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Jake's head was absolutely pounding when his mind finally began clawing its way slowly up toward consciousness.

His skull had been smashed against the bulkhead of a scout ship, then clubbed from behind when they'd been jumped at the site of the wreckage, and now it had been walloped with a crowbar, hard, all in the space of twenty-four hours.

As Jake became more aware of what had happened to him last, he wondered once more why he was not waking in Xelzix's chair. The look of glee in Troska's face as he put everything he had into bringing the crowbar down on Jake's head certainly suggested he was not going to be coming back from it. If the crazy old bull hadn't succeeded to cave it in on the first swing, it was obvious he was going to greatly enjoy the subsequent attempts.

Jake's groggy mind still straddled the line between comforting sleep and harshly painful wakefulness, and it wavered there while it waited for a push in one direction or the other. He was in no hurry to wake up, so he willed it back down toward unconsciousness.

He'd been deep in a wonderful dream about having gentle morning sex with Mak. There had been no pain in his head in the dream, so he kept his eyes closed, and rather than trying to lift the veil of sluggishness that was still wrapped over his consciousness, he tried to coax the dream back out while letting his mind slide back down toward blissful oblivion, so he could drift off to sleep again for just a little while longer to get away from the throbbing in his head.

Just as his mind began to drift off, it was yanked back again when Jake noticed there was a very large and slightly rough hand moving gently up and down along his fully erect penis. It stroked it lovingly for a moment and then it continued down to touch his big balls and moved them gently around in their sack.

His mind began to climb back up toward alertness once more. Maybe it hadn't been a dream. Maybe Mak really was here with him. He was afraid to open his eyes in case it really was a dream and waking fully would cause it to evaporate.

While the hand was at his sack and fondling him gently he heard a soft sigh that blew hot breath onto his bare cock and then he felt a wide, warm, raspy tongue suddenly lick along the length of his shaft, and then a furry, whiskered muzzle kiss the underside of the head of his penis.

Mak did not have long whiskers or a furry muzzle and his tongue wasn't quite so rough. Whoever it was, it wasn't the young bull.

Jake began to stir and his brain struggled harder to reach full consciousness and the hand and mouth were very quickly withdrawn from his genitals as though they didn't want to be caught doing what they'd been doing there.

Suddenly, a cool, wet towel was placed on the top of his head and an unfamiliar voice said, "Take it slowly. I wasn't sure if you would ever wake up. You are lucky to be alive. Or perhaps not so lucky, going by how much it must hurt to be you right now. How your poor head survived the blow is beyond me. It must be made of stone."

The voice was male. It was deep and gentle and reverberated in a wonderfully soothing way. He was speaking very quietly, just above a whisper.

Jake's eyes were gummy from being closed for a long time and they resisted his attempts to open them at first, but when he forced them slowly open he saw a large, dark, blurry shape in front of him.

The level of light in the room sent lancing pain into his brain but he struggled to focus.

"You will be tempted to shake your head to clear your vision. I highly recommend you do not. It will only add to your discomfort. The synthetic portion of the brain the First Ones provided you with can withstand quite a bit of shock, but the biological parts of it are somewhat swollen still and will need some time to come down. Keep your eyes closed for a little while longer until your brain better adjusts to consciousness once more."

Jake closed his eyes and felt the pain easing slightly from the comforting coolness of the towel being gently pressed on his head.

As he became more conscious Jake realized he was lying on a cot on his back, completely naked. His ankles were spread apart and bound to the corners at the foot of it and his arms were up over his head with his wrists bound to the other corners of the bed.

A hand worked at the binding on his right wrist and freed it.

"I can free only the one hand for you for a short time, and I must ask that you make no attempt to escape. There are guards outside the tent at all times. If you intend to speak, keep your voice low. It will be less painful for your poor head and I don't wish the guards to know you're awake just yet. Hold the towel in place on your head for a while. It contains a topical astringent and it will help bring down the swelling and ease your pain."

Jake reached up to hold the towel and his hand came down on what felt like a massive, furry paw that slipped out from under it to let his hand replace it on the towel.

He opened his eyes briefly again to try to see who it was that was taking care of him. His vision seemed to have cleared a little but he was still only making out a vague, large shape hovering over him. He closed his eyes again to give a bit more time for his brain to return to full functionality.

"Tilt your head up slowly if you can. I have something for you to drink that will dull the pain somewhat. If you can keep this down then we'll give you some more fluids to drink. You are severely dehydrated and it is not helping your head at all."

Jake lifted his head very slowly and groaned at the pulsing pain he felt in it. His stomach did a flip as the room spun briefly then settled down again.

A large, warm paw went behind his head to hold it up and he felt a cup touch his lips. He sipped a bit and was treated to an acrid and salty tasting liquid that burned slightly as it went down.

He coughed a little and his head felt like it was going to explode from the effort of it and he groaned once more. He tried to put his head back down but the large paw held it up.

"I apologize for the less than appealing flavor but you need a bit more. You should drink it all if you can. It is made from a local root that has a natural and powerful anti-inflammatory agent in it. The drink tastes like piss, well, maybe not quite that good, but it will help to bring down the swelling from the inside very quickly and the pain will go down along with it. You will begin to feel better shortly, I promise."

Jake sipped a bit more and was able to keep it down without coughing. He drank more and eventually the cup was drained.

The large paw gently lowered his head back down again and the deep, soothing voice said, "Good. If you can manage to keep that down it will be a positive sign. I have water for you when you're ready to drink some more."

Jake gently cleared his throat and his head throbbed slightly.

He asked, "Where am I?"

"You are in the infirmary tent of our camp."

"How long was I out?"

"You were unconscious for a little more than a day. Can you remember who you are? Do you recall what last happened to you?"

"I'm Jake Smith. My partner and I were ambushed. I was knocked unconscious and tied up. I was raped. The last thing I remember is a crowbar being used against my head by the lunatic in charge of the people who took us. I was sure I was about to be resurrected again. I don't know how I managed to survive that. He's a nasty piece of work and I don't know what stopped him from beating my head to a pulp."

The voice chuckled softly and said, "Troska is a nasty piece of work indeed. I have spoken with the zeth representative and tried to convince him that Troska should be dealt with for his actions. The mad bull is not going to be a help to our cause if he is allowed to continue to let his extremist beliefs get in the way. The zeth feels we need him, but I am not so sure. It angers me to be forced to work with them. Troska's group are the worst example of an otherwise honorable and noble race. If I were not so significantly outnumbered by them I would tear them to shreds with my teeth and claws. They are repugnant."

"You know Troska? What do you mean you spoke with a zeth? Who are you?"

"My name is Rhokki. I know Troska and am working with his group in order to aid a member of the zeth race. I am one of the few who can communicate with the zeths and I am here to act as translator. My people are known as the Rhuxus, and I am a member of a group that has sided with a similar faction of the miquanowans against the First Ones. The zeth and his people are providing us with technology that will help us with our cause."

Jake's head was starting to feel a bit better from whatever had been in the bitter drink and he opened his eyes again and his vision was much clearer.

He looked around and saw that he was in a large tent with several low cots and he was in one of them.

Sitting on the floor next to the cot and looking at him with big, caring eyes was a very large, black and dark grey colored lion.

The lion was powerful looking. He had to be at least five hundred pounds of lean, muscular cat. He looked to be over four feet tall at the shoulders. His body was covered in a very dark, short, charcoal grey colored fur. He had a massive, thick and long mane that was jet black with charcoal grey, furry ears sticking out near the front of it. His eyes were a smoky grey color with an almost white highlight outlining the edges of them. His face was a lighter charcoal grey color and he had a wide black nose the shape of an upside down triangle. The end of his muzzle was such a light grey that it was almost white and had black whiskers. The light grey of his muzzle continued under his chin, past a tuft of charcoal grey beard, to his neck. His chest and belly was also a very light grey color.

His legs were thick and strong and were the same color of dark charcoal grey as his main body, leading down to lighter grey paws that were large and heavy looking. The hind paws looked like normal lion paws but the front ones looked like a cross between paws and hands. They were thick and heavy but the toes were longer. They looked dexterous yet they also had heavy pads that looked as though they were designed to be walked on. He had large, black claws that were currently retracted.

He had a long, charcoal colored tail that started quite thick and heavy at his backside and became thinner toward the tip that ended in a large, black, thick tuft of fur.

He wore no clothing of any kind and between his legs was a very large set of testicles in a veiny and almost black, suede leather looking scrotum and a thick sheath that was six or seven inches long.

He was the most stunningly beautiful creature Jake had ever seen.

The lion gave him a caring smile and said, "Are you feeling better now?"

Jake smiled back and nodded and he said, "I am, but I'd feel even better if I could sit up. Couldn't you untie me just for a while? I promise I won't try to run. I'm in no shape to anyway."

The lion looked back towards the end of the tent where the exit was as though to ensure they weren't being watched, then back at Jake for a moment as if to gauge whether he could trust the man or not. Then he smiled and moved to untie Jake's other hand and then his feet.

Jake carefully and slowly sat up and then turned as he swung his legs off the side of the cot to face the lion.

"Thank you, Rhokki. I feel much better. Could I get a drink now? I'm very thirsty."

The lion took a wide canteen from a low table next to the cot and unscrewed the top and handed it to him.

Jake took a long series of swigs until his thirst felt somewhat slaked.

He smiled at the lion and handed the canteen back to him and said, "Thanks. I feel really hungry too, is there anything to eat?"

The lion smiled broadly and said, "You are in good shape indeed if you have a strong appetite already."

He picked up a rucksack off the floor next to the table and rummaged in it and pulled out a large piece of fruit that looked like a cross between an apple and a pear, a hunk of some type of cheese, and several thick slices of dried meat. He placed the food on the table and Jake immediately reached for the cheese and gobbled it down quickly. He felt ravenous. He finished off the cheese and took a piece of meat and tore a chunk off with his teeth and began to chew. It tasted slightly salty and smoky and delicious.

He smiled at the lion in thanks as he continued to eat until the worst of his hunger began to abate along with most of his headache.

Rhokki looked at him and asked, "Will you need more? I would be happy to go and get some for you."

Jake smiled again and shook his head and said, "No, this should do for now. I feel much better now, thank you."

The lion smiled and nodded.

Jake said, "I was with a young miquanowan named Komakwa. Do you know where he is? Is he a prisoner too?"

"He is a prisoner, but his bonds are not physical. He has been ordered to comply with what he is instructed to do, or you will face punishment and torture at the hands of the men here. We have reason to believe his father is being closely monitored by the First Ones so we must tread carefully and keep from raising any alarms. The boy was flown back to his home by Troska himself. Komakwa will tell a story that he was anxious about his upcoming trial and he flew off by himself to think for a bit. That story will be for the benefit of the household and anyone else who might inquire.

"He will be telling something closer to the truth to his father. He will tell how he ran to this planet illegally and that you were with him. He will tell how the ship crashed, but it came down nearer the volcano and your seat came down directly in the lava pool and you were incinerated along with it. He will explain that it was Troska who was clever enough to figure out where the boy had gone and went there in secret to rescue him without letting anyone know that Komakwa had broken their sacred laws. His father will no doubt be very grateful to the mad bull for saving his son's life and keeping his transgression a secret, and much more malleable to the old bull's machinations in future."

Jake felt a surge of anger as he thought of Mogwo thinking even more highly of Troska. The evil old bastard really knew how to manipulate people and make them believe what he needed them to. That must be how he'd come to be the leader of their movement.

"What will happen to Mak now?" Jake asked.

"The boy will tell his father that he wants the contract for the match canceled so that he never sees you again. He will be returned to this planet in a couple of weeks under the guise of beginning his forty day ascendance trial. As far as his father knows, his son did something foolish that needs to be covered up so that his life can return to normal. He will deliver his son back to this planet for the trial, but once abandoned here, Komakwa will be picked up by Troska's people and brought back to this camp once more and you will likely see him then."

"Is Troska still there with him?"

"Yes. He returned to his duties to give the semblance of normalcy in case the household is being watched, and so that he could keep watch over the boy and ensure he does what is expected of him. The boy is somewhat clever and has insisted on a video link each evening back to this camp so that he can see that you are alright and being cared for. Troska is not happy to have been forced to allow you to live, though you have proved useful to him. I have been asked to care for you since none of the miquanowans here seem fit or interested in that job. I would warn you that Troska will be listening in on the video link later this evening. It is in the best interests of the boy that you show quite clearly that you are fine and in good spirits. I fear what Troska might do to him if the boy feels you are being mistreated and decides to rebel against the mad bull."

"How was Troska forced to allow me to live?"

"Your lover, Komakwa, forced him."

"You know he's my lover?"

The lion smiled warmly and said, "Yes, it is quite obvious and beautiful. I saw the love he feels for you quite clearly in his eyes. He loves you more than his own life and that may be just the thing that saved you from death. He acted without thinking I suspect, or he is not a great strategist in any case."

"Why do you say that?"

"When you were about to be beaten to death he shouted to Troska that he would kill himself if you died and since he had no contract, Troska would lose any chance he ever had to sway the boy's father. The mad old bull heard the conviction in Komakwa's voice and he pulled back on the blow that was already on the way down. He couldn't stop it completely so it still hit you, but the boy definitely saved you from a caved in head. He made it clear they would get nothing from him if you were killed. Troska is devious and of course he immediately realized your value. You would be the leverage by which he could completely and easily control the boy and thus get to the father."

"What did you mean that Mak didn't think things through?" Jake asked.

"It is common for those living without a resurrection contract to see death as final for everyone. I believe the boy's reaction was knee jerk and driven by his love for you and his strong desire to protect you. If he had allowed the mad bull to cave your skull in, you would simply be dead, and would eventually wake up in the Resurrector's seat safe and sound. Instead, you live yet and can be used as a tool to control Komakwa. Troska turned the tables and informed Komakwa that you would not be killed, but rather tortured and used rudely and repeatedly as a sexual toy by the many men under Troska's command if Komakwa did not do what was required of him. The boy was told that even if he killed himself, your torture would continue. He has no choice but to comply.

"Not to sound cruel, but a good strategist would have simply let you die. It is what I would have done. You should not be alive. It could put our cause in danger. If you are ever seen by anyone who has functioning favors in their heads it might bring us to the attention of the First Ones."

"How so?" Jake asked.

"You have been exposed to a device of zeth manufacture that permanently destroys the quantum entanglement that connects the photons in your favors to the QECH hub..."

"Yes, Troska told me about that. How the hell did they manage that anyhow?" Jake asked.

"It's a bit complicated, but I'll try to explain it in the most basic way I can. You may wonder how it's possible to ever observe a photon without destroying it in the first place. Normally, when a photon is observed, you know it's there because it excites an electron into a higher state, which is then detected. The problem is the excitation of the electron actually absorbs the photon's energy and destroys it. If the electron's new state is unstable, it will collapse back down and release a photon in the process so energy is neither gained nor lost and the laws of physics are observed. The photon in a QECH communicator is trapped in a sophisticated magneto-optical system that takes advantage of the electric field that all photons have thanks to the duality of light as both particle and electromagnetic wave. The nature of the trap prevents and reflects any frequency of radio energy from entering it, so the photon is quite safe from any sort of tampering from outside. At least, that is what the First Ones and the rest of the collective believe.

"The QECH gear uses a stream of rubidium atoms which cross the trap to read the photon. The energy levels of the electrons orbiting the atoms are changed by the photon's electric field, but they are in such a low state as they enter that they are not excited quite enough to absorb the photon's energy through its electric field. Even though the electrons are not excited into a higher state, the mild electric field of the photon acts to drag them back slightly as it pulls on them. The effectiveness of the dragging force is dependent on the spin of the photon, greater with one spin direction, lesser with the other. As such, when a rubidium atom crosses the photon, the electrons that orbit its nucleus are delayed a tiny amount which can be measured using the same techniques that are used in atomic clocks. It is that delay that allows the photon to be observed and its spin state read without it being destroyed.

"The zeths have found that while the photon inside the trap is immune to radio tampering, they can attack the device from the outside. If they bombard the stream of rubidium atoms with radio energy of a very precise frequency and amplitude before they even pass through the trap, they can raise the level of excitation of the electrons orbiting their nuclei to the point where they are about to jump to a higher state. As the atoms pass through the trap, the weak electric field of the photon is just enough to complete the excitation and the electron jumps to a higher energy level, absorbing the photon and collapsing the wormhole that links it to its partner at the QECH hub.

"The electron is in an unstable state so it drops back down to the lower level immediately, and releases a photon back into the trap, but it is no longer the same photon and is not linked to any other. The quantum entanglement is severed and the device becomes useless. Other races began to research the QECH technology in the past to try to learn exactly how it works, but the First Ones saw them doing it and rapidly put a stop to it in most brutal ways that insured there would be no evidence of their progress. They were not concerned because they could stop anyone from even trying to look closely at the devices. If they had known long ago when the technology was first developed that they would eventually meet up with the zeths, they would have put more effort into protecting it. They were not prepared for a race that was entirely immune to their controls, so the zeths were able to research the favors and their QECH link technology quite thoroughly without interference from the First Ones. The First Ones will likely move to create a more secure system of protection for QECH modules once they learn of our ability to break the link, but there will be nothing they can do about all of the existing QECH systems including all of the favors already in existence. As it stands they do not research improvements to their own technology any longer. They have stagnated completely."

"So, how is it that breaking the QECH connection of my favors puts your movement in jeopardy?" Jake asked.

"The First Ones can no longer look through your eyes or hear what you're hearing. More importantly, because you had an active contract for resurrection, they would have been receiving a constant transmission from the favors in your head, updating the map of your mind with any changes to your synaptic patterns. That transmission will have stopped abruptly. The unfortunate side-effect is a serious complication that could cause us problems, and we have gone out of our way to avoid it up until Troska spared your life. The First Ones do not yet know of our ability to destroy their link to the favors in your body and we prefer to keep it a secret from them. That ability is still thought by them and the rest of the collective to be impossible. As soon as the transmission from your favors stopped, the First Ones would assume you were vaporized because that is the only possible explanation, and they would begin the process of resurrecting you."

Jake's eyes went wide at the implication and he asked, "You mean, back on the ship that brought me here is another version of me that will wake up in three months?"

"Yes, that's right. A version that will remember what happened to you only up until the point shortly after your crash when the device was powered up and broke the link between your favors and the QECH hub that is dedicated to their communication. There are two Jakes now, or at least there will be in three months' time if you are still alive here. It is a situation we knew could occur, and we have done our best to avoid it as it could give clues to the First Ones of what we are up to before we are ready for them to know. If you are seen by someone with functioning favors and one of the First Ones happened to be experiencing that person's life at the time, the First Ones may realize there were two of you and they may begin to guess what we are able to do."

It was an unsettling thought. Somewhere out there on the Slirkstrith, Jake was being printed up again and a new synthetic brain would be loaded up with his mind and all of his experiences up until just after his seat came down and he started walking toward Mak.

That version of Jake wouldn't remember anything that happened between Mak and him after they got back together again and would think he and Mak are still on the outs.

That version of Jake would come to life in three months. Which one of them would be the real Jake? Somehow it felt to him that he was the real one, and the other was not valid, but was that really true? Perhaps they were both equally valid, or perhaps they were both truly _in_valid, since the real Jake was destroyed when he was still sixty-eight years old and sitting in Xelzix's chair for the first time. It still felt to him that he was real. He'd stopped believing in the ridiculous idea of a magical ghost or soul that somehow was the real him long ago. It simply made no sense whatsoever. He in no way believed that his soul had been released when his original self was killed. He was a collection of memories and experiences, and all of the tastes, opinions, ideals, likes and dislikes that arose from that stream of experience that ultimately defined who he became. He didn't need a soul to make him special. He was special for the simple reason that he was the only one in the universe who'd had his experiences and he was completely unique. Until now that is. Or at least, until three months from now when yet another copy of him would sit up and smile at Xelzix. Yet still, even when that other Jake rose up again, this Jake would already have lived another three months and the two would continue on their separate courses. They would each be truly unique once more, and each would be equally special and thus equally valid. Or would they? It was all so much to wrap his aching head around.

It had only been a couple of days since he'd been dropped off, so the Slirkstrith was still very close but would be steaming outward on the two month journey to the edge of the heliosphere. They had no reason to come back once Jake's contract was canceled so they would go on about whatever other business came their way. The Jake who woke up in Xelzix's chair next would be getting the news that he no longer has a contract and would no longer be immortal. There would be two Jakes, but neither would survive another death, unless the other one figured out a way to get a new contract. That would make him the immortal Jake that would go on to live forever, while this Jake would eventually get unlucky and die quite permanently. Maybe that made the other Jake the valid one and this one just a temporary aberration.

This Jake had certainly got the short end of the stick on the deal. The other one would have functioning favors in his head and get to live forever.

Jake imagined Srythryn pacing up and down the hall three months from now, waiting for his love to emerge from Xelzix's room. It would really be Jake coming out and jumping into the arms of his sweet captain. Yet, it wouldn't really be him.

For some reason it made him feel jealous to think that Srythryn would be showering his love on someone else, thinking it was him. Yet, really, it _would_be him. His brain began to throb again as he tried to wrap his head around it. Whether the two Jakes were valid or not, they were at least equal. They had both been made in exactly the same way.

It was disturbing, yet intriguing. He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to meet him. What would it be like to meet someone and know not only absolutely everything they know including their deepest, darkest secrets, but also know what they're likely to be thinking at the moment and what they will be thinking next, since they think exactly the way you do.

What would it be like to get some time alone and engage in sex together? They would know absolutely every hidden desire and there would be no reason to hold anything back. It would be quite interesting to say the least. He wondered if he might ever get the chance.

He also wondered how Srythryn would take the news that there were two of him now. How would Mak take it?

The thought of Mak suddenly made him realize that this movement of theirs might still be in trouble. Wouldn't the loss of communication of Mak's favors cause problems for them too? Mak is still walking around alive, yet they can't read his favors.

"What about Komakwa? His favors would have lost communication too. Wouldn't the fact that he's back and walking among his people raise questions?"

"No, at least, it is highly unlikely and fairly easy to mitigate. His situation differs because he had no contract and as such was not transmitting an expected signal constantly that would suddenly cease. There would never be another copy of him waking up. There may in fact have been First Ones looking through his eyes to see the other side of your adventure, but once his transmission stopped along with yours, it would be assumed you both perished and they would move on to some other entertainment. All that needs to be done now is to cancel your contract and ensure that the other version of you has no reason to go back into his life. He will ultimately disappear into the underground once he's convinced his father of the importance of joining our cause and at that point neither his absence, nor his presence, will be noticed."

"How can you safely get his father on board when his head has functioning favors and he has a contract so they're constantly transmitting?"

"The same way we've recruited most of our people. There are traditionalist religions among Komakwa's people and my own as well, who prefer to have the nanos purged from their bodies. The First Ones like the idea of a bit of extra unpredictability so they allow it to be done in a limited basis. We only recruit those who have had that process performed as we can safely discuss the true goals of our movement and reveal to them the way things really are. We plan to have Komakwa convince his father to join the religion and have the process performed to purge him of his favors. At that time we'll be able to communicate with him freely and tell him the truth of our universe."

"What do you mean by 'the truth of our universe'? Why do you speak as though the First Ones are spying on us or experiencing our lives?"

"I am not certain that the time is right to enter into this discussion. It will reveal things to you that may be difficult for you to accept. We will get into the details of it at some point as I've been asked to explain the entire truth of the universe to you, but I think you may wish to rest more and be in better condition before I reveal information that may be shocking or upsetting to you. It will be a long discussion and I want you to feel ready for it."

"If there is something I need to know, then tell me. I don't feel any need to wait. What is it that's so shocking? Why do you all want to break away from the First Ones?" Jake asked.

"So that we would no longer be their puppets," Rhokki said.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying they can control what we do? I was told the favors didn't have that ability built into them."

"No, they cannot directly control us, nor would they want to as that would be boring for them and lead to predictable outcomes. They direct the actions of the races of the collective, but it is more a means of keeping them under control and setting the stage for their entertainment."

"So how do they control everyone then? Are you talking about the Lawkeepers and their ability to use the favors to punish people?"

"Yes, that's correct. The First Ones themselves have a presence on nearly all major military vessels. The races of the collective rely on the First Ones to resurrect their officers and soldiers and all major capital ships have the facility right on board. The elite and powerful of all military, governmental, educational, scientific and financial establishments all have contracts for resurrection. Many of the major ark ships double as resurrection sites and the ships would essentially not be able to afford the massive amount of fuel it takes to move them about the universe without the funding provided by the First Ones in return. The favors provided by the First Ones pervade the entire explored universe and are present on all planets belonging to the collective and inside the bodies of their people. They have the ability to wipe out entire worlds at their whim and the threat of that allows them to tightly control the development of new technologies to the point of always keeping the races from advancing any further and becoming a threat to the First Ones themselves. They are the de facto rulers of the entire universe and it is their playground."

"I don't understand. What do you mean by 'playground'? All of the things you've said are not news to me. I thought that the First Ones are benevolent and looking out for all of the races."

"You are mistaken, as are the vast majority of people in the collective. The First Ones have destroyed countless races in the past for their own amusement without the rest of the collective even knowing. To them, life is cheap and abundant and it exists for their pleasure and entertainment. They are the ones heading up the exploration of the universe and they are the first to learn of the rise of any race to sentience and they carefully monitor their technological development. They invite those who advance to the point of space travel into the collective to continually add new and fresh races into the mix. Those who refuse, or those who are more technically advanced than the First Ones would like them to be, are destroyed outright. Some who have not even been approached yet are destroyed if the First Ones find a reason to do it. The destruction is brought about through means that are entertaining to the First Ones and appear natural to the rest of the collective so that they do not become suspicious."

"I don't believe it. How do they destroy them?"

"In various ways. They create copies of world leaders and load them with a synthetic brain with the mind of one of their own lackeys. Then they replace the originals with them and pit one faction against another, and entertain themselves by watching the wars escalate to the point of total annihilation of the species with its own weapons. They launch antimatter into the race's sun causing it to go nova. They create diseases and unleash them into the population. They launch meteors at the world to bring about a cataclysm. They produce a singularity in nearby space to form a black hole that sucks the world and its system in. They try to vary their methods to keep things more entertaining for themselves as they experience the lives of those who are dying horrible deaths, just to see how it feels. There are countless worlds with countless races throughout the universe and the First Ones know that they will never run out of fodder for their shows so any races that prove unsuitable for one reason or another are disposed of quickly in whatever entertaining fashion springs to mind."

"Shows, as in performances?"

"Yes. I'm sure you've heard of the Watchers, the faction of the First Ones who are responsible for learning all about races and watching their development. The reality is that all of the First Ones are in fact Watchers. They use the favors to tune in to various lives to try to find any that are interesting and when they do, they watch them and experience everything the subject experiences. They are no longer physically capable of living lives in the normal sense so this is the best way for them to be entertained and engaged. They need entertainment to keep their minds from stagnating."

"What do you mean they aren't physically capable of living lives?" Jake asked.

"The First Ones are no longer a race of people in the normal sense. They are a collection of minds in a vast network of computers that they built themselves billions of years ago when they were still corporeal. They were biological beings once, like us, but now they are fully synthetic and they have no physical body of any type any longer. They are as you would be if they simply brought your mind to life while it was still simply a map in their computer. They cannot see, hear, or feel anything except vicariously through those who carry the favors and transmit the streams back to the First Ones."

"That can't be right. I've seen one of them, the one who resurrects me and is responsible for my contract with Mogwo, Komakwa's father."

The lion shook his head and said, "No. What you saw was simply one of the first races that the First Ones used their favors on. They control them completely. They destroyed the entire race many billions of years ago and kept only a few who had compliant minds and who wanted to do what the First Ones wished of them. They stored those compliant minds as maps in their computers and use the genetic information from only one member of that race to produce as many as they need to do the job. They all look exactly alike and are physical clones of each other. The First Ones genetically modified the clone so that it could not reproduce in any way so they could not increase their numbers on their own. Their minds are slightly different, but only as it suits their job. The Lawkeepers are all loaded with the same mind, as are the Matchmakers and so on.

"They act as proxies to move about the universe pretending to actually _be_the First Ones. Nobody knows the original name of the race of little men, but we call them 'lackeys'. Serving the First Ones is their only purpose. They know full well that they live only because of the First Ones and if they ever give away their secrets the race will be forfeit and they will vanish from existence. The First Ones also keep them happy and motivated by allowing them to experience the streams of others as well occasionally. No doubt the one who acts as your Matchmaker has inhabited your body in a sense, each and every time you engaged in sexual activity. They love to experience the sensations of sex through other races since they cannot do it themselves. They like to tweak the bodies of those undergoing matches to improve your own enjoyment of it and thus their own as well. They instill in you a powerful drive to seek out sex whenever possible to ensure plenty of entertainment for themselves. You are being used as their source of sexual enjoyment."

Jake suddenly recalled his first conversation with Xelzix. At one point he had said something about not being able to have sex in the normal way. He'd talked of wanting to ensure that Jake enjoyed his body as much as he possibly could. He also recalled another conversation he'd had with the little alien when he'd been resurrected after his water park incident. He'd said how exhilarating it felt just as he was about to die, and Xelzix had said 'That is just as it should be. We want your life to be as exciting and unpredictable as possible.'

So Xelzix was just a person cloned and grown from a collection of cells and loaded up with a compliant mind that the true First Ones could manipulate to do their bidding. He was some sort of sex addict who was incapable of having sex, so he had to keep on doing his job as Matchmaker and turn his 'clients' into sex addicts in order to set up the best sexual experiences possible, and then tune in to them and experience them himself!

It all seemed to fit. It made sense and seemed quite plausible.

"How did the First Ones end up as minds in their own computers?" Jake asked.

"Many billions of years ago they became completely reliant on their own technology to do everything for them that was physically demanding in any way. Evolution eventually took from them the ability to even move about on their own effectively. After they developed the technology to map a physical brain and reproduce it in a synthetic one, they began to toy with various approaches to moving their minds into a different medium such as machines, or the bodies of other races of beings. Most attempts led to madness. In the end they realized that they really had no need to go out into the universe and experience life as corporeal beings any longer, they could simply do it vicariously through others and as such move from one experience to another as they wished and not be limited to only one life stream. It seemed simpler to them to simply plug themselves into the life of an unwitting subject and ride along to see and feel everything that person experienced and, if it got boring, move on to another.

"They eventually developed the system that is in place today. The favors in the bodies of the races transmit all that each individual sees, hears, and feels. They are plugged right into the subject's nervous system. They can feel elevated heart rate, bowels loosening from fear, blushing from embarrassment, tender touches or brutal stabbings, sexual stimulation and orgasm, and so on. Everything you can feel, they can feel through you. Through the lives of others the First Ones can experience everything they are no longer able, and ultimately too lazy, to do themselves. They can experience the joy of love, or the pain of child birth, or the taste of a delicacy, or the rush of adrenaline that occurs moments before death. They could feel the thrill of murder or rape, the fear of being hunted or dropped into a field of battle.

"Above all else they yearned for the physical pleasure of sex and that is what led them to creating the faction of lackeys called Matchmakers. To create situations that would lead to the best sexual experiences possible and then experience them vicariously through the matches. Everything they are no longer able to feel, they experience through the trillions of people of all of the races spread throughout the universe that are part of the collective, and even in some cases, those who are not. The only way to keep it interesting and unpredictable was to ensure that no one knows the truth of what is happing so that they proceed through their own lives as they normally would and the unpredictability is maintained."

It seemed unbelievable on the face of it, yet it made perfect sense. From Jake's experience with human nature, the idea of a race using all others for their own pleasure actually made more sense than a race that was completely benevolent and helping all of the others for no reason. He had no trouble believing any of it.

The human race was almost the same way when it came to their entertainment, becoming lazy and preferring to watch other people live out their lives from the comfort of their couches rather than going out and living their own.

"My race had something called reality television. It was simply cameras going in and watching supposedly real people living supposedly real lives for the entertainment of those who were too unimaginative or too lazy to go out and live their own lives. What you're describing of how the First Ones operate is the logical extension of reality television after millions of years of technical development. To actually experience and feel it all from the eyes of the 'actors', but the actors themselves are truly living their lives and are unwitting participants in the show. It's amazing!"

"Yes, it is. It is also inherently wrong. They are eavesdropping and spying and in some cases placing those subjects in dangerous situations that will likely result in their deaths intentionally, just to see how they will struggle to overcome the challenges. Most of those who die as a result of their entertainments do not have the insurance of return. It is more exhilarating for the First Ones if they are experiencing the death of someone who truly knows they will be dead and never come back.

"They primarily created the system of resurrection because they often come across individuals who seem to have a knack for getting into trouble and living lives of adventure. They became frustrated with how quickly those people would normally come to their ends, so they wanted to be able to bring them back and let them get into other situations. In the end we are their entertainment fodder and beyond that our lives are worthless. They would quite happily annihilate one race after another if it was more entertaining than doing it on an individual, piece meal basis. It is sick and twisted and ultimately takes away the freedoms of all races in the collective. Some of us feel it is time for it to end."

"You said they sometimes destroy entire worlds if they feel some reason to, and that they sometimes use meteorites. It so happens my world was destroyed that way. Do you think it had something to do with them? Could they have done it intentionally? We weren't even part of the collective yet, though supposedly we were close to being invited," Jake said.

"If your world was in an established star system that was more than a few billion years old that contained any significant gas giant planets, then it is not only possible that it was intentional, but quite likely."

"We did have a significant gas giant! We called it Jupiter. There was a small, rocky planet in an orbit beyond ours called Mars, then Jupiter orbited beyond that. There were other gas giants beyond Jupiter as well. I do recall reading about how they would act like cosmic vacuum cleaners eventually sucking up larger asteroids and thus helping to protect the inner planets. As for age, our system was around four billion years old I think," Jake said.

Rhokki nodded and said, "Older systems are more or less finished sweeping up any large, errant rocks. They all get pulled into the planets, moons or the star over time by the forces of gravity, or they enter into stable orbits in an established belt, until eventually there are no large asteroids left wandering about and the system stabilizes. Only very small ones that are relatively harmless still float about. If your system was four billion years old, then Jupiter should have taken care of the larger rocks floating in it, and the possibility of your world being randomly hit by a meteorite large enough to destroy it is exceedingly slim. On the other hand, since the First Ones knew of your world and you had not yet joined the collective, then the odds of it having been destroyed by them intentionally are quite high indeed.

"I cannot say the reason why they would do it with any certainty, but they would do it on the slightest whim if they wanted to. Perhaps your governments had been secretly approached by the First Ones and invited into the collective and refused for some reason. Perhaps your scientists developed some technology that the First Ones wanted to suppress from the rest of the collective. Perhaps you yourself are the reason. They may have wanted to set up a situation where you were one of the last of your kind to see how you would react and live out your life. If they thought it might make for an interesting show, they would annihilate your species without blinking. All of those reasons and many others are known by the zeths to have been the cause of many such racial extinctions in the past at the hands of the First Ones. The zeths have been spying on the First Ones for quite some time. In fact, I will ask our representative of the zeth race to see if he can determine if the cause of your world's destruction was natural or not."

"This is getting a bit far-fetched now. You're saying they may have destroyed my entire world, just to be entertained by my reaction to it and to see how it would affect how I live my life?"

"Essentially so, yes. They are always looking for better entertainment and destroying a race to give themselves a more interesting show is certainly common practice for them. Our lives are worthless to them, as I said. When you were a child, did you never kick apart an ant hill for the entertainment of watching them scurry about? As you watched them react to your destruction of their world perhaps you stomped on some of them, or focused the sun on them through a magnifying glass to see them burn up, or maybe threw a bucket of water over them to drown them. The mind of a very young child has difficulty with the concept of life having value. The First Ones have regressed to the point of being like children who need to be entertained. We are much lower than ants to them so wiping us out is nothing to them. There are likely more races of sentient beings in the wide universe than there were individual ant hills on your planet. There will always be more of us available to toy with."

"This is sickening. I can't believe I've been fed a pack of lies and bought it. I was told they don't monitor any streams from anyone unless they have some need."

"You were told the same half-truths that have been fed to the entire collective. Whoever told them to you quite certainly believed it all themselves, unless it was one of the lackeys who know the truth full well but would never tell it to you. It is true that they don't monitor streams from everyone, but that is simply because the vast majority of the streams would be boring to experience and the sheer number of streams is far greater than the small number of First Ones that exist in their computers.

"They jump from one stream to the next to experience various things like sex in all its forms, raping someone or being raped, murdering or getting murdered, falling from a great height, being sold into slavery, winning a lottery, or dying in a fire. They can let the stream wash over them and they see and hear everything and they feel the same feelings as though it were happening to them, because their favors are tied into our nervous systems and transmit all of the physiological effects our emotions and experiences cause us to feel. Excitement, hatred, fear, love, bitterness, happiness and so on all produce feelings in your body that they tap into and experience though you. They hear, see, touch, taste and smell everything through us. From time to time a particularly interesting life is watched and more and more learn of it and tune in to experience it. In some cases, such as quite possibly yours, they use artificial means, in your case the destruction of your planet, to create an interesting situation and then experience how it plays out."

"It's sick and wrong, but it makes sense. Still, the lies I was told before made sense too. How do I know this is true any more than what I'd been told before? How can you know all of this?" Jake asked.

"I have been informed of it by the zeth who communicates with me. What he told me not only made sense but fits perfectly into my own experiences and I've researched a great deal of the things he explained to me and found them all to be true. Recent events at my own world bore the truth out more plainly than anything else. The zeth's race was invaded by the First Ones long ago but due to their unique physiology that is based on silicon rather than carbon, they were immune to the favors. They are very close to being machines themselves, and as such they are adept at understanding machinery and they were able to reverse engineer all of the favors and knew what they were capable of. They infiltrated the First Ones' communications systems early on and monitored everything that was going on. They learned all about the truth of the First Ones.

"The methods the zeths used to spy on the First Ones were rudimentary but very difficult to detect. Once they'd learned the truth of what the First Ones were doing, the zeths decided to try to repurpose their entrenched spy technology to attack the central QECH hub that is responsible for all of the streams of information flowing from, or commands flowing to, the favors. The First Ones caught on and purged the zeth technology from their systems before it could do any damage. They knew then that the zeths were aware of their true nature and they decided to turn the collective against them to destroy them.

"The zeths are primarily peaceful people, though they are extremely skilled with technology and have been able to advance even further than the First Ones, who stagnated long ago. The First Ones have no further need of technological development as they are nothing but minds in a computer. They find the races more interesting as they are, and do not wish their lives to get any easier. The First Ones actually want technology to stay exactly as it is and advance no further. The zeth were advancing independently and their abilities in some ways far outstrip the technologies of the collective races. That is how they have held out for so long as one small race against half a million other races, but the sheer numbers of the collective forces are too much for them and they will ultimately lose the war and be annihilated as a race.

"They are now changing their tactics. They realized they cannot survive an extended war against the entire collective so they are turning it more into a war between themselves and the First Ones. They wish to reveal to the collective races the reality of the First Ones' nature, but they cannot possibly do so until they have eliminated the threat of the favors. The First Ones would annihilate any and all races that turn against them so the zeths know they have to tread carefully in their attempt to get the information out. They want to destroy the First Ones' grip on the collective by taking away their ability to use the favors as a weapon. They have been working on technologies that might allow them to take control of the favors themselves, but they recently realized that that approach was impossible. It would require essentially tapping into the communication through the QECH link in the favors, and since they use a wormhole linked via a photon inside a shielded trap, they would not be able to send information into it. They came to realize that the best solution would be to simply remove the ability for anyone to ever command the favors again, including the First Ones. The most expedient way to achieve that is to destroy the link between all favors and the QECH system. Their ultimate goal is to destroy the QECH hub that communicates with the favors and thus render the First Ones completely blind and unable to control anyone, anywhere. Once that happens the truth can be revealed to the entire collective and the hope is that they will end the war against the zeths and they can retreat peacefully back into their own galaxy to be left alone. Unfortunately, in order to destroy the hub they will need to gain access to one of the areas the lackeys use to perform resurrections in order to access the First Ones' universal network. Those locations tend to be highly secured and would be difficult to infiltrate.

"My own race was advancing quite quickly. We too are adept at technology and the First Ones were not fully aware of our progress because we realized early on that it would be best to keep it from them. We developed a religion based on tradition and had those who joined the religion choose to have their favors purged. The First Ones allowed it. As I said before they think of those people as sort of 'wild cards' that make things more interesting. What they didn't know was that all of those who'd been purged of favors became our most advanced scientists. They worked on advancing technologies that were already available in the collective and also developed some new ones. The zeths approached us at one point and we joined with them. Through a combination of the zeths' technology and our own we built a warship in secret with the intent to use it to help free the races from the First Ones, one world at a time.

"The First Ones caught on and acted swiftly to destroy my world before we were fully prepared. They knew they did not have time to use methods that would look natural so they simply commanded the favors to dissolve it and everyone on it even as we were attempting to launch satellites we had developed with the help of the zeths that would break the link of all of the favors on the planet to the QECH hub by destroying the quantum entanglement of their photons. The satellites are simply a more powerful version of the prototype device that we use here that cut off your favors. The satellites are capable of blanketing the entire world with the radio frequencies tuned and boosted precisely in phase to cause the linked photon to be absorbed. Any and all QECH based communication would be destroyed. The zeth have helped us by providing photons that link to a more complex hub-and-spoke system of their own design with which we might gain back instantaneous communication with the rest of the resistance worlds as more come on board.

"The First Ones saw the satellites and we had launched them too late so we did not activate them so as not to let the First Ones know what their purpose was. We activated their self-destruct mechanisms instead. The First Ones created the story that our warship had launched the satellites and used them to liquidate our own world and were ready to spread it if needed in order to spur other members of the collective into action against us. It would also give them the freedom to use the technique of dissolving entire worlds with the favors more readily and simply say our stealth ship had done it.

"Luckily, small portable versions of the technology, similar to the one we use here at the camp, were already aboard our two ark ships and they were activated before the First Ones could liquidate the ships. The ships are now in hiding and our race will survive once we find a suitable world to live on, but we will keep them hidden until the First Ones' strangle hold over the races has been eliminated and they are no longer a threat to our freedom."

"If what you say is true, then we share that one thing in common. Both of our worlds were destroyed by the First Ones and our races nearly wiped out," Jake said.

The lion smiled sadly and nodded.

They were interrupted when a very large miquanowan entered the tent and said, "Well, look here, I thought I heard voices."

Rhokki let out a low growl and Jake saw his claws begin to extend from his paws.

The bull stuck his head out of the tent and shouted, "Our cum dump has awakened and is ready to go to work. I need a couple of you to carry him over to the area we set up for work breaks where we'll put him up for use."

"You were warned not to harm him!" Rhokki growled, "You will face the wrath of your insane leader when he returns if you do not leave this tent, now!"

The big bull chuckled as two others joined him in the tent.

"We don't take orders of any kind from you. You are nothing special, cat. You'll hold your tongue while I'm around or I'll pull it out of your head," the bull warned.

"You are most welcome to try. You and your cohorts are not worthy of eating my scat. You are lower than scum. I have no fear of you and would kill you before you knew what was happening," Rhokki said in a calm and menacing voice.

Three more bulls crowded into the tent.

The first bull looked around and determined the numbers were in his favor, so he said, "Get out of our way, or we'll teach you proper manners around your superiors. We could just as easily snuff you and claim you tried to help this one escape. You were told not to untie him, yet there he sits, free of his bonds. Troska would not have a problem with us putting you down for that reason alone."

"Troska may not, but the zeths may have a thing or two to say about it and so will my people."

"Your people are a grey soup covering a planet now. I don't think they can say much anymore."

The bulls all laughed at that.

"My people are on their way here and will be arriving within a few weeks in a ship that cannot be seen or detected. Should anything happen to me, they will firebomb this place and level it. I assure you none of you will live if I do not."

"Fine, you can live, but you will not stand in our way or we'll simply tie you up the same way we did him. There are more than forty of us against you. We know that we can't kill this alien any more than we can kill you. We will be using him for our entertainment though, and there is nothing you can do to stop us. As for Troska, we do it on his instruction. I'm not sure if you realize quite how much he hates this one. We'll be video recording everything that happens to him as a little gift for the boy if he ever decided to question any of the old bull's orders."

"I refuse to believe that. Your psychotic leader is far too serious about his own delusional religious beliefs to allow you to do this. You are all followers of his religion and it does not allow for homosexual relations."

"No, he was kind enough to let us bend the rules a bit because of just how much he hates this particular alien. He will allow us to fuck this one as much as we want, so long as we don't allow ourselves to be fucked by anyone, and that suits us fine. I'm not homosexual. I just like to force my cock into a man because it feels good and this one was built for it."

The bulls chuckled again.

"Don't get yourself in trouble on my account, Rhokki," Jake said, "They won't hurt me. They might think they're superior in some way but we know that's far from the truth. They're cowards and deep down inside I'm sure they know it."

The bull advanced on Jake and raised his massive fist. Jake didn't move or flinch while he prayed his head could take one more hit, but two bulls rushed to grab the first one and hold him back.

"We can't hurt it," one of the other bulls said, "Troska will kill you without hesitation if you do any real damage to the alien without being told to. He wants it to look pristine and healthy when the boy tunes in for his video checkup tonight. Luckily he won't be examining his asshole so we can certainly rip that open for him if we want."

The other bulls chuckled again and the first one calmed down a bit.

Two of them advanced to grab Jake but Rhokki growled again and moved to stop them and they hesitated.

Jake was fairly certain the cat could destroy several of the bulls before they could finally control him but there were close to forty in the camp according to what the one had said and it would only end in Rhokki's death.

"Please, Rhokki, I appreciate what you're trying to do for me but I don't want to see you hurt. Don't interfere. I'll be fine," Jake said.

The cat growled again and looked back at Jake.

The man smiled at him reassuringly so he moved aside to let the bulls through.

The two bulls grabbed Jake under his arms and lifted him up. They made as if to drag him away but he shook them off and stood.

"I can walk," he said.

The bulls took positions behind him and the others led the way out the tent and through the camp.

The camp looked as though it had grown considerably. There were quite a few camouflage tents scattered about and equipment here and there. Jake realized that since this was a sacred planet and had no population, there would be no favors on it whatsoever. That would make it the perfect staging area for a resistance movement against the First Ones. Perhaps this camp was just the beginning of what would eventually be a much larger population of people with no favors, plotting against the First Ones. This must be the reason the zeths felt they needed Troska. He was their link to the miquanowans and they would likely need a steady stream of resources and manpower from their world to build up their resistance. Mak's father's ties to the government and even their military would be an even greater asset and that would be why they want to bring him on board so badly.

Most of the areas with exposed equipment were covered in camouflage netting. They came to one such spot that looked as though it was sort of an open mess area with latrines off to one side. It was a place set up for the men to take their meals and take breaks from their labor.

They had set up four poles in an open space beside the break area and that's where they led Jake. He saw fat ropes attached to the tops of each pole and he thought he knew right away what they were intended for. He was proved right moments later when four bulls took his hands and feet and pulled him up and held him in mid-air in the middle of the poles. Other bulls came and tied Jake's wrists and ankles to each of the four poles and then he was released.

His wrists and ankles had been covered with a heavy foam-rubber like band and the ropes tied over it so that he could hang here without damaging his skin. It would leave no marks.

He was suspended facing up, about three and a half feet off the ground, right about at crotch level for the large bulls. The way they'd slung him up, his arms and legs were spread wide and it was clear the intent was for the bulls to simply walk up between his legs or to his face and fuck whichever hole wasn't in use, dump their cum into him, and then go back to whatever they'd been doing before. He'd been positioned right next to the latrine to make it clear that he was nothing more to them than a toilet designed for them to shoot their load into when they felt the need, just as they might take a shit or a piss in the latrine when they felt that need.

The first bull walked up with a grin and dropped his shorts to reveal his thick cock rapidly stretching out of its base to full rigidity. He pushed it up against Jake's asshole and Jake made a point of pushing as hard as he could to open wide. He was dry and this was not going to feel great.

The bull pushed hard and the thick, blunt head of his cock forced its way in. The pain was excruciating at first. It felt like fire, like his skin was being burned or ripped off of him as the bull continued to grunt and force his cock into Jake. Jake remembered what Xelzix had told him about the modifications to his rectum including a strengthening to allow for rough sex and hoped it would withstand this abuse.

The massive bull's fat cock wasn't going in easily and the bull realized he would have to wet it at least some so he began to spit and spread it around on his shaft. He pulled back a bit until the head almost emerged and spat a bit more and spread it around. Once he'd lubricated it at least a bit, he forced himself forward again and now his cock slid in a bit more easily. Several grunts and shoves later and the bull's thick, long cock was buried completely into Jake's rectum and stretching it nearly to its limit.

To Jake's frustration and the bull's pleasure, all of the rings of muscles along the length of his rectum were dutifully pulsing and squeezing the big bull's cock and giving him immensely pleasurable sensations.

Jake too was getting incredibly intense sensations from the muscles and, combined with the stimulation of his inner testicles and his huge prostate, he began to get fully erect while the big bull began to pull out and drive himself back in.

One of the other bulls gathered around chuckled and said, "Look at that, he loves it!"

He walked up to Jake's head and roughly grabbed his hair and pulled it down to bring his mouth into position while he yanked down his shorts and freed his massive tool and shoved it into Jake's mouth. He grunted and drove his feet back hard to push himself into Jake until his cock went into his throat and continued down.

The bull kept going until his huge, sweaty balls bumped up against Jake's nose while he hung helplessly between the four poles.

The bull was so dirty Jake could smell the strong odor of old urine, sweat, musk from his glands, and even old shit.

The bull groaned at the sensation of Jake's snug throat gripping his tool along its length and he pulled back and then pushed himself in again.

The bull grabbed on to Jake's sides with his big, powerful hands just under the man's arms and used him as leverage as he began to build a rhythm of moaning and grunting and fucking Jake's mouth. His big, smelly balls were slapping hard at Jake's face as he bucked and thrust into him, rapidly working himself up to orgasm.

The bull at the back had grabbed on to Jake's hips and was doing the same thing down there. Grunting and moaning and thrusting himself hard into Jake, reveling in the amazing sensation of the rings of muscles popping off his cock head and then squeezing back on to it again as he pulled out and pushed back in.

Both bulls began to hump and thrust faster and faster until finally the one at the back yelled out, "Aww, fuck yeah!" and slammed himself forward hard into Jake and held himself as his body convulsed and shot a massive spurt of his semen into Jake. He bucked several times, each time shooting another long jet of cum into Jake's bowels.

The bull at the front reached his orgasm too and grunted and bucked and shot his load down Jake's throat. He humped and slammed his sweaty balls into Jake's face repeatedly as he pumped all of the cum he had in him down the man's throat.

Finally the bucking stopped at both ends and the two bulls unceremoniously pulled out, pulled up their shorts, and walked away chuckling.

Two other bulls stepped up and the process was repeated. It was easier at the back end this time because Jake's rectum was loaded with bull semen already and it acted as a lubricant for the next thick, blunt cock that was shoved hard into him.

Jake wasn't sure how long he'd hung there by the time the sun began to set but it must have been four or five hours.

He was a novelty so every single bull in the camp had to have a go at him. He'd been thoroughly and forcefully bred by almost forty huge, muscular bulls and most had come back for seconds.

There was so much cum in him that it was leaking out of his asshole steadily now and creating a mud puddle in the dirt below him. His belly was swelling with their seed.

What annoyed him most through it all was that his body was enjoying it. He had not reached his own orgasm but his cock was sore from being hard most of the time that he'd hung there. Something inside him was extremely turned on by the idea of being tied up and used by these animals as a way to relieve a simple need their bodies had. It was probably something to do with the changes Xelzix had made to him that had turned him into a sex addict, but he actually almost wished this treatment was not over yet even though he was full of hatred towards the bulls for forcing themselves on him. He knew it was likely to be repeated tomorrow, and every day from now on for the foreseeable future. At least until they get bored with it.

After the first couple of hours it had become more like the routine Jake would probably be facing from now on. Bulls would walk past him to the latrine to take a piss or a shit, then they'd come back and dump their cum into him, then go over and sit and chat and rest a bit before going back to work while some other bull was dumping his seed into Jake. Sometimes the two bulls at each end of him would be chatting about something across him even while they fucked him, like he wasn't even there. Like two guys chatting at the urinals while they relieved themselves.

A constant trickle of bulls came to use their cum dump until finally it was nearly time for him to go back to the infirmary tent for the video link with Mak.

He was untied and this time he was dragged back to the tent. His hips refused to function right at first from his legs being stretched as far apart as they could go for such a long time. He wouldn't be able to walk for a while until the blood flowed properly around his joints long enough to make things work right again.

Whatever the favors were doing to strengthen his body seemed to be working for his ligaments and tendons too. He did not feel sore or in any way damaged from being hung up and stretched out for hours. His throat didn't feel raw or damaged in any way and his rectum seemed to have handled the extreme abuse just fine.

He realized suddenly that his muscles were still big, his teeth still immaculately clean, his nails all still properly manicured and his beard not growing. Clearly, breaking the QECH connection for his favors didn't affect their operation. They were still following their original programming. They just couldn't be commanded to do anything else now and the ones in his head couldn't send any signals back to the First Ones.

He was dragged back into the infirmary tent where Rhokki was waiting for him and he was dumped onto his cot.

"Get him cleaned up and ready for the link," one of the bulls said, "I recommend you make it look like everything's perfectly fine here or the boy might try something and Troska will have to deal with him in his way."

Rhokki growled and advanced on the bulls and they quickly exited the tent.

The big lion turned to Jake with a look of concern and said, "I'm so sorry they did that to you. I wish that I could somehow stop them but there are too many. They should not be allowed to defile you so."

Jake smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Rhokki. You don't need to feel bad for me. I was modified as preparation for the match so my body is uniquely suited to bringing them pleasure. They didn't hurt me at all, really. I suppose I should be incredibly angry but somehow I'm not. I guess being mad at them but not able to do anything about it would be like handing them power over me. I know it sounds sick, but I almost enjoyed it. I guess what you said about the Matchmakers making us into sex fiends is true."

Jake sat on his cot and lay back to let his circulation take care of his joints.

The lion had a bucket with clean water and a towel and he began to wash Jake.

"I can do that myself if you give me a minute. My arms and legs are like rubber and I think I need to let the blood flow through them a bit longer before I get full control, but I can feel it coming back already. You've done so much for me already, you don't need to bother with this," Jake said.

"Please, it is no bother at all," Rhokki said as he gave Jake a sponge bath from head to toe, taking extra time around his ass and crotch.

Jake enjoyed the sensation of being pampered and his cock sprang to attention again as the lion finished up by washing him around there.

Rhokki stared at Jake's hard cock and he gently ran the wet cloth along it slowly.

It felt wonderful to Jake after being frustrated with an erection that he could do nothing about for so many hours.

Rhokki then wrapped the cool, wet cloth right around the shaft of Jake's penis and then wrapped his big paw around the cloth and began to slowly jack it up and down the length of Jake's shaft.

He looked tentatively up at Jake as if to see if what he was doing was alright, and Jake smiled at him. His body really needed this and he was grateful to the cat for it.

The big cat smiled back and turned his attention back to Jake's penis and began to stroke it faster and with longer strokes.

Jake had been so sexually frustrated that it took only a couple of minutes before he felt his orgasm build up.

His breathing became short and quick and his hips rose just slightly as his big balls started to tighten up and he grunted as his massive load of semen rushed up his shaft to explode out the end of his cock and squirt up to his chest to make a puddle there.

Rhokki's mouth was slightly open and the tip of his wide, pink tongue stuck out the end of his mouth slightly as he watched jet after jet of Jake's thick cum spurt from the end of his cock as the cat's large paw continued to pump his shaft.

The sheer volume of seed was amazing to the big cat. He kept working Jake's cock to see just how much he could coax out of it but eventually the spurting changed to oozing and then even that stopped.

The lion settled down and changed from pumping to just gently squeezing the shaft of Jake's cock repeatedly, then he leaned in and kissed the tip of it and then started to lick up Jake's cum along his belly and up to his chest were there were large puddles of it. He licked up every last drop and then he sighed and finished cleaning Jake with the wet towel.

Neither one of them said a word about it. The cat was simply helping Jake to feel better, just as he'd been doing all along.

"It is nearly time for the video link with your lover," Rhokki said, "I think it would be wise for you to take the bull's advice and do not mention their foul treatment of you to the boy. It is truly in his best interests to do precisely what is required of him now. Make sure you do not give him any reason to do otherwise, for his own safety. After their treatment of you today I can honestly say I no longer have any interest in being associated with them in any way.

"From the little time I've spent with you, I can see that you are honorable and trustworthy. If you wish, when the rhuxus ship I spoke of earlier arrives here in a few weeks, I would be happy to bring you and the boy aboard with me. I have sway with the captain of that ship and once I explain your treatment by the bulls they will have no problem allowing you to seek asylum there. I will convince my people to break all ties with this group. I can stomach them no longer. If the zeth representative does not like that then we will be breaking our ties with them as well. My race is an honorable one and we will not tolerate this behavior. The mad bull has broken his word and shown that he cannot be trusted in any way. For the time being there is nothing I can do to help you, but when my people arrive you need only give the word and we will put an end to these vile creatures."

Jake smiled at the powerful lion and said, "You truly are a good person, Rhokki. I'm grateful to you for all you've done for me. I'll take you up on that offer provided we can find a way to get Mak away from that psychotic old bull safely."

The black lion smiled knowingly and said, "Trust me, that will not be a problem. I can bring you both aboard quite easily and there is nothing they can do to stop us."

There were several beeps from a device that was sitting on the table by the cot and the lion reached over and picked it up.

"Remember what I said, it is in his best interest for you to act like everything is perfect here," Rhokki said as he pressed a button on the device and handed it to Jake.

It was sort of like a regular old tablet from back home but was more like a hard, thin and slightly flexible piece of plastic. It had a bright, three-dimensional display and was about ten inches by seven inches. Jake could see no speaker or camera on it but he assumed the surface must act as both as well as a display.

An image formed on it of Mak's face and the young bull had a look of anxious concern that immediately turned to a happy grin when he saw a smiling Jake staring back at him.

"Jake! You're awake at last! I've been so worried. I wasn't sure your noggin could take another blow and still come back. It's been knocked around like four times since I met you just a few days ago if you count your fancy kwarren dismount. How do you feel?"

Tears began to well up in Jake's eyes. He hadn't fully realized just how concerned he'd been about the young bull until he finally saw his smiling face. He'd fallen so deeply in love with Mak that he missed him terribly already, even though he'd seen him just the day before. The relief at seeing him safe and grinning happily was a bit overwhelming.

Jake grinned back and said, "I'm so happy to see you. I feel pretty good considering what was done to my head. Luckily it was built pretty tough. We had an old wrist watch commercial back on my world that said 'it takes a licking but keeps on ticking.' If the First Ones are looking to advertise the quality of their synthetic brain they're welcome to use it."

Mak chuckled and said, "How are they treating you over there?"

An image immediately popped into Jake's head of himself stretched out in mid-air, tied to four posts and being bred repeatedly by forty bulls and filled so full of their seed that it was leaking out of him constantly, but he chased it from his mind so Mak wouldn't know anything was wrong back here.

He smiled and said, "They're treating me just fine. Rhokki here is taking great care of me."

The bull smiled and said, "Well, say thanks to him for me. I met him before they sent me back here. He's a pretty cool guy."

The lion smiled at the compliment and Jake said, "He's here in the room with me, so he heard you and he thinks you're right, he's pretty cool."

Rhokki and Mak both chuckled and the young bull said, "Troska's here in the room with me too if you want to send him a 'fuck you'."

"Cool, thanks. Fuck you, Troska! Hurry up and die why don't you?" Jake shouted.

Mak laughed and suddenly the image wavered as he appeared to briefly struggle and then he gave an angry look and said, "Get back, old man. You'll give me my full two minutes as agreed."

Mak looked back at Jake and said, "Troska wanted to say 'fuck you' back but I wouldn't let him have the comm screen. I can't wait to see you again, Jake. They're gonna drop me on the planet in two weeks at the location they chose for my trial. It's supposed to be secret but the mad butler here somehow figured out where it is, so he's gonna send someone to pick me up there and take me back to the camp. Did they tell you what the movement is all about?"

Jake nodded and said, "Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise."

"No kidding. They told me everything too, now that my favors are cut off. I knew the First Ones were bad news but I had no idea just how bad. It has definitely helped me decide my future. I hate Troska. That will never change and he knows it, but I have to admit that I think he's right to fight against the First Ones. He's watching me like a hawk. He doesn't trust me and thinks I'll run off first chance I get to fly back there to rescue you. He and I have come to an agreement of sorts that will come into play when I've finished my ascendance and can make my own decisions with my life. I won't be joining his religion, though I will appear to have joined it so I can pull my father into it too and get his favors purged, and Troska will not interfere with things between you and me. I will become a part of the movement. I'm gonna do everything I can to get my father to join too once he's purged and can hear the whole truth. My father will help to bring our race on board and then you and I will be free to live here together once the favors of the whole planet are cut off. Did they tell you about the satellites?"

Jake nodded and was about to answer when Mak looked over to the side and got an annoyed look on his face and said, "Already?"

He looked back at the screen and said, "Jake, I'm only allowed two minutes each night to see you. I want to know if you're OK or all bets are off. As long as I play along with them they won't hurt you. As long as they don't hurt you I'll play along. We just need to hang in there until I start my fake ascendance and come back there. Just take care and I'll see you again tomorrow night. I love you, Jake."

"I love you too, Mak. I miss you already. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

The image went blank and Jake handed the device back to Rhokki.

He felt immense relief to have seen the young bull and verified that he was just fine. He looked forward to talking to him again tomorrow night and even more to finally seeing him again in two weeks.

He began to feel weary from his ordeal today and he stretched and yawned and said, "I think I'm ready to go to sleep now."

The lion smiled at him and said, "I have been sleeping here in the cot next to you. I feel ready to retire for the night too. There is more dried meat and fruit in the rucksack next to the table and the canteen has been refilled. Perhaps you should try to eat a bit more before you retire to help your body recuperate."

"No thanks. I have a belly full of bull semen and I'm thinking that's all the protein my body will need for now."

The cat chuckled and shook his head at Jake's cavalier attitude to his brutal treatment.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine Rhokki. Thanks again for taking such good care of me. I really appreciate your kindness," Jake said.

The lion smiled a bit sadly and said, "Well, I hate to put a damper on your appreciation, but I'm afraid as part of the agreement I must tie you up again."

Jake said, "I really need to use the latrine first."

The lion reached under the cot and pulled up a bed pan and handed it to Jake.

Jake sighed and took the pan. He voided his bowels into it and pissed and then handed it back to Rhokki.

The cat examined the contents and then looked at Jake and said, "There is no blood whatsoever in here. How were you able to withstand that treatment without them doing internal damage to you?"

"I was modified specifically for my match with Komakwa. My body was thoroughly strengthened and my rectum and throat modified to allow a miquanowans penis to use it exceedingly roughly without damage."

The cat nodded and said, "Yes, of course. I should have thought of that. It would likely make you capable of intercourse with quite a wide variety of races as well. If you were strengthened enough back there you could even handle me."

Jake chuckled and asked, "Are you bragging about the size of your equipment? I might have to ask you to back that up with some proof."

The big cat smiled and said, "No, it isn't the size so much as the shape. Very few races are compatible for anal sex with mine. Even our own males cannot take the penis of another of us. Like most felids, the end of my penis is covered in over a hundred backward facing barbs intended to stir the female into ovulation when we pull out of her. They can be quite damaging to the rectum of a male lover so, as a homosexual myself, I have led quite a lonely life."

Jake said, "I'm sorry to hear that. My life was extremely lonely too up until a short time ago so I know what you're going through."

The beautiful lion smiled and nodded and walked on his hind legs to the exit of the tent and put the bed pan just outside to deal with in a minute.

Jake marveled at how smoothly and naturally the big cat transitioned from walking on four legs, to walking on two while carrying something, then back to four again. He seemed perfectly comfortable either way but seemed to prefer walking on four like a normal lion.

He came back and Jake lay back on the cot and spread his arms and legs and Rhokki tied him up again. He then went and got the bed pan and took it to the latrine to empty it.

As soon as he'd left, a bull stuck his head in to the tent to check that Jake was securely tied and then went back to his guard position outside.

Rhokki came back and extinguished the light and lay down on his own cot to sleep.

Jake struggled at first to try to get to sleep. He was tired but his mind reeled with the information he'd learned today about the true nature of the First Ones. He wasn't sure what was in store for the future but he was determined to do his bit if what he'd heard turned out to be true. He would definitely throw his lot in with the rhuxus and get the hell away from Troska and his group of evil stooges.

He would remind Rhokki to check with the zeth representative to see if they could determine if Earth really was destroyed intentionally. That would pretty much clinch it for Jake.

He tried to push it all away and turned his thoughts back to Mak. He loved the young bull so much and he would see him in two weeks if they both played their parts right.

The thought of being reunited with the young bull calmed him and finally he drifted off to sleep to rest up and be ready for whatever they would throw at him tomorrow.