FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

The second chapter for the novel "Space Mice" commissioned by darkkoon I...love this chapter! It has a good flow, one of the most sensual M/M moments I ever wrote, and a pretty tight prose to go with it. Also, the characters are starting to shape up nicely and their struggles are only just beginning. So sit tight and enjoy!

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***

Matty crashed into the bed. His arms burned with strain, the bruises along his torso throbbed, and his temples pounded. All to please Eric.

And, to make it worse, he really took his time undressing. "Get on with it, for crying out loud. You're slower than me in the morning."

He had that broad, annoying smirk plastered along his face. "I prefer to take my time, and so should you. There's no rush, Matty. You're just starting to fend for yourself, and the beginning is always rough."

Matty scoffed. Rough? He missed every single one of his shots, acquired more bruises than he could count during martial training, and, to top it off, even the slowest bots outran him during the speed challenge. Rough didn't even get close to describing this redundant torture.

"Riiiight," he drawled. "Because it's only my unrealistically high expectations that are holding me back."

Eric frowned at that, then shrugged. "Kind of."

"Bollocks."

"Hmm?" Eric perked up.

Matty rose onto his butt to glare at his brother. "What you said is bollocks. It is horse dung, shit, however you want to call it."

Eric froze, hands on the rim of his underwear. His smile faded. "What?"

"What?" Matty said with the same deep voice as his brother. He sounded even more stupid than Eric. "You damn well know Eric. Stop playing retard."

"But I am stupid. You're the brains, I'm the brawn bro."

Matty scoffed. "Bullshit. If you believed that, then you wouldn't try so hard to turn me into something I can't ever be."

"But you wish to be."

"I absolutely don't."

Eric chuckled. "Fuck off. I see how you look at my body, and I know how hard you tried to be me." He narrowed his hazel eyes. In the dim light of the dormitory, they sparkled with renewed intensity. "Don't deny it."

Fuck, did he look good when he did that. The ambient glow fell on his muscular form at an angle, bringing out the perfect curves of his chest, the lean muscles of his thighs, his rock hard ass. Matty hardened instantly under the bed sheets, no matter how hard he tried to push his sexual urges back.

For balls' sake, he was losing the argument!

"I did, until I realized you are you, and we don't need two of you."

Eric cocked his head, and Matty's jaw turned slack. He wanted to say more, anything, but words vanished from his mind when his cock pulsated.

"That," Eric said while fiddling with his thumbs, a pensive look on his face, "doesn't make any sense." His brow furrowed as he still tried to make sense of it. He didn't even last ten seconds before he shrugged and slid off his underwear.

Matty sighed. What a simpleton of a brother he had. Always pretending to know better despite--

Matty's breath caught at the sight of Eric's mouse spheres. They dangled underneath his slack shaft and swayed in unison with each step he took towards the bed. "All I want is to look after you, lil' brother. Even when I'm not there."

Matty nodded, and he shifted underneath the sheets as his cock tightened, so hard it hurt.

"I--I understand," he stammered.

A yelp of surprise escaped him when Eric reached towards him with a burly arm. Matty took it, and was pulled forward into a hug.

"I love you man, even when I have to hit you, shoot at you and all," Eric said. His grip tightened around Matty's waist, until his cock twitched and swung upwards. It hit something hard, yet soft.

Eric gasped. "Wha--"his words trailed off as he shielded his balls, only to chuckle a moment after. "Did you just slap my balls with your rock hard cock?"

Matty's cheeks turned beet red in an instant. "It wasn't--I didn't--"

He flinched when Eric's fingers curled around his length. A shiver rippled through his frame, along with a muffled moan.

"Shh," Eric cooed. "I'm glad you did. Try it again!" He released Matty, clambered into the bed and straddled Matty, their chests pressed together. "You ready? Are we even aligned? Can't see shit down there."

Matty's vision flickered due to nerves. His heart thrummed in his chest, and his stomach lurched as butterflies writhed within its confines. He chanced a quick glance at their loins, only to catch sight of Eric's growing erection.

What the fuck am I doing? He thought before clamping down his butt cheeks. A spasm wracked his cock as it swung against Eric's balls with faint, squelching thumps.

"Gah, I'm hard," Eric whined. He rolled onto his side of the bed, got tangled in the silky blankets. He grunted, then kicked them onto the floor. "That made me so fucking hard bro."

Matty fumbled for the rim of a blanket with his toes when Eric's bigger foot kicked them away. "Leave them. I hate it when you insist on covering your beauty."

Beauty?

Matty's eyes widened. He was nothing but a battered slab of fat, with thighs thick as tree trunks and chubby cheeks and... "What--"he paused to wet his dry lips, "what beauty?"

Eric's gaze fell on his crotch, and Matty blushed even harder. "Oh, that."

"What else?"

Matty shifted onto his side and reached for the missing blankets to cover his stiffness. When his hand clenched around nothingness, he gulped hard. "I was thinking that, maybe, there's more to me than just..."

"Your cock?" Eric interrupted as he turned to face him. He grinned. "It depends. Is there?"

Matty had no reply to that, so he reached towards Eric's lips for a curt kiss.

"That was pathetic. You got one more chance to convince me."

Matty bit his lower lip, took in a deep breath, grabbed Eric's head, closed his eyes and inched towards him; slow, slower, until Eric's breath smothered Matty and his warm, twitching lips parted. Matty pushed his tongue through the crevice and into Eric's sweltering depths. Their tongues twined upon another as Matty pushed his weight into his brother.

Eric moaned. His hips wriggled, and Matty gasped when Eric's muscular thighs squeezed his cock. Every muscle in his body tightened under the strain of pleasure.

Eric chuckled before pulling back. "Now that's more like it."

An elegant sneer spread across Matty's face. "Try to top that, big brother," he whispered under his breath. That earned him a shove in the ribs. Matty yelped when a second came, then another, until he squirmed and flailed his arms. "S--stop that. I didn't mean it!"

"You challenged your superior," Eric growled. "And you know what the punishment is."

"No I don't," Matty cried through his fit of laughter. "But it probably involves my cock and my balls."

Then, the onslaught stopped. Matty only managed to suck in a deep breath when Eric's fingers clenched around his stiff cock.

"You guessed that right."

"That's because you're predictable and--" Matty began. His words faded into a moan when Eric's other hand cupped his sack, stroking with slow, gentle movements.

"And smooth. So very smooth," Eric intervened. His fingers curled around Matty's shaft, one by one, and slithered across his stiff length. The tantalizing touch urged a whimper out of him as he thrust into Eric's grip, harder and faster.

"Then again..." Eric trailed off. His hands withdrew, and Matty winced as his cock bobbed in the absence of proper hold. "Why would I indulge you?"

Matty closed in the distance between them and trudged onto Eric's side of the bed. He settled his head on Eric's pillow. "Because I love you." He met Eric's dry, warm lips into a kiss. His brother moaned and added the tip of his tongue into the mixture. Matty's shaft throbbed with pent up lust, and he wrapped an arm around Eric's back for leverage. With the other hand, he gripped and stroked his cock, whimpering and squeaking.

Suddenly, Eric drew back.

His head shook. "Wait. I love you too. That breaks it even by my calculations."

Not another of these stupid games! Matty could barely think over the raging erection down below. "I love you more."

"And why is that?"

"We'll never be split apart. Not by distance, by Mission control and any other voice from a speaker, by circumstances. It will never fucking happen."

Eric's eyebrows twitched. "Is that a promise?"

"If I promise, then this horrible training and pistol shooting and whatever torture you've put me through is rendered null and void. As implied by the aforementioned promise."

Eric's laughter made Matty's heart flutter. Such a deep and rich sound! His chest still rumbled with it, even when it faded into giggles.

"You're too fucking unbelievably cute when you're a nerd. There's this," he raised one eyebrow and made faces, "this raised eyebrow thing you're doing, and your expression bro!"

"I don't look like that," Matty said, but his words were lost in his brother's thunderous laughter. He had to pull the pillow from underneath him and smack him in the head to get his attention.

"You do, Matty."

"I don't!" He smacked him again, and Eric raised his arms in defense.

"Yet you're so defensive about it."

Matty let go of the pillow and used his hands instead, slapping at Eric's thrashing and giggling form. He balled his hands into fists and brought them down upon Eric's chest when he clutched his wrists in one oversized hand. Matty yelped at the searing pain and squirmed as Eric's other arm wrapped around Matty's waist and shoved him on his back.

Pinned by his colossal brother, his limbs sprawled in every direction, all Matty could do was huff and listen to the steady thumps of his heart.

"I like it when you smile. You barely do."

"You barely make me smile," Matty said.

"You prude."

"You brute."

Eric nibbled at Matty's lip at the last retort. "That's a compliment, not an insult. I reckon you like brutes."

"Not really, no."

Eric grabbed his slender form and shoved him on his side, his clutch on his arms harsh and tight, and his member even tighter inside him. A scream of pain mixed with elation escaped Matty when Eric's shaft probed at his tailhole, then sunk all the way in one single thrust. His member pulsated, throbbed, and the warm tingles of a climax washed over him from the sheer intensity of the penetration.

Matty throbbed, and moaned, and throbbed again, quicker and terser. "I'm...fuck I'm about to..."

Stars speckled his vision. A jolt of pleasure forced his balls to clench and squeeze out every drop of seed. The burning stream rushed to Matty's engorged tip, where he held it, and held it, his jaws tight against the tingling pressure contained within.

"Hold....relax...ride it..." brother's words came, muffled and distorted.

Matty drew back his head, unleashed a feral cry, and brought his hand down to grab his cock. He didn't make it. His body turned limp as his cock convulsed, throbbed, and spewed a gushing stream of ivory seed. The first spurts took Eric straight in the chest; Matty heard his muffled giggle, saw him squirm through his haze of bliss. Then, nothingness. His head reeled with the toll of pleasure, so intense and vast his stomach lurched and his limbs buckled and twisted.

Eric was laughing his heart out when Matty recovered his breath. Every muscle in his body shivered and felt stiff. His toes protested when he tried to uncurl them, as well as his hands. They remained tight and rigid.

"Tha' was unexpected," Eric half said, half gasped. "Don't think I ever came as much and as hard as you did just now."

"Y--yea," Matty agreed. His blurry gaze fell on the mess he made, an oval pool of viscous cum that stood larger and broader than his shrinking member. Was that all his? It was so much! He reached towards it, too slow. Eric's hand shot past his, scooped a handful of it, and rubbed it across Matty's shuddering tailhole.

"Hey, shouldn't we take a break or something?" Matty asked. His heart still raced and his cock ached from the recent orgasm.

Eric scoffed. "We'll let your tail hole decide."

Matty winced as Eric cupped his tail, caressed its length, and pushed it aside. His member followed, hard and smooth. Matty's pucker flexed under the soft dabbing, contracting in anticipation for what was to come.

"Seems over eager to me," Eric said.

Matty whimpered his approval, if only to please his brother. Statistics mentioned that two orgasm in quick succession seldom happened, that the second hurt, that--"

"Agh," he whined under the tantalizing massage. His fur prickled under Eric's strokes. Hot precum oozed from his tip, and he spread it nice and round along Matty's sensitive flesh.

"You like that, eh?"

Matty whimpered. Words took too much strength to form, and his body melted into Eric's strong embrace. His arms slithered along Matty's torso, caressing and fondling with his nipples. A soft, drawn-out moan escaped Matty. Eric took the cue, and he pressed his body tight against his. The combined heat, along with the tightness of his pecks against his back, urged Matty to buck his read straight into the Eric's awaiting member.

They gasped in unison at the soft penetration. Matty clamped down around Eric's squirming member to stop and savor every one of his throbs.

"You complete me, brother," Matty whispered. He softened his clutch long enough to allow Eric to sink his entire length within him. "And I can never have my fill of you."

Eric let out a forced chuckle. "I'll fill you alright. Just gimme--gimme half an hour."

Matty smiled at that. Eric's breath was already hard, and his cock even harder. It twitched and convulsed within him while Matty's groping muscles caressed his length. More precum burst from his flared tip, splashing against Matty's inner sanctuary. Another jet followed, and another, until the excess fluid dribbled down Matty's thighs and slithered along his balls. Yet still, he kept Eric inside him until his muscles burned with the strain.

Eric pulled out with a wet squelch and a growl. His hands slithered down Matty's abs, ruffled his pubes and rested on his half hard cock. "There's still some juice in it, eh?" As if to make his point, Eric sank his cock inside Matty, too hard and too fast. His spent member twitched to awareness and hardened instantly at the overwhelming stimulation.

"Keep going," Matty blurted out.

And that's what Eric did. His thrusts acquired the smooth, practiced pace Matty grew to love. Their hips rocked in unison, one pushing the other pulling. Matty twisted his head for a kiss and Eric complied while his fingers rubbed Matty's cock sore. Each thrust made him just a bit harder, until his cock stiffened to the point of no return.

"You're so hard Matty," Eric said through a wheeze. "Hard enough to race me to the finish."

There was no race. Beads of sweat clung to Eric's forehead; his kisses became soft, curt and lethargic. Every drop of strength he had, he put into his steady thrusts. Matty scrunched his eyes shut to open himself to the waves of pleasure coursing through him. His tailhole stiffened and twitched with renewed intensity, and his squeezes upon Eric's member became shorter, sporadic, stronger.

Eric wrapped a leg around Matty's thigh for leverage. His thrusts picked up, his grip around Matty's cock strengthened, and his hot breath upon his nape picked up. Easy win.

Or so Matty thought.

Eric's wrist flexed, then stroke Matty's throbbing shaft too hard, and too fast. A shriek of delight burst from his throat, raw and untamed. That jerking motion, along with his over stimulated tailhole, sent him over the edge. Eric groaned, and Matty grit his teeth. His peak approached, more swiftly than Eric's. His cock swelled, but didn't begin to throb as much as Matty wanted. He waited for Eric to thrust his entire length within him.

Then squeezed, as hard as he could.

Eric's arms tightened around him, drawing the breath out of Matty. All he managed was a gasp as spasms wracked his tailhole. Then, hot, stinging seed filled him to the brim. The pressure within his stretched depths grew with each spurt, until the trapped seed nudged against his prostate.

Matty arched his back at the overwhelming stimulation. His bones popped, and his breath was cut off by the sheer intensity of the orgasm. He came straight into Eric's limp hand, hips wriggling to rub more pleasure into his sensitive stip.

He crashed against Eric once he rode out the climax. Strings of seed fled through the gaps of Eric's fingers as he milked the last of Matty's cum.

"Slower," he urged. "Hurts like a bitch."

"I'm with you there," Eric said.

"No you aren't." Matty yelped as he shifted his over sensitive member over his tucked thighs. It shriveled instantly, as if hit by a tenderizer. Hurt like that, too.

"Hmpf," Eric groaned. "Didn't think we could overdo it."

"There's your problem. You never think."

Eric grumbled and slithered onto his side of the bed. Matty did the same, and his rump landed onto the sticky mess glued to the sheets. Great.

Matty rolled his eyes. He swung a leg out of the bed, put weight on it, found it trembling.

"Fuck that," he whispered to himself. Too much effort. And besides, walking would just make his dick pain worse. He dug his head into the pillow and closed his eyes despite his sticky fur. In mere moments, everything vanished into a dream Matty didn't remember.

He jerked onto his bottom at the blare of the proximity alarm and rubbed the haze from his eyes. Then, everything shook for a split moment. The bed creaked, the nightstands rattled. Matty lurched and fell to the side due to the momentum, right on top of his brother.

"Eric," he called. "Eric, Eric." His brother slapped the pillow on top of his head to muffle the sounds. For crying out loud! Matty punched him in the ribs.

Eric grunted and swatted at his hand.

Matty drew back just in time to avoid the blow. "You stupid fuck, don't you know what that sound is?!" He rasped. A cough left him when his throat stung from the shout.

"Then go check it out," Eric mumbled.

The ship shook again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Matty swung out of the bed, naked as he was, and strode towards the door. It didn't slide open. "You gotta be fucking kidding."

Matty grabbed the lever, pushed it open and dashed through the labyrinthine corridors of the ship. His bare feet squelched on the cold metallic floor, and the undulating patterns bit into his skin. Matty cursed and slowed down to a walk. Who in the world would design floors capable of provoking injury?

"Eric!" His yell echoed through the narrow walkway. Only the ship replied, with another rippling shudder.

Matty's heart pounded. At each curve he met flickering lights behind half opened doors. In the cantina, several plates rested on the floor, and more fell with a clang when another quake came. Matty buckled his knees to keep steady, but was slammed against a wall when the floor slanted to the left. Whatever this was, it was bad. So freaking bad!

He tried running, but slowed down with a yelp when his sore ass protested and his cock stirred in its sheath. "Not now, you bastard." That was the disadvantage of running naked. Each slap of his cock against his balls stimulated him, more than necessary.

By the time he entered the main deck, Matty sported a raging erection.

"Proximity alert. Need manual input. Proximity alert. Need manual input," the system voice rang in his ears.

"Shut the fuck up and bring up the hull's state, the plasma shield power levels."

"Processing..."

Matty staggered and shielded his eyes when the hologram filled his vision. He made mental notes of each as he shuffled towards the control panel. His throbbing cock wouldn't have it otherwise, as it protested whenever his walk turned brisk.

The display instantly killed his erection. Everything flashed, beeped, and glowed with the red and orange of malfunction or error. Matty clutched the panel tight and planted his feet sideways when the ship rocked and tilted again.

"Engage stabilizers, power up thrusters by 10% in reverse mode. And give me an outside view," he said as he typed the manual input for every command he gave. Another quake came, but no tilting. Progress!

Matty smiled, only to gasp when his gaze rose to the gigantic planet sprawling in front of him. Asteroids, some small as pebbles and other big as a building, rushed past the ship. Others dissolved within the plasma shields. And all--including their ship--were being pulled forward with increased velocity. In the span of one blink, the planet's gravitational pull increased by 0.14%.

"How's my cock sucker doing?" Eric's voice came from behind.

"Flare plasma shields to maximum capacity. Disable every deck and redirect the power to the thrusters. Amplify their thrust three times more than the gravitational pull."

"That's not what I asked."

Matty pursed his lips and dug his head into the display panel. He squinted at the miniature numbers, yet they still blurred due to the low resolution. "Fuel, pressure, atmosphere, power, power. Where the fuck is engine power," he said under his breath.

"Display engine power," Eric commanded.

"Incorrect term. Please refer to the database for a list of available search functions," system voice said.

"Pure genius," Matty said. He turned to scowl at Eric, who began picking his nose. "What the fuck do you think this panel is for?"

"Decoration?" He shrugged, then whistled as his gaze fell on Matty's cock. "Now that's a more pleasant sight than these holograms."

"You're a--" Matty's words became a high pitched yelp as the deck careened. He fell forward, straight into the control panel while Eric was swept off his feet. He rolled until he hit the central display table with a groan.

"Glad you speak gravitational stagger!" Matty roared across the room to him. Freaking brute. "Even out!"

Once the floor returned to its horizontal state, Matty typed every combination that crossed his mind. From the main thrusters to the dorsal and ventral stabilizers, he entered them all. Then, he increased the power to its maximum level.

"Power levels exceeded. Abort input," the system voice whined.

"Just give me the planet's atmospheric composition you bitch, friction level at our current speed, density of the hull per square inch."

Matty only glimpsed half of the numbers he needed before the hologram vanished and the red emergency lights replaced the crude white ones.

"Too much. Friction level is too high," he whispered. He looked from one end of the room to the other, until he spotted Eric chewing on a protein baton. His eyes narrowed at the ridiculous sight. "How are you enjoying yourself knowing--"

"Quite fine, dear brother. Good job with the lights though. Stopped my temples from pounding."

"Knowing that we have to abandon ship?" Matty pressed the last words.

Eric shrugged and took another bite. "Your humor sucks bro."

Matty bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. "Fine! You can crash alone for all I care!"

Eric's eyes widened at the change in Matty's tone. He tossed the baton and scrambled to his feet in an instant. "You fucking mean that?"

Matty didn't look back. He passed through the main corridor, turned left then right towards the surface explorations cabin.

"Hey hey hey," Eric's desperate words trailed behind, along with his booted footfalls. He appeared at Matty's side a moment after. "Sorry for not taking you seriously while naked but--"

Matty fixed his narrow eyes on him. "We got about thirteen minutes to suit up, get to individual pods, and launch before the external exertion outweighs the pod's launch force. And I'll need about ten of those just to suit up."

Matty tensed up when Eric's hand fell on his shoulder. "Wait a second. We never went through this. The pods--I've never been in one! Can't we share?" His grip tightened and turned slick with sweat.

"Not enough oxygen. We'll both die."

Eric gulped so hard Matty heard it. He almost stumbled in his rush to the surface explorations cabin while Matty walked with calm, methodical footsteps. His heartbeat picked up at the sight of the suits, but his breath remained even. He knew the procedure, and how the mission control would trace the ship's beacon and use HyperTransport to get to them in a matter of days. No use in fretting. Eric already did that for both.

He grabbed hold of the slick Varidium fiber tights and shirt and practically slid into them. "Fucking move on bro. And explain me how the fucking capsule works."

"They're calibrated to find a proper landing spot. Just sit tight."

"Can you sit differently with these fucking suits? They squeeze my balls harder than you ever did." He picked a breastplate and strapped it with practiced efficiency.

"They got automatic thermal adjustments and a neural interface. The outer suit adjusts to fit everything you think of," Matty said. Once suited up, he equipped the wrist guards, boots, legplates, shinguards. He winced when a thump came from his left, and shook his head.

Eric continued to do his jumping jacks and stretches. "Ok all's good and flexible." He put on his helmet. It bore the oval shape of an egg, only narrower around the sides. It even bore the tan color of an egg!

Matty grabbed his own breastplate. It creaked and wobbled as he strapped it onto his girth. When it refused to clasp, Eric's gloved hands reached for it. "I got you bro."

"Thanks," Matty said as he picked the gauntlets. Once he slid his hands into them and equipped his own helmet, the suit tightened and loosened around him.

"Come here bro," Eric's voice burst within his ears, too loud. Matty lowered the volume with just one thought. "Faster is better than slow."

Eric turned away from a pile of pistols, capsules, spheres and other crap and proceeded to stuff them inside Matty's pockets. Universal lighter, this, that, and a pistol at his hips. Matty shuddered at that.

"I don't even know how to shoot the damn thing!"

"You press the trigger," Eric said, his breath hard. "Filled you to the brim with survival gear. What now?"

"Make for the pods?"

His hand clasped around Matty's arm. "I don't wanna go alone. Fuck me in me tight arse Matty, I can't."

"It's only a short while. I'll program my pod to follow yours."

His eyes sparkled at that. "Can it do that?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"What do you swear on?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Matty sighed. "I swear on me mum."

Eric sniffled at that. Matty tried to peer through the glossy display, but only saw his reflection upon it. Was Eric crying?

"You lead. Forgot where the pods are."

Eric's jittery footsteps mirrored Matty's lethargic ones. They stopped in front of the trapdoors to their individual pods.

"Hope you know what you're doing, brother," Eric said. He clambered inside it, until his hovering helmet remained.

Matty nodded, and Eric shut the trapdoor and ejected his pod with an earsplitting thud. Matty staggered, and so did the ship. It banked to the side, so sharp Matty scrambled for purchase as he slid across the floor. He grasped the handle of the trapdoor with a suit enhanced grip and hurled himself inside.

"Eject, display coordinates, show every surrounding capsule within the nearest planet's radius." Nothing happened. Matty's heart began to pound in his chest as he looked left and right for the eject button. He pressed it just as the ship spun with the strain of the planet's gravitational pull. Matty pressed his hands against the pod's narrow walls until he evened out, then dropped on his belly and reached towards the control panel.

It looked even older than the ship's, with an LCD display that lacked touch screen technology. Matty groaned at that. He rifled through the limited options, tried every combination.

There was no follow option. Nor tracking. Not even a display surrounding pods feature. Only basic crap on an antique screen smaller than a primate's dick.

His stomach sank and his vision whirled. Eric. His promise to him. He couldn't, he didn't--

"Blood pressure rising. Panic attack detected. Administrating xycheoan tranquilizer."

Matty rolled onto his back, staring at the round, empty ceiling. There was no dent, no scratch, no handle. Nothing but a smooth surface with two cabinets on each side and the control panel in front of him. Where's the wiring? Maybe he could punch through and adjust the trajectory manually.

He scoffed at the thought as sharpness returned to his senses. He ought to sweat rivers and swelter. Not in this suit. It cooled him off to remove every distraction of the body and keep its wearer focused at all times.

"I can't even get angry," Matty said to himself. "There's the marivrian tranquilizer for that. Keeps your mind dull like a zombie's." That's the least he wanted.

He returned to the panel, hacked into the mainframe of the pod's mother ship, and tried to use the vectors of the previously launched capsule as a destination point. Didn't work.

He tried finding out the landing coordinates. Didn't work, for they changed every second. He reset the pod's database and uploaded the one of the mother ship instead. Upload failed because the hardware was incompatible with the software.

All Matty could do was thump his foot and twiddle his thumbs while staring at the blurry display of the planet on his screen. He just passed through the stratosphere. Lush greens and serpentine valleys sprawled beneath, looming closer and closer. Matty shut it down and clenched his jaws. He never liked crashing.

He curled himself into a ball and braced for impact. It came in the middle of Matty's yawn. The force hurled him to the rear end of the capsule, so hard his teeth rattled. Stars burst before his eyes, more out of shock than physical trauma.

Once they cleared, he took a deep breath and pushed the hatch open to the blinding grey light of this planet's sun. He squinted in spite of the helmet's instant adjustment to glare and wriggled out of the capsule. Once on solid, moist and grassy land, he let out a drawn-out sigh.

He made it. They both made it. Now, all he had to do was find Eric, cuddle within the same capsule and wait for Terra to send its envoy.

"Grab everything you can," Eric's voice echoed within his helmet.

"Eric?" Matty struggled to his feet and glanced around, his heart racing in his chest. "Can you hear me bro?"

No reply came. Matty blinked his bleary eyes and wobbled next to his pod. His mind still reeled from the shock of the landing.

"Eric, say something if you hear me." Matty held his breath while waiting for it. A whole minute passed without any positive results. Matty gasped as he scrunched his eyes shut. He heard him! He knew that! It wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. Eric was here, somewhere, unable to communicate for some reason.

"The ionosphere," Matty whispered under his breath. "This planet doesn't have any." That made every possible communication with Eric a moot point until he found the necessary tech.

And, by the looks of it, this planet didn't have any. Trees with gnarled trunks, taller than a mountain and thick as a hill, grew around him, their lush canopies allowing only dapples of sunlight through. The soil wasn't even soil. Matty kicked at the blanket of roots and fallen leaves, only to meet more and more verdant roots curled upon one another.

Vines, thicker than him, dangled from the upper boughs, and living blankets filled with wild flowers spread between them. Matty cringed when some oversized moth landed on top of the blanket to chew on a flower with an oversized mandible.

A veritable jungle, filled to the brim with resources Terra loved to exploit. Matty smiled at the thought. Their first venture was a proverbial gold mine. It would not only provide them with one of the better ships, but also a crew to work with. A crew!

Blood returned to his cheeks, along with the restlessness to find Eric and wait things out. He dropped back into his pod, pushed the cabinets open, and threw everything into a multidimensional storage unit that he stuffed into one of his side pockets.

"Lock escape pod, password Eric's balls," Matty said once out. Nothing happened.

"Right..." he rolled his eyes, grabbed hold of the trapdoor, sealed it shut, and attached a digital scan next to the handle. Just in case. He sat on top of it--the only visible part of the pod, as the rest buried deep within the ground--got out his multidimensional storage unit, and browsed its contents. Modest compared to what they had on the ship, but not too shabby.

Matty tossed the storage unit a few feet away. When it rolled to a stop, he said, "Radar out." A radar spawned next to the storage unit.

He smiled at the ancient box, with its wide, circular antenna, small screen, and keys meant for typing coordinates. At least the Terra base bothered to equip their escape pods with one.

"Magnetic transmitter, radio, crap, piss, shit, cunt!" Everything the storage unit spawned was more than a century old! He strode towards each of those junks, turned them on.

Nothing worked. The radio didn't have a signal, the magnetic transmitter hummed but showed nothing on its display, and the radar's keys were stuck. Matty pressed 'search' harder and it fell off.

He sighed at that, picked his storage unit, stored it within his suit, and kicked the rest of the filth with his enhanced leg. Each piece of shit flew, so high they created new holes within the canopies for the light to slink through.

"Fuck!" Matty yelled within his helmet. His knees shook at the prospect of walking on foot. And where? Where would he go?

"The capsule chose this area for a reason," he whispered to himself. One quick glimpse revealed even ground, no shrubs, no boulders. Only smooth terrain littered with gigantic trees, and past them, darkness. It was so deep and thick Matty shivered. Was this grey light even daylight?

He activated the environmental lighting of his suit, a bubble invisible to the naked eye that illuminated a thirty foot radius. It revealed more trees, more vine blankets, and a few curious plants, twisted and wan. One had a spherical shape and vaguely resembled a mouth, with the way its pistils lined up.

"Creepy fucking jungle." He walked past the plants with small, careful steps. His boots sank into the frail verdant roots that made up the soil. They wriggled and shifted under his steps, as if alive. Matty tensed up at that and activated his force shield by mistake.

Force shield down, he thought, and the suit complied.

He rounded a tree, his eyes wide at its thick, gnarled, yet smooth trunk. Some sort of shimmering raisin covered it. Matty reached forward for a dab, but thought better of it. Fuck botany. He had to find Eric.

A thud burst from behind.

Matty whirled on his heels, so quick he wobbled.

"Zoom, thermal scan," he commanded, not trusting his mind in this. The scan showed the red, overheated capsule. A bipedal creature, taller than a feral bear and twice broader, brought its arms down upon the trapdoor.

The bang was so loud Matty's teeth rattled. He reached for the pistol at his hip, the one Eric strapped. "Tar--target vital points. Adjust my wrist." His hand hovered in front of him out of its own accord. Matty strode forward, his temples pounding and his heart thumping in his chest. "Thermal vision off."

His light bubble broke the veil of darkness in front of him, until it revealed the biggest gorilla Matty ever laid his eyes upon. It stood twice as tall as Eric, with arms broader than him, a thick muscular chest, and legs that passed for tree trunks back on Terra. And, most importantly, no underwear to cover its male parts.

Matty twisted his head to the side and shut his eyes when another thud came. So loud!

"Stop and identify yourself," Matty yelled.

The gorilla turned its shimmering platinum eyes towards him, frowned, and punched through the trapdoor of the escape pod. Matty's jaw hung when it drew back an unscathed arm. It grabbed the trapdoor, pulled it out of its hinges, and hurled it away.

Matty tensed up at the shriek of torn metal, and all his fingers clenched, even the one around the trigger. The first energy blast punctured the gorilla's chest clean, and a feral wail burst from its maw.

"Aghhh," he groaned. His wrist swerved left, right, up and down as his suit aimed for every vital spot of the ambusher. His finger, tight around the trigger, did the rest. The gorilla's roar died down. It staggered on its oversized feet, clutched its cauterized wounds, and crashed to the floor.

"Target mode off," Matty said as he dashed towards the gorilla.

Its coat was black as midnight across its chest, and silvery stripes ran across its arms. Its back was speckled with an array of platinum spots, rosettes, stripes, and undulating lines that formed a twirling, symmetrical pattern. A similar one covered its scalp, smaller yet even more complex due to how the stripes twined, expanded outward and flowed across its nape.

Blood rushed to his head, and his vision turned hazy with colored stars as his stomach lurched at the sight. He killed it. He bloody fucking killed it.

Matty's knees buckled, and he fell onto his bottom. He barely heard the voice of the suit, and the name of whatever it pumped into his system over the pounding in his head. Whatever it was turned his breath steady and returned clarity to his senses.

"Okay," Matty croaked. He swallowed a mouthful of drool and trudged on all fours to the gorilla's chest. "Okay, let's see what you did Matt." His eyes squinted as his gloved hand hovered over the gorilla's smooth, coal black chest. There was no blood, for the blaster seared through a living organism. Matty knew as much. But where were the scars? Matty dabbed and pushed its short fur aside around its heart, lungs, liver, kidney, throat. No pierced tissue. Not even scars.

Matty's breath caught in his throat. What the fudge was going on?

Something stirred at the edge of his vision.

Matty lunged back with an enhanced leap, his fingers tight around the blaster. The gorilla's hand twitched. Then a foot. Then its eyes snapped open, glistening with fiery intensity.

He froze when its gaze fell on him.