, her short stature putting her head very close to your crouch as she hugs you.

You’d think this would prevent you from being able to walk forward, but with Jasmine’s cat-like reflexes, she always seemed to move perfectly with you, so that her clinging never interfered with your movements. The other girls seemed to find this adorable, but the rubbing was starting to stiffen certain areas, and she kept looking up at you with a knowing smirk. You had thought her brother was the trap, but he was centuries behind her conniving mind. A sadistic part of you considered putting her in her place.

In the end, you pull the retinue of girls off to the Adventurer’s guild with Jasmine leading the way, never really considering for a second if the guild could even be considered a safe place for women of their caliber. Well, it’s not like you wouldn’t be able to handle it if anything happened anyway.

As you step into the building, you find basically what you’d expect from an Adventurer’s guild. It looked like a cross between a bar and a DMV. There were many tables with patrons noisily drinking, and a job board that a few people were perusing through. There was a cute receptionist in glasses at the DMV side of things who seemed to be the one to approach.

You approach the cute receptionists, the group following behind. “Well, hello. I’d like to sign up as an adventurer please.”

The look the girl gives you instantly puts you in a bad mood. It is the kind of appraising look that says, “You don’t look tough enough to be an adventurer.”

Well, you weren’t wearing the magic armor you had created, so you suppose it could be expected. However, it is so dismissive and snarky, that the only word that goes through your head is ‘punishment.’

“Is that so?” She sneers.

Aw… why couldn’t the Adventurer’s guild receptionist be sweet and kind like the books? Well, after your previous difficulties with the trap siblings, you have a lot of stress to relieve. Let’s see where this leads.

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Just a Guy in Space

Chapter 22

“So I just need to squeeze this ball?”

“Yes. Start off lightly then slowly increase the pressure you’re putting on it.”

“Right. That sounds simple enough. I have another question though.”

“Go ahead.”

Gus glanced at the holoscreen and narrowed his eyes. “Why am I naked?”

Trando didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed. “It’s an opportunity to get additional data for the medical and science departments. You’re a new species and you can never get enough data on new species. Why? Is there a problem? As I understand it humans tend to get naked quite often.”

“Yes, we do, but it all depends on the context. Being naked usually involves courtship rituals or reproductive activities. We don’t normally go around in a birthday suit.”

“Birthday suit? A human expression, I presume?”

“Yeah, it means to be naked.”

“Hmmm… Then do you feel embarrassed? I highly doubt you’d be interested in me sexually, what with your affinity for the good Lieutenant. If that is the case, I advise you to not mind it. I have seen many strange, naked beings in my time.”

Gus grumbled something under his breath before sighing heavily. “So, what with this ball anyway?” The object in question was perfectly spherical, had a metallic touch and gleamed silver. It was warm, the same temperature as his hand and felt oddly solid but turned soft whenever he pressed on it. “It doesn’t feel like anything I’ve ever seen on Earth.”

“One should hope not. It’s a synthetic material that was created through derivations. I doubt you’d seen it outside of Council space.”

“Derivations? What does that mean? You just calculated this into being?”

“Very close. Our main think tank got together and started working on theoretical materials, materials that were unfound in nature but were somehow discovered while rearranging the structural configuration of known elements and materials. From time to time, we get new, exciting discoveries and this material is one of them. It’s called phelante and its main use currently is in stress testing.”

“How does it work? It’s soft when I squeeze but it gets harder other times. Does it respond to stimulus?”

“Something like that. It’s a modular material which consists of groups of molecules which align in a particular pattern in response to an impulse. The impulse itself is generated by stress produced from a striking force on the surface of the material. This allows it to quickly harden when struck with a fast kinetic blow. However, the molecular modules will shift their alignment when subjected to a gradual force. It effectively means that with a sensor linked to a phelante surface, it is possible to read very fine gradual increases in pressure.”

“That sounds like a lot of trouble. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just use a pressure plate? I’d just press on it until I reached my limits. It would accomplish the same thing, right?”

“It would, and it this were some sort of backwater planet, that’s exactly what we’d do. Pressure plates are very nice and simple but are bulkier and on a ship like this, space is at a premium. So we try to trim whatever we can. In truth though, it’s just more impressive this way.”

“Fair enough. So back to squeezing then? A very light amount of force, then gradually increase to my maximum with one hand. Alternate to the other hand, get some rest, then switch to both hands. Is that right?”

“Exactly. You may begin whenever you wish.”

Gus started squeezing. “I’m warning you though, you’re gonna be disappointed. I grip like a girl.”

* * *

“I do believe the screaming was unnecessary.”

“It helps me focus my strength.”

“Does it really?”

“Nah, it’s more instinctual I’d say. Whenever a human is doing something strenuous, it will involve some sort of screaming or grunting.”

“Is that true for all humans or just you?”

“All humans, as far as I know.”

“I see. If you’ll direct your attention to your left, you’ll see an innerwear exosuit that fits you. Please wear it.”

Gus walked to the space-trolley and grabbed said exosuit. It was surprisingly light, with smooth material interspaced with rough blocks at regular intervals. He put it on, marvelling at how the measurements seemed to be just right and how comfortable the suit was. The blocks felt cool against his bare skin but he quickly got used to it. He stretched, testing his range of motion and noting that the blocks did not hinder him in any way.

“All good. What now?”

“Now we’ll be doing some more comprehensive tests. First off will be your endurance. Please get on the treadmill and start walking at a leisurely pace.”

The treadmill looked like something straight from a gym from back home. He got on and felt the machine beneath him thrum quietly as the belt started moving at a snail’s pace. “How do I adjust the speed?” He touched the handrails and the panel in front of him to no avail as the belt’s speed didn’t vary.

“No need to worry about adjusting it. The speed will slowly increase in small increments. I will be monitoring your body’s activity whenever you reach a new milestone. I’ll be looking at your reaction before and after changing speeds. To get consistent data I hope you’ll cooperate and keep your pace constant for every given speed point. Since this is a stress test, you might get a bit… uncomfortable.”

It was a while before Gus reached the first significant speed milestone and he decided to chat for a bit. “So Trando, tell me about yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just introduce yourself, I guess. Tell me more about why you joined this crew. Why the military? How’s your homeworld? Tell me of your people. That kind of stuff…”

“Hmmm… I’m Lieutenant Trando Uvisulim. I am the head of the Engineering Department, as I’ve told you before. I’m a member of the Kmoz’iq species, from the Uruth star system. As you’ve no doubt guessed we are a species from a very high gravity world. The Uruth worlds are considered category six planets on the index of survivability. Nowhere near your homeworld but they present their own challenges, mostly when we’re off-planet.”

‘Too heavy to move around normally?”

“Exactly, which is why we are pioneers in the gravitronics department. Every member of the Kmoz’iq that goes off world must have a gravity harness equipped so that he or she doesn’t break any surface he or she is on. Every harness is calibrated for a specific Kmoz’iq and they are responsible for its maintenance. As such, many of my species end up in engineering or science departments. It makes it easier to continue our research of maintain our equipment.”

“That sounds inconvenient. That gravity harness, is it that the belt thing you’re wearing? And from what you’re saying you’re more worried about what’s around you than your own well-being.”

“Yes, it’s exactly that. Milestone reached. I am increasing the speed. Compared to the other environments, natural or manufactured, we are much sturdier. Our organs and dermis, our skeletal structure, everything has evolved to be able to withstand tremendous amounts of pressure. As such, when we can tolerate a great many conditions that others cannot. The gravity harnesses allow us to move unimpeded in lower gravity. Just imagine, hurting someone else or breaking the furniture around you simply because the gravity is too weak and you’re not used to the lack of resistance. Concerning myself… Well, there’s not much to say. I have a very strong interest in gravitronics and my research has actually been progressing very smoothly. I’d tell you more about it but your world doesn’t have sufficiently advanced science for you to understand it. Perhaps when you’ve had an opportunity to study it in more details, we can sit together and have a chat about it. How is this speed by the way? Any strain?”

“None. This is still pretty slow. Hey, this stress test business is pretty easy.”

“For a human perhaps. I remember reading from the reports that you mentioned humans being endurance hunters. This section of the test should be the easiest for you.”

“Endurance hunting hasn’t been in fashion for centuries. The humans you’ll encounter nowadays are mostly lazy fucks like me. I mean sure, we have pretty good stamina depending on the situation but there’s no way we can track an animal for three days and nights with no sleep anymore.”

“With civilisation, the need for such evolutionary traits was lost. Fascinating.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. You were telling me about yourself?” Gus prompted once more.

“Ah yes. I grew up wishing to see other worlds and wanting to expand my horizons. Joining the engineering branch of the military was ideal in that I could do both and I’d be getting paid as well. I got assigned to the Pride of Vanatu as a result of my research on gravity anomalies that might affect warp travelling during long hauls. Perhaps the higher-ups thought I might be of help if there ever was an incident involving gravity wells during warp travelling. Beyond that, there’s really not much to tell. Milestone reached. I am increasing the speed.”

Gus felt the belt move a bit faster. He now had to jog along to keep up. It felt surprisingly good to move his body again like that. He never thought he’d miss doing light exercise but being cooped up in his room – no matter how large it might have been – wasn’t a very good idea. He could feel the kinks and aches of his body fade into the all-encompassing weariness that accompanied exercise. He still had the leeway to talk so he asked another question.

“Hey Trando, as the Head of Engineering, you must have access to special manufacturing equipment right? I mean, you’d have military or factory grade synthesisers and no restrictions on materials whatsoever, right?”

“Assuming that is correct, what would you do?”

“I have some ideas for some really cool stuff that can’t possibly be made on Earth due to the lack of technology and I wanted to see if it was possible using your tech. I mean, throw me a bone here – I’ve been kidnapped by a coalition of super-advanced aliens and I don’t even get to play around with some new toys? That’d be really sad…”

There was silence for some time before Trando replied. “I’d have to check with the Captain. Giving non-military personnel access to those devices usually ends up badly. Your request will be put on hold pending approval. Milestone reached. I am increasing the speed.”

Gus was now at a brisk jog, arms pumping up and down. He was panting now, not quite struggling to breathe but feeling a familiar burn coming back to him like a long-lost friend, just dropping by to visit but overstaying his welcome and passing out on the couch. He tried to keep his head up but the white walls of the room were suddenly glaringly brilliant and he squinted through the pain of suddenly burning eyes.

“Milestone reached. I am increasing the speed.”

The treadmill sped up quite a bit. He had to genuinely run to keep up now. “Uh hey,” Gus said, huffing and puffing, “that’s kinda fast… Could you *huff* could you slow down *wheeze* slow down a bit?”

“What do you mean?”

“Slow down!” He nearly tripped over his own feet and decided he had enough. He grabbed the handrails and got off the belt. He was desperately trying to catch his breath when he felt a shock travel all over his body. He stiffened and yelped at the suddenness of the sensation of the muscles in his arms and legs clenching uncontrollably.

“What the actual fuck?! What was that?!”

“That is a countermeasure set up to prevent recalcitrant participants from completing the stress test. Please get back on the treadmill, for your own sake.”

“What the fuck Trando! I’m not some sort of- FFFFFUUUUCCCKKK!!!” Gus screamed as another shock, this time of higher amplitude, travelled though his body. “Dammit Trando stop that!” he roared as he tried to ineffectually rip the exosuit off him. It was much too tight now, trapping him in this electrical nightmare of a prison. His left arm was still twitching from the aftermath of the last shock.

“I don’t suggest you do that, the suit is designed to trigger the shock if it is tampered with. Getting on the treadmill and finishing the stress test is your best bet at this point.”

“I swear to fucking God, Trando, as soon as I get out I’m gonna kill you!”

“Yes, of course. The treadmill?” Trando prompted nonchalantly.

Gus hopped back on and immediately regretted his decision. The exhaustion that followed was almost as bad as the shock but he could somehow keep up until he heard the familiar words.

“Milestone reached. I am increasing the speed.”

He had to run for his life now, arms and legs pumping like mad, muscles positively burning in agony and mouth absolutely dry. He couldn’t fathom why Trando would be doing this to him.

Another case of the over-eager engineer? Fuck, I really fucked up! I knew stress testing wouldn’t be this simple!

“You must be wondering why I’m doing this. As I said earlier, this is a stress test and I must know your limits if I am to effectively design your suit. This also doubles as a medical examination. If I do this now, then you won’t be subjected to another more rigid examination when we reach our destination. Trust me on this, you do not want to show up with incomplete documentation. I know, I know, this is very painful and perhaps the electric shocks were a bit too much but I needed a way to ensure your cooperation. Given that you’re an unknown lifeform from a category thirteen planet, this much exertion shouldn’t be a problem for you anyway. You’ll thank me when you’re stranded on a hostile planet with nothing between you and certain death except the suit I’ll be making you.”

Gus was far too concerned with keeping up the pace than Trando’s words and honestly couldn’t spare a second to listen to him. His world had shrunk to the belt moving at break-neck speeds and his legs screaming in agony. He could see black spots and silvery flecks swimming in his vision and his lunch was coming up in a very distinct manner. He struggled to keep the nausea from overwhelming him until he heard Trando again.

“Milestone reached. I am increasing the speed.”

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Just a Guy in Space

Chapter 18

“So Sil, where does that leave us?”

She still wouldn’t talk to Gus, curled up in a ball and half-covered in her blanket. Her tail however was curling along his arm. He kept stroking her head through the thick material.

‘You know, if you’re not going to speak I’ll have to do all the talking.” The bundle didn’t move. “I don’t really know much about Dintphs or even about you. I’m probably not your first choice for a mate and I’ll understand if you don’t want to associate with me anymore.”

Sil still didn’t seem interested in conversing so he decided to go solo.

“You know, I really have no clue what to do right now. I’m not a paragon of social grace and I’ve never had a girlfriend before. Ah, a girlfriend is a companion who’s in a relationship with you. She’s supposed to stick with you through thick and thin and while the arrangement may be temporary, it usually leads to marriage, which is a long-term relationship. I don’t know the Dintph equivalent.”

“As I said, I’m not very good with women.” He paused, organised his thoughts and continued. “I really like you Sil, you’re fun, energetic, interesting and your fur has the most amazing coloration I’ve ever seen. I love the way your eyes light up when you talk about science. I love the way your tail swishes around. I think you look really cute.”

“I know I called you my mate back there but that’s contingent on your approval. I wouldn’t want to force you to do that. I feel bad that this whole mess started because I couldn’t keep in in my pants. They said going into a mating period was an instinctual response to my pheromones so I don’t know that you’d have chosen me to be a mate if you had a choice.”

“I need you to tell me Sil,” he said, voice breaking a little bit. He really wasn’t used to these situations. His palms were increasingly sweatier. “I need to know you’re ok with being my girlfriend or mate or whatever it is you call this. It would really help if you spoke to me as well.”

He kept stroking what he thought was her head but she didn’t respond. After a while he sighed in disappointment and pulled his hand back. Just as he was about to get up and put Sil down, a hand shot out from underneath the blanket and grabbed his wrist. He tensed but she only put his hand back on top of the blanket.

Definitely her head then.

He silently kept caressing the blanket as he waited for Sil to speak up. After a while, the bundle in his arms moved around as Sil curled up against him. Her bottom was sticking out sorely from under the bright orange covering and he could see her tail lazily curling and uncurling as she began to purr.

That’s a good sign, isn’t it? Fuck, let that be a good sign.

On a whim, he decided to grab the tail and fiddle with it. The purring changed in tone but soon returned to its previous iteration. Emboldened, Gus slowly worked his way up the tail, soon reaching her bum. She’d been wearing a strange hospital gown type of thing when he’d come in. It was rather loose and he could easily reach underneath to touch her furred skin. He started scratching the small of her back where tail met coccyx and enjoyed the feel of her luxuriant fur.

The change in Sil’s behaviour was immediate. She squealed and struggled in his arms, trying to get away from his hand. He grinned and held her close with one hand while continuing with the scratching. His strength was more than enough to prevent her from escaping his hands and he kept it up until she spoke up.

“St-stop that!”

He ignored her and kept scratching.

She squealed louder and physically reached out to grab his wrist. “I’m serious, stop that,” she said in a muffled voice.

“Sorry, I can’t hear you that well with that blanket on your head. You’ll have to speak up,” Gus said as he ignored her.

Sil made a weird noise before pulling her hand back and tearing the blanket off her. It landed a few meters away from them. It was a good thing that they were alone in the room; the white gown she was wearing was doing a great job of not covering any of her important bits. There were two slits on the sides that were gapping wide open, giving Gus a very nice view of her sideboobs and taut stomach. He felt something grow in his pants but made no move other than to scratch Sil’s backside.

She somehow got on her knees while still in his lap and turned to him. Her face was flushed crimson. “It’s embarrassing so stop,” She said in a quivering voice.

“Oh? Why is it embarrassing?” He still didn’t let up.

“It’s…” She blushed even more furiously. “It’s something you do in private.”

“Is it? But there’s no one here. I’d say we’re private enough,” Gus said with a grin.

Sil averted her eyes and leaned into his chest. “I’m still not used to close physical contact with my mate, so it’s embarrassing.”

His heart skipped a beat. “What was that? I didn’t hear properly.”

Her head burrowed further into his chest. “I said I’ll be your girlfriend or mate or whatever it is we can call this.” He could tell from her voice she’d started blushing again.

He laughed with a loud booming voice and whooped as he stopped scratching her and hugged her tightly to him. For her part she didn’t say anything but her tail was lashing left and right like crazy. Probably an indicator of happiness in a Dintph.

They’d probably need to have a long talk about what this meant for the both of them but for now they cuddled in silence, content with the knowledge that they had each other.

* * *

Lieutenant Vatta Ren was observing the new couple through a viewscreen and listened to the sappy conversation with no shame. Sil had been right to be embarrassed. Vatta didn’t really have a notion of privacy when she was interested in something and the human was very interesting.

At first she’d dismissed the reports of sapiant life on the deathworld they’d departed from but she’d gone through the scout probe data they’d collected and had been fascinated with what she learned. The deep tissue scans she had been able to take during the human’s sleep were a treasure trove. The human’s physiology was remarkable. His body was uniquely adapted to the challenges of growing and thriving on a category thirteen planet. Dense bones and dense, layered muscles coupled with a nervous system capable of very fast responses marked him as a species used to fighting for survival. His immune system was adaptive, a trait rare enough that any research paper about a new species exhibiting something like that would be widely read and debated. His body chemistry was in perfect balance and judging from the way it was righting itself after the debacle with the Coxizu virility serum, didn’t depend on external stimuli to maintain stability.

“Remarkable. I am grateful to the Captain for picking him up. Studying him will advance our field by decades.”

Her assistant scoffed at that and loudly grumbled. “I don’t see what’s so special about it. It’s just a savage from a backwater planet. It has no business being here.”

“She rejected your proposal of a mating contract twice already, Ensign Orithi. Get over it. She didn’t choose you and if you let your animosity over this get in the way of my work, I will get you re-assigned to permanent reactor clean-up duty,” Vatta said testily, staring at the offending ensign until he looked away in sullen silence.

She went back to spying on the new couple but gleaned nothing new. They were chatting quite cutely she thought when suddenly the human slipped his hand inside the gown Lieutenant Sil Nubo was wearing. The ensuing shriek nearly made her ears bleed but didn’t cover the sound of the resounding smack the human received.

* * *

“What am I looking at?”

Lieutenant Vatta Ren jabbed her finger into the holographic brain in front of her. “Right here. See?” she asked as she turned to the Captain expectantly.

Echina squinted and tried to figure out why her Chief Medical Officer was in a tiff but still failed. “I’m not seeing it. Care to explain?”

“Look.” She brought up another rendering of the human’s brain. The projection was pale blue, with red, jagged lines showing neuronal connections. There was a separate section highlighting his complete nervous system. “This is from a scan we randomly did before his mating with the Lieutenant.” She pointed at a section of the brain. “This cluster here is inactive. Now look at the same cluster seven cycles after we pulled him off the stasis bed.”

Echina could now spot the difference. That tiny cluster was now more brightly lit on the second holo. “So what, there’s more activity there, is that it?”

“Yes, more activity. That’s the problem. I’ve compared the pre-mating brain to the data we’ve compiled using the scout probe and figured out that this is the standard brain activity mapping for average humans. Notice that this cluster isn’t activated in any of the scans we’ve had for this particular specimen. Now, only seven cycles after recovering from the side effects of the virility serum, there’s been a noticeable increase in activity in this cluster. A cluster that was hitherto inactive. Do you understand the implications Captain?”

Echina thought long and hard. Lieutenant Vatta Ren wasn’t prone to such displays of exuberance unless she was speaking about her wife. “Let’s see… Was the change induced by introducing that Coxizu monstrosity into his system? I don’t see the big deal. This happens all the time, right?”

Vatta Ren shook her head in frustration. “No, this is different. This scan was taken when no active molecules from the serum were in his system. So now we have a human that’s exhibiting permanent signs of new neuro-cortical stimulation even though the responsible agent is absent from his system. It’s a huge discovery Captain! It’s… it’s…” She seemed to be at a loss for words.

She started pacing in a circle, a habit she’d never gotten rid of since her days at the Academy. “It’s not just the brain activity that’s the issue. I’ve found traces of incomplete Coxizu active molecules in his blood. I’m guessing… I think his body is adapting to the serum. I’ve compared the scans we’ve taken over time during his mating with Sil Nubo.” She tapped a few commands into her datapad and brought up all the scans she was talking about. “As you can see, the brain mapping shows the increasing activity in the highlighted cluster. It also shows how the effectiveness of the serum is dropping each time he uses it. He’s developing more resistance to the serum’s effects the more he uses it. I think the side effects were exacerbated by that resistance.”

She resumed her pacing with her hands behind her back. “What’s more worrying are those incomplete molecules I found. If I’m not wrong I think his body is trying to manufacture more of the serum. It must have somehow recognised the active molecules as a necessary survival tool after the strenuous mating with Sil Nubo. I say strenuous but we both know that if it was another Dinpth in there with Sil, he would most likely have ended up severely injured or traumatised, or even both. I think this kicked his survival mechanism into gear and now he’s simultaneously developing a resistance to Coxizu virility serum and trying to make more in his own body. I think if we change his diet he might be able to have the necessary raw materials to successfully make more functioning molecules on his own. They might even be more effective in his case given that the artificial serum is having diminishing returns.”

Echina was silently contemplating what Lieutenant Vatta had just said. “So where does that leave us? What can we do about this? What should we do? It was his own decision to use the serum and to mate with Sil Nubo. Besides, I fail to see how this is a ship-wide concern.”

“You’re right Captain. It’s not a concern right now. But what happens if he uses Telani psychotropes? What if he starts producing his own?”

“I see… What’s your recommended course of action?”

“We should be very careful about what he puts into his body from now on.”

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Edit: I done fucked up. I got caught up in some other stuff and just forgot to write more stuff. I’ll try to churn out a new chapter pretty soon, but you know me, I’m a lazy fuck. I had a mild case of writer’s block too but I seem to have gotten over that, thank God for that.

Just a Guy in Space

Chapter 17

“I can understand why the Lieutenant is in the medical bay but why is Human in there too?”

“Well, beyond the fact that we have to keep him under examination for possible sequelae from his mating with the lieutenant, we have also detected several life-threatening complications due to his overdosing on the Coxizu virility serum.”

“Fair enough. Tell me what you’ve found so far.”

“I’ll start with Lieutenant Sil Nubo. As far as we can tell, there’s nothing wrong with her. Slight dehydration and lack of nutrients associated with malnutrition, some muscular and joint pains due to overworking and slight mental disorientation are all consistent with the aftermath of a Dintph mating period.”

“Nothing wrong? What about all those germs Human is lugging around in the incubator that is his body?”

“Quite a poetic description Captain. Did you perhaps miss your calling?” A glare did not deter her. “In any case, none of the microbiota on the human managed the jump from his body to hers. A most curious case. I shall investigate and find an answer, although I cannot say with certitude that I will even find one. If my wife were here though, she’d find a solution in a jiffy.”

Not again. “Yes, yes. I’m sure she could. So, the germs?”

“Ah, yes, my theory is that the germs either could not make the cross from Human to Dintph or that they did and the Dintph system is so different that there simply was no pathogenesis. As I said, I’ll have to investigate a bit more. I did recover some unknown organisms on the Lieutenant’s skin and inside her vagina. I plan on cross-referencing whatever I find on her with what I found on the Human. That’ll be a good start.”

“Keep me apprised. In the meantime I need to talk to our guest.”

“Of course. He’s this way.”

Lieutenant Vatta Ren turned and lead Echina to a stasis chamber holding the human. Echina leaned over his motionless form and observed him more closely; she’d rarely had the opportunity to see him so still. He was not too tall, measuring about 178cm, with brownish skin and a decently toned physique. Looking at his face, he was not what Echina would have described as handsome but he wasn’t altogether unpleasant to look at. His skin isn’t green enough. His shock of black hair was as usual thoroughly unkempt – a sure sign of a lazy mind, she thought.

“So why is he in a stasis chamber? I thought the only side effect he was suffering from was the vomiting.”

“Well, that’s only the first of many symptoms that appeared with time. He said something about pissing blood then collapsed. We put him in the stasis chamber to buy time and performed an in-depth, full body scan.” Vatta Ren tapped on her datapad before continuing. “The scan revealed multiple organ failure, including but not limited to the kidneys and the liver. Both are heavily involved in maintaining a balance within the human body.”

With another tap a complete map of the human anatomy appeared on a viewscreen. The same diagram was represented on a holoscreen. Vatta Ren pointed to several red-lighted features. “It’s amazing he was able to function to that level given how severe his organs were damaged by the virility serum.”

“He doesn’t seem that bad looking at him now.”

“I’m getting to that. So, here I am doing a full body scan and I notice a ping from AI indicating that the condition of the body has changed. When I turn to the human again, I can see that his organs are slowly but surely righting themselves. His liver released or inhibited several key enzymes that normalised the liver’s function. The renal failure took longer to correct but eventually, the water balance in his body righted itself. It’s not surprising that a species would be able to self-repair to such an extent, it’s the speed that was employed. Barely a few hundred units, Standard Galactic Time.”

Echina was still peering at the human. “Can you find out the source of his fast healing and replicate it? That would go a long way towards salvaging this mission.”

“Unfortunately that would take much more extensive research than I could do on this ship. Perhaps when we get back I’ll ask Rhil if I can access the Concourse labs to do a couple of tests. It’ll be easy. You know, since she’s been promoted.”

“She’s been promoted? I didn’t know,” Echina deadpanned.

Vatta’s face split into a wide smile. “Yes! She’s recently been promoted to head of her own department! She’s only the twentieth Chachiss to achieve this you know? I’m so proud of her! We’re all proud of her. If she were here, you’d have no problem in the medical bay whatsoever!”

“Are you admitting to running a sloppy medical bay?”

“Why, yes, of course! There’s no way I’m as good as my wife you know,” Vatta said with a booming laugh.

“Enough of this. Wake him up, we need to talk.”

“Right away captain.” Vatta tapped her datapad a couple of time before the field covering the human shimmered out of existence. A loud and protracted groan could be heard coming from the stasis bed.

The human feebly rolled onto his side and a thin stream of brownish sludge dribbled out of his open mouth. Is he still suffering from side effects, even after stasis treatment? Just how much serum did he use? He tried to sit up and barely made it with Vatta’s help. His eyes were unfocused as he tried to get his bearings in an unfamiliar room.

“Where… where am I?” his voice cracked as he tried to speak with a dry throat.

“You’re in the medical bay. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was with…” He swallowed with great difficulty and tried again. “With Sil. In my cabin. We were… you know…” he smirked. “Mating urges and everything. Then I think I started – did I puke everywhere and piss blood? Because that sounds like what happened…”

Echina’s face seemed to be locked in a permanent frown. “AI contacted security when both you and Lieutenant Sil Nubo failed to respond to any hails. They found you passed out in a puddle of blood and a brown… fluid. Your suit was in tatters and the lieutenant was comatose on your bed. You were then brought to the medical bay for treatment.”

“How long was I out?”

“A bit more than eight hundred units Standard Galactic Time. How are you feeling?”

“Like I just made out with a bear. What happened to Sil? Is her thing over?”

“Bear: native mammal from Earth. Ursidae family of caniforms. Can weigh up to 730 kilograms (Earth units). Often hibernate to conserve energy. Tend to be aggressive if encountered after mating period or if encroaching on their territory,” AI helpfully added.

“I see… Fascinating. So bears are an integral part of human courtship rituals then? They must be some sort of rite of passing challenge to obtain courting rights for a female right? It must be! Oh Captain, if Rhil were here, she’d be ecstatic! So much research to be done! So much to learn!” Lieutenant Vatta was practically foaming at the mouth. Not that anyone looking at her would be able to tell. She still maintained a stoic demeanour.

“To answer your question, yes, Lieutenant Sil Nubo mating period is over. It seems her circumstances were a bit different than the general Dintph population. A mating isn’t normally as … intense as hers was. We think it was due to the pheromones you released. She’s fine and is resting in a separate unit.”

“I see. Whew, she sure did a number on me!” Gus’ hand reached up to his shoulder, feeling for a bite scar. “No scars I see.” He got up and slowly spread his arms wide, inspecting himself for defects. “I guess technology does wonders, eh? Is there any chance I can speak to Sil? I think there’s quite a lot we need to discuss.”

“We still have a few tests to run. You can meet her after that.”

* * *

“AI, how much time in Earth minutes is eight hundred units Standard Galactic Time?”

“Calculating. Eight hundred units Standard Galactic Time are equivalent to four hundred Earth minutes.”

“Two units for one minute. I get it. From now on, can you give me any units in the converted and appropriate Earth value please? I think it would be much easier until I get the hang of this Standard Galactic unit system.”

“Confirmation. Values will be calculated accordingly.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Gus was alone in the bay, the other xenoi keeping a careful distance away from him. The tales of his being a microorganism incubator had spread and they feared to see him without his vacsuit. He’d have to do something about that. Walking around in the suit was sending the wrong message, like he dangerous or something. Well, he was dangerous, but that was beside the point.

He wondered what Sil’s reaction would be when he met her. They were lovers now. Or were they? Sil hadn’t really touched on what happened after a successful or unsuccessful mating session. Did they stay friends? Take care of the kids? Get married? Could they get married? Did they still have sex? Because in spite of all the biting and hip-crushing, the sex was very fun.

He grinned. Oh yes, loads of fun. I still can’t feel my dick, but that’s nothing next to what Sil made me feel. He really hoped they could still have sex without the excessive violence. Speaking of sex, what happened to Art’ah? Haven’t seen her in a while. Haven’t seen anyone in a while. Wait her or him? Hir? Hem? What do I call her?

He cast his gaze around the room and took stock. It was surprisingly similar to a lab back on Earth. Tables and workstations neatly arranged and divided by sections, with reagents and apparatuses of various colour, shapes and sizes. Their use remained a mystery. There were no computers and none were necessary when the ship AI would crunch all your numbers and store all your data. There were many viewscreens and a lot of those holographic displays he’d seen here and there. The walls were a brilliant white colour with colour-coded stripes indicating which section was where. Gus peered at the writing on the walls and tried to get closer, only to bump his nose on an invisible force field.

Hello my old friend. Fancy meeting you here.

From beyond the field, various space races would wander around, holding datapads and curious instruments. They would sometimes look up from their work and see him and stare with open mouths or whatever passed for shock and surprise in their species. He felt like a beast in a cage at the zoo.

A man goes to a zoo. There’s only a dog there. It’s a shit zoo.

Gus chuckled. At least he wasn’t losing his sense of humour. He tried to distract himself from the boredom by observing his ‘captors’. There were many Dintphs walking around staring openly, some with revulsion, others curiosity and a small fraction with open disgust (even hate he might say). More Agaraxians with their tall, stocky builds and green skin and long hair with varying colours. Purple seemed to be the most predominant one, though orange and blue were seen occasionally. He even spotted some blue and *gasp* even black hair.

Gasp, black hair. What a shock.

There were scant few Kmigars like Xar’usk but he attributed that to the fact that they seemed to like science more than medical stuff, at least based on what Xar’usk and Van had told him. The doctor who fixed him up was nowhere to be seen.

He’d been quite surprised at seeing her. Her four eyes (a pair above the ones placed in the same spot as a human) were already daunting enough but she had obsidian skin that seemed to drink light and weirdly shaped blocky joints. She was completely bald, not a speck of hair anywhere that he could see. To his great disappointment her chest was more akin to an airport runway than to the hills and valleys he dreamt of. If Van hadn’t told him that she was a female he wouldn’t have believed it. She was taller than him by about a couple of centimetres, couldn’t have been more than five. She struck him as a no-nonsense doctor type based on her appearance and the small speech she’d given him.

He saw her come back with another Dintph assistant taping onto a datapad. She went to the console next to his bed and checked something, frowned then clicked her tongue.

“It seems that your body is already healing the damage you sustained from your activities with the lieutenant. How remarkable.”

“Thanks doc. You got any news on Sil for me?” he asked, hope filling his voice.

“Yes, she’s recovered and is currently rehydrating and getting more nutrients. It doesn’t seem like your microbiota affected her at all, we have that to be thankful for. She seems to be suffering from some psychological trauma though. I suspect the ship’s counsellor will have to spend some time with her.”

“Trauma? What kind of trauma?” Gus felt his guts go cold at the mention of that. Did I do something wrong? Fuck, does she think I somehow mind-bended her into having sex with me? I mean those pheromones are pretty powerful. “Is she alright? Can I speak to her?”

“As I said, physically, she’s fine but her attitude shows signs of mental scarring. I’m not sure as to the origin of that but you can try talking to her in a minute. I just need to calibrate the fields in this room and hers.”

She taped a few more times then turned to Gus. “All done. You can head to the adjacent room as soon as we exit this one. I don’t want to breathe in your atmosphere if possible.”

Her assistant turned and left as soon as she uttered those words. He really didn’t seem to like Gus. The doctor walked out at a more leisurely pace, hands clasped behind her back. He got off the bed when the door to the room slid shut, waited five seconds for the field around his bed to wink out then proceeded to Sil’s room.

He saw her through a viewscreen on the wall, sitting on a similar bed, clutching what looked like a blanket in her hands. Her ears were down on her skull, tail curled dejectedly down. She really didn’t look that fine to him. Apprehension filled him as he walked into the room.

Sil looked up, saw him and froze. Her mouth slowly opened, stayed open then slowly closed. Her tail started twitching, ears now fully erect. He was about to say something when she jumped off the bed, crouched down, covered her head with the blanket and screamed.

“Noooooooooooo!!!!”

Well excuse me bitch, nice to see you too. Gus was pretty pissed. I mean, he wasn’t that ugly. Was he?

The doctor strolled in with her assistant looking mighty smug in the face of Gus’ distress. What a cunt. She turned to him.

“As you can see, her vitals are normal. It’s just that she’s… like that,” she said, pointing to the Dintph now rolling on the floor, hiding her face with her hands and blanket.

He slowly approached her and crouched. “Sil,” he said gently. “Sil, it’s Gus.” She trembled at his touch but didn’t throw his hand off. “Sil, talk to me. What’s wrong?” he gently shook her. That assclown assistant scoffed loudly enough for the doc to give him a measured look. What the fuck is his problem? Gus tried to ignore him and turned back to Sil.

“What’s wrong Sil? Did I hurt you? Are you mad at me?”

She suddenly jumped up, her face practically five centimetres from his own. ‘No! I’m not hurt! You didn’t hurt me!” Her tails was lashing left and right, seemingly agitated. She sounded as anxious as he felt. “I’m not hurt,” she repeated, “I feel great actually but…” She averted her eyes once more, face turning a deep crimson.

“Are you blushing?”

She blushed even harder. “No I’m not! You’re blushing!”

“Yeah, I am. Cause I’m looking at you, you beautiful creature.”

She screeched and covered her head once again, squatting down on her haunches. She didn’t want to look at him but the way her tail was trashing around told him she was quite happy with his compliment. He smirked.

‘It’s ok Doc,” he said to Vatta Ren. “She’s not hurt, she’s just embarrassed.” A soft squeal escaped the blanket at these words. He grabbed her and ignored the additional squealing, gathering her to his chest like a child. His upper body had recovered enough that he could hold her up with no difficulty. He sat back down on the stasis bed and stroked what looked like Sil’s head. It was hard to tell, that blanket was pretty thick.

“I don’t suppose you could give us a couple of minutes? I need to talk to my mate,” He said, savouring the last word.

Yeah, that was totally the right thing to say.

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This is a preview chapter of Tales of an Enchantress, the sequel to Tales of a Seductress. This is not an official chapter. Just a preview. A sampler, if you will. Like a movie trailer, it may or may not appear verbatim in the book. It just gives you an idea of where the next book is heading. Let me know what you think.

_________________________________________

I felt an aching pain in my stomach, the stress of the last few days had started to catch up to me. The chains rattled as I tried to readjust myself in a more comfortable position. I was simply waiting at the moment. I was waiting for the end.

I was dressed in a black and red dress. Perhaps it was a suiting dress to bring me to this end. I tried to consider all of the events that had lead me to this point. I had simply wanted to class up and succeed as an adventurer. Then there were the succubi, the adventurers, the rape farm, the invasion, the attack on the capital, and now I was here.

The flap to the tent opened up, and a skeletal looking man in a black robe peaked in. “It is time.”

I gave him a nod and moved to my feet. He checked the chains around my ankles and then put his hand on the chain hanging from hands, lifting me up to a standing position. Immediately, he started tugging me, pulling me along while keeping his distance.

We emerged into the early morning. There was a massive crowd of people around the tent, separated just enough to create an aisle for me to be walked down. People screamed and shouted, trying to reach out and grab a chunk of my dress or hair, to rip it out as a keepsake of this event. However, the guards surrounded me and made sure no one touched my body. The guards also made sure to keep their distance, putting weapons between us as they escorted me warily. Even here and now, I could see the fear in their eyes. While the crowds didn’t know, these people did. Touching me was death.

Of course, calling them people was a gross misrepresentation. These were monsters, not people. They were demons that came in all shapes and sizes. Their differing colors from red to blue to black created a chaotic cacophony that spread across either side of the aisle.  I didn’t particularly hate demons, but the effect of so many of them was palpable. The roars were enough to shake even the sturdiest heart. An orchestra played as I was dragged down the row, giving me music as I was brought up to the unholy altar.

At the foot of the altar was a giant beast dressed in a black cloak. He held a long and massive axe, and he watched me expectantly as I approached. His skin was absolute red, and he had two massive ram horns. He was nearly eight feet tall and was the very idea of a devil. I was finally brought up to the front, and he grinned down at me with sharp teeth. I starred vacantly back, knowing that there was no way I’d be able to escape from this one.

Another man stood up in front of us and raised his arms, causing the crowd of screaming demons to quiet down. This man was actually a skeleton, his face devoid of skin, a hood I wish he had up failing to obscure his monstrous features. When the crowd of monsters finally silenced, he began to speak.

“Demons of Dragus, you have all been waiting for this event to arise. This woman… she has brought devastation, ruin, and destruction in her wake. It is about time that she was stopped.” There was more screaming, along with shouts and clapping, but the man quickly silenced them all with a single wave. “When a creature such as she comes into this world, there is but one option to restrain her.”

The demonic looking man put on a wicked smile, taking a step forward as he readjusted his hand on his axe. Once the yelling finally settled down, the skeleton put on a look that seemed like a smile.

“Aria… titled the Mother of All Monsters, the Reborn, and the God Slayer… Kree, The Demon King and Lord of Dragus, titled the Keeper of the Lost… we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the Union of these two powers in holy matrimony!”

There was more screaming and my face began to grow more flushed. I looked off into the distance. We were on a hill overlooking the main city, but I was looking beyond that point, towards the western shore. The clouds seemed to be raining with enough force that fog draped down to ground and carpeted the land beyond, almost like the horizon was being swallowed. It looked like a storm was coming.

I idly wondered if he had made it alright? I didn’t know. The only thing I knew was that I was about to be betrothed to the monster that called himself Demon King. This wedding had come as a complete shock. He had wanted to possess me, but feared my powers if he was to give in before wedlock. I could barely hear the words as the skeletal priest continued to drone on, reciting passages that were from no bible I had ever read.

“Do you, Demon King Kree, take this bride to be yours until the darkness consumes us all?”

“I do!” Kree’s voice was a low and deep baritone.

“Do you, Mother of Monsters, Aria, take this man to be yours until the darkness consumes us all?”

I turned to face the man that I was being forced to marry. There was a palpable growing tension as the priest finished those words. Of course, there was the possibility I could say no. Not that I really had a choice in the end. Kree readjusted his hand on the axe. This day could just as easily end with him cutting me down on the altar. I had to do what I was told, or I would face the consequences.

“I…I…” A horn blasting in the distance blocked the answer that I gave.

There was a stir of confusion and a low mumble of voices. The storm in the distance was growing closer, but it had now arrived close enough that even I could tell that it was composed of rising dust, not clouds and rain. A low rumbling sound could be felt through the earth, and some of the more sensitive demons who had missed the abnormal vibrations in their states of revelry started to get uncomfortable looks.

The demon king looked over my head, which wasn’t difficult, as he talked. “What is this? Who is daring to disturb my wedding?”

“It’s an army, my lord, a human army! They’ve started their invasion.”

“Devon…” The words came out of my throat before I could stop myself.

Of course, that was absolutely crazy. It couldn’t possibly be Devon in charge of that army. I had already broken all ties between the pair of us. He wouldn’t build an army and try to take me back, would he? He couldn’t…

Kree shot me an irritated look before moving off to the side. “Postpone the wedding, retreat to behind the walls. I want to know how an army of humans got 600 miles deep into demon territory and show up nearly on our doorstep without us knowing it.”

There were several cries of surprise and protest as the wedding was ended in a flash. At this point, the army could be seen in the distance, a long line of men on horseback that stretched a mile in either direction crested the hill. Things were starting to go into motion as Kree grabbed my chain and began to yank me towards the city wall. If I pulled and ran, there was a chance I could make it to the human army, although I was just as likely to be killed by Devon as I was to be rescued. I had no clue if this was a rescue or an execution.

We were heading down the long line of people fleeing from the party for safety behind the city gates when another man came riding up in a hurry. He immediately saluted, but he seemed nearly in a panic.

“My lord! There is an army approaching the city!”

“I’m aware…” The Demon King snapped, “You can see them from here.”

He pointed out to the cloud of dust, which was starting to show the silhouettes of men on horseback during their approach.

“No, my lord, not the humans. Th-this… is an army of monsters!”

“An army of monsters? Monsters don’t form armies.”

“These do… my lord, I’ve confirmed it three times. The monsters have gathered into a massive horde, and they’re heading this direction. They’ll be at the city by tonight.”

The Demon King’s advisors all wore surprised looks on their faces, but the man himself thoughtfully scratched his chin, then he suddenly froze and his gaze fell on me. “What… have you done?”

I shrank back at his stare impulsively, but then took a breath and met him face on, squaring my shoulders as much as my shackles allowed. “You’re the ones who named me the mother of monsters. Tell me, Kree, what did you think would happen when you take a mother away from her children.”

“You…” His eyes began to narrow, and for a second it looked like he might swipe me away with his scythe, but then he relaxed. “It seems like you are the most valuable person here. By the time the sun sets, there will be a river of blood at your feet.”

“If you let me go, that can be avoided.”

“No…” he said slowly, then gave a laugh. “Let them break themselves on the walls of our great city. Demons, humans, monsters, the supremacy of this world can be decided tonight. I will keep you, Aria, you are mine, and I won’t let any army or horde take you from me.”

He turned and continued moving on. I was ushered on by his guards until we were inside the city gates. They closed just as the army crested the hill and started to make their final approach towards the city.

The Demon King was instantly surrounded by retainers, and with a shout the crowds split and he and his men moved on towards the castle. They likely had much planning to do. The guards pulled me along in tow, but the agitated and fearful crowds closed up faster than expected and my guardsmen were quickly cut off from the retinue following the Demon King.

They continued to pull me along by my chains, trying to keep a continuous separation between me and the panicked crowd as the pushed through. With demons running around desperately trying to find family and seek shelter, even the bulky demons who made up my guardsmen struggled to do this.

“It’s you!” A voice cried out as I was dragged on through the frantic crowd. “You’re the one who brought the humans upon us!”

It was a haggard looking woman with certain features that resembled a fish. She was pointing at me with webbed fingers and shrieking. Many people started turning towards me and the crowd of panicked onlookers started to turn around and whisper to each other. The guards held up their weapons immediately, forming a circle around me.

“That’s right, this is her fault!” A man with a snout shouted.

“It’s the monster’s whore! Burn her!”

“The Demon King has ordered you all to stand down. She is under his protection!” a guard bellowed back.

However, his voice quickly became lost in the shouting. The people of this city were already driven to the brink with fear, the normal fear they felt from the guards was lost in this moment. Something came flying past the guard and struck me in the temple. I fell to the side, the chains catching me before I landed on the ground.

More stuff was thrown, and the crowd started surging forward, pressing against the helpless guardsmen. One of them swung a blade, cutting down a shifty looking man. This seemed to be the catalyst, and with that the guards became overwhelmed. A surge of flesh shoved through the remaining guards, grabbing towards my body with a more violent purpose this time.

Of course, they didn’t know. How could they? As soon as a hand grabbed on to me, I released the power I had been holding on to. There were three men who had grabbed me first, including one of the guards which had fallen back and grabbed me inadvertently as he stumbled. Their bodies stiffened and their eyes seemed to dilate. Their jaws went slack, and all thought seemed to leave their brains.

More grabbed at me. I was being scratched and torn, some of the grips were very hard, the force of a demon behind those hands. However, I waited for more to grab on. When I felt like my body would be ripped apart, I released the power again. It was six this time.

This crowd which numbered well over a hundred hadn’t caught on to what was happening. In their anger, they pushed aside the men who had gone limp, leaping at me with their anger and hatred. When nearly half of the crowd had turned, that was when some started to notice the trend.

“Wh-what is this bastard doing?” Someone shouted.

The crowd broke up and separated in a circle around me. I slowly stood up. My dress had been ripped in a dozen places. Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth. I had earned several new cuts and gashes that would likely scar. However, I gave the crowd my best smile. I didn’t know it, but that smile had turned into something that chilled the bones of even the heartiest demons.

Half of the crowd looked down on me with fear and hate. The other half looked on with slack-jawed looks of adoration. To those that had gone slack-jawed, a few in the crowd snapped their fingers and tried to bring their loved ones back, but no matter what they did, the people I had touched continued to have eyes only for me. There was no coming back from that.

“My loves…” I spoke up. “Capture them all, bring them to me.”

The crowd broke into chaos as the affected suddenly turned on the rest, grabbing and dragging the closest people over to me, forcing their skin against mine. Although there was nothing to say that one demon was stronger than another, the demon’s that fell under my command would complete any action, even if it cost them their lives. They would carry their commands absolutely. They would die for me. And so, no normal demon could resist.

I changed more of them. At some point, a key was found and I was freed from my shackles. Within twenty minutes, everyone in the vicinity had been converted. A few had escaped, but they likely didn’t understand what was happening. There was a statue of the Demon King in the center of the square. I headed towards it while passing through my crowd of loyal followers. Every eye was on me, waiting for my next command.

I sat up on the statue’s base, which put me up higher than anyone else, taking the pedestal like a queen taking her throne.

“Commands… mistress.” The person who asked was one of the guards who had previously been my escort.

“Recruit. Bring me more. Women, men, children. They will all fight for me. Break into homes, drag them all out. Bring them to me. Build me my army!”

There was a shout, and immediately, the group of a hundred followers moved off, kicking down doors and breaking into the nearby buildings, effectively ransacking their own city.

“The Demon King will fight back…” the guard remained by my side as we watched my army break into the nearest buildings and drag out the demons nearby.

“The Demon King has his army. I have mine. Which of these four armies will win? I wonder…”

“Mistress?”

The first of the newly captured demons were dragged to my feet. It was a young blue skinned woman who was holding tightly to a child no older than six.

“Please… let us go.” The woman was openly crying.

“The demon king thinks that there will be a river of blood at my feet by the time this is all over.” I stated nonchalantly as I approached them. “But he’s wrong.”

The woman shook as she looked up at me. I reached down and touched her forehead with a finger, releasing the magic. The fear dissipated and the only thing left in her eyes was adoration. Her hands dropped, freeing the child of her grip.

“Mom? Mom?” The child looked up and tried to get her mom’s attention and failed.

I moved down to my knee, and then put a hand on the boy’s shoulder as he glared up at his mother who was now ignoring him.

“By the time I’m done, the blood will be an ocean.” I released my power.

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After the cat boy pulls his pants back up, you follow him with a glower on your face as he leads you over to where his sick “little sister” is. You have high hopes for her, since he turned out to be such a disappointment. The result?

“Cough, Cough, big brother?”

A little girl was in a small room on a small bed. The bed was in rags, and so was the girl. This was barely a step above living in a cardboard box. Worst, the little girl was too little. She looked to only be about ten. This was far too young. It leads you into some dangerous territory here.

Still, the look on all of your girls’ faces, well, not the quadruplets, they still had dead eyes you’d need to fix at some point, but the other girls, you knew that if you didn’t help this girl they’d think less of you. You put on a show of healing her, ready to just get this over with as quickly as possible.

“Th-thank you… you saved my brother and I. You’re our savior.” The sickly girl put on a smile after you were done.

The color was returning to her face and she was already looking like she had energy again.

“Yes, thank you!” The boy bows once, keeping his head down.

You give a sigh and nod, “Well, if you don’t mind, we’ll be on our way. I’m looking for a new house for my ha-, er… my household. I need a place with a lot of space.”

“Oh! If that’s true, I know a place!” the cat boy spoke up excitedly.

The place he spoke of was a mansion on the outside of town. There was a lot of land involved. It used to be owned by a lord. However, apparently the man was a summoner, and there was some things about the place being haunted that you really didn’t pay attention to. Well, it’s not like if ghosts really did exist you couldn’t get rid of them quickly.

Going to some firm and actually buying the place seems like a hassle, so you cast a spell that does the work for you. Magic is nice. You go ahead and send the four sisters ahead to clean the place. With some magical motivation, they don’t even make a sound as they take off. You could do it all with magic, but you wanted you maids to have to work for their place.

When you’re done with that, you return to the room, ready to take your girls off on another adventure.

“There is good news, hero!” Ariel runs up and grabs your own. “Jasmine here was just telling us that she can cook!”

“The little girl’s name is Jasmine?” You cringe.

“Ah, yes!

“Hmm… and what’s the brother’s name?”

“My name is Elena!”

“What? Isn’t that just a girl’s name!” You tsukkomi.

“That’s the name I was born with!” He shot back.

“Well, you were born with a girl’s name!”

The pair of you stare daggers at each other while Jasmine watches curiously and then snaps her fingers. “Does that mean Savior is in love with Brother Elena!”

“The hell I am!” You snap.

“What is sister saying!” Elena cries, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“It’s just that you guys fight like mom and dad used to, before. They’d go to their rooms after and then we’d hear this and that, remember Elena?”

Elena exploded in red at her explanation, you just shook your head in annoyance.

“Look, I got five beautiful girls here, if I was going to do this and that, I could do it with them. Or my maids. I don’t need some thieving streetrat, even if he does look like an adorable catgirl.” You explain.

Jasmine nods her head. “Ah, so it’s the catgirl you want to try, does that mean Savior will be having me?”

She said it in a surprisingly seductive voice.

“Sister!” Elena tried to admonish her.

“Eh, I’m not a pedo!” you snap.

Jasmine nods, “Then, I’m no good, it must be brother. Everyone out, brother must give his all for my Savior.”

“What is sister saying!”

“I can’t even tell if you’re joking,” you shake your head. “But let’s just finish this at the mansion, I’m getting hungry.”

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