Space Relations Pt. 21

"The air is breathable here." Mary informed her. "It isn't so breathable everywhere else. Suck it up."

The vines grew even thicker as they went along. They had harsh bristles that dug into the giant trees, anchoring themselves in place and ascending up toward the sky just like the trees did.

"Wow, just look at these things." Mary marveled. "These vines are huge, and these leaves are huge. I'm sure there are some huge blossoms around here somewhere. Hey, stop so I can take some pictures of these things."

While Mary got some images, especially of the vines snaking their way up the trees, Margo walked around one of the big trunks to get a better view of their destination. She grimaced when she saw even more of the same trees and vines they were already having such a hard time with. She did see something more colorful a short distance away.

"Mary, come and take a look at this." She called out.

When the blonde stood beside her, they both started in that direction. What they'd seen was a grouping of giant flowers. They were multi-colored in orange, purple and red and had short stems with white tips in the center. The tips and stems were the size of human hands and arms, while the blossoms were incredibly huge, each of them between eight and ten feet across.

"I have to get a picture of these." Mary said, clambering over yet another tangle of vines to get to the flowers.

"Excuse me, we're looking for our friends." Margo called out after her.

"I just want to take a couple of pictures." The blonde pressed forward. The closest blossom was hanging at just over four feet off the ground. Mary touched it, before she started with her pictures again. "It's really soft and velvety. You should come and touch it, Margo."

"No thanks."

"Wow, I can almost hear it breathing." Mary said, standing up on her tiptoes for a better look. "Have you ever heard a flower breathing?"

"Can't say that I have." Margo impatiently crossed her arms.

As Mary watched, the stems looked to be drawing back away from her. Suddenly, they shot forward and sprayed an orange mist on the woman.

"Mary, what the hell?" Margo called out, before jumping over to her buddy's side. She grabbed the blonde by the arm and pulled her back over several of the vines.

"It's okay, Margo." Mary started dusting herself off. "It is just pollen. I guess I'm supposed to go out and pollinate a bunch of vines now. Son of a bitch! It's all over my clothes now! I just washed my uniform yesterday!"

"That's what you get for standing so close to it. How do you know that stuff isn't poisonous?"

"I'm not going to eat it." Mary said. "I'll take a good humidifying once we get back on the ship."

They were both slapping the pollen away from Mary, when a thin vine looked to slide along the ground next to Margo's feet.

"Oh, shit!" Margo cried out, startled. She stared down at the vine, now lying still on the ground. "It is just a stupid plant. I thought it was a snake for a second."

"I don't trust this pollen." Mary said, worriedly. "Maybe I should take off my clothes, just in case."

"Do you really think it might be poison?" Margo asked. She looked down at her own clothing. Some of the orange stuff had gotten on her, too. "Fuck, Mary! I'm not kidding here! Do you think it might be poison?"

"How should I know? I've never been here before. What if we take off our clothes except for our underwear and our shoes? We'll bundle them inside out until we can study the pollen once we're back on the ship."

"We should just throw these clothes away." Margo grimaced.

As if their uniforms were diseased, they two women quickly peeled them off.

"I bet the guys will be happy if we run into them while we're only wearing our undies." Margo laughed.

"Which way were we going again?" Mary asked, as she wiped as much of the pollen out of her face and hair as possible.

"Uh, that way?" Margo pointed. "I think."

The big woman took a step, only to find that the thin vine had gotten caught on her leg somehow. She lifted her leg and tried to shake it off, only to see the vine curling tighter.

"What the fuck?" Margo asked.

A second vine grabbed a hold of her other leg. Suddenly, both vines jerked away at the same time, pulling Margo's feet out from under her. She fell over onto the larger vines they'd just clambered over, dropping her uniform, her radio, and most importantly, her weapon.

"Oh, shit, Mary! It got me!"

"What got you?" Mary stopped wiping her face.

The blonde looked around her, shocked to witness Margo being dragged away by several skinny vines. They had Margo caught by the arms and legs. Frozen in place, Mary could only watch as even more thin vines came from the cluster of bigger ones. They encircled her around the chest, gripping her so tight she too dropped what she had in her hands while trying to fight them off. A vine pulled her sideways, causing her to topple over, but she didn't fall very far because the other vines were keeping her in the air. The same as with Margo, the cluster of vines had her by the arms and legs, and also the torso, as they carried the woman further into the dark jungle of giant leaves.

Captain Washington didn't mind the cat-women so much, not anymore. Not after he nailed the gray one. There was a certain feeling of sensuality in humping a fuzzy woman, and in listening to her caterwaul like Asian women did in porn. That was it, he figured. Washington had gotten his mind to the point where it related the exotic encounter to other encounters from his past. The cat-women were hairy like Arab chicks, made noise like Asian chicks, and like Thor said, he could pretend they were regular women wearing very realistic cat costumes.

They couldn't possibly be prejudiced against black men, because the kitties all came in different colors. They very quickly accepted the human men as viable sex partners, and they were never truly threatening. It was such a strange thing for him to contemplate, that members of another race of people, almost as human as they were, could readily accept the men of Earth at the point of initial contact. Well, no, maybe part of that was wrong. The cat-women weren't almost as human as they were. They were not proto-humans, but had their separate line of evolution away from humans. They were people, but a different sort of people than he was used to seeing.

Washington had been laying on the grass, feeling how tough and coarse the fibers were and comparing that to the softer, springier grass on Earth. He sat up now, with two of the pussycat women sitting next to him. They had a sort of language, he observed, that consisted of a lot of hisses, purrs and warbles. The cat-women were talking about him; he was sure of it, as they petted his arms and legs. Not quite caresses... or maybe they were caresses, but following a different line of evolution. Besides the gentle pats, every so often the ladies, if they could be called that, would fondle his extra long penis. The cat-girls looked to be waiting for him to get hard again, with Washington wondering if they were going to share him somehow.

He considered his fellow crewmembers. Thor was sitting with his back against the tree they'd climbed earlier. The calico he'd boned was sitting on the big Viking's lap, facing him and purring. They were cuddling in a way, Washington deciphered, with the calico perhaps waiting for Thor to be ready, and not letting any of her ilk get between them. Perhaps that calico was the oldest or the leader of the pack, although for the most part their social order wasn't very clear.

Washington glanced in the direction Cruz was in. For a second, a stab of jealousy ran through the superior officer, as he saw the Hispanic man frolicking with all of three felines, while Washington had two and Thor only had one. Cruz was rolling around on the grass with them, pretending he was about to congregate with one, before slipping away and rolling around with another. He would pull at them and push them away, all in sensual foreplay. Whenever the cat-women would hold up their clawed hands, he would play patty-cake with them. Between Cruz's giggles and the cat-women's constant funny hiccups, Washington saw that the man had once again become the life of the party.

At one point, Cruz stuck his tongue out and prodded his kitties to do the same. The cat-women had thinner and longer tongues than humans, Washington noted. Cruz was doing a sort of impromptu physical examination on the felines, the captain soon realized. When Cruz bared his teeth at them, hoping to get a better look at their teeth, he provoked an unexpected response. All three of the cat-women around him not only bared their teeth in return, but they menaced Cruz with their claws and snarled loudly like angry cats. Cruz was quick to recognize what he'd done, as the man right away took a submissive posture and started playing with his three new girlfriends again. It looked as if his trespass was forgiven, as the cat-women were soon relaxed and hiccupping again.

"Let that be a lesson to the rest of you." Cruz warned. "Showing teeth is considered bad manners here. It is an act of aggression. Be careful with your smiles, baby."

Washington turned his head when he heard Thor grunting. Apparently the brawny ensign was ready to go again, as his calico friend was straddling him and bouncing on his body. She was leaning back, holding herself up with her outstretched arms while Thor groped her furry breasts.

Watching them go at it invigorated the captain. The brown tabby noticed his rising prominence and came to encourage his erection with her hand. As his cock stretched out thanks to all of that stimulation, Washington relented and lay back down. He allowed the cat-woman to get him up to full strength, and he did nothing to stop her from straddling his lower half. There was some variety in their sexual act, as this time, the cat-woman was facing away from him.

The Captain didn't mind the big, furry brown behind bouncing on his cock. He didn't mind the fuzzy tail moving around as if the feline had full control of it. The man let the woman ride him, setting his hands on her thick hips and grunting in much the same way Thor was grunting already. He should really be calling the Space Relations, he thought, and he would, just as soon as he finished up what he was doing now.

"This is Captain Washington." The comm station sounded off. "Can you hear me, Space Relations?"

Willow had dozed off after worrying herself frantic. She'd even set the captain's chair into a reclined position, which she'd never seen the man in charge do before. Now, after being alone for some time and finally hearing another human voice, she set the chair upright and activated the transmit button. "This is Willow, Captain. Oh, my goodness, where have you been? Is everything okay with you?"

"Everything is fine, Willow. We just got a little sidetracked. Can you pick up our location?"

Since one of the secondary stations already had a scanner going, she jumped away from the command chair and went over to have a look. The scanner had been pinging for about ten minutes now, but its volume had been so low that Willow hadn't heard it while she'd taken her nap.

"Sorry, Captain." She excused her fault. "I fell asleep on your chair, otherwise I would have seen the signal earlier. I have the ship on autopilot in a circular search pattern right now. Do you know that we almost got attacked by a flock of giant birds? I've got it all on video!"

"Is everything okay with you and the ship?"

"Yes, Captain."

"I guess we're all having our little adventures today, aren't we?"

"Captain, we were getting worried about you. I touched down long enough for Mary and Margo to get out. They went looking for you and I haven't heard a thing from them ever since!"

"Mary and Margo are on the surface? How long have they been gone?"

Willow glanced at the time display. "Just over an hour now. I know where their hand-helds are, but I'm not getting any thermal readings for their bodies. I didn't know what to do, Captain. It's like they both lost their radios at the same time. Their last known position is about a quarter mile away from you and close to a river."

For a moment, all was quiet on the other end.

"Captain, are you still there?"

"Yes, Willow. I'm looking for a place where you can set down, but the terrain here isn't very accommodating. These giant trees are all over the place. You'll have to do an aerial recon to find a good landing spot. Once you pick us up, we'll start an immediate search for Mary and Margo."

"Affirmative, Captain. I'll start scanning for a landing location right away!"

"Oh, and Willow. We bumped into some of the locals. From the looks of things, they might be coming along with us. Expect nine in our party, instead of only three."

"Are they friendly?"

"You could certainly say that. We will be expecting you promptly, Willow."

"I am on it, Captain!" The ensign said, as she got to work.

"Where in the hell are we, Mary?" Margo griped, as she struggled against the many binds that held her aloft. The two women were captured and in the shadows, enough that they could barely see one another.

"I think we're in a tunnel or a hole in the ground." Mary answered. "Margo, these vines are talking to some other part of the plant."

"Plants can't talk!"

"Sure they can. Oh, yeah, Margo. Plants are psychic, don't you know? People talk to their plants, and they sing to them, and they play music to them. People do all kinds of things to stimulate the plants, and happy plants grown bigger and healthier than neglected plants. Plants are a lot like people!"

"All I know is that I take plants and cook them so we can eat them."

The vines were felt trembling right after she said that.

"You shush about things like that!" Mary warned. "Listen to me, Margo. Maybe these plants can't understand our language, but they can feel our thoughts. They know the difference between good feelings and bad ones."

"Bullshit, Mary." Margo rumbled back. She tried using her strength to break free, but there were so many vines holding her that it was pointless. "So what are we going to do, hang like this in the dark for the rest of our lives?"

Mary ignored the question. "I can hear them, but I can't tell exactly what they're saying. These plants don't think in any of the established brain patterns I was trained to recognize. Eek!"

"What is it, Mary?" Margo strained to reach her friend, who was hanging only a few feet away from her. Despite her best effort, the big woman could not get any closer.

"One of the vines scared me." Mary answered. "It touched my hair. Maybe it was scenting that icky pollen I got sprayed with."

"Did it hurt you, Mary? Because I'll rip this plant to shreds if it hurt you!"

"I'm okay, Margo. Can you at least try to think good thoughts before these plants get a bad impression of us and do something nasty to us?"

"No, Mary. I'm pissed off, I'm angry and I'm scared! If these fucking vines want a fight, I'm going to give it to them!"

For several moments, the big woman struggled against her binds, but again, it was a fruitless endeavor.

"Son of a bitch, Mary! I can't get loose!"

"You need a Happy Kiss, but I'm not close enough to give you one." The blonde sighed. "It worked for Willow, didn't it? Have you ever seen her so mellowed out as she was earlier?"

"Fucking Willow." Margo grumbled in frustration. "Why did we even get off the ship, Mary?"

"You shush! We wanted to find our guys when we did that!"

"Right, right." Margo conceded. "Well, we're not going to find them this way."

"Lean closer to me." Mary instructed. She strained her neck in trying to plant a Happy Kiss on the other woman. "I can't reach you. How about if you stick out your tongue?"

Even with both women leaning toward one another, and with both their tongues out, they were still about a foot apart.

"Maybe if you imagine me giving you a Happy Kiss, and I'll send a psychic push along with it..." Mary theorized. "Let's try that."

It only took a few seconds for Mary's mental energies to enter Margo's mind.

"Oh, Mary, I can feel it!" Margo exclaimed. "Keep doing it, Mary!"

Mary sent feelings of love and intimacy across the divide. These were the same sort of emotions she focused on when giving her Happy Kisses.

"Oh, Mary, I'm getting so hot." Margo moaned. "I'm feeling it, Mary. You're really doing it! Oh, I wish you were just a couple of feet closer, Mary. I want you so bad right now I can taste it."

"Calm down, tiger!" The blonde giggled. "Oh, what's this?"

"What, Mary?"

"Give me one, will you? I think the plants are sending me a vision. Yeah, it's a vision forming inside my head. I see leaves closing and opening, closing and opening. I know! They want us to keep breathing, Margo! We're putting out carbon dioxide, right, and the plants are breathing it in right now. I guess these plants aren't getting enough of that since they're so big and crowded into this hole in the ground. Plants, if we keep breathing, will that make you happy and then you can let us go?"

"Is that what they want?" Margo asked. She took a deep breath and blew it out on the vines wrapped around her shoulders. The second time she did it, she swore she could smell something fragrant and minty coming off the vines. After sniffing for the source of the nice scent, she breathed on the vines a few more times. This caused the minty scent to grow stronger. "Whenever I breathe on these plants, they start smelling like a strong mouthwash. You try it, Mary!"

Both women did this for the next few minutes, until they huffed and puffed so much they started feeling lightheaded. The space around them was starting to smell very pretty.

"We can't keep doing this forever." Mary frowned. "But the plants sure like it. I can see visions of big, beautiful blossoms in my head now, just like the ones we saw outside. These vines want to blossom out like that, but they can't because they're not getting enough carbon dioxide."

"How about if I fart on them?"

"Don't do it, Margo! You could set off a chain reaction with untold consequences for the entire universe!"

"Now you're starting to sound like Mr. Prima Donna Cruz."

"I know!"

The women started laughing.

"It's like you said, Mary." Margo said, thoughtfully. "We can try to make these plants happy by breathing on them, but our lungs won't hold out with all of that huffing and puffing. What if we do this? You keep sending me horny thoughts, and I can be breathing hard all day."

"They're not horny thoughts! They're nice thoughts!"

"Not from where I'm hanging, sister. Go ahead and try it."

"Okay, I will. I'm trying to tell these plants that if we do that for them, maybe they can let us go later." Mary paused there to communicate. "No, all I see is them still holding us. They don't want to let us go. I'm going to try to tell them that if we were closer, I could give you a Happy Kiss, and that will help with our breathing. Help me, Margo. Imagine you and me making out and breathing like horn-dogs."

"No problem." Margo snickered. "I do that all the time, anyway."

Shortly, the vines did slacken, enough that the two suspended women were now breathing in each other's faces.

"You remember what we were doing earlier, when Willow was watching us?" Margo asked.

"Oh, yeah!"

"So let's give these vines a good show."

They started kissing, taking up pretty much where they'd left off earlier. It didn't take long before both women were taking respites to pant out their growing heat and want.

"Is that your Happy Kiss, Mary?" Margo asked.

"No, that's just me!" Mary giggled. "I'm horny now! I'm telling the plants to put us closer!"

When their chests were pressed together, the vines looked to slip away, but only long enough to bind them together.