Alien Impulses

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice Falik return to our new apartment, which was in perhaps the tallest building in Takanli. To call it a tower would be an insult. This soaring, endless spire of glass and glimmering, curved metallic sheeting had been completed in only three months, yet stood over three miles tall in the central district. Nearly a million people lived, worked or played in this building, and many of them had taken a distinct interest in me since our arrival. Falik's presence, often, wasn't enough to ensure against an attempted seduction, or a blue strand of erotic thought from a passer-by. Most of the time, she giggled at these advances, reassured by the satisfied glow from within her pussy. We had never spent a day together without fucking at least once. Last night's efforts, after a party with the crew of the Solar Cruiser which would take us to the outer rim, produced four torrents of creamy sperm -- one in each of Falik's warm, soft openings, and a fourth over her breasts. That little metal sphere the three girls had given me was still coming in handy.

Preparations, however, took up most of our time. I learned more about Gaspiri, the troubled planet we were heading to. Its history was a mess, but I was getting the hang of its various tribes, practises and beliefs. Most Takanlians regarded these outer-rim types as a bit suspect, probably too close to the tenets of barbarianism to be taken seriously, but still worthy of respect and, particularly in the presence of the Frejudian cannon, a little fear.

I also helped to load the Solar Cruiser, Daedalus. They had allowed me to name the ship, for which this would be the first long-distance trip after years of shakedown cruises among the inner planets. The crew of seventy seemed well-trained and competent enough, especially as now I understood most of their roles as well as they did. The Boffin had sorted me out with a vast array of input, from extra science modules to help me understand the journey and spot interesting phenomena on the way, to language skills in all relevant dialects and local news bulletins from the past few years. By the time he had finished and I reluctantly removed the cerebral tiara, I was probably as knowledgeable as anyone alive on the subject.

Launch Day approached. Falik and I helped each other pack, although no-one knew for sure how long the negotiations might take. The journey out, however, was nearly four months, even at the speeds involved. The captain reminded me that any speed we gain while accelerating away from Takanli and establishing a fast cruising velocity would have to be shod if we were to enter Gaspirin orbit. It was seen as inefficient to roar off into space, only to have to expend just as much energy slowing down a few hours later. This vector also allowed two planetary fly-bys, which would provide a valuable opportunity to see new places, however fleetingly, and show the flag among these distant planets. We carried pods, bolted to the underside of the vessel, which would detach to deliver cargo and passengers to these worlds. Falik had requested that we dock at one of the orbiting stations and visit the surface of the only rocky planet on our route, Berjarai, but she was refused. Time was of the essence.

So, we spent most of our day at the Spacedock, becoming more familiar with the ship, its people and its systems. This would be our home, and I worried that it would feel like living in a hotel for four months. Add to that however much time it would take us to get back once the negotiations were finished, and this really was a big deal.

"Why can't we just sleep through the flight?" I asked Falik, having paused once more to consider the size of this undertaking. "In movies, on Earth, they always go into hypersleep, or something."

Falik had taken to the habit of giving me a few seconds to dredge the answer up from my packed, competent mind, but occasionally she did obliged me, so that I didn't feel self-conscious about still asking questions when I actually knew the answer perfectly well already.

"We've yet to perfect a system which is safe enough. The body still needs certain things, nutrients and so forth, but we've found that it needs input of different kinds to avoid cell breakdown and rapid ageing." I was catching on, and finished the point. I realised already that the 'bottomless void' feature of my journey to Takanli was, in fact, a bit of an accident. I was never intended to witness the path of my journey, just to sleep through it on the induced hallucination of a bed. It felt good to be a guinea pig, and even better that it had worked.

"Social interactions and being around nature, especially green plants and trees, provides a form of radiation which is entirely irreplaceable. Humanoids in hypersleep for longer than a few weeks awake with seriously adverse side-effects and long-term, often untreatable depression."

Falik nodded. "You can't just lock a human mind away for months. It goes nuts. So, we're going to keep active and I'm sure we'll have loads of fun. Have you seen my pink shirt with the flexiscreen?"

I pulled the shirt from the washer unit and handed it to her. Its screen was showing a Japanese garden. I shook it and it became a beach with crashing surf. Neat trick.

Various dinners, lunches, briefings and other events filled our days. When we weren't at the docks, we met with various dignitaries, including a couple of Council members who had taken a personal interest in the mission and the strange new ambassador. One spoke earnestly to me about the need for peace in the outer rim, ensuring that I understood I had his full support. The sense that deeper political machinations were in play was hard to shake.

"Stability in this region is of paramount importance", he said, thumping his palm to accentuate the point. "We simply can't have renegade groups threatening trade routes with the Frejudium cannon, or taking off on their own to engage in immoral, illegal behaviours. You know how crucial this is." I nodded, trying to hide my scepticism.

"I will do all I can", was all I offered. The council had prepared a final cerebral treatment for me, a package of information, news and languages relevant to the trip. The Boffin ambled in

Falik and I spent the night before launch making love in our apartment at the peak of Takanli's newest skyscraper. She was attentive and responsive as ever, sucking me in deep and then releasing me to blow on my cock, but I couldn't help letting my mind flit back to the Megaslut Raptor and her soft, muscular pussy. Those breasts. I let the memories flood my mind, which caused my semen to flood violently into Falik's mouth.

"Hmmmm..." She licked her lips and swallowed my cum. "You needed that, didn't you?" She relaxed back with me. "I've never known you to come so fast in my mouth. Did I do something better?"

It would be quite horrid to confess to this girl, perhaps the nearest thing I'd had to a proper girlfriend in years, that I had come wonderfully while imagining another being riding my cock, taking it deep within her.... I was virtually hard again.

"I just want you a lot tonight. Who knows how busy we're going to be on the cruise."

Falik laughed easily. "Busy? Everyone knows that long cruises are a great time to fuck, relax, eat, sleep and fuck some more. We'll probably hardly see the outside of our cabin", she grinned. "Well, if I get my way we won't."

Our cruiser ride to the orbital station was similar to my first ascent in a Cruiser, but this time the vessel was crammed with people, who filled every seat and buckled in on queue before takeoff. Falik told me that the Cruiser could carry two hundred people and four hundred tonnes of payload to orbit, which would include supplies and equipment for our mission.

The elephant kick of release was as intense as before. Glued back in my seat, almost melting into it with the acceleration, my stomach began a steady rise from somewhere within my balls to somewhere closer to my chin, and then the ride levelled out in only moments. Two minutes to orbit. I would never get over it.

There was some time to cuddle Falik and enjoy the spectacle of the planet laid out beneath us. Two months in this amazing place. It has slipped past like a few moments, so packed with events, people, experiences. I gazed down at my adopted home, as I now came to think of it, even becoming a little emotional at the sight. Massive avenues criss-crossed the landscape, some radiating out of spokes which, I knew, contained the central cities. Lakes were dotted around, but were so heavily ringed with population that there was barely a scrap of land on the planet without buildings. Even the massive national park areas were dotted with towns, spanned by highways or otherwise marred. I asked Falik about it.

"Your planet is facing the same question, I know", she began. "How do you develop to an extent which will support a large population without fouling the nest you live in?" I nodded. However long ago it was now, I remember the Earth being in some trouble. Climate change, and all of that. I wondered briefly how they were getting on.

"We decided that a humanist approach was best. I know that at least one nation on your planet attempted to introduce a population reduction strategy -- well, one different from simply killing lots of other humans, I mean -- and it failed. We recognised this very early in our development. It is not possible to instruct people not to reproduce. This will only create tensions which we are unwilling to host."

The planet revolved serenely beneath us. "So, how did you manage it? Sustaining a massive population while... How many are down there, anyway?"

Falik laughed. "Depends on what you mean. There are about thirty billion beings, on a planet about twice the size of yours, but we have perhaps nine times the total land area. Your planet can support thirteen billion, but it would struggle because of the way you use your land. We cracked that problem early, as well."

The Cruiser was manoeuvring gently to orient itself with the docking platform of the station. "We found", Falik explained, "that when supported by a technological level suitable for such a populace, maintaining those beings and catering for their needs becomes a lot easier. For instance, on Earth, you produce food which requires almost a greater amount of resources to produce than calories gained by eating it. This is most inefficient. Replication keeps this balance while providing more than enough food. If you could do that, your population problems would be virtually solved. Resources would no longer be a barrier."

I dwelt on this while the pilot steered us in. The station appeared out of the left windows, hovering brilliantly above the lights and patterns of the planet. Various craft were performing the carefully-choreographed ballet of docking with the station, or departing for the surface. One entered lightspeed far beyond the station, the silent, massive boom of its engines accelerating the craft to dizzying speed. I watched, awed, as it roared away without a sound.

Once docked, we filed from the Cruiser into a white reception area. The station was, effectively, a miniature of the massive transit hall I had first experienced on Takanli -- thousands of creatures were making their way to and fro. We were collected, whisked through security, and directed to a waiting room with comfortable blue chairs and screens showing news and documentaries. Refreshments appeared and the group sat together.

I lent half an ear to a news report from the outer rim, but there was little to add to what I already knew. Then, I remembered a question from earlier.

"Falik? How is Earth doing?"

She blinked for a second and seemed to think. "There's an intercept station which broadcasts interesting findings from around the Universe. They might have picked something up." She started pressing buttons on a handset which appeared from the sofa. "Here we are."

A menu appeared, with unfamiliar star names and positions. I dredged up the sun's formal name and orbital statistics, and fed them into the screen. We zoomed into the local group of stars and searched for news stories about them.

The local area, being largely devoid of planets, wasn't of much interest. There had been a violent solar storm from an object we called Barnard's Star, about 50 light-years from Earth. The section on my solar system was more complete, and featured a range of articles. I picked a recent one.

It was all going to shit. In the years I had been away, flooding had began in many coastal cities. A number of Pacific and Indian Ocean islands were completely submerged. People had been killed not by the floods, but in the panic to get away from the sea. Boats had been sunk. Governments had fallen.

There had been some kind of nuclear accident, which was irradiating large swathes of Europe. Many people had fled south, where they put even greater pressure on food resources in Africa and the Mediterranean. Several new wars had begun, with hardline leaderships on both sides promising defeat or death.

"What the fuck is wrong with them?!" I blurted loudly. The room quietened and a few heads turned. I was staring, open mouthed, at the screen. The empaths among them quickly understood, and several came over to read the news with me, commiserating over a spate of bombings, horrendous chemical warfare attacks, and some new, unexplained disease which was ravaging a whole continent. And in the middle, the corporations stood high among the chaos they were creating. Earth was fighting back, and we were in the battle for the long haul.

I ordered a stiff drink and turned off the screen. Falik did her best, reminding me of mankind's amazing ability to produce triumph from disaster, about our ingenuity and genuine charity, our resourcefulness... but even she couldn't put a bright gloss on it. My home was dying, being torn apart. And this news was forty years old. And I was out here.

The very ordinary way in which the boarding was effortlessly carried out made the whole experience easier. It was like waiting in line for a plane at the gate of a major airport, with a few interesting twists. Various beings busied themselves with the business of getting underway, some hovering on board as if levitating, others floating gas-like through the halls. Humanoids like me were restricted to walking onto the interstellar ship, trying to pay attention through the orientation lectures, and finally locating our quarters. I worried briefly that, in her professional capacity, Falik might be given her own room, but we were both relieved to find we were sharing. Cabin space was at a premium anyway, and few beings on the planet were unaware of our relationship. In fact, a quick search at one of the terminals brought up a host of websites about me, my relationships and the various tests I had undergone. There was even a site dedicated to the idea that I was an interplanetary secret agent, tasked with destabilising the social system of Takanli. Others praised my sexual exploits, which were fast becoming legend, with endless video footage to prove it. The highest-rated clip was from the concert orgy right after I arrived. There I was, grinning manically at the hovering camera, up to my balls in a delicious blonde. Falik was in the back of the shot, being pounded by an eight-foot musician with bright blue testicles. Ah, the Internet.

We settled in and started to meet people. Although we could barely feel it, Daedelus was already accelerating, and would achieve a comparatively modest 18% of lightspeed on our outward journey. We had already passed the orbit of Takanli's neighbour planet, and were quickly gaining speed towards the outer rim.

The communal spaces were vast. All along the long, thin core structure of the ship, bulbous modules were attached to afford simply cavernous living and storage spaces. We were carrying millions of tonnes of supplies, water, hydrogen and other consumables, both for ourselves and the places we were to visit. Ten thousand people were crammed into the living spaces which, although huge, were constantly buzzing with activity. Falik and I took a walk around our deck, which rotated constantly around the hub, creating a comfortable 1G environment. There were lounges for reading, surfing the Net or watching movies. There were games areas, with various strange balls, nets and hoops, through which a variety of luminous, hovering beings played a variant of football. Gawping at these strange beings, it took a sudden squeeze of my ass for Falik to regain my attention.

"This is a remarkable place", I felt the need to whisper. Falik kissed me and we wandered off together into the miles of unexplored spaces.

Dinner that night was a modest party thrown by the Captain, a gruff, old humanoid who seemed to have been travelling the system since he was a boy. Falik and I sat at his table, a shining, metal disc supported by red, fibrous strands which emanated from the floor like plants. I asked him about the shakedown cruises before we left.

"Usual procedure", he offered, swigging from a silver goblet. "We want to make sure the engines will run well, that the crew know their jobs." He even spoke with a slightly 'Ancient Mariner' accent. All he was missing was the white beard and pipe.

"Is this your first voyage to the outer rim?" Falik asked across the table. Her feet had been massaging mine for much of the dinner, and I was distracted from my space calamari ("reared in zero g for more taste and less toxins", read the menu) by the need to will my raging erection back to silence. It didn't listen particularly well.

"I was born on Bephra, the ninth planet, and my father had a space haulage company moving people and minerals around the moons. I just fell into the profession, if you want to know. Easy money, a bit of sight-seeing, and girls in every port!" He congratulated himself on this witticism with a hearty thigh-slap and more gulps from his goblet. The silver was tarnishing. I wondered for a second whether he had traded it for an Earth goblet, some piece of treasure from a Medieval wreck. Thoughts of home wouldn't do now.

"What kind of other teams are on the flight?" I asked, mainly to switch my focus away from Earth and her problems.

The Captain finished chewing a large mouthful of grey meat. "Scientists", he muttered, "some diplomatic types like you too", more chewing, "and some artist troupe who want to write a play about the situation there." He washed down the meat with his goblet which, I noticed, seemed not to require re-filling. "Hey, you should get them to tag along with you. They'll make you famous!"

Falik and I exchanged a glance. "Well, Captain, thanks for the advice, but I think we've both achieved enough notoriety already."

The dinner broke up and various couples vanished into the cavernous modules, or sat around with drinks. I noticed the Raptor sipping a long-glassed cocktail by one of the windows, staring out at space. Falik was in a discussion about our first planetary fly-by, trying to persuade the Captain to let us off there, for only a few hours. It didn't seem to be going well.

"Hi stranger", the Raptor purred, turning away from the window to give me a steamy gaze. "I was hoping to catch you alone." She smiled sexily. "I've missed you..." She reached forward to run her hand down my crotch. I angled away so that no-one could see. "Hmmm... I think he wants some company tonight."

I began, "I can't... Falik doesn't know that we... " She brought a finger to her lips to quieten me. And then licked it seductively.

"Don't worry about her... I'm sure you keep an open relationship. After all, we've all seen your exploits on the Net. Let her spend time with whoever she wants tonight. Then, come to Storage 14 and you can fuck my brains out."