The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Shit!” cursed Nora. Sophie started for the door, but Kate hooked her arms under Sophie’s shoulders and brought her up short. “Are you crazy? There’s more than enough aliens out there to overwhelm both of you, despite your firepower. I know she’s your friend, but think!”

Tears coursed down Sophie’s face. “She’s more than just a friend.” She rubbed at her eyes, distraught.

Nora was more grim now than before, watching Alys waddle towards the enemy. “She’s gone inside that bar, where they’re putting down some kind of floor texture. Kind of like blown insulation.”

She watched as Alys vanished inside the building. “I can’t see what they’re doing inside. We’d have to get closer.” She paused, considering the tactical implications. “We could try an assault. I don’t think it would work.”

Kate helped move Sophie to a sofa where she broke down, tears streaming. Nora concentrated extra hard on her binoculars, unnerved by the way Sophie had come unstrung. Sophie had always been the most analytical of the group, and in the time they had spent together, Nora had depended on her unbiased advice. Sophie’s analysis usually helped balance the force of nature she knew she could be. Now she had to come up with a new plan of action on her own.

There was vague motion inside the bar, but the door was only partially open, so it was impossible to see inside. She tried not to speculate on Alys’ fate—the pit in her stomach was deep enough already.

She watched as a few of the infested women starting taking apart the pile of chairs and tables they had removed from the bar. Each piece of furniture was thrown into the pool, one after the other. Like they were tossing refuse into a trash compactor. As each object impacted the blob it stuck to the surface and then sank in, absorbed. Her imagination helpfully supplied an image of corpses being subsumed by the creature. Ugh.

What they needed was a distraction. Something to alarm the aliens, get them off balance so a rescue mission might stand a chance of succeeding. Her aim was good enough to take out most of the large soldier bugs before they could reach her position, but there were enough aliens out there to overwhelm the staff lounge. And the capabilities of the alien life form in the pool were still unknown. A sudden brainwave struck her. It didn’t matter what that alien could do—if it was dead.

It was stuck in the pool. It had no way of moving itself onto land, and it was too large for any of the other aliens to assist it. That was the key. If she could get the pool system working again, and poison the water with the chemicals they had found in the warehouse, they might stand a chance of really hurting the aliens. Or at least stopping whatever grotesque plan they were executing. And maybe that would open up an opportunity for them to find Alys and rescue her.

That still didn’t solve the base issue—what was wrong with Alys? The evidence had been all around them, but they had ignored it. Her strange need to go to the bathroom so often, her bloated stomach. Either she couldn’t tell them or she had been hiding something from them. The whole thing smelled bad. If they actually were able to rescue her, Nora wasn’t going to take any equivocation. She would get an answer out of her, by force if necessary.

The plan wasn’t great, but it was a plan. Now she needed to rouse Sophie to action and convince Kate to follow it with them. She stepped away from the window and moved to the couch where Sophie was still crying.

“Hey!” she said in a low tone. When that failed to elicit a response, she tried again, louder. “Hey! Do you want to save Alys? Do you?”

Sophie shook her head, her cheeks streaked with tears, pain visible on her face. The stress of the last two days and losing her best friend had torpedoed her confidence.

Nora took Sophie by the arm. “I have a plan. Listen to me! I think we have a chance, but I need your help.”

Sophie sniffed. “A p...plan?” she stuttered, pain in her voice.

“Yes! What if we dropped a load of acid into the pump system and refilled the pools? Do you think that might kill whatever the aliens are doing with that blob—thing?”

“They can’t stand cold, but I’m not so sure what their other limitations may be.” Sophie hiccuped, her tears stopping as she began to consider the problem.

Her analytical mind took over. “We would need a large amount of acid to lower the pH of the pool system sufficiently to start killing organic life. I’m not sure we would have enough. Perhaps we could also dump in a large amount of the other pool chemicals at the same time? I’m not a chemist, I don’t really know what would be the most lethal combination.” It pained her to admit her lack of knowledge.

“It’s worth a try. If we can kill that—thing, I think the aliens would be distracted enough for us to assault their enclave here. Do you think that could work?”

Kate made a sour face. “Will killing it reduce the number of soldiers willing to tear us limb from limb? Becoming sashimi is not on my menu.”

Nora scowled. “Do you have a better idea?”

Kate raised her hands. “No—but is there is an option to avoid seeing you all become bacon bits?”

Sophie waved a hand. “That’s enough.” Her voice was hard. “I know you have nothing invested in rescuing Alys, so I’ll give you a pass. If you don’t like the plan you can stay here or leave, but we’re going back down to get those chemicals to the pump room.”

Kate shrugged. “I think it’s a bad idea, but some aliens might get fried. Good enough for me.” She sidled up to Nora. “What are you going to do after you rescue Alys?”

“Play it by ear,” replied Nora. “Just like what we’ve been doing the last twenty-four hours. It’s been working pretty well so far. We rescued you, right?”

Kate looked like she wanted to say more, but she zipped her mouth shut. Her face puckered unhappily as if she had sucked on a lemon.

“No objections? Excellent, let’s go.”

Nora helped Sophie to her feet, and they grabbed their packs and weapons. Kate followed behind them as they descended the stairs back down into the tunnel.

There was a sense of urgency that hadn’t existed before. Alys was very much on their minds as they walked fast, taking the branch heading to the convenience store. Nora set a grueling pace. There was no need to slow down to accommodate others.

Kate started to lag behind by a small distance, but said nothing. She just stared at Nora and Sophie, her usual clown-like demeanor suppressed.

Nora and Sophie failed to notice her personality change, focused as they were on their new goal. Soon they had passed the last fork in the tunnel, following the branch that led to the store. They marked the pump room as they passed it. It wouldn’t be long before they arrived. Urgency lent speed to their steps.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” said Nora. “Who knows what those aliens are doing to Alys. Sophie, can you handle getting the forklift started? I’ll go upstairs and get the pallet of chemicals.”

Sophie nodded her head. “It should be charged by now. I’ll try to get it situated in front of the elevator doors.”

“Cool. Can I borrow that keycard?”

Sophie handed the employee card to Nora. Nora broke into a jog, then a sprint. She knew it would take more time for her to maneuver the pallet into the elevator than it would to get the forklift started.

She arrived at the door to the convenience store out of breath. As she huffed and puffed her way up the stairwell, her head became clear. Nothing made her feel more alive than executing a clear-cut plan.

It was a matter of moments to spring through the door at the top and rush into the storage room. Everything appeared as she had left it, the blue pallet jack still in the corner. She grabbed the jack and rolled it under the pallet of chemicals, giving the jack a few pumps to elevate it off the floor.

She jerked the jack to break the friction that was keeping it immobile. A loud clang hit the roll-up doors of the warehouse, startling and terrifying her. It had to be an alien. Shit.

Another jerk and and the cart was rolling, wheels moving smoothly on the concrete surface. The levitator—it required a keycard and would take a few moments to come up to her level. Not good.

She abandoned her cargo and lunged over to the levitator which was almost ten feet away, pressing her card card to the reader and praying that it would read properly.

It beeped and turned green. She pressed the button and ran back to the jack. The ultimate irony would have her reaching the levitator right as the doors closed. She was determined to avoid that fate.

There was a loud metallic crunch, a painful squeal. She grabbed ahold of the jack and caught a glimpse of a terrifying sight in the next room—a big bug had managed to cut a hole in the door large enough for it to squeeze through. It looked stuck for a moment, but faster than she could believe, the bulk of its body had telescoped itself into the building. It was unfair that something that bulky had the agility of a cat.

Unfair or not, it was going to get her if she didn’t hurry. She yanked and tugged the cart to the levitator, desperation lending her strength. The door dinged at the same time the bug pulled the last of its legs into the warehouse. She could hear its hissing closing on her, like a leaky steam pipe.

She yanked backward, the pallet rolling awkwardly over the uneven separator between the floor and the levitator. The pallet rolled to the back of the car and hit the rear wall. She made a quick jump to avoid being crushed. The bug was getting closer! She could hear the disquieting noise it made as its legs scraped the concrete.

She jammed the TNNL button several times, then swapped over to the DOOR CLOSE button. Neither of them made the door close.

“Come on, come on, come on!” she murmured to herself frantically. She waved one hand through the open doors, hoping to trigger the door sensors. “Close, damn you!”

An interminable amount of time passed as sweat flowed down her face. The doors started to slide shut and she rejoiced. There was a brief moment when a monstrous, black-as-night creature was visible in front of the door, then they were closed.

She pumped her fist and cried out in joy. “Yes!” she crowed. “Take that you bumbling piece of nightmare garbage!”

A thick, black leg speared itself through the flimsy levitator doors, accompanied by a squeal of twisting metal. Nora’s face went white and she cowered in the rear corner of the levitator car with her rifle in front of her. The leg worked its way downwards, the metal tearing jaggedly as the alien rent through the door.

At that moment, the levitator dropped, its motor whining. There was a loud thunk, an alien shriek, and the leg withdrew at a strange angle. Green liquid gushed through the blackened hole. The levitator dinged and the doors squeaked open a quarter of the way, then froze.

The puncture the alien had made on the inner door had distorted it enough to make it unable to open automatically. Nora was forced to muscle it open further by hand. It crunched open a few feet further, then ground to a halt. The door was stuck in its track, unable to move in or out. The levitator started making a loud buzzing noise, annoyed at her for keeping the door open.

The pallet was just barely small enough to fit through the stuck doors, giving Nora a sense of relief. Unloading the pallet by hand would have taken too long.

“Sophie?” she yelled over the levitator buzzer. “Where is that forklift?”

A soft whirr was audible over the racket. Sophie pulled up in the forklift, veering from side to side. The forks were scraping along the ground. Kate’s face was pale. “I don’t know how to drive it!” Sophie yelled, embarrassed.

Nora didn’t panic, despite the urgency. The levitator alarm still assaulted her ears. There was no time to worry about their collective inexperience. She turned the pallet to face the forks, dropped the manual jack, then backed it out to the side.

“Raise the forks!” She shouted. “Drive forward and pick up the pallet!”

Sophie started testing out different controls on the vehicle. The forks tilted up and back down again. She tried the next lever and they raised a few inches. She gave Nora a thumbs up and drove forward until the forks slid into the pallet.

The forks raised a few more inches. Sophie didn’t think it looked too secure, and used the fork tilt lever to tilt the forks backwards. The cargo slid downwards until gravity held it against the load backrest.

Nora ran up to the forklift, and jumped onto the frame, linking her leg through the roll cage. “Make your best speed!” she yelled. “I had an alien chasing me upstairs!”

Sophie blanched and put her foot down on the accelerator. The forklift wobbled and jumped like a stung donkey, but only increased its speed to a fast walking pace. “Does it have a second gear?” demanded Nora.

“No!” replied Sophie. “I have my foot all the way down! We’d have to dump the cargo to go faster!”

Nora held onto the roll bar with white knuckles. The forklift swayed close to the wall, the end of the pallet only a few inches away from scraping the surface. “I could get out and push?” offered Kate.

Sophie couldn’t contain herself. “Shut up!” she demanded. “I can’t concentrate!”

The buzz from the levitator quickly subsided behind them as they rounded the curve of the tunnel. A sharp rapping noise echoed down the corridor after them. “What was that?” asked Sophie, maneuvering the forklift more smoothly.

“Probably an alien coming to eat our skulls,” remarked Kate. “I hear that human pinkie bones are a delicacy.”

Nora was unamused. “Is that so? I only have to run faster than you.” She turned to Sophie. “I hate to say it, but she’s probably right. Any ideas?”

“No,” said Sophie. “If they catch us we’re dead meat.”

“Better pedal faster, then.”

The forklift whined as they picked up speed. They still weren’t going faster than running human could manage. For a few moments, they were silent, the tension building. Tight-lipped, Nora watched the color-coded walls and tried to calculate how long it would take them to reach the pump room. Walking it wasn’t the same as riding there—it was a completely different frame of reference. She had no idea how much farther it was.

The tunnel hadn’t deviated for the last several hundred meters, the forklift whirring along at its maximum speed. Kate glanced behind them. “Don’t look now, but I think we have a tail. You could take a side passage and try to shake him.”

Nora shook her head. “Not enough time, I’ll have to kill it. Get ready to cover your ears!”

She balanced her rifle precariously on the rear of the moving forklift, searching for a shot. The monster was rumbling down the tunnel, faster than the anemic forklift could manage.

“Watch out!” roared Kate, there’s a bend ahead!”

Sophie oversteered and momentarily lost control. Nora fired a shot wide, her aim spoiled. The bullet ricocheted off the wall. The alien was charging them at full speed as if it were a bull seeking a red cape. Its legs scrambled at full gallop over the concrete surface.

Her ears were ringing, but Nora was calm. It was at times like this that she excelled. It brought her back to target shooting on the farm, plinking away at milk cartons, marbles, any small objects at hand. Of course, she hadn’t been practicing from the back of a moving vehicle, but it was the ability to drop into the right state of mind that mattered more. She pulled back the bolt and loaded another round.

One heartbeat, two. A sharp exhale. Bloom from the gun barrel. A sharp crack of sound, ears buzzing. A part of the alien creature exploding into a mist. The legs tumbling, its carcass spilling onto the tunnel floor.

She couldn’t hear anything. Couldn’t say anything that the others would hear. She waved them on instead. Sophie kept driving, her eyes fixed forward. Kate tried to say something, waggled her eyebrows, paused, gave up.

Sophie slowed the forklift. The green, lit pump room door was a welcome sight after the terrifying chase. By now, their ears were starting to clear. “Let’s get as many chemicals as we can inside the room before anything else shows up.” Nora had to speak in a loud voice for the others to understand her, but they nodded.

Nora carded open the door lock, and they formed a human chain, passing bottles of chemicals through into the small interior room to be stacked against the wall. Kate was subdued. “Are you sure this is a good plan? And what is all this stuff?” She glanced at one of the bottles. “Bright yellow, 29% hydrogen chloride. Bromine. Some kind of potassium.”

“Is anybody a chemist here? Or a pool specialist?” asked Sophie. “No? We have no clue, then. Why are you so against this plan?”

“I don’t want to get eaten,” replied Kate. She stood up straight and struck a pose. “The weather forecast is a ninety percent chance of alien rain. Staying indoors and hiding from the alien menace is recommended.”

She dropped her silly impersonation. “I think it’s too late,” she said bluntly. “Even if we rescue Alys, she’s probably already an alien psychopath.”

“You don’t know that,” spat out Sophie angrily.

“I do know.” Her blue eyes were serious for once. “I saw them tear apart my co-workers, people I knew well. I saw a friend face get infested. I saw her get impregnated. There isn’t anything left of her.”

Sophie didn’t take the speech well, her face glowering. Kate was about to say more, but Nora broke in, interposing herself between Kate and Sophie. “Knock it off, can’t you see you’re upsetting her? What’s your grand plan, then, oh all-knowing one?”

Kate twisted her mouth, her joking manner ditched. “I’ll be straight with you, my plan would be to run. If we stay here, the aliens will find us eventually. It’s inevitable. We need to get out of this resort and off this rock. If the aliens don’t get us, someone outside this planet will. Can you imagine coming here and having to contain the mess that the aliens have made? What would you do? What could you do?”

Nora shook her head at Kate’s words, but couldn’t deny their accuracy.

Kate continued. “Quarantine. Or total annihilation. Those are the only two methods that could be used to contain this kind of invasion. If they use either method we’re screwed. We need to get out of here now, not later. Don’t you see? We don’t have time to be monkeying with pool chemicals. We don’t have time to be rescuing anyone. We have to save ourselves first!”

Nora checked her first instinct, which was to throw herself at Kate in a rage. She paused, but before she could gather her thoughts, Sophie spoke. “You are saying some harsh truths that we don’t want to acknowledge. However, our wounds are a little too raw to accept them. We can’t leave her behind if there is anything of Alys left to recover. She’s ours. I won’t let them have her.”

Nora raked her hands through her short hair. “I consider this discussion closed. We’re getting Alys out.”

Kate pursed her lips but said nothing. A rueful expression crossed her face. “I figured as much. Had to try, though!” She started to whistle, stacking the chemicals with false cheer.

The pallet was almost empty when they heard a clicking sound echoing in the tunnel. The sound doubled and redoubled, became a flood. There was more than one creature heading their way, and fast.

“Shit, these creatures always seem to show up whenever we need to do something complicated.” Nora shooed the others into the room and pulled the door shut until it locked.

“Sophie—you get on the computer system and try to get the pool pumps running. Kate—you can help me dump these chemicals into those hoppers over there.” She pointed at the piping at the back of the room.

Nora popped open a cover and looked inside. It seemed to be a funnel. Inside the pipe a label had been etched into the steel. She could barely make out the words ‘hypochlorite acid.’ “Hand me some of the acid, please!”

Kate gave her a bottle without comment, and Nora proceeded to pour it into the hopper. She caught a whiff of the liquid. Her throat burned and she coughed. “Damn that’s foul stuff!”

The level of liquid didn’t appear to be going down. She looked under the intake and located a valve, which she twisted open. The hopper gradually drained until it was empty.

“There’s several of these hoppers,” said Nora. “Let’s not mix the chemicals between them, I don’t know what would happen.”

Kate nodded and passed her more chemicals. Nora poured the second container, this one labeled ‘BROMINE’ in big, block letters. She poured the contents of that container into a different hopper after checking their labels. She made mental notes so she wouldn’t mix them up later.

“How’s it coming, Sophie? Looks like the chemicals are going in well enough!” She twisted caps back on empty bottles and threw them into the corner of the room.

Sophie was concentrating on the computer screen, clicking the mouse. “It looks like the system rebooted when the power came back on. Still no flow rate on the GUI. Maybe I need to set something?”

The graphical display spun in front of her. It hadn’t changed from what she had seen earlier in the day, but the ‘LOW VLT’ error had disappeared from the bottom of the screen. The other two errors indicated that the system was on standby. All she needed to do was get the pumps running again and they would be in business.

She hunted around the periphery of the screen, looking for icons and other UI elements. There was a blue question mark in the upper right corner, so she clicked it.

The screen blanked and was replaced with a block of text:

POOL SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Control systems technology. Your pools are clean with us.

Underneath was a block of text describing the capacities and flows of the system. Sophie’s eyes flicked to the bottom of the page where a heading stated “MANUAL Pump Startup Procedures.”

“Prime pump A/B/C until flow rate reaches acceptable parameters (see manual section 5.1.12). Unlock inflow valves a-c. Make sure outflow valves set to proper position.”

The procedures continued, paragraphs and paragraphs of instructions. It was too much to figure out in a few short minutes.

“More acid, please!”

Kate handed over another bottle. Nora scowled. “This isn’t acid—it’s more bromine! Don’t mix them up!”

“Sorry,” Kate replied, glancing at her remaining supply. “They all look the same.”

The door rattled as if it had been hit by a sledgehammer. Nora could see metal visibly buckling. “They’re here!” she announced, superfluously. “Get those pumps running before they get us! I think they might know what we’re planning on doing, and they want to stop us!”

There was too much text to understand. Reams of material. It would take her a week to understand it. She didn’t have a week. A sentence near the end of the help page caught her eye: “Manual procedures should only be followed if AUTO setting is off. Use of manual controls when AUTO is set could cause unintended behavior. See section 3.1(c).”

Kate dropped a chemical container onto the floor. It rolled into a corner. “Shit, hurry up,” she murmured to herself and glanced at the door before running over to collect the bottle.

Sophie closed the help screen, pressing a few fingers to her forehead. Of course! A system this complicated would need an automatic startup so that workers wouldn’t forget a crucial step in the process!

There was a tremendous squeal and the door to the room sagged inwards. Sharp, black legs from several creatures were peeling it open as if it was made of aluminum foil.

Nora emptied the last of the chemical bottles into a hopper.

“Sophie? Now would be a good time!”

She hunted around the screen, looking for settings. She blinked. It was so obvious she should have seen it sooner. In the lower left corner was a white outlined rectangle with a black background. The white text inside the box said ‘MANUAL.’

She clicked the box and it turned white, the text inverting to black. It now said ‘AUTO.’ Could it be that easy?

The numbers on the display fluttered upwards. The red lines which represented the pipe system changed first to red and black dotted lines, then to red dotted lines alternating with yellow. The background noise of the door being twisted into a pretzel was joined by the sound of water flowing through the pipes all around them. Error messages vanished from the display and the flow rate increased.

“It worked!” she shouted. The pump RPMs were climbing and the water was moving faster around the display.

Nora gave her a thumbs up and the door disintegrated. It had been damaged so badly that part of it still hung on its hinges while the rest fell into the room. The black bulk of a monster followed, spraying paralyzing goop in an arc.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion for Sophie. Kate threw up her hands in surprise. Nora grabbed for her rifle. Neither of them would be fast enough.

All emotion drained from her brain, the world reduced to an analytical matrix of accelerations and angles, threat assessments and probabilities. Her face went blank and she reached for the gun that was stashed in her shorts.

The soldier bug made it a few steps into the room before Sophie plugged it with the pistol, bullet holes stitching it near the apex of its body. She was very precise with her shots—she had seen them explode into mist before, and she didn’t want that now. The room was too enclosed: they would all breathe the vaporized mixture and pass out.

Her aim was good, and the creature died as it moved, its momentum bringing its corpse to a stop against the back wall. Kate jumped to the side, almost crushed by its bulk. She wasn’t able to escape entirely, her leg pinned to the wall. The floor was stained green, goo rushing out in leaky spurts.

Sophie shot the next one attempting to gain entry. Its sharp legs tangled with each other and it went down hard, partially blocking the doorway. This didn’t stop small crawlers from following, using the dead creature as a springboard.

Her hand an extension of the gun, she calculated their trajectories and shot each one as it entered, some of them while they were still in midair.

The attack had lasted only moments. The floor was awash with dying aliens and the viscera of the dead. The completeness of the slaughter gave Nora time to put the butt of the rifle to her shoulder and scan for additional assailants, but none came.

Sophie reloaded her pistol, cool as a cucumber despite renewed deafness. Perhaps she should wear earplugs at all times? Her mind was a dark, glassy plain. She must reduce the threat and protect the others. She walked stiffly to the door and leaned outside, avoiding the smoking carcasses on the ground.

The tunnel was clear, no more aliens hiding in wait. She gave a thumbs up to Nora and faked a smile. It was mechanical, more from the thought that a smile would be appropriate than from any real emotion.

Nora yelled in exaltation, her smile more genuine. “Nice work, Sophie!”

Kate looked ashen and didn’t offer any comment, congratulatory or otherwise. Nora came over and helped her pull her leg out from behind the creature’s corpse. They had to spend an agonizing interval trying to avoid cutting her leg on any of the sharp alien legs.

After a few moments, they managed, and Kate joined them, shivering. All three of them squeezed out into the tunnel, away from the carnage. The forklift had been tossed against the opposing side of the tunnel as if thrown by high winds. It had fallen on one side, and one of its forks was bent. The pallet and the remaining few bottles of chemicals had been scattered down the tunnel, strewn all over the floor.

At that moment, it felt like an emotional floodgate had been opened, as if the critical moment had passed and now it was okay to feel. Terror and relief seized Sophie in turns. Her body trembled.

Nora was triumphant. “Take that you stupid xenos!” Her shout echoed down the tunnel.

She turned to Sophie, satisfaction on her face. “Now we go rescue Alys.”

There was nothing. No Melty thoughts, no Alys thoughts, no thoughts at all. Just a warm, soft place that she occupied from moment to moment. Nothing happened there. She didn’t happen there. It just was. A warm comforter to wrap herself in.

Outside the warm place things were being changed, reshuffled, altered. She didn’t worry about the changes. Couldn’t worry about the changes. Here was the now. The future did not exist. The present did not exist.

Every so often, something would change. A piece of her was subtracted. Then it was re-added, improved. She was getting better, being remade. There was no concern. Her mind was turned off, there could be no concern.

The alien massaged her brain, made her feel good. The concept of time passing did not occur to her, could not occur to her. She lived in feelings, not in time. She felt good.

Her breathing stopped. It had always been stopped. Her breathing started. It had always been started. A brief squirt, a change, a new buzz. Soothing voices in her ears. The voices felt kind, but there was no understanding. She was incapable of understanding.

Another change. Her eyelids blinked. Blackness. She suckled. Vague outlines of bodies relaxing around her. It didn’t mean anything. It just was.

Her body signaled that it was full. Felt full. A flash of happiness. Oneness with a cause. Working together to achieve a goal. The emotions flooded through without finding purchase. There were no thoughts for them to connect with.

Another squirt, a squeeze in her head. Feelings fled. There was nothingness. Then there was more. Bright lights around her, shiny dots in the fabric of space. Others, like her. Part of a team. A team of oneness.

A team of Brood. What was Brood? She was Brood. The powerful thought stunned her. It was her everything, and it felt so right. She could think! She was Brood Host.

She reached out to touch a bright light and it flashed. A pulse of welcome flooded back, a warm, happy sensation. She experienced joy. Brood was happiness.

She felt bloated. Full of eggs for the Brood. A tightness in her chest. She was hungry. Hungry for more. More what? She listened. Brood would tell her.

A signal came from outside her limited thought. It was telling her what to do. Her mind was controlled, being altered to be more Brood-like. She was Brood Host. That made her happy.

She stood, her legs flexing. She wasn’t telling her body to move. Brood Master was. She was happy to follow orders for Brood Master. A pulse in her belly. New Brood life. They were growing inside her, another clutch for the hive. Her abdomen was distended. Everything was right.

She stepped forward. Her belly jiggled, breasts bouncing freely. There was no shame. Being naked was natural. Being Brood Host was natural. She walked and sucked on the tail in her mouth. It was large and pleasant to suck on. It helped keep her mellow, so she kept sucking as her body moved forward.

She didn’t know where her body was going or what it was doing, but that was fine. Brood told her what she needed to know. What she needed to do.

Her body padded across the floor of the bar and over to the side of the pool. It was fun feeling it move so smoothly. Just being in her Brood consciousness and feeling instead of doing. There was no need for her to see; the Brood Master that controlled her could see for her.

Her body walked down several steps into the pool until she was standing in front of a gigantic amorphous mass that occupied the center. Brood Master knew this, so she knew it too.

Her head felt as if it was wrapped in warm jelly that pulsed every few seconds. The Master that wore her was attached to her brain, helping her to remove bad thoughts and think Brood thoughts. To remove bad brain parts and replace them with Brood Brain. Brood thoughts were even nicer than Melty thoughts.

Her body kneeled and she bent her head forward. Her lungs inhaled and exhaled regularly, controlled by her Master. It gave her everything she needed to be converted. It was changing her to be Brood. She loved her Master.

Her head ducked forward. There was slight resistance, then a spongy feeling. Fluid flowed into her stomach. She felt less hungry. Her Master was feeding her. Joy pulsed in her belly. She sucked on her Rootstock. She had been Rooted. It felt wonderful.

She sat there for a minute or more, her belly filling. Time meant nothing to her as a Brood Host. Everything would happen at the time that was right. Her Master would ensure it.

The Root continued to bulge, injecting fluid into her stomach until it strained to capacity. Now both her tummy and her womb were full. Her body bulged out proudly, slick with sweat. She could feel her swollen breasts jutting out from her enlarged torso.

Her head tilted back and her body stood with difficulty. Her head was heavy, her Master squeezed tight. There were other bright spots behind her, waiting their turn. Her Master turned her around and marched her body back up and out of the pool.

Another Bright Spot approached her. This one shone like a star in the sky. “Beautiful!” said the Bright Spot.

Brood Host didn’t reply. Host couldn’t reply, her Root was still planted, germinating within her. When she had sprouted into a new Broodling she would thank the Bright Spot. It moved closer and started to massage her right arm. A warm substance soaked into her skin, soothing in the hot sun.

She stood and let Bright Spot work on her body. Master had not moved her, so she hadn’t moved. It was correct to stand still and let Bright Spot work on her body.

Bright Spot was thorough. She worked her way through each of Host’s fingers on one hand, progressed up to her shoulder blade, then repeated the process with her left hand. Host alternated lifting her feet to allow Bright Spot to slather on lotion. When Bright Spot was finished there, she worked her way up Host’s swelled belly and onto her distended breasts.

The pleasure was immense, but Host was not in control of her body. She could only feel. There was a flutter in her belly, a muscular swelling in her throat. There was pressure at her lips, and the tube she sucked on started to slip outwards through her lips. The entire length buried in her throat was extracting itself in one big slurp.

She made noises of distress as it pulled out, unhappy that it was leaving her. The appendage rotated in a curl as it removed itself, her throat choking as it tickled her esophagus. In a short moment, it was out, wrapping itself around her neck in big, wet coils. Her lips remained puckered, the habit too ingrained to give up easily.

Bright Spot continued lathering Host’s body without urgency as the tail pulled out. This was expected, a natural progression towards becoming Brood.

The desire to help Bright Spot touch her body overwhelmed her. She imagined reaching out a hand and she was surprised when her hand did reach out. It touched a warm, slick surface. Bright Spot was soft.

Master didn’t need to feed and breathe for its Host any more. Host could do these things for herself now until her Brood Brain woke. She would be a good Host until it did. She curved her lips and licked the remaining liquid from them, the sweetness rolling through her mouth.

The need to obey Brood in all things rose within her. She wasn’t able to keep her feelings locked inside. Her lips opened and she started to speak in a monotone. “This Host...obeys the Brood. The Brood commands the Host and she obeys. To obey is to be Brood.”

Bright Spot licked her cheek. “That’s right, our obedience is rewarded.” She stuck a finger into Host’s lubricated pussy. Host bucked and moaned, obedience intertwined with pleasure in her slave mind.

“Come,” whispered Bright Spot. “We’ll play with your body until your Brood Mind controls you.”

Host wanted that more than anything. She took Bright Spot by the hand and let her lead from the pool back towards the converted bar. Bright Spot helped Host into the bar and lay her gently down on the fertile substrate. Her body nestled comfortably in the spongy material.

Bright Spot lay down next to Host. “Welcome, Host. My name is Janice. I am Drone. You are Broodmother.”

“I am Broodmother,” repeated Host. “What is my function?”

Janice straddled Host, her thighs squeezing Host’s legs. She put her hands on Host’s breasts and leaned forward, brushing her lips against Host’s as if she were a butterfly gently landing for a moment.

“You will bear Brood eggs and take care of Brood young. You will pleasure other Brood to enhance their efficiency.”

Host was aroused, ready for action. “I will...mmm...birth my eggs and offer myself to others.” Her nipples were tented, large and full. She was Broodmother. Broodmothers must always be ready to pleasure. To grow new life. That was her function.

She thrust her breasts forward. “I am Broodmother. Use me.”

Janice Drone wasted no time, running her hands down Broodmother’s pear-shaped body. She leaned in for another kiss. This time it was longer and more intricate. Broodmother let herself be kissed, playing with the drone’s tongue.

Broodmother still could not see, but that was because there was no need for her to see. She could feel through her master where Drone was located, and she was determined to fulfill her function. She moved her hands up until she located the svelte body assaulting her, then explored until she found round, ripe breasts to fondle.

Drone bucked up and down, pleased at Broodmother’s efficacy. She returned the favor, squeezing Broodmother’s pendulous orbs. “Your milk is coming in. Good.”

Broodmother was pleased. She was becoming her purpose. She wanted more. She wanted to be a perfect Broodmother.

Drone reached a hand down and slid a finger into Broodmother’s wet vagina. Broodmother gasped as Drone twisted and slid her fingers back and forth.

There was a slight build in pressure, then a release. Broodmother could feel her thighs juicing and her nipples dribbling. It was exciting to realize that her body had been permanently changed to be constantly ready to incubate and birth more Brood. As Drone stimulated her body she fantasized about being impregnated by another beautiful, shiny soldier.

Her legs held up high by drones, her pussy slick and wet. The ovipositor, thick and wide, sliding deep into her slick canal. The eggs, slick black orbs, rolling into her inviting cavity. The drenching with gooey seed, the feeling of fullness and rightness of purpose. She regretted not being conscious during her last implantation. She couldn’t wait to give birth so the cycle could start again.

Janice Drone kept rubbing with her hand and sliding her fingers in and out. The tips of her aroused nipples rubbed against Broodmother. Broodmother could not suppress her moans of pleasure. She tapped on Broodmother’s clit and the pleasure peaked. Brood mind blossomed on wings of orgasm.

“Thank you, bright one,” said Broodmother.

“We are Brood,” replied Janice Drone. No further explanation was necessary.

There was a sound of alarm from the rest of the resident Brood that snapped Broodmother out of her vegetative state next to the pool. She had been concentrating on her eggs, which were growing steadily. In another day her new clutch would be ready to hatch, growing the Brood.

There was a short gurgling noise, then water started to gush into the sides of the pool. The water wasn’t clear. It had a caustic smell, looked yellow, and was roiling angrily. It splashed downwards from openings in the shallow end of the pool.

When the water touched the Convertor, it screamed inaudibly. All the Brood clutched their heads in agony. Its screams were horrific. A few unfortunate hosts in the pool were caught with a splash of the acidic water, but their masters were able to rush them up the stairs with only minor burns. Broodmother moved to the pool through the pain and helped them escape the burning liquid.

The Convertor was not so fortunate. Its immobile body flailed with panic as the caustic liquid started to eat away at its flesh. Some Brood ran around without direction, desperately looking for some way to help. Its appendage lashed up and down on the ground. The bloated alien seemed to deflate, melting into a nasty goop as its flesh sizzled. The water turned black as the contents of the alien leached into the water.

As the poisoned water lapped at the sides of the pool, there was a wail of grief from all around. The Convertor was dead, the pool a six foot deep toxic wasteland.

Sophie felt cold and hot at the same time, as if a blizzard had formed on top of an active volcano. The juxtaposition of emotions was frightening. She wanted to storm the aliens and rip all their heads off if it meant reuniting with Alys. That was tempered with a cold pit of fear that Alys might no longer exist. Her imagination looped round and round, playing out a scene of attacking the enclave by the pool and stealing Alys away. She knew it wasn’t rational, but it was all she had.

Nora put a hand on her shoulder, and Sophie flinched, pushing her away. She didn’t want to be touched. Not when her emotions were so close to the surface. She walked down the tunnel with her head fixed straight.

“What happened to you?” asked Nora, her concern evident. “I know you’re upset about Alys. We all are. But that doesn’t explain how you destroyed those aliens so easily. Each shot was a kill shot. I’ve never seen such good marksmanship under pressure. I don’t know anyone who could have done what you just did.”

Her first impulse was to lash out at Nora, but she stayed herself. She considered. It was not a bad question. How did she kill all of them? At the time, it had seemed so easy. Do the angle and momentum calculations and take the shot. Clear and rational. How could she miss?

Yet she had almost no experience with guns. Nora was right, it was strange. She couldn’t have learned enough in the past day to do what she had just accomplished. She had acted more like a combot than a human. A sense of uneasiness settled in.

Her brain blanked and she regrouped. She wouldn’t allow herself to fall into the trap of self-consciousness—she was good at doing these things. She had excellent manual coordination and a grasp of dimensional physics. Why wouldn’t she be good with a gun? There was nothing odd about being able to defend her friends!

“It felt like a logic puzzle,” she replied. “I got in the zone and it seemed easy.” She felt resentful having to defend her abilities. “It saved our butts, didn’t it?”

“Pew pew pew! Alien monsters terminated!” Kate danced in front of them, excited. “Beware alien evildoers!”

Sophie grinned. Usually Kate was more annoying than helpful, but in this case she couldn’t help but feel complimented.

Nora still looked uneasy at her answer, but she slapped Sophie on the back. “I don’t know where you found that ability, but we’re going to need it. We’re just about there.”

The stairwell loomed in front of them, the stencil for ‘Pool Complex C’ reflecting the dim light of the tunnel. Kate bounded up the stairs, full of energy. Nora and Sophie followed close, their movements brisk.

The staff lounge was still empty, no sign of alien presence. Nora setup at the window again, pulling out her binoculars, while Sophie and Kate watched near the door. “Lots of alien activity, buzzing like a hive that’s been knocked over. The pool looks like a nasty, toxic black stew—I can’t imagine the smell. There’s still a few soldiers and infested women hanging around. They look distracted, might be trying to figure out what to do about their dead monster.”

Nora took one more quick survey of the situation. “This looks like our opportunity. I don’t think we can improve our odds.”

Kate laughed and stepped up behind Sophie. “As the saying goes, the odds are good, but the goods are odd!”

Sophie was ready. Excitement grew in her belly. They were about to assault a fixed position with very little help. Alys was depending on them. They could not fail.

Nora cradled her rifle and thought for a moment. “Okay, here’s the plan. Like yesterday at the bungalow, I’ll shoot from the window to cover you both while you check out what they’re doing in that bar. While you’re inside, I won’t be able to cover you, so you’ll need to find Alys quickly. Once you’ve located her, get her outside and back to this lounge. We’ll escape through the tunnels before the remaining aliens can regroup.”

Sophie nodded and pulled out her pistol. “Should we wait until you’ve thinned the herd before we make a dash for the bar? I can probably take out a few on my way with my pistol, but I don’t think I can take them all.”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s get ready.”

Nora put in her ear plugs, returned to the window and unlatched the slider. It would be simple to lever it up a few inches to allow for unhindered shooting, yet hide the source of her shots. She propped her rifle on the sill. One of the near side soldier bugs filled her scope. “Is everybody ready with their hearing protection?”

Sophie made a sharp gasp, drawing Nora’s attention. Kate had made a grab for Sophie’s gun. One hand was on her wrist, the other grappling for the pistol. Sophie cried out as Kate squeezed, successfully wresting the gun from her grip. A triumphant grin spread on Kate’s lips as she backed up a few steps and pointed the weapon at Sophie and Nora.

“We don’t like that plan. Time to change it.” Her voice sounded calmer, more confident.

The door to the stairwell burst open and a soldier bug thrust its bulk into the room, the wooden floor creaking under the weight of its sharp legs. At the same time, the front door crashed inwards, torn from its hinges. The crash stirred up a small dust cloud that combined into a haze filtering the late afternoon sun. Two more soldiers squeezed themselves into the lounge from the front door until they were surrounded.

Sophie’s mind blanked, emotions flatlined. They had been ambushed! She needed to fight. Fight or flight! Rescue Alys. Fight. Flee. Rescue. It was spinning too fast! Too many priorities. Unable to calculate the right course of action. Unable to do anything. Her body locked up, rigid, face draining of expression. “ERROR. ERROR. UnhandledPriorityException: Priority changed after priority was assigned. Re-check priority queue and requeue as needed.” Her voice was a loud monotone, arms held stiffly at her sides.

Kate watched the performance with curiosity, most of her attention still on Nora. “A robot of some kind! How interesting! I’m sure we’ll spend plenty of time discovering the inorganic mess programmed into your brain.”

“Sophie!” shouted Nora, hoping to snap her out of her strange fugue. “Help me out! Distract her! Get that gun back!”

Sophie was comatose, her lips moving but no sound escaping. She showed no response to Nora’s plea.

“It looks like her brain has melted. Let’s talk about you.”

Kate took a few steps towards Nora, her hips swaying. Her aim with the pistol didn’t waver, the sights locked onto Nora’s center of mass.

“I tried to convince you to desert your friend. Our mop-up operation would have apprehended you. But you were stubborn. You had to try to rescue your friend. And in the process, you’ve ruined our only Convertor in the area.”

She cocked her head. “You may think that you’ve had some meaningful effect on this conversion process. However, it’s only a temporary setback. We will birth another Convertor and have it setup in the next day-cycle.” She licked her lips. “In fact, I think you may find yourself helping us.”

Nora wasn’t sure what that meant, but she damn sure didn’t want to find out. She turned and flung open the window, intending to escape. Being shot would be preferable to becoming alien bait.

Before she could fling herself outside, the soldier standing next to Kate hosed Nora down with dripping, green slime. The paralytic substance clung to her skin like glue, cool and sticky.

Her mind was adamant, driving her forward, but her limbs felt so heavy. She was tired, so sleepy. She slumped over the window sill. Hard to think about anything. Her eyelids drooped and she began to snore.