✅ Project SETI Trilogy

Chapter Two - Part X: Contact

          As Nova walked out of the medical bay, he looked up and noticed the network of ventilation shafts that ran along the ceiling and branched out into the walls. When he approached the transporter pod, he realized that there weren't any openings in the immediate area—Gabriel would likely have to navigate to his room manually, without the help of the pod to take him to the appropriate deck. And even though Jarah hadn't spoken to Majudi, he could feel her eyes drilling holes in the back of his head. In combination with what Gabriel had said, he couldn't help but feel her surveillance wasn't of a benevolent nature.

          As he drew close to the transport pod, the door slid open. He crossed the threshold slowly and listened for the sound of Gabriel crawling around above, but he couldn't hear anything. Once inside the UV-lit chamber, the door automatically closed and the touch screen flickered to life to reveal a virtual keyboard that had both Roman script and the weird bulbous writing of the Daxut native language. He inputted the receiving code and everything rapidly pixelated and fell away, then built itself back up again.

          On the other end, he located the nearest ventilation shaft and followed where it went. Thankfully, this particular section ran across the top of the corridor in the direction he was headed. He thought for a second that maybe he should wait for him here, so he could lead him to the room—but he quickly realized that he didn't really know how long it would take him to reach this location. He decided that it was best that he didn't linger too long; Jarah didn't seem to have actually wanted to let him go alone, and he didn't want to make her regret it by acting suspicious.

          It was uncharacteristic of him, but for the rest of the way, he hummed softly—just loud enough that it echoed down the hallways. He didn't encounter any Daxut on the trek, but he did encounter an air purification drone in the plaza. He thought the spherical green robot was sort of cute, with the way it just lazily floated through the air, seemingly without a care in the world. He was comforted to see that the tunnels also branched off in every direction, just like the hallways did.

          Nova felt conflicted. On one hand, this was probably the single most fascinating, unique, and sexy experience he was ever going to have in his lifetime. He didn't think anything was going to top that whole thing at Project SETI, but... having a real life extra-terrestrial dick inside of him, in deep space, while aboard the most technologically advanced spacefaring vessel known to humans, was a whole other level. And they wanted to impregnate him again. Even despite the urgency in Gabriel's voice, he couldn't help the fact that he did genuinely want that, with the assumption that he would deliver it once back on Earth several months later. Yet, on the other hand... he couldn't shake the feeling that the Daxut weren't all that they seemed to be, and he found himself growing increasingly anxious to hear what Gabriel had found out in this regard.

          Upon entering the last hallway, he held his arm out to the doors until one of him opened. Once inside, he felt a bunch of tension he didn't know he'd been holding fall away. He immediately inspected the ceiling and saw that there was a section of ventilation running between two walls in the main room, opposite the bed. Upon closer inspection, he could see a cluster of about ten slits in the middle of it, and he allowed himself some relief at that.

          After figuring out the sustenance rehydrator and choking down some incredibly bland military ration-esque food, he pulled the mattress off of the bed and bunched it up against the wall beneath the ventilation shaft. He fussed with the blanket and pillows he'd been left to prop himself up in such a way that he wasn't quite lying on his back, but still had his face visible to the vent above. He fought to stay awake as long as possible, but he was exhausted from surviving the code, and the analgesic medication flowing through his body eased him into unconsciousness before he even realized what was happening.