Seeds

Messalina's family had had delusions of grandeur when they named her after a Roman Empress. They had enough ambition for they daughter that they gave her a name, which conjured up images of her as a rich wife or a powerful woman. They did not have the education though to realise they had named her after a woman whose sexual gymnastics would have tired most porn stars and did exhaust Rome's leading prostitute in a now famous competition. They did not just aspire to bigger and better things but believed it their destiny and like many people did not recognise that their intelligence and abilities did not match that ambition.

The 22nd century had opened up distant star systems and just like the discovery of the new world in the 15th century a whole new future of discovery and prosperity opened up for mankind. Some people did make a lot of money and stories of the poor individual making a vast fortune almost overnight were commonplace. Messalina's parents were bitten by the greed bug like millions of others and got involved in almost every type of enterprise that came along. There were rushes for land, mineral wealth, water rights, research and so on and so on. But they never got rich. They'd plough in everything they had to whatever was the latest money making craze but usually at the last minute just before the bottom fell out of it.

They had the odd spot of luck but whenever they actually began to make money they would pull out and invest it all in a new venture. The new one would often falter shortly after and take a nosedive whilst their old investment would sky rocket. 'Bad luck' they always used to call it but Messalina knew it was just plain greed on their part. Growing up was not fun for Messalina. Her parents moved around from planet to planet never putting down roots. They went without to invest as much as they could and so she never had the things other children did. She was always the new girl in school, standing out because she wore cheap clothes, never having the time to make friends and usually the subject of bullying. As a teenager it was worse as once the new kids learned about her name she was ribbed mercilessly. The only teenagers to try and befriend her were boys that were only interested in finding out if she was anything like her namesake.

She was no slut however but it never stopped some boys from saying she had put out. It was far worse on the occasions that she was taken in by the sham affections of some boys. Getting what they wanted had been like winning a trophy and they couldn't keep their victories to themselves. It was no wonder that she grew to loath her parents. They had given her a name without any knowledge of its consequences and were losers that made them bad parents. She wondered how things might have been had they actually made the fortune they craved for. Messalina doubted they would have been content. They would just have found other investments to fritter their wealth on. The more she thought about it they weren't just unlucky losers but gamblers. Like any addicted gambler they had been destined to just place bigger bets until they lost it all.

At eighteen she left home, no longer able or willing to stand being in their company. Unlike her parents she intended to work hard for what life could offer. She worked on a farm at first, gaining enough money a year later to attend an agricultural college. At twenty she could have gone on to university but money held her back. So she decided to put her now found qualifications to work with one of the many corporations experimenting with the multitude of flora found on the newly discovered worlds. Then she would save, get to university and become one of the well-paid botanical scientists she ended up working with. There'd be no need for risky investments. With a job like that she'd have every bit of material wealth available and no one would ever make fun of her clothing again.

Saturn Interstellar Galactic Medical Associates (SIGMA) were her employers, which was ironic. The one venture her parents had been involved in on the ground floor had become the largest and most profitable medical research company ever. Just as it had begun to make a profit they had pulled out of it and invested a small fortune in a gold mining operation. Unfortunately the gold market had tumbled a few months later and they were left with almost nothing. Some might think that she would have found SIGMA distasteful as it would bring back bad memories but Messalina didn't think that way. The way she saw it was that it was a positive reminder to be anything other than like her parents.

She enjoyed the work she was given and did well enough at it that she was given more interesting work. After a few short months she went to a research facility on an uncolonized planet called Serendipity. It was a planet that SIGMA wholly owned and the work there was shrouded in mystery. On her first day she went to the office of her boss Dr. Kane. "Please come in Miss Jones. Take a seat and we'll have a chat about this facility." The doctor was like most of the researchers put in charge of such places. He was in his late forties to early fifties, seemed to have something of an inflated opinion of himself and tended to regard young people with a level of kindness that bordered on patronization. With regard to young women in particular he often seemed as if he thought they ought to get a good spanking, regularly and as a precursor to bed. Messalina thought that given they all wore the uniform of a white lab coat that might as well have been cloned.

Messalina for her part looked every inch what he imagined his female lab assistants to look like. Approaching twenty one she had a perfect figure, a nice little bottom for him to spank, firm pert breasts and a pretty face that he could see splashed with his cum even as he talked to her. He would try his luck with her at some convenient stage and hopefully she would prove to be everything her name suggested to him. "You are bound to secrecy by your contract as you know." Bound was a word he liked, it conjured up images of many other girls he'd tied up and it was easy to imagine his new employee the same way. She smiled at him innocently and feeling the swelling in his pants coughed to clear his throat, or rather to clear his mind and get on with the matter at hand. "What we are developing here is a new drug that we believe will be the biggest selling drug of all time." It was hardly a speech she hadn't heard before. Her parents had said similar things before and at her last post they were developing a cure for cancer.

The doctor picked up a remote control, swiveled in his chair and turned on a large screen behind him. "Flora Parasitus Amourus." A picture of a plant appeared on the screen. "Or as we call it the 'love plant'." The odd thing Messalina had found about most non-terrestrial plant was that it was quite earth like and this one did not seem any different. At the base were leaves and fronds and out of that grew too stems. At the top of each stem was a pod. "The love plant is the most interesting parasitic life form we have ever come across. It is unable to develop seeds of its own or to make new plants by itself. The one pod contains a very small seed that cannot germinate in anything other than the womb of a host animal." He pressed another button and the screen filled up with a small herd of indigenous animals that looked like deers.

"Watch now. One of the animals gets close enough to the plant that it can detect female hormones and then one of the pods explodes." A shower of white dust hits the air and the animal seems to stagger for a few seconds. "The powder is a powerful aphrodisiac and also stupefies the animal to remaining where it is. Then the stem holding the other pod moves toward the vagina of the animal, which is now sexually excited. The pod goes in and after finding its way far enough fires in a seed." Messalina had certainly never seen any plant do anything like that before. "The animal then wanders off and the plant dies. Inside the animal the seed germinates and spreads to the nervous system via the spinal column over a period of seven days. Once in control of the animal it keeps it an almost constant state of sexual arousal, thereby attracting males who mate with it. On its own the germinated seed will use the host's sexual liquids to produce seeds, which will grow in soil but the process is speeded up considerably if other sexual liquids are added i.e. sperm."

"The host animal now deposits seeds that will grow and infect the rest of the herd, and so on and so on." Messalina found it fascinating, "What happens to the herd?" Doctor Kane moved the video onto a different scene, "The host lactates and the males, after drinking some of the milk follow the host everywhere for some reason. It's probably another sexual stimulant but we have only been researching the plants. As for the herd, it eventually dies out. The females all become infected and no longer reproduce young. They just keep producing seeds until they die. I'm sure you're wondering why there is still animal life here that the plants have not wiped out. Temperature is a big factor. The plants need warmth. A simple morning frost would be enough to kill them so it is only along the equatorial line that they can exist."

"They are also incompatible with some life forms such as fish and birds as they do not mate in the same manner as mammals. There are also some life forms here that are so big that they don't even notice the plants and frequently trample over them. That's generally how the plants are kept in check. Tell me Miss Jones what you think." It was a genuinely professional question but in the back of his mind the obvious sexual aspect was too delicious not to hope she'd answer in that manner. "It's the most fascinating plant I ever heard of let alone seen Doctor. I suspect that it is not the seeding pod that is being researched." He nodded and raised his eyebrows, which together with his open palm indicated that if she were to impress him then she should continue, as the answer was far too brief.

"Well from only what I've seen I'd say that the powder has possibilities for male impotence, sexual recreation and perhaps as a fertility drug. It is definitely not addictive, as the infected animal would have returned to the plant again so if there were some narcotic effect it could be marketed as a clean drug. The only problems I envisage concern being able to break to compound down into viable constituents. If the powder was simply marketed as it is then it might do all of those things but there's greater profit in selling ten drugs to do ten things rather than one. However breaking down the compound has probably meant reducing the potency or making it useless."

"Very good Miss Jones. Tell me what you think may be possible side effects from what you've seen." She shrugged her shoulders, "There aren't any obvious side effects of the drug alone that are obvious. The powder acts immediately with its effects but it is the seed that continues the process. I'd be interested in finding out what the side effects are, if any and I assume that you've used human test subjects. As for long term testing I wouldn't have thought that mattered beyond conclusions we can reach in a lab." The doctor gave her a huge smile, "Excellent! You realise of course that it was your attitude I wanted to get at." Images of tearing open her blouse and mouthing her ripe breasts competed with what he wanted to say. "Coming here should be a clear indication that we intend to pay for your time at university. A well-qualified scientist that we have nurtured will be of great use to the company. Of course any niggling doubts over things like long term effects have no place here."

"You are to some extent on trial here. Learn what you can and show willing and before the year is up you'll be off to University on full pay." Showing willing was what he liked in young female assistants. He'd play the usual game with her. At first a guiding hand. A father figure but still with some playful sexuality to it. Then a more obvious approach and finally the grateful woman would be his. It took varying lengths of time and sometimes it failed but more often than not it did not. "Now I'll show you to your supervisor and you can get to work."

People like work they are interested in. People like work that they have an incentive to do well at. But people like work best of all when both are combined. Messalina enjoyed her time at the lab. She knew Doctor Kane wanted sex and she didn't find the prospect unappealing. Past experience taught her not to be too easy though. She'd wait almost right up to time she left before she gave him what he wanted. She was sure he wouldn't mind the wait too much, as he was known to be bedding several other women at the facility. The world or more aptly the galaxy was her oyster. She loved her work and was going places. A few years at University then she'd be one of the scientists. Then the money would really roll in. She'd be involved with projects more interesting even than the one she was right then.

Stretched out before her would be more steps up the ladder, more money better things to buy and so on. A month before she was due to leave for Earth though she realised something. The money was going to be good but hardly a fortune. It'd be maybe another ten years before she actually owned a house instead of paying a mortgage. What if her career didn't go so fast and she ended up like Doctor Kane, middle aged stuck at one job, not moving up the ladder anymore? It was a crazy thought though. How come she didn't think she'd be satisfied with what he had? He had more money rolling in than she could spend right then.

One day she began work as normal and went off to take a sample of the powder from one of the plants. After planting a seed in soil the fully-grown plant was then transferred into its own jar where it was fed nutrients and kept in a hermetically sealed room. Messalina entered the room in her chemical suit, which was more than a precaution around the plants. Her own scent had to be kept away from the plants and the powder had to be kept away from her. Safely sealed off behind a layer of rubber and plexi glass she could go to an individual jar without danger. The jar was made of two pieces screwed together above the base of the leaves and fronds. She unscrewed it and the plant remained motionless. Then she picked up a sample jar and held it beneath the powder pod before severing it from the rest of the plant. She saw it visibly wilt and knew that someone would come along and dispose of it shortly.

Later on she went to collect the soil seeds from the host animals that were penned up. There was nothing dangerous about that task and it required no suit. Only the animal's heads protruded to be fed. Toward the rear of the pen fecal and urine deposits collected in a small drum, along with seeds. Lab assistants like her collected the drum, took out the seeds and emptied out the waste. With no external sexual activity an animal always produced one seed a week but sometimes two and even three on rare occasions. On that day her animal had produced two and before she knew what she was doing she slipped one inside her rubber glove. Back in her apartment she put the seed on her bedside table and looked at it. It was so innocuous sat there. By itself it was nothing but it had so much potential.

All those tests she'd run and reports she'd read and helped compile. The powder might be capable of many things they hadn't even considered but it would probably take so long to break down properly that she'd probably still be working on it in another thirty years. The powder by itself was definitely something special without being broken down. It apparently gave an intense feeling of pleasure more intense than any human made drug yet produced. It was non-addictive and had no side effects beyond mild, temporary, increase in heart rate and blood pressure. It was supposedly so much better than any drug that junkies took that it had the potential to completely wipe out the human drug problem. Why would anyone take anything else? It would be cheaper, more available and be considered a recreational drug. It would be good for humanity so why not make some money providing it too.

Messalina thought about the possibilities. She could easily buy a cattle shed and fill it full of animals that would provide her with seeds. In another building she could harvest the powder and sell it. She had a distant cousin she got on with well that was a cop. She'd be bound to see the sense in the venture and be able to arrange for it to be sold by drug dealers. Her first calculation of roughly how much she could make seemed small after a while. Perhaps they ought to aim higher and bring in more drug dealers and have a much bigger farm. Hell, why not go legit after a while and then go interstellar. SIGMA was selfish not marketing the product there and then, but then their greed would work to her benefit. She remembered a history lesson about how China had cornered the market on silk by keeping all the silk worms to themselves. She then saw herself as the brave monk that smuggled out some silk worms and gave the world affordable silk.

Yes, it was only fair to herself, but especially mankind that she did this and if it made her rich beyond her wildest dreams then so be it. There was just a slight problem though. The seed was almost as big as a golfball so it would easily be seen on the security scanners if she put it in her bag. Swallowing or otherwise inserting it into her body was unlikely to work either. She could put it in her vagina but it would likely be uncomfortable and she was worried how she might get it out. Besides she didn't want to discover that it could germinate in a womb, as they had never tested that out. There was only one way she could get the plant back to earth but that was unthinkable. However she had plenty of time to think up something. Her quarters were private, as were everyone's so it would be easy to grow it and then she'd extract the tiny seed and find somewhere, not on her person to hide it.

Her fish died an ignominious death in her toilet. Their glass tank become a home to the seed in the soil Messalina took from her other plant pots. She cut a circular hole and another rectangle in the plexi glass tank. With the aid of some rubber sealant she sealed off the circular hole with a rubber dishwashing glove. She then made a plastic drawer, which slid into the rectangle. Before the final seal went on she put in a pair of scissors that would serve as secateurs. When the plant was ready she would put her hand in the glove, pick up the secateurs, snip the head off the seedpod, and then put it into the tray. She could then slide out the tray, slice up the pod, remove the seed and after disposing of the evidence no one would be any the wiser and she would be completely safe.

The truth was she was still not quite sure about what she was doing. There was a nagging doubt that everyone gets before they do anything, which they know, is wrong. But people convince themselves that it is perfectly justifiable. For Messalina all it took was listening to scientists bragging about their houses on Mars or Earth, how they had bought a ranch for their retirement on Rief or how they were going to buy a cruiser and just see the sights around the galaxy. If greed drove people to extraordinary lengths then envy was there to push that little bit further. Time went on and by the time the plant had matured Messalina had just four days before she left. She knew she'd have to harvest the seed soon so she had enough time to get rid of the dead plant but she put it off and put it off.

The following morning she stepped out of the shower and toweled herself down. She went back into her bedroom dressed in a towel wrapped around her breasts and another around her wet hair. Before she took off the towel to dry her hair she paused, "I'll definitely have to get the seed after I get dressed." Then she frowned at herself, "What am I talking about? I keep putting it off and putting it off. Why don't I just get it over with and do it now/" With the practiced disregard for safety that many have from familiarity with a job she did without any protective clothing, not even a mask. She strode confidently to the plexi glass tank and promptly slipped. Her wet feet had slid on the linoleum floor and sent her backwards. Instinctively she tried to break her fall on the set of drawers that the tank was sat on. It tipped it over and it hit the floor.