Earth Reborn

Love and Greed

When I was only 800 years old or 8th age, they still told the story of the Big Death in my village. After my nightly chores, we'd gather around the fire in the mountain caverns that hid us. The smell of burning wood filled the air as golden shadows danced along the stone walls as though they were alive.

We'd listen to the oldest of us tell the tale. They spoke of the days of the arrival of the Thorens to our planet. August 12, 2008, at approximately 12:03PM, those enormous brilliant spheres entered our atmosphere. They were so silver that it was beyond the reflection of a mirror, more of liquid mercury just as they are today.

Looking to the sky all around the world, the Sphere Major, as we call them now, appeared. The whole sky was filled, as far as the eye could see in every direction, with strange square patterns, like a silver dotted quilt had somehow been laid across the earth. Five over, five up, five across, five down, on and on and forever into the distance. Even now I look up and often wonder what it would look like to have only the moon and stars fill the sky.

The Big Death came and all the females in the world died in a matter of days. A mere blink in history and they were gone. Descriptions and paintings have been passed down over the centuries, but no one has ever seen a real female. They are now little more than myth and legend.

The Thorens brought disease, death, and slavery into our already chaotic world. They justified their every action with the rationale that we were destroying ourselves and our world anyway. They were simply more efficient. They would control our infestation and let the world return to its natural state. No sense in letting a rodent problem ruin a perfectly good planet, I suppose.

Strangely, with all this, they also brought us life. The same virus that killed all females also caused the male population to age at a much slower rate. What would normally have been one year of bodily age now took 10 years to occur. A 200 year old man now looks only 20 years old. We're also told that this was when we acquired our birth slots. Between our hips, all males now possess what can best be described as a kangaroo pouch. It is a small crease across the waist that only opens during birth but otherwise appears little more than a sealed, indented scar.

Sadly, I age only one year for every 100. My pouch father gave birth to me when he was 200 years old and named me Khore. After my rate of aging became apparent, I was labeled his 'Special' child. I am your average 1599 year old kid in appearance. What we now refer to as nearly 16th age. I am 5 foot 6 inches tall and shorter than most men my age with a lean, tan body more like what a 14 year old might possess. I do have muscle, but it's blended with that stubborn baby fat that seems to never fade away until one is in their 20th age. My mocha brown hair is slightly curly, just enough to give it a bit of movement across my shoulders, like a small ripple in a pond. The front I kept short, but long enough to cover my eyes if I tilted my head right. My pointy thin but pert nose and average mouth make me nothing exceptional when it comes to beauty. What does make me stand out however, are my eyes. They are the color of cold blue grey ice. Eyes that, when you see them, you swear if you got in a dark enough place they would glow. It makes people uncomfortable to look at them, and I do my best to keep a downward glance. I find it a good habit not to see too much. It only makes me feel.

I never knew my other father and it was not something that I was allowed to mention. Briar, my Pouch Father, simply refused to speak on the topic. He was shorter than most men and I suspect it was from him that I got my height. In his prime he had hair much like my own. It was slightly curly and earthy brown in color, with a set of deep brown eyes to match. His body was strong with muscle as were most of the villagers. Intense labor kept us in shape and enabled us to survive.

In our society, most have a Father, and a Pouch Father, the Pouch Father being what we are told used to be called mom or mother. It is usually decided who will be the Pouch Father by simple chance. Then after a couple is together any further children are generally carried by the original Pouch Father as they are then more susceptible to carrying the child. I have heard where there are some families where one man has been Pouch Father to one child, and then the other Father became Pouch Father to a second child, but I have never seen it.

When Briar died, at the age of 930, I was left alone as one of the village boys, being some 730 years old, but having the physical body of a 7 year old. The constant threat of discovery by the Thorens kept our close knit community very quiet and my freakish age was not a topic of conversation. I was an aberration in the eyes of the community and different from the others.

As per custom in our village, orphans are taken in by the oldest family to aid them with farming and household chores. Until one is 160 or 16th Age, they are not considered able to be self sufficient and a full member of the community. This was because an immature body simply cannot defend and perform the same tasks that require the strength of one in their 16th age or older.

It was never an easy life, having the body of someone so young, with the mind of someone so very old. It wasn't well received that I was the wisest of those in our village and I was totally disregarded due to my physical appearance. I have now lived through almost 2 complete generations of our village and was nearing my 16th age.

Kalob, the leader of our village, is now very close to death. He was 16th Age when my Pouch Father died, and is now nearly 106th Age , and in failing health. Kalob's dying wish, of course, is to have his 18th Age son assume the station as leader to maintain his family in a position of power over the others.

It is our custom to elect a new leader between the 16th and 20th age to replace the previous leader. The two oldest families then act as councilors to the new leader to ensure more balance within the community because, at any time, your family could be the eldest and have input into the workings of the community.

There are mixed emotions from the villagers regarding my coming of 16th Age. Some feel that I should be given the position as leader while others still fear what they don't understand. There have also been whispers that Rase, Kalob's bastard son, has every intention of taking over as leader and continuing his father's reign of terror over the community. Now, however, he would not need the cover of his father to protect him. He would be, by village law, untouchable. When I see the look of complete, burning hatred in his eyes, as he glances my way, I fear for my future here.

Rase would be quite attractive if it were not for the constant sneer etched across his face. His furrowed brow and squinty eyes do little to hide his intentions. His arms and legs have filled out to solid rope-like muscle that only comes to one in their 18th age. The long furrows of muscle that rip across his chest and abdomen are hard not to admire underneath the bronze sheen we all have acquired from many hours of laboring in the gardens that feed our village. He has not yet developed the extra fat that fills a body in the mid 20th age, fat that seems to collect as a more mature body fills in it's own gaps and starts to save up for those harder years to come. His eyes and his soft long shoulder length hair are nearly identical in the depth of their warm brown color. His locks frame his square jaw, weasel like eyes, and short pug nose. His round ass is the kind that defies gravity by sheer force of muscle.

Jaron is the 5th in the line of families with whom I have lived over the years and my current step father. It is strange to consider someone my junior by nearly 600 years to be a father, but you get used to it after a few 100 years. An hour earlier, during a very heated 'discussion' between Councilman Tyler, my Councilman step father Jaron, and a very agitated Leader Kalob, I overhear my step father say that I should be village leader, and have every right to take over after Kalob's passing. I would be of age and eldest within the community, something that has never happened before.

aron is a council member due to his advanced age of 1085 years. He's not nearly as old as I am, but remarkably old in comparison to the others. He is stately in appearance, though time has bent his shoulders. While he was quite old, you could see remnants of his past beauty beneath the wrinkles that now etch his face. His full head of hair is now cut short and white as snow which also contributed a dignity to him. He doesn't get around as well as he used to, but he is still quite mobile and lucid for a man of so many years.

I will be 1600 years old in thirteen days. On that very day, my love, my beautiful Vale, and I will announce our union, and move into the space I have made for us in the caverns in the mountainside. Vale is a beauty to me that is hard to describe. His powder green eyes and honey brown hair make my heart skip a beat every time I gaze upon his face. Having entered his 16th age four years ago, he still has that supple appearance to his muscle and skin that are absent in someone who's in their 18th age. From hunting and gardening, his muscles flex and ripple as he moves, but not with the violence you might notice in someone older. His rear is chiseled but looks soft enough to pop like the bubbles on the froth of water on the river bank. He's remarkably tall being six foot three inches, and the perfect height to my five foot six to hold me in the warmest of embraces. It makes me feel like I could sink into him and disappear completely, centered and safe from the world. I like to look up past his cute nose and pouting lips to see the love in his eyes beam back at me.

It wasn't always like this, however. Having seen so many grow old and die over the years I had become quite reclusive. As I did my chores I stayed to myself, not that I had much of an option. I don't suppose it was very endearing to have a conversation with someone a fraction of your age in appearance, but ten-times your age mentally. Epiphanies that came to others I had already crossed nearly five to ten centuries prior.

About twenty years ago, Vale started following me around and making short but idle conversations. Not so much saying anything, but watching me with a look I had so often seen from one to another, but never directed toward me. I had had many come to me out of morbid curiosity, only to see the terrifying realization that I would one day have to watch them die, too. I would never age as they did, and could never fully join them through the natural course of life.

Vale was different. Foolish, I still think, but he wanted me, was infatuated with me, and I couldn't bear the thought of it. He was too beautiful and new for me to even conceive of the idea of being with him. He was so subtle, little more than a gnat that flies at your face. You barely see it, it doesn't really bother you much, but it's there... buzzing about, distracting you.

After ten years of pushing him away, we had a blow up of epic proportions. It had been a yelling match that astonished everyone! For centuries I had barely lifted my eyes to another's face let alone to yell out in complete rage and frustration. I insisted he leave me be, and that it was completely inappropriate, and that it could never work. My being in my 15th age and he in his 16th age seemed fine, but I was over 1500 years old to his 164 years!

Our battle of words was meant to end as I walked away, but Vale, through teary, bloodshot eyes, yelled, 'What the hell good is it to live, if you don't love? You don't even exist as much as the trees on this mountain! At least they feel the wind!'

And he was right. His words stopped me. At that moment and in those words... my walls crumbled, and I did either the most foolish or the wisest thing of my entire life. I turned back, walked to him, pulled him down to me, and gave him the most passionate kiss I have ever shared with another man. It was a kiss where only he and I existed.

A dead silence rolled across our village. Vale's Father and Pouch Father were completely taken by surprise as was everyone. Vale's parents, being older and wiser, saw the future for what it was to become, but didn't have the heart to deny their son's love. I often wonder if it was out of pity for me that they barely hesitated in their blessing. As fate would have it, I would never truly know.

That was ten years ago. It was a mere blink in time, but such a blissful blink. In less than 13 days Vale and I would be announcing our union, our unborn child, and our move into our own space within the caverns. Our son wouldn't be born for another 7 months, but Vale's pouch had begun to redden and become slightly puffy like a mild scratch that doesn't break the skin but still causes raised red flesh. As I gazed past Vale into the surrounding forest, the old worries started to flood my mind.

'Will I watch my own son grow old and die as well? Then his children, and his children's children? How much death will I have been witness to when my own finally comes around to greet me?'

'You're thinking again,' I felt Vale's smooth arms brush my sides and wrap themselves around me from behind.

Back from my daze, I chuckled, 'Well, I can already tell what you're thinking,' as I felt his hardness press into the cleft of my ass.

Leaning back into him, I turned my head to peer into his eyes 'What are you up to lover boy?'

Vale ground his cock into me and began to chew my neck. Through muffled lips he whispered, 'I was thinking we could go to our spot.'

'I don't know hon, I'm pretty tired' I joked.

Slowly he slid his hand from my chest to my crotch, with only the slightest butterfly touch to my nipple, and found me more than ready. 'Get moving old man!' he ordered, with a twinkle.

Chuckling, I replied, 'Isn't it your bed time?' which only made us both laugh that much harder.

'That's what I'm trying to do!' he said with a most mischievous grin.

'Well, chores are done. Let's slip out of here before we're missed!'

Our hands clasped and we made our way through the woods to our spot, weaving and ducking through the trees and brush like some serpentine creature. Nearly thirty minutes later we found ourselves at our hideaway. It was an area about five yards in diameter next to a cave entrance. In front was what we called god's table. In reality it was only a large flat-topped granite stone about knee high and nearly eight feet long and five to six feet wide... jutting up as if the makers themselves had decided they wanted to create a place of rest for a weary traveler. We however... had other plans!

Panting from our dash to our most private place, I sat and rested on the stone, my chest heaving. Catching my breath, I pulled Vale's body toward me as I lay back flat against the cold stone. We ground into one another as we kissed deeply. I shifted my weight and we rolled together, me now on top.

'Shhhh... don't move,' I grinned as I pushed his arms above his head. We wore only the slightest bit of cloth as there truly was no need for it. The entire village was clad in only loin cloths and, sometimes, short work pants as was sometimes required. His young muscles moved in his powerful chest as I pressed his arms upward.

As I Straddled his abdomen, his pelvis lurched up to penetrate me but he was still confined in his cloth and, therefore, was unable to quite reach his destination. Playfully, I leaned further forward, out of his reach. With both of his hands held by my one, my chest brushed against his upturned lips as I started giving his wrist the slightest of nips and bites... slowing, on occasion, to run my tongue further and further down his arm making my way to the elbow.

Vale took this opportunity to run his tongue across my nipple and give me a loving nip. I wouldn't be distracted, however!. I dove into his sweaty armpit which bore a slight musky scent as only a 16th age boy has. I licked and chewed with fervor against his sensitive skin. Vale squirmed and struggled, but not enough to actually escape his torture. His body gave into the sensation and he whimpered. I moved my hand from his wrists, glancing slightly into his eyes to let him know they were to remain there. I had only begun my feast and he was to lie still!

Running my fingertips down his forearm and across his arm pit I tilted my head and placed light kisses down his side, stopping occasionally to drag the tip of my tongue across the ripples of bronze flesh that covered his ribs. He squirmed and whimpered again. I scooted further down toward his torso, now straddling his thighs, and he grinned as I undid the knot on the side of his loin cloth. I gave a slight tug and, as he lifted his ass, I removed the cloth that barely covered his 8 inch cock. It twitched and bobbed as I gave it a slight breath across its shiny leaking tip.

Glancing back up along the line of his body and into his eyes, I gave him another glance as a reminder to lie still. As further torment, I dove into the meaty flesh to the right of his engorged cock where the thigh and his hairless taught balls lay. I kissed and chewed as he squealed and squirmed in delight. In the corner of my eye I saw his hard cock leak even more fluid as I noticed mine had also made a mess in my loin cloth. I then moved to his pouch slot.

I moved slightly forward and looking at the red puffy line at his waist. It stretched almost like a smile from hip bone to hip bone. I blew lightly across his pouch's entire length and felt Vale shudder beneath me. This was something we hadn't experienced before and it was quite interesting. It was as if he had now swung into full gear. His body began to writhe and move as though he was bursting through his own skin. With his arms now gripping the sides of the boulder, his body twitched and twisted while never really moving anywhere. I drew closer to his birth slot and ran my tongue ever so lightly against its red puffy surface and he screamed.

Vale then lost all restraint. It was like he was everywhere at once! He ripped my cloth from my waist and suddenly I was on my back and his hard cock was already entering my hole. He was so wet he simply slid in to the hilt, all 8 inches. He began to fuck me, pounding his cock in and out of me with a fury. He gyrated his hips, reaching places only he could. Now I was the one gripping the boulder on each side, trying to maintain what little control I had. I dug my heels into his ass, pressing him into me as he throttled my prostate. Short moments later I cried out into the dark as my cum shot between us. My twitching hole sent him over the edge and he began to grunt even louder and howled into the darkening sky as he arched his back and slammed deeply into me one last time.

Moments passed as we both came back to earth and he leaned forward into me and then rolled us onto our sides facing each other. Still panting, we stared at each other, amazed. I felt my cheeks curl into an unbridled grin and leaned in to kiss his tender lips. It was feather soft and comfortable. Then I felt my body mold into his, knowing those comforting arms would protect me from every evil in the world. Safe in my lover's powerful embrace, we drifted off to sleep.

I awoke in the darkness to the sounds of pain and sorrow in the distance, something you learn to recognize as time goes by. They aren't howls like 'oh I've stubbed my toe'. These were morose shrieks of terror and pain as if one lost an arm. It is that sound a person makes when they are in complete anguish. It is the sound made when something has hurt your very soul. Something was horribly wrong.

My eyes flashed open and I realized that the sounds I was hearing were, in fact, real. As the rest of my senses flared to life, I could smell smoke and recognized that the sounds of horror were coming from the direction of our home. I sprang upright at the exact same moment as Vale. We turned to face each other, our eyes filled with horror. We jumped up and, with fumbling fingers, we hurriedly retied our loin cloths like some adulterous lovers trying to escape the wrath of a husband's return.

We ran breathlessly, hearts pounding, through the trees and brush, making our way along the paths, stumbling with reckless abandon to get back to the caves and those that we love. Coming close to the clearing before the entrance to the caves in the mountain face, we saw strange figures. A luminous, almost fluorescent, blue light bathed the area, casting broken shadows which seemed to writhe and bend as if they were alive. Small fires belched smoke and filled the air which contributed to the complete chaos that followed.

I grabbed Vale's wrist as it appeared he was going to run straight at the figures in the distance. I pulled both of us to the ground.

The blue and black framed scene, just twenty yards before us, was almost too much to comprehend. What I had assumed were Thorens, were 'herding' our entire village, single file, to a smaller version of the sphere's above. This one, however, had somehow opened and used that piece of it itself to create a ramp of what looked like silver water. Huddled, howling, and teary eyed families were pushed along by people much like own village folk but very strangely dressed! They carried two foot long metal sticks that glowed at the tips and seemed to urge the villagers along. Touching the tip of them to the villager's skin caused their flesh to glow with a bright blue flash like small bolts of lightning. This was followed by a prompt howl of pain and fear.

They were humans! Humans were helping them do this to us! The realization triggered a familiar hum in my head. It had been happening more and more frequently, and now it was happening again. A hum lodged in the base of my skull was working its way forward. I shook off the feeling. This was no time for distraction!

Watching in complete horror, I realized I had never seen a Thoren before. There had been descriptions passed down through the generations, but I had always considered them as giants that had come to crush the world. From our vantage point, however, it looked as though they were very frail of body. There were two of them. One was located at the entrance to the sphere, and another at the base of the silvery ramp. They appeared to be supervising the flow of my people into the sphere.

Next to each Thoren was a rather large, bulky human that was at least six feet tall and 350 pounds of pure muscle. They were dressed in what looked to be some form of fabric I had never seen before. It was delicate in design and seemed to move of its own volition as it draped across their powerful chests. The delicate fabric flowed barely to their thighs and was belted at the waist. It was nothing like the pants I wear but more like the robes the elders don during our union ceremonies but shorter and of a finer woven cloth. From what I could see through the strange light and smoke, there appeared to be 3 to 5 of these men, brutally prodding the crowd of villagers along a path between the entrance to the catacombs and the ramp to the sphere.

I was snapped from of my thoughts as I heard Vale's breath catch. Humans were now pulling his Pouch Father from the catacomb entrance and Kenneth was resisting them wildly. A flurry of flashes erupted as Kenneth continued to resist and contorted in pain with each touch of a different stick. From the right, Vale's father Jerif burst from the surrounding wooded shadows brandishing a makeshift garden hoe in a primal rage. He rushed the humans, making brutal contact with the first upside the head, surely killing him as he fell to the ground with a sickening thud. The gardening hoe blade was now painted in shiny, wet blood. That moment of shock had given Jerif enough time to make his way between his lover and three advancing humans with the glowing sticks.

The largest of the three yelled 'Set to Kill!'

Vale shot straight up and went screaming across the clearing. A blinding blue flash vibrated from the jumble of his parents and I saw my Vale stop. Kenneth and Jerif had been reduced to nothing but ash and Vale then began to charge the largest human with a yell of pure rage! The large man turned, kneeled, and brought the stick to Vale in a quick whirl and flash of blue light, reducing my love to nothingness.

'IGNORANT SLAG!!' the closest Thoren hissed vehemently, raising his arm. He sent the large man flying through the air into a tree, breaking his neck with a sick crunch.

My love, my child, my world had just been ripped from my very soul. The hum had risen in pitch suddenly and was climbing further forward to a point between my eyes and I rose to my feet to meet the gaze of the Thoren. It had now turned in my direction and begun to raise its hand. I felt a push but I began advancing.

I walked, stumbling forward, in horror. I felt my soul pushing back through that thin line between my eyes until I was close enough to be able to see clearly the creature responsible for all of this death. At that moment a figure emerged from behind the Thoren. It was Rase. It was the son of our ailing leader. Instead of a look of triumph on his face, there was only terror as he stared at me. I turned and looked back to the Thoren and saw his eyes. Eyes too much like my own, but ablaze with an intense blue light. The area between us began to brighten. As my rage and anguish reached an impossible level, the hum in my mind rose to a fevered pitch and an incredible blast of white light sent the Thoren, his bulky companion, Rase, and myself flying through the air in opposite directions. Feeling the wind sweeping across my body, my vision faded to black.

***

Flashes of white and sound blazed through my mind.

'Increase the intensity of the neural stabilizer by 10.'

'How can this be?!'

'Kelay... report to Section E3 Level 10 immediately!'

'This is extraordinary! Where is Kelay!?'

'Kelay isn't aboard the ship sir. Sensor grids are scanning for him now.'

'Ahhh... I see... DNA cross section comparison with Kelay and specimen 143977?'

'Positive Match.'

'I knew you had ambitions Kelay... but I cannot believe you would go this far.'

'Place the specimen in stasis on Secure Level and post a guard.'

My world darkened again and I drifted until I felt a push. Not the same kind as when that Thoren had raised his arm to me, but something much gentler. It was a slight caress across my consciousness like when you feel your dreams begin, and decide to let go. Then there was another slightly more urgent push.

'You must wake up.'

As if tugged into reality, my eyes fluttered open and I felt a weight pulling my limbs as though I had slept for days or, if possible, even longer. I began to focus on my surroundings and found a Thoren looking back at me. I jumped, or rather tried to as my body wasn't doing quite what it was told.

'Be calm, my son,' it said, not with words but spoken loudly as though they had been sent straight to my mind.

'Son?' I tried to ask, but still couldn't find the strength to speak.

'Think it my son, and yes. I am your father, though I fear for not much longer. The stasis affects will diminish shortly and there is something we must quickly do. The device I carry won't hide me for much longer.'

'Are you Kelay?' I thought.

'Yes, Briar's lover and your father. I have hidden your location for the last sixteen centuries and now, due to a traitor in your midst, our love has almost been undone.' He knelt down to the stasis pod and looked into my eyes.

My father. Briar had never spoken of him, and had always refused to discuss it. Now I knew why. He had loved the enemy, and I was an issue of that love. Looking at him now, with better focus, he really was quite beautiful. His body was that of a 14th age boy, but more like one that has been sick for far too long and is likely never to recover completely. His eyes were my eyes. They were of deep gray blue ice that seems to glow as they would in the moonlight after the first fallen snow. His eyes, like mine, also had the weariness of someone that had been witness for too long. His opalescent clothing reflected the light like water flowing over his delicate pale skin. He couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall, with golden hair that framed his face in curls but barely brushed his shoulders. His pink lips and slightly upturned nose completed what I can only say was beauty. One might be more inclined to refer to his appearance as delicate rather than handsome. He was breathtaking, and still yet so frail.

'We must hurry my son. You must know what I know if you are going to save us all,' he thought to me.

'Are you leaving me?' I asked in a harsh whisper, now finally able to speak.

'No,' he answered aloud for the first time and smiled weakly. 'I will blend with your mind. You will still be who you are right now, but with all of my knowledge and experience. You will know all the things I do at this very moment. It is what you must know to live. You will know me as only one other has and, through you, I will go on forever. After that, this body will stop.'

'What!?!' I couldn't contain my surprise as the words burst from my lips.

'Shhhhhh... I am already dead without you, let me live within you,' I heard his words in my mind. 'You must let this happen; my time is finished no matter what you decide. I would have you live.' He stood, leaned over, and brushed his lips across my forehead.

'I love you,' He moved the hair from my eyes with his fingertips and then, suddenly, his touch became firmer against my forehead and the memories flooded my mind.

Images of traveling from world to world, loves, lost loves, sickness, and their dying race all came to me in wave after wave in nauseating speed. My father, Briar, and Kelay in the heat of passion, their joy and sorrow, my birth, and so much more, that it was deafening. When I thought I could take no more, thousands of more years of life and living were poured into me like so many raindrops into an already over flowing river. After what seemed an eternity which was only moments, the push weakened. Kelay was beginning to fade.

'I love you father,' I whispered, thought, and felt. The rush of life faded into nothingness and Kelay slumped to the floor as I sat upright in the stasis pod. I gazed down, seeing his form disappear as his clothes drifted to the floor. His body faded into a singular concentrated sphere of light that brightened, pulsed, and then burst out in every direction like a million stars at once. The light in the room returned to normal. My father had moved beyond.

I climbed over the lip of my stasis pod. Changing from my clothes into his somewhat tight garment, I prepared for my escape. I knew now what I had to do.

So many new memories had entered my mind that it is difficult to explain. I had memories of the silky feel of these garments on my body, but this was the first time I really felt the erotic sensation as the gentle fabric licked against my skin. Memories of vast landscapes and exotic foods all began to flood my mind, and I had to push them back. I would have to sort them out later. Now was certainly not the time and place. I needed to get the hell out of here and meet with the human captain Bransen, and current leader of the resistance. He was expecting me and I could not miss this rendezvous. Strange. Since when did I start referring to them as humans instead of people?

I opened my mind and searched out into the hallway. No one was in the immediate area. Sending the mental command to the door, it poured, literally poured away from view, as if absorbed into the door frame around it, leaving an arch more than large enough for me to pass through. Nervously I made my way out into the silvery blue-lit hallway. I needed to concentrate. They would know I did not belong if I did not handle myself appropriately, and it is not Thoren to fidget or sweat in fear. Taking a deep breath, I suppressed my fears and calmed myself. It happened quite naturally. I was somewhat dismayed at how easy it had been to shut off my emotions so completely, but I remembered why. Kelay had to do it for the past 2000 years or risk his own discovery and destruction. I had the memory, skill, and horror of it at my disposal.

The hallways were endless and curved in a circular pattern, converging with bisecting hallways that led to the center of each floor. The layout of the Sphere Major was much like a 3 dimensional spider web. Each ring stood over another but linked to the center by crossways, except for levels 49 through 54, my next destination. I followed the brightly lit mirrored hallway to the lift.

Had it not been for the blue lighting framing each doorway and corner it would have been even more disorienting than it was. Fortunately, the liquid metal or Cavrium alloy was in a constant state of flux, so that your reflection was never perfect. It made the framing of light much easier to discern in this orderly chaos. It was a reflection more like what you see in the ripples of a pond as you lean over the bank to spy yourself looking back. It is imperfect, bent, and faded. As I mentally issued the command for the door to open, a Thoren and his Slag (or protector) emerged from the curved hallway coming from the left. I entered the lift and maintained the command to keep the entrance way open. They entered, and I then commanded the metal to flow back into place at the opening.

Submitting my command for movement to level 50, the lift began to move. Again the only way to realize movement was happening was the moving pulse of blue lights that lined the corners of our compartment.

Our movement stopped, and again the door merged into its frame and I stepped out onto the entry way of level 50.

The Thoren in the lift thought to me, 'Enjoy yourself.'

'I most certainly will,' I returned and continued to make my way toward an unoccupied pod surrounding the arena. Luckily I found one about 15 yards from the lift. I entered and sealed the entrance arch behind me.

Level 50, or the 'leisure deck,' was far from leisurely. This deck consisted of 5 levels set up much like a large theatre. It was perfectly circular. Looking through my portal I could see a pit located at the base of the area that maintained an antigravity field where bodies writhed in ecstasy, floating throughout the room. The walls of the area were made up of a smooth mirrored finish in which they could only see their reflections, but those of us in pods could look in.

The Leisure area had 6 entrances at its base, evenly distributed so that in any given direction one could make their way either into or out of the antigravity area. Bodies floated along, meshed together in groups of two to eight, jumbled, thrashing, and pumping. Occasionally they would brush against the smooth viewing area of a portal on the upper four levels seeing only their reflection, but knowing that there were eyes behind that reflection watching intently.

I was in one such portal looking very intently for Rase. A couple had blocked my view as a Thoren was savagely fucking one of the many Bucks in the room. Bucks are the humans that were used for the sheer pleasure and entertainment of the Thorens. As the Buck clutched his heals into the Thoren's ass he moaned loudly, convulsed, and threw his body back. His cum shot out into the air causing them to float away from my pod and I was given a broader view. Then I found him. Rase was floating off to the left. His head was thrown back with a Thoren chewing his neck from behind. Two Thorens with legs entangled, and balls mashed together were being ridden by a very enthusiastic Rase. A third was in a 69 position above him devouring his cock as Rase returned the favor to what appeared a nice 8 inch endowment. Rase, through his betrayal, lost his father, his village, and his way of life, but he did appear to get off easily being so many Thorens' sex toy.

Slowly and cautiously I entered his mind, creating for myself a bubble of protection. I could not allow these Thorens to know of my presence, and I could not allow Rase to alert them before I had completed my diversion. Seeking out his nerve endings and concentrating, I could feel both of the Thorens entering his ass with reckless abandon as if I were the one in that mass of flesh. The sensations around Rase's own nine inch cock were expert, to say the least. I could feel the hunger in Rase as he devoured the Thoren's cock in his 69 position and the yearning for release. Rase had been in this room for the past thirteen hours without rest or release. That was the crux of the 'Bucks'. They were here for the pleasure of the Thorens, not for their own. A Buck's lust was their torture after endless hours without release.

Poetic justice comes to mind. So does sweet revenge. I gave a slight push to his nerves in his cock and ass, causing him to feel three times more intensity than normal. I heard him moaning in his mind, muscles threatening to give out from such a prolonged strain. The two Thorens impaling his ass and the one sucking his cock caught his new heightened level and used their own push to keep his torture constant. He would not be allowed to cum. As the need in him grew, I began to increase his nerve sensitivity gradually. The cascading affect of the attached Thorens made him all the more insane with lust as they would not let him release. His body was now pure sex and his ass was clutching with the invading Thoren cocks in ways that were nearly impossible. Rase was now nose to nuts on the Thoren he was sucking and showed no sign or inclination of coming up for air. He was brutally clutching the Thorens ass with all his might to drive him even deeper down his throat.

'Hello,' I said quietly in his mind. He was too wild with sex to stop what was happening, but understood every word.

'You will be my diversion, my satisfaction, and my revenge,' I stated very matter-of-factly in his mind as I revealed my own seven inch cock, pulling my tunic to the side to grasp my meat.

I settled in deep and stroked my cock slowly, enjoying every sensation, and began to increase Rase's sensation exponentially. His balls, cock, and ass were quickly becoming liquid fire to his nervous system, and the Thorens, in the throws of passion, continued to subdue his ability to release. His mind was emitting strangled screams and I continued to push even harder at his mind and its sensation. His threshold had been passed hours ago, and now, with or without the Thorens control, he was about to cum. Taking a bit of his pleasure for my self, I flooded it into my already throbbing cock as I stroked it and shot across the room, splattering the viewing window.

My body shuddered with my orgasm as I worked out the last drops of cum and my heart began to pump normally again.

'You will not cum this time, and you will not ever cum again,' I spoke to his mind.

'In fact, You are going to die,' I thought to him as I increased his pleasure over and over and over again, until the Thorens fucking him lost all control and blasted into his mouth and ass.

That was all I needed. As they reached the height of their orgasm, they lost their ability to control his release, and release he did. In that instant his head exploded into a shower like so much small wet meat. Pink mush, brain, and bone burst from above his shoulders onto everyone around him.

Suddenly, screams were heard and alarms sounded. I quickly gave my wilting member a quick flick to shed its last dribbles of cum and hastily made my way back toward the lift. Racing down the hall, before even getting to the lift, I sent the command to open and dived through the arch. Then I commanded it to close behind me.

'Level five,' I thought the command, but there was no movement.

'Level five!' I thought again in a panic, but still no movement. Shit!

'Level four?' I questioned as well as thought, and the lift started to descend. I had forgotten that ship levels were secured during emergencies.

'Fuck!' I grunted.

The lift stopped and I reached out with my mind. There were Thorens, Slags, and Bucks, but in a complete state of mayhem. I hoped they would not notice.

I exited the lift through the arch but not before commanding its next destination to level 99. Then, turning back to the lift, I commanded the arch to open but, of course, the lift was not there. Clinging with my left hand to the arch and leaning far out, I grasped the access ladder with my right hand and made my way to it with unsteady feet. Right leg and then left but not before passing a glance at those behind me I saw a Slag pointing in my direction from down the hall.

Two Thorens standing on each side of the Slag instantly sent a burst of energy from their minds in my direction. I returned the blast. They were barely visible as if the air was liquid and you could see them ripple toward each other with great speed. The first was stopped, but the second caught my left side and thrust me backward, causing my left hand to release its grip on the side of the arch way and causing my head to slam against the wall painfully. I quickly commanded the arch closed and stumbled up the access ladder to level 5. Hanging from the side on the access ladder, I sent a command to the arch. The lift would not go to level 5, but the open arch command was still functional. As the arch opened, I quickly leaned over and let loose a power blast of energy from my mind which rippled quickly to all those in the room, knocking them backward into the walls and equipment. Several Slags were completely thrown from the platform into a free fall to their death.

Swinging onto the platform, I raced to its edge to board a small two man sphere. Another Thoren had emerged behind me and I was buffeted with a massive blast from behind. My back racked with pain as I was thrown forward. At this rate I would go up and over the pods in front of me. I released another blast forward which slowed my arc, causing me to land on the top of one of the pods.

'Enter,' I sent the command, and was instantly enveloped by the sphere, sinking into its center. I landed in a liquid metal control chair which seemed to float in the center of the pod. I could clearly see out in any direction while digital and tactical displays showed before me. From the exterior, one would only see a shiny reflective surface, but from inside, it was as though I was in a glass bubble sitting on a floating chair.

'Emergency Eject!' I thought, and was catapulted from the sphere. When my pod emerged from the sphere it was very dark, with only the moon, stars, and occasional grid-points of Sphere Major dotting the sky. I cloaked the pod with my mind and amplified the signal of the device I now wore that had protected my father Kelay from detection.

My body and mind had taken more damage than I had realized and I was becoming increasingly disoriented. I had to get to Bransen's location now! With that thought firmly in mind, the sphere increased to a blinding velocity and I burst through the sky like a flash of lightning. We were moving as fast as thought, and Cavrium liquid metal, however strong, was not made to handle this much strain within the atmosphere. We crossed an entire ocean and continent in a matter of moments and were heading quickly to what I now knew was once called Mexico. We had moved from Europe to Mexico in a matter of moments.

The pod slowed only momentarily as I was ejected in a downward spiral to the jungle below. The pod then gained momentum again shooting toward a preset destination deep within the Antarctic Circle. It was a crash heading and would hopefully lead them away from my true location.

My problem now, however, was that I was sailing down through the atmosphere and to my death. Then my body began to slow. I hadn't noticed but upon my exit from the pod I had been coated by the liquid metal. It seemed to act, as much as anything, like a space suit. Weary, and in much pain, I finally descended to the ground like a lost and drifting feather. As I floated down and finally touched the earth, the metal disintegrated from my body, evaporating into the air.

As my body slumped to the ground under its own weight, I took a moment to breathe deeply. I now felt the blood trickling down my face from the impact of the second blast in the lift shaft and my muscles were quaking from the exertion of the last twenty minutes. Resting on my hands and knees in the underbrush, I felt it. I was not alone. I was surrounded.

I rose shakily and commanded the weapons around me to come. Instantly, weapon after weapon emerged, flying through the air to a position in front of my outstretched arm, into a growing mass of metal.

'You will not harm me,' I tried to command

'It was never my intention.' A familiar voice spoke as Bransen came into view.

With that, the world spun, and I felt the earth crush against my body.