The Pods

Author's Note

I first wrote this story in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic when I had more time to go online, read, and fantasize. I had already come across a few stories involving extraterrestrial exploration gone (sexually) awry, and I decided to write one for myself with a more bisexual slant. More recently, I have chosen to publish them here for others to read. This is the first of 12 chapters and an epilogue, totaling 13 parts. Enjoy!

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24-year-old Riley Zheng was excited. He and the other scientists aboard the interstellar exploration vesselNebulajust received the all-clear from Captain Aron Zamir to leave the vessel and begin exploring and documenting findings on the planet Castries-3. The ship's systems automatically awakened the 36-member crew from stasis as the ship entered the Castries system, and there had been a steady buzz of excitement among the crew as they monitored the ship's systems during touchdown, then prepared their vessel for exploration mode and inspected their gear and equipment for a week while the security team sent drones to scout the area to ensure it was safe for the scientists to leave the vessel.

Riley zipped up his coveralls to provide a modicum of protection and modesty for his skinsuit-clad average-build body. His brown eyes gleaned as he put on his boots as he realized they were not going to be looking so clean and new for long. Standing up, he put his backpack on his proud 5'10" frame, ran a hand through his smooth black hair, and headed towards the ship's main hatch.

Even as he took his first steps on the landscape of Castries-3, Riley still could not believe where he was or how lucky he felt. Graduating at the top of his class in university in the field of extra-terrestrial botany just over a year ago, a representative of Gal-Ex Enterprises, the leading interstellar exploration company, approached him with a generous offer, such as immediately paying off his student debt and providing a mid-five-digit-figure advance deposit, to be part of a mission to explore Castries-3. Aware of Gal-Ex's reputable and successful record, Riley accepted the offer, and after two weeks began an intense year-long regimen at Gal-Ex's training facility in Australia with about 50 other people. The training was wide-ranging, from using Gal-Ex's equipment to scan and analyze whatever they find, to emergency procedures, to even cross-training of certain skills to ensure their ship can still function despite any unfortunate loss of crew. By the end of the training regimen, that group whittled down to the crew of 36 serving aboard theNebula. There was great fanfare during theNebula's launch, as it was the first manned mission exploring the sector in which Castries-3 was located.

"Hey, Riley!"

Snapped out of his reverie, Riley turned to the source of the voice.

"What, playing tourist already?" Liam McGill, another scientist, teased Riley, nudging him on the shoulder.

Riley chuckled. "Nah, I just still can't believe that we're...here," he replied, raising his arms slightly and turning away from Liam.

Liam nodded. "I hear ya, man. I still feel like I need to pinch myself."

"You know you could jerk yourself off instead. Should hurt less," Riley shot back light-heartedly.

Liam laughed, remembering how just four days ago Riley walked in on him and fellow scientist Mat Nielsen jerking each other off in the showers. "Damn, right in the heart!" Liam exclaimed, pretending to be shot. "I've said it before, though. If I have to choose between dying in pain or dying under too much pleasure, I'd rather take the latter. Rather go out on a happy note, a high..."

"A bang?"

"Well played, Riley," Liam chuckled. "All right, though, enough chit chat, we all have plenty of work to do already, right?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later!"

"Later!"

Riley shook his head and smiled as Liam walked away, his chestnut brown hair drifting slightly in the warm breeze. Liam was a couple of inches shorter than Riley, but had a significantly more muscular build. Liam was one of the more easy-going crew mates, and his emerald eyes seemed to twinkle every time he joked or laughed. Riley was also one of only two gay crew mates, the other being Mat, and most of the other male crew members joked how lucky they were to find each other, while the other guys on board were left having to relieve themselves as the chances of getting intimate with any of the four female crew mates were slim at best.

Riley then quickly had one last look around him as he walked towards his objective. He found it fascinating that, at first glance, it appeared he was back on Earth in the middle of a clearing in a tropical rainforest. However, on closer inspection, the trees and low-lying plants looked unlike any found on Earth, and the air was noticeably more temperate and less humid than in an Earth-bound tropical rainforest. The sky, though having wisps of white clouds, had more of a lavender hue compared to the blue back on Earth. With a nod, he resolutely continued walking towards part of the forest.

When he reached the edge of the forest, he began scanning the low-lying plants, looking especially for flowers and flowering plants, as those types of plants were his specialty on this mission. The scanners were very efficient at gathering data on the various plants, such as physical structure, molecular make-up, and chemical composition, but it appeared that there were so many different species that it took Riley time to make forward progress. He did not mind the pace, though, as he could take the time to fascinate himself with some of the flowers, sometimes spotting insect-like creatures flying between different blossoms.Like bees or butterflies gathering pollen back on Earth,Riley thought.

After spending an hour scanning plants, Riley paused to grab a water bottle from his backpack to quench his thirst. As he took a few sips, he realized that he was approaching another clearing. Putting away his water bottle, he stood up to gaze ahead. The clearing was smaller than where theNebulalanded, and it curiously had what appeared to be large green pods scattered across the clearing, many of which had clusters of flowers near them.

That's odd,he thought to himself.I don't recall my assignment statement today or the aerial photo indicating this clearing. Did I go off course?He called up the tracking mode on his scanner, which confirmed that he was on the right track relative to theNebula. Equally puzzled and curious, he slowly entered the clearing to have a better look. This clearing was ringed by felled trees, as though someone or something intentionally lifted the trees by their roots and toppled them. Other than the large pods, the ground was only covered by what Riley could only describe as something similar to green moss found on Earth.

Riley slowly entered the clearing. So far, his scanner did not alert him to any larger wildlife, but he was concerned of his increased exposure to a potential ambush from predatory animals along the clearing's edge. He immediately observed the green pods varied in size, with some large enough to accommodate something like a large bear on Earth. Several clusters of bright red pod-like flowers, reminding Riley of Chinese lantern plants though these flower pods were more spherical, stood between the pods. Approaching one of the nearest pods, he further noticed that the pods shimmered like they were filled with some form of gelatinous substance. About four feet away, he made another surprising discovery.Hey, there's an animal in this pod!He thought excitedly.

The animal in the pod reminded Riley of some ruminants back on Earth, such as an elongated snout version of a saiga antelope. Its eyes were closed, and there were tentacles or tubes attached to what appeared to be its mouth, penis, and beneath its tail, where Riley suspected is the animal's anus. Already puzzled by this, he was further puzzled when the animal suddenly began shuddering. Stepping back as a precaution, he could clearly see something pale repeatedly ejected out of the animal's supposed penis, the contents continuing up the tube. Riley instantly deduced that the animal was ejaculating and the tube was carrying the semen away, but could not guess what the relationship was yet between the animal, the tubes, and the rest of the pod.

While Riley was observing all the action in that pod, he failed to notice one of the nearby flowers approach him from behind. The flower extended its stem as though it instantly grew from the ground, yet the flower pod itself steadily maintained its trajectory towards Riley's face. Only the backpack was between the flower and Riley now. Suddenly the backpack nearly collided with the flower as Riley shifted to grab his scanner. He turned around just enough to see a flash of red in the corner of his eye.

"What the...!" Riley cried out just before the flower burst, creating a cloud of yellow pollen-like dust all over Riley's face. In a brief panic-stricken moment, he took a deep breath, inhaling the dust. The dust had an instantaneous effect on him, causing him to relax deeply. Riley felt a sudden urge to rest and managed to sit himself down before falling to the side, unconscious. For a few seconds, everything was peaceful around Riley as the dust continued to permeate the air and the burst flower retracted to its previous position.

Then, the ground near Riley opened up, and a flat version of one of the large green pods appeared from beneath the mossy ground. The pod yawned open its gel-like transparent shell, revealing three green tentacles reaching out towards Riley. Wrapping around his wrists and ankles, the tentacles dragged Riley into the pod, which then sealed itself closed, trapping him inside. What Riley did not and could not know was that he stumbled upon a giant, complex, sentient organism that was, using Earth's own scientific explanations, approximately part plant and part animal. The organism originally was not from this planet, but it successfully migrated here thanks to a distant and unknown space-faring species from a different galaxy of which no traces remained on Castries-3. The organism steadily grew as it ensnared exclusively male animals, increasing the size of its clearing to steadily grow and in turn capture more prey.

The organism was surprised about its latest catch. Riley was physically different from all native fauna on Castries-3, and he was the first bipedal it encountered since arriving on this planet. It needed to have a better understanding of what it caught to determine its next steps. Finding out where Riley's brain was by detecting brainwaves, one of the tentacles entered his mouth and, by adhering to the roof of his mouth and emitting some chemicals, established a link with his brain. The organism quickly learned everything Riley knew about himself, his species, his home planet, why he was here and how he got here. Realizing that Riley travelled from a different star system triggered something long dormant in the organism. It finally was time to put a deeply inherent yet rarely executed plan into action.

First, despite completing the neural scan and recognizing Riley was a male of his species, the organism needed to better understand his physiology. It was first puzzled to find no genitalia or anal openings typically found on most mammals and similar animals found on Castries-3, but instead what seemed like layers of durable synthetic materials covering his body. The organism, however, quickly associated with Riley's thoughts on clothing, and deftly used the three tentacles to remove his boots, coveralls, and full-length skinsuit, leaving them in a pile next to his backpack outside the pod. With Riley now naked, the organism reinserted the first tentacle into his mouth, inserted the second tentacle in his ass, and inserted his cock into the end of the third tentacle. It re-established its neural link with Riley, and began pumping a chemical cocktail into his mouth and ass to trigger a sexual response. Riley's cock grew to a full erection within seconds, and the tentacle enveloping his cock began to rhythmically pump and undulate.

Thanks to the chemicals the organism injected into him, Riley's sexual responses accelerated significantly. Still unconscious, in a couple of minutes he let out a moan as he came, thick white gobs shooting through the length of the tentacle on his cock. The tentacle continued its undulations, carrying each spurt along its length into the hidden bowels of the organism for inspection and analysis. It noted that the quantity of semen Riley produced was below average compared to that produced by the native animals it captured, but the quality was what it impressed it the most. Riley's semen had over twice the concentration of sperm compared to the most fertile native animal, and the sperm relative to his semen was also more plentiful and four times more nutritious, increasing the growth of symbiotic microorganisms that produce a whole host of nutrients for the organism to feed itself and keep its victims alive to continue harvesting semen. Probing Riley's mind further, the organism realizes that Riley was typical of his species, meaning his species could help it in a significant way.

The organism wasted no time and began to alter Riley to serve its needs. The organism kept him unconscious but played with his nervous system to trigger an unending dry orgasm to keep him mentally subdued. In just a few hours, his physique looked more akin to that of a swimmer. The organism endowed him with improved strength, senses, and acuity. It also endowed him physically, enlarging his cock and balls. However, the more important alterations were done inside his body. Everything involved in the production of his semen was altered mostly to help Riley bring more of his kind to the organism. His testes were guaranteed to produce fully healthy sperm at up to fives times the average human when needed. Riley's sperm were repurposed to establish a neural link with whomever received his cum, allowing him to control that person's mind long enough to bring back to the organism. His other gonads that produced the other components to his semen were now to include a substance to bring Riley's sex partner into a submissive trance before his ejaculation.

As additional safeguards to maximize Riley's success in bringing more humans to the organism, it altered his eyes to hypnotize other people, and ensured Riley would feel more intense orgasms while not being weakened by them. To ensure Riley had sufficient energy to fulfill his new purpose and to keep his modified sexual organs healthy and virile, the organism turned his digestive system into a zero-waste machine. Satisfied with the changes, the organism proceeded to do two more things with Riley before releasing him. First, it established a permanent telepathic link, hammering home that it was his Master and that he must fulfill all its commands. While doing so, it proceeded with its second task. It stroked his cock to life again, this time letting his body naturally take its course to achieve orgasm. Master did not mind, as it bought time to strengthen the telepathic link with Riley.

Orgasm was inevitable for Riley, and, in a few minutes, he achieved it. By now half-conscious, he moaned as waves of pleasure coursed throughout his body. His cum poured out of his cock like cream from a carton, and Master quickly shuttled his offering deep into itself for further analysis. Master was satisfied the alterations on Riley created the desired results with his semen, and with the telepathic linking process complete, it detached its tentacles from Riley, opened the pod, and rolled him out to the mossy ground.

A few minutes later Riley groaned and stretched as though waking from a deep slumber. However, he quickly realized he was naked, and, with a yelp, sat up to look around him. His clothes and backpack were in a pile beside him, but otherwise he did not find anything unusual compared to what he last remembered. Wait, what was it he last remembered? He was inspecting one of the large green pods, and he was about to grab his scanner when he saw something red flash in his peripheral vision. Then, nothing. Riley turned to one side and saw the pod he observed previously, the unknown animal still inside it. Looking around, the only red things he saw were those pod-like flowers but they were all several feet away from him. Sighing, he looked down his body to see if there were any hints as to what happened to him, but though he saw no marks, he noticed his physique was different.

"Whoa, is this my body?!" he asked himself aloud in shock. Grabbing his scanner, he switched on the selfie camera mode to check his face. His breathing slowed a bit when he realized he was still in his own body, but he still did not understand how his physique had changed. That was when the time on a corner of the scanner's screen caught his eye.

"Shit, I've been out for several hours," he cursed as he put his clothes back on. "It's going to get dark soon, I'd better get back to the ship and figure out what the hell happened to me!"