Julie and the Demons

CHAPTER FOUR -- FRIENDS

Julie wakes with a mumbled groan, her body sore and stiff. The opening between the huge flower petals is wide. Morning daylight streams in. Sound of wind in the trees, the call of birds. Recalling her final memories before sleep, she makes a face.

That thing was here. The huge lizard-bat with the fluttering sex organ deep inside me.

The memory forces both hands to her crotch, but she is clean there, no icky stuff. She sits up. That's when she notices the soft roundness of her belly. Her hands glide over her tender abdomen. She does not dare think what it means. But then she notices the white leakage from a nipple and gasps.

The interior of this flower is different than when Tekken flooded her insides. The space is larger, colors of rose and amber. Julie moans and mutters to herself, "How long have I slept?"

"Two days, Julie Knox," comes the answer.

She jerks around. "What!" She's not sure if she heard that reply, or imagined it.

"Julie. I am one of the Flowers you see around you. The one they call Linguist. You are safe in my chamber."

Julie is immobile with shock. "Talking in my head?"

"Yes, Julie. You are not crazy. This is new to you, frightening perhaps, but not unusual. We Flowers speak with most sentient beings on Calendula."

"How many intelligent species are there?" Julie scans for a frame of reference. Experimentally, she plugs her ears. The voice is the same. It is inside her head.

"There are six sentient species on Calendula. The Flowers, three races of what you call lizard-bats, the Unicorns, and the Voladors."

Julie's mind is racing through what she knows of exobiology. Aboard ship, she is the astrogator, the one who guides their voyage among star systems.

Julie tests an idea. "Isn't it unusual to have so many sentient species on one planet? Usually one becomes dominant and the rest don't develop."

"That's because you have not visited very many planets. We know of planets with fifty intelligent species."

"Well, I hope they can get along."

"Each species has its niche," Linguist says mildly. "But I'm sure you have other questions. Such as why you are here."

Julie has become preoccupied with her body. On her knees looking down at herself, her hands travel all over. Her mind reels with what she finds. Her breasts, which had been of decent size, are larger, identical, and more nicely formed. The enlarged nipples put forth a slow drip of milk. Her waist is narrower, her figure more womanly. Her hips are wider, and taper more smoothly to her thighs, which no longer touch at the top but curve apart, allowing her pussy lips to show a graceful outline. The sex lips are fatter, smoother, and her body is completely hairless. It's been days since the depilatory shower aboard ship. Surely by now there should be stubble on her bald sex. But there is none.

Her hair is longer and more of a honey blonde. She finds herself wishing for a mirror!

"I see you examining yourself," comes the soft voice in her mind. "We made some changes while you were sleeping. The soreness will pass. We thought it the least we could do, in exchange."

"Exchange for what?" Julie asks apprehensively.

"For what you have already done. You have possibly saved one of our civilizations from extinction."

Julie's mind races. "What did I do?"

"You allowed your body to incubate fourteen offspring. All are alive and healthy. Half are females, and none are sterile."

"Not sterile? What do you mean? Are the females infertile?"

"Yes. There was a disease long ago. These are the first live offspring that have been born in decades. Their civilization owes you a huge debt."

"I saw the little ones fly away. I watched the pod crawl out of my body. Looks like I am pregnant again." Julie's hands cover her bulging abdomen.

"Yes. The one we call Tekken implanted fertilized eggs in you. But you are not the mother. You are the Incubator."

"So how did you change my body?"

"Most species use technology to control matter. We have learned to control matter directly. That is why you see few machines, why you think our world backward compared to yours. It is why some of the weapons and instruments aboard your vessel no longer function. While you slept, we Flowers studied you, and caused growth."

"How did you know what to do?"

"From your deepest longings. We have fulfilled some of your desires. You are exceedingly healthy. You are able to heal quickly from terrible injuries. You are more intelligent, and in particular, more compassionate."

"What's in it for you?"

"This planet needs you for a time. To salvage the races whose genes have been damaged."

Julie's mind searches back to her captivity, her escape, her recapture by the Flowers.

"Linguist?"

"Yes, dear Julie."

"What about my crewmates? My sisters? Will you let them go?"

"They walk the trails even now, on their way here. Their minds are clear, no one controls them, they have been fed properly, allowed to bathe themselves and given clothing. You will see them soon. They are happy."

"Well that is something." Pressure in her abdomen brings Julie's hands to her belly. "By the way, when am I due?"

"Soon now. You will be pleased."

"It's only been a couple of days. How can they develop so quickly?

"A different biology. Of course after they leave the Incubator..."

"Which is me?"

"Correct. They complete their growth in a Flower, as you saw."

"Linguist, am I under any mind control right now?"

"Julie, no you are not. We gave you what you might call post-hypnotic suggestion, to control your shock and fear. But you are aware of everything that is going on."

"Alright then. When can I leave?"

"Julie, Julie. There is much work to be done. And you are vital to us. We will let you go, in time. Can you understand that we need you desperately?"

Julie draws her legs up and rests her chin on her knees. Tears appear on her smooth cheeks. Her breasts press her thighs and white rivulets run to her crotch.

"I want us all to go home. You killed two of our crew. They were friends of mine! Those lizard bats ate them! We saw. We could smell it. Do you know what that means? We have not hurt you."

"You did murder Gorgryx, don't forget."

"No, someone put an arrow through his head first. Don't talk to me about murder! I was hypnotized and he was fucking me! They captured and mistreated us for sport."

"All you say is true, Julie. There can be no balancing of accounts. What we can do is go forward with mutual civility, now that we understand things better. Don't you agree?"

Julie tries to keep her mind blank. How can one refrain from speaking, if the dialogue is mental?

"How much of my mind can you listen to, Linguist?"

"What you direct toward me. If you were unconscious or injured, we could probe deeper to help you heal. Mostly I hear your conscious thinking, not your thought process."

"How come I don't trust that?" Julie snaps back.

"Your reaction is understandable. You will trust us in time. There is much we need to learn about you, and you about us. You will be safe, Julie."

A sharp pain in Julie's abdomen makes her clutch her knees to her breast. She groans.

"Yes," says the soft voice in her head. "It is time. Lie down. I will help you."

Julie flops back and places her feet apart. Long tubules from the petal surface she lies on grip her ankles, positioning her legs. Between her thighs, exploring fronds enter her vagina, feeling her cervix, the bulging hardness of her uterus. Julie's back arches.

"It hurts, Linguist."

"Push down, Julie, I'll help."

Julie grinds her hips, wincing in pain as her cervix is forced open by the blunt mass in her belly. It is agony, but she bravely keeps working, finally with grunts and red-faced screams forces out the pod, much bigger than the first one. Her nipples spray fine milky jets with the effort.

Still aching, bleeding from her vagina, she sits up and watches as the pod is lifted on waving tubule feet and carried up the Flower's wall, where it embeds itself. This pod is the size of Julie's upper arm, and pulses rhythmically.

In the Vee of Julie's thighs, Linguist's waving tubules gently stroke her in a way that is both sexual and tender, probe inside her with a healing touch.

"Thank you Julie. You gave us a successful birth. Your bleeding has stopped. I gave you something for pain."

"Thank you Linguist. Or do I thank you?"

Julie swings her legs over the edge of the Flower's outer calyx, looking down. It's hundreds of feet to the forest floor. She realizes that she could jump to a nearby tree and climb down.

"Would you like to go for a walk? You will appreciate seeing yourself."

"You have a mirror? I would love that. A walk would be perfect. I have been cooped up for days."

Even as she speaks, Julie feels an elevator-drop sensation, as her Flower lowers on its tall, flexible stem. The downward travel is smooth. Light-headed, Julie's dangling feet touch gently on soft grass. She steps out.

Turning, Julie looks up at the Flower. The petals, twenty feet across, dwarf the Earth woman's slender form. The color is primarily soft yellow, except for the inner chamber which is shades of amethyst and purple. The space inside is about six feet wide. Her birth pod pulses faintly within the Flower's wall.

"Linguist?"

"Yes dear one."

"You are beautiful."

"You are the beautiful one Julie. Walk down that trail. You'll be happy when you see yourself."

"Can I talk to you?"

"While you walk? Yes. We can speak over long distances."

"Thank you. This is going to take some getting used to."

"For us as well. But you have made an entire planet feel joy."

Julie turns to the path and begins to walk, but the urge to run overtakes her and with powerful strides she is soon sprinting at full speed. She delights in the power of her body. She has always been in good shape, and months of captivity, running everywhere with a lizard-bat mounted in her saddle have adapted her to running barefoot and lightly clad on forest trails. But now, Julie feels incredible power, endurance she has never known. Fragrant air caresses her smooth naked flesh.

The lovely woman, golden limbs pumping and blond hair flying out behind, runs at full speed, covering several miles before she reaches a quiet pond hidden deep in the forest. And it is there that she finds the most incredible waterfall.

The waterfall is like a mirror. It is tall and wide, dropping from a stream on the cliff above. The flow is smooth, water enters the pool with little sound, causing the smallest ripples. And in this unearthly image, Julie Knox sees herself.

This cannot be me!

The goddess in the waterfall mirror looks back at her with an open-mouthed stare. Her reflection resembles the person she has always been, but the image radiates a rapturous beauty, a feminine form the gods would envy. And would desire.

Julie steps into the pool, striding through the water toward the shining surface. The water is cold, fresh. Her entire being feels alive. Standing before the mirror now she sees every detail of her perfection. Her skin is pale bronze and smooth. Her muscles are long and of subtle grace. The eyes are large and clear above a delicate nose and sensuous mouth. It is her, it is the Julie she has always known. The individual changes are small, but the overall effect is not.

In her reflection, she notices white leakage from her stiff nipples. With a finger she raises a drop to her goddess lips. Tasty! With both hands she lifts a heavy breast to her face. The nipple squirms eagerly within her lovely mouth. She sucks, and her knees tremble. It is the most unimaginable sensation she has known, tasting her own body this way. Whirling sensations of feminine lust radiate through her. She needs to lie down!

She touches a curious finger to the waterfall surface. It is thin, yet forceful. Pushing her hand through, she encounters nothing. She pokes her head inside and sees a fern-lined ledge, a concealed enclosure. Mossy rock walls drip with moisture. A private place to lie down.

Wet and glistening, she steps through and sits on green moss, hidden behind the waterfall, her private world. The sheet of water is transparent, she can see whatever is around the pool, but forest sounds are subdued. Julie lies back on the soft green carpet.

Her hands stray, surprised anew at the changes the Flowers have given her body. One hand covers a rounded breast, pinches a hardening pink nipple, which sprays milk in needle jets. The other hand explores the fringed clitoris between symmetrical sex lips, lips now thick and strong to stroke and milk a penis. Any kind of penis.

One touch at her enlarged clit and her hips jerk upward. Julie plants her heels, spreads her legs, and arches her back. Both hands work frantically in her slippery crevice, she screams three times, and dives headlong into a warm abyss of breathless immortality.

Her mind is gone a long time. Julie knows as she spirals upward toward consciousness, that particular orgasm was entirely different. She's blanked out during sex before, but nothing in her experience was like the near-death she just passed through. She lies within the waterfall cavern, her own supremely private place. Sucking languidly at her own warm milk. Julie Knox needs for nothing.

Outside in sunlit forest, she sees through sheeted water a number of lizard-bats in silent vigil. The large species and the small are represented there, perched on branches of trees, or standing motionless beside the quiet pond. Above the water, small forms the size of birds dart and glide playfully. She knows who they are, thinks of them as hers, although she understands her part in their birth was a minor one. Seeing them makes her strangely happy.

"Linguist?" Momentarily she feels foolish. Talking to a Flower in her head. What rubbish! But the response comes sweet and clear.

"I am here, Julie."

"Did you do something to me? And why am I leaking?" She dreads the answer to that. Her grape-size nipples ooze white.

"There is no end to the rewards we owe you Julie. You are saving two of our species. You may rescue more from extinction. You are helping to preserve the life of this planet. Yes, we helped you enjoy your body more, as you shall learn soon enough."

"What do I look like, to them," Julie asks. "They can't be attracted to an alien like me."

"Your observation is astute. We are helping them to find you attractive."

"Making me look like a goddess cannot have helped them. They have no comparison."

"What we did to your body was intended to make you feel more completely sexual. And to be revered among your shipmates."

"God, did that ever work! But I have a question. What happened to the fertility of these species? You said that all sentient species became unable to procreate. And how about the Flowers? Are you guys alright?"

"All the sentient species and a number of the lower forms have a break in certain DNA chains that halts the development cycle. They have sex, embryos are planted, but the incubation does not progress. We Flowers made ourselves part of it because your alien body is incapable of taking the embryos to term. But you provided the missing, vital part. We are hoping that a new generation will be healthy and self-sustaining."

"I hope so too." Inwardly, Julie is hoping she does not have to stay on Calendula forever. "What about you? Are the Flowers going to make it?"

"We have had to make certain adaptations. We can pollinate, but only during an altered emotional state."

"Such as? Getting drunk."

"I get your meaning. We have to pollinate during a heightened consciousness. We have to get high, stoned, buzzed, more sensual. However you might refer to it."

"And what gets you off?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Julie. We enter an altered state in the presence of powerful emotions. Emotions such as Earthlings possess. Your emotions."

"My feelings. Such as..."

"Happiness. Sexual lust. Disgust. Rage. Pain of birth."

"I get it."

"There is a dark side to it Julie, which we are working to conquer. But I must tell you the truth."

"Ohhhhh, here it comes."

"Some of us are addicted to your fear."

Julie sits up straight, looking out over the serene pool, the waiting lizard-bats there. "Addicted to my fear? You get high when I am afraid? Drunk on my desire? I am some cheap date for you!"

"Be careful what you conclude. No one wants to harm you. But even more than the rage you projected when you killed Gorgryx, even more than the power of your orgasms, some of us live each day waiting for you to be terrified, so they can successfully pollinate. I'm sorry Julie. That's as honest as I can be."

"Linguist, that makes me really uncomfortable. It's like ghouls and vampires drinking my blood."

"It is not the same. There are many of us who do not respond to fear, and those will protect you. Call us designated drivers." Linguist for the first time makes a sound that could be laughter.

"How about you, Linguist? Do you lap up my fear like spilled wine?"

Julie waits. The silence in her mind stretches thin.

"Linguist?"

Silence. Acid foreboding lurches in Julie's gut. She wants to retch. Julie understands the Linguist's power.

"Well," says Julie into the silence, fearful and angry at the same time, "I'm sure you're enjoying the classification I have for you now. You useless weed. "

Julie steps through the waterfall, with powerful thrusts of her glistening hips strides to the edge of the pool and up the bank.

The lizard-bats large and small remain as though frozen, except for the babies, who fly around her in a whir of transparent wings and high, laughing calls. Two of them alight, clutching her wet hair, others alight on her head and shoulders. One sinks tiny talons into her sex lips, trying to hold on. She shoos it away, but a hot tingle remains. Nipples dripping white onto the muddy bank, her entire body feels like one big sex organ. They did something to me!

But now Julie can study the animals close up, and with a clear head. Like babies everywhere, these are rounder, cuter versions of their adult forms. Tiny wings blur in flight. She sees features reminiscent of her dead handler. She feels waves of pleasure emanating from the winged things. Can she be learning to read emotions, as Linguist claims to do? She feels these beings are part of her.

One of the smaller adults alights on the ground at her feet, folding its wings behind muscled shoulders. Julie feels embarrassment. These beings are intelligent, and here she is standing mother-naked in dappled woods among dozens of them while her rounded breasts ooze whitish fluid down her tummy.

I'm ass-naked among intelligent aliens. They can see every part of me, and I am dripping!

The creature before her stands motionless, watching her. She has never before seen a posture from one of these that could be deemed respectful, but this one clearly is. In his taloned hands, the lizard-bat holds out to her two pieces of dark cloth, downy and fine as moleskin.

Julie takes them and the animal steps back, watching her closely.

What she holds looks like a two-piece swim suit, a simple bikini in dark forest brown, but rough cut, as though fashioned by a child. Julie holds up the bottoms, and steps into them, aware of the many creatures who eye her legs. When she pulls the garment up her belly it doesn't fit. But as it warms to her body heat it contracts to follow every perfect line of her hips. Her belly quivers as the soft fabric draws tighter up her crotch, taking on the exact form of her hidden curves. It fits her like a coat of paint.

In the back, the cloth shrinks to a thin vertical line that vanishes between her firm buttocks. The sensation of the garment drawing tight over her starfish sends a rush of blood to her loins. Good god, it's a living thong. Do these creatures sense what I am feeling?