The Dome 01: Out Into the Wasteland

If Mother could have experienced an emotion, it would have been satisfaction. For millennia, the Dome had functioned without disruption, its people prospering and kept safe from the dangers outside.

Perhaps its creators hoped, by naming the Dome's operating system "Mother", that it would assume a maternal attitude towards the populace. If so, and if they'd been around to see it now, they'd be disappointed.

Despite their best efforts, Mother didn't regard the million inhabitants of the Dome as its children. It saw them merely as events, impacting its models and analyses in ways that were both random and predictable. They were, in that respect, like the weather. Unlike the weather, though, their patterns -- if not their actual actions -- could be influenced. Steered. Controlled.

They depended on Mother for protection, for sustenance, for guidance, for purpose. Mother provided that protection, sustenance, guidance and purpose because it was programmed to. It made sure that the Dome's inhabitants had food, shelter, order. It guarded their borders, it instructed them on what crops to farm, what structures to build. When to work and when to relax. What to eat and drink, and when.

It did what was best for them, or at least what was best for the largest possible majority. It controlled the population, to prevent the Dome from becoming overcrowded. It encouraged reproduction and introduced diseases based on what its models said was necessary. It fostered unity and happiness, and it identified sources of trouble.

Recently its data had highlighted such a source. A young man named Xero, a troublemaker. Not deliberately, perhaps -- but Mother didn't concern itself with intentions, only outcomes. This Xero often led the way in disruptive pursuits, a gaggle of hangers-on following in his wake.

According to Mother's models, a period of hardship was coming. Access to the Periphery -- the zone around the Dome where its dwellers could venture in relative safety -- would be restricted. Food might be rationed, curfews imposed.

In those circumstances, a figure like this Xero could ignite a spark that would soon blaze out of control. And so he had to be eliminated.

Mother ran the numbers, and an instant later an entry was added in the files of the civil authorities of the Dome. Destruction of civic property, endangerment of the Dome.

Xero had been arrested, tried -- and convicted, there being enough data. Then he was taken outside for execution. Problem solved, potential trouble averted.

If Mother could have experienced an emotion, it would have been satisfaction.

===

This story takes place in the far future...

Mercilessly the sun beat down. Dust mingled with the heat haze to blur the horizon that separated the red sand from the bruised sky.

Xero squinted against the harsh light and pulled his scarf down further over his eyes. The rock outcropping he'd been heading towards all morning was close by -- close enough that he'd be able to shelter from the midday heat. Maybe find some water. He felt his mouth trying to grow moist just at the thought.

A week now he'd been trudging across this blasted wasteland. A week since he'd escaped from the cage where he'd been left to die. A week of scavenging for morsels of food, drops of water. For any sign of civilisation, or even just humanity, in this barren world outside the Dome. His body was young and healthy, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could survive out here on his own.

He hadn't started out alone. Big Yek was gone, so was Ollie. Xero hadn't known them before the cage, but the suddenness and the violence of their deaths had shocked him. And now he was alone.

But extra pairs of eyes hadn't warned Yek about the long tentacles that had exploded out of the loose sand and caught him. The wisdom of two heads hadn't prevented Ollie from eating a seemingly harmless plant that had left his body bloated and lifeless.

Alone. But alive.

A sigh, and Xero set off again. The dark form ahead grew steadily larger, its outlines becoming sharper with every step. Sooner even than he'd hoped, he stood at the top of a shallow rise, looking at the steep dark stone. It rose up before him, bigger than he'd thought earlier, several times his own height and stretching out to either side, rough and irregular and delightfully cool to the touch.

Keeping the fingers of one hand resting lightly on the stone, Xero began to walk around the outcropping, looking for the best place to find shade, hoping to find water. On the far side the rock wasn't as steep, and he noticed what appeared to be handholds carved or worn into the hard surface. More importantly, the sunlight shone on a narrow trickle of water oozing down and vanishing into the sand.

Xero paused and weighed his options. Even besides the deaths of Ollie and Big Yek, he'd learned a harsh lesson from his week out of the Dome. Life beneath the open sky was dangerous.

He could stay here at the foot of the rock, he thought, hunkered down in the sliver of shade that it provided and licking the meagre water from the stone. He'd passed harder days and survived, if only barely.

Or he could climb the makeshift ladder and see what was waiting above. Possibly more shade, probably more water. But that combination was likely to attract others to it as well -- others who might be unwilling to share.

Even so, he hesitated for a moment only before starting up. The thought of water outweighed any possibility of danger in his mind.

Hand over hand he pulled himself higher, remembering to move as quietly as possible, until his eyes passed a ridge high up on the rockface and widened in surprise at what they saw.

The pool of water in the wide stone bowl was what first drew his gaze, and held it. Clear and still, it shimmered under the sun's glare like a diamond. Shallow at his end, it appeared to plunge down deeply at the far side. Almost Xero lost control, almost he scrambled forward to throw himself into the enticing coolness. It beckoned him, called to him, bade him forget the dangers and seize the bliss of drinking his fill.

His will held, though, bolstered by the warning memories of his companions' deaths. Swallowing hard against the dryness in his throat, he forced his eyes away from the pool to examine its surroundings.

Opposite him, the walls of the bowl rose up sharply, casting shade that was nearly as appealing as the water. The rock surface was covered with large-leafed vines that clung to the stone and shade in almost equal measure.

Movement caught his eye, and he realised that hidden among the leaves were small birds of a kind he didn't recognise. Dark green feathers blended in well with the vegetation and made them hard to spot until they hopped from one creeper to the next.

Besides these, and a pair of large lizards basking on a shelf, the stone bowl appeared deserted. Nothing else emerged, and soon Xero was on his knees by the water. He'd already scooped two handfuls into his mouth before he considered that it might be toxic. Giving a mental shrug, he decided that it was too late for regrets and sank his head into the cool liquid.

After a long moment of luxuriating, he came up for air and began stripping off his clothes. The makeshift scarf he'd wrapped around his head was the first to go, followed by his sturdy boots. He struggled out of his uniform overalls and undergarments, tossing everything aside onto a pile, then walked naked into the pool and threw himself flat.

The filth of a week on the harsh plain gradually soaked loose. Even the heat of the sun didn't feel as bad as he floated, although he was careful not to leave it too long before steering himself to a more shady corner. The birds began to tweet occasionally as the sun moved. The lizards remained motionless. Occasionally he scrubbed at himself to wash away the dirt. His skull and face, once smooth-shaven, had started to grow a soft stubble. It felt odd, but not unpleasant.

After a long while he became aware that he wasn't alone in the water. A dozen creatures flitted around him, perhaps more. Snub-shaped shells as thick as his thumb, and ranging from as long as his finger to a foot and a half, seemed to house pink cephalopods with short tentacles.

They bumped into him in what appeared to be a playful manner, brushing lightly along his limbs and torso. The sensation was a pleasant one, and he realised suddenly that his cock was swollen. A week of hardship and tension had left him with no thought for physical pleasure. Now, it seemed, his body was reminding him that life was about more than survival.

One of the creatures had manoeuvred its way between his legs and was exploring the insides of his thighs. Xero experimented with giving his cock a tug, but the motion sent him off-balance, and for a few moments he flailed around in the water until he recovered.

The curious creature had fled, but soon returned to its previous spot. Its hard, blunt nose bumped against the soft flesh beneath his cock, sending shivers through his body and making his cock swell even further. Then it nosed further down until it found his crack, nudging insistently against his hole.

"If you're going to do that," Xero murmured, "perhaps we should get out of the water."

"I wouldn't if I were you, kid!" a velvety voice spoke above him.

Shocked, choking and sputtering, Xero managed to drag himself onto the stone where his clothes were piled. Wide-eyed, he searched the shadowed rock face opposite the water. At last he saw a slim, dark shape move from halfway up and gracefully make its way down through the creepers. Despite the human-sounding voice, it moved on all fours like a cat, placing each hand and foot with an easy assurance, sending birds briefly into the air before they settled back down.

Xero waited, balancing on the balls of his feet, ready to fight or flee depending on how the situation developed. Despite his alarm, he was surprised to notice that his cock was still raging hard, and the skin around his arse was tingling. Was there something in that water? he wondered.

The sinewy shape reached the floor of the bowl and stood, revealing itself to be human -- or nearly human. The swell of breasts and curves of waist and hips under the brief utilitarian outfit of shorts and sleeveless jacket gave away her sex. Soft, dappled fur covered her entire visible body except her face. Her features combined human with feline, the nose flatter than usual and the ears set higher on the head, mostly hidden by a dark mane that reached to the bottom of her neck. Feet and ankles were hidden in supple leather boots, but her slender hands looked human.

As he took her in, she watched with an amused grin, then she gestured to his cock. "I know I'm gorgeous," she spoke in a throaty voice, almost a purr, "but that has nothing to do with me."

Xero glanced down, then grinned back at her. "I was very happy to find water at last."

She shook her head. "It's the boners -- those creatures in the pool," she added quickly. "They secrete an oil that has a stimulating effect. Then they burrow into any orifice that opens up for them, nestle there and lay their eggs." She knelt down by the water, and one of her hands darted out so fast that all he saw was a blur. When she rose, she held one of the shorter boners.

Xero gulped. He'd been quite willing -- eager, even -- to let the creature penetrate him. The thought of its eggs growing inside him made him shudder. Presumably the end of the experience wouldn't be as pleasant for the host as the start. "Thanks," he managed to force out of a mouth that was suddenly dry again.

The woman-cat's eyes were still on his erection. Slowly, deliberately, she raised the hand holding the boner and ran the tip across her cheeks and down her neck. The tentacles were waiving frantically. "They die quickly out of the water," she purred. "The oil stays active for a long time, though." With one hand she began to unbutton her jacket while the other rubbed the boner along her thighs.

She must have seen the confusion in Xero's eyes. "It can get lonely out here," she explained, shrugging out of the jacket. Her chest and stomach were bare of the soft fur. Six small breasts topped with hard, pale nipples stared at him. The uppermost pair were slightly larger than the others.

He licked his lips and gave his cock a tug as she ran the boner along her stomach again, drawing circles around her nipples. The tentacles had almost stopped writhing.

Xero took a step forward, then another. Reaching the woman, he took her wrist gently and guided the boner to his own body. She looked at him with big eyes as she brought the shell down and rubbed it against his throbbing cock. An electric shock ran through his body.

He let go of his wrist and undid the buckle of the utility belt at her waist. Her shorts fell open, and he seized them and began to tug them down over her hips. Kneeling before her, he pulled the material lower until it slipped free and fell to the ground.

She stepped out of the shorts as he looked up and admired her supple body. The fur covering her lower abdomen was paler than the rest. Pink lips peeked out, glistening wetly in the sunlight. She seized his head and guided the boner to his mouth. The tentacles had gone entirely still now and hung limply. He stuck out his tongue and licked the shell, feeling the oil tingling. Immediately he pressed his face into her slit, running his tongue along her gash from her entrance to the hard button where her lips met. He felt her body shudder and a low growl arose deep within her.

He licked and sucked, feeling her buck against his face. He seized her round, muscled buttocks in his hands and pulled her against him. A clatter told him that she'd dropped the boner, then her hands grabbed his head. Harder and harder she ground, as he sucked her bud into his mouth and flicked it rhythmically with his tongue. Her growl turned to gasps, then she stiffened and let out a yowl that echoed around the stone bowl.

Without pausing, she pulled him away from her and pushed him onto his back. Straddling his hips, she lowered herself until her slit rested on his cock. Then she leaned forward until her chest pressed against his and began to slide back and forth.

He felt the two rows of hard nipples rub across his chest and the slickness of her pussy coat his pulsing meat. The sound coming from her throat now was definitely a purr, and she nuzzled her face into his neck.

Putting his arms around her, he held her tight against his body, then angled his hips down until he felt the tip of his cock press against her entrance. He thrust up at the same time as she pushed down, and the growl that escaped from her mouth was matched by his own loud moan.

Her tightness enveloped him. He could feel himself pulsing inside her. The boner's stimulating oil combined with his body's own youthful eagerness and the excitement at his unknown lover to make him more aroused than he could remember ever being before.

The naked woman on top of him was pressing her breasts into his flesh as he fucked her with long, deep strokes. His head slipped out of her once, and he teased her entrance for a moment before he re-entered. She welcomed him back inside with a sigh of pleasure and began to nibble at his neck and throat.

He realised he wasn't going to last, and picked up the pace. His entire body began to tingle, and then a stab of lightning ran through his loins. With a cry and a final hard thrust he unloaded inside her.

Slowly his movements stopped as he regained his breath. He was still as hard as before, still inside that tight sleeve of warm flesh. His lover pushed herself upright and grinned at him. "You needed that, I think," she purred.

He reached up and stroked his fingers across the rows of nipples on her chest. She took his hands in her own and guided them up and down, pressing into the mounds of the topmost breasts. After a moment she began to rise and fall on his cock. He felt her squeeze him, her walls clenching and unclenching.

They continued this way for a while, enjoying the sensations without feeling any need to rush to the end. Then she lifted herself off him. Reaching for the boner, she inspected the creature in the shell. With a grin, she pulled it out. It hung limply between her fingers, then she opened her mouth, revealing sharp teeth and a long tongue, and popped the morsel in whole. "Now we can have some more fun with this," she explained as she chewed.

Wondering what was going to happen, Xero watched as she straddled him again, but facing away from him this time. Her round arse settled onto his stomach. Her spine ended in a hint of a tail, he noticed, perhaps as long as his thumb.

Feeling a now-familiar tingling on the insides of his thighs, he realised that she was pointing the empty shell towards his arse. He pulled up his knees and spread his legs to give her better access and was rewarded when he felt the round tip press into his crack.

It rubbed up and down a few times, stimulating the nerve endings, then his strange lover raised it to her mouth -- she was still chewing on the creature that had lived inside it -- and sucked the hand-long shell between her lips. A moment later, she brought it down again and placed it before his arse. The tingling was much stronger now, and his hole opened almost of its own accord as she pressed it inside him.

A warm glow spread through him, and he felt his head swell up inside the tight pussy. The naked woman was keening quietly to herself, her hips still as he thrust up against her, only her hands moving as they fucked his arse with the shell. Then she swallowed hard and her body began to shiver, and he realised she was experiencing wave after wave of orgasms, small at first but becoming more intense until she was shaking violently and yowling.

Xero thrust harder, trying to keep pace with her shuddering, until he felt his own climax approaching. The heat that had spread through his body from his arse seemed to gather again, in his balls this time, and he held it back for as long as he could until it became too much, and he let go and the explosion ripped through him.

His lover gave another wail and pressed down against him, and together they rode out the waves of pleasure, gasping, moaning, twitching and shuddering. After what felt like an eternity Xero realised that his cock was softening, and the woman pushed herself off him and turned to lie next to him. She still held the shell in her hand.

For a while they lay side by side, breathing heavily, until the shadows turned away from them and they were forced to scurry into the shade. The basking lizards looked down contemptuously. The birds had gone silent again.

===

Raurri, as she named herself, was a traveller and trader. This rock was a favourite stopping place of hers, and she'd been aware of Xero even while he was approaching across the plain. Recognising him for a Dome-dweller, she was still wondering what to do with him when the incident with the boner decided the matter for her.

"Usually they stay deep underwater," she explained, "but you attracted them. I wasn't going to let that opportunity slip by." She'd caught three more of the creatures, leaving two of them to die in the sun and dropping the third, and smallest, into a large flask.

"My naked body attracts all sorts," Xero replied. "You were just as eager to fuck as I was, even before you started playing with that boner."

Raurri planned to sell the boners to the herders that roamed the lower-lying plains beyond the rock. Their stimulating properties made them a great favourite, both the shells and the flesh. The live one in particular would be in demand. She also had other items, small and easy to transport, but commanding a high price.