GALF, Chapter 2
My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee!
GALF, Chapter 2
By William W. Kelso
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but didn't last anywhere long enough, we slowly separated from one another, our lights gradually fading in intensity as we returned to our 'normal' colors. Then we pulled apart with a sound and feeling not unlike that of Velcro; that's the only way I can describe it, as the millions of extremely fine villi connecting us retracted, and we peeled apart as we went from one joined being to two separate individuals again. and as I watched my dual male and female sexual organs merged back into my body without a trace, leaving me a sexless lizard again, the same happening with my lover #67. It left me feeling absolutely wonderful, but sad at the same time that it was over. I licked #67's mauve colored snout, and said,
"I love you Keesa", and rubbed my snout against hers, still lying on top of 'her'; which is how I thought of 'her' even though we're both neuters, artificial beings created to give other species sexual pleasure despite being sexless ourselves. In 'her' original form #67 had been a female though, but of a different race. But we were the same now. GALF's are as identical as clones, except for our colors. No two had the exact same color combinations, though we were roughly categorized as blues, greens, yellows, etc. based on our primary color.
"Of course you do silly, #67 hissed as she 'kissed' me back, it's what we were made for."
"No, I said, not like that, I love YOU."
"I know, #67 said softly, and I love you too. But you'll have many other lovers as well; it's what we do best. But this is the first time I've experience a total merging myself, it was...special. Now I know what the others meant when they said we can join with other GALF's and become one."
"Oh yes, I said, it was, very special, and I'll never forget it."
About then I suddenly heard a 'chime' in my head, and the ships AI's cultured voice said, 'Attention, all crew members not currently on duty or otherwise, um, occupied, are cordially invited to a party in the main passenger lounge. All 'guests' are of course invited as well. Come as whatever you are right now, ah hah-ha-hah!'
"What is it?" #67 asked, as 'she' saw my sudden distracted look as I listened to the AI's announcement. Being an artificially constructed; though living, being that capability had been included, we have 'built-in' wiring. I can send & receive like I had a radio, literally, inside my head. Makes us more useful, we don't need com gear.
"We've all been invited to a party in the main lounge, I said, you want to check it out?"
"Oh yes please, #67 hissed, her sapphire eyes glowing, I love parties!"
"OK, I said, sounds like a plan." I activated my comlink, and asked 'Ship?'
"What is your inquiry #75?" The cultured voice in my head said.
"Could you please show us the way to the main passenger lounge?"
'But of course, my pleasure, just follow the bars.' The prompt answer came.
'Thank you Ship.' I said.
'You are very welcome #75, have fun.' Ship replied.
#67 and I dropped to all fours and scampered down the passageways following the glowing bars, which faded behind us and brightened in front as we went. We were as comfortable on all fours as we are bipedal, but can move faster as quadrupeds. I thought it was really cool, and #67 was impressed too. Her ship; the Madam Zuzu, didn't have that feature. My ship, 'The Pleasure Bringer', was an old luxury liner and had all sorts of neat features originally designed for rich tourists, but we made use of them too. The bars led us to a lift, down a passageway to another lift, and then into a very large room where the party was being held. We paused and gaped as the doors hissed open, then looked at one another and hissed in mutual wonder as noise and light washed over us.
For a spaceship the 'Bringer' as we called her for short; or just 'Ship', was huge, with much more space given to luxury and extravagance then the mere functionality you see in most other ships. She had once been the queen of the star lanes, many years ago though. Considered 'obsolete' she would have gone to the breakers or ended up as a bulk carrier if fate hadn't intervened, but the ship's AI was not terribly thrilled that 'his' ship had ended up as an intergalactic bordello. We all liked the AI though; 'he' had a quirky sense of humor that went well without our own outlook on 'life' even though we really weren't 'alive' in the normal sense.
To me the party looked more like an explosion in a disco than anything else, an explosion of multi-colored light. GALF's communicate largely with light displays; we look like flashing neon lizards to other beings. It can be the merest flicker just to say hello, or a bright blast of rapidly flashing stripes and dots that can communicate just about anything including just emotion. You might be relaying complicated information to another GALF, or just letting it know you're really happy. The large lounge had probably forty GALF's in it, all of them flashing, blinking, and 'partying'. The lights reflected their moods, thoughts, levels of arousal, and everything in-between in addition to 'shouts' of welcome as new GALF's appeared. When the doors opened a ripple of lights flashed throughout the room to welcome us.
Many were 'dancing', partially joined with a lover and/or friend, their individual colors blending into new colors. Every color of the rainbow flashed; and then some, and was reflected from the polished walls of the lounge and the mirrors behind the bar and placed at strategic locations around the lounge. The music was more felt then heard, the base causing your body to vibrate, the higher notes almost in the sonic range. The result was completely and totally overwhelming to myself and #67, like a sudden massive sensory rush, and with loud hisses of delight and rapture we flowed into the crowd, our own colors joining; and blending in, with the rest in massive partial joining. I could 'feel' and 'taste' my fellow GALF's as #67 and I rubbed our bodies together, stroking one another intimately despite being 'sexless'. When GALF's make love we don't have to have sexual organs, just touching is a kind of love making as our entire hide is extremely sensitive and receptive, and we can even make love with just our lights. There is no way I can describe the exact feeling of that gathering. It was like being in the middle of a huge crowd of your best friends, and knowing a little of what each and everyone was feeling and knowing they loved you, and you loved them. We moved through the crowd locked in a tight embrace, then as we milled with the crowd we pulled apart and took other partners for varying degrees of time, moving through a fluid tightly packed mass of sheer ecstasy.
The 'guests', many not being GALF's, pretty much just left the dance floor to the GALF's, but watched the light show in amazement, some having to wear dark glasses or use their nictitating eye membranes to protect their eyes or light sensing organs from the intense light display as it was just as bright as any laser light show. A few of them could pick up part of the 'feelings' we broadcast as we are empathic to a certain degree, and they had smiles of bliss; if they could smile, on whatever passed for their faces. The guests were in the same 'profession' as we were, in other words, prostitutes. But a GALF wasn't even called that though our function is sexual pleasure, that's because we don't even have the social status of 'slave'. We're considered the same kind of property as a chair or paperweight, we are not classified as intelligent beings and have no rights; even slaves have some rights. Hell, even robots and AI's have some rights. So to call us prostitutes is technically incorrect, I mean, would you call a dildo a prostitute because it can give sexual pleasure? We were just GALF's, period; for all practical purposes living dildos, we don't even rate names, only numbers. But the amazing thing is we are mostly content to be what we are; we share something no 'natural' being ever can, and being programmed to serve we do so wholeheartedly and with no expectation of any reward or consideration. But the guests, seeing as they perform the same 'function, can relate to us more than other beings, and treat us with much more respect and kindness. They like us, and we like them. So they were welcome at our party, and when one would join us on the dance floor from time to time we welcomed them completely as an equal and a friend, and one of us would often take on a form they found pleasing and dance with them, and afterwards disappear into one of the convenient private rooms for awhile. It was something wonderful and very special, and they enjoyed it as much as we did.
At some point as the party got even louder and rowdier I was approached by one of the 'normal's'. It was a female reptilian alien that looked something like a blue iguana, but bipedal and almost snake thin, her whole body lithe and writhing as she danced, and I stared at her almost hypnotized by her natural grace. Her blue scales closely matched my own shade of blue and I thought she was very pretty. Some aliens have their sex drive aided by the color of a potential mate, which is one reason why GALF's come in so many colors. We can darken or lighten our basic color, but not change it from, say blue to red. As I danced with her she wrapped her tail around mine seductively; which was how I perceived it, and hissed in my ear hole, and with a lick of her tongue asked me right out,
"Would you like to go somewhere and mate, my pretty blue?"
Just a few days ago I probably would have run screaming at such a proposal from an alien, but I was already partially aroused by the group joining, so I licked her back and nodded. Besides, she was a lizard too and was very pretty. And as I followed her I felt myself start to change, my GALF programming kicking in, I had selected a sexual partner and so was assuming a form from my 'data base' that was closest to hers, only male. By the time we reached a cabin it would have been hard to tell I wasn't a male of her species, the biggest give away would probably have been my gemlike eyes, all GALF's have eyes resembling sapphires that are the same color as their basic coloring, and for whatever reason they do not change. But my body was longer and thinner, my hind legs more muscular and my stance bipedal now, my arms also more muscular. I had a crest; more developed then a female's, with a row of spines running down my back. I also had a blunter muzzle and had grown fangs. My belly was banded, and I now had the fold of a male cloaca between my legs. We entered an empty cabin; or which there were plenty, and all there was in it was a bed and few pieces of empty furniture. It was all we needed.
We hissed at each other, and I suddenly realized I had a dewlap pouch under my chin that swelled as I displayed for her. We dropped to all fours, our heads bobbing, and somehow I knew what to do; knew what would excite and arouse her, and myself. We do much more than just take on a form; we take on the mating mannerisms and habits of the being or animals whose form we're wearing, we in a sense become that creature as much as is possible. I had felt myself become an entirely different being, and it was wonderful. The female I was 'courting' was the most beautiful female I'd ever seen, and I wanted her, to be her mate. I circled her, hissing and nipping at her flanks, and she hissed and nipped back. Finally I leaped on her back, using my hard belly bands to push her spines over and flatten them. She gave shrill hiss as I hooked a leg behind one of hers and lifted it out of the way, and squatting I lunged into her with my twin hemipenes, both large organs penetrating her own dual sex, swelling and locking us together, and with loud hisses of pleasure we mated. And I felt everything a male of her species would have felt, every last iota of pleasure, and gave her the same pleasure a male of her species would have, the one difference being that because I am synthetic I am insatiable, I don't get sore or run dry. So she was well and thoroughly serviced before we both collapsed on the bed as I dismounted for her. I had given her as much sexual pleasure as she desired; could take, before it turned to pain, just as I had been designed to do. And I was completely satisfied as well, it had been wonderful. And now I knew what #8 had meant when he said we don't just have sex with our 'partners', we make love to them as if they are the only mate we've ever desired. With a prostitute you get a sexual act, with a GALF you get a lover whose only desire is to give you as much pleasure as possible.
She rubbed her long claws gently across my own scales as we nuzzled and licked one another's snouts. And as we did I returned to my true GALF form as somehow I knew she was satisfied for now. She kept nuzzling and stroking me though, hissing contentedly.
"That was wonderful my lovely blue, she hissed affectionately, you are such wonderful creatures. I so miss males of my own species, but you are just as good."
"You're so beautiful, I hissed in response, thank you for wanting me and giving me the chance to love you." And I realized another thing, why we are so content with what we are. We want, need, to be wanted and loved more than anything else. The sex is merely a pleasurable side effect, an enjoyable physical function, what we truly desire is to be loved in turn, to be allowed to love our partners and give them the pleasure they desire. At that point any inhibitions against the strange thing I had become disappeared and I knew and understood my purpose, and accepted it with joy.
As we headed back to the party; which was still going strong, we ran into #67 and a male fox like alien, the main difference being he had rose colored fur with a white mask and stockings on his feet, and #67 was well on her way to taking on a vixen like form complete with fur made from fine villi, and you couldn't tell it from the real thing. I ran do over to her, and rubbing my snout against her 'muzzle' I hissed,
"Isn't it wonderful #67? I know, I understand now! Isn't it wonderful!?"
She gave a happy growl as her own transformation was finished now, and said in a gravely sounding voice, "Of course it is, it's what we are, what we do."
"I love you", I hissed.
"I love you too, she said, we'll get...together again, later. I have to go now; my mate is waiting for me."
The iguana lady and I went back to the party, and after a last nuzzle she moved off into the crowd. She had been my first non-GALF lover, my first mating as I had performed the function I had been created for the first time. I loved her, and would always remember her and the pleasure we'd shared. A GALF remembers all its lovers. And since the Madam ZuZu stayed docked with the 'Giver' for close to two ship weeks I got to mate with her several more times, at least once a day as a matter of fact. And also numerous other partners, including every other GALF from the other ship. And each of them 'taught' me all the new forms they had 'learned', downloading the data to me while we joined and made love to one another in our own special way. We often grew sexual organs to make the joining more complete, but sometimes we didn't. It was amazing how may there were, quite a few had basic similarities as in male/female, but some were downright bizarre. Of course even with our abilities there were some forms we couldn't assume; such as gaseous or mineral based, but in most cases those aliens had no interest in sex, or at least in what we thought of as sex. It was a good learning experience for me as both crews enjoyed the company of the other and I got a broad range sampling of any different forms and types.
The only one strangely absent from the revelry was Captain Gord, even Madam Zuzu put in the occasional appearance from time to time, to the raucous delight of everybody. Madam Zuzu was one of the larger aliens and looked like a brown dragon with smooth plastic skin, minus the wings. She was the owner and 'madam' of the Madam Zuzu's crew of GALF's and prostitutes. From what I learned she had started out as a sex slave to another alien race, had somehow managed to buy her freedom, and had gone into business herself, adopting or buying a motley collection of poor and abused refuse no one else wanted and giving them a home, including some horribly mistreated GALF's. To say her crew, GALF's included, loved her was an understatement. Even the ones she bought were not considered slaves, they could leave anytime they wanted to, but few ever did, and many that did came back. All except for the GALF's, they couldn't leave even they wanted to, they wouldn't know what to do. Though she was a shrewd and tough business being her heart was as big as she was. But while Captain Gord never partook of the 'services' of his GALF's, she did occasionally. It was a shame she didn't more often though, we all found her extremely desirable. But evidently she and the Captain had an old romance that had been going on for years, and they spend most of their time locked in the biggest suite on the ship. Whether they had sex, just talked, or both, it was good for the Captain. He always looked refreshed whenever he emerged from the room for awhile.
When it was finally time for the Madam Zuzu to leave it was sad and happy at the same time. I was devastated as #67 was of course leaving as it/she belonged to Madam Zuzu. We spent the last night together in a deep and total joining, so at least when we parted we left a little of each other behind. One by one couples and small groups said their goodbyes, the GALF's hissing quietly as they rubbed snouts with one another. The last was Madam Zuzu, escorted by Captain Gord in his; to me ridiculous looking, best dress uniform, I thought he looked like a bellhop. I gave a final wave to the GALF operating their airlock controls, and then just stood and stared at the hatch until the Ship gave a faint shudder as the Madam Zuzu broke free. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder,
"We'll see them all again, #8 said, they have an arrangement so we can exchange new forms data with their GALF's, and of course so we can see old friends again, both GALF's and otherwise. It's mutually profitable, and of course lots of fun and good way to blow off steam and relax."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it relaxing. I hissed, I've never been so busy in my life."
"True, but it WAS fun though, wasn't it?" #8 hissed in amusement.
"Oh yes, it was wonderful." I said as I hugged #8, much to his surprised delight. "I know now, I understand." I said, and I didn't have to tell him what I meant. I was a GALF now, completely and totally.
"I'm glad, #8 said as he hugged me back, our colors flashing happily; it's always easier once you do. Come on, we need to go to the bridge and keep an eye on the Captain, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
I hissed in amusement, "Oh come on, he's not THAT bad!"
"Are you kidding? #8 hissed, he docked us in the exhaust port of a Klarg battle cruiser once when he was drunker than usual. We almost had to abandon ship! Luckily their main drive was shut down."
"Liar!" I hissed as I scampered after him down the passageway.
"No, really, #8 replied, I made a recording; I'll show it to you later. It's why the AI won't let him out of his cabin when he's really blasted. Don't remind him though, he'll just get upset."
We reached the bridge just as a com operator said, "The Madam Zuzu just dropped into main/alternate drive Captain, her destination is in Sector 9, a planet called Caldrone."
After hearing that the Captain got up and left the bridge; just as we arrived, so we turned around and scampered down the passageway after him. He's a kind of alligator, tiger centaur or something. Take an alligator; give it four long legs, orange and white stripped fur instead of scales, and a fairly human looking arms and torso with a gators head and you the idea. Oh, and add nasty fangs and claws. He was bigger, and faster, then a GALF. So when he 'trotted' we really had to scramble to keep up. Good thing we don't breathe or we'd have been out of breath trying to keep up him. He's the ship's Captain, owner, and only 'normal' crewmember. He's also our owner, my owner. At first I'd been pretty upset at the idea of being owned, but now I understood; we need it, we need to be told what to do. We have very little self initiative, that's not very desirable in a slave. You tell us to do something and we will do it with a single mindedness bordering on obsession. We take our 'duties' and any commands very seriously because we're happiest when we have a purpose. But we enjoy 'down time' too. We don't really 'sleep', but can kind of go dormant when we want to. For us 'down time' means being able to find another GALF and make love in our own unique way, though we often take on various 'favorite' forms and do it the 'normal' way as well. Being able to assume forms that are male, female, hetro, or 'other' sexes makes for some very interesting and enjoyable sex and/or joining. We're pretty insatiable I'm afraid, and many consider us sexual monsters. Of course we also receive training in ships systems; I'm being trained as a purser, and play games, as in total immersion reality games. The games are fantastic, we literally jack in to the gaming computer and it becomes 100% real. And to my surprise some of the games are from earth, evidently the one thing humans are really good at is creating games, and aliens pirate them and adapt them to their own gaming systems. HALO was really popular, as well as other space and fantasy games.
It would turn out we were going in the opposite direction from the Madam ZuZu, to an artificial planetoid built around an asteroid called 'The Forge' for some reason, it was a giant shipyard and repair docks. The "Bringer" was overdue for a main engines overhaul. The main drive was leaking radiation and needed the shields and drive cores replaced. So long as only GALF's were working in the engine spaces that was fine as we 'eat' radiation, we actually absorb it for energy and don't re- radiate, we don't even set off a detector. We soak it up like a sponge and neutralize it somehow. Go down to engineering and there are usually a half dozen or more off duty GALF's draped over the core housing soaking up the warm radiation with hisses of pleasure. But soon it would start to leak into the crew and passenger sections, which couldn't be allowed for obvious reasons. We had to limp to 'The Forge' on half power so it took quite awhile, but time is relative to a GALF. To us time was measure more in 'when was the next time we'd dock with the Madam Zuzu' again than anything else.
When we arrived #8 and I got to accompany the Captain when he went to register the ship and arrange for the overhaul. The rest of the GALF's would be brought out of stasis as soon as he'd rented a section of the station to set up business in, that was where our sexual services would be sold while we were docked. Since only a certain number of GALF's were needed to crew the ship the rest were put in stasis between stops, and if they were also trained crewmen then it was rotated. Some preferred to remain in stasis though as much as possible, but I was scared of the thought of going to sleep like that, it would be like being dead, and the stasis pods looked like coffins. What if I never woke up again?? This would be the first time I was put to 'work', and I was nervous, as in scared shitless. More that I would make a mistake then for any other reason. While the Captain made arrangements #8 and I waited in another room, and #8 could tell I was nervous, my lights flashing fitfully and dimly.
"You'll be fine #75, he said, just do the same thing you did with the normals from the Madam Zuzu. The only difference is they'll pay for your services."
"Yeah, I hissed, but they were kind of like us, I mean, they get paid for sex with anything that they're compatible with."
"We don't get paid anything, #8 reminded me; the Captain does. He'll establish a rental rate for us based on the local economy, and a customer will pick up you out and take you to a room to be serviced. Don't worry, you'll catch on fast, and enjoy it as much as ever."
"I'm sorry, I hissed, I know, it just seems, so, so, impersonal and...wrong."
"Why? He said, we need it, our customers need it. We're perfect for this as we take on a form they find attractive, we don't need any protective devices like condoms, and we don't carry, and can't catch, any diseases, venereal or otherwise. We're sterile, the bugs can't live in us, and we can't get, or make, anything pregnant. No ovaries or sperm. It's much worse for a 'normal' who's a prostitute; they take all sorts of chances."
"Yeah, I guess, I hissed, it's just so, so strange."
"You'll be fine, #8 said, you'll learn to love it as much as the rest of us. And we need the money; or the Captain does, the Bringer is expensive to keep up and run, and she's our home."
About that time our little heart to heart (actually we don't have hearts) was broken up when the Captain came storming out of the station's dock masters office with a loud,
"What a fucking rip-off! And the exchange rate sucks too! I could do the overhaul myself, cheaper! #8, the rate is ether 25 credits an hour, or 40 station chips; whatever the Hell those are. And NO solar dollars, their banks just went belly up. Use your own judgment if you're offered other means of payment. We can always use other currencies if they're worth anything. Now, you and #75 head back on over to the entertainment section and open up for business, I'm going to snoop around and find out what's going on, see if I can find a good location for our next stop."
"Yes Captain", #8 hissed.
The Captain, seeing me just standing there looking kind of forlorn and at a loss, squatted down and putting a clawed finger under my snout, he said. "You're a smart one #75, you'll be fine." Then he clopped off down the passageway. I watched him go with mixed feelings, the main one gratitude. In his own way he does treat us well and takes good care of us, and we are fiercely loyal. I'd heard from some of my fellow GALF's how they'd been treated before the Captain got them, and shuddered, realizing how lucky I really was. I could almost forgive him for kidnapping me and having me made into a new GALF. Of course I could have ended up as another kind of GALF, or just a regular slave. GALF's had been created for other purposes then just pleasure, there are many different kinds and many perform specialized labors and duties in environments and/or working conditions deadly to most normal beings. In fact Pleasure GALF's are quite rare, there are only a few of hundred of us at most. It is now 'illegal' to 'make' anymore; and we are banned as 'abominations' in many systems. I could have ended up as a 'sanitary GALF', huge slug like things that crawl through sewers keeping them clear by eating all the shit and garbage. I shuddered again, yes, in a way I was lucky.
As we moved through the passageways on our way back to our temporary quarters we were pretty much ignored seeing as most aliens paid about as much attention to us as they would a vending machine. Unless they were horny, then they treated us like a vending machine that sold sex. On the way back several aliens asked us questions like 'Where are you set up?' 'How much?' 'What are your hours?' etc. Captain Gord had also posted a notice in the 'Station News 7 Announcements' readouts, so by the time we got back business was already starting, 'customers' waiting to pick out the GALF they wanted. #8 and a couple of other GALF's were in charge of accepting payments; except when their services were wanted. I joined the other GALF's on 'display' in small booths. You went down a narrow hallway with doors opening into the booths. You stood there on display and waited until a buzzer sounded and/or light flashed to let you know you'd been selected, then you left the booth to meet the customer, and another GALF took your place in the booth until they were selected. It was efficient, well run, simple, practical, and horribly degrading. But at the same time strangely...exciting. I watched the potential customers as they examined us, and I guess they made their choices based on color as otherwise we were identical, though some more experience GALF's put on 'light shows'. I found myself wondering, hoping, which one would pick me?? I didn't have long to wait. The light flashed, and I left the booth and went to a 'reception' area to meet whatever had rented me. #14, a yellow, said "Two hours, the customer is in room four, be sure to set the timer." I didn't say anything, just went to the room indicated. As I went I passed other GALF's and customers, both coming and leaving. Some of the ones leaving were holding hands with their GALF's, pleased expressions on both their, and the GALF's faces. Seeing that made me feel better, almost eager.
Some customers preferred we took on the forms they wanted before we met them in the rooms, others didn't specify that. So I was in my real form when I timidly knocked on the door and let myself in. As I'd been instructed I threw the heavy manual bolt to secure the door, and activated a timer, in two hours it would chime to let us know the customer's time was up. And so I met my first 'John'. As soon as I had smelled, and seen him, I began to change, and he watched as if fascinated. He was a Siikes, a rat like mammalian race that is fairly common; they do a lot of the 'grunt' work at industrialized sites. They're strong, and work cheap. He was an older male, and looked tired. He really was rat like, right down to a pink scaly looking tail, hands and feet more like paws, thick wiry fur, a rat like head, and an external ballsack and penis sheath. The main thing that gave him away as being an alien and of no real relation to a rat was his four eyes, big brown sad ones, and his five fingers; six counting his thumbs, and six toes. I finished changing and looked down at myself. I looked pretty much like him now, except I had eight small breasts, and I could feel my 'vagina' at the base of my own scaly tail, it was amazing. I also had four eyes, but they were all blue sapphires. He was a dark black color, and so was I but with a definite blue tint, there is no way we can completely change our natural color. He didn't seem to mind. He wrinkled his large wet nose, and said,
"You smell nice."
"So do you", I replied. And he did, he had a nice male scent which I found very attractive. Even though I was male before I became a GALF I found I no longer had any real gender 'preference'. I walked over and sat down next to him, and he sniffed the fur on my neck and his whiskers tickled, making me giggle. He smiled, and rubbed his nose against mine in his race's version of a kiss, and I rubbed back. It was amazing how quickly we became relaxed and at ease with one another. I gave a soft squeal of pleasure when he gently ran his paws over my eight small breasts, my large rubbery nipples hardening. When I saw he only three fingers on one hand I squeaked in distress and licked the old wound, how horrible I thought. Had he the money he could have had them re-grown. I caressed and fondled his balls, two of them, quite large, and licked his oddly fluted/twisted shaped penis as it slid from his sheath, also quite large. For our first coupling I got down on all fours, crouching and lifting my tail for him, and squealed in pleasure when he mounted me, and he squealed and squeaked as he serviced me. To my surprise he 'literally' screwed me, his penis rotating as it penetrated my sex.
I squeaked and chittered as it felt absolutely wonderful, and he was gentle and considerate of his partner. When he climaxed it triggered my own release, and I gave a long shrill squeal of ecstasy, and he groaned in relief. When he'd started he'd been so tense, but in between couplings; his race are capable of numerous couplings over short periods of time, I massaged his shoulders and chest muscles, and he gave little squeaks of pleasure. For the last coupling he took me long and slow while I lay on my back on the edge of the bed with him standing between my kicking legs, his hands firmly gripping my narrow waist. I clawed at him gently, 'panting', moaning from the pleasure he was giving me. Then when he was done he lay down with me, and we just kissed as he stroked my sensitive nipples until his time was up. Afterwards he looked twenty years younger. As we left the room he gave me one final 'kiss', and left without a word. I watched him go, worried about his crippled hand, and realized I loved him, as I would love all of my 'customers'. It's said once someone had bought the services of a GALF no other lover can quite measure up to one.
As I went back to a booth I was already changing again, and by the time I arrived I was back in my own form. A short time later the light flashed again. My next customer was as female from an avian race, the next another male Siike, and so on. Some were gentle or almost shy; others quite aggressive and sometimes brutal, often depending on their species. For some to couple successfully they had to 'subdue' their 'mate'. We didn't begrudge them that, fact is we enjoyed it as much as they did. The only thing we would object to was outright; unnecessary, brutality. We would endure it if we had to while we were with the customer, but that individual would never find another GALF willing to service them as we can 'mark' them for others to avoid. Plus; in our case, when the Captain found out that individual had better be far away and moving fast. And so it went for several days almost nonstop. And I loved them all, gave them as much pleasure as I could, and they all seemed happy with my services, which pleased me. One left me a piece of tinfoil folded in the shape of a beautiful flower, much like origami. I still have it; we're allowed to keep trinkets and gifts like that. Whenever I look at it I remember that particular lover and smile.
Though we don't have to sleep we do have to have time to ourselves, we just don't get much of it. I spent most of my 'down time' joining with other GALF's to get to know them better, and to exchange data. Most of them had new forms to 'teach' me since I was one of the new GALF's. Plus we were learning new forms constantly, there are thousands of sentient space faring species and beings. My fellow former humans were all there too, and I was delighted to see #76, #77, and #78. We hissed in pleasure as we rubbed snouts, and like myself they'd all completely accepted what they'd become, and what their purpose for existing was now. They thought it was just as strange and wonderful as I did. I spent an entire break joined with #76 who had been a female human named Mary; she was now a lovely dark green GALF. To my surprise we'd both gone to the same High School and I'd known her older brother, but had never met her directly. The memories didn't bother us that much anymore, that life was gone forever, and we found it hard to even relate to it anymore. It was nice to 'meet' someone though, who could relate to you even more than most other GALF's. We'd found out the hard way that the universe was not a nice place, and that most alien races were pretty much the same as the human race of which we'd once been members, with all their failings and more. In fact, humans had pretty decent morals compared to a lot of more 'advanced' races. As usual the ones with the biggest guns and most money pretty much ran things. If you had something they wanted, they just took it. The rest just kept a low profile and tried to get by.
So far as I could figure there were four 'empires'. One was old and slowly collapsing from its own size, two were new and expanding, and another was very stable. Two were very civilized and had largely just and benevolent laws, the old one was the same but corrupt, and the other you wanted to stay as far away from as possible. Two of the 'nice' empires were currently at war with the 'bad' one. Plus there were all sorts of republics, democracies, dictatorships, theocracies, religious movements, and other wanna-be empires, and everything else in between including some really bizarre 'governments'. And many 'rogue' systems and lots and lots of pirates, some worse than others. Mostly worse.
To my delight one of my last customers was the crippled Siikes who had rented me first. He came back and actually waited over an hour until I was available again, and rented me for an hour. He could have taken any other GALF since we're identical, but he wanted me. When I found out that was all he could afford I was appalled to find out the 25 credits it took to rent my services for an hour was almost a week's pay for a laborer. So I had a talk with #8 and got him another two hours 'on the house' by arranging to work during one of my 'breaks'. I didn't mind, I loved him. He was a gentle lover and treated me like a real female of his species, and I could tell he desperately needed the relief I could provide. Evidently only the males ventured forth from their home planet in search of work, the females stayed behind. This time when his time was up he held my paw until we reached the exit. I never saw him again, but I never forgot him. It's funny, you'd think with all the 'business' we do our 'lovers' would be a blur, but we always recognize a previous customer even though it may be years before we see them again. It's part of being a GALF. I think their scent triggers a memory.
I spent almost the whole remaining time at the repair station in a booth or one of the rooms servicing a customer, which was fine with me. Once #8 called me on the com and I met up with him at the room Captain Gord had rented for himself, and helped him to drag the Captain the rest of the way into it. He was drunk as usual, as in totally brain dead plastered to the max. Plus he'd been rolled, and his credit ring and jewelry were all gone. #8 canceled the credit line right away, but some had already been spent, but not a lot. He doubted the station police would even bother looking for the criminal, said they might have done it themselves. A visiting Captain from an obsolete ship didn't rate much protection in their view. We stripped him; he'd barfed all over himself of course, and managed to get him in the shower unit. I got the fun job of holding him up; hissing in disgust, while #8 hosed us both off. Then we toweled him off, and put him in the Tolgdon sized bed, which was pretty big as he was the size of a horse. #8 crawled in next to him, and looking at me with his bright violet sapphire eyes, said,
"Thanks for the help #75, I'll take care of him now. You go back to the others."
"You sure, I said, looking at the loudly snoring Captain, I don't mind hanging around."
"No, he'll sleep it off now, #8 said, I'll just make sure he doesn't sleep walk or get any booze again for awhile. Thanks though."
"OK, I said, call if you need me." As I walked back to the booths I heard two crewman; or crewthings, from other ships talking to one another, and I froze when heard a name I recognized; and one advantage in being considered a 'thing' by most people is they tend to not pay much attention to you. So far as they were concerned the bright blue neon lizard was just another inanimate object.
"Hey buddy, ain't seen you in a while. What you been doing with yourself?" The first alien, a bat like Rikkian chattered."
The second alien, a lizard like Gillian, hissed, "Just got in from Sector 9, made a run on a blue line freighter. Good thing we had an escort, damn pirates almost got us anyway though. They have been really active in that sector lately, ever since the old Caldrone Hegemony collapsed. We picked up a distress call from some tub called the Madam ZuZu, but couldn't do nothing accept limp to the nearest port as we'd lost an engine nacelle and our escort couldn't leave us alone crippled like that."
"Sounds rough, the Rikkian said, that story deserves a drink, come on, I'm buying."
With a loud despairing hiss I dropped back to all fours and scampered as fast as I could back to the Captain's cabin. I keyed the entry pad, but an "Occupied, Do Not Disturb" sign flashed. I screeched and pounded on the door until #8 opened it with an angry, "I told you to go back to the others! He's trying to sleep!"
"The Madam Zuzu, I hissed, I heard two aliens talking, they said she's been attacked by pirates in Sector 9!"
Several things happened very fast after my announcement, #8 sat on the Captain's chest and poured the Tolgdon equivalent of coffee down his throat and slapped his muzzle; alternating between cold showers (you got it, I got to support him again), until he finally came around with a very unhappy roar; after throwing #8 off more then once, which got even unhappier when he heard the news. One good bit of luck is while we were still in the process of bringing the Captain back from the dead we got notification the engine overhaul was complete and the 'Bringer' was ready for space again. Then as soon as the Captain was sober; sort of, we paid our tab, shut down shop; giving refunds to customers who still had time on the clock, and piled onboard the ship and were ready to go in record time, and screw safety procedures.
And at that point we really didn't have the slightest idea as to what we were going to do. But for now we set a course for Sector 9, at what I liked to call 'warp speed', though I honestly had no idea of how the engines worked. It was as fast as the AI could get the old 'Bringer' to go though. But she wasn't a slug, the old luxury liner was much faster than a regular freighter or barge hauler, but a military ship would run circles around us. As soon as things settled down a bit the AI informed us of a 'all hands' mandatory meeting in the main lounge, which included everyone as the non-crew GALF's hadn't been put back in 'storage' yet. If we weren't needed to help run the ship, or where 'working', we got put in stasis until the next stop. Nice, huh? I was very glad I was a crew member in-training. I don't how I'd have handled being woken up at irregular intervals to perform sexually for days on end nonstop, only to go back on ice when I wasn't needed anymore. It wasn't that bad, though, almost all the GALF's had some sort of crew jobs, so were rotated.
But now the whole crew was awake, every last one of us, so the large lounge was packed with brightly glowing; very worried, lizards. We rubbed and brushed against one another for comfort, our lights flashing and rippling across our bodies, the large crowd amazingly quiet. We all had friends, and lovers, on the Madam ZuZu. Of all the pleasure GALF's that had been created to date the vast majority were in two locations, onboard the Bringer and the ZuZu, with a few odd ones who were who knew where, and some of them had been 'kidnapped'. So the ZuZu's GALF's were the closest thing to a family that we had. It was like losing dozens of brothers and sisters you loved. The lights dimmed and the worried hissing died away as #8 and Captain Gord entered the lounge. Captain Gord was wearing a kind of uniform I'd never seen before, and while most of his usual get-ups were downright stupid and/or funny looking (in my opinion), this one was not. It had the look of being a 'real' one, not some made up costume. He reared up on a podium, and instead of talking through our implanted comlinks he spoke out loud.
"You're all worried, and so am I. Here's what I've been able to find out. Roughly six weeks ago the Madam ZuZu sent out a distress call from somewhere inside the borders of Sector 9. She reported being under attack from an unidentified and unknown ship, or ships. A Caldrone Navy cutter went to her aid, reported engaging the attacker or attackers, and then contact was lost with both ships. A sweep found the wreckage of the cutter, but no sign of the ZuZu. Right now the former Caldrone Hegemony is in chaos due to the collapse of the economy, so they were unable to make a more thorough search as their navy is stretched thin. Since the ZuZu's wreckage wasn't' found I'm going to assume she wasn't destroyed. GALF's are valuable; you all know that, so more likely she was taken as a prize. By who and/or what remains unknown, but piracy had been on the rise in that sector for some time. It is my intention to pick up the search where the Caldrone Navy left off. Due to your, um, low upkeep, and the recent overhaul, we can keep searching almost indefinitely until we either have to give up, or find out what happened. Don't get your hopes up, space is big and the ZuZu; and her crew, could be anywhere. Even if we do find her we may not be able to do anything. So that's where we're heading to start the search, Sector 9. That's all for now, return to your duties. #8, #75, come with me. And that was it, no big pep talk, no rousing speech. And we weren't asked about our opinion concerning the whole crazy 'charge to the rescue', but he didn't need to ask. We belonged to him, the ZuZu was family, and we would follow unquestioningly.
The Captain was right about GALF's being low on the 'upkeep'. We don't breathe, we don't eat or drink, and we don't produce any waste. We don't even sleep in the usual sense of the word, and can survive in just about any kind of environment including hard vacuum. Some would argue we weren't really even alive. But we walk, talk, play, make love, and enjoy life. If that's not alive, what is? We're certainly not robots or AI's. But I'm wrong in one way I guess, we do eat, sort of, in that we absorb background radiation and energy, even light. We're not energy vampires or anything; we just gobble up whatever is thrown off by the sources, we just soak it up like sponges. It's automatic, we're not even aware of it unless its intense radiation which feels kind of like warm sunlight as it sleets through us. It's not even that unusual, many races; humans included, derive some nourishment from sunlight and other sources other than directly ingesting food or other nutrients. We also absorb any sexual fluids that are deposited in our bodies, and sometimes drink a kind of thick goo when we're working to help replenish the fluids our bodies produce to provide lubrication and allow us to 'ejaculate' into female customers if we're not absorbing enough fluids from our other 'lovers' to 'keep our levels up'. I guess it's a kind of artificial cum. But that's about it. So, yes, we make cheap pets. We're also very clean and tidy as we don't' wear clothes, need to take baths; though we like to, or own anything.
It was quite a distance to Sector 9, so after a day or two things started to settle back to a more; or less, normal routine. The Captain pretty much stayed holed up in his cabin most of the time; nothing unusual there, and #8 and I were kept busy taking care of him. One major difference though, he wasn't drunk most of the time. In fact I don't think he'd taken a drink since his bender at the Repair Station. Instead he spent most of his time on the computer doing research. Once he had us drop into normal space so he could visit a civilized planet and look for more information, and he downloaded a ton of stuff into the Bringers mainframe. Then there was one other incident.
I was in the recreation area with another GALF that was usually one of those put into 'storage' between stops, and we were in the middle of a fairly intense joining, but not totally joined yet, when I was called to the bridge. We hated to stop, we were so close, but an order was an order. So we separated, and rubbed snouts. We'd finish what we'd started later. And I scampered to the bridge as fast as I could, no longer needing to use the bars to show the way, I knew the Bringer like the back of my hand now. Just before I got there general quarters sounded, and the passageways were instantly filled with GALF's, their lights flashing brightly as they ran to their battle stations. Since mine was on the bridge I just kept going. As I entered the bridge, the Captain and #8 were already there, and I heard a com operator hiss,
"The unidentified ship has answered our hail Captain, she says she has the 'special cargo' you ordered."
"Very good, Captain Gord replied, tell them we'll send a shuttle to pick up the cargo. Weapons, lock-on visually, but don't paint her with targeting sensors, we don't want to alarm our, uh, friends." Then he nodded as affirmatives came pouring in from the weapons stations.
I just stood there and tried not to get in the way, or be noticed. I was still pretty much a 'newbie', so just watched. I could see the lights from our shuttle as it intercepted the dark shape of the other ship. Both ships were in 'silent mode'. Then a short time later it returned, and as it was docking the Captain said,
"Tell her cargo received and acceptable, thank you and have a safe voyage." And a minute later the other ship dropped into main/alternate drive and disappeared from the sensors.
GQ was ended, and I heard the AI chime, and say in my ear, "All off-duty GALF's will report to cargo bay four immediately. Attendance is mandatory." So I joined the flow of GALF's filling the passageways as we headed for the cargo bay, our lights flashing curiously as we 'asked' one another what was going on. If anyone knew they didn't say.
The Captain and #8 beat me, so I guess they must have run the whole way, at least faster than I had, or had a secret passageway or something. When I reached the cargo bay the Captain was standing next to several fairly large battered metal containers, and #8 was in the process of opening them. I craned my neck along with all the other craning necks as we tried to see inside the boxes as #8 pried the lids off. To say we were surprised when we saw what was inside is an understatement, we were shocked, the hold echoing with loud hisses.
"This, Captain Gord said, holding up a helmet and breastplate, is Pantean body armor. The other crates contain assorted power weapons and other equipment. It's older stuff, but all in good condition and useable. We are going to assemble, and train, a strike force of forty GALF's. We will start with those who had the best scores from the virtual immersion games. They will at least have some idea as to how to use this stuff as it's not that much different from the armor and weapons in some of the games. I'd ask for volunteers, but since you'd ALL volunteer I'll make the selection based on other considerations. That's all for now, I'll let you know the 'lucky' winners in two days.
As I followed #8 back to the Captain's cabin I hissed, "I don't understand #8, I thought we couldn't hurt anybody!"
"Normally yes, he hissed back, lights flashing, but in this case it's an exception. We are allowed to defend an owner, and ourselves if faced with destruction. We just can't attack another being for no reason, even if ordered to; we'd just kind of shut down and become catatonic for awhile. The Captain is fairly sure the ZuZu was taken by an insect race called the Krik, they're opportunists who like to take advantage of unrest and anarchy. Basically they're a nomadic race; no one knows where their home planet is, if they still have one. They wander from place to place raiding and looting, and deal in slaves, which means there's a good chance the GALF's and crew of the ZuZu are still alive. Unfortunately they are well organized and well armed, Krik fleets have been known to raid entire planets and systems. The only other possibility is other pirates, but everything points to the Krik. They know they're too strong for anything short of a real navy to take on, so are pretty arrogant. The Captain thinks we can use that against them, they won't be expecting a quick to-the-heart attack from a single ship and handful of 'Marines'. And also; hopefully, the Pantean body armor and weapons will help; they're scared to death of the Pantean's. If it's regular pirates, pretty much the same.
"Seems pretty crazy to me, I said. But can we do it, I mean; we're supposed to be 'lovers', not fighters."
"Well, we'll find out, won't we?" #8 flashed in reply.
Two days later a list was posted, and the numbers announced by the AI. I was the seventh number on it. I never in a million years would have thought being so good at playing games would get me in such deep shit. Every former human GALF was also on the list. The 'lucky chosen' were ordered to repot to cargo bay four. Off-duty GALF's could come to, if they wanted. Every single one did.
Slowly a circle opened around the cluster of GALF's chosen to be 'Pantean Space Marines'. Our own lights were much more subdued then the others as we looked at one another. Finally things settled down, the lights faded, and Captain Gord said,
"Good, now those chosen will line up and #8 and #63 will issue you a full suit of body armor. Since it is designed to be worn by Pantean's you will take on that form, but since they're reptiles it's pretty similar to your own form. And you will maintain that form and wear the armor from now until we reach our destination, and will train daily. In two more days the weapons will be issued, but for now I want you to get used to the armor. I want it to feel like your own skin, want you to become so used to wearing it you don't even know it's there. While you train the rest of us are going to turn the Bringer in a Pantean light cruiser.
I was handed a helmet, breastplate, greaves, arm guards, power pack, and all the other components of a Pantean Space Marines body armor. I dragged it to a fairly clear spot and, and along with dozens of other GALFs began to change my form. The Panteans are a reptilian race, a very belligerent and military oriented one. They have their own small empire which they defend ruthlessly, and also hire out as mercenaries. Not cheap, but worth it. Wants butts kicked, call the Pantean's. Problem is sometimes they forget who they're working for, and a new planet gets added to the empire. They're really not all that different in basic form from a GALF, being bipedal lizards. But they are larger with thicker bodies, have more heavily muscled hind legs, and very nasty fangs and claws. They reminded me of a small Allosaurus or raptor. Mean and nasty looking, and very antisocial, at least towards other races. In order to take on a larger size we inflate hollow spaces inside of our bodies as basically we're already a solid. Sometimes we'll drink lots of the 'goo' or water to fill the spaces to add weight and bulk, which is what we did now. Soon I was twice as big as 'normal' and clad in full body armor, I felt, and looked, something like, Godzilla in armor. I looked like a Pantean right down to the fangs, only my bluer coloring might have been a giveaway as most of them are brown to green colored, but in the armor no one could tell anyway. Pantean's are customers of ours; at least the males, from time to time so we had that form 'memorized', both male and female. The females are even larger, but the bulk of their soldiers are males. Which was good, as any bigger and we would have had trouble moving around the ship. As it was we had to watch our heads going through hatches. Now it was time to get 'used' to the armor and our new forms. It was comical at first as we kept tripping over things and one another. We would also keep the helmets faceplates darkened so our gemlike eyes wouldn't give us way, we can change their shape and size, but not their color or gemlike sparkle and "X" shaped pupils. So I went from Pleasure GALF to Pantean storm troopers, at least for an unknown period of time.
One thing that was good was the armor was fairly simple and easy to learn to use. It had some power augmentation to the legs, but the balance was all muscle power. And we had good muscle tone being basically a solid plastic like material. So the suits weren't very heavy at all, it was the bulk that took getting used to, that and our larger size. But if GALF's are anything we're fast learners, and soon we were wearing our armor like a second skin. We begin to drill and practice Pantean military protocol and tactics. We broke up into four squads of ten each, six basic 'troopers', two heavy weapons operators, one communications trooper, and a squad leader. No medic, we didn't need them and the Pantean's didn't use them either, if you got hurt you were pretty much on your own. And guess who got to be fearless leader of our little army, you got it, yours truly. My extensive 'knowledge' of 'military protocol' was why I was chosen. The fact it was from two years of ROTC in High School and playing a lot of games wasn't important, I had more than anyone else, end of argument. Despite all the whining and hissing, at least on my part, and at least one tantrum. Let's just say I was not thrilled. I got my armor fancied up by the addition of painted rank insignia identifying me as a 'Leader of Four Assault Units', each group of ten being called an 'Assault Unit'. It was basically the equivalent of a junior officer, or maybe senior NCO. To 'beef up' our planned impersonation of a Pantean warship another ten GALF's trained in standard Pantean onboard crew body armor and uniforms, and as an afterthought; mentioned by me, four more were given Pantean Marines armor and trained as 'staff & communications support' troops. We studied Pantean military manuals, and learned to drill, march, and act like Pantean Marines, right down to saluting 'superiors' if we passed them in one of the passageways. We also practiced the sibilant Pantean speech. When we change shape it includes vocal cords or other sound producing organs as well; and we also 'know' how to speak the language of the being whose form we're mimicking, so we sounded just like real Panteans.
Then came the weapons training, which actually went better than expected. Not having any distractions; such as breathing or getting tired of remaining in one position for a long time, we were deadly accurate shots. No holding your breath before squeezing the trigger required. Plus the energy weapons had no recoil, none. The only thing that did were a kind of multiple choice grenade launchers that every trooper had as part of their basic weapon, and the rocket launcher/mortar the heavy weapons troopers carried, they could be fired line-of-sight, plunging fire, or fire & forget. We had slightly older model weapons, but doubted if anyone would notice. They were designed for combat in space or onboard ship, so while the bolts would take out just about anything and penetrate most body armor, they wouldn't cause extensive damage to a ship's systems or hopefully hole the hull. Explosive decompression during a space battle can be bad for both sides. We also had an assortment of hand thrown grenades, with everything from HE and stun to gas and nerve 'shatterer's'. The nerve nade was nasty, it short circuited your nerves for several minutes leaving you totally paralyzed no matter what kind of armor. That is unless you were a GALF, use one on us and it just tingles. We found that out when one went off by accident during training. We had plenty of time too, which was a big help. And by the time we reached Sector 9 we were a very reasonable facsimile of a Pantean Space Marines unit. Now the question was, would anyone believe it?
While we drilled and trained, then drilled some more, the rest of the crew was busy 'camouflaging' the ship. Fortunately her basic size and shape was pretty close to the type of warship we wanted to impersonate. The hull had fake, and real, weapons blisters, communications clusters & antennae, and other additions added. Viewing ports and hatches were either concealed and/or sealed, the engine exhaust nacelles were altered, several fake ones added and the others reconfigured. We even changed the insides of the two main airlocks and the bridge to look like the inside of a Pantean warship. Last we added a name and crest to the hull identifying us as the "PNV Hunters Moon", which was an actual vessel in the Pantean Navy, if anyone wanted to check. The real ship was a light cruiser; a quick strike raider, known for extremely aggressive tactics and seldom showing mercy. I had to admit from outside we looked mean and nasty, bristling with weapons, not all fake. We were not without our own teeth, for a 'luxury liner' we were quite well armed and able to take care of ourselves. The Bringer was no pushover, and for our little adventure even more weapons were added including torpedoes and rocket launchers. The main difference between the two was missiles were long range, torpedoes for up close. And of course we had every manner of energy weapons, out nastiest being a Class 2 pulse laser. Nope, definitely not what you'd expect from an old luxury liner full of Pleasure GALF's and one crazy Tolgdon. Due to our programming not to injure any intelligent beings I was pretty concerned we might not be able to fight if it came to that, but #8 said we would. It would appear the Bringer had been in some scrapes before. He said so long as we were protecting the Captain or other normal's who were friend's we'd do just fine. Plus we were pissed off too.
We had held off on the final alterations to the hull until after we had visited a Calderone Naval base to get the latest information they had. We didn't dock, just dropped out space out of viewing range, and asked for the information. Said we were investigating an insurance claim on the loss of the Madam ZuZu. Since nothing was classified they sent us the info, we thanked them, and the dropped back into main/alternate drive and went on our merry way. Most likely to get blasted into space dust.
As we approached the coordinates the ZuZu and Calderone Cutter had given as their last location during the battle we put the final touches on the Bringer. We also changed some systems and rigged false ones to give the same signatures of Pantean ones if we were scanned, which was likely. The AI, sneaky thing, even set up 'routine' Pantean 'chatter' on outgoing and onboard communications. It probably wouldn't fool a real Pantean naval vessel, but the chances of meeting one were astronomical. Pretty much as we expected we didn't find much at the coordinates except for some unidentifiable debris. Not enough to make up a whole ship though, except maybe the smaller Calderone naval vessel. This was reason for hope, it meant the ZuZu was probably captured fairly intact, or had limped off and was hiding somewhere.
We did a slow methodical sweep of the immediate vicinity out to maximum sensors range, and the Bringer had pretty damn good sensors for a vessel designed originally as a liner, and was now a mobile cathouse, or GALFhouse. I asked the AI about it once and the company that had originally built the Bringer had spared no expensive and put in what at the time was state of the art stuff. And space being what it was; a very dangerous place, they had given the new pride of their fleet the best possible weapons and other 'trimmings' available. I guess it made sense considering the richest and most powerful beings in many systems had used her for vacation and transport, and you'd want to protect clientele like that to the best of your ability. So while she might be old she was still a formidable ship. We established a regular search grid, but it would take a long time to search even a small area of space, that's the problem with space, it's BIG. Plus on the ground it's pretty easy to a do a thorough search; in space it's much harder because there's no up or down, right or left, nothing to go by to show you'd already searched an area except the coordinates. So we searched and scanned, scanned and searched.
On the first day of the second week we got to try out our disguise for the first time. The scanners detected a moderate sized ship approaching at high speed, and we activated all the Pantean props and got ready. Our 'Pantean' bridge crew put on their uniforms, and #8 put on one suitable for a high ranking Pantean Naval officer, and got in the Captains chair. Since Panteans wore armor even onboard their ships he kept his visor down to hide his giveaway GALF eyes. Otherwise he looked every bit a Pantean Senior-Captain. The lighting changed to a more red based spectrum to mimic Pantean normal lighting conditions.
As the other ship closed with us one of the scanner operators hissed, "It's a Walchian patrol vessel, Captain." He was talking to Captain Gord, who was standing off to one side, not the GALF imposter in the command chair.
"Walchian, huh?" Captain Gord snorted, what the hell are the weasels doing this far from home?"
"Walchian?" I hissed at #8. I'd never heard of them.
#8. Said, "They look kind of like weasels, they're a bunch of real prudes, they think sex is evil, and that GALF's or any other 'abominations' that 'corrupt the souls of the innocent' are going to go to their version of Hell. How they even manage to breed is beyond me, but there are a lot of them. If we were still the 'Bringer' instead of the Pantean Cruiser 'Hunters Moon' we might have trouble with them. If they found out GALF's were onboard they'd get all religious about it, and demand the abominations were destroyed. I doubt they'll want to mess with a Pantean warship though, even though we are technically out of our area of jurisdiction. Why don't you go stand behind the command chair, Pantean Space Marines scare the crap out of just about anyone or anything. Try to look mean and constipated."
"Sound like fun guys", I hissed as I moved to stand behind the command chair. That was a good idea; I looked bitching mean in my Pantean body armor. I snapped my visor shut and got ready, assuming a position of 'at ease'. Then as an afterthought I got out my Pantean service bayonet, really more like a sort sword with a serrated edge, and started playing with it.
"They're hailing us, the com operator hissed, they want to know who we are and what we're doing here."
"Identify us, and then tell its none of their business and to get stuffed and prepare to be boarded by an inspection team of Marines, under suspicion of being pirates." Captain Gord said.
I gave a nervous little hiss as the com operator hissed and snarled a reply, he sounded exactly like a Pantean. In addition to changing our form we can also change our vocal cords, or duplicate other ways of making audible sounds for communication.
"They're scanning us again!" A sensor operator hissed.
Captain Gord nodded, and said "Scan them back."
The com operator said, "They say they're the Walchian Naval Vessel "Taker" on deep space patrol searching for any sign of several Walchian merchant vessels that have gone missing in this area. They want to know what we're doing here."
Captain Gord snuffled in thought, then said, "Tell them the same reason, and that since they're a military vessel it won't be necessary to board them."
The com operator hissed, and then said, "They are requesting visual."
"Since we have nothing to hide, open a channel, main viewing screen". Captain Gord said.
Here we go I thought, time to look like a Pantean, mean and anti-social. As I watched the screen flickered into life, and I found myself staring at a tall skinny furry alien that; like #8 had said, looked amazingly like a weasel. I almost giggled; he looked kind of cute and cuddly. It yapped something at us, and the comset in my helmet translated,
"Greetings Captain, I suggest we aid in our search since you too also seek vessels taken by probably pirates. Give us the descriptions of the vessels which you seek, and we will relay such of our own missing vessels. Should we find any information we will be contacting you with sharing."
I heard Captain Gord say, using a direct comlink to the com operator, "Tell them that is acceptable, and send them the description of a couple of standard Pantean cargo vessels, and throw in the ZuZu and Caldrone Naval vessel as an 'afterthought' since they also disappeared in this sector.
A few minutes later the com operator hissed, "Got their data! They acknowledge receipt of ours too."
"Good, Captain Gord said, tell them good hunting and a sure kill", and then let's get the Hell out of here.
"They say thank you." The com operator hissed, and then the sensor operator said, "They're hauling ass."
"Resume the search." Captain Gord said.
"Well, that went well." I hissed, I hadn't even had to say anything or snarl at them, just look mean.
"Fooling weasels is one thing, Captain Gord said, fooling pirates won't be so easy, they know all the tricks. Stand down for now, but keep alert, they may come back. Resume search pattern." Then he left the bridge.
The End
**********************************************************************