Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (13 page)

Filo slid onto the bed next to the Empress, her beauty
meant nothing to him. The fact she was female meant everything, there were no
females of his species as they only used surrogate hosts of other species.
Celapods were generally only found in the animal kingdom, a half humanoid one
is very rare. He opened his lizard mouth and sought hers; he softly clamped his
jaws over her face and lower jaw. His tongue entered her mouth and the
Empress‘s body instinctively fought the invasion, he wrapped his arms and claws
around her tightly forcing his thick purple tongue deeply into her mouth and
down her throat, she continued to fight in his grip but he was too powerful. He
bent her head back and slid his tongue deeply down into her body. A thin tube
extended from under his tongue and snaked its way instinctively inside her
body, its razor sharp point located the pulsating tissue surrounding her
largest artery. The thin tube pierced into the large blood vessel leading from
the heart and her blood pumped into his tube. He felt her warm blood surging
into his body and held her very still. The hypnotised Empress stared blankly at
the ceiling.

A special gland in the celapod’s body swelled with her
blood and began processing it to be compatible with his genetic makeup. Her
body started to shake. The celapod released a relaxant into her bloodstream and
she went limp. He relaxed his grip as he felt his gland expanding.

Her blood in his body was mixed with special enzymes
and hormones, changes in her blood chemistry began to occur. When the celapod
felt his gland was full and the transformation complete he slowly reversed the
flow, pumping her altered blood back into her artery from her heart. His blood
and enzymes pumped quickly throughout her body. Her tissue would soon be
compatible with his and her body would not reject his essence. With his gland
now empty, a powerful aphrodisiac was injected into her bloodstream and he
withdrew his tongue from her body. He lay with his body against hers and
waited.

The Empress moaned softly as the aphrodisiac took
effect. She frantically lifted her dress and tore at her under garments finally
getting them off. She felt the celapod’s body pressing against her and gripping
him tightly, rolled him on top of her and wrapped her legs around him. A long
appendage emerged from the base of his tail and quickly probed its way into her
body. The celapod’s tail snaked its way up between her legs, under her body and
emerged at her right shoulder, the tip now swishing against her neck. The
Empress completely under the effect of the trance and drug squeezed him closer.
They lay coupled with the Empress rhythmically rocking against him, her body
temperature now warming his cold blooded appendage. Once his temperature became
equal with hers his sensation peaked. The Celapod’s head bent back and he
hissed loudly as his tail clamped her body tightly against him. The Empress
went rigid as his tail held her in a vice like grip and the celapod began
convulsing. With their bodies locked together, his convulsions caused them to
bounce and roll over and over while he transferred his thick fluid deep inside
her body. His tail finally relaxed its grip as the last of his convulsions
subsided, his mating now complete. The Empress’s was covered in sweat as she
lay on top of him, his thick tail snaking up from between her legs and swishing
on her back, caressing her.

The Black Priest stood quietly watching and reflected
on his good fortune to find a celapod, especially one that was born to a
humanoid female. It took him considerable time to train Filo but now he enjoyed
seeing the fruits of his labour.

Filo rolled over and untwined himself. He slid off the
bed and put his robe on while walking to the door where he waited. The Black
Priest walked over and stood at the edge of the bed.  He looked down at
the Empress with his grey eyes, he had no pupils and the dull grey reflected
very little light. He studied her as she lay there with her eyes open but not
really seeing. He sat beside her and ran his fingers along the silky smooth
skin of her thigh. He gripped her flesh tightly sinking her further and further
into his trance.

“Empress, you like the dagger you received from an
unknown admirer. You will see me again secretly in my Temple after the next
Court adjournment.” Do you understand?

“Yes,” she whispered.

 “Nothing happened here this night except you
were alone to admire your new relic from the past. When I am gone you will
bathe in cleansing salts. When you awaken tomorrow you will destroy the bed
clothes you slept in and all the bedding both here and in your sleeping
chamber, you don’t like the colour. You will feel completely normal, do you
understand?”

“
Mmmm
... yes.”

“Good! I will be leaving now but change your clothes
before I go” he said and the Empress slowly got off the bed and changed into
night clothes kept in a drawer beside the bed. The Priest gathered up her torn
clothing and placed them under his robe. He wanted to destroy this evidence
personally.

The Black Priest spoke no more as it would act
suggestively on the Empress. He glided silently to the door and held it open as
Filo exited the room and he followed him. He closed the door silently behind
him and the two Priests made their way back to the tower by secret passages.

The Empress went to the table and admired her dagger.
She held in front of her and thought what a wonderful addition to her
collection. She suddenly felt the desire to bathe and went to her bathroom and
put cleansing salts in the flowing water. As she undressed she noticed a small
stain on her garment and touched herself. That’s funny she thought, tender? She
dismissed the thought as she felt normal and summoned her maid. “Destroy these
clothes, they are old and the colour displeases me.”

“Yes, my Empress,” the maid replied and gathered up
the clothes.

Later as the Empress lay in bed she felt strangely
content but her body felt tender in many places especially her throat, I’ve
talked too much today she decided. Inside her body millions of celapod sperm
swam deeply. They imbedded themselves into her uterus wall and went dormant,
her tissue accepting them as part of her body. Her ovulations would activate
them and every egg will be fertilized. The unsuccessful sperm would imbed
themselves again and wait until the next ovulation. This cycle would go on for
the rest of her now shortened life, once fertilized by a Celapod, life
expectancy decreases dramatically.

She never knew Celapods long ago were hunted to
extinction anywhere they appeared throughout the galaxy, generating countless
myths of dark and sinister vampire creatures. They will decimate any species
they impregnate if left unchecked. Mating with humanoid females was very rare
but where it had occurred the victims were killed mainly by sacrifice by the
society once it was established they were infected - there is no escaping the
truth once the birth of a lizard cross occurs. The Empress fell quietly to
sleep.

---------

The Administrator got Torquay his tea and stared at
him. He didn’t know how to ask him questions. What he had just witnessed no Confederate
citizen had ever seen before - a T334 shut down and vulnerable. He looked at
Torquay nervously.

Torquay sipped his tea and decided sitting was better
than standing. He walked over to the edge of the raised platform and sat on the
edge. The Administrator followed and sat beside him, looking at him
expectantly.

Torquay turned his head and looked sincerely at the
man sitting beside him who was now looking at the T334. Genuine concern was
etched on his bearded face. He took a long deep breath and expelled the air
with a sigh. “We met for the first time today and yet we are now bonded with a
knowledge no other possesses. I fear my friend that our knowledge will be short
lived. The odds are very much against the availability of what I would call a satisfactory
conclusion to… ah... That thing! Torquay said pointing to the T334. An Earthman
is piloting it! Better still, it has a name, he is called Peter… and he’s as
mad as a wheel!”

The Administrator nearly stopped breathing and turned
his head sharply to look at Torquay. He felt both elated and terrified. He had
accurately predicted what had happened but being correct didn’t lessen the
terror. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and looked at his arm console;
all possible solutions he had thought of were computed and gave the same answer
except one. The only one that wasn’t ‘insufficient data’ read simply, ‘change
location immediately!’ His survival instincts hungered for more data, more
information, he needed to know the truth of many things.

“This… ‘Peter’, as you said. Tell me about him? The
Administrator asked.

Torquay grimaced. The experience of going into someone
else’s mind to control them even temporarily is a tough thing to do, best left
to the Trigeals and T334 Pilots but to step into the mind of a being of a
different race. One which is, as he now knew, quite insane, is a very difficult
thing to explain. Torquay would normally go off and meditate to get rid of
these experiences but he had no choice now but to accept this military man as
his confident.

“He is called Peter,” Torquay explained, an Earthman
from Glide Oregon. He is a Lieutenant in the Marines. He has been fighting
Japanese and that distressed him and he wants to go home. That in its essence
is what he told me.”

“Good, good. Go on...”

“There is no ‘going on’ as you call it in a practical
sense,” Torquay said, unsure of himself but attempting to put his experience in
terms the Administrator would understand. “I saw a great deal of his mind… but
all at once! That experience, believe me, I do not wish again.” Torquay went
silent and slowly shook his head. The Administrator looked keenly at him.
“There are so many mental images and experiences in his mind that… well; they
all act as interventions, nearly all of them! I have no idea how a being like
that can function at all. They must have the greatest of difficulty with even
the most simplest of tasks. They don’t use their experiences logically. Their
experiences use them! Peter obeys everything his mind tells him, quite literally.”
Torquay stood up. He walked around in small circles nodding his head.

The Administrator thought the worst seeing Torquay’s
behaviour. He’s Earthman infected!

Torquay bent down and picked up his tea and took a sip,
cold! He put it back down. The Administrator’s normal Norfian composure was
strained to the limit. “Please. Isn’t there something we can do?”

Torquay remained silent, deep in meditative thought but
then noticed the Administrator looking at him anxiously.

“Yes, yes of course. Please forgive me, I operate at a
slightly different time acceptance than yourself” Torquay explained still deep
in thought weighing up the options.

“Can’t you just expel the Earthman, into space or
somewhere? Solve that problem wouldn’t it?” the Administrator asked.

“Not as simple as that unfortunately. No being
operating an organic body, especially an Earth being can simply just ‘leave
it’. To them that is death. They get quite desperate about such things, makes
them very unstable. Too risky to attempt, Peter might go berserk while still
being connected to the T334.”

“I see. Well, can’t we somehow make the T334 be dead,
shut its power off or something? Wouldn’t that make the Earthman leave?” The
Administrator asked.

“You really want to know all the secrets don’t you?
Torquay replied getting relief from this Norfian, his questions were logical
and followed his own assessment. “To shut down the power completely on a T334
activates an explosive device of such magnitude it will destroy a large portion
of this planet quite easily. By the way, since we are talking about secrets,
you’ve never heard of a T334 in a space
ship have
you?

 “No!” I haven’t come to think about it,” the
Administrator said now completely absorbed.

“If anyone ever works out how to disable one, it would
make an effective flying bomb. You would have the greatest of difficulty to
ever get one into a conventional space ship without a Trigeal around.” Torquay
said enjoying telling the secret.

The Administrator realised that information
constituted a death sentence of the worst possible kind but he didn’t care, he
suddenly felt elated and his arm console tingled.  “What have the Trigeals
done that makes them so invincible?” He asked excitedly.