The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

For the second time in half a billion years, the echo of delirious cries filled the cavernous expanse of the guardian’s lair.

emiko stared at the cave ceiling, with eyes as empty as her soul. she lay sprawled on the stone floor like a broken doll, arms stretched over her head, hair twisted in a mess. her numbed extremities twitched back to life, but she held still. The glow rod she’d brought had been tossed aside, illuminating the rockface near the cavern entrance; the mantle of shadows stretching overhead remained opaque—as dark and deep as the Purpose pulsing in her mind.

her eyes flicked downwards. The empty shell-husk that had housed the symbiot was split open and deflated. Still-warm streamers of goo dribbled down her legs, reminding her of the feel of alien flesh sliding against her skin.

kara had brought her here... had whispered soothingly in her ear while she became host.

she sank a hand between her legs, dipping her fingertips in the viscous fluids soaking her sex. The shiver of pleasure was intense—but nothing compared to the joy of being enslaved. There was barely the hint of a rise in her lower belly—hardly a sign of the symbiot inside her.

Purpose orchestrated her thoughts, and she dizzied at the knowledge of what was to come.

Stroking lazy circles around her aroused clit, she raised a finger to her mouth. A syrupy streamer followed, dribbling between her breasts. She noticed how heavy and full they felt, and breathed a deep sigh of contentment. The changes to her body would be numerous, but they would turn her into the perfect host.

she was slaveflesh. her time of senseless, hollow existence had ended. she had been reborn, and the symbiot’s will was her own.

she moaned as she licked her finger clean.

The sound of steps echoed behind her, and emiko rose to her feet, standing stiffly. she was still naked below the waist, and her pussy ached with need. she stroked it, gently, delicately, her mind suddenly alive with lustful possibilities.

How long had she been underground? Would others from the ship be coming?

her breath quickened at the thought of being found like this... changed... no longer human... no longer able to think human. Crewmates who stumbled unexpectedly in the cave would surely freeze in shock at the sight of her.

she imagined herself walking slowly towards them, calling out to them by names that meant nothing to her now. Speaking sweet lies. Sowing confusion in their minds as she approached, lusting with the thought of subduing them.

Of enslaving them.

It was kara who emerged from the tunnel entrance. she carried no glow rod with her—perhaps her eyes no longer needed one—along with a bag of supplies. she, too, wore nothing from the waist down; she was barefoot and graceful, unfettered by the chill of the underground air.

“Good. The bonding is complete.”

“Yeeesss,” hissed emiko.

“The symbiots are adapting well to our physiology. you did not resist for long.”

A shadow of a smile passed upon kara’s lips, but emiko met it with a frown. The notion of struggle and resistance against the symbiot was disturbing to her. It was a wrong thought, and she fled from it instantly, finding solace in her moment of yielding : the spreading of her legs, the patient wait while the creature emerged from its cocoon... the feel of tendrils pulsing in and out of her cunt... easing the symbiot inside her flesh...

“Human females must be well suited for enslavement,” emiko surmised. “i did not resist. i have embraced the Change. i am slaveflesh.”

It was wonderful to hear herself say it. she swayed on her feet, fingers gliding gently over her sex. her nipples, too, had stiffened painfully, crying out for the pull of fingers. The need to lure more females into the heart of the cave, to weave a web of deception and betray them, slowly consumed her.

she stared in kara eyes, watched as the light from the glow rod shimmered and reflected strangely in them. They were secret windows to the alien soul that wore kara’s body and face. she held the strangely affecting stare, and barely noticed she had sunk into lust trance. In the space of a few breaths, her mind softened, opened to the will of the one who had brought her to this place. She longed to kneel... to seek out the damp places between her betrayer’s legs and tongue like an obedient little slave. But it felt so much better to stand and lose herself in the hypnotic daydream of these alien eyes...

she sensed it then. The mind-link... stretching forth like an ethereal web between them. The influx of strange sensations was disorienting, and there was an odd prickling sensation in the back of her skull, but the echo of kara’s desires mingled with her own, comforting her with the knowledge that she was controlled.

her vision blurred as her fingers continued to slid inside her pussy. The impulse to enslave became a rushing wave of need that drove every other thought from her mind. emiko gasped in the bliss of near-orgasm, and saw herself striding nude inside the cave, in front of a row of dazed and hypnotized shipmates.

The dream-image mesmerized her as thoroughly as kara’s eyes, sinking in her mind like a stone in a bottomless pond. The prickling sensation increased, and she sensed the shadow of a powerful, ancient presence behind it.

she blinked when she heard kara’s whisper: “we are all joined in the Purpose.”

emiko moaned, watched herself avidly in the dream.

A dozen of her female shipmates stood rooted in place, trying to focus, trying to resist as their eyes glossed over. They had emerged one by one, walking stiffly into the cave, hypnotized. They had stripped without a verbal command, each of them lining up obediently in front of symbiot pods. Now they fought the impulse to give in completely, their faces contorting with effort and fear.

Dream-emiko knew what to do. she went to them, brushed against one of the resisting females, who tensed despite the arousal that quickened her breath, that flushed her breasts. The moan that passed her lips as emiko’s hand went to her sex, teased her clit out of its sheath with a flick of the finger, was almost as rewarding as the submissive emptiness that replaced the fear in her eyes.

How easy it was. How wonderful. she went from one female to another, preparing each them for the change. One of them was already far too gone to resist, but she cried softly just like the others when emiko stroked her pussy and her mind into deep obedience. Then she stood back and smiled as each of the females looked down to the pods laid out before them, and understood. The symbiots eggs had begun twitching, tendrils sliding forth from the tips, searching blindly for fresh host bodies to bond with. Some of the females sighed as they squatted over the ovoids, yielding willingly to the alien flesh, and to the mindless bliss of Purpose.

The dream-image burned like a flame in emiko’s thoughts. “need... must... enslave,” she gasped, struggling to articulate each word. “i am obedient, yet i...”

her voice trailed off in a sultry moan.

“you are undergoing transition,” kara informed her. “females take quickly to the bonding, but the symbiot is still probing your mind. For the moment, you have been rendered docile. The knowledge of what must be done is already flowing into your consciousness.”

emiko’s eyes briefly went to the unspeakable thing writhing to the cave ceiling. she recognized the same diffuse presence that had flowed through her before—through the mind-link. A powerful awareness pulsed along the multitude of fleshy, translucent limbs—one that had reshaped her into an instrument of the Purpose.

kara reached out to her, caressed her belly. “When the symbiot has full control, when it has woven its way into your nervous system, your body will experience many more changes. you will mature into an enslavement drone. you will assist me in the corruption of the others.”

emiko felt a surge of arousal. “Corruption... of others... yesssss...”

“i have received a transmission from the ship while the symbiot bonded with you. Others females will arrive at the landing site soon. we must insure that all of them are enslaved before they leave this place.”

emiko merely squirmed in response. kara’s words made her glow with depraved resolve. Purpose was Truth. Purpose was Life. she would deceive and enslave the females. She would obey.

kara drifted closer, stroking emiko’s shoulders. her breasts were as full and round as emiko’s now, and both sucked in a hasty breath as their nipples touched. “When the time has come, the symbiot will lay its eggs in your womb, and it will die. The Purpose will live inside you, and other females will become host. you will make their thoughts drip with understanding and obedience.”

slaveflesh pressed against slaveflesh. emiko rose to her tiptoes, kissed kara’s soft lips, groaned when a tongue came forth, teasing its way into her mouth. In mere moments the embrace bloomed into a passionate affair, their mouths yielding to feverish, unspoken vows of lust. each reveled in the taste of the other, savoring the strange, exotic sweetness that flowed inside their mouths.

In the pause between kisses, emiko reached up between them to caress the underside of kara’s breasts, and felt a warm trickle running between her fingers. she broke the kiss long enough to look down, saw kara’s engorged nipples were as stiff as a nursing mother’s, leaking at the slightest pressure.

she glanced up, smiled at kara’s nod of approval, and began to fondle the supple flesh, warm and soft and yielding against her palms. emiiko was soon encouraged by kara’s breathless sighs. she ran slow fingers around the dark areolas, twirling incessantly, while kara gasped and stifled her cries.

she squeezed the left nipple, and was rewarded with a drop of the clear, syrupy nectar, running down the tip. emiko rubbed the secretion between her thumb and forefinger, noting its viscous texture, before raising it to her mouth.

Just as she’d expected. The same honeyed flavor, dancing on her tongue.

The changes would be many. they would become perfect hosts.

kara pulled her closer. emiko melted into embrace, and kara’s fingers dove underneath the tangle of her hair, feeling along her spine until they brushed against the slight, soft protuberance that had appeared at the base of emiko’s neck, right underneath the skin.

“There. The nerve cluster has nearly hardened. The symbiot has full control of your nervous system. Inferior human minds will soon be susceptible to your influence. In time, some may learn to embrace the Purpose willingly. They will obey, until the time of bonding is upon them.”

emiko trembled as she leaned forth, running her tongue between kara’s lips. “i am an enslavement drone. i am slaveflesh.”

kara knew what to do. she pushed emiko down gently, as if guiding a dazed patient back into her hospital bed. emiko mewled and allowed herself to sink to her knees. her universe dissolved into perfect clarity : a trance of lust that held no other thought but the need to pleasure.

her eyes flamed with passion as she gazed upon kara’s glistening folds. Even in the semi-darkness of the cave, she recognized the sweet essence that flowed from her slit... recognized its heady scent... sweet... overpowering...

her head tipped forward, with only the slightest of hesitations.

“Fulfill your Purpose,” kara commanded, guiding emiko’s avid mouth to her sex.

Ancilla’s horizontal spin was maintained for convenience. Grav plates generated stable gee fields within the hull, but spin eased the separation of landing craft anchored to the ship’s launch ring. Essandre, strapped once again in the pilot’s couch of the shuttle she’d brought up from the surface a day before, kept her eyes on her console, feeling like an insect glued on the hide of some shining leviathan, spiraling drunkenly in an ocean of vacuum.

Her finger went to the mooring release, her shoulders tensing under the pull of inverted gravity. Inertia nudged her back into her seat when she flicked the switch; she nodded in satisfaction as the shuttle separated and went into freefall.

Ancilla’s looming silhouette drifted away in her viewport, casting angled shadows across the cabin. On the right, a sliver of Tau Lyra IV’s sandy-brown horizon blotted out the field of tumbling stars.

The gruff voice of Essandre’s copilot came on the link, conversing tersely with Operations to confirm clearance and insertion vectors. Security officer Lars Ares edged forward in the right-hand seat, his silver-gray eyes shining with quiet anticipation behind the raised visor of his helmet. Despite the hassle of pressure gloves, he worked his console deftly, tracking the shuttle’s position through guidance telemetry from geostationary nav-satellites.

“Nice change of pace,” he chuckled, putting a hand over his mike and leaning towards Essandre. “My last tour, I pulled double duty flying Hydrogen tankers at Togachi station.”

Essandre nodded. Automated ramship refuel facility. Tankers typically dove down into the middle layers of gas giants, battering their way through terrifying maelstroms. No wonder he’d rolled his eyes during the mission briefing, when the subject of TL IV’s mild atmospheric turbulence had been discussed.

She eased up a little in her seat, trusting a good feeling she had about him. Despite being one of Byörnson’s liaison to the science teams, he wasn’t much of a stickler for rank, deferring command to Essandre in virtue of her seniority on first-survey missions. His stocky frame bulged inside his pressurized suit, and his hands flexed whenever there was a lull, itching for that moment after landing when he’d slap the release latch on his crash harness.

Three of the four couches in the passenger compartment behind them were occupied. One of the scientists, Dr. Messina Slaan, sat back quietly, revising notes on her data pad. Trish Erianii, the youngest in the group, had opted for a dose of the sleep inducer, and was firmly secured in her couch harness, snoring in the far back. That left Dr. Seleen Trellian, head of the xenobiology team, slumped in the left passenger couch, her gaze fixed on one of the viewports.

There was tenseness in her shoulders. A barely visible frown, at odds with her usually calm features.

“I take it this isn’t your first ride in a shuttle, Dr. Trellian?”

Seleen stiffened a little, taken aback by Essandre’s question. Success and wealth afforded her the best rejuv treatments the core worlds could offer, but the price of her vanity often meant having to recite a litany of credentials that seemed outlandish without a touch of gray in her hair to account for them.

“I usually get the novice lecture on emergency decomp procedures. What gave me away?”

Essandre thought of mentioning the personnel files she’d accessed after the briefing with Byörnson, but shrugged instead. Some of the civilians were suspicious of that kind of preparedness.

“You’ve been staring out the viewport since we launched,” Lars inferred from his seat. “Dead giveaway. I’ve known career officers who never get used to it.”

Seleen nodded, her eyes drifting back to the viewport. “It helps me keep my mind off the delay.”

Her tone made no secret of her displeasure. A group of geologists surveying the Northern continent had radioed Ancilla the day before, screaming about hostile contact with a nest of rat-sized creatures while exploring a series of caves. The resulting injuries, though minor, had prompted Byörnson to deputize the whole xenobiology division. Anyone on Tau Lyra IV engaged in subterranean research had been ordered to hold off until experts could be shuttled down to the surface, to inspect tunnels and clear them of any hostiles.

Lars was surprised by her reaction. “I thought Xeno teams would drop everything for the chance to capture live alien specimens.”

Trellian avoided a condescending retort, her hand tapping the planetologist badge on her right shoulder. “Same branch but different interests, officer Ares. Ours is a somewhat broader field of interest.”

Dr. Slaan looked up from her pad, nodding in agreement. “Collecting specimens is a task that is left to other specialized teams. We study interactions between native and alien species and evaluate the threat-matrix of the ecosystems. Then we determine the environment’s ability to support human presence for an extended period.”

Her eyes went to Lars as she spoke, but ventured a nonchalant look in Essandre’s direction in a pause between sentences.

Essandre pretended not to notice. The pair had run into each other a few times during Ancilla’s hyperwave jump, mostly during off-duty watches. Fleet regs were somewhat fuzzy when it came to how civilians shared downtime (and bunkspace) with enlisted crew, and the ship’s rumor mill provided tantalizingly vague hints about Dr. Slaan’s penchant for lithesome, athletic women in uniform. Essandre held no doubt on that account : Slaan’s meaning had been plain enough in the aftermath of one of Essandre’s daily workouts in the ship’s rec area.

The doctor had kept her eyes level at least, trying hard not to undress Essandre out of her sweat-soaked, tight-fitting skinsuit while proposing to meet for drinks up on the ship’s observation deck. Essandre had passed on the invitation, but for once avoided the usual fib of an inconvenient duty schedule : she’d made plans to meet Kara for an early dinner in the galley.

She’d flushed a little when Messina read more into that than she’d intended. The ice-blue depths of her eyes had grown wistful, perhaps envying Kara for being the warm body that cuddled against Essandre during long off-duty hours, and woke up next to her at the beginning of every morning watch.

She flushed some more. Lars frowned in the copilot seat, too puzzled to notice.

“Did stuff me into a cryo-tube while we made a hyperjump to another system? I thought TL IV was an M-Class world.”

Slaan nodded. “It supports human life, but not all such worlds can sustain a permanent colony.”

Lars scratched his helmet.

“Alien environments affect humans in ways not immediately apparent,” she went on to explain. “Our team determines what terraforming modifications will be required in order to fully adjust the world to our needs. Numerous factors may limit, even invalidate TL IV’s usefulness as a colony.”

“You mean exotic pollen? Low background radiation?”

She nodded. “Native bacteria. Viruses. Trace elements harmful to human physiology over decades of exposure. We’ve ruled out any danger for now, but TL IV may yet have some nasty surprises for us.”

“I see your point. This side trip will wreak havoc with your schedule.”

“Let’s not worry about that just now,” Essandre insisted. “We’ll get you all planetside as quickly as possible. Once this business is taken care of, we can drop you to your original landing site with a short suborbital hop.”

Seleen leaned forward against her crash harness. “Officer Delormier, I trust Dr. Nolann has been notified of our arrival?”

“We received an acknowledgment transmission from the surface. I’m sure she and Emiko—huh, Dr. Hoshima—will be ready for us.”

She winced inwardly—the delays were like falling dominoes, affecting one team after the other. Kara would probably remain on standby while Seleen’s team surveyed the caves, unable to continue her work. A brief text message from the camp’s comm relay had been the only response to reach Ancilla, but Essandre could read plain meaning into the radio silence that had followed.

Emiko has her sampling work on the surface to fall back on. Kara isn’t so lucky.

The shuttle coasted along its orbit, crossing over from shadow to light. Tau Lyra’s fiery red glow drifted through the viewport in a glorious sunrise, and for a few minutes, everyone watched in silence.

The countdown indicator beeped its warning on schedule. Essandre and Lars lowered their helmet visors in unison, going through the final re-entry checklist on the mike loop. Moments later, the whine of descent thrusters shook throughout the cabin. Essandre monitored the autopilot, bracing herself for the first nudge of the shuttle’s nose to indicate contact with the upper atmosphere.

In the back of the cabin. Dr. Erianii muttered something unintelligible, before settling back into deep sleep.

The last rays of dusk lingered on the horizon, bathing the rolling hills East of the landing site in shades of pale red. In the sky above, the oddly-shaped constellations emerged from the darkness, one by one.

Essandre and Seleen climbed out of the shuttle’s side hatch, sand crunching underneath their boots. They shouldered massive bags—far more than they would under a full gee—while Lars and the others toiled in the cargo bay, loading antigrav plates with the heavier gear. The cloud of dust kicked up by the shuttle’s landing thrusters still floated in the air, and the women brushed their field jackets with the back of their hands as they made their way towards the camp.

Emiko waved from a distance as they strolled by; she was recharging power cells using one of the solar generators. Kara, sitting by a hastily built campfire, rose as the newcomers approached, setting aside the data pad she’d been working on.

“Welcome to Tau Lyra IV, Dr. Trellian,” Kara said, extending her hand as the pair reached her. “Nice to see you again.”

Seleen, remembering their quick introduction during one of the science briefings, gave a polite nod and shook back.

“Likewise. Sorry we had to come down and disturb your work here.”

Kara shrugged. “A minor inconvenience. I’m guessing Byörnson threatened to space you and your team if you didn’t cooperate?”

Seleen hesitated, glancing in Essandre’s direction, but the security officer merely rolled her eyes. “Well, I, hum...”

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” said Kara with a laugh and a wink. “She’s likely to be thrown in the brig for tolerating such mutinous banter. I doubt she’ll report any of it.”

Essandre smiled pleasantly and gritted her teeth. Lars will have her stunned and confined to the shuttle by sunrise tomorrow.

“Well,” Seleen chuckled, “I can assure you it wasn’t my idea.”

Essandre drifted by Kara’s side, trying to look reproachful. In truth, she was relieved to see her friend in such good spirits.

“Brief text messages to the ship are no way to keep in touch. I was getting worried up there.”

Kara held up her hands. “Blame Emiko. We got busy down there, and the voice relay wasn’t working properly. She insisted on collecting different samples, and it took us an extra hour to carry all of them back here. We have got to think about setting up a second camp, near the cave entrance.”

Not with a possible hostile threat looming over our heads, Essandre thought, well aware that Kara would argue to the contrary on the grounds that she’d already spent a night in the cave. She chose to hum noncommittally, sidestepping the issue for now, and dumped the bags she carried in a heap. One of them held instant ration kits and she started rummaging through the pile to find them.

The camp had been tidied up in her absence. She glanced about, noting three new pressure tents standing in a row near the comm relay, and additional sensor nodes deployed in the distance, all around the security perimeter.

“I’m impressed. You an Emiko have the whole place ready for our guests.”

Kara reached for a cup of tea she’d left next to the fire, blew on it before taking a sip. “It seemed the right thing to do. There’s no telling how long this will take. We might as well be comfortable for the duration.”

Seleen rubbed her hands together. “Excellent. With your help, we can take care of this scouting business as quickly as possible.”

“Absolutely. I understand you brought down special scanning equipment?”

“Resonance scanners for the most part. We might not pick anything up if rock density is as high as I suspect. Since we’re not even sure if there’s anything to pick up, we’ll have to rely on site-to-site inspections. This is where you and Dr. Hoshima come in.”

Kara’s smile widened. “Really? How so?”

Taking off the protective goggles she wore, Seleen strolled over to the other side of the fire, making sure she kept her back to the setting sun. “You two have spent a lot of time in those caves. Do you have any incidents to report? Any signs of animal occupation? Carcasses, droppings, nests and the like?”

“I hate to disappoint, but no.”

“Nothing at all on deep radar? EM scans?”

Kara shook her head. “Sorry.”

“During our mission briefing on Ancilla, Officer Delormier mentioned something of interest... a fungal species of sorts...?”

Essandre’s cheeks flushed, aware that anything of interest to Trellian might mean further delays. She felt the sudden need to apologize, but Kara’s smile never wavered.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” said Emiko, cutting in. She strolled over from the generator, a stack of charged power cells under her arm. “Exotic but harmless. Certainly not apt to jump out of shadows and take a bite out of your leg.”

A chuckle of amusement circled all around.

“Actually, Kara and I would love to give you all a hand.” Emiko kneeled on the ground, stuffing the power cells in the first bag she could find. “We did spend quite a lot of time down there. I’m sure we can help you speed things along.”

“Yes,” Kara echoed. “We’d feel useless otherwise. There’s a lot we can show you.”

Seleen glanced impatiently back towards the shuttle. Lars was lumbering towards the comm antenna, carrying a laser relay over his shoulder. Trish, still groggy from the sleep-inducer dose, followed behind him, nudging a loaded antigrav plate that wobbled several feet off the ground.

“I’ve ordered Dr. Slaan to begin a check of the equipment stored in the cargo bay. I’ll head back in a few minutes to give her a hand. There’s no point in wasting any time.” Seleen glanced at her chronocomm, before motioning to Trish in the distance.

The young specialist waved back, left the antigrav floating in place, and hopped over. Despite weeks of practice on Ancilla, she was still adjusting to the low gravity; her awkward steps came down a little hard, and her feet puffed up red dust as she went. She nodded curtly to all of the others upon reaching the circle, and handed a data pad to her superior.

“I’ve made a few recommendations based on the cave layout Dr. Nolann logged into the Ancilla database,” she said, after pausing to catch her breath. “We can check out the highlighted tunnels first, since their accessibility makes them more likely to house the nests described by Dr. Swansu’s geology team.”

The novelty of survey duty was disarmingly apparent in Trish. Now that the sleep was wearing off, she glanced about constantly, her shoulder-length hair bobbing in reddish curls (the sun was still up and bright despite the incline) with each jerk of her head. Her excitement rivaled that of a schoolchild on her first off-world field trip.

“Good work, Trish. Dr. Nolann, if you would be so kind as to provide us with a virtual map that will lead us to the entrance of the caves, we can get started on preliminary sweeps.”

“Certainly.” Kara reached for her own data pad, but froze when Essandre held up her hand.

“Hold on. It’s getting dark. We’ll settle down for the night, and begin our sweeps in the morning.”

There was a collective groan of protest. Seleen spun her heels in the sand, as if readying for a shoving match. “Daylight is of no concern—we’re here to inspect underground tunnels. The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can resume the work we came here to do.”

“That’s right,” Trish added, trying not to sound too intimidated.

Essandre was adamant. “Our current location is on the same longitude as your original drop point. We’re still on ship’s time, and we need to adjust to the planet’s twenty-hour cycle.”

“She’s right,” said Lars, nearing the circle in turn. He walked up next to Essandre, flexing the soreness out of his arms. “Regs call for a rest period after landing. Wandering out of the camp after dark is not an option.” His tone was flat. Definitive. He loomed over everyone but Kara, his oversized frame providing less-than-subtle weight to his fellow officer’s argument.

Seleen scrutinized them both carefully, aware of the article in question but tempted to challenge its validity.

“Fine,” she conceded. “We’ll stay in camp for the night, but we’ll continue with the preparations. I trust you can fly us in at first light tomorrow morning?”

“Agreed.”

Despite the workload, everyone settled down for a quick breather. Kara and Emiko gave Essandre a hand distributing ration kits, chatting with the other two specialists as they went. In short order, the conversation turned to planetary engineering, and grew too technical for Essandre to follow.

She exchanged a mildly perplexed look with Lars, and ate a quick meal in silence, turning her thoughts to recalibrating the sensor net and performing additional perimeter sweeps to fully secure the camp for the night. She got up when Lars finished, checked the stunner holstered at her hip, and shifted the setting of her goggles to night vision.

Behind her, the dying embers of Tau Lyra’s light faded into the horizon.

“I had a feeling I would find you in here.”

Emiko strolled out of the dark, up the lowered shuttle ramp and inside the brightly illuminated cargo bay. She was carrying a medium-sized container, grasping low handles on the sides and leaning her chin against the top as she walked. Dr. Slaan acknowledged her with an absentminded nod, and went back to her inventory, taking notes with a data pad.

Emiko deposited the box on deck, then went to the shuttle’s hatch controls. Slaan hardly noticed the whine of hydraulics as the ramp rose back up; numerous gray storage crates filled with capture equipment surrounded her, some still secured in place with crash harnesses.

Emiko squeezed her way past the clutter, careful to tiptoe around the electronics arranged in separate piles across one section of the deck. Most of the devices would require assembly and calibration before the team departed in the morning.

“Thank you for letting me upload your sample scan archive, Dr. Hoshima” Slaan said, in lieu of greeting. “Seleen was kind enough to hand me the data when she came in earlier. I’ve already begun the ecosynthesis study, and shall be filing my first report sooner than anticipated.”

She took a moment to rub her tired eyes, then shook her head. Six hours planetside and she already sounded like a frelling android.

“Call me Emiko, please.”

Slaan looked up, managed to keep her smile respectable and her eyes from widening as she shook Emiko’s offered hand.

“Messina. Delighted.”

And she was. Quite. Emiko stood before her without a field jacket to hide the swell of her bosom, the upper part of her uniform unfastened into an improvised neckline that left Messina momentarily stunned. Azure seemed to flow over her like airbrushed skinpaint, hugging the curved smoothness of her abs, stretching tightly against round hips and long legs. Her straight hair fell down the front of her left shoulder like a winding snake, espousing the rising curve of her breast, beguiling in its pure, silken smoothness.

The almond-shaped eyes watched her intently. “You’re welcome, Messina,” she said, pronouncing the with proper emphasis on the second syllable. “Dr. Trellian gave me the run-down on your situation. I thought it was the least I could do to help, since you’ll be stuck helping us for a while.”

Must be the outdoors, Messina thought, shocked by the notion that she’d missed such an arresting sight during the confined journey to the Tau Lyran system.

The nightmare of setbacks and delays suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

Emiko glanced about, went for a crate leaning against the nearby bulkhead. “I thought I’d fetch a few extra sample containers while I’m here. Most of the others have turned in already, and Essandre will probably chase the rest of us to bed once she’s back from her final perimeter check. I won’t bother you for long.”

“Don’t be silly, it’s no bother at all,” Messina fibbed, trying to force her eyes back to the pad. The image of Emiko’s swaying backside lingered pleasantly in her mind, dissipating her concentration. It was a short leap to daydreaming about its rounded firmness, pressing back against the feel of her hand...

She sighed to herself regretfully. There was too much work to do here—to say nothing of other tasks that would keep her and the rest of Seleen’s team occupied for months. If this equipment wasn’t ready for the morning sweep...

Frell. There’s always the return trip. Six months down the line.

“There,” Emiko said, pulling sample boxes out of a crate and piling a few on the deck. “Maybe this delay is a good thing. I’ve been so busy helping Kara with her work I lost track of everything else. She’s discovered something truly magnificent.”

“Indeed?”

Emiko turned, arms folded across her chest, looking utterly smitten. Messina, caught in the headlights, felt her skip a beat.

“Have you visited the Enslaver ruins?”

Messina nodded. Her homeworld, Gethsemane, boasted several such sites, and she’d taken an interest in them in the years prior to her enlistment on first-survey missions. The crumbled remains left behind by the ancient race stood on the barren, sun-parched surface, in remote areas far from the domes and underground cities where the human population found shelter from the lethal levels of UV radiation unleashed by the F2 star that burned fiercely in their sky.

“It’s unlike anything found on any of the rim worlds,” Emiko breathed. “Kara spent her whole life working on this, and I’m happy for her.

“For all of us.”

Emiko smiled, leaving the containers on deck as she approached, taking long, patient strides. The hint of a kittenish smile formed on her lips.

“Your stay here is fortunate. It will allow us to show you some of the things Kara has uncovered. I’m sure you and the rest of Seleen’s team will appreciate it.”

Messina thought of a thousand things to say, but Emiko’s simmering gaze held her in place. Some part of her mind whispered Seleen would want to hear more, but she didn’t finish the thought. She didn’t really want to. She only wanted to stand here, alone with lovely Emiko. Waiting. Waiting to be shown. Something.

What? Had she said something aloud?

She frowned a little, repeating the words she’d uttered without thinking. “What do you want to show me?”

She felt her pulse race. Her voice sounded very strange to her ears. She had a hard time concentrating. And she felt a bit dizzy. And hot.

Emiko’s shameless staring really wasn’t helping.

Her insides fluttered, and she did her best not to squeeze her legs together. She really, really needed to get back to work, but Emiko’s eyes flicked back up, and bored into Mesinna’s with sudden intensity.

Her face drew closer, her soft lips slightly parted, wet and shiny...

“First, you need to look into my eyes, Messina.”

The words were like a caress, and they sent a warm shiver up the curve of Messina’s back. She sucked in a quick breath, reeling at this strange influx of sensation. It mingled with Emiko’s, laced with a heady smell... very sweet...

The sudden spin of her surroundings was a mild surprise, but she didn’t feel like she was going to faint. She dropped the data pad she’d held between her weak fingers, but made no move to pick it up. Emiko’s eyes sparkled now, and Messina focused on them despite herself. The light from above was mirrored inside her irises. The effect became quite riveting as Emiko’s eyes widened, staring deeply into her own, drawing her in.

The cargo bay spun some more. Messina paid no attention.

“Do you know what is happening to you, Messina?”

“I think... I...” She fumbled for an answer, but couldn’t come up with one.

“You are being enslaved.”

Messina frowned, struggling to understand. Was she being hypnotized? She searched Emiko’s eyes for answers, and exhaled softly when a soothing ripple extinguished her fears.

“I am being enslaved,” she repeated.

“Very good. You learn quickly.”

“I... Yes.”

“You want to be enslaved.”

“I... want... I...”

“You want to be enslaved.”

“I want to be enslaved.”

“You will become slaveflesh.”

“I will become slaveflesh.”

Messina rolled her tongue around the word. Loving the strangeness of it. The way her voice sounded so dreamy when she repeated it. slaveflesh. slaveflesh.

It gave her direction. Resolve.

Purpose.

She heard herself gasp, felt her legs stiffen as that word sank through her mind, made her head spin faster, made her thoughts melt. She only wanted to keep looking in Emiko’s eyes. To listen. To learn.

“You are being enslaved, Messina. You must obey.”

“I... yes. I must obey.”

She could feel them now (Purpose) thoughts in her head (Purpose) not her own (Purpose) filling her mind (Purpose) making her listen (Purpose) making her stare (Purpose) making her wet. She exhaled slowly, while the mesmerizing shimmer matched the steady, lethargic drum of her heartbeat.

“It is time, Messina. Time to see what we have brought here, especially for you.”

Emiko drifted closer still, their mouths almost touching.

Messina remained frozen, staring obediently. She felt the heat of the body next to her... felt a breath caressing her lips. Arousal teased its way into her secret places as she realized she was helpless... unable to resist... luxuriating in the lust that followed acceptance.

She was panting... her lungs... her head filling with that strange, honey-sweet scent. It made her hot... almost feverish.

“Yes,” Emiko whispered, “Breathe. Deeper. Deeper.”

She did. Over and over. Breathing fast, until thoughts slipped away and the sweet fragrance made her pussy weep with need. The awareness of her helplessness only deepened her arousal. The rational world she lived in was dissolving as she sank deeper in the trance of obedience.

She floated inside a mirror reality... trembling... feeling only love and devotion for the woman enslaving her.

Emiko raised a graceful hand and gestured to her left. “The crate is right over here, Messina. It has been prepared just for you. Its contents is waiting for you.”

Messina didn’t follow the pointing finger at first, too mesmerized to relinquish the power that held her captive in Emiko’s eyes. When she finally did turn, she nearly sank to the deck, her pussy gushing in pleasure at the knowledge that she remained fully controlled. Fully obedient.

I want to be enslaved, she remembered.

The rectangular, metallic container Emiko had brought on board was within easy reach. Messina stared at it. Wondered what forbidden secrets she would find inside. She moved towards it, dreamwalking in a fog of submissive pleasure. She bit her lip when she noticed it was scan-shielded and vacuum sealed.

Emiko was by her side again, breathing in her ear. Her finger traced the edge of the container, about one meter across. She smiled, like a coy schoolgirl with a secret she was dying to share, and tapped a five-digit sequence on the keypad.

The crate hissed as the main latch released.

“Open it, Messina. Reach for what is inside.”

The dull throb of Messina’s pussy accompanied her moan of approval. She flipped the heavy lid open, looked down inside the container, and gently grasped the large, leathery, egg-shaped pod resting at the bottom.

The skin was dark green, its surface rippled and blotched with tiny patches of brown, like that of a gene-spliced vegetable that had grown soft and overripe. It was covered in a thin coat of slime, and bulged slightly between her fingers as she held it.

There was no sense of horror or disgust—only muted awe as she obeyed Emiko’s will and cradled the pod in her hands. The surface was partially translucent in places, and she glimpsed the shape of something inside... something alive, something that stirred in response to the pressure of her fingers.

“The symbiot is awakening. It senses the heat of a host body nearby.

“It will enslave you.

“You will become slaveflesh.”

Wetness soaked Messina’s crotch. An alien intelligence slumbered within this pod. It hungered for a human mind just like hers. She knew instantly that Emiko had become a host for such a creature.

No. Had given herself over to such a creature.

Soon it would be her turn—

Hatch. Purpose. Yes.

The pod throbbed in her hand, the top of the leathery ovoid bulging, then tearing itself up. Vast trickles of slime bubbled from the tip, dribbling down the sides, pooling at her feet.

Messina watched, transfixed, as a tendril snaked its way out of the tiny rip, slowly stretching half a meter into the air. The appendage was thin, smooth, coated in a shine of viscous fluid; it undulated back and forth, swaying with such grace Messina instantly fell under its hypnotic sway.

It seemed to sense her presence almost immediately, and reached out for her. The soft, rubbery tip pressed blindly against her chin, smearing it with slime before searching for her mouth. Messina shivered but did not pull back, parting her lips only slightly and shutting her eyes, as if surrendering to a kiss.

The limb twitched more insistently, darting tentatively in her mouth before withdrawing. Messina tasted thick sweetness on her tongue, and marveled as the tendril arched into the air, trailing a thick streamer of slime that stuck to her lower lip.

“The symbiot will bond with you now,” Emiko whispered, “You will join us.”

Messina whimpered as she settled the ovoid gently on deck. A second, shorter tendril slithered out of the pod’s tip, searching the air frantically.

Understanding dawned on her, and she clenched her thighs together, giving in to a slow, delicious orgasm. She fell to her knees, her mind and body now consumed by an innate, irresistible impulse. With frantic haste, she unbuckled her instrument belt and sent it sliding across the deck, before struggling to pull down the lower part of her uniform.

Emiko stood over her, watching.

Remembering a dream she’d once had.