Colonists, Chapter 1
My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee! This story is based on a future in which the big corporations basically run everything, governments are merely puppets, and if you're not a company employee you're pretty much a peasant. Though not quite a slave every person has a "contract with society" that can be bought and sold. The year is 2323 and a revolutionary FTL drive has opened space for colonization, but the main problem is finding habitable planets. Many planets have valuable resources, but it's so expensive to maintain habitats for humans it isn't cost effective. The solution, instead of trying to change the planet by terraforming, it's much cheaper to change the "colonists" instead. The fact the "colonists" usually do not want to be changed is of no importance to the companies who buy their contracts. I hope to make this a series if it is well received.
** Colonist, Hell World**
** Chapter 1**
** By William W. Kelso**
You stand accused of Failure to Honor your obligations to society and fulfill same said obligations, how does the defendant plead?
Your Honor, replied the lawyer, my client pleads not guilty.
*Case has been reviewed; defendant has been on public welfare for the last three years, the maximum allowed by law. Are there mitigating circumstances? Is defendant handicapped or otherwise impaired, and if so, why has he not sought out mandatory euthanasia? *
May it please the court; my client is not handicapped and is in good health. He has satisfactorily served the required five years in the military and was recommended for retention by his last command, but it was denied due to cutbacks in the military budget. His job performance when employed had been satisfactory with no time off for illness or other reasons, and he has completed all required educational requirements including additional optional training in several areas related to his assigned profession. His being unemployed is through no fault of his own, he has submitted the required minimum job applications and also additional ones. He lost his last job due to a hostile takeover resulting in layoffs. He could become a contributing member of society again as soon as more jobs are available.
Counselor, be that as it may your client is a burden on the society of which he is a part. He is hereby found guilty, and his contract made available for public purchase.
Your honor, I appeal, this is a most harsh verdict, and my client has committed no crime other than being temporarily unemployable. He has no criminal record and is not a threat.
Appeal denied. Let it be entered in the record that Brian Williamson, SR#988348809 is hereby remanded to the local Federal Holding Facility for non-violent criminals until such time as his contract is purchased. This hearing is closed.
I had no idea of what was going on, due to large caseloads "minor offenders" were not allowed to appear in court. My "trial" lasted all of ten minutes, and I was convicted of the worst "misdemeanor" possible, being guilty of being a "burden to society". I was never even told the verdict, but figured it out when two enforcement officers came to collect me from the holding cell and I was transformed to a Federal holding facility and stuck in a cell with four other "criminals", the two beds were taken so I slept on the floor. Like myself my cellmates were also "non-violent" offenders. I had seen this coming, my three year "grace" period was up, and since I was unable to get a job even as a janitor I had to "pay" my dues to society; and it was pretty much the same with the others sharing my fate. Everything I owned, my meager savings, and any other assets were seized to help pay "court costs", even my clothes were taken away. I was issued plain grey cotton coveralls and paper slippers, and they were now my sole possession. I would wear them for a week, and then throw them away when I was issued a new pair, always way too big. For six days I sat in the cell, and the only time we were allowed to leave was for two skimpy meals a day and an hour of "exercise" in a large room with nothing in it. We pretty much just stood and stared at one another as talking was forbidden. My cellmates came and went as some had their contracts bought, and new ones arrived. On the sixth day a guard came to my cell and said,
"Williamson, Brian SR#988348809, come with me citizen."
*So I did, I mean, what else could I do? He led me through the areas I was familiar with, through a security door, and into a small room. There was a desk with two chairs facing one another across it, all bolted down. Other than a large mirror; one way glass I'm sure, there was nothing else. It was painted grey, a cheerless ugly color. The guard told me to sit down and wait, so I did as I was told, and he cuffed my ankles to the legs of the chair. I mean, why, where the Hell was I going to go? His shock baton inspired cooperation. I had always been a law abiding perfect model citizen anyway, so I was still pretty much in shock that I was now considered a "criminal". I had even turned myself in without a whimper, still believing it was a mistake of some kind. But now I was being treated the same way as a murderer, it just wasn't right. *
After quite a long period; and the damn room was cold, a serious looking man in a company jumpsuit entered the room. He had a slim combination briefcase/laptop PC with him. The corporate patch on his suit had a fancy logo and "GENOTECH". I had never heard of that corporation. He pretty much ignored me, opened his briefcase and logged in, then took out a virtual "clipboard", the kind that you sign electronically generated legal documents on. Then he looked at me and said,
"Citizen Williamson, your contract has been bought by PanSundynn Mining Industries, my employer Genotech is a subsidiary of PanSundynn, and we will train and, um, prepare you for your new profession. I need you to sign a consent form indicating you understand what I've told you."
"Mining? I replied, I don't know anything about that kind of work. I'm a clerical and computer filing systems specialist."
"As I said, replied the man, you will be trained. Now, sigh here please."
"And if I don't?" I said. Being cooperative had only gotten me screwed so far, so fuck you, I thought.
"Then I will sign as your proxy witnessing that you were informed verbally, this is really just a formality."
"Can I read it first?" I asked.
"It is forty seven pages long, and basically just indicates your contract has been sold to a private corporation. You will perform the jobs you're assigned, and your needs will be taken care of. You will not receive any salary."
"Then how will I pay my so-called debt?" I replied.
"By working for the benefit of the company, the company has already paid your debt to society, including the costs of the welfare you received. You will work for the company until such time they feel your debt has been repaid, and then you will be retired."
Well, like an idiot I signed it, but even if I hadn't it wouldn't have made any difference. At that point I ceased being a citizen, and became property, a slave for all practical purposes, in every way but name. But I was not told that until later, and of course by then it was far too late.
Two guards in GENOTECH uniforms collected me, and led me to a loading dock where a van was waiting; and other "contracte's" where being loaded like cattle into other vans or vehicles with other company logos on the sides. I wasn't alone either; I shared the van with two other men and a woman, and a guard who rode in the back with us. We tried to ask him questions, but he told us to "Shut the fuck up" and just sat there staring at us through the grey non-reflective one-way visor on his helmet.
It was a short drive to a heliport, and a chopper with the now familiar company logo on the side picked us up, guard included, and transported us I have no idea where as the chopper was a cargo carrier; we were the cargo, and it had no windows. It must have been somewhere in one of the huge industrial complexes that cover most of the state in places as all we could see when we disembarked was factory and other similar ugly functional buildings and constructions, towers, gantry's, cooling towers, etc. And the place reeked of petrochemicals and ozone. As we walked across the helipad I noticed guards in towers and security fences, which I thought was kind of overdoing it for a mining facility. I quickly found out the towers and fences weren't for keeping people out, they were for keeping them in. And it wasn't a mining facility; it was a combination medical lab and prison. For me and my fellow "criminals" and it would appear we had "volunteered" for a very special kind of "job training". For the "inmates" it was a very special kind of Hell in every sense of the word. No one ever left the same as they came in.
When we entered we were separated and I never saw the others again, in fact I never saw any other prisoners except for glances. I turned in my prison coveralls, was given a kind of hospital smock with snaps up the back, even on the arms, and was given more medical tests and exams; both physical and psychological, then I ever had before, even in the military. They ran tests on me for over seven days, will brief breaks for eating and sleeping. At least the food was plentiful. The brief time I had alone was spent in a plain cell with a bed, toilet, and nothing else, and the damn lights never went out, and I had no idea if it was night or day, this place never slept, it was busy 24hrs a day. I had no idea how much time had really passed as no clocks. Any question I tried to ask were either ignored or I was told to be quiet, that things would be "explained" later. After a nasty shock from a baton I gave up insulting and yelling at the guards.
*One incident occurred that scared the living crap out of me. I was following a male nurse down a hallway for still more tests when there was a sudden commotion up ahead. I heard yelling voices shouting stuff like "Don't let it get away!" "Stop it!" and the sound of stunner firing, and then a pair of double doors crashed open and a monster came running, or skittering, down the hallway. The nurse took off, but I was too stunned to do anything except stare in horror. It looked like a great big bug of some kind, an ant or cockroach or something, and I hate bugs. It ran on six legs, but seemed to be crippled as couple of legs looked deformed, and it had two other limbs like arms but with pincers on the ends. It ran up to me and grabbed my shoulders with those pincers and rearing up looked me in the face and made a horrible chittering mewling sound, and snapped mandibles at me with drool dripping from them. I shit myself and passed out. *
I woke up a short time later and the bug thing was lying on its side next to me feebly kicking its legs with a couple of guards armed with stun guns standing over it, and another man was fitting what looked like a gasmask over the bugs head. He said,
"Stupid thing, it knows it would suffocate without a respirator, what did it think it was trying to do?"
Eat me, I thought, as I scooted across the floor to get as far away from the still twitching thing as I could. It smelled like ammonia, a strong acid odor. One of the guards finally noticed me, and said,
"Who are you? Where's your escort?"
"He ran off, I replied. What the HELL is that thing?"
"Never you mind, it's none of your business. Now you stay there until someone comes to collect you."
"Can I go to a bathroom?" I asked.
*The guard sniffed, and said, "Oh, ewwww, OK. Third door down on the right. But I don't blame you, I shit my pants too the first time I saw a bug." *
I got up, and keeping an eye on the bug, moved down the hallway. If it moved I was out of there. Once in the bathroom I cleaned myself up and got a good long drink of cool water. As I looked in the mirror I realized the thing that had scared me most about the bug thing was its eyes. One had been the compound eye of an insect, and the other one had also had more than one pupil, but they had looked human and I'd seen utter terror in them, multiple pleading blue eyes staring me. That had to have been my imagination, I thought. I heard the guard yelling at the nurse out in the hall, and then he sheepishly collected me and I followed him to the next medical office for more tests. Any questions I had about the bug were ignored.
The next day I was collected from my cell and escorted to another room that looked like an operating room, which made me kind of nervous. I was strapped to a padded examination table, I thought for more tests, but it was really more for a briefing, of sorts. I was used to being strapped into weird chairs and machines by now, so wasn't all that worried, at least not yet. The nurse left, so I just waited, as cold as ever. They seemed to keep the AC running full blast all the time. Suddenly the machines and equipment surrounding me hummed into life, the lights dimmed and a brighter one shone on me making me squint and blink, and a disembodied voice said,
"Your new designation is Subject R-5968, Class 3. You have been found to be sufficiently healthy to be accepted for PanSundynn's Colonization Program, congratulations, you will be a valuable asset once genetic re-sequencing has been completed. You have been found to be most compatible with a Class 3 life form."
"WHAT? I yelled, what colonization program? What the hell do you mean by genetic whatevering?"
*There was no answer, then one of the machines clicked and a scanner started running, a bar of light moving slowly down my body as a screen with a diagram of a human body on it flickered into life. Small colored dots appeared on the diagram with markings next to them, but I was too far away to see what they said. A different door opened and a man in an operating smock, safety glasses, and mask appeared. He looked at the screen, opened a compartment in one of the other machines, and took out long IV tubes and needles. I hate needles, and started squirming rather energetically, but I was well secured. *
"Look, I begged, as the man approached me, Please, what the Hell is going on? No one will tell me anything! What did that voice mean by colonization? What does Class 3 mean?"
At first the guy didn't answer me. He pulled off the smock I'd been wearing so I was naked now, and then moved around my body attaching the IV's. One in each arm, one in each thigh, and one in my neck as was indicated on the screen. The damn needles were huge, but he was good and it didn't hurt much when he stuck them in and taped them in place. Next he left and the returned a few minutes later with another machine on rollers, and it had four large clear bottles or tubes on top containing thick looking fluid, it was a sickly green color. He attached the IV hoses to ports on the side of the machine, and then hooked up the machine to one of the others that looked like a computer of some kind. Oh, you have GOT to be kidding! I thought, you are NOT going to pump that crap into me! But he was, and did.
"Oh my God, I said, you can't be serious? What the HELL is that shit? You're executing me, aren't you? It's not right; I tried to get a job, I didn't do anything wrong! I'll do anything, just give me a job! Please, don't do this!"
"Look, he said, as he flipped some switches. I'm not executing you. And you have a job, a very special one. You should be grateful to have a purpose again. It's deadbeats like you that make our taxes so high."
I watched as small churns began working in the bottle to stir up the fluid, kind of like blenders, a low hydraulic sound started, and the green stuff began to move slowly down the clear IV tubes.
"Nooooo, I squealed, please don't. What IS that stuff! Please!"
He came over to me with a needle, and gave me shot in the arm. "It's better if you're out for this, it hurts. Some techs wouldn't bother."
"Nooo, don't, I, I......." And everything went dark.
When I woke up I was lying on the floor on a soft matt, and the first thing I did was roll over on my side and vomit, a lot. It was thick and green with bits of what looked like raw meat in it, and stank. I had never felt so bad in my life, my whole body hurt, inside and out. I reached up and started to wipe the vomit off of my face, and scratched myself. Ow, Son-of-a.... Then I looked at my hand in puzzlement, my fingernails had gotten really thick and long and were sharp as heck, and I'd given myself a nasty bleeding scratch on one cheek. With a moan; God it hurt just to move, I managed to sit up and looked at myself. What the fuck? My skin had turned a dark brown color, and felt rough and sandpapery in spots, and my feet looked deformed. They were misshapen looking, my toes curled and constantly cramping, it hurt like a SOB. I ran my hands over my face again, more carefully this time, to try and get the nasty vomit off, and came away with handfuls of hair, my hair was falling out! Had that crap been radioactive? I looked around and the room was pretty bare, but there was a sink; more like a trough really, on the wall and I heard the sound of running water and realized I was thirstier then I'd even been in my life. I tried to stand up, couldn't, so ended up dragging myself over to the trough, which was low enough that I could reach it even in a sitting position. There was no cup, so I just scooped the water into my hands and drank like crazy. Which was a mistake as my gut spasmed, and I puked again, in Technicolor. I drank some more water, but his time sparingly, and this time it stayed down. I finally noticed a button near the water trough, and pushing it a toilet, also low to the ground, came sliding out of the wall. I used it, and as I flushed it withdrew back into the wall. I stayed on the floor for now since the matt was soaked in vomit. The bitter reek of it filled the air and made my eyes water. I propped myself up against the wall and just stared at the heavy looking door; it was slotted around the edge like a fire door or airlock. Every now and then my legs or arms would cramp a little and I'd moan in pain, but finally, exhausted by the pain, I feel asleep.
I woke up when the door opened and two men; actually a man and a woman, it was hard to tell as they were wearing biosuits, entered. One said in a metallic sounding voice through his helmet mike.
"Oh gross, what a mess. Nasty thing, why didn't he puke in the toilet! We'll need to put him another cell until this is cleaned up and sanitized."
The woman said, "They all do, you should be used to it by now. They can't help it, their systems always resist the change at first, you know that."
"Yeah, well it's still gross." The man said.
"Fuck you", I said, my voice hoarse and raspy, my throat sore.
"Be nice, the man said, or I'll zap you." And he waved his baton in my direction.
"Well, come on, the woman said, we need to get him to Lab #4 for a progress scan and report, then get him ready for the next injection."
"Please, I asked, what are doing to me? I'm sick, I need help. Why is my hair falling out, is it radioactivity? Can I have some clothes, I'm so cold, and I'm hungry."
"Sorry buddy, no clothes, said the man, you won't need them anymore. And you'll be fed later. Now get on this stretcher for us like a good boy."
They had one of those collapsible gurneys with them, and had it fully collapsed as close to the ground as possible. I tried to get on it, sobbing with the effort, but they had to swing my legs up on it for me, my toes and legs hurt so bad I couldn't stand to try and put any weight on them, and I squealed in pain. They raised the gurney; locked it in place, and wheeled it out of the room and down a corridor. As we moved my left hand suddenly cramped horribly, and I sat up with a gasp and rubbed it with my other hand. They stopped and pushed me back down, and put straps across my body. I was too weak to resist. I turned my head and looked at the woman, and with tears in my eyes, said,
"Please, what are you doing to me? It hurts, please help me."
She put her hand on my shoulder, and said, "Just be quiet and cooperate, you'll understand soon enough."
They wheeled the gurney into another room identical to the last one I had been in when they'd injected me with that green crap, and I freaked a little. But just moving hurt so much I couldn't struggle much, and they soon had me strapped securely on an operating table again, naked and helpless. They left, and the machines hummed and blinked and ran the scanner over me a few times, and then the dots appeared on the body diagram screen again, and another man entered and hooked up IV's to me again, in the same places as before. He wheeled in the machine with the bottles on top, only this time the fluid was blue colored, but just as nasty and thick as the green crap had been. He checked a few things, hooked up the IV tubes, hooked up the machine, turned it on, and left. I watched as the thick fluid started flowing through the tubes towards my body.
"Wait, I called after him, please, aren't you going to give me a shot?"
But there was no answer, and a few minutes later I was screaming the top of my lungs, my jaws so tense I could hear my teeth cracking, and I thought my spine would snap I was arching and bucking against my restraints so hard. I had never felt anything so painful, such burning agony, and I dug my fingers into my palms until they bled. I could feel the fluid coursing through my veins as it entered my body, and it burned like molten metal or acid. It was pumping in slowly, and there was lots of it. I heard the door open and turned my head and screamed again, frothing at the mouth.
"Please, I begged, Oh God, it hurts! Please, make it stop!"
Then while I bucked and arched again, spittle flying from clenched jaws, I suddenly felt a cool feeling spreading through my arm. I looked and the person in the biosuit had given me a shot. As the pain and my consciousness faded I said,
"Oh, oh, thank you, than....."
When I woke up again the nightmare had only gotten worse, much worse. First I threw up again, violently and often. I dragged myself to the water trough and just stuck my face in and sucked up the water thirstily. I overdid it again; I'll never learn, and threw up some more. But the second drink stayed down. Then I had to look at myself, at the thing that I was becoming. The physical changes were much more evident now, and I could almost see them happening.
*My entire skin; or really more like hide now, had turned a dark brown-orange color, and was much thicker feeling and tougher now, with a kind of pebbled texture. My hands where larger, and clumsier, my now longer fingers ending in long thick black claws, as did my toes, but my toes were almost as long as my fingers now, and I only thought I had four toes left until I saw that the missing one had moved back to my heel. It looks kind of like a chicken's foot, I thought. My arms were still more or less arms, though covered with thick hide, but there was something horribly wrong with my legs. My legs hurt, especially my ankles, they were deformed looking and there was no way I could stand up. I could literally feel the muscles in them sliding around, stretching and pulling and the pain was horrible. And I had a tail, an honest to God tail, short and thick, about two feet long, but it was growing, I could feel my spine both lengthening and pushing out into a ridge on my back, and it hurt too. And, embarrassingly I had a rock hard erection that showed no sign of fading, and I was larger, much larger. But I felt no arousal, even my erection hurt, throbbing and bobbing in a horrible parody of lust, it felt like it was going to burst, thick veins pulsing on its shaft. And my balls were disappearing; only large bumps remained as they slowly sank into my body. All I could do was lie on the floor and give little moans of pain when a new cramp or spasm would hit me. I tried to massage my legs, but it just hurt more. Finally with a gasp I laid back down, breathing heavily and tired to find a more comfortable position, but it was impossible. *
After awhile a couple of men in biosuits came in and cleaned the cell, and me, up as much as possible. They also clipped my claws, and I was too weak to protest. Then one said something into his wristcom, and a panel in the wall opened and a foot long grey rubber hose came sliding out. It looked like a dick. He pointed at it, and said,
"This is a food nozzle, when you're hungry just suck on it and you'll be fed, just like a big tit. Yummy, mmmm." And he rubbed his tummy.
*I wasn't so weak that I couldn't flip him the bird, and both men laughed as they excited and left me alone again with the horror. And I was hungry, hungrier then I could ever remember being. I dragged myself over to the "tit" and sucked at it, and my mouth was filled with something that tasted like warm wet cardboard. Bleah. I squirted a little into one palm, and it looked kind of like thick oatmeal, or warm wet cardboard. It was really thick too, almost like cement. But I ate the nasty stuff because I was starving, and I ate all the time too, at least once an hour, and during the night I woke up several times and ate some more. I just couldn't get enough, my stomach rumbling and growling all the time. It was hard to use the toilet because of my deformed legs and damn tail, which was still growing and was in the way, but I managed without making too big a mess. *
The first time I had woken up in the cell it had only been a few hours before I was taken to be injected again. This time it was several days, but how long for sure I had no idea. But the changes continued, each morning when I woke up it they were more obvious. No one ever came to "visit" me after that first one, so there was no way I could ask, or beg, anyone to tell me what the HELL was going on, why I was being turned into a monster. I remembered the bug, and now knew he had been a human once too, but I wasn't a bug, I looked more like a lizard or dinosaur so far. I was scared, but it was better than an insect at least. The pain and cramping was constant, but varied in the degree, or intensity, of the pain. The worst of all so far came late one night.
I had been asleep for awhile after having filled up on the food paste, and was sleeping fairly well. I woke up with a loud screech when I felt a sudden blast of agony in one of my legs, and opening my eyes found that my foot was visibly beginning to stretch out as the very bone structure changed, muscles rippling under the thick skin, I could feel them stretching and tightening. My leg was slowly reshaping itself as I sobbed in pain. It was spasming and cramping, kicking the air wildly, my long toes clenching and unclenching. God it hurt! An hour later my other leg suddenly started cramping as that leg pulled itself in to a new digitigrade configuration to match the other. Sobbing I fell over onto my side, my aching throbbing legs kicking feebly, the claws tearing holes in the sleeping pad, my now four foot tail whipping slowly back and forth. When I finally fell asleep again it was from total exhaustion and fatigue, even the ongoing ache in my legs didn't keep me awake. I had to sleep on my stomach too now as the ridge on my back had grown to be several inches tall and even though it was flexible it hurt to try and lie on it.
*The medtech looked at the surveillance screen from Cell #43, and from the looks of things Subject R-5968, Class 3 was just about ready for his third injection. She made an entry in the computer, and then took a break. The Class 3 and Class 4 transformations always fascinated her, watching a human become something totally unrecognizable was a trip, the Class 4's were the "worst". Becoming a reptile was one thing, but when the subject became an insect or invertebrate? What must that be like? She liked to speed up the surveillance tapes so it looked like the changes were fast instead of taking weeks. For some reason it really turned her on, even sexually. Especially those cat people! She wondered what that would be like, to grow fur and a tail, to be slinky and sexy and have six tits. She wondered if employees could volunteer? *
*Two days later I was finally able to stand up, and it felt weird at first to have to balance on the balls, or pads, and toes of my feet with my center of gravity more forward, but lower. Because I'd been lying down I hadn't realized my hips and thighs had changed so much. My thighs had gotten much thicker and were heavily muscled, in fact my whole legs were, the muscles rippled under the thick hide when I moved. And my hips had gotten a lot wider, my belly and crotch protruding more. It felt, and looked like, my hips had moved further up on my body, and that damn ridge on my back must be two feet tall now. It started out fairly short on my neck, swelled to a big hump in my back, and then got short again, and to my surprise I found I could lay it down flat if I wanted to. And my jaws were staring to ach, throbbing like I had one hell of a toothache in all of my teeth at the same time. Eating the grey paste seemed to help; I think it had some sort of medicine in it to help numb the pain. As I sucked on the "tit" I ran a claw down the side of the wall, and left a noticeable scratch. You know, I thought, these are nasty. No more mister cooperation, next time those bastards try and stick needles in me I'm tearing someone a new asshole. I ran my claws down the wall again with a loud screeching sound as I sucked at the feeding tube. *
Off course I should have known they'd anticipate such a "change in attitude" as they'd been doing this for who knows how long. I was crouching in a corner dozing when two figures in biosuits entered, and one promptly zapped me with a stun gun. They loaded me on a large heavier built gurney this time, and though numb I was still aware. I was surprised to see I was now bigger than they were; that grey crap I was being fed had really bulked me up. As they strapped me to an operating table again I tried my best to struggle, to do anything, but was totally helpless. Again the needles were pushed into my body, much larger ones, and this time the crap they pumped into me was yellow. I was given no shot this time, no one came to give me relief from the burning agony of the injections, and I screamed and roared until I finally passed out from the ever growing pain.
I don't know how long I was unconscious after the injection, but it must have been for awhile. Every time I had woken up the changes were more obvious, but not to the extent they were this time. There was nothing human left about me now, no trace remained. As I stared at what I could see of myself in horror I couldn't even beg or ask questions, or scream insults, just hiss and snarl, and make loud honking sounds like a horn through the nostrils on my long snout. They'd taken my speech from me; the only sounds I could make now were those of an animal. That was one of the worse things, not to be able to communicate. I ran a long tongue over the razor sharp fangs of varying lengths and shapes that filled my mouth, and snapped my jaws shut angrily. WHY? WHY? I wanted to scream. This can't be legal, how can they turn people into THINGS? Damn them, I'm HUMAN! I had another tantrum, then after I calmed down I went over and sucked at the "tit" again, only this time the paste was red and looked more like ground beef and tasted of blood, and I eagerly sucked and gnawed on the hard rubber hose. My tail slowly swished back and forth, but didn't drag on the ground. It perfectly counter balanced my awkward looking stance. I didn't use my hands on the "tit", just kept them tucked next to my chest as I gnawed and sucked hungrily, hissing softly.
*Over the next several days the change ran its course. My neck pushed out and lengthened along with my tail until my tail was almost as long as the rest of my body. It was thick and muscular, but tapered to a much thinner whip like tip. My snout continued to push out and develop until it was fairly long and powerful, my jaws lined with even more nasty fangs as they continued to push out from my gums and it hurt like a SOB and I was always in a really foul mood. I found I now had three sets of eyelids. Regular ones, ones that seemed to be light sensitive-darkening like photo-sensitive lenses, and heavy protective nictitating membranes. My claws were much longer and nastier too, thicker and hooked on my middle toes. In moments of rage I would leap at the wall and leave noticeable gouges. My erection had finally faded too, and my penis had withdrawn completely into the vent that formed between my legs. I had a slit and a tight asshole; that was it. No balls in sight, in fact I looked more like a girl down there now, but I knew I was still male. My hide was dark brown on my back, almost orange on the sides, and dark tan underneath. And I felt different in more ways than just physically, and though my body felt horribly normal, and it WAS my body though I kept trying to deny it, squeezing my eyes shut hoping to wake up from a horrible unending nightmare. I was mad, a lot, and often found myself hissing loudly and tearing at the door with my claws, I had one hell of a temper. I hated them for what they'd done to me, I wanted to rip out their throats with my fangs, tear them to pieces with my claws. It was also harder to remember things, to collect my thoughts. I still had my memories and knew who I was, or used to be, but my attention span seemed to be shorter and my mind would wander. It was frustrating, and I tried my best to control it and my mood swings, but the smallest thing could set me off. I was very destructive too, I tore my sleeping pad into little pieces and scratched the hell out of the walls, and when I managed to rip the feeding hose out of the wall I guess they had enough. *
"Okay, said the man watching the monitor. I've had just about enough of his tantrums. It's obvious we need to move him to a more secure cell. I didn't realize this form would be quite so aggressive. Are you sure his intelligence is intact? He's acting more feral then most."
"Yes sir, tests show Subject R-5968, Class 3 retains approx. 75% of his human level of intelligence and awareness, but he does have the predatory instincts of his new form, they will be necessary where he's being sent. He'll need to be extremely aggressive to survive, even with some assistance. We need to remember he no longer sees things form an entirely human point of view. To him we're probably food now."
*"Well, except for his temper he's turned out quite well. Start the same process on some more contracte's, including that stupid medtech who actually volunteered. I know she wanted the Class 1 Feline form, but we need Class 3 Reptiles right now. Since she signed the consent form she has no choice in the form chosen for her. I'd like to see the look on her face when she realizes the form she'll be assuming. And when you've moved him to a new cell let me know, I want to have a little talk with our new colonist." *
This time when they came for me I dodged the first stun blast; man I could move fast, and got a hold of one of the men and tore him up pretty good before the other blasted me into next week. I ripped his suit to threads with my hind claws and gave him a nasty bite on one arm, and there was lots of blood and I liked the taste. After I woke up and calmed down I was horrified to realize I'd almost killed him, I really hadn't meant to do so much damage, but once I started I couldn't stop. They took me to a larger more strongly built cell; more like a stall really, and left me there with a heavy collar around my neck chained to the wall. It had the now familiar watering trough and feeding hose, but no toilet. I didn't care though as I hadn't been using the one in the last cell for awhile either, I wasn't built for it anymore. When I recovered from being stunned the first thing I did was have another tantrum, and gnawed on the chain, but that was a no go, I just broke a couple of fangs. I started hopping around tearing at the walls again, but when someone in biosuit entered the stall I crouched and hissed at him, my tail lashing back and forth. Just a little closer, I thought, just a little. I snapped my jaws, flexed my claws, and drooled.
"OK, the man said, enough of that or I'll have you stunned again. You'll still be able to hear me, but will be less comfortable. And if you tear out the feeding tube again you'll go hungry. I'll give you a choice, either act civilized, or keep acting like an animal, and I'll have you zapped."
*I AM an animal, thanks to you SOB's, I thought. But not wanting to get zapped again I settled down with a loud hiss. I crouched and sat back on my tail and stared at him. Even in the suit I could smell him. He wasn't showing any fear, which helped me to calm down too, he didn't smell like prey. I looked at him and waited, he'd be doing all the talking. *
"Good, I knew your human mind was still in there somewhere. You're mad, upset, and confused. I understand, and I know you have questions. I know you can't ask me; at least right now, so I'll tell you a few things which should answer a few of them. First off, you are now a genetically transmogrified hybrid, still part human, but mostly warm blooded reptile. What we call a Class 3 lifeform. A modified version of a dinosaur called a Spinosaurus, a kind of theropod."
I sat back further and stared at him, my mouth open. I spread my arms as much as I could and tried to ask "But why???", but only gave a kind of squeaking hiss. He seemed to know what I was trying to ask though.
I'm sure you've heard all the publicity about the new Faster Then Light, or so-called Alternate Drive, and the new planets that have been discovered as a result? We; my company and others, have discovered hundreds of planets, and out of all of those only two can sustain human life without extensive to moderate life support systems. The cost of maintaining a colony or base on most of these worlds is cost prohibitive even though they have resources the Earth desperately needs. So instead of trying to adapt the planet to our own limited survivability range, we instead will adapt the colonists to the planet. Since most people would not voluntarily submit to becoming entirely new life forms we have to use criminals such as yourself who no longer have a useful role in society, those who have become parasites. You will have the honor of being useful in an entirely new and unique role. Actually you're very lucky, to be able to pay your debt to society in such a marvelous way. In a way I envy you."
I am NOT a criminal or a parasite, and FUCK society; I tried to scream, but just hissed loudly and glared at him in hate. There is NO reason that just ever justify doing THIS to a fellow human! It's an atrocity! How'd YOU like to be a giant lizard? He didn't seem to notice; or care, and kept on talking, the smug bastard.
*"I don't care who were before, that person, that human, is legally dead and gone forever. You are merely an intelligent animal now, no rights, no reason to exist other than to serve. The process is irreversible. The planet you have been created to help colonize is a semi-arid world, mostly desert, and of course very, very hot, the average daily ambient temperature is in excess of 200 degrees. Your form was picked as being the best for survival on the new world. You will be large enough to be a match for most of the natural predators, and smart enough to handle the larger ones, or so we hope. Plus you will be able to eat the prey animals. The majority of life is other reptiles and some insects. The last stage of your transmogrification will be to help acclimatize you for the new world. The gravity is slightly less, about 92% Earth normal, so that isn't a problem. The main problem is a much higher level of carbon monoxide, less oxygen, and traces of other gases not good for humans. That, and the heat, is the main reason it's not feasible to maintain a human settlement. The world is rich in rare heavy metals though, so your job will be to mine them. In return you will receive supplies and luxuries from Earth. You'll be told more later when your training starts, and I suggest you pay attention. *
As he got up and left I snarled and hissed at him in rage. I'd been turned into a fucking dinosaur so I could mine super rare valuable ore on some planet that sounded like HELL to help make a company richer than it already was? They turned me into an animal for that!! And what about that poor man; or woman, they changed into a fucking bug? It was wrong, evil, and inhuman! I didn't WANT to be like this! I crouched down again and wailed in despair. I want to be ME again, not THIS! It's not fair! It's wrong, damn you all. Pleeeaaassseeee! I wanted to beg, but all I did was roar.
They came for me again a few days later, and again I was zapped. Frankly I don't blame them; I was showing my displeasure quite vocally and had pretty much trashed my new cell too, all except the food tit. I was even bigger now, so they actually used a small hydraulic lift to load me onto a large gurney. I was taken to a another operating room, but this time was strapped down on my stomach, and the screens no longer showed a diagram of a human, but one of the creature I had become. The needles they used to penetrate my skin were huge now, and they had a hard time doing it as my hide was incredibly tough. I watched in resigned horror as the new crap, a virulent red this time, was pumped into my body. I closed my eyes, tears of pain running down the side of my snout, but couldn't scream as my jaws were bound shut. All I could do was squeal from the ongoing agony. I wasn't even worth giving a shot to ease the pain; who cared what an animal felt. I didn't pass out this time and endured over an hour of extreme agony, twisted and struggling uselessly against the heavy chains and strapes holding me down.
*They took me to a different cell this time, and I was chained to the wall again. I really didn't notice any differences at first, but it did get awful damn hot and soon I was spending a lot of time with my mouth open to help cool off, and they kept a gentle wind blowing through the cell and I could feel it blowing against the large ribbed fan on my back, and that helped me cool off too, so I left it up almost all the time now. Surprisingly my thirst actually dropped, but my hunger was still intense so I sucked at the food "tit" a lot. The food paste tasted the same, but was saltier, it was good. I tore up the rest of the cell though to express my anger, and left inch deep gouges in the cement walls. *
*The only real difference in my "routine" of being bored as Hell was when I was hooked up to a machine for "virtual reality" teaching, or programming. I was familiar with it as the military used the same methods. I was "taught" how to use some very simple, very heavily built, equipment. There was a scanner for locating minerals, several kinds of tools for extracting the ore, a simple smelter to roughly refine it into ingots for shipping, how to use a large energy rifle that recharged several different ways, how to build a shelter, a solar still, etc. There were also courses on the planet I would soon call home. The native wildlife tended towards reptilian like animals, and big nasty insects, or insect like creatures. Part of that course included what to eat, what parts to eat, and what not to eat. Part of me was grossed out, but I found I was drooling at the thought of fresh meat. It seemed the main way I'd be getting the water I needed was from the flesh of whatever I ate. Lovely. The ore would actually not be that hard to mine as most was on the surface in the form of nodules formed by the ever blowing wind, much of it in hollows just under the surface of the shifting sand. That's why I had my spinal ridge, or "sail", to help cool me off from that never ending wind, and it was collapsible so I could move through tighter openings. Some of the native animals had similar ways of keeping cool. At regular periods an ore hopper shuttle would land, I'd load the ore I'd mined, and a little later a one way cargo shuttle would land with more supplies as "payment" for my efforts. It was all so simple, at least in theory. The most important training I received though was how to use a large wristcom that was designed for my body and large clumsy hands. It had a keyboard so I would be able to communicate with the ships, shuttles, and other colonists. I found the thought of other colonists very intriguing. So, I wasn't the only human/dinosaur hybrid. How many other poor bastards had they changed? *
*Finally the same jerk who had called me a "criminal" and "parasite", but the biggest insult of all had been to call me "lucky", came to pay me a visit again. This time he was wearing a full spacesuit. I glared at him in utter hate. I was shocked at how much larger I was then him, even in his bulky suit. I towered over him; I must be fifteen feet tall now, and even longer. *
"Well Subject R-5968, it seems congratulations are in order. You've finished your training and will be "shipping out" soon, literally. That is as soon as the other colonist is ready. She's a couple of weeks behind you, but will be ready to join you in about a fifteen days. Then you'll be shuttled to the FTL ship and transported to your new home."
*She?? I thought, staring at the man. *
He smiled, and said, "That's right, a female, and your mate. After all, as colonists you'll be expected to breed in order to provide future generations of miners. In time we hope to develop the technology to terraform many of the new worlds, but for now you special colonists will have to prepare the way. You'll be fitted for your wristcom just before you leave, and then you'll be ready."
*After he left I just crouched with my mouth open, trying to keep as cool as I could in the heat. A female? Like me? The poor woman, how could they do that to a woman? But I felt a longing too, a mate? I hadn't thought about sex at all since they'd started changing me, but now I couldn't help it. A mate? Someone like me, I wouldn't be alone? A mate. *
Like he had promised I was fitted for a wristcom a few weeks later. I let the technician measure my forearm and was amazed again at how large I had grown, my arm as almost as large as he was! I was hug, everything looked so small and out of proportion now. And like the equipment I would be using it was very simple; and most importantly, almost indestructible. And a few days later I was taken to be prepped for my voyage to a new world as a; most unwilling, colonist. They put me in a huge life support module in, not quite stasis or true cryogenic sleep, but close. I would spend the ninety days of the trip asleep, like the rest of the crew and one other colonist I hadn't even met yet. As the pod shut and my mind started to fade I couldn't help but wonder what she would be like, my mate. Would she be pretty? Would she like me? Just before blackness descended I had a vision of a long lovely tail, smooth pebbled skin, sharp claws, so pretty, I thought, so...."
The ship dropped into orbit around the planet with no official name, it was just ID'd by its coordinates on the star charts. Those few who were fairly familiar with it just called it Hell. It was a mottled tan and brown ball, and it made you feel hot just to look at that bright baked surface. There was hardly any weather other then hot blowing winds, very few clouds, and it only rained a few times a year at the poles, and there was no ice even on the polar caps. But there was water, at the bottom of deep canyons, in rare scattered springs, and a water table which could be reached by drilling. The only standing bodies of water were a few ancient seas that were little more than salt bogs now, deadly traps. And there was life; and while not prolific there was a surprisingly large amount of it. All adapted to living in the harsh desert environment, and all designed for survival in it. Even the "prey" animals had impressive defenses. And "prey" animal was not really a good term as everything ate something else, even the few omnivores whose main diet was the scattered tough vegetation would cheerfully bring down and devour another animal if given the chance, or scavenge on carcasses. So just about everything was predator AND prey. The new "colonists" had been designed with this in mind. Their natural weapons were a match for anything that might take an interest in them, plus they would be armed with modern weapons as well. They should be more than a match for the native life.
*The ship assumed orbit, located the landing zone selected for their passengers, and launched the one-way landing craft. Each colonist was encapsulated in their own life support pod with its own life support systems, and other pods contained equipment and supplies. The landing craft was little more than a computer controlled glider. It would use maneuvering rockets until its sensors read a dense enough atmosphere, then it would shed the depleted boosters and glide the rest of the way. That was the theory anyway, and it did work, most of the time. *
*I braced myself as the weightless feeling faded to be replaced by loud noise and a high pitched whistling screaming sound that hurt my ears, and I screamed too. Not in fear but in rage. I knew where I was, and what was happening, as I had been on shuttle and other atmospheric craft before. I was enraged because I didn't want to be where I was and I didn't want to be WHAT I was. I could roar and scream, but couldn't move as the safety padding and netting kept me safe and secure; the oxygen mask snug and secure over my muzzle. The roaring stopped and I felt the craft lurch as the boosters fell away, and the high pitched whistle slowly faded into the steady rush of air. It took quite a long time to reach the surface, but finally there were was a jarring jolt, then another, a long dragging screeching sound, and we came to a stop. For awhile nothing happened as the computer allowed the outer surfaces of the craft to cool off and any fires that may have been started to burn out. Then the oxygen stopped flowing, my restraints loosened, and the life support pod's door opened. We had arrived at our new "home". *
I tore loose the restraints and yanked off the oxygen mask as the supply of air had stopped flowing. Cautiously I pushed the pod door the rest the way open and looked out. Since I was still in the cargo bay there wasn't much to see, but I had expected that. What I was most interested in was the occupant of the other life support pod. And as I looked the other pods door was pushed open and a long fanged snout poked out, but pulled back when it saw me. I gave a soft nonthreatening hiss, but there was no reply. As I moved towards the pod my wristcom beeped, and with a surprised hiss I looked at it, I'd forgotten all about the stupid thing. There was a short blunt message on it, it said,
"Stay away from me you freak."
I sat back on my tail and blinked a few times, that wasn't exactly how I'd hoped our first meeting would go. Some hesitancy of course, sex hopefully but not forced, but an insult? She didn't even know my name yet, and who the HELL was she calling a freak anyway? She had fangs and claws just like I did. With a hiss I typed a message into my own wristcom and hit "send".
"I'm just as upset about this as you are. No need to be rude, we need to stick together. God knows what's outside of this ship."
The reply was instant, "Fuck you, and if you come near me I'll kill you."
Lovely, I thought. I haven't even seen her yet and already she hates my guts. This is getting better and better. I typed back,
"I hate being like this too, and I'll leave you alone if you want. But we ARE stuck on this God Forsaken planet, so we need to cooperate at least as far as survival is concerned. I may look like Godzilla, but I want to keep on living regardless."
*"OK, but please don't look at me, I'm a hideous monster. Please don't look." Came the reply, and I heard a sad hiss from the pod. *
"I am too, I sent back, but we have to look at each other, it can't be helped. I'll take a quick look around and let you know if it's clear."
*I didn't wait for a reply, but went to an equipment case and opened it. I had never even seen one before except in training sessions, but knew how to use it. I pulled the oversized power rifle out of the fitted case, then removed the power supply and checked the load, 98%, good. I strapped it on with a harness designed for my body, and plugged in the power cable. I was locked and loaded, ready for bear, or whatever the local version of a bear was. The harness was all I had on, we weren't provided with clothes. I wouldn't have worn them anyway; I just didn't need, or miss them. I nimbly climbed a ladder to the main deck and popped the side hatch, and my nictitating membranes snapped closed over my eyes as a blast of sand and hot air blew through the hatch. I could feel the heat, and it actually felt kind of nice, the ship was a little too cool. Raising my fan I moved to edge of the hatch and looked out and there wasn't much to see. Sand everywhere and some low wind blasted hills in the near distance. According to the wristcom map the hills contained caves and possibly a chance of water. The site had been picked as a landing zone because of the shelter, some protection from the frequent sand storms, and an "abundant" supply of food. Well I sure as Hell didn't see anything that looked like food yet, and I was hungrier then heck. And of course it was near some large ore deposits. *
I took a good long look around, straining all my senses. My sight, sense of smell, and other senses were incredibly sensitive now. I didn't see or hear anything, but that didn't mean much. I could have used a scanner, but felt better relying on my own senses. I hissed, and pushed a button that extended the ramp. I skittered down; my claws clattering on the metal, and took the first step onto the shifting sands of my new home. What a dump, I thought. I could feel the sand brushing against my hide, and the wind against my sail was nice and cool. I flared my nostrils and scented the air, but other than sand and hot air I didn't scent anything. I did a quick reconnoiter around the ship and there was nothing but more sand. We appeared to have landed on a thin layer of sand over rock, which was good as that way nothing could come up under us as lots of the local wildlife were burrowers, which made sense. Once I heard a strange mournful howl in the distance, but it was far away. Due to my training I knew it came from a large omnivore, not much of a threat and a long way off. Finally I relaxed a little, and typed in a message on the wristcom,
"Looks clear, come on out, the weather's lovely."
*There was no answer, but as I walked up to the ramp I saw a large lizard like creature at the top looking out, and even though our facial expressions are rather limited now I could see, and sense, her despair. She held onto the rim of the hatch with both her long clawed hands and sagged. When she saw me her head dropped low and she gave a warning hiss. I got the message, don't come any closer. I just stood there and looked at her, turning my head sideways, and then to one side and the other. I have this damn blind spot right in front of me because my eyes are farther apart and on the sides of my head now, so while my peripheral vision is much better I'm essentially blind as to what's right in front of my snout. It's no big deal, but can be rather annoying if I'm trying to read or something. To read I have to hold the book or whatever right over the top of my head, or turn my head and read with one eye. At least nothing can sneak up on me though. So by turning my head I got a better look at her. I gave a soft hiss, she wasn't a hideous monster, and I thought she was rather beautiful in a toothy kind of way. She saw me staring at her, and backed out of sight. *
My wristcom beeped, "You said you wouldn't look!"
*I sent back, "No I didn't, we HAVE to look at each other. For what it's worth from one hideous monster to another I think you're pretty." *
*"I'm sorry about that, it was rude, she sent back. It's just I can't stand to look at myself, I used to be beautiful. Now I'm a thing. Damn them for doing this to us, how could they!" *
"Because they have the power to, I sent back, and we're just animals to them, whether or not we're human anymore. Just things to be used."
"What was your crime? She sent, were you a murderer or something?"
"Oh no, I sent back, much worse I'm afraid. I was a "burden" and "parasite" to society. My great crime was not being able to find a job. So PanSunDynn was kind enough to buy my contract and make me "useful" again, the bastards."
"I'm sorry, she sent back. Believe it or not I was a volunteer, but I was supposed to be a sexy cat lady, not a walking garbage disposal. The bastards lied to me, but I was stupid."
"For what it's worth, I sent, at least you still have your dignity."
"What? My WHAT? She sent back, I'm a fucking lizard now, what the Hell kind of dignity does a lizard have? I'm supposed to let you fuck me and lay eggs to breed more good little slave lizards. Where the Hell is the dignity in that??"
"I'm sorry, I sent, I just meant that I respect what you did. You at least had a choice and what you did was brave."
"Thank you for that, she replied. I'll come out now, but I couldn't find any clothes, so I'm naked."
I blinked I surprise, I hadn't worn clothes for weeks, and it didn't bother me. I guess for a female it was different. I sent back,
"We're animals now, we don't need clothes. I certainly don't have anything hanging out to see anymore. Besides, we'd look stupid in pants."
I heard a hiss of amusement, and her snout stuck out the hatch again, and tentatively she walked down the ramp and looked around. I could tell she was about as impressed with our new neighborhood as I was, in as not much. She was a little smaller and had some pretty green stripes mixed in with her predominantly dark brown coloring, but other than that pretty much looked just like me, very reptilian and very deadly looking, her fangs and claws every bit as impressive as mine. We turned our heads and looked at one another, and I had been right, she was beautiful. I knew by human standards most people would have fled screaming by now, but I wasn't human anymore and was looking at her from the standpoint of a fellow reptile, and I liked what I saw. She looked just fine to me, I loved her stripes and the way the light shone through her translucent back sail. She shyly ducked her head and hissed, and I sent,
*"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just that I think you're very pretty, you're not hideous at all." *
"Thank you, she sent back, you're not bad looking yourself closer up. What's your name?"
My name? Did something like me even have a name anymore? I certainly didn't have one I could pronounce anymore, but I guess we had to call one another something other than "hideous monster". I sent,
"Brian, my name was Brian. What's yours?"
She sent back, "Eve, my name was Eve Walker".
I gave a hiss, and sent back, "Well, I guess that's kind of appropriate in a way. But in this case we're the serpents in the Garden of Eden."
She hissed in amusement, and sent, "I guess that's one way of looking at it. But I sure as Hell don't see any gardens."
"You got that right, I sent back. Looks like nights coming, and I think we'd better find shelter as no telling what will come out when it gets cooler. We ought to be fine in the ship, and tomorrow we can take a look at those caves indicated on the map. That OK with you?"
"Fine with me, she sent, and then snapped her jaws. I'm hungry."
"Me too, I replied, let's see what our masters have provided us in the way of culinary delights."
She hissed in amusement again, and sent "You're funny."
I sent back "And you're very nice".
*Eve ducked her head with soft hiss, and turned and scampered up the ramp and I followed close behind. I watched her tail as it whipped back forth as she walked and found it really turned me on. I hadn't lied when I told her she was pretty, and I thought she was much more than that. What a view. I was surprised at how fast and agile we were too, I guess the lower gravity had something to do with that. We weren't slow and ponderous at all. *
Once we got back inside and sealed the hatch we rummaged through our supplies, and I was appalled at how very little there really was. Cheap bastards. They'd only given us a few weeks worth of rations, if pressed cakes of meat could be called that. That was all there was, period. That and some water bladders. The meat wasn't dehydrated, it was still moist, but it was very tough and we had to tear off chunks to swallow. No more chewing for us, our jaws only opened and closed now, no more side to side chewing motion for us. We swallowed our food whole, or in chunks, just like other reptiles. At least it tasted good, nice and salty. I have no doubt it was packed with vitamins and other stuff good for us. Each meat cake was individually sealed and wrapped, but with no markings of any kind. Since it was all the same I guess they weren't needed. We squatted and hissed and snarled as we tore the cakes into bit sized chunks, throwing back our head to make swallowing easier. As we ate I snuck glances at her, the way her throat moved when she swallowed, her lovely orange and black eyes with the vertical pupils, her black glistening claws, the texture of her hide. She smelled nice too, her female musk strong in the closed in space. Finally I had to concentrate on the food or I would have embarrassed myself. A couple of times I think she looked at me too.
*After "dinner" was over I took the top deck for the night, and Eve got the cargo bay. Not that one was better than the other. There were no chairs or beds, not even bedrolls or pads. The cheap bastards evidently figured since we were animals now we didn't need any of that stuff. And I hate to say it, they were right. I settled down on my stomach on the deck, the only way I can sleep now, and resting my snout on my arms finally fell asleep, Eve's musk filling my nostrils. It was a strange sleep though, part of me was always partially awake and aware at all times. *
*Eve made herself as comfortable as she could inside the pod, at least the odd shaped chair had some padding on it. She just draped herself stomach down on top of it, she couldn't sit anymore, not with her damn tail. She was still shocked by what had been done to her, she was supposed to have become a beautiful cat woman, but instead the bastards had turned her into a fucking dinosaur. She could smell her "mates" scent and found she didn't mind it at all; he wasn't what she'd been expecting. Part of her had expected him to force himself on her, and that part had also been aroused by the prospect. Fortunately he'd turned out to be a decent sort, if he'd come after her she wasn't sure she could have; or would have, fought him off. She was so confused, she knew some of her thoughts weren't human ones anymore, and it bothered her. Like being naked, but it just didn't seem to matter. She looked at one of her arms, the pebbled hide, the long clumsy fingers with nasty claws, and hissed sadly. She'd been beautiful once. But the male; his name was Brian, had said she was still pretty. Did he mean that? She thought he was, well, male. And found herself attracted to that, he was big, strong, and obviously pretty smart. He'd make a good mate, but damn it she shouldn't be thinking in the terms of an animal seeking a mate, she was human, damn, damn, damn it! Finally she put her head on her arms and went to sleep, or as close to it as she was capable of now. *
*I woke up several hours later, sensing that the sun was up; I could feel the heat through the hull of the shuttle. I yawned and stretched first one hind leg, then the other, arching my back as I snapped my cooling fan open and closed. Then I joined Eve who was already having breakfast, another meat block. She threw me one from the bin and I chowed down too, hissing and snarling as I tore the tough meat into chunks. Then I geared up with the power rifle again, she did the same, and we opened the hatch and lowered the ramp again. As we went down the ramp her tail briefly rubbed against mine and the effect was,...interesting. I was surprised at how sensual, and nice, it felt. I paused and swung my head towards her, hoping. But it appeared to have been accidental. With a soft disappointed hiss I kept following her. As I stepped off the ramp I sent "I hereby claim this planet in the name of hideous monsters!", and she gave an amused hiss. I used the wristcom to seal the shuttle, and we headed towards the hills we could see nearby. I went first, a short distance ahead, and she followed, it just seemed natural. I stopped a couple of times when I scented something strange, but both times the scent was old, so we kept going. We entered a rock strewn area with some weird looking bushes or something growing, they looked like large sponges more than anything else. I remembered them from the briefings, they were the main food of some of the omnivores, so there should be prey in the area, but so far we'd seen squat. But they were around, I could smell them and we saw plenty of tracks. The hills were farther than we had thought, and the terrain rough, so we didn't reach them until late "afternoon". *
Except for the weird plants we hadn't been seeing much of anything except sun blasted rock and sand. The steady hot wind felt good on our sails and we walked with our mouths open to help cool off as we don't sweat anymore. If not for the wind it would have been a lot worse. We finally saw a native animal as we got closer to the hills; it was one of the larger predators. It looked kind of like a T-Rex, but with lots of spikes and spines on its sides and a large collapsible sail on its back. It was sound asleep in the shadow of an overhang. We gave it a wide berth. It was big and nasty and we weren't curious enough to take a closer look. When we reached the area with the bigger hills the terrain changed drastically. It was a series of rocky outcrops and towering formations carved by the wind, with canyons that twisted and turned like a labyrinth. At least it was cooler in the shade. If not for the GPS uplink in our wristcoms to a satellite in orbit we could have easily gotten lost, even with the scent trail we'd left as it would fade rapidly in the heat. I didn't like the canyons, they twisted and turned and it would be easy to walk around a bend and into the jaws of something hungry if it was upwind. Plus it was spooky as the wind howled and moaned as it made its way through the strange rock formations. More than once we jumped and snarled at a sudden strange sound, only to be embarrassed when it was the wind. We found lots of caves and rock shelters, but most were too big and too open to be useful, and from the bones and chitin shells piled up in front of a few they already had residents. I for one wasn't about to stick my snout in the entrance to find out if anyone was home, and Eve felt the same way.
I began to wish we'd brought some water and food, but we just hadn't thought about it. But so far I wasn't terribly thirsty or hungry yet, which to the human part of me seemed kind of odd seeing as how hot it was. I felt I should have sweat pouring off of me and be wilting from the heat, but it didn't bother me much at all. But I needed to remember to bring water and food on future expeditions, letting the animal do the thinking could be dangerous in some situations, but was absolutely necessary in others. I needed to learn to balance the two better, but it took more concentration to keep the human in charge. I was starting to worry the animal was becoming stronger, that maybe I was still changing and eventually would become just an animal. The thought terrorized me. It was bad enough I looked like one, but to become one entirely? I hissed in dismay, it would be worse than dying. I was starting to get a little concerned as it would be night soon and already the shadows were getting longer and deeper, and we still hadn't found a suitable cave to hole up in. Sleeping in the open was not a good idea. I wasn't so worried about the native life we knew about, it was the stuff we hadn't encountered yet that worried me. The weight of the power rifle; or "blaster", was reassuring. From the size it was more of a light artillery piece, and could punch through a foot of plasteel armor like butter, so I doubted anything organic could stand up to it. But you never know.
*Finally we found a decent cave. The entrance was so small we had to drop to all fours to enter, but once inside it opened up into a decent sized chamber. To my surprise there were some stalactites and stalagmites, but though they were dry now it proved there had been water here once, maybe millions of years ago. There was the faint scent of a previous occupant, but whatever it had been it was long gone. It was perfect for our purposes. We didn't have any way to make a fire, not that there was anything to burn anyway. But even the night here was fairly bright due to two moons, and our "genetic re-sequencing" had included night vision, so we were able to see just fine. I lay down on one side of the cave, and Eve laid down on the other. If she wanted it that way, fine. It was quiet for the first part of the night, but later we both heard a faint scraping, rasping sound, and raising our heads we listened intently. It came again, a little louder, and I hissed softly. I couldn't see enough of Eve to try and guess what she was thinking, but I could tell she was tense and alarmed. Then a puff of air brought a rank cloying smell, not quite a stench, more like just too much of the same thing. Eyuck, I thought, what IS that! About that time a huge head stuck itself inside the entrance of the cave, huge mandibles opening and closing silently, feelers quivering and testing the air. It was a bug of some kind, a really BIG bug. We crouched and hissed loudly at the thing, then roared in warning. It didn't take the hint and tried to push its way farther in, but I wasn't having any of that. With another roar I leapt forward and with a swipe of one clawed hand took off half of one of its antenna's. It gave high pitched chittering shriek, then backed out and took off. I could see its body going by, dozens of legs churning in waves. It looked like a giant centipede. I guess my insistence it leave us alone had finally registered, and it left to find easier prey. It wasn't until after it was gone that I even thought about the power rifles, and evidently Eve had reacted like an animal as well. *
My wristcom beeped, and looking at it I read, "What WAS that thing? It wasn't in the briefings!"
"I have no idea, I sent back, I have a feeling there are a LOT of things that weren't in out briefings. But it's gone now, and wasn't that tough."
"What you did was very brave, sent Eve, I'm impressed."
"I hate these damn wristcoms, I sent back, they could at least have left us with the power of speech, and the damn keys are too small."
"I don't think they want us to talk very much, Eve sent replied, that way we'll work more."
*With a weary hiss I just nodded my head, and went over and lay back down in my spot. It was still several hours to daylight, but I doubted we'd be getting much more sleep. A short time later Eve suddenly stood up and moved over closer to me and settled down without saying anything, not that I minded. Then we laid there staring into the night wondering what else might pay a visit, but we were left alone for the rest of that night. When morning came the only reminder of our visitor was the large piece of antenna, which was still twitching. We gave it a wide berth and left the cave. The warm wind felt good, and we continued our explorations, but doubled back in the direction of the shuttle. We both wanted to reach it before night fell, and I'm sure Eve was getting as hungry and thirsty as I was. *
The exploring was getting boring, the novelty of a new world was wearing off fast. It's just that there was nothing to see. Sand, grey rock, brown rock, tan rock, and more sand. The only "fauna" was the strange sponge bushes, some spiky tree like things, and they were useless to us. We saw no other life until we got a big break which solved two of our problems very nicely. We were passing through a rather wide canyon with sand drifts on the floor when I suddenly paused. I motioned to Eve, and she dropped into a crouch, power rifle ready. But I hadn't seen or sensed danger, but food. There was a low area between two dunes, and as I watched the sand moved from underneath and a little puff of air spurted up, followed by what looked like a black straw, and there were more than one of them. Very carefully and silently I dropped to my belly and slowly moved closer, trying not to make any sound. Eve just watched me, mouth open as she panted in the heat. Finally I stopped and waited, then there were more puffs and little black straws poked through the sand. With a quick movement of my arms I plunged them into the sand and hooked something with my claws that wiggled and squirmed, and pulling my arms out of the sand I had caught what looked like a great big fat grub or worm. It had tan colored skin and a sphincter like mouth on one end with its black breathing straw sticking out. It squirmed in my grip and mewled. I knew what it was, it was a sand worm larvae. It was pretty big, about six feet long and very thick and soft. It was plump and sloshed from the fluids inside. It hadn't developed the thick hard chitin scales an adult would have, and could grow to be over fifty feet long. The adults had characteristics of both reptiles and insects, and the baby looked like an insect's grub or larvae. But now that I'd caught it, what did I do with it?? According to the "survival" manual it was edible, the insides being mainly fluids. The human part of me was somewhat skeptical because it DID look like a grub, but the reptile part was thirsty and hungry. I politely offered it to Eve, but she just backed up and emphatically shook her head "NO WAY". I looked at the squirming thing, and holding it up to my snout took a good sniff. It smelled kind of sweet, and I could also smell the water in it. Well, here goes nothing, I thought. Holding it firmly I bit off its head, and clamping my jaws on that end I held it up and squeezed until it was an empty sack of rubbery skin. I tried not to think about what I was drinking, which was basically a bugs guts; but to my surprise it tasted good, sweet and salty at the same time, but most of all wet and cool. Mmmm, I thought, not half bad. I swallowed the now deflated skin last, then settled back down to wait patiently as I was still hungry and thirsty.
Two more grubs later Eve finally accepted my offer of the fourth one. She had been getting steadily hungrier and thirstier as she watched me hunt and feed, pacing back and forth and hissing, and finally that won out over her "that's gross" inhibitions. Even with our rigid features the look on her snout as she sniffed at the wriggling grub was hilarious and I couldn't help hissing in amusement, and she closed her eyes when she bit off the head and started drinking, but then her eyes opened in surprise and her feeding became eager gulps. She scarfed down the empty skin, and then joined me. Two more grubs later I was nice and full, so I gave the extra one I caught to her; which she accept graciously, to supplement the three she caught on her own. Well, that was a nice surprise, they look disgusting but taste pretty good, I thought, at least we won't starve or die of thirst as long as there are sand grubs around.
*The next nice surprise, and big break, came when we found a perfect cave system much closer to the shuttle then I had hoped for. It happened by accident. A large lizard like animal broke from cover and Eve instinctively took off after it as her hunting instincts kicked in, with me right behind her. I was surprised at how fast we were, even carrying the power rifles, and as I rounded a large boulder Eve stood up with the now very dead animal hanging from her mouth, a surprised look on her snout. I thought she looked magnificent, standing there with the dead lizard in her mouth, its blood running down her scales. The male reptile in me approved, she was a good huntress. With a hiss I walked up to her, and licked at the blood staining her snout and hide, and eventually I was just licking her, enjoying her own taste, and she hissed back, and dropping the prey returned my licks. The animals in us liked what we were doing very much, aroused by the scent and taste of fresh blood. She smells so good, I thought, as I rubbed and licked her snout with my own. I really don't know how far things would have gone, but I knew then I wanted her as my mate very much, and both the reptile and human parts were in agreement on that accord. But it didn't get that far the first time we "kissed". *
Another large lizard; which had been hiding perfectly camouflaged, evidently couldn't take the sight and smell of his dead pack member any longer, and broke from cover. As it scampered away Eve snatched up her kill and followed me in pursuit of the new prey. I concentrated on the lizard with an intensity I had never known before; nothing existed except for me and my intended prey. When the lizard ran between two leaning slabs of rock I followed, and found myself first in a narrow passage, then it opened out into a rather large cave. Eve squeezed in behind me and we looked around in amazement. Then remembering the lizard I took off after it again, but it and a half dozen others who had been denning in the cave escaped through a much smaller opening I couldn't fit into. Even with the faint light from the entrance we couldn't explore that much as our night vision had to have a least some light, we could see some in pitch dark, but only a very limited impression of "hot" and "cold" temperature ranges, something like infa-red. So we set out for the shuttle again, knowing we would be able to find the cave again. Eve was both proud; and shaken, by her kill. She sent,
"I don't know what happened; I've never killed anything before. I feel kind of sorry for the lizard, but it felt good."
"You were magnificent, I replied, I apologize if I took any unwanted liberties, I just couldn't help myself."
She gave a soft hiss, and sent back' "Don't be, that felt good too. I've never felt that way before."
I leaned over and licked a small rivulet of blood I hadn't gotten to before, and she stiffened, but didn't pull away. I licked until the blood was gone, and rubbed my snout against hers.
*"You smell so nice." I sent on the wristcom, and she ducked her head, but looked pleased. *
Next we ate the lizard, and we ate it like animals. We tore it to pieces and shared it between us, gulping down large bloody chunks, and when we were through nothing much was left except a few larger bones and pieces of hide. It was bloody and savage, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was no doubt we'd survive on this strange new world. And afterwards as we rested in the shade for awhile we licked one another and cleaned off the blood staining our snouts and hands, and we enjoyed that too. If not for the power packs and weapons we carried there would have been no way to tell us from a natural predator. And again that scared me, what if we ended up becoming the animals we resembled?
Eve had mixed feelings about what had had happened. She was a little shocked she'd been so, well, merciless when she ran down the lizard. And the feel of its body struggling her jaws and the burst of hot blood as she bit down on it had been exhilarating, is that what other predators felt when they brought down prey? The male, Brian, had evidently been impressed with her hunting prowess, and that approval had both pleased and even excited her to some extent, and when he licked the blood off her snout she had felt a brief intense feral lust that scared her. And it had lingered as they devoured the delicious lizard, raw. They hadn't even gutted or skinned it, and she knew the savagery should have horrified her. She also knew it he'd courted her again she most likely would have given in to him, but he was being discreet and didn't try to force himself on her, and she appreciated that. She took a sideways look at him, and he really was very handsome, for a dinosaur.
*Our hunger and thirst satisfied we took our time to poke around some more, but didn't find much else. The last cave we had found; the one the lizard had led us too, was perfect for our purposes. Both the human and the animal approved. Narrow defensible entrance, large and roomy on the inside, no other occupants that presented any danger, and fairly close to the chosen landing site for future shuttles. So we made the decision to move in at the earliest possible opportunity, as in yesterday. *
Having seen the one larger predator we assumed there were more about, so while one carried a load of supplies the other carried a smaller and kept watch with power rifle ready. When we landed we'd sent a "We're still alive, fuck you" message; and the ship sent a reply saying "We love you too, next ship will arrive in approx six months. On your own until then, have fun." We replied "Fuck you very much", and were left on our own. So now it was time to settle in and set up residence. Which was easier said than done as despite being rather basically equipped it still took quite awhile to move all the portable goodies to our "lair". First we moved the food and water supplies and set up the solar still in a good location, but it was so damn dry all the time it didn't produce much, so the sand grubs had been a major find, and there were lots of them. As with many species the adults produced thousands of eggs as only a very few young would survive to hatch and grow to adult hood, and now even fewer did thanks to the new predators in the neighborhood. But we avoided the big ones as they could just as easily have us for a snack as we did the grubs.
*The cheap SOB's had provided us with no clothes of any kind, or bedding. No blankets, no mattress pad, no pillows, nada. But screw it if we were going to be satisfied with the hard ground, though we did sleep on it for awhile as we had no other choice and honestly it wasn't that uncomfortable, our thick hides pretty much ignored any small rocks or bumps. Eve finally figured out that the strange sponge bushes were quite soft and springy when they died and dried out. Once they shed their seeds or spores they did look remarkably like big slabs of porous sponge, and we collected a big pile of them and made beds for ourselves. I built low walls from pieces of the shuttle and we filled them in with the sponges. It worked quite well and we were quite pleased with our inventiveness. Lightening was supplied by simple chemical lamps, you shook them and they glowed brightly for a long time before slowly getting dimmer, and they never ran out. The last thing we moved was the portable smelter, but the "portable" bit was a lie as far as we were concerned. With a hover lift or heavy truck it would have been easy, but even as big and strong as we were it was still a major pain in the tail to drag the damn thing across the desert to the site we'd picked to set it up. It took four days with us taking turns towing. It would have been easier and quicker if we both could have pulled it, but we learned our lesson when we tried that as of course a local version of Godzilla showed up. We also learned just how fast we could really move as we retrieved our power rifles and turned gruesome into well done barbecue, which was quite tasty. As we had been provided with no way to cook our food half raw and half burned was just fine with us. We tried using the smelter to cook later, but decided burning the meat just ruined the flavor, so after a few disappointments we stuck with raw. Besides, cleaning one another afterwards was, well, erotic and very enjoyable. *
*Once we'd pretty much stripped the ship of everything not welded down, and quite a bit that was, we were pretty satisfied with our little lair. I even fitted one of the hatches to the cave entrance by using a rock laser to cut and trim the entrance to fit the rim of the door, and then glued it in place with metalbond. That made sure we wouldn't have any unwelcome visitors while we were out and about terrorizing and eating the locals, or even more importantly, while we were sleeping. We even enlarged the smaller second; and only other entrance, the lizards had escaped through to us as our own escape route if the need arose. And believe me by the time anything got through that hatch we'd be long gone. Anything that mean was welcome to the place. I got a kick out of it when Eve burned "Lair, Sweet Lair" into the stone of a wall with a laser *
*Then after setting up and getting "comfortable" it was time to start doing what we had been sent here to do. So we went prospecting, which was loads of fun, not. We had ground penetrating radar and sensors', so locating the ore wasn't hard. The main problem was most of the ore nodules were buried under sand, lots of it. Ever try to dig a hole in sand? As fast as you shovel it out the stuff slides back in. Fortunately we had at least been provided with easy to use state of the art (for big lizards anyway) mining equipment. One of the more useful tools was a "field stabilizer". When you set it up it literally created a force field that "hardened" the surrounding sand so it wouldn't shift back into the hole. Whoever dreamed up that bit of magic earned their pay. All our gear was set up to recharge from solar power, and there was plenty of that, so thankfully power wasn't a problem. Once we set up the field we just dug down in the center of the box it created until we reached the ore, or got close enough to use powered probes that looked like big tongs to "fish" for the ore. Of course we had some mishaps, such as once the stabilizer failed because we had forgotten to recharge it and I got buried up to my neck in sand. Eve thought it was funny, but I was not amused and hissed angrily until she dug me out. Another useful tool was some security sensors we could set up in a perimeter while we dug holes, that way we could both work without being worried about unwanted visitors, and there were a few of those. One was a very nasty bug we called Scorpions for lack of a better term. They were more than a match for us, but tended to blow up when you hit them with a power blast. More than once this left us covered with bug guts which freaked even us out, it was nasty stuff. We rolled in the sand screeching to get it off. The Scorpions did NOT taste good. We got to where we fried them on sight, no matter how far away they were. *
*The local wildlife was, as had been briefed, quite formidable. But we were formidable as well, and more than a match for most critters our size or smaller, and we could even bring down some of the larger omnivores if we worked together. The larger nasties we gave the right of way. We seldom used the power rifles for hunting, just for defense against anything we couldn't handle ourselves, but fortunately were left pretty much alone. We loved to hunt; we were driven by a need to do it, and we were brutally good at it. Chosen prey seldom got away. And when we hunted the reptile mind took over, the human part pushed under for the duration, and sometimes it didn't resurface for quite some time. We always remembered everything that happened in crystal clarity though, but after awhile it stopped shocking us at just how feral we became while we stalked, hunted, and ate prety. We came to accept if as normal as we slowly became less human over time, not even realizing it was happening at first. *
I had fallen in love with Eve almost from the start, both the human and the animal parts of me. She was smart, funny, and I thought her sleek deadly form was beautiful and what a hunter! She would make any male a fine mate. As we became more comfortable with what we were now I also came to realize I could probably have pressed home my "courting" much sooner, but because I loved her I wanted to make sure she really wanted me, and waited for her to make the first move. Several times during our mutual post feeding grooming sessions I thought maybe the time had come as I could scent her arousal, but she always backed off and I didn't press her though I wanted her so very badly. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold off though as there was no way to seek sexual release through self pleasure, as in jacking off, as my hand/paws just weren't built for it. Anytime I got an erection all I could do was just look at it, but fortunately I hadn't gotten one in front of Eve yet. I have no idea how she would have reacted to having a rampant male running around, and I was amazed at how big I was, it would probably scare the crap out of her. But finally came the wonderful day when she accepted me as her mate.
We'd hit a large pocket of Ore, Type 5, which was big on the "priority" list we'd been provided with. We had NO idea what it was, and the sensor didn't provide a name for it, just the Type. All I knew is it wasn't gold because it was a dull grey color. We'd had a good haul, and after two days of mining and smelting the ore into ingots we were tired, and hungry. So it was time to hunt again. We'd hardly touched our rations, preferring to save them for emergencies. Besides, we LOVED to hunt. We'd even topped off the water bladders with water from the solar still as the sand grubs provided us with enough fluids that we weren't very thirsty most of the time. At first we didn't have much luck; the medium sized (about a quarter our size) lizards we mainly hunted were growing scarce in the immediate area since we were so good at what we did. They were predators as well, but individually were no match for one of us, but we had to be careful as they ran in packs. Once we chased one into a cave and came face to face with the rest of his pack, and then we were the ones who ran like Hell with a dozen pissed off lizards in pursuit. We split up, calling to one another with whistles and trumpet like calls through our nasal passages. We seldom used the wristcoms while hunting, our mind set just didn't work well with them then as our complete attention was on the task at hand. We had found we were capable of an amazingly wide range of vocal sounds, and had established a complex system of signals. It wasn't speech, but it worked for our purposes quite well. We used the age old strategy of one of us trying to herd a prey animal toward where the other waited in ambush. In this case I was the first one to find prey, a small herd of the local version of rhinoceroses, and as with all the other local wildlife they were reptiles, and fairly large. An adult was twice our size or larger, the males especially. Both the males and females had impressive horns on their snouts, and the universal cooling sail on their backs. Unlike us they couldn't collapse their sails as they weren't rock crawlers or cave dwellers. Each full grown bull had his own little harem of females and calves. If you tried to approach them directly the males would form a wall and you'd be confronted with a hedge of long nasty horns. So the best thing to do was to scare the Hell out of them and then bring down a straggler on the run. I was good at that, so I signaled Eve to get ready, and then jumped out from behind a rock and opening my mouth as loud as I could I screeched at the top of my lungs and the browsers didn't even bother to look, they just turned and started running, with me in hot pursuit snapping at their tails and roaring as loud as I could, which was pretty loud.
As they rounded a pile of boulders and spike trees Eve struck, she leaped off the boulders with a loud hiss and landed on the back of a young female, digging in with her hand and feet claws and tearing at the back of the browsers neck with her fangs, and the smell of fresh blood drove me wild. The browser of course reacted violently to the weight on its back and the pain, and bucking wildly it managed to throw Eve off. This wasn't that unusual with the larger animals we preyed on as they were incredibly strong. The now wounded browser took off after the herd, and we followed at a steady run. We'd wait until blood loss and shock slowed the animal down, and then move in for the kill. As we ran side by side I hissed and took quick licks at the blood staining Eve's snout, and she hissed back, both of us excited and in blood frenzy. The wounded animal followed the trail of the herd into a canyon with us close behind, but suddenly things got more complicated as another predator showed up on the scene. It was one of the nastier ones we called Godzilla's, and was the local top of the food chain. It was a young one, a male, about twice our size, and had been attracted by the scent of fresh blood. It sprinted out of a side canyon and ran down the wounded browser before we could even react, and I heard the browsers neck snap like a rotten branch. We of course came to a halt and assessed our options. The Godzilla had already settled down to feed, either he hadn't seen us or didn't think were a threat. Big mistake.
*Normally we probably would had just shrugged our shoulders and walked away in a bad mood, but our blood lust was up as we'd both tasted fresh blood and it was OUR kill, damn it. We'd done all the hard work, so the Hell ugly was going to get away with stealing our dinner. So we looked at one another and hissed softly, pure predators, and made our move. We hit him from both sides at once, silently and with no warning. Caught by surprise and badly mauled he gave a loud bellow of pain and left as fast as he'd come with his tail between his legs, and we both stood over our prey and roared in victory. Then we settled down to feed, joined by small lizard scavengers which we ignored as they were too small to mess with and were no danger, we'd even "tamed" a few by keeping them around our lair with offerings of scraps and they kept the smaller bugs and other vermin under control. They had learned we weren't interested in them as food, and since we kept away the other predators it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. They even came to allow us to pick them up and let them run around on our backs, which tickled. It was truly amazing how much we could eat, and after a good feeding we could go for up to a week without getting very hungry again. And this time as we licked and groomed one another after our feast things got more intimate and serious. We had hunted together, defeated a much larger and dangerous predator together, and now we wanted to be together as much as possible. *
We started our post feeding ritual as usual, with us both licking and nuzzling one another snouts as we groomed and cleaned the blood off, but this time I started nipping at Eve's neck and snout, rubbing my snout up and down her neck and hissing softly. She returned my tentative approaches readily and I felt joy wash over me, joy and lust. With a deeper hiss I started circling her slowly, and she turned her head to watch me, her tail whipping back and forth enticingly. I rubbed my snout against her back and nipped at the base of her tail, giving soft grunts of desire, and she rubbed her tail against my neck and chest making a cooing sound, and it felt lovely, so sleek and strong. Suddenly she gave a loud hiss and took off at a run, and with a bellow I followed. We left the remains of our kill for any lucky scavengers. We had no real idea as to what we were doing, but were responding to the instincts encoded in the DNA of the ancient dinosaur we were partly created from. That part of us knew exactly what it was doing, the human part wasn't consulted.
She led me on a long and tiring chase, leaping over boulders, weaving through narrow fissures in the rock, running at breakneck speed, doing her best to lose me, but that wasn't going to happen. I almost caught her twice, but she managed to spin away and change direction in mid stride leaving me bellowing in frustration and admiration. She was also looking for a suitable spot to consummate our pairing, a secure spot where hopefully we wouldn't be interrupted. She found it in a small box canyon with only one narrow entrance.
Eve was happy and more aroused then she'd ever been in her life, as a human or a dinosaur. She'd never wanted a male so very much, and the male chasing her was the mate she wanted. The way he'd torn into the large predator who had dared to try and steal their prey was magnificent, his claws and fangs flashing as; snarling, he'd torn great gashes in the enemies tough hide, utterly fearless in his assault. As they'd roared their defiance after driving off the Godzilla she'd realized she really did want him, and had for awhile. She'd just been too shy before, too uncertain of herself. As they'd feasted she'd stolen glances at him and seen the way he looked at her, and could scent his growing lust and felt herself becoming flushed and aroused. When he responded to her scent, gently licking and nipping first her snout and neck, then moving down her body to her tail she almost let him take her then, but something told her to make him work for the privilege, to make sure he was strong enough to be a good mate, to subdue her. So she took off with him in close pursuit leaving a trail of pheromones to entice him to follow, and he kept up with her, always right behind, his roars and bellows of lust driving her on and increasing her own need and arousal. It was raw and feral, exhilarating and primal, nothing human about it. She completely forgot she was anything but a female animal being courted and pursued by a desirable male. She gave a shriek of lust, and passing through a narrow passageway found what she had been looking for, and cornered, turned to face the male as he gave a victorious roar.
*I approached the object of my desire, determined to make her my mate. I was breathing heavily, she had really taken me on a run, and during every second of that chase my lust and desire had risen, the sight of her sleek body, whipping tail, and heady scent driving me to a level of arousal I'd never felt before. But just because I'd caught her didn't mean the chase was over. She crouched and hissed at me, her arms spread, claws glinting in the light. She snapped her jaws shut with a clacking sound and blew a loud challenge through her nasal passage, clearly saying "If you want me, come and get me, if you can!" She was backed against a sheer rock wall, so no way I could get behind her. Frustrated I snarled softly and examined her closely, and began to make feints to her sides, but she always anticipated my moves, her jaws snapping shut in my face, what a female! I backed off, tail whipping, as I thought about my next move. If I made a move on the left the sun might be a partial distraction as she'd have to turn her head to keep an eye on me, putting the sun over my shoulders. Even with our photo-sensitive eyelids in place it would still blind her a little to have to look almost directly into the sun. It was worth a try. But as I moved I realized she'd already anticipated that move, so at the last second I changed the direction of my lunge and; ducking, swept under her arms and darting snout and tackled her from the side, and her forward lunge caused her to lose balance and go down with a screech of rage, kicking and flailing. *
*I avoided her kicks and threw myself on top of her and grabbed her by the neck with my jaws, and shaking her gave a loud hiss. She froze, rolling her eyes to look into mine, and releasing her neck I gently licked it instead, softly hissing my love for her. She closed her eyes and gave a long hiss ending in a moan to let me know she had submitted, and turning her head licked me back, nipping at my own neck. I climbed off of her and she got to her feet, and crouching lifted her rump and waved her tail in invitation. Despite my incredible level of arousal I hadn't gotten hard yet, that would have been foolish to do before the female had submitted and accepted my dominance. But as I circled her I grunted in pleasure as my penis slid from my vent, rock hard and rampant. It was very long and thick, pointed on the glans with a large flared corona, dark red and already slick. When Eve saw and, and scented my readiness, she moaned again as I nipped at her back and slowly moved around behind her, my nostrils flared as I took in her lovely spicy scent. When I rubbed my snout against the base of her tail she lowered her fan and lifted her tail up and to one side, and I pushed it out of the way as I positioned myself to mount her. Her cloaca had bloomed, the soft pink lips of her sex wet and dripping with her sexual juices, and with a guttural moan I pressed my nose to her sex, and taking a deep snuffling scent licked her, unable to resist that glorious scent. She squealed and started gyrating her hips, her tail coming down to stroke the back of my neck. I took another long lick, reveling in the taste of her sex, and then lifting one leg I hooked it over her rump and mounted her with a powerful lunge, and we both roared in ecstasy. She bucked and writhed under me, screeching and squealing, and I used my weight to pin her and grasped her with my hands and darting my head forward bit her on the neck again, but gently without my fangs breaking the skin this time. As I hilted and started servicing her with strong regular thrusts she stopped struggling, and gave loud hissing moans of pleasure, her body shuddering as I slammed into her. Her sex was hot and wet, slick and tight, and the feel of it as my penis slid in and out was incredible and the pleasure just kept building and building until I threw my head back and roared as a massive orgasm exploded in my loins, my penis throbbing as I poured my seed into her, and I felt a wash of hot fluids wash over my penis and spurt from her cloaca as she climaxed too, both of us shrieking and roaring our love for our mate. It was brutal, feral, and glorious. *
Eve stopped as she entered the box canyon and saw it was dead end, and hearing the male announce his arrival she spun to face him, dropping into a fighting stance. She hissed at him, both as a challenge and an invitation. If you can beat me, I'm yours. As she expected he accepted the challenge, which pleased her. He tried to circle around her, but she'd backed up against the wall of the canyon, and springing to one side or the other blocked his advances, hissing and snapping her jaws with loud clacks. She was quite serious, and would hurt him if she could; she wanted to make sure he was a worthy mate. He was very bold in his advances, and nimbly jumped back out of range when she lunged at him. In the close hot air of the canyon his scent was strong and washed over her, and the powerful male scent excited her more and more, but instead of lowering her defenses it instead enhanced them. She realized that to the animal she was now this passed as enticing foreplay, and she knew her own scent was having the same effect on Brian. His advances were becoming more frequent and desperate as he tried to breach her defenses and claim her. He suddenly started to make another move and she saw his intention to try and blind her temporarily by coming at her with the sun behind his back, clever boy, but she moved to cut him off, and was surprised and enraged when he suddenly changed direction and moved under her lunge and knocked her off her feet as she over extended. Kicking wildly she tried to get up, and when a heavy weight landed on top of her she redoubled her efforts. She suddenly felt powerful jaws lock onto her neck at the base of her head and smelled blood, and with a deep hiss the male shook her, hard, his message clear. I want you, submit or I will hurt you.
*It was what she had been waiting; hoping, for. He had beaten her, fair and square, and she gave herself to him now, completely and utterly. She looked him in the eye and saw some of the aggression fade, and he let her neck go and gently licked the minor wound he had caused, hissing tenderly and she shuddered from his touch and moaned as she felt her sex open for him, and he responded to the sudden increase in her estrus as her pheromones drenched the air with her need. With an urgent hiss he got off of her and she got up and faced him again, but submissively this time. She watched as his penis slid from his sheath, rampant and ready, and gave a soft hiss at the size of it, and felt her own sexual juices start to flow, her crotch becoming soft and wet, sensitive and aching. She moaned as he began to circle her, nipping at her neck and back, running his claws across her flank. She watched him intently, and as he reached her rear she lifted her tail for him, and he ducked his head and she felt his rough wet tongue lick at her sex and push into it, and she closed her eyes and shuddered from the delicious feeling and squealed in lust, she had never had a male do that before. As he kept licking her she could stand it no more, and crouching lower she raised her rump and thrust at the air, squealing her need, begging him to take her, rubbing her tail across his body. She wanted, needed him, inside of her desperately. When she felt his weight settle on her back, felt his penis push into and penetrate her as he mounted her, she added her own roar of ecstasy to his. There was such incredible pleasure as he thrust into her it was almost painful, and she began to buck and struggle mindlessly until he pinned her with his weight, grasped her with his arms, and bit her neck again with a strong; but gentle, bite. Then all she could do was shudder and claw at the ground as she vocalized her love for her mate as he pleasured her so well, and then roar and screech in orgasmic frenzy as the most intensely pleasure orgasm she had ever felt washed over her in waves of sexual euphoria. *
*I stayed inside her for awhile, instinctively giving my sperm a chance to spread deep into her womb, the caress of her sex against my still hard penis making me hiss in pleasure. Then with a tired grunt I pulled out of her, and slid down her side to lie next to her, pressing my neck and head against hers in love and affection. Her fan slowly rose again as we both panted in the hot air, but the heat didn't bother us. Our strange orange and black eyes with vertical pupils stared at each other, and while to most they would seem cold and emotionless we could clearly see the love in them. As the human part of my mind began to reassert itself to some degree I thought, Wow, that was really something, she is a fantastic lover, and so very beautiful. She closed her eyes and hissed happily as I nibbled her snout and licked it, and my own hisses were equally happy. So long as I had her I no longer cared that I was a created being, an animal with an intelligent mind, she was all that mattered now. My love, my mate, with whom I would spend the rest of my life on this strange planet that was starting to feel more and more like home. *
Finally after dozing and cooling off for awhile it was time to go. We were both shocked by how far our chase had taken us, and there was no way we could make it back to our "lair" before dark. We'd ventured out a few times at night, but the over abundance of local wildlife, most of it hungry, kept our excursions limited to brief forays in the early evening. Some really big, and nasty, stuff came out when the sun went down. So we stayed mainly daylight hunters. We found a decent little cave to hole up in for the night, really more of a rock shelter, and rolled a large heavy boulder over the narrow interest for security. Then we lay down and looked at one another and thought about the wonderful thing that had happened, something that had caught us by surprise in its feral intensity, there had been nothing human about our initial mating. There had been desire, oh yes, and lust, but it had been purely instinctual. But there had been love too, before, during, and after, a permanent love that would never fade. But it was a kind of dual love, both as a man for his wife and an animal for its mate, and that just made it stronger, and better. I gently licked the wound on her neck, and tapping on the wristcom sent,
"Eve, I love you, you are so beautiful."
She replied, "I love you too Brian. That was, breathtaking. I've never felt that way before, felt so much pleasure. It was weird and wonderful."
*I didn't reply, there was no need. My licks became nuzzles and nibbles and she joined me, and we both hissed in pleasure as our lust returned, but this time it was different. There was no need to be brutal anymore, no need to subdue her. She was mine, and I was hers. As my penis slid from my vent again she suddenly lowered her head and gently licked and caressed it with her tongue and I quivered and keened in pleasure, my head thrown back and eyes closed, it felt incredibly wonderful to feel her warm wet tongue on my aching hardness. This time I licked and stroked her sex for a much longer period, running my tongue deep inside her while she squealed and her tail whipped overhead in a frenzy of lust, and when she lowered her sail and lifted her tail I mounted her again, but this time I took my time, humping her with slow powerful thrusts, gently nipping the back of her neck while we squealed and hissed in pleasure, and I ran my claws over her lovely rough hide marveling at her beauty, the feel of it against my softer belly skin incredibly erotic as I moved against; and inside, her. As we climaxed again we both gave deep guttural groans of pleasure. It wasn't quite human sex, but it wasn't entirely animal either, it was the best of both. Before dawn came we mated three more times, each as enjoyable as the last. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep, but that didn't bother us, so we slept in late that morning, draped over one another in contented bliss. *
** The End**
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