An Eclipse of Corruption (Vuxayl x Cricket)

[Cricket]

Karilel did what she could to help with constructing the makeshift tower. Her metal frame was strong, so she could lift a lot of debris, but she weighed too much to risk climbing the pile without knowing it was sturdy first. She left scaling the pile to some of the others, while she alternated between helping move materials and keeping watch. She was able to lift something relatively heavy in one hand while still holding her rifle in the other. A handful of remaining crewmembers stood bravely at the base of the pile with her, guns and flashlights pointing in to the darkness. In addition, her blue lights constantly provided dim illumination into the darkness. A part of her worried all the lights would attract more monsters, but so would the sound and commotion they were making in trying to get out. There were too many variables and her mind was running a mile a minute.

Xayun was making good progress, and their team was moving efficiently. It was impossible to tell how far away they were from the top, but they were getting somewhere. And so far, there were no more enemies. If this was closer to the entrance of the tunnel, perhaps the real threats were at the heart of the sprawling system.

Karilel climbed slowly and carefully up the haphazard pile. Actually, she thought, it was well constructed given their urgency. And fortunately she was good at moving delicately when needed. She reached Xayun’s side in no time, His grip helped stabilize her, but she did not let her malleable metal arm yield to his grip. Despite the terror around them, some stubborn façade of leadership remained.

She tried focusing all her sensory abilities on where he was paying attention. The tunnel continued to make her sensors haywire and useless. She had none of her heat-signature or long distance motion detectors. But when Xayun pointed it out, she briefly saw movement near the hole. Her blue lights reflected against something wet in the distance that quickly disappeared.

The sense of dread was increasing. She looked at Xayun for direction, looked back into the darkness. “You said Syra?” she echoed with horror. Karilel doubted that Syra was of sound body and mind, and just trying to check up on them.

But for all of her fancy mechanics, she did not have exceptional hearing, even if she was functioning optimally. She felt most sounds as vibrations through the air that her robotics could pick up. So Karilel missed the delicate clicking noise Xayun sensed until the scuttling filled the air.

She saw Syra first, who absolutely was not of sound body and mind. Her mind leaped to the conclusion that nowhere was safe, not if Syra had been transformed while waiting outside the tunnel. Karilel had no sense of time down here either, but it still seemed a horrifically short amount of time since she had seen Syra healthy and normal.

She bolted down the pile without missing a beat, forgoing delicate movements over haste. The makeshift tower groaned beneath her and she felt pieces give way as she sprinted down the pile. She was a few steps behind Xayun and was the last one on the tower as it fell apart.

The Syra amalgamation made its way down first, followed by four others that Karilel could count. The pursuers needed nothing to help them get from the top of the hole. They scuttled down the slick sides on all fours, or simply jumped down into a heap and then staggered back up. Karilel felt something slice at her ankle—Syra’s metal claw made a swipe at her as she fled, but she didn’t check to see if it had gone through her own metal skin.

The crewmembers waiting at the bottom of the pile were opening fire on the incoming creatures, spraying bullets in a panic. Karilel felt she was basically running headlong towards that fire, but none managed to get her. She saw one creature stumble in its pursuit. But by the time she reached the other crewmembers, it wasn’t enough firepower. The armed people were trying to run backwards while still keeping their guns out at the creatures.

“It’s no use!” Karilel shouted as she ran past the crewmembers, trying to shove a few to get them running.

They were sprinting down the pathway as a group now, but the only direction they had to run was the dark tunnel they had yet to explore. It could be much worse down here, but they didn’t have a choice.

The ground was wet and slippery, and a few people almost lost their footing as they ran. The scuttling monsters behind them made up for what they lacked in speed by knowing exactly where to step and jump.

Karilel heard a scream behind her—the slowest crewmate was gone now, and one of the creatures was digging into the body. She kept sprinting ahead. She wouldn’t slow down, exactly, but her body could not be endlessly powered on.

There was another frightened scream. Was she really going to just abandon everyone by running ahead? Karilel slowed down in her doubts. Now the scuttling was gaining on her. She grabbed a twisted chunk of metal that jutted from the ground and spun around to face the incoming fiends.

Syra’s glittering wet eyes twinkled back at her, and the creature that used to be her crewmate made a wet growling sound. Syra jumped, and Karilel swung the piece of metal up and out. It struck the creature where its ribcage was and protruded out the back. Syra fell to the ground in a heap, gurgling angrily. It wasn’t dead, but it couldn’t scurry on all fours while the metal was coming from its chest. Karilel briefly considered continuing to attack but turned back around and sprinted after the others.

 

[Vuxayl]

The creatures had plopped down the hole like a monstrous pile of flesh and pieces of metal, twitching and scurrying around their destroyed attempts at escaping to the surface and lunged to get to Xayun, Karilel and the rest of the team. Their unholy aspect, skinless flesh bubbling with fresh raw blood and impaled all over by protruding steel, machinery and electronics got to Xayun in such a way that he only mustered to draw his foot back, staring at the creatures. It was as if, for the first time in a long time, he didn't really know what do besides standing in place like a deer under a pair of headlights, frozen in his tracks like his guard had been when the first creature attacked.

He didn't even notice when of the creatures threw itself in his direction, knocking him over with the sheer weight of its mass. It smeared Xayun's suit in stale blood as it tried to crawl around his body, its metal claws grazing on his air supply and the seams of the suit. It was trying to get a hold of him just like the creature from before; wrapping its arms and legs around him like some sort of death embrace, and trying to chew his neck off. And it had an impressive row of teeth to do that; sharp and long like two rows of metal needles, ready to tear his muscles apart and leave him bleeding to death. That stubborn part of Xayun that embodied his determined, stalwart spirit hid itself somewhere in the back of his mind; all he could do was a garbled mixture of a scream and a whimper, completely unprepared for whatever was happening.

But the monster did something that snapped him out of his frozen state, which replaced the fog in his mind with absolute, sheer terror and pushed his survival instinct to overdrive. Because he could feel something scurrying along his body as the monster tried to bite him, that wasn't any arm or leg... something, probing him, probing his suit for any open tears or holes where it could insert itself. Xayun looked at the monster's destroyed face and he couldn't figure out if it was a female organism, or a male one, or whatever; looking down at his torso, he could see that it had some semblance of breasts, but then further down... there was a prehensile shaft of flesh and metal licking the crevices in his suit, wetting them in blood and trying to get in. If Xayun had ever felt terror, it was now. But still, he knew that if that... thing somehow managed to impale him, it was game over. So he curled himself into a ball and placed his feet pushing against the torso of the creature, and kicked it out of his body as hard as he could. He was physically still a rather primitive beast built for running and jumping at prey, and his leg muscles had enough power to send the flesh fiend flying out and landing somewhere in the darkness. He heard a displeased hiss that quickly turned into a gurgle as the creature looked at him from afar, its torn lips drawing some sort of wicked smile. It seemed to somehow... be enjoying it, dragging its talons across its demonic shaft of flesh. And it was ready for more.

But not Xayun. Definitely not Xayun. He got up the fastest he could and ran in the opposite direction, not even looking to his side to see the state of the rest of the crew. Or even Karilel. He was very close to breaking down from what had just happened, and it took a very hearty sprint to make him calm himself down just enough to be able to handle the situation once again. He hadn't even noticed the shower of bullets that the crew was throwing at the creatures, and when he looked better at them he could see it wasn't being very effective at all. The creatures didn't even seem to be able to feel pain, keeping on their assault even while being shredded by the rifles. Together with the yells and screams of the crew members trapped underground, there were loud shrieks and trills that came from the hellish constructs that hunted them.

When Karilel ran back and told them all it was useless, Xayun agreed. They couldn't know what horrors lurked away in the dark tunnels that lead further into the complex, but their only option, for now, was to run, or be slaughtered. So he started pushing the rest of the crew members in that direction, urging them to get a move on with hasted grunts. When he heard the scream, he twisted his head around saw one them laying on the floor, the creatures starting to pile up above the body and no doubt doing to it unspeakable things; he even took a step forward in that direction, but he was too far, and it was too late. He saw Karilel slowing down in her tracks and he started waving his arms in the air, almost begging her not to stop. "No, let it go! Come here!" And that's when she did stop, and thrusted a piece of metal straight through what was left of Syra's ribcage, splattering dark-red blood on the metallic walls. "You fool! You can't take them all! Run!"

Xayun waited until she was right next to him to keep sprinting behind the rest of the crew, following them down that dark tunnel that lead away from the room. Running in front of the creatures, hearing them crawl and run along the length of the tunnel, made him think just how much time they had until they eventually caught up to them and consumed them. Somehow. Xayun didn't even want to think about what they could do to them. Xayun's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something slipping in the floor, followed what sounded like glass shattering. One the the crew members had slipped and smashed her helmet on the floor, but she seemed to quickly get herself up and continue running. At least, the atmosphere of this foreign planet didn't seem immediately kill her. A couple of steps later and then... the tunnel ended, in another room, a large room judging by the darkness surrounding them. There was almost no light in here, and only Karilel's eerie glow helped them see around them. Xayun had some degree of night vision, but noticeably less than what would be expected from a night-dwelling alien. He was just as lost as the others, cornered in this room by the impenetrable darkness and the growing noises of the creatures rushing after them.

That was when the light from a flashlight beamed on the edges of the entrance of the tunnel, from where they'd come. And instead of being made of simple plates of metal, it was actually a whole bulk door that looked like it had belonged to the cargo bulkhead of some ship. Just like the Kanayago, Xayun though. And he knew exactly how to override this type of door. It was their only chance. So Xayun rushed to where he knew the control panel of the door was and popped it open by slamming his elbow in it, turning a knob that, had there been more light, would be of a bright red plastic. "Quick! Someone help me push this bulkhead door!" he pointed to the other side, where the other half of the door was, and urged them to help him push them together and override the door shut.

 

[Cricket]

Karilel almost lost her footing a few times, slipping, stumbling, and scrambling onwards. She noticed a crewmember wasn’t so lucky, having fallen and cracked her helmet. Karilel did not stop to help her up, not even having time to think about her guilt. The female still managed to get up and keep running anyway.

They continued running only to be cornered. Karilel did a quick headcount to notice they only lost three people, but at this dead end surely they would lose more. She and a handful of others turned to face the incoming creatures, guns firing uselessly. It was as if they were of the same mindset to make a last stand. They were being driven by panic.

Now some ran to Xayun’s aid, heaving and pushing against the door. Karilel still stood out, firing at the monsters until the last second. She always had a steady hand as a robot, even being terrified. However, the creatures could take a lot of damage before going down and they were good at dodging.

She heard the sound of groaning metal doors and a few garbled electronic beeps. She abandoned shooting at the beasts to check on Xayun’s progress. While Xayun worked on the controls, she knew she could splice a few wires together that would aid the door’s signals, and the others worked on heaving the metal doors. They worked together in a frenzy, all while the scuttling and crying got closer. Suddenly, a metal claw reached through the gap in the door just as the doors slammed shut. The claw squirmed before it disconnected and fell to the ground. It stilled after a few beats.

The monsters still clawed at them from the other side of the ship doors. Fortunately, moving a piece of the door revealed another passageway out of the dead end. “This way!” cried a man, sprinting through the small opening in his panic. Another ran after him, and Karilel followed. The opening soon grew into a seemingly huge cavern, but the walkway abruptly ended straight ahead. The second crewmember collided with the first one, who had stopped, and pushed him off into the edge. Karilel barely saw it happen, and reached out to grab the back of the second one’s suit before they could fall off too. The man screamed as he fell, though it was muffled by his helmet. He landed with an audible wet slapping squelch noise. Karilel thought he was dead, but the group listened in the silence and gradually heard his pained groaning. She wasn’t sure if she also imagined the eager scuttling noises running towards him.

The ground floor of the cavern seemed to be just as horrible as anywhere else. But it was impossible to see out into the pitch-black darkness; their meager sources of light only went so far before being swallowed up. Karilel’s own blue light was growing dimmer, if only because she was covered in grime.

The air was even hotter and wetter down here. It was also very still. There was no airflow coming in or out of here, which Karilel took as a sign they were even more trapped.

 

[Vuxayl]

Even with a couple of flashlights pointed down at the depth of the caves, there was no visual sign of the man that fell down the hole in the ground. It was such an impenetrable pitch-black darkness that only his very faint heaving hinted that he had landed somewhere, and was still alive. But maybe not for long, Xayun thought with heavy apprehension. He could hear scuttling wandering all around them and the slick noises of flesh dragging around down below, and it wouldn't be long before the stranded man would be surrounded by nightmarish creature of flesh and metal. He even looked back at Karilel, wondering if she could pick up the noises as well, but Xayun was starting to believe only he, and possibly another of the freelancers, could hear such faint noises.

That's when he heard the hissing sound of recycled air escaping its confinements, and looked back only to see one of Karilel's crew members taking off his helmet, drawing in a long breath of the atmosphere that surrounded them. "... fuck this." he said with a sigh, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. Xayun, however, really didn't approve of his decision. The suit was all that remained between them and the creatures, as he very well realised when the other had tried to probe him, and they didn't know just what kind of stale atmosphere lingered down here. So he grunted back at him in a commanding tone. "What are you doing, you idiot?! This is an foreign planet, we don't even know what's going on here and you just take off your helmet like that?" The other crew member just sat down in the humid floor of the cavern, leaning back against the wall. He flipped the helmet in his clawed hands a couple of times, and stared him down in a passive-aggressive attitude. "Yeah. That's right." He seemed not even to care anymore, so exhausted and distressed from having to run away from these beasts as they thinned down their numbers, seeing his comrades falling to their deaths and knowing that soon, he could be next.

"Still, Ayara over there didn't seem to have any problem with it, so. I was getting too much moisture inside the suit." He pointed with his thumb at another crew member, the woman that had shattered her helmet on the floor, and had miraculously managed to escape. She had sat on a corner of the cave, grasping her knees with her arms and shaking absolutely terrified. Still, as far as her physical integrity went, she seemed to be alright. The male alien that had removed his helmet lifted himself up and sat next to her, wrapping one of his arms around her and nudging her close to him. The clawing of the creatures on the metal door seemed to have faded into an eerie silence once again, and they seemed to have given up on that particular route. And right in front of them, there was that chasm that seemed tall enough to prevent the creatures from climbing up to them, if they just kept the noise to a minimum.

The cavern they were in, even though it trapped them, seemed to be safe enough for them to catch their breath, and wipe the condensation from their helmets. At least, those that still had them. Xayun was definitely not going to willingly take his helmet off. It was stupid, an irresponsibility; but after what they'd went through, he couldn't really blame him from just not giving a damn about it. And that's when they heard a screeching yell from the depths on the chasm, where the man had fallen.

The sudden noise startled pretty much everyone that was still alive, and Xayun peeked from above the gap in the ground. It was completely shadowed in darkness, and he signalled the rest of the crew not to shine their flashlights down the hole. It could startle the creatures, and motivate them enough to try and climb upwards. The man gave another despaired cry and suddenly fell silent. That was it, Xayun thought. They killed him. At least, he didn't seem to suffer much at their hands. He rose himself up and was walking down towards Karilel and the rest when the man grunted again from the depths of the hole. But this time... it wasn't a yell. It wasn't some sort of pained grunting, as if they had continued their assault on him. No... to Xayun's ears, he sounded like he was giving out... muffled moans, at regular intervals. Some sort of heavy breathing, like he was exerting himself. And the creatures, the creatures were silent for once, minus the occasional quiet shrill and gurgle. The man's moaning rose in volume until all of them could faintly hear it, and together with it was the sound of wet flesh slapping against flesh, in the same cadence as the moaning. Xayun could hear the creatures walking around and dragging themselves over one another, and didn't know what to make of this - he looked at the crew members behind him, as if looking for answers. In the back of his mind, he thought with horror about what they could be doing to the crew member down there.

 

[Cricket]

Karilel had felt her control as commander dwindle away ever since they set foot into the tunnel. But now her rank was almost meaningless unless she could find a way to pull it all together and get everyone out of here. Which she couldn’t. The chaos and terror had torn all forms of structure asunder.

It seemed as good of a moment to take a break as any. Things appeared slightly safer in the cavern now, where the only signs of the horrible creatures were below them. The silence behind the closed ship doors was both comforting (it meant the creatures weren’t trying to break in so they were safe) and disturbing (for how long?). One of the alien crewmembers removed his helmet with a hiss, and sat down as if to confirm it was time for a break.

“I… would advise you don’t do that,” Karilel said, far too late. So she looked over the rest of the crew, pointedly directing the comment to the rest of them not to follow suit.

“Easy for you to say when you don’t even breathe,” someone retorted. Karilel ignored him. There were disturbing noises coming from the bottom of the cavern now loud enough to attract everyone’s attention, as much as they tried to ignore it. No one wanted to say what their conclusions were from the man’s moans, but they were all thinking along the same lines. As if monsters that kill and eat flesh weren’t enough, there was something much more horrifically sexual happening here. Karilel began to wonder if the man at the bottom of the pit had died first, and reanimated.

“We can take a break here, for now,” Karilel said after the awkward pause had gone on for long enough. It might have been harder for the others to tell, but she yearned for a break just as much as the rest of them. Her metallic joints and folds were clogged with grime and moving sluggishly, and her operating power was dwindling. Not to mention that buzzing noise was still shaking her to her core, and her lack of sensors made her feel blind and bumbling. If I could just take a quick rest, she thought.

No one objected. A few gave her uncomfortable looks, some nodded once, some where already sitting down. Karilel sat down as well and tucked her head into her knees.

“You’re going to sleep? You aren’t going to keep watch? Robots aren’t supposed to sleep,” an alien male glared at her.

“I need to enter a light stasis. I’ll still be aware of most things, but I need some energy back. The robots that don’t sleep get plugged into an energy source, or soak up solar power, or have a generator.” She attempted a glare back at him, but narrowing her eyes did not come naturally.

She thought she heard him mutter something like ‘useless’ under his breath. As a commander she would not tolerate this, but the hierarchy was long gone. She found herself thinking of Xayun-- the first one to challenge her authority, and the one who always would, but he had shown her no direct animosity in their time of crisis.

Karilel’s blue lights grew dim and she rested. She had no dreams, as usual, but she kept feeling like she could hear unintelligible voices. They made no sense to her, but sounded like they wanted to tell her something important. There was a tugging feeling in her core as well. The buzzing was even louder when she was sleeping; she had thought resting would tune it all out. It was like the hum of a ship’s engine, but not at all comforting.

She woke to the sound of garbled moans. When she tried to sit up, she lurched forward because that tugging feeling was still there. She felt like she had a lot more energy back, but was also more disoriented than ever. Her head whipped around to see what she had missed.

 

[Vuxayl]

Xayun had also heard the male alien's comment at Karilel, and he almost intervened between them. He found his comment just a bit too rude; Xayun knew only a bit more about Laut'Halers than the next clueless freelancer, but he knew enough to know she wouldn't be able to keep on forever. And ever since they'd fallen underground, she had been moving and operating at an increasingly lethargic pace. So he just sneered at the other male from a distance, still hearing the muffled moans of the other crew member that had fallen further deep into... wherever they were at, now.

When she said they could all take a break, Xayun painfully agreed. The whole thing had exerted all of them, and Xayun's body was feeling incredibly sore - one, for having been pounded by that creature from before and forced to kick it away, and second - because they had been chased by those freakish fiends for what felt like an eternity. So he was actually quite pleased they would stop for now, even though their fate looked dire indeed.

He had also heard the other male calling her useless - and to Xayun's slight surprise, she just stayed with her head between her knees, beginning to shut down. Was she not going to reply to him? Or was it all getting to her?... He looked at all the other crew members, and while Karilel had been there for all of them, there was no-one around him that seemed minimally concerned about her. Maybe they just though she was a robot, and that robots had no emotions. No pain, no suffering, no... humanity. Xayun already knew that she was the Laut'Haler from before, from that mission where they'd failed to find the missing ship - and he could remember that she had some emotions there. And that he had been pretty rough with her regarding the fate of the mission. In a way, that made him feel some sort of guilt.

So Xayun slowly moved towards Karilel, and sat right next to her when she was already powered down. She was incredibly powerful, as was for any Laut'Halers when compared to an organic being of the same size; but they all needed to watch their backs in this fucked-up situation, and nobody seemed to care watching hers. Except Xayun. He touched her once to see if she would respond to it, but she was already sort of hibernating; so he placed one of his arms on her back and rested next to her for a while, letting his body catch up to current events.

When she woke up startled, Xayun jumped as well. He had slept for a relatively short amount of time, while Karilel was still sleeping, and he still kept his arm around her. Which he quickly drew back to himself, tugging it next to his body. Surprisingly, he called her by her name - and not only just her name, but an affectionate nickname as well. After all, she was the only person he knew in this damned excursion. "Hey, Kari... are you okay?" He looked at her with an expressionless face, but there was trembling hint of concern in his whispered voice. "... I was thinking you'd never wake up. Glad to see you're back." In Xayun's perspective, she had indeed slept for a long time. A couple of things had happened since she had fallen asleep, and Xayun felt she needed to know them.

He pointed at the chasm with his face, possibly answering to the most obvious thing that happened around them. "They're still going at him. They haven't stopped since... and in fact it's been getting worse. I've heard them switching each other to continue their... whatever they are doing to him, and I can hear more of them participating. They're doing it with each other too, Karilel... I can hear a group of them thrusting and moaning down there." He swallowed before continuing his recount of the events. "And he sounds different now - there's a electronic hint in his voice, and I can hear them ripping parts of him. I thin they're replacing parts him with devices... electronics. And he hasn't stopped moaning since... though his moans come at a slower rate now."

Xayun then sighed, looking back at Karilel. "I told them that perhaps, with all the technology in these walls, we could make some sort of beacon that the crew in your ships could pick up. Ayara and that other guy that took his helmet off, they immediately volunteered. I thought she would be scared after what happened with her, but she was actually eager to search around for serviceable devices with him... They haven't returned since. There's no chatter on the radio... I think we are going to have to search for them. They went somewhere over there..." Xayun pointed with his gloved finger at a region of the cavern, hidden in darkness.

But that wasn't everything. "And your ankle, Karilel... there's something wrong with it, too. You've been leaking oil since we've set foot in this cavern... it's been pooling up on the ground around your foot." He touched the folded metal that surrounded her ankle, and it seemed to be noticeably crumpled.

 

[Cricket]

Karilel took a beat to gain control of her surroundings, then looked at Xayun with a mix of relief and thankfulness. From his current position, it looked like he had been sitting next to her while she rested.

She listened to what he had to say, carefully understanding to the situation. It was now that she confirmed Xayun’s hearing was better than hers, but she always knew hers wasn’t much to boast. He could clearly hear a lot more detail as to what was happening below. Karilel was only aware of the general grisly circumstances. Again, she felt that gratefulness. She wanted to make sure she had someone observant like him around her.

She finally looked at her ankle. She didn’t feel any pain from it, though she could feel dull pain. It felt as if the buzzing numbed her pain further. Karilel gingerly touched the wound, and her hand came back slick with oil. “That’s from where one of those things nicked me,” she said. “I can’t repair it without the proper instruments… which we don’t have here,” she added glumly. She would have sighed, if she could. She flexed the joint experimentally, and it groaned mechanically but still functioned. Not only was it harder to move because it was ‘broken,’ but it also felt like something was a little bit jammed in it and making it move less fluidly. Karilel attributed it to the excessive gore and grime covering the ground and making a film on her body.

“Yes, we’ll have to go look for them,” she agreed about the missing members. But she actually felt bad for making everyone leave on a search party, which could only further get everyone lost or worse. Karilel turned to face her bedraggled crew.

“We’re going to send out a search party,” she said. “Five people would be ideal. I’ll be leading it. All of us can go, but if you opt to stay behind, I won’t hold it against you. Just… make yourself useful and see what you can find from any of these parts of machinery closest to us. No more wandering off unless it’s an immediate matter of life or death… if those…. things… came back, for example,” she added reluctantly.

Waiting for the remaining crewmembers to decide, Karilel looked into the darkness. She stepped over to the exit that the missing two had left through, and it went into a tunnel barely big enough for someone like her to squeeze through. It was likely the sides of the slick, half-flesh walls would press into her. Her body was slim almost everywhere except for her elaborate shoulder structures, which would cut into the sides. So be it, she observed grimly. “And no one who is likely to panic in tight spaces,” she said.

“I would like you to lead the way,” Karilel said to Xayun, after her announcement. “At least, because your hearing is better than mine,” she admitted. And this damn buzzing feeling is making everything harder to detect, she mentally thought. She was only slightly less useless at this point. Her body was still useful at the moment-- strong, hopefully somewhat defensible, she could support the group with weaponry, and she didn’t have to worry about a suit breach, for starters.

 

[Vuxayl]

When Karilel said he'd be the one to lead the way, Xayun looked at her wide-eyed, and so did some of her crew members. So maybe she was really giving him a chance, or perhaps she was getting weary of this whole experience. Her quip about his hearing was another probable reason. Whatever it was, he still felt that, despite his animosity, she wasn't the only one to blame for them to be stuck this deep underground. Some of the responsibility fell on his shoulders, too. Xayun looked at her with a decided expression, and nodded his crested head. "Yes commander. Alright, peo-" One of the crew members interrupted his speech, and stared at both of them with disbelieving eyes. "But, commander? You're not going to tell the traitor to lead the way, are you?" Xayun just waved his hand in front of her, dismissing her claim. "Look, I'm no traitor. I've already stated my reasons to be here. Besides... I probably know your commander for longer than you. We've done this before." Well, not exactly - not in these circumstances. But that wasn't going to keep Xayun down.

The other crew member acquiesced, walking backwards until she was partially hidden by the shade off of Karilel's lighting system. It seemed like the others didn't feel like complaining much, either - the tight situation was making them desperate to find a way out of here, even if they needed to follow the rogue freelancer to accomplish it. They were already so thinned out - with five people going on the search mission, that would leave three of them in this place. At least, it seemed safe enough - they hadn't been attacked yet, everything seemed quiet in this huge cavern, and the moans of the man that had fallen were already fading out of hearing range. One of the most nervous freelancers quickly moved to one side of the tunnel, right near the entrance, and entrenched himself on the cavern floor. "I'm going to wait for you guys here. Someone needs to check your back." He hugged Xayun's ration crate like it was the very last protection they had. "Hey - I lost track of that thing when we fell down. Don't tell me you've been lugging it all this way..." But he just hugged the crate tighter, lurching over it for any incoming threats. "You bet I carried this damn thing all the way. There's no telling how much time we're going to be stuck here... and I'm hungry. Well... I was hungry."

Xayun leaned over the crate, and unlocked the metal latches keeping its lid closed. When he opened it, there was no ready-to-eat meals inside, no beverages, not even a bag of stale bread - just a menacing-looking, intricate piece of metal. The freelancer picked it up in disbelief, barely managing to hold it at waist level - the massive Gatling gun gleamed under Karilel's blue emissions. On one of its sides, it had a very noticeable ammo spool painted bright-orange - with a couple of strange glyphs stencilled on it. Whatever it meant, it could probably be translated to "Dangerous". Xayun tapped the barrel of the gun, and looked back at the fidgety freelancer. "I like to cover my bases - this is going to get handy if a swarm of them comes at you. Since we'll be more than you guys - you all can keep it. Don't do anything stupid with it or it'll turn you into a cave painting." The freelancer kept analysing over the weapon in shock and a hint of amazement. "This is an illegal weapon - where did you find this?" Xayun just rolled his eyes. "I bet you'd love to know. Just cover the tunnel, will you?" The freelancer returned to his makeshift trench with the gun, a bit more enthusiastic than before. Maybe he really did have a chance.

Either they would be safe with the weapon, near the tunnel's entrance, or they would be just as safe with Xayun, and Karilel. She practically was a sentient weapon - and there was no telling just how powerful she could be. So the rest of the crew deliberated, thinking who would go with who - and a female alien spoke next, her two pairs of hands clasped over her stomach. "I think... I think I will stay here too. I..." She seemed like she wanted to say something more, but her lips closed shut and she sat next to the freelancer, behind the crate. Another crew member joined Xayun and Karilel's group, and another one after him - up to when there were only two crew members left, and a vacant spot in either group. They looked at each other and stood there for a while, before each of them walked to their own choice, leaving them defined. "Alright... you stay here. We'll be back in an hour, maybe two. I see one of you is from Karilel's team, you got an intercom. If we don't show up in a couple of hours, or if we don't answer... well... you're on your own."

And with that, Xayun was the first to enter the wet, slick tunnel. It was definitely not a comfortable sensation, as his head barely fit through the narrow opening. He was sure Karilel would have some difficulties in keeping up - but she also could morph her shape quite thoroughly, and he knew she'd find a way. The tunnel was quite lengthy, and seemed to stretch on forever - until it finally opened on another room, this time more "artificial" than the other. It seemed that, as they went deeper, the alien technology that surrounded them kept increasing in frequency. And this square room, filled with metal and wires from floor to ceiling, would be their best bet in finding something useful around. Still, it wasn't hard to pinpoint where the two crewmembers were - Xayun could hear their frantic breathing from where they stood, and there was a little trail of torn electronics leading to them - far less than what one expect, for being out searching for communication components. And they left whatever they had found just laying in a trail, on the ground - as if they suddenly stopped bothering with their mission. Xayun walked a few steps in the directions of the sounds, that he could pick up quite clearly - and he led the search party to right where the two missing members were. But nothing could prepare him for what he saw.

The female from before, that had slipped and crashed her helmet on the floor when running away from the flesh beasts - now laid on her black, on the grimy, bloodied floor. She had opened her suit, unzipping it all the way from her neck to her crotch - her intimates just barely peeking through. On top of her, was the alien male from before, the one that had removed his helmet when he saw her breathing the air fine. He was now grabbing both sides of her exposed hips, pounding her body with his own pelvis, and thrusting his throbbing cock inside her. The female's exposed breasts jiggled under the suit from the vigorous fucking - and one could see a small stream of fluid leaking from her womb, and coating the alien's shaft. They had been at this for a long, long time - possibly ever since they exited the tunnel. But both she and the alien on top of her seemed absolutely focused in continuing to ravage their bodies, the male burying himself inside her with each powerful thrust, and she eagerly taking in his cock - and their mouth was slightly agape, in a drooling expression of hazy lust. Their skins were covered in grime, blood and bits of stray flesh - their lips and mouths were stained blood-red, as if they'd even been feasting on it. Xayun flicked his flashlight a few times at them - but it was as if they were in a completely different state. They didn't even look at him, or the rest of the crew.

 

[Cricket]

Come on Xayun, Karilel thought to herself. Don’t make me regret this. She was wary of putting him in charge like this, but at the same time she couldn’t think of someone better suited. He had continuously proven to keep his head in these situations compared to most of her crew, and she kept trusting him more to survive. The very rocky start her crew endured when Xayun’s explosives went off could actually be an attribute towards his will to survive, if she wanted to look at it that way. She didn’t, exactly, but she felt a sort of safety with him in this situation.

And he didn’t ruin it at all in her eyes. She was worried when crewmembers started voicing their doubts and concerns, but Xyun handled it very well. Hopefully the extra weaponry would come in handy.

Karilel followed closely behind him in the tunnel, trying to fold herself to be as small as possible yet still pressing into the wet sides with her shoulders. Her blue glow reflected off the back of his suit.

She had expected a much longer search, which was why she felt five members would make a good search party. She had not expected to find the missing members so suddenly, right after they exited the tight tunnel. Even she could hear them well before, however.

They were going at it. Deep, intense fucking. Their bodies had pushed past exhaustion, pain, and any other normal mortal limits. It was as if they had a hunger they would never satisfy, at whatever expense they encountered. Whatever mission they had been assigned to had been long forgotten.

Karilel tried to turn her head away at first, but it was useless. These were the people they were trying to rescue. But looking at this scene, they might as well be beyond rescuing. The android debated leaving them here… she got the feeling that they were only a few steps from turning into the monsters that constantly chased them down. The only thing missing was a lot more metal pieces.

As much as she wanted to turn around a go, Karilel couldn’t afford not to try. She approached the mating pair loudly, hoping to avert their attention. But no such luck, they were entirely focused on the deed. With a mixture of anger and disgust, Karilel grabbed the male by the shoulder with her vice-like grip to wrench him off.

The alien finally locked eyes on her as she pulled him off and out of the female. He shrieked a horrible deep, raspy sound at her, and she noticed his lips were raw and half-gone from his face. His eyes were so wide she thought they were going to pop from his skull. His pelvic region was also equally raw from going hours without end. The woman’s moans turned into wails as she rolled and cried out on her back, as if she were dying without him inside of her.

The alien swiped at Karilel once, twice, with his clawed hands. He clipped her shoulder roughly, then her neck. Her metal was enough to deflect the blow but she nearly fell over from his frenzied strength. She let go and stepped back so there was a space between them. The man looked from her, then to the wailing woman, debating who to go after. There was a beat of time, and he turned to go back to the woman, again ignoring Karilel. But before he could get to the woman, Karilel took a few quick steps before him and hit into him with her shoulder into his chest as hard as he could. There was the cracking sound of flesh and bone and metal, and the alien landed several feet away, writhing on his back.

Meanwhile, the woman was on her feet, raw and bloody, and sprinting towards Xayun and the other crewmembers. She seemed to have noticed that her previous “mate” was occupied, and needed to quench her desires with someone else.

Karilel might have felt bad for possibly cracking the man’s ribs, but he was on his feet again and looking after the woman, who was gone. Moaning in some sort of sexual agony, he ran towards Karilel.

 

[Vuxayl]

Ayara felt a terrible void inside her, something that left her wailing in distress and almost gasping for air. She needed more. More fucking, more blood and hot seed flowing into her womb, more cock thrusting and grinding inside of her, inside of her raw tunnel. She needed it so desperately, that she could barely lift herself up when Karilel dragged her partner away - she momentarily lost track of him, and was left confused and panicking about what to do next. It was almost as if the denial was slowly choking her to death, and she frantically looked all around her for a way out. She looked at Karilel struggling against the male alien, and instinctually thought the more powerful female had taken him away so he could fuck Karilel instead of her - and she needed another mate, fast.

That's when she looked at Xayun and the rest of Karilel's crew, her wobbly thighs soaked in blood and her torn suit falling from her shoulders. Her mouth tried to draw a relieved smile, which her torn lips could barely do - and she lunged at them, sprinting on all fours. She could see one or two males in there - and she was going to fuck them all, and have them filling her womb with their seed, or die trying. Xayun had barely enough time to point his gun at the sprinting woman - but he hesitated in either staying with the rest of the crew, or helping Karilel deal with the alien that had been fucking a corrupted Ayara. He knew she would be able to take care of herself, but the beast that was clawing at her had a frenzied strength that almost rivalled her own. There was a part of Xayun that felt... he couldn't just leave her alone. But he was also the leader of the crew now... He had to lend her a hand somehow, and he decided to keep himself within reach of both Karilel and the crew members, while simultaneously shooting his gun at the creatures.

Xayun was pretty good with firearms, as his experience with explosives and the illegal weapon seemed to hint at - and even in such a precarious situation, he managed to hit the male fiend, and get a clear shot at Ayara's head. Her jaw flew off like it was nothing, and the female was left with her tongue dangling from her skull - the impact almost made her trip over, but she kept on her relentless pursuit. No amount of shooting seemed to slow her down - a couple of bullets and heated plasma shot through through her body, and she kept sprinting at the other crewmembers like it was nothing. She wanted anyone, anything inside her, fucking her, relieving her... no matter the cost. The corrupted fiend had already pinpointed who she was going to assault - she glanced over the suits of every male crewmember she could detect, and lunged towards the one that she felt would be the quickest in getting his shaft ready for her.

The male alien, on the other hand, seemed equally pained at the realization that he wasn't engaged in sex, and looked at Karilel when he knew Ayara was off the table. She seemed... female enough, even thought her skin seemed oddly cold and off-colour. In his despaired eyes, she was just another female he could fuck - an odd one, but one nonetheless. The fact that she was a machine didn't abate his lust one bit, nor her aggression towards him. She had shattered almost half of his ribs, and he could feel them poking at his lungs and skin as he sprinted towards her. Xayun aimed his gun at the incoming fiend at shoulder-level. One heated shot went right through his heart, another through his chest. And another flew just past his shoulder when he reached her, unfazed. Completely uninterested in Xayun or his attempts at stopping him, the alien reached over to Karilel and started crawling on her body.

A scream of panic echoed around the chamber, and Xayun had to turn around. Ayara was so close to one of the freelancers the others weren't able to shoot, and what she started doing made them even more distraught. She fell down in front of whoever she had chosen, ripped his suit at around crotch level, and begun firmly stroking his manhood with her fingers, wetting it with whatever was left of her tongue. The suit had depressurised, and she tried to swallowed the metal zip from it with eagerness, and whatever tools he had on his belt. It were a mere seconds before his cock was hard in her hand - and she threw him on his back, shuffling on top of him. The corrupt Ayara quickly sheathed his cock inside of her, and rode him as hard as she could. A long, satisfied moan of pleasure escaped her lips as she pounded her pelvis on him, and the man held her hips with his hands and started rocking in the same rhythm as her. "Shoot her! Shoot them both! He's gone! Do it now!" The man made a strained expression, and started fucking her even more intensely.

Meanwhile, the male fiend was trying to penetrate Karilel's body - but he couldn't find any vaginal opening in the expected area. If there was one, he had either missed it, or it was closed shut. That wasn't going to keep him at bay - because he prodded her body with his cock until he found a sufficiently large opening, and started thrusting himself on her. He only needed a few thrusts into Karilel's metal folds to come right below them, tainting some of her internals with hot cum. The way he crawled on top of her left her panels full of blood and grime - and he quickly resumed trying to fuck her, intending to come once more. Xayun was only now aware of what was the male creature was doing to Karilel - and he yelled out her name in panic. "Karilel!" He sprinted towards her as fast as he could, and tried to ram over the fiend - but he held on strong to her body, and was even trying to rip out and swallow some of her panelling. Xayun reloaded his weapon as fast as he could, and only stopped shooting at the creature when it got turned into a pulpy mass of flesh.

 

[Cricket]

The male alien spent time briefly processing what the next creature he could fuck would be, and then bolted after Karilel. A gunshot caught him in the chest—once, twice—but it only caused him to step slightly off course. He kept moving after Karilel like it was nothing.

If Karilel had been running optimally, she probably would have had no issue fighting against the sex-crazed alien. She had good defenses, and it was very hard to knock her over—normally. But her ex-crewmate lunged at her, moaning desperately, and she took a step backwards to carry on with his momentum and knock him over. However, there was a squealing sound, like old metal, and she felt her injured ankle bend clumsily and give way beneath her. Within a second the monster was upon her and she went down.

The creature pinned her arms down first. Karilel broke one arm free almost right away but when she used it to hit and jab at the alien it had no noticeable effect. She was literally tearing pieces of flesh off of him and he paid her no heed. If anything, he might have been relishing the pain as he continued to moan. Her other arm was pinned against his weight. Her legs uselessly scrabbled against the slippery ground and her ankle was currently of no use. She couldn’t make a worthy attempt to push him off without getting some sort of effective footing.

She could feel his heat and his sexual hunger radiating off of him. Karilel did her best to rearrange the metallic skin of her body, to make any of her large grooves smaller, for example, but that was no challenge for the beast. She felt clawed hands stroking over her body, crawling along her chest and sides. The fingers would even work themselves into her metal layers, probing. Technically Karilel’s anatomy did have something similar to a vaginal opening, but it wasn’t the easiest to find if she didn’t part any of her metal panels. The fiend didn’t seem to care much, and was more concern about fucking the first hole big enough.

That hole happened to be where some panels were thinly made and widely spaced just above Karilel’s hip to help her joint move easily. These thin panels were obliterated with one frenzied thrust from the alien’s cock. Now he had an opening large enough to proceed. He thrust deep and hard into her side—Karilel felt him penetrate her circuitry—and then hot cum sizzled on her wires enough to send a small electrical jolt through them both. The male alien loved it, howling with glee. He kept going.

Karilel couldn’t see much—the creature’s face was looming before her no matter how she tried to crane her head around him. He tried to kiss her first, the same way he had been doing with the fleshy female, but Karilel had little to offer him if she didn’t want to make her metallic face feel more pliable. He smeared his bloodied face and lips all over her head and neck, but eventually pulled back, confused and distraught. He directed all his attention to the fucking now.

Panic bubbled inside Karilel, mostly that this was how she was going to die over anything else. The longer the creature worked at her, the more he was tearing apart her metallic skin. But just as she started to dwell on it, more gunshots tore into the beast at a much closer range. Blood splattered over Karilel repeatedly. She could barely make out Xayun’s shape… until finally the creature ceased, slumped over her, dead. She threw him off with all she could muster and rigidly staggered to her feet. Her body was dripping with the creature’s fluids, as well as some of her internal materials like coolants and oils. Small sheets of her metal paneling were hanging off of her like rags. Her blue light was flickering.

“Thank you,” she finally said. The room was mostly silent again, save for the corrupted female and the newly corrupted male, who were paying no attention to anything but their fuck session. The remaining crewmember looked nervously debating between shooting them, or leaving them alone. They could probably get by with either, as long as the creatures were killed at the same time, before the one remaining could seek out a new victim.

“I’ll be fine,” she answered an unspoken question. That was, if she could just spend time repairing herself. If they continued deeper into the pits of the tunnel and continued running into unspeakable horrors, then she probably wouldn’t be.

 

[Vuxayl]

Xayun took a deep breath when the creature that was ravaging Karilel finally died, and moved back to let her stand up. He was shocked at the whole thing, and wasn't really sure of what to do next. But she seemed to have survived the attack of the crazed fiend, and at least didn't seem to be almost immediately seduced by the carnal contact as the other two crew members had been. When she got back on her feet, Xayun looked over her figure, and she seemed absolutely ghastly now - she was covered in blood and grime from head to toes, her blue light barely passing through them. Her hip seemed quite damaged, and from it was coming a trickle of coolant, and a clear, thick fluid that seemed to have been whatever the creature had shot inside her hip joint.

Once the commander of both her team and the freelancers, she now seemed to be on the brink of death, following the fate of what had happened to most of the crew. And Xayun didn't want that to happen - he felt like losing her would not only be a loss for whatever personnel remained... but for him, as well. He gave a look at her eyes, and remembered the animosities from before - but thinking about her systems failing, and being torn apart and devoured by the hellish creatures that dwelt here, made his chest feel tighter. He cared for her. "You're not fine, Karilel" was what he said looking at her hull, and seeing bits of her panelling hanging and barely holding on to the rest of her shape. He touched one such panel with his finger, and it almost fell from her. "... Sorry." He should've got to that creature sooner.

Xayun then looked at the other crewmember, still next to Karilel. He was clearly distraught, aiming his rifle at the corrupted pair that was still grinding each other in the middle of the damp, slick room. Maybe it was better if they didn't disturb them... they already proved to have immense strength and resilience in this state, and Xayun and the rest of the survivors could get by for a while as they seemed absorbed in their deed. Shooting them could provoke them, and it wasn't a guaranteed kill. "Keep them under check, don't startle them. With a bit of luck, they'll ignore us and keep doing whatever they're doing... we're not in the condition to go any further." As he spoke, the back of his hand grazed on Karilel's hip; it picked up a smudge of tainted cum, which he wiped on his suit. The situation was desperate, and Xayun felt a tinge of fear for what would be their fate in here.

He kept himself as close to her as possible, guarding her as he pointed his rifle up, and looked around. There seemed to be no immediate danger so far - the only creatures they found on this strange, unnatural room were the two crewmembers which had somehow turned into the sex fiends that hunted them. "... I think there's something in the air, in the atmosphere of this... alien complex, or something. Neither of them had their helmets on... neither of them had been touched by those creatures before, either. Well, the other crewmember that Ayara... or whatever was Ayara, is screwing over now still has the helmet on... but she went for for his body, and tore the suit. Seems like the... spread of whatever is taking control of them is faster that way. You don't seem to be too susceptible to it... fortunately." He sighed in relief at Karilel still seeming to be her old self - and even with the layer of blood around her, he wrapped an arm around her waist, trying to hold some of her weight.

Going back was an option, but Karilel probably wouldn't be able to climb back through the tunnel, and there was no real advantage to it either. "I think it's best if we stay here for a while, before anything else happens." He looked at Karilel's wounds again, and placed a hand on her shoulders. "How are you feeling, Karilel? Do you think you can repair some of your systems? There is a lot of damage... but hopefully your internals haven't been hit to hard. If there's anything you need from me...". And with that said, Xayun helped her move around with his arm around her, and then took the intercom from his pocket. After a few nervous seconds of not hearing anything, the rest of the crew beyond the tunnel answered his communication through the speaker.

"You okay over there? What's the sit-rep?..." So far, they had survived, without a single encounter with one of those creatures. "Good. Look, we've had a problem here. We got to them faster than we thought. Something happened to Ayara and the other guy... they're... tainted, somehow. They're behaving like the creatures, but so far they're not paying attention to us. I don't how for how long can we count with that... we lost a crewmember, and Karilel is wounded." The other side was silent for a moment, not used to hearing about a robot being "wounded". But Xayun's patience was already stretched thin. "We need someone else here, our team is just out of the tunnel. Alright? Over and out." He turned off the intercom, and it made a little closing beep.

 

[Cricket]

Karilel felt a twinge, but it wasn’t from the uncomfortable buzzing feeling or the pull of the corrupted tunnel system. It was emotion over how clearly Xayun was showing compassion towards her. He cared that she had been injured, and was concerned about her state of being. Her face wasn’t used to showing this form of solemn gratefulness. Instead, her blue glowing eyes flickered for a bit as her steely resolve faltered; it was harder to keep herself as functioning as possible.

“It’s not your fault,” she said, a hint of grim sadness in her voice. “If anything… we got stuck in this fate ourselves right when landed.” As much as she felt responsible for the crew as their commander, she couldn’t bear to dwell on all the deaths and corruption being her fault. No, this was on all of them for being unlucky, just like the crews before them.

She accepted Xayun’s support as he helped her move. She wasn’t particularly light, but she remembered that he was rather strong. “We’ll need to relay that on the intercom—warn everyone against being exposed to the air, even if it is breathable. It is fortunate that I don’t need to breathe,” she also agreed, “but I do worry if there are other ways to get to those… corrupted states.” She paused short of mentioning the tugging and fuzzy feeling the tunnel was having on her. She could resist it, so far at least, but she felt it urging her to go deeper. She also knew that as an android, she shouldn’t get the diseases that organic lifeforms could, including from sexual contact, but there were still doubts nagging in her mind.

Someone on the other side of the intercom responded that they would send someone. They would just have to wait for a moment, and then decide how to proceed next. Karilel maneuvered as far away as she could comfortably get from the mating couple, who were still ravenously in the throes of orgasm.

She leaned wearily against the wall of the chamber, even though it meant she was pressing against the slick gore that coated it. She used her thin fingers as best as she could do first clean whatever gunk she managed to get out of the wound on her hip. When satisfied, Karilel began the delicate process of folding her torn pieces of metal paneling over the hole. The panels were thin, but sturdy enough for her needs, and she carefully layered them over the hole one by one. After she got a piece into position, the piece took over repairing itself, moving around to get back into the spot it was supposed to be.

She worked in silence at first, folding the metal over as manually as she could. But eventually, there were still places on her back that she couldn’t get to alone.

Karilel turned to Xayun. “Can you help me get the rest?” she asked. “You don’t have to be too delicate, the pieces can move once they’re in the general area of where they’re supposed to be.” She moved so her back was to him. There were only two clear holes, and the remains of her torn hip that she couldn’t reach. “It doesn’t hurt—I don’t feel much pain,” she added. “The panels can fix themselves after I rest for a while, assuming conditions are optimal. But… this will be faster.”

 

[Vuxayl]

At her request, Xayun nodded in approval - and he moved closer to her back. The two holes were clearly visible to him, the torn panelling hanging from the little support it still had - and inside were what seemed to be Karilel's internals. He was just going to draw a panel of hers back into place - but she was so covered in grime, that it seemed best for him to remove some of it first. And that's what Xayun did - with the palm of his gloved hand, he gently scraped her back so as not to tear anything else, wiping excess dirt and blood and leaving only the unavoidable smudges. That was the best he was going to manage doing... still, it was better than nothing.

Her insides were even more visible than before, still operational enough inside of her metal shell. It surprised him slightly, all things considered, seeing in person that she was all metal to the core - and there were even some of the tiniest gaps and holes between the wires and machine organs, Xayun swearing he could see right through them, and through her form. The situation they were in demanded from them all their concentration - but Xayun spent a few moments looking at Karilel's body, admiring it briefly, even. It had its own alien beauty - something he hadn't considered for robots, ever.

Still, she waited for him to put the panels back into place - and they seemed to surround the holes she was having difficulty covering. Supposedly, that was where they should be. So Xayun dragged one of them towards the respective hole, and kept it there for a moment - when he drew his hand back, the panel didn't follow. It seemed to have attached itself to her structure, as she'd told him - the only thing different from before being that the panel itself was noticeably bent and buckled. Possibly, he wondered, the longer it stayed on her body, the more its shape would return its original form. It was intriguing... for an organic being, even if used to machines.

"I think I got it, Karilel." The first hole in her armour was patched up... and the second one soon followed. Some of the panels were having difficulty interlocking themselves - she said he didn't need to be gentle, but it still took him some extra determination to push and sometimes ram them in their folds, the delicate metal wincing at the added stress of the buckled panels and the loosened pieces. "That should do it... hopefully, those were the correct places." Looking down, Xayun inspected the rest of her form. She was still pretty beaten, but the only remaining large wound was around her hips - the parts that she couldn't get to.

He had seen Karilel taking out as much as she could from the torn metal - but there was still a an appreciable amount of fluid leaking from the torn hip, some of which not originally Karilel's own fluids. He dug his fingers in it, wincing at the notion that he was burying them in a wound of hers - and scooped out whatever was left, falling on the alien technology floors of the room still warm from the fiend's body. The panels around her hip joint had been pushed in from the force of the thrusting - he held them and pulled as hard as he could until they snapped back into their original positions with a metallic wince. "There... now let's hope it doesn't leave any rust in there." It was a legitimate concern - but from the tone of his voice, it was also a pitiful attempt at a joke.

"You can rest here... I'll take watch. How fast do you think you can repair yourself?" But his question was interrupted by a sound of something slick walking around the entrance of the tunnel they'd come from. He swore at himself for not having even heard it coming - and quickly aimed his gun at the origin of the sounds, ready to make a last stand if it came to that. One of Karilel's crew members peeked from beyond the darkness - and Xayun quickly realised it was whoever they'd sent back to help them, after he'd been on the intercom. "Ah... it's you." And he nudged in the direction of the fornicating couple, whose wet, fleshy sounds could still be heard in the room as they frantically fucked each other for what seemed like forever.

"They're there... stand back, keep your rifle on them at all times." With her first set of arms, she was holding her own rifle - and the other set was holding its hands in the air as she looked at them, as if reeling back from disgust at the scene. "... don't hesitate if they try to assault you; they're not your mates anymore. They're... corrupted... twisted... don't startle them, and stay far away." The alien woman nodded, and choked a terrified cry as she kept the rifle pointed - she then moved somewhere between Xayun and Karilel, and the corrupted crew members. The other freelancer and someone from Karilel's team were still beyond the tunnel - and even though they were less in number, they were probably safer than them. At least, they had a weapon, and didn't share the room with the possessed members.

All that was left to do was inform the other team not to breathe in the air - but Xayun leaned on the metal walls of the room, exhausted with everything that was happening. One look at Karilel, and he remembered how it all began - with their discussion on the ship's bridge, and the abandonment of the Kanayago. After it happened, Xayun did think he had overreacted - and never had the chance of speaking to her about it. And he never knew how she'd felt after the incident... that she wasn't the one to really blame for all it. But he felt like not mentioning it, lest Karilel feel guilty of everything that happened. So he simply looked at her with a brief, reassuring half-smile - and stayed near her.

 

[Cricket]

Karilel tilted her head towards Xayun in the subtlest of affectionate nods. She felt comfortable resting and leaving him to watch over the scene, and inform the other crewmembers of the situation. She slid down against the wall until she was in an ideal resting position.

“I think we can afford another break,” she mused, before she pulled herself in close and went into her resting state. It had felt like ages since she last rested, but she felt guilty when she thought about how recently it had actually been.

In her state of rest, Karilel felt that pulling sensation again, with more clarity. It was a deep tugging against her body, almost as if there was a string attached to her core, yanking her in the direction the controller wanted.

Though her mind was more or less shut off, she could still feel many things somehow. The pulling sensation, the slow knitting of her metallic particles. Any observer would see the tears in her body closing up. It wasn’t a perfect or neat process, but the thin folds of metal were undulating and grabbing onto each other as if Karilel was controlling them. Or, rather, they practically had a mind of their own—to repair and protect the Laut’Haler. By the end of her short rest the most violent of her injuries would be repaired.

But Karilel also felt a pulsing inside of her. It was very subtle, but she could feel the flesh and grime that got lodged within her. Some of it was even living, squiggling around the folds of metal uselessly like a worm in the sun. And within the pieces of flesh, Karilel felt the blood pulsing and moving through it, and therefore through her. At the moment, it was the closest thing she could ever experience to having an organic heartbeat.

It terrified her. When she finally woke up, the robot did not lurch forward like last time, at least. She raised her head slowly, feeling better in terms of injuries. But she was acutely aware of the pulling feeling, the confusing buzzing, and the pulsing flesh. She missed the gentle hum of her circuitry.

She looked around to find Xayun. “That helped, thank you,” she said. The remaining crewmembers also looked to be resting, though with apprehension as they kept an eye on the mating couple. The two were still vigorously fucking with no sign of fatigue.

 

[Vuxayl]

When Karilel slid down the wall, Xayun soon followed suit, his body aching for some rest as well. It hadn't been too long since they'd rested, but there was something about this place, and the whole situation they were in, that Xayun felt particularly taxing. Not only where they being hunted by these monstrosities, but the floor was uneven and hard to traverse, filled with either sharp metallic protrusions and various electronics, or soft dirt and grime that insisted in dragging his steps. And after finishing the fiend that had almost torn Karilel's own skin-like counterpart apart, his suit was too covered in stains of blood and dirt. Maybe it explained why all the creatures so far seemed to be missing most of their skin? Either way, he tried to wipe it off with his hand, but it only smudged it further and made him look even more unsettling. Unable to do anything else, he just gave a tired sigh and sat there, with his weapon close and ready.

Karilel was next to him, folded onto herself like before. She still looked pretty beaten up, and her thigh was still in an unspeakable state. There was in Xayun's mind the sudden desire to be able to put everything right, to repair her and help the rest of the crew, and exit this cursed planet like it had never happened... And with their past animosity almost completely forgotten, he felt that he shouldn't have ever allowed that fiend to get that close to her, and do what it did inside her. Surely it wasn't all his fault... but that's how he was starting to feel. But even he knew he was thinking too much into it, and was probably just tense from the current events. So he just leaned back and looked back and forth between Karilel, the two other crew members, and the corrupted couple that was still fucking hard.

Every time he looked back at Karilel, her panels seemed to be just a little bit better. The holes were closing up, the tears were sewing themselves together, apparently. It was a slow process, and while Xayun was looking at her he could barely see any movement... but he'd turn to look at something else and after a few minutes he'd look back, and she'd be noticeably better. It was like trying to catch the sun moving shadows... it happened, but it was difficult to pinpoint. He even wondered if she was one single being - or a sentient colony of nano-particles. For an organic creature like him... it was somewhat unsettling.

After what seemed like ages, she finally lifted her head upwards, and stared back at him. Xayun was caught in a bit of a surprise, but he still gave her a weak smile, and a nod. Finally, she was back online. "Hey. You alright? Do you think that thing did any long-lasting damage?... I suppose there's plenty of metal around here. I think such a... a," he said, suddenly at a loss for words. Before, he wouldn't have any trouble calling her a simple robot - but now, he felt like the term belittled her. And he was having difficulties remembering just what species she was... only that they were, well, robots. "... such a being like you might find some use to it."

He then lifted himself up with some effort, and took a more assertive stance. "Anyway, we need to get out of this situation ASAP, or we might as well start digging our graves here." Xayun gestured at one of the resting crew members to come near, and the female alien from before nervously walked towards him. "You. Tell the rest of the crew to walk down the tunnel to here. We're going to find some way to contact the surface, and all these devices in here are our best chance. The more we got searching, the faster we're out of here." He handed her the intercom device, and moved towards the two... former crew members.

"We still need to keep an eye on these two..." He pointed his weapon at the female still riding the other creature, eagerly thrusting her bloated nethers on his raw, bloodied cock. He had came so many times inside her that there was an appreciable amount of his cum coating them both. But to his surprise... she turned her head to look at him - and then at Karilel, as well. Not only was the first time she acknowledged her presence... but she seemed to be smiling happily, event though her body was already starting to break down from the insane intercourse. He aimed his weapon directly to her, expecting something to happen - but so far, it seemed like the sexual haze had only cleared up enough to give her some self-control back. "They might... they might be waking up soon. We better get prepared to- to just end this." He looked at Karilel, sweating nervously inside his suit - and that's when he heard some faint scurrying, not too far from where they were."

 

[Cricket]

The female alien crewmember scurried out through the narrow tunnel almost immediately after Xayun dismissed her. She seemed eager for a distraction, even if it meant bringing the remaining crew back in this direction.

Karilel’s body had improved significantly, though still imperfect. “I think I can recover fully if we get out of here,” she answered. “I don’t think it’s anything that can’t be repaired. There’s so much grime inside of me, though, that I don’t know how long or how much it will take to eventually be clean.” But that would also need to be dealt with only after they got out, of course. “When we look for parts for communication, I’ll try to collect some scrap metal I might be able to use for my body.”

She stood, listening to Xayun with careful interest, and then turned her attention to the mating couple. Her first thought was that they should be put out of their misery, and she was glad that Xayun brought up similar suggestions. But at the same time, they were still alive and more or less in one piece, which couldn’t be said for all the crew.

“I agree with you… but I don’t know if I could handle the others knowing I OK’d the killing of any crewmembers. It would further some of the distrust, and our morale can’t handle much more,” she began carefully. “Or we are part the point of morality and should just… do it now.

“We know they’re not going anywhere, but they’re still a risk for anyone that disturbs them. If we wanted to, we could get away from them for now, and then come back when we have a little bit more hope going for us, like a way to end their stupor…” she started to suggest, but trailed off when she noticed Xayun’s nervous position, and she immediately honed in on her surroundings.

Karilel finally heard the telltale sound of metallic and fleshy skittering. She spun around towards the source of the sound—deeper within the tunnel and shined her flashlight at them. Here, she and the others were on top of a ledge similar to the one in their previous space. But this edge sloped into more of a hill, unlike the steeper drop in the other space that provided a little bit more security. Although their current area was a bit more secluded and less open, the slope evidentially proved no challenge for a creature that knew they were here.

At the bottom were several scurrying beasts, either galloping on all fours or loping after them with long, two-legged strides.

“Here we go again!” Karilel shouted, her voice hinting at panic. She grabbed her gun and opened fire on the oncoming monsters. Most of her shots went wide into the darkness or did not faze the beasts enough to stop them. She was wasting ammo—and she had not been paying attention to how much she had left.

Behind all the skittering, smaller monsters, there was a different, heavier sound. Karilel shined her light at it in desperate curiosity. There stood a two-legged amalgamation, taller than any of the beasts and even taller than her average crewmember. It was not moving very fast compared to the other creatures. She noticed that its legs were no longer flesh past the thighs, and were instead metallic extensions that amplified its height.

It was nearly impossible to tell what sort of being it had been once, due to the dark gloom and the horrific modifications on its face and torso. The metallic extensions weren’t just for its limbs, but protrusions extended down its back and all over from its head. Its own flesh was stretched across many of these metal spikes, but some of the spikes had impaled smaller creatures or organic body pieces like limbs and a small but whole torso. Any other details were too difficult for Karilel to make out in the darkness and in the short amount of time she had to glance at it. There was no time to dwell—they needed to get away.

 

[Vuxayl]

When Xayun saw the moving mass of corrupted creatures rushing at them by the dozens, he almost froze in panic. By now, the noise of their flesh crawling over the metallic, grimy floor was almost deafening compared to the silence from before. They could survive one or two of these damned creatures, maybe an ambush from a small group - but with this many, and with their only other escape route through that narrow tunnel, meant that this was probably the end of it. They were all going to be murdered or enthralled by them into eternal, depraved fucking, and it was hard to tell at a glance which outcome was the worst.

It only took a fraction of a second for him to snap out of his dread, and Xayun raised his weapon as fast as he could - just after hearing Karilel shouting in an almost panicked voice, he started shooting at the pulsating crowd of flesh-fuckers, keeping the trigger pressed and not letting it go. Spraying them in a hail of bullets seemed to be hardly a deterrent to their advances - just like he and the rest of the crew had seen before, they seemed to be extremely resilient to pain and shock. Xayun soon realised that if he tried to hold his ground right there, he would be quickly overwhelmed - and so he started retreating back to the tunnel, skipping backwards and keeping the fire concentrated on the advancing front of creatures. "Everyone! Everyone back to the tunnel! Run!"

As unlikely as an escape was, the tunnel was still their best chance. Xayun's own weapon was running out, and they had almost no supplies whatsoever - the armament was doing little, but at least it was doing something and already had proven it could kill such a creature. Even if saving up ammo made sense from a rational perspective, Xayun didn't even bother - for him, it felt like it was now or never, and his survival instinct kept his finger pressing the trigger until it started doing the telltale "click - click - click" of an empty firing chamber. The sound alone made him almost lose his balance - and then he threw the weapon towards the creatures, whipping out a small sidearm from his belt. He shot once or twice, futile as it was - and that's when he saw the larger creature.

"... holy fuck." This was all that Xayun could say as he looked at this monstrosity - if the combined firepower of the remaining crew-members hadn't even managed to dissuade the smaller creatures from hunting after them, then for this hulking mass of flesh and metal their attempts were probably not even worth noticing. He kept his gun aimed at it, since it seemed like it held some sort of authority over the creatures that skittered around it - but he didn't even shot, knowing how pointless that would be. His back finally touched the wall as they retreated - and the entrance to the tunnel was just to his side. "Quick, everyone! Get back into the tunnel!" Xayun was about to push the crew-member that was with him and Karilel towards the entrance, when he heard shots coming from the other side.

Xayun could very easily recognize the sounds of the mini-gun he'd given to the other freelancer - warped, rapid shots that thundered even beyond the length of the tunnel. That thing, and its ammunition, had been designed to pierce through the thickest tank armour - there was a pissed-off roar from the other side, one much deeper and menacing that the usual shrieks of the smaller creatures - and he could hear a pair of incredibly loud thumps coming in the direction of the other group, like it was another of the heavier creatures sprinting on its metallic stilts. The gunner hardly had any time to scream before his head was cleanly sliced off.

Now trapped, Xayun turned around to face the creatures inching ever closer to them. He looked at Karilel with desperation in his eyes - and then he rushed in front of her and the other member, keeping his body between them and the creatures, and aiming at the larger one. Since he was going to die anyway, might as well play his heroic card. It seemed like the lesser fiends were accompanying their leader, instead of blindly rushing against them - at least, some of them did. There were a few that looked at Xayun, Karilel and the remaining crew-member with hungry eyes, stroking their genitals and eagerly awaiting to be close enough - close enough to pounce on them, and start fucking them hard. One such creature seemed like he was going to jump straight towards Karilel, preparing himself with his legs digging themselves on the ground...

The larger creature, however, moved one of its bloodied limbs in front of that one, slivers of metal shining beneath and poking through the strands muscle and torn skin, its hand almost completely mechanical. Denied, the fiend looked at what was supposedly its master with almost puppy-like eyes, as much as its torn and destroyed face could muster - and then he simply rested against the floor, holding his engorged cock proudly in the air trying to seduce something to fuck him. It wasn't long before another creature crawled over him and started sheathing his shaft with her tunnel; eagerly sliding his cock in and out of her and with him pounding her nethers with equal lust.

Some of the creatures also seemed to focus on the other two crew-members, still fucking on the floor - they crawled towards them, and the female that was riding the former member's bloodied cock looked at them with a soft smile. They quickly surrounded them, moving over their bodies - one of the creatures, supposedly female, started rubbing her lips and clit on the former crew-member's face on the floor, while kissing the other one with what remained of her jaw. The kiss was eagerly returned, the other crew-member licking her flesh and smearing stale blood on her lips - and a further creature moved behind her, burying and then thrusting his swollen shaft on the hole just above her slit, not yet filled by another creature. A couple more joined, fucking whatever they could find in a quick, depraved orgy.

The remaining creatures, and the larger one, stopped just a few feet in front of Karilel and the rest - her blue light and their flashlights illuminating them fully. It was hard to tell exactly what the large one was, its body so mutilated and disfigured - and even harder to tell if it was female, or male, both. It did have a vaguely humanoid shape, with two arms and two legs, a torso and a head - all horribly mauled and skinless, some of its flesh stretched across its metal spikes - its teeth seemed to be of sharp, needle-like metal as well, and strangely enough, it appeared to be giving a gentle smile at them. Its arms held some of the creatures near it, as if it was taking care of them. Beneath its torso and between its legs, were what seemed like both female and male genitals - a large, thick cock that a couple of creatures were licking and sucking, their satisfied faces covered in still-warm cum, and behind there were two other creatures taking turns at fucking its wide slit.

 

[Cricket]

The huge monstrosity idly looked from the newly occurring orgy to the surviving crewmembers with its beady but intense eyes. Karilel didn’t read emotions exceptionally well, but even if she did, she was pretty sure the creature’s expression was something between a permanent gasp of pleasure, and possibly a grimace. Given all the attention its genitalia were receiving, it was surprising that the monster barely paid the smaller creatures much heed.

It finally snapped its head to focus on Karilel and the others. It continued to hold most of the swarm back. One of the smaller ones lumbered past, grabbing at Karilel, but she kicked it as quickly in the head as she could. It stumbled, undeterred, but the larger one gave it a meaningful rumbling noise and the creature turned away from her.

The larger creature looked towards them and opened its mouth as if it were trying to speak. It barely had any lips, and the lips that remained were mostly mashed meat. Its jaw opened and closed. There was he faint whirring of various mechanical parts churning together from somewhere inside its chest. The noises it made could be described as moans and rumbles, but Karilel couldn’t discern anything that felt like speech. Still, its intentions were clear—it was trying to communicate.

She stopped trying to run away just at the edge of the smaller tunnel. The goliath reached out with one thin metal limb, with the flesh crudely stretched over it. Then it curled its wrist inwards, awkwardly, repeating the motion. Come here.

“It’s… beckoning us,” Karilel said.

“You’ve got to be crazy!” blurted the remaining crewmember.

“But it’s holding off the rest of them!” Karilel knew it was crazy. But that buzzing feeling was telling her to listen to the monster.

 

[Vuxayl]

The other crew member was pressed against the wall as much as he could, trying to avert his gaze from the monstrosity. But it was hard to do so when a wrong movement could send this beast into rage mode, and while they were probably and irremediably done for, that instinct of survival still lingered. Even when looking at something that by all means seemed primal enough to kill them, eat them or... judging by what the other, lesser creatures often did, use them to satiate some kind of depraved sexual thirst. Survival chances for all three options seemed none, but nobody was giving up just yet. It wouldn't take long, though.

The motion of the creature's finger, beckoning them closer, pressed them to do something. It... it was waiting for them to come near. A deep rumble came from it, like it was purring of contentedness, and at the same time trying to lure them in. The last thing that Xayun wanted was to come closer to that thing - with his helmet on, and with creature so very close, he couldn't even manage to see its entire body. But waiting too much to take an action... would risk angering this creature, and there was no way they'd be able to stand their ground against it. One of the lesser fiends almost tore through Karilel's body - by comparison, he and the other crewmember were made of cardboard. And this was no lesser fiend.

Xayun had never seen a creature like this, mutated or not - at best, it was of an unknown species to him. At worst, it had been corrupted beyond all recognition. At least, he knew that speaking didn't seem to startle the creature... too much. "Okay," Xayun said with bathed breath, drops of sweat falling over his lips. "... okay. There's nothing else to do... but to do this. I'm dead anyway..." He then slowly looked at Karilel, and pointed towards his crest with a thumb without moving his arms too much. "That thing tries to fuck me up, you put a hole in my head, okay? I don't care, just do it. Probably he wants the same," he said quietly, nudging his head towards the other crew member, "and after that... I hope you got a deletion protocol." That was it. Not much of a goodbye, but there wasn't that much time.

Very slowly, Xayun gave a step forward. The big creature didn't move much, but its beady eyes seemed to pin him down. The other creatures - at least, the creatures that weren't wholly focused in sexually pleasing themselves and the other creature - hushed and rocked in place, looking up at the big creature as if wondering what to do next. Xayun took another step forward, coming even closer with it - it suddenly moved, and it almost made him scream in panic. But it didn't move towards him... it looked down at the creatures feasting on its genitals. Many of its upper muscles started to tense up - and with a metallic snapping sound, his head turned down at a physically impossible angle, a bulge popping on the back of his neck.

It then leaned down slightly, waving its talons above the creatures. It managed to caught their attention - which Xayun didn't understand, having seen how the creatures were so obsessed with it. But some looked up, holding its cock in their hands - and those that had been fucking it from behind dropped on all fours, trying to face it. Ravaged lips, torn and bloodied faces, even missing eyes and jaws - it was hard to tell if they could even make an expression, let alone actually have one. But somehow, Xayun felt... they were slightly disappointed. Frowning. Sad. But they still honoured the larger creature's request, licking whatever juices they could from it, and ran away towards other creatures. Whatever sadness was there dissipated when the creatures begun an orgy amongst themselves, sharing what the larger creature had given them. The wet, slick noises of the creatures rolling over and slapping against each other were still... uncomfortably audible.

The muscles on the creature's neck strained again - and it popped its head back in place, staring at Xayun. He gave one last step forward... he was so close now that, if he didn't have a helmet on, his breath would condense on the flat pieces of metal embedded in the creature's body. It seemed to run over his entire body with his gaze. Almost like measuring him... calculating him. And finally, after a great deal of grinding sounds, it spoke.

"Forgive them. It their nature." The first thing that shocked Xayun was how truly horrible its voice sounded. Part of it seemed to have an electronic undertone - like a speech synthesiser, slightly garbled and far from an organic voice. But the other part... was very organic indeed. It sounded like... a shapeless maw of flesh. Gurgling and groaning together with the synthesised speech, blood and meat sloshing around in the background. Just it was awful enough, but both "voices" speaking together - it was nausea-inducing. Xayun tried to suppress a wince, looking at the creature. But it could speak - and intelligently so.

"You fell. From tunnel," the creature says, subtly nodding to itself. It's unclear if the creature is grinning or not... but it feels like it. "Cherished ones found you first. But now - I here. Cherished ones will not attack, will not pursue... but only if closed ones not hostile. You hostile, remaining closed ones? I advise not, for last hostile you - he became no longer one..." The creature does the same motion with its finger at the other crew member and Karilel, asking them to come closer as well. "Come... who you, and why your presence here? Tell me."

 

[Cricket]

Karilel was nearly sure that this was it for them. She gave a determined nod to Xayun’s request—she would end them all here, on their own terms, rather than be corrupted and die at the hands of these abominations. And this was their goodbye… But then the creature spoke and threw them all for a loop. And it wanted her to speak back in return.

Karilel felt that if she could return to her unyielding commander persona, maybe it could help them out. She just felt that she had abandoned it once everything dissolved in to chaos, and now resorting to it was no longer second nature.

Still, she came forward, as professional as possible. “Commander Karilel, of the SS Vigilant,” she introduced. She recognized similarities between her voice and the behemoth’s in some parts of their synthetic natures, but hers was much nicer to listen to.

The monster just held up a massive, metal-jointed hand in front of Karilel’s face to stop her introduction. “I not care about position. Does not matter here.” Yes, Karilel thought, she already knew being a commander meant nothing here.

“Then I’m… just Karilel. A Laut’Haler. An inorganic life form still capable of independent thought and action.”

The creature surveyed her with its deep eyes. “I sense flesh… part of you now… blessed by cherished ones.”

Karilel felt the pulsing within her, the closest thing she figured she would feel to an actual heartbeat. There was indeed some sort of flesh growing inside of her, spreading between her various metal layers. She felt it was more like a spreading plague than like a blessing.

“Yes… there’s some sort of flesh in me now, so I’m a little bit of both now, I suppose. Like you,” she added, though the thought filled her with dread.

The creature smiled—or at least appeared to. It had no clear lips but its eyes crinkled slightly like Karilel knew some organics did.

“And why here?” it asked.

“To investigate an emergency crash signal from another ship,” she answered. “To look for survivors, or salvageable materials.”

“All materials used here.” The creature gave a slow shake of its crooked head. “All not hostile become cherished ones.” There was that term again, Karilel thought. Cherished ones. The smaller, crueler and terrifying creatures looked anything but.

“The others?” the creature then prompted, gesturing to Xayun and the crewmember.

“They’re with me—they’re my crew.” She stopped, elaborated. “We’re a group, we came here together.”

“And you no more hostile, yes?”

Karilel’s eyes flicked over to Xayun as if for guidance. If she were a different species, she’d be trembling. She didn’t want to condemn him here, if that’s indeed what she was doing, but she had little choice. “Yes. No more being hostile.”

It seemed to lean back in a crooked and proud position, it's massive cock and slit practically pulsing. In some sort of anticipation, maybe? Then it gave that maybe-grin.

“You follow now,” it replied.

 

[Vuxayl]

Xayun felt that they really had no choice now but to comply with the creature - even if that meant being hostile no longer. At least, not as long as the creatures weren't actively trying to kill them - he still had his sidearm with him, and the larger creature didn't seem to notice it. Maybe it did, and just considered it useless enough that Xayun could keep it to himself. Maybe it didn't know what a gun was? That gave him an idea... and when the creature told them to follow, he pointed behind himself as if he wanted to get something back first.

"Do you mind if we... go back this tunnel first? We left something there, and- well, it's important to us, and we would like to get it back. Is, is that okay?" The creature just stared down at Xayun, seemingly observing him... and it stayed like that for a rather long time. Motionless, with its beady eyes locked on him... almost like it was waiting for something. He though the creature had somehow frozen in place - when it snapped from its torpor and moved again, speaking.

"No. That weapon now ours. You can keep tiny weapon, if want. But not big one." Xayun sighed, realising his plan wasn't going to work - all he could do now was to follow the creature. "Okay," he said. "We're following." The large creature pulled its facial muscles in a vague semblance of a smirk, and turned around to guide them out of the cave they were in. The other creatures followed behind them both, keeping the remaining crew in the middle. The other two crew members that had meanwhile been corrupted moved together with the smaller ones, as if they had been part of them all along - the only thing that could set them apart was some remaining pieces of clothing, and their bodies which were still fairly intact.

The creature led them through a series of tunnels, long and narrow, short and wide. If they ever got lost here, it was very likely that they couldn't find out their way back to that initial cave, much less hope of reaching the surface. Xayun had already lost count of how deep they had gone - how far away was the surface, and his ship. He had almost forgotten about Karilel's ships, as well. What were their crews thinking? Would they be trying to rescue them? As much as he would like to believe that help was on the way, it seemed more likely that any rescue party would get killed in these tunnels and caves before they could even find them.

And then... something started to change. The metallic walls, floor and ceiling had pieces of flesh and skin hanging from them, maybe torn and snagged away from the so-called "cherished ones" as they scurried along the tunnels - more and more blood coated these walls, the deeper they went in. The floor was starting to get squishy, too - most of the torn flesh had pooled on it, and it wasn't long before he and the rest were walking on some sort of fleshy substrate. The devices littered across these walls grew in complexity the further they went - from simple boxes and antennae protruding from the walls to delicate stalagmites and stalactites of exotic equipment, humming slightly every time someone came near them.

Finally, they reached what looked like two massive doors built from bits and pieces of machinery - some of which Xayun could recognize. Some panels belonged to space tankers... some belonged to entire space stations. Some even belonged to private-class spaceships, like his own - fools like him, flying alone in space, and probably lured towards this planet. The large creature pressed the palms of its deformed hands against them - and swung the doors open, bringing them inside.

There was nothing particularly different about the room behind these doors - but it was incredibly hot and moist in there, and there was a faint noise of... something. Like a hum, fluttering behind the walls. The large creature guided them up a flight of flimsy stairs, made of metal scraps; with every step, the noise got louder and louder. The stairs ended on a sort of balcony, raised a few feet from the ground - and then it dawned on Xayun what these sounds were. Moans. Muffled moans, groans and cries of pleasure - both organic, and synthetic, like the voice of the larger creature.

Under the balcony there was a large semi-circular space, very dimly lit except for a few spots of electronic light here and there. Even shrouded in darkness, it was obvious what was happening there - a massive orgy of hundreds, maybe thousands of creatures, passionately fucking each other in the most depraved of ways. Now that they were here, the sounds of their collective moaning and flesh fornicating flesh were almost deafening. The creature that lead them here leaned on the balcony's railing and observed the scene beneath them for a while - and then it seemed to beckon something to join them.

Another large creature then came from the stairs, presumably one that had been on the orgy - it skittered with a stressed look in its eyes, like it was missing something, like it needed something... now. Its body was lither, and in a way, more feminine than the previous creature - and it had four large breasts on its chest, instead of only two. It had barely any skin left, its slick flesh exposed - and instead of limbs, it had long, sharp blades that it somehow managed to walk around with.

It quickly jumped towards the first creature, first wrapping itself around its body and pressing its torn lips in a kiss - and then it climbed on top of it, placing a bladed leg on the railing as support, and pressing its back against the other's chest. The other creature grabbed its large, throbbing cock and pushed it between the legs of the more feminine creature - and they started rocking back and forth, in front of the remaining crew. A few delicious thrusts inside it and the second creature seemed much less stressed - it looked at Xayun and Karilel inquisitively, with the other creature slowing down the rhythm of their embrace.

"Ah... you must be ones that... stirred trouble on upper tunnels?..." The first creature nodded in confirmation, holding the body of the second one as they consumed their insatiable lust. It moaned in response. "Hmm... unfortunate. We apologise for cherished ones' behaviour... but now you here. Safe, with us. We welcome you, blessed ones, to paradise... the great one must have blessed you, by allowing you to find us."

 

[Cricket]

As they followed the “cherished ones” deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels, Karilel was sure they wouldn’t be able to find their way out. Even if her navigation systems were functioning, the tunnels looked as if they were designed to be easy to get into, impossible to scale back out. Some of the tunnels even looked like there were spikes of scrap metal facing down towards the tunnels—making them annoying at best going down, but nightmarish for someone un-dexterous trying to run up. No doubt the monsters with their delicately pointed limbs were experts at maneuvering about.

Karilel was about to speak to Xayun, but the silence around them made her consider otherwise. But when the chattering of other monsters around them filled the room, she tried to whisper to him. “If they’re leading us away to become the ‘cherished ones,’ then our agreement can still stand. I should be able to… put a hole in your head even without my gun.” She flexed her fingers experimentally. They were mucked up with the grime, but she could still shape them into a point. It would work like a hydraulic bolt to the head. She hoped her words offered some horrible solace.

They continued on; some parts of the tunnels were dark, and Karilel was the only source of light, though the monsters seemed like they could see perfectly. But eventually the walls were littered with mechanical devices that flooded the caverns with crude light. The light wasn’t enough the reveal the massive orgy happening around them, but the sounds were enough. Karilel’s folded metal skin fluttered around out of discomfort, and she longed to clear her body of the grime.

The speaking creature and their current mate were illuminated by the small lights in a way that someone could call ‘angelic’—if they were twisted in the head enough, of course. Karilel was trying to think along the same lines as these monsters, trying to grasp at straws for their motivation, and what would happen to her and her crew. She was still only coming up with feelings of revulsion.

“Thank you,” Karilel answered carefully. “Thank you for guiding us to your… paradise.”

“We can show you our ways…” the speaking one paused now and again in ecstasy and to shift in their rhythmic rocking. “There are our celebrations,” the creature made a sweeping motion with their arm, gesturing to the orgies around them, and letting the silence in the conversation be filled with the chorus of moans. “And the blessings we get in return.”

“Blessings?” Karilel echoed.

“Yes. Our bodies are improved, and we can fill the chambers with others of our kind.” The monsters smiled serenely and beckoned for them to follow yet again.

 

[Vuxayl]

The two creatures slowed down their intercourse until it came to a halt, the penetrated one pushing the other's cock down until it came out. It almost made a little disappointed sigh as the thrusting stopped, but it was quick to start leading them down another flight of stairs, one that lead closer to the central orgy room. The other creature followed them down and then veered off to another chamber, leaving them alone with the former. "Follow. I show us place to you, our paradise... you be surely welcome." The stairs didn't lead to the orgy itself, but to a corridor just around the room where it was being held - the walls were thick enough that most of the sounds from there were inaudible. For a place that seemed to have so many of these creatures, there was an appreciable layer of dust covering most of the floor here, and the walls.

Inside this corridor, ground trails in the dust branched off to the right, towards an entrance roughly hewn from the underground rock. There were dragging and skittering noises coming from beyond this entrance, with a faint echo as if it lead to a massive chamber. The creature peeked from behind the stone archway, eyeing the lesser creatures inside as they went about their chores... part of Xayun didn't want to even think about what was beyond that entrance, much less look to where the other creature was looking; but his curiosity spoke higher, and so he did.

The chamber was surprisingly dark and quiet. The only sources of light seemed to be a few creatures which cast a soft green glow around them, much like Karilel's own blue glow - albeit more organic and uneven. There were barely any visible shades of red as the creatures slowly moved around - and the light shone off smooth, round surfaces that seemed to litter the surface. "Isn't it beautiful? Shh..." the creature that lead the crew said, "... don't disturb." It then placed a bladed arm across its smiling lips, reinforcing the request. "And don't come in, they won't forgive trespassing."

It then moved inside, leaving them behind. Most of the lesser creatures inside the chamber hissed back angrily, at least until they realised exactly who or what it was. The larger creature hissed louder and more confidently back at the other creatures, and they were quick to back down and not come in its way. The long bladed limbs were just perfect to tiptoe around the scattered masses, allowing its body to hover above them as if it was gliding. "She must be the matriarch of this place," Xayun blurted out in a whisper. And sure enough, it seemed to inspect a random selection of eggs carefully, turning some of them around gracefully, and marking others with its blades. From the lips of the creature came odd rhymes, far and deep from within the chamber, and Xayun was starting to feel truly sick when it finally came back.

"Beautiful cherisheds us will bring, to join us in paradise" it said proudly, eyeing the remaining crew expectantly. "All us do our part... all us revel in such overwhelming pleasure. It perfect fate." It tiptoed forwards and eyed the man that was next to Karilel and Xayun - and gracefully hoisted itself on him, in a way that kept his balance. Its blades danced gently on his back and a shallow breath came from its mouth - its genitals throbbing with longing, pressing against his body. But it then slowly climbed down, leaving the man in a strange state of emotions, and only the faintest smear of blood across his suit. Compared to the other creatures, this creature's control of its burning desire was masterful.

"There is more... follow. Oh..." The creature quickly pivoted around in its blades, looking at them as if it'd suddenly realised something. "Hesh.. Hesh. It me. I will want know your sounds, too..." Smiling, it then turned back, and lead them further down the corridor.

There was another entrance, again to the right - a smaller room this time, and almost as dark as the nursery. But this time, there were multitudes of tiny bright dots scattered inside, in contrast to the diffuse organic lighting of the other creatures. "Tarr! Tarr!" Hesh crawled inside the room and almost disappeared in the darkness. There were the sounds of metal banging against metal, followed by a displeased grunt and some quiet chattering. Hesh then came back, and beckoned them to come inside.

Once Xayun's eyes adapted to the darkness of the room, he could better see what was casting all those dots of light. Several creatures, both small and large... and in various stages of body modifications. From metal limbs and blades stuck in the wrong places, to active machinery buried deep inside their flesh, to simple plates and pipes of crude metal forced to disrupt their bodies' original wholeness. Most of the creatures laid in the ground, pushing parts inside or outside of themselves, repairing their additional enhancements or entertaining new ones... it was hard to discern whether it was a painful or enjoyable experience for them.

"I'm starting to feel a bit light-headed. Maybe it's all just a nightmare, if that's the case I can't wait to get up from all this." Xayun whispered. Being killed by Karilel's piston-finger to the head like a T-1001 would do was sounding more and more like a viable way of getting it over with, much to his creeping horror. There was still the faint possibility of the creatures leaving them alone, sane and intact (as much as possible anyway), but there was something in Hesh's eyes that told him it wanted more than to just give them a tour of their nest. "... if they get violent, you get the green light from me. I mean, Commander."

There was a hulking mass of something in the middle of the room, that only now had started turning to face the crew. It was a mess of crudely welded metal and plastic wiring all over, and if it hadn't moved it would have looked just like a compacted pile of scrap. It still seemed to have some flesh in it, though, specially where its sex would be. Beneath all that metal, there was a creature. Hesh lowered itself down and quickly sucked on its genitals affectionately, and then propped itself on its blades for the introduction. "Tarr. It makes us body even more beautiful. Knows more about craft than any other... wisdom for power of the great one."

The thing, hardly similar to any other creature, rotated what seemed like a man-sized turret towards them, almost making Xayun jump back. A light shone deep inside the turret cannon's bore, and there was no sight of any live ordinance - just one single inflamed, swollen eyeball that gazed at them. It seemed to lose interest in a fraction of a second, the turret starting to rotate back to where it was looking previously - but then it realised there was something different. It aligned its cannon back towards Karilel, and spent a good deal of time eyeing her up and down, significantly more interested in her than in the other two. It uttered something guttural, and Hesh made a big smile.

"Tarr like you, impressed. Said it will want you back, here... learn from your body. You can bring friends, to improve more under him. It will be good. He will make you more better..." Tarr had already turned its attention to an interrupted welding job when Hesh guided them outside. "Great one make us good... but it tell us, if you listen, how to make perfect. Tarr is just one of many us, us guide for perfection, for our and the cherisheds'." Proudly, Hesh leaded them down to the end of the corridor, where a big slab of rock stood in a circular room. It lifted itself up on the rough table and rested its warm body on it, looking at them expectantly. The room branched off to the left and forwards, leading to the central orgy room, or to the remaining corridors around it.

"So, from what Hesh shown you..." it said, its voice fluttering from the build-up of lust, "... what perfection you want choose first?"

 

[Cricket]

A part of Karilel—the part that was not intensely nervous, the part that remained analytical—was amazed at how these creatures had built this bizarre society. It was built off of sex and lust, sure, but they still managed to build shelters and structure rooms. They had obvious hierarchies, and even this… engineer of sorts. These thoughts flitted through Karilel’s mind as they were introduced to Tarr. She wished she could just acknowledge their advances and society, and then be shown the way out.

But now Hesh was presenting itself lewdly on the slab of rock before them, almost like an offering. It had asked them a question. Karilel did not want to have to answer, and the silence stretched on to the point that it felt dangerous.

“We… appreciate what you have shown us,” Karilel began, looking over at her companions, “but we do not wish to accept your… gifts.”

Hesh didn’t seem to be listening. It stretched out on its back, and then began fondling its breasts, slowly running its metal-enchanced hands up and down its body. It continued to stroke its diverse genetalia, engrossed by showing off to its audience. Hesh’s moans filled the dangerous silence as it stretched on. Karilel was reluctant to interrupt.

Eventually, Hesh sprang from its position and stalked over to them. “Yes…” it crooned. “You will accept Hesh. You will accept perfection.” It approached the third crewmember, who was standing stock-still. Hesh dragged a claw or two across his figure, tracing his body beneath his suit.

No one moved, especially not the targeted man. He looked as if he might faint. Hesh shot a deadly smirk towards Xayun and Karilel, before digging her claws into the male’s spacesuit and ripping it open in one motion.

“No!” Karilel cried out. She lunged forward to yank Hesh off, but the creature spun the crewman around faster than Karilel could reach him. Her reflexes had gotten slower with all the flesh and gunk accumulating within her. When her hand caught hold of something and pulled, it turned out to be the back of the man’s suit, and she only helped in undressing him.

The male gave a shuddering gasp. Hesh wrapped its arms around the male, and a long red tongue snaked out of its mouth as it licked his now bare chest up to his neck. The male trembled in place, but tried to move his hands in front of him to push Hesh away. Hesh merely twisted itself so that the push instead only palmed its breasts. The creature continued to lock its arms and legs in a vice-like grip around him.