Highway to Krell - Bisexual Edition

"And Sleethe had a handle on all that?" Sousa asked. "He knows how the station works?"

"Yes, the Krell are as intelligent as you or I, they just...see things differently, think differently."

"Then why did they allow this situation to happen to begin with? If they're smart enough to understand the implications of breeding on the station then why did they allow breeding to occur?"

Webber thought about the question for a moment before replying, glancing to Sleethe for a moment as if seeking some answer that he was unable to provide her.

"Based on what I saw in the barracks when they were...courting, I believe that the heat is completely overriding. I don't think that they could fight the urges if they tried, and once the females have been fertilized then they have to lay their eggs somewhere, they can't just hold them in. I don't think they ever had a choice, that's why we can't just order them to stop mating."

"But the Krell here have a solution, right? Some kind of contraceptive or some way to delay the heat? If not, then the big guy would have just sent us on our way."

"I was getting to that," Webber continued, clearing her throat as her eyes darted across her tablet screen. She asked Sleethe a question, trying to confirm something, and the alien replied with his now familiar bass tone.

"As I understand it, there is a plant that grows in the marshlands whose properties prevent the onset of the heat, or at least lessen its effects. The Krell words for less and impede are...anyway I think that if we can locate this plant and synthesize some kind of compound from it, perhaps isolate the elements that have an effect on the Krell, then we'll be on track to solving the problem on the Pinwheel. Clayton, you'll probably know more about this subject than any of us, any insights?"

"It's not unheard of, in Earth's classical period there was a plant called silphium that was used extensively by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians that had contraceptive properties. Many cultures throughout history believed that herbs and plants had medicinal qualities, either correctly or superstitiously, we'll have to hope that the giant Krell wasn't just a witch doctor sending us on a wild goose chase."

"But if we can locate samples of this plant," Reid asked, "you can synthesize a drug of some kind?"

"I would assume so, yes. Worst case scenario, we load the shuttle up with samples and figure out the details when we're back on the Pinwheel."

Reid turned her attention back to Webber.

"And you're sure about this, Webber? You translated what was said correctly and you have some kind of description of this plant to go on?"

"Yes Ma'am, we're looking for purple berries that grow on bushes with 'thorns like claws', with leaves similar in color to Krell scales. They should be growing in the lowlands beyond the swamps, the trees will thin out and we'll start to see more grasses and reeds. The elder said that we should check the far side of the lake, we'll have to make our way around it."

"No time to lose," Dubois declared, pointing in the direction of the lake. "Let's get moving!"

CHAPTER 8: BOTANY

They traipsed through the mud, just as the elder had said, the forests here were thinning out. There were fewer pale trees, the vegetation beneath their boots giving way to reeds and what looked like colorful lilies that thrived in the shallow water. There seemed to be no hard boundaries here, no shores, just a spectrum of mud and water and everything in-between. The going was no easier, the damp earth sucked their feet deeper with every step, and Sleethe had taken to swimming through the water to their left with a surprising grace. It was just deep enough that he could power through the shallows like a veritable crocodile, his tail driving him forward with impressive speed, the lumbering gait that made him appear clumsy and heavy on land all but forgotten.

There were other Krell in the water too, further out towards the middle of the lake, some lounged as they floated lazily on the surface and some splashed around in short bursts of activity. Were they hunting perhaps? Mating? A group of them spied the human visitors and approached, weaving through the water silently, as if they were stalking their prey. They looked uncomfortably like crocodiles as they emerged from the lake, the murky water falling from their armored backs in curtains as they marched up onto the mud.

Their size was imposing, but Sleethe did not seem concerned, and so neither were the humans. There were larger, stocky males with broad chests and muscular limbs, alongside somewhat smaller females who were doughier with wide hips and thick tails. It was the first time anyone in the team, and perhaps any human, had seen a fully developed female.

They were almost as large as the males, their weight distributed to the hips, thighs and belly, giving them a distinct pear shape. There was a lot of mass to them, though it was distributed attractively, leaving them sleek and streamlined. There was a lot of brawn to them as well, there would have to be to carry such significant weight, their thighs and abdomens rippling with taut muscles that hid just below the surface, bulging outwards as they moved and shifted. They had fat deposits on their pale chests that, while not actually breasts, gave them a plump appearance and a deceptively feminine figure.

The ever friendly aliens surrounded the humans, at least a dozen of them, and they began to examine and greet them in the same way that the ones in the village had. They pushed their snouts into their faces and sniffed them, rubbing their scaly cheeks against the strangers like enormous, reptilian cats. They tugged at the unfamiliar clothing that the humans were wearing and ran their stubby fingers through their hair, seemingly interested both by the texture, and the variations in color and style between the visitors.

Oddly they stayed away from Webber, greeting her with their headrubs, but paying her less attention than they did the other humans. Was it something to do with the marking on her forehead perhaps? Sleethe greeted a few of them, but he wasn't of much interest to the group when there were aliens to examine.

After a few minutes their curiosity waned and they left the team to continue on their way, slipping back into the water and heading out towards the center of the lake again. Reid hung back a little bit to let Webber catch up as they moved on, matching pace with the woman as they struggled through the mud and shallow water, sinking up to their knees in some places. Reid let the men press on ahead, waiting until they were out of earshot before speaking to Webber.

"So, what is that symbol? Do you have any idea? When the other Krell saw it they seemed to lose interest in you."

"I...I have no idea," she stammered, her face reddening. "Maybe the elder painted it on me to indicate that I could speak some Krell? I don't know."

"You're a lousy liar Miss Webber, you're obviously head over heels for Sleethe. You're like a dog with a pork chop, can't take your eyes off him." Webber started to speak hurriedly, perhaps objecting or apologizing, but Reid cut her off with a wave of her hand. "It's not like you're breaking any rules, I'm not going to reprimand you or anything like that. It's poor timing perhaps, but your private life is none of my business, I'm your boss not your mother. You do need to tell me if there's anything you know that might help us though, or that could be relevant to our current predicament, any insights into their behavior that you might have withheld."

"I've not hidden anything that might be important, I just...we've all heard rumors about what goes on behind closed doors on the station, I guess I just didn't want everyone to see me as any less of a professional. I'm not some muddy recruit sharing a dorm with a Borealan." Her face grew redder and she looked out across the lake, watching her alien companion as he drifted slowly through the water, matching pace with the slower humans like some kind of green submarine. "It's not like I went looking or anything, I was doing what you had told me to do, and they just started...going at it. It was so fast, so exciting, and then Sleethe just...sort of..." She bit her lip as she reminisced, and Reid felt a quick pang of jealousy. "I think he really likes me, they don't just mate at random in a big pile, I think they pair off too. If they find someone they click with, someone who's compatible, then they stay with them. I think that's what the symbol is, it tells the others that I'm spoken for."

"An alien engagement ring, then?"

"Something like that..."

"You don't need to be embarrassed about it," Reid said, smirking. "At least he's not afraid of commitment, and he's better mannered than any of the boyfriends I had in med school."

Webber suppressed a laugh, her mood lightening, and Dubois turned back around to see what was keeping the women.

"I think we're nearing the far shore," he shouted to them, "keep an eye out for these plants. Thorns like claws, dark green leaves, purple berries."

"Yeah, I got it," Webber replied, then she turned her attention back to Reid. "I guess we should fan out a little, cover more ground."

"That sounds like a good idea, I don't believe Dubois has any reason to have that gun with him besides playing cowboy, but stay within shouting range. You never know what we might encounter out here."

"I think I'll be ok, I have Sleethe with me after all." Webber hesitated as Reid broke away in the direction of the lake, her eyes turned towards the carpet of tangled water weeds. "And thanks, Doctor Reid, for...you know."

Reid nodded.

"Don't mention it Webber."

They had been searching for the better part of two hours, the twin suns of 61 Cygni dipping below the horizon and darkening the green haze that permeated the atmosphere, before Clayton called out that he had found the plant that they were searching for. The team crowded around the squat bush as he maneuvered carefully around the wicked thorns and plucked a handful of berries.

"This has to be it, it matches the description that Webber gave us."

He lowered his rucksack to the wet mud and rummaged inside it for a handheld tool, drawing it and waving it over the plant's berries, it looked to Reid like some kind of spectrometer or a scanning device.

"I'm seeing high concentrations of lactic acid, they could be using that as a spermicide. There are other components too, but I'd need to break them down for study to find out how they effect the Krell. I can say one thing for sure though, it definitely looks like the elder knows what he's talking about."

"Hang on," Sousa added, "could we not just have synthesized our own contraceptives back on the station? Why did we need to come all the way out here to find a Krell morning after pill?"

"No," Clayton replied, returning his instrument to his rucksack as he kneeled in the mud. "The Krell have a completely different biology to humans, we would have needed clinical trials, control groups, there's no telling how they might have reacted and we would have needed weeks at the minimum to come up with something that would be safe for them to use."

"But you think this will work?"

"I can't know for sure until we test it, but the elder told Webber that this was some kind of contraceptive, and the compounds that I've detected support that claim. Lactic acid is used in spermicidal gels and contraceptives on Earth due to its ability to effectively prevent sperm from swimming."

Reid appraised the bushes that surrounded them, her hands firmly planted on her hips.

"Ok then, fill up your packs with berries, get some samples of the leaves and stalks too, who knows if we'll need them. I certainly don't want to make this trip a second time."

The team did as they were asked, filling their backpacks and pockets with the purple berries, doing their best to avoid the wicked thorns. Dubois had a knife, and he used it to deftly cut away intact stalks where he could, soon filling his pack with foliage. Their mission accomplished, they turned back in the direction of the village.

It was dark when they arrived, or rather darker, the planet wasn't exactly sunny with its atmosphere that seemed to be made of pea soup. The twin suns had disappeared below the horizon however, and what paltry light they had provided was now absent. The only illumination now came from the torches of the Krell village, and swarms of glowing flies that followed the humans around in buzzing clouds. They soon gave up trying to bat them away, the light they provided was actually very convenient, like having a cloud of tiny glowsticks floating around their heads.

By the time they mounted the rickety staircase onto the lower level, they were exhausted, pissed off and caked in mud. They sat heavily on the damp wood and rested, catching their breaths as Sleethe hovered nearby, decidedly more accustomed to the environment than his human companions. The odd marking that the elder had drawn on his chest was still there, waterproof apparently.

"Look at it out there," Dubois panted, straining his eyes against the green haze that permeated the atmosphere. "Even with flashlights we cannot penetrate this fog, if we try to make our way back to the shuttle tonight, we'll break our ankles on the tree roots. We must camp and wait for first light before we set out again."

"Time is of the essence Mister Dubois," Reid chided, trying to wipe away the sweat that poured from her face. It gave her a plastic sheen in the torchlight as the moisture that clung to her skin reflected the dancing flames. "We need to get these samples back to our lab as soon as possible, we'll take a short break then we'll head out."

"Bad idea," he replied, "visibility is too low."

"I agree with Dubois," Sousa added, leaning against one of the moss-covered banisters. "We go out in the dark we're gonna get injured or lost, Chief Moralez gave us a few days, we've made good time so far and we can afford to wait out one night."

There was a chorus of affirmations as the rest of the team members pitched in, it seemed as if Reid had been overruled.

"Very well," she conceded, "we can stay in the village for a night. I'm sure we can find a vacant hut or something."

Webber stood and brushed herself off, looking out over the village, its many tiers cloaked in mist.

"The Krell don't care much for privacy, I doubt they would object if we picked the nearest dwelling and just claimed a pit or two for the night."

"A pit?" Sousa asked.

"Yeah, the Krell like to sleep in recesses in the floor, they dig out pits and then fill them with bedding."

"Well I'm not sharing a pit," Dubois declared, "the Krell might not care about personal space but as a human I have requirements. I brought a tent, but alas, there is no firm ground upon which to erect it."

"I'm sure you won't have to share," Webber said, rolling her eyes at him. "Come on, let's go find a place to sleep."

On the third level of the stacked structure they came across a suitable building, larger than many of the others and full of the recesses that Webber had described. Like most of the structures it was built from logs, covered in vines and patches of moss that clung to the damp wood, and reinforced by creeping trees that wound around its foundations like giant creepers. It looked almost communal, like some kind of Krell boarding house, with large cups dug into the floor and spaced at three foot intervals They were full of soft bedding, pillows that must have been stuffed with dried reeds or other plant matter, and what looked like furry animal hides. There must be mammals living somewhere in this planet-spanning swamp after all. It could not have been easy to dig these foxholes into the floor, considering that it was made from wooden planks, they must have planned them as part of its initial construction.

Everyone picked a different pit, a few were occupied by sleeping Krell who paid them no mind, and they removed their filthy gear. They stripped down to their underwear, the boots and suits that the UNN had provided them were irredeemably impregnated with mud and slime, and they slipped into the vacant recesses. Webber was joined by Sleethe, who spooned with her despite her red-faced protesting, perhaps attracted to the warmth of her mammalian body. She eventually gave in, relaxing into his giant arms and letting him pull one of the large animal pelts over them to trap their heat.

It had been a long day and there was little desire for smalltalk, the team members falling asleep rapidly despite the muggy, stifling air that permeated the room and drenched their underclothes in conspicuous patches of sweat. It was like sleeping in a damned sauna, but they were too tired to care.

CHAPTER 9: FREE LOVE

Clayton was awoken by a sound, an intense, low frequency rumbling that shook his bones. At first he thought it was some kind of earthquake, but as he came to, he realized that it was coming from an adjacent recess. They were deep enough to hide a prone human from view, and so he sat up to peer over the lip, trying to work out what was going on. In the gloom he could make out the back and shoulders of a Krell, moving slowly, rhythmically. It must be Sleethe, the mating call was coming from him, but who was he copulating with? Some stranger from the village maybe?

His question was answered when he heard Webber's voice, breathless and subdued, her tone lurid in a way that he had never heard from her before.

"God, Sleethe, n-not here...oh fuck..."

Her quiet moan trailed off, drowned out by the alien's powerful vocalization. Clayton lay back in his recess, his face reddening as he tried to block out the sounds of his colleague and her alien lover having sex a few scant feet away from him. Evidently the aliens really were shameless, and apparently humans were on their menu.

He heard the creaking of wood, from a different direction this time, and rose to peek over the rim of his recessed bed again. The few Krell who had been sleeping when the humans had arrived were being roused by the call, looming up from their beds to see what was going on. Clayton heard a rattling and spun around to look at the doorway, where a group of Krell were pushing past the bead curtain.

Had the mating call rallied so many of them to this building? He remembered how Webber had described the mating habits of the Krell in the barracks, dozens of them competing for mates in a huge pile. His heart skipped and he considered sneaking away and making himself scarce, finding a more wholesome place to sleep in one of the other huts maybe, but the only entrance was clogged with curious aliens.

Like moths to the flame they were drawn to the call, almost trance-like, drunken as they shambled into the room and surveyed it with their yellow eyes.

The newcomers spread out, dropping into some of the nearer recesses and tussling with their occupants, sometimes several to one bed as more rumbling mating calls joined the chorus. It was almost like being assaulted with a physical force such was the intensity of it, Clayton couldn't think straight, couldn't concentrate. All he could focus on was the vibration in his bones, as if the aliens were reaching their fingers into the core of his being. All he could do was lie prone in the bed and hope that the natives would have no interest in humans like him.

A strained moan from Webber rose above the noise, and then Clayton felt something heavy drop into his recess next to him. A massive Krell kneeled beside him, developed and imposing, a natural born female by the looks of things. It warbled softly at him, piling its long, fat tail into the bed and leaning over him. It planted its hands at either side of his head, lowering its stunted snout to sniff his hair like a giant dog, burying its face in the nape of his neck. Clayton squirmed, its breath warm on his skin, and it opened its mouth to reveal a blue tongue that grazed his shoulder as if tasting the sheen of sweat that coated him. It dragged the impossibly long organ across his throat, so hot and slimy, and he found an erection growing in his underwear despite his uncertainty.