Naturally Engineered
#8 of Science Fiction, Space and the Far Future
Nothing like workplace romance.
Jerry played with the food on his metal tray, listening absent mindedly to the talk and banter of the cafeteria. Jobs that were done in the day, problems each person had in their various lines of engineering work, the usual. His shift was over today and for that he was thankful. Maybe he could go take a vacation and travel farther upwards in the station over the weekend, see the better parts of it. As he toyed with the various vegetables on his platter he heard the conversation shift around his table, quiet down. And then, as one they cheered, or should he say, jeered, as the large form of what he had come to know over the last month as "V" waddled between tables on many short stubby legs, leaving a trail of slime on the floor which was promptly cleaned up buy small hovering drones that followed in her wake.
The very wide alien paid no mind to the jeers of his table as she scuttled along to an area where she would have more space to eat in, a place that had to be specially built for her upon her arrival. The large, pale grub like alien ate a lot, but recently had started eating more than usual. The group at his table and others loved to pick her out of a crowd, now spurred on by her evident weight gain over the last few weeks. He spoke up,
"Come on guys, give it a fucking rest. Do I have to hear this shit on every break?"
He stood up, leaving his tray and utensils on the table, following in the wake of the large grub as the table continued to holler, now focused on Jerry as he went to console the alien. As he approached the area where V had stopped, a large dip in the metal of the stations floor of which she curled up into, with a port in the middle that spewed some kind of green mulched up mush of plants out, into the waiting maw of V who's mouth tendrils grabbed great bunches of the stuff and pulled them into her maw. He had to admit, V was, for lack of a better term, disgusting. She left slime trails everywhere she went, looked like a giant oversized maggot, who could only do her job with the aid of mechanical arms that were on a pack strapped to her back. She didn't smell particularly nice, in fact she smelled awful, and truly had a face only a mother could love, with no eyes to speak of and only a large gaping maw with pale tendrils hanging out of it, and many smaller legs on her front side that helped pull food closer to her tendrils.
But he felt sorry for her. The alien couldn't help who she was, and it was just bad luck that she ended up in this particular engineering core. She was bright, and showed a lot of promise for a newbie. But every day it was the same thing in and out for her. And although she had no real face to speak of, he could tell that she was down as she sucked and pulled great clumps of green mush into her maw. On her first week here, Jerry had given her his old magwrench, something far more quality than the starting equipment she had been given, to cheer her up in the wake of her first week. And it had worked. She seemed genuinely happy afterwards, having more energy in her movement, (which was saying something) and taking to her tasks with zeal. But now he wasn't sure what to do. He had no gifts to give. At best he could only give his consolation.
He stopped beside the large alien, lighting a smoke in the process.
"Don't let those folks get to ya V. Bunch of fuckin bolony is what it is. You're doing a good job here."
The diminutive alien looked up from her food, clicking the multitudes of her front legs together, the translation device on her backpack taking a short second to kick in.
"Do they have to do this every day?"
Jerry took a long inhale of his smoke before speaking.
"Yeah V, that's what people do. You're the most different person on this station compared to all the humans and other aliens. People don't like it when things are different."
"It's not my fault."
"I never said that V. And they don't care. What you gotta do is find a way not to care either. Think about it. Don't I look funny compared to you?"
Jerry exhaled with the mistake on his head that he'd just made. V didn't have eyes, but rather, an extremely fine coating of fluff all over her body, that somehow acted as her senses for the outside world. V had explained it to him, and her odd biology went way over his head. He'd always tried to refer to things about her in the terms she'd put them in, but it was hard. Right now making her feel different compared to him probably wasn't the best approach. But V surprised him. The clicking of her legs followed by what her translator said caught him off guard.
"Jerry, can I ask you a favour?"
Jerry took the smoke out of his mouth, stamping it out under his boots.
"Sure thing V."
"I need your help. It's not complicated, but I need someone else to help me."
Jerry smiled. Maybe she was taking his advice.
"Sure thing V. Technical troubles?"
"In a way. I'm going to be gone for a few days. I need you to come and check on my home."
Jerry titled his head.
"What's so important that you need me to check on?"
"It's not something I'd like to talk about out here."
A thin metallic arm extended to him from her pack, opening its slender graspers.
"I can mark where my residence is on the station on your suits computer. You can come and see me anytime, but it has to be before you start work again after your break. Can you please?"
Jerry held out his wrist, watching as the slender graspers worked on his computer, going through the various regions of the station, marking her home on the map. Jerry started up another smoke again, shaking his head.
"You know I wanted some free time this weekend V. It's been a while."
The alien paused her work.
"Jerry, please. You're the only person I can turn to. I need a secondary in what's going to happen."
Jerry sighed.
"Okay. But only if you tell me a little bit about what I'm getting into."
V shuddered, the alien's large body rippling in the process.
"I need you to watch me. I'm going through something, a phase. I need you to check if anything goes wrong."
Jerry didn't get a chance to reply before V suddenly started doing something odd, odder than she normally did. She grated her front legs together, as her maw spread wide and she began what looked like to Jerry, vomiting up something, a grey gooey mass. Jerry stepped back as it splashed down on the floor near his feet, V reared up, grey slime still continuing to come from her maw. She managed a few words, before she scuttled away, faster than he had ever seen the creature move before.
"Goodbye Jerry."
A crowd had built up around the commotion, some of the group from Jerry's table came wandering over, but he was no longer listening to the commotions and banter caused by V's sudden burst of movement. The smoke dropped from his mouth as he checked through the map on the computer on his wrist, going through the habitation parts of the station. She would owe him big for this. But he had to admit, part of him was curious, and now worried for the alien. He stood in the crowd, looking at the scene for a few minutes longer amidst the other people, ignoring things around him while he puzzled over what V had done.
Jerry sighed as he toiled away at his work, currently engrossed in welding a large plate to the outside of the stations hull over a breach that had happened when a ship went off course and collided with the station. He and a team of five or so other engineers were working in unison to straighten out the bent and crushed metal, while all slowly moving along over the roughly kilometer long plate.
He found that he was off as he slowly progressed along his section, wanting to smoke, but unable to do so in his suit. He was pissed. So much for his weekend off. The drunken asshole in the ship that made this mess did more than just tear up the hull of this particular section of the station, god only knew what he did to the underlying, important bits. The pipes and tubes that filtered and sent oxygen around the station, the circuits, the sensors, the infrastructure. This would be sure to keep him busy over his supposed weekend off. And his boss wasn't taking no for an answer. He swore into his comms when he realized he was welding off the seam of the plate.
What a load of shit.
Jerry flopped down onto his bed, having hung his basic engineering suit up with other gear in his storage section of his room, taking long drags on his cigarette. He checked the small computer on his wrist, checking the time. Later than he wanted to get off today was all that could be said. He laid his head back, before the thought crossed his mind about earlier in the afternoon. He groaned as he remembered. He forgot to go see V. He laid back on his bed, considering his options. The last thing he wanted to do right now was go trekking across the station at such a late hour. After all, he had work tomorrow. He rolled off his bed, taking another deep inhale of his cigarette. Fuck it, it wasn't like his time could be any worse off than it already was. Wandering back over to his storage area, he picked out the suit he had just put on the hangars.
The trip through the station was a long one, as he passed through the various zones. Much to his disappointment, V lived on the other side of the station, in one of the hubs for larger species of aliens. And even more disappointing to him, was the fact that when he reached the halfway point, he was no longer in the part of the station in the night cycle. All he wanted to do was get some rest, and the bright lights on this side of the station irritated him. Handy enough, being an engineer had its perks. He had access to maintenance passageways that would lead between decks, giving him a dark reprieve from time to time.
Eventually his trek came to an end, as he finally found his way into V's habitation hub. Apart from the tiresome glare of warm lights passing along sunlight onto this side of the station, Jerry felt very uncomfortable in these parts. This hub was for larger beings, and he seldom saw smaller humanoids amongst the bustling crowds passing through. Even the design of these parts felt off for him. The walls weren't straight like they were back in his section. They were all curved, like large tunnels, and from even a cursory glance he could tell everything in here was reinforced heavily. It made sense though. There was more room for larger beings to pass each other in their day to day business, and if there was ever a fight or a problem, the station could handle the strains. It just wasn't for him though.
Following the map on his wrist, he finally found his way over to V's residence, and could easily make out that he was at the right place. The door to her home was a low arch, like the entrance to a burrow or tunnel. He pressed on the receiver of the door, speaking into it.
"V, its Jerry. Sorry I'm late, got hung up at work."
Only silence returned. Jerry waited for anything, a reply, or even the door suddenly sliding apart to welcome him in. Nothing happened. Jerry leaned his head back on the wall. Grumbling to himself, he fiddled in his pockets, finding his lighter. He tried on the comm unit once more.
"V, I don't want to sound like an ass here, but I didn't really want to come all this fucking way just to get shut out."
Silence once again greeted him. He pulled a smoke out of his pocket, lighting it up. He simply leaned against the cold curved wall, when something tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face the interruption, a being around three feet taller than he was, leering down at him from under bright alien plant life. Or maybe that was the alien itself. It spoke in a song like voice to him, the various bright exotic looking leaves on it quivering as it listed back and forth as if it were in the wind.
"You are the Jerry entity?"
"Yeah, you could say that."
"Are you looking for V?"
Jerry exhaled smoke, to which the being watching him quickly absorbed right out of the air in front of him, the plants all over it seeming to become brighter in the process.
"I was. I'm at her house right now. She's not responding though. Kind of putting a damper on my evening."
The being lurched downwards.
"Oh. She did not tell you?"
"No. Tell me what? She just wanted me to come see her."
The alien put a large, knarled, bark looking hand on his shoulder.
"V is entering her adult stage. I am surprised she did not tell you about it if she chose you to be her guardian. She must be highly fond of you to place so much trust in you."
Jerry squinted at the alien.
"And just how do you know so much about, whatever it is that's going on with her?"
"V is well known in these parts. Very strong in the head, always using her gift with machines to help others. I am her friend."
Jerry exhaled one last breath of smoke, watching the alien.
"Is that so? Well if you're best buds with her, which she told me I was the only friend she had, then why in the bloody fucking hell did she call me all the way over here if she coulda just picked you?"
The alien listed upwards, holding its hands out in a peaceful gesture.
"You may have misunderstood her. You are the only Human entity she has as a friend. It must be what I said earlier that she must think very highly of you."
Jerry dropped his smoke on the floor, stamping it out.
"You know what? I don't have time for this. I've got so many god damn things to do tomorrow, and the next day after that, over a weekend off that I haven't had off in years."
Jerry stalked off from the doorway and the alien. The alien drifted after him.
"You do not have much time until V is done with her transition. A day at the most Human. Do not fail her when she needs you the most."
Jerry stalked off down the corridor, the alien letting him go.
Jerry worked on his back in the dim service tunnel, a small stretch of crawlspace underneath the hull of the station, allowing access to the many circuits and electronics between the various layers of the stations hull. Today was nothing but making his way over a kilometer stretch of circuits, checking for damage and inevitably replacing what had been broken yesterday. Today was no better than yesterday, and were it not for his suit, he would have been zapped multiple times already. Regardless, his suit's monitors felt the need to notify him whenever he came into contact with any electric currents. Or maybe it was always like that. He was just getting more frustrated with every notification. The day wound on as he painstakingly checked and rechecked connections, replacing broken equipment, until finally it was time for a break.
Jerry sat in his usual spot, passing the time away by absent mindedly toying with his food, listening to chatter around the table. He found the table was oddly quiet with the lack of V's presence. It was actually annoying to him. For no particular reason, he flipped his tray over onto the table, and stood up, looking angrily at the group who was now looking at him.
"Jesus fuck, do you hear yourselves!? No fucking wonder you take so many shots at that god damn alien! You're all so boring and lonely all the god damn time that's all you can do to make yourselves feel any better!"
Jerry went storming away from the table as the group only watched, stunned into silence from his outburst. He was tired, upset, and most of all, he knew he was in the wrong. V didn't deserve the wrong end of his moods, especially now. And, he had to admit, if she had picked him to come see whatever it was that she was going through, then she really must have trusted him more than he ever knew. Who would he be not to show up, even if he was missing time off, or actually, now his own work? He'd show up, hopefully not late.
The long trip through the station was different this time around over last night's arduous trek. He had already remembered the path he had taken, and was moving at a hurried pace through access corridors and levels. Thankfully he had left his full engineering suit on, and so as he moved through crowds they parted, recognizing that he was likely on important business. And, after another long trek, he arrived where he stood at last night. Stopping outside V's door, he leaned against the wall. He almost expected the strange alien he had bumped into last night to be there, leering down at him in a smug manner. Thankfully it wasn't. He wasn't in the mood today.
He pulled a smoke out of his suit's compartment, putting the computer on his wrist to work on V's locked door while sending a message to his superiors. From this point on he was taking up a couple of weeks' worth of paid vacation. He wasn't putting up with this shit anymore. He sent the message off, and returned to checking up on the progress of going through the locks on V's door. He remembered what the plant like alien had said to him yesterday about her being good with machines. He smiled. She was all right. His computer was having trouble with the encryption, no small feat for a newbie like herself. But he knew a lot of the tricks. Removing the panel to her door with some quick tool work, he rooted around the circuits, pulling out what was necessary, weakening the system in the process. With a bright blue flash his computer cracked the codes, and that was it. Putting out his smoke, he pressed his hand over the hologram on the door, watching as it parted, revealing the insides of V's dim home.
He crouched low, and immediately let his helmet slide around his head, starting up the filters in his suit from the stench of V's residence. The lights built into his suit activated from the darkness of her home, revealing a very simple and small hollow. To Jerry it looked like something he'd seen back on Earth, only larger. The hollowed out space was likely originally metal or some other material, but V had filled the entire space up with very soft silk like material. The only thing that stood out in the hollow was a groove in the wall. In the groove sat all the equipment V ever used, and looking over it, he saw the backpack she usually carried, laying there.
He swept his head around in the dim hollow, looking for V, and spotted a very large collection of something that stuck out from the rest of the silk like material that covered her home. It was a large oval mass of grey looking material. He made his way over to it, and placed a hand over it. It felt hard as a rock. This must have been what happened to V yesterday. She was in a cocoon of some sort. He pulled away from it, returning back to the groove in which her things lay. There didn't seem to be anything here left for him that could point out any problems she could have. Unless, it wasn't during the process, but after. He slid down the silk covered wall near the groove, watching the large cocoon. That material seemed extremely hard. He'd be willing to bet that it could even resist low caliber weapons fire, not that he wanted to test the theory. Jerry leaned his head back against the wall. How much longer would this take? Or better yet, what would come out?
Something stirred him from his sleep. Jerry opened his eyes, moving his neck around as he now had a kink in it from sleeping at such a bad angle. Another sound caused him to look towards the cocoon now, which on looking close, had cracks among the hard material. Jerry stood up as high as he could in the small hollow, making his way over to the cocoon. He was trying to remember one of the old native species from earth. Some form of insect life used to use cocoons, and when they had changed, they broke out of them. But he thought they could eat their way out. Something told him that wasn't the case here.
Another crack was heard as something tried to force its way out. Jerry looked over the cocoon, looking for the biggest abundance of cracks. He hoped he wasn't interfering in any alien honour system by trying to help break the cocoon. Then again he doubted large grub like aliens would be in any way related to strict honour codes. He found the largest collection of cracks in the cocoon, and began trying to pry his fingers under one, but found no purchase whatsoever. Another crack from inside the cocoon and suddenly there was a dent. Jerry slipped his hands under the cracks of the material pulling with all he could.
The cocoon still wouldn't budge, so he started up the hydraulics in his suit, giving him a hand. He had a basic engineering suit, with only basic level strength enhancements, but that seemed to be doing the trick. The cocoon's shell started cracking as he pulled harder, his suit straining. He felt another blow against the section of cocoon he was pulling on, and suddenly, a large piece gave way, tearing off completely. Jerry fell to the floor with the large chunk still in his hand, and looked slowly at the cocoon. There was definitely enough space for something to get out now. He dimmed the lights on his suit, waiting, his breath suddenly held in anticipation.
In the dim light of the hollow, an elegant, spindly three fingered hand emerged from the darkness from out of the cocoon, followed by another, encased in shining, black carapace. V pulled herself from out of the cocoon, as Jerry watched, speechless. V had completely changed utterly and completely, no longer the large, grub like being she was before. She was much smaller now, seeming shorter than him by several inches as she began to stand up on uneasy feet. Jerry stepped forward, grabbing her shoulders to steady her.
"God damn, long time no see V."
In the dim light he could see V had retained some of her previous looks, having multiple, small appendages that formed the outside of her mouth, now sleek and black like the rest of her. She clicked them together, nodding her head. Jerry looked around, back to the pack in the rounded out space of her home.
"You need your translator?"
V nodded silently, still unsteady on her feet.
"Hang on, I'll be right back."
Jerry found her pack, handing it to her.
She reached out with both of her sleek hands, clasping the pack while she stooped down onto her knees, as she began dismantling it. Jerry watched as she fumbled a fair bit, never having used hands before. Jerry stooped down to help her. He opened up the pack, revealing the circuitry inside. He figured she was looking for just the piece of hardware responsible for translating, and on finding it, he detached it, handing the small chip to her.
"I don't suppose you have anywhere to put that do you?"
She clasped the chip in her dark hand, clicking the multitudes of sleek black appendages together. Jerry listened as the translator did its work, synching her speech with its own, creating the real-time illusion that she was speaking English.
"I can keep it like this for now."
Jerry stood up, V coming with him.
"Thank you for coming Jerry. I know you're busy."
"No problem V. Although you might owe me some favors in the future. Just a heads up."
V crossed her arms together.
"I might have to ask some more of you, if you don't mind?"
Jerry pondered the question carefully, accepting.
"This is not my home now. It's cold and dark. I don't have anybody I could live with well. Could I stay with you until I can get in touch with someone on the station?"
Jerry shrugged.
"My place isn't exactly the fitting picture of space. Besides, what about your buddies here? The funny alien that looks like a rainbow tree?"
V tilted her head.
"You met him?"
"Yeah, when I first swung round here. He gave me a bit of a talk on what was up."
"I hope he didn't offend. He doesn't understand Human concepts too well."
Jerry shrugged it off.
"No problems. He made a fair bit of sense."
"Sense?"
"I wasn't much too happy at first about this whole arrangement."
"But you came anyway?"
"That I did V. And I'm glad I did. That being said, if you want, you can try my place out for a bit. It'll be cramped though."
V nodded.
"Thank you Jerry."
Jerry rubbed the back of his head.
"No problem. Trouble is, how do we get there? I mean, technically, you're naked."
V looked around the dim room.
"I'm sure we'll think of something."
Eventually they did think of something, using V's old suit, Jerry wrapped her up in it and carried her through the station that way, making the most use out of access corridors. He found out soon enough that he had actually slept a fair bit, and it was now the night cycle on his side of the station. This was a good thing for him, as there would be much less traffic. As he thought about it, he was beginning to wonder what his co-workers would say when they saw her. V bore practically no resemblance to what she was before, and was noticeably more alluring in some ways.
As he stepped out into the lighter parts of the station, these changes were more evident. V was covered completely in the sleek, black shiny exo-skeleton that now adorned her. She was now for the most part a standard humanoid, save for two pairs of smaller arms that adorned her sides, and the large abdomen that most insect like species usually sported.
V remained quiet for the majority of the trip, staying inside her old suit which completely covered her. In public sections people would occasionally ask what he was doing, and it was easy enough to tell them it was work related, as after all he was still in his suit. The trip was short, and as Jerry was almost back to his home, he bumped into one of his co-workers. Jerry sighed as they noticed V's suit and came over to talk to him.
"Hey Jerry, you're up late at this hour!"
Jerry nodded.
"Yeah Frank, I'm on holiday's now."
"Watcha doing with the grub's suit?"
"I'm bringing it to my place so I can work on it on my spare time. She needed a hand with fixing it."
Frank chuckled.
"Woah, easy there Jerry, don't know if I'd call the grub a "she."
Now was about the time Jerry would have lit a smoke and blown everything in Frank's direction to subtlety get him to leave. Looks like he didn't have the luxury this time.
"Well Frank, "she," is a friend of mine. "She" needed a hand. So that's what I'm doing."
Frank chuckled again.
"Easy there Jerry. Just having a bit of fun."
Jerry scowled under his helmet.
"You and me both Frank."
Frank turned around to leave, but before doing so, turned back.
"You'd better be careful Jerry. You do any more good favors for the grub and you might end up in its good books. Personally, I think being asked out to dinner would be horrifying."
Jerry shrugged, going past Frank to the door that marked his home.
"Sure thing Frank."
Jerry's door slid open automatically on detecting his presence, and he walked in, closing it up after him. Jerry slid his helmet apart, sighing. V opened up her old suit as Jerry began setting her down. V stepped out, finally being able to stand up to her full height now that there was space to do so. Jerry began sliding sections of his suit up and apart as he pushed her old suit into a corner near the door.
"Welcome to my house V. Not much to look at, but its home."
V turned to him.
"Again, thank you Jerry. This is much better."
Jerry lit up a smoke as he started going through the processes of powering down his suit.
"Like I said V, no problem."
Jerry gestured with his hand.
"Take a look around if you want. I'll be back shortly."
V tilted her head.
"Where are you going?"
"Nowhere in particular, I'm just going to take a quick shower. Long day."
V nodded silently.
Jerry pulled his hair back, enjoying the feel of the hot water running over him. It really was a long day now that he thought about it. It felt good knowing that he had some time of now, even if he had to give the higher ups shit about it. It felt so weird to him, that the giant grub like alien that V used to be was now wandering around in bipedal form in his house, and going to be staying there for some time. Now that he thought about it, it was a remarkable change. All that mass and weight, that awkwardness converted into something sleek and shiny. She'd definitely be the center of attention at work now. Although what kind of attention, he couldn't say.
A knock on the door interrupted Jerry's thoughts. He spoke through the sound of the shower.
"Any troubles V?"
"Nothing, but, could I come in?"
Jerry toyed with the idea. V wasn't completely versed in the going abouts of Humans, but she had a better understanding than most. He doubted she'd know exactly what he meant when he was going to take a shower, but she knew enough to ask if she could come in. He figured modesty was somewhat different between him and her, but eventually reasoned that it wouldn't do any harm. He was behind blurred shower doors anyway.
"Sure thing V."
He heard the sound of the door open and saw the blurred figure of V behind the shower doors. She stepped into the bathroom, standing near the blurred doors of the shower.
"I wanted to ask something."
"Sure thing. Shoot."
"What exactly does owing a favor mean in your language?"
Jerry paused under the water. He was being relatively sarcastic when he said it to her. He didn't think she'd be aware enough to catch that at the time.
"Usually happens when somebody helps someone out. Sometimes when you help someone out, it can be troublesome. So, for your troubles, the person you helped will owe you at some point when you call on them."
Jerry saw V's form shift behind the doors as she stood there.
"I understand now. What if I wanted to thank you for all your support? You made things so much better for me when I first started. No one else wanted to."
Jerry smiled for once.
"Then that's your god given right V. I don't know what you could repay me with though."
Jerry turned his head as he heard the shower door slide open. V's sleek head poked from around the door into the shower, her four eyes, the only non-black things on her, now in full light, gleamed a bright orange against her exo-skeleton. Jerry covered up himself with his hands out of instinct as she put a slender, curved leg into the shower.
"Woah! Slow down there V. One step at a time with this."
V's main set of arms appeared around the door, followed by her smaller second and third, as she stepped fully into the shower, doing some maneuvering to fit her back end through. V closed the distance fast enough, pinning Jerry against the wall, her main arms beside his head while her secondaries were suddenly straddling his torso. All four eyes directed their attention to his as she spoke.
"At first when I had the idea, I wasn't sure what I should do. But I started to do some research on your kind. I've told you some of how my own biology worked before. My kind, in our early stages, have acute senses. It's how I could tell so well what others felt about me. Even you had those feelings, but you acted kind regardless of them. And you had others too. You were lonely in a different way. I knew I could never do anything for you in my youth. But now that I'm more matured, I can....."
Jerry was suddenly aware of the whole situation. How much his actions meant for her, how she had read him like an open book. She wasn't just talking about recent events. She was talking about every good comment of his, every gesture of kindness he showed, every little piece of something good he'd done for her ever since she showed up. And what was more surprising, was the fact that she had kept it so well hidden. He always figured that somewhere, in the background, she had liked him. But never enough for what was happening now. He leaned his head back against the wall. He wasn't sure about this at all.
He looked over V as they stood under the water. Her exoskeleton was now gleaming bright and shiny under the water. She was without a doubt, a far cry of what she was before. Her entire frame was sleek and slender. Although she had little in the way of human curves, her own were unique. Her head was sleek, almost like the tip of a spear, while her neck and torso widened farther down. She had no breasts to speak of, or protrusions reminding him of them, but like her head, was sharply defined, with all three pairs of her arms sitting nicely on her sides.
Her stomach, or waist, became thin farther down, before widening out just a bit to produce a basic hip structure for her legs. In truth, the largest part of her body was her abdomen and her backside. Her abdomen was at least the size of her body all put together, and her backside was filled with smooth plates, starting all the way from her head, producing the effect of a cobra, widening as they traveled down further, all the way down to the end of her abdomen. He was sure, if she wanted to, she could curl up into a convincing ball. Jerry continued to lean back against the wall as V leaned ever closer to him. He wasn't much in the position to say no. But, knowing V, she had done her research well. She was out to say thank you to him. Whatever she had in mind, was obviously, hopefully going to feel good.
"Okay V. I trust you."
V nodded, her lowest pair of arms going after his hands, pulling them away from what he was still so sheepishly covering in some vain attempt at privacy. She clasped his hands in hers.
"You know, you're not so different from my kind. Except for a few differences in organ placements and body structures. I think how we're set up will be fine for now."
Jerry watched as V stepped back somewhat, creating some space between them that she quickly filled by curling her abdomen up between her legs. Jerry watched, apprehensive as she brought it higher and higher until the tip of it was level with his junk. And then, without warning, the end of her abdomen began to split apart, revealing a softer, squishier aspect to her. The tip of V's abdomen split apart into smaller appendages, much like her mouth, and Jerry watched as they too moved in various ways, except they were now all prodding slowly and carefully at the tip of his shaft, slowly working their way along it.
Jerry gasped from the sensations, easily becoming erect from the unique stimulation. Things continued briefly until he prodded against something. V nodded her head, watching Jerry as she paused briefly, before using her appendages to pull herself in. Jerry was flooded with sensations as he slipped into the tight confines of V, who was warm and inviting. V pulled her abdomen along further until she hit the base of his shaft. The various appendages of hers having stopped moving. V tilted her head as she watched Jerry.
"Are you ready Jerry?"
Jerry looked down, seeing V's abdomen pressed against him, felt her warm channel as he rested inside her.
"Ready for what, V?"
V had no way of smiling, but through the subtle motions of her head and the way she watched him, he could tell she was being sly in some way.
"My people, do this a bit differently."
Jerry gasped as he felt something moving against him inside the confines of V. He looked down to see that her abdomen was moving, almost pulsing, as she began moving special muscles inside that caused various actions, sucking, increasing pressure, and creating the feeling that he was thrusting into her without actually doing anything. It felt like he was in a vacuum seal, and nothing would escape. V's abdomen pulsed as her body did everything internally, leaving Jerry feeling like she was milking him.
Jerry went slack as V continued to do just that, watching him happily, adding more spikes of pleasure by using her appendages to fondle his balls. V stroked all of her arms across him, watching as he was completely absorbed by her actions. She leaned in close to where she knew Jerry used a different system to pick up sounds, speaking lightly to him.
"You know, my people do this for hours. Our mating habits can be quite long. I'm going to milk you for hours."
Jerry moaned as she pulled him close, wrapping her two smaller sets of arms around him, while he rested his hands on her hips. It was true. Her kind spent long periods mating, if only to ensure that they produced lots of offspring. Her internal organs were designed to essentially milk males of every last drop, while making sure nothing was wasted. She knew however, that Jerry didn't operate like her kind, in the sense that he wasn't built to produce that much or go for that long. In any case, she knew he'd enjoy it, as he already was.
And he continued to do so for several hours, reaching multiple climaxes while she mercilessly continued her assault on him, all of which were quickly sucked away as the process continued.
Jerry laid over top of V, all three of her arms resting over top of him, in the afterglow of her gift. The shower was completely forgotten about, but provided a comfortable environment as water patted down on both of them as they both laid down together, steam clinging to the doors and fogging up the small area. The two had simply been resting like this for some time now, with V casually roaming her hands across his body, making Jerry feel completely comfortable and relaxed. But V wasn't quite done just yet. She was waiting for him to become a bit livelier again before she started up her next round.
She was helping the process along by using the third and last opening in her abdomen. Her kind were most noteworthy for being able to create silk, or something close to it. As well as being a major source of profit for her people, it was found that the chemical composition was unique as well, and for younger variants of her kind, the silk had unique reactions when exposed to the skin of other species. In Jerry's case, she had learned that the vast majority of Humans experienced heightened regeneration factors, creating yet again another source of revenue for her kind on the galactic markets, with the fresh silk from younger members of their species being shipped off to hospitals and treatment centers across the galaxy.
In Jerry's case, his fatigue would soon be at an end, as she used her appendages to collect and spread strings of silk, which she then rubbed against his skin with her hands. She figured the water might even help spread things even further by feeling rejuvenating as it washed over him. Sure enough, Jerry soon began to rouse from his quiet state, mumbling as he came back to things. Jerry opened his eyes to find V, spreading silk over him with her hands, watching as it dissolved under the water. He felt good. He turned his head sideways to take a look at V who greeted him.
"Good to see you're back up again Jerry. Had a good rest?"
Jerry smiled.
"I think I had a bit more than that."
V ran a hand through his hair.
"You know, I wasn't quite done with you yet. I still owe you some more."
Jerry smiled.
"That's not necessary V. What you did was already amazing enough. Anymore and I'd start owing you."
V started shifting under him, gently moving him off to the side.
"That's okay Jerry. I like to think you could come up with good surprises too."
V backed off, standing back up. Jerry followed suite, stretching as he stood back onto his feet. V was quick to act yet again, quickly pinning him against the back wall. Jerry watched as she lowered herself down so that her head was at his waist.
"V, I already can't even begin to thank you enough for what you did. You don't have to do anything else."
V's four eyes traveled upwards.
"You'll change your mind in a bit. I saved the best for last."
V lowered her head a bit, using the multiple appendages that formed her mouth to begin playing with Jerry's shaft. V used her appendages to merely excite Jerry, and once she had him back up to speed again, she pulled away. She curled her abdomen up between her legs, and started making more of the silk like material, using her lowest pair of arms to direct the thin strands up to her second, and then passed it on to both of her main arms. She held that form, passing and collecting an ever growing batch of silk on her spindly hands, watching Jerry with amusement as he looked on with interest.
"I didn't figure your kind could do that V."
V continued on making a coating of silk over her main hands, and eventually her secondary ones below once her main ones were full.
"We're natural engineers Jerry. Our kind used to make vast homes and structures out of our silk when we were primitive. Nowadays, things can be a bit different."
V stopped spinning out silk, holding all three pairs of hands up in the air. She looked sly again as she watched him.
"You have no idea what I'm going to do don't you?"
Jerry shook his head.
"To be honest V, I never really knew that much about you. I had no idea you'd change into what you are now, and I had no idea that you'd be this, kinky. Kinda weird to think that a few days ago you were the giant punching bag in the engineering core."
V placed her main hands around Jerry's shaft.
"It's something they'll all regret in the years to come. Just you wait and see what happens when I age enough to enter my adult stage."
Jerry was going to ask what was so special about her "adult" stage, when V placed her other two pairs of hands around his shaft. V began meticulously stroking with all three of her hands, slowly at first, working the silk all over his shaft, which stuck to him now that it wasn't directly under the flow of water. V coated his entire shaft with the stuff, creating a truly great feeling as she moved all three pairs of her hands at different speeds and in different manners to spread it around. When she was done she let all three arms down at her sides. She looked up to Jerry once more.
"Ready for your next reward? I promise you'll like it."
Jerry nodded silently.
V wasted no time, and opened all of her mouth appendages wide, and began to slide Jerry's shaft down her throat. V slid slowly down Jerry's length, using her appendages to help herself along. Jerry noticed that as she slid farther along, V seemed to be mixing something from her maw with the silk coating she had made. The two substances were blending together. Jerry felt something as he slid farther down her throat, and suddenly, V hit the base, having slid down all that she could. V held her head in place, letting things begin to work. Unknown to Jerry, her people could make soft structures, and hard structures. The fluid she mixed together would act as a glue, locking her head in place while he rested down her throat. V couldn't fight her reflexes, but the material would keep her in place while her reflexes worked to Jerry's advantage.
V had no teeth to speak of, only a set of tongues that helped pull plant matter down her throat and into her stomach. With something so large blocking her normally small passageway, the reaction of her tongues would normally be to push whatever posed a risk of creating a blockage in her system out. But the short term glue held her in place as her tongues ended up wrapping around Jerry's length in an attempt so shove it out. Her throat tightened to prevent anything from going any further, creating a tight trap while her tongues swirled and wrapped around his length trying to push it out.
Jerry gasped as he felt these going-ons, simply watching as V's mouth appendages squirmed in the process, grating against his shaft causing even more pleasure. V's various convulsions and squirming's were quick to put Jerry teetering back on the edge, as he felt various fluids pooling up in her maw, very slowly leaking through the ultra-sticky substance that kept her head in place, dripping down to be caught in the swirling waters from the shower below.
Jerry instinctively grabbed V's smooth head, holding it as he began to climb over the edge, climaxing into the trap that her throat had created, the various fluids building up too much now, breaking down the sticky material, until V reflexively broke free, her tongues ejecting everything from her throat in one large collection, creating one last wave of pleasure for Jerry as her tongues unwound themselves from his shaft and she pulled her head back, closing her mouth appendages up back to what they normally were like.
Jerry dried himself off in the steaming bathroom, stepping out of the shower, finding V resting on his bed. Jerry plopped down beside her, taking his first chance to smoke in a long while. He looked at V, who was fiddling with something small and mechanical. She looked up from her work to Jerry, who was once again smiling.
"You know, it's a shame you have to go back to work soon. I took some holidays to get used to my new form, maybe find a new residence, and get a new work suit and something simple to cover myself."
Jerry took a long drag from his smoke.
"I've got a surprise for you then. I took my holidays too. Gave the higher ups shit. I think, so far, both of us are off to a pretty good start. I don't really see how we could make things much better."
V shook her head.
"I can think of one thing."
"What's that?"
"We need to owe each other more often."
Jerry nodded.
"That's not a bad idea V. And I'm pretty sure I know what we could start with."
V looked at Jerry inquisitively.
"I'll move all your stuff to my place."
Jerry held out his hand. V extended hers.
"Deal."