“There can only be organization. There can be no confusion.”
“Confirmed. Protocol is at risk. Stability is at risk. Order must be restored.”
It was an emergency situation, one that demanded all usual rituals be jettisoned. That was all right. We knew the steps to be taken when a crisis threatened. We were perfection as we left our pods and routed a secure channel to the other cleansing and gathering teams. Once we explained the situation to them, they agreed immediate action must be taken. Once the matter was dealt with and our entire group was re-assembled, we would take the ships back to Bi’is to report that the infestation had been eradicated.
It was left up to Other One and myself to decontaminate the research facility. We immediately secured our weapons. In full emergency mode, we began to clean up the impurities. They would not be allowed to contaminate faultless Bi’is.
Maker screamed in my head as I pulled him apart limb by limb. Now that I knew him to be imperfect – he had admitted to that himself – it was as much a thrill to destroy him as the Barinem. The Tragooms they kept collared for personal security were even more exciting to kill. They put up a much better fight, more worthy of my skills.
Other One and I had a little trouble getting into the communications room with its triple-sealed doors. However, we had been well constructed. We were perfect after all, and made to spread perfection throughout the universe. We got inside and killed the contaminated Bi’isils frantically calling for help from home world.
That suited me fine. Bi’is already knew how we had protected it from the chaos. When we got there, it would be as heroes of the greatest civilization, a civilization we would guard against any and all forms of disarray.
I – the Shalia me – woke from the dream gasping and feeling cool Bi’isil blood drenching my hands. Fortunately my room in Medical did not resemble the Bi’isil research facility in any way. That helped me get my senses back quickly.
I immediately called for Feru, Tep, and Oses. I reported my dream/memory in all its awful detail. They were quiet for a long time after I finished.
Oses was the first to hazard an opinion. “It’s Bi’is technology, as we thought it might be. They’ve always been at the forefront of biological type weaponry, but this is a whole new realm of design.”
Tep said, “If this was what was used in the unsolved attacks on the Barinem, then it’s decades old. There has been no evidence Bi’is used an organism of this type since then.”
“The weapon went terribly wrong, turning on them. One would have to suppose they couldn’t correct the program that only sees things as right or wrong with nothing in between.”
Feru weighed in. “To allow such a creature to weigh heavier matters of right versus wrong would also allow it to develop a conscience. They wanted a pure weapon, not one that could think for itself.”
I could see they’d been discussing the matter at length out of my hearing. I said nothing, choosing to monitor the It instead. All I sensed was the usual cold, hard intent. If the It could only think in terms of the universe as being black and white, order and chaos, it would never change its mind about its end goal. All that mattered was the eradication of disorder, leaving only purity behind.
Since nothing is perfect, eventually the organisms would want to destroy everything they came in contact with. The It and Other One would not stop with those of us on the transport. They had a whole universe to cleanse.
Feru asked me, “Shalia, do you have any sense of what species the organism took over in that incarnation? What did the cuff device’s wearer start out as?”
I thought back to all the dreams, trying to get a sense of who the It’s prior victim might have been. However, I could only recall that pinpoint need to destroy everything that wasn’t orderly, that didn’t fit the It’s version of perfection. Whoever my predecessor was, I thought his personality might have been completely erased.
My voice choked, I told them this. “Is this what’s happened to Candy? Will it happen to me in the end?”
Tep was quick to say, “We don’t know that. The organism was still under development to judge from the memory. The Bi’isils wanted to test it on the Barinem, which tells us they were not at an end stage yet. In fact, the It may have been programmed specifically for whatever wore it first. If it was a creature of very different biology from your own, then it could be another factor working in our favor to free you of its influence.”
I tried to feel as hopeful as Tep tried to sound. Yet Candy had been a long way from herself before they put her in stasis. If not for the fact that something in me is fighting off the It, something that Candy did not possess on her own, I would probably also be lost – perhaps for good.
I am so scared for us both, but I am mostly scared for my child. What will happen to her?
Tep and Feru left after our conference. Before they did, Oses spoke with them and the security guards. I was startled to see everyone leave, shutting the door to allow Oses and me privacy.
“Now what?” I asked, my eyes wide in disbelief.
Oses gave me a smile as he sauntered over to the bed. “We think you can have a little break from feeling like a prisoner. Certain restrictions have been lifted for this one time.”
I felt the It perk up just a touch over that. “You are not letting me out of stasis,” I spluttered. “That would be madness.”
“No, you’re not going free. In fact, I’m going to put the physical restraints back on you. Should your invader begin to act as if it wants to take over, you will tell me. The security guards will come back in and deal with the organism, if needed.”
I swallowed. ‘Deal with the organism’ sounded pretty fatal coming from the big, scarred Nobek standing over me. Yet if he can help it, Oses will never allow me to be harmed. Not that it matters so much to me since I’m pretty damned harmed right now.
The most important thing to me is that he’ll do whatever has to be done to save my baby ... even if I have to be sacrificed in the process. I believe it would destroy Oses to kill me, but he knows how I feel about the matter. I have been reassured he will not be sentimental if the time comes to finish the It once and for all. It’s good that I can trust him.
I watched him strap my helpless legs, torso, and arms down. He ran his fingers between the straps and me, making sure they were tight but not so tight that my circulation would be compromised. “Is everything feeling all right?” he asked.
“Right as rain,” I answered. “Do you mind telling me now what it is you’re up to?”
“How about fucking?”
My jaw dropped. “You must be kidding. With this thing infecting me? Even talking through me? You can’t be sure this is me now! Prophets save me, you can’t be that desperate!”
Oses shook his head at me. “I know it’s you right now. I know you are still Shalia, the woman I once made my Matara. I love you. I always will. I need to be with you now.”
“In case there isn’t a later?” I asked.
He swallowed. I knew then that Tep and the medical team had told Oses something they hadn’t told me. Like despite the discovery that my body fought the It, they very much feared there was no stopping the transformation.
They hadn’t given up, not by a long shot. But things were not looking good. If I was going to be with Oses ... really be with him ... this might be our last opportunity.
“Just don’t uncover any of what it’s done to me,” I whispered. “I don’t want to see it. I want to pretend – I want to pretend it’s just us. You and me and nothing else.”
Oses nodded. He moved the sheet covering my naked body, pulling it so that it bared me except the part that covered my upper chest and arm where the It had formed the armored exoskeleton. He tucked the fabric carefully, making sure it wouldn’t come loose by accident.
He stripped his formsuit off. Despite being on leave, Oses had gone back to wearing his uniform most of the time. I think it gave him some measure of security and made him feel more like his old sel
f. More in control, maybe.
He looked pretty damned good out of it though. Even with things as awful as they had become, I couldn’t deny the surge of passion to see that big, scarred mountain of muscle come into view. Dear prophets, Oses is astonishing to look at. With all that’s happened lately, I seemed to have forgotten.
And while I’m infected or whatever one would call what’s happened to me, it didn’t seem to affect the Nobek’s attraction to me. His cocks looked rock hard, swollen with arousal. They glistened, exuding lubrication as he regarded me lying there. I became just as wet in a big hurry.
“These need to be open for me,” Oses rumbled, his voice deeper than usual as his hands wrapped around my ankles. He spread my legs to accommodate himself. The stasis field was keyed to my biology, so Oses was able to move me about without being affected.
Stasis didn’t keep me from feeling trembly as he crawled up onto the bed. Like a stalking panther, the huge man came for me, slinking until he crouched over my still form.
Oses gazed into my eyes, pinning me with his stare. I was lost in those purple oceans, which dwindled a bit at a time as his cat-slitted pupils widened. I felt so helpless under the weight of his gaze. I was helpless because of the straps and stasis, but even without them I wouldn’t have been able to move.
Never taking his gaze from mine, Oses lowered his face and put one hand to my breasts. They had grown full with my progressing pregnancy. Once upon a time, he had been able to cover the entirety of a mound with one hand. Now my tit overflowed his palm. He sighed his appreciation as he squeezed and suckled.
Arousal shivered from his mouth and hand to my pussy. I moaned in gratitude as he played with me, plying my flesh with licks, kisses, pinches, and nips. While he delighted us both with my breasts, his hand traveled down to dip into moist warmth. Fingers probed and then plunged, fucking me. My body fought to arch into him, but of course it couldn’t. I cried out the Nobek’s name. I shouted, “Master!” when his thumb brushed my clit.
Slick from my juices, he pressed one finger and then a second into my ass. Kissing his way down my swollen belly, Oses coaxed the tight muscles to relax, to accept his demands. Bit by bit, I opened to him, the slight ache dissipating with his careful ministrations.
I forgot all about his preparations when his lips closed around my clit. Oses sucked me into his demanding mouth. Crazy-sensitive with my growing pregnancy, I shouted as a bolt of pure exaltation blasted through that little bit of me. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
His mouth released me, leaving me gasping on the cusp of orgasm. I looked down, seeing how that dark head continued to hover over my mound. His hot breath caressed my straining flesh. I knew he was only a millimeter from tasting me again. My every sense was alive, waiting for that contact.
Instead, Oses spoke. “You will come for me. I will touch you, and you will surrender to it. There is to be no holding back. Do you understand, pet?”
“Yes,” I whispered hoarsely. I was still on the brink, needing only the slightest nudge. “I will come for you, Master. I will come because you will it.”
“Then do so.”
Lips enclosed me again; raw silk tongue slid over me. I didn’t just fall from the precipice, I hurled myself off. I lost myself, lost in convulsions of unremitting ecstasy, flung out of the bounds of time and space.
After some time, I was dimly aware of Oses on me. Then he was in me. His huge body covered me, weighing me to the bed. His breath was still hot, but now in my ear. His hips thrust, spearing me over and over, his cocks thick within. His groin rubbed constantly against my clit, bringing me again. I lay there beneath him, unable to move as he took his pleasure with me. As he forced pleasure on me, again and again. My cries were continuous as he inflicted greater and greater passion upon me.
Then all at once Oses froze. His breath stopped for a second or two. Then his groan unraveled from his throat, a great stream of spoken release just before the physical release. I came again to feel him emptying within me, granting me the gift of his love.
As a potential last time, it was precious. Only then did I realize that every time is precious. I hope I never take it for granted again. I hope I get many more chances to not take it for granted.
May 25
Today was pure shit. It started when Betra shared the news that Candy’s body stopped fighting the Other One. Whatever it was that I was able to give her in that blood transfusion is done. The organism has sped up its takeover of her body, and she’s showing spikes of near consciousness again. She’s been placed in an armored stasis capsule under full guard. They predict she will be completely transformed within a week. We are losing her.
The second round of bad news: the It is gaining ground in my body. Tep came in to tell me that the latest scans show the invader has entwined its ‘veins’ within my chest, right arm, upper back, and neck. More are feeding into my brain.
“The baby?” I asked, almost too scared to speak.
“The organism continues to avoid your abdomen, including the womb for now. That’s a good sign since its twin invaded Matara Candy throughout her entire body quickly.”
I thought about my suspicion that the pregnancy had something to do with retarding the It’s progress. All at once I felt a grudging agreement elsewhere in my head. Oh shit, my thoughts were leaking into the It’s consciousness. More frightening to me was that it knew the baby was keeping it at bay for the moment. I felt that it saw my unborn child as an enemy.
I went into full panic. “Doc, the It knows something to do with my pregnancy makes it hard to take me over. It wants to destroy her. You’ve got to deliver this child now!”
While Oses growled a warning and Betra stroked my hair and shushed me, Tep slowly shook his head. “It’s true that something to do with the pregnancy appears to be the reason you are still yourself. As it is the only weapon we have at the moment, I can’t take the child. That would erase the one defense you have. We would lose you, Shalia.”
“If you don’t, the baby could die! Oses, make him take her!”
Tep leaned close so that his face filled my vision. “Listen to me, Shalia. We are monitoring you very closely. The instant this thing shows any sign of threatening your child, I will deliver her. But for now, you’re our only hope of finding out how to stop it from destroying you and Candy. If we can save all three of you, we will.”
I sobbed, “But if you can’t—”
“Then I will do what has to be done. I promise you that.”
Feru had come in at some point. “If you can continue to access the It’s memories, we could discover what separated it from its last host. There is still hope. It’s too soon to give up on you.”
I thought I felt a curl of satisfaction from my unwanted interloper. The It was pretty sure what had happened before was of no bearing to the present situation. It was convinced it would not lose.
I glared at Tep through my tears. “You don’t leave my child to one second of chance. Do you hear me? One tiny little hint – just the suggestion of a hint that she is in danger – you get her out. Don’t you dare fuck with me on this, Tep.”
If he was offended by my show of threat, he didn’t give any indication. Instead, Tep told me, “I have already started giving the baby medication to accelerate development of her heart, lungs, and other major organs. She’s now a few weeks advanced of the original due date.” He gripped my shoulder and squeezed. “Do not fear I’ve not made her my main concern, Shalia. I’m giving her all the support I can so that if it comes to an early delivery, she will have the best possible chance of thriving.”
Relief filled me. All this time, Tep had been looking out for my daughter, making her the priority she deserved to be. I realized that in his own way, he was as dedicated to her survival as Oses – even if it meant giving up on me. It was the best I could ask for.
May 26
Shalia's Diary # 6 Page 13
