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Shattered Shards: Aethernauts

By Von Krieger

"That one there looks like a nice place to settle down. It's big enough to have a gravimetric field, but it's not big enough to have any monsters or anything on it. Looks like trees and plants and stuff are from birds doing the seed spreading. There's even a nice little pond." Fortune said, the yellow and brown fox-squirrel pointing out the window of the smallish aether-craft.

A mix of helicopter, airplane, and mobile home (with a few bits from a sailboat thrown on), the flying machine was a bit of an eyesore, but it was functional, and it had been comparatively cheap. Nearly free, after all, Fortune's boyfriend and exploration partner Billy had built it out of bits found in a junkyard cobbled together with a few simple magical items.

"Looks like a good enough place for a picnic." The kobold said pleasantly.

With a little bit of ingenuity and a bit of magic a perpetual motion machine quite easily became possible. A specially designed Decanter of Endless Water pumped its never-ending supply of water through numerous hoses, leading to several hydro-electrical generators, storing their charge within hybrid magical-chemical batteries. The water was then pushed into a central chamber, vanishing into a small ring gate, which sent the water into the supply pipes of a perpetual-flow power plant. The co-op had split the cost for the system since it could use the flow from vehicle power sources, rather than having to acquire a vast number of devices for its own use. The water was then sent through a dimensional portal back to the Elemental Plane of Water from which the flow originated to begin with. Perfectly clean, cheap, free power for everyone.

Billy hummed happily to himself as he walked back from the cabin to the living area, opening the refrigerator and packing a few things into a basket, giving a quick check to the gauges showing pressures within the propulsion system, making sure nothing was clogged or leaking.

As much as he loved Fortune, the fuzzy fox-squirrel did not smell like a rose when he got wet, as was the case with most furred creatures. When suddenly doused with several gallons of water in the middle of the night, banishing the smell with the use of scented shampoos was not something that was on his mind.

That was reserved for dragging Billy out of bed tail first and telling him to fix the pipes.

Typically the batteries were charged up when they were on the ground, stopping to eat, ask directions, or rest for the night. When in flight they kept the system on the lowest flow setting, to make sure that no air bubbles built up inside.

Billy took a quick look out the windows, admiring the view. Even though they'd been traveling in Aetherspace for several months now, he was still stunned by the vista. When the worlds merged several smaller worlds appeared in the sky, all linked by a band of atmosphere, air, and ley-lines, allowing for easy transportation as long as you could go up.

Though once you got about 30 miles up from the surface of the Fused Earth 'up' became rather relative. There wasn't any particular direction of pull, but anything bigger than a football stadium had gravity of some sort, and anything smaller had a creature of import decide which way was down. It was rather confusing at first, but as the astral plane had worked just fine on that sort of thing for all of recorded history, there were easily learned methods and techniques for managing it.

With clouds and weather patterns forming in the Aether rain reaching most of the small places, and migratory birds had been carrying seeds in their tummies and then pooped them out along a few stops, giving rise to nice, grassy 'side of the road' places like the small Aetheroid below.

The craft touched down gently atop the grass, the propellers spinning down as Fortune removed the key from the ignition.

"I'll get the blanket." The fox-squirrel said with an infectious grin, "You go out and find a good place to set it up, okay?"

Billy nodded and stepped out the door, down onto the step, and then down a good four or five feet as the dirt fell away from beneath him, revealing a small cave.

The kobold's surprised shriek drew his boyfriend's attention. Fortune's ears twitched with amusement as he looked down the hole to see a scowling, dirty, uninjured Billy.

"You are such a kobold. We set down in a nice, happy, sunny field with a pretty pond and some trees and you go and find a cave." He teased.

Billy sighed, "Can you give me a hand and help me up?"

Fortune hopped down into the hole.

"Or I guess you could come down here with me too, that works." He said, rolling his eyes.

Fortune peered into the darkness, the cave sloping gently downwards, "We can eat lunch later. There might be something down here. You don't see caves in Aetheroids too often; usually they're solid chunks of rock."

Billy sighed and climbed up out of the pit, darting into the Aethercraft to retrieve his spear and Fortune's dueling dagger and rapier. If they were going to go poking around in a cave, like any good dungeon crawler, they were going to be armed. Forewarned is forearmed the saying goes.

Later on Billy would think that his thinking the saying earlier made for a wonderful pun.

-o-

A few minutes of spelunking revealed no monsters, but as they rounded a corner, the duo found themselves quite a treasure.

"A pre-merge Aethercraft!" Billy said with awe as he recognized the metallic hull of the vessel. It could be a ship, but typically metal ships were sunk into the ocean, not floating around in rocks in the middle of space. Nor did they have doors and a stairway that would be below the water line.

Especially not one that opened by itself the moment the two came within arm's reach. It hissed open softly, oddly fresh, pleasant scented air wafting out. Apparently the air filtration systems still worked.

Billy poked his spear in through the door, tapping it on the ground to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises. Finding none, he stepped forward, looking closely for holes out of which sharp metal objects could come rushing at any moment. He was somewhat disappointed to find that the former owners of the ship weren't as concerned with home safety as your typical kobold.

"You look disappointed that there aren't any traps to take apart." Fortune said with a grin, giving the kobold a hug, "Don't worry, I bet you'll find some old piece of magical technology to poke and prod at."

Billy smiled at that, and strode into the opened door as if he owned the place, which by salvager's rights he probably did. He was rather surprised when he found himself in a rather long hallway. The buried vessel was more the size of a ship than the small Aethercraft he'd expected.

"Oh wow," he said, "If this thing still works we might have to upgrade. This thing is huge!"

Fortune hopped in after him and looked down the hallway as well, "Well, if we can get it out of here and if it has all the comforts of home."

"If it doesn't, I bet it's big enough that we have a place to put our craft, and then we'll have the best of both worlds."

Fortune nodded, "But first we have to find the control room to see if it even works, usually it's at the far front."

"Yeah, but we don't know which end is the front. So I guess let's just pick one, and if it's wrong, we can come back and head the other way."

Billy headed to the left with Fortune following behind. The fox-squirrel raised a handpaw, placing it on the wall.

"Weird, it feels warm, and it feels kind hot and humid in here." He said.

"I like it warm." Billy said with a grin, stopping to hug the fuzzy fox-squirrel, burying his muzzle in Fortune's neck fur, "Mmm... warmth."

"Says the terrible cover thief." Fortune said with a giggle, turning so that his muzzle met Billy's in a brief kiss.

Emboldened by the kiss, Billy darted on ahead, eager to see if the Aethership would be theirs'. If it was, they'd have to have it broken in properly, with celebratory sex in every room. That might take awhile, considering how big the ship was.

The two moved down the hallway, finding it curved slightly to right, following the contour of the ship's exterior. It ended in a smooth hexagonal hatch that was a few shades darker then the rest of the pale blue-white interior of the craft.

Billy approached and began to poke at it, trying to figure out how it opened, while Fortune peered at one of the recessed, pale blue lights that illuminated the hall.

"Okay, let's see, the outside one was motion activated, I think." The kobold said, though the door hadn't opened on his approach.

"Um, Billy?" Fortune said, "The lights are weird. They're filled with glowing liquid, and they're..." the fox poked one, finding it to have a soft, pliable membrane, "Soft. They're like big water balloons."

"I'll remember not to throw them at you. I don't want to end up with a glow in the dark boyfriend. The light would keep me up all night." Billy said, poking at the place where the six triangular sections came together.

They door opened, and the off balance kobold fell through, tumbling down a small ramp, thankfully landing on something soft and squishy, feeling rather like a beanbag chair filled with mashed potatoes, a sensation he'd only experienced twice before.

He stood and surveyed the room around him. It was... weird. Like the room had been made of clay and everything had been pinched and shaped up from the floor, walls, and ceiling. Most things were rounded, giving it a bit of an organic look.

There were several rounded, vaguely chair-shaped object placed before angled tables, likely the control systems. Billy leaned down to see if they were similar to any of the dozens of systems he knew how to operate.

But he didn't see any designs or buttons or anything. He put a hand to the console, trying to brush away some of the blueness to see if it was just clingy dust of a sort.

"Be careful with that," warned Fortune as he stepped in to look over the control room, "You have no idea what it..."

The hexagonal door slammed shut just as quickly as it opened. The console was now glowing with a single, large glyph, as were the rest of the half dozen or so in the room. They blinked on an off slowly.

"What it does." Finished the wincing fox-squirrel with a sigh. "You probably just turned on the security system."

"Good!" Billy said rather happily, "If it means traps or automated defenses, then it's something to take apart!"

The kobold stood at the ready, watching multiple circular openings slowly sliding open in the floor and ceiling.

Fortune peered up into one, trying to see if it was anything dangerous. He promptly received a face full of sticky, translucent blue gunk.

His lips curled in disgust as he whipped the stuff from his eyes.

"Well, that's not too terrible. I'm sure I can figure out an effective countermeasure for blue Jell-O." the kobold said with a laugh that was soon stifled as Fortune tossed a ball of the stuff at him, giving them matching goo-covered faces.

"That wasn't funny." Billy said with a scowl.

Fortune grinned, "I think it's hilarious."

Thicker slime started to pour from the holes, dripping slowly downward, forming gelatinous stalactites and thick strands of blue.

"This stuff isn't caustic or anything. So if this was meant to be a trap by drowning, I think whatever the stuff is might've dried out awhile ago." Billy said, prodding a tendril of slime with his foot.

With a serpentine suddenness the tendril struck, wrapping itself around Billy's ankle.

Fortune rolled his eyes, "Oh great, I think you pissed it off."

Billy leaned down and tried to pull his ankle free of the encircling slime, but only earned a pair of tendrils around his wrists for his troubles. A fourth quickly seized his remaining ankle, leaving him fully bound.

"Oooh! Kinky!" Fortune said with a giggle, stumbling over to his boyfriend, seeming a bit tipsy, "I think the ship wants to play!"

The fox-squirrel moaned softly as slime tendrils curled around his wrists and ankles, several more of the things beginning to move, slipping beneath their clothes, with intent to remove them.

"Well, I hope it just wants to play!" Billy said, still trying to free himself, "Because if it's supposed to tie us up until its owner gets here, I think it's going to be an awful long wait."

Fortune's eyes went wide as he opened his mouth and let out a contended moan of pleasure, "I don't think it's interested only in tying us up." He said, his breath beginning to quicken.

Billy looked at his boyfriend questioningly, but before he could open his mouth to ask a question, the tentacles began to undress him as well, and not merely undress him, but tease him.

They leaked a thinner, warmer slime, seemingly for lubrication. Most definitely for lubrication, as Billy felt one probe at his tailhole, and then slip inside. Another curled around his balls, squeezing gently as they rest of the tendrils stripped him down to his bare scales.

More tentacles slid out of their holes in the ceiling and floor, these were thicker and dripped a thick, silver-blue solution which they began to smear over the captive fox-squirrel and kobold.

Fortune gleefully tilted his head back, playfully trying to catch one of the things. Successful he managed to coax one into his mouth, where her began to gleefully suckle upon it, his shaft already erect as he attempted to thrust against the tentacles, which seemed to have little interest in that particular piece of anatomy.

The silver slime-dripping tentacles seemed to widen in places as they began to bring forth something more solid than the slime, which was beginning to dry where it had been applied to Billy and Fortune's arms, legs, and tails. It tingled rather pleasantly.

Billy clenched his teeth, turning his head away from a tentacle that had a keen interest in penetrating his maw, an ovoid shape held just a few inches from the end, visible through the translucent slime. It wanted to pack the two trespassers full of eggs.

The kobold whimpered as he felt his tailhole stretch, the tentacle already inside of him pushing its contents into its new 'nest.' The egg made him feel pleasantly warm inside, it seemed to send spreading feelings of warmth and pleasure through his interior.

Unable to help himself, Billy moaned with pleasure, the tentacle hovering before him taking the opportunity to slip inside. It felt rather nice actually; its slow, rhythmic pumping making it feel rather like sucking a cock.

Fortune 'mmmed' happily as he caressed the intruding tentacle with his tongue, the tendrils rewarding his acceptance and passiveness by tilting him back, supporting him as he lay back in the air.

They were not gripping him as tightly now, allowing him to wrap his slime-covered hand around his shaft, beginning to stroke.

The silver slime seemed to sink into the skin, but also to harden atop it, removing Fortune's fur where it touched, making a strange sort of shell.

The larger tentacles broke apart, becoming many small ones. They slid over the two, caressing them, leaking more of the silver slime. But they weren't merely caressing, they seemed to have a purpose as they leaked their contents onto the two.

Liquid silver coated their arms and legs and Fortune's stroking assured that the goo covered his cock as well. The substance began to darken, to solidify, growing somewhat translucent as it covered the flesh, seeming to provide protection in order for it to be altered.

And alter it did. Billy and Fortune's fingers and toes were made to fuse, leaving two fingers and a thumb upon each hand and two chitin covered toes that came to points. But such was not the limitations of the changes.

As the fox-squirrel and kobold enjoyed the invasion of the tentacles, they found the color draining from their bodies. Billy's scales began to smooth out, their lilac purple leeching away to a shade of blue-white, his hair becoming a deep amethyst.

Fortune too found himself recolored according to the same design, his yellow and brown fur receded into increasingly blue-white skin, his white hair darkening to the identical dark purple that Billy now wore.

The tentacles seemed to concentrate upon Fortune, more eggs being pushed into him, more slime being packed onto him, primarily in the tail area. With his fur removed, seemingly devoured by the strange process that was warping his body, his tail was a sad, skinny shade of its former thick, bushy self.

Under the care of the slime, however, it quickly began to bulk up, being shaped into a long, tapering length like the reptilian kobold sported. The two were growing increasingly similar, now nearly identical in coloration and tail structure, but that would not last long either. The additional eggs that Fortune received seemed to have quite an effect upon his body. The fox-squirrel's body began to slowly shift, weight being moved around. The mass of his body was being drawn from the midsection and placed upon his arms and legs.

In a few moments it was obvious what was occurring, the fox-squirrel's frame was being altered into a more feminine state. His hips and rump grew rounded and wide, the flesh around his deep purple nipples growing puffy, expanding outward from his chest.

The dried slime upon his cock and tail began to crack, exposing new flesh beneath it. His tail was a mirror of Billy's, and his cock now the same amethyst shade of his hair, eyes, and nipples.

The kobold's own member had turned the same pale color as the rest of him, and it seemed to have grown larger, as had Fortune's. It was upon the loins that the changes centered now, broadening, lengthening, and thickening their shafts and making their balls tingle strangely as something went to work upon them, making the sack swell, growing larger to house the new contents. As their nethers grew, the slime dripping tentacles returned, applying more of the substance upon the shoulders, sides, and backs of the two. The sensations felt were strange, like a pins and needles feeling outside their flesh, like that of phantom limbs.

With the liquid slime hardening into a thick, rubbery, protective shell, new flesh and bone began to form. A new pair of limbs slowly took shape, simplistic and barely formed at first, but rapidly growing outward and gaining definition. In a few moments it became rather clear what the two were being transformed into.

Insects.

The tentacles slowly withdrew, lowering the two lovers to the ground. They moaned softly as the tentacles withdrew, but their bodies continued to buck and thrust as their transformations continued.

The slime that covered them and had hardened was no longer transparent. It was now a grey-blue color. Both still under the effects of the mind-numbing substances in the eggs and slime that had been pumped into them, they began to explore their altered forms with four chitinous hands.

Fortune gripped his new breasts, delighting in the feel of them, their wonderful softness and sensitivity. Warmth surged inside of him, swirled around in his belly for a few moments before slithering up his spine, entering his mind.

The insectoid fox-squirrel moaned as the bones of his skull shifted ever so slightly, allowing a pair of small tendrils to slip out. But they were not small for very long. They quickly grew to a length of nearly two feet, branching out like a tree, or like a feather. The moth-like antennae tingled as the proper cells within began to activate.

Fortune's eyes widened as his mind was flooded with information, sights, sounds, scents, and more. The ship was alive, and it had been waiting for what it needed to return to full operation.

It had been attacked by pirates long ago, its crew abducted, leaving behind only the sterile workers, cat and dog sized insects with no intellect to them, guided entirely by the living ship's consciousness. It had used its workers to prepare for a time when it would be discovered, to be able to create new queens in order to repopulate both workers and crew. And after unknown years, decades, maybe even centuries of slumber, it had been awakened by Fortune and Billy.

Two different kinds of queens, to be exact. Fortune was made into the commander, his feathered antennae allowing for powerful telepathic transmission and reception, able to give orders through direct mental contact as well as through heightened pheromone production. Billy's antennae were shorter and more solid, they stuck up and then bent forward, ending in a round protuberance. He lacked Fortune's broad telepathic powers; his were more focused, allowing him to more easily communicate directly with the ship. He served as pilot and engineer in one.

The two began to stroke their growing egg sacks, for that is what hung between their legs now, huge, thick, and heavy. Each could feel the eggs already forming within them, different from the eggs that had been stuffed into their bodies. Those had not been truly eggs, but rather storage capsules filled with transformative compounds, nutrition, and chemicals to allow them to relax and enjoy their ascent into insecthood.

Their sacks were about the same size as their upper bodies, and still continued to grow, a slit opening at the end, already beginning to leak lubrication as the first of many eggs prepared for its journey.

Their carapaces were now fully hardened, a dark blue-purple about the same darkness as their hair, but with the blue and the purple reversed. Fortune's markings had transferred to his carapace, metallic purple stripes upon his carapace, darker blue stripes upon his back, tail, and ears.

The fox-squirrel gasped as the ship revealed something else to him. That he was now a she. The alterations to Fortune's figure had not merely been for the ship's own amusement, or an overdose of the insect hormones the two had been given, but rather for a different purpose. The ship would soon have a new force of workers to maintain and operate it, but it still lacked a crew. It only had enough resources to create a handful of queens, so creating a full and proper crew would require other methods.

The command-queen grinned and licked her lips, having the ship keep the information from her lover. Fortune caressed her breasts, noting that they leaked with the thick, rich, nutrient-filled honey that would be the primary food source for the ship's workers, though it wouldn't all come from her.

She cried out with delight as she felt the first egg slip from the slit of her egg sac, a small climax making her body quiver. Her egg sack, and that of her mate, were now fully grown, as long as Fortune was tall, but much thicker. The smooth floor of the ship would allow for comfort in pulling the weight around.

Billy had stood and begun to look himself over a somewhat tentative expression upon his face. It all seemed strange to him, but he had to admit it felt good. Fortune could feel his trepidation and with a short empathic burst and a release of certain scents drove it away.

The kobold gasped, his cock (Actually it was primarily an ovipositor now, but Fortune kept that bit of information to herself) suddenly dripped with a thick load of precum. He turned to Fortune and grinned, the fox-squirrel lifting her tail invitingly.

The operations-queen walked across the room, gasping softly at the sensation of his egg sack sliding over the floor. He was upon Fortune in an instant, hugging the fox-squirrel to him, his ovi slipping beneath her tail. It felt different, so much better than sex had before.

Fortune grinned, coaxing her lover on with mental nudges. Billy's upper hands gripped her breasts, while the others grasped her hips, pleasuring her even more.

The command-queen let out a loud moan of delight, her ovi creating a large puddle of fluid beneath her as she wished to have the ship fully operational as soon as possible, and that meant laying eggs as rapidly as she could.

With malicious glee she found that she was able to induce the same condition within her beloved kobold, whose own egg sack had begun to lay eggs, rewarding him with its pleasure.

"Wh-what?!" Billy whispered, feeling something thick and heavy entering his cock from within.

"You're laying eggs from both ends, silly." Fortune said, turning and giving Billy's nose a lick, "I thought you might find it fun."

Billy grinned wickedly and situated himself upon Fortune's egg sack, making sure his length was as deep into the fox-squirrel as it could go, "And I'm going to make sure that they're all going to go into you!" he said, playfully nibbling on Fortune's ear.

The command-queen's equally sinister grin went unseen as her muzzle parted in a delighted moan of pleasure as Billy's egg began to push into her, on its way towards her inner egg-pouch. Kept within her body, exposed to certain hormones, the eggs would develop into something more than the mere insectoid beasts that were workers; they would quickly grow into sentient insectoids.

"More!" Fortune cried, "Give me more!"

Billy growled softly and began to thrust harder, trying to coax the eggs from his ovi into the fox-squirrel's body. But instead of his ovi narrowing with the passage of an egg and drawing out another it continued to stretch, and stretch, and stretch. What was coming was not many eggs, but one large one.

"Ugh!" Billy grunted, "How is this thing going to f... fit?"

It just kept getting bigger and bigger, stretching the two lowers wider and wider, the sensations rocking their altered forms growing more and more powerful by the second. Fortune didn't bother to reply, merely tilting her head back to howl in exquisite bliss as her body accepted the massive treasure.

"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods..." panted Billy, hugging Fortune tighter and tighter against him, the kobold clenching his teeth, trying to prevent the building pressure within him from turning into a messy explosion. His ovi felt like a fire-hose with a clamp on it, incredible pressure building behind it, threatening to make him burst.

And then the pressure was gone, the huge, heavy egg passing its middle point, the widest portion of its hard-shelled form. Fortune's body no longer had any resistance, the tension within her now aiding the egg's passage, rather than hindering it.

Billy's feeling of being like a hose building pressure was a perfectly apt description. Lubrication fluids flowed from his ovi with incredible force as he climaxed, all of it eagerly slurped up by Fortune, making her belly swell even more in addition to the presence of the egg.

The kobold panted, drained from the effort it took to expel the massive egg from himself. He closed his eyes, resting his head upon his mate's shoulder, his four hands caressing her swollen belly.

"I... I'm not sure if I ever want to do that again." He sighed.

Fortune giggled and squirmed free from her mate's embrace, letting the operations-queen fall to the rather sticky floor, the kobold worn and weary. She purred softly, lifting Billy's tail with one hand, another slipping beneath it to caress her lover's tailhole.

"Oh no you don't!" she growled softly, "Now it's my turn to lay an egg in you!"

Billy's eyes widened and he yelped in terror, "No! No way! I'm too tired, I have a headache, I need to wash my hair!" he protested, trying to drag himself away from Fortune's clutches, but the fox-squirrel was insistent.

"It's not going to hurt, you big baby! Now just relax, think placid thoughts. You're going to be a mommy soon!"

Billy groaned as Fortune's ovi slipped into him, a bit of a grin on his face.

"Enjoy it, because this is the only time I'm going to let you be on top like this."

Fortune giggle and nibbled upon Billy's ear.

"Oh you'll try, but once you're all worn out and unable to resist, that's when I'll strike." She purred.

"Yeah?" Billy said with a chuckle, turning his head.

"Yeah." Fortune replied, her muzzle parting to accept her lover's tongue, the two transformed queens sharing a deep, loving kiss.