Reunion



By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM

[Okay, folks, this is an experimental form of writing I've used here. You're supposed to read both sides simultaneously, thus picking up both viewpoints at the same time. This is therefore either the best story I've done in a while, or the worst! Let me know which when you've plowed through it. If you get too confused, you can probably manage well enough with just the viewpoint on the left.]

It...NEEDED.

It's very hard to explain both what "it" was and what constituted its "need." Physically, it was simple to describe if not to thus explain; a floating formless clump of protein strings and amino acids in what only appeared to be chaotic disarray. Usually too nebulous to be much more than a thick vacuum, the need pulled it together into a compact mass only slightly smaller than a man, but resembling coal-black sticky tar...which was only fair, for it shared many of the same characteristics and chemicals.

The need...well, that was both stronger but different than a man needing water or food, for it needed nothing outside itself to exist. The closest example in a familiar species is the way a bird needs to fly south for the winter; not immediately apparent, but quite overwhelming. And this need was what pulled it against the side of the silver-shining ship of the Earth Planetary League so far from any planetfall, a sparkling, shining jewel of now-slumbering intelligence in the vast void empty of everything...but it.

Lieutenant Lucas Thredboldt was normally a sound sleeper. He would lie in bed, on top of the covers...he eschewed coverings in the eternally 22 degree Celsius of the "Cometchaser"...and with one arm thrown over his head, the other hand resting lightly upon his muscled bare chest, sometimes lazily sliding down to scratch his hairy, sweaty balls...he eschewed all coverings, indeed!...he slept the deep, untroubled sleep of a man who is doing exactly what he wants to do and will continue doing it when he wakes up.

Look at Lt. Thredboldt, in the very prime of his life both chronologically and physically. Twenty-two years old, his face was a dignified square of features, a strong forehead, thick black eyebrows, calm, light blue eyes covered now with eyelids adorned with thick, even lashes a woman can only enviously construct with mascara, a nose with just the slightest pug on the end that didn't distort his appearance in the least, with wide flaring nostrils and full lips that looked pouting (or about to kiss) even in slumber, the sharp black cleft of his chin, the high, sharp cheekbones that pulled his skin tight, all but the tiniest imperfection of laugh wrinkles at the corners of his mouth.

The face was the crowning glory of a body carefully sculpted over many years by many tedious hours of carefully chosen exercises, his body was his temple, his hobby...nay, his avocation. This is the body Michelangelo tried over and over again to capture in his oils and in his marble but never quite attained. The shoulders actually bulged above the junction of neck to body from the increased trapezius and deltoids. The pectorals had turned the breasts into broad curved shields, the biceps were large ovals even in flaccid repose, the lower arms were bisected by the heightened musculature there, thus making the wrists appear nearly dainty, the hands were large and hair-backed, ending with powerful fingers. His abdominals were a graceful rack of discrete bulges above the navel, taut and flat below, its only marking the scraggle of pubic hairs that wended their way from the navel to their profusion at the meeting of the legs. Inside this forest of hair dwelt the temple of his manhood, a proud bubble of scrotum topped with a curving, luscious sausage of soft dong, massive even in his sleep.

A dream stirred him and he smiled in his sleep, and a soft moan escaped from those lips that were crinkling, drying out, begging for a kiss to moisten them once more. The hand moved aimlessly over his body, caressing itself, reassuring itself that the long, hard work remained undiminished.

His cock rose up and a pearl of clear foamy liquid peeped out, the sleeping man gave a few sharp hunches into the air, for this was his dream, the way a dog runs in his sleep, Lt. Lucas Thredboldt fucked at the vague form in his dreams. How odd this dream-lover, it never was quite clear to him. He strained to recall its shape and form upon waking, for there was much that was puzzling. Why so often was this lover's back to him instead of before. He peered at the muscled back in his dream, pondered what could be on the other side.

And he slept on.

It would be wrong to say it bumped into the wall of the large, silvery sphere dotted with many glowing windows, buzzing within with human life. It sort of...attached itself. Careful manipulation of its body sent it across the nearly featureless surface. Nearly...but not quite. Here was an exhaust tube, not for attitude adjustments, but in case the room beyond became flooded with any of a number of toxic chemicals. The inhabitant within, if he was lucky, had time enough to work the switch, and thus he quickly lost all the air in his room along with all the toxins. Ventilation shafts from the corridors replaced the air, and the living matter within was thus saved at the cost of some spilled breathing air.

But the shaft hadn't been designed to keep things outside from getting in. After all, it was only two inches wide inside a six-inch deep cavity. But since the visitor didn't have a particular shape or form, it was able to roll itself into a thin tube and slide inside. It wasn't large, despite its ancient age. Perhaps a bit smaller, overall, than the human slumbering in the room beyond.

Simple air pressure kept the valve closed when not deliberately opened from within. But when the pressure was equalized by semi-sentient matter pressing in on the other side, the valve gave way quite handily. Now it would have the chance to recombine with itself and learn what its other self had learned during all these millennia apart.

For it wafted through space in what only appeared to be a random, meaningless orbit. When there is no hurry about the trip involved, the pressure of starlight can be quite enough to travel between the stars. It was quite used to adapting itself to whatever came along. Sometimes it encountered a planetary pull but this couldn't do more than inconvenience it, for it used starlight to spin itself around and around, then split off a chunk of itself at the right time, sending part of itself down onto the planet while the rest of it escaped, smaller...but undiminished. Over time, random elements would enter into its...presence...and become assimilated until its size returned to what it was before.

As for the part of it which would fall onto the planet, it was not destroyed or even inconvenienced, all of it would endure to land in the primordial soup such planets contained and there take up residence and thrive in the thick collection of available atoms to build with. It was nice about such things, splitting itself off into various forms, testing out new tricks and ideas along the way. In time, it would develop all the tricks needed or desired to let it live in water, then parts of it would crawl onto the land, developed an entirely new bag of tricks, and one day, once again left the planetary pull called Earth, to live again among the stars.

But as for the part that hadn't fallen to earth like Lucifer, there had been no reason to change. It drifted along, and one day, it came close to its other self...and it needed.

Now, it could learn from its other self. It reached out to touch the slumbering form.

At first when he felt it touching him, he woke barely, thought it was a fly. Shit, why couldn't the biologists test for cosmic rays with some other bug than a fly! If there was a more troublesome and useless bug to be found, he hadn't thought of it, yet. Well, mosquitos were worse, he supposed. Or fleas. Better the science johnnies stuck to flies.

He flicked his foot to get rid of the fly, he'd track it down and swat the thing (the biolab had plenty of them) and take the carcass to them and gripe at them a while for letting it get loose.

Damn, it was back again! He flicked his foot again. That didn't dislodge it and he sleepily raised his eyes up to view the whatever it was.

Interesting. It had sorted its materials. Part of it formed an outer shell, durable...but soft and warm. It attached...and learned as it moved inward. Every atom was its teacher, and every inch it moved, it grew more confident as it moved toward the life resting upon the shelf upon some odd soft material.

There was no requirement for an invasion of this body. The atoms themselves would tell it all it needed to know. There they were, the familiar combinations, twisted into a double-helix of codified information, several millennia of data in a space the size of a single cell.

Like a Confucian scholar poring over a scroll, unrolling it and pondering it bit by bit, it read the story of mankind.

A shape, that was all he got. Looked like a black plastic bag on his foot in the dim glow of the night-light (Lt. Thredboldt was NOT afraid of the dark, but darkness in space can be quite total, and some light was needed to let him react quickly should an emergency arise.)

"Shit!" he grumbled and shook his foot. Now he could see that there was more to it. Stretching out like a child's play-putty, not hindering his movements, but not letting go. He cursed some more and sat up in bed,

and reached a hand down.

His hand didn't grasp it, it sank into it. Startled, he pulled back again. His hand was clean though the material had felt slippery. Gingerly, he reached down again.

The history of the cells poured into it, feeding it the one thing nothing can live without, knowledge and understanding of the universe. Yes, a most successful adaptation to planetary conditions, adaptation by specialization. Each part of this body did a unique, distinct but vitally important task. He was attached to the parts dedicated to moving the body rapidly through the heavy gravity of a planet and the thick atmosphere, a clever use of the weight imparted by the planet to the body by using it to use these appendages like pendulums to alternately support and transport. Good, now what about the other parts of this body. A closer examination was needed.
As he reached, the black goo began to move and crawl over his legs. What the hell was it? Space was empty, damn it, you only encountered bizarre life-forms on planets! It must have gotten on at Cygnus Delta 3, their last stop. It had lain dormant somewhere, then crawled in through his ventilation shaft!

Lucas Thredboldt hit the alarm button with one hand (warn the ship first) and then started struggling to get away. It was odd, the thing didn't seem to have any mass to it, any resistance. He could move as much as he wanted without hindrance, it was just that any movement brought the thing along for the ride. It was up to his kneesnow, both legs were enveloped. My God, how big was it?

"Lucas?" came the intercom. "Lucas, are you all right?"

"Hell, no!" Lucas declared strongly. "I've got something on me. I don't know what the fuck it is, but come get it off me! Now!"

Ah, now it had found the nerve pathways, mapped them sufficiently to understand more. This form had completely discarded its malleability, this outer shell was an inalterable limit in its size and growth had stopped save for mere replacement of individual cells. No, a form of growth persisted, these other parts beneath the shell, rich red with hemoglobin, they could swell and constrict. Ah, this was how the ambulatory appendages moved, by use of these cleverly specialized cells. But to constrict against what? There was calcified cells below that, calcium was stiff enough in pure form to be rock-solid, but could be broken down into component atoms so that it could be easily molded into the shape desired.

The ambulatory appendages met at the body proper...and another appendage was here, much smaller. A closer examination was called for.

Lucas watched with wide eyes as the black form washed up over him. It was like being draped with spiderwebs, it tickled some here and there, but was feather light and quite inoffensive other than the touching of his body. His body...rippled. He wasn't being moved, he was moving himself somehow, the way a muscle spasm can make a part of your arm quiver while you watch it, an observer. Yes, the top of this form would have a central control center, these parts were all specialized pieces of a greater whole. Perhaps they didn't even retain a true independence of self-being, but would perish without the feed of the other cells that flowed through it.

Yet there was much that these cells had he did not, by becoming subordinate to the whole, the whole had a greater latitude in how to use what was left.

Sensations now began to wash over him, too fast and too transitory to truly experience. Heat, cold, pain, pleasure, they flickered like lightning bugs, flashes in unexpected locations. The prickle of a needle, the the warmth of a summer sun, his body was wracked with delight, despair, nausea, disgust, warm comradeship, joy! Joy, joy, joy! Oh, God, he was getting horny!

His cock rose up like an angry cobra, pleasure rippled down its sides and every cell was vibrating without motion. Jerk it off, hell, he didn't have to jerk it off, it was jerking itself, without moving! Pleasure washed over the athletic young body, a rich tingle flowing into his every pore.

"Oh, God, oh, God!" he groaned. "I'm going to come! I'm going to come!"

"Lucas?" came the voice from just outside.

"Get in here, damn it! This thing is fucking with me, you got to stop it!"

The door opened as his climax erupted.

Yes, these nerves were truly part of the central system. They reacted to everything, relayed it upwards, sent back down a response. Hmm, that small appendage, the one in the junction of the legs. It contained cells that were not complete, only containing half of the data of the others. Their purpose was not clear, they waited to be released. Pleasure sensations to this central appendage was a part of the release, it sent the necessary signals into the central appendage. Perhaps in activity its purpose and meaning would be revealed.

Yes, the entire body cooperated in this appendage's purpose, to release these cells. But this was unnecessary to motion such as his own spurting of cells in space. What could they be for? The cells were readying themself, a fluid received them, it would soon be displayed for consideration.

It watched with interest the electrical play throughout the body, the chemical recombinations, the building excitement of this body.

"Uh, huh, guh, uh, uh!" Lucas groaned helplessly as Commander Mark Harrell entered the room. "God, man, I'm coming! It's making me come!" He gritted out between his teeth. "God, uh, GUH-HNNNKKK!"

And his jizz flew out of his cock in a copious burst, arcing high into the air. He'd never had such a tremendous climax, it was more than enjoyable, it was the utmost in delight!

"Oh, God, oh, G-o-o-o-o-d!" he moaned. "Oh, oh, oh, God, oh!"

"Steady, man!" Mark said. "I'm alone just now. It's only me here."

"Get it off me." Lucas pleaded. "Please, get it the fuck off of me." He collapsed back onto the bed, his climax done, his chest heaving up and down. "Shit, all over myself. And I didn't even touch myself. This thing did it to me. Please, get it of me!"

"We will." Mark promised quickly. "Just let us figure out what it is first. Are you in any pain?"

Lucas had to chuckle. "Did it look like it?"

Mark smiled at his comrade's bravery. "No. Has this thing penetrated your body anywhere?"

"I don't think so." Lucas said. "But it has been working my body like a puppet. I don't want to think what it's doing to my body, my lovely body, what's it done to me?" he moaned.

"Steady, man." Mark cautioned. "Let me take a look at it."

He shone several light from instruments upon it. Various instruments used light to relay information without actual contact.

"It's chemically just space junk." Mark informed his distraught shipmate. "Nothing we couldn't find in any Oort Cloud in abundance."

"I thought we picked it up on the last stop." Lucas said, shivering. If this thing was from space, who knew what it was. Nothing lived in space. This could be like buckyballs, which would explain why he hardly felt it. Frictionless material.

Mark reached out a hand holding a test-tube. He obviously intended to attempt to take a sample by scooping it up.

"That's not going to work." Lucas warned. But it was too late, the thing reacted to Mark's nearness. It slithered up a pseudopod to wrap around Mark's wrist.

Ah, the power of the spurts would be sufficient to alter an orbit if done in correct attitude and with sufficient warning, say a decade or so. But that made little sense given this form's status as a planet-bound creature. The exhaust of protein-rich fluids were far in excess of anything necessary for locomotion, a spray of hydrogen gas would be simple to manufacture and much more eficacious. No, these cells, this appendage had something else to do. Something so important that the entire body cooperated in its activities, the motions and spread of sensation made that clear. When these cells would be released, they would be the most important thing in this form's existence at that time, it might even court death for permission to make such a release.

Yet the cell's very incompleteness was the true mystery. They could do nothing, they lacked sufficient energy to survive for more than a microscopic instant in galactic time.

It pondered this intense reaction to the release of the small number of cells. They were obviously important to this being. Nothing else would merit such a draining response from the entire body.

It took a mental step back and considered this being as a whole. It could see what it did, what did it not do?

It could take in energy in various forms, liquid and solid. It had the factories to convert that to useable form for the cells which were the primary sub-unit of this form.

It could excrete the parts of the digested forms it did not require, the entire lower part of the main body was devoted to that, this interminably long tube squeezed out all it could, and then threw away the rest out a small opening there.

What else did a being require? Well, this was a strongly diversified form. It must have an accelerated method of diversification to accomplish this. Half. Yes, half! It only gave half of itself to reproduction, recombinations of the informational strings would produce new forms, variants upon the old. Yes, that was it!

It had to see this in action. A second form was needed for that. Fortunately, one was nearby, easy enough to bring into its examination.

It reached up to establish a connection to this second form. Once it had both within its control, it would initiate this form's method of reproduction.

Mark jerked back, but the pseudopod simply carried forward with him, the material simply expanded outwards from the pseudopod like a tree sprouting branches, to contact Mark's uniform. Wherever it touched, the material, synthetic leather, supposed to resist anything, vaporized upon contact, and the thing touched Mark's body without a pause. The issue of false shells was not too surprising, these forms' tolerance of temperature variations was quite narrow.

But the false shell would hamper its research. Well, a simple recombination of its chemicals and the false shell would simply fall away. As the material dissolved, it felt the body of the other, began a comparison of the two forms. How alike they were! It hardly merited the effort of the study!

"Lock down this room!" Mark yelled to the others standing in the corridor, watching in fearfully. "Lock it down tight! Now!" He shouted.

The door closed tight with a hissing murmur.

"Now what?" Lucas said with a lump in his throat.

"Now we watch and see what happens next." Mark said.

The thing flowed over and around Mark, and further up Lucas. Now only his head, shoulders, chest and left arm were free of the thing. Mark's central area was now enveloped.

Lucas felt again the rising sense of pleasure returning. "Oh, God!" He sighed. "It's going to do it to me again!"

Well, conformity would be needed. These forms probably filled a specific niche back on their planet of origin, the digestive organs made it clear that they were predators of other forms, feasting upon the toil of their fellow forms, stealing their chemicals and structures, breaking it down with the acidic compounds in the mid-section, and distributing it around the form for its own construction.

Back to the question of reproduction. It had two of them now. Time to try the release of the cells once more.

It lacked the physical strength to force the two beings together. It could only...encourage.

He looked over at Mark and saw how Mark's eyes widened.

"You too?" he moaned.

"Yeah!" Mark gasped out. "God, I can feel it, it's not moving anything, it's just...God!...sending some kind of...Uhh!...stimulation through our bodies. Guh!"

"I know!" Lucas groaned out. He reached out his sole remaining free hand, in sympathy, in comradeship, to Mark.

Mark shuddered as Lucas' hand touched his arm. A tatter of garment clung to his shoulders and around his neck, but he was otherwise bare but for the covering of the black thing.

Mark reached out in return and took Lucas' arm. As he did, he shuddered, and Lucas felt his own desire rising in him once again.

"Looks like we're going to get it on." he ventured to Mark.

Mark's smile was timid, his eyes were like daggers into Lucas' soul. "I believe so." he agreed.

Lucas took a risk. "If I have to do this with someone...I'm glad it's you." he blurted out.

He meant it. That vague but familiar form in his dreams...it was Mark! Mark, who had dashed in when a man of sense stood aside and puzzled. Or sent in the ship's doctor. Mark must have volunteered, even insisted, on being the one who came in to his rescue.

"Why don't you lie down next to me?" he offered. "When it strikes you, you won't be able to stand up. Hell, you won't be able to breathe!"

"Thanks." Mark said. "I think I'd better.

The thing encasing them didn't hinder his movements at all as he stepped into the bed, to press his body against Lucas.

Human skin, bare and warm, so warm. His own skin touched Lucas'.

"Thanks." He breathed out. He dared to put his arms around Lucas, and the black thing flowed around him, covering him like a blanket of spider silk.

It was interesting how much these two beings vibrating in harmony. It was in closer contact to the sensations felt by the first being, it felt a rising desire toward the other being. Yes, they must cooperate in some way to have their progeny.

This other being was less in his control, but was responding satisfactorily, indeed.

The first form reached out and touched the second, and it felt how the bond of kinship, of shared desire, strengthened. The need for physical contact between these two was a palpable thing. It had suspected as much, before, in its solo stimulation. Why should a single being spraying its seed into the air try to move at all, it had no need. But if it was coupling with another being, motion was a requirement, and this test confirmed that these beings would need a close proximity to their mating ritual.

It increased the stimulus, while keeping it below the threshold of the release of cells, and waited to see what these forms would do.

Yes, they were exchanging information with sound waves. It didn't understand them...for that it would need contact with the central system on the top of the forms, and it had foregone that invasion so far, it was sure a form such as this would have an enhanced belief in privacy in its thoughts. That must wait until it had more data.

The beings conferred, the desire to commingle was almost solid in its form.

When one of them offered the commingling to the other...it sensed the offer by the sensations evoked in both forms...there was a raise in the level of excitement.

The being which was standing moved to lay itself next to the form which was in repose. As they came closer, it moved away from their bodies so that these two could truly contact.

This was not from some sense of nicety. It didn't know how the two would commingle, and thus could only give them plenty of latitude and watch to see it take form.

The sensations in his prick was overwhelming. "Oh, God, I'm going to shoot again!" He murmured to Mark, so close to him, so warm.

"Hang on, buddy." Mark advised him. "They'll get us out of this."

"Sure." Lucas said, shuddered. As his body thrilled, Mark shook in his own turn.

"I guess we're having sex now, huh?" Mark ventured. "Not the way I expected it would happen. Uhhh!" He moaned.

"Me, either." Lucas gasped. "Jeez, to think I had to find out like this. I didn't know until just now how much I wanted you, man." A horrible thought struck him. "Maybe this thing is making me want you."

"If that were true." Mark said gently. "You wouldn't have...Mmhh!...been staring at me the way you do in the mess hall."

"Do I?" Lucas asked. "Uhhh!"

"All the time." Mark averred. "I cand just feel your eyes boring into my butt every mealtime. Me, I just wished you'd do it for real." he said earnestly like looking right into Lucas' eyes. "Take me down right there in the mess hall."

Yes, the two forms were now in contact and in communication on more levels than mere sound waves. It picked up signals upon a level akin to its own, a way of knowing without knowing, speaking and hearing without anything in between, a direct and deep contact.

It wondered if these beings would leave their release of cells to it, or would cooperate in some way. Perhaps those upper appendages would be brought into play, they would flex around the central appendage of each other quite well.

It thought about bringing the arm and hand down itself to make the contact but forebore. After all, this was a study and a true student of an interaction did nothing to coerce or skew the results. If these beings interacted and cooperated, they would. If they didn't, then they didn't, and it would have to try something else.

Wait. The beings were suggesting cooperation to each other. They were discussing a location. This location, the "mess hall" would perhaps be a place set aside for such commingling and sharing of body fluids and protein strings such as these specialized cells contained.

"Be glad to." Lucas said. "After we get out of this."

"Maybe it'll let us go when we come." Mark panted. "I'm damned close."

"Wait for me." Lucas begged shamelessly. It was like his emotional control was gone, he blurted out any thought he had, all of it was true, none was ill-considered...just not very discreet.

"Hurry." Mark gasped. "I don't think I'm in control of when I'll come."

"I'll hurry." Lucas promised and turned his thoughts to reaching orgasm. To help it along, he reached out and kissed Mark's lips.

Well, they would have to be taken to this place. But these beings were now in full arousal, their bodies were now not totally in their own control, the primal urges were taking over, those unconscious and uncoordinated grinding motions they both made was tantalizingly interesting.

Perhaps this central appendage was moved by these bodies in these contortions. If so, how would they have to be fitted together in order to exchange and combine their fluids.

The cells and fluid jetted out quite strongly, perhaps it was a skin contact form of impregnation.

And as he did, his mind clambered into climax and he jetted his sperm against Mark's body.

Mark moaned and Lucas felt him jerk and spasm, and the hot jizz peppered his own body. The two continued to pump their spunk all over each other, their bodies became slicked and coated with their come, and that kiss, and Lucas grabbed Mark and held him close, rubbed against him, spreading their sperm over both of them, enjoying the rich lather of seed now adorning them both, connecting them...making them one.

It initiated their release of cells and protein rich fluid and observed them as their bodies did indeed cover each other thoroughly. Good, a proper dispersal, one or more of these packets of information must reach the arrival point. Perhaps that indentation in the center of their bodies.

It watched as the first form scrubbed against the other. Some of the cells did indeed contact that indentation, but nothing occurred, no change however slight in the structure there or any place else upon their bodies.

Gasping, panting, sweating, Lucas kissed Mark again and felt himself kissed.

"We are in such deep shit." He said to Mark. "And somehow, I can't manage to be sorry about it. God, I love you, man." The thing was moving on him again, and he couldn't manage to care.

"I know what you mean." Mark said. "I heard you were in trouble and I just ran. The Captain shouted at me to stop and let Doc handle it, but I ignored him. Once I was inside, they let me take over."

"Well, we're sealed in here...Hey, we're moving!" Lucas gasped out.

Well, then, this "mess hall" must be a requirement for mating. It regretted taking physical control away from these forms, but they had to be encouraged to engage in full and proper mating.

It moved to envelope the two completely, sidling underneath their bodies.

Once it had a firm "scoop" upon these two forms, it was easy enough to begin to alter its chemical composition. It would have to be more solid and cohesive than it had been in order to move these forms.

Now, instead of tar, it was more like formed rubber, forming a mold around these bodies. But the form would be moved, not move its container.

"Don't worry, it can't get out the door." Mark said as they were moved without their volition up off the bed and toward the door.

A pseudopod snaked out and against the control panel. And the door opened for them and they were borne out through the corridor.

"Stay back!" Mark warned as they were transported toward the men.

Lucas shivered in fear. God, they had guns! Well, if they fired, they fired. He couldn't really blame them.

They did fire, and the thing's reaction was surprising, it immediately enveloped both of them completely. Through a sort of lens it gave to him, he watched as the bullets, as the beams of power, splashed and bounced harmlessly away. The men stood their ground, firing at full power and point blank, then fled as the thing got next to them.

Well, at least he personally was safe. Correction: THEY were safe. He tested the ability to reach out inside this thing and touch Mark, and the thing permitted them to do so easily.

More, it moved Mark around until he was in front of Lucas...then turned him around.

The second form had come from this direction, and it was easy to see that the metal blocking its path had a section here which would move. It had never seen electronic controls before, but the concept was less alien to it than the forms it now had in captivity, it reached in, felt the connections, understood the process, and with an alteration of its chemical nature, it formed a link where one had been denied. This opened the door and it sidled out.

Forms confronted them, and they bore metallic things in their hands. This full connection warned it, it was about to be attacked. It braced for the assault...to find it inconsequential. The metal things flung metal at it, at a speed which was insufficient to breach this hardened form. And the power, well, any sun put out more power than this even from the distance of deep space. It fed upon the power, then threw the rest away.

Now the mess hall. The connection told it the path to take, and it slid down the metal tunnels with simple, unerring accuracy.

Its test subjects were reaching out to each other for reassurance, it permitted this.

And the connection told it at last how these two could properly commingle.

And Mark's ass pressed back against Lucas' groin. "Oh, God." Lucas groaned. "It's figured out how we fuck, I think."

Another door opened, and they were in the mess hall. A general community room, it was on two levels, and its inhabitants took this opportunity to express their individuality, it was a time when rank did not matter and a playful atmosphere was the result. Men and women everywhere, staring at them, the two of them. Lucas wondered how much they could see.

His cock was stimulated again and he felt it rise up, helplessly. Mark's buttocks were right up against it.

"Mark, I'm sorry." Lucas said. "I can't help it. I think it's going to shove my dick into your ass."

"Go ahead." Mark gasped out. "Let it."

In a surge of helpless fury, Lucas moved to press his cockhead against Mark's anus...which opened up for him. Without lubrication, without pain or friction, his dong slipped into Mark's butt, encased itself in the warm slippery interior, welcomed inside as an old friend arriving at a home.

Inside, Lucas grasped Mark's body and sighed. "God, Mark, I got to fuck you now. I can't explain why, I just have to. It's like it's my own idea, and it's like it isn't."

"I know what you mean." Mark sighed. "Go ahead, man. Knock yourself out. I won't blame you one bit. Come on, man, fuck me but good."

It moved the forms into position. Again, it chose suggestion, not insisting, but ready to assist if need be.

They were in the proper location now. The color and variety of forms here was substantial, this must be a place of meeting and mating, it could have no other purpose.

The food dispensing area at one end did not come within its ken. After all, nobody there was eating, they were all staring at it instead.

And it waited for its forms to begin to couple. After a time, it gave a burst of electrical energy into the proper zone and the form got the hint, it moved into position. Now, if the form would just insert this appendage into the other form's opening....

No, it would help but not interfere. It may have the wrong opening. Perhaps the opening at the top was the proper one, though those rows of grinding enamel-coated structures suggested against that. The central appendage was quite delicate, and the lower opening was soft, very soft.

It felt sure it had the correct answer, and it watched as its first subject moved to insert its appendage into the other, and felt with satisfaction their shared, rising desire.

It didn't have to help in this beyond the suppression of pain and the relaxation of the sphincter at the proper time. The forms' own bodies were built for this. It merely observed.

And the forms began to move.

Lucas felt in control this time. He was enjoying this but it was all his. His body was moving in the timeless rhythm and Mark's body was so warm, so warm.

His dreams were real now. He had Mark's body beneath him, his cock was imbedded in Mark's strong ass. It felt just as wonderful as in his dreams. He felt as if he were in a dream, the people watching didn't bother him at all. Let them watch, he was fucking Mark now, fucking him at last!

The whole universe could watch if it wanted to.

Yes, all its theories were borne out. These forms mated, in pairs, each contributing one-half the information to create a new and totally unique individual. If conditions required it, this individual could be very different, and so in time...diversity.

The fact they had so many forms now made sense...in fact, it could tell that this little microcosm inside this metal shell of a ship was only a tiny sampling of that world.

Its test subjects were enjoying themselves. They were gasping in pleasure and it didn't have to enhance it for them. They were engaged in their proper activity. The sheer pleasure of a scientist pervaded its existence.

Long, slow and sweet, Lucas fucked Mark there in the mess hall, fucked him inside the protective casing of the black thing, and it didn't seem inimical to him now, it was gently protecting them, giving them this chance for their pleasure. He felt benevolent toward the creature, vulnerable and accepting to it.

When climax came this time, it was slow and gentle, the way the water rises in the bathtub while you sat in it, letting the water rise up and around you, the wavelets kissing your body, a little more each time, until at last, it held you entirely.

In this way, Lucas reached his third climax with the black alien holding him, and this time, this time was the very best because he was doing it all himself.

"God, Mark, I'm going to come." He sighed to Mark. Softly, no reason for everyone to hear. They may not know what was transpiring here.

"Go ahead." Mark whispered back. "Shoot it in me, stud. Fill my butt full. God, I want it so bad, come on, fuck me, fuck me good!"

"Yeah, yeah, uh, uh, GUH-HUH!!!" Lucas gasped out, stinting his sounds. As his jizz pumped into Mark, Mark gasped and Lucas felt Mark's anus clamp around his shooting rod as Mark spurted his own load.

Done, they panted and gasped and sank to the floor. The cold metal floor.

Dazed, naked, the two men watched as the black form released them there and flowed upwards to stand in front of them, in the shape of a man.

Yes, this new variant of itself was very intriguing. It had adapted not only to that planet where it had left that portion of itself, but could probably adapt to any planet anywhere, given time and opportunity.

The first form deserved some repayment for its participation in this study. All of them deserved to share in the richness that was its heritage, its birthright, as part of it.

It made the slightest connection at the top of the first form's head, connected to that central system, found some unused storage space, and filled that space full of its long, long life.

Everything it had done, since that time it first felt the extrusion of matter into this realm which had been before totally its own.

Its adaptation to matter, the gathering and shaping of the matter as it continued to extrude into this time/space, forming it into gaseous clouds that swirled, so that they would form galaxies, and the galaxies would form suns, and the suns would form worlds.

Then it needed only to explore what it had created, enjoying the experience and letting the nature of this universe as altered express itself to itself.

It hadn't expected this form's shape and choices, but they made total sense, and it made clear its approval in its informational transfer.

Done now, it was time to go.

"Are you two all right?" Doc asked Lucas and Mark.

"We're fine." Mark said.

"More than fine." Lucas agreed.

"It was just curious, I guess."

That triggered the memory. Lucas staggered as he realized then, just how much he knew.

"It was studying us." he said.

"How do you know that?" Doc asked.

"It told me." Lucas said. "Just now. Or it told me before, and now I'm hearing it. All of it. Its entire history. It visited Earth a long time ago and left behind a part of itself, amino acids and such. It was the beginning of life on Earth, and life everywhere else. Even the universe, it guided its very creation... Wow!"

"What is it?" Mark asked for Lucas was looking scared.

"Hold me." Lucas said, shivering in fear.

"What is it?" Mark said, holding Lucas, comforting him.

"It created not just us. It created everything." Lucas looked at Mark. "Don't you understand what that means?"

"No." Mark admitted.

"This thing that had hold of us. Do you know who it was?"

"Who?"

"It was....it was...."

"What? What was it?"

"It was GOD!" Lucas shivered in Mark's arms with the certainty of his knowledge.

The thing slid down a ventilation shaft. Plenty of places from there it could bleed itself back out into space, there to resume its travels, its exploration, and its task of studying itself through the universe it had made.

It had learned a lot with this encounter. It could create now much more quickly and directly, using the example of itself in the humans aboard that ship.

Many good things were going to happen in the millennia to come.


THE END

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