Red Sea

The stark reality of having nowhere left to return to. The fact that he had been cast aside by the city he had served faithfully for half his life.

More terrifying than the monsters who lusted after his body was the fact that he had been abandoned on a remote planet by his own kind. The betrayal and pain that welled up inside him had paralyzed his reason and ignited self-destructive impulses. And now, lying isolated in this moment, even dwelling on those agonizing truths didn’t ignite the same fury as yesterday. His emotions had moved beyond denial and anger, slowly shifting towards acceptance and despair.

Perhaps he’d communicate better with *that* thing.

Despite a slight communication barrier due to their differing perspectives, Kashan was a fairly rational being, possessing a highly developed mind that belied its appearance and behavior.

No, snap out of it.

To even consider that monster as a source of comfort, when he was the very one who had brought him to this situation! But hating him was difficult; there were more than a few other disgusting and horrifying realities besides the oppressive Thermo. Jake felt disgust and weariness towards everything. With no other escape route, and the purpose of escaping now gone, he could only passively wallow in his emptiness and remain quietly confined.

With nothing to do, time seemed to crawl. Observing the ever-shifting shadows of the cave, cast by the pouring starlight, was his only amusement. Whether or not he should be grateful that the creature was nowhere to be seen was a question he couldn’t answer.

This pleasant situation—the absence of that creature’s repulsive genitalia—was the only appealing aspect of his unfortunate circumstances. But this time of reflection, or rather, this time of inactivity, was driving Jake mad. He was the type of person who couldn’t tolerate his own laziness. Furthermore, the sheer inability to do anything in this desperate situation only intensified his anxiety.

To pass the excess time, Jake exercised, sang, or recited short verses. Spending time alone was something he often did on the spaceship, so he told himself not to worry. He reassured himself that once the creature calmed down and brought him back up, he would slowly consider his future.

It was a terrible truth, but the creature wanted a breeding partner. In other words, his life was guaranteed until reproduction. Naturally, violence or self-harm, even in anger, would only harm the creature. The fear he’d felt in the past, trembling at the sight of the creature savagely beating another to death, now seemed ridiculous.

Stay calm.

Moving his body purposefully and speaking aloud did seem to clear his mind. Jake vowed never to act impulsively again. Beyond simply avoiding upsetting the creature, he realized that his reckless dash outside had been incredibly unwise. Even though it wasn’t often raining, it hadn’t been a common opportunity.

The creature had called him a “productive slave.” The dozens of his kind working outside in the rain didn’t seem to hold equal status. Come to think of it, the creature often emphasized that it was the owner of the land.

A power player, is that it?

He seemed to have explained more, but Jake hadn’t been in the right state of mind to listen carefully, so the information remaining in his memory was limited to a few words. Thoughts followed thoughts, and so night fell.

The next day, Jake woke to find changes in the space and narrowed his eyes. The creature had clearly been there while he slept. Near the spring, food was haphazardly placed. He walked towards the food, rinsed it in the water, and chewed it, his gaze fixed on the cave entrance.

“Hey, instead of sneaking around like this, why don’t you just lecture me?”

He seemed so conservative. Hours of lectures or a light whipping followed by physical satisfaction would have been better. As one day turned into two, this feeling intensified. Three days had passed without even a glimpse of the black giant.

Another day passed. While time felt slow, it actually flowed at its usual pace, neither faster nor slower. While held captive by the creature, he had been too exhausted to notice the passage of time, simply falling asleep and facing the next day. Being left alone and directly experiencing the flow of countless hours was similar to the despair of being lost.

“Is… is that you?”

As soon as he heard the sound of pebbles tumbling down the cliff in the darkness, Jake quickly sat up and asked the empty air. But there was no answer. It was just a gust of wind, caused by the temperature difference between inside and outside, carrying away small pebbles. The middle-aged man turned over and tried to sleep again. Even though he tried to tell himself that his confinement was over, that something else awaited him, the slightest hint of the black giant’s presence would instinctively make him look up at the cave entrance.

Once, he’d tried to stay awake to figure out when the creature brought food, but he failed miserably and was greeted by a pile of food the next day. The lightless night was far more frightening than he’d anticipated. The absence of light for over twelve hours was unsettling, beyond simply strange. Without external stimuli, only bodily reactions served as indicators of sensation—an alien feeling that couldn’t be understood until experienced.

*

After seven nights alone, Jake came to realize that this was by no means a comfortable punishment. The spaceship had been better. There was an audio player and a communication device to the home planet, which might someday respond. The hope of its imminent arrival had allowed him to endure the suffocatingly cramped interior of the spaceship.

But waiting endlessly, without any promise, on this vast, empty sand dune, was driving him mad. When he got tired of exercising, he made small mounds of sand, wrote on the walls, or carved random doodles. And it all quickly became boring.

If he hadn’t been able to communicate with Kashan at all, he wouldn’t have felt this much gloom. But knowing there was someone he could talk to on this remote planet, yet being ignored and neglected, was incredibly unpleasant and frustrating.

“Ugh…”

After spending a week alone and waking up on the eighth morning, Jake realized that this discomfort wasn’t just mental. His body felt unwell. He had a persistent stiffness and ache, as if he hadn’t slept well. His condition had been consistently poor, like he was on the verge of catching a cold.

Had it been cold last night?

Kashan’s cave was also open, without a door. The cold wind blew through it. The only difference was the absence of that damned giant. The hole in the ceiling seemed larger than the cave entrance, but it was so high up that the cold wind didn’t blow in strongly. The huge cave itself had some kind of heat source; parts of the cliff were warm to the touch. Convinced the cold wasn’t the cause, Jake considered other possibilities.

Or maybe he’d injured himself falling from the cliff in the rain a week ago?

That seemed more plausible. Jake stood awkwardly, running his hands over his back, arms, and thighs. The scratches were fading. Even without medication or bandages, the rapid healing was unusual, even for his time in the military. Remembering how his recovery ability had declined with age, this speed was astonishing. In a situation where there might be viruses or bacteria on an alien planet, remaining healthy was fortunate.

A rational person might suspect that the abnormally fast recovery was a side effect of the alien injecting fluids into his body. But Jake, mentally worn down and isolated for over a week, didn’t have the energy to think that far. He was simply relieved and amazed that his wounds weren’t infected or festering.

Humans were truly pathetic creatures. Unable to control their surging madness and despair, they might writhe in a desire to die, yet if they were seriously injured, they would fight to live. No matter how noble their intentions, their primal instincts as living beings would always get in the way.

The source of the subtle discomfort became clearer in the afternoon. Feeling something wriggling inside his abdomen, Jake froze. Thinking he was mistaken, he tried to move again. This time, the tingling sensation in his lower abdomen was unmistakable.

It was unclear if the sensation originated in his lower abdomen. Somewhere in his lower body, but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, an itch bothered him. A wet, viscous feeling seemed to crawl from his tailbone to his buttocks. Jake nervously looked behind him, but of course, there was nothing there.

“Wh… what the… ha, haa…”

The more he tried to shake off the strange feeling, the deeper he sank into the mire of sensation. Jake collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily with a flushed face. A sensation similar to a shiver spread through his entire body, making it impossible for him to stand. Overwhelmed, he grabbed the sand, his hands trembling and weakening. Leaving messy handprints in the sand, Jake breathed heavily, almost prostrate.

“No, no… that can’t be…”

As if he were seeing a ghost, Jake shook his head, rubbing his sweat-soaked forehead against the sand. What horrified Jake wasn’t a ghost resembling the native lifeform, but sexual arousal. It resembled the strange tentacles with dozens of arms. The more the frail, muscular man struggled to escape, the more the tentacle-like arms reached out to pull him in.

Jake desperately denied the desire rising from within him. He insisted it was the monster altering his body, shaking his head. The sexual desire, however, burrowed into the cracks within him, shaking his body and testing his resolve.

“No… no…!”

Jake screamed, scratching at the sand. He didn’t care about the tiny grains of sand getting under his nails; he desperately tried to quell the impulse.

I wouldn’t want something so perverse.

Suddenly, he wanted a large hand to massage his body. It shouldn’t just be a massage. He wanted a rough hand to grab his buttocks, spread them wide, and penetrate him to the limit. The fantasy was filled with very specific desires. Unable to accept that he had such thoughts, Jake repeatedly banged his forehead against the sand, swallowing his cries. His bloodshot eyes stung. His heaving breaths made him look aroused.

It was a sensation similar to the time he’d lost control and surrendered to his instinct to reproduce, even though his body hadn’t been physically touched. In an instant, he was overwhelmed by desire, to the point where he couldn’t deny the longing for someone to spread him open and fill him with semen. His entire body was intensely aroused.

Even during his solitary confinement, he hadn’t been without sexual release.