To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
(c) 2022 by Skarlette One
Captain Alpha, the mightiest heroine the world had ever seen, had never dreamed she’d be in such good shape in such a bad situation. Thanks to her amazing Quimtonian powers, she had walked away from the crash landing of the space ship without a scratch. The same could not be said of the prisoner transport shuttle she’d stolen from interstellar warlord Queen Klitorya’s. When Captain Alpha had escaped her captors, she thought that the spaceship would allow her to get home to Earth. Unfortunately, damage sustained in the escape had caused the shuttle to crash on this remote planetoid orbiting a dim, brown dwarf star.
Stranded in a place like this was the epitome of a bad situation. The feeble glow of the brown dwarf was nothing like the warm, nourishing light of a yellow sun that would recharge her powers. Another gift of her Quimtonian nature allowed Captain Alpha to draw strength from the erotic life energy of willing partners. However, as she had escaped Queen Klitorya’s clutches by commandeering an empty shuttle, Captain Alpha found herself completely alone, and therefore without any reliable source of replenishment. She knew she had to be careful not to strain her stamina. Even the so-called “Vixen of Vigor” had limits. This planetoid with a cold, thin atmosphere and miles of featureless sand dunes would certainly put those limits to the test.
The prison transport itself was beyond repair, having broken into three parts on impact. However, Captain Alpha set about combing through every piece of debris for any trace of survival gear and communication equipment.
After hours of searching, the heroine was just about to rest when she discovered she hadn’t been the transport’s sole occupant. In the remains of one of the cargo bays was a hibernation pod, still somewhat functional. The pod’s technical readouts showed there was significant damage, including to the release hatch. The inhabitant was alive, in suspended animation for the moment, but unlikely to survive more than a few hours in a damaged pod.
Although Captain Alpha knew that Queen Klitorya had only used hibernation pods for her most dangerous prisoners, she couldn’t allow the inmate to simply die. Despite her exhaustion, she set to work opening the pod and releasing the prisoner within. It took a large portion of the heroine’s remaining strength to pry the security hatch open without damaging the delicate hibernation equipment within. Setting the remains of the hatch on the floor, Captain Alpha leaned back against the far wall to watch the pod cycle through its reanimation sequence. By the time the readouts showed green, weariness had pulled the heroine down until she sat on the floor with legs splayed.
Too tired to peer into the darkened pod with her Q-Ray vision, Alpha waited for the prisoner to emerge. Within, a flash of movement caught the light. Flickers of a sinuous form became visible, patterned scales dancing in the darkness. Alpha’s eyelids drooped as she gazed silently at the sleek, undulating coils. Soon, the shapes coalesced around two beautiful orange eyes emerging from the darkness. A long, powerful serpent emerged from the broken pod.
Captain Alpha pulled herself back from the yawning abyss of slumber, shaking her head vigorously. “Ophidianne! I never thought to see you again after facing you in the sexfighting pit.” Some time ago, the two had been forced into public battle for Queen Klitorya’s amusement, where Ophidianne had bested Captain Alpha in a contest rife with trickery.
The alien serpent raised itself up, stretching its muscular coils after the long confinement. She “spoke” in words that were as much telepathic projection as hissed syllables. Her strange, alien accent stressed the native Quimtonian pronunciation of Alpha’s name. “My dear Al-Phae! How fortunate I am to be rescued by the last daughter of Quimton. I knew you would miss me. Perhaps I should shapeshift into my humanoid form so our reunion can be more intimate.”
Alpha chuckled despite herself. “No, it’s best for you to stay serpentine. You’ll use less air that way. We need to conserve everything we can from this crashed ship.”
Ophidianne glanced at her surroundings. “Somehow I expected a better escape from the so-called Vixen of Vigor.”
Alpha’s lips twisted into a smirk. “It’s hard to live up to your standards, Ophidianne, but I’ll try. The next thing is for me to head outside and connect that heavy hatch to the broken antenna. We can use it to boost communications,” Captain Alpha stifled a yawn.
“You can barely lift your body off the floor, Al-Phae, let alone lift anything else,” the serpentine alien woman said. “Stay here and rest.”
“I can’t rest.” The heroine shook her head, but didn’t move. “It’s getting dark. Night could be … dangerous.”
“I’ll watch over you while you rest, Al-Phae. Trust in me.” Ophidianne gently looped a coil of her slender, scaled body over Alpha’s hip.
Alpha moved her hand to the smooth coil, but did not pull her eyes away from the serpent’s bottomless gaze. “Can’t trust you. You … you served Queen Klitorya.”
“Yes, I did. So did you. We both escaped her clutches. You helped me, Al-Phae. Let me help you. Let me watch over you while you sleep. While you snooze. While you slumber.”
“No … can’t … sleep…” Alpha muttered, her flesh tingling as the powerful serpent’s coils looped around her, surprisingly gentle in their touch. “I … need to …”
“You need to rest, Al-Phae. You need to sleep. Your weariness fills you. Your body longs for slumber. Trust in me. I will watch over you.”
“Watch … over …” The helpless heroine’s eyelids hung low and heavy.
“Trust in me, Al-Phae. Trust in me.”
“Trust in … Trust … in …” Alpha’s head lolled forward, sleep pulling her down. A second later, her head jerked up. She blinked her eyes wide open, even though they refused to focus. “No! I’m awake. I’m …”
“You’re tired, Al-Phae. So tired,” Ophidianne whispered, her arrow-shaped head mere inches above Alpha’s face. “Your whole body is heavy. Weary. Loose. Lazy. Tired. So tired.”
Alpha gazed deeply into the serpent’s cold, commanding eyes. Her body swayed gently, cradled in undulating coils. Those powerful, orange eyes were the only solid anchor as her exhaustion dragged her relentlessly toward sleep. “Tired … no … I’m … strong …”