Transport

Steady...keep it steady, she told herself, we're not taking off just yet. Juuussstt yet...

Those watching saw her grip her legs with significant force as her hole expanded around the glimmering silver tower. Her body looming large in the ground crew's vision. As she got closer to the ground, and the gusts from her running engines began to batter them, many beat a hasty withdrawal -- removing themselves to safer distances, away from the giant ass cheeks of doom.

"Nnghg-nothing adverse to report sir, loading as planned."

"Good. Keep the noise to a minimum, A.L.I.C.E."

"Yuh-yes sir," she answered, biting down on her fat rubber lip, desperate to conceal the extent by which the payload's entry was driving her wild. "Over..."

Her whole body clenched. Over half of the capsule had been swallowed by her hungry aperture. And with that came the thickest part -- threatening to tear her synthetic sphincter with its girth. Alice forced herself to continue -- feet digging into the concrete as they curled, ripping up what might as well have been solid rock for all the resistance it offered to her immense strength. Cracks spread out from her, tearing up the runway. This hastened the retreat of even the bravest humans present.

Huffing as she took more and more, her engine exhausts fluttering as she breathed erratically, Alice took as much length as she could while squatting. With the bulk of the capsule inside her, she decided it was time to stand. Lifting her body, the capsule's exposed end sticking out of her ass, the prototype rose to her full height. A couple of concentrated motions, flexing her lower body, and all that remained visible of the cargo was a slick nub that rapidly disappeared into the closing pucker between vast, aeromorphic cheeks. A wet squelch as her sphincter closed behind it and a small trickle of lubricant down her thighs were now the only evidence of this bizarrely-erotic episode.

Alice struggled to remain upright as the movement of the solid object within her caused irritation. She brought her hands down to feel her belly and back, sensing her insides stretching to accommodate the payload. She felt a couple of welded seams pop, making a note to get that checked after her flight.

The pressure of the capsule inside her as it settled soon reached a bearable level. Her body was built tough -- but still it was an ordeal to get comfy with a two-tonne plug in her ass.

After a final status report with the base control tower, and the cargo unit resting in her guts, Alice walked away from the loading site. Her pounding footfalls rippled through the runway surface, shaking pebbles for a mile around. With the added weight inside her, her frame had to work overtime to support her and the payload. A couple of steps later, she broke into a stride, heading towards her take-off site, humming a merry tune.

"This unit is ready for take-off," she beamed as she stood within the marked circle on the runway. Placing her arms on her hips while she took a breather, she glanced around at the base. Everything looked so far away now. A few steps for her was an incredible pace for a human, and it showed. The hangar she'd been living in was the only significant landmark still in sight. The rest had blended into the backdrop of rolling hills and dry brush.

Alice's optics zoomed in on the loading site, and she watched the humans pack things up and depart, speeding over the bumpy cracked ground she'd inadvertently created. A six-wheeled truck trundled over one of the fissures and bounced, launching the entire rear half into a metre-high kick that came crashing down fast, putting its suspension through its paces. She giggled at the minuscule vehicle's tumultuous travels and the angry gestures between the two humans in the cabin she could spy through windscreens.

Turning around, the whole wide world beckoned. Alice closed her eyes (or rather: she dimmed her visor). She moved her body into a relaxed posture, and listened to the many sounds of nature. Now she could finally experience it, and most of all...the greatest joy a being like her could achieve. The one thing ingrained in her psyche since her mind first formed:

Flight.

She opened her eyes. The big blue sky lay ahead -- with nary a wisp of cloud in her projected flight path. After a moment's respite, drinking in the majesty of the world, her comlink burst back into life:

"A.L.I.C.E. you are a-go for take-off. Flight plan approved. No alterations. You may begin your test flight. Over."

No-one could she the smile she made, but it was beautiful.

A growing screech filled the quiet surroundings as her engines powered up. Finally, she could let loose. They snarled as they fired, blasting hot winds behind her. She could feel the tongues of flame from the afterburners kicking in on her ass -- jets of fierce heat so close...almost kissing her posterior.

She felt the auxiliaries embedded in her wings start spitting too. Raw power flowed through her as fuel, coursing like blood, fed her engines. Her body began to warm up as internal radiators cycled excess heat away from her red-hot exhausts.

At last she had reached full power. The towering tribute to modern engineering prepared -- bending her knees and leaning forward, adopting her practised launch position. Her vast, curved body braced -- both in trepidation at what she was about to achieve, and excitement as to what lay ahead.

She opened her intakes to their fullest -- the wonderful rush of air sucked into her turbines ticking and teasing...her nasal slits did their part; a searing sharp stream of fresh air passing through her nose and adding to the fuel-air mix within her powerful core. She even let her mouth hang open, thick lips and coiling tongue welcoming the new breeze. The corners of her mouth curled in happiness, and she was seconds away from glory.

Alice braced herself, and then...

Nothing.

She wasn't in the sky. And she certainly wasn't any higher than ground level. The aeromorph cursed as she ran a diagnostic. Her sensors reported an unhelpful fact -- her added weight had constrained her ability to generate lift without help.

Help? Help!? She wasn't going to need help on her first try, was she?

Oh Goddess from the machine, she prayed, trembling with the intense forces surging inside her, please let this be an easy fix.

There would be questions coming. No doubt. Why hadn't she reported take-off yet? Seeing no other choice but to call in, Alice sighed.

"Having trouble taking off, sir. Data packet en route," she radioed, a small smattering of disappointment in her voice.

"Understood. We'll advise as best we can, but if you can think of something in the meantime, proceed as you wish. Over."

"Over..."

She mentally confirmed the transmission of her diagnostic report to base, and went back to the task at hand. A moment of contemplation gave her the time needed to think of a solution, even amid the loud roar of her engines. Valuable fuel was being used up, so she needed to act now!

"Hmm..."

Alice took several steps back, leaving the designated take-off area. In her mind a series of equations were being crunched. C'mon girl, put that billion-dollar brain of yours to work!

Numbers, vectors, sensor readings streamed by -- and better yet: a plan.

"Okay," she said softly, speaking to nobody but herself, "let's give this a try."

Alice had moved a short distance back (relatively speaking). She ran her hands over her front and sides, checking structural integrity. Her body still firm, vibrations from her turbines slowly coming under control, she got ready for a running start.

There was no starter pistol to mark the start of her dash, but the effect was much the same. In a split-second, the enormous mass of feminine machinery burst forward, legs carrying her at an incredible speed for one so big.

Stomping craters in her runway as she sped by, Alice reached her original spot, and swept low, muscles tensing. And the...she leapt...

Her feet slammed against the marked area, splintering the ground as she pushed skyward. Splits shot through the concrete, winding lines of broken rubble as the surface shattered. The once-seamless runway was marred by priceless destruction, but Alice didn't care. It worked, and she was airborne.

"Too late," she remarked on the property damage as she took to the skies, "should've accounted for that in your original design, eggheads!"

Shade now suitably thrown at her creators, the aeromorph rapidly climbed through the atmosphere. The land around her grew further and further away, and the vast emptiness of the cloudless sky beckoned this aerial virgin on.

Wind resistance made itself known, especially against the bulges and protrusions of her fuselage. Her body battled the harsh opposition, fighting to keep her aloft in defiance. Her wings held, though, and she was not about to plummet. A sense of triumph emerged.

She had done it!

Her maiden flight had begun.

Alice revelled in the sensation of flying. The nothingness below her, the freedom of the void -- passing effortlessly through the upper atmosphere as she climbed and climbed. The rush of air over her sumptuous body. The churning inferno inside her as continuous gulps of the stuff mixed with fuel by the gallon and burst into delightful flame, jetting out from behind her. Her massive form miles above the earth. No more doubt. No more being cooped up in a glorified warehouse. She was free.

In the back of her mind she slowly established data links with nearby airbases and control towers, sending her position and receiving the positions of others. Planes not like her. Old, lifeless things. No soul within, no body worth drooling over. She was the future, and she knew it.

Alice adjusted course with her wing's control surfaces. In lieu of a traditional tail she gently moved her legs around, keeping them close together at all times. Two small triangular fins near her ankles helped guide her, and the superheated exhausts on the back of each leg, jutting out from her calves, assisted in this manoeuvre. Despite the inclination to spread them wide, and enjoy the windswept sensations, her arms stayed straight by her sides, palms pressed against her legs.

Within her, the cargo capsule sat snugly. She would be its home for the next ten hours.

Pleased with her progress, and soaring high, Alice settled in for a long journey by connecting to whatever broadcast radio stations she was near, and in whatever country. She filtered out the inane human chatter (like she cared about politics? Pfft!) and searched for music.

With the soft-plucked strings of a Spanish guitar in a slow, sombre piece beating out the endless noise all around her, Alice let the tension leave her body, and the sweet tune replace it.

* * *

"Roger. We have Flight 36D on radar. Course normal. Expected time of arrival: thirty minutes."

On the far side of the world, the control tower of the destination airfield was abuzz with activity. Both the money and the secrecy of the project had their attention, and by God were they going to see it through.

So far, everything proceeded according to plan. The new prototype's flight path was unchanged, and they had tracked the incoming plane for at least two hours, well before she entered the airspace under their jurisdiction.

"Manifest?" one person in the control tower asked another.

"Test flight specs say simulated payload: approx. two tonnes. Single pilot, no copilot. Experimental aircraft, no serial number, only their valid transponder code...the rest is completely redacted."

"They could've let us know a bit more, right? How are we supposed to know if everything's in order?"

"Best we can do is follow what they've written. Expected course, transponder code...and that's about it..."

The traffic controller sighed. "Okay then. Keep quiet and get this thing done. What kind of aircraft do you think..."

"I don't know so stop asking," their colleague shot back.

"...just 'cause I was thinking maybe it was a military flight..."

"If it was, we'd be notified. Nothing seems awry, so just monitor the incoming flight."

The crackle of active radios filled the silence as a monochrome green-and-black display showed Alice's flight as a small dot accompanied by a string of letters and numbers, intelligible to the control tower personnel but gibberish otherwise.

Ten minutes passed, with the peculiar flight creeping closer. The next step of proper protocol was to get in contact with the plane. This fell to the previously-admonished air traffic controller, who swiped a handheld communicator from its socket and activated it.

"Flight 36D, do you read?"

A short pause ensued. He waited for the response.

"..."

"I think we have something," he mentioned to the other on-duty controllers.

Through the hiss of interference, a single female voice spoke:

"This unit reads you, over."

"Good to hear someone from your end at last," he said, a small chuckle decorating his cadence, "can you confirm if you are the only person flying? We're a little in the dark over here."

"Of course, it's just me. You can call me Alice."

"Okay Alice. Do I get a rank or...?" he trailed off before speaking again. "Never mind. Apologies, I'm getting some looks from my colleagues telling me to speed things along -- can you confirm your approach heading and current altitude, over?"

A flurry of data packets were exchanged with the incoming flight; all the necessary information to permit landing. Once confirmed against their copy of the plan's details, Alice was contacted again:

"Alice, you are cleared for landing. North-West strip. Course adjustments are being sent..."

"Thank you! Received without error. This unit will begin her final approach in seven minutes."

Time passed quickly for the crew at the destination airbase. Ground crew mobilised, and the control tower kept their eye on the sky for the mysterious 'Alice'. Soon, a shape was spotted -- coming in from the expected course. Everyone did their part to ensure a safe landing, following procedures that had been drilled into them countless times; their actions instinctual, rote repetition of regulation and accommodation...

She drew closer.

Now large enough to get a clear visual, a murmur of surprise arose among those in the control tower. There was something odd about the configuration of this plane...something they couldn't quite discern from radar...

She drew ever closer.

Casting a dark shadow on the clouds behind her, the base was greeted with a solid silhouette that strained credulity. A shape that didn't scream aerodynamic, but here it was, hurtling towards them. A form that defied rational explanation -- a fever dream...yes, that's what it was. Mirages conjured from the rising heat of the landscape. A falsehood of their own imagining. Nothing like this could be anything but a bizarre--

Startled and confused, everyone watched as 'Alice' became unmistakably real.

Folks turned to one another, shocked.

"What the--?"

* * *

With a clear picture of her landing strip, Alice narrowed her gaze. The incessant whistling of the air past her body was muted as she focused on the runway in the distance, and her descent. Her approach was good, confirmed by the transmissions from the nice people in air traffic control. The skies were open, and there were no other flights for her to account for. Just a nice, slow, climb-down from up on high.

Alice snarled as the wind whipped her extremities -- the unwelcome feeling carried by her sensors to her cybernetic brain registered as mild pain. She needed to slow down.

Lowering engine power, the great airborne woman managed to keep her deceleration proportional to the declining altitude. The airbase grew closer. Her artificial muscles tensed, her mind filled with a heady blend of anxiety and excitement.

On final approach, she prepared herself. Control surfaces on her wings and the changing position of the exhausts on her legs guided her. She angled her body back, bringing her feet forward, and pushed as hard as she could with her turbines -- forcing as much lift as she could to keep her landing graceful.

Her flying had it's elegant veneer stripped away. It was now nothing more than a controlled fall.

Closer and closer she came; the earth spreading across her vision. Green and brown and grey. A welcoming sight of the world she'd coasted far above.

Alice watched her angles, and lined up with the runway.

Here we go!

Her feet slammed into the runway, the eruption of contact only matched by the quaking of her body as her physique battled tension and torque. Dust and gravel soared into the air as her weight and speed broke yet another million-dollar piece of infrastructure.

Her body tried its best to bury itself in the ground of this remote place. A torrent of upturned earth and asphalt spreading like waves breaking on the shore. A sea of soil and smashed concrete flowed around her, up to the ankle.

The ground trembled. Her engines pitched and turned to arrest her destructive landing. The roar was deafening.

Alice finally had lost enough velocity to break from her attempted subterranean excursion and leaped out of the vast furrow she'd carved onto the surface of the runway. She sailed through the air, arms and legs flailing, a slight unease in her expression -- though no-one was nearby to catch it.

"Eeeeeh!"

One loud proclamation of chaos was all she was letting slip. She had to stabilise!

Alice came down again on the runway, her feet bouncing on the hard ground, shedding their accumulated debris. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, the brown earth and black rock dotted the path of her advance. A second time she touched down...then a third...

Several hundred metres past where she had originally struck, Alice found herself slow enough to transform her tumble into a hop, skip, and jump -- ignorant of the cost her havoc had wrought. The big anthro plane strode with confidence, her first mission nearing completion.

A resounding success...oh, who was she kidding? She was going to get chewed out by her superiors for sure!

All because those stupid scientists didn't plan for landing with all that extra weight, she huffed, making mental notes for her defence.

Oh well, no time to fret about it, let's go meet this place's little helpers!

The giant, naked female aeromorph settled after landing, occupying a marked area for loading/unloading air freight. A pleasant smile formed as she watched the convoy of vehicles drive towards her -- excited to meet new people.

* * *

Advancing on the the landing site, a convoy of support vehicles -- loaders, trucks, tankers -- scrambled across uneven ground. Crawling across the ruined landscape created by the shock-waves of the thing's impact. It...no, her...

Her form rose high into the heavens. On cloudier days, one might suppose she'd sit right amongst the lowest wisps as they caressed her. Large, indomitable curves and voluptuous majesty was all they could see. Stunned. Surprised. Suspicious.

It took a while for someone to exit their vehicle. Alerting others with the loud slam of the door, one foolhardy human moved into the open. Then, like a series of harsh beats echoing from a faulty speaker, the rest left. The creak and slam of doors punctuated the silence -- ripping it apart as the incredulous crowd assembled mere metres from the giantess. Her shadow hung over them. Heavy, blotting out the sun as it crested her shoulder. A minute of searing blindness followed when its rays returned -- glowing like a golden halo around this awesome angel of the skies. The words 'be not afraid' were apt, if cliché.