Caleb's Web Read online

  Caleb’s Web

  By

  Alyssa Hope

  Text copyright 2017

  Alyssa Hope

  All Rights Reserved

  Is it necessary to say that any resemblance between aliens (blue or otherwise) and any living people (real or otherwise) is purely coincidental?

  All beings engaged in sexual acts are over the legal age of consent in their own particular universes.

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 7.

  Chapter 8.

  Chapter 9.

  Chapter 1.

  Caleb really did know better than to get involved in altercations on other people’s planets, it was just that he forgot sometimes. He had made the scheduled drop, loaded the supplies he would need for the next jump, and was wandering back to his ship through the shopping district looking for anything that had potential to be trade goods at his next stop.

  Nothing he saw offered for sale was appealing, and the native population were uniformly large, dirty and ugly. Even the people trying to sell him things glared and snarled at him. It was a good place to get away from quickly and to never come back again. He wouldn’t have been here in the first place if it hadn’t been for a lucrative shipping contract, and he was beginning to suspect that it had paid as well as it did because no-one who had been here once would ever come back.

  He was doing just fine, heading back towards his ship, when he heard the sounds of swearing, and then the sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh that meant that someone had just been hit, hard. There was no return blow, just a soft whimper, and that got his attention in the way that a full scale fight never would have. He knew better, but he turned into the alley and saw a big hairy creature bent over a much smaller creature, lifting it up in one paw and preparing to hit it again. Something about the small helpless creature tugged at whatever was left of his heart.

  “Hey, buddy ...”

  The large creature raised its head and stared at him through blood-shot eyes. He might not be a genius but he was at least intelligent enough to know that he wasn’t going to win a fight with something twice his size on its home turf. He could, of course, just shoot it, but some planets had laws against that.

  There were other alternatives, and on this planet most of them involved money. On most planets they did, come to think of it. The little creature was naked, which meant it was likely a slave of some sort.

  “You don’t like that thing, how about you sell it to me instead of killing it?”

  Did the big ugly even own the little one, or was it just beating on it because it could? Usually there were rules about killing someone else’s slaves. It didn’t matter. He just needed the big ugly to go away so he could get the little one to his ship and get the hell off of this miserable planet. It didn’t take him long to come to that conclusion, and he didn’t think the little one would argue. It was an odd color and hairless, obviously not from this planet to start with. He’d ask it where it wanted to go later, if it lived.

  The big creature dropped the small one and advanced on him, offering a suggestion that was anatomically impossible for most species. Okay, this had probably been a bad idea, but he’d known that going in. He backed up, trying to draw big ugly away from the little one. Maybe the little guy could just get up and run? It didn’t, and he felt a strong sense of panic from it, a feeling that increased in intensity the further away from it that he got. It didn’t want him to leave it there, and he really didn’t want to anyway.

  Back to Plan A.

  “Come on, Ugly, name your price. What’s it worth to you to just fuck off?”

  That wasn’t a good bargaining strategy, but he didn’t think he had a lot of time. He really didn’t want to have to shoot the big thing, but his plans didn’t include dying here in this alley either.

  Then it stopped and looked behind him. It curled its lip, and suggested a price that was far too high. He was debating arguing, just for the sake of appearances, when some coins came flying over his shoulder and landed at the ugly thing’s feet. It picked them up, sneered at him and whoever was behind him, and kicked the small thing hard in the ribs as it departed. The little one rolled itself up into a ball and cried softly, hopelessly.

  A smarter man would have left on the heels of the big bully, but no one had ever accused him of being smart, and he felt a strange connection to the small one lying in the dust. He couldn’t tell what it was or where it was from, but he did know it was curled up in pain and it didn’t want him to go away. He still had a few choices, maybe, but one of them wasn’t leaving it there to die in the dirt.

  Caleb bent down over the little one, partly to check out it wounds and partly to shield it from whoever had thrown the money. Who or what had done that, and what were its intentions? When he did get a good look at the alien who had thrown the coins he understood why the first big ugly creature had left in such a hurry.

  This one was even scarier, even if it was quite a bit cleaner and well armed. What he could see of its skin was several interesting shades of an angry blue color. Had this even bigger creature bought the small creature, or the right to beat the crap out of both of them? He debated picking up the little one and making a run for his ship, but the new big creature was already too close.

  The little one lying in the dirt whimpered again and clutched at the bottom of his shirt, and again he felt a strange connection to it. He stroked a hand down the side of its face, trying to offer it some reassurance that he wouldn’t leave. It seemed to be bleeding in its own shade of blue from several wounds, and he didn’t think it would survive another beating.

  He looked up at the large blue thing doubtfully. It wasn’t a local either, which could be good or bad. Why would it have gotten involved? For that matter, why had he? Maybe it was another philanthropist? Or more likely a slave trader, although a slaver wouldn’t have over-paid in that way. It was, he decided, a mystery he would worry about some other time.

  “Look, I’ll reimburse you what you just paid, okay? And a bit extra for your trouble? Then you can just go away and leave us alone?” He had the payment from dropping the shipment still with him, and for reasons that he didn’t quite understand was willing to exchange all of it for this little one’s safety.

  He reached for his purse, and found himself looking down the barrel of some kind of weapon. Wonderful.

  “Look, Blue, this little guy is probably going to die if he doesn’t get some help soon. Do you get that? He won’t be worth anything to anyone dead. And the bully boy is most likely coming back with friends to get the rest of our money. If I can get this little guy to my ship I can help him. I’m thinking this planet isn’t the best place for him.” Or for me, but he didn’t add that.

  Blue snorted as though he had understood that last bit. After a long moment, Blue asked, “Short jump ship?”

  “Yeah, right through there.” He nodded toward the edge of the market. The smaller short jump ships were sitting on pads close to the market, where they could load and unload easily. His was only a couple of minutes away. Less if something large was chasing him.

  Caleb could, of course, always abandon the small creature and run for it, but something about it wouldn’t let him. It seemed to feel the same attachment, as it cried softly and held on more tightly. He stroked its head again, and fought an impulse to pull it onto his lap. Now was not the time for cuddling.

  Big Blue looked almost offended. Had he expected some kind of loyalty from the slave he had bought less than two minutes ago?

  “Not slave. Never slave again. I take him home”, Blue explained, as though that wou
ld make sense.

  There was yelling and the sounds of running feet from the direction that the large bully had gone in, and that seemed to make up Blue’s mind. He scooped up the small creature, at least handling it gently, and nodded at Caleb.

  “Go. My ship is in orbit, yours is here.”

  Caleb hesitated, but the footsteps were getting too close, so he ran for his ship, his new friends on his heels. They wove in and out of market stalls, and Caleb was once again thankful that he was paranoid and had docked close to the edge of the market.

  He hit the remote as soon as they were close enough, and the pilot’s door slid open. That door was smaller and on the far side of the ship from the larger loading bay that faced the market. He had always preferred that anyone trying to shoot at him when he was leaving town not have a clear line of sight, although this time he was cursing the extra steps that they had to take.

  He could have sworn that he heard, in his head, a rude comment about the quality of his ship.

  “Hey, you don’t like it, find another ride”, he responded.

  The voice in his head this time was smaller and weaker, and clearly that of the little creature, not of Blue.

  ‘Please, no, don’t argue, not now.’

  Fine, they could argue later.

  They rounded the nose of his ship and Blue’s head came up, then he grabbed Caleb’s arm with his free hand and dove into the shelter of the barricade between Caleb’s ship and the next one over, protecting the little one’s body with his own as they went down. Caleb was still trying to catch his breath enough to ask him what the fuck that was about when his ship exploded.

  The three of them lay there staring at the burning ruins of their way off of this planet.

  The original large ugly creature and several of his friends approached Caleb’s ship, and circled it with approval, weapons still in their paws, then offered the ultimate insult by opening their pants and urinating on the smoking remains. They then wandered off without even bothering to look around.

  ‘Be still’, a voice in Caleb’s head said, but he wasn’t entirely stupid, as much as he would have liked to have shot the assholes for pissing on the remains of what had been a perfectly good ship.

  It spoke wonders for the state of the civilization on the planet, or at least this part of it, that no-one bothered to investigate the explosion or the fire. He suspected that there would be scavengers once the fire cooled off, though, so he didn’t argue when Blue picked up the little one and started moving.

  They eased away from the remains of his ship and across the landings into the shelter of a old wrecked and gutted ship with a lot of vegetation growing up around it. It looked sufficiently abandoned, and wouldn’t be a bad hiding place, at least for now.

  Big Blue was the one who still had a ship, so Caleb looked at him for suggestions.

  Chapter 2.

  It was at that point that Caleb started wondering if perhaps there had been something in the food or the water here that caused hallucinations. Maybe the whole day so far had been an hallucination? He watched in disbelief as Blue cradled the small wounded creature on his knees, pulled his tunic open, and offered the little one a breast to nurse on. The little one had just enough strength left to latch on to a nipple, and it sagged against Blue in exhaustion as it did so.

  Caleb wasn’t used to being around nursing females, hadn’t even realized that Blue was a female, and wasn’t sure where to look. Some species felt that nursing was a private matter, others thought that it should be celebrated. Some didn’t care either way and Blue seemed to fall into that category, but Caleb didn’t have enough information to make a decision, and Blue also seemed to have a short temper.

  That dilemma was solved when he caught little bits of some telepathic conversation between the two creatures, and then the bigger one looked up and glared at him.

  “Now you.” The mental picture that came with that left no doubt as to Blue’s intent.

  “Um, whoa, just a minute, I don’t know about on your planet, but on mine ...”

  He was still looking for a polite way to explain that he wasn’t set up for nursing when he found himself looking down the barrel of that weapon again. Okay then.

  He shuffled over next to Blue and let the big creature transfer the little one onto his lap, trying to be careful of its wounds, although it seemed to be healing quickly, to his relief. He wasn’t sure he would have described his feelings towards the little thing as maternal, but he did feel an odd bond with it, and taking care of it was becoming important to him, weapon or not.

  He pulled his shirt open, hesitantly, wondering if he was going to get shot if he didn’t produce. Or was this just some kind of alien healing ritual? He’d seen stranger things, and his little friend was kind of cute. It smiled up at him as he thought that, and he guided its mouth to his nipple, wondering what was going to happen. He’d had lovers play with his nipples, of course, and how much different could this be?

  It turned out to be a whole world different. The little one latched on and suckled, pulling hard, and he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. It actually seemed to be drawing from his breast, which felt damn good, but it also gave him an instant erection. The little one rubbed its buttocks down on his hard length as though it knew what it was doing to him, and he couldn’t help but push back up. Then he remembered Blue and the probability that he would get killed for taking this any further than just ritual nursing.

  He struggled with a wild mix of feelings and emotions, not understanding any of it, and managed a guilty look at Blue. That’s when he realized that he must indeed be hallucinating. Blue was also sporting an erection, and seemed to be quite happy to be sitting there watching the little one nurse on Caleb while stroking himself off. Stroking a very large dark blue erection, with liquid beads of blue at the tip, and Caleb suddenly found himself wanting to stroke that beautiful hard length too, run a finger over that leaking tip, maybe even lick the drops of pre-cum off ... What the hell? Their little one was an aphrodisiac?

  ‘No, silly human. We are three, a triad. We are all this for each other.’

  Blue shuddered, and shot a froth of blue cum into his fist. He shut his eyes for a minute, then opened them to glare at Caleb again.

  ‘Maybe. Maybe just alone too long, my little one. A human, and a not too bright one at that?’

  Caleb didn’t have any problem distinguishing whose voice was whose in his head, and he wasn’t sure why he wanted to argue with Blue, and which part of that bothered him. He’d been alone for a long time too, but he didn’t really think he was too stupid to be part of their triad. Not that he wanted to be. He shook his head to clear it. This was getting confusing.

  ‘Not now. Argue later.’ That was little peacemaker again, moving to his other nipple, and already looking a lot healthier than it had been before.

  ‘Yes, stupid human. Nursing from triad lover heals. Help heal our little one.’

  Blue didn’t make as much sense as he obviously thought he did, and Caleb was beginning to wish he’d paid a little bit more attention to ethnobiology when he was in school. He seemed to remember something about triads, which weren’t that uncommon in the universe, but hadn’t paid any more attention than any teenage boy would have to the concept.

  Bonding rituals and unlimited sex?

  Blue turned an angry shade of purple.

  ‘Stupid beings steal our children, thinking they can have things that only happen in bonded triads. We have to get our lost children back, that is our mission. Suki is one, and my third. You – what are you?’

  ‘Hey, whoa, I didn’t steal anyone. I was in the middle of saving this little one when you came along, buddy. Get your facts straight. And now my ship is blown up ...’

  Caleb realized that they were all communicating telepathically now, which was interesting in a minor way, given the strangeness of the day as a whole.

  ‘Ship was piece of ...’

  ‘Argue later. Please. Tired.’


  The little one, now a healthier shade of purple-blue but obviously still exhausted, curled into Caleb’s chest and fell asleep, and he automatically wrapped his coat around it.

  He glared back at Blue. ‘Now what do we do?’

  ‘We wait.’

  ‘For?’

  ‘Stupid human. My ship. They will send a shuttle, pick us up, we will get off this filthy planet.’

  Caleb didn’t have a problem with that plan.

  ‘Um, the children? No more here?’

  ‘Stupid human. We would not leave if there were more.’

  ‘I have a name.’

  ‘So do I.’

  ‘Caleb. We are really a triad?’ He would worry about what that meant to these two later.

  ‘I am Oki. Little one is Suki. It would appear so. Maybe there is some way I can appeal this to the gods.’

  ‘Funny.’

  Caleb fell asleep wrapped around the little one, protecting him, while Oki stood watch over both of them, brooding on the injustice of the universe.

  Chapter 3.

  Dark came early on this heathen planet, and with it the scavengers. These ones figured out too quickly there were no remains of any bodies, or the money they’d been carrying, in the burnt out wreckage of Caleb’s ship. They also seemed to have good night vision, as they spread out to search without using lights that would have given their locations away.

  Oki pulled Caleb to his feet and took Suki from him. He moved off at a rapid pace, then stopped when he realized Caleb wasn’t keeping up.

  ‘You are damaged?’

  ‘I can’t see in the dark, dammit.’

  ‘Stupid human.’

  Caleb’s eyes adjusted enough for him to see that they were approaching a grove of trees.

  ‘These things hunting us, they track by sight?’

  ‘Sight, of course.’