Under a Starless Sky

Chapter 67

Kali returned, her purse’s specimen jars full- people and monsters. She rolled tables out and placed

habitats on them. She dropped the specimens into their designated habitats. They were compliant

creatures, and tentatively explored their new homes, happy to be in the care of the goddess and out of

their virtual worlds. They were promised a life of ease, food and pleasure, in exchange for their

cooperation. Kali spoke very nicely to them, in a voice that was higher pitched, as if she were speaking

to a child or a dog.

Shen had heard the name ‘Hibagon’ before, perhaps in an animae; they were the Japanese equivalent

of Yeti. These guys weren’t that. They were that furry, almost like Comicon folks dressed as furries, but

super sexy. The female arms and legs were human and naked, but everything else was fury. The

males were solid fur to the palms of their hand and feet. They were taller than humans. Their faces

were not human but human enough- not quite dog faces- but damn attractive faces that just make Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

anyone want to love on them. It was weird- animae philosophy in general seemed weird to Shen- the

animae characters were weird; one would think Japanese created characters would have Japanese

traits, but these Hibagon had indistinct features that would likely result in a universal appeal. There was

an economic sense in that- broad appeal made it easier to pimp characters out. The males were not

Wookies, but you would want one as your friend. The females were super appealing to him.

Selkie arrived in their habitat as people with human legs. They were a little below the average human

height, fairly stalky, robust not fat, and they went immediately to the pool. They dove in as human, and

emerged with flippers, their feet becoming one. From the mid thigh down they were seals. They would

come out of the water and have feet, climb the slides, and not even mid slide they were seals again.

They could come from the bottom of the pool and exit the water with incredible height, jumping through

a ring as easy as a trained dolphin.

The Tennin held an angelic level of beauty- a distinctly Japanese flavor of appearance, the epitome of

the ideal. The specimen were all female, seven of them. Their kimono’s were vibrant colors of the

rainbow, and the loose ends would trail them, or proceed them, or move about them as if the kimono’s

were living things with minds of their own. They didn’t walk- they flew. No, their clothing flew and they

were carried! Sometimes their feet lighted on the ground, ever so lightly with a toe, and pushing off-

graceful, space ballerinas, they spun and moved about delighted by their space. They hovered. They

perched on cotton beds simulating clouds. They caressed flowers and hugged the trees, and sipped at

their fountain. Their ability to fly was definitely an aspect of the kimono. This was made evident when

two emerged from their kimono. The clothing undid it itself and remained in the air, while they swam in

the fountain, playfully. The others joined, naked nymphs playing. The first one returned to her kimono,

rose to a tree branch, where ribbons of her clothing took hold of the branch, and her kimono became a

hammock that supported her from head toe. She curled up and her Kimono covered her, hugged her.

The fauns were- fauns, if fauns were the product of insanely pornographic animae artist that were bred

by Deviant-Art-Gods. They were grotesquely beautiful, even as their knees bent the wrong way. Human

faces, with strange, dopey long ears. Some of the ears were pointedly long, as if cut by a human hand,

the way one might cut the ears of a Doberman. They all either had antler buds or full blown antlers.

Male antlers tended to splay out, where the female tended to fall back, and curve close. The fur lines

tended to end around the navel, and at the high end of the cheek bone. They had various shades of fur,

from brown to black. The females, whether brown or black or in between, all had a white fur on their

butts, trailing into the inner thigh, making a heart shape target if they bent in front of you; they had white

tails. The males had thick necks, likely to accommodate the weight of their racks. One would imagine

the women would need sturdier backs to accommodate their ‘racks,’ but they were dainty, delicate

creatures that grazed on leaves and flower petals. They would offer flowers and wear them in their

otherwise human hair. The males distanced themselves from each other and owned their relative

space- the females roamed.

After situating her new people, she opened the portal and returned to Shen’s cage.

“I want another sample,” Kali said.

“No,” Shen said.

“I would rather not do this the hard way every time,” Kali said. “I risk damaging you.”

“Fuck you,” Shen said.

The fight was on. Shen lost and was strapped to the table. Kali pulled out two syringes. She sighed.

“Let me show you the easy way,” Kali said.

Kali placed a halo on his head. Her tech-eye sparked. She sorted memories. “Ahh, this one looks nice.”

Loxy appeared. “I can have her collect the sample,” Kali said. A mechanical arm lowered. Its

mechanism was similar to a cow milking machine, with a ‘fleshlight’ appendage; it wasn’t just a sheave,

the arm and the material could ‘work’ it. “She can stimulate you and I will collect the sample here.”

“No,” Shen said. Seeing Loxy was arousing, partly because she seemed ‘solid’ real standing there- a

silky, see-through negligee that could fall off too easily and the shoulder strap required pulling back up,

but also because she was extracted from a particular memory that had led to intimacy. The aura of her

from that memory carried momentum.

“I will get my way in this,” Kali said, whispering into his ear. He was immersed in a memory, seeing and

hearing everything from the memory, while simultaneously hearing Kali’s voice- not part of this memory,

jarring and incongruent. “Let’s do this the easy way. I will give you a gift. Just name it. I can be quite

accommodating if you allow me.”

“Freedom,” Shen said.

“To roam the ship as a giant? No. you must be born a giant to be a giant. I can traverse both worlds,

because one can become smaller and return to normal size,” Kali said.

“No, let me and my friends go,” Shen said.

“No, I am not letting you go. You will spend the remainder of your life here with me,” Kali said. “I will let

you commune with your friends, if you cooperate.”

“No,” Shen said.

Kali pushed buttons and suddenly he was full in his memory of intimacy with Loxy. There was a

tangible, cognitive disconnect; he knew he wasn’t there, and yet, he was. It was fast forwarded to Loxy

on top of him; it became a cut of a scene where it was repeated. He knew he was stuck in a memory

loop- he had all the sensations of the original memory, and all the present sensations of being milked.

He was assaulted with a repeating climax that was rushing him to where Kali wanted him to be. The

sensation was overwhelming and there was no way to avoid the inevitable conclusion- resisting just

prolonged the manipulation. There was a sudden pain in his thigh, and he knew his bone had been

penetrated by syringe. The memory overlay went away and he was returned to the ‘real’ world. He had

orgasmed simultaneously with the bone being penetrated. The mechanical arm was retracting away,

sample received. Kali placed her sample in a vacutainer and handed it to mechanical arm, requesting a

crystal.

Kali returned to Shen’s bedside. There was some seepage which Kali collected on a finger and then

sucked on it, watching him for his reaction- she gestured with eyebrows and smiled with her eyes.

“There are lots of ways for me to get what I want. I will get what I want.” She held his head with four

hands, kissed him, sucked his breath out, and then retreated. She snapped her fingers and restraints

went away. “You can talk with your friends if you like.” She returned to the big room and continued to

work.

Shen limped to the corner and sat down. Arne knelt and put his hand against the glass. Jerica and the

others were behind him. Shen put his hand on the glass, thinking Star Trek- Spock. He kept the joke to

himself. Mostly because he was Spock.

“Just cooperate with her,” Arne said.

“No,” Shen said.

“This is madness, friend,” Arne said.

“Surrender is death,” Shen said.

“Yeah, and not surrendering is hell,” Arne said. “Fuck her if you have to, but survive this to fight her

another day.”

“No,” Shen said.

“I promise you, we will kill this giant, and we will escape,” Arne said.

“No,” Shen said.

“No,” Arne repeated. “I am confused. You don’t want to escape?”

“I want to escape, but I will not escape without you and the others. If I can avoid killing, I will,” Shen

said.

“Even after she has raped you?” Jerica said.

“Men can’t be raped,” Orton said. “He was clearly willing to participate.”

“I might kill you, Orton,” Shen said.

“Tell us you didn’t like that shit. I would trade places with you in a heartbeat,” Orton said.

“You can cease talking now,” Arne told him.

“Seriously, why is this runt getting ass when I can’t,” Orton asked.

“Because you’re an ass,” Jerica said. “Now shut up before I sleep you.”

“You know, I am sick and tired of being told I can speak my mind only to be told to shut…”

Jerica touched him. His knees buckled and he went to the ground. No one caught him. Arne looked to

Shen.

“Forgive him brother,” Arne said. “He is stressed, and simply doing too much math- trying to survive,

while maximizing benefit.”

“I know,” Shen said. “I like his consistency.”

Jerica grunted. “He is that.”

“We will get out of here, friend,” Arne said.

“We will,” Shen agreed. He looked to Jerica. “You are still in contact with Loxy?” She nodded. “Tell them

to get away from that island.”

“They have retreated, and hold, waiting for resolution,” Jerica said.

“Can you bilocate out of the cell?” Shen asked.

“I cannot duplicate myself from this form, only from origin form,” Jerica said. “This form will remain solid

till I resolve it, or it is killed.”

“Can you resolve and come back?” Shen asked.

“No,” Jerica said. “I do not understand where we are. My imagination has already filled my vision and I

can no longer see truth. If I travel now, I may end up in my own fantasy of it.”

Shen understand that well enough. “What was your impression before your imagination?”

“I saw rolling lands of the giants and eternal blackness,” Jerica said. “I wish I could tell you more.”

“You told me enough,” Shen said. “Excuse me, I am going to sleep.”