Slych Read online

  "We welcome human females. You follow now."

  As soon as the artificial voice stopped, the creature turned on his heel and walked back toward the huge doors he had come through. His fellows moved ahead of him, not once looking back.

  Tina wondered if it was too late to get back in the ship and leave. The cargo bay doors, which they now stood on, were shut tight. There could be no escape.

  Sybil led her group on, following the creatures through the doors and into a narrow but incredibly tall corridor. Its walls were made of that same strange, dark metal, but with liberally placed light fixtures — bands of illumination that seemed to glow from under the metal, as though through fogged glass — did much to brighten the space.

  Other doors lined the hall. All were shut. The alien guides made no obvious attempt to walk slower, and so the women had to start jogging in order to keep up. One of the alien males looked at them over his shoulder and smiled. He was amused.

  Of all the women, Kozue had the hardest time keeping up. She would fall behind a bit, then burst forward in a sudden sprint, then fall behind again. Her short legs, weak from the long sleep, were giving her problems.

  On the opposite end of the spectrum was Aurora. With little effort, almost looking like she was gliding, she broke ahead of the pack and started to close the distance between them and the alien guides.

  When she was about eight feet behind them, ignoring sharp whispers from Sybil, the tallest male of the alien group turned and stared at her. The rest of them stopped a moment later, turning to watch. Aurora froze, chest rising and falling with deep huge breaths.

  The huge male gave her an appraising look. He strode forward abruptly, closing the distance to Aurora in two strides, and picked her up like she weighed nothing. He slung her over his shoulder; she winced, pressing her hands against his back to lift her abdomen off one of the sharper ridges on his armored vest.

  Sybil ran forward, waving her arms and calling out.

  "Wait a moment," she said. "You can't take her like this. We haven't even had a proper talk yet!"

  The aliens watched this crazy woman running at them. The translator held by one of them spit her words out in their native tongue.

  As the tall male walked away and passed through a doorway with Aurora over his shoulder, another of them came forward to bar Sybil's way. He was easily distinguishable from the rest of them, due to the eyepatch he wore.

  Sybil did not show her fear. She kept going. The male stepped sideways, directly in her way, at the last second, and she bounced off his chest. Stumbling on the slick floor, she eventually fell and landed hard on her ass.

  As one, the aliens laughed. It was uproarious laughter, deep and rough, echoing through the huge space around them.

  Sybil stood up, with messy hair and her face red from anger and embarrassment. She stepped forward again, until she was toe to toe with Eyepatch. He stared down at her, smiling.

  "Listen," she said, the echo of the alien translation following quickly afterward, "we're here to form a friendship. A partnership. In order to do that, a level of mutual respect has to be reached. You will not treat us as objects."

  Eyepatch listened, thought for a moment, and almost seemed ready to abdicate. Then he reached out with lightning speed and wrapped a huge hand around Sybil's neck. He squeezed just hard enough to cause a vein to bulge on her forehead. And then he released her, shoving her back so that she fell again.

  Kozue ran forward. Stella followed. Together, they lifted Sybil to her feet and huddled around her.

  Tina was alone, fighting a rising panic. Suddenly paranoid, she looked behind her. Nothing there but a long, empty hall. And her ship far beyond. A false hope.

  She joined the others, standing erect and expressionless just behind them.

  The remaining four aliens stood in a similarly tight group. They switched off their translators and communed, occasionally gesturing or smiling at one of the females. Finally, they broke apart and came forward.

  The one with the facial scar made a beeline for Tina. He knew what he wanted. She took a few pointless steps away from him. Even if she sprinted at top speed, he would have caught her easily. She didn't fight him as he took her arm and nearly lifted her from the floor as he pulled her down the hall.

  "Don't be afraid!" Sybil's voice cried out as she was dragged away by another of the aliens. "You're women, and you have all the power in the universe!"

  There had been times when Tina thought that was true. Now was not one of them.

  She was taken through a door, into another room with a high ceiling. She was thrown onto a table. The last thing she remembered before waking up was a mask of some kind being lowered onto her face.

  Chapter Four

  She woke in a room not dissimilar to her room on the ship, if it was five times bigger and the electric lights had somehow failed. It was lit by a flickering yellow, and the smell of candles and incense was strong. The added aromatics were foreign, but the underlying waxy, smoky smells were familiar enough to be almost comforting.

  In the dim light, it was a moment before she discerned the naked male standing by the wall. He blended in, with his dark skin. Until he stepped forward. The candlelight glinted off sweat or oil, making all his rippling muscles stand out even further. He was entirely naked, and Tina saw that the rest of his body was scarred as well. This was a being who had made brawling a way of life and was apparently not very good at or interested in dodging.

  The most fearful thing about him, however, was the erection bobbing between his legs. Tina had not known a cock so large could be so full and swollen, so tall and straight, defying gravity as it came toward her like a lance.

  But she herself was not naked. She still wore her panties and bra. This was a slight relief.

  She tried to sit up and found that she could. She was not tied down or bound in any way, and whatever sedative or knockout agent the male had used on her seemed to have no side effects. She felt just as clear-headed and just as terrified as in the moments before she fell unconscious.

  She knew there was no use, but she stood up anyway. The creature kept walking, perfectly calm and confident. He grabbed her gently by the waist and lifted her back up onto the bed. And it wasn't just any bed, she saw; it was her bed, brought in from the ship.

  If the room hadn't been so large, she could almost believe she was on the ship. Could it be that her alien host was trying his best to make her feel... at home? Comfortable?

  He spoke to her, and a translator on a nearby table gave his words to her.

  "Calm. Comfortable."

  He put a single huge finger nearly the size of her wrist to her chest and nudged her. She lay down flat, staring at the ceiling and doing her best not to tremble.

  His finger stayed on her, sliding down between her breasts, over her navel, to her pubic mound. He pressed the finger against the crotch of her underwear, wiggling it gently until it nestled between her labia. He kept the finger there a moment, then lifted it to his nose.

  "Not ready," he spoke. "Not yet."

  He stepped away, reaching below the bed to grab a toga-like garment and wrap it around his body.

  "Calm. Comfortable," he repeated and retreated from her to take a seat by the door. He picked up a huge tablet-like device and began reading or studying something on it.

  Tina sat up. He said and did nothing to stop her. She looked around, trying to figure out whether she was dreaming.

  "Can I speak?" she asked.

  The translator did its work. The male looked up and replied after a moment.

  "Yes."

  "Where am I?"

  "Our ship. Special room for you."

  He was looking back down at his work now.

  "I see," she said. "Thank you."

  "Ready yet?" he asked.

  "Am I allowed to say no?"

  "Only if it's true."

  "Then no, I'm not ready yet."

  "When?"

  Tina hesitated. Sybil's words and le
ssons returned, echoing in her head. No weakness. Strength only. The strength of a woman.

  "You'll know," she said. "Until then, you shouldn't try anything. If you do, I won't like you very much anymore."

  "I make you ready," he said simply, without hesitation.

  "Try it," she said.

  He laughed at that. As if the word try was too pathetic and weak to exist in his repertoire.

  It was an oddly familiar sight. Like the candles and the room. This man sitting there, reading his news or whatever. Laughing at the silly things she said but also entertaining them. He could have been her father, just then. Whatever evolutionary gap separated her from him, it must have not have opened too far in the past.

  And, it seemed, he was not one to take a woman against her will. Maybe it had been Aurora's obvious enthusiasm that had set this whole thing in motion; the males assumed that the other humans were all equally on board. But then, why render Tina unconscious? Perhaps only so that she could wake up here, negating some messy and time consuming transitional period.

  The alien sat and read while she pondered. He started to tap his foot; this caused his still mighty cock to bounce up and down, rubbing against his muscular thigh.

  Tina stared, feeling almost hypnotized, as the male grunted and flipped up the edge of his toga. His cock pulsed and bobbed and ratcheted upward as it became fully engorged again. He set his tablet aside and began to masturbate, using both hands to work his huge member.

  He started to breathe heavily. A string of precum dripped to the floor. It took several long minutes, all the while Tina feeling more and more moist as her alien’s muscles clenched and released, and then the was joined by a spurting rope of semen as the creature groaned loudly and shoved his head hard back against the wall. His cock continued to erupt, creating a long puddle of seed that reached nearly to Tina's bed. She watched, lips pursed tight, and suddenly felt just how wet and hot she was radiating from her pussy.

  To feel these things, she realized, was to admit that Aurora was right. That was the last thing Tina wanted to do. She turned away from the alien, pushing her feelings away and taking comfort in the knowledge that sexual arousal was an autonomous function, barely connected to the conscious mind.

  With a long, shuddering, deep sigh, the male stood up and left the room. A few moments later, another creature came in.

  It was a female of the alien race. She was smaller and less heavily muscled, but still larger than Aurora. Her skin was lighter, more of a lavender. Her breasts were huge, bared to the warm air. The only covering on her was a sack similar to the undergarment worn by the male in the photo the aliens had originally sent.

  Without looking at Tina, the female knelt and used a towel to mop up the flood of semen. She kept reaching up to pinch and twist her large violet nipples, as though the act had some sexual component for her. Then she vanished as suddenly as she had appeared.

  It took Tina a long while to process what she had just seen. No one else came in, but the door remained open by an inch or so. It was clearly unlocked.

  She stood up from the bed, cautiously crossed the room, and pushed the door open.

  The glowering faces of two sentries met her eyes. One of them held up his hand, gesturing her back inside. They were armed with vicious looked, bladed weapons; one of them bore obvious blood stains.

  She ducked inside, shut the door, and went to hide under the bed.

  Chapter Five

  Food was brought to her. She discovered that, behind what she had thought was a closet door, there was a toilet of sorts that was far too big for her. She felt like a child sitting on it, her feet hanging inches from the floor.

  And then she slept. It was the shallowest, least restful sleep she'd ever had. Filled with stressful dreams where everything went wrong, where she did things that made her hate herself.

  With such dreams, she normally woke in a slight panic and then was relieved when she realized they weren't real. Now, however, the real world was just as bad. Full of just as much potential for terrible things.

  In the morning — or what seemed like it must be morning — her captor with the scarred face reappeared. He was holding a bucket and a sponge. With strong hands, he manipulated Tina's body, undoing her bra strap after studying it for a moment, then slowly sliding her panties down. She felt the hot breath from his nose washing over her. It made her shiver.

  He brought her over to where a drain grate sat in the floor, and then he washed her delicately. The sponge was soft, the lather smooth as silk. A female came in, the same one as yesterday, and set down a second bucket. This was full of pure water, steaming hot, then the female left without a word.

  When Tina's naked body was fully lathered with fine suds, the male dipped the sponge into the second bucket and swished it around. Before he touched it to her body, he tested the heat of the water on his arm. Soon after, Tina stood clean and dripping.

  "Fresh," he said. "Good smell."

  He went to another closet door, pulled out a huge brown towel, and wrapped it around her. He then held her against his chest, rubbing her up and down. She shivered, but not from cold.

  "I don't have clothes," she said.

  "No clothes needed."

  She could have guessed that.

  "What about you?" she asked. "You have clothes."

  "I need."

  "Why?"

  He pushed her away slightly so that he could stare down into her eyes. The wound on his neck was already closed and beginning the healing process. He said nothing. Then he pulled Tina with him, sitting in his chair by the door with her in his lap. He began to read his tablet again. The words were, of course, incomprehensible to her. At one point, he issued a grunt of discontentment.

  Tina's leg was falling asleep. She adjusted, sliding a bit to her left. She had already felt the huge log of his manhood beneath her, but now it pressed her buttocks apart and nestled in the warm cleft between them. This brought another grunt from him, of a different nature.

  She had not meant to give him pleasure. It had been an automatic movement, to cure the fuzzy displeasure of her sleeping leg. But it was a signal, she knew, however inadvertent. She had to stall, in some way.

  "What's your name?" she asked.

  He slid a hand around and pressed it against the flat of her belly.

  "Slych," he said.

  To her it sounded like Slick, but she later saw it in proper writing.

  "I'm Tina," she said. "Tina Cassidy. My middle name is Maureen. It's kind of an old lady sort of name, isn't it? But I guess you wouldn't know..."

  He pulled her into him. She felt him throbbing and hardening.

  "Do you have just one name?" she asked. "Humans usually have three. Well, in some parts of the world..."

  Her translation emanated from the table, sounding deep and alien. But she didn't think Slych was listening to it. He was listening to her, her tiny human voice, and the meaning of the words didn't matter.

  There was a sudden pounding at the door. Slych growled and pushed Tina up and off of him. She stumbled, but he caught her, set her straight, and went to open the door.

  Another male came in, fully armored. Wearing a blade on his hip. He came close enough to Slych for their noses to touch. He spoke quietly, but the translator picked it up.

  "I challenge you," he said.

  "I know," Slych replied. "It will be an honor to kill you."

  "And an honor to be killed. But that not happen. You will be killed."

  "We find out, now."

  Tina watched all this, trying to figure out what sort of challenge they were talking about. And then the female alien came in again, bearing a minimalistic set of armor and a weapon. She gave these to Slych, and he started to get ready.

  The female came to Tina, huddling close in a protective stance.

  "They fight over us," she said. "We belong to who wins."

  ***

  For the second time in her life, Tina realized that being popular wasn't always a
good thing.

  Slych and the other male left the room after the challenge was accepted. The two sentries came in, leading the females away, through halls and rooms. Tina went numb again, and by the time she realized they had been put into a cell, it was too late to try and escape.

  At least there was a familiar face here. In the next cell over, through the bars, she saw Sybil. The translator perked up from her nap at the sound of Tina's voice and rushed over to the bars.

  "You're alive!" the translator said. "And you're wearing a towel. I guess you've probably had a different experience than me."

  "Why?" asked Tina. "What happened?"

  "I guess I gave them too much attitude." Sybil grinned and revealed two bloody front teeth. "They slapped me around a bit, and then I guess they got bored and stuck me in here."

  "Christ, Sybil..."

  "It's fine. They hit me far softer than they could have. I don't even think they were trying to hurt me, necessarily. Who's that?"

  Tina turned, looking at the female creature who now stood still in the corner, pulling at her hair.

  "One of Slych's concubines, I guess," Tina said. "Or his wife. I have no idea."

  "Whose?"

  "Slych. He's the one who took me."

  "So, you're on a first name basis with him. Has he treated you well?"

  "Well enough. I don't think he's too bad."

  "Then what the hell are you doing here?"

  "Someone else came and challenged Slych. They're going to fight. To try and kill each other. Whoever wins..."

  "...gets the women. Isn't that just a tale as old as time." Sybil sighed, sinking to the floor. She sat cross-legged, drumming on the bars with her knuckles. "Have you seen any of the others?"

  Tina shook her head.

  "Me, neither," said Sybil. "Haven't heard anything, either. They took Tide away from me. He must be doing the AI equivalent of pulling his hair out right about now. But he must not be too panicked, otherwise we would have heard a big boom by now."

  Somewhere nearby, a door opened. Tina turned and saw that Slych's concubine had moved to the far wall of the cell, opposite the door they'd originally come through. Beyond the bars there was a wide hallway and more cells on the other side of it.