Star Kissed

Based on the picture "Attack of the Seastars" by Gidroliz.

Thanks to Todger 65 for the edit.

As dumps go this isn't half bad. Judy strolled along the beach. The beach wasn't pretty or pristine but the description couldn't apply to the planet either. Grayson World's lack of tourist attractiveness came not from dangerous lifeforms but its utter colorlessness. They don't call this planet "Gray seas" for nothing.

The skies were gray, the beach was gray, the seas were gray. Grayson spent most of its 460 day year in overcast. It was 90% water, much of it shallow oceans. What little landmass present was gathered into two small island continents and archipelagos scattered across the planet.

Tropical rain forest characterized much of the plant life, albeit the second island continent contained considerable grass land. In spite the overcast, the temperature was a very humid eighty degrees; warm and humid, a Grayson trademark. The temperature rarely dipped below sixty in the winter season.

Judy didn't come to Grayson for pleasure . . . well, not exactly true; she couldn't resist a brief gloat. Business explained her presence. Her physical presence was necessary to take possession of the property, according to the palimony settlement.

The property in this case, being the island, the beach, and the surrounding coral reef. And this place is supposed to make me a fortune. It looks like shit, she fumed. Barry cheated me. Didn't think the idiot had it in him.

Judy Myers, as cheating, gold-digging con artists went, wasn't too smart but definitely no chump. One could say her intellect was just above average. Smart enough, at least, to know a good mark.

She spent most of her 25 years with small cons and petty theft. A nice life but she wanted more. Then a colleague suggested Hebrides Four, a nice, well populated colony, initially settled by a feminist collective. The laws were extremely favorable towards women, especially with divorce and palimony. All she needed do was find a rich pigeon, live with him awhile, and then take him to the cleaners.

Judy thought it over and decided, Why not? She was hot, not supermodel hot, but hot enough. She had black hair, cut short in a pixie style, lovely brown eyes, a snub nose, full lips, a fit, athletic body; a nifty little package that could get lucky.

Things went near perfect. She found a mark; a boring rich bug collector named Barry. She played with him for a few years (and around him as well, Barry was shit in bed) and, when the time came, got a lawyer and sued for palimony.

Unfortunately, her suit hit a snag; most of Barry's assets were tied up in real estate, on planets scattered around the Terran controlled rim. Okay, pick the one he fights hardest to keep. It turned out to be this shithole.

I don't understand it, she thought looking around. The finance net says this place generates billions of bitcoin per cycle. The place looked like it barely brought out a couple thou.

Judy also took note of the quiet. Except for a soft warm breeze and murmuring surf, everything was still. Boring, boring, boring.

There had to be a reason Barry would fight for the place. Grayson contained few precious minerals, and not enough heavy metals to turn a profit. Fossilized fuels were in abundance but few planets used those anymore. Strategic military value was nil and trading vessels only used the planet as a rest stop. In other words, Sleepy, quiet, and out of the way. Maybe it's biologicals.

As an ocean planet with some land mass, Grayson sported an abundance of plant and animal life, some of which found their way to zoos and botanical gardens, but even that trade didn't bring the numbers claimed by the finance net. Judy figured the profits were probably chemical or genetic.

Exotic plants and animals had all sorts of genetic tidbits; valuable to any research or pharmaceutical company. Barry, as property holder, owned everything on it. Companies could take what they wanted, so long as they paid him licensing fees, a cut of the profits from whatever product of research, and stock options.

Yeah, it's biologicals. Judy flashed back to the courthouse after the judge awarded her the property. Barry had fought her tooth and nail in his dull, quiet way but gave in at the end.

"So Barry," she gloated on the courthouse steps, "What's so special about the planet. Why the fight?"

Barry looked at her with a sour expression, as if she were rot on an apple. "Find out yourself, bitch," he said with a cold, bland menace that took her aback. Barry never cursed. He was a boy scout; the kind Judy regarded with utter contempt. I really pissed him off. It unsettled her for some reason.

The wiki on the planet was mysteriously corrupted, with gaps in information scattered throughout the site; a computer virus. Judy had her suspicions. She decided a quick trip to Grayson was in order.

The manager of the local hotel expressed genuine surprise on seeing her. His surprise elevated to shock when she told him, "You work for me now."

Barry owned the hotel; when the property transferred to Judy, so did ownership of the resort. The news, apparently hadn't reached the manager. She showed him the legal pad, with a holo from Barry. "Show my ex-live-in every courtesy," he gritted through his teeth.

Judy spent a few days rest before heading to the beach. Few guests were present; mostly a scientist or two, or a business person on layover. Geez, what a backwater, but the advantage was no distractions from nosy guests while she investigated.

Now standing on a gray beach, under a gray sky, by a gray sea, an odd thought popped into Judy's head: Why am I wearing my body suit?

Typically women like Judy wore bikinis on beaches, but bikinis were for fun and sunbathing. Grayson wasn't fun. Besides, the gray sky made the bikini idea ridiculous. It didn't disguise the fact of the planet's heat and humidity. Judy was sweltering, so the full body suit seemed ridiculous too. She didn't think twice about removing it and, for good measure, her bra and panties. There's no one nearby, the staff stays at the hotel and really, who gives a fuck? It's mine. I can do what I want.

She stood, letting the mild ocean breeze cool her skin, and then rummaged in her body suit for the bio-scanner. Scanners were standard for exploratory missions. They scanned the genetic and chemical properties of xeno-flora and fauna, then compared them to data on the infonet. If I'm going to find what Barry's been hiding, this is the best way.

Judy, earlier, decided to explore the waters around the island, and the next day, the island's interior. She didn't worry about dangerous lifeforms. Grayson was rated B-plus for safety, so long as people stayed away from the deep ocean.

Grayson's islands were unique for their extensive coral reefs. Fringing reefs extended for leagues beyond the islands' shores. A human could walk for days in ankle deep water before coming to the surf. Meanwhile, a profusion of seaweed, seagrass, sponges, and other plants and animals covered the coral, creating a living cushion so soft, early explores named it barefoot coral.

The wiki warned, however, the reef flats were dotted with shallow pools and depressions, so Judy knew not to be too reckless. I'll just walk a few miles out and take a look at some of the pools.

Barefoot coral lived up to its reputation. Even though the coral and rocks looked hard and sharp, walking over the reef felt like striding across a thick, wet carpet.

Judy scanned the area with her bio-pad. It listed all the species of grass, seaweed, and other life in the vicinity, from the microscopic to the larger fish. Chemical and genetic compositions were listed on the screen. Judy, then, looked up the species on the wiki, focusing on industrial and pharmaceutical uses, specifically in relation to her ex's, now her holdings. She didn't find much beyond the culinary.

Some of the sea plants were harvested for restaurants but not in quantities justifying any profit. Plus, most of the plants scanned could be grown on other planets, convenient for restaurants and food companies not wanting to pay extra for shipping. So it's not the plants. The microscopics and plankton didn't seem useful either, except as food for the local fish.

Huh? What's that? Judy was scanning near one of the pools when she saw it; just a glimpse. Her first thought, A spider? It darted away before she could do a proper scan.

She consulted the wiki for info on Grayson arachnids. Nothing much, she saw. No details to match the creature. It was just a glimpse. I'll have to take a closer look.

The pool didn't seem too deep, more an indentation really, characterized by the slightly darker water. Judy wasn't about to take a chance of missing an exotic new species. Barry is hiding something. I know it! Judy grit her teeth. This place generates too much money.

Other than barefoot coral, Judy noticed small rock-like formations dotted around the pool. They looked strange but she couldn't pinpoint the reason. They were covered in moss, their shapes generally round, and ranged in size from small pumpkins to large watermelons. Smaller stones sat flush and adjacent to the rocks, many also round and roughly the size of melons.

The overall shape of the formations disturbed Judy. She noted similar formations around the other pools. Judy put aside her misgivings for the immediate task: finding Barry's secret.

She stepped to the rim. Should I dive in and investigate? According to the wiki, the pools were safe, compared to the deep ocean where most of the big predators lived. The info could be corru . . . What's that?!

It was on one of the rocks, at the edge. Judy had a clearer view this time. She crept up and used the bioscan. One word flashed across the screen, "Seastar."

The wiki provided more information. "Species of starfish? Valued for pharmaceuticals? Aha! What kind?"

The wiki's corrupted information provided few details but when the word "longevity drugs" appeared, Judy actually heard an ancient cash register go off, "Kerching!"

"You clever, sneaky son-of-a-bitch!" Judy felt some admiration, surprised he managed to keep this secret throughout their relationship.

Of all the traits desired throughout the human-occupied galaxy, longevity stood at the top. The reasons were clear: even though FTL drives, star gates, and wormholes greatly shortened travel, some parts of the galaxy were still years from the outermost colonies. Plus, an emerging faction of humans were seeing possibilities into travel between galaxies.

The vast distances and time involved made longevity drugs a highly valued commodity. Added to the Galactic Faction's interest were equally vocal demands from the wealthy inner systems, many with youth oriented cultures, for whom maintaining youthful vigor and appearance proved crucial to status and position. Many would pay top bit for good longevity drugs.

Unfortunately, lifeforms able to produce the right chemicals in needed quantities were few and far between. The humans learned from their near defeat in the Methuselah War not to mess with long-lived sentients.

If the preliminaries from the finance net were correct, Judy was sitting on a gold mine. "No wonder he fought so hard for it," she gloated, "And I snatched it away from him." Judy's smile was near satanic in its avarice.

A new question, however, presented itself. Okay, so I found his secret. Now, how does he extract the chemicals and ship them off the planet?

The wiki offered no clue and Grayson had no machinery for harvesting or a processing plant. There was a small fishing industry but Judy dismissed it as a possibility. Maybe the clue's on the creature. Judy knelt for a closer look.

The seastar bore some resemblance to a Terran starfish. Its five limbs were configured in a star-like pattern around a circular center. This particular specimen was the size of a quarter, colored black with rust-brown edges.

Its spindly legs were a dull brown, thick as pasta sticks towards the torso, tapering to hair-thin whips as they radiated outward. Its appearance was innocuous. The dull color made it almost invisible against the rock. This thing doesn't really look like much.

Judy reached down to pick it up. On other planets such an act would be extraordinarily foolish, but Grayson's high safety rating, plus the lack of a flag for dangerous organisms, allowed Judy to dismiss her misgivings. Besides, any attack, if there were danger, would have come before I reached the pool.

So Judy was very surprised when, on touching the creature, she got a sharp sting. "Ouch?!"

She quickly snatched her hand away, drawing her fingers to her mouth. "Damn! That stings!"

Judy stepped back, or stumbled as a wave of lightheaded nausea washed through her body. "Oh fuck!" Her body tilted back. The soft, moss-covered coral cushioned the young woman as her body splashed into a shallow puddle.

Judy tried to lift herself up but her body wouldn't obey. Fuck! . . . Toxic! . . . Poisoned! . . . God . . . damn . . . it! . . . Planet . . . was . . . supposed . . . safe! . . . Fucking . . . wiki!

She lay, gasping, in the warm water. Well, this is embarrassing. She tried to move a finger experimentally; barely a twitch. Damn!

Judy assessed her predicament. I can still breathe so my heart and lungs aren't affected. I'm still thinking so the toxin doesn't affect the brain, and I'm on my back, so that's good. Grayson was noted for its mild tidal fluctuations. Judy didn't have to worry about drowning. High tides were more often present during the winter storm season. It was the height of the summer; the quietest time of the year. Still, if she'd fallen forward instead of back, the story would be different.

Okay, most toxins wear off in a few hours. I'll just lie here 'til then. No predators, warm air, warm water, and a soft cushion. I could take a nap. No prob . . . wassat!

Judy had landed in a spreadeagled position. Her arms spread out to the sides, the bio-pad fallen a short distance away. Her legs were raised slightly and spread, bent at the knees. The position exposed her pussy in an almost lewd manner. The touch she felt on her flower startled her but she remembered then, Oh damn! I forgot about the seastars!

She was helpless and paralyzed. Swarms of these creatures were all around the pool. And one of them is on my pussy!

Judy noted she could move her eyes if not her head. Her sight was limited but some areas of her body were visible. Her breasts were B-cups, flattened slightly by her supine position, allowing her a partial view of the seastar on her crotch.

Its long thin arms extended around her thighs and up across the light dusting of pubic hair. A pencil thin arm moved across her flat, toned belly. Judy couldn't discern the size of the creature's body. She guessed perhaps the size of an old American quarter. Maybe larger. Well, if I can't move, maybe I won't get st . . . "Ow!"

The sting speared her inner thigh, uncomfortably close to her vulva. Another wave of light-headedness washed over her body. Fuck! More venom! I'll be stuck like this for hours! Oh crap! If there's more of them and I keep getting stung, I'll be stuck here forever! Shit!

Judy's fears were confirmed; more creatures emerged from the water. Agony began as tiny pinpricks grew with increasing frequency on her body. The seastars' venom, while keeping her paralyzed, did nothing to numb her nerves. The tickling sensations of multiple legs upon her skin compounded the stings. Fuck! I'm being swarmed!

Judy lay helpless as seastars crawled over her body like ants. It was agony, yet simultaneously euphoric. I'm getting high?!

Fiery stings burst on her vulva and clit, drawing an agonized hiss from Judy. She glanced down, trying to take in as much as possible.

Seastars crawled everywhere. Their long spindly limbs interconnected, as if forming a wire mesh. Two actually planted themselves on her tits, like pasties on a burlesque dancer. Fuck! What are these things up to?

More seastars swarmed her body, creating a more elaborate wire mesh. The pinpricks, agonizing initially, faded, replaced by increasing euphoria.

Judy was confused, and not just by the venom pumped into her body. She'd never equated longevity drugs with mind altering chemicals . . . or with aphrodisiacs. Heat was blooming between her thighs. Fuck! I'm wet! And high!

Judy would welcome this experience under different circumstances. The growing number of seastars on her nude, unmoving body created an opposite feeling.

She tried to panic. The venom's keeping me calm at least. Not to say she didn't appreciate her peril. I'm being cocooned! Why? So many seastars covered her body at this stage, they were almost a body suit.

"Ungh! Hiss!" Judy gasped. The seastar at her pussy had used its legs to spread her open. Uuunnnghnn! It's playing with my clit!

Judy's wet burst combined with the warm seawater lapping at her flower. Then, to add to that ominous bloom, came another sensation. Oh! My . . . are they entering me?!

She couldn't see, but felt them; seastars moving inside. Oh! God! They're entering my pussy!

Seastars gathered at her love gate and slithered in, one after the other. They glided through her quivering tunnel, using her cum and mucus as lubricants. The second, inner gate, her cervix, lay wide open, and seastars began to take residence in her womb.

What the fuck are these things doing?!

Judy's eyes were frantic. The planet was supposed to be safe, yet here she was, on her back, nude and helpless, raped, invaded, and infested with, Alien parasites! Barry! Fucking Barry! Tricked me! How?!

Sabotage, that was the only answer. He corrupted the wiki files somehow! Now it remained as to the what the creatures would do. Will they eat me from inside?

Judy had heard the stories. Lifeforms and parasites that consumed their victims from within were not uncommon. Modern medicine and other safety protocols reduced the danger from creatures like these.

Judy's eyes darted about. The hotel manager! A local caretaker! A fucking tourist! Someone!

Her gaze came to rest on one of the rock formations. Judy, earlier, had passed over the rock's strange shapes. Now, helpless and unable to move, she could take in hitherto unnoticed details.

Once she looked, really looked, and realized what she saw, a cold quake of horror raced up her spine. Oh fuck!

It hadn't registered until that moment: the larger belly-shaped round rocks, the smaller adjacent rocks resembling breasts, and the other shapes, reminiscent of arms, legs, . . . heads; vaguely human forms . . . like coral statues.

Parts of the coral moved, Seastars! Countless in number, encasing earlier victims.

Seastars almost completely covered Judy's body. More were crawling into her womb with each minute passing. Judy felt everything, from the needle stings to the stimulus on her clit. She came with a hiss and a gasp but her orgasm was an afterthought. Foremost on her mind was the bloating in her womb.

It didn't feel like the seastars were eating her. She'd expect agonizing pain, like a wasp's victim, otherwise. They're doing something else in there.

She watched, helplessly, more seastars crawl on her face; one to position itself over her mouth, others settled over her nose and eyes. Judy's last thought before the lights went out was to applaud her ex-boyfriend, Fucking Barry, I didn't know he had it in him.