Posted by PK on April 28, 2003 at 17:10:36:
"You really think one of your kind's been eating all our friends?" Michelle, at the back of her
mind, could not believe she was saying the things she heard coming out of her mouth.
"I don't doubt it for a minute," said Albert truthfully.
Michelle came closer. She peered at his wide mouth. Albert poked his tongue out. "What
other functions?" she asked. "How far in does it go?"
"All the way, and it's prehensile," said Albert, blessing the trader who'd sold him a translation
module with a good vocabulary. Better than his own, actually, it seemed to think in the
language. He slipped his tongue under Michelle's T-shirt and flipped it off, over her head.
She giggled but didn't seem to mind.
"Can I see?" she asked eagerly.
"Feel free," said Albert, opening his mouth wide. Michelle leaned forward, consumed by
scientific curiosity. She could feel Albert's tongue tip caressing her bare skin, but it didn't
bother her, it felt nice and friendly, like an arm round the shoulder.
"All the way in," she muttered. Her voice, Carmel imagined, was starting to echo. "Sinuous,
definitely. Snaky and...ooh..."
Albert had managed to untie her bikini top, his tongue briefly caressing her small neat
breasts. Now it was slipping her miniscule thong off. Well, it wasn't much of a garment
anyway, and the night air was warm.
Michelle was wondering whether she could get any further in. Like a potholer looking at a
new hole in the ground, she just wanted to get in there and look around. Her skin was
tingling. What a friendly alien! Albert sensed this and helped out. He slipped his tongue
between her legs and tickled her. She jumped.
"Hey, careful, I almost fell into....HEY!"
Albert's tongue slid under her belly and up her back, hooking her by the crotch. He tightened
his grip and pulled.
"Hey, don't...oh fuck. It's you, isn't it? You ate them all..mmph.." Michelle wondered how she
could have been so blind. How had she fallen for this? As she was pulled in, struggling half-
heartedly, Albert consoled her.
"Yes," he said. "I ate them all." He explained about the empathic mood enhancement as he
pulled her into his mouth. He didn't want her to feel bad about it. The link helped, and the
translator enabled him to talk with his mouth full. "No hard feelings?" he asked hopefully.
"Guess not," Michelle allowed generously, sighing as she gave in to the inevitable.
Somehow, even now, she couldn't blame him, it was just what he did. She was halfway into
Albert's stomach already and his cilia were tickling her. Another tug and plop! She was all the
way in. She writhed around in there, getting comfortable. She might as well. Predator and
prey communed in silence for some time as she started to be digested.
"What a nice girl," Albert finally pronounced. Carmel glared at him. He ignored it, refusing to
allow her jealousy to spoil his enjoyment. She'd be happy enough once her turn came, which
wouldn't be long now. She had been right, their laziness in picking on her former friends was
bound to draw attention to her eventually.
The one good thing about Carmel's little moods was that they never lasted long. On the way
back to the ship, after Albert's meal had settled enough for him to move, she seemed
thoughtful rather than sulky. Once they arrived and she had her mug in hand, she announced
that she'd been thinking.
"Oh?" Albert invited.
"I'll have to disappear soon," she went on. "If I don't, sooner or later somebody will link me to
the missing girls. I'll be seen talking to one of them, or something."
"But that's not a problem," Albert protested. "If anybody starts asking questions I can
'diappear' you then." It really would be a shame to lose such an asset before he was finished
with her.
"The cops aren't stupid," Carmel explained. "If they think I'm involved, they won't arrest me.
They'll just watch me. And if they follow me here..." She spread her hands.
On second thoughts, what the hell, nobody's indispensable. "Shall I eat you next or put you
away for later?" Albert asked brightly, rubbing his foreclaws. Good job she'd thought of that.
Not just a tasty meal, that girl.
Carmel laughed. "If you like," she said. "What I meant was, I'd better move in here and not
be seen with anybody any more. That way, I'll be one of the 'disappeared' as well. I can
spend my time writing plans out for you."
"Plans?"
"For all the others. If I get seen after this, you'd better really put me away. Put me in the
locker for your little going away party. If you can hold off that long, I kind of like the idea of
being your last meal on Earth."
This trip, anyway, thought Albert, but didn't say it. He was of necessity acquiring some tact.
"Or I could just stuff you," he offered.
Carmel stared at him. "Stuff me? Like a roast chicken?"
"No, no, I mean..." he consulted his translator modules 'help' files. "Have you preserved and
mounted. A hunt trophy."
Carmel's jaw dropped. "You wouldn't," she said strickenly.
"But you'd look magnificent," said Albert. It was something of a sacrifice for him even to
suggest wasting good girlmeat like that, but wouldn't she impress his friends? He imagined
her naked and tantalising, in a showcase for all of them to envy. "Just a little souvenir of my
adventures on Earth," he'd say modestly.
"Tell me you're kidding," she said in a hollow voice. "You wouldn't do that to me." She
glanced nervously at the door to the food locker. If she went in there, would she come out to
be eaten or never awaken again?
Albert frantically tried to think what to say. "Got you!" he said at last. "As if I would!"
Carmel laughed a little hysterically. "You bastard," she choked out.
His empathic sense told Albert that she wasn't entirely reassured, but the uneasy moment
passed. For now.
Carmel sipped her brandy and milk moodily. "What about the other Space Monsters?" she
asked at last. "Are they real?"
"Oh, yes. I've met a few of them." Albert hoped she wasn't thinking about defecting. "Uncouth
lot, on the whole. You wouldn't want to meet them."
"Tell me more," Carmel demanded.
"Well, there are the Sirian Squids - bad lot if you ask me, no manners - but they work in the
sea. We Toads prefer a nice mix of countryside for our habitat."
"There are City Monsters?"
"Yes, a few. They lurk in abandoned buildings, derelict sites, basements..."
"Under the bed?" Carmel smirked.
"Not very often," Albert said seriously. Logistically impractical, he knew. Tight squeeze.
"What about Bugs? Like in the film. Did they make that up?"
Albert had seen it. "Oh, don't worry, they're not a real danger."
"Not dangerous? I thought...okay, it's Hollywood, they exaggerated, right? They don't eat
people?"
"Not at all. It's just that Bugs have no style, no finesse. They'll eat anything but they always
get out of hand. Then the Bureau comes and gets them." Albert shuddered involuntarily.
"You scared of those dudes?" Carmel teased.
Bet yer fuckin' life, thought Albert. He'd been living in America too long. Fortunately his
translator turned it into British.
"Just a bit," he said.
Carmel turned in for the night, but she found it hard to get to sleep. She couldn't rid herself of
the horrible idea that Albert would have her mounted as a trophy. She had no way of
preventing him from doing this and for the first time she wondered seriously if she could trust
him. She needed a plan. A dozen half-baked schemes formed in her mind. She could wait
until he was hungry and then sabotage the hunt. There would be any number of ways to do
that, but somehow the idea lacked appeal. She wanted him to feel compelled to have her....
Rosie would know what to do. Her little sister had always been the smart one. She sighed.
Eventually she drifted off into dreams. In the morning, she woke early and sneaked out.
Albert was near to distraction. Carmel had been gone for nearly two days and he was getting
worried about her. Had something happened to her? Worse yet, could she have abandoned
him? He racked his brains (it didn't take long) for something he might have said to upset her.
Surely it couldn't have been that innocent suggestion about having her mounted? It was just
a fanciful idea, but....
Yes, that must be it. He had offended her and now he was left to his own devices. He would
have to manage on his own. He sighed heavily. It had to be admitted that he had come to
rely on her, he was getting lazy, both mentally and physically. If he didn't catch someone
soon, he'd have to use up some of his stores. When he caught himself eyeing the tranquil
beauties lying in his larder, he pulled himself up short. This was sheer defeatism. He would
not waste his valuable resources, he would fend for himself again, as he had done before.
Bugger it, he thought as the nubile young jogger sped past, jumping over his extended
tongue as she would a fallen branch. He had meant to trip her, but she had evaded him
without even noticing. As he watched her recede down the trail (a tantalising sight, such a
lovely pair of legs and those buttocks!) he wondered if the prey were getting faster or it was
just him.
I'm out of shape, he realised. Sadly, he lumbered back to his ship and pondered his options.
Maybe one from the larder, just a little one he told himself, and then he could start to make
plans again. Lost in reverie, he made a large pot of hot milk and brandy and drank a bit
himself. Such good times they'd had, he thought forlornly. If only she were here...
Space Toads do not have the vocabulary to describe the state of being half-pissed and
maudlin, but Albert was on the way there when the doorbell rang. It wasn't really a bell,
but...forget it. Let's just say that a visitor's presence was announced. At any other time, Albert
would have started nervously and worried that the Bureau were calling, or at least a mob of
citizens brandishing torches, but he was too depressed to care. He opened the hatch and
went to greet whoever had come to see him.
"You!" he blurted. Don't be too hard on him. The brandy on an empty stomach had fuddled
his wits, never that sharp at the best of times, so his repartee might have lacked something
of his best. Besides, he seemed to be seeing double. Surely he couldn't be delirious with
hunger already?
"It's me," Carmel announced brightly. And indeed it was, large as life and twice as tasty in a
halter top, short skirt and sandals. Beside and a little behind her was her double, or so it
seemed. "And I brought a guest!"
The apparition stared at him open-mouthed. "You've got to be kidding," she said. "It's
animatronics, right? Something your crazy space-nut friends set up."
Now Albert was over the initial shock he could see that it wasn't quite another Carmel. This
one was slightly smaller, perhaps younger.
"Whatsa matter, cat got your tongue?" Carmel went on, "Albert, Rosie. Rosie, Albert. I
brought my little sister to see you! She doesn't believe in Space Aliens. Aren't you going to
invite us in?"
"Oh, of course, do come in," said Albert at last. "Very pleased to meet you, Rosie, very
pleased indeed." Indeed he was. Frantically he wondered how much Carmel had told her.
"It talks!" exclaimed Rosie entering with the boldness of the hopelessly naive. Obviously she
had no idea what was going on. "How did you manage that? Synthesiser, voice tapes or just
some guy with a mike in another room?" She followed as Albert lumbered carefully back into
the ship. "Is it all robotic or are there two guys in there working it?" She prodded Albert's
warty hide, oblivious to her proximity to his mouth. "Is this some sort of latex? It's a great job,
these guys must work for a film studio. If they don't, they should. Hey, it even drools!"
Albert surreptitiously operated a control and the hatch closed. Dinner at last! he thought
gratefully. As Rosie babbled on to her sister he appraised her as a gourmet would a first
class menu. One of those little bikini tops that tie in front, how thoughtful! Such a lovely
fashion, he'd always thought. Denim shorts, not so easy, likewise the trainers, but he would
manage. Much as it would normally have affronted his sense of propriety, he was hungry
enough to eat her fully dressed.
"So give, Sis, what's the punchline?" Rosie wanted to know. "It's not too bad as a set for a
cheesy retro space horror flick, you know, SO fifties, but what happens next? We fight the
thingy? It eats us? Hey, is this a casting thing, like I'm going to be in a movie?"
"You got me," said Carmel, palms up, "That's it. We have to sort of struggle a bit - not too
hard, we don't wanna damage the props - while the Space Monster eats us. The guys did
some great work on that, it even feels real." She slipped a hand between Albert's lips. "You
can get right inside. Wanna try it?"
"Sure, why not." Rosie eyed Albert, who had remained silent during this exchange, not
wanting to spook the girl. "Does it grab us or what? It won't look too good if we just crawl in
there. They did that in the one with the teen-eating carpet, it looked really dumb."
"I'll show you, but you'll have to take your clothes off, said Carmel cunningly.
"Whoah! No way! I'm not doing a free nudie for some horny SFX geeks! Hey, you guys in
there," she addressed Albert. "Nice try, but forget it!"
"Oh, come on," Carmel teased. "At least take your shoes off. You can't get chomped in
Nikes, it doesn't look right." Good girl, thought Albert encouragingly. "And the Levis, you got
panties on don't you?" She slipped off her own sandals and halter. "If you're too chicken to
show your boobs, I'll do that bit." Her full brown breasts bounced out as if glad to be free.
Albert gulped. Fresh food! His belly rumbled and various glands kicked into overdrive.