Understanding

Story by Benji Bay on SoFurry

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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.