Sirius Minor was a paradise.
Most colonized planet had to be terraformed to some extent or other. Sometimes oxygen needed to be added to the atmosphere. At a minimum, plants and animals needed to be imported.
But not on Sirius Minor. The planet was teeming with big, broad trees and plant life of different kinds. There were animals too, mostly small, harmless herbivores. The planet was filled with majestic mountains and scenic lakes and had a year around temperate weather. With no planetary tilt, there were no harsh seasons.
The planet, on the edge of known space, had only recently been settled over five years ago. There were only 2,000 colonists, and in a colony that size most everyone knew everyone else. Most people had jobs with the Colonial Administration, an indirect arm of the World Government.
The colony had a small footprint, less than fifteen square miles, and only a tiny fraction of the planet had been explored. And so the colony launched an expedition to the western peaks, under the command of renown biologist John Crenshaw. Their multicrawler had settled in at the base of the closest mountain range, some fifty miles north of the colony, and Crenshaw's staff was exploring a nearby lake which was teaming with wildlife. But Henry and Sarah Martell had a different destination in mind. They climbed up into the foothills and found a cave entrance. They commed Crenshaw and asked permission to go inside.
"A cave?" said Crenshaw doubtfully. "It could be dangerous. What if you fall into a crevice of get trapped?"
"The entrance itself is really big," said Henry over the comm. "We peered inside and it seems quite wide!"
Crenshaw sighed. "Most of the team is at the lake. Can't this wait? I'd prefer you not go alone."
"We'll be fine," said Henry, as Sarah nodded vigorously. "We'll comm if there's any trouble, and you know exactly where we are!"
"All right," said Crenshaw. "But sundown is in two hours. Be back by then."
"Affirmative. Henry out."
Sarah grinned excitedly at Henry. "I wonder what we'll find inside!"
They entered the cave slowly, using their glow lamps for illumination. But the cave had its own light source, a dim greenish illumination which lit the way. The cave went on and on and on, deeper into the mountainside. As they moved inwards, the air grew warmer, moister, and more stale.
And then they saw the bones.
"Henry, look!" said Sarah. She shone her glow lamp at the ground.
There were skeletons all over the place, dozens of them.
"This must have been a nesting place for animals," said Henry. He studied the bones. "But we've never seen animals this big."
"They look like some kind of primates," said Sarah. "We haven't found any primates at all on Sirius Minor. I wonder what made them become extinct?"
They heard a faint sound. "Do you hear that?" Sarah asked.
Henry shook his head. He eyed the skeletons. "Maybe we should turn back."
"No!" said Sarah. "I want to find out that sound is!" Without waiting, she kept moving forward and downward.
As they got deeper and deeper the air became thicker and thicker. The sound became more audible now. "Momomomomom!"
"I wonder what could be making that sound?" said Sarah.
Something flew by them in the darkness, brushing against Henry's shoulder. "What was that?" he said. It had come and gone too quickly for him to see.
"Some kind of insect life?"
"It was too large to be an insect," said Henry. "Sarah, I think we should turn back now."
"Just a little farther," she urged. His sexy blonde wife was used to getting her way. Henry watched his wife's large, well rounded ass cheeks as he meekly followed her.
Farther down the passageway they found something on the cave wall. Sarah shined a light on it. "It's some kind of creature, like a jellyfish!"
But a jellyfish it wasn't. It was round and yellow-brown like a pancake. It pulsated on the wall, in and out, in and out.
"I've never seen anything like it," Sarah whispered. "Henry, we've discovered an entirely new form of life!" She stared at the creature and felt almost mesmerized by it. She slowly reached out her hand closer, closer, closer...
"Don't touch it!" said Henry, causing her to draw her arm back.
"What was I doing?" said Sarah, blinking rapidly.
"Honey, I really think we should get back to the expedition and report what we've found," said Henry.
"Just a little bit farther."
"But Honey-"
"Just a little bit farther. Please!" Sarah repeated. Without waiting for an answer, she kept going.
The air suddenly became fresher, or less stale, but also fouler at the same time. They came out of the tunnel into a giant chamber. It was hard to see in the dim green lighting. Sarah shined her glow lamp upwards, and she gasped.
In the room with them was a creature in the shape of a giant black ball, perhaps forty feet tall. The creature had two giant dark eyes which stared down at them. They could hear its raspy breathing. They could hear the sounds of "Momomomomomom" coming from it.
It was alive!
There were also more of those pancake creatures along the walls. Some of them were flying around the chamber.
"What is THAT?" said Sarah, pointing her glow lantern at the giant black round thing. Suddenly she shuddered as she felt its gaze fall upon her. She felt the sudden impulse to run, as if that thing were predator and she was the prey, but she found her legs couldn't move. "Henry, I'm stuck!" she cried.
A light shot out of the big round ball and struck her forehead.
"Momomomomomom!" said Sarah.
"Sarah!" Henry cried. He tried to pull her free, but a second beam of white light struck him in the head too. "Momomomomomom!"
How long they stood there like that, chanting, they didn't know. Sarah and Henry were barely aware of themselves slowly taking off each other's clothes. When they were nude, a third bright light appeared, shining first on Sarah's breasts, then her groin, then Henry's penis. Henry vaguely sensed a wave of satisfaction coming from the creature.
"Momomomomom!" said Sarah.
"Momomomomom!" said Henry.
They turned and looked at each other without seeing, and then, taking small, jerky steps, walked to the nearest cave wall. There they put their arms out in front against them and leaned against it. As they did they could see and feel those flying pancake creatures, flying around them.
One of them landed on Sarah's back, right between her shoulder blades. She stiffened and cried out "Henry!"
Henry slowly came to his senses. He watched the creature settle down in the center of Sarah's back.
Sarah grabbed her head. "Henry, I can feel things, things inside my head!"
Henry was about to remove the creature on her back when another one of them landed on his own naked back. He grabbed his head and cried out.
********
"Where are they?" John Crenshaw fumed. He never should have let them go into that cave!
"Still no response?" said Amelia, a sexy blonde.
"No," Crenshaw shook his head. He was about to organize a rescue party when the comm crackled.
"Professor Crenshaw," came Henry's voice. "Are you there? Come in?"
"Henry? Where are you? Are you all right?" John asked.
"We're fine," said Henry, in a very calm voice. "We've made the most amazing discovery at the cave!"
"What? What did you discover?" Crenshaw asked.
