Thistledown Chapter 2

Thistledown

Jay’s Story: Life

I found among all the death and destruction a place of life. It seemed that not all the Habitat Controllers stood against me: a few did not want independence and desired the restoration of the Center, much like myself. One such Controller ruled the habitat I was about to enter. I touched my right hand to the hatch control panel, and it changed phase, allowing me to step through into the first of the airlocks. When the first hatch had reverted to its solid phase, the hatch in front of me phased open, and I passed through into a short tunnel at the end of which there was yet another hatch. I passed through this second and last airlock quickly. I do not know what I expected. Perhaps it was a bio female waiting there to greet me. The reality was far different.


I entered a place of mountains, verdant valleys, waterfalls, swift flowing streams and rivers. The rich, lush aromas of life assailed me and I felt an indescribable sense of joy. I wandered slowly through this wonderful world. I delighted in exploring for everything was new to me. I spent hours standing under the cold water of a waterfall, enjoying the sensations of wet and cold and the pressure of the water on my skin. I lay prone beside a fast flowing brook watching tiny silver fish dart among the rocks. I remained motionless as a small grey furred animal with clever, long-fingered hands, made its way out onto a flat rock in the middle of the stream, and watched as it deftly picked the fish from the stream until a silver pile lay beside it on the rock. It ate each fish with delicate little nibbles and made its way back to shore. The small creature passed in front of me, stopping for a moment to look at me through bright yellow eyes before continuing on its way into the forest.

The forest consisted primarily of tall, many branched trees with leaves like broad, dark green needles, and long twisted roots that grasped the stony ground and twined about the larger rocks. These trees held the higher ground and lower down in dells and the larger valleys, thick limbed grey barked trees with tiny pale green leaves held sway. Bright colored winged creatures flew among the branches of the dark leafed trees and I delighted in their chirping songs. Grass grew among the trees in the valleys and delicate, silver grey and ash grey striped creatures grazed in herds amidst the trees. They bounded away when I approached; and though I am swift, I could never catch one to have a closer look at it.

In a long dale with a slow flowing stream winding through it, I met up with my first bios. I heard their voices long before I saw them working in a field of golden grasses. They were cutting the grasses with long-handled curved knives and tying the stalks in bundles, which were placed upright against each other in pyramidal formations. One of the males put down his long knife and made his way through the stubble to my side when I stepped onto the field.

“You're looking for work?” The male asked. He mopped his brow, on which stood droplets of briny smelling liquid, with a large rag. “I do have bundling work available, if you are of a mind to spend some time here.”

“Explain work,” I said.

“You’re making a fool of me, right?” He said. “Work is what you see my sons over there doing. We could use an extra hand. The pay won’t be good; a single gold for a week’s labor. I provide lodging and meals, so you won’t have to spend cash on those. So what do you say?”

“I think I will try this work,” I said. “It looks interesting to me.”

I followed the male to where others of his kind cut the tall grasses. He told one of the younger males to show me how to bundle the cut stalks. I recorded the procedure to memory and soon had a good rhythm going as I made the cut grasses into neat, perfectly aligned bundles with each golden seed-head precisely even at the top. I kept working even at those times when the bios paused for rest. I am synth and never need to rest for I never grow tired. When the light grew red, the bios shouldered their tools and began walking toward a collection of buildings I could just make out in the distance.


“Are you not coming with us?” Said one of the younger men, when he saw that I had not moved. “We have food, drink, and a warm place to sleep waiting for you.”

“I will remain here for a while,” I said.” And I will go my own way after that.”

“As you will,” said the older male. “Our door is open for you, should you change your mind.”

I stood for a long time in the field, reveling in the odors of the cut grass, and in the prickly feel of the stubble on the bottom of my feet. The red light faded and darkness settled in. From the edges of the cut field, tiny creatures made their cautious way into stubble and over to the bundles. They swarmed up the bundles and ate from the seed-heads. I wondered why the bios had done nothing to protect the bundles from being eaten. Other, larger creatures appeared, long and sinuous with sharp, pointed ears. These creatures feasted on the smaller creatures, which soon began disappearing into the wild grasses at the edge of the field. The larger creatures stretched out by the bundles of grass, and remained watchful. I went on my way, following in the footsteps of the bios.

I passed by their houses with the light shining from the windows. For a while, I a noisy, brown and white haired creature accompanied me. I passed more houses standing close together. From a large house came the noisy sounds of bios, and I stopped for a moment, thinking I might go in. Before I could move, the door burst open and a bio making rhythmic, high pitched noises came running out. I recognized it as being female and took a step toward it. The female made more of the rhythmic noises as a bio male appeared in the doorway. She lifted up her skirts, revealing strong, solid legs, and ran. The male chased her, caught her about the waist, and swung her around. He held her head, placed his mouth on hers and mashed it about. They did this mouth mashing for a long time. She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep him in place. He loosened the top of her clothing, setting free the sizable protuberances attached to her chest. He played with them, squeezing hard with his hands, rubbing with his fingers, and taking the pointed ends in his mouth. He put his mouth on top of hers again and his fingers worked at his own clothing. His linking rod sprang free. For a moment it jutted straight out from his body, then curved upward, and came to rest against his body.

The female lowered herself to the ground and knelt in front of him. She took his linking rod in her hands and put her mouth around it. He held her head as he moved his linking rod back and forth in her mouth. They were mating. I had not realized that a female bios linking place was in the mouth. One of her hands caressed his storage sacks, and the other rubbed vigorously between her legs. Suddenly the male shuddered all over, and cried out. He pulled his linking rod out of the female’s mouth. They had finished mating.

No, they were not finished. The female stood up, and the male pushed her against the side of the building. She lifted her skirts, and his hand began to work rhythmically between her legs. She moaned and sank down to the ground. The male got on top of her, and his linking rod disappeared between her legs. He moved up and down on her, slowly at first, and then faster and faster, until they both cried out and shuddered. Had that been another form of mating? I had a lot to learn. The male and female bio lay quietly together for a while. They got up, straightened their clothing and went back into the house.

I took one step, two steps, three steps toward the large house. Perhaps I could find a female there suitable for my needs. I imagined myself with a female, sliding my linking rod into her, spurting my machines into her, and her changing, becoming perfect for me. I went up to the building and looked through one of the windows.The large room was filled with both male and female bios, all of which appeared to be in the early stages of the mating process.

“Why don’t you be coming inside,” said a voice from the doorway to my right. “And join in the festivities. No need to be standing outside getting cold, when you can be warm inside.” A thin male, wiping his hands on a cloth that hung from his belt, cocked his head at me expectantly.

I followed the man inside. “You be a bit eager, Boash,” he said to a giant of a male with a thick mat of brown hair all over the lower part of its face, standing on the bottom step of a stairway leading up to a second floor. The male had a small, struggling, female tucked under one arm. “You know the proper way to be doing things. You go up alone, gets yourself ready, and I be bringing her up to you. That be my right as her father.”

“I bought the right to break her membrane with good gold,” said the male named Boash. “It ain’t like I’m taking her to wife. I’m breaking her in for your customers, and you know that, you skinny old man.” He turned and moved swiftly up the stairs, the steps cracking and creaking under the weight of his steps.

The same kind of creaking and cracking noises came from over my head as the large male moved around in the room above. Everyone in the room had fallen silent, and it was silent above my head as well. For an endless moment, an expectant hush hung over the room; not one person moved or spoke. Then a high-pitched scream of pain tore apart the silence, and a rhythmic thumping began overhead.

After a loud groan sounded above me, the thumping stopped, and the ceiling creaked again. Everyone in the room hit their hands together, when the small female appeared at the top of the stairs. She walked down it as if holding something large and painful between her legs. As she came into the bright light of the big room, I saw she was naked. A drop of red liquid oozed down the inside of her right leg, and red scratches and teeth-marks covered the small protuberances on her chest. A clear, watery liquid ran from her eyes onto her face. The large male followed behind her, and he, too, was naked. His body was all covered with light-brown hair, and his large linking rod pointed up at the ceiling. He carried a white piece of cloth with an irregular patch of red on it, over one arm.

“Here is the bloody sheet to hang on your wall,” he said, holding up the cloth so that everyone could see the red spot. I went over and touched it. The spot was wet and some of it adhered to my fingers. I touched my tongue to my fingers; the wetness had the taste of salt, copper, and something I could not name. The thin man took the cloth and with the help of two other males, soon had it hanging over the fireplace.

I did not understand the purpose of what these bios did. The large, hairy male had done something to the small female to make both the red and the clear liquids come out of her. From the size of the red area on the white cloth, a good amount of the red fluid had come out of her and it meant something special to the bios.

“I do not understand,” I said, pointing at the cloth hanging above the mantle.

“You don’t understand what?” Asked a red-haired female, coming up beside me. “I be Taspia, and I know most everything that be of any importance to a man.”

“I do not understand what has happened here,” I said, “and why the red fluid on the cloth is so important.”

“What happened is that Boash, rammed his male organ into my little sister, breaking her membrane in the process,” Taspia said with a grin. “I must say that she bled a lot more than I did. But, then, I didn’t have someone as well-endowed as Boash to open my gateway to paradise.” She looked me over, licking her full lips as if she planned to devour me. “Speaking of the entrance to heavenly bliss… how about you be coming upstairs with me and I’ll let you have a quick in and out for free?”

“What is the meaning of that?” I pointed up at the cloth over the fireplace.

“That’s a male thing,” Taspia said. “A trophy, like all the other trophies up on that wall. Boash will take the sheet home in the morning, and it will join all the others hanging on his walls."

I noticed for the first time that the heads of two snarling creatures hung on the wall at either side of the stone chimney of the fireplace. Before I could move to have a closer look, Taspia took me by the hand and pulled me toward the stairs.

“Are you ready for your free ride?” Her voice sounded thick and husky.

“I wouldn’t take her up on her offer,” called out one of the males. “She’s giving her favors away for free ‘cause no man is willing to pay for them. Make use of her and she’ll give you the clap, boy.”


This was perfect: a female bio offered herself to me. I would fill her with my special machines, and she would be changed into a synth in no time at all. Then I would take her to the Center, where the two of us would become the ship’s Master Control; and all would be as it was supposed to be. I followed her lead up the stairs. None of the rooms lining the hall had doors; only sagging curtains closed off the doorways. In one doorway, the material of the curtain lay heaped on the floor. I stopped and looked inside the room, overcome by my insatiable curiosity. On a large bed, the giant male lay on top of the small female; his buttocks clenched and unclenched as he moved languidly in and out of her. All I could see of the female were one pale leg, bent back at an impossible angle; an equally pale, thin arm, with the small hand wrapped in the thick hair of the head that worked at her chest protuberances; and her white face with its expression of pain.

“Come along now,” said Taspia, pulling at my arm. “Time’s wasting. I don’t have the whole night to spend with you. There be paying customers waiting.”

She opened the curtain of the next room, lay down on the bed, lifted her skirt and spread her legs. I looked at her linking organ. It was the very first time I had the opportunity to observe the linking organ of a female bio from close up. This one seemed most unsavory: a thick white liquid seeped out of it; red pustules, and white pustules covered the outer surface, and even with my smell sensors turned almost completely off, I caught the ripe, fishy aroma of it. I could not put my linking rod inside that. If all bio females had linking organs like that, then I feared that the Seedship would have to be without a Master Control.

I ran from the room, down the stairs, out the building, turned back to the trail and continued on my way. By morning, I had reached the stony feet of the mountains that enclosed that end of the valley.



A narrow trail wound its way upward among the rocks. I followed it, going ever higher, and then down into another valley. I halted at the top of the pass, and looked out over my next destination. A large valley filled with a patchwork of dark green, light green, brown, gold, pale yellow squares. A broad river meandered through the middle of it, lined on either side by small towns. Near the center of the valley, I saw a large collection of buildings, like many towns all in the same place. I started down the trail, and had not gone far when I met a bio male coming up the trail with a large pack on his back.

“What is that place with all the buildings down there?” I said, pointing in the direction of it.

The bio turned to look. “That’s the city of Cinrada, the place to go, if you’re going anywhere in this place.” He continued past me up the trail. “I hope you find what you’re looking for!” He called back after a while.

I hope I find what I’m looking for too. I would have to be a lot less discriminating if I were to test out my idea of changing a bio female into a synth like me. I would link with the next female I met and get things over with. No matter what her linking organ was like. The faster I changed a female, the faster I could return to the Center with her, and restore the Master Control.

I followed the trail down into the valley. On a high grass covered hill I found a group of bio males and females watching over a large group of long, white-haired animals. I went over to them and grabbed one of the females. I tried to push her down to the ground, but she kicked and struggled so much that I lost whatever grip I had on her. To make matters worse, the other males and females beat me over the head and body with the long poles they carried. I ran from the unpleasant sensations of being hit. Two of the males chased me for a long ways down the trail, hitting me hard with the poles whenever they got the chance. Eventually I drew away from them and they abandoned the chase.

Obviously, I needed to find a female who was alone.

Thistledown Chapter 3  (XGC) Jay comes to the House of Joy -second draft #732012 by Petronella60 -on hiatus