The following is a complete work of fiction.
Any resemblance between the characters and any real life person is completely coincidental. Please do not copy or distribute the story without the author's permission.
Disclaimer:
The following story contains erotic homosexual situations. If it is illegal for you to read this please leave now.
CHAPTER 13 And Baby Made Four
I watched the color drain from Bransen's face.
"Uhh... maybe you should sit down hon." I took Bransen's hand and led him to a nearby bed.
"We're pregnant... We're pregnant? Doc? Where's Doc?" Bransen eyes were searching the room for Doc.
"Okay everyone you're clear to go." Chris was shooing them out of the room as he knelt trying to revive Doc.
"We're both pregnant?" Bransen was rambling.
"It's okay..." I said trying to calm Bransen.
I hadn't been prepared any more than he was when I heard the news. A couple of days ago, when TK blurted it to me I didn't exactly 'feature' the idea either. After TK scanned the embryo and confirmed it was Bransen's I relaxed a little. That was until the thoughts of midnight feedings and diaper changes started to flood my mind. What the hell did I know about raising a child; and now two?
"Come back to me hon." I said giving him a kiss.
Bransen's sky blue eyes focused on my smiling face. "So we're both pregnant." He said as a goofy grin curved his lips.
"Yep. We're going to be fathers. How about we go back to our unit and I get cleaned up? I could use some breakfast too. I'm starving." I said pulling him to his feet.
"Time to feed the boys!" Bransen announced smiling as wide as I had ever seen him.
"Chris, send up the Doc in about an hour 'eh? He is okay isn't he?" I asked.
"Yeah he's okay. We didn't exactly get a lot of sleep before we were transported over here last night." He said with a sly grin.
"TK. Please.."
"Double check the load capacity on the power lift?? Widen the doorway?" TK interrupted.
I clenched my jaw. "Go piss up a rope TK. Transport us to our unit. NOW!"
A long whistle echoed through the room. "If you're this bitchy after a couple days of pregnancy, I just can't WAIT until next month!"
"NOW TK!" I yelled.
A white flash of light enveloped us and we were back in our living area.
The truth was, I was edgy. Had we not left when we did, many could have died. I was quickly become a burden and savior to these people and I didn't like it. With all the wonders of this place a piece of me still missed the caverns and forest of home. I felt guilty for building a new family so quickly after having lost my previous one. There were times when I opened my eyes in the morning wondering if I had the strength to push through another day. I reminded myself of the cardinal rule that had gotten me this far. "It is, was it is. Accept it. Life goes on." My feelings of betrayal didn't diminish though. It's not supposed to be easy to leave the past behind is it?
"I'm going to clean up real quick hon." I said selecting a fresh set of clean clothes from their compartment. "TK, subdued lighting."
I relished dimmed lighting. It reminded me of the dawn when I was back at the caverns. It had been my private time. The walls of the shower shut me away from everyone and everything as I let the warm water beat against my sore muscles. I stretched out my arms against the wall letting my head hang between them. My mind wandered as streams of water found new paths down my body and into the drain.
I stood oblivious in the spray of water before I felt it. There was a slight push of darkness. I shifted my weight to my left leg watching the rivers change path and work their way down my thighs and calves. I shook off the cold dark feeling and went back to my sweet oblivion in the hiss of the water.
I stood there in my own world when a scene flashed across my mind. It had been darkness, complete darkness, but something with sharp cut jagged edges shown through it. I could see faint lines travel along the shape of it as it shifted. It was alive!
"BRANSEN!!!" I yelled. The coldness of the image had me huddled in the corner of the shower for warmth. I was freezing and terrified! I could feel the involuntary spasms of my muscles shiver in attempt to warm my body. My quiet place of paradise had somehow become a torment.
The next thing I knew Bransen was carrying me to our bed as he tucked the covers around me.
"COM Doc: I need you here NOW" he yelled. It sounded so distant.
I was so cold. I curled into a ball eyeing the shadows of the room. They were in the shadows. I could feel them.
"They're coming!" I yelled as my muscles twisted from the burning cold.
"The baby is fine." I heard Doc say.
"Thank the gods." Bransen's voice replied.
I opened my eyes to find myself wrapped in too many blankets on our bed. Bransen's fingers were working their way across my scalp combing my hair with his fingertips. The idea of being tied down made me stretch out to see how much movement I had.
"He's coming to." Doc said.
Coming to? I was waking up. What the hell?
"Sorry Doc... that hour went by quicker than I expected." I said trying to make my words clear behind the blanket of sleep.
They were silent for too long. Something was definitely up.
"What? Did I over sleep?" What the hell was wrong with these people.
"Khore... that was 18 hours ago. We almost lost you. I still don't quite know how you're alive right now" Doc's face wore the lines of exhaustion.
Bransen stared down at me. He was quiet and it worried me.
"What happened??? I was in the shower.." I began when the image flashed through my mind.
"They're coming!" I yelled as I tried to crawl away from them banging my head against the wall. I was terrified and didn't know why. The feeling was instant and so so cold. It gripped me like a vice as my breath sped and heart pounded. Then it was gone. It disappeared as quickly as it came. It seemed more a half forgotten nightmare.
"Damn it's hot in here!" I said noticing the trickles of sweat and shine of Doc and Bransen's face.
"What are you trying to do? Cook me?" I asked.
"TK, what is the temperature in here?" I asked.
"125 degrees Fahrenheit ice queen." Came the reply.
"What the hell! TK, adjust environmental to 68 degrees Fahrenheit please. What is wrong with you people?" I stared back at them.
"It wasn't a dream was it?" I said already knowing the answer.
Bransen shook his head. "No."
The water in the shower as well as the liquid metal around it was frozen in mid stream. The black and white marbled wall of the shower was frosted to a grey color creeping out in random patterns. I scanned it with my mind. The sub atomic particles hadn't just slowed, they had stopped. They were frozen in place creating the hardest and yet the most fragile substance. I sped the particles heating them with my mind until they became pools of black silver sludge. Increasing their speed even more they turned into liquid metal that was the ship and were absorbed into the walls.
"Who is coming Khore?" Bransen asked.
I grasped at the fleeting image. I didn't really want to remember this.
"They call themselves the Kotan. That is all I know." I shivered at the memory.
I draped my fingertips along Bransen's cheeks letting them slide to his shoulder. I saw him grimace as he jerked back like I had stabbed him.
"Doc?" I asked looking in his direction.
"Show him Bransen." Doc answered.
Bransen gently lifted the left side of his shirt showing me dead white flesh against his bronze skin that stretched across his abdomen. The grayish white impression was outlined in a deep red. I sat up as Bransen continued raising his shirt displaying more impressions against the right side of his chest. The tissue damage must have been massive for it not to have been repaired yet. .
I looked into his pale blue eyes. "Bransen?" I was too ashamed to ask.
"It happened when he carried you to bed." Doc answered my unspoken question.
My heart ached. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt him, and there was the proof of it across his body. A tear traveled down my cheek. I drew in energy and placed my palm over his heart.
"I'm so sorry." I said as I took hold of the energy within his body.
My palm erupted in fiery blue light as cell by cell I concentrated on the damage. Each cracked frozen membrane was repaired and brought to life. Like a fall wind across a field of wheat the color surged back to bronze across his body. I warmed the remaining damaged muscles and nerves as they sparked back to life. Removing my hand from his chest I pulled him into me as I wrapped my arms around him tightly.
"I'm sorry Bransen" I whispered in his ear.
"You don't have anything to apologize for. I love you." Bransen whispered back.
I pulled back. "I love you too."
I yawned loudly and settled back into the bed. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to stay as I began to feel the cold pull again.
I spoke quickly feeling another pulse of cold rush through me. "Bransen, I don't think I have long before they pull me back so please listen. Try to keep my little problem a secret if possible. I don't know how long I will be frozen, but for the gods' sake don't bury me. Push everyone to learn the ship's systems as fast as they can."
"I will." His voice shook as his eyes tear filled with tears.
"Don't worry about me Bransen. Bransen Junior here and I will be just fine." I smiled patting my belly.
"Give me a kiss to come back to?" I said pushing myself up.
Bransen quickly leaned into me as our lips met. His warm sweet lips gripped and pulled at mine. Kissing him was like touching my soul to his. It felt like I was complete in a way I hadn't been before. I loved him. Each time I had allowed myself to love it had been special. I never loved any one of them more than another. I had loved them in different ways. They were very different people. Bransen is the other half of my soul. I don't remember it happening, but it was true. He is the other half of who I am now, and who I will become in the future. I could never survive the exquisite anguish that would mirror this love if I ever lost him.
We separated as I lowered myself back into the bulk of covers. I didn't want to leave yet, but I could feel them rising through my mind. The cold was beginning to grip me and caused my breath to sputter.
"Bransen...", my voice shuddered.
"Yes Khore?" he answered.
My mouth moved but I was having a hard time pushing air out of my lungs. I took in a deep breath. "The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend."
The cold stole me into the frozen darkness. I seemed to be swimming around in the void. I was no place at all. The lack of feeling overwhelmed me. There was nothing.
"Who are you?" I sent the thought outward. There was no answer. I concentrated and sent it with more intensity. "Who are you?"
The darkness swirled around me and through me as though I had no substance at all. I don't suppose I did. My body lay frozen in the ship while my consciousness had been pulled here alone. Maybe they could not understand me.
I formed my thoughts and amplified them screaming into the void. "WHO ARE YOU!?"
"SILENCE!" Came a wave of destruction I hadn't felt before. Thousands of voices erupted in my mind in unison.
It had somehow weakened me. I didn't know what would be left of me if I endured too much more of that. I rested and gathered strength. I couldn't feel the passage of time and it worried me. How long had I been here? I thought for a bit. Maybe it wasn't the words that were the problem. I had understood their demand of silence. Perhaps it was the question.
"What are you?" I sent.
"We are Kotan." The chorus of thoughts replied.
"Who are the Kotan" I thought.
The chorus replied "We are one of many."
It seemed this was a collective conscience. So many minds merged for a common purpose. Individuality must be inconceivable to these things.
"Who leads you?" I thought to it.
"You" replied the chorus.
What the hell? I wasn't leading these things. I didn't command it to steal me away from Bransen. If I was the leader then they should follow my commands.
"Stop!" I sent the thought but there was no answer.
"Show me the Kotan" I thought to it.
My thoughts burst with vivid clarity. In my mind I saw a mass of black crystals. They weren't so much black as they had no color. The glimmer of distant stars framed its edges, but there was no reflection. It seemed to absorb the light around it. It was a collection of crystals pointing outward in all directions from a central mass completely devoid of color. The edges were only perceptible against the backdrop of stars. It was beautiful as it rolled like a tumbleweed through space.
"What do you want?" I thought to it. Again there was no answer. It was beginning to piss me off! Again... maybe it was the question.
"What do you seek?" I asked.
"FOOD" the chorus replied.
I was afraid to ask.
"Show me food." I sent.
Again my mind exploded with a new image. It was a planet in the neighboring solar system. I watched as the swarm of Kotan dropped from the sky and plunged into the planet below. There were too many to count.
The Kotan dotted the surface of the planet like a ferocious hive of stinging bees. Ripples of white energy worked along the peaks of the crystal talons to its core. They were only about a 100 feet in width and height. But there were so many. Like locust in a field. In a matter of hours, the once lush planet had become a simple rock in space floating around the neighboring star. They didn't simply devour the energy from the soil. They absorbed it all.
"Kotan... What is leader" I asked.
"LEADER IS FOOD." the chorus answered.
I was the bright petals of the flower that drew the bee. Intergalactic bugs had caught the scent and were working their way to Earth. Great... Just fucking great!
Yet another short chapter. I hope you don't mind. There is too much going on at the moment to be stretching ideas with bulk.. Well... more likely... I don't know how to do it properly. Currently my mind is too twisted for color tv. I'm tired. I apologize for the ending note in the previous chapter. It was a bit abrasive and that wasn't my intention. I thrive on feedback and when there is none I become insecure. This is my first story so I hope I have that right at the moment. I hope to hear from you all soon.
Take care of you!