Colony Ship Eight

By the time construction began on Colony Ship Eight, only a few of the original Zorteff construction crew remained. Each colony ship was crewed by one half of the recently returned scientists and engineers, and one half of the construction crew for that ship. It was apparent that the last of the Zorteff construction crew would leave when Colony Ship Eight was launched.

The final list of who else would leave Earth on Colony Ship Eight was announced when the countdown clock reached 120 days. At 90 days, the list of scientists and engineers was announced.

Everyone had assumed that Maria would be one of the chosen ones, either for the colony ship itself, or for the cadre of scientists and engineers who would be trained to build Colony Ship Nine. She was, after all, a genius, a scientist, and a world-renowned expert on the Zorteff. She was also one of the very few-perhaps even the only one on Earth -who could communicate directly with that lizard species.

When anyone else was present, Maria would speak to the Zorteff workers, using her neural translator, but when no one else was around, she would turn that device off and make a direct mind connection.

She was nearly found out when at clock day 130, the Zorteff ship approached on its return trip. She was reporting contact information long before anyone else. That is when she realized that her mind connection had a much greater range than the translators themselves. That is also when she removed herself from the list of potential scientists or colonists.

None of her co-workers understood why she had done so. "You belong on that ship!" they tried to tell her, but she would merely smile back at them and say quietly, "I belong with my father's people."

That statement created more confusion than understanding. It was widely known that her mother was a single parent. To the best of anyone's knowledge, no father had ever been in the picture. Why she was choosing to stay on Earth and possibly perish with a father she never knew was a topic of gossip- of course only when she wasn't around.

Adding to the mystery, about that same time, Maria began wearing long-sleeved blouses and pants. Gone were her normal mini-skirt and sleeveless blouse. This might not have been noticed if it were going into winter, but it was mid-summer. Her attire absolutely stood out against what everyone else was wearing. Everyone noticed.

Luckily for Maria, not everyone noticed that she often did not take her translator with her to her daily private meetings with the Zorteff commander. As an explanation to the one or two people who wondered how she could meet with one of the lizard people without a translator, she said that it was easier to communicate with the commander in written form, and for that no translator was needed since the computers automatically translated the text.

Many people did notice, however, that as the countdown clock approached zero and the possible day of doom, Maria- unlike almost everyone else on Earth- seemed to become happier and more carefree. One of her supervisors seriously suggested that she voluntarily take a psychological assessment, but she politely refused, asking, "Has there been any deterioration of my work? Have I even suggested any thoughts of self-destruction?"

Since she did not meet those necessary criteria, the assessment could not be mandatory, so the matter was dropped. When she was happy and cheerful on the day that Colony Ship Eight departed, however, her supervisor almost changed his mind and ordered a mandatory assessment anyway. But what could he say, "She is happy when almost everyone else is sad?" That wasn't one of the reasons that could be coded as a diagnosis into the mental health system computers.

Maria's cheerful mood became even more buoyant as the day approached for the Zorteff ship to once again blast off. She was positively jubilant when a week before launch, the Zorteff announced that the one hundred scientists and engineers would not be boarding until the last minute. While everyone else whispered in small clusters wondering what was happening, she merely smiled and said, "It will all be explained by the nines when the time is right."

Finally the day of launch arrived. The three hundred slaves and the three hundred alternates were once again gathered naked in front of the Empire State Building. Everything seemed the same... but something was different. Even the vidcasters picked up on the fact that the Zorteff seemed to be much more gentle in their actions with the tribute slaves. Several attempted to find euphemisms for the fact that the Zorteff appeared to lubricate the devices that were placed in the women's vaginas. After many flustered attempts to avoid using the word, eventually most of them gave up and said, "It appears that the lizards are using lube on the dildos this time."

An additional device was also used, or more accurately, the nipple devices had been modified and enlarged. Whatever it was now covered the entire breast and appeared to expand and contract slightly almost as if a human hand were massaging the breast. From the reaction of the women during the hours of stimulation, it apparently also felt that way.

Another thing that the vidcasters noted as different was that there appeared to be a much larger percentage of women who were rejected in the tasting process, especially after the forced orgasms. Again, they had difficulty coming up with the proper wording to describe the fact that the orgasms seemed to be brought about less forcefully, but at the same time seemed to be even deeper and more prolonged that the orgasms witnessed in the previous tribute payments.

Finally, the process of final selection was completed. Everything was ready and the slaves were standing waiting to be chained and marched to the ship. Everyone knew what would happen next. They had seen it seven times before. The vidcasters were ready with their prepared scripts to speak about the humiliation of being chained in coffle and what the sacrifice of these women meant for the planet.

Some had even started into their spiel when one by one all vidcasters slowly fell silent. They had nothing to say from their prepared scripts when, instead of coffle chains, silk scarfs were pulled out of the chests and one was handed to each of the naked women. The silence of the vidcasters turned to gasps, however, when Maria Rosales strode out into the street and stood facing the rows and columns of slaves.

It was difficult to tell if their shock was from this unexpected development, itself, or from the fact that Maria was as totally naked as the three hundred... and her body was covered from neck to ankles in what appeared to be a very intricate tattoo that mimicked the scale patterns of the Zorteff leaders.

"People of Earth," she began. Her voice was amplified greatly and resounded through the streets, though there did not appear to be any microphones near her. Her gaze seemed to stop at each person as she slowly scanned across the crowd. Then she said firmly, "Today is a day of truth."

The vidcasters, who had now been trying to speak beneath her words, again fell silent as they realized that her mouth was not open or moving. She was speaking through the neural translator system as would the Zortefff.

She paused to let the loud murmuring die away, then continued.

"For many years," she said, "my mother was considered crazy because she said that she had been impregnated by one of the Zorteff. Everyone laughed at her when she spoke of being seduced by one of the lizard people. Her claims were considered to be ridiculous. After all, although cross-species sex might have been possible, reproduction was out of the question.

"When I was born, she refused to name an Earthly father and was shamed and ridiculed to the point of having to change her name and go into hiding."

Her voice gained volume and pitch. "She was not alone in her shame. For many generations in the past, other women have tried to tell the world that they had been taken into space and impregnated- artificially- by gray lizard people. They, too, were shamed-or forced- into silence."

Gesturing toward the three hundred, she continued in a slightly softer tone, "All of the women standing here-as was my mother-are descendants of those women. In fact, all of the tribute women selected by the Zorteff have been-or were intended to be-direct descendants of women who were impregnated by what they claimed were 'Lizard People.'"

Gesturing now toward the rows of lizard crewmen lining the streets on either side of the tribute women, her voice once again increased in volume as she said, "Zorteff is not the name of their race. It is what they, themselves, are. They are Zorteff- soldiers who have been genetically modified for the rigors of space and for the millennia of intense warfare between the worlds of 'The Nine Planets.'

The people of The Nine Planets, themselves, are-or were-much more highly-evolved and more closely resembled humanoids, but Novem have a life span of only one hundred to two hundred years. Zorteff are, for all practical purposes, immortal.

"People of Earth," she continued in a stern tone, "learn from what befell the race called 'The Novem.' As the war raged, weapons were refined and improved. Some of the Zorteff knew that the eventual outcome of the war would be nothing less than the complete annihilation of all nine planets. So several centuries ago, some of the Zorteff- mutual enemies with a common cause from all nine planets- met to discuss the fact that the ultimate course of the war would be the total annihilation of all Novem.

"They banded together and salvaged one of the abandoned Battle Moons and secreted it outside the system of the nines. They used that massive ship to search for other inhabited worlds where they could safely store their genetic lineage. They chose Earth because despite our many apparent differences, it was possible to embed their DNA- Novem DNA- within human clones.

"All Zorteff are male. All of the clones were, naturally, female. But the clones carried both the active DNA of their mother's and inactive DNA from the Zorteff. That inactive DNA would be passed on from generation to generation, keeping it safe until it could be harvested and returned to The Nine Planets. Because of the inactive DNA, the clones and their descendants would be capable of reproducing with the Zorteff."

Everyone heard a deep sigh from Maria even though she remained standing perfectly still with her mouth closed. "The Nine Planets are no more," she continued. "Their ultimate doomsday weapons were exactly that. The only survivors of The Final War are those Zorteff who were away from their solar system on their salvaged Battle Moon."

She looked up at the many video devices which were focused on her and continued. "The three hundred," she explained, "were never intended to be sex slaves. They were intended to be wives. The purpose of the sexual stimulation in the presence of the Zorteff was to activate the dormant DNA and bring out the latent Novem genetic strain in the pheromones released by the women. The presence of that pheromone meant that they could cross-species reproduce. The children would be of mixed race, but Novem would live on through them."

She gestured toward her body and said, "Because I am one of those children-a Terra-Novem- intense sexual stimulation did more than that for me. It brought out the body coloring of my father's race. It began the first time I formed mind contact with Captain Zortow and, yes, he and I have been lovers since the Zorteff ship returned to Earth."

Reaching over to a small stand that had been placed next to her as she spoke, she picked up one of the dildos and inserted it into herself. She then put on the nipple and breast covers. "These devices," she continued "are part of a Novem coming of age ceremony, modified slightly for human anatomy. Sexuality was celebrated rather than hidden in the societies of The Nine Planets. The intense orgasms caused by these devices were both proof that a person had gone through what we call puberty and at the same time helped complete that process."

Maria began to tremble slightly as the devices she had placed in and upon her body were activated. A low, keening, wail erupted from the loud speakers in the streets but her mouth remained closed. Suddenly she threw back her head and screamed- a long, loud physical scream of intense passion.

She stood breathing deeply and swaying as she recovered from what was obviously a very intense orgasm. The coloring and pattern of her naked skin became darker and more pronounced. The surface of her skin, itself, seemed to grow hard and shiny, almost as if the dermis were changing into scales.

Finally, she fully recovered and stood once again facing the three hundred. Holding up one of the scarves, she said, "The Zorteff are not infallible. The slave coffels were used because of a mistake in translation and from ignorance- or lack of familiarity- with both our culture and their own."

Wrapping the scarf around her neck, she continued, "It was the custom of the Novem that as a public pledge of mutual loyalty to a relationship, you would bind your mate to yourself using a long silk-like scarf and together walk before your families and friends."

Turning to the three hundred standing before her she yelled out both physically and through the amplified translation speakers, "Fellow sisters of Novem, if you are willing to help reclaim the planet of your fathers, tie this scarf around your neck as symbol of your willingness."

To the amazement of the people watching throughout the world all but a handful of the naked women wrapped the scarves around their necks and stood with their legs apart and their hands clasped on their heads. Somehow the Novem DNA awakening in them guided them into that ritual stance. The few who were still holding their scarves were quickly replaced by volunteers who walked forward from the reserve three hundred. Soon three hundred naked women were standing in the street with the bright blue scarves tied around their necks, fluttering in the wind.

Five columns of Zorteff suddenly appeared. Evidently they had walked unseen from the Zorteff ship. The columns walked slowly between the columns of the three hundred. Soon there was one Zorteff standing beside each woman. Maria again said something aloud. It was evidently in the Novem language and was not translated by the equipment. The Zorteff, and the Tribute Three Hundred, however, heard both her words and her true thoughts.

The Zorteff standing next to each woman took the other end of the scarf and tied it tightly around their own wrist. After they were finished, Maria tightened her own scarf and assumed the same position. The vidcams zoomed in for a closeup as the commander of the Zorteff stepped forward and wrapped the scarf around his wrist.

He then turned to face the people and the vidcams. "People of Earth," the translator system boomed out. "The Battle Moon, which you have seen in your skies and called an asteroid, is now leaving your solar system forever."

He paused before continuing. "You may hate us for what we have done, but it was necessary to save the Novem race. And someday you will recognize that we have also helped to save the genetic heritage of your planet. The colony ships which left Earth have already begun to repopulate eight of the nine planets. Our Battle Moon will be the colony ship to populate the ninth planet."

He gestured toward the throng of politicians and dignitaries gathered on the steps of the Empire State Building. "When you have finally destroyed your planet-which it appears you will eventually do-your genetic heritage will be safe on those planets. After you have destroyed yourselves, perhaps the population there will send colony ships back to repopulate the Earth as the Novem originally sent colony ships out many millenia ago to populate many worlds... perhaps even this one."

He then turned and, with Maria by his side, began the march toward the Zorteff ship with the three hundred Zorteff and their mates walking behind him. Shortly after they entered the ship, its engines came to full power for lift off.

As it rose into the sky, the countdown clocks once again reset, this time to display question marks for the years and months and days and hours. The minutes and seconds, however, were counting down from 05:00.

When that countdown reached zero, it once again reset to 05:00 and it has repeated that cycle ever since. At first, the world leaders spoke of removing the clocks from all the cities of the world, but after much discussion, decided to keep them. It was hoped that the constant countdown to possible annihilation would help the nations of the world cooperate and work toward unity and peace rather than continue on their course toward mutual destruction.

Hope for true world peace was now very high, but just in case, deep space exploration probes were sent out looking for inhabitable planets... and work continued on Colony Ship Nine.

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END OF STORY

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