Under a Starless Sky

Kali returned, her purse’s specimen jars full- people and monsters. She rolled tables out and placed habitats on them. She dropped the specimens into their designated habitats. They were compliant creatures, and tentatively explored their new homes, happy to be in the care of the goddess and out of their virtual worlds. They were promised a life of ease, food and pleasure, in exchange for their cooperation. Kali spoke very nicely to them, in a voice that was higher pitched, as if she were speaking to a child or a dog.

Shen had heard the name ‘Hibagon’ before, perhaps in an animae; they were the Japanese equivalent of Yeti. These guys weren’t that. They were that furry, almost like Comicon folks dressed as furries, but super sexy. The female arms and legs were human and naked, but everything else was fury. The males were solid fur to the palms of their hand and feet. They were taller than humans. Their faces were not human but human enough- not quite dog faces- but damn attractive faces that just make anyone want to love on them. It was weird- animae philosophy in general seemed weird to Shen- the animae characters were weird; one would think Japanese created characters would have Japanese traits, but these Hibagon had indistinct features that would likely result in a universal appeal. There was an economic sense in that- broad appeal made it easier to pimp characters out. The males were not Wookies, but you would want one as your friend. The females were super appealing to him.

Selkie arrived in their habitat as people with human legs. They were a little below the average human height, fairly stalky, robust not fat, and they went immediately to the pool. They dove in as human, and emerged with flippers, their feet becoming one. From the mid thigh down they were seals. They would come out of the water and have feet, climb the slides, and not even mid slide they were seals again. They could come from the bottom of the pool and exit the water with incredible height, jumping through a ring as easy as a trained dolphin.

The Tennin held an angelic level of beauty- a distinctly Japanese flavor of appearance, the epitome of the ideal. The specimen were all female, seven of them. Their kimono’s were vibrant colors of the rainbow, and the loose ends would trail them, or proceed them, or move about them as if the kimono’s were living things with minds of their own. They didn’t walk- they flew. No, their clothing flew and they were carried! Sometimes their feet lighted on the ground, ever so lightly with a toe, and pushing off- graceful, space ballerinas, they spun and moved about delighted by their space. They hovered. They perched on cotton beds simulating clouds. They caressed flowers and hugged the trees, and sipped at their fountain. Their ability to fly was definitely an aspect of the kimono. This was made evident when two emerged from their kimono. The clothing undid it itself and remained in the air, while they swam in the fountain, playfully. The others joined, naked nymphs playing. The first one returned to her kimono, rose to a tree branch, where ribbons of her clothing took hold of the branch, and her kimono became a hammock that supported her from head toe. She curled up and her Kimono covered her, hugged her.

The fauns were- fauns, if fauns were the product of insanely pornographic animae artist that were bred by Deviant-Art-Gods. They were grotesquely beautiful, even as their knees bent the wrong way. Human faces, with strange, dopey long ears. Some of the ears were pointedly long, as if cut by a human hand, the way one might cut the ears of a Doberman. They all either had antler buds or full blown antlers. Male antlers tended to splay out, where the female tended to fall back, and curve close. The fur lines tended to end around the navel, and at the high end of the cheek bone. They had various shades of fur, from brown to black. The females, whether brown or black or in between, all had a white fur on their butts, trailing into the inner thigh, making a heart shape target if they bent in front of you; they had white tails. The males had thick necks, likely to accommodate the weight of their racks. One would imagine the women would need sturdier backs to accommodate their ‘racks,’ but they were dainty, delicate creatures that grazed on leaves and flower petals. They would offer flowers and wear them in their otherwise human hair. The males distanced themselves from each other and owned their relative space- the females roamed.

After situating her new people, she opened the portal and returned to Shen’s cage.

“I want another sample,” Kali said.

“No,” Shen said.

“I would rather not do this the hard way every time,” Kali said. “I risk damaging you.”

“Fuck you,” Shen said.

The fight was on. Shen lost and was strapped to the table. Kali pulled out two syringes. She sighed.

“Let me show you the easy way,” Kali said.

Kali placed a halo on his head. Her tech-eye sparked. She sorted memories. “Ahh, this one looks nice.” Loxy appeared. “I can have her collect the sample,” Kali said. A mechanical arm lowered. Its mechanism was similar to a cow milking machine, with a ‘fleshlight’ appendage; it wasn’t just a sheave, the arm and the material could ‘work’ it. “She can stimulate you and I will collect the sample here.”

“No,” Shen said. Seeing Loxy was arousing, partly because she seemed ‘solid’ real standing there- a silky, see-through negligee that could fall off too easily and the shoulder strap required pulling back up, but also because she was extracted from a particular memory that had led to intimacy. The aura of her from that memory carried momentum.

“I will get my way in this,” Kali said, whispering into his ear. He was immersed in a memory, seeing and hearing everything from the memory, while simultaneously hearing Kali’s voice- not part of this memory, jarring and incongruent. “Let’s do this the easy way. I will give you a gift. Just name it. I can be quite accommodating if you allow me.”

“Freedom,” Shen said.

to be a giant. I can traverse both worlds, because one

and my friends

I am not letting you go. You will spend the remainder of your life here with me,” Kali said.

“No,” Shen said.

of intimacy with Loxy. There was a tangible, cognitive disconnect; he knew he wasn’t there, and yet, he was. It was fast forwarded to Loxy on top of him; it became a cut of a scene where it was repeated. He knew he was stuck in a memory loop- he had all the sensations of the original memory, and all the present sensations of being milked. He was assaulted with a repeating climax that was rushing him to where Kali wanted him to be. The sensation was overwhelming and there was no way to avoid the inevitable conclusion- resisting just prolonged the manipulation. There was a sudden pain in his thigh, and he knew his bone had been penetrated by syringe. The memory overlay went away and

Kali returned to Shen’s bedside. There was some seepage which Kali collected on a finger and then sucked on it, watching him for his

I will get what I want.” She held his head with four hands, kissed him, sucked his breath out, and then retreated. She snapped her fingers and restraints went away. “You can talk with your friends if you like.” She returned to the big room

and put his hand against the glass. Jerica and the others were behind him. Shen put his hand on the glass, thinking Star Trek- Spock. He kept

“Just cooperate with her,” Arne

“No,” Shen said.

“This is madness, friend,” Arne

“Surrender is death,” Shen

not surrendering is hell,” Arne said. “Fuck her if you have to,

“No,” Shen said.

kill this giant,

“No,” Shen said.

repeated. “I am

to escape, but I will not escape without you and the others.

she has raped you?”

can’t be raped,” Orton said.

“I might kill

you didn’t like that shit. I would trade places with you in a

can cease talking now,” Arne told

why is this runt getting