Nittya strapped herself in tightly, so tight that the harness cut 287 Violet Visions into her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Her breath stalled in her throat, her lungs felt ready to burst. She hoped and prayed that the pod's chute still worked. Only the chute could save her. Her body shook, her stomach felt as if it moved to her throat from the pressure against her chest. Her head felt as if it would explode any second.

The atmosphere the pod plunged through flew by so fast, she couldn't see its stars, its reported beauty, the mauve star constellation she'd heard about. She'd been sent on a mission to explore, to measure, to bring back samples of the many stars.

Instead, here she was, plummeting toward that planet that had loomed suddenly, appearing as if from nowhere.

As far as she knew, there wasn't supposed to be a planet in this system. Yet there it was. Would she live to tell about it? The pod jerked suddenly as it pa.s.sed through a gas ring around the planet. It was a very thick gas ring, its vapors, like the star constellation, were a deep mauve. Soon, she'd enter the atmosphere. With all her strength, she reached for the red b.u.t.ton, ready to jab it. "Oh, chute, dear G.o.d... please open," she hissed.

A few more seconds. "Four, three, two, one..."

With effort she moved her hand to rest on the chute handle and yanked it hard. She closed her eyes. Were these her last moments or would it work? A violent jerk. The pod shuddered, creaked, groaned, almost as if ready to burst apart. Her air supply had failed and she knew she soon wouldn't be able to breathe either.

"It worked!" she shouted, and gripped the safety bars hard.

Still shuddering, the pod jerked violently to the left, then to the right, as if a fierce wind tore at the chute. She knew nothing about this planet. Could it even support life? As the pod slowed, she could see it clearer now. It looked frozen, the glow from the gas ring turning the ice into a sparkling glittering violet sea.

288.

eXtasy's Collective Mind The pod still descended too fast. There was no way to slow it down. Her control panel was frozen. The landing gear wouldn't work.

"Oh, man," she groaned. "I'm toast. The pod'll break apart when it hits!"

As she came within landing range, she saw mountain ridges, all covered in snow, like the rest of the planet. A frozen planet.

She tried the com again, but all she got was static. She'd lost all communication with Xallin, her home planet. Her only hope was that they'd be able to track the pod and send out a rescue team.

At least she'd be buried on her own planet.

Faster now. Again, her breath caught in her throat, her body pressed back hard against the control chair. The control panels near her knees sparked, sizzled, smoke spiraling upward.

This was the end. She was going to die. "I'm too young!" she shouted. "I haven't lived yet!" Oh well, a fast death was preferable to a slow suffocation from lack of air.

She closed her eyes. Seconds now, mere seconds left of her life. She gripped the handles hard, her long nails meeting her palms and biting into the soft flesh. She felt it, the pain a welcome reality that she was still alive.

She waited for the crash, for the pod to break apart. It didn't come. Instead, a soft thud. The pod had made contact with the planet, but it didn't shatter into smithereens. She felt dizzy as it came to a dead stop.

Nittya hung upside down. She dared to open her eyes. The view screen was black. The only thing she saw was her own reflection. The clips holding her hair in place were undone and it hung in a tumbled ma.s.s. Her eyes looked large and luminous as they gazed back at her, her face still a white mask from the shock of it all. Tearing her gaze away from the screen, she stared at the ceiling below her. How the h.e.l.l was she going to get into her suit?

289.

Violet Visions Better yet, how was she going to undo the straps that held her in the chair?

Her backpack. It had a laser cutter in it. Could she reach it from where she hung? She turned to look at the compartment that held it and reached. Her fingers just touched the handle.

Twisting the best she could toward it, she could just get the tips of her fingers around the handle. She yanked. It wouldn't budge.

Yanked again and yelped when the door gave way and the backpack fell toward her.

In a flash, she grabbed it and opened it. She extracted the laser cutter and turned it on. Bracing herself for the inevitable fall, she cut her bonds one by one and fell to the ceiling of the pod.

"Ouch!"

Somehow, she managed to crawl around. She felt like an insect as she moved around the small s.p.a.ce, but she needed to get the suit on and her air tank. It seemed to take forever and went along with a lot of huffing and puffing. Finally she was encased in the airtight suit and breathing oxygen.

There were only two oxygen tanks aboard. Each tank would supply her with six hours. Then what? Could a rescue team make it in time?

Putting the morbid thoughts out of her mind, she tried to open the door. It was hard. Usually, all she had to do was push a b.u.t.ton and it would slide into the wall automatically. Now, she had to pull hard on the manual handle and physically try to slide the heavy metal door.

Inch by inch it moved. She was strong, thanks to the fact that she'd always worked out, lifted weights, and this was to her advantage now as she summoned all her muscle and willpower to open the door.

When it was open far enough for her to move through, she 290 eXtasy's Collective Mind looked out, only to see a wall of what looked like snow. It was deep, deep enough to have cushioned the pod's crash, thus saving her.

Saved for what? She'd die anyway if they couldn't track her and rescue her. There was no way she could survive on this frozen planet.

She crawled back into the cabin to retrieve her backpack and laser cutter. Digging for her instruments, she took out her enviro-meter and turned it on. To her surprise, there was plenty of good, breathable oxygen on the planet and no indication of any harmful substances or radiation. Almost grateful, she turned off her oxygen tank and opened her faceplate. Icy cold air bit her exposed skin. For a second, the intense cold cut off her breath.

She watched the vapor escape from her lips as she exhaled a whistling puff of air.

"Now what? Explore, I guess. Nothing else to do." The suit would keep her warm-its material designed to withstand extreme heat or cold. Digging in her pack, she took out her communicator. She turned it on in the hope she could contact headquarters on it, but all she got was static and a blank screen.

She tried different settings, but nothing worked.

Frustrated, she lifted her arm to chuck it away, then thought better of it. Maybe she could get it to work if she tried more channels. Later. First, she'd go and check out this wasteland of snow and ice, although she'd not venture far as the icy air hurt her lungs already.

She climbed out of the crater the pod had created. When she got to the top, as far as she could see, there was nothing but snow and ice to explore, in the far distance an icy mountain ridge. The planet's sun hid behind the violet gas ring, sending a strange mauve light over the white plain causing the snow to sparkle at her like a bed of precious gems.

291.

Violet Visions A sudden shrieking sound startled her. Glancing around wildly to see where it came from, she had no time to get back into the pod before a twirling tube of snow hit her and smashed her to the ground.

Her visor slammed shut. She tried to lift her hand to turn on the oxygen tank, but it seemed glued to the snow. Gasping for air, she tried desperately to lift her hands, but it was no use. Her lungs felt as if they'd explode as she labored for air. Her body spun around like a child's spin top. The visor clouded and she felt herself falling...falling...

Nittya slowly came to. Thankfully, she'd not died. How she had survived that snow tornado, she had no idea. Opening her eyes fully, she looked up at an ornate ceiling. It had strange symbols carved on it, some kind of animals she'd never seen before, and humanoids in erotic embraces.

"Oh G.o.d, I'm dead," she muttered and tried to sit up. She couldn't. As she glanced at her arms, she noticed the metal restraints on her wrists. She tried to move her legs, and felt the restraints on her ankles as well. "Where the f.u.c.k am I?"

Her eyes fully focused. Her suit was gone. She lay naked on what felt like a metal gurney. She lifted her head and looked around. She was in a large room that resembled a laboratory. Its walls were covered with control panels on which small colored lights flickered on and off steadily.

"h.e.l.lllooooo..." she shouted. " Is anyone out there?"

A soft humming suddenly sounded through the room. It came from above her head. The ornate ceiling parted and slid slowly away to reveal a vast, dark, open s.p.a.ce above her. Slowly it lit up with a soft violet light and revealed an auditorium with benches.

292.

eXtasy's Collective Mind Cloaked figures entered through a door and descended the stairs to fill up the benches.

An audience. Great. She was to be some kind of experiment and they were here to watch. Or maybe this was judgment day?

The great creator of all had plucked her off the frozen planet when she died and now she was in his or her domain to be judged for her wrongs.

Her mind roiled. Yet through her troubled thoughts, she still observed and noted that everything she saw was some shade of mauve, purple, or violet. Some were the deepest purple. These spectators sat on the first row. From darkest cloaked on the first row, to lightest at the top.

There wasn't a sound. It was deathly silent. After the last figure had entered the auditorium, a large screen appeared or slid seemingly out of nowhere above her.

"Who are you? What the h.e.l.l is this?" she yelled, struggling against her restraints, only to hurt her wrists and ankles.

A metallic female voice echoed throughout the still laboratory. "Lie still, human. You will damage your tissues."

"They're my G.o.dd.a.m.n tissues!"

"We do not wish to hurt you."

"Let me go!"

"When we are finished, you are free to go. Please be still."

The voice had no sooner silenced, when she felt the slab beneath her move. Just below her legs, it split into two parts, spreading her legs wide, so wide that she was almost doing the splits. She felt embarra.s.sed as her shaven p.u.s.s.y was exposed. A whizzing noise next to her caused her to swing her head to the right. A long metal arm with a round eye at the end headed toward her. It started at her head and moved slowly over her eyes, her ears, her mouth, then down to the rest of her body. As she noticed the screen now displaying her in full glory, she 293 Violet Visions realized the eye was a camera of sorts. It showed each part the contraption hovered over, as large as life.

When it hovered over her nipples, she couldn't help them puckering and turning into hard pebbles. She saw it happening on the screen and a slight surge of excitement coursed through her. It was strange to have a digital eye examining her nipples so closely, the picture above her displaying every little crack in her nipples.

Strangely enough, she didn't feel fear. Just anger at her confinement. Now, she felt her libido rise as she watched her nipples, one by one, pucker, harden. She could see every little groove in them, the tiny cracks that would allow her to feed a baby were she ever to have one. One nipple seemed bigger than the other and was slightly crooked.

A small beam of light emitted from the eye. It traveled over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her nipples. She felt a p.r.i.c.kling of her skin, of her nipples, as if the light sent tiny pulses of electric current through them.

It turned her on. Big time. And that was the last thing she needed or wanted right now. Her c.l.i.t started to throb and a trickle ran down her crack.

The eye continued to explore further down, stopped at her bellyb.u.t.ton, then moved down to her p.u.s.s.y, all the time sending tiny impulses through her skin. It hovered over her c.l.i.t. Sure, she'd looked at her c.l.i.t in the mirror sometimes, but now she saw it large as life on the super screen. It throbbed gently, a dusky rose shiny little nub that swelled as she watched. Her blood set on fire, it coursed through her veins. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it vibrating in her head.

Another instrument appeared. It was a long metal arm with skeletal metal fingers. It moved toward her netherlips and touched the pink flaps. She held her breath, but though the 294 eXtasy's Collective Mind fingers were metal, they were very gentle as they held a flap for the eye to examine. It did this with each flap, then the fingers parted them and held them.

She now lay fully exposed. The small l.a.b.i.a was easily visible.

The eye examined each one, then hovered over her wide-open v.a.g.i.n.a. Another instrument appeared, much like the clamps the doctors at home used. It entered her v.a.g.i.n.a and she watched as it stretched the walls until it gaped wide open. She could actually see her cervix, the tiny pear shaped thing that was her uterus. It felt tight but didn't hurt.

Nittya saw the pearly cream pool as her libido increased.

She'd forgotten all about the spectators until the computerized voice spoke. Knowing that this was watched by lord knew how many, turned her on even more. No one had ever seen her p.u.s.s.y.

She'd never had s.e.x except for virtual, and those c.o.c.ks were short enough that they wouldn't damage her virginity. No one had ever touched her there, except her own hands.

Losing one's virginity before joining was punishable by law.

And she'd never wanted to join with a man. Not for life. She had too much to do, too many places to explore. As half of Earth's population was diagnosed with STD's many years ago, after her ancestors had migrated to their new home on Xallin, they had inst.i.tuted the new laws that were still in effect now.

"Please be very still. We wish to explore your reproductive system."

"You can't. There is a barrier," she shouted. Last thing she needed was to have them break it. Although did it really matter?

She didn't even know if she was alive or dead. And if she were alive, they'd never find her. And if this was the heaven her parents and many others believed in, then it was weird as h.e.l.l and nothing like they'd taught her.

It didn't matter. They ignored her and continued. But the eye 295 Violet Visions slid back into the wall and a very thin tube appeared. It entered her, but it was so thin that she barely felt it. She waited for it to encounter the barrier, watched on the screen as it slid up her v.a.g.i.n.a. Saw the walls of her v.a.g.i.n.a pulse, the cream lining them.

Then she saw it, the very thin barrier, lined with tiny veins. She held her breath and waited for the tube to break it, but instead, she saw the tiniest, thinnest needle slide out of the tube.

She didn't feel a thing as the needle pierced the barrier and continued upward. It had to have the smallest video camera in existence. It moved around her uterus, examined her tubes, her ovaries. Her libido now dormant for the moment, she watched in awe as an egg traveled slowly down one of the tubes. The needle sucked it into the silver tube. Great, now they had one of her eggs.

The needle continued its exploration to her uterus and deposited the egg there.

Okay, what was the purpose of this? It could have traveled on its own. She didn't have to wonder for long because within a second, the needle squirted something into her uterus. It looked like a fish. Not a sperm. She'd seen those before under a microscope. This sperm was shaped differently. Fat in the middle and a tail on each end.

"G.o.d, you're impregnating me!" she shouted. "I don't want a baby! And sure as h.e.l.l not one of yours!"

"Please be still." the metallic voice spoke again.

This whole procedure had killed her libido. She was now thoroughly turned off. But she was bound, captured, and there was nothing she could do but watch helplessly as the needle continued. It squirted a mauve liquid into her uterus and continued to do so until she felt her belly bloat.

At the same time, she saw the fish sperm penetrate the egg. It divided into two cells, then four. To her amazement, it didn't take 296 eXtasy's Collective Mind more than a few minutes and she had a full-grown infant in her belly.

She glanced at her now grotesque abdomen. How the h.e.l.l could she give birth, since the barrier was still intact?

The baby moved within her. It felt strange. Instant pregnancy.

Almost like the food simulator on a s.p.a.ce ship. Push a b.u.t.ton and instant baby. At the same time resentment built up within her. h.e.l.l, she hadn't been ready for a baby, let alone be deprived of a normal pregnancy.

She hadn't felt the tube withdraw, nor had she watched the screen anymore, she had been so intent on her mountain belly.

But now another metal tube appeared. It suddenly emitted a bright violet beam aimed straight at her belly. She didn't feel a thing as her skin parted, her womb parted. Metal tubes sucked away the blood and fluids. Metal hands extracted the infant from her womb.

Nittya watched in wonder at the squirming infant, its small arms flailing helplessly, its little legs already kicking. A soft wail sounded through the lab.

An oval shaped translucent pod appeared out of nowhere.

The metal hands placed the baby inside it. She saw then that it was a girl.

A daughter.

She had an instant daughter.

But the pod disappeared. The instruments continued with her abdomen and as the eye hovered over her and she viewed her body on the screen, there was no sign that her belly had ever been disturbed. No scar. Nothing.

A dream.

It had to be her last dream before she died, she decided.

Dreams brought on by the lack of oxygen, her inability to move as the snow tornado glued her to the icy plain.

297.