FSE

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Monotony. That was the thing no one ever said about space travel. The same boring routine, day after day after day. Alone in his research ship, Jensen Clarke stalked around the laboratory. There wasn't much he could do until he reached his destination, a remote anomaly that had been picked up on his sensors almost a month ago. Since then he had been completely isolated, deep into uncharted space.

Every day he woke up, ran the systems checks on the ship, fed and maintained his small cargo, then idled around until the time came to sleep once more. It wasn't even as if there was any change in scenery to admire. This far from any star, the darkness was much the same as it had been for the last few weeks. Today Jensen didn't even have the heart to finish his meagre rations, slumping in the cockpit and staring out at the vista of stars that had once so enthralled him. Now it bored him.

Slumping back in his chair, it wasn't long before Jensen slipped into a restless sleep, the monotony of the days getting to him. It wasn't even like he could go talk to the cargo, for that way lay further insanity. His dreams were as restless as his body, nightmares conjured up from the depths of space, of demons and creatures warped beyond recognition stalking him down.

Awaking to alarms blaring loudly, Jensen sat bolt upright in his seat, rubbing his eyes and trying to make sense of the alerts. It wasn't long before he was able to work it out, disabling the ship's autopilot and powering down the engines. The anomaly was closer than he had realised. Though he couldn't see it visually, the ship's sensors were almost off the charts.

“Intense radiation detected," the ship's computer chirped.

“Yes yes, I can see that," Jensen growled, activating the radiation deflectors. That was not something he had counted on. The anomaly was meant to be relatively inert, only emitting radio signals, but it was blasting out radiation and sub-visual light at extraordinary rates. He simply had to get it on board so he could study it.

The Asterbury was well equipped to deal with pretty much anything space had to offer, but even so, Jensen couldn't help but feel a little nervous as he slowly approached. This was unlike anything he has experienced before.

The anomaly was much smaller than he expected. The sensors declared it was less than half his own height, when he had been expecting something much more massive. More troubling was that the moment his ship's hatch opened in preparation to receive the anomaly, the sub-visual emissions totally ceased. The anomaly was inert.

“Ship, confirm readings from cargo hold?" Jensen asked the computer, suspecting a systems fault. It couldn't have just shut down like that so quickly.

The response was quick. “Confirmed. All sensors operating and displaying correct data."

Jensen ran his hands through his hair. “Can I have a visual on the cargo hold?"

The computer quickly obliged, bringing up a video link from within the cargo hold. There was nothing at all out of the ordinary at first glance, with no sign that anything had even been taken on board, but Jensen knew the ship had picked up the anomaly. He scratched his chin, trying to work out why he couldn't see it, before noticing a small static blur right in the middle of the image.

“That can't be right. How can it be interfering with the cameras?" Jensen muttered, tapping the screen a few times. “It can't be cloaking itself, surely? That would take an immense amount of power. Computer, run diagnostics?"

“No abnormal readings," the computer quickly replied, making Jensen frown. Something was amiss, and it seemed he wasn't about to understand what it was standing up here on the bridge. He would have to go down there.

Heading down to the cargo hold with some trepidation, Jensen wondered what he would see. The blurred image on the screens gave no indication as to what the anomaly was, just that it was unexpectedly small, being only about the height of his knee. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it was, but when he reached the hold doors he was gripped by such an intense wave of fear that he didn't want to get any closer. His hand shook as he held it out towards the control panel to release the doors. There was a great wrongness beyond those doors.

He turned away. There was one more thing he could do. Though it often felt like it, he was not alone on his ship. It was just that he never had any inclination to talk to the few volunteers he had holed away in the darker corners of the ship. They were commoners. The financially or morally destitute. Unable to stay on Earth because of their crimes or to escape the debt collectors, they had given up their freedom to assist on the scientific endeavours in the farthest corners of the galaxy. Jensen despised them, but one of them could come in useful here.

There were two volunteers on board with Jensen. He knew neither of their backgrounds or why they had chosen the life of isolation aboard a spacecraft. He had never even asked what either of their names were.

The two volunteers were shocked by Jensen's arrival, both hastily standing up from the small and uninspiring meal they had just made for themselves. They stood to attention nervously, unsure of what to make of the totally unprecedented situation.

“You, come with me," Jensen said, pointing to one of the volunteers at random. It didn't really matter which. When he looked back to glance at the sandy-haired male who followed him, he wasn't even convinced that had been the one he had pointed to. He thought he'd summoned the woman.

The volunteer was quiet as he followed Jensen back through the ship, towards the cargo hold. Only once they reached the cargo doors again, and Jensen felt the same panic emanating out from within, did he turn to the volunteer.

“We've picked up an anomaly from outside. All readings say it's perfectly safe. I want you to go in and retrieve it and bring it to the lab while I get prepared to examine it. Is that clear, uh…?" he asked, not looking towards the door as he passed the volunteer a key card that would give him access to the hold.

“Adam. And yeah. I can have it there in five minutes," the volunteer replied, seemingly not as overwhelmed by the sense of panic Jensen could feel. Unusual. He'd have to add that to his notes.

Turning away and heading off to his lab, Jensen didn't even wait for Adam to open the doors. He was long gone by the time they even started to screech open.

The ship's laboratory was state of the art. Almost every dollar that Jensen earned went into the maintenance of the lab, with new equipment added almost every time he made port. He was sure that whatever Adam brought up, he would be able to analyse and identify it.

True to his word, he started to set up a few of his analytical machines before switching on the camera feed down to the hold. To his surprise, Adam hadn't yet retrieved the anomaly yet, but was instead knelt down beside whatever it was that was blurring the camera footage.

Then the volunteer reached out with one hand, and two things happened simultaneously. The blurred distortion faded, revealing on the screens a large blue egg. Moments later Adam started to scream, a bloodcurdling roar of agony. Dropping everything, Jensen ran for the cargo hold, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. The thing should be inert. The computer had detected nothing harmful on it at all.

By the time he made it down to the dock it was all silent again. The screams had silenced, though the door was still wide open. Also gone was the unnatural sense of unease, replaced by a worried trepidation at what he might find within. Though he didn't care for the volunteer, he still didn't want to be responsible for his death. That would result in far too much paperwork.

Cautiously moving through the hold, Jensen felt his heart rate rising as he neared where he knew Adam had last been, large rows of currently empty specimen cages blocking his view. The reinforced metal crates were bolted into the hull of the ship so they could move at all, and had been used to transport many dangerous creatures before, but on a mission such as this they weren't needed. All he had to worry about was the safety of one volunteer.

Rounding the corner of the cages, he noticed Adam lying prone across the metallic floor of the hull. Hurrying across, Jensen looked for some trace of the egg, but nothing remained of it. A livid blue mark was on Adam's hand, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. The only issue was that he was completely out cold. A quick check confirmed that he was still breathing, his pulse strong at his neck.

Frowning, Jensen had another look for the egg, just in case it had been knocked aside when Adam had been hurt, but it was quite clear that it was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging his shoulders, he crouched down beside Adam, grunting as he hauled the volunteer up. He knew he owed it to Adam to at least give him a quick check over. He'd be able to review the footage as well and see what had happened to that egg.

Adam was heavy, and it took Jensen a good fifteen minutes to make it back to the lab, finally able to place the volunteer down on a gurney. Rubbing his aching arms, he checked Adam's vitals again, finding them to be perfectly normal, and yet his body was completely unresponsive. The blue mark was a particular concern to him though. Adam's palm felt rough and dry.

“What the hell happened to you?" Jensen muttered, turning away from the prone man, running his hand through his hair as he wandered across to the surveillance systems. If he could know what had happened, maybe he'd be able to work out what was wrong with the volunteer.

Instructing the computer to play the recordings from within the hold, Jensen watched as Adam approached the egg. Then the volunteer seemed to go into a trance, kneeling down and holding perfectly still in the pose Jensen had seen when he had first observed the volunteer's strange behaviour.

Adam had held that pose for a good few minutes, Jensen fast forwarding through it, tapping the screen a couple of times and wondering if the image had frozen. Then Adam had twitched, reaching out to touch the egg and screaming in agony the moment his hand had touched the egg. Jensen watched the recording enrapt, wanting to turn his eyes away from the obvious distress, but desperate to learn what had happened.

Lights flickered and the screen turned to static.

Jensen tapped the screen once more, but no matter what he tried to do the screen was completely dead, unable to fast forward or rewind back. Something had interfered with it.

“That can't be possible. It's a recording," Jensen muttered, rubbing his chin. Somehow the egg had been able to interfere with his cameras, creating a blurred image as he had tried to identify it, but surely it couldn't distort recorded footage.

“Computer, can you restart the surveillance systems? They seem to be glitching," he called out to no response. It was most unlike the ship's computer to remain silent. “Computer?"

Jensen crouched down, reaching in behind the array of computers, reaching blindly and fumbling around to make sure everything was correctly plugged in, in case something had slipped loose. Everything all seemed fine, giving the connections a little push just in case, as something scraped along the floor behind him.

Lifting and smashing his head on the underside of the desk, Jensen turned around to see Adam rise up on the gurney. Feeling a little bit dazed, he slowly stood up, warily watching as Adam looked down at his hands.

“Are you feeling alright?" Jensen asked, starting to approach Adam, but he may as well have been speaking to the computer for all the response he got. The volunteer said nothing, not even reacting to the voice of the scientist.

“Hey, come on, I'm talking to you," Jensen said, snapping his fingers towards Adam. He didn't much appreciate being ignored, but moments later he wished he had been. Adam looked up, but the cold white eyes that stared at him were not human.

“Uh, Adam?" the scientist said, taking a couple of alarmed steps backwards as Adam showed off a set of razor-like teeth in a chilling grin. Jensen was desperate for something from Adam, some indication that despite all appearances, the volunteer was alright. “What's happened to you?"

Adam tilted his head, muscles bulging at his neck. The blue mark that had tainted his palm had grown darker and larger, covering the entirety of his right hand. Tendons and bones snapped and crunched, audible even to Jensen, but Adam seemed to show no signs of pain.

The right hand grew, looking absurdly large on the end of Adam's arm, the whole limb quivering as claws started to push out from the fingertips; wickedly sharp black razors that had no place on any human's body.

Adam's forearm bulged with muscle as it started to swell and lengthen, growing out of proportion with the rest of his body. Flesh became blue and scaled, the sleeve of Adam's white shirt starting to rip.

Jensen glanced towards the door, on the far side of the room and beyond the changing Adam. Despite the transformation the other human was going through, his monstrous eyes were fixed right on the scientist, tracking his every move as he flexed his clawed hand. Thick plates of a bony material seemed to be forming on top of the scales, but Jensen's thoughts had gone far from analysis and study. He just wanted to get out. He didn't want to know what Adam was turning in to.

Adam's other arm was starting to change now too, this time from the shoulder and down. Newly formed muscles strained at the white shirt, the sound of ripping fabric almost drowned out by a sickening crunch of bones shifting, making Adam snarl.

Sidling down the wall, Jensen didn't want take his eyes off of Adam, and the gesture was repeated right back at him. Thin, yellowing lips parted in a silent growl. Scratches of yellow and blue peeked through his white shirt as Adam's chest started to fill out, matching the growing monstrous arms, hands down by his knees.

Tearing loudly, the shirt gave way to reveal powerful pectoral muscles straining beneath the dull yellow scales that were rapidly replacing his skin. With a careful touch of his claws, Adam pulled away the remnants of his shirt, before glancing down at his pants that were already starting to bulge.

It wasn't just muscles that were growing down there, Jensen was alarmed to note. Wrenching his eyes up to stare back into the distorted face of Adam, he watched as a short muzzle twisted and cracked its way out of the former human's face.

Jensen reached behind him, trying to find anything on the desk to use as a weapon, knowing that anything would be poor defence indeed against the terrifying talons being brandished in his direction. His hand grasped around something hard and heavy, waiting for his chance.

Once again the creature that was once Adam glanced down, claws tugging against his tightening shorts. That was when Jensen struck, hurling a hefty Geiger counter towards the creature. It struck him right on the temple, Adam shrieking in momentary pain and stumbling back, dazed. Not wanting to waste his opportunity, Jensen sprinted past the half-changed creature, leaping through the door and feeling three lines of pain on his thigh as Adam slashed out at him.

Limping and holding his hand to his injured thigh, Jensen staggered on, trying to reach the bridge, where he'd be able to lock himself in. He was surprised not to hear the sound of pursuit, giving him the opportunity to glance down and inspect his wounds. The claws had been sharp, but they hadn't gone deep, leaving little more than grazes behind. Blood still trickled down his leg though, leaving a couple of drops on the floor.

A loud smash back in the direction he had come from gave fresh impetus to his need to escape. If he could get to the bridge first he'd be able to isolate himself until he could get some assistance in subduing the beast. His female volunteer down in the lower part of the ship was as good as dead, no matter what he did.

The lights flickered and died, plunging Jensen into near total darkness. Just the ominous red glow of the emergency lights lit the way.

“Oh fuck, that's not good," Jensen muttered, a chill running up his spine. Somehow the creature had been able to access the computer and power down the lights.

Or…

A terrible thought ran through his mind. The creatures wasn't a creature after all. Somehow it was still Adam, the intelligence of the human locked inside with the instincts and power of the beast. The thought terrified him.

Limping on, Jensen hurried as best he could towards the bridge. Every shadow leapt out at him, the red lights flickering and playing tricks with his eyes. He was sure every dark corner contained the gleaming eyes of Adam. Each clunk of a pipe settling within the ship was the dull thunk of the beast's claws. Each time was just the result of his terrified imagination.

Leaving behind a small trail of blood, Jensen made it up to the bridge, locking and sealing the door behind him. He immediately went for a medipack, stripping off his torn pants to clean his wounds with a cloth and a sterilising fluid that made him grit his teeth as it stung. He could only hope there wasn't any toxin or venom on the beast's claws, but he cleaned the wound as best he could with what he had available. Most of his medical supplies were down in the lab, but nothing would get him to leave the bridge now.

Grimacing as he bound his leg in a bandage, Jensen glanced up to the dim lights. He needed to get those back online, to return the ship back out of low power mode. Taking a few moments to put the medipack away, he staggered across to his console chair, slumping gratefully into it and taking the weight off his injured leg.

A loud thud against the door sent his pulse racing. Even through the thick steel door he could hear the low growls from Adam as the beast prowled around, claws scraping against metal. The beast had found him.

Biting his lip and frowning, Jensen leaned forward, trying to see through the soft red light to the controls in front of him. It took just a few clicks and button presses to realise his worst fears. He had been locked out of the network. It wouldn't have been hard to do, as he had left the lab still logged on to the terminal there. The beast was intelligent enough to use it.

Cursing loudly, Jensen slowly turned around in his chair. He had trapped himself in here. It would take a long time for the beast to open the door, but there was nowhere else to run, no other door to flee the bridge.

Unless…

Jensen's eyes glanced upwards, towards the ceiling. There were two maintenance hatches that led to the crawl space between the ceiling and the inner hull lining. They weren't to be used in flight, but the need was desperate.

Limping towards the supply closet, Jensen quickly found an oxygen mask, slinging the compressed air tank over his back and letting the mask fall over his shoulder for the moment. The maintenance shafts weren't usually kept supplied with oxygen, so he would have to keep his own supply on him. At least there could be no mask to fit the beast, so the creature that was once Adam would not be able to follow him up.

The hammering against the door got more urgent as Jensen dragged his chair across the bridge floor so it was directly beneath one of the hatches. The metal was starting to buckle beneath the weight of the beast. Wincing, Jensen wondered if he had less time than he thought.

His leg shook as he stood on the chair, reaching up to start unscrewing the hatch, a painfully slow process with the small drill he'd retrieved from the closet. The snarls from outside were growing louder as the beast's rage grew and the small gap between door and frame started to increase.

Three of the four screws had fallen away when a wickedly sharp claw jammed its way in past the door, metal screeching loudly in protest. One cold white eye pressed up against the gap, surrounded by the faded yellow scales of Adam's new face. With a huffed snarl the eye pulled away, and for a moment Jensen thought he had left and he dared to pause with the last screw.

He only heard the heavy footfalls of the beast running a few moments before it careened right into the door, almost buckling it straight off from its frame. It was trying to batter its way through.

“Oh shit!" Jensen yelped, quickly drilling out the remaining screw and throwing it to the ground as he heard Adam retreat again. He pushed up the grate and started to haul himself up, a waft of stale, hot air rolling over his face.

With a resounding smash, the door flew halfway across the room, scraping against the floor and clattering against the chair, sweeping it away from beneath Jensen's feet. His legs dangling for a moment, he dragged himself up into the ceiling, but not before he felt another stabbing agony of claws puncturing his flesh.

Desperately, he kicked out and heard a pained yelp as his foot impacted with the beast's face, and the grip on his calf lessened enough to pull his legs up to safety. Chancing a look back down into the bridge, Jensen stared in shock at the creature that glared up at him. There was no trace of Adam's humanity left now.

Taller than a man, a hulking blue and yellow scaled beast prowled below Jensen, cold white eyes locked on the terrified human. Wickedly sharp spines grew from the creature's back and thick, muscular tail, each a good six inches long. Jensen knew he didn't want to get anywhere near those spines or claws, but at least up here he was safe. The creature wouldn't be able to fit through the hatch, and nor would he be able to batter through the ceiling as easily as he had the door.

Trying his utmost to ignore the growls below, Jensen started to crawl through the maintenance shafts. It was cold and dark, the scientist wishing he'd thought to grab a torch before hauling himself up from the bridge. The air was thin, but more breathable than he had expected, and he hadn't yet needed to use the mask. Better to save the oxygen for when he may truly need it.

The maintenance level gave Jensen access to the rest of the ship, so long as he didn't mind crawling on his hands and knees through the dark and grimy shafts, barely wider than he was. No light filtered up at all, every hatch completely sealed to light and air. This close to the hull, the only sound he could hear was the gentle hum of his ship's shields, protecting the craft from any rogue pieces of space debris that may drift too close.

Without knowing how far he'd travelled, Jensen paused when he felt the slightly rough edges of another hatch. He knew he'd stayed on the same level, having not seen any of the illuminated signs that would have warned him when he approached any of the vertical chutes to move between floors.

Reaching down to his hip for the drill, he fumbled around in the dark to find the first of the four screws to remove. Wincing at the noise it made, he was able to remove the screws and carefully place them aside. He lifted the hatch, the heavy metal sheet screeching as it was moved from its slot.

Silence met his ears, but he didn't yet dare to drop down into the corridors. Instead he waited for a few minutes, straining to hear any noise at all, but there was nothing. No sound of the beast at all.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Jensen swung his legs through the hole, gripping on to the side and slowly lowering himself down. He dropped the last couple of feet, legs almost buckling as his injuries flared up from the jarring landing.

Immediately recognising where he was, Jensen turned and started to limp down the corridor. He knew his destination had to be the cargo hold. If he was able to lure the beast down there, then he may be able to keep him confined in one of the cages. Or, if worst came to worse, he'd seal himself in one and activate the emergence beacons from within there.

Both legs were hurting now. For the first time he glanced down, seeing his bare legs glowing red in the emergency lights. His knees were filthy from the grime he'd picked up in the shaft, and the hasty bandage on his one leg was already sodden with blood, another fresh puncture wound going deep into his other calf. Looking back, he noticed he was leaving behind a steady trail of blood that even his weak nose could detect. Surely the beast would be able to smell it as well.

Staggering on, using the walls for support, Jensen kept looking behind, expecting every time to see the beast stalking after him. Those cold white eyes were burned into his retinas. The cold, inhuman intelligence had utterly horrified him.

For a few, brief moments Jensen thought he might be able to make it. He'd reached the stairs down to the cargo hold as the elevator wasn't operational with the emergency power mode active. Each step was agony to his wounded legs. He held his hand against his bandage, palm coming away blood-soaked.

So focussed on his descent, so sure that he'd managed to give the beast the slip, Jensen didn't even look up until he'd reached the penultimate step, a red stain left behind on the wall as he'd dragged his hand down it for balance.

His blood froze as he looked up to stare right into the cold eyes of the beast. Waiting for him.

“Oh fu-" was all he was able to say before he was cuffed hard in the chest by the creature's powerful clawed hands.

Jensen slammed against the wall and slid to the floor, dazed as Adam approached him, claws scraping along the smooth metallic floor. He wasn't able to resist as those claws wrapped around his chest, pinning him in place. Closing his eyes, Jensen expected to feel teeth around his throat, but what he got instead was an almost tender touch of rough fingers pulling down his underwear.

His eyes snapped open.

“What the fuck?" he yelped, trying to squirm away but the hand over his chest prevented him from moving anywhere. He gasped for air as Adam pushed down harder, freeing him of his underwear and leaving his crotch exposed.

That was as far as the gentleness ended, as Jensen felting something thick and hard probing at his ass. He had seen a glimpse of it before, but now he was forced to confront the size of the beast's maleness. It felt almost as thick and wide as his lower arm, rough looking spines partially raised down its length.

“Oh God…" Jensen whimpered, trying to kick his legs out at the beast's underside, but it was as effective as kicking steel. “Please, Adam, if you can still hear me, please let me go!"

The briefest flash of recognition passed through the beast's eyes, but then it was gone, nothing but the inhuman intelligence staring out at him. Adam the human was gone. Just the beast was left to thrust against Jensen's ass, nothing but a little pre to lubricate the painful spreading.

Crying out in agony, Jensen was completely unprepared and helpless to deal with the sudden intrusion, his feet still pressed against the creature's underside in a desperate and futile attempt to push him away. The beast instead just wrapped his tail around Jensen's ankles and slammed his legs to the ground.

The beast didn't thrust, instead just easing his thick cock halfway into Jensen's painfully stretched rear before pausing. Jensen panted and gritted his teeth, glad of the moment to get used to the incredible thickness penetrating him. It provided him no relief though as he squirmed, bound by both hand and tail of the beast.

Slowly the creature started to thrust forward, pushing Jensen back against the wall as he started to use a little force, making the human howl in pain. Closing his eyes, Jensen tried to ignore the feeling of the spiny barbs dragging against his insides as the beast pushed deeper in.

Jensen pleaded with the beast again, but once more his appeals fell on deaf or uncaring ears. He could feel the spines flare and dig into his flesh, preventing Adam from pulling back out again.

The beast growled low and hard, the rumbling making Jensen's chest vibrate in unison. For a moment again the creature paused, white eyes closed and tongue hanging from his mouth. His growl turned into a lustful moan just as Jensen caught sight of something thick bulging out the beast's cock, moving down towards his ass.

“What the hell is that?" Jensen squeaked, crying out as the bulge pressed against his rear, stretching it out ever wider as it inexorably started to slip inside. It felt like he was going to be torn in two, but somehow he survived without blacking out, the pressure easing as he felt the bulge deposited deep within his belly.

His relief was shortlived. A second and then a third bulge were visible on the beast's cock, sliding slowly down. As the second started to spread him anew, he recognised what they were. Eggs.

“Oh God…" he whimpered, a fourth visible at the base of Adam's cock.

The beast growled and pushed a little harder on Jensen's chest, making the human gasp for air. Another three times he felt his ass stretching almost to the point of tearing, not getting any easier to manage at all, feeling the heavy weight of the eggs settling in his belly.

Once the four had been deposited, Jensen thought the worst was over. He closed his eyes, his whole lower half twitching in pain, but still Adam didn't pull out. The beast growled, bringing his head down to sniff at Jensen's ear, ferocious teeth brushing against the human's cheek.

Then Adam started to thrust hard and fast.

Screaming in pain, Jensen forced one arm free of the beast's heavy hand, grabbing hold of one finger and trying to pry it away from his chest, but barely even able to budge it. Adam completely ignored him, slamming his thick cock hard into Jensen's tender ass, not caring at all about hurting the human, thrusting and pushing the deposited eggs deeper into his abused body.

Adam didn't once slow down, barbs scraping own the inside of Jensen's rear, making him cry in pain, tears streaming from the human's eyes as over and over again he was fucked savagely. There seemed to end to the pain, no easing of the lustful growls that emanated from the beast's mouth, hot wet tongue dragged up the human's face to add to his disgust.

The thrusts became even rougher. Jensen didn't even scream anymore, his throat as raw as his ass, head resting back against the wall behind him.

Finally, with a growling snarl that almost deafened Jensen, the beast came. Hot seed poured into his ruined behind, oddly soothing his pained flesh as it filled him, coating the implanted eggs and fertilising them.

Jensen wept anew as the beast roughly pulled out, the spines retracting as the creature's orgasm was spent. A flood of cum poured out onto the smooth floor, a little more still dribbling from the tip of the spiny cock.

As he was released, the human simply slipped to the side, collapsing onto the floor as his strength failed him, unable to hold himself up any longer. He was too pained to even move, fresh gashes on his chest leaking blood to add to the wounds on his legs and rear. Everything stank of the beast and his seed.

In an almost tender moment, the creature sniffed Jensen's head again, delicately nuzzling him to check for life. Confident his victim still breathed, the beast that was once Adam snarled, looking down the corridor and taking a scent of the air with both nose and tongue. He padded away, leaving Jensen by himself.

The human just whimpered, not daring to move lest the creature return. He didn't even shield his eyes when the ship's lighting was restored and the computer cheerily announced over the tannoy that all functionality had been restored.

Not even the announcement that the ship's emergency escape pod had been launched was enough to rouse him. He didn't once move, feeling the heavy weight of the four eggs deep within his belly, fearing what would happen when they had incubated. He knew he had to get them out, but to do that he needed to reach the medical bay, and that was just so far away. He didn't have the energy to stand, let alone walk.

He slowly closed his eyes. His mind needed to shut down.

Darkness started to claim him, but just before he drifted away totally, he heard the distinctive patter of footsteps approach. Human. Not monster.

“Oh good," he muttered to himself. “The girl survived."

Then he let unconsciousness claim him.