Understanding
On a far-off planet, a survey team heads off on a mission. One member, however, has a rather unusual encounter.
"I fucking hate the jungle. I'm pretty sure my climate control unit is broken," Benji grumped as
he tromped through the thick growth. His filtered breaths came hard through the speaker as he panted
from the effort of traversing the tangled mess. "How far to the next sample station?"
His smaller companion turned her own suited frame halfway towards him as she ambled easily
over the thick roots and treacherous vines. "Quit whining, you big baby. We've only got another
kilometer or so to go if the GPS link is working right. You want me to look at that helmet of yours?"
"Please," the larger male huffed, reaching to work the seals on his helmet, "I'm boiling alive in
here."
"Benji! I meant when we get back. You know we haven't finished atmospheric surveys. For all
we know, you pop that seal and your face will melt," the female admonished, nimbly hopping over a
large fallen tree as they continue onward.
Benji stopped, adjusting the straps on the large backpack he carried full of various survey
devices and half their needed rations and supplies. "Fine, but I'm going to need, like, three showers
after this." He stomped a large foot onto the fallen log, easily snapping it as he followed his
companion. His bulky frame snagged on another low-hanging vine and he pulled it off in frustration. "I
swear this place was designed to annoy me."
The lithe female stopped and turned to regard him for a moment, then started back towards him.
"Ok big guy, drop the pack, let me check your suit's externals. If I'm going to drag you with me another
click, I'd rather have you not whine every single meter of it." Benji nodded gratefully and dropped his
load onto the green floor beneath him. He kneeled and turned so his smaller companion could reach his
broad back.
"Thanks, Elsie. I'll try and keep the complaints to a minimum. I'm just not built for heat, you
know that."
"Of course, Benji. And hey, if you need three showers later, maybe I can join you for one," her
voice practically purred out of the speakers of her own helmet as she stepped up and activated the suit's
status panel. She tapped a few inputs and then hummed to herself appreciatively. "Yeah, your climate
control's busted again. Looks like you've got a short somewhere in that brain bucket of yours. Maybe if
you had a smaller head you'd have fewer wires to short."
"Har har, smartass. I'm going to make you pay for those words in the showers later," Benji said,
his voice carrying an audible grin. "Anything you can do about it now?"
Elsie grabbed the chin of her own helmet and thought a moment. She knelt down and pulled a
small bottle from the bag Benji carried and clipped it into a small port on his shoulder. "There, you get
my extra water ration. Don't waste it. We'll also try and make our stay out here as short as possible for
you."
Benji stood, grabbing the pack and shouldering it again. He looked down at the feline who was
almost exactly half his size and chuckled, "Why thank you, kind overlord. This horse appreciates your
mercy." Elsie giggled and lightly punched the towering equine's large thigh. She bounded back up the
tangle of roots and beckoned him to follow. "Onward, noble steed! Our task awaits!"
The horse groaned through his helmet, stomping flat more overgrowth in his effort to follow
Elsie. He silently grumbled to himself as his eyes locked on the swaying backside of the small female
ambling around in front of him. A grin climbed his face as he imagined cornering her in the locker
rooms later and having her pay him back for playing pack horse on yet another mission. His mind
created a wonderful array of scenarios and situations, his body and hers pressed together in pleasure.
The thoughts not only took his mind off his sweltering situation but created a new problem for him in
the form of a growing tightness in his jumpsuit.
He stopped to adjust his bulge and pulled the heavy pack farther up his shoulders and attached
the back support to his suit's frame. Elsie continued ever onwards, following the GPS beacon on their
HUDs that had been dropped by an earlier aerial flyby. The meters ticked away slowly as he worked up
a hellish sweat and a decent boner, his mind doing its best to distract him. He took the drinking straw in
his helmet into his mouth and drained water from his reserves as he watched Elsie climb over a
particularly nasty tangle of fallen trees and vines. Sizing up the obstacle, he sighed as he realized that
his size was going to work against him on this one. He was practically boxed in by the huge roots of a
tree probably 5 meters across and had to either back track a few minutes down his cleared path or find
some way through this jumble.
Ducking low under a vine as thick as his forearm, he saw a small tunnel probably left by some
burrowing animal just barely wide enough for him to fit through. Dropping his pack to the soft ground,
he crawled forward on his hands and knees and dragged the heavy bag behind him. The tunnel was less
a burrow and more a small path chewed through the undergrowth and the overhead greenery turned his
world a deep emerald. The tunnel continued about a dozen meters before opening back onto a clearing
beyond the huge tree. He dusted himself off and picked up his burden, looking around to reacquire the
beacon on his visor's HUD.
"Elsie, you still nearby?" Benji called out into the jungle, looking around for the slim, white-suited
feline as he stomped more jungle vegetation flat. He waited for a heartbeat before calling out
again, "Elsie?" He strained his ears, hoping to hear the telltale crunch of a boot on the ground or
vegetation. He dropped his head and sighed, "She's gonna owe me double for this. Leaving me behind!
The nerve of that frisky little cat."
He climbed over another thick root and tried to find his friend's nimble form through the dense
greens and browns of the imprisoning jungle. Finding nothing, he dropped down and heard a soft crack
as the ground vibrated beneath him gently. Spreading his arms wide, he scanned side to side in an
attempt to find the source of the shaking. As the shuddering beneath his hooves calmed, he raised back to
his full height and gingerly steppedforward, testing the ground. After several steps, he was satisfied with
the sureness of his footing and continued onward. Several minutes later, he came upon an open
clearing, sunlight lancing down onto the bare jungle ground. Checking his HUD, he realized he was
almost to his goal, probably only a couple hundred meters of rough ground to go.
Sucking on his drink straw again, he found his water empty and groaned. He came to the center
of the clearing and dropped his pack to the ground, opening its top and grabbing another 1-liter bottle
to exchange with his spent one. Reaching his thick arm across his back, he clipped the new bottle into
its slot and deposits the old one in the backpack. Sucking down fresh water, he looked at the sky, the
bright orange orb slightly off the yellow he was used to on his own homeworld. Dropping his eyes back
down, he sat on the rigid frame of the backpack.
As his full weight came to rest on the rigid polymer, he heard yet another crack and felt the
ground shudder beneath him anew. Looking around in surprise, he searched the treeline for a hidden
creature, expecting to see a large herbivore or a stalking predator. Finding nothing, he heaved a sigh of
frustration before the shudder deepened and the crack turned into a loud bang, the ground beneath him
sinking a couple feet. Benji hopped to his feet in a panic, grabbing his pack and starting to dash
towards the rim of the clearing. He managed only a few steps before his heavy footsteps punched
through the unseen top of some hidden hole, causing his weight to lurch forward and putting his full
bulk directly on to the now fragile ground covering. With a final sharp report, his view wheeled
suddenly as he tumbled down into the unseen hole and he managed to catch a glimpse of brilliant blue
before the sky was replaced by the deep green of the sun filtered through plant growth. His view turned
slightly and he caught a glimpse of shiny gray before he felt his helmeted head strike something hard
and his world went black.
Consciousness returned slowly, his first bit of awareness was the sensation of cool wetness on
his forehead. Grimacing, he blinked the fog from his eyes and moved to wipe his brow. The rough
composite swiping across his broad forehead was a relief for the space of about three heartbeats before
his brain reasserted more control over his actions. His eyes shot open, the daze sharpening rapidly with
a boost from his adrenaline as he saw that his visor had been cracked wide open across the broad
forehead and several more spidery cracks snaked across the lower faceplate. Turning on his side, he
scrambled for a few moments looking for the backpack that contained his spare before his eyes caught
the sight of the white polymer and composite hanging at least 6 or 7 meters over his head from a tree
root.
Panic hits him hard, realizing that he'll have to take a breath soon and then he could be dead. He
looked around the hole he found himself in and slowly his rational mind pushed out the flight impulse
his kind was notorious for. You were unconscious with a broken faceplate for an unknown amount of
time. If you were going to die, you would've done so already. Taking several shuddering breaths, his
heart hammered in his chest as he tried to clear his addled brain and figure out what was going on.
Taking a second look at his surroundings, he worked the seals off his helmet and tossed the useless
piece of his uniform to the stone floor.
Benji found himself standing at the bottom of a rocky tumble of stones that stopped at the edge
of what appeared to be a natural aquifer, the cool water shimmering green in the filtered light. The cave
was roughly oblong in shape and about 10 meters at its widest point. The hole in the undergrowth that
he punched through on his tumbling descent had to be at least 20 meters above him, the climb easy but
pointless as the distance from the rockfall to the edge of the hole had to be at least twice his height of
slick, mossy rock. Off to one side of the cave, a passage slightly smaller than him pushed into the
darkness, the sound of running water echoing from it.
Well, nowhere else to go but onward. Benji thought, abandoning his backpack and checking his
chest harness for its shoulder flashlight. Slapping the small LED a few times, it flicked to life and
speared the dark passage with a clean white beam of light. The passage went far enough in to not be
completely revealed by the flashlight, but it didn't sound too deep if he could hear what sounded like a
stream relatively close by. Following the cramped natural tunnel, the horse came out into a large, water-filled
cave lit again by the deep greens of overhead plants. The running water revealed itself to be a
stream dropping down from overhead, a dense tangle of ladderlike vines climbing up the side of this
cave.
Finally! An exit! Benji thought excitedly. Stepping up to the wall, he grabbed one of the vines
and tugged on it to test its ability to support his weight. Finding the thick green length firmly attached,
he put his full weight onto it and started to pull himself up the wall. He managed to pull himself a few
meters off the ground before noticed the shiny, wet vine he was using to support himself was actually
starting to wrap tightly around his forearm. Recoiling in surprise, he released the object and dropped
the distance of his climb almost directly onto his back. Expecting sharp pain from his sudden descent,
his blood ran cold when he instead felt a cushy "splat" and felt his descent cushioned. Scrambling to
his feet, he turned to find that he had landed in a puddle of green ooze, the thick strands on the walls
attached to it and slowly retracting.
His flight instinct grabbed his senses again and he fled the chamber back towards where he fell.
As he entered the first room, his booted feet slapped wetly over the stones of the cavern and he turned
to look back up the passage. He waited a dozen heartbeats but saw no pursuit. Heaving a sigh of relief
he turned to regard the cavern wall, trying to find an exit. He was halfway through formulating a plan
of escape when he felt a cold tickle at the base of his thick neck. Slapping a hand to his back, he felt the
same cool wetness he felt when the vine-tentacle grabbed him earlier and he spun to face his assailant.
His movement was arrested slightly by what felt like a heavy blanket on his back and as he
turned, he saw that the aquifer he had initially identified was, in fact, another one of those green slime
creatures and it had worked its way quietly up the back of his suit. As he tried to pry the wet appendage
from his back, he saw that a vague shape started to rise from the puddle. It rapidly gained form as he
watched, rising to roughly his height and dimensions until it slowly gained definition and he found
himself looking in a gooey green mirror.
His struggle to free himself calmed as he regarded the emerald reproduction of himself, down to
the synthetic stitching on the creature's mock jumpsuit. His arms came away from his neck as he felt
the slimy wetness retreat as well and he stepped closer to the gooey recreation of himself. "What the
fuck?" He asked aloud. He nearly recoiled in surprise as his doppelganger's broad face mimicked his
own, soundlessly following his movements. His curiosity mounting, he advanced closer and saw the
slime slide silently closer as well. He cocked his head to one side as his duplicate did the same.
"What are you?" Benji said, his eyes traveling the whole length of the creature. His eyes ended
as they came to the deep green pool that replaced his own feet. The creature moved closer, replicating
his own speech again. It reached out towards Benji, now displaying its own initiative and closing the
gap between them. The emerald face of the goo-horse showed intense curiosity of its own as it ran a
hand up the side of Benji's arm before prodding gently into the thick bicep close to his shoulder joint.
The goo then turned to its own form and pushed a replica-finger into its own bicep and watched as the
gelatinous surface sunk deeper than the horse's flesh could've managed. The goo's face watched in
fascination, then looked back at its counterpart. The hand reached back out again towards Benji's face
and the horse decided to mirror the slime, shakily running his fingers over the slick surface of the
copycat. As his fingers came in contact with the creature's "face" he felt a strange tingle under his
fingertips that seem to run the length of his arm, bathing him in a soft warmth that sped his heart rate.
His eyes widen for a moment until the slime's own fingers touched his cheek and a spike of the same
warmth shot straight to his brain and left him with a flushed sensation across his body as well as a
strange tingle in what felt like the back of his skull. As the creature ran its copied hands over his
exposed flesh, the flush grew to a heat he knew well as the tingle bloomed into pressure on his own
mind.
"What... what are you doing to me?" He asked quietly, his breath coming out quicker as his
heart thumped in his chest. The slime gently pulled him closer by the back of his neck and the pressure
seemed to wash over his thoughts with a quiet urge to study him. His eyes searched the goo-face and a
sudden realization dawned on him. "You're... trying to talk to me?" He practically whispered as lust
began to mount in his body as his mind opened to the presence of the strange creature.
The slime cocked its head in a mimic of his own confusion earlier, then nodded slowly as if
testing the action. Then it nodded again more vigorously and touched a slimy forefinger to his forehead
before pointing to its own face. Benji felt the finger poke like a bolt of hot lighting to his senses and he
felt his jumpsuit tenting as he felt the goo's mind further bridge onto his. Then he got vague
impressions of images and sounds, "language" to a creature without words. In his mind, he saw himself
and the goo in close contact, the amorphous mass pressed gently to his forehead. Then, he was given an
image of a blooming flower, then an image of himself, then the same forehead contact it started with.
All the while, his body strained against the confines of his suit, this contact driving his body into
overdrive.
Benji began to pant as he felt his suit become oppressively hot and tight, looking down to the
clasps then back up to his counterpart, silently questioning the creature with his eyes. If it wanted to eat
me, it could've done so already. He thought, an echo of his earlier pragmatic assessment. Reaching up
with shaking hands, he undid the seals and snaps on his suit, his broad chest cooling rapidly in the
damp cave as he worked downward until he came to the point he was most unsure of. He paused for a
handful of rapid heartbeats before releasing the belt on his suit and pushing it off of himself, his equine
member spilling out over its prison as he freed himself. His first sensation was one of immense relief as
the cool air of the cave washed over him. His next was that of slick wetness pressing into him, the goo
losing some of its mimicked form as it embraced him. His member twitched as he felt the slick body of
the slime slide up his front, the equine head slowly reshaping itself into something different.
He watched in a somewhat distracted fascination as his counterpart slowly took on the form of
what vaguely resembled one of the canines from the aerial survey team, the pointed ears widening and
the muzzle shortening. Then, it took on a far more familiar shape as its head and ears rounded out.
Elsie ran into you, too, huh? He thought as the goo took on the familiar face of his friend, even
replicating her half-torn ear from an old survey accident. "Is she here somewhere?" He asked.
The bridge pressed on him the impression of a bigger cave, then a short walk north, then flashed
the image of his friend kneeling over a survey beacon. "So she hasn't run into you like I have, but she's
touched you?" The goo nodded and smiled, wrapping gently around his body as his cock hardened
under its gentle pressure. The slime's arms wrapped him in a gentle hug as its mass began to climb the
back of his legs and down his back. As it did, it again sent the image of a blooming flower but was then
followed by an image of the slime in duplicate. Benji cocked his head in confusion, then gasped as he
felt a gentle pressure grab his shaft in earnest, slippery wetness sliding up his heavy shaft and gently
squeezing his large balls. Alongside the pressure, the images of a seed, the blooming flower, and then
the goo crowd repeated.
And then it hit him. "You want to breed," he gulped nervously. His mind raced as he felt his
body continue to surrender to the careful work of the shapeshifter wrapped around him. It nodded
gently, smiling all the while as it continued to pump his shaft rhythmically. He couldn't deny the
creature was skilled as it worked him up, the contact having already made him more than ready. As the
good finished wrapping him in its cool embrace, he sighed softly as he felt his cock surge in pleasure.
He leaned back slightly into its embrace and relaxed, realizing that it was far too late to object now.
The goo supported his weight effortlessly and slowly drew their joined forms back towards the
rim of its pool. It stroked him gently working him up to full flare before slowing down to tease him at
his edge. It settled him down with his head resting on the rim of the pool and continued to edge his
release, massaging his whole body at the same time. The slime's head slid into his view as he moaned
softly in bliss. "Y-you're good at this," he cooed softly. The creature smiled again and worked speed
back up again. Feeling his climax approaching, he looked down his body to where the slime stroke him
inside its form and watched as his orgasm sent a shudder of pleasure through him. With a gasp and a
grunt, he felt his balls clench and then watched as his seed mingled with the emerald of the creature's
body before slowly being drawn down out of sight. The slime slowed its movements, switching to a
slow milking motion as Benji dropped his head back. He sighed in delight as he felt his climax leave
him.
"Happy to h-help," he chuckled to the slime. It cocked its head at him with a coy smile then sent
an image of himself, then the seed, then the goo crowd. With the last image, he felt pressure at his
tailhole and his eyes shot open. "W-wait a second. I thought you wanted my seed!" The slime nodded
as the pressure increased, a thick tendril of slime pushing into his back end. He grunted as the creature
pushed into his hole, thankfully not his first experience to such things. It sent the image of the seed, of
him, of the seed, of the blooming flower, of the goo crowd and then he felt a radiating warmth hit his
body as he realized that it meant him no harm.
The tentacle in his tailhole thickened with every passing moment, gently spreading him wider
and wider in preparation for a purpose Benji could guess at. Meanwhile, it hadn't stopped stroking his
flagging member or massaging his body, keeping him content and relaxed as he awaited its next move.
He didn't have to wait long, as he felt a sudden hard pressure at his tailhole quite unlike the pliable
pressure of the tendril probing his rump. Shifting to get a better look at what awaited him, he could just
barely make out about half a dozen milky-green orbs the size of baseballs lined up in a neat row that
disappeared under his muscled flank. Looking up at his captor and partner, he saw a look of concern on
its feline face. He paused for a moment in thought, then nodded and attempted to relax his hole for the
thing.
Seeing his assent, the creature renewed its pressure on his asshole, the baseball-sized egg
pressing ever deeper into him. He moaned hard and loud as he felt the large object press against his
prostate, forcing his flagging dick to eject a half-hearted spurt of precum into the creature. Then it was
inside and he felt it nestle somewhere deep in his innards, a warmth blooming for where it lay. He only
had a moment to marvel at the ease of it before he felt another follow suit, then another. In all, he felt 6
large orbs press into him, the last one barely noticed as his body twitched in overstimulation and his gut
slightly rounded from its new occupants.
The slime held him like that for a while. Benji wasn't quite sure how long. His only awareness
was a sense of content warmth in his lower belly and a radiating warmth surrounding the rest of him.
Then, the warmth cooled and he felt the slime shifting him up and out again, laying him gently on the
slick stone of the cavern floor next to his discarded jumpsuit. He lay there panting for what felt like
minutes as his body spun down from what just happened.
"Be safe, Eggbearer," came a soft, melodious voice in the back of his mind. He startled and
looked up at the emerald copycat. Yes, with the joining complete, you can now hear our thoughts. It
smiled down at him the feline appearance melting away to a more amorphous shape it had before
copying his own face.
"What happens now, then?" He asked, slowly rising to his hooves and gathering his outfit. He
turned to look up at the hole in the ceiling and saw another tendril pulling thick ropes of vine down as a
second retrieved his backpack, gently lowering it into his hands. He regarded the slime with a strange
wash of emotions as he donned his jumpsuit, leaving everything above the belt open as his now slightly
bulged form prevented the skin-tight suit from closing.
You leave this place, rejoin your friends. Tell them of us and what we did. Tell them we wish to
be friends in turn. We hunger to learn more of you and your kind, the slime said as it helped him ascend
out of the cavern. Benji rested a hand on his belly and looked back at the pool, then up to the vineladder
that it had created for him. "Are you staying here?" He asked uncertainly, suddenly not wanting
to leave. "You carry us in you, Eggbearer. As long as you carry the eggs, you carry us with you. Go now.
Be safe. We shall see you again," it cooed reassuringly into his mind. Benji nodded, adjusting his pack
again out of habit before scaling the thick vegetation and leaving the hidden chamber. He looked down
the hole a moment longer before looking around, trying to find his bearings. Then, he felt that familiar
pressure on the back of his mind point him vaguely northeast with friendly urging. He smiled and
rested a hand idly on his belly, pressing onward into the jungle.