The Other Adventures of Nancy #4 By Deanna Troi This is a work of fiction. It contains adult material of a sexual nature and should not be read by anyone uner the age of18. All characters depicted in sexual situations are 18 or older. Nancy and all the other characters in this story are my own creation. There is a brief mention of Delta City which is the world created by Mr. X. Feel free to use my characters in your own stories as long as you try and keep their characters in line with what is shown in these stories. You can send all feedback to: troi@hotmail.com Nancy looked up at the bloated red sun overhead and despite the incredible heat that enveloped her, she shivered. She could see the wrongness, the sickness of the sun with her naked eyes and knew this world was doomed. It wasn't right, it wasn't natural. This colony world of Duust should have had tens of millions of years before their sun cremated them in its death throes, but now its remaining lifetime was measured in days. Repairing the sun was certainly well beyond her abilities, but that wasn't her mission here and she had better get on with it as the death of the world was rapidly approaching. The busty blonde drew a line in the hard baked dirt on top of the hillside with the toe of her boot. She looked around and found a couple of large rocks that she dragged to mark the spot more clearly. and reduce the chance of confusion. It might well be that a few seconds saved by certainty could make the difference between life and death. Nancy checked the wristband strapped to her left wrist and the readout on it. She had a little under 48 Earthhours to complete this mission. That was her employer's best guess as to how long the planet had to live. When the time readout on her wristband reached zero, a return portal would be opened on this exact spot. It could only be created here and even the vast power of her employers could only keep it open for 15 minutes. It would also require the wristband and its built in homing beacon to be present for the portal to be opened. Her mission was to round up and persuade as many of the colonists as she could to go through the portal to the new planet her employers had selected for them. Other than the obvious need to save lives, Nancy wasn't sure why this mission was so important to her employers, but they had repeatedly stressed its importance. "Things are in flux" her employers had said when she asked. "There are external factors that we cannot fully identify, much less quantify," they had continued. "All we can determine is you must be there and you must succeed. The fate of humanity may depend on your success." Nancy sighed and started down the hill. No pressure there she thought grimly. Damn, this place was hot. Even with her healing factor, she would not want to be out in this heat and radiation for any prolonged period of time. The wristband was a multi-functional device and it was working to augment her protection from the hostile environment, but it was still damned hot. In deference to the heat, all she wore was a rather skimpy white bikini with boots that rose almost to her knees to protect her feet from the ground that probably could fry the proverbial egg. Nancy could see the ruins of a city a mile or so ahead of her. Her employers were as certain as they could be that any survivors of the colony were congregated in or near the first city that had been founded on the planet. She hoped they were right since there would be no time or way to search any farther afield. As she went down the hill, Nancy couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched even though a look around the barren, heat ravaged landscape showed no obvious observers. * * * Perfection watched Nancy go down the hill towards the ruined city via her stealthed drone cameras and smiled. \'"So, my little sister has arrived in the nick of time to try and play hero again,' she thought. 'I suppose even those incompetent morons she calls her employers had to be able to figure out how critical this world was to the coming new order of the universe.' Perfection got up from her chair in her hidden fortress in Limbo and stretched before walking over to the large full height mirror she kept in her control room to regard her reflection. With a shrug of her shoulders, the thin, gossamer gown she wore dropped to a heap on the floor and she stood there naked. 'I am perfection in both name and form,' she thought as she ran her hands lightly over her breasts and down her sides. Her D cup breasts were round and perfectly shaped with large areolas and pink nipples that sprang awake at her lightest touch. 'The perfect size,' she thought, 'not overinflated fat sacks like her slut of a sister.' Perfection's hands strayed down over her flat, toned stomach to the neatly trimmed thatch of blonde pubic hair and she tangled her fingers in it and smiled wider. 'The inferior bitch can't even grow hair down here,' she laughed to herself. Turning partway around, the blonde admired her perfect, round ass perched above long, muscular legs. 'There is no doubt who is the fairest in the land,' she mocked the mirror and didn't have to ask the question. 'Now what shall I do with my darling sister?' pondered Perfection. "Well Duust has so many dangers, things might just take care of themselves without her intervention. On the other hand, taking a personal hand in the whore's demise would probably be worth an orgasm or two by itself. How many times already had she killed the interfering busybody? So many, she had lost count of the times she had watched her sister scream in agony before dying. Ooo,the very thought of watching that happen again made her pussy tingle.' * * * Near the bottom of the hill stood a large, dead tree, its bare branches spread wide like the arms of a skeleton. The tree had a large crack in its trunk, wide enough that an adult human could fit inside it, though thinking of that sent another shiver through Nancy's body. Just as the blonde reached the tree, she heard a scurrying sound to her right, but couldn't see anything. Nancy backed up against the tree and her hand rested on the tranquilizer gun she wore in a holster on a utility belt around her waist. She was busy searching for the source of the noise and thinking her back was protected from attack, so she was caught totally off guard when the branches of the dead tree wrapped around her wrists and lifted her off the ground. "What the fuck?" Nancy cried and tried to free her arms from the iron grip of the tree without success. Other branches now wrapped themselves around her ankles and pulled them apart. "Ive got a bad feeling about this," muttered Nancy as she continued to struggle. The ground in front of the suspended operative began to shift as a form rose up out of the sand and dust. This had apparently been the source of the scurrying noise and Nancy now stared at the creature with growing apprehension. The closest analogy Nancy could find for the creature was the Terran Starfish, but on a much larger scale. The body had a central disk with five limbs radiating out from it. Overall from the tip of one limb to the tip of another, it was about ten ffeet in diameter. The limbs were about three feet long and the central disk about four feet across and a foot thick in the center and tapering off towards the edges. Its colouration was a dull sandy, brown and perfect camoflauge for this environment. The creature slithered towards the struggling woman and when it reached her, it began to pull itself up her body so the central disk covered her body from her chin down to her thighs. 'I just know there are suction cups on those limbs,' thought Nancy and was sorry to be proved correct as the limbs latched onto the top and bottom of her bikini and tugged. 'This never happens to FlashGordon or Buck Rodgers,' when they go wandering around alien planets thought Nancy as she was stripped naked except for her boots and her bikini discarded onto the rough ground. 'Bloody sexism is what it is,' she raged and then paused her mental tirade as she felt something long and hard poke her thigh. Looking down, Nancy confirmed her supposition and watched the things large, thick cock probing for her entrance. 'And it always is a large, thick cock,' she reflected. 'The things never have a little ittybitty pecker that you can barely feel. No, they have to always be at least a fucking foot long and as thick as my wrist.' any further ranting, however, was cut short by a grunt as the thing's cock found its target and slammed into her pussy with explosive force. What Nancy was not aware of was that the starfish shaped creature was called a Celliopod by the Duust colonists and was part of a rather unique life cycle where it was the motile, larval stage of the tree holding her prisoner and worked with its immobile stage to obtain food and for reproduction. With no leaves and no chlorophyll for photosynthesis, the tree produced the mobile starfish things via asexuall reproduction. The mobile form then went hunting and drove its unsuspecting prey towards its parent which held it fast while the starfish creature fucked and impregnated it. Once this was accomplished, the tree would draw its victim inside it into the opening Nancy had observed where the growing embryo would start to consume its "mother" while the tree secreted enzymes to digest the victim. The end result was a rather painful death being eaten from both inside and out. While Nancy didn't know these gruesome details, she was rather certain that this wasn't a good situation as she felt the creature's hard cock hammering in and out of her. Her own pleasure was increasing as the thing's cock seemed designed to stimulate her clit as it fucked her, probably an evolutionary ruse to keep the victim happy and content until something nasty happened. Nancy felt the incredible pace of the thing start to increase even more and she sensed a shudder running through the creature as its underside rubbed over her breasts and knew it was close to a climax. She was normally very adept at getting out of bonds, but the living nature of the ones holding her and the sexual stimulation she was getting made it difficult to concentrate. Nancy put all of her efforts into freeing one foot as she felt the creature's cock spasm and start to flood her pussy with its cum. There was the sensation of something large being shoved deep inside her through the tube of the Celliopod's cock and Nancy knew it was some kind of egg. The "cum" of the thing was really just lubricant to make it easier to insert the egg into her womb. Wellthere was bad news for both of them in that. Her unique genetic makeup included an automatic defence against being forcibly impregnated, so the thing was not ever going to be a "daddy" with her. The bad news for her was that this was likely to really piss off the thing and who knew what it would do then which meant getting herself free was of paramount importance. The Celliopod pulled its cock out of Nancy and sank back onto the ground. It was probably looking expectantly at her thought Nancy though she couldn't see anything that looked like eyes. Suddenly a violent convulsion ran through Nancy's body and the egg shot out of her pussy like a missle, looking deformed and blackened to smash into pulp on the ground. The Celliopod swivelled around and was evidently looking at its ruined egg. There was a sudden loud peircing cry from the thing and it turned back towards the human with undisputed anger in the eyes she couldn't see. Yep, really pissed off thought Nancy, but the convulsion of expelling the egg had loosened the tree's grip on her one arm and she took advantage of that to reach down and snatch the knife from the sheath in the back of her boot and drive the adantium hardened knife into the trunk of the tree up to the hilt. The tree gave off a scream of pain and rage that Nancy had never heard from any tree before in her life and she felt herself being released and dropping to the ground. The Celliopod was almost on top of her immediately and this time the suction cups on its limbs were not out to remove her clothes gently or fondle her tits, but to rip chunks out of her flesh. Pulling the knife free from the trunk of the tree, Nancy began to slash at the attacking creature which gave out cries of pain that mimicked those of the tree very precisely. It was a bloody, desperate fight, but in the end, a bleeding Nancy stood well back from the tree panting while the Cellipod twitched and then lay still in various pieces on the ground. * * * "'So very disappointing,' thought Perfection as she watched Nancy warily retrieve her bikini and utility belt from near the tree and once dressed resume her progress towards the ruins. 'Oh well, two days wouldn't have been enough time to finish digesting her anyway. There are still plenty of other things that can kill her.' * * * Nancy had been wandering through the ruins for a couple of hours without finding any signs of life. These were definitely ruins and didn't show any indication of recent occupation. She would have decided that all the colonists were dead except she was sure her employers wouldn't have sent her on a wild goose chase. Frowning, Nancy glanced at her wristband. The lifeform sensors also agreed there was life somewhere in this city, but the sunspots and abnormal solar activity were scrambling the readings and making it impossible to localize the source. Studying the ground more carefully, Nancy found traces here and there that someone or something had passed this way. There were small sections of a footprint that would soon be scoured away by the wind. These were mostly small and human sized, but others were much much larger. 'So where are they?" Nancy asked herself and decided to give herself a dunce cap. With this heat and the radiation, they would have to have gone underground for protection. That would also explain her lifeform readings and her inability to find anyone. The problem was that there were hundreds of ruined buildings. Where would she find an entrance to these lower levels that she knew must exist? Pondering this question, Nancy began to examine the surrounding buildings more closely for clues and after another hour found what she was looking for. Oddly enough it was looking up and not down that provided the clue. Up on the remains of a roof was what was almost certainly a solar panel. It had been partially hidden from below and it was only by chance that she spotted it as a section of a wall had crumbled to reveal one corner of the panel. Now that she knew what to look for Nancy thought she spotted at least three other locations where a solar panle might be concealed. They were all centered on one particular building, which made it the most logical choice to explore for an underground entrance. There was alarge metal door leading to the basement in the ruins of the building, but it was badly dented and warped so badly it couldnt be moved. The basement held only moldering scraps of furniture, but in one corner another set of stone steps led down into darkness. Nancy followed the steps down and down and down. They made a right angle turn and suddenly Nancy found herself with a spear point inches from her chest. She would have been more worried about that, except the young woman holding it was looking more scared than scary. Nancy decided to go with the tried and true cliche. She held up her empty hands, well away from her holstered gun"I come in peace," she said. "Peace?" echoed the woman and the spear point wavered in the air, threatening to poke a hole in Nancy's left boob. "I don't suppose you would mind pointing that thing somewhere else?" asked Nancy. "Er, sorry," replied the woman and pulled the spear back to holdit upright by her side. "Who are you? Where did you come from? You aren't from our grou and I thought all the other groups were gone." "It's a long story," replied Nancy and decided another cliche was in order. "How about you take me to your leader?" she suggested. "Um, we have a council that decides things," offered the woman. "Will that do?" "Sounds fine to me," answered Nancy. "By the way, my name is Nancy." "Um,I'm Valery," said the woman and then she hesitated. "I better call for someone to take my place on guard duty ," she said and then tugged on a cord that ran down the remaining steps and out of sight. Far in the distance, Nancy heard the tinkle of a bell and a few minutes later another woman came running and looking as scared as Valery had been when she first saw Nancy. The second woman's eyes went wide with surprise when she saw Nancy and she started in with some of the same questions Valery had asked before Valery cut her off. "Her name is Nancy and I don't know where she came from," said Valery. "I'm taking her to the council, so you need to take my place on guard duty." The second woman nodded and took up the same nervous looking guard posture as Valery led Nancy downwards. * * * The council consisted of three middle aged women and Nancy thought she saw a pattern emerging which had been reinforced by her trip through the underground caves during which she had seen only women and not a single man. Valery introduced the council members as Uma, Tamara and Violet. "My mother," Valery whispered after the last name before she withdrew to leave Nancy alone with the three older women. Violet, like her daughter was a redhead with a few hints of silver, Uma was a brunette and Tamara was a blonde. All three had the all to evident worry lines of someone who took their responsibility seriously. After the introduction, the council members had peppered Nancy with the same type of questions that Valery had asked her when they met. Nancy told the increasingly stupefied women her name and outlined the mission her employers had sent her here on. "That's either the truth or the biggest load of crap I ever heard," said Uma when Nancy was done speaking. "It's all bulshit," snapped Tamara. "It is a trap! A way to lure us out of hiding." A trap?" repeated Nancy. "Your world is about to be destroyed and you are worrying about some kind of trap? By who?" "We only have your word and that of these mysterious employers of yours that our world is about to end," retorted Tamara. "As for who is behind your ridiculous story, that would be the trolls of course." Violet sighed and held up a hand to stop Tamara from continuing. "We have been deluding ourselves for years that our sun is not as bad as we knew it was. I suppose the delusion was easir to live with than the reality we could not change." Tamara opened her mouth to protest, but Violet cut her off again. "Use your eyes Tamara. Our world is doomed. We thought maybe we had a few more years, but that was just another delusion on our part. It is time we faced reality." "I am not giving up!" replied Tamara fiercely. "no one is asking you to," said Uma softly. "It is just something we can't fight. There is no shame in losing to something in nature that is so vastly more powerful than humanity." "But it is not natural," cried Tamara. "Our sun should have millions of years left to it!" The blonde closed her mouth and turned her glare on Nancy as if accusing her of sabotaging their sun. "There is something unnatural about what is happening to your sun," agreed Nancy, "but it is not the doing of my employers or me. We are merely trying to find a way to save you." "Out of the goodness of your heart," sneered Tamara. "Yes," replied Nancy. "Is that so hard to believe? I can't imagine any other reason why anyone would go to the trouble to do it. It doesn't look like there are many of you or that you are incredibly wealthy or have something we or anyone would need." "She's got you there Tamara," said Uma with a sad smile. Again Tamara opened her mouth to continue the arguement, but then abruptly closed it with a sigh. "Ok, you are probably right," she said and then amended her statement. "Ok, you are right. It is just that I, we have only survived by being suspicious and paranoid. I am not sure I can break the habit." "This might be a bit off topic," said Nancy into the silence that followed, "but just who or what are these trolls you talked about? Surely you aren't talking about some characters out of a children's fairy story?" "I wish we were," replied Violet grimly. "Trolls is the name they were given because of their rock like appearance. One of our founders, my ancestor actually, was a huge Terry Pratchett fan and named them after characters in some of his books." "The trolls are what Valery was on guard for?" asked Nancy recalling the spear. "Yes, for all the good it does," rasped Tamara. "Just what are the trolls then?" asked Nancy. The three council members exchanged looks that looked rather embarrassed or like people who are forced to share a shameful family secret. "You might as well know," said Uma after a few more seconds had gone by. "You might have noticed that everyone here is female?" When Nancy nodded, she went on. "Something happened several hundred years ago. Maybe it was some kind of crazy mutation, but all the males changed. It didn't affect those who were already born, but all the new male children had a tough, rock like appearance." "Actually, it is some kind of silicon compound," put in Violet. "As soon as they grew up and they grew at a fantastic pace," they became violent and we were forced to expel them from our underground sanctuaries," said Tamara. "How have you managed to survive then without any males for reproduction?" asked Nancy. "Your level of technology doesn't look up to a lot of genetic engineering and sophisticated reproduction technologies." "We are all the children of rape," said Tamara bitterly. "The trolls smashed their way into all our hiding places and fucked any woman of breeding age they could catch. If the child was a girl, she stayed and if it was a boy, it was left outside for the other trolls to find and look after." "We post guards, but it is a token thing really," said Uma softly. "The truth is the trolls are far too powerful for us to stop them and we can only survive by giving in to their rape as there are no other males or any other way for us to have children." Nancy sat back stunned by what she had been told. There was a question she had to ask and she doubted she would like the answer. She was also pretty certain the women wouldn't like her reaction to their answer. "Are the trolls intelligent? Sentient?" The three woman glanced at each other and looked uncomfortable again. "It is hard to say for sure," said Violet finally. "They show cunning and they can speak even if they rarely choose to do so when they are with us." "I see," said Nancy slowly. Her employers had stressed the need to gather all intelligent, sentient beings that she could which meant that she was probably going to have to try and talk to the trolls. She doubted these women would like that or the prospect of having the trolls accompany them through the portal that would open in about 42 hours, she thought as she glanced at the display on her wristband. "Are you the only surviving group?" Nancy asked, delaying the inevitable need to discuss the trolls any further. "There are no other survivors in the other cities on Duust," said Uma. "There was another group on the other side of this city, but we have not heard anything from them for about a year. We used to have a tunnel that took us close to their sanctuary, but the earthquakes have been getting worse and that tunnel caved in. The trip above ground is just too dangerous." * * * After meeting with the council, Valery was called back to show Nancy to a small room where she could eat and sleep for a few hours. Nancy begrudged the time, but even her body needed some rest after dealing with the Celiopod rape and the dangerous environment above ground for several hours. After resting, she planned to try reaching the last known location of the other group of survivors and try to find some way to make contact with the trolls. Despite what the woman had told her, she hoped she could find some way to reason with them. Valery introduced Nancy to her sister Vonda who was nursing a baby and also very obviously pregnant with another child. "That's Venus, the most beautiful baby in the world," said Valery pointing to the sucking baby. "Let me guess," replied Nancy, "one of your ancestors had a 'V' fetish?" "Something like that," said Vonda giving Nancy a smile of greeting. When the blonde's eyes lingered for a moment on Vonda's swollen belly, the woman seemed to understand Nancy's unspoken question. "It's a girl," she informed Nancy. "Troll babies mature in only a few weeks and are born looking like some kind of stone egg. Our scientists called them 'silicon nodules' and we put them outside the buildings for the trolls to collect." "I'm surprised that your people don't try to destroy them before they mature and present a danger," commented Nancy. Vonda shrugged. "I think it was tried in the early days, but the eggs are nearly inmpervious to harm and despite our hatred for the trolls and our rapes, it is the only way our society has survived." * * * " Nancy had been asleep for only a few hours when she sensed someone come into her room and squat down on the floor beside the pile of blankets she had been given to sleep on. Opening her eyes, the blonde agent could barely make out Valery's face in the dim light. "Is something the matter?" asked Nancy quietly, mindful that Vonda and her baby were asleep in the next room. "I'm afraid," said Valery simply. Nancy put out a hand to pat the young woman's shoulder gently. "It will be alright. The portal will take you and your people to safety and a new start." Valery shook her head. "I don't think I will make it. I had a dream just now, a premonition that I won't make it. I have had these dreams before and they all came true." Nancy started to open her mouth to dispute this and stopped. Precognition was rare, but it did exist and false assurances were not always a kind thing. "I don't know," she said finally. "You may be right, but if you just give up without a fight, you will certainly fail." "I'm still a virgin," said Valery with an abrupt change of topic. "When the trolls raided us, I was able to hide and they didn't find me like they did Vonda. Twice. I have never had anyone make love to me." "Rape is not love," said Nancy softly. "I know," replied Valery, "but it is all we have had." "There are other ways you know?" suggested Nancy looking into the soft green eyes of the scared young woman. "I know," replied Valery. "Uma and Tamara on the council are lovers. They are so very different, but they are very much in love. I have never experienced that type of love either." The blonde thought about this for a few seconds. This was not part of her mission, but somehow it still seemed an important thing that should not be dismissed as childish fears. "Did you want to try making love?" she finally asked the young redhead. Looking at the yung woman kneeling beside her gave Nancy a sense of deja vu that she couldn't explain as she had no memory of taking a red haired lover before in her life. "Yes, I would like to try that," came the faint, almost inaudible reply from Valery. Nancy sat up to bring her face on level with her visitor and then leaned forward to gently kiss her on the lips. "Do you still want to continue?" she asked when she drew back for a moment to once more stare into the girl's eyes. Rather than reply with words, Valery leaned forward this time to resume the kiss which quickly deepened and became more and more passionate. When they finally broke the kiss, a long strand of saliva stretched between their mouths and glistened for a moment in the faint light before breaking. Reaching behind her back, Nancy undid the string on her top and let it fall to the floor, exposing her large breasts to view. She heard a gasp of indrawn breath from Valery and then felt the tentative, trembling touch of the other woman's soft hands on her globes. "They feel so soft and nice," marveled Valery as she gently stroked Nancy's breasts for a few moments before finding the hard nipples with her fingers and squeezing them lightly between her thumb and forefinger. "Let me see yours," murmered Nancy and after a few more long, lingering feels of Nancy's boobs, Valery nodded and sat back to start pulling her simple cotton dress over her head. "They are not nearly as big as yours," said Valery as her C cup breasts came into immediate view as she had no bra on under the dress. "Nor are they soft like yours." "They look beautiful and you look beautiful," replied Nancy as she bent her head down to run her tongue over the girl's hard nipples. Valery's breasts were, like the rest of her body, darkly tanned from constant exposure to the harsh light of her world, but they still felt warm and soft to Nancy as she gently cupped them in her hands and began to suck on a nipple. "Ahhhhhh," moaned Valery softly as she ran her hands gently through Nancy's blonde hair. After a few minutes of sucking and licking on the other woman's breasts, Nancy gently pushed the girl onto her back on the crude bed and began to make her way down Valery's body over her stomach and then between her legs. With loving care, Nancy pulled the girl's legs apart and began to explore her pussy with her lips and tongue as the girl's moans of pleasure grew louder. Nancy's tongue probed between Valery's netherlips and lapped at the juices flowing freely now. The blonde continued her oral assault until she felt an unmistakeable shudder run through the girl's body under her and a soft gush of liquid that coated her face. "Oh god Nancy," I never felt anything like that before in my life," whispered Valery. Nancy sat up and removed her bikini bottom before lying fully on top of the young redhead and kissing her once more on the lips as their breasts and pussies rubbed into each other. This went on for some time before Valery finally broke the kiss and asked in a slightly quivering voice. "Can I try doing that to you?" "I was hoping you would," replied Nancy as she got off the girl and took her place on the bed on her back with legs spread open in invitation. "I know I won't be as good as you at this," said Valery as she crouched between Nancy's legs and looked up past those magnificent breasts to Nancy's blue eyes. "Enthusiasm can often be a very good substitute for experience," replied Nancy. She was quickly proved correct as the blonde felt a first hesitant lick that soon turned into an all out oral assault on her pussy and clit. * * * After their lovemaking, Valery gathered up her dress and departed, giving Nancy a last kiss before leaving. Nancy got another hour or two of sleep before being gently shaken awake by Vonda who had brought her some fruit and grains for breakfast. The women used electricity from the solar panels Nancy had seen to power lights for underground greenhouses and hydroponic gardens. "Thank you," she said to Nancy. "For what?" asked a sleepy Nancy who only then realized she was still naked after her session with Valery during the night. "For what you did for my sister," said Vonda with a smile. "I am glad she got to experience the gentler side of love at least once in her life." "We were trying to be quiet," replied Nancy guiltily as she dressed and felt Vonda's eyes on her body. "It is hard to have secrets or privacy in a small place like this where every sound carries so well," said Vonda with another smile and then she was gone as they both heard the soft cry of a baby wanting its mother. * * * After assuring the council members that she would return in time to open the portal, Nancy set out across the city to look for the other group of women. It took her several hours to find the building that marked the location of their underground entrance and then she wished she hadn't. What she found were the bones and half decayed corpses of the group. It didn't appear that they had died from violence as there were no signs of teeth or claw marks or any weapon of any sort. Nancy's best guess was that some virulent disease had swept through the small group of women and children. Emerging from the ruinse of the building that hid the entrance to the underground complex, Nancy frowned. She had seen a large black rock on her way in, but it should be on her left and now it was on her right. That was as far as she got in her concern when the rock uncoiled itself and smashed a large fist into the side of her head and everything went dark. * * * Nancy found herself lying in the ruined shell of one of the larger buildings in the city when she woke up. Her head ached like hell and she gave her healing factor a stern talking to and told it to get to work. She was not tied up, but something was poking her in the back and she reached under herself to pull out a sharp chunk of some gray building material that had once belonged to a partially collapsed wall. At first, Nancy thought she was alone, but she then made out the several dozen objects that her brain had first identified as rocks. 'That is a bad mistake I don't plan to make again,' thought Nancy bitterly. The trolls just stood there looking at her and that imobility had been a large part of what had fooled her eyes and brain into classifying them as rocks. They were all over six feet in height and some topped seven. Their skin was black, but not a matte black and not smooth looking. It contained glints and sparkles of silver, gold and other colours as a real rock might show traces of some trapped impurities. "I take it you guys are the trolls I have been told about,: said Nancy. "We are humans, not trolls," rumbled one of the beings nearest her and there was little doubt of the anger in his voice. "Trolls is the insulting and degrading name the women have given us." 'Well, I walked right into that one,' reflected Nancy who once again admonished her healing factor to get her brain working again before she put her other foot in her mouth to keep the first one company. "Sorry about that," Nancy conceded. "As you might have guessed, I am not from this planet. All I know about you is what the women told me." "I imagine they told you that we are monsters who constantly rape them," said a second voice dripping with sarcasm. "Er, and you deny their charges?" asked Nancy as she sat up carefully, but made no move to try and run. She had wanted to talk to these beings afterall and only a few seconds of conversation had already convinced her of their intelligence. "We are not monsters!" cried the second voice. "We did not ask to look like this. The women see us and screame 'monster' and will have nothing to do with us." "Well monsters are what monsters do," replied Nancy deciding she might as well bite the bullet and talk about the white elephant in the room. "Rape is the kind of thing monsters do you know?" "We have needs that must be sated," said the first voice. "It is also the only way for our species to survive, for both our species to survive." Nancy gave her head a little shake and discovered her healing factor had listened to her and it was hardly aching now though she suspected there was still a very colourful bruise on the side of her head. The definition of a species was that it included all beings who could mate and produce fertile offspring. By that definition, these beings and the women were still of the same species which was a little hard to credit when you looked at how different they were. It also made Nancy wonder just how such a dramatic evolution had happened in such a short time. The stone like skin of the men appeared to be an adaptation to the increased radiation from the dying sun, but evolution just didn't work that fast unless someone was helping it along with genetic manipulation. It didn't seem that either the men or the women had done such manipulation as they lacked the scientific ability to do so which made Nancy wonder just who then had been behind such manipulation. "Do you guys have names?" asked Nancy. "I always like to know the names of people I am talking to." "Of course we have names," said the first one who had spoken. "We are humans,not monsters. I am Bork." "I am Radillon," said the second one who had spoken. The others remained silent apparently Bork and Radillon were the spokesmen for their group. Nancy looked directly at Bork. "Well if you don't want to be called monsters, you might want to consider a little concept called consent before you go around raping people." "It was them who called us monsters and drove us out into the ruins," replied Bork angrily. "They tried to kill our children. They tried to kill us and we have never harmed a single one of them." "There is a lot more to the idea of causing harm than just physical damage," retorted Nancy a little more hotly than she wanted to. "The survival of our species was at stake," put in Radillon. "We had no choice in our actions. We did what we did, we do what we do in order to survive." With that, Radillon stepped towards Nancy and she saw an opening appear in his groin and a large black cock began to slide into view. "I wouldn't advise trying to use that thing," warned Nancy preparing to get to her feet. Glancing at Bork, she saw a similar cock had appeared and he and a half dozen similarly equipped men were advancing on her with obvious intent. Nancy had made it to her feet and the men were almost on top of her, close enough that she could see the precum leaking in a steady stream from their cocks, when a new voice suddenly yelled "Stop!" Nancy looked past her advancing attackers to see what was probably the largest of the men now moving to interpose himself between her and her would be rapists. The only one who seemed more astonished at this than Nancy was Bork. "Mammoth?" said Bork. "We all thought you were born mute as you have never spoken a word before this!" "I never had a reason to speak before this moment," said the large man who topped seven feet by several inches and whose bulk made even his fellows look diminished next to him. "Then why have you chosen this moment to speak for the first time?" demanded Radillon. "Because this woman spoke the truth," replied Mammoth. "Monsters are made by their actions and not their appearance. What we have been doing to the women is wrong." "It was they who started it all," protested Bork. "They called us monsters before we had done a single thing to them. They exiled us to the surface as if we were animals and not human" "What others decide to do does not etermine my moral decisions," countered Mammoth. "If you prefer the cliche, then two wrongs don't make a right." "He means you should have asked," put in Nancy. "You should have tried to discuss things with the women instead of just raping them. It was a matter of survival for them too. You might have been able to come to an agreement with them." "They would never listen to us," grated Bork. "They would not talk to us. They merely screamed 'monster' at us and ran away. This is their doing and not ours!" "It was the only way," said Radillon stubbornly. "You do not know what you are talking about. No woman would willingly accept copulation with a monst, a man who looks like us." Radillon's slip of the tongue told Nancy what the self image of these men truly was. She could not excuse their actions, but she was also certain that someone had manipulated the situation for reasons she couldn't begin to fathom. When people are put into a horrible situation, they sometimes do horrible things. "I would," said Nancy, "if I was asked properly." "Asked what?" said a genuinlly puzzled Bork. Mammoth was clearly quicker on the uptake than his companions as he now turned back to tower over the blonde woman, but even he seemed surprised by her offer. "You would mate with one of us willingly?" he asked. "Well, I would have sex with you," agreed Nancy. "I am afraid you won't get a baby out of me since I don't think I am capable of that." "I don't believe you," sneered Radillon. "You seek to convince us with mere words." Nancy sighed and looked up, way up at Mammoth. "Do you have one of those by any chance?" she asked the man and gestured towards Radillon's hard cock. "I do," replied Mammoth and somehow he conveyed the impression he was blushing without the physical ability to do so. A moment later, a large, make that very large cock began to appear from his groin. Nancy couldn't help herself and glanced down at the size of Mammoth's feet as she untied the top of her bikini and discarded it on the ground. 'He is certainly the biggest in more ways than one,' she thought as she slid her fingers into the elastic of her bottom and tugged it down. "I hope you don't mind if I keep the boots on," she said to the astonished Mammoth who like the others was having problems believing this was happening and couldn't take his eyes off her jiggling breasts. '"Er, not at all," Mammoth finally replied sounding like a nervous teenager doing it for the first time. "Good," said Nancy and reached out a hand to grasp Mammoth's truly mammoth cock in one hand, her fingers unable to completely encircle its girth. The member was certainly rock hard, but only in the conventional sense of the word as the flesh felt warm and smooth under her touch and didn't share the actual rock like appearance of the rest of their bodies. That probably made sense from an evolutionary angle thought Nancy as did the way it retracted and hid under the hard skin to prevent damage from radiation. It only got whipped out when it was needed she decided as she began to slide her hand up and down the throbbing shaft and felt the large amount of precum coat her fingers and make it slide easier between them. Now with all the men watching, Nancy slid to her knees and quickly engulfed the swollen head of Mammoth's cock in her mouth and began to suck on it. There was a loud moan in response to this from Mammoth and gasps from the others, several of whom began to reflexively stroke their cocks as they watched. Still working his cock with one hand, Nancy began to slowly slide her mouth further down the thick shaft, making it disappear inch by inch between her lips until the entire length had been swallowed. Then just as slowly, Nancy pulled her mouth back up the length of Mammoth's cock, pressing her tongue tightly against the underside so that she could feel his pulse throbbing through the large vein that supplied it with blood. The blonde repeated this back and forth action several more times until panting she pulled her mouth from the enormous member having judged Mammoth was now ready for the next step. "I think doggie style is going to work best so you don't squish me," said Nancy as she turned around and thrust her ass up in the air towards Mammoth. The man nodded and holding his rigid cock in one hand positioned himself behind the blonde and began to press the head against her wet slit. As with the blowjob, the large creature's cock began to disappear slowly inch by inch until it was fully sheathed inside Nancy's pussy. "What do you think?" gasped Nancy, feeling herself stretched as wide open and filled as much as she could remember feeling. "Is a willing partner just as good as an unwilling one?" "I would have to say it is much better," gasped Mammoth as he began slowly to thrust his cock in and out of the warm sheath that was enveloping it. "Um," said another voice and Nancy looked up to see Bork standing immediately in front of her face with his raging erection firmly in hand. "What do you say?" said Nancy. "Please?" replied Bork and was rewarded by Nancy opening her mouth wide to allow him to slide his cock deep into her mouth. Nancy's dangling boobs began to sway rapidly back and forthnow as Mammoth and Bork began to pick up the pace of their thrusting. Nancy didn't see any point in trying to hold back her own orgasm and so she let her pleasure build as Mammoth's cock rubbed over her clit with every stroke. When she came and squirted her juices all over Mammoth's cock, squeezing it tighter, he started to cum inside her in huge sticky blasts. A few moments later Bork began to pump an equally massive load down Nancy's throat. Of course the other men had to have their turn and for the next several hours, Nancy entertained them all with her mouth, ass and pussy. She had required them all to use the magic 'P' word first which she knew was merely a small step in changing their behaviour, but you had to start somewhere. The only bad moment had come when Radillon had ignored her admonition about trying to impregnate her. Her body's defence mechanisms were finely attuned to the motivation of her lovers and Radillon had looked rather stunned when her body spat out the melted looking rock egg. After that, the ones that had followed had been extremely circumspect in their lovemaking. It was only when everyone had had their turn with her and in some cases a repeat, that Nancy finally got them settled down to tell her story about the imminent death of the planet and the opening of the portal. "I must admit, I am not sure I would have noticed the sun blowing up when I was er occupied with you," said an astonished Mammoth. "Well I see you are starting to learn the proper art of male bullshit complements," laughed Nancy. The others laughed as well, but Bork looked suddenly serious. "Considering our history with the women, I do not think they will be very pleased to see us coming to your portal. Nor do I think they will very much relish the prospect of our accompanying them to the new world." "Probably not," agreed Nancy. "I need to go back and prepare them for that. As both groups have said, you need each other to survive. The thing is you are going to have to find a better way to do it than you have been doing. I think my employers will be willing to help you with that, but it will mainly be up to you." It was just before Nancy left to journey back across the city to the women's sanctuary, that Mammoth drew her aside and displayed an object in his large hand. "I would like you to have this in memory of what we did together." Nancy looked down at a slim gold ring that had probably been an engagement ring for someone in the colony's dim past. "I found it in the ruins a few years ago," said Mammoth, confirming her supposition. "It is a beautiful thing and a lovely gesture," said Nancy, "but I can't accept it." She saw the hurt in Mammoth's eyes and went on quickly to explain. "The giving of such a ring among humans signifies a commitment of one person to another. I am afraid I can't make or accept that commitment since I won't be going with you to your new planet. It would not be right for me to take your present." "I, I thought you would be coming with us," stammered Mammoth, once again reminding Nancy of some teenage boy with his first crush. "There are other missions, other jobs I have to do for my employers," explained Nancy. "I don't know. I may be able to come visit you again some day, but I can't make any promises that I don't know if I can keep." Mammoth nodded an unhappy understanding and turning went back into the ruins to organize the expedition to the portal. It seemed that he had become the de facto leader of his people and Nancy thought they had chosen well. * * * Nancy was halfway back across the city to the women's shelter when the earthquake hit. The ground moaned and shook under her feet for a good half hour and was followed by several strong aftershocks as the blonde continued to make her way carefully through ruins that were collapsing all around her. When Nancy reached the building that contained the entrance to the sanctuary, it was totally collapsed and the entrance blocked by hundreds of tons of rock and building material. Nancy began immediately to feverishly try and clear the entrance but quickly realized that there was simply too much debris blocking the entrance and much of it too heavy for her to shift even with her enhanced strength. A glance at the chrono on her wristbad showed she had only eight hours left until the portal opened. She was as close to total despair as she could ever recall being when Mammoth and the others arived and wordlessly began to help her shift the debris. * * * "We thought we were doomed," gasped Uma when she emerged from the unblocked entrance. In fact, she had still thought the women were doomed when they realized who had freed them from their underground prison. It had taken much talking by Nancy and to the women's surprise a very awkward and stilted apology from those they called trolls to convince them that they still weren't doomed. Nancy doubted that even that would have been enough except for the little impending fact of their world about to end. They say the prospect of being hung in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully and the immediate death of their entire world had a similar impact. There was less than an hour to go when the two mutually suspicious groups set off for the hill where Nancy had entered their world and where if everything went right, they would soon depart. * * * There were scant minutes left when Nancy stood between her two marker stones and activated the homing beacon in her wristband. The first of the women and men were struggling to the top of the hill when the portal opened. "There is no time to waste," called Nancy as she urged the vanguard to go through the portal. * * * Perfection sat back in her chair and ground her teeth in frustration as she watched the portal open and the colonists begin to move through it. She longed to do something, but her and her backers were not ready to take direct action yet. They needed to remain undetected, working in the shadows to frustrate the bitch's thrice damned employers. That meant she had to sit here and do nothing. Then her eyes caught sight of something on the screen and a wicked smile played over her lips. There just might be something she could do afterall to pay the whore back for this indignity. * * * Almost everyone had passed through the portal as Mammoth stood beside Nancy. Looking down the hill, Nancy saw Valery bringing up the rear carrying Vonda's baby in her arms. Vonda, exhausted from being near term had not been able to carry the child up the hill and so Valery had taken it. Vonda was just stepping through the portal now, aided by of all people Radillon. Suddenly Valery gave a cry and tumbled to the ground some fifty yards from the portal. Trying to protect the baby, the young woman landed awkwardly and she heard her ankle break as she went down. In her fortress, Perfection laughed at the result of her invisible drone's work. "I will get her," said Mammoth starting to move down the hill, but Nancy pulled him back. "I'm faster and we are almost out of time," said the blonde handing Mammoth the wristband. "Stay here and keep the portal open." Before Mammoth could protest, Nancy dashed down the hill to where Valery and the baby Venus lay sprawled on the ground. "Take the baby and go," cried Valery thrusting Venus into Nancy's arms. Nancy started to say "not without you" when she looked up at the portal and saw it begin to flicker. There was no time left. No time for Valery and the baby. No time for her. "Mammoth, catch the baby!" cried Nancy and tossed the fragile bundle up the hill where the large man caught it gently. "Save the baby and yourself," called Nancy as the portal flickered and started to die. Stunned by this development but feeling Nancy's words like a lash of compulsion, Mammoth turned and carrying Venus stepped through the portal just before it died. * * * Valery stared up the hill in total disbelief and tears filled her eyes. "Oh god Nancy, I am so sorry. I was clumsy and now, and now ...," she couldnt finish the sentence or look the other woman in the eyes feeling she had doomed them both. "Sssshhh, stop crying," said Nancy sitting down on the ground beside Valery and taking the younger woman into her arms. "It wasn't your fault, so don't fret." "Maybe, maybe your employers can open the portal again just for a few seconds," pleaded Valery. "No, I'm afraid not," replied Nancy as she held the woman's head against her shoulder and stroked her long red hair. Strange, she felt the hair should be shorter somehow. She continued to stroke the hair and comfort the young woman for several minutes. They were the last two living sentient beings on an entire planet which made Nancy feel suddenly small and insignificant. "But you are going to die and it is all my fault," sobbed Valery. "My premonition from my dream is coming true, but I never thought it would take you as well." "It's not your fault," repeated Nancy softly as she looked up into the sky and saw the sudden last flash of the dying sun. She knew it would take a few minutes for the wave of destruction to hit the planet. No sense in telling Valery she thought as she pulled the girl's face to hers and kissed her tenderly. They were still kissing when the solar storm burned away the atmosphere of the planet and their bodies were caught in the final conflagration of the planet. * * * In a labratory in a vast complex somewhere in Limbo, the bodyless beings who were Nancy's employers regarded the form in the regeneration tube. "She is nearly ready," said a voice that sounded male. "That is well," said a voice that sounded female. "There are many things we will soon have need for her to do." "Do you think the situation in Delta City is becoming that critical?" asked a voice that was neither male or female. "I think it soon will be," replied the female voice. "The new Nancy will require some experience first before she is ready to take on that task." "Agreed," said the male voice. After several minutes of silence, he went on. "She is not perfect. I wonder if that will be our undoing. She is too stubborn at times." "She sometimes obsesses about things," agreed the female voice. "She often makes decisions based on emotion rather than pure logic," said the neutral voice. "Her life was clearly worth more than the girl and the baby, but she still did what she did." "She often makes intuitive leaps with insufficient evidence," said the male voice. "Do you think we chose wrongly when we picked her as our agent?" asked the female voice. "No," came the quick reply from the neutral voice. "Perfection is not what we needed. There is an old song that one of my constituent selfs knew before the joining." To the surprise of the others, the neutral voice began to mentally chant somewhat offkey. "Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack A crack in everything That's how the light gets in* *Anthem by Leonard Cohen. "It is the flaws that make humans what they are," continued the neutral voice in a thoughtfull manner tinged with a hint of embarrassment. "Sometimes they can be a surprising source of strength when they lead to actions that the powerful and wise cannot forsee." "You may be right," said the male voice. '"She has not failed us yet,even when she has died in our service as she did this time. Her illogic saved the one who will be critical to the future of humanity if our calculations are correct." "In any event, we have already made our choice and we can only hope we made the right one," said the female voice. "We are not perfect either." "What about the ring?" asked the male voice. "It was not logical for him to give it to us. It was not logical for him to cry over someone he barely knew." "He loved her and there is seldom logic in that," said the female voice softly. Their love cannot and never will be, but he wanted her to know his feelings and since he could not give her the ring, he gave it to those he thought closest to her, to what he considered her family. Perhaps we erred in not telling him about her regeneration, but that is what it must be for the sake of our mission to save humanity." "That does still not answer the question of what to do with the ring," said the neutral voice. * * * Nancy woke up in the small bed in the gray walled room and wondered who she was and where she was. "Your name is Nancy," said a male voice in her head. "We have brought you here to help us with our work," said a female voice. "It is important work," added a neutral voice. Nancy nodded. She knew her name now and knew she was needed for important work. That seemed good and right to her newly awakened mind. Looking down, she saw she was naked but that didn't alarm her as she felt safe in this place. It seemed familiar to her even though she had no memory of having been here before or even any memories of life at all. She noticed a thin gold chain around her neck and a small gold ring fastenedg to it. That seemed odd, but also right even though she could find no memory of why that should be so. Then she turned her attention back to the voices who were telling her what her first mission would be. The End [Author's Note: If you have read Delta City PI, you might be wondering about the ring and why it was never mentioned in that story. Remember time does not always flow straight, but can curve back on itself. Realities can diverge and realities can merge. Nancy will be continuing her adventures in Delta City as part of Silkcords' Witchfire story, so make sure to check it out.]