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By FoxFaceStories

A Commission for Al

The explorer ship Tiresias is nearing the end of its voyage when it is suddenly rerouted to check out a strange signal emanating from the surface of one of the moons of Jupiter. Liam Macklin is a young engineer on the ship, which has a complement of only six. But when he is the one to uncover a strange artefact, his life is changed forever. Slowly, as they voyage back to Mars, his body begins to feminise, in order to better house the new alien life that is growing within him . . .

First Part

Previous Part

Part 12: The Grand Opening

Luni was feeding Nova and Lizi when she was called up to the deck. It meant going through zero-grav, so she outfitted her babies in their little belts and made sure they were secured against her. They wailed a little, detached from her milk-producing ducts, but she had been waiting for this moment. She moved swiftly and carefully, and Adam moved with her; he had been sleeping with her in the same quarters lately, enjoying the centri-grav of the medical bay while Katz monitored her latest pregnancy. They arrived up to find Captain Leo Hardigan waiting expectedly. He had sweat on his forehead and bags around his eyes. It sent a spike of fear down Luni’s back.

“Two bits of news,” the Captain said. “We are coming up on the artefact. The one from your dreams. We’ll be able to halt by its position in less than two hours.”

“The other bit of news?” Adam asked.

The Captain’s brow creased. Petyr was in the pilot’s seat, and he grimaced, for once without jokes. Katz was present too, folding a bit of cloth over and over again in his hands.

“The closest Interdictor has launched two long-range missiles at our location. They’ll hit our ship in approximately four hours.”

Luni gasped, holding her babies tighter. As if sensing her distress, they momentarily unlatched and she had to fiddle to get them to feed again. She had no embarrassment of it now, despite once being a man. Her main concern was their safety.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“We can’t get them to abort,” he said grimly. “So whatever you do when we get to the artefact, you better do it fast, and pray it’s enough to save us.”


***


The timer was on, and there were not many grains of sand in the hourglass. Luni’s heart was tight in her chest. She had left Lizi and Nova in the care of Dr Katz knowing he would treat them well. She’d even expressed milk so he could bottle feed them - not something she ever expected to have to do, but in case the worst happened, perhaps there was a chance they could go on. She wasn’t sure how, but she had to believe it, and not just for them, but for herself, and Adam, and the crew, and for the next little baby that had only just started growing inside her.

“Are you ready?” Adam asked, fitting his suit.

“No,” she replied honestly. “My last mission outside the ship ended up with me turning into a pregnant alien lady.”

“Well, this one has even higher stakes. Fun sequel, huh?”

She smirked despite the danger, and Adam helped fit her helmet. Her elven-like ears thankfully weren’t too uncomfortable inside it.

“Well, I am pregnant again, thanks to you.”

“I have no regrets,” he said, chuckling. “But seriously, I don’t. I care for you, Luni. A lot.”

She took his hand in hers, despite the weighty gloves they were wearing. “I do too. Thank you Adam, for everything. Even if your pranks suck.”

“My pranks are amazing. It just so happens Petyr’s are better.”

‘Speaking of comrades, can you two lovebirds hurry it up. We don’t have long until we get scudded by some missiles, and I’d like to see some fireworks before we all become one, da?’

“Roger, Petyr,” Luniara said. “Katz, are my girls all safe?”

‘Squawking and missing their mother, but doing well. Best of luck out there Luni.’

‘Indeed,’ the Captain’s voice came over. ‘Best of luck to us all. I don’t often pray. I’m not a religious man. But I hope some divine presence is with us. Godspeed.’

And with that, the conversation ended. Adam and Luniara checked the last of their fittings and made sure their spacesuits were safe for the vacuum, and then they cycled the airlock. The gasp of the tiny remaining air in the lock escaped, and the two were confronted with the sight of the endless stars beyond. 

“It’s beautiful,” Luni said over the comms.

“Yes, you are,” Adam said on their private feed.

“Stop it. I see the artefact.”

It was, appropriately enough, like a large crystal. It was floating in a wide orbit around Jupiter, keeping close to Ganymede, obviously using some alien tech to do so. They had come full circle, and now were confronting a blue crystalline structure yet again. Only this one looked to be about twenty metres in height and ten across, a pillar that had numerous sharp crystal formations expanding from it.

“Are you sure we can’t take the children?’ Hardigan whispered over the comm as they set off from the ship. ‘Your dreams said they would be necessary. That they would be the blueprint to open this thing.’

“I’m not risking them yet,” Luni said. “I thought we were agreed on that.”

‘Not taking them might be the risk.’

But Luni was adamant. “You might be right, but I don’t think we’ll need Nova or Lizi just yet. Not with a new one growing inside me. I think that’s the key. That’s all we’ll need.” She required Adam’s help. The man wasn’t an expert in space suit manoeuvres, but Pety’rs program aided him. She had less experience, and didn’t want their oxygen cables tangled. So she relied on her partner - the man she felt increasingly drawn to - to bring her closer to the crystal. It loomed menacingly, enormous and alien, and soon they slowed their trajectory. It required finicky controls, but they managed to halt right up alongside some of its sharp ‘spears’, avoiding any suit damage.

‘Not too convenient,’ Petyr said over the comms. ‘Where do we interface? Luni?’

She regarded it. “I - I don’t have any clue. I thought I would know.”

‘Great. Real great. Well, we’ve only got twenty minutes until missiles hit us. So that’s cool. Not that I’m keeping count of the time or anything.’

Luni’s heart beat in her chest. She tried to remember the dreams, the lessons the AI had taught her. With Adam’s help, she scaled over the structure, moving carefully so as to avoid puncturing their oxygen lines or causing any other issues, such as suit rupture. It was a delicate thing, and all the time they were aware of just how bad things were going to be. Soon it was ten minutes until missile collision. They’d floated some junk debris out to hopefully catch a couple of scuds, but bad news came.

‘Only two missiles caught by the debris,’ Hardigan informed them. ‘Three more inbound. Whatever you’ve got to do, you need to do it fast. Pods are prepped, but this far out it’s a practical death sentence.’

“Shit, shit, shit,” Luni said to herself over and again. “I don’t know what I’m meant to do, Adam! I’m just a guy - a girl - that got turned into a fucking alien chick. I don’t have any clue about this, even after all the dreams! I’m going to fail!”

“You aren’t!” he said, holding his helmet against hers so that the sound would carry without the comms. “You can do this. I know you can. You’re brilliant and clever, Luni. And damn eager to prove yourself, remember? So prove yourself!”

“I can’t! I can’t even get this suit working properly. It’s too cumbersome and . . .”

It hit her all at once what she needed to do. At least, she thought so. But with missiles inbound so soon, there was no chance to think it through too deeply. No chance, and no choice.

She began to unlatch the connections on her suit.

“Um, Luni, what are you doing?”

“Just trust me.”

‘Um, what is our crazy alien mother doing?’ Petyr asked over the comms.

‘Adam, what’s she doing?’ Katz asked.

“She’s taking off her suit. Luni, you’ll die!”

“No!” she said. “I won’t. I don’t think I will. I need to touch the crystal. I need to know my DNA, and that I carry an Aeseran baby within me - half-Aeseran anyway. If I do that, it will unlock it.”

Adam went to stop her but it was Hardigan that blocked him over the comm.

‘Don’t! We’re all dead in five minutes anyway. Adam, trust her.’

Adam put up his hands. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said.

‘And I love living, so hurry up!’ Petyr cried.

The moment of truth had arrived: Luniara unsealed the helmet of her suit. The cold chill of the dark universe came upon her, and for a moment she was terrified. But then . . . nothing. She couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t need to immediately either. Her mind could sense Adam’s panic, could even sense the concern of her crew. She gave them a reassuring wave and removed more parts of her suit. In just a minute, she was wearing little more than her underwear and bra, her blue body otherwise naked to the vacuum of space. She couldn’t stay like this, but her Aesera biology permitted her to hold oxygen in her cells much longer, and there was a sense that her body could hold itself in this kind of stasis safely to do what needed to be done. She reached out with her mind, trying to give a suggestion to Adam.

‘Take me closer. I need to touch it.’

Four minutes.

He did so, encircling his arms around her. His expression was one of shock, and she also sensed that he was overcome by her ethereal beauty, her dark hair spiralling out in the zero-grav. He took her forward until she was able to press her skin against the crystalline structure, no barrier in the way.

‘It’s me,’ she tried to communicate. ‘The key. The signal. I carry a child within me that is your legacy. Open up. The universe is ready for you to return.’

Three minutes.

For a moment, nothing happened. Petyr was starting to panic on the radio. Hardigan was silent. Katz was whispering a prayer. Adam was repeating something encouraging over and over. But her concentration was entirely upon the crystalline structure. She placed herself right against a flat surface of it, her still-ordinary belly against it. She curled herself by the structure, willing it to open.

Two minutes.

And then . . . light. Brilliant blue light sprang from the fissures of the crystal, so luminant that Luni was nearly blinded. Adam sprang back, holding her as well. The entire structure began to crack open, spiralling outwards to form a mighty ring. The entire process took perhaps twenty seconds, but the size of it was larger and larger than could ever be possible. It was rapidly becoming a sort of superstructure, its ring the size of a city block, then multiple city blocks. The Tiresias was dwarfed before it, and the immense portal that was contained within.

One minute.

Luni communicated something to Adam, who passed it on.

“PETYR! EVERYONE! GET INSIDE THE PORTAL!”

‘Don’t need to tell me twice!’ Petyr exclaimed. The Tiresias jetted forward, melting into the portal. Luni’s oxygen was finally failing, and she clung to Adam.

‘Get us in there,’ she said.

He moved, using his suit boosters. In the distant horizon on the other side of Ganymede, small flares could be seen approaching at lightning speed. They passed through the portal as something detonated.

‘Holy shit,’ Petyr’s voice came over the comms. ‘Is everyone seeing this shit?’

The other side of the portal was as alien as the previous experience. Far from the darkness of space, they were now floating in a void lit by bright pink and purple hues, like a vibrant evening sky. Stations, all crystalline in structure, floated in this voice, enormous in size, capable of housing not just thousands, but millions, or even tens of millions. They were like miniature planets, spherical in nature, but with numerous towers and structures jutting from their surface, or even floating. All were dark, but as Luni was brought back to the Tiresias, they could see them beginning to light up, as if they had been dormant for thousands of years. Which, she supposed, they had.

“Get me to the cockpit,” she said once aboard.

“That was an amazing thing you did there,” Adam said. “How did you know it was going to work?”

“I didn’t,” she said, huddling herself. “But I had to try something, right?”

“Well, your psychic powers came in handy.”

“It’s an Aeseran thing,” she said, kissing him on the lips. “Now let’s get up there, and bring my daughters too. I have a feeling we’ll need them.”


***


It took nearly half an hour for them to be hailed. Obviously there was a technological gap, as well as the confusion over why three ‘primitive’ missiles had detonated outside the portal. Plus, being in hibernative state for thousands of years probably made for a bad hangover on wakeup. But then the call came in, and Hardigan ordered it to be not just answered, but recorded for later broadcast.

“This is Captain Leo Hardigan of the ship Tiresias,” he answered. “I belong to a species called humanity, from the planet Earth, third planet from the sun. We found your relic, and my crewmate Liam Macklin was transformed by it. She goes by Luniara now. This is her with me. She has birthed two Aeseran children and carries a half-Aeseran within her even now. It was her that unlocked the gate.”

There was silence on the other end. Then, suddenly, a video-screen appeared. The crew gasped, Luni most of all. It was a group of individuals that looked much like her. They were fine clothing studded with crystals and metalwork. It gave them the appearance of being like science-fiction elves or something. The leader was at the centre, and looked to be male. There was a pause before he spoke.

‘Nilu artemi s’pin dress’ka gavar hinr ilmo.’

It was Petyr who spoke next, breaking the silence that followed. “Um, I guess it was too much to hope for a universal translator or something? You get any of that, Luni?”

The strange part was that she did. The programming in her mind, the one that the dormant AI in the crystal had given her, allowed her to understand what was being said, just like in her dreams. The alien leader had said, ‘At long last are we Aesera free of the scourge? Is it safe for us to return?’

She gulped, then stepped forward, though Adam stepped with her, still holding her hand.

“It is safe,” she communicated to them in Aeseran, surprising the crew around her. “I am Luniara. I found your message and became one of you. I have born two Aeseran children and carry another already, one that is human and Aeseran. The scourge is gone, but the people that occupy this system are afraid. Humans do not know other kinds, and are fearful that you will be a scourge.’

‘We never would be, great Luniara, saviour of our kind,’ the figure replied, even as the people behind him buzzed with anticipation and excitement. ‘We would share our technology, our hopes and dreams. We would show gratitude to the species that saved us, until they learned not to fear us. That is all we ever wanted when we heard signals from the stars.’

The crew of the Tiresias exchanged some looks, and a few whispered words were said to Luni.

‘Well, um, perhaps you can grant us some asylum while we get this all organised. We’ll need to explain this to my people - my original human people. After all, this is going to be quite the shake up.’

‘We understand. What a glorious day this is! We were fearful we would never reawaken when we went into cryo-sleep. Now, we Aeserans have a second chance, all thanks to you, and humanity. You will be most treasured, Luniara, for all that you have done. If, that is, you choose to join us. We could learn much from you.’

Again, she shared that look with Adam. 

She didn’t need to be psychic to know which way he felt she should go, but it helped.


***


Luni sighed contentedly in the aftermath of yet another lovemaking session with Adam. She never got tired of it, even if occasionally she was quite aware of just how much her tastes in partners and positions had changed. Slowly, she withdrew, gasping a little as his still-hard cock slipped out of her, and then she rolled off of him, her breasts wobbling as she did so. Carefully, she moved to her side. Adam spooned her comfortably moments later, fondling her blue breast for a few moments before lowering his hand down to her full belly.

“Not long now, Luni,” he said.

“Mhmmm,” she moaned. “Mhm.”

“Words too difficult?”

She managed to communicate a simple signal with her mind. ‘Need time. Feel too good.’

He chuckled. “Well, Aeserans are certainly good at sex, because I am so relaxed right now.”

“How do you know . . . it’s not just . . . me?” she managed, still panting. Her baby kicked within her belly, only weeks away from being due. She was nervous to go through birth again, but the best Aeseran maternity science was there for her this time, and she knew more of the drill too.

“Well, for one,” Adam said, “Petyr has been bragging about all the gorgeous Aeseran women he’s spent time with.”

“That asshole always exaggerates.”

“Still, he finally got to be in dock! I imagine he’s enjoying New Aesera quite a bit.”

“He would. A city half-full of beautiful blue elven alien women? He’s in heaven.”

“Oh, that reminds me, Katz is coming in next week. He’s bringing his wife and daughters.”

“I’m glad Mars allowed it.”

Adam hugged her closer. “I’m glad they did. We both owe a lot to him. Abel Rotar, would you believe it, even tried to ask for allowance to visit. The Aeseran government denied him. Again.”

She chuckled. “Good. He tried to have me vivisected. Fuck him.”

“Hopefully not literally.”

“Ugh, gross. No, I’ll take my sexy sa’kir instead.”

Adam kissed her neck. She loved it when he did that. A sa’kir was the equivalent of a married partner in Aeseran culture, and as she had already taken on the role, name, and biology of an Aeseran, it only made sense for the engineer-turned-mother-saviour to adopt more of her new ‘home’ culture. Certainly, she was venerated on New Aesera, which was the now-terraformed Ganymede along with several other stations and moons. It had given the Interdictors of Mars and Earth quite some grief when out of the portal there emerged an entire alien race, and one professing friendship. The Aeserans were no fools though: they knew warfare, and were ready to act if Mars and Earth didn’t get on board with letting them co-exist. Tensions had been high for a time, even scary, but as medical technology helped deal with cancers that humans had never meant to surmount, and bio-engineering technology gave all sorts of immunities and so on, then tensions cooled. Now, there were numerous Aeseran embassies, even student exchange programs and cultural interchanges. Every day was looking more hopeful. But for all that, Luniara was now the most famous individual for both species, and so she decided it was better to live on New Aesera among her ‘own’ kind than be an outsider on Mars or Earth. Besides, she rather felt the clothing and style there fit her own form; she had adopted some feminine aspects.

Adam had joined her, of course. How could he not? He was the scientist allowed the most access to Aeseran knowledge and technology. And as the father of her half-Aeseran child, he was also highly elevated as one of the saviours of their kind. All of them were. Hardigan preferred to remain in his regular job of course, as did Petyr, but now they were one of the few ships allowed to ferry goods and trade between humans and Aeserans while relations became more normal. Suffice to say, he and Katz and Petyr never had to worry about money ever again. Not that Petyr planned to retire anytime soon: the man was angling to find ways to visit New Aesera’s ports and spend as much time among adoring blue women as possible. The pig.

“Well, it seems like another day of diplomatic visits. Looking forward to giving a speech?”

Luniara half-turned, struggling with her belly to face her man. “Don’t even get started on that. Fuck, I just wish more of my speeches at least had an engineering focus. Maybe if Hardigan had touched the sigil he would have been a better choice.”

“Can you imagine a pregnant blue Leo?”

She chuckled. “Nope! But I sure as shit didn’t imagine me, the baby of the group, ending up as some venerated saviour-mother either. God, look at me. I’m such a mom now.”

“Well, you don’t have to feel like one quite yet. Lizi and Nova are still in the nursery, and this one isn’t born yet.”

She turned again, aided by him, so that her round blue belly pressed against his crotch. He was hard there, already.

“What are you suggesting, Adam?” she asked.

Her sa’kir kissed her on the lips as he stroked her fertile hips. “I’m thinking there’s still a bit of time before you have to give that speech, and a bit of time before this next baby comes. What say you and I, how should I put it, normalise some alien-human relations a bit more?”

“Mhmmm,” she moaned, kissing him back. “Sounds perfect to me, rock man.”

“You know geology is more than just rocks, right?”

“So you keep telling me. But what do you want right now, rocks or a hot blue alien elf wife?”

“Hmmm . . .”

She slapped him, giggling.

“Okay, the alien wife.”

“You know you love me,” she said. “You love the alien life.”

And so did she. For all the embarrassment and shame and anxiety of that initial transformation and pregnancy, she couldn’t imagine being anyone other than who she was now; Luniara. In fact, as she began to mount her lover once more, she began to get a little excited. She was the mother-saviour of Aesera, after all. A mother. Why not get a little practice in for the next few babies? 


The End


Comments

Seiryn

I really enjoyed this story but the ending here felt rushed, I'm not sure why.

Fox Face

I'm thinking about writing an epilogue, now that you say it, or at least putting it up for a vote! I think it feels a bit rushed because I usually do a 'down the line' kind of ending and this one doesn't have that.