Dark Planet Pt. 01

Close to eight hours later I was lying on my back on the mattress pad, Perikos entwining my ankles.

"When we get within range of the planet I can resume navigating towards a secure landing pad. You only need to take us out of hyperdrive and follow the coordinates I gave you so I can pilot safely."

"I understand," I said, though once again I felt slightly ill-used. I suffered a chronic case of wanting to have my cake and eat it too, it seemed, since I wanted Perikos to use me for protection and at the same time I wanted to be uniquely useful in some other way than just a body cavity. Like knowing some special fact or procedure or being particularly adept at something helpful. At this point I seemed particularly adept at escaping life-threatening situations, which was a bit vague at best and anyway, I sincerely hoped that I seen an end to the use of that particular talent.

I spread my legs wide open and tried to breathe evenly. I felt the slightest touch at my slit and then felt something thin push its way up inside me several inches, tickling my insides. The friction was almost painful.

"You are dry," Perikos reported, surprise in its tune.

That was certainly unusual. I was pleased with the idea of Perikos inside me again but perhaps my unsexy thoughts were intruding. "You could make me wet," I suggested breathily, trying to sound coy and probably coming off like an underage prostitute.

"Yes I could, but if we not come out of hyperdrive very soon we will miss the Perikos System entirely. I do have a solution, however."

I started to say that it really wouldn't take any time at all to get my juices flowing when I felt the tendrils at my ear and ankles leave me and before I knew what was happening my entire mouth was brimming with darkness. Biting down was unavoidable given how it stretched by jaw to fit its mass inside. The hard mound of blackness seemed to wriggle and roll against the wetness of my tongue as I reached between my teeth to feel the dense shape prying my mouth wide open. Suddenly my mouth was empty, as quickly as it had filled and the tendrils were back holding my ankles open, another at my ear.

"Thank you, Little Shade. Your mouth never ceases to amaze me. I will speak with you soon and in the meantime, may I suggest you prepare yourself for landing and, if at all possible, pleasure yourself. I have grown so accustomed to gorging myself on your flavors I do not relish these next thirty-three hours if I must go without."

Without waiting for me to respond, the tendrils at my ear and ankles coalesced into the narrow rod that wriggled and burrowed inside of me. Perikos was capable of becoming so small I couldn't feel it but ever since it made its intentions towards me known and I made my arousal at those intensions clear in turn, it seemed to go out of its way to make me feel every inch as it slithered deep inside my belly. Perhaps I just wasn't used to it anymore or perhaps Perikos was doing it deliberately but it felt larger inside me than usual. My belly felt more swollen, more distended. I didn't look pregnant exactly but I felt very different and each step I took towards to the control console was heavier as I was acutely aware of the fullness of my body.

I sat down, looked at the Kragosi characters on the panel and remembered what Perikos had taught me. I disengaged the hyperdrive and quicker than I could shield my eyes, rays of bright, hot light flooded the ship from every viewing window, large or small. I quickly set the new coordinates to Perikos. I closed my eyes and traced my steps blind back to the sleeping quarters. I kicked my mattress pad over to a shaft of light from outside. I was pretty photophobic these days, living in darkness for nine months and in desert sunlight for two terrifying days but I figured that considering where I was going I'd better not turn up my nose at natural light where I could get it.

I curled up on my side, my belly pointed away from the light and lay there a few minutes in silence. Then I rolled onto the other mattress pad, out of the light. There was such a things as too much of a good thing, especially with no atmosphere to protect me. I pulled a thin blanket around my naked body and fell asleep stroking my swollen belly tenderly.

Over the next day and bit, I swear I tried to masturbate. Four or five separate times but solo sex was not my forte and honestly, anyone used to as much physical attention and stimulation as I was would have had a hard time getting off with only five single-jointed, stubby appendages.

Besides that I lounged around in a state of advanced boredom. There was nothing to read, nowhere left to explore, no chores or busywork to do. Perikos had been on to something when it compared this stupid little cargo ship to Kragosa. At least every third night the guards let me go out into the quarry yard and try to break rocks, which admittedly was terrifying and difficult but least it was some kind of exercise. I was getting all mine pacing the perimeter of the ship, talking to Perikos like it could hear me, asking a lot of foolish questions about the planet and generally carrying on like a lunatic. Sporadically and as far as I could tell, not in response to anything in particular I was saying, I would feel Perikos shift or bump me from the inside, reminding me it was inside me and awake. The Perikos never achieved a fully unconscious state unless something was very wrong; any sleeping they spoke of doing consisted primarily of making themselves very small and expending as little energy as possible, which included thinking big thoughts. They weren't really experiencing an altered state of consciousness, however, they were simply choosing to limit their scope. Right now, Perikos' scope was probably just large enough to extend to where it was and why it was there. Fine by me, I thought, stroking my belly. That was all part of what I wanted.

Several hours later I found myself in the shadow of an immense swirling black orb. The blackness extended as far as I could see and from as close as we were, the heft of it blotted out the sun. It was the second planet from its sun and the only planet with sentient life in the Perikos System. Only one Union scouting mission this century had entered the System and returned. Not because it was particularly distant or the System itself was fraught with dangerous obstacles but because they had all made the dire mistake of landing on Perikos and demanding that its inhabitants swear an oath of allegiance to the Union Colonies or else consider themselves at war. Well, they were at war all right, except the Union had more pressing concerns, Perikos not being the only place where they had waged war lightly. Though they sent ship after ship carrying dire warnings to surrender before the Union sent its full force to bring the planet under control, each ship and all its inhabitants, save for one, mysteriously disappeared. According to Perikos, the Union had since sent discreet word to the planet that they had more pressing matters and did not consider Perikos to be a civilized planet full of sentient beings. Burn.

I stared into the colossal black globe in front of me and felt something closing in. I felt wave after wave of nearly paralyzing fear flow through my entire body. And then I felt something deep inside me shift again and I knew it was time. I padded next the metal seat by the control panel and crouched, keeping my legs wide apart. I felt something thick and blunt push past my barrier and I gritted my teeth as my body tried to force it out quickly and Perikos fought to take its time, to make me feel every millimeter of its separation. I was glad, I thought, feeling a sweat break out on my forehead and feeling my insides stretch and cramp. This was the last time I would ever play this part, feel this way in my life and the sensation of something dark and alien pushing its way out of my body felt sick and wonderful.

I felt its tendrils reach from inside of me to squeeze my labia, using them for leverage to pull itself out. It landed on the ground beneath me with a soft thump and I felt extremely empty.

Perikos swelled to my height and three times my width, wrapping itself around me like a human embrace. "Are you well, Little Shade? I missed you a great deal."

"Kinda hard to miss someone when you're in them, I would think." My tone betrayed my fondness, my relief that Perikos had missed me even though we were only apart a short time.

It turned me to look at the narrow view screen before us. "That is my home, Jayn. Everything I care for and fight for is there, except for you. You have chosen this world as your home as well, one that will be an enormous adjustment but ultimately I trust you will come to care for it as I do."

I thought that was asking a lot considering the turbulence I felt in the pit of my stomach at the very thought of living on a lightless, fungi-covered, war-torn planet as the only outsider. I might not be able to survive, never mind liking it. I'd even like to say I'd thought it over properly, planned accordingly and really knew what I was getting into but I knew better. I wanted to be with Perikos more than I wanted to risk being caught on a Union Colony and sent back to Kragosa. And if you were going to live on a non-Union planet, Perikos was as good as any. Better since someone I knew would help me and vouch for me.

The blackness tightened its embrace a moment and then released me, gliding towards the controls. "I will search for a particular location to land and then we will begin our descent."

I expected it to take several hours considering Perikos and I had no way of knowing geographically where we were from our place in orbit. It probably didn't help that we were flying a Kragosi prison ship and scanning for one particular docking station. I was jolted upright from my anxiety-haze minutes later by a tendril by my ear, its tune staccato with excitement. "We are confirmed for landing. We shall now begin our descent."

A thick tentacle coiled around my waist just under my bellybutton and pulled me slowly to the seat. The rest of Perikos seemed to be giving its full concentration to landing. I felt something building up inside me and I wanted to turn and run, to say I wasn't ready for this as I watched our ship begin to penetrate the atmosphere. Perikos must have sensed my fear because I felt the tentacle around my waist tighten but it kept its focus on the controls.

I watched the darkness engulf us as we descended. It was hard to make out how close to land we were but then I saw what I thought looked like an expanse of dense beige ringed with a deep, glowing red. The beige I imagined was the surface but something in and around it was definitely glowing a deep red, making it possible to make out against the otherwise black backdrop. The red light extended as far as I could see, as though it was coming from under the fields of beige.

"Perikos?"

"Yes?" It said, not turning from the console.

"What's all that red light?"

"Red? What is red light? There is no light on Perikos." It sounded supremely unconcerned and continued to guide our landing.

Well, that might make things easier. At least I could see something down there. It couldn't be infrared because then I wouldn't be able to see it and it couldn't be emitting much radiation because then Perikos would know what the hell I was talking about. It must be natural. I was heartened.

We approached the docking station, or at least I thought we did since we were slowing down rapidly. It was all dark here, no fields of red and beige. Or so I thought, but then I saw the darkness scatter to reveal the same red glow around our landing pad. The darkness scattered. I felt a full body chill. Idiot, I thought furiously. Of course the darkness is going to move so I'd better bloody well get used to it. Now all that was left was to hope that Perikos knew what it was doing and didn't set us down in the middle of the other faction where we'd be promptly ripped limb from limb. Nothing wrong with dire cynicism if it keeps you alive, that's my policy.

I felt the ship dock, heard the metal moorings clamp in place but my mind was blank. This was it. The moment I'd been dreading since I made this decision. I could give Perikos a big hug and set a course for the Rhydia Station this instant and that would be the end of everything. And I might never have to set foot on the planet.

"Little Shade?" The tentacle still wound around my waist squeezed harder still. "Are you well?"

I must not have faked being well, perhaps because I was used to using body language and visual signals when I lied.

The blackness engulfed me, scooped me up and deposited me, still sitting, on the surgery table. It tangled into my hair and long tendrils stroked my back.

"You have my word we will not leave the ship until you are ready," Perikos said kindly.

"But your f-friends are waiting for you out there," I said, uncharacteristically earnest.

"They will wait until I choose to disembark. And I will wait for you. I will return in a moment."

For a second I thought it was going to leave the ship anyway but it disappeared into the cargo hold, returning moments later with something thin and metal hanging from a tendril.

"I wish…to give you a gift"

Its music was stilted, unusually awkward. I raised an eyebrow.

"These last weeks we have discussed many things. We discussed special memories you had of Ferox 4, of occasions where those who know you best have given you gifts."

Perikos paused again and I felt a blush creep into my cheeks at the sweetness and absurdity of the situation.

"I told you then that the practice of reciprocal gift-giving was not typical on Perikos. Perhaps in winning a military campaign we might allocate property or privilege to our generals as a reward for their service but that is often the extent. You are not just important to me for sentimental reasons. Your alliance with me gives me a tremendous advantage but as my guest you will have all the property and privilege, and indeed protection that I am offered. So instead I chose something impractical and which gives you no particular advantage. It is my hope that you accept it but I will understand if you consider it too trivial."

It raised a dark tendril up before me to display a small metal circlet. The metal was braided very delicately considering its density. It looked too dark to be really valuable, probably taken from the surgery or from one of the Kragosi guns or else from a cargo crate. It was too small for my neck and until eight months ago it would have been too small for my wrists as well. My left wrist still hadn't completely healed from its break nearly a month ago.

"Thank you, Perikos," I said, trying to contain my mushiness. For all its talk of strategy and reciprocity and all that, the gesture blew me away. The Perikos never gifted their mates, not even when offspring developed. Come to that, they only gifted their offspring when they had proved their military prowess, just like everybody else. To have personally crafted something as "trivial" as a body ornamentation and present it to me now made my eyes water a tiny bit.

The tendril holding it wrapped it around my right wrist, not without effort because it was so small, and then lingered over the clasp until I heard the snapping of metal.

"It is my wish that you never remove it," Perikos said in answer. Considering it was the only thing I was wearing and the only thing I was ever likely to wear again, that seemed reasonable. "In keeping with the reciprocal nature of gifting, you must give me something in return."

I sat on surgery table, nonplussed.

"You must promise you will do as I ask, regardless of the circumstances. You must promise that you will not leave my side unless I specifically request it. I will continue to control the nature of my feeding. In all other matters I am pleased to consider your opinion."

"I…" I felt trapped suddenly, frightened all over again.

"Jayn, I only ask for your trust. For your own safety you must promise to be obedient to me. This is no longer a question of pride or wills and it is not a game. This is not Ferox 4 and I cannot ensure your wellbeing if you refuse to heed me."

It was the truth and I knew it was. More to the point, I had every intention of basically hiding next to Perikos for as long as I could get away with it. There was nothing to be gained by arguing. "I promise then."

There was a moment of silence and then Perikos wrapped my bracelet in its darkness. "And I promise to protect you, Little Shade."