Auria

Chapter 20 - Revelations

“Where do we go now?” asked Auria.

Bob lowered eyes below the rim of his hat when the chair leaned forward.  The hat turned slightly to the right, away from Auria and her concerned gesture.  She took the hint and returned to the others in the supply room.

“I'm hungry.” she said.
“We're all hungry.” said 238.
“Want to see something cool.” said Loof.  “Watch this.”

Loof began to breath, taking in huge gulps of air.  Every breath made his little tummy swell, causing the monkey baby to expand a fattening belly.

“I think I've found food.” said 238.

Everyone turned their attention to 238 and began digging through the crate where he stood, even fighting to see who would search.  Gen kicked the box, sliding it across the bay.  Sot jumped on top while it slid and began tossing things out.

Auria flipped end over end, scaring Sot away when she landed.  Gen dashed forward and grabbed Auria around the back of the neck, tossing her across the room.  She landed at 238's feet to witness him stuffing something in his mouth.  She kicked 238's feet from beneath him.  He landed upside down, spitting a chunk of food into Sot's waiting arms.  Gen slapped the backside of Sot's bony hand, tossing the chunk in the air.  It stuck against a high ceiling and refused to fall.

“This is my defense mechanism against being eaten.” said Loof.

A fat, fury ball bounced higher and higher until it grabbed the chunk from the ceiling.  Loof had filled his body with air, becoming a huge, spherical, monkey balloon.  He continued to bounce, ricocheting off walls, crates and, the people chasing him.  Gen reached around and grabbed hold, then realized Loof's red rear-end pointed directly at his face.

“Poof.” came a gush of wind.

Moist air expelled through Loof's bulbous anus, blowing Gen's lips back and forth and his gray hair thrown askew.  Gen fell backwards, tossing the speeding monkey-ball into the ship's bridge-room.  Loof struck the wall exactly where a bright planet covered the view-screen.  The chunk of food fell, landing in Bob's patient, waiting hand.

A panel opened.  Bob dropped the chunk toward the panel hole, hitting the lid on one side, then bounced to the other and spun around the lid until it toppled and fell inside.  The lid shut tightly in a loud sucking sound.  Bob had barely moved though three humans and Sot now encircled Bob and the panel, cursing.  Loof's face peeked from inside a bright planet on-screen to laugh.

“This looks like the place to find food.” said baby Loof.

As the ship turned and began its descent toward the blue planet, another vortex opened, pulling the ship inside before closing.

“Why did you do that?” said Gen.  “We were almost there.”

The ship rematerialized inside a dark tunnel.  The ship's lights illuminated damp walls, revealing an old installation with long, metal-lined tunnels, doorways and ramps leading in various directions.  Bob reached a hand forward and closed fingers, forming a fist.  The outside illuminated, revealing a vast, underground city, long abandoned.  Bob landed the shuttle beside a small building, dust blowing from beneath its tripod feet.  The ramp opened, sending a musty odor throughout the ship.

“What kind of crap-hole is this?” said Gen.
“If Bob likes it here, then I like it here.” said Auria.

Gen huffed and followed the crew down the ramp.  Bob exited last, closing eyes to red-scan the city.  His mind's-eye sent a pulsing wave of shadowy echoes.  It flashed across every object, leaving the central part in shades of red.  Everything turned into darkness once more, then lines of scanning beams appeared from an approaching landing vessel.  Humans in suits left the ship.  Tracks illuminated, heading toward and into their small building.

Bob reversed the images, sending the humans backwards into their ship, the darkness hiding everything once more.  The scene halted and reversed many times, revealing one dark spot on the concrete.  He blinked and the red-stained images were gone.  Auria stood at the bottom of the ramp waiting for Bob.  He grunted, lowered the brim of his hat and followed Auria into the building.

“Are you alright?” she asked.
“No.” he continued, passing her and the crew into the next room.

Lines of machinery covered both walls.  Wherever Bob passed, lights turned on and simple machinery moved slightly, turning off again when he rounded the corner.  Gen noticed a huge, man-shaped, robot torso sticking half-way out of the floor.  He casually followed the rest hoping for an answer.

“I'd hate to have to fight that thing.”
“Fight what?” asked 238, still holding baby Loof around his shoulders.
“Nothing.” said Gen.  “You just keep watching Auria's back.”
“Okay.  It is nice.” said 238.

Auria's muscular backside bounced to the left and to the right when she walked, mesmerizing the two men behind her.  There was a slinky, seductive, feminine gate about her, followed by the smell of hormonal sweat and a gentle bounce of red hair lightly caressing shoulders.  A swooning Loof curled tightly around 238's neck.  The more he watched Auria, the tighter Loof squeezed.

Auria's steps became slower and more sultry as one after another, they side-shifted and flexed, revealing muscle upon muscle, vein upon vein.  Loof moaned and pulled against itself, encircling his neck once more with its rope-like body.  238 felt the heat coming from friction in her bikini bottom; sliding back and forth across hard, meaty, perfectly-round handle-bars.  Every movement became so relaxed, allowing everything to slow to a crawl, even 238's steps.  He fell face-first, passing out from a lack of oxygen.

“Babe, I told you I was sexually active.” said Loof.
“Stud Muffin.” said Gen.  “That's his new name.”
“Stud... Muffin.” said Loof, reaching out to kiss unconscious lips.

He awoke to Loof licking his tongue, reaching deep inside a hungry mouth.  He caught himself licking Loof back and awoke drooling, spitting and coughing.  Everyone else had already gone ahead.

“Where...  Where am I?” he asked.
“You're in dreamland.  Let me hypnotize you.” said Loof, shaking his tail in the clone's lap.
“No...  I have to find them.”

He ran ahead leaving Loof to fend for itself.  The lighting grew dim, casting an eerie feeling from unknown images and unexplored rooms.  Walk into a huge room, he gasped, spying rows of silver, Pravan fighters stacked neatly into launch pods.  He turned to see a huge, shining-metal robot next to the exit.

“What in the hell?  You guys are really screwed.” he said, catching himself by the stomach.  He jerked when his own hand scared him.  “Where in the hell did Bob bring us?”

Auria and Gen sat on the floor meditating side by side.  There was a large, steaming plate of food sitting between them.  Bob brought another and sat it on a table in front of Sot.

“Don't bring another, please.” said Sot.  “I want to see this.”

Bob sidestepped and slipped into a chair beside Sot.  Both stared intently while Gen and Auria quietly played a mind-game.  The steaming food tempted Auria - who smirked in a moment of weakness.  Gen struck, pushing her several paces back, hands against shoulders.  She mashed the wall hard, reached across and grabbed Gen around the forearms.

He laughed a dull laugh, still biting into a warm pastry.  Auria lashed out and smashed the pastry in his lips, wrapped an arm around Gen's neck and pulled closer.  He pushed when she pulled, a slight counter-move.  Gen came off the floor, flipped over Auria and used both hands to catch himself.  He'd stopped her tossing throw, performing an upside-down hand-stand with food still sticking from his mouth.

“Not fair.  I can't use the gift, not since you killed me.” she said.
“I didn't use the gift.  You're not dead, but you need to eat.”
“But, you're going to die if I don't get to eat.”
“Make me a sandwich and I'll let you eat.”
“Never!”

She began kicking in the air, barely missing Gen.  He flipped out of the way and pushed off the wall, sailing above her into the middle of the room.  Swallowing a mouthful of crushed pastry, Gen tumbled above the plate on the floor, being careful not to touch anything.  He stuck the landing next to a table with another entirely-new pastry sticking from his mouth.

“Not fair.” she screamed.
“Want to know what is fair?” said Gen, pulling out the food to speak.
“No.  I don't.”
“I'll let you have this last bite... if you beg for it.”

She grimaced, shrugged shoulders and ran - right past Gen.  Auria stepped on Bob's table and jumped extremely high.  While in the air, she grabbed a metal bar near the ceiling for leverage, kicked both feet against the ceiling and pushed herself back toward Gen.  He laughed and stepped to the side, but not before she swung a metal rod hitting him in the left ear.  Gen spun and fell.

“You snooze, you lose.” she said, picking up the pastry and walking away.
“I have to tell you something.” said 238, sticking his head in the room, gasping for breath.
“Give me a minute.” she said, walking to the other end of the room to hide the hot, sweet muffin.  Auria tried to hurry and eat, snickering and attempting to hide her actions.  “Uh... minute...” she grumbled and held one finger behind the back in his direction.
“This is serious.  Why doesn't anyone take me seriously?”
“Ah... dunno.” she gulped.

238 stepped back into the hallway and paused for a moment.
“Loof.” he said, returning in the direction of Bob's ship.

Loof noticed a vent high in the hall ceiling.  Metal crates were stacked neatly near another vent to the left.  Loof climbed, released a lever and opened the grid door.  It seemed very dark inside the round air-duct.  Loof waited, allowing its eyes to expand, becoming larger and dark-pupil-ed.  Its sight fixated on the other end of the tube.  The oval-shaped walls shaded in yellow as finger-sized eye-stalks peaked from Loof's small head.

“No, go back down.” said Loof, hitting the eye-stalks, pushing them back into skull sockets.  Loof leaned forward and grunted, barely able to stand straight in the small tube.

“Time to dance.”

The baby monkey raked claws against metal side-walls, running on all fours to speed along.  Spinning circles around corners and galloping through the pipe, it finally entered a larger tube.  Loof righted itself and pounced, hopping and galloping as a higher ceiling gave a taller head-clearance.  Seeing a light ahead, it stopped to peek through another vent grid.

Below, a door swung open.  Spacesuits entered the building as scanning-lasers flashed and zipped into every crevice and cranny.  A green laser illuminated Loof's vent-hole, causing the baby monkey to lean into the wall and morph skin colors.  Its body silvered, the same color as the pipe walls and huge, glossy eyes faded from view.  Loof's hair stiffened and grayed to match the duct.

A metal probe flew from a gloved hand toward the vent.  At the top, a laser cut the grid spindles, spilling molten droplets everywhere in a gust of smoke.  The probe entered and followed along the tube.  Loof became un-glued from the round wall and chased the probe while it scanned and hovered down the pipe.  The monkey poked on the metal ball several times, smiling as its hand slapped the probe and bounced it against the bottom of the duct.  Loof danced and played, keeping up with the glowing, silver bird.

At an intersection, the probe turned, seeing Loof's enormous, dark eyes inspecting in return.  Another probe rounded the corner just behind the baby monkey.  Both probes charged and fired lasers, striking each other when Loof quickly tensed legs and pounced out of the way.  Two smoking, metal balls hung from a string beneath Loof when it opened a vent cover and sailed - using skin-flaps between arms and legs, landing on Sot's head.

“What's this?” Sot asked.
“We... are not alone.” whispered Loof, dangling the two busted probes between its legs, tapping Sot on the chin.

Auria ran toward the door and peeked up and down the hallway.  “Has anyone seen 238?”
“Has anyone seen Bob?” asked Gen.