The Sludge

Gerry remembered Bo's comment that they were more alike than unalike by this point but didn't mention it. Bo was the smartest person he knew, so surely they would have taken that into account. "So...should I call you 'she' now?"

"No...that doesn't feel right...for now, please keep referring to me as 'they'. Also, don't tell any of the others. I am not ready to reveal my change yet. My uniform is loose enough to hide...these...unless they get bigger."

"Okay."

"Gerry, can we kiss some more?"

"Oh, hell yeah."

---

"Where have you two been?" Piker demanded when Bo and Gerry emerged back into the main cavern. Natalie looked up from where she had been ministering to the Chief.

"Exploring," Bo answered.

"Find anything interesting?"

"Unfortunately, no. We will continue at a later time."

Later, Natalie and Gerry went for a walk outside. She turned to him. "You going to tell me what went on with you and Bo earlier?"

"We were exploring."

She crossed her arms across her chest. "You left the pee stick behind."

"Oh. Bo needed my help with something but I promised not to tell."

"Something that required you not being able to see?"

"Sort of? Sorry, Natalie...I'll ask Bo if they're okay with me telling you."

---

"Well, here we go..." Piker commented before dripping some of the sludge into Chief Helmuth's mouth.

The man's throat reflexively swallowed it down. They repeated the process a few more times.

"I'm thinking that the Chief may never wake up..." Piker began, and then Helmuth sat straight up, the sudden movement causing her to fall back on her ass. "FUCK!"

"Ehr...Piker?" The older man blinked at her.

"Chief! You're okay!" She got back to her knees and looked like she was about to hug him, but instead gripped his shoulders.

"What happened?" he asked.

They took turns explaining: the crash, the power drain, the lifeless surface and the strange sludge that they were now dependent on for their food. The man shook his head. "Well, you've done very well considering, Midshipmen. Thank you for taking such good care of me." He lay back. "Ugh, still very tired..."

"It's probably time for us to get some shut-eye anyway," Piker commented.

"I will take first watch," Bo offered.

---

Gerry opened his eyes to regard his work screen. Five lights danced on his screen, 2 red and 3 blue. He didn't like the look of the new red one. As he had done with the purplish-gray one, he pressed three fingers to it and twisted counter-clockwise, but it stayed firmly red. Frustrated, Gerry pinch-zoomed out on it, causing it to reduce in intensity. Then he did it again and the light winked out.

All that was left was 1 red light and 3 blue ones. Yes, he thought, that looked right.

"Chief!"

Gerry woke to the shout, the memory of his dream shoved aside by adrenaline as he saw Piker pressing repeatedly on the unmoving man's chest. She switched to breathing assistance while Bo took over chest compressions. They worked on the man for almost a half-hour before they had to call it: Chief Warrant Officer Helmuth was dead.

There was no way to dig a grave but they placed the broken ground created by the escape pod's crash around the man's body to make a cairn.

"Using the debris was a good idea, Brill," Piker said softly next to him as they paid their respects.

"It was the least I could do," he replied. Something was bothering him about the chief's death but he couldn't put his finger on it. The man had woken up after eating the sludge, inferring that it had healing properties, but then he had died that very night. Nothing had indicated that the sludge was bad for them...in fact, Gerry felt incredible, better than he had in his entire life. He reached over and put his arm around Piker's shoulder. He felt her reflexively stiffen, but then she relaxed and leaned into him.

---

Bo entrusted Natalie with their secret, with her agreeing to keep it from Piker. She knew Olive would just be a 'stick in the mud', though she couldn't explain the source of that saying to Bo when asked about it.

Natalie ran interference with Piker when Gerry went off with Bo to help them with their new bodily needs. Their estrus tapered off earlier than originally thought, giving Natalie more time with Gerry, though not before they managed to get a threesome going while Piker was off on an extended scouting foray. Gerry felt like a king that day.

Unfortunately, too much of a good thing lent itself to laziness. One day, weeks later, when Gerry and Natalie emerged from the tunnel after having fun in the hot spring cave, Piker was there.

"Are you two fucking?"

"Olive!" Natalie admonished her, "That's none of your business."

"It is if you get pregnant! Or didn't you notice your period start back up? Mine hit soon after the crash, the first time in over a decade since I started on prophylactic nanobots. They lost power just like the medical ones did."

Natalie looked confused. "But I haven't had a period since we got here."

"Oh, fer fuck's sake! That means you're pregnant, Natalie!" She turned to Gerry. "You just couldn't keep it in your pants, Brill?"

Bo strode over. "My estrus was over weeks ago but I did not have a menstrual event either. I think you have impregnated me as well, Gerry."

Piker goggled at Bo. "WHAT?! You...what? Wait...are you female now? I thought something was different about you. What the fuck is going on here?!"

Gerry closed his eyes. Discord, division...this was unacceptable. He opened his eyes. "That's enough, Olive."

Piker turned to him. "That's Midshipman Piker, fucker!"

"Quiet." He concentrated and she closed her mouth, her eyes goggling. "Get on your knees, Olive." She dropped to the floor, as directed.

As one, Gerry, Bo, and Natalie began disrobing. Piker couldn't keep from staring at the alien's now obviously female body...how had she missed that?

"Open that big mouth," Gerry commanded her, and Piker's lips parted to accept his hard manhood. He thrust into her mouth while she was unable to do anything but take it.

After Gerry's member hardened, the two others unfastened Piker's uniform and laid her back on Gerry's bed. "It feels so good, Olive," Natalie told her, "it's like we're all connected through Gerry...connected to God."

Bo added from beside Piker, "I am unconvinced about the presence of an all-powerful deity, but I agree about the pleasure and the feeling of connectedness. You need to relax, Olive. We accept you."

"Nngh!" Piker struggled against her own body, but it knew what it wanted: Gerry's hard cock. He knelt between her athletic thighs and guided his manhood between her somehow very wet pussy lips. With a few thrusts, he was all the way inside her. "Oh God..." she moaned.

"Exactly," Natalie responded.

---

Deep inside the planet, the massive creature exulted. It had lain there a millenia, tended by small, animalistic beings that could survive the heat of its body. They reproduced, their offspring consuming the creature's excretions, and all became part of its biochemical network.

Though it had created several caverns to support life on the surface in preparation for such an eventuality, it had been surprised when Gerry had first joined the sacred connection. It had learned so much from him and, impressed with the man's intelligence, had decided to allow him the latitude to do as he wished with the rest of his group. Gerry's mind was strangely fragmented, but the appetites of his hidden self were strong, and only became stronger as he took each of his crewmates. Now that version of Gerry was in charge...strong, powerful. The creature watched through Gerry's eyes as he dominated the last member of his group, overwhelming her mind as he pleasured her body.

The women would bear his children and the cycle would continue, as it did with its underground attendants. The one called Bo, whose people had relatively fast gestational cycles and multiple children per birth, was already working on utilizing the geothermal heat of the planet to improve their existence. Perhaps they would even be able to figure out how to disable the energy suppression field keeping the creature separated from the rest of the universe.

One day, it mused, Gerry's children would bring the sacred connection to the entire cosmos. It sat, patient and inevitable, and waited.