Sentient: Evolution

by D. R. Rosier

  He shrugged, “It shouldn’t be hard not to get questioned, except of course for the blown up smithy and dead Meliax upstairs, what do we do about that? I’m surprised they haven’t responded yet.”

  She sighed, “I don’t know, maybe we should just hide in here. If we’re lucky they’ll believe that we blew up with the smithy.”

  He opened his mouth, and closed it as she rested her head against his arm. There were worse fates than being stuck alone with her.

  She got up and grabbed his hand, “Come on, you need a bed, and to sleep off your injury.”

  He followed her, not stumbling too badly, through the door on the bridge into a part of a ship that as far as he could tell, shouldn’t exist, and led him to another door close by. The bed looked very comfortable, and he collapsed on it. He was more surprised to feel the mattress move and her lie against him, than he was when discovering there was a space ship under the smithy…

  Kate was sore, but in a really good way. She stretched as she ran the next scan test. She figured if she couldn’t scan a dimension, it would be a bad idea to try and go there. At least until they figured out why. It wasn’t just the frequencies that were important, it took exotic particles not normally found in normal space to successfully scan the dark dimension for example.

  She might get with Ari for suggestions, but right now she was just using their current equipment and methodology to scan the other dimensions. So far, she’d gotten readings back on a few, but wasn’t exactly sure what the scans were telling her yet.

  She smiled as she reminisced about the last few days. The old Kate truly was dead, at least where it applied to Tim and Aide. She figured going out in public on Earth would be the real test, how she dealt with strangers. But the last few days had been… amazing. She was completely insatiable, and had taken every opportunity to be with both of them, or one of them, that had come along.

  Last night she’d deep throated Tim for the first time. In the past she’d never seen the need. Although she’d always liked giving blow jobs, she loved the power she felt to give pleasure, or tease, and always felt in control despite being on her knees, but she’d seen no incentive in choking at all, what was the point?

  At least she thought that until she saw Aide take him all the way into her mouth, and down her throat. She could see Aide’s throat swell from the thick hard cock in it, and the affect the vibrations and swallows had on Tim. It was the sexiest and hottest thing she’d ever seen, and the look on his face was one of pure intense pleasure.

  It was then she decided she wanted to look up into his eyes from her knees, and see that look on his face, be the vehicle of that pleasure for him. So she’d talked to Aide, got some pointers, and then practiced on a dildo for a few hours until she could do it without coughing, choking, or gagging. Last night, she’d finally gotten that wish, and she’d actually exploded in her own orgasm as she felt his seed pump right down her throat.

  Plus… she really liked the way Tim’s hard cock felt in her mouth, she squirmed a bit in her seat, getting turned on by the thought of doing it again. Maybe she’d hunt him down just to suck him off when she took a break later, not even say a word, just suck him off and leave. She giggled naughtily, wondering what he would think about that. She knew the anticipation of waiting would just make it better…

  The scan ended breaking her out of her deliciously tawdry thoughts, and she checked the data while she set up a scan for the next dimension. She wondered if she should automate this, and decided there should be a way. She noticed the quantum frequency change between dimensions had a consistent pattern based on the Fibonacci sequence, and started setting up protocols with Aide. Was there an endless number of dimensions in the universe?

  That was truly… exciting. They’d conquered this dimension, normal space, and had a handle on dark space… there was so much more to learn, and she couldn’t think of better company to share it with.

  Chapter 20

  Tim no longer wondered why Aide had wanted to break through Kate’s shell. The scientist was so passionate, loving, and full of life now that it was as if she were a completely different person altogether. The truth was he was falling in love with her. He loved Aide more every day, and now that he had her, he wasn’t afraid to open his heart to another woman as well. The sex was great, but more than that, he loved spending time in her company.

  She even made science interesting, although, that could have been the sparkling eyes, excited tone, and her presence more than the subject. It had been four days, and the upgrade was wrapping up. They were gathering in the conference room. Although the holograms of Ari and Hope looked completely perfect, there was still a subtle sign they weren’t actually here. Instincts, pheromone, scents, whatever it was, but it was still better than nothing. He thought Hope looked really cute as a Dreniel, but wasn’t really attracted to her at all, which was a good thing.

  Hope’s human body was very alluring, and while he wouldn’t have done anything about it, he had still felt the chemistry, it was a natural reaction for any male, but… it would have been too weird, luckily she felt the same way so nothing awkward had ever happened between them.

  Aide, the woman he would do anything for, had truly blossomed over the last two weeks. She seemed much happier, and well… alive. More alive… vivacious, than he’d ever seen her.

  Ari had her usual content smile on her face, like nothing in life could phase her. He was glad what they did together didn’t seem to impact their friendship at all, unless it had made it stronger. He kind of got the vibe Ari and Hope were an item now, and he hoped they’d be as happy together as Aide and he was.

  “Alright, it’s been a week. Do we try to remove the Meliax, and take responsibility for ten galaxies? Do we take on the task to protect an additional fifteen thousand races?”

  Hope replied first, her voice was firm and sure, “Yes. Perhaps it’s naïve of me, but I trust us not to abuse that power. We’re a small group of five beings, it shouldn’t be hard to keep poison out of the well so to speak. As far as the moral implications,” she shrugged, “screw it, I think it would be worse to stand by and do nothing, than to presume what’s best for fifteen thousand other races. I would suggest we only reveal ourselves to the races we are forcing to remain planet bound, and the ones that will join our community. The rest don’t need to know we exist until they leave their solar system.”

  Tim asked, “Won’t they see our ships?”

  Hope shook her head, “No, we can move a ship there in seconds, no matter where it is, even from another galaxy if protecting them becomes necessary. Even if we do have a ship there, we can leave it in dark space, or even in dimensional subspace, which they won’t be able to detect at all if their planet bound.”

  He nodded, “Very well, Aide?”

  Aide replied, “I agree with Hope. My original programming was to protect the Earth, in the interest of that I extended protection to the galaxy. I see nothing inconsistent in pushing that farther, especially when a threat like the Meliax exist, if we don’t deal with them, they will come back when their ready to face us. It would literally be suicide to wait, and how many other civilizations will die in the meantime? So yes.”

  “Kate?”

  Kate chuckled, “I’m human like you, I’m for it, if only in self-defense. The fact that we’ll be saving others is a bonus in my mind, and just tips the scales even further.”

  “Ari?”

  Ari chuckled, “Does it matter? You already have three out of five votes don’t you?”

  He shook his head, “It does matter. You could sway one of the others if you disagree, but more importantly we all value your opinion. Your race is much more peaceful, if you agree then… I’ll be less worried we’re doing it out of selfish reasons.”

  She grinned, “So you want me to salve your conscious, is that it? I suppose we are about to destroy four million ships, so what is that… a quarter of a billion sentient beings that live on those ships. I’ll agree it’s necessary, but
I want us to demand their surrender, and demand they destroy their ships and return to their home world or one of their secondary worlds until their ready to play nice. If they refuse then we can destroy them, agreed?”

  Tim dropped his mouth open and looked at the ground. He hadn’t even considered asking them to surrender, he just wanted to destroy them for their monstrous actions. Was he that bloodthirsty? Or just stupid? Or maybe because they’d already tried to communicate a bunch of times, and the Meliax refused. Still, one more try wouldn’t hurt, would it?

  He said softly, “Anyone else agree with Ari’s plan?”

  Hope, Kate, and Aide shared a look, and they turned to him and said yes as one.

  Lessi’s heart burned with shame. They would offer life to their enemies, as she and her race which treasured peace considered siding with the monsters, simply because their race was afraid of being exposed to the universe around it.

  She connected to the Matriarchs of her race and updated them with this information and the meeting she had just monitored. She relaxed in her hot springs, her mates surrounding her physically, as well as with loving and supportive thoughts as she sought peace in her mind.

  She had faith in her people, but their xenophobia was very strong. They weren’t helpless by any means, but they wouldn’t defend themselves with lethal response, and dark energy was a threat to them, though they could shield from it for a time. She knew this Aide and Hope would not attack them, and would probably be around for thousands of years, if not longer, but what of their intelligent descendants, would their evolution follow the same path that Hope’s did?

  They could always run before that happened, they had enough ships to move their whole population. Their ten thousand ships were easily big enough to carry five million of her people. She even considered it might be possible if they all acted in concert, that they may be able to move their very planet to a new star. She shook off her thoughts and tried to relax. Surely her people would make the right decision. She must have faith.

  Her mates’ minds sung in her mind, and she relaxed and breathed, and breathed for the ship as well. It was automatic now, just like her normal breathing, the fresh air had to be circulated throughout the ship, another thing accomplished with their telekinetic power instead of machinery. But she did it consciously now, just as she took in and released her bodies breath. It was relaxing, almost as if the ship was just an extension of her body.

  She loved her mates with all her heart, and she knew she’d never fail with them standing behind her… even if they were staring at her ass. She felt their mirth at her thought, and their tacit agreement, she had a very nice ass…

  The time was approaching, and she connected to the matriarchs again. Their answer took her by surprise and she felt tears in her eyes, although she should have known that would be their choice. So be it she thought, it will happen soon enough…

  Turin Lin clicked, “Report.”

  Dura Lin replied, “Repairs are almost done father. I estimate it will be another two hours and twenty-three minutes until we are fully operational.”

  He waved his tentacles approvingly, “Well done daughter, thank you.”

  Dura Lin was a genius, if it weren’t for her they would be nothing but space dust. He’d had no idea the girl was experimenting with other dimensions. Somehow right before they were about to be blown up, she’d ejected all the small bits of dark matter that fed their weapons, and mixed it all with a huge plasma stream while simultaneously moving the ship into a dimensional subspace for a completely different dimension.

  Either the explosion had fooled their enemy, or the enemy couldn’t see them here.

  After he’d calmed down, she explained that their scanners weren’t working correctly because the Meliax don’t use this subspace and don’t scan for it. No one does. They were essentially invisible and safe from both the Emperor, who would surely kill him for failing so badly, and from their new enemy. She’d gotten the scanners working a few hours ago by updating the software. She was also coordinating all other repairs with his sixth wife and engineer, Sera Lin.

  He felt a certain sadness, she deserved the best husband he could find for her, she was without a doubt the most gifted of his daughters, and that said a lot because all of them were exceptional. He was sad because his family name was now worse than crap, and he was probably marked for death along with the rest of his family. There would be no mate from another royal family for his daughter.

  They were watching things unfold from hiding, and he had a feeling that wouldn’t matter for much longer. The aliens that had so solidly kicked his ass, now had sixteen times as many ships, and all of them much more powerful than he faced just a week ago. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick a tentacle out to get shot off either. So he waited.

  He frowned, he was also kind of sad because he’d probably never see the princess again either.

  “Father,” Daria Lin spoke up.

  “Yes?”

  Daria Lin seemed to hesitate, “I’ve found something out by listening to the broadcasts of Earth and Alion.”

  He wondered what difference that could make but asked, “What is it?”

  Daria Lin said, “It seems all those ships are controlled by one person, an artificial intelligence.”

  He shuddered at the thought, artificial intelligences were dangerous. Then what she said finally sunk into his mind.

  Fuck.

  He really didn’t want to be involved anymore, but if he held this back it would be his race that paid the price. Still, he refused to talk to that prick again.

  He waves his tentacles in exasperation, “Do not reveal our position or intentions, but send that information to the emperor immediately.”

  Daria Lin clicked, “Yes father.”

  He had no intention of fighting anymore, he’d seen enough death.

  He had to do something however, they couldn’t stay in this new dimension’s subspace forever. Maybe he would go far away, start a new colony with just his family. It was looked down on, but there was enough genetic diversity for sons and daughters of different wives to join. They could definitely make a viable colony out of it. Either way, he was done with conquering others, his heart was never really in it anyway, he’d only done what was expected of him. He’d had more than his fill of violence…

  Chapter 21

  Hope’s tail curled happily as Ari kissed her with passion. Her processor was busy setting up four new lab spaces to Ari’s specifications, and she was also helping Aide assign ships to the other galaxies. They were leaving three hundred billion here, and sending fifty billion to each of the other ten galaxies. It was overkill all around, she didn’t think they’d have to build any more ships anytime soon. She hoped.

  But her body and biological mind was completely focused on the pleasurable sensations of being in Ari’s arms. Sex was so much better than even her research indicated. It had been an adventure for both of them, as she introduced Ari to the concept of sex toys, apparently despite the Dreniel being a sexually open society, they didn’t have any. Of course, she sized them more appropriately, a little thinner and a little longer for the most part to match their Dreniel bodies.

  They broke apart reluctantly, and looked at the hologram projection in the ship. The ships took just moments to arrive, and they sent out a message demanding unconditional surrender, with the orders to scuttle their ships and return to their planets. So far the Meliax hadn’t responded, either with weapons or words. They were sure they’d gotten the message, all their language and protocols were in the database her and her mother were able to pinch from some of the Meliax ships.

  Wait, what the hell was that?

  She zoomed in on M31 and saw ten thousand star ships of an unknown type. She could read the metal of the ships, but it had a blue field around it that didn’t even register on the sensors except as light, and as far as she could tell, there was virtually no technology on the ships. It registered more like a fo
rest with a few lifeforms in it, than like a ship.

  She connected her command center with her mother’s with a thought, “Are you seeing this mom?”

  Aide nodded, “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that. How…”

  A soft gentle female voice she didn’t recognize sounded in her head, “May I join you, so that we might speak in person?”

  She said, “Sure,” out loud, a little dubiously.

  The soft female voice said, “Thank you, please lower your gravity to point five if you don’t mind.”

  Hope took care of it with a thought, then there was a blue flash, and a light blue skinned striking woman about four inches shorter than her human form stood before her. The woman looked young, but her eyes looked old, wise, and gentle. She had golden blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and a willowy frame. She also had an incredibly strong sense of presence, there was a sense of… power about her.

  “Greetings. I’m Grand Matriarch Lessi of the Kokkeer race. Please, address me by Lessi. I come to tell you we mean no harm, and will respect your rules when you take over this space. I only ask that you keep our presence a secret. You are the first lifeforms we have revealed ourselves to in over two hundred thousand of your years. We are… incapable of violence, so choose to hide.”

  Hope frowned, “Why have you revealed yourselves then?”

  She smiled, “You and your mother’s processor are beyond our ability to… influence into not noticing us. Although I could do it to your body, your processor would immediately notice the inconsistency. In other words, it was either this, oppose you, or move. We decided trusting you with our lives and the benefits you could bring to the local races made the second and third options unpalatable.”

  Hope shook her head, her processor still furiously trying to figure out how the woman got here aboard her ship, “Okay. It’s nice to meet you. Would your race like to be left alone, or would you like to trade and speak with the five of us on occasion? I don’t think it will be a problem to leave you alone, as long as you don’t attack anyone, you can do as you wish. But out of curiosity how would you have opposed us if you aren’t capable of violence.”