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Eyes of the Beholder

"This is the scout ship Lantern, reporting in." Captain Ian Tanders said as he sat in the ship's communications array. "We have arrived at the target coordinates and found the planet designated Tengo-Xray-Charlie-2-6-4-1-9-0 after a successful warp jump. Early scans suggest a breathable atmosphere, though perhaps a bit heavy on certain gasses that while non-toxic may prove to be an irritant in the future before the terraforming process is used. Level 3 planetary protocol will be in effect until deep scans can be initiated, and our next report will be logged at this time in two days. Lantern signing out."

Ian signed as he sat back in the chair, watching as the confirmation of the message's sending showed up on his viewscreen. He hated having to send such frequent reports back to the GPC, especially being an older spacer that had deep roots in humanity's reach out into deep space. But ever since the events that took place on the science frigate Silvercobra the council had tightened the reins considerably on the exploration game. While it didn't surprise him, having an entirely new empire suddenly appear and then the events that followed on the Nightingale outpost station, it still didn't make it any less irritating for him as he walked out into the main body of the ship.

"Another successful status report?" said Ian's second-in-command, a young woman named Amanda Hunes that was still a bit green from the military academy. His last executive officer had recently been promoted to Captain of his own ship, and though they had been good friends and it pained him to see him go he couldn't have been happier for him. Unfortunately it left him in a bind, and though his new exo came highly recommended he still had yet to break her in with any long term missions.

Ian quickly realized that he had yet to respond to her question and merely nodded, handing her the tablet which contained the log of today's events. "I'll be going out personally to explore this one." He said as he moved over to where they kept the spacesuits. "Make sure that Harlen and Levi are ready to go in five minutes. I want this wasteland of a planet checked and catalogued in four days."

"Yes sir." Amanda replied, snapping into a salute before leaving the airlock.

Ian sighed slightly as he put on the rest of the environmental suit. She was certainly eager enough, but they were a small ship and they were used to doing things a particular way. It made everything more stifling, especially since she adhered to military protocol so strictly. A quick walk on an alien planet would ease his mind, and if he could put his own seal on the surveyor reports then it would greatly shorten his stay there.

The scenery was not idyllic, he mused as the door opened into the harsh light of the alien planet. The orbital scans that they had done did not do the planet justice, sparse patches of vegetation dotted the brackish water pools that littered the landscape. Each footstep squelched, pulling at the suit's boots. He was thankful that the suit was environmentally sealed, if it was anything like the swamps on Earth it no doubt smelled awful. "I'm going out ahead to set up the survey beacons, if the other two don't have all their samples in by sundown then I'm going to have them both run naked around the ship thirty times in this mire as punishment for their laziness."

After a confirmation from Amanda he grabbed the large steel case that contained the six sensor beacons that he would put down in the plot they landed on. Each one would monitor over thirty different types of planetary shifts, everything from air pressure to plant spore movement and even tectonic activity. If the Central Scientific Command then deemed it a worthy planet they would either terraform it or do deep penetration scans for precious minerals and other resources. With the land area being mostly swamp Ian dismissed the idea of terraforming, which meant that his team would have to hope that there was a major deposit of some sort of precious material that would make their trip here profitable. As he slogged through the swamps though he didn't even think that the second option was all that feasible either.

"Planting first beacon..." he said as he pulled out one of the large metal cylinders and stuck it into the ground. As he started to set the pylons up though the whole container started to tip to the side. "Are you kidding me..." he muttered as he tried to set it up again, only for it once more to completely fall over in the mud. Frustrated, he grabbed the probe and trudged through the swamp water, heading towards a thick patch of trees that hopefully had some more stable ground on it.

As he got into the grove something seemed... off about it as he set the probe on the soft, yet stable ground. Even though it was still all stone and plants there seemed to be an order about it, something about it made him think of the machinery back on the ship. He ran his hand along the smooth rock that was surrounded by vines, his eyes scanning the trail of thatch to where it connected up to a huge stalk of a plant. From his limited knowledge of botany it looked quite a bit like a mixture of a pitcher plant and a venus flytrap. The blue and black plant was quite intimidating actually...he eyed it for a few more minutes, trying to see if there was any movement, but after a time shrugged and continued searching. As he scanned the rest of the area his face began to brighten for the first time that day.

Alien ruins... any planet that had even the tiniest remnant of an alien civilization on it was immediately put on the short list for a visit from a science frigate. That meant a deep scan and an almost guaranteed paycheck. The surrounding plants and stone had a very ordered look about them, vines running like cables along the walls to consoles, even huge...flowers he supposed that almost looked like chairs. As he started to take pictures of the immediate area he failed to notice that the stone he had just rubbed began to glow, strange symbols appearing on the surface. The blue light transferred from the stones to the surrounding vines, tracing its way in sinuous lines and curls up to the pitcher plant. As the entire area began to hum the huge plant opened its maw, interlocking teeth flexing widely as it came back to life, slowly it began to inch its way down to the only life sign that it sensed; the Captain's.

"Exo, I'm going to send you some pictures, I may have found our payday." Ian said, unaware of the huge plant stalking up behind him. It wasn't until his suit registered the new vital sign and alerted him, but by then all he could do was turn around as the walls of the plant closed around him. He screamed as he was engulfed in darkness, the plant like a vice against his body as he was sucked down into the center of it, the slick inner surfaces providing no handholds to stop himself. Every warning light that his suit was equipped with went off as the pulsing walls of the monster plant started to flood the inside with a thick, clear, viscous fluid. After a few seconds his entire suit went dark, leaving him in pitch blackness. He blindly reached out pushing against the surface of his prison, but the fluid slickened walls just flexed under his struggling, springing back tighter each time.

Alright Ian, not the worst situation you've ever been in. The older explorer thought to himself. He tried to call out using his radio, but as he tried to draw breath the plant only closed in tighter against his chest, compressing the rubbery insides to the suit. As he tried to struggle to catch his breath he suddenly noticed glowing symbols appearing on the wall right in front of his eyes. Had he not been terrified he would have found it extremely fascinating, especially as they began to move in calculated spiraling patterns around his body.

Ian's panic began to rise even more as he felt something that no scout ever wanted to feel; the alien plant's wall pressing against his own skin. It was then he realized how dire the situation was, whatever acid or other secretion the plant was exuding had eaten through the entirety of his steel-polymer bonded suit. Now it was on his skin, and with what little room he had inside the plant sack he could just see his skin begin to turn slightly translucent. He struggled wildly, the monstrous flora easy flexing and adapting to his movements. As more and more of his naked body was exposed against the rubbery texture of the alien plant he felt a strange numbing sensation permeate his body. He began to lose feeling in his hands and feet, and when he finally was able to wrench his body around he realized with horror it was because his hands had turned completely clear and his fingers had begun to meld and melt. As he watched his hands quickly dissolved, until they had become nothing more than stumps as he could see tendrils of the assimilating substance worm its way into his muscle and bone. He stared with dumbfounded fascination, the numbness seemed to block all of the pain he was sure he should be feeling as the thing was digesting him!

Once more the slowly dissolving human tried to cry out, to make any sort of noise of distress even though he knew that the chances that one of the other two were even in the general area were very slim. As he opened his mouth however his jaw fell completely off, his face flattening as his other facial features like his ears and nose were eroded away as painlessly as everything else. The plant's fluids had left him nothing more than a stump of a man, his thighs dissolving up towards his groin where his genitals had long since liquefied into nothing. As the exposed muscle of his chest and abs dissolved away he saw something very few had ever witnessed, the beating of his own heart as the clear tendrils snaked their way towards his precious organs. Even bone did little to stop it, and as the two walls of the plant compressed the last of his body his vision started to get blurry.

Ian tried desperately to hold onto the last vestiges of his consciousness, though the dissolving fluid had begun to eat away at his brain. Strangely even though he felt the last of his body turn into fluid he felt himself still... present, still alive in a sense, the moment of his death never seemed to come. He felt like he was floating, trapped in a strange limbo as blue streaks zipped passed him in the ether. With each passing light it felt like he wasn't alone, as though some other entity occupied the same space as him. He wanted to call out, to cry out to it to help, but all he could do was float there helplessly. But even though he couldn't speak to it the strange intelligence seemed to at least notice his presence, the streaking light slowing and turning back towards his area. A strange voice echoed in the twilight, a hissing almost musical language. A warmth permeated his essence as it approached him, the light filling his 'vision'. It was blinding, and as the light and warmth persisted he felt his entire being shift in consciousness once more...

The light became a bright white as Ian let out a loud gasp, his chest heaving up and own as he found himself once more back in the physical realm, laying in a pool of the now seemingly inert fluid. As his eyes adjusted to the light he realized he was back in the swamp once more, though the scenery had changed significantly since his time imprisoned in the plant. What he had regarded earlier as mere rocks and plants he could see now were actual machines, bioorganic modules that were all interconnected and covered in alien glyphs. It was an outpost, the explorer realized as he slowly stood up in awe and turned towards the plant that had captured him, the colors of the plant and surrounding bio-computers all seems to be brighter, sharper, he noticed patterns in the plantlife that he hadn't before.

"A biomorphic gene manipulation re-sequencer with DNA transduction storage modules... still in good condition despite all these years..." Ian said, his eyes widening slightly as he heard the words flow fluidly out of his mouth. "Wait... how did I know that... and what is that hissing noise?"

For the first time since his re-emergence into the swamp world he looked down at himself, letting out a loud, inhuman shriek. His body was covered in silver and blue skin, smooth, like a frogs almost... but without the sliminess, it seemed to be the same colors that had previously comprised his environmental suit. "The... the coloration of the suit must have bled into the skin when it used the mass to help compose this new body." He stammered as he moved his new fingers, the claws that tipped them clicking together as he held his head. "No, no! This isn't me!" He looked at his hands again, three fingers and a thumb!

Ian gripped the sides of the living console as he struggled to keep his composure, but every second he stood there more and more strange knowledge filtered through his head. His long, forked tongue flicked out between his lips as he became more and more aware of his new body, even though he tried to block it all out. The strangest sensation of them all came from his backside, where he could feel the muscle and sinew of a tail waving lazily about behind him. "I... I can fix this..."

A sudden flash of inspiration hit him as he opened his eyes and looked down at the controls of the gene pod, his fingers hovering over the symbols that made more sense to him the more he looked at them. "I think... I think may be able to reverse it...:

"Yes, all I would have to do is find the back-up of my human genetic profile and then automatically extrapolate the variables using the sample that it had saved during my metamorphosis into..." Ian's thought process stopped as he heard his confident tone, devoid of the fear that had been there only moments ago. The more his mind tried to delve into the information that could potentially save his life the more it seemed to corrupt his sense of self with the alien knowledge. He shook his head and focused instead on the control panel and making sense of it.

Ian's explorer attitude was not helping either, every time he felt another kernel of understanding open in his mind it caused his curiosity to bubble up. With the glyphs being decrypted before his eyes he saw that the network system of the outpost he stood on was far more sophisticated than anything the human race had conceived of before. The technology spike alone would set them forward at least half a century by his calculations, a small smile creeping on his face at the thought as he delved deeper into the machine's bioorganic gene banks to find the context settings.

"Oh my, there's a lot of DNA here." Ian commented as his new fingers flew across the patterns and caused more of them to appear. "The medical applications alone would be amazing... and there's so much variety. You could create your perfect pet without breaking a sweat, all you would need was the right intelligent being as a base."

The Captain stopped as he had to mull those thoughts over again, slowly realizing what he had just imagined. "Oh my God..." he said, his hands shaking slightly as he looked down at them. He had just speculated on turning a sentient creature into some sort of plaything, something he would have never dreamt of in a million years. "What have I become?"

As he backed away from the slab of rock his foot fell on a stray root, causing him to cry out as he fell backwards into the swamp proper. Before he even touched the water though his hands and tail darted out instinctively, grabbing onto the vines and stopping his fall. He had surprised himself with his dexterity, breathing a small sigh of relief before looking down at the still waters.

For the first time since his transformation Ian got a full look at his new body. Its structure was that of lithe, healthy male maybe in his mid-twenties, not the sixty year man that had entered the swamp. He hated to admit that the pattern of silver and blue accentuated his features quite well, even if those features were reptilian. As he turned his head to watch as he flexed his muscles he found his head to be the most fascinating change, even more than the three-pronged tail that was wrapped around the thick, wood stem above him, he watched it uncurled, the last section ending in three flexible...tendrils, he moved them experimentally, finding them completely controllable before closing them back over the wicked looking barb that they surrounded.

"How can something so alien be so... handsome." Ian commented as he reached up to his short muzzle and touched his face. As his fingers trailed up to the hood that framed his head they traced along the spines that lined it, regarding them with a strange sense of dignity and pride that he couldn't quite place. He didn't have time to dwell on it though, as his attention was brought to his eyes. They were like staring into an oil slick, and as he lowered his body toward the water, strangely drawn to them, his eyes felt strange for a moment, suddenly shifting in a vivid variety of hues. The colors were so deep, so vibrant that he couldn't help but stare into them as he lowered himself down so far that his new snout was mere millimeters from the water.

"So... beautiful..." he said in awe, unable to look away from his reflection. All the fears that he had, all the panic he felt from his new body, it all seemed to just melt away with each different pattern of color his eyes shifted into. The information that he had been resisting up into this point flooded past his weakened willpower, filling his mind with vast knowledge and strange desires. He saw all the possibilities that were now laid out before him, the power that he had just inherited, and a name bubbled up to his thoughts that caused a small smile to creep up to his face, the long needle like fangs in his maw glinting.

"Sskausa..." he hissed slowly, an affirmation that seemed to cement his new mindset. His strong, lithe body easily pulled him back from the edge of the water as his multi-colored eyes no longer seemed to hold any sway with him. He flexed his wide, three toed, splayed feet feeling the power in in his now digigrade legs. His gaze swept over the organic technology, coming to a decision and he strode confidently over to the genetic manipulator, in two swift moves deleting the human DNA sequence and going back to the gene banks. It didn't take long for him to get to where he wanted to go, the section of the gene banks that held the material for his fellow Sskausa coming up on the screen.

"Good, most of them are still viable." He said to himself as he did a diagnostic check on the section. "No more of my caste, not surprised... looks like a few dozen or so mid-tier, hundred or so of the lowest, surprised they got that many to donate. Just need a few volunteers..." his smile widened even more as he looked out into the swamp. "And here they come right now."

*****************************************

Harlen and Levi sloshed quickly through the swamps, the HUD of their environmental suits pinging in the last known location of their Captain before his signal suddenly went dead. They could hear their new exo shouting for them to come back to the ship and follow proper protocol, but they quickly told her what they thought about that order before shutting down their communications. The two of them had been with Ian for the better part of a decade, and they would gladly lay down their lives to save him. "C'mon, towards the grove of trees!" Harlen shouted, his pulse pistol at the ready as the two slowed down.

Up in the trees, hidden from view, Ian watched with a small smirk as he saw his two former crewmates and soon to be newest converts begin to move up to the grove with their guns drawn. He studied them for a moment, their inferiority was extremely evident to him now, so many things to change and perfect. Even without a radio of his own he knew that the exo was no doubt screaming at them to follow proper protocol and get back to the ship, and it warmed his heart to see them disobeying orders to find him. He would make sure that he would reward them handsomely for it once they got a little closer...

Harlen was the longest member of his crew and pulled double duty as their security officer and scientific technician. Since they were only a exploration vessel they only gathered samples and put down the sensor beacons, but even then it was good to have someone that had a working knowledge of the process. Even though the human male was around the same age as Ian he could still move with the best of them, which he demonstrated as he leapt up onto the dry ground of the grove.

Levi was a felinamorph, which was a fancy scientific name for the humanoid cheetah that had joined his otherwise human crew as a navigations expert. At first Ian had been opposed to him, but the longer that he had worked with Levi the more he had come to respect him. He was one of the few non-humans that Ian considered friends.

As Ian crouched down low on the vine he watched Levi pass by underneath him, the Sskausa's tail waving behind him in anticipation, the three "petals" of the tip spreading and flexing unconsciously. He had already formulated the plan in his mind, waiting for the perfect time to strike...

"What the hell is this place?" Harlen asked as he turned to Levi, looking around at all the glowing stones and plants. "Were these the alien ruins that Ian was talking about?"

"Who cares, we have to find Ian." Levi retorted, unaware of the reptilian creature that had dropped down silently behind him. He managed to get about two more steps before something thick and heavy swatted him in the side of the face, causing his visor to crack as he stumbled and fell to the ground. Harlen heard the noise and quickly spun around, only to come face to face with the alien creature. The sound of his pistol discharging echoed through the grove, the shot going wide as the Sskausa nimbly ducked inside of his reach, pushing his arm to the side. Before he could get off a second shot it was knocked out of his hands, flying through the air before sinking in the thick mud outside the ring of trees.

"Harlen, calm yourself." Ian said before dodging to the side to avoid a powerful left hook. The alien smiled to himself, the punch seemed slow and clumsy to him now.

"What did you do to him?!" Harlen shouted as he threw another punch, this time the Sskausa deflecting it with his arm and stepping to the enraged human's side. "You talk and I'll only half beat the shit out of you!"

Ian sighed, once more blocking two more blows before swinging back and striking a glancing blow on the human's suited arm. He could tell the human had an advantage in strength, but his new body was too quick and agile. "You always had such a way with diplomacy..." Ian said with a smirk, losing focus, before one of Harlen's right crosses hit him square in the face. The Sskausa stumbled back, digging his foot in the ground and pivoting like a dancer to just barely avoid an elbow drop to his back. "Harlen, stop this at once! It's me, Ian!"

The sudden confession gave the trained officer pause, though he still maintained a defensive position as he breathed heavily within the confines of his suit. "You lie." The human finally replied, watching the Sskausa carefully. "The real Captain Ian would have never struck Levi like that."

"Don't be absurd." Ian retorted, looking over his shoulder for a brief second to make sure the cheetah was still on the ground. "You know as well as I do that Levi has hair trigger finger, the second I would have tried to introduce myself he would have probably shot me. Speaking of which, how did he get armed anyway? He's not supposed to even hold a firearm until his retest in six months."

"Well... we got worried when the exo reported that you... that Captain Ian flatlined in this area." Harlen replied, his resolve wavering slightly against the alien figure proclaiming to be his friend and Captain. "It can't be you... even putting aside your looks you don't talk or act like the man I know. How do I know you haven't killed my friend and taken his knowledge as your own?"

Ian smile widened a bit despite himself, watching as his friend continued to be on the defensive. He didn't fault him at all for it, in fact had he given in easily he would have considered putting him down into the lower caste. The human's tenacity... his resolve and bravery... those were the traits that he wanted in those he converted into Sskausa. "Harlen, I know deep down you believe it's the real me, now if you can look me in eye and tell me otherwise then I will give myself up and allow you to take me as a prisoner."

Harlen stood there for a second as he regarded the alien's offer, still keeping his defenses up as he slowly moved towards him. "Alright snake thing, I can tell you right now that... you are..." it was the first time he had actually focused on the creature's eyes, unaware that they were already moving and shifting in strange patterns. He had never seen anything like it before, and as he watched them he was amazed to see the patterns shift into inverse loop, feeling as though he were falling.... "You are... Ian?"

"Yesss... that's right." Ian replied, moving forward confidently, watching as Harlen's face went slack. "Now you see, you've been trying to resist your friend all along. We are friends, right?"

"Friends... yeah..." Harlen replied, the Sskausa's words slipping past his conscious thought as all he could do was focus on those unbelievable eyes of his. "We're still friends Ian..."

Ian chuckled, the human's arms going slack as he sauntered up to him and deactivated his environmental helmet. "Friends trust each other Harlen." Ian said as his claws gently traced underneath his chin. "And since you trusted me, allow me to return the favor and show you something... wonderful..."

As the Sskausa led the hypnotized human towards one of the plants Levi began to stir, groaning as he slowly brought himself up to his hands and knees. In front of him was his plasma pistol, just a little further then his reach. Unfortunately the alien creature was also right there, though he seemed to be distracted with his crewmate at the moment. As slowly as his adrenaline-fueled nerves could mustered he crawled forward, his outstretched hand mere centimeters away as his trembling fingers began to wrap around the metallic handle.

"Don't think I forgot about you, dear Levi." Ian said tongue flicking out, Levi gasping slightly as he looked up to see the alien creature looking down at him. The cheetah tried to make a lunge for the gun, but the same tail that had knocked him out pushed past his shattered visor and clamped onto his neck shoving him backwards, he felt something sharp pierce the skin. His gloved hands darted up to his head, but before he could even begin to pull on it the powerful venom of the Sskausa flooded his system. Warmth quickly spread through his system, his muscles instantly releasing as he slumped to the ground. He moaned slightly, the tingling feeling of poison causing his groan to swell slightly.

"There we are, much better." Ian said, pulling the passive cheetah over next to his crewmate, fixing them both with his gaze. "Now, my loyal crew, join me in this new life. You will be reborn as I have been, and together we will restart our glorious empire."

The two enthralled males merely nodded, Ian removing his tail from the cheetah's neck before positioning them in front of two of the genetic manipulation pods. Much like what had happened to him, the venus flytrap portion of the plant leaned forward and snapped around the two helpless explorers and lifted them in the air. He could see their bodies struggle as they were freed from his control, no doubt realizing their predicament. With a few passes of Ian's hands on the obsidian console the pouches that contained the human and the feline slowly compressed into nothingness in the same painless fashion as his own conversion, their panicked cries fading away, although it was a whole lot quicker now that someone was guiding the process.

"Welcome to the new world." Ian said, hissing pleasantly to himself as he brought up two of the genetic templates of two second tier Sskausa. For Harlen he choose a strong warrior gene, fitting of the true guardian that he was. He watched as the plant pod began to show the outline of a humanoid creature once more, although this time it was a much more substantial frame then before. His friend had been a well-built man before, the conversion changing all of the mass into lean, compact, quick muscle, he would be beautiful to behold in combat. In the second pod the former cheetah retained much of his lithe nature, though the Sskausa genetic code he introduced removed the layers of fat that the intellectual had accumulated and replaced it with muscle.

The Sskausa could see the two newly constructed bodies begin to move once more as the process moved to completion, their mouths stretching the rubbery plant material out as they pressed against it. They were eager to see their new forms, Ian mused, and with a simple flick of a glyph the pods opened and deposited the two new Sskausa to the ground in a shower of clear fluid. They gasped, their slick chests heaving up and down as they took the first breath of their new forms. "It takes a little bit to get used too, trust me." Ian said with a chuckle as he watched them slide their hands over their new forms.

'I think I can get used to this..." Harlen replied, flowing like quicksilver to his new feet, his multihued eyes turned to his left. His skin was black with deep purple splotches, the original colors of his own environmental suit. "What do you think Levi?"

For Levi Ian had used both his fur and his suit, the former cheetah's skin now a bright gold with swirls of both crimson and emerald. "I feel...confident... free..." Levi replied, a clawed finger running across his cobra-like hood. As he looked at Harlen his tongue flicked out and a smile crossed his face, then used his new legs to spring himself high into the air landing on the surprised male. Ian's eyeridge rose up as he watched Levi kiss the larger male aggressively, their tails twinging as they both fell to the ground, apparently a little confidence could go a long way indeed.

"How long Levi?" Harlen asked once he was able to gasp for air.

"Since I first laid eyes upon you." Levi replied, his member freeing itself from his slit as he continued to rest on top of the larger, male Sskausa. "Every time we were together, all those times were alone... but I was so afraid, not only because we were the same gender, but different species. Now we are the same, and this form has enabled me the confidence to express these feelings... like what I want to do to this sexy body of yours..."

Harlen let out a small gasp as Levi ran his hands down his chest, their slick skin rubbing smoothly against one another as the smaller Sskausa began to massage between his legs. Ian continued to watch as Harlen's own jet black member began to emerge, obviously enjoying the former cheetah's touches. The Captain's own slit began to stir as well from the erotic display as Levi began to bob up and down on Harlen's new cock, though he had far different tastes then his two crewmates, though he was happy for them.

"You two enjoy yourselves." Ian said with a smirk, turning as Harlen flipped Levi over and rub his saliva-slicked member against his new lover's tailhole. "There's one more yet I need to convert, someone that will be quite critical to our new mission..."