Chapter No.13

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

- Don McClean -

Marty looked at Angie with pleading eyes. "I don't think it's wise for you to lead a landing party onto an enemy base. It's too dangerous."

"Oh, and it's okay for you?" Angie said, her eyes exuding anger. "I can't keep hiding behind my rank. My life is no more valuable than any other crew person's."

"But, you're the admiral. You send others, not yourself."

"You don't need me when you entice the main Cyborg fleet away from the planet. Honey can run the ship into battle. I'll take Lia and Tyler down to the base and find out what's going on."

"You could do that with probes," Marty argued. "You don't have to risk your lives."

"What if we find humans and Dragons down there. Someone needs to organize them for rescue."

"We could divert a couple of fighters for that."

"You need all of the fighters for the battle. We'll be okay."

"But . . . "

"No buts. I run this show and you will obey orders."

"Yes, Admiral."

"We are near the launch point," Ninja said. "We will soon attract Cyborg attention."

"Okay, Lia and Tyler, let's get cracking."

Marty watched Angie leave the command deck not knowing if he would ever see her again.

Marty turned to the crew. "After the Lander launches, I want all fighter crews to assemble on the main hangar."

"Open COM to the X-4001, Delphi."

"COM open, Martin."

"Get your fighter crews prepared, Commander. We're near the turning point."

"Yes, Commander."

In the Lander hangar, Angie and her landing party were boarding a Lander in preparation for a launch.

"Evacuate the hangar, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"Is it safe to launch when the ship is going so fast?" Tyler asked Angie.

"We're going to drift out behind the ship, move off and fire breaking engines. It'll take us a while, but we should arrive at the planet long after the Cyborg fleet has departed."

"How are we going to get inside the camp?" Lia asked.

"We'll drop down at night."

Neither Lia nor Tyler thought it would be that easy.

***

The nightside of any planet is dark and difficult to see anything on it except in infrared. The Cyborg camp appeared as a bunch of bright squares and rectangles in neat groups. One large square was dark.

"That's where we'll sit down," Angie. "As soon as we're out, get back up, Delphi. Go to the waiting position."

"Yes, Angie."

Angie flew in stealth mode, using passive infrared to guide by. She swiftly sat down in a cleared area.

"Let's go," she said.

When Angie and her landing party departed the Lander, they ran for cover as their vessel flew away. Staying in the shadows, they ran to a barrack, and the door was unlocked.

Angie urged the waking people to remain quiet.

"Who are you?" a Chinese woman asked in her native language.

"We are here on a mission to find the home world of the Cyborgs," Lia answered her.

"We don't even know where we are," the woman complained.

"Are there any lizard creatures here?" Angie asked.

"Do you mean those things with four arms?" a man asked.

"Yes."

"We have seen long lines of them, hundreds, maybe thousands, waiting to enter a large square metal building. They went in but did not come out."

"Did any of them have tails?"

"No."

Angie turned to Lia and Tyler. "They're all females."

"How many humans are here?" Angie asked.

"We're not sure, but a good guess is at least three thousand," the man said. "I would say that seventy-five percent are women."

"Are there any children here?"

"Not that I've seen. Pregnant women are taken to that building as soon as they look like they're near term."

"This is much worse than I had imagined," Angie said to Lia and Tyler. "This is blatant genocide."

"We must verify this," Tyler said.

"In order to do that, we'll have to get inside that building," Angie said.

***

At dawn, Angie, Lia and Tyler hid behind cargo tanks so that they could watch a large square metal building in the center of the base. The door swung open and a line of pregnant Dragon females soon queued up. The funny thing was that nobody was forcing them.

"How are we going to get in there?" Tyler asked.

"We're just going to walk in," Angie said.

Lia and Tyler reluctantly followed Angie past the line of Dragons into the entrance. Inside, the line of female continued to an inner chamber of horrors. Two female Cyborgs were busy torturing and executing the pregnant Dragons. One Cyborg was tormenting a Dragon suspended by her feet by stabbing her with a pain stick. The other female Cyborg was cutting toes and fingers off of a Dragon on a table and throwing them into a large meat grinder. Both victims were screaching in pain. Six pregnant females sat on benches calmly waiting their turn.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Angie screamed at the two Cyborgs. "Why are you killing these females?"

"We are not killing them," one of the Cyborgs said. "We are processing them."

Angie turned to Tyler. "Where have we heard that before?"

"Do you also process humans?" Angie asked.

"Only those that are with child."

"Why do you sit here and watch?" Angie asked the seated Dragon females. "They are slaughtering you."

"This is our fate," a seated Dragon said.

"But, they are torturing you before they cut you into pieces."

"We accept our fate."

The Cyborg doing the butchering cut down the belly of the female Dragon so that she could extract the baby inside. She took the bloody infant and chopped its legs and arms off and threw it into the grinder.

"This is insane!" Angie yelled. She drew her hand weapon and pointed at one of the female Cyborgs.

"I wouldn't advise doing anything to them," Tyler said. "If we leave bodies, our presence will be revealed."

"What are you talking about? They'll tell them that we're here."

"We will not reveal your presence," a female Cyborg said. "Our function is to process biological units. We are not concerned with military matters."

"We have to get out of here," Lia said. "If the male Cyborgs come back here we will suffer the fate of these creatures."

"We only process females that have birth units in their wombs," the female Cyborg said.

"Let's go," Angie said. "We have to hide."

Neither Lia nor Tyler objected.

***

When Arby walked into Honey's quarters he found both flat alien females there.

"Good, you are here," Honey said. "Take off your clothes."

"Why? Am I being punished?"

"No, you silly pudding, we want to see your thing."

"What thing?"

"Your organ, you dummy. We want to see what you can do with it."

"Oh, that," Arby said, sounding surprised. He smiled. "I will be happy to show you."

After he stripped, Arby stood in front of Honey and Wendy who were seated on a couch.

"Look at that thing," Honey said. "He's making it come out of his skin."

"Actually, there is a small orifice at the bottom of his abdominal cavity," Wendy said. "There are muscles at the base of his organ that allow him to force it out."

"Wow!" Honey said with her eyes growing larger. "That thing is growing bigger. How does it do that?"

"It operates something like a mammalian male's penis," Wendy said. "Blood goes in to fill it up. However, there are major differences. His organ has spiral muscles which enable him to enlarge and control it with ease."

"It's huge!" Honey said. "What can you do with it?"

"I can move it left or right, up or down," Arby said, demonstrating it for them. "I can even make it twirl around."

"That is cool!" Honey said. "You are very talented."

"What I don't understand is why males have these things," Wendy said. "We females do not have matching receptive sex organs."

"There is only one explanation," Honey said. "We were a sexual species at one time, and when we evolved into our present asexual form, the males retained their organ in a vestigial sense."

"As I understand it," Arby said. "We males are less common than you females. I believe that the ratio is over a hundred to one. When males on our planet mature, their organs are cut off, evidently to suppress virility."

"You are one lucky guy," Wendy said. "You get to keep your fun thing."

"Yes," Honey said. "You can entertain us with it."

"It will be my pleasure," Arby said, causing his organ to grow even larger and then vibrate wildly.

"That is really neat," Wendy said.  She grabbed it. "Does it hurt if I squeeze it?"

"No," Arby said. "Just as long as you don't squeeze the tip."

"Let me play with it," Honey said. "This is really fun." She touched the tip which had developed a larger diameter than the shaft. Arby reacted by making the whole organ pulse with muscular contractions.

"I like when you play with it," Arby said, smiling.

"That is interesting," Honey said. "You can experience sexual pleasure. You are lucky indeed."

Arby agreed wholeheartedly with that statement.

***

Karl gave Anna a warm smile when she entered the elevator. She gave him a teasing smile back. After the door slid closed and the elevator started up, Anna issued a stop command, causing Karl to react with surprise. Anna moved closer to him and seeing that he did not back away, moved close enough to have her body up against his. She reached back and patted his bottom before pinching it. Then she pulled his face close to his and kissed him. He tried to pull away, but she increased her grip. He ultimately gave in and they began a heavy groping and kissing session.

"Thank you," Karl said after they came up for air.

"You're welcome," she said, grinning.

The elevator started back up and the door opened. Both Karl and Anna quickly straightened their clothing before Uma and Ferris entered.

"Good evening," Ferris greeted them. "I hope we didn't interrupt anything."

Karl reacted with shock. Anna smiled.

"I know a good place to go for privacy," Uma said. "There is a small holding cell on the recreation deck that is next to the brig. It is just right for two people. There is a shower and bathroom facilities in there but not much else."

"Thanks," Anna said.

Karl avoided eye contact. Uma smiled at him before she and Ferris exited the elevator car.

Uma turned to Ferris as they walked down a corridor. "I thought that they were punished together by Angelina."

"As I understand it, Angelina allowed them to watch each other's punishment."

"The result is interesting," Uma said. "They have acquired a romantic interest in each other."

"A similar effect has occurred with George and Lucia," Ferris said.

"Oh, now that is interesting," Uma said. "Perhaps, Angelina has discovered a new way to bring people together."

"Or, perhaps the libido inhibitors have become ineffective," Ferris said.

Uma chuckled. "That would do it."

***

When Angie, Lia and Tyler saw a Cyborg Lander descending to the base, they ran for cover.

"We have to get out of here," Angie said.

"There's an opening in the fence near the back," Lia said. "I think it's where they take the garbage out."

"Let's go for it," Angie said.

They ran for the opening and exited the base. The alien forest lay a hundred yards off across open ground, but the three humans had no choice. They had to make a break for it. Once inside, the tree line, they could relax.

"I don't think anyone is following us," Lia said.

Suddenly, an explosion in the distance reverberated across the ground and a plume of smoke lifted into the air.

Angie checked her communication unit. "Shit. Those bastards blew our Lander up."

"That is not good," Tyler said. "They not only removed our only means of escape, but now they are aware of our presence."

"Nothing we can do about spilt milk," Angie said. "We'll have to go further into the forest and hope we can hold out until our ships return."

Lia and Tyler were not so sure of that hope.