The Cell Mate Pt. 03

A thin tendril slid through my hair and stroked my cheek. I felt incredibly stupid but I almost felt something else, something warm and bright deep in my chest. Perikos liked me and had worried for me as a person, not just a vehicle. I didn't want to admit how pleased I felt. And stupid. Whether he liked me or not was supposed to be irrelevant. We were partners in crime and we needed to get off Kragosa as soon as possible. No time for anymore stupid, girlish indulging of feelings or human sensibilities about privacy or the whole my-body-is-temple sanctity. Bullshit. My body was hurting because I served a very important purpose today; keeping us alive till nightfall. Time to move on.

"What now?" I asked after a moment, though what I wished we could do now is find a river or a lake or hell, even a big puddle. I was still parched.

"Now, little Shade, we should go north as fast as we can." Perikos released my hands finally and the thin tendril at my cheek nudged my shoulder so I faced away from rather than towards its body.

"Little Shade? What does that mean?"

"Ah, I apologize, Jayn. It is a term of endearment to younger of my race."

"Hey, how do you know I'm not older than you?"

Perikos' blackness enveloped my middle as well as my arms up the elbows and my legs as far up as the knees. Its music seemed pleasant, amused. "Very well, how old are you?"

"Twenty-four by the Ferox 4 year."

The music sounded like tinkling bells. "Well, I confess I do not know how long a Ferox 4 year is by comparison, since our race is nomadic and move with the rotation of the planet. One rotation every two cycles of our planet around its star. To compare with Kragosa's year I would have lived ninety-seven years."

I balked. That was over 112 on Ferox 4. "Does that make you old?"

A sound like bells again. "On Ferox 4? I am not sure. Among my kind I am still young enough to be dangerous. Are you comfortable? Do you feel much pain?"

Besides the throbbing below my waist from the poison and the other thing, I felt fine and said as much. Then Perikos began to grow, to swell like a balloon in the darkness. I felt my body raised off the ground, felt the ground in its entirety fall away until Perikos' body was near the size of the white ball and I felt like a grain of sand lost in its mass.

It began to move, to glide, fast and graceful over the dusty desert floor. I was glad I wasn't afraid of heights, I thought, pressing back into its dark body nonetheless, savoring the ease of it, the cool breeze that brushed my face so high up.

"If you see any water let me know!" I called, feeling my voice snatched away in the wind.

The tendril replaced itself by the shell of my ear. "Yes, I am searching. I know you are still weak from thirst, I can feel it in your muscles. When I find water we shall stop a moment. Besides your thirst, are you well? I do not feel any fear from you as we travel, though I anticipated I would."

"If you're looking to feed that way you're out of luck," I told it. "This is amazing! No fear here, sorry."

"Do not apologize. If you say you are happy then I am pleased in this one instance you feel neither arousal nor fear. It is enough to feel freedom then, is it not?"

I felt a chill wind gust up around me as I watched the landscape roll by. We were moving so fast, so effortlessly. If we could have done this yesterday we'd have been in business. We might have made it to the docking station and have left already. A nagging little thought entered my head as I watched the low craggy hills float past us to the east.

If we made it there tonight or tomorrow night, what then? Would there even be ships docked there? If not, how long could we survive together on this planet? And if there was a ship, would it be a simple matter to steal it? My experience piloting was limited to one-passenger cruisers which were never meant to leave the planet's stratosphere. And which direction was Ferox 4? Could I even go back? Kragosa or not, I was still convicted and if TransmitNet got a hold of my association with Perikos I might not be welcomed back with open arms. There it was again, my gift for understatement. Plus now that Dad and Renny were gone and Mylon had left the System to go police the Andron Colonies, it isn't as though I had a family or a home to go to anymore. To top it all off, I felt a weird clenching in my stomach. There was something else there, a piercing little worry niggling at my brain. I didn't want to think about it. One step at a time.

The blemished desert of Kragosa sailed underneath Perikos as I saw the planet's moon set over the horizon. I never had time to map the constellations while I broke rocks in the quarry but when the moon set it meant the sun would return in less than two hours. The guards always marched me back to my cell long before the sun rose over the quarry.

"How much farther?" I asked.

"We cannot safely close the distance tonight and that is just as well since I understand there to be very little cover near the docking station. Use your eyes to see if you can spot somewhere safe for us to wait until nightfall."

I looked, straining my eyes in what was now near darkness. The moonlight was gone and the land far below me unchanged. No mines this time, or settlements. I wanted somewhere with shelter and water or dehydration would get me before we had a chance to storm the docking station.

"I don't see anything. No trees or gullies or anything remarkable at all. I don't know what we're going to do but we don't have a lot of time to fig – woah, wait! Is that a spring?"

Perikos ceased its gliding gait a moment. "Which direction?"

I remembered the setting moon. "Umm, south-west I think, maybe ten kilometers more? Maybe only eight."

Perikos rotated my body so I was facing south-west. It seemed to shrink in size somewhat but held my arms and legs firmly. I was still dwarfed by its immense mass. "I believe you are correct. I think there is an underground stream or lake in this area and I detect small amounts of surface water ahead. We should proceed."

I nodded as it glided forward. The air here was warmer or maybe I just wasn't as high up as I was before. We closed the distance quickly and as it grew larger I saw the spring was like a large pond, maybe twenty-five feet in diameter. It was surrounded by a little outcropping of things that had to be plants but didn't look like any I had ever seen. They looked hard and sharp and stood just taller than me by my estimation. Closer to the ground there were clumps of small, twiggy shrubs shaped like fans or umbrellas.

"It's an oasis," I said.

"I am not entirely familiar with that concept. Is it safe? Is it appropriate?" Perikos asked.

"Yes!" I said, feeling giddy with relief. "Yes, it's perfect. Better than perfect! Let me down!"

I couldn't stop laughing as Perikos set me down gently, its mass retreating into itself in the darkness. I wasn't paying attention as I charged towards the spring. I caught my foot on a rock and lost my balance, toppling headfirst into the water. It was so cool, so refreshingly bright and clean on my skin. I gulped down mouthful after mouthful, feeling my stomach distend from the volume of it, feeling my muscles swell and strengthen and the grime slip away from my body. I felt a gentle nudge near my ear.

"You are feeling better. Do not make yourself ill. We shall stay here when the Star returns and you will be able to drink as much as you like."

There was too much truth to that to ignore, I thought, letting out an unseemly belch and hearing my stomach gurgle. Too much, too fast. I pulled myself from the pond and went to lie down at the little shore where the dirt became much finer and more regular. Perikos seemed to settle next to me, its mass not really resting on the ground or on me but instead seeming to float gracefully in the darkness. One thick, heavy tendril slid over my ribs and came to rest between my breasts.

"How long do we have?" I asked. "Before sunrise?"

"I would rather not rush my feeding. You have proven delicate, as I told you before."

I frowned, rolling away from the black snake resting over my fluttering heart. "What do you mean, 'delicate'? I'm doing my best. Remember my immune system or first aid or whatever keeping the poison at bay? Now all of a sudden I'm 'delicate'?"

"I did not mean to offend you, Little Shade. You are very robust member of your species. But I must feed before I retire and your situation is…fragile. I think it best we begin immediately."

I closed my legs tight as I felt a low, dull throb. "Isn't there something else we can do?"

"Nothing so delicious, so potent. I have given more energy than I had to expend to keep you well and move us quickly and safely. Now I ask you to keep me strong so I can protect us at nightfall."

The heavy tendril I pushed away wrapped itself around my ankle, flipping me over onto my stomach. Another reached down from above and wrapped itself round my hips, pulling me upward onto my hands and knees. The densest mass of Perikos' form pressed close to my face and I reached a hand forward to stroke the tensing rigid ball of darkness that made up its core. It was just as smooth and cool as the tentacle that snaked its way from the mass down the underside of my body, between my breasts and over my belly, coming to rest at the little nub at the apex between my legs. Other tendrils raked over my swollen, hanging breasts, twisting and tweaking and stroking. The tendril at my nub ground against my body and I came quickly, feeling my bruised and swollen lips grow slick from my arousal. I felt the movement of another shadow behind me and then I felt the tapered tip of a tentacle brush over my labia and dip ever so gently, so carefully inside before pulling out again, almost shyly. The throbbing hadn't stopped.

"I really don't see how we can…it's much too sore, you'll tear me and I won't be able to…to, er, do what I do during the day," I felt bashful all of a sudden, embarrassed by having to say it.

Then I felt the moist tentacle press gently between my cheeks and all other thoughts fled from my mind.

I pulled away and forward. "What the hell are you doing? That wasn't part of the deal!"

The core of Perikos' body hovered directly in front of me and I had nowhere to go as I pulled away but to press my face against it and then it happened. Its mass became pliable, malleable like before and it seemed to suck my head inside its core, cutting off all light and sound and even air, leaving the rest of my naked body helpless and exposed in the night wilderness.

I started to struggle immediately, trying to pull my head away and thrashing back and forth as hard as I could, my lungs aching for air and my neck and shoulders pulling away from the firm dark body that held my head inside it. Something blunt and thin pressed between my clenched teeth, prizing its way into my mouth and forcing air into and out of my lungs in regular, measured intervals. The tentacle supporting my abdomen and rubbing against my sensitive nub ceased its assault a moment. I felt two appendages entwine themselves around my ankles to hold my legs spread apart while a final one laced itself around my wrists, twisting my arms behind my back and out of the way of their touch.

"Please be calm, Little Shade. You will hurt yourself if you insist on struggling this way." The music was louder, somehow stronger and totally ubiquitous, sounding all around me in otherwise perfect silence.

I felt two smaller, creeping tendrils slide over the globes of my ass, pulling my cheeks apart to reveal my clenched hole. I felt waves of hot, clammy humiliation.

"Why does it shame you? You feel desire, I can taste it. And I have already penetrated your body this way. So why do I feel so much shame and heat on your face?"

Presumably that was a rhetorical question since the force Perikos held my head in check with didn't allow me to move my jaw at all and the tendril in my mouth pressed firmly against the mouth of my mouth, impairing my tongue. I tried mumbling, groaning, willing it to understand. No, no. Dirty. Painful. Wrong. I felt the tapered wetness bump gently against my asshole. I struggled again, tried to thrash away from Perikos' limbs and all I managed to do was wrench my shoulder again.

"Why must you fight so, Sweet Shade? After what we have shared, do you not trust me? Do you not know I feel your lust for this as well as your fear? You are so sweet because you need what frightens you. Do you think I will wound you or humiliate you? I hold you this way because darkness and lack of control cause you fear but they are beginning to cause you something else. Please trust that I will look after you. I will need your energy tomorrow and this is the best way." I felt the narrowest tip press more firmly against my tightly clenched hole. "Now, if you trust me and do as I tell you I will give you what you need." The tip pressed a little harder against me. "Bear down and relax, please."

I tried, concentrating on relaxing every muscle I had, which was no mean feat with my head cut off from my naked, exposed body. Perikos was right though: it was happening whether I was ready or not. And it was right about other things too. It needed to feed on me if we were going to get off this planet and something deep in my gut clenched as I felt my pussy drip, the moisture running down my leg. Darkness and fear.

"That's right, Little Shade," The music was gentle, even sweetly soothing. The tapered tip left me a moment and intercepted the moisture as it ran down my leg, wiping it away and then I felt the pressure return at my clenched hole. The thick limb supporting my torso ground hard against my clit and I gasped but held perfectly still as the tendril at my ass pressed forward once more, more firmly now as I tried to bear down and I felt the ring of tight muscle there stretch wide as the tip pushed past that barrier. It wasn't as painful as it had been the first night with Perikos. Maybe because it had done this before or perhaps because I was trying not to struggle, or maybe for some other reason entirely.

The tip of the tendril wiggled slightly inside me, like a worm in its hole, before pushing forward again, inserting itself deeper into my ass. My moan became a gurgle of pain as the unlubricated girth of the tendril met resistance as it tried to press inside me. The tendril within me withdrew at once and completely, leaving my ass slightly gaping and I felt oddly empty. Then the entire length of the tendril began to rub along my sopping slit, coating itself. It was replaced by still more length that coated itself in my juices. How deep did it intend to go, I wondered and felt my stomach contract again, felt fluid flow from my pussy again. Darkness and fear again.

The tip pressed against my tightening bud again and split me open, pushing slowly but firmly inside my body. "This feeling, so deep and dark and poignant is my favorite. The moment before I invade your cavity and you fear and you lust and you know you are helpless. I could do it many, many more times but the night is short and there are other flavors I have not tried." The notes were smug and lilting, possessive and serpentine and my pussy and ass clenched involuntarily. The tendril wiggled again before pressing on, waiting a patient moment while I concentrated on relaxing my muscles.

The pain had returned now, bright and keen and I felt my eyes watering against the cool hardness of the Perikos. The long, thin tendril burrowed deeper inside of me and I felt my passage ripple and clench around the alien appendage. I tried breathing deep to relax my body but the stretching ache was too great, too immediate. I felt another inch of tendril press past my asshole and into my body. What did that make? Seven inches? Eight? My bowels clenched and cramped around the slow, measured invasion. Another inch slithered into me and I began to panic again, though this time I tried hard not to struggle, instead trying to keep my breathing regular. Another inch of tendril was stopped by my hard, clenching sphincter.

"Little Shade, why such sudden distrust?"

It was hardly sudden, I couldn't help thinking, my bowels cramping again around Perikos' tendril. I tried to speak as I had into my gag at the prison, my words coming out wet, inarticulate, barely formed. "I can't take anymore," I pleaded, my throat ragged from the grinding ache inside me.

"I am inside you, feeling every heated, undulating inch of your body. I know it better than you know it. I know what you can take."

"But it hurts!" I groaned into the blackness.

"Yes, I know." The music was softer, warmer. "I am being gentle but discomfort and pain are unavoidable. In fact, they are a part of your arousal, did you know that? Did you know that you want me to restrain you, touch you as none of your kind could, to control you, to disregard your modesty and cause you pain and fear and immense pleasure? I want you to understand how well I know you, Little Shade, how much of you I have touched and tasted in only three nights."

My face felt so hot I thought I would pass out. I thought I was humiliated before, here on my knees, head encased in Perikos' body, my ass stuffed full to bursting and my pussy dripping as I loved every moment of it. Now I wanted to ground beneath me to open up and swallow me whole.

"There will be no further discussion," said Perikos. The tone was not unkind but it sounded final. "I will give you what you need in return for your trust and obedience in this matter. You may not choose how I feed. Now, be still while I fill your body to my satisfaction."

I felt another inch push past my barrier and inside me and the cramping worsened. Then another inch. And one more. I shrieked long and loud into dense darkness as the appendage stopped then, giving me a moment to reflect on my ass stretched and stuffed horribly full. I think I gurgled again as the tendril at my clit brought me to the brink so fast. It alternated between mashing against me and plucking me like a harp string as I felt a second wave crest over me then, sapping the strength from my limbs. My pussy buzzed in empty, sensitized neglect and I swallowed around the tentacle in my mouth to keep from choking on my own drool.

And then I felt the bit of tentacle just inside me begin to expand, little by little, so slowly I didn't notice at first. It was stretching me out by mere millimeters, giving my muscles a moment to adjust and then renewing its torture. I shouted again, my throat scratched and horse, the sound dying against the mass that surrounded me. The tentacle expanded again and then withdrew only a few inches before sliding back inside my body. The rest of the tendril deep inside me remained curiously still in spite of it and I squirmed around its slimmer girth before remembering what Perikos said about mass and darkness.

I felt the wider inches near my entrance quicken their pace as they fucked my ass and the tendrils around my wrists tightened their hold even though I wasn't fighting anymore. I couldn't, I didn't want to. No matter how sick and strange and pathetic I was, I did need this like I needed food and water. I felt Perikos' pace quicken still. It was already deep but now it hammered by asshole hard and wide open and I cursed and swore and murmured thanks around the tentacle pressing gently at the roof of my mouth. I felt my orgasm building again, somewhere darker, deeper inside me. It wasn't clitoral, it wasn't even vaginal; this need, this lust was about something different. The stiff tentacle pounded against my gaping asshole and I heard myself begging for more as I spread my legs wider, letting the tidal wave crash over my body. I felt my muscles cramp and spasm, milking at the invading tentacle in vain as I shivered inside and out. The tentacle around my hips held me upright as my knees failed and Perikos began to withdraw its long, black invader just the way it had come, inch by inch. I thought it could have shrunk itself and withdrawn entirely, seamlessly and I would never have felt it but I preferred this way in spite of the awful pulling and stretching from my insides.