Marshaleena

by

Kathyrn

The ocean called to him.  Apollo was standing on the shore, watching
the waves splash against the rocks, and the water beckoned him.  It
was no voice that he could hear; just a sense that he knew was there.
 It wanted to feel his body within its depths. It wanted to caress
his flesh with its salty touch.  It wanted to hold his bulk inside
its liquid grasp. 
The noise of machinery running nearby made him look up.  The mining
operations set to extract needed minerals from the ocean had been
fully functional for most of the morning.  The clanks and buzz from
the mechanisms had become normal over the last few sectons as the
procedures were set up.  His job right now was basic guard duty:
protect the operation.

He remembered when he first set foot on this planet during the recon
patrol that discovered it.  There was no population.  The planet was
mostly ocean with only two large continents and a string of smaller
landmasses.  As luck would have it, the mineral-rich water contained
many valuable resources the fleet needed to survive, and it was just
sitting there for the taking.
The one problem they anticipated was the ecosystem of the planet
being rich in animal life, and that included several predators.  It
was decided that the warriors were to be posted especially after
several large paw prints were found that included deep strips of bark
ripped from a tree.  There were to be no chances taken here.  For
armed warriors, carnivorous animals were a simple matter to defend
against. 

He recalled when he first saw the ocean.  It was one thing to see it
on a scanner in space, and another to see it from the air as he flew
over before landing.  But a feeling crept over him as he stood by the
shore with his two comrades.  It was a sense of longing and awe that
he hadn’t felt in a long time on a new world. 

The water was still as glass at that moment, and he could see he
reflection upon its surface clearly.  As he peered into himself
looking back, the sense of yearning for the touch of the water upon
his skin surrounded him.  He had only seen an ocean a few times in
his life before, and that was yahrens ago.  The few sharp rocks
poking up above the mirrored surface seemed to echo what he felt.
Their sharp outlines against the sky were drawing his gaze and he
could not look away.  And the water was so clear.  Beneath the
reflections of the clouds and sun, he could see most of the rocks and
shells that lined the bottom with the occasional small fish darting
past to hide in the plant life that sprouted up. 

It was that sense of wondrous yearning that made him want to come
back to the planet, so it was to his benefit that he pulled a shift
of guard duty along the shores.  The desires that filled him only
flowed when he looked at the ocean.  Not when he looked away towards
the trees along the shore, nor at the sky or his own people and their
machines.  It only was the ocean, and he knew it was calling to him.
He was curious to know why.

A splash and a few shouts had sounded. Large fins were spotted off
in the distance circling nearer.  Predators of the deep were swimming
past.  The noises from the machines may have been attracting them.
After some air-observations, it was concluded that the operations
were stirring up the smaller fish, which were attracting the bigger
ones.  As long as operations were suspended by sunset, when the big
fish feeded, no threat was perceptive.

It was early in the afternoon when he got a moment to look deeply
into the ocean again.  The water was clear with small choppy waves
hitting the rocky shores.  He stood upon the edge and looked down at
the hidden world beneath the surface.  The plant-life was more
prolific here, rising up from the undersea rocks looking like the
tops of trees in a forest.  The swaying fronds of the seaweed danced
for him, and his eyes drank in the hypnotic movements.
Then he saw the shape floating past in a large shadow of green.  It
was a form that writhed sensuously beneath the waves and took on the
form of a human body floating by on her back.  She was large, larger
then any person ever was, and her skin was smooth and toned and the
color of a tropical sea.  Her eyes turned upwards towards him, and
her pupils were green. There where no whites in those eyes.  They
were blue.  Around her face was framed with shells, and the seaweed
flowed for her hair. 


2
Apollo blinked and when he looked again.  She was gone.  Only the
seaweed and waves dancing for him remained with the rocks and shells
on the bottom. He felt stunned for a moment, and looked out over the
sky towards his own people to regain his thoughts.
“My father told me stories of sailors who thought they heard songs
and saw beautiful women among the rocks of a shore.  Those rocks
would break the ships they sailed in.  I always thought it was from
being alone with just each other at sea for to long, “ he thought to
himself.  “Maybe the same thing happens to those who sail the stars.
Maybe that’s why these rocks seem to be calling me into this water.
I’ve spent to much time being a sailor….”
His thoughts were tucked into the back of his mind as he walked away
to continue his patrol.

A few centons later, he was able to return to that spot.  His shift
had ended, and he wanted to see the ocean once more before heading up
into space and back to his home.  The view had changed now.  It was
much later in the afternoon, and the winds were slightly stiffer then
they had been. The waves were choppy but small, with an occasional
splash reaching up to leave droplets on his face or boots.  He didn’t
mind.  He could see the forest of sea vegetation among the rocks, and
the shells glittering from below.  He could still see the occasional
fish dart by quickly in a silent and frightened swim.  There was no
other form within his sight. 
He straightened back up to begin his walk away, when he saw her
again. The top of her head rose slightly out of the forest, and her
face turned upwards to look into his once again.  He knew this was no
dream or dementia.  She was real. 
He was about to call out when he heard a splash and felt a blow that
knocked him over.  He hadn’t seen it coming, and when he fell, he
suddenly found himself immersed in the foaming wetness.  He could
swim, and he immediately tried to rise to the surface, but something
had him from behind and was holding him down.  He could not tell what
it was.  He knew he was being pulled under deeper, and to his horror,
he felt his body being rolled along the bottom in the manner of the
water reptiles he once heard about.  The effect was disorienting.  He
reached for his pistol, but realized it would be futile in the
liquid, and his shoulder was being dragged along the rocky bottom
where he could feel the rocks and shells poking at him. 
He gave a large kicking lurch and seemed to almost break free of what
held him.  Opening his eyes only gave him the site of foamy bubbles
rising and the seaweed dancing among the rocks just inches from his
nose.  His lungs began to hurt and he knew that soon he would be out
of breath.  He gave one last kick at the phantom that held him, and
then he blacked out.

He opened his eyes.  He could still feel the seaweed and the wet, but
there was air. He was breathing air.  His body ached mildly in
various places, and he slowly tried to move as he realized he was
lying on his side.  He rolled over quietly and sat up and took in his
surroundings. 
It appeared to be a cavern he was in.  The colors of shells and rocks
around him in green, blue and purple.  He was sitting on a bed of
seaweed beneath him that felt soft and warm and wet.  He could feel
the fronds beneath his hands.  Standing over him was an apparition
that made his senses stir. 
She was as tall as two men were, and her skin was smooth and green.
She wore no clothing or ornaments of any type. The shell-like ridges
around her face were obviously natural body structures.  Behind them
streamed a growth that framed her head like human hair.  It resembled
the plant-life growing in the ocean, but it was different.  It was
more fine and smoother.  She was leaning over Apollo staring at him
as intently as he was at her.  His face wore a stunned expression.
Hers wore a look of concern.
“Careful,” she spoke to him in a voice that had the softness of a
gentle breeze and the music of a bird. “You almost drowned.”
“You speak my language?”  He asked her.  His voice slightly shook. 
She nodded but she did not elaborate.  Apollo noted that.  “It was
easier to bring you down here then back up to the surface.  This was
closer.  You needed air.” 
“What happened to me?”  He wanted to know. 
“Why, you fell in the water, and were pulled under by one of the
strong currents that caught you.”  Her voice twinkled merrily.
His alarms in his head were sounding as he tried to gingerly stand
up.  He knew that something had him.  A predator, he figured.  Why
was she lying to him?  Unless it was she who was the predator.
“I felt something holding me down.  What had me?”  His tone showed he
did not believe her. 

3
“Why, that was me,” she responded in that musical voice with a bright
smile. “I told you, the current had you.    I was trying to pull you
away from it, and it was not easy….those currents are very strong.”
Should he believe her? He wasn’t sure, and inclined not to.
Whomever had him had refused to let go when he kicked himself free. 
“I need to get back to my own people.  How can I find them?”  With
that question, he looked around the cave better, and the only doorway
he saw was a small tunnel by a shallow pool of water.  “Is that the
only way out?”
She sat on the bed next to where he was standing.  He was aware of
her closeness and her nudity.  He wouldn’t let it cloud his senses.
“Yes,” she answered him.  “It is the only way in and out of here.
But you can’t leave now.  The tide has risen and you would never make
it to the surface before you ran out of breath.”  She touched him
with a smooth hand on his shoulder.  It was a larger hand then he had
ever seen, but he was aware of the heat from her touch.  That type of
touch had only meant one thing from a human.  She let a single nail
from her index finger scrape his cheek.  “Why don’t you relax here in
my home with me for a little while.  Then you can leave.  Come
here….you must be cold and wet and tired from your ordeal.”
She turned away from him to press some fronds flowing from the top of
her bed.  He was aware at how her muscles moved as she twisted her
body.  He became aware of the room filling with a warm dry heat. 
“There now, “ she crooned.  “That’s better.  You’ll be more
comfortable now.  And I want you to be comfortable.”
She turned again to face him and reached out with her large arms to
pull at his jacket.  “Why don’t you take off your clothes.  They are
wet and salty and will only make you itch.” 
He took off his jacket, but his instincts told him not to trust her
any further.  He kept gazing around the room at the one way out. 
She picked up the tossed-aside jacket, weighed-down with water.  “Oh
my, “ she groaned, fingering the clasps, “So hard and heavy.  These
won’t do at all.”  She looked at his boots.  “Can I get you to at
least remove your footwear?”
His gaze was on the myriad of colored rocks and shells on the floor
around her, and his motion was to take a step back, hand slowly going
for the weapon around his waist.  He prayed it wasn’t badly damaged
from his swim.
“So frightened, are you?”  She seemed genuinely disappointed.  Her
face gave a slight frown on her sharp features.  “Is this how you
repay someone for saving your life?  Very well.  Keep your clothing
on, and be uncomfortable.  Keep those heavy boots on your feet.  It’s
your choice to make.”  She got up off her bed and stalked to a corner
dropping the jacket she had been holding.  She picked up a colored
object that had several points in symmetry projecting from it.
Apollo feared it was a weapon, until she said, “Come stand by me.  I
want to comb your hair.” 
At his questioning look for a response, she slowly strode closer to
him.  “Your hair…”she repeated.  “I want to touch it.  I am not going
to hurt you.  It’s going to dry and be salty in a moment.  I want to
feel it while it is wet.”  She reached out with smooth fingers to
touch his head.  There was depth to her touch. And her face showed a
look of pleasure as her hands softly stroked him.  “You look
delicious.  Has anyone ever told you that before?”
He nodded, but pulled away from her.  “My wife did once.”
She gave him a surprise startle.  “Oh, so your people take mates.  I
wonder what else we have in common.”
That was a discussion opener.  “Who are you?”  He asked.
“I am Marshaleena.  My people live here beneath the sea.”
He glanced at her breast and looked back at her eyes very quickly.
“Why would sea-people have breasts?”  He only thought that question.
It was not in his personality to ask it out loud.
She caught his gaze, and ran her hands across her chest, holding them
out then letting them drop slowly again where they swayed in their
natural position unhampered by her hold.  “Why, we’re mammals, too.
That’s why I have these.”
He looked away embarrassed.  “Can you read minds, too?” 
He heard her chuckle.  “No silly.  I saw you looking.  We breathe air
like you, but my larger size gives me bigger lungs.”  In two strides
she was by him again, though he had been inching away from her.  “I
don’t mind if you look.”  She leaned down, placing her nipples right
by his ear.  “And I don’t mind if you touch,” she purred.

4
He made a quick dart and turned away from her offer.  He found
himself standing by the seaweed bed, and when he turned to face her,
the disappointment shown on her face.
“Look, it is imperative that I get back,” He tried. 
“And I told you, “she answered, “That you can’t go back yet until the
tide falls.  You’d never make it.” 
She had him cornered.  He was between her and the bed, so he decided
to sit down.  He couldn’t get past her hulking frame.
She softened at the site of him sitting.  “So, why don’t you just
relax and let me pleasure you.”  She dropped to all fours, so she was
closer to his height, and crawled over to him across the floor, her
eyes the eyes of a hungry cat. Her tongue darted out from between
her lips.  Her hand reached up and rested on his thigh, squeezing
gently.  “So delectable,” she crooned in his eyes.  “I only want to
feel the delights of your body.”
He stood up at that, her hand still clinging to his leg.  He felt her
lips on his ear, her tongue tasting his skin.  “Let me feel your
tongue on mine, “ she moaned.  “Is that to much to ask?”  
His discomfort was visible.  “I can’t.”  He pulled himself away, and
found himself against the nearest wall.  He was looking up at the
ceiling as if he was thinking of climbing, when she exploded at him ,
“You will pleasure my flesh.  You will satisfy my desire.  I will
have your body now.”
He was without warning suddenly caught by the fronds of green that
were splayed everywhere.  They snaked around his wrist and held him.
He found his hands being pulled behind his back and bound, before he
had a chance to even try and grab his pistol.  To his surprise, his
fingers could break through the individual threads of his bindings,
but it unfortunately wasn’t fast enough for him to make an escape.
Still, he kept trying, working his hands, and hoping to reach his
weapon. 
He felt her breath on the back of his neck, as her lips hovered right
behind him, where she knelt down at his back with him standing
between her thighs.  “I want to taste you, “she whispered at him, her
voice just by his ears.  She moved her mouth across his hair.  She
tasted the salt water dripping from him. 
He felt her lips part over the top of his head.  Her breath was
blowing on him, and he could not turn his neck.  Still, his fingers
kept working thread by thread. Her arms snaked around his waist.
Both hands, to feel his body and then grasp around him hard, to lift
him off the ground.  It was then that he realized what was about to
happen and he nearly cussed, “Frack.” 
He found his head inside her jaws.  For a moment, he had an intimate
view of her teeth and gums and the roof of her mouth.  He could feel
her tongue on the back of his neck, pulsing, tasting, beneath his
shoulders as  he began to thrash sharply in a hope to prevent the
inevitable.
Marshaleena felt the struggles.  She knew that he would free himself
if given the chance, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.  Not
when she had him in her mouth. She took a deep breath, and then
gulped him down so quickly, he scraped her throat.  She could feel
the muscles in her neck expand as he slid deeper into her through her
jaws, his legs sliding past her lips.  She felt a booted foot place a
well-timed kick in her nose, and she regretted at not getting him to
take them off first, but upon the second swallow he fell past her
rib-cage and came to rest softly inside her waist. 
She held her sore nose then, catching her breath, feeling the pain
from her neck through her chest and the heavy fullness of her stomach
as it stretched from inside her.  There was salt water upon her
tongue, and another taste of sweetness that was faint and fading.  “I
would have liked to have savored you more, “she said to the bulge in
her middle, though she doubted he could hear her now.  “But if I
delayed, you would have freed yourself.  Well, it doesn’t matter if
you get the binds off now that you’re within my skin.” She sighed as
she touched that bulge for the first time with her trembling fingers.
 “It doesn’t matter at all now.  You’re mine.”
Apollo felt his instincts as soon as he passed by her teeth. He
wasn’t sure at first whether he should continue with trying to free
his bindings, or get her to drop him, and he found himself slipping
past her tongue and her throat was constricting him.  He could feel
her teeth at his knees, and he knew his feet were still on the
outside of her, and he felt his foot make contact hard when he
kicked.  Then, he was being crushed by the throat muscles once again,
and he knew he had lost.  He found himself flowing down a dark ride
and ending surrounding by warmth, wetness, darkness, and a fetid
smell of flesh.  His legs were drawn under him, and there was nothing
but smoothness to the membranes that surrounded him.  The open world
that was behind him had closed after his feet, and he knew where he
was.   He felt his heaving surroundings stretch to hold him, where he
had hoped he might break free yet still.  He felt the liquids on his
skin, and he dared not open his eyes at the bur
 n that began over his body.  Is this how it is supposed to end?  He
wondered.



5
Marshaleena crawled over to her bed, and carefully placed her body
down upon the softness beneath her.  The heaviness in her waist held
her down, and the pain from her stretching skin tingled from her
sides to her back.   Despite her pain, she felt ecstasy at the
fullness in her belly, and she could feel the man within her, filling
her hunger. 
She ran her hand over her swollen stomach, laying on her side, and
mumbled, “There now.  Go to sleep.  Go to sleep, and it will go much
easier for you.  You will be at peace. Go to sleep.”  She felt his
flesh within her own.  Her fingers kneaded into her skin, and she
stroked the muscles of the man on the other side of her touch as he
lay within her body.
Apollo was tightly bound, and unable to move in his womb-like prison.
 His hands were behind his back, his legs tucked underneath him, and
his skin was on fire.  He would never open his eyes.  He felt those
hands running over his back from the other side of his confinement.
They stroked and attempted to sooth him, and part of him was willing
to give in and accept that he had lost the struggle.  He could just
fade into sleep, and then just fade…..
 Satisfaction and delight poured through every part of Marshaleena’s
being. The bliss of contentment enveloped her, as she continued to
lie on her side stroking the swell of her girth.  She felt every
contour of her middle, the convex shape of her waist, the strain of
her skin as it expanded from the man inside her belly. “You are so
beautiful, “ she moaned to him.  “I waited for this moment from the
time I first saw you looking down into the water.”  Her fingers
pressed into her own flesh of her fat middle, and she touched him
through her own tissue encasing his body.  “Could you feel my desire
for you?  I sensed that you could every time you came to the water to
look upon my domain.  I felt that you knew I was there, drawing you
towards me….towards this, “ she patted her bulging stomach.  “And now
I have you, and we are together as one while you feed my desire for
you….and feed  me……”  She closed her eyes and let sleep slowly take
over  her bliss.
Apollo felt his face press against the wall of flesh that held him.
Anger was growing  in his heart.  Anger that he had come through so
much and it was going to end this way and here.  He could not let
that happen.  His curled up legs were beginning to ache, and as he
stretched them slowly, feeling the membranes around him resisting, he
could tell there was a hardness just past his heels.  His brain told
him it was her rib cage, just above her stomach, and he kicked once
more as hard as he could while the liquid jolted around him from his
blow. 
She lifted her head with a start.  Then, another kick and another.
“Don’t be that way, “ She said to him. “Now, there is nothing more
you can do about where you are.  You won’t be able to get out. Why
don’t you just accept that?”
One more smack with his foot, and she began to feel a tingling pain
from where his heels kept hitting her insides. Without thinking,
just wanting him to stop, she smacked at her bloated mound of a
stomach, right above her naval, but realized that she just hurt
herself as well with that slap.
It worked.  He felt the blow and stopped for a moment and waited to
see what would happen next.  Nothing.  It was a tense moment, with
both of them waiting to see what move the other would make. 
He felt his own mouth and nose pressing into the walls of her body,
and he felt his teeth. He slowly opened his lips, taking in her
inner fluids upon his own tongue, and he nipped at her flesh with his
own jaws.
She gasped at the new sensation.  It did not hurt much, but it was
uncomfortable enough to make her sit up, look down upon her fat
belly, and punch her hands below her navel, where she knew his head
was. 
Her flesh in his mouth had struck back.  The pressing fingers had
punched his teeth and tongue, causing his jaw to hurt. But he knew
she must have felt pain at that as well.
Marshaleena did suffer.  This man in her belly was taking the
pleasure out of the digestive aftermath of being her meal.  Then, the
thrashing began again. He was struggling with his whole body,
jolting and thrusting where he could against his imprisonment,
racking his teeth against the flesh pressing into his face. 
At one point, he realized his hands were free. The bindings that
held them had finally broken, and he could now move his arms.  He
intended to scratch and punch as much as he could, futile as it
seemed, when by his hip, his wrist felt a familiar hardness.  His
weapon.  His piston was still at his side.  He could not believe his
luck.  Why would she swallow his pistol along with him? 



6
He didn’t dwell on that question long. He only hoped it had enough
in it for one more fire.  His fingers grasped the handle and he
slowly pulled it from the holster, and when it was free of his belt,
he pushed the nozzle into the walls of the membranes that held him
and pulled the trigger.
The explosion tore a hole in front of him, and he felt air upon his
skin.  He opened his eyes and saw a sliver of light in front of him.
He reached with his hands and pulled the soft flesh apart, and thrust
his whole body through that ray of light.  He was covered in blood
and bits of torn tissue, but his eyes could see the shells and rocks
of the cavern once more.  He fell upon the ground and crawled away
from the wet incarceration behind him, and stood up weakly, in pain,
to see Marshaleena staring at him in horror, a gaping hole down her
torso as she lied there in front of him. 
As he raised his pistol to her chest and fired once more, he said to
her, “I am not food.”
With the knowledge that she was now dead, he began to feel the pain
of the acids on his hands and face.  His skin burned, and he could
see patches of disfigurement at his knuckles.  He could feel them on
his face.  Dizzy and disoriented, he staggered over to the small pool
that shimmered with water, and the one tunnel that was the only way
out of the cavern.  He wondered if it was true that he could not make
it out.  He had no recollection of how far through it he had come.
But, he had to try it. There was no other way.  He could either die
here in the cavern, by the corpse of his captor, or he could drown
trying to escape.  The choice was clear to him.
He stretched his muscles slowly, then decided to take off his boots.
They would only encumber his swim to freedom.  The irony of him
removing them now was not lost on him. After he pulled them off, he
stepped into the water.  It was cold and the chill awoke his tired
body into action.  The pool was only waist-deep to him, and he took a
few breaths, ducked his head under the water and held it, coming up
to the surface to pant and heave and take another breath, until he
was sure that he had his best chance of surviving the swim.
He took his final deepest breath and plunged, pushing himself through
the tunnel of stone that led his path. He kicked and swam as fast as
he can, seeing nothing but a narrow window of rock in front of him
that stretched past his sight.
Apollo felt the pressure in  his lungs, and he knew that he did not
have much time.  The salt-water made his skin burn, but he pressed on
forward.  In his head, he heard clicks and squeaks, twisting behind
his eyes and above his ears.  His chest hurt, and his nose ached to
breathe again.
The twisting and clicking and pressure in his chest became
unbearable, and when he thought he had reached his limit, he found
himself free of the womb-like tunnel and in the open sea, surrounded
by many small white bubbles.  He flew upwards, closing his eyes for
fear if he kept them open, his mouth would follow struggling for
breath.  He felt the water above him, and then he could tell that he
reached the surface.  He was to weak to gasp for air, and his body
was to exhausted to swim anymore.  He felt the oxygen enter his nose
in one gasp, along with several drops of water, and he sputtered,
then the blackness over took him and he no longer felt any pain.

When Apollo opened his eyes, he was aware that he was on his back,
and harsh lights were above him.  He could breathe normally, and his
skin itched.  His body was wrapped in a silver cloth.  His clothes
were gone.  A welcome sight to his eyes was the face of his father,
gazing down upon him with a warmth and benevolence that he had known
all his life.  He could feel Adama’s hand wanting to reach out to
comfort  him, and he welcomed that comfort after his ordeal.
Adam spoke softly to him when he saw his son open his eyes.  “You’re
in Life Station.  Dr Salik has been treating your injuries.  How do
you feel?”
Apollo had to conjure the energy to speak.  “How….how did anyone find
me?”
“Several warriors saw you pulled into the sea by the creature. A
search had been conducted over the area both for you and the threat
to our people when you were found in the water nearby. They tried to
treat you with the medics at the work site, who stabilized your
condition, then brought you back to the Galactica.”
“Have you been here this entire time?  How long have I been here?”
Apollo asked. 
Adam smiled and looked down.  “You’ve been here a few days.  Dr Salik
can fill you in on the nature of your injuries.  No, my duties
prevented me from being here the entire time with you, but your
sister and your friends all came to see you.  Dr Salik said that it
was best you were kept sedated until he could complete the skin
regenerations. And there were other complications.”

7
“Boxey?”  Apollo had to know.  “Where is he?”
“He finally got to see you only recently,” Adam’s face took on a
slightly grave expression.  “He’s in Learning Period right now, I
believe.  Your injuries were so horrendous at first, that I felt he
needed to be spared that alarming site.  Once we knew that you were
going to survive, I let him see his father to know that it was going
to be all right.”
It was at that moment that Dr Salik appeared beside Adama, looking
upon Apollo with interest.  “There is a cavern, “ Apollo told them.
“In it, was a woman who claimed to be from a race of people on this
planet.”
Adama hesitated before saying, “We found a cavern when we continued
to search the area.  When the crew first found you and saw the burns,
we thought you had been immersed in some form of chemical in the
water. We found the cave, and the corpse of what was in there.”
Dr Salik interjected, “Apollo, besides the burns on your skin, your
system was filled with a neurotoxin that was effecting your nervous
system.  I had to pump you full of an antidote to counter the
effects.”
“There was a woman in that cave, “ Apollo said,  “Then you’ve found
her body?”
Adama now placed a warm hand over the silver cloth that covered his
son’s itchy skin.  “We brought the corpse on board, and, Apollo,
we’ve been studying her.”

When he was well enough, Dr Salik discharged him from the Life
Station and he was able to put on a clean uniform.  Funny how
something as little as clean clothes took on a new significance after
his trauma.  He was reunited with his son, and in the middle of the
warm embrace as he held that small person in his arms, he heard the
young voice say, “Grandfather wouldn’t let me see you. He said you
were hurt very bad, but then when he told me that you would stay
alive, he let me look at you while you were sleeping.”
“I was hurt very bad, Boxey,” he replied softly, “But it’s over now.”
“What does new skin feel like?”  Boxey asked him as the hug ended.
“Grandfather told me that they made you a new skin.”
Apollo laughed at that.  “It itches.  A lot.”

His next stop was the science center.  The young man on duty, someone
he never saw before, was explaining to him, “The creature is related
to the lampreys, but carries a toxin similar to an anome.  One major
difference is its size.  It was much larger then any similar creature
of its type found on our home-worlds.  But that is not unheard of if
they breed in a prolific area for food.”
They were standing in a lab, and the man stooped to pull open a small
metal cupboard in the wall.  Apollo knew what that unit was:  a
refrigeration unit. 
On the tray that was pulled out there rested an animal that had one
long jagged hole ripped down its middle and several places where it
had been sliced and dissected. Its body was a long tail, like a
snakes, and around its jagged mouth were several thin long tentacles
that framed its head like a mane. 
The color was right.  It was green, but covered with scales.  Its
size was also right.  But the form was all wrong.
Apollo shook his head. “This isn’t the thing that had me.  Are you
sure this came from the cavern I had been in?”
“This long incision was made by a Colonial laser, “ the young
scientist answered him.  “And in the same cave, we found this.”  He
opened another preservation bin, and inside Apollo recognized his
discarded Jacket and boots.  The Jacket was stained with the
seawater, and had several tears in the suede.  The boots were now a
slightly different color. 
The scientist continued.  “The appendages of the animal contain a
neurotoxin.  The same substance was found on your clothing and in
your system.  The substance could have paralyzed something small,
like a fish, but on something as large as a human, it would have
taken a significant quantity.”
“Where she touched me, “ Apollo whispered to himself as he stared at
the corpse, trying to reconcile this torn-apart carcass with the
green apparition he had seen in his mind.  He noticed that the
tentacles resembled her hair. 

“You mean you actually saw a large green beautiful woman?”  Starbuck
asked him in the officer’s club centons later.
“I saw the creature as they pulled it from the water,” Boomer told
them.  “It didn’t resemble anything like a woman to me.”

8
Apollo shook his head. “I was told it was the effect of some form of
toxin in my system the thing uses to capture its prey. It made me
see things that weren’t there. It explains a few things.”  He rested
his head on his hand.  “Like how she could speak our language and why
she had breasts…”
“Breasts?”  Starbuck interjected.  “You were staring at a giant pair
of breast and all’s you could wonder is why she had them?” 
Boomer rolled his eyes at the tone of this conversation was taking.
“I can tell what would have happened to you, Starbuck, if it had been
you instead of Apollo down in that cave.”
“So, what do you think would have happened?”  Starbuck inquired,
knowing the answer to his question would be fully loaded.
“Oh, you would have ended up as her dinner as well, but only after
you went up the other end first.”
The laughter that came from Apollo’s lips at that bawdy comment was
music to his heart as he finally felt the tension easing and things
returning to normal.
Marshaleena

The ocean called to him.  Apollo was standing on the shore, watching
the waves splash against the rocks, and the water beckoned him.  It
was no voice that he could hear; just a sense that he knew was there.
 It wanted to feel his body within its depths. It wanted to caress
his flesh with its salty touch.  It wanted to hold his bulk inside
its liquid grasp. 
The noise of machinery running nearby made him look up.  The mining
operations set to extract needed minerals from the ocean had been
fully functional for most of the morning.  The clanks and buzz from
the mechanisms had become normal over the last few sectons as the
procedures were set up.  His job right now was basic guard duty:
protect the operation.

He remembered when he first set foot on this planet during the recon
patrol that discovered it.  There was no population.  The planet was
mostly ocean with only two large continents and a string of smaller
landmasses.  As luck would have it, the mineral-rich water contained
many valuable resources the fleet needed to survive, and it was just
sitting there for the taking.
The one problem they anticipated was the ecosystem of the planet
being rich in animal life, and that included several predators.  It
was decided that the warriors were to be posted especially after
several large paw prints were found that included deep strips of bark
ripped from a tree.  There were to be no chances taken here.  For
armed warriors, carnivorous animals were a simple matter to defend
against. 

He recalled when he first saw the ocean.  It was one thing to see it
on a scanner in space, and another to see it from the air as he flew
over before landing.  But a feeling crept over him as he stood by the
shore with his two comrades.  It was a sense of longing and awe that
he hadn’t felt in a long time on a new world. 

The water was still as glass at that moment, and he could see he
reflection upon its surface clearly.  As he peered into himself
looking back, the sense of yearning for the touch of the water upon
his skin surrounded him.  He had only seen an ocean a few times in
his life before, and that was yahrens ago.  The few sharp rocks
poking up above the mirrored surface seemed to echo what he felt.
Their sharp outlines against the sky were drawing his gaze and he
could not look away.  And the water was so clear.  Beneath the
reflections of the clouds and sun, he could see most of the rocks and
shells that lined the bottom with the occasional small fish darting
past to hide in the plant life that sprouted up. 

It was that sense of wondrous yearning that made him want to come
back to the planet, so it was to his benefit that he pulled a shift
of guard duty along the shores.  The desires that filled him only
flowed when he looked at the ocean.  Not when he looked away towards
the trees along the shore, nor at the sky or his own people and their
machines.  It only was the ocean, and he knew it was calling to him.
He was curious to know why.

A splash and a few shouts had sounded. Large fins were spotted off
in the distance circling nearer.  Predators of the deep were swimming
past.  The noises from the machines may have been attracting them.
After some air-observations, it was concluded that the operations
were stirring up the smaller fish, which were attracting the bigger
ones.  As long as operations were suspended by sunset, when the big
fish feeded, no threat was perceptive.

It was early in the afternoon when he got a moment to look deeply
into the ocean again.  The water was clear with small choppy waves
hitting the rocky shores.  He stood upon the edge and looked down at
the hidden world beneath the surface.  The plant-life was more
prolific here, rising up from the undersea rocks looking like the
tops of trees in a forest.  The swaying fronds of the seaweed danced
for him, and his eyes drank in the hypnotic movements.
Then he saw the shape floating past in a large shadow of green.  It
was a form that writhed sensuously beneath the waves and took on the
form of a human body floating by on her back.  She was large, larger
then any person ever was, and her skin was smooth and toned and the
color of a tropical sea.  Her eyes turned upwards towards him, and
her pupils were green. There where no whites in those eyes.  They
were blue.  Around her face was framed with shells, and the seaweed
flowed for her hair. 


2
Apollo blinked and when he looked again.  She was gone.  Only the
seaweed and waves dancing for him remained with the rocks and shells
on the bottom. He felt stunned for a moment, and looked out over the
sky towards his own people to regain his thoughts.
“My father told me stories of sailors who thought they heard songs
and saw beautiful women among the rocks of a shore.  Those rocks
would break the ships they sailed in.  I always thought it was from
being alone with just each other at sea for to long, “ he thought to
himself.  “Maybe the same thing happens to those who sail the stars.
Maybe that’s why these rocks seem to be calling me into this water.
I’ve spent to much time being a sailor….”
His thoughts were tucked into the back of his mind as he walked away
to continue his patrol.

A few centons later, he was able to return to that spot.  His shift
had ended, and he wanted to see the ocean once more before heading up
into space and back to his home.  The view had changed now.  It was
much later in the afternoon, and the winds were slightly stiffer then
they had been. The waves were choppy but small, with an occasional
splash reaching up to leave droplets on his face or boots.  He didn’t
mind.  He could see the forest of sea vegetation among the rocks, and
the shells glittering from below.  He could still see the occasional
fish dart by quickly in a silent and frightened swim.  There was no
other form within his sight. 
He straightened back up to begin his walk away, when he saw her
again. The top of her head rose slightly out of the forest, and her
face turned upwards to look into his once again.  He knew this was no
dream or dementia.  She was real. 
He was about to call out when he heard a splash and felt a blow that
knocked him over.  He hadn’t seen it coming, and when he fell, he
suddenly found himself immersed in the foaming wetness.  He could
swim, and he immediately tried to rise to the surface, but something
had him from behind and was holding him down.  He could not tell what
it was.  He knew he was being pulled under deeper, and to his horror,
he felt his body being rolled along the bottom in the manner of the
water reptiles he once heard about.  The effect was disorienting.  He
reached for his pistol, but realized it would be futile in the
liquid, and his shoulder was being dragged along the rocky bottom
where he could feel the rocks and shells poking at him. 
He gave a large kicking lurch and seemed to almost break free of what
held him.  Opening his eyes only gave him the site of foamy bubbles
rising and the seaweed dancing among the rocks just inches from his
nose.  His lungs began to hurt and he knew that soon he would be out
of breath.  He gave one last kick at the phantom that held him, and
then he blacked out.

He opened his eyes.  He could still feel the seaweed and the wet, but
there was air. He was breathing air.  His body ached mildly in
various places, and he slowly tried to move as he realized he was
lying on his side.  He rolled over quietly and sat up and took in his
surroundings. 
It appeared to be a cavern he was in.  The colors of shells and rocks
around him in green, blue and purple.  He was sitting on a bed of
seaweed beneath him that felt soft and warm and wet.  He could feel
the fronds beneath his hands.  Standing over him was an apparition
that made his senses stir. 
She was as tall as two men were, and her skin was smooth and green.
She wore no clothing or ornaments of any type. The shell-like ridges
around her face were obviously natural body structures.  Behind them
streamed a growth that framed her head like human hair.  It resembled
the plant-life growing in the ocean, but it was different.  It was
more fine and smoother.  She was leaning over Apollo staring at him
as intently as he was at her.  His face wore a stunned expression.
Hers wore a look of concern.
“Careful,” she spoke to him in a voice that had the softness of a
gentle breeze and the music of a bird. “You almost drowned.”
“You speak my language?”  He asked her.  His voice slightly shook. 
She nodded but she did not elaborate.  Apollo noted that.  “It was
easier to bring you down here then back up to the surface.  This was
closer.  You needed air.” 
“What happened to me?”  He wanted to know. 
“Why, you fell in the water, and were pulled under by one of the
strong currents that caught you.”  Her voice twinkled merrily.
His alarms in his head were sounding as he tried to gingerly stand
up.  He knew that something had him.  A predator, he figured.  Why
was she lying to him?  Unless it was she who was the predator.
“I felt something holding me down.  What had me?”  His tone showed he
did not believe her. 

3
“Why, that was me,” she responded in that musical voice with a bright
smile. “I told you, the current had you.    I was trying to pull you
away from it, and it was not easy….those currents are very strong.”
Should he believe her? He wasn’t sure, and inclined not to.
Whomever had him had refused to let go when he kicked himself free. 
“I need to get back to my own people.  How can I find them?”  With
that question, he looked around the cave better, and the only doorway
he saw was a small tunnel by a shallow pool of water.  “Is that the
only way out?”
She sat on the bed next to where he was standing.  He was aware of
her closeness and her nudity.  He wouldn’t let it cloud his senses.
“Yes,” she answered him.  “It is the only way in and out of here.
But you can’t leave now.  The tide has risen and you would never make
it to the surface before you ran out of breath.”  She touched him
with a smooth hand on his shoulder.  It was a larger hand then he had
ever seen, but he was aware of the heat from her touch.  That type of
touch had only meant one thing from a human.  She let a single nail
from her index finger scrape his cheek.  “Why don’t you relax here in
my home with me for a little while.  Then you can leave.  Come
here….you must be cold and wet and tired from your ordeal.”
She turned away from him to press some fronds flowing from the top of
her bed.  He was aware at how her muscles moved as she twisted her
body.  He became aware of the room filling with a warm dry heat. 
“There now, “ she crooned.  “That’s better.  You’ll be more
comfortable now.  And I want you to be comfortable.”
She turned again to face him and reached out with her large arms to
pull at his jacket.  “Why don’t you take off your clothes.  They are
wet and salty and will only make you itch.” 
He took off his jacket, but his instincts told him not to trust her
any further.  He kept gazing around the room at the one way out. 
She picked up the tossed-aside jacket, weighed-down with water.  “Oh
my, “ she groaned, fingering the clasps, “So hard and heavy.  These
won’t do at all.”  She looked at his boots.  “Can I get you to at
least remove your footwear?”
His gaze was on the myriad of colored rocks and shells on the floor
around her, and his motion was to take a step back, hand slowly going
for the weapon around his waist.  He prayed it wasn’t badly damaged
from his swim.
“So frightened, are you?”  She seemed genuinely disappointed.  Her
face gave a slight frown on her sharp features.  “Is this how you
repay someone for saving your life?  Very well.  Keep your clothing
on, and be uncomfortable.  Keep those heavy boots on your feet.  It’s
your choice to make.”  She got up off her bed and stalked to a corner
dropping the jacket she had been holding.  She picked up a colored
object that had several points in symmetry projecting from it.
Apollo feared it was a weapon, until she said, “Come stand by me.  I
want to comb your hair.” 
At his questioning look for a response, she slowly strode closer to
him.  “Your hair…”she repeated.  “I want to touch it.  I am not going
to hurt you.  It’s going to dry and be salty in a moment.  I want to
feel it while it is wet.”  She reached out with smooth fingers to
touch his head.  There was depth to her touch. And her face showed a
look of pleasure as her hands softly stroked him.  “You look
delicious.  Has anyone ever told you that before?”
He nodded, but pulled away from her.  “My wife did once.”
She gave him a surprise startle.  “Oh, so your people take mates.  I
wonder what else we have in common.”
That was a discussion opener.  “Who are you?”  He asked.
“I am Marshaleena.  My people live here beneath the sea.”
He glanced at her breast and looked back at her eyes very quickly.
“Why would sea-people have breasts?”  He only thought that question.
It was not in his personality to ask it out loud.
She caught his gaze, and ran her hands across her chest, holding them
out then letting them drop slowly again where they swayed in their
natural position unhampered by her hold.  “Why, we’re mammals, too.
That’s why I have these.”
He looked away embarrassed.  “Can you read minds, too?” 
He heard her chuckle.  “No silly.  I saw you looking.  We breathe air
like you, but my larger size gives me bigger lungs.”  In two strides
she was by him again, though he had been inching away from her.  “I
don’t mind if you look.”  She leaned down, placing her nipples right
by his ear.  “And I don’t mind if you touch,” she purred.

4
He made a quick dart and turned away from her offer.  He found
himself standing by the seaweed bed, and when he turned to face her,
the disappointment shown on her face.
“Look, it is imperative that I get back,” He tried. 
“And I told you, “she answered, “That you can’t go back yet until the
tide falls.  You’d never make it.” 
She had him cornered.  He was between her and the bed, so he decided
to sit down.  He couldn’t get past her hulking frame.
She softened at the site of him sitting.  “So, why don’t you just
relax and let me pleasure you.”  She dropped to all fours, so she was
closer to his height, and crawled over to him across the floor, her
eyes the eyes of a hungry cat. Her tongue darted out from between
her lips.  Her hand reached up and rested on his thigh, squeezing
gently.  “So delectable,” she crooned in his eyes.  “I only want to
feel the delights of your body.”
He stood up at that, her hand still clinging to his leg.  He felt her
lips on his ear, her tongue tasting his skin.  “Let me feel your
tongue on mine, “ she moaned.  “Is that to much to ask?”  
His discomfort was visible.  “I can’t.”  He pulled himself away, and
found himself against the nearest wall.  He was looking up at the
ceiling as if he was thinking of climbing, when she exploded at him ,
“You will pleasure my flesh.  You will satisfy my desire.  I will
have your body now.”
He was without warning suddenly caught by the fronds of green that
were splayed everywhere.  They snaked around his wrist and held him.
He found his hands being pulled behind his back and bound, before he
had a chance to even try and grab his pistol.  To his surprise, his
fingers could break through the individual threads of his bindings,
but it unfortunately wasn’t fast enough for him to make an escape.
Still, he kept trying, working his hands, and hoping to reach his
weapon. 
He felt her breath on the back of his neck, as her lips hovered right
behind him, where she knelt down at his back with him standing
between her thighs.  “I want to taste you, “she whispered at him, her
voice just by his ears.  She moved her mouth across his hair.  She
tasted the salt water dripping from him. 
He felt her lips part over the top of his head.  Her breath was
blowing on him, and he could not turn his neck.  Still, his fingers
kept working thread by thread. Her arms snaked around his waist.
Both hands, to feel his body and then grasp around him hard, to lift
him off the ground.  It was then that he realized what was about to
happen and he nearly cussed, “Frack.” 
He found his head inside her jaws.  For a moment, he had an intimate
view of her teeth and gums and the roof of her mouth.  He could feel
her tongue on the back of his neck, pulsing, tasting, beneath his
shoulders as  he began to thrash sharply in a hope to prevent the
inevitable.
Marshaleena felt the struggles.  She knew that he would free himself
if given the chance, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.  Not
when she had him in her mouth. She took a deep breath, and then
gulped him down so quickly, he scraped her throat.  She could feel
the muscles in her neck expand as he slid deeper into her through her
jaws, his legs sliding past her lips.  She felt a booted foot place a
well-timed kick in her nose, and she regretted at not getting him to
take them off first, but upon the second swallow he fell past her
rib-cage and came to rest softly inside her waist. 
She held her sore nose then, catching her breath, feeling the pain
from her neck through her chest and the heavy fullness of her stomach
as it stretched from inside her.  There was salt water upon her
tongue, and another taste of sweetness that was faint and fading.  “I
would have liked to have savored you more, “she said to the bulge in
her middle, though she doubted he could hear her now.  “But if I
delayed, you would have freed yourself.  Well, it doesn’t matter if
you get the binds off now that you’re within my skin.” She sighed as
she touched that bulge for the first time with her trembling fingers.
 “It doesn’t matter at all now.  You’re mine.”
Apollo felt his instincts as soon as he passed by her teeth. He
wasn’t sure at first whether he should continue with trying to free
his bindings, or get her to drop him, and he found himself slipping
past her tongue and her throat was constricting him.  He could feel
her teeth at his knees, and he knew his feet were still on the
outside of her, and he felt his foot make contact hard when he
kicked.  Then, he was being crushed by the throat muscles once again,
and he knew he had lost.  He found himself flowing down a dark ride
and ending surrounding by warmth, wetness, darkness, and a fetid
smell of flesh.  His legs were drawn under him, and there was nothing
but smoothness to the membranes that surrounded him.  The open world
that was behind him had closed after his feet, and he knew where he
was.   He felt his heaving surroundings stretch to hold him, where he
had hoped he might break free yet still.  He felt the liquids on his
skin, and he dared not open his eyes at the bur
 n that began over his body.  Is this how it is supposed to end?  He
wondered.



5
Marshaleena crawled over to her bed, and carefully placed her body
down upon the softness beneath her.  The heaviness in her waist held
her down, and the pain from her stretching skin tingled from her
sides to her back.   Despite her pain, she felt ecstasy at the
fullness in her belly, and she could feel the man within her, filling
her hunger. 
She ran her hand over her swollen stomach, laying on her side, and
mumbled, “There now.  Go to sleep.  Go to sleep, and it will go much
easier for you.  You will be at peace. Go to sleep.”  She felt his
flesh within her own.  Her fingers kneaded into her skin, and she
stroked the muscles of the man on the other side of her touch as he
lay within her body.
Apollo was tightly bound, and unable to move in his womb-like prison.
 His hands were behind his back, his legs tucked underneath him, and
his skin was on fire.  He would never open his eyes.  He felt those
hands running over his back from the other side of his confinement.
They stroked and attempted to sooth him, and part of him was willing
to give in and accept that he had lost the struggle.  He could just
fade into sleep, and then just fade…..
 Satisfaction and delight poured through every part of Marshaleena’s
being. The bliss of contentment enveloped her, as she continued to
lie on her side stroking the swell of her girth.  She felt every
contour of her middle, the convex shape of her waist, the strain of
her skin as it expanded from the man inside her belly. “You are so
beautiful, “ she moaned to him.  “I waited for this moment from the
time I first saw you looking down into the water.”  Her fingers
pressed into her own flesh of her fat middle, and she touched him
through her own tissue encasing his body.  “Could you feel my desire
for you?  I sensed that you could every time you came to the water to
look upon my domain.  I felt that you knew I was there, drawing you
towards me….towards this, “ she patted her bulging stomach.  “And now
I have you, and we are together as one while you feed my desire for
you….and feed  me……”  She closed her eyes and let sleep slowly take
over  her bliss.
Apollo felt his face press against the wall of flesh that held him.
Anger was growing  in his heart.  Anger that he had come through so
much and it was going to end this way and here.  He could not let
that happen.  His curled up legs were beginning to ache, and as he
stretched them slowly, feeling the membranes around him resisting, he
could tell there was a hardness just past his heels.  His brain told
him it was her rib cage, just above her stomach, and he kicked once
more as hard as he could while the liquid jolted around him from his
blow. 
She lifted her head with a start.  Then, another kick and another.
“Don’t be that way, “ She said to him. “Now, there is nothing more
you can do about where you are.  You won’t be able to get out. Why
don’t you just accept that?”
One more smack with his foot, and she began to feel a tingling pain
from where his heels kept hitting her insides. Without thinking,
just wanting him to stop, she smacked at her bloated mound of a
stomach, right above her naval, but realized that she just hurt
herself as well with that slap.
It worked.  He felt the blow and stopped for a moment and waited to
see what would happen next.  Nothing.  It was a tense moment, with
both of them waiting to see what move the other would make. 
He felt his own mouth and nose pressing into the walls of her body,
and he felt his teeth. He slowly opened his lips, taking in her
inner fluids upon his own tongue, and he nipped at her flesh with his
own jaws.
She gasped at the new sensation.  It did not hurt much, but it was
uncomfortable enough to make her sit up, look down upon her fat
belly, and punch her hands below her navel, where she knew his head
was. 
Her flesh in his mouth had struck back.  The pressing fingers had
punched his teeth and tongue, causing his jaw to hurt. But he knew
she must have felt pain at that as well.
Marshaleena did suffer.  This man in her belly was taking the
pleasure out of the digestive aftermath of being her meal.  Then, the
thrashing began again. He was struggling with his whole body,
jolting and thrusting where he could against his imprisonment,
racking his teeth against the flesh pressing into his face. 
At one point, he realized his hands were free. The bindings that
held them had finally broken, and he could now move his arms.  He
intended to scratch and punch as much as he could, futile as it
seemed, when by his hip, his wrist felt a familiar hardness.  His
weapon.  His piston was still at his side.  He could not believe his
luck.  Why would she swallow his pistol along with him? 



6
He didn’t dwell on that question long. He only hoped it had enough
in it for one more fire.  His fingers grasped the handle and he
slowly pulled it from the holster, and when it was free of his belt,
he pushed the nozzle into the walls of the membranes that held him
and pulled the trigger.
The explosion tore a hole in front of him, and he felt air upon his
skin.  He opened his eyes and saw a sliver of light in front of him.
He reached with his hands and pulled the soft flesh apart, and thrust
his whole body through that ray of light.  He was covered in blood
and bits of torn tissue, but his eyes could see the shells and rocks
of the cavern once more.  He fell upon the ground and crawled away
from the wet incarceration behind him, and stood up weakly, in pain,
to see Marshaleena staring at him in horror, a gaping hole down her
torso as she lied there in front of him. 
As he raised his pistol to her chest and fired once more, he said to
her, “I am not food.”
With the knowledge that she was now dead, he began to feel the pain
of the acids on his hands and face.  His skin burned, and he could
see patches of disfigurement at his knuckles.  He could feel them on
his face.  Dizzy and disoriented, he staggered over to the small pool
that shimmered with water, and the one tunnel that was the only way
out of the cavern.  He wondered if it was true that he could not make
it out.  He had no recollection of how far through it he had come.
But, he had to try it. There was no other way.  He could either die
here in the cavern, by the corpse of his captor, or he could drown
trying to escape.  The choice was clear to him.
He stretched his muscles slowly, then decided to take off his boots.
They would only encumber his swim to freedom.  The irony of him
removing them now was not lost on him. After he pulled them off, he
stepped into the water.  It was cold and the chill awoke his tired
body into action.  The pool was only waist-deep to him, and he took a
few breaths, ducked his head under the water and held it, coming up
to the surface to pant and heave and take another breath, until he
was sure that he had his best chance of surviving the swim.
He took his final deepest breath and plunged, pushing himself through
the tunnel of stone that led his path. He kicked and swam as fast as
he can, seeing nothing but a narrow window of rock in front of him
that stretched past his sight.
Apollo felt the pressure in  his lungs, and he knew that he did not
have much time.  The salt-water made his skin burn, but he pressed on
forward.  In his head, he heard clicks and squeaks, twisting behind
his eyes and above his ears.  His chest hurt, and his nose ached to
breathe again.
The twisting and clicking and pressure in his chest became
unbearable, and when he thought he had reached his limit, he found
himself free of the womb-like tunnel and in the open sea, surrounded
by many small white bubbles.  He flew upwards, closing his eyes for
fear if he kept them open, his mouth would follow struggling for
breath.  He felt the water above him, and then he could tell that he
reached the surface.  He was to weak to gasp for air, and his body
was to exhausted to swim anymore.  He felt the oxygen enter his nose
in one gasp, along with several drops of water, and he sputtered,
then the blackness over took him and he no longer felt any pain.

When Apollo opened his eyes, he was aware that he was on his back,
and harsh lights were above him.  He could breathe normally, and his
skin itched.  His body was wrapped in a silver cloth.  His clothes
were gone.  A welcome sight to his eyes was the face of his father,
gazing down upon him with a warmth and benevolence that he had known
all his life.  He could feel Adama’s hand wanting to reach out to
comfort  him, and he welcomed that comfort after his ordeal.
Adam spoke softly to him when he saw his son open his eyes.  “You’re
in Life Station.  Dr Salik has been treating your injuries.  How do
you feel?”
Apollo had to conjure the energy to speak.  “How….how did anyone find
me?”
“Several warriors saw you pulled into the sea by the creature. A
search had been conducted over the area both for you and the threat
to our people when you were found in the water nearby. They tried to
treat you with the medics at the work site, who stabilized your
condition, then brought you back to the Galactica.”
“Have you been here this entire time?  How long have I been here?”
Apollo asked. 
Adam smiled and looked down.  “You’ve been here a few days.  Dr Salik
can fill you in on the nature of your injuries.  No, my duties
prevented me from being here the entire time with you, but your
sister and your friends all came to see you.  Dr Salik said that it
was best you were kept sedated until he could complete the skin
regenerations. And there were other complications.”

7
“Boxey?”  Apollo had to know.  “Where is he?”
“He finally got to see you only recently,” Adam’s face took on a
slightly grave expression.  “He’s in Learning Period right now, I
believe.  Your injuries were so horrendous at first, that I felt he
needed to be spared that alarming site.  Once we knew that you were
going to survive, I let him see his father to know that it was going
to be all right.”
It was at that moment that Dr Salik appeared beside Adama, looking
upon Apollo with interest.  “There is a cavern, “ Apollo told them.
“In it, was a woman who claimed to be from a race of people on this
planet.”
Adama hesitated before saying, “We found a cavern when we continued
to search the area.  When the crew first found you and saw the burns,
we thought you had been immersed in some form of chemical in the
water. We found the cave, and the corpse of what was in there.”
Dr Salik interjected, “Apollo, besides the burns on your skin, your
system was filled with a neurotoxin that was effecting your nervous
system.  I had to pump you full of an antidote to counter the
effects.”
“There was a woman in that cave, “ Apollo said,  “Then you’ve found
her body?”
Adama now placed a warm hand over the silver cloth that covered his
son’s itchy skin.  “We brought the corpse on board, and, Apollo,
we’ve been studying her.”

When he was well enough, Dr Salik discharged him from the Life
Station and he was able to put on a clean uniform.  Funny how
something as little as clean clothes took on a new significance after
his trauma.  He was reunited with his son, and in the middle of the
warm embrace as he held that small person in his arms, he heard the
young voice say, “Grandfather wouldn’t let me see you. He said you
were hurt very bad, but then when he told me that you would stay
alive, he let me look at you while you were sleeping.”
“I was hurt very bad, Boxey,” he replied softly, “But it’s over now.”
“What does new skin feel like?”  Boxey asked him as the hug ended.
“Grandfather told me that they made you a new skin.”
Apollo laughed at that.  “It itches.  A lot.”

His next stop was the science center.  The young man on duty, someone
he never saw before, was explaining to him, “The creature is related
to the lampreys, but carries a toxin similar to an anome.  One major
difference is its size.  It was much larger then any similar creature
of its type found on our home-worlds.  But that is not unheard of if
they breed in a prolific area for food.”
They were standing in a lab, and the man stooped to pull open a small
metal cupboard in the wall.  Apollo knew what that unit was:  a
refrigeration unit. 
On the tray that was pulled out there rested an animal that had one
long jagged hole ripped down its middle and several places where it
had been sliced and dissected. Its body was a long tail, like a
snakes, and around its jagged mouth were several thin long tentacles
that framed its head like a mane. 
The color was right.  It was green, but covered with scales.  Its
size was also right.  But the form was all wrong.
Apollo shook his head. “This isn’t the thing that had me.  Are you
sure this came from the cavern I had been in?”
“This long incision was made by a Colonial laser, “ the young
scientist answered him.  “And in the same cave, we found this.”  He
opened another preservation bin, and inside Apollo recognized his
discarded Jacket and boots.  The Jacket was stained with the
seawater, and had several tears in the suede.  The boots were now a
slightly different color. 
The scientist continued.  “The appendages of the animal contain a
neurotoxin.  The same substance was found on your clothing and in
your system.  The substance could have paralyzed something small,
like a fish, but on something as large as a human, it would have
taken a significant quantity.”
“Where she touched me, “ Apollo whispered to himself as he stared at
the corpse, trying to reconcile this torn-apart carcass with the
green apparition he had seen in his mind.  He noticed that the
tentacles resembled her hair. 

“You mean you actually saw a large green beautiful woman?”  Starbuck
asked him in the officer’s club centons later.
“I saw the creature as they pulled it from the water,” Boomer told
them.  “It didn’t resemble anything like a woman to me.”

8
Apollo shook his head. “I was told it was the effect of some form of
toxin in my system the thing uses to capture its prey. It made me
see things that weren’t there. It explains a few things.”  He rested
his head on his hand.  “Like how she could speak our language and why
she had breasts…”
“Breasts?”  Starbuck interjected.  “You were staring at a giant pair
of breast and all’s you could wonder is why she had them?” 
Boomer rolled his eyes at the tone of this conversation was taking.
“I can tell what would have happened to you, Starbuck, if it had been
you instead of Apollo down in that cave.”
“So, what do you think would have happened?”  Starbuck inquired,
knowing the answer to his question would be fully loaded.
“Oh, you would have ended up as her dinner as well, but only after
you went up the other end first.”
The laughter that came from Apollo’s lips at that bawdy comment was
music to his heart as he finally felt the tension easing and things
returning to normal.