This is the final episode of the luculla hive, an erotic science-fiction novel. Go to the beginning.
19 August 2405
14.657997/106.247406/[2400]01:44:04.0/-15:56:15/3 Luculla
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Narrative augmentation off/de-clutter on
16:12:05
There’s a rescue ship.
Crew of two. And one of them… one of them. Him.
What do I do? I’m with Katie now. I don’t want him. I don’t want them to find us. But… what choice do we have? We’ve got nowhere else to go.
Nowhere but: home.
20 August 2405
I’ve been gone four hours, at least. I’ll be back in three, with the ship at full thrust.
Oh, Katie! What will you do? I have to find you!
If only I had understood. If only I’d seen. They wouldn’t be dead.
I killed them. I killed them with my stupidity. My blindness.
I have to find you.
Of course, I was fixating on Ralph. He was unshaven, steely-eyed; potently masculine. I was trying to find him in my heart, exquisitely aware of the presence of my naked lover beside me. But all I felt was guilt, and worry. The love that I might once have had for him was gone, or buried deep beyond my reach.
At first I was too distracted, but as Katie’s movements became more agitated I looked at her, and gasped. I was so used to her lack of facial expression, that clearly seeing the fury behind her eyes was like an electric shock. Of her emotions, only her love for me had ever been so transparent; and sometimes I had wondered whether all that I saw there was a reflection. But now the green of her eyes burned as she gazed out of our hiding place.
I put a hand on her shoulder, leaned forward to try and steal her attention. ‘What is it?’ I whispered. Did she know? Somehow, could she tell?
Did she know we were engaged?
Her lips parted, but only revealed clenched teeth. Her breath hissed through them. I looked back at the men, tried to understand. They were hefting their equipment onto their backs, ready to set out. I pulled more urgently at her shoulder. ‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘They’re friends. They’re here to find me.’
It was the wrong thing to say. As she processed the words a snarl rose in her throat, and then she lunged forward. Instinctively I hauled on her arm to stop her. We both fell. ‘No!’ I gasped. We had fallen out of our cover. We were a hundred yards from the men, but to my horror, I immediately heard one of them shout out.
Katie’s eyes had captured mine. I blundered on fervently: ‘They won’t hurt us! What’s wrong, Katie?’
I glanced up. The men were looking at us, incredulously.
Katie’s mouth moved, but she had no words for her feelings. It occurred to me that we had never discussed anger, or aggression. But now that she was looking at me, I sensed her regain some control. She placed a hand behind my neck, to draw my lips to hers. I found myself resisting, desperately aware of the men; and when I glanced up they were already taking a step toward us.
Then, it happened.
There was a rustle in the branches, and something exploded out of the foliage above us. I have never seen anything move so fast: before my eyes even caught up, it had covered half the distance to the men. A small, lithe shape. A cat-girl.
In another fraction of a second it had reached one of the men, leaping at neck-level. A wide fan of blood materialised in the air. As he collapsed, she was in the air again.
There was a vivid flash of blue light. The cat-girl was knocked off-course. She impacted the ground a few feet from the other man, tried to stumble to her feet. But with another blue flash from the gun in his hand, she slumped, still.
I was paralysed. My mind was a blank. I watched myself, kneeling beside Katie, gaping at the man and the two bodies on the ground near him.
It was Ralph. His face was ashen with shock. He was partly crouched, trying to look in all directions for other attacks. Finally, he glanced at me, then looked at his fallen comrade and took a step towards him. He was halfway there before his legs gave way and he collapsed onto his knees, retching into the grass.
I was too far away to see properly, but there was no mistaking the lurid red splashed all over the fallen man’s jumpsuit.
Somewhere in an unattended corner of my mind, weighty puzzle pieces were crashing into place. The mysterious killer in the jungle. The Hive’s elaborate defences, the cat-girls and warriors, in a world with no indigenous animals. Katie’s primeval fury.
Clarity suddenly imploded in me. At last, I understood. Blackshore had taken steps, in creating the Hive and its people, to protect it from the greatest threat its way of life, its very existence, could ever face.
Man.
And as Katie’s breath began to hiss once again, and her body to rise, to finish the job the cat-girl had begun, I panicked; and tackled her back to the ground with all my strength, and straddled her, and kissed her.
I did not know what to say, in that kiss. The gulf between her world and mine seemed too great, so that not even our love could cross it. But it was irrelevant: her rage poured into me, overwhelmed me. Her lips, her tongue, were the hurricane; I could barely stand my ground. I fought, desperately, not to be hurled into madness myself.
But perhaps if we had not kissed, that force would have overflowed, to disastrous effect. Through our kiss her savage fury found release, and though my mind was assailed, she held my body gently.
Slowly, slowly, she seemed to calm, as though I was drawing an evil spirit from her. Our kiss was sustained; but adrenaline was slowly falling prey to closeness, and love.
‘Just what... the fuck... are you doing?’
I could hear the shock and the anger that underlaid his words; he stood over us, both shaking hands holding the gun, pointed at Katie. ‘Ralph, no,’ I said, rising, amazed at the calmness of my own voice. Katie was snarling and squirming backward, coming to her feet. ‘Ralph. Put the gun away.’
‘Just what the fuck is going on here? Who the fuck is she?’ He tilted his head backward, wild-eyed. ‘And that other one?’
Katie was at my shoulder. I could feel the willpower with which she controlled herself; using me as a barrier to prevent herself from attacking the man.
‘It’s okay, Ralph,’ I said, quietly.
‘It’s not fucking okay!’ His right arm straightened, holding the gun almost to Katie’s forehead as he gestured behind him with his left. ‘Kieran is dead! She… tore his fucking throat out! And you’re rolling in the dirt with some lesbo?’
‘Ralph.’ He seemed to be losing even more control as he spoke. ‘No-one else is going to get hurt, if you put the gun away. We’ve got a severe species-cultural divide here,’--I saw his mind stumble on that, so I decided to press my advantage--‘and waving your weapon around is not fucking helping!’
He gawped at me silently. I had probably never spoken to him like that before. I reached up slowly, holding his eyes, and pushed the gun down and away. He didn’t resist.
‘Can we help him,’ I asked, nodding at the fallen man; even though I knew that nothing could help him now. Without waiting for an answer I half-turned. ‘Katie, it’s okay,’ I repeated. I indicated the gun, knowing she did not understand it anyway. ‘See? He’s not going to harm us.’
Ralph seemed to rally a little, and think. ‘Are there any more of them?’ he said, glancing into the trees.
It was my turn to be tripped. I blurted, ‘No,’ then added: ‘I don’t know. Maybe. Shit.’
‘I’ll run a scan,’ he said distractedly, then, peevishly, ‘There aren’t meant to be any fucking animals here.’
‘They’re not animals,’ I retorted. Katie was pressing against me; I wondered if she was trying to talk to me. ‘They’re a hive culture, women only. They communicate by touch. By kissing.’ I risked the partial truth for expedience.
He eyed Katie’s body, making my discomfort spike even higher. He had come to rescue me, we had been lovers! and now the awkwardness between us was excruciating. But strangely he seemed to accept my explanation. Without a word he holstered his gun and drew his eno from a pocket, turning to one side as he programmed it.
Fortunately, there were no other Hive members in range of the device. Katie stayed pressed to my side as Ralph and I talked. He and I gradually fell into familiarity, even if the strain remained. I tried to explain the Hive, as concisely as I could, thinking that he would not really understand--although he seemed to absorb it easily and without comment. But I did not tell him of my love for Katie. How could I?
By unspoken agreement we moved gradually towards the ship. When we reached the bodies, there was one more shock in store for me. The cat-girl. It was Pixie.
She had always been small, lithe; but it had never occurred to me that cat-girls might differentiate after their ‘birth’. Perhaps her time in the forest, alone, following us, had accelerated her evolution. Now, as she lay still on the ground, the light fur of a cat-girl rippled in the breeze; and while her nails still appeared almost human-normal, they had clearly been hardening. They were splashed with blood. I cried, silently.
As night fell, our talk turned to departure. The possibility of seeing the Hive was quickly dismissed; even Ralph would not consider negotiating a forest teeming with hundreds of aggressive and lethal cat-girls just to get near it. Equally, salvage from my old camp or Blackshore’s lab was not worth the risk. We could perhaps retrieve Raja and the Professor’s remains by airlift; but that would require me to descend first and bag them up. I decided I preferred to apologise to their relatives.
‘This “Hive” must be worth a lot to science,’ Ralph observed. Too casually.
I glared at him. ‘No way,’ I said, hotly. ‘Can you imagine what would happen here? Science first, maybe. But then corporations. Tourists. Their way of life would disappear forever.’
‘So how are you going to explain the deaths? How are you going to explain her?’ he said, pointing beyond my shoulder. I jumped. I had almost forgotten Katie, tucked silently there. Before I could answer he continued hastily, ‘Somehow or other, word is going to get out. Surely it would be better if we, you, were in control of that.’
‘“Control”?’ I echoed hollowly.
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘This is virgin territory, since the original colonists left. The Institute could claim jurisdiction, on scientific grounds, when you give your report.’ He nodded at my pocket, where the shape of my eno was obvious beneath the grime.
‘I won’t give my report,’ I countered. I looked at him with conviction, suddenly acutely aware of what I had already revealed to him. ‘The Institute would publish. They would have to. Their “jurisdiction” would evaporate within weeks.’
‘Not if they got PSI status for Luculla. It’s the only protection...’
‘No!’ I pointed a finger at him. I felt Katie press closer, heard the breath in her throat. ‘PSI is a fucking beacon for trophy hunters, and you know it. The only protection for Luculla, is obscurity.’
I had to stay.
It hit me like a plasma bolt. I rocked on my feet. Ralph could report that an accident had befallen the science team. We could even crash the Institute ship, take some pictures, recover the flight recorder.
There was food in plenty. Blackshore’s lab could be made into a permanent shelter. Maybe, one day, Katie and I could make our peace with the Hive. I stared at Ralph, absolutely sure. I had to tell him what I felt for her.
I opened my mouth, but he had shrugged and turned aside. ‘Let’s have something to eat,’ he was saying. His voice was flat, unemotional, unnatural. ‘Get some sleep.’
I agreed, and tried to calm my mind. A night’s consideration would be wise. At the very least, I had to think of a way to secure his cooperation. So as we began to prepare for the night, my focus was wholly inward. Perhaps that was why I missed so many of the clues.
Later, when he offered me a drink, his hand was shaking.
She’s not in the clearing. There’s no answer to my calls.
There’s only one place she could go. Oh, Katie!
She must have given up. Gone... back.
I’ll take the ship. I have to catch her. I have to!
Somehow, I am calm. I know what I must do. Whether I can survive it, does not much matter. I cannot go on, without her.
But first I must finish. Though I resent every second until I join her. I will finish my story.
I don’t remember having dreamed. My waking was like a switch: from deep nothingness into sudden consciousness in the space of a heartbeat.
I lay there immobile, while my body more slowly came to grips with wakefulness, hearing the plaintive wail that rose and fell near at hand. As soon as my eyes cracked open, they immediately screwed themselves shut again against the harsh white glare of the lights.
Those lights; the background hum: I knew I was on board ship, and since Katie and I had lain down to sleep on solid ground, I also knew that something was deeply amiss.
At first I did not trust myself. Was I forgetting some intermediate time, in which Ralph and Katie and I had decided, against my determination, to leave Luculla? Or had I boarded in the night, bleary and terrorised by the ghosts of the three dead men, to abandon Katie for the remembered security of technology, and my fiancée?
Was that voice, her?
The thought was enough to overcome my paralysis. My head lifted; my hand shielded my eyes, and they searched for the source of the sound, struggling to focus through lids that refused to open more than a sliver. But then, suddenly, they went wide.
It was Pixie. I gasped, tensed harshly to sit up on the bunk, and banged my head decisively on the bulkhead above.
I reeled. Pixie. She was alive. I turned my body instead, reaching for the floor with my feet; floundered in the artificial gravity that was almost, but not quite, like Luculla; and flopped like a gasping fish onto the grating between the bunks of the tiny crew quarters.
Pixie had stopped crying. She watched me intensely as I rose precariously beside her. She had been tied down; the straps that normally held an orbital guardsman in place, during maneuvering or free-fall, were harshly knotted around her chest, wrists and ankles. Her skin was badly chafed where she had struggled, beaded with blood, which had also soaked into her bonds. Tears streaked the sides of her pretty face.
‘It’s okay, Pix,’ I croaked, shocked by her anguish. She was more than simply terrified. She was pale and shivering, as though in the throes of a fever.
She strained towards me, her cracked lips parting to emit a whine of pure agony. It screeched into my mind like nails on a blackboard. What could possibly..?
Then, I understood. ‘Oh, god, Pixie,’ I said, and leaned in automatically to kiss her. How long had she been without sex, without even the ability to reach herself?
Anger flared up in me as I strove to meet a tiny corner of her need. Ralph must have loaded us both into the cutter as we slept. He knew I would be furious; perhaps he planned to try and win me over once we were safely on our way. He could not have known what the effect would be on Pixie. But why was she even here?
I knew the answer before I had even finished thinking the question. Proof. My testimony was crazy. The recordings of an eno could be faked. But a live cat-girl would send waves of interest and excitement through our society, where genetic modification of humans had been banned for centuries. His story, my story, would be an overnight sensation.
Pixie was whining and struggling again. I pulled away from her ravenous lips, gritting my teeth against the sound of her renewed desperation, and fumbled with her bonds. As soon as one hand was free it reached for me; I shied slightly at the razor nails and the dried blood caked around them. But, just like the cat-girl that had found me in the forest so long ago, her touch was gentle. As I reached for the straps at her ankles, she folded acutely to follow me with her hands and mouth.
Her face was still crumpled piteously, tears streaming down her cheeks. As her leg came free I pulled it aside to reach for her vulva; but when my fingers touched her, I felt myself begin to panic.
She was dry. Of course; no-one could be aroused in such a state. I was just going through the obvious motions; but they were not what she needed.
There was only one way to save her. Here, now, I had to love her.
I tried to calm my breathing, my billowing thoughts. Pixie was sitting on the bunk, her whole body straining for me; but shivering anguish had overwhelmed her: she was dejected, lost. One of her hands rested on my breast; but she did not seem to know what to do with it.
‘Pixie,’ I said softly. ‘I’m here, Pixie.’ I gently lifted her chin. ‘Look at me. I’m here.’
I knew what to say next; at first it only occurred to me because of Pixie’s need. But then, the world seemed to drop out from under me, and I found it to be honestly true.
I sucked a breath around a sob, and finished, in a cracked whisper: ‘I love you.’
Of course I did. I had loved Katie for weeks; but only now did I realise that I also loved the Hive, and all who dwelt there; their life, their love, their endless passion and ecstasy, and their peace.
A tear fell from my eye onto Pixie’s wrist, where it shattered. It was a tear of longing. Somehow, I vowed to myself, somehow I would return to Luculla.
But for now, a beautiful woman needed me. I kissed her, and she understood me, and allowed the kiss to be soft. I spoke to her, in that kiss. I told her, simply, what I felt for her, and for Katie, and for the Hive. Her tiny mouth and thin lips seemed to reflect my love, and I tasted the salt of our tears as they trickled on our faces.
I sat down beside her, and we kissed.
Then she spoke too, whispering a picture of sun-dappled forest under an endless blue sky. With no words she talked of trees and rivers and hills, a place where there was no danger, only boundless freedom. Then into the image she wove the soft step of her companions, sharing her joy, talking together with not a sound to interrupt the spirit of the land.
Slowly, so slowly, our kiss became deeper. Now she murmured of beauty, and soft embraces.
Her tongue found mine, a press of warmth flowing over and around me; holding me, lifting me. There was only lips, breath, tongue; and returning urgency like the gathering of dusk. Night fell in the forest. Stars kindled, bringing love, and the rising of passion.
We moaned, together. We had forgotten our reality, and we lay among soft leaves, kissing. Our hands were moving: seeking, finding. The ground seemed to be rising, lifting us. Pixie was every member of the Hive at once; the Hive was beneath us, then it was folding around us.
I was a little frightened, but Pixie was there, loving me. ‘This is me,’ she said. ‘This is all of us; this is where we come from, and where we go. And if you wish, it can be you too.’
I allowed the Hive to encompass me in its warmth. It was holding me, touching me, bringing me to a soft, spiritual ecstasy. For an eternity I soared in the throes of orgasm, an orgasm that knew no individual, no conflict, no division. I was complete.
Later, I opened my eyes. Pixie was looking at me. We were still sitting side by side on the bunk, as though nothing had happened. But she was no longer shivering.
There was the grating whine of an opening door, a shocked intake of breath. I tensed, suddenly aware of the danger; I reached desperately for Pixie’s arm, wrist, anything to stop her. I might as well have tried to catch a tornado.
I was knocked aside, and rebounded painfully off the other bunk onto the floor again. I rolled, flailed to recover my feet.
The door had cycled shut. But Pixie was no longer in the cabin.
I stumbled forward; reached for the door controls; swayed to a halt. My heart, my breath, were impossibly loud in my ears. I was so consumed with horror that I could not summon the strength to press the button; and I stood against the door, reeling.
Of course, I was already too late to save Ralph.
And, as I know now, I was always too late, to save Luculla.
On the journey back, between narrating my log and keeping Pixie satiated, I queried the ship’s computer. So I know that each of my recordings, all of my story, has been relayed to the Institute via its network connection to the the science vessel and the hyperloop transmitter on board, which I did not know existed. I know that Luculla has had PSI status for weeks. I know that this cutter is stolen, and that Ralph was here, not just to find me, but as the very evil I knew that PSI status would encourage.
It is out of my hands. I hope, I pray, that perhaps, knowing what has happened, the government will provide adequate protection for this world. So the Hive can be here forever, undisturbed.
There is not much more to tell. When I arrived, the Hive appeared deserted. The few warriors standing guard immediately surrounded the cutter; but when I emerged they allowed me to pass. I found my way deep into the Hive, and there, of course, were its members, gathered silently, hand in hand.
When I reached the final dark underground chamber, a new Hive member was just being born, her cries like knives to my heart. Because Katie was not there. Thinking me lost to the stars, she has taken the only path, and done her final duty to the Hive.
And now I must also take that path. I go to join her, to return to love.
Goodbye
There’s a rescue ship.
Crew of two. And one of them… one of them. Him.
What do I do? I’m with Katie now. I don’t want him. I don’t want them to find us. But… what choice do we have? We’ve got nowhere else to go.
Nowhere but: home.
20 August 2405
[2400]01:44:04.0/-15:56:15/3 Luculla System
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Narrative augmentation off/de-clutter on
08:05:31
Four hours.I’ve been gone four hours, at least. I’ll be back in three, with the ship at full thrust.
Oh, Katie! What will you do? I have to find you!
If only I had understood. If only I’d seen. They wouldn’t be dead.
I killed them. I killed them with my stupidity. My blindness.
I have to find you.
Narrative augmentation on
08:21:55
We were hiding in the bushes, hesitating, watching the men gearing up. They must have arrived only hours before. Their Orbital Guard cutter was a little smaller and sleeker than the science vessel I arrived in, which stood in the same clearing, dusty and quiescent, its landing gear already overgrown.Of course, I was fixating on Ralph. He was unshaven, steely-eyed; potently masculine. I was trying to find him in my heart, exquisitely aware of the presence of my naked lover beside me. But all I felt was guilt, and worry. The love that I might once have had for him was gone, or buried deep beyond my reach.
At first I was too distracted, but as Katie’s movements became more agitated I looked at her, and gasped. I was so used to her lack of facial expression, that clearly seeing the fury behind her eyes was like an electric shock. Of her emotions, only her love for me had ever been so transparent; and sometimes I had wondered whether all that I saw there was a reflection. But now the green of her eyes burned as she gazed out of our hiding place.
I put a hand on her shoulder, leaned forward to try and steal her attention. ‘What is it?’ I whispered. Did she know? Somehow, could she tell?
Did she know we were engaged?
Her lips parted, but only revealed clenched teeth. Her breath hissed through them. I looked back at the men, tried to understand. They were hefting their equipment onto their backs, ready to set out. I pulled more urgently at her shoulder. ‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘They’re friends. They’re here to find me.’
It was the wrong thing to say. As she processed the words a snarl rose in her throat, and then she lunged forward. Instinctively I hauled on her arm to stop her. We both fell. ‘No!’ I gasped. We had fallen out of our cover. We were a hundred yards from the men, but to my horror, I immediately heard one of them shout out.
Katie’s eyes had captured mine. I blundered on fervently: ‘They won’t hurt us! What’s wrong, Katie?’
I glanced up. The men were looking at us, incredulously.
Katie’s mouth moved, but she had no words for her feelings. It occurred to me that we had never discussed anger, or aggression. But now that she was looking at me, I sensed her regain some control. She placed a hand behind my neck, to draw my lips to hers. I found myself resisting, desperately aware of the men; and when I glanced up they were already taking a step toward us.
Then, it happened.
There was a rustle in the branches, and something exploded out of the foliage above us. I have never seen anything move so fast: before my eyes even caught up, it had covered half the distance to the men. A small, lithe shape. A cat-girl.
In another fraction of a second it had reached one of the men, leaping at neck-level. A wide fan of blood materialised in the air. As he collapsed, she was in the air again.
There was a vivid flash of blue light. The cat-girl was knocked off-course. She impacted the ground a few feet from the other man, tried to stumble to her feet. But with another blue flash from the gun in his hand, she slumped, still.
I was paralysed. My mind was a blank. I watched myself, kneeling beside Katie, gaping at the man and the two bodies on the ground near him.
It was Ralph. His face was ashen with shock. He was partly crouched, trying to look in all directions for other attacks. Finally, he glanced at me, then looked at his fallen comrade and took a step towards him. He was halfway there before his legs gave way and he collapsed onto his knees, retching into the grass.
I was too far away to see properly, but there was no mistaking the lurid red splashed all over the fallen man’s jumpsuit.
Somewhere in an unattended corner of my mind, weighty puzzle pieces were crashing into place. The mysterious killer in the jungle. The Hive’s elaborate defences, the cat-girls and warriors, in a world with no indigenous animals. Katie’s primeval fury.
Clarity suddenly imploded in me. At last, I understood. Blackshore had taken steps, in creating the Hive and its people, to protect it from the greatest threat its way of life, its very existence, could ever face.
Man.
And as Katie’s breath began to hiss once again, and her body to rise, to finish the job the cat-girl had begun, I panicked; and tackled her back to the ground with all my strength, and straddled her, and kissed her.
I did not know what to say, in that kiss. The gulf between her world and mine seemed too great, so that not even our love could cross it. But it was irrelevant: her rage poured into me, overwhelmed me. Her lips, her tongue, were the hurricane; I could barely stand my ground. I fought, desperately, not to be hurled into madness myself.
But perhaps if we had not kissed, that force would have overflowed, to disastrous effect. Through our kiss her savage fury found release, and though my mind was assailed, she held my body gently.
Slowly, slowly, she seemed to calm, as though I was drawing an evil spirit from her. Our kiss was sustained; but adrenaline was slowly falling prey to closeness, and love.
‘Just what... the fuck... are you doing?’
I could hear the shock and the anger that underlaid his words; he stood over us, both shaking hands holding the gun, pointed at Katie. ‘Ralph, no,’ I said, rising, amazed at the calmness of my own voice. Katie was snarling and squirming backward, coming to her feet. ‘Ralph. Put the gun away.’
‘Just what the fuck is going on here? Who the fuck is she?’ He tilted his head backward, wild-eyed. ‘And that other one?’
Katie was at my shoulder. I could feel the willpower with which she controlled herself; using me as a barrier to prevent herself from attacking the man.
‘It’s okay, Ralph,’ I said, quietly.
‘It’s not fucking okay!’ His right arm straightened, holding the gun almost to Katie’s forehead as he gestured behind him with his left. ‘Kieran is dead! She… tore his fucking throat out! And you’re rolling in the dirt with some lesbo?’
‘Ralph.’ He seemed to be losing even more control as he spoke. ‘No-one else is going to get hurt, if you put the gun away. We’ve got a severe species-cultural divide here,’--I saw his mind stumble on that, so I decided to press my advantage--‘and waving your weapon around is not fucking helping!’
He gawped at me silently. I had probably never spoken to him like that before. I reached up slowly, holding his eyes, and pushed the gun down and away. He didn’t resist.
‘Can we help him,’ I asked, nodding at the fallen man; even though I knew that nothing could help him now. Without waiting for an answer I half-turned. ‘Katie, it’s okay,’ I repeated. I indicated the gun, knowing she did not understand it anyway. ‘See? He’s not going to harm us.’
Ralph seemed to rally a little, and think. ‘Are there any more of them?’ he said, glancing into the trees.
It was my turn to be tripped. I blurted, ‘No,’ then added: ‘I don’t know. Maybe. Shit.’
‘I’ll run a scan,’ he said distractedly, then, peevishly, ‘There aren’t meant to be any fucking animals here.’
‘They’re not animals,’ I retorted. Katie was pressing against me; I wondered if she was trying to talk to me. ‘They’re a hive culture, women only. They communicate by touch. By kissing.’ I risked the partial truth for expedience.
He eyed Katie’s body, making my discomfort spike even higher. He had come to rescue me, we had been lovers! and now the awkwardness between us was excruciating. But strangely he seemed to accept my explanation. Without a word he holstered his gun and drew his eno from a pocket, turning to one side as he programmed it.
Fortunately, there were no other Hive members in range of the device. Katie stayed pressed to my side as Ralph and I talked. He and I gradually fell into familiarity, even if the strain remained. I tried to explain the Hive, as concisely as I could, thinking that he would not really understand--although he seemed to absorb it easily and without comment. But I did not tell him of my love for Katie. How could I?
By unspoken agreement we moved gradually towards the ship. When we reached the bodies, there was one more shock in store for me. The cat-girl. It was Pixie.
She had always been small, lithe; but it had never occurred to me that cat-girls might differentiate after their ‘birth’. Perhaps her time in the forest, alone, following us, had accelerated her evolution. Now, as she lay still on the ground, the light fur of a cat-girl rippled in the breeze; and while her nails still appeared almost human-normal, they had clearly been hardening. They were splashed with blood. I cried, silently.
As night fell, our talk turned to departure. The possibility of seeing the Hive was quickly dismissed; even Ralph would not consider negotiating a forest teeming with hundreds of aggressive and lethal cat-girls just to get near it. Equally, salvage from my old camp or Blackshore’s lab was not worth the risk. We could perhaps retrieve Raja and the Professor’s remains by airlift; but that would require me to descend first and bag them up. I decided I preferred to apologise to their relatives.
‘This “Hive” must be worth a lot to science,’ Ralph observed. Too casually.
I glared at him. ‘No way,’ I said, hotly. ‘Can you imagine what would happen here? Science first, maybe. But then corporations. Tourists. Their way of life would disappear forever.’
‘So how are you going to explain the deaths? How are you going to explain her?’ he said, pointing beyond my shoulder. I jumped. I had almost forgotten Katie, tucked silently there. Before I could answer he continued hastily, ‘Somehow or other, word is going to get out. Surely it would be better if we, you, were in control of that.’
‘“Control”?’ I echoed hollowly.
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘This is virgin territory, since the original colonists left. The Institute could claim jurisdiction, on scientific grounds, when you give your report.’ He nodded at my pocket, where the shape of my eno was obvious beneath the grime.
‘I won’t give my report,’ I countered. I looked at him with conviction, suddenly acutely aware of what I had already revealed to him. ‘The Institute would publish. They would have to. Their “jurisdiction” would evaporate within weeks.’
‘Not if they got PSI status for Luculla. It’s the only protection...’
‘No!’ I pointed a finger at him. I felt Katie press closer, heard the breath in her throat. ‘PSI is a fucking beacon for trophy hunters, and you know it. The only protection for Luculla, is obscurity.’
I had to stay.
It hit me like a plasma bolt. I rocked on my feet. Ralph could report that an accident had befallen the science team. We could even crash the Institute ship, take some pictures, recover the flight recorder.
There was food in plenty. Blackshore’s lab could be made into a permanent shelter. Maybe, one day, Katie and I could make our peace with the Hive. I stared at Ralph, absolutely sure. I had to tell him what I felt for her.
I opened my mouth, but he had shrugged and turned aside. ‘Let’s have something to eat,’ he was saying. His voice was flat, unemotional, unnatural. ‘Get some sleep.’
I agreed, and tried to calm my mind. A night’s consideration would be wise. At the very least, I had to think of a way to secure his cooperation. So as we began to prepare for the night, my focus was wholly inward. Perhaps that was why I missed so many of the clues.
Later, when he offered me a drink, his hand was shaking.
20 August 2405
14.657997/106.247406/[2400]01:44:04.0/-15:56:15/3 Luculla
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Narrative augmentation off/de-clutter on
11:21:46
She’s not here!She’s not in the clearing. There’s no answer to my calls.
There’s only one place she could go. Oh, Katie!
She must have given up. Gone... back.
I’ll take the ship. I have to catch her. I have to!
20 August 2405
14.824807/106.495113/[2400]01:44:04.0/-15:56:15/3 Luculla
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Voice log [Judith Hobson]
Narrative augmentation off/de-clutter on
11:41:25
I am here; where it all ends, and where it begins.Somehow, I am calm. I know what I must do. Whether I can survive it, does not much matter. I cannot go on, without her.
But first I must finish. Though I resent every second until I join her. I will finish my story.
Narrative augmentation on
11:42:58
It was the desperation in the voice, that woke me.I don’t remember having dreamed. My waking was like a switch: from deep nothingness into sudden consciousness in the space of a heartbeat.
I lay there immobile, while my body more slowly came to grips with wakefulness, hearing the plaintive wail that rose and fell near at hand. As soon as my eyes cracked open, they immediately screwed themselves shut again against the harsh white glare of the lights.
Those lights; the background hum: I knew I was on board ship, and since Katie and I had lain down to sleep on solid ground, I also knew that something was deeply amiss.
At first I did not trust myself. Was I forgetting some intermediate time, in which Ralph and Katie and I had decided, against my determination, to leave Luculla? Or had I boarded in the night, bleary and terrorised by the ghosts of the three dead men, to abandon Katie for the remembered security of technology, and my fiancée?
Was that voice, her?
The thought was enough to overcome my paralysis. My head lifted; my hand shielded my eyes, and they searched for the source of the sound, struggling to focus through lids that refused to open more than a sliver. But then, suddenly, they went wide.
It was Pixie. I gasped, tensed harshly to sit up on the bunk, and banged my head decisively on the bulkhead above.
I reeled. Pixie. She was alive. I turned my body instead, reaching for the floor with my feet; floundered in the artificial gravity that was almost, but not quite, like Luculla; and flopped like a gasping fish onto the grating between the bunks of the tiny crew quarters.
Pixie had stopped crying. She watched me intensely as I rose precariously beside her. She had been tied down; the straps that normally held an orbital guardsman in place, during maneuvering or free-fall, were harshly knotted around her chest, wrists and ankles. Her skin was badly chafed where she had struggled, beaded with blood, which had also soaked into her bonds. Tears streaked the sides of her pretty face.
‘It’s okay, Pix,’ I croaked, shocked by her anguish. She was more than simply terrified. She was pale and shivering, as though in the throes of a fever.
She strained towards me, her cracked lips parting to emit a whine of pure agony. It screeched into my mind like nails on a blackboard. What could possibly..?
Then, I understood. ‘Oh, god, Pixie,’ I said, and leaned in automatically to kiss her. How long had she been without sex, without even the ability to reach herself?
Anger flared up in me as I strove to meet a tiny corner of her need. Ralph must have loaded us both into the cutter as we slept. He knew I would be furious; perhaps he planned to try and win me over once we were safely on our way. He could not have known what the effect would be on Pixie. But why was she even here?
I knew the answer before I had even finished thinking the question. Proof. My testimony was crazy. The recordings of an eno could be faked. But a live cat-girl would send waves of interest and excitement through our society, where genetic modification of humans had been banned for centuries. His story, my story, would be an overnight sensation.
Pixie was whining and struggling again. I pulled away from her ravenous lips, gritting my teeth against the sound of her renewed desperation, and fumbled with her bonds. As soon as one hand was free it reached for me; I shied slightly at the razor nails and the dried blood caked around them. But, just like the cat-girl that had found me in the forest so long ago, her touch was gentle. As I reached for the straps at her ankles, she folded acutely to follow me with her hands and mouth.
Her face was still crumpled piteously, tears streaming down her cheeks. As her leg came free I pulled it aside to reach for her vulva; but when my fingers touched her, I felt myself begin to panic.
She was dry. Of course; no-one could be aroused in such a state. I was just going through the obvious motions; but they were not what she needed.
There was only one way to save her. Here, now, I had to love her.
I tried to calm my breathing, my billowing thoughts. Pixie was sitting on the bunk, her whole body straining for me; but shivering anguish had overwhelmed her: she was dejected, lost. One of her hands rested on my breast; but she did not seem to know what to do with it.
‘Pixie,’ I said softly. ‘I’m here, Pixie.’ I gently lifted her chin. ‘Look at me. I’m here.’
I knew what to say next; at first it only occurred to me because of Pixie’s need. But then, the world seemed to drop out from under me, and I found it to be honestly true.
I sucked a breath around a sob, and finished, in a cracked whisper: ‘I love you.’
Of course I did. I had loved Katie for weeks; but only now did I realise that I also loved the Hive, and all who dwelt there; their life, their love, their endless passion and ecstasy, and their peace.
A tear fell from my eye onto Pixie’s wrist, where it shattered. It was a tear of longing. Somehow, I vowed to myself, somehow I would return to Luculla.
But for now, a beautiful woman needed me. I kissed her, and she understood me, and allowed the kiss to be soft. I spoke to her, in that kiss. I told her, simply, what I felt for her, and for Katie, and for the Hive. Her tiny mouth and thin lips seemed to reflect my love, and I tasted the salt of our tears as they trickled on our faces.
I sat down beside her, and we kissed.
Then she spoke too, whispering a picture of sun-dappled forest under an endless blue sky. With no words she talked of trees and rivers and hills, a place where there was no danger, only boundless freedom. Then into the image she wove the soft step of her companions, sharing her joy, talking together with not a sound to interrupt the spirit of the land.
Slowly, so slowly, our kiss became deeper. Now she murmured of beauty, and soft embraces.
Her tongue found mine, a press of warmth flowing over and around me; holding me, lifting me. There was only lips, breath, tongue; and returning urgency like the gathering of dusk. Night fell in the forest. Stars kindled, bringing love, and the rising of passion.
We moaned, together. We had forgotten our reality, and we lay among soft leaves, kissing. Our hands were moving: seeking, finding. The ground seemed to be rising, lifting us. Pixie was every member of the Hive at once; the Hive was beneath us, then it was folding around us.
I was a little frightened, but Pixie was there, loving me. ‘This is me,’ she said. ‘This is all of us; this is where we come from, and where we go. And if you wish, it can be you too.’
I allowed the Hive to encompass me in its warmth. It was holding me, touching me, bringing me to a soft, spiritual ecstasy. For an eternity I soared in the throes of orgasm, an orgasm that knew no individual, no conflict, no division. I was complete.
Later, I opened my eyes. Pixie was looking at me. We were still sitting side by side on the bunk, as though nothing had happened. But she was no longer shivering.
There was the grating whine of an opening door, a shocked intake of breath. I tensed, suddenly aware of the danger; I reached desperately for Pixie’s arm, wrist, anything to stop her. I might as well have tried to catch a tornado.
I was knocked aside, and rebounded painfully off the other bunk onto the floor again. I rolled, flailed to recover my feet.
The door had cycled shut. But Pixie was no longer in the cabin.
I stumbled forward; reached for the door controls; swayed to a halt. My heart, my breath, were impossibly loud in my ears. I was so consumed with horror that I could not summon the strength to press the button; and I stood against the door, reeling.
Of course, I was already too late to save Ralph.
And, as I know now, I was always too late, to save Luculla.
On the journey back, between narrating my log and keeping Pixie satiated, I queried the ship’s computer. So I know that each of my recordings, all of my story, has been relayed to the Institute via its network connection to the the science vessel and the hyperloop transmitter on board, which I did not know existed. I know that Luculla has had PSI status for weeks. I know that this cutter is stolen, and that Ralph was here, not just to find me, but as the very evil I knew that PSI status would encourage.
It is out of my hands. I hope, I pray, that perhaps, knowing what has happened, the government will provide adequate protection for this world. So the Hive can be here forever, undisturbed.
There is not much more to tell. When I arrived, the Hive appeared deserted. The few warriors standing guard immediately surrounded the cutter; but when I emerged they allowed me to pass. I found my way deep into the Hive, and there, of course, were its members, gathered silently, hand in hand.
When I reached the final dark underground chamber, a new Hive member was just being born, her cries like knives to my heart. Because Katie was not there. Thinking me lost to the stars, she has taken the only path, and done her final duty to the Hive.
And now I must also take that path. I go to join her, to return to love.
Goodbye
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