Freedom for Tara

Chapter 9 – Knocked down, knocked out, knocked up.

It bothered me a little that I was actually getting used to being translocated thousands of miles through space, and I wasn’t even bothered by the unusual atmosphere that filled my lungs and made me work a bit harder to breath. The air was thick with moisture, and I felt about a dozen kilos heavy due to higher gravity. Beyond that, I could have been looking at a very fertile jungle back on Earth.

On my right, Keeplee was having more trouble breathing and looked slightly panicked. Gen was gripping my hand so hard that I had to ask her to let go before she broke something.

“Sorry,” she said, releasing me.

I turned to Keeplee. “Take slower, deeper breaths… That’s it.” The woman was forcing herself to breath more normally, and after a moment nodded that she was okay.

“Okay, I don’t see any obvious threats, so it looks like we could be facing something that uses stealth or trickery.” I was unpacking my kit as I spoke, and extracted the two crossbows which I handed to each of my partners. They looked at the weapons with wide eyes, as though they might explode in their hands or something.

“This,” I said pointing to the trigger, “is where you push to release the shaft. Be sure to keep it pointed at the ground or an enemy.”

Suddenly, there was a gentle bleating sound in my right ear. I frowned in confusion for a second, then realized that it was my Ort. I tapped the small gem and heard Nusho’s voice.

“Tara, can you hear me?”

I grinned. “Sweet! Yes, I’m here. How’s the connection?”

Keeplee looked at me strangely for a moment, then seemed quiet surprised as she realized I was speaking through the device.

“Perfect. I’m receiving sound and image clearly. Could you please lift your head and take a slow look around? I might be able to identify your location… Or are you about to be attacked?”

“I don’t think so,” I responded. “If there’s something out there, it’s not rushing up to meet and greet.”

“Huh?”

I sighed. “We’re safe for the moment I think.” I stood, and then slowly panned my head from one side of the portal to the other, giving her a full 180 degree view. I tried to keep things as stable as possible. When I reached the end of my arc, I began to pan back. Suddenly, she stopped me.

“Hold on. Go back a bit… there!”

I was staring into the jungle, but could see nothing that looked hazardous. “Do you see something you recognize?” I asked.

“Unfortunately. I believe you’re on Karagoss. It’s a large plant dominated world in the Garetti system.”

“I don’t really care where it’s located, but I’m about to run out of safe zone, so fill me in quick!” I took a handful of Kamba sticks and then a deep slow breath to calm myself. A second later the portal made a quick warning and then vanished behind us. Somewhere in the distance, the exit portal was waiting.

“Well, assuming that I am correct, and you ARE on Karagoss, then the large pod-like plants to your right are the threat. They’re called Flessik Blooms; after Helena Flessik, the Fretah who er… discovered them.”

“Yeah yeah. But why are they dangerous and how do I get past them?”

There was a long pause. “Tara, I’m not sure. My knowledge of them is a bit limited.”

“Sorry, Nusho. That wasn’t a fair question. Please, tell me what you do know, even the boring details.”

“Right. Well, the Flessik Blooms are pseudo-sentient plant-animal hybrids. They draw energy from the sun like a plant, but they also have fleshy organs like an animal.”

“Can they move?” I motioned for Gen an Keeplee to stay down and still.

“Move? Like from one place to another?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“No, not in adult form. They root like a plant… but Tara, their vines and roots are capable of motion… That’s how they bring in captured prey.”

“Captured?” I asked a little nervously.

“Their root system is slow, and so not very good at capturing fast moving animals, but they use a form of neurotoxin to sedate a victim first. It’s delivered by sticky balls spit from holes around its base. Once it senses your presence, it is likely to try and subdue you that way. I’m not sure of its range or accuracy, I’m sorry.”

“Are you kidding? This is great information, Nusho, really. Do you know if it has any weaknesses or sensitivities?”

“I… I don’t know.” The Fretah sounded sad, and I got the feeling that she was frustrated her skills couldn’t help me more.

“Nusho, you’re doing great. Relax. We’ll figure out how to do this the right way when we get back. Okay, one more question for now… How does it detect us?”

“I believe it senses ground motion, but it also has a collection of rudimentary eyes around the base. Tara… You should know, it’s an impregnator.”

My eyes got wide. “Oh shit.” I carefully turned away from the others and lowered my voice. “Be straight with me, Nusho… fatally?”

“No,” she added. “But I doubt it would be much fun. Two day gestation period.”

“Okay, thanks for letting me know.” I turned back to the others. “I’m going to leave this thing on. Feel free to interject any other information you think might be helpful.” I looked to my companions. “Given what Nusho has told me, I think we should try to stay as far left of those pod things over there as possible. We should move slowly and carefully, and try to stay behind trees when we can. Whatever you do, don’t panic and run, okay? We stay together. Those crossbows are hard to reload, so don’t fire needlessly. Ready?”

Gen nodded, Keeplee did something with her hands that I took to be a yes, and we headed slowly into the jungle.

As we quietly stepped through the wet and slightly foggy rain forest, I kept one eye on the ground, and the other on the pod-like “blooms” in the distance, watching for any change. Nusho hadn’t said the plant’s could hear, but we stayed as soundless as possible anyway, whispering when necessary, and cringing any time someone snapped a twig. We had moved as far left of our original drop point as the Var-Lish barrier field would allow. Up until that moment, I had not seen the strange shimmering wall up close, and I took a moment to run my hand along its frictionless surface. It was like touching perfectly smooth warm glass, and I was mesmerized until Gen placed her hand on my shoulder and broke the spell.

Things were going well until I noticed that the jungle was thinning and the ground took on a slightly bluish tint. We really didn’t have much choice but to proceed even though I was betting we were walking into a trap. The exit clock was ticking.

Had I not been watching, I might have missed the slight vibration near the base of the large closed bloom. A second later there was a staccato series of pops and it sounded like someone had just shot the other side of the tree I was standing behind with a paint ball gun. Gen Osa made a little shriek and was joined by Keeplee as the three of us huddled behind our one shield.

“What WAS that?” Asked the naked Marroon.

I let out the breath I had been holding. “Toxic spit balls,” I replied, straight faced.

“AHHH!” cried Gen, jumping up about a foot into the air. “Something just moved over my foot!”

I looked down and could see that the ground was almost completely covered in vines, most of which were slowly moving, slithering like half-frozen snakes. I could also tell that they were starting to converge on our location from all around.

“Damn. We need to move, now,” I said a little louder than I meant to. “The next tree, ready… let’s GO!”

As one, we made a dash to the tree just five feet away. Again I heard the pops, and their repeated echo as the bloom’s projectiles impacted the far side of our new sanctuary. We had hardly caught out breath before Keeplee jumped and started dancing as though her feet were on fire.

“Stay behind the tree!” I yelled.

Gen was also lifting her feet, and when I looked down, I saw that one of my own ankles already had a root looping around it. I reached down and untangled myself from the moving plant, which was strong, but not so much that I had any trouble. But by then, my other ankle was being attacked.

“We’re going to have to keep moving! Get ready to run. On three. One… two… THREE!”

We blasted out from behind our protection and sprinted the full fifteen meters or so to the next tree, all the while hearing pops and zings as tiny living bullets whizzed around us through the air. I reached the relative safety of our new position first, with Keeplee right behind me. The Fretah girl was nearly to our sanctuary herself when something smacked into her exposed neck.

“Ow!” She cried as she stumbled behind the tree with us. She started to reach up, but I snatched her hand back.

“Don’t touch it,” I cautioned, while using a twig to pry loose what looked like a sticky ball of sap from her neck. I got most of it off, but it was quickly obvious that the neurotoxin was already in her blood stream.

“I feel… funny,” she said, her voice slurring a bit as her legs gave out under her and she slumped to the ground.

“What happened to her!?” Asked the Marroon looking panicked.

I saw that the root and vines were already winding around the Fretah’s legs, and I struggled to keep her body free. “She’s been sedated…”

“Tara look!”

At the woman’s cry, I glanced up and saw that vines from every direction were slowly zeroing in on us.

“Get in the tree!” I commanded, still trying to free my companion. When I could no longer keep up with the thin roots entangling Gen without becoming trapped myself, I cursed and followed the Marroon up into the lowest branches of the large tree we were hiding behind. I’m not sure what prompted me to climb, but it appeared to work. The vines did not follow us. However, when I looked down, I could see that Gen’s body was hopelessly wrapped in the sturdy tendrils. Even though she continued to struggle in her drugged stupor, it was obvious she was no match against the three dozen or so living ropes that wound around her legs and up her arms, binding her.

“Nooo,” she exclaimed weakly, as she was tipped to her side. “T-tara… h-help… me…”

I gritted my teeth, tears coming to my eyes as I frantically considered what to do. I knew that if I jumped down to help her, that I would be tangled and trapped as well. I could see that the vines were slowly starting to drag the girl, carefully sliding her body around the tree and toward the nearest Flessik Bloom.

“Gen…” said Keeplee, equally distraught. “What do we do!?”

Getting an idea, I carefully reached down and snagged the crossbow that Gen had been carrying, but was now laying in the midst of a hundred slithering vines. Somehow, they weren’t interested in non-living things. Then, being careful not to expose any part of my body, I climbed a bit higher so that I could peek out at the bloom between two branches. I was counting on the fact that its eyes probably weren’t very good. I could see Gen, still struggling, as she was pulled closer and closer. I could also hear her whimpers and pleading for help and my stomach clenched.

Raising the crossbow, I carefully aimed my weapon and then tipped the release catch. There was a loud twang and then a thud as the shaft hit the side of the bloom and penetrated several inches. If the plant felt it, it made no outward expression of that pain, and Gen’s slow progress toward the creature never even slowed.

“Shit,” I cursed aloud.

“Tara?”

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Keeplee. I don’t know what else to do.”

“What’s going to happen to her,” asked the other.

“I’m not sure. Stay where you are for now. Can you do that?”

I could see her staring at the ground. “I think so.”

A few moments later, I heard a creaking sound and when I checked, the main pod of the bloom was slowly opening like a giant flower bud in the sun. “Oh my god…”

“What is it? I’m coming up,” said the Marroon.

I was too amazed to disagree and watched in horror as several long, blue tentacles emerged from inside the unfolding pod and stretched almost ten meters into the air. Then, like hungry vultures, they bent down and reached for Gen Osa. As terrifying as this was, it was the strange funnel-like pit of glistening red flesh in the center of the “flower” that had me breathing hard, however.

“Vereky save us…” said the Marroon female when she finally had a chance to see what was going on. “Gen… Is there nothing more we can do?” The woman sounded on the verge of sobbing.

“Nusho, are you seeing this?” I asked.

There was a slight pause, then a sniff in my ear. “Y-yes.” Answered the Fretah simply. I understood her sadness. It must be horrible to have to watch her cellmate, knowing that you’re powerless to help.

“You said the plant is going to impregnate her. How?”

“Impregnate!?” Keeplee was starting to lose it.

“It… it will probably move her to the middle… that red pit… Its sexual organs are deep inside.”

I considered that. “Do you think that the fleshy part would be any more sensitive than the outer leaves?”

“I simply don’t know… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Nusho. You’ve been a great help.”

“If I had to guess, I… I would say no.”

Gen was lifted slowly into the air above the pit, the other vines and roots letting go. The blue tentacles secured her, hanging her weakly struggling body in the air by her wrists. Then it started to strip her.

Keeplee saw it first and began sobbing next to me.

“Damn…” I sighed, knowing that our options for saving Gen were running out. The blue tentacles were slow, but methodical. They hit her all at once, puling her shirt up at the same time they were dragging down her skirt and panties. Gen, who was still obviously under the effects of the neurotoxins, cried out and resisted as best she could, but it was a feeble effort at best. In a few minutes she was completely naked and being lowered back down toward the center of the bloom… and the waiting funnel of flesh. Seeing where she was headed, Gen awakened just enough to let out a long, horrifying scream. Her feet had hardly touched the surface when they slipped inward and disappeared. A moment later, the blue vines released her hands, her nude body falling free and quickly slipping down into the funnel to her upper thighs. There, she frantically tried to keep herself from being swallowed further, but it was useless. Her hands simply had nothing to press against except slippery flesh. In seconds, her pawing limbs were sucked in with her hips, and the now frantic Fretah girl found herself completely at the mercy of the alien organism. Her arms were trapped and useless at her sides, her body engulfed to her belly button.

“No.. no…” Keeplee was moaning as she covered her ears to try and block Gen’s cries of fear. My own heart rate was through the roof as I watched in silent apprehension. Suddenly, the girl’s voice cut off. I saw her struggles increase for a brief moment, then all at once her head went back and her mouth opened. Instead of outright panic, her cries had abruptly changed. She seemed almost shocked by something, and when she started making sharp, short gasps, I had a pretty good idea what it was. As if to validate what I imagined, I noticed that Gen seemed to be bobbing up and down slowly.

“Oh god…” I groaned, knowing that the girl was being raped just below the surface. Something was even now fucking her… impregnating her, and from the look on her face, slowly driving her mad with pleasure. I frowned when I noticed that with each thrusting rise and fall, the Fretah girl seemed to be gradually sinking deeper. In less than a minute, she had dropped to just below her breasts.

Keeplee had apparently checked Gen as well, because I heard her gasp and then start a low guttural moan while she started to climb down the tree, shaking.

“Keeplee? What are you doing?” I asked of the Marroon. “It’s not safe down there, STOP!”

But the woman wasn’t listening. She jumped out of the tree and huddled for a moment by the base.

“Keeplee, NO! Don’t …” But it was too late. The Marroon turned and sprinted in the direction of the exit portal, completely ignoring the cover of the trees. She made it about twenty meters before I saw her jerk suddenly and brush at something on her arm. She staggered another three or four meters and then collapsed, her body falling hard to the ground. I could see that she was trying to get her limbs to cooperate, but the toxin was too strong and she floundered in a drunken panic. Sobbing as the vines looped around her legs, she tried in vain to untangle herself. She only succeeded in getting her arms stuck as well, and twisting and arching her back, she made one final effort to break free before her already naked body was wrapped tight and held still. I realized I was holding my breath, and let it out as a long, “nooo…” when her form began to move in the direction of another of the pods, the mat of vines and roots slowly dragging her.

“Tara, there’s nothing you could have done,” said Nusho’s voice in my ear. “Do you hear me?”

I was near tears myself. “I hear you. It still hurts. I was supposed to protect them.”

“You can only do so much, Tara. It’s not your fault.”

I took a deep breath. “Thanks, Nusho… oh man…” I heard Keeplee’s cries of terror and peered carefully through the branches. The Marroon had been dragged to a bloom a bit further up and was being lifted over its open petals, another deep red pit of flesh waiting below her.

T-Tara… please… help! Help me! AHHHH!”

The woman’s feet touched the opening of the funnel and Keeplee pulled her legs up. It didn’t help. The creature lowered her further until she was forced to put her legs down or be dropped in rear first. Her lower limbs slipped down in one smooth motion, as though the horrific plant had sucked in a noodle. The tentacles holding her arms released her and her body dropped in clear to her hips.

“No… no no no… I don’t want to go this way,” Keeplee was saying in a slightly slurred voice as she feebly fought to keep herself from sinking deeper into the funnel. But just like Gen, her hands soon slipped in and became stuck. Then, it was only a matter of time before she too was bobbing up and down while the organism had its way with her. The Marroon’s eyes rolled up into her head, and her mouth hung open as she was finally pushed into the first of many orgasms.

“Damnit! It’s not fair!” I yelled. “Are you fuckers having a good show?!” I screamed at the sky and the twinkling of tiny starry dots. “Are you enjoying yourselves!?”

“Tara… It’s okay…” soothed Nusho in my ear.

I balled my hands into fists.

“No. It’s not. What’s the point of a game you can’t win?… You know what? Fuck ’em.”

I jumped down from the tree, landing a little harder than I thought I would, the gravity on this world being just a bit heavier than I was used to, and after only a moment to sight my next destination, I took off as fast as I could. I heard the pops of a bloom almost at once, and knew that I could feel the smack and sting from a hit at any moment. I didn’t care. I locked on to the safety of the tree trunk ahead of me, even as I heard something zing past my head, literally brushing a few loose strands of my hair. And then, knowing that if I stopped, I might not have the courage or adrenalin to keep going, I slapped the side of the tree as I passed and kept right on running toward the next. Behind me, I heard another volley of spit-balls hit the trunk like a drum roll.

My next stretch was a little less straight, and I was forced to dodge between several smaller trees in order to reach a safe zone. I was almost there when something impacted on my upper shoulder, and I yelped. I very nearly crashed into the large tree in order to get to a place where I wasn’t in danger from the projectiles. Out of direct danger, I very near tore my shirt from my body, careful not to let the ball of sap touch my skin. My shoulder felt slightly tingly, but after a few seconds I decided that I had narrowly escaped the effects of the toxin for now.

Standing topless in the jungle felt a lot more comfortable, and I took a few deep breaths and considered my next point of cover.

“Are you going to come through the portal?” Asked Nusho.

“Well, I have to get to it first, but no. I’m not leaving without Gen and Keeplee. Will the blooms release them once they… once they’re impregnated?” I listened and could still hear the pair’s soft gasping and moaning.

“Very likely. The point is to disperse their offspring, so it would be counter-productive to continue to hold them.”

I considered this. “Okay, then I’ll wait at the portal and help them as much as I can from there. Uh oh… time to move.” The vines had started to loop around my legs, and after a brief moment of panic, I was able to free myself. In the distance, I could just make out the neon arch of the exit. I could also see that the bluish ground cover stopped about thirty meters short of the gate. If I could make it to there, I should be safe.

It was a scary run. Between the jungle foliage getting in the way, and several fallen trees, it was amazing that I arrived at the large tree at the edge of the blue ground cover without tripping. In retrospect though, the thicker jungle had probably saved me, blocking spit-shots that would certainly have hit my otherwise. I took a few breaths, smiling that I was finally going to make it, and headed up to the portal to check how much time we had left.

“Has it really only been twenty galactic minutes, Nusho? I can’t believe it!”

“I’m afraid so. In distressed situations, it’s not uncommon for time to slow down…”

I turned around and peered through the jungle while I listened to the Fretah. I could just see the blooms through the trees.

“… though I think the adrenalin is probably what saved you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run so quickly…”

POP

I heard the single shot from the blooms and frowned, wondering who they could be shooting at. A heartbeat later something smacked into my chest right above my breasts.

“Ow!” I exclaimed, surprised. Then, “Oh… Shit.” My vision tunneled and my whole body suddenly felt very warm and weak. There was a buzzing in my ears, and I tasted something like blueberries just before my legs gave out under me and I crumpled to the ground on my side.

It wasn’t fair. I was in the clear. I had reached what I thought was safety, only to be cheated of that prize by a lucky sniper shot. I could do little more than twitch and drool as I laid there on the jungle floor, my body fighting to regain control. Nearby, I could see movement. Vines. They were reaching out of the jungle for me, and I knew that unless I was able to move further away, they would snag me and pull me to the same fate as Gen and Keeplee.

“Tara! What’s happened?” Nusho was calling in my ear.

“Toxin…” I muttered, barely able to control my tongue. I lamely tried to crawl toward the portal, but just like my companions, I just couldn’t muster the control. It was as though I were drunk, only vaguely aware of my surroundings. I glanced back and saw that the movement along the ground was much closer.

“Nooo…” I moaned and redoubled my efforts. It was no good. The first vine to reach me looped around my ankle and completely arrested any forward progress I was making. When a half-dozen more snaked up my legs, I knew I was lost.

“Uhnnn… bastards…” I said weakly as they pulled me back toward the blooms, dragging me into range of more and more of the vines and roots. I fought as I could, but by the time I was once again in the more open jungle, I was wrapped from head to toe and completely unable to move.

After a while, the ground under me felt spongy, and I realized I had stopped. Still on my back, I had a perfect view of the long blue tentacles as they reached down for me even as the roots holding my body loosened and unwound. The toxin’s hold was lessening, and for a brief moment I was free enough to roll over and start crawling away. But the plant’s powerful arms plucked me up like a helpless baby and lifted me right off the ground by my wrists.

“Oh god… no…” I groaned, seeing the glistening red vortex under me. I knew what was coming, and that made it all the worse when the creature reached out and snagged my skirt, yanking it down over my hips. I wondered where Nusho had gone to, thinking that the sound of her voice would have been really comforting about then, even though there was nothing she could do. And thinking about it, I noticed that I no longer felt the pressure of the Ort on my ear.

Helpless and now alone, I stared down into the slightly quivering pit below me and my stomach clenched. There was something about the sight that caused a terrible wave of fear to well up in me. I remembered that Keeplee and Gen had seemed to experience the same thing, and now, in my own demise, the terror was multiplied. Despite my struggles, the plant slipped my panties down my legs, and then began to lower me.

I screamed, realizing finally that the red funnel of flesh made me think that I was being dropped into the mouth of some massive beast who was eating me alive. Primitive emotions overloaded rational thought, and I nearly dislocated my own shoulders in an effort to break free. But there was nothing I could do. I shivered in revulsion when I first touched the slippery well of muscle. It was quite warm, which only added to the illusion of being swallowed whole, and I kicked and twisted as much as my drugged body would allow. I knew that once it had my feet, it was over.

“AHHH! NO!” I screamed as my left foot slipped down into the darkness. I felt the walls of the creature squeeze in around it, sucking at me as though I were a delicious candy. My other foot was not far behind, and just as expected, once both my lower limbs were stuck, the blue tentacles released me.

I couldn’t have fallen more than a foot or two, but it was the most terrifying experience of my life. I fully expected to slide right down into the belly of the Flessik Bloom, and was momentarily stunned that I could still even breathe. But the respite from fear was short-lived as I started easing down again. My legs were quickly engulfed to my upper thighs as I frantically pressed my hands against the slopes in an effort to keep myself from going deeper. But just like my companions, there was nothing but slippery red flesh that seemed to yield and loosen in response to my struggles. The fear of being eaten was so extreme, that it overwhelmed all rational thought. I had watched Gen and Keeplee. I knew to keep my arms up lest they be sucked in and trapped, but it didn’t matter. All I could think about was that I was slowly sliding into hell. Even now, I felt a strange liquid warmth around my legs and I had visions of digestive fluids and piles of bones stripped clean. And even though the top of the funnel was mostly unmoving, just inside, the pseudo-plant was quite active. I imagined several giant tongues curling around my calves as they lapped slowly up my legs to my thighs. They seemed to suck and pull at me, helping the bloom to draw me in.

“NOO…” I cried out in despair as first my left, then my right arms slipped into the hole and were instantly pressed tight in warm flesh. I was truly helpless then, with no way to escape, and no one able to rescue me. My body inched slowly into the tight maw until it just covered my belly button, and despite my fear, I was shocked to find that my nipples were hard and pronounced. It surprised me because it wasn’t my terror that had made them so, which would have been understandable, but actual sexual arousal. All at once I understood that although my brain was stuck in a fight or flight response, my body was being treated in a manner that was blatantly erotic.

As soon as my hips had passed out of view, my sex was literally dipped into that oily, warm liquid while long, slippery muscles caressed my lower limbs. The flesh of the inner funnel itself conformed against my Mons and snuggled under my apex as it gently but insistently urged my legs apart, aided by the powerful tongues that had curled around my knees and were lapping at the soft white curves of my upper thighs. Quietly, and without me having even noticed it until now, the giant bloom had exposed my own flower, which, to my horror and rising lust, it was gently opening as well. Nebulous, quivering fingers traced along my cleft, probing and teasing as they gradually pressed my petals apart, easing my own fleshy folds aside and allowing the plant’s thin, warm honey to flow over and into me.

“Ughnnn!” I gasped, surprised and suddenly flushed with arousal. Whatever the liquid was, it left the sensitive skin of my womanhood tingling wherever it touched. Like the neurotoxin that had drugged me, its contact with my intimate flesh sent powerful chemicals directly into my blood that stunned me in a different manner. I made one long gasp as my mind went from primal fear, to intense pleasure in the span of a few very rapid heartbeats. And then, just to seal my quickening, the creature did something entirely alien.

I felt the huge muscles of the bloom undulate around my lower body, timed with a sudden increase in the flow of liquid warmth. But it also kept the opening around my middle closed tight enough that it was almost hard to breath, and by squeezing from my toes up, it could quite accurately direct where it wanted that new flow to go, which was right up into me.

It was just as though someone had pumped a hot water bottle of tingling oil deep into my tunnel. The liquid rushed inside my now quivering body in a single quick pulse, completely filling me to overflowing, and sending me almost instantly into a shaking orgasm. My head went back, and my eyes lost all focus as I trembled and spasmed in helpless ecstasy.

Even as my mind slipped from bliss, I felt that something else had changed just out of view. The simple pressure of the plant’s flesh molding to my apex had been replaced by a firmer, more active touch. Some new appendage had reached up between my spread thighs and cupped me. Like the huge tongues wrapped around my legs, the thing at my apex was active, rubbing and caressing me. It was as though my body had been set on twin paddles of muscle which split to my front and back as if I were seated in a living saddle. And from the center, coming up between the new tongues, I felt something more rigid. When it settled perfectly at my gates, I knew at once that the foreplay was over. Growing upward under me, I couldn’t even pull away as the obviously phallic appendage slid very slowly inside me, its larger bulbous tip stopping when it had just pushed past my vaginal opening with a liquid pop.

“Ughmmmmm….. no.. oh god….” I pleaded, my head rolling slightly in drunken weakness. I realized that I was now seeing the final stage of the bloom’s nefarious game; that of impregnation.

After a moment’s pause, the phallic shaft thrust abruptly up into me, sliding easily within my over-lubricated tunnel. At the same time, the twin tongues flowed upwards as well, pushing my whole body up, and sliding over my apex in a way that nearly caused me to see stars. There was some kind of ridge down their middle which made me think of the vertebral bumps running down the back of a dinosaur. As my saddle’s petals pushed up, the bumps of that ridge ran right over my clitoris in rapid succession. Coupled with the deeper penetration of the phallus-like appendage, I cried out in near ecstasy once again.

“AHHH! Ughnnn…”

Then the whole saddle reversed the motion, drawing the shaft mostly from my body as it let me sink back down. I noticed, to my rising sense of fear, that I was sucked just a little bit deeper into the funnel than when I started. I didn’t have much time to think about it, however, because at that moment the phallus thrust up into me again, repeating the process. And then again… and again… and again. As my body moved lower with each downward beat, the shaft was driven deeper and deeper. Before long, I understood that I was now locked into the same fateful bobbing that I had watched Gen and Keeplee endure. I felt a nauseous warmth building in my middle and knew that I was about to come yet again, and this time, I did see stars.

On and on the slow intercourse continued, my torso gradually dropping into the deadly red warmth. I was terrified that I would go on sinking until I was swallowed completely and suffocated. I had not seen what had happened to my companions beyond this point. What if Nusho had been wrong?

It grew hard to breath as my torso was gently swallowed, my moments of orgasm coming closer and closer together until I began to loose track of time. I awakened briefly when my breasts slipped from view and were bathed in the erotic fluid from below, but I was tiring, my body growing weak in its involuntary struggle to escape the constant erotic torture. The phallus had worked its way clear to my cervix, literally pressing against that final barrier, when at last, the thrusting stopped.

Held immobile, I hung within my prison of flesh, panting and limp. I ventured to imagine that the creature had had its fill of me and would let me go, but even as I had this thought, I felt movement deep within my hips.

It was the tip of the phallus. I could sense it changing somehow. There was a strange pressure, as though someone were tickling me from the inside, and then a sudden wash of warmth as something within me gave way. A second later I understood. Part of the phallus had just breached me and now had access to my uterus.

Confused by the strange sensations, I wasn’t prepared at all for the pulsing rush of fluid that came up the shaft and sprayed into my womb.

“UGHNN!” I gasped once before a sickly euphoria spread through my body causing me to blush from head to toe. My heart rate accelerated, as did my breathing, yet my muscles were suddenly putty. It was a bit like the neurotoxin the bloom had used to stun me earlier, only then, I hadn’t felt like I was on the verge of having an orgasm. Something was very wrong with how I felt, but I couldn’t pin it down. I considered that the plant might have delivered its ‘seed’, like a human’s sperm right into my womb, and that I might actually be pregnant. But that didn’t seem right either. I had an eerie feeling that the creature wasn’t quite done with me yet.

And right on cue, there was another change in the phallic shaft embedded within me. Even though I was almost completely unable to move, I could feel everything with vibrant clarity. I could feel the slight pulsing of the phallus, and the soft rumblings from the creature around me as it shifted subtly. And then I felt them – bulges rising up the length of the shaft, and into me. Two, three four… The sensitive walls of my tunnel could distinguish each one as it slowly made its way toward the end of the phallus. And I knew what they were. These were the seeds – literal seeds, the size of marbles that were about to be put inside my womb. I was being impregnated.

“Nooo…” I moaned weakly, my overheated body trapped to my chin in the warm flesh. Surrounded, and drugged, I could do nothing but wait as the first of the hard bulges moved deeper and deeper. I sensed that it had reached the tip of the phallus where it paused as though it needed to build up pressure to squeeze through a smaller opening, perhaps even my cervix. I felt something else building as well, and when I understood what it was, I grew panicked.

When I was seven, my father and I used to do all kinds of fun science experiments together. He said it was only fair since the public schools were still trying to get girls to become waitresses or airline stewardesses. Whatever, we had a great time. One summer we did an experiment involving baking soda and vinegar. It was simple enough – a small pool of vinegar at the bottom of a tube-like container, into which we dropped a smaller container of soda. Wait for the reaction and FOOM! Instant fun! You had to be quick, because you knew that as soon as you mixed the two chemicals, it would start fizzing like mad.

That’s a bit like what I felt at that very moment. There was a chemical reaction just starting in my uterus, but instead of ‘foaming over’ with carbon dioxide, I was about to explode into orgasm. Something about the liquid that had been injected into me earlier was reacting to the ball-like seed that was even now at the edge of my womb. I was able to get in a single gasp of shock before I felt the hard little object pass into me with a soft plop.

White hot ecstasy flooded my mind, drowning me in pleasure so intense that it was nearly ten full seconds before I could even breathe again. When I finally did clear enough to suck in a lungful of air, I didn’t even have time to utter the scream that was rising from my chest before another seed slipped in and rekindled the fire of passion that was consuming me. Lost between orgasmic overload, stunned confusion, and an intense fear that I was going to forget how to breathe, I was none the less surprised when yet another ball was squeezed into my body and the process was repeated. And then again… and again.

The pleasure was tearing me apart mentally and physically. My orgasm continued, barely lessening enough for me to occasionally gasp a breath. This was the wrongness I had felt earlier… An inability to come down from the heights of passion that were being forced on me. Whatever the chemicals were that had been put into my blood, they seemed to affect my brain’s ability to shut off pleasure, and now it was too late. I was trapped in a constant orgasm from which there was no escape. It just went on and on, barely lessening, until I was shaking uncontrollably. My eyes rolled back, and the world faded from view as I finally, happily, lost consciousness.

“Tara, wake up!”

Gen Osa was staring down at me when I opened my eyes again. I forced myself to full consciousness and took a few deep breaths before I tried to move. I could tell that I was still drugged, but that the effects had considerably lessened. I was also a bit surprised to find myself slightly chilly. Rolling to my side as I prepared to sit up, I finally understood that I was no longer surrounded by heavy warm flesh. In fact, I was no longer in the bloom at all.

“Ugnn… What happened?” I asked as I let her help me to a sitting position. Looking around, I saw that I was sitting no more than ten meters from the Flessik Bloom, which was now closed and seemingly uninterested in our presence. I was cold because my nude body was still covered in the slippery oil. I was just pondering how I was going to even stand up, covered as I was in the slick muck, when I felt something flutter in my belly and nearly levitated to a standing position out of surprise. Then I remembered.

“Oh… SHIT!” I said, staring at my abdomen. I looked a little distended, as though I had just finished a really large meal, but otherwise unhurt. The thought of a bunch of alien creatures growing inside me was enough to make me light-headed though, but Gen saw me stagger and steadied me.

“Yeah,” she replied, looking at her own belly. She didn’t have to say more.

I saw the look on her face. “Nusho said that the birthing wouldn’t be fatal. She’s been right so far… Hey, where’s Keeplee?”

The Fretah shook her head. “I don’t know. I… only awake a few minute ago.”

Then something else occurred to me. “Gen, do you have any idea how long we’ve been unconscious?”

“No,” she replied, looking confused.

My stomach was fluttering again, but this time it had nothing to do with the wriggling seeds. If we had missed the exit window…

“Come on,” I urged, getting my bearings. “We need to find Keeplee, and fast.”

It didn’t take long. She was laying on the ground near another of the blooms, much as I was. I was a little panicked that we couldn’t wake her, but decided it could just be a difference in physiology.

“Get her feet,” I said after checking for a pulse. “We have to get her to the portal.”

She was hesitant. “But… do we have time?”

I could understand what she was thinking. The two of us could go through now, while there was still time… assuming of course, that there WAS still time. But I shook my head.

“No, Gen. I won’t leave anyone behind while I still have a chance of helping them. If it were you laying there, would you still want me to save myself?”

I saw her face change as she considered my words. A moment later she grabbed the Marroon’s feet and together we started dragging the girl toward where I had seen the portal last. I literally laughed aloud in happiness when I saw the neon arch through the trees. We hadn’t missed it.

I did feel my face pale when I noticed how much time we had left, however. We shoved Keeplee through, then followed her with less than five minutes on our return ‘clock’.

“Well,” said Nusho after she had examined the three of us in a spare room we had designated as our ‘infirmary’, “you all seem to be in good health. There are no outward signs of rejection to the pregnancy. Assuming I’m correct about the species, the three of you have just about two days till full gestation is reached. After that, I’m not quite sure what happens. The research said that birth wasn’t fatal, but it didn’t give specifics.”

“Is there a risk to anyone else,” asked Benie coldly. The question had to be made, but I hated her for it all the same.

Nusho tilted her head. “Again, I’m not sure. I don’t believe so, but it would be wise to make preparations just in case. It’s likely that the seedlings will be… mobile, once they leave the body of the host.”

“So, do we need to stay here for that whole time?” I asked, feeling more squirming from my belly. “I could sure use a shower.”

“I don’t see any reason why you can’t get up. Though, I would be careful not to aggravate your, um… passengers, to much. They might have defenses.”

I got my shower. I also got the largest, most disgusting cheeseburger from my menu and polished it off even as I was going back for another helping of chili-cheese fries. Zeb saw my plate and her eyes grew wide.

“Yeah, I know.” I said, sitting down at a table and cringing at her salad. “But it seems I’m eating for more than myself now… Damn buggers are making me hungry.” She kept her comments to herself. A few minutes later, Gen Osa and Keeplee asked to join us. They too had mountains of food on their platters.

No one said anything until we were once again sated.

“Tara,” started the Marroon, her face looking distraught. “I… I just wanted to say, thank you. If you hadn’t insisted on bringing me back to the portal, I never would have made it.” I saw Gen pale and decided I had better patch things.

“I couldn’t have done it without Gen’s help as well. But I meant what I said. I will never leave anyone behind if there’s the slightest chance I can save them.”

“You’re very brave,” said the girl, looking guiltily into her lap. “I would have left.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Fair enough. I’m sure there will come a day when I’ll have to chose to leave someone behind. I don’t look forward to it.” We ate the remainder of our meal in silence, then Zeb helped me back to my room. Once we were alone, she startled me when she turned me around and planted her lips to mine. I resisted a little at first, not quite sure how I felt about the intimacy at that moment. But after a few seconds I melted into the kiss and let her guide how far it went.

I was moaning softly into her mouth when she let us up for air.

“Mmm…” I panted. “I wasn’t sure how you would feel about me with these… things, in my belly. I didn’t know if you’d want to be around me.”

“You’re serious,” she replied, looking surprised. I nodded. “That’s so sad. Tara, I was just worried that you wouldn’t come back. Nusho says that you’ll be fine…”

“Well,” I started to disagree.

“You’ll make it,” she said confidently. “And I could hardly be more proud of you, lover. Wouldn’t want to be with you…” she quoted, “Of all the silliness.”

I was honored, and just a little embarrassed. “We really should be careful, Zeb,” I commented as she stepped closer again and let her hands slide up under my shirt. Her touch felt warm, and safe, and highly arousing as she gently played with my nipples. As my heart rate increased, I noticed the movement in my belly did as well.

“I’m not afraid,” she commented, running a trail of wet kisses down my neck that made me shiver slightly.

“That… that’s not what I… ummm…” I closed my eyes to the wonderful attention, unable to concentrate on anything else at the moment. Her hands lifted my shirt up over my head, and blushing, I watched her smile wickedly before lowering her mouth to my right breast.

“Ohh… ughnn… mmm…” My nipple pulsed in her mouth, and felt surprisingly tender and sensitive. I considered the possibility that being pregnant could be triggering some of my own natural mothering instincts. “Oh god, Zeb…” I moaned. The girl released the swollen nipple from her mouth and then let her slick tongue slide to its mate. I gasped even louder as it too was suckled into throbbing hardness, my knees growing weak against the arousal.

Suddenly, there was something more than just activity in my abdomen. I felt a warmth flow up from just below my navel, and this time my knees did buckle. Zeb caught me as I dropped to the floor and helped me to fall into my bedding.

“Tara?… Tara!”

I blinked at her as my mind caught up with time again. “Whoa… I don’t think those seeds want me messing around too much.”

“What happened?!”

I patted her arm. “Relax, I’m okay. It was a weak euphoric flash… a soft orgasm. Only, not from you.”

She pointed to my abdomen and I nodded.

“Well, that’s inconvenient,” she replied, looking a little frustrated. “But, I suppose we could find a way to make it more interesting…” She was moving her body up against mine, her hands finding their way back up my torso. I swallowed nervously and watched her.

“Uh, Zeb? What are you…”

“Shh. Let Zebbie play,” replied the girl, her fingers once again at my nipples. The pleasure was nearly overwhelming all on its own, and again I found it exceedingly difficult to concentrate.

“Z-Zeb… ummmm… I… I… UGHNNN!” As before, a slow wash of warmth flooded up from my belly and drowned my mind in bliss. It was a little stronger this time, and I noticed that I felt slightly drunk afterward. Panting, I opened my eyes to see the Fretah girl hovering over me, smiling.

“They’re really zapping you, aren’t they?” She asked, giggling.

I waited until I had caught my breath. “Yeah. But I also feel weak… sedated. I’m having trouble moving my legs.”

“Really?” She responded, her eyebrows raising in a way that made me nervous again. “So, they’re drugging you… from the inside out?”

I nodded.

She grinned. “And with each orgasm you find it harder to move?”

“Yes…” I answered, wondering where she was going with this.

“So… if I were to keep doing… this…” She tweaked both my nipples between her fingers, which was more than enough to cause me to arch and gasp in pleasure, but she also moved her body such that the top muscles of her left leg pressed up against my sex, grinding against me most provocatively. Right on cue, the heavy rush of ecstasy overwhelmed my senses and left me open mouthed and gasping on the bedding. After, I noticed that I was limp, unable to move my legs at all, and my upper limbs only slowly.

“… then, eventually,” continued the Fretah above me. “You would be completely at my mercy?”

“Ummmm…” I moaned, dreamily. Then I realized something. “Wait a second… You wouldn’t put me at risk like this unless… unless you knew I wasn’t actually in danger.”

The girl giggled.

“Nusho says that the orgasms will help prepare your body for the birthing, and may even shorten the gestation period of the seedlings.”

I was speechless. “Well, I’ll be dipped…”

“She recommended that I give you as many as you can handle in the next day or two,” she continued.

“And the sedative toxin?” I asked.

“Short term. It also only affects your limbs, though you might feel a little drunk.”

“You think?!”

She laughed again. “So… Any last requests before I officially begin your… therapy?” She was idly playing with my nipples, and I already felt the seeds reacting in my belly.

“Oh god… Uh, I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“Nope,” she replied smiling.

“Ummm…. When this is over, you’re going to have to let me tie YOU down.”

Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth opened in arousal. “Really?” she asked after a slight pause.

I rolled my eyes. “What have I gotten myself into…”

Shaking herself from the fantasy, Zeb smiled and lowered her body on top of mine.

Two days, and about a thousand orgasms later, Keeplee, Gen Osa, and myself, each ‘gave birth’ to about a dozen seedlings. I learned later that my companions were also being given a regiment of the highly pleasurable therapy, but I didn’t ask who was playing doctor, as Zeb was in my case.

It all went pretty well considering, with the three of us quarantined in a spare room, several meal trays propped up to make a short wall at the doorway. Nusho suspected the newly born plants might be semi-dangerous, and her suspicions were found to be justified. Right after the first one slithered from Gen Osa, Hennet’dea, who was acting as Nusho’s assistant, picked up the strange organism and declared, “Oh! It’s so cute!…” And then promptly tipped over to the ground, drooling in happy ecstasy as the seedling’s neurotoxins subdued her into near unconsciousness.

The three of us only learned after the fact that each tiny bloom was carefully rounded up before it could scurry away, and promptly dumped into the recycler. It was probably for the best that we were rendered immobile ourselves through the whole birthing process, lest some mothering instinct kick in and we try to stop the destruction of the invaders. By evening mealtime, we were back to our normal selves again, though I still felt slightly stretched. The pregnancy hadn’t been too bad, and aside from an increased need to eat and a somewhat distended abdomen, there were no long-term problems. Nusho attributed our easy time to the fact that we were kept nearly immobile for most of the gestation period. That and our ‘therapy’. I really didn’t want to know the details.

One event that I did miss was the arrival of several new inmates to our little prison. The day after we left Karagoss, the portal alert sounded and a few minutes later two unconscious Fretah girls slid through.

“It’s always hard to know that you’re so close to home, and yet impossibly far away,” said Zeb of the event while we ate together. For a moment I didn’t understand, then I realized that in order to pick up the new passengers, the Var-Lish ship had to be orbiting her home world. Apparently, our captor’s defenses were good enough that they hadn’t considered the Fretah space armada a threat. Either that or they were never even detected. Either way, I could see her point. When you’re normally a million light years from getting back to your real bed, skipping by and hovering close enough that you could have actually seen continents had there been a window, well, that was just cruel.

After Benie had given them the standard lecture, and they had ‘acclimated’ to the fact that they were basically prisoners on death row, I joined with a number of others in greeting them.

Shilow and Pajie, as they were introduced to me, both looked very young in my eyes, but that was partially due to their size. Fretah are normally a bit smaller than Terran females, who are considered pretty large by galactic standards. When I mentioned it to Zeb, who herself looked to be in her late teens in my eyes, she explained that both were over thirty. I stared at the girl, shocked, and now wondering at her own age. She must have sensed what I was thinking because she giggled.

“Um, well… I’m twenty-nine myself.”

I couldn’t believe it and just boggled at her.

“Don’t feel bad, Tara. Fretah live longer than Terrans, so comparatively I’m actually closer to the age that you perceive of me.”

I sighed. “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but damnit, Zeb… You look great for almost thirty. Crap, here I was thinking that you were still a teenager, and it turns out you’re older than I am!”

“Does that offend you?” She looked nervous.

“No… Well, yes, but only in the sense that I hope I look half as good as you do on my thirtieth birthday!” That got her to smile again.

Benie was quite excited by the fact that Shilow was a medical student. We all knew that without modern equipment or medicine, a doctor would be of limited use, but it was still fantastic to have someone with us who had more than a cursory level of medical training. As it turned out, she was able to use her skills a lot sooner than any of us planned.