In Space Everyone Screams Ch. 04

"Mmmm," Kia groaned. She was in for a treat. She felt Zoe pull out and press against the entrance to her ass. "Oh, yes! Fuck my ass. I need it!"

Zoe pushed inside, just halfway and smacked Kia's ass. Kia reached back and pulled her ass cheeks apart to help. Zoe swatted her hands away and smacked her ass again. Again, Kia moaned. She felt Zoe sink all the way in down to the base of her shaft. It was all Kia could do to groan and push back against Zoe's thrust.

Zoe fucked Kia more gently this time, she didn't go all the way inside. Which Kia was glad for. She enjoyed getting it in her ass but with a cock as big as Zoe's, she was just a little too small. If they had some of Lilian's drug...

Kia was brought back to the present as she felt Zoe grunt clench, becoming rock hard inside her. Warmth flooded her insides as Zoe came, spewing rope after rope of cum deep inside her ass.

When Zoe finally pulled out, she flung the last of her cum cross Kia's back and ass. Plenty of it splattered onto the table as well as the floor, forming small puddles. Kia turned and allowed herself to be pulled upwards by Zoe.

They kissed, both of them sated for the moment but not quite done.

"Fuck, that was so good. I can't get enough."

Zoe chuckled but she had a knowing look in her eye. With a slow movement, she dragged her finger around one of Kia's tits.

Kia smiled. She always felt so good after a fuck. Especially with Zoe. There was something about the scientist that was different.

"I gotta say I thought the Doc's phero mods were nuts. But yours. Hell, you've got crazy shit going on with yours."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie. I don't have a problem with mods. Have some myself. And been on the receiving end of lots but you got something special going on, I just know it. I've never felt as good as I have when I'm with you."

Zoe shrugged but it looked like she was trying to keep a poker face.

"Fine, fine! Whatever. Hotshot. Keep your secrets." Kia scooped some cum on her face and sucked it off her finger, smacking her lips afterwards. Everyone on the ship had tasted different and, while Kia hadn't sampled all of them yet, so far she liked Zoe's best.

"Damn, I'm a little sore."

"Horera, but your ass is hella tight."

"Nowoes, it just means you gotta use my other hole," said Kia grinning.

"Your room?" asked Kia.

"You don't need to ask."

The two of them left the lab in a hurry. Kia's giggles were the last sound that echoed through the lab before the door shut behind them.

The workbench was a mess. Tools and instruments along with debris all shoved to one side. Stray pieces of clothing were strewn about, some on the table and others lay on the floor. There was cum pooled across both the desk and the floor.

In one of the vents built into the ceiling of the lab, a dark form huddled against the grate. Sensing that there were no other living presences in the immediate vicinity, it pushed two flat, snaking limbs out past the grill of the grate. It wrapped these limbs around the aluminum and squeezed its boneless body through the rest of the grate.

For a moment it seemed to crawl along the ceiling in a small radius, as if scouting around cautiously. Then, it dropped into the messy, cum covered workbench and moved around on the surface, its sinous limbs shifting and flowing this way and that.

It reached out an arm to touch the cum on the table and drew back as if unsure. The bead of liquid disappeared into its body and it seemed to pause a moment before lashing out all its arms to absorb more of the pearly white substance.

After it had absorbed all the fluids on the table, the creature quietly slipped down the side of the table onto the floor, hunting for more. It found it. The rest of the cum on the floor disappeared into its body and it moved in circles, searching for more before seeming to come to the conclusion that there was none left.

The door to the lab parted and Lilian strode inside. The creature crept over to the leg of the desk and compressed itself, flattening against the table leg to disappear from sight. The surface of its skin changed, mimicking the white, glossy color of the leg's surface finish.

Lilian stopped in her tracks and stared at the mess atop the desk.

"Seems I'm late to the party," she murmured under her breath before turning and disappearing down the hall.

The lab door shut behind her and the creature relaxed. It crawled over to a drain in the floor where it squeezed itself down through the openings in the grate, disappearing into the depths of the ship's subsystems.

*****

Anna drifted.

Far below, people moved through the streets like tiny colorful ants. They wove between the twisting stacks of massive apartment buildings that the locals colloquially dubbed 'the Falls' due to how the rain would pour off the side of the building in sheets, soaking anyone below caught without protection.

The apartment she shared with Leah was inside an older building. An ancient red brick building that was nearly three hundred years old. It had been built in an age when things were made to last and was probably the only reason it had survived the floods.

Nestled between three tired looking stacks, their little studio was just far enough from the hustle and bustle and grime of downtown New Orlando that it felt like their own little tiny retreat from the chaos of the city.

Anna crossed her leg and sipped on a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. It was cheap stuff. But even on the lower price range, New Zealand wines held up fairly well.

Coppery red hair flashed past her and she heard a deep sigh as Leah sank down into the camping chair next to her, a glass filled nearly to the brim with crimson Shiraz. They had such different tastes, but for some reason it worked.

"... malnourished, must have been rationing her supplies..."

A glowing orange blade pierced the darkness and sliced downward. Heart pounding, Anna watched, blinking back both tears and panic as the door to the utility closet flew open. White light poured into the space. To eyes that had long become accustomed to the dark and the faint blue glow of her tablet screen turned down to lowest brightness, it was like staring directly into the sun.

With what little energy she had left, she trained her pistol at the door and fired off as many rounds as fingers weakened by exhaustion and hunger could pull. She felt her arm jerk away, her tendons screaming. A sleek mirrored helmet appeared in her vision. A voice. A human voice spoke to her but she couldn't hear anything. The blood rushing through her head and the heavy wheeze of her labored breathing were the only sounds in her own helmet. She could feel her heart beating at what felt like a thousand times a second.

Then a second voice called to her. Sweet with an edge like oak-barelled whiskey. Soft and calm with a touch of vocal fry. The words said she was safe but it was the tone that soothed and reassured her. She wanted to drown in that voice.

"... why she attacked us?" Another voice. Clear, bright, assertive. But not without warmth. A faint accent that she couldn't place. It sounded familiar.

Why was it so bright? Hadn't she cut the lights weeks ago? She didn't have much power left... needed to ration what she could. How many days did she have left again? She'd done the calculations at one point. Where had she put that tablet...

Anna's eyes swept across the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Most of their view was obstructed by an endless jungle of high rises and megastacks. But in the space between two buildings in the distance, they had a clear line of sight to the Canaveral Space Port. It was a small miracle. Anna wasn't particularly spiritual but Leah had called it a sign from the Universe.

As the sun began the set, casting the horizon in an soft dimming glow that was dulled by the smog from the city, an orange light bloomed from the space port.

"His name's Francis. He's the son of a European business mogul. Daddy made a fortune selling microchips," said Leah.

"He's got three dogs that he's named after his favorite cocktails," added Anna. It was a game that the two of them played.

"He's probably dating some hottie who made it to the top doing ProFans, convinced him that she really loves him but is just using him to escape this shithole."

Leah was way better at it than Anna--who didn't consider herself particularly good at being creative on the fly.

"Her name's Tanya and she's secretly got a thing going on with the pilot of the ship."

"Oooh, yeah! They're totally plotting a little accident for Francis."

"Yeah they're gonna elope to Mars together afterwards."

"I swear, you're getting better at this."

Anna felt a smile tug at her lips. A small one but a smile was a smile.

"One day, it'll be us on one of those ships," whispered Anna.

They both watched in silence as a gray ship rose straight up into the sky. The plumes of exhaust trailed after the engines, creating a fuzzy line that extended as far as the eye could see. It faded quickly. The sky faded to dark navy. Anna turned to look at her partner but she found that the chair was empty.

"Leah?" she called.

"... likely hallucinating from caloric defit in combination with low oxygen, early signs of hypothermia..."

The words wafted in and out.

"... When do you... like to debrief... momentous occasion... still can't... the data..."

The words didn't make any sense. Who was speaking to her?

"Leah?!" she called again, louder this time.

Silence met her. The lights in the city began to fade and the darkness crept in from all sides. She tried to run inside. Why was it getting so dark? Hadn't they paid their energy bill this month already?

Anna yelled with urgency, "Leah!"

She was inside their apartment but it there was nobody else there.

A dark shape darted across the room towards her. It was the size of a large cat but moved much too quickly. Anna backed up, scrambling to get away but it leaped into the air, tendrils splayed open and aimed at her face. She screamed.

Anna's eyes snapped open.

She shut them almost immediately. The light seared her retinas. After spending so much time in near darkness, it was jarring. She teared up and felt herself rub at her face, trying to both clear her eyes and force herself to see through the brightness.

"Oh! You're awake!" a voice chirped. "I'm so sorry, let me turn the brightness down."

The lights dimmed, becoming half as bright. Anna blinked away her tears and looked around. She was laying atop a bed that was enclosed. It almost felt like being back inside the cryopod again. A wave of claustrophobia crashed through her and her chest tightened. Breathing became difficult.

"Where am I!?"

She banged against the glass. Except it wasn't glass. It rang, producing a tone like metal. But it was clear. "Let me out of here!" She banged both fists against the cover again.

"Hey, hey! You're algood! You're safe!" That voice again. Where had she heard that voice before?

A hiss came from the band of metal that wrapped around the middle of the clear plastic-or-whatever-material-it-was and the two halves of the pod she was in separated. The top half lifted away even as her bed inclined, the back raising and the entire thing shifting in angle to push her upright. The bottom half also folded away.

Anna leaped out of the pod--

--Her legs gave and she crashed to the floor. It was so clean she could see her own reflection.

And she did not look good. Her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks sunken from malnutrition. Her skin looked waxy and too pale.

Her chest tightened and her breaths came faster and faster. She scrambled to her feet and backed away from the pod, looking around wildly.

She was in some kind of laboratory looking room. There were two other pods next to the one she had been in. The wall behind the pods housed a series of built-in wall closets. Robotic arms hung from a track in the ceiling and a woman stood in front of a small desk on the far wall looking concerned.

She tried to slow her breathing down but nothing made the tension in her chest go away. She felt like she was suffocating slowly.

"Deep breaths. You're safe," the woman said. She stepped forward, heels clacking against the floor and face concerned. "I'm Dr. Lilian Kruse. You are aboard the Sayensi right now. Can you understand me?"

Anna frowned and her mind flashed through memories trying to recall what had happened.

She remembered huddling in the dark with a pistol and the last rations that she had managed to secure aboard the colony ship. A storage closet. She'd welded the door shut. Sealed all the vents. She didn't know how long she'd lived in that closet, eating carefully portioned bits of protein bars and sips of water.

And then someone had come through the door brandishing a glowing knife and a rifle like some kind of space marine from a fucking Hollywood movie.

Anna gasped and doubled over. The room started spinning and her head began to pound like someone had taken it and shaken it like a cocktail mixer.

"Breathe."

Anna saw the woman approach, a device clutched in her hand but she put out an arm and backed away, warding her off. She felt her back hit something solid.

Anna bent over and she felt her stomach heave. Whatever had been in her stomach had decided to vacate her body. Yellowish white fluid splattered onto the floor. She wiped her mouth and looked up, eyes fluttering around the room quickly.

The woman had stopped advancing but looked concerned.

"Breathe. Just breathe."

"I'm... I'm alive? This isn't a dream?" Anna croaked. Even her voice sounded rough.

"No, you're very much alive and very much awake, I assure you," the woman smiled. Her cadence and emphasis on certain syllables resembled something like a British accent but it sounded different. It was difficult to place.

The pounding in Anna's head slowly subsided and she felt a little less sick after throwing up.

It was then that Anna actually took in the woman's appearance.

And wanted to throw up again for different reasons.

Dr. Kruse didn't look a doctor. Her outfit, if Anna squinted, looked vaguely medical--white coat, glasses, business casual outfit--but the details were off.

To start, the coat had no pockets. Instead, it had areas at the shoulder, breast, and hip sectioned off by seam lines. A white plastic container was fixed to one of these sections on her left arm right below the shoulder. The coat also looked as if it had been tailored to her body. It hugged the dip of her waist and flare of her hips. The sleeves were perfectly tailored and slivers of her blouse's cuffs showed beyond the coat. The blouse's neckline plunged way lower than anything Anna thought was workplace appropriate. And the buttons didn't even begin until halfway down the shirt. She looked like she was one button away from the whole thing bursting apart.

Then the door opened and another woman rushed in, only to stop short when the so-called doctor stuck out an arm, barring her way.

Anna frowned. The new woman was taller. She had fair skin like the doctor but her features were a bit more ambiguous. South American ancestry perhaps. It was hard to tell. Even though her face was youthful, her hair was snow white with jet black eyebrows. She had an intense hawkish look about her. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail with bangs and longer strands that framed her jaw. Over a black and white body suit, she wore a jacket that had shapes sewn onto the shoulders in a way that looked military inspired. The sleeves were made from a patterned black fabric that shimmered in the light. There was a name badge pinned to the left breast area but Anna was too far to read it clearly.

Two others scrambled through the doorway, one of them shorter than everyone else but pushing the other aside to get through the door first. She had straight jet black hair that was streaked with teal and cut to shoulder length. Her features were delicate and as ambiguous as the military woman's but looked vaguely East Asian. She wore a black knit sweater which was large enough to hang down to her thighs. Her legs were bare and she wore fluffy looking slippers on her feet.

The last woman to come through the door was a lady with skin the color of sun-bleached nutmeg. Tallest of the lot, she wore an athletic outfit. A crop top that was so small it left some of her underboob visible and bright yellow leggings. Her dark hair was done in small tight braids that reached all the way down to her hips and she walked with a self-assured swagger. She had what Anna could only describe as an aristocratic looking face with piercing amber-colored eyes and a smirk permanently etched over her lips.

"Why is she out of the medpod?" Asked the white haired woman.

"She's disorientated. Confused. Scared," said Dr. Kruse. "Give her space."

The other two women just stared at Anna. Anna glared at them all.

"You should give her a little somethin', Doc," said the woman with braided hair.

The doctor shook her head. "She's had enough sleep. She'll need to acclimate eventually."

"What is this place?! Who are you people?" shouted Anna.

The military looking woman with white hair took a half step forward and gave her an appraising look. "I'm Captain Ophelia Haveral of the Sayensi. We are research vessel funded by the Institute. We responded to your distress beacon."

She jerked a thumb over to the doctor. "You've already met Dr. Kruse."

She gestured to the two other women.

"That's Kia. Our ship's engineer," she said pointing to the short, black haired woman.

"And that's Dr. Karuiki, our chief of science." The lady in bright yellow leggings nodded at her.

Anna felt overwhelmed but tried to take in the faces and keep everything in stride.

"There's one more to our crew. I'm sure you'll meet her later. And Pal, our ship's AI--"

"--very nice to meet you," chimed an ambiguous sounding voice from somewhere in the walls.

"Welcome to the Sayensi," finished the captain.

And then the room was silent as Anna stared at the women. Seconds passed between them. The silence dragged on feeling at first like minutes and then like hours. Finally Anna parted her lips again.

"What year is it?" she asked.

"3128," replied the captain.

Anna felt her body quake and after several seconds she sank to her knees. "It's real," she muttered.

That was it then. The final confirmation. The ship's clock hadn't glitched. It wasn't all a dream. It was real.

She was adrift out of time.

*****

Nim spun, falling onto one knee to duck the virtual bullets and fired off three quick volleys from her rifle. Without waiting to see if her shots had connected--she knew they had hit--she dropped her rifle and launched herself at a fourth enemy, pulling her knife and lunging. The enemy sidestepped but she tossed her knife into the other hand and switched direction. The blade sank between armor plates and as she yanked it free the target collapsed to the ground and disintigrated.

A fifth combatant slammed into her from behind and she stumbled forward, off balance but recovered quickly, bringing her arms up to shield her face and upper body.

The enemy rushed at her, the reflection on their visor flashing.

They exchanged blows and the enemy wrenched her knife from her wrist. It fell to the ground, useless. She launched into a whirlwind of elbows strikes and kicks while keeping her limbs tight against her body. She had the height and reach advantage and could afford to keep her opponent at a distance.

There. An opening. She lowered her guard just enough for the enemy to rush at her. Like a dancer, she stepped around them rising to the tips of her toes to come around behind them. Her arms cinched around their head and she wrenched her arms in opposing directions, snapping their neck.