Cuculiformes 02 Pt. 01

Author's note:

I have always been fascinated by the movie Aliens and the lifecycle of the alien, variations of it, and the implied breeding of humans by other sci fi species.

For whatever reason my thoughts have drifted to another variation on this parasitic behaviour with a different kind of creature and setting to my first in this series, I hope someone may find it interesting.

For consistency, I have described the creature as a he, though it lays self fertilized eggs. I've left many issues specifically unclear because a writer doesn't need to explain every little detail, and some things I drop clues and let the reader piece things together themselves, if they are observant enough.

For the uninitiated reader, here is the general definition of ovipositor from Wiki - An ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs.... For most insects, the organ is used merely to attach the egg to some surface, but for many parasitic species (primarily in wasps and other Hymenoptera), it is a piercing organ as well.

It's fiction and sci fi, don't get hung up on precision.

This story comes in 3 parts, each roughly the same length. Due to work commitments, part 2 may take a month or two to get tidy up and post. Part 3 is already complete and ready for posting.

Chapter 1

José stood at the bottom of the loading ramp and looked out into the surrounding open fields. For every new world visited, the panorama was the same, but different. Different forms of life, different horizons, different taste to the air, but always its own sense of freedom and adventure. He could be stuck on one of the home planets with all the other dregs of humanity packed into small, toxic spaces where the soul and body were quickly crushed until death crept along to end the misery. Luckily for him he had the opportunity to escape.

The major corporations had learned early on that exploring new planets with possible life and breathable atmospheres was fraught with danger - too much danger for experienced biologists, archaeologists, geologists and technical experts to get killed on first visits, or to develop long term complications. On the other hand, the automated robot explorers were prone to missing the obvious, and being terribly expensive to retrieve when they inevitably didn't work due to conditions.

So then they made the bold, or some say cold, decision to take the unemployed and disaffected who would jump at the chance to take the risk exploring in outer space rather than be trapped where they were. There was little money in it, little recognition, poor long term prospects, and the ever present dangers of instant or lingering death due to whatever they encountered. But there were more than enough willing to give it a go and make a life of it.

With nothing more than basic work and survival training they were dispatched to planets worthy of closer inspection. They lived on the smaller orbiting exploration vessels for months to get to their destinations, with a crew less than a hundred at a time who could pilot the ship, keep it self sustaining in space for the duration, and who could then undertake some basic analysis of the planet to determine ideal places to begin exploring and collecting samples.

Once there, a shuttle would relay work crews planetside to collect the samples and investigate, and then bring it all back to the exploration vessel for the long journey back to the nearest hub station, where significant research was conducted by trained experts who were shielded from all the risk. On the way back they would be doing routine and basic studies and analysis of any life forms, geology, chemical compositions, and so on of the things they had found, at least with the skills and equipment they had been given for the task.

While they had only limited training, over long periods of time they learnt skills on their own to better do their preliminary observations, and in rare cases make significant discoveries, all of which would be claimed by the corporation and figurehead researchers at the other end.

Those on the exploration vessels lived mostly alone, died mostly alone, and were largely unwritten in the history of mankind. But for them, it was better than being lost in the anonymity of the sea of people trapped planetside.

José had signed up young, and while he wasn't very smart or observant, he had done more than enough trips to experience many of the problems encountered, and ways to overcome them. This enabled him to slowly work his way up to being nominally in charge of this particular expedition. Most people did what they always knew to do, and he didn't need to boss or direct them. The whole vessel had to function as a working team just to survive, and then in the small spaces of time they had to themselves, they mostly all maintained their own private space apart from each other. He didn't need to interfere in any of that. His main tasks were strategic goals, and making sure any technical bugs were ironed out, and any personality issues that developed were smoothed over. In all there was a lot of implied power, but not much really, and being captain didn't attract any extra respect or kudos from anybody. Neither from his co-workers, nor the corporation.

Why was he doing the top role then? He wasn't sure himself, it was just something different to be doing, and they asked him to do it.

Now he stood there watching the bio samples team bringing in their jars and containers full of whatever it was they found. The planet seemed to have an abundance of low level life forms: flowering plants; insects; small carnivores that could be reptilian or mammalian, though they had yet to see anything larger than a common cat. The atmosphere generated abundant surface moisture and precipitation of some kind, and the soil seemed well suited to providing ideal nutrients for the thick plant life, which should indicate plenty of micro bugs for study.

Generally the plants were tall grasses with willowy, wispy trees dotted distantly throughout. It reminded him of pictures of wheat fields from history long ago before fields of crops became fields of concrete and tiles, and food was generated in chemical vats. Clustered around the trees were slightly taller grasses that flowered with very long, tubular flowers in an off white colour that gave off strong, sweet smells that seemed to change a little in odour throughout the day.

They had been planetside for several days, and this had allowed them to experience the flow of life through the days and nights, and helped select places to set up wildlife traps and observe which flowers were closing overnight, and which plants were tracking the sun. All of the kinds of things that static pictures couldn't detect, and a well trained, experienced eye would start to note very easily.

Not that he had that kind of eye. His eye? That was tuned for other things. And one of those things was walking her way up the ramp with an armful of samples. Obviously space travel didn't offer much chance for high fashion, or anything that was particularly sexy. And so what he thought might be a very fine ass was walking away from him in bulky, baggy trousers that almost hid the fact they were being worn by a woman. Her no nonsense work shirt was equally unadventurous and hid her other feminine charms.

Her name was Brooke, and this was the first exploration they had been on together. She focused on aquatic life and liquids, seemed to know her stuff, did her work, managed herself, and generally had no call for him to professionally take any interest in her activities. The silver wedding rings also made it clear there was no call for him to take any romantic interest in her either, though her husband was not on this expedition.

Not that these expeditions really had any place for budding romance either, nor were they set up for the aftermath of illicit liaisons. Condoms didn't work with the recycling systems, weren't available anyway if you didn't bring them yourself, romantic situations in space rarely went unnoticed, and generated more crew issues than they solved. Added to that, sexual encounters were generally frowned on by the corporations, and actively discouraged in all training and psych evaluations.

To top that off, it was generally accepted in the medical fraternity that pregnancy in space was fraught with high risk for any developing embryo, and thus was usually grounds for the mother to be instantly transferred planetside at the first opportunity, along with the biological father who was there to ensure that the child grew up with stable parenting, essentially ending careers and prospects.

Sex in space therefore became a rare thing even though there was much joking about it going on, and heightened female promiscuity due to the isolation and lack of gravitational influence on the body. Or so the myths went.

He watched her disappear up into the shuttle, habitually rubbing his upper lip with finger and thumb as if he still had his wispy moustache, which he had shaved off recently in a fit of boredom. Tall and thin, the Hispanic lineage in parts of his bloodline emerged to dictate his physical form, though most humans were a blended mix of many races from the original earth days, with a throwback highlighting one aspect over the others.

Brooke on the other hand was short and blonde, and like the old fashioned wheat crops he had been thinking of, she reminded him of some old school, pioneering, wheatfield farmer's wife with rounded hips, thick thighs and small tits. And the fact he liked her made him realise he had been far too long in space by himself. He was a breast man, he liked them round and firm and in handfuls. And Brooke's were like loose, flat pancakes hanging low, which she kept in the most basic sports bra, or budget comfort bra which let them sag low. Several times he had seen her with buttons loose and saw how saggy the little things were, and once she had worn a white sheer bra under a white top and he had picked out her small nipples making a shadow underneath, until she had noticed and covered them up.

They were definitely not his kind of thing, and her whole low key demeanour and style did everything possible to broadcast how plain she was. At least she had long hair, that was something he liked. He stopped watching her walk, the baggy pants barely even gave a view of an ass cheek crease, so he accepted it was pointless looking regardless.

Around him the grass was rustling from light tides of breeze that rolled across the open land. This one brought a subtle hint of the flowers, which set him off thinking about good memories and old times when he had been around more people and enjoyed their company, and having fun together, laughing, smiling, being human.

Space was not a place for fun, it was a place for business.

He looked back up the empty ramp. He'd still like to check that ass out though, for real, just to be sure.

Chapter 2

When they landed on a planet, it didn't really matter how long they were there, as long as there was value in being there to learn more. And on this planet, they found plenty to stay for. So much so, that instead of short day trips to the surface, they'd started staying several days before shuttling samples back and bringing down more food and essentials.

The lucky ones got to sleep under starry skies in the open air with a complete sense of freedom that was a rare privilege to have. They could even have a fire and cook the old fashioned way, though they didn't eat any of the native flora or fauna just to be safe. And with all of them sleeping and working in close proximity, and socialising into the night around the fire, they started to come a little closer together as people.

There were no top predators they had yet seen, no lurking small, nasty life forms that bit and poisoned, or parasitic blood sucking insects or micro fauna. The planet was almost too tame, and it gave them the feeling of complete safety as they slept and explored. While they had an electronic security sentinel stand watch all through the dark hours, they were never bothered by anything.

Over the time of their stays, all of the crew had been transferred in and out so that they got some planetside time. Jose made sure they did, even the couple that weren't fond of atmosphere descents had been directed to go, and they couldn't wriggle out of it. It had changed the mood of everything, they were more friendly to each other, chatted more, made jokes, spent time together sharing ideas on what they were seeing, and it was as if they were becoming a different set of people rather than the dour, hard nosed working people who journeyed this far.

They'd even dressed up the encampment, bringing in cut flowers and some greenery to add a bit more natural hominess, and ran a few overhead covers so they could gather in the shade and sit and chat during the day breaks, and then swap stories late into the night. They came to prefer planet time, where the routine day schedules fell out of use and they worked as the rhythm of the rising and setting sun moved them, taking the time to enjoy longer breaks staring at the scenery in the company of others, even if they didn't say anything but all watched the horizon together.

And as the sun set, they all gathered and watched the sky slowly change colors.

"Hey, look out there," pointed Tom Carper from his reclining position on his easy chair.

The circle of people turned in their chairs to stare out where he was pointing, trying to see what he saw. Way off in the distance, on the side of a hill around clumps of dark shadows cast from trees were smaller dark shadows where none should be. Except for the trees and their shadows, the whole landscape glowed with a soft creamy, golden colour. While the dark spots were barely noticeable by themselves, there were several of them, and they were very slowly moving.

Joni stood up and shaded her eyes, squinting to concentrate. "There's something there, right? I can just see something moving".

"You're dreaming," Deb Fischer stood up next to her and looked just as intently. "It's just the shadows as the sun's going down."

"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing," Mike Enzi put in. "No signs of large terrestrial life, not a thing on any scanners, or anywhere we've been." He stood up and squinted into the dusk, pushing his hand back over the top of his head, ruffling the last grey hairs he had into an untidy crest.

They all watched awhile as the dots might have moved, or might not have, until it was obvious that nothing would be clear in the diminishing light and they started debating what they wanted for evening meal, and what they would have preferred instead.

José watched Brooke heading back into the shuttle, walking up the lit ramp. "Fuck those black pants," he thought. "Can't see a damn thing."

"Bring us back a beer," he shouted, and they all laughed. She turned and gave him a thumbs up.

"I'll bring ya two!" And they all laughed again, because there was no beer in space, they didn't allow alcohol at all.

"I've had enough of this thing today, the light's shit," Rolley Burris said, banging his wrench down in annoyance that the stupid thing just wasn't going back together properly. He gave the carryall lifter a kick. "I got it licked, the problem was a crack in the housing. I got a new one installed, but the thing's not bolting back together on the seals straight. I'll get it easy when the sun's up tomorrow."

He looked up to watch Brooke walking back down the ramp with some of the makings for the evening meal. "Thick thighs save lives," he mused to himself, twitching his cock at the thought of getting in between them. He could dream anyway.

Her return was the catalyst for several to get up and walk into the ship to get the gear for the evening meal. Working day down, relaxing time up.

José set about making the fire, using what little tree wood and woody shrubs they had scoured together on their field trips. While there wasn't enough big wood to feed the fire through the night, there was enough to make a decent one as long as they kept feeding it. With the warm glow established, they got the perimeter sensors and security sentinel set up, just in case.

They all dragged their chairs into the circle of light, contrasting against the rapidly darkening sky as the sun set beyond the horizon. Their faces all took on a different look in the warm light, and José noted they all looked more relaxed and happier than if they were off planet in orbit. You'd have to be mega rich in the core worlds to enjoy this kind of experience, and yet here they were in the depths of space, a bunch of nobodies reverting back to the very basics of nature.

Except for the prepackaged rations they were sharing around. And even with those, they'd found some of it could be roasted in the fire like old fashioned marshmallows, which only added to their glee and bubbling, free spirits, which kept them all light hearted and mellow despite the lack of alcohol. He liked looking around the fire just to watch his crew smiling, often at nothing in particular, just smiling to themselves. Even while they were idly staring into the fire listening to the crackles of the burning, and the settling firewood, they still looked carefree.

He nodded to himself, this was a good life, this was as good as they were going to get. He watched their faces, listened to the chit chat. The more they were here, the more that had opened up about their pasts, who they were, how they felt to be alive, the people and places they had once known and had lost to history.

Out of it all he noticed Rolley eyeing Brooke off, little glimpses here and there that lingered long and held some kind of hungry expression behind them. He smiled to himself, he wasn't the only one thinking of getting some action from the cute researcher. He wasn't sure how that'd go, the tall, rough cut, black man and the short, thick blonde, both from different life perspectives and her being married.

Rolley had that old school, hood feel to his ways, not that anything like a hood existed any more. He held some stereotypical views about his race and supposed oppression, oblivious to the fact they were all oppressed regardless, he just liked to focus on his own theme to it and complain how he deserved better, and the universe was out to get him just because of his race. Brooke on the other hand seemed to be just a naturally nice person, easy going, productive, cute, approachable.

Rolley could dream on, the same way José was. There was no way she was into black guys any more than she might be into latinas, or... and then he pulled himself up. They were in the middle of freaking space on a planet no one had ever been to before. Race, name, heritage - none of it meant anything anymore, unless you made it so yourself. A distant call back to a time when people still thought they could be, and were, different. Now they were all slaves to the number crunchers who owned and desired money.

Oh well, as long as nothing came of Rolley overstepping the line, and it didn't affect crew morale, he'd just keep an eye on it, it's not as though they had anything to do with each other anyway. There was something about being back on hard ground that brought out some of the more natural, animal instincts in everyone. Speaking of which, God damn, why did she have to wear such dark, formless clothes. There was nothing even vaguely sexually interesting of her on show.

"Hey, you know those dots that aren't there, well, they're here," Tom emphatically declared, pointing through the circle of light at the landscape beyond. More clearly in the silver-touched landscape they could see the dots had approached during the meal, and were more distinct about a hundred meters from the camp. They were slowly wending their way through the tall grasses, their dark backs visible.