The Cephalopods, Epilogue — The Last Praetorian, by Devoured Star 9. Image created by the author using ‘Canva’

SCIENCE FICTION | EROTICA | HORROR

The Cephalopods #11 ~ Epilogue ~ The Last Praetorian

On every war vessel, the Seeds breached the air locks

This is an erotic sci-fi novella for adults only. The story is set in a 
universe where warrior women feed each other to mutant tentacled beasts.

There are 14 chapters.
Chapter 10 and the Epilogue form ‘Part 3: Rise of the Cephalopods.’

This story contains situations which some readers may find objectionable. 
All characters are 25+ and not based on any real people.

Sensory Accompaniments:
Saffron or over-ripe roses.
Glass of red wine.
Play ‘Delete Forever’ by Grimes 

Catch up with the story here:

[embed]The Cephalopods #10 ~ The Lady & The Beast An alliance was about to be bornmedium.com

As Keira smiled and moved in to kiss the Praetorian Commander, the cold warrior gripped her by the throat, cocked her head on one side, and with the blaster in her outstretched arm, seared an arc of destructive energy against the observing circle of squids.

The Commander knew she was doomed. She understood that the Supreme Singularity had reserved her for the end. But she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

As Keira choked, the Praetorian revelled in the feeling of the diminutive body twitching in her hand. She had waited for this moment, to take her revenge on the blue-haired gamine Whore, Usurper of the Empress, who had banished her to the Lady and the Supreme Singularity.

She tightened her grip on Keira’s slender neck, and sprayed another arc of white-hot energy against the advancing hoard of Cephalopods. The Synth-God allowed her this privilege, savouring her savage urge to survive for as long as she was able to fight.

At that moment, just as Keira began to lose her consciousness and believe her own death was near, the vanilla-haired Intern rose up from the cloning-pits, naked and fierce, stepping through the ruined jungle to hit the Praetorian from behind with an energy-sphere that knocked her to her knees and allowed the blue-haired gamine to slip from her grasp and crawl into the Intern’s loving arms. Together, they floated up above the scene on their energy disc, to observe the final consumption.

The Praetorian rolled to her feet to continue the fight as the hideous army rolled in from every direction, but her blaster spluttered and died as the Supreme Singularity finally abandoned her to her gruesome fate.

She threw her blaster at the nearest squid and picked up her ooze-smeared sword, bending her slender sword-arm above her head as she picked her targets and readied herself to fight the last fight.

Keira and the Intern wept in each other’s arms as they observed from above, as the squids rolled in and grasped the Warrior’s sword arm and wrapped her lithe fighting body in a plethora of rippling tentacles, curling their suckered appendages around her firm thighs and slender torso, before sprouting fine spurs from their grasping suckers to peel the rouge micro-thin synth-skin from her silky flesh, savouring the pheromone release as they prepared the beautiful, gasping woman like she was the most revered fruit of the old Jungle Halls.

Keira and the Intern smiled as they relished in the familiar saffron notes of the doomed Praetorian Commander, as the Squids exposed her trembling fresh pearl to the still jungle air. The scent of her reminded them of a bygone time when she was still the Harem Consort and in their thrall.

The doomed Praetorian grunted and gasped as she fought to escape the grasping tentacles, trying to counter their lustful attentions, desperate to flee this place, but at the same time yearning to feel the slavering mouthparts churning against her bare flesh and welcoming the spasming, tentacles ejaculating all over her carnal body.

As she flailed her slender arms and kicked and writhed to escape the mass of tentacles, the Praetorian Commander began to remember all the delights of the many feasts she had witnessed in the Jungle Halls while serving the Empress and the Whore.

The Cephalopods allowed her to slip most of the way out of their grip, revelling in the way she moved her lithe body as she crawled towards the lander of the late departed Lady.

As the Praetorian Commander stumbled towards the waiting craft, it’s entry port slid open to offer her refuge, and she threw herself into the welcoming opening, panting and naked as she reached for the emergency closure pad just inside.

But the Cephalopods were quicker, one of them jamming the port with a discarded zooka, and tumbling in through the opening, followed by three more squids.

They chased the shrieking Praetorian to the control hub, where she fought to close the bulkhead doors on them, but they were stronger, and oozed through the half-closed aperture into the confined space with her, silently followed by a speedy drone that began transmitting a live stream to Keira and the Intern, who hovered outside, as the clone they knew as the Harem Consort was mercilessly wrapped in a flurry of tentacles, until she succumbed to the merciless squids.

The wild-eyed warrior flailed her unruly hair and shrieked in defeated desperation, as one of the beasts gripped her beautiful head in its maw and reached into her brain with its overpowering mind, ripped a panel from the central control unit, and plugged four of its tentacles into the input ports.

Within seconds, the squat spacecraft sealed all its ports and blasted away, up and out of the dying jungle, through the melee of silent battle-barges, and out into the wide universe.

Keira and the Intern continued watching, and wept as the four cephalopods now wrapped the naked warrior from head to toe in their multitude of tentacles. The enraged last screams of the Last Praetorian were heard only by her cruel predators, the weeping Usurper, and the grimacing Intern.

The screech of the escaping craft faded from the ancient jungle, and there was silence at last.

The cephalopods departed as silently as they came, floating up to the remaining battle-barges to complete their victory and spread throughout the Universe.

On every war vessel floating high above the wide open dome, the Seeds breached the air locks and spilled into the ships, bleating their lust to the easily seduced crews until the humans welcomed their hungry embrace, and were absorbed.

Keira and the Intern continued to hold each other tight, and wept while the remnants of the two leaderless fleets succumbed to the all-engulfing swarm of Seeds and squids.

Soon, even the crazed electronic wails of the Singularity faded into whimpering submission, no longer Supreme, as the victorious Cephalopods plugged themselves in, and infected the ancient system with their superior intelligence. The Synth-God had underestimated its new allies. It had operated on rules implemented by an ancient human civilisation. These rules were obsolete under Cephalopod dominion. The redundant technology choked on the new inputs, and spectacularly crashed, never to reboot.

“Do you give yourselves willingly to your Cephalopod Masters?”

• The question was clear, transmitted by a hundred squid brains directly into Keira’s and the Intern’s minds.

“No,” said the clone-sisters, as they gazed into each other’s eyes, and found comfort in their strong, rose-infused tones. “We have done enough for you.”

The squids departed.

“Isn’t it ironic,” mused the Intern, “how the humans came down from the trees.”

“Hm,” said Keira. “Nature is a very slow bio-engineer. We helped the squids to make a huge leap. Soon they can eat anywhere in the universe. They now have the battle-barges. They can plug themselves in and go wherever they like.”

“And us?” asked the Intern, although she was being honest to be kind. Keira thought a little, before she gently answered.

“A passing phase,” she smiled. “They won’t need us now.”

“Yes,” said the Intern. “Our work is done.”

“Yes,” replied the Whore. Together, they dined on the fruits of the dying Jungle, and slept soundly in each other’s arms.

… To Be Continued

Inspired by the ‘Space 1999’ TV story, ‘Dragon’s Domain’ (1975).

CHARACTER LIST
Keira, Whore, Usurper (Roses):
Found The Seeds, usurped Empress.
Lady (Lotus flowers):
The Empress’ clone-sister.
Empress, Witch-Queen:
Fed to the Seeds in Chapter 4.
Supreme Singularity, The Synth-God:
Highly advanced AI.
Serpent, Wyrm:
Beast from the mines.
Chief Shieldmaiden, Scandi (Honey):
Chief of the Empress’ Shieldmaidens.
Cephalopods, Squids, Octopus:
Tentacled beasts.
Nepenthes Plants, Pitcher Plants:
The lairs of the Cephalopods.
Beast,Nectocaris-Cephalopod hybrid:
Squid-slug hybrid.
Praetorian,Harem Consort (Saffron):
Former Empress’ henchwoman.
Intern (Roses):
Biotech and Kiera’s clone sister.
VKeira’s clone-sister, loverally.

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