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Journal: J. Doom, Mission Time +32 Kiloseconds

It's still about dark o'clock A.M. here on Briin. But, I can't sleep. I think I can blame planet-lag. I don't think HSO configured this body for this planet's circadean rhythm. My head actually really hurts right now, but this is nothing new...

About a kilosecond ago, I turned on my working lamp and started cataloging any species I saw. Nothing particularly interesting to any given layman. There's no helixoform grass, no exotic pigments, even.

But, I did find something peculiar with the few specimens of grass around our campsite. The ones bearing seeds don't appear to actually bear seeds. Instead, they have extremely tiny fruits. I've never seen fruit-bearing grass like this before.

This discovery struck me as very peculiar indeed. I don't think its an unconnected peculiarity. It must be some systemic symptom of this biosphere's functioning methodology. Grass is a base-line organism and, when such a prevalent thing is so different, I can't help but wonder what the animals are like, and why.

***

Chapter Two: ADVANCE GUARD

***

The only noise of the night seemed to be a constant wind, whistling through the bulbous grasses in the surrounding, flat expanse stretching from horizon to horizon. So, Tan wondered why he'd woken up. Then, he saw a light dancing over the ground through the gauzy haze of his tent's wall. The light was made jagged as it danced repeatedly over the weird tufts of grass, growing from the mud like the scattered hair on his leg.

He quickly unzipped the front of his capsule-shaped tent and pulled himself free in a single motion. As he stood up, he said; "So, can't sleep?"

"No," Julia admitted from somewhere behind the dancing light beam. "Sorry, I guess I could study by moonlight. It's easier for me than it sounds-"

"Or," he said. "You, um, could just tell me about what you've found."

"Would you be too occupied to get mad at me for waking you up?"

"Maybe," he said, toying with the word.

"That works fine for me," she said. "Well..." she began, seeming to form her sentence as she went. "This grass is really funky. I can't find any way it would spread pollen or seeds. So, even though the grass looks a lot like ours, it's pretty damned alien. I can't even guess how this stuff reproduces."

"Huh, is it all one plant, maybe?"

"Ooh," Julia said, intrigued. "Very good guess, but I checked. These guys all have independent roots."

"Hmm," Tan said. Biology wasn't ever something he got into. But, it seemed more and more tantalizing to him. He just hoped he could still learn. But, of course, HSO could always relieve the biochemical malleability restraints on his neural simulation. That could always help.

It was just that machines always came form the Higarashi. No matter what planet-hop he was a part of, they always looked the same. The idea of dealing with something completely different at every stop intrigued him.

"Sorry," she said at length.

"About what?"

"Well, I must sound very boring. Seeing how silent you are."

"Not at all," he said. Julia's ears perked up in surprise, though Tan didn't see it. She was so used to the meat-sim drones that spent all their free time having sex with Vixie and the late actress Halie Barry â€" lovingly, perfectly reanimated through digital simulation â€" that they didn't accomplish too much mental development.

"Hmm," she said, satisfaction flowing through the inflection of the utterance. A job well done. "Be back in a sec, bathroom."

"T-M-I." Tan said in disgust, it was an acronym for ‘too much information.' So... he WAS a twogee after all. The thregees she'd met hadn't batted an eyelash at that comment.

She walked away from her search sight, flicking off her work lamp. Her eyes adjusted rapidly to the light from the planet's twin moons above. One shone bright and white. The other was a sickly yellow, as if it were made of some more exotic material than ash, as the other appeared to be.

Away from the campsite, she spied a particularly dense clutch of grass. Her entire system was pathogen-tuned to the biosphere. So, contamination wasn't an issue. If it were, they could have started a plague by breathing.

The thicket of plants was larger than she'd guessed. What had seemed like a plucky growth of small bushes was actually a number of trees with head-height grass. Night and the emptiness of the land had removed her frame of reference.

"Ping" she thought to herself as she entered the first layer of grass.

"Without delay, Madam," Suit said. A moment later, she thought she detected the drop of a pin, but the sound came form all around her. A moment later, the area in front of her was highlighted in a wave of green light. She'd expected the good return data, though. That sound had told her the device was working. The beautiful thing about fabricators is they never built aging into reinstated devices.

Suit had just sent out a train of ten, imperceptible, picosecond bursts of sound. They hadn't sighted any movement. That would have shown in red, with a looping animation of the movement. Though, at the boundary of the ping, among the green and red static invariably created by audio interference, a few tiny spots of red looped through a noticeable line of movement.

But, such an occurrence wasn't uncommon. She was likely just ‘seeing' a few flitting insects. She had bigger concerns than antomology at that moment.

Julia had spent the last umpteen dozen years in blackout. So, she'd learned to temporarily forget the nuances of bathing. Luckily, she'd just remembered... while she was still relatively clean.

She listened. Beyond the constant, whistling wind was a trickling drip of water. She wasn't wholly surprised. Where there was foliage there was water, especially where it flowed. Wherever foliage could take root in a watery delta like this one, it would slow down water flow. More local water, blocked up by the foliage, would encourage more. So, it was a sort of remote, cascading reaction. Knowing that, she expected a pond.

She blindly pressed through the brush, navigating around occasional, small trees. After perhaps a minute of chanced navigation, the thick undergrowth folded away from her to reveal a sandy pond of flawlessly clear water.

"Just as I thought," she cooed to herself, smug as any self-respecting scientist should be.

"Shall Madam request that I relieve her of her cladding?"

She smiled warmly, almost feeling bad to have to shed Suit so suddenly. "Of course," she said, adding; "Sorry, suit."

"Do not let the worry pass your mind, Madam." A moment later, the synth-muscles of the suit went slack in such a way that they split from the nape of her neck down to the base of her tail. Suit slid from her limp arms and fell at her feet.

"I will stay in wireless contact," it said, pushing aside her thoughts. "This will allow One to guard Madam and warn her immediately of any changes in Madam's surroundings."

"That's fine," she thought. Though, she was feeling less and less worried. The area was quiet as anything she'd ever heard. She hastily slipped into the water, allowing a smile to pass her lips.

She'd been looking forward to a bath since she went out of blackout.

The water ruffled over her, engulfed her in a way she'd almost forgotten. It was lovely. She leaned back, treasuring how it accepted her. Her feet reached the surface and, after a moment of panic, she was floating on her back. It was a tough balancing act that didn't come natural to everyone, especially an ex-professor from New York. But, she'd learned during an operation on a water moon, when they'd drilled in survival swimming. It was quite the way to learn.

As she was remembering the dreamy, aquatic creatures, pirouetting lazily through the tropical, sunlit waters, a voice snapped her back to reality.

"Madam, I'm detecting substantial movement."

A million questions shot through her head. How close? Were they approaching? How long until they arrived?

"They ARE approaching. I don't think you can don me in time... no worry!" Suit suddenly sprang up from the ground as though a puppet master had suddenly animated it. It began to clumsily duck left and right, defending against invisible enemies. "We shall make our last stand together!"

Julia rose from the water, muscles suddenly tense. She tried to ignore the way the water beaded and fell from her, even though she'd missed how that felt, too. "Not so fast," she said. "We can't be sure they're even capable of hurting me... erm, us. Or, if they even care to." She shook off the remainder of the water with a flick that went from head to knees. It was a shame to be over with the act so quickly. But, it had been fun while it lasted.

"I suppose you are correct, Madam. What shall Madam do to rectify this issue?"

Her hands seemed to reflexively seek out her sides, toying with her own, sudden nakedness. "When they get close, ping them with high-wave EM sweeps, try and get an idea what they look like, inside and out."

"Hey!" a voice yelled from the edge of the clearing. "That sure is a hell of a lot of audio network traffic for a bathroom break!" Oh, she'd almost forgotten about Tan!

"Tan!" she yelled. "Get in here!"

His voice rose an octave. "WHAT?"

"There's something outside the camp, it's getting closer."

"Shit!" She heard a smashing clamor from far off, then the conspicuous sounds of clumsy running. "I have guns!" he proclaimed. "Umm, are you decent?"

"No," she replied. "But, it doesn't matter. Do what you want." She would have taken the time to acknowledge how self-conscious she'd previously been around him, and how she felt now. Perhaps she'd overreacted before and all was mended. Perhaps she could deal with him seeing her naked now, callous and unimportant though the act was. But, they were about to experience first contact. There would be time for talk later.

"I'm coming in... did I mention the night vision?"

"In this order; Fine and; no," she said. "How close are they now?" she shifted back into thought.

"The contacts are breaching the clearing," Suit said via speaker.

Just then, Tan broke through the underbrush. The rush job had almost crushed the lenses on his night vision frames. But, he'd saved them by dissipating the involved momentum with his hand. That had been painful. But his body could heal. Most of the stuff he'd brewed up for the mission couldn't.

What he saw on the other side, though, was enough to break his concentration. He reflexively flicked off his night vision, regarding Julia in the darkness. At first, she appeared as a black blot on blue night. But, as his eyes adjusted, he saw the ways the moonlight played off of her body. The curves of her breasts formed symmetrical crescents, the sort of perfection only artificial fabrication could create. The toned line of her abdominals bisected her form. Her face was beautifully profiled by drooping hair, and a set of perked ears.

"I see you watching, you know," she said.

His voice cracked; "SORRY!" he said. "Sorry, s-"

"Just be quiet, let science do its job. Maybe we won't need those guns." He nodded in response. "Good, stay calm. Suit?"

"Yes, madam."

"Do we have anything yet?"

There was quiet, careful rustling at the edges of the thicket. "Quadrupedal creatures," Suit began. "They are moving very cautiously. They don't appear to be interested in surreptitious approach. Imaging is giving a profile incongruous with most quadrupeds..."

"How so?" she asked.

"See for yourself, Madam" an overlay of the approaching creatures popped over her vision. It gave her a featureless, partially shaded outline of their bodies. They were normal five-pointers with a head and four limbs. But, at their rears, just about at stomach level and facing down and backward, was a mass of limbs and other, weird projections she couldn't make out. They were animated, though. They twitched and twirled with a life all their own.

"Show me their teeth," she said. A moment later, the creatures shook their heads, as if warding off some annoying stimuli. Then, she got a snapshot. "We may not need those guns," she said. "These things couldn't bite through a balloon. They look like herbivores... but much softer."

"The data seems to indicate so, Madam," Suit said. "But what is your inference about the formations at their haunches... Thoraxes?"

"What rear formations?" Tan asked, unsure. "Wait, I think I see them through the... are those squids? Why do I see legs?"

"They're JUST herbivores, frugivores even. They seem a bit curious, maybe. But, 'they should leave on their own."

"They continue their approach, Madam."

"Herbivores don't do that, do they?" Tan said.

"Not really, no," she said. "Just wait. Don't scare them or make any sudden movements. Maybe we can see our first native animal!"

"Joy," Tan said. "You're sure they're herbivores?"

"Yes, now shush!" Julia's tone was whispered. "They're coming closer!"

A sniffing sound cut through the night air. Shortly thereafter, an angular, long head with inquisitive eyes poked from the underbrush. Tan watched from the opposite side of the pond as the creature emerged. It had a slender body, similar to a canine. Julia knew well enough it was a common ambulatory model for land creatures, especially mammals. But, to Tan, it just looked familiar.

"Squiddogs," he whispered. It glanced at him briefly, but was more interested in Julia. It craned its neck toward her, hesitating as one of its slender paws touched the water. Julia regarded it for a few moments. It really did seem delicate, but also brave. All the same, it could use some help. She extended a hand toward the creature as it committed to the water.

"It's alright," she said. Its eyes were expressive, animated and alert as it approached. As it slowly lowered itself into the water, it uttered a small clutch of mumbles and purrs. Moments later, as if at the creature's behest, two other heads emerged from the brush. "Hmm, more than a pack," she whispered to herself. "That almost sounded like talk..."

"How nasty does that creature's Mysterious Squid look?" she thought.

"One assumes Madam refers to the unidentified bodily subsystem. I detect no traces of harmful chemicals, nor any sharp bone protuberances. The surfaces appear too smooth and lacking in length to constrict or suffocate. I also do not detect sufficient muscle mass."

"Good," she cooed toward the creature. "You're fine," she said as the creature paddled up to face her. It gently pawed at her right arm, then gained a semblance of a purchase. It pushed against her midriff, sniffing her face. Its rear floated free in the water, less than a foot from her body.

"Madam, its unidentified bodily subsystem-"

"I know," she thought. "It's moving."

The creature was clad in short, gray hair. All save the mass of fleshy appendages at its haunches. The division between the two seemed stark enough it almost looked like two creatures. The mass was at the lower haunches of the creature, where genitalia might have been in a female.

At that moment, the feelers twisted open to reveal a mass of small tubules. The creature angled its rear downward, allowing the tubules to aim toward her. They spasmed, releasing a misty cloud of glittering emulsion into the water.

Julia felt, rather than saw it contact her skin. It entangled in her fur and electrified wherever it touched, like a chemical messenger tuned to her body. She allowed herself a sigh as some touched her exposed folds. The sensitive flesh it touched there became immediately engorged with arousal.

"What... what are they doing?" Tan asked, too unsure of himself to sound defensive.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "It doesn't feel harmful. It feels... good."

The red, fleshy mass at the creature's haunches remained angled toward her loins. It seemed to gauge her response as it hit that particular area with more fluids, even though it didn't seem to be guiding by sight or any other means.

At length; it seemed to reach a conclusion in its unknown purpose. The feelers twisted to life, enfolding the tubules and fattening forward. They swept over the fur on Julia's thighs, boring through it to the sensitive skin beneath. The feelers caressed her with gentle purpose. The unknown mind that guided them seemed coordinated, almost intelligent.

"I think..." Julia whispered. "I think, maybe, it's examining me."

"Rather specific examination," Tan said.

"Duly noted," she snapped. He had expected a laugh, but maybe this was more than just an awkward meeting for her. Feelers slipped between her thighs, knotting behind her and pulling the creature closer. It drew itself upward, spreading its legs and bringing its loins mere inches from Julia's flesh. She uttered an excited shudder. She did so partially due to what she could learn from the encounter and what she was now beginning to expect as a side-effect of gaining that knowledge.

The feelers gently, carefully writhed over her skin. They sought their way cautiously upward, not missing an inch of Julia's flesh on their way. They traced the ‘V' where her legs met her body. As they drew over her stomach, then back downward, they grazed an engorged bump of flesh. The contact was like a crack of lightning, making her arc her back. The creature breathed in abruptly, then relaxed as she did.

She allowed it to explore her folds. The feelers entered her and toyed with her flesh, gently moving over her entrance. She quietly mewled as they all eased into her, one by one. This wasn't a reception she was used to when cataloging new life on a planet. Contrary to what science fiction of old would lead one to believe, boldly coming was not a favored or common pastime.

Her breathing was growing quick and labored, in spite of Tan's presence. She was torn between suppressing herself and letting the natural process take its course. The latter was aided by her scientific interests, she wanted as few variables as she could have here. And, if that meant she had to have as good a time as she could, for purposes of experiment neutrality, then it was just a perk.

That particular side won out.

She let out her frustration in one, surprised gasp as a feeler probed her deeper than she'd expected. It lashed in and out of her inner reaches, exploring every inch of her surfaces. Julia's focus was increasingly centering around the creature's intrusions, away from notable things like balance. She staggered backward into the shallows. The creature was heedless, it had relaxed into her. She allowed herself to squat, carrying the dead weight of the creature as she fell onto her rear.

The act only brought the creature's haunches closer to her own. Its weight fell onto her there, allowing it to piston into her. She let out a gasping cry as the creature settled deeper into her. The other feelers joined the first, tenderly reaching deeper into her like the lapping of ocean waves. She sighed into each movement, her breath arrhythmic with their random probing. It was enough of a deluge for her that she didn't openly acknowledge the other creatures as they approached.

They waded out of the brush and circled around to where she was spread. The first rose on its front legs, not breaking contact with Julia's demanding folds for an instant. They touched noses with the first, as enthralled with the labors of their contact as Julia was. Moments later, as if they understood what the first had taken the time to learn, they took to examining her.

They settled at her flanks, angling their lower bodies in ways any Earth mammal never could. Their bodies were curled forward, presenting their gradually emerging feelers toward her.

Tan was presented with an open view of the one at her right side. Its legs spread to allow its sensitive flesh to unfurl. Tiny tubules grew erect and blasted transparent streamers across her in a shower of liquid. She didn't seem to mind. In fact; the sensitive flesh of her breasts immediately grew erect in response, glistening with fluids in the moonlight.

He wasn't sure yet whether to look away in fear of later reprisal or to try and take in what he could. The reasoning part of him saw no issue but the part of him that knew Julia felt somehow guilty.

The feelers converged on her upper body, stroking gently over her arms and down her flanks. That contact made her kick her feet and let loose a chuckle, nigh imperceptible amongst her other utterances. Intelligent though their movements were, they were awkward and seemed to have no goal. Only the first seemed to proceed with some notable focus.

"A-are..." Julia stammered, opening one eye to stare at Tan. "Are you still watching me?"

Tan hurriedly looked away finding himself once again. "N-no!" he stammered. But, his guilt won the battle. "I mean; yes."

"Cut the m-melloDRAMA" her voice cracked at the tail of the last word as the creature at her loins shifted. The others at her sides had returned their focus to her breasts. They caressed her in slow arcs, seemingly mystified by her uniqueness. Tan imagined she was one-of-a-kind on this planet. "Get a camera. Record this for me."

"Are you joking?"

"Tan, my-" she let loose a shutter of unmitigated passion as one of the feelers brushed a pink, engorged nipple. "My capacity to joke seems to have left me, as I'm currently too busy being screwed mercilessly by a bunch of aliens."

"This could just be how they shake hands you know," unlike her; he still had some humor to spare.

"F-fuck off, you idiot! Just get a camera!"

Tan shrugged. If that's how she wanted it â€" and the makers only knew why â€" then he'd oblige.

He snapped his fingers twice. Mere moments later, two, unobtrusive camera boxes coasted above the clearing. Their small, ducted fans made nary more than a hissing flutter as they circled and followed his gaze. They were like tiny crows on the wind, unheeded by the creatures. Of course, that was just his luck; they were too busy with Julia to notice the cameras.

They continued their movements unabated. At her front, she was bombarded by stimulation. Amidst the caresses of the blunt feelers, another set emerged. They were narrow and thin-tipped, like serpents' tongues. As they approached her, they cut twisting paths, writhing and turning in seemingly random directions. But, their mark soon became clear. Fat feelers encircled her bosom, gently squeezing her mounds into prominence.

Without missing a moment, the narrow feelers set upon her flesh. They encircled her engorged borders, forcing her further outward. The tips milked and jousted with the exposed flesh, eliciting a shuddering mewl of passion from her lips. Her tongue shot out to meet thin air as she gasped at the continuous contact.

One of his cameras cut for a moment, falling a foot and soaring over one of the creature's heads. Its feelers withdrew in a flash as it disconnected itself from Julia's left breast. Its movements were attentive, suddenly alert. Then, as it looked around, it spotted him.

It cocked a head at him. "What?" he whispered. "You can't be serious. You have a perfectly good, naked woman in front of you and you want me?" It stood and walked towards him.

He could always try not to talk to it. But, he talked when he got nervous, and it would likely do him little good now.

"Sh-shoo!" he said, limp. Internally, he was conflicted. Part of him wasn't ready to just free himself to the wind... with an alien of all things. The other part recognized Julia was having a good time and was, perchance, envious. "Why are you so interested in me?" he asked. "I'm not exactly a fine specimen looks-wise." He toyed with the idea and discovered he didn't have the will to resist. Perhaps he had the strength, but the act was harmless.

He backed against a tree, not willing to turn tail and run. It would destroy the experiment, he guessed. That, and he could regret that action. The creature advanced on him cautiously. At least this way, if he came out intact, he could say he'd done it. No regrets there.

It seemed to know exactly where it was going after witnessing Julia's coupling. It immediately climbed his shoulders and extended red organs toward his loins. He was already slightly hard when they nudged at his jeans. He'd always been more sensitive than most. But he thought it was more his nervous nature than any bodily features.

The creature seemed perplexed by the obstacle of his clothes. It searched the bump at his front, seeming to grow ever familiar with it. A moment later, its focus shifted upward and it found his waistline. Feelers escaped up his shirt and traced his stomach as others moved downward, absconding under his waistband.

Moments later, they encircled his maleness. They wrapped him in warm, eager, positively naked flesh from his base to his tip. Moments later, agile feelers emerged, slithering down into his garments. The stronger ones of the set pulled down on his intervening garment, tugging eagerly toward some solution.

Moments later, the agile feelers found the tab of his zipper. They carefully played over the cold metal, idly tugging at the device. The creature seemed to instantly discern its meaning. It drew downward, exposing a patch of his maleness to open air. It was constricted to his right by the contact, but was soon set upon anew by the feelers.

They dragged him into the open air. Wet flesh slithered against him as he resettled. The agile feelers played with his sensitive tip. They were narrow enough that, when they found his opening there, they drew into him painlessly. The contact was bizarre and almost unsettling, but the pleasure it game was undeniable. His legs gently gave way and he ended sitting against the tree.

Meanwhile, at Julia's loins, the creature had shifted. Tan saw it angle back, gently retreating to the outer reaches of her most sensitive place. The feelers spread outward, opening her petals to the air and revealing the organ at the creature's center.

That appendage emerged, twitching from its confinement. It cautiously slithered through the air, five, knobby points grasping and releasing as it went. It looked to Tan as if it had more in common with a hand than a jaw, seeing as it didn't have a hard surface anywhere on it. So in that way it looked more benign than either.

All the same, he felt apprehensive, as if this act somehow centered on that thing.

Simultaneously, the feelers squeezed him into prominence. They retreated from his tip, marking the arrival of another grasping appendage akin to the one stalking Julia. It opened its tiny fingers, spreading the hole at its center wide.

It uncoiled and latched down onto his head. The sucking force it exerted made him throw his head back painfully against the tree. He immediately loosed himself into the creature. It squeezed down on his tip, seeming to draw his ejections from him.

Julia gasped as the creature hilted within her. It was like a bolt of lighting ripping through every sensitive point on her body. But, as she felt it receding, it returned in a flash. The appendage rapidly advanced to fill the vacuum the feelers had left. It groped inside of her, gently searching â€" Seemingly the entire purpose of every action in this chain of events. Until, finally, it could go no further.

Fibrous contact extended into her, deeper than she'd felt any other being go. It swept through her, bringing another climactic surge. The creature's head lolled as its red organs pulsated at its haunches. It seemed to shift over itself in elation. Then, as the movement inside and outside of Julia reached a rhythmic climax, it ceased. The creature nearly collapsed on itself as there was an otherworldly, wet sucking sound. It instantly withdrew from her with a pop, making her entire body shiver in kind.

Tan felt another contact besides his own throes. Something eased into him. With each advance he felt, the organ at his tip squeezed a lump down its length that terminated against him. It drew out the surging pleasure of contact like rolling thunder. It reached a sudden peak, then ceased. In a single moment, he felt the contact retract. An instant later, the creature popped from him.

As quickly as they had gone the creatures left the scene. They hastily retreated into the brush, like scouts of an army retreating with new, important intelligence on the newcomers.

"H-how are you doing?" Tan gasped heedlessly at the darkness.

"Fan-freaking-tastic," Julia said. "How about you?"

Awkward silence. "I feel weird," he admitted at length.

"You WERE just screwed by alien naughty bits."

"Alien what?"

"Never mind. You, like all men, will understand someday. About how the birds and the bees-"

"Shut up, you," he growled. "I got that talk about a week after I was born and learned how to read."