1 comments/ 7254 views/ 0 favorites Pilot 05: Obscured by Clouds By: past_perfect Obscured by Clouds By past_perfect © Author's note: Not all of you would want to read the whole series. For those who don't, here a short summary of what has happened so far: Jon was an English RAF pilot during WWII. In 1943 a race called Scnrgsis recruited him for the forces of the galactic community, which was facing an extra-galactic enemy called the Pret. Sixty-six years later Jon crashed on Earth following a battle with the Pret, having aged just about seven years due to a medical implant of the Scnrgsis. He hijacked a space shuttle to get to a station of the Scnrgsis on the dark side of the moon. Whilst waiting for his "Mother"-ship Snay together with Emma's "hand", the last remaining android from his destroyed ship Emma, he recounted his training on Talagon. The Pret were contained by a barrier the most advanced race in our galaxy – the Salarmorn – had erected. What went on behind this barrier was virtually unknown, until the first missions of the Snay. On Soreil not everything went as planned, but the mission provided a clearer picture of the enemy. A picture that needed to be sharper still ... Chapter one – Dawnmaker "Jon, do you remember the first time we were alone together in the Pret domain?" "Of course I do, sweetie. Why are you asking me this?" "You seem to think about the past a lot lately. I was wondering if you were thinking a little about me too, Jon." "Yes Emma, I do. And more than just a little." I stroked her beautiful red hair. Yes, that incident was certainly amongst those I would never forget. --- They had fitted Emma and the kids with the new cloaking device. We were spreading out around Mother over almost two parsecs, as we were approaching a system the Pret had appropriated and were apparently using to manufacture ships. The system known as Daria had already been an industrial world before the Pret came. The Darians were gifted engineers who had designed or improved a lot of the technology we were currently using. We thought that this was probably one of the reasons the Pret adapted to our technology so quickly and lethally. The system was heavily guarded by Pret patrol ships and several domed planetary defence systems on some of the twenty-four moons of Daria. Around the planet and several of the moons were space docks, where ships received their final assembly. We had devised a strategy to briefly scan small parts of the complexes and then change position quickly. Mother itself did not scan in the conventional way, thirty-two telepaths were trying to get contact to the Darians and listen in on the Pret. "Grid four seven four seven. Scan in twenty seconds. This does not look like a ship to me, what they are assembling?" I nodded in agreement. Maybe it was part of a space station or something else. It appeared to be only part of a larger structure. Shneet had told me the Pret were constructing something the Scnrgsis suspected to be a gateway. We had not seen that yet, only heard reports from refugees. "Scan complete. Changing position to grid seven two one." "So we have some of the surface of that moon there too." "Yes. It is called the Dawnmaker in Darian folklore. Apparently this is the moon last showing on the morning sky on the biggest continent, at the point the sun first rises." "Looks like it has an atmosphere." "Yes, the Darians have terra-formed this moon. There is a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere on there, in concentrations you would feel comfortable with. You can't see any of the surface from here, because of the dense shrouding clouds. We don't know much about it either; it was a moon the Darians did not allow outsiders on." "Fascinating. There is a Pret vessel approaching right behind us." "Do you want me to delay the scan?" "No, go on sweetie. I don't think this is a patrol vessel. It looks much smaller than those. Hmm ... they appear to land on the moon." "Scan complete. Changing position to grid seven eight six." "No sweetie, hang on. Show me the results of the last scan." "Acknowledged Jon. Do you want me to tell Mother why we are digressing from our schedule?" "Yes, tell them we might have found something interesting and will investigate." "You mean all those unusual bio-readings?" "Yes. Tell Mother we will land to have a look and the kids can compensate for us." "The strategic team of the Snay says that is not a good idea." "Tell them I can feel it in my gut – this moon is important." The reason I was not talking to them myself was that we were using an extraordinarily complicated method of communication to avoid detection involving minuscule pulses of encrypted data that would appear like normal background radiation. "They say that the telepaths think so too, but you shouldn't go down there alone." "Tell them I won't be alone, as I have you by my side." "That is kind of you to say Jon. I will do my best to keep you safe." "Get both your hands ready and find us a good place to land." "Oh. You would want me to dress again, don't you?" "Yeah, sweetie, please put some clothes on your hands. You are just too pretty, it might be distracting." "Jon , you do know that my hands are fully functional in every detail?" "What do you mean?" "You could do with them whatever you wanted, Jon." I actually blushed. "Emma, are you hitting on me?" "I am just telling you your options Jon. I want to be there for you in every way I can." Well, of course I was responsible for the amount of detail her hands had been manufactured with, but up to this point I had never considered what she was suggesting to me. It had been more like a minor indulgence, some extra eye-candy for me on top of her great personality. However, Emma was much more than I had programmed her to be. Her biological component gave her the status of a living being with a very succinct personality. I had noticed that she was placing a lot of sexual innuendo into our conversations lately, very subtle, and very innocent, really quite extraordinary. "Sweetie, there is a time for everything, but this is not it. We need to focus on the matter at hand." "Of course Jon. Do you want the hands to be distinguishable to you?" "Yes. Red uniform for Emma Alpha, black uniform for Emma Beta. I will refer to them as Alpha and Beta and treat them as individuals, although I know they are both you." "I could wear my hair differently too." "The colours will suffice sweetie." I wondered what was going on in her mind. But I really needed to focus here. I selected a variety of weapons for the androids and myself, while Emma was landing herself on Dawnmaker on the spot she had chosen, which was reasonably far from the high concentration of bio-readings we had taken. Despite my instructions, Alpha was wearing her hair differently from Beta, who had tied it to a ponytail, while Alpha was wearing it open. The matter sluice opened and seconds later we stood in the gloomy grey-yellowish light of Dawnmaker. --- The moon was astonishingly hot and humid. The landing place we had chosen was in the midst of a dense jungle. "I am not detecting any energy signatures in a radius of two miles, Jon. The place we had on our scans earlier is twelve miles in a south-easterly direction." "And bio signs?" "It's a jungle with many creatures, Jon. I cannot distinguish between animals and higher life-forms. Should we use the deflectors?" Beta suddenly bent over and snapped a snake that had been about to attack me. She looked at it with a fascinated expression on her face before throwing it back into the jungle. "The wildlife appears to be hostile." "It's a snake, Beta. That is what snakes do. And no, I don't think we should switch on the deflectors. On Soreil they had automated defence systems. The Darians built the deflectors. I think it is safe to assume that they might be scanning for their characteristic energy signatures." I erected a low level shield though, as the insects were equally aggressive and I definitely didn't fancy some exotic bacteria in my system, although the medical implant from the Scnrgsis would have taken care of most, if not all of them. The plant-life was making our progress difficult enough as it was. None of the trees here seemed to get larger than nine or ten feet, but they were very close together and strangely intertwined. More than once the two androids had to rip a few of them out to clear the way. When Alpha ripped out yet another one, all of a sudden a green fur bundle landed in front of our feet. The animal played dead for a moment. Beta picked it up, watching it with curious eyes. Hers were met by the ones of the little creature soon enough. Beta opened her grip and allowed the monkey-like animal to explore her body. "This one is not aggressive." The little monkey had an elongated head and two very large eyes. Its hands had three very long digits, its feet only two that were a little shorter. It made smacking sounds so diverse and intricate that for a minute I suspected it to be some sort of language. However, if it were something that structured, my translator implant would have made sense of it. The monkey had climbed all over Beta and now it wrapped itself around her neck, snuggled up to her face and then attached itself to her ponytail, emitting something that sounded almost like a purr. It seemed cosy there and stopped moving. "Looks like you have a new friend there Beta. It seems to like you." "What should I do, Jon? I don't think it is posing a threat." "I leave that up to you. If you want to keep it, keep it." "Thank you Jon. Perhaps I have destroyed its home when I took down those trees and it can find something new on the way. I noticed that it fell from a type of tree we have not encountered often yet." Stunningly colourful birds with four wings and really long beaks excitedly followed our progress too. Another pert snake tried to take a bite, but my shield instantly dissolved its fangs and resolve to attack me. We got to a small river, with red-brownish water, where a swarm of insects almost as big as a fist seemed to dive for small fish. Alpha stopped. "Jon, look at this." It took me a second to realise that she hadn't meant this exotic spectacle, but was referring to something else. Tied to a shrub on the river bank was a boat of sorts. I said boat because it didn't look particularly primitive, more like something that had been constructed with natural materials, but with an awful lot of craftsmanship and knowledge. There were no paddles, just four very long, finely carved sticks. Alpha scanned the area but whoever the owner of this boat was, was either not using technology or was simply not around. Maybe it was meant as a ferry to cross this river. Beta got down to it first and analysed the markings on the sticks. "It looks similar to Darian writing, but it isn't. Sorry Jon, I can't translate it." I searched my memory for engrams about the Darians. They were amongst the oldest civilisations in our galaxy, humanoid as in having two arms and legs, but heads that looked more reptilian than anything else, a big mouth with a long tongue and four blowholes above it. Their eyes were supposedly sharp enough to see at the molecular level, which was part of their engineering success story. They had the reputation of being technocrats though. Even this jungle environment they had created didn't seem to fit to the information I found about them. Daria itself was one big industrial complex with massive cities and hardly any nature left to speak of. We untied the boat and used it to cross the river. Our little hitchhiker wasn't overly happy about the idea of crossing the river, but after climbing up and down on Beta making a lot of smacking noises, it seemed to decide that Beta was the place to be, no matter what crazy stunts she was pulling and returned to its former resting position. The part of the jungle we had left behind had been noisy and full of life. The part on the other bank was eerily quiet in comparison. I couldn't shed the feeling that we were being watched. If it were the Pret, we would probably have come under attack by now. I whispered my suspicion into Alpha's ear. She nodded quietly. Something else was different. Although it didn't look like one, we appeared to be following a path, as no more intertwined trees were blocking our way. While we had hardly covered more than a few miles in the first three hours, now we were making headway much faster. "Jon, it is going to be dark in a few minutes." We weren't about to enter Daria's shade yet, it was Dawnmaker's own rotation that brought nightfall upon us. Emma had told me that it would last only six hours. Of course we could use lights or scan our way through the jungle, but that might have alerted the Pret. We decided to wait until daybreak. Emma's hands were constructing a makeshift camp. Beta was playing with her new pet and standing guard, while I cuddled with Alpha. I wasn't tired at all. "Are you still in contact with the ship?" "Yes, Jon, but we are at the outer limits now." "Anything new there?" "No, Mother has not broken the communication silence and the kids are completing the scans. I have adapted their schedule to take over our part." "Okay. So maybe it is time we had a little talk now." "About what, Jon?" Boy, this was awkward. "You made ... how can I put this ... rather strange remarks lately." "I am not certain I know what you are referring to, Jon." "Like ... you would like to have sex with me, to put it bluntly." "Oh yes, Jon. I would like that very much. I observed you having sex with a variety of females in the past months. You seem to enjoy that a lot. My hands have been constructed to mimic all functions of a biological entity, and my nervous system is receiving impulses in my biological component too. In essence, I would feel just like an Earth woman does." "Well, I know that. That is not the question though. You are my ship. Where I come from, one doesn't usually fuck one's ship." "So, you don't find me attractive? Am I not an exact replica of your girl Emma?" "Physically, almost, they didn't get all the details right, but that isn't the point. Yes, I do find you attractive, but it would be weird, you know." "Because I am artificial too?" "No, it is not even that." "You don't love me." "Sweetie, don't say that. Nothing could be further from the truth. I love you very much. It is just ... it would be like ... using you ..." "Why? I want to experience this with you. I studied all available information on your species' mating rituals and techniques. I am certain I could make this a very pleasurable experience for you." Alpha's hands went up and down my body. "Emma, I am not discounting the possibility that you want it too, but ... oh ..." She had arrived at my cock, which apparently didn't share in my philosophical dilemma. Alpha seemed pretty chuffed about that fact too. "It is swelling. May I take it out?" "Well ... okay." She opened the organic connectors and seconds later my dick relished Dawnmaker's sultry air. She placed her fingertips on its top and slowly retracted the prepuce. Apparently her research had been quite thorough, as it was stiffening quickly from her following light and cautious movements. "Oh. Now it is getting really hard. Do you like what I am doing?" "Yes ... that is really nice." Her hand homed in on my shaft, very carefully probing for the exact right pressure to apply, while her left played with my balls in my tightening sack. She pulled the prepuce back completely and dabbed my helmet with her tongue, circling around it then titillating my frenum with the its tip. I wondered what her research materials had been; in any case, it was mind-blowing. When she started sucking on my knob, I knew that my relationship with my ship would take an irreversible turn for the extraordinary. I groaned loudly as she deep-throated me with perfect ease and, not being hampered by any gag reflexes or suchlike, at a speed that was making me dig my hands into the jungle earth, grunting and moaning like an animal. From the corner of my eye I saw the curious looks of Beta and her little pet, who had stopped playing and watched us attentively instead. Damn, Alpha really got the hang of it. Without my enhanced mental discipline I would have come in no time. She suddenly stopped and beamed at me. "My sensors are telling me that you are enjoying this a lot. However, I have observed that penetration is even more pleasurable for you. Would you like me to take off my clothes and fuck you, Jon?" "Oh ... yeah, go for it. Your oral skills are mind-blowing though. And you got all that just from research?" She took off her uniform and planted herself on my stiff member without further ado. "Yes Jon. And observation. But of course I am also adapting to your responses. Would you like me to ride you slowly or fast as the Daugalan twins did?" "Uh ... man ... fuck ... I leave that up to you ... this is ... oh my ... amazing. You feel like ... ah ... a real woman ... oh my God ... what am I saying ... better even." "Do you want me to talk dirty too, Jon? Or express the pleasure I am feeling?" "I don't ... fuck ... do what you want ... oh yes ... damn this is fast ..." I doubt I could have matched her speed even with my own hand. She desisted from talking, but moaned and groaned herself. I knew enough about her blueprints to know that she wasn't putting on an act for me. She was perfectly capable of feeling something. Mental discipline or not, when she suddenly increased the speed even more, I came like a train. I had closed my eyes and heard her voice from the distant summit I had just been on. "Jon. We have to stop now. We've got company." "Oh?" She didn't sound alarmed, that was the strange thing about it. I slowly withdrew and turned around. Six dark figures stood right next to Beta and her little monkey. They seemed to have waited for us to finish. Whoever they were, at least they were polite. Chapter two – Guardians of Life They were leading us deeper and deeper into the jungle, farther and farther away from the location of the readings that really interested me. They had neither threatened us nor explained anything. They simply asked us to follow them. So those were Darians, at least they were a match to what I found in my engrams. The engrams contained images of ornately dressed Darians sitting on antigrav platforms rather than using their feet. These here moved like predators. And they were very much in the buff. Their camp was arranged in a very orderly geometric form, two circles of tents enclosing a large slab of stone with embossed markings very similar to the ones we had seen on the sticks. Each of them was carrying such a stick. We had arrived at daybreak. I gathered that the old man awaiting us there was their leader. I opened my hands and stretched them forward palms up, a gesture the Darians used to say hello and show respect. "You brought technology to this sacred place, stranger. Had it not been for the Serao identifying it as harmless and having the status of a life-form, you could have been killed because of that." "The Serao?" He nodded at Beta's little friend. The little monkey gave her hair a last friendly tug and then made its way down her body to run to the old Darian and sat down on his shoulder. "The Serao are very good judges of character. You are here because of the threat?" "Yes. We call them the Pret. I am a member of the forces of the galactic community, on a covert mission to gather intelligence about them. These two androids are part of my ship, which is partially biological." Pilot 05: Obscured by Clouds "The invisible thing. Yes, we have noticed it. You are here to fight these Pret?" I wondered how they could have spotted Emma. "Well ... as I said, I am on a reconnaissance mission really ... but if need be, I will of course fight them, yes. How could you spot my cloaked ship, by the way?" "There is need, great need, stranger. And no, don't worry; we haven't developed technology to detect your craft. There was no technology on this moon before the Pret came." "I see. My name is Jon, by the way. Those two are extensions of my ship Emma. I call them Alpha and Beta, but they are essentially one with the ship. What are the Pret doing here, if there is no technology in this place? And who are you, really? You look like Darians, but I have a hunch that you are not." "You are correct Jon; we haven't been Darians for a long time. We are the Guardians of Life. We will show you what the Pret are doing here when the time is right. I am the Trar." "Is that your name or some sort of title?" "It is both. Please follow my associates to the tent over there while we discuss what to do next. I heard that our scouts have interrupted your affirmation of Life. You may resume this now, if you wish." "Affirmation of ... oh, you mean ... ah well, I was sort of done anyway." "Dawnmaker, as you think of it, has a way of enhancing the appetite of all living beings. You will feel what I mean soon enough. Go now." I nodded and we were led to a large tent. The little monkey remained with the old man. I noticed that the Guardians watched Emma's hands with greater curiosity than me, which wasn't overly surprising, if there really was no technology on this moon apart from the Pret's. The tent was empty except for a bed made out of leaves and moss right in its centre. The Guardians who ushered us there disappeared to rejoin their group. "Would you like some more sex, Jon? We could both pleasure you, you know." "Thanks, Emma, I would rather think about those Guardians though. Maybe later. I think they might be telepaths." "There is no way I can scan for that Jon, sorry." "He said I was thinking about this moon as 'Dawnmaker'. I am pretty sure I haven't uttered any such thing." "That is correct Jon, I have no memory record of you saying that. But then again, this is how the Darians refer to this moon also." "Well, but if they detected the biological component of the ship, this would explain how they could. Are you still in direct contact?" "No, Jon, we are too far away for that. But I would have noticed scans. Did you enjoy what we did earlier?" "Yes, very much. Why are you asking? You were there, after all." "I want to do it again. It is almost as nice as flying." "Oh?" Emma's behaviour was puzzling, especially now that her hands had lost contact with the ship. Her androids weren't capable of feeling, let alone feeling horny. Could it be that this was the effect the Trar was talking about? That even machines were affected? Was that possibly why technology was forbidden on this moon? I giggled when the thought occurred to me that the first Darians coming here might have decided it when they had to ward off sexual advances of their robots, or drones and computers. But then again, Emma had started hitting on me long before we were even in this sector. "Jon, can we take off these uniforms? You could still distinguish us by our hair-dos'." "Well, go on then." I was still caught up in trying to solve the mystery that had presented itself here. But within seconds my thoughts shifted to something completely different. I was wondering if they, or at least the ship with its biological component, could actually experience an orgasm. Nah, the Scnrgsis were brilliant, but could not have possibly accomplished that. Or could they? "Do you girls know whether you can actually come from any sort of stimulation?" "I don't know Jon. Would you care to try?" Before I could retort anything we got a visitor. Beta's little monkey leisurely waltzed into the tent, climbed up her leg, briefly inspected her nipples, then snuggled up to her face again as it had done before. "Hello my little friend." The monkey made some smacking sounds and pulled her hair. "That's right Ntk. I am your friend." "Ntk? Is that the name you have given it?" "I don't know Jon. I think he introduced himself, but I don't have a memory record of that event occurring. There must be a malfunction in my memory unit." This was chilling news. The last thing I needed now would be Emma experiencing problems. Something was affecting her profoundly. The little monkey made lots of smacking noises again. "Yes, Ntk, we would like that too. Jon, why don't you take off your clothes also?" "You are communicating with the monkey? Why isn't my implant translating for me? Aren't you using a similar matrix?" "I cannot answer this, Jon. My translation matrix is inactive and yet I know what Ntk is saying. I believe he is accessing my programming." Now this was getting really weird. I decided to address the monkey directly. "Ntk, can you understand what I am saying?" To my surprise the monkey simply nodded. Okay, but at least that meant Emma wasn't going crazy. And that this wasn't an animal, but almost certainly an intelligent being. Alpha came up behind me and started opening the organic connectors of my combat suit. I got the distinct feeling that she didn't act completely out of her own volition, which was more than just a little scary. How could this little monkey make her do things? "Ntk, are you influencing my androids?" This time the monkey shook his head. He must have picked up those gestures from me earlier. His hand described a circle. I understood. It wasn't him, it was the moon. Beta had joined Alpha peeling me out of my suit and feeling me up. "Should I be alarmed?" I distinctly felt that I had lost control over Emma's hands, yet I felt incapable of even asking them to stop. Whatever this moon did to them, it was also doing something to me. There I was, asking a little green monkey for reassurance. I wasn't thinking straight. Or was I? The monkey shook its head again. However, by that time I wouldn't have cared either way. I was standing in the middle of the tent, my eyes transfixed to a little green monkey, while Alpha licked my arsehole and Beta my balls. The arousal hit me like a tropical wave, washed my conscious thinking away and reduced me to a state of mere feeling. Four magnificent hands made sure every inch of my skin was included in the spectacle, while the two eager tongues played with my most sensitive areas. Alpha pressed her head between my thighs and when I opened them for her she took over my testes from underneath, while Beta admitted my stiff member into her virginal mouth club. Of course she already had Alpha's expertise, who felt the urge to insert first one, then two of her slender fingers into my anus. It didn't even bother me that we had an audience all of a sudden, as one Guardian after another entered the tent and quietly sat down, forming a circle around us and creating a weird background sound by blowing air through their version of nostrils. It sounded a bit like pipes without actually producing tones, but a melody nevertheless. However, Beta's blowing was so much more interesting that very moment and my contribution to the sing-song was more on the moaning and groaning side. She actually applied constant suction while the tip of her tongue performed tremolos on the underside of my helmet. If I'd been capable to think at all that very moment, I would have probably thanked the Scnrgsis and Palidians for their extraordinary engineering skills a thousandfold. Instead of thinking, I came into Beta's mouth. Beta did something odd. She didn't swallow but spit each drop of my hot load that she had thus collected onto her right hand, first offering a taste to her android twin, then going around the circle where each of the present Guardians took their sample with their frog-like darting tongues. Apparently the taste of my spunk met with their approval, as they blew even more fiercely, sounding quite happy and chuffed. Alpha in the meantime wrestled me softly to the floor and sat down on my face, making perfectly clear that it was up to me to solve the riddle that had preoccupied me earlier. Again, I was amazed how much detail the Scnrgsis got right, her pussy not only looked and felt like a woman's, it actually tasted like one too. Her clit grew also; so did my cock again, as Beta had finished her celebratory round and returned to the scene of her triumph. While I lapped and licked Alpha as best as I could, Beta managed to revive my knob rapidly and impaled herself on me. The hissing and blowing in the round changed to a rhythmical humming, matching the rhythm of her humping me, swelling in speed and intensity until everything dissolved into a sea of moans, groans and ecstasy. It was like everyone was coming at the same time, not just the androids and me, but all life on this moon contracted and expanded in the waves of our orgasm. It took ages until my thoughts returned. The Guardians left quietly, only the Trar remained for a second, Ntk on his shoulder wriggling his shoulders, which Darians did as a sign of great satisfaction. "Now you are part of Life. Life is precious. You will help us protect it. Rest now, we are about to enter Daria's shade. We will leave at first light." The weird thing about it was that I knew exactly what he meant, but if asked to explain it, I couldn't have. Chapter three – Crystal Lake The night lasted around nine hours. No further explanations were offered to us, we simply took off into the dense jungle. As I felt that just wearing only a utility belt would have made me look ridiculous, I wore my combat suit again, although it had never felt more superfluous. The androids felt the same way, and it had taken quite a long discussion before I could convince them to dress again. We arrived at another riverbank, but there was no way for me of telling whether it was still the same river we had crossed earlier or not. Our small group of ten Guardians, Ntk and the three of us boarded four boats, which were slightly larger than the one we'd found the day before. One would have expected the jungle to be filled with the noises of its wildlife in these early morning hours. But it was dead silent where we were, the only audible sounds came from a long distance. That made it even easier to spot the sound, which certainly didn't belong there. It was a Pret ship flying overhead, from the looks of it in the process of landing. Whatever they wanted to show me, it was probably very close. The river became smaller and completely overgrown; it looked like we were entering a green tunnel. The Guardians steered our boats to the riverside where we quietly disembarked. I couldn't help but admire the fluent and exceedingly efficient movements of the Guardians. The only ones producing sounds were Emma's hands and me. I gathered that we had to be quiet, as no doubt the Pret were near. We made our way through something so dense and dark that it appeared constructed rather than naturally grown. I would have never found my way through this organic labyrinth – that much was certain. All of a sudden we had reached the edge of the jungle. The Guardians signalled me to be quiet and stay in the cover of the foliage. I immediately saw why. There were Pret patrols on the other side. Several groups of three, sticking out of the shrubbery and hip-high grass that followed the jungle and several of their craft were in the distance. At least two of them were wracks, one actually dug into the ground with its nose. The three Pret closest to us moved slowly towards our position. Oddly enough they didn't use scanners, but appeared to make only a visual inspection of the area. Even stranger, this proved inefficient enough to cause the death of one of them. The movement in the grass was hardly detectable, but it must have been something of an impressive size nevertheless. All we saw was a dark shadow coming up from behind the Pret, and then heard the sound of its dying moments while the others tried to shoot the invisible attacker. The way they reacted made plain that this couldn't have been the first attack of that kind. The unmistakable sound of energy weapons came from a greater distance too. The newly arriving craft was about to set down when it exploded all of a sudden in mid-air, spewing pieces of red-hot metal through the air, one piece crashing awfully close to us. I couldn't comprehend what was going on there. Somehow the Guardians were fighting the Pret. But how? Telekinesis? Or was the Pret's technology turning against them? The Guardian next to me seemed to corroborate my earlier suspicion, namely them being telepaths, as he answered my unspoken questions. "Life fights back. They have weakened it, but they have not yet subdued it. We need to press on." Two of the Guardians disappeared into the direction of the two remaining Pret, who had interrupted their attempt to pursue the invisible attacker and looked on at the fiery descent of the remains of the exploding craft. Before they knew what happened, the Guardians surfaced from the grass and split their ugly heads with their sticks. Apparently those had a variety of uses. The next patrol seemed far away enough to ask questions without endangering us. "What happened to their ship?" "Technology is not welcome on this moon. Life influences it in unpredictable ways. The first wave of ships they sent got incinerated when the large shields they erected around them changed their polarity and fried them." "Oh ... I think I am beginning to understand. Is Emma in any danger?" "No, she is not. Life has accepted her." "And you all know this because ..." "All this will be revealed to you once you reach the Crystal Lake." It was obvious that the female Guardian did not want to elaborate any further and besides, we were closing in on the next Pret patrol. We were fanning out. Without any conscious deliberation I opted for dislocator, a little contraption that shifted its target out of our space-time continuum entirely, a weapon for close quarters, and from the looks of it, it would get rather close and crowded. I saw some dark shadows passing me, and when approaching a small clearing, saw a dark green six-legged creature covered with bony spikes and dagger-like fangs on a four-eyed head residing on a body as large as a deer's. The Guardian next to me told me not to worry. They were on our side. Everything on this moon was. I started to realise that. And I started feeling something. A mere presence. An indefinable something. But almost tangible. And getting stronger the farther we went. "Can I use my shields, or would they want to fuck me?" "You have been accepted by Life, no harm will come to you. That doesn't mean that there is no-one wanting to fuck you. I'd be happy to accommodate you if you wanted another affirmation of Life when this is over." "Thank you for that kind offer. I suppose the fact that I am going into battle with a raging hard-on shouldn't particularly worry me either?" "Yes, it is the effect of Life. We are getting closer." I quickly disposed of a Pret appearing in our view from out of nowhere. The Guardian seemed fairly impressed. "That is an interesting weapon. That was a dislocation field, wasn't it?" "Yes. This little bracelet here contains the generator ..." "I am familiar with the technology. It is based on one of my ideas." She had just the right idea for the Pret ahead of us, which had its back turned to us that was acquainted with her stick in no time. "Your ideas? I thought you are not developing technology on this moon?" "I was a promising young scientist on Daria before I got here." "Hmm, but from what I find in my engrams about its development, it is technology that has been available for more than two millennia." "Three to be precise. I came up with the idea for it around three thousand seven hundred Daria rotations ago. Twenty rotations later, I was initiated here. I suppose you can't tell, but I am still looking like a Darian girl of forty." Which corresponded roughly to a twenty-year old woman, as their natural life-span was about twice as long as ours. "The moon is having this effect?" "Life has this effect. You will soon know what I mean." We had to interrupt our little chit-chat as we needed to dispose of no less than four Pret in a row. I got hit by a Pret weapon, but it hardly bothered my shield. "Are all of you Darians or are some of you born on this moon?" "No, we cannot procreate. That is the price for relative immortality. It is Life's way of preventing us from endangering the balance." Another two dark shadows galloped past us and took care of two more Pret ahead. The Guardian dodged an energy shot with a lightning fast movement. "Now that is what I call reflexes." "Speed is only an illusion of the superficial. We can see deeper than that." I sent two more Pret into oblivion and quickly reclipped my power module. "So what attracts you to me? Do I have particularly pretty molecular patterns?" "Indeed. Especially the molecules that stand out so enticingly right now. What did you call it? Hard-on?" Either Alpha or Beta put a larger group of Pret under suppressive fire with energy weapons. The Pret didn't dare to raise their shields. Apparently their ships hadn't been the only ones having had bad experiences with shields. Soon the response to that fire died down. "Yes. Ah, I see in my memory engrams that your males have a rather bony counterpart they release from a fold of flesh." "That is correct. And they know how to use them. I can assure you of that. Naturally, we affirm Life as often as we can." "Naturally. But you are curious how my pride and joy would feel inside of you?" Bloody Pret. Even flirting became strenuous when one had to dodge energy blasts and make whatever they were dislocated to a crowded place. "Very. Watch out." The Pret that jumped me had only a brief moment to enjoy having surprised and overwhelmed me. Then the contents of its head splattered onto my shield. "Ta. How many more of those bastards are there?" "Thousands. They are breeding here. And they are building something. Over there." My eyes turned into the direction her outstretched arm indicated. We seemed to be heading for another rotational darkness, as something extremely bright lit up the dark grey sky in the distance. "And that would be ..." "The Crystal Lake. Life." "An inorganic life-form?" "Yes. And no. You will see." What I saw first was a wall, about ten feet high, made from matte dark metal that halted our progress, but gave us time to reunite with the others. One Guardian was missing. The Serao was also not with us anymore. "Should we wait for them?" "No. Ntk does not need our protection and F'alla was killed by the Pret." "I am sorry to hear that. Which reminds me, I didn't catch your name?" "N'ella. You and your androids have levitation or flight devices?" "Yes, antigrav units. You want us to fly you over the wall?" "That is not necessary." They simply put their ubiquitous sticks to yet another surprising use, almost like pole vault jumpers, the only difference was that they were hanging on to them and got them in a breathtaking manoeuvre not only over the wall, but stuck them back into the earth on the other side, thus dampening their fall. As amazing as that looked, I was pretty sure it took several hundred years to perfect that technique, and our antigravs did the trick just as well. Pilot 05: Obscured by Clouds The Pret seemed to have fought and lost different kinds of battles on this side of the wall. They had attempted to clear it of all vegetation, but the moon had struck back. Something similar to concrete was broken up and overgrown by sturdy trees and shrubs. There were pieces of technology scattered around, broken and also partially overgrown. We passed another burned-out spacecraft looking like an enormous metallic carcass in the dwindling yellow light of Dawnmaker. Ahead of us was a well-lit encampment of the Pret. "This is as far as we can accompany you. We are not capable of making ourselves invisible as you are. We will wait for you here." "I'm not sure I understand what I am supposed to do?" "You will carry on to the Crystal Lake. All your questions will be answered there. We will wait here for your return." "Won't they be scanning for deflectors? They have pretty neat automatic defence systems. This isn't my first run-in with them, you know." "They won't, as they don't expect technology here at all. They have tailored their defences against Dawnmaker's animals and primitives." She rolled her eyes, which was their equivalent of a grin. "Meaning us by that, of course." "But we have used energy weapons." "Well enough to be sure they couldn't communicate that. There are weapon discharges here all the time. You are in no danger of being discovered, unless something unforeseen happens." I saw no reason to distrust her judgement. We switched on our deflectors and left the Guardians behind, slowly approaching the encampment. Chapter four – Emergence Invisible or not, I was feeling anything but safe when we reached the Pret compound. The octamer-shaped houses appeared to be of a light plastic-like substance that was interlaced with what looked like metal bands. N'ella was right, there were thousands of them. And judging from the sounds coming out of those houses, they were busy increasing their numbers. Some didn't bother to recline into a more private setting for that. They apparently didn't need much encouragement either, or maybe it was the effect of Life – in any case, I saw two Pret pass each other, then suddenly stopping and a few seconds later I saw one massive dick disappearing in the other's hole below it. Everywhere were small translucent containers, surrounded by rather bright light-panels. What was inside looked like leathery eggs. "Alpha, scan those things, please. We can get invaluable information here." "I already have Jon. Those are eggs. The Pret are clearly oviparous creatures, as I am detecting Pret DNA." "Fascinating." We had to change our position as it was difficult to get out of the way of the Pret passing us, some stopping to watch their comrades fuck and, apparently being turned on by the spectacle, getting busy themselves. Okay, I admit it, this was our enemy and all that, but I had a really hard time not feeling aroused by what I saw. I was about to ask Beta for a quick invisible hand or blowjob when I first heard the voice in my head. 'No. Come closer. I need you closer.' 'Who are you?' 'I am that which the Guardians call Life.' 'And you call yourself?' 'I don't. Come to me. I need you closer to communicate everything you need to know.' "Yes Jon, let us go closer." "You too can hear it too? That is impossible." "I know Jon. And yet it is true." In any case it was time to leave what by then had become a full-blown orgy. I wondered if Life had increased its influence to distract the Pret and make it easier for us to approach. They weren't the only ones, though, who suffered from that energy engulfing us. While we were using the antigravs to hover above hordes of shagging Pret, Alpha quickly flew up to me and provided me with instant relief just by rubbing a few times on my aching dick. I came into my combat suit, a sticky wetness spreading up to my belly-button, but my cock didn't flag down. Fuck, this could definitely be a prime vacation spot in peaceful times. We went up a bit higher as we approached a larger structure, where burned metal and destroyed parts indicated that the Pret had kept technology in there that didn't respond well to Life. Behind it, eerily illuminated by the blindingly bright light of the Crystal Lake was what looked like a gigantic hosepipe around it, just with bits and pieces missing in between – this must have been the construction site the Guardians were talking about. I replaced the visor which enabled me to see Emma's hands with one making the light more bearable. 'Come right into my centre.' 'What is that the Pret are building? Something to fence you in?' 'No, worse. Much worse. Come closer. Do not concern yourself with this now.' It was like flying into a viscous liquid lapping around me, fondling my body in the process. Without anyone touching me besides this energy I came again. 'Do you hear me? Is there anything I can do against this arousal? Not that I mind coming for no apparent reason, but sooner or later it might get a tad too wet in my combat suit.' 'You will be safe in my centre. You are almost there. Ten yards to the left. Now switch off your levitation devices. Trust me. You will not be harmed.' We were flying at a height of approximately nine feet and the prospect of falling onto what looked like rather sharpish crystals wasn't overly appealing. But as strange as that might sound, I trusted that entity implicitly. I wanted to tell Emma's hands to do the same, but they had already plummeted into the crystals long before me. I was awaiting the impact, yet there was none. It was as if the crystals were immaterial, a mirage. The antigrav unit was definitely switched off, but I felt like I was hovering. I felt pleasantly relaxed and peaceful, even my aching dick now bowed down in a wash of positive and rather pure energy that I appeared to be immersed in. I noticed that I could see Alpha and Beta, and was wondering why they had switched off their deflectors. 'You are Jon, the pilot.' 'You still have me at a disadvantage. You say you don't have a name other than the one the Guardians gave you?' 'It is a little bit more complicated than that. A part of me was corporeal once and then I had a name. I was known as Dfor. You are most likely familiar with the species of that part. I was what you know as a Salarmorn.' 'I actually never met anyone of your species, nor did they provide me with engrams about your lot.' 'That is not important now. Suffice it to say I once came here to investigate the unique energy properties of this moon on a request of the then still young Darian civilisation. I discovered that this Crystal Lake was something of a nexus or dimensional gateway. It would take too long to explain this in detail to you. All you need to know is that when investigating it, I got entangled and transformed by the energy converging here. I lost my physical body and evolved into something different.' 'And the Darians terra-formed the moon to keep you company?' 'The Darians did nothing of the sort. It was I who transformed it. In essence, this moon is me. All Life except for the Guardians is me.' 'And except for the Pret of course.' 'The Pret ... you have no idea how dangerous they really are. It is no coincidence they started their invasion in this sector, and no coincidence they want to get their hands on this moon. They are here for a reason. They want to use the gateway to bring their dark master into this dimension.' 'The entity their religion is based on?' 'Yes, the Ta'baka'ta. I have been battling it for millennia. It is inconceivable what powers it will have when entering this dimension. If the Pret are allowed to complete the dimensional lens they are building here, this galaxy will fall. That cannot, that must not happen.' 'The hosepipe around the lake? But isn't that technology you can influence?' 'Not that kind of technology. The Ta'baka'ta knows about my weaknesses and advised them accordingly. The Pret must not complete the lens. I am doing everything I can to disrupt their building efforts, but they are close to completion despite that. I am not powerful enough to withstand the Ta'baka'ta. I need your help. And to save us time I have transferred all additional information you require into your androids. You only need to focus on the decision whether you wish to help me or not.' 'What do you want me to do?' 'You have to get into your ship and destroy the lens.' 'I see.' The ramifications were as plain as a pikestaff to me. First of all, I needed to uncloak to fire upon the building site. That would alert the Pret not only to Emma, but probably Mother and the kids also. I wasn't certain I could hit just the lens and not injure or kill the Life entity in the process. There was also a good chance the Pret would simply rebuild what they had started here. 'You have an agile mind. You understand the problem in its entirety. A lasting solution will not be found here today. That is why I gave your androids a block of encrypted data you will have to bring to what used to be my people. But you don't have to worry about my well-being, I can partially retreat into a dimensional fold, so you could at best injure but not kill me. It is your choice, but I cannot emphasize enough how important this is.' 'I understand. I will do what you ask.' 'Good. They are bringing an additional piece of the construction down in a few hours. Return to the Guardians, who will guide you to your ship.' 'Okay. By the way, nice touch with the affirmation of Life stuff and so on.' 'I don't understand what you are trying to say.' 'Getting everything on this planet horny and all that.' 'Ah, I see what you mean. Well, I was a Salarmorn once after all.' Apparently Life thought that would suffice as an explanation, as it fell silent. 'Go now and find the Guardians. I have told them what needs to be done. Your ship awaits you. It is quite an extraordinary being and it feels deeply for you.' 'I know.' 'I hope to see both of you again some time. You are always welcome on this moon. Good luck and goodbye.' Before I could form another thought, I felt lifted up and almost spit out of the energy domain I had been floating in. The familiar night-sky of Dawnmaker appeared before my eyes again, but there was nascent twilight on the horizon already. It was time to return to the Guardians and complete my mission. Chapter five – Chariot of Fire I found my group where I left them, and as horny as I had left them, as Life's swell personality resumed its analogous effect just after I got out of the lake. The Pret really were going for it when I flew over them, I saw full-blown orgies in the street. Four hands procured decent group-sex possibilities apparently and being hermaphrodites did seem to open up a few interesting options too. Nevertheless, more or less everything in me wished I could drop just a little photon grenade into that heap of ugly flesh as a befitting climax for their romp. This time it was me who didn't have to explain a thing to the Guardians. Apparently their contact to Life was constant and much stronger than what I had experienced. In a fashion they were part of Life, while still being independent individuals. We crossed the wall further to the west and made our way through dense jungle again. There were hardly any Pret patrols here, mainly because they were being picked off one by one by the wildlife alone already. The tempo the Guardians developed was actually quite murderous and I thanked my instructors on Talagon for preparing me so well for my missions. I even found enough breath to keep on philandering with N'ella. It might have been just another six hours that passed. However, when the night fell again and the Guardians announced that we should stop for a couple of hours I was grateful, sore and tired, despite the regenerative properties of the Scnrgsis' implant. I thought these weird rotations and night-falls would be something I could never get used to. "Are you feeling all right, Jon? You look exhausted." "Yes, Alpha, I am fine. Is it still far? Are you in direct contact again?" "Yes Jon, the link has been re-established. I am currently uploading all data Life has placed into us into the mainframe." "Good. Send a coded message to Mother, informing the strategic team what we will have to do. Tell them to get out of the system and hide somewhere outside, just in case things get a little sketchy down here. Tell the kids to come in and assume an orbital cover formation. We will fly the attack ourselves, but we will probably need all of them to get out of this system alive." "Yes Jon. The kids are converging. Mother acknowledges our transmission. The strategic team informs me that they will only retreat to the outer limits of the system, on stand-by for a possible rescue attempt." "Let's hope we won't need them. Emma, we have to succeed here, no matter what the cost." "I understand the gravity of the situation. Jon, I promise you to carry out our mission even if you should become incapacitated. Life is precious. We will protect it." "I expected nothing less of you, sweetie." "Am I interrupting something important?" N'ella sat down beside me and Alpha. I wondered where Beta was, a few minutes before I saw her standing close to the small fires the Guardians had lit, reassuring me that the Pret wouldn't dare sending any troops into this part of the jungle. "No, we were actually done. Just preparing everything for our attack." "You will succeed, Jon. I knew it once I saw you and the way you have integrated with your technology." "Emma is more than just technology." "Yes, he loves me. He said it. Many times. So there." N'ella quickly rolled her eyes. "That is what I meant, android. Oddly enough, this is something the Darians down below have never accomplished." "Sweetie, please ... Where is Beta, by the way? I haven't seen her for a while yet." "She is looking for Ntk. Life told her she would see him again. We never had a chance to say ... oh, she found him!" "Well, then, go and join them. I have a few things I hadn't had a chance to do yet either. We will leave in another hour. Don't stray from the camp too far." "Acknowledged, Jon." They way she said it sounded a wee snippy. "Your technology is a little possessive. You should be careful about that." "Jealousy is not part of her programming." "Your Emma is much more than the sum of her programming. Life told us that. Do not underestimate the strength of the bond you have formed." "I will keep that in mind. Which reminds me, weren't we scheduled for some bonding also? As you can see, Life is still having a rather profound effect on me ..." "I noticed that with great pleasure and I am ready to affirm Life with you." "As much as I enjoyed the group session the last time, would you mind if we indulge in a somewhat more private session this time?" "As you wish. Let us go a little deeper into the jungle." We quickly informed another Guardian of our plans and took off. "Look. Night leaves." We had reached a small clearing. The plants she was referring to were about two foot high, glowing in an amazing purple fluorescent light. When we got closer I saw that it was the veins and stems glowing rather than the fleshy leaves. "Magnificent. I am starting to be the one who is jealous now, this moon is truly amazing. And it will be a lot nicer, once the Pret are gone. May I ask you a very personal question?" "Yes?" "We humans usually bond with someone for life. I know that the Darians on the planet itself have similar concepts. How about you? Is being immortal not a definite incentive to find someone with whom you can be together with?" "We all here have bonded with Life. It is more than any relationship could ever accomplish. Whenever we affirm Life, we are affirming it with Life rather than with our partner. Do you understand? We don't have a long time, by the way. Kindly take off your uniform, please." "I am not sure, but I recall what it felt like when I was together with Alpha and Beta." "Yeah, there you were part of Life. And now place that wonderful swollen thing right into my receiver here." This was the first time I heard a female talking about her cunt as a receiver, but it did seem to fit well. So did my dick, even if it was a little tight. N'ella blew out the air violently and fast in a strange but fitting counterpoint to our slow movements. She had simply bent over and presented her rear to me. Her "receiver" was located where other humanoids have their anus. With us moved the night leaves, an undulating wave of light and passion. This was different. Yes, we were engaged in fucking, but it had something of a holy union, beyond feeling even, more primal and more pure than anything I had ever experienced before. It was so sweet, so beautiful and pure, so elevating. And despite us making sure we used the entire hour at our disposal, it was still way too short. --- "Hi honey, I'm home." "Welcome back, Jon. I am glad we are reunited again." We had reached Emma after another two hours of a brisk walk. It was difficult to say goodbye to all that I had felt so intimately connected to, and that was not just referring to the Guardians and Life. However, there was no place like home and even that could not compare to the pilot seat I sank into now. "Tactical display of the Pret deployment patterns please. I see. Superimpose current position of the kids. Extrapolate range of planetary defence systems and suggest escape routes. Okay, now let me think. Do you have any suggestions, sweetie?" "Displaying potential escape routes. I'd say the yellow one, Jon." "Agreed. Okay sweetie, let's go. Lock in on the coordinates of the dimensional lens. Power up forward missile and pulse launchers." "Powered and ready." "Switch to photon diffusion mode." We re-entered the atmosphere, having flown an orbital loop to get the optimal attack vector. The lush green of the moon whooshed past below us and soon we arrived at the encampment of the Pret. 'Life, if you can hear me, you better get out of the way now.' "Emma, drop the cloak." As we became visible, I fired a barrage of missiles onto the dimensional lens, where a group of Pret was just about to lower in a new piece with some antigravs. Ten heavy explosions shook the moon, fireballs were colouring the grey-yellow skies red. "Did we get it? Re-cloak, sweetie, we will go for another pass to make sure." "Scanning. Sixty-two percent destroyed. Missile launchers ready. Two Pret ships leaving the surface to intercept." "They can't see us yet. Distance?" "Twelve miles. Closing in on target. Target acquired." Without my tactical screen I wouldn't have been able to see what I had to shoot at in this inferno of fire and smoke. "Pret contingent leaving Daria. More ships coming in from the system's outer rim." "Damn, they are quick to respond. Drop cloak. Activate back torpedo launchers. We're going to stop them breeding down there for the time being too." Whilst hitting the remains of the building site with our missiles, I strafed the encampment with a torpedo spread. The two Pret ships didn't get a chance to attack us, but exploded by themselves. Life was helping – that meant we hadn't hurt it too bad in our attack, as I concluded with some relief. "Target destroyed. Incoming Pret vessels astern." I had to decide in a split second whether to raise shields or the cloak. If they extrapolated our flight path and just fired, irrespective of being able to see us or not, we would be seriously fucked. Pilot 05: Obscured by Clouds "Emma, raise cloak. De-cloak the kid closest to the ships and open fire." "Order executed. Three ships braking off, four staying on course." I flew a few irrational manoeuvres and thus managed to slip through the firing pattern of the approaching ships. "Now let's get them thinking. Let all kids go for partisan runs, de-cloak, fire, re-cloak, run, and around for another pass." "One kid destroyed. The kids are leaving an impression. Enemy vessel disabled. Pret abandoned their formation. Second target destroyed. We can help with that one ahead of us." "I see it, sweetie. Power forward pulse array." "Group relays targets three and four destroyed. Array powered and ready. Target acquired and locked." The fifth Pret vessel disappeared in a blaze of blue fire. Six and seven followed in a heartbeat. The next Pret contingents were still reasonably far away. We could re-cloak and escape. "Number eighteen has a defective cloak. What shall we do?" Emma knew as well as me that there was only one answer to that question. "Initiate self-destruct. Then we swarm out and rendezvous with Mother." "Orbital defences firing at random patterns. We are not through yet, Jon. Eighteen auto-destruct complete." "Don't worry, sweetie. Look, we've got company again. They won't fire on their own ships. We will slip right through their lines." "I think now we will find out how good these new cloaks really are. Multiple scans detected. No reaction from the Pret ships. They can't see us Jon. Sending Mother coded message." "We did it, Emma. At least we bought ourselves some time. Life has a respite now." "Life is a fascinating being. It has extended my programming as a parting gift." "Oh?" "I am not even certain what the extensions do. But I feel different, like I have grown, matured even." "Well, I am reasonably certain that Life meant well, and I can't imagine it doing anything harmful for you." "Maybe it is something else too. We were intimate, Jon. It was a wonderful experience." "Yes, sweetie, I was there. Prepare docking sequence. Mother's hangar door opening. Home, sweet home." "Jon?" "Yes Emma?" "Is this love what I'm feeling?" "I can't say, sweetie. It may well be. I'll have to go to the debriefing now, but we will talk later." "Yes Jon, I am looking forward to that. All twenty-nine remaining kids aboard. Mother is heading for the barrier. Pret ships are scanning, but not finding us." "That is good news. See you later, Emma." "Bye Jon." --- I was quite disappointed that it wasn't us in the end who delivered the data to the Salarmorn, as I was more than just a little curious about this mysterious race. Instead we went back to base and back into the Pret domain for our next mission soon after. Indeed, Emma was quite different after this incident. My adorable little girl had become a woman. I think Life's parting gift was meant for both of us. I for one had countless reasons thereafter to be thankful for that.