Adventures of an Ancient Space Battleship

Two girls walked down a corridor. After a moment the catgirl spoke to the winged girl, “So where are we going?”

The winged shipgirl turned to the princess, “Well Kiru I thought we could enjoy some time together on the surface, while the others are working on getting the yard up and running. We need a good foundation anyway, so we can get more than a single bird with but one stone.”

Kiru frowned, “Who hunts birds with stones?”

Megumi shrugged, “I don’t really know, my creators would just swoop down on one from above and shred their prey with their sharp talons.” she paused and shuddered, “Those things really hurt.”

“Wait, you have felt them before?”

They stepped into a hanger, “Right in this room. I used to have this annoying crewman who never shifted her talons away. We ended up getting into a kicking match over the issue in this room. Having them dig into your floor is bad enough, especially when that floor is part of your body. Being slashed with them is quite another, but I am quite happy to say that I won. She never walked with them out on the ship again.”

“I see, on a different note, think we will be okay on the surface? Isn’t the planet below heavily irradiated?”

“Radiation levels are high, but we will be fine. Your shields will protect you quite nicely.” she paused and fished something out of her pocket, “But you might want to take this.”

She took the injector, stared at it and frowned, “What is this?”

“An inoculation against Bovi.”

“Bovi? What is that?”

“A Parasitic Virus.”

“A what!? I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

“Well of course not. Most such afflictions are unnatural. Bovi itself was engineered to protect and nourish the Solean Solune plant. As far as a Solune is concerned, the parasite is a symbiote. The parasite thrives on the toxins the plant produces and in turn the parasites help keep the plant healthy.”

“Interesting, but how does that make them a parasite or well a virus for that matter either?”

“Bovi is a parasite with viral traits. It can travel on the pollen produced by a Solune bulb or be found concentrated in the gel stored in the bulb of a Solune plant. Anyone interested in a Solune would go after that gel since it contains both a potent toxin but also if carefully refined it results in a very powerful bio-regenerative. One you should be familiar with, considering you were immersed in the very same stuff after your procedure.”

Kiru blinked, as she was reminded of that experience. It had been very surreal, and even now it felt like she had watched it happen to someone else. “Right that pod. Wait!? You mean it was full of...”

“The refined gel of a Solune plant, yep. Along with a healthy number of nanites to speed and direct the effect. The stuff is extremely valuable and in the past the Empire had trouble with thieves.”

“So they created Bovi? What does it do to a person anyway?”

“Bovi thrives particularly well in fatty tissue. In most cases, the victim breathes in infected pollen and the parasites lodge in the lungs. From there they quickly migrate to the nearest fatty tissues and begin latching onto the tissues. Where they start injecting their genetic material into the cells, altering them. Before long they start to reproduce and the colony grows. Usually without the host noticing, not until the immune system starts responding. Often by attacking infected cells that are producing the parasites, leading to minor irritations. Bovi on the other hand acts to protect itself, at first by simply attacking the cells attacking it, but as the infection grows it starts moving more intelligently.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Some kind of collective intelligence?”

“Yes, the Bovi parasite, while small, does have a very limited amount of individual intelligence but when in a group they start thinking together like a much larger being.”

“That’s scary.”

“Yes, but Bovi isn’t the only life form out there with that trait. It's common to insects and other hive minded lifeforms. The Soleans lifted the particular gene from an insect native to TCX-249B. This unusual insect had an unusually dense neural structure that made each single bug ten times smarter than the average bug of the same mass and they had very rudimentary psionic ability. Mainly geared towards communication.”

“So in regards to this Bovi, I...”

“It typically destroys the host's immune system, leaving them vulnerable to other pathogens, but it also leaves the parasite free to grow, which it does. The other pathogens that do attack the host, however, do get attacked by Bovi since they are a threat to Bovi as well. Effectively meaning that Bovi becomes the host’s immune system. It’s around this time that Bovi will migrate to the brain and that you start seeing symptoms. First minor swelling, followed by rash and a mental compulsion to start rubbing unrefined Solune gel into the skin. Leading to a buildup of toxins in the body.”

“That sounds rather lethal.”

“Potentially yes, and at this point is when a Host is most likely to die, but since Bovi thrives on these toxins they actually act to weaken the effect of those toxins and infected cells are unaffected by the toxins. As a result, normal cells start dying, while infected ones thrive and reproduce. Speeding the process of the parasite taking over the host, while at the same time the parasite continues to alter the host to suit its needs.”

Kiru glanced at the injector now in her hand, “And something like that is on the world below? A radioactive rock?”

“The planet below is home to a variety adjusted to survive in the irradiated environment, just like the plants that are still there. It used to be home to a massive Terran population and as a species, the Terrans don’t much care about radiation if anything they thrive in such lands. Solunes were introduced to provide medicine for the workers.”

“That... That makes sense actually, even with advanced tech accidents still happen. Proper medicine would be important.”

“Exactly. Anyway, we better get going, we have a fair amount to do. There are some people stranded on the surface as well that I will need to check in on. They set up camp in some ruins and erected a few shield generators to protect against the local radiation.”

“What else are we doing?”

“Rock hunting, I found a signature of something very valuable, especially to me. I haven’t been able to get an exact fix on it, but I did narrow its location down.”

Kiru sighed, “Sounds fun...”

“Hey trust me, it will be a welcome change of pace. Let's go.”

Kiru used the injector and then followed Megumi onto the shuttle. She was curious enough about the surface that she wanted to come. Not to mention it would be a nice change of pace. No need to worry about mind-controlling aliens or rogue machines. Just a lovely walk in a radioactive jungle, a visit to some ruins, and a rock hunt. The worst thing she might find is a few infected people.

Mizu stretched before shedding her nightclothes. Behind her the morning sun streamed in the open window of her temporary room, while a cool breeze blew in. One that felt nice after a hot night. She enjoyed the cool air, while she tossed her discarded clothing in the hamper. Before quickly pulling a fresh pair of panties from her travel case, along with a clean skirt, a training bra and her favorite blouse.

In a moment she was dressed and ready to face her day. These prebuilt shelters they were living in weren’t much though, she thought as she looked around her small room. It had barely enough space for a bed, a dresser, a small desk and a trunk. All of which came with the building. Mizu really couldn’t wait for their new home, so that she could ditch this little room. Of course that wasn’t going to be for a few more days.

Leaving her tiny room, she crossed the hall to the tiny bathroom. The only one in the whole house and it barely had space for a tub, a toilet and a small sink. It wasn’t much and she swore the one on the ship had been better. Mom said they were going to have a great one in their new house when it was done. She was looking forward to it, but in the meantime, she took care of her morning business.

Heading back into the hall, she turned towards the front. The place was small, with just the bathroom and two bedrooms in the hall. A bigger one at the end from mom, and her room right across from the bathroom. At the other end of the hall was the main room, which contained a kitchen, dining and living area all rolled into a single room. As she drew near, she started hearing wet smacking noises and moaning. She frowned, wondering what she was hearing. Then the smell hit her, she hoped that wasn’t breakfast.

Walking into the room, she was quickly greeted with a sight that she had not expected. The kitchen lay untouched, not a pan out of place nor a bowl on the counter. There was no pot of hot cereal or plate of warm cakes to eat on the counter either. The oven was off, and the stove looked cold. It seemed her mother hadn’t even started on breakfast, which was odd. Mom always had breakfast hot and ready by the time she got up.

Instead, she found Mom in the living area, where a mountain of cushions and blankets lay out on the floor, while a naked lady sat on Mom’s lap rubbing against her. While a second lady was sucking on her bare breasts. None of the three girls were dressed. Mizu blinked, what were they doing?

Mom suddenly let out a moan, as she watched. Her back arched as fluid flowed from her pussy. Was she peeing? In the middle of the living room? Was that okay? Then she noticed the fluid was strangely clear, didn’t Mom say clear pee meant you drank too much water? 

Her Mother’s spasms and arching lasted for a moment that just seemed to stretch on endlessly and then the woman rubbing against her leg let out a gasp and began to arch as well. That girl also started peeing this time on Mom. She blinked as she watched that and then she realized the fluid was also clear. Was she also drinking too much water?

Suddenly the second lady sucking on Mom’s breast looked up. The woman smiled, “Oh? Morning dear, we must have lost track of time. Are you hungry?”

She blinked and then after a moment nodded. Her mind however couldn’t stop thinking about what she was looking at. As the other two her mother and her friend stopped shuddering and peeing. Without missing a beat they started vigorously rubbing into each other. Finally she asked, “What are you three doing?”

The woman, having untangled herself from the pile, walked to the kitchen saying, “Oh? We are mating.”

“Mating? Is that why Mom is letting the other girl pee on her?”

The woman giggled, “That isn’t pee dear.”

“Then what is it?”

The woman gestured for her to come into the kitchen and said, “Why don’t we get breakfast started first and then I’ll explain. I figure you would need to know anyway since you are almost old enough to be mating yourself. Anyway, what do you want to eat?”

She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she quickly asked for one of her favorites. The woman pulled the ingredients out, and as they started cooking she began to explain what mating was. How it was a form of fun that adults engaged in and also mentioned that it had something to do with how babies were made. The entire time she was fascinated and began asking all sorts of questions.