Absorption

"Pris!"

Still no reply. Some of her circuits must have been damaged and the network was down.

I grabbed my fire extinguisher and glanced at the nearest readout. The fire was centred in the same place as before.

I pushed my way through the choking smoke. Heat hit me like a wall. I cursed the Company for cutting corners. An automated fire-fighting system couldn't be that expensive.

I struggled forward. I should have grabbed a lungful of clean air but hadn't, like the fool I was. I managed to beat my way to the fire, choking, and with my head turned away and spraying and praying I filled the area with retardant foam.

The heat dropped and the smoke lessened and I was able to fight my way further along the corridor. There were more fires ahead and I sprayed them, too.

At the end I slumped to my knees, exhausted. How the hell had all this happened? We must have hit some debris we'd missed.

I had to get Pris back online. I was halfway back to the helm when I heard a creaking. I stopped, looked up and saw a pipe swaying above my head.

In slow motion the single cable holding it up frayed and snapped. I managed a single step before the whole lot was on top of me.

I heard the muffled crash of the piping and my own scream like I was listening to them through water. The air was smashed from my lungs and a warm wetness spilled over my head and shoulders.

So this is what it was like to die. I felt myself fall forward, but saw nothing except for a swirling haze across my vision. My blood - for that was what the warm wetness undoubtedly was - flowed all over me. The sensation was strange, and overall not at all unpleasant.

Well, there were worse ways to go. Lying on the ground, wet, warm...

...and no pain. So I must already be dead.

Something was flowing across me. Could my body really have that much blood in it? The blood covering my mouth fell away and my chest exploded as air poured into it.

Wait. Air?

The haze dissipated. Something was moving out there in the smoke. I no longer smelled ozone and burning plastic, but some other scent, a strange floral one.

My chest ached. I rolled into a position where I could breathe easier.

Then I remembered that a dead man can't feel pain or breathe air or perceive anything.

So I wasn't dead.

I turned my head. I was lying against the wall, the piping that had collapsed on top of me filling the corridor. There was no way I could have instinctively rolled away from it. The collapse had happened too quickly.

Good. Thinking more clearly now.

I'd seen something moving before. Alarmed, I sat up and struggled to stand.

A hand slipped into mine and pulled me up.

The earlier floral scent enveloped me. I looked down at my hand. Another hand was holding it. It was long, with feminine fingers, a beautiful green-blue colour. It felt solid, grasping mine, but didn't at all have the texture of flesh: more like firm gelatine.

The hand was attached to a pseudopod which in turn was attached to a column of blue-green goo rising up from the floor. The pseudopod became an arm and the column resolved into the voluptuous body I'd thought I'd never see again, with its graceful head and its mischievous and beautiful face.

Lula, grinning.

The sight stunned me. I held onto her hand and stood there, blinking in disbelief.

That strange sensation earlier, the one I'd mistaken for blood - that warm, flowing wetness had been her. She'd covered me with her body, protected me from the falling debris by absorbing the impact.

The grin slowly slipped from her face. I knew why. I was staring at her.

I smiled. It was easy to do, even as confused as I was. I was alive! Al-hamdu lillah, I was alive!

"You saved me," I said, squeezing her hand. "Thank you, Lula, thank you!"

Lula's smile flashed back for a moment, but then she glanced down at my hand. She looked back up, her smile shier, her eyes avoiding mine. She drew me closer.

I knew I should have been more careful. She was an alien, an unknown quantity, like Pris had said. Just because she'd saved me didn't mean she wasn't hostile in some way. She was pulling me toward her to eat me. I'd seen those videos at school, of amoebas drawing in their prey with a pseudopod before engulfing it and digesting it.

And yet... that demure look, that round, gentle face. She could have eaten me before, when I was on the ground, when she'd covered me with her body.

Her body. So that's how it felt. Sometimes firm and sometimes liquid, like jello with either too much or too little gelatine in it.

I let her pull me to her. She enveloped me, but in a hug this time, her other arm encircling my back to draw me against her. Her body turned firm as her full breasts flattened up against my chest. She rested her chin on my shoulder and pressed the side of her face against my neck, her strange, flowery scent filling my senses.

"Lula," I murmured. I knew she wasn't going to eat me. "Thank you."

She lifted her eyes and smiled up at me. She couldn't talk, but with those wide expressive eyes and eyebrows I knew she was telling me I was welcome.

I looked about at the destruction around us. The fire. Pris was still offline. Maybe the fire had damaged her circuits. I needed to go and...

I tried to gently separate myself from Lula, but she clung to me.

"No, Lula, I have to..."

She shook her head, frowning, her eyes wide. She brought her lips against my cheek and I felt a wetness there and lifted my hand to the spot.

Wet, but not with saliva. The fluid my hand brought away was thicker, stickier, and smelled rich and floral, like plant sap or... or...

Lula darted forward and brought her lips against mine. The kiss was gently, but wet, the tip of her tongue darting out. I remembered the kiss that Mrs. Jensen had given me, that kiss which had promised so much more.

I ran the tip of my tongue over my lips and encountered a strong taste. Her saliva, or fluid, or whatever it was. Thick like honey, and tasting...

God. The effect was immediate. I was harder than diamonds. The squishing of her breasts against my chest and the soft warmth of her body were already exciting me, but the strong, sour-sweet taste of this strange fluid that smelled so strong was like a mainline of pleasure bursting along my spine.

I wanted more. I lifted my fingers and licked the tip where I'd touched my cheek. More sour-sweetness. My dick jerked and I felt wetness against my underwear.

Lula's fluid was having an effect on me, even stronger than her body was. I forgot all about Pris, I'm ashamed to confess. All I wanted was to taste more of Lula, to feel that incredible pliant softness against my body.

Lula saw the look in my eyes and her shy smile turned to a grin. She tilted her head, parted her lips, and leaned closer.

Too slow. I let my hands slip from her waist over the curve of that incredible butt and pulled her hips against mine, needing to feel her all over me. My fingers pressed against the softness of her gooey body and sank a short way into her, as though her body was sucking them in.

Lula's lips opened in a gasp. Apparently it felt good. I closed the distance between our lips and kissed her as I gently pushed my fingers deeper into her. Her body gave way and my fingers met heat and wetness inside her.

Lula's cute gasping against my mouth inflamed me and I kissed her harder, my tongue slipping past her lips and into her mouth. To say it was different from kissing a human girl is an understatement. The contrast between the hard teeth, moist lips and sticky inside of a girl's mouth was instead a soft, overpowering gooey smoothness. Lula sucked my tongue deeper into her and the smell and savour of her thick fluids intensified, sending me reeling. I gasped and felt a sudden soft pressure against my tongue, pushing it out and back into my mouth.

Lula's own tongue. It was really a pseudopod, of course, but it was hot and thick and exuded that delicious wetness that was keeping me iron-hard. She dipped it into my mouth, teased the tip of my tongue with it, and let it slip over my teeth and up against my sensitive palate. But it went further, then, further than a human tongue could ever manage, sliding down my throat. There was a moment's panic I was going to choke, but I continued to breathe freely. Lula must be keeping her body porous, allowing air to flow imperceptibly into me.

I was glad she was such a sensitive and attentive lover.

How did she know how to do all this? I was sure that whatever species she was, they didn't usually have sex like humans did. Mind-reading again, no doubt. That naughty girl.

Lula was surprisingly heavy and I felt her pushing me back. I pulled away, her tongue sliding from my mouth and I fell to panting, more from habit than from actually needing the air.

Lula's eyebrows drooped and I realised she thought I was angry and was rejecting her. Maybe her powers of empathy were weaker while she was excited. She certainly looked excited, with her eyes huge and dark, her body glistening all over in a strange, alien blush.

I smiled and separated from her, but kept hold of her hand. My clothes where she'd been pressing against me were slick with wetness. I smelled strongly of her excitement.

"Don't worry," I said. "I just want to take you somewhere more comfortable."

Lula smiled and nodded. I knew she didn't understand the words but rather was reading my emotions. She knew how excited I was, could no doubt see the images of the things I wanted to do to her, for her to do to me, foaming in my mind.

We picked our way over the wreckage. In the back of my head I knew I was being reckless, that I had to fix the ship, get Pris back online. But there was no way my body would let me.

I hurried down the corridor to my quarters with Lula following. Rather than walk, her feet melted down into a pool that drew her along the ground. I knew she could probably move a lot faster than she was, but she was enjoying the game of letting me lead her.

I punched the button outside my quarters and the door dilated. I pulled Lula inside after me.

Once inside, she took control of the situation. Her eyes dark, a half-smile on her lips, she pulled me to her and pushed me back onto the bed. She was incredibly strong for such a small, soft thing.

I tried to sit up but with surprising speed she melted back into her shapeless form and flowed over me as a wave, as she had when she'd saved me from the falling debris.

The weight of her pushed me onto my back. I struggled, but it was no use. She quickly formed arms and legs again, her hands holding me down by the wrists, her feet pressing down against my own... wait, not feet. Hands. She'd formed hands at the ends of her legs as well.

The rest of her body coalesced and her face reappeared, grinning at my powerlessness. She closed her eyes and dipped her face. Her lips grazed mine, half-teasing, half-shy. The shyness made me harder than before. There was just something about the contrast of her voluptuous body with the tentativeness of her actions that was turning me on.

Was it all an act? She certainly felt like she was teasing me. But then again, perhaps Lula was a virgin. There had been no other signs of life on that desolate mud-ball.

She wasn't kissing me like a virgin, though. It seemed like she'd learned a thing or two from scanning my memories. She instinctively knew what I enjoyed. Her tongue tapped against my lips and when I gasped she dipped her tongue into my mouth. Again, that incredible flavour flooded my senses. All of her tasted of that rich, sexual savour.

As she kissed me deeply a tingling started up at various points of my body, sort of like the tingling you feel in your mouth from eating spicy food. The sensation spread quickly and I smelled a strange smell, almost like burning.

Lula broke away from me. Her eyes were hooded, her pupils dark, her mouth slick with my saliva and her own juices. A fine mist was rising up about her and the burning smell grew sharper. I lifted my head.

Where Lula's big boobs were squashed against my shirt smoke was spilling up around her.

That smell - it was burning. Lula was dissolving my clothes!

I began to struggle. Pris was right. All of this had been a trick to catch me and devour me. Any second now she would melt back down into her blob-form and cover me, like an amoeba engulfing its prey, and my last moments would be experiencing what it's like to be digested alive.

Lula noticed the desperation of my struggles and increased her pressure on me. She frowned, but then that gentle smile reappeared. She shook her head and dipped her face back down to kiss me on the forehead.

She was trying to reassure me, I guess. But she didn't release the pressure on me until every item of my clothes had dissolved away. She had incredible control over her body. As soon as her protoplasm reached my flesh, she withdrew her acidity and I felt only a mild prickling like before.

My pants were the last to go. She left the belt and its buckle undissolved and I saw it rise up through her cytoplasm before being spat out of her side. It was a neat trick, but I had other things on my mind now.

The last scrap of my pants had dissolved away, letting my dick jerked free. Lula straightaway pressed her squishy body down against it.

I've had sex with a few plump girls in my time and the sensation was similar to the silky-softness of a pleasantly curvy tummy pressing down on you. With no skeleton or muscles and only the stiffening of her cell-walls to exert pressure, I was being delightfully smothered in Lula's voluptuousness.

"Hey Lula, let my wrists go. I want to..."

But she'd already read my mind. With a smile, she let go and I slipped my hands up to cup her chin, drew her down and kissed her.

Her whole body shivered on top of me. She was enjoying it. My fingers began to sink into her body, but she gently pushed them back out. Lula's bodily integrity was all a matter of concentration, of course. My kissing had obviously distracted her.

I was pretty damn distracted too. My dick had never been so hard. I slipped my hands down Lula's neck and over her shoulders, then down along her back to her butt. It was a nice rounded butt, and there are few things better in the universe than the sight of a shapely butt like that poking up with its high curve. I squeezed it and Lula's mouth slipped open. My fingers sunk in again, but this time Lula let them slide in further, resisting with only a little pressure of her body. heat and wetness engulfed my fingers.

She arched her back and opened her mouth wide, though no sound came out. I would have loved to have heard her cries, but the sight of her was exciting enough as it was. I'd probably have come there and then if she'd had a voice to mirror the ecstasy contorting her face.

I was more than ready for it. With my fingers slipping in and out of her, slick and hot, and her body sliding up and down against mine, I was going out of mind with lust. But how exactly was I supposed to seal the deal? I hadn't noticed that particular spot on Lula's body, although I was sure she could form one.

Once again as soon as I thought it, Lula understood. Grinning down at me, she undulated the part of her body flush with my thighs and pelvis, and I cried out. Moisture and pressure and heat coated my length. She was giving me a blow job like only a girl made of protoplasm can: her whole lower body had become a huge mouth.

"Lula, I... God, if you keep doing that I'm going to..!"

She slowed herself down, but only enough for me to keep edging closer and closer to coming. It was a dangerous game she was playing, but being empathic she was an expert at it. As soon as she felt me about to slip over the edge and climax, she pulled herself away. And all the while she grinned down at me.

The little minx! I'd had enough of her teasing. I took hold of her wrists and with all the strength I could muster I pulled her over onto her back and lay on top of her. Kneeling on either side of her body, I pressed down on top of her, smashing my lips against hers as she gasped and panted.

So she could make sounds!

Lying on top of her was lying on top of a super-comfortable water bed. But just lying there was the last thing on her mind. I thrust my hips at her, poking her with the iron hardness of my erection.

Her gasps grew louder.

"Come on, Lula. This is what you want, right?"

Her eyes flashed open. They were dark, heavy with need, but she turned them away at the intensity of my desire and nodded.

I brought my hips flush against hers. The head of my dick encountered the softness of her body again, but this time it split and drew me in up to the hilt. The heat and velvety softness inside her is impossible to describe.

I grunted and slowly drew myself out before smashing myself back in. It felt so good I wouldn't have been able to slow my thrusts even if I'd wanted to.

Somehow, despite her ecstasy, Lula was able to keep control of the situation. Every time I came close to coming, she loosened her body's grip on my hardness and I was able to pull back from the brink. I could literally fuck her as hard as I wanted without worrying about coming too soon.

She arched her neck and I licked and bit at it. Her whole body was growing slick, exuding her excitement like she was a single sexual organ. Every inch of her skin tasted of her delicious juices and I was soon sticky with them myself.

At the end of one particularly deep thrust Lula's body lost all its firmness and I sank into her. She enveloped me completely and I panicked. Without any traction, I hung suspended within her, kicking my arms and legs.

But it wasn't her intention to engulf me. With a sharp undulation, my face burst free. Then the rest of her slid away, leaving me lying face-down on the mattress - but not for long. Pseudopods gripped my waist and flipped me over. She quickly retook her human shape and sat astride my body, grinning down at me.

It was Lula's turn to be in control. She hopped forward and shivered in delight as I slid right into her. Then she began to bounce herself up and down on my erection, her heavy breasts swaying. Her body was filled to the brim with fluid and a tsunami spilled out of her, plastering my crotch and thighs with stickiness. The pleasure quickly became too much for her and she started losing her solidity, her whole body glistening like melting ice-cream.

I was out of mind with pent-up lust and lost all control. My thrusts became desperate, unrestrained, penetrating her up to the hilt and Lula plunged herself down to meet them. Moments later I came, spilling what felt like gallons of semen into her. The walls of her body shivered and undulated around my dick as though trying to drain me of every drop. As I continued to come, I felt Lula shudder. She threw her head back at an angle impossible for a creature with a spine, and then, her mouth wide in a silent cry of ecstasy, she came as well.

Waves of pleasure coursed through her body, visible as ripples across her surface. I moved to grab hold of her hips and keep her steady, but my hands sunk straight into her and she collapsed forward, melting into a wave of viscous slime which splattered over every inch of my body.

Gasping, my body still tingling from my ebbing orgasm, I wiped her from my face. Lula had split into a dozen smaller blobs and I bit back ticklish laughter as they crawled all over me, searching for each other to reconstitute herself. Soon the largest of the blobs took on her face and she beamed down at me, her eyes shining with happiness. Her body grew steadily larger until she was whole again, after which she wrapped me with a full-body hug, her face pressing against the crook of my neck, her soft lips running along my chin and behind my ear.