Sidled up alongside the Galaxy Fleet hospital ship "Mercy", the scout ship "Gazelle" was a mere speck--a hundred-meter arrowhead docked to a bulbous cylinder ten times longer and displacing a hundred times more mass.
Of course, the single pilot of the "Gazelle"--30-year old Galaxy Scout Galina Barding--was used to the gigantic ego of the Galaxy Fleet. All spit-and-polish, the Galaxy Fleet was responsible for defense of the Galactic Empire, while Galina's agency--the Galaxy Scout Service--was responsible for exploration, map-making, safety inspections and delivering the mail; in short, the Galaxy Fleet polished a lot of medals, while the Scout Service did all the work.
"Damn goldbricks," Galina muttered, standing in the airlock; "why can't they ferry their own personnel?"
"Actually," said Holly--the ship's computer--"the Scout Service charter does include shuttling personnel for the Galaxy Fleet."
"Yeah," Galina whined, "but now I have to wear an actual uniform!"
Galina knew she was being disingenuous; an athletic blonde, she knew she looked pretty good in her dress uniform--a blue tunic with red trim, and a short blue skirt that showed off her bare legs to good effect. Black pumps with sensible heels were supposed to compliment the tunic and skirt, but Galina (who couldn't find her dress shoes) opted for her "fuck me" shoes instead, black ankle-strapped sandals with 10 cm spike heels.
"Captain Barding," Holly said, "the airlock is cycling."
Galina came to attention, as well as she could.
A second later, the double doors of the airlock slid open, revealing a short, cute, redheaded woman in a green Galaxy Fleet uniform.
"Lyza?"
"Galina?"
"Galina, it is you!" the officer said gleefully, clattering across the deck plates on her black pumps and embracing the scout; "I thought I'd have to spend the whole trip with some scummy hypermeth junkie!"
"Well, thank you," Galina said, wryly. "You know, not ALL scouts are junkies and sex maniacs."
"Well, you are...a sex maniac at least."
Galina shrugged. In fact, it was both pleasant and startling to see Lt. Cmdr. Lyza Ellazar--a childhood friend from the planet Krakatoa. Perky and cute, Lyza was technically a baroness--she had ridden family connections all the way through medical school and the Galaxy Fleet Academy--but she was still a sweet and kindhearted person, surely a useful trait for a trauma surgeon.
"So you're my passenger," Galina said. "Orders?"
"Oh, here," Lyza said, lifting a palmpad computer. "You're supposed to deliver me to Easter Colony."
Galina nodded, looking at the orders. Easter Colony happened to be in the direction she was going anyway, about six hyperjumps, or two months away; still, she couldn't resist a jab at her old friend's expense.
"Why do you have to go to Easter? The governor get a hangnail?"
"Actually, no; I'm delivering plague serum..."
"Oh."
"...and a dildo."
A few minutes later, a boatswain brought Lyza's baggage aboard the "Gazelle", but Galina would not have time to learn about Lyza's special "cargo" until a few hours later--after she had maneuvered her ship to safe hyperjump distance from the nearest planet. A few minutes later, "Gazelle" was in hyperspace, and there was nothing for Galina to do after that but wait for the ship to fall out of hyperspace 10 days later.
"So what's this about a dildo?" Galina asked, sitting down with Lyza at the circular galley table.
"I'll show you," Lyza said, retrieving a meter-long bag from her personal effects. Inside, securely wrapped in clear plastic, was the most peculiar thing Galina had ever seen--a wicked black double-dildo with a spiked ball in the center.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"It's a dildo," Lyza said, balancing the 40 cm-long artifact in her hands.
"Thanks. And you're carrying it...why?"
"Actually, I'm taking it to Dr. Osterreich at the Planetary Science Museum. Our people dug it up on Cth'therion VII."
"Isn't that a Progenitor site?"
Lyza nodded, and Galina frowned. Legend had it that the Progenitors had ruled the galaxy more than 50,000 years ago, but they had left little behind except high-technology ruins. Some evidence suggested the Progenitors had captured primitive humans from Terra to use as slaves or experimental subjects, and Galina felt a creepy sense of evil around their artifacts.
"Did the Progenitors have vaginas?"
"Hell if I know. It is pretty, though, isn't it?"
Galina wasn't sure why, but some compulsion finally made her reach across the table to Lyza and touch one of the two shafts. Amazingly, the solid dildo seemed to have a soft skin--like a real man's hard-on--and the surface was covered in sculpted veins. Feeling those, and running her fingers over the bulbous tip, Galina could almost imagine how nice it would feel to have that stuffed up inside herself.
Her reverie was shattered a moment later, however, as both she and Lyza heard a recognizably human voice speaking in their minds.
//Human females...you ARE human, aren't you...?//
"Did you say that?" Galina asked Lyza.
Lyza shook her head.
"Then you must have said it," Galina said, to the dildo.
//Yes. I want you...I want to be inside you...//
"Excuse ME," Galina said--although, for some reason, she could not pull her hand away.
//Aren't you wet for me? Don't you want me inside you...?//
Galina felt insulted at first, but then she realized that--yes--she could feel a tingle down between her legs. With her free hand, she reached down beneath her uniform skirt, touched her pussy through her panties, and realized that she was starting to get wet.