Thistledown Chapter 12

Thistledown

Nella’s Story

River Sphere: Conception

How could he? How could he? Ran like a refrain through my mind as I made my way to the deserted common room. I heard Amska rattling pots in the kitchen, singing loudly so that she didn’t hear me come in. I perched on the bench by the windows and looked out over the river. Had I ever been treated so cruelly by any man before in my life? What life? I was at the most ten days old as a synth. Did I mean my old life? That was no longer my life. It was her life; the life of the woman I used to be.

I erased her words, for better or for worse, I had a new life, and I had to make the best of it. I wished that I were less emotional and more machine-like; it would make things so much easier. Jay being less excitable would make life a lot easier too. Did I want him to be logical and unemotional? No, I liked him just as he was. However, there was Piper and I wasn’t going to stop wanting him any time soon.


I wasn’t ready to forgive Jay. Perhaps in a day or so I might feel different. For now, I was going to sit here and sulk. Maybe I would explore this new body of mine. I would find out how it worked, beginning with the things that Jay had shown me. My concentration moved inward. I won’t go into details, but at the end of a few hours, I knew enough about how the machines I was made of worked to make a change in the entry ring of my linking organ. I made it stretchable. All I had to do was test it out, and who better to test it out on than Piper.

“It’s good to be getting off my feet for a while,” said Amska, lowering her ample bulk on to the bench beside me. “I hadn’t seen you come in, else I’d have asked you to join me in the kitchen. I can always use a hand in there. How did things go with Piper? I heard that your husband, or whatever he is, threw Piper overboard. Was that before or after…?”

“Before,” I said. “Nothing happened with Piper. Nothing at all happened. He scribbled marks on paper and that is all.”

“He sketched you?” said Amska. “That means he’s going to carve you out of wood. He’s a very talented woodcarver. He carved that flute. Beautiful, isn’t it? Go ahead, pick it up, you can’t hurt it any by holding it.”

I picked up the flute. Flowing water reeds and fish curved around it. I held it under my nose. Piper’s aroma imbued the wood. One of the shocks went through me. I ran my fingers over the smooth surface of the carvings, and remembered the way that Piper’s hands had run over my body.

“You are thinking of him,” said Amska. “You should be thinking of that mate of yours.” She put her hand on my lower abdomen. “This egg in you is not going to wait much longer to be fertilized.”

“Egg? How do you know?” I checked the secret place and, as she said: a single egg, both synth and biological at the same time, floated in fluid waiting to be fertilized.

“Among my people there are some who have the inner-sight,” she said. “They see inside things. My mother passed the gift of this inner-sight on to me, and I passed it on to my oldest daughter. Sometimes it is a useful gift and at other times I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.” She shifted her bulk and sighed. “Would you mind sticking your hand under my skirt and giving me a good rub down there? Jimbo’s put another baby in my belly and I get itches that need to be scratched right then. If you know what I mean? Jimbo usually does it for me, but he isn’t around so you’ll have to do. I won’t be good for anything until this itch is taken care of.”
I knelt in front of her. She pulled her long skirt up as high as her thighs. I reached under her skirt with my hand and touched silky smooth bare skin. She adjusted her position and my fingers slipped inside her. I caressed and massaged until she cried out.

“You have talented fingers,” said Amska. “Maybe I’ll get you to teach Jimbo some of what you just did. Now I need to get back to my work.” She tapped me on the nose. “And you, my dear, need to pay a long and pleasant visit to that handsome man of yours.”

I remained in place for a long time, thinking of nothing and of everything. I couldn’t make myself move.

“Are you still here?” said Amska, coming out of the kitchen. “I thought you would be gone by now, and busy making a baby with that handsome man of yours. Do I have to push you out the door? I’m going to count to ten, and by the time I get to ten, I want to see you going out that door. One. Two. Three…”

I was out the door by the time she called out “Six” and walked the few steps over to my cabin door. I stood in front of it for a long time, listening for noises, before I opened it. Jay sat hunched over on the edge of the bunk; the very picture of dejection. I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. He gave no sign that he was aware I was there. I moved closer to him.

I sat down on the edge of the bunk beside him. He gave no indication that he knew I of my presence near him. I reached out a tentative hand and placed it lightly on his lower back. His skin quivered under my touch. I did not look at him nor speak to him, but I let my hand remain in place. After a long, long time, I stroked his back, as gently and tenderly as I could. A high-pitched keening sound escaped him. I pulled him around and on to the bunk. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly against me. I felt his linking rod rise. I adjusted my position and let it slip inside me. I rode his hard organ, moving my hips up until only the tip of his sex remained inside, and moving my hips down until every inch of him filled me. I groaned as my pleasure nodes fired. He moaned loudly, and grabbed my butt, pulling me in close and holding me in place as he thrust deep and ejaculated his machines into me.

Inside me, special machines gathered up the machines Jay had put in me and took them to where the egg waited. Jay’s synthec joined with that of the egg, and something new began to take shape. I lay against him contented.

He linked with me and I saw the awe in his eyes as he learned of what took form inside me. “A baby, you and I, we’ve made a baby just like a pair of bios,” he said. “You will need materials for the making of it. Just pulling atoms and molecules out of the air and from the surfaces of things around you will not do. We will have to link many times, so I can fill you with lots of my synthec. And. And maybe that Piper can provide building material for our baby too. If you like him to, that is.”

“Do you mean that?” I said. “I’ve already fixed myself so that I can fuck Piper whenever I want.” I stretched the entry ring with my fingers. “See, it will adjust to the size of the man who takes me.” He looked and tested it out with his fingers, stretching it out in all directions. I moaned as his fingers did a nimble dance over the pleasure nodes. Bursts of intense, fiery sensations followed his fingers around the ring. Sweet smelling oily juices flowed out from me, coating his fingers, and dripping on the blankets. He replaced his oil-coated hand with the other, and placed the dripping fingers in my mouth. I licked the sweet tasting oils from his fingers, covering my tongue with it.

I bent down and licked his smooth, silky balls, making them shine with the oil. I circled the base of his hard cock, and licked my way upward with long, slow strokes of my tongue. He murmured softly, and his whole body quivered. I caressed the head of his penis with my tongue, and licked my way down the length to the root. I pushed my tongue under his balls and bounced them gently up against his shaft. I let my tongue dance its way up to the tip. He moaned, and lifting me up, impaled me on his rod and spurted into me.

“It will take a while for my body to prepare more of the machines,” Jay said. “Why don’t you go and visit with Piper? I promise not to throw him into the water this time. You could bring him here. I would like to watch you link with him. I might be able to teach him some of the things I learned at the House of Joy. The Double Dance of Pleasure is one I’m sure you would like very much. I’m not going to tell you about it yet.”

“I’ll find out,” I said, grinning at him. “I have your memories.” I opened the cabin door. “Now I’m going to find Piper, and I may bring him back here, or I may not.”
* * *

I found Piper on the lower deck moving crates, boxes, and bales into place for off-loading at the next small town, which we would reach in another three hours. I helped him push a large heavy crate, and contrived to accidentally touch his hand when the job was finished. He snatched his hand away as if my touch burned him. He moved quickly away from me and going to a stack of wooden boxes, hoisted one on his shoulder. He carried it over to where I stood, and put it down beside the crate. I watched the play of his muscles as he fetched another of the boxes. A dozen of the zingers went through my body as he bent over and the material of his very tight trousers outlined his small, tight butt. When he straightened up and turned my way with the box on his shoulder; I saw the way his trousers jutted out at the front. My body literally jumped as another powerful shock hit me at the sight.

“Are you still here?” He growled at me. “Go and leave me alone, woman. I want nothing to do with you. Do you think I enjoyed being thrown overboard by that jealous man of yours?”

“He has promised that he won’t throw you into the river again,” I said.

“Has he promised not to beat me to a pulp if I touch you?” He said, fetching another box. “By the Great Mother of the River, can’t you see how much I want you? And there is that other little problem of my not being able to get my cock inside of you.” He looked at me. “Don’t stand there like that. You’re driving me insane.”

I was going to tell Piper that I had fixed myself so that he could get inside me. Instead I leaped at him, pulled him toward me by the lapels of his shirt, tugged down his trousers, and guided his hard immense cock inside me. His face was a study in conflicting emotions: shock, fear, surprise, and delight, all passed over his face in quick succession. He laughed. I smiled at him and began to move on him, slowly. A wave of pleasure flowed through me from the tips of my toes through the ends of each strand of hair on my head. He stroked my back and trails of icy fire formed under his fingers. He squeezed each of my butt-cheeks hard, and two electrifying shocks convulsed my body, and almost overloaded my pleasure nodes.

“I’m ready to come, “ he groaned in my ear. “Are you?”

“Not yet. I have to be on my back,” I said. I couldn’t take the chance that his cum would run out of me. I needed it as building material for the synth baby forming inside me. I let myself fall backward, and pulled him down with me. “Now!” I cried out.

He shuddered violently and I felt his cock jerking inside me as he pumped me full of his semen. My machines gathered it up as fast as he spurted it out. I screamed as wave after wave of pleasure passed through me with every slight movement of his cock against my nodes. Suddenly, his body stiffened, and his penis did an odd jittery dance inside me. We both cried out at once as he spewed another load of semen into me, and another of the shocks zapped my pleasure nodes. After that, both his body and penis went limp, and he rolled off me.

“By the Great Mother’s cunt, I knew you would be good,” he said, pulling up his trousers and straightening out the rest of his clothes. “But you were better than good. Those things inside you, they rubbed me like a hundred fingers. I can’t imagine getting any pleasure from a normal woman after being with you. I won’t be able to get my cock to stand at attention for a couple of days; I feel that worn out.” He stood up. “I’d better get back to work. Want to help me move these boxes?”

I picked up one of the boxes, placed it on my shoulder, turned and bumped into Jay. “You watched?” I said. He made a grab for me. “No, first you can help with moving these boxes. Then I’ll see if I’ll let you rub my nodes.”

“You love to have your nodes rubbed,” he said. He picked up two of the boxes and toted them over to where Piper stood, watching us.

The Raven pulled up to the dock of a small town that consisted mainly of square, grey stone buildings set alongside of two intersecting roads. Five broad-shouldered, dark-haired men, dressed in grey coveralls, waited on the dock. When the Raven was tied up, and the gangplank lowered onto the dock, the five men swarmed up it and began moving the boxes, bales and crates that stood ready for them. They worked fast and efficiently and in short order all the cargo designated for their town stood in neat array on the pier. One of the men handed Gina a small box. Gabriel and Kenron raised the plank, and Piper and Jimbo untied the boat. The paddlewheel churned and the Raven was underway once more.

The Raven stayed close to the river bank, keeping out of the strong currents that threatened to push the boat back down river. I stood by the railing, with Jay holding me from behind, watching a herd of rotund, short-legged, golden-haired beasts grazing along the shore. I jumped when something glistening and black with a long mouth full of sharp teeth, and long tentacles, shot out from under the boat in a spray of water. It wrapped two long tentacles around one of the golden creatures and disappeared under the water with it.

“What was that?” I asked Piper who swabbed the deck nearby.

“We call that a Snagger,” he said. “I wouldn’t stand to close to the rail. Snaggers have been known to take people from boats.” He moved to stand beside me and blew on my ear sending a shock of pleasure through me. “I don’t want to lose you, after just having fallen in love with you.”

“You mean fallen in lust, don’t you?” I caressed his hand when he touched mine.

“That too,” he said. He placed his arm around my waist and pulled me close against his side. Jay pushed in close against my other side and put his arm around my waist as well. I shivered with an indescribable joy at being held by my two men. Piper blew on my ear again, sending another of the shocks flashing through me. Jay touched his tongue to my other ear, and traced it with tingling fire. Piper gave my waist a squeeze and stepped away.

“Time for me to be getting back to work,” he said. “We’ll be stopping for the night soon. If you will come to the common room later, I’ll play some tunes for you on my flute.”

* * *

Amska called me over when Jay and I walked into the common room. She patted her broad thigh. “Sit yourself down right here,” she said. “I want to hear all about you and that handsome fellow of yours.”

I sat down on her lap, and she put a large arm around me, placing a hand on my lower abdomen. Her hand lay hot and heavy on my skin. She held it in place for a long time. “You and your fellow have been busy,” she said. “A miracle grows inside you: a lovely girl child. I envy you. The first time is the most special. You’ll be needing help when it is your time to be birthing the young one. I’d be more than willing to be there when the time comes.” She rubbed her ample belly. “I’ll be birthing my little fellow soon, and into the pouch he’ll go.” She tugged down the top of her skirt and pulled on the flesh of her belly, showing me a pink lined pouch with a large nipple at one side.

“If you’ll get up,” she said. “Then we can go to my room and I’ll check out how you’re made for birthing. And maybe you can scratch another one of my itches.”

I followed Amska through the neat galley into a small dimly lit room filled with a large, pillow covered bed. The room brightened as she lit more of the lanterns that hung from the ceiling. The light revealed the rich coloring of the bed: lush dark greens, deep ruby reds, lavish golds, and purples. She tossed aside pillows to make room for me.

“Up on the bed,” she said. “And spread your legs wide.”

I did as she ordered, and she examined me. She stretched the entry ring this way and that, sending wave after hard wave of pleasure shooting through every part of me. I stifled my groans as best as I could. She pushed a couple of fingers inside, pressing all over as she tested the flexibility of the tube. I shuddered and groaned each time another flash of tingly pleasure racked my body. The examination finished, Amska lowered her bulk onto the bed with a loud sigh.

“You aren’t going to birth that baby of yours through what you got there,” she said. “You’re barely large enough to accommodate a good-sized cock. And I’ve never had any woman get off on an simple examination like you did just now.”

“You were touching my pleasure nodes,” I said, “and causing them to fire. That sends flashes and waves of pleasurable sensations through my whole body. When the nodes are touched and rubbed against continuously, then the sensations build on each other until they reach an almost unbearable peak, and I feel as if I’m exploding with pleasure.”

“Pleasure nodes? You mean all those little bumps inside you and on the ring?” She said. A smile played over her lips. “You must have hundreds of them. And each one is like a tiny clit. I’m trying to imagine having hundreds of clits each adding its pleasurable sensations to that of the others. I think it would be unbearable. It’d be like having hundreds of orgasms all at one time. No wonder I’ve heard you screaming in ecstasy when you’re loving that man of yours.” She moaned. “I’m getting myself all hot and bothered. Would you mind taking care of that itch again? Or you could call my Jimbo. I prefer your nimble fingers. I don’t have much hankering for being poked at by some man, even one I dearly love."

Amska leaned back on the pile of pillows on the bed with her legs parted. I bunched her skirt upward until I could see her slit. No hair covered any part of her mound, and something pink poked out from between her lower lips. I opened her with my hands, and laid bare her large pleasure nub. Jay would love to see this, I thought, and touch it. When we linked later I would share this experience with him. I looked for a long time. Then I ran a single finger up from the base of the nub to the glistening tip. Amska groaned. I danced two fingers back down and three fingers back up. Amska moaned and a shiver passed over her body. My own oily juices flowed. I moved my free hand between my own legs and covered the fingers with the thick oil. I licked them one by one coating my tongue and the inside of my mouth. All the while the fingers of my other hand danced over her pleasure nub.

I buried my face between her thighs, and caressed her hard nub with my tongue. I wrapped my mouth around it and sucked hard. My tongue pressed against the tip and waggled over it. I tugged at her nub with my lips and nibbled lightly with my teeth. Salty fluids rushed into my mouth, and her hips undulated beneath me. I let my tongue flutter and she cried out. Her body shook, her feet drummed a tattoo on the bed, and her pleasure nub vibrated wildly in my mouth.
“Aaaah, that was so good!” she hugged me. “How do you know the things you do?”

“I learned them from Jay,” I said. “He knows a lot about pleasing women.”

“And what are you two fine looking ladies up to?” I turned to see Jimbo in the doorway. “Have you been pleasuring my Amska? She’s told me about your nimble fingers. I’d love to stay and take some lessons, but I came to tell you that your man and Piper are looking for you.”

“And now my pretty,” I heard Jimbo say as I left the bedroom. I stopped for a moment in the galley and thought about what Amska had told me. I wasn’t large enough or elastic enough where it counted to give birth to a baby in the manner of a bio. But, I was synth and when the time came, I’m sure my body would be ready. I checked on my little one floating content in her synthec womb. I felt one of the same shocks that went through me at the sight of Piper, and love for her flowed through every part of me. Was I reacting to the part of her that came from Piper? I didn’t know.

In the common room, Jay and Piper moved aside to open a space on the bench between them. I took my place on the bench and Jay put his arm around my shoulder. Piper raised the flute to his lips and played. At first, the music was like a playful breeze; then it gusted harder; and at last, it became a raging storm, the notes skirling wildly from the flute. The child tumbled within me at the sounds. The last notes of the storm rang harsh and shrill in the air, and silence followed. Jay kissed the side of my neck. Piper played a soft liquid haunting tune, followed closely by a bright merry sunlit piece. After one more soft, slow piece of music Piper put the flute down.

“I think it is time we all went to our beds,” said Gina. “We have a busy day waiting for us in the morning. We’ll be unloading cargo at the next town and taking some on as well. And there might be some passengers wanting to go upriver to Carazon. At light, I expect everyone to be well rested and ready to work hard.”

Gina led the way from the common room, and Piper, Jay and I were the last to leave. Jay opened the door to our cabin. Piper moved past me to go to his own. I grabbed his sleeve and stopped him.

“Our bunk is large enough to hold three,” I said. “I want you with us.” I pulled him through the door. “Stand right there while I undress you.” Jay moved to stand beside me, and stroked my back.

Piper stood in place and I undressed him very slowly. Not because I wanted to, but because the workings of the buttons defeated my attempts at opening them at first. Once Piper showed me how to push the button through the buttonhole, the process of undressing him went somewhat faster. After a long time, all his clothes lay on the floor and I stood back to admire him. Everything about him was long and lean: his torso, his arms, his legs, his hands, his feet, and even his dangling cock with the thick, heavy balls hanging underneath, was long and lean.

“Come,” I said, and taking his hand led him to the bunk where Jay waited ready for our nightly linking. “We’ll rest together.”

I got into the bunk and pushed up against Jay. He entered me and the connector pins locked into place inside my receptors. Piper snuggled up against my back. I went into rest mode, feeling great contentment at being enclosed by my two men: one bio and one synth.

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